Brandon Keith Brown, a former Brown University Orchestra director, has filed a discrimination complaint against the institution with the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights, alleging that he was terminated in 2017 on the basis of his race.
Brown’s complaint with the commission details the events leading up to his termination after only six weeks in his role as Visiting Professor of Music and Orchestra Director at the ivy league school.
The complaint outlines racial bias and stereotyping from students, “overmonitoring” by leaders in his department and an overall hostile work environment that caused him to become withdrawn, physically sick and “extremely anxious,” he said.
This week, the former faculty member – now living in Berlin, Germany – has also requested a second settlement agreement with the university.
“Being a Black man, I know that I will never be believed over a White person,” Brown told Diverse. “I wasn’t allowed to defend myself. Nothing I said or could’ve done would have been sufficient.”
After accepting a one-year position at Brown University in May 2017, Brown arrived at the university on September 5, 2017 and notes that he immediately felt tokenized after deputy provost and interim music department chair Joseph Meisel told him that his hiring was part of an effort to diversify the department.
“I knew then that I would be judged more harshly than all other faculty members because I was the first and only Black faculty member,” Brown said, referencing the university’s acknowledgement that the department faculty has historically been all White males.
