The ACLU is urging Brown University to reject President Trump’s higher‑education plan, warning that joining the compact would amount to political censorship and federal overreach. The “Compact for Academic Excellence” would attach federal funding and access to coveted resources to strict institutional reforms.
In a letter to Brown President Christina Paxson, the ACLU of Rhode Island decries the initiative’s ten requirements, which include eliminating race‑ and sex‑based preferences in admissions and hiring, reinstating standardized testing, limiting international student enrollment, and dismantling departments perceived as hostile to conservative views. The compact promises substantial grants, direct access to White House officials, and invitations to administration events for participating schools.
The ACLU argues that the plan weaponizes federal funding to force universities into compliance, threatening academic freedom in the process. Its letter states the compact would “restrict university employees from speaking out on political issues … prohibit anything that would ‘belittle’ conservative ideas,” and “require the university to essentially deny the existence of transgender students.”
Brown is among the first nine institutions approached to sign the compact. The university already faces financial strain, giving critics concern over how much leverage the federal offer exerts.
