Brown University struck a deal with the Trump administration last week, making several promises — including adopting a definition of sex that excludes transgender people — in exchange for federal funding to be restored.
Brown was one of 60 universities the Department of Education said it was investigating earlier this year. In April, officials blocked $510 million in research funding from Brown over what they called “antisemitism” on campus after robust student demonstrations in support of Palestine. The university has denied violating any federal laws, and the administration’s investigation did not make any determinations.
The administration agreed to drop its probe into the university and said it would restore research grants as a result of the deal reached last Wednesday. President Donald Trump celebrated on Truth Social, writing, “There will be no more Anti-Semitism, or Anti-Christian, or Anti-Anything Else! Woke is officially DEAD at Brown.”
Brown agreed to pay $50 million over the next decade to the state’s workforce development program, as well as to remove mentions of race from the admissions process and codify protections for Jewish students.
The school also pledged to implement a series of policies that will change the way transgender students navigate campus, and its commitments go further than those of other universities that have negotiated with the administration.
The university said it will adopt the definitions of “male” and “female” that Trump laid out in an executive order in January. He declared that sex was binary, immutable and defined “at conception,” which counters how biologists have come to understand human sex to include gender identity and expression.
Brown will use the administration’s definition for “all practices, policies, and procedures adopted and implemented by the University for any athletic opportunity, event, competition, category, program, or activity designated for women,” the agreement reads.
The university said it will ensure that female students are offered the option for “female-only housing, restrooms, and showering facilities,” and that students will have access to single-sex floors in on-campus housing, according to a copy of the agreement and an email that university President Christina Paxson sent to students and faculty, which HuffPost has reviewed. Female student athletes will also be provided with separate facilities such as locker rooms and bathrooms.
Brown already has single-sex dormitories and bathrooms, as well as some gender-neutral restrooms. It remains to be seen how these spaces would be maintained under Trump’s definition of sex.
The university also agreed not to perform gender-affirming surgeries, or to provide puberty blockers or hormones to any minor. The university said it will “refer affected students” to medical practitioners in the area and noted that the agreement doesn’t impact services provided by local health systems, including Brown University Health.
Rhode Island law protects access to gender-affirming care for minors. However, Trump administration policies threaten federal funding for hospitals and clinics nationwide providing transgender healthcare to individuals under 19, jeopardizing vital services for transgender youth
In a letter to students and faculty, Paxson wrote that Brown “agreed to abide by Title IX and NCAA eligibility rules regarding the participation of transgender athletes in intercollegiate sports,” and said 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.”
Brown will begin devising plans for the agreement at the start of the upcoming school year, Paxson wrote.
A spokesperson for the university did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Transgender students and alumni have expressed concern about the agreement.
“It almost appears as if the rights of transgender people and community members can be bought and sold for political favors with the administration,” said a current trans student at Brown, who asked to remain anonymous to protect their privacy.
Brown has had a reputation for being so queer-affirming “to the point where it feels like being trans is a nonissue,” the student told HuffPost. But with this agreement in place, the student is concerned about his ability to use single-sex spaces and is nervous about going back to campus in the fall.
Sandy Ernest Allen, a writer and alumnus of Brown, wrote in The Boston Globe that the school was a “haven of progressive ideals” and that gender-neutral bathrooms were common on campus by the time he graduated in 2009. Nearly 40% of students do not identify as straight, according to a 2023 survey from The Brown Daily Herald, the on-campus publication, Allen noted.
“Brown markets itself as a paradise for left-leaning students and still attracts a disproportionate number of queer people,” Allen wrote. “Yet, when pressed, the university’s actual priorities show: It cares about money, not about its own students or alumni, especially not the most vulnerable among us.”
The university is the third Ivy League school to strike a deal with the administration in an effort to restore federal funding.
In early June, the University of Pennsylvania struck a deal with Trump that involved retroactively revoking records and titles from transgender swimmer Lia Thomas. In 2022, Thomas was the first trans athlete to win an NCAA Division I title, but the university stripped her of that accolade to avoid losing $175 million in federal funds. The university also barred trans athletes from competing according to their gender identity.
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That same month, Columbia University agreed to pay the federal government $221 million to recoup its federal grants. As part of the agreement, the school also agreed to provide women with single-sex housing and female athletes with separate locker rooms and showering facilities.
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