Local opinion: Trump's Faustian bargain with universities

President Trump wants to make a Faustian bargain with nine American universities — give up your independence and academic freedom in return for favorable terms for federal funds. The “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” presented to the University of Arizona and eight other premier US research universities should be forcefully rejected by all institutions of higher education. By accepting intrusive and ideologically driven control by the White House, a university will set in motion a process of irreversible decline.

Today American higher education is the envy of the world and a driving force for American prosperity. Our nation benefits from a breadth of colleges and universities – public and private, large and small, religious and secular, research universities and community colleges – each promoting the pursuit of knowledge, and all dedicated to improving the future of their students and our nation. Colleges help students learn to think for themselves, discover new knowledge through research, and serve their communities.

As an engineering professor, dean and university president, I watched first-hand how the partnership between universities and the federal government became an engine for opportunity, mobility and security. By providing federal grants and loans for economically disadvantaged students, the government enabled many talented Americans to achieve their dreams while becoming prepared employees and community leaders. By offering federal research grants in areas of strategic importance to our nation, government agencies enable the most qualified university faculty to pursue new knowledge and discoveries that improve our economy, quality of life and the security of our nation.

Sadly, the Trump Administration wants to break that mutually beneficial partnership by transforming it into a coercive system of federal command and control. Under this “compact”, the US President would dictate to universities who can attend, what programs can be offered, what can be discussed, what tuition can be charged, and even what labels can be on bathrooms.

Specific terms of the contract are well summarized by the Arizona Daily Star (Oct 5). Colleges would have to transform or abolish institutional units that “belittle” conservative ideas and bar employees from speaking out as university representatives on external societal and political events. The contract stipulates multiple policies affecting the educational program, student life, and tuition rates.

The Trump contract flies in the face of academic freedom. If a university agrees to this compact, it will cease to foster the exchange of wide-ranging ideas. Rather, it must operate as thought police, squashing any classroom discussion, student club activities, academic program, or research that might “belittle” conservative ideas. Does research into the efficacy of vaccines belittle conservative ideas? What about a business school’s economic analysis pointing out the harm of tariffs on the nation’s economy? Could a law school professor post a blog that points out how recent a political event violates the rule of law? Is research on the impacts of climate change belittling a conservative idea?

In short, to adhere to the terms of the “compact,” a university would need to cease being a university. Yet not signing the contract also has draconian consequences. The contract states, “Institutions of higher education are free to develop models and values other than those” in the compact “if the institution elects to forego federal benefits,” which means not just research dollars but access to crucial financial aid for students. In other words, sign or else. This is coercion plain and simple.

And don’t think this deal will only impact the nine universities — May Mailman, the White House senior adviser for special projects, was clear that the compact would eventually be extended to all colleges and universities.

Any university that accepts Trump’s Faustian bargain is signing away its academic freedom and autonomy — its heart and soul — and setting up the dominoes for the collapse of our entire higher education system, from research universities to community colleges.

We need to stand together now and urge these nine universities to reject the terms of this “contract.” This isn’t just about any one institution. No, the future of American higher education, which has driven innovation and economic growth for communities across our nation, hangs in the balance.