Brown University Threatens Disciplinary Action Against Student Journalist for Exposé on School Waste

Brown University is under fire after putting a student journalist under investigation for an exposé on alleged administrative waste. The DOGE-type review of Alex Shieh embarrassed the school and certain officials. He was reportedly accused of falsely representing himself as a reporter because his newspaper, The Brown Spectator, is not a recognized student publication. The rationale seems strikingly weak and the investigation itself overtly retaliatory.

On March 17, 2025, The Brown Spectator student newspaper posted Bloat@Brown, a version of Brown’s organizational chart listing employees’ names, titles, and reporting relationships. Shieh then emailed 3,800 administrators asking them to explain what they did the prior week, an obvious duplication of Elon Musk’s famous emails to federal employees.

Staff were ordered by the university not to respond to the emails and Associate Director of Student Conduct & Community Standards Kirsten Wolfe told Shief that he was now under investigation for “access[ing] a proprietary University data system which maintains confidential … information” and using confidential information to build a public website. She also alleged that Shieh was misrepresenting himself due to the lack of official recognition for his newspaper.

He was also told by Russell Carey, executive vice president for policy and planning, that he make be charged under Code of Conduct for stating
that Brown had lost $510 million in federal funding. Carey said that the assertion was false despite a New York Times claiming just days earlier that the Trump administration was planning to cut $510 million from Brown.

The alleged violations are paper thin. First and foremost, the fact that the Brown Spectator is a new and unrecognized newspaper does not mean that it is not a newspaper. This was a journalistic enterprise. Indeed, it is a precisely the type of investigative journalism that is at the core of protections for press freedom. As noted by FIRE, as a private institution, Brown is committed to free speech and free press values.

Moreover, the statement on the funding is based on national reporting. While there may be quibbles on language, it is insignificant against the thrust of the story that Brown could lose half a billion dollars.

Brown University had every right to tell its employees not to respond to the inquiry. However, its threatening of this student journalist is abusive and retaliatory. The school needs to drop this investigation and reaffirm its commitment to both free speech and the free press on campus.