Friday, October 23, 2020

SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Friday, October 23, 2020

VOLUME CLV, ISSUE 39

BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

METRO

Soban plans to reopen with renovations, new menu

ARTS & CULTURE

Avon resumes showings after ‘brief intermission’ Decade old cinema on Thayer Street returns after brief closure due to COVID-19

BY MAISIE NEWBURY SENIOR STAFF WRITER

at a counter connected to the kitchen, customers will order and pay at a counter surrounded by hanging sheets of plexiglass, with refrigerators underneath.

Soban had initially closed on July 11 so that it could respond and adapt its space and menu to the demands of

Since Aug. 28, film buffs have been able to return to the Avon Cinema to watch the latest motion pictures in person.

The 80-year-old independent theater recently opened its doors to the public after a five-month hiatus.

The theater has implemented a series of safety measures, including newly installed Plexiglas partitions, hand sanitizer dispensers and an updated regimen for janitorial staff as well as strict social distancing and face mask requirements.

When audiences enter the cinema, they are greeted with a sign of safety guidelines written by the Avon’s owners Richard and Kenny Dulgarian. The sign asks all customers to follow the

SEE SOBAN PAGE 4

SEE AVON PAGE 5

NAT HARDY / HERALD

The Thayer street eatery, which closed temporarily in July, is planning to reopen with an updated menu this weekend that includes items from South Korean franchise bb.q Chicken. The restraunt underwent nearly four months of renovations.

With new affiliation to bb.q Chicken, Soban could reopen as early as this weekend

BY BEN GLICKMAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

While multiple businesses on Thayer Street closed their doors for good because of pandemic financial troubles, Soban Korean Eatery plans to reopen this weekend with a new menu and renovated space.

Soban’s menu will feature items from bb.q Chicken, a South Korean restaurant franchise with locations around the world, as well as items from

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Students reimagine activism under COVID-19 restrictions Student groups at Brown lean into remote advocacy to pursue change on, off campus

BY KARLOS BAUTISTA SENIOR STAFF WRITER While the conditions that shape the “new normal” have made it exceedingly difficult for community members on campus to safely organize, they have only made activism and advocacy more urgent.

The coronavirus pandemic gripping the nation “exposes the worst imbalances, inequalities, corruption in our society and how systems are not designed to help people,” Samy Amkieh ’21.5, a member of Brown Students for Justice in Palestine told The Herald.

Coupled with this summer’s national reckoning on racial injustice after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd,

the urge to organize and advocate for the communities impacted by racial and economic inequality is more powerful than it has ever been, Amkieh said.

This semester, Amkieh said SJP has been working to maintain pressure on the Corporation, the University’s highest governing body, to divest from companies identified as potentially facilitating human rights abuses in Palestine, as recommended by the Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investment Practices in March 2020.

SJP has also spent the semester collaborating with Grasping at the Root, a recently-formed abolitionist coalition on campus, to amplify their demands, which Amkieh said are “very closely tied with why we’re even fighting for Palestinians.”

For Sunrise Brown and RISD, which is one hub of the national Sunrise Movement, their efforts to demand the implementation of Green New Deal

SEE ACTIVISM PAGE 2

its old menu, Soban’s owner Wooma Cho told The Herald. The restaurant’s renovation expanded dining space and added new equipment necessary to make the bb.q Chicken items.

After nearly four months of renovations, the space will look a little different: To enlarge its dining space, the kitchen is now smaller. When the restaurant reopens, instead of ordering

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

U. professor explores Vatican documents Historian David Kertzer researches silence of Pope Pius XII during Holocaust

BY CLAIRE LIU SENIOR STAFF WRITER On the morning of March 2, a group of researchers gathered outside of a gate in Vatican City. They were waiting to view the archives of Pope Pius XII — a collection of millions of documents, which had been sealed since the end of his pontificate in 1958 and have only now been opened to scholars under the current Pope Francis. Among the group was David Kertzer ’69, professor of social science, anthropology and Italian studies, who has studied Italy’s religious and political history for over four decades.

Previously, the Vatican sanctioned the release of 12 volumes of documents relating to Pope Pius XII. The move to open the entirety of the doc-

News

Metro

Commentary

UCS begins modified, virtual election process for first year reps, holds two info sessions Page 3

Chinatown, metro mart will both expand their physical businesses on Thayer Page 5

Pipatjarasgit ’21: Faculty final grade submission rules, deadlines need to change Page 6

uments is the culmination of over 50 years of public pressure to investigate Pope Pius XII’s actions during WWII, as well as a part of Pope Francis’ greater efforts to increase transparency at the Vatican.

From the newly opened Vatican archives, Kertzer has found evidence revealing a clearer picture of the motivations behind Pope Pius XII’s silence and the controversial role of the Vatican after WWII. An unconventional trip to the Vatican Kertzer is one of a select group of outsiders permitted inside the Vatican walls for research. But stepping foot into the Vatican and perusing its archives involves numerous restrictions, which Kertzer has experienced during his visits, including his most recent trip to the newly opened archives from March 2 to March 6.

His scholar identification would be checked by a pair of Swiss guardsmen standing on duty inside the Sant’Anna Gate, the entry point from Italy into

COURTESY OF DAVID KERTZER

Vatican City.

After entering, he passed a second gate and walked into an open courtyard. Two main buildings for Kertzer’s research stood on either end: the Apostolic Archive, formerly known as the Secret Archive, and the Archive for the Secretary of State for the Vatican at the Apostolic Palace.

