Tuesday, April 16, 2019

SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY APRIL 16, 2019

VOLUME CLIII, ISSUE 49

WWW.BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

Students across globe lament tragedy in Paris U. changes course load

tenure requirement Change expected to allow faculty more time for research, advising, decrease frequency of small courses

By KAMRAN KING SENIOR STAFF WRITER

COURTESY OF XINYUE QIAN

Historic Parisian monument erupted in flames yesterday, destroying the cathedral’s spire and two-thirds of the roof. Students in Paris and on College Hill reacted to the tragic event and reflected on the state of affairs in Paris.

As Notre-Dame burns, French international students at U. mourn fire in heart of Paris

By CELIA HACK METRO EDITOR

As flames marred the historic and renowned Notre-Dame Cathedral Mon-

U. profs support Yale ER&M faculty withdrawal Brown faculty file letter to Yale dean after all tenured faculty resign from Yale ER&M program

By KAMRAN KING SENIOR STAFF WRITER

After 13 tenured Yale faculty announced their intent to cease participation in the school’s Ethnicity, Race and Migration studies program last month, 33 Brown faculty members signed a memo supporting their choice.

The Yale faculty announced their decisions in individual letters to Yale’s Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Tamar Gendler, on March 29. In a joint press release, the faculty cited “administrative disinterest in the program and the pattern of unfulfilled promises by the University” as reasons for their choice. Following their withdrawal, the program will have no tenured faculty members, though the faculty departing will continue to » See ER&M, page 3

INSIDE

day, causing its iconic spire to collapse, University students in Paris and on College Hill watched the destruction unfold with sorrow and disbelief.

Xinyue Qian ’20, who is spending a semester studying in Paris, walked outside of her dorm room around 7:30 p.m. Paris time to a sky choked with smoke.

“It was nearly sunset, and at first you see the smoke, you can see it

everywhere in Paris,” Qian said of that moment. “And you see in front of the Notre-Dame — I don’t know how to describe it, but the color (was) very surreal.” She watched the building crumble alongside hordes of distraught onlookers on the riverbanks.

“People would exclaim when there was a sudden burst of fire or a sudden part fell off.” » See NOTRE-DAME, page 3

Tenure-track and tenured professors in the humanities and in some social science departments will be allowed to teach three courses per year as opposed to four, announced Provost Richard Locke P ’18 in an Op-Ed in today’s Herald.

This change will be implemented over the next few years as departments submit plans to the Dean of the Faculty that show how they plan to decrease the course loads of their professors, said Dean of the Faculty Kevin McLaughlin.

The reduced course load expectation comes two years after Locke requested that McLaughlin and the Faculty Executive Committee form an Ad Hoc Committee on Enhancing Faculty research to consider how to maximize faculty engagement on campus, Locke wrote in the Op-Ed. Over the last few years,

the committee launched a pilot program and gathered data — ultimately concluding that the reduction in course expectations is the best way forward for the University.

Currently, all humanities departments and the Departments of History, Sociology, Anthropology and Education require tenure-track and tenured professors to teach four courses a year.

On the other hand, some social science departments, such as the Department of Political Science and Department of Economics, require professors to teach three courses per year. In the hard sciences, professors are expected to teach two courses per year.

Though some professors will be teaching fewer classes, the University hopes to meet student demand through improved departmental organization and a reduction in the frequency of classes with approximately five students enrolled. McLaughlin made a distinction between small courses that are required for completion of a concentration, which are “essential,” and those that are not.

Under the new plan, classes that do not qualify as essential will be offered with less frequency, he said, as many » See FACULTY, page 3

University alums win four Pulitzer Prizes Herald alums awarded journalism prizes, MFA alum, Prof Emeritus win poetry, drama awards

By CATE RYAN SCIENCE AND RESEARCH EDITOR

Newsrooms erupted in applause across the country as the 2019 Pulitzer Prizes for journalism, letters, drama and music were announced Monday afternoon, and among the winners were Herald alums Rebecca Ballhaus ’13 and Peter Kovacs ’78 P’10, who received prizes for their contributions to journalism.

In addition, Jackie Sibblies Drury MFA ’10 won the prize for drama, and Professor Emeritus of Literary Arts Forrest Gander received the Pulitzer’s poetry award.

Herald alums snag two Pulitzers for team reporting The prize recipients were announced on Monday at the Columbia Journalism School by Pulitzer Prize administrator Dana Canedy.

Ballhaus, a reporter at the Wall Street Journal and former Managing Editor of The Herald, received the Pulitzer in National Reporting alongside other members of the Wall Street

COURTESY OF PULITZER.ORG

Journal’s staff. The award recognized their work revealing President Donald Trump’s payoffs to silence two women who claimed to have affairs with him and investigating other actors in those stories, including Michael Cohen. Ballhaus was waiting with other journalists in the newsroom when she first heard she had won. “Our livestream was actually a little bit delayed, so we heard the cheers ring out from the other side of the newsroom before it actually came up on our stream — we felt like it was

hopefully going to be good news.”

Kovacs, the editor of The Advocate and former Editor-in-Chief of The Herald, described a similar scene from Louisiana: “I was in the New Orleans newsroom … people jumped up and down and hugged each other.”

“It’s really nice to see this kind of work rewarded,” Ballhaus said, emphasizing the importance of investigative journalism.

Both Ballhaus and Kovac’s projects were team efforts to produce powerful

investigative work. Ballhaus found herself on “one of the most supportive teams I’ve ever worked with,” she said. “It was really such a privilege to be able to work with reporters who had been covering this for longer than I had and have just been doing great reporting in general for much longer.”

Under Kovacs’ leadership, the Advocate’s staff won the prize for local reporting for “a damning portrayal of the state’s discriminatory conviction » See PULITZER, page 4

WEATHER

TUESDAY APRIL 16, 2019

NEWS School of Professional Studies will transfer to new space in the Jewelry District this summer

ARTS & CULTURE The University and RISD pole dance group, the Poler Bears, showcases different dance styles

COMMENTARY Secondo ’16 GS: National political rhetoric is unproductive as economy boosts Trump

COMMENTARY Mulligan ’19: Students should learn to be more respectful of shared dormitory bathrooms

PAGE 2

PAGE 2

PAGE 7

PAGE 7

TODAY

TOMORROW

60 / 41

61 / 40

NEWS

PAGE 2 • TUESDAY APRIL 16, 2019

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

School of Professional Studies to move across street this summer SPS has outgrown current home, will move to larger space for program expansion, collaboration

By SARAH WANG CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The School of Professional Studies will move to a newer and larger home in the Jewelry District over the summer, according to Karen Sibley, dean of the SPS and vice president for strategic initiatives.

Presently located at 200 Dyer St., the SPS has outgrown the roughly 20,000 square feet of space that house its four executive master’s programs, said Brian Clark, director of news and editorial development. By moving just across the street into the fourth and fifth floors of a newly constructed building called the Innovation Center, the SPS will gain an additional 30,000 square feet of space.

The University signed a 15-year lease to provide space for the SPS in the Innovation Center, The Herald previously reported.

