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IBL News | New York
Brown became the third Ivy League university in a month to reach an agreement with the Trump administration to see research funding restored.
In April, the Trump administration blocked $510 million in federally sponsored medical and health sciences research funding from flowing to the school. In its 2024 fiscal year, Brown received about $184 million through federal grants and contracts.
The new deal, announced yesterday, requires Brown University to spend $50 million in Rhode Island’s workforce development programs over a decade. It also requires the institution to comply with the White House’s vision on transgender athletes, anti-semitism, and merit-based admission policies.
Per the agreement, Brown will dictate its curriculum and the content of academic speech.
In an open letter on Wednesday, Brown’s President, Christina H. Paxson, said the agreement “preserves the integrity of Brown’s academic foundation, and it enables us as a community to move forward after a period of considerable uncertainty.”
However, the Trump administration depicted the deal as an ideological victory. The education secretary, Linda McMahon, said the deal would be part of 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 stated.
Observers, including the student community and media outlets like The New York Times, saw the deal as capitulation to the Trump administration.
This month, the U.S. government has also reached agreements with the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University.
White House officials are still negotiating with Harvard University and representatives of other schools.
On the other hand, the Trump Administration accused Duke University of “systemic racial discrimination” in its health care system and froze $108 million in federal funds.
Amid this budget crunch, the institution is weighing layoffs alongside about $350 million in cuts, amounting to roughly 10 percent of its budget.
