The Trump administration intends to block $510 million in federal contracts and grants for Brown University, expanding its campaign to hold universities accountable for what it says is relentless antisemitism on campus, according to two White House officials familiar with the plans.
Brown became the fifth university known to face a potentially dire loss of federal funding, leaving other universities that the administration has targeted wondering when their turn might come.
If the administration pauses $510 million, even over a period of years, the consequences for Brown could be significant. In its 2024 fiscal year, Brown received about $184 million through federal grants and contracts.
In an email to campus leaders on Thursday, Brown’s provost, Frank Doyle, said the university was aware of “troubling rumors emerging about federal action on Brown research grants.” But he said that the university had “no information to substantiate any of these rumors.”
The Daily Caller was the first to report the pause.
The newly appointed secretary of education, Linda McMahon, has been explicit about the administration’s focus on elite universities, which Mr. Trump has criticized as bastions of left-wing thought. She has said that taxpayer support is a “privilege” that can be withdrawn if universities do not adhere to civil rights law.
Like many of its Ivy League peers, Brown was the site of clashes over the war in Gaza. But it was also one of a small number of universities that made deals with students to end their protest encampments in the spring, agreements that came under criticism for being too soft on students.
