Issuu

SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2019

VOLUME CLIV, ISSUE 45

BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Digital Publications Initiative receives Mellon Foundation grant

Faculty discuss revisions to tenure process

Six-year grant to expand, fund new digital humanities scholarship projects BY SABRINA CHWALEK CONTRIBUTING WRITER The University will expand its Digital Publications Initiative with the help of a six-year, $775,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The grant, awarded last month, will fund new long-form humanities scholarship that challenges the limitations of printed media. It builds upon the first five faculty projects developed with a $1.3 million 2014 grant from the Mellon Foundation as part of the Digital Publications Initiative. “Part of the premise of this project is to harness the capabilities of the digital environment to do scholarship in a way that would be difficult or impossible to do in traditional publication formats,” said University Librarian Joseph Meisel. He added that the project provides the “opportunity to incorporate rich, multimedia materials,” such as audio, video and simulations into academic work. “We’re hoping to have every year

or so another project during this next phase,” said Kevin McLaughlin, dean of the faculty and co-principal investigator for the initiative. “There are a lot of dynamic, interactive features that are intended to advance the scholarly argument in ways that you could not otherwise do,” said Allison Levy, digital scholarship editor for the initiative. “We are developing long-form interactive multi-modal scholarly publications that are born digital” and “most likely exclusively digital,” she added. The initiative increases access to scholarship and engages audiences in new ways. “Everywhere where there is an internet connection, these digital projects can be delivered,” McLaughlin said. “We’re at the leading edge of this project in terms of exploring the capacity of digital scholarly publication.” While the first phase of the initiative “was really devoted to try and build up the infrastructure for producing some digital projects in the library,” faculty interest has increased every year, McLaughlin said. “Now we’re getting a lot of proposals.” After receiving the second grant, the initiative announced the development of two new projects in an Oct. 23

SEE MELLON PAGE 4

Proposed changes to process intend to increase consistency, fairness BY SPENCER SCHULTZ SENIOR STAFF WRITER Faculty members discussed requiring additional recommendation letters for the University’s tenure review process at Tuesday’s faculty meeting. The proposed change to the tenure process would add two to three additional evaluation letters to a tenure candidate’s dossier, which is reviewed by TPAC, said Dean of the Faculty Kevin McLaughlin. The University’s current tenure process requires the Tenure, Promotions and Appointments Committee to find eight outside scholars within a candidate’s discipline to write letters evaluating their work. Unlike the other eight evaluation letters, these additional letters would not be reviewed by the candidate’s department, McLaughlin said. This change would be in line with the tenure procedures of peer institutions, over half of which include an extra-departmental review process, he added. Candidates undergoing tenure review would also be allowed to name specific individuals who might provide

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Gaur ’21 advances in ‘Jeopardy!’ tournament Tournament of Champions features top players from past seasons of show

SEE JEOPARDY PAGE 2

biased reviews and should not be contacted for evaluation letters. Currently, requesting additional letters already occurs on an “ad hoc

TIFFANY DING / HERALD

SEE TENURE PAGE 3

Original play ‘kemps’ celebrates womanhood, sisterhood

BY EMILY TENG SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Gaur took home a $100,000 prize in April 2018 after winning the “Jeopardy!” College Championship.

basis” if concerns about a particular candidate arise, McLaughlin said. The

ARTS & CULTURE

Horwitz ’20 MFA uses lip sync, pop culture to understand female camaraderie

BY JACK BORRIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER Dhruv Gaur ’21 advanced to the semifinals in the “Jeopardy!” Tournament of Champions after defeating two opponents in the quarterfinals in an episode that aired last night. Gaur won the “Jeopardy!” College Championship in April 2018, taking home a $100,000 prize and earning him a spot in this year’s Tournament of Champions. In the tournament that features top players from previous seasons of the show, Gaur is the only college student in contention. “It was really validating to win as a college student playing against adults,” Gaur said after the Tuesday episode. “I wasn’t sure how I would do against people who have just got a lot more experience and worldly

TIFFANY DING / HERALD

The proposed revision to the tenure process intends to make tenure reviews more consistent with the process of peer institutions.

