Brown University has reached an agreement with the federal government to restore funding, including for research grants, the prestigious college said.
The “voluntary agreement” reached Wednesday restores federal funding for medical and science research, the school said in a release. The deal also resolves three reviews of Brown’s “compliance with federal nondiscrimination obligations.”
Brown President Christina H. Paxson said in a letter that the federal funding freeze, which began in April, put strain on the university, that, “if left unaddressed, would have undermined our ability to conduct life-saving research and to offer our students a world-class education.”
A deal was eventually reached, she said, noting the university’s commitment to maintaining academic independence from the federal government, as well as “remaining true to our academic mission, our core values and who we are as a community at Brown.”
The resolution reinstates payments for active research grants and gives Brown the opportunity to compete for new federal grants, according to the statement.
Brown will also pay $50 million in grants over 10 years to workforce development organizations in Rhode Island, Paxson said.
A fact sheet from the Trump administration said the agreement “ensures Brown will not engage in unlawful racial discrimination in admissions or university programming,” as the government had alleged. It also said Brown will provide data to the government to ensure it is abiding by that part of the agreement.
The government said the settlement came after a “national outcry” over Brown’s alleged discrimination on the basis of race and national origin and accusations the school violated federal civil rights laws. Brown agreed to a slew of other “discrimination” provisions, such as accepting the administration’s definitions of “male” and “female,” according to the government fact sheet.
Paxson acknowledged that some aspects of the agreement addressed topics that, in the past, had not been included in discussions with the government about funding.
“To achieve our community’s fundamental goals, the University took great care to balance these interests with the core needs of the institution,” Paxson said. about some aspects of the agreement that weren’t a part of past federal reviews.
After the pause in funding began in April, Brown — along with a group of other universities — sued to try to halt the Energy Department’s decision to reduce funding of “indirect costs” in research grants, claiming that the policy change is unlawful and that it violates the Administrative Procedure Act.
Brown was not told why the government was hitting pause on federal funding, which Paxson said was not the case for other universities. In addition, Brown has not been notified of any findings that it violated any laws.
Paxson acknowledged in her letter that some might ask why an agreement with the government was necessary if Brown hadn’t broken any laws.
She said the school’s core values were under threat, including from financial stressors caused by the halt in funding and concern over government intrusion into its academic operations, giving reason enough to reach a deal to protect those values.
