Section I 

1.1 WHEREAS the United States Secretary of Education delivered to nine institutions a "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” which makes access to federal funding conditional on the acceptance of government-prescribed institutional policies and practices; and

1.2 WHEREAS the compact demands “institutional neutrality” while also demanding affirmative representation of specific ideological viewpoints and punishing those the administration disagrees with, being thus inconsistent and unenforceable; and

1.3 WHEREAS the 1967 Kalven Report, a landmark document on institutional neutrality, established that while universities should generally remain neutral on contested public issues, they have a responsibility to speak when their core mission is at risk; and

1.4 WHEREAS the core mission of US higher education writ large – the production of knowledge, the education of students, and service to society - is currently at grave risk, since the Compact and other such agreements would undermine the foundational principles of US higher education, which are academic freedom and institutional autonomy; and

1.5 WHEREAS  the AAC&U, the AAUP, and other academic institutions and coalitions have issued strong statements opposing the spirit and letter of the Compact; and 

1.6 WHEREAS the compact is but one development in a series of coercive attempts to dictate the functions, mission, and ideology of higher education in the United States, via agreements with or investigations into individual institutions including the University of Oregon; and

1.7 WHEREAS the University of Oregon exemplifies academic, American and Oregon values of the highest standard, including universal right to free speech, academic excellence and the cultivation of academic freedom; 

Section II

2.1 THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the University of Oregon firmly opposes this Compact as written and calls upon President Karl Scholz and the Board of Trustees to also reject this Compact outright as well as any similar proposal, settlement or agreement, that compromises the mission, values, and independence of the University of Oregon. Specifically, the university should oppose any efforts that:

• Conditions federal funding on the adoption of specific ideological perspectives in hiring, curriculum, or academic programming;
• Grants federal authorities oversight or approval power over faculty hiring, promotion, curriculum development, academic standards, or other matters properly governed by professional expertise;
• Mandates institutional policies regarding student or faculty speech beyond those required by existing state and federal law or University policy;
• Threatens the employment and/or immigration status of individuals based on legally-protected speech;
• Mandates the replacement of science with ideology on issues including but not limited to biological sex and climate change, which is in violation of state law; or
• Otherwise compromises academic freedom or institutional autonomy in academic matters.

2.2 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the University of Oregon Senate calls upon the University administration and Board of Trustees to actively practice and defend shared governance by:

• briefing the Senate on communications received from federal authorities regarding institutional policies, agreements, or conditions for federal funding, 

• establishing a transparent process for faculty review and input before responding to any requests or demands from the federal administration; 

2.3 BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that we call upon university senates and academic organizations nationwide to adopt similar resolutions defending the foundational principles of American higher education.