On December 5, 1968, African American students from Brown and Pembroke marched down College Hill to the Congdon Street Baptist Church to protest the University’s lack of commitment to students of color. The student protestors wanted the University to increase the enrollment of black students and offer more financial support.
The student protesters represented 65 out of the 85 African American men and women enrolled at Brown and Pembroke. Pembroke students initiated the walkout that led to the start of diversity reform at Brown and Pembroke. At the time, just over 2% of students enrolled at Brown were African American. The students were determined to remain inside the church until the administration committed to change. The students demanded the administration increase the number of enrolled black students and provide more financial and transitional support for minority students.
In a letter from the Black Men of the Afro-American Society at Brown University published in the Brown Daily Herald on December 5th, 1968:
Last May, we at the Afro-American Society, President Heffner, and other administrative officials discussed a letter that demanded a complete re-evaluation and reorientation of University policy on several issues. At that time we agreed to work with the University to take the first steps toward implementing the changes we sought.
One of the areas in which we sought a policy change was in the area of admissions. We asked that the University make a commitment to recruit in each incoming freshman class, at least 11% black freshmen. At the conference last May this demand was refused, but we were told that through mutual efforts of the Admissions office and the Afro-American Society a “concerted effort” would be made to increase the number of black students at Brown and Pembroke. It has now been six months since we began engaging in these mutual efforts as a direct consequence of our demands. We had been working together with the Admissions office since September of 1967 on the question of admissions. As a result of these long and extensive efforts we have increased the enrollment of black students at Brown, from 1% of the total student body to almost 2%.
It has taken a year and a half of cooperative work to increase the enrollment of black students less than 1%. We have therefore come to the conclusion that a “concerted effort” alone is not the most effective method in increasing the enrollment of blacks at Brown. Making a “concerted effort” but having no definite goal in mind is like starting out on a long, arduous journey but neglecting to decide beforehand where you are going. In either case you end up where you started. This is not meaningful change. We have therefore decided that this course of action will not lead to a re-evaluation or reorientation of the racist policies at Brown University that gave rise to our demands in the first place.
After three days, President Heffner agreed to take steps to increase African American admissions and to improve financial aid options. The percentage of black women admitted would be increased to 12.5% and $1.2 million would be set aside over three years for scholarship and recruitment programs in order to raise the overall percentage of enrolled black students. In 1969, 128 black students entered the University.
A year later, students continued their efforts at reform. On December 10 and 11, 1969, black students boycotted classes in a protest aimed at an agreement of specific goals to increase black faculty and administrators. This protest was successful in increasing the number of black administrators and faculty. The affirmative action report required by the federal government in 1972 indicated that Brown had 19 black faculty members out of a total of 607. The number of black students had risen from 85 (2.3 per cent) in 1968 to 417 (8.9 per cent) in 1972.
“Brown University, in recognition of its role of leadership in education and social responsibility, commits its resources, both financial and human, to the achievement of certain goals of admissions of black students to the entering classes of Brown and Pembroke College.”
—Statement from Brown Administration, Brown Daily Herald, 12/6/68