Thursday, April 28, 2016

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

VOLUME CLI, ISSUE 58

WWW.BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

30 percent of athletes quit respective teams Losing culture, coaching turnover contribute to athletics program’s high attrition rate

By BEN SHUMATE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

This story is the third in a three-part series about Brown athletics.

DANIELLE PERELMAN / HERALD

Students dressed in black gathered on the Quiet Green in November to express solidarity with students demonstrating at the University of Missouri, marking one of many on-campus student protests this year.

Years of activism shape Paxson administration Recent release of diversity plan reflects changes in Paxson’s approach since Ray Kelly incident

By SHIRA BUCHSBAUM SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Across college campuses nationwide, administrators have grappled with how to address the demands of students calling for increased support regarding issues of diversity and inclusion. Their reactions include responses as disparate as the

“muted response” and subsequent resignation of Tim Wolfe, former president of the University of Missouri, and Yale’s $50 million plan to increase faculty diversity.

In February, Brown released the final version of its Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan after over a year of planning, revisions and input from students, alums, faculty members, staff members and community members.

President Christina Paxson P’19 noted that while “some interactions were more productive than others,” many of her conversations with students last semester “contributed to progress” on the DIAP

and other initiatives.

Protests are necessary because “universities are very conservative … in that they’re slow to change,” said Noel Radomski, director of the Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education, a research center on secondary education that often advises legislators and college administrators.

Demonstrations force institutions to “stay nimble” in order to process information.

“Brown has a long history of protests.

We’re not afraid of them,” Paxson said, » See PAXSON, page 3

BRUNO’S WOES For athletes who spend much of their childhood and high school years dedicated to a sport, reaching the Division I level is often the ultimate goal. Each athlete takes a different path to the highest level of collegiate competition, but at the heart of the journey lies years of hard work and a passion for their sport.

But a number of passionate athletes who enter Brown as first-years may experience situations that drain them of this passion and drive them to quit the sport they’ve played all their lives.

At Brown, about 30 percent of athletes choose not to continue playing their sport through their senior year, according to Director of Athletics Jack Hayes. To put this in perspective, out of a typical class of about 260 first-year

athletes entering the school, including both recruits and walk-ons, nearly 80 will quit before their senior year.

While many factors typically go into such a difficult decision, there are certain noticeable trends that may explain why such a large percentage of athletes at Brown decide to quit.

A revolving door Of the 16 team sports at Brown, 10 have coaches who were hired in 2010 or after. Coaching turnover can cause friction for a team and influence athletes to eventually quit, said Hilary Levey Friedman, visiting assistant professor of American studies, who teaches AMST 1600: “Sports in American Society”.

“When a coach who recruits a particular class leaves, often a lot of those athletes leave the sport,” she said. “They don’t have that connection to the new coach, or the new coach’s recruits get more playing time.”

Such was the experience of one female varsity athlete, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of personal repercussions. She made the decision to quit after a divide surfaced between new players recruited by the team’s new head coach and older players brought in by the former coach. » See ATHLETES, page 2

DIAP to grow minority mentoring programs Low UCS retention rates lead to young general body DIAP to model updated Time constraints, student apathy, role of general body factor into underclassman departure

By MATTHEW JARRELL STAFF WRITER

The Undergraduate Council of Students is placing the final touches on one of its most active years to date. But as the semester draws to a close, it faces a familiar dilemma: convincing its general body members, who are overwhelmingly underclassmen, to stay on for another year.

Historically, UCS has been composed of first-years and sophomores seeking to gain initial experience in working for student government. The open process for becoming a general body member, which only requires collecting 100 signatures on a petition, inflates the number of first-year representatives relative to those who are older, said UCS President Sazzy Gourley ’16.

Gourley also noted that the general body is merely one piece of a larger student government puzzle, and many

INSIDE

general body members use initial experiences on the general body to move to other areas of advocacy. “The relationship between UCS and University committees is often very fluid,” he said. “Our goal is to drive avenues and support structures to engage the highest number of students in University governance more broadly.”

UCS Vice President Alana Bhatla ’16 emphasized the role of the general body as a gateway to student government. “Our general body is a place where anybody of any knowledge level or skill can get involved in University governance,” she said. “We try to make the process as easy as possible for someone to be a voting member of our general body.”

Zachary Nelkin ’17, a current UCS general body member and a candidate for president for the last two years, expressed a different perspective. For many, he said, it “makes a ton of sense to leave UCS after freshman year.” General body members, when compared with the executive board, function as a “rubber stamp,” and rarely do major initiatives come from the general body, he added.

The only way to correct this » See UCS, page 2

programs after Women’s Launch Pad, First-Gen Mentorship Program

By MELISSA CRUZ SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan, released by President Christina Paxson P’19 in February, includes the intention to create and expand upon mentoring resources at Brown for students of color, LGBTQ+ students and first-generation college students.

The document refers to Women’s Launch Pad, a mentoring program that connects female-identifying alumnae to women in their senior year at Brown, as a model for the new mentoring resources.

The program is a collaboration between the student group Women in the World, the presidential advisory board and the Women’s Leadership Council, which consists of alums and parents of students.

The WLC, founded under former President Ruth Simmons, was founded in 2006 to give members the opportunity to be paired with individual students and offer guidance about careers and

COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY

Tara Shirazian ’99 MD’03 speaks at the Women’s Launch Pad kickoff. WLP will be expanded under the Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan. life after graduation. The mentors and mentees meet a minimum of six times between October and April, and one of those meetings has to be in person.

The Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion has “been working with a sub-committee of the DIAP implementation working group to more fully understand the scope of the mentoring resources that are available to students,

faculty (members) and staff (members),” wrote Liza Cariaga-Lo, vice president for academic development, diversity and inclusion, in an email to The Herald.

The working group will be looking at both existing mentoring program models as well as those at peer institutions, Cariaga-Lo wrote.

The Office of Institutional Diversity » See MENTORING, page 5

WEATHER

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

NEWS Herald Poll finds athletes, BEO concentrators hook up at higher rate due to communities’ cultures

ARTS & CULTURE Eat Drink RI festival highlights small businesses, benefits R.I. community food bank

COMMENTARY Wainger ’16: Athletes balance heavy workload, practice, social life, deserve to be here

COMMENTARY Hu ’18, Rowland ’17: Informed campus populous leads to richer campus discussion

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TOMORROW

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NEWS

PAGE 2 • THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

» UCS, from page 1 perception is to make it more clear that the initiative of members is valued, and this is difficult to do when they are not elected, Nelkin said. Nelkin ran for president this year on a platform of structural reform, stating that the entirety of the council should be popularly elected.

Former members of UCS praised executive board leadership from past years and cited time constraints as the main factor in their decisions to leave the council.

Heather Sabel ’17 joined as a freshman and was a member of the Campus Life committee. “It seemed like something where I could have an impact,” she said. Sabel noted a major survey of campus lighting and the introduction of the What to Fix Brown digital platform as impactful initiatives begun during her stint on the council. The executive board “did a great job of making people feel like they were engaging in critical and interesting discussion,” she said.

Edwin Portugal ’17.5 brought high school student government experience to UCS when he joined his freshman year and cited similar motivations for partaking in the work of the council. The larger than average time commitment of UCS led to his leaving after one year.

In a similar vein, Jeff Salvadore ’17 decided that his work with the Brown

Democrats and ARRR!!!, the Pirate a cappella group, outweighed the time he could spend on UCS. He also noted that he ran for chair of the Student Activities committee and was defeated.

Both Portugal and Salvadore said that UCS struggles with campus visibility. “I feel like a lot of upperclassmen don’t care about what UCS does,” Portugal said.

“Since I was on UCS, I read the emails that are sent out, but I don’t think a lot of students do.”

“UCS does what it’s supposed to do,” Salvadore said, noting the organization’s strength in “bringing stakeholders together.” But, he added, “in day-to-day student life, it’s not that essential.”

The council is improving its communication with the student body, though there is a “clear tension” between the work being done and publicizing that work because of the busy schedules of executives, Gourley said. He cited the end of year report being released by the council and campus-wide update emails as successful communications initiatives.

Bhatla mentioned the updated UCS website and promotion of the What to Fix Brown tool.

Retention reflects group members’ continued support of their organization’s mission, and as UCS has focused more on advocacy work in addition to operational projects in the last few years, the number of returning members has risen, Gourley

» ATHLETES, from page 1

chemistry comes in.”

“It didn’t really start off like, ‘oh, we hate (the new recruits),’ but it kind of got to the point where we saw the favoritism emerging,” she said.

Another player — also choosing to remain anonymous for fear of personal repercussions — who also left a team said her new coach’s efforts to get to know players that were already part of the program seemed forced, weakening the already limited connection between the new coach and the established players.

Hayes recognized that coaching turnover opens up the possibility that more athletes will choose to leave the program. “When there’s coaching changes, students may look at the program differently under a new coach than they did under the previous coach,” he said.

For losing teams that experience this change, the contentious relationship between coaches, new players and older players tends to take its toll on the chemistry and performance.

“It started from the coaching, down to the players — that divide we were talking about showed itself,” the first player said. “We just didn’t mesh as a group.”

“Never once had we just banded together and pulled through a game,” she added. “We were never able to push through a win because that’s where

A ‘losing atmosphere’ Micaela Ross ’16 had lost plenty of games growing up. A Texas native, Ross played goalie for the only female hockey team in her age group in the entire state, which meant that most of her games were against male counterparts. But she never considered quitting just because her teams were losing.

Ross successfully followed in the footsteps of her two older brothers and signed to play Division I hockey, something she said she worked her entire life to accomplish.

Ross came to Brown as part of a seven-member class of women’s hockey recruits in fall 2012, but just three of those players — not including Ross — were still with the program for the 20152016 season. With just three seniors, the Bears won only three games and had the second-smallest roster in the Ivy League.

Many things weighed on Ross when making the decision to quit, including the guilt of leaving behind her teammates and giving up a position she had worked so hard for. She also recognized that so many others who were not recruited would have loved the chance to be in her shoes. But the situation worsened to the point where, in fall 2014, she decided to quit the sport she had played since she was six years old.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

TIMOTHY MUELLER-HARDER / HERALD

Undergraduate Council of Students President Sazzy Gourley ’16 and Vice President Alana Bhatla ’16 address the council’s general body. said. UCS is “adapting both in our priorities and … our internal structure to more fully create an effective council,” he said.

