Brown University: Wrongful Suspension of Religious Student Group

October 27, 2006

Brown University inexplicably suspended one of its largest religious student organizations, with shifting and unclear reasons for its decision. Brown ignored requests from Trinity Presbyterian Church’s campus fellowship for an explanation of its suspension and the student group finally sought help from FIRE. Brown University finally lifted its semester-long suspension of the Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) student group after months of public pressure from FIRE.

Information Technology: Acceptable Use Examples

Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: September 6, 2016

Other Inappropriate Activities … You download, store, print and/or display materials that could be perceived by others as contributing to an intimidating, hostile, or sexually offensive working environment. … You send out unauthorized and unsolicited email messages to other Brown community members.

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Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment, Sexual Violence, Relationship and Interpersonal Violence and Stalking Policy

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 6, 2016

Sexual Harassment is any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favors, or other unwanted conduct of a sexual nature, whether verbal, non-verbal, graphic, physical, electronic, or otherwise, when one or more of the following conditions are present: … Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s learning, working, or living environment; in other words, it is sufficiently severe, pervasive, or persistent as to create an intimidating, hostile, or offensive learning, working, or living environment under both an objective and subjective standard (hostile environment).

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Examples of conduct that may constitute Sexual or Gender-Based Harassment under the quid pro quo or hostile environment analysis include but are not limited to:

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Inappropriate verbal conduct, including lewd or sexually suggestive comments, jokes, or innuendoes, or unwelcome comments about an individual’s sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or gender expression; or
Inappropriate written conduct, including letters, notes, or electronic communications, containing comments, words, jokes, or images that are lewd or sexually suggestive or relate in an unwelcome manner to an individual’s sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or gender expression.

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Student Conduct: Policies and Regulations- Harassment – Sexual or Racial

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 6, 2016

Sexual harassment is understood to encompass a wide range of behavior, including the coercion of a person into a sexual relationship, the subjection of the person to inappropriate verbal or physical sexual attention, and retaliation for a refusal to comply with sexual demands.

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Racial harassment is generally defined as the subjection of an individual or group to abusive or threatening actions based on race. Brown regards all incidents of racial harassment, whether verbal, written or physical as violations of the University’s Tenets of Community Behavior.

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Brown University Health Promotion: Sexual Harassment

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 12, 2016

Brown’s Title IX Policy defines sexual and gender-based harassment as follows:

Sexual Harassment is any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favors, or other unwanted conduct of a sexual nature, whether verbal, non-verbal, graphic, physical, electronic, or otherwise, when one or more of the following conditions are present:

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(ii.) Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s learning, working, or living environment; in other words, it is sufficiently severe, pervasive, or persistent as to create an intimidating, hostile, or offensive learning, working, or living environment under both an objective and subjective standard (hostile environment).

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The policy also lists examples of behaviors that could fall under the category of sexual or gender-based harassment:

• Inappropriate physical conduct, including unwelcome touching or sexual advances within the working, living, or learning environment;
• Persistent and inappropriate personal attention from one colleague to another in the face of repeated rejection;
• Inappropriate verbal conduct, including lewd or sexually suggestive comments, jokes, or innuendoes, or unwelcome comments about an individual’s sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or gender expression; or
• Inappropriate written conduct, including letters, notes, or electronic communications, containing comments, words, jokes, or images that are lewd or sexually suggestive or relate in an unwelcome manner to an individual’s sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or gender expression.

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Code of Student Conduct

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 6, 2016

Offenses: …Subjecting another person or group to abusive, threatening, intimidating, harassing, or humiliating actions, including, but not limited to, those based on race, religion, sex/gender, disability, age, economic status, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

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Information Technology: Acceptable Use Policy

Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: September 6, 2016

Other prohibited activities include: … Use of Brown’s computing services and facilities for political purposes.

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Office of Institutional Diversity: Discrimination/Harassment Policy

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 6, 2016

Unlawful harassment is harassment that refers to or is based upon the protected status of the person or persons being harassed. Unlawful harassment in the work and educational environment is created if conduct of another person is sufficiently serious that it interferes with an employee’s ability to perform their job or denies or limits a student’s ability to participate in or benefit from the University’s programs. Factors to be considered in determining whether and the extent to which a hostile work or learning environment has been created include, but are not limited to, the frequency, severity and pervasiveness of the conduct, whether it is physically threatening, the degree to which the conduct interfered with an employee’s work performance or a student’s academic performance and/or full enjoyment of the academic/campus programs and services, the relationship between the alleged harasser and the subject or subjects of the harassment, the welcomeness or unwelcomeness of the conduct, etc. The severity and pervasiveness of the conduct is considered from both subjective and objective perspectives (the conduct is viewed as hostile and abusive by both a “reasonable person” and the person who is subjected to the conduct).

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Office of Institutional Diversity: Discrimination/Harassment Policy

Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: April 5, 2017

The faculty and Corporation, in 1966, adopted the following statement of principles regarding academic freedom and freedom of expression: “Academic freedom is essential to the function of education and the pursuit of scholarship in universities. Therefore, Brown University, mindful of its historic commitment to scholarship and to the free exchange of ideas, affirms that faculty and students alike shall enjoy full freedom in their teaching, learning, and research. Brown University also affirms that faculty and students shall have freedom of religious belief, of speech, of press, of association and assembly, of political activity inside and outside the University, the right to petition authorities, public and university, to invite speakers of their choice to the campus and that students and faculty as such should not be required to take any oath not required of other citizens. The time, place and manner of exercising these rights on campus shall be subject to reasonable regulation only to prevent interference with the normal functions of the University.”

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In an academic community the response to ideas believed to be distasteful or offensive should be other ideas and relevant evidence rather than administrative sanctions.

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Student Conduct: Policies and Regulations- Protest and Demonstration Guidelines

Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: September 6, 2016

» Read More

Brown Examines Relationship of Free Speech to Academic Mission

September 21, 2016

By Stephen Beale at NewBostonPost One year after becoming embroiled in a national debate over “safe spaces” from offensive speech, Brown University students and faculty received a crash course of sorts on freedom of speech and its relationship to the academic mission of a liberal arts college… Read more here.

Law Prof: Faculty Should Act as ‘Gatekeepers’ Against Social Justice

September 16, 2016

By Tyler Arnold at Campus Reform A law professor argued during a Constitution Day debate at Brown University on Friday that there should be no freedom of expression in academia, and that university faculty should act as “gatekeepers” against a social justice agenda… Read more here.

Brown Confronts ‘Safe Space’ Criticisms, Schedules Free Speech Forum

September 12, 2016

By Stephen Beale at New Boston Post As it started the school year last week, Brown University sought to confront mounting criticism that it had fostered the development of “safe spaces” on campus where students would be shielded from controversial opinions on race, sex, or other topics deemed to be politically sensitive, offensive, or otherwise off-limits… Read more here.

