Tuesday, March 3, 2015

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2015

VOLUME CL, ISSUE 28

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Composting pilot begins at Andrews Commons Brandishing

TIMOTHY MUELLER-HARDER / HERALD

Under the compost initiative, more dining items are compostable and there are new compost bins. For the first two weeks of the initiative, student volunteers will monitor bins to help students sort their waste.

Composting pilot will cost $9,000 up front but save University money long term

By KATE TALERICO SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The University will kickstart an 11week composting pilot program at Andrews Commons Tuesday, prefacing a collaborative effort by the Office

of Energy and Environment, Brown University Dining Services and the Department of Facilities Management to bring mandatory composting to every dining hall by January 2016.

The push for composting follows the July 2014 passage of the Rhode Island Refuse Disposal Law, which requires institutions to compost if they generate more than two tons of organic waste per week. The requirements will take effect Jan. 1, 2016.

Additionally, the Brown Student

Compost Initiative, SCRAP, submitted a report to the University last year detailing the need for a campus-wide composting program. The Sustainability Strategic Planning and Advisory Committee considered the report in its eventual plans to implement composting, said Jasmine Fuller ’15, a member of SCRAP. The effort to implement composting “couples with our sustainability initiative,” said Jessica Berry, sustainability program manager. “There’s a

lot of waste produced in terms of togo containers and coffee cups. We’re looking at reducing those, and if we can’t reduce, then getting them out of the landfill stream.”

Under the program, items at Andrews that were once non-compostable, like utensils and cups, will be replaced by items made of compostable materials, Berry said. “It’s an added cost, but it significantly diverts a lot of waste.”

The pilot alone, which runs through May 15, will cost the University $9,000, Berry said, adding that a third of that bidget goes toward capital costs and the rest toward operations.

But composting will reduce overall costs for the University, said Haily Tran ’16, a sustainability intern in the Office of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Initiatives. The Compost Plant, a local compostable materials collection company, will charge a fixed sum to pick up the University’s compost, “but it’s less than we pay Waste Management to take our trash away, since they take it based upon weight,” Tran said.

Currently, the Compost Plant only offers collection services. The company brings waste to Earth Care Farm, the only facility in Rhode Island that » See COMPOST, page 4

weapon, man assaults student

Incident remains under investigation

by Providence Police Department

By ALIZA REISNER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

An unknown male opened the drivers’ door of a student’s car and displayed a firearm at about 9:40 p.m. March 1, according to a crime alert sent by the Department of Public Safety. The victim drove away unharmed, the email reported.

The student was parked on Angell Street between Thayer Street and Brown Street. The suspect was described as a white man between the ages of 20 and 25 wearing a black knit hat.

Paul Shanley, deputy chief of DPS, could not be reached before press time.

The incident is under investigation by the Providence Police Department, according to the crime alert.

Minority populations face Study explores neuroscience of extroversion high juvenile detention rates Researchers examine

Nonprofit organization Kids Count favors community action to reduce racial disparity

By LINDSAY GANTZ STAFF WRITER

PLAYGROUND TO PRISON This series explores the racial dynamics of Rhode Island’s school-to-prison pipeline.

This story, the second of three, examines disproportionate juvenile detention rates that black and Hispanic students encounter.

Black males in Rhode Island were 9.3 times as likely to end up in juvenile detention centers than their white peers in 2013, according to “The School-toPrison Pipeline in Black and White,” a report ­released by the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island Feb. 19.

The information reported by the ACLU comes from data collected by Rhode Island Kids Count, a nonprofit organization that advocates better conditions for children in the state.

The number of minority youth referred to Family Court and ultimately

INSIDE

placed into detention centers in 2013 was disproportionate to Rhode Island’s racial and ethnic composition, according to Kids Count’s 2014 annual report.

Though the 2013 child population in Rhode Island was 64 percent white, whites accounted for just 25 percent of adjudicated youth at the Rhode Island Training School for that year. The remaining 75 percent adjudicated were primarily Hispanic and black, according to the Kids Count report, while the child population was 21 percent Hispanic and 6 percent black in 2013.

Minorities were also punished more severely than whites for juvenile offenses of the same magnitude.

“Specifically, what Kids Count has found is a higher number of black youth in front of a judge” than their proportion of the population, said Hillary Davis, policy associate at the ACLU of Rhode Island. Forty-nine percent of juveniles referred to the Family Court in 2013 were white, 19 percent were black, 18 percent were Hispanic, 1 percent were Asian and 13 percent were other or unknown, according to Kids Count data.

Status offenses, or acts that are only » See JUVENILES, page 3

possible link between personality, gray matter concentrations

By ELENA WEISSMANN STAFF WRITER

An extrovert can be classified as one of two types: the “affiliative” people person who finds reward in connecting with others and the “agentic” high flyer who pursues social interactions in order to best advance his or her own goals. Differences between these two types may lie not just in personality but also deep within the skull, according to a study done by University researchers.

Published in the February issue of the journal Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, the report examines the similarities and differences in neuroanatomy between the two extrovert personality types.

“We show that there may be a link between personality and brain anatomy,” said Erica Grodin GS, the lead author of the study. “People who score high on agentic extroversion

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

have these increases in specific grey matter regions that the affiliative social extroverts don’t necessarily have.”

