Interim president reviewing Trump administration demands
The proposal included using “strict definitions of gender” and a cap on international student admissions in exchange for preference in federal funding.
By NATHAN ELIAS & FRANCO GUTIERREZ
USC received a letter from the Trump administration on Wednesday asking the University to sign a compact committing itself to the administration’s educational priorities in exchange for preference in federal funding, according to an article published in The Wall Street Journal the same day.
If USC signs the compact, an article from The New York Times states the University would have to “commit to strict definitions of gender,” limit the number of admitted international students and maintain its current tuition for five years.
Interim President Beong-Soo Kim wrote in a community-wide message Friday that the University was asked on Wednesday to “provide feedback” on a draft of the compact. He wrote that he will be consulting with the Board of Trustees, deans, the Academic Senate, the newly-formed Faculty Advisory Committee and other stakeholder groups.
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“These conversations can take time, but they are essential to building trust and community,” the statement read. “In this moment, and in all others, the Board’s and my responsibility is to advance USC’s mission and uphold our core values, and we are committed to doing just that.”
On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote in a press release that any California university that signed the “radical agreement” would lose billions in state funding, including Cal Grants. The only California university to receive a letter and compact Wednesday from the Trump administration was USC.
Newsom’s press release reads, “CALIFORNIA WILL NOT BANKROLL SCHOOLS THAT SELL OUT THEIR STUDENTS, PROFESSORS, RESEARCHERS, AND SURRENDER ACADEMIC FREEDOM.”
A University statement to the Daily Trojan prior to Newsom’s response read, “We are reviewing the Administration’s letter.”
The compact — also sent to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Arizona and Vanderbilt University, among others — would require campuses to review their internal structures and “prohibit” anything that might “punish, belittle and even spark violence against conservative ideas,” according to The New York Times article.
The letter that accompanied the compact, signed by Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and other White House officials, promised agreeable institutions more favorable overhead costs, preference in funding and other “multiple positive benefits,” according to The New York Times article.
