Brown University rejects a White House deal for special treatment

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island – Brown University on Oct 15 rejected a White House proposal to steer public money toward schools that aligned with President Donald Trump’s priorities, defying the federal government it had negotiated with over the summer.

Brown was the second university to rebuff the government’s proposal of so-called compact,

after the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

did so last week.

But Brown’s decision was likely to carry extraordinary weight in higher education because it had previously

reached a settlement with the Trump administration

to restore hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research funding.

“I am concerned that the compact by its nature and by various provisions would restrict academic freedom and undermine the autonomy of Brown’s governance, critically compromising our ability to fulfill our mission,” the university’s president, Dr Christina H. Paxson, told Trump administration officials in a letter Oct 15.

The proposal, for which the government asked Brown and eight other universities to submit feedback by Oct 20, calls for limits on international students, potentially “abolishing institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle and even spark violence against conservative ideas”, and policies enshrining “that academic freedom is not absolute”, among other conditions.

The document, partially the brainchild of billionaire financier Marc Rowan, says that schools are “free to develop models and values” other than the ones the Trump administration proposed if they choose to “forgo federal benefits”.

And the government had dangled the possibility of “multiple positive benefits” for schools that agreed, including “substantial and meaningful federal grants”.

Over the weekend, Mr Trump had signalled that the compact would be open to a far broader pool of schools than the nine his government sought feedback from in October.

Mr Trump wrote on social media that “much of Higher Education has lost its way, and is now corrupting our Youth and Society with WOKE, SOCIALIST, and ANTI-AMERICAN Ideology”, and that “Institutions that want to quickly return to the pursuit of Truth and Achievement” were “invited to enter into a forward looking Agreement with the Federal Government to help bring about the Golden Age of Academic Excellence in Higher Education”.

Ms Liz Huston, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement after Brown’s announcement that Mr Trump was “committed to restoring academic excellence and common sense at our higher education institutions” and that “any university that joins this historic effort will help to positively shape America’s future”. NYTIMES