Diyar Guldogan
16 October 2025•Update: 16 October 2025
WASHINGTON
Brown University President Christina Paxson formally declined Wednesday to sign a compact proposed by the Trump administration that would give priority for federal research funding in exchange for implementing higher education policies favored by federal officials, citing serious concerns that the initiative would compromise academic freedom.
In a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon and White House aides May Mailman and Vincent Haley, Paxson said she is concerned that accepting the memo's terms "would restrict academic freedom and undermine the autonomy of Brown’s governance."
In the memo, titled “A Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” the administration called on nine elite universities to cap international undergraduate enrollment at 15%, prohibit the consideration of race or sex in admissions and hiring, and adopt definitions of gender based strictly on biological sex.
In July, Brown reached a $50 million deal with the US government to restore funding for the university's federally sponsored medical and health sciences research and to resolve three open reviews.
Paxson said her Ivy League school remains committed to the July agreement and its preservation of Brown’s core values "in ways that the compact — in any form — fundamentally would not."
While stressing that she is willing to cooperate with the federal government, Paxson said Brown’s existing agreement affirms "the government’s lack of authority to dictate our curriculum or the content of academic speech — a principle that is not reflected in the Compact."
Another key area of disagreement, Paxson noted, is the compact’s implication that future federal research funding could be awarded based on political or ideological criteria rather than scientific merit.
"Therefore, while we value our long-held and well-regarded partnership with the federal government, Brown is respectfully declining to join the Compact," she said.
