Penn Declines to Sign Federal “Compact for Academic Excellence,” Citing Threats to University Autonomy

PHILADELPHIA-The University of Pennsylvania said Thursday it will not sign the federal government’s Compact for Academic Excellence, a decision university leaders framed as a defense of academic freedom and institutional independence amid growing tensions between universities and Washington.

In a message to the campus community, Interim President J. Larry Jameson said Penn shared many of the compact’s stated goals — such as advancing opportunity and ensuring research accountability — but ultimately concluded that “certain provisions could undermine our ability to govern ourselves and uphold the free exchange of ideas.”

The Trump administration introduced the compact earlier this month as a voluntary framework for universities seeking access to new streams of federal research and student-aid funding. In exchange, institutions would agree to a series of governance and reporting requirements intended to promote what officials described as “academic excellence and accountability.”

Jameson said Penn’s leadership spent two weeks consulting with faculty, trustees, students, and staff before reaching its decision. He said the university provided detailed feedback to the Department of Education outlining areas of alignment as well as what he called “substantive concerns” about provisions that could compromise faculty governance or restrict inquiry.

“Penn has been anchored for nearly three centuries by the values of free inquiry and continuous self-improvement,” Jameson wrote. “We remain committed to those principles while maintaining a strong partnership with the federal government grounded in mutual respect and constitutional limits.”

The Faculty Senate voted earlier this week to recommend against signing, warning that the compact’s language risked giving federal officials oversight of curriculum and internal policies. In a separate statement, the local chapter of the American Association of University Professors said compliance could “erode the foundations of academic freedom and shared governance that define American higher education.”

Penn’s announcement follows similar moves by Brown and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, both of which rejected the compact on comparable grounds. Brown President Christina Paxson said the agreement “by its nature and by various provisions would restrict academic freedom and undermine the autonomy of university governance.” MIT President Sally Kornbluth raised comparable concerns in a public letter to the campus last week.

It remains unclear how the federal government will respond to universities that decline to participate. The Department of Education has said that institutions opting out “may not be eligible for certain competitive funding programs,” though it has not specified which.

Jameson’s statement emphasized that Penn would continue its collaboration with federal agencies on research and student support but would do so “under the long-standing terms that respect institutional independence.”

The decision adds to a growing resistance among elite universities against the administration’s efforts to link federal funding with new oversight rules, setting up a confrontation likely to shape higher-education policy in the months ahead.