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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021

VOLUME CLVI, ISSUE X

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BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Brook Street Students protest University sexual violence response march dorm draws Participants from Quiet Green to Paxson’s home, demand criticism

Community meeting attendees concerned about loss of businesses, tax revenue BY KATY PICKENS STAFF WRITER Ward 1 residents expressed their concerns in reaction to the University’s revised plan for the two-building residence hall on Brook Street at a virtual community meeting April 8. The original layout for the dormitory would have crossed through the Providence Historic District and housed approximately 375 students. The revised plan has 350 beds and reduces the cumulative square footage of the buildings by 16,000 square feet and removes the physical structure from the Providence Historic District. With roughly 70 people in attendance, residents expressed their apprehensions about the demolition of local

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administrative action

BY SOPHIE DRISCOLL CONTRIBUTING WRITER “CPax will hear us, DPhi will fear us” and “end sexual violence” rang out from behind masks reading “End Sexual Violence” in pink lettering. More than 200 students marched from the Quiet Green to the home of President Christina Paxson P’19 Wednesday to demand that the administration improve its anti-sexual violence efforts. The event was part of the Week of Protest led by End Sexual Violence at Brown, a coalition of student organizations. The rally followed a poster campaign held earlier this week, which saw approximately 2,000 posters reading statements including “Dear survivors, we hear you,” and “End the silence, end the violence,” hung around campus before being rapidly taken down. Shortly after the poster campaign, a plaque outside Diman House was covered with tape to read “man House” by a member of Delta Phi and another unidentified individual who lives in Di-

UNIVERSITY NEWS

SEE discusses steps after test-optional referendum Organizers plan to use student support in conversations with University BY WILL KUBZANSKY SENIOR STAFF WRITER As the University finishes its first admission cycle with a test-optional policy, implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a majority of student voters advocated for the University to make the policy permanent on a recent referendum on the Undergraduate Council of Students’ spring election ballot. Nearly 74 percent of the 1,932 students who voted on a referendum asking if the University should switch to a test-optional policy voted “yes.” Such a policy would allow applicants to choose whether or not to submit their standardized test scores, and guarantee that they would not be penalized for not doing so. UCS referendums, though, are non-binding — meaning there is still work ahead for Students for Educational Equity at Brown, the group that proposed the referendum, said Zoë Fuad ’23, SEE’s lead organizer for its

SAT-Optional campaign. Having won the referendum, the group is now using their success as a mandate — and hoping that the rest of the University will pay attention. “It’s one step in a process,” Fuad said. “The referendum itself doesn’t mean Brown has to do anything.” Fuad described SEE’s path ahead as a patchwork of alumni, faculty and student pressure, meetings with University administrators and support from allies within and outside the University. SEE has laid “strong groundwork,” Fuad said, and with the referendum in hand, the group can engage administrators in evidence-backed conversations about the “barriers to going test-optional.” The campaign began when leaders of the Providence Student Union initially encouraged SEE to pursue a test-optional policy, Fuad said. After doing their own research, members of SEE concluded the campaign was worth the effort. According to SEE, a test-optional policy is beneficial for the University because it enhances equity: The SAT

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NAT HARDY / HERALD

End Sexual Violence at Brown hosted a rally that followed a poster campaign during its Week of Protests. man, drawing University attention and inciting student backlash, The Herald previously reported. Allegations that some student residents of Diman had removed posters and made statements that made others feel unsafe have been provided to the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards to be investigated, ac-

cording to an email from Associate Vice President for Campus Life and Dean of Students Koren Bakkegard addressed to Diman residents. “The goal of the movement in general is definitely to get the administration to work more with prevention and education and also with survivor support,” ESV co-organizer Bianca

Bergsneider ’23 said. “The movement has this cool other facet of garnering community support in that we want it to be a huge awareness campaign.” On the Quiet Green during Wednesday’s demonstration, speakers shared the ways in which sexual violence has pervaded their lives at Brown.

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SPORTS

W. crew rings in return of Brown athletics

COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS

Women’s crew defeated University of Rhode Island in Bruno’s first athletics competition since March 2020.

Competition was Brown’s first in 388 days due to COVID-19 pandemic BY PETER SWOPE STAFF WRITER Until Saturday, no Brown athletic team had competed for 388 days due to the suspension of sports during the COVID-19 pandemic. But with a victory

News

Metro

Brown University Shuttle drivers discuss changed pandemic landscape transporting students. Page 2

Inside the life, career of Mary Emma Woolley, one of Brown’s first female graduates. Page 4

R.I. pushes to rectify COVID-19 vaccination disparities through distribution sites. Page 6

over the University of Rhode Island and a sweep of all four races, women’s crew had an impressive showing in Brown’s first athletic competition since March 2020. Despite the cancellation of the Ivy League’s spring season, which bars conference competition, teams may still participate in local competition in adherence to state guidance. Coaches, administrators and players were elated that competition could resume, even if the season is still far

from typical. “It’s amazing just seeing them back on the water,” said Interim Director of Athletics Colin Sullivan. “There’s still a lot of protocols around the competition, but you could just see a different sort of look on our student-athletes’ faces.” Women’s crew coach John Murphy was excited to start off strong. “It was a good win,” he said. “And (URI is) tough. URI has some really good ath-

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

Friday, April 9, 2021

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Brown University Shuttle drivers navigate new routes in spring semester Drivers see more health precautions, fewer students amid pandemic BY JACK WALKER SENIOR STAFF WRITER On weeknights, Brown University Shuttle driver Danilo Paulino takes buses of students back and forth between downtown Providence and Brown’s campus on College Hill, each passenger masked and seated six feet apart from the next. Twisting down Prospect and Waterman Street, he follows a new route that connects students to their University-leased off-campus housing, going as far as the Jewelry District and the Omni Providence Hotel multiple times a night. When Paulino immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic in 1980, it was difficult for him to to find work because his education credentials did not translate to the American job market. But Paulino eventually began working for the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority, driving buses for 20 years. At the start of the fall 2020 semester, Paulino was browsing job postings on the internet when he came across a listing for a position with BUS, which was recruiting new drivers to take on its off-campus route. “I saw it on the internet, and just filled out an application,” he said. Soon thereafter, he was trained by another driver and given the position. Paulino has been driving for BUS since. “I like it,” Paulino said. “The students are very decent, very educated.” As part of the University’s effort to de-densify its campus for the spring semester while inviting students from all class years back, students were each given their own rooms, leading the University to seek additional off-campus housing for its student body. Likewise,

