Live updates: Trump administration set to freeze $510 million of Brown’s federal funding

As of 2:55 p.m., Brown has still not heard from the White House regarding the planned federal funding freeze, University Spokesperson Brian Clark told The Herald.

At around noon on Monday, the House Committee on Education and Workforce told its followers on X that “no institution tolerating antisemitism is entitled to your tax dollars.”

“Republicans and the Trump administration are leading the charge to hold schools accountable for allowing this evil,” the post reads.

The post also featured a Fox News segment on the Trump administration’s planned federal funding freeze at Brown.

Beginning December 2023, the committee hosted a series of hearings scrutinizing university presidents for their responses to alleged antisemitism on campus. Several Ivy League presidents have resigned following appearances before the committee.

The University did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Sunday afternoon, Alex Shieh ’27 received an email from Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy and Interim Vice President for Campus Life Russell Carey ’91 putting Shieh “on notice that (his) statements on the Bloat@Brown website are false,” according to a copy of the email obtained by The Herald, which Shieh also shared in an X post.

In his email, Carey referenced two statements made on Shieh’s Bloat@Brown website: “Meet the DEI bureaucrats who lost Brown University $510 million in federal funds” and “AI flagged 49 Brown University employees potentially holding illegal (diversity, equity and inclusion) roles.”

“At this time, Brown has not received any notification from the federal government of the loss of funding you have claimed,” Carey wrote. “Nor has Brown received any notification from the federal government that the staff members you have listed as ‘Suspect’ on your website are responsible for any potential or actual loss of federal funding.”

Carey requested that Shieh either make it clear that he “used AI searches to reach a personal opinion” about the legality of DEI positions at Brown, or “remove all false statements from your website immediately.”

“Any failure to do so will be subject to appropriate action to enforce the Code of Conduct,” Carey added in the email.

In his X post, Shieh called upon conservative leaders and news outlets to “decide who looks ridiculous.” In his email, Carey emphasized that the University’s Code of Conduct calls for “personal integrity” and “respect and dignity,” urging Shieh to comply “as a member of the Brown community.”

Carey has not responded to a request for comment.

In a Monday morning email, Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey announced that all Brown community members will be required to complete a new, mandatory training module aimed at strengthening “Brown’s response to reports of discrimination and harassment.”

This announcement comes just days after a White House official informed The Herald that the Trump administration intends to halt $510 million of the University’s federal funding over Brown’s handling of alleged antisemitism on campus and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

The module, created by the Office of Equity Compliance and Reporting, was developed as a response to the voluntary resolution agreement that the University reached with the Office for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education.

In the agreement, which the University signed on July 3, Brown “voluntarily agreed to clarify and enhance existing policies and procedures related to the resolution of discrimination and harassment complaints, including those related to antisemitism,” according to a July 8 University press release. This also included an annual nondiscrimination training. Carey’s email did not mention antisemitism specifically.

Brown University Jews for Palestinian Liberation, formerly known at Jews for Ceasefire Now, condemned the planned federal funding freeze in a statement to The Herald.

Referring to the Trump administration, they wrote, “The administration’s cheap claims of combatting antisemitism are a thin veil for their clear motivation: to quell student protest against our University and country’s collaboration in Israel’s genocide in Gaza and occupation of Palestine.” A White House official confirmed the administration plans to freeze Brown’s funding while they review the University’s response to both alleged antisemitism and DEI policies.

In a Friday X post, Alex Shieh ’27 shared that he has updated Bloat@Brown, a database he launched last month aiming to expose administrative waste. The website features a list of 49 “DEI bureaucrats” who Shieh alleges “lost Brown University $510 million in federal funds,” according to the X post.

In a subsequent reply on X, Shieh wrote that he “warned Brown” that the Trump administration “would defund us over these potentially illegal practices.” Shieh's X post tagged the official X accounts of President Trump, Elon Musk and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.

