On Oct. 1, President Donald Trump’s administration sent a document called the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” to nine universities, including the University of Virginia. By Friday, UVA became the first public school and the fifth overall to reject it.
Before the university made its announcement, students, faculty, and local groups teamed up for a National Day of Action with the other eight universities that received the same compact. The list included Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, Vanderbilt, the University of Arizona, the University of Pennsylvania, USC, and the University of Texas at Austin.
Opposition at UVA came together quickly. Local organizations formed Voices United in Opposition while faculty across departments urged school leaders to take a stand. The Faculty Senate soon voted 60 to 2, with four abstaining, to reject the compact outright, as per The Washington Post.
The document promised schools preferential federal funding in exchange for following standards outlined by the White House. Critics said it went too far, turning education into a political loyalty test.
At a press conference, education professor Walt Heinecke called it “the most significant threat to the mission of higher education since the McCarthy era.” He added, “This time, rather than targeting individuals, the administration is targeting institutions that are the bedrock of our democracy.”
Politics professor Jennifer Rubenstein said it “exposes the Trump administration’s supposed commitment to fighting antisemitism for what it is.” She called the compact “a cynical ploy that uses the pretense of fighting antisemitism to pursue its agenda of weakening higher education in ways that harm Jews and non-Jews alike.”
Student Council President Clay Dickerson said, “This is what the heart and soul of UVA looks like. We pour everything into this place, and there’s people in DC who haven’t done a lick of that, trying to tell us what to do. This is our home, and we reject the compact.”
Virginia Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell described the compact as “riddled with contradictions.” He said it “demands that the university ban ‘belittlement of conservative ideas,’ while simultaneously claiming to protect academic freedom.”