The Student Activities Office is reviewing affinity and identity-based events to ensure they are open to all students. Students told The Herald that the SAO is acting in accordance with guidance from the University’s Office of General Counsel.
“In addition to Brown’s long-standing Nondiscrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy, there are multiple laws and legal precedents that prohibit discrimination on the basis of protected classes — such as race, sex, religion, national or ethnic origin,” University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald. “Brown prohibits discrimination based on any characteristic protected by applicable laws or Brown policy.”
Clark also cited the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in education.
The Trump administration has recently targeted diversity, equity and inclusion programs at educational institutions, threatening to cut federal funding from universities that do not eliminate race-conscious programming.
Over the last two weeks, the SAO entered discussions with at least two student organizations about whether their previously scheduled affinity and identity-based events could continue as planned.
Brown Outing Club’s “Women’s Rock Climbing Trip,” scheduled for March 1, was originally advertised as a “trip for women who are looking to learn climbing or spend time climbing in community with other women,” wrote BOC President Sofia Gilroy ’25 in an email to The Herald.
In late February, the SAO contacted the BOC to schedule a meeting and clarify the attendance criteria for the upcoming event, Gilroy said. She told The Herald that during her meeting with the SAO, the office said it was abiding by guidance from the Office of General Counsel.
After the meeting, the BOC agreed to change the event’s name to “Rock Spot Climbing Trip.”
Student organizations receive guidance from staff members in the Division of Campus Life “to ensure that those organizations understand and uphold the University’s obligation to prohibit discrimination in its programs and activities,” Clark wrote.
On Feb. 25, the SAO also reached out to the Rib of Brown, a student organization that editor Jules Griswold ’25 described as a “comedy group publication for people of marginalized genders.”
In an email to several Rib’s editors, the SAO expressed concern over the group’s “Man on the Rib” performance that was scheduled to occur the following night.
“Our main point of concern is just ensuring that gender is not a prohibitive factor in someone participating,” SAO wrote in an email to the Rib. They also cited Title IX as the basis for their concern.
The performance was designed to be “a satirical joke about reverse male beauty pageants” in which cast members performed mock auditions to join the Rib, Griswold told The Herald. But they emphasized that anyone could participate in the show, regardless of their gender identity.
After the student organization clarified the purpose of the event, the SAO allowed the event to proceed unchanged, Rib editor Louisa Cavicchi ’25 said.
Leaders of both the BOC and the Rib said they were unsure how student events will continue to be affected in the future.
“The information we’ve gotten from the SAO has largely been on a case-by-case basis,” Cavicchi said.
Gilroy added that one of the components of the BOC’s mission statement is to acknowledge and break down barriers for identity groups “who might not otherwise get outside.”
“An important way to achieve this goal is to create unique spaces where people can feel comfortable participating because they are within a community that fits their identity,” she said.
Griswold believes the SAO’s guidelines are “intentionally being kept very hazy, especially after all of the recent initiatives for diversity.”
“It just makes it feel very hollow,” they added.
“Campus Life will continue to share information with students about all University policies that may apply as they organize events and activities,” Clark wrote.
