Friday, November 15, 2013

Daily

THE BROWN

vol. cxlviii, no. 112

Herald

since 1891

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Paxson names members of Ray Kelly committee SSERVI The committee will review the events surrounding the canceled lecture and recommend U. action

By KATE KIERNAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

President Christina Paxson announced the names of the students and faculty members selected to serve on the Committee on the Events of Oct. 29 in an email to the Brown community Thursday afternoon.

The Committee will make recommendations on the University’s response to the interruption and subsequent cancellation of a lecture by New York Police Commissioner Ray

Kelly on Oct. 29 but will not determine whether disciplinary action will be taken against the student protestors, Paxson wrote in the communitywide email.

The committee comprises five faculty members, two undergraduate students and one graduate student.

The faculty members chosen are Associate Professor of Neuroscience Carlos Aizenman, Professor of English Amanda Anderson, Professor of Africana Studies and Director of the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice B. Anthony Bogues, Professor of Anthropology Lina Fruzzetti and Professor of Pediatrics Philip Gruppuso. The students who will serve on the committee are Terra Laughton ’14, » See COMMITTEE, page 3

to explore infinity and beyond

Brown and MIT researchers will collaborate to further space exploration

By ISOBEL HECK SENIOR STAFF WRITER

GREG JORDAN-DETAMORE / HERALD

Two undergraduates, five faculty members and one graduate student will serve on the Committee on the Events of Oct. 29. Herald file photo.

U. begins implementation of strategic plan Two pilot sophomore seminars in the spring will focus on ‘diversity and social justice’

By MICHAEL DUBIN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The University has begun rolling out specific initiatives in President Christina Paxson’s recently approved strategic plan, taking steps in developing new sophomore seminars, moving toward new online education programs and instituting reforms in post-tenure sabbatical policy.

Administrators will start soliciting proposals from faculty members today for new courses for the sophomore seminars program, which will

launch this spring, according to a document set to be sent to the faculty today, wrote Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron in an email to The Herald.

Along with Monday’s announcement of a change in the University’s post-tenure sabbatical policy, Friday’s call for seminar proposals indicates that the task of turning the broader ideas of the strategic plan into concrete actions is underway.

In the coming months, the University will also introduce the annual recalculation of financial need for international students and enhanced support for summer internships, as well as plans for the development of an organizational framework for an institute for environment and society.

Curricular development The sophomore seminars program, which will emphasize “diversity and social justice,” according to the strategic plan, will begin this spring with two pilot courses, multiple administrators said.

Professor of Medical Science Lundy Braun, who researches the relationship between race, public health, medicine and technology, will teach BIOL 0290A: “Controversies in Medicine.”

The second course is under development and will be announced soon, wrote Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Margaret Klawunn in an email to The Herald.

Bergeron said Klawunn, who will serve as interim dean next semester, will be the point person for

implementing the sophomore seminars program.

“She’s been spearheading this particular project since last fall when we began talking about it with the strategic planning committee,” Bergeron said. “She’s the natural person to carry it forward.”

Provost Mark Schlissel P’15 said the University aims to offer at least a dozen sophomore seminars next fall.

The call for course proposals suggested that faculty members developing sophomore seminars engage with the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America and the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice.

Up to $4,000 in course development funds will be available to faculty members whose proposals are » See PLAN, page 2

With November marking the 13th year of permanent human residence at the International Space Station, NASA is b eg inning to look for new opportunities for space exploration.

Its new Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute will team up with 19 researchers from Brown to develop a scientific plan for human and robotic space exploration of the moon, near-Earth asteroids and Mars’ moons Phobos and Deimos.

“SSERVI was created to further the goals of science and exploration by addressing fundamental and applied science questions and human spaceflight concerns,” wrote Brad Bailey, staff scientist for NASA and SSERVI, and Gregory Schmidt, SSERVI deputy director and director of international partnerships, in an email to The Herald.

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

Targets of exploration “The end game of the project is to understand how the solar system » See NASA, page 3

Thayer through the ages: Restaurants reign supreme

By SARAH PERELMAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

When the neon lights and glass tables in Shark Bar & Grille expand into the building next door within two years, taking over a vacant space formerly home to the boutique shop Details, it will mark just one more step in a recent trend on Thayer Street: an increase in restaurants and a decline of small, privately-owned shops.

“When I started, (Thayer) Street had maybe six or seven or eight eating places, including drug stores that had

inside

FEATURE

soda fountains,” said Jagdish Sachdev, who opened Spectrum India in 1967.

In that time, restaurateurs like Andrew Mitrelis seized the opportunity to plant the seeds of an ever-growing Thayer restaurant industry. Acquiring new locations one by one, Mitrelis has since opened five different eateries on Thayer.

Other entrepreneurs have followed a similar path. Since the early 1970s, restaurants have gradually eclipsed boutique after boutique.

Now more than 40 restaurants line the Thayer area. Store owners said they worry about the decline of Thayer as a shopping destination, while restaurateurs praise the large food selection offered on the street.

Thayer maverick One of the most influential business owners on the street, Mitrelis

began with one small restaurant and expanded down Thayer over the years.

During Thayer’s retail heyday in the 1960s, Mitrelis spent about $50,000 to acquire one of the only open spaces on the street — the building that currently houses Antonio’s Pizza.

He named it the Hungry Sheikh and began to serve Middle Eastern food.

Mitrelis said business was steady for a year after opening the new restaurant. In 1967, Greg’s — a competing Thayer restaurant — closed down.

“I came in through the back door (that morning) and looked through the front door. There were 15 people waiting,” Mitrelis said. After booming business for the next 15 months, “I paid for a new house, carpets, furniture, and landscaping … and I still had $75,000 left,” he added.

But the lucky spell was short-lived.

Soon after Greg’s closed, Mitrelis said,

members of local organized crime began banging on his doors for weekly compensation.

“I had to close the place down and change it to a fast food place,” he said.

“There was good business for a year, and then McDonalds came in and knocked me out” in 1973, he added.

After some time, Mitrelis decided to revive his old restaurant, the Hungry Sheikh. But in 1974, political reaction in the aftermath of the OPEC oil embargo led to a dramatic drop in patronage, because many Americans thought the name sounded Arabic, Mitrelis said.

“I hired two Brown students to look into it,” Mitrelis said. The students’ survey confirmed that the restaurant’s name was affecting business.

So Mitrelis changed the name to Andreas and business tripled. Andreas still stands at the corner of Meeting

Fat nap

Dance, dance

D&C

A new study links the amount children sleep to weight gain

Fall Dance Concert displays student choreography in a variety of genres

Economist Gregory Mankiw P’17 gets coal — find out why!

SCIENCE & RESEARCH, 4

ARTS & CULTURE, 5

COMMENTARY, 10

weather

Restaurants have dominated the street in recent years, encroaching on some smaller shops

and Thayer.

Meanwhile, Mitrelis had another plan in the works for a second restaurant. After visiting 27 restaurants across New York during a three day trip, Mitrelis decided to open a new restaurant that would “specialize in hamburgers,” he said. The new restaurant, Spats, was initially housed at Paragon’s current location.

Later, the original Spats became Paragon, and a new Spats opened six years ago at its current location on Angell Street. Three years later, » See THAYER, page 6 INSIDE: The family-owned Avon Theater celebrated its 75th anniversary this year. Page 6.

Thayer businesses come and go as trends and students pass through. Page 7.

t o d ay

tomorrow

57 / 39

57 / 37

2 university news calendar TODAY

NOVEMBER 15

3 P.M.

TOMORROW

NOVEMBER 16

2 P.M. Get a Henna Tattoo

Nerf War

J. Walter Wilson Lobby 7 P.M.

Smith-Buonanno 107 7 P.M.

Medical School Concert

Poets Theater Jubilee

Granoff

McCormack Family Theater

menu SHARPE REFECTORY

VERNEY-WOOLLEY

LUNCH Vegan Tempeh Fajita with Pico de Gallo, Cajun Corn and Tomatoes, Nacho Bar, Cajun Potatoes

German Sausage Chowder, Breaded Chicken Fingers, Zucchini, Carrot and Garlic Medley, Snickerdoodles

DINNER Pumpkin Ravioli and Cream Sauce, Ravioli Gorgonzola, French Style Green Beans, Baked Sweet Potatoes

Tilapia Provencal, Cavatelli Primavera, Vegan Spicy Dhal, Orange Beef Pad Thai, Rosemary Focaccia

sudoku

Students thank Annual Fund contributors The Brown Annual Fund holds gratitude events twice a year to help maintain donor support

By MARCUS SUDAC STAFF WRITER

The Brown Annual Fund hosted a Gratitude Night last Tuesday, inviting students to thank Annual Fund donors through letters or film cameos.

An intermittent stream of students flowed into a side dining room in the Sharpe Refectory, where a buffet of class T-shirts and photos was laid out alongside a table of letters and candy.

Students could express their appreciation on camera at a makeshift film setup, reminiscent of a photo booth, just beyond the table.

The Annual Fund contributes to “financial aid, UTRAs, first-year seminars and state-of the-art library and technology resources,” according to its website, and the group thanks donors through biannual events that have in the past been called “Pay it Forward

» PLAN, from page 1

RELEASE DATE– Friday, November 15, 2013

Los Angeles Times Puzzle c r o sDaily s w oCrossword rd Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 “__ goes!”

5 Runway model?

8 Brewery shipments 13 U.S. citizen 14 “Come __ the sea, / Maiden with me”: Thomas Moore 15 Area 16 Porky’s jacket and tie?

18 Hunter’s trophy 19 Source of many dialogues 20 Big name in game shows 22 FDR power program 23 Longing 24 Circle 27 Prohibition at the Ivory soap factory?

32 __ ghanouj: eggplant dish 35 Theoretical foreigners, briefly 36 Declaim 37 Twist et al.

39 Compact containers?

41 It rarely happens at home 42 Equinox mo.

43 “__ you be my neighbor?”: Mr. Rogers 44 Pre-law classroom exercise?

48 1993 Disney acquisition 49 More, in Morelia 52 Spice 55 Daredevil Knievel 56 “Awake in the Dark” author 58 Waiting to buy tickets, say 60 Bad place to be shipwrecked?

63 Allows 64 Sermon topic 65 Making waves, perhaps 66 Excites 67 Geometry shortening 68 Go down DOWN 1 __ hour 2 Rousseau’s “__, or On Education”

3 Duke of Cornwall’s wife, in Shakespeare 4 Back then, back when 5 Delight 6 Fish with no pelvic fin 7 Seismograph readings 8 __ belt 9 Legislative decision 10 Season, in a way 11 Height meas.

12 Day song word 15 Baby bug 17 Rent 21 Little League starters?

25 “Oh, when will they __ learn?”: Seeger lyric 26 November honorees 27 Maritime 28 “Gone With the Wind” feature 29 “Aladdin” parrot 30 “... with __-foot pole!”

