As with many things Trump, the administration’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” provoked accusations of authoritarian takeover of vital American institutions. And, as with many things Trump, the administration’s compact overreached in pursuit of a worthy goal, giving critics ammunition to oppose urgently needed reform.

On Oct. 1, the Trump administration sent the compact to nine universities – the University of Arizona, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas Austin, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Virginia. (Subsequently the administration opened the deal to all higher-education institutions.) The White House offered signatories to the compact preferential treatment in the allocation of federal funds. By the administration’s late-October deadline for responding, UT Austin and Vanderbilt had expressed interest. The other seven initial recipients rejected the compact, primarily on the grounds that the government’s terms would erode the academic freedom to which they solemnly profess devotion.

The Trump administration and America’s universities each give the other cause for skepticism. Universities’ generally poor record of protecting, much less fostering, the robust exchange of ideas belies their professions of devotion to academic freedom. At the same time, though aimed at protecting campus free speech, the Trump compact assigns the federal government responsibility to supervise the expression of ideas in higher education.

The compact asks universities to comply with ten priorities for achieving academic excellence. First, universities must end discrimination based on race, ethnicity, sex, or any group membership, and instead admit students and provide financial aid based on individual merit. Second, universities must foster free speech. Third, universities must end discrimination in hiring and appoint faculty members based on individual merit. Fourth, universities and their various divisions must maintain institutional neutrality on political issues that do not directly affect university governance and educational mission. Fifth, universities must fight grade inflation. Sixth, universities must treat individuals equally “with due exceptions for sex-based privacy, safety, and fairness.” Seventh, universities must control their skyrocketing costs and cease to saddle students with ruinous debt. Eighth, universities must comply with federal laws that govern foreign donations; they must also limit enrollment of foreign students both to exclude those with “anti-American values” and to preserve space for Americans. Ninth, universities must honor Title VII exemptions based on religion, national origin, or sex, though religiously affiliated and single-sex universities may maintain their orientations. Tenth, to preserve favored status, universities must certify annually to the Department of Justice’s satisfaction their adherence to the compact’s priorities.

Several of these priorities represent sound standards and goals for America’s institutions of higher education. Others are problematic. A small group of........

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