The Apostolic Archive limits entry to 60 researchers at one time. Once inside, researchers can only request three documents in the morning and two in the afternoon. Cameras, usually permitted in other state archives, are not allowed, and requesting copies

SEE VATICAN PAGE 3

TODAY

TOMORROW

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Friday, October 23, 2020

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ARTS & CULTURE

Aaron Sorkin, Jeremy Strong discuss ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ at IFF event

SUMMER ZHANG / HERALD

ACTIVISM FROM PAGE 1

COURTESY OF IVY FILM FESTIVAL

The courtroom drama is based on the 1969 trial in which seven people were charged with inciting riots and conspiring in countercultural and anti-Vietnam War riots.

Director, writer Aaron Sorkin discusses making of the film, calls for students to vote

BY MAISIE NEWBURY SENIOR STAFF WRITER The Ivy Film Festival welcomed renowned writer and director Aaron Sorkin and acclaimed actor Jeremy Strong for a conversation on their latest film “The Trial of the Chicago 7” on the evening of Oct. 21.

The historical courtroom drama is based on the infamous 1969 trial.

Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines and Lee Weiner were all charged with inciting riots and conspiring in countercultural and anti-Vietnam War protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The film focuses on the proceedings during the district court trial phase where the seven defendants were faced with the antagonization of Judge Julius Hoffman. While all defendants were ultimately acquitted of conspiracy charges, five were convicted for inciting riots and contempt of court. These convictions were later reversed on appeal.

“It all started when Steven Spielberg invited me to his house,” said Sorkin, who was approached by Spielberg with the idea for the film almost two decades ago. “I thought it was possible that I was going to be killed — but instead he said he wanted to make a movie about the Chicago 7,” Sorkin joked. “I left his house, called my father and asked who the Chicago 7 were. So at the beginning, I was just excited to work with Steven Spielberg.”

Because of his lack of prior knowledge about the case, Sorkin had to do a great deal of research, referencing books, “a 200-page trial transcript” and several conversations with Hayden. Hayden passed away in 2016, but the film’s portrayal of his character, played by Eddie Redmayne, pays tribute to his life as an anti-war and civil rights activist.

Sorkin wrote the screenplay 14

years ago, but “the project kept getting kicked down the road for a lot of reasons, one of them being the riots (in the film),” Sorkin said. “We didn’t have the budget for those scenes.” Finally, the production came together for “a confluence of reasons.”

One of these reasons was the 2016 election. Trump “would look at rioters and say stuff like, ‘In the old days we would have carried that guy out on a stretcher,’” Sorkin explained. “He was talking about 1968. Those were the old days.”

Sorkin also attributed his ability to finally create the film to the experience he gained from making “Molly’s Game,” his directorial debut in which Strong also acted. “I remember asking you that last day on set what was happening with the (Chicago 7) script because it really was the greatest script I had ever read,” Strong said.

“I like to think I had a hand in finally getting (the movie) made,” he added, laughing.

“I think it’s an important film for people to watch right now and see the historical connection to what is happening right now in the United States,” said Charlotte Wall ’22, a member of IFF and moderator of the event.

“Between the demonization of protests, … police brutality … we didn’t need it to get more relevant but then it did suddenly,” Sorkin agreed, in reference to the resurgence of protests relating to the Black Lives Matter movement after the murder of George Floyd.

“It’s all a bit surreal,” Strong said.

While filming, “we were in Chicago … marching down Michigan Avenue and chanting ‘no justice no peace,’ and ‘the people united’ — the same chants they were yelling at the police riots,” he added. “It’s troubling because it speaks to how far we haven’t come in this country. The people we portrayed in this film? They’d be on the front lines right now.”

Strong paused and gestured to his virtual audience. “They’d be you guys,” he said.

“You know what else they’d be?”

Sorkin asked. “They’d be women.

That’s what we’ve seen more and

more, especially these last few years all starting with the Women’s March immediately after (Trump’s) inauguration.”

Conversation arose around Trump’s presidency and the portrayal of Judge Hoffman in the film.

“I really saw the judge as a figure of male, white supremacy,” Wall said, prompting Strong to ask Sorkin: “Do you think the judge is a simulacre for Trump?”

“Yes. He is the authoritarian … trying to preserve with (his) last breath that quieter, whiter, 1950s America.” He is “the guard of white America,” Sorkin responded.

“It was interesting to see how (Sorkin) has adapted with the times,” said Isabella Yepes ’23, a member of IFF who watched the film and attended the livestream. “‘The West Wing,’ for example, was very idealistic, while I think this film shows the justice system at its worst,” she said.

“Sorkin’s body of work has always been relevant but ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ is especially stunning in its eerie echo of our polarized country in violent conflict today,” Sasha Pinto ’21, a director of IFF, wrote in an email to The Herald. For example, “film scenes showing the demonization of peaceful protests and police brutality in 1968 looked disturbingly similar to what we saw last summer in places like Minneapolis, Seattle, Kenosha, Lexington and Lafayette Park,” she added.

Sorkin stated that he maintains faith in the institutions of democracy, “but it really matters who is in there. … (The film) is a call to action to vote, please. And if you are young and healthy as I assume many of you are, go volunteer as a poll worker for just a few hours.” He and Strong mentioned that students could find polling places and volunteer opportunities at vote. org and protectthevote.net.

