Friday, December 1, 2017

SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2017

VOLUME CLII, ISSUE 116

WWW.BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

IBES creates environmental justice track Ivy student governments differ in budgets, duties Large budget disparities attest to varying responsibilities of undergraduate councils

By EDUARD MUÑOZ-SUÑÉ SENIOR STAFF WRITER

HERALD FILE PHOTO

The new environment and inequality track requires that students take courses in race, class and gender inequality; environment and inequality; research methods; and policy and politics.

DIAP, student advocacy result in new undergrad curriculum track, equityfocused course

By JEFF DEMANCHE STAFF WRITER

The Institute at Brown for Environment and Society has launched a new undergraduate curriculum track that

brings a social equity focus to the environmental studies and environmental science concentrations. The track, called environment and inequality, was first introduced in spring 2017 and follows years of student interest in making environmental justice a more prominent area of study within the concentration.

IBES’ Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan set forth the idea of a new track, but the development of

the track and new classes pertaining to environmental justice preceded the DIAP, said Lauren Maunus ’19, an environmental studies concentrator who helped create the track and served on the DIAP committee.

The study of environmental justice focuses on the intersection of race, class, gender and systems of oppression with regards to environmentalism, Maunus said. “It’s really an » See IBES, page 2

W. BASKETBALL

Bruno notches close win over Holy Cross Guard Shayna Mehta ’19 dominates with 28 points, seven steals in close victory over Crusaders STAFF WRITER

INSIDE

By MIA PATTILLO SENIOR STAFF WRITER

ELI WHITE / HERALD

While the Crusaders jumped out to a seven-point lead at the half, the Bears recovered to defeat Holy Cross 82-78 Tuesday.

Bruno at halftime, as the team scored 50 points in the second half, compared to just 32 in the first. “They were putting a lot of zone on us, so we were just trying to work on our spacing and

decision making,” Behn said. “We did a little bit better job in the second half.”

Guard Shayna Mehta ’19 not only provided an offensive spark for the » See HOLY CROSS, page 4

Budgets and responsibilities UCS operates “typically on a small budget,” said UCS Treasurer Alex Song ’20. “Our budget, while fluctuating, stays pretty limited.”

Though UCS’ budget amounts to a fraction of the money allocated by the YCC and Penn’s UA, UCS does not fund or oversee many of the university operations that the other groups do.

Of UCS’ $5,500 budget this » See BUDGETS, page 3

Community mourns death of grad student Travis Johnson GS, theater student, known for extraordinary acting in Shakespeare plays

By RILEY PESTORIUS

Returning home victorious after its trip to California to compete in the Turkey Tip-Off Tournament, the women’s basketball team looked to continue its winning ways Tuesday, facing off against Holy Cross. The Bears (5-1) defeated the Crusaders (3-3) 82-78 in a fast-paced and high-scoring matchup.

Holy Cross’ hot shooting streaks contributed to multiple swings in momentum, hitting 14 of 27 threepoint attempts. The shots fell especially hard in the first half of the game, which helped the Crusaders jump out to a seven-point lead at the half with the score 39-32.

Brown Head Coach Sarah Behn felt the impact. “Mostly the difference in the game was how many threes they were making. … So when a team is that hot and we’re still able to find a win, I’m happy about that.”

Adjustments to adapt to the Crusader’s aggressive defense paid off for

The Undergraduate Council of Students operates under a budget of approximately $11,000 for the 2017-18 academic year.

Its budget is small compared to those of student government organizations at peer schools. This year, for example, the Yale College Council operates on a $349,000 budget and Penn’s Undergraduate Assembly works with more than $2.1 million — 30 and 190 times larger, respectively, than UCS’ budget.

However, it would be misleading to directly compare the budgets of separate student government bodies. Across universities, student-led governments assume vastly different responsibilities and operate through various branches, and their budgets

are generated by different sources of revenue and through different processes. Financial transparency, which is dependent on policy rather than monetary operations, also varies by institution.

