All Brown community members will be required to complete a new training by the end of this semester, which is aimed at strengthening “Brown’s response to reports of discrimination and harassment,” according to a Monday email from Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey.
The training, created by the University’s Office of Equity Compliance and Reporting, was first laid out in a voluntary resolution agreement the University reached with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
The agreement closed an investigation that was launched into the University after the agency received reports that Brown “discriminated against students on the basis of their national origin (shared Jewish ancestry) when it failed to respond appropriately to incidents of harassment during October and November 2023.”
In the agreement — which the University signed on July 3 — Brown “voluntarily agreed to clarify and enhance existing policies and procedures related to the resolution of discrimination and harassment complaints, including those related to antisemitism,” according to a University press release. The University maintains it did not violate federal law.
While Carey’s Monday email did not reference antisemitism specifically, the module will include examples of “discrimination and harassment based on national origin, including actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics,” University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald. “This includes antisemitism.”
The new module reflects the University’s compliance with its Nondiscrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy, which aims to prevent discrimination and harassment of members of protected classes, according to Carey. These protected classes include race, religion, sex and national origin.
The online program, which is titled “Understanding Brown’s Policies on Discrimination and Harassment,” will launch on Wednesday.
The Student Organizing Committee on Antisemitism praised the announcement in a statement shared with The Herald.
“We hope that by completing this mandatory annual training, members of the Brown community will be reminded of their responsibility to comply with the anti-discrimination policy” and “understand appropriate reporting mechanisms” when instances of discrimination and harassment take place, the statement reads.
SOCA “remains committed to collaborating with the administration to counter antisemitism, uphold civil rights and protect freedom of expression.”
While a White House official recently informed The Herald that the Trump administration plans to cut $510 million of the University’s federal funding, Clark emphasized that there is no connection between the launch of this training and the funding cuts.
Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Matthew Guterl hopes that, through this training, the University “can expand and routinize the education of the campus around these issues to ensure a welcoming community for all,” he wrote in an email to The Herald.
Amber Marcus-Blank is a senior staff writer covering undergraduate student life. She is a sophomore from outside of Boston studying Political Science and Public Health on the pre-law track. She is interested in working in politics and journalism in the future and enjoys playing soccer and making playlists in her free time.
