*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
Rutgers AAUP-AFT
UNC-Chapel Hill AAUP Chapter
University of Southern California-AAUP
Wesleyan AAUP
NYU AAUP
Arizona Students' Association
Brandeis AAUP
AAUP Cornell Chapter
College Democrats of America
Fordham University AAUP
Tufts University AAUP
AAUP-Ohio State University
Crimson Courage
AAUP CU Boulder Chapter
Stanford AAUP
Stand Together for Higher Ed
Indivisible
North Shore Friends (Quakers)
United Academics at the University of New Mexico
UNC Charlotte AAUP Chapter
APSCUF
University of Washington AAUP
ACT-UAW Local 7902
SUNY University Faculty Senate
U Wisconsin-Madison AAUP
Bucknell University AAUP
Northern Michigan University Chapter of the AAUP/AFT Local 6761
AAUP Chapter Ohio State University
Hamline AAUP Chapter
Pueblo Education Association
U Wisconsin-Madison AAUP
Connecticut State Conference of the AAUP
NC State University AAUP Chapter
Lamar University AAUP chapter
Arkansas Education Association
Drexel AAUP
AFT Massachusetts
BSU AAUP
National Council for Higher Education (NEA)
Franklin & Marshall College AAUP chapter exec. board
PA-AAUP Conference Board
UConn-AAUP
AAUP chapter at Appalachian State University.
Montgomery College AAUP Chapter
Tulane AAUP
Morehouse AAUP
AAUP UNC Charlotte Chapter
Brown Chapter of the AAUP
AAUP Oregon
DePaul AAUP
AAUP-Kenyon College
United Academics (AAUP/AFT Local 4996) at University of Alaska.
Faculty Alliance of Miami, AAUP-AFT, Local 375
MOState AAUP
Bowdoin AAUP
UC-AFT Local 1474
Mass Teachers Association
Faith in Action International
NEARI
UCHC-AAUP
AAUP Sacred Heart University Chapter
AAUP Indiana University Bloomington
Ohio Student Association
Radford University AAUP
Purdue Fort Wayne AAUP
UTampa AAUP
Public Citizen
Babson College AAUP
Central Michigan University Faculty Association
United Academics at the University of Vermont
AAUP Indiana University Indianapolis
AAUP-Wright State University
Quinnipiac AAUP Chapter
UNC Wilmington AAUP Chapter
American University AAUP
Barnard College AAUP Chapter
AAUP at Southern Methodist University
Board of Directors of the American Association of Philosophy Teachers