To whom it may concern:

We're students, alumni, faculty, and staff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We sign the below statement to encourage the university to reject the recently announced "compact" issued by the federal government, which exerts administrative, doctrinal, and other controls over the university. We encourage M.I.T. leaders to reject it in coordination with the other universities named. We believe that...

International students are a crucial part of the university. They're a benefit to M.I.T. and to the United States. They're also a benefit to American students, who learn from and collaborate with them. For many of us, they become colleagues, research partners, and friends. To be the leading technical university in the world, we need to be learning from the world, not shutting it out.

Government controls related to gender and applicant identity are government overreach; their definitions should be a matter for the university, not the federal government. As conservatives, liberals, and people across the political spectrum, we believe that an independent university should not need to comply with the ideological prerogatives of federal officials, regardless of party. Relatedly, the federal government should not be advising universities on granular elements of admission policy beyond the scope of law.

Free expression is a bedrock value of any thriving university, yet this compact undermines it rather than safeguards it. Instead of protecting open debate, it narrows free expression to the government’s own subjective definitions. Under its terms, constitutionally protected activities, like heckling, would be banned on campus. Likewise, students could be punished simply for supporting organizations that federal officials label as “terrorist,” a designation itself subject to political whim.

This compact is one in a series of overtures from the administration, designed to intimidate and arbitrarily control American civic institutions, outside of established laws and norms. Our university is an independent institution which has contributed to the United States and the world precisely because it is independent. We resist attempts at unwarranted bureaucratic control, including by administrations of any political party.

We are also concerned because nothing in this compact suggests it will prevent further attempts by the government to pressure or control the university. Acquiescing is no guarantee of safety.

By standing up now, we can protect the independence of our university. We ask the administration to stand with us.

Signed,

The M.I.T. community