Thursday, April 11, 2019

SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019

VOLUME CLIII, ISSUE 48

WWW.BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

U. expands textbook grant program UCS amends bylaws,

supports DJAB

Students with highest demonstrated financial need to receive $650 to cover textbook costs

Appointments chair to join executive board, no decision on treasurerliaison position merger

By LI GOLDSTEIN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Beginning next year, the University will offer textbook grants to first-year students receiving scholarship funds and all other students with a $0 parent contribution, according to Dean of the College Rashid Zia. The official implementation of the program follows a year-long pilot this academic year, which offered textbook grants to 85 first-year students with the highest demonstrated financial need.

Participating students reacted enthusiastically to the pilot program, Zia said. “Students reported being able to get all of their course materials in a timely fashion. They also reported that having their textbooks in this fashion helped to support their academic success as well as their personal and emotional wellbeing.”

Next year, the textbook grants will be expanded to cover expenses for approximately 1,100 students, excluding Resumed Undergraduate Education students and independent U.S. military

By KAYLA GUO SENIOR STAFF WRITER

SARAH MARTINEZ / HERALD

veterans who “receive funding from outside sources,” according to a letter Zia sent to participants in the pilot and those likely to be included in the official program next year.

The choice to offer grants to any first-year receiving scholarship funds was made after careful consideration of the program’s priorities going forward. » See TEXTBOOK, page 6

The Undergraduate Council of Students unanimously passed an amendment adjusting its bylaws for its chair of appointments position, debated merging roles on its management and executive boards and agreed to support a petition from the student group Disability Justice at Brown during its general body meeting Wednesday evening.

UCS’s appointments chair helps coordinate the placement of student representatives on several University committees and boards.

“The two major changes (are) that the appointments chair would serve officially as an executive board member on UCS and that it would be an appointed position,” said UCS President Shanzé Tahir ’19. The appointments chair has acted as an unofficial member

of the executive board since the start of the spring semester, said current Appointments Chair and incoming UCS Vice President Jason Carroll ’21 in his presentation of the amendment.

After approving the appointments chair amendment, the Council discussed but did not reach a final decision on combining the positions of UCS Undergraduate Finance Board liaison and UCS treasurer. The liaison serves on the Council’s management board while also acting as a UFB atlarge representative. The treasurer, a member of the Council’s executive board, is primarily tasked with delegating UCS’s New Initiatives Fund, which will be worth $7,500 next year and is available to Category I and II student groups.

The goals of the proposed merger include increasing communication between UCS and UFB by having the treasurer also serve on UFB, according to the proposed amendment document presented at the meeting. The merger would also aim to expand the treasurer’s knowledge of UFB processes » See UCS, page 4

Proposed bill mandates first-aid training for teachers

Biopic examines Ted Bundy from new angle

Bill written by U. students mandates basic emergency, resuscitation training for RI teachers

Netflix’s “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile” investigates the character of serial killer Ted Bundy as well as the “vulnerability of humans,” according to Producer Michael Simkin.

Simkin, Zac Efron’s producing partner at Ninjas Runnin’ Wild Productions, spoke to an audience of students and community members Tuesday night after an advanced screening of the film.

The film allowed Simkin and Efron to explore a new genre in their work — the psychological thriller. Efron’s role as Ted Bundy was much different than that of Troy Bolton in Disney’s “High School Musical” trilogy, which thrusted him into the film scene, or of the comedic characters he played in “Dirty Grandpa,” or “Neighbors.” “You stick in a genre for a minute, and then you take a little jump,” Simkin said in an interview with The Herald, referencing Efron’s past as a comedic and romantic actor and desire to pursue something different.

The film follows Bundy as he morphs

By COLLEEN CRONIN METRO EDITOR

The Rhode Island State House is currently considering a bill written by University students that would mandate basic first aid and CPR training for all teachers in the state.

The House Committee on Health, Education and Welfare heard the bill and referred it for further study Monday evening.

Alongside Representative Rebecca Kislak ’95 (D-4), students in the Brown Institute for Policy authored the bill, which would require that teachers receive training in hands-only CPR, the Heimlich maneuver and bleeding control » See BILL, page 6

INSIDE

Conversation with Producer Michael Simkin accompanies advanced screening by IFF, Netflix

By ELISE RYAN ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR

from the charming man that Elizabeth Kloepfer, played by Lily Collins and referred to as “Liz,” met at a bar to the sensationalized serial-killer that the world watched in the first televised murder trial. Bundy’s charm is evident not only in Efron’s portrayal of the killer but also in the movie’s initial tone. The film’s soundtrack is often upbeat, relying on the sounds of ’70s-era rock. However, it is soon punctuated by repeated sounds like the tinny rings of a telephone, the thump of Bundy’s leather boots on the prison floor and the clack of a gavel, creating an eerie tension between the meandering melodies and mechanical sound effects.