31 For fear that 32 Bartlett cousin 33 Musical range 34 Jessica of “Total Recall” (2012)

38 Halogens, e.g.

39 Lysol target 40 Samoan port 42 Most hackneyed 45 Hosts 46 Poetic preposition 47 Dorothy Hamill maneuver 49 Soccer star Lionel who won the Ballon d’Or each of the last four years

50 “Stormy Weather” composer 51 Salisbury __ 52 Sharp turns 53 Memo start 54 Blueprint 57 Decision clouder 59 Great Lakes st.

61 Through 62 Place to retire

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

xwordeditor@aol.com

By Jerry Edelstein (c)2013 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

11/15/13

11/15/13

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

approved, according to the document.

Efforts to develop the University’s online presence are also in motion.

Kathy Takayama, executive director of the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning, put out a call in October for proposals for new massive open online courses to be taught on the Coursera platform, Bergeron said.

Though Takayama has heard back from several faculty members, only one or two courses will eventually be developed, Bergeron said, adding that the selection process must be completed by early next semester.

The University will also request proposals within the next couple of weeks for new online for-credit courses, Schlissel said. Karen Sibley, dean of continuing education, will lead that process.

Changes in sabbatical policy The new post-tenure sabbatical policy will allow faculty members to apply in their first year after receiving tenure for a sabbatical at full pay for one semester or at 75 percent pay for the full year, with the leave being taken the following academic year, said Dean of the Faculty Kevin McLaughlin P’12.

Previously, the University had separate sabbatical policies for tenured faculty members and assistant professors on the tenure track, McLaughlin said.

Though newly tenured faculty members accumulated teaching credit

Day” or “Gratitude Day.” Patricia Watson, the University’s vice president for advancement, called the night a success. Organizers had hoped the night would yield around 175 letters, but turnout surpassed expectations. Over the course of the event, which ran from 5 to 7 p.m., 198 notes were collected and over 30 students provided video footage. One student wrote five letters, Watson said.

“The event was also a success in that it provided an educational opportunity to our students,” Watson said. “Students learned about the Brown Annual Fund and gained a better understanding of how Annual Fund donors … support the Brown experience.”

Events like Gratitude Night have seen increasing student participation in recent years, Watson said.

“I just think it’s great that people are staying loyal to their school,” said Emily Yeh ’17, who wrote a letter. “They’re giving to the generation after them.”

Many students who attended Gratitude Night appeared attracted to the event as a way to give thanks for financial aid, Watson said. “They appreciate

having the opportunity to say ‘thank you’ to donors who are helping them receive a Brown education,” Watson said.

But some students expressed doubts about whether Gratitude Night was the best way to offer appreciation.

“In-person thanks can be more meaningful,” said Grant Gustafson ’17. “There are more ways to convey gratitude than in a letter.”

Letters were not the only messages of gratitude sent to alums. A video filmed that night will be “shared broadly with the Brown community,” Watson said. The video is expected to reach parents, students and faculty members, as well as benefactors.

Donors are most likely to give again when they know that their gifts are appreciated, according to Annual Fund materials. Last year’s video alone led to a surge in online donations — an outcome Annual Fund leaders hope to repeat this fall.

“The heartfelt and sincere notes and video messages that our students offer convey to Brown Annual Fund donors that they have made an impact at the University,” Watson said.

as assistant professors, they were usually considered eligible for sabbatical as it would be offered to tenured faculty members — meaning they would be offered a semester leave at 75 percent pay rather than one at full pay available to assistant professors on the tenure track, McLaughlin said.

But most faculty members would say they could not afford a semester at 75 percent pay and would not take the sabbatical, he said. The new policy solves that problem by giving newly tenured faculty members a semester to do research while receiving their full salaries.

The post-tenure sabbatical policy applies to all faculty members who were awarded tenure on or after July 1, 2013, making 12 faculty members eligible to apply for a sabbatical next academic year.

Assistant Professor of Physics Derek Stein, who received tenure in July this year, wrote in an email to The Herald that he is taking a sabbatical next year and called the change in the policy “welcome.”

McLaughlin said the new policy was “less recruitment and retention effort” than a “question of professional development.” Enabling more faculty members to take sabbaticals after they go through the tenure process will allow them to have a “spurt of scholarly activity,” he said.

in an effort to implement the integrative theme “Creating Just, Peaceful and Prosperous Societies,” Schlissel said.

Schlissel said the University is near the point where there is sufficient funding to hire an architect for a new engineering building. The administration is also considering planning firms to evaluate the University’s use of arts spaces, and it is likely to hire a firm by the end of this academic year.

Administrators are also working with the faculty members behind the Signature Initiative on Environment and Society to work toward establishing an institute that will house “the vast majority of the environmental research and teaching apparatus,” Schlissel said.

Paxson has allotted half a million dollars to increase funding for internships and summer research opportunities at Brown like Undergraduate Teaching and Research Awards, Schlissel said.

Schlissel said he expects the internship program to begin this summer to support both unpaid internships and those that provide insufficient salaries.

The recalculation of need for international students who receive financial aid from the University will apply to aid given out for next academic year, Schlissel said.

Schlissel said the measure was adopted to be “more fair” to international students on campus and “protects” them from being stuck with the aid from their first year if their financial circumstances change.

Other projects Three searches for new faculty members at the Watson Institute for International Studies are also ongoing

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

»NASA, from page 1 evolved from a nebular to the solar system today,” said Alberto Saal, associate professor of geological sciences and a researcher for SSERVI. Jim Head, professor of geological sciences and a researcher for SSERVI, said the program aims to answer questions including how humans interact with various environments in space, whether humans can go to Mars, what the origin of water is and whether asteroids pose a threat to Earth.

Saal said the majority of his work focuses on analyzing volcanic rocks that appear on surfaces in outer space.

Much of his past work has focused on the moon and the mystery of lunar water. Working with SSERVI will allow Saal to continue this research and analyze materials from other targets of exploration, he said.

While many of NASA’s past space explorations have targeted the moon, research into other planetary bodies could provide new insight.

Asteroids are important to examine because they are the “building blocks of planets,” Head said.

Phobos and Deimos are of interest because of their relation to Mars and their potential to serve as weigh stations before a mission to Mars, Head explained. Mars is “a rosetta stone for understanding the origin of life,” he said.

“The Brown SSERVI Team brings with it a long history of groundbreaking planetary science discoveries,” wrote Bailey and Schmidt. Their research will be important “as we prepare to send humans to the surfaces of the Moon and asteroids and ultimately Mars,” they wrote.

‘A win-win situation’ The 19 Brown researchers will work directly with researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The collaboration is “a win-win situation” because of MIT’s strength in science and engineering, Head said.

» COMMITTEE, from page 1 Dakotah Rice ’16 and Lakshmi Padmanabhan GS, according to Paxson’s email.

Associate Dean of the College for Research and Upperclass Studies Besenia Rodriguez ’00 and Michael Grabo from the Office of the General Counsel will staff the committee, Paxson wrote.

The committee will both “review the activities and circumstances” that led to the Kelly lecture and the protest as well as analyze the “policies and procedures surrounding lectures on controversial topics,” Paxson wrote. Members will put together a report on these events by the end of winter break.

The committee will then “address the broader issues of campus climate, free expression and dialogue,” Paxson wrote. Possible courses of action include developing new seminars, student programs or guidelines on larger issues the committee identifies.

The committee will complete a report on this portion of its work by the end of the spring semester, Paxson wrote.

It has not been determined whether either of these reports will be made public or if they will be privately presented to Paxson, Laughton said.

“These are questions I have myself,” she added.

The committee will not be responsible for determining whether students

science & research 3 Dave Scott, a visiting professor at Brown and commander of the Apollo 15 Space Mission, noted the benefits of “Science/Engineering Synergism,” in an email to The Herald. During the Apollo program, scientists and engineers learned “to work together to optimize the results of the mission,” he wrote.

“SSERVI presents an outstanding opportunity to use and expand this concept, for both science and engineering disciplines and for both education and research,” Scott wrote.

Together, science and engineering fields are greater than the sum of their parts, Head said, adding that science needs engineering to “make dreams a reality.”

Head also said the partnership “enhances the experience of students ” at Brown, and that seminars and joint classes result from the partnership.

Understanding the neighborhood The solar system is like Earth’s neighborhood, and “we need to understand the neighborhood to know what’s going on,” Head said.

Our understanding of the Earth is like “a history book with the first five out of ten chapters missing,” he added.

The solar system acts as a tape recorder of what has happened in Earth’s history, offering clues to the past that will inform our understanding of its current trajectory, he said.

Head, who worked on the Apollo Space Mission after completing graduate school, said the Apollo Mission was “audacious to put it mildly.” The samples brought back from the Apollo mission would give astronauts today a better idea of where to go on the moon in search of specific sample locations, Head said.

One goal of SSERVI researchers is to develop a mapping system for the moon similar to Google Maps, Head added.

“The future for human exploration is unbounded,” Scott wrote. “However, it must evolve in a careful step-by-step involved in organizing or attending the protest will be charged with violations of the student code of conduct, said Provost Mark Schlissel P’15. He added that if students were to be charged with any violations, that information would not be made public in order to protect students’ privacy.

Bogues, committee chair, said he did not know and did not ask why Paxson selected him to be on the committee.

But he said he decided to serve because it was “important in trying to understand what happened” at the lecture and to play a part in developing “a set of protocols” to address “the controversial issues at hand.”

Bogues said that even if he did have reactions to the lecture, he would not share them, because he does not want personal views “to color the work” with which the committee has been tasked.

Gruppuso, who previously served as associate dean for medical education and as an administrator in the Office of Student Life, wrote in an email to The Herald that he might have been chosen to be on the committee because “someone must consider me thoughtful and fair-minded.”

He heard about the lecture protest on public radio, does not know details of the sequence of events and does not know other committee members, but agreed to participate because “President Paxson asked me that I serve,” he wrote.

COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

Researchers from MIT will collaborate with 19 Brown researchers to explore questions on human space travel. process where we build on experience, we maximize the use of the ‘resources’ available, and we do not attempt to go too far too fast. We are ready to go back to the Moon. But we are not ready to go to Mars.”

Exploration is a part of America’s national identity, Head said, adding that he thinks the United States is a leader in exploration because it is such a young nation.

Head compared humans’ motivation for space exploration to their desire to travel. You can be shown the best image of the Taj Mahal, but you still want to go there and see it Laughton said she believes she was chosen to be on the committee because of her ability to be open-minded and her understanding of the issues at hand due to her understanding of the criminal justice system.

She said she had not previously experienced “energy” like the atmosphere on campus in the aftermath of the protest. She wanted to be a “part of the conversation” to make sure students were getting the facts, particularly because of the amount of misinformation that circulated around campus in the days following the protest.

Though she does not know other committee members, Laughton said she hopes to soon contact Rice, the other undergraduate representative, to speak about their actions going forward.

