Brown University placed the campus police chief on leave and hired retired Providence police chief Hugh Clements Jr. to take over on an interim basis as the federal government announced it was investigating the school’s safety protocols.
Rodney Chatman, the school’s vice president for Public Safety and Emergency Management, had been a presence at many of the news briefings following the Dec. 13 mass shooting at the school that killed two and injured nine others.
Chatman is “on leave, effective immediately,” according to a statement published by Brown University President Christina Paxson, while the university undergoes an After-Action Review of the shooting.
The leadership change comes as the U.S. Department of Education said Monday that it would investigate Brown in response to the shooting, citing concerns about security at the school and the university’s emergency notification system.
In an affidavit compiled by Providence police during their investigation of the shooting, investigators said they spoke with a janitor who noticed a “suspicious person,” in the building in which the shooting took place on a number of occasions in the weeks prior to the shooting. On Monday, custodian Derek Lisi told the Boston Globe that he had twice notified a security guard about that person, who matched the description of the suspect in the shooting. The security firm told the Globe that it doesn’t investigate and that the guard told the Brown employee to call campus police.
In announcing its investigation Monday, the Department of Education said “public reporting appeared to show that Brown’s campus surveillance and security system may not have been up to appropriate standards, allowing the suspect to flee while the university seemed unable to provide helpful information about the profile of the alleged assassin.”
The department indicated that universities that receive federal funding are required to meet safety and security requirements.
Paxson also said the school also plans an external review of current campus safety procedures.
“I want to assure you of Brown’s deep commitment to take every possible action to increase the safety and security of our campus, with the goal of protecting our community from future harm,” Paxson wrote.
Clements spent decades with the Providence police department. He started there in 1985 as a night patrol officer and was eventually appointed police chief in 2011.
The former chief left the department in 2023 when he was appointed director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services in the U.S. Department of Justice under President Biden. He stepped down earlier this year.
Paxson said she is also directing a university team to upgrade security on campus immediately, especially given that people are on campus while the university is on winter break. She said many new security measures are planned before the start of the spring semester.
“The concerns our community has about safety and security are real,” Paxson wrote. “And I share them.”
