Gov. Newsom threatens ‘no state funding for sell-out universities’ that comply with Trump

(FOX40.COM) – Governor Gavin Newsom issued a stern warning on Thursday to California universities that comply with President Donald Trump’s list of demands to receive federal funding amid a government shutdown, calling them sell-outs.
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The demands, referred to as the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” were mailed out to universities from the Trump administration on Wednesday. To receive federal funding, Trump asked the schools to do away with admissions practices that consider sex, ethnicity, race, nationality, political views, sexual orientation, gender identity, and religious associations.

“Discriminatory admissions processes reflect a fundamental misunderstanding not only of Civil Rights law and the U.S. Constitution, but of the damaging impacts such practices have on individuals and our Nation as a whole,” the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education document reads.

Additionally, Trump asked universities to agree to waive tuition for five years for “financial responsibility”, allow a diversity of ideas on campus by providing an environment open to all ideological viewpoints, comply with anti-money laundering, enforce single-sex restrooms, and define “male,” “female,” “woman,” and “man” according to reproductive function and biological processes. The full list can be found here.

According to The Hill, the 10-page document was sent to nine universities, one of which was USC in California. Newsom threatened to withhold funds from any university within the state if it complied with the president.

“IF ANY CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY SIGNS THIS RADICAL AGREEMENT, THEY’LL LOSE BILLIONS IN STATE FUNDING — INCLUDING CAL GRANTS — INSTANTLY,” Newsom said in a statement he intentionally put in all capital letters. “CALIFORNIA WILL NOT BANKROLL SCHOOLS THAT SELL OUT THEIR STUDENTS, PROFESSORS, RESEARCHERS, AND SURRENDER ACADEMIC FREEDOM.

Newsom accused Trump’s proposal of being “nothing short of a hostile takeover of America’s universities.” He cited news reports to affirm his belief that Trump’s plan would impose strict government-mandated definitions of academic terms, erase diversity, and rip control away from campus leaders to install government-mandated conservative ideology in its place.