Amplifying Student Diversity

"Universities are usually badmouthed for being inflexible, for not offering relevant courses, or being unresponsive to students. Students should have influence to shape curricula."

Brown had an immense commitment to her students and always fought for the good of them. Brown cared for diversity of the student body. In an oral history interview, Brown stated that, "George Mason...was very white." She added that Black students were so marginalized that, "they would sit apart from everybody else." Brown rejected this reality for George Mason and organized her students and the local community to do an informal course on Black literature. 

Brown also supported establishing the Upward Bound program, which was a federal initiative for first-generation, low-income high school students. Many of these students were Black. Brown was appointed to be on a faculty committee in October of 1969. Their main goal was to investigate the feasibility of the program at GMC. The committe found that it was feasible, so they submitted a proposal to bring the program to GMC.

However, Chancellor Lorin Thompson rejected the proposal. Issues like cost and space were at the forefront of his reasons. This didn't stop the comittee however. They shared with Broadside every detail about the interactions with administration. Chairmans missing meetings and intentionally withholding documents were mentioned in their call-out in Broadside. At the end of their letter, the committee accuses Chancellor Thompson of rejecting this program because majority of the students would be Black. 

Shortly afterwards, Brown received a letter stating that her contract is being terminated due to an anti-nepotism policy. This comes as she had recently married associate dean, Stephen Brown, just three months before this. However, this act is widely viewed as retaliation for her being outspoken against the administration. 

Brown also amplified the women and brought feminist views to campus. In 1973, Lorraine Brown was one of three teachers who taught the "Women in Literature" course. This course was requested by the Women's Studies Group on campus, which had been meeting for about a year and a half. 

Brown stated one of her goals for the course is helping “the women in the class to gain a sense of themselves as complete women, not stereotypes.” She also pointed out that most female characters in literature had been analyzed mostly by men, "because men dominated both college teaching and writing." This course was an opportunity for women to challenge that. In doing so, Brown created a space for women to see themselves in a new light through the literature they read. 

Today, Brown is considered a founding member of the Women and Gender Studies program at George Mason University.