SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, MARCH 4, 2019
VOLUME CLIII, ISSUE 1
Bats discovered in Sayles Hall CCB formal canceled after bat sighting, outside pest control company addresses issue By KAMRAN KING
By DANIEL GOLDBERG SENIOR STAFF WRITER
GRACE LI / HERALD
with one was two years ago,” wrote Director of Custodial Services Donna Butler in an email to The Herald. “Facilities Management has a contract with an outside pest control company.
Mayor launches menstrual product pilot program Four Providence Public Schools distribute free menstrual hygiene products to students By ALEX REICE SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Providence city officials announced the launch of a pilot program Feb. 20 that aims to make free menstrual hygiene products more accessible for Providence Public School students. The program aims to address stigma around menstruation and promote self-esteem in students, wrote Ben Smith, spokesperson for Mayor Jorge Elorza, in an email to The Herald. Elorza announced the program, which has a $75,000 budget for FY 2019, alongside Superintendent of Providence Public Schools Christopher N. Maher, Councilwoman Nirva LaFortune and the City’s Director of Healthy Communities Ellen Cynar. Four schools in the city — Hope High School, Classical High School,
INSIDE
Annenberg Institute rebuilds after mission shift Institute integrates with University, focuses on education inequality research
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
While setting up for the class of 2021’s Winter Formal in Sayles Hall last month, Lauren Reischer ’21 noticed “something swooping down from the ceiling.” Soon after the event began, it became apparent that there were three bats in the hall “swooping around despite the sound and the lights, so they clearly were not that afraid,” said Reischer, who was the public relations officer for the sophomore Class Coordinating Board at the time of the formal. The event was canceled after the bats were identified. “The unfortunate and unpredictable presence of bats in Sayles Hall that evening guided the decision by the (Student Activities Office) manager and student organizers to cancel the event,” Director of University Event and Conference Services Julie Haworth wrote in an email to The Herald. This is not the first time the University has addressed the presence of bats on campus. Bats “are a seasonal pest and the last time we had to deal
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DelSesto Middle School and Nathanael Greene Middle School — have installed timed dispensers carrying menstrual hygiene products in designated bathrooms, according to a press release. The program will eventually extend to all high schools and middle schools in the city once city officials have discussed details such as whether to include dispensaries in all bathrooms or just a few designated ones, Smith wrote. The mayor’s decision to launch the program comes after the city’s Healthy Communities office conducted a survey last year to “clarify needs of students,” Smith wrote. The study found that many students were unaware that menstrual hygiene products were available in the nurse’s office or felt uncomfortable going to the school nurse when in need. The study also found that many students or family members purchase the products themselves, with some students pointing to the products’ high costs » See PILOT, page 3
… In our experience, bats have been very uncommon in Sayles Hall,” she added. Though bats are infrequent » See BATS, page 4
Two years after the University decided to shift the Annenberg Institute’s mission, the institute — previously called the Annenberg Institute for School Reform — has begun rebuilding itself with a new focus on research and educational inequality. About two years ago, the University chose to transfer the entirety of the Annenberg Institute’s programs and most of its staff to other universities in an effort to align the Institute more closely with the University’s strategic plan, The Herald previously reported. While it has made some progress to actualize its new mission, Annenberg is operating under a tentative two-year timeline to implement the institute’s large-scale initiatives and projects, said Susanna Loeb, director of the Annenberg Institute and professor of Education and International and Public Affairs. Annenberg still has work to do before the institute is “in steady state.”
A New Mission Loeb’s appointment followed a 2017 University review of the institute, which resulted in the University’s decision to shift Annenberg’s focus away from school reform and community mobilization and toward educational inequality research, said Provost Richard Locke P’18. Warren Simmons, the former executive director of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, as well as four former Annenberg staff members told The Herald they did not support the University’s decision to shift the institute’s focus, The Herald previously reported. The University’s “core competence is research and teaching, not capacity building for community groups,” Locke said. He chaired the 2017 review committee made up of “faculty, senior University administrators and Annenberg Institute staff,” according to the committee’s executive summary. The institute’s new focus will allow it to “build stronger intellectual ties with academic departments” and University groups than before, Locke said. The new mission is also more compatible with Building on Distinction — the University’s strategic plan — as it » See ANNENBERG, BACK
University scientists accidentally discover new crystalline structure Researchers find new type of quasicrystalline structure with artistic applications By JOSHUA BRICKER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
When Assistant Professor of Chemistry Ou Chen and his team set out to study the structures formed by tetrahedral building blocks, they instead stumbled across an entirely new quasicrystalline structure. In a December 2018 paper, these researchers described how their tetrahedral building blocks — a block also known as a triangular pyramid — unexpectedly “self-assembled” into quasicrystals, a discovery first noticed by post-doctoral research associate Yasutaka Nagaoka, the paper’s lead author. A quasicrystal is a physical structure comprised of building blocks that do not align in traditional crystalline patterns. Though the discovery of this
COURTESY OF OU CHEN
When studying tetrahedral nanoparticles, Chen’s team discovered that the building blocks “self-assembled” into quasicrystalline structure. particular new quasicrystal structure was a “happy accident,” the applications of this research span the fields of chemistry, math, pattern design
and art. “People already have this type of pattern in their art. Their glass designs » See RESEARCH, page 4
WEATHER
MONDAY, MARCH 4, 2019
SPORTS Men’s hockey finishes eighth in ECAC, set to play Princeton in first round of playoffs
SPORTS Men’s basketball wins over Cornell after loss to Columbia in race to Ivy League playoffs
COMMENTARY Sachan ’22: New football league adopts innovative rules that NFL should consider implementing
COMMENTARY Editorial: U. should make RISD courses more accessible or improve art classes on campus
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