The music featured in the film’s first teaser trailer, released before the film’s premiere at Sundance Film Festival and before Netflix purchased it, played into the controversy that first surrounded the film. Responding to scenes of Liz and Ted’s initial romantic relationship, accompanied by bubbly rock music and warm, autumnal tones, viewers found the romantic appeal of the story concerning.

“The initial backlash was, ‘Why is this fun? Why does this look like it’s fun and happy?’” Simkin said. After purchasing the film for a reported $8 million, Netflix released a new trailer, which more accurately represented the film’s goals.

“The second trailer was able to really show … that it’s about the perspective of

SARAH MARTINEZ / HERALD

The advanced screening was bookended by Q&As with Simkin, who discussed the film’s look into Bundy’s manipulatively charming personality. it. It’s about how it felt to his victims and to the world,” Simkin explained.

The film is meant to put the viewer in the shoes of not only Bundy’s victims but also the women across America who became enthralled in his trial, many of whom came to Florida to sit in the gallery of the court room and witness the circus that was his court proceedings.

The film highlights the absurdity of this attention; at one point the judge reminds the audience that they are not on spring break, as cheers erupt in Bundy’s favor.

Simkin said, “It’s also us through the viewing experience — it’s knowing that you’re going into a movie about Ted Bundy and still finding him charming and finding yourself kind of slipping

down that path of understanding what people saw about him.”

Much of the film also focuses on the character of Liz, with whom Bundy had his longest romantic relationship. Short scenes depict Liz in her house as she pours herself a drink, plays cards with her daughter, smokes a cigarette, converses with a friend, pours another drink — all while fielding Bundy’s phone calls and watching the trial progress on television. As time passes, her face hollows, the chain on her door constantly taut.

“She made some decisions that end up really contributing both to him ultimately getting caught, but also freeing herself,” Simkin said, noting the » See BUNDY, page 3

WEATHER

THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019 COMMENTARY

METRO ICE detainees to be released from Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls after protests

NEWS UFLi event critiques mass immigration detention system in the United States

METRO Gov. Raimondo compelled state senators to support an expansion of her free college program

Khurana PLME ’18.5: With new medical technology, abortion discourse becomes more nuanced

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PAGE 2 • THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Bondholders sue detention facility for ending ICE contract Wyatt Facility of Central Falls terminates ICE contract last Friday after community backlash

By MAIA ROSENFELD SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The implications of President Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policy have reached Rhode Island, where the Central Falls Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility is in the midst of a legal battle over its several-weeks-long detainment of 133 asylum seekers.

The facility’s decision to hold immigrant detainees has sparked public outcry, and last Friday, the Central Falls Detention Facility Corporation voted to suspend its contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

That same day, the facility’s board ordered that the detainees be transferred out of the Rhode Island.

But yesterday, Wyatt bondholders, who are invested in the facility, filed a lawsuit against the City of Central Falls and Central Falls Detention Facility Wednesday. The suit seeks to continue holding ICE detainees in the Wyatt facility and claims that the removal of ICE detainees from the facility could cost bondholders over $130 million, the Providence Journal reported.

The prison takes a financial hit when it’s at low occupancy, so bondholders are incentivized to support measures

that maintain and grow the prison population.

The contentious contract was signed January 2019, when ICE requested the use of no more than 225 beds in the Wyatt facility to support Trump’s Southwest Border Zero Tolerance Initiative, according to an agreement signed by the U.S. Marshals Service and the detention center.

“It was kind of under the radar until the folks got moved in,” said Carl Krueger, an immigration lawyer for the Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island.

The Wyatt facility received ICE detainees March 10, when over 130 asylum-seekers transferred to Central Falls from Arizona, according to a notice sent to Wyatt bondholders. Soon after the detainees arrived at the facility, the Central Falls community expressed outrage at the treatment of those seeking asylum.

An April 8 letter from Nicholas Hemond, assistant city solicitor of Central Falls, to Adrienne Walker, an attorney representing the Wyatt’s bondholders, stated that “this municipal detention center was meant to be an asset to the people of the City, not a source of fear, distress and panic to city residents. … The Wyatt’s implementation of the ‘Southwest Border Zero Tolerance Initiative’… was the last straw and inspired legitimate community outrage and public outcry.”

The letter called the detention of

immigrants at the facility “abhorrent to the ethos of the City, a predominantly immigrant and first generation American city.” Central Falls has a sizeable population of immigrants from Central America, and its mayor, James Diossa, is the son of immigrants from Colombia.

Diossa and members of his administration, as well as many community groups, protested the holding of ICE detainees multiple times in front of the Wyatt Facility throughout the end of March — shouting “We see you!” and “We are here for you!” Diossa also called for the immediate closure of the facility.

