The University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California publicly declined the Trump administration’s “Compact for Academic Excellence,” joining earlier rejections from MIT and Brown. Penn President J. Larry Jameson told the Education Department the university would “respectfully decline,” citing concerns about institutional independence and academic freedom. Brown and MIT had already signaled similar objections over the compact’s potential to tie federal research preferences to campus policy changes. Colleges were asked to accept conditions including tuition freezes, caps on international enrollment and measures tied to viewpoint diversity in exchange for research advantages. University leaders say the compact’s terms risk politicizing grant prioritization and constraining governance on hiring, admissions and curriculum. The coordinated refusals have become a focal point in a broader sectorwide pushback against federal pressure to condition funding on operational and speech-related requirements.