Thursday, October 23, 2014

THE

BROWN DAILY HERALD vol. cxlix, no. 94

since 1891

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2014

Cianci touts past as he aims for comeback

Ballot prop. pushes for boost to arts funding Proponents of measure say R.I. ballot Question 5 would bolster state as arts hub, create jobs

By DUNCAN GALLAGHER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

A peek inside the massive door of WaterFire Providence’s new home i n t he Va l ley/Olneyville neighborhood reveals an expansive industrial interior. Bright sunlight streams through frosted windows, illuminating the wrought iron baskets, cords of wood and other equipment stacked throughout the 27,000-square-foot warehouse. WaterFire acquired this building in 2012. The organization is one of nine performing arts groups in Rhode Island that would receive grants totaling $23.1 million if R.I. ballot Question 5 passes Nov. 4.

The passage of Question 5 would enable the state to issue $35 million in bonds to support facilities improvements in these nine organizations.

This sum would also fund state historic preservation and competitive grants managed by the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, all of which

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DAVID DECKEY / HERALD

Independent mayoral candidate Vincent “Buddy” Cianci mingles with Brown students at a campaign event on College Hill earlier this month. Cianci, who previously served 22 years as mayor, is running for a seventh time.

Former mayor reflects on time at City Hall, felony convictions, vision for city as Nov. 4 election looms

By CAMILLA BRANDFIELD-HARVEY SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Seated amidst galleries of vintage photographs, walls of framed degrees and large poster boards illustrating models

for a new Providence at his 175 Broad Street campaign headquarters, former mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci said the city’s current condition “is what it is.”

Providence is “an American city that’s in decline,” he said, adding the city lacks resources and leaders with experience.

“This isn’t the time the city can experience on-the-job training in a mayor,” he told The Herald.

FEATURE

“It is what it is” is a fitting rejoinder for the mayoral candidate, who served as mayor of Providence from 1975-1984 and 1991-2002. Cianci resigned from office in 1984 after pleading no contest to allegations of felony assault. He left office again in 2002 with a federal conviction for racketeering conspiracy.

When asked if he had any regrets about his prior performance, Cianci said, “Yeah. The verdict.” » See CIANCI, page 3

would require benefitting organizations to match the grants with their own fundraising efforts.

The state preservation grants and RISCA competitive matching grants would total $5 million and $6.89 million, respectively.

Supporters of the measure emphasize Rhode Island’s reputation as a regional art hub and the anticipated economic benefit of supporting these sectors.

“We think the arts are an economic generator and a local differentiator,” said Laurie White, president of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce. “People want to come and live and spend money and work in areas where there’s a thriving arts and cultural scene to supplement their professional life,” she said. Providing economic support to arts organizations in Rhode Island will also strengthen its reputation as a local leader in those areas, she added.

WaterFire, which would receive $3.1 million, plans to use the funds to develop their new headquarters into a “permanent, visible home,” said Peter Mello, WaterFire’s managing director. The organization has never had a central location in Providence, and establishing a home was part of » See QUESTION, page 2

UCS members voice concerns Panel advocates gun violence awareness over forum with Corporation Moral Voices hosts

By CAROLINE KELLY SENIOR STAFF WRITER

inside

The Undergraduate Council of Students reflected on its interactions and relationship with the Corporation, which were on display at its open forum last week featuring Corporation members, at its general body meeting Wednesday night.

The open forum last week included guest speakers Chancellor Thomas Tisch ’76, young alumni trustee Alison Cohen ’09, Chair of the Corporation’s Committee of Campus Life Dorsey James ’83, member of the Corporation’s Fundraising and Campus Life Committees Joan Wernig Sorensen ’72 P’06 P’06 and Brown Alumni Association President and member of the Corporation’s Facilities Planning Committee Nancy Hyde P’17 P’17.

At Wednesday night’s UCS general body meeting, several council members expressed concern that the Corporation did not attempt to understand their perspectives. Tisch “wasn’t answering

questions,” said UCS Treasurer Malikah Williams ’16, adding that “he kind of skirted around the answer.”

UCS Corporation Liaison Kevin Garcia ’18 said Cohen’s remark about her “detached perspective” as the young alumni trustee made him worry whether the Corporation listened to student voices.

Benjamin Gladstone ’18, UCS general body member, said the Corporation members’ lukewarm reception of the proposal to add a student representative to the Corporation demonstrated that UCS must act to ensure student needs are conveyed to the University’s highest governing body. “UCS exists to represent students, and students are not being represented in a really critical way,” he said. “They’re slighting Brown students by not allowing for representation, and it’s UCS’ job to make that happen.”

“Our interests per se are not supposed to be represented by the Corporation, but having our voice in that room is something important that we should really be pushing for,” said Ryan Lessing ’17, chair of the UCS Admissions and Student Services committee.

Lessing cautioned that members of student groups should advocate » See UCS, page 2

panel urging students to promote community solutions to issue

By GRACE YOON STAFF WRITER

During a panel event Wednesday, Moral Voices — a Brown/RISD Hillel initiative that focuses on awareness, education, advocacy and activism — invited various leaders to engage in an in-depth dialogue about gun violence in Providence and possible community-based solutions to the issue. Entering its third year since its launch, Moral Voices aims to bring greater awareness to moral issues, dedicating each year to a different issue.