DORM FROM PAGE 1 businesses and the subsequent loss of taxable revenue. Attendees also had concerns about the demolition of two homes at 245 and 247 Brook St. Ward 1 Councilman John Goncalves ’13 MA’15 hosted the panel, featuring several University representatives involved in the project to answer residents’ questions about the revisions to the Brook Street residence hall plans. According to the University announcement, these changes had been made in accordance with community input regarding the size and look of the buildings, as well as the transitional edge between the residential neighborhood and University housing. Craig Barton ’78, University architect and professor of the practice in architecture, emphasized that one of the core purposes of the project is to increase on-campus housing for upperclassmen to “ease strain on the rental market” caused by students living off campus. Though some attendees worried the University would simply increase enrollment targets with increased residential capacity, Al Dahlberg, assistant vice president of government and community relations for the University, said there are “no long term plans” to do so. The changes also include the acquisition and maintenance of a historic property and home at 126 Power St., which will house students and enable

the University had to increase its BUS operations to incorporate students farther away from campus, as well as getting more drivers to accommodate new social distancing guidelines within the bus. “There were two changes made to the shuttle routes for the spring semester. The first was the addition of the Omni Shuttle which ran daytime between the Omni and College Hill,” Elizabeth Gentry, assistant vice president for business and financial services, wrote in an email to The Herald. “The second change was to add the Omni to the evening route which serviced the Omni, the two Chestnut Street properties and the River House and College Hill,” she added. Additionally, there has been an increase in onCall shuttles “which correlates to the increase in the number of students on campus this spring,” Gentry wrote. The onCall shuttle program “provides a point-to-point ride service to and from areas not accommodated by the Brown Evening Shuttle Route” for individual students, according to a Brown University Shuttle infographic. BUS has adopted a number of measures to accommodate University and state public health guidelines during the pandemic. These measures come “as part of our commitment to protecting the health of both riders and drivers,” Gentry wrote. One adjustment has been the reduction of passenger capacity on shuttles by 50 percent. This has created an increase in the individual shuttles necessary to serve the student body, leading “Brown (to secure) additional shuttles to ensure the demand for shuttle service would continue to be met,” Gentry added. Additionally, seat restrictors and plexiglass dividers have been placed in the shuttles to ensure proper social distancing for riders with both other riders and drivers. All drivers

the expansion of the green, grass-filled spaces, explained Noah Biklen ’97, an architect from Deborah Berke Partners who is working on the project. While some residents appreciated the aesthetic and design modifications,

HERALD FILE PHOTO

New routes were implemented this spring to facilitate easy travel to and from the de-densified campus. and passengers are required to wear a mask or face covering while riding the shuttle. Transportation Services also requires periodical cleaning of the shuttles throughout the day, including “special attention to high-touch areas” that students might more frequently come into contact with, Gentry wrote. But despite the increased bus route offerings, drivers note that there are significantly fewer passengers on their average bus route. “We’re not picking up as many students” compared to years prior to the pandemic, said Michele Machado, a BUS driver who drives shuttles two nights a week during the spring semester on the on-campus route. Machado began working part-time for BUS more than five years ago, and said she has never seen her bus so empty. “In the beginning (of my time working for BUS) we had quite a few

students,” she said. “We’d pick up, like, 200 a night. Now, it’s slowed down a lot.” “Since COVID kicked in, there’s a big difference in the riding and the riders. I went from maybe 150 a night to maybe, (if) I’m lucky … 25,” said Terry Edmonds, who has driven for BUS for three years. This semester, she drives an on-campus shuttle every weeknight. Edmonds suggested that this was due to a lack of in-person campus activities, which limited demand for students to travel across campus regularly. Additionally, “the students are more into the fresh air,” she said. “Because of COVID it’s just wiser” to avoid communal spaces. “Also, exercise has a lot to do with it, because they’ve been … forced to be in the house” for so long due to remote classes, she added, prompting them to opt for walking from one place to another rather than choosing to take

the shuttle. As the University plans its transition to fully in-person instruction for the fall 2021 semester, BUS will likely make changes again, with students filling every seat en route to whatever activities they might have planned on campus. Edmonds is eagerly awaiting the change. “I love driving through the campus and seeing … all the different events, when the kids are dressed up,” she said. “And when they play instruments, they’re carting the instruments (and) they bring them on the shuttle … it was nice seeing all that.” “I love the job. I didn’t really think working with college kids would be easy … but (the students are) very, very grateful,” Edmonds said. “Even when they’re drinking.” “I would just love to see normalcy back,” she added, to “see the kids have the real college experience.”

sitting in those spaces.” Many other attendees agreed with the sentiment. She also expressed frustration that the new dormitory will be at 250 Brook St., a lot currently occupied by businesses like Bagel Gourmet and East Side

2021. The original plan had included a rental retail space on the first floor of the residence hall, but the University removed it in reaction to community feedback, expressing concern that it would increase foot traffic in a residential area. Attendees pushed back against this change. Another resident said that businesses such as those slated for demolition “are amenities that people want,” and that he was “unappetized” by the added green spaces. Residents also mentioned that since the University largely does not pay taxes on its properties, demolition of these buildings could decrease tax revenue, thereby increasing burden on the city. The University provides voluntary payments to the city through Payment in Lieu of Taxes, which totaled $6.2 million in Fiscal Year 2020. The Herald previously reported that per an estimate from 2012, the University would owe $38 million in annual property taxes if it were not exempt. Residents were frustrated that the University was going to further reduce city tax revenue through its expansion. “All I see with Brown is they’re just trying to incorporate themselves in the community without really trying to make it better,” said one attendee. Regarding the demolition of two historic properties, Goncalves said that Brown has demolished 37 historic homes, which “undermines the historic

fabric” of the College Hill and Fox Point neighborhoods. The Providence Preservation Society had raised concerns with the original plan for the residence hall, saying in a March 29 statement that “This dormitory project is cheek by jowl with one of the most beautiful and historic residential neighborhoods in America; its design needs to be respectful of this.” During the meeting, PPS Executive Director Brent Runyon said that he was “pleased to see how Brown responded” to their concerns about the design of the building. Katie Silberman, University director of community relations, emphasized that Brown invested time and effort into finding a way to relocate or preserve the two Brook Street houses that are set to be demolished, but that their research concluded that preservation or relocation of the buildings would be impossible. Runyon commended the University in this effort, attesting that Brown “went above and beyond” trying to find a way to preserve or move the homes. Silberman also explained that the revision is “an ongoing process” and that the University will continue gathering input from the Providence community regarding its revised plan, including in a public meeting with the Fox Point Neighborhood Association April 12.

COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY

attendees were largely unimpressed with the addition of green spaces. One resident said she appreciated the quality of the work by the architects and landscapers she had seen but thought the added green spaces wouldn’t add to the community. “This is not something we see as something we would ever use,” she said. “I can’t see any of us going off in the morning with our cups of coffee and

Mini-Mart. Students have expressed mixed reactions to the relocation of these shops, The Herald previously reported. “For many of us, the loss of retail is a significant issue. It has to do with quality of life,” the resident said. The lot occupants, including the Providence Police Department, are expected to vacate during the summer so construction can begin in fall

Friday, April 9, 2021

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

TEST FROM PAGE 1 and ACT present a “barrier” to students of color and low-income students, SEE says — and according to numerous studies, test scores are not a predictor of college success. By eliminating standardized test requirements, organizers say, the University has an opportunity to become more equitable in its admission process. “I am highly encouraged by the initiative our students have shown in thinking about ways to expand access to the Brown application process,” said Dean of Admission Logan Powell, who added that he would be “thrilled” to talk to students who support the initiative. SEE did not make official contact with the Office of Admission or the Office of the Provost before the referendum passed, Fuad said, noting that the referendum results now provide leverage in conversations with administrators. Without traditional means of protesting, such as sit-ins, the referendum became a clear avenue for demonstrating student support, she added. “You can’t have huge protests outside of University Hall,” said UCS President Jason Carroll ’21. “Because in-person organizing isn’t possible right now, virtual opinion gathering is even more powerful.” “The biggest, most effective piece of a referendum is that it shows student support. You have specific statistics to back up your idea when you go talk with an administrator,” said Deepak Gupta ’22, the outgoing UCS chair of academic affairs. The 73.65 percent of student voters who chose in favor of a test-optional policy surpassed SEE’s goal of garnering 70 percent support. Face-to-face meetings are the “most important part” of the process coming out of a referendum, Gupta noted. In consulting with Fuad — the incoming UCS chair of academic affairs — Gupta recommended outreach to the leaders of the admission office to explore “next steps” and “open the door for conversation,” though he expected

some “hesitation.” “I’d see it as an important voice in the conversation we’ll have as a university,” Powell added. “I welcome their voice, their ideas and their input.” Beyond meeting with administrators, the group aims to leverage support from a network of alumni groups that have endorsed the effort, including the Inman Page Black Alumni Council and the Brown University’s Latino Alumni Council. A number of groups, Fuad added, told SEE they would not endorse the effort until a referendum passed. Fuad also said that the campaign has attracted allies among student affinity groups, within the Corporation, at third-party advocacy organizations and even at admission and administrative offices of other universities such as California Institute of Technology and Cornell. Multiple stakeholders across the University such as the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost and potentially even the Dean of the College have a say in determining admission policies. Those policies are subject to change, Powell said, citing the gradual elimination of SAT subject test requirements, the addition of new automatic fee waivers and new supplemental essay questions. “We look at and think about the application requirements every single year,” he said. “We always begin with the question, ‘what can we do to expand access?’ We also ask the question, ‘Are we gathering enough information to make an informed decision?’” In re-evaluating a policy this significant, Powell said, the Office of Admission would consult a number of other University leaders. SEE, Fuad said, is aiming to engage with the Office of the Provost, among others, in hopes of convincing the University before the 2022-23 application cycle begins to extend its test-optional policy in perpetuity, or for a few more years at least as a trial period, like those implemented at Tufts University and Davidson College.

SUMMER ZHANG / HERALD

Timing also plays a key role: SEE aims to pressure the University to cement its current test-optional policy instead of re-implementing the requirement once standardized testing becomes more accessible to students after the pandemic. The proof, Fuad added, is reflected in this year’s cohort of admitted students under a test-optional policy — one of the most diverse classes in terms of percentage of students of color. “Going test-optional has done for Brown what no other test change has. It’s going to be hard to justify going back to test-required policies,” Fuad said. But the University’s testing policy is bound by institutional constraints, Powell said, largely due to the non-scholarship recruitment of Ivy League athletics. To prevent one school from undercutting another on academic standards to admit better recruits, Ivy League schools have a “common agreement” about student athletes and academic qualifications. Test scores, Powell said, help “inform that discussion” about setting “the bar.” “That’s to make sure we are all looking at the same very high level of

student athletes and that one school isn’t reaching too far,” Powell added. “We have to think about this at a conference level, because it has implications for conference athletic regulation,” Powell said. The Daily Pennsylvanian reported last year that Ivy League athletic departments as a whole must meet an average “academic index” — a combination of numerous academic metrics including GPA and standardized test scores. SEE has not fully considered its stance on athletics, Fuad said, though “allies” have mentioned the issue to the group. “We need to start reaching out to coaches and different actors,” she said. Still, she expressed confidence that the issue could be circumvented, either by maintaining the standardized test requirement for athletes or judging them on an SAT-optional basis. The Office of Admission is evaluating outcomes for test-optional students in the application process, Powell noted, though the profile of the enrolled class of 2025 and the effects of the policy will not become clear until

students accept the University’s offers of admission and empty slots are filled with students on the waitlist. UCS referenda that call for administrative action have a checkered history of success: In 2019, after a referendum calling for the University to divest from companies “complicit in human rights abuses in Palestine” passed with 70 percent of the vote, the University expressed its objection and took no action. Administrators at the University, Gupta said, are willing to “talk with students and work through solutions,” noting the University’s willingness to work with UCS on COVID-19 issues. But the fear remains that students will be “cut out” of conversations. Still, Fuad expressed hope that the University would move toward a permanent test-optional policy as a result of SEE’s efforts. “I do think the University should be responding to a referendum,” she said. ”It’s why we have the structures in place. I’m confident the administration will respect that.”

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

Friday, April 9, 2021

UNIVERSITY NEWS

The life of Mary Emma Woolley, one of Brown’s first female graduates Peace advocate, Mount Holyoke College president transformed higher education BY BENJAMIN POLLARD METRO EDITOR “I must be effective, but not aggressive; womanly but not womanish; equal to social obligations but always on hand for the business ones,” Mary Emma Woolley 1895 wrote to her life partner Jeanette Marks on April 22, 1932, describing the difficulties of being the only woman delegate from the United States to the World Disarmament Conference in Geneva. This was an unusual tone for Woolley, who rarely talked about “being a woman as something difficult to navigate,” Mount Holyoke College archivist Leslie Fields said. But the conference was not the first time she had been the only woman in a room full of men. As one of Brown’s first female students and one of its first two female graduates, Woolley was used to standing out on College Hill, University Archivist and Assistant Director of the John Hay Library Jennifer Betts said. “It seems like she very much took (being one of few women on campus) in stride,” she added. Childhood and education at Brown The daughter of a Congregational Church minister in Pawtucket who had been a chaplain for the Union Army during the Civil War, Woolley grew up in Rhode Island after moving to the Ocean State at the age of eight. She attended private schools until her senior year of high school, when she went to Providence High School. After high school, Woolley attended Wheaton Seminary, now Wheaton College, where she spent two years as a student and five more as a teacher. Following her time at Wheaton, she went on a trip to Europe in 1890. During the trip she visited Oxford and took a liking to the university, deciding it was her

