President Ruth Simmons Office of the President 1 Prospect Street Campus Box 1860 Providence, RI 02912

Provost David Kertzer Office of the Provost University Hall, Room 114 1 Prospect Street, Box 1862 Providence, RI 02912

April 14, 2010

Dear President Simmons and Provost Kertzer,

We are writing this letter in strong opposition to the recently announced layoffs from the Swearer Center for Public Service of Janet Isserlis (Program Manager, Adult Learning and Literacy) and Claudia DeCesare (Program Manager, Community/Resident Partnerships).

As Brown alumni and members of the greater Providence community, many of us have known Janet and Claudia for many years, and have worked with them in varied roles. What brings us together is a profound respect for these two women and the incredibly important work they have engaged in at Brown and throughout the state of Rhode Island, and a sense of disappointment and outrage that their work has been devalued and disregarded by and the Swearer Center.

As staff members at the Swearer Center, Janet and Claudia have facilitated service learning experiences for literally thousands of Brown students. The relationships Claudia and Janet have created and supported between Brown and local community organizations have had two primary impacts: they have ensured that Brown students have access to well-facilitated experiences volunteering and working in the greater Providence and Rhode Island community, and they have provided area community organizations and non-profit agencies with a pool of well-trained and well-supported volunteers. Many of us who are signing this letter work or have worked for the organizations that Janet and Claudia have supported, and we cannot overstate how critical these volunteers are to our survival and success as organizations.

Considering Brown’s often strained relationship to the city that lies beyond College Hill, this decision sets back the meaningful work that the university has already done. By removing the staff most successful in facilitating meaningful linkages between the university and diverse local communities, Brown and sends the message that its commitment to the people of its home state is a priority that can be easily sacrificed in times of difficulty. We urge you to think about how these cuts in the Swearer Center’s budget will impact those people and communities in our state who are most acutely feeling the impacts of a struggling economy—exactly those whom Janet and Claudia’s work supports. The adult education programs that Janet supports provide a critical service to thousands of Rhode Islanders who are un- or underemployed, while the community health work that Claudia facilitates works to ameliorate the impacts of so many residents of our state lacking access to health insurance or affordable health care. Both Janet and Claudia are irreplaceable given their specific expertise in critical sectors of community work. Moreover, we fear that these layoffs signal a disturbing trend in the direction of Brown’s community work, away from the thoughtful perspective that Janet and Claudia have embodied while working in response to and in solidarity with local community organizations, and towards a model that prioritizes university-directed philanthropy. We oppose any cuts to the Swearer Center’s budget, and any layoffs of Swearer Center staff. The Swearer Center is the cornerstone of Brown’s work in the community, and a well-funded and fully staffed Center is critical to the University’s stated commitment to “work closely with leaders of Providence’s public education system and human service agencies to leverage the resources of the University’s centers and programs in support of our city residents.” Budgetary difficulties do not justify this de-prioritization of Brown’s responsibility to provide its students with well-supported service learning opportunities and to give back to the residents of the city of Providence and the state of Rhode Island. We ask that you make up any deficit in the Swearer Center’s draw on its endowment in order to restore the Center’s full operating budget and reinstate any staff members who the Center has laid off. As alumni, we will rethink any further financial support of the university until this situation is corrected, and as community members and staff of community agencies, we will re-evaluate our relationship with Brown. Sincerely,

Sade Bonilla (’08) 1 Brown A.M. Candidate 2010 Providence, RI

Alicia Rebeca Pantoja (’06) 2 MsEd in Reading/Writing/Literacy, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA

Brady Dunklee (’03.5) 3 Coordinator, Workplace Adult Education Project, Institute for Labor Studies and Research Providence, RI

