THE

BROWN DAILY HERALD vol. cxlix, no. 15

since 1891

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014

Taveras unveils plan to Snowe discusses bipartisanship Former senator lectures close gender wage gap on problems of legislative If elected governor, Taveras will attempt to resolve wage disparity with state regulation By EMMA JERZYK SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Mayor Angel Taveras unveiled a threepronged proposal last week to close the gender wage gap as part of his gubernatorial campaign. The plan includes stricter penalties for businesses that violate pay equity laws and state workers’ pay equity audits and features a continued effort to appoint women to at least half the openings on state boards and commissions, according to a press release from the Taveras campaign. In Rhode Island, women working full time earn a median weekly wage of $746, whereas men working full time earn a median weekly wage of $917, according to the release. The current Rhode Island wage discrimination statute is more than 50 years old, Taveras

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said in his proposal, adding that “businesses found guilty of violating Rhode Island’s pay equity laws shall be responsible for … up to 300 percent of the total amount of unpaid wages.” “We believe that if you want to be able to recruit the best women … and retain the best workforce,” said Danny Kedem, Taveras’ gubernatorial campaign manager, “making sure that there are no loopholes … is a very relevant economic tool.” “This proposal isn’t in a vacuum,” Kedem added, pointing to other proposals Taveras has made — including plans for minimum wage increases and universal pre-kindergarten. Taveras discussed support for Providence’s women- and minority-business enterprise program — which aims to increase the number of government contracts available for women- and minority-owned companies — in a roundtable discussion last month with female business owners at the Center for Women and Enterprise, according to a press release from Taveras’ office. As mayor, Taveras has appointed 74 » See WAGE GAP, page 4

gridlock that prompted her resignation By ALON GALOR CONTRIBUTING WRITER

“Democrats and Republicans are like two ships passing in the night — one in the Atlantic and the other in the Pacific. They are separated by light-years on the cornerstones of the issues,” said former U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe while delivering the annual Noah Kreiger ’93 Memorial Lecture “Bridging the Divide: What hyper-partisanship means for 2014 ... And how we can fix Washington.” Sponsored by the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions, the lecture took place Monday afternoon in MacMillan Hall. Snowe represented Maine in Congress for 34 years, first in the House as a representative for Maine’s Second Congressional District and later as a senator for 18 years before retiring in January. “She was the youngest Republican woman to serve and the first » See SNOWE, page 2

ALAN SHAN / HERALD

Former U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe spoke about her current work with Olympia’s List to enhance legislative collaboration in a speech Monday.

Public art project illuminates cemetery ‘SouthLight’ memorializes Providence residents as part of RISD Wintersession course By DREW WILLIAMS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Classes with five or fewer students may offer students flexibility and opportunities to build close relationships with faculty members and peers.

Small classes offer unique experience With fewer than five students, opportunities for discussion and tailored curriculum By GABRIELLE DEE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

inside

The few students who have taken a course with Dore Levy, professor of comparative literature and East Asian studies, might be easily identifiable around campus — they’re the ones enjoying Chinese literature under a flowering cherry tree. Levy usually teaches small classes that breed their own distinctive cultures.

In her instruction, she emphasizes the natural imagery within Chinese poetry, encouraging students to experience the language physically. “If you see someone lying under a tree and looking up, they’ve studied with me,” she said. Small courses may fly under the radar, but hundreds of classes at the University have five or fewer students each semester — or enrollments so low they get cancelled. Three-hundred seventy-three classes offered this semester landed at or below a five-student threshold, and 195 of these classes were cancelled, according to data from the University registrar. Those numbers are up from last semester, when 322

classes drew five students or fewer, and 153 of these classes were discontinued. The statistics encompass undergraduateand graduate-level courses, wrote Karey Majka, assistant registrar for operations management, in an email to The Herald. This semester, the departments of political science, history and biology had the highest number of courses eliciting five or fewer student registrations — 23, 22 and 19, respectively, according to the data. Laia Darder Estevez, teaching associate in language studies, said all the classes she has taught in Catalan comprised fewer than five students. The advantage of a small class lies » See CLASSES, page 2

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ARTS & CULTURE

Commentary

Drug overdose deaths have spiked this year in Rhode Island, provoking widespread concern

I-195 Commission chooses broker to spearhead business development

Grapengeter-Rudnick ’17: Abortion rates are declining but not because of politics

Moraff ’14: Andrews Commons opening reflects misguided administrative priorities

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COMMENTARY, 7

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SANDRA LIFSHITS / HERALD

“Emma A. Ellis. 1860-1918. We miss you most who loved you best.” Tucked away in a back corner of Grace Church Cemetery, this epitaph is elusive by day and even more so by night. But last Friday night, the touching remembrance was activated once more in shining blue light for all of Providence to see. The occasion, a two-night environmental public art installation, “SouthLight,” was produced in a collaboration between the Rhode Island School of Design and Social Light Movement — “a philanthropic movement … founded in order to create a network for light designers … to collaborate on the issue of improving lighting for people,” according to the group’s website. The work was developed under the guidance of Social Light Movement cofounder Elettra Bordonaro and her students in “Light, the City and the Community,” a course offered during RISD’s Wintersession.

