Tuesday, April 5, 2016

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2016

VOLUME CLI, ISSUE 42

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Assistant secretary of state talks Latin America Roberta Jacobson ’82 offers international perspective on U.S. election, politics

By JESSICA MURPHY STAFF WRITER

COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY

Andrew Campbell, associate professor of medical science, will assume the role of dean of the Graduate School this summer, replacing current dean Peter Weber. Campbell will shape a new graduate school strategic agenda.

Campbell named next dean of grad school Associate professor of medical science to oversee grad school financial planning, admission

By JACKSON CHAIKEN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Andrew Campbell, associate professor of medical science, has been appointed as the next dean of the Graduate School, wrote Provost Richard Locke P’17 in a community-wide email Monday.

Campbell will begin his term July 1, succeeding current Dean of the Graduate School Peter Weber.

“I chose to accept the position of dean of the Graduate School because I truly enjoy working with graduate

students,” Campbell wrote in an email to The Herald. “This position will allow me to work with graduate students in all disciplines and to support their scholarly works. Getting a graduate degree is a choice that I made for myself, and I want to support those who are making that choice.”

In his role as dean, Campbell will have “primary responsibility for all aspects of the Graduate School,” Locke wrote. The Graduate School currently has more than 2,000 students pursuing both master’s and doctoral degrees across “41 different departments, centers and institutes,” he wrote.

Weber was appointed dean of the Graduate School in 2010, Locke wrote in a Jan. 13 email announcing the end of Weber’s term.

While dean, Weber oversaw a 17 percent growth in the graduate school population, advocated increases in doctoral financial aid, implemented the Presidential Fellows Program and “created a mechanism for advancing student funding in the humanities and social sciences,” among other initiatives, Locke added in the same email.

Campbell will be responsible for developing and implementing a “strategic agenda for the Graduate School,” Locke wrote.

“Crafting a good strategic agenda involves engaging everyone with a stake in the work,” Campbell wrote. “For me it’s going to be important to engage the graduate student community to hear their concerns and reach consensus » See CAMPBELL, page 2

Roberta Jacobson ’82 delivered a speech Monday about anti-corruption in the Western hemisphere for the 91st Stephen Odgen, Jr. ’60 Memorial Lecture on International Affairs. The lecture, entitled “Why People are Mad and Why It’s a Good Thing,” focused on civilian responses to government corruption in Latin American countries.

Jacobson currently serves as assistant secretary of state for Western hemisphere affairs, and is responsible for maintaining diplomatic relations between the United States and countries ranging from “Canada to Argentina.”

A self-described career civil servant, she has worked for the State Department for 30 years. “I didn’t plan on working for the government for this long,” Jacobson told The Herald.

“I just kept getting interesting jobs.”

That trend has continued, as President Barack Obama nominated her as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico June 2. Jacobson is currently awaiting confirmation from Congress to assume the position.

President Christina Paxson P’19 introduced the lecture, citing highlights

of Jacobson’s career and her experience as a Brown student. Jacobson created her own concentration in Latin American studies, she said, because she was inspired by the “wave of democratic transitions in Latin America” that coincided with her time at Brown in the early 1980s.

Jacobson mentioned that she was surprised and honored by the invitation to speak, as the list of former Ogden speakers includes heads of state.

Nevertheless, she proceeded to discuss how the United States can and cannot help with the state of affairs in Latin America.

An emerging feature of contemporary Latin American politics is the resistance to corruption by ordinary citizens, Jacobson said. “Big scandals are nothing new in Latin America; what has changed is that people are no longer willing to tolerate them,” she said.

As citizens are realizing that they have the right to take action, the United States is presented with both an opportunity and a risk. “The U.S. government has the opportunity to be on the right side of this issue — the side of the people and the side of change,” she said.

As assistant secretary, Jacobson is responsible for regional political and economic issues, management and personnel and regional security issues.

She recently led the delegation that negotiated the opening of diplomatic relations with Cuba in 2015. » See LATIN, page 2

Ivy Film Festival reaches campuses nationwide Students travel to Berlin, festival ramps up Vienna for taste of local arts As outreach, student film Jazz band performances, local theater productions punctuate German studies department trip

By ETHEL RENIA STAFF WRITER

Berlin welcomed a group of students with ties to the German Studies Department and the Brown Jazz Band over spring break last week.