Elizabeth G. Walsh (’03) 4 Education Director, English for Action Providence, RI

Peter Ian Asen (’04) 5 Providence, RI

David Segal 6 RI State Representative, Dist 2 Providence, RI

D. Vale Cofer-Shabica (’09) 7 High School Teacher Providence, RI

Will Emmons (’09) 8 Richmond, KY

Adam Reich (’04) 9 Berkeley, CA

Corinne Teed (’02) 10 Cascade AIDS Project Portland, OR

Jessica A. Ratner (’08) 11 Boston, MA

Olivia Geiger (’02) 12 Northampton, MA

Luz Adorno (’08) 13 Boston, MA

Julian Leichty (’06) 14 Mountain View, CA

Gabriela O'Leary (’07) 15 Adult Educator, Make the Road NY

Keally DeWitt, (’04) 16 Cincinnati, OH

Karen McAninch (’74) 17 United Service and Allied Workers of RI

Shannah Kurland (’90) 18 Olneyville Neighborhood Association Providence, RI

Cara Farber (’08) 19 Kindergarten Teacher Brooklyn, NY

Emma Tai (’08) 20 Chicago, IL

Tara Gonsalves (’08) 21 Akshara Foundation, Bangalore, India

Leah Harrison (’08) 22 KOMAZA, Kilifi, Kenya

Divya Vohra (’07) 23 Berkeley, CA

Ben Gottlieb (’08) 24 New York, NY

David Schwartz (’09.5) 25

Julia Rocco (’08) 26 National College Advising Corps 2008-2009 Somerville, MA

Ben Torpey (’04) 27 Adult Educator Providence, RI

Cristina Cabrera 28 Lead Facilitator, English for Action Providence, RI

Hana Tauber (’04) 29 Masters in Education, Adult Education and Community Development, 2008 Program Director, La Red/The Network Montevideo, Uruguay

Eric Larson 30 PhD Candidate, American Civilization, Brown University Providence, RI

Ariel Werner (’09) 31 Brooklyn, NY

Tiffany Bradley (’03) 32 Brooklyn, NY

Shannon Gavin (’07) 33 MsEd Candidate, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Program of Specialized Study: Literacy Acquisition and Instruction in the Arab World

Urmy Shukla (’04) 34 PhD student and Arts and Sciences Fellow, Emory University, Department of Sociology (Political Economy and Global Analysis) Atlanta, GA

Laura Healy (’07) 35 RI native and current Providence resident PhD Candidate, Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Romance Languages and Literatures Providence, RI

Omar Jamil Ahmed (’99, Ph.D. ’10) 36 Postdoctoral Fellow, Dept. of Neuroscience, Brown University Providence, RI

Giselle Castaño (’07) 37 Masters Student at Bank St. College for Education New York, NY

Marshall Clement (’03) 38 Seattle, WA

Lisa Lau (’03) 39 MsEd Candidate, Harvard Graduate School of Education, International Education Policy Cambridge, MA

Oscar C. Perez 40 Doctoral Candidate, Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, Brown University Providence, RI

Marlon Cifuentes 41 Action Committee Coordinator, English for Action Providence, RI

Rachel Page (’08) 42 Adult Educator Providence, RI

Judith Serlin Munoz (’03) 43 New York, NY

Jack Rusley (’03) 44 Providence, RI

Rebecca Fox (’07) 45 San Francisco, CA

Michelle Levinson (’08) 46 Philadelphia, PA

Hilary Wilson (’06) 47 San Francisco, CA

Kate Moulding (’05) 48 Organizer, UNITE HERE Local 217 Providence, RI

Emily Timm (’03) 49 Austin, TX

Heather Vail (’07) 50 Providence, RI

Annelise Grimm (’06, ’08) 51 Providence, RI

Will Tucker (’04) 52 Princeton, NJ

Melanie McCrea 53 Workforce Development & Adult Education Professional in New York (Collaborated with Janet while working for English for Action in Olneyville)

Bremen Donovan (’08) 54 Brooklyn, NY

Zarah Rahman (’07) 55 Program Officer, The Aquaya Institute San Francisco, CA

Evan Russell (’06) 56 Baltimore, MD

James Brandt (’08) 57 Democracy Prep Harlem, NY

Nadia Nguyen (’07) 58 Washington, DC Lee Gilman (’06) 59 San Francisco, CA

Eric Rodriguez (’08) 60 Legislative Consultant, Office of Legislation, Executive Division, California Department of Social Services Sacramento, CA