While Shieh doesn’t “relish the fact that Brown’s federal funding was cut,” he called the current situation an “‘I told you so’ moment,” in a Saturday afternoon email to The Herald.

“By doubling down on DEI — which itself is also anti-meritocratic — Brown sends a clear signal about who it serves: (coastal) elites and their trendy progressive politics, not the hardworking Americans for whom an education at Brown is growing increasingly out of reach,” Shieh added. “Brown needs to ask itself if these DEI administrators are really worth $510 million.”

“So long as schools like Brown discriminate through DEI and remain unaffordable due to bloat, meritocracy and the American Dream will remain out of reach for most Americans,” Shieh wrote.

The University did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Former President Barack Obama urged universities to leverage their endowment and resist the Trump administration’s actions threatening academic freedom, in a Thursday speech delivered at Hamilton College.

“If you are a university, you may have to figure out, are we in fact doing things right? Have we in fact violated our own values, our own code, violated the law in some fashion?” he said at the campus speaker event. “If not, and you’re just being intimidated, well, you should be able to say, that’s why we got this big endowment.”

Brown has an endowment of around $7.2 billion, as of June 2024. The University’s endowment is the lowest among all Ivy League institutions.

Obama added that he’s “deeply concerned with a federal government that threatens universities if they don’t give up students who are exercising their right to free speech.”

The University did not immediately respond to The Herald’s request for comment. The White House also did not immediately respond to The Herald’s request for comment.

At 3:38 p.m., The Herald asked the University to confirm whether Brown had received official confirmation of the freeze from the White House. The University has yet to respond.

West Warwick resident Susan Davis, an attendee at the rally, said “I want the world to know what side I’m on. Something has to change.”

“Out of the White House, nothing seems to be fact-checked or sourced, just a lot of misinformation,” said Wende Corcoran, a protester from West Warwick. “The country deserves better. We deserve facts.”

In a speech at the rally, Norah O’Brien Gervais, a 100-year-old Rhode Island resident, expressed anger with the presidential transition and called for the Trump administration to take its “hands off our bodies.”

Another protest speaker, Donnie Anderson, called the present moment a “human rights free fall” and advocated for increased protections on trans and gender-diverse youth. The White House did not immediately respond to The Herald’s request for comment.

On Saturday, thousands of community members gathered at Hope High School, marched down Thayer Street and rallied in Kennedy Plaza to protest against the Trump administration. So far, The Herald has spoken to at least four protesters who mentioned that they were attending the rally to protest the Trump administration’s plans to cut $510 million of federal funding at Brown.

The mobilization — titled “Hands Off!” — is one of many similar rallies taking place nationwide organized to protest the Trump administration.

“They’re taking everything they can get their hands on — our health care, our data, our jobs, our services — and daring the world to stop them,” the protest’s webpage reads. “This administration is complete trash,” said rally attendee Anthony Perrotta, a Providence resident.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The University also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It’s been 24 hours since The Herald first received confirmation of the Trump administration’s planned federal funding freeze at Brown from a White House official. President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 and other senior administrators have remained silent on the University’s response to the planned cuts.

Yesterday, Provost Francis Doyle sent a message to University leaders saying that Brown was not able to substantiate rumors of the freeze.

At 4:32 p.m., The Herald asked the University to confirm whether Brown had received official confirmation of the freeze from the White House. The University has yet to respond.

In a Friday statement, U.S. Representative Gabe Amo (D-R.I. 1), who represents the congressional district Brown sits in, vowed to help Brown through “any adverse actions from this administration” in Congress.

He called the Trump administration’s plans to cut federal funds “an attack on our future.”

Amo also highlighted the statement by members of the Brown Corporation and Brown-RISD Hillel that praised the University’s support of Jewish life on campus.

Brown has yet to hear from the White House about the $510 million planned funding cut, University Spokesperson Brian Clark told The Herald.

A White House official confirmed to The Herald that the Trump administration’s planned $510 million freeze in Brown’s federal funding will come as it reviews the University's response to antisemitism and its potential diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

This is the first confirmation The Herald has received regarding the reason for the freeze.

