PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Hundreds of Brown University students silently marched across campus Wednesday to protest the college’s handling of recent sexual assault allegations, saying the school is trying to protect its reputation rather than the victims of assault.
About 400 protesters gathered at the school’s Wriston Quadrangle before marching across the street to University Hall, which houses the university president’s office. They then walked silently through the building’s hallways before forming a circle outside near the Van Wickle Gates of the Ivy League school.
Many participants taped $1 bills across their mouths, saying it symbolized how the victims have been silenced. Organizers have been using the hashtag #MoneyTalksAtBrown on social media sites to draw attention to the allegations.
“Overall, we feel Brown is more concerned with protecting its image than protecting the community and the students who live here,” said Jeanette Sternberg Lamb, who helped organize the protest. “Money and influence were two divisive factors here.”
The university recently dropped its inquiry into drugging allegations by two female students, one of who claimed she was sexually assaulted, when they attended a party hosted Oct. 17 by the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.
In November, the school announced that one of the students had tested positive for the date-rape drug known as GHB. But just last week, university officials said the laboratory had recanted its findings after outside medical experts challenged the results.
Sternberg Lamb and other organizers have questioned the school’s decision to drop the inquiry. They say the school might be protecting one of the two men accused in the allegations because he is related to a school official.
