PROVIDENCE – As students, staff and faculty prepare to return to campus following the Dec. 13 shooting, Brown University has launched an initiative to better facilitate long-term recovery amongst the campus community.
As described in a letter from Brown President Christina H. Paxson, Brown Ever True brings together the ideas and contributions of academic and administrative units and student organizations.
The new initiative will increase systems of support, and it will fit with plans already in progress for enhanced campus security as outlined in Interim Vice President for Public Safety Hugh Clements Jr.’s
letter on Dec.30. It will also include remembrances for Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, the two students killed in the shooting and a timeline for the School of Engineering and Department of Physics complex resuming operations.
“There is no playbook for what we have been through as a community,” Paxson wrote. “There is no single source of truth for how any of us should heal. No ‘one path’ to begin again, or ‘right way’ to find peace, solace and joy. But we are Brown – the enduring strength of our caring and supportive community has long been a hallmark of who we are. Ever true.”
The initiative is being coordinated by an operational team led by Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Matthew Guterl, working alongside other campus leaders. The Brown University Community Council, comprised of students, faculty, staff, administrators and alumni, is serving as the designated advisory body for the initiative and will convene regularly in its role to discuss the initiative and advise the operational team on the needs of the community.
General access to the Barus & Holley, Lassonde Innovation and Design Hub and the Engineering Research Center is currently slated to resume on Jan. 20, Paxson said in her letter.
“We know that resuming operations in Barus & Holley is particularly sensitive, and extensive work has taken place over the winter break to alter operations,” Paxson wrote.
Classes will be moved to alternate locations as lecture halls, classrooms, hallways and adjacent spaces are closed by new walls and emergency access doors. Most of the building will be closed by while work is ongoing.
Over the winter break, the Employee Assistance program expanded to provide all faculty and staff with an additional 12 mental health counseling sessions. University Human Resources is building on this expansion by working with Brown’s provider, Spring Health, to provide additional crisis counseling sessions for the 2026 calendar year.
Veer Mudambi is the special projects editor of the Providence Business News. He can be reached at mudambi@pbn.com.