The University’s total investment in the SPS’s move to the Innovation Center is expected to exceed $35 million, Clark said. This will cover the costs of the lease payments, capital improvements, furniture and equipment. The SPS, which already generates its own income to support its staff and programs, will directly cover a portion of

these costs, Clark added.

The new space will allow the SPS to house its full staff in one shared space and “serve our students with large classroom space and space for multiple cohorts of students to be in residence at the same time,” Sibley wrote in a followup email to The Herald. The larger space will also allow for the production of online course content and will improve classroom space for faculty, offices for student interviews and collaborative areas for small group meetings.

By moving to the Innovation Center, the SPS will not only expand its location but also its program sizes. The move will allow the school to create new programs for mid-career students and employers searching for specific educational opportunities relevant to their teams, Sibley wrote. The SPS currently offers four executive master’s programs in business, science and technology, healthcare and cybersecurity.

Use of the SPS’s new space will not be limited to the SPS students and staff.

Other University organizations will be able to reserve the space for events like other buildings on campus.

The building, which was developed

by Wexford Science & Technology, will also be occupied by Johnson & Johnson and Cambridge Innovation Center, a company that provides office space to foster innovation for startups and entrepreneurs, according to its website.

Sibley said that she is looking forward to the potential opportunities that

COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY

The School of Professional Studies will move to a 50,000-square-foot space in the Jewelry District’s Innovation Center. The larger space will allow for program expansion, increased classroom space and collaboration areas. will arise from being in the same space as Johnson & Johnson and CIC. “It will be a strong positive for our students, faculty and Brown in general to be in a building where collaboration with other enterprises, specifically CIC, is enhanced,” Sibley wrote.

The ground floor, lobby and common areas of the Innovation Center are

designed to help “encourage the kind of collaboration and collisions where new ideas come from,”said Thomas Osha, senior vice president of innovation & economic development at Wexford Science & Technology.

The building will make the SPS accessible to professionals and “expose them to the kinds of activities

growing in (the) building,” Osha said.

“Whether they’re young startups out of the Cambridge Innovation Center, whether they’re companies that want to be near J&J or others, (the Innovation Center) continues to provide more opportunity for Brown to continue to grow this signature program.”

Poler Bears ‘Two Faced’ features variety of dance styles Brown, RISD joint pole dance group exhibits student choreography in spring production

By EMILY TENG SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Featuring a vast range of choreographic styles, the Poler Bears’s spring production, “Two Faced,” was a theatrical celebration of the diverse dance backgrounds and personalities that compromise the student-run pole dancing group.

With performances this past Friday and Saturday, the show packed the house both nights.

As audience members rushed to fill the coveted seats, the stage was cast in a warm yellow light. Nine poles arranged on the stage were the main props that dancers used to perform “wild, sexy, and spooky scenes with a healthy dose of titillating plot twists and silly surprises,” according to their program description.

The show featured solos, duets and group dances, all choreographed by group members, with complex and elegant acrobatic ensembles inspired by masquerade, burlesque performances, Latinx soap opera romances and punk rock.

The title of the show, “Two Faced,” was inspired by the group’s desire to explore different styles of pole dancing in one production, said Jillian Hojsak ’19, co-director of the Poler Bears. “I’m choreographing a piece called ‘Hell,’

ARTS & CULTURE

and it’s basically what you might see when you go to hell — just a lot of dancers being really sinister and evil, and it was really nice to use dance to explore that side of ourselves,” said Divya Maniar ’21, a former Herald writer and choreography chair of the Poler Bears. Dancers also experimented with incorporating other genres into their routines, including ballet, contemporary and drag.

Producing one show each semester, the dance group began choreographing and practicing for this show in early February, when members first submitted their ideas for routines. After reviewing each piece’s concepts, as well as the number of people required and the proposed music, the team finalized the pieces for the production.

From then on, dancers practiced two to three times a week all the way up to the debut of the show.

Regarding the social culture of the group, Hojsak said, “There is something inherently bonding about pole dancing. … As a team, we want each other to grow in confidence, and we want to support each other in the process of this growth.” Aside from the rehearsals, Hojsak added that the group also hosted a Secret Santa exchange, potlucks and pre-show gift swaps to strengthen the bonds between members.

“I’m impressed by their strength, gracefulness and sensuality. I feel like pole dancing is not just about being sexy and provocative, but the pursuit of artistic creation and self-expression,” said Xinyue (Annie) Ge ’22, an audience member at the Saturday night show.

Hojsak explained that while every member joins the group for a different reason, the Poler Bears is a safe space for “people of different body types, backgrounds, gender identities, etc. … (to) explore dance in whatever context they feel comfortable in.” Maniar, who has been dancing for a large portion of her life, said she found individuality in pole dancing.

“Since it’s a new art form that is consistently being created, there is not (a) definition of what a good pole dance looks like. So it’s really nice to branch out my dance” through pole dancing, she said.

The group has recently made several revisions to its modus operandi, with the first being an amendment to the group’s mission statement that aims to account for the “background of pole dancing” and to acknowledge their privilege as an Ivy League pole team. As the only pole dancing group in the Ivy League, the group wants to ensure that it recognizes its positionality and respects the fact that “around the world, the art of vertical dance has been developed by various cultures and classes,” according to the revised Poler Bears’ mission statement.

Another recent change in group policy was the addition of a supplementary interview to the original two-round audition process. Maniar said that most of the dancers on the team do not have prior experience in pole dancing, and that the auditions are more beginner sequence classes intended to evaluate the potential of candidates. With the large applicant pool, Hojsak explained that the priority of auditions is to ensure the safety

COURTESY OF THE POLER BEARS

The Poler Bears’s spring production features choreography inspired by ballet, contemporary, Latinx soap opera and drag. of candidates and assess the level of dedication they commit to this dance form.

“Pole dancing can be anything you want it to be, and all forms of pole dancing should be respected. If you

want to try it, even a little bit, you should,” Hojsak said. To satisfy the vast and growing interest in pole dancing on campus, the Poler Bears also hosts regular workshops that are open to the public throughout the school year.

NEWS

TUESDAY APRIL 16, 2019 • PAGE 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

» NOTRE-DAME, from page 1 Naomy Pedroza ’20, another student studying abroad in Paris, watched the tragic event on TV with her host family.

“Watching the smoke from afar, I was in utter shock — I was watching history disappear before my very eyes,” she wrote in an email to The Herald.

“My host family, third-generation Parisians, couldn’t believe it, tearing up as we watched live news coverage on the TV.” To many French international students studying at the University, the 856-year-old church located in the heart of Paris represents home.

“The Notre-Dame, it’s a religious building, but it’s symbolism was way beyond religion,” said Dorian Arber Kornowski ’22, a French international student. “It was like the pillar of France, just gone. Well, not gone but severely damaged.”

“This is our treasure,” said Dorian Charpentier ’20, a French international student and president of the French House. “This is not about a religious monument so much it is as our collective history.”

To Eugénie Boury ’20, who is

» FACULTY, from page 1 humanities concentrations do not require specific courses.