On the evening of Oct. 31, audience members crowded into Leeds Theatre to see the debut of “kemps,” an absurdist experimental play written by Emma Horwitz ’20 MFA and directed by Josiah Davis ’20 MFA. Following the story of five teen girls sharing a bunk at a summer camp, the theatrical piece mixes 2000s pop culture with heartfelt narratives, recounting how young women navigate their identities with the support of other women. According to the show program, “kemps is a card game played with two teams of two ... (that) requires a series of secret signals to be determined before play – small gestures, coughs, brush-

News

Commentary

Social media content creator Bianca Perez discusses her online presence and the challenges it presents Page 2

Strode ’21: Cash bail system is too financially burdensome to justify its existance Page 6

Caira ’22: Professors, male-identifying students should be aware of gender dynamics in class Page 6

es of hair, a grunt.” Inspired by this card game that she played obsessively during her own teenage summer camp experience, Horwitz wanted to mimic the feeling of playing kemps – the tacit understanding between partners – without directly referencing the game. “The play is about these sort of inexplicable and emotional moments in our lives when we might not have the language to describe how we’re feeling ... but (we are) still wanting to be able to have somebody to communicate that to,” Horwitz said. In the plot of the play, Jenna, Len, Cassie and twins Rachel and Carrie attend the same summer camp in the pinewoods of the Poconos every year. Coming from different parts of the country, they always return to camp and find everything exactly as they had left it the summer before: the bunks, their favorite camp manager named Z and their friendships from the previous summers. But this year, some things have changed: The head of camp has been replaced by his son, Len, and the

SEE KEMPS PAGE 3

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2019

ARTS & CULTURE

Clout, memes, monetization: Bianca Perez talks social media work Writer, comic describes her path to social media career, looks toward future projects BY CLAIRE LIU CONTRIBUTING WRITER Thousands know her for her Instagram handle, @yung_nihilist, and much of the online community has felt the impact of her meme content in some form. Bianca Perez — the face behind the account — spoke Monday night at the McCormack Family Theater, describing her journey to content creation as well as the double-edged sword of empowerment and toxicity that comes with her digital presence. Sponsored by the Department of Literary Arts, the event gave attendees insight into the potential of social media to snowball into a full-time career. Perez, a writer, comic and social media content creator, began using social media as an artistic outlet and escape. After an eviction notice in 2013 put Perez and her mother at risk of homelessness, Perez dropped out of college to found “Mi Casa No Es Su Casa,” an arts-based activist group resisting gentrification and displacement in New York City. Further political art projects led her to become a social media fellow at both Mayday Space, a grassroots organization in New York City, and Democracy Now, an independent news program. Beyond her work in activism, Perez has worked behind the scenes for TV shows like Saturday Night Live. On her personal Instagram account, Perez is known for her activism, humor and meme content. One of her earliest memes was reposted by actress Willow Smith and led to a steady stream of followers afterwards. She currently has around 34,600 followers on Instagram. This formative experience in collaging original text with found image was “one of the first times (she) realized the power of consolidating all of this information,” and it established her preference for memes as a unique form of communication. As Perez began to invest more time in creating content for her growing

JEOPARDY FROM PAGE 1 knowledge than I have. I think I had some imposter syndrome going in, but after (advancing) I definitely felt like I deserved to be there.” Returning to the show was an exciting experience for Gaur. “It’s just generally a really fun environment to be in,” he said. Despite his enthusiasm, some of the differences between the Tournament of Champions and the College Championship made Gaur nervous. “A lot of other people who were going to be in the tournament were posting on Twitter and Facebook about how much they were studying, and I was like I have school and a job over the summer, so I couldn’t really study as much,” he said. In his spare time this summer, Gaur and his friends made watching “Jeopardy!” reruns a regular activity. “I think over the course of the

base of followers, she began searching for answers to questions like this one she posed to the audience at the McCormack Family Theater: “How do you know when you have clout? That’s the question everyone wants to know. How does it smell like? What does it feel like?” Her answer lies somewhere between influence and monetary empowerment. Perez described crowdfunding online for personal necessities and receiving payments from followers. “These are real people who have actually developed an emotional connection to me,” she recounted. Perez also mentioned other digital creators and friends whose social media presences have risen meteorically, garnering the attention of celebrities who repost their content or wear their merchandise. This online community has allowed creators to help each other navigate a new digital space that still lacks clear methods of monetization, Perez said. “It’s the Dada of today, so people really don’t give it the credit it deserves,” she added. Through group chats, collaborative content-making and in-person socials, the tight-knit community connects over a field of work where the labor involved is often underestimated. Perez ended her talk by underscoring that, in her and other digital creators’ experiences, using social media as a personal outlet is unsustainable over the long term. She expressed the emotional toll of creating content as the “need to constantly perform my own pathology.” She saw herself as rising to fame because of her relatable depression-tinged content. Now, Perez fears that in not being depressed, she also stops being relatable. She pointed out how 2019’s “stan culture” has led loyal followers to support content makers even when they promote unhealthy mindsets. Due to this trend, Perez ultimately hopes to shift her focus away from her personal account, instead directing her creative efforts into projects for other organizations. Charles Shields GS, who helped organize the event as a literary arts student, expressed his admiration for Perez’s work, especially as a markedly different form of media than what students interact with academically.

