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CALIFORNIA VOWS TO ‘INSTANTLY’ CUT FUNDING TO UNIVERSITIES THAT
CAVE TO TRUMP ‘COMPACT’  
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Lois Beckett
October 2, 2025
The Guardian
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_ California Governor Gavin Newsom urges schools not to sign the
‘radical agreement’ Trump has proposed to cuts to departments,
students and speech. He vows that schools that sign Trump's 'compact'
will 'instantly' lose state funding. _

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Any California universities that sign the Trump administration’s
proposed “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”
will “instantly” lose their state funding, California
governor Gavin Newsom
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statement.

The Trump administration
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Wednesday offered nine prominent universities
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including the University of Southern California, the chance to sign a
“compact” that asks the universities to close academic departments
that “purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against
conservative ideas”, limit the proportion of international
undergraduate students to 15% , accept the administration’s
definition of gender and ban the consideration of race or sex in
hiring and admissions, in exchange for “substantial and meaningful
federal grants”.

Newsom’s office described the offer as “nothing short of a hostile
takeover of America’s universities”.

“It would impose strict government-mandated definitions of academic
terms, erase diversity, and rip control away from campus leaders to
install government-mandated conservative ideology in its place,” the
governor’s office said in a statement. “It even dictates how
schools must spend their own endowments. Any institution that resists
could be hit with crushing fines or stripped of federal research
funding.”

“If any California
[[link removed]] University signs
this radical agreement, they’ll lose billions in state funding –
including Cal Grants – instantly. California will not bankroll
schools that sell out their students, professors, researchers, and
surrender academic freedom,” Newsom said in the statement. Cal
Grants is the state’s $2.8bn student financial aid program.

Trump’s proposed “compact” was offered to schools that were seen
by Trump as “good actors”, May Mailman, a senior White House
adviser told the Wall Street Journal 
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Wednesday, with a president or a board who were, in the Trump
administration’s view, “reformer” who have “really indicated
they are committed to a higher-quality education”.

The “compact” requires universities to eliminate departments
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are seen as hostile or dismissive to conservatives, limit the
proportion of international students on campus, accept the Trump
administration’s definition of gender and restrict the political
speech of employees, as well as freeze their tuition fees for five
years. It also demands that universities crack down on “grade
inflation”, an increase in the proportion of students receiving top
marks in their classes, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The University of Southern California is a private research university
with an $8.2bn endowment
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Putting academic freedom aside, some of Trump’s proposals would be
economically challenging for the school, the Los Angeles Times
reported.

More than a quarter of the 2025 freshman class is made up of
international students, the newspaper notes, with more than half of
international students coming from China or India. The Trump
administration’s compact not only limits international student
enrollment to 15% of students, but also requires that no more than 5%
come from any one country.

“We are reviewing the Administration’s letter,” USC said in a
statement in response to questions about Trump’s compact. The
university did not immediately comment on Newsom’s statement.

Most other US universities
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15% cap, but about 120 exceed it, including USC, Columbia University,
Emory University and Boston University, federal data shows.

_Associated Press contributed to this report._

_Lois Beckett is a senior reporter who covers Los Angeles, with a
focus on life, culture and communities. Twitter @loisbeckett
[[link removed]]. Click here
[[link removed]] for
Lois Beckett's public key_

_The Guardian [[link removed]] is globally renowned
for its coverage of politics, the environment, science, social
justice, sport and culture. Scroll less and understand more about the
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* higher education
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* Academic Freedom
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* gavin newsom
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* California
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