The broad coalition of community groups that have taken a stand against the holding of ICE detainees include Amor, Dorcas International, the American Civil Liberties Union and other members of the Immigration Coalition, a consortium of over 50 different groups, Krueger said.

But according to representatives from the facility, the protests actually threatened those inside the prison. In a letter to city leadership, Walker wrote that the protests “negligently put the staff and detainees at the Wyatt at risk of danger and immediate harm.”

The tension between the facility and its community is not new. The facility last held ICE detainees in 2008 but ended the practice after an immigrant detainee died while in custody, allegedly due to inadequate medical care for his cancer. Following this death, ICE withdrew its remaining 153 de-

COURTESY OF KENNETH C. ZIRKEL

Central Falls Mayor James Diossa, along with members of his administration and community groups, protested the detainments at the Wyatt Facility. tainees from the facility. Further, the Currently, all asylum seekers are still privately run, quasi-public prison has in ICE custody of some form, despite faced major financial difficulties since some being removed from Wyatt. If a 2005, when it took on $100 million in legal battle ensues, it is unclear whether debt to perform a major renovation. As or not more asylum-seekers will return. a result, the facility stopped making payThe Central Falls activist community ments to the City of Central Falls from has “won a little battle, but by no means 2008-2012, according to a 2012 special has the war been won,” Krueger said. joint legislative commission document.

Teaching Old Bacteria New Tricks Kristala L. J. Prather

Arthur D. Little Professor of Chemical Engineering MacVicar Faculty Fellow Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Biology is an exquisite chemist, each cell comprised of numerous chemical structures.

Microbes can be engineered to reroute and extend biosynthetic pathways to make molecules for human use, ranging from drugs to materials. Yet, biology is also designed for reproduction, each cell aiming to make more of itself. Come learn how Kris

balances these competing objectives to teach old bacteria some new tricks.

Wednesday, April 17, 2019, 5:30 p.m.

INSTITUTE AT BROWN FOR ENVIRONMENT & SOCIETY, ROOM 130

Online registration is now open at: brown.edu/thinking-out-loud

Find us on Facebook. @Brown Daily Herald

NEWS

THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019 • PAGE 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

U-FLi event spotlights detention infrastructure in the U.S. Detention Watch Network, Adelante Alabama Workers Center discuss injustice, intersectionality

By SPENCER SCHULTZ SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Representatives from the Detention Watch Network and the Adelante Alabama Workers Center spoke about the immigration detention infrastructure in the United States at the Undocumented, First-Generation College and Low Income Student Center on Wednesday night.

Titled “Communities Not Cages: Conversations with Detention Watch Network,” the event concluded the U-FLi Center’s ongoing “undocu-series,” which shares narratives from undocumented individuals.

Founded in 1997, the DWN is a national coalition that supports “migrant humans and the policing they face” and works to “combat the explosive growth of the U.S. immigrant detention system,” according to the event’s Facebook page.

In addition, the Adelante Alabama Workers Center strives to unite “day laborers, domestic workers, and other low-wage and immigrant workers and their families in the Birmingham area to defend our rights, promote our dignity, and pursue justice for all,” according to the center’s website.

The event began with an activity that allowed attendees to engage in a discussion about “the history of criminalizing migrant bodies” in the United States, said Gabriela Marquez-Benitez, membership director for the DWN. Attendees were asked to move to the right or left side of

» BUNDY, from page 1 complexity of her emotional story. She had been in love with Bundy, and he had even served as a father figure to her young daughter.

Zander Blitzer ’22, who attended the screening, said she found the choice to “keep a lot of the gore and violence off screen … was even more effective in getting you to think about what those scenes, what those pieces of the story were.” She added that seeing the story through Liz’s eyes allowed the audience to understand “how charming and how persuasive he was.”

The film was directed by Joe

the room based upon the degree to which they agreed with various statements about detainment and imprisonment in the U.S. During the activity, event attendees shared their personal experiences with detainment or undocumented status.

One student participating in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program spoke about having a “mixed status family” — which includes family members with different immigration statuses. Given her family’s complicated legal status, they need to be strategic about where they live to avoid deportation, she said.

Following personal insight from audience members, Marquez-Benitez and Barbara Suarez Galeano, another organizer for the DWN, provided a statistical overview of immigrant detention and outlined the DWN’s fight against the immigrant detention system in the United States.

Over 50,000 individuals are currently held in 200 immigrant detention centers around the country, Marquez-Benitez said. Although U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement oversees detainment of undocumented individuals, a majority of the detention facilities themselves are operated by for-profit companies. “The fact that these detention centers are forprofit means that they’re trying to cut costs at every corner,” she said.