Some of the duties that the YCC and UA oversee are taken care of at Brown by other student groups with substantial separate funding. For example, students groups that UA would fund are not funded by UCS but by the Undergraduate Finance Board, which has a $1.7 million budget in the 2017-18 academic year.

Travis Johnson GS, a student enrolled in the Brown/Trinity Master’s of Fine Arts in Acting program, died, wrote Dean of the Graduate School Andrew Campbell and Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Eric Estes in a community-wide email Thursday. He passed away Sunday, according to his obituary.

Johnson, who hailed from Amarillo, Texas and received his undergraduate degree in theater arts from West Texas A&M University, was a “fiercely talented actor and a generous collaborator, who was deeply loved and trusted by his classmates,” according to the email. He performed with Amarillo Little Theatre and Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey before moving to New York, and later, Providence, according to the obituary. Recently, he portrayed Malvolio in “Twelfth Night”

and Longaville in “Love Labor’s Lost” in Brown/Trinity’s fall Shakespeare productions, which “captured his innate whimsy and spark of mischief,” according to the email.

“It would be hard to overstate how much he was loved and admired by the directors, fellow class members, classmates. … The range of people that he had formed friendships with was truly remarkable,” said University Chaplain Janet Cooper Nelson.

The email offered support to students through Counseling and Psychological Services, deans in the Graduate School, deans in Student Support Services and University chaplains. People who wish to write tributes may send them to the MFA department at Trinity, who are assembling a book in his memory, Cooper Nelson said.

Johnson is survived by his partner, parents, brother, and sister as well as other family members and friends, according to the obituary. Memorial donations should be made to Amarillo Little Theatre or the Education Foundation of Canyon Independent School District, as requested by the family.

WEATHER

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2017

SPORTS COMMENTARY Klein ’20: Oklahoma City Thunder needs better ball movement, three-point shooting

COMMENTARY Richardson ’20: “Built” should be used to describe people descended from slaves in the United States

COMMENTARY Friedman ’19: Gender pay imbalance, sexual harrasment plague tech industry

SPORTS COMMENTARY Blasberg ’18: Football organizations find success in good coaches, good quarterbacks

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PAGE 2 • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2017

» IBES, from page 1 intersectional approach to environmentalism in both the built and the natural environments,” she added.

The track requires students to take courses in the areas of race, class and gender inequality; environment and inequality; research methods and policy and politics. Along with a list of course options which span departments and disciplines, the environment and inequality track lists a new course to be offered for the first time in spring 2018 as a requirement. The course, titled ENVS 0705: “Equity and the Environment: Movements, Scholarship, Solutions,” will discuss the history of the environmental justice movement as well as view environmentalism through the lens of various identities, said Logan Dreher ’19, an environmental studies concentrator and teaching assistant who is working with Professor of Environmental Studies J. Timmons Roberts to develop the class.

But some students think that a focus on environmental justice should extend to other “hard science” tracks within the concentration.

Both Maunus and Dreher believe that ENVS 0705 should be a core requirement for all concentrators, not just those pursuing the environment and inequality track. “Science is informed by culture and society,” Dreher said.

Though requiring all environmental studies concentrators to take a class relating to environmental justice would illuminate the topic for students pursuing other tracks, “logistic and bureaucratic reasons” may make it difficult to create this requirement, said Kurt Teichert, senior lecturer in environmental studies.

The development of the track and the corresponding core course have brought the topic of environmental justice into focus and will affect courses outside of the environment and inequality track, said Dawn King, director of undergraduate studies for IBES. She added that introductory courses already offer a heavy dose of environmental justice topics, pointing to an example of a geographic information systems class using case studies from within the area of environmental justice.

Both students and faculty within

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD IBES agree that the new track is a step in the right direction. But its creation raises questions about what additional steps IBES can take in order to attract racial, socioeconomic and gender groups historically underrepresented in the field.

“We recognize the importance of having greater diversity in our faculty,” Teichert said, adding that students hear different perspectives in courses taught by faculty with diverse backgrounds.