For the panel, Moral Voices invited community leaders from across Providence. Three members of the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence joined the panel, including Teny Gross, the leader of the organization who is “one of the strongest voices in Providence” to discuss this issue, said Margie Thorsen ’15, chair of Moral Voices. Institute staff member Ray Duggan, a former gang member and speaker on the panel, is

prevention in terms of policing,” said Brenna Scully ’17, an intern for Moral Voices.

Stephen Paré, a commissioner for the Providence Department of Public Safety who actively speaks about gun violence, was chosen to serve on the panel because of his ability to discuss his involvement with “day-to-day legal » See GUNS, page 2

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SADIE HOPE-GUND / HERALD

A panel on gun violence included members from the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, one of whom is a former gang member.

Commentary

The director of HealthSource R.I. discusses her role in creating the state’s health exchange

The landscape of Providence’s mayoral race continues to change with prominent endorsements

Carty ’15: Voters should recognize perils of voting for Cianci for mayor

Fossil Fuel Brown: Divestment should be expanded to include all fossil fuel companies

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Corp. members did not seem receptive to calls for student representation in governance, some say

known for intercepting gang violence and working with the community on preventive measures, she added.

Julia Wyman, board member and legislative director of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence, also spoke on the panel. “We wanted somebody from a more policy (or) legislative angle and discuss what the realities are of any community

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2 from page one » GUNS, from page 1 enforcement without necessarily involving politics,” Thorsen said.

While the panelists provided an array of perspectives and their discussion included both legislative and individual points, they all expressed agreement on the need for college students to become involved with raising awareness surrounding gun violence.

As an entirely volunteer-based coalition, “we really need to grow as an organization to make meaningful changes,” Wyman said, urging students to go and volunteer for the coalition.

She outlined various ways student volunteers could make an impact, such as creating committees of people in the districts of Rhode Island, meeting with local representatives, challenging them on issues and testifying in hearings, adding that college students are in a unique position to do this.

“There is power in numbers,” she said. “You should use it, because it won’t last long.”

Haley De La Rosa ’17, a coordinator for Street Sights, a Brown-Rhode Island School of Design organization that works with formerly homeless individuals and publishes monthly newspapers dealing with issues of homelessness, attended the event to supplement an article for the publication about the disparity in policing gun violence in Rhode Island.

“This seemed like the perfect place to come and engage in discussions,” De La Rosa said, emphasizing the necessity of such dialogues.

Arohi Kapoor ’16, another attendee, said she especially appreciated the diverse perspectives that the panelists offered.

“We’re really hoping that they bring different lenses of the same issue, but again all within Providence and all within a very specific context,” Scully said.

“This is an issue that you could

talk about for years. You can bring in anybody, so this focus (on Providence) is very important,” Thorsen added.

Since the panel focused on community-based solutions, Scully and Thorsen expressed interest in incorporating “action-oriented” community engagement into the work of the organization.

“We’re trying to mobilize people to engage with the subject outside of the educational speaker pieces that we’re offering,” Thorsen said, adding that collaboration with the Swearer Center for Public Service was particularly crucial for this project because of the center’s involvement with tangible service-oriented works.

“As we started meeting with other community leaders and other schools in the area, we realized that we really needed to talk about Swearer’s role in collaborating with these groups outside of Brown,” Scully said, adding that Moral Voices has collaborated with the Brown Center for Students of Color and the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America. The group recognized that all these organizations “have a huge stake in this conversation, and there isn’t really a way for Brown students to foster dialogues without having them involved with these groups,” Scully said.

While this semester’s events focus on structural violence and homicide, Moral Voices’ events next semester intend to focus on the intersection of mental health and gun violence.

There would be a larger focus on mental health, “especially the myths and misconceptions of mental health in the context of violence,” Scully said.

The organization anticipates working with other leaders on campus, including Active Minds, Minority Peer Counselors and Residential Peer Leaders, she added.

There will be a public debriefing on the panel Thursday in J. Walter Wilson 411 from 12 to 1 p.m.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2014

» UCS, from page 1

» QUESTION, from page 1

their causes to the Corporation in a tactful manner. “When we’re careless with our wording, it scares Corporation members, so we should be wary of that,” he said.

Realizing the idea of adding a student to the Corporation “strikes me as unlikely,” Lessing added. “If we want to throw our support behind the initiative, … we want to make sure it’s one that has at least some chance of happening.”

UCS President Maahika Srinivasan ’15 said establishing communication between the Corporation and students is crucial to both parties. Corporation members “need to be convinced that student representation and student voices are valuable to them,” she said.

The council also categorized new student groups and recategorized existing student groups that had submitted applications. Enactus@Brown, a competition group for political and social action, Young Americans for Liberty, a conservative student group, Oja!, a modern African dance group, and Brown Pokemon Fan Club, a Pokemon appreciation group, were all approved as Category 1 groups.

Campus Ministry International at Brown and Fashion@Brown were both approved as Category 2 groups, meaning that they will receive $200 of baseline funding. Members of Campus Ministry International plan to use the new funds to purchase food for the group’s bimonthly meetings, while members of Fashion@Brown will likely use the funds to pay for its annual spring fashion show and high-profile speakers’ travel to campus.

a “strategic plan … to sustain the organization long-term,” Mello said.

WaterFire aims to incorporate other features into the space, including a visitors’ center and an arts education center intended for students from Providence’s public schools.