The result brought the graveyard to life. Music — mellow one moment and Linkin Park the next — coursed through the cemetery as pedestrians wandered the grounds, which were lit by a mixture of blue LED lights and candles. Pathways funneled community members through fresh snow toward the burial grounds. Trees were strewn with LEDs from root to branch, creating a dome — an alien shape among the usual rectangular and obelisk surroundings. Video footage projected onto the underbelly of these domes relayed the stories of Providence’s inhabitants through the centuries. The lighting project, like Wintersession in general, encouraged students to expand their horizons. Especially for those with very specific majors, “Wintersession is a good time to try something else,” said Kory Almryde, a RISD student and member of the class. Coming in, “none of us knew anything about lighting,” said Felicia Chiao, another RISD student and class member. The first three weeks of the sixweek course focused on design including “gathering community input (and) working on lighting,” Almryde said. Next, each member of the class “chose a field,” he said, adding that his responsibilities lay in light, sound and » See ART, page 3 t o d ay

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2 university news » CLASSES, from page 1 in the professor’s ability to get to know students’ skill sets and adjust teaching methods to accommodate for the students, Darder said. Smaller enrollments are particularly suited to language classes because students have more time to speak in class and are less likely to feel selfconscious about participating, Darder added. But bigger classes present a wider range of perspectives for students, she said. Though small classes allow her to focus on topics that interest her students, “I don’t like my students deciding what they learn,” Darder said, adding that too much agency removes the novelty of learning. “You get so carried away with having fun you forget what time it is,” Darder said. The Catalan classes have low enrollments because the language lacks visibility, Darder explained. But she added that taking a Catalan class is particularly relevant to students wishing to study abroad in Barcelona. Levy said she is teaching two classes this semester with four or fewer students each. “Since the class is small, we are well aware of how everybody is doing,” Levy

» SNOWE, from page 1 Greek-American women to serve in the House and was also the first woman in American history to serve in both houses of the state legislature, as well as both houses of Congress,” said Marion Orr, director of the Taubman Center. “She played a key role in a coalition of centrist senators who played a vital role in moving our country forward out of the gridlock that occurred in the 1990s,” he added. Despite early election predictions that she would be reelected, Snowe announced in February 2012 she would not run again, citing “an atmosphere of polarization and a wave of highway ideologies” as her reason for retiring in her announcement. Though she said the partisanship in Washington, D.C had become too prevalent, Snowe said in her retirement announcement she would focus on increasing bipartisanship

said. Small classes occur when the subject is part of an uncommon field of study or if the class deals with very specialized material, Levy said. When she came to Brown, she was the only professor teaching Asian literature, but today so many choices exist that people are able to specialize according to their interests, she said. With small classes, “the atmosphere is much more intimate,” Levy said. Because her classes are small, Levy conducts class in her office. “I can just stand up and pull one of the dictionaries out of the bookcase,” she added. Departments are more likely to advertise a class taught by new professors in order to increase their exposure to the undergraduate community, Levy said. She added that she has never tried to convince a student to take her courses, instead presenting them exactly as they are. “I do not hide what the pedagogy is,” Levy said. “I am very transparent about that.” The Catalan class’ small size was an advantage because “from day one she started speaking to us in Catalan,” said Ellia Higuchi ’15. “You get so much more attention that way,” she added, noting that she was able to focus on her specific interests and got much more time

to practice speaking, rather than just reading and writing. The downside to a small class is that students can very easily fall behind if they miss class, Higuchi said. “That can be really stressful.” Fang Guo ’17 said she had an introductory French section cancelled during shopping period this semester because too few students enrolled for the time slot. The Department of French Studies instead created a new section, forcing Guo to alter her schedule to accommodate the new time, she said. David Elitzer ’17 is currently taking a two-person class, AWAS 1150: “The Art of Civilization: Artist, Image and Aesthetic in the First Cities,” with Postdoctoral Research Associate Karen Sonik. The class focuses on art theory and history in the context of the ancient urban world. “It’s exactly the type of course I was looking for,” Elitzer said. Though the course construction was well thought-out, the class’ size allows for “more wiggle room” in discussion topics, he said. Elitzer said the class’ low enrollment creates a safe environment and facilitates discussion that is especially necessary for developing viewpoints on art theory. “You put everything you have into class, and it’s fun,” Elitzer said.

outside the halls of Congress. In her lecture, Snowe discussed the origins of Washington’s hyper-partisanship, the damage caused by gridlock and solutions to bridge the partisan divide. Washington’s partisanship is caused by a “breakdown of the legislative process,” Snowe said, adding it is “an approach of my way or the highway.” Senators are often more concerned with “appealing to the political base” or focus more on their reelection campaigns than the issues, Snowe said. Since announcing her retirement, Snowe founded Olympia’s List, an organization created to promote bipartisanship in Congress and to support representatives “who demonstrate their commitment to solving our nation’s problems,” according to the organization’s website. Snowe also recently published “Fighting for Common Ground: How We Can Fix the Stalemate in Congress,”

a book highlighting her political career and suggesting solutions to promote bipartisanship. “I firmly believe that attracting the finest possible candidates to run for public office is a critical issue for this country,” Snowe said, adding students should become involved in politics. Snowe cited Common Sense Action — a bipartisan student group with the mission of mobilizing young voters to political action, co-founded by Sam Gillman ’15 and Andrew Kaplan ’15 — as a prime example of youth making strides in the right direction. She also reflected admiringly on her working experience with U.S. Senator Jack Reed, who she served with on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, and U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, with whom she co-chaired on the bipartisan group, the Senate Oceans Caucus, both representatives of Rhode Island.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014

ARJUN NARAYEN / HERALD

Bruce Seyla, senior federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, talks about his time on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Federal judge speaks on intelligence, surveillance Part of a security series hosted by Watson Insitute, seminar focuses on surveillance politics By KHIN SU STAFF WRITER

