Friday, December 2, 2016

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2016

VOLUME CLI, ISSUE 116

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Faculty of Color Network offers support, mentorship Faculty-run organization hosts workshops, socials to combat sense of isolation, build community

By MELISSA CRUZ STAFF WRITER

The Brown Faculty of Color Network, a faculty-run organization that supports faculty members of color, was conceived and forged by two professors in spring 2014 and has since developed into a thriving community.

In 2014, both Françoise Hamlin, associate professor of Africana studies and history, and Nancy Khalek, associate professor of religious studies, felt that faculty members of color would benefit from a community for themselves to share advice and build friendships, Hamlin said. They separately approached Liza Cariaga-Lo, vice president for academic development, diversity and inclusion, who then formally introduced them to one another.

Hamlin and Khalek envisioned “a social network, partly, but also a mentor and support network,” Hamlin said.

The network currently hosts two seminars and one reception per semester and provides an intimate mentoring experience, she added. Faculty members who are a part of the network join a listserv where they can provide

suggestions on what types of events they want to see, she added.

The network provides “a built-in sense of community for us,” wrote Emily Owens, assistant professor of history, in an email to The Herald.

“As faculty of color, even on a campus with a strong diversity and inclusion action plan, we can find ourselves isolated in our departments or other spaces on campus,” Owens wrote. “Even if we are not isolated in our departments, it is just nice to have a space on campus to share similar experiences and get advice.”

Though the network was created independently of the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion, Hamlin and Khalek have received support from the office in the form of funding for catered events and encouragement.

The network is run by Hamlin and Khalek rather than the administration, allowing faculty members of color to form a more intimate community that caters to their needs, Hamlin said.

Seminars hosted by the Faculty of Color Network are generally held over lunch and cover topics such as managing service requests or time management while working on research and publishing, Hamlin said. Generally, between five and 15 faculty members attend the receptions, but the social gatherings are well attended, Hamlin » See NETWORK, page 2

HYUAYU OUYANG / HERALD

Nov. 16, students participated in a nationwide “Our Campus” walkout to urge administrators to make the University a sanctuary campus. Petitions by faculty and staff members, students and alums were also circulated.

Faculty discuss ‘sanctuary campus’ petitions Faculty members expound on U.’s approach to protecting undocumented students

By JULIANNE CENTER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

In the weeks following the presidential election of Donald Trump, campus has been fraught with discussions on immigration, the possibilities of a sanctuary campus and how best to support undocumented students and those with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status under the Trump administration.

Students travel abroad for UN Climate Talks Government agencies, negotiating groups, climate action networks convene in Morocco STAFF WRITER

INSIDE

Tough Bruno defense secures third consecutive victory

By CAL BARASH-DAVID STAFF WRITER

COURTESY OF TIM ROBERTS

Students in the class “Engaged Climate Policy at the U.N. Climate Change Talks,” traveled to Marrakesh, Morocco in two groups over two weeks. variety of subjects related to the topics Roberts also co-authored two policy of negotiation at the conference and used briefings. their research to work with intergovernLast year’s conference led to the Paris mental agencies, negotiating groups and Agreement, a new system in which counclimate action networks. One group of tries come together with their own pledgstudents released a report through Ad- es concerning their fair share toward aptationWatch, a global network group. » See MOROCCO, page 3

Mark Twain once said, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” Thus was the case when the men’s basketball team squared off against St. Francis Brooklyn at the Pizzitola Center Wednesday on Twain’s 181st birthday. In order to get ahead, all the Bears (4-4) had to do was get started.

In the final contest of their threegame home slate, the Bears started the action with a 22-6 run, building a lead they would not relinquish en route to an 81-71 win.

From the beginning, it was a fastpaced, end-to-end game. The Terriers (1-5) would get a steal and take the ball down the court only to be turned away in the paint. The next possession, the

Bears would run the fast break in the other direction.

Head Coach Mike Martin ’04 credited the Bears’ early advantage to the team’s defensive effort.

“For us to be a good team, we’ve got to be able to rely on our man-to-man defense to get stops,” Martin said. “That’s what we did to build that initial lead.”

St. Francis slowly climbed back into the game. Punctuated by back-to-back three-pointers by Darelle Porter, the Terriers cut Bruno’s lead to four with 6:20 to play in the first half. But a powerful surge by forward Joshua Howard ’20, who scored 11 points in about three minutes, grew the lead to 14. Howard led all scorers, pouring in 19 points in 24 minutes of play.

Howard credited his ability to perform as a freshman to his experience playing with older players growing up: “I was used to playing against seniors as a freshman on varsity (in high school), so that really helped me get used to being able to defend and play offense against » See BASKETBALL, page 3

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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2016

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the petition, Shibusawa said. “What’s interesting about this is it was a bunch of people who were having this idea independently,” she added.

Immediately following, petitions written by students, graduate students and alums were circulated, as were demands listed by students involved in the Nov. 16 Our Campus student walkout.

President Christina Paxson P’19 and Provost Richard Locke responded to these petitions in a Nov. 16 op-ed in The Herald, stating that legal counsel had informed them that universities and colleges cannot “offer legal sanctuary from members of law enforcement or » See PETITIONS, page 3

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Spieth ’17 pours in 17 points against St. Francis Brooklyn, scores 1,000th career point

By STEPHANIE REYES

Students enrolled in ENVS 1575: “Engaged Climate Policy at the U.N. Climate Change Talks,” a course offered every fall, recently returned from Marrakesh, Morocco, where they attended the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The students traveled in two groups over the two weeks the conference took place from Nov. 7 to Nov. 18.

The UNFCCC is an annual conference in which all the countries signed onto the U.N. framework convention come together to negotiate agreements on climate change, said Professor of Environmental Studies Tim Roberts.

“About 196 countries have signed on, including the (United States), and it’s a basic agreement in which all the climate discussions and negotiations have occurred since ’92,” he said.

Students in the class researched a

Nov. 14, faculty and staff members sent a petition urging the University to “investigate the possibility of our campus serving as a sanctuary for our students, our staff members and their family members who face imminent deportation.”

Naoko Shibusawa, associate professor of history and American studies and one of the authors of the petition, said that the idea arose while talking to students the day after the election. “I was trying to think about ways to deal with the hopelessness, about things that we could possibly do. And the undocumented immigrant students were the most vulnerable.”

