Brown has spent at least $280,000 in lobbying efforts so far in 2026, less than half of what they spent in the same time frame last year, according to public filings reviewed by The Herald.
The University’s lobbying efforts the first two quarters of the year focused on issues relating to international students, college athletics and federal research funding.
Brown’s lobbying expenditures so far are the lowest of the Ivy League. Penn was the highest spender, with $570,000, followed by Yale and Cornell, which spent $550,000 and $540,000 respectively.
The University spent $200,000 in 2022, $220,000 in 2023 and $350,000 in 2024.
According to University spokesperson Brian Clark, Brown’s core lobbying “priorities have remained consistent” over the years, “but the emphasis changes as federal policy changes.”
Brown’s total lobbying spending in 2025 was $860,000 — drastically higher than it had been in previous years. The year 2025 included “significant federal activity affecting higher education,” Clark wrote in an email to The Herald.
In the past year, “greater attention has been required on federal research funding and policy, immigration, tax policy and other issues affecting universities,” he wrote.
According to Sarah Spreitzer, vice president and chief of staff for government relations at the American Council on Education, the majority of higher education institutions “have core issues that they lobby on.” Spreitzer said that student aid programs, federal work-study programs and funding for scientific research are three common lobbying targets.
ACE regularly lobbies on behalf of American universities and has represented Brown in the past.
Over a third of Brown’s lobbying expenditures this year were used to employ Cornerstone Government Affairs — a bipartisan consulting and lobbying firm — to lobby on the University’s behalf.
According to Spreitzer, who has been working in higher education for about 25 years, the nationwide increase in lobbying activity in 2025 was not unheard of. She noted lobbying expenses spikes occur “any time we’ve had historic challenges for institutions of higher education,” such as during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jeremiah Farr is a senior staff writer covering university hall and higher education.
