A "voluntary agreement" that would make Neville Chamberlain proud
Brown University
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| Donald Trump gloats |
Brown President Christina H. Paxson shared details on the
agreement in a letter to the Brown community.
“The University's foremost priority throughout discussions
with the government was remaining true to our academic mission, our core values
and who we are as a community at Brown,” Paxson wrote. “This is reflected in
key provisions of the resolution agreement preserving our academic
independence, as well as a commitment to pay $50 million in grants over 10
years to workforce development organizations in Rhode Island, which is aligned
with our service and community engagement mission.”
Since early this year, Paxson has publicly asserted Brown's commitment to meeting its obligations to follow the law, as well as the University’s willingness to understand any valid concerns the government may have about the ways in which the University fulfills those legal obligations.
Paxson stated in a March
communication that was broadly circulated publicly that Brown should
uphold its ethical and legal obligations while also steadfastly defending
academic freedom and freedom of expression, for both the University as an
institution and for individual members of the Brown community.
“By voluntarily entering this agreement, we meet those dual
obligations,” Paxson wrote to the campus. “We stand solidly behind commitments
we repeatedly have affirmed to protect all members of our community from
harassment and discrimination, [and] we protect the ability of our faculty and
students to study and learn academic subjects of their choosing.”
She added, “We applaud the agreement’s unequivocal assertion
that the agreement does not give the government the ‘authority to dictate
Brown’s curriculum or the content of academic speech.’”
The full text of Paxson’s letter is included below.
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Brown and U.S. government reach agreement
Dear Members of the Brown Community,
Brown has reached an agreement with the government to
restore funding for the University's federally sponsored medical and health
sciences research and to resolve three open reviews by federal agencies
assessing Brown’s compliance with federal nondiscrimination obligations. A
federal funding freeze that began in April 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.
The voluntary agreement will reinstate payments for active
research grants and restore Brown's ability to compete for new federal grants
and contracts, while also meeting the core imperative of preserving the ability
for our students and scholars — both domestic and international — to teach and
learn without government intrusion.
The University's foremost priority throughout discussions
with the government was remaining true to our academic mission, our core values
and who we are as a community at Brown. This is reflected in key provisions of
the resolution agreement preserving our academic independence, as well as a
commitment to pay $50 million in grants over 10 years to workforce development
organizations in Rhode Island, which is aligned with our service and community
engagement mission. The agreement does not include any payments or fines to the
federal government.
Most other aspects of the agreement codify the enhanced
policies, practices and commitments Brown initiated, beginning in fall 2023, to
ensure compliance with federal laws prohibiting discrimination. However, there
are other aspects of the agreement that were not part of previous federal
reviews of Brown policies but are priorities of the federal administration in
resolving the funding freeze. To achieve our community’s fundamental goals, the
University took great care to balance these interests with the core needs of
the institution.
The resolution agreement evolved as Brown was engaged in
ongoing interactions with the government relating to two federal agency reviews
of the University's compliance with laws prohibiting discrimination in
undergraduate admissions and a third, separate review of all Brown departments
and programs. At the same time, it is important to note that this agreement is
not a result of any determination of fault by any government agency, and Brown
denies any fault or violation of federal law. In contrast with other
universities, Brown had not previously been informed of a reason for the freeze
of its federal research funding, and at no time has Brown been informed of any
finding that the University violated any law. The agreement states that
"Brown expressly denies liability regarding the United States’ allegations
or findings."