Other faculty members quickly joined and helped her edit the draft of

U. researchers discover origin of Appalachian mountains likely occurred 300 million years ago

SPORTS Women’s ice hockey suffers loss to Merrimack due to slow start in final game of semester

COMMENTARY Meyer ’17: Paxson caught between interests of conservative Corporation, liberal students

COMMENTARY Hu ’18: Community abets sexual violence in failing to cultivate sustained dialogue about it

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

U. researchers investigate birth of Appalachian mountains Mountains likely formed 300 million years ago by head-on collision between two tectonic plates

By GALEN HALL STAFF WRITER

For university researchers, one of our country’s oldest geographical landmarks still provides insights into the past.

In a study funded by the National Science Foundation that was conducted between 2011 and 2014 and spanned hundreds of kilometers, researchers used data from seismic monitors to understand the process that formed the Appalachian Mountains.

Hundreds of millions of years ago, “there was a collision between the tectonic plate that contains what’s now North America … and the tectonic plate that contained what is now Africa and South America, which we call Gondwana,” said Karen Fischer, professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences and one of the study’s lead authors. As the edges of the plates collided, one of them would have subducted, or slid underneath the other. Some time after, the continental crusts collided as well.

“When continental crusts collide, because both of the crusts are fairly buoyant, neither of them subducts,” Fischer said. The result is that both crusts buckle upwards, forming a mountain range — in this case, the Appalachians.

The researchers took advantage of data from a preexisting array of hundreds of seismometers and installed

» NETWORK, from page 1 said. She hosted an informal gathering at her home last spring that an estimated 50 faculty members attended.

This semester, the network is looking to hold a seminar to support faculty members of color who helped draft departmental diversity and inclusion action plans for their respective departments as well as facilitate seminars that would be more useful for faculty members of color in science, technology, engineering and math departments, Hamlin said.

The network also coordinates an

an additional 85 seismometers of their own in a setup of three dense lines stretching across Georgia and Florida.

“The really cool thing about this was that the seismometers were only about five kilometers apart,” said Emily Hopper ScM’13 PhD’16, the other lead author of the study. This allowed the researchers to look into the crust with a very high resolution.

The researchers had already known “from the surface geology that in Georgia and Florida there are rocks that didn’t originate in North America.

They came from Gondwana,” Hopper said. This chunk of Gondwanan crust was left behind as debris from the collision, and by studying it, the scientists were able to look at “a relatively wellpreserved continental collision from 300 million years ago,” Hopper said.

The data revealed what Fischer described as a “shallow, dipping interface,” adding that “the rocks above (the boundary) are the rocks of Gondwana that were shoved up, and the rocks below it are the rocks of America.”

While previous studies had interpreted this as a very steep incline, Fischer and Hopper’s study revealed a slope of less than 15 degrees.

The study’s methodology relied on vibrations from earthquakes that travelled through the Earth’s crust and hit the seismometers. “You can look at the shape and the timing of the waves to get at structures beneath the surface,” Hopper said. “It’s kind of like echolocation or sonar,” she added.

This type of inference is “related — but on a different scale — to what people do in the oil industry,” said Donald Forsyth, professor of geological sciences. Whereas oil companies look at small details, Fischer and

Hopper investigated larger structures in the crust.

The waves generated by earthquakes come in different types and travel through the Earth differently.

When one type of wave, called a shear wave, hits a boundary in the crust, it can be converted into a faster-moving compressional wave. “If you have a wave that didn’t convert at the boundary and a converted wave, then you can measure the time between those arrivals and convert that to depth,”

Hopper said.

Some geologists had believed that the collision that formed the Appalachian Mountains was a strike-slip collision, in which the plates slide past each other. An example of this type of collision is “the San Andreas fault, … where (the tectonic plates) are basically just moving past each other, and the plate boundary is almost vertical,” Forsyth said. The study found that the collision was actually a thrust collision, in which one plate gently glides

over the other.

This study changes the way geologists understand the formation of the Appalachian Mountains, and it shows that modern processes were similar to those shaping the earth millions of years ago. “Going back 300 million years in time, you don’t know how things have changed,” Hopper said. “One of the things they always teach you in Geo 101 is this process of uniformitarianism: the idea that the present is the key to the past.”

informal mentoring program in which junior faculty members have the opportunity to be paired with senior faculty members. Faculty members find it helpful to speak to “someone you trust and can be honest with … someone to check in with,” Hamlin said. For example, Hamilin sends her own mentees reminders to practice self-care and provides them with insight on how the University works.

This mentoring also expands to postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, who participate in the network, said Andrew Campbell, dean of the graduate school and professor of

medical science.

Campbell, who has been at the university for 22 years, said he appreciates the network even more because he did not have access to a similar network when he was a junior faculty member and understands “how valuable it is and the benefits it offers” to faculty members earlier in their careers, he said.

The network “helps to level the social networking landscape” for faculty members of color by creating an environment in which they can talk about issues that uniquely affect them.

“Many of the senior faculty

members of color are of a generation when they really had to fight for basic entrance and inclusion and often served alone on faculties,” Hamlin wrote in a follow-up email to The Herald. “While faculty of color are now present in more numbers, the concerns have shifted to other areas that affect progress, promotion and equity,” she added.

“I most appreciate the camaraderie with other faculty of color and the mentorship. It is a space in which I feel like I can get my questions answered,” Owens wrote. In addition to the professional element, the Faculty

of Color Network is “really a lot of fun,” she added.

The network contributes to a strong and supported faculty, which is “essential to our ability to teach and support students,” Owens wrote. The network benefits the entire university because it creates “a space for us to turn inward that supports our ability to turn outward to the entire community.”

As faculty members themselves, Khalek and Hamlin “get a lot of personal joy” out of organizing and running the Faculty of Color Network, Hamlin said. “It doesn’t feel like work because it isn’t.”

COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Researchers used an array of hundreds of preexisting seismometers and installed 85 additional seismometers across Georgia and Florida to look into the continental crust of the region to determine its geological origin.

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» BASKETBALL, from page 1

» MOROCCO, from page 1

guys that are bigger than me and older than me.”

Bruno carried a 42-32 lead into the halftime break.

The second half was a sloppy affair, defined by flying bodies and fastbreak turnovers. Bruno had anticipated a disruptive St. Francis defense but hoped to take better care of the basketball during offensive possessions, Martin said. The Bears finished with 19 turnovers, one fewer than the Terriers’ 20.

Travis Fuller ’19 was once again prolific off the bench. In just 18 minutes of play, the 6-foot-9 forward grabbed a game-high eight rebounds and scored a career-high 14 points on 5-of-5 shooting. This marks the second game in a row in which Fuller shot 100 percent from the field.