As controversy surrounding the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs continues to brew, Bruce Selya, senior federal judge on the U. S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, spoke Monday on the inner workings of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, including concerns about secrecy and privacy. The lecture, entitled “The View from Inside the FISA Courts,” was the first in a series of security seminars sponsored by the Watson Institute for International Studies as part of its ongoing expansion and redesign. Over 40 faculty members, undergraduates and graduate students converged in the Joukowsky Forum for the seminar, which aimed to foster discussion on how to ensure national security while respecting the freedom and privacy of individual citizens, said Richard Locke, director of the Watson Institute. Selya, a former chief judge of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, began the lecture by describing the behind-the-scenes proceedings of FISCOR and FISC. FISC judges examine proposed applications for surveillance warrants and programs, approving, suggesting amendments to or declining the applications, Selya said. This process “weeds out” applications that would be denied in further stages of review and encourages them to be withdrawn, he said. Contrary to statistics claiming FISC has around 99 percent approval rates for applications, only around 73 percent of applications are actually accepted, he said. Secrecy emerged as a central topic in the lecture. Secrecy is a “normal” and “precedented” practice in the intelligence and surveillance community, Selya said, adding that the methods of secrecy employed by FISC are comparable to the actions taken by the Providence police when holding private meetings to obtain search warrants. Though necessary, these secret proceedings are a major fault in the system, he said. “Opinions of the court are kept secret long after dealings are resolved,” he

said, adding that he advocates publishing more judicial opinions, but faces difficulties with “national security officials who do not want to declassify anything.” Selya expressed hope for the future of the intelligence and surveillance community with the help of the “impressive group of individuals” in the industry. He called for greater transparency and “minimalization,” in which surveillance programs reduce their amounts of inadvertently acquired information not crucial to their goals. In a question-and-answer session that followed, Josh Liebow-Feeser ’15 asked whether it is problematic that Congress and judges may not fully understand the technology behind surveillance programs. Judges constantly deal with issues they do not fully understand “until they have to in the context of that case,” Selya responded. Timothy Edgar, a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute, and a faculty member from Roger Williams University expressed concern about Selya’s comparison of FISC’s secrecy methods and those the Providence Police employ. The “bulk programs” employed by surveillance programs could benefit from a panel of attorneys to add more voices to the decision-making process, Edgar said. “I think it’s an awful idea,” Selya countered. An alternative voice would slow down the process and result in “no real gain,” he added. “Do you think the system works?” asked Peter Andreas, associate director of the Watson Institute. “Will anything positive emerge from the Snowden scandal?” Selya responded that the system works, but not perfectly. “It’s kind of like democracy itself. It’s not a great system, but it’s better than any other system I know,” he said. Snowden’s actions were “treasonous,” but there is a “silver lining” to the controversy in that it could result in reforms, Selya said. “The best part was actually the questions and the answers,” said Jackey Lane ’14. “In the Brown environment everything is in a bubble,” so his opinion was “refreshing,” Lane added. The seminar was a “reaffirmation where you have thoughtful, intelligent people who are looking at this issue and trying to balance the security and privacy concerns,” said Sue Eckert, senior fellow at the Watson Institute.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014

After overdose deaths surge, experts and officials seek answers State plans to increase availability of Naloxone, antidote proven to curb overdose deaths By CAROLYNN CONG STAFF WRITER

Over 20 drug overdose deaths have already been reported to the R.I. Department of Health in 2014, prompting widespread reflection on the public health and law enforcement mechanisms in place to handle opiate and other drug addictions. “Opiate dependence addiction has been a problem in Rhode Island for a long time — it’s not a recent trend,” said Rebecca Boss, administrator of behavioral health care at the Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals. But deaths due to drug overdose nearly doubled in the state from 2009 to 2012, according to the most recent statistics from the Department of Health. Almost 100 deaths were reported as drug-related overdoses by the state coroner’s office in 2012. “Drug overdose death is the most common cause of accidental injury death in Rhode Island,” said Michael Fine, director of the Department of Health. “We see more deaths from drug

overdoses than we do from motor vehicle accidents, suicides and homicides combined.” Boss said the phenomenon can be traced back to an overall increase in pain medication prescriptions. “There are more narcotics being prescribed now than ever before,” Boss said, which “can lead to increased tolerance and dependence and, with some folks, addiction.” But the pharmaceutical industry is simultaneously moving toward greater restrictions, said Traci Green, assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology, adding that the medical community is struggling to balance regulation with providing sufficient care for patients experiencing chronic pain. Rhode Island’s Prescription Monitoring Program, run by the Department of Health, attempts to “help detect overprescribing, and diversion or fraud related to prescription of controlled substances,” according to the department’s website. The program was created last year and stems from legislation introduced in the General Assembly last February. The prescription-monitoring program has made it harder for patients to access their prescribed pain medication, making them more likely to “seek street drugs,” Boss said. Given that the composition and effects of heroin are similar to those of many prescription opioids prescribed

for chronic pain, people are more prone to resort to the illegal drug as a substitution, Boss said. “When you buy drugs on the street you’re never quite sure what you’re getting,” Boss said. The recent spike in overdoses may be due to greater rates of heroin tainted with fentanyl, which is potentially very deadly, she said. “Heroin is coming in at cheaper and more potent and combined ways,” which in turn results in higher overdose rates, Green said. “The deaths we’ve been seeing are all over the state,” Green said. But despite these setbacks, “Rhode Island is unusually well positioned to deal with the trends we’ve been seeing in the past month, probably more than any other state in the union.” The Department of Behavioral Healthcare already has programs established for educating medical professionals about overdose prevention, she said. The department is focusing on education programs specifically teaching the administration of Naloxone, a drug identified as a safe and effective antidote to opiate overdose, Boss said. Walgreens, in collaboration with the University of Rhode Island School of Pharmacy, has established an agreement to provide prescriptions of Naloxone directly to patients, providers and caregivers, Green said. “Anyone could walk into a Walgreens in the state and say, ‘I’d

R.I. accidental drug overdose deaths per quarter Deaths from accidental drug overdose have spiked in 2014, with 22 in just the first 17 days of the year. 2013 also showed increases over 2012. (Note: Quarterly data is only available through the first half of 2013.) 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2011

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Source: Rhode Island Department of Health MADELINE KAU / HERALD

like some Naloxone,’” she said. Fine said the Department of Health is “currently in the process of getting Naloxone into the hands of police officers.” The Rhode Island Good Samaritan Law also provides a mechanism for drug overdose prevention by protecting people who report an overdose from arrest if there are drugs in their possession, Boss said.

