Education Department Issues ‘National Call to Action’ to University Leaders

On August 3, 2026, Education Secretary Linda McMahon issued a letter to college and university leaders titled “A National Call to Action to University Presidents and Governing Boards.” The letter urges every postsecondary institution to describe, before the end of 2026, its commitments to “rigorous teaching, pathbreaking research, and national service” and to post these statements prominently on institutional websites.

The letter poses specific questions that institutions should answer and identifies seven reform areas:

• Providing admissions transparency and ensuring merit-based decisions that comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard
• Protecting free speech while preventing protests from disrupting classes, research, and management of campus operations
• Fostering intellectual pluralism in faculty hiring and across academic disciplines
• Containing costs and improving pricing transparency so that students can access high-return degrees and repay their loans
• Combating grade inflation and incentivizing academic rigor in the age of AI
• Safeguarding the research enterprise from foreign influence by refusing gifts with problematic conditions
• Prioritizing American students, faculty, and national security interests in research and academic programming ahead of global commitments

Notably, the letter was developed in collaboration with the Association of American Universities and several university presidents, signaling an attempt at a cooperative rather than purely adversarial approach between the administration and higher education leadership.

A White House official told The Chronicle of Higher Education that no funding is tied to making the changes outlined in the letter, but the administration will work with universities willing to engage in broader changes to the federal research apparatus. Given ongoing efforts to restructure research grant funding, institutions should monitor this initiative closely, as it may foreshadow future conditions on federal research grants or other funding mechanisms.

Please contact Steptoe & Johnson’s Higher Education Team for more information or for assistance in preparing institutional responses to the National Call to Action. We will continue to track developments and are available to discuss the potential implications for your institution.