McLaughlin further added that especially small classes may not be ideal learning environments, saying that “classes of about seven students rather than three are probably a better environment for students and a better use of a professor’s time.” Following this change in policy, students will still be able to create group independent studies to pursue topics not covered by classes.

The University does not expect to see notable increases in adjunct faculty or the number of tenure-track faculty in response to the changes. In his OpEd, Locke wrote that “a proliferation of adjunct faculty is not part of the solution,” andMcLaughlin added that the University also does not anticipate that the changes will “lead to any growth in the number of tenure-track faculty.”

Although the University is not

Catholic, the fire ravaged what had been an important part of her childhood.

“It’s kind of the heart of Catholic Paris,” Boury said. “I went to a Catholic middle and high school, and we would have our opening, Christmas and closing masses at Notre-Dame.”

France is about two-thirds Christian, “so culturally speaking, it’s just been a very big part of history,” Boury said.

The fire, which took about five hours and 500 firefighters to extinguish, caused international anguish and spurred leaders from across the globe to voice their support for France, the New York Times reported.

By the end of the fight, the church’s main structure and two towers were preserved, but two-thirds of the roof was ruined.

No one was killed in the fire, of which the cause is not currently known, the New York Times reported.

The destruction of the beloved national monument comes in a moment of unrest for the country, with the “Yellow Vest” movement protesting French President Emmanuel Macron’s policies and demanding increased social and economic equality.

“It’s just really a blow when we’re

down already,” Boury said, referencing the tension plaguing the city. “It feels like an ominous sign.”

Macron pledged to rebuild the church with fundraising efforts that are set to begin Tuesday, USA Today reported. In an address Monday night, Macron spoke of the cathedral’s gravity and cultural importance: “It’s the many books, the paintings, those that belong to all French men and French women, even those who’ve never come.”

Pedroza has seen the deep connection between Parisians and the monument first-hand. Just last week, she approached a stranger as part of a photo project and asked about her favorite spot in Paris. After pausing to think, the woman chose the back of the Notre-Dame. She told Pedroza that it was “one of the world’s most beautiful and revered structures,” and sitting in the garden in the back, when the tourists visit the front, is like a little secret.

“I can’t help but thinking about this woman right now,” Pedroza wrote.

“Her favorite spot in Paris is gone.”

budgeting additional funds for temporary teaching, it intends to reallocate some of the existing funds to arts departments where many courses are consistently over-enrolled, McLaughlin said.

In these departments, such as literary arts and visual arts, “we know that each course lost is actually a course that 12 or 17 students will not be able to take,” he explained.

Professor of International and Public Affairs and of Political Science and FEC Chair Ross Cheit discussed the relationship between course offerings and increasing opportunities for faculty research, highlighting the benefits of the change. “There’s clearly a trade-off, but I think it’s a reasonable one: There will not be as many tiny courses, … but what the professors get in return is enormous.”

In response to a question about whether the University is prioritizing research over undergraduate education, Cheit said that the University is “a research institution that values teaching.

No one has ever acted like the teaching aspect drives the University.” This change “makes it easier to be a good teacher and also get that book written” and will help faculty achieve the most important aspect of tenure files, which are publications, he added.

This move will also allow faculty, who have expressed an inability to keep up with their faculty governance and advising duties, to devote more time to these activities, McLaughlin said.

Cheit expects the change to make the University more attractive in the hiring process, referencing his own choice to teach at Brown over the University of Virginia because Brown had required four courses per year in comparison to the University of Virginia’s five.

“Faculty in the arts and humanities are really grateful. … This will affect their teaching, advising, service and research in ways that should be exciting,” Cheit said.

» ER&M, from page 1 work with juniors and seniors majoring in ER&M. Brown faculty who signed the April 5 letter to Gendler condemned Yale’s failure to adequately support the program and its participants.

“We urge you to save the ER&M program by fulfilling promises made to its faculty,” the letter read. “While it remains to be seen if Yale University truly values the essential work of the ER&M program, we at Brown acknowledge and thank ER&M for its leadership in the profession and for its service to the national discourse overall on critical issues of our time.”

Gendler responded to the Brown faculty three days later, expressing Yale’s commitment to ER&M. “Over the past year, we have been carefully reviewing the structure of our academic organization in ER&M and related areas as part of our regular rethinking of how the (Faculty of Arts and Sciences) should best be organized,” read the message to Brown faculty reviewed by The Herald. “We share the faculty’s view that the program needs appropriate recognition of its status as a distinct and vital area of study, with commensurate appointing rights.”

Assistant Professor of American Studies and English Dixa Ramirez, a signatory who taught in American Studies and ER&M at Yale from 20132018, said she decided to leave Yale in part because she felt “junior faculty, especially faculty of color, are pulled in many different directions.”

ER&M faculty often serve in more than one department, and when they felt undersupported, “it was very demoralizing,” Ramirez said. While programs at Yale such as Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies have the power to hire faculty with a path to tenure in their department, the ER&M program does not. “Our program still lacks basic rights in hiring and appointment,” Yale’s faculty press

release read.

Despite the strength of the program’s faculty, Ramirez felt in her time at Yale that the administration “sees the ER&M program as appeasing the student body rather than as intellectually rigorous.”

Assistant Professor of History and American Studies & Ethnic Studies Naoko Shibusawa, who authored the letter to Gendler, said the discrepancy between support for the program and Yale’s $29.4 billion endowment “reflects a lack of institutional will.”.

Chair of American Studies and Professor of Africana Studies Matthew Guterl, who signed the letter, echoed this sentiment. “Yale announced the opening of a new school of Global Affairs in the same week that the ER&M faculty announced their resignation from the program, so it is much more clearly a case of institutional will and priorities lying elsewhere,” Guterl wrote in an email to The Herald. He also highlighted the importance of supporting faculty at peer institutions to hold their respective administrations accountable.

With Brown’s close academic connection to Yale and Yale’s treatment of the ER&M program, University faculty expressed concern about continuing to recommend Yale’s programs to their students. “We must wonder whether we can trust Yale University to remain an institution to which we want to send our very best students for graduate studies with the full support they deserve and expect,” the letter read.

Further, Yale’s ER&M program is considered a leading program in its field. “We at Brown have long recognized Yale’s ER&M program as a leader and a model of excellence,” according to the letter.

While faculty at Brown found Yale’s lack of support for ER&M “shocking,” according to the letter, Shibusawa noted that Brown’s administration works to support individual departments. “I can’t see our faculty withdrawing their labor from our programs,” she said.

Brown University Community Council Tuesday, April 16, 2019 4 – 5:30 p.m.

Discussion of Proposed Fair Food Resolution Review of Proposed Changes to the Code of Student Conduct

Meetings are open to members of the Brown community.

Meeting will be held in the Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center, Kasper Multipurpose Room To learn more about the Community Council visit: brown.edu/go/council

NEWS

PAGE 4 • TUESDAY APRIL 16, 2019

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Course organized by students tackles ethics in CS ‘CS for Social Change’ course allows students to engage, collaborate with nonprofits

By JANET CHANG SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Last spring, students in a new computer science social change course developed software tools for a disaster relief organization to teach refugee children about science and technology, a Chrome extension to filter hate speech on the internet and a mobile app to help doctors during a patient visits.

