Monday, April 7, 2014

THE

BROWN DAILY HERALD vol. cxlix, no. 46

since 1891

MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2014

Feminist TEDxBrownU showcases passions, individuality Undergraduate speakers activist focus on topics tied to conference theme of discusses ‘student voices’ rape culture

By EMMA JERZYK

Jaclyn Friedman addresses activists after student march against sexual assault

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

By GABRIELLE DEE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

DAVID BRAUN / HERALD

Sahil Luthra ’14 emceed the TEDxBrownU conference, which featured seven undergraduate speakers selected from more than 30 applicants.

U. first choice for two-thirds of students, poll shows College choice and satisfaction

Was Brown your first-choice college for first-year or transfer admission? (Circle one.)

60 % 50

Nearly 90 percent of undergraduates glad they chose Brown, while only 6 percent regret the decision

By CAROLYNN CONG STAFF WRITER

40 30 20 10 0

Yes, and I am glad I ended up here

Yes, but I wish No, but I am No, and I wish I did not have I had gone glad I ended I had gone a first-choice somewhere up here somewhere college else else JACQUELINE FEILER / HERALD

Brown may deserve its widely known reputation as one of the happiest Ivies, with approximately nine in 10 undergraduates satisfied with their decision to come to the University, according to the results of a Herald poll conducted March 3-4.

Approximately two-thirds of surveyed undergrads considered Brown their first-choice college when applying, while about 26 percent said Brown was not their top choice but that they are still glad they ended

up here.

“What’s most important is how people feel on their way out the door,” said Dean of Admission Jim Miller ’73, adding that though there are no similar preceding polls to contextualize the numbers, he was pleased with what he called the “overwhelmingly positive” results of the poll.

Only about 4 percent of undergrads considered Brown their firstchoice college but now regret their decision to come here, while about 2 percent did not consider the University their top choice and wish they had gone somewhere else. Approximately 5 percent of respondents said they did not have a first-choice college.

Given the unpredictable nature of the college admission process, » See FIRST CHOICE, page 3

Energy savings rise with campus competition Emery-Woolley and Morriss-Champlin win competition, earning dinner with Paxson

By ELANA JAFFE STAFF WRITER

Last month, Brown students saved $4,448 and 34,216 kilowatt-hours — more than three times the energy saved in past years — by changing habits of energy consumption in the Brown EcoReps fourth annual energy-saving intra-campus competition, Brown Unplugged: Do It in the Dark. First-year residence halls Emery-Woolley and MorrissChamplin won this year’s competition with a 10.9 percent energy reduction,

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

earning them a dinner with President Christina Paxson, five raffled bikes and various gift certificates to local restaurants.

“EcoReps is all about behavior change,” said Carlie Peters ’16, cocoordinator of the competition and a Herald assistant design editor, adding that the competition targeted certain behaviors like turning off lights in dorm rooms, turning off heat instead of opening windows, taking the stairs instead of the elevator and unplugging power strips and appliances not being used.

An online platform, Building Dashboard, collects the plug-load data for the dorms and posts it online so students see the effect of their actions throughout the competition, Peters said.

Peters’ co-coordinator, Alison » See ENERGY, page 4

BRITTANY COMUNALE / HERALD

Brown “Unplugged: Unplugged,” an open mic night, was one of the events that helped publicize Do It in the Dark this year.

Science & Research

Commentary Mills ’15: Why did students shout down Ray Kelly and not “Freeway” Rick Ross?

Katzevich ’16: Israel’s crimes against Palestinians make it impossible to support

Medical professor is pushing for new documents about the drug Vioxx to be released

Partners in Health representative speaks about the importance of health care access

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The voices of around 60 teal-clad students during Saturday’s March Against Sexual Assault welcomed Jaclyn Friedman, feminist activist and writer, to College Hill.

Chanting lines such as “No slut shaming, no victim blaming” and “Yes means yes, no means no. Whatever we wear, wherever we go,” students congregated in front of Sayles Hall and marched around campus before returning to the Main Green for Friedman’s keynote speech.

Emily Schell ’16, co-founder of Stand Up!, spearheaded the event as part of the launch of Sexual Assault Awareness Month to teach students about rape culture on campus.

Schell said she began organizing the Stand Up! initiative in October, putting together a 30-person committee representing the diversity of women’s groups on campus. The biggest challenge Schell faced was combating the tension surrounding sexual assault and including those who typically feel marginalized during conversations about sexual assault, she added.

A chorus of snaps greeted Friedman after the march. In seeking a keynote speaker, the Stand Up! committee envisioned someone who recognized the voices of underrepresented groups in the discussion about sexual assault, such as people of color, those who identify as LGBTQ and men, Schell said. As a queer woman, Friedman was a perfect fit, she added.

Friedman began her speech by explaining misconstrued ideas about sexual assault. She said the phrase “no means no” does not go far enough in distinguishing rape from consensual sex, since sexual activity requires “affirmative consent” from both parties.

She said the common misconception that “rapists are monsters” hinders the public from identifying more common forms of sexual assault, often perpetrated by a friend, relative or acquaintance.

Friedman also emphasized society’s widespread failure to acknowledge that same-sex rapes happen and that men can also be rape survivors.

“Anybody can be a rapist, and anybody can be a victim. And when we make that invisible, that’s rape culture too,” she said.

Rape culture stems from commodifying sex, Friedman said, adding that sex should be perceived as a “creative, » See MARCH, page 2

Students filled Salomon 001 to hear seven undergraduates give their “ideas worth spreading” at the TEDxBrownU conference Saturday.

Gaining the Student Activities Office’s approval as an official student group this year has allowed TEDxBrownU to “solidify our own identity,” said Emma Milward ’16, one of the conference’s organizers, as she congratulated each of the speakers.

Though the conference theme “Student Voices” may seem broad, Jessica Tabak GS, who worked on the

conference in the past, advised the group to find a theme “that would not prompt or restrict the speakers,” Milward said. But “as the event blossomed,” the theme seemed appropriate and empowering, particularly in light of the shutdown of former New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly’s lecture last semester, she said.

Organizers wanted to “redefine and highlight the power of student voices,” rather than limit them, Milward said. More than 30 people auditioned to speak, and seven were chosen, she added.

The event was organized independently from the TED global conference forum.

Sahil Luthra ’14, a former Herald science and research editor, acted as emcee for the conference, while Cliff Weitzman ’16 kicked off the talks by » See TEDXBROWNU, page 3

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2014

Brunonians have highest debt in Ivy League

www.browndailyherald.com

Brown graduates have the most debt in the Ivy League, with the average borrower leaving the University with $23,521 of debt. Princeton has the lowest average debt per borrower, at $5,096. $20,000

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Students who graduated from Brown in 2012 left with an average debt of $23,521 per borrower — the highest in the Ivy League — according to the latest numbers from the Project on Student Debt, an annual report published by the nonprofit Institute for College Access and Success.

Brown students’ average debt sum has increased about 15 percent from 2011, when it totalled $20,455.

The amount of debt varies from year to year as families make decisions about how to fund students’ educations, but in the “last five graduating classes, there was a difference of only a few thousand dollars,” said Jim Tilton, director of financial aid.

Brown’s number was lower than the national average of $29,400.

The “maximum amount that students are required to borrow as part of (their) aid package hasn’t increased since 2008-2009,” Tilton said.

Penn had the second-highest average debt burden in the Ivy League with $21,190 per student borrower. “The average debt has been very stable from

Student debt upon graduation

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SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Loans for Undergraduate Students, which are not included in average loan debt because of higher interest rates, she said. As a result, many parents opted to borrow lower-interest private loans, which are included in debt averages, she added.

The economy also played a factor in the 2012 averages, Mirante said.

“Kids who started as freshmen when the economy went south (in 2008) graduated in 2012,” she said.

Due to the financial situation in the country, parents who “earmarked some of their investments” to help pay for tuition might “have lost a good percentage of those investments,” Mirante said.

On the whole, “college costs continue to rise, and family income and available grant aid have not been keeping up,” said Matthew Reed, program director at TICAS. Nationally, for the class of 1993, the average debt of graduating borrowers was $9,250, and under 50 percent of students graduated with debt. These figures jumped to $29,400 for the graduating borrowers in the class of 2012, 71 percent of whom graduated with debt, according to numbers provided by the Project on Student Debt. These numbers do not account for inflation.

“Most undergraduates attend public colleges, and at those colleges, state support declined, and tuition and fees have gone up,” Reed said. He attributed part of the reduced support for

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By SANDRA YAN

one year to the next,” said Joel Carstens, the university’s director of financial aid.

In 2008, Penn implemented an allgrant, no-loan policy, which means that students eligible for financial aid receive aid packages that do not include loans from Penn. As students from the first classes admitted under the new policy have begun to graduate, the percentage of students graduating with debt has dropped from about 50 percent to 38 percent, Carstens said.

“The good news is we have fewer students borrowing,” he said, adding that for those who are, “the amount they’re borrowing hasn’t changed significantly over time.”

Among Rhode Island institutions, Brown has the second-lowest average debt of graduating borrowers, behind only Rhode Island College, a public institution, according to the report.

The average debt for a college graduate in Rhode Island in 2012 was $31,156 ­— the fifth-highest in the nation, according to TICAS. At $44,580 for 2012 graduating borrowers, Bryant University had the highest average debt total in the Ocean State.

Graduating borrowers from Salve Regina University, which had the second-highest average debt in the state, had the highest amount in the school’s history in 2012, said Aida Mirante, Salve Regina’s director of financial aid.

This was due to a number of factors, including decreased use of federal Parent

Br ow

Rising debt burden marks 15 percent increase over 2011, though Brown ranks second-lowest in R.I.

