Fellows Release Open Letter to the Leaders of American Universities
Below is a open letter that has been released by faculty fellows at leading Institutes for Advanced Studies in the U.S.:
As American-based fellows at leading Institutes for Advanced Studies in the United States, we write in response to the Trump administration’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” Nine institutions were initially invited to sign the Compact, which would require agreeing to meet several untenable conditions in exchange for preferential access to federal funds. Now the offer has been extended to all universities.
We assert, as others across the political spectrum have argued, that the Compact is based on an unconstitutional proposition, including making the receipt of a federal benefit contingent on the relinquishment of the right to freedom of speech. The Compact is further inconsistent with a long-held principle that scientific funding should be allocated based on excellence and merit, not on adherence to any partisan ideology. The Compact is thus an attack on both American liberties and universities, endangering the enviable strength and integrity of higher education in the United States and its global leadership.
American universities drive scientific breakthroughs that fuel economic growth, improve health, strengthen national security, and enrich civic life. These achievements require evidence-based, nonpartisan inquiry protected from political interference. Both research and education demand freedom—the independence to pursue truth wherever it leads.
The Compact would undermine this foundation. Universities would cede control over curricula, research priorities, student admissions, and faculty hiring to a federal government that has the power to impose a singular ideology. The result: campuses stripped of intellectual independence, speech controlled by officials in Washington DC, and America's competitive edge in innovation sacrificed to politics.
By endangering the core mission and global standing of American higher education, the Compact is a threat to all institutions of higher learning across the United States. We therefore urge the leaders of all US universities to stand up publicly against the Compact or any similar agreements.
But individual resistance is not enough. An attack on one institution threatens all, and this moment demands collective action from all leading universities. America's major institutions of higher education must lead by forging a genuine compact—one that defends all higher education institutions against federal coercion. This mutual defense agreement should:
Establish a shared fund supporting any member institution under attack
Provide legal expertise and resources to any targeted institution
Operate inclusively, recognizing that targeting one university attacks all universities
The strength of American higher education lies in our collective commitment to truth, freedom, and excellence. The response must be unified and unequivocal: Universities will defend American freedom. They will protect each other. And they will preserve the constitutional principles that make American universities—and America itself—worth defending.
Abbreviations:
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS), Stanford University; Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), Princeton University; Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (Radcliffe), Harvard University; Russell Sage Foundation (RSF), New York, NY
Signatories:
Maya Altman, CASBS Fellow
Edwin Amenta, University of California, Irvine, RSF Visiting Scholar
R. Lanier Anderson, Stanford University, CASBS Fellow
Mary Campbell, RSF Visiting Scholar
Miroslava Chavez-Garcia, University of California, Santa Barbara, CASBS Fellow
Molly Crockett, Princeton University, IAS Fellow
Kenneth Dodge, Duke University, CASBS Fellow
Elena Esposito, Bielefeld University and University of Bologna, CASBS Fellow
Corey D. Fields, Georgetown University, CASBS Fellow
Vasiliki Fouka, Stanford University, CASBS Fellow
Melani Cammett, Harvard University, Radcliffe Fellow
Everett Harper, CASBS Fellow
Aniko Imre, University of Southern California, Radcliffe Fellow
Pauline Jones, University of Michigan, CASBS Fellow
Ellen Ernst Kossek, Purdue University, CASBS Fellow
Batja Mesquita, University of Leuven, CASBS Fellow
Shobita Parthasarathy, University of Michigan, IAS Fellow
Loretta Platts, Stockholm University, CASBS Fellow
Francesca Polletta, University of California, Irvine, RSF Visiting Scholar
Sandra Ristovska, University of Colorado Boulder, CASBS Fellow
Wendy D. Roth, University of Pennsylvania, RSF Visiting Scholar
Mary Shenk, Pennsylvania State University, CASBS Fellow
Jeff Spinner-Halev, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, CASBS Fellow
David Stark, Columbia University, CASBS Fellow
Jeanne Tsai, Stanford University, CASBS Fellow
Inés Valdez, Johns Hopkins University, IAS Fellow
Ralph Wedgwood, University of Southern California, CASBS Fellow
Elizabeth Wrigley, University of Minnesota, RSF Visiting Scholar
Linda Zerilli, University of Chicago, CASBS Fellow
