After showing their willingness to bow to governmental pressure, Brown was one of nine schools invited this week to participate in the Trump Administration's so-called “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” which offers federal funding preference and insider access in exchange for “voluntary” agreement to sweeping limitations on what and who can be taught, hired, supported, and expressed on campus. This “compact” is an even more egregious assault on academic freedom and free speech at Brown, which President Paxson should unequivocally reject.

(You can read the full compact here and a NYT summary here.)

In defending Brown’s July 30 settlement with the Trump administration, President Paxson identified several red lines that Brown would never cross, including allowing the federal government to dictate the content of our curriculum, the topics that students or faculty can study, or who can be admitted or employed at Brown. This proposed “compact” would do all of these things. Whatever benefits might come from joining would be vastly outweighed by how destructive Brown’s participation would be for the campus community and higher education more broadly.

Please use our tool to send a personal letter to both President Paxson and members of the Brown Corporation.