The Trump administration wants nine colleges, including the University of Virginia, to agree to a broad set of political, educational and financial principles in exchange for access to federal funding.
But Democratic leaders in the Virginia Senate say that if UVa agrees to Trump’s “compact” the university will risk losing its state funding, a foundational piece of a university’s education budget.
On Monday, UVa’s rector and its interim president wrote a letter to the university community saying it would be difficult for UVa to agree to certain provisions in the compact, which calls for schools to freeze tuition, cap international enrollment, limit political expression and ban the use of race or sex in hiring and admissions.
It’s the latest round in the fight between federal and state leaders to set the direction of Virginia’s flagship university.
Earlier this month, the White House called for the nine colleges to agree to a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.”
The 10-point memo directs universities to ban the use of race or sex in hiring and admissions, freeze tuition for five years, cap international enrollment at 15%, require applicants take the SAT and limit grade inflation.
The compact also addresses free speech, calling for colleges to create a “vibrant marketplace of ideas on campus,” to prohibit employees from offering political opinions on behalf of their employer and to close departments that “purposefully punish, belittle and even spark violence against conservative ideas.”
In exchange for their consent, the colleges would receive benefits, including federal grants. The memo went to prestigious public colleges across the country, including Vanderbilt University, the University of Southern California and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Democrats’ warning
On Tuesday, three Democratic leaders of the Virginia Senate called on UVa to notify the Trump administration that it will not sign — or else.
“If the University of Virginia signs this compact, there will be significant consequences in future Virginia budget cycles,” wrote Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, and Sens. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, and Mamie Locke, D-Hampton. Colleges depend heavily on their state funding; this year, UVa got more than $200 million in education funds from the state, money the university uses to pay professors’ wages.
The senators wrote that what the Trump administration is asking for is “fundamentally incompatible” with UVa’s mission and values, describing the compact as federal intrusion into a college’s autonomy.
“This is not a partnership,” the senators wrote in the letter, which the Richmond Times-Dispatch obtained. “It is, as other university leaders have aptly described, political extortion.”
UVa leaders have not directly said they will oppose Trump’s compact, but they have cast doubt on it. UVa’s interim President Paul Mahoney and Rector Rachel Sheridan said in their Monday letter to the university community that “it would be difficult” for UVa to agree to certain provisions Trump proposed.
“We write to assure you that our response will be guided by the same principles of academic freedom and free inquiry that Thomas Jefferson placed at the center of the university’s mission more than 200 years ago and to which the university has remained faithful ever since,” Mahoney and Sheridan wrote.
This was repeated in a letter Mahoney and Sheridan wrote to the state senators on Thursday.
“For the past two centuries, through all manner of crises and controversies, the university has steadfastly maintained its founding commitment. As the current stewards of that legacy, we have no intention of abandoning the university’s principles,” they wrote. “Your letter makes clear that you share the same devotion to this university that motivates our service, so we appreciate you conveying your views and we look forward to working together with the Commonwealth’s leaders to promote and protect the University of Virginia.”
Though UVa’s leaders have not said which aspects of the compact they consider troublesome, one is particularly unlikely for the school to adopt: capping tuition. UVa has consistently hiked tuition, and the cost to attend UVa has ballooned 47% in the past decade, according to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.
The Democratic state senators said other aspects of the compact would be destructive. UVa would have to admit students solely on metrics and disregard leadership, creativity and diverse talents, they wrote. It would prohibit the school’s medical experts from speaking about public health, legal experts from commenting on constitutional issues and economists from discussing trade policy, they said.
Since Trump returned to office in January, UVa has been a battleground over DEI. Trump officials accused then-UVa president Jim Ryan of not acting quickly enough to shutter initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion, and Ryan resigned under pressure in June.
The state senators said Trump officials used “extortionate tactics” to oust Ryan by threatening hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding and the jobs of numerous employees who depend on that money for their research.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com