Senior Lecturer in German Studies Jane Sokolosky led the former group while Matt McGarrell, senior lecturer in music, directed the band.

Two other classes made the journey to Germany’s capital for a culturepacked spring break. Professor of Art History and Architecture and Urban Studies Dietrich Neumann took

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students in his seminar, HIAA1850H: “Berlin: Architecture, Politics and Memory,” and Michael Steinberg, vice provost for the arts and professor of music and history, traveled with students in his class, MUSC1675: “Music, Religion, Politics.”

“We have been able to offer this trip in conjunction with our senior seminar for the last several years. This year, our topic was turn-of-the-century Vienna and Berlin,” Sokolosky wrote in an email to The Herald. The trip was funded primarily by Brown’s Office of the Vice Provost for the Arts as well as the Max Kade Foundation in New York.

The German Department’s stay in Berlin opened with a performance by the Brown Jazz Band, playing in a cozy jazz club named Kunstfabrik Schlot. Listeners included both locals and Brown students who had come to » See BERLIN, page 2

submissions double to global total of 449

By ISABEL GENSLER STAFF WRITER

The 16th annual Ivy Film Festival kicks off today with keynote speaker Jodie Foster at 11:45 a.m. at the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts. The IFF, the world’s largest student-run film festival, expanded this year to include satellite festivals at all eight Ivies as well as New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Stanford University and Northwestern University.

The IFF screens student, faculty and Hollywood films and invites guests to give speeches on relevant issues in the entertainment industry. IFF aims to give » See IFF, page 2

ARTS & CULTURE

COURTESY OF IVY FILM FESTIVAL

Programming for this year’s Ivy Film Festival centers on screenings of 25 student films. Panels featuring filmmakers have also been planned.

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TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2016

NEWS DNA Day brings educational animated videos crafted by students, professors to public

ARTS & CULTURE Weezer’s new album filled with beachy, sunny sounds fit for enduring band’s summer tour

COMMENTARY O’Shea ’19: Dichotomy between cutthroat admission, campus experience pays off for lucky few

COMMENTARY Campbell ’18: Armed DPS not perfect, but more accountable, diverse than Providence Police

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» BERLIN, from page 1 support their University abroad. The room was tightly packed, and in traditional German manner, most enjoyed the show while sipping a pint of beer.

“The audience was sophisticated and interested in our set, making us feel welcome in our inaugural performance in Berlin,” said saxophone player Alexandra Ertman ’19. Some of the pieces performed included “Serendipity” by George Masso, “Gingerbread Boy” by Jimmy Heath and “Nardis,” originally recorded by Miles Davis. The performance featured guest stars Eric Nathan, assistant professor of music, and Dana Gooley, associate professor of music.

Over the course of the week, the German Department group attended an organ concert at the ornate Berliner Konzerthaus and visited the Bröhan Museum as well as the German Bundestag, home to the country’s parliament.

The group crossed paths with the Brown Jazz Band again when both volunteered at an English program at an elementary school. The students led a variety of workshops in English with groups of 15 to 20 schoolchildren. The morning concluded with another performance by the band.

» CAMPBELL, from page 1 before finalizing any agenda.”

As part of this, Campbell emphasized that a graduate school must prepare its students for careers and lives both in and outside of academia.

Campbell will also “provide financial oversight and planning, oversee graduate student admission and funding and lead and manage the Graduate School staff,” Locke wrote.

Campbell came to the University as an assistant professor in 1994 and, in the 20 years since, has served as director of the pathobiology program and Marine Biological Laboratory graduate program, according to a University

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“The students were lively and enthusiastic, making it easy for us to keep them engaged and have an enjoyable time,” Ertman wrote in an email to The Herald.

“Having the Brown Jazz Band perform at this elementary school while we held workshops in English was a great international community service opportunity for Brown students,” Sokolosky wrote. After the band’s performance, the German Department donated a collection of English children’s books to the school.

The German Department students flew to Vienna Wednesday, where they attended two plays and visited four museums in the span of two days. The first play, titled “Der böse Geist Lumpazivagabundus,” or “The Evil Spirit Lumpazivagabundus,” was performed in the Burgtheater, a historic theater that first opened in 1741.