Maunus agrees that more faculty should be brought on from historically underrepresented groups but noted that the three IBES hires this summer “were all white men, despite the goal of having more faculty of color.” Currently the only undergraduate representative on IBES’ DIAP committee, Maunus said the DIAP committee hasn’t convened yet this semester, despite her attempts to facilitate a meeting.

The track has been warmly received, according to both students and faculty. “I think it’s been really positive,” King said, noting that seven or eight students are already pursuing the track.

COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY

Senior Lecturer in Environmental Studies Kurt Teichert voiced support for diversity in the department to teach courses with different perspectives.

NEWS

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2017 • PAGE 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

» BUDGETS, from page 1 semester, the New Initiatives Fund consumed approximately $4,800. This money is accessible only to newly created Category I student groups, which neither qualify for baseline funding nor demonstrate eligibility to request funds from the Undergraduate Finance Board’s $1.7 million fund, Song said.

The Project Fund uses approximately $550 of the council’s remaining $700 for the semester. This money is used to finance initiatives that have been adopted by the organization, but do not yet have a permanent source of funding. This fund’s uses are left “extremely wide open” and can go toward “whatever we think will benefit the students,” Song said.

The $550 project fund is sufficient for UCS’ current supplemental financial needs as the council relies on the University as a main funding source for approved initiatives. “We try to institutionalize (initiatives),” Song said. “That’s the main hope of anything we do.”

One of the council’s most recent and well-known initiatives is the Tampon Project, which was adopted in fall 2016 and was funded by UCS’ Project Fund for the first year. This fall, the University is funding the effort, but only on a “temporary basis,” wrote Director of News and Editorial Development Brian Clark in an email to The Herald.

The remaining few hundred dollars mostly go toward administrative costs, such as website maintenance.

At Yale, the YCC operated on an approximately $380,000 budget for the 2016-17 academic year, YCC Finance Director Carson Handley said.

Seventy-nine percent of the budget, which amounts to nearly $300,0000, is used to finance Yale’s Spring Fling — the school’s spring music festival that is similar to the University’s Spring Weekend.

The Council also spent approximately $55,000 on campus events and almost $20,000 on community events last year, according to the group’s website. This leaves only $4,000 per year for administrative costs, such as software subscriptions and tax filings.

At Penn, the UA’s mammoth $2.1 million budget was divided into 14 major categories for the 2016-17

academic year, according to UA Treasurer Samantha Shea and a budget report.

Of the budget, $1.3 million financed the Student Activities Council, which funds student groups. Almost $1 million funded the group’s Social Planning and Events Committee. After other expenses — including class boards and various committees — the UA fund allocated only $6,000 for its own maintenance.

Of the funds specifically for UA, nearly $4,000 was used for “general operations,” including meeting packets, retreats, annual reports, marketing and other expenses. Legal services, a mentoring program and marketing for an airport shuttle initiative used $2,000, according to the budget.

Considering the scope of operations managed by UCS, the other groups wield comparable amounts of money.

Forming a budget The disparity between various university student organizations’ budgets is also due to the manner in which they are formed.

UCS requests its budget from UFB, its partner organization, and operates in this respect “like any other Category III student group at Brown,” Song said. This means the group submits a budget proposal in the preceding spring semester, which is then reviewed by the UFB board and funded by its $1.7 million budget. UFB’s budget is derived from the student activities fee — which, for the 2017-18 academic year, was $274 for each student.

According to Song, UCS generally gets “a little less” than what they request from UFB. Song does not expect anything to change when he requests the 2018-19 budget for UCS next spring.

The YCC’s budget is created in a different manner. Its finance committee, comprised of Handley and two other members, does not request funds to cover its expenses. Instead, it receives approximately 50 percent of the total amount of money from Yale’s student activities fee. It receives an additional annual grant of $40,000 from the University President’s Office to help with the funding of Spring Fling, Handley said.

