Thursday, April 7, 2016

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016

VOLUME CLI, ISSUE 44

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ELI WHITE / HERALD

Rebecca Cumberbatch, a Rhode Island School of Design student, addressed a crowd of RISD students and faculty members during a demonstration at Market Square Wednesday. The gathering, which lasted over three hours, saw participants share experiences with prejudice on campus. Demonstrators also called on the administration to release a diversity action plan.

RISD students, faculty members gather to decry campus racism Demonstrators demand faculty sensitivity training, curricular reform, Market Square slavery memorial

By KASTURI PANANJADY SENIOR STAFF WRITER

A large crowd of Rhode Island School of Design students and faculty members dressed in black braved the unseasonably cold April weather at Market Square Wednesday afternoon to join RISD student and demonstration organizer Tony Petit in chanting, “I am not your token!”

The demonstration, Not Your Token, was organized by members of Black

Artists and Designers, a student group at RISD, to protest the lack of recognition, education and discussion with regard to race, sexuality and class both academically and socially at RISD. The demonstration was organized to coincide with RISD’s accreditation week.

The accreditation board, comprised of artists and designers independent from RISD, recommended six years ago that the school address social issues, specifically race and class, to a deeper extent,

wrote Flannery McDonnell, a demonstrator, in an email to The Herald.

“I am not tired because of the 33 meetings I have had with administration, not tired because of studio or my work-study job to pay for supplies. I am tired of reminding myself that I deserve to be here,” said Chantal Feitosa, an organizer of the event.

Petit and Feitosa kicked off Not Your Token by reading out a list of demands that over 40 faculty members and students presented to the RISD administration March 30. The demands include requests for curricular change

and a diversity action plan committed to increasing the number of faculty members of color and visiting artists of color. The protestors also demanded that a memorial to slavery be erected in Market Square, which once played host to a bustling slave market, in order to acknowledge the legacy of slavery on RISD’s campus.

“This shit is personal for some of us,” said Rebecca Cumberbatch, a demonstrator, explaining that her last name was given to her family by the white owners who enslaved them.

“As I walk through Market Square,

I can feel the footsteps of my ancestors beneath mine,” Petit said. “Why is no one talking about this?”

Petit also highlighted RISD’s neglect of East Asian, South Asian, African, South American and Native American artistic styles.

“This summer, I took my first class with an Asian-American professor in three years,” said Michelle Zhuang.

Zhuang added that during pre-registration, she was often advised by peers to avoid certain professors for their racist and sexist views. In order to be seen as » See RISD, page 2

As online polling increases, Treasurer talks state bank’s green benefits Rhode Island experts weigh pros, cons Infrastructure Bank to As polling companies move away from phone surveys, new inaccuracies may complicate data

By ELENA RENKEN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

In contrast to previous trends, the 2016 election cycle has seen online polling used more often than traditional telephone polls. But while online polling is cheaper than telephone polling and has produced more reliable results in certain recent contests, its methods have drawn skepticism from polling experts. Meanwhile, phone polls may also be dropping in accuracy.

“If you go back 15 or 20 years, it was pretty much dominated by telephone pre-election polls, and that’s certainly no longer the case,” said Courtney Kennedy, director of survey research at Pew Research Center. There are “some telephone polls that are still being conducted, but there’s increasingly heavy use of online samples.”

INSIDE

Traditional polling methods may no longer produce results with the same level of accuracy. “There’s some evidence that traditional ways that pollsters have used to model likely voters might not be working as well as they used to,” she added.

Political analysts expressed surprise when Michigan, a state predicted to vote overwhelmingly for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, went to Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-VT, who earned 49.8 percent of the vote — slightly more than Clinton’s 48.3.

Online polls in Michigan were more accurate than telephone polls, which predicted a resounding Clinton victory, according to data from various polling companies.

This shift is occurring for two reasons, said Rachel Franklin, associate research professor of population studies and associate director of Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences.

“People used to be much more willing to take part (in polls), and as soon as you have a large number of people saying no, you introduce the opportunity for bias,” Franklin said. » See POLLS, page 3

promote sustainability without budget increase

By ROSE SHEEHAN STAFF WRITER

Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magaziner ’06 gave a lecture titled “Promoting a Clean Economy: The Policy and Legislative Process Behind the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank” in the Joukowsky Forum on Wednesday.

The event focused on the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank’s capabilities to create jobs, lower the cost of energy and further sustainability without any impact on the state budget. Roughly 40 students, faculty and staff members attended the event, organized by the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions.

