SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2016
VOLUME CLI, ISSUE 119
WWW.BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM
U. reshapes communications strategy Class disparities affect
student life in various spaces
Cross-departmental communication, centralized style marks new strategy
Experiences with academics, finances, activism differ with socioeconomic status
By SHIRA BUCHSBAUM
CLASS ON CAMPUS
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Nov. 1 marked 18 months since Vice President for Communications Cass Cliatt arrived at Brown and helped form the Office of University Communications. With this passage of time has come a marked strategic shift in the University’s communication operations toward prioritizing the active promotion of the University’s mission on and off campus. Cliatt’s vision reflects President Christina Paxson’s P’19 commitment to communications. In her first year and a half at Brown, Cliatt has coralled a staff of over 50 people, established a branch of marketing, hired a new director of news and editorial development, assumed leadership over Brown’s graphic services team and integrated her strategic plan in communications functions across campus. “Brown is a very decentralized place,” Cliatt said. But the OUC has centralized a number of functions,
By ALEX SKIDMORE SENIOR STAFF WRITER
LAUREN ARATANI / HERALD
including the University’s Visual Identity Policy and Strategy. Published in July, it creates a centralized standard for the presentation of materials — pamphlets, booklets and websites, to name a few — from departments and centers across campus. Whether creating a t-shirt or a magazine, this guideline “helps unify the way we communicate” in streamlining the logo, color, font and basic message of the materials, said Jim Kempster, assistant vice president for marketing communications. “Just as much as Brown gives strength and reputation to its constituencies, the quality of its parts contribute to the (University’s) strength
Graduate school application process largely self-driven Advising for graduate school decentralized, disadvantaged students face social barriers By SUVY QIN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The process of applying to master’s and PhD programs is largely self-directed, which can be a benefit for some students, but it can also create barriers for others. While around 11 percent of the class of 2015 reported pursuing a master’s or doctoral degree, only 3 percent pursued a fellowship or scholarship, according to the CareerLAB website. But students and alums noted the disparate levels of support they experienced when applying to graduate programs compared to fellowships and scholarships. Navigating the application processes The process of applying to master’s and PhD programs is often studentdriven and individualized, according to multiple students and alums who have applied or are currently applying to graduate programs. Applicants often receive advice from multiple
INSIDE
sources, including co-workers, professors, outside mentors and family members. Evan Lunt ’16, who will be a doctoral candidate in inorganic chemistry at Penn next year and hopes to go into academia, said he was overwhelmed by the number of programs he was interested in. A co-worker at a lab he worked at over the summer gave him the advice to choose schools that had at least several professors whose work interested him, Lunt said. He also used rating systems that compared chemistry graduate programs to help him narrow down the list to around 10 schools, Lunt said. The application process for master’s programs can also be daunting, said Caroline Vexler ’17, who is applying to master’s programs in economics. “I ended up cold-calling schools at one point,” said Alexandra Sepolen ’16, who is currently in a master’s of public health program at Columbia. “It feels like a very isolating process” because not many peers are also applying, and applicants have to do a lot of work, said Celia Ford ’17, who is applying to PhD programs in cognitive neuroscience. “It feels like you’re taking a fifth class no one knows about,” she added. » See ADVISING, page 4
and reputation,” he said. Kathryn Dunkelman, the Watson Institute for Public and International Affairs’ director of communications and outreach, noted that this marketing strategy “ensures that people see the connection” between Brown and all of its moving parts. “Why would you not associate yourself with a wellestablished institution?” she added. With the hiring of a new dean of admission and a new assistant vice president of advancement communications, the formation of the OUC has allowed for more cross-departmental communication and collaboration. The Office of Advancement has been » See COMMUNICATIONS, page 2
This story is the second in a three-part series about socioeconomic status at Brown. The series, through interviews with five students, examines the way socioeconomic status shapes students’ relationships to Brown in three stages: the application process, adjusting to life on campus and going back home after living and studying here. This story chronicles the adjustments of five students from high school to Brown’s campus. While some students reported consistencies between the environments of their high schools and the University’s, others were taken aback by the range of class privileges students bring to campus. Among the noteworthy class conditions on campus for the students interviewed were the sheer wealth some command as well as the way class background informs social habits,
comfort in class and political attitudes. Wealth shock For some, coming to campus led to some of their first sustained interactions with people who can pay Brown’s full price tag of $62,046 per year. “The first thing that shocked me was there are these people who are immensely rich at Brown — like billions of dollars,” said Chinenye Uduji ’19, adding that he had “never experienced that.” Uduji attended Central High School in Philadelphia, a public school with “a lot of low-income students.” “The privilege here is very evident,” said Kimberly Davila ’20, who went to a public high school near Los Angeles. Describing the student body of her high school, she said, “It’s predominantly Latino, low-income, and a lot of people are the first in their families to go to college.” Others were less struck by the wealth of some of Brown’s student body. “I went from being one of the lesser privileged kids in a very privileged community to being one of the more privileged kids in a less privileged community,” said Charlotte May ’17.5, who went to the Hackley School, of her transition » See CLASS, page 8
COURTESY OF MAGGIE HALL
The domestic dramedy ‘Straight White Men’ tells the story of three brothers and their father who share traditions like eating Chinese food on the sofa, but differ in their experiences with white privilege and social justice.
‘Straight White Men’ probes race, gender
Play developed by TAPS explores privilege through family interactions without oversimplifying By ZACHARY BARNES STAFF WRITER
“Straight White Men,” playing in repertory at the Wilbury Theatre Group, delivers bold and lacerating insight into privilege and what it means to be “woke” in the world today through the lens of domestic dramedy. Developed in Brown’s Department
ARTS & CULTURE
of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies in 2013, the play comes from a political era in which the eponymous demographic seemed to be slowly losing some of its dominance in American society. But the Wilbury production arrives at a critically different time. Not only has the demographic reasserted its dominance nationally via the election of a man who carries whiteness and maleness to terrifying extremes, but it has done so under the perversely twisted guise of a forgotten class proudly reclaiming its place. From long magazine features to cable news conventional wisdom, the narrative of the tragically misunderstood Trump voter has become ubiquitous.
