STURGE: Trump’s 'Compact for Academic Excellence' brings law and merit back to campus

Nine universities now have a chance to bring sanity back to their campuses. 

The Trump administration unveiled what might be the most common-sense higher education reform plan in decades, the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” and invited an initial nine universities to join.

It’s a straightforward, enforceable roadmap that challenges universities to do something radical in today’s climate: follow the law.

The proposal asks universities to do what most Americans expect them to do. Protect women’s bathrooms, uphold the First Amendment, cut sky-high tuition, and prohibit incitement to violence or support for terrorist organizations. These aren’t partisan demands, they’re basic expectations. For students, this plan offers a long-awaited sigh of relief.

The administration isn’t creating lofty rules or demands for institutions to abide by, it’s simply upholding American laws already on the books: Title VI, Title IX, the Civil Rights Act, Section 117 on foreign funding, and the Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action. 

These aren’t “Trump-era ideas.” These laws are the guardrails of fairness and bedrock of civil rights. If universities want to continue enjoying tax breaks, research funding, student loans, and federal contracts, they must follow federal law.

[RELATED: STURGE: Higher ed has normalized political violence]

The Compact has real teeth, turning federal dollars into leverage for accountability.

The Department of Justice will oversee compliance, and if a university violates the Compact, it will lose access to its benefits for at least one year. A repeat violation triggers a minimum two-year penalty, and the school must return all federal funds received during the year of the violation. Private donors can also reclaim their contributions from that same period.

Universities must also review their own performance by conducting anonymous surveys of students, faculty, and staff and making those results publicly available.

Beyond compliance with federal law, the Compact calls on universities to rebuild the pillars of merit, academic excellence, and accountability.

Merit Over Ideology

The administration’s plan demands an end to discriminatory racial preferences in admissions and hiring. Universities must evaluate applicants based on measurable achievement through the SAT, ACT, CLT, or program-specific criteria. The plan also tackles the epidemic of grade inflation. At schools like Harvard University and Yale University, where nearly 80% of grades are A’s, high achievement has lost its meaning. 

Protecting Free Speech and Ideological Diversity

The administration calls on universities to foster a “broad spectrum of ideological viewpoints.” At the University of Pennsylvania, 99% of faculty political donations went to Democrats. Colleges should be marketplaces of ideas, not indoctrination centers.

Protecting Students from Hate and Violence

The Compact also confronts the wave of antisemitism sweeping across campuses since the October 7 attacks. No more violent mobs shutting down classrooms like at Columbia University, where classes were moved online during anti-Semitic protests. No more students being blocked from parts of campus, like Jewish students were at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Cutting Costs, Restoring Value

And finally, the plan is busting open the piggy bank. The Compact demands that universities freeze tuition for five years and cut unnecessary spending. A year at the University of Southern California now costs over $99,000. The cost of college has spiraled so far out of control that tuition bills now read like mortgage statements.

Return to Sanity

American tax dollars must be invested into institutions that uphold fairness, due process, and equal protection under the law. That’s why schools that sign this Compact will receive priority access to federal grants and funding. 

At Campus Reform, we’ve exposed how universities have abandoned merit, accountability, and compliance with federal law. The “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” is necessary because it restores those standards by upholding law and order, ending racial preferences, and reinstating standardized testing. It ensures students are judged by achievement, not ideology or skin color, and demands financial responsibility so four years of college doesn’t bankrupt a generation. 

We’ve documented countless cases of students being silenced, harassed, or punished simply for expressing their views. The Trump Compact reasserts that free expression isn’t a partisan concept; it’s a constitutional one. These reforms return law, merit, and common sense to America’s campuses.

The schools that sign this Compact will set the new gold standard for higher education.

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Editorials and op-eds reflect the opinion of the authors and not necessarily that of Campus Reform or the Leadership Institute.