A small group of students gathered on the south side of the Main Green Monday to discuss planned cuts to the budget for the Swearer Center for Public Service and what the cuts say about University commitment to service in the community.
The gathering came after over 250 alums and current students involved with the Swearer Center signed a letter to President Ruth Simmons addressing the implications that cuts to the Swearer Center budget have for Brown's relationships with the community, according to the Providence Journal news blog.
Four staff positions at the Swearer Center have been cut and there are still questions as to whether student group activity in the community will also be diminished, Arthur Matuszewski '11, a member of the Swearer Center Community Advisory Board and a former editor-in-chief of Post- magazine, told The Herald.
The gathering Monday was a chance to "begin the conversation about what the University's priorities are," Matuszewski said to the gathered group of students.
Student Labor Alliance member Susan Beaty '10 said she is concerned about the cuts at the Swearer Center, especially because they are only one part of the larger decision to lay off 60 staff members, which The Herald reported last month. While she said SLA members came independently to this event and were not endorsing the gathering as a group, she said SLA is "really interested in building a coalition of students" to discuss layoffs such as those at the Swearer Center and how they will affect Brown.
Beaty added that she and Matuszewski also went to a community meeting on Monday with Elizabeth Walsh '03, the education director of English for Action, a group that provides English as a Second Language services in Providence. They discussed how changes to the Swearer Center's budget will affect how Brown is able to still connect to the community, Beaty said.
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