Though the current trends are concerning, the state’s programs and law enforcement procedures have been critical in addressing opiate addiction problems so far, Green said. “The key is to try and slow death down. In a basic sense we’re actually trying to vaccinate communities,” Green said, adding that she is “hopeful” Rhode Island is heading in the right direction.

COURTESY OF FELICIA CHIAO

During SouthLight, a two-day public art installation last month, Grace Church Cemetery was aglow with lighting and videos commemorating the lives of deceased Providence residents.

» ART, from page 1 community outreach. The course was designed to have a communal impact, something Almryde found appealing, he said. The lighting design element attracted Chiao to the course, but she also appreciated the unique social opportunity. “In most RISD classes we stay in our studios and work with ourselves,” so it was nice to use skills off College Hill, she said.

Social Light Movement, whose members come from Sweden, Great Britain, Germany and Italy and have “different professional backgrounds,” hold “lots of workshops in Europe,” but this marks the “first project in the U.S.,” Bordonaro said. The class arrived at the idea to use the cemetery to represent the progression of time in Providence. The roots, trunks and branches of the trees were intended to signify graves, current community members and future

residents, respectively, Almryde said. The most important question for the class, Social Light Movement and for Providence itself is where this project and others like it can go from here. Mayor Angel Taveras recently announced that the city will fund programs like this one by nonprofit community and arts organizations this summer, according to Providence’s official website. The funds are part of “Celebrate Providence! 2014,” an initiative to “foster a sense of community

pride,” the site said. Bordonaro said the group plans to propose SouthLight to the competition. For now, she will return to Europe, so the initiative is left in the hands of RISD students, groups such as Stop Wasting Abandoned Property and inhabitants who for two nights witnessed a neglected space integrate itself back into Providence relevance. “The hope is that because (SouthLight) brings attention to this area,

they will preserve it better,” said Chiao. The students “have been talking about a proposal,” she said, adding that they had a successful first meeting with the city to discuss the project and will meet again later this month. Other than “Celebrate Providence! 2014,” those in the meeting, including interested sponsors such as Waterfire, will determine whether SouthLight could become an annual event, she said. “All the equipment will be kept in case it is needed again,” Chiao said.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014

In Rhode Island, women’s median weekly wages are 82.7 percent of men’s. The difference between men’s and women’s earnings in Rhode Island is smaller than the national average. The gap is largest in Wyoming and smallest in the District of Columbia.

P IN E

1,000 Men

800

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Former I-195 lands

Women

600

ELM

200 0

SPORTS STAFF WRITER

The women’s tennis team fought its way to fourth place at the ECAC Division I Indoor Team Championships semifinals Sunday at Columbia, falling short in the third-place match to Princeton 4-2. The fourth-place finish came after Bruno (4-3) split games Friday and Saturday — beating Cornell (2-2) by a score of 4-2 Friday, but getting shut out by Yale the next day 4-0. Hannah Camhi ’16, the 2nd spot

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D.C.

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Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics JACQUELINE FEILER / HERALD

incidents of gender discrimination, harassment or unequal pay practices,” Hyers wrote. Taveras’ plan is unique, said Claudia Williams, a research analyst at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. “It’s not a topic that a lot of politicians put their interests behind,” she said. In 2009, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson issued an executive order to establish a task force to develop

recommendations for addressing pay equity within the state and in companies that contract with the state. “Companies wishing to contract with the state of New Mexico have to provide basic pay equity reports” under the new standards, according to an IWPR fact sheet. The New Mexico initiative is an example of how pay equity incentives can be created outside of the state legislature, according to the fact sheet.

Bruno places fourth in close semifinals

By CHRISTINE RUSH

POWER

$1,200 median weekly wage

W. TENNIS

Tennis notches first Ivy League victory against Cornell, falls short in next two contests

THAYER

women to the 141 openings on public boards or commissions and has directed the Human Resources Department to conduct a city-wide wage audit. Taveras was partly motivated to introduce the proposal given his background as the son of a single working mother and as the father of a daughter, Kedem said. The city started the audit just before Taveras’ proposal was announced, Kedem said. It was really to show that “a cost-contained audit is possible,” he said. “The power to change this on a broad scope lies with the state government, not with the mayor” because litigation occurs at the state level, Kedem added. If elected governor, Taveras would introduce his proposal to the General Assembly, he said. As part of her gubernatorial campaign, General Treasurer Gina Raimondo has said she “intends to create a special certification for companies that do business with the state,” wrote Eric Hyers, Raimondo’s campaign manager, in an email to The Herald. “In order to procure a government contract, businesses must demonstrate that they comply with equal pay for equal work practices.” Raimondo “will establish an anonymous tip hotline to report workplace

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Gender gap in median weekly wages, 2012 DYER

» WAGE GAP, from page 1

singles and 1st spot doubles player and a Herald sports staff writer, was playing a tight match against the Tigers (4-3). But due to new NCAA rules, Camhi did not get to finish her match because Princeton had already reached four points overall. Camhi was a key component to Brown’s success this weekend and was frustrated her strong performance against Princeton would not count. Camhi said the weekend was great practice. Olivia Hsu ’16 agreed it was a good preview for upcoming Ivy League play. “It kind of showed us where we are,” she said. Brown was “right in it with” Princeton, Nikita Uberoi ’15 said. Camhi said she played tentatively in her first two matches of the weekend,

but by the third match, she began to “push the opponent back” with deeper shots. Dayna Lord ’17, the top singles player, also had a close match against Princeton. Lord was up in the first set but could not complete the victory. Despite this tough loss, Hsu said Lord “brought it home in singles” for their win against Cornell. Though the Bulldogs (2-2) defeated Bruno, Uberoi said it was “good match play against a tough competitor.” Uberoi said she felt she could have turned in a stronger individual performance, but the “team energy (was) there.” Bruno will have more experience under its belt when it faces Boston University (3-3) and Stony Brook University (1-1) next weekend.

