SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2019
VOLUME CLIII, ISSUE 51
WWW.BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM
CS concentrators face unique challenges University groups react to release of Mueller report Members of Brown community work to analyze, understand the Mueller Report By ALEX REICE AND JACKSON TRUESDALE SENIOR STAFF WRITERS
REBECCA HO / HERALD
The computer science department depends heavily on its teaching assistants, who use their integral role as guides to build a support system for students.
Computer science concentrators deal with heavy workloads but have close community bond By PEDER SCHAEFER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
This is the first of two stories examining the workings of the University’s largest concentration— the computer science department — its value and its challenges. While Kendrick Tan ’21, a former Herald reporter, was taking computer sci-
ence classes, it consumed his life. If he was not working on an assignment for a class, he was thinking about one, and the projects and labs never seemed to end, keeping him under constant stress. An Applied Mathematics–Computer Science concentrator, Tan took a break from taking computer science classes this semester to focus on other parts of his life and serve as a teaching assistant for an introductory computer science course. Still, he said he misses the community among computer science concentrators, a bond born of late nights in the Center for Integrative Technologies and struggles with difficult assignments.
Costa ’22 wins national bars title
First-year gymnast ties school record in bars with 9.900 score in preliminaries By RYAN HANDEL SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Mei Li Costa ’22 took home the national bars title at the 2019 USA Gymnastics Women’s Collegiate National Championships Sunday, earning a winning score of 9.8500 in the finals after tying Brown’s all-time bars record with a score of 9.900 in preliminaries. Costa was Brown’s second-ever national champion in gymnastics — joining Diana Walters ’16 — and was Bruno’s first-ever champion on bars. Costa was one of five USA Gymnastics All-Americans from Brown, the most All-Americans from the University since 2016. For Costa’s championship-winning weekend, she
INSIDE
has been named the Herald’s Athlete of the Week. Herald: Congratulations on an amazing performance at the national championships! What does it mean to you to win a national title? Costa: It feels like a very surreal moment. It’s a great end to the season as well — to leave on a high note. It’s kind of something you go into and you don’t want to expect it, but you’re always hoping for it, so it’s nice to come full circle there. This was your first year competing in gymnastics at the collegiate level. What additional challenges did that bring? College gymnastics is a big adjustment from club gymnastics in high school. The team environment was something I had never really » See AOTW, page 2
Computer science classes are known to be some of the most difficult at the University, and a number of students, administrators and faculty members spoke to their challenges and rewards. While no one student or voice can be representative of the experiences of everyone in the University’s largest department, their stories do illustrate commonly shared experiences and mindsets within the concentration. Among them: passion, self-sacrifice, invaluable undergraduate teaching, overwork and a sense of community. » See CS, page 4
Once Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s long-awaited report was released with redactions to the public Thursday, everyone from Capitol Hill to College Hill began sifting through the 448-page document, ready to respond to its revelations. Members of Brown Democrats and Brown Republicans struggled to understand the full contents of the report and its implications for President Trump. “The initial conclusion that (Attorney General William Barr) came to — which is that this shows, beyond any real doubt, that (the report) exonerated the president and his administration — at the very least is deserving of more scrutiny,” said John Metz ’20, vice president of Brown Democrats. From the perspective of Co-President of Brown Republicans Nicholas Guarino ’20, the report did not exonerate President Trump like Barr had suggested, but it also did not contradict all of Barrs’s previous statements like some have claimed. “I don’t think this is going to sway people one way or the other, but I think it’s a little too soon to tell,” Guarino said. Metz was similarly skeptical of the
report’s threat to the president. “Ultimately while both sides are going to spin this as a huge victory, I don’t think it moves the barometer that much.” While students digested the news, Visiting Professor of the Practice of Political Science Richard Arenberg discussed the report’s implications. Arenberg was especially disturbed by Barr’s role in interpreting the report. In particular, he criticized Barr’s press conference Thursday, where he introduced the report and repeated his view of the president’s innocence. “I thought that the efforts of Attorney General Barr, his press conference and the effort to stem the results of the Mueller Report were really over the line for an attorney general. I’ve never seen anything like that,” he said. Arenberg also broke down the concept of an “obstruction of justice,” which is one of Congressional Democrats’ main allegations against Trump. While the crime of obstruction of justice requires a prosecutor to prove corrupt intent, the burden of proof is different for Congress in an impeachment proceeding. For example, the trials of President Nixon and President Clinton rested upon Congressional delegations that were willing to allege obstructions of justice without a criminal charge to back them up; however, it remains to be seen whether today’s Congress would make the same call. “I’m not suggesting that there is necessarily going to be impeachment, but if there were to be, the standard for » See MUELLER, page 3
Quarter of undergrads sleep 6 hours or less Undergraduate poll reports on student sleep, University offers sleep hygiene initiatives By EMILIJA SAGAITYTE SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Sleep rejuvenates the body and the mind, and drooping eyelids, nodding heads and the temptation to succumb to a nap in lecture point to the potential risks caused by lack of sleep among some at the University. Nearly a quarter of undergraduate students who participated in The Herald’s spring 2019 poll reported sleeping an average of six or fewer hours each weeknight. Meanwhile, about twothirds said they sleep between six and eight hours, and only 9.2 percent enjoy eight or more hours of rest each night. The 24.6 percent of students sleeping under six hours is a concern, said Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Mary A. Carskadon. Less than six
DAPHNE ZHAO / HERALD
hours of sleep has been found to escalate the chance that young people will partake in dangerous and risky behaviors by about three or four times, she said. Although there has not been extensive
research done on sleep among young adults, the psychological, cognitive and physiological impacts of losing these hours of rest should not be drastically » See SLEEP, page 3
WEATHER
FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2019
NEWS Office of Admission to launch summer program for high school students from rural areas
NEWS Judaic studies receives $172,000 grant to digitize various academic works, improve access
SCIENCE AND RESEARCH Researchers discover new properties of spider webs with potential uses in material science
COMMENTARY Calvelli ’19: Brown should counter grade inflation by increasing difficulty of classes
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Study increases understanding of spider web properties
COURTESY OF LU VIATOUR
Researchers found that mechanical properties of a spider silk web are different throughout the web. They also found that these differences allow the web to have nearly uniform energy absorption, so any prey that hits the web will be captured.
