A Brown University student got into trouble with the administration after sending an Elon Musk-style email to gather information for an article in his college paper.
The New York Times reported that sophomore Alex Shieh sent "DOGE-style questions" to Brown's administrative employees asking them to justify their jobs. His action was inspired by Musk's February email to federal employees instructing them to list five things they accomplished over the week "or risk termination."
The questions ranged from "Please describe your role," to "What tasks have you performed in the past week?" and "How would Brown students be affected if your job didn’t exist?"
Shieh's idea was to use the information for an article "on the increase in administrative positions at the university," in order to illustrate "how colleges have strayed from their core educational functions." Shieh told the Times that he was trying to make a point "about the cost of higher education."
“It’s not inherently conservative to want to make education more affordable,” Shieh said.
Instead of viewing it as a First Amendment issue, Brown University summoned Shieh and other students to disciplinary hearings for possible "invasion of privacy." They were later cleared of wrongdoing, but the Times called the case an "example of how universities continue to struggle with protecting the rights of students to express themselves on campus."
Most recently, pro-Palestinian protesters on campus have been accused of fomenting antisemitic hate and harassment against Jewish students. Universities have yet to determine a line between free expression and serious allegations of hate-based harassment. For its part, the Trump administration pulled federal funding from schools like Harvard University for allegedly not doing enough to stem antisemitism.
President Trump has made no secret of his disdain for academic elites, and is seeking to divert federal funds to send students to trade schools instead.