“I’m really proud of Travis and how he’s developing,” Martin said.

“I was extremely hard on him in the second half, and he came right back and responded.”

Fuller’s response included an electrifying put-back dunk midway through the second half.

Brown moved to a zone defense in the second stanza and relied on Chris Sullivan ’19 to play at the top of the defense.

Sullivan played like a physical, defensive workhorse, at one point stealing an inbound pass and getting fouled on the ensuing layup. He made both free throws.

All his coach could do was applaud. By the end of the game, Martin was only

Everyone’s all over the place — countries that have these big delegations have the advantage. … Smaller countries with only 10 delegates can’t be at all the meetings, so they can’t have a voice in all the divisions.

It was interesting to see how fragmented (the delegation) is,” Jones said.

Admission into the course is competitive. There have been approximately 50 applicants each year for a limited 12 spots over the last few years, Roberts said.

Since expenses are covered by the University through the environmental studies program, two-thirds of the students admitted are environmental studies concentrators.

As for other applicants, diversity of experience and skills is vital. “It’s tough because there (are) a lot of great applicants. I look for people who have language skills. In the past, we worked in Latin America, so Spanish was important.

This time, French and Arabic (were important) because it was in Morocco,” he said. Roberts also looked for students with a background in development studies since the class is heavily centered on the field.

Students praised the way Roberts and his course prepared them for the conference. “To some extent, nothing can really prepare you for being there, but in terms of content, it was definitely useful,” Stillman said of being in the course. “We had all the technical knowledge and background to understand what was happening at the negotiations. If you (just) went in without taking one of Tim’s classes, you wouldn’t know what the hell was happening.” resources that can help students,” Escudero said. As a faculty mentor to undocumented and DACA-status students, he will hold office hours for students concerned about their status and will train staff on how best to support the undocumented community, he added.

Cheit, Escudero and Shibusawa all expressed that the immediate reactions by students, faculty and staff members and alums need to be maintained if they are to be effective in protecting students facing potential immigration issues in the future.

“A walkout is a one-time sort of thing, but we have to have some kind of sustained presence,” Shibusawa said.

“It doesn’t mean that we always have to be on the street, but being on the street is not a bad place to be.”

» PETITIONS, from page 1 Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”

Still, they assured the community that the University would provide resources to assist students potentially facing deportation, such as undocumented students and students under the DACA program.

“While we wish we could offer absolute protection to members of our community who are threatened by possible changes in policy, it would be irresponsible to promise protections that we cannot legally deliver,” Paxson and Locke wrote.

“The message that they couldn’t wasn’t a message that people needed to hear at the time,” Shibusawa said.

Shibusawa said she was disappointed the University didn’t take the symbolic stand of declaring itself a sanctuary campus like Columbia, even though the policies the administration has put forth “don’t seem very different” from those of Columbia.

“I think they want to do everything they can, and … they’re sending the right message,” said Ross Cheit, professor of political science.

Days after stating that the University could not be a sanctuary campus in all the ways the various petitions suggested, Paxson signed a statement that called for the DACA program to be upheld and expanded.

“It symbolizes Brown University’s commitment to supporting undocumented students and DACA-mented students,” said Kevin Escudero, a postdoctoral fellow in American studies who is serving as a faculty mentor to undocumented and DACA-status students. Escudero hopes the statement will help students with DACA status “feel included and that their needs are at the forefront of what senior administration are thinking about,” he added.

While students on the “Our Campus Walkout” Facebook event page

pulling Sullivan off the court for seconds at a time to give him some rest.

Through the fight, Brown held on to its lead.

Tasked with controlling the physicality of the game, the officials had a busy night. “We took 45 free throws, and I thought we should have (taken) 60 or 65,” Martin said. Bruno converted 35 of its 45 attempts. St. Francis only made its way to the stripe 15 times, scoring on nine of its attempts.

Frustrated with the officiating, Glenn Braica, the Terriers’ head coach, screamed himself hoarse. But eventually cooler heads prevailed, as Martin and the Bears walked off the court with their 81-71 win.

Steven Spieth ’17 solidified his place in Brown basketball history, scoring his 1,000th career point. “It’s a great honor. It means a lot,” Spieth said. “A lot of credit obviously goes to (my) coaches and teammates for putting me in the right situations.”

Continuing his tremendous senior season, Spieth scored 17 points and added six rebounds, four steals and two assists. Averaging 18.9 points per game, Spieth is currently one of the Ivy League’s leading scorers.

Spieth has “been such a huge part of our program for four years, and what a year he’s having,” Martin said.

“It’s great to see how hard he’s worked, and it’s paying off. It’s what this game’s all about — if you put in the work and you put in the time, you should get rewarded,” Martin said.

While they have a long season ahead of them, the Bears already have a goal in mind.

“It’s going to be a great challenge, but we don’t want to go back below .500,” Martin said.“We want to stay on the positive side.”

Up next, Brown goes on the road to play Central Connecticut State Saturday, its last game before facing off against Providence College Tuesday.

protecting the climate.

“The first week (at this year’s UNFCCC) was people figuring out if the election was going to be a really big problem or not because (President-Elect Donald Trump) has threatened to cancel the Paris Agreement,” he said.

Though Roberts does not believe the president-elect will go through with his promise, the actions Trump will take remain unclear. “Certainly the world will go ahead without the (United States).

They’ve done it before when we pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol,” he said.

Sarah Stillman ’17 reported heightened tension at the conference following the election. Like Roberts, Stillman does not believe the world will reverse course on plans to battle climate change without U.S. cooperation.

“It was very clear from the other countries that whatever we do in the (United States) is not going to affect their actions on climate change,” she said. “Things are still going to happen even if it’s the worst-case scenario for the (United States).”

Other students were shocked to witness the magnitude of the conference’s size and structure. Though the UNFCCC included up to 20,000 people, Caroline Jones ’19 found the smaller negotiation groups to be more interesting based on the number of delegates in every country.

“The conference, in actuality, (was) more like 50 mini-pavilions where people would meet in smaller groups to hash out the details of different parts of the text.

have criticized the administration for not adopting the term “sanctuary campus” like other universities, some faculty members said the policies adopted by the University are indicative of the phrase.

“Some campuses may choose to call themselves sanctuary campus, but others may be concerned with federal funding and political statements,” Escudero said, adding that the policies are what really matter.