In order to separate participants into the two pools of extroverts, the researchers first had participants complete the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire, a survey that asks questions about levels of sociability and assertiveness, Grodin said. The researchers then took “structural MRI scans of 83 men and women ranging in age from 18 to 54,” according to a University press release.

After the MRI, the researchers used “voxel-based morphometry,” a neuroimaging analysis technique that separates brain matter from cerebral spinal fluid, a brain component that was not necessary for the analysis, Grodin said. By combining the personality ratings with the anatomical data, the researchers compared volumetric differences in grey matter between the two groups.

As they had expected, they found that both types exhibit a greater-thanaverage volume of grey matter in the medial orbitofrontal cortex, an area involved in information processing and reward value, Grodin said.

Previous literature has shown the medial orbitofrontal cortex to be the

“extroversion region,” Grodin said. But this study identified other areas of the brain that are associated with agentic, but not affiliative, extroversion.

Their results show that agentic extroverts boast more grey matter volume in the parahippocampal gyrus, the precentral gyrus, the nucleus accumbens and the caudate, according to the release.

“These regions are either involved in memory and reward or voluntary movement towards goal-directed action, so these are regions that will be activated when you’re trying to attain something,” Grodin said. “That’s a feature of agentic extroverts.”

“It was logical that these regions would be bigger as they both are involved in cognitive control, feedbackdirected behavior and exploration,” said Joseph Austerweil, assistant professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences, who was not involved in the study. “As agentic extroverts are more assertive and confident, they’re more likely to go out and explore. That can lead to future connections with those brain regions,” he added.

But larger volumes in certain brain regions do not necessarily lead » See EXTROVERT, page 2

WEATHER

TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2015

UNIVERSITY NEWS The CDC and R.I. Department of Public Health swab Brown students for meningitis study.

SCIENCE & RESEARCH Smoking behaviors in the partners of HIV positive individuals could influence HIV viral load.

COMMENTARY Khleif ’15: Student awareness and action can help prevent hypothermia among the homeless.

COMMENTARY Feldman ’15: Effective speaking should be a requirement for graduation.

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UNIVERSITY NEWS PAGE 2 • TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2015

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Meningitis study examines bacterial transmission National, state workers swab students, look at patterns of spread of bacteria on campus

By JACLYN TORRES CONTRIBUTING WRITER

A meningitis study will take place on campus March 2-5, Medical Director of Health Services Unab Khan announced in a campus-wide email Feb. 27. Representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Rhode Island Department of Public Health will swab students’ throats to test for the meningococcus bacteria. Stations are set up in the lower floor of the Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center as well as in the Chancellor’s Room at the Sharpe Refectory.

Over the four-day period, the representatives aim to swab 1200 participants between 18 and 22 years of age to learn more about the bacteria’s circulation on university campuses that have never reported cases of meningitis, according to the email. On the first day, more students were swabbed at the Ratty than at Faunce, said Lucy Breakwell, an epidemic intelligence service officer at the CDC, adding that she hopes more students will participate in the study.

While the initiative is voluntary, there is an incentive to participate: Students who are swabbed receive a $5 gift card redeemable at retailers such as Amazon.com. Breakwell said students have been so eager to participate that

they forget the reward. “Everyone seems really happy with the process. People are walking out without collecting their vouchers. They are just coming in to help us out, and we have to chase them back down,” she added.

Students who were swabbed emphasized the importance of volunteering and ease of the process. “My mom is a nurse. I think participation in medical studies is important, if you can,” said Edward Cleofe ’15.

Participating in the study was not time-intensive, said Mara McCrickard ’15, who was one of the students swabbed on the study’s first day. The email said that participation would take no more than 15 minutes.

“I saw it in the Morning Mail, and it looked cool, and you get a $5 gift card, so why not?” said Elizabeth Montoya ’16.

While the University does not have any reported cases of the meningococcal bacteria, representatives from the CDC and RIDOH said they hope to gain a deeper understanding of how the bacteria spreads. “Meningitis is spread by droplets, so if you are in close proximity to people and are getting saliva droplets on you, then you are likely to be transmitted the bacteria,” Breakwell said. “However, you need someone to be carrying or infected with that bacterium before that happens. This whole study is informing us about that because we just don’t have that much information about carriage.”

There is “very little data on what carriage rates are in university students,”

COURTESY OF ASHER WOODBURY

Students gather in the basement of the Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center to be swabbed and rewarded with $5 gift cards. There was another station set up in the Chancellor’s Room at the Sharpe Refectory. said Sarah Meyer, an epidemic intelligence service officer at the CDC. About 5 to 10 percent of the national population carries the bacteria, but among college students, this percentage might be higher or lower, she said, adding that she suspects the bacteria is more prevalent among college students.

The study is a cautionary one in light of the recent meningitis outbreaks at Providence College and Princeton.

Providence College reported two cases of the meningococcal bacteria on campus, with the most recent report occurring in February. Princeton’s outbreak occurred in 2013, with eight

reported cases.

Meyer said transmission between schools is unlikely. “There have been no cases at Brown University, and it’s important to keep that in mind,” she said. “We do want students to be cognizant about meningitis and know the signs and symptoms, but at this point, we have no reason to believe that there has been any transmission between the two universities.”