Cutting costs contributes to poor conditions inside such detention centers, including “horrible food, labor with slave wages, forced labor,” minimal health care and the deaths of over 180 people since 2003, Marquez-Benitez said. “It’s really important to recognize that conditions are systemically egregious and immoral,” she added.

In response to these conditions, detained individuals have held eight hunger

strikes at detainment centers across the nation this year. ICE has since retaliated by placing hunger strikers in solitary confinement, transferring them to other detainment centers and force-feeding the individuals on strike, Marquez-Benitez said.

“We have to think about the boldness and courage of people inside the detention centers and how we as outsiders can best respond to that,” Suarez Galeano said. “The immigrant and criminal justice system is unjust, founded on white supremacy, capitalism and ableism,” she added.

To fight this injustice, the DWN outlined three major goals in ending the immigrant detention system: stopping the expansion of detention centers nationally, shutting down existing detention centers and reducing the flow of federal funds to ICE. The intersectionality between the DWN and the Black Liberation Movement is critical to the success of the DWN’s goals, as each movement fights intensely against incarceration and the prison system, Suarez Galeano said. “Historically, the immigrants’ rights movement has had a really toxic relationship” with the Black Liberation Movement, especially within the debate of who is defined as a criminal, she said. Unless the DWN is working with the Black Liberation Movement, “it’s just going to be a game of who gets put in jail,” she added.

Gabriel Cabán Cubero, detention and enforcement organizer for the Adelante Alabama Workers Center, concluded the event by sharing their experience working to shut down the Etowah County Detention Center in rural Alabama and release detainees by providing legal help and logistical accommodations.

Berlinger, who also directed Netflix’s “Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes,” a four episode documentary that details the life and crimes of the serial killer. While the two projects each tackle different aspects of the Bundy story — the movie focusing on his manipulative charm and the documentary detailing the violent acts of his crimes — both speak to the psychology of the famous killer.

Bundy’s charisma is not lost even on the judge who decides Bundy’s verdict in the Florida case. Portraying true events, Judge Edward Cowart, played

by John Malkovich, praises Bundy’s character after his guilty verdict is read.

While Cowart begins, “The court finds that these killings … were extremely wicked, shockingly evil,” as the camera cuts between zoomed-in shots of his and Bundy’s eyes, he concludes, “I don’t have any animosity to you. … Take care of yourself.” It is in these final lines from the judge, pulled from the real-life televised trial, that the film finds its title — one Simkin said was attached to the original script.

Audience members Tuesday watched the film as a group, but Simkin acknowledges that this is not how most Netflix viewers will watch the film. Instead, they will watch it while cooking breakfast, they will pause it to go to sleep, they will

DANIELLE EMERSON / HERALD

The event began with an activity that encouraged attendees to consider the history of “criminalizing migrant bodies” in the United States.

The ECDC is well-known for its notoriously deplorable conditions for detained individuals, Cabán Cubero said. Under President Obama, the detention center was nearly shut down due to poor conditions, but the ECDC has since expanded under the Trump administration.

Since the election of President Trump, the plight of undocumented immigrants has only worsened, Cabán Cubero said.

“Racists are being emboldened, police are being empowered and detention is intensifying,” they said.

John Lopez-Aldas ’19, undocumented student program staffer for the U-FLi Center, helped organize the event as the final part of U-FLi’s “undocu-series.”

“It’s important to hold these conversations, workshops and teaching moments because these are issues affecting students on this campus or their families and (these issues) are something they often need to stay silent about,” Lopez-Aldas said.

The DWN was invited to the undocuseries as a “way to make something that for most people seems very abstract more understandable and concrete,” Lopez-

Aldas said.

One attendee, Angel Mendez-Flores ’20, who was involved in the Brown Immigrant Rights Coalition last semester, wanted to use the event “to reintroduce himself to the campaign and be more informed about the work people are doing around the country to dismantle the immigration detention complex.”

Nancy Green, a longtime Providence resident and activist involved in the local grassroots fight against immigrant detention, came to the event to learn more about the national movement against detainment. “I’m so glad I came. The speakers brought clarity to a lot of things that were confusing to me,” she said.

Green has visited the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, Rhode Island as part of protests organized by the Alliance to Mobilize our Resistance. “It just feels so very un-American for people to be pulled into a prison, to be detained. It isn’t right,” she said.

watch it the way streaming has taught viewers to consume media — at their own pace. While the film’s release on Netflix means it will not offer most viewers the tradition and nostalgia of the movie theater experience, these new forms of distribution allow “more content to be shown, and makes it more accessible to more people,” Simkin said.

The event was preceded and followed by question-and-answer segments with Simkin. “I hope the audience got a glimpse into (a) myriad (of) topics from how sensitive issues are handled in films, including the need to respect the memory of victims, to how a production company geared around an A-list

talent operates,” Sasha Pinto ’21, Ivy Film Festival Events Coordinator who led the Q&A, wrote in an email to The Herald. “At the end of the day, the Ivy Film Festival is about celebrating student filmmakers even as we admire the work of professionals, and it’s wonderful that Michael Simkin flew all the way from Los Angeles to help us do that,” she added.

