U.S. Senator Katie Britt, Representative Stefanik Lead Republican Colleagues in Demanding Answers for Ivy League University’s Failure to Prevent Tragic Deaths

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) led 10 of their Republican colleagues in the United States Senate and House of Representatives to demand answers from Brown University President Christina Paxson on the University's failure in December of 2025 to prevent the tragic deaths of two of their students, including Alabamian Ella Cook, and wounding of nine others.

"We write as concerned Members of the United States Congress to express profound outrage and demand accountability for the tragic and preventable murders that occurred on the Brown University campus on December 13, 2025. The deaths of Ella Cook, Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, and the wounding of nine others were not unforeseeable tragedies. Public reporting, sworn testimony, police union statements, Brown's public records, and the assailant's own words clearly establish that these deaths were made possible by more than a decade of deliberate policy decisions that prioritized activists' radical demands over student safety," wrote the members of Congress.

The members of Congress go on to recount Brown University's consistent caving to far-left, anti-law enforcement activists, putting the safety and security of their students at risk, noting the following:

"After more than a decade of poor choices, Brown leadership's decisions left its campus and students vulnerable on December 13, 2025. The University had only five officers on duty, a system of non-functional or unstaffed security cameras, and ignored multiple warnings from campus employees about the assailant. These alarming failures, compounded by an incomprehensible 17-minute delay in activating the BrownAlert system, allowed the assailant to fire off 44 unchallenged shots - killing two innocent students and injuring nine others. Brown's mistakes were not isolated lapses; they were the predictable outcome of an institutional culture so corroded that it treated legitimate law enforcement and physical security as ideological threats rather than essential protections."

Senator Britt, Representative Stefanik, and the other members of Congress believe that Brown University is in clear violation of the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act and are demanding answers from Brown on how this tragedy occurred, posing several questions to President Paxson.

The list of questions can be seen in the full letter here. The members of Congress are demanding a response to their questions no later than June 1, 2026.

Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and Representatives Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), Barry Moore (R-Ala.), Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), Dale Strong (R-Ala.), and Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) are the additional signees.

Senator Britt recently questioned Secretary of Education Linda McMahon during a Senate Appropriations Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, where she used her time to discuss Brown University's total failure. You can watch Senator Britt's full remarks from that hearing here.

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