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Cato Weekly Podcast • October 9, 2025 

# Trump Universities? 

President Trump’s new “Compact with Academia” aims to reshape higher ed using the leverage of federal funds. Our panel unpacks the constitutional risks of Washington’s latest salvo in the campus culture wars. Plus, shutdown week two: will the administration deliver on federal job cuts or is it Grim Reaper cosplay?

#### Show Notes 

[![Higher Education](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-02/higher-education-image%20Cropped.jpg?itok=9HnYtgQf)](https://www.cato.org/blog/higher-ed-compact-more-same-worse) 

blog 

### [Higher Ed Compact Is More of the Same, Worse](/blog/higher-ed-compact-more-same-worse) 

By [Neal McCluskey](https://www.cato.org/people/neal-mccluskey) 

Universities should steer clear of the Trump compact because it is highly prescriptive, and they should want to maintain their independence. It would be a ramping up of federal control.

[![obamacare](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-10/obamacare.jpg?itok=QseixRLY)](https://www.cato.org/blog/six-reasons-not-extend-enhanced-obamacare-subsidies) 

blog 

### [Six Reasons to Not Extend the Enhanced Obamacare Subsidies](/blog/six-reasons-not-extend-enhanced-obamacare-subsidies) 

By [Adam N. Michel](https://www.cato.org/people/adam-n-michel) 

The enhanced subsidies are a costly reminder of how temporary government programs can become billion-dollar permanent entitlements.

[![Harvard University Campus](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2021-02/harvard-campus.jpg?itok=oinbXXPu)](https://www.cato.org/blog/court-rightly-finds-harvard-against-trump-coercion) 

blog 

### [Court Rightly Finds for Harvard Against Trump Administration](/blog/court-rightly-finds-harvard-against-trump-coercion) 

By [Neal McCluskey](https://www.cato.org/people/neal-mccluskey) 

Ultimately, the ruling was grounded in fundamental liberty: government cannot condition receipt of funds on recipients adopting government-approved speech or ideas or punish disapproved ideas.

[![trump tariffs](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-04/trump%20tariffs%20_0.jpg?itok=woR5NXXk)](https://www.cato.org/blog/revoking-ieepa-tariffs-will-not-lead-financial-ruin) 

blog 

### [Revoking IEEPA Tariffs Will Not “Lead to Financial Ruin”](/blog/revoking-ieepa-tariffs-will-not-lead-financial-ruin) 

By [Dominik Lett](https://www.cato.org/people/dominik-lett) 

Tariffs likely don’t even cover the fiscal costs of Republicans’ flagship tax legislation, let alone meaningfully improve the broader fiscal picture.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

[![Gene Healy](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Gene%20Healy.jpg?itok=EhkBZWC4)](/people/gene-healy) 

##### [Gene Healy](/people/gene-healy)

Former Senior Vice President for Policy, Cato Institute

[![Ryan Bourne](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Ryan%20Bourne.jpg?itok=nv8-2r7d)](/people/ryan-bourne) 

##### [Ryan Bourne](/people/ryan-bourne)

R. Evan Scharf Chair for the Public Understanding of Economics, Cato Institute

[ 

](https://x.com/MrRBourne) [ 

](mailto:rbourne@cato.org) 

[![Neal McCluskey Cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2023-11/mccluskey-cropped.jpg?itok=I-QI0yJD)](/people/neal-mccluskey) 

##### [Neal McCluskey](/people/neal-mccluskey)

Former Director, Center for Educational Freedom, Cato Institute

[![Adam N. Michel cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2023-02/adam-michel-cropped.jpg?itok=2xIg84-_)](/people/adam-n-michel) 

##### [Adam N. Michel](/people/adam-n-michel)

Director of Tax Policy Studies, Cato Institute

[ 

](https://x.com/adamnmichel)