A Brown University student named Alex Shieh hoped to resurrect a conservative student newspaper in the spring. His breakout article was to be on administrative bloat.
The 20-year-old sophomore sent emails to 3,805 administrators at Brown asking them to “describe what task you performed in the past week.“
The school responded by investigating him for inflicting “emotional and psychological harm” on the staff. They are demanding confidential information he has acquired which he says he has not acquired.
The Responses
He also received an anonymous email threatening him with his own Social Security number. Only 20 people got back to him. One wrote back, “Fuck you.” Another wrote, “stick an entire cactus up your ass.”
Maybe they were “emotionally and psychologically harmed” way before Shieh’s emails.
Shieh wrote in Pirate Wires. “Immediately after the business day started, Brown sent a memo to employees ordering them not to respond. Someone leaked my Social Security number (only those in the registrar’s office should have access to it); someone else from a Brown IP address hacked the site; and there was a coordinated effort to flood my inbox with every porn newsletter on the internet.”
How mature of the staff!
Shieh’s Purpose
Shieh was trying to uncover unnecessary jobs and any diversity equity, and inclusion positions that would be in conflict with the executive order.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) labeled the university’s actions as chilling for free speech and due process.
Mr. Shieh was trying to resurrect a conservative newspaper, The Brown Spectator, and now they are investigating them.
However, the Ivy League university contended that the Brown Spectator is not an active student organization, and his questions included derogatory descriptions of job functions.
Shieh said high tuition can be an obstacle to achieving the American dream. It costs $93,064 per year, and it keeps going up.
He also developed a database published at Bloat@Brown that uses AI to analyze each administrative impact on the university. They were analyzed on legality, redundancy, and bullshit jobs. Since he sent a letter, he was told by the university that he’s under review. That usually proceeds disciplinary action.
FIRE’s program president, Dominic Colletti, said the university not recognizing the Brown Spectator doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It doesn’t make it illegitimate for a Brown student to write for them. The University said no article resulted, and Colletti responded by saying a journalist does not always publish their work in an article. Sometimes, it’s in an infographic.
Brown University’s Mission:
“The mission of Brown University is to serve the community, the nation and the world by discovering, communicating and preserving knowledge and understanding in a spirit of free inquiry, and by educating and preparing students to discharge the offices of life with usefulness and reputation.”
They need to work on the “free inquiry” part.
Brown University Investigates Student Journalist Alex Shieh Over Email | Ben Squires, Reclaim The Net
A mass email meant to provoke reflection on administrative accountability has turned into a campus standoff over the limits of student speech.
A Brown University student… pic.twitter.com/iRsrgM5aLO
— Owen Gregorian (@OwenGregorian) March 31, 2025
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