The Pima County Board of Supervisors will consider a resolution Tuesday “standing up to any effort by the Trump administration to politicize higher education and suppress the viewpoints of the diverse communities served by the University of Arizona.”
The resolution was placed on the agenda for the board’s Oct. 14 meeting by Supervisor Jennifer Allen.
Supervisor Jennifer Allen.
The statement notes that the county board, if it approves the resolution, would “join the chorus of voices” already on record as opposing the White House’s request that nine universities, including the UA, commit to President Donald Trump’s higher education agenda in order to keep federal benefits and receive funding advantages.
“Southern Arizona’s elected and community leaders are calling on UA President (Suresh) Garimella to hold the line, citing major concerns about federal overreach and the erosion of academic freedom,” Allen’s proposed resolution states, adding that the similar resolution approved Wednesday by the Tucson City Council “serves as a template.”
It notes that the UA Faculty Senate has also asked Garimella to reject the Trump administration’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.”
In addition, about 80 UA Regents professors, a title designating distinction, sent a letter to Garimella asking him to oppose the compact and warning that there is no assurance the university would get federal funding benefits for complying.
The White House set a Nov. 21 deadline for the nine universities to sign the compact, sent to them on Oct. 1. In addition to the UA, they are Vanderbilt, the University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth College, the University of Southern California, Brown University and the University of Virginia.
The compact would require the UA to ban the use of race of sex in hiring and admissions; freeze tuition for five years; cap international undergrad enrollment at 15%; apply a strict definition of gender to campus bathrooms, locker rooms and women’s sports teams; transform or abolish departments that “belittle” conservative ideas; bar employees from speaking out as university representatives on external societal and political events; and other requirements. It also calls for a diverse mix of political voices on campus and for cutbacks to university administrative costs, among many other requests.
Garimella has said he’s working with the Arizona Board of Regents to “understand its full scope and implications,” and gathering input from leaders representing faculty, staff and students, among others.
The board meeting begins at 9 a.m. at the Pima County Administration Building, 130 W. Congress St., in the first-floor Board of Supervisors hearing room.
The University of Arizona campus.