Called CSCI 1951I: “CS for Social Change,” the course — now in its second iteration — was developed for computer science, design and engineering students to discuss and reflect on the social impact of their work while building practical software tools to help local and national partner nonprofits over the 15-week semester.

The course was initially conceived

by Nikita Ramoji ’20, among others, who was a co-founder of CS for Social Change, a student organization that aims to addethics education to college computer science departments. “The (general consensus) was that we were getting a really great computer science education, but we didn’t really have that social component,” she said.

As the idea for a course began to emerge in the first semester of the club, Ramoji, along with a few other students, approached the head of the Computer Science department, Ugur Cetintemel, and found the CS department to be supportive of their efforts. A year later, in spring 2018, CS for Social Change became an official course offered by the University and taught by Cetintemel. The course was partially modeled after a similar course at Stanford University called “CS + Social Good,” where students work on projects with social innovation organizations outside

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

» PULITZER, from page 1 system, including a Jim Crow-era law, that enabled Louisiana courts to send defendants to jail without jury consensus on the accused’s guilt,” according to the Pulitzer Prize website. The Advocate was also a finalist in the Editorial category. With Kovacs’ guidance, The Advocate has expanded to cover three markets in Southern Louisiana — New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette.

The team examined a law in Louisiana that required only ten out of twelve jury members find a defendant guilty for that person to be convicted.

“What we discovered was that … the current practice dated to Jim Crow,” Kovacs said. The Advocate’s reporting began with a series called “Tilting the Scales,” which found that this jury law “essentially eliminate(s) the voices of dissenting jurors.” In their investigation, The Advocate team reviewed

TALIA MERMIN / HERALD

the university.

Ruby Goldberg ’17, who co-founded the initial student organization, said her interest was borne out of a desire to see more dialogue about social impact in computer science.“When we started (at) Brown, there was basically no conversation about training the folks graduating to think about the impact of what they were building. There was no language for teaching engineers what impact they would make.”

Elaine Jiang ’19 is a head teaching assistant for the social change course who worked closely with Ramoji to develop the curriculum, and Vandhana Ravi ’18 was also heavily involved in the course’s development.

Jiang became interested in the project because, “as a (first-year), I felt the only track for a CS student was software engineering. And I didn’t even realize that there were other things you could do like research and nonprofit work, so I felt that this was important for not only current CS students but incoming (first-years).”

Each student praised Cetintemel’s help and support, as he worked closely

with the students during the creation of the course and oversaw lectures.

“We need to think about downstream uses of whatever we build and be responsible (for it),” Cetintemel said.

“There’s an amazing set of new problems that became so real in a very short period of time, and we don’t know yet how to deal with (them). So a course like this, where the students are actively thinking about these issues, working with nonprofit organizations … that’s where the course was coming from.”

During its first year, the class was attended by 12 students with Ramoji facilitating lectures and Jiang and Heila Precel ’20, current co-president of CS for Social Change, serving as head TAs. The course was structured with two weekly meetings, with one half of the course dedicated to ethics education readings and discussions and the other half to project development for partner non-profits.

For the ethics part of the course, students would discuss readings on topics such as feminism and technology, addictive technology, post-colonial computing and algorithmic bias, as well

as issues pertaining to internet privacy laws.

For the group projects, students were divided into groups of four based on skills and abilities and then paired with a nonprofit partner. They had weekly calls with the nonprofits, and the student TAs acted as project managers.

Zachary Shinkar ’19 is a part of a team that worked on building hate speech filtering algorithms to be used for identifying hate groups active on Russia’s largest social network, VK.com.

“It’s been great to see how this work has been brought into fruition. They’ve been using it and giving us feedback as we go,” he added.

This spring, the course roster increased to 20 students and 5 collaborative group projects, each with a head TA leading the groups’ efforts as a project manager.

Ramoji described the process of developing and improving a new course.

“We created constant anonymous surveys from every student (about) three times throughout the semester … and implemented those changes as the course went forward. As the course

3000 cases from every courthouse in Louisiana — “Louisiana is a big state, unlike Rhode Island,” Kovacs said. The Advocate’s reporting educated legislators and the public, who then voted to amend the Louisiana constitution to end the non-unanimous juror practice in November 2018.

Both Kovacs and Ballhaus cited the The Herald as the launchpad to their journalistic careers.

“I think about (my time at The Herald) all the time … It was what first taught me how a newspaper works, what good reporting is and how to be part of a team,” Ballhaus said. “I really miss The Herald and I think it’s doing great things now.”

“You learn a lot running something like (The Herald) when you’re 21 years old,” Kovacs said, adding that his time at The Herald taught him about budget management, collaboration between writers and working with the local

community. “All that was very valuable … That’s essentially what I do now.”

“I don’t think journalism is dead like people want to think it is” Kovacs said.

And to student journalists, he said: “If you believe that you can do this, you should pursue it. You’re never going to believe in yourself more than you believe in yourself (now).”

in her name. Young poets and writers had come to the University seeking their guidance and mentorship over the last thirty years.

“Every memory you have is connected to someone else, and every book that defines you is something that you talked about and shared with someone else, so when that person is gone, it’s like the world just retreats from you,” Gander said in an interview with Poetry Northwest.

Professor Emeritus wins prize for elegies to late wife Professor Emeritus Forrest Gander won the Pulitzer in Poetry for his book “Be With,” a series of elegies that grapple with his grief over the sudden death of his wife, poet C.D. Wright. The book’s title is a phrase that comes from the dedication to Gander in Wright’s posthumously published “ShallCross,” according to the New Yorker. Wright was a professor of literary arts at the University from 1983 until her death, and a lecture series is now held each fall

MFA alum awarded Drama prize for off-Broadway script Jackie Sibblies Drury MFA ’10 came to the University to earn a masters in playwriting after completing her bachelor’s degree at Yale. On Monday, her play “Fairview” won the Pulitzer prize for drama.

Fairview’s plot follows an African American family preparing for a birthday dinner. But underneath the

grows, I’m interested to see how it’s going to balance, as it’s one of the few courses at Brown where you get oneon-one (attention), not be one in 200 students. I think that format has been helpful, but I’m interested in making sure that it’s scalable.”

“Working with (the students), I learned as much, if not more, than the students,” said Jiang, reflecting on her experiences as a head TA for the course.

Students gave overwhelmingly positive feedback, she added. “I think students are just really grateful that there is an ethics-related course in the department, and … I think the overall sentiment is we need more courses like these.”

The course will help the department’s foray into “Responsible CS,” which is an initiative geared towards integrating ethics education into regular computer science course curriculum, Cetintemel said. “If it is (just) one course, it almost becomes a check-box.

The students go and take the course, learn something cool, and then just … forget about it. A better way to actually teach this type of material and have the students internalize it is to hit the same topics … in the context of different courses to create (different) perspectives,” he said.

