Ben Franklin Is Rolling Over in His Grave
I weigh in on the Trump administration’s appalling, disruptive, and shameful attempt at intervention in the affairs of a private university (UPenn).
The October 3, 2025, Philadelphia Inquirer headline and lede burned into my eyeballs. Here it is.
Trump seeks influence over hiring and admissions at Penn in exchange for federal funding
President Donald Trump’s administration has asked to sign a compact, adhering to certain principles in exchange for preferences in receiving “substantial and meaningful federal grants.” Those principles would give Trump wide-ranging influence over the private university’s hiring, admissions, tuition pricing, and even curriculum to some extent.
“When an invitation is accompanied by consequences for not accepting it, it is in fact a threat, not an invitation,” a group of Penn professors said.
For me, this is a personal attack on the integrity of my alma mater, UPenn, an institution first envisioned by Benjamin Franklin.
Personal history: I have three degrees from Penn. My undergraduate is a BS in economics from the Wharton School in the class of 1965. That is the year before a certain very young Donald Trump transferred into Penn for the last two years of his undergraduate work.
At Penn during my pursuit of my two graduate degrees, there were important and distinctive discussions about why the integrity of well-researched and independently curated academic work is limitless in value as graduates progress in career and in life.
I agree with the quote from the group of Penn professors cited above, whom I do not know personally.
This proposed compact is a direct threat to the entire university and each and all the multidisciplinary schools within it, not just a threat to the Wharton School of Business where I studied as an undergraduate. Please think more broadly. Annenberg in communications. Penn Medicine. Penn Law. Penn Nursing. I could list all of them.
UPenn is, of course, not the only university that has been targeted by the administration to sign off on its politically constructed agreement in return for funding advantages. Private universities Vanderbilt, Dartmouth, MIT, the University of Southern California, and Brown join UPenn as recipients of its proposed 10-point compact, along with three public research universities — the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Arizona, and the University of Virginia. (See “White House Asks Colleges to Sign Sweeping Agreement to Get Funding Advantage” | WSJ.)
Action to take if you agree
Speak out, write, post, initiate conversations, reach out to congressional representatives and senators, repeat and repeat. In my opinion, every person who attended any schools of UPenn has the standing and opportunity to defend the university from this unwarranted and blatant attack on academic freedom and educational integrity.
At Penn, I learned how to disagree while maintaining civility. I learned that thinking you are always right is the definition of simple arrogance. I learned that learning is best when there are mistakes and corrections of them. That process is used by skilled teachers to improve the outcomes of the students.
In my opinion, if UPenn succumbs to this threat, it would be making a tragic mistake. The same holds true for any of the other universities over which the Trump administration proposes to exercise its invasive influence. Alumni and students and parents can speak out. So can everyone else.
Universities now face a dilemma as they confront a “divide and conquer” form of government coercion. Universities may succumb one by one, or they may find the courage to stand together and resist governmental pressures. The direction of American higher education depends on the outcome.
Permission granted to forward anywhere and to anyone.
Thank you.
David R. Kotok
David values thoughtful, reasoned, constructive responses from readers. To contact him, please send an email. The subject line should read “Response to [title of commentary].”
The complete Kotok Report archive can be found at www.kotokreport.com.