In our view, America’s leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence. In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences.
MIT’s stance, as Inside Higher Education reported, generated widespread praise from academics:
“I am proud to say that MIT has rejected Trump’s poison compact,” American Association of University Professors president Todd Wolfson wrote on Bluesky shortly after the news broke.
And some scholars suggested that MIT had established a precedent that others may look to. Brendan Cantwell, a higher education professor at Michigan State University, questioned in a post on Bluesky whether MIT’s action changes “the calculus” for the other eight universities. . . .
Lawmakers such as Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) also weighed in. “This is what courage in the face of authoritarianism looks like. No university should take Trump’s bribe & surrender their integrity—bending the knee to a bully only feeds the beast & puts ALL our rights at risk.” Even Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has taken to battling Trump on the Epstein files, praised MIT. “The surest way to screw up the world’s best technical school is to let feds tell them how to run it,” Massie wrote. “Congrats to my alma mater for turning down a bribe to let the executive branch dictate what happens on its campus.”
And, lo and behold, Brown University followed suit on Thursday. “I am concerned that the Compact by its nature and by various provisions would restrict academic freedom and undermine the autonomy of Brown’s governance, critically compromising our ability to fulfill our mission,” its president reaffirmed.
Then, in quick succession, the University of Penn reportedly rejected the proposed preferential funding compact; as did the University of Southern California (USC). Meanwhile, the other institutions who originally received the proposed Faustian bargain (University of Arizona, the University of Texas, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Virginia) will have to decide whether to follow MIT’s principled stance or enable Trump’s totalitarian project.
After the MIT humiliation, the Trump regime decided to shop the compact to all universities. We will see if any takes the deal MIT, Brown, Penn, and USC rejected.
MIT, followed by three other universities, distinguished itself by remaining undaunted in defense of free expression, academic independence, and intellectual rigor, demonstrating that resistance is not futile. MIT and those that followed its lead deserve our recognition and gratitude for standing up to the bully-in-chief.
We hope others beyond higher ed look to the trend MIT initiated. (Interestingly, virtually all major news outlets this week also rejected the Pentagon’s outrageous and onerous restrictions on their reporting; in addition, a growing list of airports are refusing to run DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s propaganda video.)
You—our Contrarian community—know that the antidotes to bullying are spine and solidarity. By turning out (and bringing family, friends, and neighbors!) at a No Kings Day event on Saturday, you can help make this the largest day of protest in American history.