The Los Angeles Times reports:

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday threatened to cut “billions” in state funding, including to USC, from any California campus that signs a Trump administration compact and agrees to sweeping and largely conservative campus policies in exchange for priority access to federal funding.

“If any California University signs this radical agreement, they’ll lose billions in state funding — including Cal Grants — instantly,” Newsom said. “California will not bankroll schools that sell out their students, professors, researchers, and surrender academic freedom.”

The bold statement came less than a day after the the White House asked the University of Southern California and eight other major universities throughout the country to shift to the right and agree to Trump’s views on gender identity, admissions, diversity and free speech among other areas — in exchange for more favorable access to federal research grants and additional funding.

Universities were asked to sign a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” committing them to adopt the White House’s conservative vision for America’s campuses. The letter, sent out Wednesday, also suggests colleges should align with Trump’s views on student discipline, college affordability and the importance of hard sciences over liberal arts.

The request represents the latest tactic by the Trump administration to aggressively reshape universities — which he says are bastions of liberalism that are intolerant of Republicans — by leveraging federal funding to force campuses adhere to his conservative ideals.

Newsom’s quick swing back ratchets up his strident push against the Trump administration — including mocking Trump’s social media. Newsom’s statement Thursday was issued in all-capital letters, mirroring the president’s trademark social media style.

The compact would also severely restrict international student enrollment to 15% of a college’s undergraduate student body and no more than 5% could come from a single country, a provision that would hit hard at USC, where 26% of the fall 2025 freshman class is international. More than half of those students hailing from either China or India.

Full-fee tuition from international students is a major source of revenue at USC, which has undertaken hundreds of layoffs this year amid budget troubles.

In a statement released before the Newsom announcement, USC said only that it was “reviewing the administration’s letter.” Officials did not immediately respond to a renewed request for comment.

“No self-respecting university should sign on to this proposed compact,” said state Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D-Rolling Hills Estates), who chairs the Assembly Education Committee. “Universities will never be able to live down a reputation of selling out their principals of academic freedom and free speech on these enticements of preferential treatment.” [Continue reading…]