SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2019
VOLUME CLIV, ISSUE 9
METRO
Protesters shut down Wyatt board meeting Never Again Action organizes protest Friday night, holds Shabbat service at facility
METRO
Community denied formal role in PPSD state takeover Students, parents, community members share personal testimony at hearing
BY OLIVIA GEORGE SENIOR STAFF WRITER
BY SOPHIE CULPEPPER METRO EDITOR
On Friday night, hundreds of protesters shut down a board meeting at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility that was scheduled to discuss a proposed “forbearance” agreement. The agreement would contractually bind the facility to continue housing asylum-seeking refugees and undocumented immigrants as they await trial proceedings, the Boston Globe uncovered. Protesters, who largely belonged to the Jewish organizing group Never Again Action, chanted, sang and held an impromptu Shabbat service to demonstrate their disapproval of the agreement. The proposal involves the Central Falls prison and UMB Bank — the trustee for bondholders with approximately $130 million invested in the Central Falls Detention Facility Corporation. Structured to alleviate the facility’s financial problems, the new agreement would strengthen the facility’s hotly contested contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The prison would be required to hold a min-
SEE WYATT PAGE 4
BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM
OLIVIA GEORGE / HERALD
The proposed agreement between the Wyatt and UMB Bank would contractually bind the facility to continue its partnership with ICE.
Testimony at a standard legal hearing grew personal and searing Friday, when students, parents and community members packed into a room to advocate for a formal role in the upcoming R.I. state takeover of the Providence Public School District. Just before the actual administrative hearing at the School of Professional Studies Friday and following hours of testimony, R.I. Commissioner of Education Angélica Infante-Green denied a motion by the R.I. Center for Justice to make parents, students and community members a legally official party in the state takeover. The Commissioner assured that community voices would be represented in the official shape of the state takeover, though she did not provide specifics. The motion, supported by eight parents and 13 local students, called for community members to have equal legal say with the City Council, mayor, School Board and superintendent over the takeover.
These four parties — excluding the community members — could have objected to the transfer of power by Sept. 4, but none did. The Center for Justice structured its legal argument for the motion around three core components. They argued that the local community holds a very direct stake in the state takeover; failure to include community organizations will harm the community; and community inclusion is a condition for a successful state takover. Those who testified described their motion as a request for a “seat at the table”— an official opportunity for community influence over the shape of the state takeover. “These Providence Public School families and organizations are asking you to approve their motion to be acknowledged as equal partners to the other parties named in the showcause hearing,” said R.I. Center for Justice Director Jennifer Wood ’81 P’15. “They don’t see themselves reflected in the proposed order in a way that preserves their legal access to the decisions that get made at education and policy centers.” The motion does not oppose the state takeover of the PPSD, Wood said when she introduced the testimonies. “The parents and students
SEE MOTION PAGE 3
METRO
ARTS & CULTURE
Bye-Bye Bird: E-scooter company leaves Providence
Exhibit reexamines Warhol’s curatorial style
Providence gives permits to Spin, VeroRide, renews Lime’s existing permit BY HENRY DAWSON SENIOR STAFF WRITER Bird, the electric scooter service, will no longer provide scooters for the city of Providence as of Friday, Sept. 13. The city handed out its latest permits in August, allowing two e-scooter services to populate Providence for the first time — Spin and VeoRide —and renewing Lime’s existing permits. But Bird was not so lucky. “Bird is so grateful to our Providence community for supporting shared e-scooters and embracing an environmentally friendly alternative to short car trips,” wrote a Bird spokesperson in an email to The Herald. The app alerted
users that it had ceased service in Providence Friday. “We thank Providence riders and would welcome the opportunity to provide our service again in the future,” the spokesperson added. Emily Crowell, a spokesperson for Mayor Jorge Elorza, told the Providence Journal that the city chose Spin, VeoRide and Lime through a process “that ensures only those scooter-sharing companies determined to best align with our vision for mobility operate in the city over the next year.” Electronic personal transportation devices have sprouted up nationwide, creating new ways to travel short distances. But with the new devices have come new problems: Cities have struggled to address overcrowding, accidents and crime issues that have spiked as a result of the scooters. Bird and Lime briefly left Providence last year to allow the city to develop appropriate regu-
SEE SCOOTER PAGE 2
‘Raid the Icebox Now’ unites artists in exploring museum relationships BY KATHERINE OK SENIOR STAFF WRITER The Rhode Island School of Design Museum opened its new exhibit, “Raid the Icebox Now,” on Sept. 13 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the museum’s original “Raid the Icebox,” curated by Andy Warhol. The original exhibit opened April 23, 1970, and has since been renowned for its innovative curatorial style, which placed value on the act of curating itself: identifying, acquiring and collecting. What made Andy Warhol’s exhibit particularly special is that it emphasized “the artist as curator,” Mousse Magazine noted. By enlisting artists and designers to create work unfiltered by a more traditional curatorial process, “Raid the
KATHERINE OK / HERALD
HERALD FILE PHOTO
In the original “Raid the Icebox” exhibit, Warhol emphasized “the artist as curator,” creating a nontraditional, interactive experience. Icebox Now” invites artists and audiences to perceive museums less as a pristine gallery space and more as an interactive experience that challenges the norms of the art world.
SPORTS
SPORTS
NEWS
COMMENTARY
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The exhibit explores the same relationships between the museum, artist and audience that Warhol ques-
SEE RISD PAGE 8
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