University of Virginia Won't Join White House's Compact for Colleges

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2. U.Va. rejects Trump administration Compact for Academic Excellence

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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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