This call to action was an “extremely special” way to end the talk, Claire Zhang ’22, a director of IFF, wrote in an email to The Herald. It “truly highlighted the relevancy of our conversation … and how, in many ways, the film characters and plot mirror today’s political and social climate.”

legislation in Rhode Island have been shifted toward electoral work from their usual mass demonstrations.

“We have a super, super huge election looming over us,” Sunrise member Ilan Upfal ’22 said. “It’s really terrifying that we have a president who is … opposed to, I think, the kind of reforms our society needs the most right now to address systemic inequity and climate change.”

Upfal said Sunrise Brown and RISD is focusing its efforts on text banking to increase voter turnout with student group Brown Votes and phone banking with the Rhode Island Political Cooperative to support progressive candidates campaigning in the Ocean State.

Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere has also had to shift from in-person work to remote advocacy.

In years past, direct service has been paramount for the group, which did outreach around Providence with clients experiencing homelessness. But the possibility of spreading COVID-19 to the state’s homeless population has made in-person work a non-starter, HOPE Co-Director Dhruv Gaur ’21 said.

This semester, HOPE has focused more on advocacy and working virtually with state and local organizations centered on housing opportunities.

HOPE has supported the Rhode Island Center for Justice, which has been working to provide tenants at risk of eviction with declaration forms from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Gaur said. Tenants can use the declaration forms to obtain protection from eviction for nonpayment of rent if they are covered by the CDC’s temporary eviction moratorium intended to slow the spread of COVID-19.

HOPE has also submitted written testimony this month in support of a proposed bill in the city of Cranston that would prevent landlords from discriminating against tenants receiving

housing assistance, he said.

On-campus advocacy has also been made more difficult in the virtual sphere, Decolonization at Brown member Junaid Malik ’20.5 said.

While the University has hosted more virtual town halls and community events, there have been fewer avenues for students to share their concerns with administrators, Malik said. “There is more of an idea that administrators are there to answer questions about updates that have happened rather than trying to listen proactively to students and the kinds of things students are experiencing, the kinds of concerns we have, the kinds of ideas we have.”

While virtual access to certain decision makers has proved to be more difficult, remote advocacy does have its benefits, Malik added. DAB, in its efforts to reach out to local organizations, communities and tribes in Providence and Rhode Island, has found that virtual modes of communication have “opened up an interesting avenue in the sense that we can bring people to Zoom that we might not have been able to bring before,” he said.

Amkieh, Upfal, Gaur and Malik also described the challenges of building community virtually, with student activists and advocates split between being on campus and studying remotely or taking leaves of absences.

“The trust-building and community-building component is a lot harder, but it’s still really possible,” Amkieh said.

Upfal added that many people still “want to find community, want to plug in,” and Malik said that regularly checking in with members has become more important.

With the University permitting more student gatherings, HOPE plans to have safe group meetings in person. “Being in the same space (and) talking about these issues in a very passionate way is very energizing,” Gaur said. “Hopefully, as things open up safely, we can build a little more solidarity.”

Friday, October 23, 2020

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

UNIVERSITY NEWS

UCS kicks off modified firstyear rep. election process

SUMMER ZHANG / HERALD

Council strives to make elections as accessible as possible for first-year students

The Undergraduate Council of Students kicked off its election process for firstyear representatives last week with two information sessions. First-year elections will take place entirely virtually this year, with freshmen candidates campaigning from home in accordance with the University’s tri-semester instruction model.

“Because of the virtual format, COVID restrictions and abbreviated semester, UCS has made adjustments to the (First-Year) Representative campaign and election process,” the Council wrote in an Oct. 12 email to first-years.

The election timeline and several logistical changes were solidified through an amendment to UCS’ constitution, The Herald previously reported.

While first-year representative elections usually occur within the first three weeks of the academic year, an exception was made due to the COVID extenuating circumstances this fall. The campaigning and election processes will now occur late October through early November.

This election, UCS also eliminated the requirement for candidates to obtain 200 signatures from the student body and extended first-year representative terms to include the summer

the position had to attend one of two informational sessions during the week of Oct. 12 or watch a recorded informational session, attendance of which was assessed through a Google Form.

The informational session “definitely helped me understand exactly what a first-year rep does and also how exactly the election will work,” said a first-year who attended. She said that the session made her more interested in running for the position than she was before.

The student could not be named as potential UCS position candidates may not announce their intent to run prior to an official announcement.

The sessions also furthered interest in UCS among students already looking to get involved in student government.

“Getting involved with UCS has been on my radar for a while, and the info session really solidified my interest in the role and clarified what it is about,” another first-year attendee said. He also said that hearing personal perspectives from UCS members was valuable and helped him form a more holistic view of UCS beyond what can be gleaned from the Council’s online presence.

Candidates must notify the Council of their intent to run by Oct. 24, with the campaigning period running from Oct. 26 to Oct. 30. Online voting will be open to first-years Oct. 30 to Nov. 4, and results will be announced at 12 p.m. EDT on Nov. 5.

The Council has had to work harder than usual to prepare for this firstyear representative election season, one year after the position was in-

semester.

The Council is “trying to really think very intentionally about how we do these elections to make them accessible for everybody but also still attract quality candidates,” said Chair of Campus Life Zane Ruzicka ’23.

The signature requirement “is really supposed to allow candidates to go out and talk to their constituency,” he said. “Unfortunately for first-years, they don’t really have that opportunity; most of them likely don’t know 100 or 200 other people on campus yet.”