At its core, the agreement preserves the integrity of
Brown's academic foundation, and it enables us as a community to move forward
after a period of considerable uncertainty in a way that ensures Brown will
continue to be the Brown that our students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and
friends have known for generations. Our voluntary agreement with the government
has the following key provisions:
1. Affirming that the government does not have the authority
to dictate teaching, learning and academic speech
2. Restoration of Brown's medical and health
sciences research funding and ability to compete for grants, including
reimbursement of more than $50 million in unpaid federal grant costs
3. Permanent closure of current open reviews and
investigations of the University's federal compliance with antidiscrimination
laws, with no finding of wrongdoing
4. Brown payment of $50 million in grants over 10 years to
Rhode Island workforce development organizations, which is aligned with the
University's service mission
5. Addressing compliance with Title IX, including
"male" and "female" designations for athletics and
on-campus housing, consistent with NCAA requirements and Brown’s current
policies, as well as provisions on gender-affirming care for minors
6. Codifying Brown’s sustained commitment to initiatives,
programs and services to ensure a thriving Jewish community, and launching
a third-party campus climate survey
7. Reaffirming our commitment to compliance with
nondiscrimination laws — encompassing admissions and all diversity and
inclusion efforts — with requirements for providing data and compliance
reports to the government
My goal with the remainder of this letter is not to detail
these terms of the resolution agreement: I encourage every member of our
community to read
the full agreement for themselves. Instead, I feel it is important to share
in general terms what the various provisions of the agreement mean for our
mission, our operations and how we live up to our core values.
But first, I want to answer the first question I know that
many in our community of faculty, staff, students and alumni will have upon
learning of this agreement: "If there was no finding of wrongdoing
against Brown, then why negotiate an agreement?"
WHY BROWN VOLUNTARILY NEGOTIATED TOWARD AN AGREEMENT
In recent weeks, amid news reports about agreements between
the federal government and other institutions, I have engaged in discussions
with a number of faculty, staff, students and alumni. The consistent theme that
always emerges with crystal clarity is how critically important it is to ensure
that Brown remains the university and community that we all know and
love.
We are a campus where researchers make discoveries that
improve lives. Where faculty, instructors and students are intellectual
risk-takers in classrooms. Where we welcome students and employees with a
tremendously wide range of perspectives, ideas and experiences — including
members of our international community, who come from across the world. And
where we support students with a financial aid program that ensures that
individuals from any socioeconomic background can access a Brown education.
Through all of this, we aspire to be a place where all members of our community
can thrive, feel welcome and participate fully in the life of the University.
But for the last few months, many of these aspects of our
mission and our community have been under threat. Beyond 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.
Since early this year, I have consistently and publicly
asserted Brown's commitment to meeting its obligations to follow the law, as
well as our willingness to understand any valid concerns the government may
have about the ways in which the University fulfills those legal
obligations. I stated that Brown should uphold its ethical and legal
obligations while also steadfastly defending academic freedom and freedom of
expression, for both the University as an institution and for individual
members of our community.
By voluntarily entering this agreement, we meet those dual
obligations. We stand solidly behind commitments we repeatedly have affirmed to
protect all members of our community from harassment and discrimination, and we
protect the ability of our faculty and students to study and learn academic
subjects of their choosing, free from censorship.
WHAT THE TERMS OF THE AGREEMENT MEAN FOR BROWN
1. Preserving teaching and learning, free from government
intrusion
The agreement specifically states that "no provision of
this Agreement, individually or taken together, shall be construed as giving
the United States authority to dictate Brown’s curriculum or the content of
academic speech." As noted above, with this resolution agreement, Brown
can move forward with fulfilling critical aspects of our mission with the
confidence that the hallmarks of what makes Brown, "Brown" will
continue to flourish.
When reflecting on what matters most to our community, we
returned again and again to the Statement of University Values and
Voice approved by the faculty last spring, which formalized academic
freedom and freedom of expression as a core institutional value to guide Brown
in fulfillment of its mission. The resolution agreement sustains what is
defined in Brown's values as "the freedom to investigate and learn without
interference or censorship" and the academic freedom “necessary for the
production of knowledge and understanding.”
2. Restoring research funding and fair competition for
grants
Under the agreement, the government commits to "fairly
consider all applications for federal funding submitted by Brown, whether for
grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements, in the ordinary course, without
disfavored treatment." In addition, it enables Brown to "draw-down
all payments consistent with the approved budgets for each grant, including but
not limited to overdue payments."
As we have shared in recent weeks and months, Brown is among
a number of institutions that have not received reimbursements for expenses
incurred for active grants from the National Institutes of Health since early
April, and NIH grants comprise more than 70% of our federal research funding.
The unreimbursed funds currently total more than $50 million, and this amount
had been increasing by approximately $3.5 million per week. This comes in
addition to the outright termination of eight federal contracts and more than
30 federal grants.