The Rhode Island School of Design Museum, which would be eligible to apply for a RISCA matching grant, has not yet made specific plans for how the money would be used, though it would likely be directed toward gallery renovations and “physical infrastructure improvements,” wrote director John Smith in an email to The Herald.

“This bond is really about jobs and the economy,” Mello said.

“WaterFire itself brings in a little over a million people a year,” he added. “More than 50 percent of those people come from outside of the state.” This statistic represents a decision to choose Rhode Island over “Boston or Cape Cod or Connecticut,” which results in an economic output of around $114 million annually, generating approximately $9 million of tax revenue and supporting 1,294 jobs, Mello said, referring to a 2012 economic impact report by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Randall Rosenbaum, executive director of RISCA, said he has not heard any “organized or disorganized opposition” to the measure, adding that the people who take pause tend to be those who “don’t want to spend money on anything.”

Some fiscally conservative groups,

like the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity, oppose the bond measure because of the state’s tight financial situation. The bond “would give preferential treatment to organizations in the arts industry by handing to them hard-earned taxpayer dollars, while other industries are left to survive on their own during these difficult economic times,” the center told WPRI. While Rosenbaum said he understands this perspective, the measure is an “investment strategy for the state.” The historic preservation program benefited from similar bond initiatives in 2002 and 2004, which resulted in increased employment and economic activity, Rosenbaum said, adding that the RISCA grants would enable smaller arts organizations to address their capital needs and allow them to direct more money into programming and jobs.

The nine performing arts organizations estimate their capital improvements will create 600 temporary and 600 permanent jobs, in addition to “$47 million annually in increased economic activity,” Rosenbaum said.

“The arts in Rhode Island are a big business. They employ a lot of people and they generate a lot of downstream economic impact,” White said. This trend is as much the case in smaller towns around the state as it is within Providence itself, she said, adding that the projects are geographically dispersed because they attract people all over the state to “spend money, which puts money back into the community and back into people’s pockets.”

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2014

HealthSource R.I. director emphasizes clarity in vision of health exchange R.I. ranks second in nation for health insurance enrollment, topping federal threshold

By EMMA JERZYK SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Rhode Island’s health insurance exchange, HealthSource R.I., has outperformed most other states’ systems in the year since it opened to the marketplace but faces challenges of balancing competing stakeholder interests, budget problems and collaboration with state agencies, said invited speakers of a Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions panel discussion Wednesday afternoon.

Christine Ferguson, director of HealthSource R.I., and Christine Hunsinger MPA’08, CEO of political communications consulting firm BGP Strategies, spoke about the origins and future of the exchange, set up as part of the Affordable Care Act to help connect consumers with different health insurance options.

Hunsinger, a former spokesperson for Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’74 P’14 P’17 and HealthSource R.I., opened the discussion by providing background on the history of the health exchange, which came under Ferguson’s direction in June 2012 after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ACA, allowing the formation of HealthSource R.I. to progress.

The exchange opened for pre-enrollment last October and coverage became available Jan. 1.

Ferguson was charged with the unique task of building a government agency from the ground up, Hunsinger said, adding that Ferguson collaborated with the office of Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts ’78 and other stakeholders on the project.

Since then, HealthSource R.I. has fared well compared with other states’ exchanges. Rhode Island ranked second nationally for its rate of health insurance enrollments, exceeding the federal enrollment threshold as of March.

“Rhode Island’s not often touted as a leader in anything. Every time we make the top of a list, it’s a bad list. And every time there’s a good list, we’re at the

» CIANCI, from page 1 Cianci spoke like a police officer hoping to close a long-open case, touting his 22 years of experience as mayor while regarding his criminal indictments and four-and-a-half-year prison term as learning experiences to leave behind him.

A media storm focused primarily on Cianci’s illicit behaviors has become a “disservice” to the people of Providence, Cianci said.

“This isn’t my first rodeo,” Cianci said. “I’ve been around awhile. I’ve been through seven of these campaigns. This is the seventh, and frankly, I didn’t make this decision to run in a vacuum.”

Cianci said the media frenzy does more harm to city residents, who he said “don’t care” about his criminal record.

“People want to know why their kid has to go to an underperforming school and spend three hours on a bus to get there.

That’s what they want to know,” he said.

“They want to know why they can’t walk down Thayer Street at night and (not) be in fear of getting mugged. The ladies on the East Side want to know why they’re afraid to go put their garbage out, because they’re in fear of getting

bottom. But this is different,” Hunsinger said, adding that it was notable the state excelled at an initiative at the top of the national agenda.

The Rhode Island Department of Health and Human Services, the lieutenant governor, the Department of Administration and the governor’s office were the government stakeholders involved in planning HealthSource R.I. and setting up the rules of the exchange.

“At the leadership table, there are four different agencies with four different competing sets of interests. So it makes it challenging and very collaborative and sometimes very loud,” Hunsinger said.

“The providers don’t really have a seat at the table right now,” Hunsinger said, attributing this setup to the state’s relatively small size and the power of health insurance companies.

Ferguson’s vision of the exchange is straightforward: Providing consumers with clear information about health insurance plans will do a better job of reforming health care than legislation.

Consumers can use a tool like HealthSource R.I., which includes an online platform and customer service representatives, to make educated decisions about the best insurance plan for them.