Even though the policies the University is adopting are similar to those of campuses who call themselves sanctuaries, Shibusawa said she thinks the symbolic stand of naming the University a sanctuary is important. “Columbia gets to be a leader on this,” she said, adding, “Brown had an opportunity to be a leader on this as well and didn’t take it.”

Though Cheit signed the faculty and staff petition, he said he doesn’t think that becoming a sanctuary campus is legally possible — even for private universities.

“I think it sounds like it means more than it can ultimately mean. We can’t become a sanctuary from U.S. law.”

“I think the first response is caution because universities have a lot of responsibilities they have to be aware of,” Shibusawa said. The fact that most individuals registered as Republicans voted for Trump indicates the likelihood that many University alums and donors also voted for him, she added.

A core set of policies that would make the University a “de facto sanctuary” would include safeguarding student information from federal immigration authorities, assuring non-compliance

between campus security and immigration and customs enforcement agents and providing resources and protocols to best support and understand individuals who are undocumented, Escudero said.

Many faculty members plan to continue to push for policies that will support minority students under a potentially hostile Trump administration.

Escudero said he hopes discussions will continue in the framework of preexisting structures created by the Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan in order to make the campus environment “one that is supportive and inclusive and that allows us to have conversations that can move things forward.”

“We have a ton of resources on campus, so it’s just identifying those

ELI WHITE / HERALD

Steven Spieth ’17 dribbles past Keon Williams. Spieth scored his 1,000th career point versus St. Francis Brooklyn in Wednesday’s game.

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ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Mehta ’19 powers Bears over Binghamton with career performance Point guard scores 19 points in second half, propelling team to victory after lackluster start

By NICHOLAS WEY SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Heading into its weekend competition against Binghamton Sunday, the women’s basketball team was looking to end a three-game losing streak with a victory over the Bearcats (1-5). But as the halftime buzzer sounded, Brown (33) faced a four-point deficit, down 37-33.

Then point guard Shayna Mehta ’19 took over, scoring 19 points in the second half alone to carry the Bears’ offense in a convincing 83-72 victory.

In total, Mehta netted a season-high and game-leading 29 points in the contest.

For her critical role in Brown’s success, as well as emerging leadership on the team, Mehta has been named The Herald’s Athlete of the Week.

Herald: What was going through your mind before the game?

Mehta: I just wanted to win the game since we had just lost three in a row. I thought it would be a good, close game since we won on a buzzer beater last year. Binghamton is a very good team and has had a tough preseason schedule.

They beat the defending Ivy League champions, Penn, earlier this season, and that alone was a good reason to get pumped up for the game.

How were you feeling as the game progressed and you began to heat up?

Throughout the game, our team

had really good energy, and we all had positive vibes. We had two very good practices during the week before the game, so I think we were all ready to play. After a pretty hard-fought first half with many lead changes, the second half seemed to open up for us. In the third quarter, my teammates were able to give me good looks at the basket, and I started becoming more aggressive and felt comfortable and confident. (Head Coach Sarah Behn) started to call out plays for me, and I was able to knock down some shots.

You scored a season-high 29 points. Could you reflect on the performance?

It’s no stat compared to Erika Steeves’ ’19 18 rebounds and 18 points.

I was pleased that I was able to bring home a “W.” But I feel Erika’s doubledouble and Taylor Will’s ’19 scoring and defense on Binghamton’s best player were the real key to our win. Our transition game really started to click in the second half, and we were able to go on a few runs that helped us pull away at the end. When we can run on teams, I think we are hard to beat. We have had a few games already (in which) we have scored over 80 points.

What is going well for the team so far, and what do you need to improve on the most?

The season is going well considering we are so young. The games we lost were all by very close margins, which makes me optimistic for the rest of the season. We are getting major contributions from many people on the team, and different people are stepping up

ELI WHITE / HERALD

Shayna Mehta ’19 shone in Sunday’s game versus Binghamton, but she praised her teammates’ performances, crediting them with the win. and filling roles that we lost from last year. I think that we need to improve on playing games for the full 40 minutes.

We often have really good halves, but we could improve on finishing the games out. If we improve on this, I think we will be a strong competitor in the Ivy League.

When did you start playing basketball, and what drew you to the sport?

I started playing basketball when I was about seven or eight years old. I fell in love with the game because it is just so much fun to play, and it is fast-paced

and exciting. Also being from the Bay Area, watching the (Golden State) Warriors growing up helped spark my passion for the sport.

What are some expectations that you have for the team?

A short-term expectation and goal is to win the Ocean State Tip-off Tournament this weekend hosted at Brown University. We play URI on Saturday, and then the winner — or loser — of the Bryant vs. PC game on Sunday. A season-ending goal is to make it into the Ivy League tournament and of course

win.

There are no seniors currently on the roster. Who do you look toward for leadership?

Our junior Megan Reilly ’18 is our team captain, and she really has embraced the role and been a great leader for us this season. She sets a great example for us both on and off the court, and she is just a real fun person to be around.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY

Third-period struggles hand Bruno eighth straight loss Swanstrom ’18, Hanson ’20 finish contest with two points each in loss to Merrimack Tuesday

By BEN SHUMATE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The women’s hockey team allowed three third-period goals in a 5-2 loss to non-conference foe Merrimack Tuesday night at Meehan Auditorium.

The Bears (3-10, 1-7 ECAC) entered the final frame tied with the Warriors (6-10-2, 2-7 Hockey East) after erasing a 2-0 deficit but let the game slip away after Dominique Kremer scored from the point 7:23 into the period to take back the lead. The loss is the eighth straight for Bruno after the team started the year 3-2.

“We played 40 minutes of good hockey,” said Assistant Coach Katelyn Parker. “We were right with them. The girls are trying hard — that’s what we can ask for.”

Slow starts have contributed to the team’s recent losing streak. Coming off a 7-3 loss to rival Providence in which the Bears allowed four goals in the first period, Brown fell behind early once again Tuesday.

Merrimack scored goals 2:29 apart in the first period after eight minutes of back-and-forth play. The Warriors’ second goal came on the power play

after Abby Niewchas ’19 was called for hooking.

But the second period proved a different story for Bruno. Lucinda Quigley ’20 notched her first collegiate goal to get Brown on the board 9:17 into the second frame. The play was set up with a pass out of the corner by Samantha Swanstrom ’18 to Sena Hanson ’20, who found Quigley in front.

Swanstrom and Hanson, along with linemate Alley Rempe ’20, continued to pressure the Warriors late in the period. With 1:38 left, Swanstrom buried her second goal of the season after collecting a pass from Hanson, giving them both two points on the night and knotting the score.