Editorial: Fostering the Exchange of Ideas

September 1, 2016

By Staff at Providence Journal  Incoming first-year students at the University of Chicago received an unusual welcome letter from their dean of students this summer: A message that stressed tolerance for free speech, open inquiry, and an opposition to censorship. These are, needless to say, essential values for a courageous, free and open society… Read more here.

Fighting for Free Speech on America’s Campuses

August 1, 2016

By Cecilia Capuzzi Simon at The New York Times The free-speech watchdog FIRE is a familiar irritant to college administrators, but until this past year, the rest of the country wasn’t paying much attention. An “epic” year is what Greg Lukianoff, president and chief executive of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, calls it. Colleges and universities were forced to publicly and painfully deal with a confluence of national issues — race, sexual assault, gay rights, politically correct speech — mirrored and magnified in the microcosm of campus life… Read more here.

‘Disinvitations’ for College Speakers are on the Rise — Here’s a List of People Turned Away this Year

July 29, 2016

By Abby Jackson at Business Insider Student activism has long been ingrained in the culture of college campuses, but protests about perceived discrimination over the past year have been especially tense… Read more here.

Student Activists Want to Teach, Not Learn

July 13, 2016

By Ramona Tausz at The Federalist The war on campus free speech is escalating, threatening not only rights of free expression, but also the purpose of the university and the intellectual pursuit itself… Read more here.

Students Embrace Leftist Nonsense Because Universities Now Have ‘No Grander Purpose’

July 12, 2016

By Greg Piper at The College Fix WASHINGTON, DC – Students are turning to identity politics and away from free speech because the modern university doesn’t have a “grander purpose” to inspire them, a documentary filmmaker told a mostly young crowd after a preview screening of his new film Monday night… Read more here.

Rape Accuser Ruined Brown Student’s Life Because he Liked her Best Friend, Lawsuit Claims

June 1, 2016

By Staff at The College Fix A month after a federal judge blocked Brown University from immediately removing him from campus, a male student filed an amended complaint against the school that laid out an elaborate revenge plot by the female who accused him of rape… Read more here.

No Laughing Matter: College Comedy Papers Struggle with ‘Political Correctness’ Climate

May 13, 2016

By Allison Kowalski at SPLC Emmy Ballard knew it was time for an apology. It was 2010, and the comedy paper she was an assistant editor of, The Fish Rap Live!, had been accused by the student population at University of California, Santa Cruz of publishing racist content and some groups had even called for defunding the paper… Read more here.

Floyd Abrams Speaks Freely to Political Correctness on America’s Campuses

May 9, 2016

By Jeff Robbins at Observer If you ask judges and lawyers to blurt the name that comes to mind when given the verbal prompt “First Amendment,” a fair percentage will reply “Floyd Abrams.” Since being asked by The New York Times to defend its right to publish the Pentagon Papers 45 years ago, the 80-year-old partner at the New York law firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel has become, as the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan put it, “the most significant First Amendment lawyer of our age.” He has been asked by ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and Time Magazine, among others, to represent them […]

Black Conservative Writer Describes Getting Disinvited From College Speaking Engagement — and the Reason May Annoy You Just a Bit

May 4, 2016

By Dave Urbanski at The Blaze Jason L. Riley, a Wall Street Journal columnist and author of “Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed,” is only too aware of how progressives on college campuses have been clamping down harder and harder on the expression of conservative viewpoints… Read more here.

Jason Riley is the Latest Conservative to be Disinvited from a College Campus

May 2, 2016

By Peter Wood and Rachelle Peterson at The National Review The higher-education disinvitation sweepstakes continue. Virginia Tech has just disinvited Jason Riley, a Wall Street Journal columnist and Manhattan Institute senior fellow. Riley had been asked to deliver the BB&T Distinguished Lecture at Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business. But late last week he received an e-mail from the faculty member who arranged the lecture informing him that the head of the Finance Department, the J. Gray Ferguson Professor of Finance, Vijay Singal, had vetoed the invitation. We obtained a copy of this e-mail… Read more here.

William F. Buckley Program at Yale Hosts its Second Annual ‘Disinvitation Dinner’

May 2, 2016

By Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz at The Washington Post Five years ago, a group of undergraduates founded the William F. Buckley, Jr. Program at Yale to promote intellectual diversity at Yale University. They have their work cut out for them. The Yale Daily News recently confirmed that the faculty is overwhelmingly, monolithically liberal; in this election cycle, only three professors in the entire university donated to a Republican candidate, it reported. (From the law school, the number is zero.) Most students at Yale will graduate without ever laying eyes on a Republican professor. So the Buckley program seeks to bring underrepresented, right-of-center […]

Suspended College Athlete Suing U.S. Over Sexual Assault ‘Guidance’

April 20, 2016

By Max Kutner at Newsweek A former Colorado State athlete who was suspended for sexual assault last fall is now suing the United States government for gender discrimination, while alleging that the Department of Education’s sexual assault guidance violates federal laws, therefore suggesting that every campus sex assault case decided under that guidance could be overturned… Read more here.

Critics say new Policies can Stifle Free Speech

April 9, 2016

By Chris Quintana at Albuquerque Journal  University of New Mexico officials say the recent increase in federal Title IX reports shows more people are aware of the issue of sexual discrimination and violence, but free speech advocates say that complying with Title IX can stifle free speech protected by the First Amendment… Read more here.

Free-Speech Advocates Are Not Trying to Silence Students

March 8, 2016

By Conor Friedersdorf at The Atlantic  Last week, I surveyed the overwhelming evidence that free speech is threatened on campus. But I did not address a counterargument that uncharitable skeptics of that position keep repeating: that those who defend liberal values in higher education are really trying to silence or distract from students who speak out against racism. Read more here.

When It Comes to Protests, It’s like the 1960s for College Freshmen

February 12, 2016

By Max Kutner at Newsweek A new survey report shows that 8.5 percent of current college freshmen expect to participate in a student protest while in college. That figure is up 2.9 percentage points from 2014, and it is the highest percentage to respond that way in the annual survey since 1967. Read more here.

