The Sexual Violence Prevention Association (SVPA) is proud to endorse the “Foundational Values for Higher Education” compact alongside 62 powerful organizations. We strongly encourage all colleges and universities across the country to commit to this pro-equity compact and uphold the principles necessary to protect students, faculty, and staff. By supporting equality, student safety, and autonomy, this compact provides a framework for schools to address systemic injustice and prevent sexual violence.
This pro-equity compact was created by the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), Legal Defense Fund (LDF), the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, and Advocates for Youth in response to President Donald Trump’s 2025 proposal, the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.
Trump’s harmful anti-equity compact incentivizes universities to make policy changes such as eliminating DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs, revising hiring and admissions practices, capping international student enrollment, and other measures limiting education access for underrepresented communities.
Trump’s Anti-Equity Compact
There are many dangerous and harmful principles within Trump’s anti-equity compact. The “Student Equality” subsection requires institutions to determine students’ access to activities and campus spaces based on their biological sex at birth. This increases the risk of students being subjected to state-sanctioned sexual violence through invasive questioning, forced disclosure of medical information, and other sex verification practices. These practices severely undermine longstanding civil rights protections, weaken diversity and inclusion initiatives, and threaten universities’ abilities to protect students from discrimination and harassment.
These concerns arise within the broader context of federal actions that have threatened protections against discrimination, harassment, and sexual violence in educational institutions. The Trump administration’s mass layoffs in the Education Department have significantly weakened the Department’s ability to enforce protections against sexual harassment and violence on campuses. New rules have been implemented that narrow the definition of sexual harassment, limit institutional responsibility to on-campus incidents, and reduce the number of investigators available to pursue Title IX complaints. The federal government has systemically dismantled the mechanisms survivors depend on to report and address sexual violence. This institutional failure to protect students from harm is itself a form of state-tolerated sexual violence.
Pro-Equity Counter Compact
The “Foundational Values for Higher Education” counter-compact offers a pro-equity alternative that prioritizes student safety, civil rights protections, and institutional accountability. It provides a framework for addressing the structural conditions that enable sexual violence by establishing equitable admissions criteria, protecting academic freedom and peaceful protest, and safeguarding campus communities from unlawful government actions.
The compact’s sixth principle emphasizes training employees on civil rights laws, including Title IX, so they can effectively recognize and respond to harassment and misconduct. This type of training is essential for addressing sexual violence. It also emphasizes informing students, faculty, and staff about their rights and the procedures for filing complaints within their institutions. Increased transparency and guidance on the institutional procedures relating to sexual violence interventions and responses can reduce fear of retaliation or confusion by survivors of sexual violence, thus increasing the likelihood that they come forward, gaining resources and support.
Another key principle stresses the safety of the campus community by protecting all members from abusive or violent actions by law enforcement, including forms of state sexual violence. Monitoring and limiting the role of law enforcement on campuses and ensuring accountability for abusive conduct reduces the risk that students or faculty will be subjected to such nonconsensual sexual acts carried out under the authority of the state. This is particularly important for marginalized groups such as women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and international students, who are disproportionately targeted.
The compact’s final principle affirms the importance of academic freedom and the First Amendment rights of students, faculty, and staff to free speech and protest. Protecting these fundamental rights empowers campus community members to challenge policies and societal norms that perpetuate sexual violence, advocate for reforms, and dismantle the systemic conditions that underlie sexual harassment and discrimination in order to contribute to a safer campus environment.
The SVPA encourages colleges and universities across the country to join the “Foundational Values for Higher Education” compact. This pro-equity compact strengthens schools’ ability to prevent sexual violence on campus while safeguarding communities from governmental persecution and state sexual violence. Institutions have a responsibility to create environments where every student can participate, learn, and live without the fear of discrimination or violence. This compact provides crucial policy recommendations for achieving that goal.
