Brown University has launched an ad hoc committee, chaired by Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Matthew Guterl, to craft fresh diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) recommendations. The group is charged with consulting campus stakeholders and delivering a draft plan to President Christina Paxson by May 1, 2026.
The new effort replaces Brown’s existing DEI framework, which ran from 2016 to 2025. That “Pathways to Diversity and Inclusion” initiative spawned a Diversity & Inclusion Oversight Board responsible for advising on implementation. The final memo from that board, submitted in June, asserted that Brown has compiled evidence suggesting merit and diversity can be “mutually constitutive.”
In her announcement, President Paxson emphasized that sustaining a diverse and inclusive community is central to academic excellence. She framed the committee’s charge as charting a “future vision” and building a multi‑year action plan. The new recommendations will guide Brown’s DEI posture across the next decade.
The move comes amid broader scrutiny of diversity and inclusion programs on U.S. campuses. Critics argue many DEI initiatives promote ideology or identity politics at the expense of academic rigor and free inquiry. Supporters counter that diversity strategies foster better learning and a more inclusive environment.