wish to attend as a student. Her father mentioned her ambition to go to Oxford in conversation with then-University President Elisha Benjamin Andrews over dinner the following winter, when Andrews asked, “Why does she not come to Brown?” It was from this conversation that plans for Pembroke College at Brown were born, with arrangements made for five other female students to join Woolley in her studies at the University in 1891 — 16 years after Annie Smith Peck, the first female applicant, was rejected from the University because of her gender. Woolley majored in history, taking additional classes in political science, political economy, Hebrew, Latin and Greek while completing her undergraduate degree in three years. Originally, she was taught separately and with the other female students by professors who agreed to teach the courses to female students for 75 cents an hour, Betts said. But not long into her three years, Woolley was taking classes with the male students as well. After graduating with Anne Tillinghast Weeden in 1894, Woolley spent her fourth year at the University receiving a Masters in History after conducting graduate work with Professor J. Franklin Jameson, who studied American and English history.

Woolley’s death. “It’s very clear that their relationship was loving and intimate,” Fields said, referring to the content of the letters. Woolley and Marks talked frequently about their Collie dogs which they raised together and which would frequently roam the Mount Holyoke campus, she added. The success of the college and its students was also a common topic of conversation in the letters, which convey how Woolley “truly cares for (the students) and wants … them to succeed and to go out into the world,” Fields said. As president and a public figure, Woolley was always on the move, but

Wellesley, Mount Holyoke and Jeannette Marks After graduating with a masters in 1895, Woolley was offered a position at Wellesley College to teach biblical history. There, she met Jeanette Marks with whom she would begin a 48-yearlong life partnership. When two job offers came to Woolley in 1899, one as dean of Pembroke College where she had graduated and the other as president of Mount Holyoke College, she decided on the latter and Marks came with. It is in the Mount Holyoke archives that the two women’s relationship is detailed in hundreds of letters and correspondences donated by Marks after

her letters with Marks were a constant even despite her frequent traveling, Fields said. She was a “woman in a hurry,” Fields said, noting the “scrawl” that was Woolley’s handwriting. Woolley wrote “from trains to hotels,” but they are “kind” and thoughtful letters nonetheless, Fields added. When not traveling around the country, Woolley lived on the Mount Holyoke campus with Marks, and for a time her mother. First they lived in a dorm alongside students, until Woolley advocated for a President’s House where she and Marks later stayed. In the President’s House, Marks taught English classes in the attic while helping

COURTESY OF MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

to organize student plays that were very popular among the students, Fields said. The partnership between Woolley and Marks was a “known relationship right on campus,” Fields said. While there was no direct opposition to the relationship at Mount Holyoke, Fields said that as Woolley planned to retire, the Board of Trustees went against Woolley’s wish for a female successor, saying that they wanted “the next president (to be) a family man, they wanted a husband and wife and they wanted that wife to be a good role model for the students.” Fields suspects that this was coded language that referred to Woolley and Marks’ relationship. This marked a “very difficult time in Mount Holyoke history,” Fields said. Woolley was “pushed out” in her 36th year at the college, a male president was appointed and she never again returned to the campus, staying at a summer home owned by Marks’ family in New York for the rest of her life. Woolley began writing an autobiography in her retirement, but suffered a stroke that left her unwell for several years. Confined to a wheelchair and suffering from loss of eyesight, Marks took care of Woolley in her sickness, Fields said. Woolley passed away on Sept. 5, 1947 at the age of 84. Following her passing, Marks received condolence letters from Mount Holyoke alumnae, university professors throughout the country and one from Frances Perkins whom Woolley had known as a student and who had gone on to become the U.S. Secretary of Labor. Lasting legacy Despite Woolley’s unceremonious death, her influence on Mount Holyoke and all of higher education was unmistakable, Fields said. “She transformed Mount Holyoke to a true collegiate environment,” instituting more rigorous academic programs, inviting students from around the world to study at the college and promoting doctoral study among the faculty. Her role at Mount Holyoke, turning it

from a religious seminary into a rigorous and competitive academic institution, made her a well-known figure. “She’s not a common household name today,” Fields said, “but the people in the 1930s, and earlier, in the United States, they would have recognized her name.” Woolley was active in Women’s Suffrage and worked with Jane Addams, among other reformers of the day. She served on the Red Cross Commission with Calvin Coolidge and was the only woman member on the Commission to investigate educational conditions in China in 1921. It was toward the end of her tenure as president of Mount Holyoke that Herbert Hoover appointed her as the only woman in the U.S. delegation to the Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments in Geneva. Woolley’s national prominence made her a role model for women at Brown. “She was definitely someone that other students looked up to in later years,” Betts said. Woolley “felt that women should create their own opportunities,” and she spent her life helping women achieve success in their careers. The desire to open the doors of education and career opportunities to other women was a difficult process at the time, Pembroke Center Archivist Mary Murphy said. “Even for very wealthy, very privileged women,” she noted, “they still faced enormous barriers to education.” But in spite of these obstacles, Woolley’s success at Mount Holyoke made her “well-respected” among the Pembroke alumnae who advocated for her appointment as the first female trustee of the University in 1927, Betts said. The Corporation replied to the request for a female trustee later that year, writing, “the time had not arrived for the election of a woman to membership.” Although she never sat on the board of trustees, Woolley’s impact on the University remains memorialized today in Woolley Hall — an undergraduate dorm built in 1963 on the part of campus that used to house Pembroke College.

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APR 9 — VOL 27 — ISSUE 10

FEATURE

See Full Issue: POST.BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

NARRATIVE

Oh, This Old Thing?

pastimes from a past time By siena capone

Finding Coldness on making sense of brain dumps by Joyce Gao illustrated by Habesha Fasika Petros “If you wish to move your reader,” Chekhov wrote, “you must write more coldly.” Herakleitos recommended, “A dry soul is best.” Flicking the page’s edge, I frowned at these two stanzas. From my experience and those of many of my friends who write, I can say with confidence that the young writer’s mind is anything but cold and dry. Instead, it flares and charges blindly in the dark, bouncing off walls and chasing itself in circles. Thrashing in this chaos, young writers produce their first works. Like many emotionally sensitive but socially awkward teenagers, I processed many life-shaping events by thinking and writing about them in my bedroom, alone, and often too late into the night.