The event offered Simkin the opportunity to not only hear students’ opinions of the film but also to reflect on his path and provide advice to students hoping to enter the industry. “I remember very clearly when I used to go to these things in college,” he said. “It’s very exciting to be on the other end of it.”

NEWS

PAGE 4 • THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019

» UCS, from page 1 in relation to UCS budgeting requests.

Increasing communication between UCS and UFB “is something we’ve been trying to work on this past year, so that we can get more insight into what UFB is talking about,” said current UCS Vice President and President-Elect William Zhou ’20 while presenting the amendment. But possible drawbacks include creating a conflict of interest within the position and generating too much work for the treasurer, Zhou added.

UCS Treasurer Austin Lessin ’19 said that because “the liaison role was quite simply to … bring UCS and UFB together,” UCS “could have added (those) responsibilities to the treasurer from the beginning.”

However, UCS-UFB Liaison Kathryn Stack ’19 said she did not think the positions should be formally merged because there are other means of increasing communication and expanding the treasurer’s understanding of UFB policies.

“Quite frankly, my work on UCS is limited,” Stack said. She suggested setting monthly meetings between the UCS executive board and the liaison and recommended more conversations

with the treasurer to clarify UFB policies.

In addition, Stack said she sees the role of the treasurer as more related to “handling the internal budgets of UCS,” while “being a communicator is more the role” of the liaison.

By merging the positions, “the treasurer will have more understanding about what things can be asked for on behalf of UCS from UFB,” said Chair of Student Activities Alex Song ’20.

He acknowledged that this could be accomplished through increased communication without the merger, but “communications traditionally haven’t happened that way,” he said.

A representative from student group Disability Justice at Brown also presented to the general body about a petition that the group is circulating to garner support for a Disability Justice Cultural Center. In their presentation, DJAB Community Coordinator Silver Pape ’22 emphasized the importance of creating community for students with disabilities at the University.

The DJCC would “create a community for disabled/neurodivergent students similar to the LGBTQ+ Center and the Brown Center for Students of Color,” according to the text of the petition.

1 9TH ANNUAL CAS EY SHEARER MEM O RIA L LECTUR E

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD “Disability is an intersectional thing that interacts with every identity,” Pape said. “Because it’s an active part of identity, forming a community” with other University students, faculty and staff with disabilities is “very important,” they added.

While Student and Employee Accessibility Services provides accommodations for students with disabilities, the office is legally barred from disclosing the identities of the individuals it serves, making it difficult for students with disabilities to create a community, Pape said.

SEAS is a “federal institution that does the bare minimum for us to exist here. That isn’t a holistic understanding of us actually being happy here, having good quality of life, which is a right for every student on this campus,” said UCS Secretary and DJAB general body member Vanessa Garcia ’20.5.

University administration previously denied DJAB’s proposal for the DJCC, so “raw numbers of support (are) what we want from this petition,” Pape said.

Tahir said UCS would sign the petition after her suggestion to do so received no objections from the general body.

JASMINE RUIZ / HERALD

UCS Vice President and President-elect William Zhou ’20 presented an amendement that would combine two UCS leadership positions.

WHEN DEPORTATION IS A DEATH SENTENCE: COVERING IMMIGRATION IN THE TRUMP ERA Thursday, April 11, 2019, 6:30 p.m.

MacMillan Hall, Room 117 167 Thayer Street Providence, Rhode Island

Sarah Stillman Staff Writer, The New Yorker Director, Global Migration Project, Columbia Journalism School Sarah Stillman is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where she covers criminal justice, immigration, and other policy issues. She also directs the Global Migration Project at Columbia Journalism School, where she runs an investigative team working on immigration and refugee issues.

For The New Yorker, she has written on topics ranging from

civil asset forfeiture to debtors prisons, and from Mexico’s drug cartels to Bangladesh’s garmentfactory workers. Among Stillman’s recent New Yorker stories is “No Refuge,” an investigation that documented more than sixty cases of asylum-seekers and other immigrants deported to their deaths or other harms. Stillman is a MacArthur Fellow.

The lecture will be preceded by a presentation of the 19th Annual Casey Shearer Memorial Awards for Excellence in Creative Nonfiction

NEWS

THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019 • PAGE 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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

“...it’s knowing that you’re going into a movie about Ted Bundy and still finding him charming and finding yourself kind of slipping down that path of understanding

”

what people saw about him.