The play dealt with the triumph of love over fortune. “What I found most surprising about this play was how the directors adapted the performance to reflect contemporary interests,” wrote Aida Feng ’17 in an email to The Herald. “For example, they played with references to the European Union and Angela Merkel throughout the plot.”

“It definitely made the humor of

a 19th-century work more accessible to a modern audience,” she wrote.

The second play, “Anatol,” dealt with lost loves and sexual frustration. It was performed in Theater in der Josefstadt, built in 1788. The theater advocated on behalf of refugees through messages on both its building’s exterior and in the show’s paper program. A message written on one of the theater’s walls read “The Josefstadt Theater rejoices: In Austria, moneyed tourists are not the only ones welcomed. Also fleeing Syrians.”

The trip provided students with cultural insight into two Germanspeaking cities in Central Europe with nonetheless disparate identities.

Berlin is a city in bloom — with its cheap prices and youthful population, it attracts a myriad of new artists. Its streets are covered with graffiti, and it has gained a reputation as one of Europe’s most notorious party cities.

Vienna is more like other major European cities such as Paris, London or Milan. While they are by no means relegated to impertinence in the present, their illustrious legacies in fine arts and music are what put them on the map.

While Berlin bursts with future promise, Vienna makes one feel like a part of history.

press release.

Before coming to Brown, Campbell earned his PhD from the University of California at Los Angeles and his Bachelor of Science from York College, according to his webpage.

Campbell “is currently principal investigator of three training-related federal (National Institutes of Health) grants and has led with great success the NIH-funded Initiative to Maximize Student Development Program,” Locke wrote.

The initiative aims to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups completing PhDs in biomedical fields, according to the initiative’s website.

Campbell has received numerous awards, including the National Science Foundation’s CAREER Award, the Brown University School of Medicine Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award and the Brown University Presidential Award for Excellence in Faculty Governance, according to his curriculum vitae.

The dean of the Graduate school reports to the provost and is also a “member of the University’s senior academic leadership team and the President’s Cabinet,” Locke wrote.

“I look forward to working with him as he applies his considerable talents to advancing graduate education at Brown,” Locke wrote.

» IFF, from page 1 the student body and filmmaking community in Providence “opportunities to interact with industry professionals and interact with film in new and exciting ways,” said Angela Guo ’16, executive director of IFF. This year, events include a variety of free screenings, such as “Krisha” — followed by a Q&A with director Trey Edward Shults — and “Remembering the Artist,” followed by a panel featuring Robert De Niro. Despite these big names, the focus of the festival is the student films, said Solveig Xia ’17, another executive director of IFF. “Since day one, IFF was created to really be a platform for student filmmakers and screenwriters around the world to have their work showcased and celebrated,” Xia said.

Five hours of programmed content will be screened, amounting to 25 student films, Guo said. This year, 449 films were submitted from all over the world to four competition categories: domestic, international, graduate and screenplay.

Though the total number of submissions doubled from last year, no extra films will be shown.

This increase in submissions, in part due to expanded outreach efforts, allows IFF “to become as professional and selective as possible, getting the best films out there,” said Nadim Silverman ’18, publicity coordinator of IFF.

Since its inception in 2001, IFF has expanded dramatically. “This is the first year that the Ivy Film Festival is living up to its name as the Ivy Film Festival and not the Brown film festival,” Silverman said. The IFF team spent the last year reaching out to contacts at other schools so that all of the Ivies, “as well as other film-minded schools,” could take part in the festival, Silverman said.

This year marks the first year that all IFF showings will be screened on these other campuses through satellite festivals.

“The expansion is one way for us to really take that one step further, allowing these films to be celebrated at other campuses, by other students,” Xia said.

In order to pilot this growth, IFF changed its publicity strategy. Last year, IFF focused its efforts on on-campus advertising, said Keillor Irving ’16, another publicity coordinator for IFF. But this year, the coordinators “changed up how the publicity department was shaped” and divided staff members into separate teams that “each addressed a separate aspect of publicity this semester,” Irving added.

Despite doubling its film submissions and initiating satellite film festivals, IFF “found ways to expand within the budgetary constraints,” Irving said. “A lot of the expansion we did was through the efforts of staff without straining the kind of resources we already had at our disposal.”

COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY

Roberta Jacobson ’82, the United States assistant secretary of state for Western hemisphere affairs, spoke about foreign policy opportunities.

