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Fearing Trump, universities restrict academic freedom
Los Angeles Times
|November 13, 2025
How to avoid federal ire? Undermine research and teaching preemptively
MIT WAS AMONG the universities to reject the Trump administration's bid to limit instruction.
(SCOTT EISEN Getty Images)
EVEN OUT OF the nine universities that the Trump administration invited to offer feedback on the so-called Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education have politely declined to sign on. At its core, the compact offers preferential treatment in exchange for institutional support for President Trump’s political agenda. This collective rejection was good news.
However, in some of the letters declining the compact, much ink was spilled to reassure the Trump administration that universities were already complying with many of the proposed changes without even being asked!
This story is from the November 13, 2025 edition of Los Angeles Times.
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