Gruppuso also wrote that he does not know the other committee members but that he has “confidence in the president and her leadership team.”

Laughton said she will make herself available to fellow undergraduates, probably through the Undergraduate Council of Students, so that they can share their opinions with her.

“I am very open to hearing perspectives,” Laughton said, adding that she joined the committee to represent the views of “the undergraduate community” rather than her own.

Justice Gaines ’16, who protested » See COMMITTEE, page 8

yourself, he said.

Space exploration has important policy benefits, Head added. Success in space exploration presents an opportunity to show international leadership in a peaceful and nonviolent way, he said. “This was important in Apollo, and that spirit of ‘we come here for all human kind’ is really critical. It blurs national boundaries. It’s healthy to look beyond the short-term political morass.”

Pushing boundaries “This will be challenging, intellectually rewarding … and fun,” Scott

wrote of SSERVI. Saal said he is most excited to get his first samples from near-Earth meteorites next week so that he can begin to research them.

“We definitely want to have undergraduates involved doing research,” Head said.

Moving forward with SSERVI, NASA is most excited to “push forward the boundaries of planetary science and exploration with our ultimate goal of understanding our solar system and using this understanding to enable human exploration beyond our home planet,” Bailey and Schmidt wrote.

4 science & research Study links sleep and obesity During weeks of increased sleep, children produced lower amounts of hungerinducing hormone leptin

By KHIN SU CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Getting adequate sleep “could help prevent excess weight gain over time” in children, according to a new study conducted by Chantelle Hart, a former assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior who is now an associate professor at Temple University.

The study, published online Nov. 4, examined how changing children’s sleep duration affected food intake, weight and appetite-regulating hormones.

Over the course of the three-week experiment, 37 children between the ages of 8 and 11 wore a device on their wrist that estimated the time they spent sleeping by measuring movement, and they completed sleep diaries. The researchers also asked children to adhere to specific bed times and wake times each week so that they experienced alternating weeks of increased and decreased sleep, with a three hour difference between the conditions.

Families also reported the food children had consumed during each 24-hour period of the experiment.

Once a week, experimenters measured children’s height, weight and motivation to obtain a food reward, Hart wrote in an email to The Herald. They also

collected blood samples.

The researchers found that during weeks of increased sleep, children consumed fewer calories and had lower levels of leptin, a hormone that signals hunger. They also weighed approximately half a pound less than they did in weeks of decreased sleep.

The study builds on past research that found similar results in adults, Hart wrote.

“There’s a growing concern in our society about obesity in children,” said Mary Carskadon, professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Alpert Medical School and one of the paper’s authors. The study “is really the first one to look at these measure and procedures in school-age children,” Carskadon said.

The most difficult aspect of conducting the study was recruiting participants, Carskadon said. “It’s always a challenge to find people who are willing to make these kinds of contributions to science.” It might have been better to have more participants, but “there were enough in the study for the measures to detect changes and for the hypotheses to be tested adequately,” she said. “It worked superbly.”

The researchers said they were not surprised by the findings. “The results mirror what we see in adults,” Carskadon said.

But “the consistency of these findings regarding changes in weight was striking,” Hart wrote.

“The fact that there was actually a weight change in such a short amount

of time was very interesting,” said Joseph Fava, research associate at the Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine and the Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center at The Miriam Hospital and one of the study’s co-authors.

The results of the study have many implications for determining what type of intervention could prevent weight gain and even ultimately help weight loss in children, Carskadon said.

Previous research has found that sleep is important for regulating cognitive function, emotions and memory consolidation. This study “is another arrow in the quiver for why adequate amounts of sleep are important for children,” Carskadon said.

Eliza Lawson, a health policy analyst at the Rhode Island Department of Health who was not involved in the study, said it was “interesting,” because it treats obesity wih appropriate nuance.

“It’s so much deeper than just educating people on what to eat and being active,” Lawson wrote in an email to The Herald. “It looks like there is evidence that sleep is an influencer as well, and is something obesity prevention programs and healthcare professionals should consider when dealing with obesity.”

Currently, Hart is investigating whether “behavioral sleep intervention can enhance sleep and produce similar benefits in terms of eating behaviors and weight,” she wrote.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Enzyme increase prolongs life span of fruit flies ADAR promotes the desilencing of transposons, yielding a 20 percent increase in flies’ life spans

By MANDI CAI CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Extending an organism’s life simply by increasing the concentration of an enzyme may be possible, thanks to groundbreaking results from a study on gene expression led by Robert Reenan, professor of biology, in collaboration with several graduate students and field experts.

The idea for the research was conceived seven years ago when Yiannis Savva GS discovered ADAR, a specific enzyme on a site of chromosome four.

This observation puzzled both him and Reenan.

Each time RNA was exposed to ADAR, the enzyme would target double-stranded sections of RNA exclusively. This peculiarity would become the centerpiece of Savva’s thesis paper.

In the present study, the researchers found that when ADAR was added to a specific transposon — a piece of genetic material — there was a 20 percent increase in median life span and a change in eye color pigmentation in both male and female flies.

A significant number of genes have transposable elements within them, and even more have transposons around them. Hundreds of genes in flies and thousands of genes in humans have transposons.

Transposons are typically surrounded by chromatin, tight bundles of DNA, that serve to mute the transposon’s code. The enzyme ADAR acts to loosen the bonds of these chromatin bundles. By increasing these levels of ADAR, more “undesirable” transposons were free to jump from gene to gene.

When multiple transposons became mobile, they tended to end up next to each other, creating doublestranded RNA sequences. So when ADAR was introduced to the genes of

a fruit fly, it was observed to bind to the double-stranded sections of RNA. Typically when RNA is being edited, an organism’s genome has a mechanism for pinpointing the double-stranded RNA sequence and chopping up the RNA into snippets that can wrap around the transposon. A mechanism within the organism then takes these bits of RNA and searches for similar RNA pieces to eliminate.

Not all transposons in an organism’s genome are silenced simultaneously, leading to variation from individual to individual.

“This technique effectively stifles the transposable elements and prevents them from filling up the entire genome with junk DNA, like a ‘genomic immune system,’” Savva said.

ADAR loosens the tightly regulated system, inducing a chemical change that alters the identity of a component of DNA, so that it is viewed as a different component by the rest of the cell and is no longer identified as a target by the RNA silencer.

“The small RNAs are like police artist sketches, and the dicers are like the sketch artists, and they hand the sketch off ,” Reenan said. “We have shown that ADAR interferes with that process.”

One obstacle that the group encountered was trying to capture a certain image of the fruit fly’s genome from a microscope. Part of the genome was removed by genetic engineering so that ADAR could not bind to the RNA anymore. Half of the chromosome that ADAR could still bind to would appear green, and the removed half would appear red. But when the researchers ran their test, the red and green portions were scattered and speckled in a random fashion. Searching numerous chromosomes and taking many snapshots, they eventually obtained a snapshot of the clearly defined separation.

“It took probably 100 slides of DNA to see the desired arrangement,” Savva said.

It may take several years to apply the results of the study to the human genome, given the complexity of gene expression, Reenan said.

arts & culture 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Graphic designer recounts artistic roots in lecture series closing Chip Kidd created iconic covers for books like Murakami’s ‘1Q84’ and Sedaris’ ‘Naked’

By ZACH FREDERICKS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

In bold white letters, the word “Try” loomed over the dimly lit Martinos Auditorium in the Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, welcoming the Brown and Rhode Island School of Design students who piled into the room to hear graphic designer Chip Kidd speak Thursday afternoon.

The Creative Mind Initiative brought Kidd to campus for its last lecture of the fall semester.

A famous book cover artist, Kidd has worked with publishing house Alfred A. Knopf since 1986, designing the covers for Michael Crichton’s “Jurassic Park,” David Sedaris’ “Naked” and Haruki Murakami’s “1Q84,” among countless others. He has also left his mark on the world of graphic novels, having worked on “Watchmen” by Alan Moore and his own version of Batman called “Bat-manga!: The Secret History of Batman in Japan.”

“You know a Chip Kidd book when you see it — ­ precisely because it’s

unexpected, non-formulaic and perfectly right for the text within,” said Nicha Ratana-Apiromyakij ’15, co-organizer of the event, in her introduction. “His art of designing book covers gets to the very heart of what graphic design is, which is putting form to content in the most accessible, eye-catching way possible.”

The initiative brought Kidd to campus not only because of his success as a graphic designer, but also because “he is a master storyteller both as a visual communicator and as a writer,” said Ian Gonsher, professor of engineering and associate director of the initiative.

Kidd’s story is one of surprise, success, opportunity and failure. When he moved to New York in 1986, he had no intention of working as the assistant to the art director at a book publishing company. His big break came in 1990, when he designed the cover for “Jurassic Park.” MCA Universal subsequently bought the rights to his image for the film that would become a box office hit three years later.

“It’s great to have specific goals, but you have to keep an open mind to what’s actually available and take a start,” Kidd said.

The roots of uncertainty in Kidd’s story followed by his broad success have made him a popular speaker on college campuses.

“We’re all about the interdisciplinary, and Chip’s work is very pertinent to those interested in the interdisciplinary merging of ideas,” Ratana-Apiromyakij said.

“I saw his TED Talk … and I’m wondering if he’ll say the same thing or bring something new to the table,” said audience member and RISD student Jackie Ferrentino before the lecture.

Within seconds of taking the stage, Kidd had the audience in splits, keeping the energy up even as he delved into the serious topic of failure. Starting off with a self-deprecating yet provocative anecdote, he provided specific examples of times when his work was repeatedly rejected, poorly received and even changed by other people.

Kidd also discussed his most recent adventure, a children’s book called “Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design.”

After Raquel Jaramillo, a friend and children’s publishing guru, pitched him the idea, Kidd said, “I don’t have kids, I don’t like kids, I don’t talk to kids, so sure! Let’s do it!”

“It put me out of my comfort zone, but what was really appealing about it to me was that it really hadn’t been done before,” Kidd said.

The lectures typically feature three guests, but the organizers said they felt that Kidd alone would be more than

CORRINE SZCZESNY / HERALD

Kidd moved in 1986 to New York, where he would catch his big break designing the book cover of Chrichton’s 1990 “Jurassic Park.” a big enough draw to fill the Granoff Center.

“Chip Kidd is such a profound person in general,” said Vivian Carlson ’14, another of the event’s organizers.

“We didn’t want to offset his lecture with someone who hadn’t had as many experiences.”

The auditorium reached capacity

and remained full through the end of the question and answer session.

“Chip is the type of person who has had failures and successes, and he was really communicative of that,” Carlson said after the lecture. “A lot of us are going to be in shock when we get to the real world, and it’s good to have some warning.”

