Letter to ASU President Michael Crow: Trump higher education compact

President Crow,

We are grateful for your leadership at Arizona State University, which continues to

break barriers for innovation. With your leadership, the institution has nurtured a

foundational framework that emphasizes diversity, self-governance, and academic

freedom.

As Legislators who represent Tempe, the home of ASU, we urge you to decline the

Trump Administration's proposed "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher

Education." The Compact serves as an overreach of the federal government and

undermines the charter and academic freedom of the university.

We know how seriously you take your commitment to educating students from all

backgrounds. As the ASU Charter states:

ASU is a comprehensive public research university, measured not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed; advancing research and discovery of public value; and assuming fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities it serves. Alongside intolerable losses in academic decision-making, the compact discriminates against members of the LGBTQ+ community and favors religious institutions. Equitable access to higher education opportunities will face significant instability and inconsistency if our public institutions are subjected to the threat of extreme partisan priorities.

The State of Arizona endows its public universities with the agency to independently

select students, faculty, and subject matter. In doing so, we trust that accessibility and

educational value lie at the heart of each decision. This compact -- coercive and un-

American in its restrictions – serves as a bargaining chip to influence universities to

betray the institutional freedoms they are built upon. Our caucus has long supported

ASU's ability to govern itself, making independent decisions that endure through the

changing tides of politics. The immediate impact of agreeing to this compact would likely

be a decrease in higher education participation. However, the long-term impact of

agreeing to this compact would be setting a precedent that the political party holding the

seat of the Presidency could influence the role of academic institutions with a single

stroke of a pen.

As ASU graduates – and with Senator Kuby spending more than 25 years working for

ASU's Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation -- we regret that you have been

placed in the position of having to make such a difficult decision. We hope you will

follow the lead of the other institutions which have remained loyal to their independence

by rejecting the contract, including the University of Arizona. We stand with these

institutions, as well as the American Council on Education, American Association of

Colleges and Universities, American Association of Community Colleges, Association of

American Law Schools, and more than 100 other organizations that view this compact

as an attempt to undermine the virtue and quality of higher education.

Finally, we ask that you continue to protect ASU's right to self-governance and

academic freedom by rejecting the offer coming from the Trump Administration. We

support your continued success and integrity.

Sincerely,

Representative Brian Garcia Senator Lauren Kuby