PROVIDENCE — A state judge is refusing to toss out a lawsuit challenging Brown University’s claim that its police department is exempt from the state’s public records law.
In June 2025, the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island filed a lawsuit on behalf of two journalists after the department refused to provide them with reports of arrests made by Brown officers. The ACLU is arguing this violated the state’s Access to Public Records Act.
“This case presents a straightforward question: whether a private university that employs sworn police officers with full state-delegated arrest authority must disclose arrest records under APRA,” ACLU cooperating attorney Fausto C. Anguilla wrote in a legal memo. “The answer is yes.”
But an attorney representing Brown, Mitchell R. Edwards, filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, noting that Attorney General Peter F. Neronha’s office has already concluded that Brown did not violate the records law by refusing to provide the arrest reports to journalists. “Plaintiffs seek a second bite at the apple in this court,” he wrote.
Edwards also argued that the lawsuit is moot because the journalists can obtain the arrest reports through the Providence Police Department. He said Brown is required to give all of its arrest reports to the Providence police.
But last week, state Superior Court Judge Shannon G. Signore rejected Brown’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit, allowing the case to proceed for further consideration.
“We believe it is clear that the Brown University Police, with the power that they wield, should be as transparent and open as any other police department,” ACLU of Rhode Island executive director Steven Brown said in a statement. “We’re pleased that the court agreed that this case raises important legal issues that cannot be easily dismissed.”
Brown University spokesperson Brian E. Clark issued a statement saying that the, “decision appears to reflect the court’s interest in hearing further arguments, and Brown looks forward to presenting its case as this matter proceeds in the months ahead.”
Clark noted the attorney general’s office agreed that the ARPA does not apply to private university police departments. “This has long been the case, and we are prepared to mount a strong effort to make clear the many reasons why,” he said.
Among those reasons, Clark said, is that the jurisdiction of Brown’s Department of Public Safety is limited to university buildings, adjacent streets and the protection of university students, faculty, staff, and property. Also, Brown refers all cases for prosecution to the Providence Police and/or the attorney general and cooperates with records requests from those and other law enforcement agencies, he said.
The lawsuit comes as the General Assembly is considering legislation that would overhaul the APRA. One of the 48 proposed changes would state explicitly that the law applies to the “police department of any private educational institution” that employs statutorily authorized police officers subject to the law.
It comes after the ACLU said Brown University would not have been required to release an arrest report if it had captured the gunman who killed two students and injured nine others on Dec. 13.
And it comes after Michael Greco, a Brown University police officer for 18 years, testified last year before the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee, saying the APRA should apply to the Brown police. Greco said he saw Brown officers could be sent “to an incident that should have been handled by Providence police and by doing so, turn what should have been public record ... into private record.”
In 2022, Noble Brigham, then a Brown Daily Herald reporter, was investigating the story of a man who had been charged multiple times by Brown’s Department of Public Safety with trespassing and breaking and entering on the Brown campus.
Brigham submitted a public records request for the arrest reports, which was initially ignored by Department of Public Safety. When the department did respond, it was to assert that the APRA did not apply because Brown is a private university.
In 2023, Motif Magazine reporter Michael Bilow was reporting on 41 Brown University students who were arrested by Brown public safety officers and charged with trespassing after protesting university investment practices and refusing to leave a university building after hours.
When Bilow filed a public records request seeking the arrest reports, Brown’s public safety department ignored the request. Bilow and Brigham filed complaints with the attorney general’s office. Neronha’s office issued an opinion, agreeing that Brown was not subject to the APRA.
But the ACLU notes that the law explicitly applies to private agencies that are “acting on behalf of and/or in place of any public agency,” and it argues that the Brown Department of Public Safety meets that definition.
“(Brown) police officers are sworn law enforcement officers and are explicitly vested with the same powers and authority that are vested in a state or municipal police officer, the suit states.
Also, it says Brown officers are appointed by the state police superintendent, designated by state law as “peace officers” with the power to arrest people, and “have police jurisdiction on campus and upon the streets and highways adjacent to the campus.”
Edwards, Brown’s attorney, wrote that only public bodies are required to comply with the APRA and to hand over arrest records. And he argued that the Brown Department of Public Safety is not a public body, noting that it is not controlled by state or local governments and does not conduct open meetings. He said Brown University police officers remain employees of the university, which is a private institution.
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.