But Ruzicka added that he still has reservations about how first-year representatives will be able to engage with their class, expressing that he hopes they will find ways to make up for the face-to-face campaigning opportunities lost during this election cycle.

Students interested in running for

troduced, said UCS President Jason Carroll ’21. “We had 40 people at our first (general body) meeting, and that was without the student activities fair, so I’d say we’re doing a pretty good job.”

Election Chair Ophelia Duchesne-Malone ’22 said that the Council hopes it can foster a community through virtual campaigning. “So far, there seems to be a lot of first-years turning out at general body meetings,” she said, “so I think there will be pretty good turnout for the first-year rep position.”

Ruzicka anticipates “somewhat of a more crowded field than last year, when there were only five candidates.

For there to be more than that would be really awesome, and it would really put the onus on candidates to really differentiate themselves.”

BY JACK BORRIS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

VATICAN FROM PAGE 1 costs a fee of around $9.50 for the first page and additional fees for subsequent pages. Due to these restrictions, researchers often spend months transcribing documents of interest, Kertzer said.

Still, Kertzer remembers a “certain thrill” in handling documents from the 19th century that have not been seen in over 100 years, such as a letter he came across, handwritten by a former chancellor of the Austrian empire.

Certain clues on the paper can also be particularly informative, such as an official stamp signifying that the pope has read a document, Kertzer noted.

Despite planning to spend four months examining the vast amount of information available, Kertzer would only have access to the archives for five days.

On March 6, Kertzer’s visit was cut short by the announcement that the Vatican archives would close due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in Italy.

Having returned to the U.S. right before the travel ban to Europe began, Kertzer continued research remotely in collaboration with his colleague in Rome, Roberto Benedetti, who was able to access the archives when they reopened in June.

Uncovering the role of the Vatican in the Holocaust, the kidnapping of Finaly children A war-time pope, Pius XII has been embroiled in controversy for never publicly condemning the persecution of Jews by the fascist German regime.

During Nazi Germany’s occupation of Rome between 1943 and 1944, thousands of Jews were rounded up and placed in a holding area not far from the Vatican; many of them were transported to the concentration camp in Auschwitz and murdered over several months.

Newly unearthed documents from the archives confirm that the pope was aware of the atrocities committed and considered sending a statement requesting German authorities end the genocide of Jews in Italy. But, the pope ultimately decided against speaking out, heeding the advice of Angelo Dell’Acqua, his advisor on Jewish matters and later cardinal vicar of Rome, who critiqued the proposal and denounced the Jews, according to Kertzer.

“What those documents reveal is the pervasive anti-semitism around the pope, and part of the reasons why he decided to stay silent,” Kertzer said.

Kertzer translated and detailed these documents of correspondence

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in an article for The Atlantic and in an updated publication in the Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations journal.

His research “proves that the Holocaust did not curtail use of traditional antisemitic slurs (by the Vatican), even after it was well known at the Vatican that Europe’s Jews were being or had been murdered,” Kevin Madigan, professor of ecclesiastical history at Harvard, wrote in an email to The Herald. Formerly published volumes from the archives had also been “scrubbed” of sensitive and antisimetic passages and documents.

The archives also shed new light on the highly publicized case of Robert and Gérald Finaly — two young Jewish orphans in France who were taken in by a local Catholic woman after their parents were sent to Auschwitz. In the aftermath of WWII, a movement began to locate Jewish children who had been hidden and return them to their surviving relatives, Kertzer said.

One such instance was the Finalys’ aunt, who requested the return of the boys but was refused on the grounds that the boys had been secretly baptized. According to traditional Church doctrine, Jewish children who are baptized — with or without the family’s consent — may not come back to their Jewish families, Kertzer said. Over a period of eight years, the boys were kept hidden by an underground network of nuns and monks before being returned.

Documents from the newly opened Vatican archives show that the kidnapping of the boys disobeyed a series of court orders to return them and was initially actively supported by members of the Holy Office.

“The pope and the Vatican played a central role in orchestrating the hiding of the children and keeping them from their family,” Kertzer said.

Along with the Finaly brothers, there is evidence of the pope’s active consultation in similar cases of baptized Jewish children.

Consequences of research Kertzer’s findings may impact the decision to canonize Pope Pius XII as a saint, which is under discussion, Madigan wrote. But the case remains complicated: The pope is seen as a symbol for an era of the Catholic Church that conservatives would like to resurrect, he noted.

One week after Kertzer’s article in the Atlantic, critiques began to appear questioning the validity of Kertzer’s conclusions, including in an article in the Vatican daily newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.

This is “an illustration of the fact

that in the Vatican, there isn’t a lot of tolerance for questioning the official narrative of the heroism of Pope Pius XII,” Kertzer said. “I have to learn to have a fairly thick skin as a scholar. … The kinds of attacks that you get, if you get involved in this history, can sometimes be quite personal.”

Kevin Spicer, professor of history at Stonehill College, reverend and editor of Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations, said Kertzer’s article underwent the peer review process for the academic journal and was deemed sound and supported by the documentation.

But documents are “always seen through the eyes of the historian,” Spicer added. “That’s where people come into conflict over this topic.”

The opening of the Vatican archives has the potential to provide researchers with a fuller picture of the Vatican’s actions in Rome and Europe through its representatives, he said.

