The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has expanded its inquiry into Brown University for a Title VI Federal Rights Violation, according to a campus-wide email sent from Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey and the Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Matthew Guterl.
Previously, the HHS investigation, which began in February, covered only a protest that took place at the Warren Alpert Medical School graduation last May. Now, the investigation covers the entire university for the period beginning with the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks to the present.
Brown had resolved previous charges of antisemitism brought against it through an agreement with the Department of Education’s Office of Human Rights last summer. In the resolution, the school agreed to take measures to combat antisemitism on campus.
Carey and Guterl wrote in their campuswide note that, over the next few weeks, “HHS will collect information through documentation from the University and interviews with members of the community that the agency has identified as having information that might aid its investigation.”
Brown says it is confident its response to protesters during the medical school graduation were in compliance with the Title VI chapter of the Civil Rights Act.
“Brown is resolved in its cross-campus efforts to ensure a community where all individuals feel safe and valued and where no instance of antisemitism, Islamophobia, or discrimination or harassment based on race, color or national origin is tolerated,” wrote Carey and Guterl.
Brown is among a small handful of universities whose administrators agreed to consider proposals to divest from companies that support Israel in its war against Gaza as a way to negotiate an end to encampments last year.
According to press releases from the federal government, at least 50 colleges and universities are under federal investigations for Title VI violations.
The news comes as the federal government told news outlets last week it was pulling back $510 million in federal funding from Brown. It also comes amid local visa revocations. The Rhode Island School of Design said this week one of its students had their visa revoked, while Brown University said one student and several recent alumni have had their visas revoked.