As members of the new administration transition into their roles over the summer, a number of new projects will be in the works, Gourley said. The University will convene a working group to address issues related to Title VI, which deals with race and national origin, and UCS will advocate for the group to

specifically focus on “intersectionality of Title VI and Title IX” among other topics, Gourley said.

Gourley also noted achievements in the four broad areas of UCS advocacy over the course of the year: student wellness, diversity and inclusion, transparent University governance and campus life and curricular improvements.

Major accomplishments of the council this year include a pledge

from the University to eliminate the seven-session limit on consultations at Counseling and Psychological Services, the institution of the Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan, financial assistance with travel for international students and an increase in the student activities fee for the second year in a row. These and others will be detailed in an end of year report scheduled for release Friday, Gourley said.

The two teams Ross played on at Brown went 6-20-1 and 4-20-5, but it was not just the team’s record that drove her away from the ice. It was a mix of the losing, displeasure with her coach and an overwhelming sense of defeat that influenced her decision.

“It was different at Brown because not only were we losing all the time, but we had this losing atmosphere. People were just going through the motions,” she said. “There was such little morale, so on top of that, to be losing all the time — all of these things were coming together to make it not a good situation.”

For Ross, there was never a new coach to get used to, but there was enough discontent among players with the existing coach that it actually served as a bonding force for the team.

“Your teammates are your anchor at Brown,” she said. “A lot of us were having a pretty tough time. You get really tight with everyone, and rely on people more than when things are going right.”

place in 2014, when Flynn was a new coach presiding over a team of her predecessor’s recruits. Along with women’s hockey and softball, women’s lacrosse and women’s soccer have seen more athletes quit than their male counterpart teams.

Ross said that male and female athletes may react differently towards teammates who quit, noting that she still remains friends and roommates with some of her former teammates and even younger members of the team as well.

Without prominent professional leagues for women’s sports in the United States, female athletes may also struggle with not seeing any sort of future in their sport.

“College is like the pinnacle of women’s ice hockey,” Ross said. “It’s hard when you’re sacrificing 35 hours of your week to this sport, but also if you’re unhappy playing it and there’s no future for it after college, it feels like it’s just harming you in a way.”

One of the aforementioned varsity athletes said that coaches also may not understand that players’ foremost goal at school is to end up with a career after graduation, which is especially true for women whose opportunities in professional sports are limited.

“They don’t have an appreciation for going from college to the workforce,” she said. “That’s what most of us are doing.

We’re not going to go to the (pros).”

The gender divide For Brown’s teams, where retention rate is low across the board, quitting seems to be even more prevalent among women’s teams. Brown softball has just one senior this year after bringing in a class of seven in 2012. In 2015, former players accused Head Coach Katie Flynn of bullying. The alleged incidents took

Outside of sports The Ivy League also creates a greater pull for athletes away from their sport.

Without athletic scholarships, athletes don’t face the choice of remaining unhappy on a team or quitting and losing scholarship money.

“Even if you earned your spot partially because of your athletic performance, that spot cannot be taken away, and your financial aid cannot be taken away” from you if you quit, Friedman said. “One of the beauties of the Ivy League is that once you’re in, you’re in.”

The other non-sport opportunities — which athletes are typically too busy to take advantage of — also become more attractive as their athletic situation worsens.

“I can understand if someone chooses not to participate anymore because they choose to do something else,” Hayes said. “We’re at an institution where there’s a lot of things to pursue.

There’s a lot of things that would be of interest to students.”

“When I was playing and I knew I was going to play in college, I knew I wasn’t going to do those things, but I was okay with that,” said another former athlete, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of personal repercussions.

She plans to study abroad in the future, which she could not have done if she had remained on her team. “If it was fine, if I was having fun, then I would have stayed — there wasn’t that pull,” she added.

Ross, who also studied abroad after leaving the team, said she has since found her passions and has become more well-rounded academically.

“It’s hard at Ivies when there’s no money tying you to it, and there are so many amazing opportunities to do research or get a sweet internship,” she said. “If you are unhappy and there’s no future for you after college in your sport, it becomes like ‘what am I doing? I’m unhappy, and I’m closing off opportunities for myself.’”

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THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 • PAGE 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

» PAXSON, from page 1 adding that given the national dialogue around diversity and social inequality, demonstrations relating to those issues are expected.

Experts in higher education agree.

College campuses have always been hotbeds for activism, and this year’s breakout of protests is no surprise given the recent intense national discourse on issues of social justice such as police brutality and structural racism.

But the constituents who make up the Brown community are not uniform in their perspectives on how Paxson, as the University’s leader, should address activists’ concerns. Disagreements center on when Paxson should intervene if a controversial demonstration takes place, the balance she should strike between collaborating with students and exercising authority over them as well as how she should navigate ideological divides among different constituencies.

When to intervene Paxson must confront the question of whether and when to speak out on given protests should they occur.

In some cases, she has acted preemptively. In fall 2014, in anticipation of the Janus Forum event featuring Wendy McElroy, a researcher who does not believe rape culture exists on college campuses, and Jessica Valenti, founder of feministing.com, Paxson sent a community-wide email expressing her disagreement with McElroy’s views.

Other times ­— such as in the cases of the fall 2013 Ray Kelly protest and the Janet Mock petition this spring, both of which led to the cancellation of campus talks by outside speakers — Paxson has spoken out in the wake of activist efforts, criticizing student behavior.

In all three of these cases, campus community members had mixed reactions to Paxson’s interventions.

Referring to Paxson’s email leading up to the Janus Forum event, David Josephson, professor of music, called the email “perfectly fine” in principle but an “error of judgement.”

Paxson “inserted herself into the discussion in the hope that she would defuse the situation,” Josephson said, but her email “cut the legs off of the student organization that went to the trouble of organizing the event.”

“If it’s debatable, it should be debated,” he said.

With regard to Janet Mock’s lecture, Josephson and other faculty members question whether discourse on the talk would have yielded a different outcome had Paxson spoken out earlier. Students circulated a petition asking Mock to dissociate the event from one of its sponsors, Moral Voices, a social justice group supported by Brown/RISD Hillel, citing what they asserted are Hillel International’s views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as justification.

When considering whether to send community-wide emails about campus events, Paxson asks herself whether “the community need(s) to hear from the University leadership in this moment.

I ask myself, is this the time for our students, faculty (members) and staff (members) to be reminded of our mission or our values as a community?” she wrote in a follow-up email to The Herald.

The timing of administrative intervention is not so simple, Paxson said.

“When the campus is confronting a difficult and important issue, you don’t know whether you’re at the beginning, in the middle of it or near the end.”

Paxson said that in her position, she is expected to respond quickly to situations unfolding on campus. “We are working with a very fast news cycle in that social media brings the news of an issue to people almost instantaneously, and it has brought people to expect a quick reaction,” she wrote.

During times of campus unrest, administrators must remain rational and deliberative, Radomski said.

“It’s better to wait and weigh the impact of events and who is being affected, and to ensure that the facts are clear, rather than play to the immediacy of the news,” Paxson wrote.

At the same time, waiting too long to act can exacerbate tensions, Paxson said.

“Letting things fester and not addressing them is very dangerous.”

Sometimes, the protests that stem from built-up tension can enlighten administrators about student emotions, Paxson added. The blackout protest held in response to events at Mizzou last semester, for example, indicated to the University that students felt excluded and isolated, which led to increased conversation with students, she said.

To collaborate or to dictate?

Higher education experts said a willingness to engage with student protests and see them as productive is the most successful way for administrators to approach activism on campus.

On some campuses last semester, administrators “didn’t treat the college students as college students,” Radomski said. A passive approach, such as the one taken by University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe, tends to be less effective than one in which administrators try to shift protests from a confrontation to an exchange of ideas through open communication, he added.

The Paxson administration’s responses to student activism since the Ray Kelly incident reflect a desire to engage with student concerns.

After students shut down former NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly’s lecture in fall 2013, Paxson and other administrators held an open meeting in Alumnae Hall, during which students expressed frustration and shared experiences with racism, prejudice and feeling unsafe on campus.

Manuel Contreras ’16, co-founder of 1vyG, an organization for first-generation college students, and a former Herald editorial page board editor, noted how Paxson listened to personal experiences during the forum that demonstrated “there are things that she doesn’t understand.”

Since then, administrators have participated in open forums on mental health policies, updates to the University’s Title IX policies and the first draft of the DIAP in December.

Protests should not be the only catalyst for universities to confront student concerns, and resources beyond forums — such as campus institutions designated for soliciting and processing student feedback — are essential to mitigating tension and normalizing productive dialogue, Radomski said.

Institutions require “different lines of communication open to students … all the time, not just when there’s a series of incidents, because then it’s too late,” he said. “It’s (an administration’s) responsibility on campus to have that infrastructure in place.”

Following last year’s protests regarding sexual assault on campus, the University created a Title IX office, and amidst a dialogue of support for

first-generation students on campus, the University established the First Generation Student Center in March.

Before that, in 2004, the LGBTQ Center was created through a committee that formed as a result of support from students, faculty and staff members for increased awareness of LGBTQ issues on campus.

Having these centers helps universities to address concerns that arise in certain student communities in the long run, Radomski noted. Big institutional changes are expensive, but preexisting centers and student resources that can be developed are both effective and defray the costs of sudden changes, he added.

Striking a ‘middle ground’ When Paxson steps into campus controversies, expressing her views via emails, Herald op-eds or public talks, she tends to face criticism. Often, some on campus admonish her for doing too little while others claim she has done too much, she said.

Such was the case with Paxson’s community-wide email addressing Mock’s cancellation of her lecture and student activism surrounding it. Paxson said she wrote the email because she felt the message the petitioners were sending, “that Hillel cannot be a space for social justice work, was wrong.”