Founder of ‘Underground’ Debate Club: We Can’t ‘Come Out’ Because Brown officials Won’t Support Us

December 28, 2015

By Staff at The College Fix College students these days are seeking official affirmation of their views on issues as banal as cafeteria food – something they’ve often griped about, but not until recently in the language of injustice and reparations. On some issues, though, students really do need assurances from administrators that they’ll be “safe” – particularly when it comes to an environment that promotes intellectual clashes and the pursuit of knowledge, unencumbered by sacred cows. The likelihood that students will be punished for expressing their views in a way that upsets the most radicalized members of the community is […]

Speech Zones and Puppy Rooms Make First Amendment Lawyers Laugh and Cringe on Bill of Rights Day

December 18, 2015

By Greg Piper at The College Fix Students learn free speech is worthless from K-12 administrators WASHINGTON – “The academic progressives have really stepped down from free speech as a value that can never be compromised in the debate with equality.” So said Catherine Ross, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University, at an American Bar Association panel discussion Tuesday in celebration of Bill of Rights Day. Ross and other First Amendment practitioners said they are worried about the direction that high schools and colleges are going with regard to student speech, as well as a new Supreme Court […]

New Threat to Campus Speech: Department of Education’s Plans for Racial Harassment, Report Says

December 11, 2015

By Peter Maxwell at The College Fix Fear that agency’s guidance could ‘parallel’ broad sexual-harassment rules Despite a plunge this year in the number of universities with severe restrictions on free speech, new threats are on the horizon thanks to outgoing Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s recent statements on racial issues, according to a new report. For the first time since the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education started tracking speech codes on college campuses, less than half of American colleges it has rated maintain “red light” policies, FIRE’s annual “Spotlight” report said. Between September 2014 and September 2015, FIRE downgraded 10 universities […]

Sharp Divisions Emerge on Campuses as Some Criticize Activists’ Tactics as Intimidation

November 23, 2015

By Teresa Watanabe at Los Angeles Times Alton Luke II is an African American sophomore at Occidental College who backs the broad goal of racial equity for students. But he has chosen not to support the minority student movement aimed at ousting college President Jonathan Veitch and improving campus diversity — and bluntly announced his views on Facebook this week. For that, he has paid a price. Luke said some of his friends, both black and white, have started ignoring him. He’s been called ignorant. He said the hostility of some protesters toward those with different views is a major […]

Ivy League Schools Stomp On Freedom Of Speech

November 20, 2015

By Kathryn Watson at The Daily Caller  Five of the nation’s eight Ivy League schools impose huge restrictions on the First Amendment speech rights of their students, according to ratings from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). As allegations of racial discrimination fuel campus protests and spark free-speech challenges across the country, Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Harvard University and Princeton University all receive “red light” ratings — the worst in FIRE’s red, yellow and green light rating system — for having policies that significantly restrict free expression. Yale University and Dartmouth College both receive “yellow light” ratings for […]

Student Newspaper Says ’Emotional Injury’ Justifies the Squelching of Unpopular Speech

October 23, 2015

By Greg Piper at The College Fix  The fall term just started and student newspapers across the country are already reeling from actions that threaten their ability to publish controversial and unpopular speech. We’ve covered several here, particularly the kerfuffle that Wesleyan University’s Bryan Stascavage provoked when he wrote a (mildly) critical column about the Black Lives Matter movement. Hundreds of Argus copies were stolen, its staffers (including Iraq war veteran Stascavage) intimidated by activists, and its funding source potentially threatened by the student government. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education offers this rundown of the year so far: Brown University’s Daily Herald apologized […]

Expulsion for Off-Campus Offense Hits Speed Bump

October 7, 2015

By Bob Unruh at WND Just as Congress has begun taking an interest in how universities handle sexual-assault charges, a state court in Kansas has ruled that schools are not law-enforcement agencies, and if an offense takes place off-campus, it stays off-campus. WND reported Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., declared at a congressional hearing that colleges should expel students even if they are only suspected of misbehaving. “If there are 10 people who have been accused, and under a reasonable likelihood standard maybe one or two did it, it seems better to get rid of all 10 people,” he said during […]

Some Feminists Think Stopping Jokes Would Help Stop Rape, But ‘Alcohol is Not the Problem'[*]

November 19, 2014

By Robby Soave at Reason Online [*Update: This headline was changed. For a full explanation, scroll to the bottom.] Reason contributor Wendy McElroy and liberal feminist Jessica Valenti debated campus sexual assault, rape culture, and due process at Brown University on Tuesday afternoon. The debate preemptively generated student protests, alternative events, and even a statement from Brown President Christina Paxson. These reactions had one thing in common: disdain for McElroy’s perspective that rape is the work of a small number of serial predators, rather than a cultural phenomenon. Paxson lamented that view in her campus-wide email, writing, “I disagree. Although […]

In Brown University Rape Case, Did the Media Have Any Interest in What Really Happened?

June 16, 2014

By Robby Soave at Reason Online Did media outlets reporting the sexual assault allegations against Brown University student Daniel Kopin properly scrutinize the claims of his accuser, Lena Sclove? Over at Minding the Campus, Cathy Young argues persuasively that the accounts of the incident in both Salon and The Huffington Post contained inaccuracies that painted Kopin in an undeservedly poor light. First, some background. Brown student Lena Sclove accused Kopin of assault after a sexual encounter at his campus residence last summer. Sclove said that Kopin forced himself on her and choked her. The police did not pursue charges, but university administrators determined that it […]

How a Talk Got Aborted

February 21, 2014

by Scott Jaschik at Inside Higher Ed Four months after a lecture at Brown University was called off due to protesters interrupting the speaker, the university released a report this week outlining what happened. The report describes the university repeatedly reaching out in the days before the scheduled lecture to those opposed to the appearance by Ray Kelly, New York City’s police commissioner at the time. While the university refused to meet the protesters’ demands that the appearance be called off, officials explained ways that protests could be held (without disrupting Kelly’s talk) and said that they understood the concerns of protesters, who […]

Free Speech at Brown (Again)

November 7, 2013

by Scott Jaschik In 2001, The Brown Daily Herald accepted an advertisement questioning the idea that black people in the United States are owed reparations. Students called the ad racist, and responded by trashing 4,000 copies of the newspaper. Brown was accused of fostering an intolerant environment, where protest of controversial ideas turns into the squelching of some views altogether. Last month, Brown was slated to have a lecture by Ray Kelly, the New York City police commissioner and architect of the controversial “stop and frisk” approach to policing, which many see as racist. Kelly showed up, but he was interrupted so […]

Political divide hurts college free speech: Column

November 6, 2013

by Patrick Maines The great and widening political divide in the land, marked by hyperbolic rhetoric and personal attacks, is rued by many. And why not? Most everyone would agree that ours would be a more serene and nurturing country if the political differences between us were not so great. But it is precisely because of our differences about the correct social, economic and foreign policies that it’s so important to protect the right to free speech for all, especially in our colleges and universities. Unfortunately, that imperative is being honored these days more in the breach than the observance, […]

Ex-Student Sues Brown Over Rape Accusation

April 14, 2010

The New York Times A former student has sued Brown University in federal court, saying university officials interfered with his efforts to clear his name after another student, the daughter of a prominent Brown alumnus and donor, accused him of rape. In documents unsealed Monday, the former student, William McCormick III, said the university had failed to follow its own disciplinary policies and sent him home to Wisconsin after the woman’s father made calls to top university officials. The rape accusation was never reported to the police by Brown or the woman, according to the lawsuit. Within a month, Mr. […]