Yet “Straight White Men,” despite having only white, male and presumably straight characters, escapes this wrongheaded genre of social commentary. “More than anything, I admire the way (the playwright) Young Jean Lee is so committed to challenging audiences and creates characters that we can all relate to … even when they may not be the nicest people,” wrote Josh Short, the artistic director of the Wilbury, in an email to The Herald. Indeed, the four characters do not provoke easy reactions; socially aware but still problematic, loving but sometimes insensitive, the characters whir with complexity. The show opens as one character, » See WHITE MEN, page 3
WEATHER
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2016
NEWS Center for Entrepreneurship launches to increase student accessibility to entrepreneurship
NEWS Students frustrated by problems in receiving absentee ballots from Mail Services
COMMENTARY Rowland ’17: Activities of Undergraduate Finance Board should be more transparent
COMMENTARY Silvert ’20: Students should build on political correctness to initiate meaningful interactions
PAGE 3
PAGE 4
PAGE 7
PAGE 7
TODAY
TOMORROW
46 / 34
46 / 30
ARTS & CULTURE PAGE 2 • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2016
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Childish Gambino departs from roots, explores funk, soul in new LP ‘Awaken, My Love!’ offers psychedelic new tracks with eerie accompaniment in December LP By MADISON RIVLIN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Enveloping listeners in soulful, bluesy funk and eerie, ethereal vocals, Childish Gambino plunges into the mellifluous world of psychedelia in his third LP “Awaken, My Love!” Released Dec. 2, Childish Gambino’s newest tracks constitute a new chapter in his professional path as he moves away from the electronic influences on his 2014 EP “Kauai” and rap-centric pieces on his first full-length albums “Because
» CLIATT, from page 1 working “to have better coordination across all departments,” and there has been a tangible shift in this effort since Paxson arrived, said Todd Andrews ’83, vice president of alumni relations. “Brown’s culture is not well suited to a corporate image. We don’t have a corporate culture; we don’t want to have a corporate culture,” Paxson said. While the OUC is charged with ensuring cohesiveness, “there’s not a ‘Brown view,’ or a set of talking points that all faculty and students have in common, and that’s a good thing,” she added. Additionally, the OUC serves as a source of University news: The office and its team provides communications services to all students, staff members and faculty members alike. It also navigates the rapidly changing media landscape, identifying trending and evolving forms of information exchange and leveraging them to continue to share Brown’s complex and diverse story. The OUC is “not an independent news organization. We shouldn’t be an independent news organization. And we shouldn’t pretend to be an independent news organization. We have a different mission,” said Brian Clark, director of news and editorial development. “It’s self-serving to a degree, but that’s okay.” Cliatt agreed, “We’re not going to be a substitute for the student newspaper.” Creation of the OUC During Paxson’s first few years at Brown, “It became clear to me that the world of communications was changing so fast and was becoming more and more central to everything that we do,” Paxson said. “We are now living in a world where there is no divide between internal and external communications.” Before the OUC, the Office of Public Affairs and University Relations — which was led by Marisa Quinn, current chief of staff of the provost — focused on cultivating and maintaining relationships with local, state and national media personnel and government contacts. PAUR had some of the communications functions the OUC is now responsible for but was largely focused on external affairs. After about seven years as the vice president of PAUR, Quinn moved to the Watson Institute as its new director of communications and outreach in January 2015. The staffing change “created an opportunity for President Paxson to crystallize communications as an important function for
the Internet” and “Camp.” Shedding his rapper persona, Childish Gambino explores his range and style, adopting various voices to sing in each of the 11 songs featured on the album. With soft, muted heartbeat percussion, twinkling chimes, bottle-blowing, trippy wah-wah pedal and rumbling bass guitar, the LP’s psychedelic symphony of sounds accentuates Childish Gambino’s honeyed, fluid vocals. Childish Gambino’s voice maintains the transcendent, dreamlike feel and occupies high octaves as it rolls, quivers the university as a whole,” Quinn said. “Natural staff transitions” create opportunities to rethink certain structures, Paxson said. “After Marisa decided to leave, … I decided that I wanted to create this new structure.” Paxson launched a search for a vice president of communications and included Cliatt’s name in the pool. Paxson knew of her work from their shared time at Princeton. “I knew she had the skillset that I needed, which was to integrate communications across the University without stifling individuality and also think more holistically about a communications framework,” Paxson said. When Cliatt arrived in April 2015, the OUC assumed and enlarged the communications functions of PAUR, while Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey ’91 MA’06 took over the government relations previously managed by PAUR. Cliatt was drawn to Brown because the school “is at an inflection point. And that’s really exciting as a place with a strong identity that’s student centered, collaborative, constructively irreverent, activist.” Upon her arrival, Cliatt “went on a listening tour,” meeting with cabinet members, student leaders, committee members and faculty members, she said. She noted that the school’s “individual spirit” can sometimes pose challenges in presenting a unified identity. The University in public life Between Pathways to Diversity and Inclusion, Paxson’s multiple columns in major news outlets and coverage of recent campus initiatives, Brown has a high profile in national media. According to The Herald’s 2016 fall undergraduate poll, 34.8 percent of students think Brown is either somewhat or very inaccurately portrayed in this sphere. Charged with the stewardship of Brown’s face, image and voice, Cliatt said she thinks critically about media coverage. “Twenty-five years ago, universities had to rely on earned media coverage” to tell their story to a broad audience, Clark said. Quinn noted that her strategy largely focused on straightforward news releases, news features and sharing with alums and elected officials stories that reinforced and advanced the University’s profile. As traditional news media declined and social media rose during her tenure, opportunities “to tell our story ourselves” emerged, she added. “The old idea was that you tried to stay ahead of the media,” Paxson said. “You could not stay ahead of the new
and echoes to veer from the mainstream. The first track on the album, “Me and Your Mama,” was released as a single before the LP itself. Though it originally received mixed reviews, “Me and Your Mama” effectively sets the eerie tone present in the rest of the album. Dream sequences and breathy backup singing shift with an overlay of manic laughter to throaty ballads and deep guitar that integrate funk with soul and blues. Also released early, “Redbone” has received widespread praise, named a current “Favorite Song” by Rolling Stone Magazine, which writes that Childish Gambino “splays helium-soul love all over a rubbery P-Funk groove.” Childish
Gambino’s lofty voice reverberates and echoes over a bare, leisurely drum-beat and the wah-wah pedal and guitar: “You better believe in something … But stay woke … Now don’t you close your eyes.” Childish Gambino offers some more upbeat tracks including “Riot” and “California,” while featuring his raw, soaring voice on “Zombies” and “Baby Boy.” He continues with a simple solo, ghostly, whispering backup vocals and a powerful base that drives the melody and compliments other synthesizedsounding elements of the accompaniment. While “Awaken, My Love!” demonstrates Childish Gambino’s impressive
creativity, it lacks strong thematic content and lyrical genius to accompany inventive instrumental and musical choices. The album does implore listeners to unite against adversity and stay strong in “Have Some Love:” “Have a word for your brother / Have some time for one another / Really love one another / It’s so hard to find.” Similarly, in the LP’s final track, “Stand Tall:” “Keep all your dreams, / Keep standing tall … If you are strong you cannot fall.” Yet “Awaken, My love!” lacks true lyrical finesse that would otherwise elevate the album. Childish Gambino should not be so quick to distance himself from hip-hop and rap.
media. It’s happening in nanoseconds.” “That means that we need to spend more time than we used to really thinking about how internal events are going to be portrayed externally, and how we can get ahead of some of the coverage of Brown that I think doesn’t always do justice to the University,” she added. Without the OUC stewarding Brown’s image, “there was a tendency to allow different voices to tell the story of Brown,” Cliatt said. The dramatic shift in how people consume information — moving from traditional newspapers to online sources like social media — required a purposeful shift in “telling Brown’s story,” Cliatt said. The OUC proactively shapes the University’s message, whether by reporting on new University initiatives, featuring the accomplishments of community members or publishing statements on the University’s affairs. But the multiplying modes of communication make it difficult to control what enters the mainstream. Paxson noted the recent vandalism of American flags on the Main Green on Veteran’s Day as an example. “After the episode, an alum who graduated in the 1950s emailed me that … a very similar incident happened in the 1950s. He said nobody knew about it. He doesn’t even think (The Herald) reported it (at the time). This internal news did not become national news,” she said. “We have an incident that’s very similar some 60 years later that went to social media, then to the mainstream media, then to Fox News. That wouldn’t have happened 25 years ago. It probably wouldn’t have happened 10 years ago,” Paxson added. “The largest challenges are not with traditional news media, but more the proliferation of blogs and content providers that are aiming to leverage an agenda,” Clark said. For example, in late August, the University of Chicago letter to firstyear students originally about freedom of speech in the university appeared on a small blog and was later picked up by national media. “I think we tend to get caricaturized in the media and oftentimes that’s mischaracterization,” Paxson said. “One of the goals of our communications strategy is to really show the world what Brown is.” But University statements and press releases online also provide reporters with another resource and “help shape early news coverage,” Cliatt said. “Reporters won’t call to get the first-hand story anymore,” so asserting Brown’s position helps mitigate
the repercussions of misinformation. Additionally, the OUC works to promote the work being done at Brown. Brown’s top priority is “to do excellent work,” Dunkelman said. “But we don’t want to do all of that in a vacuum,” she added. “Communications is a pertinent part of the (University’s) mission.”
aid, and Cliatt understands how to integrate those issues into a communications framework. “At the heart of our conversations at Brown that is driving us forward is an agreement that (the) Admission (Office) and Communications will work more closely together to communicate not only with prospective students who are interested in Brown, but also students who might not even be thinking that Brown is a possibility for them. This is a shared charge,” Cliatt wrote in a follow-up email to The Herald. The OUC also pairs with the Office of Advancement to engage with alums. Joseph Zappala, assistant vice president for advancement communications, arrived at Brown in August and is still developing his role. Key aspects of advancement communications include helping alums feel connected to and engaged with the University and with each other, Zappala said. Promoting the BrownTogether fundraising campaign among alums, parents and friends of the University also plays a role in advancement communications, Zappala added. The OUC partnered with the Office of Advancement on the campaign marketing materials Advancement uses to promote the campaign. Advancement also works with the OUC in media relations. “When something happens at the University that’s controversial, it’s important for us to be prepared to answer questions,” Zappala said. Advancement looks to share the same statements from the OUC, “so we’re all staying consistent and communicating the same message.” “It’s really critical for a unit like this and other units to be partnering with (the) OUC. In the end, it’s all about the University and moving the University forward. It’s important to make sure that we’re in step together on communication,” Zappala added. Additionally, the OUC oversees the Brown Alumni Magazine. When she arrived, Cliatt found the magazine “operated almost as a silo, predominantly focused on covering the life of alumni after they leave Brown rather than cover(ing) the life of Brown itself.” She added that the magazine offers another outlet for University news written with different perspectives from what the primary news office can produce. The underlying strategy adheres to the OUC’s aim to unify the University’s messaging “so the Brown they know during the process, during their time here and after their time here is not different,” Cliatt added.
