The White House has faced a flurry of rejections after inviting 9 universities to be the first signatories of its higher-ed compacthttps://fortune.com/2025/10/18/white-house-rejections-universities-signatories-higher-education-compact/ 🔗Fortune - Collin Binkley, Jonathan Mattise
By The Associated Press
October 18, 2025 at 10:45 AM EDT
The five universities that were still weighing President Donald Trump's higher-education compact were asked to join a White House call Friday to discuss the proposed deal. By late Friday afternoon, one of the schools — the University of Virginia — had already declined to sign the agreement.
The White House has faced a flurry of rejections after inviting nine universities to become "initial signatories" of the so-called compact, which asked colleges to make commitments aligned with Trump's political priorities in exchange for favorable access to research funding.
It's unclear exactly what universities have to gain by agreeing to the deal — or what they stand to lose if they don't. In a letter sent alongside the compact, Trump officials said it provided "multiple positive benefits," including favorable access to federal funding. In exchange, colleges were asked to adopt 10 pages of commitments aligned with Trump's views.
The administration asked for commitments to eliminate race and sex from admissions decisions, to accept the government's strict binary definition of "man" and "woman," to promote conservative views on campus and to ensure "institutional neutrality" on current events, among other provisions.--------------------------------
The deadline to sign on to the compact is October 20, and yet none have signed on to the document. Those that have not yet announced a decision are Dartmouth College, the University of Arizona, the University of Texas, and Vanderbilt University.
