Brown University reaches agreement with Trump administration to restore federal research funding
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As part of the settlement, Brown agreed not to engage in racial discrimination in admissions or university programming, and will provide access to admissions data to the federal government so it can assess compliance with merit-based admissions. In contrast to the Columbia deal, Brown's agreement with the Trump administration does not appear to include any restrictions on how or what the school teaches.
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The agreement also bars Brown from performing any gender-affirming surgeries on minors or prescribing
puberty blockers, a treatment for gender dysphoria
that stop the body from making certain hormones. While the university does have a medical school, it has never performed
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Brown also agreed to adopt Trump's definitions of a male and female, which were
In a statement,
'I stated that Brown should uphold its ethical and legal obligations while also steadfastly defending academic freedom and freedom of expression, for both the university as an institution and for individual members of our community,' said Paxson. 'By voluntarily entering this agreement, we meet those dual obligations.'
Brown president Christina H. Paxson said there are aspects of the agreement that 'are priorities of the federal administration in resolving the funding freeze.'
Matthew Healey for The Boston Globe
The deal will also require Brown to conduct a climate survey of the campus and report the results to the Trump administration. Other parts of the deal simply codify what was previously pledged by Brown in
'The Trump Administration is successfully reversing the decades-long woke-capture of our nation's higher education institutions. Because of the Trump Administration's resolution agreement with Brown University, aspiring students will be judged solely on their merits, not their race or sex,' said US Education Secretary Linda McMahon in a statement. 'Brown has committed to proactive measures to protect Jewish students and combat Antisemitism on campus. Women's sports and intimate facilities will be protected for women and Title IX will be enforced as it was intended.'
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Brown receives about $250 million in federal funding annually. Located in Providence, the school is
Many faculty, alumni, and students at Brown have stood by statements made by
The White House
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Yet, Brown officials said, the White House never formally actually notified Brown of its intention to freeze funding.
of the broad funding freeze. For the first time since 2002, 2022, Brown hired firms to lobby Congress and the Trump administration on its behalf.
Demonstrators unfurl a banner on a lawn after an encampment protesting the Israel-Hamas war was taken down at Brown University, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Providence, R.I.
David Goldman/Associated Press
Even as
While several other agencies continued to pay grants
previously promised to Brown, the National Institutes of Health, the government's medical research funder, froze all payments flowing to the school. The agreement reached Wednesday will require NIH to pay the more than $50 million it owes in reimbursements to Brown. That amount grows by about $3.5 million each week as work from the active grants continue.
Universities, including Brown, also struggle with the Trump administration's changing priorities in research and grant giving, which now focus less on climate research, for instance, and more on artificial intelligence and technology.
Critics of the administration have argued that Trump is trying to extort universities and inhibit academic freedom.
'The only way to deal with a bully is to stand up strong,' said Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and a former constitutional law professor, earlier this month. 'No college or university should be negotiating away any of its institutional freedom and academic prerogatives.'
The settlement comes as higher education institutions face the broad financial impacts of Trump '
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While Brown's agreement may bring some relief to its campus, other elite universities are still battling against the Trump administration's demands.
Harvard
Trump has indicated that Harvard will likely have a high price tag to settle, as well. Asked Wednesday if the
'Well it's a lot of money,' Trump said. 'We're negotiating with Harvard now, they would like to settle, so we'll see what happens.'
On Wednesday, the Trump administration also announced it was
The University of Pennsylvania also recently
Tal Kopan of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.
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Alexa Gagosz can be reached at
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