Penn’s Undergraduate Assembly published a joint statement alongside the student government bodies from six other universities which were approached with the federal government’s proposed higher education compact.
The Oct. 10 letter — titled “Joint Statement on the Compact for Academic Excellence in Education” — criticized the “unprecedented expectations” set by the White House that would grant the universities preferential federal funding. The document was drafted in partnership with student representatives from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Virginia, the University of Arizona, Dartmouth College, Brown University, and Vanderbilt University.
“As student representatives, we stand in united opposition to the outlined conditions,” the student leaders wrote. “We call on our community of students, faculty, alumni, and leadership to reaffirm our commitment to reject political interference and federal overreach.”
The UA’s joint statement follows broad condemnation of the compact by Penn students, faculty members, legal scholars, higher education experts, and civil rights organizations. It characterized the compact as an attempt to “systemically alter the mission of higher education and erode the independence that has long defined our universities.”
“Our administrators have been presented with a false choice between their commitments to knowledge and education and our access to the resources that sustain them,” it continued. “To preserve our status as world leaders in education, we must remain true to the foundation of academic freedom that has propelled us forward.”
In an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian, UA vice president and College junior Musab Chummun stated that the statement has been published on the UA’s social media but was not sent directly to Penn’s administrators.
On Oct. 8, Chummun — along with UA president and Wharton junior Nia Matthews — met with Penn President Larry Jameson to discuss the compact. According to a written statement from Matthews, the president and vice president of Penn’s Graduate and Professional Student Assembly were also present.
“While the details of that meeting are confidential, I truly believe our perspectives were heard,” Matthews wrote.
RELATED:
State legislators move to introduce bill blocking Penn from signing White House funding compact
Chummun described the process of working with other university student groups as “notably fast, effective, and cooperative.” He explained that individuals from MIT and Brown reached out to the student government bodies of all nine impacted universities to initiate the drafting process, but only seven ended up contributing to the finished version.
“We all had our hands on [the statement],” he said, adding that the language was the product of a “very collaborative” effort.
Chummun also told the DP that the student government representatives from the University of Texas at Austin could not sign the statement because their bylaws prevent them from making “statements without administrator approval,” which would not have been "conducive to the timeline.”
Matthews also emphasized the cooperative nature of the drafting process, writing that “several drafts were circulated — including one of my own — and we worked collectively to merge them into a final version that reflected the views and values of all participating parties.”
“I believe that the Compact represents an unprecedented attempt to politicize higher education and undermine the autonomy of America’s universities,” Matthews wrote. “It seeks to impose government-defined values on institutions whose strength lies in independent thought, scholarly rigor, and the freedom of open inquiry, debate, and discovery.”
She specifically pointed to the compact’s invocation of a so-called “vibrant marketplace of ideas,” calling the provision “deeply disingenuous given ongoing government efforts to silence dissent and punish noncitizen students and faculty for their political beliefs.”
“Signing this Compact would signal to the administration that universities are comfortable surrendering elements of our shared governance, which is a precedent that risks undermining the collaborative, independent decision-making that defines Penn and peer institutions,” she added.