Different points on spider web have unique properties, allowing for various functions By RAHMA IBRAHIM STAFF WRITER
University researcher and Professor of Engineering Huajian Gao and Xi-Qiao Feng, a researcher from Tsinghua University, led a study that found that the mechanical properties of spider silk change significantly at different points on the web. The researchers also found that this gradient is critical for the spider, as it allow the web to have nearly uniform energy absorption, Gao said. While the
» AOTW, from page 1 experienced. It’s a very individual sport, but in college you’re working much more with the team and you’re surrounded by them at all moments. It’s a really fun experience, and I’ve enjoyed that adjustment, but it still is an adjustment and coming in as a freshman to a brand-new group of people can be hard. But they are very supportive, and it’s nice to not just be competing for yourself anymore. The rest of your team also performed very well this weekend, with five gymnasts earning All-American honors. How do you and your teammates support each other in a pressure-packed competition like the national championships? What was a little bit sad for us was that we didn’t qualify together as a team, but it was nice that we all got to go. When somebody was competing, everyone in the stands would come over toward the event and cheer on
spider cannot predict where its prey will hit, the functional gradient insures that any prey that contacts the web will be captured. “Nature is not wasteful, and so it uses the minimum amount of material to achieve optimal function,” Gao said. These differences in mechanical properties do not depend on the thickness, size or other characteristics of the web, according to an article by Physics World. The researchers studied different types of spider silk using the ‘continuum approach,’ which is often used by scientists to treat materials as continuous matter rather than discrete molecules. This approach was useful when studying the spider silk, as it has a large number of particles. Gao set up and solved partial
differential equations that could describe the characteristics of the spider silk, while Feng and fellow researchers used various devices, including a uniaxial nanomechanical tensile testing machine; with this machine, they fixed the spider silk on the device and pulled it apart to calculate the strength and elasticity. Gao believes spider silk “is attractive from an engineering point of view.” He explained that engineers find inspiration in nature, and they can use the mechanical functions of the spider silk and the properties that make it strong as a model for future projects. Looking forward, Gao and his fellow researchers plan to study spider web silk characteristics beyond the continuum approach. Fritz Vollrath, a professor at the Department of Zoology at Oxford University, said he was not surprised by these
results, as they are intuitive based on evolutionary biology. But the researchers have analyzed these parameters in unprecedented detail, allowing for a fuller understanding of the properties of spider web silk, he said. Because spider webs are strong despite being lightweight structures, scientists can learn from them in creating new materials, Vollrath said. For example, they influenced the structure of the Munich tent in the 1972 Olympics. Scientists are thinking about modeling a structure from the spider web to catch space junk, which could potentially damage space crafts. “Imagine if your colleague went to Jurassic Park and saw a creature that was the size of a human and could make a structure the size of a football field that could catch airplanes. That’s what a spider can do,” he said.
their teammates. Just being there in the same way at every competition (and) having that consistent support system really helps. Has bars always been your best event? Which other events do you enjoy? Bars has always been my favorite event since I started doing gymnastics. I didn’t get to compete in everything this season, but usually I really like beam too. But bars has always been the one I loved the most and the one I had the most fun doing. How do you mentally prepare yourself for an event? For me, a lot of it is figuring out ways to calm my nerves. It kind of is different every meet, just because there are different things going through your head, whether it’s stress with school or just stress about the meet. A lot of times I’ll talk to one of my teammates about it, just to not have it sit in my head.
