SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD VOLUME CLX, ISSUE 18
BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3
Trump admin asks Brown to freeze tuition, cap international enrollment for funding advantage, Wall Street Journal reports Requirements include banning use of race, sex in admissions, hiring BY CATE LATIMER UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR Brown is among nine universities invited to sign a 10-point memo called the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” by the Trump administration on Wednesday, according to the Wall Street Journal. If signed, the White House said that the BEN KANG / HERALD Penn and Dartmouth are the only other Ivy League schools to receive the letter. agreement will provide the universities
with benefits that include “substantial and meaningful federal grants” and access to “White House events and discussions with officials,” the Journal reported. The memo lays out a number of demands, including freezing tuition for five years, limiting grade inflation and capping international undergraduate enrollment rates at 15%. Other requirements include banning the use of race and sex in admissions and hiring practices, as well as requiring university applicants to take the SAT or a similar test. The universities were chosen because
it is believed they may be “good actors,” May Mailman, the White House’s senior adviser for special projects, told the Journal. “They have a president who is a reformer or a board that has really indicated they are committed to a higher quality education,” she added in her statement. Penn and Dartmouth are the only other Ivy League schools to receive the letter. The University and the White House did not immediately offer additional comment.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 1, 2025.
METRO
OPINIONS
ARTS & CULTURE
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
UNIVERSITY NEWS
Revolution Wind allowed to resume construction, judge rules
Editorial: A man was detained outside of the Rock — what you can do
Doja Cat’s ‘Vie’ is a stranger to her previous style
Researchers criticize proposed link between Tylenol, autism
A tribute to late student Federico ‘Fede’ Barrera
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SEE EDITORIAL PAGE 10
SEE REVIEW PAGE 12
SEE PUBLIC HEALTH PAGE 14
SEE OBITUARY PAGE 16
UNIVERSITY NEWS
Judge dismisses suit accusing Brown, other schools of price-fixing for students with divorced parents Complaint did not sufficiently prove that Brown raised cost of attendance BY KATE BUTTS UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR On Sept. 24, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis dismissed a class action lawsuit accusing Brown, the College Board, and 39 other colleges and universities of increasing
the cost of tuition for students with divorced or separated parents when determining financial aid awards. Ellis found the plaintiffs’ claims to be “lacking in plausibility,” she wrote in the ruling. The lawsuit was filed in October of last year, The Herald previously reported. The lawsuit is among a series of recent claims accusing the University of antitrust violations in its admissions practices. The original lawsuit centered on the
College Scholarship Service Profile, a College Board financial aid form that requires applicants to provide both parents’ financial information, regardless of whether they both plan to financially support the student’s college education. The suit argues that defendant schools used the CSS Profile as an “information-sharing program … (and) exchanged highly sensitive information with the other members of the conspiracy.”
This limited competition between schools who would have otherwise “competed in offering financial aid in order to enroll their top candidates.” Ellis found that “nothing in (the) plaintiffs’ complaint suggests that the university defendants exchanged their own internal financial aid decision-making processes or guidelines or otherwise shared with the other university defendants the amount of financial aid they planned to offer a particular student.”
She also noted that the plaintiffs did not allege that the schools shared the same formula for calculating financial aid packages. While the University requires all prospective first-year students to complete the CSS Profile, “Brown makes all financial aid decisions, including those involving noncustodial parents, independently and in alignment with our own method-
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UNIVERSITY NEWS
UNIVERSITY NEWS
Brown Police Sergeants Union issues unanimous vote of no confidence in police chief, deputy
University committee to develop new diversity, inclusion recommendations by May 2026
Vote comes after allegations of toxic workplace, claims that dept. failed to protect safety
Committee will also propose an action plan for implementation
BY MAYA NELSON AND SOPHIA WOTMAN UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITORS In a unanimous decision, the Brown University Police Sergeants Union issued a vote of no confidence in Brown University Police Chief Rodney Chatman and Deputy Chief John Vinson, the union announced in a Monday morning news release. The vote, taken on Aug. 27, “reflects serious concerns over the failed leadership, contract violations, and policies that jeopardize public safety and the sergeant’s well-being,” the union’s news release states. “The decision to take a no confidence vote
SPORTS
was not taken lightly,” union representative John Rossi wrote in an email to The Herald. He said the group has filed multiple grievances and “unfair labor practice charges due to the actions of Chief Chatman and Deputy Chief Vinson.” The press release cites numerous issues under Chatman, who is also the University’s Vice President for Public Safety and Emergency Management. According to the union, the University has also repeatedly dismissed concerns over an uncomfortable workplace environment, “which has led to zero resolutions for the individuals who keep Brown University’s campus safe,” they wrote in the news release.
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BY SOPHIA WOTMAN UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 expressed concern about the influence of President Trump’s second term on higher education at Tuesday’s faculty meeting, including threats against Brown’s academic mission and an increased endowment tax. Paxson emphasized that public confidence in elite higher education has been in decline since well before the election. She argued that the distrust stems from a number of factors, including the cost of university tuition, debates about the value of the liberal arts and public condemnation of “wokeness.”
post- Magazine
“These are things that we face all the time, but when we’re in a transition like we are right now, I think some of these are going to come to the fore, especially with concerns about the federal budget next year,” she said. Provost Frank Doyle, she added, has convened a small working group charged with keeping track of issues emerging out of Trump’s second presidency, “with an eye to how they would affect on-campus constituents.” Paxson then moved to discuss the recent increased politicization and Congressional scrutiny of higher education. “One thing I’ve prioritized this year is defending Brown from ongoing public and Congressional threats to higher education,” she said. “This has been a concern for some time.” In the past year, the House Committee on
SEE DIVERSITY PAGE 3
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