Student Equality in the Higher Education Compact
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| Title: | Student Equality in the Higher Education Compact |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | R. Shep Melnick, American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Conservative Education Reform Network (CERN) |
| Source: | American Enterprise Institute. 2025. |
| Availability: | American Enterprise Institute. 1150 Seventeenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 202-862-5800; Fax: 202-862-7177; Web site: http://www.aei.org |
| Peer Reviewed: | N |
| Page Count: | 5 |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Document Type: | Reports - Descriptive |
| Education Level: | Higher Education Postsecondary Education |
| Descriptors: | Equal Education, Higher Education, Educational Change, Presidents, Federal Government, Government School Relationship, Government Role, Politics of Education, Educational Finance, College Faculty, College Administration, Student Characteristics, Sex, Gender Identity, Civil Rights Legislation, Federal Legislation, Educational Legislation, Gender Discrimination, Sex Fairness, Administrators, Educational Facilities |
| Laws, Policies and Program Identifiers: | Civil Rights Act 1964 Title VI, Title IX Education Amendments 1972 |
| Abstract: | The Trump administration's October 2025 Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education sparked an overdue conversation about the relationship between universities and the federal government. The administration identified issues that deserve to be addressed. But its approach provoked serious objections, even from sympathetic observers. That has created an opening for alternatives that are more workable and rooted in legislative authority. To that end, AEI's Conservative Education Reform Network commissioned contributions from several right-of-center higher education thinkers. Each tackles one of the compact's eight priorities, seeking to offer Congress, state lawmakers, and campus leaders a path forward. In this report, R. Shep Melnick takes on student equality. The Trump administration's Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education insists that college faculty and administrators must always treat students "as individuals and not on the basis of their immutable characteristics." It also requires schools to assign students to sex-segregated facilities on the basis of biological sex rather than gender identity. Though most of these requirements mirror the administration's interpretation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments, schools that sign the compact will be stripped of those laws' procedural protections and subject to draconian financial penalties at the Department of Justice's discretion. State legislatures, courts, and especially universities themselves are better equipped than the federal government, let alone the executive branch, to address this issue. |
| Abstractor: | ERIC |
| Entry Date: | 2026 |
| Accession Number: | ED677985 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | The Trump administration's October 2025 Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education sparked an overdue conversation about the relationship between universities and the federal government. The administration identified issues that deserve to be addressed. But its approach provoked serious objections, even from sympathetic observers. That has created an opening for alternatives that are more workable and rooted in legislative authority. To that end, AEI's Conservative Education Reform Network commissioned contributions from several right-of-center higher education thinkers. Each tackles one of the compact's eight priorities, seeking to offer Congress, state lawmakers, and campus leaders a path forward. In this report, R. Shep Melnick takes on student equality. The Trump administration's Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education insists that college faculty and administrators must always treat students "as individuals and not on the basis of their immutable characteristics." It also requires schools to assign students to sex-segregated facilities on the basis of biological sex rather than gender identity. Though most of these requirements mirror the administration's interpretation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments, schools that sign the compact will be stripped of those laws' procedural protections and subject to draconian financial penalties at the Department of Justice's discretion. State legislatures, courts, and especially universities themselves are better equipped than the federal government, let alone the executive branch, to address this issue. |
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