After making seven saves in the first, Julianne Landry ’18 blanked the Warriors in the second period, posting nine saves.

Parker was pleased with the team’s play in the second considering the first period’s difficulties.

“It shows the resiliency of our group,” she said. “We’re never going to give up no matter who we’re facing or what the score is, and that comes from a lot of character.”

Quigley and Hanson are among several first-years seeing substantial playing time for the Bears this season.

Brown lost captain Maddie Woo ’17 to injury at the beginning of the year and played without Erin Conway ’17 and

ELI WHITE / HERALD

Bridget Carey ’19 fights with a defender for the puck. Carey attempted three shots against Merrimack, tied for third-most on the team, but was on the ice for three opposing goals and no Bruno goals.

Katie Swanstrom ’18 Tuesday, leaving the team with just one active senior.

“A lot of our freshmen and sophomores are getting thrown in positions they might not normally be in,” Parker said. “They’re really taking it full stride and giving their best effort.”

After Merrimack retook the lead, Annie Boeckers scored just over two

minutes later, pushing the puck past Landry, who appeared to have it covered. Paige Voight scored in the final minutes for the Warriors to put the game well out of Brown’s reach.

Merrimack narrowly outshot Bruno in the contest, 29-27. Landry finished with 24 saves.

The Bears will wait a month before

returning to the ice Dec. 30 at Robert Morris. The team can use the long break to get healthy and reset after a rocky start, Parker said.

“We can just focus on team bonding, build each other up, get back to the drawing board and just focus on that second half of the season,” she said.

TODAY

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2016 • PAGE 5

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BLUE ROOM

Quesadillas

Minestrone, Clam Chowder Build-Your-Own Burrito Bowls

DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH

DINNER

Orange Beef Pad Thai with Rice Noodles, Stir Fried Green Beans, Blondie Bars with Cranberry

Cajun Blackened Chicken, Carrots with Tequila Sauce, Lemon Rice, Jelly Roll Cake

VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH

DINNER

Breaded Chicken Fingers, German Sausage Chowder, Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cajun Pasta with Chicken, Couscous Croquettes, Fresh Corn on the Cob, Focaccia Bread

sudoku

GUS REED / HERALD

The Northern Horizons exhibit at the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology focuses on the legacy of J. Louis Giddings, an archaeologist and founder of the Haffenreffer and Brown’s anthropology program.

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

“Columbia gets to be a leader (in the sanctuary campus R

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C c r o s s w o rD d Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Treehouse feature 7 Matured, as cheese 11 Some condensation 14 For one 15 One who’s all action 16 Eggs in a clinic 17 Illusionist’s effect 19 Bushranger Kelly 20 Novelist Wiesel 21 “Days of Thunder” org.

23 Duck 26 Diplomat’s forte 28 Feeds without needing seconds 30 Arrive 31 Major bore 33 Pull (for) 35 Kicked oneself for 36 BBQ heat rating 37 County fair competition 41 Flooring wood 43 Busy time for a cuckoo clock 44 Italian soccer star Maldini 47 Many towns have one 51 “Voulez-__”: 1979 ABBA album 52 Big name in foil 53 Make a fine impression 54 Outer limit 55 Discipline involving slow, steady movement 57 Toppled, as a poplar 59 Goose egg 60 1967 #1 hit for The Buckinghams, which can describe 17-, 31-, 37- or 47-Across 65 Traditional London pie-andmash ingredient 66 New newts 67 Stereo knob 68 Funny, and a bit twisted 69 One way to run 70 Nine-ball feature DOWN 1 Slurp (with “up”)

2 “Who Needs the Kwik-E-Mart?” singer 3 “Makes no __” 4 Lawyer, at times 5 Renewable energy subj.

6 Equips afresh 7 Nelson, e.g.: Abbr.

8 Hit the road, musically 9 “__ mouse!”

10 In one’s Sunday best 11 Make a bank deposit?

12 Top of the world 13 Lump 18 He played James 22 Half-__: coffee order 23 2002 Olympics host, briefly 24 “As if!”

25 How shysters practice 27 Small crown 29 Onetime Beatles bassist Sutcliffe 32 Led __: “Stairway to Heaven” group, to fans 34 One who turns a place upside down 38 Foldable sleeper

39 Blasted 40 Purple hue 41 Org. with an oftquoted journal 42 More racy, as humor 45 Tote 46 Sugary suffix 48 “Oh, __ won’t!”

49 Tunnel effect 50 Five-finger discounts, so to speak

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56 Audiophile’s setup 58 Witch costume stick-on 59 Wet behind the ears 61 “Spring forward” letters 62 One of four in a grand slam 63 Wildspitze, for one 64 “__ willikers!”

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this as well and didn’t take it.

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— Naoko Shibusawa, associate professor of history and American studies

See petitions on page 1.

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Security Implications of a Trump Presidency 12:00 P.M. Watson Institute, Joukowsky Forum

Extreme Gingerbread House Competition 4:00 P.M. Barus and Holley

SATURDAY History DUG Career Day 12:00 P.M. Wilson Hall, 101

Jazz Band Concert 8:00 P.M. Grant Recital Hall

SUNDAY Hecuba 2:00 P.M. Leeds Theatre, Lyman Hall

Preparing for Finals 7:00 P.M. J. Walter Wilson, 203

COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2016

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Brown Bites Paxson shows support for DACA program President Christina Paxson P’19 added her signature to those of over 250 other college and university presidents to a statement drafted by Pomona College’s administration and disseminated by the Association of American Universities urging that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program be “upheld, continued and expanded.” The DACA program at least temporarily prevents the deportation of undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States before the age of 16. DACA has some qualifications — the immigration status is reevaluated every two years, and those who apply must be enrolled in school, have a high school diploma or obtain a general education development certificate, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website. Paxson’s support for DACA students extends further than just her signature on the highly publicized document. The University will do “everything we can to support our undocumented and DACA students,” wrote Paxson and Provost Richard Locke P’17 in a Herald op-ed. Some of the support that the University will offer students on DACA includes abstaining from providing student’s immigration information to federal officials without a warrant, offering legal counsel for students on DACA and assisting students who cannot afford the $465 DACA application fee, Paxson and Locke wrote.