The Infrastructure Bank consists of two programs: the Efficient Building Fund, which can allocate $20 million in low-cost loans to Rhode Island cities and towns, and the Property Assessed Clean Energy program, which can offer between $4 million and $8 million in loans to residential and commercial property owners, Magaziner said.

ELI WHITE / HERALD

Seth Magaziner ’06 discussed the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank’s ability to lower the cost of energy and create jobs in a lecture Wednesday.

Both programs are intended to fund lower costs of energy for businesses projects that promote efficiency, sustain- and homeowners and you’ve got the ability and the use of renewable energy. environmental impacts,” he added. The Examples include “everything from wind foundation of the Infrastructure Bank turbines in West Warwick to rooftop is particularly advantageous to Rhode solar panels on schools in Pawtucket,” Island, which still has not regained the Magaziner added.

40,000 jobs lost during the recent recesThe EBF alone is projected to add 300 sion and has a commercial electricity to 400 new construction jobs in Rhode price that is the second highest in the Island in its first year and to cut energy United States. costs, especially on older buildings such Magaziner and his team in the treaas schools, libraries and fire stations, surer’s office relied largely on private Magaziner said. sources of funding for the Infrastructure “The great thing is: Who could be Bank in order to avoid impacting the against this? You’ve got jobs, you’ve got » See BANK, page 2

WEATHER

THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016

ARTS & CULTURE Granoff Center to showcase Shakespeare’s First Folio during its tour stop in Rhode Island

NEWS International Life Advisory Board suggests improvements to student life at UCS meeting

COMMENTARY Heck P’16: SJP should apologize to LGBTQ community for Janet Mock petition

COMMENTARY Steinman ’19: Government should make voting easier, encourage youth participation

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»RISD, from page 1 more than a cash cow or quota filler, people of color have to be the “most utmostly respected” in their field, she added.

The protestors’ full list of 10 demands has been presented to students, faculty members and administrators along with a short, student-made film, “The Room of Silence.” At the time of the protest, the film was being shown to full-time faculty members in Chace Center across the street from Market Square.

The film documents the experiences of marginalized students on campus.

“The Room of Silence” is the term students use to describe the silence that greets work relating to race and sexuality at RISD. Olivia Stephens, a coordinator of Not Your Token, told The Herald that when she presented a project idea centering on black skin to a faculty member, she was told to “tone down the content.”

“When people produce art about their identities, they’re really putting themselves out there,” said Sabrina Clark, a demonstrator. “At least talk about my craftsmanship. Let’s talk about why my piece makes you uncomfortable,” she added, explaining that the lack of feedback on her work harms her growth as an artist.

RISD student Eloise Sherrid, the filmmaker behind “The Room of Silence,” told The Herald that while the film included some suggestions from students for improvement, the point of the video was to gather marginalized student voices and perspectives to help

the administration “do its job.”

“We’re not looking for Band-Aid fixes for a car accident,” Sherrid said, emphasizing that addressing the concerns raised in the “The Room of Silence” and at the protest would require widespread reform on the part of the administration. “Firing one faculty member or something is not enough.”

One of the demands provided concrete suggestions on how to better faculty awareness of issues of diversity and inclusion. It asks that “faculty members undergo adequate, regular and thorough cultural and identity-based sensitivity training upon being hired as well as after contract renewals on a basis of one, three or five years.”

“Professor have unions,” Feitosa told The Herald, saying that this unionization makes it difficult to mandate sensitivity training. The authors of the list of demands envision a system whereby renewal of faculty contracts will take into account participation in sensitivity training as well as student feedback, Feitosa added.

After giving students of color and LGBTQ students a space to have their voices heard, coordinators opened the floor to allies to discuss their roles in the fight for greater diversity and accountability on the RISD campus. McDonnell pointed out that in discussions on racial privilege and injustice, she is often “praised for critical thinking” while her friend and classmate Malaika Temba is accused of “playing the race card.”

During this segment on allyship, some faculty members from the meeting across the street approached the shivering protestors and invited them

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD to continue their conversation indoors.

Claudia Ford, a lecturer at RISD, urged demonstrators to be hopeful about change.

But students expressed doubts.

“I am afraid that we will just call this an important moment in history and move on,” Zhuang said.

“It’s not on the students anymore.

We’re on the same … page,” Cumberbatch said to faculty members at the conclusion of the event. Her statement was received with a standing ovation.

The faculty members present at the event reported progress on two of the listed demands. Jayson Musson, an African-American artist, will be speaking at RISD as a visiting artist. The Department of History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences also recently hired two women of color to teach at the school.

Stephens said that faculty responses to the demands have been mixed. While liberal arts and foundational faculty have been supportive, certain faculty have also asked members of BAAD to “do more” to merit their attention, she said.

