The University of Arizona on Monday declined to sign onto the Trump administration’s proposed compact. Instead, Arizona’s president submitted a “statement of principles” to the U.S. Department of Education that explained the university’s existing commitments across five policy areas, such as admissions and nondiscrimination.
“This response is our contribution toward a national conversation about the future relationship between universities and the federal government,” President Suresh Garimella wrote in a community message. “It is critical for the University of Arizona to take an active role in this discussion and to work toward maintaining a strong relationship with the federal government while staying true to our principles.”
Garimella’s “statement of principles” also referenced freedom of expression and civil discourse, financial responsibility and affordability, and foreign entanglements, international enrollment, and research security.
On October 1, Trump cabinet officials wrote to the leaders of nine high-profile research institutions, asking them to review a potential “compact” that would require they make changes in admissions, hiring, and enrollment in exchange for preferential consideration in federal funding.
Garimella said Monday that the university learned in a recent call with federal officials that the government was seeking to start a conversation with institutions rather than receive a solid yes or no in writing. At the time of Garimella’s statement, six institutions within the initial group of nine had already said they would not agree to the compact as written: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the University of Virginia, and Dartmouth College.
“Given the importance of the issues at stake,” Garimella wrote, “engagement is in the best interest of the university.”
He noted that while some of the proposed reforms, including several already in place at the University of Arizona, could benefit higher ed, the university had to preserve “academic freedom, merit-based research funding, and institutional independence.” Most of the leaders who have rejected the compact have hewed to concerns about moving away from a merit-based system of grant-funding decisions.
Last week, the Trump administration confirmed that the compact was open to anyone who wanted to sign on. On Friday, it met with officials from institutions that hadn’t responded to the compact at the time, as well as a trio of presidents who weren’t part of the original nine: the University of Kansas, Arizona State University, and Washington University in St. Louis.
Reached by phone Monday, a University of Arizona faculty leader expressed relief in Garimella’s decision to reject the current compact.
“In Arizona, it’s not too smart to ride backwards on your saddle,” said Ted Downing, a former state representative and chair of the Committee of Eleven, a faculty-governance body. “This is a libertarian state leaning either right or left. The idea of doing something because Washington tells you, I don’t care who they are, is not popular down here.”