Cetintemel also emphasized the crucial role of non-STEM faculty in developing ethics curriculum for students. “(We want) more people in (the humanities) who think about these issues. These are the defining problems of our time. And they need to be part of the solution.”

By the next school year, he plans to bring a new cadre of undergraduate “ethics TAs” to lead ethics discussions, alongside existing ethics-centered courses such as CSCI 1870: “Cybersecurity Ethics” taught by Adjunct Professor of the Practice of Cybersecurity Deborah Hurley and DATA 080: “Data, Ethics and Society” by Adjunct Lecturer in Computer Science Roger Blumberg.

“I’m excited to see what the CS department is going to be like in a few years,” Jiang said.

storyline, her script comments on race, privilege and judgement in America.

“The characters in Jackie Sibblies Drury’s outstanding, frustrating, hilarious, and sui generis new play (directed with dynamism by Sarah Benson, at the Soho Rep), perform, for the most part, behind a one-way mirror,” wrote New Yorker theater critic Hilton Als in July 2018.

“You begin watching by feeling mildly amused, then uneasy, then annoyed, then unsettled,” Ben Brantley wrote in The New York Times.

In 2013, Drury cited Rhode Island and classes at the University as influences in an interview with Brown Alumni Magazine.

Fairview, which premiered offBroadway at Soho Rep last year and played at Berkeley Rep immediately after, will return to the stage in June at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center in Brooklyn, according to Playbill.

TODAY

TUESDAY APRIL 16, 2019 • PAGE 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

s p r i n g s h o w e r s , f lo w e r p o w e r

menu SATELLITE DINING ANDREWS COMMONS

Grinder, Baked Pasta, Pho Bar, Curry Bar, Make Your Own Salad, Pepperoni Pizza, Spinach & Feta Pizza, Lamb Tagine Pizza JOSIAH’S

BLUE ROOM

French Toast Bar, Grilled Cheese, Southwestern Bean Burger

Chicken Kadhai, Aloo Saag, Organic Black Bean Soup

DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH

DINNER

Beef Taco Filling, Pork Fajita Filling, Corn Taco Shells, Cheese Grits Soufflé

Chicken Pizzaiola, Eggplant Parmesan, Torpedo Roll, Pineapple Upside Down Cake

VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH

DINNER

Roasted Butternut Squash Burger, Shaved Steak Sandwich, Hummus Bar, Brown Rice Pilaf

Beef Carnitas, Hot Corn with Zucchini and Tomato, Creamy Pesto Pasta Vegetable Sauté

sudoku

HUAYU OUYANG / HERALD

The recent showers have brought flowers to College Hill, as rainy days give way to pretty petals. Students may forget to stop and smell the bright blossoms on their rush to class, but beauty abounds outside classrooms.

RELEASE DATE– Thursday, February 28, 2013

Los Angeles Times Puzzle c r o sDaily s w oCrossword rd Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Send with an email 7 With 22-, 37- or 48-Across, familiar line 14 It has its charms 15 Password accompaniment 17 Mail for King Arthur 18 “Pull it together” 19 Fed. management and support agency 21 Fabric 22 See 7-Across 29 Ken and Lena of Hollywood 30 Tell-all account 31 Mosquito-borne fever 33 Islet 34 Preschool downtime 37 See 7-Across 41 Disapproving sound 42 Ballpark fig.

43 Two-__ 44 Shrill laugh 47 Bookkeeperʼs deduction 48 See 7-Across 50 Literature Nobelist __ Bashevis Singer 52 __ Lanka 53 Words often said with a fist pump 57 Easy pill to swallow 62 Where a shopping list may be jotted down 63 Word of exasperation 64 Probable response to 7-/22-, 7-/37- or 7-/48-Across 65 Saved DOWN 1 Gardner of “The Killers” 2 NYY opponent, on scoreboards 3 Cat on the prowl 4 Excitement

5 Forks over reluctantly 6 __ trade 7 An O may symbolize one 8 Odessa-to-Austin dir.

9 To this point 10 Leaflike parts 11 “Life of Pi” director 12 Unseen “Red” character in “Peanuts” 13 Give off 16 N.T. book 20 “All bets __ off” 22 Buffalo Bill and the Wyoming city named for him 23 Kitchen spreads 24 Frigid forecast word 25 Tech sch. grad 26 “Bingo!”

27 Andyʼs TV son 28 Pics 32 To-be, in politics 34 Capone associate 35 Words after crack or fry 36 1996 role for Madonna or Jonathan Pryce

38 Sets a price of 39 Adjust, as to a new situation 40 Prey for a Hauskatze 44 Alpine dwelling 45 Battery not included, perhaps 46 Aurora, to the Greeks 48 Refrain from claiming

49 Prods 50 Like Vivaldiʼs “Spring” 51 Joined the choir 54 Scooby-__ 55 Tape speed unit: Abbr.

56 Hanoi holiday 58 John of London 59 Nasty mutt 60 Birthday candle number 61 Profʼs deg.

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

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

“Pole dancing can be anything you want it to be, and all forms of pole dancing should be respected. If you want to try it, even a little bit, you should.

”

— Jillian Hojsak ’19, co-director of the Poler Bears

See

xwordeditor@aol.com

poler bears on page 2.

calendar

02/28/13

TODAY

APRIL

S

7

M

T

W

Th

F

S

1

2

3

4

5

6

8

9

10

11

12

13

“Acing the Virtual Interview” Discussion 12:00 P.M. CareerLAB 1st Floor

Lunch Talk with Ana Silva 12:00 P.M. 94 Waterman St.

Office Hours w/ Master Magician Joshua Jay 3:00 P.M. Rockefeller Library

Public Health Yoga Session 5:00 P.M. 121 South Main St.

TOMORROW

By Steven J. St. John (c)2013 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

02/28/13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

Veggie Gardens for Beginners 12:00 P.M. South Street Landing

Introduction to GIS with QGIS 3:00 P.M. Rockefeller Library

Talk by Julio Crivelli 5:30 P.M. Rochambeau House

Period. End of Sentence.

7:00 P.M. Granoff Center for the Creative Arts

COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • TUESDAY APRIL 16, 2019

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Expanding time for faculty excellence, engagement RICHARD LOCKE op-ed contributor Brown’s faculty are central to the University’s mission to address some of society’s most pressing challenges through our distinctive, collaborative approach to teaching and research. They are also essential to the University’s commitment to cultivate an inclusive community that benefits fully from a wide array of individuals with diverse experiences, ideas and perspectives. Yet, the many competing responsibilities that faculty balance can impede their capacity to excel as scholar-educators and engage fully in the Brown community.

To respond to faculty needs while upholding our commitment to personalized, high quality instruction, we have been looking for opportunities to provide faculty with more time. Our goal is to create the conditions for our faculty to engage more fruitfully with their scholarship, their students and with the overall mission and goals of the University.

Brown places very high demands on its faculty: They teach, advise, conduct research, mentor students at all levels and are deeply engaged in our system of shared governance.

There is tremendous value in this. The integration of advanced scholarship, teaching and advising is key to Brown’s characteristic approach to education and is a point of pride.