SUM M E R Z HA N G
NICOLE KIM / HERALD
Mei Li Costa ’22 won the uneven bars at the 2019 USA Gymnastics Women’s Collegiate National Championships. What are your athletic goals for your remaining time at Brown? I would like to come back in the other events and compete all-around in the next few years. Hopefully, I can break the school bars record again,
and go higher than just tying it. And, I’d like to make it to (NCAA Regional Championships) again. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2019 • PAGE 3
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Judaic studies receives grant to make work more accessible $172,000 grant will allow Brown Judaic Studies to digitize previously published books, essays By CORINNE BAI SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Scholars from the University’s Judaic Studies program recently received a $172,000 grant that will enable the program to digitize academic works published in limited, often-inaccessible print editions, said Michael Satlow, professor of Judaic and religious studies and managing editor of the Brown Judaic Studies Program. The program produces three to five volumes of scholarly work each year, and those volumes, while valuable to researchers, are currently unavailable online. The grant to resolve this problem for researchers was awarded jointly by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The BJS, founded in 1979, was one of the first to publish scholarly monographs in the field of Judaic studies. The program’s strengths now include Jewish history, early Jewish texts and Jewish
» SLEEP, from page 1 different compared to adults, she said. A lack of sleep still adversely affects individuals’ diets, hormonal function, immune system response and learning ability. In addition to helping one stay attentive during classes, sleep has been shown to contribute to a person’s ability to consolidate information from the day and retrieve those memories later. Even instrumentalists, for example, can increase their performance level by 10 to 15 percent by practicing their music and then getting a night’s rest. Sleep deprivation also makes students more irritable and exhausted, said Adam Pallant, clinical director of Health Services at the University. “If I had (a) magic wand, I would have people having regular sleep cycles,” Pallant said. “They would essentially have a rhythm to their day (and) … they would sleep predominantly seven to eight hours a night, and that would include weekends,” Pallant said. But he recognizes that this ideal goal is not feasible for everyone. In one study, Carskadon tracked first-year students’ sleep over their first nine weeks in college and found that students who slept less had a more depressed mood. Why? Sleep correlated with variations in a gene related to serotonin transport, which is the hormone associated with feelings of happiness. Researchers used this information to examine how sleep affects a person’s genes and found that students who slept regularly and for longer periods
thought, Satlow said. As more presses started to publish similar materials, the BJS turned its attention to more specialized books or essays that “mainstream publishers don’t like to publish,” Satlow added. Although the BJS publishes mostly works by professors of Judaic studies, it welcomes all respectable scholarly writings by anyone who holds a PhD degree in the area. With the help of the grant, the BJS will be able to digitize its collection and increase public access to the works it has published previously. Usually, scholarly books don’t have many copies, and they “tend to be expensive in terms of price,” Satlow said. Digitizing past publications would make these works available for free to the public and in turn “enhance Judaic study in the world,” he added. The grant also allows the BJS to hire a project manager who would be responsible for managing the project’s daily tasks, such as contacting the authors for any additions or corrections and finding appropriate distribution venues. Applying for the grant was a “twostep process,” since it is jointly funded, wrote Director of Research Development Amy Carroll in an email to The Herald. Satlow’s team first submitted the proposal to the National Endowment for the
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities granted $172,000 to the Brown Judaic Studies Program, which will allow them to digitize works published in limited print editions. Humanities and then adapted it for the editor, also worked with Satlow to edit could expand its original audience and Mellon Foundation. Carroll helped the early drafts of the application and of- engage a larger community of readers. BJS develop “a detailed project manage- fered editorial assistance. She will be a The digitization process will be highly ment plan,” which showed the funding consultant on the BJS’s project and will collaborative since it requires a “broad agency how its investment “would be offer guidance to the soon-to-be hired support network” with people from difused to advance the goals of the grant.” project manager. Levy expects that by ferent areas of expertise, such as editing Allison Levy, digital scholarship digitizing its published works, the BJS and graphics, Levy said.
of time became “biologically younger,” Carskadon said. Causes of sleep deprivation at the University range from courseload and concentration to the pressures of social activities and extracurricular work. Mateo Encarnacion ’21.5 sleeps eight to ten hours a night this year. But during high school and his first year of college, he regularly went to bed after 2 a.m. He credits more sleep this year to a change in his course schedule and an overactive first-year social life. As a first-year, he took multiple computer science courses but this semester only takes one STEM class. He credits some of his change in sleep to that shift. “I definitely do feel like the concentration can affect (sleep),” he added. The Herald’s poll found that 69 percent of students who sleep less than six hours a night are not humanities concentrators, meaning they study life sciences, physical sciences, social sciences or business. Karyna Atha ’21 said she averages about six hours of sleep a night. Studying for exams most determines the number of hours she sleeps, but dorm conditions can also have an effect on her quality of sleep. Also, while one night of minimal sleep may not pose a problem the following day, “if I do it for two to three nights consecutively, then I start experiencing the effects,” she added. Sleeping very little during the week and trying to catch up on the weekend can actually be detrimental to health and not have the desired recovery effects, Carskadon said. “One of the
cardinal suggestions is to have a good plan to sleep and not just have it be whatever happens when you run out of energy,” she said. Further, despite the temptation to snooze for an hour or two in between classes during the day, students should be careful with naps. “I’m not (going to) say napping is bad, but if you’re trying to have the best sleep you can have, you want to get it … at nighttime,” Carskadon said. A nap eight to ten hours before the time when one typically goes to bed may be fine, but, otherwise, it will be much harder to fall asleep at night. While naps may be a surprising culprit in the world of sleep dangers, caffeine and electronics also remain significant areas of concern. Caffeine — the secret agent that can push one past this time into the late hours — can negatively impact one’s circadian rhythm, Carskadon said. Data taken from across the country has suggested that spending a significant amount of time before bed with electronics in hand can reduce quality and quantity of sleep, Pallant said. Other common reasons for sleep deprivation among students include a struggle to fall asleep due to the inability to quell one’s thoughts, even when tired, he added. But as long as bedtime is consistent, sleeping eight hours will likely have the same effect whether one goes to bed at 11 p.m. or 2 a.m., Carskadon said. The University has taken actions to help students cope with the repercussions of low sleep, Pallant said.