I felt there was a transparent shield that grew thicker as the night unfolded, and the later I stayed up, the safer I was from the rest of the world. Once I was sealed off, a new world awakened under the dim lights of my dorm room: a world composed of suburban nights, my twin bed, Virginia Woolf novels, a malfunctioning heater that clattered and clanged, and endless writing. I did not write complete, coherent pieces in high school. Rather, I created a new document every six months and dumped everything I wanted to say into it. It included indignant paragraphs from arguments that I wish I had won (“Come on—philosophy and psychology are not boring; they are important areas of study that are missing in the current high school curriculum”), self-performed psychoanalysis, vague contemplations about the meaning of art (“I am starting to think the idea of ‘art that stands for itself’ is a bit of bullshit”), and too many pages spent on fleeting crushes. I never showed these documents to anyone. I just tried to understand the mystery of my mind by delving into it again and again. Sometimes, I

“Have you ever seen a clown clown? As opposed to a human clown.” “Why is Blue Man Group so famous? They don’t even do anything—are they just independently wealthy?”

1. The Olivetti Lettera 32 My parents got me an Olivetti typewriter for my birthday. It came from a nice Italian man on the Internet, and the box was swaddled in so many layers of packing tape that it felt like I was handling something classified, or sacred (it was, to me). When I opened the box over FaceTime, I couldn’t stop laughing in delight at how perfect it was: slim, a sweet pale green with an airy and open keyboard, a piece of yellowed paper already wedged in it. And it was an Italian machine—at one time, my Uncle Elio worked at Olivetti as an engineer. There was something heartening about this circularity. The blueprints on his desk became the gift on mine. I felt like I was looking at an extension of myself. Screw what they say about materialism: I felt complete. And where to start—a letter to my siblings? A poem that hadn’t been playing nice with my computer? Here was another entrypoint into my

ARTS & CULTURE

A Labor of Love

learning to bake with bake off By Kyoko Leaman In January, I returned at long last to Providence. After spending the better part of a year back in my childhood home, I was faced with the knowledge that my time at Brown hadn’t been a distant fever dream after all. The week before my 10 hour drive up the coast was punctuated with nightmares about leaving, nightmares about staying, packing too much shit for one room, checking the oil in my car, then the tire pressure, then the oil again. My mom piled snacks into moving boxes as though I wasn’t moving to a city with a CVS on every block. It was a comfortingly frenzied period of time, a release from the stasis of

LIFEST YLE

Bye Bye Blueno by Eashan Das & Gus Kmetz

Things to Unsee From Spring 2021

1. Me 4x-speeding lectures in my pajamas

6. “Follow the arrow” signs in every building.

2. Sex with the blinds up in the window across mine, every Friday night. Like clockwork.

7. Socially distant breakups :(

3. Mask-under-nose syndrome 4. Men doing sports shirtless (and maskless) 5. Frat boys tearing down ESV posters

post–

Want to be involved? Email: olivia_howe@brown.edu!

8. People dressing great. It’s too much for my tiny heart. You will live in my dreams forever <3 9. Heterosexual buffoonery 10. My Popeyes order missing a chicken sandwich :’(

When we first walked through the Van Wickle Gates, starry-eyed and full of hope, we could not have foreseen this would be how it would end. Or really foreseen anything, to be honest. But you know, it's been a wild ride, and while we’re sad that it’s ending, we’re also glad to have the lessons we’ve learned and the memories we’ve made. So, here’s a retrospective on our joint previous four years at Brown. So the Journey Began: Freshman Year Our first interaction was us discussing how everyone in the Andrews group chat was talking about where to get fake IDs while we were intentionally on the sub-free floor. But over our time as inhabitants April 9, 2021

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

Friday, April 9, 2021

METRO

R.I. to hold COVID-19 vaccination weekends for residents of color

Community leaders discuss vacination disparities, equity, outreach efforts BY BRENDAN GARDNER CONTRIBUTING WRITER In order to reduce the racial disparity in COVID-19 vaccination rates in Rhode Island, the state will hold two mass vaccination weekends for residents of color in the state. These events, which aim to vaccinate 12,000 people in four days, were created in response to vaccine inequity amid a pandemic that has hit communities of color especially hard. Residents of color, especially Black and Indigenous residents, are being vaccinated at lower rates than white residents. From April 10 to 11 and April 17 to 18, residents of color will be able to get vaccinated at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence and at a mass vaccination site at 1500 Diamond Hill Road in Woonsocket. Luis Daniel Muñoz, a doctor, community organizer and member of the

Governor’s Equity Council, said that reaching proportional vaccination rates is not enough. “Black people and Latinos between the ages of 34 and 44 are three times more likely to be hospitalized compared to white individuals 74 to 85 years of age,” he told The Herald. “When you look at that risk from an equity standpoint, one would say that that population should have relatively more vaccines allocated to them based on the increased risk. But in Rhode Island you can’t even get an equal proportion.” Harrison Tuttle, the executive director of Black Lives Matter Rhode Island PAC, agreed that equity was imperative. “All the disparities, both economic and criminal, that Black and Brown communities face have been piled on by this pandemic … These communities have been impacted the most by COVID,” he said. The inequity in distribution led Tuttle, Muñoz and other community members to hold a press conference in front of the Rhode Island State House March 25, when they called for increased efforts to rectify the disparity. Tuttle said he believed that the

March 25 press conference “definitely had an effect” on the creation of the vaccination drive. The vaccination event is the product of a significant amount of organizing efforts from community members and leaders, Muñoz said. Volunteers, officials and organizers have all worked to spread the word about the vaccination event, ensure that transportation is available and accessible and welcome people as they arrive at the vaccination sites. “We’ve had elected officials who are door knocking, who are legitimately canvassing, to see whether people in the community would like to get vaccinated,” Muñoz said. Muñoz also stressed that people, especially undocumented community members, need to feel safe and welcome at the vaccination sites. “People need to get that sense of both security and feeling that they’re in a safe space,” he said. “Those 15 or 30 minutes can transform someone’s life, not only in that they received a vaccine … but they’re understanding that there’s going to be a new healthcare system … that’s not going to forget them,” Muñoz said.