» LATIN, from page 1 When asked about the impact of the current presidential election on her position and on Latin American diplomacy, Jacobson said, “A lot of countries around the world and in Latin America have leaders who are very concerned about the U.S. campaigns and some of the candidates’ harsh and extreme views on immigration.”

Prior to a brief question-and-answer session with the audience, Jacobson spoke about finding a work-life

balance. “I still use the phrase ‘working mother’ — not ‘working parent’ — because I believe it is more challenging for women,” she said. In an interview with The Herald, she elaborated on this sentiment and said, “I certainly do not want to dissuade young men from entering the State Department, but I especially encourage young women to take the Foreign Service exam and enter this field.”

“We need the best and most talented people to go into government,” she added.

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DNA Day showcases videos, explains science for public audience Projects combine science, multimedia, art, offering educational videos on STEM concepts

By MARK LIANG STAFF WRITER

Celebrating its annual DNA Day, SciToons, a University initiative, presented three videos Monday celebrating the wonders of the double helix in the Granoff Center for the Arts.

SciToons is a program “combining art, animation, high-quality multimedia and storytelling to engage a broader audience in science,” said Oludurotimi Adetunji, associate dean for undergraduate research and inclusive science. Also known as the Science Cartoon Program, the project brings students and faculty members together to create informative animated videos about science, technology, engineering and mathematics concepts for the general public.

The event was part of national DNA Day celebrations, hosted by the National Human Genome Research Institute. DNA Day is usually held in April to commemorate both the discovery of DNA in 1953 and the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003. The institute collaborates with universities and organizations to help “students, teachers and the public … learn more about genetics and genomics,” according to its website.

SciToon teams screened informative clips discussing a wide variety of concepts related to DNA, from the nature of genetic disease to the function of the human microbiome. With colorful animation, music and humor, the projects explained complex biological concepts such as genomic exon splicing to an audience unfamiliar with the science.

Each video was scripted and animated by students whose concentrations and interests branched much further than the topics the videos covered.

Only a few of the student presenters are biology majors. The bulk of the presenters concentrate in computer science, visual arts and other subjects.

Each video was preceded by a small talk from STEM experts within the University faculty. Associate Professor of Biology Mark Johnson brought in his children for a side-by side comparison of the genetic mutation that leads to red hair. Johnson applauded the audience range for which the SciToon movies were optimized. “My grandmother, my kids — I think everyone will get something different from these videos,” he said.

Adetunji, who served as the executive producer for each video, agreed.

“In general, scientists do a terrible job of talking with the public, and I think that’s a major impetus to these projects,” he said.

Each video begins as an idea presented by a student or faculty member, Adetunji said. With “interactive

SAM BERUBE / HERALD

The University took time to honor the double helix yesterday. SciToons, an initiative that aims to educate nonspecialists about science, screened three animated videos, each seeking to explain a concept related to DNA. feedback” between experts and students, the team produces a script, voiceover and animation for the project. Creating content for the general public is tough; Adetunji said each project requires five to seven rewrites and six months of work at the very least before it is finished.

As a result, the completed videos are polished and professional, multiple audience members in attendance said.

The SciToons channel, which published all clips, receives on average

1,000 views a week, Adetunji said. One of the most popular videos, “How Do We See Color,” has over 75,000 views.

While the event covered only biological topics, the project teams are always looking for new and exciting topics to cover, he added.

Students who worked on videos were given the opportunity at the end of video presentations to lead behindthe-scenes discussions about the process. Margaret Barry ’18, a Rhode Island School of Design dual-degree

student, and Lorraine Salim ’17 talked about the collaboration needed to create a cohesive video. When asked by audience members about the style of the visual art, Barry gave an in-depth look at the processes around the animation, including using Adobe After Effects and working with faculty members to ensure proper understanding of the topic. Several students also discussed interest in exploring different animation styles, such as claymation, in the future.

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The first day of classes after spring break brought both students and an unexpected covering of snow back to Brown. Though temperatures look to be cool for the remainder of the week, warmer weather is on the way.