Before and beyond Brown “Two very key audiences” that the OUC serves are prospective students and their families and Brown alums, Cliatt said. The OUC approaches prospective students differently than current students and alums, focusing on cultivating an understanding of Brown rather than active engagement on social media and through coverage, Cliatt said. With Logan Powell’s arrival as the new dean of admission, Cliatt said the two departments have had early conversations about how they can partner. The Admission Office produces massive amounts of information for prospective students, including print communications, travel information, emails, social media engagement, tours and interviews. Many admission offices hire external vendors to create that content, and Brown’s Admission Office has worked with an outside vendor to print its materials. While nothing is settled yet, the OUC and the Admission Office is in the process of determining what their partnership will look like going forward, Cliatt wrote in a follow-up email to The Herald. The Admission Office also communicates through in-person high school and regional visits, Powell said. “We’re also visible in certain publications. We don’t just arbitrarily look for space in magazines or particular websites, but there are some that are very focused on students and the college admissions process.” Come the end of admission season, Powell is looking to collaborate with Cliatt and the OUC to “better synchronize what we’re sharing with prospective students” through the admission website and social media accounts, he said. But Powell added that no “massive overhaul” needs to occur in the messaging; rather, he thinks the Admission Office and the OUC will collaborate to figure out “how we get that message to a broader audience.” Powell noted that sharing information about affordability with low- and middle-income high school students and families is crucial. Paxson echoed that one of Cliatt’s strengths is that she is “passionate” about issues of access and financial
NEWS
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2016 • PAGE 3
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Center for Entrepreneurship unifies programs across campus Daniel Warshay ’87 appointed director, aims to streamline programs for student innovators By HATTIE XU SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The Jonathan M. Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship, tasked with coordinating programs and activities relating to entrepreneurship across campus, officially launched in September. Daniel Warshay ’87, adjunct lecturer in engineering, was appointed the center’s executive director Aug. 15. Currently based out of the third floor of Brown/RISD Hillel, the center aims to “make entrepreneurship a central part of the Brown experience,” Warshay said. Innovation and interdisciplinary work have always been “knitted into the fabric of Brown,” and the center hopes to make entrepreneurship accessible to all students, he added. Though many entrepreneurship programs have existed at Brown before the creation of the center, hosting them all under one organization helps streamline the process for students hoping to learn more about entrepreneurship, Warshay said. The center now helps facilitate various venture support grants that range from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars. Students can also meet with mentors who are Brown alums, visiting entrepreneurs or other students if they need advice, he added. The center has worked to develop
» WHITE MEN, from page 1 Jake — played by Short — plays a videogame while his brother, Drew — portrayed by Gunnar Manchester — darts around the stage, singing loudly in an attempt to annoy him. Soon after, the oldest brother, Matt — played by Dave Rabinow — along with their father, Ed — played by Roger Lemelin — enter, and the family unit begins to emerge. We learn about how Matt got the high school drama teacher fired for only casting white people in “Oklahoma!” and hear Drew’s teenage journal entry entitled “Why I Hate People.” The presence of their late mother is also felt, as we learn that she had reworked Monopoly into a board game called ‘Privilege’ and impressed upon her children the importance of social justice. The members of the family all seem to have taken heed of this message, albeit to different degrees. Jake, a brashly masculine banker, is well versed in the language of social justice, talking oppression and privilege with ease, but he admits to employing an all-white team of bankers because he believes that is what his clients want. Drew, a writer and professor, believes that he helps the world through teaching and his political novels. Jake sees that as a bubble in need of popping, saying, “How is being another white guy with tenure making a difference?” Matt takes his awareness to another level and forms the emotional center of the play. With two Ivy League degrees, he was once seen as the most promising son of the family, but now he works a low-level temp job at a nonprofit. As he explains it, he just wants “to be useful.” In Matt, Lee has created a character who is so aware of his privilege, he can’t do anything without thinking about
partnerships with a number of organizations on campus, including the Brown Center for Students of Color, the FirstGeneration College and Low-Income Student Center and women’s entrepreneurship group Lady Launchers, Warshay said. Through collaborations with these three groups, the center has developed programs and events to support those who belong to underrepresented groups, he said. The center hosted a conference titled “Entrepreneurship at the Intersection of Diversity and Inequality” Dec. 5. Many peer institutions have long had centers for entrepreneurship, and Brown is just now catching up, said Angus Kingon, professor of entrepreneurship and organizational studies and engineering. A concerted focus on entrepreneurship is “critical for a modern university,” Kingon added. Over the past few decades, students’ expectations for university education have also changed, and the school must “shift to reflect the realities of job security,” Kingon said. He added that a college education once prepared students for a decades-long career at a single company, but now students are exploring a variety of options, including switching careers and building their own companies. An immediate focus for the center is to establish a more permanent space where students and staff can collaborate, Warshay said. He added that he is “treating the new center as a startup.” “We’re trying to exercise appropriate humility and not assume that we know about all the unmet needs,” Warshay said. “Even in the creation of the center, we’re
the ways it perpetuates oppression. As Matt, Rabinow delivers a tender and finely tuned performance. The play operates on two intimately entwined levels: one a warm-hearted family portrait, the other a thoughtful dive into white privilege and all that it means. The former proves to be the weaker link, occasionally leaving the latter looking bare and didactic. The family — and the three brothers especially — have a seemingly endless cache of inside jokes, nostalgia trips and cute traditions. While some are touching and funny, such as when all four men cram onto the couch to eat Chinese take-out, they eventually grow tiresome. Lee seems to substitute these antics for deeper ways of drawing a family on stage. Though the director Vince Petronio stages the play intelligently, he also could have emphasized the family dynamic more gracefully. The cast, too, occasionally forgoes subtlety and overacts but generally performs well. As Jake, Short struts about the stage, gleefully obnoxious. Manchester, as Drew, makes less of an impression but nonetheless fashions a believable character in his young novelist. Lemelin, as Ed, comes across as a little stiff, but in the context of his character, it’s easy to brush off as just an endearing quirk of the family patriarch. Around the edges of the play floats a character, Stagehand-in-Charge —Daraja Hinds — who is neither white nor male. She does not take part in any of the action in the play, but instead welcomes the audience, acts as the run crew and authoritatively says “go” at the start of each scene. It is a small but vital part, and in some ways it serves as a representation of Lee. Though the play may be about straight white men, this isn’t just another Shakespeare.
trying to exhibit entrepreneurship.” Warshay also meets weekly with the leaders of the Brown Entrepreneurship Program, said Valentin Perez ’18, copresident of the group. Prior to the creation of the center, the group met with representatives from the Swearer Center for Public Service, Perez said. Brown EP and Warshay meet to discuss activities they can coordinate together, Perez said. Alexandra Paul ’18, co-president of the group, said she believes these meetings are valuable because she and Perez can offer insight into student attitudes and ultimately shape how programs and events are developed. Paul said Brown EP is excited about the center because it serves as a “onestop shop for all the entrepreneurs on campus.” Though she hopes to see the center grow and find a more permanent location, it is still encouraging to see University support for entrepreneurs, Paul added. Nurturing entrepreneurship is important because it is a “way of thinking that can be applied to anything,” Perez said. Brown students, who are “entrepreneurial by nature,” can benefit from the center by learning to be even more innovative, he added. Warshay comes to the center with a wealth of experience, wrote Eric Suuberg, professor of technology entrepreneurship and engineering, in an email to The Herald. His appointment to the position, as well as Jonathan Nelson’s $25 million gift to fund the center, were celebrated in a September event that gathered Brown alumni entrepreneurs, according to a
COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY
Daniel Warshay ’87, a lifelong entrepreneur, was tapped to lead the Jonathan M. Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship. University press release. entrepreneurship. Every other discipline Warshay has been teaching demands that professors teach, underENGN1010: “The Entrepreneurial stand practical applications and particiProcess: Innovation in Practice” for 11 pate in research, Kingon said. years. Earlier in his career, he co-founded Additionally, Kingon hopes that the Clearview Software and sold the busi- center will work with the Program in ness to Apple. He has since founded and Innovation Management and Entrepredeveloped numerous other companies neurship, of which he and Suuberg are and teaches entrepreneurship workshops co-directors, to link science and technolglobally. ogy to entrepreneurship. Kingon added Suuberg lauded Warshay’s knowl- he believes it is important to teach stuedge of Brown and entrepreneurship dents to translate science and technology in general, in addition to praising his research into tools of value for society. connections and demonstrated success The formation of the center will also in helping Brown entrepreneurs. “What help tackle questions concerning the more could one ask of someone who extent to which Brown will support enis assuming this role?” Suuberg added. trepreneurial activities and how students Kingon said he hopes that the can continue to be supported after they center will develop scholarship in graduate, Suuberg wrote.