The most severe outbreak of the meningococcal bacteria has not been near campus or even on the East Coast.

The University of California at Santa Barbara reported four cases in the fall

of 2013. One case was so extreme that doctors had to remove a student’s lower limbs, the Los Angeles Times reported.

College students are at a higher risk because of their lifestyle, Breakwell said.

While living in dorms and partying, students are always in close contact with others and are more prone to the spread of the bacteria, she added.

At UCSB, students were told not to share cups, but both Breakwell and Meyer said this activity might not have been the reason for the bacteria spreading.

“If you really want to protect yourself, get vaccinated,” Breakwell said.

» EXTROVERT, from page 1

it sounds, the more sexy the results sound,” Austerweil said.

A longitudinal study may be necessary to more accurately study causation, Grodin said.

This study is a “good starting point” for future work on the relationship

between personality and size of certain brain regions, Austerweil said, calling it a “nice” paper.

Though the results may be only correlational, the research provides “a way to help explain individual differences in personality,” Grodin said.

to distinct personality traits, as the study was purely correlational.

“Results are always sort of spun in the press releases so it sounds more causal than it is, since the more causal

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UNIVERSITY NEWS

TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2015 • PAGE 3

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» JUVENILES, from page 1 illegal because of the offender’s status as a minor, such as truancy, account for the highest number of offenses referred to Family Court, said John Neubauer, a policy analyst at Kids Count.

“Kids who are suspended from school are much more likely to end up in the juvenile justice system” because when children are not in school, they are more likely to be home unsupervised and potentially associating with people engaging in delinquent behavior, Davis said.

As a result of suspension, “the kid gets detached from school and other social services,” Neubauer said.

According to the ACLU report, black youth were disproportionately suspended: 2.4 times as often as their make-up of the population would indicate, The Herald reported Feb. 27.

Once in the juvenile justice system, students are at further risk for involvement in the prison system later in life, Davis said.

Considering alternatives to detention is important to solving the problem, Neubauer said. Kids Count promotes community interventions to replace incarceration, which may include assigning a case worker to a child on probation, as well as family counseling, he said.

“I don’t think that most of the discipline policies in the schools are fair. It’s not working,” said Sheila Wilhelm, vice chair and co-founder of Direct Action for Rights and Equality, a Providencebased grassroots organization that advocates for a family and communitybased approach to change.

The Rhode Island Department of Children has developed a risk assessment scoring instrument that takes into account the nature of the offense and the juvenile’s prior offense history.

The risk score will “take the subjectivity out of the detention system,” Neubauer said, adding the tool aims to ensure that low-level offenders and those not likely to be a flight-risk are not unnecessarily detained. The risk assessment procedure will hopefully be incrementally implemented throughout the state within the next several months, he said.

“Making sure that kids who don’t belong at the Training School are not held at the Training School will have an impact on racial and ethnic disparities,” Neubauer said.

“The way to stop this problem is to stop suspending kids in the first place” and reform “the juvenile justice system to make sure children of color are not unduly punished,” Davis said. In October 2014, the Providence Police Department and the Providence Public School District signed a memorandum of understanding to oversee the relationship of schools with Providence

Police Student Resource Officers. The memorandum calls for school principals to be the ultimate decision makers on whether legal action is required in situations that are not extreme, which takes the handling of day-to-day disciplinary action away from school resource officers.

“I think what Providence did is a huge step in the right direction,” Neubauer said, adding that officers now have clearer guidelines for their role in the educational disciplinary process, preventing overreactions to incidences of minor misconduct.

But DARE withdrew its support for the memorandum when it became clear that the agreement would maintain a policy of keeping armed police officers in schools, said Fred Ordonez, executive director of DARE. “I haven’t seen any positive change” since the agreement was made, Wilhelm said.

“We’ve just seen these disparities get wider and wider,” Ordonez said, adding that there is a need for social programs that provide housing, counseling, afterschool programs and free mental health services to students.

“Instead of investing in social programs, our government and our legislators and officials — who are mostly white — think that tough discipline or enforcement or incarceration are the ways to solve these social problems,” Ordonez said.

“One of the things that we’re really asking is for state and municipal leaders to take a hard look at why these things happen,” Davis said.

Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport, issued a statement last week in response to the report. “The troubling issues raised in the ACLU report point out how far our society has yet to go before we achieve true equity,” Weed said in the statement.

“We will continue to prioritize making investments that will help eliminate disparities.”

Sen. Juan Pichardo, D-Providence, hosts an annual Education Summit, and the Senate recently passed racial profiling prevention legislation, Weed’s statement added. But since the report’s release, state politicians have given no indication that they will pursue specific legislative action to counter these disparities.

Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello, D-Cranston, said in a statement last week that he had not yet read the report.

“It’s not provable that people of color transgress more than white people,” said Stefano Bloch, a postdoctoral fellow in urban studies, adding that “disparities in criminalization may be largely unconscious.”

“Those in power are not allowed to be unconscious,” Bloch said.

SADIE HOPE-GUND / HERALD

Raj Chetty, professor of economics at Harvard, emphasized that inequality of opportunity must be analyzed on a local level, rather than just a national one at a panel discussion Monday.