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“This is the first year that the Ivy Film Festival is living up to its name as the Ivy Film Festival and not the Brown RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle c r o s s w o r d Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis ACROSS 1 Riffles (through) 6 Kitty cries 10 Like some chatter or threats 14 Birdbath buildup 15 Plant “pet” 16 Bellyache 17 *Game with a barrel-throwing gorilla 19 “Flip or Flop” cable channel 20 Dueling sword 21 Stare unsubtly 22 Slammer 23 Wreck completely 25 “Moi?” 27 __ Lingus 28 Reason for an R rating 31 “I __ thought of that” 34 Place to overnight 35 Crooner Cole 36 Stat that’s better when it’s lower 37 *Lock insert 41 Expressive rock genre 42 Architect Maya __ 43 Serengeti grazer 44 Crease-resistant fabric 46 Sewer system entry points 49 Back when 50 Alpine warble 51 Art form profiled in the documentary “Between the Folds” 55 Joint sometimes twisted 57 Fishing decoy 59 Have __: be connected 60 “Are you for __?!”

61 *Karl Marx opus 63 Motown’s Marvin 64 Prefix meaning “all” 65 Singer Baker 66 Call router: Abbr.

67 Bread served with chicken tikka masala 68 Go to pot ... or a phonetic hint to the answers to starred clues

DOWN 1 Stored in the hold 2 Become running mates?

3 Dancer de Mille 4 Skin bronzing from a bottle 5 “Understand?”

6 Jim of “Wide World of Sports” 7 Self-help website 8 [Don’t take me too seriously] 9 Hang loosely 10 Announcement from the foyer 11 *Temporary housing for Fido 12 Behind schedule 13 Green-eyed monster 18 “Son of Frankenstein” role 22 D.C. insider 24 No longer working: Abbr.

26 Sharpen 28 Computer invader 29 Hunter’s garb, for short 30 Thames school 31 Captain’s position

32 Opera highlight 33 *“The Court Jester” star 38 Stare rudely at 39 “He’s a priest,” not a beast, per Ogden Nash 40 Bear or Berra 45 Propecia rival 47 Shout out 48 Glorifying verse 49 Word after work or play

51 Pest control company 52 Bit of slapstick 53 Sporty Mazda 54 Cavity filler 55 Jason’s vessel 56 Half-moon tide 58 Midshipman’s sch.

61 Ex-Dodger manager Mattingly 62 __ Thai: rice noodle dish

film festival.

”

— Nadim Silverman ’18, publicity coordinator of IFF

See IFF on page 1. comic ENGNS Life | Nathan Amin

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Marijuana Policy: Lessons from Western States 9:00 A.M. Alpert Medical School Building Reading: Novelist Zadie Smith 2:30 P.M. Granoff Center, Martinos

Comp Lit presents Leah Price 5:30 P.M. Faculty Club The State of Latin American History 5:30 P.M. John Carter, Reading Room

TOMORROW Argentine Tango Classes 5:00 P.M. Graduate Center, Graduate Lounge

Charlotte Rogan discusses “Now and Again” 5:30 P.M. Brown Bookstore

“FDR and the Jews” with Richard Breitman 5:30 P.M. Smith-Buonanno, 106

Making A Living While Making a Difference 6:00 P.M. Hemisphere Building

COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2016

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COMMENTARY TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2016 • PAGE 7

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Brown is worth the cost of its admission RONAN O’SHEA staff columnist

I’m sure you’ve seen them. They move in huddled masses around the Main Green, led by backward-walking, overly enthusiastic undergrads.

They crowd the Faunce Arch like a high school hallway between classes.

These past two weeks, our campus has been flooded with prospective students and their families on tours of Brown.

These potential future Brunonians stand on the bad end of an inconceivable void. In that void is a mysterious, supremely selective admission process that annually swallows the hopes of most applicants and handsomely rewards a lucky few. Many of the fortunate ones will descend on College Hill later this month to get just a taste of the life their admission offers.

Thousands of students toil away for the entirety of their high school careers with the faint hope of attending Brown. More than 90 percent of them are ultimately rejected, hav-

ing worked hard through what is, for many of their peers, four years of care-free youth, all in the pursuit of an impressive resume and a 4.0 on their AP course-filled transcripts.

Reflecting on the harsh demands applicants face, I can’t help but think that the hardest part of making it to graduation at Brown is being allowed

cant at our selective institution forces students away from the ideals of free expression on which we thrive. What may explain this apparent contradiction is what Brown represents to an accomplished but weary applicant: an escape from the rigid standardization of their academic lives, a realm where they can dip their feet wher-

scholar, set on a 30-year plan for professional success, only to be greeted by a campus that values eclectic tastes and all but mandates excursions into fields apart from one’s concentration.

