Brown to pay $50M over 10 years to settle with Trump administration

July 30 (UPI) — Brown University on Wednesday reached a settlement with the Trump administration to restore research funding, agreeing to pay $50 million over 10 years, one week after another Ivy League school, Columbia, settled.

In April, the Department of Education paused more than $500 million in funds, and investigations were launched on the private Rhode Island school’s compliance with anti-discrimination laws.

“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,” Brown President Christina Paxson said in a statement. “This is reflected in key provisions of the resolution agreement preserving our academic independence.

“We stand solidly behind commitments we repeatedly have affirmed to protect all members of our community from harassment and discrimination, [and] we protect the ability of our faculty and students to study and learn academic subjects of their choosing.”

In a letter to the Brown community, she wrote: “We applaud the agreement’s unequivocal assertion that the agreement does not give the government the ‘authority to dictate Brown’s curriculum or the content of academic speech.”

In the settlement, money is restored and the university can apply for new grants and contracts.

Schools receive funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services.

The investigations also were halted.

In return, the school in Providence will pay the $50 million to workforce development organizations in the state.

Other things Brown agreed to:Separating men’s and women’s sports facilities on the basis of sex.Stopping the health system from prescribing puberty blockers or conducting gender reassignment surgeries on minors.Banning programs that contain “unlawful efforts to achieve race-based outcomes” and instead utilizing “merit-based” admission policies.Providing data and information to the federal government showing compliance with the deal.

The university had a total enrollment of 11,005 students, including 7,272 undergrad, 3,3130 graduate and 602 medical students. Tuition is $71,000-plus each year with all students receiving a form of student aid.

Education Department Secretary Linda McMahon praised the deal.

“The Trump Administration is successfully reversing the decades-long woke-capture of our nation’s higher education institutions,” she said in a statement. “Because of the Trump Administration’s resolution agreement with Brown University, aspiring students will be judged solely on their merits, not their race or sex. Brown has committed to proactive measures to protect Jewish students and combat Antisemitism on campus. Women’s sports and intimate facilities will be protected for women and Title IX will be enforced as it was intended,” McMahon said.

She added: “Restoring our nation’s higher education institutions to places dedicated to truth-seeking, academic merit, and civil debate – where all students can learn free from discrimination and harassment – will be a lasting legacy of the Trump administration, one that will benefit students and American society for generations to come.”

McMahon made similar comments after the settlement with Columbia University, a private school in New York City.

On July 24, Columbia announced it will pay $221 million for the New York City private school to settle its dispute with the Trump administration and restore funding.

In March, the federal government revoked $400 million in federal funding over campus protests by pro-Palestinian activists. And the majority of the school’s future $1.3 billion in funding had been put on hold, including science research.

This week, the Department of Education announced it launched a civil rights investigation into Duke University, a private school in North Carolina. The Trump administration paused $108 million in research funding.

Harvard, also an Ivy League school, is being targeted by the Trump administration. In April, more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts was paused. Harvard has implemented some changes, but sued the federal government.