WASHINGTON (AP) — Brown University on Wednesday announced a deal with the Trump administration to regain access to federal research funding and end investigations into alleged discrimination.
The Ivy League school agreed to pay $50 million to workforce development organizations in Rhode Island over 10 years as part of the agreement, along with other 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.
The deal has numerous similarities with one signed last week by Columbia University that the government called a roadmap for other universities. Unlike that agreement, however, Brown's does not include an outside monitor.
The agreement includes a pledge from Brown not to “maintain programs that promote unlawful efforts to achieve race-based outcomes, quotas, diversity targets, or similar efforts.
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.
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Collin Binkley, The Associated Press
