UE’s Higher Education Conference Board released a statement today calling on universities to reject the so-called “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” being promoted by the Trump administration, which asks universities to exchange autonomy for preferential funding. On Monday at 7pm ET / 4pm PT, the conference board will be hosting a “Workers Over Deals” webinar to discuss how higher ed workers can push back through collective organizing.
The statement explains that the compact “promises universities preferential funding benefits and federal favor” if they agree to carry out the political agenda of the Trump administration, which includes “limiting international student enrollment; banning transgender people from using restrooms or joining sports teams that align with their gender identity; restraining the free speech of university employees on ‘political’ or ‘societal’ matters; and abolishing any institutional spaces that ‘belittle’ conservative ideas.”
As the statement notes, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) became the first university to reject the compact after UE Local 256 (MIT-GSU) brought together leaders from other campus organizations and launched an open letter and campaign demanding that MIT’s president reject the deal.
UE higher education members are calling on other universities to join MIT in rejecting the Trump administration’s unconstitutional compact. As they say in their statement:
If universities continue to acquiesce to the federal government’s demands, it will irreparably harm and hollow out higher education for generations to come. The Trump administration has consistently shown that it cannot be trusted to act in good faith. Making any concessions to its demands will certainly give way to further attacks on higher education. University administrators have a choice to take a principled stance, and our unions can serve as powerful vehicles to hold them accountable to the people who are the true reasons our campuses can thrive. Together, we must work to ensure our university administrations reject the compact’s unconstitutional demands.
The conference board is also encouraging all UE higher education members and supporters to wear their "Workers Over Deals" button and/or a union shirt on Friday, October 24 to show solidarity across higher education.
The statement has also been endorsed by nine UE locals:
- Cornell Graduate Students United — UE Local 300 Executive Board
- Graduate Students United at the University of Chicago — UE Local 1103 Executive Board
- Northwestern Graduate Workers Union — UE Local 1122 Executive Board
- Campaign to Organize Graduate Students — UE Local 896 Coordinating Committee
- Teachers and Researchers United — UE Local 197 Central Coordinating Committee
- NMSU Graduate Workers United — UE Local 1498 Executive Board
- MIT Graduate Student Union — UE Local 256 Executive Board
- Stanford Graduate Workers Union — UE 1043 Executive Board
- Graduate Organized Laborers of Dartmouth — UE Local 261