Paxson said she received criticism for choosing not to take action against the petitioners, which she said she would not do, and for mentioning a contemporaneous incident of anti-Semitic and homophobic graffiti scrawled on a dormitory wall in the email, which some students felt conflated anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism.

Josephson praised Paxson’s email: “I sensed in the president’s measured and superbly argued response to the Mock debacle a turning of the tide” in administrative responses to student activism, he wrote in a follow-up email to The Herald.

Though Ken Miller ’70 P’02, professor of biology, said he was “very happy” with the community letter Paxson sent after the incident, he felt that in this case and in others, the administration has only made statements defending free expression — an ideal some see as essential to debates over which speakers should be invited to speak on campus — “after the damage has been done.”

These debates are not exclusive to Brown, as elite college campuses across the country have seen debates on whether speech perceived as harmful should be given a platform within the bounds of college communities. These debates have emerged within the context of broader discussions on improving diversity and inclusivity on campuses.

Administrations at Yale, Princeton and Wesleyan have each confronted breakouts of activism this year and have responded to their students differently. At Princeton, students advocated mandatory cultural competency training for faculty and staff members, a diversity distribution requirement and the removal of the name of Woodrow Wilson from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Wilson College, citing Wilson’s racist views as justification for the name change, the Daily Princetonian reported.

Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber acknowledged and signed modified demands set forth by the Black Justice League in November but set no deadline for final decisions and the development of an action plan.

In fall 2015, the Wesleyan Argus published an op-ed challenging the

legitimacy of the Black Lives Matter movement, sparking student backlash on campus. Wesleyan’s president, provost and vice president of equity and inclusion wrote a response entitled “Black Lives Matter and So Does Free Speech,” noting that while “debates can raise intense emotions … that doesn’t mean that we should demand ideological conformity because people are made uncomfortable.”

But Paxson is not necessarily looking to her counterparts at other universities for guidelines on how to deal with activism.

“If I took more cues from other presidents, I would probably say less,” Paxson said. “The safe thing is always to say less.”

“Very few places have been willing to confront these issues in an open space and embrace these tensions rather than say that they don’t exist,” said Alia Wong, an associate editor and writer at the Atlantic who covers education.

In October, after The Herald published two racist opinions columns, Paxson, Provost Richard Locke P’17 and Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey ’91 MA’06 penned an op-ed urging students to find common ground to improve campus institutions. In February, Paxson published a piece in the Huffington Post, commending “constructive irreverence” as a powerful force to bring about change.

Some faculty members feel that Brown’s administration should have taken as strong of a stance about The Herald’s controversial op-eds as that taken by Wesleyan’s administration. In a response to Paxson, Locke and Carey’s piece, faculty members Miller, Josephson, Luther Spoehr, Glenn Loury and Ross Cheit argued that the administators’ response did not adequately defend the right to free expression.

Miller said he is “particularly concerned about whether or not we are creating an environment where different (political viewpoints are) immediately branded as racist and off-limits.” It is important to “expose people to these ideas so they can fight them,” he said.

Josephson has noticed what he described as Paxson’s “bending over backwards to hold to a middle ground so that she won’t offend anybody and so she does not endanger an already fragile peace on this campus.”

But Paxson said that the increased dialogue about issues of diversity and inclusion on campus simply results from increased diversity among Brown community members. “It would be easier to have a peaceful campus if everyone who comes here looks the same,” she said.

“But what we do is messy.”

Pamela Oliver, a professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who studies media coverage of protests and demonstrations, offered a similar perspective in an interview. More activism does not necessarily mean situations are worsening, she said. “Paradoxically, you get more protests when things are getting better.” For example, “reports about rape go up when you signal that you’re willing to listen to reports about rape.”

DIAP Since the Ray Kelly incident, which took place in October of Paxson’s second year on campus, diversity and inclusion have been at the center of campus discourse and have at times seemed to define the Paxson administration’s relationship to students.

Though not without its pitfalls, the process leading up to the release of the DIAP reflects what the University has

learned about incorporating student concerns and feedback into its policymaking and broad administrative goals.

Contreras said he feels the DIAP fits within Paxson’s long-term strategic plan, Building on Distinction, which was released in October 2013 just days before Ray Kelly’s talk.

But the DIAP did not appear out of thin air. Though Paxson knew about Brown’s reputation as a socially conscious campus before taking on her role as president, she said she did not expect Brown’s culture of “shared governance” among students, faculty members and administrators. That type of culture requires an open and transparent decisionmaking process, she said.

The meeting Paxson held after the Ray Kelly protest indicated that student insight is crucial to progress and development in larger University plans, Contreras said. Had Ray Kelly and the aftermath not occurred, “the Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan may not have been as thorough and smart,” he added.

When the University solicited student feedback on the draft it released of the DIAP through an open forum held Dec. 1, students criticized what they perceived as the tight deadline for feedback of Dec. 4. This led the University to push back the deadline for feedback to Jan. 8.

While she said she could not speak to the case of Brown in particular, Wong said university administrations rarely reshape their agendas based on student demands. “My inkling is (universities) haven’t really done much” in these situations, Wong said. Addressing demands, which are sometimes abstract, “isn’t as easy as it sounds.”

Faculty members also offered the University feedback that seems to have had some influence on the plan’s revision. After the draft’s release, members of the Department of Ethnic Studies released a draft revision, which they called the Five Percent Plan, that called on the University to bump its financial commitment up from $100 million to $150 million. Upon the Feb. 1 release of the final plan, which allots $165 million, Paxson called it the most comprehensive diversity plan of any proposed by universities.

The faculty members who signed the Five Percent Plan either declined to comment or could not be reached for comment. Coordinators of the Brown Center for Students of Color’s Heritage Series, program groups dedicated to creating cultural and communal spaces for students of given identities, also either declined to comment or could not be reached for comment.

NEWS

PAGE 4 • THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Poll finds athletes, BEO concentrators hook up at higher rates Hooking up and class year First-year students were significantly more likely to have never hoooked up (meaning: making out or more intimate encounters including those in relationships) with anyone at Brown. The percentage of people who have never hooked up with anyone at Brown decreases with each successive class year.

35 percent

33.2%

30 27.1%

25 20.5%

20 15

FIRST-YEAR

10

SOPHOMORE

12.9% JUNIOR SENIOR

5 0

Source: Spring 2016 Herald Poll EMMA JERZYK / HERALD

Students cite time commitment, proximity to peers, culture of concentration as factors in rates of intimacy

By ROSE SHEEHAN STAFF WRITER

Data from a recent Herald poll indicated that 85 percent of business, entrepreneurship and organizations and economics concentrators and 91 percent of athletes have hooked up with someone during their time at Brown, compared to 76 percent of overall students.

The poll defined hooking up as

“making out or more intimate encounters,” including those between students in relationships at Brown. Its results also revealed that physical and life science concentrators hook up less than the average Brown student.

A freshman athlete, who requested anonymity for fear of personal repercussions, said that he was not surprised that athletes hook up more frequently than other students. “They’re around

each other so much,” he said, adding that athletes tend to hook up with other athletes.

For athletes, successful hookups are also a source of pride, he said.

“It’s always impressive after a night out with your guys,” he said. “In the morning you wake up and you’re like, ‘anyone get lucky last night?’”

Athletes cannot always attend parties as frequently as other students due to games and “dry season,” when athletes are barred by a coach or captains from substance use when their sport

is in season. When athletes do go out, they try to make the night worth it, he added. “The few times they do go out, … they’re looking for someone to hook up with.”

While some athletes may claim they choose casual hookups over relationships because of time constraints, that is not an excuse, he said. A commitment to playing a varsity sport still leaves some time for a relationship, he added.

According to the poll, while more athletes are pursuing BEO and economics concentrations than any other fields of study, they still make up less than 20 percent of all BEO and economics concentrators.

Only 15 percent of BEO and economics concentrators have not hooked up with anyone at Brown because of the personality type that predominates among students in these concentrations, said Michael McDonnell-Diaz ’19, an economics concentrator.

Because “econ people are looking into going into business in the future,” he said, “they put themselves out there and are more confident in themselves.”

The competitive nature of BEO and economics concentrators also may make them more likely to hook up, McDonnell-Diaz added.

While the Herald poll reported that life and physical science concentrators hook up less frequently than other Brown students, hookups are

not necessarily the norm, wrote Naomi Ninneman, interim director of BWell health promotion at health services, in an email to The Herald. Survey research done by her organization indicated that one third of Brown students have had no sexual partners in the last year.

“While it’s totally normal to be having sex, in casual or committed relationships, when you are in college, it’s also totally normal to not be having sex,” Ninneman wrote.

The busy academic schedules of physical and life science concentrators may account for the lower percentage of hookups in these concentrations, wrote Kevin Chen ’19 MD ’23, a PLME student, in an email to The Herald. “Physical (and) life science concentrators often have much more studying to do and thus spend much more time studying than ‘going out,’” Chen wrote.

But hookups are still relatively common among students in the physical and life sciences, Chen added. “Many science concentrators still hook up as a means of self-exploration and stress relief.”

Sheila Moran ’19, a neuroscience concentrator, agreed with Chen’s belief that large workloads have something to do with the lower rate of hookups among physical and life science students. But, as far as she knows, “there’s not really any scientific reason not to” hook up, Moran said.

University to offer honorary degrees to scholars, artists Recipients include professors, Nobel Prize winner, activists, University alums

By MARK LIANG STAFF WRITER

The University recently announced its selection of eight scholars and intellectuals to be given honorary degrees this May during the 248th commencement ceremony, according to a University press release. Among them are a surgeon, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and a leading Shakespeare expert, all to be awarded for their contributions to society in their fields.

Two of the eight honorees are alums: Thomas G. Catena ’86 and Jean Howard ’70.

Catena is the medical director of the Mother of Mercy Hospital in central Sudan, which is the sole surgical hospital in the Nuba Mountains, a largely impoverished area with one million people. He was named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” in 2015 for his work. Catena is being honored for his humanitarian efforts — treating a staggering number of diseases, from malaria to brain injuries, since 2008. He will be awarded a Doctorate of Medical Science.

