President Suresh Garimella announced Monday afternoon that the University of Arizona will not sign the Trump administration’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education as it’s written, citing the university’s commitment to academic freedom, institutional independence and merit-based research.
In a campuswide email sent at 1:48 p.m., Garimella said the university, after consulting with the Arizona Board of Regents, shared governance groups, faculty, students and staff, “has not agreed to the terms outlined in the draft proposal.” However, the administration has not officially denied participation in some version of the compact.
Instead, UA submitted a Statement of Principles to the U.S. Department of Education that emphasized academic freedom and institutional autonomy.
“The University of Arizona steadfastly believes in a merit-based pursuit of excellence in fulfilling its mission of education, research and engagement, with a vibrant marketplace of ideas and perspectives and equal treatment of all,” Garimella wrote in the letter addressed to Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
The decision follows weeks of campus discussion and public debate.
The compact has sparked significant concern within the UA community, engaging students, alumni and staff across multiple forums. Earlier this month, the Faculty Senate voted to oppose the compact, and on Friday, Oct. 17, hundreds of students, faculty and alumni gathered at Old Main to call on the university to reject the proposal.
Introduced Oct. 1, the compact would have linked federal funding to universities’ compliance with new policy directives, including restrictions on diversity hiring, caps on international student enrollment and tuition freezes. Critics across higher education argued the measure threatened to politicize research priorities and erode university independence.
UA was among nine universities invited to provide feedback. Others included Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Southern California — all of which have declined to sign.
The university’s Statement of Principles outlines its stance on issues ranging from student learning and equal treatment to freedom of expression and fiscal responsibility. It pledges that UA “shall continue to hold success for every student as its North Star” and “maintains its commitment to academic freedom, which undergirds the right of faculty to teach free from unreasonable or arbitrary restrictions.”
The Arizona Board of Regents, UA’s governing body, reviewed and endorsed the university’s position before submission.
The UA will continue engaging with federal and state leaders, as well as peer institutions, to advance reforms that “benefit students, protect academic freedom and strengthen the country’s higher education system,” Garimella said.
“This response is our contribution toward a national conversation about the future relationship between universities and the federal government,” Garimella said in his campuswide email.
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