PROVIDENCE – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has increased its investigation of Brown University over alleged violations of the federal 1964 Civil Rights Act’s Title VI to focus on the whole Ivy League institution.
The probe pertains to last spring’s on-campus protests over the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack and capture of Israeli citizens.
According to university communication from Brown Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey and Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Matthew Guterl, the department’s Office for Civil Rights has expanded its “compliance review” in response to a May 2024 protest outside Brown’s Warren Alpert Medical School’s graduation ceremony. Guterl and Carey in the email said the DHHS originally began investigating Warren Alpert Medical School back in February, but now that inquiry has expanded to include the whole university from Oct. 7, 2023, through now.
Guterl and Carey told the campus community that the department will collect information and interview community members over the coming weeks as part of the investigation.
Title VI prohibits any institution that receives federal funds from discriminating based on race, color and national origin. National origin includes shared Jewish ancestry, according to the U.S. Department of Education – which has already put Brown on notice for possible Civil Rights Act Title VI violations relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination occurring on campus.
“We are confident that our actions in response to the May 2024 protest – which occurred outside the church where the medical school ceremony was held and on an adjacent public sidewalk – were in compliance with Title VI,” Guterl and Carey said. “We also expect to demonstrate how Brown is resolved in its cross-campus efforts to ensure a community where all individuals feel safe and valued and where no instance of antisemitism, Islamophobia, or discrimination or harassment based on race, color or national origin is tolerated.”
Carey and Guterl also said Brown, per an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education, agreed to continue efforts that already were underway at the university at that time to expand programming and initiatives aimed at strengthening education and understanding about Title VI. Such efforts include clarifying processes to address “unacceptable behavior” on campus, engaging constructive dialogue, and support academic freedom and freedom of expression.
The investigation is the federal government’s latest focus on the local Ivy League institution. A week ago, President Donald Trump’s administration planned to halt $510 million in contracts and grants awarded to Brown. However, university officials said at the time they are aware of “troubling rumors” about federal action being taken on the local Ivy League institution but have “no new information to substantiate any of these rumors.”
(UPDATED throughout to include confirmation on the investigation and comment from Brown University.)
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 X at @James_Bessette.
