Brown University inks deal with Trump admin to restore funding: What's in the agreement?
Brown will not pay a fine to the federal government. Instead, the Rhode Island university said it would donate $50 million to workforce development organizations in the state.
Brown University has reached a deal with the Trump administration to restore more than $500 million in federal funding to the school and close three government investigations into its campus.
The compact, which Brown's president announced July 30, came exactly one week after the White House entered into a separate unprecedented agreement with Columbia University and levied fines against that school, Brown's peer in the Ivy League, totaling more than $220 million.
Unlike the contract with Columbia, Brown won't pay money directly to the government. Instead, the university in Providence, Rhode Island, committed to providing $50 million in grants to workforce development organizations across the state over the next 10 years.
There were other stipulations, however: The university said it would commission a survey on campus life to its Jewish students. It also said it would hand over admissions data, broken down by various factors including race, in an annual report to the federal government (a provision included in the Columbia agreement as well).
Brown also promised to comply with President Donald Trump's executive order aimed at banning transgender athletes in women's sports. And the university said its medical facilities would not give gender-affirming to minors.
In exchange, the Trump administration promised to reinstate payments for active research grants at the university and restore its ability to compete for new federal grants and contracts.
In a statement announcing the deal, Brown President Christina Paxson emphasized that the agreement does not give the government any authority to "dictate Brown's curriculum or the content of academic speech."
"The University's foremost priority throughout discussions with the government was remaining true to our academic mission, our core values and who we are as a community at Brown,” she said.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement, "the Trump Administration is successfully reversing the decades-long woke-capture of our nation’s higher education institutions."
The White House for months has been ratcheting up pressure on colleges and universities to comply with its interpretations of civil rights laws – and withholding billions in federal funding from schools that don't immediately cooperate.
Officials at the Education Department and other agencies have argued the funding freezes are primarily about preventing antisemitism on campus amid the Israel-Hamas war. But many of the Trump administration's demands to schools have been tied to longstanding Republican grievances with higher education, which many conservatives view as too liberal.
Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for Paste BN. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.