Howard has taught for almost three decades at Columbia, where she is a professor of the humanities. Her work was among the first to use feminist critiques of early drama. An author of five books and over 50 essays, she is also a regarded scholar of Shakespeare, formerly serving as president of the Shakespeare Association of America. Howard will be awarded a Doctorate of Humane Letters.

Cornelia Bargmann is a neurobiologist known for her work with C. elegans, a model organism that has allowed her to understand the interactions among genetics, neurology and behavior.

Bargmann is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is currently the head of the Lulu and Anthony Wang Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior at Rockefeller University. She will be receiving a Doctorate of Science.

Umberto Crenca started AS220, a nonprofit community arts center in Providence that aims to be “a local home and forum for the arts,” especially for artists who cannot find the space or have the means to perform or create their art, according to its website. The art center has housed about 93,000 exhibits and provided space for 1,000 artists. Crenca will receive a Doctorate of Fine Arts.

COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY

The 2016 honorary degree recipients include Angus Deaton, a Nobel Prize winner, and Antonia Hernández, an activist for underprivileged groups.

Angus Deaton is a professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton. In 2015, Deaton received the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on consumerism, welfare and financial inequality.

Trained at Cambridge University, he is an accomplished author and teacher with over three decades of experience. In a New York Times article, journalist Justin Wolfers wrote of Deaton, “he’s motivated by the questions that really matter, he is intellectually relentless, he has enormous integrity, and he has devoted his life to understanding and improving the lot of the poor.” Deaton will be awarded a Doctorate of Humane Letters.

Kevin Gover, a member of the Pawnee Nation in Oklahoma, runs the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. Gover served as the assistant secretary of Indian affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior until 2001, after which he worked as a senior executive for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Gover spent his career rebuilding relationships between the U.S.

government and Indian nations. He will receive a Doctorate of Humane Letters.

Antonia Hernández has had an extensive career in legal services and community affairs, serving as president and chief executive officer of the California Community Foundation. She is being recognized for her work with underprivileged groups in Los Angeles, providing them with legal support, housing, education and other basic needs. She will receive a Doctorate of Humane Letters.

Charles Rosenthal served as a trustee on the University’s Corporation from 1992 to 2007. He is currently the a senior managing director and portfolio manager for First Manhattan Consulting Group in New York City. He has been a longtime supporter of the partnership between the University and the Marine Biological Laboratory, a marine biology institute that focuses on biomedicine, biology and environmental science education and research in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

He will receive a Doctorate of Humane Letters.

NEWS

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 • PAGE 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Class popularity driven by rarity of subject matter, word of mouth Structure, meeting time, topic, capped status all affect students’ class preregistration decisions

By SUVY QIN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Each semester, many classes from a variety of departments fill up quickly during pre-registration for the following semester — sometimes leading to packed classrooms, other times to empty seats on the first day of class. With preregistration for the fall 2016 semester currently underway, The Herald looked into several classes that filled up during last semester’s pre-registration to see what accounts for these classes’ popularity and whether student interest was maintained after pre-registration.

For some smaller classes, seats were completely filled after seniors registered.

For example, several sections of ENGL 0930: “Introduction to Creative Nonfiction” and both sections of UNIV 0400: “Beyond Narnia: The Literature of C.S. Lewis,” were filled after senior registration. Both sections of ENGN 1010: “The Entrepreneurial Process: Innovation in Practice” were full after junior registration, as was the only section of PLCY 1800: “Investigating Modes of Social Change.” PHIL 1520: “Consciousness” was filled after sophomores registered for classes.

The faculty members teaching these courses offered various explanations as to why their respective classes filled up quickly.

Timothy Flanigan, professor of medicine, has taught “Beyond Narnia,” a discussion course about the fiction writings of C.S. Lewis, for the past six years, Flanigan said. Initially, there was only one section, and “the first class was packed,” he added. “I thought the only thing stranger than a physician teaching a discussion course on C.S. Lewis was that this many Brown students signed up for it.”

Since then, the class has been filled beyond capacity every year, leading to an additional section being offered this semester, Flanigan said. Flanigan noted

» MENTORING, from page 1 and Inclusion will work to recruit and “more fully engage a broad array of mentors, including alumni, graduate students (and) staff ” for both undergraduate and graduate mentees, Cariaga-Lo wrote.

For example, the two year-old FirstGen Mentorship Program has recently expanded to offer paid program coordinator positions for students, said Alexis Rodriguez-Camacho ’18, one of the current coordinators and a mentee.

The first-gen program has not been modeled on the WLP, but the budding program has similarities with WLP, he added.

This year, there were 32 mentors for 23 mentees. The mentoring relationships are currently between underclassmen and upperclassmen, and the pair of undergraduates are matched with a graduate student. The program looks to expand and match undergraduates with alumni and faculty members as well, RodriguezCamacho said.

The hope is to create “mentorship families,” which would consist of groups of mentees being paired with graduate students and faculty members, he added.

that the interest in his course may be due to the content and style of the class.

“Lewis gives great insight into the person — this mysterious combination of mind, heart, soul and body,” he said. “People really want to grapple with that.”

Martha Rosenberg, adjunct lecturer in international and public affairs, teaches “Investigating Modes of Social Change,” which was a new course this year through the Engaged Scholars Program.

“We are living in a time of too much need for social change and heightened awareness of the importance of social change,” Rosenberg said.

“In the last 10 years, the wider culture has shown interest in consciousness,” said Christopher Hill, professor of philosophy. Hill teaches “Consciousness,” which “surveys the philosophical and scientific literatures of the last 10 or 20 years about consciousness.” There is also interest in other departments and faculty that “trickles down” to students, Hill said.

Other professors stated that the nature and reputation of a class impact student interest.

“Introduction to Creative Nonfiction” has consistently been a popular class, with around 50 to 60 people in the room on the first day of class trying to fill one of the 17 available spots, said Ed Hardy, visiting lecturer in English who teaches two sections of the class.

Lawrence Stanley, senior lecturer in English and co-director of the nonfiction writing program, noted that the popularity of “Introduction to Creative Nonfiction” is “a kind of Brown phenomenon.” The course covers a wide range of genres and is “a really good class” since it is “well-taught” and offers lively discussions, Stanley said. “Students get to experiment with their writing” and have more freedom than in other classes.

An additional factor is that all nonfiction courses are mandatory Satisfactory/ No Credit, Stanley said. “We want people to work on their writing and not for a grade,” he added. “If you put grades in there, students want to know ‘what do I have to do to get an A,’ rather than ‘what do I have to do to become the best writer,’” Stanley said.

“The Entrepreneurial Process” has

been taught since the spring of 2006, and demand for space in this “core course in the entrepreneurial process” is “definitely growing,” said Daniel Warshay, adjunct lecturer in engineering. “There’s typically over 100 students crammed into Wilson 301,” Warshay said, adding that the soaring interest is “flattering and rewarding.”

“Formatted like a Harvard Business School course,” the class is discussionbased. Warshay uses the Socratic method, a style of teaching that focuses on questions rather than answers, he said.

One part of the class is to develop a business plan that students pitch to venture capitalists, he added.

Throughout the years, several student projects have gotten funding, leading to companies like Runa, a clean energy beverage company, and Premama, a maternity vitamin company, Warshay said. Students in “The Entrepreneurial Process” also have access to an alumni network that is valuable even after graduation, he said. “People routinely tell me

So far, WLP and the First-Gen Mentorship Program have received positive feedback from both mentors and mentees.

“As a sophomore, there were a lot of personal and academic hurdles that I had to go through,” Rodriguez-Camacho said. “Having a first-gen mentor who had gone through those experiences … was reassuring. We meet at least every week over lunch and talk about summer opportunities, how our families back home are doing or how our own personal mental health is.”

WLP co-chair Sharon Curhan ’83 expressed how much she would have appreciated having WLP as a resource while she was a student at Brown.

“The transition after college was so daunting, confusing, overwhelming and full of so many questions, decisions and unknowns. It would have been wonderful to have the support and guidance from an understanding Brown woman to help me find my way,” she wrote in an email to the Herald.

The DIAP’s proposed mentoring programs aim to address the unique issues women, minorities, LGBTQ+ and first-generation college students face at

Brown.

“When I first came on campus and I was looking for a summer internship, my professor asked me to start by asking my parents and to ‘tap into my network,’” Rodriguez-Camacho said. “Ultimately, the mentoring program offers access to a larger social network.”

Mentoring programs also provide support from those who have been through the college process already and can provide insight.

“The WLP program helps Brown to tap one of its greatest human capital assets — its alumni — to provide a service that its students might value most,” wrote Johanna Hussey, Assistant Director of Engagement Programs for the WLP, in an email to The Herald.

WLP matches students to mentors based on their individual demographics and needs, including concentration, career field, post-graduation plans and race or ethnicity, she said. “The program provides whatever tools the student is in need of to help her prepare for a successful transition to life after graduation,” Hussey wrote, adding that the program offers workshops and gatherings throughout the year.

LAURA FELENSTEIN / HERALD

that it is the hardest class they take at Brown and the one they love the most.”

In order to reduce class sizes down to the capped number of students, faculty members use various methods.

“I cold call on the first day,” Warshay said, which “chases away a number of people who aren’t up for that level of intensity.” Also, students have to send Warshay a “personal statement of objective,” telling Warshay “who they are and what they want to get out of the course” that helps to determine who is a good fit for the class, he said.

“Students are the customers,” Warshay added. “I can’t say yes to everybody, but I have never said no to anyone who is persistent and really wants to take it.”

Hardy said he uses a lottery to distribute the spots that open during shopping period, while other “Introduction to Creative Nonfiction” instructors use different methods such as writing samples.

Still, not all classes retain their popularity after pre-registration.

Forty students registered for “Investigating Modes of Social Change” during pre-registration, but currently only nine students are enrolled, Rosenberg said. The meeting time impacted the class size, since most students are deterred by an 8:30 a.m. start, she added.

Hill was surprised that his “Consciousness” class filled up during preregistration and gave out override codes to 16 or 17 students, he said. But on the first day of class, there were only 43 students, he said. “It could be that the title sounded jazzy,” but once students saw the amount of science and the difficulty of the work in the syllabus, they changed their minds, Hill said.