Yet, it is not without costs. Faculty report that they need more time to advance their research, more time to invest in and continually renew their courses, more time to mentor and advise students, more time to collaborate with colleagues both within and outside of Brown and more time to participate in faculty committee service.

We’re taking steps to address these concerns. For example, the teaching assignments for tenure-track faculty vary by discipline. In the sciences, professors are expected to teach two courses per academic year in addition to their research and service. In some of the so-

cial sciences it is three courses, and in the arts and humanities it is four courses, generally split evenly over the two semesters. We are working to make teaching assignments more equitable across the disciplines and academic departments, thus offering opportunities for all faculty to engage in cutting-edge research, meaningful student advising and mentorship and participation in faculty governance.

Our analysis of course offerings shows that

Our goal is to create the conditions for our faculty to engage more fruitfully with their scholarship, their students and with the overall mission and goals of the University.

we can selectively reduce teaching loads while upholding our commitment to personalized, high quality instruction. Two years ago, I asked the dean of the faculty to work with the Faculty Executive Committee to create an Ad Hoc Committee on Enhancing Faculty Research. This committee considered options to provide more time for faculty to engage in research, advising and other activities critical to their work and our community. As a result, we launched several new initiatives:

Find us online! facebook.com/browndailyherald

browndailyherald.com

@the_herald

@browndailyherald

youtube.com/browndailyherald

Sections

Multimedia & Production

Business

Editor-in-Chief Emily Davies

Arts & Culture Editors Elise Ryan Annabelle Woodward

Design Editors Bilal Ismail Ahmed Dylan Tian Julie Wang

General Managers Ravi Betzig Nicholas Masiakowski

Metro Editors Colleen Cronin Sophie Culpepper Celia Hack

Head Photo Editors Tiffany Ding Benjamin Toruño

Office Manager Diane Silvia

Senior Editors Anita Sheih Sarah Wang Editorial Page Editors Grace Layer Krista Stapleford

News Editors Katherine Bennett Jacob Lockwood Melanie Pincus Allie Reed

post- magazine Editor-in-Chief Anita Sheih

Science & Research Editors Cate Ryan Chris Schutte Sports Editors Alexandra Russell Alex Smolar COMMENTARY Opinions Editors Rebecca Aman Emily Miller Derek Simshauser

Copy Desk Chief Kelley Tackett Illustrations Editor Daphne Zhao

partment chairs to nominate individual faculty for a one course reduction so that they could undertake or complete a major research project.

This pilot program and associated datagathering has provided important information on which we can now act by reducing course assignments without substantially affecting course offerings or class sizes. Informed by these insights, we have decided to move forward with a plan to reduce the for-

Location: 195 Angell St., Providence, R.I. www.browndailyherald.com

Editorial Leadership

Managing Editors Anna Kramer Priyanka Podugu

First, we permitted faculty in the sciences who were involved in major research projects to occasionally cluster courses, teaching two courses in one semester while being exempt from teaching the next. This provided these faculty members with the time and flexibility to advance their research while also meeting their teaching obligations. We also launched a small pilot project for faculty with fourcourse teaching loads. We invited their de-

Directors Sales: Bersabel Yifru Finance: Rudra Srivastava, Reynaldo Blandon Strategy: Edwin Farley

mal teaching requirements of tenure-track and tenured faculty from four to three courses for those in four-course load departments. In the coming months, we will collaborate with the relevant academic departments to ensure a smooth transition to this new model. This may require carefully reducing the frequency of some of the very small courses offered, perhaps to every other year rather than every year. In some departments, we may need to add to the teaching staff in strategic ways to ensure that students’ access to courses is unaffected. One point is clear, however: a proliferation of adjunct faculty is not part of the solution.

Moving forward, the dean of the faculty will work with academic department chairs to develop three-year course and staffing plans to meet curricular obligations and the needs of undergraduate and graduate students. This will give faculty the time necessary to advance their scholarship, innovate their teaching, enhance their advising and mentoring of students and engage in essential activities related to their professional development and university governance. This is essential to our commitment to enhance academic excellence by cultivating a thriving and cohesive community. Simultaneously, the Faculty Executive Committee is leading a review of faculty participation on University committees to identify opportunities to reduce the faculty’s time commitment while maintaining their strong role in faculty governance.

As we implement the course reduction initiative, we will remain guided by fundamental principles: providing an exceptional educational experience to Brown’s undergraduate and graduate students and ensuring Brown faculty have the benefit of time to excel in all aspects of their work.

Provost Richard Locke P’18 can be reached richard_locke@brown.edu.

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

Editorial contact: 401-351-3372 herald@browndailyherald.com

Advertising contact: 401-351-3372 advertising@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.

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.

Video Editor Victoria Caruso Max Dekle

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.

Graphics Editor Sarah Martinez

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: $200 one year daily, $100 one semester daily.

Copyright 2019 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 TUESDAY APRIL 16, 2019 • PAGE 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Four more years REID SECONDO staff columnist We are currently only a little over 18 months away from the reckoning of the 2020 election, and the chances of kicking the Flaming Dorito out of the White House are already dwindling.

Let’s go through a quick checklist.

First, as always, “it’s the economy, stupid.” For the exhaustive laundry list of reasons that the president should not currently occupy the Oval Office, the economy is his trump card. The well-documented phenomenon that a president’s incumbency advantage rests on the state of economic affairs is Trump’s greatest political asset. Strong market returns, robust job growth and affordable energy prices keep the nation’s sentiment rosy and bullish as it continues to experience almost the largest period of economic expansion in history. While this economic miracle is the outcome of prudent leadership and policy decisions from the Federal Reserve (thank you former Chair Janet Yellen ’67), along with the economic recovery headed by the Obama administration, the current president conveniently claims credit and the general public happily allows it. However, key signals — a slowing pace of global growth, declining smallbusiness sentiment and the bond yield curve officially inverting for the first time since 2007 — indicate a possible recession brewing on the horizon. But for now, the president may blissfully glide through reelection on the back of the Dow. Second, Teflon Don strikes again.

When Attorney General William Barr

shared his March 24 letter to Congress on the conclusions of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, the clouds parted and the sun bore down on Mar-A-Lago once more. Instantly, the toxic gloom of Russian collusion and obstruction of justice were lifted from the Trump presidency. MSNBC disciples, HuffPo junkies and impeachment hounds wallowed and raged. But to the majority of the country, the end of the Mueller investigation landed with the fanfare of indifference.

Matters of national security, election integrity and criminality associ-

report is effectively a moot point going into this election cycle. Even with investigators from the Southern District of New York closing in on Trump and his capos for possible election fraud and financial crimes, his affirmed legitimacy as president has emboldened his base and assuaged wandering Republicans heading into 2020.

Third, the Republican Party has been officially remade in the president’s image. On a national scale, old GOP tenets of limited government, fiscal constraint, free trade, global leadership and principled ethics are dead.

