Alperen Aktas
18 October 2025•Update: 18 October 2025
ISTANBUL
The University of Virginia said Friday it will not sign the Trump administration’s proposed “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” becoming the fifth school to reject the initiative that offers priority access to federal funding in exchange for adopting a set of federal academic standards and political restrictions.
Interim president Paul Mahoney said the university “seeks no special treatment” and will continue to work with the government on “lasting approaches to improving higher education.”
“The integrity of science and other academic work requires merit-based assessment of research and scholarship,” Mahoney wrote in a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon and other senior Trump administration officials. “A contractual arrangement predicating assessment on anything other than merit will undermine the integrity of vital, sometimes lifesaving, research and further erode confidence in American higher education.”
The administration’s 10-page proposal offers priority access to federal funding for universities that agree to certain conditions, including freezing tuition for five years, capping international enrollment, prohibiting race- or sex-based hiring and admissions, and restricting university employees from making political statements on behalf of their institutions.
The University of Virginia joins Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Southern California in rejecting the proposal.
University of Virginia Faculty Senate Chair Jeri K. Seidman said professors were relieved by the decision, according to the Washington Post
The proposal was sent to nine universities as part of the administration’s effort to set new federal standards for academic performance and campus conduct.
White House adviser May Mailman said the compact would also give signatories preference for grants and participation in White House programs.
The “Compact for Academic Excellence” was introduced as part of the administration’s broader education initiative.
Officials said universities that breach the compact’s terms could be required to return federal funds received that year. Several schools, including Harvard and Columbia, are challenging federal funding freezes imposed under related agreements.