Harvard prof looks at equality of opportunity Economics professors discuss potential policy changes based on geography, education

By ALON GALOR STAFF WRITER

“You could reasonably have different views on the subject of inequality,” said Harvard Professor of Economics Raj Chetty in a lecture and panel discussion featuring his work Monday.

The event — titled “Equality of Opportunity in America: Where Shall We Look?” — was part of an economics symposium series.

Some people believe that wealth should be spread equally, and others have the view that if a person has made money on their own, they’re entitled to it, he said. “But because most people believe that social mobility or equality of opportunity is an important part of the American ideal — insofar as inequality seems to erode social mobility — then inequality potentially becomes a concern for everyone.”

Chetty is the recipient of both a MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant and the American Economics Association’s John Bates Clark Medal. Around 100 community members attended the packed event, which was co-sponsored by the Department of Economics and the Watson Institute for International Studies.

Other panelists included Professors of Economics John Friedman, Justine Hastings and Glenn Loury. Louis Putterman, professor of economics and chair of the department, and Nathaniel Hilger, assistant professor of economics, moderated the panel.

The symposium aimed to highlight the relevance of economics to pressing real-world issues, Putterman said.

Chetty opened the event by remarking on the low probability of achieving the American dream in the United States. “Distilling the phenomenon to a simple statistic,” Chetty said the probability that a child born to parents in the bottom fifth of the income distribution will move to the top fifth is a slender 7.5 percent. In the United Kingdom, Denmark and Canada, the rates stand at 9, 11.7 and 13.5 percent, respectively. “Your chances of achieving the

American dream are almost twice as high in Canada as in the U.S.,” he said.

While international comparisons have been the focus of recent policy discussion on the subject, Chetty quickly shifted the discussion toward the differences in opportunity within the United States. Based on a comprehensive and long-spanning sample of 40 million children born between 1980 and 1993, Chetty said differences in upward mobility vary even more within the United States than across developed countries.

Chetty stressed that large variation exists in the probability of reaching the top from the bottom on both a regional level and a county level.

Chetty went on to argue that childhood environments play a central role in why upward mobility varies across locations.

Chetty cited two studies addressing county-level disparities. The first study documented families who moved locations and showed that children whose families moved from one county to another experienced a change in their earning capacity in proportion to the age at which they moved. For example, a child whose family moved from Providence to Worcester at age nine would receive 70 percent of the benefits of growing up in Worcester from birth, in terms of economic mobility.

The second study, an experiment called Moving to Opportunity, gave low income families housing vouchers to move to low-poverty areas. The study showed similar results as the first: Children who moved to low-poverty areas at a young age did much better financially as adults. Moving had little effect on the outcomes of teenagers and parents, Chetty said.

Making the case for the tie between equality of opportunity and economic growth, Chetty challenged the traditional zero-sum argument that improving outcomes for low-performing children comes at the expense of highperforming individuals. Instead, he argued that improving equality of opportunity can actually increase the size of the economic pie.

Three policy changes to address equality of opportunity are tackling social mobility at a local and not just a national level, improving the childhood environment at all ages and using big

data to assess local performance and improvement, Chetty concluded.

Continuing on the theme of policy initiatives to increase equality of opportunity, Friedman addressed the issue in relation to educational policies.

Students attending the same college tend to have a similar probability of reaching the top of the income distribution, regardless of their family background, Friedman said. “Once we get kids to college, a lot of these differences disappear,” he added.

Stressing the importance of developing skills in students so that they can get into college of their own accord — where their family income has less bearing on their future income — Friedman highlighted the need to improve instructional quality, citing two studies.

The first study showed that improving kindergarten class quality resulted in an increase in earnings of nearly $1,000 per year; the second consisted of a quasi-experiment which showed that replacing a low-quality teacher with an average-quality teacher could greatly increase lifetime earnings.

Hastings emphasized the importance of a good school for student outcomes, citing studies that showed a good school has dramatic impacts on test scores, college attendance and graduation rates. Both charter schools and above average public schools were effective at reducing the achievement gap between students from different regions of the income distribution, she said.

Speaking to ways to reduce disparities in educational opportunities, Loury argued that “one may want to consider tearing down the barriers which suburban middle-class communities have assiduously erected around their high-quality primary and secondary public schools.”

Loury stated that a focus on equal opportunity may be a poor moral substitute for a focus on the redistribution of wealth in the name of equality. To conclude the panel, he said that while geographic relocation of low-income individuals to low-poverty areas may have large benefits, one must be mindful of the fact that there is a personal cost which people incur from moving from one place to another.

UNIVERSITY NEWS PAGE 4 • TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2015

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University buildings, pipes give in to winter weather Havoc wreaked by harsh sequence of winter storms and cold weather keeps Facilities workers busy

By ALEKSANDRA LIFSHITS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

COURTESY OF CHELSIE CHURCHILL

Reports of snow-related problems have noticeably increased from past years. Facilities has prioritized fixing problems such as leaks and floods.

Freezing cold temperatures and large accumulations of snow this semester have affected a number of University buildings, including Graduate Center E, Diman House and T.F. Green — the building that houses the Production Workshop.