Note: Data was not reported for Columbia.

Source: Institute for College Access and Success JILLIAN LANNEY / HERALD

public universities to the economic downturn, which led to “states having budget crunches.”

At Brown, the Office of Financial Aid spends “a considerable amount of time sitting down with families” to determine their best financing approach, advising them on whether loans are appropriate for their situation, Tilton said.

He added that the average default rate for Brown graduates was 1.7 percent, which is much lower than the

national average of 13.4 percent.

“The default rate at an institution gives a sense of how students are managing to pay off their student loan debt,” he said.

One problem with reporting student loan debt averages stems from the fact that not all colleges voluntarily report their data, Reed said, adding that students from colleges that did not report their data account for approximately 9 percent of the class of 2012 nationwide.

» MARCH, from page 1

many bystanders also stopped to listen to Friedman.

Katie Finn ’16, vice president of philanthropy for Alpha Chi Omega, said she attended the march because Stand Up!’s cause aligned well with her sorority’s work against domestic violence. Finn said during the march many cars honked and bystanders cheered to show support.

Isabella Levy ’16 said she appreciated that Margaret Klawunn, vice president for campus life and student services and interim dean of the College, attended the speech. The administration’s support contributes to the initiative’s visibility on campus, she added.

Though there are students on campus against the Stand Up! initiative’s cause, no vocal opposition arose, said Kevin Carty ’15, a Stand Up! member and former Herald opinions columnist, adding that it is a success that people do not feel comfortable objecting Stand Up!’s message. “You could not say the same thing about two years ago.”

“Rape culture is something that is super intangible, people don’t even know what it is. If you don’t name the problem, it can be seen as something that’s out of sight, out of mind,” Schell told The Herald.

Levy said that when she first came to Brown, her knowledge of the issues related to sexual assault was limited. But after hearing stories from friends, Levy said she realized how prevalent rape culture is on campus. “It became clear really quickly that it’s more ubiquitous than you think.”

Sexual assault is an “issue that can really be changed by education,” especially in a college setting, Finn said.

Events like the March Against Sexual Assault remind rape survivors that others care about them and that they have a support system on campus, Pete said.

“You shouldn’t have to be in a workshop to have a conversation about this,” Schell said in her introductory speech.

“Sexual assault is everyone’s issue.”

collaborative action between two people,” much like playing music together. This requires constant communication between partners, much like on a synchronized swimming team, Friedman said.

“If you are not willing to be present for your partner, you do not have business having partnered sex.”

As a survivor of sexual assault during her undergraduate experience at Wesleyan University, Friedman seeks to redefine the definition of “loyalty” to a school.

Victims may be perceived as disloyal to their alma matters by speaking out about sexual assault, garnering unwanted media attention and sullying an institution’s reputation, Friedman said. But Friedman countered this idea, saying the only way to make an institution great is to create a safe campus, responsive to the concerns of people with the least power.

Administrators at colleges and universities can create “judicial processes that are transparent and fair” and foster active prevention of rape culture through pre- and post-testing of sexual violence education to gauge its effectiveness. Students can combat rape culture by speaking up and asking difficult questions, even among friends, she said.

Grace Yoon ’17, a Stand Up! committee member and Herald contributing writer, said the crowd that joined the march was “disappointing” compared to the massive response that Stand Up! received on Facebook. Yoon said she fears this underwhelming attendance may have led Friedman to think Brown students are apathetic about sexual assault.

But Friedman’s speech was pertinent to Brown and helped students identify instances of sexual assault on campus, Yoon said.

“The speaker was amazing, it was way better than any speech I’ve ever really heard,” said Tionne Pete ’17, adding that

university news 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2014

» FIRST CHOICE, from page 1 the results are encouraging and “highlight the fact that kids can be happy somewhere other than where they thought their first-choice college was,” said Michele Hernandez, a college consultant and the former assistant director of admission at Dartmouth.

The results signal the importance of the experience students actually have at a university compared with the institution’s reputation, Hernandez said, adding that Brown has “done a good job living up to the expectations that its students have.”

Hernandez said she was surprised at the high proportion of students who called Brown their top choice, adding that she would be curious to see how Brown compares to its peer institutions in this respect.

Student reactions to the poll results varied, with undergrads expressing surprise at both the high and low percentage of undergrads who considered Brown their first choice.

Jessica Tennis ’17 said she would not have expected so many undergrads to have called Brown their firstchoice college.

“Not many people in my hometown have heard of Brown,” she said, adding that she comes from a “pretty conservative place,” and though Brown was not her top choice, she is glad she came here. “It’s nice to experience a place where people think differently.”

Shirley Leung ’15 said she would have predicted the high percentage of respondents who are happy with their decision to come to Brown, but she was surprised some said they wish they had gone elsewhere.

Transfer students said Brown is an attractive option because of its open curriculum and diverse student body.

“I’m kind of surprised that the percentage who considered Brown their first choice isn’t higher,” said Joonpyo Sohn ’16, a transfer student from Middlebury College, adding that many of his peers at Middlebury told him they considered Brown a great institution when he got his acceptance letter.

Sohn said he transferred to Brown because he felt limited by Middlebury’s academic requirements and lack of a diverse student body. The open curriculum was the biggest “pull factor,” he said, adding that “Brown is more accepting of diversity and more accommodating to many different types of people.”

“At Brown, you can meet people from every background,” said transfer student Min Kim ’15.5, adding that her previous community college lacked such diversity.

Richie Whitehead ’16, who considered Brown his first-choice college as a transfer student, cited the open curriculum as a factor that heavily influenced his decision to come. The distinctive academic structure gave

him the freedom to pursue a degree in math and sciences while also following his interests in comedy and acting, he said.

Whitehead said Brown’s location also appealed to him. “When you’re in the city, there’s more going on,” he said.

Providence is the “best of both worlds” in terms of location, Hernandez said. It is neither too rural nor too urban, but “somewhere in between,” she said.

Students from low-income backgrounds who qualify for financial aid may be less likely to consider the University their first choice due to its financial aid policies.

Though all domestic first-year applicants are assessed on a needblind basis, transfer, Resumed Undergraduate Education and international students are admitted under a needaware policy. The University also lags behind some of its peers with larger endowments in providing financial aid to middle-income applicants.

Approximately 67 percent of respondents not on financial aid reported that Brown was their first choice, compared to about 59 percent of those relying on grants to cover all costs of attending the University and 48 percent of those relying on grants to cover some cost.

Whitehead said scarce financial aid was one of the main obstacles that complicated his decision to come to College Hill, adding that expanding financial aid might make the University more attractive to low-income applicants as a first-choice college.

Josh Espinoza ’14 said he considers the happiness level at Brown “50-50,” because it is more difficult for students from low-income backgrounds to feel comfortable and transition into a community that primarily includes students from high-income families.

Colleges and universities may hope to be students’ top choices because they are looking to boost their yield rates — the percentage of admitted applicants choosing to attend.

“The yield rate is very important to colleges,” Hernandez said, citing Penn, which filled 49 percent of its incoming class in this admission cycle with early decision applicants, who are required to attend if offered admission.

Universities “want kids who want the school,” and they also want to “control the yield,” Hernandez added.

But Miller said admission officers do not make the connection between the yield rate and Brown being students’ top choice.

The Office of Admission tries very hard not to put prospective students in the situation of labeling Brown a first-choice college, he said.

“We assume if students are in the applicant pool, they are interested in coming to Brown, and we assume that if we admit them they have a very good chance of coming,” he added.

» TEDXBROWNU, from page 1 explaining how to turn ideas into reality by offering three pieces of advice: Think of many ideas because getting good ideas is a numbers game, take advantage of the high density of smart and passionate people, and convince other people to contribute to ideas through passion.

All seven speakers at the TEDxBrownU conference offered ideas about unique passions — including caring for fish and communicating pain.

Sabrina Imbler ’16, a Herald features editor, spoke about how fish stereotypes contribute to their mistreatment. “Fish are magic,” Imbler said, adding that despite the stereotype that fish have a short-term memory, the animals have a memory span of up to three months and can tell time.

“Fish are complex, magnificent creatures, not low-maintenance pets,” she said. Most people do not know that fish bowls are actually a “silent assassin” because toxic ammonia builds up in the bowls, Imbler said, adding that she was banned from her local PetCo for trying to inform people of this issue.

In his lecture, Ethan Blake ’17 pondered “To Loop or Not to Loop,” focusing on the struggle between the purity of acoustic music and the power of electronic music. Blake drew the connection between tainting rich black coffee with cream and sugar and ruining acoustic music with electronic production. But “there’s a fine line between acoustic and electronic music,” said Blake.

After recounting a short history of the microphone’s use in live music over a loop he created using his guitar, Blake asked, “Can we consider the

microphone to be the first significant step towards the advent of electronic music? Also, does it sprinkle a little sugar in your morning java?”

After a short break, Alexandra Urban ’15, a Herald photographer, said in her talk that “if you teach to how the brain is organized, it actually improves learning.” Both creating positive environments and achievable challenges and using different senses to teach students can contribute to student learning, she said.

Urban recounted a time she was

“As we prepare the next generation of global leaders, we need to consider how we’re preparing to communicate with their peers around the world.”

Amelia Friedman ’14 TEDXBROWNU SPEAKER

tutoring physics in high school. She had her students make paper airplanes to teach the concept of lift. “We actually ended up throwing the airplanes off of the second-story balcony into our all-school dining hall. It was quite a learning experience for all students, not to mention the teachers,” she said.

Amelia Friedman ’14, who learned Bengali through the Brown Student Language Exchange, spotlighted U.S. students’ lack of knowledge about non-Western languages. “Ninety-five percent of American college students in a language course are studying a

European language,” she said, adding that this exclusion of non-Western languages limits who is invited into the international conversation.

