Compact For Academic Excellence

[T]he Institute's mission of service to the nation directs us to advance knowledge, educate students and bring knowledge to bear on the world's great challenges. We do that in line with a clear set of values, with excellence above all. 

These values and other MIT practices meet or exceed many standards outlined in the document you sent.  We freely choose these values because they're right, and we live by them because they support our mission -- work of immense value to the prosperity, competitiveness, health and security of the United States.  And of course, MIT abides by the law.

The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution.  And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.

In our view, America's leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence.  In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences. Therefore , with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education.

-- MIT President Sally Kornbluth, replying to the Education Department's proposed "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education" (10 October 2025)