Brown University has launched a survey of students to send emails to administrators asking what they are doing in a day.
Alex Sier, a 20-year-old sophomore at the university, emailed all 3,805 Brown’s administrators, asking them to “explain the tasks you performed last week.” According to documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation, the school is investigating him for causing “emotional/psychological harm” to staff.
School officials accused Shie of obtaining confidential information and demand that he certify that he has deleted the content. policy He is supposed to protect him. Shieh denies that he has obtained sensitive information.
Brown University Emails Student Journalist Alex Shee | Ben Squires Gets Net Back
The massive amount of emails aimed at inducing reflection on management accountability has turned into campus standoffs surrounding student speech limits.
Brown college student… pic.twitter.com/irsrgm5alo
– Owen Gregorian (@owengregorian) March 31, 2025
Brown immediately tried to silence Shee. The student says the site he surveyed created to record the information he captured in his research. Bloat@BrownI was hacked by someone who had a university IP address as soon as I sent an email to the administrator. Shie also received an anonymous email threatening him with his own Social Security number.
“I was hoping for some level of engagement, but only 20 people came back, one of them replied, ‘Fuck You’. [my] Ass,” she wrote Pirate Line. “Immediately after the opening of the business day, Brown sent a note to an employee who ordered the employee not to respond. Someone leaked my Social Security number (which should only be accessible to people in the registrar’s office). Someone else with a Brown IP address hacked the site.
Sier was trying to uncover not only redundant or unnecessary work, but also diversity, equity and inclusive status that is currently violating federal directives. (Related: yet another university doubles its diversity commitment despite Scotus’ ruling)
“The motivation is that it’s Brown and Ivy League in general – the prices go through the roof,” Sea told DCNF. Brown charges $93,064 to students who cost $93,064 per year for tuition alone, and Second most expensive Domestic.
The university was also roughly $254 million In federal funding in 2024 alone, courts are pushing to prevent the Trump administration from cutting indirect research funding from universities.
“I’m trying to help Brown. I’m going to expose these things so that they can get rid of themselves, comply with it, raise awareness about it,” Shee told DCNF. “It’s certainly not my goal for Brown to lose federal funds. I hope to adhere to it, maintain federal funds, and remove all these other managers that may not be legally questionable, but in itself it’s not necessary and it’s ultimately inflated.”
Brown is already on the federal radar, and the Department of Education is currently investigating the school on allegedly violations of the Civil Rights Act, and is said to have failed to protect Jewish students from discrimination.
In a letter notifying Shieh of the investigation, Brown accused the students of “violating privacy” and “violating operational rules” by sending emails. The school also said he misrepresented himself as a reporter for Brown’s audience.
“My investigation into bureaucracy seemed like retaliation and they decided to investigate me,” Shee said. “I think it’s retaliatory because lowering the cost of education might be beneficial to students, but that’s an existential threat to this whole management class. So, in that sense, I think it makes sense that they’re getting weird about this.”
The brown representative confirmed the investigation into the DCNF but refused to provide additional information.
“Emails were sent to about 3,800 brown staff in the early hours of Tuesday, March 18th, noting the launch of a website that appeared to be targeting their name and location descriptions incorrectly using data accessed through the university’s technology platform. “The emails were framed as journalistic inquiries, but the expected news organization identified in the email had not had an active status in Brown for over a decade. News articles were not resulting, many of whom expressed concern, did not respond, and assessed the situation from a policy perspective.
A “discreet explanation” refers to a cier who describes what he said as an unnecessary and redundant position as “bulk work.”
“Due to federal laws protecting student privacy, universities cannot provide additional details to counter public inaccuracies and false features,” a university spokesman said. “We deal with this issue with the most seriousness.”
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