Brown University has accepted a $50 million settlement with the federal government to reinstate previously cancelled federal research funding and end federal investigations into alleged antisemitic and racial discrimination, officials announced yesterday.
US President Donald Trump commented on the deal on his Truth Social platform, writing: "Congratulations to Brown University on the settlement made with the United States Government. There will be no more Anti-Semitism, or Anti-Christian, or Anti-Anything Else! Woke is officially DEAD at Brown. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
Under the terms of the deal, Brown University will accept the federal government's definition of "male and "female" and pay $50 million to Rhode Island workforce development organizations.
The university also agreed to adopt measures to combat antisemitism on campus and to reengage with Israeli academics. Among the measures the school agreed to is the hiring of an outside organization to conduct a survey on the campus climate Jewish students face.
US Education Secretary Linda McMahon said of the deal: “The Trump Administration is successfully reversing the decades-long woke-capture of our nation’s higher education institutions. Because of the Trump Administration’s resolution agreement with Brown University, aspiring students will be judged solely on their merits, not their race or sex. Brown has committed to proactive measures to protect Jewish students and combat Antisemitism on campus. Women’s sports and intimate facilities will be protected for women and Title IX will be enforced as it was intended."
Last week, the Trump Administration reached a similar $221 million settlement with Columbia University in which Columbia agreed to similar measures to combat antisemitism on campus.
Brown was one of numerous campuses roiled by anti-Israel encampment protests during the spring semester in 2024. At many other universities, the encampments were dismantled by police, but at Brown, where administrators successfully negotiated with student activists, things ended differently: In exchange for a peaceful winding down of the encampment, the university agreed that its governing body, the Brown Corporation, would hold a vote on divestment from Israel.
In September 2024, Joseph Edelman, a Jewish member of Brown University’s governing board, resigned from the board in protest against the planned vote on divestment.
In March 2025, a study by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) uncovered extensive foreign influence and anti-Israel bias in US K-12 classrooms through Brown University’s Choices Program. This curriculum, used in over 8,000 schools across all 50 states and reaching more than one million students, allegedly operates with undisclosed foreign funding and distorts historical facts to delegitimize Israel.
Also in March, Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a Lebanese kidney transplant specialist and assistant professor at Brown University, was deported from the United States last week following the discovery of "sympathetic photos and videos" of Hezbollah figures on her phone.