Arizona State University President Michael Crow faces the decision of whether to accept the Trump administration's offer to ASU, which is to sign a "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education" and receive preferential access to federal grants. In return, the university would need to follow White House requirements on who it admits, who it hires, and what it teaches.
The compact has already proven controversial in Arizona. The University of Arizona announced this week it will not sign the agreement, following pressure from U.S. Congressman Greg Stanton.
Now, Stanton is making the same appeal to Crow. According to his statement, White House officials invited ASU to discuss the compact after six of the nine initially invited universities declined the offer.
In his letter to Crow, Stanton wrote that the compact would replace "academic freedom and institutional judgment with ideological dictates and rigid mandates," warning that these are "instruments of political control" rather than genuine reforms.
ASU President Crow
Crow's perspective on federal compliance may offer insight into his decision. In a March interview with KJZZ's ‘The Show’, when Arizona's public universities were responding to Trump administration threats to pull funding over DEI-related initiatives while dealing with canceled grants and research projects, Crow explained ASU's approach.
"We don't have to change any policy. Nothing," Crow stated, explaining that ASU has maintained what he described as "the purity of what a public university is supposed to be" for years.
However, Crow acknowledged that dozens of federal projects had already been canceled at ASU, with more cuts happening daily. While he recognized the government's authority to make these decisions, he said he disagreed with their reasoning.
Stanton emphasized that under Crow's leadership, "ASU's research dollars have increased exponentially, based on scientific merit, not preferential treatment."
ASU has yet to announce whether it will sign the compact or reject it.
