Trump reportedly threatening to freeze $510m in grants from Brown University

The Trump administration is taking aim at Brown University with threats to freeze $510m in grants, widening its promise to withhold federal funding from schools it accuses of allowing antisemitism on campus, according to multiple media outlets including Reuters and the New York Times.

University officials said they had not yet been formally notified, but the school was among dozens warned last month that enforcement actions could be coming as the administration seeks to crack down on academic institutions .

As at many universities across the US, students at the Rhode Island Ivy League school protested Israel’s attacks against Palestinians last autumn, raising a cluster of tents on the grassy quad at the heart of campus. But, unlike at many of its sister schools, Brown administrators chose to negotiate rather than clear the demonstrations forcefully.

Trump has called the protesters antisemitic, labeling them sympathetic to Hamas militants and foreign policy threats, and has threatened to slash federal funds universities depend on to fuel important research.

In an email to campus leaders on Thursday shared by a Brown University spokesperson, the school’s provost, Frank Doyle, said the university was aware of “troubling rumors emerging about federal action on Brown research grants” but added it had “no information to substantiate any of these rumors”.

“We are closely monitoring notifications related to grants, but have nothing more we can share as of now,” he added.

But Brown’s leaders have been bracing for backlash from the president for weeks. In a letter shared publicly on the university’s site, the president, Christina H Paxson, promised that Brown would not buckle under pressure.

“The nation has witnessed what many in higher education fear may be only the first examples of unprecedented government demands placed on a private university as a condition for restoring federal funding,” she said.

Paxson outlined three core values and the school’s response to protect them: following the law, defending academic freedom and freedom of expression, and a commitment to providing resources to international community members.

“If Brown faced such actions directly impacting our ability to perform essential academic and operational functions,” she said, “we would be compelled to vigorously exercise our legal rights to defend these freedoms, and true to our values, we would do so with integrity and respect.”

Last month, the Trump administration canceled $400m in federal funding for Columbia University, which had been the epicenter of pro-Palestinian campus protests. Princeton University said on Tuesday the US government froze several dozen research grants to the school, and $9bn in federal contracts and grants awarded to Harvard University is under review.

Along with the funding freeze, there are concerns about other actions being taken by the administration to undermine academic freedoms or civil rights on campus.

The administration has targeted schools over diversity, equity and inclusion programs and suspended $175m in funding to the University of Pennsylvania over transgender sports policies.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have detained some foreign student protesters in recent weeks and are working to deport them.

Rights advocates have also raised concerns about Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias during the Israel-Gaza war. The Trump administration has not announced steps in response.

“These are uncertain times,” Paxson said in the letter. “We remain committed to taking the steps necessary to preserve our ability to fulfill our mission as a university dedicated to advancing knowledge and understanding in service to communities, the nation and the world.”

Reuters contributed reporting