“I think it’s important to recognize alternative forms of scholarship,” Shields said. “As the ability to recognize beauty is the mark of a true artist, I think the ability to recognize scholarship beyond what it typically looks like is the mark of a true scholar.”

summer, he ended up with a stack of a couple thousand flashcards,” said Tanay Nunna ’21, a friend of Gaur’s. Filming for the Tournament of Champions took place in September in Culver City, California. “It was weird because it was a small hotel and basically all ‘Jeopardy!’ people, so we all knew each other from TV,” he said. Though Gaur had to miss class to film, “it was during the tail end of shopping period, so not a lot was going on, and it wasn’t super difficult,” he said, adding that professors were very accommodating after learning the reason for his absence. “A lot of people just know him as ‘Jeopardy!’ Dhruv, but I don’t see him that way most of the time,” said Soham Kale ’21, another of Gaur’s friends, referencing other extracurricular involvement. “Sometimes people don’t realize that there’s this whole other part to him that’s also super accomplished.” Nunna added that Gaur is a “very

aware and open-minded person when it comes to new experiences, and he just takes on new challenges in a very positive way.” Nunna praised Gaur’s passion for “learning about literally anything.” The last time Gaur appeared on “Jeopardy!”, he was tight-lipped about his performance until the show aired, citing confidentiality agreements, Nunna said. “We’d try to read his reactions to our questions and catch him off guard, but we could never tell if he won or not before the show aired,” Nunna said. Gaur hid his trophy and brought it out after his public win to keep his victory secret. Gaur’s friends praised his continual dedication to “Jeopardy!” “I look at Dhruv, and I’m like here is someone who goes to school with me who (had) already done something amazing at the age of 19,” said friend Sheril Varghese ’21. “He reminds me that I go to school with some amazing, talented people.”

COURTESY OF CHARLES SHIELDS

Perez is known for her Instagram account, @yung_nihilist, which is known for memes and activism. With 34.6 thousand followers, Perez has made a living out of her digital content. Another attendee, Arden Shostak, a RISD student, was struck by the decision to bring in a digital creator as a speaker. “I’ve heard a lot of conversation about, ‘Are memes art? Can we count them as fine art?’” he said. “I find that less productive than what

we got tonight, where we got an actual content creator in the space to share her perspective and her work. … It was nice to hear from someone who is in it and making it, rather than have this hypothetical discussion.”

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2019

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

Ne ws Roundup BY CHRIS SCHUT TE

Students, faculty unearth archaeological findings, community traditions University students, accompanied by faculty, recently spent time at the Koutroulou Magoula site, an archaeology dig site located in Central Greece, which was settled around 6,000 B.C. The site’s recent finds are providing positive evidence for the existence of hierarchal and communal inhabitants in the area, said Yannis Hamilakis, professor of Archaeology and professor of Modern Greek Studies and lead archaeologist of the site, in a University press release. The site showed early signs for the existence of community-based inhabitance, including the grouping of families. The discovery of pottery kilns also pointed toward early technological development. University students who accompanied Hamilakis aided in the excavation of the site and also used the experience as a springboard into their own future projects and investigations. Additionally, the site’s central location between two towns of varying ethnic and historical backgrounds was a catalyst for community-driven events conducted over the summer. The events incorporated the culture and traditions of both towns in a display that attracts locals and foreigners alike. South Street Landing receives preservation reward for $220 million makeover South Street Landing, a once-abandoned electrical power station, received the 2019 Richard H Driehaus Foundation National Preservation Award for its massive $220 million renovation project. The award aims to highlight the “best of the best in historic preservation, adaptive reuse, and the re-imagining of historic buildings for the future,” according to the Na-