Robert L. Shibley: Fighting for free speech on 2 R.I. campuses

January 18, 2008

It’s no secret that the climate on America’s campuses for fundamental rights such as freedom of speech and religion can be grim. College students often face opposition to exercising their rights that most Americans never encounter in their daily lives. Consider two recent and well-publicized controversies in the Ocean State. While these incidents should never have happened, they certainly offered students, administrators and the public valuable lessons in American liberty. Brown University was home to one of the most mysterious cases that the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has ever seen—mysterious because the university never explained why it […]

The case of Brown University: A culture of ‘contempt and dishonesty’

November 27, 2006

by Richard A. Zeller The Providence Journal The assertion that a group of people constitute a “culture of contempt and dishonesty” is a serious assertion. Such an assertion, whether true or false, drives a stake into the heart of the concept of community. For a community is a culture of respect and honesty. To maintain a community culture of respect and honesty, contempt and dishonesty need to be expelled. The problem, of course, is determining whether the assertion that members of a group of people constitute a “culture of contempt and dishonesty.” In totalitarian states, anyone who takes issue with […]

Christian conservatives at odds with liberal R.I. university

November 23, 2006

Leaders of a conservative Christian student fellowship suspended from using campus resources at Brown University are wondering whether they were singled out for their beliefs. They’re pressing school officials to explain the punishment. Brown University has not publicly explained why it suspended the Reformed University Fellowship, which is allied with the conservative Presbyterian Church in America. A Brown spokesman says the group failed to follow university guidelines — but he didn’t say which ones. In an e-mail sent to students, one Brown chaplain complained the group’s leaders were contemptuous, dishonest and generally wasted administrators’ time, patience and energy. The fellowship […]

Our universities threaten our religion, our culture, and our national security (exhibit A: Brown)

November 20, 2006

Last month, Brown University suspended its largest evangelical organization, with over a hundred students the student group was one of the largest on campus. Rev. Janet Cooper Nelson, Director of Brown’s Office of Chaplains and Religious Life, justified the suspension as the result of the organization’s sponsoring church, Trinity Presbyterian Church, withdrawing its support for the organization. Within minutes of receiving the e-mail that Trinity had withdrawn its support David Sherwood, Trinity Senior Pastor, wrote to Brown’s Office of Chaplains and Religious Life to assert that Trinity had not withdrawn its support for the evangelical organization and was actually very […]

Brown bans evangelical organization of students

November 20, 2006

An evangelical student group that has been banned from advertising or meeting on the Brown University campus has enlisted the help of a national organization that defends the free-speech rights of students on college campuses. The Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights in Education announced last week that it is supporting the 100-member Reformed University Fellowship, which was notified in a Sept. 13 e-mail from the university’s chaplain, the Rev. Janet Cooper Nelson, that its status as a recognized student organization had been withdrawn. Leaders of the group say they were given different reasons for the action. At first, they were […]

Reasons for Christian group’s suspension unclear, leader says

November 20, 2006

by Mary-Catherine Lader The Brown Daily Herald The University suspended the Christian student group Reformed University Fellowship earlier this semester, though the group’s president said the reasons for suspension remain unclear and have not been communicated adequately to him.The group, which is led by Ethan Wingfield ‘07, is one of 110 RUF chapters across the country and, Wingfield believes, the first to be suspended or “kicked off campus” by a university. RUF’s parent organization, which is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, encourages its members to “uniquely engage (their) community in the gospel” and “grow as ambassadors of God’s grace,” according […]

Christians kicked off campus at Brown University

November 18, 2006

A civil rights organization has joined forces with a Christian student group at Brown University in an attempt to find out why the school has banned the Christians from meeting on its campus. “A university that respects its students cannot capriciously suspend student groups,” said Greg Lukianoff, the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. “Suspension of any student group is a serious matter and should be accompanied by a serious explanation. Yet Brown has consistently skirted questions about the suspension, calling into question both the university’s motives and the legitimacy of the punishment.” FIRE said the members […]

The AHA’s Double Standard on Academic Freedom

March 1, 2006

by David Beito, Ralph Luker, and Robert “K. C.” Johnson Perspectives (American Historical Association) Has the AHA turned its back on academic freedom? In January, members present at its business meeting rejected a resolution to condemn attacks on academic freedom, whether from the right or from the left. Instead, they passed a weaker resolution that selectively condemned only threats coming from the right.We weighed into this controversy as part of a three person “left/right” coalition for academic freedom. Our chances were slim and we knew it. Only in December did we learn that the AHA business meeting would consider a […]

Trumping Moses and Matthew

November 7, 2005

By Suzanne Fields at Townhall.com What do the Bible and the “The Vagina Monologues” have in common? Not much. But surely we can all agree that both are covered by the First Amendment, guaranteeing freedom of religion and freedom of expression. Well, that’s not so at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. At UWEC you can live in a dorm and watch a performance of “The Vagina Monologues,” but you can’t join a Bible studies group. Any resident assistant, or RA, as the live-in student counselors are called, can put on a performance of the play, and one has, but leading […]

Consulting All Sides on “Speech Codes”

May 1, 2005

By David T. Beito, Ralph E. Luker, and Robert David Johnson, Organization of American Historians Newsletter Few controversies have polarized higher education more than that of Ward Churchill at the University of Colorado (CU). Many conservatives, including Governor Bill Owens of Colorado and Newt Gingrich, have demanded that Churchill be dismissed for characterizing the victims of 9/11 as “Little Eichmanns.” Professors and students at CU and elsewhere have responded with rallies and petitions to defend Churchill’s academic freedom. They emphasize that the health of the academy rests on the toleration of controversial, even repellant, ideas. Joining in, the faculty of […]

Who’s Undermining Free Speech on Campus Now?

April 13, 2005

Freedom of speech is crucial both to a healthy democracy and the life of the mind. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits Congress from any act that would abridge it and the charters of most of our colleges and universities recognize that freedom of thought and speech are essential to a healthy academic community. Yet, freedom of speech has been a contested value since the birth of the Republic, most commonly in periods of war, from the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 through the USA Patriot Act of 2001. It isn’t surprising, then, that freedom of speech […]

Speaking up for campus speech

February 2, 2004

Reforming Brown

December 2, 2003

Fire on American Campuses

May 7, 2003

Big mandate on campus

September 17, 2002

Foreign Policy, Free Speech are Under Fire on Campuses

November 15, 2001

Agitation Ad

April 10, 2001

Battling at Brown

April 6, 2001

Ivy League Therapy

April 2, 2001

Campuses Struggle to Define Free Speech

March 27, 2001

Speech Code Countdown: ‘U.S. News’ Top 25 College Rankings, Numbers 19-11

October 6, 2016

FIRE’s U.S. News & World Report “Best Colleges” Countdown continues today. We’re giving you a school-by-school analysis of just how well America’s “Best Colleges” do when it comes to protecting free speech on campus. Unfortunately, in today’s crop of top campuses, troubling speech codes abound. As part of FIRE’s fresh look at U.S. News’ top-ranked colleges, we used information from our Spotlight speech code database as well as information on other headline-making free speech news that applicants should know about before they apply to a given school. FIRE rates schools’ speech codes using a traffic light-inspired system. A “red light” […]

