The marketization of higher education has eroded the liberal arts curriculum at universities across the nation, and Brown is no exception. Student publications and arts groups stand as bulwarks against the creeping pre-professionalization of the University. They vigilantly steward this campus’ public artistic and intellectual discourses. Their importance cannot be overstated.
So it should mortify the Brown community that the body tasked with delivering the resources needed to keep these groups going, the Undergraduate Finance Board, has systematically discriminated against them and partaken in ethically questionable practices in its annual budget allotment process. In particular, they have consistently targeted student groups who consider cultivating a relationship with Rhode Island School of Design and broader Providence as central to their missions.
Early in this school year, UFB Vice Chair and UCS presidential hopeful Daniel Pipkin ’14 met with the director of RISD’s Center for Student Involvement, Don Morton, to select a set of Category III student groups that publish material from both colleges. They were to have their funding cut by Brown with the expectation that the gap would be filled in by RISD — despite the fact that it was unlikely RISD would ever be able to cover the difference. These publications, which include VISIONS, Clerestory and the College Hill Independent, were never informed of this experiment they had been selected to participate in. And since, until recently, UFB had not published meeting minutes on its website for nearly two years, we would have never found out had Pipkin not told us — after the spring budgeting process had already concluded. In fact, the cuts made to our budgets were chocked up to other technicalities without explicit mention of this agreement. The explanation for UFB’s decision is simple: The organization sneers at RISD students as ‘freeloaders,’ totally blind to the reality that campus life at both schools is enriched by RISD students’ presence in our student groups.
This corruption is a danger to more than just publications. By our count, 18 student groups claim Brown/RISD status, officially or unofficially. We would venture that far more than 18 groups have RISD members — Brown student groups are unrestricted to RISD students and vice versa. By UFB’s logic, any group that welcomes members from our neighbor faces defunding. Judging by the experiences of Visions and the Independent, that cut is in direct proportion to the strength of their commitment to deepening the bonds between the two schools in the service of broadening the exchange of ideas on College Hill.
We must also face the problem of controlling how our content is consumed. Part of UFB’s argument is that these publications not be allowed to distribute beyond Brown’s campus or face funding cuts. RISD students and Providence residents ought not be allowed to pick up the Independent, tune into Brown Student Radio or read Visions. This is a pernicious, unenforceable and elitist position. We frankly must be freely permitted to interact with life beyond the Main Green if any of the endowments of a Brown education are going to be put to use.
Instead, when asked at a public appeals meeting by VISIONS Editor-in-Chief Larry Au ’14 whether he thought UFB had the power to dictate the editorial policies of individual publications, UFB At-Large Representative and UFB Chair candidate Alexander Sherry ’15 retorted, “Why not, we give you guys money” and stated he believed UFB has the power to tell campus publications what they can and cannot publish. Sherry has since stated he does not remember saying this in the context of editorial policy. Of course, there are no meeting minutes to accompany his account.
Sherry’s statement deserves all the outrage the Brown student body can muster. What’s most terrifying is that his is a position held by a person poised to helm the organization next year. This should signal to us that UFB is not only not doing the job it was created to do — encourage student co-curricular activity through judicious and considered budgeting decisions — but also that the body represents a clear and present threat to public, intellectual discourse on campus.
The combination of the lack of institutional mechanisms to encourage scrupulous practices and student representatives drunk with power has totally undermined the legitimacy of the sole funding source for the majority of student groups, if it can be said to have had any legitimacy to begin with.
We believe UFB operates within the following fantasy: that the money it budgets every spring is its money to mete out. It is, in fact, the student body’s money, and UFB’s task is to simply apportion it. Aside from warning students to stay away from Pipkin and Sherry during the coming elections, we hope this letter will ignite a conversation about UFB’s role in directing and shaping campus life and our relationship to the broader community — without direct oversight from anyone, least of all from students. To leave things as they are, the Brown community courts disaster.
Raillan Brooks ’13 is a Senior Editor for The College Hill Independent and thinks secret meetings with administrators are not, in fact, chill. He can be reached at raillan_brooks@brown.edu.
Larry Au ’14 is Editor-In-Chief of VISIONS and would like you to sign the petition in support of VISIONS at http://bit.ly/VPetition. He can be reached at larry_au@brown.edu.
Emma Ramadan ’13 is Booking Chair of the Brown Concert Agency, she can be reached at emma_ramadan@brown.edu.
Kate Holguin ’13 is Managing Editor of Clerestory Journal of the Arts and while living in Providence would like to still be able to pick up the Indy, tune into BSR and read Clerestory and VISIONS. She can be reached at kate_holguin@brown.edu.
Gavyn Ooi ’14 is Station Manager at Brown Student Radio and is a friend of the arts and humanities. He can be reached at stationmanager@bsrlive.com.
Caroline Seyler ’15 is Student and Community Radio Volunteer Director at Brown Student Radio. She can be reached at caroline_seyler@brown.edu.
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