“As we prepare the next generation of global leaders, we need to consider how we’re preparing to communicate with their peers around the world,” she said. “How is our education preparing us to communicate with people around the world who do not have the benefit of an education?”

Melody Cao ’16, The Herald’s director of business development, challenged audience members to think of bugs as food while juggling a plethora of puns. Cao showed engaging graphics demonstrating the nutrition and sustainability of entomophagy — the practice of eating bugs.

Most people already eat bugs in some form, she said, as there are around 130 insect fragments per 100 grams of wheat flour we eat, and cricket flour prompts no problems for those allergic to gluten, dairy or soy.

Emily Fu ’15, who was unable to attend the event, delivered her talk, entitled “Pain Narratives,” through a pre-recorded video. Medical professionals ask patients to rate their pain on a scale of one to 10. But this scale is very subjective because people’s pain tolerances can vary greatly, she added.

There are many different ways to demonstrate pain, and it is necessary to merge storytelling with the science of pain, Fu said.

After the event, a small reception allowed the speakers to mingle with the audience members. The three organizers of the event — Milward, Rebecca Carrol ’15 and Loren Dowd ’16, a Herald assistant design editor — said they hope this conference will generate more momentum so it can become an annual event.

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4 science & research

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2014

» ENERGY, from page 1 Su ’16, said the dorms were ranked based on two metrics — the number of participants in the competition and the actual energy saved during the three-week period. This year, EcoReps reported that 989 students pledged to reduce energy consumption for the three weeks.

Though the number of participants was lower than in previous years, as a result EcoReps were able to focus on helping those who did register to reduce their energy consumption and meet the conservation goals, Peters said.

Events such as a dodgeball tournament and a “Brown Unplugged: Unplugged” open mic night made new audiences aware of the competition this year, Peters said.

The competition helps students realize small and individual changes can make a difference, Su said.

The competition is “an extraordinarily good idea,” said Associate Professor of Biology Stephen Porder.

Buildings consume 40 percent of the world’s energy, he said. “By far the most effective way of reducing emissions is by reducing consumption.”

Conservation is the “easiest, cheapest and most effective” shortterm way to address unnecessary energy consumption, Porder said.

If everyone “simultaneously made smarter decisions about their consumption choices, that would be a very big first step towards getting where we need to be, not all the way, but a big first step.”

At Brown, “people are generally motivated to solve the world’s problems,” Porder said, adding that students have the power to make the

choice to conserve energy.

The wider student body is often aware of what it can do to conserve energy, but does not always put such actions into practice, said Ethan Ebinger ’16, dorm captain manager for the competition. “Reminders can really help someone who has an interest in reducing their carbon emissions to actually start doing that on a daily basis,” he added.

One helpful habit is wearing more layers inside dorm rooms instead of turning up the heat, said dorm captain Dan Ziring ’17.

Ashley Washington ’17, also a dorm captain, said when she went to the Building Dashboard data she

could see “how huge the reduction rate was” and realized what a large impact small changes can have.

Sometimes sustainability is new to students when they get to Brown, said Meggie Patton, energy and environmental programs outreach coordinator. Often students learn energy conservation behaviors from their peers, and sometimes college is the first opportunity students have to practice these behaviors, she added.

Students often do not realize that they are practicing unsustainable energy use. When students open the window in times of cold weather instead of turning down their heat, “it’s like dollar bills flying out the

JILLIAN LANNEY / HERALD

window,” Patton said.

The white carbon cube that moved around the Main Green for several weeks was a part of the competition.

When people hear “‘carbon footprint,’ or even ‘sustainability’ or ‘green,’ it’s not really a tangible thing they can hold on to,” Patton said. The cube, the size of a third of a ton of carbon, was present to give students a visual sense of the impact they were having.

During the competition last month, students saved 133 cubes worth of carbon.

In future years, EcoReps hopes to keep track of energy usage throughout the year, not just during the threeweek competition, Peters said.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

SPORTS BULLETIN

MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2014

W. CREW

Bears surpass Princeton, outrow Harvard-Radcliffe Women’s crew team dominates seasonopeners, climbs national rankings to No. 5 spot

By CORMAC CUMMISKEY SPORTS STAFF WRITER

The women’s crew team has launched its spring campaign in auspicious fashion, handily defeating two Ivy rivals and one non-conference foe over the past two weeks. Bruno is ranked No. 5 in the NCAA, according to the most recent Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association poll.

This strong opening to the season comes amid a winning tradition for the team, which has forged a reputation as one of the nation’s premier rowing programs — winning four NCAA National Championship titles since 2004 — under the direction of long-time Head Coach John Murphy.

The Bears roared out of hibernation March 29 against then-No. 5 Princeton and unranked Michigan State University at the Class of 1987 Trophy regatta in Princeton, N.J. Familiar waters did not buoy the Tigers to victory — Bruno finished first in three of five races to secure the title. Michigan State’s rowers offered the Bears little challenge, » See W. CREW, page S3

COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

The women’s Varsity Four boat surged past Harvard-Radcliffe by 15 seconds Saturday, just one week after leaving the Princeton quartet in its wake by a similar margin. After a strong start, Bruno is ranked No. 5 in the nation.

M. LACROSSE

W. LACROSSE

Quakers edge Bruno with late goals Crimson oust Bears from

second place in conference

Penn goalie makes just five saves in win as Bruno puts a paltry 13 of 31 shots on goal

Hudgins ’14 held scoreless for the first time in 38 games as squad falls to fourth in standings

By ALEX WAINGER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

In its third conference game of the season, the men’s lacrosse team dropped a crucial contest to No. 15 Penn. The Quakers outscored Bruno 3-1 in the final 10 minutes of the game to win by a narrow two-goal margin.

In the opening quarter, Penn (53, 2-2 Ivy) scored at a frenzied pace, posting five goals — four in the final four minutes — to take a 5-3 lead.

“A lot of their early goals were one-on-ones” with goalie Jack Kelly ’16, said Stephen Chmil ’14. “They were pretty much garbage goals coming off turnovers when we were trying to clear the ball. They kept picking up the ground balls and getting on the break.”

The teams exchanged goals in the second quarter, leading to a 6-4 halftime score. Midfielder and faceoff specialist Tommy Capone ’14 dominated in the first half, winning twothirds of his draws. Capone finished the game having won 13 of 20 faceoffs and collecting five ground balls.

Capone “has been doing an awesome job all year,” Chmil said. “He crushed it against Princeton, and he played really well against Penn. It’s huge, knowing we have the ability to score and get the ball right back

By LAINIE ROWLAND SPORTS STAFF WRITER

KATIE LIEBOWITZ / HERALD

Jack Kelly ’16 searches for an outlet pass. The sophomore stopped eight of the Quakers’ 18 shots on goal, but could not slow down Penn in the fourth. to our offense for another shot at scoring.”

After a disappointing first quarter of defense, the Bears (6-4, 1-2) stepped up the intensity in the second and third quarters, Chmil said, allowing just two goals in the two frames.

“The big difference was the ground balls on our defensive end,” Chmil said. “We started to collect more of those as the game went on, as opposed to them taking shots and picking up the ground ball for second chances.”

The Quakers held a 7-5 lead

heading into the fourth. But backto-back goals from Sam Hurster ’14 within one minute of each other leveled the game at seven. Forty-five seconds later, Penn responded with a man-up goal to regain the lead at 8-7. The score would not change for nearly five minutes, when Penn slotted another man-up shot past Kelly to extend its lead. One final Quaker goal 90 seconds later allowed Penn to hold on for the win.

“Two of those goals were man-up, and they were two pretty questionable » See MEN’S LAX, page S3

The women’s lacrosse team fell to Harvard 10-4 Saturday, surrendering second place in the Ivy League standings to the Crimson. The loss was Bruno’s first by a margin greater than one goal and drops Brown into a three-way tie for fourth in the conference.

The Crimson (6-4, 3-1 Ivy) pulled ahead quickly, getting on the board less than two minutes into the contest with a goal from Audrey Todd, who scored again two minutes later to give Harvard an early 2-0 lead. Bruno (83, 2-2) responded with a long offensive possession, but a double team on Danielle Mastro ’14 forced a Bruno turnover. Tight Crimson defense around the net paralyzed the usually potent Brown offense. Co-captain Bre Hudgins ’14 was held scoreless for the first time in 38 games, snapping a point streak dating back to her sophomore season.

“They played good defense,” said Head Coach Keely McDonald ’00.

“We needed everyone to be set offensively, and we didn’t do that. …

That hurt us.”

Within the game’s first 10

minutes, a defensive scramble in front of Bruno’s goal created an empty-net situation that allowed the Crimson to score again and push the lead to three. McDonald called a timeout in an attempt to stop the bleeding, as Brown had taken only one shot in the time it took Harvard to amass three goals. But the break did little to slow down Harvard’s offense, and the Crimson notched two consecutive goals to hand the Bears a five-goal deficit.

Mastro scored Bruno’s first and only goal of the opening half with eight minutes left, but Harvard answered in the closing seconds to restore the lead to five at halftime.

Though the Bears won more draw controls during the first half, they lost any advantage by committing five turnovers, allowing the Crimson to outshoot them 10-3 in the period. A well-coordinated Harvard defense — focused primarily on shutting down Hudgins and Mastro — consistently repelled Bruno’s offense from drawing within scoring distance, and the Bears never found an answer.

“Halftime is a time for us to reset,” McDonald said. “I think the team knew we could play better.”

Bruno came out of the intermission with more intensity, willing itself back into the game. Mastro took just 30 seconds to score Bruno’s second goal and narrow the score to 6-2.

