STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The Trump administration is continuing efforts to exert control over higher education.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
This week, the White House sent a letter to several universities urging them to sign a formal agreement, what it's calling a compact, pledging to support many of President Trump's policy priorities. It follows earlier attempts, through canceling billions of dollars in research grants, to force changes at top universities.
INSKEEP: NPR's Elissa Nadworny is covering this story. Elissa, good morning.
ELISSA NADWORNY, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: OK, so what is in this letter or compact, as they're calling it?
NADWORNY: Well, it was first reported in The Wall Street Journal and later confirmed by the White House. Here's Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, speaking about it to reporters.
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KAROLINE LEAVITT: This letter went out to multiple universities, as you know. And it's really a sign of encouragement for them to work alongside the administration to do what's right for their students in terms of ensuring free speech, in terms of preventing some of the antisemitic and illegal behavior that we saw ravaging our college campuses last year.
NADWORNY: So some of the demands include holding tuition flat for five years, providing data on international students to the government, requiring schools to accept the government's definition of gender and apply it to campus bathrooms, locker rooms and women's sports teams. So it's a wide range of some more controversial, some more partisan and some bipartisan ideas of what to do in higher ed. And in return, schools are going to get priority access to these federal grants. So the nine colleges that they picked include private schools like Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, and then also state schools like University of Texas.
And in response, there's been kind of a range from colleges. The chairman of the UT System Board of Regents said in a statement that the system was honored that its flagship campus, UT Austin, was chosen and said, quote, "we welcome the new opportunity to working with the Trump administration on it." Other schools said they were reviewing it. Vanderbilt University said it was looking forward to providing meaningful feedback to the administration. But, you know, critics see this as a threat to free speech, to academic independence. The American Association of University Professors is urging colleges not to sign the compact.
INSKEEP: Yeah, some of these things would be popular with people, like freezing tuition. I understand that.
NADWORNY: Sure.
INSKEEP: But some of them are telling colleges what to say. And I suppose it also sets a precedent that the administration gets to set these standards for universities to get research grants and so forth.
NADWORNY: Right.
INSKEEP: How does this align with other attempts to crack down on higher education?
NADWORNY: You know, well, this follows a similar playbook. But the biggest difference is instead of threats, if you agree to these demands, it would provide a reward.
INSKEEP: Got it.
NADWORNY: So over the last eight months, the administration has canceled billions of dollars in federal research grants at many universities over a number of issues, including transgender policies, diversity, equity and inclusion programs, antisemitism on campus. They've also spent months going back and forth with Harvard University, the wealthiest college in America, with the administration opening investigations, withholding funding over similar demands. As recently as this week, the Department of Health and Human Services began a process that would essentially block Harvard from doing business with the government.
INSKEEP: Isn't Harvard getting closer to a settlement with the administration?
NADWORNY: Yeah. So earlier this week, Trump told reporters that a deal was very close to being finalized. Trump has said the deal would likely include Harvard paying $500 million to fund workforce training. I reached out to Harvard. Officials there have not confirmed any settlement.
INSKEEP: OK. Well, we'll keep watching that. NPR's Elissa Nadworny, thanks so much.
NADWORNY: You bet. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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