Brown University’s US$50 million deal to unfreeze funding

Brown University has become the third Ivy League campus to reach a deal with the administration of United States President Donald Trump in a bid to restore frozen federal funding, reports Al Jazeera.

The agreement, announced on Wednesday, is the latest instance of an elite US school bargaining with the president and acceding to his demands. As part of the deal, Brown will pay US$50 million over 10 years to improve Rhode Island’s workforce development programmes. It will also commit to supporting its local Jewish community and restricting its acknowledgement of transgender students.

The agreement comes amid a wider campaign by the Trump administration to withhold federal funds from elite universities in an effort to stem ‘woke’ ideology and combat antisemitism. Opponents say the administration’s efforts are politically motivated and out of step with reality but have acknowledged that administrators feel they have little choice but to acquiesce.
Full report on the Al Jazeera site