— “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile” Producer Michael Simkin

See BUNDY on page 1.

sudoku

Gov. proposes expanding free college program Two new measures would bring total cost of program to $13.2 million in next budget year

of retention and graduation rates for Rhode Island, noting that many students drop out after sophomore year due to financial strain. She added that her plan to reduce tuition costs would increase the graduation rate of Rhode Island students.

“This is about making sure the American Dream is within grasp of every Rhode Islander,” Raimondo said.

“And we’re living in a world where it’s becoming almost impossible to get out of high school and go get a good job.”

Dan Egan, president of the Association of Independent Colleges & Universities of Rhode Island, which includes the University, testified in opposition to the governor’s plan. He argued that the plan would siphon off state funds that otherwise benefit Rhode Islanders attending private, instate, non-profit institutions of higher education.

“They’re not being truthful about who they’re harming,” Egan said of the governor’s office.

Raimondo’s Senior Deputy Chief of Staff Kevin Gallagher explained that Raimondo’s proposal to cover the last two years of RIC tuition was “self-contained,” so it would not take from the fund for students attending private institutions as Egan suggested.

By JACKSON TRUESDALE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Gov. Gina Raimondo called on senators to increase funding for her free college tuition program during a Joint Finance and Education Senate Committee hearing Wednesday.

In her testimony, Raimondo requested that the state fund scholarships for the last two years of Rhode Island College for in-state students and grant free tuition and fees at the Community College of Rhode Island to all Rhode Islanders 25 years of age or older without a degree if they enroll continuously. If the governor’s plan were to be implemented, students would have to choose between CCRI or RIC. These measures would build upon the governor’s 2017 Rhode Island Promise program, which made the first two years of tuition free at CCRI. With the new additions, the cost of the program would total $13.2 million in the next budget year.

Raimondo stressed the importance

“Anybody who currently has a state grant will keep it for at least the next three years,” Gallagher said. Josh Block ‘14, press secretary for Raimondo, added, “We’re not cutting any funding.”

Egan stressed that the AICU RI was not there to oppose free college, but to protect the scholarship pool for private college grants. Maintaining scholarship funds for Rhode Islanders attending in-state institutions would benefit Rhode Island, Egan said, since a student is “more likely to be a part of our economy because she went to undergrad here.”

Zoe Mermelstein ’21, director of speakers and events for the Brown College Democrats, argued that Raimondo’s plan to fund RIC tuition would benefit the “long-term economic health of the state.”

Ben Lipson ’22, political director of the Brown College Democrats, said that the Brown Promise to make higher education accessible to Rhode Islanders seems inconsistent with its affiliate AICU “directly fighting against” policy to do just that.

Assistant Vice President of Government & Community Relations Al Dahlberg said that the University has “not taken a position” on the issue at this time.

crossword

JACKSON TRUESDALE / HERALD

During Wednesday’s hearing, Raimondo appealed for increased funding to her 2017 Rhode Island Promise program in order to improve retention and graduation rates in the state.

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“Fondue Bar” Community Buffet 11:30 A.M. Faculty Club

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

Drones in the Anthropocene 3:00 P.M. Sciences Library

French Cinephilia: Grigris 6:30 P.M. Rochambeau House

TOMORROW Workshop - Planetary Relays 10:00 A.M. 135 Thayer Street

Critical Discussions, American Sign Language 12:00 P.M. 101 Thayer Street

Annual Alumni Panel: Department of Visual Art 1:00 P.M. List Art Center, Room 225

TrowelBlazers@Brown 3:00 P.M. Rhode Island Hall

NEWS

PAGE 6 • THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

» TEXTBOOK, from page 1

HERALD FILE PHOTO

The Rhode Island State House is considering a bill written by University students in the Brown Institute for Policy. The bill would mandate that teachers in the state undergo first aid and CPR training.

» BILL, from page 1

— commonly referred to as basic emergency and response skills or BEARS. If passed, the Rhode Island Department of Education would need to make a plan to implement the BEARS training as a part of current in-service training.

BIP, a non-partisan student think tank, contacted Kislak to work on the legislation, and wrote it over winter break.

Every year between 2020 and 2023, one-third of Rhode Island’s teaching population would need to participate in the training. After the first three-year period, eighty percent of teachers would have to be trained every three years.

“If a student is having a medical emergency in the classroom, the first person they will look to is their teacher,” BIP Advocacy Director Michael LeClerc ’20.5 told the committee.

This is not the first time this idea has been proposed. Representative Blake Filippi (R-36) introduced a bill in February that would require CPR teacher training, and other CPR requirements have previously been presented to leg-

islatures but have never passed.

Both RIDE and the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals disagreed with aspects of the bill.

Frank Flynn, RIFTHP president, was concerned because the bill lacks a source of funding.

RIDE’s legislative liaison Andy Andrade said that the department feels that training plans should be tailored to fit the individual needs of districts and schools.

