This administration’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” exposes the desire of the United States government to reach into civil society’s institutions to shape them according to its will, violating the legal frameworks of our country and of the universities themselves. For a document that at the outset correctly states that “American higher education is the envy of the world and represents a key strategic benefit for our Nation,” it is surprising how little credit it gives in the following nine pages to the pillars that make American higher education eminent: the tenure-review system, academic freedom, open expression, and shared governance among faculty, students, and administrators. For a large portion of their history, American universities have also benefited from operating under democracy, a political regime in which all questions could be pursued without fear of political retribution. Like every institution, universities evolve and must address their problems. However, the solutions to our universities’ problems must be home-grown, not imposed by the overreach of government. We receive funding from the U.S. government, and in exchange we advance research and discoveries that benefit the country and the world. We petition for visas for our international constituents, who come to advance our education and knowledge production in all the roles they serve. Our relationship with the federal government is important, essential indeed. The support from the federal government, however, must not come with strings attached, other than those established by law. As the U.S. government increasingly rules by decree and centralizes power in the executive branch, the University of Pennsylvania is in a unique position to lead in civil society, to coordinate with our peers to defend the shared governance of faculty, students, and administrators, to oppose the political interference by government, and to defend the democratic values and norms that make knowledge production and the scientific pursuit of truth possible. Let’s unite with our peers and say “No” to “The Compact.”
TULIA FALLETI is a Class of 1965 Endowed Professor of Political Science. She formerly served as the chair of Penn’s Faculty Senate. Her email is falleti@sas.upenn.edu.