ALEX SKIDMORE / HERALD

However, students at Yale, unlike Brown, have the ability to opt out of paying the $125 student activities fee. Consistent with previous years, approximately 30 percent of Yale students decided not to pay the fee this year, which diminishes the amount of money the YCC could integrate into its budget, Handley said. Yale also covers the fee for students on financial aid, she added.

Penn’s UA’s budget, which is also drawn from its students activities fee, formed during the previous spring term, Shea said.

In the fall, a full year before the budget comes into effect, the budget committee meets with every major group to which it allocates funds in order to revisit the year’s financing.

Over the course of the year, the group meets several times in formal budget meetings to review the 14 major funding categories, and “within that, there are hundreds of line items,” Handley said. The committee proposes the budget to the UA’s 35-member general body, which holds three sessions over three weeks to deliberate the proposed budget and ultimately votes

on whether or not to approve it.

Transparency UCS does not report their budget online, but Song was able to provide figures for a breakdown of UCS’ budget.

The YCC’s annual budget is recorded online in a series of graphics that explain the budget’s exact sources of revenue and expenses. It is updated annually, and the full report for this year’s budget will be completed soon, Handley said.

The push for increased budget transparency started when a previous YCC director noticed a “problem with the fact that (the YCC is) using student money and students do not know what their money is being used for,” Handley added. “We want students to know what their money is being spent on.”

The UA’s $2.1 million budget is recorded in a 19-page spreadsheet on its website, which reports every sum that the group has allocated, down to $20.00 fee to register one of the organization’s domain names online.

Records extend back to 2012.

“I think (the budget and budgeting process) is extremely transparent,” Shea said. All budget meetings involving the general assembly are open to the public. The group is now attempting to live steam their events and general body meetings online.

Both the YCC and the UA were fully able to provide an exact sum for every one of their expenses. And while Song agreed about the importance of transparency, he was unable to provide exact figures for some specific UCS expenses as the organization looks to secure competitive prices from companies for potential contracts.

“We understand definitely that we want transparency, … but there are circumstances in which we might need to keep how much we’re paying to certain companies” inaccessible to the public, Song said.

“Our goal is to do everything at the lowest price, because this is students’ tuition that we’re using to fund all these things,” Song said. “We understand that we want transparency and we’re trying to give as much as we can.”

SPORTS

PAGE 4 • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2017

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Oklahoma City struggles: growing pains or cause for concern?

GEORGE KLEIN sports columnist

The Oklahoma City Thunder was widely expected to be a Western Conference contender this season, buoyed by offseason additions Paul George and Carmelo Anthony. Instead, the Thunder has struggled in the early stages of the season, showing inconsistent effort throughout.

Saturday’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks and Wednesday’s defeat at the hands of the Orlando Magic were Oklahoma City’s worst games yet — with the victories, the Mavericks and Magic improved their records to 5-15 and 9-13, respectively. Oklahoma City continues to lose to some of the league’s worst teams and currently holds a poor 8-12 record. If the season ended today, the Thunder would not be in the playoffs.

Fortunately, the season does not end today, and Oklahoma City still has time to fix its multitude of problems. Foremost is the need for better ball movement, especially in the closing minutes of close games.

Russell Westbrook has continued to hog the ball in crunch time, allowing defenses to load up against the point guard. In Oklahoma City’s loss to the Detroit Pistons, the Thunder

were down by one point with about five seconds remaining. Westbrook took the inbound pass and immediately chucked up a three that missed.

Wild Westbrook will not lead the team to success — Oklahoma City needs to stress passing to role players throughout the game (and not just to collect triple-doubles) in order to build up good habits for when it matters most.

The second issue is three-point shooting. The Thunder is currently hitting 34.5 percent of their longrange shots, a mark that ranks 25th in the league. In such a three-point

road performance thus far. The Thunder is 3-8 away from Oklahoma City and its frenzied home fanbase. The team clearly feeds off the crowd’s energy in big games — take the win over the Warriors for example — but has shown difficulty replicating its hectic and intense efforts for away contests. The Thunder was especially lackadaisical in the Mavericks game, scoring only 81 points in total and falling way behind in the second quarter.