Funding fun At its most recent meeting Wednesday night, the Undergraduate Council of Students passed a measure in the hopes of improving low-income students’ access to events and activities on and off campus. The resolution, known as the Low-Income Student Events Fund Implementation Resolution, is a joint effort among UCS, the Undergraduate Finance Board and Assistant Dean for Financial Advising Vernicia Elie. UFB will allocate $5,000 for “admission to sports events, off-campus parties, theater shows and ticketed Student Activities Office events held by student groups” for students with an expected family contribution that is less than $5,000. UCS President Viet Nguyen ’17 voiced his support for the resolution at the meeting, stating that many University-sponsored events and activities “are part of the college experience. We want everyone to have equal access regardless of their financial background.” Let the good times roll for everyone!

Let’s hear it for the boys Female students applying for admission to the class of 2021 may have been discouraged as it was reported this week that for the past 15 years, male applicants to the University have been accepted at a rate of 3 to 4 percentage points higher than female applicants. Jon Birger ’90, author of the book “Date-Onomics: How Dating Became a Lopsided Numbers Game,” said that the disparate rates of admission constitute discrimination against women.

But Dean of Admission Logan Powell maintained that the phenomenon is “nothing deliberate” with regard to gender diversity on campus and rather reflects lopsided interest by gender in the University’s physical science programs. “In my perfect world, (the School of Engineering) is equally compelling to young men and young women,” Powell said. But, he added, “the fact that we have an engineering program — and many liberal arts colleges do not — is a big driving force behind who is interested in Brown by gender.”

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COMMENTARY FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2016 • PAGE 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Paxson caught in the middle P’19 has stuck to neutral platitudes.

“The last five days have seen the country and our campus coming to grips with the outcome of one of the most polarizing presidential election campaigns in memory. The tone, tenor and rhetoric of this election ran counter to our values as a community. No matter which candidate each of us supported, we must recognize that fully half of the voters in the country felt exactly the opposite of what we

DAN MEYER

STAFF COLUMNIST During the election, journalists wrote that covering President-Elect Donald Trump created a conflict between their obligations of accuracy and balance. Writing about the plain facts of the campaign seemed biased against Trump because he was so grossly unqualified. “If Trump is outside the frame of conventional political discourse, how far outside the frame of conventional coverage does the media have to move?” Roger Cohen wondered in the New York Times.

Most outlets eventually settled on honesty at the expense of neutrality, naming Trump as the fraud he was and is.

They tried to print the truth even if that brought accusations of liberal bias.

In September, covering the persistent birther myth, the Times used the word “lie” in a headline. From then on, they have used plain language to call out his deceits.

Universities face a similar dilemma. Trump puts intellectual diversity at odds with their other values of truth-seeking and inclusion. While many journalists rightly chose not to treat Trump with false equivalency, President Christina Paxson

not get to write again. If I bragged about grabbing women by the pussy, I would be grabbed by a disciplinary committee. If I were accused of sexual assault by multiple women, I would (hopefully) get kicked out. If I denied climate science and refused to open a book, I would fail my classes. All of these behaviors are directly opposed to Brown’s institutional values. But when the culprit runs for president, he is sheltered by the veneer of politi-

ration.

Depending on your perspective, the Corporation is composed of the leading members of American society or the new American oligarchy. Their personal interests are more conservative than those of Brown’s famously liberal student body. Former Chancellor Thomas Tisch ’76 P’18 has been listed as one of New York’s top Republican donors. Former Trustee Steven Cohen P’08 P’16, one of the University’s most

When the president-elect makes a mockery of Brown’s community norms, Brown’s leader should say so. If the institution doesn’t have the confidence to advance its values into the outside world, then they are just playground rules. feel,” she wrote after the election. Her language implies that both candidates were responsible for the campaign’s tone, which is malarkey. Trump’s tenor ran counter to our values. Clinton’s largely ran with them (including her unappealing reliance on Wall Street donors).

If I wrote in this column that Mexican immigrants were rapists or if I belittled a disabled person, I would

cal diversity. The student body isn’t a monolith, but we have recognized that Trump attacks Brown’s principles and its very role in society.

Why hasn’t Paxson followed the lead of Brown’s students and professors? Why could Columbia declare itself a sanctuary campus when we could not? We aren’t Paxson’s only or even primary constituency. First, she answers to her employers, the Corpo-

prominent donors, gave generously to Chris Christie’s ill-fated campaign. My point here isn’t to vilify Republican donors or really rich people. It’s that there is a structural conflict between the student body and the school’s leadership. By definition, the standing and extreme wealth of most Corporation members means they benefit from the existing social status quo. Brown student activists are dedicated to up-

ending it. Paxson sits in the middle, unwilling to confront either constituency.

The language of intellectual diversity allows Paxson and other administrators to avoid conflict with Trustees and conservative donors while expressing sympathy for students threatened by a Trump administration. But the result has been a series of watered-down emails in a time that calls for forceful words.

When the president-elect makes a mockery of Brown’s community norms, Brown’s leader should say so. If the institution doesn’t have the confidence to advance its values into the outside world, then they are just playground rules.

For students, the lesson is that we can only expect so much from the school’s administration. Brown may feel like a progressive place, but its institutional structure is resistant to rapid or radical change. Students should look for steps that don’t require an administrator’s rubber stamp. Brown as an institution and Brown as a community are not the same thing. Students may not control the institution, but we have absolute ownership over the community.

Dan Meyer ’17 can be reached at daniel_meyer@brown.edu.

Stop tolerating sexual violence MARGARET HU

OPINIONS EDITOR This year, we watched our country condemn Brock Turner and then elect an alleged rapist for president in a span of less than six months.

We made endless cracks about the absurdity of “Pussygate” and witnessed a confession of sexual assault be casually dismissed as “locker room talk” but forgot to fully consider the many women whose traumatic accounts were made light of as their attacker ascended to the presidency. We chastised Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey’s foolishness and lamented his role in threatening a political candidate’s credibility but forgot to condemn his inconsiderate victimization of the 15-year-old survivor at the center of it all. The issue of sexual assault has weaved its way through the public and political arenas, always lingering in the background as we consistently fail to sustain dialogue about it both on campus and in the country more broadly.

Our own school has had several cases of sexual assault come up in the past semester alone. In September, a U.S. District Court invalidated the ruling of a Brown disciplinary hearing, allowing the undergraduate found responsible for assault to return to campus.

Two weeks later, news arrived of a former student suing both the University for mishandling her case and the student who allegedly spiked her drink. Then earlier this month, another woman filed a lawsuit against Brown and two deans for violating Title IX, failing to promptly or effectively respond to her assault and ultimately neglecting to pursue disciplinary action against her assailants. I can recount incidents of campus assault at Brown throughout and even before my time as a student here, petitions to suspend assailants or

demand disciplinary action against them and protests rallying around the cry #moneytalks.

