Nearly six years after returning to her alma mater to serve as Brown’s chief legal officer, Vice President and General Counsel Eileen Goldgeier has shared with me her plans to retire at the end of the fiscal year.

Eileen has been an instrumental leader in providing advice to empower the University to achieve its strategic goals and has played a key role in helping Brown navigate some of the most consequential challenges facing our campus in many decades. A Brown Class of 1985 alumna, Eileen joined the University in her current role in 2018, bringing with her 26 years of prior experience offering legal guidance on a broad range of higher education issues. The general counsel is a vital member of the President’s Cabinet.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Eileen and her team in the Office of General Counsel offered insights, analysis and guidance related to complex issues of risk management that informed many important decisions. This ranged from how best to mitigate the impact of the virus on the health and safety of the Brown community, to how the University could continue to fulfill its research and teaching mission even as the pandemic forced the need to shift activities into new formats. Eileen guided the University through the legal challenges faced by Brown and many colleges and universities across the nation. She was an essential voice in our collective efforts to weather a major public health crisis as successfully as possible.

Another major undertaking for Eileen has been helping academic and administrative leaders at Brown contend with a shifting legal landscape in regard to the consideration of race and ethnicity in college admissions. The two major legal cases that challenged race-conscious admissions persisted over many years, and she led Brown’s participation in multiple amicus briefs arguing in support of the use of affirmative action in admissions and noting the importance of a diverse student body in enriching the educational experience for all students. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision last June, which upended decades of precedent, Eileen and her team have been indispensable partners in providing guidance as we’ve worked intentionally to ensure compliance with the law while sustaining the diversity so central to our academic mission.

That work reflects Eileen’s broader focus and priority of helping Brown sustain a community that prevents and confronts issues of bias, discrimination and harassment, and ensures that students, faculty and staff can live, study and work in a caring and supportive environment. Unfortunately, our nation and our own campus have faced many challenges on this front in recent years — from an intense reckoning with anti-Black racism prompted by the deaths of George Floyd and numerous others, to the tensions and division resulting from violence in the Middle East and the associated rise in reports of antisemitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian and anti-Israeli harassment and discrimination. Eileen’s advice and analysis have proven vital in enabling us to take concrete actions to strengthen understanding about Title VI antidiscrimination statutes, for example, and to reinforce processes for addressing behavior that does not comply with law or Brown policy.

Eileen has contributed her knowledge and expertise on many other important initiatives as well. In 2020, she guided an effort to remove a reference to “Providence Plantations” that was in our official university name since 1804, as we recognized that it conjured painful reminders of one of the ugliest times in our nation’s history. Separately, she co-led a multi-year policy review project, helping to improve operational excellence and ensure policies at Brown are easy to find, read and understand. Eileen helped to transform the contract review process at Brown, streamlining the approach to determining who has the authority to sign a contract, and ensuring the University can operate efficiently yet in full compliance with the law and Brown policy. Working with colleagues from multiple divisions on campus, she also played a key role in outlining new and improved approaches to risk management and university compliance.

Co-captain of the women’s lacrosse team during her days as a Brown undergraduate (not to mention the winner of many academic and athletic awards), I know Eileen has enjoyed the chance to work closely with the Division of Athletics and Recreation, including as we’ve reshaped and strengthened our athletics programs. She has assisted colleagues across campus with numerous student and employment matters — including amid national trends toward increased unionization at universities — and managed a number of major litigation issues. And her team has been proactive in offering workshops, trainings and other resources to educate campus community members on key legal issues.

In letting me know of her plans, Eileen noted that one of the factors in the timing of her retirement is the tremendous strength of the Office of General Counsel staff. She and her colleagues are a dynamic, high-functioning legal team, home to top talent and important expertise on a variety of issues. They provide useful, thoughtful advice on an everyday basis to colleagues across campus and are essential partners in support of Brown’s mission and goals. Eileen’s retirement is effective June 30 and in the coming weeks, we’ll outline plans for a national search for her successor, as well as the best approach for interim leadership of the office.

For Eileen, retirement marks the culmination of a career in which she earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies (honors) from Brown and a J.D. from Emory University School of Law, and then proceeded to build an accomplished track record as a highly esteemed general counsel. Prior to arriving at Brown, she served a vice chancellor and general counsel for North Carolina State University.

We will miss Eileen’s steady presence, sage advice, exceptional judgment and tremendous care for everyone around her. But I know that as an alumna, her love for Brown and her connections to our campus will remain strong. Please join me in thanking Eileen for all she has done for Brown and wishing her well in retirement.

Sincerely,

Christina H. Paxson

President