On Friday, Penn President Larry Jameson publicly released the full text of the University’s letter to the Department of Education declining to sign the preferential funding compact.
In an Oct. 24 email to the Penn community, Jameson said he was releasing the letter “in the spirit of transparency” following requests from the Penn community after his Oct. 16 announcement that Penn had submitted feedback about the compact to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. Of the seven schools that declined the White House’s offer, Penn was the only one that did not immediately disclose the contents of its written response.
The letter emphasized that Penn’s “policies and practices are already aligned with many of the core principles” outlined in the proposed compact.
“Our support of the nation is enduring,” the letter read. “We agree that universities must uphold the highest standards of excellence grounded in merit, integrity, and accountability.”
However, Jameson wrote to McMahon that “significant portions of the Compact and its overarching framing would undermine Penn’s ability to advance our mission and the nation’s interests.”
He raised five major concerns, including regarding provisions that established funding preferences based on “subjective standards and undefined processes.”
Jameson expressed an additional concern that the compact harms academic freedom and promotes protections for “conservative thought alone.” The letter also criticized the compact’s focus on tuition-free education for students in the “hard sciences,” warning of “unintended consequences.”
In the letter’s conclusion, Jameson wrote that universities “already have a compact with the American people … built on the open exchange of ideas, merit-based selection and achievement, and freedom of inquiry to yield knowledge.”
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In his email, Jameson confirmed that Penn has “not had any further discussions with the government regarding the Compact” since submitting the letter.
“Penn respectfully declines to sign the proposed Compact. We hope this feedback is useful and we remain open and committed to partnering with the federal government to advance discoveries, educate future leaders, and serve our community, nation, and world,” Jameson wrote in the letter.
Following Jameson’s Oct. 16 decision, Penn became the third university to decline the offer.
In an Oct. 5 message, Jameson announced that the University was “reviewing” the document and would seek input from deans, the Faculty Senate, and the University Board of Trustees to make a final decision.
An analysis by The Daily Pennsylvanian found that Penn’s initial response to the compact marked an increase in its transparency with the University community. The recent email disclosing Jameson’s letter to McMahon represented the third official communication from Penn’s administration regarding the compact with campus stakeholders.
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Staff reporter Riana Mahtani covers national politics and can be reached at mahtani@thedp.com. At Penn, she studies political science. Follow her on X @Riana_Mahtani.
