Under the compact, international enrollment would have to be capped at 15% of a college’s undergraduate student body, and no more than 5% could come from a single country. All the universities invited to the compact appear to be within the 15% threshold, though Dartmouth and USC are close, at 14%, according to federal data. Many universities do not report breakdowns by individual countries.
Most other U.S. universities also fall within the 15% cap, but about 120 exceed it, including Columbia University, Emory University and Boston University, federal data show.
Some of the most sweeping commitments are aimed at promoting conservative viewpoints. Universities would have to ensure their campuses are a “vibrant marketplace of ideas” where no single ideology is dominant, the memo said. They would have to evaluate views among students and faculty to ensure every department reflects a diverse mix of views.
To accomplish that, it says universities must take steps including “transforming or abolishing institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas.”
It requires policies meant to counter the kind of protests that roiled U.S. campuses last year amid the Israel-Hamas war. It asks for a commitment to prevent any disruption to classes or campus libraries and to ensure demonstrators don’t heckle other students.
Campuses that sign the compact would have to freeze tuition for U.S. students for five years, and those with endowments exceeding $2 million per undergraduate could not charge tuition at all for students pursuing “hard science” programs.
Opponents see a threat to free speech
Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, urged universities to reject the deal, saying it violates campus independence and undermines free speech.
“It’s not worth the compromises that they would have to make,” he said. “This is a Faustian bargain.”
The compact also drew criticism from free speech groups and from Larry Summers, a former treasury secretary and Harvard president. Summers said he believes elite universities have lost their way, but he said the compact is like trying to “fix a watch with a hammer — ill conceived and counterproductive.”
“The backlash against its crudity will likely set back necessary reform efforts,” Summers said.
The terms of the deal would be enforced by the Justice Department, with violators losing access to the compact’s benefits for no less than a year. Following violations bump the penalty to two years.
“Institutions of higher education are free to develop models and values other than those below,” the compact said, “if the institution elects to forego federal benefits.”