By MATEUS FERREIRA/Head Writer
UT Austin has until Nov. 21 to accept a deal from the Trump administration, which offers universities preferential access to federal funds — if they agree to specific policy changes.
This decision could be pivotal for UT Tyler.
”Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” includes requirements for institutions to protect conservative ideology, define gender on biological processes, freeze tuition rates for five years, cap international undergraduate enrollment, make standardized testing, such as the SAT, mandatory for applicants and refund tuition to students who drop out in their first year.
According to the Texas Tribune, nine schools were initially offered this deal. Most Universities turned it down. UT Austin is the only university that has not responded.
The Trump administration has since extended the offer to all of higher education. If the UT system’s flagship university accepts the deal, some worry other UT schools will follow suit.
Although UT Austin already has similar policies, critics have said the deal will violate freedom of speech and result in government oversight. According to KXAN, the university’s eerie silence has been met with multiple student protests.
Impact on Political Campus Culture
The compact demands that “institutional units” be abolished or changed if they “purposefully punish, belittle and even spark violence against conservative ideas. The administration claims this is an effort to maintain a “vibrant marketplace of ideas where different views can be explored, debated, and challenged.”
It also bans university employees from expressing political views on behalf of the university unless they directly impact the school. Under the deal, signatories must commit to maintaining “institutional neutrality.”
Additionally, institutions must submit plans on how the offered courses uphold civic values and Western civilization.
The 10-page memo outlined how if a university’s endowment exceeds $2 million per student, tuition will be eliminated for students enrolled in “hard sciences.”
An external party would evaluate whether the institution has followed the compact by polling students and employees. Institutions would then publicly publish an “empirical assessment” of the viewpoints from students, faculty and staff.
Additionally, universities must commit to ending grade inflation and removing DEI from admission and hiring processes.
Young Democrats of UT Tyler
“My holistic opinion is that the compact is definitely executive overreach, and I do not agree with the overall goal,” said Marcus Emmanuel, the president of Young Democrats of UT Tyler. “Under no circumstances should an administration try to push a specific ideology onto college campuses, especially considering that these are supposed to be places of free expression.”
Emmanuel criticized the claim that conservatism is being oppressed within higher education. He explained progressive ideology is more common in universities simply because it has “better warranting.”
UT Tyler’s Turing Point USA
Reese Elizabeth Cooper, the president of UT Tyler’s Turning Point USA chapter, said the compact “will revive meritocracy and advocate for truth in college campuses.”
“DEI, or Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, sounds like an idea that couldn’t be contested. However, it inherently implies that those who are considered minorities are not capable of getting into college without government interference. Your immutable characteristics shouldn’t define your worth, which is what DEI believes across the board. “
She added UT Tyler would benefit from adopting the policies and the university should remain in compliance with the UT System, “as it is coming directly from the White House.”
International Students
The memo caps international enrollment at 15 percent, with no more than 5 percent from any one country. International students will be required to take “instruction in American civics.” Upon request, universities must share “all known information” about foreign students with the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State.
The memo warns of the risk that foreign students will take the spot of “deserving American students.” It adds that if international admission is not “properly vetted,” it can lead to “saturating the campus with noxious values such as anti-Semitism and other anti-American values, creating serious national security risks.”
New Protest Policies
The compact would impose stricter limits on already rigid policies regarding campus protests. Universities must “use force if necessary” and enforce “sanctions” on demonstrators who disrupt study spaces, target and harass specific groups of students, or obstruct access to campus based on students’ race. It also demands that universities stop demonstrators who verbally drown out a speaker.
The compact references Pro-Palestinian protests at UCLA in 2024, where there were reports of Jewish students being harassed and blocked from going to class.
What if UT Austin Agrees?
If a university in the compact fails to follow the policies, it would face Justice Department penalties and lose all federal funds given in the year of violation.
According to Inside Higher Ed, other universities, aside from the original nine, are interested in the compact but are awaiting further developments, making UT Austin’s decision critical, as it is the only one that has not responded.
On Oct. 20, UT Dallas’s independent newspaper, The Retrograde, published an opinion piece on the potential deal. In it, the editor-in-chief, Gregorio Olivares Gutierrez, criticized the compact and shared his fear that UTD might end up signing on to it.
Kevin P. Eltife, a former mayor of Tylr and University of Texas System Board of Regents chairman, said on Oct. 2 that “we welcome the new opportunity presented to us” and would review the compact, according to Inside Higher Ed. Since then, he has only told the Texas Tribune that “Nothing has changed. It’s a work in progress.”
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