Members of the accreditation board met with coordinators Monday night and were “receptive to their ideas,” Feitosa said. She hopes that the board will make its recommendations with regard to diversity public, she added.

The leaders of BAAD plan to host a similar teach-in at Market Square next week for faculty, Stephens said. Coordinators also plan to meet with the RISD provost and president, who was present at the protest, to discuss their demands tomorrow, Stephens added.

» BANK, from page 1 state budget.

“PACE is a model that relies almost entirely on private capital. … The way it works is banks or other lenders make the loans. They take the risk,” Magaziner said. Much of the funding for the EBF is funding from the 2009 federal stimulus package earmarked for sustainability efforts in Rhode Island, he added.

After the lecture, Magaziner told The Herald he tried to emphasize the role of private investments in state infrastructure.

“It is important to spread the message that a lot can be accomplished by finding innovative ways to finance infrastructure projects,” he said.

The concept of the Infrastructure Bank was drawn both from an existing Rhode Island program and the examples of other states. The EBF was built on the foundation of the Clean Water Finance Agency, which fulfilled a similar function, Magaziner said. The PACE program is based on a similar program already operating effectively in Connecticut, he added.

“I really like that the bank looked to neighboring states for examples of successful policies,” said Jun Shepard, a research analyst in the economics department. “It also verifies a lot of research that has been done on how these policies are made.”

Shepard, who attended the event because her research centers on environmental policies in Rhode Island, added that the examples of other states also suggest that the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank should be effective.

“State-level policies are really important because they better provide a stimulus to expand renewable energy production, and other states with green banks have been successful,” she said.

Other attendees expressed similar approval of the concept and mission of the Infrastructure Bank during the questionand-answer portion of the lecture.

“I’m particularly interested in this because I come from India and I think this is what is needed in different parts of the globe,” one audience member said.

Another expressed concern about opportunities for minority citizens and communities both in the allocation of funds and the hiring of contractors.

Magaziner said that all of the state’s majority-minority communities applied for loans from the Infrastructure Bank and are likely to receive them.

“For PACE, when we’re training contractors and letting them know how it works,” the treasurer’s office will make sure to work with associations of black and Latinx contractors, he added.

The first loans from both the EBF and PACE will be issued this summer. Magaziner and his team must now grapple with concerns including finding sources of future funding for the EBF, which — unlike PACE — is not sustainable over time, and expanding the focus of the Infrastructure Bank to include climate change adaptation, Magaziner said.

“As the Ocean State, as a low-lying, coastal series of communities that is particularly prone to flooding and extreme weather events,” Rhode Island should make subsidizing projects like the construction of sand dunes, seawalls and other defenses a priority, he added.

NEWS

THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016 • PAGE 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Collection of 36 plays to be presented alongside Shakespearean programs, draw statewide interest

By REBECCA ELLIS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The Granoff Center for the Creative Arts will play host to a piece of history next week with the arrival of Shakespeare’s First Folio.

The book comes to Brown as part of “First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare,” an exhibit created by the Folger Shakespeare Library in honor of the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death in 1616. Throughout the year, the exhibit will make its way to each of the 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, offering the entire country a chance to revel in four centuries of Shakespeare.

Next Monday, the exhibit will touch down in Rhode Island, where it will be housed at Brown for three weeks before moving on to Amherst College in Massachusetts.

The exhibit seeks to showcase the importance of the First Folio, a collection of 36 Shakespearean plays assembled seven years after his death. Eighteen of the plays featured in the book — including “Macbeth,” “The Tempest” and “Julius Caesar” — were first discovered in the folio.

“This is one of the most important books in the world’s cultural history,” said Coppélia Kahn, professor emerita of English, who assisted in securing the University’s role as host location for the folio during its stay in Rhode Island.

When the folio arrives on campus, it must spend a day soaking in the Ocean State air in order to get acclimated to the humidity and the temperature, a process Kahn equated with overcoming jetlag.

The book will then be displayed in a climate-controlled, lockable box with its page turned to Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, “to be or not to be.” Because the last folio sold in 2006 for $5.2 million, there will be security manning the exits of the exhibit at all times.

The guarded folio will be accompanied by six informational panels to inform visitors about “the constant omnipresence of Shakespeare in our culture,” Kahn said. The panels, aided by digital content, illustrate the way Shakespeare has seeped into everyday language. Phrases such as “break the ice,” “elbow room” and “bated breath” were all penned by the Bard.

