UT-Austin considering offer to adopt Trump priorities for funding advantages

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The Trump administration has asked the University of Texas at Austin to agree to a “set of operating principles” — which reportedly include adopting a stricter definition of gender, a five-year tuition freeze and a cap on international student enrollment — in exchange for preferential access to federal funding, the University of Texas System confirmed on Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported that the Trump administration sent a letter to UT-Austin and eight other universities asking them to join a “compact” that would qualify them for the benefit. The schools would have to ban the use of race and sex considerations in admissions and hiring, cap enrollment of international undergraduate students at 15%, and require applicants to take the SAT or a similar test.

An ABC News affiliate in Boston first published the memo, which The Texas Tribune has reviewed. The Trump administration would also require universities to stay politically neutral, restructure academic programs it says sideline conservative viewpoints, crack down on disruptive protests, refund tuition to students who drop out within the first year, and commit to grading standards that "only rigorously reflect the demonstrated mastery of a subject that the grade purports to represent."

In a statement to the Tribune, UT System Board of Regents Chair Kevin Eltife said the system was honored UT-Austin was selected to be part of the Trump administration’s proposal.

“We enthusiastically look forward to engaging with university officials and reviewing the compact immediately,” he said. “Higher education has been at a crossroads in recent years, and we have worked very closely with Governor Abbott, Lt. Gov. Patrick and Speaker Burrows to implement sweeping changes for the benefit of our students and to strengthen our institutions to best serve the people of Texas.”

Faculty leaders, however, voiced alarm. Pauline Strong, who heads the UT-Austin chapter of the American Association of University Professors, urged Eltife and University President Jim Davis to reject the deal.

“It trades autonomy for subservience, academic freedom for censorship, gender science and history for ideology, and the best interests of UT students and faculty for the favor of an administration intent on destroying our university,” Strong said in a statement to the Tribune. “The requirements laid out in this letter will be the beginning rather than the end of the Trump administration’s demands of our institution. Chairman Eltife and President Davis, we implore you to take a stand for Longhorn pride and academic excellence. Do not participate in a race to the bottom for once-proud institutions of higher education. Just say no!”

The Trump administration’s offer to give universities preferential access to federal funds in exchange for changes to their definitions and handling of gender comes after a viral video of a Texas A&M student confronting a children’s literature professor over a discussion on gender identity sparked a firestorm in Texas higher education last month.

Last week, Texas Tech University System Chancellor Tedd Mitchell directed faculty to comply with a federal executive order, a letter from Gov. Greg Abbott and House Bill 229 — all of which recognize only two sexes, male and female — when teaching. Faculty and LGBTQ+ advocates have said they fear the directive will limit classroom discussion of transgender and nonbinary identities. No federal or state law explicitly bars teaching topics like gender identity or the existence of more than two sexes.

Soon after, the UT System told the Tribune it was reviewing “gender identity” courses across all campuses “to ensure compliance and alignment with applicable law and state and federal guidance, and to make sure any courses that are taught on UT campuses are aligned with the direction and priority of the Board of Regents.” Other university systems have also said they are reviewing their courses.

The Trump administration's letter also asks schools to crack down on campus protests that disrupt classes or prevent students from accessing campus spaces, a request that comes after massive pro-Palestinian protests hit campuses across the country. Last year, UT-Austin called police on pro-Palestinian demonstrators and tightened its protest rules this spring under a new state law. Senate Bill 2972, passed earlier this year, gave university regents the power to decide which parts of campus are open to demonstrations, replacing a previous law that had automatically allowed protests in all common outdoor areas unless they were unlawful or disruptive.

Using that authority, UT-Austin adopted a policy that bars members of the public from protesting, distributing leaflets or holding events on campus unless the university sponsors them. Students, faculty and staff can still demonstrate in designated outdoor areas, but administrators now have broad discretion to decide what constitutes a disruption.

The university's new policy also incorporates a definition of antisemitism, required by the Legislature, into UT-Austin's harassment and discrimination rules. The definition comes from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Though it has been adopted by dozens of countries and universities, it remains controversial among some academics and civil liberty groups who argue it can conflate criticisms of Israel with antisemitism.

On international students, the Trump administration's memo also states universities would have to cap the share of undergraduate students from any single foreign country at 5% and "pledge to screen out students who demonstrate hostility to the United States, its allies or its values."

Earlier this year, federal immigration authorities revoked the legal status and visas of hundreds of international students, including at least 38 international students in at UT-Austin, according to records obtained via a public information request. The feds said they were going after students who had led pro-Palestinian protests or committed serious crimes, but students' lawyers argued in court that many had not been involved in protests and had only committed minor offenses, such as traffic violations. Some students' legal statuses were eventually restored.

As of fall 2024, UT-Austin reported that about 5% of its undergraduate student population were international students. The flagship university also reinstated the standardized testing requirement for admissions last year. A tuition freeze at Texas universities has been in place since 2023 and was extended by Gov. Greg Abbott until the 2027-28 academic year.

Senior White House adviser May Mailman told the Wall Street Journal that schools that sign the compact will be given priority for grants when possible as well as invitations to White House events and discussions with officials. Alongside UT-Austin, the Trump administration reached out to Vanderbilt University, Dartmouth College, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Arizona and the University of Virginia.

Mailman told the Wall Street Journal that those nine universities were selected because the Trump administration believed they would be “good actors.”

“They have a president who is a reformer or a board that has really indicated they are committed to a higher quality education,” Mailman told the newspaper.

University presidents, provosts and admissions leaders would have to certify compliance with the compact's guidelines each year, and violations could trigger federal reviews, repayment of funds and suspension from the compact.

Disclosure: New York Times, Texas Tech University System, University of Arizona, University of Texas System and University of Texas at Austin have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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