AVERY CRITS-CRISTOPH / HERALD

Redevelopment of Jewelry District makes headway Commission chooses broker Jones Lang LaSalle for development projects around Jewelry District By ALEXANDER BLUM SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Though activity on College Hill may have slowed during much of January as students enjoyed winter break, development of the I-195 land and surrounding Jewelry District area continued. The I-195 Redevelopment District Commission formally selected real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle to broker the land, finalized a developers’ toolkit and approved six art installations that will serve as interim use projects for the land. Progress was also made in preparing lease arrangements for the Dynamo House project — formerly the South Street Power Station — on which Brown is collaborating with the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College. “The toolkit (approval) and the selection of the brokerage firm was our official launch into the marketplace,” said Colin Kane, the commission’s chairman. The recent developments represent the culmination of initiatives that have been slowly progressing for many months, he said. On Jan. 13, the commission formally selected Jones Lang LaSalle to broker the I-195 land, referred to as the LINK. The purpose of a brokerage firm is “to try and find people to buy the land,” said Arthur Salisbury, president of the Jewelry District Association. “Anyone who wants to buy the land will have to go through them,” he added. “We went through a competitive process to select” Jones Lang LaSalle, Kane said, adding that the firm’s primary purposes are to expose the land to “a much wider audience” and to facilitate negotiations, “marrying the commission to developers.” The developers’ toolkit, a 141-page document, is a long-term project that the commission formally approved Feb. 3. The toolkit is publicly available on the LINK’s recently developed website, which features pages explaining the land’s history, its current potential and the commission’s vision. Kane described the toolkit as a “onestop guidebook” for businesses interested in the I-195 land. The goal was to design a thorough yet engaging document that would describe the property and help outside investors unfamiliar with Providence get a sense of the land, Kane said.

There are a total of 18.81 acres currently available for sale, ranging in size from 2,345 to 209,190 square feet, according to the website. The average square footage of each parcel — subtracting 305,346 square feet of land for parks — is just over 39,000 square feet. The commission is now accepting applications from developers interested in building on the land. Kane described the process, which is broken into 90-day periods, as similar to “rolling admissions.” “There’s nothing worse than looking at an empty field,” Kane said of the LINK’s land, noting that the addition of the six art installationsis intended to “activate the parcels.” The artwork, which is scheduled to be installed in the coming months, will “show off the property and Rhode Island’s creative minds,” he said. The land “is a retail product at the end of the day,” Kane added. There are not “specific timelines for each project,” Salisbury said, adding that he thinks installation will begin soon after utility work has been completed on the land. The pieces are expected to be in place for at least one year. “Once they put them up, they probably want to leave it up for four to five years,” Salisbury said. But the art installations alone will not guarantee that the land will sell. “It could be 25 years before something gets built there,” Salisbury said. Dan Baudouin, executive director of the Providence Foundation, noted that, in addition to the artwork, the commission might also consider other future interim uses. He also said that it could take more than a decade “to really build up this land.” “You have to see what the market will bring,” he said, adding that “we hope to see a mixed-use district that is connected” to the rest of the Jewelry District and Providence. Despite the progress, the path to vibrant development of the LINK land is far from certain. “It’s challenging,” Baudouin added. “We are dealing with an environment with high unemployment and high construction costs.” Salisbury said the three universities involved — Brown, URI and RIC — in the Dynamo House development have been working together and are “hoping to have the leases sorted out by March.” They will present the negotiated lease arrangements to the state legislature for approval, before moving forward with the proposed renovations, Salisbury said.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014

ARRR!!! CAPPELLA

menu SHARPE REFECTORY

VERNEY-WOOLLEY

LUNCH Hot Pastrami Sandwich, Linguini with Tomato Basil Sauce, Carrots with Tequila, Vegan Three Bean Casserole

Sesame Chicken Wings, Sweet and Sour Tofu, Peanut Butter Sandwich Bar, S’mores Cupcakes

DINNER Garbanzo Bean Casserole, Vegan Baked Polenta, Mushroom Pasta Salad, Nacho Bar

Baked Manicotti, Zucchini and Onion Saute, Curry Chicken Saute, Creole Pork with Snap Peas

JOSIAH’S

THREE BURNERS

QUESADILLA OR GRILLED CHEESE

Stuffed French Toast

Quesadilla

BLUE ROOM

SOUPS

DINNER ENTREES

Spinach and Feta, Sausage and Lentil, Three Bean Chili

Chicken with Peppers and Onions, Avial Coconut Vegetable Curry

sudoku ARJUN NARAYEN / HERALD

The crew of Arrr!!!, including Harpo Jaeger ’14.5, Maggie Tennis ’14, Jacob Ginsberg ’16 and Jeff Salvadore ’17, sell shanty-grams — crass re-writes of top 40 songs — in J. Walter Wilson. The group is belting shanty-grams to unsuspecting valentines all day Thursday.

comic Cat Ears | Najatee’ McNeil

crossword

calendar TODAY

FEBRUARY 11

4:00 P.M. HOW DO THE BLIND UNDERSTAND RACE?

Osagie K. Obasogie, associate professor of law at the University of California, Hastings, will discuss his research on bioethics and American race relations. MacMillan 117 6:00 P.M. THE STATE OF THE HAITIAN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

Cate Oswald, director of Haiti programs at Partners in Health, will speak about access to health care in Haiti. 222 Richmond Street, Room 170

TOMORROW

FEBRUARY 12

12:00 P.M. THE IMPACT OF MEDITATION ON COGNITION AND AGING

Sara Lazar of Harvard Medical School will speak about her research on the effect of meditation on mind and body. Sidney Frank Hall, Room 318 1:00 P.M. INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN THE WORKPLACE

The Office of International Student and Scholar Services is giving a three-hour workshop in order to help students deal with the challenges of working within a global campus community. Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center, Petteruti Lounge

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014

EDITORIAL

q u o t e o f t h e d ay

A step forward for football

“You get so carried away with having fun you forget what time it is.”