Chira DelSesto, assistant director of the Creative Arts Council, said this type of educational display about a historical artifact is rare for Granoff, as its exhibits tend to focus more on contemporary modern art. “We’ve done other exhibits, nothing quite as priceless as what this is,” DelSesto said. As a result, she expects the showing to attract a more

diverse audience, such as students from local schools.

According to Kahn, this broadened reach is one of the main goals of the exhibit. “This is not a campus event,” she said. “We are aiming to draw in people from all over Rhode Island.”

In an effort she describes as “24/7, dawn to dusk,” Kahn helped create a series of Shakespeare-themed programs to offer additional appeal to Rhode Islanders.

These programs will coincide with the folio’s three-week stay and will include a panel, film festival, workshop and a showing of Brown’s own two copies of the First Folio. Boston-based band “Seven Times Salt,” which specializes in music from the 16th and 17th centuries, will also perform songs explicitly mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays “on period instruments and with historic pronunciation,” according to the exhibit’s website.

Once the programming comes to an end, the folio will leave Brown and continue its tour across America, venturing to 23 museums, 20 universities, five public libraries, three historical societies and a theater. But even after the folio departs, Kahn said Shakespeare will remain a critical part of Brown, taught every year in the English department and produced outdoors every spring by theatre troupe Shakespeare on the Green.

“Shakespeare is as traditional at Brown as the Carrie Tower or the Van Wickle Gates,” Kahn said.

Polls for Michigan Democratic Primary Data from polls conducted over the phone (last eight bars) and online (bars two and three) show that polls conducted by phone deviated more from the actual results of the primary than did polls conducted online.

100 80 Clinton Sanders Undecided

Percentage

Granoff to display Shakespeare’s First Folio

60 40 20 0

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KATE TALERICO / HERALD

» POLLS, from page 1 “The other issue is that contacting people face-to-face, even telephoning them, costs so much money,” Franklin added. “It’s super, super expensive.”

But online polls present their own drawbacks.

David Redlawsk, director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling and professor of political science at Rutgers University, noted that respondents voluntarily opt in for some online polls, which may skew the sample. “There’s nothing good about that at all. Meaningless,” he said.

Online polling “tends to be a little less accurate,” said Richard Arenberg, adjunct lecturer in international and public affairs.

Some online polls are striving for accuracy using methods that simulate a random sample, but with online polling, it’s impossible to tell if you have a random sample of the population, Redlawsk said. “They’re not technically random samples in the way that we’re used to with telephone surveys,” he added, but they do “at least attempt to be representative of the population.”

“There are no lists to work from the way there are with telephones,”

Redlawsk added.

But the methods of online polling are still progressing. “I think it’s inaccurate to paint all online samples with the same brush,” Kennedy said.

“Some vendors have quite elaborate and sophisticated techniques,” she said, but “other vendors really do a lot less. They might just use quotas to balance the sample on age and gender, and that’s it. So you see tremendous differences.”

Pollsters have been encouraged to increase transparency within their organizations. The American Association for Public Opinion Research launched its Transparency Initiative in 2014 in an effort to boost disclosure of research methodology by survey organizations. About 75 pollsters have signed on to abide by the disclosure rules set by AAPOR, Kennedy said.

Arenberg highlighted the importance of measures to ensure polling quality.

“Going into the future, there’s going to have to be a detailed reassessment of what the industry is actually doing and what is viable,” Arenberg said.

The shift toward online polling will likely continue going forward, Kennedy said. “It’s where society is going. It’s where technology is going.

It’s where the cost efficiencies are.”

“Online surveys have the potential to be much cheaper and to get larger sample sizes,” Franklin said. “There are lots of funded research projects right now to try and figure out how we can do that in a way that’s going to give us data we can trust. I just don’t think we’re there yet.”

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PAGE 4 • THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

ILAB reps suggest new resources for international students at UCS meeting Reps call for strengthening of mentoring program, creation of international student center

By MATTHEW JARRELL STAFF WRITER

Members of the International Life Advisory Board detailed the need for a center for international students on campus and spoke on issues facing international students at the Undergraduate Council of Students general body meeting Wednesday.

ILAB Co-Chair and Vice President for Computing and Information Services Ravi Pendse and student representatives Filip Simeski ’17 and Camila Ruiz Segovia ’18 addressed questions on a range of topics including the student visa application process and the international student orientation program for incoming first-years.

The committee, newly organized this year, is “charged with exploring and addressing the unique needs of international students at Brown,” according to the UCS website. “It’s a great example of a committee that was student-initiated,” said UCS President Sazzy Gourley ’16 at the meeting.