The Brown Divest Coalition — the student activist group whose affiliates made the case for divestment from companies with ties to Israel — provided a statement to The Herald regarding the federal funding freeze, saying that they “reject the weaponization of antisemitism against universities, international students and the anti-genocide movement.”

“These concerted attacks on institutions of higher education and systematic disappearances and detainments of our peers is a means of suppressing all forms of popular dissent to the renewed violence of the U.S. war machine abroad,” the statement reads, referencing the resumed conflict in Gaza after Israel resumed strikes in the area and shattered the ceasefire agreement. This statement also follows numerous detainments of student protesters, with government officials citing concerns for national security.

“Brown now has to make the choice: Either comply with a fascist administration or protect our students, staff and faculty,” the statement reads.

U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.) wrote that recent federal actions on higher education have been "deeply disconcerting" in a Friday statement to The Herald.

It is "part of a broader pattern by the Trump Administration to go after higher education in ways that will negatively impact communities across the country and lead to layoffs, restrict research, and more," he wrote, adding that “we’re still gathering details."

In a Thursday statement, U.S. Representative Seth Magaziner ’06 (D- R.I. 2) said he has been in contact with President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 and plans to support the University “in any way” he can.

He called the planned funding cut “purely political,” adding that it would “undercut lifesaving research and economic development in the science, engineering and other disciplines.

In a Thursday statement sent to The Herald, members of the Brown Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — and leadership of Brown-RISD Hillel said that Brown has upheld its commitment to religious freedom and Jewish life on campus.

The statement, which was signed by Brown’s Chancellor and Bank of America’s CEO Brian Moynihan ’81 P’14 P’19 and former Chancellor and current trustee Samuel Mencoff ’78, among others, comes amid a planned $510 million freeze on federal funds to Brown. Rabbi Josh Bolton, the executive director of Brown-RISD Hillel, also signed onto the statement.

Funding cuts from the federal level have already directly impacted Brown’s research projects.

On March 20, Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences Amy Nunn was notified via email that the National Institute for Mental Health grant that funded her research — which studied pre-exposure prophylaxis, a medication that aims to reduce HIV transmissions — was cut. This email stated the study “no longer effectuates agency priorities,” according to Nunn.

Around three weeks prior, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Ethan Moitra also received an email from the NIMH notifying him that the grant funding his study on the mental health of LGBTQ+ individuals was cut. The email mentioned the executive order on gender care, according to Nunn. The study, now paused, had over 200 individuals enrolled.

Other Brown-affiliated research projects have also faced funding cuts, according to a shared spreadsheet detailing NIH funding cuts.

Brown is currently facing a $46 million budget deficit amid an effort to transition toward a research institution model rather than a liberal arts institution. The planned $510 million in federal funding cuts are over 10 times the size of the budget shortfall. To address the deficit, the University has announced plans to reduce PhD admissions, increase revenue from master’s programs and limit its operating expenses.

In March, the University also announced a staff-wide hiring freeze in response to uncertainty about federal actions. The freeze will remain in effect through the 2025 fiscal year, and will comprise 90% of all staff positions. All non-essential travel has been frozen as well.

Brown has an endowment of around $7.2 billion, as of June 2024. The University’s endowment is the lowest among all Ivy League institutions.

Since the presidential transition, the University has enlisted two lobbying firms — Cornerstone Government Affairs and AxAdvocacy Government Relations — to lobby Congress and the Trump administration on its behalf. This is the first time the University has enlisted a lobbying firm since 2002, according to public filings. Staff of AxAdvocacy hold deep ties to the GOP.

Cornerstone will lobby for Brown’s research and “thought leadership capacities,” while AxAdvocacy will lobby on issues related to education and taxation. In previous years, Brown has spent over $200,000 annually on lobbying efforts

Even in the face of threats to DEI, Brown appointed Matthew Guterl as the new vice president for diversity and inclusion in February. He took office last month, after previously serving as a professor of Africana and American Studies.

