Brown University

Providence, RI

D
Score: 432/1400
7,125
Undergraduate students
95%
Retention rate
$65,146
Annual tuition
0.51
Diversity Index
Data submitted by: elevin1
Medium Campus
Medium Campus
private
Private University
Urban Campus
Urban Campus
Four-Year College
Four-Year College
Northeast Region
Leftist Campus
Leftist Campus
Sports Culture
Sports Culture
Noisy Campus
Noisy Campus
Graduate Students Unionized
Graduate Students Unionized

Description

As one of the first institutions of higher education established in the United States, Brown University's storied campus dates back to 1764. This also creates accessibility problems, however, as many of the historical buildings on its campus have yet to be renovated or retrofitted with elevators and ramps, which "requires a long-term commitment and significant investments in capital projects,” reports The Daily Herald, Brown University's student newspaper.

A faculty member at Brown observed to a reporter that campus-wide inaccessibility sends a clear message about "who Brown wants coming to this University — because right now, it is not physically disabled people." Providence, Rhode Island, was also "recently ranked as one of the worst cities for people with disabilities," according to reporting in The Daily Herald.

In 2021, Brown University reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice for "denying readmission to certain students who had taken medical leaves of absence for mental health reasons from fall 2012 to spring 2017," which violated the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.

Although Brown, like many other universities, has experienced a surge in student demand for counseling services along with wait times of several weeks for initial appointments, in the past few years, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) has been able to reduce wait times to 3 days. CAPS also lifted an annual limit on the number of sessions that students could schedule, allowing students to settle into long-term care without having to seek an off-campus provider.

Project LETS, which was started at Brown, has helped to transform Brown University's campus into a model of student mental health support. Priorities moving forward should be improving campus accessibility for physically disabled students, increasing disability-related cultural and educational programming, creating disabled community spaces at Brown, and reducing or eliminating police presence on campus.

In 2021, then PhD student, John Wrenn, conducted an informal count of surveillance cameras on the Brown campus, and found that "Brown University has deployed one surveillance camera for approximately every 18 community members, placing it just shy of London, but ahead of every Chinese city except Taiyuan and Wuxi."

Are all campus buildings physically accessible to students who use wheelchairs or other mobility aids?

NO

The Brown Daily Herald reports, "The residential experience is a central part of life for undergraduates who are required to live on campus for six semesters due to the University’s belief that the 'residential experience is integral to undergraduate students’ academic, social, intellectual and personal growth.' ...But despite the requirement for students to live on campus, not all University dorms are fully accessible to students with disabilities. For example, according to the campus accessibility map, multiple residential buildings adjacent to the Ruth J. Simmons Quadrangle — which house sophomores and juniors — contain barriers that “would prevent a wheelchair user from entering the facility."

Are class session recordings readily available for lecture courses?

YES

https://dld.brown.edu/remote-accessible-teaching

Are students required to provide documentation of disability to qualify for receiving initial accommodations?

YES

Is there required diversity and inclusivity training for faculty/staff/and students, and does training include recognition of neurodivergence and disability?

NO

A student tells us, "Our DIAP (diversity and inclusivity action plan) explicitly mentions people with disabilities as being included in the umbrella of underrepresented groups, but it doesn't go beyond that."

What types of student-run peer support groups exist on campus?

Disability Cultural Center

NO

Mutual Aid Networks

NO

Peer Support Groups

YES

Other

NO

Have you experienced ableism, discrimination, or witnessed stigmatizing language?

YES

An op-ed this year in The Brown Daily Herald cited a U.S. Secret Service and DOE report to suggest that suicidal people are likely to be mass shooters, when in fact the vast majority of suicidal people are nonviolent. This kind of rhetoric is dangerous, as it not only discourages suicidal people from seeking help, but also justifies law enforcement viewing all suicidal people as threats and using deadly force against people in crisis.

Are police involved in responding to student mental health crises?

YES

https://caps.brown.edu/our-services/crisis-services

Does your college have a Student of Concern reporting page?

No

Clery Report data: Number of sexual assaults reported on campus per thousand students.

2

*2021 data

Has the college published an official statement in support of racial justice movements?

Support for Black Lives Matter

NO

Support for Land Back

NO

Does your college offer a Disability Studies curriculum?

NO

The Cogut Institute for the Humanities at Brown includes a Disability Studies Working Group that hosts events, including lectures, but there is no formal Disability Studies curriculum at Brown.

Does your college offer a course on Critical Theory?

YES

No courses on Critical Theory, but they offer SOC 1872O Critical Race Theory.

Does the college engage in morally questionable research?

Animal Experimentation

YES

Cure Autism

NO

Other

YES

NAGPRA: Brown University still holds the remains of 99 Native Americans.

News
Submitted by:
admin
2024-01-09

The student alleged that the University failed to promptly address a request for accommodations related to their disability status. The student also alleged that Brown retaliated against them over their request for accommodations, including that their advisor declined to continue advising them and threatened reputation damage after learning they had been granted an approved academic adjustment of extra time.

Source:Link

News
Submitted by:
admin
2022-10-11

A class action complaint filed Sept. 23 claims that some of the University’s websites, including the athletics website and the campus shop website, violate the Americans with Disabilities Act by not being fully compatible with computer screen-reading programs.

Plaintiff Milagros Senior — who is legally blind and requires screen-reading programs to access web content — claimed she faced multiple access barriers when trying to view information about Brown sports teams and purchase a product on the University’s websites, according to court documents.

...

The complaint lists access barriers such as a lack of alternative text, invisible code under images that screen-reading software uses to vocally describe graphics; empty links that contain no text and redundant links going to the same URL address, which can have unclear functions or require additional navigation; and multiple pages with the same title elements, which may prevent visually impaired users from distinguishing pages.

Source:Link