TIFFANY DING / HERALD
Counseling and Psychological Services particularly aids those who are afflicted with persistent thoughts that prevent them from falling asleep, and Health Services provides additional interventions. BWell has also employed an array of initiatives to educate students about sleep hygiene, Director of BWell Health Promotion Tanya Purdy wrote in an email to The Herald. BWell has created workshops for all University students and used social media and public health campaigns in the form of “sleep sheep” posters as platforms to inform individuals about sleep hygiene. The organization also invites students to participate in a short Sleep Hygiene Assessment every semester to obtain sleep advice personalized to them. BWell is “also intentional about how we discuss sleep in several of our other educational offerings that address stress, self-care and other wellbeing topics so that folks can see the connections and view their wellbeing more holistically,” Purdy wrote. If these options do not provide sufficient care, Health Services may prescribe medications, but this intervention is only used as a last resort, Pallant said. Pallant added that he was pleased to see that 66 percent of students get six to eight hours of sleep, according to The Herald poll. “I have no baseline data to compare it to,” he said, “but, honestly, it’s a little better than I might have guessed.”
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» MUELLER, from page 1 obstruction of justice could well be very different, particularly given the number of questionable acts the president engaged in in that direction,” Arenberg added. Congress could also construe the president’s actions as an abuse of power, he added. Although the report itself does not come to a conclusion on the culpability of the president, Arenberg believes it may lead to further action by Congress. “That whole narrative can be interpreted as a roadmap for Congress to look at this question of obstruction,” he said. “The House Judiciary Committee will continue its investigation and subpoena the full unredacted Mueller report,” he added. The Rhode Island Congressional delegates also weighed in on the report — calling for the release of an unredacted version to Congress. Democratic Policy and Communications Committee Chair David Cicilline ’83, D-RI, who also serves on the House Judiciary Committee, released an official statement that read, “This is a damning document that outlines a series of misdeeds conducted by the President and his associates.” Having already spoken to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, Cicilline expects that the Judiciary Committee will issue a subpoena for the unredacted report and all of Mueller’s underlying evidence. “No one is above the law,” Cicilline wrote in his official statement. “The American people deserve to know whether their president committed wrongdoing. This report makes clear that Congress has a responsibility to answer that question.” In an official statement, Congressman Jim Langevin, D-RI, wrote, “Special Counsel Mueller must testify before the House and Senate as soon as possible. It is imperative that the American people have an opportunity to hear the Special Counsel discuss his findings without further spin or interpretation from the Attorney General.” With hundreds of pages of evidence to read, students and politicians alike will be digesting the Mueller report for some time to come.
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PAGE 4 • FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2019
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
University researchers design LEGO-block like material Researchers 3D print hydrogel capable of selfadhering, responding to external stimuli By JOSHUA BRICKER STAFF WRITER
University researchers have brought the childlike appeal of LEGO blocks to the chemistry lab — a newly invented material can stick to itself, be molded to form a structure and, when needed, can adapt to reshape itself, just like a set of LEGOs built into various shapes. Using a light-directed 3D printer to combine two materials, known as polymers, the team created a dynamic hydrogel that is adaptable, flexible and self-adhesive. A polymer is a molecular structure composed of smaller units bonded together in a long chain. The researchers behind this project used two polymers in their hydrogel composition: one to provide a stiff structure and another that can bend and self-adhere. This material allows researchers to pattern their own structures with ease. Rather than printing a shape or requiring machinery, scientists could eventually receive this gel and use it for a variety of purposes without additional engineering. “I think there’s an appeal in that the hydrogel allows you to just do it yourself. Our dream is to design a set of LEGOs. As a kid, you don’t need to know anything given two LEGOs. You don’t need any special equipment; you don’t need glue; you don’t need a complex computer. That’s our inspiration,” said Ian Wong, assistant professor of engineering. “We want to make LEGO blocks that you can send to anyone.” Not only did the team create LEGOlike building blocks, they designed
» CS, from page 1 Difficult but “necessary” workloads Students and faculty alike said that while there is a heavy workload in classes within the department, that work is necessary to properly learn how to code. “I feel like if you’re not really passionate about it or committed to the class, then the workload for the class is too much,” said Tan, who took the most common introductory computer science track during his first year. “These intro sequences are designed for concentrators, because to prepare you for the concentration you need a really solid base.” Other students agreed with Tan, saying that the difficult coursework and heavy hours are not necessarily a problem. “It’s a lot, but I don’t think it’s too much,” said Donnie Sahyouni ’21, who previously published an op-ed about the CS department in The Herald. “The fact is that it’s a hard discipline. You need a lot of practice.” Jack Wrenn GS is a PhD candidate in the department whose work focuses on computer science education. Learning how to code requires a new mode of thinking that is different from most other academic disciplines and requires more time to learn, Wrenn said. “Computer science is a fundamentally difficult field to get into,” Wrenn said. “To some extent, you just have to put many hours into it. My opinion is that if you want to learn CS in four years, there is going to be a large workload.”