At 6-foot-2 and 260 pounds, this defensive is a first-team All-American pick and a Southeastern Conference defensive player of the year for the University of Missouri. A likely pick in as early as the third round of the NFL draft, Michael Sam did something this week that no NFL player has done. “I am an openly, proud gay man,” he announced in an interview for ESPN’s “Outside the Lines.” Sam understood that his announcement was unprecedented: “It’s a big deal. No one has done this before. And it’s kind of a nervous process, but I know what I want to be. … I want to be a football player in the NFL,” he said. While many Americans have taken to social media to laud Sam for his courage, the NFL community did not offer the same response. Just after Sam’s announcement, Sports Illustrated reported that NFL executives and coaches “project a significant drop in Sam’s draft stock.” Sam is the same man he was on Saturday, before he publicly came out of the closet. He possesses the same passion for the game and the same talents — an “SEC-best 11.5 sacks and 19 tackles,” as Sports Illustrated reported — to succeed in the NFL. The only thing that has changed is that Sam publicly revealed he is a gay man, a fact all his Mizzou teammates had known for a year. Sam’s coming out and his likely career consequences reveal a great deal about the intricate connection between athletics and notions of masculinity in American culture. Some strides have already been made in American culture to overturn longstanding stereotypes connecting athleticism and masculinity with heterosexuality. This summer, Jason Collins became “the first openly gay, professional male athlete playing in a major sport,” the Huffington Post reported last year. Photos of Collins marching for gay rights, wearing a shirt with the phrase #betrue in rainbow letters, became a symbol of hope that future athletes would follow his example. Nonetheless, the ugly reality is that the predominant culture continues to associate being gay with more feminine qualities that have no space in an athletic culture based on machismo, prowess and strength. Some ex-NFL players have come out of the closet. Two former players, Wade Davis and Esera Tuaolo, helped launch SportsCenter writer Peter King’s new website, Monday Morning Quarterback, by writing letters to their younger selves “sharing what they experienced at various life stages and what they wished they had known along the way,” as the site described. In these testimonies, Davis and Tuaolo touched upon the feelings of fear, shame and lack of belonging they experienced as gay athletes. But when drafted, Sam will be the first openly gay player in the NFL. The roots of the issue are deeply connected to American culture. Despite all the progress the LGBT community has achieved in the past decade, to be a gay professional athlete continues to be taboo. It will take time to overturn these stereotypes, but brave individuals like Michael Sam are helping in the cause to make being gay legitimate and accepted regardless of profession. Hopefully, he will not be the last gay athlete to open up about his sexual orientation and work toward spearheading this important cultural change.

— Laia Darder Estevez, teaching associate in language studies See classes on page 1.

Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board: its editors, Matt Brundage ’15 and Rachel Occhiogrosso ’14, and its members, Hannah Loewentheil ’14 and Thomas Nath ’16. Send comments to editorials@ browndailyherald.com.

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commentary 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014

The state of abortion rates MEGAN GRAPENGETERRUDNICK opinions columnist

Abortion. This word has been the spark of fiery debate for decades, but a study released last week by the Guttmacher Institute leaves politicians’ effectiveness in pressing the issue in question. The study concludes that abortion rates are at an all-time low since 1973. The causes for this decline are rooted in matters other than direct politician-to-politician combat, including the recession, increased prevalence of birth control and evolved feminism. This suggests that the politicians vehemently bickering over the affair are hardly beneficial or constructive. Politicians should stand back from the issue because other factors are influencing abortion rates more effectively. Independent of political affairs concerning abortion, the decline appears to be a byproduct of the recession. This is evident from the revealing 13 percent dive that abortion numbers took between 2008 and 2011. During this time, couples were suddenly faced with a major hindrance to starting or expanding a family: They were not financially equipped. For victims of unemployment, supporting a child was simply no longer an option. For those who remained employed, the risks were

too high as homes were foreclosing rapidly and jobs were dropping like flies. It became plainly not an option for couples to support a family — ergo, they were forced to stop trying. Rachel Jones, the lead author of the study, remarked that “the decline in abortions coincided with a steep national drop in overall pregnancy and birth rates,” according to the study’s press release. It follows

proven to be heightened use of birth control nationwide. As more women are using more successful birth control, they are sidestepping pregnancy altogether. By this reasoning, it is reasonable to assume that Obamacare is facilitating this phenomenon, as it has dramatically increased the accessibility to these quality contraceptives. It is not false to say that the trend is indeed the doing of certain

have dipped, which accounts for the lower abortion rates. Further, the decline has swept through the entire country, even though some states have imposed more restrictions than others. Some states have banned abortion altogether, some have placed constraints on abortions depending on stage of pregnancy and others have imposed no new laws surrounding the issue at all. The decrease in all

Politicians should sit down and take themselves out of the argument, because other factors are affecting the abortion rates more effectively.

