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