UAW 872 and workers across campus demand USC reject Trump compact
The Executive Board of UAW Local 872 has authored and signed a joint statement demanding that USC reject consideration of and engagement with the “compact” delivered by the Trump administration to nine universities last week. UAW 872 is joined by leaders of seven other unions or workers’ organizations on campus representing thousands of workers in calling on the university to stand firmly against the dangerous policies of this compact. The full text of the letter is below.
On October 1, the Trump administration proposed a ten-point compact to nine universities, including USC. This proposed compact demands that universities pledge loyalty to the Trump administration and implement numerous unprecedented and dangerous policies in exchange for federal favor and preferential funding. Workers, students, and other members of the USC community called for a Fair USC Now last month; we call on USC again to do the right thing and reject consideration of this compact.
This compact fundamentally violates core principles of higher education and academic freedom. It would enable unprecedented control and interference by presidential administrations over admissions, research, and classroom discussion and opens the door to further targeting of our international workers and students, LGBTQ+ community members, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and programs across campus. Accepting such a compact would effectively destroy the institutional culture of USC as we know it and move the university away from its core values of quality education and intellectual community.
In receiving this compact, USC has been given the opportunity to stand firmly against the Trump administration’s escalating attacks on higher education and academic freedom. As many universities have already learned, ceding power to Trump leads only to the degradation of values, not to vaguely defined benefits.
USC must stand in defense of our campus, academic freedom, and civil rights. Extensive engagement with this compact plays into the administration’s hands and opens the door to further government control of USC as an institution. We, the undersigned, call on USC to categorically refuse to negotiate or comply with the demands of the compact.
Signed,
Leaders of:
UAW Local 872
United Faculty (UF)-UAW
USC Researchers and Fellows United (URFU)-UAW
Adjunct Faculty Alliance (AFA)-UAW
USC American Association of University Professors (AAUP)
National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), Keck Medicine at USC
Unite Here Local 11 at USC
Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR)-Southern California Public Region