that the need for abortions would flounder if the stakes were higher and pregnancy were something to be avoided. Similar repercussions have occurred in past times where the economy was unstable. The percentage drop in abortion rates appears to be a function of the extent of the economic crisis and its duration. With this logic, it is safe to say the drop in abortion rates this time around is a ramification of the state of our economy and the length of the crisis. Another cause of the decline is

politicians. The Affordable Care Act in no fashion imposed any restrictions on abortions — rather, the improved attainability of birth control is likely serving to preempt the need for abortion in the first place. One may also argue that the abortion slump is the result of newly enacted state-level restrictions. If this were true, then yes, politics would be having a tangible effect on women and abortions in this fashion. But it’s simply not the case. There is statistical evidence that general birth and pregnancy rates

states alike suggests that the restrictions are not influencing the abortion rates. An additional source of the decline may be the result of heightened feminism. Women’s rights were directly addressed in the State of the Union recently, as President Obama discussed the upsetting gap in men’s versus women’s pay. Obama stating that “women deserve equal pay and equal work” opens a new forum for equality discussions; women are continuously growing away from the domestic stereotype

and into their own, self-determined realm. They have more opportunities occupying their focus than did the ’70s generation. Young women currently constitute half or even the majority of university populations, something that was not the case in the ’70s. In many cases, a teen’s next step in that era instead of attending college was finding a man. I understand this was not the 17th century, but there is some truth to the stereotype. There has been a change in the average woman’s role in society’s eyes over the years, which was directly acknowledged in the recent State of the Union. This may suggest that in some places, childbearing and abortions are gradually losing the importance and urgency they once held, allowing the rates to drop. It is clear that politicians themselves have had little influence on this decline directly through their incessant quarreling and their attempts at imposing restrictions on abortion. While they may be involved in health care debates as a whole, they have not had any proximate success in curbing abortions in the country. Politicians should sit down and take themselves out of the argument, because other factors are affecting the abortion rates more effectively.

Megan Grapengeter-Rudnick ’17 can be contacted at megan_grapengeter-rudnick@ brown.edu.

Andrews Commons: a colossal waste DANIEL MORAFF opinions columnist

Imagine that the so-called “Andrews Commons” weren’t hideously overpriced. Imagine that the fluorescent aesthetic weren’t a weird pseudo-modernist misfire and imagine that the tables weren’t awkward and weird. Imagine if the space truly conveyed “a streamlined ambiance of maximum efficiency,” as The Herald’s review put it in a bizarre parody of administrative propaganda. It would still be an absurd project that reveals the depths of Brown’s administrative failures, because it is and always has been a pointless waste of money that could have been better spent on almost anything else. In 2007, the Gate reopened after extensive renovations. The kitchen had been redesigned — presumably at great expense — and seating added. In 2011, the Gate reopened, again, after extensive renovations to the initial extensive renovations. Apparently, even these renovations weren’t extensive enough for our decision-makers, who decided to simply blow the whole thing up so no one could renovate it ever again. So now we have a new “study space,” along with an abandoned void where the Gate used to be. We have one of the soda machines you’d see at a Wendy’s. Our pizza is slightly more arti-

sanal than before. All this for a few measly million dollars. But God forbid we ever go needblind. We must, after all, think of the budget. When the administration claims we simply have to increase tuition almost 4 percent, it should be laughed out of the room. It’s lost the right to be taken seriously. It’s spent seven

rect responsibility for renovating the Gate and then destroying those renovations a couple years later. Odds are he will never, ever be held accountable. So what it’s all about? Do administrators simply get off on ribbon-cuttings? On the idle praise they get for unveiling their latest glassy

The administration wants to build luxuries for students perfectly willing to fork over tens of thousands of extra dollars to pay for those luxuries.

years flailing around, throwing millions of dollars at projects cancelled out by the next project. It doesn’t deserve our trust, and it certainly doesn’t deserve the almost unfettered power it’s been given. At any organization with a shred of accountability, heads would roll. Senior Associate Dean of Residential and Dining Services and longtime renovator-in-chief Richard Bova bears di-

hulk? Certainly that’s part of it, but there’s more. The administration wants to attract students. But it doesn’t want to spend the money attracting students with lower tuition or better financial aid. Those aren’t the students we want to attract. The students we want are more expensive, and they don’t have rich families full of potential donors. The administration wants to build

luxuries for students perfectly willing to fork over tens of thousands of extra dollars to pay for those luxuries. And that’s okay, if we want to join the national trend of colleges and universities becoming glitzier, fancier and more expensive. This trend leaves a host of underfunded public institutions and mostly predatory for-profit colleges for everyone not lucky enough to be in a position to attend the more cash-rich schools. It should go without saying that most of us don’t want this future, that we believe in the mission of affordable education even if it means, just once in a while, saying no to the whims of building-happy administrators. It would be nice if the administration would direct the same urgency toward solving our problems of race, class and worker pay as it does toward building new facilities to sell oversized cookies. Failing that, its renovation plans should at least stick to a state of good repair and have a shelf life of longer than two years. There’s no reason to rip apart buildings and rearrange the campus just because we can. It’s a shame the administration didn’t realize that before building Andrews Commons, a monument to administrative short-sightedness and incompetence. The destruction of the Gate demonstrates once again that administrators cannot be trusted to run a school.

Daniel Moraff ’14 can be reached at daniel.moraff@gmail.com.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014

THE

BROWN DAILY HERALD arts & culture

Warhol photography exhibit captures everyday magic Show at RISD Museum illustrates lesser-known aspect of Andy Warhol’s art career By MAX SCHINDLER STAFF WRITER

Glamorous Polaroid portraits and intimate black-and-white photos line the walls of the Andy Warhol photography exhibit, which opened two weeks ago at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. The show, which runs until June 29, includes over 150 previously unseen photographs from Warhol’s oeuvre. These latest photos join the yearlong Warhol “Screen Tests” exhibit, which consists of 20 moving portraits of mid-century icons. “Andy Warhol’s Photographs” showcases a sampling of Warhol’s original prints from 1970 to 1987, including studio makeup portraiture, landscapes and still-life shots. “For Warhol, photography was really about capturing the day-to-day existence,” said John W. Smith, director and a curator of the RISD Museum. “It wasn’t about how many photographers were trying to capture a perfect image, a perfect moment. It was being used as a documentary device, as a way of recording everything from the important to the mundane.” Though the RISD Museum received the photographs from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts as a gift to the permanent collection in 2008, they have not been displayed until now, Smith said. “It’s rare that a museum has a collection of a particular artist’s work in such depth. Having such a significant body, it allows for a much deeper dive into Warhol’s work as a photographer,” Smith said.

