We are the students, workers and alumni that keep our universities running. We are writing you to urge you to pledge to reject the Trump administration's "Loyalty Oath" compact. Trump has already demanded nine schools join the compact, and is likely to issue demands to others soon. He wants his administration to decide who can safely attend our schools, what can be taught, and what can be said on campus. If adopted, the compact would force our schools to adopt strict limits on international student enrollment, share sensitive student information with the Trump admin, threaten affinity spaces, and take action against "institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle and even spark violence against conservative ideas.” In return, he's dangling the vague promise of federal funding preference.

Trump's attacks on our universities is an attempt to consolidate power through the capture of universities. This compact directly undermines our right to academic freedom and goes against every democratic principle our country and our schools should uphold. We reject the Trump administration’s attempt to cajole universities into compliance through explicit bribery. Extorting our universities to comply with ideological demands and quell freedom of speech is not only anti-democratic; it threatens our ability to teach and study freely, and thus the very bedrock of academia in the United States of America.

One point in the memo holds true. The skyrocketing cost of college tuition have made a college education out of reach to everyday working people, while countless others have been left with untenable levels of student debt. However, through his "Loyalty Oath" Trump is presenting a false choice between freedom and affordability. The reality is that in the richest country in the history of the world, we can have both. The solution to the crises of college affordability and student debt is not to capitulate to authoritarian overreach.

This isn't just about our individual institutions. Universities have long been a beacon of democracy and free speech in this country. Trump wants to extinguish that flame. He wants to force our schools to bend the knee and set a precedent for schools and other institutions around the country. He wants to use our compliance as a green light to force universities across the country into similar agreements. As university leaders with the power to accept or deny Trump's offer, you have an urgent responsibility to stand up against this overreach and be a leader for democracy and freedom in this country. It's not just the integrity of our institutions that are at risk, but the very soul of this country.

Our message is simple: Which side are you on? Do not fold, do not sign, do not trade away our fundamental rights for false promises.