Several professors noted that some classes stabilize during shopping period because of student preferences.

“Brown students are pretty savvy about how they select their classes,” Stanley said.

NEWS

PAGE 6 • THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Evening shuttle drivers share diverse stories, care for students Career drivers, newbies aim to ensure students’ safety despite sacrificing sleep, taking extra hours

By JULIANNE CENTER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

It was 12:30 a.m. when the red and white University van pulled up to the curb to meet two eager students.

“I have good news and bad news,” the driver said, smiling. “The bad news is I am not a shuttle driver,” he said, watching the students’ faces shift toward discomfort.

“The good news is I am the supervisor, and I can take you anywhere you like,” he added, his smile growing as the students climbed aboard.

If you’re coming back to your dorm from studying or who-knows-whatelse between the hours of 6:30 p.m. and 3:15 a.m., you may be lucky enough to encounter the driver known as “O,” your express ticket to anywhere within three miles of campus. He keeps his name a secret from students and will therefore remain anonymous, though he does promise “a prize or something” for anyone able to guess his name, he said.

O’s job as supervisor entails keeping track of the almost 400 requests the OnCall shuttles receive each night, ensuring that all shuttles are on time in their 24-minute loop and making sure drivers are aware of any road hazards. But O is

only one of the many fascinating people you can meet while climbing aboard shuttles in the late hours of the night.

Meet Louis Enter Luigi Dibiasio, or “Louis,” a 75-year-old Providence native with deep Italian roots and a hearty laugh.

Since retiring from his career as a commercial truck driver over 10 years ago, he now works six nights a week as a shuttle driver, split between the Brown and Rhode Island School of Design campuses, he said.

When Dibiasio finishes his eighthour shift at 3:15 a.m., he heads home to West Providence to sleep for a few hours before picking his two granddaughters up from school and taking them to dance class, all fueled by a single cup of coffee each day.

During reading period, Dibiasio volunteers to pick up the extra shift from 3:15 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., driving “straight through” the night, he said. “I want to make sure that the students get home safe,” Dibiasio added. “I have children of my own.”

Before he began driving shuttles for RISD in 2008, Dibiasio drove 12-hour shifts for Hood Milk in Rhode Island for 45 years, beginning at the age of 18 and continuing through marriage and fatherhood. Before his driving career, Dibiasio set up pins at a bowling alley and shined shoes for 25 cents in barrooms at the age of eight, he said.

When not in the driver’s seat,

ELI WHITE / HERALD

Luigi Dibiasio, Jackie Wilson and Supervisor O are among 40 shuttle drivers that bus students around campus late at night. A long-time driver, Dibiasio takes the extra early-morning shift out of a fatherly sense of duty.

Dibiasio still dedicates his time to taking care of children. He volunteers the first Wednesday of every month to serve hotdogs that he donates to pre-K students at St. Augustine School, he said.

“I retired, but I have to do something! I don’t want to sit around the house doing nothing,” Dibiasio said.

Besides, he likes driving and is a

self-proclaimed “car guy.” His pride and joy rests right in his garage: a Daytona Blue Chevrolet Impala Super Sport that he bought brand new in 1965 for $2,800.

Meet Jackie New to the job, Jacklyn “Jackie” Wilson also began driving shuttles due to her love of driving, a passion she said stems from her love of adventure.

After a recent back injury and subsequent surgery left her unable to continue her position as a nurse, Wilson decided to study to get her commercial driver’s license. After completing the rigorous shuttle training program, she worked her first shift April 24, she said.

Wilson enjoys her new job because the work schedule allows her to take a month-long vacation in the summer “to go back to my country” in Dominica Guadeloupe, where she plans to move when she eventually retires, she said.

Born in the Dominica Martinique, Wilson lived in Paris for more than nine years before moving to Venezuela, several other islands of Dominica and finally the United States, where she’s city-hopped from New York to Boston to Houston and finally to Providence.

“My family always said we were gypsies.

I move a lot,” Wilson said.

In addition, her 16 siblings live all around the world — in Germany, France, Switzerland, St. Martin, St. John and the Dominican Republic, a fact she stated proudly, hints of nostalgia visible in her eyes from the rearview mirror above the dashboard.

But she said her favorite place she’s lived was a simple trailer she set up on a piece of land in the woods of Dominica Guadeloupe. There, she “lived a beautiful life” with the companionship of a “little monkey” that her brother named Jackie after her, she said. Eventually, the little home became too small for her big sense of adventure, and she left her small patch of paradise. “There’s so much to see,” Wilson said.

Meet the students Students rarely ask for the life stories of their shuttle drivers as they bustle in and out of the shuttle doors, flashing ID cards and mumbling greetings. As a result, the adventures of the over 40 University shuttle drivers often remain

unspoken, muted by cell phones and self-absorption.

One international student from France joined a conversation with Wilson after overhearing her speak French.

“That’s the first time anyone has talked to me — that’s so nice,” Wilson said.

In order to try to connect with students, O has learned how to say hello and goodbye in several different languages, he said, recalling that he had “noticed a lot of very quiet foreign students and asked, ‘how could I make things better for them?’”

Though genuine student interactions are few and far-between, O’s original preconceptions that the students would be a little “spoiled” have been shattered, he said, adding that “99.99 percent have been nice.”

Every once in a while, his signature greeting of “Bonjour, mademoiselle” and a grin are met with the words “I just want a ride home,” he said, but he takes these interactions with a grain of salt, knowing the high-stress lifestyle that students lead.

Besides, as supervisor, he discourages drivers from getting into very long conversations or being too outgoing because of the potential distraction.

“It’s imperative that they listen to these two radios,” he said, pointing to the two walkie-talkies on the dashboard of the shuttle, so that the drivers are aware of potential muggings, re-routings and dangers.

Ultimately, safety is the first priority of the colorful characters who serve as University shuttle drivers. It’s why Dibiasio’s favorite part of the job is “getting the students home safe,” the reason O asks anyone he sees walking the streets if they want a ride, the motivation behind Wilson attending school two days a week to get her CDL hazards certification.

It was 12:38 a.m. when the red and white van pulled up to the curb and the two students stood up to leave.

“You can’t leave until you promise me something,” said the man behind the steering wheel.

“You gotta try to have a good night,” O said.

— With additional reporting by Kasturi Pananjady and Baylor Knobloch

PAGE 7 • THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

NEWS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

At Brown’s data center, technology changes but people don’t Servers, systems in data center constantly monitored to ensure stability of U. network

By RACHEL GOLD SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Among metaphors, the Internet as a cloud is especially satisfying: It captures the incomprehensible mass of the globe’s data in one fell, simple, ethereal swoop.

In 2006, Google’s Eric Schmidt introduced the metaphor, claiming the world of data would soon exist “in a cloud somewhere.” Today, “somewhere” has been replaced in the public imagination by “everywhere” — so long as there is Brown WiFi or 3G to get us there. The metaphor makes it easy to forget that the cloud really does exist somewhere, thanks to the wires, widgets, pipes and people that make it work. Welcome to the University’s data center.

Data centers have become the backbone of modern institutions, used to house computer systems responsible for telecommunications and storage of digital information, said Paul Kelleher, director of Brown’s data center. Data center servers are the physical structure of the Internet.

Just one floor underground but unknown to all passersby, Brown’s 24/6.5 operation — manned constantly except on Saturday nights — is responsible for critical tasks ranging from administrative data processing to hosting and running Banner, Kelleher said. Brown’s Computing and Information Services asked that the exact location of the data center not be revealed.

The data center is divided into two sections. The main body is one cavernous, chilled, science fiction-esque room divided into perfect rows of computing machines and the power and cooling systems that serve them. Each row is made up of cabinets; each cabinet is filled with stacks of servers and bundles of wires; each bundle of wire joins with others in a highly organized cable network running across and out of the room. But the heart is the screen-lined console room next door, where teams of monitors closely guard the rows and watch for signs of a malfunction.

“Almost all of our servers are designed so any number of components can actually break, but the service keeps running,” said John Spadaro, deputy chief information officer. The screens in the console room show a software called InterMapper, among other programs, which connects to probes throughout the console room that detect temperature, power supply and functionality of the servers.

“Everything is so heavily redundant that it is not uncommon for things to go down, but it is very uncommon for people to notice — except for these guys,” he said, pointing to the two computer operators currently on duty. “They’re watching, so when they see something go red, they take the appropriate actions.”

“The equipment (takes) a feed from an A-side and a B-side,” Spadaro said, referring to the two power inputs into each server. “If we lose the A-side feed, the B-side stays up — it is capable of taking the entire load. We’re like the guy in your neighborhood when the rest of the neighborhood is dark.”

Inevitably, though, systems fail. The day before Kelleher and Spadaro granted

access to The Herald, a few significant issues — most notably a failure in the Duo verification system — had teams from across CIS on conference calls, or what they call bridgelines.

“We had two bridgelines going, which is very unusual,” said Karen Chapman, one of the two computer operators on call in the console room. “In fact, I can’t remember a time where we had a concurrent bridgeline.”

Every few years, the data center invests in new technology, keeping up with increases in storage capacity and energy efficiency. But these increases in efficiency are matched by increased demand for machines, so the data center draws the same amount of power and energy, Kelleher said.

Redundancy, bridgelines, improvements in technology and cables organized with military precision are all impressive, but all are common data center practice. What distinguishes Brown’s subterranean operation is the small team of people who spend hours there and who have done so for decades.

Chapman has worked in the data center for 42 years, Operations Hardware Specialist Andrew Bourgeois for 36 years and Spadaro is in his 32nd year with CIS. Computer operators Sharon Dillon and Victor Trindade both have 25 years under their belts in an industry characterized by change more than most.

“I started at Brown at age 18 in 1975,” Chapman said. “We used paper tapes to start some of our computers and our printers.” As for Bourgeois, he joined the department in 1980 as a night shift operator after being trained through a government program.

The data center Chapman and Bourgeois started in was under the Department of Mathematics and housed on the corner of George Street. They fed computers punch-cards and worked with the IBM System/360 and PDP 11/70, “big boxes that looked like washing machines and held 80 megabytes,” Bourgeois said.

