Special Edition: Editorial
The Compact and the Future of MIT
Members of The Editorial Board of the MIT Faculty Newsletter,
Nazli Choucri,
Christopher Cummins,
Sally Haslanger,
Thomas Heldt,
Ceasar McDowell,
Tanalís Padilla,
Nasser Rabbat,
Balakrishnan Rajagopal,
Robert Redwine,
Warren Seering,
Franz-Josef Ulm
The Faculty Newsletter exists to give MIT faculty a space for reflection and debate. All voices count – especially when the issue at hand touches the foundations of our scholarship and the future of the Institute and academia in general.
MIT’s Faustian Bargain
There are many ways for a university to lose its soul. Some do it slowly, by trimming values until only the trimmings remain. Others do it quickly, with a pen.
For MIT and Country
On October 1st, the administration in Washington invited MIT and eight other institutions to sign a “compact” that would offer favorable governmental treatment in exchange for our commitment to “pursuing Federal priorities with vigor.”
MITCAF Statement on the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”
The MIT Council on Academic Freedom objects to the proposed draft compact between the federal government and MIT. Its two core objections are that (i) the compact violates principles of academic freedom, and that (ii) the compact’s stance on institutional neutrality needs clarifying.
An Impossible Choice: How Trump’s “Compact” Threatens Our Universities*
As a former university president — of MIT — I have been thinking about how I would act if I’d been on the receiving end of the Trump administration’s proposed “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.’’
Thoughts About the Compact
I would like to share some thoughts about the compact proposed by the federal government to MIT and certain other universities although I am on sabbatical and don’t check my mail regularly.
The University Compact – My Take
When I first read The University Compact, I did not see a threat – I saw a mirror. A mirror held up to American higher education in general and MIT in particular.
MIT AAUP Chapter on the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”
MIT has been invited by the federal government to sign a so-called "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education."
Statement by Some Members of the MIT Council on Academic Freedom on the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”
As members of The MIT Council on Academic Freedom, we generally support the Compact as an opportunity for the MIT administration to promote its obligations of intellectual diversity, non-discrimination, institutional neutrality, and fiscal responsibility.
Democratic Campus Expression Has Been Key to US Science and Technology Leadership
Faculty and students on US college and university campuses were key to the emergence of US leadership in science and technology in the period after WWII.
A Call for Solidarity: Queer Lives at MIT
Recently, my synagogue organized a gathering to support parents of LGBTQ+ kids. The youngest mom there described how her nonbinary tween had been viciously bullied at school, while the most elderly couple confided that their recently transitioned adult trans daughter is scared she will lose . . .
The Endless Frontier 2
The “compact” MIT was invited to sign, along with eight other universities, is flawed, to put it mildly. Setting aside the issue of conditioning “priority for grants” on compliance with the Trump administration’s agenda, the compact is incompatible with free speech principles . . .
Reconstruction, Reclamation, and the New Compromise
After the Civil War, the United States entered a brief but transformative era known as Reconstruction, an ambitious national experiment in democracy and racial inclusion.
Academic Freedom in a Deliberative Democracy
Why is the Trump administration, and the broader anti-intellectual movement that supports him, taking aim at universities? Why are we being asked to sign the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”?
