Dear Brown Community,

As we prepare for the excitement of the official opening of the 2024-25 academic year, we are writing to remind our community about the responsibility we all share to preserve Brown as a strong teaching and learning community. All students, faculty and staff are expected to know and follow the policies and codes of conduct that safeguard our mission and ensure that every member of our community can feel safe and supported as they live, work and study at Brown.

Last year was a difficult one, both for Brown and for colleges and universities across the country. Issues on campus, locally and abroad, tested some of our core principles of free expression, constructive dialogue, learning across differences and valuing the experiences of others. We remain truly proud of the many examples we witnessed of the Brown community having difficult but necessary conversations while demonstrating respect for others. But we also saw challenges in the manner in which some students, faculty and staff engaged with each other around sharp differences in beliefs and perspectives.

As President Paxson shared many times last spring, during these challenging times, the University remains focused on four central priorities: (1) protecting the safety of our community; (2) fostering open and respectful learning environments; (3) providing care and empathy to affected members of our community; and (4) taking the strongest possible stance against any form of bias, discrimination or harassment.

As we look to the year ahead, we are sharing our unwavering commitment to vigorously enforce our community standards to ensure we stay true to our foundational values. Brown has long-standing and well-established policies — detailed later in this letter — to preserve our university as an academic community that respects the rights of all students, faculty and staff to fully participate in the academic and administrative operations of our campus. We must protect the rights of all members of our community to have access to Brown’s spaces to teach, learn and perform the functions of the University, and hold individuals and organizations appropriately accountable when the rights of others are infringed upon. 

This means ensuring that no actions or activities of any individual or group impede the access or freedoms of others. This means upholding the principles of freedom of expression for all views and perspectives. This means — at the same time — directly confronting reports of any form of bias, discrimination or harassment. 

In this letter, we remind our community of (1) standards of protest and demonstration that respect the rights of others; (2) how our decades-long commitment to protecting freedom of expression continues to guide us as an institution; and (3) the policies and codes of conduct that safeguard our mission and values. 

1. Community Standards for Protest, Demonstration and Respectful Disagreement

Holding community members accountable to our standards of community conduct for protest and demonstration is directly in service to — not in conflict with — Brown’s core principles. For more than two centuries, Brown’s mission has set the standard for who we aspire to be as a community, even in moments of disagreement: We “serve the community, the nation and the world by discovering, communicating and preserving knowledge and understanding in a spirit of free inquiry.” 

Bias, harassment or discrimination, or any behavior that seeks to silence or intimidate others, is in direct conflict to who we are as a teaching and learning community — it runs directly counter to this commitment to free inquiry and cannot be tolerated. And this includes any discrimination or harassment based on religion or national or ethnic origin, including actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, or citizenship or residency in a country with a dominant religion or distinct religious identity, as outlined in federal law. We are committed to firmly enforcing our policies and pursuing discipline for violations of Brown’s Nondiscrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy, and other policies and codes of conduct.

We want to be clear that protest and demonstration have always been respected as an acceptable means of expression within the Brown community, but this is always subject to time, place and manner restrictions, and this is a decades-long standard. Protests or demonstrations that infringe upon the rights of others to peaceful assembly, orderly protest or free exchange of ideas, or that interfere with the rights of others to make use of or enjoy the facilities or attend the functions of the University, are prohibited. All members of the Brown University community must be able to advance and debate ideas and arguments inside and outside of the classroom, sponsor speakers and forums, and meaningfully engage across differences.

2. Protecting Academic Freedom and Free Expression

The foundation of our community values is the Statement on Academic Freedom for Faculty and Students, which was recommended by the faculty and approved by the Corporation in 1966. Reflected in the University Code of Conduct, the Statement on Academic Freedom makes clear that as a community, we believe firmly that academic freedom is essential to the function of education and to the pursuit of scholarship in universities. It goes on to say that, “mindful of its historic commitment to scholarship and to the free exchange of ideas, [Brown] affirms that faculty members and students alike shall enjoy full freedom in their teaching, learning, and research.”

Over the ensuing six decades, through periods of enormous turbulence in society, this framing for the exercise of freedom of expression and the free exchange of ideas at Brown has ensured that these rights are exercised while also respecting and protecting the rights of other members of the community to do the same. It ensures that all community members may enjoy and make use of the full breadth of University resources and offerings free from interference, bias, discrimination or harassment. 

Joining the Brown community as a student, faculty or staff member carries with it these rights and responsibilities so clearly stated in our collective commitment to academic freedom. By asserting their rights to protest or demonstrate, individuals cannot decide for the entire community which ideas will or will not be subject to free expression.

3. Policies Safeguarding our Community Values

Brown is fortunate to have well-established policies and codes of conduct that provide clear guidance for addressing these priorities and upholding our community standards. This includes policies regarding standards for protest and demonstration, public statements, encampments and use of greens, posting flyers and hanging banners, faculty responsibilities for holding classes, and free speech vs. harassing speech. Links to these policies are listed below.

As stated above, Brown’s policy for protests aligns with the core principle that “members of the community shall enjoy full freedom in their teaching, learning, and research.” All members of the Brown community are responsible for understanding and abiding by this policy and all relevant codes of conduct, policies and protocols.

These policies are not new. As a community, we have the benefit of a history of well-established standards. The Code of Student Conduct has been refreshed after its standard every-five-year review, incorporating student input and engagement last spring. We look forward to updating the Protest and Demonstration Policy and the Nondiscrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy during the fall term in alignment with the University’s voluntary agreement with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to strengthen our response to reports of discrimination and harassment. 

These policies and others will be enforced throughout the year:

• University Code of Conduct 
• Code of Student Conduct 
• Event Disruption Protocol 
• Faculty Rules and Regulations (note pages 107, 146 and 153 — authentication required)
• University Green Space Usage Policy
• Invited Speakers and Guests Policy 
• Nondiscrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy
• Political Activity Policy 
• Poster and Banner Policy 
• Protest and Demonstration Policy
• Public Statements Policy

In addition, all community members should feel supported in living, learning, studying and working in an environment free from bias, harassment and discrimination. Brown University students, staff and faculty who have either experienced or witnessed an incident of bias, discrimination or harassment should not hesitate to report it to the University. Use the Report an Incident page to report an incident, or if you are experiencing an emergency situation, call the Department of Public Safety (DPS) at 401-863-4111 (or dial x3-4111 from any campus location).

In closing

We have a culture, distinct from many universities, as a campus committed to service to society and cultivating an ethical community that values and respects diversity of thought and experience. These values get tested at times of heightened conflict. But we can and must remain a community that aspires to make an impact while recognizing that others may have deeply held beliefs and values different from our own. And we learn and build understanding through respectful disagreement. That is the precise role of a university.

With Opening Convocation taking place on Tuesday, Sept. 3, we hope you share our excitement for a safe and celebratory event to usher in the new year. We look to the year ahead with hope — of working together to remain true to the values of Brown. 

We want to thank you in advance for all you will do to contribute to sustaining Brown as a compassionate learning community.

Sincerely,

Francis J. Doyle III, Provost

Russell C. Carey, Interim Vice President for Campus Life and Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy

Marie Williams, Vice President for Human Resources