Brown University announced today that it had reached an agreement with the Trump administration to restore it's federal funding with. Brown is the third high profile university to make such an agreement.
The agreement, a copy of which Brown made public, calls for the university to make $50 million in payments to state work force development programs over a decade and requires Brown to comply with the Trump administration’s vision on matters like transgender athletes and “merit-based” admissions policies.
The university, which is in Providence, R.I., secured a pledge from the government that the deal would not be used “to dictate Brown’s curriculum or the content of academic speech.” The Trump administration is also required to restore millions of dollars in federal research funding that it had blocked in recent months, and Brown avoided the naming of an independent monitor to oversee the deal...
The Trump administration depicted the deal as an ideological victory. In a statement on Wednesday, Education Secretary Linda McMahon argued the deal was part of what would be a “lasting legacy of the Trump administration, one that will benefit students and American society for generations to come.”
“The Trump administration is successfully reversing the decades-long woke-capture of our nation’s higher education institutions,” Ms. McMahon said.
Brown's president, Christina H. Paxson, released a statement emphasizing that the school would retain its academic freedom.
The voluntary agreement will reinstate payments for active research grants and restore Brown's ability to compete for new federal grants and contracts, while also meeting the core imperative of preserving the ability for our students and scholars — both domestic and international — to teach and learn without government intrusion.
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. This is reflected in key provisions of the resolution agreement preserving our academic independence, as well as a commitment to pay $50 million in grants over 10 years to workforce development organizations in Rhode Island, which is aligned with our service and community engagement mission. The agreement does not include any payments or fines to the federal government.
What the Trump administration got out of this is mostly confined to points 5,6, and 7 of her statement. First, a codification of male and female in sports and an end to gender affirming care on campus:
As we have for decades, Brown has agreed to abide by Title IX and NCAA eligibility rules regarding the participation of transgender athletes in intercollegiate sports. We also committed that the University will continue to provide housing and restroom access in a way that allows for gender-inclusive, women-only and men-only options.
The agreement also states, "The University will not perform gender reassignment surgery or prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to any minor child for the purpose of aligning the child’s appearance with an identity that differs from his or her sex." The University will refer affected students who seek care from Student Health Services or the University Pharmacy to area specialists.
Next up is Brown's commitment to fight campus anti-Semitism.
The agreement also affirms that "Brown is committed to taking significant, proactive, effective steps to combat antisemitism and ensure a campus environment free from harassment and discrimination." Extending long before the federal review of Brown's compliance with the law, I have been gratified by the many ways our community has embraced a wide range of proactive and concrete measures to combat antisemitism and ensure that all members of our community have equal opportunities to enjoy the educational experience at Brown.
Finally, Brown will redouble its efforts to ensure admissions are based on merit, not race.
In the area of admissions, the resolution agreement aligns with ongoing process reviews at Brown to ensure Brown is complying with the U.S. Supreme Court decision prohibiting consideration of race in admission decisions. For future classes of students who enroll, Brown agreed to provide the government with additional anonymized demographic data demonstrating our legal compliance...
Beyond admissions, the agreement requires reporting to the government to ensure that Brown's programs "do not promote unlawful DEI goals." While “unlawful DEI” is not defined in the agreement, Brown has continued to implement a series of measures to ensure that all Brown academic and administrative units follow anti-harassment policies and nondiscrimination laws, including Title VI and Title IX.
This is clearly a win for the Trump administration but there's also a lot of wiggle room in this agreement. Will Brown actually put an end to DEI efforts or will it just rebrand them and carry on as many other colleges have done. Hopefully the Trump administration will keep an eye on this.
Brown follows both Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania in making agreements like this. Next up should be Harvard. There seems to be agreement on both sides at this point about what a deal will look like:
Harvard University has signaled a willingness to meet the Trump administration’s demand to spend as much as $500 million to end its dispute with the White House as talks between the two sides intensify, four people familiar with the negotiations said.
According to one of the people, Harvard is reluctant to directly pay the federal government, but negotiators are still discussing the exact financial terms.
The sum sought by the government, which recently accused Harvard of civil rights violations, is more than twice as much as the $200 million fine that Columbia University said it would pay when it settled antisemitism claims with the White House last week.
That story was published yesterday. Today, Trump himself said he was open to such a deal.
U.S. President Donald Trump signaled a willingness on Wednesday to settle for $500 million a legal fight with Harvard University over $2.5 billion in funding his administration canceled over accusations it allowed antisemitism and promoted diversity policies.
"Well it's a lot of money," Trump told reporters when asked at the White House if $500 million would be enough to make a deal.
Indeed it is a lot of money but Harvard can afford it. There were other signs this week that Harvard was in an agreeable mood.
Harvard University said Tuesday it has provided the federal government with employment records for thousands of employees as part of a Department of Homeland Security review initiated earlier this month.
The university alerted current and former employees about the move in an email obtained by The Boston Globe. DHS also issued a related subpoena seeking payroll records, employee rosters, and other documents.
I'm wondering if we won't have a Friday news dump about this two days from now. It seems like there's not much holding up an announcement at this point except a desire to minimize the splash it will make with the media.
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