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EXCLUSIVE: A historically Black university in North Carolina is the first to express interest in joining President Donald Trump’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education after Ivy League and high-profile state universities declined the offer.
Verjanis Peoples, the interim president of St. Augustine’s University in Raleigh, sent a letter to David Barker, the Trump administration’s assistant secretary for postsecondary education, confirming the school’s wish to participate in the compact. Sophie Gibson, the chair of the school’s board of trustees, also signed the letter obtained by Fox News Digital, which was sent to the Department of Education on Wednesday.
“On behalf of Saint Augustine’s University, we write to express our desire to participate in and help shape the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” the letter says. “As one of the nation’s oldest Historically Black Colleges and Universities, with a 158-year legacy of expanding educational opportunity and transforming lives, we support the Compact’s broad goal of strengthening academic excellence, accountability, and transparency across American higher education.”
An aerial view of the St. Augustine’s University campus in Raleigh, N.C. (Courtesy: St. Augustine’s University )
The school representatives added that they “see alignment between this mission and the Compact’s aspirations for excellence and accountability.”
However, the letter lays out a few candid acknowledgments of some unique challenges an HBCU might have upon joining.
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U.S. President Donald Trump talks to guests after signing the HBCU executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 28, 2017. (REUTERS/Yuri Gripas)
The compact, which is tied to preferential federal funding for universities that participate, explicitly bars consideration of race, ethnicity and other identity-based characteristics for admissions and scholarship decisions, an obvious potential hurdle for a historically Black school.
“For example, the Compact’s current restrictions on the use of race, ethnicity, or related indicators in admissions or financial support—while well intentioned—conflict with Title III of the Higher Education Act and with the explicit purpose of HBCUs to expand access for Black students and historically marginalized communities,” the letter says.
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The letter also notes that the compact’s tuition freeze, which says that schools joining the compact cannot raise tuition for five years after signing, could be a significant hurdle to clear given that HBCUs typically have smaller endowments than private schools and large state universities.
An entrance to the St. Augustine’s University campus in Raleigh, N.C. (Courtesy: St. Augustine’s University )
Another concern for the school is whether the compact, which forbids DEI programs and caps foreign admissions to 15% of the student population, and 5% from any single nation, will be compatible with the compact, noting the school’s “global partnerships across the African diaspora,” which is part of longstanding HBCU tradition.
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The letter ends on a positive note, saying the school “remains eager to participate as a constructive partner and early-engagement institution.”
“We believe that with thoughtful collaboration, the Department and participating institutions can refine the Compact to ensure that its implementation is rigorous, mission-aligned, and inclusive of the Nation’s diverse higher education landscape,” it says. “Saint Augustine’s University respectfully requests a dialogue process that allows HBCUs to contribute expertise, articulate mission-specific constraints, and help shape the final framework in ways that uphold both the letter and spirit of the Compact while safeguarding our statutory purpose.”
A stone building on the campus of St. Augustine’s University in Raleigh, N.C. (Courtest: St. Augustine’s University)
“Our mission as a Historically Black College/University is not symbolic—it is statutory, purposeful, and essential to the students and communities we were created to serve,” Peoples said in a statement. “We fully support efforts to raise the bar on academic excellence nationwide, but those efforts must recognize the unique role HBCUs play in expanding opportunity. Saint Augustine’s University is eager to collaborate on a grant that is rigorous, mission-aligned, and reflective of America’s diverse higher education landscape.”
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The Trump administration solicited feedback from nine schools, some public and some private, nationwide. A feedback deadline was set for Oct. 20. None of the colleges signed the compact, with MIT, the University of Arizona, Brown University, Dartmouth College, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California and the University of Virginia declining to participate.
Vanderbilt University and the University of Texas at Austin remain noncommittal on the proposal.
Read the full letter: