Austin, TX – On October 20, roughly 200 students, faculty and community members took to the streets at the University of Texas at Austin to reject Trump’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”. This march followed on the momentum of an earlier rally which took place on October 13.
Trump’s compact offers preferential federal funding in exchange for a list of demands that the university must uphold, such as cutting DEI programs, limiting academic freedom, putting caps on international student enrollment, and more. In particular, the Black, Latino, and Gender Studies departments of the College of Liberal Arts are in danger of being eliminated.
The varied backgrounds of those who gave speeches during this march reflect the broad coalition that Trump’s attacks on higher education have welded together to resist the compact.
Elijah Rivera, a member of Austin Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), spoke on how Trump “sought to impose rigid definitions on gender” and how “instead of embracing the melting pot, he advances a racist agenda.” Rivera ended his speech, “It is up to us to demand that they do not sign. We the students are the life of this university; we must take action!”
Samaria Taylor, a member of Not Our Texas, spoke about DEI, saying, “this university administration has been made puppets of the right, the stage has been set for a reeling back on academic freedom.” She warned, “we cannot let them cheapen what it means to be part of this university.”
Sean Felipe, a member of the University Democrats, spoke on the attacks on the transgender community, saying, “they want to pretend we don’t exist, even though I’m right here.” Felipe emphasized that “none of us are free until all of us are free,” and finished with a defiant call to action: “When gender studies are under attack, what do we do? Stand up and fight back!”
Activists were united in defending their common interests and making a united stand against the Trump administration’s attacks on higher education.
Of the nine universities offered the compact on October 2, seven have already rejected it, while the University of Texas at Austin remains noncommittal. The Trump administration has set a November 21 deadline for universities to decide whether to sign.