By Cambridge, Massachusetts — The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has become the first university to publicly reject a proposed funding compact from the Trump administration that would tie preferential access to federal resources to new conditions on governance, admissions, and institutional policy.
In a letter addressed to U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon, MIT President Sally Kornbluth stated the terms of the agreement conflicted with the school’s core values, particularly academic freedom and institutional autonomy. The “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” had been extended to nine institutions.
The compact offered benefits such as enhanced federal and private funding for schools that agreed to comply with certain directives — including freezing tuition for five years, eliminating consideration of race, gender, or political views in admissions and hiring, and adopting a strict definition of gender.
