I rarely have good news to blog about, so I’m delighted to dedicate my entire post today to some good news that came from President Sally Kornbluth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) last Friday.

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has recently invited nine colleges and universities to sign a compact to change admissions policies and the way they hire faculty. By signing the compact, the colleges and universities give up their right to make public a stance on societal or political events. They must be neutral, as in no opinion, no free thinking, no thoughts whatsoever. You know, sort of like operating in an authoritarian nation.

They must also agree to define sex as “male” and “female.” They must do all this while they ensure there is “a broad spectrum of viewpoints” on their campuses. I’m not sure how you can do that while meeting the other requirements. Some of the requirements appear to negate the others.

In return for signing the compact, a college would receive preferential treatment for federal funding. It seems like a high price to pay.

On Friday, October 10, 2025, in a letter to Secretary McMahon, MIT President Sally Kornbluth rejected the promised preferential treatment and refused to sign the compact. It was reported that in her letter, Kornbluth indicated that MIT disagrees with principles set forth by the Trump Administration in the compact and signing it would restrict the school’s freedom of speech and independence.

MIT is the first of the nine colleges to respond to Secretary McMahon’s offer of preferential treatment. Other schools that received McMahon’s offer for preferential treatment in return to selling their souls to the Trump Administration include are Brown University, Dartmouth College, the University of Arizona, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Virginia, and Vanderbilt University.

It seems to me that most of the people who have stood up to President Trump have been women. My mother would be so proud of them!

Here’s a link to the ten-page “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”: https://htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.com/files/compact-for-academic-excellence-in-higher-education-10-1-68de9071401bf.pdf .

I think any school that signs the compact needs to remove the word “university” from its name.

Janet