Co-captain Grace Healy ’14 followed » See W. LACROSSE, page S3

S2 baseball

THE SPORTS BULLETIN MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2014

Offense, defense falter as Bears drop four games at home Bruno loses doubleheaders to both Princeton and Cornell, remains winless in Ivy play

By ANDREW FLAX SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The baseball team’s intraconference struggles continued this weekend, as it fell twice to both Princeton 3-2 and 10-6, and Cornell 4-1 and 6-5, dropping to 0-8 in Ivy games and plummeting further into the standings basement.

After Columbia and Penn overwhelmed the Bears (6-14, 0-8 Ivy) in two doubleheaders last week, the Bears returned to College Hill and grabbed two confidence-building wins Thursday over Siena College (5-23, 5-1 MAAC). But that success did not carry over, as Bruno lost four excruciating games this weekend, falling just short to their opponents each time.

Saturday: Princeton Bruno dropped both games to the Tigers (9-14, 4-2), falling to 0-6 in the Ivy League, though it finally accomplished some offensive production in the second game.

It was deja vu all over again for Bruno in the first contest. The Bears lost their third straight Ivy game by a 3-2 mark, and the story was much the same as the previous two. The pitching did its job, getting a seveninning complete game from Anthony Galan ’14 (L, 1-3). Galan gave up three earned runs on 12 hits, walking one and striking out six. But the offense could not find purchase against Princeton’s Michael Fagan, scratching out just four hits and three walks while striking out 11 times.

In game two, the bats finally came alive, but the defense crumbled behind starter Christian Taugner ’17 (L, 1-4) and dug Bruno a hole it could not escape. A pair of RBI singles by Marc Sredojevic ’17 and Jake Levine ’16 in the first and second innings, respectively, gave Bruno a 3-1 lead after the second. Sredojevic had the offensive line of the day, going 1-for-2 with two

KATHLEEN SAMUELSON / HERALD

Anthony Galan ’14 surrendered just three runs and struck out six against the Tigers Saturday. The Bears were unable to generate enough offensive pressure to outdo Princeton in either of the teams’ two games. walks, two RBIs and a run scored.

But in the top of the third, two errors and three singles gave the Tigers four unearned runs, handing them a 5-3 lead. Princeton added an earned run and an unearned run in the fourth, and in the fifth, the Tigers’ ninth run was enough to knock Taugner out of the game. His final line was not pretty: 4.2 innings pitched, nine runs, four earned runs, 10 hits, two walks and five strikeouts.

After Princeton took its 9-3 lead, any hopes of a comeback were extinguished. The Tigers tallied another run off of Taylor Wright ’15 in the sixth, though Bruno did strike back in the home half with three runs. The Bears had a combined 11 hits and walks, their most of any Ivy game so far, but the shoddy defense undermined their offensive breakthrough.

Head Coach Marek Drabinski expressed frustration with his team.

“We didn’t hit, we didn’t play our best defense,” he said. “That’s why you get swept.”

Sunday: Cornell The Bears suffered their fourth straight Ivy doubleheader sweep to open the season Saturday, losing twice to Cornell (13-11, 5-3) despite scoring late in both games.

Apart from specific statlines, a recap of any of Bruno’s other Ivy games would be an accurate description of this doubleheader’s first game. It was a fast-paced pitchers’ duel through six innings, as Bruno starter Dave St. Lawrence ’15 (L, 0-4) had only allowed one hit in a 0-0 dogfight, but Cornell broke through in the top of the seventh with four runs, aided again by a Brown error. The Bears notched one run in the inning’s home half, but it was too little, too late — they scraped out four hits, outhitting

the Big Red but never putting together any semblance of a rally.

The afternoon game looked much better for the Bears for a long time, but it ended with the all-too-familiar result of a close loss. Lucas Whitehill ’14 threw well in his start, yielding only three runs, two earned, on five hits and three walks while striking out six.

The Bears also had a decent offensive showing, notching five hits, including two from Dan Kerr ’15. Bruno led 4-3 as late as the eighth inning, but the Big Red scored three runs in the eighth off of Max Ritchie ’17 (L, 1-1) to jump ahead by two. Brown nearly came back, scoring one run in the bottom of the ninth and putting a runner on second with one out, but could not bring him home to tie the game.

Drabinski clearly identified the limp bats as the culprit of the team’s struggles.

“You don’t hit, you don’t win. Same

as last weekend,” he said.

Though he said the team’s offense was its Achilles’ heel, Drabinski was at a loss to explain why it had such a difficult time.

“There’s not one guy that’s playing up to their capability. I don’t know what it is, I don’t know why it is,” he said. “It’s extremely frustrating right now to say the least. Our pitching’s good enough that we could be at least .500, but when you have trouble scoring runs, and when you have trouble stringing two or three hits together, it’s tough to win anything.”

“We’re kind of in a spiral downturn right now that we have to get out of real quick,” he added.

The Bears have a chance to solve their offensive issues Wednesday at the University of Connecticut (13-15, 2-3 AAC), and again next weekend during four games at Harvard (5-18, 1-5).

TENNIS

Women split weekend, while men fall twice in Ivy play Women’s tennis wins home opener with five singles victories but falls to Princeton next day

By CHRISTINE RUSH SPORTS STAFF WRITER

Both the men’s and the women’s tennis teams battled this weekend in their first Ivy League matches of the season. The women outplayed Penn, winning 5-2, but fell to Princeton (14-5) the next day, 6-1. The men’s team dropped both its weekend matches, falling to the Quakers 4-2 Saturday and to the Tigers 4-3 Sunday.

Women’s tennis (12-6, 1-1 Ivy) Bruno did not disappoint in its home opener Friday afternoon, riding a wave of five individual victories to a win over Penn (7-6). Dayna Lord ’17, Hannah Camhi ’16, Nikita Uberoi ’15, Ammu Mandalap ’16 and Ashley Noyes ’16

all secured victories, with Camhi’s and Noyes’ coming in straight sets.

The impressive win came after a number of long and hard-fought matches. Uberoi had six hours of match play Friday — her singles match lasted four hours. Despite the long and taxing match, Uberoi was the “one who clinched the match,” said Camhi, a Herald staff writer. Uberoi won at third spot singles 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (5). Uberoi described the match as a “tough grind” filled with “very long points.” She just focused on remaining consistent and “getting balls back until (her opponent) missed.” Uberoi finished with a risky drop shot to set up the last match point.

Camhi applauded Uberoi’s audacity, saying that tennis players need to take those types of risks in order to attain victory.

Uberoi was not the only one Camhi said displayed “courage” over the weekend. She said Lord, in her first Ivy League opener, was confident in handling the pressure. Lord’s win against Penn’s number one player was a turning

point for the team, Camhi said. Lord, at first spot singles, won 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.

Camhi maintained this momentum, excelling at second spot singles, with a 6-0, 6-2 win. Camhi said she was “moving the ball around very well,” but that the key to her win was her consistency transitioning into the second set. She said she has a tendency to drop her level of play in the second set, but this time she “didn’t back down.”

All these tight matches tired out the girls heading into the next day’s Princeton matchup, Uberoi said. Princeton was coming off a huge win against Yale — last year’s Ivy League champions — and Camhi said Princeton was “really hungry to beat” them.

Uberoi said the team was “doing everything right” and that “the energy was there,” but the Tigers kept fighting back. The only Saturday win for Brown went to Sarah Kandath ’15, who came out of four spot singles with a 6-2, 6-3 win. Camhi slipped in a close match at » See TENNIS, page S3

KATHLEEN SAMUELSON / HERALD

Brandon Burke ’14, above, and teammate Sam Fife ’14 earned a doubles win against Penn Saturday.

lacrosse S3

THE SPORTS BULLETIN MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2014

» MEN’S LAX, from page S1 calls,” Chmil said. “The third one came when we were really pressuring them trying to get the ball back, so one of their guys slipped one of our defenders and scored.”

Bruno’s offense played a sloppy game, Chmil said. The Bears turned it over 21 times while taking only 13 shots on goal. By comparison, Penn found the target on 18 of its 37 shots, challenging Kelly throughout the game.

On Friday, the Bears will return home and square off against another

» TENNIS, from page S2 second spot singles, losing 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2). She lost in a tiebreaker in the third set. Mandalap also fell in her tiebreaker, suffering a 7-6 (2), 6-3 loss.

Uberoi also said Noyes “was almost there in the second set.” The sophomore fought back after a 6-2 loss in the first set, but could not clinch the second, losing 7-5. Princeton also seized the doubles point.

Despite this tough loss Saturday, Uberoi said “we know we’re close” and that the team has “a lot of potential for this semester.”

The spirits still seem high; Camhi said the women’s squad is excited to take on Cornell and Columbia this weekend.

Men’s tennis (10-8, 0-2) The men’s tennis team wrestled through some tight matches in Quaker territory Saturday, but it could not come out on top.

Bruno came out strong with an early lead. Doubles partners Daniel Hirschberg ’15/Gregory Garcia ’17 and Brandon Burke ’14/Sam Fife ’14 both won matches to earn the doubles point for

conference opponent, No. 14 Yale (6-3, 2-2). Bruno has just three Ivy League games left on its schedule, making this matchup with the Bulldogs a must-win, Chmil said. Bruno sits in fifth place in the Ivy standings but is hoping to improve its seeding heading into the conference tournament.

“We need to get back to how we played against Princeton,” Chmil said.

“We need to settle the ball down, play smart and pick our spots. Yale is an awesome team, so every aspect of our game is going to have to be on point if we want to win.”

Brown. Despite this momentous start, Lucas Da Silveira ’17 was the only player to grab a singles win. Playing from sixth spot singles, Da Silveira finished with a 6-2, 7-6 win.

