29 MIT organizations demand MIT firmly reject the Trump administration’s controversial compact
The open letter argues that signing the compact would allow the Trump administration to wield unprecedented control over MIT’s operations
Vivian Hir–The Tech
On Friday, Oct. 3, 18 MIT student organizations, including the MIT Graduate Student Union (GSU) and the MIT Coalition for Palestine, signed an open letter requesting President Kornbluth to refuse the conditions of the college compact that the Trump administration released on Oct. 1. On Oct. 10, MIT President Sally Kornbluth rejected the compact.
An additional 12 organization leaders and over 900 individuals have signed the letter at the time of publication. The ten-page compact outlines a lengthy list of demands for nine universities, including MIT, in one of the most comprehensive documents released by the administration in its ongoing campaign targeting higher education.
The compact would require colleges to stop considering diversity factors in admissions, financial aid, disciplinary procedures, and staff hiring. It would also force universities to commit to strict binary definitions of gender and eliminate “institutional units” that target conservative ideas. The document mandates that universities with “endowments exceeding $2 million per undergraduate student” waive tuition for students pursuing degrees in “hard sciences” and freeze “effective tuition rates for the next five years.” Furthermore, the compact would limit international undergraduate enrollment and require the consideration of standardized testing in admissions.
The open letter, published by MIT Graduate Student Union, called the compact a “fundamental violation of core principles of higher education and academic freedom.” It argued that signing the compact would enable “unprecedented control” from presidential administrations over admissions, research, and classroom discussion, opening the door to further attack towards MIT’s international or LGBTQ+ community members along with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies across campus. The open letter urged MIT to defend the student body’s academic freedom and civil rights by firmly refusing to negotiate or comply with the compact’s demands.
In an official statement published on Monday, Oct. 6, the MIT Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) argued that the compact would violate their values of academic freedom and institutional governance by forcing MIT to align with the ideological agenda of “the administration of the day.”
From MIT AAUP’s point of view, the compact is a “political intrusion into the pursuit of knowledge” due to its special protection of conservative views. Ultimately, they believe that the compact could interfere with peer review designed to focus on academic merit rather than political ideology.
In the statement, MIT AAUP stated that the government would have a “broad mandate” to suppress any ideology it does not agree with, citing this restriction of speech as a likely violation of the First Amendment. Under the compact’s “rubric of institutional neutrality,” the compact would prohibit all university employees from acting or speaking on societal and political events unrelated to the university — a restriction that MIT AAUP deemed an educational failure and a betrayal of “deliberative democracy.”
The organization opposed the compact’s demand to “vet international students,” calling it a vague loyalty test unwelcome in a nation and world that “requires [MIT] to welcome international perspectives." MIT AAUP added that the requirement to adopt a “trans-exclusionary definition of gender” would violate academic freedom by interfering with scientific and medical research that operates on the contrary. In their opinion, the compact would betray the transgender students, faculty, and staff who find MIT a safe place to live, work, and learn.
In summary, the MIT AAUP’s statement called for MIT senior leadership and the MIT Corporation to reject the compact “wholesale,” noting that it would fatally wound MIT’s academic reputation and debase MIT’s values of “academic excellence, freedom, integrity, and intellectual merit”.
MIT AAUP member Professor Ariel White from the Political Science Department believes that signing the compact “would appear to waive many of MIT’s legal protections in interacting with the federal government.” By framing federal funding as contingent on MIT’s cooperation with the compact, it gives “the administration a lot of leverage to make additional demands on compact signatories.” White wrote, “In short, it's a trap.”
Nadia Zaragoza, Vice President of MIT’s Graduate Student Union (GSU), stated that the Local Executive Board signed the open letter to respond to the Trump administration’s attempt to “bribe higher ed institutions with increased or prioritized funding to comply with far right attacks on LGBTQ+ students, international students, and DEI programs.” In the board’s opinion, the compact threatens free speech and academic freedom by giving the Trump administration control over admissions, research, and classroom discussion. Furthermore, Zaragoza argues the compact endangers the “integrity of [graduate students’] work” by directly attacking members of the community, as 40% of graduate students are international and many identify as LGBTQ+.
Jess Luma, Assistant Director of Digital Deliveries at Sloan Executive Education, described herself as an observer to the ongoing debate over the compact. She expressed concern that President Kornbluth had not yet released an official response, especially given that, as a member of MIT’s LGBTQ community, the compact’s traditional interpretations of gender jeopardizes both her safety and the safety of the community as a whole. Luma emphasized that the future of higher education is at stake if President Kornbluth does not resist the demands of the compact.
James Randall ’28, President of Reading for Revolution (R4R), stated that his organization signed the open letter to “demonstrate MIT students and faculty are opposed to Trump’s demands” and ensure that MIT “doesn’t sell us out.” He worries the compact will restrict trans students’ access to gender-affirming healthcare and hurt MIT’s diversity. Randall noted that MIT faces the decision to align itself with the “conservative crackdown on immigrants' rights, trans rights, and other civil liberties” or to reject it. “The ethical choice is clear,” Randall wrote.
Vivian Hir ’25 and Rohan Dhillon ’29 contributed to reporting on this article.
A correction was made on October 11, 2025: A previous version of the article misstated that, at the time of publication, the open letter had amassed signatures from an additional 11 organization leaders and 400 individuals. Additionally, Zaragoza is the Vice President of MIT GSU, not the President.