BrownU Students for an Equitable Pandemic Response

05/19/2020

We just had to do it.....

Brown University will make it through this pandemic.

05/16/2020

Did you know that you can appeal your grades? Given the difficulties students faced this semester, professors should be open to appeals!

This semester may be coming to an end, but our fight is not!

05/11/2020

Brown U SEPR is proud to be building with HOPE (Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere) in this crisis moment. Our students and our community understand just how much is at stake right now for the futures of so many we hold dear. This is not the time to implement austerity, this is not the time to quash and ignore student organizing, but this is the time to stand together and call together in one voice for what we know the present moment deserves. We are honored and excited to be joined by HOPE and we urge student organizations, students, faculty, staff, and alumni to become a part in this leader-full movement!!

Our Call to Action: tinyurl.com/BrownUSEPR
Endorse our Call to Action Here: tinyurl.com/BrownUSEPR-Students

HOPE has officially voted to endorse BrownU Students for an Equitable Pandemic Response! As President Paxson continues to present policies and protocols concerning the COVID-19 pandemic, HOPE is proud to stand with SEPR to ensure our university is held accountable to the needs of students and the Providence community. Brown must prioritize at-risk and marginalized communities, both on and off-campus, in its response to this global health crisis. HOPE's mission is rooted in and informed by the work of our community partners, and we strongly believe that the university has an unfulfilled obligation to the Providence community, both under normal circumstances and in these unprecedented times. We are excited by SEPR's call for Brown “to pledge $10 million to mutual aid efforts in Rhode Island, a paltry sum compared to the amount of tax revenue we starve the state of every year," as well as their demands concerning hazard compensation for all Brown employees. Periods of crisis exacerbate structural violence against those who hold marginalized identities. We believe it is our responsibility, both as an organization and as Brown students, to demand our university react to this crisis in a way that not only acknowledges this reality but actively fights to negate it. This pandemic has wrought widespread uncertainty and chaos, but the administration has made it clear their current and future decisions are being made methodically. We are proud to stand with BrownU Students for an Equitable Pandemic Response in refusing to allow the administration to ignore equity in the name of emergency.

We encourage you to join us in this fight!

Check out their Call to Action:
https://tinyurl.com/BrownUSEPR

For Student Organizations Interested in Endorsing:
https://tinyurl.com/BrownUSEPR-StudentOrgs

For Students Who Are Interested in Endorsing:
https://tinyurl.com/BrownUSEPR-Students

For Students Interested in Submitting Testimony of Their Experience:
https://tinyurl.com/BrownUSEPR-Testimonials

For Brown Faculty Interested in Endorsing:
https://tinyurl.com/BrownUSEPR-Faculty

05/10/2020

Taking a break from the usual posts about how we build to offer some support for folks navigating COVID-19 and the state of the world right now. Please share this with friends and loved ones if it is at all helpful and please feel free to reach out to us anytime if you need support with anything going on right now on/away from Brown!!

College-bound and current college students have been greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Higher education institutions across the…

05/09/2020

President Paxson is hyper-focused on reopening Brown in the fall to keep the tuition dollars flowing. That’s what happens when leadership always has finances at top of mind, even during a pandemic. Our University President claims to be worried about lower-income students and their ability to learn in this new environment, but in terms of meaningful changes to ease the transition to remote learning, there is silence. No meaningful grading policy changes, no room and board refund for the most at-risk low-income students, and certainly no guarantee of full COVID-19 coverage beyond the end of May.

Those three policy shortfalls alone are enough to call into question everything that comes out of the President’s office, but Corey Robin’s article highlights the important fact that private universities have ample sums of money from their high-income tuition base and tax subsidies, while public institutions that serve far greater numbers of students are at the whim of state budget cuts ongoing across the country. Brown is the culprit that, on the one hand is exempt from millions in property taxes, yet won’t even spend a meaningful amount on mutual aid during an economic and societal free-fall. $100,000 is NOTHING. As Provost Locke says, “Of course we can always do better,” and we demand the Brown University Administration starts taking those words to heart and actually putting forth meaningful change for its students, faculty, staff, and community.

The coronavirus has revealed to many the geography of class in America, showing that where we live and work shapes whether we live or die. Might it offer a similar lesson about where we learn?

05/07/2020

Shout-out to Jason Carroll and Ostrovsky for their work on this piece in the Indy!! And to the amazing editors Sara Van Horn and Ben Bienstock! Together we will continue making our community's needs the first priority for the Brown University Administration, not simply how to squeeze as many tuition dollars out of us as they can....

University Students Demand an Equitable Pandemic Response by Brown U SEPR published May 6, 2020 On April 21, Brown University announced that it will temporarily house healthcare workers who are keeping the Brown and Rhode Island community safe. This decision is a testament to the power that the Univ...

05/06/2020

Keep ignoring students Brown University. We have an idea of what will probably end up happening if you continue doing so.....



https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/students-across-the-country-are-going-on-strike/

Our Call to Action: tinyurl.com/BrownUSEPR

Students say that universities, despite their massive endowments and ongoing fundraising, are not meeting their basic needs as they continue their education in the midst of a pandemic.

05/05/2020

After admitting in another NYT op-ed that Zoom University just isn’t the same learning experience and presents barriers to marginalized students, President Paxson is quoted in another NYT piece (wow Cpax has been making the rounds!) as saying

“During this time of national crisis, no aspect of our daily lives are what anyone expected,” she wrote. “And none of us expects to be compensated for the various aspects of our lives that we all expected to have — travel, gatherings with families and friends, attending recreational events, and yes, on-campus education.”

So…… while you make a salary of over $1 million (20% pay cut is a bunch of malarkey) this year and fire workers right and left, students should just suck it up and not expect refunds or tuition decreases. Easy to say when your salary depends on the fact that we all fork over the money but SEPR has a feeling it won’t be that simple :)

Educators at schools from Brown to Northern Arizona know the experience is lacking. So why won’t they give some money back?

05/04/2020

Brown's tax avoidance is going to cost lives and futures, so we need to act as a community NOW to support those most at risk during the crisis. Endorse if you agree with this Call to Action.
tinyurl.com/BrownUSEPR

05/03/2020

When will you learn? When will you learn that your actions have consequences!! Brown University

05/02/2020

This is what happens when you ignore the needs of your students and silo decision-making to a handful of people while feigning community input through committees that have no real power beyond recommendations..... (*cough* Healthy Task Force *cough*)

A Brown University student filed a class-action lawsuit against the university Thursday seeking repayment for tuition, room, board and other expenses