University of Virginia Won't Join White House's Compact for Colleges
Source: New York Times
University of Virginia Won't Join White House's Compact for Colleges
It was the fifth school in a matter of days to refuse an offer of preferential funding treatment from the government, even as the White House has threatened schools that do not sign up.
The University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Kirsten Luce for The New York Times
By Stephanie Saul
Oct. 17, 2025
Updated 7:17 p.m. ET
The University of Virginia became the fifth school to rebuff a White House proposal to give universities preferential treatment if they uphold a set of White House demands.
The White House offered the proposal to nine universities last week, asking them to sign on to a list of requirements laid out in a 10-page document in exchange for funds. In declining to sign on to the agreement, Paul G. Mahoney, Virginia's interim president, said that while the university agreed with many principles outlined in the proposal, it wanted "no special treatment" in funding.
"A contractual arrangement predicating assessment on anything other than merit will undermine the integrity of the vital, sometimes lifesaving, research and further erode confidence in American higher education," Mr. Mahoney wrote in a note to Linda McMahon, the education secretary, and two other administration officials.
Mr. Mahoney's announcement, which also went out to the campus community late Friday afternoon, followed similar decisions in the past week by other schools that received the government's offer, including M.I.T., Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California..
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Michael C. Bender and Alan Blinder contributed reporting.
Stephanie Saul reports on colleges and universities, with a recent focus on the dramatic changes in college admissions and the debate around diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education.
https://www.nytimes.com/by/stephanie-saul
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/us/university-of-virginia-white-house-compact.html
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Steven L. Johnson
@stevenljohnson.org
· 6h
UVA says no to the compact
To the University of Virginia community:
On Monday of last week, Rector Rachel Sheridan and I shared a message with the community regarding the proposed Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education. We were asked to provide comments on the proposal no later than October 20.
Today, I sent the letter below to the Secretary of Education and to White House officials. The letter confirms our core values and commitments while expressing our view that federal research funding should be based on merit.
I want to thank personally the Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, Student Council, and many other members of our community who expressed their opinions on the proposed Compact, through the online form we provided and other means. Your thoughtful feedback shows a profound care for the University and a strong commitment to its future.
We will continue to work to strengthen free expression and free inquiry, protect academic freedom, ensure affordability , promote intellectual pluralism, and maintain institutional neutrality in an increasingly polarized world. I am grateful for your continued dedication to the University and I look forward to working with you on these vital projects.
Paul Mahoney
Interim President
University of Virginia
ALT
October 17, 2025
The United States Department of Education
Washington, DC 20202
Dear Secretary McMahon, Ms. Mailman, and Mr. Haley,
Thank you for your letter inviting comment on the proposed Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education. We wholeheartedly agree that “American higher education is the envy of the world.” We also agree with many of the principles outlined in the Compact, including a fair and unbiased admissions process, an affordable and academically rigorous education, a thriving marketplace of ideas, institutional neutrality, and equal treatment of students, faculty, and staff in all aspects of university operations. Indeed, the University of Virginia leads in several of these areas and is committed to continuous improvement in all of them.
We seek no special treatment in exchange for our pursuit of those foundational goals. The integrity of science and other academic work requires merit-based assessment of research and scholarship. A contractual arrangement predicating assessment on anything other than merit will undermine the integrity of vital, sometimes lifesaving, research and further erode confidence in American higher education.
Higher education faces significant challenges and has not always lived up to its highest ideals. We believe that the best path toward real and durable progress lies in an open and collaborative conversation. We look forward to working together to develop alternative, lasting approaches to improving higher education.
Sincerely yours,
Paul Mahoney
Interim President
University of Virginia
ALT
October 17, 2025 at 4:45 PM
******
UVA says no to the compact
— Steven L. Johnson (@stevenljohnson.org) 2025-10-17T20:40:24.554Z
******
Steven L. Johnson
@stevenljohnson.org
UVA says no to the compact
To the University of Virginia community:
On Monday of last week, Rector Rachel Sheridan and I shared a message with the community regarding the proposed Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education. We were asked to provide comments on the proposal no later than October 20.
Today, I sent the letter below to the Secretary of Education and to White House officials. The letter confirms our core values and commitments while expressing our view that federal research funding should be based on merit.
I want to thank personally the Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, Student Council, and many other members of our community who expressed their opinions on the proposed Compact, through the online form we provided and other means. Your thoughtful feedback shows a profound care for the University and a strong commitment to its future.
We will continue to work to strengthen free expression and free inquiry, protect academic freedom, ensure affordability , promote intellectual pluralism, and maintain institutional neutrality in an increasingly polarized world. I am grateful for your continued dedication to the University and I look forward to working with you on these vital projects.
Paul Mahoney
Interim President
University of Virginia
ALT
October 17, 2025
The United States Department of Education
Washington, DC 20202
Dear Secretary McMahon, Ms. Mailman, and Mr. Haley,
Thank you for your letter inviting comment on the proposed Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education. We wholeheartedly agree that “American higher education is the envy of the world.” We also agree with many of the principles outlined in the Compact, including a fair and unbiased admissions process, an affordable and academically rigorous education, a thriving marketplace of ideas, institutional neutrality, and equal treatment of students, faculty, and staff in all aspects of university operations. Indeed, the University of Virginia leads in several of these areas and is committed to continuous improvement in all of them.
We seek no special treatment in exchange for our pursuit of those foundational goals. The integrity of science and other academic work requires merit-based assessment of research and scholarship. A contractual arrangement predicating assessment on anything other than merit will undermine the integrity of vital, sometimes lifesaving, research and further erode confidence in American higher education.
Higher education faces significant challenges and has not always lived up to its highest ideals. We believe that the best path toward real and durable progress lies in an open and collaborative conversation. We look forward to working together to develop alternative, lasting approaches to improving higher education.
Sincerely yours,
Paul Mahoney
Interim President
University of Virginia
ALT
October 17, 2025 at 4:40 PM
******
= new reply since forum marked as read
U.Va. rejects Trump administration Compact for Academic Excellence
President Mahoney shared a statement with the University community Friday evening in which he thanked the community for their feedback on the Compact
The Rotunda at U.Va., seen from the Lawn side in winter.
Photo by Hannah Tuten | The Cavalier Daily
By Cecilia Mould
October 17, 2025
The University has rejected the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” which it received from the White House and Department of Education Oct. 1, according to a community statement released Friday evening by Interim University President Paul Mahoney.
The Compact and accompanying letter invited the University and eight other institutions to join an agreement which, in return for signing on to a series of conditions, would provide the University with preferential access to research funding and federal partnerships.
In his email, Mahoney shared the letter which he sent to the Department of Education Friday, in which he said that the University does not wish to receive any preferential treatment for federal funding.
“We seek no special treatment in exchange for our pursuit of those foundational goals. The integrity of science and other academic work requires merit-based assessment of research and scholarship,” Mahoney wrote. “A contractual arrangement predicating assessment on anything other than merit will undermine the integrity of vital, sometimes lifesaving, research and further erode confidence in American higher education.”
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Last edited Sat Oct 18, 2025, 05:13 AM - Edit history (1)
Good on the UofV! 
My SIL took his Fellowship there many Moons Ago.
Then they went back to Portland were they've Lived for decades. 
