President Reagan will be heaving a sigh of relief in Washington today because Brown students voted last night not to impeach him by a narrow 51 percent.

Students for Ethical Government, a group formed at Brown earlier this month, formulated a proposal asking students to vote to remove Reagan from the presidency because he has violated international and American law repeatedly.

John C. Bonifaz, who founded the group, said last night that he was pleased with the results of the referendum in which 935 students voted.

But the chairman of Brown's undergraduate Election Committee, Joseph M. Maurin, said that he believes students supported the referendum to attract attention to Brown. "I think those who were backing it did so because of all the media attention," the senior said.

Bonifaz, however, said that he hoped the results at Brown would have farther-reaching effects than the confines of the Providence, R.I. campus. The senior added that the substantial minority of 49 percent who voted to impeach the president showed a large support for this action.

"We're serious about trying to create sentiment in public and in Congress for [impeachment proceedings]," said Bonifaz. "We are serious about trying to impeach the President."

In a whirlwind, nine-day campaign, about 15 members of Students for Ethical Government lobbied in the student. post office for their cause. Students for Ethical Government also sponsored speakers such as John Keppel, who worked in the State Department for 22 years. Keppel spoke on the Reagan administration's alleged cover-up of the spying intentions of the Korean Airline jet shot down by the Soviets in 1983.

The group now plans to distribute the results to other universities and to begin the campaign in congress.

"It is our patriotic duty," said Bonifaz.