In January alone there were 110 snow-related issues reported to the Department of Facilities Management, but only three snow-related issues have impacted student bedrooms, said Stephen Maiorisi, vice president for Facilities Management.

Most of the issues Facilities Management has encountered this semester have been leaks due to frozen pipes or excessive snow and ice on roofs, he added. On Feb. 11, the roof of the Pizzitola Center partially collapsed due to snow accumulation. Though Facilities Management has not yet done an official comparison

Research links HIV, smoking, relationships Study findings have potential ramifications for future interventions, treatment methods

By ASHNA MUKHI STAFF WRITER

HIV interventions should be expanded to incorporate relationship dynamics and involve smoking cessation methods, according to results from a study led by a University researcher. The study recruited male couples in its investigation of the association between smoking behavior, HIV disease management and internalized heterosexism — a negative self-image some gay men have of themselves.

The research — published in the most recent issue of the journal AIDS Care —was led by Kristi Gamarel, a post doctoral research fellow in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior.

Higher levels of smoking are seen among people living with HIV compared to the general population, Gamarel said. Feeling stigmatized, a feeling common among gay people, is correlated with a greater smoking rate as well as a lower adherence to HIV treatment, she added.

Gamarel said she was particularly

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

interested in investigating this dynamic in couples. The study used survey results from 266 male couples in the San Francisco Bay Area who were involved in a separate longitudinal study based on relationship factors and HIV treatment. The participants reported sociodemographic information as well as smoking, alcohol and stimulant usage.

They were also assessed for internalized heterosexism, depressive symptoms, HIV treatment adherence and HIV viral load levels — the amount of the virus present in one’s blood.

Analysis of these surveys indicated that “having a smoking partner was associated with over five-fold greater odds of reporting smoking,” and higher levels of internalized heterosexism are also linked to increased smoking rates, according to the study.

“When people are diagnosed with HIV they stop doing things that damage their health,” said Seth Kalichman, professor of social psychology at the University of Connecticut who researches HIV/AIDS prevention and was not involved with the study. “Internalized heterosexism is a specifically important part of negative self-concept that can undermine efforts to stop health-harming things like smoking,” he added.

Gamarel said she did not expect there to be an association between HIV viral load levels and having a partner who smokes. “The reasoning behind this is cross sectional,” she said, adding

that the higher viral load could potentially be attributed to second hand smoke.

Kalichman said he was also surprised by the linkage between partner smoking and HIV viral load, and said the finding could be an anomaly or a finding related only to this particular sample. “Nevertheless, an interesting finding like this could point to future research initiatives,” he said.

“When we think about people living with HIV, a lot of the intervention methods have been focused on the individual,” said Gamarel, adding that the significance of the study results “calls to the need for moving beyond the individual framework of intervention modality.” Interventions should focus on relationships not only between couples, but with friends and family, she said.

The study’s results emphasized the importance of targeting internalized heterosexism as a means to improve intervention services, Kalichman said.

“Negative self-image is often related to depression, and this makes people with HIV less likely to take care of themselves,” he said.

Gamarel said she is continuing her research on this subject by conducting a pilot study that investigates the unique treatment needs of couples with at least one smoking and one HIV positive partner. “We are trying to move towards what an improved intervention would actually mean,” she said.

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of this winter’s issues to those of previous years, the number of reports has increased this year, he said.

February’s low temperatures have caused ice and snow to build up, Maiorisi said, adding that in warmer temperatures, snow on roofs is usually the first to melt. Though it is “impossible” to remove snow from all roofs, Facilities Management has removed snow from flat roofs with structural issues, he said, adding that the department only does so in special cases since removal has “the potential to cause more damage.”

Facilities Management prioritizes leaks as an immediate issue, though sometimes they may not to be able to fix the problem on the spot, Maiorisi said.

A leaking pipe caused recent water damage in Grad Center E, Maiorisi said.

The accumulation of snow prevented a door from shutting completely, consequently freezing the pipeline, he added.

A similar situation occurred in Diman House, where the Social Action lounge was flooded because a frozen pipe burst, said Noah Schlottman ’16, a member of the Social Action House.

Facilities Management responded within the first hour, though it took a few more

days for the lounge to dry, he said. Since then, Social Action has been using its lounge again and “there is no long-lasting damage,” he added.

The ceiling leak in T.F. Green was also due to water intrusion — this time from the roof, Maiorisi said.

The ceiling in the Production Workshop Upspace has leaked every year for the past three years, said Austin Draycott ’15, a member of PW. But “this year is by far the worst,” he added.

Every 12 hours, about 15 to 20 gallons of water leak from the ceiling, dripping to the floor below and causing the dropceiling to collapse, Draycott said.

Though most of the electronic equipment has been moved out, certain expensive equipment, like the soundboard, has been ruined, he said.

PW placed a garbage can under the leak, into which Facilities Management later installed a pump as a temporary solution, he said.

“Sometimes people think (Facilities Management) knows about an issue, but we may not,” Maiorisi said, encouraging students to call Facilities Management about any issues. “It’s better to get to (the problems) sooner than later,” he added.

» COMPOST, from page 1

accumulates during preparation of food, Pollock said.

But compared to the Ratty, “Andrews is much more challenging because that’s a dining facility that was built with no dishwasher, so up until now it’s been all disposable, some recyclable product,” Pollock said.

