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And I'm Todd's Willey.

The Trump administration has cut federal funding to colleges and universities it says don't align with conservative priorities. Now, the White House says it will reward schools that follow in its ideological footsteps. The White House, earlier this month, sent a list of demands to nine schools that they must agree to in order to get preferred access to federal funds.

They're calling it the compact for academic excellence in higher education.

Those demands include ending considerations of race and sex and admissions and hiring,

capping international student enrollment, and limiting what faculty can say about certain issues.

Six institutions, Brown University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of

Southern California, the University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth College, and the University of Virginia

have rejected the proposal. The others have yet to comment or else say they are reviewing the

demands. This is the latest chapter in the story of how the Trump administration is trying to exert influence over higher education.

In March, the White House canceled $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University over allegations of anti-Semitism.

Others have had money clawed back, too.

On today's If You Can Keep

it, our weekly series on the state of democracy, we're talking about higher education and what's at

stake if academic freedom is compromised. That and more after this short break. Stay with us.

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