ILAB is in the process of proposing the international student center, which would function much like similar organizations at other universities, such as the University of Chicago, Stanford

University and Yale, Simeski said. These centers “have administrative support from their universities,” he said. “They’re social spaces open to everyone, and it’s free to book them.”

Simeski added that Buxton House, advertised as the program housing option for international students, is fundamentally different because it operates as a residential hall under the direction of the Office of Residential Life. “There’s only card access for those who live there. It’s very much a closed community,” he said.

“You have to apply (to Buxton) to become a member,” Ruiz Segovia added.

“It’s important to have a physical space that is provided by the administration and is open to everyone.”

There is not yet a consensus on where the space would be located, Pendse said.

“Everyone’s heart is in the right place, but finding space in the short term is difficult,” he added.

One possibility is the creation of a website that would consolidate the numerous programs for international students in advance of the physical space, Pendse said. The goal is “a one-stop shop where (international students) can find all the help they need,” he said.

The representatives touched on the difficulties created by the timing of International Orientation, a component of the International Mentoring Program: It takes place during other pre-orientation programs and before most domestic students arrive at Brown for the first time.

“By the time normal orientation starts,

ELI WHITE / HERALD

Members of the International Life and Advisory Board discussed the need for a student center, stronger mentoring programs and peer advisors for international students to address challenges those students face. we’ve already formed our friend groups,” mentors to coordinate, though mentors experiences of all international students Simeski said. do receive University funding, Simeski is the visa application process. “It’s inInternational students who choose said. The international student center credibly stressful for the students, and it to take part in pre-orientation programs would theoretically provide mentors varies from country to country,” Pendse like Excellence at Brown and the Third with the ability to book space that would said. “You can even be rejected on time World Transition Program must often otherwise be difficult to find, he added. of arrival — the visa doesn’t guarantee prioritize their attendances, missing “Expanding mentorship through- entry.” events for either IMP or their other pre- out the year is an important issue,” Ruiz Most of the headaches come courorientation. “I know people who gave up Segovia said, mentioning the possibility tesy of the State Department, and the on Excellence or skipped the IMP social of introducing International Peer Lead- University does everything it can to asevents,” Simeski said. ers in first-year residence halls along with sist international students through the IMP’s viability throughout the year the currently available Residential Peer process, Simeski said. “The Office of must also be strengthened, according to Leaders, Women Peer Counselors, and International Recruitment does a lot of the student representatives. After orien- Minority Peer Counselors. work, but the University doesn’t have a tation, the program is mostly up to the An inevitable issue prevalent in the lot of sway” in the visa process, he said.

Latino Gala to celebrate Latinx identities, cultures Gala kicks off weekend dedicated to exploring Latinx identities, prompts dialogue in community

By MADISON RIVLIN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

In a celebration of culture, history and identity, the Latino Heritage Series will host the annual Latino Gala through the Brown Center for Students of Color Friday in Sayles Hall.

The theme, “The Beauty of Our Roots: Rewriting the Narrative,” was conceptualized with the intent of empowering Latinx individuals at Brown, exploring Latinx narratives and breaking down perceptions of Latinx identity, said Kiki Tapiero ’17, a Latino Heritage Series co-programmer.

“Given the racism of Donald Trump and growing misconceptions about the Latino community and undocumented immigrants, we want to celebrate what our story is and celebrate people for who they are rather than who people think they are,” Tapiero said.

As it coincides with the Latinx Conference, the Latino Gala kicks off a weekend dedicated to exploring Latinx identity and cultures. The gala is intended to spark dialogue on these topics, a particularly timely conversation in light of last semester’s incident involving a Department of Public Safety officer and a student visiting for the Latinx Ivy League Conference that resulted in the officer’s termination.

The Latino Heritage Series hopes the event will draw both students and visitors to join in the conversation, Tapiero said.

“Especially with what happened last semester when the conference was cancelled, we have had to think carefully about what it means to be Latinx,” Tapiero said. “Because Friday is the first day of the conference, we want the Latino Gala to be thoughtprovoking in a lighter way.”

Like other Heritage Series events, the gala is “a unifying event to bring both people of Latino background as well as others together as a community to enjoy performances, food and spoken word as a celebration of culture,” Gabrielle Ivellisse Feliciano ’18 said.

This year’s Latino Gala is unique in that it is presented in collaboration with alums and Sigma Lambda Upsilon/Señoritas Latinas Unidas Sorority, Inc., a national organization that encourages the academic achievement and advancement of Latina women, said Anne Marie Ponte, coordinator for co-curricular initiatives at the Brown Center for Students of Color.