TENURE FROM PAGE 1 proposed change would make the tenure review process more consistent. TPAC proposed these amendments to ensure the University’s tenure process is “fair, consistent and unbiased,” following recurring instances of lawsuits based on tenure rejection, McLaughlin said. “Almost every year we have legal action or the threat of legal action around tenure cases, and it almost always rests on consistency,” he added. McLaughlin did not discuss specific cases, but in April, a University faculty member and her husband, another faculty member, filed a lawsuit against President Christina Paxson P’19 and the University over her tenure rejection, claiming age discrimination, The Herald previously reported. “If we’re treating some people dif-

tional Trust for Historic Preservation. South Street Landing currently houses eleven University administrative units, and the renovation created a complete turnover of the building’s interior while simultaneously retaining its historical aesthetic accented by brick and concrete dynamo blocks. The construction began in December 2015 and served as one step in the University’s project toward stimulating the growth and fiscal success of Providence’s Jewelry District. Age differences of lunar ice deposits may point to varying resources, help develop future exploration Results uncovered by a team of University researchers may spur further exploration into the sources of a number of ice deposits located at the south pole of the moon. Though previous studies found that the deposits had accumulated nearly billions of years ago, the researchers found that some of the deposits illustrate more recent timelines. Should these deposits indeed share varying ages, their chemical composition and usable resources may also vary and merit investigation. Future plans may include sample collection from the lunar surface in conjunction with the Artemis program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which hopes to send humankind back to the planetary body by 2024. “When we think about sending humans back to the Moon for long-term exploration, we need to know what resources are there that we can count on, and we currently don’t know,” said James Head, a study co-author and professor of the Geological Sciences Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, in a University press release.

ferently in a way that doesn’t look consistent and fair, especially if it looks like prejudice or bias, then we are exposing ourselves to risk,” McLaughlin said in the meeting. He acknowledged concerns by faculty that this change “takes control of the tenure process away from the department” and discussed possible remedies. If significant issues about a candidate are raised following TPAC’s review of these additional letters, the committee could go back to the department to discuss these concerns, said Kristi Wharton, chair of TPAC and professor of biology. Moving forward, McLaughlin will continue to discuss the proposed changes with the Faculty Executive Committee. After McLaughlin and Wharton’s presentation, Title IX Program Officer

EMILY TENG / HERALD

The play titled “kemps” drew on Horwitz’s own experiences at summer camp playing the card game kemps. The play aims to explore womanhood and depict the unique, unspoken understanding of close friends.

KEMPS FROM PAGE 1 arrival of two newcomers, Sam and K, affects the dynamic of the friend group. Despite the tension these changes create, the girls ultimately support one another and embrace all of the messiness and chaos of transitioning into womanhood. “What I really wanted to do in this project was to create a play about young women that wasn’t about competition, but about collectivity and about working together and about expression,” Horwitz explained. David Kleinman ’20 understands his character of Len as somewhat of a villain. Len “is definitely the outsider. ... But also, he doesn’t really know how this place works, and he wants to help the camp. ... It’s all out of love.” Even the play’s supposed antagonist ultimately holds good intentions for the community of

the camp. Sarah Lewis ’23, who starred as the closeted lesbian teen Rachel, expressed her excitement to act in an original play for the first time. Interested in both acting and playwriting, Lewis reflected on how this experience allowed her to see both sides of the playmaking process as well as how an actor can “help shape the way the play ends up being written.” Lip syncs and comedic dances interspersed the various coming-of-age narratives within the larger plot. Horwitz integrated some lip sync performances into the storyline, such as in the final camp showcase. In other instances of lip sync that even occurred in the middle of conversations, she relied on the audience’s suspension of disbelief for those stylistic decisions to fit within the logic of the play. Indeed, audience members laughed heartily along as the perform-

ers passionately moved their mouths to iconic pop songs. Horwitz explains her use of lip sync in the play as a method to reference queerness, “paying homage to this underground art form that was developed by queer people in unlikely spaces. … Every time I watch a lip sync on RuPaul’s drag race, I think about the emotional fervor of a young woman, ... and I sort of wanted to take this queer mode of performance and have young women enact it.” Considering the goals of the project, Horwitz cited inspiration to give “voice to women to be messy and complicated and unusual creatures.” Ultimately, “kemps” explores “how we grapple with being women in life and how we grapple with depicting what it means to be a woman onstage.”

Rene Davis provided an overview of the University’s 2019 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Misconduct, a national survey organized by the Association of American Universities. The survey, which was conducted from April to May 2019, allowed the University to gain an understanding of shifts in the presence of sexual and gender-based misconduct by comparing the results of the 2019 survey to those of the 2015 survey. Overall, the 2019 survey showed a slight uptick in reports of sexual assault and misconduct. Between 2015 and 2019, reports of sexual assault increased slightly. Reports of intimate partner violence rose from 7.8 percent in 2015 to 9.5 percent in 2019, while reports of stalking increased from 4.2 to 6.3 percent. Undergraduate women and individ-