Giving consumers, especially business owners, the information they need to make informed choices is key, Ferguson said. People who are confused by the process have never had to purchase insurance before but are now required to under the ACA, she added. This population segment includes small business owners, many of whom have not been involved because they were not previously mandated to buy insurance for their employees, Ferguson said. “No one’s made it possible for them to even understand what the hell they’re buying.”

“The health insurance carriers listen every year to people’s feet,” Ferguson said, adding that consumer behavior impacts companies’ pricing and coverage. Consumers now can call HealthSource R.I. if they are dissatisfied with their plan, which enables the exchange to track problems and inform consumers, she said. “You fundamentally have to believe that competition drives innovation, price and quality.”

mugged like their neighbor the night before. They’re wondering why there are no jobs in the city.”

Cianci said he has chosen to run for mayor to rebuild a city that has steadily fallen behind over the last decade, mounting the podium once more even after a bout of colon cancer at age 73.

Cianci has forged ahead, as the candidate he said has a “vision” for the future, despite his dirty laundry aired by the press and his recently compromised health. This vision includes improved public safety and education, the development of the empty I-195 land into commercial space and a revitalized Seekonk River busy with ferries that he said would transport people from India Point to new biotechnical buildings. In the next room sit large poster boards depicting twodimensional images of this proposal.

Despite Cianci’s talk of new visions for the city, he has primarily painted his latest campaign with images from his past. To solicit voters’ confidence, Cianci returns time and again to his previous accomplishments, publicly at live debates and privately in one-on-one discussions.

The sign above his office door at headquarters — the same building Hillary

COURTESY OF TAUBMAN CENTER

Christine Ferguson, director of HealthSource R.I., speaks about the functioning of Rhode Island’s health exchange as part of a Taubman Center panel discussion. Christine Hunsinger MPA’08, CEO of BGP Strategies, also spoke.

Ferguson said HealthSource R.I.’s structure and objectives differ from other states’ exchange platforms. “The differences of HealthSource R.I. make “people really uncomfortable because God forbid that we should do something different,” she said in a sarcastic tone.

Rhode Island did a lot of outreach to the community during the open enrollment period and expanded its Medicaid program for enrollees, The Herald previously reported. A November 2013 report from the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, a nonprofit and nonpartisan public policy group in Providence, found that HealthSource R.I. had the lowest premiums of the New England states’ exchanges, “proceeded with minimal technical obstacles” and offered a variety of available plans for small business owners. But RIPEC also concluded that Rhode Island lacked “sustainable funding mechanisms” for HealthSource R.I. and the state needed to find a place to maintain the program within the government.

“There has never ever been an opportunity like this in the 30 years that I’ve been working in this field,” Ferguson said, adding that there will not likely be a chance to implement similar health care reforms for the next half century.

If HealthSource R.I. were made a

state agency, it would facilitate collaboration with other parts of Rhode Island’s government, but it would also create bureaucratic challenges, such as hiring or setting a budget, which “make it very difficult to respond quickly,” Ferguson said. “Doing things in the public sector means every decision you make and every experiment you try has to succeed,” she added.

Legislation that would make HealthSource R.I. “a quasi-independent agency” making it separate from the government and allowing it to “move at the speed of a business,” was introduced during Ferguson’s first year.

“The legislation was a political hot potato,” Hunsinger said.

The General Assembly ended its legislative period before passing the bill because of resistance from anti-abortion lawmakers since all the plans offered by the exchange covered abortions, Hunsinger said. As a result, the exchange remained under the purview of the governor’s office.

But when Chafee decided not to run for re-election, he also decided to let the next governor decide what to do with the state health exchange, she said.

Cranston Mayor and Republican candidate for governor Allan Fung would scale down the exchange, or possibly

regionalize it by working with Massachusetts and Connecticut, Hunsinger said. General Treasurer and Democratic nominee Gina Raimondo would keep the exchange but reduce its budget. Moderate Party candidate Robert Healey wants to turn the exchange over to the federal government, she said.

The budget for the exchange under the new governor would be between $17 and $23 million, but health care represents 21 percent of the state economy, Hunsinger said.

“I think with a very good and thoughtful, creative leadership … we could test out new ways of working in government that might marry some of that,” Ferguson said. “But that really requires a lot of energy and thought, and I don’t know whether or not we have the bandwidth as a state in leadership roles right now to really fully be able to explore that, given all the other problems that we have.”

At Tuesday’s gubernatorial debate, the candidates started discussing the exchange, Hunsinger said. “But it’s a big deal because the governor will have to put in their budget how they’re going to fund it,” she added. “And that’s why it’s so surprising that the gubernatorial candidates have waited so long to take a position.”

Clinton used as her state headquarters in her 2008 presidential bid, WPRI reported — reads, “Vincent A. Cianci, Jr. Mayor,” and Cianci began many sentences with “When I was mayor.”

“When I was mayor before, we were one of the … best cities to live in, according to Money magazine. We were one of the five Renaissance cities according to USA Today. In 1994, we were the safest city in America, according to the All Cities Almanac.”

Providence ranked second to Honolulu that year in the Livable Cities Almanac, though it was first in the continental United States, according to PolitiFact R.I. Cianci said it was his administration that spearheaded historic preservation in the 1970s, essentially saving the Providence Performing Arts Center and Trinity Repertory Company that stand downtown today. With these cultural arenas, Cianci said his administration “created the first arts district in America, the very first where artists don’t pay taxes.”

