We write today with sincere disappointment and disgust at the news that Brown has voluntarily reached a deal with the Trump administration to restore federal research funding and thereby open the University to federal compliance reviews.
For months, President Christina Paxson P’19 PMD’20 and the University have written to alumni asking for our dollars and support so Brown may stand strong in the face of the administration’s attacks. They wrote about the importance of defending academic freedom to ensure universities can “continue to govern their own decisions about their academic communities — free from government intrusion and threats of censorship.” We believed Paxson and the University. And so we committed our dollars and letters of support alongside many others with the faith that Brown would live up to the values we have always cherished in our alma mater and the lessons we were taught as students about fighting for justice and against hatred and bigotry.
Paxson’s July 30 letter to the community suggests that she believes she is still upholding her word. But, in truth, by signing this agreement with the administration, she and the University have abandoned their commitment to academic freedom by allowing the administration to influence the way Brown disburses community funds, provides facilities to staff and students, manages academic and recreational programs and conducts admissions.
What good is restored research funding without the freedom to govern how that funding — or any funding — is used?
According to Brown’s mission statement, “the University is a community of students, faculty and staff, and holds itself responsible for generating the conditions necessary for every individual member of its community to thrive. This responsibility rests on the fundamental presumption that all persons have something of value to contribute to the University mission.” If everyone truly had something of value to contribute to campus, then Brown would not have agreed to a deal that sells out the most vulnerable among us, including transgender and non-binary people and racial minorities. It is reprehensible that Paxson claims to be upholding the University’s values while abandoning its community members. In a political climate of rising anti-trans discrimination, Brown should be a safe space where everyone in the community can thrive. Instead, it has resigned the security it once provided. At Brown, people with different ideas, backgrounds and identities come together to learn, debate, challenge each other and grow. This agreement spits in the face of that core philosophy by accepting that some backgrounds or identities are invalid or less than.
The agreement also threatens to undermine the core of the Open Curriculum. In her initial letter to alumni calling for our support, Paxson argued that “protecting academic freedom is essential for ensuring that Brown students and faculty can continue to choose what they learn and study.” Under the new agreement, however, anonymous student evaluations collected at the end of each semester will be used to refer any faculty members accused of anti-semitism to a University compliance office, which will in turn be collaborating with the Trump administration’s Department of Education. Student evaluations may respond in part to what faculty teach in the classroom. This provision of the agreement creates a dangerous environment where an anonymous student can refer a faculty member for discipline by the University or government based on political objections to curricular content. By weaponizing the discomfort of students, this agreement can discourage professors from discussing contentious perspectives and world views in the classroom. The spirit of the Open Curriculum is one of vigorous debate, not one where anonymous evaluations can tear community members down from the shadows. Combating anti-semitism is vital, and the University has a responsibility to ensure a safe environment for all on campus, but relying on anonymous evaluations to target professors for their political views and involving the federal government in determining the appropriate response to an allegation is a violation of academic freedom.
In a cowardly turn, the University has capitulated in order to secure research dollars. But Brown is giving up much more than it is getting back. And, more practically, how can we be certain the administration won’t return and request even more concessions — concessions that undermine the very fabric of our Brown community? We can’t.
A version of this op-ed was sent to President Paxson with 42 co-signers, and has since then accrued a total of 169.
Atal and Kraemer can be reached at maharafi.atal@glasgow.ac.uk and James_Kraemer@alumni.brown.edu. Please send responses to this op-ed to letters@browndailyherald.com and other op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
