Trump May Attempt to Tie Grant Allocation to Capitulation

"The Trump administration may be moving away from using individual investigations to try to force colleges into compliance with the president's agenda and instead encourage compliance by giving institutions that demonstrate adherence to his policies a competitive advantage in obtaining research funding. The new plan, which Post reporters heard about from two anonymous White House officials, would change the grant-application process and give a leg up to institutions that conform to President Donald Trump's agenda regarding admissions, hiring and other campus policies. If the plan takes effect, the Trump administration will no longer have to go after universities one by one through investigations and corresponding penalties, but rather can induce compliance from hundreds of institutions at once."

""It's time to effect change nationwide, not on a one-off basis," one official told the Post."

"The current award-selection process for federal research grants is based primarily on scientific merit. Critics say that overriding such a standard would be a demonstrable example of executive overreach and a violation of academic freedom."

""I can't imagine a university in America that would be supportive of this," said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education."

The administration plans to prioritize federal research funding for colleges that demonstrate alignment with its policies on admissions, hiring and other campus practices. The grant-application process would be altered to give an advantage to institutions that conform to the administration's agenda, creating a systemic incentive to induce compliance across many universities simultaneously rather than pursuing individual investigations and penalties. The current federal award-selection system is based primarily on scientific merit, and observers warn that substituting political criteria would constitute executive overreach and undermine academic freedom. Higher-education leaders express strong opposition to such a policy.

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