As any attempt to describe a lifetime of dreams and fears to an anonymous admission officer is necessari-

By assembling the brightest, most creative students in the country, the University has created a community of intrinsically motivated scholars eager to embrace pursuits outside of the classroom.

to pass through the Van Wickle gates in the first place. The dichotomy of this cutthroat admission process and Brown’s notoriously relaxed academic and social environment is shocking. Our University is that of the open curriculum, shopping period and the naked donut run. Yet the pressure to be a competitive appli-

ever curiosity leads.

Many applicants find themselves constructing shiny personal narratives to sell their essays and interviews, confining the wide array of emotions and interests that make up the human experience into a tidy, appealing niche. These students adopt the persona of a focused young

ly going to be oversimplified, I see no practical alternative to this system.

But no incoming student should feel bound by what they have sold themselves as in the past. Instead, future students should allow themselves to be filled with the many inspirations and views this thriving ecosystem fosters.

The beauty of Brown is that it is a place where ambitious students can focus on pursuing the highest levels of scholastic excellence without forgoing the vast array of experiences that a major university provides. This environment can thrive because admission is so selective. By assembling the brightest, most creative students in the country, the University has created a community of intrinsically motivated scholars eager to embrace pursuits outside of the classroom.

I am sure I speak for many students here when I say I am glad to be on the other end of the void between applicant and Brunonian. The jitters of pursuing college acceptance are gone, and any worries I have today pale in comparison to the pleasure of participating in this chaotic, magnificent community of complex characters and brilliant minds. It may be impossible to eliminate the unpleasant struggle that is applying to Brown, but I argue that participation in the life of this campus is the greatest reward imaginable.

Ronan O’Shea ’19 can be reached at ronan_oshea@brown.edu.

DPS: the lesser of two evils VAUGHN CAMPBELL staff columnist

Following the events at the Latinx Ivy League Conference last semester, many have advocated the disarmament or even partial dismantling of Brown’s Deparment of Public Safety.

This view is easy to understand, given the circumstances. Up until this discourse, I never really noticed BroPo’s weaponry. Now that I am looking for it, I’ll admit that seeing an officer carrying in the Ratty isn’t a very reassuring sight — and I have every reason to trust DPS. I can only imagine how that sight might make me feel if my circumstances were different.

Yet the solutions that have been suggested misinterpret the choices we have on this issue.

The common belief is that we must choose between an armed and unarmed DPS. Realistically, the choice is between an armed DPS and the armed Providence Police. Before DPS became armed in 2006, Brown police were not allowed to interfere during the course of a crime, much like the yellow-jacketed Brown security officers now. This meant that while DPS “patrolled” our campus, all actual policing interventions had to be carried out by Providence Police officers. An unarmed DPS would be forced to revert back to this system.

Given these two options, retaining an armed DPS is by far superior.

First and most obviously, a patrolling DPS

officer is going to be able to respond faster than a Providence Police officer would, in all likelihood, have to be called to campus by DPS officers in order to intervene. This chain of communication is not only inefficient but also unsafe. This point is qualified by the argument that we should strive for more thoughtful, calm and collected policing that might benefit from a delayed response rather than first-instinct reactions. But when dealing with

point, there are many, many biases within the Providence Police force. We can’t completely eliminate bias immediately, but we can control its magnitude.

DPS already outperforms Providence Police on racial issues in many different ways.

Firstly, Providence Police was recently cited as one of the least racially representative in the entire nation. DPS, on the other hand, actually over-performs on diversity indicators,

The common belief is that we must choose between an armed and unarmed DPS. Realistically, the choice is between an armed DPS and the armed Providence Police.

crisis scenarios, the response time is of utmost importance.

