The Massachusetts Institute of Technology turned down a Trump administration deal that would have given it benefits from the government if it conformed to Republican policy priorities.

MIT was one of nine elite schools to which the administration offered the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” deal earlier this month.

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The school became the first to deny it publicly on Friday, citing the college’s values of free expression and “the core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.”

MIT President Sally Kornbluth shared her letter refusing the deal to Education Secretary Linda McMahon with the campus community. She did not outright deny the compact right away, and instead she listed that she believes the university rewards merit, “opens doors” to talented students regardless of need, and that the school “values free expression.”

“These values and other MIT practices meet or exceed many standards outlined in the document you sent. We freely choose these values because they’re right, and we live by them because they support our mission – work of immense value to the prosperity, competitiveness, health and security of the United States. And of course, MIT abides by the law,” she wrote.

“In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences. Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education,” she concluded.

Offers were also sent to Vanderbilt University, Dartmouth College, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Arizona, Brown University, and the University of Virginia, officials told the Washington Examiner. 

The compact asked schools with endowments exceeding $2 million per student to offer free tuition to families of students making less than $200,000 a year. It also asked for considerations toward “rigorous and meritocratic” hiring, politically neutral faculty and staff, equality among students, and eliminating institutions that punish conservative thought.

In exchange, the schools would receive priority access to federal funding, among other benefits.

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Only one school, the University of Texas at Austin, has reacted positively to the deal publicly.

“We enthusiastically look forward to engaging with university officials and reviewing the compact immediately,” UT System Board of Regents Chair Kevin Eltif said. “Higher education has been at a crossroads in recent years, and we have worked very closely with Governor Abbott, Lt. Gov. Patrick and Speaker Burrows to implement sweeping changes for the benefit of our students and to strengthen our institutions to best serve the people of Texas.”