This is a developing story and will be updated.
The University of Arizona is one of nine universities asked to sign a compact from the Trump administration to comply with certain conditions in exchange for more federal funding.
Although the entire document is not yet public, UA Faculty Senate Chair Leila Hudson said the reporting she’s seen so far concerns her.
“The threat of continuing to withdraw federal funding from neutral institutions, public institutions, effective institutions, until they submit to certain political conditions or ideological conditions, is deeply problematic,” she said.
According to reporting from the Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press, the document titled Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, asks universities to eliminate race and gender from admissions considerations, apply the government’s definition of gender to bathrooms and women’s sports teams, and promote a balance of conservative ideas on campus, among other stipulations.
Universities who sign the compact would see “multiple positive benefits,” in exchange, including more federal dollars.
Unconfirmed copies of the document online say universities who sign it will commit to promoting civility, free speech, lowering tuition cost, and promoting equality in hiring and admissions processes, principles Hudson said many people in higher education would agree with.
However, Hudson said it crosses a line to make federal funding contingent on these conditions.
“What is, of course, problematic, is the suggestion that the work of America's universities, which, as the document notes, are the pride of our country and the envy of the world, would be improved by micromanagement by the government in its most ideological and partisan manifestation,” she said.
The unofficial copies specify that tuition freezes should apply only to Americans, and allege that giving priority to international students reduces opportunities for “deserving” U.S students.
The university received the letter Oct. 1, and is reviewing it carefully, UA spokesman Mitch Zak said.
