Brown University declined an invitation from the White House to sign an agreement that would have provided preferential funding in exchange for a slew of policy changes, such as DEI bans and limits on international students.
The Ivy League school is the second college to reject President Donald Trump’s compact for academic excellence in higher education, after the Massachusetts Institute of Technology rejected the proposal last week.
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Brown President Christina Paxson wrote in a letter to administration officials Wednesday that she fears the compact “by its nature and various provisions will limit academic freedom and undermine the autonomy of the Brown administration.”
Paxson echoed concerns expressed by MIT President Sally Kornbluth last week when she responded to the Trump administration by saying the compact undermines merit-based research grant processes.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The agreement was initially extended to nine universities on October 1. The other seven colleges — University of Virginia, University of Texas Austin, University of Arizona, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, Vanderbilt University and Dartmouth College — have not publicly said whether they will apply. Earlier this week, the administration welcomed all colleges and universities to participate.
Trump said schools that reject the deal will face federal compliance investigations, but the extent to which federal research grants or eligibility for student aid will depend on accepting the deal remains unclear.
Earlier in July, Brown signed an agreement with the White House to restore hundreds of millions of dollars in frozen research grants in exchange for policy commitments and a $50 million investment in workforce training in Rhode Island. Paxson wrote in the letter that the compact would run counter to the Trump administration’s pledge in their July agreement to refrain from influencing curriculum and classroom content.
“We remain committed to the July agreement and its preservation of core Brown values in a way that the Compact — in any form — fundamentally would not,” Paxson wrote.