Born out of the party’s fringes, pro-

weaken the president’s position among self-identifying Republicans. By virtue of his office, the president is the face of the new Republican establishment, even as he picks fights with the deceased Senator John McCain and cries victim against his own government’s actions. In the Trumpified GOP, it is no longer the passage of conservative policies that animates the base, which is mobilized instead by the president’s fiery rhetoric. As long as Trump’s twitter continues to reflect the base’s animus toward liberals, he will unquestionably hold his party and supporters come next November.

For left-wingers who are obsessed with identity politics and inclusion, asking if Kamala Harris is black enough or if Pete Buttigieg is gay enough is the icing on the cake of political correctness hypocrisy. ated with the President of the United States should, theoretically, be of universal concern. In reality, they are not. Washington intrigue and a nebulous two-year investigation on Russian trolls and Trump personnel are far from the kitchen table concerns of health care bills and immigration.

While we have yet to see the actual report, the president and his political machine have seized control of the letter as proof of their “no collusion, no obstruction” narrative, marking another victory in their perpetual campaign to discredit the mainstream media, the intelligence community and collusion-crazed Democrats. Depending on whether there is enough evidence of obstruction of justice for House committees to wade deeper into their oversight inquiries, the Mueller

to-ethnonationalism and fear-mongering divisiveness along the lines of race, nationality and sexuality define the Republican Party of today. The Republican National Committee and broader party apparatus are plugged with Trumpists, while many old-guard “establishment” members have been purged, pacified or co-opted. Yet the donor class maintains its grip on the party’s economic agenda by leveraging red-meat politics to have the base vote against its own interests. Regardless of who is funding the operation, the president enjoys almost monolithic approval among Republican voters, and party officials intends to keep it that way. Primary challenges from have-been moderates like former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld will not divide the Republican electorate or

And finally, the Democratic Party’s self-immolation is about to begin.

Despite the factors in favor of Trump’s second term, the White House is ripe for the Democrats’ taking in 2020. If Democrats ran on a platform of access to health care, an economy that works for everyone, sensible immigration reform and restoring bipartisanship and trust in our institutions, they would effectively pit the expressed desires of the majority of Americans against the tribal demands of a wall-obsessed minority. However, the burgeoning progressive wing of the party could very well upend any chance of victory next year by its own demands for symbolic policies. On Capitol Hill, some progressive Democrats are launching intra-caucus warfare over pipe-dream proposals, while funding primary

challenges against their more moderate colleagues. Taking their case to the public, these Democrats are deepening fissures among the party’s factions and forcing the now 20 candidates that are vying for the nomination to either support their ideas or face the wrath of the vocal progressive Twittersphere.

Demands for zealous adherence to policies like the “Green New Deal” are not viable solutions, they are sloganized proposals intended to rev up the base; in this context, calls to “build the wall” are no different than the politically and practically impossible call to “abolish ICE.” Beyond forcing candidates to take sides, many progressives focus on the supposed essence of the candidates’ identities as tests of their liberal purity. For left-wingers who are obsessed with identity politics and inclusion, asking if Kamala Harris is black enough or if Pete Buttigieg is gay enough is the icing on the cake of political correctness hypocrisy. Even the former president and Democratic standard-bearer recently put progressives on notice for starting a “circular firing squad.” With the most diverse pool of candidates in the history of our country, leave it to progressives to massacre anyone who fails their liberal litmus test. If the status quo extends and Democrats continue to eat their own, we may as well start mentally prepping for another season of Trump Takes Washington.

Reid Secondo ’16 GS can be reached at reid_secondo@ brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald. com and op-eds to opinions@ browndailyherald.com

Bathroom blues CAROLINE MULLIGAN staff columnist On March 8, International Women’s Day, I walked into one of two single-stall, gender-inclusive restrooms on my floor, and discovered dried urine on the toilet seat. I sighed. Earlier that week, tired of similar situations happening despite an email from our hall’s community advisor, I had taped signs above the toilets in each of the bathrooms that read “PLEASE STOP PEEING ON THE TOILET SEAT.” My efforts had, clearly, gone unappreciated.

One survey of British adults found that they spend around three hours each week on the toilet.

I could find no similar study on college students, but I feel comfortable assuming that most dormbound students spend at least 20 minutes each day, including showering, brushing teeth and doing their business, in the restroom. With so much time being spent in a single location, you’d think that students would be actively invested in keeping it sanitary.

You’d be wrong. Some students managed to get into an Ivy League university without understanding basic bathroom etiquette, and it shows.

Thus, I suggest that every first-year unit should receive a mandatory training session on how to respect a shared space. Such a lesson has the potential to massively improve the quality of life within Brown’s residential halls, which in turn could

lead to improved mental health, fewer instances of students going off-campus and inflating housing prices and an overall increase in the senses of community and camaraderie that exist in an ideal dormitory-style living situation.

Let me be clear that this is not an attack on gender-inclusive bathrooms ­— this problem pervades in single-sex restrooms as well. While I would appreciate a personal apology from every cisgender man whose inconsiderate streams have forced me to squat while urinating, all genders are equally ca-

It’s stressful to walk into a bathroom and not know what you’re going to find. Sure, in a gas station bathroom, you can steel yourself for subpar conditions, but you shouldn’t have to do that in the building that’s supposed to be your home. If students are taught how to treat their restrooms with respect, then that will lessen the anxiety of germophobic students and those who just want to use the toilet without wallowing in other people’s waste.

It has been well-documented that Rhode Island does not have enough housing to meet grow-

Some students managed to get into an Ivy League university without understanding basic bathroom etiquette, and it shows. pable of disrespecting bathrooms. Bathroom Orientation should include a considerable segment on “How Not to Pee on a Toilet Seat,” but it should go beyond that. I have frequently come across bathrooms with soaked walls and flooded floors that would only happen if someone took a shower and just didn’t shut the curtain. Flushing the toilet is also not a given, nor is the arduous task of wiping up your hair after you’ve shaved. Gender neutral bathrooms offer many benefits that make our communities more affirming for transgender and gender non-conforming students. Bathroom Orientation would equip all students with the tools to maintain a clean and healthy environment in all types of restrooms, benefiting everyone involved.

ing demands. In 2018, Ward 1 Councilman Seth Yurdin briefly introduced a measure that would limit the number of undergraduate students allowed to live in a single housing unit. Although Yurdin ultimately withdrew the proposal, his reasons for suggesting it are telling. According to the Providence Journal, Yurdin’s “original intent in introducing the amendment was to address rising housing costs caused by housing units being effectively turned into dormitories.”

Maybe students wouldn’t be so desperate to leave campus and live only with people they know if they could be assured that their dormmates would show a basic level of respect to their shared spaces. Bathroom Orientation couldn’t guarantee

cleaner bathrooms, but let’s assume best intentions for a minute and think that some people are leaving their urine to dry on toilet seats or not closing their shower curtains out of ignorance. A quick meeting explaining why these are inconsiderate acts could have a long-term impact on on-campus retention.

Finally, I’m just going to be blunt: it’s hard to be friendly with the people on your floor when you know that at least some of them can be absolute slobs. Am I supposed to cheerfully greet the kid in boxers at the sink, when in the back of my head I’m wondering if they’re the one who soiled an innocent toilet seat? Can I really be expected to strike up a conversation with someone when their beard looks suspiciously like the hair that was left all over the sink last week? I respect everyone on my floor, but it’s difficult to feel a sense of community when communal spaces are so constantly disrespected.

