Balkinization  

Tuesday, October 21, 2025

Rejecting the Compact is a Fiduciary Responsibility—and an Opportunity

Joseph Fishkin

I have an opinion piece just out in Inside Higher Ed arguing for why no higher education leader or trustee can truthfully say that it's consistent with their fiduciary responsibilities to sign their university up for the Trump administration's "compact."  Now that this thing is open to any university in the country, you have an opportunity to organize any university with which you are affiliated in any way—faculty, student, staff, parent, alum, donor, trustee—and work to convince your school to reject the compact.  The central reason, I argue, is the combination of highly vague & ambiguous demands with draconian penalties, to be unilaterally imposed (by a DOJ that has a record of acting in bad faith and that also follows orders from a notoriously mercurial president).  No one, regardless of their politics, should sign up for this.

Now back to your regularly scheduled (and genuinely excellent, I must say) symposium on John Witt's book...


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