Ben Smith, a spokesperson for the City of Providence, described the large scale of the effort. “The City and our partners have performed intensive outreach targeting historically hard-to-reach populations within our neighborhoods hardest hit by COVID-19,” he wrote in an email to The Herald. He also agreed with the importance of ameliorating the vaccine disparity. “It’s a vital next step to vaccinate all eligible residents in the communities hardest hit,” he wrote. “We want to ensure that these residents have priority access to the vaccine.” “There exist significant challenges to vaccinating the most vulnerable members of our community, however, including language barriers and overcoming vaccine hesitancy,” he wrote. Volunteers, including Mayor Jorge Elorza, recently went door-to-door to register community members for vaccination, according to Smith. The city has also tried to do more outreach to communities of color, including by placing advertisements in local Spanish-language radio stations and distributing flyers in multiple languages to increase awareness of the vaccine,

Smith added. Tuttle cited additional barriers to ending the disparity. Lack of transportation, financial resources and time due to working multiple jobs are often reasons members of communities of color are prevented from getting the vaccine, he said. Additionally, past actions by the medical industry and the government have led some to distrust the vaccine, he added. But Muñoz said that the idea of hesitancy requires context. “The narrative of hesitancy is becoming this massive myth. … If you restrict information from getting to a population, and then you blame that population for being hesitant, that is not the fault of the population,” he said. “It’s the fault of the system that is not educating them.” “Our hope is that with the amount of leaders coming together, with the amount of door knocking, with the solidarity we see here, it’s going to really empower our community,” Muñoz said. “Hopefully we can get to a summer where we’re seeing less lives lost and more families that are able to embrace each other again.”

Check out The Herald’s College Hill restaurant map!

CA L E N DA R

COVID -19 AT BROWN LAST 7 DAYS*

APRIL S

Completed Tests

People Tested

13,994

8,377

Confirmed Positives

Positivity Rates

0.1 %

10 SINCE AUGUST 24, 2020*

Completed Tests

People Tested

342,601

10,625

Total Cases

Prevalence

542

5.1 %

*AS OF APRIL 9

Friday, April 9, 2021

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

Bhaskar ’21: Contemplating the future of academic objectivity BY NIDHI BHASKAR COLUMNIST Over the past two years, identity politics have trickled into the curricula of university settings worldwide. At face value, such movements appear well-intentioned. Expanding avenues of learning beyond the Western canon is an extremely important and necessary means to better appreciate and engage with alternate worldviews and cultural contexts. Likewise, finding tangible ways to make the University environment more welcoming and inclusive to students of diverse backgrounds is imperative for improving equity and student experiences at Brown. Representation matters but only insofar as it actually exposes students to alternate perspectives and experiences. Today, increasing cultural sensitivity has harmed academic experiences by placing too much of an emphasis on identity over the actual substance within academics. The increasing infusion of identity politics within academia has sidelined existing academics to make space for postmodernist ideology. Knowledge is not a commodity that can be used to push ideological ends on either side of the spectrum. Curricula can, and will, evolve over time. But this does not mean that past modes of thoughts should be unduly replaced in favor of new ones. The preservation of past ideas is a crucial responsibility of our academic institutions. Knowledge is, in many ways, transcendent, and a misguided emphasis on identity politics can make people hesitant to explore valuable and meaningful forms of past thought. Within a university setting, the identities of the academics and authors we read and quote should carry less weight than the thoughts and claims they make. The immense pressure placed on universities to diversify academic curricula nowadays could lead to the tokenized selection

of readings and curricular content regardless of relevance. Pressuring professors to alter curricula to include authors and contributors for the sake of diversity and justice can limit our ability to select content on its own merits, for fear that they are inadvertently promoting “injustice.” The widespread infusion of identity politics in academia can also damage our ability to freely explore knowledge, by forcing us to tiptoe around certain topics. A particular example of this is found in modern-day reductivist

worthwhile, placing an undue emphasis on identity can limit nuance by reducing entire schools of thought into a handful of “-isms.” History is now all about imperialism, while social science is all about racism. But it should be possible to appreciate the merits of the classical knowledge of the past while also acknowledging its failures and working toward a more inclusive future — rather than universally condemning past modes of thought. But in today’s campus climate, perspectives that even remotely associate with past

“Within a university setting, the identities of the academics and authors we read and quote should carry less weight than the thoughts and claims they make.” movements to reshape the classics, such Dan-el Padilla Peralto’s efforts to dismantle the classics’ “complicity” in white supremacy. Although scholars like Peralto have much to offer by imbuing their own perspectives to the humanities, the moralistic tone and dogmatic language of his postmodernist takes can hinder nuanced reasoning. While modern philosophies, such as critical race theory, can be useful for critically reexamining the past, their position as the increasingly dominant lens through which to study it is concerning. I fear that they could deprive students of the chance to grapple with the complexities of the past in an unbiased manner. “Dismantling” the classics simply because they have historically been revered as a touchstone for whiteness prioritizes ideology to an extent that overshadows the study of the content in and of itself. Decolonizing academia should prevent reshaping past lines of thought and fields because they do not conform with the values we prioritize today. While globalizing educational curricula is

knowledge can be rejected as “imperialist” or “colonial,” framing academic subjects as uniformly unjust, instead of knowledge to be explored and interrogated. Teaching subjects within frameworks like critical race theory or diametric conceptions of the “oppressor” and “oppressed” could narrow opportunities for discourse. Assuming that most past contributions to the classical canon are part of the same colonial project is ludicrously ignorant. Individuals are more than simply the sum of the identities and experiences they hold. Knowledge is far more complex. But identity politics often overlooks this fact, instead preferring narratives that are far too focused on questions of justice. For example, Western and non-Western schools of thought are often presented as opposing forces nowadays, rather than mere cohabitants. But such a way of thinking is ultimately a zero-sum game, forcing us to “pick sides” and limiting the ability of well-intentioned people to disagree on how best to address pertinent social

issues. Furthermore, such practices create pressure to conform to dominant lines of thought and rhetoric, such as those projected by decolonization movements which restrict meaningful discourse surrounding topics such as race and inequality. Likewise, assuming that all minorities will universally benefit from the foregrounding of identity in academia lumps us into a monolith. It is both infantilizing and harmful to project such generalizations; false presuppositions about the homogeneity of marginalized groups suggest that these groups are less resilient than their counterparts and disproportionally susceptible to troubling content. As a woman of color, feeling expected to subscribe to a particular left-leaning political orthodoxy is simply restrictive and uncomfortable. Such generalizations also serve as merely symbolic fixes, which do little materially improve the well-being of disadvantaged students and groups. As I come to the end of my four years at Brown and prepare to leave this institution, I have taken opportunities to reflect upon how this institution has prepared me for life outside these walls. Above everything, opportunities to freely discuss, counter-argue and seek the truth have provided the best experiences for academic growth. I fear that our modern emphasis on left-leaning identity politics can limit these meaningful experiences. Diversity and inclusion are valuable ends, but they should not require us to unnecessarily censor or restrict academic exploration. Universities must seek to globalize knowledge by cultivating nuance, preserving educational integrity and prioritizing factual analysis. Nidhi Bhaskar ’21 can be reached at nidhi_ bhaskar@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

