JNS
“There will be no more antisemitism, or anti-Christian or anti-anything else,” the U.S. president stated.
Brown University settled with the Trump administration on Wednesday, after the federal government froze about $510 million in funding to the university in April over the Ivy League school’s response to Jew-hatred on campus.
“Congratulations to Brown University on the settlement made with the United States government,” U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Thursday. “There will be no more antisemitism, or anti-Christian or anti-anything else. Woke is officially dead at Brown.”
Christina Paxson, president of Brown, a private Ivy League research university in Providence, R.I., stated that frozen federal funds “posed enormous challenges for Brown’s research mission and financial sustainability, and if left unaddressed, would have undermined our ability to conduct life-saving research and to offer our students a world-class education.”
Brown has a $7.2 billion endowment, and in 2024, it had total assets of slightly more than $10 billion, according to the university’s records.
The university said that the agreement with the Trump administration is “voluntary” and that it admits no wrongdoing. Still, it agreed to pay $50 million over the next 10 years to “state workforce development organizations operating in compliance with anti-discrimination laws.”
Brown commits to comply with federal civil rights law, including providing “Jewish students an equal opportunity to participate and enjoy the benefits of its education programs and activities” and taking “significant, proactive, effective steps to combat antisemitism and ensure a campus environment free from harassment and discrimination.”
That includes informing Jewish day schools more effectively about applying to Brown and supporting a “thriving Jewish community,” research and education about Israel, and a “robust” Judaic studies program, per the agreement.
The university will also provide “resources for religiously observant Jewish community members” and will work on “renewed partnerships with Israeli academics and national Jewish organizations,” support “enhanced security” at the Brown-Rhode Island School of Design Hillel, and convene alumni, students and faculty for a celebration of 130 years of Jewish life at Brown.
Additionally, Brown will hire an “external party,” which it and the federal government will identify, to study the “campus climate for Brown students, including the climate for students with shared Jewish ancestry and to evaluate social-media harassment.” Brown will share the report with the federal government and demonstrate that it implements any actions proposed in the report. The school also commits to sharing complaints of discrimination received during the prior academic year with the government.
It also commits to promoting “safe and equitable opportunities for and spaces for women” under federal civil rights law and that its admissions policies will be merit-based and that “Brown may not, by any means, preference applicants based on race, color or national origin in admissions throughout its programs.”
“The agreement will reinstate payments for active research grants and restore Brown’s ability to compete for new federal grants and contracts, while also meeting Brown’s core imperative of preserving the ability for its students and scholars to teach and learn without government intrusion,” the university stated.
“The Trump administration is successfully reversing the decades-long, woke-capture of our nation’s higher education institutions,” stated Linda McMahon, the U.S. education secretary. “Brown has committed to proactive measures to protect Jewish students and combat antisemitism on campus.”
“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 said.
Rabbi Josh Bolton, executive director of the Brown-RISD Hillel, told JNS that the agreement shows that Brown “is an extraordinary place for Jewish students, and if you look at the past handful-plus of years, one sees the flourishing of the Jewish community.”
Bolton, who is also the interim associate chaplain of the university for the Jewish community, called Paxson “a champion of the Jewish community long before Oct. 7,” pointing out that she was the only university president to speak at the Hillel International conference in February 2023.
“We’re living in a very tricky moment for American Jews and the American Jewish community globally,” he said. “They find themselves on the front line of a real kind of societal battle.”
“This is a time for vigilance,” he said. “There’s much work to be done, and I’m grateful that the university has been our partner in that project.”
