The College restructured the Chaplains’ Office this fall so that the chaplains no longer report directly to the Dean of the College Gretchen Long. For now, the chaplains will report to Senior Associate Dean of Academic Engagement Danielle Carr Ramdath, though this may change in the future, according to Long.
Following the retirement of Senior Associate Dean of Campus Life Doug Schiazza last spring, the College decided to begin an external review of the role of the Chaplains’ Office. The external review process, which is ongoing, included student feedback sessions, consultation from campus partners, and a visit from Rev. Janet Cooper Nelson, who is Brown’s chaplain of the university.
The review came as part of a larger effort to reexamine student life, Ramdath said. “[Schiazza] retired after 22 years, and Dean Long took that opportunity to do a review of campus life in general,” she said. “In the midst of that, we decided to do a review of the Chaplains’ Office too, because they’re part of student life.”
“The decision to restructure was mine, in consultation with [President] Maud [S. Mandel],” Long wrote in an email to the Record. “However, I had external reviews done of both the Office of Campus Life and the Chaplains’ Office. Those reviews and conversations with the reviewers helped shape my thinking.”
Long explained that she still regularly meets with Ramdath and occasionally with the chaplains, and she does not anticipate that the reorganization will influence the work of the Chaplains’ Office or students’ experiences with it.
In addition to changing the chaplains’ supervisor, the chaplains were also given new titles. For example, “Bridget Power was the Catholic chaplain. She’s now College Chaplain, Director of Catholic Life,” Ramdath said. “We did that so the students will understand that the chaplains are here for everybody.”
Reverend Valerie Bailey, formerly chaplain to the College and the Protestant chaplain, left the College earlier this month to become the priest-in-charge of two churches in her native Pennsylvania. Ramdath said Bailey’s departure was unrelated to the reorganization. “She resigned on her own,” Ramdath said.
Ramdath added that the College is not searching for a new chaplain to fill Bailey’s role while the review is ongoing.
“The chaplains are extremely excited about the ways our office can move forward with input from members across our community,” College Chaplain Rabbi Seth Wax and College Chaplain Sidra Mahmood wrote in a joint statement to the Record. “We are excited to look at creative, thoughtful, and intentional ways to engage with our campus community across religious, spiritual, and ethical differences.”