Andrade also raised questions about the bill’s funding and costs, while asking which organization would maintain a record of trained teachers. He added that RIDE would be happy to address such concerns to amend the legislation.

When presenting testimony from BIP, Executive Director Rohan Dalvi ’21 said that the most efficient cost model estimated that in the program’s first year it would cost 97 cents to train each teacher.

In subsequent years, this cost would decrease to 50 cents per teacher provided equipment is maintained.

“Costs can be reduced in a variety of ways,” Dalvi told The Herald, explaining

that most schools could use dummies they already have to train students and that teachers with first-aid certifications could also serve as teacher-trainers.

“I could teach you with a dummy in a minute,” said Project Leader Viknesh Kasthuri ’21, explaining that trainings, which would take a few hours to complete, are extremely effective in preventing death.

In addition to BIP, Catherine Cummings, an emergency care doctor in Rhode Island, spoke in favor of the bill.

“From a personal note, having to tell a parent that their child may have had an anoxic brain injury from choking on a grape, is something I never want to say again,” Cumming said, adding that she felt everyone should undergo BEARS training.

The Committee could vote on the bill within the next few weeks, which will determine whether it makes it to the House Floor.

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“What we’re trying to do is find the best way to implement (the program) and ensure that (the grants) are supporting student academic engagement and that we’re delivering (the grants) at a very high quality,” Zia said. “It seemed to us natural” to expand the program to all first-years who receive scholarship funds as they “will be trying to figure out how to get their textbooks for the first time,” he added.

It also seemed natural to expand the program to all students with the highest demonstrated financial need, he said.

Aquielle Person ’22 said that she became aware of the program and her eligibility for it prior to matriculating at the University, and said that paying for textbooks would have been much more difficult had she not received the grants in her first semester. “I might have had to go a week or a few weeks in before enough money could be generated to buy each book,” Person said, adding that without the money she might not have taken certain classes due to the prohibitive cost of the textbooks.

Person was given a separate card from her Brown ID card pre-loaded with $650, which she could use at the Brown Bookstore. Zia noted that, as of the next academic year, the funds will be made available on a student’s Brown ID rather than on a separate card.

The textbook program has “allowed me to take classes that I really want to take, and it’s allowed me to do things that I think help me be a better learner,” Person said. For example, she prefers to write and highlight in her textbooks as a method of studying and she is able to do so because the grants from the program allow her to buy rather than

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rent her books.

Thien Nguyen ’22 said that had it not been for the program, he would not have been able to pay for his textbooks last semester. “Every student should have access to textbooks that will allow them to succeed in classes,” Nguyen said. Like Person, Nguyen also bought his textbooks rather than renting them.

Both Person and Nguyen said that they were directly contacted by Assistant Dean for Financial Advising Vernicia Elie who informed them of their eligibility for the program and offered them details regarding their participation.

The working group which examined the pilot program will continue to survey participants next year to ensure that students are successfully obtaining their necessary textbooks with the grant money, Zia said. The group will also continue to address case-specific concerns as the program progresses, such as students who may need funds to cover other course materials aside from textbooks.

Person emphasized that she would like to see grant programs of this sort devoted to other costly aspects of student life at the University such as travel, adding that the cost of transportation prevented many of her peers from traveling home for Thanksgiving.

“The financial aid working group considers all factors that might affect student academic engagement and student life,” Zia said. “The key to the group is to figure out what changes would be most impactful, and how can we run pilots like this that help us to identify programs that work and to build upon them,” pointing to concerns surrounding food security on campus, for example.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

COMMENTARY THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019 • PAGE 7

Reconfiguring abortion rights in the era of technology JAY KHURANA op-ed contributor I recently had the pleasure of attending “A Conversation with Leana Wen, M.D.” at the Alpert Medical School. Dr. Wen is the incredibly accomplished president of Planned Parenthood. She immigrated to the United States at the age of eight, started her undergraduate degree at California State University at Los Angeles at age 13 and later completed medical school at Washington University in St. Louis. Among her plethora of post-medical education accomplishments, she has gone on to serve as the Health Commissioner in Baltimore, where she helped fight the opioid epidemic.

Still, I was disappointed that the event was not the “conversation” it claimed to be. The event essentially consisted of a single medical student moderating the conversation with a list of questions, which Wen answered beautifully and eloquently.

Though her deeply personal narratives and astute identifications of injustices related to abortion within the legislative system riveted the audience, there were no mechanisms built into the event that facilitated a Q&A session. Given the varied opinions on abortion and rapidly evolving medical technology, this is exactly the kind of event in which an open forum for questions is imperative.

As it happens, I had a few questions myself: Due to advances in medical technology, we are now able to sustain a fetus outside of the womb to successful full-term development at an earlier point in pregnancy. At

what point, if any, do you believe, a fetus’s right to life matches or outweighs a woman’s personal autonomy regarding her pregnancy? If this point exists, do you think it should be transient and based off the current medical technology we are developing?