A coalition of student volunteers will stand by the new composting bins during all dining hours for the first two weeks of the program in order to help diners at Andrews sort their waste, Aubrun said. “Part of the idea with the pilot is to condition people who eat in the dining halls to know what is organic and what is nonorganic and start building in those behavioral habits,” Aubrun added.

Sorting correctly will be essential to an effective composting process.

“If there’s contamination mixed anywhere in the entire bag, it ruins the whole load,” Pollock said, adding, “We want a clean waste stream: organics with no plastics, metals, or glasses.”

According to the 2014 Sustainability Report by the Office of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Initiatives and Facilities Management, 43 percent of Brown’s current waste stream is incinerated and only 37 percent is diverted, meaning the waste is reused, recycled or composted instead of sent to a landfill.

With the new institutional composting program, up to 47 percent of the University’s waste could be diverted, with campus-wide composting accounting for 20 percent of these diversions, the report said.

“If we can complete the cycle instead of sending waste to the incinerator, which only releases more carbon dioxide, then composting has a net positive effect,” Tran said.

“SCRAP has always seen composting as the natural next step for Brown,” Fuller said.

“It’s a shame that Brown hasn’t caught up to its peer institutions,” she said, adding that all Ivy League schools except Princeton and Brown have already adopted composting programs.

processes compost, said co-founder Leo Pollock. He and business partner Nat Harris are on track to set up their own composting facility by the end of this year, he said.

Once the Compost Plant can process its own compost, it will return some of the compost created from the University’s waste to Brown for free, Pollock said. This nutrient-rich product could then “go to the garden at the Urban Environmental Laboratory or to Brown facilities to use around campus,” he added.

“Compost is the broken down materials of compostable waste,” said Isabelle Aubrun ’16, sustainability intern for dining services. A “nutrient-rich supplement,” compost is a healthy alternative to synthetic fertilizer, she said.

“Brown Dining Services has wanted to (develop) its composting program for a long time, but there weren’t any local industrial composters,” wrote Robert Chase, facilities and sustainability manager, in an email to The Herald. That changed when the new state law created an expanded consumer base, incentivizing companies like the Compost Plant to expand.

In Rhode Island, as well as in other states where the bill has passed, “the policy is way ahead of the infrastructure,” Pollock said. “Even if all the hospitals, restaurants and universities wanted to divert their waste, there just aren’t the facilities,” he added.

While the University considered several dining halls as initial locations for the program, Andrews was strategically chosen for its high waste volume and open floor plan, Berry said, adding that Andrews has grappled with “overflowing bins” — a difficulty the composting program could mitigate.

The Compost Plant began working with the University a month ago through another composting pilot in the Sharpe Refectory focusing on pre-consumer waste — the waste that

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DINNER

Vegan Vegetable Tempeh with Linguini, Grilled Turkey Burger, Braised Rainbow Swiss Chard

Italian Beef Noodle Casserole, Vegan Italian Vegetable Saute, Golden Corn and Rice Casserole

VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH

DINNER

Shaved Steak Sandwich, Vegan Tofu Veggie Ravioli with Sauce, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Tuscan Pork Roast, Pastito, Vegetables in Agave Ginger Sauce, Sponge Cake Jelly Roll

sudoku

ARJUN NARAYEN / HERALD

Students walking back to campus cross the bridge over Providence River near the Rhode Island School of Design. Their snowy paths are brightened by a rare ray of sunshine.

comics Hepatitus Contact Lenses | Joshua Greene ’18

crossword

calendar TODAY 6:00 P.M. BROWN MARKET SHARES PROGRAM BENEFIT NIGHT

TOMORROW 10:00 A.M. TRANSGENDER OPPORTUNITIES FOR PUBLIC HEALTH INTERVENTION IN NORTHEASTERN

A presentation of the Brown Market Shares Program will be accommpanied by pizza made with locally sourced ingredients.

Some of the profits will go toward subsidized Market Shares, and prizes will be awarded. Flatbread Pizza Company

BRAZIL

6:30 P.M. UNTOLD STORIES: VEILED REALITIES

4:00 P.M. CARBON NATIONS LECTURE: FOREIGN

Three members of the Royce Society of Fellows will present their research in a panel. Petteruti Lounge, Stephen Robert ’62 Center

Ines Dourado, visiting professor at the School of Public Health, will discuss her research on the subject. 121 South Main Street 408

CORPORATIONS AND MEXICO’S ECOLOGY OF OIL

Myrna Santiago, history professor at St. Mary’s College, will give a lecture in the series “Carbon Nations.” Science Center, 3rd Floor Sciences Library

6:30 P.M. “FORKS OVER KNIVES” FILM SCREENING AND Q&A

5:00 P.M. 90TH STEPHEN OGDEN JR. ’60 MEMORIAL

Brown Vegetarian Society will screen this documentary about the confluence of disease and diet. There will be Nice Slice Pizza provided. Wilson 105

LECTURE WITH JULIA GILLARD, PM OF AUSTRALIA

Gillard will discuss leadership challenges as Asian countries become greater global economic players. Salomon 101

COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2015

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

EDITORIAL

An Apple a day Staring at screens for hours each day is a fundamental part of the college student’s existence, both in and out of the classroom. There is no question that technology is a vital aspect of the modern college career. The 21st century lecture hall has become a sea of glowing Apples. But add up all the time spent on your laptop, your smartphone, your tablet — both for educational and recreational use — and the number becomes frightening.