Students double concentrate for breadth Students find academic rigor, structure, but no employment benefits in additional concentrations By RHAIME KIM STAFF WRITER
As the semester comes to an end and the spring deadline for sophomores to declare a concentration approaches, many students are considering double concentrating. The proportion of undergraduates who have double concentrated has remained steady at around 20 percent over the past 10 years, according to statistics published by the Office of Institutional Research. Undergraduates can double concentrate if they can complete all the requirements in eight standard semesters with no more than two courses counting toward both concentrations, according two the University’s website. One way to think about concentrations is that “they’re a map for the curriculum,” giving structure and guidance within the open curriculum, said Dean of the College Maud Mandel. Ian Sherman ’18, who is concentrating in psychology and public policy, wrote in an email to The Herald that he believed that with the open curriculum, “double concentrating would help give me structure to my schedule without sacrificing the (breadth) of taking classes in different disciplines.” Brown, unlike some of its peer schools and other American colleges, does not offer minors. This choice was purposeful with the development of the open curriculum in 1968, Mandel said.
“Built in with the philosophy of the open curriculum was the idea that it wanted to encourage students to explore the curriculum,” Mandel said. The University decided not to allow minors because they could potentially hinder one’s ability to take a variety of classes by adding more requirements on top of one’s concentration, she added. “It’s great to double concentrate if you have two things you’re really passionate about learning,” Mandel said. “In my opinion, that’s the only good reason to do it” she said, rather than double concentrating for credentialing purposes. Ron Foreman, a career counselor at CareerLAB, echoed Mandel’s point. He added that despite certain perceptions, there is no evidence that double concentrating for its own sake would benefit one in the job market. Anne Bocage ’18, who is double
DAPHNE SINING ZHAO / HERALD
concentrating in biology and ethnic studies, came to Brown knowing that she wanted to pursue a concentration in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. “I just found myself really drawn to both areas of study, and I’m (kind of) indecisive. So (I) just chose to do both!” Bocage wrote in an email to The Herald. Both areas of study support her interest in health disparities with a focus on minority health. On the other hand, Minoshka Narayan ’18, an English and economics double concentrator, knew from her high school experience studying both subjects through the International Baccalaureate curriculum that she wanted to double concentrate at Brown. She finds economics to be a more practical field of study given her interest in finance, but has found the critical thinking skills she has developed through the humanities to be useful as well, she added.
NEWS
PAGE 4 • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2016
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Students experience trouble receiving absentee ballots Students cite problems with Mail Services during election, including lack of notifications, delays By HATTIE XU SENIOR STAFF WRITER
As a campus that enrolls students from all 50 states in addition to Washington, D.C., Brown receives many absentee ballots at Mail Services every election cycle. But this year, many students encountered problems after requesting an absentee ballot from their precinct. Some students noticed a problem with Mail Services’ notification system, which did not alert them that their ballot had arrived. Lily Meyersohn ’19 said she requested a ballot in September and began to worry when she had not received it by mid-October. After contacting her county clerk to ensure that the ballot had been mailed, she went to Mail Services and asked an employee at the counter to physically check for her mail. When she received her ballot, it was postmarked Oct. 5, she said. “It’s kind of irresponsible for them not to be prioritizing election mail,” Meyersohn said, adding that she would prefer for election-related mail to be
» ADVISING, from page 1 Other students noted that faculty members were also a source of advice during the process. “One of the prerequisites for graduate school was research experience,” said Russell Shelp ’16, who is a PhD student in organic chemistry at Penn. Doing research helped put Shelp in contact with professors who acted as a support system, and the professors he worked with were natural choices as advisors because they have all attended graduate school, he added. Additionally, because applying to PhD programs typically entails applying to work with specific faculty members, it is helpful to know other scholars in the field, as they might have connections, Shelp said. “Doing my own thesis has prepared me to talk to larger scholars,” said Charlie Scott ’17, who applied to both master’s and PhD programs in higher education, American studies and ethnic studies and uses the pronouns they, them and their. Assistant Professor of History Jennifer Lambe ’06 said that in her time at Brown, several faculty members were generous with their mentorship. At Brown, students are taken seriously as thinkers and interact with faculty members, allowing them to build up a “network of advisors,” she said. Several students also received mentoring from outside sources and programs. Mya Roberson ’16, who is pursuing a PhD in epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said she didn’t commit to applying to PhD programs until the summer before her senior year, which is considered late. “Fortunately, I had gone to a few conferences such as the Leadership Alliance National Symposium and the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students,” which had a lot of programming about the process of applying to graduate school, Roberson said. Scott did a four-week summer
given priority even if it meant other mail would be processed slower. She also noted that she has never had an issue with Mail Services in the past. Ryan Lessing ’17 said he requested his ballot from Maryland in early October. He received his ballot later that month when he went to Mail Services after getting an email notification for another piece of mail. He was never notified that the ballot had arrived, Lessing said. Though the new mail service system has been more efficient than the mailboxes, Lessing said there have also been more consistency issues with letter mail. It would be valuable for Mail Services to conduct a review of the system to identify any issues, he added. Mail Services should also send a campuswide email, particularly during election seasons, telling students to approach Mail Services employees for help if they suspect that there is a problem. Such efforts will “relieve people’s anxieties,” Lessing said. Gabriel Buchsbaum ’17 said he realized there was a problem when three workshop organized by the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers last summer, which is when they started thinking “more concretely” about graduate school, they said. The workshop consisted of reading and having conversations about dense theoretical texts, but it also offered Graduate Record Examination test prep, advising for graduate school and support while applying, Scott added. They heard about the workshop through an email from Assistant Vice President and Dean of Students and Vice President of Campus Life and Student Services Mary Grace Almandrez, they said, adding they felt much more prepared because they were in that program. A mentoring program called Women’s Launch Pad, which matches women from the senior class with successful female alums, has been an “unexpected resource,” Ford said, adding that her mentor also studied neuroscience and read her applications. Students have also used informal networking to get support, such as through family connections and friends. Isabel van Paasschen ’17, who is applying to master’s programs in history, said she spoke with a friend’s dad who is a history professor about how to apply and what programs to look at, she said. Additionally, she said her aunt who works in graduate school admission has given her advice. People want to go to one place to get their information, said Dean of the College Maud Mandel. But “centralizing support (for graduate school admissions) doesn’t work” because applicants are choosing to specialize in a specific field when applying to graduate school, Mandel said. In contrast, there is an office for fellowships because it’s a centralized application process, so it’s easier to give systematic advice, Mandel added. Challenges of applying to graduate programs Some students and alums noted
weeks had passed and he had not received his ballot from Massachusetts. The county clerk also confirmed that his ballot had been sent. When his family called Mail Services, they discovered the ballot had been in the Mail Services system. Buchsbaum had not received an email notification, and the machines said he had no mail when he swiped his card, he said. “It would be helpful if they did a better job of checking to see if ballots were processed correctly,” Buchsbaum said. After hearing about other students who were anxious about their absentee ballots, Buchsbaum made a post in the Class of 2017 Facebook group, he said. In the Oct. 26 post, he suggested that people ask Mail Services employees to check the system. Though Amy Fifer ’17 said she received an email about letter mail, the machine said there was no mail for her when she swiped her card. Fifer, who requested her ballot from Fairfax, Virginia around August, said she “stressed about it” and “didn’t know what to think” until she approached a Mail Services employee and found it in the system in early November. “They shouldn’t be making this
mistake,” Fifer said. “I have zero faith in their ability to let me know when I have mail.” Grace Johnson ’19, a Herald columnist, never received her absentee ballot for unknown reasons. She resigned herself to not being able to vote until she learned that Rhode Island permits election-day registration to vote for president and vice president. Though Johnson had been following the Minnesota campaigns, she switched her registration from Minnesota to Rhode Island so that she would be able to vote in the presidential election, she said. Johnson said she believes that incoming first-years should be aware of the potential problems that can arise with absentee ballots. Those hailing from swing states should be especially careful and aware of their voting process, she added. Amy Huang ’20, who did not receive her absentee ballot until a week before the election, also said people should stay on top of the process because they may have to “go out of their way” to vote. But Elizabeth Gentry, assistant vice president of business and financial services, said there is no “pervasive” problem with Mail Services. Though
she has heard about the students’ issues with their ballots, she said she does not believe the system is at fault. Letter mail, which comes in trays, are presorted into numerical order based on box number, Gentry said. They are then transferred to the highdensity mail system, which is a room that contains plastic hanging folders for every student. Mail employees use finger scanners to ensure that the mail matches the student’s folder, which has a barcode. Once the barcode is scanned, the scanner beeps, and a notification email is sent to the student, Gentry said. All mail is processed on the same day it arrives, she added. Gentry said that student issues may be due to human error, which happens in any workplace. With the influx of election-related mail, there may have been more mistakes made, she added. Though it is difficult to know the breadth of the problem, students interviewed agreed Mail Services should be more careful in the future regardless. A high volume of absentee ballots is a predictable event every two years, and this is a chance for Mail Services to improve upon their system, Lessing said.