“Speaking as a priest, … understanding the past better and having a picture that we can agree upon of what took place by looking at historical documents carefully will help (Jewish-Christian relations) move forward in the future,” Spicer said.

Emerging from the archives and looking ahead Though Kertzer found his most “explosive” documents during his week at the Vatican, much of the valuable information for his research came from sources other than the archives, Kertzer said.

For example, he drew findings from the police files written by spies that Benito Mussolini, the former prime minister of Italy and leader of the Fascist party, had planted in the Vatican.

He also looked to the daily reports ambassadors of various countries who lived in the Vatican wrote, detailing their conversations with those in the Holy Office.

These outside resources carry more personal information, such as insights into the pope’s personality and his personal interactions, that “would never be included in the Vatican Archives,” Kertzer said. Such details can provide “richness about what’s going on behind the scenes of the Vatican.”

But much remains to be discovered about the history encompassing this time period. Kertzer plans to publish his full findings from the new Vatican archives in a sequel to his book, The Pope and Mussolini, which won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Biography, The Herald previously reported. His new book will focus on the relationship of Pope Pius XII, Mussolini and Hitler during WWII.

COURTESY OF DAVID KERTZER

David Kertzer ’69 uncovered previously unknown documents detailing conversations between Pope Pius XII and other Vatican officials during his visit to the archives this spring.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

Friday, October 23, 2020

THAYE NAT HARDY / HERALD

SOBAN FROM PAGE 1 pandemic business.

Cho said that after the University closed campus to prevent the spread of COVID-19, business was down by about 60 percent. Students account for about 80 percent of Soban’s business, Cho said.

The pandemic caused restaurants to shift to takeout and delivery, which presented a challenge for Soban.

“With Korean food, you want to eat it here,” in the restaurant, she said. “It’s better.” Cho added that Soban’s soups are best served hot, which she says is difficult with delivery, and that packaging can change the taste of the food.

“Customers love eating here,” Cho said. “But when coronavirus happened, everyone ran away.”

So, Cho franchised with Genesis BBQ, the parent company of bb.q Chicken, because the food is better suited to takeout and delivery.

Genesis BBQ had approached her in the past about franchising, but Cho had always turned them down.

“Coronavirus broke my menu,” Cho said. “But with fried chicken, delivery is not a problem.”

The bb.q Chicken menu includes a number of different styles from fried chicken, grilled chicken and chicken wings, all offered in various flavors. bb.q Chicken, which stands for “best of the best quality,” first came to the U.S. in 2014, and now has 48 locations in 15 states, according to the company’s spokesperson Claire Song. The chain now boasts over 2,000 franchises worldwide, the majority of which are in Korea.

“We are looking to expand new locations and we want to be your everyday

meal option,” Song wrote in an email to The Herald.

The renovations took about three and a half months to complete, but assuming nothing goes wrong with inspections, the restaurant is set to open this weekend.

John Luipold, vice president of real estate and strategic initiatives for the University, told The Herald that the renovations took as long as they did because of the changes in the kitchen.

“All that work has to be done by code and has to be properly permitted,” Luipold said. Many construction projects have slowed down in Providence during the pandemic, Luipold added, because it’s more difficult to get permits from the city.

The University owns the building that Soban is in at 272 Thayer St., and approves the contractors that tenants use for renovating the space.

Cho is hoping that Soban’s key customer base — students — will return once its doors reopen.

Ambika Miglani ’21 has fond memories of eating and studying in Soban, and she plans to return once the restaurant opens again, saying it always “felt very homey.”

“I’m glad that they found something to keep them going, even if it is in a different capacity,” Miglani said.

Zara Lei Norman ’22 went to Soban about once a week before the pandemic began. When she first saw that they were adding bb.q Chicken options to their menu, she was distressed because she is a vegetarian. She was relieved to find out that the restaurant was keeping items from its old menu.

“It’s a great idea to have more options,” Norman said. “There’s something for everybody in there.”

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

Friday, October 23, 2020

METRO

Chinatown, Metro Mart expand amid pandemic financial troubles Restaurant, market plan to open additional space in coming months

BY BEN GLICKMAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

NAT HARDY/ HERALD

ER

ST

Despite financial difficulties stemming from the pandemic, two businesses on Thayer Street are expanding their physical spaces.

Chinatown on Thayer and Metro Mart, located at 277 Thayer St. and 221 Thayer St., respectively, have both leased the storefronts adjacent to them and are expanding their businesses. The restaurant and convenience store are undergoing renovations that will likely finish within several months, according to their owners.

Chinatown will move into the space formerly occupied by Durk’s Bar-B-Q at 275 Thayer St. after renovations to the space are completed, which owner Mike Boutros estimates will be in January 2021. The restaurant’s square footage will double, from 1,200 to 2,400 square feet, in its new space next door, Boutros said.

Boutros plans to start a new restaurant in Chinatown’s current space, though he has not decided yet what it will be.

Chinatown will add sushi and rice bowls to its menu once it moves into the new space, Boutros said. The new space will have 40 seats, compared to 15 in the current restaurant, and have a larger kitchen area.

Renovations began in May, but Boutros initially leased the additional space in late February before pandemic restrictions took effect in Rhode Island.

The pandemic made it difficult to obtain

AVON FROM PAGE 1 red decals on the lobby floor and stand at least six feet apart from each other.

They must enter the theater wearing a mask but can take it off once they are seated. Disposable face masks and hand sanitizer are also available for customers who do not bring their own.

