Brown's relationship with the people of Providence is deeply unfair. The immediate unfairness relates to property taxes and the city's fiscal crisis. The broader issues involve the proper role, goals and governance of a powerful private educational institution like Brown.
Over the last year, many in Providence have been forced to make major sacrifices for the sake of fiscal stability. Five schools closed this summer, destabilizing the lives of children and their families. Clearly, Providence's students have sacrificed. Each of the city's municipal unions has agreed to historic concessions. Public workers have sacrificed. Property and car taxes were raised again, so everyone in the city who rents or owns a home or a car has sacrificed. Sadly, while the roots of this crisis lie largely in failures by previous municipal administrations and the broader economic crisis, the people of Providence are paying the price.
In the face of so much hardship and so much willingness to accept personal loss by those who don't have very much to begin with, how can we, at Brown, one of the most elite and resource-rich institutions in the world, not commit to paying our fair share?
Our current financial relationship is unfair to the people of Providence. That's not to claim that Brown is the principal cause of Providence's fiscal crisis, nor that Brown is the sole answer to its woes. I do, however, think it reasonable to say that the University can afford to do more without reducing financial aid or firing workers. The University paid its 14 highest-salaried employees $7,734,758 in 2009, The Herald reported Feb. 13. If our administrators bring home seven-figure salaries every year, then I think we can afford to help keep local public schools open. If we control $1 billion worth of property in Providence, on which we would owe $38 million without our exemptions, then I think we can afford to pay significantly more than the $3.5 million we currently give.
We can look at this issue solely through the lens of self-interest. Geography dictates that the fates of Brown and Providence are linked — we are affected by how the rest of the city is doing. The stark and disturbing disparity between life on College Hill and life in the rest of the city is only going to grow if the city continues to suffer. We shouldn't kid ourselves however. We are all aware of the Brown "bubble," and Brown can and does do a pretty good job of building a self-sufficient, more or less enclosed community. Indeed, this bubble of isolation from real life is, as I understand it, part of the attraction of the immersive, liberal-arts college experience.
We must ask ourselves, however, the extent to which this splendid isolation is compatible with Brown's self-conception as the social justice leader in the Ivy League.
