Leaders of several identity-based student groups said their publicized event descriptions and club constitutions have faced more scrutiny from the Student Activities Office over the past few months.
As of this semester, all student organizations are required to review their constitutions and submit revised versions in accordance with the Undergraduate Council of Students’s new constitution template, Joie Forte, senior associate dean and director of student activities, wrote in an email to The Herald. The constitution guidelines require clubs to explicitly extend membership to all undergraduates and include an anti-harassment and discrimination statement.
“Over the past few years, we noticed that many organizations’ constitutions were not in line with the current UCS template,” Forte wrote. “We updated it this year to be responsive to themes we have seen emerge.”
While the University has enacted new rules regarding club constitutions, Forte wrote that there are no new requirements regarding student-planned events and their descriptions.
The heightened scrutiny comes amid the Trump administration’s targeting of diversity, equity and inclusion programs at higher education institutions nationwide. The government previously froze the University’s federal funding over alleged DEI programming, among other issues. The funding was restored through a July agreement.
“Brown has consistently followed existing laws that require all groups and programs to be open to everyone, including affinity centers and groups,” Forte wrote.
But leaders of identity-based organizations have expressed frustration with what they see as more frequent and stringent enforcement of SAO policy.
A few days before a September showcase of Black pre-professional clubs and organizations, Black Pre-Med Society received an email from the SAO requesting that the club change the event description, said Lyriq Turner ’27, the group’s co-president.
The description stated that the event was intended for “incoming first-years” with the words “in particular, Black first-years” in parentheses, Turner explained. The SAO wanted the group to clarify that all students would be welcome to attend the event, in compliance with the University’s Nondiscrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy, she added.
To adhere to the SAO’s suggestion, the group removed the word “Black” from the description, Turner said.
“There’s not anything exclusive about us,” Turner said. “This just happens to be our identity: people who are Black who are interested in medicine.”
The BPMS is not the only club the SAO has recently contacted regarding event messaging. Last semester, the SAO reached out to two student organizations — the Brown Outing Club and the Rib of Brown — to clarify whether their affinity events were open to all gender identities, The Herald previously reported.
This spring, the Rib, along with Black Pre-Law Association, rewrote their club descriptions after the SAO claimed the clubs’ verbiage gave preference to certain protected classes, according to student leaders.
Black Pre-Law Association’s original description stated that the club “specializes in uplifting minority students entering the legal field,” but also clarified that the group was open to all Brown University students, said Isabella Clarke ’26, the group’s president.
After the SAO rejected two draft descriptions, the club’s third revision was approved, reading “an organization open to all Brown students who embrace the mission of counteracting challenges minority students encounter when entering the legal field.”
While Clarke understood the SAO’s reasons behind the change, she said she was also disappointed that the phrase “uplifting minority students” raised what she called a “DEI red flag.”
“It was a little disheartening, just because Brown champions being such a proud supporter of diversity and standing up to Trump,” she added. The University previously rejected a White House-issued compact that asked Brown to agree to several stipulations to receive federal funding.
The Rib faced similar pushback from the SAO regarding their constitution this spring, said Sophia Plaschke ’26, an editor for the publication.
While the Rib’s original description specified that the club’s goal was to “uplift the voices of women and people with other marginalized genders,” an SAO representative claimed this implied the club is “giving preference to certain protected classes,” which would violate SAO policy, Plaschke said.
Plaschke suggested that the Rib reword the description to clarify that club applications are specifically open to students who aim to uplift those voices, rather than the club itself.
Not all club leaders were happy with the suggested changes, Plaschke said, but they were willing to adhere to the SAO’s requests to maintain the Rib’s status as a campus organization.
Student leaders of these organizations emphasized the importance of having affinity spaces on campus for people of marginalized identities.
For Clarke, Black Pre-Law Association is a way to gain access to pre-law advisors and support networks, which she said are already limited at Brown. She added that the SAO’s required changes to the club description are “making it harder” to advertise those resources to Black students.
“Being pre-law at Brown is hard to navigate,” she said. “I wouldn’t have known of any of the Black pre-law opportunities if it wasn’t for my club.”
Plaschke added that the Rib was founded because other comedy groups on campus were typically male-dominated. “We pride ourselves in being a space that’s very comfortable and supportive,” she said.
She noted that the publication currently has a reputation as a space for women and other marginalized genders, but said that “if these policies stay, maybe that will change.”
While Turner was reassured to know that her organization was not the only one facing scrutiny, she said the apparent uptick in enforcement is still “very concerning.”
