We Stand for Education and Against the Trump Higher Education LOYALTY OATHS

Colleges and universities are places of possibility where big ideas get tested, diseases are cured, new technologies are invented, and students have an opportunity to learn and develop new skills. They are engines of opportunity, sites of free expression, and economic hubs for whole communities, often serving as major employers and healthcare providers in their regions. As such, they are anchors of our democracy.

The Trump administration has imposed unprecedented and highly politicized regulations on institutions of higher education, pressured them with coercive funding threats, extorted promises to fall in line with right-wing ideology, and upended long held principles of civil rights, academic freedom, freedom of speech, and equality of opportunity.

Such actions are wrong. They are largely illegal, and they are losing in court.

Now the administration is planning to go even further—targeting not only the universities that President Trump personally dislikes but also the entire system of federally funded research across the country.

Currently, the federal government funds research based on peer review and scientific merit. Under the proposed “Trump compact,” it would make awards based on ideological fealty, taking taxpayer money and weaponizing it to undermine research and speech the current administration doesn’t like and punish people they disagree with.

The Trump compact is not just wrong—it is unconstitutional. It violates the first amendment by forcing universities to surrender their right of free speech and academic freedom in exchange for federal funds. The Supreme Court has repeatedly rejected this kind of coercion under the “unconstitutional conditions” doctrine—the government cannot use its spending power to dictate ideology or control thought.

A successful childhood cancer research project could be cut off because the university allows trans athletes to play on a team. A lab focused on ensuring a clean water supply could be shut down because the university’s mission includes promoting diversity in the student body. A nursing school could lose critical funding because professors are teaching about women’s history.

This policy is a clumsy attempt at thought policing that will have repercussions for all of society. It risks America’s world leadership in science, technology, innovation, and health care—creating opportunities for our competitors and our enemies to take the lead. It sets us backward toward an era of less innovation, fewer cures for diseases, and a shrinking economy.

We stand for education—for science, for students, and for freedom—and against this backward, anti-American policy. We call on university leaders, faculty, staff, and students to unite in rejecting the Trump compact and to defend the principle that no president has the right to buy obedience or sell off freedom.

⬇ Add Your Name by clicking below⬇

Or send an email to communications@aaup.org

Organizational Supporters

Faith in Action

CWA, PHEW Sector

OPEIU Local 153

Education4All

UChicago AAUP

National Education Association

PEN America

American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education

United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America

AAUP-Penn Executive Committee

Sunrise Movement

Campus Climate Network

Hopkins AAUP

Coalition for Action in Higher Education

Rutgers AAUP-AFT

UNC-Chapel Hill AAUP Chapter

University of Southern California-AAUP

Wesleyan AAUP

NYU AAUP

Arizona Students' Association

Brandeis AAUP 

AAUP Cornell Chapter

College Democrats of America

Fordham University AAUP

Tufts  University AAUP

AAUP-Ohio State University

Crimson Courage

AAUP CU Boulder Chapter

Stanford AAUP

Stand Together for Higher Ed

Indivisible

North Shore Friends (Quakers)

United Academics at the University of New Mexico

UNC Charlotte AAUP Chapter

APSCUF

University of Washington AAUP

ACT-UAW Local 7902

SUNY University Faculty Senate

U Wisconsin-Madison AAUP

Bucknell University AAUP

Northern Michigan University Chapter of the AAUP/AFT Local 6761

AAUP Chapter Ohio State University

Hamline AAUP Chapter

Pueblo Education Association

U Wisconsin-Madison AAUP

Connecticut State Conference of the AAUP

NC State University AAUP Chapter

Lamar University AAUP chapter

Arkansas Education Association

Drexel AAUP

AFT Massachusetts

BSU AAUP

National Council for Higher Education (NEA)

Franklin & Marshall College AAUP chapter exec. board

 PA-AAUP Conference Board

UConn-AAUP

AAUP chapter at Appalachian State University.

Montgomery College AAUP Chapter

Tulane AAUP

Morehouse AAUP

AAUP UNC Charlotte Chapter

Brown Chapter of the AAUP

AAUP Oregon

Service Employees International Union (SEIU)

DePaul AAUP

AAUP-Kenyon College

United Academics (AAUP/AFT Local 4996) at University of Alaska.

Faculty Alliance of Miami, AAUP-AFT, Local 375

Fairfield University Faculty Welfare Committee-AAUP chapter

University of Southern California AAUP Chapter

MO State AAUP

Bowdoin AAUP

UC-AFT Local 1474

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor AAUP chapter

AAUP at Southern Methodist University

AAUP Indiana University Bloomington

Ohio Student Association

Radford University AAUP

UCHC-AAUP

Mass Teachers Association

Faith in Action International

NEARI

Purdue Fort Wayne AAUP

UTampa AAUP

Public Citizen

Babson College AAUP

Central Michigan University Faculty Association

AAUP Indiana University Indianapolis

AAUP-Wright State University

United Academics at the University of Vermont

Quinnipiac AAUP Chapter