Brown University has declined to accept a proposal from the Trump administration that mandated changes to campus policies in exchange for federal funding.
In a letter dated Wednesday, Christina Paxson of Brown expressed her concerns to Education Secretary Linda McMahon and White House aides Mae Mailman and Vincent Haley, stating that she feared the agreement would “restrict academic freedom and undermine the autonomy of the Brown administration.”
Paxson mentioned her willingness to work with the federal government and highlighted her commitment to fostering discussions aimed at enhancing American higher education. However, she pointed out that the agreement fails to acknowledge “the government’s lack of authority to determine curriculum or the content of academic lectures.”
The Hill has reached out for comments from both the White House and the Department of Education.
On October 1, the administration sent a ten-part proposal called “A Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” to several universities, including Brown, MIT, and others.
This memo detailed various policy changes that institutions would need to implement, such as freezing tuition for five years, prohibiting transgender women from using women’s facilities and participating in their sports teams, promoting a “vibrant marketplace of ideas,” enhancing opportunities for military personnel, and limiting foreign students to 15 percent of the population.
In return, these schools would gain preferential access to federal research funding.
Last week, MIT became the first university to publicly reject the proposal. Bloomberg reported that following MIT’s decision, the administration is urging all U.S. universities to consider the agreement.
Previously, in July, Brown’s administration had settled three anti-discrimination investigations and managed to restore $500 million in federal research funding.
This earlier agreement required Brown to contribute $50 million over ten years to Rhode Island’s workforce development organization, segregate male and female sports facilities according to gender, and enforce restrictions on healthcare related to minors and sex reassignment procedures.
Paxson, reflecting on the July agreement, reaffirmed Brown’s commitment to equal opportunity in admissions and hiring while ensuring a community free from harassment and discrimination.
In response, a student-led group named Brown Rise Up, which opposed the university’s involvement in the proposed agreement, celebrated Paxson’s letter as a “huge victory.” However, they cautioned that the administration’s “attack on higher education and Brown is far from over.” They called for continued support from students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the community to resist the Trump administration’s influence on education.