“Two 4-3 losses are always rough,” Da Silveira said. “A couple points here and there decided both matches.”

Penn’s victory kept the Quakers undefeated in Ivy League play.

Brown could not respond in its match against Princeton the next day, falling 4-3. Wins from William Spector, Hirschberg and Da Silveira gave Bruno a 3-3 split in individual matches, but two losses in doubles matches sealed the defeat.

“Even though we are 0-2 in the Ivies, we know we are better than both teams we lost to this weekend,” Da Silveira said. “We know we can beat other Ivies.”

The men’s team will move on to host Columbia (16-1, 3-0) and Cornell (10-6, 0-2) next weekend.

“Anything can happen in the Ivies,” Da Silveira said. “We will be looking to take down Columbia on Saturday.

Cornell will also be a tough match. We just have to work on a few things this week and get mentally ready to battle.”

AT T H E P L AT E

JESSE SCHWIMMER / HERALD

After starting the season a perfect 7-0, the Bears have now dropped three of their last four, including a sixgoal blowout at the hands of Harvard. The team will have a chance to rebound Wednesday against Michigan.

» W. LACROSSE, from page S1 with a goal of her own, and the Bears pulled within three. But this was the closest the game would get, as Harvard responded with two more goals, the first of which bounced into the net off the shoulder of goalkeeper Kellie Roddy ’15. The two-goal spurt eliminated any hopes of a comeback.

“At the beginning of the first half, we came out really strong. But we didn’t capitalize on two sets after that,” McDonald said.

With things looking bleak after another Brown turnover and a five-goal deficit with 18 minutes remaining, McDonald called another

» W. CREW, from page S1 consistently finishing behind both Ivy teams.

Bruno triumphed in the two marquee events of the meets: the Varsity Eight and Varsity Four races. In the former, Brown crossed the line three seconds ahead of second-place Princeton, while the Bears’ fearsome foursome outdistanced the Tigers by a margin of over 11 seconds in the latter. These coups redeemed Brown’s loss to Princeton in last year’s edition of the regatta.

Bruno built upon its success on Lake Carnegie Saturday with a similarly strong showing on the Seekonk River, the team’s home course. There, Brown crossed oars with the No. 13

timeout in an attempt to rally the troops. But the Bears mustered just a single tally after the timeout, when Alyssa DiBona ’15 fired her second goal of the season three minutes later.

The Crimson iced the game with two more goals before the final buzzer, sealing the convincing win by a sixgoal margin of 10-4.

“It’s really tough in an Ivy game to be down 5-0,” McDonald said. “It takes an incredible amount of energy to fight back from that point. We did show great effort at the beginning of the second half.”

The Bears committed 14 total turnovers against the Crimson, crucial missteps in their lowest-scoring

game of the season. Harvard fired almost twice as many shots as Bruno, and Roddy recorded her lowest save percentage of the season, 37.5 percent.

The Bears will play a midweek game Wednesday, looking to rebound when the University of Michigan (110, 0-5 ALC) comes to College Hill.

Brown resumes Ivy play Saturday against Cornell (5-5, 2-2) in its last home contest of the year.

McDonald said the team is ready to move on. “It was a tough loss for us, but that happens,” she said. “We’re still in this, we just have to reset for this week and play our game for 60 minutes.”

Harvard-Radcliffe crew in the two squads’ annual dual meet. The Bears won all four races of the contest and were awarded the Varsity Eight Trophy for their efforts.

Brown’s Varsity Eight finished five seconds in front of Harvard’s, while the Bears’ Varsity Four outstripped the Crimson’s quartet by no fewer than 15 ticks. These results were better than last season’s, when Bruno won the team title, but claimed only three out of the four races.

Brown’s rowers appear poised to outperform their record from the 2013 spring season. Last year, the Bears finished third in the Ivy League and seventh in the team category at NCAA Nationals. Based on these results, the

CRCA ranked the squad ninth in its 2014 preseason poll.

Since that time, the Bears’ performances have earned them greater recognition. In the most recent edition of the poll, released April 2, Brown climbed four spots up to No. 5 in the rankings. By contrast, Princeton — the preseason No. 5 — dropped to No. 7 overall.

Leading the team this spring will be co-captains Louise Breen ’14 and Camilla Polakoff ’14. Breen, who was a member of the Varsity Eight boat that finished second at NCAA Nationals in 2011, continues to row in Brown’s Varsity Eight this season. For her part, Polakoff has led the team’s B Four lineup this spring.

KATHLEEN SAMUELSON / HERALD

Molly Ann Mecca ’16 awaits a pitch in the softball team’s weekend homestand. The team continued its early-season struggles, falling to Cornell 8-3 and 7-1 Friday, and to Princeton 7-6 and 8-3 Saturday.

Thanks for reading!

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

SPORTS BULLETIN

MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2014

commentary

In a team name, an More is less: An expanded schedule’s impact on NFL uncomfortable attachment MIKE FIRN sports columnist

America loves football. The NFL loves money. More football equals happier fans and higher revenues.

Sounds like a win-win, right?

If there’s one tenet that has driven Roger Goodell’s tenure as NFL commissioner, it’s following the money. After all, the NFL is a business, and a lucrative one at that. Recognizing the revenue potential of a longer schedule, Goodell proposed a plan for an 18-game regular season in 2011. But while owners nodded their heads, the players’ association pushed back. As far as the foot soldiers were concerned, more games equaled more injuries and shorter careers. Eventually, the talks were tabled.

But behind the scenes, the NFL has quietly resumed its efforts to feed America’s insatiable football appetite. In addition to reviving talks of schedule expansion, the league’s latest tactic involves adding two more wildcard spots to the playoff picture in each conference. “That (idea) is under serious consideration,” Goodell told reporters in an interview prior to the Super Bowl. “There are some real benefits from a competitive standpoint.”

Even if the league’s true incentive is monetary, the competitive buzzwords are exciting. Goodell mentioned that 13 of 16 final regular season games had playoff implications this past year. Ostensibly, magnifying that compelling do-or-die competition is a major point of emphasis for Goodell’s administration.

The idea of adding ultra-competitive playoff games is conceptually appealing to a football-hungry fan base. But the postseason is thrilling to begin with because of its exclusivity. Even just four extra playoff berths would cheapen the quality of play. The NFL postseason is supposed to reward and assemble the best football teams in the country. Right now, making the playoffs is a meaningful achievement.

Do we really want to water down the competition by opening the door to mediocre teams?

Not only would lowering the bar decrease the quality of playoff football, it would also undermine the intensity of regular-season games. With 32 franchises vying for only 12 postseason berths, every game has enormous implications for a team’s playoff aspirations. Relax the requirements for postseason entry, though, and regular-season games lose some of the urgency that produces such fierce competition. Each team has that much more room for error, and each game becomes that much less important.

Since more teams would clinch playoff spots earlier, the gripping down-to-the-wire competition that Goodell & Co. envision would probably give way to late-season coasting and sidelined superstars.

Even if the playoff structure were left untouched, implementing an 18-game schedule would give rise

to many of the same competitive issues. Additional games make each contest less meaningful, reducing the competitive pressure that electrifies every Sunday kickoff. Think about the intensity surrounding a football game versus a regular-season baseball game.

If added regular-season games were to replace preseason contests — a view Goodell endorses — player preparation and roster evaluation would suffer. Preseason games are incredibly valuable for fringe players fighting to make the team. Eliminating these games allows fewer opportunities to make an impression.

But most importantly, the impact of adding games to the NFL schedule — either regular-season or playoff ones — will show up most prominently in the trainer’s room. There’s no getting around it: Football is a violent sport. Equipment and safety measures haven’t kept up with the ever-increasing speed and force of the game. NFL injuries have risen nearly 70 percent in the past decade. Any initiative exposing players to more vicious hits increases vulnerability to injury. Yes, players know the risks.

But in an age where “football” and “concussions” are pretty much synonymous, the league has a certain moral obligation to protect its employees. We’re not just talking about shorter careers — we’re talking about shorter lives.

With the increasing public visibility of the NFL’s concussion problem, it doesn’t seem that ridiculous to wonder about the future of the league. From this perspective, it would seem the NFL has a strong incentive to address any injury concerns associated with football. But Goodell’s incredibly narrow vision sees only dollar signs. Goodell hides behind an appearance of responsibility and the credit that he received for bolstering concussion protocols, but the driving force has always been money.

Can we expect anything else? The commissioner’s job is to increase league value, and Goodell is good at his job — both revenue and viewership continue to climb. But the league’s hypocritical stance on player safety is tough to ignore. “Every time they are doing these things that make more money for football but don’t protect players,” said Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark, “it makes you question the way that we’re changing the game on the field.”

The public wants more football, and we’re willing to pay for it. It makes sense that Goodell wants to supply it, but does that mean expansion is the right decision? Right now, the NFL is thriving financially.

But if concerned parents won’t let their kids near a football field in 20 years, we may look back and regret expanding the schedule. No matter how much money his measures pull in, the fingers will be pointing squarely at Goodell.

Mike Firn ’16 can’t believe he’s arguing against more football. Contact him at michael_firn@brown.edu.

JAMES COHAN sports columnist

The name “Redskins” is in the news again. Dan Snyder is donating money to American Indian tribes because that somehow makes the name less offensive, I guess. I’m not going to write about whether or not the Redskins should change their name. Those arguments have been stated and restated. Yes, the Redskins should change their name. It’s racist. There’s really nothing else to it.

And yet — and I’m embarrassed to admit this — part of me doesn’t want the Redskins to change their name. Again, I know this is wrong. But if I’m being completely honest, I kind of like the name. Let me try and explain.

