Brown University charges board of The Brown Spectator for name, use, trademark violations, holds hearing

The board of The Brown Spectator — an on-campus libertarian journal — faced a disciplinary hearing Wednesday on charges that they violated Brown University’s name, licensing and trademark policies. 

"Brown has just charged every member of the board of directors of The Brown Spectator for violating Brown’s ‘Name Use, Trademark, and Licensing Policy’ for having the word ‘Brown’ in the name of our independent non-profit and our website domain," Alex Shieh told Fox News Digital in an emailed statement.

Shieh, a Brown University sophomore, had previously angered school officials by sending a DOGE-like email to non-faculty employees asking them what they do all day to try to determine why the school's tuition has gotten so expensive.

Shieh said The Brown Spectator is awaiting a ruling in the coming weeks, following the hearing on Wednesday. Two members of the board also met with Associate Dean Kirsten Wolfe separately to explain why their use of the word Brown is permissible. Wolfe is the administration member who filed the charges against the entire board.

BROWN UNIVERSITY STUDENT WHO ANGERED NON-FACULTY EMPLOYEES FOR DOGE-LIKE EMAIL FACES PUNISHMENT FROM SCHOOL 

Alex Shieh is a sophomore at Brown University.  (Photo: Zoom screenshot)

In March, during free weekends, Shieh went to a common room in his dorm's basement, and he used AI to try to determine what Brown employees did and why the school, which costs nearly $96,000 a year, was so expensive.  

Shieh then created a database of the 3,805 non-faculty employees who worked at Brown University and emailed them to ask, "What do you do all day?" 

In the inquiry, he said he identified himself as a journalist for The Brown Spectator. 

The Brown Spectator has a board of three people, including Shieh. The publication was revived this spring after it had ceased publication in 2014. Shieh told Fox News Digital that other campus publications also use the school’s name. 

"The Brown Daily Herald, a similar independent student-run nonprofit newspaper, has had ‘Brown’ in their name and website domain for decades without issue," Shieh said. 

"Many independent student publications, including The Harvard Crimson, The Dartmouth Review, and, of course, The Brown Daily Herald here at Brown, also use their schools’ names under what the law calls ‘descriptive fair use’ — using a term in its ordinary, factual context to indicate that a paper is published by students at the university in question," Shieh said. 

When creating his database, he formatted it to identify three particular jobs: "DEI jobs, redundant jobs, and bulls--t jobs." 

Shieh said he wanted to investigate DEI because of President Donald Trump's executive orders addressing DEI policies, and his administration threatening to withhold federal funds to universities who employ them. The goal was to get much data as possible to improve his research.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE 

Sayles Hall and Campus, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.  (Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

But just 20 of the 3,805 people emailed responded, and many of the responses were profane and hostile. 

Shieh said he thinks that The Brown Spectator is being singled out. 

"The timing and selective targeting of the Spectator but not the Herald make it apparent to us that these latest charges are an attempt to silence student voices critical of university administration, not a real trademark concern," Shieh said. 

On Friday, Shieh posted an ad on X he said he created, which was a paid ad on X and YouTube discussing the situation. He said it is still in the process of getting a slot on TV. 

"The timing and selective targeting of the Spectator but not the Herald make it apparent to us that these latest charges are an attempt to silence student voices critical of university administration, not a real trademark concern," Shieh told Fox News Digital. 

The Van Wickle Gates stand at the edge of the main campus of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, U.S., August 16, 2022. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

Fox News Digital reached out to Brown University for comment, but did not immediately receive a response. 

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