“It was a city that was setting the pace,” he said before adding that Providence also established the first gun court in the United States, which exclusively handles firearms cases.

As part of a comprehensive urban renewal project during his second stint as mayor, Cianci presided over the construction of Waterplace Park, the initiation of WaterFire and the construction of Providence Place Mall, which opened Aug. 29, 1999.

When asked how he could square his achievements with his corruption during the same period to voters, Cianci worked to dispel an apparent myth.

“The myth is we had all these bad people,” Cianci said. “The truth is we had 6,000 people working for the city,” including “great” teachers, parks directors, firefighters and City Hall staff members, he added.

To reproduce this success, Cianci said he would fill the next administration with people who are “as diverse as the city” and at the forefront of their fields.

“I would absolutely go to people who have track records of performing,” he said, naming as examples Gary Sasse, a former director of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, a former director of the Rhode Island Department of Administration and the state Department of Revenue, and now director of the Bryant Institute for Public Leadership at

Bryant University, Mac Farmer, a former city councilmember and attorney and Brendan Doherty, former Rhode Island State Police Superintendant.

And it is in people that Cianci invests and in the people he said he trusts to win the race. “People are the ultimate deciders,” he said, not the Providence Journal or former U.S. attorneys. U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island Robert Corrente and former Republican Gov. Lincoln Almond, who spoke out against Cianci’s bid for mayor at a press conference Oct. 14.

At Vitale’s Tailoring and Dry Cleaning in Mount Pleasant, a stop on Cianci’s campaign trail last week and a shop that owner Rocco Vitale said Cianci patronized throughout his time in office, hangs an embroidered sign that reads, “When I am right, no one remembers. When I am wrong, no one forgets.”

What Providence residents and voters choose to remember or forget, and how either memory affects their decision at the polls, will come to bear on Cianci’s narrative come Nov. 4.

-With additional reporting by Steven Michael

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2014

Mayoral race heats up with new endorsements, donations While many municipal unions support Cianci, Republican candidate Harrop donates to Elorza

By ALEXANDER BLUM SENIOR STAFF WRITER

With the Nov. 4 election less than two weeks away, Providence’s mayoral candidates are seeking to build momentum by leveraging endorsements from politicians and unions considered valuable assets in a tight race.

Independent candidate and former mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci has recently been endorsed by a number of municipal unions, including those representing Providence’s teachers, police officers and firefighters. He has also received more than 20 endorsements from former and current Democratic City Council members and state lawmakers.

Democratic nominee Jorge Elorza was recently endorsed by the Providence Journal, and six current City Council members have committed to his campaign.

Last week, Elorza received an unusual contribution: a $1,000 donation from his Republican opponent, Daniel Harrop ’76 MD’79. Lagging behind his competitors in recent polls, Harrop told the Associated Press that while he disagrees with many of Elorza’s policy positions, “he is a good and honorable man,” whom Harrop contrasted unfavorably with Cianci.

Also jumping into the fray, three former federal prosecutors — including U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat, and former Gov. Lincoln

Almond, a Republican — urged voters not to elect Cianci to another term, as he was forced to resign from both of his previous terms as a result of felony convictions for assault and racketeering. Cianci spent five years in prison following his 2002 racketeering conviction.

“Elorza’s support has come from outside city unions,” said Ian Donnis, a political reporter for Rhode Island Public Radio, adding that he thinks many municipal unions have endorsed Cianci because of benefits they received when he was mayor in the past. “People with longtime ties to Cianci are supporting him,” Donnis said. “He certainly brings out strong opinions.”

“Endorsements are important” because they can help improve voter turnout, increase financial contributions

and generally help bolster candidates’ campaign efforts, Donnis said. Harrop’s $1,000 donation to Elorza affirms the Republican candidate’s emphasis on “an anti-Cianci message,” Donnis said.

Teamsters Local 251, a union that has more than 3,000 members working in Providence, endorsed Cianci because “we thought he was the best candidate,” said Matt Taibi, the union’s principal officer. “He’s got a long record working with unions.”

Though Taibi said Teamsters Local 251 “definitely don’t condone” Cianci’s past criminal activities, he said he believes the former mayor’s record demonstrates a prioritization of working families.

“Whoever wins, I feel that Teamsters can have a working relationship” with the new mayor, Taibi added.

The entrance of several former

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top law enforcement officers into the debate over who should be the city’s next mayor may signal the intensity of Cianci critics’ opposition to the former mayor’s attempted comeback.

“I think it is pretty unusual to have three top former federal prosecutors offering their thoughts,” Donnis said, adding that it is an especially unique situation for bipartisan officials, including Whitehouse and Almond, to be acting together in hopes of influencing a political race.

It is important to keep in mind that the decisions of unions — such as the Providence police union — to endorse a candidate are usually made by small groups of people, Donnis said, so these commitments of support might not accurately represent the sentiments and preferences of all of the unions’ members.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2014

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SADIE HOPE-GUND / HERALD

Leaves fall around a puzzling box featuring question marks on the Main Green Wednesday. Passing by the box, some students and community members pondered its meaning and significance.

comic P-Branes and Bosons | Ricky Oliver ’17

RELEASE DATE– Thursday, October 23, 2014

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle c rNorris o s sandwJoyce o rNichols d Lewis Edited by Rich ACROSS 1 Bodybuilder’s pride 4 “Wizards of Waverly Place” actress Gomez 10 Like crudités 13 Helpful URL link 14 Literary postscript 15 Townshend of 22-Down 16 Cross-shaped letter 17 Forecast words golfers like to hear 18 Glade target 19 Poet friend of Jonathan Swift 22 Frequent Hepburn co-star 23 Take a load off 24 __ rhythm: brain waves pattern 25 Old-style “For shame!”