‘TWISTING TITLE IX’ WEEK: Judge Rules Against Brown in Sexual Misconduct Lawsuit, but Cites School’s Broad Latitude to Punish Students

September 30, 2016

Just after I wrote Wednesday’s due process legal update, a federal judge ruled against Brown University in a breach of contract lawsuit brought by a student suspended from Brown for sexual misconduct. While the decision is a victory for the student plaintiff, the judge’s opinion is also a powerful reminder of how few legal rights a court may recognize at a private university. It is imperative, therefore, that prospective students and their parents read a private university’s student handbook and other policy materials before deciding to enroll. To borrow a phrase from an old FIRE awareness campaign, you really must […]

Greg to Give Constitution Day Lecture at Brown: ‘Should Free Speech be Limited on College Campuses?’ [UPDATED]

September 12, 2016

Update (September 13, 2016): This event is now waitlisted. Sign up soon to be added to the list for seats that may become available. FIRE President and CEO Greg Lukianoff will be at Brown University this Thursday, September 15, to discuss the state of free speech on campus. The event, “Should Free Speech be Limited on College Campuses?,” will be held at Brown’s Smith-Buonanno Hall from 5:00 to 6:30 pm, and is free and open to the public. If you’ll be in Providence, you can sign up now to ensure your spot. Presenting opposite Greg will be Stanley Fish, the Floersheimer Distinguished […]

Due Process Legal Update: Settlements, Trials, and More

July 27, 2016

A little over five years ago, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued the “Dear Colleague” letter that ushered in a period of unprecedented federal intervention into colleges’ internal disciplinary systems. In just those five years, students around the country have filed more than 110 lawsuits alleging that they were denied a fair hearing in campus sexual misconduct adjudications. These cases are now working their way through the courts, with new developments happening frequently. This is an overview of the past month’s developments, which include two settlements, a dismissal, a trial, and a number of new complaints, […]

Due Process Legal Update: Students’ Title IX and Due Process Claims Move Forward, But Challenges Remain

March 1, 2016

As I’ve written about on many previous occasions, there are a large number of ongoing lawsuits by students alleging that through unfair campus sexual misconduct proceedings, their institutions violated their constitutional due process rights, breached contracts, and discriminated against them on the basis of sex. In the past eight days alone, there have been four new opinions issued in cases at Brown University, Cornell University, George Mason University, and The Ohio State University, and all but one of those decisions had favorable results for due process and fair procedure on campus. Notably, two of the favorable opinions come from lawsuits […]

FIRE Q&A: Reason@Brown’s Christopher Robotham

December 28, 2015

“At Brown, there is an underground group whose purpose is to allow kids to say what they ought to be free to say above ground.” So begins Jay Nordlinger’s National Review profile of Reason@Brown. Christopher Robotham, 21, is the group’s founder. He tells FIRE that the by-invitation-only club is a forum where Brown students can engage in free expression in an atmosphere where open and vigorous debate is welcome and valued. I talked to Robotham, a computer science and math major, about why he started Reason@Brown, what to make of the campus “safe space” crisis, and where we go from […]

It’s Already Been a Remarkably Bad Year for Student Press

October 21, 2015

Many student journalists are being taught an unfortunate lesson by college administrators and their fellow students lately: Don’t publish anything that might offend anyone. That this advice is antithetical to a free press, and that journalists cannot be held responsible for how their readers react to opinions they publish, doesn’t seem to matter all that much to the people demanding they be censored. These themes have played out at a number of colleges and universities recently. Wesleyan University As you have probably heard by now, student newspaper The Wesleyan Argus faced a petition last month calling for its defunding and […]

FSN Member, Former FIRE Intern Defend Free Speech at Brown

October 16, 2015

Former FIRE intern Daniella Dichter and FIRE Student Network member Rohan Gulati have penned an excellent op-ed in The Brown Daily Herald, responding to recent student calls asking Brown University to censor articles that could be considered “racist, classist, cissexist, heterosexist, sexist or ableist.” Criticism of the Daily Herald began after the paper published two controversial op-eds by student M. Dzhali Maier. The first, published October 5, discussed race, privilege, and agricultural development. The second—which appears to be archived here but is no longer accessible via the Daily Herald’s archives—was published the following day and concerned Native Americans’ relationship with […]

Monopolizing the Marketplace of Ideas

July 17, 2015

The point of defending free speech is ensuring that the minority has the right to express their views without being silenced by the majority. This principle of allowing unpopular opinions to be voiced is upheld when groups stage protests, but the right to free speech does not extend to protests that prevent discourse. Protests are protected under the First Amendment, and they can be a beneficial part of discussions on hot button issues. The most effective way to combat speech one deems to be bad or offensive is to counter it with more speech. This creates the marketplace of ideas, […]

The Secret Life of Safe Spaces

July 15, 2015

Brown University is encouraging student-led panels and workshops on hot-button issues to be “safe spaces,” where students are “safe” to convey ideas without judging or being judged. But ironically, the one thing truly unsafe in these spaces is free speech. Some recent examples of Brown’s safe space initiative include a panel about the experience of Asian-Americans and a discussion on the effects of hook-up culture on campuses. A safe space is intended to create an environment where everyone feels safe to share their ideas, allowing open discourse and meaningful discussion to take place. A “safe space” designation includes specific guidelines […]

FIRE Chairman Calls Out Northeast Colleges in Annual ‘Muzzle Awards’

July 6, 2015

Each summer for the past eighteen years, FIRE Co-founder and Chairman Harvey Silverglate has announced the winners of his annual “Campus Muzzle Awards”: colleges and universities in the Northeast stifling campus discourse in particularly outrageous ways. Along with myself and fellow research assistant Timothy Moore, this year, Harvey has written about incidents at Brown University, SUNY Buffalo State, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Norwich University, and Harvard Law School. As always, a key theme is students’ and administrators’ desire to shield themselves from uncomfortable speech or ideas. Regarding the incident at Harvard Law School, Harvey writes: The campus “disinvitation” trend forces […]

Judith Shulevitz: College Students Are ‘Hiding From Scary Ideas’

March 23, 2015

One Brown University student explained her recent decision to leave a debate about sexual assault thusly: “I was feeling bombarded by a lot of viewpoints that really go against my dearly and closely held beliefs.” In seeking to avoid ideas with which she disagrees, this student is far from alone—and this depressingly widespread sentiment is endangering open discourse on college campuses. Journalist Judith Shulevitz wrote in The New York Times on Sunday about the increasing demands from college students who want “safe spaces” where they will be shielded not just from physical danger, but from ideas that they find upsetting. […]