The Latino Gala will feature a senior speaker, Rudy Torres ’16, the student dance group Mezcla, the national performance team Grupo Sadón and keynote speaker Rhode Island Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, the first Latina to win statewide office in New England. As a politically influential Latina woman, Gorbea is an ideal speaker for gala, as she is “part of rewriting the narrative,” Tapiero said.

TODAY

THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016 • PAGE 5

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sudoku

ELI WHITE / HERALD

Charlotte Rogan discusses her new novel, “Now and Again,” Wednesday night at the Brown Bookstore. The story features an Oklahoma mother who struggles to find her purpose.

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

RELEASE DATE– Thursday, April 7, 2016

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle c rNorris o s sandwJoyce o rNichols d Lewis Edited by Rich ACROSS 1 Regular patterns 7 Mass robes 11 __ time 14 Madrid-based airline 15 Bantu language 16 Keats’ “still unravish’d bride of quietness” 17 *Big-time 19 Barnyard noise 20 Topeka-to-Peoria dir.

21 Spiny houseplant 22 Rwandan ethnic group 23 Reporter’s query 25 Pundits 27 Baseball commissioner before Manfred 28 “May I get a word in?”

30 *Local legend sought in a 1999 horror film 32 Round building 33 Thumbs-up 34 Low-tech propeller 35 Most swanky 37 Whistleblower’s request 41 __ card 42 Ancient greeting 43 1986 #1 hit for Starship 44 *Oatmeal sweetener 48 Bamboozle 49 Sri __ 50 Pretend 52 MD for women 53 Old French coins 54 Cantina crock 55 Something to come up for 57 St. whose motto is “Forward” 58 *She voiced Princess Fiona in “Shrek” movies 62 Press into service 63 Cries of clarity 64 Very cold period 65 Brit. leaders, the last four of whom begin the answers to starred clues 66 Bakery output 67 Parable feature

DOWN 1 Finger-pointing pronoun 2 Its first champion was the Pitt.

Pipers 3 Decorates, as a royal crown 4 Waffle __ 5 Flags 6 Tessio in “The Godfather” 7 Rhododendron varieties 8 Star of “Dracula” (1931) 9 Risqué 10 Seek damages 11 Ruckus 12 Hot 13 Just the right amount 18 Aerie fledgling 22 Many a soap heroine 23 Briefcase fastener 24 Where Lima is 26 Deep gulfs 27 Adult cygnet 29 Mostly-shavedhead hairstyles 31 Classical guitar family name

36 Volcano near Catania 37 Online icon 38 Fruity wine drinks 39 City fooled by a horse 40 Betray boredom 42 Not ephemeral 44 Hit the roof 45 “To Kill a Mockingbird” theme

“Shakespeare is as traditional at Brown as the Carrie Tower or the Van Wickle Gates.”

— Coppélia Kahn, professor emerita of English

46 Burdens 47 Tracey of sketch comedy 51 ’30s V.P. John __ Garner 54 Pearl Harbor site 56 March time?

58 Hailed transport 59 Wildcatter’s find 60 In times past 61 __ master

See shakespeare on page 4.

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Black Freedom in the White House 12:00 P.M. Nightingale-Brown House

Study Abroad Financial Aid Info Session 4:00 P.M. J. Walter Wilson, Room 440

Email Encryption Workshop 5:00 P.M. Rockefeller Library

The Great Pompeii Project 5:00 P.M. Rhode Island Hall, Room 108

TOMORROW Duck Hunt 9:00 A.M. Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center

CRC Presents: Freshman Friday 4:30 P.M. Faunce Room 229

Latino Gala 6:30 P.M. Sayles Hall Auditorium

Mr. Burns, A PostElectric Play 8:00 P.M. Leeds Theatre

COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

R O L A N D H IG H

comic A Horse of Any Other Name | Zach Silberberg

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COMMENTARY THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016 • PAGE 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

SJP should apologize to Brown’s LGBTQ community RICHARD HECK op-ed contributor In a recent op-ed, Brown Students for Justice in Palestine has insisted that its opposition to the sponsorship by Brown Moral Voices of Janet Mock’s canceled lecture was not anti-Semitic but was based upon worries about the “political implications” of that sponsorship. It would be wrong simply to dismiss accusations that the Israeli government has engaged in “pinkwashing,” as Adam Bennett ’16 does. Propaganda is alive and well, and the issue is complex. But SJP has presented no evidence whatsoever that Moral Voices’ invitation to Janet Mock, or its members’ decision to focus their attention this year on LGBTQ issues, was part of any pinkwashing campaign. What the members of SJP have offered instead is the observation that Moral Voices is connected to Brown/RISD Hillel, which is connected to Hillel International, which uncritically supports the Israeli government, which has engaged in and encouraged pinkwashing. But none of that is at all relevant unless you wish to convict merely by association, and the association in this case is at best tenuous.

