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The compact sent Wednesday to the nine universities, asks them to commit to supporting a 10-page list of President Donald Trump’s ideological and educational priorities for campuses, in return for more favorable access to federal funding.

It asks the university presidents to ban the use of race or sex in hiring and admissions, freeze tuition for five years, cap international undergrad enrollment at 15%, apply the government’s definition of gender to campus bathrooms, locker rooms and women’s sports teams, abolish departments that “belittle� conservative ideas, and bar employees from speaking out as university representatives on external societal and political events, among other requirements.

Matt Beienburg, director of education policy at Goldwater, a Phoenix-based public policy think tank, told the ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV Friday: “It should not take pressure from the federal government for our institutions to faithfully follow basic non-discrimination protections of the U.S. and Arizona state constitutions‘‘ “

“Unfortunately, we have seen even publicly-funded, state-operated institutions like the University of Arizona misuse taxpayer funds by abandoning their commitment to intellectual diversity — for instance, all students to complete deeply politicalized mandatory DEI courses on ‘racism, classism, ableism, imperialism, colonialism, transphobia, xenophobia, and other structured inequities’ simply to graduate,� said Beienburg.

The UA abandoned plans earlier this year to add diversity and equity classes as a mandatory requirement for graduation for undergraduates starting in fall 2026. On May 22 this year, UA spokesperson Mitch Zak said university faculty and academic leaders agreed to stick with the current practice that does not require the courses.

Asked specifically by the Star to comment on whether the proposed compact could infringe on academic freedom and freedom of speech rights for faculty, staff and students from both conservative and liberal perspectives at universities, the Goldwater Institute declined, however.

The institute said through Beienburg’s written statement that the federal government is “largely responsible for exacerbating many of the problems it is now seeking to fix through this compact.�

“Several of the provisions of this compact — such as ending race and sex-based discrimination, quelling grade inflation, and promoting intellectual diversity — should have been implemented years ago by the universities themselves,� said Beienburg. “Given their failure to do so, however, the more permanent solution than a federal compact is ultimately for state regents and legislatures to assert their constitutional authority over public institutions like U of A to re-establish a commitment to intellectual diversity and academic excellence.�

The UA’s only response to the compact came from Zak late Thursday. “The university first learned of the compact when we received it on Oct. 1. We are reviewing it carefully,� he said, not responding to specific questions from the Star.

Adriana Grijalva, president of Associated Students of the University of Arizona, told UA’s the students she represents wish the UA would be more “transparent and communicative.� Reading about the compact on the news, rather than hearing from the UA, is “not helping us understand what’s going on,� she said.

U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton, a Phoenix Democrat, put out a statement late Thursday addressed to UA President Suresh Garimella titled, “Don’t sign this ‘Faustian bargain’ with Trump.�

Stanton said the proposed compact “represents an unprecedented intrusion into higher education, replacing academic freedom and institutional judgment with ideological dictates and rigid mandates.�

“The compact represents an unprecedented intrusion into higher education, replacing academic freedom and institutional judgment with ideological dictates and rigid mandates,� he wrote. “These are not reforms but instruments of political control. By dictating who universities admit and hire, what they teach, and even how they conduct research, Trump aims to strip higher education of its independence and bend it into an arm of his political power.�

Stanton said the compact is “coercion,� in which compliant universities will be awarded and non-compliant ones will be punished.

“The University of Arizona was not chosen by accident. Its stature makes it the perfect test. If it signs, the precedent is set: even top public universities can be bent to political will. If it refuses, it proves that American higher education cannot be bullied into submission,� Stanton said.

“The stakes are the University’s independence, the academic freedom of its faculty and students, and the democratic role of higher education itself. Signing would bind the University of Arizona to Trump’s authoritarian project. Rejecting it would protect your students, your faculty, your mission, and your long-term reputation.�

The Arizona Board of Regents — the governing body which oversees the UA and the state’s two other public universities — said it is engaged with UA’s leadership and evaluating the letter. The regents would apparently have to sign off on any UA decision to sign the compact because it would freeze tuition, and they have the statutory power to set tuition and fees.

Stephanie Grutzmacher, a UA associate professor in the School of Nutritional Sciences and Wellness, said, “We need to vigorously defend, not abdicate, universities’ roles in society — to educate, discover, cultivate, and serve.�

“If we agree to these terms and seek preferential treatment for federal funding, we compromise the quality and integrity of our work, seed the erosion of our independence and civil liberties, and debase ourselves in the process,� she said.