uals identifying as transgender, genderqueer, nonbinary or questioning experienced higher rates of non-consensual contact compared to other groups, Davis added. Respondents also had the opportunity to report the demographic identity of perpetrators of sexual harassment. While the majority of offenders were other students, respondents also identified faculty and staff as perpetrators in some cases, Davis said. Specifically, female graduate students identified faculty at a higher rate than other respondents. Looking forward, Davis will conduct a deeper dive into the data from the climate survey and will use these findings to inform the University’s policies and practices, she said. Davis also hopes to convene working groups to review trends related to sexual assault and

misconduct and refine the University’s training and prevention efforts. Associate Professor of History Jennifer Lambe also presented on the life and accomplishments of late Associate Professor of History Robert Douglas Cope, who passed away Oct. 6. Faculty were also reminded to disclose research or scholarship-related involvement with foreign entities in accordance with federal mandates. Involvement with foreign entities includes collaboration with investigators outside of the United States, use of facilities or equipment at a foreign site and financial support or resources from a foreign entity, said Jill Pipher, vice president for research and professor of mathematics.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

SUMMER ZHANG / HERALD

MELLON FROM PAGE 1 Today@Brown announcement. There are now seven total projects under development, spanning the disciplines of history, art history, Italian studies, Middle East studies, literary arts and theater and performance studies. Sawako Nakayasu, assistant professor of literary arts, is currently developing her project, “The Past and Future of Chika Sagawa, Japanese Modernist Poet.” “The current project is to make a digital publication that brings together (Sagawa’s) poetry in both languages and also original publications from journals,” Nakayasu said. The project will “create a platform where one can see a more expansive view of the mod-

ernist period where she was writing.” The University of Virginia Press recently accepted Professor of History Tara Nummedal’s project, “Furnace and Fugue: A Digital Edition of Michael Maier’s ‘Atalanta fugiens’ (1618) with Scholarly Commentary,” for publication in the fall of 2020. Her project explores the seventeenth-century text in a multimedia form, and its audio and visual components will “allow people to hear the book, hear the music,” Nummedal said. Although the initiative pushes the boundaries of traditional humanities academia, “not every piece of humanities scholarship needs to be this kind of work that’s being supported under the initiative,” Meisel said. The University is unlikely to receive

further funding from the Mellon Foundation once the second grant expires in six years, McLaughlin said. Although most of the Foundation’s projects are long-term partnerships with institutions, the Foundation intends for the University to eventually support the initiative by itself, McLaughlin added. The Mellon Foundation did not respond to a request for comment. “The real question for the University for a project like this is to attract funding from donors that will, for example, create an endowment that will support this into the future,” McLaughlin said. If the University decides that the project is valuable “as part of our research capacity, we would want endowment support that would allow us to do this in perpetuity.”

Tickets are required and available at

https://lichtsusanrice.eventbrite.com

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2019

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | TODAY

CA L E NDA R TODAY

NOVEMBER S

S U D O KU

Lunch Talk with MissBeHelpful 12:00 P.M. U-Fli Center

Data Wednesday: Sanjay Krishnan 4:00 P.M. 164 Angell Street

Pablo Vidal: Mediterranean Transhumance 5:30 P.M. Rhode Island Hall

Audition for MF’s “Gone Missing” 7:00 P.M. Friedman Hall

TOMORROW

‘Slow Cookin’ Community Buffet Luncheon 11:30 A.M. Faculty Club

Law School Admission Panel 12:00 P.M. CareerLAB

Sex and Migration Panel 3:30 P.M. 121 South Main Street

Gender, Governance and Islam 5:00 P.M. Watson Institute

Q U OTE OF TH E DAY

“As the ability to recognize beauty is the mark of a true artist, I think the ability to recognize scholarship beyond what it typically looks like is the mark of a true scholar.” — Charles Shields GS SEE PEREZ PAGE 2

R E ADY TO ROL L CR O S SWO R D

VICTORIA YIN / HERALD

During this week of rain, it is easy to reminisce about the former fall sunny days when students could still bike between classes before the impending icy roads will make it difficult to traverse campus on wheels.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2019

The case for unconditional freedom BY RONNIE STRODE ’21 OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