But this semester, we’ve seen a muted public response as these instances tragically continue, and the administration has failed to implement a specific plan to address the crisis. I worry that these issues have started to fall on deaf ears — that we’ve accepted this half-assed action as the status quo.

Time and time again, incidents of sexual assault ignite fiery community responses that quickly fizzle out, if they aren’t immediately

forget our outrage and start the vicious cycle all over again?

Though the immediate violence of sexual assault occurs between the victim and the perpetrators, society shares the blame. We as a collective community are all also responsible. By doubting survivors’ accounts and hurt, by only offering an expensive, invasive and tedious judicial process that guarantees nothing, by victim blaming and offering insufficient support to survivors’ well-being and by failing to sustain dialogue about all these injus-

By doubting survivors’ accounts and hurt, by only offering an expensive, invasive and tedious judicial process that guarantees nothing, by victim blaming and offering insufficient support to survivors’ well-being and by failing to sustain dialogue about all these injustices, we cultivate a culture that allows these incidences to happen routinely.

shelved altogether. Public outcry, initially intense, often wanes as observers’ calls for justice give way to a toxic indifference to the eventual legal outcomes and sexual violence’s effects on our community. Those who actually sustain their concern start to see their cries fall on unsympathetic ears. The matter fades away, and as a survivor, you feel your pain and self-worth rendered ultimately inconsequential. Why do we keep allowing public dialogue to die out? Why do so many of us only act reactively, allowing these terrible incidents to keep happening? Why do we often

tices, we cultivate a culture that allows these incidences to happen routinely. By tolerating this violence, we implicitly concede that this is okay, when this is far, far from okay.

Demanding justice isn’t as simple as seeking out the bad guys. Like so many other pervasive issues, it’s about holding ourselves accountable as responsible community members, which requires a sustained effort from us all. And that doesn’t mean invoking a sense of protection just because you’re the father of a daughter or the brother of a sister. It’s about the moral imperative to be a decent person

and recognize that this terror and violence shouldn’t happen, period. None of us should be comfortable living in a society that tolerates this sort of invasive violence toward anyone. And it shouldn’t take extreme cases of sexual violence to incite our desire for justice.

Guilt and anger are insufficient and unsustainable motivators; allowing them to primarily fuel our efforts will inevitably burn us out. We shouldn’t need to hear statistics and gruesome details as shock value in order to will ourselves to care, as we certainly have been prone to in the past.

It is imperative that we remember this and take sustained actions. Our behavior must shift if we wish to build safer and more inclusive communities. So take extra care of your friends at parties and don’t be afraid to interfere. Educate yourself on how to support and respect survivors, learn to prioritize their voices and recognize how this violence disproportionately affects certain populations.

Demand that our university hold itself accountable for not effectively dealing with cases of assault, respond to these situations with due process and provide resources and support for survivors. Through these actions, we can show that our communities, and nation at large, must confront and deal with this pervasive problem.

It is not easy to navigate the fallout of a sexual assault, since each case has its own complications and nuances. But that is all the more reason why we need to sustain an active dialogue, take accusations seriously and simply keep caring — there is no question about this. Justice isn’t some abstract ideal or a wordy court ruling — its pursuit starts with each of us and how willing we are to confront painful realities.

Margaret Hu ’18 can be reached at margaret_hu@brown.edu.

SPORTS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2016

Hall of Marty Noble’s automatics JAMES SCHAPIRO

SPORTS COLUMNIST Two weeks ago, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America — the BBWAA, or as I tend to refer to it, the BBWTF — released its Hall of Fame ballot. It will announce the inductees Jan. 18. Based on history, the voters will somehow screw it up.

On one level, the BBWAA’s awfulness is easily illustrated: It simply selects the wrong players. Alan Trammell, with a career 70.4 Wins Above Replacement is not in the Hall of Fame, while Phil Rizzuto, with 40.8, is. Jim Rice, who over his career amassed a .298/.352/.502 slash line, 47.4 WAR and 382 home runs, is in the Hall of Fame, while Fred McGriff and his .284/.377/.509, 52.4 WAR and 493 home runs are not. Keith Hernandez is not in the Hall of Fame, despite a career .384 on-base percentage, a 60.0 WAR and the greatest defense at first base of all time. And don’t get me started on Gil Hodges.

It may seem shocking that baseball writers — those who understand the game better than anyone

(I speak sarcastically, as you’ll see) — could repeatedly fail so badly. But then, consider the people we’re talking about.

For instance, look at long-time voter Marty Noble. In 2015, Noble voted for only Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Jack Morris — out of a possible 10 votes — and defended his ballot in inane fashion: “The candidacies of Maddux and Glavine made this vote easy and enjoyable. … They’re automatic; there was no need for research or investigation.

Morris never has approached automatic status, but he clearly deserves the benefit of the doubt. I don’t want 28 people entering the Hall at once, so I limited my checks on the ballot to three.”

Translated: Noble voted not with “research or investigation,” but rather, based on his emotions at the time. Mike Piazza and Jeff Bagwell, apparently, were not “automatic,” whatever that means, and also did not “clearly deserve the benefit of the doubt.” I don’t know why Morris clearly did deserve it; maybe Noble found something in his research that explains it. Oh, wait. Also, somehow, voting for 10 people, even if all 10 deserve induction, could lead to “28 people entering the Hall,” so this practice should be avoided.

As another example, consider ESPN’s Pedro Gomez. Explaining his decision not to vote for Piazza on the 2015 ballot, Gomez didn’t even bother to offer false evidence of steroid use. Rather, he cited “suspicions” — bringing to mind our president-elect’s statement: “I’m speaking with myself, because I have a very good brain.” He then complemented his secretly sourced suspicions with an argument that was downright bizarre: “Yes, greatest offensive catcher in the history of the game. No doubt about that. But does that make you automatically included in the Hall of Fame? Because Mark McGwire is arguably the greatest home run-hitting first baseman of all time, and he’s not in. …

Mike Piazza was a catcher because he couldn’t play anywhere else.”

To recap, Piazza, (admittedly!) the greatest offensive catcher in baseball history, does not belong in the Hall of Fame because Gomez has heard things, and also somehow because of Mark McGwire. The observation that he “was a catcher because he couldn’t play anywhere else” is especially strange. For one, Piazza was a net-positive defensive catcher. For another, catcher is the hardest position on the field to play. One might as well suggest that Einstein was a

scientist because he wasn’t good at anything else.