blocks with miniaturized plumbing inside them. This type of technology could be used to extract chemicals from human samples, such as blood or urine, Wong said. “Most medical devices work because of external forces or vibrations. So, if you have something that can adhere by itself, that’s going to be very interesting for the medical device industry. I could particularly see this (hydrogel) used for drug testing devices,” said Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School Shrike Zhang, who was not involved with the study. The team also showcased other applications of their hydrogel in the research paper. In one demonstration, the team severed the tail of a salamander modeled from the hydrogel. By adding ions to the material, the researchers can then attach the tail back to the main body using the hydrogel’s self-adhesive properties. In another example, the team designed a soft “gripper” that could pick up small test weights, alluding to applications in robotics. “We are also interested in having a soft robot that changes shape depending on its environment,” Wong said. To make the hydrogel material, a 3D printer exposes the liquid polymer combination to light, which triggers two types of bonds — ionic and covalent — to turn the liquid into a solid through a process called crosslinking, Wong said. The hydrogel’s combination of ionic and covalent bonds makes it unlike other materials, as the covalent bonds provide a rigid structure and the ionic bonds allow the material to reshape or selfadhere, given a trigger. When charged particles, called ions, are added to the hydrogel, the material can self-adhere. Remove the ions, and the hydrogel unsticks from itself. Thomas Valentin, PhD candidate in The tech industry’s demands also require strict discipline and hard work. Associate Professor of Computer Science Tom Doeppner is the head of undergraduate studies; while he also voiced worries about the workload and stress, he acknowledged that they are parts of the tech world’s larger culture. “It’s an issue, and we’re very concerned about students’ mental health issues … but I think that in many situations, this is preparation for life. This is what a job in CS may entail.” In recent years, the department has hired health and wellness advocates, who are undergraduates within the department that seek to connect peers with mental health resources. Despite these resources, some students said that the burden was more on the student to ensure that they are not overworked. Andrew Canino ’21, who intends to concentrate in APMA–CS, has had to drop two computer science classes partway through the semester after realizing the courseload was too heavy. “I don’t like to admit shortcoming, and so I had to really convince myself that this is the right thing for me to do. I don’t blame the class, I more or less blame myself for trying to dive in deep and then getting too far into the deep end.” Parth Kurani ’21, like Tan, took time away from computer science this semester. He acknowledged that the department has made strides in terms of offering helpful resources to students in the past few years, but still believes there is something inherent to the material
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A team of University researchers designed a material that can be molded into structures and adapted to reshape itself. They used a light-directed 3D printer to create the dynamic hydrogel. biomedical engineering and the paper’s lead author, conceived the idea for the project. “(Tom is) excited about building things with his hands, so he was naturally drawn to 3D printing,” Wong said. “He was curious whether we could print a responsive material that changes according to external stimuli.” The team decided to test this combination of polymers after conducting an initial survey of the literature. “We hoped
that by combining them into a dualpolymer hydrogel, we could see some of the same functionalities,” said Eric DuBois ’20, an undergraduate student in the Wong Lab who played a significant role in the material’s development and the writing of the paper. “Since Tom is graduating now, I think that this particular hydrogel might be put to rest. That said, we currently have a graduate student working with
a similar type of hydrogel, looking to embed cells in 3D and observe how they move and change in response to changes in the structure,” DuBois said. The Wong Lab is a biomedical engineering group generally interested in the development of new and innovative biomaterials. Wong added that it is unlikely that his team will cease to conduct research regarding these hydrogels anytime soon.
that would make it difficult to reduce the level of work needed to succeed in the real world. “If we were to lighten up on the coursework, I don’t think as many students would be prepared when they want to go out into the professional field,” Kurani said. “I think that’s something the department really takes into consideration when they think about how hard the courses are and how much time they’re going to require.” Regardless of the reasons for worki ng so hard, students said that the community within the department is strong, driven both by relationships between students who work on difficult assignments together, as well as with teaching assistants. “We’ve all been through it,” Canino said about the workload. “In a weird way it’s like the army. You have these trials and tribulations.”
