White House Calls 'Compact' Meeting: No Takers for Trump's Israel Loyalty Oath
The White House is scrambling to get five remaining universities, including Dartmouth and Vanderbilt, to sign Trump's higher-education 'compact.' This 'compact,' according to its own text and numerous analyses (like those from the Center for Constitutional Rights), would effectively compel university leaders to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of
antisemitism. This definition, while claiming to combat hate, has been widely criticized by civil liberties groups as a tool to conflate criticism of the Israeli government's policies with antisemitism, chilling free speech on campus concerning Palestine. So, while the AP frames it as a simple 'agreement,' what we're witnessing is a thinly veiled attempt to institutionalize suppression of dissent
regarding Israeli actions, particularly poignant given the current geopolitical climate. It’s hard to imagine these institutions, supposedly bastions of free thought, willingly signing away their students' rights for a handshake deal. One might wonder if the financial incentives offered in this 'compact' are truly worth the academic freedom they'd be sacrificing. It appears even some university
presidents recognize a loyalty test when they see one.