On Thursday afternoon, about 120 Brown students and faculty members gathered at the Van Wickle Gates for a rally urging the University to not sign the Trump administration’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.”
The protest was organized by Brown Rise Up, a newly formed student group “working in coordination with faculty and graduate students to resist authoritarianism in higher education,” according to a Brown Rise Up news release.
During the rally, some protesters chanted “reject, rise up, Brown does not belong to Trump,” while others held up signs that read “students over politics” and “don’t be an accomplice.”
On Oct. 1, the Trump administration invited nine universities — including Brown, Dartmouth and Penn — to sign a 10-point memo, which outlined a series of commitments that institutions could agree to in exchange for “substantial and meaningful federal grants” and other benefits, according to the Wall Street Journal, who was the first to report on the compact.
Some of the demands include freezing tuition for five years, limiting grade inflation and capping international undergraduate enrollment to 15%.
During the protest, a small group of students, faculty and graduate students delivered a statement, arguing against the compact, to the office of Christina Paxson P'19 P'MD'20 in University Hall. The statement was signed by Brown Rise Up, Stand Strong Brown, the Brown Dream Team, Brown Democrats and the Graduate Labor Organization.
“This compact is an attack on academic freedom and diversity of thought that would mark an end to the University’s ability to self-govern,” the statement reads. They specifically cited two provisions — one requiring faculty to be politically neutral in official capacities and the other prohibiting the belittling conservative ideals — as “incompatible with the values of Brown University.”
Addressing the crowd, rally speaker Garrett Brand ’26 said that if Paxson were to sign the compact, she would be choosing to side with authoritarianism over students, faculty and staff.
Faculty members, many dressed in academic regalia, taped over their mouths in a symbolic gesture against the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.”
“We’re here today because Donald Trump is once again attempting to control our university,” Brand said.
The University and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Brand went on to emphasize the growing hesitancy of students at Brown to speak out against the Trump administration, claiming that there are some students — especially those on student visas — who “wish they could be here to raise their voices,” but are fearful of doing so.
“They cannot join us, because they are righteously worried that expressing their disgust with this compact will be used as justification to deport them from this country,” Brand said.
He added that across the nation, “the rights to speech and dissent have already been under attack,” referring to the March 25 detainment of a Tufts University graduate student who had penned a pro-Palestine op-ed, as well as the recent presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on College Hill.
Several faculty members, many of whom were dressed in full academic regalia, spoke about how the compact would affect their ability to teach in their classrooms.
In a speech to the crowd, Laurel Bestock ’99, an associate professor of the history of art and architecture, archaeology and the ancient world and Egyptology and Assyriology, noted her concern about the compact, emphasizing the importance of classrooms being a place where professors and students can challenge one another.
“The compact is a chilling instance of surveillance and telling us what to think and what to do,” she said.
“I feel like I can’t stand by,” said Professor of History and Humanities Holly Case in a speech at the rally. “I feel like it’s my task as a faculty member to preserve your rights as students to free speech.”
After Simon Aron ’28, co-founder of Brown Rise Up, found out about the compact, he spoke with students, faculty, graduate students and alumni about how to pressure University Hall to reject the compact.
“The nation is looking to Brown to see what we do,” Aron told The Herald. “I think that students and the community are going to see this and realize that there’s resistance.”
In a speech during the protest, Caitlyn Carpenter ’26 explained that the rally occurred in alignment with similar demonstrations at Vanderbilt University and Dartmouth, which also received the compact.
“As soon as one school signs, the pressure exponentially increases on the rest of the schools to sign,” she said. “As soon as a school rejects the compact, does not negotiate, does not fold to Trump, it makes it that much easier for the other schools to not sign.”
Sophia Wotman is a University news editor covering activism and affinity & identity. She is a senior from Long Island, New York concentrating in political science with a focus on women’s rights. She is a jazz trumpet player, and often performs on campus and around Providence.
