California Gov. Gavin Newsom has now reportedly declared political war on President Donald J. Trump’s sweeping new higher education agenda, threatening to strip billions in state funds from any university that dares embrace the president’s plan to reform American academia.
The Trump administration this week unveiled what it calls the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” a 10-page declaration aimed at pulling universities back from the ideological and financial excesses that have dominated campuses for decades.
The compact demands that universities dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion bureaucracies, end race and gender-based admissions standards, halt tuition hikes, cap international enrollment, restore standardized testing requirements, and guarantee free speech protections for conservative students. It also forbids race-based hiring and blocks the use of university endowments for political activism.
In exchange, institutions that sign on would receive preferential access to massive federal research grants, higher overhead payments, and priority in civil rights investigations. Nine elite universities were invited to join the compact, including the University of Southern California — the lone California institution on the list.
Newsom responded with fury, echoing the bombastic tone of Mr. Trump’s social media posts. In an all-caps statement, the governor declared: “IF ANY CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY SIGNS THIS RADICAL AGREEMENT, THEY’LL LOSE BILLIONS IN STATE FUNDING — INCLUDING CAL GRANTS — INSTANTLY. CALIFORNIA WILL NOT BANKROLL SCHOOLS THAT SELL OUT THEIR STUDENTS, PROFESSORS, RESEARCHERS, AND SURRENDER ACADEMIC FREEDOM.”
The financial stakes are considerable. USC, a private university, received $28.4 million in Cal Grants last year. Across the state, private institutions collected $227.6 million, while California’s public universities — the sprawling UC and CSU systems — took in $2.2 billion in Cal Grant funding in the most recent budget year. Newsom’s threat, in effect, places every dollar on the line.
Predictably, the legacy media has accused the Trump administration of “politicizing” higher education. Yet the White House insists its effort is about restoring fairness and accountability. “Our hope is that a lot of schools see that this is highly reasonable,” said May Mailman, a senior adviser to Mr. Trump.
Still, the pushback from academia’s traditional power brokers has been swift and disdainful. Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, dismissed the comp
act as a “Faustian bargain.” Larry Summers, the former Treasury Secretary under Barack Obama, sneered that the effort resembled “fixing a watch with a hammer.”
But Trump allies argue that the loudest voices of opposition are the very figures who have presided over a decades-long drift toward ideological conformity, skyrocketing tuition, and declining academic standards.
The compact, they note, would put universities back in line with the principles of merit, affordability, and open inquiry — values once celebrated in American higher education but increasingly marginalized.
With his threat, Newsom has effectively placed California’s universities in a high-stakes standoff: obey the state’s political orthodoxy, or accept the president’s offer of greater federal resources and accountability.
For students and families frustrated with rising costs and shrinking opportunities, the question is whether schools will have the courage to prioritize education over politics.
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