28 Soothing sprinklings 32 Rink VIPs 33 Kipling story collection, with “The” 35 Iconic WWII setting, familiarly 36 Missouri tributary 37 Garden product word 38 “Poetry Man” singer 41 Water-to-wine site 42 __ voce: softly 43 Longing 44 Gourmet mushroom 45 Storage media 47 Theorize 48 Title phrase that rhymes with “he lightly doffed his hat” 54 Leave off 55 Hummus ingredient 56 “Run to __”: Bobby Vee hit 59 Galvanizing metal 60 Like many Schoenberg compositions 61 Possible reply to “Got milk?”?

62 Shout of success 63 Seuss reptile 64 Classroom fill-in

DOWN 1 Not fore 2 Ewe cry 3 Storage unit?

4 Iroquois Confederacy tribe 5 Powerful adhesive 6 Turkish bread?

7 Gusto 8 Reason to be turned away by a bouncer 9 Patron saint of girls 10 Edit menu choice 11 Straddling 12 “While __ Young”: USGA anti-slow play campaign 15 Can convenience 20 Bodybuilder’s pride 21 Religious ceremony 22 “Pinball Wizard” band 24 Vacation plans 25 Persnickety 26 Lacking sense 27 Encourage 29 Shortcuts for complex multiplication

30 Trumpet cousin 31 Toaster’s word 33 Beanery cuppa 34 “Ben-Hur” author Wallace 39 “... and all that jazz,” for short 40 Fullness of flavor 41 __ Nostra 44 Vehicular attachment for the ends of 19-, 33-, 38- and 48Across

46 Skewered Thai dish 47 Serving to punish 48 Like a warm nest 49 Nice lady friend 50 Confession details 51 London gallery 52 Superhero with a hammer 53 Help for a solver 57 Letters of credit?

58 Group gone wild

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

calendar TODAY 12 P.M. BOSSING UP AFTER BROWN

Learn about gender bias and social entrepreneurship with Emilie Aries ’09 as she describes the hardships she faced in the business world and the career coaching organization she now runs. CareerLAB 7 P.M. THE FREEDOM PROJECT, FREEDOM CAFE

Discuss race, equity and incarceration with students and faculty members in this conversation that is part of the Everett Company’s Freedom Project. Granoff Center for xwordeditor@aol.com

4 P.M. PRESIDENT EMERITA RUTH J. SIMMONS KEYNOTE LECTURE AND GRAND OPENING

Former University President Ruth Simmons will discuss the new Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice. Salomon 101 5 P.M. BROWN JOURNAL OF WORLD AFFAIRS RELEASE PARTY

the Creative Arts

This celebration marks the release of the new volume of the journal. Copies of the journal and refreshments will be provided. Watson Institute for International Studies

9 P.M. BUFF PRESENTS ‘ANNIE HALL’

9 P.M. FAMILY WEEKEND JAZZ BAND CONCERT

10/23/14

The Brown University Film Forum will screen Woody Allen’s Oscar-winning movie “Annie Hall” free of charge to the community. Smith-Buonanno 106

By Gareth Bain ©2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

TOMORROW

10/23/14

Tickets will be sold online until Friday at 4 p.m. for this concert featuring new and classic jazz compositions by several artists. Remaining tickets may be available for purchase before the performance. Grant Recital Hall

6 commentary

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2014

EDITORIAL

A more engaged Corporation

Unbeknownst to the majority of students, the Corporation convened on campus this past weekend. Many of the 42 trustees and 12 fellows came together for the first of three meetings this academic year to discuss the current standing of the “Building on Distinction” strategic plan and accept a variety of monetary gifts to the University. In light of recent discussion regarding the extent of undergraduate representation on the University’s highest governing body, the community has been analyzing the possible mechanisms that would facilitate a more fluid and transparent relationship between the student body and the Corporation.

The most prominent recommendation — brought forth and backed by the Undergraduate Council of Students — deals with increasing the number of student representatives to the Corporation. But this proposal may raise more questions than it answers.

The UCS president is currently the only undergraduate member of the Corporation and serves as a non-voting representative on the Committee on Campus Life. In 2010, the Corporation announced the creation of two positions for “young alumni trustees,” who would each serve three-year terms. These members provide the Corporation with a more intimate view of the campus in their respective communities, and they are well-positioned to contribute to productive conversation in Corporation meetings. Though we undoubtedly acknowledge the noticeable dearth in student representation on the Corporation, the method of changing this should rest not in, for instance, the “UCS Statement of Support for Students on the Corporation,” but rather in more a broad-based form of engagement and discourse.

The movement to put a student on the Corporation touches on at least two important principles: a voice in the decisions that affect our daily life and a representative to keep distanced members apprised of popular sentiment. Both Chancellor Thomas Tisch ’76 and President Christina Paxson have noted that issues of confidentiality raise concerns if students were placed in difficult voting positions, though students have been present in high-level discussions including search committees.

