On Oct. 22, Chancellor Andrew D. Martin took a stance against the Trump administration’s latest attack on higher education. It’s the most public confrontation the University has had with the administration to date, which has been long-awaited by many students and faculty.

On Oct. 17, the Trump administration met with eight universities about their “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” including WashU. The compact offered preferential treatment for federal funding in exchange for making several policy changes aligned with Trump’s political goals. 

In an email to faculty, Chancellor Martin said he would not sign the proposed compact, as he would not sign a document that abridges WashU’s institutional values and missions, including “academic freedom, access, free expression, and research integrity.” He did not indicate whether he would continue discussions with the administration about the compact. Other universities also rejected the compact in its current form, including Dartmouth College, University of Arizona, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Others took a different approach — Vanderbilt University’s chancellor, for example, indicated that they were not agreeing or rejecting the compact, but would be providing feedback instead.

We strongly support Chancellor Martin’s rejection of this compact. The University administration should consider the overwhelmingly positive feedback it has received on its decision as a signal that the WashU community wants the University to take an explicit stance against the current attacks on higher education. Moving forward, WashU needs to continue to clarify its stance on Trump administration attacks on higher education and make decisions that defend and are consistent with the University’s mission and values.

We believe that it is crucial to reiterate the points in the compact that directly violate University values and to urge administrators to stand firm to these principles, especially if Chancellor Martin continues to negotiate the terms of the compact:

Freedom of inquiry and expression:

The Trump compact required universities to concede that “academic freedom is not absolute.” On the contrary, academic freedom is at the core of higher education. The WashU Mission and Vision statement affirms this value, striving to “foster freedom of inquiry and expression of ideas in our research, teaching and learning.” Beyond the compact’s explicit belittlement of academic freedom, its mere existence threatens this principle by demanding that universities conform to institutional and educational policies in exchange for federal funding.

The compact demands that universities control the views and teachings of faculty, requiring that they “transform or abolish institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle and even spark violence against conservative ideas.” This requirement undermines the purpose of a university to foster diverse perspectives by forcing institutions to censor any teaching opposed to conservatism. 

Chancellor Martin may continue to discuss the terms of this agreement, but any agreement to change the University’s operations, including education, hiring and admissions practices, and discipline in spite of the needs of students and staff, is a violation of academic freedom. We must resist government control over American universities at all costs.

Diverse, inclusive, & equitable community:

The Trump administration’s anti-DEI rhetoric also rang true in the compact, as they required universities to ban the implicit or explicit consideration of race and sex in admissions and to define sex based on biological functions, banning transgender people from playing on sports teams or using bathrooms aligned with their gender. Signatories are also required to have standardized testing for all applicants, a practice that is inherently biased against students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. These guidelines go directly against WashU’s central value to “welcome students, faculty and staff from all backgrounds to create an inclusive, equitable community.”

The compact also called on universities to cap international undergraduate student enrollment to 15%. This demand comes alongside the myriad of threats that international students, faculty, and staff face under the staunch anti-immigration stance of the Trump administration. Supporting, protecting, and continuing to admit these students along with international faculty and staff is central to WashU’s mission to expand access and cultivate inclusivity for different backgrounds.

In response to the Trump administration’s proposal to apply a $100,000 fee for people applying for H1-B visas to work in the U.S., Chancellor Martin rightly spoke to affirm the importance of international hires. Currently, the University sponsors around 285 H-1B visas per year. Just as the chancellor asserted, we must continue to support the employment of international graduate students, faculty, and staff who are invaluable to our education and work as a graduate program.

Furthermore, international students at all levels face the threat of deportation for publicly sharing their political beliefs that oppose the Trump administration’s ideology. Along with supporting their employment, we urge the University to protect all international students regardless of their political beliefs. This protection would take the form of informing students of their legal rights, providing access to support in the case of visa termination, and ensuring compliance with current legal protections for those students.

While Chancellor Martin may continue to be in talks with the Trump administration about the compact, we implore him and other members of the University’s administration to stand by the values and goals we have committed to as a University. Moreover, we call on him to take stances beyond the scope of this compact, as the Trump administration continues to make decisions impacting the WashU community, both on and off campus. 

The community support for WashU’s rejection of the compact demonstrates that our community does not want silence from our administration; we want an outspoken commitment to fighting for freedom and equity for all students, faculty, and staff. These beliefs should be expressed through public statements alongside material action.

Staff editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of our editorial board members. The editorial board operates independently of our newsroom and includes members of the senior staff.

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