The first problem with this strategy, then, is that it would make Senator Joseph McCarthy blush.

As recent experience in this country has amply demonstrated, if we’re going to make progress on some of the issues that are important to us, we need to be willing to work with people with whom we may disagree about other issues that are equally important to us.

The contrary belief is what has, since

2009, underwritten the obstructionism of the Tea Party and has now brought us the nightmare that is the Republican presidential primary. The solution is not left-wing versions of Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, but a reaffirmation of the democratic values of pluralism and compromise. Indeed, SJP’s insistence upon ideological purity is not only deeply troubling but ultimately self-defeating, since it will always be the powerful who get to decide whose perspective is legitimate.

Of course, I agree that “no one should have to choose between Palestinian or queer liberation.” But when “Hillel’s sponsorship forced that choice,” SJP not only chose the former but presumed to choose for the rest of

disingenuous. We know exactly why Mock canceled her lecture: because “the focus of Janet’s work was lost leading up to the proposed event.” That is a gentle way of saying that the issues she was going to discuss had been overshadowed by the controversy created

by SJP. It would not surprise me if, in fact, Mock were deeply offended.

SJP owes both Mock and the LGBTQ community at Brown not just an explanation but also an apology. Their claim that they “regret the disappointment queer and trans students of color in particular have experienced” makes things worse, not better. That is not an apology, and SJP’s silence about how its actions have affected queer people at Brown who aren’t of color, or aren’t stu-

ing the violence of the Israeli regime” is absurd, a mockery of intersectionality.

We do not have to discuss everything at the same time. And thank goodness for that, since it would be difficult to talk at all otherwise.

SJP is not just saying that we ought to be able to discuss how Israel’s treatment of Palestinians intersects with LGBTQ issues. Of course we should.

But if that were their only concern, it would be no reason to object to Moral Voices’ sponsorship of Mock’s lecture, since that would not have prohibited such discussion. It is irrelevant that Hillel International has restrictive policies about whom affiliates can support.

None of those policies would have prohibited Mock from discussing whatev-

As recent experience in this country has amply demonstrated, if we’re going to make progress on some of the issues that are important to us, we need to be willing to work with people with whom we may disagree about other issues that are equally important to us. us, too. SJP will no doubt insist that its goal was only to save the rest of us from having to make the choice for ourselves. But even ignoring the many other problems with such a response, such as its arrogance and paternalism: Did the members of SJP not even consider the possibility that their actions might lead Mock to cancel her lecture? Either they did not, in which case they were astonishingly naive and culpably negligent, or they did, in which case they didn’t care (enough) about the effects such a cancellation might have on the LGBTQ community at Brown.

SJP’s remark that “we cannot know the full extent of Mock’s reasoning in deciding not to come to Brown” is

dents, makes it painfully clear how little regard they have for us.

If there were any actual evidence of pinkwashing in this particular case, that would be different. But SJP has hardly even attempted to provide such evidence. Or do they think the rest of us so unable to think critically that our simply attending a lecture that had nothing to do with Israel — but was sponsored by an organization that (if not for SJP’s own actions) most of us wouldn’t even have known was funded through Hillel — would somehow cause us to care less about the plight of Palestinians? SJP’s insistence that “trans liberation, racial justice and intersectional feminism … cannot be discussed without consider-

er she wished to discuss, let alone prohibited attendees from asking whatever questions they wished to ask. To suggest otherwise is again disingenuous.

We are left, then, with the following problem: It is very unclear what might have led SJP to associate Mock’s lecture with the oppression of Palestinians. Or, rather: It is all too clear.

In 2002, I was one of over 400 signatories of a petition that, among other things, “call(ed) on (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Harvard to divest from Israel and from U.S. companies that sell arms to Israel.” Reaction to the petition was predictable.

Angry and even threatening phone calls were made to signatories, and we

(and not just our actions) were labeled anti-Semitic. The charge was ridiculous, and for the very reason SJP mentions in its op-ed: It was based upon a familiar but nonetheless depressing inability to distinguish criticism of the Israeli government from prejudice against Jews.

I will here and now attest that such accusations are deeply hurtful. They should be made with great care and based upon very strong evidence, if made at all. I dare say that few of those who are now making such accusations against the members of SJP have exercised such care. Those who casually make such accusations should be ashamed of themselves, and those who are associated with Brown embarrass this institution.

