Education Secretary Linda McMahon last week issued a national call to action to college and university leaders, outlining the Trump administration’s priorities for higher education and urging institutions to make a series of policy changes.
The letter follows last year’s proposed but unsuccessful “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” which would have given institutions preferential treatment for funding in exchange for making certain policy changes.
This time, the Department of Education is asking campus leaders to publicly describe how they’re addressing selected priorities, such as making admissions more transparent, ensuring that students can access an affordable education, safeguarding research integrity from malign foreign influences, and protecting campus free speech. Instead of prescribing a set of reforms or asking institutions to sign on to a common agenda, the department is asking colleges and universities to describe work that is already underway on campuses.
The larger question is what comes next in the Trump administration’s relationship with higher ed. ACE President Ted Mitchell told Inside Higher Ed, “I hope even more it’s a philosophical shift to working together to make institutions as good as they can be.” He also shared that he is viewing this latest move as “a tentative handshake” between the administration and academic institutions.
The department has said that institutions have until the end of the year to share any reforms aligning with these policies. Many institutions are already pursuing these priorities, but whether campuses respond is up to them.