Paul Boxer thinks “an attack on one is an attack on all” when it comes to the Trump administration threatening United States universities.

That’s why the Rutgers University-Newark psychology professor wants to create a “NATO” style coalition among Big Ten universities to combat the Trump administration.

Boxer co-authored a resolution with Rutgers-Camden associate professor of chemistry David Salas-de la Cruz, calling on Rutgers University leadership to create a “mutual defense compact” with other Big Ten institutions.

Since the Rutgers University Senate passed the resolution March 28, faculty senates from three of UCLA’s Big Ten counterparts – Indiana University, Michigan State University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln – have passed similar resolutions.

The Daily Bruin confirmed that the University of Southern California Academic Senate will also vote on adopting a resolution in support of the compact May 7. USC announced March 27 that it would remove diversity, equity and inclusion from its stated values to comply with guidance from the Trump administration.

Ohio State University’s university senate will also consider the resolution, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, and the University of Michigan’s senate recently held a special meeting to discuss the compact, according to the Michigan Daily.

UCLA Academic Senate Chair Kathleen Bawn did not respond to a request for comment on if the Senate will consider the resolution.

Boxer said the idea for the compact came after attending a monthly meeting between the faculty senates of Big Ten universities. While faculty at the conference discussed putting out a joint statement, Boxer added that he and Salas-de la Cruz walked away from the conference wanting to create something bigger: an alliance.

“It was making him (Salas-de la Cruz) think about NATO … and this idea of trying to come up with some kind of statement that would invoke an ‘an attack on one is an attack on all’ mentality or ethos,” he said.

Boxer and Salas-de la Cruz’s resolution calls upon Rutgers’ leadership to make its legal counsel, governance experts and public affairs offices available to other universities in the compact that experience “direct political or legal infringement.”

Boxer noted that the resolution is “aspirational” at points, particularly in its call to create a shared defense fund among universities in the compact. However, its main focus is to create a sense of unity and loyalty among Big Ten schools, he added.

“If one university received some sort of demand, that university could, in theory, reach out to all the others,” he said. “It’s much more that, than any kind of specific policy.”

President Donald Trump has threatened to withhold federal grants and contracts from seven major colleges – Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Harvard University, Northwestern University and Princeton University – for allegedly allowing antisemitism on their campuses. The Trump administration also suspended funding from a seventh university, the University of Pennsylvania, for allowing a transgender swimmer to compete for the school in 2022.

Harvard rejected Trump’s demands Monday, becoming the first university to publicly do so. In response, the Trump administration initiated an investigation into Harvard’s tax-exempt status and threatened to block it from enrolling international students.

However, the Trump administration said Friday that its initial demands were sent to Harvard in error, according to the New York Times.

Steven Sherman, a professor emeritus of psychology at Indiana University, said he came across the Rutgers resolution April 5. Three days later, he introduced it to the Bloomington Faculty Council, where it passed nearly unanimously.

“Our final faculty council meeting for the year was scheduled for the next Tuesday, three days away, and the agenda had already been set,” Sherman said. “The bottom line is that we were able to pass the resolution.”

Sherman said he brought the resolution to the Bloomington Faculty Council in response to the Trump administration’s attacks on academic freedom, including research funding cuts, crackdowns on free speech and the revocation of student visas. The Trump administration has revoked the visas of over 1,550 students and recent alumni nationwide, according to Inside Higher Ed, including at least 19 at UCLA.

“The biggest issue is protection – there’s no room for ‘Hey, I’m doing what I love to do, and I’m free to do it,’” he said. “It’s trying to protect their jobs and protect their shared governance and their freedom of speech.”

Abdulkader Sinno, an associate professor of political science at Indiana University who voted in favor of the resolution, said he was compelled to do so after Columbia yielded to the Trump administration’s demands to regain its federal funding.

Columbia announced March 21 that it would implement several policies – including hiring 36 new police officers, banning face coverings for the purpose of “concealing one’s identity,” creating a new disciplinary judicial board, adopting a new definition of antisemitism and reviewing its Middle East studies curriculum – to restore $400 million in lost grants and contracts.

Sinno added that seeing an Ivy League institution cede to Trump’s demands made him realize that universities who rely even more heavily on public funding must come together to protect themselves.

“The idea is that they’re moving piecemeal by attacking the strongest universities, one by one,” he said. “Their hope is that everybody will end up self-complying anyway, or they will surrender altogether.”

The Trump administration has only frozen federal funding from one Big Ten school, Northwestern University, as of Sunday. However, the administration has revoked the visas of students at several Big Ten institutions, initiated Title VI investigations into antisemitism at nine of its universities and assigned an antisemitism task force to visit four others. Boxer said he believes it is important that the Big Ten – which consists of mostly large public universities – be proactive in protecting itself.

“For the most part, we’re talking about enormous public universities that represent a really significant, meaningful cross-section of the American college student population,” he said. “We’ve got very diverse states represented.”

Sherman said faculty senates at universities outside the Big Ten have considered passing similar resolutions, including those at Georgetown University and the George Washington University. The faculty senate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst passed a resolution April 10 calling on its leadership to create a mutual defense compact with America’s public and land-grant universities, Boxer said.

Sinno said he believes UCLA is particularly positioned to stand up to Trump and endorse the resolution, as the university would have the support of the California state government. Boxer added that he has been in contact with the academic senates of several other universities across the U.S. who are interested in passing similar resolutions – and said he urges UCLA to join.

“Join us,” he said. “Every university needs to be standing together on this.”