Seemingly more important to those advocating disarmament is the treatment of minority groups by DPS. Following the incident at the Latinx Ivy League Conference, it is easy to claim that there is bias within DPS. And these claims are well-founded, but bias exists everywhere. Much as we might hate to admit it, most people hold personal biases. More to the

with about twice as many Black or Latinx officers relative to the proportions of the student body. Furthermore, DPS officers undergo annual diversity training, while information on Providence Police diversity training is incomplete and hard to come by, suggesting a lack of emphasis. Most importantly, the incident last fall was the first issue of racial misconduct at DPS reported in The Herald in at least 10 years. Providence Police, meanwhile, fired

one officer for racially charged comments and was sued by another black officer who was assaulted by his colleagues while off-duty over the course of last semester alone.

Finally, DPS is simply easier for students to influence. Though they did hold their most recent feedback session over spring break, ultimately the department is accountable to Brown students, not Providence citizens (which most of us are not). They also provided outlets and forums for student input and have emphasized the importance of such communication. It is worth noting that any grievances we have as a student body will be much better received by a Brown-specific police force.

Within the last year, DPS has committed one reported incident of excessive force against a student of color. This led to the speedy suspension and eventual firing of the offending officer and a review of DPS. This is still unacceptable. Yet the alternative is much worse. The Providence Police has a worse record and will be harder to communicate with, whereas DPS’s record, while not perfect, is comparatively superior. In addition, the force is held fully accountable to the University. Because of all of these consequences, disarming DPS would likely do more harm than good.

Dismantling DPS might seem like a noble cause, but it is short-sighted and ultimately dangerous.

Vaughn Campbell ’18 can be reached at vaughn_campbell@brown.edu.

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ARTS & CULTURE THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2016

Latest Weezer release supplies intergenerational summer anthems Album recalls SoCal lifestyle, Beach Boys influence while maintaining iconic sound

By JACLYN TORRES ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

Weezer’s latest album “White Album,” released April 1, hearkens back to California circa 2002. The opening song, “California Kids,” sounds exactly like an anthem for MTV’s reality show “The Hills.”

Its upbeat, beachy vibes are reminiscent of songs played in the background while Lauren and Lo take the OC beaches and flirt with Stephen and Brody.

“Wind in Our Sail,” the album’s second song, continues the band’s beachy soundtrack with a catchy chorus that makes you want to get up and dance.

Next, “Thank God for Girls” takes a more aggressive approach while maintaining a Californian style. Think of a party montage in “The Hills” that starts with the girls and boys crews getting ready for the party, transitions to their

arrival at one of the houses and closes with the peak of the party. I imagine light dancing through the house as people move from room to room while “Thank God for Girls” blares obnoxiously in the background. “(Girl We Got a) Good Thing” is the most upbeat song on the album. Lead vocalist Rivers Cuomo has said The Beach Boys influenced the album, and “(Girl We Got a) Good Thing” bears the unmistakable mark of The Beach Boys’ carefree sound. Weezer puts its own spin on the song by incorporating a strong indie rock chorus. Parts of the track start to sound like the band’s 1994 song “My Name is Jonas” with deep guitar chords and aggressive undertones.

“King of the World” maintains Weezer’s iconic sound. The track is similar to the 2005 song “Beverly Hills,” packing strong and abrupt guitar chords and some shrill, deep instrumentals. The lyrics, particularly those of the chorus, are shouted more often than sung.

“L.A. Girlz” starts off with strong work on the amplifier, producing unpleasant chords, but immediately places

COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Weezer’s newest album, “White Album,” hit the charts last weekend, featuring singles “Thank God for Girls” and “Do You Wanna Get High?” The album is tailored for summer, replete with beachy beats and light moods. the listener back in an episode of “The Hills.” This song would be played during one of the show’s season finales when Lauren and Lo part ways to embark on their college experiences. The song would provide the background for the hugging, crying and ultimate driving off onto the coastal highway in a convertible with the top down.

“White Album” is the perfect segue into the approaching summer. As the

weather is growing warmer, Weezer’s latest 10 songs provide the perfect anthems for driving under the sun, lying on the beach or enjoying a summer bonfire at an outdoor party.

The band’s new music comprises its 10th studio album and fourth record named for a color. Weezer formed in 1992 and is one of few bands to have survived nearly two-and-a-half decades in the quickly evolving music industry.

Its music transcends all ages and crosses multiple generations, as many remember “Island In the Sun” and “My Name is Jonas” and now listen to the group’s latest releases.

Weezer is going on tour this summer to promote “White Album.” Panic! at the Disco and Andrew McMahon will both headline the show. The tour kicks off at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, Mass. July 1.