that while they felt academically prepared, there was a lack of support in the logistical aspects of applying to graduate school. While she felt adequately supported by faculty members, Roberson said she thought “Brown could do a better job of showing that graduate school — besides fifth-year master’s programs — is a viable option for a post-Brown career path.” While she organized panels in the CareerLAB about how to apply to graduate school while she was a peer advisor, she said she wishes there were more “permanent programming that helps students realize what it even means to apply to graduate school,” she added. Scott said that the only time they heard anything about graduate school was through talking with faculty members or at graduate school events at the CareerLAB — which have only happened in the last two years. While faculty members are essential when applying, many applied so long ago that their experience is less relevant, Roberson said. While faculty members helped her figure out where to apply and how to talk about her research, when it came to the actual application process, “I stumbled around on my own,” she said. For example, fee waivers are available for applications, but different institutions have different processes for obtaining fee waivers, Roberson said, adding that she was not aware of the separate timelines for fee waivers before application deadlines. Additionally, taking the GRE is expensive and sending its scores to schools costs more than doing so for the SAT, Vexler said. To get the fee waived requires a secondary application, she added. In addition, students unfamiliar with the exam itself may not know about the timeline of applying or when to take the GRE exam, Roberson added. PhD programs are “investing in you,” Scott said, adding that “the more acclaim you get, you are much more
likely to get more opportunities,” which requires an ability to network and accrue social capital. The University “should pay more attention to imposter syndrome when advising students interested in applying to graduate programs” — especially among students of marginalized identities — Sepolen said. Students need to be able to be confident and ask questions in order to find resources and mentoring needed to push forward, she said. Even interacting with professors can require “untangling a lot of socializations one has,” which can be a tough barrier to building a network of support, Scott said. Providing opportunities for students to interact with departmental faculty members in order to learn more about the research they are doing would help students tap into resources within their departments and expand their networks of support when applying to graduate school, Sepolen added. Other applicants felt that they were adequately supported in applying to graduate programs. “If you are applying to graduate school, you’re driving the process, so you shouldn’t have to have someone holding your hand,” Vexler said. “I’ve had a lot of ownership over this process.” Navigating this process independently has “made me more aware of my interests,” she added. “There’s much more self-direction when it comes to the social sciences,” Lambe said, adding that the autonomy made the path both “appealing and anxiety-producing at the same time.” “There’s a pressure to do things by yourself and be an individual,” Scott said.
said, adding that there are fewer people who apply to research Fulbrights in the hard sciences, making that process more difficult. For graduate school, you apply as an individual, but for fellowships, you apply as an individual affiliated with an institution, said Mike Petro ’17, who applied for a research Fulbright after receiving an email from the Fellowships at Brown letting him know about the opportunity. Fellowships at Brown hosts workshops and information sessions about the various opportunities available to students, said Linda Dunleavy, associate dean of the college for fellowships and pre-law programs. The University tries to advertise opportunities and do outreach to certain populations, especially considering that some students may not view themselves as potential Rhodes Scholarship or Fulbright candidates, Dunleavy said. For example, one outreach method is emailing students based off a list from the registrar of students organized by the percentage of A’s or S’s with distinction, Dunleavy added. Fellowships at Brown “exceeded my expectations,” said Fatima Husain ’17, who applied to a master’s program and a research Fulbright. Dunleavy and Fellowship Program Coordinator Linda Sutherland were “extremely accessible” for providing feedback on her application, Husain said. In comparison, the process of applying to graduate programs is “more stressful” because the onus is on the student to find support, she added. “There’s better advising for some fellowships than others,” Roberson said, adding that she felt well-supported when applying for the Truman Scholarship, but there wasn’t as much support for the Ford Foundation Fellowship. Compared to the process of applying to graduate school, “there is far more support for students applying to national fellowships,” she said, adding it was a “pretty stark contrast.”
Comparing student experiences Some students applied to both fellowships and graduate programs, noting the different experiences they had with each process. “I got more advice applying to graduate school than applying to the Fulbright (Scholar Program),” Lunt
TODAY
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2016 • PAGE 5
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
menu
a century of choral classics
SATELLITE DINING ANDREWS COMMONS
Pizza: Mushroom’s Revenge, Spicy Sausage and Garlic, Miss Maple Po’ Boys JOSIAH’S
BLUE ROOM
Jo’s Unbaked Enchilada
Burrito Bowls Beef Chili with Beans
DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH
DINNER
Cuban Sandwiches, Honey Mustard Chicken Tenders, Chocolate Macaroon Cupcakes
Pork Vindaloo, Baked Sesame Chicken, Butternut Squash with Red Onion, S’mores Cupcakes
VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH
DINNER
Pasta Bar with Meatballs, Comino Chicken Sandwiches, Chocolate Macaroon Cupcakes
Rotini Pasta, Orange Chicken Pad Thai, Corn Pudding, Raspberry Cheesecake
sudoku
SARA RUNKEL / HERALD
Brown University Chorus regales an audience with melodic tunes during the holiday season for its 100th annual lessons and carols service in Sayles Hall Sunday night.
Q U O T E O F T H E D AY
“I have zero faith in their ability to let me know when I have mail.” crossword
— Amy Fifer ’17
See absentee ballots on page 4.
Letters, please! letters@browndailyherald.com
calendar TODAY DECEMBER
S
M
T
W
Th
F
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Telling a Story with Timelines 11:00 A.M. Rockefeller Library, 160
Film Screening: America’s Diplomats 4:00 P.M. Joukowsky Forum
Chanukah, Christmas and Cookies 6:00 P.M. Brown/RISD Hillel
Bubble Tea Talk: Racism and Asian Parents 7:30 P.M. 68 Brown Street, Lounge 1
TOMORROW Catholic Masses for Immaculate Conception 12:05 P.M. Sayles Hall Auditorium
Staff Advisory Council’s Annual Holiday Party 4:00 P.M. Sayles Hall Auditorium
Reading: Poet Alec Finlay 5:30 P.M. McCormack Family Theater
Concert for Percussion and Electronics 8:00 P.M. Grant Recital Hall
COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2016
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
DAV I D S C H U R M A N
comic P-Branes and Bosons |Ricky Oliver
Follow the Herald! twitter.com/the_herald
Find us online! facebook.com/browndailyherald
browndailyherald.com
@the_herald
Location: 195 Angell St., Providence, R.I. www.browndailyherald.com
@browndailyherald
youtube.com/browndailyherald
Editorial contact: 401-351-3372 herald@browndailyherald.com
Business contact: 401-351-3260 gm@browndailyherald.com
Submissions: The Brown Daily Herald publishes submissions in the form of op-eds and letters to the editor. Op-eds are typically between 750 and 1000 words, though we will consider submissions between 500 and 1200 words. Letters to the editor should be around 250 words. While letters to the editor respond to an article or column that has appeared in The Herald, op-eds usually prompt new discussions on campus or frame new arguments about current discourse. All submissions to The Herald cannot have been previously published elsewhere (in print or online — including personal blogs and social media), and they must be exclusive to The Herald. Submissions must include no more than two individual authors. If there are more than two original authors, The Herald can acknowledge the authors in a statement at the end of the letter or op-ed, but the byline can only include up to two names. The Herald will not publish submissions authored by groups. The Herald does not publish anonymous submissions. If you feel your circumstances prevent you from submitting an op-ed or letter with your name, please email herald@browndailyherald.com to explain your situation.