The average college student spends 8 to 10 hours per day on his or her phone alone. Technology is no longer a lifestyle choice; it is a necessity.

But the one place where technology should not interfere — aside from note-taking purposes — is in the classroom.

At Brown, the open curriculum and the student body extol how, without core requirements, students are able to more or less dictate their own academic trajectories. Therefore, students are generally in class because they want to be. But standing at the back of a lecture hall and seeing the many laptop screens loading Buzzfeed articles, Facebook newsfeeds and Gmail accounts invalidates this widely held belief. Technology, when used this way, is extraneous — a borderline abuse. Captivating students’ attention should not be faculty members’ primary job. And what’s more, students should not have to face distractions from others’ flurry of computer activity in the classroom.

In the past few years, some professors have begun banning laptops during class meetings to provide for a more productive learning environment — one without these unfortunately typical disruptions. In a Washington Post article last year, Clay Shirky, a professor of media studies at New York University, said he switched from an “allowed unless by request” to a “banned unless required” position on the use of laptops and phones in class when he realized that “screens generate distraction in a manner akin to secondhand smoke.” They tempt others to surf the Internet and create increasingly more distractions. Other universities have shut off the wireless connection in lecture halls so that students cannot log on to the Internet while in class. This is not an attack against technology but rather a modification tactic to improve the dynamic of the student-professor relationship in class. Brown is not immune to these problems and should take action to promote more constructive classroom environments.

Regardless of a given faculty member’s perspective on technology in the classroom, students should refrain from using their laptops, phones and tablets as much as possible. Multitasking is both exhausting and unproductive. It distracts neighbors and sucks the energy out of the room.

Block access to your Facebook account while in class using a program like StayFocusd or LeechBlock. Turn your phone off while in class. It’s the only way to truly be an active participant. An Apple a day can keep the doctor away but only if you use it correctly.

K I M B E R LY S A LT Z ’ 1 7

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 and Baxter DiFabrizio ’15. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

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“I saw it in the Morning Mail, and it looked cool, and you get a $5 gift card, so why not?”

— Elizabeth Montoya ’16

See meningitis on page 2.

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COMMENTARY TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2015 • PAGE 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

It’s cold outside, and not just for students ZEIN KHELEIF opinions columnist

Last Thursday I was leading a tour group of shivering students and their parents throughout our campus. After four 15-minute rounds in below freezing temperatures, it took all of the professionalism in me not to jog the last route. The nearly frozen prospectives and I were counting down the minutes until the tour was over so that we could return to the warm shelter of the indoors.

It takes only a couple of seconds outdoors to feel the bone-chilling temperatures on our faces and our fingers. It penetrates our winter wear and chills us to the core. We scurry to our classes, we take Safe Ride to avoid the wind and we layer on clothes — one, two, even three at a time.

But what about the people around us who don’t have the ability to huddle in a campus center or wait in a coffee shop until their on-call shuttle arrives?

According to the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, 4,868 people in Rhode Island were homeless as of 2012. WPRI News reported Feb. 19 that this number has decreased to 4,100, but that is still 4,100 too many — especially in this weather.

Through conversations with friends over time, I have heard various reasons for quietly walking by the homeless, often with eyes on the ground. Some simply do not have

don’t know whether to smile and say hello, to apologize for the lack of money or to just keep walking. I find most students avoid eye contact and hurry by. Sometimes I’m one of them.

JustGive.org cites the number one way to help the homeless is to educate yourself. This can mean a variety of things: dispelling stereotypes about the homeless, learning the different causes of homelessness and realizing every situation has its own

thermia, sometimes even resulting in death, by remaining outside overnight in cold temperatures.

Dan Diamond, contributing writer for Forbes Magazine, wrote an article on this subject last January. He suggested that individuals who see a person sleeping outside while temperatures hover around or below freezing call the local hypothermia hotline. In Providence’s case, dial 211 or 311. Local health officials in Washington told him that “‘If some-

But what about the people around us who don’t have the ability to huddle in a campus center or wait in a coffee shop until their on-call shuttle arrives? change. Others do not feel comfortable giving money without knowing whether it will be spent “productively,” and some do contribute money, though only on occasion.

It is common to hear confusion among young adults and even older adults about the best way to help the homeless population. Many feel guilty and awkward if they don’t have change or bills in their pocket. Many

story. Admittedly, these sound like very obvious pieces of advice. Brown students likely already know the various causes of homelessness, though it can never hurt to do more research.

But the average student probably does not know where the closest homeless shelter is — an imperative piece of information during the winter months. Countless individuals are exposed to the risks of hypo-

one is (choosing) to be on the street in this weather,’ he or she might have already refused shelter. … ‘And it’s probably safer to let a professional deal with it.’”

There are also many shelters around Providence. Sojourner House and Crossroads Rhode Island are two of the closest to campus. Brown also hosts a plethora of student groups including Housing Opportunities for

People Everywhere and Food Recovery Network, a club that gathers extra food from campus eateries and donates it to those who need it, for students seeking a more hands-on way to contribute.

