The White House is asking nine universities — including one in Arizona — to commit to President Donald Trump’s political priorities in exchange for preferential access to federal grants.
The University of Arizona is among the schools asked to adopt the White House’s vision for America’s campuses.
It’s called the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” and the 10-page proposal was sent to UA as well as Vanderbilt, the University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth College, the University of Southern California, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Texas, Brown University and the University of Virginia.
UA Faculty Senate Chair Leila Hudson said the reporting she’s seen so far concerns her.
"The threat of continuing to withdraw federal funding from neutral institutions, public institutions, effective institutions, until they submit to certain political conditions or ideological conditions, is deeply problematic," Hudson told AZPM.
It’s not clear why or how UA was selected.
Signing on would give universities priority access to some federal grants, but government money would not be limited solely to those schools, according to a White House official who was not authorized to publicly discuss the plan and spoke on condition of anonymity. Colleges that agree would also have priority access to White House events and discussions with officials.
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