Fall Dance Concert showcases range of student choreography Dancers drew inspiration from a wide variety of sources, from Salvador Dali to Radiohead

By EMILY DUPUIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

At this weekend’s annual studentchoreographed Fall Dance Concert, attendees can expect lots of diversity and energy in all the pieces. The show covers a vast range of styles, including tap, ballet, aerial, modern and traditional Indian dance. Performances are set to assorted musical selections — from Kanye West to classical — and incorporate costumes and props that aid the choreographers’ messages.

Produced by Julie Adams Strandberg, senior lecturer in Theatre Arts and Performance Studies, the concert kicks off with “Lyrical,” a dance choreographed and performed by Sonya Gurwitt ’16. Utilizing an aerial hoop, Gurwitt moves fluidly through countless poses showcasing her flexibility, all while holding a book.

Gurwitt uses a book because she wanted to have something else to interact with in the solo piece, she wrote in an email to The Herald. “Reading and aerials are both activities that I love, and for me they are both ways to escape from real life for a little while, so I wanted to try to combine them somehow,” Gurwitt wrote, adding that the piece is meant to portray entering another world through reading.

Two modern dances — “Rail,” choreographed by Nicolas Baird ’14, and “Pah,” choreographed by Tori Wilson ’14 — showcase the use of nontraditional movements. “Rail,” a

modern dance piece set to electronic music, incorporates both animalistic and robotic movements, while “Pah,” a lyrical set to the song “Landfill” by Daughter, uses sign language to convey the song’s message.

In “Etc.…,” a contemporary piece set to “15 Step” by Radiohead and choreographed by Emma Russo ’15, chairs are moved into circles or lines, structuring the dance and guiding the performers. The dance builds as it progresses, ending with a single dancer in the center as the rest back away into the wings.

Another group project, “Untitled (Work in Progress),” a modern dance choreographed by Nadia Hannan ’14, is based on two paintings, JeanFrancois Millet’s “The Angelus” and a response by Salvador Dali, “Aurore, Midi, Apres-midi et Crepuscule.” The piece is part of a larger work to be performed in April 2014, Hannan wrote in an email to The Herald.

“Essentially I have used these two paintings and various scholars’ interpretations of these paintings, including Dali’s himself, as a source of inspiration for my piece,” Hannan wrote, adding that the dance was designed to explore some of the ideas these paintings bring up by establishing certain “relationships, gestures and patterns which will be further explored in the larger work.”

“Dancing Along After the Multiplex,” choreographed by Sarah Friedland ’14 is also inspired by another art medium. The five-minute piece features a single dancer sitting in a red theater seat and is an excerpt from a longer 30-minute show that nine dancers will perform in April alongside the work of Hannan, Friedland

www.browndailyherald.com

wrote in an email to The Herald.

The dance looks at the role of gestures in the construction of film genres, including “slasher films, chick flicks and westerns,” Friedland wrote.

“This solo tries to perform the moving effects of a film while a viewer is seated in a movie theater. In other words, how do we ‘dance along’ while watching bodies move in films, and how do we keep ‘dancing along’ after watching a movie?” Friedland wrote.

The show ends with the piece “On the Rocks,” choreographed by Jason Addy ’16, Iris Pak ’15, Daniel Choo ’15, Jenny Tsai ’14 and Griffin Hartmann ’15. The dance incorporates multiple songs — Miguel’s “How Many Drinks?,” Justin Timberlake’s “That Girl,” a remix of “Suit & Tie” and Kanye West’s “Blood on the Leaves.”

Moving seamlessly between each song, the piece provides an energetic ending to a consistently engaging dance concert.

RYAN WALSH / HERALD

The concert featured various dance styles, including ballet, aerial, modern and traditional Indian dance.

6 thayer street

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Avon fills niche as East Side independent film mecca The family-owned cinema this year celebrated its 75th anniversary as a cultural gathering place

By SARAH SACHS STAFF WRITER

On a quiet Friday afternoon, the Avon Theater often bustles with middle-aged local intellectuals. The thick smell of warm buttered popcorn hangs in the air, while old-time swing music plays softly.

“Welcome to the world’s most uncomfortable seats in the most beautiful theater,” one elderly patron says to his wife as they walk in.

“Make sure we get our usual seat,” she replies.

Before the film begins, a short cartoon of Dracula and Frankenstein buying concessions at a movie theater and throwing away trash plays on the big screen. Richard Dulgarian, owner of the Avon, stands in the back, laughing during the short.

Dulgarian represents the third generation of the Avon’s leadership, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. This year marks the one-screen cinema’s 75th anniversary.

“It’s a labor of love,” Dulgarian said.

“We will absolutely have 75 more years.

It’s the only one of its kind.”

After emigrating from Armenia in

» THAYER, from page 1 Mitrelis opened the Better Burger Company. He is also behind Kartabar and Milan Quarter, a restaurant downtown.

Global cuisine Many other restaurants, serving cuisine ranging from Korean to Hispanic to Asian, were also drawn to the bustle of Thayer Street.

David Boutras founded Shark five and a half years ago with two

1938, Dulgarian’s grandfather started the business to show “the finest films (from) Europe,” Dulgarian said.

“Maybe that’s because he missed the old country,” he added. The theater has since remained committed to showing independent and foreign films.

Dulgarian said the theater has never succeeded with Hollywood hits. “We once had a blockbuster with Burt Reynolds, but we were dead,” he said. “That audience doesn’t know where the Avon even is.”

The Avon does not have many student patrons, said Jordan Archey, an Avon employee.

“We don’t show Iron Man or anything like that,” she said. “I would say the average demographic is 45 and older.”

Dulgarian said he is proud of the Avon’s distinct movie selections. “When you leave the Avon, you have to go to a coffee shop and discuss.”

Archey said she thinks it is particularly important that the Avon show independent movies, as locals could not otherwise see such titles on the big screen.

“It’s important we give them that exposure,” she said.

“We still have our niche,” Dulgarian said, adding that the Avon’s friendly staff and attention to details set the theater apart from others.

“A couple years ago — I paid in cash — my change was 50 cents, and they gave

me a half dollar,” Natalia Maymi ‘14 said, adding that such quirks make her prefer the Avon to the other movie theatres.

“People get really excited about the old money,” Archey said.

Jeanette Rompa, a Roger Williams University student originally from Rhode Island, said she always tries to get non-locals to go to the Avon. Rompa and some classmates decided to visit the historic theater to see a film related to their course of study.

“Now that they are here, they love it,” she said.

Before home televisions and computers were common, Dulgarian said patrons used to line up on Thayer Street to attend evening shows. Dulgarian said the theater had to station ushers at each block to make sure patrons did not obstruct the entrances to other stores.

“Seeing a movie at the Avon was cultural and social,” he said.

Though it is easier than ever to watch movies at home, Dulgarian said he does not think other technologies will ever drive the Avon into obsolescence.

“There’s a big difference between a sofa and an audience,” he said. “When people are all watching on their iPhone, that’s not a community.”

People will always want to see films, he said, because “they want communal experiences.”

“The fact that the Avon feels like such an old movie theater affects the mood

partners, who later left the business.

“We liked the atmosphere with Brown University,” he said. “We thought we’d create something funky and European,” he said. The founders designed L.E.D. lights and a shark replica over the doorway to draw in customers, Boutras said.

After Shark had been open for six months, Boutras’ landlord offered him the building next door to open a new Mexican restaurant: Bajas.

Boutras said he worked hard on the visual design of Bajas, with the

kitchen located toward the front of the restaurant and a large window looking onto the street to attract passersbys.

Another family owned restaurant — Bagel Gourmet — also expanded into the Thayer area. Though Bagel Gourmet originally had only one location on Brook Street, owner Richard Wise unveiled a Thayer Street location named Bagel Gourmet Ole in 2005, said Eduardo Perez, a manager at Bagel Gourmet. Two years later Wise opened a third location near Alpert Medical School but does not have any specific plans to expand more at the moment, Perez said.

Many flavors Though Thayer Street is saturated with eateries, most restaurateurs are not concerned about the competition and instead claim to help each other out.

“I believe there’s enough room for everyone,” Boutras said, adding that Thayer’s diverse food selection is what makes it unique.

“We all know each other on Thayer Street,” said Jessica Chavez, who works at Johnny Rockets. Restaurants will help each other out if a machine breaks or the register rolls are all used up, she said.

Even the Mitrelis’ restaurants are distinct from one another because a co-owner runs day-to-day operations at each location, said Nicholas Makris, co-owner of Andreas. Owners independently order food and supplies from the companies they choose, said Taner Toprak, who runs BBC. Though Thayer is home to Chipotle, Starbucks, Au Bon Pain and other chain restaurants, chains are not a new phenomenon to Thayer but rather have come and gone throughout the street’s history.

“One of the first places that came here for ice cream was Baskin

HERALD FILE PHOTO

The Avon rarely shows blockbusters, instead supporting independent films that patrons said lend themselves to coffee shop discussions afterward. you’re in,” Maymi said.

“The seats aren’t super comfortable,” she said. “But if they were to get normal movie theater seats, it would ruin the feel.”

Maymi is the co-director of the Ivy Film Festival, which rents the theater every year to show its bigger pictures.

Maymi said IFF has always maintained a strong relationship with the Avon.

“It’s kind of understood we’ll use it,” she said.

Dulgarian said he hopes the theater will remain a family business. Though he does not have children, he said he hopes one of his brother’s children will express interest in inheriting the business.

“I keep saying, come visit Uncle Richy,” Dulgarian said. “Some day, this could all be yours.”

Robbins,” said Sachdev, adding that it was pushed out of business by a local shop. But the local shop’s business was eventually undercut by a new Ben & Jerry’s, which is currently relocating to a location directly on Thayer.

Independent restaurant owners said they are not worried about the presence of chains along the street.

Fast food chains offer products completely different from what restaurants such as BBC have to offer, Toprak said, adding that BBC uses primarily organic ingredients.

Chains also bring more business to the street, which means more people might come back to try other food, Mitrelis said.

turn Spectrum India into a wholesale operation. The new operation was so successful that Sachdev was forced to leave his full-time job as a city planner and devote his time to the store.

Within seven years, he owned 23 wholesale shops throughout the state.

Customers would come from out of town to buy his specialty goods from India, Sachdev said, adding that he hired Brown graduates to run some of his stores and advertised through WBRU and The Herald.

But the company’s reign came to an end when a bad investment downtown cost Sachdev more than he was making collectively at his other 23 locations. Thayer’s Spectrum India is the last of Sachdev’s shops.

“I can’t quite say to you when it happened (or) how it happened,” but student fashion and spending attitudes have changed between now and when Spectrum India first opened, Sachdev said.

Since the recent economic downturn, there has been a dramatic drop in student business, said Ann Dusseault, owner of Pie in the Sky. Before the popularization of the Internet and advent of smartphones, people relied more on small shops to purchase goods. “People had beepers when I opened,” she joked.

The downturn also affected sales for Sachdev, who said fewer students have been buying items such as clothing.

Shop owners said the shortage of parking on Thayer makes it difficult for customers to visit from outside of the College Hill area.