I grew up in Washington. In D.C., football is everything. I mean, it’s not Texas. “Friday Night Lights” could never have been set inside the Beltway. But for whatever reason, people care deeply about the Redskins. I’m not sure why. They used to be good, but in my lifetime watching sports, they’ve been bad. Really bad.

In the 13 years I’ve been watching football, the Redskins have won only one playoff game.

(I say 13 years because 2001 is the first season I remember following. I was in second grade. The Patriots beat the Rams in the Super Bowl.)

But the Redskins have sold out every game since 1968, the longest streak in the NFL. And it’s not as if people don’t have other options.

D.C. is one of the few lucky cities to be represented in every major professional sport. But the Capitals, Wizards and Nationals are just sideshows to the main act. When they’re good, people pay attention. When they’re bad, people stop paying attention. But the Redskins? People always pay attention.

So, growing up in D.C., I always considered the Redskins my favorite team. It wasn’t even close.

Some of my greatest memories are of Redskins-Cowboys games. 2005 was probably the best season. In the first game between the teams, the Cowboys led 13-0 with less than four minutes to play. The Redskins responded with a 39-yard touchdown reception by Santana Moss to pull within six. Then, on the first play of the Redskins’ next possession, Mark Brunell connected with Moss on a 70-yard bomb to win the game. It was the formula from every cheesy sports movie.

In the teams’ second meeting, the Redskins crushed the Cowboys 35-7. Chris Cooley, a fan favorite, notched three touchdowns. The next day at school, I gloated about the win to

the Cowboys fan in my grade to a disturbing degree. That year was awesome.

Another equally memorable but different kind of moment happened a couple years later.

In 2007, reports surfaced that Sean Taylor, the Redskins’ starting safety, was in critical condition after a burglar broke into his home and shot him in the leg. Then, all of a sudden, he was dead. Shock doesn’t quite sum it up.

Taylor was indestructible. I remember before games in which the Redskins were overmatched, which was most of the time, I used to strategize with friends about what the Redskins could do to win. Looking back, this was kind of horrible, but step one was always for Taylor to knock the other team’s best player out of the game. Taylor could and would destroy anybody.

Just ask the Bills’ punter whom Taylor trucked in the Pro Bowl, of all games.

In the weeks and months that followed his death, the city rallied around Taylor’s memory.

Tragedy has a way of doing that. The number 21 became an emblem.

My point is the Redskins mean something to me. It’s not as if the name really has anything to do with this. It’s just a name. If I changed my name to Yeezus tomorrow, I’d still be the exact same person. But after all these years, it would be impossible not to associate the name “Redskins” with everything the team means to me.

That’s a weird thing. I also grew up with the Wizards being called the “Wizards,” but I’d love it if they changed their name. Something about the name “Wizards” is devoid of character, sort of like a TV show dreamed up by an executive to please everybody that ends up pleasing nobody. But Redskins? The name has weight. It has history. It is the team.

I wish this weren’t the case. I wish the part of me that cringes when it hears “Redskins” would crush that lingering positive association like Moss and Cooley crushed the Cowboys in 2005. I wish I weren’t secretly a little pleased when Snyder published his ridiculous defense of the name. I wish when asked whether I want the Redskins to change their name, I could wholeheartedly say yes. But I’m not there yet.

I doubt I’m alone. I think deep down, the people arguing that the name shouldn’t be changed — that it’s not offensive, that it actually honors American Indians — know the real reason they don’t want the name to be changed is entirely selfish. They’re just attached to the name.

James Cohan ’17 wishes whoever named the Redskins in 1933 would have called them something different.

Send him new name suggestions at james_cohan@brown.edu.

Voting for UCS/UFB positions is open online Tuesday, April 8 at 12 p.m. through Thursday, April 10 at 12 p.m.

today 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2014

menu SHARPE REFECTORY

magic in the air VERNEY-WOOLLEY

LUNCH Gnocchi with Cabernet Marinara, Pastito, Hot Roast Beef on French Bread, Raspberry Chocolate Streusel Squares

Cavatini, Tomato Basil Pie, Zucchini and Onion Sautee, French Fries, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

DINNER Chicken Pot Pie, Vegetable Strudel, Creamy Smashed Sweet Potatoes, Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

Chicken Pot Pie, Vegan Ratatouille, Sauteed Spinach with Cherry Tomatoes, Chocolate Sundae Cake

JOSIAH’S

THREE BURNERS

QUESADILLA OR GRILLED CHEESE

Stuffed French Toast

Grilled Cheese

BLUE ROOM

SOUPS

DINNER ENTREES

Chicken Noodle, Fire Roasted Vegetable, Beef with Bean Chili

Naked Burritos

sudoku

DAVID BRAUN / HERALD

Jeremy Work ’15 of the India Point Ashwinders-Brown University Quidditch team gets some air during a Quidditch match on the Main Green.

comic Let’s Talk | Nava Winkler ’14

crossword ACROSS

By Ian Everbach ’17 The Letter of the Day 1 Mock 5 Green and Earl Grey, e.g.

10 Penultimate solfege notes 14 Siamese 15 In the know 16 Barrel of laughs 17 Broke up 18 Buried treasure item 19 Much 20 Freshwater salmon 22 Suffix on benz- and ethyl23 Lived 24 Rice field 26 [Help!]

27 Ram 30 Mystical lines connecting prehistoric monuments 31 Ship peg 32 Sun’s predecessor 35 Humming sounds 37 Nutella ingredient 39 It overturned DOMA in 2013 41 Dinner jackets 42 Pagan festival 43 Old your 44 “___ be a pleasure” 04/07/14 45 With 61-Across, harbor tower?

21 Mishnah and Solutions to last Tuesday’s puzzle: 46 Theater place Gemara follower Female answers above, male answers below 47 Bib. book 23 Shape of the 48 The Home ___ Mexican 20-cent 50 The tube coin 53 As being 25 Several of 54 “See you in the 62-Across, e.g. morning!”

26 Evaluates, 58 Bangladeshi dollar informally 59 Say “$^#*!”

27 Stat variables 61 See 45-Across 28 “Okay” 62 Russian autocrat 29 College social 63 ‘A la’ sufixes leader 64 Right on most 31 Vaca. companions maps 32 Slaps in the face, 65 Ski lift bars figuratively 66 Golfball holders 33 Feelings 67 Time and 34 Short-sleeve shirts temperature, 36 Good (as a noun) algebraically 37 Legal pronouns 38 Pelt DOWN 40 Emergency code 1 Certain plumbing 45 Often made in pipes China 2 Norse Zeus 47 Cheerful 3 Dasheen 48 Old dare 4 Link 49 It’s called Xizang in 5 ____ Mahal China 6 Refined 50 Squares for right 7 Pumpkin-colored angles 8 Holly or Douglas, 51 Brobdingnagian e.g.

52 32-card gambling 9 Called number, game abbr.

53 Leave forever 10 Warms 55 It may have kids?

11 Lacquered tinplate 56 Old have 12 Handyman’s 57 Lymphocyte cells gadget 59 1/20th of a ton 13 Things to be 60 Most suffix crossed

calendar TODAY

APRIL 7

4 P.M. ANCIENT ROMAN TECHNOLOGY; THE STABILITY OF VAULTED MASONRY STRUCTURES

Robert Meyer, professor of physics at Brandeis University, will discuss the methods used to determine the stability of vaulted structures in imperial Rome, such as arches and domes. Petteruti Lounge 8 P.M. VIGIL COMMEMORATING THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE

Students, faculty members and community members join for a candlelight vigil remembering the lives lost in the 1994 Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi. Faunce steps

TOMORROW

APRIL 8

12 P.M. LIQUID NITROGEN ICE CREAM SERVING

The chemical and biochemical engineering departments come together for some scientific sweets as they freeze ice cream with liquid nitrogen. Barus and Holley 6 P.M. INTERSECTIONS: A DISCUSSION ABOUT THE DEAF-BLIND WORLD

Elaine Ducharme, director of the Deaf-Blind Community Access Network, will discuss her experiences with the deaf-blind world and the overlap of multiple identities. Building for Environmental Research and Teaching 130

6 commentary

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2014

EDITORIAL

A chance to protest In a New York Times column this Sunday entitled “The New Gay Orthodoxy,” Frank Bruni declares victory for the gay rights movement, or at least for the movement to legalize same-sex marriage. “In a great many circles, endorsement of same-sex marriage has rather suddenly become nonnegotiable,” he writes. With shockingly little self-awareness, without even hinting at exactly what sorts of “circles” are endorsing same-sex marriage, Bruni fails to recognize that opposition to same-sex marriage, egregious discriminatory practices in the private sector economy, and much more violent or oppressive manifestations of homophobia are still giant obstacles in the lived experiences of LGBTQ people across the nation. Maybe these obstacles don’t exist in the circles of a New York Times columnist, but that doesn’t make them any less real.

While Bruni is right to be optimistic about the direction of same-sex marriage movements and the declining negotiability of its endorsement in certain circles, now is a dangerous time to declare victory for gay rights. Its victory is still to a considerable extent a tangible reality only for individuals of a high socioeconomic status. We members of the Brown community bear a great responsibility in that we are one of these circles Bruni references.

By no means do we live in a community in which LGBTQ people are on exactly equal footing with straight people, but our community basically fits Bruni’s standards: Support for same-sex marriage is essentially nonnegotiable, and its support is almost expected as an indicator of one’s intelligence or civility. We therefore have a responsibility to ensure that we create and maintain these communities in every way we can.

Consider, then, a scenario in which Brown University gives someone a paid platform to speak his mind, and he implicitly endorses violence toward LGBTQ individuals. Surely, given how a great deal of students have responded to individuals on other paid platforms, the student body would not let this slide.