Editorial Leadership
Sections
Visuals & Production
Business
Editor-in-Chief Emma Jerzyk
Arts & Culture Editors Rebecca Ellis Jaclyn Torres
Design Editors Sonia Geba Nicola Ho Jessica Yu Assistants: Minah Seo, Christy Leung
General Managers Moniyka Sachar Joshua Tartell
Managing Editor Joseph Zappa Senior Editors Andrew Flax Caroline Kelly POST- MAGAZINE Editor-in-Chief Yidi Wu
News Editors Lauren Aratani Matt Brownsword Elena Weissmann Sports Editor Taneil Ruffin COMMENTARY Opinions Editors Margaret Hu Mili Mitra Lainie Rowland
Photo Editors Head: Eli White Sam Berube Marianna McMurdock Copy Desk Chief Julia Stemmer Illustrations Editor Roland High
Directors Business Dev.: Antonia Alvarez Finance: Neil Wathore Finance: Benjamin Wesner Strategy: Abraham Galindo Sales Managers Gaby Elanbeck Maisie Lynton Ari Shusterman Lizzy Doykan Finance Managers Collections: Reena Zhan Collections: Varun Narayan
You can submit op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com and letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. When you email your submission, please include (1) your full name, (2) an evening or mobile phone number in case your submission is chosen for publication and (3) any affiliation with Brown University or any institution or organization relevant to the content of your submission. Please send in submissions at least 24 hours in advance of your desired publication date. The Herald only publishes submissions while it is in print. The Herald reserves the right to edit all submissions. If your piece is considered for publication, an editor will contact you to discuss potential changes to your submission. Commentary: The editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only. Corrections: The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication. Advertising: The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion. The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. is a financially independent, nonprofit media organization bringing you The Brown Daily Herald, BlogDailyHerald and Post- Magazine. The Brown Daily Herald has served the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement and once during Orientation by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Single copy free for each member of the community. Subscription prices: $280 one year daily, $140 one semester daily. Copyright 2016 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Postmaster: Please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906.
COMMENTARY WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2016 • PAGE 7
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
UFB: the true nucleus of the cell LAINIE ROWLAND staff columnist
Over Thanksgiving break, I used my brief leisure time to do something I generally don’t get to do: read a book for pleasure. I picked up Doris Kearn Goodwin’s biography of President Lyndon Johnson and found myself immersed in the account of Johnson’s college years, which detailed his early involvement in the politics of student government. Upon discovering the “tremendously inequitable distribution of the student activities fund” at his alma mater, San Marcos College, Johnson instilled in his peers “a discontent with the present surroundings and achievements.” The rules of these surroundings were defined by a society of jocks called the Black Stars (evidently the precursors to the group Tina Fey would later coin “The Plastics”). Capitalizing on the discontent and using procedural tactics to reward patronage, he replaced the Black Stars with his own motley intellectual crew, which he named the White Stars. First, it’s shocking to me that no one has made a movie out of this yet. Second, I had this in mind when I read The Herald’s feature recounting the history of student government at Brown (“Student government evolves to effect change,” Nov. 29). By no means
did the feature remind me in the slightest of Johnson’s dramatic tactics. But I was struck by Johnson’s keen awareness that the allocation of the student activities fund — coupled with administrative politics — were the key to effecting change on his campus and signified the true locus of power. At Brown, this power lies largely with the Undergraduate Finance Board. Meanwhile, the Undergraduate Council of Students — which is perceived as a more political-
Meanwhile, the power that most students care about — power of the purse — is under the control of the Undergraduate Finance Board, which is undoubtedly perceived as a more apolitical institution. According to former UCS President Tony Affigne ’76 MA’91 PhD’92, when UCS lost the job of allocating the Student Activities Fee in 1985, it was less able to directly fund and support important campus movements and groups. In the current set-
of end-of-semester reports on UFB’s activities,” while Vice Chair Adwa Habtu ’17 “stressed transparency of UFB policies, pledging in her platform to send out campus-wide emails detailing UFB policies and changes.” I have yet to receive an email from UFB, and my request for an end-of-semester report went unanswered. This is not to blame the current board, but to point out the lack of accountability under which they operate and our funds are disbursed.
I want to see more attention paid to the institution that actually controls the finances of our clubs, distributes our student activity fees and funds campus-wide initiatives. ly relevant institution — varies significantly in its influence, relying upon the presence of a proactive leader with a clear-cut agenda. As current UCS President Viet Nguyen ’17 recently wrote in an email to The Herald, with “conscious effort and intentionality,” UCS can be “used as a lever to advocate” and be involved in political efforts on campus. While the potential is there, the energy and focus necessary to make UCS an operative agent of change is not a given. In addition, its involvement in political efforts is vaguely defined and relatively symbolic. I’m happy when I get free tampons, but I’ve also been jaded by the overzealous platforms promised under the auspices of UCS campaigns or when those tampons run out.
up, UFB serves as a “central budgeting group,” as its charter states, and it is “beholden to the UCS Constitution and is a subsidiary of the Undergraduate Council of Students,” according to its website. The current chair and vice chair of UFB ran unopposed. The last administration’s chair and vice chair also ran unopposed. The story is the same for the year before that. The last time the chair position was contested, the election happened when most current seniors were still in high school. Current UFB Chair Jordan Ferguson ’17 ran unopposed on the platform that he would “seek to reduce transportationand facility-related costs for student groups as well as implement the release
I understand the reasoning that caused the cleavage between UCS and UFB and buy the argument that the division of labor encourages efficiency. And in fact, UCS does have important checks on UFB (a particularly important one is categorizing student groups), though I’m worried neither about rogue decision-making nor a student government coup. Rather, I want to see more attention paid to the institution that actually controls the finances of our clubs, distributes our student activity fees and funds campuswide initiatives. And I believe there are important and overlooked issues to discuss in this arena. For example, there’s a clear overabundance of events on campus — one
that saturates the market, resulting in sparse turnout, desperate advertising and decreased salience. This results in groups exerting effort on pursuing logistically complicated events with limited appeal instead of on other, more deeply and internally meaningful parts of their mission and organization. There is also an overly generous amount of funding going to groups that only serve the purpose of hosting events. As much as I enjoy Special Events Committee or Class Coordinating Board affairs, the amount of funding they get is disproportionate to their contributions to campus life. In addition, UFB allocates a significant budget outside of funding student groups that seems to be unquestioned and relatively wide in scope. As The Herald reported, “Portions of the almost $1.5 million budget are dispensed to the Brown Center for Students of Color, Pride Month, Women’s History Month, an attorney for all students, club sports and other groups and events that aren’t officially Category 3 student groups.” But whether or not you agree or disagree on these issues, the lack of discourse about UFB’s operations and accountability is unexpectedly small given its significant sway. Behind its technocratic veil lies an important vehicle for student action that deserves more attention.
Lainie Rowland ’17 can be reached at lainie_rowland@brown.edu.
