The Herald looked back at almost 30 semesters of poll data to track the evolution of Brown’s undergraduate students and their opinions.
Each semester, The Herald polls about 1,000 undergraduate students on topics ranging from national politics and new University initiatives to campus relationships and party culture. Its list of questions changes in varying degrees each semester, but the goal of The Herald’s semesterly poll remains the same: to capture the perspectives and backgrounds of the undergraduate students that, at the moment, call College Hill home.
The Herald looked back at almost 30 semesters of poll data to track the evolution of Brown’s undergraduate students — and their opinions — over the past 15 years.
President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 has had a fluctuating approval rating since she was inaugurated on Oct. 27, 2012. Paxson’s approval rating reached its highest in fall 2017, when 62% of poll respondents indicated either strong approval or general approval of her. That semester, the University had launched the “Brown Promise” initiative, aiming to eliminate all loans in undergraduate financial aid packages. It also increased support and resources for undocumented students after the Trump administration ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
But Paxson’s approval rating steadily declined after this peak.
Disapproval of Paxson peaked in spring 2024, when 59% of respondents “strongly disapproved” or “disapproved” of the University president. Disapproval of the Brown University Corporation, the University’s highest governing body, also peaked that semester, with over 56% of poll respondents disapproving of the Corporation.
The semester before, protests had erupted across the country — including on Brown’s campus — prompted by the Israel-Hamas war, with some student groups calling for the University to divest from companies affiliated with Israel. That year, student activist groups carried out multiple protests, including two sit-ins that resulted in the arrests of 61 total students. In February 2024, 19 students had also begun an eight-day hunger strike in support of divestment.
After The Herald’s Spring 2024 Poll was conducted, around 80 students began a week-long encampment which ended when the Corporation agreed to vote on a divestment proposal. They ultimately rejected the proposal in October 2024.
Paxson’s approval rating has modestly rebounded since 2024. In The Herald’s Fall 2025 Poll, 34% of respondents approved of the University’s president compared to only 25% disapproving. Disapproval of the Brown University Corporation has continued to decline, with 32% of undergraduates disapproving of the Corporation in this semester’s poll.
Over the last 15 years, approval of the U.S. president has declined among poll respondents. Presidential approval peaked ahead of the 2012 presidential election, when 78.8% of undergraduates approved of former President Barack Obama, according to the Herald’s Spring 2012 Poll. Former President Joe Biden had more lukewarm reception among Brown students, with only 44.2% of poll respondents approving of the former president in fall 2023.
Still, no recent president has had a higher disapproval rating among Brown undergraduates than President Trump, whom 92.1% of poll respondents disapproved of in spring 2025. That same semester, 76.7% of undergraduates described their political ideology as “somewhat liberal” or “very liberal.”
This past April, the White House announced plans to freeze $510 million of Brown’s federal funding in response to alleged antisemitism and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Research funding was restored in late July when the University agreed to align diversity and inclusion practices with federal nondiscrimination guidelines and adhere to NCAA rules regarding the participation of transgender athletes, among other provisions.
After spending its $1.2 million surplus in the 2022-23 academic year, the Undergraduate Finance Board faced a $1.5 million gap between the budgets requested by student groups and the amount of money it could disburse to them in the following academic year. In response, the UFB restricted budgets in fall 2023, causing many student groups to replan or cancel events and activities.
In interviews with The Herald at the time, student group leaders expressed concerns over how the budget reductions meant they would not be able to perform key club activities. In spring 2024, 36.8% of undergraduate students disapproved of the UFB, but its approval rating has bounced back from this low over the past few semesters. Despite communication issues and continued funding problems in fall 2024, UFB disapproval dropped to 24.6% last semester. Now, only 14.5% of students disapprove of the UFB, while 28.5% of students approve of it, according to The Herald’s most recent poll.
Despite the relatively progressive politics of Brown’s student body, support for affirmative action waned in the semester before the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which limited the consideration of race in college admissions decisions. In spring 2023, 56% of poll respondents supported the consideration of race in college admissions, down from 64.7% in fall 2018.
The Supreme Court’s decision was followed by major changes in the makeup of Brown’s student body. In the year following the decision, Black and Hispanic enrollment at Brown plummeted, according to The Herald’s first-year poll for the class of 2028. Black student enrollment among first-years moderately rebounded this academic year, increasing from 7.7% for the class of 2028 to 12.0% for the class of 2029.
White student enrollment at Brown has steadily declined over the past 13 years, according to The Herald’s polling. In fall 2012, 63.4% of poll respondents identified as white, dropping to 47.3% in fall 2025. Polling indicates that Asian student enrollment has almost doubled, growing from 20.4% in fall 2012 to 40.3% in fall 2025.
Legacy preferences in Brown’s admissions process have been broadly unpopular among the undergraduate student body in recent years. Last semester, support for legacy admissions declined to 15% from a high of 29.6% in spring 2019. But at the same time, disapproval of legacy admissions also declined from 66% in spring 2022 to 56% last semester.
In 2023, the University created an ad hoc committee to reevaluate Brown’s admissions policies, including the consideration of legacy status. The committee announced its recommendations in spring 2024, which included reinstating a standardized testing requirement and maintaining early decision admissions. The committee did not issue a recommendation on the future of legacy admissions, seeking further community input. The University has not publicly announced any major changes to legacy preferences in undergraduate admissions.
Over the past nine years, legacy enrollment has remained relatively constant, according to The Herald’s poll, with around 15% of undergraduates having a sibling, parent or grandparent who also attended Brown.
Since 2012, Brunonians have changed how they approach relationships on campus. Compared to previous years, more students at Brown are single and less are participating in hook ups, according to The Herald’s polling.
The percentage of students who are single has increased from 48.5% in fall 2012 to 68.7% in fall 2025. At the same time, the percentage of students hooking up with multiple people had decreased from a high of 12.6% in fall 2012 to a near-low of 1.5% this semester. The proportion of students in a casual relationship has also been more than halved, falling from a high of 9.8% in fall 2023 to a low of 4.4% this semester. Still, love can be found on College Hill: The percentage of students in a long-term relationship has stayed relatively stable over the past 13 years, hovering around 25%.
Want to learn more? Check out past poll dashboards: