In its latest attempt to control academic institutions, the Trump administration recently sent nine universities the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” President Donald Trump promised universities multiple benefits, including federal grants, in exchange for their adherence to demands that benefit his agenda.
This compact has instilled anger and uncertainty in many students across the nation. The lack of transparency regarding why these nine universities were chosen — and what universities may be chosen next — has made the future of higher education even more unstable. It represents an escalation of brazen government overreach, one characterized by the suffocation of conflicting viewpoints and targeting of minority groups.
The Huntington News Editorial Board views this compact as an attempt to divide higher education institutions and coerce universities to adhere to this administration’s ideologies.
At best, the compact is a thinly veiled bribe. At worst, it represents a pivotal attempt from the Trump administration to manipulate institutions of higher education — creating a landscape that prioritizes the current administration’s ideological framework over genuine intellectual diversity.
The compact would stifle student protests, requiring universities to commit to using “lawful force” and disciplinary measures on demonstrations that disrupt classrooms and study areas. It puts specific protections in place for students with conservative ideas, requiring universities to “transform or abolish institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against” them, but fails to extend these protections to students with other viewpoints.
What qualifies as a unit that “belittles” conservative ideas? Could it begin to include political organizations that loudly condemn or offend them?
True academic excellence emerges from environments where all ideas — whether conservative, liberal, radical or another — can be rigorously challenged and debated on their merits. By providing favors like federal funding to universities that favor Trump’s ideologies, this compact undermines the very promise of higher education: to provide students with a rich intellectual environment that welcomes individuality, diversity of thought and free expression of all kinds.
This compact aims to limit not only diversity of thought — but diversity, period.
One of Trump’s demands is that universities display “equality in admissions,” a request dictating that no factors, including sex, ethnicity or race, be considered in admissions or financial support. While this might seem like the natural extension of the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision striking down affirmative action, the compact goes even further — transforming restrictions on affirmative action into a sweeping elimination of nearly all forms of equity-based consideration.
Because the restrictions extend to financial aid, community partnerships and targeted outreach to historically underrepresented groups, the compact would effectively erase the already limited room universities still had to pursue diversity within the bounds of the Court’s 2023 ruling.
While the compact asks universities to act “equitably,” it simultaneously focuses on targeting marginalized communities — including transgender people, people of color and international students.
In a move that promotes discrimination against non-cisgender students, the compact would require institutions to equate sex and gender, recognizing only the two binary genders. Transgender students would be barred from entering spaces aligning with their gender identity, including bathrooms, locker rooms and athletic teams.
Students would no longer be able to receive what the compact dictates as “unequal treatment” on the basis of race. This would include “access to buildings, spaces, scholarships, programming and other university resources.” Effectively, this would mean dismantling cultural and identity-based spaces that serve as critical hubs of support, belonging and advocacy for students of color. It could also eliminate scholarships and mentorship programs designed to uplift underrepresented groups, damaging the infrastructure that allows marginalized students to find community.
The diversity of student nationalities would also be limited by the block on international student admissions, which would be capped at 15% of the total student body. Institutions that have already exceeded these limits, including New York University, Carnegie Mellon University and even Northeastern, would also be forced to slash class count to comply with this requirement.
Despite the compact’s aim to create a “vibrant marketplace of ideas on campus,” this measure would infringe on the over 1.1 million international students who play a vital role in bringing innovation and creativity to the beating heart of America. In the 2023-24 school year, international students contributed a combined $43.8 billion to the economy, supporting more than 375,000 jobs across the U.S.
Take away the international student body, and you’re stripping America of an integral and irreplaceable part of its identity.
We would like to believe that Northeastern would immediately reject the compact if it were presented to us. However, the university’s administration has continued to prove that it will act in its own self-interest at the expense of its student body. From the very beginning of the Trump administration, Northeastern’s actions have been characterized by a high level of complacency to federal pressure.
In January, this complacency was evident in its abrupt elimination of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, remodeling it as the Office of Belonging. While this was a technical requirement under law for universities with an endowment over $1 billion, Northeastern drew criticism for its careless and secretive handling of the change. In August, several Office of Belonging staff members were fired with little word from the university, and students have been receiving little-to-no transparency on university matters and decisions.
The Huntington News Editorial Board previously condemned Trump’s efforts to jeopardize academic freedom and our First Amendment rights. Months later, we find ourselves raising the same concern, as we have yet to see a strong administrative stance taken from our university. This compact isn’t just another measure that can be pushed under the rug — it’s an escalation of the ongoing assault on higher education, and it will not be the end of it. We urge the university to defend all its students, no matter their background or identity.
Northeastern claims its core values are integrity, diversity and opportunity. If this compact comes to our doorstep, those core values will be at risk. The compact must be rejected without a second thought.
The Huntington News Editorial Board demands that Northeastern University practices what it preaches.
The Editorial Board reflects the official voice of The Huntington News’s opinion section and consists of the Opinion Editor, the Deputy Opinion Editor and The News’ opinion columnists. Each editorial is the product of unanimous agreement from the Board. The Editorial Board operates independently from the newsroom of The Huntington News.
The Huntington News Editorial Board urges all readers, both those who support the stance laid out within this piece and those who do not, to make their voices heard. If you would like to submit a letter to the editor in response to this piece, email [email protected].
