Brown University has launched multiple reviews into its response to the Dec. 13 shooting that killed two students and injured nine others, as the school moves to assess campus safety and prevent future incidents.
“I want to assure you of Brown’s deep commitment to take every possible action to increase the safety and security of our campus,” Brown University President Christina H. Paxson wrote in a statement, announcing that one of those steps is placing Vice President for Public Safety and Emergency Management, Rodney Chatman, on leave.
Chatman joined Brown University in 2021 as Vice President of Campus Safety and assumed the role of Vice President for Public Safety and Emergency Management in 2023, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Former Providence Police Department Chief Hugh T. Clements will serve as Interim Vice President for Public Safety and Chief of Police during Chatman’s leave.
In the statement, the school also announced that it is implementing enhanced security measures and will commission an external “After-Action Review” to assess campus safety before, during, and after the shooting. There will also be a comprehensive external safety and security assessment of the Brown campus to evaluate existing safety policies.
Paxson described the review, which will be overseen by the Brown Corporation, as “standard” and said that “the concerns our community has about safety and security are real.”
Following the deadly shooting at the Barus & Holley building on the Brown campus, authorities were on a days-long manhunt for the perpetrator, and limited camera footage of the suspect was available.
Authorities eventually identified the suspect as former graduate student Claudio Neves Valente, 48, with the help of a tip posted on Reddit. Valente was found dead in a storage facility and is also accused of shooting Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno Loureiro, 47.
A Brown University custodian, Derek Lisi, told The Boston Globe that he saw Valente around the Barus & Holley building about ten times in November and reported a suspicious person to a campus security guard near the site of the eventual shooting. “I said, ‘Something’s off with this guy, so I gotta say something,’” Lisi told the outlet, noting that the staff member he alerted did not investigate further.
“For Barus & Holley, a dedicated team is considering how operations of that building will be altered, including relocating spring classes and lectures from sensitive areas,” the president wrote, acknowledging the “impact” that returning to the building may have on students, staff, and faculty.
Paxson noted that additional security cameras, including at the Barus & Holley building, will be installed across campus, along with new panic alarms and an increased presence of police and public safety officers.
The statement from Brown University President came on the same day as a press release from the Department of Education announcing that it will conduct a “program review” to determine whether the university violated the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act, which requires universities to meet safety standards in order to receive federal aid.
As part of the review, the department has requested that Brown submit security reports, audit trails, daily crime logs, assessments of the university’s security policies, and other records, some of which date back to 2020.
“Students deserve to feel safe at school, and every university across this nation must protect their students and be equipped with adequate resources to aid law enforcement,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon in the press release.
“The Trump Administration will fight to ensure that recipients of federal funding are vigorously protecting students’ safety and following security procedures as required under federal law,” she added.
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