Vanderbilt professors recommend against signing Trump higher ed compact

Professors at Vanderbilt University have recommended against an agreement calling for the university to comply with directives from the Trump administration in exchange for favor in receiving federal grants.

Vanderbilt is among nine universities asked to sign a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” Those who enter into the agreement are promised preferential access to student loans, research funding and approval of student visas.

The costs for these benefits, however, is too high according to Vanderbilt’s faculty senate.

“It called a special meeting yesterday in which a resolution urging the administration to reject the compact was discussed and adopted by a pretty resounding margin,” Bruce Barry, Vanderbilt professor, said while appearing on WPLN’s This is Nashville.

This isn’t the first time that staff has spoken out against the compact.

On Monday, the Vanderbilt chapter of the American Association of University Professors released a statement calling the compact a “threat” and a sign of political interference in higher education. More specifically, they said that the compact violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by classifying demographic diversity as discrimination.

Additionally, professors expressed concern that the restrictions will stifle students’ academic growth.

“We cannot sincerely ask our students to ‘dare to grow’ in the environment of fear and mistrust that this Compact would produce in our community,” the statement read.

Other requirements of the compact include:

• Enforcing a strict, binary definition gender by only acknowledging the terms “male” and “female,” according to reproductive function
• Capping enrollment of foreign students to 15% of the student population
• Abolishing practices that “punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas”

More than 900 students and faculty members signed a petition against the compact as of Wednesday morning. They referred to it as a “fascist takeover” of the United States.

Vanderbilt released the following statement: “We look forward to carefully reviewing the compact and providing meaningful feedback to the administration.”