Trump tries bribery.

Update. #Dartmouth just rejected the Trump compact (Oct 18). Here's the public letter from Dartmouth President Sian Leah Beilock.
https://president.dartmouth.edu/news/2025/10/dartmouths-feedback-compact

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Update. The U of Arizona just rejected the Trump compact (Oct 20). Here's the public letter from #UArizona President Suresh Garimella.
https://president.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/2025-10/Suresh-Garimella-to-Sec-Linda-McMahon.pdf

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Update. From Barbara Snyder, President of the Association of American Universities (#AAU), on the Trump compact:
https://www.aau.edu/newsroom/press-releases/statement-aau-president-administrations-higher-education-compact

"Federal support for higher education must never be tied to ideological alignment with any administration."

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Update. #Vanderbilt has not yet accepted or rejected the Trump compact. But Chancellor Daniel Diermeier just released a vague and inconclusive open letter on where it stands.
https://t.e2ma.net/message/tu4xiq/5vxmu1ke

"Last Friday, Vanderbilt participated in a discussion with members of the administration and other university leaders about shaping a productive process for providing such comments. We expect to share our input with the administration through that process. Our response will be grounded in our long-held principles and values…Vanderbilt believes deeply in the power of constructive dialogue."

The letter is undated (why?) but the Chronicle reports that it was made public on Oct 20.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/compact-live-updates-more-colleges-weigh-responses-as-deadline-for-feedback-looms

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Update. Like Vanderbilt (above), #WashingtonU has not not accepted or rejected the Trump compact. But also like Vanderbilt, its Chancellor, Andrew Martin, just released a vague and inconclusive statement on where it stands (Oct 20).
https://andrewdmartin.washu.edu/washu-to-join-conversation-about-the-future-of-higher-education/

"We believe it is in the best interest of our university, and higher education more broadly, for us to participate constructively, share our experience and expertise, and help inform policies that strengthen the nation’s research and education ecosystem…We firmly believe meaningful progress will best be achieved through open, ongoing dialogue."

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Update. #WashingtonU has now rejected the Trump compact. Here's the public letter from Chancellor Andrew Martin (Oct 22).
https://wustl.app.box.com/s/f3wwjqkrq9x1ovyz28d3r3cxmo8kwlk9

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Update. #SyracuseU will also reject the Trump compact, according to an Oct 22 statement by Chancellor Kent Syverud to the University Senate. Apparently there is not a public letter announcing the decision.
https://dailyorange.com/2025/10/syverud-declines-trump-compact-senators-pass-portfolio-review-resolution/

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Update. "#NewCollege of #Florida Is Ready To Be The First To Sign President Trump’s Higher Education Compact."
https://www.einpresswire.com/article/861953402/new-college-of-florida-is-ready-to-be-the-first-to-sign-president-trump-s-higher-education-compact

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Update. The University of Kansas provost says that #UKansas will not sign the Trump compact.
https://www.kansan.com/news/ku-won-t-sign-trump-s-higher-education-compact-was-never-invited-to-provost-says/article_aaea8512-a72a-4c9f-b45e-44f38dd835d4.html

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Update. #ValleyForgeMilitaryCollege just offered (Oct 28) to sign the Trump compact. Here's the open letter from its President and Chairman of the Board to the Trump Dept of Education.
https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/10/vfmc-letter-trump-admin.pdf

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Update. Five faculty from five institutions argue that "Colleges Must Reject Trump’s ‘Compact’ To Protect Our Democracy."
https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2025-11-20/college-university-trump-law-professors-compact-opinion

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Update. The U of Virginia surveyed its community in October on how it should respond to the #Trump compact. The Chronicle of Higher Education got the results through a public-records request.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/uva-asked-its-community-to-weigh-in-on-trumps-compact-heres-what-they-said
(#paywalled)

" 'Nope. Nothing. Nada.' 'Not at all.' 'No'. 'NO.' 'NO!'… Those curt replies were broadly representative of the responses as a whole…The F-word is used nine times…There were nearly 200 references to #UVa’s founder, #ThomasJefferson, almost all of which were in service of the argument that the compact went against his vision of the university. 'Stand your ground,' one wrote. 'You know it’s what Thomas Jefferson would have wanted.' "

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Update. The American Enterprise Institute (#AEI) defends the #Trump compact and offers some improvements.
https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/the-trump-administrations-higher-education-compact-eight-proposals-for-delivering-on-its-vision/

After the compact was introduced (Oct 2025), "a rough consensus emerged that the Trump administration had identified crucial problems but that its solution needed work. This project is an attempt to do some of that work."

By "rough consensus" I suppose AEI means "rough consensus of the people and orgs we read." If so, take that as a sign of how it reads.

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Update. Billionaire #MarcRowan was the driving force behind the #Trump compact with universities.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/us/billionaire-marc-rowan-trump-deal-universities.html

It helps to know that Rowan is the owner of the for-profit University of Phoenix...
https://www.republicreport.org/2025/billionaire-behind-trump-pressure-campaign-on-colleges-owns-predatory-university-of-phoenix/

...which has paid hundreds of millions to settle more than a dozen claims of fraud.
https://vetsedsuccess.org/university-of-phoenix-recent-actions-and-concerns/

Now we learn that Rowan has a history of talking business with #JeffreyEpstein.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/business/dealbook/epstein-files-business.html

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