Brown University

The university is increasing the number of "undergraduate Regular Decision... Black/African American identified students" to 50% of the next enrollment.

Following the Supreme Court's decision on affirmative action, Brown University made a number of adjustments to its admissions policies. According to a statement from the University President, "the University will continue to recruit a pool of diverse applicants from all backgrounds and experiences through pathway programs, targeted outreach, and pipeline programs" and "The Court’s decision does not affect Brown’s pursuit of other indicators of diversity in admissions." Furthermore, the University "has refreshed its essay prompts to invite all applicants to reflect on where they come from and what unique contributions they may make to Brown," which includes race.

The Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity offers numerous resources and trainings on diversity, equity, and inclusion at Brown covering topics from Anti-Black Racism, Cultural Humility, Mitigating Bias, Positionality, Power, and Privilege, and Unconscious Bias.

Brown University encourages all of its students, undergraduates and graduates/medical, to complete their Unconscious Bias e-learning Module that “was developed following an iterative process of focus groups with Brown faculty, students and staff and input from several campus partners throughout multiple phases of project development.”

The Brown University Division of Advancement’s Anti-Racism Training Program (AART) is a “yearlong program started with a pre-work module that helped establish a baseline of structural racism knowledge and informed the creation of a comprehensive curriculum designed and implemented completely by advancement staff.“

An "e-learning training module for faculty, staff and students on unconscious bias" was released by the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity.

The Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs provides professional development sessions on "Implicit Bias" for faculty groups or committees, upon request.

The Swearer Center for Public Service states that it will "require Swearer student leaders to read and reflect on the report from the Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice."

The Task Force on Anti Black Racism “proposed the creation of a curricular program on racism and racial healing that would be grounded in a sequence of courses taught by faculty from several disciplines.” Additionally, “the Task Force also recommended that every concentration in the University require an intentionally designed experience, such as a research experience or course, that prioritizes Black history, culture and scholarship.”

The Department for Earth, Environment, and Planetary Sciences at Brown offers a DEEPS START Team to assist in developing an anti-racist syllabus that goes beyond “just adding a diversity statement” and guides in the crafting of a “more inclusive and anti-racist course.”

The Department of Sociology at Brown University offers a number of courses with the Race, Power, and Privilege (RPP) designation that “highlight Brown’s commitment to the intellectual study of race, racial formations, inequality, and social justice. These courses examine issues of structural inequality, racial formations and/or disparities, and systems of power within a complex pluralistic world.“

"The Race, Gender and Inequality," Course Designation now offers more than 260 courses. According to the University, "The number of sophomore seminars that focus on diversity perspectives went from 29% in 2015-16 to 73% in 2017-18."

The Diversity and Action Plan for the Swearer Center for Public Services states that the Department's goal is to "Engage Swearer students with issues of privilege, oppression, and positionality as related to both students' own identities and their relationships as Brown students to the RI community" and in order to make more "inclusive pedagogy" it will "develop learning outcomes, associated competencies, and framework for the Swearer co-curriculum."

Classes in the RPP designation teach students to “interrogate and critically reflect upon their own social location and experiences of marginalization, privilege and internalized dominance;” “Apply the knowledge gained in the course to benefit racialized and Indigenous peoples and affect change;” and “Demonstrate understanding of ethical and social justice concerns and increased sense of social responsibility.”

Brown is offering 164 courses under the Race, Power, and Privilege (RPP) designation in the 2024-2025 Academic Year. These course offerings will "examine issues of structural inequality, racial formations and/or disparities and systems of power."

The University encourages "students, staff and faculty who have experienced or witnessed an incident of bias, discrimination or harassment" to report it to the University.

Beginning July 2022, the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown “will institute a new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Anti-Racism (DEI/AR) Education Requirement for those seeking appointment and re-appointment as DPHB faculty.“

Professional Development Day is an annual event for "faculty and staff, engaging over 400 people in discussions related to diversity, equity and inclusion."

"...Brown has established the Addressing Systemic Racism Fund to support further research and programming aimed at addressing anti-Black racism on and beyond the Brown campus."

The Seminar for Transformation Around Anti-Racist Teaching (START) at Brown University is “a program to support department efforts to advance inclusive diversity in their teaching, learning, and curriculum development.” Financial stipends or awards are provided to undergraduate, graduate, and faculty START Fellows for their participation in this program.

The Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America (CSREA) at Brown, “part of the Mellon Foundation-funded Race at the Center of the Humanities initiative,” hosts annual conferences and workshops that “center race in humanistic inquiry.“

The Conversation is a "three-week summer research dialogue" available for "rising second, third- and fourth-year undergraduates" which focuses on "issues of race, justice and the law as they have affected 'involuntary Americans' (e.g., Indigenous peoples here before Columbus, Black people brought by enslavement, Mexicans here before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and immigrants brought as children)." Hosted by Brown University, Tougaloo College and the University of New Mexico School of Law, "participants will be encouraged to consider career pathways in academia, law, and combinations thereof in hopes that they can, in the course of their careers, further ongoing conversations and work on the issues involved." 

The Police Department’s "core annual training program is for both new and experienced officers" and focuses on "Implicit Bias/Racial Profiling, Diversity, Community Policing, De-Escalation/Communications Skills, Policy/Procedural Justice, and Use of Force."

The Police Department has a "Department Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan."

The university announced "the launch of a new virtual campus conversation series, Race & in America, which will explore various facets of race in America. Led by CSREA in conjunction with the Provost’s office, this monthly interactive series will examine subject areas including slavery, public health, social movements and democracy."

The university is expanding its social justice/CRT "educational" offerings.

On April 29, 2022, the Brown University Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America held a lecture from the Critical Conversations series on racial inequality in education.

The Brown University Library Racial Justice Project “will use a research-based rubric to study how structural racism manifests in the Library, ultimately determining and implementing a plan of action to become a just, equitable, and inclusive site of free and open inquiry.”

On October 21, 2021, leading expert on Critical Race Theory, Lori Patton Davis delivered the iconic Annual Brown Lecture in Educational Research where she made “recommendations about how a critical race lens might guide us toward a more progressive realization of the promises of Brown.”

The University Library has a Racial Justice Resource Center on the second floor of the Rockefeller Library that serves as a “guide to faculty and Brown community publications regarding racial justice.”

The Diversity and Inclusion Toolkit was “created to identify best practices for promoting diversity and inclusion at Brown.”

The Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America hosted a "featured event on campus" on "Integrating Pro-Equity, Anti-Racism Principles In Job and Internship Searches."

The university president will "appoint a Task Force on Anti-Black Racism."

"...the Brown University Corporation voted unanimously to change the University’s official name to be simply “Brown University,” which is how we refer to it now in nearly all uses."

On August 5, 2021, the President of the University provided responses to the recommendations from the Task Force on Anti Black Racism. ”The Task Force offered 19 recommendations that are organized within four themes: (1) policy; (2) culture/climate; (3) curriculum and classroom experience; and (4) external community engagement.”

The Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan for Brown University details the actions that the university is implementing to make it “more fully diverse and inclusive.” The 2021 Phase II Plan “will continue to focus on historical legacies of oppression and discrimination that have, for years, barred certain groups from access to or participation in higher education in the US.”

On February 18, 2022, the “Decolonization at Brown (DAB) STEM Task Force invited students, staff, faculty, and administration to a student-led teach-in on Colonialism in STEM.”

On February 19, 2023, the Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice at Brown hosted an event for the book launch of White Supremacy, Racism, and the Coloniality of Anti-Trafficking which “critically examines the ways that white supremacy, racism, and colonization are embedded in global anti-trafficking efforts. Chapters cover vast global terrain and perspectives of migrant workers, sex worker, and racial justice advocates.”

On November 15, 2022, the university hosted a presentation of “In the Wake of George Floyd: Responses to Anti-Black Racism in Rhode Island” which served as an archive of responses to “anti-Black racism and police violence.”

On March 9, 2022, the university hosted a talk on Examining Anti-Critical Race Theory Legislation “and the legal challenges to these anti-critical race theory statutes.”

According to the Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan, "All academic and administrative departments and centers at Brown are required to develop multi-year plans for diversity and inclusion."

The Department of Religious Studies released a statement on "Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Field" in which professors stated how they incorporate the issues into the classroom. Professor Susan Ashbrook Harvey stated, "There is a common idea that Christianity has a Master Narrative: western, white, cisgendered, heteronormative patriarchy" and "as we have learned from feminist studies, sexuality studies, and critical race theory, master narratives generally obscure and occlude as much or more than they make visible." The Professor of History and Religion continued, "As a historian of Christianity, I seek to find and make visible those other histories, drawing them into central focus."

The History of Art and Architecture "appointed an advisor for diversity and inclusion" who prepares "regular reports to the entire faculty, who then discuss and make decisions collaboratively."  The position is voluntary and "rotates regularly."