As an intern on Capitol Hill this semester, I routinely provide tours to constituents visiting Washington. A popular statue and key American symbol we pass is Lady Justice. Most depictions construct Lady Justice as a blindfolded woman — a visual representation of an American belief in “equal justice under the law” that is embedded in our Constitution and culture and solidified by the Supreme Court. But at times, in our pursuit of a more perfect union, we fail to uphold this foundational commitment. Most notably, America’s current system of cash bail violates the moral code established by Lady Justice and her exemplification of “equal justice under the law.” Additionally, our current bail system challenges other American commitments, such as every citizen’s right to the presumption of innocence and to due process guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. For the unacquainted, bail is the fee individuals must pay to the government to secure their release from jail after being arrested. Assuming the accused posts their bail without a bail bondsman, this amount is eventually returned to the individual upon the completion of their case. But from my own personal experiences with posting bail for family members, the return of one’s personal funds can take weeks, even months, after the conclusion of one’s case because of improperly supported government staff. For most Americans, not having immediate access to their own money is impoverishing. The central defect of the cash bail system is that it forces individuals lacking disposable funds to stay in jail while they await trial and future judgment — causing the most harm to people in the lower and middle classes. Thus, cash bail creates too significant of a regressive financial burden to defend its existence. The primary purpose of bail is to ensure that the accused will attend their court dates, operating under the false assumption that the accused will not appear when summoned without any “skin in the game,” or financial incentives. While a seemingly benign concept, it fails to recognize the reality of the U.S. criminal justice

system and its all-encompassing nature. The accused inherently bear financial and emotional incentives to make their court dates and resolve the matter in a timely fashion. As anyone who has ever attended court understands, these hearings are disruptive and lengthy endeavors. Every court appearance can mean child-care costs, missed work or a plethora of other consequential and impactful life disruptions. After one’s arrest, the accused who pleads not guilty see a minimum of three different court dates: the first appearance after their arrest, a “readiness” pre-trial hearing and the actual trial. But depending on the state and their unique processes, the severity of the alleged crime and schedules of the often over-encum-

bered and under-staffed prosecutor’s and public defender’s offices, many more court dates could occur to resolve the matter. I saw this phenomenon often as an intern in a prosecutor’s office. Skipping court would be against one’s self-interest because it prolongs the matter, brings more legal trouble, and ultimately, more financial woes. In fact, a recent case study of the Bronx — where a nonprofit organization, using its own money, bailed out 150 people — demonstrates that even without financial incentives, over 90 percent of the accused individuals made every single court date. This hard data challenges the notion that the accused will skip their court dates without “skin in the game.” In our current cash bail system, those who plead not guilty and are unable to post bail could potentially sit in jail for months, even years, before the conclusion of their cases. When inno-

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Managing Editors Anna Kramer Priyanka Podugu Senior Editors Anita Sheih Sarah Wang Editorial Page Editors Grace Layer Krista Stapleford post-magazine Editor-in-Chief Anita Sheih

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But critics express concern over potential inherent biases in the algorithm against people of color or indigent individuals. This option attempts to preserve everyone’s freedom by protecting people from unnecessary jail sentences while simultaneously safeguarding society from the possibility of dangerous persons posting bail due to their wealth. The second proposed system remains more revisionist in nature. This arrangement would replace cash bail with unsecured loans or promissory notes. Rather than having to post a bond upfront with cash, $5,000 for example, the accused would sign a contract where they would only pay the fee if they skipped their court dates. The cash bail system hurts all Americans. It

“Cash bail creates too significant of a regressive financial burden to defend its existence.”

SINCE 1891

Editorial Leadership Editor-in-Chief Emily Davies

cent citizens who cannot afford bail are forced to sit in jail while awaiting trial, the oppressive situation could coerce them into pleading guilty simply to end the disruptive ordeal. These individuals must then live with a criminal record — a designation possibly affecting housing opportunities, employment prospects and even access to Federal Pell Grants. This effectively criminalizes poverty by punishing those who lack the resources and privilege to post bail, miss work and forego their familial obligations to attend their trial. This disproportionately afflicts low-income individuals, and by extension, people of color. The cash bail system violates our Fifth Amendment right to due process because it re-

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stricts the liberty of American citizens without a guilty verdict from a jury of their peers. This injustice also challenges the idea of “equal justice under the law” because wealthy citizens — like Harvey Weinstein — can simply avoid incarceration by posting bail, a privilege not afforded to many working-class Americans should they find themselves under the scrutiny of the law. Activists have proposed two primary alternatives to the cash bail system. The first and more radical notion is to eliminate the transaction-oriented concept of cash for bail. This system looks to create a binary decision: bail or no bail. Most notably, Washington, D.C. adopted this method in the 1990s. To determine whether or not bail should be granted, our nation’s capital now relies on risk assessment algorithms that analyze an abundance of metrics such as one’s risk of flight or danger to society.