Political hypersensitivity can be counterproductive ELI SILVERT staff columnist Since coming to Brown, I’ve been exposed to an array of views that I had never thoughtfully explored before arriving on campus. I grew up in a small suburb of New Haven, Connecticut and went to the regional high school there, which was predominantly white. My school and community felt socially liberal, but I hadn’t engaged with many of the ideas important to social justice before arriving at Brown. One of the most important elements of my newfound social justice education was the rules of politically correct behavior. Through conversations with conscientious friends and my Residential Peer Leaders, I’ve come to understand that sensitivity toward different backgrounds and social positions should be at the forefront of our consciousness when socializing. I understand the imperative to keep assumptions to a minimum and avoid invasive questions — it aims to ensure that we will not offend or commit unintentional aggressions. These early conversations shaped my view of political sensitivity, and I embraced the mindset. But recently I had an experience in an Uber that revealed an unintended consequence of this emphasis on political correctness: The fear of being perceived as politically incorrect can make us hyper-aware of the ways in which we are different from those around us. Not only that, but our hesitancy to ask questions about people’s experiences and unreservedly interact with each other can make it harder to bridge this gap and connect. Political sensitivity is
important, especially on a diverse campus like Brown’s, but we shouldn’t take these ideals to such an extreme that they become counterproductive and detract from our ability to learn from others, broaden our perspectives and form genuine connections. I was on my way to Providence Place Mall for a movie and sitting in the front passenger seat of an Uber. I figured proximity was reason enough to try to connect with the 30-something African-American man driving the car. When he mentioned that he had been living in Providence for a few years, I was motivated by a natural desire to connect and asked: “Where did you
But then he started elaborating on the reality of his adolescence, explaining that he was in a rival gang to the Black Spades. He could tell I was curious and seemed eager to help me understand. As he divulged more, it became clear that sharing his story was the priority in the conversation. Once I realized that my hypersensitivity and fear of appearing politically incorrect were impeding my ability to ask genuine questions and understand his experience, I let this mindset loosen its hold. I asked him questions that came from a place of both respect and curiosity toward a person with an array of experienc-
In all our conversations about being progressive, we very rarely build on the idea of political correctness to talk about actively bridging gaps and forging connections. live before moving?” “New York City — the Bronx,” he replied. I was curious about his experience growing up in the Bronx, but I was wary of asking questions about his background, particularly since it was so different from my own. The conversation was forced to tread on shallow, somewhat awkward small talk. Then an “in” dawned on me: My father drove a cab in the Bronx for five years. I mentioned this, and the conversation started to flow more smoothly. He told me about growing up in the Bronx in the ’80s. He had to join a gang in high school to make it through. Could I ask him about what that experience was like, or would that be misinterpreted as condescending or ignorant? I didn’t know.
es different from my own. For the first time in months, I made a conscious effort to stop scrutinizing my thoughts for signs of assumptions and to stop filtering them through a hypersensitive lens. As I caught glimpses of his perspective, I felt like I connected with him more. The conversation was mediocre when I was overthinking my questions and how they might be misconstrued. But isn’t that the opposite of the goal at Brown? We want instead to share perspectives, talk about our diversity and connect to people with different backgrounds. Being sensitive is important for ensuring comfort and not offending, but this conversation in the Uber showed me that being hypersensitive to our differences can inordinately magnify them in our consciousness, so even
genuine questions feel politically incorrect. The 15-minute journey showed me the necessity of balancing the fear of appearing politically incorrect with the desire to learn from others and connect with them. In all our conversations about being progressive, we very rarely build on the idea of political correctness to talk about actively bridging gaps and forging connections. I do not suggest we abandon political sensitivity, merely that we clarify our dialogue on the topic so that it is an easier space to navigate. If we can reduce the trepidation that people feel when they first encounter the rules of political correctness, we can pave the way for deeper conversations and connections. Of course, the economics of my conversation with the Uber driver were imbalanced in that I was paying him, and I have no idea whether he found our conversation to be as fruitful as I found it. Nonetheless, a foundational principle of progress is solidarity, and therefore getting to know someone, seeing their perspective and understanding them is critical to our ability to move forward. Even though the culture of political correctness can feel intimidating at first, it is important that we participate in it. If we truly aspire to be part of the progressive movement, being politically sensitive might be the first step. But if we’re aiming for tangible progress, we can’t just be content with a politically sensitive mindset. We need to do something active: engage with diversity. One way to do so is by forming connections through conversation. For this, we need to be willing to relax our apprehensions and caution so we don’t miss out on genuine relationships.
Eli Silvert ’20 can be reached at eli_silvert@brown.edu.
ARTS & CULTURE THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2016
Lukas Volger discusses latest cookbook on vegetarian bowl meals ‘Bowl’ provides recipes for meatless takes on classic Asian dishes ranging from pho to bibimbap By JUSTIN FERENZI STAFF WRITER
In the Portrait Room of the Faculty Club, with the likeness of Professor S.S. Greene overlooking a small audience of about 15 people, author Lukas Volger spoke at length about bowls. The evening was part of a series of talks organized jointly by the Faculty Club and the Brown Bookstore entitled “Authors Who Cook.” The program invites cookbook authors to come to Brown to speak about their process, creative visions and culinary techniques. Volger is the author of “Bowl,” a cookbook dealing entirely with a formerly hipster but increasingly mainstream trend: food bowls. From ramen to pho to bibimbap, the book provides vegetarian takes on classic Asian fare. The idea for the book came “on a snowy Brooklyn night,” Volger said. “I was torn between staying in and playing
» CLASS, from page 1 to Brown. “Brown felt a little like Choate 2.0,” said Ahmed Ashour ’19, a student from Bahrain who attended Choate Rosemary Hall, a boarding school in Connecticut, on the Crown Prince’s International Scholarship. On the other hand, the diversity of Brown’s student body was “humbling,” Ashour said. The wide array of class and ethnic backgrounds represented among students here provided a surprise and an opportunity to better understand those different from him, he said. In the face of the great socioeconomic privilege of many at Brown, other students experience feelings of displacement. “It was a shock because it was hard to see people who looked like me unless I intentionally decided to surround myself with people who looked like me,” Uduji said. “(In) high school I would walk down the hall and see 20, 30, 50 people who looked like me, and I’d be like, ‘Yeah, I’m supposed to be here,’” Uduji said. “Even though for a lot of people this is the most diverse institution that they’ve been in, it was not even close for me.” For Davila, frustration stems from the possibility that people from her community might have the potential to attend a school like Brown with the right resources. But at Brown, “a lot of people … come from all of these prep schools and all these rich communities. It’s kind of hard to see yourself here sometimes,” Davila said. It can also be hard to open up to people about personal difficulties, she added. “I don’t need people’s sympathy” because, “I know why I’m here, why I’m going to stay here, why I’m going to keep pushing forward.” In response to this kind of isolation, Davila and Uduji sought out groups on campus that provide them with a sense of community. Uduji joined the Black Student Union his freshman year and is now part of the executive board, he said. Additionally, Uduji is part of Mosaic+, a group that mentors computer science students from underrepresented racial groups. He pointed to a lack of “racial, gender and socioeconomic diversity” in the department as an impetus
Scrabble and attempting to get a table at one of those snooty restaurants.” He chose the latter and proceeded to consume an indelible bowl of vegetarian ramen that would start him on the path to writing “Bowl.” After venturing to recreate that vegetarian ramen at home, Volger began expanding into other bowl-based meals, unaware of the emerging foodie trend. “I love bowl-style foods because they are fun to make and comforting to eat,” Volger said, emphasizing the dishes’ ease of preparation. “You can make the components ahead of time, freeze them and then throw it together for dinner in five or 10 minutes.” A friend in the publishing business then approached him with an offer to write a cookbook, and thus “Bowl” came fully into fruition. Mary Hogan, general manager of the Faculty Club, said that she was “thrilled” for the work Mosaic+ does. As a first-year, Davila has received support from Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano/Chicana de Aztlán, a group in which many members have “been through this same process of adjusting,” she said. Davila has also sought comfort from the new First-Generation College and Low-Income Student Center, she said. “I went to the opening of it, and it felt very empowering to know that there’s a … space for me.” Academic confidence Students from different high schools reported varying levels of confidence participating in class. “I took an upper-level history class my freshman fall with a discussion section, and I didn’t want to talk because I didn’t want to sound like I didn’t know what I was talking about,” said Molly Sandstrom ’17, who attended Chicago Lakes High School in Lindstrom, Minnesota, a small town north of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. In response to her lack of assertiveness, she and the teaching assistant eventually formulated a system through which she could participate more effectively, she added. That experience taught Sandstrom to advocate for herself because her Midwestern background did not teach her to ask for things, she said. On campus, “If I wanted something, I had to get after it and ask.” Whereas at her high school, “As long as I showed up, I would do okay,” Sandstrom said. In the fall of his freshman year, Uduji took an introductory course in Africana studies. On the first day, the professor said the word “palimpsestic,” and Uduji did not know what the word meant, he said. “I look around, and I hoped that other people were confused, but then I see other people raising their hands” and tossing around the word, he said. Given this experience, “I felt that everyone was smarter around me because they knew all these words and these terms and ideas that I just didn’t have exposure to,” he added. Ashour faced a more substantial transition moving from Bahrain to Choate for high school than in transitioning from Choate to Brown. The academics at his high school in Bahrain were “very watered down,”
