The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) rejected the plan proposed by the government to nine universities to receive federal support in exchange for accepting 10 points, among which the reduction of their foreigners registration.
Last week, the White House issued letters to the University of Arizona, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas, Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia.
The goal was to ask them to commit to President Donald Trump’s political priorities in exchange for more favorable access to federal funds or risk losing this type of support.
The Trump administration’s demands are outlined in a document titled “Pact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”where it asks educational institutions to freeze their tuition fees for five years, prohibit the use of sex and gender as factors in their admissions process and limit the number of international students, among other points.
In the document signed by Linda McMahon, Secretary of Education; Vince Haley, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council; and May Mailman, senior White House advisor for special projects, assured that universities willing to accept the agreement would receive “multiple positive benefits.”
“Higher education institutions are free to develop models and values other than those set forth below, if they choose to waive federal benefits,” part of the document states.
However, the first university to openly reject it was the M.I.T. through a response written and submitted by Sally Kornbluth, president of the institute.
“It includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution.
And fundamentally, The premise of the paper is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based solely on scientific merit.
In this free market of ideas, MIT people happily compete with the best, without preferences. Therefore, with all due respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to address the problems facing higher education,” indicates part of the text.
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