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I am affiliated and have been affiliated with several top universities, including the two in Cambridge, MA. I'm an academic. I say that because this stuff direc

I am affiliated and have been affiliated with several top universities, including the two in Cambridge, MA. I'm an academic. I say that because this stuff directly affects my career prospects. The Compact itself can be found here: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Compact-for-Academic-Excellence-in-Higher-Education-10.1.pdf https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/1... It's short, I ask that you read it before commenting. It's too bad MIT has taken this stance. I think the Compact is overall an obviously reasonable, good-faith effort to improve universities in the United States. The one area I'd change a bit is the specific mention of "conservative" ideas: "...purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas." It's entirely fair because these universities do purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas. But it's not what I'd want in such a document because next time around it could be "liberal" ideas, or "communist" ideas, or... Everything else seems on the nose. I would hasten to remind you that the threat is not "we'll force you to do this stuff", it is "if you want federal funding, you'll do this stuff". Which seems fine to me. Much of the document is merely trying to actually enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

bananapub 1y ago
> obviously reasonable, good-faith effort to improve universities in the United States I really find HN to be a truly surreal place at this time.
- BrokenCogs 1y ago
  Don't underestimate the wealthy and their moral ambivalence
- NoImmatureAdHom 1y ago
  I think you probably don't understand just how batshit crazy universities had gotten.
wrs 1y ago
The purpose of a university is to expand knowledge, which is itself not a “conservative idea”. A university that can’t “belittle” obviously false ideas like “the earth is flat” or “evolution isn’t real” or “the climate isn’t changing” just because they’re popular with whoever’s calling themselves “conservatives” at the time is not capable of functioning. You’re picking out the quote that reveals the entire document for what it really is, and choosing to ignore it.
- wat10000 1y ago
  I’m reminded of this classic: Conservative: I have been censored for my conservative views Me: Holy shit! You were censored for wanting lower taxes? Con: LOL no...no not those views Me: So....deregulation? Con: Haha no not those views either Me: Which views, exactly? Con: Oh, you know the ones
runako 1y ago
Can you imagine the conservatives at MIT (they are there!) being happy that MIT outsourced price-setting and hiring decisions to the White House? This Compact aims to radically reshape the management of higher education. In that, it is anything but conservative. Conservatives should reject it for that reason alone. > "if you want federal funding, you'll do this stuff" There's another piece that keeps getting lost. That is: the US government has a set of policy goals it is trying to accomplish. Outsourcing to third parties some parts of the work of getting there is a cash-light approach. As an American, I think this is better than e.g. the DoD building duplicate capacity (and competing for researchers) at multiples of the cost. In one sense, MIT gets federal funding in the same way that Raytheon gets federal funding (and there are DoD asset tags at MIT to prove it). This isn't just MIT getting funding, it's also the US buying some capacity from MIT. It's a mutually beneficial transaction.
wat10000 1y ago
It's a power grab that makes the university effectively subordinate to the federal government. The most important part is the end: if the university violates the agreement, they not only lose funding, they also have to give back what they received the previous year. Such a clawback would be devastating, much worse than merely denying funding going forward. And who determines whether there's a violation? The Department of Justice apparently has sole power to make that determination. There's no mention of any appeals process or oversight. That means that if the President has a compliant Attorney General, they can demand pretty much anything of the university under threat of finding them in violation, regardless of whether they've actually done anything wrong. It could be a reasonable, good-faith effort if it were put forth by reasonable, good-faith people. But it very much was not.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- hollerith 1y ago
  The power grab started decades ago when a distinct minority of the US started to take over our universities by preferentially hiring and promoting those who share their ideology. Trump is an attempt by the voters (most of whom do not share the ideology) to undo the power grab.
  - wat10000 1y ago
    Funny how this doesn’t actually address what I said.

bananapub 1y ago

> obviously reasonable, good-faith effort to improve universities in the United States I really find HN to be a truly surreal place at this time.

BrokenCogs 1y ago
Don't underestimate the wealthy and their moral ambivalence
NoImmatureAdHom 1y ago
I think you probably don't understand just how batshit crazy universities had gotten.

wrs 1y ago

The purpose of a university is to expand knowledge, which is itself not a “conservative idea”. A university that can’t “belittle” obviously false ideas like “the earth is flat” or “evolution isn’t real” or “the climate isn’t changing” just because they’re popular with whoever’s calling themselves “conservatives” at the time is not capable of functioning. You’re picking out the quote that reveals the entire document for what it really is, and choosing to ignore it.

wat10000 1y ago
I’m reminded of this classic: Conservative: I have been censored for my conservative views Me: Holy shit! You were censored for wanting lower taxes? Con: LOL no...no not those views Me: So....deregulation? Con: Haha no not those views either Me: Which views, exactly? Con: Oh, you know the ones

runako 1y ago

Can you imagine the conservatives at MIT (they are there!) being happy that MIT outsourced price-setting and hiring decisions to the White House? This Compact aims to radically reshape the management of higher education. In that, it is anything but conservative. Conservatives should reject it for that reason alone. > "if you want federal funding, you'll do this stuff" There's another piece that keeps getting lost. That is: the US government has a set of policy goals it is trying to accomplish. Outsourcing to third parties some parts of the work of getting there is a cash-light approach. As an American, I think this is better than e.g. the DoD building duplicate capacity (and competing for researchers) at multiples of the cost. In one sense, MIT gets federal funding in the same way that Raytheon gets federal funding (and there are DoD asset tags at MIT to prove it). This isn't just MIT getting funding, it's also the US buying some capacity from MIT. It's a mutually beneficial transaction.

wat10000 1y ago

It's a power grab that makes the university effectively subordinate to the federal government. The most important part is the end: if the university violates the agreement, they not only lose funding, they also have to give back what they received the previous year. Such a clawback would be devastating, much worse than merely denying funding going forward. And who determines whether there's a violation? The Department of Justice apparently has sole power to make that determination. There's no mention of any appeals process or oversight. That means that if the President has a compliant Attorney General, they can demand pretty much anything of the university under threat of finding them in violation, regardless of whether they've actually done anything wrong. It could be a reasonable, good-faith effort if it were put forth by reasonable, good-faith people. But it very much was not.

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
hollerith 1y ago
The power grab started decades ago when a distinct minority of the US started to take over our universities by preferentially hiring and promoting those who share their ideology. Trump is an attempt by the voters (most of whom do not share the ideology) to undo the power grab.
- wat10000 1y ago
  Funny how this doesn’t actually address what I said.