to see Volger’s name and background in the Providence Journal a few months ago. Together with Tova Beiser, an administrator at the Bookstore, and Emily Lynch, marketing and communications specialist at Brown Dining Services, Hogan arranged to have Volger come out and participate in the series, she said. Volger, wiry and soft-spoken, did not command the head of the room as expected. Rather, he roamed throughout, chatting with the audience, exchanging cooking tips and cracking jokes about miso. Volger listened raptly as attendee Michelle Weiss shared her recipe for miso soup. He has never been classically trained in the culinary arts but has worked as a line cook, server and bartender, he said. Originally from Idaho, he transplanted to New York City, citing increasing political interests during college as an influence both in his choice to move and switch to vegetarianism. Volger does not emphasize traditional practices when it comes to his recipes, but rather he puts great stock in accessibility, unique flavors and personal flair. During
his talk, he served the audience Shumai dumplings — steamed, rose-shaped bundles with a bit of filling peeking out of the top. In lieu of traditional meat fillings, Volger used a combination of leeks and shiitake and cremini mushrooms. One did not miss the meat in his rendition of the savory dish. Arthur Molz, a friend of Hogan’s, enjoyed the event. “It’s always hard to find protein when you go vegan,” he said, adding that he was pleased with the savory umami flavor of the dumplings. The next recipe Volger presented was a bibimbap with butternut squash, mushrooms and broccoli served over long-grain white rice. “Normally I use short-grain brown rice,” Volger said. “But the Faculty Club did not have all the resources I would normally use.” Volger topped the bibimbap with his signature gochujang sauce. Gochujang is a Korean chili paste aged in clay pots; Volger describes it as “a cross between miso and sriracha.” It added deep earthy and spicy flavors to the dish and served as both a marinade for the vegetables and
as a sauce for the top. With regards to his process, Volger said that he wrote the table of contents and all of his recipes before stepping foot in the kitchen. But when he makes food for himself, he likes to wing it based on whatever ingredients he has on hand. Outside of writing, Volger also runs the queer food magazine “Jarry” and produces a line of fresh veggie burgers. Though he has faced difficulties penetrating the distribution supply chain for larger grocery stores, Volger enjoys filling his niche in the market. “One thing I’ve learned is that people have a real desire for real food,” he said, emphasizing that his burgers serve to let the vegetable flavors shine, rather than imitate beef ’s taste and texture. Looking ahead, Volger plans to focus on “Jarry” for now. While he hopes to write another cookbook at some point, he called the idea of opening a restaurant “very daunting.” “I enjoy the challenge of vegetarian cooking,” he said. “It makes my body feel better.”
Ashour said. He called the academic expectations of his school an “underestimation of students’ abilities back home,” adding that he never had to complete daily homework or “actively” think about course material after school. Adjusting to daily homework at Choate was difficult, he added, but the workload prepared him well for academics at Brown.
(Federal) Hill just because my allowance is a good amount. If we were to put that out of the equation, and if I was to be dependent on my family, then no, I would not be able to afford spending money for spending money’s sake,” he said. Because of his ability to comfortably spend money, “The first question I got when I got to Choate was ‘Are you a prince?’ or ‘Are you royalty?’” Ashour said. Though he knows a lot of international students at Brown who receive similar sponsorships from their governments, many domestic students still presume an immediate correlation between being an international student and being wealthy that is misrepresentative, he added.
not learned about non-binary gender pronouns at Choate. Despite coming to Brown with liberal political beliefs, Davila had also not been exposed to issues pertaining to the gender binary before coming to campus, unlike some of her friends who had attended private school, she said. Coming from a small town in Minnesota, “I thought I was so liberal,” Sandstrom said. But she had certain beliefs that were molded by her rural background, she added. Once Sandstrom came to campus, she felt the need to learn about social issues so she “wasn’t this uneducated rural person,” she said, adding that she has “gained a lot” from speaking with her peers here. Similarly, Uduji has valued learning about different “systems of oppression” from his peers on campus, he said. Yet in this atmosphere of social justice and change, socioeconomic class can create a barrier to discourse. In some discussions, “upper-class people tend to take up a lot of space, … and you’ll hear them say all these fancy words and this vocab,” Uduji said. The terminology will impress peers, but a lot of it is gained from private education or other forms of class privilege, he said. “You can say you’re all woke and whatnot, … but (if) you’re still not acknowledging that your woke-ness comes from your class privilege, then I don’t think you’re getting to the real issue.” It is beneficial to hear about class from people who have lived experiences in poverty, but academic jargon can prevent those people from speaking up, Uduji said. For May, the political atmosphere at Brown has at points seemed a “onesided” echo chamber. “I care about the debate, but I don’t think the debate is happening,” she said. In high school, May was involved with the gay-straight alliance. She still feels comfortable speaking about political issues and those of social justice at home, but at Brown, she feels as though she “can’t say anything” and can only speak frankly with close friends. “I’ve become much more cynical and totally impassive,” May said. In an effort to avoiding offending people, she “doesn’t engage.” — Additional reporting by Kasturi Pananjady
Spending habits In an environment with socioeconomic diversity, some reported difficulty cohesively interacting with friends of varying financial backgrounds. “Class to me is most obvious when I want to go to a nice restaurant to eat or go out to go see the movies or go shopping, and that’s where it rears its head, and money comes into the picture,” May said. May works as a nanny for two different children off campus to make spending money and stay busy, she said. Sandstrom currently works five jobs — student manager for the football team, office assistant at the Office of Residential Life, Safe Walker, Sexual Assault Peer Educator and a fellowship through a nonprofit in New York — for spending money and her expected student contribution from her financial aid package, she said. “I don’t travel; I don’t spend excessive money, but I have the financial stability to do things, like eat off campus, … which aren’t always options to students coming from a different low-income background,” Sandstrom added. Within Sandstrom’s group of housemates, debates can arise about purchasing organic food versus less expensive food, she said. While she grew up expecting “money to stretch,” other people approach those sorts of decisions with different frames of reference, she added. For Davila, conversations about her friends’ luxurious vacations can spur feelings of alienation, she said, as she usually travels to Mexico to visit family. As an international student, Ashour’s class status is hard to pin down given the disparity in socioeconomic standards in Bahrain and the United States, he said. In addition, Ashour’s scholarship, which pays for tuition and provides a living allowance, can lead to the mistaken impression that he and all other international students are wealthy. “I can afford to go get nice dinners in
Accents and assimilation Many of the interviewed students described connections between perceptions of language and class. Sandstrom came to campus with a “thick Minnesotan accent,” she said. Her accent affected people’s perceptions of her and her class status, she added. People at Brown will often appropriate a Midwestern or Southern accent when trying to capture an unintelligent persona, she said. “The way people talk here is very different than the way people talk back home,” Uduji said, pointing specifically to the use of “SAT words.” “I found that I did change the way that I talked in class and even with my friends. Slang started getting omitted from my speech.” Ashour credits his accent with an easier transition from Bahrain to the United States. “I don’t have an accent, (and) I came in with a good understanding of pop culture,” he said. Liberal attitudes Students across all high school backgrounds had some trouble adjusting to the liberal attitudes of faculty members and peers on campus. Ashour grew up in a “very conservative” Muslim community in which topics such as sexual orientation were rarely discussed, he said. Ashour’s transition to Choate made the subsequent move to a liberal college environment smoother, but he was not familiar with every topic pertaining to social justice discussed at Brown when he arrived here. For example, he had