forces society to house cash-strapped folks — imposing a cost upon all taxpayers. Furthermore, it operates as a financial double negative because it costs money to house the accused in jail while potentially creating an economic hole at the incarcerated person’s place of employment — further compounding external damages to society. Regardless of one’s preferred solution, that’s for you and your fellow constituents to decide, eliminating the regressive cash bail system is a strong step toward establishing a more perfect union. Ronnie Strode ’21 can be reached at ronnie_ strode@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald. com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2019

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

For better classroom discussions, everyone must feel comfortable speaking BY ALISA CAIRA ’22 OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Since coming to Brown, I’ve noticed that men tend to speak more frequently in my classroom discussions. I’ve had many conversations with friends about this who have noticed the same trend across a variety of disciplines — math, international relations and philosophy, to name a few. And our experiences reflect a broader pattern — studies show that men feel more confident than others to interrupt others and express their ideas in public spaces. But even though we know that an inequality exists in public forums — classrooms, extracurriculars and more — rarely do we consider the idea of solving this problem by creating new opportunities for women and genderqueer people to speak. And the responsibility lies — at least partly — on both professors and male students to foster classroom environments in which everyone feels comfortable speaking. To understand the gender imbalance in classrooms, we first need to look closer at the dynamics at play in the typical Brown classroom. One of my friends recalled taking a class at Brown where the conversation always revolved around the same three men, seemingly because they were always the ones who raised their hands first. Although it is not exclusively men who can dominate class time, it is important that men seem to be disproportionality prone to taking up too much space. From my experience, it seems that Brown’s classroom culture praises this type of immediate response; the first person to raise their hand is often the first person who gets to speak. But this system often places students with marginalized identities who feel greater pressure when speaking in class at a disadvantage. Compared to men, women and genderqueer students tend to face more obstacles to have their answers and ideas taken seriously and respectfully. These obsta-

cles become more serious when considering the intersections of race and gender. But the bottom line is that these hurdles create environments in which certain students feel less welcome and inclined to participate and contribute to classroom conversations. I personally have caught myself overanalyzing my phrasing before speaking for fear of playing into gender stereotypes. Indeed, a survey done by Gallup of over 5,000 recent college graduates found that on a one to five scale of how comfortable they felt expressing an unpopular idea in the classroom, men were 10 percent more likely than women to rate themselves as a four or five. This difference might not seem drastic, but it’s important to view it in association with the larger problem. Only 58 percent of recent female graduates felt comfortable expressing the full extent of their unpopular ideas in their classrooms, compared to 68 percent of men. For women, genderqueer people and men alike, that number should be equal, since, theoretically, these academic spaces exist for all of us to engage with and learn from each other and, more basically, to feel comfortable, regardless of gender. When The Herald conducted a similar survey at Brown in 2016, the results were even more disheartening. Only 29 percent of women, compared to 40 percent of men and 40 percent of gender nonconforming people, said they felt very comfortable speaking up in their classrooms. If we as members of the Brown community want to foster an environment for genuine intellectual discourse, we must address these problems communally, rather than expect those who are marginalized to deal with it on their own. The solution to this problem is not to say that men shouldn’t speak at all or that they don’t have valuable things to add to a conversation. Every student at Brown is a smart person with a unique set of interests to bring to the conversation. But when men — or any empowered group — are dominating the conversation, they can often unintentionally drown out mar-

ginalized voices. Thankfully, implementing a series of small initiatives to improve learning environments can end the sidelining of women and genderqueer people in classrooms. First, professors must stop letting classroom discussions run organically. Professors should see organic discussion as the end goal, but must recognize that allowing unmoderated discussion from the getgo doesn’t work given the imbalanced gender dynamics at play. Without moderated discus-

son to others. If you do find yourself speaking more than your peers, try to understand that this is probably not because of a difference in intellect. Before speaking, ask yourself whether your comment will contribute constructively to the current thread of conversation. Consider whether your response to someone else’s comment is a genuine point, or whether you are just trying to hear yourself speak. While your points in a conversation are most likely valuable, it is nevertheless vital to be aware of the amount of

“When men — or any empowered group — are dominating the conversation, they can often unintentionally drown out marginalized voices.”