Brown University’s Two-Faced Attitude Toward Free Speech

November 18, 2014

This afternoon, Brown University’s Janus Forum will be hosting a debate titled, “How Should Colleges Handle Sexual Assault?” The debate will feature Wendy McElroy, ifeminists.com editor and “rape culture” skeptic, facing off against Feministing.com founder Jessica Valenti. In response to some students’ complaints about the event, Brown president Christina Paxson announced the creation of an alternative event to be held at the very same time. Paxson declared in a campus-wide email that her counterprogramming, titled “The Research on Rape Culture,” will provide students with “research and facts” about “the role that community norms and values play in sexual assault.” The […]

Brown Releases Final Response to Ray Kelly ‘Heckler’s Veto’ Incident

September 30, 2014

Eleven months ago, my colleague Will Creeley wrote about a disappointing incident at Brown University in which a crowd shouted down New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, halting what was to be a speech followed by a question-and-answer session for students. The hecklers objected to Kelly’s enforcement of stop-and-frisk policies, and they opted to silence Kelly completely rather than challenge him to answer their questions during the allotted time. As Will wrote at the time, Brown President Christina Paxson condemned the hecklers, and free speech advocates lamented the lost opportunity for discussion. In February, a committee convened by Brown […]

Boston’s WGBH Announces Muzzle Award ‘Winners’

July 9, 2014

Boston’s WGBH News has just announced the “winners” of its 2014 Muzzle Awards, given to those who have particularly impeded freedom of speech over the past year. Formerly published in the Boston Phoenix, WGBH has adopted the awards and is continuing the tradition of “singl[ing] out the dramatic and the petty, the epic and the absurd.”

Brown Student Tells Story of Sexual Assault Accusation in ‘Daily Beast’

June 12, 2014

As college administrators, state and federal lawmakers, the White House, and the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) take steps to combat sexual assault on college and university campuses, it is critically important to ensure that attempts to keep students safe do not exacerbate the already serious threats to due process that exist for students accused of sexual misconduct. Consideration of the legal problems presented by the use of the low “preponderance of the evidence” (50.01% certainty) standard of proof and by the lack of procedural safeguards in campus hearings is necessary—but it doesn’t tell the full story. Brown University student Daniel Kopin’s story of being accused of rape, published in The Daily Beast on Sunday, serves as a powerful reminder that the dangers posed by unfair hearings are not hypothetical.

University of Chicago Professor in ‘Tribune’: Whither Free Speech?

March 25, 2014

An op-ed in the Chicago Tribune today by University of Chicago Professor Charles Lipson makes a great case for the importance of freedom of speech and open discourse on university campuses.

Brown University Committee Releases Initial Report on Ray Kelly’s Would-Be Speech

February 21, 2014

An official inquiry committee convened by Brown University has released a report that includes more details regarding what happened four months ago when hecklers at the university brought former New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly’s planned speech to a grinding halt.

FIRE Statement on Brown University President’s Letter to Brown Community

November 6, 2013

Today, Brown University President Christina H. Paxson sent a letter to the Brown University community regarding the October 29 cancellation of a lecture by New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. The letter, available in full on Brown’s website, makes a powerful argument for freedom of expression at Brown: I strongly believe that Brown must be a place that supports the free exchange of ideas, even if it means making space for points of view that are controversial or deeply upsetting. The central mission of Brown is to discover, communicate and preserve knowledge and understanding in a spirit of free inquiry. […]

Three Reasons to Debate, Not Silence, Opposing Views

November 1, 2013

Today in The Huffington Post, Michael Meyers, executive director of the New York Civil Rights Coalition, shared a letter he wrote to the Brown University community about New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly’s policies and about Brown students’ preventing Kelly from speaking at the school Tuesday night. While expressing strong disagreement with Kelly’s policies, Meyers contrasted students’ attitudes with those of students in the free speech movement of the 1960s: [S]tudents back then protested university regulations that had restricted outside political speakers. So, it is more than ironic, then — indeed, it is unnerving and appalling — that, in 2013, when free […]

Quinnipiac Administrator: Skimpy Nurse Costumes ‘As Offensive As Writing the “N-word” on a Blackboard’

October 31, 2013

Administrators at Quinnipiac University appear to have taken the crusade against insensitive Halloween costumes to a new level, according to an article in The Quinnipiac Chronicle: “Costumes that exaggerate, stereotype, generalize a particular ethnic culture [or] gender, [are] insensitive,” Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Chief Diversity Officer Diane Ariza said. This includes dressing up in “blackface, or as a Mexican, hooker, gangster or promiscuous nurse,” Ariza said. These costumes all have negative stereotypes attached to them and paint ethnicities or genders in a negative light, according to Ariza. “It is as offensive as writing the ‘N-word’ on a blackboard or a […]

At Brown, Free Speech Loses as Hecklers Silence NYPD Commissioner

October 30, 2013

Freedom of expression at Brown University received a black eye last night, as protesters chose to answer speech they dislike with volume rather than reason—a tragic outcome for a university expressly committed to the peaceful exchange of ideas. New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly was scheduled to deliver remarks yesterday evening to Brown’s Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions. As The Brown Daily Herald reports, campus protests preceded the event, as students voiced objection to Kelly’s presence and New York Police Department policies: Student protest actions leading up to the event included creating a petition and holding a vigil in honor of […]

It’s Free Speech Week, and Students Are Speaking Out

October 21, 2013

October 21­–27 is Free Speech Week, a celebration of Americans’ First Amendment right to free expression. You can celebrate by sharing information about constitutional rights with your friends, planning a free speech event, or even speaking your mind about the news of the day. Students especially should take this week to find out just how free speech is respected on their campuses and urge their classmates and administrators to make sure this fundamental right is fully protected. In the spirit of Free Speech Week, American University (AU) student Sarah Harvard took to student newspaper The Eagle last Friday to do just that. Harvard conducted a survey of AU students that addressed their […]

‘Brown Daily Herald’: Promote the Marketplace of Ideas

December 4, 2012

In a thoughtful, well-written editorial published yesterday, the Brown Daily Herald at Brown University calls on students to protect the marketplace of ideas on campus and to engage with each other in a real and meaningful exchange of viewpoints.  Echoing points we make all the time at FIRE, the editorial discusses the benefits of seeking views different from one’s own in order to challenge and sharpen those beliefs, rather than staying within the relative comfort of those who hold the same views. In relevant part, the editorial states: A varied discourse is crucial to our learning. How can we form […]

Brown University’s Sexual Misconduct Policy Threatens Fundamental Fairness

March 19, 2012

About a month ago, Brown Daily Herald journalist Hannah Abelow wrote about changes to Brown University’s sexual misconduct policy. Things aren’t looking good for justice at Brown. First, as Abelow notes, students who have alleged sexual misconduct are now allowed to appeal even if the accused is found to be innocent. Far from being a “minor” change as stated in the article, this change creates a “double jeopardy” situation, as FIRE has noted before, where a student can be tried a second time for an offense of which he or she has already been found not guilty. It’s hard to […]

Former FIRE Intern in ‘Brown Daily Herald’: New President Must Respect Individual Rights

November 14, 2011

In today’s Brown Daily Herald (Brown University’s student newspaper), Campus Freedom Network member and 2011 FIRE intern Oliver Rosenbloom pens an apt and well-written column outlining the importance of keeping students’ individual rights and due process issues in mind as Brown seeks a new university president. As Oliver points out, Brown’s embrace of due process has been tenuous at best and, at worst, outright nonexistent. Indeed, according to FIRE’s recently issued Standard of Evidence Survey, Brown’s policies employ a “reasonable basis” evidentiary standard for judiciary proceedings. Whatever that is, it’s almost certainly lower even than the recent “preponderance of the […]

Due Process at Brown University? At All?

