To the Editor:
As the Herald wrote, “On March 18, Shieh sent emails to approximately 3,800 Brown staff members asking them to ‘describe what tasks you performed in the past week,’ mirroring a similar February email DOGE sent to federal employees.” I am deeply opposed to Elon Musk’s campaign of destruction. It was similarly demeaning and presumptuous for Shieh to demand that thousands of Brown employees justify their jobs. Unlike Musk, however, Alex Shieh has no authority to enforce his DOGE-inspired plan.
The University’s investigation for misconduct, in this case, is inappropriate and counterproductive. Mr. Shieh allegedly misrepresented himself as a reporter, improperly used Brown job data and caused emotional harm to staff. But any student can be a reporter. It is entirely plausible that he would resuscitate Brown’s defunct conservative newspaper, as he says he wants to. Collecting job descriptions hardly constitutes an invasion of privacy, and any emotional harm his emails caused is surely dwarfed by the larger crisis Brown is facing.
The investigation has the air of a punishment-by-process for what is essentially an obnoxious adolescent stunt. It will delight Fox News and spark another news cycle of contempt for academia. At a moment when President Trump has seemingly declared war on our institution, it gives Brown’s outside critics one more stick to beat us with.
Jeremy Mumford
Associate Professor in the Department of History
