To the Editor:
As a recent alum, I today received both a letter and an email asking me to donate to Brown's Annual Fund. Now, I won't be donating because of the administration's apparent intention of changing Brown into Yale, Jr., but what really irked me was that both appeals very prominently emphasized that Brown has a need-blind admission policy. It does not.
Both international students and transfer students are admitted on a need-aware basis. With 10 percent of Brown students hailing from abroad (per the admissions website) and with transfer admissions in the neighborhood of 150 per year, that means that approximately 20 percent of the Brown students in every 1,500 person class are not admitted need-blind. In fact, Brown has recently become quite intentionally less need-blind, not more. The Herald reported in March that "the prospect of additional revenue was a deciding factor in the University's decision to increase the number of transfer students (by 50)" ("Transfer class to rise by 50," March 14).
If financial necessity means that Brown cannot afford to be fully need-blind, that's an unfortunate truth. But, please don't try to get me or other alums to donate based on the misrepresentation that Brown has "a need-blind admission policy — enabling all deserving students with diverse perspectives to benefit from a world-class learning environment" (emphasis added). If Brown teaches its students to be intellectually honest, it should hold its fundraising pitches to the same standard.
Kurt Walters '11
