Big Ten faculties ask their administrations to sign a joint defense pact against Trump
Faculties at several Big Ten universities have asked their administrations to consider a joint defense pact in the face of threats to higher education institutions from the Trump administration, multiple outlets reported.
Why it matters: The potential pact would mark an escalation in resistance from universities to President Trump 's push for them to follow his agenda, which has so far largely targeted private, elite schools.
The Big Ten, a college athletic conference with 18 member schools, is made up of 16 public universities and two private universities, Northwestern University and the University of Southern California (USC).
Northwestern has been a target of a funding freeze amid an ongoing civil rights investigation related in part to one of its legal clinics representing a pro-Palestinian activist.
Several other Big Ten schools — including USC, Rutgers, Michigan and Indiana — are also under investigation for alleged Title VI violations "relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination," per a March letter from the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.
State of play: Described as a "NATO-like agreement," the pact would allow the Big Ten institutions to share attorneys and financial resources if the Trump administration targets one of its members, per the Washington Post.
Faculty and university senates at six schools — Indiana University, University of Nebraska at Lincoln, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Rutgers University and University of Washington —have signed resolutions asking their leadership to adopt such an agreement.
Faculty senates at the University of Minnesota, Ohio State University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are expected to consider similar resolutions in the coming weeks.
Any final decision to activate the proposal will come from university administrations.
Spokespeople for the Big Ten university administrations did not immediately respond to Axios' requests for comment.
Context: The Trump administration has increased its attacks on higher education via threats to federal funding, purportedly because of antisemitism and diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
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