University of Arizona latest to turn down Trump's policy demands

"The University of Arizona has become the seventh university to decline to sign a set of policies put forward by the administration of US President Donald Trump in exchange for an offer of preferential consideration for federal funding. In a statement shared on Monday, the university said it had decided not to sign the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, citing its commitment to principles including academic freedom, merit-based research funding, and institutional independence."

"The six other universities that had already said they will not be signing the compact are: Brown University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Southern California, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Virginia and Dartmouth College. Some of the terms laid out in the compact included universities agreeing to disregard race and sex when admitting students or hiring faculty, and committing to keeping international students to no more than 15 percent of undergraduate enrolments."

"As a Monday deadline given by the White House passed, two of the schools Vanderbilt University and the University of Texas at Austin had yet to publicly announce their decision. Vanderbilt University Chancellor Daniel Diermeier said in a statement that the institution was participating in a dialogue with the Trump administration but had not been ordered to either accept or reject the compact."

The University of Arizona declined to sign the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, citing commitments to academic freedom, merit-based research funding, and institutional independence. The university noted that some recommendations merited consideration while many proposals already exist at the institution. Seven of nine elite universities approached by the Trump administration have refused to sign the compact. Two institutions, Vanderbilt University and the University of Texas at Austin, had not publicly announced decisions as a White House deadline passed. Six other universities that refused were Brown, MIT, USC, Penn, Virginia, and Dartmouth. The compact included terms on disregarding race and sex in admissions and hiring and limiting international undergraduates to 15 percent.

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