*This form is for organizational sign-on only. Individuals can add their names to a letter here. *

Colleges and universities are places of possibility where big ideas get tested, diseases are cured, new technologies are invented, and students have an opportunity to learn and develop new skills. They are engines of opportunity, sites of free expression, and economic hubs for whole communities, often serving as major employers and healthcare providers in their regions. As such, they are anchors of our democracy.

The Trump administration has imposed unprecedented and highly politicized regulations on institutions of higher education, pressured them with coercive funding threats, extorted promises to fall in line with right-wing ideology, and upended long held principles of civil rights, academic freedom, freedom of speech, and equality of opportunity.

Such actions are wrong. They are largely illegal, and they are losing in court.

Now the administration is planning to go even further—targeting not only the universities that President Trump personally dislikes but also the entire system of federally funded research across the country.

Currently, the federal government funds research based on peer review and scientific merit. Under the proposed “Trump compact,” it would make awards based on ideological fealty, taking taxpayer money and weaponizing it to undermine research and speech the current administration doesn’t like and punish people they disagree with.

The Trump compact is not just wrong—it is unconstitutional. It violates the first amendment by forcing universities to surrender their right of free speech and academic freedom in exchange for federal funds. The Supreme Court has repeatedly rejected this kind of coercion under the “unconstitutional conditions” doctrine—the government cannot use its spending power to dictate ideology or control thought.

A successful childhood cancer research project could be cut off because the university allows trans athletes to play on a team. A lab focused on ensuring a clean water supply could be shut down because the university’s mission includes promoting diversity in the student body. A nursing school could lose critical funding because professors are teaching about women’s history.

This policy is a clumsy attempt at thought policing that will have repercussions for all of society. It risks America’s world leadership in science, technology, innovation, and health care—creating opportunities for our competitors and our enemies to take the lead. It sets us backward toward an era of less innovation, fewer cures for diseases, and a shrinking economy.

We stand for education—for science, for students, and for freedom—and against this backward, anti-American policy. We call on university leaders, faculty, staff, and students to unite in rejecting the Trump compact and to defend the principle that no president has the right to buy obedience or sell off freedom.

Signatories

Faith in Action
CWA, PHEW Sector
OPEIU Local 153
Education4All
UChicago AAUP
National Education Association
PEN America
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America
AAUP-Penn Executive Committee
Sunrise Movement
Campus Climate Network
Hopkins AAUP
Coalition for Action in Higher Education