Brown University announced a list of new safety measures on Tuesday after this month’s mass shooting that left two students dead and nine others wounded at the higher education institution.
Hugh Clements Jr., who currently serves as interim vice president for public safety at Brown, said several measures are being prioritized before students return to campus next month.
Among the actions that the university is taking ahead of the spring semester are transitioning campus buildings to card access, installing additional security cameras in key areas, and adding panic buttons in critical locations. There will also be enhanced public safety training and staffing.
On Dec. 13, a gunman opened fire on students during finals on campus in Providence, Rhode Island. The two students who were killed were identified as Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov.
Brown hopes the new measures will prevent a similar tragedy in the future.
“What happened on Dec. 13 should never happen again — at Brown or anywhere — and we must confront that imperative for our community with steadfast purpose,” Clements wrote in a letter to the campus community.
Clements, who led the Providence Police Department from 2011 to 2023, assumed the role of Brown’s public safety head last week after his predecessor was placed on leave due to the shooting.
“As I step into this role, I do so fully aware that there are critical questions about the strength of our safety and security systems,” he said. “Acknowledging those questions is not about assigning blame — it is about responsibility, learning and improvement. My commitment to you is simple and unwavering: We will build a stronger, sophisticated and more resilient model of campus safety — together.”
BROWN UNIVERSITY VOWS ‘SYSTEMATIC SECURITY REVIEW’ OF CAMPUS AFTER BEING LABELED ‘SOFT TARGET’
Clements reiterated a statement from Brown University President Christina Paxson, who announced last week that an after-action review and a comprehensive campus safety and security assessment will be conducted.
The suspected shooter was a former Brown student named Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48. Two days after the Brown shooting, he allegedly killed a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. The manhunt ended when authorities located the suspect’s body in a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire. His death was ruled a suicide, resulting from a gunshot wound to the head.
