The University will no longer permit residential theme or program house leaders to select their residents, according to a copy of the slides obtained by The Herald from an attendee at a Tuesday meeting with the Office of Residential Life.
Residents of theme and program houses — including those tailored to students of specific races, genders and other identities — will now be selected through a “randomized lottery,” with those not selected being moved through to the general selection lottery.
These changes will not affect Greek Houses or those interested in the Substance-Free or Recovery Community.
To Jeamilette Martinez ’28 — vice president of House of Ninnoug, a program house for Native and Indigenous students at Brown — ResLife’s changes are an “attack on identity spaces.”
“It’s taking agency away from various identity spaces,” Martinez said. “Theoretically, anybody could choose to be part of a house, despite not having an identity within it.”
The change comes amid federal attacks to diversity, equity and inclusion programs across higher education.
This summer, the University entered into an agreement with the Trump administration that requires Brown to “cease any provision of benefits or advantages to individuals on the basis of protected characteristics in any school, component, division, department, foundation, association or element within the entire Brown University system.”
It also requires the University to submit a report to the federal government attesting it “has acted responsibly” to ensure programs do not promote “unlawful” diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
In the meeting, a student asked whether the changes were prompted by the agreement with the Trump administration, Martinez said. ResLife representatives responded that it was not, instead citing a need to simplify the process, according to Martinez.
“The process changes related to program house selection have nothing to do with Brown’s federal agreement,” University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald.
“For more than a year, we have taken steps at Brown to ensure there is understanding across our community that students must have equitable opportunities to programs and activities,” wrote Vice President for Campus Life Patricia Poitevien ’94 MD’98 in a Wednesday email to The Herald.
“In shifting the selection process, one important goal is to make sure that all students who have an interest in the program or theme have the opportunity to be considered,” Poitevien added.
Clark explained that “the selection process for 2026-27 will eliminate application questions for almost all specialized housing communities.”
“For these houses, we are shifting from a process that could often entail multiple essays, recruitment events and subjective selection criteria to one that’s straightforward and easy for students to navigate,” Clark wrote.
Dexter Vincent ’28, president of West House, one of the University’s Environmental Program Houses, said that “program house leadership aren’t buying that justification.” Instead, he said they view this decision as “complying in advance with Trump’s war on DEI.”
Vincent added that the changes interfere with West House’s goal of inclusivity and efforts to “diversify a space that has been traditionally white-dominated.”
“We want spaces that are inclusive, that are diverse, that are healthy, that share values, and we can’t have that if we can’t choose the people in the house,” Vincent said.
Current program houses include La Casita, Harambee House, House of Ninnoug and Brown Women’s Collective, among others. These program houses “foster a sense of community by bringing people of common interests to a common living environment,” according to ResLife.
“Any undergraduate student, regardless of identity, is eligible to participate in a program house,” according to Clark.
Theme houses include Wellness Residential Experience at Sternlicht Commons as well sustainability, civic engagement and interfaith residential experiences at the Brook Street Residence Halls.
Sevilla Montoya ’27, co-president of Brown Women’s Collective, who attended today’s meeting, said ResLife’s changes were very unexpected.
“Everyone was pretty shocked and really caught off guard,” Montoya said. “It really takes away the sense of community within program houses, and the process that’s been there for a really long time.”
Montoya added that the lottery-system “diminishes the opportunity to find your space and find your people at Brown,” as it may become harder for students to connect with those who share their identity on campus.
Prior to the policy change, students in the Latine-focused houses, La Casita, said the affinity-based housing served as a space where students of similar backgrounds could connect with one another.
“Sometimes you don’t want to have to constantly be validating yourself and having to explain those complexities and political tensions. Sometimes you just want to be understood,” Gabriela Picazo ’28, a current member of La Casita, said before the ResLife meeting.
“Providing our members with a place to do what they need to do and not feel judged for it is probably one of the best things that we can do in these times,” co-president Daniel Brambila-Diaz ’27 said.
On Tuesday, Martinez said that she hopes student leaders can advocate against these changes, specifically through reaching out to current members and alums of program houses and collaborating with Brown Rise Up, a student group organizing against the Trump administration. “We all advocated for these spaces, and we’re all going to continue to advocate for these spaces now,” she said.
Sophia Wotman is a University news editor covering activism and affinity & identity. She is a senior from Long Island, New York concentrating in political science with a focus on women’s rights. She is a jazz trumpet player, and often performs on campus and around Providence.