October 11, 2011

Last year The New York Times quoted me in a story about William McCormick III, a former student at Brown University who has sued Brown in federal court, claiming the university failed to give him even the minimal due process it promises in cases like his. According to McCormick, Brown basically just sent him home after a fellow student accused him of rape and her very wealthy father, Richard Dresdale (a Brown alumnus and donor), intervened. McCormick is also suing Dresdale, who, McCormick claims, procured a settlement agreement under duress (“the implied threat of false criminal rape charges”) that was designed […]

2011 FIRE Intern Promotes Free Speech at Brown University

September 7, 2011

In an opinion piece published in The Brown Daily Herald today, Brown University junior and 2011 FIRE intern Oliver Rosenbloom makes principled arguments against restrictive speech codes and in favor of free speech on campus. Oliver writes: There is no guarantee that the campus orthodoxies of today will always hold sway. While conservatives used to rule the academy, today the prevailing standards on college campuses align with liberal beliefs about race, gender, class and sexual orientation. Even if you share these specific political beliefs, you should not support the silencing of opposing beliefs. Power changes hands, and prevailing orthodoxies often […]

Brown University on Full Disclosure (or Lack Thereof)

April 27, 2011

Say you’re accused of a heinous crime. If one of the main witnesses against you—in a campus disciplinary matter with serious repercussions for your academic career as well as the rest of your life—just happened to have your accuser’s father as a career mentor, would you think that was relevant to disclose in a hearing or trial? Yeah, me too. But Brown University doesn’t really care. A very interesting article in today’s Brown Daily Herald explores the predicament of a student who was in just this position and is now suing Brown: [The accused student’s residential counselor’s] nondisclosure of a […]

Brown University Students Unlearn Liberty

February 15, 2011

At Brown University, an act of political protest came to a disappointing end when students apparently opposed to the protest’s message simply removed it from view. The Brown Daily Herald reports: A banner reading “Corporate Criminals Run Brown” appeared on Wayland Arch [of Wayland House, a Brown dormitory] facing Wriston Quadrangle Friday evening, a day before this weekend’s meeting of the Corporation. Less than 24 hours later, the banner had been taken down. The banner included a small “TM” for “trademark” beside the word “Brown.” The banner was a reference to Steven J. Rattner, a fellow of the Corporation of […]

The State of Free Speech on Campus: Brown University

March 17, 2009

Throughout the spring semester, FIRE is drawing special attention to the state of free speech at America’s top 25 national universities (as ranked by U.S. News & World Report). Today we review policies at Brown University, which FIRE has given a red-light rating for maintaining a policy that clearly and substantially restricts free expression on campus. Brown is a private university, but it promises students and faculty the right to free speech, both inside and outside of the classroom. Brown’s policies provide that: Brown University, mindful of its historic commitment to scholarship and to the free exchange of ideas, affirms […]

Spring 2007 ‘FIRE Quarterly’ Now Available

May 24, 2007

Check out our latest, newly re-designed issue of The FIRE Quarterly, which contains news updates on FIRE events and victories in cases at universities across the country. Some highlights from this edition include a look at our victory at San Francisco State University (SFSU), where FIRE stepped in to defend SFSU’s College Republicans after the school tried to punish them for stepping on makeshift Hezbollah and Hamas flags at an anti-terrorism rally. We also report on FIRE victories for freedom of association for Christian student groups at Brown University and at Pace University, and a victory for freedom of speech […]

Why Private Schools Need to Follow Their Own Rules

April 18, 2007

While Robert’s latest blog discusses the difference between public schools and private schools in relation to sectarian institutions, I’d like to discuss the dichotomy in more depth, especially in regard to the schools which Jon B. Gould mentions in his piece (subscribers only) in the Chronicle—Brown, Johns Hopkins, and Pace.   FIRE’s Guide to Free Speech on Campus states: Liberal arts institutions that advertise themselves as welcoming the fullest pluralism and debate too often have little time, patience, or tolerance for students who dissent from the political assumptions of the institution. Unlike many schools that openly declare a religious or […]

Truly Fostering Debate

March 9, 2007

Emily Ghods, on The New Criterion ’s Armavirumque blog, posts about a recent luncheon featuring Brown Professor of Political Science John Tomasi. At the luncheon, sponsored by the Center for the American University under the Manhattan Institute, Professor Tomasi discussed the Political Theory Project, a center he runs at Brown, and his “effort at Brown to achieve what he calls ‘the specter of intellectual pluralism.’”   Discussing a conversation she had with Tomasi after the lecture, Ghods writes: He understands that to affect change from within, especially at Brown, patience and harmony are the only paths to victory. Contention and […]

‘The New York Times’ Looks at Middle East Controversies on Campus

February 26, 2007

Karen Arenson has an article in The New York Times this morning about the film “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West,” which she calls “the latest flashpoint in the bitter campus debate over the Middle East.”   The film shows anti-Western clips from Arab television programming and documentary footage of suicide bombers, at times comparing militant Islam to the Nazi movement. Many campus groups—mostly Hillels and other Jewish student organizations—have organized showings of “Obsession” at their universities. As Arenson reports, both the film’s message and the pro-Israeli nature of the viewings have sparked debate among students about Middle Eastern […]

Victory at Brown

February 1, 2007

The Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) at Brown University was restored to student group status last week and has held its first on-campus meeting of the school year. The group was wrongfully suspended under dubious circumstances last September by Brown’s Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life (OCRL). In a press release issued today, FIRE wrote: OCRL representatives changed their explanation of RUF’s supposed misdeeds several times, first saying that the RUF’s sponsoring church had withdrawn its sponsorship. When the church’s pastor refuted that claim, the OCRL then said the group had been suspended since the previous semester because its leader […]

Victory for Religious Liberty at Brown University: RUF Reinstated

February 1, 2007

PROVIDENCE, R.I., February 1, 2007—Brown University has finally lifted its semester-long suspension of the Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) student group. As of last week, the RUF has been restored to its previous status as a recognized student group and held its first on-campus meeting of the school year on Sunday. Brown’s decision to reinstate the group came after months of public pressure from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). “We are pleased that Brown is letting RUF return to campus this semester,” FIRE Vice President Robert Shibley said. “Brown has still neither explained its actions nor acknowledged that […]

