ACLU of RI sues Brown University public safety over refusal to provide arrest records
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island has filed a lawsuit against the Brown University Department of Public Safety (BDPS), accusing them of refusing to provide requested arrest records to two journalists.
The suit comes after BDPS allegedly withheld the information from reporters for the Brown Daily Herald and Motif Magazine in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
In the 2022 instance, Brown Daily Herald reporter Noble Brigham was investigating the story of a man charged multiple times with breaking and entering and trespassing on Brown’s campus.
According to the ACLU of Rhode Island, Brigham submitted an Access to Public Records Act (ARPA) request for the suspect’s arrest reports.
This request was initially ignored by BDPS, but the department eventually replied saying that they were not required to comply with the request, as Brown is a private university and BDPS was not subject to ARPA.
In 2023, Motif Magazine reporter Michael Bilow filed an ARPA request for BDPS arrest reports pertaining to 41 Brown students charged with trespassing and refusing to leave a university building after hours.
These arrests followed a Brown Divest Coalition sit-in protest on December 11, 2023, objecting to Brown investments in Israel in the face of the war in Gaza.
According to the ACLU of RI, Bilow’s request was also ignored by BDPS.
Both reporters filed separate complaints with the Rhode Island Attorney General’s office about BDPS’ ARPA refusals.
The AG’s office issued an opinion in January of 2025 backing BDPS’ stance that it was not subject to ARPA.
This opinion prompted the ACLU of RI’s lawsuit against BDPS.
The ACLU of RI stated:
APRA explicitly applies to private agencies that are “acting on behalf of and/or in place of any public agency,” the suit claims that BDPS clearly meets that definition.
The lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgment determining that BDPS is a public body within the meaning of APRA and therefore must comply with APRA requests for arrest records and other publicly available law enforcement documents. The suit also requests a permanent injunction requiring BDPS to provide the records requested by the plaintiffs.
When reached for comment, a Brown University representative said in part:
As the Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General affirmed in an Open Government finding in January 2025, the Rhode Island Access to Public Records Act (APRA) does not apply to private university police departments.
A representative from the Rhode Island Attorney General’s office also provided comment in the case:
Our finding speaks for itself and represents our interpretation of the APRA as it currently exists. Our Office has been, and will continue, to be vigorously committed to open government. This was a challenging issue, and we will await the Court’s guidance.
