To the Editor:
I was outraged to read a recent article about the Brown University 250th anniversary cake in the Providence Journal. If Brown has the financial resources to commission a celebratory cake on the scale of royal weddings and fireworks from the roof of University buildings, perhaps that money could be better allocated to educational purposes.
Our extended family pays an enormous sum annually for our daughter’s tuition to Brown. This frivolous waste of the funds we entrust to the University for educational purposes is unconscionable.
President Christina Paxson, your choice as chief officer of Brown to spend University funds upon this non-educational activity is indefensible.
Please do not patronize us by asserting that the anniversary celebration is paid for from non-tuition sources. I am familiar with the black box of university budgets. Money spent on public relations and conspicuous celebratory consumption is money not available for scholarships, teachers’ salaries, classroom improvements or library enhancements.
I am extremely disappointed by your administration’s lack of responsibility to Brown students and parents that this foolish expenditure of University funds represents. You owe an apology to the entire Brown community for your poor judgment.
Neil Korostoff P’16
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