All this to say what? That Hall of Fame voters are no longer the unparalleled baseball experts they once were, and we shouldn’t be surprised when they mangle this year’s ballot beyond belief.

Jeff Bagwell and Tim Raines, at the top of the ballot, will probably get in. This is good, though it’s long overdue. But multiple candidates on the ballot belong in the Hall of Fame and will likely receive far less than 50 percent of the vote.

For example, Edgar Martinez and Larry Walker are both Hall of Famecaliber players, with career WARs of 68.3 and 72.6, respectively. Martinez was a designated hitter, and Walker played at mile-high Coors Field; combined with their playing during the steroid era, this is likely why neither has been inducted. Neither is fair: DH is a valid position just like any other, and Walker can hardly help where he played.

But both of these cases are at least arguable. The case of Billy Wagner, I think, is not — and yet Wagner, this year, will likely receive less than 15 percent of the votes cast.

As a career closer, Billy Wagner compiled an ERA+ of 187. Rollie Fingers, in the Hall of Fame as a

reliever, has a career ERA+ of 120.

Trevor Hoffman’s is 141. In only his time as a reliever, Dennis Eckersley’s is 136; Hoyt Wilhelm’s is 147; Goose Gossage’s is 126; Bruce Sutter’s is 136. All are Hall of Fame relievers. Billy Wagner is vastly better than each.

So why isn’t Wagner a Hall of Famer? Honestly, who knows? Too few saves — a meaningless statistic?

WAR too low, even though he beats Fingers and Sutter? Not enough innings pitched? High ERA, though his is better than those of Sutter, Eckersley, Gossage and Fingers?

It could be anything, but there’s no rational explanation. Rather, Billy Wagner receiving only 10.5 percent support in his first year on the ballot and looking like an extremely unlikely candidate for induction is merely representative of a larger, systemic problem. The BBWAA no longer votes coherently. The only criteria now used in determining whether a player is Hall of Fame material are the gut instincts of voters, which have proven wrong far too often.

James Schapiro ’19 can be reached at james_schapiro@brown.edu.

Pay for play MATT BROWNSWORD NEWS EDITOR

While football takes Thanksgiving Day, college basketball predominates my television screen during the rest of week. As I watched a pre-game show Saturday, I saw Nigel Hayes, one of my favorite players, walking around the set with a sign reading: “Broke College Athlete.

Anything Helps,” with his Venmo username included.

Though certain athletic programs generate overwhelming fan engagement and thereby revenue that equals or surpasses that of some professional sports teams, college athletes receive none of those monetary benefits. They are not allowed to profit on jersey sales or uses of their likenesses. When Caleb Pressley, former back-up quarterback for the University of North Carolina, sold t-shirts with caricatures of student-athletes, promising to send a percentage of the earnings of those t-shirts to those athletes after graduation, he received cease and desists from the players’ respective universities.

Universities have long set the precedent that the revenue spawned from the work of those athletes belongs to the institutions and administrators behind the team’s success. Coaches are certainly paid well: In 39 states, the highest-paid public employee is a university’s head football or basketball coach. But those actually playing on the courts and fields are not paid, though

they are required to commit a large amount of time to their sport while maintaining a courseload comparable to their non-athlete peers. In a 2008 study, Division I football players said that they dedicated an average of 44.8 hours a week to football, while baseball and men’s basketball players reported 40 and 36.8, respectively. Though much of the discourse has revolved around men’s sports, women are equally deserving of compensation for their time commitment. The same survey found that women’s basketball requires an average of 37.6 hours per week, and all other women’s sports average 33.3. That amount of time, combined with 30-plus hours of academic work, makes the demands of student-athletes look a lot like those of professional athletes.

To be clear, I’m not advocating that student athletes make millions of dollars or that some of these rules are not warranted. There is something off about prioritizing athletic ability in so far as it results in rewarding athletes exponentially more than any other student could ever earn. Allowing student-athletes to receive gifts from wealthy donors because of their performance could get out of hand. Opening the collegiate athletic system to the effects of capitalism could also result in the exacerbation of the competitive divide between schools with traditionally strong athletic programs and those without and will only hurt college sports as a whole. Who doesn’t love a March Madness Cinderella story?

What I am arguing for is some sort of com-

pensation for students whose time commitment to a sport is more than that of a typical job and limits the athlete’s ability to earn money necessary to college life. Those who argue that providing a scholarship for athletes is enough of a form of payment ought to consider the economic burden of attending school past tuition.

For athletes from low-income families like former Florida football player Sharrif Floyd, affording college can be an impossible burden.

Floyd accepted $2,700 from a charitable organization called the Student-Athlete Mentoring Foundation before and during his time at Florida and was subsequently suspended for four games. The money was used to take unofficial visits to colleges and for living expenses on campus — which he could not afford — and upon that realization, the NCAA merely knocked the ban down to two games. Shabazz Napier, an important member of the University of Connecticut’s title-winning basketball teams, said that he sometimes goes to bed “starving,” even though UConn does provide financial provisions for meal plans. Commitment to athletics and NCAA regulations prohibit athletes from earning money. When cost-of-attendance payments are not nearly enough, that is a problem.

I’m pleading the NCAA to go past the easy step of paying college athletes at all, including a reversal of its long history of classism. The NCAA should be the forebearers of equal pay, rewarding students equally across gender and competitive lines by creating a need- and time-

based system of compensation. Giving students pay that would match what they would receive from campus jobs for outside expenses would be fair. Basing decisions off financial need, students could be given monetary incentive to maintain their already rigorous academic and athletic standards without feeling outward economic pressure to quit.

For the staunch capitalists that disagree with my ideas, let’s at least agree on one thing: The NCAA system is neither fair nor in accordance with the reality of any style of economics. Amateur golfer Bryson DeChambeau posted two top-25 finishes at golf ’s enduring major championships, including 21st place in the Master’s, which would have resulted in a $116,000 reward. But because DeChambeau was a designated amateur at the time because of his playing status at Southern Methodist University, he did not receive any money. Where else in the United States do we not economically reward this ambition and success, even within the framework of our collegiate institutions? The NCAA’s policies against paying players are there to serve pure and unchecked self-interest.

I would like to see Mark Emmert, the NCAA’s president who received a salary of almost $1.9 million in 2014, do his job and receive no compensation while simultaneously working to complete a degree in physics.

Matt Brownsword ’18 can be reached at matthew_brownsword@brown.edu.