The theater closed on March 17 following an announcement by Richard Dulgarian on the Avon’s website and social media. “What we all do in the next few weeks is going to be important,” Dulgarian wrote in an Instagram post. “In order to slow the spread of the coronavirus, we must all begin a period of social distancing and continue to follow recommendations of public health officials.” The Avon closed after Governor Raimondo implemented a quarantine and stay-at-home order March 9. Although the lockdown period was longer than anticipated, the theater complied with public health recommendations and only reopened after it put new protocols in place that ensured the safety of employees and audience members.

“The governor allowed Rhode Island cinemas to reopen in July, but we waited until August to allow time to install sneeze guards in the lobby, block off seats in the auditorium and position hand sanitizer dispensers,” Richard Dulgarian said. “Employees must wear face masks and vinyl gloves, and … after every show we sanitize seats and armrests, plus all the other areas that might have been in contact with the patrons,” he added.

NAT HARDY / HERALD

NAT HARDY / HERALD

Chinatown’s owners have acquired the storefront formerly home to Durk’s Bar-B-Q. In addition to expanding the physical space, Chinatown also plans on expanding its menu to include sushi and rice bowls. proper permits for construction, Boutros said, and the site is restricted to only two workers at a time.

“Nobody goes inside (the site) without wearing a mask,” Boutros said.

The pandemic has also caused financial strain for Chinatown, like most restaurants on Thayer Street and beyond.

Boutros said earlier on in the pandemic, the ingredient costs increased — for example, the price of beef and pork doubled. Plus, he added, many of his staff did not feel safe working during the pandemic.

Still, Boutros believes that the additional space will be financially viable for Chinatown in the long run, and he is confident that customers will continue to come no matter what.

“People like our food,” Boutros said.

“We buy the top quality.”

Rath Rith, who has worked at ChiDuring the statewide lockdown, the Avon celebrated its 82nd anniversary with an optimistic message on its marquee: “We will be back after a brief intermission.” The owners also continued to post on the cinema’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. In the wake of George Floyd’s death and mounting Black Lives Matter protests, the Avon sought to keep the community alive with movie recommendations to “celebrate the talents and power of Black people while showcasing the hard truths of racial injustice,” Richard Dulgarian said.

Since its reopening, the Avon has featured films such as “The Personal History of David Copperfield,” “The Nest” and “Kajillionaire,” and is now screening Sofia Coppola’s “On the Rocks,” starring Rashida Jones and Bill Murray.

After attending a recent showing of “On the Rocks,” first-time Avon patron Ben Konicov said that “it wasn’t your typical movie theater experience,” but that it was refreshing to see a movie “on the big screen rather than (his) 13-inch laptop.”

Richard Dulgarian said that “attendance is down compared to pre-COVID.” But he added that the Avon grossed the highest revenue from “The Personal History of David Copperfield,” its first offering since reopening, out of the 20 other movie theaters playing the film in the area.

Returning to the theater for the first time since it closed in March, regular customers Dan and Debra Caudin remarked that they both felt safe and gratified by the experience. “There was plenty of room,” Debra Caudin said. “We

natown since it opened in 2018, said he believes that “branching out will be better for business.” Rith added that there is often a line stretching outside of the restaurant down the street, and he does not believe that will change with more space.

In fact, he said that the additional options like sushi and rice bowls might bring in even more customers.

Down the street, Metro Mart is also increasing its offerings with a larger space. Owner Roshan Baral said he plans to use the space for pre-prepared food, a deli counter and some fresh produce. He also wants to stock new products like kimchi and dried noodles.

“We want to be a little grocery store where you can find a little bit of everything,” said Baral, who has owned Metro Mart for nearly a decade.

Baral leased the space next door at

219 Thayer St. after Seven Creamery closed. He started renovating the space two months ago, and hopes to open the expanded store by Nov. 1.

Metro Mart is currently cramped, Baral said, and additional space and new options will help business.

The pandemic brought hard times for Metro Mart — Baral said that business is down nearly 50 percent since March, and he’s had to cut hours for employees. Like Boutros with Chinatown, Baral also had trouble securing permits for his renovation.

“Since the pandemic started, we have made no money,” he said.

He has had to dig into his personal savings to keep the business running and to afford the renovation. Still, he is confident that his investment will pay off.

“We’re hoping the hard times are over,” Baral said.

NAT HARDY / HERALD

The Avon Cinema has resumed movie screenings with new safety guidelines in place. The Avon closed in March due to the pandemic. didn’t feel anxious at all,” Dan Caudin added. “All the seats were marked … Everyone wears their mask coming in, but it was nice to be able to take the mask off before the movie. I thought that was more comfortable,” he said.

Debra Caudin said that, while the two watched and enjoyed a number of movies at home during the quarantine, “we missed that shared experience.”

“There’s something special about watching a movie in the theater,” Dan Caudin added. “The tension is better, the focus is sharper,” he said.

“Reopening after COVID has not been too difficult,” Richard Dulgarian said. While turnout was initially slow, it “has increased every week as people learn about the safety protocols in

place,” he added. The goal, ultimately, is to allow audiences to “rediscover the joy of experiencing a movie in person.”

Rich Sweat, College Hill resident and Avon regular, said that only about 15 people attended the 3:40 pm showing he saw on Indigenous Peoples Day — “less business than they normally get for a holiday matinee.”