But here’s the thing: If we who steadfastly oppose the Israeli treatment of Palestinians are going to defend ourselves against charges of anti-Semitism by insisting upon the distinction just mentioned, then we have a special obligation to be meticulous ourselves in observing it. The members of SJP have failed, on this occasion, to do that. As a result, they have not only undermined their own cause but have also embarrassed Brown.

In closing, let me just say this: If you are feeling good because you think this was directed at someone besides you, then you are wrong. It is directed at you. It is directed at all of us. If you aren’t guilty in this case, then you are guilty in some other case, and if you think you are too apathetic to be a target, then you are definitely a target. We all must do better.

Richard Heck P’16 is a professor of philosophy. He can be reached at richard_heck@brown.edu.

Making America vote again CLARE STEINMAN staff columnist The United States is often said to have pioneered the modern republic, in which citizens hold the coveted right to voice their political opinions through voting. And yet today, Americans exercise that right with far less frequency than citizens of other countries. Only 54 percent of the voting-eligible population (a figure that excludes non-citizens and felons who have lost the right to vote) voted in the 2012 presidential election, placing us 31st out of 34 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The problem, interestingly, is not primarily one of turnout but one of voter registration: Of registered voters, 84.3 percent turned out to vote in 2012, the seventh-highest figure in the OECD. Voter registration in this country is an arduous process that seems almost intentionally difficult to navigate. This especially affects college students attempting to vote in their home states, which requires the extra, bureaucratically intensive step of obtaining and submitting an absentee ballot. This logistical difficulty goes a long way in explaining why 18- to 24-year olds were about 20 percentage points less likely to vote than the overall population in the 2012 election. In the 2014 midterm elections, only 17 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds cast a ballot. Midterms always have a lower turnout than regular election cycles, but with over 30

million 18- to 24-year-olds in the United States that year, that 17 percent figure represents 25 million wasted opportunities for Americans in our age demographic to have their voices heard.

There is no shortage of problems with our electoral process. From super PACs to felon disenfranchisement, American elections are dictated by systems that too often favor the privileged and powerful at the expense of the rest of society.

ter: Alex Smith, the national chairman of the Republican College National Committee, once noted, “If you started the voting age at age 30, (former) Governor Mitt Romney would be president today.” Regardless of your political affiliation, 25 million wasted votes is not something to be trifled with, particularly when the largest popular vote margin separating the winner and loser of a presidential election in U.S. history was just un-

Automatic voter registration would make voting more accessible for students navigating the confusing electoral process for the first time, not to mention for the millions of other eligible but unregistered voters who lack the time, motivation or knowledge to figure out the arduous registration process.

For example, the simple fact that Election Day occurs on a Tuesday is an insurmountable hurdle for anyone who cannot afford to take time off of work to stand in line at the polls. Restrictive voter ID laws are being ramped up across the country. The barriers that college students face while attempting to vote seem trivial when compared to the behemoth of campaign finance reform or the persistent discrimination that occurs at and around polling sites.

Still, our age group’s increased involvement in the electoral process has the potential to transform politics in a way that transcends any particular candidate or election cycle. Our votes mat-

der 18 million votes in 1972. Imagine what could happen if more than 17 percent of us voted.

The OECD data suggest that the biggest barrier to voting for eligible citizens is the registration process. When people are registered to vote, they are much more likely to make it to the polls on Election Day. While it’s true that there is some degree of self-selection here — those who take the time to register to vote are more likely to take the time to vote — if every 18-year-old were automatically registered, a major roadblock to democratic participation would be removed.

Automatic voter registration would make voting more accessible for students navigating the con-

fusing electoral process for the first time, not to mention for the millions of other eligible but unregistered voters who lack the time, motivation or knowledge to figure out the arduous registration process.

President Obama spoke in favor of automatic voter registration in February, calling it “something we should be proud to do.” Legislation to that end has already been passed in California, Oregon and West Virginia, but there is still a long way to go. In a democratic republic like ours, active voter participation keeps politicians accountable to their constituents and is one of the most powerful ways to effect change. The more people vote, the more powerful voting becomes.

I’m shocked by the number of Brown students I’ve talked to who can rattle off polling statistics or debate eloquently on the merits of their preferred candidates but didn’t cast a primary ballot because they forgot about the deadline or couldn’t figure out how to register. Political opinions and knowledge are great, but they are put to waste unless you actually exercise your right to vote. There’s still time to register for the primaries in California, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., Kentucky, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Puerto Rico, South Dakota and West Virginia. But even if your state’s deadline for the primary has passed, you can still register in time for the general election in November. That’s the first step to changing 17 percent to 100 percent.

Claire Steinman ‘19 can be reached at claire_steinman@brown.edu.

NEWS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016