Pandemic Journaling Project gathers anonymous COVID-19 reflections Anonymous journaling project builds community, records everyday reflections BY ANNA KIM CONTRIBUTING WRITER In an effort to record the voices of ordinary people during the COVID-19 pandemic, Assistant Professor of Anthropology Katherine Mason and Sarah Willen, associate professor of anthropology at University of Connecticut, co-founded the Pandemic Journaling Project to predesign an archive of people’s unique experiences. Willen, a “long-time journalist,” and Mason, author of “Infectious Change: Reinventing Chinese Public Health After an Epidemic,” both felt the pandemic was a “time that was so chaotic for so many people,” so they “didn’t want to impose” on people by interviewing or asking them to participate in a research project “just for us,” Mason said. Thus, the Pandemic Journaling Project began. The project features an online platform through which people can record weekly journals through writing, audio or visuals. “They can write their journal entry, they can record their voice and make an audio journal or they can take a photograph and either write or record something brief about that photograph,” Mason said. Participants can choose whether to make journal entries available for public sharing or to keep them private from public viewing for the time being. All

participants have consented “that 25 years after the pandemic is over, all of that material will be released (with) no names, no contact information, nothing that could easily identify the person,” Mason said. “Everything will be made part of the public record and will be kept as a digital archive.” This “perspective is really valuable in figuring out how to approach the next pandemic,” Mason said. “If we want to do better in the future, we need to know” the reasoning behind people’s decision-making during COVID-19. Accessibility has been a priority of the Pandemic Journaling Project because history has been “written by the powerful,” Mason said. “We wanted to really give an opportunity for ordinary people from all walks of life, and we worked really hard to make sure we have a diverse group of people participating in terms of racial and ethnic diversity,” age, socioeconomic status and education, she added. Participants can record journals on a computer or a smartphone, and entries can also be submitted in Spanish. Historically, “a lot of Spanish-speaking communities are left out of the narrative,” said Ana Perez ’24, a research assistant for the Pandemic Journaling Project. She has worked on translating the website, emails and social media posts from English to Spanish. People can participate “from any country in the world,” Mason said, and current participants come from more than 40 nations. The Pandemic Journaling Project is a mixed methods project which collects “basic survey information about our

participants,” Mason said. Information on demographic, health, political leaning and COVID-19 exposure are collected along with journal entries. This duality allows researchers to not only see the statistics, but also to “understand what’s going on in people’s

The Pandemic Journaling Project thereby aims to honestly capture people’s experiences with the pandemic. “People are not usually talking about major events (in the journal entries). They’re very often just talking about what happens in their every day,” Ma-

CLAIRE LIN / HERALD

The project was created to record ordinary people’s reflections during the pandemic, and featyres an online platform for weekly journals. lives from a more intimate perspective,” said Alice Larotonda, a consulting researcher for the Pandemic Journaling Project, a Brown visiting scholar in anthropology and a research fellow at the University of Bologna in Italy. This will allow them to “have a better grasp of the impact,” she added. The platform is anonymous and has never collected or posted identifying information, differentiating the record from social media. “When people submit anonymously … they’re not trying to be performative in the way you would be on social media. It’s a lot more authentic and raw,” Mason said.

son said. The team also strives to offer participants something that may actually be useful for them, too. Emily Nguyen ‘21, a research assistant for the Pandemic Journaling Project, emphasized the importance of reciprocity in outreach. “We wanted to ensure that whoever we’re reaching out to for help” is receiving reciprocated benefit and getting something in return. “Journaling has been shown to be helpful for mental health. It helps to relieve stress. It can help with mild depression,” Mason said. Though the Project doesn’t prom-

ise that journaling will do any of these things, participants have expressed that “they really appreciate having this medium in which to record their experiences on a mental health level,” Mason said. They feel that “they’re part of history, and they’re going to leave something behind,” she added. “The pandemic has been a very isolating time for a lot of people,” Perez said. “Just reflecting on what’s going on, taking that time and space to let it settle” is worthwhile. Participants have enjoyed having this weekly journaling appointment because they “feel like there (is) a continuity … in a moment where there was so much uncertainty,” Larotonda said. Through the featured entries page on the project’s website and Instagram page, people can read “that others are going exactly through the same things as they are,” Larotonda said. “People hearing each other, even if it’s anonymous, even if it’s just by reading someone else’s story, that sense of community that’s created, is probably one of the big successes” of the project, Perez added. All the members of the team who spoke with The Herald expressed their gratitude to the people who have started to journal with them. Currently, the team has collected 11,000 entries from about 1,500 participants, according to Mason. Larotonda said that the research team hopes that the project “helps people today and in the future understand how intertwined our lives are and how much we need each other … because we really are stronger together.”

W.CREW FROM PAGE 1 letes there.” He also noted that, while they were only present in a very limited capacity, he appreciated having some fans back. “People on shore still had to observe social distancing, but we could still hear them cheering,” Murphy said. “There’s nothing like race day,” said rower Hannah Yazdani ’22. “It was honestly just really emotional being back.” Her teammate, Bridget O’Callahan ’22, shared a similar sentiment. “It was incredible,” she said. “We’ve been training hard through this whole semester and through the whole fall semester not even knowing whether or not it was going to lead to racing, so it was great to get the chance to be out there on the water and (be) racing again.” For Yazdani, key challenges of this season have been staying emotionally level and dealing with uncertainty. “I feel like this year, the mindset has really been (to) manage the highs and lows, not expect anything but be ready if we are going to race,” she said. “We found out the Wednesday before that we were racing and we were ready.” Yazdani has also had to manage an unpredictable schedule. “For the most part you can plan the year and you know exactly what you’re doing, when you’re racing, if you qualify for NCAAs (and) when you go,” she said. “Now I could be told tomorrow that I’m racing in two days and I have to be prepared for that.”