“I’ve seen every movie since they’ve reopened,” Sweat said. “I try my best to support our local businesses. So many have closed since March. I’d hate to see this one go.” He mentioned that he had donated some money to the Avon in the interval and “was anxious for it to reopen.”

“It’s good to be back,” Sweat added.

“So far so good.”

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

6

Friday, October 23, 2020

Change final grade submission rules: they’re unrealistic and confusing.

BY POOM ANDREW PIPATJARASGIT ’21 STAFF COLUMNIST

Toward the end of each semester, Dear Blueno becomes filled with many variants of one type of question: When will final grades be submitted to Banner? Why hasn’t Professor soand-so submitted grades yet?

In theory, the answer to these questions should be simple. Part 3, Section 10, I.1 of the Faculty Rules and Regulations (Version 17.2, October 7, 2020) states that final grades “shall be returned to the Office of the Registrar within 72 hours from the time of the final examination, except for courses which have the final examination scheduled on the last day (of the exam period); grades for these courses shall be due within 48 hours.” A notable exception to this occurs for the submission of seniors’ grades in May, when each of the preceding standards is reduced by 24 hours.

What is confusing is that the Faculty Rules contradicts itself. Part 3, Section 8, I.A of the Faculty Rules prescribes an alternate deadline for the fall semester, which stipulates that all grades, regardless of exam date, are due shortly after the new year. In other words, this deadline implies that, for some courses with exams occurring at the beginning of the final examination period, grades are due several weeks after the date that the previous rule stipulates. No such alternate, conflicting deadline exists for the spring semester.

Students’ complaints of instructors missing grade deadlines stretch as far back as 2004. Faculty members had a chance to fix these discrepancies and make other amendments to the policy on final grade submission deadlines when

this issue was discussed at a meeting of the Faculty back in 2015, but no action was taken.

Maintaining rules that no one follows is problematic. For example, my high school had a very flexible, lenient dress code that few students knew or paid attention to. One of my teachers made the argument that the dress code should be enforced, changed or eliminated; otherwise, it shows the school’s implicit endorsement of rule-breaking. The same can be said

ago, especially when this issue was actually on the agenda. Is it really reasonable to expect instructors of large classes, even with the help of teaching assistants, to properly grade hundreds of students’ work in merely 72 hours?

My solution would be as follows: The deadlines as currently prescribed in Part 3, Section 10, I.1 of the Faculty Rules will only apply to the submission of final grades for undergraduate students on the Registrar’s list of probable

lower priority in departmental service requirements, course teaching assignments, course scheduling, room assignments or teaching assistant preferences. These penalties won’t negatively affect instructors’ careers longterm, but ideally, they would create enough of an annoyance to serve as a strong incentive to submit grades on time.

This solution prioritizes seniors, whose grades are needed by the Office of the Registrar

“A rule that is inconsistently followed and leaves students confused and frustrated is not worth keeping around.”

here. At Brown, faculty members breach the 72-hour deadline all the time with impunity.

While I am not suggesting that there should be career-ending repercussions (such as a faculty misconduct complaint or denial by the Tenure, Promotions, and Appointments Committee) for professors who do so, it is certainly disrespectful to students, especially because they have no recourse.

Policy change at the University is not an impossibility. Here, I believe the most logical course of action is a rule change; a rule that is inconsistently followed and leaves students confused and frustrated is not worth keeping around. Furthermore, clearer, more standardized guidelines will likely be beneficial for faculty, too. Honestly, I am surprised that the Faculty didn’t make some of these changes years

graduates for that semester or academic year.

For all other students, Jan. 6, currently the alternate deadline, should be the hard deadline for faculty members to submit final grades for the fall semester; as for the spring semester, a date at the end of May should be set as the hard deadline for grade submissions. In cases where instructors have approved coursework extensions at any point in the semester, implemented SEAS accommodations on final exams or made religious accommodations for students, these rules should still apply, but instructors needing more time would be able to request it, except when these students are on that semester or academic year’s list of probable graduates. Instructors who miss this deadline to submit final grades without an acceptable excuse could face repercussions such as

in order for their graduation to be processed. It also takes into account the need for the Committee on Academic Standing to review academic progress and calculate students’ standing in a timely manner.

The time to make this change is now: There are only two more meetings of the Faculty between now and the end of the semester. I encourage anyone interested in my idea, especially voting faculty members, to raise the question with the Faculty Executive Committee as soon as possible.

Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit ’21 can be reached at poom_pipatjarasgit@brown.edu.

Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | TODAY

Friday, October 23, 2020

IN P H OTO S: B R OWN ST U DE NTS AR O U ND TH E WORL D

AREEZ KHAN / HERALD

RYAN RHEW / HERALD

DANIELLE EMERSON / HERALD

MUKUL KHANNA / HERALD

This semester, many undergraduate students remain scattered across the globe. Some are studying, attending class and participating in extracurriculars remotely. Others are pursuing personal projects. To capture the diverse Brown experience of current undergraduates, we asked our photographers to photograph and share the familiar sights around them.

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Awarded to a full-time junior or senior enrolled at Brown. Submission may come from the spectrum of nonfiction: literary journalism, memoir, or narrative based on travel, science, history, or cultural critique.

Submission of brief essays or one longer essay should be limited to 3,000 words.