The scenario isn’t hypothetical. In his “Favorite Song,” Chance the Rapper refers to himself as a “slap-happy faggot slapper.” Do we regard this as largely inconsequential — something to be overlooked in the grand scheme of the lyrical genius of Chance the Rapper — or is this another instance of giving someone a paid platform to spout oppressive, in this case violently homophobic, views?

Certainly we cannot equate the power of New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly as a potential oppressor with the power of Chance the Rapper, and we cannot equate the platform at the Taubman Center with a spot in the Spring Weekend lineup. It almost definitely cannot be said that Chance the Rapper yields the same sort of power to oppress LGBTQ people as Ray Kelly yields to oppress people of color, but how can his influence as an artist really be measured? Further, what is the marginal change in power given to Ray Kelly when we give him a platform to speak versus the marginal change in power given to Chance the Rapper?

Our intention is not to officially endorse a protest of Chance the Rapper, to petition that he opt out of performing “Favorite Song” or to boycott any Spring Weekend activities. We simply seek to point out the potential discrepancies in our treatment of guest speakers who endorse platforms that the student population would, as a whole, likely oppose.

What do we choose to protest, what do we choose to let slide, and can one single explanation justify our various responses to individuals on paid platforms this academic year?

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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A N G E L IA WA N G

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

To the Editor:

We wish to compliment you and Ms. Isobel Heck for publishing on April 2 the article “Controversial Paxil paper still under fire 13 years later.” While we strongly believe it is the moral duty for all of us to explore and protest wrongs, we appreciate that it calls upon one to have the courage to do so. Ms. Heck in her article brought to light the harm many of us as child and adolescent psychiatrists see as having been done to patients and their families by the publication in 2001 of a particular paper, now frequently referred to as S329.

In light of the decision handed down in the Department

And when we make that invisible, that’s rape culture

”

too.

— Jaclyn Friedman, feminist activist

See march on page 1.

CORRECTION An article in Thursday’s Herald (“R.I. public schools test NECAP replacement,” April 3) incorrectly described the New England Common Assessment Program as a multiple-choice assessment. In fact, it includes multiple-choice, short-answer, constructed-response and extended-response sections. The Herald regrets the error.

C L A R I F I C AT I O N A photo caption accompanying an article in Thursday’s Herald (“Controversial Hillel lecture sparks protest,” April 3) mischaracterized an event featuring Israel Defense Forces Sgt. Benjamin Anthony last week. He spoke about his involvement with Israeli forces occupying the West Bank during a question-and-answer period, not in his preceding lecture.

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of Justice vs. GlaxoSmithKline case and despite the title given Ms. Heck’s article, the following strikes us as no longer controversial: S329 has clearly been judged to be fraudulent and ghostwritten. It was repeatedly re-edited, and the data manipulated until the paper represented more a marketing ploy than science. For this and other issues, GSK, the manufacturer of Paxil, was fined $3 billion, the largest amount ever levied against a pharmaceutical firm. It therefore seems to many of us in our field that it is considerably past time to retract S329.

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Study 329 must be retracted

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commentary 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2014

The commissioner and the kingpin WALKER MILLS opinions columnist

On Oct. 29, New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly was invited by the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions to give a talk on ‘Proactive Policing.’ Before he was able to give his talk, he was shouted off stage by protesters from Brown and the greater Providence community. What happened on April 2 received far less attention. On April 2, the Brown Political Theory Project in collaboration with Students for Sensible Drug Policy invited former drug kingpin “Freeway” Rick Ross to campus to give a lecture. The event was well attended, with almost every seat in List 120 filled. There didn’t appear to be any outraged students and no one interfered with the lecture. Why did students welcome a drug kingpin and convicted felon onto the same stage off of which they shouted the police commissioner of America’s largest city? You might be rolling your eyes, but I feel like this question desperately needs to be asked of our student body.

On what criteria can we look at these two speakers and feel comfortable supporting one and humiliating the other? On their occupational credentials? On the results of their policies and actions? On the intent of their actions? On their cool factor?

Kelly was the police commissioner of New York City for 13 years. He served under both mayors Rudolph Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg. He enjoyed some of the highest approval ratings of any public official in the city.

If what we are asking is whether or not Kelly was qualified to speak about policing, then the answer is unequivocally yes. He is quite possibly one of the most influential police chiefs in the world.

Ross ran and oversaw one of the largest drug networks in the United

appear to have excellent credentials to give a talk on his experiences with the drug trade and drug reform.

What about the effects that these two men have had on society? During Kelly’s tenure as commissioner, crime in New York dropped significantly, though it is contested as to whether or not it resulted from his policies. Since Kelly came to office in 2001, New York’s homicide rate has dropped 49 percent. There were also significant increases in the number of black and Hispanic police officers on

modest estimates, Ross’s distribution network probably supplied hundreds of thousands of drug users. Drug use also rarely hurts just the individual — the damage ripples across families and community structures. I think one can safely say that both Kelly and Ross have done significant damage to the communities that they worked with — however, I think there is a massive difference in scale.

Kelly’s jurisdiction was the City of New York while Ross presided over a drug empire spanning from coast to

Why did students welcome a drug kingpin and convicted felon onto the same stage off of which they shouted the police commissioner of America’s largest city?

States. His network was centered in Los Angeles but reached all the way down into New Orleans and across to Baltimore. During his time dealing drugs Ross made a profit estimated to be in excess of two billion dollars, amassing a personal fortune of just under a billion dollars before he was sent to prison to serve a life sentence for his role in the drug trade. This amount of money makes him second to only Al Capone in success in dealing drugs and controlled substances. Since his early release in 2009, Ross has billed himself as a social reformer, supporting drug policy reform and working to aid his former community in south central Los Angeles. Ross would also

the force. Students primarily took issue with his controversial ‘stop-andfrisk’ policy, which is criticized for disproportionately targeting black and Hispanic people. These allegations are significant — racial profiling and the systemic aggressions that result from the policy can be deeply damaging to individuals and communities. We can probably agree that opinions on Kelly’s legacy are mixed.

Ross’ legacy is harder to pin down.

Good statistics on drug use and drug points of origin are hard to come by, especially for thirty years ago. But Ross claims to have been purchasing and moving almost 500 kilos of cocaine per week. Even by relatively

coast, and I struggle to see any positive impact of what Ross has done. During his lecture, Ross failed to provide any indication that he felt remorse for the damage he caused to communities across the country and could not even provide a straight answer when asked if he regretted the pain he had caused.

Ross also had little to say about reforming the drug laws in the United States. He talked for only about 30 minutes, most of which was his personal story and shameless promotion of his merchandise. Maybe the release of his upcoming documentary will convince me of his value to the reform movement.

What about intent? I think that it’s

clear Kelly’s goal wasn’t persecuting black and Hispanic residents of New York, even if that can be shown to be a side effect of his policies. He also instituted the most aggressive hiring campaign for minority policemen in New York’s history, and was lauded for his efforts to curtail alleged racial profiling in the United States Customs Service. Similarly, Ross never claimed to want to destroy communities and tear apart families — he just wanted to lift himself up out of poverty along with those around him.

Is it the cool factor? Are drugs and gang violence too sexy for Bruonians to protest? Rap music and movies often glorify drug dealing, but I have to hope we are mature enough to separate our morals and our entertainment.

So, I don’t have the answer. But I think that the student activists here at Brown that live for protests and outrage might want to take a moment to answer it for themselves. I personally support bringing controversial speakers to campus — I just think students owe it to themselves to take a closer look at who they are jeering and who they are cheering.

If you aren’t tired of talking about it already, Walker Mills ’15 would be happy to hear your opinions about Ray Kelly, Rick Ross or the future of speakers at Brown.

I want to love Israel, but ...

DAVID KATZEVICH guest columnist

I wear a Star of David around my neck, the same one that Israel uses to embellish its flag. I am proud to be Jewish, proud of Judaism’s centuriesold tradition of resisting oppression — a pride that Israel invariably insists it shares. I believe in equality, humanity, democracy and progress, the very same values Israel claims to uphold. It is due to my deeply held convictions that, while appreciating the ideal of Israel, I cannot but detest the reality of the settler-colonialist, ethnocentric, militarist state that occupies the land between the Jordan and the sea.

The invitation by Brown/RISD Hillel of Sgt. Benjamin Anthony, an Israel Defense Forces veteran and apologist for the occupation of Palestine, sparked a large protest that I was proud to participate in and help organize. Anthony is the embodiment of much of what is so terribly wrong with Israel today. His philosophy mirrors that of so many on the increasingly dominant Israeli right, which justifies unconditionally all of Israel’s actions based on an intellectually vacuous rhetoric of nationalism and duty to one’s country. If history has taught us anything, it is that this type of discourse is exactly the perfect catalyst for atrocities.

Israel was founded in 1948 largely due to the horrendous crimes of the Holocaust. However, what followed was the brutal military dispossession of almost a million indigenous Palestinians of their land and the subsequent denial of their right to return, for which they and their descendants still fight today. This catastrophe is called the Nakba, and looms as large in Palestinian cultural memory as the events three years preceding

it loom in Jewish collective memory. This campaign of incidental and purposeful cleansing of the land was the first step in ensuring an ethnically dominant Jewish population in Israel, a campaign that continues to the present day.

Israel was created as a state to allow Jews to escape persecution and anti-Semitism, and to live freely and proudly among equals. It is a tragic irony that the actions of this state have appropriated the identity of “Jewishness” while perpetrating atrocities in the name of the Jewish state. Many Jews in Israel and around the world are certainly not proud to be associated with military occupation and war crimes by virtue of the state that

Gaza. While the common stereotype propagated

by Western media is that Palestinian resistance is violent, those committing violence on the Palestinian side make up a minuscule minority. Overwhelmingly, Palestinian resistance is nonviolent peaceful protest, resembling Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi far more than al-Qaeda.