Happy Holidays from FIRE

December 22, 2006

All of us at FIRE would like to wish our friends and supporters happy holidays. As universities wind down for winter break, students head home to their families, and we prepare for a restful holiday weekend, some students have plenty to celebrate. After a months-long wrongful suspension, the Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) at Brown University is on the verge of becoming re-affiliated, awaiting only a Brown administrator’s signature to make the re-affiliation official. For others, like Johns Hopkins student Justin Park, whose “offensive” party invitation on Facebook.com gained him a one-year suspension, the holiday season is considerably less celebratory. Unless […]

RUF Initiates Re-affiliation Process at Brown

December 4, 2006

A few weeks back, FIRE reported that Brown University suspended the Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) without adequate explanation. Following Brown’s recent letter outlining the necessary procedure for gaining re-affiliation and the university’s statement vowing to “assist RUF in taking the necessary steps to have its affiliation restored,” the RUF has taken the first steps toward full reinstatement. The group submitted the necessary affiliation request and has written a letter to Janet Cooper Nelson, Director of the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life (OCRL), stating that “RUF, its members and leaders, desire not only re-affiliation with the OCRL, but also […]

Brown’s Rev. Cooper Nelson: Not Off the Hook Yet

November 29, 2006

While it looks like the Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) will be back on campus at Brown University sooner rather than later, it’s still far too early to let Brown—and more specifically, the Reverend Janet Cooper Nelson, Director of Brown’s Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life (OCRL)—off the hook. As Luke pointed out yesterday morning, Cooper Nelson’s letter to RUF President Ethan Wingfield leaves a lot to be desired. Never mind the fact that the letter fails yet again to provide the RUF with a decent explanation of why they were suspended in the first place. What’s even more troublesome […]

Brown University Agrees to Reinstate Suspended Religious Organization, But Concerns Remain

November 28, 2006

Brown University has promised to take the initial steps in helping the Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) gain reaffiliation with the University’s Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life (OCRL). A statement that Brown’s Media Relations office put up on the Brown website reads: The University welcomes the contributions RUF has made to the spiritual life of the campus and has offered to assist RUF in taking the necessary steps to have its affiliation restored. The University hopes this process can be completed in the near future so that RUF will regain its affiliation before the beginning of next semester. OCRL […]

Brown’s Hypocrisy

November 27, 2006

Richard Zeller, a sociology professor at Kent State University, discusses Brown University’s suspension of the Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) in today’s Providence Journal. Specifically, Zeller analyzes Brown’s assertion that the RUF “had become possessed of a leadership culture of contempt and dishonesty.” After reviewing the facts of the case, Zeller concludes: A fair reading of this evidence is that Reverend Nelson, Reverend Callahan, and Vice President Carey… are making false accusations. They, not the members of the evangelical Christian fellowship of Trinity Presbyterian Church, are guilty of a “culture of contempt and dishonesty.” I now ask: Why has Brown University […]

Brown University Takes Step Toward Lifting Suspension, But Problems Remain

November 21, 2006

Since FIRE’s press release last week on Brown’s suspension of the Reformed University Fellowship (RUF), the Christian Union wrote an excellent letter to Brown, The Providence Journal reported on the suspension, FIRE staff members have spoken about the case on numerous talk radio programs, and FIRE’s President Greg Lukianoff appeared on The O’Reilly Factor to discuss Brown’s actions. Yesterday, Janet Cooper Nelson, the Director of Brown’s Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life (OCRL), sent a letter to RUF President Ethan Wingfield outlining how the group could apply for re-affiliation for the spring semester. While this letter is a step […]

FIRE on ‘Up Front with Vicki McKenna’ Today

November 21, 2006

FIRE President Greg Lukianoff will be on Vicki McKenna’s Madison, Wisconsin radio show this afternoon at 4 p.m. ET to discuss our case at Brown University, where the Reformed University Fellowship has mysteriously been suspended from campus. You can listen online at wiba.com.

Watch FIRE on ‘The O’Reilly Factor’ Tonight!

November 20, 2006

The media continue to cover our case at Brown University. To hear the latest, tune in to the Fox News Channel at 8 p.m. ET, where FIRE President Greg Lukianoff is scheduled to appear on tonight’s episode of “The O’Reilly Factor.” The case centers on the suspension of a Christian student group for vague and arbitrary reasons. FIRE has intervened on the students’ behalf to ask Brown for clarification.

Why Are We So Afraid of Controversy?

November 20, 2006

According to an article in today’s New York Post, Brown University’s Hillel has rescinded a speaking invitation to Egyptian-born author Nonie Darwish after complaints from Brown’s Muslim Student Association. The Post’s Adam Brodsky writes:

Brown University Case in ‘The Providence Journal’

November 20, 2006

Today’s edition of The Providence Journal covers the situation at Brown University, highlighting our involvement there and explaining the ambiguity that surrounds the university’s reasons for suspending the evangelical student group, Reformed University Fellowship (RUF). The article states:  Leaders of the group say they were given different reasons for the action. At first, they were told it was because their local sponsor, Trinity Presbyterian Church, had withdrawn its support, which it hadn’t. Then they were told that it was because the group’s former leader had been two months late in September 2005 when he submitted the group’s application to be […]

FIRE on Rhode Island Radio to Discuss Brown University Case

November 20, 2006

Rhode Island Torch readers can tune into Talk Radio 920 AM-WHJJ today at 1:10 p.m. ET to hear FIRE Vice President Robert Shibley on the Howie Barte Show. Shibley will discuss FIRE’s recent case at Brown University, where one of the school’s largest religious student groups has been suspended without a clear explanation from Brown.

Mystery Shrouds Brown’s Suspension of Religious Student Organization

November 16, 2006

Today’s press release explains how Brown University suspended one of its largest and most active religious student organizations for reasons that remain unclear. The Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life (OCRL) suspended the evangelical Christian ministry of Trinity Presbyterian Church on September 13, 2006. OCRL Director Janet Cooper Nelson explained that she suspended the group because its local sponsoring body, Trinity Presbyterian Church, had revoked its sponsorship. But Trinity’s senior pastor, David Sherwood, corrected Cooper Nelson in an e-mail by saying that “Trinity Presbyterian Church has not, in any sense, withdrawn its sponsorship.” Trinity is one of the 1,500 […]

Brown Suspends Religious Student Group Without Explanation

November 16, 2006

PROVIDENCE, R.I., November 16, 2006—Brown University has inexplicably suspended one of its largest religious student organizations. After offering shifting and unclear reasons for its decision, Brown ignored requests from Trinity Presbyterian Church’s campus fellowship for an explanation of its suspension. The student group finally sought help from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), which has asked Brown to either explain or revoke its suspension. “A university that respects its students cannot capriciously suspend student groups,” FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said. “Suspension of any student group is a serious matter and should be accompanied by a serious explanation. Yet […]