I spent thirty years teaching history in colleges and universities and am hard pressed to recall one instructor or assistant professor who would have signed the “compact” for higher education offered by the Trump administration. Oh, there might have been one or two driven by politics or their contrarian nature, but most junior faculty would quickly reject giving up the college’s independence, academic freedom, freedom of speech and the academy’s right to pursue truth unfettered by government or political directives.
There is no dilemma, it’s a no-brainer for university presidents to reject the deal out of hand. Signing it would mean there would be no universities worthy of the name. Read Erwin Chemerinsky’s guest essay “Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion” in the October 2 New York Times for an excellent analysis.*
That there is even hesitance on part of university authorities to condemn the deal is sad at best and frightening at worst. It shows how far we have come down the road fearing the wrath of federal power, this from an administration that purports to want smaller, less obtrusive government and has used the sham of anti-semitism as lever for political purposes.
Money and lots of it is driving much of this. Major universities are threatened with losing millions of dollars from the federal government if they don’t accede to government plans on how to run their schools. Understandably this is a major concern for scholars engaged in important research but it pales when put up against the prospect of being forced to sell out for temporary relief.
It’s time for our universities to say no.