Councilmember Rocque Perez Leads Tucson’s Opposition to White House Attack on Higher Education
- Oct 10, 2025
- 2 min read
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Tucson City Councilmember Rocque Perez led the City of Tucson in unanimously adopting a resolution opposing the Trump Administration’s proposed “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” calling the federal proposal a coercive attempt to impose political mandates on the University of Arizona.
Perez, who formally requested the item for Council consideration on October 3 , brought forward the resolution alongside Vice Mayor Lane Santa Cruz. The Mayor and Council adopted the measure on October 8, declaring the compact “an unacceptable act of federal interference that undermines local control, academic freedom, and opportunity for our residents” .
In public remarks during Council deliberations, Perez delivered some of the strongest criticism of the proposal.
“The Trump administration’s compact asks universities to pledge loyalty, not excellence,” Perez said.
He further warned that recent compliance by university leadership with partisan directives had only increased vulnerability to federal pressure.
“The university’s new administration has spent months over-complying with partisan demands at the state and federal level,” Perez said. “That posture of appeasement has left the university more vulnerable, not less, and now it’s being rewarded, however coercive that reward may be for a pattern of compliance that never should have began.”
Perez closed his remarks with a clear statement of Tucson’s position: “Capitulation is not in Tucson’s nature.”
The White House sent the 10-page compact to nine universities, including the University of Arizona, setting a November deadline for signature. The proposal conditions preferential federal funding on compliance with a wide-ranging set of mandates, including banning consideration of race or sex in admissions and hiring, freezing tuition for five years, capping international undergraduate enrollment at 15 percent, applying federal definitions of gender to campus facilities and athletics, restructuring or eliminating departments deemed to “belittle” conservative ideas, and restricting university employees from speaking on societal or political issues unless directly tied to institutional operations.
The resolution adopted by the City affirms confidence in University of Arizona leadership to reject the compact and calls upon Arizona’s congressional delegation to oppose federal interference and disinvestment in higher education . It also directs that the resolution be formally transmitted to the University President, the Arizona Board of Regents, the Governor of Arizona, and Arizona’s congressional delegation .
Following Tucson’s unanimous vote, student leaders at the University of Arizona publicly urged rejection of the compact, raising concerns about free speech, academic independence, and impacts on international and marginalized students. The Pima County Board of Supervisors subsequently adopted a parallel resolution opposing the proposal, reinforcing regional alignment against what local leaders described as coercive federal overreach.
Councilmember Perez stated that Tucson’s action was rooted in protecting both institutional independence and the broader economic and civic future of the region.
“Our university is central to Tucson’s workforce, research leadership, and opportunity pipeline,” Perez said. “We cannot allow political interference to erode that foundation.”
A copy of the formal request submitted by Council Member Perez is available here:
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