Brown University Student Journalist Blames ‘Elitism’ for Backlash to DOGE Style Report
“I was seeking to better understand each one’s role, to identify who was necessary, and who constituted the bloat, so that Brown could become…affordable again”
It’s amazing how this simple act sent the school into a total tailspin.
The College Fix reports:
Brown student journalist blames ‘elitism’ for backlash to staff ‘bloat’ report
“Elite academia is in crisis,” says the student journalist who found himself the central figure in a First Amendment controversy at Brown University.
Alex Shieh, a sophomore, recently made headlines for his investigation into administrative bloat that landed him in hot water with Brown administrators.
“Ivy League schools used to be seen as incubators of brilliant minds, and as such, served as an economic ladder for bright kids from poor families. However, that American Dream is growing increasingly out of reach,” he told The College Fix in a recent interview.
Shieh sent every administrator at Brown an email earlier this spring, asking for details about their jobs and directing them to the website Bloat@Brown, a project of the resurrected conservative student newspaper the Brown Spectator. Shieh’s investigation organized administrative jobs into three different categories: “legality,” “redundancy,” and “bullshit jobs.”
Shieh’s self-proclaimed goal was to make Brown “affordable again,” but the university quickly levied a variety of charges against him, arguing the “derogatory” terms he used may have “emotionally harmed” employees. He also was accused of “improperly us[ing] data accessed through a University technology platform.”
While the university dropped the case against Shieh earlier this month, he believes the situation is very telling regarding the state of higher education today.
“The increase in the cost of education has trended with the increase in the number of administrators — 3,805 at Brown, which has an undergraduate population of only 7,200…” he told The Fix via email.
“I was seeking to better understand each one’s role, to identify who was necessary, and who constituted the bloat, so that Brown could become…affordable again,” Shieh (pictured) said.
In his report, he found that the university employs “roughly one administrator for every two undergrads, meaning that every student personally foots the bill for half of an administrator’s salary.”
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
credit to him for having the courage to step up and challenge people who have no regards for human life
.
Anyone psychologically inadequate enough to be “emotionally harmed” by any of this needs to be fired immediately by Brown, if only in corporate self-defense.
It’s not elitism to blame for the reaction to his “bloat” report, but groupthink.
Shieh’s math may be a little fuzzy.
*IF* tuition and student fees paid all of Brown’s bills he’s correct.
To the extent any of Brown’s total expenses are paid from endowments, donations or non-student or parent sources, he’s wrong.
Stereotypically Asian students are really good at mathematics. But maybe this is accounting or something else.