Brown University just scored a $50 million contract from the Trump administration. Such an agreement would put an end to a long string of funding fights over the administration’s radical gender identity and race-based preferences in higher education. This is a considerable change from the executive order President Trump signed on January 20th. This order directed federal agencies to recognize only two sexes, male and female, and based on immutable biological traits, thus invalidating transgender identities.
Brown unpaid grant costs owed to the federal government, with the Trump administration agreeing to pay those costs for Brown as part of this consent order. This announcement follows a period during which the administration made draconian funding cuts and began investigations into Yale and a number of other universities. This agreement is remarkable indeed. It would continue the Trump administration’s plan to withhold hundreds of millions in federal funds from top research universities to upend America’s higher education system.
The administration had been widely expected to withhold almost $510 million in grants and research funding from Brown University alone. The agreement requires Brown to provide detailed information, disaggregated by race, about the grades and standardized test scores of applicants and admitted students. This would allow for a complete public, independent audit of the university’s admissions practices, in addition to extensive financial reparations.
Brown also wants to strengthen Rhode Island’s workforce development programs. He’s putting his money where his mouth is, committing $50 million over the next ten years to get there. This federal program aims to build up local job training and education pathways for people in the community. It comes with onerous stipulations. In doing so, the university needs to limit its recognition of transgender students. It must ban any form of “proxy for racial admission,” which means anything from personal statements to “diversity narratives.”
That’s because President Trump is very opposed to letting transgender students access campus housing that aligns with their gender identity. He further opposes their inclusion on athletic teams that correspond with that identity. This position by his administration has come under fire from a broad and unlikely coalition of groups. It draws on a social constructionist definition of gender and punishes administrations to shape university policy everywhere.
Linda McMahon, a notable figure in the Trump administration, remarked on the broader implications of these agreements, stating that they aim at “successfully reversing the decades-long woke-capture of our nation’s higher education institutions.” This announcement highlights the administration’s desire to change how universities approach diversity and inclusion.
Against this backdrop, one of the panelists, Christina Paxson, president of Brown University, did not pull punches. During the negotiations, she explained, the university’s overarching priority was to maintain academic mission and values.
“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,” – Christina Paxson
As conversations continued, the Trump administration’s zero-sum approach quickly escalated animosities with other elite institutions. Harvard University’s ongoing face-off with its administration is the most recent example of this. At the same time, Columbia University is facing pressure to comply, measured by an outside party.
The impact of this settlement goes beyond Brown alone. This is representative of a broader trend. The Trump administration has made it an explicit goal to force colleges and universities to adopt its values — values that, in many cases, directly contradict well-established academic norms. Critics say that these kinds of moves pose a dangerous assault on academic freedom, backtracking on progress made toward more inclusivity in educational environments.
