Trump Reacts To $50 Million Brown University Settlement

President Donald Trump has celebrated the $50 million settlement deal his administration reached with Brown University to restore its funding.

“There will be no more Anti-Semitism, or Anti-Christian, or Anti-Anything Else!” Trump said in a Thursday post on Truth Social about the deal. “Woke is officially DEAD at Brown.”

In exchange for the restoration of government funding, Brown has agreed to several policy changes, including to dismantle its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.

Why It Matters

The agreement restores the Ivy League school’s federal funding and ends ongoing investigations into its admissions and campus policies.

The Brown deal has similarities with one signed last week by Columbia University, which the government called a road map for other universities. Unlike that agreement, however, Brown’s does not include an outside monitor.

What To Know

The settlement comes as Brown faced mounting financial strain after hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research funding were frozen during the Trump administration’s review of the university’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and its response to antisemitism complaints.

Under the deal, Brown will contribute $50 million over the next decade to Rhode Island workforce development programs and implement a series of policy changes, including scaling back certain DEI initiatives. The agreement also requires the university to adopt federal definitions of “male” and “female” for athletics and campus facilities and to strengthen protections for Jewish students.

Brown President Christina H. Paxson said the settlement protects the university’s academic independence, noting that the terms include a clause preventing the federal government from dictating curriculum or academic content.

“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 in a message to students and faculty.

While the Trump administration cast the settlement as a sweeping policy victory, Paxson emphasized that many of the requirements formalize practices Brown had already adopted.

“Most of the agreement’s provisions reflect policies we have long followed,” she said, while acknowledging that “other aspects … were not part of previous federal reviews of Brown policies but are priorities of the federal administration in resolving the funding freeze.”

The deal also mandates that Brown provide extensive data on applicants and admitted students, including race, grades and standardized test scores, which will be subject to a “comprehensive audit” by the federal government.

Additionally, the settlement prohibits Brown from granting admissions preferences based on race. Although a 2023 Supreme Court ruling already bars race-conscious admissions, the agreement goes further by banning the use of any “proxy for racial admission,” including personal essays or “diversity narratives.”

What People Are Saying

Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement on Wednesday: “Aspiring students will be judged solely on their merits, not their race or sex. Women’s sports and intimate facilities will be protected for women and Title IX will be enforced as it was intended.”

Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, an organization of major universities, said in a statement: “Let’s remember, these are deals. These are not policies. I had hoped that the Trump administration, when it came in, was going to be interested in having serious policy discussions about the future of higher education. They’ve yet to do that.”

What Happens Next

Future developments will depend on the administration’s continued enforcement strategy and whether additional institutions choose to contest or comply with similar federal demands.

Update 7/31/25, 1 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.