The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has rejected a Trump administration proposal which detailed policies to follow in exchange for preferential access to federal funds.
In a letter to US Education Secretary Linda McMahon, MIT's president Sally Kornbluth said the proposal would "restrict freedom of expression" on campus and was inconsistent with the university's core values.
Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Texas were also approached by the administration to sign the deal.
It would see universities cap foreign admissions, restrict university leaders' comments on political events, and adopt a binary definition of gender.
The US education department asked the schools to review and agree to what it called a "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education". It contained a laundry list of longstanding conservative grievances the administration has clashed with several other universities over.