The government will end the large-scale freeze that
ultimately had implications for hundreds of millions of dollars of federal
funding to Brown. Our researchers will again be fully eligible for federal
funding moving forward, and the government will reimburse the University — and
ensure ongoing funding flows — for the existing active grants within 30
days.
Brown researchers have long played critical roles in a
partnership with the federal government that has made a difference in the lives
of people and communities locally, nationally and globally and helped the U.S.
become the global leader in scientific progress and innovation. This agreement
enables that partnership to continue.
3. Permanently resolving open federal compliance
reviews
The agreement will end three open reviews that have been
initiated or expanded by the federal government in recent months. These include
Title VI compliance reviews by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
focused on Brown's efforts to combat discrimination and harassment based on
race, color and national origin; and by the U.S. Department of Education
centered on the prohibition against considering race in admissions decisions;
and a U.S. Department of Justice review also focused on review of race in
admissions, as well as any consideration of race in decisions about financial
aid or other benefits for prospective students.
The agreement states that the government will
"permanently close any and all pending Investigations or compliance
reviews." There is no finding or admission of wrongdoing on the part of
the University, though the government can open new compliance reviews if Brown
fails to honor the terms of the agreement.
4. Distributing $50 million in workforce grants, serving
to amplify the impact of Brown's commitment to service
The agreement states, “Advancing Brown’s longstanding
commitment, shared with the United States, to ensuring that campus development
serves as a regional economic engine and career catalyst for local workers,
Brown agrees to pay the sum of Fifty Million Dollars ($50,000,000) to state
workforce development organizations operating in compliance with
anti-discrimination laws, over the ten years following the Effective Date [of
the agreement].”
It was important to Brown that any financial aspect to the
agreement reflect Brown's priorities while also achieving outcomes that the
federal government has identified as essential for higher education
institutions. For years, Brown has supported workforce development programming
in Rhode Island. The agreement aligns with longstanding initiatives to support
local partners who make a difference in the lives of thousands of Rhode
Islanders and prove to be powerful engines of economic mobility in the state we
call home, while once again affirming the need to fulfill anti-discrimination
requirements.
Brown will choose the local organizations and distribute the
funds. Our resolution agreement does not include any payments to the federal
government.
5. Addressing government requirements for
"male" and "female" definitions for athletics and on-campus
housing, as well as limits on gender-affirming care
As we have for decades, Brown has agreed to abide by Title
IX and NCAA eligibility rules regarding the participation of transgender
athletes in intercollegiate sports. We also committed that the University will
continue to provide housing and restroom access in a way that allows for
gender-inclusive, women-only and men-only options.
The agreement also states, "The University will not
perform gender reassignment surgery or prescribe puberty blockers or hormones
to any minor child for the purpose of aligning the child’s appearance with an
identity that differs from his or her sex." The University will refer
affected students who seek care from Student Health Services or the University
Pharmacy to area specialists. The agreement does not affect medical teaching or
training, and does not apply to clinical services provided by health systems
that are separate entities from Brown, such as Brown University Health and Care
New England.
We remain fully committed to serving the health needs of all
Brown students in a manner consistent with our long-established policy of
nondiscrimination, which includes sex, gender identity and gender expression.
The LGBTQ Center, Student Health and Wellness Services, and other offices in
the Division of Campus Life, as well as the Warren Alpert Medical School,
School of Public Health, the College, Graduate School, Office of Diversity and
Inclusion and many other offices across campus will continue to be partners in
supporting the needs of our community.
6. Codifying Brown's commitment to ensuring a thriving
Jewish community
The agreement commits Brown to continue a set of
initiatives, programs and practices implemented over the past several years to
support a thriving Jewish community. This includes ensuring that research and
education about Israel remain part of our curricular offerings; sustaining
Brown's robust Program in Judaic Studies; continuing our outreach to Jewish Day
School students as part of our broad outreach to schools across the country;
and maintaining support for the enhanced resources for religiously observant
Jewish community members we have built over the past few years, such as the
support for the extension of the Providence Eruv and the opening of kosher
kitchens on campus.
