The Trump Administration calls the proposed agreement a compact for academic excellence -- offering greater access to federal funding to nine schools, including UVA, if they agree to certain terms.
Matthew Hedstrom, Associate professor of American Studies and Religious Studies at UVA, notes widespread opposition in the ranks.
"Faculty famously like to disagree, but not on this.I have never seen such unanimity among my colleagues." he says.
Among other things, the compact bars schools from considering race, ethnicity or gender in admissions and would have to require SAT or ACT scores.
"To make it only about grades and GPA and to not allow for a holistic assessment of individuals as individuals," Hedstrom argues.
Universities would also have to ensure a broad spectrum of ideological viewpoints on campus, with no single ideology dominant. Hedstrom says that could put research at risk.
"Research dollars would no longer go to those researchers who have the best ideas – the most promising lead in medicine or engineering. Instead, they would be funneled to researchers at universities that had signed the pledge."
Colleges must define terms like male and female, woman and man based on reproductive function and biological processes, screen foreign students for hostility to the United States, its allies or values and cap the population of international students at 15%. That would not be a problem for UVA, where fewer than 10% of students come from other countries – most from India and China, but Hedstrom says limiting international enrollment is a mistake.
"Students from outside the United States are a tremendous net benefit to our universities and to our society at large. We want to be the kind of place that attracts talent."
Opponents also worry that the compact calls for a five-year freeze on tuition.
"You know tuition is really high, and it would be great to make UVA more affordable," Hedstrom says, "but it’s the board of visitors and the general assembly that have purview over tuition and not the federal government."
What’s more, when schools are forced to limit tuition, they often cover the cash shortfall by scaling back on scholarships.
The association of university professors at UVA has called the compact’s threat of reduced federal support extortion -- the most significant threat to the mission of higher education since the McCarthy era.
That group joined the faculty senate in calling on UVA’s interim president and board to follow MIT’s lead in refusing to even discuss the compact with the U.S. Department of Education.
Instead, Paul Mahoney appointed a task force to advise him on what to do and indicated he was open to discussions, noting some parts of the compact were in line with university principles.
Meanwhile, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that the administration is now offering to let any institution sign on to the compact.
