President Trump has proposed a “higher education compact” under which cooperative colleges and universities would enjoy certain benefits that non-cooperative ones would not.

Naturally, this has set off a firestorm of controversy, with criticism coming from all over the political spectrum.

In today’s Martin Center article, Graham Hillard evaluates the competing arguments and concludes that the compact would be beneficial.

He writes:

Citing American colleges’ “extraordinary relationship with the U.S. government,” the document asks universities to practice admissions fairness, encourage civil discourse on campus, tackle grade inflation, and undertake several other modest but conservative-coded reforms. In exchange, signatories would receive “priority access to federal funds and looser restraints on overhead costs,” as the New York Times and other outlets have reported.

As you’d expect, the left has gone ballistic. According to numerous people in the education establishment, the compact would mean the end of institutional independence. But the idea has also taken fire from the right, with people arguing that this would grease the rails for even more leftist dominance over higher ed in the next Democratic administration.

Hillard is not persuaded by either side. Read the whole thing.