What if you love your alma mater so much that you never want to leave? Brown alums who work at Brown often have a bittersweet experience. On the one hand, they are in a familiar place and are better able to relate to the students with whom they work. On the other, their role is vastly different from when they were students.
Undoubtedly, the University has changed in the years since these professors, deans and administrators graduated - including changes in the curriculum, administration and demographic makeup of the student body. But some experiences are common to all Brown students, and alums from across decades who still interact daily with the Brown community offered their insight.
Activist ambitions
David Kertzer '69, professor of anthropology and former provost, remembers life at Brown as drastically different than it is today. Male students faced the reality of potentially being drafted for the Vietnam War. Women were confined to Pembroke campus, and mandatory chapel hours were a norm in Kertzer's schedule.
By the end of his four years, Kertzer had witnessed the University's switch to the open curriculum and the early discussions of the Pembroke College merger, which was formalized in 1971.
Despite these changes, Kertzer said "the feel of the campus is very similar." The layout of the central campus is the same and the activist spirit of Brown students still exists today, he said. Though the issues are not the same, students are equally outspoken about issues such as LGBTQ rights and ethnic diversity as his classmates were about civil rights for African-Americans and the Vietnam War, he said.
Carol Cohen '83, associate dean of the College for first-year and sophomore studies, echoed this view. For members of her generation, protests, sit-ins and arrests for civil disobedience were more common than they are today. But with the influence of the Internet and tools such as email that facilitate a new kind of self-expression, such physical displays of activism are not as prominent, she said.
'Every day is my day at Brown'
While the nature of student activism and the co-ed makeup of the University are new for Kertzer and Cohen, some experiences transcend generations of Brown students - for instance, eating lunch in the Sharpe Refectory and listening to an organ concert in Sayles Hall.
Many alums agreed that the struggles facing students today are similar to what they faced.
"I know what they're going through academically and socially, especially as a student-athlete," said Mike Martin '04, now head basketball coach. As a star basketball player during his undergraduate years, Martin said he can sympathize when his athletes struggle to balance their academic and athletic commitments.
As a dean, Cohen uses her undergraduate experience at Brown, both good and bad, to guide her advising to students. "I had a very real life at Brown," she said. "It was a complicated, rich and good time."
Another associate dean of the college, Besenia Rodriguez '00, was very involved with the Latino community during her undergrad years. She and her group of friends volunteered and tutored for a Providence-based organization called "Progreso Latino" off-campus. But on campus, there were fewer opportunities to be involved and less of a support network for minority students at the time.
Rodriguez and her friends struggled together and would "take care of each other" as Latino minority students, she said.
Ethnic studies was not a concentration during Rodriguez's undergrad years, and there were fewer Latino student initiatives, she said. Today, Latino students have more opportunities for support, she added.
When Rodriguez and her friends reminisce about their times as undergrads, she said she jokingly responds that "every day is my day at Brown."
A sense of attachment
Russell Carey '91 MA '06, senior vice president for corporation affairs and governance, said in hindsight, he wishes he could have gotten off campus more.
While Carey said it is more common now for students to study or do research abroad, in the late 1980s and early '90s, his peers were mainly focused on academics on campus. He is glad that students today integrate a more international scope to their education, he said.
Several alums said that their experiences at Brown positively influenced their decision to take a job here.
"I love that I get to wake up every day and drive to work at my alma mater," Martin said.
Carey said attending Brown has instilled a sense of attachment in him. "I've never thought of Brown as the place that I work. I think of it as the place that I live," he said.
Technologically deprived
Since technology is so central to the current student's experience, it is difficult for many alum administrators to imagine a college life without it.
Carey said he remembers when he first learned about the concept of email. Today, he said he can't imagine doing his job without it.
Rodriguez recalled that it was difficult to stay in contact with her parents, only talking to them a few times a semester, whereas students can be in contact with family almost constantly today. While she said this makes the transition to college easier, it can lead to a lessened sense of independence, as students may not make decisions on their own as often.
"My parents didn't even know what I concentrated in until my graduation," she said with a laugh.
Martin said the Internet was not fully in use at the University until his junior year. But its implementation has allowed for increased resources and a greater sense of cohesiveness among the student body, he said.
Alums agreed that despite the time between their undergrad and professional years at Brown, it still remains a familiar place. Kertzer said Brown prides itself on the notion that its values and core beliefs have crossed generations.
Despite differences in each alums' experiences, perhaps this notion is what brought them all back to Brown.
"It was the timelessness of Brown that drew me back," Rodriguez said.
