Brown University on Wednesday announced a deal with the Trump administration that ends three investigations into the institution and restores research funding that was withheld from it.
The administration halted more than $500 million to Brown back in April and had opened probes assessing the university’s compliance with antidiscrimination laws.
The deal restores that money, ends the investigations and restores the university’s ability to apply for new federal grants and contracts.
In return, Brown did not have to pay a direct fine to the government like Columbia University, but agreed to pay $50 million over 10 years to workforce development organizations in Rhode Island.
It will also separate men and women’s sports facilities on the basis of sex, and its health system will not prescribe puberty blockers or conduct gender reassignment surgeries on minors.
Brown also committed to ban programs that contain “unlawful efforts to achieve race-based outcomes” and have “merit-based admissions policies.”
The university agreed to provide data and information to the Trump administration showing its compliance with the agreement.
“By voluntarily entering this agreement, we meet those dual obligations. We stand solidly behind commitments we repeatedly have affirmed to protect all members of our community from harassment and discrimination, and we protect the ability of our faculty and students to study and learn academic subjects of their choosing, free from censorship,” said Brown President Christina Paxson in a letter to the community.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon celebrated this deal on the back of an agreement with Columbia, which paid a $200 million fine to the Trump administration and agreed to more reforms.
“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. 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,” McMahon said.
“Restoring our nation’s higher education institutions to places dedicated to truth-seeking, academic merit, and civil debate — where all students can learn free from discrimination and harassment — will be a lasting legacy of the Trump administration, one that will benefit students and American society for generations to come,” she added.
