Once widely considered the most progressive of Ivy League schools, Brown University announced last week a deal with the Trump administration that “bows to the president’s anti-trans demands in exchange for federal grant funding,” according to LGBTQ Nation.

Reports LGBTQ Nation:

The deal, announced Wednesday, July 30, restores over $500 million in federal contracts and research grants that the administration paused in April, according to Politico and other outlets. Under the terms of the agreement, Brown will ban transgender women from participating in women’s sports and from accessing spaces like bathrooms and locker rooms. It also requires the university to adopt the definition of “male” and “female” outlined in Donald Trump’s January 20 anti-trans executive order for the purposes of its athletics programs and events.

As MSNBC’s Chris Hayes pointed out in a BlueSky post, another stipulation of the agreement requires the university to agree not to “perform gender reassignment surgery or prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to any minor child for the purpose of aligning the child’s appearance with an identity that differs from his or her sex.” …

The Rhode Island university also agreed to pay $50 million in grants to workforce development organizations in the state, to be reimbursed by the government; to stop considering personal statements or “diversity narratives” in its admissions process and turn over data on the race and grades of students who are admitted for the government to audit; and various measures to improve the climate on campus for Jewish students. …

In a statement, Brown President Christina Paxson noted that the agreement includes a clause preventing the government from dictating the school’s curriculum or the content of academic speech, according to both Al Jazeera and the Associated Press.

“The University’s foremost priority throughout discussions with the government was remaining true to our academic mission, our core values, and who we are as a community at Brown,” Paxson said. “We stand solidly behind commitments we repeatedly have affirmed to protect all members of our community from harassment and discrimination, and we protect the ability of our faculty and students to study and learn academic subjects of their choosing, free from censorship.”

Paxson does not appear to have addressed how, exactly, the university plans to protect trans students forced to use bathrooms and locker rooms that do not align with their gender identity.

Read the complete LGBTQ Nation story here.

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