IVY League Revolt: Brown University Rejects Trump Compact, Calling Funding Deal a Threat to Academic Freedom

IVY League Revolt: The second university to reject Donald Trump’s offer to join his administration’s 10-page college agreement, which would change university rules in exchange for preferential access to federal funds, is Brown University.

A proposed agreement known as the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” would place limitations on foreign student admission as well as restrictions on diversity, equality, and inclusion initiatives. After the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) declined to sign it last week, Brown took this action.

Christina Paxson, president of Brown, expressed her concerns that the agreement “by its nature and by various provisions would restrict academic freedom and undermine the autonomy of Brown’s governance” in a letter to government officials on Wednesday.

Furthermore, granting research funds based on the qualities of the proposed study is a crucial component of academic achievement, she said. The compact’s cover letter considers supporting research based on factors other than its soundness and potential effect, which would ultimately harm Americans’ health and well-being.

Her comments are similar to those of Sally Kornbluth, president of MIT, who openly rejected the offer last week, claiming that joining the accord would “restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution” and undermining merit-based procedures for granting research funds.

“By refusing to compromise its core mission, Brown University has affirmed that no amount of federal inducement is worth surrendering the freedom to question, explore, and dissent,” said Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), in a statement. Brown is defending higher education’s revered commitment to academic freedom and institutional self-governance by rejecting the accord.

In early October, the compact was originally presented to nine institutions. The remaining universities, which include Dartmouth College, Vanderbilt University, the University of Virginia, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Arizona, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Southern California, have not yet made their announcements.

The Trump administration extended the offer to all US schools and institutions earlier this week. The plan has drawn harsh criticism from academics and leaders in higher education, who see it as a political ploy to curtail university autonomy.

Trump has threatened to launch government investigations into whether institutions are complying with current rules if they choose not to participate. It is yet unknown, however, whether a school’s signing of the agreement would affect its eligibility for student assistance or research funding.

Only a few months before, in July, Brown and the White House signed a separate agreement that unfroze hundreds of millions in research awards in return for new policy pledges and a $50 million investment in workforce training in Rhode Island.

In her letter, Paxson said that the new compact would go against the guarantees in the previous agreement, particularly the promise that the administration would not meddle in the academic content or curriculum of the institution.

In ways that the compact, in whatever form, would not fundamentally uphold Brown’s basic ideals, Paxson said, “We remain committed to the July agreement.”