Tucson leaders voted unanimously Wednesday to pass a resolution opposing a compact proposed by the Trump administration with the University of Arizona.
Dubbed the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, the proposal was offered to nine schools nationwide and offers priority for federal funding if they commit to changes aligned with the Trump administration’s agenda.
It asks universities to introduce things like caps on international student admissions, and to commit to the idea that there are only two genders and apply it to bathrooms, sports and other spaces.
Tucson City Council member Rocque Perez said the proposal conditions federal funding for UA on political conformity.
“That’s not someone else’s business, frankly that’s ours. It’s an intrusion into our community and to the lives and livelihoods of thousands of Tucsonans who study, teach and work at the university,” Perez said. “Capitulation is not in Tucson's nature, the university drives more than one billion in research each year, and sustains thousands of local jobs. International students are a crucial part of that ecosystem.”
Perez and Vice Mayor Lane Santa Cruz brought the resolution before the Tucson mayor and City Council and it was put to a vote during the group’s meeting Wednesday evening.
It’s another attempt to make universities choose between federal funding and their independence. That kind of political interference has no place in our classrooms or research Labs,” Santa Cruz said during the meeting. “Tucson’s future depends on protecting that freedom to learn, to question, to innovate without fear of political pressure.”
Mayor Regina Romero said the university has already seen cuts to its Hispanic-serving institution grants and DEI initiatives.
“It has already seen an intrusion by this administration that is purely political, and compliance will get us even more political demands from this administration,” she said.
Earlier this week, the University of Arizona faculty Senate voted to reject the compact. University leadership has not yet made a public decision.
