In case you missed the news yesterday, the Trump administration has formally reached out to Dartmouth to sign an agreement and join the new “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” Signing on would come with requirements. The Wall Street Journal described some of the requirements as outlined by the Trump Administration – Dartmouth would have 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.” In exchange, Dartmouth would receive funding preference.
Nine universities were invited to join the compact. Notably, five of the nine universities have presidents who did not sign the American Association of Colleges and Universities letter criticizing the Trump administration for its attacks on higher education.
I don’t want to say that I saw this coming, but I did. When College President Sian Leah Beilock abstained from signing the AACU letter condemning Trump’s attacks on higher education, she set herself apart and sent a message to President Trump and his administration. It wasn’t a wholehearted endorsement by any means, just a small smile and a wave, but now President Trump has come to formally introduce himself.
Don’t get me wrong – a lot of what the agreement would require of Dartmouth is excellent. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that many of the requirements would make Dartmouth a better institution. A freeze in tuition increases seems apt, especially after tuition skyrocketed last year by 5%. I am firmly against the practice of using race or sex in hiring decisions. We’ve already instituted standardized testing requirements, so that isn’t a big deal. Although I am against the idea of capping the number of international students we accept, this rule wouldn’t really affect Dartmouth admissions much at all –16% of the Class of 2028 were international students, as was 15% of the Class of 2029. Right on target.
The point here is not the content of the policy. It is about what signing onto it means for academic freedom and the extent of the state’s reach into civil society. If we sign onto this letter, we relinquish all institutional autonomy. It sends a bold message that we will allow the government to rewrite our rules however it chooses. This is an extremely dangerous precedent to set.
I’ve heard the practical argument for capitulation: that if we don’t sign onto the agreement, we’ll be moved onto Trump’s naughty list, and we will face funding and other repercussions as a result. Retribution will come for our funding and maybe even our international students; that it would be better to protect our international students and just sign the agreement, make minimal changes to our institution, and move on. Stay safe for the next couple years.
I urge those who take this stance to adopt a long-term perspective on the trend we are witnessing. The same arguments applied when there was a debate about whether Beilock should sign the AACU letter. That was about singing a symbolic piece of paper. Now, the Trump administration is attempting to completely change our rules, and the same arguments are being groggily pulled out and repeated. Wouldn’t it just be easier if we gave in? Wouldn’t it be better for all of us?
The fact that we are even considering what retribution might come for not signing onto to the compact should be enough to lay bare what some of us already knew. That we’re being held hostage. The job of a college, and especially a venerated one, is to do the things that are not easy. We ask our students to do this every day at Dartmouth with intense courseloads. So, why can’t our institutional leaders seem to do it too?
So, President Beilock, if being on the right side of history and protecting civil society means losing funding or facing off with a government in the wrong, so be it. Dartmouth is uniquely suited to do this. We have $9 billion dollars in the bank and some of the most loyal, intelligent and caring alumni in the world who will stand by the institution’s side.
While it would certainly be nice for increases in tuition to be freezed, it would be tragically ironic if Trump was the one who did it. Don’t join his club.
Opinion columns represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
Eli Moyse ’27 is an opinion editor and columnist for The Dartmouth. He studies government and creative writing. He publishes various personal work under a pen name on Substack (https://substack.com/@wesmercer), and you can find his other work in various publications.
