Trump Administration Issues New “Compact” Letter to Brown University

Trump Administration Issues New “Compact” Letter to Brown University

This summer, Brown University succumbed to a sweeping array of demands from the Trump Administration, and if they thought it was over, anything but.

On Wednesday, Brown and eight other schools received 10-page compact letters from the Trump administration laying out the "compact." The letter was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The compact is sweeping and goes directly to the academic freedom of the individual universities.

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Among the requirements, universities would be forced to change their governance structures to prohibit anything that would “punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas.”

It asks schools to freeze tuition for five years and reduce administrative costs. It would limit foreign students.

“Schools are asked to post earnings after graduation for each academic program and to refund tuition for students who drop out during the first semester. Universities with an endowment of $2 million per undergraduate student are asked to waive tuition for students who pursue ‘hard science’ programs,” according to the WSJ.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Vince Haley, the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, and May Mailman, the White House’s senior adviser for special projects, signed the letter to the universities.

The White House chose the schools because it believed they are, or could be, “good actors,” Mailman told the WSJ..

“They have a president who is a reformer or a board that has really indicated they are committed to a higher-quality education,” she said.

Mailman said that the Trump administration doesn’t plan to limit federal funding solely to schools that sign the compact, but that they would be given priority for grants when possible, as well as invitations for White House events and discussions with officials, according to the Wall Street Journal.

If universities sign and then violate the terms of the compact, they could be forced to return any money given to them by the federal government that year as well as any private contributions.

Besides Brown, the letters were sent to the University of Arizona, Dartmouth College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Virginia.

 

Previous Brown-Trump Agreement

The agreement signed by Christina Paxson’s administration this summer in some ways takes Brown back to the previous century. It requires Brown to offer single sex housing.  

Transgender Athletes and Single Sex Housing

The MAGA movement scored big wins in the agreement with Brown, both on restrictions on transgender athletes and requiring single sex housing.

The University will take the following steps to ensure compliance with Title IX and its implementing regulations, by providing safe and equitable opportunities and spaces for women:

a.    In Brown Athletics facilities, the University will provide female student-athletes with intimate facilities such as locker rooms and bathrooms strictly separated on the basis of sex.
b. The University will define "male" and "female," for the purpose of all practices, policies, and procedures adopted and implemented by the University for any athletic opportunity, event, competition, category, program, or activity designated for women, consistent with the definitions adopted in Executive Order 14168, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government (Jan. 20, 2025), and Executive Order 14201, Keeping Men out of Women's Sports (Feb. 5, 2025).
c.    The University will offer women the option of female-only housing, restrooms, and showering facilities, and for these purposes will adopt the abovementioned definitions of"male" and "female."
d.    The University will ensure students have access to single-sex floors in on-campus housing, using the above-mentioned definition.

Gender Surgery
Presently, Brown University's Medical School (the Warren Alpert Medical School) and its affiliated health system provide a broad range of gender-affirming surgical procedures for adults, including vaginoplasty, phalloplasty, breast augmentation, chest masculinization, facial feminization, metoidioplasty, and orchiectomy. However,  under the agreement, the University, the med school and Brown Health are explicitly prohibited from performing gender reassignment surgery on minors, or prescribing puberty blockers or hormones to minors for gender transition purposes.

The Brown/Trump agreement states:

12.    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.

 

Antisemitism

Brown was heavily criticized by students, donors, and members of the corporation for its failure to combat antisemitism on campus during protests in 2024.

The new agreement with the Trump Administration is very comprehensive as to Brown's actions and reporting requirements in the future:

13.    The University will take the following steps to ensure compliance with Title VI and Section 1557 and their implementing regulations, by providing Jewish students an equal opportunity to participate and enjoy the benefits of its education programs and activities as required by this Agreement and Title VI and Section 1557:

a.    Brown is committed to taking significant, proactive, effective steps to combat antisemitism and ensure a campus environment free from harassment and discrimination. These shall include actions to support a thriving Jewish community, research and education about Israel, and a robust Program in Judaic Studies, through outreach to Jewish Day School students to provide information about applying to Brown, resources for religiously observant Jewish community members, renewed partnerships with Israeli academics and national Jewish organizations, support for enhanced security at the Brown-RISD Hillel, and a convening of alumni, students, and faculty to celebrate 130 years of Jewish life at Brown in the 2025-2026 academic year.
b.    Brown shall not retaliate against or coerce any person who made, or is making, a complaint; exercised, or is exercising, their rights under Title VI or Section 1557; or who has assisted or participated in the investigation of any matter covered by this Agreement. Brown will maintain retaliation reporting procedures and protections, in accordance with federal state, and local laws. Brown will ensure that these procedures and protections will apply to those reporting noncompliance with this Agreement.

Brown will engage an external party to conduct a survey in 2025 to evaluate the campus climate for Brown students, including the climate for students with shared Jewish ancestry, and to evaluate social media harassment. The United States and Brown shall jointly choose this external party. These surveys shall be developed by October 31, 2025 and administered by December 31, 2025: 
i. The surveys shall, among other questions deemed appropriate by Brown, ask students whether they feel welcome at Brown; whether they feel safe reporting antisemitism at Brown; whether they believe Brown has responded appropriately to reports of alleged antisemitic conduct; whether they believe the changes Brown has made since October of 2023, including changes to policies and standard operating procedures, changes to nondiscrimination training, and previous climate surveys, have benefited the Brown community; whether they have experienced harassment on social media by Brown students, faculty, or staff while at Brown based on their national origin, including shared Jewish ancestry; how any social media harassment has affected their experience at Brown; how the Brown University Online and Social Media harassment webpage has affected them; and whether they believe Brown could take any further measures to reduce any social media harassment. 
ii. Within 45 days of the conclusion of each survey, Brown will provide to HHS OCR and Ed OCR a report to HHS OCR and Ed. OCR that includes, at a minimum: (1) the results of the survey; (2) Brown's analysis of the survey; and (3) any appropriate action(s) Brown intends to take to improve the campus climate and/or to improve Brown's response to social media harassment. Within fifty (50) days of HHS OCR and Ed. OCR's approval of Brown's proposed action(s), Brown will provide documentation sufficient to show its implementation of any action, including a description of each action and how it was implemented.

The agreement goes on to outline specific compliance requirements for Brown, including reports that must be conducted and provided to the Trump Administration.