This evening, the White House approached Dartmouth and eight other universities to sign an agreement in exchange for funding benefits, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” would require Dartmouth to “ban the use of race or sex in hiring and admissions, freeze tuition for five years, cap international undergrad enrollment at 15%, require that applicants take the SAT or a similar test and quell grade inflation,” the Journal explained.
Universities that sign and violate the terms of the agreement could be forced to return “any money” they received from the federal government “that year” and “any private contributions,” according to the Journal.
These universities were chosen because the White House believes they “are, or could be, ‘good actors,’” senior adviser for special projects May Mailman told the Journal.
Beilock sent an email to campus on Oct. 3 titled “Response to the ‘Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,”’ reiterating her commitment to academic freedom.
“I am deeply committed to Dartmouth’s academic mission and values and will always defend our fierce independence,” she wrote. “You have often heard me say that higher education is not perfect and that we can do better. At the same time, we will never compromise our academic freedom and our ability to govern ourselves.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Dartmouth reinstated standardized testing in the fall of 2024, making the recently-matriculated Class of 2029 the first to have applied with the requirement. Sixteen percent of the Class of 2028 was international students, according to data from the College admissions office, and 15% of the Class of 2029 was international.
The College has declined to release other demographic information on the Class of 2029 so far. Last year, the College released racial, geographic and ethnic statistics on Sept. 16.
The other universities which received letters from the federal government tonight are fellow Ivy League schools Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania; elite private universities the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Southern California and Vanderbilt University; and state universities the University of Arizona, the University of Texas and University of Virginia.
Of the nine total, presidents of five — including Dartmouth — did not sign an April 22 letter from the American Association of Colleges and Universities criticizing the Trump administration for revoking federal funding from universities.
Several of these universities also recently reached agreements with the federal government to resolve investigations into their conduct. On July 1, the University of Pennsylvania reached an agreement with the Department of Education to adopt the Trump administration’s definition of sex as biological, and will no longer allow transgender women to compete in female sports, according to a press release from the Department of Education. Brown University struck a deal with the White House on July 31 to restore federal research funding and end investigations into alleged discrimination in exchange for the university’s adoption of the Trump administration’s definition of “male and “female,” among other terms, according to the National Public Radio.
Update Appended (Oct. 5, 1:44 p.m.): This article has been updated with a statement from the president of the College.
Annabelle Zhang '27 is a reporter and editor from New Jersey. In the classroom, she studies Geography and Government modified with Philosophy and Economics. She enjoys creating recipes, solving puzzles and listening to music.