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For the best essay on 20th-century literature in English by a junior or senior. ~~~~~~~~~~~

David Rome Prize - $175 For the best lyric essay by a currently enrolled undergraduate. This form includes essays written in poetical or experimental forms that emphasize artfulness. ~~~~~~~~~~~

C OV I D -1 9 AT B R OW N

Arlene Rome Ten Eyck & Peter H. Ten Eyck Prize - $175

LAST 7 DAYS* Completed Tests

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SINCE AUGUST 24, 2020*

For the best essay on literary theory by a currently enrolled undergraduate. ~~~~~~~~~~~

Rose Low Rome Prize - $175 For the best poem or poems by a currently enrolled undergraduate.

Entries must be submitted online at: Barbara Banks Brodsky Prizes: http://brown.edu/go/brodsky-prize-2020 Rome Prizes: http://brown.edu/go/rome-prizes-2020

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*NO HARD COPIES OR LATE SUBMISSIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED* *ESSAYS THAT HAVE PREVIOUSLY RECEIVED AN ENGLISH DEPT AWARD ARE NOT ELIGIBLE FOR ADDITIONAL AWARDS.*

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by 3:00 pm on Tuesday, November 17, 2020.

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post-

OCT 23 — VOL 26 — ISSUE 6

FEATURE

See Full Issue: POST.BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

NARRATIVE

Places to Go, You to See

a (mid)western love story

By Siena Capone When my boyfriend came to Michigan from Colorado for a month last summer, he was in for some late mornings. Ben runs on activity, a calendar that looks like a haywire game of Tetris or the kinetic thrum of guitar strings. All of this is to say he does not typically sleep in until noon, but one particular party in the relationship does, especially when outside it feels like the world is ending.

Despite these late mornings, he got me outside anyway. Being outdoors with him put a flashlight

For the First Time

seek comfort in the temporary but tangible intimacy of hookups. I said I was telling him this to prevent myself from doing so. I thought I was being honest

trusting myself after cheating

and therefore courageous, and maybe I was, but I was also hurting him. He responded, “Break up with me.”

I felt confused and refused. Why not break up with me

by Ingrid Ren illustrated by Elliana Reynolds

himself?

I learned that cheating consists of many steps.

There was meeting, a couple years ago, the person I

When I cheated, when I lay next to someone else, all I could think about was my partner and how much

would cheat with. There was lying down at home alone and thinking of our past intimacy, of the possibility of temporarily not feeling lonely. There was talking and

hurt he would feel when he found out. In the moment, I didn’t think of myself or my present guilt, I didn’t think of the person lying behind me, hand on my hip, or what my friends and family would think. I thought only of my partner.

At the beginning of the relationship, I told my partner that I would likely hurt him, that I had a history of doing so. Maybe I told him this as a warning, as if this could alleviate any future hurt. When I cheated, my relationship was temporarily longdistance. I existed at an in-between of friendships, equally emotionally distant from everyone. I had come to rely on my partner for my emotional needs, and the distance between us reinforced a loneliness within me. I told him that when I feel lonely, I often

texting, planning to meet up; there was excitement.

There was telling, or convincing, myself that our meet-up would be purely platonic. There was the

beam on the corners of the world where things didn’t feel catastrophic, with his studly tie-dye fanny pack, an app where people review hikes (who knew!), and a bureau of knowledge on hiking etiquette (hikers going uphill have the right of way, which I unfortunately did not register until I was halfway downhill)...

ARTS&CULTURE

“These Everblooming Wounds” softness and strength in postcolonial love poem

By Nicole Kim

knowledge of being in control of my actions but also the desire to feel out of control. And when we met up,

“The rain will eventually come, or not.

Until then, we touch our bodies like wounds –

there was allowing lust to manifest, allowing myself to be touched. Then there was thinking of the man I was hurting. There was hurting the man I was thinking of.

There was stopping, sitting up, and feeling a certain

the war never ended and somehow begins again.”

– “Postcolonial Love Poem” by Natalie Diaz

strength in stopping, but so much more weakness in what I had done already. There was being told by the man I lay down with that I had done nothing wrong, that our touching was nothing, but knowing that was wrong, and knowing how my partner would feel...

I began my junior year at Brown, as per usual, with too many courses in my C@B cart and an overflowing wellspring of motivation—one that has since been siphoned off by weeks of relentless intensity. This year, my two-day shopping spree left me with more than just sleepless nights. On the first day of a Literary Arts class I was shopping...

“I feel like…his mustache is hubris.”

“It’s a role-playing thing.” (about acids and bases)

"Gross Fall Candle Scents"

1. Dusty heating turning on for the first time 2. Leaf mold that gives you an asthma attack 3. Sink sludge (pumpkin spice variety) 4. Cheap Halloween face paint 5. The Smarties and Twizzlers no one wanted

8 post–

Want to be involved?

Email: amanda_ngo@brown.edu!

6. Wet leaves :( 7. Unwritten midterm paper 8. Genuinely pleasant but toopotent candle that’s been burning too long 9. Sweater lint 10. The ghosts of Halloweens past

LIFEST YLE

The Joys of Public Transit a guide to ripta-friendly destinations

By Elliana Reynolds Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) buses are a common sight to any Brown student who has walked by the tunnel on Thayer. However, it seems that this is where familiarity with the buses stops for most students at Brown. I’ve spoken to countless students, and only a handful of them have actually ridden a RIPTA bus—most of them only once or twice. I, however, have traveled on them many times, varying from short five-minute rides to one this last summer that lasted about two hours... october 23, 2020