"Swift Federal Enforcement Against Universities Practicing Racial and Gender Discrimination"
U.S. President Donald Trump has urged universities to join a federal government agreement that prohibits considering race and gender in college admissions policies.
On October 12 (local time), President Trump stated on the social media platform Truth Social, "For most of American history, universities have been one of our nation’s great strategic assets. Tragically, however, much of higher education has lost its way, polluting our youth and society with 'woke,' socialist, and anti-American ideologies." He went on to criticize these ideologies, saying, "They have become tools for universities to justify discriminatory practices that violate the Constitution and the law."
'Woke' originally referred to an awareness of progressive issues such as racial and gender discrimination. However, among conservatives, 'woke' is now used critically to describe the imposition of progressive values and identities.
President Trump said, "The Trump administration is swiftly correcting these problems through a great reform of higher education. Our great educational institutions will prioritize merit over 'group identity,'" adding, "We will firmly enforce federal law against universities that continue to engage in unlawful discrimination based on race or gender."
President Trump also called on universities to participate in the government's "Pact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education," stating, "Those (universities that join) will agree to end racially discriminatory admissions policies and to stop unfair and illegal discrimination in faculty hiring." He further stated, "They will pledge to uphold high academic standards, ensure intellectual freedom on campus-including freedom of expression and debate-maintain political neutrality, reduce student burdens, and secure financial independence from foreign funding."
Previously, the Trump administration sent letters to nine universities requesting that they sign this agreement. The pact includes provisions such as prohibiting consideration of race or gender in admissions and hiring, limiting the enrollment rate of international undergraduate students to 15 percent, requiring submission of SAT or similar standardized test scores, and freezing tuition for five years.
The Trump administration stated in the letter that universities signing the agreement would receive several benefits, including substantial federal funding. The nine universities that received the letter are Dartmouth College, the University of Pennsylvania, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brown University, Vanderbilt University, the University of Arizona, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas, and the University of Virginia. Among these, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology refused to sign, stating, "Financial support for scientific research must be based solely on scientific merit."
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