The current administration’s efforts to influence higher education (e.g. federal grants lawsuits, monitoring) have sparked nationwide conversations over the federal government’s power in shaping universities. This conversation is especially relevant at Vanderbilt, where the university administration received the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” on Oct. 1, alongside eight other universities. In exchange for signing the compact, these universities are promised “preferential access to federal funding.” One of the compact’s key pillars focuses on addressing campus political climate by promoting ideological diversity and the protection of conservative voices against “institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas.” As a Vanderbilt student, what role do you believe the federal government should play in higher education? What are your thoughts on the compact? 

Any Vanderbilt student is welcome to contribute to this conversation by submitting a paragraph response to VPR Editor in Chief Alícia Isasi ([email protected])