Trump Compact Failure: Congress Options

Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth says she won’t sign President Trump’s “compact” because she is concerned about threats to academic freedom (“

Trump, Merit and MIT,” Review & Outlook, Oct. 11). Fair enough. But the White House’s policy is meant to address a real problem: the breakdown of academic responsibility. With a few notable exceptions, today’s campuses are woefully lacking in viewpoint diversity, among faculty and students alike. Conservatives complain that higher education has become higher indoctrination. In such a climate, the reasoned pursuit of truth is imperiled if not impossible.

What might induce schools to mend their ways? Money talks. Concerned alumni and other donors should reduce or stop their contributions altogether—and explain why. Add pressure from dissatisfied parents, via letters and in person. Attention from state legislators—and closer to home, oversight from boards of trustees—are imperative.