Last fall, at least six departments had admissions to their doctoral programs paused as the University, facing a budget deficit, looked to decrease spending. Now, five of those departments have been permitted to resume admissions, but with reduced capacity.
One department, the Department of Anthropology, volunteered to pause their admissions. The departments of Egyptology and Assyriology, classics, French and francophone studies, German studies and Italian studies were the other departments to pause program admissions. Some programs said that they had not been consulted before their admissions were paused by the Brown administration.
The Department of Italian Studies still has their admissions paused, according to their website. A professor in the department declined to comment on the pause.
In an email to The Herald, Dean of the Graduate School David Lindstrom wrote that the cuts to graduate education were made as the University was projecting a loss of $30 million for fiscal year 2026, with that deficit expected to grow in FY27.
In an interview with The Herald, Associate Professor of Environment and Society and of Anthropology Myles Lennon, who is also the director of graduate admissions for anthropology, confirmed that the Department of Anthropology volunteered to pause their admissions.
“We thought that it was more important to maintain a full cohort rather than keeping smaller cohorts multiple years,” Lennon said. “There’s a lot of benefits to ensuring that graduate students are learning side-by-side.”
The Italian studies department typically admits about two students per year, The Herald previously reported. The Department of Egyptology and Assyriology typically admits one or two students a year, the department’s Director of Graduate Studies Felipe Rojas-Silva — an associate professor of archaeology and of Egyptology and Assyriology — wrote in an email to The Herald.
“Pausing entirely makes a big difference,” he added.
Admissions have resumed for most programs, but the University has shrunk most doctoral programs. Three departments — the Department of Classics, the Egyptology and Assyriology department and the Department of French and Francophone Studies — told The Herald that they were given reduced target numbers of students to admit over the next three years.
Professor of German Studies and Comparative Literature Gerhard Richter, who is also director of graduate studies for the Department of German Studies, told The Herald that his department has not had clear communication from the Graduate School beyond a smaller target for admissions this year.
The anthropology department is still in active negotiations with the University regarding their cap, Lennon told The Herald.
According to Professor of French and Francophone Studies Lewis Seifert, who is the department’s interim chair, his department was told that they could now only house six total students across all years of their doctoral program, down from their previous cap of 13. Over the next three years, the department is permitted to admit four total students.
The classics department saw significant cuts, with their total program cap shrinking from about 20 students to approximately 12, according to Professor of Classics Stephen Kidd, the department’s director of graduate studies. They were given a three-year plan to gradually reduce the number of students.
The cost of supporting graduate students during their time at Brown can reach up to $1 million per student, Lindstrom wrote. Humanities and social science programs are typically funded mostly by the University, whereas physical and life sciences graduate programs usually receive external grant funding.
As the number of graduate students decreases, less will be available to work as teaching assistants.
Some courses, such as CLAS 0900: “Greek Mythology” — which was taken by 150 students when last taught by Kidd in 2023 — “will become a thing of the past, as there will no longer be enough TAs to support such large lecture courses,” Kidd wrote.
Richter explained that in language departments, which are typically smaller, a limited number of graduate students means they would have to work as TAs for language-learning courses instead of expanding their teaching portfolio to courses on topics that would “prepare themselves much better for an academic career.”
Some departments told The Herald that they were worried that the Office of the Provost was exercising too much power over the Graduate School and making misinformed decisions when cutting programs. Richter called the decision to pause admissions across programs “irresponsible.”
“Final decisions on admissions targets were made by Brown’s senior academic leaders in consultation with the Dean of the Faculty, the Graduate School and leaders from Brown’s schools and major academic units,” Lindstrom wrote to The Herald.
“Our overall goal has been to continue to support our programs across all major academic divisions — arts and humanities, social sciences, life sciences and physical sciences — even as funding approaches (such as the availability of external grants versus the need to provide central University funding) vary significantly across programs,” he added.
Citing the growth of the University’s endowment, Richter argued the University should not forget its academic mission.
“Ultimately, and I’ll say it up front, this is not a question of finances, it’s a question of values,” he said. “To think of it merely in terms of money, resources, is a way of saying we cannot afford to be a university. And I refuse to believe this.”
“All of the decisions we have made and continue to make are grounded in Brown’s strong commitment to doctoral education across the disciplines and to supporting students at the highest levels,” Lindstrom wrote to The Herald.
Ian Ritter is a university news and science & research editor, covering graduate schools and students. He is a senior concentrating in chemistry. When he isn’t at The Herald or exploding lab experiments, you can find him playing the clarinet or watching the Mets.