But “demand for computer time grew and the use of that time got cheaper,” Bourgeois said, attributing the explosive growth to cyberpunk science fiction, William Gibson novels and the fact that students were taking to the nascent technology. “So in 1986 to ’87 we started realizing that George Street was not going to make it,” he said. Chapman, Bourgeois and Spadaro all recalled the 12-hour rush during which they physically transferred the computers to their new home.

Three decades — and many iterations of Moore’s Law, which holds that the processing power of computers doubles every two years and which Bourgeois has seen proven — later, all three are still here. Why the staying power?

It benefits the system to have people in place, Chapman said, “so long as they’re willing to change with the times.”

Though a 2010 renovation separated the console room from the server room, it used to be that the people and machines breathed the same air, and operators became attuned to the slightest sounds — not an easy task amidst the machines’ constant droning buzz. “When you worked out in the room, you heard something go wrong before you saw it go wrong,” Chapman said. “You heard a different noise. You didn’t know what the noise was, but you knew it was a different noise.”

Bourgeois, for his part, is familiar with more than just the sounds of machines. As the hardware specialist, he

COURTESY OF BROWN DATA CENTER

The Brown University Data Center, a cavernous room filled with rows of servers and neatly stacked cords, is the concrete manifestation of the campus’s elusive Internet cloud, maintained by a team of watchful observers. knows better than anyone else their lo- said. “When I opened the cabinet, those at stake, though Bourgeois is too modest cations, their functions and even their plugs popped right out and the whole to admit his importance — he hasn’t yet personalities. “We once had a haunted system went down and people knew it.” found time to write. He hopes that will machine,” he said. “It misbehaved from The data center computers might change soon. the moment we got it. First we swapped soon lose the hand that knows them best.

What won’t change, or at least hasn’t out the card, then the CPUs, then the Bourgeois anticipates retiring in the next since Bourgeois started working, is the motherboard. By the time we were done, year to try his hand at new ventures, he consistency of the service provided by the only thing that hadn’t been changed said. “I’m playing around with the idea of the team that runs the data center and, was the case. And it still misbehaved. The writing science fiction,” he said. “I have by extension, the services — the cloud — only explanation was that it was haunted.” been thinking about a tribute novel to that users simply assume exists.

The stakes of Bourgeois’ work are Philip Dick,” whose novel inspired the “There is a very physical element to much higher than identifying haunted movie “Blade Runner.” data centers,” Spadaro said. “Things are machines. When he makes a mistake, the Bourgeois has been researching the spinning. Things are turning.” For deentire University can feel the effects. “One novel for years, but because he always had cades, the machines have turned, and time I opened the back of the machine, to be “fresh for his day job” — the one they’ll keep on turning, thanks to the and the power cords were unsecured,” he for which the University’s network was work of the team in the console room.

ARTS & CULTURE PAGE 8 • THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Eat Drink RI Festival: Truck Stop benefits small businesses, food bank Fifth annual festival celebrates Ocean State mobile restaurant cuisine, serves charitable cause

By MADISON RIVLIN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

With cuisine ranging from Citizen Wing’s beer-brined wings to Like No Udder’s vegan ice cream, 16 food trucks will come together Friday at the Eat Drink RI Festival: Truck Stop as part of the fifth annual Eat Drink RI event.

A celebration of the Rhode Island “mobile restaurant” community, the event will be held at the Alex and Ani City Center. It will give Rhode Islanders the opportunity to experience the Rhode Island food truck culture and sample a microcosm of the eclectic food scene, said Nick Lefebvre, chef and co-owner of Citizen Wing. “I feel like it’s a great exposition and showcase for the town and culinary creativity in the state,” he added. “I feel pretty proud to be a part of it and the local food and small business community.”

Many of the food truck restaurateurs like Lefebvre are thrilled with the Truck Stop because of the exposure it brings to their businesses. The event “highlights the local food truck talent in the state that sometimes gets overlooked,” Lefebvre said. In showcasing the restaurants on wheels, the Truck Stop will introduce food truck flavors to many Rhode Islanders’ palates and hopefully foster growth in the consumer community.

“Every time I’m out it’s an

opportunity to meet new customers,” said Karen Krinsky, owner of Like No Udder. “I want to serve something so delicious that someone will try to find me again and try something new.”

Not only does the event showcase the mobile restaurant contingent of the Rhode Island culinary scene, but also it serves to bring together members of the already tight-knit Providence culinary community itself. “We are all so supportive of each other,” said Julia Sweet, owner of Gilded Tomato Company. “We all get along really well and support each others’ businesses.”

There is even a strong relationship between restaurants and food trucks.

“Restaurants inspire us to grow,” Lefebvre said. “There are lots of small businesses that grow bigger because of the availability and the market there is for growth.”

Food trucks such as Like No Udder are not hindered by the burgeoning culinary community in Providence because their products are unique.

“The reality is that we are the only dairy-free frozen dessert business in the state,” Krinsky said. “I just follow my own path.”

Similar to Like No Udder, Friskie Fries also attracts a niche crowd.

“There’s so many outstanding restaurants in Providence, but I can’t say that they have influenced our business strategy,” said Tom Wright, coowner of Friskie Fries. “Our truck was inspired by our trip to Amsterdam,” added fellow co-owner Randy Diantuono. “We created it when we arrived back home.”

The Truck Stop is not only a spotlight for the food truck genre of culinary expertise, but also serves a

COURTESY OF DEREK SHAY

Raising $110,000 for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, festival-goers attended the Eat Drink RI: Truck Stop last spring, enjoying the atmosphere and delicious samples from various mobile restaurants. magnanimous purpose by benefitting the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, which serves approximately 60,000 clients on a monthly basis, said Hugh Minor, director of communications for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. Raising $110,000 last year for the food bank, the Truck Stop is the food bank’s most successful fundraiser, he added.

“The food industry has always been really supportive of our work because the people in the food industry understand hunger and the need to get

access to food,” Minor added. “When we started this five years ago, food trucks were really popular, and we thought it would be a great partnership to have this event.”

The philanthropic purpose of the event is a great draw for many of the food trucks to participate. “We’ve been giving back to many organizations for years,” Wright said. “This event ties into our vision of giving back to local nonprofits. It felt like a good match.”

“There are lots of people who are hungry in Rhode Island,” Krinsky

said. “The Truck Stop is a great way for community to not only give back but also have fun.”

Participating trucks are Citizen Wing, Ellie’s Bakery, Fugo Food Truck, Friskie Fries, Gilded Tomato Company, GottaQ BBQ Food Truck and Catering, Like No Udder, Mijos Tacos, Noble Knots, O’Crepe The Rolling Creperie, Pat’s Pastured, Presto Strange O Coffee Truck, Rhode Island Community Kitchen, Rocket Fine Street Food, SoulFull and Tallulah’s Taqueria.

Aerial Arts Society to perform spring finale Club to perform dance with underwater ‘Aquarials’ theme, showcase diverse talents

By ETHEL RENIA STAFF WRITER

Friday, the Brown Aerial Arts Society will put on its fourth annual spring showcase, featuring an underwater theme and titled “Aquaerials.” The show will be organized in several different acts with scenes played out both on the surface and underwater.

The show will feature a wide range of ocean-related characters such as surfers, pirates, sailors, otters and underwater creatures such as Lorelei, a German river monster.

“Aquaerials” will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. at Alumnae Hall. Pre-sale tickets will be sold for $5 Thursday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in J. Walter Wilson.

“Every year the show has been getting a little more elaborate,” said Jake Small ’17, co-president of the Brown Aerial Arts Society. “At first, it was just apparatuses on the stage,

but now we’ve got costumes, makeup and elaborate lighting.”

It has taken months of hard work and practice to prepare for the upcoming show. A theme was voted on by members of the Aerial Arts Society, and performers created their own acts, costumes and characters.

The club then worked to unify the characters and acts into a cohesive story line.

“I’m really excited that our club can show off how diverse people’s talents are,” said Kathryn Samp ’18, director of publicity for the group. “For example, we have someone performing on rings this year, as well as contortion acts and some fun surprises.”

The Aerial Arts Society was originally co-founded by Alexis Shusterman ’13 and Zack Bodinger ’13 in 2010. Since then, the performing arts club has grown to 30 regular members, with 20 to 30 students irregularly attending the club’s weekly beginner practice.

Dorothy Jiang ’19, who attended a weekly beginner practice at the start of the semester, said, “the more experienced people were students who taught us how to use the equipment

and safely get on and off. It was a really cool experience, but the instruction was informal.”

The club has great ambitions for the role of beginner practice next year.

“A lot of people say that they don’t want to join (the Aerial Arts Society) because they don’t have aerial experience. I want to convince people like that to join,” Small said. He added that with no previous experience, it would take approximately two months of learning and practicing to put a whole routine together.

The Aerial Arts Society puts on a winter showcase in December that is much more informal than this week’s upcoming show. The winter show typically features new members who started aerial arts at the beginning of the semester. The new members participate in an initial process that includes attendance at a minimum of three beginner practices for safety reasons, Samp said. After attending three practices, interested students become official members of the club and can start participating in regular practices that include more complex movements and advanced knowledge of the aerial arts.

TODAY

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 • PAGE 9

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

menu

lighted list

SATELLITE DINING ANDREWS COMMONS

Pizza: Nacho Pizza, Spicy Five Cheese and Garlic, BBQ Bam Bam Make Your Own Pasta JOSIAH’S

BLUE ROOM

Quesadillas

Turkey Chili, Fire Roasted Veggie Chicken Tikka Massala

DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH

DINNER

Hot Corned Beef on Rye, Steamed Vegetable Melange, Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bars

Chicken Pesto Pasta, Broccoli Rabe, Sliced Turkey and Roast Beef, Caribbean Rum Cake

VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH

DINNER

Seafood Gumbo, Stuffed Shells with Meatless Sauce, Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bars

Grilled Chicken Cilantro, Cheese Grit Souffle, Vegan Vegetable Soup, Caribbean Rum Cake

sudoku

MARIANNA MCMURDOCK / HERALD

As shopping period becomes a distant memory of early semester woes, the start of pre-registration has injected angst into the lives of students as they look to the future, hoping for the perfect fourth class.

