Washington– WASHINGTON (AP) — Brown University rejects A Trump administration proposal It would provide adequate access to funding for a wide range of commitments, saying the deal would limit academic freedom and undermine the university’s independence.
Brown University is the latest university to reject the proposal, which White House officials said would bring “multiple positive benefits” including “large, meaningful federal grants.” Massachusetts Institute of Technology I backed away of the proposal last week after its president said it would restrict freedom of expression and campus autonomy.
Brown President Christina Paxson rejected the proposal Wednesday in a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon and White House officials. She said the Ivy League university in Providence, Rhode Island, was in line with some provisions in the offer — including commitments to affordability and equal opportunity in admissions — but could not agree to others.
“I am concerned that the Charter, by its nature and under its various provisions, would restrict academic freedom and undermine the independence of Brown’s governance, seriously jeopardizing our ability to achieve our mission,” Paxson wrote.
Brown and MIT were among nine universities invited this month to become “initial signatories” to the proposal. Officials at the University of Texas System said they were honored to be invited, while most others remained silent. The Trump administration called on universities to submit comments by October 20 and asked for decisions to be made no later than November 21.
Previously brown Make a deal With the Trump administration restoring lost research funding and ending federal investigations into discrimination.
In that agreement, finalized in July, Brown agreed to pay $50 million to workforce organizations in Rhode Island. It also agreed to adopt the federal government’s definition of “male” and “female,” to eliminate diversity goals in admissions and renew partnerships with Israeli academics, among other terms.
Unlike that deal — which includes a clause affirming Brown’s academic freedom — Paxson said the new proposal lacks any guarantee that the university will retain control over its curriculum or academic discourse. Paxson wrote that her rejection was consistent with the views of “the vast majority of Brown stakeholders.”
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, President Donald Trump suggested that other universities could apply to participate in the charter. Those who want to return to “the pursuit of truth and achievement are invited to enter into a forward-looking agreement with the federal government to help realize a golden age of academic excellence in higher education,” he said.
In its letter to universities, the administration said the agreement would strengthen and renew the “mutually beneficial relationship” between universities and the government. The letter stated that the agreement is a proactive attempt at reform even as the government continues to implement through other means.
The proposal includes several commitments around consent, women’s sports and freedom of expression. Much of it focuses on promoting conservative views, including by eliminating “institutional units that punish, belittle, and even provoke violence against conservative ideas.”
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