U.S: MIT first institution to reject Trump conditions for federal funding

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has rejected a proposal by the Trump administration to link federal funding to specific conditions, saying they clashed with the institute's commitment to academic freedom, on 10/10/2025.

"America’s leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence. In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences. Therefore, we cannot support the proposed [Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education] to address the issues facing higher education", Sally Kornbluth, MIT President, said.

Out of the nine American universities that were offered the Trump administration's deal for priority federal funding, MIT is the first one to reject it.

Other institutions that received the 10-page proposal are: Vanderbilt University, Dartmouth College, Brown University and the Universities of Pennsylvania, Southern California, Arizona, Texas and Virginia, with no precision on how the schools were selected. They are currently seeking campus input and have…