Members of the Brown Community,

I write to follow up on President Paxson’s letter of Tuesday, April 9, noting the creation of the Ad Hoc Committee on Equity and Integrity in Admissions, and to report on the committee’s membership, charge and timeframe for conducting its work.

I am pleased to be co-chairing this committee with Maria Zuber, chair of the Academic Affairs Committee of the Corporation of Brown University, and to be working with the following representatives from the Corporation and the faculty to conduct a careful and thorough review of our admission-related policies and practices:

Corporation Representatives
Todd A. Fisher
Theresia Gouw​
Jeffrey F. Hines
Brian T. Moynihan​
Viet Nguyen

Faculty Representatives
John N. Friedman, Department of Economics
James M. Valles, Jr., Department of Physics
Kristi A. Wharton, Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry
Andre C. Willis, Department of Religious Studies

The committee will be staffed by Deputy Provost for Academic Affairs Elizabeth Doherty, with additional support from Chief of Staff and Assistant to the President Marguerite Joutz.

As President Paxson’s letter indicated, the committee’s charge is to consider whether: 1) Brown has adequate safeguards to protect the integrity of the admissions process, particularly around athletics recruitment; and 2) Brown’s admission practices align with our institutional goals of building academic excellence, making Brown accessible to students from all economic backgrounds, and ensuring long-term financial sustainability.

The committee will work over the coming months to conduct a comprehensive review and analysis, which will include engaging with students, faculty, staff and alumni in the process. Our goal will be to issue a report in fall 2019.

I am grateful to the members of the committee for their willingness to devote their time and attention to this important and timely undertaking. Given the significance of admissions to our very mission, it is essential that our policies and practices are fair, equitable, carried out with unquestionable integrity, and inspire confidence and trust.  

Sincerely,

Richard M. Locke
Provost