Our long-standing efforts to support academic collaborations
with Israeli academics and national Jewish organizations, the security
enhancements at the Brown-RISD Hillel last year, and the event we announced in
April to celebrate 130 years of Jewish life at Brown also are reflected in the
agreement.
The agreement also affirms that "Brown is committed to
taking significant, proactive, effective steps to combat antisemitism and
ensure a campus environment free from harassment and discrimination."
Extending long before the federal review of Brown's compliance with the law, I
have been gratified by the many ways our community has embraced a wide range of
proactive and concrete measures to combat antisemitism and ensure that all
members of our community have equal opportunities to enjoy the educational experience
at Brown. Efforts over the past two years include enhancements to policies and
procedures, organizational structures, reporting and complaint-resolution
processes, resources, training and other aspects of our Title VI compliance
infrastructure. The enhancements were based on the best-practice
recommendations of an external Title VI compliance review that Brown
proactively and voluntarily commissioned in December 2023 and January 2024.
The new resolution agreement further commits Brown to engage
an external firm to conduct a survey of campus climate and a social media
harassment study that will, among other topics, collect information on the
climate for students with shared Jewish ancestry. This aligns with planning by
the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to assess campus climate, and builds on
campus climate surveys we have conducted in the past.
We continue to believe this work is not in addition to, but
rather fully intertwined with, Brown’s commitment to sustain an academic
environment that prizes intellectual openness and diversity. We dedicate
ourselves to ensuring an environment that is free of all forms of harassment
and discrimination, because in doing so, we cultivate the conditions necessary
for fulfilling our mission of education and research.
7. Ensuring nondiscrimination compliance, including
across admissions and all diversity and inclusion efforts
The resolution agreement includes provisions that reinforce
prohibitions against discrimination in admissions and diversity and inclusion
programming. The University agreed we will not maintain any program that
promotes “unlawful efforts to achieve race-based outcomes, quotas, diversity
targets or similar efforts.”
In the area of admissions, the resolution agreement aligns
with ongoing process reviews at Brown to ensure Brown is complying with the
U.S. Supreme Court decision prohibiting consideration of race in admission
decisions. For future classes of students who enroll, Brown agreed to provide
the government with additional anonymized demographic data demonstrating our
legal compliance. This is information the federal government is already
entitled to request and receive from Brown or any other university as part of
compliance with Title VI, though it will mark a shift in the level of
information we’ve traditionally been asked to provide. However, Brown has been
scrutinizing the integrity of its admissions processes on a recurring basis
since an internal review we launched in 2019 to assess fairness in admissions
and student life. We expect that the data provisions of the resolution
agreement will allow Brown to demonstrate the strong academic qualifications of
the classes we admit while remaining committed to welcoming students from a
wide range of backgrounds.
Beyond admissions, the agreement requires reporting to the
government to ensure that Brown's programs "do not promote unlawful DEI
goals." While “unlawful DEI” is not defined in the agreement, Brown has
continued to implement a series of measures to ensure that all Brown academic
and administrative units follow anti-harassment policies and nondiscrimination
laws, including Title VI and Title IX.
The current resolution agreement reaffirms our commitment to
following the law, while the University maintains our values centered on
cultivating a community equipped with the diverse perspectives, ideas and
experiences necessary to confront and solve the most complex challenges of the
21st century.
NEXT STEPS
I know there will be immediate questions about the
agreement. In the coming days and weeks, members of the senior administration
will work with their departments in the relevant areas and will communicate
with colleagues directly to begin developing plans for these efforts. We also
will continue to share key updates with the full campus community.
I want to thank all of you — this amazing community of
faculty, staff, students and alumni of Brown — for your continued support of
Brown’s mission and priorities during a time of tremendous uncertainty. As we
continue to navigate a shifting national landscape for higher education, I am
deeply appreciative for all that you do. And as we begin in earnest to make
plans for the start of the 2025-26 academic year, I look forward to our ability
to focus on the research, teaching and learning that makes Brown the wonderful
community it is.
We will continue to foster free inquiry, discovery and
innovation. We will embrace free expression and academic freedom. And we will
continue to work together toward a thriving academic community.
Sincerely,
Christina H. Paxson
President