Between the expansion of the Wheeler School and the increase in student parking areas, spots are at a all-time low on Thayer, Dusseault said. Having enough parking is key for businesses if Thayer wishes to remain a destination for shoppers, she added.

Demise of the shop As restaurants and bars continue to boom on Thayer, small shops have declined in number and in business.

When Sachdev, who opened Spectrum India in 1967, first inhabited the street, he said gaggles of college and high school students would flock up a two-story walk-up and squeeze into one of the three gift shops on the top of what is now the Thayer Street Urban Outfitters. Parents and young children could be seen nextdoor buying chicken and potatoes for the night’s dinner at a family owned grocery store where CVS currently stands.

“Thayer Street was the busiest street in the state,” Berman said.

Sachdev said the proximity to Brown and the Rhode Island School of Design as well as his familiarity with the street drew him to Thayer to open his shop.

“The idea was to experiment and test different products from India and see what would sell,” Sachdev said. Americans often liked different products than he expected.

After a year of business, Sachdev’s friend suggested that they

thayer street 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Thayer businesses come and go as trends, students pass through A site for youth revelry, Thayer has developed a reciprocal relationship with Brown students

By BRITTANY NIEVES SENIOR STAFF WRITER

As community members have always shared a unique symbiotic relationship with Thayer Street stores and restaurants, students and alums have been well-positioned to witness Thayer’s shift from an area dominated by mom-andpop shops to a more restaurant-based, nightlife-oriented hub.

A historic avenue During the 1960s, Thayer was a fundamental component of campus life, providing a venue for the women of Pembroke College and the men of Brown to hang out and find entertainment.

The street was “the heart of Brown,” said Jeffrey Alcorn ’66 P’97.

Located on the corner of Thayer and Cushing streets was the Thayer Street Market. Further down the road were several family-owned shops, laundromats, barbershops and the Brown Bookstore.

The street featured record shops, sporting good stores, a McDonald’s and the Rhode Island Hospital Trust Company.

“I used to cash my checks for the weekend for about $10 at the bank on a Friday afternoon,” Alcorn said. “That was enough money for a weekend, including all kinds of activities. Those were the days.”

Brown began to admit women and merged with Pembroke in 1971. During the ’60s, the young ladies of Pembroke College and young men of Brown shared classes but did not share eating facilities or residence halls.

“On Thayer Street, in front of Hegeman (Hall), was the first conversation I exchanged with my soon-to-be wife,” Alcorn reminisced. “She was a Pembroke graduate of the class of ’68. It was a chance encounter.” In his enthusiasm to see his crush, he accidentally called her the wrong name.

On weekends, Thayer became a meeting ground for Brown men and local women interested in meeting people from Brown and “participating in the weekend activities,” Alcorn said.

Thayer’s location between the two campuses allowed for history to be made, Alcorn said, citing his participation in a 1963 Pembroke campus “riot.” More “a celebration of spring” than “a riot,” Alcorn recounted Brown men invading Pembroke dormitories en masse.

“This was what was generally referred to as a panty raid,” Alcorn said, adding that both Providence and University police officers responded to quiet down the event. “There was no destruction of property. It was kids having a great time. … Thayer Street was one of the avenues that made it possible.”

Aging stores After the University became coed, Thayer’s prominence was dulled by its old-fashioned vibe.

During the mid-70s, Thayer Street’s older mom-and-pop stores became outdated, said Celia Carboni ’76. Several shops that suited the 1960s seemed out of place as the death of the hippie era brought changes to cultural norms.

“It wasn’t a dump, but it wasn’t a fun place with all these amazing food stores and clothing stores and so on, either,” Carboni said. “It was kind of a holdover from the late ’50s. There was a weird disconnect.”

During the early 1980s, Thayer was

mostly filled with retail stores and had significantly fewer restaurants than it does today, said Jesse Berman, owner of Army and Navy Plus and Shades Plus.

“There was a jeweler, a cobbler, a photo-mat, a hardware store next door, a Subway’s, a fine women’s store,” Berman said. “Next door was the barber shop, the liquor store, an Incredible Edibles — which was a candy store — and the next corner was the IHOP.” Berman added that his current store location was formerly a Baskin-Robbins.

Thayer dinosaurs Several Thayer businesses have endured across decades.

Spectrum India, owned by Jagdish Sachdev, has been open for 47 years, and the Avon Theater, which opened in 1938, has served as a recreational fixture for students from the 1960s and beyond.

“The fondest memory I have on Thayer Street is all of us verging on the Avon during graduation week,” said John Auerbach ’80. The theater was playing “The Graduate,” and “it seemed as if my whole entire class was there,” he said.

The Avon’s tendency to play older movies, along with art films and documentaries, has made the theater unique compared to the one at the Providence Place Mall, which generally plays more mainstream movies.

Pie in the Sky owner Ann Dusseault has also succeeded in keeping her doors open for many years, despite difficulties with rent and morphing competition on Thayer over the past 20 years, she said.

Rise of food Several restaurants, such as Andreas and Spats, have also managed to endure the test of time on Thayer, though their locations have changed over the course of the street’s history.

Panelists probe Affordable Care Act The Act could benefit 45,000 Rhode Islanders, but 120,000 remain uninsured in the state

By KATHERINE LAMB SENIOR STAFF WRITER

A panel of experts explored the benefits and problems the Affordable Care Act has posed for Rhode Islanders, focusing specifically on more vulnerable populations, at an event hosted by Health Leads last night.

Rhode Island is one of 27 states to have opted into the law’s expansion of Medicaid, despite the 2012 Supreme Court ruling that this expansion is not required.

“We’re forging ahead in offering that coverage,” said panelist Linda Katz, policy director and co-founder of the Economic Progress Institute and Chair of Rite Care Consumer Advisory Council.

About 45,000 Rhode Islanders could benefit from the expanded coverage, which for the first time is now offered to currently uninsured childless adults, Katz said. There are currently an estimated 120,000 uninsured individuals in the state, 110,000 of whom are adults, she said.

CITY & STATE

According to state data, about 4,400 people have completed applications for insurance through the new state marketplace for health insurance. About 75 percent of the applicants signed up for the expanded Medicaid plan.

Many Rhode Islanders who are not eligible for Medicaid will qualify for federal tax credits to help them afford more comprehensive insurance programs through the Health Source Rhode Island state health care exchange, Katz said.

“People really aren’t going to be able to buy skimpy plans anymore,” she said. “We want broad coverage, and we want people to be able to use preventative services.”

“Rhode Island is really leading the way” in implementing the Affordable Care Act, said panelist Lisa Opdycke GS, a graduate student at the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions.

Though most states rely on the federal health care exchange system, which has suffered significant technical problems since its Oct. 1 opening, Rhode Island has developed its own health care exchange to prepare for the implementation of the new policy, Opdycke said. While most states rely on the Internal Revenue Service, Rhode Island uses a state system for income verification, which enabled

the state to continue its verification process during the government shutdown, she added.

But 6,000 parents in Rhode Island will lose their current health care coverage when the Affordable Care Act comes into effect in January, Katz said. Toward the end of the legislative session, the Rhode Island General Assembly decided to “roll back” parent eligibility, forcing parents who were previously insured through Rite Care, a state program that offers coverage to low-income families, to seek new coverage through Health Source Rhode Island, she said.

“None of these families have ever had to pay anything out of pocket” for their health care, Katz said. So far, the state has not offered any support to families who will need to adjust to paying monthly premiums, she added.

Panelist Ira Wilson, chair of the Department of Health Services, Policy and Practice, said Rhode Island has the fourth highest ratio of physicians per population of any state in the country.

“We’re blessed with a lot of providers, and we’re a small state,” he said. But whether people across the state, particularly those living in lowincome neighborhoods, will take advantage of the relative accessibility of health care remains to be seen, he said.

Spats, a restaurant and pub on Angell Street, was previously located where the Viva and Paragon restaurants now reside.

Because the legal drinking age was 18 in the ’80s, Spats was a particularly popular spot for students, said Linda Blinn ’85.

Blinn, who worked part-time at Berk’s Shoes and Clothing Store, attested to the popularity of Store 24, a convenience store previously in the empty storefront that recently housed Tedeschi’s. Steve’s Ice cream and Incredible Edibles used to offer their Thayer patrons a variety of treats.

“When we looked at the menu and saw the (Sharpe Refectory) had casserole, we took a pass and went to Steve’s instead,” Blinn said.

Another popular ice cream shop that still resides on Thayer is Ben and Jerry’s, which had its grand opening in the winter of 1983.

There were also several pizzerias, including a Domino’s, which was not yet a well-known franchise.

“That was one of the first chains (on Thayer) but it didn’t seem like a chain since it wasn’t on every corner yet. It was sort of a new thing,” Alperin said.

Students also frequented the Thayer Street Market, located at 291 Thayer Street in CVS Pharmacy’s current location. Similar in style to the family-owned shops of the time, the market offered a small selection of grocery items for students who could not make the trip to larger grocery stores.

“One time I was a couple of bucks short and I was mortified,” Alperin said, recalling checking out his groceries at Thayer Market during the late ’70s. “I started putting things back, and (the cashier) said ‘No, no, no — just bring me the money another time.’ They knew you were a student. You were going to be buying things from them for years.”

The fleeting Though places like the Avon, Pie in the Sky and Spectrum India have had significant histories on Thayer, many shops have come and gone, particularly stores that became outdated with new technology.

Record shops were prevalent on Thayer until the mid-90s, along with alternative bookstores. As late as 1993, three record shops existed on Thayer, Dusseault said. Record shops adjusted to changing music tastes over the decades but remained popular until the advent of the Internet.

From 1976 to 1980, “this was the period of the punk new wave explosion,” Auerbach said.

“Musical taste changed dramatically over the course of (my) four years,” she said. “It was part of the culture.”

A popular alternative to the Brown Bookstore was College Hill Books, which provided students with used books at affordable prices.

“What we were spending on books back then is what you guys spend for one book nowadays,” Alperin said.

During the ’90s, Thayer had several flower shops and record stores, Dusseault said, all of which thrived through students and residents in the neighboring area.

But the struggle of managing increasing rent prices caused several smaller businesses to go under.

“Every time a small place closes, it gets eaten up by a restaurant,” Dusseault said, citing the recent demise of Details, a small accessories store, at the hands of an expanding Shark Bar and Grille.

“Twenty years ago when we opened, it was a different climate. Smaller shops would get things that you hadn’t often seen, whereas now everything is on the computer,” she added.

8 sports friday

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Bears crush Bearcats, fall to Friars in season opening week Bruno’s ferocious secondhalf rally left the team just short against its crosstown rival

By SAM RUBINROIT SPORTS STAFF WRITER

The Bears opened their season with a 74-57 victory over Binghamton University at home Sunday, before falling to Providence College 73-69 Wednesday in dramatic fashion.

