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<\/a><\/p>\nSayles Hall on the campus of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. (Lane Turner\/Globe Staff via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The announcement comes one week after Columbia University agreed to a $221 million settlement with the Trump administration over funding canceled in March over antisemitism allegations. A deal with Harvard University reportedly looms. (The University of Pennsylvania, penalized over its inclusion of transgender student athletes, recently reached its own deal.)<\/p>\n
As part of the agreement with the federal government, Brown will pay $50 million over 10 years to state workforce development organizations that comply with anti-discrimination laws, and \u201ctake steps to improve the campus climate for Jewish students and combat anti-Semitism,\u201d according to the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
As part of that effort, the school will renew partnerships with Israeli academics, encourage Jewish day school students to apply, and hire an outside organization \u2014 chosen jointly by Brown and the government \u2014 to conduct a campus survey on the climate for Jewish students, according to Brown University\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n
In a post on Truth Social Thursday, President Donald Trump congratulated Brown University on the settlement, adding that \u201cthere will be no more Anti-Semitism, or Anti-Christian, or Anti-Anything Else! Woke is officially DEAD at Brown. Thank you for your attention to this matter!\u201d<\/p>\n
While the initial freeze of $500 million in the school\u2019s federal funding in April was ostensibly part of an effort to combat campus antisemitism, the deal struck by the school also requires it to adopt \u201cbiology-based definitions for the words \u2018male\u2019 and \u2018female,\u2019\u201d and not perform \u201cgender reassignment surgeries on minors or prescribe them puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones.\u201d Brown has a medical school and hospital.<\/p>\n
The university\u2019s president, Christina H. Paxson, said in a letter to the Brown community that the school had not agreed to any incursions of academic freedom.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeyond the financial stresses of terminated and unpaid research grants and contracts, we have observed a growing push for government intrusion into the fundamental academic operations of colleges and universities, and with the stated purpose of compelling a commitment to comply with laws focused on prohibitions against antisemitism and discrimination,\u201d she wrote, adding, \u201cWe applaud the agreement\u2019s unequivocal assertion that the agreement does not give the government the \u2018authority to dictate Brown\u2019s curriculum or the content of academic speech.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
In April, following the initial funding cut, dozens of rabbis and cantors who graduated from Brown University wrote an open letter to Paxson, who is Jewish, asking her to \u201cnot cede control to those who weaponize antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Trump\u2019s attack on Brown and other universities has nothing whatsoever to do with combatting antisemitism,\u201d the letter read. \u201cIt weaponizes antisemitism and could, ironically, evoke classical sentiments of resentment toward the Jewish community, whose name is being scapegoated as a conduit for an ulterior motive. That motive is to destroy institutions of higher education and to crush dissent through fear and threat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rabbi Josh Bolton, the executive director of Brown RISD Hillel, said in a statement that \u201cthis agreement affirms what we already know so deeply, that Brown \u2014 especially under President Paxson\u2019s leadership \u2014 is truly one of the great campuses for Jewish life anywhere in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe settlement also makes clear that the work is not nearly done,\u201d Bolton continued. \u201cWe all have a stake in building a campus community where students of every background and perspective can feel at home. We will continue with joy and determination to ensure this for Jewish students, as we will on behalf of all students.\u201d<\/p>\n