Rather, the principal obstacle is the issue of selection and capturing the sentiment of the entire undergraduate population, if not graduate and medical as well. That is, providing the Corporation with a single voice for the entire, 6,000-person undergraduate population may give members a sense that they do not have to seek out other voices. Fringe movements and minority opinions within the community would be muted and marginalized by a representative attempting to speak for the entire community.

In the past, the Corporation has met with student leaders and formed committees to address major concerns among students. In April 2013, Paxson formed an ad hoc committee including six Corporation members to address concerns over the divestment from coal companies. The group met with student leaders and reported back to the larger Corporation to inform its discussion. On a historical basis, the Corporation adopted the New Curriculum proposal from then-undergraduate Ira Magaziner ’69 P’06 P’07 P’10.

Such interaction between students and the Corporation transcends the idea of representation. We can achieve a significant symbolic victory and put a student on the Corporation, but this does not guarantee change. The issue of connecting students who live on College Hill with those who visit three times a year is an ongoing struggle that can only be solved by frequent and constant interaction between the two groups. Ad hoc committees, dinners and forums offer students a chance to question decision-makers and inform them of what life at Brown means today.

K I M B E R LY S A LT Z

CORRECTION A line in Friday’s Diamonds and Coal incorrectly described the work of Joshua Reiter, president and founder of ApplicationsOnline LLC. His company runs the Universal College Application, not the Common Application. The Herald regrets the error.

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

“Rhode Island’s not often touted as a leader in anything.”

— Christine Hunsinger MPA’08, CEO of BGP Strategies

See exchange on page 3.

Letters, please! letters@browndailyherald.com

Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board: its editors, Alexander Kaplan ’15 and James Rattner ’15, and its members, Natasha Bluth ’15, Manuel Contreras ’16, Baxter DiFabrizio ’15, Manuel Monti-Nussbaum ’15, Katherine Pollock ’16 and Himani Sood ’15. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

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commentary 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2014

Tragedy, comedy and Buddy Cianci KEVIN CARTY opinions columnist

After serving 22 years in the Providence mayor’s office, after two forced resignations, after one plea of “no contest” to an allegation of assault with a lit cigarette, after indictment in an FBI probe entitled “Operation Plunder Dome” and after five years in federal prison for racketeering, Buddy is back. With a big war chest and good poll numbers, Buddy Cianci is making another run at the Providence mayor’s office.

And you shouldn’t vote for him.

Or endorse him. Or support him.

Here’s the story that Buddy, and his supporters, want you to buy: Providence, despite what her highfalutin neighbors in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York like to think, is a great American city. She’s got fantastic food, kind people and a culture all her own! Just go to Federal Hill or check out WaterFire, and you’ll see: This town is amazing.

And Buddy, just like you, loves this city. He’s from here, a Providence Italian, born and raised, and He Never Stopped Caring About Providence — that was his 1990 campaign slogan, after all. In fact, he put this town on the map. He uncovered the river, built the mall, developed the downtown and made us proud to be Providence

residents. Sure, he got in trouble, but he was just a colorful, strong mayor.

He did what needed to be done. All that he’s guilty of is being mayor of Providence — and a damned good one at that.

That’s the narrative, and Buddy is very, very good at telling it. It primes your love for the city. He seems comfortable, like a regular kind of guy.

And it depends on that universal bit

dents perform below average relative to those in the rest of the state. How could corruption ruin that? Well, Cianci’s administration ran on bribes, a good deal of which came from citizens who paid Cianci’s campaign committee in exchange for a break on their property taxes — taxes that primarily fund the Providence school system. Oh, and there was that time when the underfunded school district

and property from evidence lockers and — literally — looked the other way when Buddy violently assaulted an alleged lover of his estranged wife with that famous cigarette.

Don’t forget the business community, a central institution to a city like Providence that desperately needs jobs and development. When Cianci was mayor, he harassed, extorted and threatened local businesses and res-

Because I love this town, because I believe it deserves the best, because I believe it can succeed, I refuse to support Buddy Cianci, and I urge you to do the same.

of common sense that, in politics, as in life, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

So, why not vote for him? Because Buddy has done a lot more than break a few eggs during his six terms as mayor. He brought a level of corruption to Providence that is utterly astonishing. And corruption, as a rule, ruins institutions. This is no small point. Cities are built by their public institutions, and the vice of corruption will eat them from the inside.

Consider the Providence school system, which, like the rest of the city, is financially underwater. Its stu-

rented an auto body shop as a student registration center from a felon to the tune of a million dollars.

How about the police department? Personally, I have been robbed three times in this city and have dealt with a number of competent, professional and respectful cops. We shouldn’t take that skill for granted.

It depends on successful testing and training, a relentless commitment to honesty on the job and the decision to consistently address the right issues.

Well, during Buddy’s tenure, the loyal officers spied on Buddy’s political rivals, cheated on exams, stole drugs

taurants. One could purchase a vacant property from the city through a donation to “Friends of Cianci” or even purchase a job as a city planner by paying to the same fund. Providence has a double-digit unemployment rate, an eroded tax base and a brain drain fueled by few jobs and amenities. Corruption is one of the easiest ways to repel the business and development the city needs to reverse these trends.

And the list goes on — trading patronage jobs for campaign donations, threatening violence against opponents and city workers, holding up

building permits for retaliatory purposes. These are all things that Buddy and his administration are guilty of, and things they hope you will forget, ignore or somehow justify.