COURTESY OF RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN MUSEUM

A new Andy Warhol exhibit at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum showcases over 150 previously unseen photographs from his career. The exhibition was organized by both Jan Howard, curator of prints, drawings and photographs, and Tommy Mishima, a RISD graduate student in painting. By highlighting photography, the exhibit showcases an overlooked facet of Warhol’s artistic career, Howard said, since he was predominantly known for his painting and printmaking, not his camera work. Many of these works in other mediums were inspired by his photographs, she said. Warhol used his Polaroid portraits

and black-and-white photographs differently — the Polaroids inspired paintings and prints, while his monochromatic photographs functioned as a “diary,” Howard said. “If you’re interested in the social life of New York in 1970s and 1980s, that’s represented in pictures,” she said. “It’s interesting to think about the different ways he would’ve used them had he lived longer,” Howard said — Warhol began his photographic career only in the last two decades of his life. Warhol rapidly became a prolific

photographer, churning out at least a roll of film daily. He used a Polaroid for his commissioned work, as well as a 1976 Minox 35EL black-and-white, a miniature automatic-focus 35mm camera, according to the exhibit. The photographs vary in subject, with images of Manhattan celebrities and wealthy uptown couples — those who could afford the commission — and eclectic homoerotic shots and photos of everyday persons on the street. In one particularly striking image, Warhol takes a Great Dane for his subject, treating it

like he would a human and capturing its doleful expression. The exhibit was packed on opening day and has since proved popular with a number of students, Smith said. “He used photography to make experiments and tests that he’d later use,” said Justin Tate, a printmaking concentrator at RISD. “I like the view that photography can be used to gather material for a wide variety of projects. I think he definitely did that and his camera was an extension of himself, of connecting with people in the moment.”

Federal Hill’s The Grange forgoes meat but still packs a punch Self-proclaimed ‘vegetable restaurant’ prepares nofrills farm-to-table fare for dinner and brunch By KATHERINE CUSUMANO AND ANDREW SMYTH ARTS AND CULTURE EDITORS

Even early on a Sunday evening, the bar at The Grange is energetic. Friends drink cocktails out of Mason jars and share bowls of Brussels sprouts and quinoa. There’s no meat in the kitchen, but no one seems to notice or care. Federal Hill’s newcomer to the vegetarian farm-to-table scene is housed in an uncluttered space at the corner of Broadway and Dean. This latest installment in owners Rob and Uschi Yaffe’s network of vegetarian eateries in the area joins Garden Grille Cafe and Wildflour Vegan Bakery and Juice Bar, both in Pawtucket. Inside, metallic accents mingle with rustic furniture. Warm metal light fixtures loom over a heavy plank serving as a communal table. In a quiet corner, a hanging bench swings beneath potted plants. The furniture looks as if assembled from the forgotten parts of old houses — industrial farmhouse chic, one might say.

REVIEW

Interior aside, the vegetables are the raison d’etre at The Grange. Sourced from local farmers and prepared with sensitivity, the produce is revelatory, and platelicking is probably inevitable. The menu is organized into “small(ish),” “medium” and “large(r)” plates, but the boundaries are fluid, and, really, everything ought to be shared. Begin with the cauliflower. It’s served roasted with green onions, peanuts and cilantro ginger aioli and sets the tenor of the evening — simple preparation but exceedingly well-done. Collard green fritters distill a wide palette of textures into one stellar dish. The four crispy fritters are perched atop a bed of creamed collard greens and served with a spicy habanero aioli. The crunchy batter, earthy greens and intense heat of the sauce are surprising and sensational. Scallion pancake rolls filled with sweet potato puree and Chinese black beans are the sole misstep, the pancakes tough and resistant to cutting. The few melted leeks scattered on the surface of the pancakes offset the bland filling, but the gesture is still unsuccessful. The main courses pack an even bigger punch. Risotto made with portobellos, crispy Brussels sprout leaves and butternut squash-romesco puree comes served with goat cheese for a small surcharge. But it’s only nominally “optional” — the cheese’s tang cuts through the mild

KATHERINE CUSUMANO / HERALD

The Grange’s risotto tastes fresh and full-flavored with goat cheese, portobello and crispy Brussels sprout leaves. mushrooms and charred sprouts with verve. Purple potato croquettes are assembled with grilled escarole, white bean hummus and a turnip-beet hash. The play between winter vegetables and earthy flavors is perfectly mediated by a sturdy maple mustard, which the restaurant ­should start selling by the jar. Desserts appear mundane at first glance. A blackboard in one corner simply reads, “carrot cheesecake, tapioca pudding trifle, brownie sundae.” But suppress the urge to duck out after dinner. A gluten-free brownie sundae

— really, you’d never guess — combines dense, rich fudge with a scoop of melty peanut butter ice cream, a salted caramel glaze and a smattering of caramel corn. Whipped cream is swirled with dark chocolate sauce. A few simple maneuvers reclaim the T.G.I. Friday’s standard as haute cuisine. The Grange forgoes the fuss of its compatriot restaurants in favor of clean, locally sourced ingredients presented honestly. Dishes are bright and colorful, and you are unlikely to find any culinary foams. The portions are generous but not absurd. Like the food, the servers

are friendly and down to earth. The Grange opens in the mornings as Chicory, a juice bar and cafe, and there’s live music every Wednesday at 9 p.m. The menu is seasonal, but don’t expect a new one every day. It’s not cheap, but it’s not Al Forno. Unfussy and comfortable, the Grange serves serious food for adventurous eaters. We’ll be back for brunch. The Grange. 166 Broadway St. Open Wednesday through Monday 11:00 a.m. – midnight. Saturday and Sunday brunch 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Reservations accepted for parties of 6-12.