The Trump administration is running a pressure campaign on colleges and universities—and it's working.
Over the past few weeks, some of the country’s most powerful institutions of higher education have quietly struck deals or begun secret negotiations with the White House. These aren't routine grant negotiations. They're political blackmail, plain and simple.
Here’s how it works: Trump’s Department of Education freezes research grants or opens federal investigations into supposed civil rights violations. Then the administration offers universities a way out—if they agree to rewrite campus policy in line with Trump’s far-right agenda.
Columbia was first, paying $200 million to the federal government and agreeing to undisclosed terms.
Penn followed, reaching a deal centered on discriminating against transgender athletes.
And Harvard, according to multiple reports, has already closed its LGBTQ+ office, begun dismantling DEI programs, and engaged in behind-the-scenes talks with Trump officials to avoid public retaliation.
Brown University is the latest to capitulate—and the details of its agreement should set off every alarm.
According to a nine-page agreement, Brown has agreed to:
- Enforces locker rooms “strictly separated on the basis of sex”—language pulled directly from Trump’s anti-trans executive orders—forcing trans and nonbinary students into facilities that don’t match their gender identity.
- Define “male” and “female” for athletic purposes—according to sex assigned at birth—effectively banning trans athletes from participation.
- Provide the federal government with access to internal admissions and discrimination complaint data—giving political appointees unprecedented access to sensitive university records.
- Conduct a government-influenced campus climate survey on antisemitism—a move designed to suppress pro-Palestinian speech and student organizing.
- Pay $50 million to workforce development programs—a PR-friendly way to mask what is ultimately the price of compliance.
In exchange, the Trump administration has agreed to restore frozen Health and Human Services research grants and close pending federal civil rights investigations.
Brown President Christina Paxson has defended the agreement—but make no mistake: this was a surrender (if you want to see a full list of Brown’s Trustees and Fellows, you can check it out here). And it’s not happening in a vacuum. It’s part of a coordinated strategy by the Trump administration to turn colleges into tools of its culture war.
What’s at stake isn’t just research dollars. It’s whether universities will defend trans students or erase them. Whether they will protect academic freedom or hand over student speech to the surveillance state. Whether they will lead—or cave.
This is a line-in-the-sand moment for higher education. Columbia crossed it. Penn crossed it. Now Brown has too. Every other university in the country is watching. Every student, faculty member, and alumni network should be watching too.
We cannot let this become the new normal.