In October 2025, the Department of Education sent an initial nine-page letter to prominent research universities seeking to have universities sign a “Compact.” In August 2026, Education Secretary Linda McMahon issued an updated National Call to Action. In response to these acts by the Trump Administration, last week Stand Up for Science announced the release of its own educational compact titled, “America’s Compact For Higher Education.“

Stand up for Science’s Compact has eleven principles focused on protecting academic freedom, and preserving merit-based research and institutional self-governance, among others. You can find Stand up for Science’s Compact at this link. From its preamble:

The value of an American education stems from its ability to provide not only educational opportunities, but also access to independent centers of thought necessary to promote the free exchange of ideas in a protected space devoted to the pursuit of knowledge, truth, and wisdom. The combination of education, opportunity, and access has elevated hundreds of millions of people, creating lasting impacts on community and culture. According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data, 65.2 million employed adults age 25 and over have a bachelor’s degree or higher. Another 16.1 million hold an associate’s degree as their highest credential. Together, associate’s and bachelor’s-or-higher credentials account for more than 81 million working adults and reflect the outsized role higher education plays in preparing the U.S. workforce.

For more details, see ‘Academic Freedom Isn’t Negotiable’: Stand Up for Science Counters Education Department with Own Vision for Higher Ed, EINPresswire, September 10, 2026. For earlier coverage of the Trump Administration’s Compact, see Aileen Favilla, What is Trump’s Compact for Higher Education? — FAQ, Pen America, November 11, 2025 (with links and other details).