There is no reason to ignore or explain away these tactics, because they can destroy a city. Violence, bribery, extortion — these are not personal vices of a colorful man or the necessary methods of an effective mayor.

They are public pathologies: the sort of behaviors that sap faith in public institutions and destroy the effectiveness of essential services.

The task of governing a declining, post-industrial city with high unemployment and poverty is not an easy task. It is slow, methodical, thoroughgoing work that requires innovative policy, relentless and effective administrators and an innate sense of fairness. Buddy Cianci, for all his humor, candor and color — because of his selfishness and dishonesty — is not capable of that work.

Just like Buddy, I love this city for its beauty, history, kindness and charm. And for that reason, because I love this town, because I believe it deserves the best, because I believe it can succeed, I refuse to support Buddy Cianci, and I urge you to do the same.

Kevin Carty ’15 is a senior studying political theory. You can follow him @Politicarty.

Imagining Brown fossil-free FOSSIL FREE BROWN guest columnist

Dear Brown community, Some of you may have already heard about Fossil Free Brown, a new campaign asking that Brown University remove its investments from the top 200 fossil fuel companies. We want to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves to the Brown community and clarify a couple of misperceptions surrounding the Corporation’s decision to not divest from coal last year.

For two years, the Brown Divest Coal campaign demanded that the Corporation divest from the 15 largest U.S. coal companies. The campaign collected over 3,600 petition signatures, held rallies and events, got media coverage from national news outlets and met several times with President Christina Paxson and Corporation members.

On Oct. 27, 2013, the Corporation, without holding a vote, decided not to divest from coal.

Paxson said that while the social harm was clear, it was not enough to warrant divestment, and that divestment was an ineffective tool to change the behavior of the fossil fuel industry.

However, we have reason to believe University politics played a significant role in this decision.

We had been repeatedly told that no large school (read: Harvard) had divested from fossil fuels.

It was a surprising decision given that prior to the Corporation meeting, Brown’s Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility and Investment Policies had stated its support for coal divestment. In a letter to Paxson, ACCRIP stated,

“The companies recommended for divestment perpetrate grave, indeed egregious, social harm, and there is no possible way to square our profiting from such harm with the values and principles of the University.”

When the Corporation made the decision not to divest, there were at least five Corporation members with ties to the fossil fuel indus-

Steven Cohen P’08 P’16: Cohen is on the Board of Trustees, and is the founder and hedge fund manager of SAC Capital, which as of Aug. 14, 2013 has $33,597,000 in holdings in 11 of the 15 coal companies.

Theresia Gouw ’90: Gouw is a member of the Board of Fellows and a partner at Accel Partners.

Accel-KKR, a partnership between Accel Part-

We can no longer pretend that our investments do not speak to the kind of university we are. Divestment is a moral imperative. Let’s make Brown’s investments sustainable, for the planet and for ourselves.

try. Though we asked that they recuse themselves from the decision for the sake of transparency and accountability, we received no response.

As we wrote in a column last October, among the five members listed were: “Brian Moynihan ’81 P’14: Moynihan is on the (Corporation’s) Board of Trustees and is president and CEO of Bank of America, which as of Aug. 14, 2013 has $1 billion worth of holdings in 14 of the 15 companies in question.

Richard Friedman ’79: Friedman is on the Corporation’s Board of Fellows and is head of the Merchant Banking Division at Goldman Sachs, which as of Aug. 14, 2013 has $1.1 billion invested in 14 of the 15 companies that Brown is considering for divestment.

ners and KKR, is a cofounder of globalCOAL, a global coal trading platform. Licensed users of globalCOAL include Arch Coal, Peabody Energy and Cloud Peak, all companies targeted for divestment.

Todd Fisher ’87 P’17: Fisher is on the Board of Trustees and is KKR & Co. L.P.’s global chief administrative officer. Accel-KKR is a cofounder of globalCOAL.” Then in 2014, two important events took place. During a conference on climate change hosted at the Watson Institute for International Studies, Executive Secretary of the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change Christiana Figueres spoke about the urgency of divestment. She then sent a letter direct-

ly to the University stating, “As individuals and as institutions we are all called upon to do the right thing, even if we stand alone in responding to the moral imperative.” A week later, it was clear that we would not stand alone when Stanford University divested from coal. This was embarrassing for universities like Brown that had failed to be climate leaders.

As these events unfolded, the campaign began discussing the idea of extending our ask to all fossil fuels. Most national and international campaigns across universities, cities and churches have been targeting the entire fossil fuel industry for obvious reasons. Why focus only on coal when gas and oil are also primary contributors to climate change? Even the heirs to John D. Rockefeller, who made his fortune on oil, have joined a group of “more than 800 global investors … (who) have pledged to withdraw a total of $50 billion from fossil fuel investments over the next five years,” as the Guardian reported last month.

The truth is that divestment will not financially affect these companies. But if enough universities and institutions around the world divested, it would remove the social license fossil fuel companies have to drive the climate crisis and undermine our political process. We can no longer pretend that our investments do not speak to the kind of university we are. Divestment is a moral imperative. Let’s make Brown’s investments sustainable, for the planet and for ourselves.

Fossil Free Brown is a campaign asking Brown University to remove its investments from the fossil fuel industry.

Follow us @FossilFreeBrown and like us on Facebook. For questions, contact camilabustos93@gmail.com.