Washington intervenes as elite campus safety collapses, raising urgent questions about preparedness, accountability, and student protection nationwide.
Federal authorities have launched a sweeping review into campus safety at Brown University following a deadly mass shooting that left two students dead and nine others wounded earlier this month. The U.S. Department of Education confirmed Monday that investigators will scrutinize whether the university complied with federally mandated safety standards tied to student aid funding.
According to officials, the review will focus on Brown’s emergency notification systems and campus surveillance infrastructure. The shooting suspect—later identified as Claudio Neves Valente—was found dead last Thursday in a New Hampshire storage facility. He was also accused of murdering Nuno Loureiro, compounding the severity of the case.
Brown President Christina Paxson stated that the university remains “deeply committed” to student safety. She confirmed that one of two emergency alert systems sent emails and text messages to roughly 20,000 people following the attack. However, the campus siren system was deliberately not activated, out of concern it could have driven individuals toward the building where the gunman was still active.
While Brown operates approximately 1,200 security cameras, authorities noted the shooting occurred in an older section of a science facility with minimal or no camera coverage. Police reported that the suspect entered an engineering and physics building on December 13 and fired at least 44 rounds from a 9mm handgun.
The Education Department has ordered Brown to submit detailed records by January 30, including crime logs, emergency protocols, and security reports. The findings will determine whether the university violated federal safety requirements—raising broader concerns about campus preparedness at elite institutions nationwide.