gone through any of these courses without them. I think sometimes people see you most clearly when you’re in your most hectic state, and that’s been the TAs for me. They’ve definitely seen me unhinged, when something’s not working and it’s two minutes until the deadline.” The relationship between TAs and students forms the core of the community within the department, and that relationship is frequently based off of “empathy” among students working together through grueling assignments, Tan said. It is common for TAs to be younger or less experienced than those they are teaching. But TA help is so in demand that wait times are often prohibitive, depending on the class. The department has grown rapidly in size over the past couple years and now graduates the largest number of students at the University, as The Herald previously reported. The department has hired more TAs to meet student demand, but it has yet to resolve the problem. “Certainly among the top concerns in the department are the length of TA lines,” Doeppner said. “One would have thought that if the class doubles in size, you can double the number of TAs and handle it, but that hasn’t seemed to be working.” In an attempt to address the problem, each student in a class will be given a specific number of “tickets” a week, which gives the student priority access to a TA. This system will be available beginning next semester for all classes. A sentiment frequently voiced by
students, especially on the Dear Blueno anonymous Facebook page, is that TAs are underpaid and overworked, and faculty place most of the course’s burden on undergraduates. “We would like to see them paid more,” but that there is a lack of funds available to pay TAs due to limited funding from the University, Doeppner said in response to the criticism. “We’re given a fixed amount of money from the University to pay for TAs, and this hasn’t gone up proportionally with our increased enrollments,” Doeppner said. The CS department attempted to endow pay for the TA program four years ago and raised $10 million, but that money is not enough to fund the increase in TA numbers. “I think the TA program is not necessarily something that scales very well,” said Zach Kirschenbaum ’19, one of three Meta TAs. Rather than dramatically increasing TA staff size, he recommends the department find ways to automate grading. “The fact that (TAs) go out of their way to host extra hours, often without pay, is crazy to me,” Tan said, adding that he himself had offered free help hours in the past. “But they’re more than willing to do that. … I don’t know why, it doesn’t really make sense, but when you are there you really do want to help the students. This is what the culture is, people helping other people.” “But you really need the mindset for it,” Canino said. “Maybe a little bit of insanity.”
TA program drives department, expanding rapidly TAs are at the heart of the department’s size and success, and the TA program aims to ensure a ratio of around eight to ten students for each TA, Doeppner said. Undergraduate TAs help run labs, section and open TA hours for student questions, Head TAs coordinate classes and Meta TAs, as befits their name, coordinate the program throughout the department. “These TAs are wonderful,” Serrano said. “I don’t know how I could have
TODAY
FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2019 • PAGE 5
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Q U O T E O F T H E D AY
“This is what the culture is, people helping other people.”
— Kendrick Tan ’ 21, APMA-CS concentrator
See CS on page 1.
CORRECTION
crossword
A previous version of the April 18 article “Proposed bill seeks to protect local news from tech giants” misstated that Chris Collins, R-NY, was the highest ranking Republican member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee. In fact, Doug Collins, R-GA, is the highest ranking Republican member. The Herald regrets the error.
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School of Engineering Dissertation Defense 12:00 P.M. Engineering Research Center
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COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2019
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
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COMMENTARY FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2019 • PAGE 7
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Brown is hard. It should be harder. AIDAN CALVELLI staff columnist We all know the stereotype of the stressed out, overworked college student. Since you’re at Brown, it probably has applied to you — if not as a permanent character trait, then as the version of yourself that springs forth when you’ve got two midterms next week. It makes sense to feel overworked when you have a lot of work. Writing papers takes serious intellectual energy. Memorizing material for tests requires admirable discipline. Reading impossibly dense academic articles is a chore. If we’re being honest, though, Brown is not nearly as hard as it should be. It’s too easy to leave here with an impressive transcript, a loaded resume and an endless repository of fun stories. All of those are important — especially the last one! But I believe the fact that we can have it all comes at the expense of a demanding and sufficiently challenging education. There are two types of students who take advantage of the ways that many Brown courses don’t force you to put in that much work. The first group are students who simply don’t try that hard. You know who I’m talking about: that friend of yours who’s never done the reading, is on Facebook during class, goes out Thursday to Sunday, and is more up to date on Game of Thrones than their problem sets. I hope I don’t sound judgmental,
because that sounds like a really fun life. What frustrates me, though, is that rampant grade inflation and low academic expectations mean some of those students will likely graduate with an elite degree and a flashy transcript. That’s unfair. It perpetuates the undue privilege that attending a highranking college conveys, giving students the benefits of an educational pedigree without requiring the academically rigorous work that this status is supposed to reflect. I’m not saying school should always come be-
dents are able to contribute in areas beyond school work? Shouldn’t we make sure that our students aren’t overcome by academic stress? My answer is yes and yes. But there are caveats. A system that enables these superkids creates a false picture of perfection’s seeming achievability. The fact that it’s possible to do everything can feel like an inherent reason to do it. Many students here grew up in cultures of excessive over-achievement — told to get that A+, learn a new instrument, apply to every leadership
swer won’t be academics, and that’s perfectly fine. They should have to own the consequences of that decision. I do, however, have this antiquated view that academic learning should be a big part of the college experience. That’s why the relatively low expectations in many Brown classes are troubling. Of course, some classes and concentrations are really challenging, and some students will work hard regardless of expectations because they are internally motivated. But before you dismiss my diag-
When some Brown students realize they can spend all their time on extracurriculars and still have an Ivy League 4.0, they don’t have to make hard, reflective choices about how they think their time is best spent. fore fun; I’m saying that if you want to choose fun, you shouldn’t be able to signal that you really chose school. Then there’s the other group of students. They are the ones who seem to do everything, and then some. The kind of kids who get straight As in 5 classes, are on the e-boards of 6 clubs, volunteer in the community, work a campus job and maintain an active social life. Is this impressive? Definitely. Do I think it should be feasible? No. To me, this is only possible when it’s too easy to ace classes without putting in real time. This is, of course, assuming you take the time to eat and sleep. It’s tempting to think none of this is a problem. Isn’t it good that stu-
