The Undergraduate Council of Students will hold a referendum to gauge students’ opinions on the Trump administration’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” which was sent to Brown and eight other universities on Oct. 1.
The compact outlines a series of demands — such as freezing tuition for the next five years and capping international undergraduate enrollment — that universities can agree to make in exchange for increased federal benefits.
Brown has until Oct. 20 to provide feedback on the compact. In a statement last Friday, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 affirmed that Brown plans to review the compact and solicited community input on whether or how Brown should respond.
The UCS referendum will ask students: “Should Brown University accept or reject the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education?”
The referendum will be sent to the student body “as soon as possible,” UCS President Talib Reddick ’26 wrote in an email to The Herald. After voting has closed, the UCS will immediately share the results with the University and have “as many discussions with the University as possible” before the Oct. 20 deadline.
“This compact poses a direct threat to academic freedom, freedom of expression and the composition of Brown’s student body and faculty,” the UCS wrote in an email to students on Tuesday. “Signing this compact could shatter the very essence of Brown. We urge the University to resist these efforts by every means available and reject the compact.”
On Wednesday, the UCS will also host a town hall to provide students with a space to “share their questions and concerns,” which the council will then relay to University administration, according to the email.
In the past two weeks, students, faculty and staff have mobilized in response to the compact.
Last week, over 100 community members gathered outside the Van Wickle Gates to protest the compact. During the protest — which was organized by the newly formed student organization Brown Rise Up — a group of students, faculty and staff delivered a statement to Paxson in opposition of the compact.
After a closed-door town hall on Tuesday in which faculty members expressed their disapproval of the compact, the Faculty Executive Committee — Brown’s central faculty governance committee — sent a letter to Paxson urging her to reject the proposal.
Hadley Carr is a university news editor at The Herald, covering academics & advising and student government.