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

“It’s always impressive after a night out with your guys.

In the morning you wake up and you’re like, ‘anyone get

RELEASE DATE– Thursday, April 28, 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 Detergent with Oxi Booster 4 DVD precursor 7 Scout, to Tonto 12 “Face the Nation” group 15 “My mom’s gonna kill me!”

17 Uncle relative?

18 Golden Globe, e.g.

19 Nail care target 21 Congressional period 22 Vocal quartet member 23 Use WhatsApp, say 24 Junior nav. officer 25 Long time follower 27 Manipulator 29 Cut 31 Roll of dough 32 Popular weekend destination for many Northern Californians 33 Deceitful 37 Remove 39 Drop (out) 41 Russian lettuce?

42 Fog machine substance 44 Average 46 Ballerina’s hairdo 47 Prohibit 48 Offensive to some, for short 49 Rescue squad initials 50 ___ Fridays 53 Speak harshly 55 “Fine by me” 57 Salon piece 59 Swallowed one’s pride 62 Chinese cooking staple 64 “__ were the days” 65 Not working 66 “Lone Survivor” military group 67 Speak, old-style 68 Not strict 69 One of two in Pompeii DOWN 1 “Paradise Lost,” e.g.

2 Marinara brand

3 Singer whose last name is Pig Latin for a slang word for “money” 4 Workshop gadget 5 Derby or boater 6 Huge success 7 Toyota Center team 8 Laudatory verses 9 Tighten, as laces 10 Kept quiet 11 Paradises 13 Really bad 14 Activity for some ex-presidents 16 Good buys 20 Get rid of 23 Appears unexpectedly, and a hint to this puzzle’s circles 25 Knocked out 26 “Tootsie” actress 28 Co-producer of the art rock album “High Life” 30 Little, in Marseille 34 London locale that’s a music industry eponym 35 “America’s Got Talent” judge Heidi

36 Deep desires 38 Lust, e.g.

40 Weigh station unit 43 Praises 45 Pick out of a crowd 50 Spanish appetizers 51 Actress Scacchi 52 Birthplace of the violin

”

lucky last night?’

54 Peninsular capital 56 Icy Hot target 58 Supermodel Sastre 59 Longtime teammate of Derek 60 Nobel Peace Center locale 61 From Green Bay to St. Paul 63 Often rolled-over item

— Anonymous freshman athlete

See hook ups on page 4.

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

xwordeditor@aol.com

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Race and Class in Providence, 1781 12:00 P.M. Nightingale-Brown House

Brown Bag Concert 12:00 P.M. Sayles Hall Auditorium

An East-West Divied on Europe’s Migrant Crisis 2:00 P.M. Watson Institute

CLPS Diversity and Inclusion Meeting 6:00 P.M. J. Walter Wilson, Room 503

TOMORROW Campus Birdwalk with Scott Turner 6:00 A.M. IBES

Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People 11:30 A.M. Sayles Hall Auditorium

Depression and Bipolar Support Group 12:00 P.M. J. Walter Wilson, Room 516

Charla: Spanish Conversation Table 1:00 P.M. Sayles Hall, Room 305

COMMENTARY PAGE 10 • THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

EDITORIAL

comics

Love is in the … where?

A Horse of Any Other Name | Zach Silberberg

The topic is everywhere. The Internet is flooded with think pieces about “college hook-up culture,” and at various times during the year campus is full of talk centered on “cuffing season” or “senior scramble.” It can easily seem as though everybody around here is constantly hooking up with someone — or someones. But The Herald’s spring poll data indicate otherwise. According to our results, 24 percent of students claim to have never hooked up with anybody at Brown. For the purpose of this poll, “hooking up” was defined as making out or more intimate encounters, including those that occur within the context of a relationship.

The numbers go down as class year goes up, with 33 percent of first-years reporting that they have never hooked up with anybody here and only 13 percent of seniors reporting the same, a natural shift given the amount of time each group has been at Brown. Additionally, more international students said they had never hooked up with anybody at Brown than domestic students (32 percent versus 22), as well as more non-athletes than athletes (26 percent versus 8) and more heterosexual students than those who identify as LGBTQ (25 percent versus 18).

And yet … many students who have not hooked up with anybody feel isolated, likely because not hooking up is something we do not talk about often. People who are hooking up talk about it, and those who do not, for the most part, stay silent. Hooking up, therefore, is only discussed in the context of its prevalence, leading students who abstain to believe they are the only ones.

This tends to have a negative effect on said students’ self worth, which is why we believe it is important to remind our fellow students that whatever their romantic or sexual situation may be, it is perfectly normal. Whether you hook up with multiple people a night or have yet to hook up with anybody, that is okay, and you are definitely not alone.

Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board: its editors, Emma Axelrod ’18 and Emma Jerzyk ’17, and its members, Eben Blake ’17 and Leeron Lempel ’19. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

P-Branes and Bosons | Ricky Oliver

EDITORS’ NOTE Today’s issue marks The Herald’s final print edition of the semester. The Herald will publish breaking news updates online during reading period, finals and the summer, and regular publication will resume Sept. 7.

Thank you for reading.

Editors’ notes are written by The Herald’s 126th Editorial Board: Emma Jerzyk ’17, Joseph Zappa ’17, Andrew Flax ’17 and Caroline Kelly ’17.

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COMMENTARY THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 • PAGE 11

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Athletes work harder than you do ALEX WAINGER op-ed contributor In my first semester at Brown, I got a C in MATH 0180: “Intermediate Calculus.” Not a just-missed-a-B C. Not a forgot-to-turn-in-four-homeworks C. Not even an I-don’t-care-aboutthis-class C. I tried as hard as I could all semester long, and it took a miracle on the final exam to earn my C. You might read that paragraph and think that I just wasn’t good at math, that I partied too much or that I had a hard time adjusting to the rigor of a college-level class. But the real culprit behind my first (and only) C was simple: I was on the crew team.

Before college, I played on my high school’s soccer and baseball teams and even found time for a travel soccer team. Athletics never interfered with academics in high school, and I figured the same would hold in college. While the Brown men’s soccer team obviously had no interest in recruiting Poly Prep’s back-up varsity goalie, the crew team welcomed me with open arms as a walk-on despite my lack of experience.

It took a little over a month and a half for me to quit crew. Don’t get me wrong — I loved rowing. I loved being out on the water and being on a team again. But the physical and mental toll it took on me far outweighed the benefits.

For anyone who has never played

a varsity sport in college, let me break down the practice schedule: cardio, weight training and rowing out on the river from around 3:30 p.m to 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Then there’s the gut-wrenchingly early practice from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning. And if all that doesn’t make your stomach churn, try running up and down the Meeting Street hill 10 times at 7 a.m. on Tuesday and Thursday. You know that light sweat

20-person first-year seminar because, while the other 19 kids were fast asleep, I was on mile 26 of the Meeting Street Marathon.

The best part of crew was my first full semester away from it. After I quit at the end of October, I spent the rest of my freshman fall fighting to avoid academic probation. But freshman spring was a dream. No 7 a.m. runs.

No three-hour practices. No Saturday morning lifting. I actually struggled to find things to do with all my

about stereotypes. Everyone writes a paragraph about a stereotype in the Brown community and whether or not they think it’s true. Every single person in my section wrote about the same stereotype — the dumb jock.

Some people argued for its existence; some argued against it. But the fact that the dumb jock was the first and most readily available stereotype is disappointing.

As a recent Herald article points out, Brown has the largest number

Until you’ve had to wake up at the crack of dawn, run the Meeting Street hill, go to class, row for three hours, finish all your homework, apply for jobs, call your parents and have a social life before you pass out and do it all again tomorrow, don’t think for a second that athletes have it easy. you work up carrying your suitcase up the hill from Amtrak to your dorm? That turns into a drenched tshirt by lap six.

But I’m not just trying to show off how much I exercised freshman year (though by mid-October, I was probably in the best shape of my life).

What I’m trying to express is how hard it is to get back to your dorm after a three-hour workout, grab dinner in a to-go box from the V-Dub before it closes, eat alone at your desk because all of your friends already ate and somehow find the motivation to start a multivariable calculus problem set. Not to mention the number of times I dozed off in my 9 a.m.

free time. I earned straight A’s, stayed awake in all my classes and wasn’t perpetually grumpy for no reason.

And while I no longer check the “varsity athlete” box on The Herald’s poll, I understand some of what it takes to be one. I understand how many hours athletes put into their sports to compete at such a high level. And I know that if I had stuck with crew, I would not be a month away from graduating from Brown.

But it’s shocking how many people don’t seem to understand athletes. In CLPS 0010: “Elementary Psychology: An Introduction to Mind and Behavior” — which I took freshman spring — there is a section assignment

of teams that meet the NCAA’s “academic progress rate” in the United States. We literally have the smartest athletes in the entire country, yet non-athletes still don’t think athletes deserve to be here.

So let me put it plainly so that everyone reading this will understand: Athletes work harder than you do.

Trust me, I know.

Sophomore fall, I took CSCI 0170: “CS: An Integrated Introduction” and loved it so much that I became a computer science concentrator. Junior spring, I was in a software engineering class and regularly stayed up until six in the morning working on the final project with my

group. Senior fall, I flew around the country doing job interviews, studied for the GRE and got into grad school, all while cramming in my last few CS requirements.

But crew was harder. When my CS problem sets start piling up, I take late days; I skip class to do work; I forgo a trip to the GCB in favor of the CIT. With crew, there were 50 guys knocking on my door when I slept through my alarm for a Tuesday morning run (literally, the entire team runs to your dorm and wakes you up when you’re late). There are no loopholes, no ways to get out of a workout. You’re held accountable for everything, even academics. The crew team’s average grade point average hovers around a 3.4. My freshman fall GPA would have dragged that average down.

I’m not trying to say non-athletes don’t work hard. But until you’ve had to wake up at the crack of dawn, run the Meeting Street hill, go to class, row for three hours, finish all your homework, apply for jobs, call your parents and have a social life before you pass out and do it all again tomorrow, don’t think for a second that athletes have it easy. And if you see an athlete napping on their books in the SciLi, please let them sleep. They need the rest.