The legal arguments for and against abortion, decided by the Supreme Court in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case and the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey case, demarcated the legality of an abortion based on a fetus’s viability. But as medical technology progresses, a fetus’s viability will change with it. Thus, will the Court’s point of viability change with advances in medical technology? I believe the thought processes underlying this

make her decision regarding an abortion.

The trimester system, in general, is not per se based on anything biological. While there are distinct fetal developments that occur during pregnancy, there is no absolute reason why that growth should be divided into three stages. Furthermore, since our technology has progressed, a fetus in an earlier stage may soon be just as viable as it is in the third trimester — a factor that could not have been taken into account in 1973.

While Roe is the most cited abortion case, the Supreme Court revised its decision about abortion in Casey, proving that the point of viability can change in the eye of the law. Casey

have an abortion if she chooses. But now, with medical technology developing that could remove the fetus and place it in an environment outside of her body, would she still have the right to terminate the pregnancy? It’s unclear. This question and others will increasingly have to be faced in an age where technology may actualize these scenarios.

For students who are pro-choice, it is especially important to engage with these ideas instead of dismissing them. As medical technology progresses, these new questions about viability will come to the forefront on all sides of the debate. In order to continue to advocate for a woman’s bodily autonomy, you must be able to

Conversations such as the one Wen provided should give our campus an opportunity for larger debates about abortion in the technological age.

question may depart from the prochoice beliefs many Brown students hold.

Most of us agree that in the vast majority of cases — barring, for example, serious potential harm to the mother — it would be wrong to abort a third-trimester fetus, according to a poll from Gallup. However, why should we feel any differently about a fetus in its third trimester than we do a fetus late into the second? This boundary is in fact quite arbitrary, legally established in Roe without scientific evidence connecting viability directly with the third trimester.

Before that trimester, a woman has bodily autonomy and the right to

removed the three-trimester framework and acknowledged that viability could occur at 24 weeks or maybe even earlier as medical technology progressed. While in Roe and Casey, the point of viability upheld a woman’s bodily autonomy for the majority of her pregnancy, future cases regarding viability could ebb the line and take away what we now may even consider a woman’s inalienable right.

Take, for example, an instance when a woman’s health and safety is at risk because of her pregnancy. In the past, it would have been impossible for her to carry the fetus to term without posing a significant danger to her life — thus resulting in legal rights to

understand and be comfortable with the facets of this new debate. Conversations such as the one Wen provided should give our campus an opportunity for larger debates about abortion in the technological age. Must we ignore these questions because they are polarizing, or even uncomfortable, or is this exact type of discourse needed on our campus?

I believe the lack of discussion around Wen’s event and the topics it raises is indicative of a broader trend within our community. Conversations about these polarizing topics are essential at a University in which free discussion and critical thinking are at the heart of learning. The

R h o d e I s l a n d ’ s O w n W h o m p i n g W i l lo w

LEON JIANG / HERALD

fact of the matter is that millions of Americans are pro-life, anti-vaccine, anti-gun control and opposed to climate change legislation. I don’t by any means claim to stand with them but rather believe in the importance of thinking critically about the issues that surround us, reasoning out both perspectives and attempting to find a kernel of truth in the process.

Perhaps as a community, we should be more compassionate, understanding and empathetic to people who have views different from our own. We must face these tough questions if we want to evolve our own views or be adept at challenging others to evolve theirs. While Wen’s discussion gave me a chance to highlight contentious and important questions centered around abortion, we as a campus must also seriously consider other controversial opinions held by many people inside and outside of the Brown community.

As a pre-med student, I have noticed that modern physician training has become more centered around empathy and humanism, or understanding the “patient and not the disease,” as mentioned in Wen’s lecture. I urge our community to utilize these methods of compassion in an attempt to understand the beliefs other humans in America have about the world around us.

Jay Khurana PLME ’18.5 can be reached at jay_khurana@alumni. brown.edu and would be happy to further the conversation!

Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

Injustice Anywhere: The Shared Struggle to Expand Constitutional Liberties for Everyone in America Featuring

Anthony D. Romero Executive Director American Civil Liberties Union

Thursday, April 25, 2019 5 p.m.

Granoff Center for the Creative Arts Martinos Auditorium 154 Angell Street Providence Supported in part through the Jill Rose Distinguished Presidential Lecture Fund

For tickets and more information, please visit

brown.edu/go/reaffirmingvalues

REAFFIRMING UNIVERSITY VALUES: Campus Dialogue and Discourse Sponsored by the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, Department of American Studies and Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy To request special services, accommodations or assistance for this event, please contact the University Event and Conference Services Office at universityevents@brown.edu.