PROVIDENCE – Brown University has been subpoenaed by the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, with committee leadership claiming that the university has failed to fully comply with the group’s investigation into alleged price-fixing among Ivy League institutions.
The subpoena is another chapter in the ongoing strife between Brown and the Trump administration. Such contentions include
alleged violations of the federal 1964 Civil Rights Act’s Title VI by Brown and
possible millions in research grant cuts. Brown has also joined multiple lawsuits, including against the
National Science Foundation and the
U.S. Department of Energy over grant funding cuts.
Additionally, Brown officials on June 30 said
the university has lost $45 million in National Institutes of Health funding since April 3 due to significant federal research funding decreases. The financial dire straits is causing Brown to extend its hiring freeze until at least the end of the summer.
In the subpoena letter sent Tuesday to Brown President Christina H. Paxson, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio and Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust Chairman Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wisc., said the committees are concerned that Ivy League schools “appear to be collectively raising tuition prices” while engaging in “perfect price discrimination” by offering selective financial aid packages to “maximize profits.” Jordan and Fitzgerald wrote that the committees sent a letter April 8 asking Brown to produce “relevant documents and communications” for the investigation.
However, Jordan and Fitzgerald wrote that Brown’s response to their investigation has been “inadequate.” They claim that just 141 documents and “very few communications” were provided by Brown to the committee in the university’s first two production rounds.
Furthermore, Jordan and Fitzgerald wrote that Brown on June 27 provided “no materials” responding to the committees’ requests for all documents and communications between employees or institution representatives and those related to 568 Presidents Working Group and individuals with federal government on how Brown calculates indirect costs rates for each grant it’s been awarded.
The committee also didn’t get communication information on any former director or trustee on any board of or in any leadership role at your institution who also serves or has served on the board of or in any leadership role at any other higher education institution, U.S. News, the College Board, the Common Application, Jordan and Fitzgerald claim.
“Now [84] days following the committee’s initial April 8 requests, and despite the Committee’s best efforts at accommodating Brown, Brown’s response has been inadequate,” Jordon and Fitzgerald wrote.
Brown spokesperson Brian Clark in an email Wednesday to Providence Business News said the university refutes the idea that its response has been inadequate, stating it has “consistently cooperated with the committees’ investigation.” Clark said Brown has to date responded to more than 90% of the committees’ requests, producing multiple documents spanning a period of “many years.”
Brown’s responses have been done on “a rolling basis,” Clark said, given both the requests’ “exhaustive nature” and needing to redact details to comply with federal law and the committees’ request to protect personally identifiable information about students.
“We fully recognize the committee's oversight authority and will continue to provide the committee with information it has requested in compliance with the subpoena. As we respond, we are demonstrating that Brown has and continues to make decisions on tuition and financial aid independently as part of our commitment to making sure that no student’s family socioeconomic circumstances prevent them from accessing the benefits of a Brown education,” Clark said. “Brown is deeply committed to ensuring that the excellent educational opportunities the university provides are both accessible and affordable, and we have and continue to take significant measures to advance this commitment.”
The committee is compelling Brown to produce all requested documents by July 22, per the subpoena.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on X at @James_Bessette.
