Undergraduate students are voting on a referendum proposing student representation in Brown’s highest governing body, the Corporation.
The question asks whether students support the following statement: “The undergraduate student body lacks confidence in the leadership of the university by the Brown University Corporation. We demand elected student representation on the Brown Corporation and democratic reform across our institution.”
The referendum is non-binding. It was launched by the Undergraduate Council of Students and announced at a rally last Thursday, one week after the Corporation voted to reject a student-written proposal for divestment from 10 companies with ties to the Israeli military.
When the referendum was first announced, University Spokesperson Brian Clark declined to comment on whether Brown would consider putting students on the Corporation.
UCS President Niyanta Nepal ’25 noted that many UCS members were elected on a pro-divestment platform and that up until the Corporation vote, pushing for University divestment was one of the council’s main priorities this year.
The “Corporation has a moral obligation to represent and serve the people who live, work, teach and learn on this campus,” UCS wrote in the email announcing the referendum. “Its ceaseless refusal to honor those not in the Corporation is unacceptable.”
Nepal acknowledged that the proposal requires active consideration from the Corporation, which is not obligated to abide by its results. “UCS can pass a referendum, but unless the Corporation takes the referendum seriously, … nothing’s going to get done,” she added.
The referendum will “allow for us to effectively put pressure” on the University and “restore some power back to the hands of the students,” Nepal said.
Ballots were sent on Wednesday, and students have until Oct. 30 to cast their votes. The result will be released shortly after voting closes on Oct. 30, Nepal told The Herald.
If three-fifths of voters cast their votes in favor of the referendum, UCS will request that President Christina Paxson P’19 MD’20 bring the referendum forward to the Corporation for deliberation, according to Nepal. But Nepal said she plans to show the results to Paxson regardless of whether or not a supermajority is achieved.
UCS also plans to host more town halls and community events “to get an understanding of what students actually want (the seat on the Corporation) to look like,” Nepal added.
Julianna Chang is a University News Editor who oversees the academics and advising and student government beats. A junior from the Bay Area, Julianna is studying Biology and Political Science on the pre-medical track. When she's not in class or in the office, she can be found eating some type of noodle soup and devouring bad books.