sions, historically privileged voices will continue to dominate discussions unchallenged and at the expense of marginalized people. To prevent this, professors must make students feel more comfortable in the classroom by deliberately gauging comfort levels that each student brings to the class, and by making greater efforts to engage students who might not initially feel comfortable to speak up. They need to make it a practice not to call on the first student who raises a hand while also not forcing any student into speaking when they’re not ready. They must go out of their way to emphasize that everyone is welcome and encouraged to share their thoughts. For the men reading this, try to note how often you speak in a classroom in compari-

space you’re taking up in a room to ensure that others have just as much. If we do all of these fairly easy things, I’m sure we can have classes and other spaces where everyone feels more accepted, acknowledged and heard. While this absolutely won’t cure the larger societal problem of gender imbalances, it’s incredibly important that we work as a community to create learning spaces where every student, regardless of gender and other identities, can engage to their fullest potential. Alisa Caira ’22 can be reached at alisa_caira@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald. com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

California’s laboratory of democracy BY OLIVIA SIEMENS ’21 OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

It has been a historic session for the California legislature. The state’s Democratic lawmakers and its newly minted liberal governor have staked out their positions in a political war between the nation’s most progressive state and a conservative president. California has frequently attracted headlines in the national news — and in President Trump’s indefatigable Twitter feed — in recent months for its rapid enactment of a defiant legislative agenda. Though some legislation would have earned the state notoriety regardless of its relationship to Trump (such as the recent bill that would make it legal for college athletes to receive compensation), California’s leftward shift has national significance because it directly impugns the Oval Office’s aggressive deregulatory agenda, one unparalleled since the early years of the Reagan administration. Over the past two years, Trump has done away with federal regulations of every stripe: those addressing worker protections, fair housing standards, access to affordable healthcare, public assistance program requirements, financial sector transparency and fiduciary duties, gender equality requirements in education, agricultural safety and — most alarmingly — Bush- and Obama-era environmental protections. The president and his cabinet often justify such maneuvers to the public by invoking the old platitude of “states’ rights.” By dismantling these regulations, the current executive branch is supposedly correcting the Obama adminis-

tration’s rampant federal overreach. Conservatives have lauded Trump for bringing about a “renaissance” of federalism. But California is challeging the maxim that “states’ rights” carries with it conservative policies. The Golden State’s 2019 legislative session delivered milestone victories for progressives. Included among the 2,600 proposed laws were triumphs in securing rights for “gig economy”

California’s progessive legislative spree is driven by concern for its constituents — the hallmark of an effective federalist system that bestows responsibility to state governments. The state’s leadership on environmental regulations, though it can be seen as a rebuke to Trump’s climate policy, is nonetheless pragmatic in nature. For example, its need for stricter vehicular tailpipe emissions standards is as practical as it is ideological: Nearly 36 million vehicles

“California’s leftward shift has national significance because it directly impugns the Oval Office’s aggressive de-regulatory agenda, one unparalleled since the early years of the Reagan administration.”

workers such as Uber and Lyft drivers, limiting rent increases and predatory lending practices, giving the right to compensation for college athletes whose images are used for promotional purposes and protecting the state’s existing environmental and climate policies. All the while, California’s Air Resources Board doubled down on its cap-and-trade plan and Attorney General Xavier Becerra joined 21 other state attorney generals in suing the Trump administration for the right to keep independent gas emissions standards waivers, which the president himself had revoked just days prior via executive Tweet.

were registered with the California DMV as of last December, meaning that the impact of uncontrolled air pollution on the state’s 40 million residents could be especially dire. Most Californians view such “progressive” environmental policies not as partisan posturing but as essential measures to protect their own health and safety. The Trump administration’s reaction to California’s climate policy amounts to a blatant violation of states’ rights. The administration has vowed to fight back against California’s independent emissions standards — all while threat-

ening to withhold federal funding until the state addresses the “environmental crisis” created by its large homeless population. Such actions neglect the bedrock principles upon which the U.S. government was formed. State-specific policy challenges, such as those which California’s authorities have sought to address this year, are the reason why the nation’s founders established the United States as a federalist republic rather than a centralized monarchy. The framers recognized that the political flexibility needed to address regional concerns — for instance, tailpipe emissions in a state with nearly twice as many automobiles than any other — is not always nationally scalable. State-specific policy priorities frequently slip off of the federal legislative agenda, not for their lack of importance but because many of California’s problems are simply irrelevant to Alabamians and Kentuckians. Former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously wrote that American federalism envisions states as “laboratories of democracy.” He was right. States remain uniquely suited to experimentation with bold new policy projects, which — if unsuccessful — pose a lesser risk to the country at large compared to failed national experiments. Trump and his Republican allies would do well to recall their party’s time-honored overtures to states’ rights. After all, Democrats certainly have. Olivia Siemens ’21 can be reached in Washington, DC, where she is spending the semester with Brown in DC, at olivia_siemens@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald. com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2019