PROVIDENCE – A new 10-person ad hoc committee has been formed at Brown University to examine the Ivy League institution’s admissions practices, including reviewing data on admissions of students with “legacy status” and seeing if such policies should be modified.
Brown President Christina H. Paxson wrote Wednesday in a letter to the community the new Ad Hoc Committee on Admissions Policies will be composed of senior faculty and alumni members of the Corporation of Brown University – the institution’s governing body – and will examine three admissions policy and practice areas.
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Those areas, she said, are whether or not Brown should alter its current policy on admitting students through early decision, require standardized test scores for admission consideration or keep its interim “test-optional” policy from the COVID-19 pandemic in place, and evaluate admissions data on students “with family connections to Brown” and make recommendations on “whether preferences for such applicants should be modified.”
Paxson said that while Brown considered all such practices over the last several years, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision back in June to strike down affirmative action in college admissions have prompted an “important national conversation” on how colleges and universities across the U.S. demonstrate a commitment to diversity.
“There is intense interest among policymakers, the public at large, and our own students and alumni in ensuring that admissions practices are as fair and equitable as possible,” Paxson wrote.
Paxson also said the committee will provide a recommendation to her and the university’s corporation before the upcoming spring semester. The committee members, who will be staffed by Brown Deputy Provost for Academic Affairs Elizabeth Doherty, are:
- Francis J. Doyle III, provost and committee co-chair
- Preetha Basaviah, university trustee and committee co-chair
- John Friedman, Briger Family distinguished professor of economics
- Earl E. Hunt II, university trustee
- Carlos Lejnieks, university trustee and past president of the Brown Alumni Association
- Kimberly Mowry, Robin Chemers Neustein professor of biomedicine
- Alison Ressler, university fellow
- Noliwe Rooks, L. Herbert Ballou university professor of Africana studies
- Bjorn Sandstede, alumni-alumnae university professor of applied mathematics
- William Zhou, university trustee and former president of the Undergraduate Council of Students
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
