Following the Trump administration’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education invitation on Wednesday, the USC American Association of University Professors sent a petition rallying for USC to reject the compact.
The petition currently has over 500 signatures from various faculty, students and alumni. The petition states that academic excellence comes from upholding USC’s current values in changing times.
The compact addresses President Trump’s concerns regarding equality in admissions, which comes after his accusations against universities that were allegedly considering race in admissions decisions back in August, claiming that they were not following the 2023 Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action.
The compact also states that “No more than 15% of a university’s undergraduate student population shall be participants in the Student Visa Exchange Program, and no more than 5% shall be from any one country.” At USC, this would create a big impact on the number of international students, especially compared to the fall 2025 student population, which was 26.1% international students.
Some faculty members are worried about how classroom dynamics would be impacted if USC signed the compact.
“I think that I would be really concerned that that [the compact] would end up impacting our ability to teach students how to make arguments about controversial ideas, no matter what position they’re holding, simply because we have to teach them how to make good arguments,” said Patricia Taylor, an associate professor of writing.
In the matter of civil discourse and “importance of academic freedom,” the compact states, “Signatories commit themselves to revising governance structures as necessary to create such an environment, including but not limited to transforming or abolishing institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas.”
The petition feels differently about the compact’s approach to what is considered academic freedom, especially when facing potential repercussions.
The petition states, “When an invitation is accompanied by consequences for not accepting it, it is in fact a threat, not an invitation.”
“Universities and university presidents need to be the ones to stand up to Trump and say no, because we are not seeing industry leaders in specifically media and technology taking that kind of stance,” said Mike Ananny, an associate professor of communications and journalism.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom made a statement on Thursday that, “If any California university signs this radical agreement, they’ll lose billions in state funding — including Cal grants — instantly.”
In a Zoom meeting on Monday, just under 500 faculty and staff members attended to voice their concerns about the compact.
“To me, the most important paragraph is the last one. And I think everybody should read that where it says, and I’m quoting, ‘Adherence to this agreement shall be subject to review by the Department of Justice,’” said attendee Sarah Mesle, a professor of writing.
“Our decisions about whether we’re meeting the contract, even if we wanted to, won’t matter. The control over what we do in our classrooms…will be subject to the Department of Justice,” Mesle explained.
The last section of the compact that Mesle referred to went on to say, “Universities found to have willfully or negligently violated this agreement shall lose access to the benefits of this agreement for a period of no less than one year.”
Many of the attendees at this meeting raised the concept of upholding USC’s values, saying they will “fight on” through this process.