However, these peaceful protests are brutally repressed by the IDF’s rubber bullets, live bullets and tear gas canisters used as direct projectiles, with lethal consequences for those struggling for freedom and autonomy. Men, women and children are killed or arrested in the night and held without trial for months or years. Freedom

My people’s history is one of fiercely resisting oppression, not perpetrating it, of fighting for all that is right, not defending all that is wrong. claims a monopoly on their religion, yet they do not believe they have had the freedom to express this fundamental dissent.

Moreover, Israel’s own policies and the prejudices of the dominant white Ashkenazi population do not allow all Jews to live in peace and equality, as darker-skinned Sephardi Jews are lucky if they “pass,” and the horrible reports of forced sterilization of black Ethiopian Jews immigrating to Israel are becoming far too frequent. By placing the star I wear around my neck on its flag, Israel attempts to speak in my name, and in the names of all Jewish people worldwide, while acting in ways that many of us not only vehemently oppose, but consider literally anti-Jewish.

Of course, Israel’s most egregious crimes are the occupation of the West Bank and the siege of

of movement is restricted by countless checkpoints, where Palestinians are stopped for hours and humiliated on a daily basis. Many roads are only for Jewish settlers, who are able to harass and attack Palestinians with impunity. All these crimes against the very humanity of a people occur against the backdrop of a separation — read: apartheid — wall that not only steals Palestinian land, but looms as the most concrete representation of their status as unwelcome outsiders, dehumanized “others.”

My parents, fierce Zionists and Israeli nationalists, lived under the heavy mental, emotional and at times physical abuse of anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union. I was lucky enough to not have to experience any anti-Semitism in my life, as I grew up in the United States. Jews do not make up

a majority of the United States, nor is ours a “Jewish nation.” Still, I and countless other American Jews are able to live as equals among equals, unafraid of discrimination and proud of our Judaism. This should serve as a lesson to Israel: It has no need to fear the “demographic threat” of the Palestinians, no need to brutally repress others so that Israeli Jews can enjoy freedom. Israel’s fear of Palestinian freedom will prove as baseless as the fears of white Southerners and South Africans for the survival of their populations once they were forced to stop their oppression of blacks.

While much reconciliatory work would need to be done to build a nation in which all people can live equally and with dignity, an end to the occupation and full equal rights for everyone will not doom Israel or preclude it from being a state safe and welcome for Jews. Rather, it will give a rebirth to Israel’s Judaism and create a Judaism that loves rather than hates, that accepts rather than discriminates. Israelis can confidently look to the sea and be assured that the Palestinians will not drive them into it. They will never return the favor.

I want to love Israel, as my parents do. I want to feel a connection to my people’s historic land.

However, my people’s history is one of fiercely resisting oppression, not perpetrating it, of fighting for all that is right, not defending all that is wrong.

I want to love Israel, but first Israel has to learn to love itself enough to accept all people as equals between the Jordan and the sea.

David Katzevich ’16 is a radical believer that a better world is possible through collective action and has an unquenchable thirst for justice and an undying love for humanity. He can be reached at david_katzevich@brown.edu.

MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2014

THE

BROWN DAILY HERALD science & research Prof. pushes for release of Vioxx documents David Egilman wins legal right to request access to previously confidential papers

By ANDREW JONES SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Following litigation efforts by David Egilman, clinical profssor of family medicine, new documents may be released concerning Vioxx, a prescription drug that has come under fire in the past few years for its correlation with negative health effects.

A Kentucky court ruling last week granted Egilman the right to ask Merck — the pharmaceutical company that produced the drug — to release several documents previously marked confidential. But Merck could still deny Egilman’s request.

Vioxx, which was widely prescribed as a painkiller, was pulled from the market in 2004 after evidence surfaced linking chronic use of the drug to heart attacks and strokes. Egilman co-authored a study published in 2010 that found patients taking Vioxx were at higher cardiovascular risk than patients on a placebo, and he has served as an expert witness for many lawsuits against the company.

Some legal and medical experts have doubted Merck’s timeliness in pulling Vioxx from the market, Egilman said.

The company may have had sufficient evidence of the health risks associated with the drug months or years before it left shelves. Gaining access to the new Merck documents could raise additional questions about Merck’s questionable research methods and the negative effects Vioxx has had on its users, he added.

“They’re hiding memos and data about how they misled people that could be important for public health purposes,” he said.

In 2008, Egilman assisted in finding that the company used ghostwriters in

COURTESY OF MORGUEFILE VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

David Egilman, professor of family medicine, won a legal contest to gain the right to ask pharmaceutical company Merck to release documents about its drug Vioxx, which was pulled from shelves in 2004. its publications, allowing guest scientists unaffiliated with the company to sign off on them without having actually written the documents, The Herald reported at the time.

“Merck is confident we have acted responsibly, from researching Vioxx prior to approval, to monitoring it while it was on the market, and to voluntarily withdrawing it when we did,” wrote Lainie Keller, Merck’s director of global communications, in an email to The Herald.

If Egilman gains access to the documents, he plans to release them to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Yale Open Data Access Project, he said.

The YODA Project is “an effort to try to facilitate the distribution of data and promote open science,” said Harlan Krumholz, professor of cardiology at Yale and the project’s principal investigator. The initiative evaluates clinical trial data to ensure physicians are prescribing pharmaceuticals and

administering medical devices correctly.

While the Vioxx debate is an ongoing issue, when a company releases its documents, it shows its commitment to scientific integrity, Krumholz said.

“Science has historically sequestered data,” he said, adding that when people consent to participate in experiments, the data should be a public good.

The Vioxx discussion demonstrates the need for more accountability in the pharmaceutical industry, Egilman said.

In many cases, drug companies face

only small repercussions after thousands of people have been harmed, he added.

Egilman previously grappled with the pharmaceutical company producing the drug Zyprexa — an antipsychotic prescribed for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder — pushing to open the drug’s documents to the public. He admitted to violating a protective order for leaking Zyprexa’s documents and paid a $100,000 fine, the New York Times reported in 2007.

Speaker calls for global access to health care Working with Partners in Health, Njolomole has striven to improve Malawi’s health system

By RILEY DAVIS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

“We are not the leaders of tomorrow, we are the leaders of now,” Samson Njolomole, external relations manager for Partners in Health, told his audience of about 50 Saturday. The talk, sponsored by Brown’s chapter of PIH, focused on bringing health care to Malawi, the country in southeast Africa where Njolomole grew up.

Speaking on behalf of PIH, a nonprofit organization that builds hospitals and advocates for broader access to health care globally, Njolomole began his lecture with an anecdote about the organization’s presence in Malawi, specifically the Neno district, also discussing how he rose to his current position.

While working away from home, he got so sick that people began reporting to his mother that he had died, he said. To prove to her that he was still

alive, Njolomole returned to his hometown, where his father convinced him to get tested for HIV. When the results came back, he discovered he was HIV positive.

“The stigma that comes along when you’re HIV positive is so bad that it creates barriers to get health care access,” Njolomole said, adding that it was one reason he resisted getting tested for so long. PIH considers the effect of such stigmas when providing health care, Njolomole said.

“PIH believes that to treat a person with an infection takes more than the drugs, it takes finding out the challenges that they are facing,” he said.

In Malawi, the main health care challenge the country faces is access, Njolomole said. Malawi is a rural country, with the majority of its residents living in the countryside. To access a hospital or health care center, some people in need have to walk between

three to five hours, he said.

The poor road conditions and lack of ambulances further impede efforts to increase access to medical treatment, Njolomole added.

“The transport system is very critical,” he said. “We sometimes have women who are on maternity who need to be transported in the middle of the night.”

Getting qualified staff members to treat patients and securing access to medicine are other obstacles PIH tries to tackle. In Malawi, people will not go to the hospitals to get treated because they associate the hospitals with death, Njolomole added. “It’s not just the hospital — it is about the provision of care. All the components need to be there,” he said.

Women’s health is a particular focus for PIH, and Brown’s chapter of PIH specializes in addressing Malawi women’s health care needs. Women face not just the challenges of giving birth in understaffed hospitals — many must also choose between caring for their families or themselves when they fall ill, Njolomole said.

Some husbands leave their wives when they find out their wives are HIV positive, he said. Other women are plagued with so many other problems that finding the time and money to focus on improving their health falls to the wayside. “The house is falling apart, she can’t feed the children, when is there time to take her medication?”

Njolomole said.

PIH is working to “go beyond the basic needs” of people and establish sustainable ways for them to access health care, Njolomole said. One way they are ensuring more people seek health care is by appointing them Village Health Workers — liaisons who accompany patients to hospitals and follow up with them to ensure they take their medications.

“It’s not a question of saying ‘Hey, go to that hospital,’” Njolomole said. “It’s a question of saying ‘Hey, I understand the pain you are going through, and I’m going to walk all the way to the hospital with you.’”

PIH has made great strides in Malawi, but there is much more that can be

done, he said. The three most important actions people can take are fundraising, educating and advocating, he added.

Njolomole brings a unique and valuable perspective to the University, said Victoria Leonard ’15, one of the PIH chapter leaders at Brown. “At Brown, I think we have a lot of opportunities to learn about global health from the expert, from sort of a bird’seye view perspective,” she said. “But very rarely do we have the perspective from on the ground, and what that looks like.”

Audience members said they found Njolomole’s lecture engaging and influential. “It was empowering to see the impact he’s had in such a small country but on such a large scale,” Jaime Ramirez ’16 said. “It was just very powerful.”

If Njolomole could have people take one thing away from his lecture, it would be “promoting access and social justice,” he told The Herald. “It starts from just recognizing that there’s a challenge, and helping …to bring some change.”