ESV FROM PAGE 1 “Every attendee of this rally is taking time out of their already busy schedule to advocate for themselves because we can’t trust Brown to advocate for us,” Karma Selsey ’24 said to the crowd. “I am proud to stand in solidarity with you all, even though we shouldn’t feel the need to be here in the first place. As a first-year student attempting to navigate college while dealing with my marginalized identity on multiple fronts, it’s people like you that remind me to keep fighting.” The co-organizers worked to maintain social distancing at the protest. Despite the logistical challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the demonstration provided an outlet for students to express their support for the anti-sexual violence movement. “This is a really important issue, and I wanted to come out and show my support,” participant Leo Gordon ’23 said. Prior to the protest, ESV met with

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

Friday, April 9, 2021

Significant public health protocols were put in place before the race could actually take place. “Everyone had to be tested 48 hours before on our team and on URI,” Murphy said. “The deal was that we could have no interaction with (URI’s athletes) at all.” Many of the rules and regulations teams have to follow come not from the conference but rather from the Brown administration and its guidelines. “As much as the Ivy League provides guidelines you’re still subject to campus policies and approvals,” Sullivan said. “Much like our return to practice and activities plans, we also presented return to competition plans and they were sport-specific.” These plans outline a number of protocols for athletes. Masks are required at all times except when competing. Athletes have to be tested 48 hours before and 48 hours after competing through Brown’s testing program. Locker rooms are not available for athletes to use. There are also protocols pertaining to travel: Buses are at partial capacity with athletes distanced and wearing KN95 masks. Eating on buses is not permitted. Athletes have felt the impacts of the protocols, but they have made the best of the situation nonetheless. Crew-specific protocols include socially distanced on-land workouts and having each rower be assigned their own oar.

In abnormal conditions, athletes have relied on their teammates to stay motivated. “Motivation had to be much more internal,” O’Callahan said. “It was just coming from each other and from my teammates.” She also emphasized that the pandemic has left her with a new outlook on the ability to compete. “Being away from the boathouse for so long really makes you appreciate even just practicing,” she said. “I was just so excited to be back in the boathouse and then so excited to be back on the water. It’s something that we obviously take for granted.” Given the nature of crew as a sport, Murphy was confident that the risks of competing were low. “There’s no contact and there’s quite a bit of distance (between boats),” he said. “You’re outside, so going by everything we’ve read about and heard about, that should be safe.” Murphy said that the team has been working to schedule more competitions, but have had to navigate Brown’s complex protocols. “As for racing, we can’t travel more than 40 miles,” he said. “We’ve been invited to a number of races which we could not attend.” Still, the team is searching for opportunities and is optimistic they’ll be able to compete again. “Finding opponents is difficult but there are a lot of teams that are communicating with

us,” he said. Teams other than women’s crew hope to compete in the near future. “There’s other (athletic competitions) in the pipeline, not to the point where we can announce them yet, but we are looking at competitions possibly for this weekend,” Sullivan said. Athletes were optimistic about getting the chance to compete again, but acknowledged that nothing is guaranteed. “I really hope so but I know that we have to prioritize safety,” Yazdani said about the possibility of racing again. Still, O’Callahan felt confident about the chances of racing again. “We have teams that there’s the potential to race against going forward and so hopefully (Brown) can work out a plan to make that happen,” she said. “But we don’t have anything set in stone.” Murphy is hopeful that the team will be able to compete in the NCAA championships in Florida in late May. “I’m just hoping we can get a bid and then hoping Brown will say okay,” he said. Sullivan said that he could not make any promises about whether or not women’s crew would be allowed to travel if they were to get an NCAA championship bid, but he did not dismiss the possibility. “That’s really an unknown right now. There’s no guarantees, let me say that,” he said. “But (the NCAA championships) are far enough

off that as we continue to work through this, as more people get vaccinated, no, we’re not ruling those out.” Recently, Penn became the first Ivy League school to resume local athletic competition. According to Sullivan, different Ivies have been working together to discuss plans to return to competition, even if schools can’t compete against one another. “As a league we’re all working together,” he said. “We’re continuing to have conversations on a regular basis trying to figure out what type of success (schools) are having.” Ultimately, though, Sullivan will make decisions in Brown’s best interest, with regard to local guidelines. While the return to competition has prompted excitement for many, even more enticing is the prospect of a fall that moves closer to normalcy, in athletics as well as broader campus life. Sullivan pointed to President Paxson P’19’s recent announcement on requiring students be vaccinated before returning to campus as a particular cause for optimism. “I just like the fact that athletics is being mentioned in it,” he said. “This is a step in the right direction toward competition and I anticipate Ivy League competition” in the fall.”

the Student Activities Office Director Joie Steele to ensure that it would not pose a health risk to students. Co-organizers also expressed appreciation for the work of Sexual Harassment and Assault Resources and Education Advocate Alana Sacks and Title IX Coordinator Rene Davis to mitigate sexual violence and support survivors on campus. “They’re both doing amazing work,” ESV co-organizer Amelia Wyckoff ’22 told The Herald. “They’re just really incredible people who want to do what’s best.” But the ESV co-organizers said that, as a whole, the University must do more to address sexual violence on campus. The coalition wants the administration to approach the issue of sexual violence with the same level of attention it affords the coronavirus pandemic. “When the administration wants to tackle a crisis, they can,” ESV co-organizer Natalie Fredman ’21 said. “We’ve seen how much they’ve been on top of COVID.”

The University acknowledged that sexual violence is a serious issue. “Continued progress toward sustainable change comes from the collective work of our community, including the efforts of students and others to call attention to incidents of sexual assault and the impact they have,” University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald about the Week of Protest. “For as long as this remains a societal problem, we will remain steadfast in our commitment to preventing incidents and supporting those most directly impacted.” ESV co-organizers hope to channel the momentum from the student protest into an email campaign, according to co-organizer Ha-Jung Kim ’23. Originally scheduled to take place during the Week of Protest, the organizers announced in a Thursday Instagram post that the campaign, in which participants will email administrators a list of demands, will occur before the end of the spring semester. “The idea of the email campaign is

to really show the Brown administration that this isn’t just something that a couple of disgruntled student activists care about,” Fredman said. “This is something that the broader Brown community cares about.” After the email campaign, ESV co-organizers hope to work with the administration to meet their demands. A concern of particular note to the ESV co-organizers is that students tend to face an increased risk of sexual violence at the start of their first two semesters of college, a period known as the “red zone.” “In the summer, we have freshmen returning to campus as well as people getting vaccinated and returning to a higher level of socializing, so we foresee that being a pretty intense red zone,” Wyckoff said. “We’re hoping that the demands that we’re publishing now can be implemented in the next month before the red zone so that we can protect freshmen.” At the same time, the ESV co-organizers noted the systemic nature of the

issue at hand. “Sexual violence doesn’t begin and end with the administration,” Fredman said, “We’re focusing on the Brown administration because they’re the people in the position of power to create change, but we also see the fact that sexual violence is a structural problem.” The coalition identified the protest as an important first step in the fight against sexual violence. ESV co-organizers emphasized that their work will require sustained effort, as the movement is more than a reaction to any particular incident. “Our anger does not need to be dictated by the martyrdom of a singular survivor and the retraumatization of that survivor,” ESV co-organizer Carter Woodruff ’21.5 said. “We should be angry every day that this persists, so we should be angry that we haven’t been angry enough in the past and that our complacency is part of the problem.”