AAUP and AFT criticize Trump administration's proposed loyalty pledge for colleges

AAUP President Todd Wolfson and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten have criticized the Trump administration’s proposed loyalty pledge for colleges and universities. The two unions, which represent a large number of higher education workers in the United States, released a joint statement condemning what they describe as an ideological litmus test for institutions seeking government support.

According to the statement, the administration’s plan would offer preferential treatment to schools that align with its political agenda. “The Trump administration’s offer to give preferential treatment to colleges and universities that court government favor stinks of favoritism, patronage, and bribery in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological agenda. It is entirely corrupt,” said Wolfson and Weingarten.

They referenced comments reportedly made by White House Policy Strategist May Mailman, who expressed hope that many schools would see government control as “highly reasonable.” The union leaders argue that following such a loyalty oath would lead to increased control over academic institutions by federal authorities and restrict independent thought on campuses. “Mailman’s compacts would steer tax payer money in ways that violate core principles of US higher education and democracy and cripple innovation. They would reward campuses that toe the party line and punish those that cherish their independence. In doing so, it would commit the very viewpoint discrimination it claims to redress.”

Wolfson and Weingarten called on governing boards, administrators, academic organizations, and trade groups within higher education to reject cooperation with the proposed policy. “The AAUP and AFT urge all college and university governing boards, campus administrations, academic disciplinary organizations, and higher education trade groups to reject such collusion with the Trump administration and to stand firmly on the side of free expression and higher education as the anchor of opportunity for all.  Mailman's compact would permit unqualified bureaucrats and partisan hacks to rule over matters such as college admissions and classroom discussion. The federal government should not, under any circumstances, dictate who goes to college, what can be researched, or learned, and what can or can’t be the subject of critical academic inquiry. A Mailman compact would turn a university administration into a weapon of the executive branch.”

They specifically addressed leaders at nine major universities—Vanderbilt University, Dartmouth College, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Texas at Austin, University of Arizona, Brown University, and University of Virginia—urging them not to agree to any loyalty oath compacts with the federal government: “Acquiescing to a Mailman compact would be a profound betrayal of your students, staff, faculty, the public, higher education, and our shared democracy—one that would irretrievably tarnish your personal reputation and compromise your institution’s legacy. We urge you not to capitulate and not to negotiate but to unite now in defense of democracy and higher education.”

The statement was signed by Randi Weingarten (President), Fedrick C. Ingram (Secretary-Treasurer), Evelyn DeJesus (Executive Vice President) from AFT.