Brown University strikes agreement with Trump administration to restore
lost federal funding
[July 31, 2025]
By COLLIN BINKLEY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Brown University will pay $50 million to Rhode Island
workforce development organizations in a deal with the Trump
administration that restores lost federal research funding and ends
investigations into alleged discrimination, officials said Wednesday.
The university also agreed to several concessions in line with President
Donald Trump's political agenda. Brown will adopt the government's
definition of “male” and “female,” for example, and must remove any
consideration of race from the admissions process.
Brown President Christina H. Paxson said the deal preserves Brown's
academic independence. The terms include a clause saying the government
cannot dictate curriculum or the content of academic speech at Brown.
“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,” Paxson wrote.
It is the latest deal between an Ivy League school and the Trump
administration, which has used its control of federal funding to push
for reforms at colleges Trump decries as overrun by liberalism and
antisemitism. The administration also has launched investigations into
diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, saying they discriminate
against white and Asian American students.
The Brown deal has similarities with one signed last week by Columbia
University, which the government called a roadmap for other
universities. Unlike that agreement, however, Brown's does not include
an outside monitor.
The three-year agreement with Brown restores dozens of suspended grants
and contracts. It also calls for the federal government to reimburse
Brown for $50 million in unpaid federal grant costs.
The settlement puts an end to three federal investigations involving
allegations of antisemitism and racial bias in Brown admissions, with no
finding of wrongdoing. In a campus letter, Paxson anticipated questions
about why the university would settle if it didn’t violate the law. She
noted Brown has faced financial pressure from federal agencies along
with “a growing push for government intrusion” in academics.
Signing the agreement resolves the government’s concerns without
sacrificing university values, she said.
“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,” she
wrote.
Brown agreed to several measures aimed at addressing allegations of
antisemitism on its campus in Providence, Rhode Island. The school said
it will renew partnerships with Israeli academics and encourage Jewish
day school students to apply to Brown. By the end of this year, Brown
must hire an outside organization — to be chosen jointly by Brown and
the government — to conduct a campus survey on the climate for Jewish
students.
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People traverse Brown University campus in Providence, R.I., Oct.
12, 2020. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said Brown's deal ensures students
will be judged “solely on their merits, not their race or sex.”
“The Trump Administration is successfully reversing the decades-long
woke-capture of our nation’s higher education institutions,” McMahon
said in a statement.
The settlement requires Brown to disclose a wealth of data on
students who apply to and are admitted to the university, with
information about their race, grades and standardized test scores.
The data will be subject to a “comprehensive audit” by the
government.
It bars Brown from giving preference to applicants because of their
race. A 2023 Supreme Court decision already forbids such
consideration, but the deal appears to go further, stopping Brown
from using any “proxy for racial admission,” including personal
statements or “diversity narratives.”
The $50 million in payments to local workforce development
organizations agreed to by Brown are to be paid over 10 years.
That's “a step forward” from paying a fine to the government, as
Columbia agreed to do, said Ted Mitchell, president of the American
Council on Education, an organization of major universities. Still,
Mitchell said, it remains unclear whether Brown and other
universities are clear of governmental pressure.
“Let’s remember, these are deals. These are not policies,” Mitchell
said. “I had hoped that the Trump administration, when it came in,
was going to be interested in having serious policy discussions
about the future of higher education. They’ve yet to do that.”
Columbia last week agreed to pay $200 million to the government as
part of its settlement. In negotiations with Harvard, the Trump
administration has been pressing for the Cambridge, Massachusetts,
school to pay far more.
In another agreement, the University of Pennsylvania pledged to
modify school records set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, a deal
that included no fine. ___
Associated Press writer Cheyanne Mumphrey contributed to this
report.
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