Aliza Zenilman (’09) 61 Boston, MA

Christina Lawrence (MAT ’08) 62 Youth Services Coordinator, English for Action Providence, RI

Ania Kubin (’06) 63 Warsaw, Poland

Katherine Dean (’05) 64 University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education Philadelphia, PA

Emily Pierson ( ’09) 65 Teacher Trumbull, CT

Helen Chan (’03) 66 Former Olneyville ESOL coordinator

Sarah Goldstein (’05) 67 New York

Arthi Sundaresh (’05) 68 Teacher, Providence Public School Department Providence, RI

David Krakow (’03, MAT ’06) 69 Stone Ridge School Washington, DC

Camilo Gaston-Greenberg 70 English for Action Providence, RI

Kevin Kenji O'Brien (’09) 71 MAT Student, Stanford University

Joshua Tartakovsky (’08) 72 Comunidades Catalisadoras Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Alexandra Dick (’07) 73 Master's Student in Psychology at Boston, MA

Deanna Kashani (’04) 74 Rochester, NY

Sarah Rodriguez (’08) 75 Chicago, IL

Deborah Steinberg (’04) 76 Assistant Director, College Visions Providence, RI

Carla Doughty 77 Former English For Action employee (2006-2008) Oakland, CA and Providence, RI

Grace Cornell (’07) 78 MA Candidate in Education: Language and Literacy, San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA

Pablo Gaston (’05) 79 Graduate Student, UC Berkeley Department of Sociology Berkeley, CA

Tyler Denmead (’98) 80 Founder of New Urban Arts PhD Student, Cambridge, UK

Joshua Starbuck Goldner (’05) 81 M.D. Candidate, Year 2, Stanford University School of Medicine Palo Alto, CA

Rudmila Rahman (’09) 82 Former Program Coordinator, The Developmentally Disabled Literacy Program Dhaka, Bangladesh

Camia Crawford (’08) 83 ’13, Brown University Providence, RI

Jehan Alladina (’07) 84 Former Olneyville ESOL Coordinator Medical Student, Baylor College of Medicine

Leah Charpentier 85 Former College Guide Graduate Coordinator, Independent Living and Career Services Burlington, Vermont

Daniel Lawlor (’08) 86 West End Community Center/PASA Providence, RI

Ellen Love (’03.5) 87 Insight Center for Community Economic Development Oakland, California

Hannah Watson (’08, MD ’12) 88 Former Swearer Center Program Coordinator Providence, RI

Daniel Schleifer (’04) 89 Development Associate, New Urban Arts Providence, RI

Kai Morrison (’07) 90 Cuzco, Peru

Pamela Pelizzari (’08) 91 Research Staff, Brown University Center for Population Health and Clinical Epidemiology Providence, RI

Laurel Shinerock (’05) 92 Crotched Mountain Foundation Cambridge, MA

Stephen Mitsuo Higa 93 Brown graduate student Providence, RI

Rebecca Vitale (’04) 94 Student, School of Continuing Education New York, NY

Caroline JoAnn Mailloux (’08.5) 95 Executive Director (in training), Global Health through Education, Training and Service Krakow, Poland/ Providence, RI

Michael Hadley (’07) 96 PhD Candidate, Harvard School of Public Health; Chair, Student Alliance for Global Health Boston, MA

Cynthia Wise (’07.5) 97 Former facilitator for English for Action (2007) Chester, NH

Paromita De (’09) 98 Instructional Support and Education Consultant, Hillsborough County Public Schools and University of South Florida Tampa, FL

Brian Rosa 99 PhD Researcher, Human Geography, School of Environment and Development, University of Manchester, UK Fellowships Coordinator at the Swearer Center, 2005-2006

Senay Goitom (’01) 100 Student, La Follette School of Public Affairs Madison, WI

Max Gitlen (’04) 101 Cambridge, MA

Heilyn Paulino (’09) 102 Former Facilitator/MET Family Literacy Program and Swearer Center Student Staffer Denver, CO

Lara Wilson (’09) 103 Washington, DC

Matthew Jerzyk (’99) 104 Providence, RI