On her watch, Brown has increased financial assistance for students and expanded its footprint in Providence’s Jewelry District, with an eye to boosting life sciences and innovation. But Brown’s attempt to create a unified health system with the state’s two largest hospital groups was rejected by regulators. And the mayor of Providence is calling on nonprofit institutions like Brown to contribute more money to the city in lieu of taxes. What does the head of Rhode Island’s premier private university have to say about all this? This week I’m going in-depth with Brown University President Christina Paxson.
Transcript:
Ian Donnis: Welcome back to The Public’s Radio.
Christina Paxson: Thank you. I’m pleased to be here.
Ian Donnis: Let’s start with the big story of the week the unprecedented criminal case against a former president. However, even some of Donald Trump’s harshest critics say the New York case against him seems kind of weak, they questioned whether this will ultimately make him stronger. And they say the focus should instead be on the issues involving January 6, and election interference in Georgia. Are these critics correct?
Christina Paxson: That I will not I won’t give an opinion on I will tell you though, there is incredible interest on campus in what’s happening in politics. You know, I remember when I was a young person and living through Watergate and other things, it’s something that will galvanize a lot of attention and get students focused on some really important issues. And that’s a good thing.
Ian Donnis: Let’s come back to Rhode Island, Providence Mayor Bret Smiley is calling for tax exempt institutions such as Brown University to increase their payment in lieu of taxes. I know negotiations are presently ongoing. What do you say about the mayor’s call for institutions like Brown to pay more?
Christina Paxson: So I you know, I believe that Brown and other not for profit institutions do have a responsibility to contribute to the well being in the city. And we have and we will, and, you know, things are more expensive than they used to be. And we expect that we will have to pay more, and we will. I’m looking for an approach that creates more alignment between the university and the city so that our growth is good for Providence and Providence’s growth is good for Brown. And I think mayor agrees with that. So, you know, we’re looking to of course, continue to make payments, but also to build a more collaborative and less transactional relationship as we do so.
Ian Donnis: You were a big supporter of the proposal to create an integrated health system between Brown and Rhode Island’s, two largest hospital groups that was rejected by state and federal regulators. Three of you: Brown and Lifespan and Care New England have moved forward by signing an agreement to align your research. Beyond that how can you three institutions try to realize some of the perceived benefits of the integrated approach?
Christina Paxson: Well, we can, as you said, the formal merger did not go through, you know, I don’t believe that was a correct decision. But that decision was made. So we have to go forward without that. And what we’re doing now is focusing on how can we collaborate with our health systems and encourage collaboration between them in ways that expands research, improves economic development, and most importantly, improves the health of Rhode Islanders and the health care that they receive? A, you know, Brown’s role, teaching research, that’s our mission. Our focus is going to be very much on integrating research in ways that benefit the health of Rhode Islanders: bringing more clinical trials to Rhode Island, new treatments, new discoveries, attracting better physicians, and, you know, educating students, both medical students and residents who we hope stay in the state to practice.
Ian Donnis: On a related note, we know that Rhode Island and even Massachusetts often described as a top place for healthcare are suffering from a lack of primary care doctors, what can be done to overcome that?
Christina Paxson: Well, we do have a pretty severe lack of primary care physicians right now in the state. I don’t have the numbers on that. But I hear it. I hear people who come to work for the University who say I can’t find a primary care doctor. Personally, I think that we really have to look at payment reform, and what incentives we give for doctors to come to Rhode Island and stay in Rhode Island. I would say the same is true for nursing, and other critical health care professionals.
Ian Donnis: We’re talking here with Brown University President Christina Paxson and Brown is pursuing a larger footprint in the Jewelry District in Providence. That includes plans for a Life Sciences building. Tell us about the university’s vision for that area.
Christina Paxson: So this vision has been developing for a long time. I’m very excited about it. Brown has invested over $300 million in the Jewelry District in the last 10 years since we started investing there. And now I think we’re at a position where we can see the outlines of a very vibrant area of the city. That is commercial, residential, university, health system, mixed use area. That’s a hub of economic activity for work for the city in the state. That’s exciting.
Ian Donnis: Brown has moved up slightly over the last 20 years in rankings by the National Science Foundation on the university’s ability to attract research and development funds. Nonetheless, your university ranks 96th. URI has lost ground about 20 years ago, it ranked 139th. And now it ranks 151st on the National Science Foundation’s List of r&d funds. What does this tell us about the state of efforts to promote an innovation economy in Rhode Island?
Christina Paxson: Well, the rankings, I wouldn’t pay too much attention to in large part, they reflect simply the size of an institution. So you know, Brown is small relative to the University of Michigan or the University of Wisconsin, something like that. So putting that aside, we do have very ambitious plans to grow our research. And it has grown a lot over the last 10 years it will continue to grow. And if we collaborate if we work strategically, with our health system partners, and we collaborate with the University of Rhode Island, which is a fantastic institution, we will be better positioned to apply for and win large grants that are going to bring money and jobs to the state. So it’s, in my mind. It’s all about being aggressive, being collaborative, and working together.
