Having used the stick with some success in an effort to end “woke ideology” on college campuses, the Trump Administration is now offering a carrot.
The White House calls it the “Compact for Excellence in Higher Education.”
It’s a 10-point list of demands sent to nine top colleges including Brown. In exchange for compliance, the universities are being promised friendlier treatment going forward, including priority access to federal funds.
“There’s going to be a point where enough is enough,” said Thomas Serre, a professor of cognitive and psychological sciences. “In my opinion, we are already past that.”
“This is just going to open the door to all kinds of new demands,” Serre added. “I really hope the university administration is not going to settle anything, because there’s nothing to be settled.”
Brown already agreed to a $50 million settlement with the White House earlier this year.
“The second that agreement was signed I said this was not going to be the end of anything,” said undergraduate Derek Block. “The goal wasn’t just to remove the super-woke things — the goal was to remove any trace of equity and equality on campus.”
The administration’s new demands include freezing tuition for five years, capping international undergraduate enrollment at 15%, ending grade inflation, requiring incoming students take the SAT, and banning race and sex as a consideration in both admissions and hiring.
The administration also wants a commitment from Brown that it will strictly prohibit anything that would “punish, belittle and even spark violence against conservative ideas” on campus.
The Wall Street Journal, which broke the story Thursday morning, quoted the White House point-person on higher education saying that the administration will likely be offering other universities the same deal.
“Our hope is that a lot of schools see this as highly reasonable,” senior advisor May Mailman told the Journal.
But that’s not the sentiment of any of the students, faculty and prospective parents who spoke with Ocean State Media Thursday.
Senior Talia Sherman said, in her view, Brown would be selling its soul if it accepted what she sees as onerous new demands.
“What they’re offering is access to the White House and increased grants in the short term,” she said. She hopes Brown will reject the plan.
“He’s putting universities in a hard spot,” observed Steven Klein, the father of a prospective Brown student. “Everything that’s valuable in this country comes from universities. And now we’re messing with it? It’s disgusting.”
In addition to Brown, the new list of demands went out to Vanderbilt, Dartmouth, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Arizona.
We reached out to the Brown University spokesman for comment. He did not reply.
