Brown’s Strange War on RUF

By the time this article goes to print, the Brown campus will be generally aware of the circumstances surrounding the suspension of Reformed University Fellowship (RUF). Our leadership team has run into many hurdles and roadblocks with the Brown administration over the past year, for reasons which are still unclear. In the fall semester of 2005, our campus minister submitted an affiliation renewal form late. A few months after the form was submitted, the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life (OCRL) refused to grant the renewal and revoked our campus minister’s affiliation with the university. As a result RUF no longer had an advisor, which OCRL requires of religious student groups.

Following the revocation of our campus minister’s affiliation in the spring semester 2006, OCRL told the RUF leadership that we would have to work more closely with their office to have the affiliation restored. Our leadership reached out on many occasions throughout the spring 2006 semester to build a stronger relationship with Allen Callahan, Brown’s Protestant Chaplain. Our attempts sometimes were dismissed by OCRL, citing busy schedules. However, each email, meeting, and phone call that did take place seemed to be more optimistic than the last, and we felt confident that we were on the path to having our campus minister reinstated.

It came as a surprise when we received an official notification in the opening days of the fall semester 2006 that RUF had been suspended as a student group on campus. There were three stated reasons for the two-semester suspension. First, we were told that Trinity Presbyterian Church, where our campus minister is on staff, had withdrawn its affiliation with RUF. In actuality, Trinity never withdrew its support of RUF, and the senior pastor of Trinity immediately responded to the suspension email communicating this fact.

Second, we were told that the suspension was because of our campus minister’s late affiliation renewal form in the fall of 2005. We found this to be strange for two reasons. First, since when do student groups get full year suspensions for late paperwork? A genuine administrative oversight seems like a heavy-handed reason to bar a group from campus for a full year. Second, our campus minister submitted on-time paperwork in the fall of 2006. If tardiness was the main reason for suspension, shouldn’t on-time performance the next year resolve the problem?

The third and most damning reason for our suspension was OCRL’s assertion that RUF leadership is plagued by a “culture of contempt,” and OCRL would not work with students of our character. This is a very serious charge. If OCRL is going to level such heavy charges against Brown students, shouldn’t they do so with an array of clear evidence? We have asked OCRL on multiple occasions to show us exactly what we have done that demonstrates this “culture of contempt.” They have refused to explain their charges, and our last letter requesting an explanation wasn’t even acknowledged by OCRL. Brown responded vacuously when challenged on this point in a letter from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).

Surely, you might be wondering, there must be a better explanation for why RUF has been suspended by OCRL. Is there something RUF isn’t telling us? The only reasons for the suspension that we are aware of are those indicated by OCRL. Are there other reasons for the suspension? Why does the university refuse to comment on the issue? Why are tight-lipped administrators allowing half-truths abound to their shame?

RUF fits all characteristics Brown students associate with a student group: we are a group of students, we meet on a regular basis, we meet to pursue a common interest together, and we have developed a strong social bond amongst the group. RUF is among the largest student groups on campus when measured in terms of regular attendance to weekly meetings. We feel that we have been capriciously suspended by the university, and we do not know why. All we want is to be treated like every other student group on campus: fairly.