More long-term solutions that require less of a time commitment can range from donating to a shelter to foregoing a Chipotle burrito or two and giving that money to a local organization. Additionally, several times a year, Brown hosts food and clothing drives around campus — most notably at the end of the fall and spring semesters. Additional information on this can be found on the Dining Services website.

The simplest thing to do, however, is to remember to acknowledge the people we walk by. A smile and a hello go a long way. It may be too cold for campus tours, but it is never too cold to be kind.

Zein Khleif ’15 is an independent concentrator in political psychology. She can be reached at zein_khleif@brown.

Speaking up to succeed ANDREW FELDMAN opinions columnist

As a science concentrator at Brown, it is extremely possible to avoid the open curriculum.

The open curriculum is designed to allow students to pursue their passions, whether those passions lie in several disciplines or in a single one. Nowhere in my concentration requirements was I forced to learn about seemingly unrelated subjects such as politics or literature, but I was given that opportunity regardless.

An additional writing requirement is the only graduation requirement, which potentially ensures that students have an effective medium to express what they learn. But without offering ways to improve students’ verbal communication, Brown and other universities limit the media in which students can succeed.

Writing is an extremely important skill and as a columnist, it goes without saying that I value learning how to write. But even if I hadn’t wanted to go out of my way to improve my writing skills, writing assignments were often integrated into several of my courses.

Whether a class required short one-page reflection assignments or a 20-page final paper, some amount of writing was incorporated in the class infrastructure. However, never was I forced to take classes that required presentations or even active class participation. Especially in large lectures, oftentimes a student’s responsibilities to learn and process information never require having to speak. Had I wanted to, I could have gone through several semesters without ever saying a word in a single class, and my grades would not have been affected.

Upon graduation, not every student will depend on writing for their livelihood. While

I truly believe that writing enriches future employment success, many industries do not require extensive writing skills. But the vast majority of post-graduation plans do rely on speaking skills. A college graduate will probably need to partake in a personal interview, where polished speaking skills can make the difference between beating other equally qualified candidates for a coveted Wall Street position and living at your parents’ house and baby sitting your younger siblings for a year.

Further, speaking plays a strong role in developing interpersonal relationships, whether it be communicating effectively with a supervisor, teaching new employees or presenting a

skills. This finding has been supported by numerous studies. American Express and Millennial Branding, a millennial research and consulting firm, found that soft skills were the most important factor in looking to promote employees, followed by hard skills and techsavvy skills.

Currently, Brown offers a seminar in persuasive communication, which would help develop these skills, but it is quite competitive to get into the limited enrollment course.

Students must submit an application to be accepted into one of a few 17-person sections at a school with thousands of students. Making this course a graduation requirement for every

Polished speaking skills could make the difference between beating other equally qualified candidates for a coveted Wall Street position to living at your parents’ house and babysitting your younger siblings. project. Some of these skills can be reinforced by writing and therefore gaining a better grasp of language, but they cannot completely replace verbal practice. In this day and age, it is essential to be able to work with other people in a group setting, which is not possible without effective verbal communication. This is a skill in which many Brown students are already sufficient, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t benefit from further practice.

Students deserve the option to directly practice a skill that many employers find lacking. A 2013 study by the Workforce Solutions Group at St. Louis Community College reported that over 60 percent of employers found millennial college graduates to lack soft skills such as communication and interpersonal

student would be extremely impractical and is not solution I would bother suggesting. But just because Brown lacks the infrastructure to adopt a mandatory speaking requirement to supplement its writing requirement does not mean that courses cannot be modified to develop speaking skills. Very minor changes could have a tremendous impact.

The courses at Brown that already incorporate participation requirements do not mandate them to be met through speaking. Many of these classes merely require students to post on an online discussion board to demonstrate understanding of the assigned readings. Assignments such as these don’t actually challenge students to learn about the material.

They are simply an easy way to measure a stu-

dent’s involvement quantitatively.

Devoting class time to ensuring each student answers questions or presents material would be somewhat challenging. There are only a limited number of minutes in each class and occasionally there can be almost as many students in a class as there are minutes. But the benefits far outweigh the difficulties. Whether it’s accomplished by devoting more time during the actual class or by including more teaching assistant-led sections, students will benefit from speaking. As it is often said, one of the best ways to learn about a subject is through teaching it. Much of this additional learning comes from having to speak about a subject and converse about its intricacies — skills that are verbally polished.

Specifically creating speaking-intensive courses could be an effective way to incorporate speech into Brown’s curriculum. Just as there are currently writing-intensive courses, speaking-intensive courses could be offered in each concentration. These courses would revolve around a certain topic in its respective discipline and require students to consistently debate or present on those topics.

Better integrating speaking into the open curriculum would only strengthen it. This proposal would not force an introverted student to present in front of a lecture of 200 peers on a higher-level topic. The point of the open curriculum is to allow students to pursue their interests and give them an opportunity to learn how to apply those passions to a future career.

All this proposal would do is give students that opportunity.

Andrew can be reached by email at andrew_feldman@brown.edu but would much prefer to be spoken to in person in order to have a truly effective exchange of comments and ideas.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2015