White House asks another Arizona university to agree to agenda for more funding access

PHOENIX (AZFamily/CNN) — A few weeks removed from the University of Arizona being asked to accept the White House’s agenda in order to get more funding access, another Arizona school is also getting the request.

The Trump administration sent the same letter to Arizona State University that the U of A and eight other schools also received earlier this month, according to CNN.

The letter asks the universities to sign a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” committing them to adopt the White House’s vision for America’s campuses. It asks them to accept the government’s priorities on admissions, women’s sports, free speech, student discipline and college affordability, among other topics.

An initial list of schools that received the letter included Vanderbilt University, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth College, University of Southern California, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Texas, University of Arizona, Brown University and University of Virginia.

Since then, ASU, the University of Kansas and Washington University in St. Louis were also asked to join the agreement.

It’s not clear how or why these schools were selected, or whether similar offers might go out to additional colleges. The letter indicates a deadline of Nov. 21 for schools to decide.

The University of Virginia, USC, Penn, Brown University, Dartmouth College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have all also rejected the proposal, and no school has yet accepted it.

On Friday, Tucson City Council voted 7-0 to pass a resolution calling on the U of A to reject compliance with the letter. School officials have said they are reviewing the compact, and U of A President Suresh Garimella said the “proposal has generated a wide range of reactions and perspectives.” The school has not indicated if it intends to agree to the letter or not.

Arizona’s Family has reached out to ASU for a statement on the White House’s proposal.

CNN and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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