5 unhinged reactions to Trump’s higher ed. Compact

President Trump’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education is a straightforward attempt to restore merit, protect free speech, and enforce civil-rights law on campus. 

A voluntary federal agreement, it incentivizes universities with government benefits for campus reforms. It calls for institutional political neutrality, stronger free-speech/viewpoint-diversity protections, and merit-based admissions and hiring without race- or sex-based preferences, plus set rules like defining sex biologically, capping international undergrads at 15%, limiting tuition growth, and increasing transparency/oversight. The horror!

From student mobs to city-hall grandstanding, proponents of so-called “academic freedom” from left-leaning responded as if basic standards were a five-alarm crisis. 

Campus Reform has compiled a list of 5 unhinged reactions to Trump’s Higher Ed. Compact.

1. UT Austin students stage protest against Trump compact

Students at the University of Texas at Austin rallied against the compact after the administration invited the school to consider joining the agreement. The protest, led by Austin Students for a Democratic Society, cast the proposal as harmful despite its focus on enforcing existing civil-rights standards and campus free-speech norms.  

One student argued the university could lose federal funding unless it created space for conservative ideas to “flourish,” framing the compact as ideological coercion rather than a voluntary policy trade.  

2. Vanderbilt students and faculty protest Trump’s Higher Ed Compact

More than 300 Vanderbilt students, faculty, and community members protested on Nov. 5 in response to the university’s willingness to continue talks with the Trump administration. Protesters carried signs such as “Reject the Compact” and presented the proposal as a threat to campus life.  

A major focus of the demonstration was the compact’s proposed cap on international enrollment, with activists pushing slogans like “Protect International Students” to argue that any limit is inherently illegitimate.  

3. NYU students call for ‘sanctuary campus’ and ‘race-based scholarships’ at university senate rally

At a Nov. 13 university senate meeting, NYU Students for a Democratic Society at New York University staged a rally demanding the school declare itself a “sanctuary campus” and explicitly calling for “race-based scholarships,” while also urging NYU to reject Trump’s higher-ed compact.  

Chants of “No Compliance! No wall! Sanctuary for all!” and demands to defy ICE and expand “gender-affirming care” turned the compact into a catch-all villain for every left-wing campus cause on the list.  

4. Duke students protest Trump Higher Ed compact

A coalition of progressive groups at Duke—including Sunrise Duke and the Duke Climate Coalition—held a “Duke Rise Up!” rally on Nov. 7 calling on administrators to refuse the compact. Posters and organizers warned the agreement would endanger DEI in admissions and hiring and eliminate affinity-group services.  

Ahead of the rally, Sunrise Duke circulated a petition accusing Trump of “blackmail” and claiming he wanted “unqualified bureaucrats” to run Duke, treating the proposed reforms as authoritarian control rather than a benefits-for-standards offer.  

5. Tucson City Council unanimously denies Trump’s higher ed compact, calls it ‘political intrusion’

In the most dramatic response yet, the Tucson City Council unanimously passed a resolution opposing the compact after it was sent to the University of Arizona. Local officials framed the proposal as a threat to the city itself, calling it a “political intrusion” into community life.  

The rhetoric escalated further on campus: University of Arizona Faculty Senate leaders labeled the compact a “poisoned apple,” and professors called it “extortion,” arguing federal benefits tied to civil-rights and speech compliance amounted to surrendering constitutional rights.