Students push Brown to pay city more

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - Brown University students are pressing the Ivy League school to increase its voluntary payments to the city at a time when Providence could face bankruptcy.

Students held a small campus rally Friday morning asking Brown to pay what they call its "fair share." Brown agreed in 2003 to make payments in large part to cover what it would have paid in property taxes.

But Mayor Angel Taveras says the city faces financial "devastation" if Brown and other institutions don't contribute more and if city retirees don't accept pension cuts.

Senior Tara Kane Prendergast says she's ashamed the university is making city residents feel like their economic problems are not also Brown's problems.

Brown says it's in talks with the city to reach a fair and equitable solution.