Hamilton’s Position Under the Attack on Higher Education

On October 1st, 2025, the Trump administration sent a letter, called the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education" to 9 elite universities in the U.S. The administration did not state why these universities were chosen, however, the Compact is similar to the list of demands that the administration sent prior to Harvard and Columbia. Both the letter and Compact limit universities’ autonomy by restricting international enrollment and require universities to screen out or report students who are hostile to American values to the Department of Homeland Security and State Department. The Compact is more restrictive because it caps international student enrollment at 15%, and restricts other freedoms such as equity-based faculty hiring and student admissions. 

Hamilton Professor’s Department of Education Studies Perspective 

The Monitor discussed these restrictions with various Hamilton professors. These conversations revealed how universities have negotiated with the Trump administration prior to the Compact. Professor Stephen Wu, the Acting Director of Education Studies, stated “top universities, such as Brown and Columbia, were willing to agree to some of the administration’s demands” to keep federal funding while still maintaining some of “the university’s core values.” However, the Compact outlines stricter terms than the list of demands, further limiting universities' ability to keep their academic freedom and independence. 

Since federally funded schools, mainly universities, are at the forefront of this battle, liberal arts colleges such as Hamilton seem to be taking a more passive role. Professor Chaise La Dousa, Director of Education Studies at Hamilton, stated that “in some ways, [Hamilton is] protected” from Trump’s attack because “we don’t have graduate students” that rely on federal funding for their research. Hamilton College is a small school that is not heavily reliant on federal grants, meaning Trump's restriction on federal dollars would not drastically impact the functioning of liberal arts colleges, such as Hamilton, nor would it have much incentive to target them. 

President Steven J. Tepper’s Statement 

On November 12, 2025 in an interview with Hamilton College’s President, Steven J. Tepper, he made it clear that Hamilton will fight to maintain its values, but only if Hamilton is under threat. Hamilton is privileged since “we would always be able to make decisions,” possibly referring to the demands outlined in the recent Compact, regardless of whether the government’s priorities are aligned with Hamilton’s priorities. Liberal arts colleges, like Hamilton, are not as affected compared to top research universities. For Tepper to take action such as making a public statement, Hamilton’s “academic freedom would need to be at risk.” Since his duty as president is to preserve what Hamilton is doing, he said that “anything I do that diminishes that, I’m not doing my job.” As a result, Tepper is taking a reactionary approach because being too vocal before anything has happened to our institution is, as Professor Wu puts it, setting a “target on our backs.” 

When asked about how involved in terms of making public statements Hamilton should be with this Compact, President Tepper said he believes that he “has a higher level” of what he thinks “the impact needs to be before making big public statements.” The public statements that President Tepper refered to were made by Wesleyan Universities’ President Michael Roth, who has been vocal on various platforms such as NPR and X about the Compact. Overall, Hamilton professors, such as Professor Wu and LaDousa, and the college President have given similar responses to what Hamilton should do with this recent compact: avoid rash decisions to keep the college running smoothly.

How Other Universities Have Responded 

The Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon stated that the Compact is already at its “final form,” leaving universities’ little room for negotiations. Therefore, seven of the nine schools have already rejected the compact. On October 10, 2025, MIT’s President, Sally Kornbluth, rejected signing the compact, writing in her response letter, “Regarding The Compact,” that it would “restrict freedom of expression” and MIT’s “independence as an institution.” This was followed by 7 other universities, including Brown, Penn, USC. Meanwhile, The University of Texas has not rejected signing the Compact, but has not indicated its decision to this date even after the deadline, November 17th, has passed. Dartmouth College’s President, Sian Leah Beilock wrote in “Dartmouth’s Feedback on the Compact,” that any Compact with any administration would “compromise our academic freedom” and “our ability to govern ourselves.” They believe that universities should set their own policies that align solely with their values to build bipartisanship. 

Academics, University Leaders, and Speaker Opinions 

In an op-ed written by Danielle Allen, Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, she argues that critics of the Compact, such as faculty and higher education leaders, are rushing to judgement and not taking a valuable opportunity to form a coalition to negotiate reforms for higher education. She states that the compact allows for “higher education institutions to secure a good, mission-aligned agreement with the federal government,” but clarifies that she does not think universities should sign the Compact in its current state. Instead, they should start negotiations and discussions to rethink higher education’s values and amend the Higher Education Act, which governs higher education programs, that has not been updated for 18 years. 

Meanwhile, others such as the aforementioned Wesleyan University president, Michael Roth, have expressed very different opinions. In an NPR article, Wesleyan University President Michael Roth stated that Trump threatened to defund universities to get them to "express loyalty” to the administration. In a tweet sent on October 3, 2025, he made a public statement, in response to the Compact, stating that it was extortion and urged universities to reject it. He called for universities to stand in solidarity and to resist federal control over higher education. 

During former President Barack Obama’s discussion at Hamilton College’s Sacerdote Great Names series, on April 3rd, 2025, he stated to the Hamilton community that universities should ask if they had compromised their own values and broke the law. This means that colleges and universities should reflect on how they operate, such as questioning if enrolling qualified international students above a certain threshold violates a law. If they know it is not, and they are being intimidated, then they can protect their principles with their “big endowment.”

What Now? 

Hamilton has, in the past, along with other college and university presidents, expressed their disapproval of the Trump administration’s threats to coercive funding cuts and limits on academic freedom by signing the public statement written by the American Association of Colleges and Universities. Since Hamilton and other liberal arts colleges have the privilege to avoid the administration’s coercive threats, how will Hamilton, and other liberal arts colleges, work to protect higher education? And seeing other more politically vocal presidents, another question remains: should we, as an elite liberal arts college, take a bolder stance on this issue?