Alex Wainger ’16 still has nightmares about running the Meeting Street hill. Send your best lullabies to alex_wainger@brown.edu.

A letter from the editors MARGARET HU LAINIE ROWLAND opinions editors

As opinions editors, we have a vested interest in how the Brown community forms and expresses opinions. And as Brown students, we acknowledge that our privilege affords us the opportunity to deeply explore topics of importance, whether that takes place at 2 a.m. in a Keeney lounge or with a professor in office hours. Students approach the craft and expression of their opinions differently for various topics, weighing their perceptions of how the issue in question affects them, and conversely, their roles in the larger dialogue. This is responsible, for the most part.

But when we fail to arrive upon a well-articulated and thoughtful conclusion about a hot topic because it doesn’t apply to us or it’s not our place to say, we are doing ourselves a disservice. And these failures aggregate to create a climate where some students are hyperinformed and expressive on a given issue while their classmates seem downright passive in comparison.

When students are underinformed, the campus sentiment is unfairly warped. The Herald’s spring poll asked students how informed they feel on campus events. On a (relatively) controversial area of interest — approval of President Christina Paxson’s P’19 job performance — The Herald found that 46.1 percent of students polled as strongly or somewhat approving

of how Paxson is handling her job. But more interestingly, students who considered themselves at least somewhat informed were 20.5 percentage points more likely to approve of Paxson in comparison to those who considered themselves somewhat or very uninformed. Self-reported well-informed students are significantly more likely to look favorably upon Paxson, which could be good news for her, depending on how you look at it.

These data suggest an extremely obvious finding: Being informed affects the opinion you hold. But it’s important to see how the numbers fall in this case. It’s a rare occurrence to hear a

critical thought.

Of course, it may not always be appropriate or productive for everyone’s voice to clutter the conversation. There are times when we don’t have anything original to add or, more seriously, when our voices may silence others’. But this is no excuse for apathy. Though it’s impossible to formulate sophisticated opinions on every issue under the sun, we can still resolve to meet a certain threshold.

The cancellation of the Janet Mock lecture falls within this threshold. Though it elicited polarizing opinions, everyone can agree that the incident was one of the most significant contro-

You can form a thoughtful opinion without having to scream it from the rooftops. But not feeling qualified to vocalize an opinion does not disqualify you from having one. student come to Paxson’s defense: It’s much more fun to critique her and lump the administrators into an anonymous, problematic blob. In reality, her approval rating is virtually on par with President Barack Obama’s. But you would never know, and it almost doesn’t matter because this attitude fails to permeate campus dialogue. Sorry, CPax. This disparity between students who consider themselves well-informed (which constitutes a majority) and general campus sentiment is confusing. Such a general acceptance of the status quo that contradicts Brown students’ otherwise well-deserved reputation for curiosity and

versies on campus this semester. It was also wellpublicized through various channels — campuswide emails, Herald articles and social media posts. Even students who considered themselves out of touch with campus issues would have had a hard time ignoring it entirely. But 39 percent of students reported that they had no opinion on the issue. Even more surprisingly, of the students who had no opinion on the talk, 83.7 percent considered themselves very or somewhat informed on campus events. How is this possible?

Perhaps students feel that they need some sort of intimate or emotional connection to an issue to take a hard stance. While having this

certainly sheds an invaluable perspective on issues, it does not diminish the need for others to consider their stances as well. And you can form a thoughtful opinion without having to scream it from the rooftops. But not feeling qualified to vocalize an opinion does not disqualify you from having one.

And it is natural that we take heightened interest on topics of personal nature. But while specific issues may directly affect some individuals more than others, all ultimately impact the Brown community at large. We’re all guilty of overlooking the less sexy issues on our campus — we’re pretty sure very few people regularly read The Herald’s writeups of weekly Undergraduate Council of Students meetings, which while not flashy, are crucial, as they cover the most direct connection we students have to the administration. In the last UCS elections, almost every position went uncontested, illustrating a lack of investment in our choices for how our views are represented to administrators.

Each one of us has a responsibility to care about how meaningful dialogues play out in all spheres of our campus. This is no easy task, but it is something we can help foster with targeted efforts, from keeping up with campus matters to having the patience to think critically about our perspectives. We know our peers, and we know that they aren’t apathetic or disengaged. Let’s make the broader dialogue reflect that.

Margaret Hu ’18 and Lainie Rowland ’17 are somewhat informed and can be reached at margaret_hu@brown.edu and lainie_rowland@brown.edu.

ARTS & CULTURE THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

Local creameries offer ice cream however you like it Welcome in the summer classic at Like No Udder, Three Sisters, Tricycle Ice Cream

By REBECCA ELLIS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

As classes are cooling down, ice cream season is heating up.

The final month of the semester promises to be the sweetest yet, as warm temperatures begin to coax everyone’s favorite frozen delicacy out of hibernation. With new stands, new stores and new flavors, National Ice Cream Month is coming to Providence two months early.

The cart In a few weeks, David Cass and Gio Salvador will begin riding their three-wheeled cart, Tricycle Ice Cream, across Providence, offering sweettoothed residents a chance to return to their childhood days with crisply packed ice-cream sandwiches.

In the spring of 2014, Cass, a teacher and founder of a Newport pedicab business, and Salvador, a chef at Fred and Steve’s Steakhouse, decided to turn their respective entrepreneurial and culinary expertise into something tangible.

“I kind of have this fascination with tricycle-based businesses,” Cass said.

But his knowledge in the world of ice cream was limited to a brief stint working at an ice cream parlor at the age of 14. With a degree from Johnson and Wales University, Salvador was able to pick up the slack, and the two soon began Providence’s only trike-led icecream stand.

Tricycle’s flavors read like a list of a grocery store’s top hits. Goat cheese ice cream with a cherry compote finds itself snug between two freshly baked slabs of lemon shortbread. Breakfast is revamped with a cereal milk ice cream

coupled with a cornflake cookie.

The team takes its flavor hints from the seasons. “When blueberries are in season, we start thinking about ‘how do you make a blueberry cobbler into an ice cream sandwich?’” Cass said.

But not all their ice creams stem from such gourmet beginnings. Debuting last September, the two-man team created a potato chip cookie combined with a Callebaut chocolate and porter beer ice cream. For those with timider taste buds, the men served an apple pie cookie and apple spice ice cream as an alternative.

As the weather warms up, Cass and Salvador are preparing to get their business back on the road and expect to hit the Providence streets by the end of May. While the cart’s location fluctuates, Cass said Brown students looking to indulge can find them every Saturday at the Hope Street Farmers Market.

The truck While Tricycle may be dominating the three-wheel ice cream business model, Like No Udder, Providence’s purple and polka-dotted all-vegan icecream truck, has a hold on the fourwheel market.

Like No Udder is the only vegan truck in Providence. But according to its owner, Karen Krinsky, the business has an even larger claim to fame. “As far as I know, I’m the world’s only vegan soft serve ice cream truck,” she said.

Krinsky bears an uncanny resemblance to the ice cream truck’s protagonist, a cow named Betsy Loo who rocks purple glasses and a gold nose ring.

“The logo is designed after a photo of me in college,” she explains. Krinsky still dons a subtler nose ring and purple glasses, though she notes the shape of the frame has changed.

For the past seven years, Krinsky has been driving her distinctly eggplant-colored truck across Providence, often stopping at the corner of

LILLY NGUYEN / HERALD

At a 40-minute walk from campus, Three Sisters may pose a challenge to Brown students. But its homemade flavors and fresh paninis are a big draw. Students can also opt for sweet treats on wheels closer to home.

Waterman and Angell to serve dairythe domain of avocado ice cream. “It abstaining Brunonians.

The store just kind of became weird,” Stern said But beginning next week, Like No Those interested in pursuing ice of the undertaking.

Udder will ditch its wheels for a store- cream with a little more dairy can head Despite the creativity of flavors, front at 170 Ives St., the former home down to Three Sisters, the Hope Street Three Sisters’ most popular option of East Side Creamery. Krinsky said hotspot frequented as much for its sun- continues to be plain vanilla. Occasionshe’ll still keep the truck around for daes as its paninis. ally, more daring customers will sugthe occasional event.

For 10 years, Three Sisters has stood gest new flavors for the store to adopt, At the store, which opened for busi- at the corner of Hope and Blackstone Stern said. Past customer-conceived ness Tuesday, Krinsky will continue to Boulevard. Every week, the store, ice creams include fluffernutter and make her vegan soft-serve, intent on named after owner Michael Stern’s cake batter, flavors Stern said were too using “ingredients you can pronounce.” three daughters, creates fresh batches Baskin-Robin-esque for the store to Her menu will expand to include 12 of the ice cream in its basement, churn- have imagined independently. new types of hard ice cream in flavors ing out 20 regular flavors along with Unlike Tricycle and Like No Udder, ranging from mango lassi to Thai iced three new specials weekly. The newest, Three Sisters doesn’t have the luxury tea. Those less gastronomically adven- “Purple Rain,” offers Prince-mourning of stepping on the gas and meeting turous can find comfort in the menu’s customers comfort through a concoc- its customers at their convenience. dependable strawberry and chocolate tion of fresh mint, black raspberry and A 40-minute walking distance from options. ground cocoa chips.

Brown’s campus, the store may seem A vegan for 23 years and a vegetarThough not all flavors are as cul- a better bet for Blackstone locals than ian for 30, Krinsky will make all her ice turally relevant, Three Sisters’ flavor students. creams dairy-free, usually with a base list often makes a similar dive beyond Whether these students and locals of cashew or coconut milk. Meatless traditional ice cream options. Past cre- want their ice cream handed to them jerky will also be featured on the new ations include grape nuts with vanilla behind a cart or countertop, free of menu, as will her most popular item, and cinnamon, coffee and donuts and dairy or loaded with goat cheese, this a chocolate peanut butter shake which raspberry streusel. A month ago, the season, Providence’s ice cream scene she compares to “a liquid candy bar.” store began an ill-fated venture into has them covered.