position, be the star athlete. However, sometimes it’s just not possible in the real world to do everything well. There are tradeoffs people have to face in life: between work and family, money and free time, happiness and security. Thinking through tradeoffs like these is an important part of personal growth. When some Brown students realize they can spend all their time on extracurriculars and still have an Ivy League 4.0, they don’t have to make hard, reflective choices about how they think their time is best spent. Instead, they can just do, do and do more, without asking themselves what their limited time in college is really for. For a lot of people, their an-
nosis, ask yourself these questions: have you ever gotten an A on a paper you wrote the night before it was due and did not proofread, let alone edit? Ever aced a test after skipping class for weeks and studying via a last-minute all-nighter? Ever received full credit for “participation” in a class you rarely spoke in? I’d bet my diploma that you answered at least one of those yes. (I am a yes for two, but that’s just because I rarely ace tests). Many of us complain about how hard Brown is, but how hard can it be when we can get perfect grades while working and studying in ways we know are suboptimal? Editing makes for better writing! Studying in advance is more effective! Doing the
outside readings is what’s supposed to be a class’s biggest time commitment! To maximize the learning that happens at Brown, we need to raise academic expectations. Many students will only do the minimum required to get an A, so if we want students to put more effort into school, we need to incentivize them to do so. Stricter grading practices are one surefire way to do that. My first college paper was in a subject I’d never studied, and I got an Awithout editing. Either I’m a genius, or grading is too easy. (I’ve re-read the paper and can confirm I am not a genius). A friend of mine once got a B+ on an essay in which the grader said it did not have a thesis statement; a paper without an argument doesn’t deserve to be praised. Anyway, the point is this: Some classes at Brown are hard, but too many allow us to skate by without much sustained effort. College is supposed to be challenging — a space to give the time and effort necessary to engage with big ideas. When our academic system makes it easy for some not to put that much thought into school, we all miss out on those invaluable learning opportunities.
Aidan Calvelli ’19 is (probably) not trying to say that you don’t work hard enough, and is (definitely) saying that he should have edited more of his own work. You can rant at his arrogance at aidan_calvelli@brown.edu. Please send letters and responses to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
EDITORIAL
The terminal master’s in history should come back On April 1, The Herald reported that the University suspended its terminal master’s in history. That program had offered a year-long opportunity to earn a master’s degree for students not previously enrolled at the University; now, outside applicants cannot receive a standalone master’s in history degree from Brown. The University’s choice to suspend the program is irresponsible and the justifications for the suspension are flimsy at best — ultimately threatening our institution’s commitment to advancing education in the humanities and further, shutting out voices and perspectives from the study of history. The University’s decision to suspend the terminal master’s degree rested on misleading assertions about the program’s rigor. Robert Self, chair of history, told The Herald that Brown’s one-year program and lack of professional focus pales in comparison to most of the successful history master’s programs at peer institutions, which are two years long and have strong professional focuses. But despite his claims, both Yale and Penn offer terminal master’s programs with similar courseload requirements to Brown’s now discontinued version. The University requires a minimum of eight courses, while Penn mandates eight and Yale seven. Thus, the University must do more to explain why a year-long program is insufficient given the existence of similar programs at peer institutions. That said, Harvard, Princeton, Cornell and Dartmouth do not offer terminal master’s degrees in history, and Columbia’s programs are
partnered with or based in institutions abroad. But the absence of year-long masters programs at these peer institutions should not compel us to take a step back and instead ought to inspire our university to provide this type of education that may be unavailable elsewhere. As we are taught as undergraduate students at Brown, the study of history is vital in contextualizing the events of today and informing a more equitable and inclusive future. The opportunity to advance one’s education in this area should not be confined to those willing to commit to a PhD program, which is often the only option available to students once a terminal master’s degree ceases to exist. As a school that takes pride in its commitment to liberal arts, it makes sense that Brown should lead the way in offering indepth, comprehensive and accessible advanced degrees in the humanities. The University’s second justification for the suspension suggests that the terminal master’s in history does not contain a strong enough professional focus. However, the University’s website for the master’s in history clearly details two tracks in the program: a professional track and an academic track. The professional track includes two skills courses that are meant to help students meet their unique professional goals, while the academic track is designed for students who wish to eventually obtain a PhD. It is confusing why the University would criticize its own program for a focus the program itself seems to prioritize. In order to understand this decision, we, as students, would like to better understand the qualifications of a
program with “strong thematic or professional focus,” as Self told to The Herald. Perhaps most importantly, the suspension is inherently exclusionary. While the suspension will allow current Brown students to continue to participate in the fifth-year master’s program, it has eliminated the opportunity for outside applicants to receive a master’s in history from the University, unless they are a PhD candidate. Clearly, Brown understands that there is value in a year-long master’s program, as it affords that opportunity to its current students. Refusing to extend that privilege goes against Brown’s mission statement, which declares that the University exists to “serve the community, the nation and the world by discovering, communicating and preserving knowledge and understanding in a spirit of free inquiry.” The University cannot hope to serve the world if it bars the vast majority from even applying to its master’s program; similarly, it cannot discover new knowledge if it excludes outside applicants who bring a unique perspective to their study. Further, this suspension is part of a worrying trend. The University suspended the elementary track of the Masters of Arts in Teaching program last year and has yet to exhibit any concrete steps toward bringing the program back. The valuable year-long program combined graduate courses with real teaching experience in local schools; without it, Brown has lost a great deal of its appeal for students interested in elementary education. The program, like the terminal master’s in history, set Brown apart from its peer schools. Moreover, the sus-
pension of both the MAT program and the terminal master’s in history went against popular sentiment among students in the respective programs. Students quoted in The Herald this month cited positive experiences during their year-long study of history — mentioning impressive classmates and important perspectives the program inspires. Another student quoted in The Herald, this time about the MAT program, stated that, “If you talk to any alum, they will tell you that this is the best teacher education program in the country.” The opinions of students who have experience in these programs should not be discounted by the University when it makes its decisions. If the University wants to set itself apart and become a leader in graduate studies, suspending unique master’s programs acts directly against its own goals. We encourage Brown to revitalize the terminal master’s in history, a decision that would benefit the University and all those involved. Otherwise, the University will have taken a step back in its pursuit of quality higher education in the humanities and its dedication to serving the community beyond those already on College Hill.
Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board: its editors, Grace Layer ’20 and Krista Stapleford ’21, and its members, Elisheva Goldberg ’22, Eduard Muñoz-Suñé ’20 and Riley Pestorius ’21. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
NEWS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2019
U. to host rural high schoolers for summer workshop on application process Regions of United States targeted by Brown’s new rural initiative Brown’s new pilot program will fly 20 rising high school seniors from rural areas in the following regions to a workshop at Brown over the summer, which will teach them about the college admission process.
Source: Dean of Admission Logan Powell USHA BHALLA / HERALD
Two-day pilot program will teach 20 rising seniors about college application process By LI GOLDSTEIN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
This summer, the University is launching a new initiative to help prospective students from rural communities across the country learn about the college admission process and Brown, said Dean of Admission Logan Powell. The program will be the first iteration of a two-year pilot targeting students hailing from the regions of “Mountain West, Great Plains, Upper Midwest, Northern New England and Northern California,” Powell wrote in a follow-up email to The Herald. The Office of Admission plans to host 20 students from rural high schools on campus for the program, said Ryan Creps, regional admission
officer and lead strategist of the pilot. Invited students will be rising high school seniors interested in learning about the college application process as a whole, Powell said. “The purpose is not specifically to entice them to apply to Brown, though that may be a by-product,” he said. “The point is that we have the resources to do this, we have the interest in doing it and there’s clearly a need nationally to do this kind of work in rural areas.” The program will take the form of “two days of workshops on everything from essay writing to completing a financial aid application,” Powell added. “This program may not be unique, but it’s certainly exceedingly rare.” Creps added that the University plans to cover the entire cost of travel for invited students, as well as their housing in University residence halls and their food. This initiative was formalized after Libbi Rogan ’21 — who wanted
to help connect the University to her community in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan — approached Powell and Creps with the idea of helping other rural students do the same outreach in their own communities. Rural communities are frequently overlooked in college recruitment efforts, Powell said. “There are a great many community-based organizations and outreach programs to more urban and suburban areas,” he said. “But there certainly seems to be a need to do more rural student recruitment, to go to places that colleges and universities don’t tend to go.” Creps said that in recent years, the University has made efforts to increase programming in more remote areas across the country. For example, while the University frequently hosts information sessions in Chicago, Creps recently hosted an event in Normal, Illinois. But in rural areas, hosting information sessions in central locations
may require significant travel time for many families, Creps said. The Office of Admission frequently relies “on some of our current students from rural areas to visit rural high schools when they’re back home over break” as a form of outreach, he added. Aaron Gettinger, a staff writer for the Hyde Park Herald in Chicago and an expert on rural education, recently wrote an article for the Hechinger Report about a general lack of college recruitment in rural communities. “I think people have to go to where the students are,” Gettinger said in an interview with The Herald. “If (institutions like Brown) are truly being aspirational in building a diverse class, they need to put serious resources into recruiting rural students.” Students in rural areas are rarely offered information about educational opportunities beyond their immediate communities, Gettinger said. “Kids in rural America aren’t going to be seized by the idea of applying
to Brown” or its peer institutions, he said. “I would imagine that real investment and targeted outreach to these students” would be positive, he added. Individualized investments in students like the University’s pilot program are particularly important because “there are serious institutional and social setbacks in place that prevent kids from pursuing (this) kind of education,” Gettinger said. Recruiting these students “would benefit them. It would benefit the leaders of commerce and society that schools like Brown envision themselves educating.” Furthermore, the University and its peer institutions should place as much emphasis on recruitment from rural communities as they do on recruitment from elite private secondary schools, Gettinger said. This would benefit not only the students themselves, but also the institutions. “The rural perspective is really necessary,” he said.