Brown University has reached a deal with the Trump administration in a bid to restore federal research funding, the university said on Wednesday.
Under the terms of the agreement, which Brown released, the university pledged to pay $50 million to state work-force development programs over a decade. The university did not acknowledge wrongdoing, and the agreement includes a provision declaring that no part “shall be construed as giving the United States authority to dictate Brown’s curriculum or the content of academic speech.”
The agreement follows the government’s deals with the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University, and comes as the White House is negotiating with Harvard University.
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.”
The administration moved in April to block $510 million in federal research funding intended for Brown. The university had been one of a handful whose boards had agreed to consider the demands of pro-Palestinian students who wanted schools to end investments tied to Israel. The university’s governing board eventually voted not to take that step.
But Brown has been reeling under the government’s pressure. In a filing last week, the university disclosed that it had taken out a $500 million loan, following an earlier agreement to borrow $300 million. In a statement about its most recent loan, Brown noted “uncertainty related to evolving federal policy related to higher education, research and other important priorities of Brown.”
University leaders had depicted a dire outlook in an open letter in June, freezing hiring and salaries as they warned that policy changes were “an ongoing threat to Brown’s financial sustainability and, consequently, our ability to fulfill our mission.”
Dr. Paxson has been more vocal than many higher education leaders about the Trump administration’s tactics to pressure elite universities. In March, she said that the administration’s “demands raise new and previously unthinkable questions about the future of academic freedom and self-governance for those that are committed to continuing to serve this country as leading research institutions.”
At the time, she vowed that if Brown faced a confrontation “directly impacting our ability to perform essential academic and operational functions, we would be compelled to vigorously exercise our legal rights to defend these freedoms, and true to our values, we would do so with integrity and respect.”
Brown ultimately decided not to sue the Trump administration over the funding freeze.
Alan Blinder is a national correspondent for The Times, covering education.
Michael C. Bender is a Times correspondent in Washington.
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