The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has turned down a federal funding offer from the White House after rejecting conditions tied to President Donald Trump’s conservative education agenda. The move marks the first formal defiance by a U.S. university in what has become an escalating conflict between the Trump administration and higher education institutions.
The proposal, sent to nine major universities earlier in October, required schools to halt the consideration of race, gender, and ethnicity in admissions and hiring processes. It also called for campuses to become “friendly to conservative ideas” as a condition for continued access to federal research and education grants.
In a firm response addressed to U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon, MIT President Sally Kornbluth stated that the university “cannot in good conscience” accept the proposal’s terms.
“The government’s document includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution,” Kornbluth wrote. “Scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone, not ideology.”
According to White House documents, the rejected proposal would have required universities to restructure or eliminate departments that “punish or suppress conservative viewpoints.”
Alongside MIT, the offer was sent to eight other leading institutions, including the University of Arizona, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, University of Texas, University of Virginia, Brown University, Dartmouth College, and Vanderbilt University. Responses from these schools are expected by October 20.
The Trump administration has repeatedly accused elite universities of liberal bias and anti-conservative discrimination. Federal officials have warned that schools refusing to comply could lose access to billions of dollars in public research funding.
Earlier this year, Harvard University faced a $2.6 billion funding freeze over alleged antisemitism and ideological bias — a move later overturned by a Boston court, which ruled the action “unlawful and politically motivated.”
MIT’s decision sets a major precedent, positioning it
