Headlines for October 3, 2025
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The Trump administration is asking nine public and private universities to sign a deal to help promote conservative ideas on campus in exchange for federal funding. The administration is calling it a 10-point “compact” and promised “substantial and meaningful federal grants” if universities take action against academic departments that “purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas.”
The Trump administration is also demanding that the universities ban the use of race or sex in hiring or admissions and cap foreign students to 15% of undergraduates. Walt Heinecke, a faculty member at the University of Virginia, one of the universities targeted by the Trump administration, warned that the memo threatens academic freedom.
Walt Heinecke: “It’s a threat. And it’s a threat that should be taken seriously and should be reacted to in a way in which I think all colleges and universities who this is — this is meant to actually be applied later to all universities and colleges, not just to the nine or 10 that have received the letter. So, that means that we should all be thinking about how to resist this particular form of intrusion.”
On Thursday California Gov. Gavin Newsom warned administrators against signing trump’s 10-point “compact.” Newsom wrote on social media, “If any California university signs this radical agreement, they’ll lose billions in state funding—including Cal Grants—instantly. California will not bankroll schools that sell out their students, professors, researchers, and surrender academic freedom.”