Point guard Sean McGonagill ’14 led Brown to its resounding victory over the Bearcats (1-2), connecting on four of six three-point attempts on his way to a game-high 22 points. Forward Rafael Maia ’15 pulled down nine rebounds and was Brown’s second leading scorer with 14 points.

After compiling a school record of 66 blocked shots last season, forward Cedric Kuakumensah ’16 picked up where he left off against Binghamton, swatting six shots to supplement 14 rebounds and nine points. The Bears saw significant contributions from rookie starters Tavon Blackmon ’17 and Steven Spieth ’17, who netted nine and six points, respectively. Fellow greenhorn Leland King ’17 came off the bench to add six points.

Wednesday’s showdown against Providence (2-0) was highly anticipated after the Bears’ stunning 69-68 victory at home last season, when Tucker Halpern ’13.5 nailed a last-second, game-winning three-pointer.

But at tipoff the rematch seemed destined for a vastly different outcome.

The young Brown team appeared outmatched as the Friars jumped ahead to a 20-4 lead in the opening minutes. The Bears shot just 36 percent in the first period and trailed 44-30 at halftime.

“I didn’t see what we do every day in practice,” said Head Coach Mike Martin

’04. “I told our guys at halftime, we’re lucky to be down 14 the way we’re playing.”

Undeterred, Bruno marched back to tie the game midway through the second half as Providence’s offense went cold, and the Friars shot just four of 22 from the field in the first 13 minutes.

The two teams continued to trade baskets until the Friars nailed a threepointer to take a 69-66 lead with 36 seconds remaining. After a missed layup, the Bears were forced to foul and Providence went up by five points with 20 seconds remaining, seemingly putting the game out of reach.

Unfazed, in the next Brown possession, McGonagill drained a clutch three pointer, putting the Bears within two points with less than 10 seconds on the clock.

“Credit to him, that was a huge shot,” said Friars forward Kadeem Batts, who finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

“He’s obviously the leader of that team, and he hit a big shot for them.”

After a timeout, McGonagill managed to steal the inbounds pass and let fly a desperate three point attempt with three seconds remaining, but missed narrowly. The Friars sealed the 73-69 victory with two foul shots in the final second.

Following the tight victory, Providence Head Coach Ed Cooley praised the Bears for their perseverance.

“You have to give them a lot credit,” he said. “It’s one of those days where we didn’t play well, and they played well coming down the stretch on the road.”

Martin credited the team’s improved second half performance to a change in mindset.

“We realized that they have good players, and they’re well coached, but they’re human like we are,” he said. “In the first half, I’m not sure that was our approach.”

The Bears’ continue non-conference

KATIE LIEBOWITZ / HERALD

Guard Sean McGonagill ‘14 poured in 22 points to help the Bears to a season opening win over Binghamton University, but the senior’s late attempt to tie the game against Providence College narrowly missed. play with four consecutive road games, facing the University of the Sacred Heart (0-2), the University of Massachusetts Lowell (0-2), Longwood University (11) and Bryant University (1-1) before

returning home Nov. 30 to face Central Connecticut State University (0-2).

Cooley echoed his respect for Brown’s program.

“Don’t take anything away from

Brown,” he said. “They played a hell of a game. I’ll cheer for them every single game. I’m going to cheer for every Rhode Island team, except for when we play them.”

» COMMITTEE, from page 3 the lecture, said he knows a few of the members of the committee and heard from others they had “awareness of the issues” and were going to be “fair.”

Though he did not have an opinion on whether organizing a committee was necessarily the “right way” to address the aftermath of the protest, he said he was interested to see how the committee “investigates issues.”

Anselmo Fuentes ’16, who supported the protest, said he appreciated students were “given a voice” through representation on the committee. He said he would like the committee to consider the 2006 report from the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice as the committee makes recommendations, so that it understands how the University “perpetuated racism” in the past. Fuentes added he would like the committee to make meeting minutes public and reveal its timeline.

Fuentes said he hopes the committee can foster “meaningful dialogue” among Brown and Providence community members, understand different perspectives and “hear the voices of the protestors.”

Though the committee has not determined when it will first meet, the members will work to convene before Thanksgiving break, Laughton said.

sports friday 9

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

JESSE SCHWIMMER / HERALD

Matt Lorito ’15 netted his fourth goal of the season to cut the University of New Hampshire’s lead, but the deficit proved too large to overcome.

MEN’S HOCKEY

Bruno withers against Wildcats Lamacchia ’15 tallied one goal and an assist, but the Bears still fell to the nonconference foe

By DANTE O’CONNELL SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The men’s hockey team fell to the University of New Hampshire 4-2 Tuesday in a non-conference matchup on the road. Bruno took an early lead before allowing four unanswered Wildcat goals.

“We were a little inconsistent,” said Head Coach Brendan Whittet ’94. “We were going pretty good in the first period, but then we gave up two quick ones.

That kind of changed the momentum to (New Hampshire), and that carried over into the second.”

Massimo Lamacchia ’15 led the Bears (3-3-1, ECAC 1-2-1), scoring his first goal in his second game of the season followed by an assist late in the game. Goalie Marco De Filippo ’14 ended the game with 37 saves.

Lamacchia put the Bears on the board midway through the first period.

After Wildcat goalie Jeff Wyer turned away Lamacchia’s first attempt, Mark Naclerio ’16 gathered the rebound and passed it to Lamacchia, who found the back of the net. “(Lamacchia is) the epitome of a team guy,” Whittet said. “I was proud of him — that he came in and was ready to go. He’s earned an opportunity to get more playing time, that’s for sure.”

New Hampshire (4-5-1) dominated the scoring for the rest of the game.

Later in the first period, Nick Sorkin and Grayson Downing each beat De Fillipo in a span of two minutes, taking the Wildcats into the locker room with a 2-1 lead.

The second period stayed score-free until the last few seconds of the frame.

After Bruno killed two New Hampshire power plays earlier in the period, Jeff Silengo scored with just 13 ticks left on the clock, giving the Wildcats a 3-1 lead after two periods.

“Kind of a cardinal rule in hockey is to not give up any goals in the first or last two minutes of any period,” Whittet said. “We’ve made a habit of that lately.”

Kevin Goumas added the Wildcats’ fourth score midway through the final period, beating De Filippo from the right side.

Matt Lorito ’15 brought Bruno back to within two goals of the Wildcats with his fourth score of the season late in the game. Lamacchia and Mike Juola ’14 provided the assists.

Despite outshooting New Hampshire 11-10 in the third period, the Bears could not cut the deficit further.

“We had a great third period, but we were playing catch up,” Whittet said.

“That’s not any way to consistently win games against elite level teams.”

Bruno spent its smallest amount of time in the penalty box on the season with only six minutes. This number has been on the decline since the contest against Quinnipiac last weekend.

New Hampshire outshot the Bears 41-26 on the game.

The Bears will have the weekend off and return to action Nov. 22 and 23 on the road against Cornell (3-2-1, 1-2-1) and Colgate University (4-6-1, 2-2-0).

The time off will allow Nick Lappin ’16, Ryan Jacobson ’15, Brandon Pfeil ’16 and Joey de Concilys ’15 to recover from undisclosed injuries that have held them out of the lineup for the past few games.

“My hope is that the majority of those guys will be able to go next Friday at Cornell,” Whittet said.

COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS

The class of 2014 will roam Brown Stadium for the last time this weekend, looking to go out with a win against a statistically powerful Dartmouth team.

FOOTBALL

Bears host Big Green on Senior Day The matchup showcases top Ivy talent but hopes of a conference title are dim for both sides

By CALEB MILLER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The football team’s clash Saturday with Dartmouth will be more than just a regular season matchup for the 26 seniors who will take the field at Brown Stadium for the last time.

Playing in the final game on home turf against an Ancient Eight rival — and with a winning conference record on the line — the Bears (5-3, Ivy 2-3) will have plenty of motivation despite having their Ivy League title hopes doused last weekend at Yale. Head Coach Phil Estes said the gravity of playing in their final home game will keep the players focused on Dartmouth (4-4, 3-2) instead of dwelling on the disappointment of last weekend.

But Emory Polley ’14 downplayed the emotion, saying the focus is the same as always: getting a win.

“At the end of the game, it’s another game that I want to win with my guys,”

he said. “It’s about making sure that I leave that field for the last time, my last game, as a winner.”

While Dartmouth is also a long shot for the Ivy title, both teams enter the game with some of the top performers in the conference.

Similar to last weekend’s matchup with Yale, the contest between the Bears and the Big Green will be a clash of titanic rushing attacks. The conference’s two leading rushers will square off — John Spooney ’14 with 116.9 yards per game and Dartmouth’s Dominick Pierre with 107.2 yards per game. The Big Green complements Pierre’s ground attack with the top rushing quarterback in the league, Dalyn Williams.

Bruno’s defensive front will have the steep task of corralling Pierre and Williams. The unit has been strong in its last two games, holding Penn and Yale to 56 and 70 rushing yards fewer than their game averages, respectively. The Bears have had mixed results against running quarterbacks — Princeton quarterback Quinn Epperly shredded the defense on his way to 95 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.

comics A Horse of Any Other Name | Zach Silberberg

Cat Ears | Najatee’ McNeil

While the defense works to slow down Dartmouth’s run, quarterback Patrick Donnelly ’13.5 and the offense will have their work cut out for them against the best defense, statistically, in the Ivy League. Nobody in the Ancient Eight has allowed fewer points or yards than Dartmouth’s defenders.

Donnelly was impressed with the “big defensive line, strong linebackers and good secondary” that make up Darmouth’s opposition.

“They don’t have any weaknesses that jump out on film,” he added.

With a formidable running game and a top-rated defense, it is hard to believe Dartmouth has lost as many games as it has won. But the Big Green has suffered some bad luck. Three of the team’s losses have come by three points and the fourth ended in quadruple overtime.

But Bruno counters with balance.

The Bears’ lineup includes the Ivy League’s third leading passer, leading rusher, fifth leading receiver and leading sacker.

Given the stakes of the game and the talent on the field, the matchup has all the elements necessary to prove a memorable showdown.

10 commentary

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

DIAMONDS & COAL Coal to the Third World Center for discontinuing its Thanksgiving dinner, which one previous attendee said was “very homey, there (were) a lot of couches, and there was a lot of food, but it was very crowded.” This year, we’re taking Grandma Alice’s pumpkin pie to eat in the attic alone.

A diamond to the student who avoided a robbery by a Pakistani gang member by teaching him how to use her TI-89 calculator. What a calculated move — we always knew the skills we gained in Mathletes would last a lifetime.

Cubic zirconia to Hal Roth, professor of religious studies, who said of Brown’s employee benefits, “We’ve been pretty ignorant as to what our status is.” Maybe RothBot can help him figure out what he should say.

Coal to Cynthia Brokaw, professor and chair of the Department of History, who said there is a “perception that history isn’t practical” because “there is no obvious job that a person with a concentration in history does.” You mean full-time Abraham Lincoln impersonator doesn’t count?