Ian Donnis: Brown researchers have worked for years on an interface between the brain and the computer. We hear a lot more about this nowadays. Even Elon Musk is working on this. And I’m not sure if I trust him given how things are going with Twitter. Nonetheless, with the brain computer interface being called an untapped market by some people. Do you think we’ve done enough to wrestle with the ethical questions that are raised by this before the technology advances?
Christina Paxson: One of the things I love about Brown is that we do take a very broad view of innovations in science and technology and looking at things from a societal lens, from an ethical lens is important to our work. You know, I look at the work that Brown has done on the brain-computer interface. And it promises to transform lives, transformed the lives of people who are paralyzed or suffering from other diseases. So I haven’t seen anything happening here that raises any ethical concerns, in my mind,
Ian Donnis: No concerns with this emerging technology that people’s thoughts will be open to scrutiny and that kind of thing.
Christina Paxson: I don’t know how advanced that work is. And I don’t believe we’re doing that work here at Brown.
Ian Donnis: You last year marked your 10 year anniversary at Brown and the Brown Daily Herald has reported that your contract has been extended through June 2026. What are what is top of mind for you on your to do list between now and the end of your current contract?
Christina Paxson: Oh, a number of things. I mean, we already talked about the growth in the Jewelry District and the growth in research. That’s really important. I put a lot of emphasis on increasing the affordability of Brown, improving financial aid. And that’s something we’re definitely going to continue. And then on campus, we have a number of other initiatives that I’m excited about one in the arts and next year we’ll be celebrating a year of arts at Brown that will welcome in the broader Providence and Rhode Island community to celebrate our great artists.
Ian Donnis: Do you hope to continue your presidency beyond June 2026?
Christina Paxson: I have made no decisions and I serve at the will of the Brown University Corporation.
Ian Donnis: One of your superstar personalities, Dr. Ashish Jha, formerly Director of the School of Public Health was snapped up by the White House to be the top COVID. Director. That COVID team is being broken up next May. And I believe Dr. Cha was officially on leave from Brown is there any time temple for him to return as Head of the School of Public Health?
Christina Paxson: We don’t have a definite date, but his intention is to return.
Ian Donnis: Brown has sometimes fought aggressively against organizing of a Graduate Student Union. At the same time, the university more recently has signaled that it will commit to using union labor for construction projects valued at greater than $25 million. Some people might see a little bit of a contradiction there. What do you say?
Christina Paxson: So I actually would say it’s not accurate that we have fought aggressively against a graduate student union. We were clear saying that we think that graduate students are first and foremost students and that’s really important to keep in mind. But our main concern and working with the Graduate Student Union is to make sure that graduate students have a voice that votes for a union or not, are based on good information. And we have a union, we bargain in good faith. We’re doing that right now. So I don’t see that as a contradiction. We do have a very strong and long partnership with the building and construction trades. And I’m proud of the commitment that we’ve made to use union labor, the people who work on those jobs. They are good paying jobs that that have the type that we need in this in this city in this state.
Ian Donnis: Brown has tried to account for the university’s historic ties to slavery. At the same time, we know that teaching racism in America remains a controversial subject that has caused a backlash in some places, how do you think the– How do you think the country can move forward with teaching the legacy of race in a better way?
Christina Paxson: You know, I think it is so unfortunate that this subject has become so highly politicized. And that there are states around the country that are passing laws, new regulations on K through 12, as well as public universities, so not Brown, but publics telling them there are topics that can’t be taught. Universities are supposed to be areas where no idea is off the table. Anything can be debated. That’s what free expression is. That’s what a university is. And this movement into censorship on the part of state governments is appalling.
Ian Donnis: How do we as a country move past that?
Christina Paxson: Well, I think the people who live in those states are going to have to push back. And once they see that, one, their state universities are going to become weaker, people will not want to work there, and that their students are going to be less well prepared to go to medical school, graduate school and college in states around the country. We need to speak out and it’s hard for the publics to speak out because they are beholden to the legislatures of the states where they are located.
Ian Donnis: We’ve got to leave it there Brown University President Christina Paxson, thank you so much for joining us.
Christina Paxson: Thank you very much.
—
It was 24 years ago this month when a sudden and surprising law enforcement action took Rhode Island by storm. The FBI raided City Hall and the East Side home of Buddy Cianci. It was 1999 and Cianci was still riding high as the mayor of Providence. He maintained his innocence and said he’d take the fight to the Hague. After being charged in a 27-count indictment, Cianci was ultimately convicted of just one charge. But that was enough to land him in prison. For more insights on Rhode Island politics, check out my Friday TGIF column posting around 4 today on my twitter at IanDon or at the publics radio.org
That’s our show for this week. Our producer is James Baumgartner.
I’m Ian Donnis and I’ll see you on the radio.
