Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Like other members of the Ivy League, it is known for prestige, academic rigor and selective undergraduate admissions process. Among its peers, Brown is noted for a culture of campus activism and longstanding commitment to academic and intellectual freedom exemplified by its Open Curriculum and course "shopping period."Amanda Katzaug, "In Providence", New York Times, August 22, 2014. Accessed April 29, 2018. The university has been described as the "progressive Ivy," "hip Ivy," and "creative Ivy."
Brown is consistently referenced in popular culture, including in works of cinema, television, music, and the written word.
Faculty Josiah Carberry – Professor of Psychoceramics (the study of cracked pots), who was created as a joke in 1929 and who has become a tradition at Brown. On every Friday the 13th, cracked pots are left around the Brown campus for students to deposit their pocket change. The money goes to support the Brown University library. Traditionally, Brown alums everywhere send their pocket change to the library on Friday the 13th. There is an organization of alums called "Friends of Josiah" that meets for dinner on the Brown campus on Friday the 13th.Rob Lammale, "The Legend of Professor Josiah S. Carberry", Mental Floss, May 15, 2015. Accessed July 27, 2017.
Literature Eric van der Woodsen – in the book series Gossip Girl written by Cecily von Ziegesar, Eric is a student at Brown University. In Hannah Lillith Assadi's novel Sonora, the protagonist's unnamed manager, drops out of Brown Andrea Sachs – The main character in the 2003 novel The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger. Jeffrey Eugenides's 2011 novel The Marriage Plot centers on the lives of three Brown students The 1924 novel The Plastic Age by Brown professor Percy Marks depicted a thinly disguised version of Brown. The novel depicted or suggested a campus of hazing, smoking, drinking, partying, and "petting." The book was the second best-selling novel of 1924, and turned into a film of the same name. Marina Thwaite, Danielle Minkoff and Julian Clarke, characters from Claire Messud's 2006 novel The Emperor's Children, were all friends at Brown University. In Akhil Sharma's 2014 novel Family Life, the narrator, Ajay, is rejected from Brown David Foster Wallace's novel Infinite Jest includes a description of a ludicrously botched attempt to fix a Brown–Yale basketball game, which has consequences for main character Don Gately. The character Geoffrey Day graduated magna cum laude from Brown, where he experienced an episode of depression in his second year. In H. P. Lovecraft's short story ''The Call of Cthulhu" (1926), the narrator, Francis Wayland Thurston, writes that his grandfather, George Gammell Angell, was "Professor Emeritus of Semitic Languages in Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island."
Film and television Nathan Huffner (Rick Moranis) wears a Brown University T-shirt in the 1989 movie Parenthood The Sopranos: Season 2 episode "The Happy Wanderer" begins with a Brown admission officer's visit to Meadow's high school; he notes that "admission is extremely selective" Sean Alvarez (played by Andre DaSilva), honest stock broker and murder victim on Law & Order, 2000 episode "Trade This" (season 11), produced by Jeffrey L. Hayes, Brown '66. Sabrina Anderson / Sabrina Jordan (played by Spencer Locke) – young woman held hostage during a robbery who, as a result, must enter witness protection and will not be able to go to Brown where her old friends will recognize her, on In Plain Sight – 2010 (season 3) episode "WitSec Stepmother" Sam Arsenault (played by James Naughton, Brown '67) – guest villain on Damages (2006–7). In one episode, he sings Danny Boy at a cocktail party, telling the guests he sang it with the Jabberwocks when he was an undergraduate student at Brown. Jim was, in fact, a member of the Jabberwocks when he was an undergraduate at Brown. Ann August (played by Natalie Portman) – central character in Anywhere but Here; daughter of Adele August (played by Susan Sarandon). Ann applies and is accepted to Brown, much to her mother's dismay over the distance.Stephen Hunter,"'Anywhere but Here': Plain Truths That Hit Home,'", The Washington Post, November 12, 1999. Accessed July 27, 2017. "Ann's job is to be her mom's best friend. Ann, of course, wants to be anywhere but here, and that would be Brown University." Guinevere Beck (played by Elizabeth Lail) – Central character on You, an MFA student who went to Brown for her undergraduate education In BoJack Horseman season 2, film director Kelsey Jannings is quoted as saying, of her daughter Irving: "Indie darling daughters don’t go to Brown, okay? They end up at cute, little pat-on-the-back factories like Vassar, and then they move back in with their indie darling mothers and make weird puppet shows with their tampons and get a profile in New York Magazine, and the horrible cycle continues." Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) – lead character of the HBO romantic sitcom Sex and the City Cliff Calley (played by Mark Feuerstein) – Senate Majority Counsel on The West Wing. Laurel Castillo (played by Karla Souza) – law student on How to Get Away with Murder. Clippy – Microsoft Office Assistant represented as an animated paperclip, who, according to his résumé, has a degree in art–semiotics from Brown, where he "graduated cum laude with a performing arts thesis that involved twisting myself into a representation of Michelangelo's David"Ryan Cruise, "Alums who do cool things: Clipford "Clippy" Robinson ’94, Microsoft Office Assistant", The Brown Daily Herald, March 10, 2015. Accessed July 27, 2017 Laura Donnellon (played by Tracy Lynn Middendorf) – guest drug addict who drops out of Brown on The Guardian, episode "Hazel Park", in 2003 Andrew Garner / Lash (played by Blair Underwood) – psychologist, husband of Melinda May; becomes Lash on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Garner is seen to have received his PhD at Brown in the episode "Chaos Theory". Amy Gardner (played by Mary-Louise Parker) – women's rights activist and later Chief of Staff to the First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the television series The West Wing. Gardner was asked by the First Lady where she got "such a smart mouth", to which Gardner quickly replied "Brown."Emily Jones, "Brown's Most Notable Fictional Alumni", Providence Monthly, February 25, 2014. Accessed July 27, 2017. Brian Griffin (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) – erudite, alcoholic dog from the animated television series Family Guy; dropped out one class short of graduating; re-enrolls and fails in the episode "Brian Goes Back to College". During the episode, Stewie Griffin (also voiced by MacFarlane) lives in the dorm with Brian. Joy – the wealthy nomad Don Draper meets in Mad Men: "The Jet Set" (season 2, episode 11) took a literature survey course at Pembroke College Lucy Kelson (played by Sandra Bullock) – protagonist of Two Weeks Notice is a liberal lawyer who specializes in environmental law in New York City and is hired by an immature billionaire who needs a Chief Counsel who not only will file briefs but help with every little aspect of his life. She and Meryl Brooks (played by Heather Burns) have known each other since "Brownie days." Nick Mercer (played by Dermot Mulroney) – male escort hired by Kat Ellis (played by Debra Messing) to be her date to her sister's wedding in the film The Wedding Date; Mercer graduated from Brown with a degree in Comparative Literature Otto Mann (voiced by Harry Shearer) – bus driver from the animated television series The Simpsons, who claims to have almost received tenure as a professor at Brown in one of Lisa Simpson's dream sequencesEliza Lane, "Brown alums pay homage to alma mater on the big screen", Brown Daily Herald, February 28, 2005. Accessed July 27, 2017. "An extensive list of TV shows feature alleged alums, including "The Simpsons," in which burnt-out bus driver Otto Mann is an alum...." Imani Morehouse (played by Nicole Beharie) – district attorney on The Good Wife Jack Morgan – lead detective in the Private detective series written by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. Jonathan "Mox" Moxon (played by James Van Der Beek) – main character of the film Varsity Blues; this tormented replacement quarterback for his small-town Texas high school football team must devote himself to football and become a hero; receives acceptance to Brown, but his coach blackmails him to play football by threatening to ruin his transcript Michael O'Neal (played by Dermot Mulroney) – main character of the film My Best Friend's Wedding Julianne Potter (played by Julia Roberts) – main character of the film My Best Friend's Wedding and her "best friend" Michael O'Neal (played by Dermot Mulroney), who met and made their marriage pact while attending Brown Audrey Raines (played by Kim Raver) – Jack Bauer's lover and Inter-Agency Liaison in the U.S. Department of Defense in the television series 24; earned an A.M. in public policy from BrownEliza Lane, "Brown alums pay homage to alma mater on the big screen", Brown Daily Herald, February 28, 2005. Accessed July 27, 2017. "An extensive list of TV shows feature alleged alums, including "The Simpsons," in which burnt-out bus driver Otto Mann is an alum; "Will & Grace," in which the title characters met during their time together at Brown; and "24," the dramatic action series featuring a character who, according to the show’s official website, allegedly received a master of arts degree – with a specialization in public policy – from Brown." Elliot Reid in the television series Scrubs; revealed in the episode "My Turf War" that she and her sorority sister Melody O'Hara attended Brown Monica Reyes (played by Annabeth Gish) – FBI Special agent in the television series The X-Files, who studied folklore and mythology at Brown Andrea Sachs – The main character in the 2003 novel The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger. However, in the film version, Sachs is a graduate of Northwestern University. Ryder Smith (played by George Hamilton) – leading man in Where the Boys Are a 1960 movie about spring break in Ft Lauderdale, shown during exam week on the Brown campus. Jessica Stein (played by Jennifer Westfeldt) – titular character of the film Kissing Jessica Stein Eileen Stevens – mom on Even Stevens Jaye Tyler (played by Caroline Dhavernas) – snarky souvenir store clerk and main character of the television series Wonderfalls, who studied philosophy at Brown Bridget "Bee" Vreeland – from the novel series Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Bill Wentz (played by Jack Noseworthy) – U.S. Navy radioman in the film U-571, who studied German at Brown Seth Cohen (played by Adam Brody) and his girlfriend Summer Roberts (played by Rachel Bilson) – in the television series The O.C. both applied to Brown and had interviews with the admissions officer from Brown. In a few episodes, both were seen competing to gain more extracurricular activities to add to their C.V. hopefully to increase their chances to Brown. Ultimately however, Seth was rejected and Summer was accepted. Summer enrolls but is suspended for one year following her first semester after she freed rabbits in a science laboratory, and fellow student Winchester "Che" Cook (Chris Pratt) falsely accused her of other acts. Summer eventually returned to Brown and graduated.