A diamond to Professor of Physics Brad Marston who said of completing a thesis, “The award of honors is just icing on the cake.” Wait. If you write a thesis, you get cake? We like cake.

Coal to N. Gregory Mankiw P’17, professor of economics and department chair at Harvard, who, quoting Mark Twan, said, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so,” in a lecture Wednesday. Just because we don’t go to Harvard doesn’t mean we don’t know anything.

A diamond to Jean Maire Burr, head coach of the women’s basketball team, who said, “I think this game is really going to make us hungry.” Yes, that is typically what calorie expenditure does to one’s body.

A diamond to Jagdish Sachdev, owner of Spectrum India, who noted that students have been purchasing less clothing recently. Don’t tell Fox News.

Coal to the MESH Art Show curator who said the different interpretations of artists who participated in the show shed light on how “obsessive practices cause us to develop feelings of passion, fixation, frustration.” Sounds like they should have included our epic poem about Pop-tarts.

A N G E L IA WA N G

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Speech, not protestors endangered by Kelly lecture To the Editor: The guest column (“Organizers and supporters of the demonstration against Ray Kelly: Standing for racial justice: A public statement,” Nov. 11) is troubling on many different levels. The organizers and supporters of the demonstration assert that a speech by New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly made them feel “unsafe,” “threatened” and “intimidated.” It is unclear what precisely made these students feel unsafe. I do not believe there is any evidence that the University was not taking measures to avoid physical threats or confrontation. Therefore, I can only conclude that it was the content of the speech that made the students feel unsafe. Protection and defense of freedom of speech cannot and should not be based on the content of the speech. That notion is antithetical to the fundamental concept of free speech. It is precisely speech

that is difficult to hear or makes us feel uncomfortable that needs the most protection. If students do not feel safe discussing difficult and uncomfortable issues in a controlled university environment, it is difficult to conceive of a forum that would allow for the free exchange of difficult and uncomfortable ideas.

It is easy to defend speech with which we agree. It is, however, of the utmost importance to provide an open forum for speech with which we disagree or which makes us feel uncomfortable. The most disappointing part of the guest column is the failure of the student writers to confront the real issue in the free speech debate: who decides what speakers will be permitted to speak and what speakers will be prohibited from speaking. It is not free speech that should scare us, but rather the suppression of speech.

Tani Sapirstein ’78

letters@browndailyherald.com

Q U O T E O F T H E D AY

“This was what was generally referred to as a panty raid.” ­—Jeffrey Alcorn ’66 P’97 See thayer, page 7.

Editorial Leadership

Sections

Visuals & Production

Business

Editors-in-Chief Lucy Feldman Shefali Luthra

Arts & Culture Editors Hannah Abelow Maddie Berg

Head Photo Editor Emily Gilbert

General Managers Julia Kuwahara Samuel Plotner

Managing Editors Elizabeth Carr Jordan Hendricks

City & State Editors Sona Mkrttchian Adam Toobin

Senior Editors Aparna Bansal Alexa Pugh

Features Editors Jennifer Kaplan Elizabeth Koh

Strategic Director Greg Jordan-Detamore

Science & Research Editors Phoebe Draper Kate Nussenbaum

BLOG DAILY HERALD Editor-in-Chief Meredith Bilski

Sports Editors James Blum Connor Grealy

Managing Editor David Oyer

University News Editors David Chung Mathias Heller Eli Okun

POST- MAGAZINE

Editorial Page Editor Rachel Occhiogrosso

Editor-in-Chief Ben Resnik

Opinions Editors Gabbie Corvese Garret Johnson Maggie Tennis

Photo Editors Brittany Comunale David Deckey Samuel Kase Sports Photo Editor Jesse Schwimmer Video Editors Henry Chaisson Assistant: Danny Garfield Data Science Editor Andersen Chen Web Producer Joseph Stein Design Editors Kyle McNamara Mie Morikubo Julia Shube Assistant: Sandra Yan

Directors Sales: Eliza Coogan Finance: Nicole Shimer Alumni Relations: Emily Chu Business Dev.: Justin Lee Office Manager Shawn Reilly Sales Managers Regional: Jennifer Aitken Regional: Jaqueline Chang Regional: Leslie Chen Regional: Wenli Shao Regional: Carolyn Stichnoth Student Group: Anisa Holmes Finance Managers Collections: Sameer Sarkar Collections: Timothy Sharng Operations: Sarah Levine

Copy Desk Chief Sara Palasits

Alumni Relations Manager Engagement: Alison Pruzan

Illustrations Editor Angelia Wang

Business Dev. Managers Project Leader: Melody Cao Project Leader: Kaden Lee

facebook.com/browndailyherald

Location: 195 Angell St., Providence, R.I. www.browndailyherald.com

@the_herald

Editorial contact: 401-351-3372 herald@browndailyherald.com

browndailyherald.com

Business contact: 401-351-3260 gm@browndailyherald.com

Corrections: The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.

Commentary: The editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only.

Letters to the Editor: Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and clarity and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed.

Advertising: The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.

The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement and once during Orientation by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Single copy free for each member of the community. Subscription prices: $280 one year daily, $140 one semester daily.

Copyright 2013 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Postmaster: Please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906.

commentary 11

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Oh, not that again SUZANNE ENZERINK opinions columnist

News has an expiration date. This has become painfully clear to me once again during the vigorous debate over the New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly lecture and protest. In the past few days, especially in reference to the thoughtful and elaborate response the authors of the Kelly debate wrote in the pages of this newspaper (“Standing for racial justice: A public statement,” Nov. 11), the characterizations “fed up” and “over it” have been brought up multiple times by fellow students, as were remarks such as “oh, that again” and “the protesters got what they wanted, so why are they going on about it?”

In part, this notion of fatigue stems from the way in which the current media landscape functions. What is news one day is no longer of interest the next, as new events demand — and usually merit — print space and airtime. The Herald’s opinions editors sent an email to columnists saying they were “swamped” with Kelly-related columns and to please not write about the incident. Other professional news sources abide by similar principles. How much coverage

is enough? ing of immediate individual action.

The obvious misunderstand- But there are underlying politics of ing here is that the Kelly affair is reporting that are less widely disnot merely a singular event but a cussed: Who or what gets reportmanifestation of ed on, and how frelarger structures quently? of inequality that Race is still a “As with any major frame our daily key factor in this. A news story, the lives. By charac2010 national study terizing the enmajority of people showed that people suing debate as of color, especially performed their focusing, repetiblack Americans, are “civic duties” by tively so, on a sinoverrepresented in gle event — i.e. expressing outrage, news reports as perthe protest — it is petrators — 37 peronly to then lose cent of perpetrators tempting to forget that the expressed interest and move in the media are midissatisfaction compared on, neatly tucking norities pertains to trends with just 21 percent away their activist of actual arrest remuch larger than one individual ports — and undersentiments until coming to camrepresented as vicanother incident tims. Conversely, pus. No one “got what they wantwhites are disproarises.” ed” yet, because portionately shown racial inequality as being victims of remains ingrained in public policy. crime and almost never as perpeJournalists frequently toss trators. Cross-racial crimes, pararound terms such as “oversatura- ticularly black-on-white crimes, are tion” and “desensitization” to ex- most likely to receive news coverage plain that an overload of exposure and to be widely disseminated. In ultimately does more harm to a short, the media presents a heavily cause than good. Violent imagery, skewed and racialized image of the for example, is said to desensitize reality of crime. audiences. Viewers are so accusOn the other hand, certain types tomed to seeing reports of shoot- of incidents such as violence against ings and robberies that they no lon- colored bodies have apparently beger seem as shocking or as requir- come so “normalized” that they

hardly receive attention in U.S. media. Nineteen-year-old Renisha McBride, unarmed, was shot and killed in Detroit at the beginning of this month after she disorientedly rang a stranger’s doorbell seeking help after a car accident. In September, Jonathan Ferrell, a former Florida A&M football player, met the exact same fate in North Carolina. I read about both incidents in British news sources before the U.S. media picked up on them. Even then, it was always the usual suspects — the sources “unmasked” or derided as extremely leftist by David Horowitz and the right wing — who devoted an in-depth analysis to the cases, meaning that the majority of Americans never heard about them.

The fact that public policies such as “stop-and-frisk” further legitimize and ingrain the notion that somehow skin color is an indication of propensity to criminal activity only exacerbates this issue. If the media says it and public policy corroborates it, many people believe it must be true.

So no, I don’t think the Kelly debate has been going on for too long.

But the cameras have left, and to a certain extent, the spotlight has shifted. As with any major news story, the majority of people performed their “civic duties” by expressing outrage, only to then lose interest and move on, neatly tucking

away their activist sentiments until another incident arises. I do not question the sincerity of this majority. But its expression of fatigue undermines the work that the activists commit to 24/7.

In Brown’s case, the underlying power structures and biases that sparked the Kelly protest are still here. I know there is a group of students — though I don’t know them personally — working every day to change these structures. They are full-time activists.

At the very least, the rest of us could take the time to inform ourselves and read multiple perspectives so we are exposed to different views before forming our own opinions and before saying we are tired of hearing about it. If not active participants, at the very least we can be active supporters or an active audience, ready to lend a hand when asked — or ready to substantiate why we are not lending a hand, as freedom of opinion remains the cornerstone of this University (“Editorial: The function of the University,” Nov. 12). No matter what your view, it is important to not give into those feelings of, “Oh, not that again.”

nations. The higher the taxes, the this tax? This answer has two parts. less people consume. The results The first is that, just like dozens of say that if the United States began common sense solutions, our politito raise the price of carbon across cians are afraid to take action. Libthe board, our consumption would erals fear that the tax will be regresdecline. sive and put too much of a burden There is agreement that carbon on low-income families. Many condoes not cost enough. The prob- servatives fear that increasing taxes lem is that no one agrees on what of any sort will help in the expanthe price of carbon should be. The sion of “big government” — hence solution to this is their pledge neveasy: Let’s set an “All of us, including er to raise them. extremely low tax Both groups fear for the next decade our administration, that countries like that slowly rises. should push and China, which don’t The Congressiosuch a tax, publish and shout have nal Budget Office will have a competfor a carbon tax predicts that an itive advantage. extremely modest Luckily, briluntil other schools tax of $20 per ton liant people such and other students as Adele Morris of of CO2, roughly 15 cents per gallon the Brookings Inand then other of gas, would raise stitution have done citizens get on $1.2 trillion in tax their research and board.” revenue over the found that with a next 10 years and $16-per-ton tax reduce emissions by 8 percent. In our government could fund masone modest tax measure we begin sive cuts in our corporate tax rate, to solve our budget crisis, and we provide full reimbursements for the make progress on averting a climate new tax to low-income families and disaster. On top of this, the tax may reduce our debt by $815 billion over even allow us to remove some of the 20 years. Liberals win, conservative EPA’s ineffective and loophole-rid- tax hawks win, companies win, low dled laws so that all industries are income families win, the environfree from heavy handed regulation, ment wins and our deficit declines. unnecessary lobbying spending and We could be even bolder and uncertainty. slowly raise the carbon tax so that If it is so simple and so much all of these positives are amplified better, why don’t we already have over the years. Even if China wasn’t

thinking of implementing such a tax themselves — and it is — we would still gain all of the advantages highlighted above. The concern about international competitiveness is unfounded, especially when you consider that Germany has some of the highest carbon related taxes in the world, and it had a larger surplus than China last year while enjoying a record surplus this quarter.

