For $19.99, Brown students can now learn why the New Curriculum should be abolished and Queer Alliance should be censured - at least, according to one conservative alum.
"Out of Ivy: How a Liberal Ivy Created a Committed Conservative" by Travis Rowley '02 appeared on shelves at the Brown Bookstore Monday. Copies of the self-published take on Brown and its student body were dropped off at the bookstore on Saturday, according to Lori Dalesio, an assistant buyer at the bookstore.
"Travis came in approximately a month ago, and he told me he had written a book about his experience here at Brown," she said. The bookstore agreed to carry it, and it is available in the section for books by Brown alums, she said.
As of Monday afternoon, there had been about seven inquiries about the book but no sales, Dalesio said.
Rowley told The Herald in March that he wants his book to be a catalyst to reform Brown. "My upbringing really disagreed with what I saw at Brown," he said. "I was insulted almost the entire time."
Some students received e-mails promoting the book Monday afternoon, including a flyer that says Brown should reinstate the ROTC and "Abolish the Third World Center (like, tomorrow)." According to Stephanie Birdsall, lead communications specialist at Computing and Information Services, the message was probably sent to a mailing list Rowley created by "harvesting" student e-mail addresses from the Electronic Address Book on the University Web site.
Birdsall said she did not know how many students received the e-mails, which she referred to as "spam."
-Ben Leubsdorf
