ACE, Others Call on Trump Administration to Reforge Compact with Higher Education

​​​Today, more than 50 higher education organizations, representing tens of millions of students, educators, researchers, and administrators nationwide, have come together in a statement that expresses broad opposition to recent actions by the administration that jeopardize the longstanding partnership between the federal government and colleges and universities.

​​The statement emphasizes that the campus-federal partnership has made American higher education an engine of national progress and prosperity and urges the administration to reforge this vital compact and work with colleges and universities to advance our shared national interests.

It is dangerous and disruptive, the statement notes, to hold billions of dollars for education and competitively awarded research grants hostage for political reasons and without due process. Efforts to condition funding on colleges and universities surrendering control to the federal government of core functions such as what students they admit, what courses they teach, and who teaches them is harmful to students, institutions, and our country.

"Higher education can and must improve to earn and maintain the public's trust. But political attacks against higher education only divide and weaken us all," the groups state.

There is a better way, stresses the statement. It calls on the administration to join colleges and universities in renewing and expanding the partnership essential for building a stronger America.