Does Brown have bigger fish to fry than holding the hands of students who don’t understand or don’t care about basic bathroom courtesy? Sure.

Would it be nice to see this happen anyway? Absolutely. But I’m not holding my breath. In the meantime, to my peers, I beg you: close your shower curtains, clean your hair and above all, please watch your aim.

Caroline Mulligan ’19 can be reached at caroline_mulligan@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@ browndailyherald.com and other op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

ARTS & CULTURE THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

TUESDAY APRIL 16, 2019

Gendo Taiko merges tradition, modern music, martial arts Japanese percussion group performed Friday, Saturday at RISD Auditorium

By JORDAN KEI-RAHN STAFF WRITER

The synchronization and power of many drums vibrated through the Rhode Island School of Design’s auditorium on Friday and Saturday night as the twenty-some-odd percussionists moved and rotated in complex patterns at their spring concert “Gravity.”

Gendo Taiko, a Brown and RISD student group that practices and performs “traditional Japanese drumming with elements of martial arts and modern jazz,” entertained almost a thousand guests at their two-hour performances. According to the ensemble’s Director Diana Lin RISD ’19, the title “Gravity” seeks to convey the sense “that we are not trying to force the bachi (drumsticks) down, we are just following the dropping of the bachi.” A short performance between sets using a diabolo, a cousin of the yo-yo, accentuated the theme for the audience.

Founded in 2004 by Brown alums Joshua Goldner ’05 and Raiki Machida ’07, Gendo Taiko continues a legacy of Japanese Taiko drumming that began in the 6th century by incorporating a more contemporary ensemble structure, which is a mid-20th century innovation. According to the organization’s

website, “Gendo, loosely translating to ‘path of free imagination’ represents the journeys taken by members in years past, and the experiences of creative inspiration we hope to pass down.”

Gendo Taiko runs workshops for students throughout the fall semester.

“I didn’t even know what Taiko was at first. I just got a handout for workshops at WaterFire and heard the sound of the drums,” Lin said. She added that when “I saw them play for the first time, … it was the coolest thing ever, even though it was one of the easier songs.”

Many audience members had similar reactions after attending the performances. “The show was incredible,” said William Zhou ’20. “I really enjoyed the combination of both the musical talent … and the athleticism and performance element that was intertwined with it.”

Ben Myers ’21 had seen the show last year and was there again Friday supporting a friend who was performing. The show had “a way of evolving and moving. … Every song and every drum pattern was something new, and they changed it up in a way that was completely unexpected. … It’s really just breathtaking.”

The group’s musical and performative abilities come from diligent and rigorous practice. According to Lin, the group prepared for 10 weeks, practicing between three to eight times per week.

“If you’re in 4 or 5 songs, you might be practicing 20 hours a week,” wrote Gendo Taiko’s Publicity Officer Alex

COURTESY OF GENDO TAIKO

University and RISD student percussion group integrates traditional Japanese drumming with modern jazz music and martial arts. The performance attracted nearly a thousand people and received positive reviews.

Alverson ’20 in an email to The Herald.

“Our rehearsals are always focused on not only honing technique and synchronizing our movements, but also on developing the song structure and writing solos together,” Alverson wrote. The group rehearsed for six hours each day for the week preceding the show.

Even with their intense preparation, challenges arose before and even during the shows themselves. Thursday “was our dress rehearsal, and I was still kind of worried because some of

our songs were being put together for the first time,” said Lin. Alverson added that to perform a cohesive piece, “I always keep my ears open and expend 90% of my energy listening to the other members. Listening and communicating non-verbally is one of the most important aspects of our show.”

The ensemble’s degree of preparation impressed audience member Emma Dennis-Knieriem ’21. “I didn’t know what to expect going in,” said Dennis-Knieriem. “I’m a classically

trained musician, and after many years of training, my rhythm will never be that good. … They’re so incredibly in sync.

“I hope the audience had fun!” Alverson wrote. He added that he hoped the audiences appreciated the “different aspects of Japanese festival culture. … I also hope that, on a deeper level, people will be encouraged to think about the myriad forms of art and music in the world and take a more active role in supporting the arts and music in our education systems.”

‘Brass-house’ band Too Many Zooz set to thrill Fete From subways to stage, rising band scheduled to perform in Providence April 18

By KATHERINE OK SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Self-described as a “brass-house” trio, Too Many Zooz boasts an impressive sonic profile, with pop songs acclaimed by The FADER, a performance with Beyoncé at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards and an appearance on the track “Daddy Lessons” of Beyoncé’s album “Lemonade.”

The group is expected to perform in Providence at Fete Music Hall this coming Thursday.

Too Many Zooz, which consists of Leo Pellegrino on baritone saxophone, Matt Doe on trumpet and David “King of Sludge” Parks on drums, played their way to fame by first performing in the New York City subway.

One of their performances went viral on YouTube in 2014, and since then, TMZ has produced five EPs as well as a full-length album titled “Subway Gawdz.”

As for how the band came together, Doe explained the group’s history.

“Myself and Leo went to college together at the Manhattan School of Music, and the King of Sludge at that time was playing in a band with Leo. … One day, the King of Sludge said to the rest of (the band), … ‘I’m going to go down to the subway,’” Doe detailed.

Over the course of the next two or three months, it became a habit of the

COURTESY OF TOO MANY ZOOZ

Too Many Zooz members, Leo Pellegrino, Matt Doe and David “King of Sludge” Parks, are known for their humble beginnings in the New York City subways. They cite jazz, classical, electronic and hip hop music as some of their primary musical influences. trio to play in the subway, Doe continued. “We were like, ‘Cool, …we made some bread,’ and it just felt like something we could harness.” The group came together, and “out of necessity, we formed a band name,” Doe added.

The band is well-known for baritone saxophonist Pellegrino’s iconic, high-energy dances that entertain audiences while the group juggles the intense sounds and rhythms characteristic of their repertoire. Many of

their viral videos include such dances, and one video set in a parking garage uses a car alarm as a metronome for the group’s melody and moves.

The members of the group build on their prior musical knowledge and training in their current work. “Jazz and classical music was obviously a big part of our upbringing,” Doe said.

“The King of Sludge had studied West African music, previously to moving to New York. … For us, that was the

only formal training we brought to the subway.” Doe further elaborated on the role of hip hop and electronic music in the group’s original sound.

“Dubstep was in every commercial at that time,” Doe said, citing Skrillex as a point of influence for the band.

Alongside their viral videos, their high-energy performances established Too Many Zooz as a prominent force in the pop instrumental scene. Their manager, Steve Hutton, spoke to the

group’s progress over the past two years. “The live shows have improved their pacing. ... It’s more thought out and more of a performance and not just playing their instruments in front of people,” Hutton said.

Too Many Zooz is scheduled to play in Providence on Thursday, April 18, and audience members can look out for Pellegrino’s signature moves at the lively brass-house performance.