By Christian Collins

Athletic conferences are arguably the greatest existing system of collaboration between universities. These conferences are specifically designed to foster partnerships between schools that otherwise compete against each other for students, funding, and survival. Of the nearly 5,900 total Title IV higher education institutions across the United States, 1,097  Division I, Division II, and Division III members are already organized through National Collegiate Athletic Association conferences.

This collaboration has particular resonance now, as the Trump Administration has unleashed a ceaseless wave of weaponized policy meant to crush higher education. Surviving this unprecedented challenge calls for unique solutions from institutions to preserve American higher education through their endowments. Colleges and universities across the country have thus far hesitated to use those funds for their own protection—but the Rutgers University faculty senate presented a proposal that is a necessary and natural extension of the athletic conference partnership and offers a potential blueprint for protecting higher education.

Back in March, Rutgers’s faculty senate passed a resolution requesting that the university president formally call a meeting between all 18 member institutions of the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) and “propose and help establish a Mutual Academic Defense Compact among all members of the Big Ten Academic Alliance.” Versions of this proposal have since been passed by faculty senates at half of the BTAA member institutions and counting.

This “compact” would essentially operate as a mutual aid fund where members pool resources to protect each other when facing attacks from policymakers. Though 16 of the 18 current BTAA members are public institutions, the Alliance itself operates independently of direct policymaker control and thus has more flexibility in rapid response actions.

The Trump administration has created multiple existential crises for American higher education, including lackluster institutional leadership. Administrators seeking to protect students from policy threats are embracing a strategy of quiet resistance involving behind-the-scenes lobbying and assisting in active lawsuits against the administration. While these are valid courses of action, they fail to consider calls from students and the higher education workforce for their leaders to be more public-facing and forthright in countering the ways the administration is deliberately violating the law. These failures, in turn, cede media coverage to institutions openly complying with unlawful actions. In contrast, the academic workforces on campuses across the country have shown a far greater level of public resistance to the Trump administration through visceral protests and organizing days of action, filing lawsuits that institutional administrators showcase despite having far more personal and professional risk, and leading the call of boycotting institutions willingly exposing their students to threats.

The Rutgers proposal provides specific protections that exemplify the holistic impact of public flagships and would be the exact strong public showing of resistance from institutions that their students and workforces are desperately seeking. Participating institutions would commit resources to a shared defense fund used to provide immediate and strategic support to any member institution under direct political or legal infringement. The fund would also provide legal counsel, governance experts, and public affairs offices to coordinate a unified and vigorous response to threats, including legal actions, legislative and public advocacy, and research tools.

For fiscal year 2024, the combined endowments of BTAA institutions and related foundations totaled just under $113 billion,[1] representing the significant resources already available across the Alliance to protect each other. All the institutions also provide invaluable resources to their communities and the country through their medical research and health care services, the number of jobs they provide, and their chief mission of generating positive social mobility for all students.

The Rutgers faculty is leading this endeavor because tenured faculty, non-tenured faculty, and graduate students are unionized together, demonstrating how leadership can still come from campus employees even if it won’t come from campus leadership. Solidarity is the key aspect of resistance against authoritarian assaults on democracy, which is understood by campus workforces calling on their institutions to “find their spines” and lead resistance efforts.

Beyond the specifics of protecting each other against the Trump administration, the Rutgers proposal is an opportunity for public flagships to reclaim their role as leaders in higher education. The administration has shown no signs of halting its extortion of institutions, while Congress and state policymakers are preparing their own pathways to dismantling public education. Institutions have been given a viable strategy from their own academic workforce to protect their students and communities through a model that other universities across the country can easily adopt and expand. They must act before American higher education becomes too damaged to repair.

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[1] This figure was reached by using the following sources: “Public NCSE Tables,” National Association of College and University Business Officers, February 26, 2025, https://www.nacubo.org/Research/2024/Public-NCSE-Tables; “University of California Annual Endowment Report, Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2024” University of California, https://www.ucop.edu/investment-office/investment-reports/annual-reports/annual-endwoment-report-fy-2023-2024.pdf; “WFAA Annual Update,” Wisconsin Foundation & Alumni Association, University of Wisconsin-Madison, https://www.advanceuw.org/annual-report/; and “2024 Consolidated Endowment Fund (CEF) Annual Report,” University of Washington, https://finance.uw.edu/treasury/cef2024