The second part of why a carbon tax hasn’t been implemented is because the electorate is either not informed or doesn’t think it can make a difference. This is where Brown comes into play. We can begin to inform people if we make it our goal.

Let’s start a Tax Carbon Initiative. We should start a student group or expand upon the wonderful efforts of Divest Coal to make this a central campaign issue for the next round of elections. Let’s start the lobbying groundswell that this tax needs. We clearly have the students who care and a hopefully receptive administration. Let’s start the tax party.

Suzanne Enzerink GS is in American Studies. She can be reached at suzanne_enzerink@brown.edu

Tax to save NICO ENRIQUEZ opinions columnist

President Christina Paxson recently announced she was starting an Environmental Change Taskforce. Now, I am not sure if this taskforce will advocate for anything more than local measures like asking people to take shorter showers, shut their windows, turn down their radiators and not divest coal, but I am willing to give the president the benefit of the doubt.

As Brown Divest Coal so eloquently argued, not only should our school encourage energy efficiency measures, but we should also begin to use our position as an Ivy League university to advocate and lead the war against climate change. In that vein, the single biggest thing our school could do is advocate, loudly, for a carbon tax. All of us, including our administration, should push and publish and shout for a carbon tax until other schools and other students and then other citizens get on board. If we can direct Brown Divest Coal’s groundswell into a carbon tax movement, then we can do substantially more to avert climate change than any other measure.

A wizened conservative may say, “What liberal snake oil is this? How are more taxes going to save our

planet?”

I would respond with several studies published by conservative economists such as Bush’s former economic advisor Gregory Mankiw or brilliant academics like Princeton’s Alan Blinder or Nobel laureates like Robert Reich that all conclude the same thing: A carbon tax is the most effective tool we have to fight global warming, and it can be instituted in such a way that it helps streamline our economy by cutting unnecessary regulations and tax loopholes. Internationally, the Office of Economic Co-operation and Development recently published a report that argued for global carbon taxes for the exact same reasons: They would be effective, and they would streamline the global economy.

Indeed, just last month our own Scott Freitag ’14 eloquently outlined his support for a carbon tax (“A tax we can agree on,” Oct. 25).

Prices are the most efficient means to guide consumers and producers. Carbon, however, is not priced correctly, so we drastically overconsume it and our planet suffers. If we were to tax the consumption of carbon, we could send the correct price signal, and we will begin to consume less carbon. Researchers have repeatedly shown that there is a direct correlation between gasoline taxes and per capita gas consumption in developed

If you are interested in starting a movement, want more details or have experience and suggestions for making Congress listen, please contact Nico Enriquez ’16 at nenriquez3@gmail.com

daily herald sports friday THE BROWN

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Firn ’16: Alpha dolphins beached by controversy MIKE FIRN sports columnist

Well, that escalated quickly. As details continue to emerge about the ongoing fiasco of the fractured Miami Dolphins locker room, the story only gets murkier.

Who is the real Richie Incognito? Where is the line drawn between brotherhood and bullying? On a broader level, how do and how should power and hierarchy manifest themselves in a macho team sport? For now, here’s what we do know: On Oct. 30, Dolphins offensive lineman Jonathan Martin angrily stormed off after teammates jokingly refused to sit with him in the cafeteria. Over the next several days, it became clear that this seemingly innocuous prank was not an isolated incident. Martin’s camp alleged that over the past year he had been the victim of vicious bullying, led by fellow offensive lineman Incognito. Transcripts of texts and voicemails revealed racially charged threats of violence delivered by Incognito (who is white) to Martin (who is biracial). Martin’s lawyer released a statement claiming that his client “endured harassment that went far beyond the traditional locker room hazing.” Each new detail seemed to paint a picture of Incognito as a malicious brute

who enjoyed psychologically and physically harassing his younger teammate.

But even as this picture coalesced in the media, more and more players have begun to publicly support Incognito and condemn Martin. Dolphin veterans, including quarterback Ryan Tannehill and offensive lineman Tyson Clabo, insisted that the two teammates had a brotherly relationship, and they backed Incognito’s claim that the vulgarity is taken out of context and is typical of locker room banter. Elsewhere around the league, players generally felt that though Incognito went too far, Martin had broken an unwritten code of conduct. Broncos defensive tackle Terrance Knighton criticized him for turning an internal issue into a public distraction.

Former Dolphins running back Ricky Williams accused Martin of scapegoating Incognito for his personal problems.

Giants safety Antrelle Rolle remarked, “Jonathan Martin is a 6’5” 320 pound dude. I think he should be able to stand up for himself.” Aside from the racial epithets, players generally agreed that such hazing was simply part of football culture. Player rhetoric both inside and outside the Dolphins’ locker room focused on Martin betraying the team at a crucial point in the season due to his inability to cope with the NFL lifestyle.

So how can we reconcile these two images? On one hand, Incognito is

clearly a bully with a nose for trouble.

His reputation dates all the way back to 2002 as a first-year at the University of Nebraska, when he incited an incident that culminated in a teammate storming out of practice. Incognito was suspended twice at Nebraska before transferring to the University of Oregon, where he was promptly kicked off the team within a week of his arrival. In 2009, Incognito was voted the “NFL’s Dirtiest Player” by a Sporting News poll of 99 other players.

Throw in a 2004 assault charge, 2012 allegations that he inappropriately harassed a woman and reports that he regularly held mandatory meetings at a strip club, and you get a troubled timeline of Incognito’s career as a football player and teammate.

But Incognito has somehow garnered ardent supporters every step of the way. In 2012, the Pro Football Writer’s Association presented Incognito with Miami’s “Good Guy Award” for cooperation and professionalism in dealings with the media. He not only served on the Dolphins’ six-player leadership council but also was reportedly the group’s most vocal and active member. And in this latest bout with controversy, Incognito undoubtedly has the support of his fellow Dolphins players who unanimously tout him as a good teammate. Martin himself even texted Incognito and absolved him of blame,

citing the general culture around football as the real reason for his meltdown.

Evidently there’s still a lot to this story we don’t know. What is the true relationship between Martin and Incognito?

Is this situation typical in NFL locker rooms? Dolphins ownership is publicly supporting Martin. Dolphins players are publicly supporting Incognito. Clearly, there’s a disconnect here. Do players have a better firsthand perspective, or is this perspective clouded by the macho culture of the league? In the world of smash-mouth football, to be called “soft” or “thin-skinned” is as insulting as it gets. Martin probably never voiced his concerns to teammates or coaching staff for fear of questions about his toughness.

NFL players can’t be seen as anything but the epitome of masculinity. Men can’t be bullied because they are men.

But Jonathan Martin proves this false. It is clear that hazing is a central aspect of a certain machismo culture that pervades NFL locker rooms. In a sport full of egos and alpha males, players are trained and commended for bullying opponents on the field. Some harsh fraternity practices are inevitable. This case represents an extreme, but every locker room has its problems.

Still, I can’t imagine this sort of situation unfolding on the Patriots, Ravens or Packers. (In fact, Patriots personnel redflagged Incognito for character issues in

advance of the 2005 draft.) That’s why, to me, amidst all its twists and subplots, this story is about a lack of leadership more than anything else. On a successful team, leaders should keep their teammates focused on one common goal. The locker room polices should minimize a presence like Incognito’s. Teammates, coaching staff, ownership — they’re all responsible for creating a team-first workplace environment with no room for internal power structures.

It seems that everyone — Martin, Incognito, the Dolphins, the NFL — has emerged from this saga a loser. Organizational oversight failed at every level of the Miami Dolphins, allowing this situation to get out of hand. Sure, football is a sport that encourages displays of physicality, masculinity and sometimes immaturity. But at the end of the day, most every locker room is kept in check by a leadership presence that sets the tone for success. Winning should be the only goal. The Miami Dolphins either lacked any semblance of leadership or decided that Incognito was their leader.

Either way, it’s time for a change in South Beach.

Mike Firn ’16 thought dolphins were supposed to be friendly.

Clear things up for him at michael_firn@brown.edu

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Akeel ’16 pushes Bruno past Bulldogs with two goals The attacking midfielder secured two goals within the first nine minutes of play in New Haven

By HANNAH CAMHI SPORTS STAFF WRITER

Men’s soccer midfielder Tariq Akeel ’16 continued his impressive year Saturday with two quick goals against Yale in a 3-1 victory. Akeel has played in every game this season and leads the team (7-6-3, Ivy 3-1-2) with 14 points — six goals and eight assists. During his first year Akeel played in all 19 matches and was selected for the team’s Britton Chichester Award, which is given to the first-year who best embodies sportsmanship.

For his leadership throughout the year and outstanding play this weekend, Akeel is named The Herald’s Athlete of the Week.

The Herald: How important was it to get a quick lead in your game against Yale Saturday?

Akeel: I thought it was important because lately we have been getting off

to bad starts, and we get ourselves in a hole and we can’t really get out of it.

What are some of the team’s strengths this year?

I think the strengths at the beginning of the year was our ability to just hold off teams and counter on them, but I think as our defense has gotten stronger, I think they are definitely one of our strengths, as well.

How have you improved your individual play from last year?

Last year I had more of a defensive role, but this year I have taken on a lot of attacking responsibilities.

Do you or the team have a pregame routine?

Before every game we usually blast music in the locker room. We have a certain routine where the coach comes in and says something to us — we go out and warm up. Then we come back in the locker room, (our coach) says something else, we shake hands as a team, and then we go out there and start to get some sprints in.

How do you feel the season has

gone so far?

To be honest with you (I) would have liked to be having a shot at the Ivy League Title this weekend, but things just didn’t work out. Harvard has had a great year — one loss to them hurt us. We thought this was going to be a rebuilding year, but we are finishing it off real strong.

What do you see ahead for Brown soccer?

Hopefully we can get a nice fivegame win streak this Saturday. Next year we should be really strong. We should be one of the top contenders in the Ivy League and definitely do better throughout the regular season.

When did you start playing soccer?

I started probably when I was three or four.

What schools were you looking at besides Brown, and what made you choose Brown?

I was looking at Michigan State and (the University of Michigan) pretty hard, but I chose Brown because you DAVE DECKEY / HERALD can’t turn down the education, and they Tariq Akeel ’16, the team’s leading scorer, wasted no time collecting two more against Yale, helping the squad to its fourth consecutive win. had been very successful at soccer.