At the beginning of his term, he reaffirmed the importance of the University’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. He said he plans to support this effort “in ways that are lawful, practical and community-driven.”

Guterl did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Jan. 21, President Trump signed an executive order that aimed to end federal diversity, equity and inclusion programs, sparking uncertainty in the higher education landscape. In a letter to a Brown community, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 and Provost Francis Doyle reaffirmed the University is “prepared to exercise our legal right to advocate against laws, regulations or other actions that compromise Brown's mission.”

Led by Doyle, a working group was launched to “closely assess the orders” from Washington, D.C. alongside a team including members from Government Relations, the Division of Research, Office of General Counsel and Finance and Administration, among others.

In early February, a letter released by the Department of Education threatened to cut federal funding to schools that do not eliminate “illegal” race-conscious programs.

“We remain committed to efforts to foster a strong academic community through initiatives that aim to help all faculty, students and staff thrive, feel welcome and participate fully in the life of the University while also complying fully with the law,” University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald, following the letter’s release.

Lisa McClain, a top Republican leader in Congress, responded to the planned funding freeze on X. “Good,” she wrote. “Brown University — like so many other schools — caved to the antisemitic mob and desperately needs to change course.”

These cuts follow the deportation of Assistant Professor of Medicine Rasha Alawieh last month. Alawieh was deported to Lebanon despite a judge’s orders and holding a valid H-1B visa. The Department of Homeland Security made the decision after she “openly admitted” to traveling to Beirut for the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, according to DHS.

At last month’s faculty meeting, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 shared that federal actions are “threatening pretty much every major source of revenue that we get as an institution,” including tuition and research.

She said that the University had created contingency plans if University funding is severely impacted. Plans include layoffs and potentially withdrawing from its investment in the William A. and Ami Kuan Danoff Life Sciences Laboratories, Brown’s planned seven-story laboratory in the Jewelry District.

Brown also filed a lawsuit in February against the National Institutes of Health in an attempt to stop the NIH’s cut to federal research funding. The suit is led by the Association of American Universities, the American Council on Education and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities.

The cut limits indirect costs, such as facility fees, electricity and other administrative costs, to 15%.

As we learn more about the impacts of the planned funding cuts, here is what is happening at peer institutions.

Columbia has recently faced $400 million in federal funding cuts for its handling of pro-Palestine protests and allegations of antisemitism. Funding at Penn was cut due to their policies surrounding transgender athletes, specifically for allowing a trans woman on the women’s swim team in 2022.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration also paused dozens of grants at Princeton. Harvard’s federal funding is currently under review. At Brown, administrators have canceled faculty searches and reduced PhD admissions targets in light of the recent threats.

Daniel Solomon ’26, chair of Brown’s student organizing committee on antisemitism, told The Herald that the planned funding cuts is “an attack on Brown that is unfounded” and “is not rooted in good will to the Jewish community.”

“Over the past two years, we have worked diligently with Brown’s administration to earnestly counter antisemitism,” he said, adding that Brown has been “incredibly supportive of all our initiatives.”

Earlier today, University Provost Francis Doyle wrote a letter that appears to be sent to department chairs and faculty directors responding to rumors about federal impacts to research grants. At the time, he said that the University had no information to substantiate the rumors. He informed chairs and faculty directors to share this information with their “concerned faculty.”

He also pointed to Monday’s communication regarding Brown’s response to government actions. Doyle advised faculty or staff with specific concerns to contact Brown’s Department of Research through an email established to address the impacts of the federal administration.

Brown was one of 60 universities notified by the U.S. Department of Education last month of potential “enforcement actions” if they fail to “protect Jewish students on campus.”

As threats from the federal government against higher education institutions have escalated, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 and other senior administrators have repeatedly affirmed Brown’s commitment to academic freedom while emphasizing they would comply with the law.