Clearly, the Thunder has a lot to improve upon. But even though the sports media world has collectively

to kick off the “Big Three” era with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. But that team came out on the other side just fine, recording four consecutive trips to the Finals and two championships. The Cleveland Cavaliers, after the return of James and the addition of Kevin Love, began its season with a 1920 record before the organization traded for J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and Timofey Mozgov to help the team turn around. They have since reached the Finals three times and won once. The Thunder should not worry about its record just yet.

Even though the sports media world has collectively soured on Oklahoma City, Thunder fans should not be so quick to hit the panic button. heavy league, the 25th ranked team will never be able to compete for a top playoff spot. For comparison, the Golden State Warriors rank second, the Boston Celtics 11th and the Cleveland Cavaliers 12th. The Thunder has to find a way to climb back up the ranks — they are sandwiched by two of the NBA’s worst teams in the standings — the Brooklyn Nets in 24th place and Chicago Bulls in 26th.

The last problem is the team’s

soured on Oklahoma City, Thunder fans should not be quite so quick to hit the panic button.

Westbrook may not be passing enough late in games, but he has been conditioned by his famed triple-double hunt of the 2016-17 season. It will take time to adjust from that singular offensive mindset. Additionally, Westbrook must adapt to his two new star teammates. Super teams do not gel in an instant.

The Miami Heat started off only 9-8

The three-point shooting can improve as well. There are a few backup players who have the potential to shoot far better than their current marks — namely Alex Abrines, Josh Huestis and Jerami Grant. If Westbrook can rein in his tendency to shoot threes, then Oklahoma City can at least crack into the 15th rank range — in the middle pack of the NBA. With its athleticism and defensive potential, the Thunder needs to be only average from three to com-

» HOLY CROSS, from page 1 Bears by dropping 28 points, but also was dominant on the defensive end, grabbing seven steals. Mehta energized Brown’s defensive effort, which led to multiple scoring opportunities. The Crusaders also turned the ball over 15 times, allowing the Bears to score 21 points off of those turnovers.

The final minutes of the close contest featured high-stakes free throw shooting from both teams. With 32 seconds left in the game, Holy Cross failed to convert on a free throw that would tie the game. Taylor Will ’19 found herself on the line with six seconds left, shooting a free throw that would put the game out of reach for the Crusaders. The final point of Will’s 12-point performance was tallied on a foul shot, which put the Bears ahead by four points to win the game. Will

pete.

In the end, Oklahoma City still has a ton of premier talent on the floor, and its dominant 108-91 victory over the Warriors showed the heights that this team can reach.

Paul George is playing like a Defensive Player of the Year candidate, recording 2.8 steals per game. Carmelo Anthony is finding himself in this new offense — shooting 37.1 percent from three so far, a number that would be his best since the 2013-14 season. Westbrook remains one of the sport’s greatest forces. He recorded 34 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in the win over Golden State.

He can be even better if he just resists the temptation for more tripledoubles. There has been a lot of bad in Oklahoma City, but some good is hidden there too.

Only 4.5 games separate the Thunder from the fourth-seeded Portland Trail Blazers. Obviously, there are a bunch of teams that separate them as well, but the season is far, far from over. A five game-winning streak would silence a lot of the doubts and cement this team in postseason contention. Personally, I would bet on that hot streak coming sooner rather than later.

George Klein ’20 can be reached at george_klein@brown.edu.

also grabbed 10 rebounds for Bruno.

Behn was ultimately pleased with her team’s balanced stat sheet and bench performance. Four players scored in the double-digits. Along with Mehta and Will, Justine Gaziano ’20 added 16 points and 5 rebounds and Janie White ’18 added 12 points, six rebounds, two assists and four blocks.

“I was really happy with the bench,” Behn said. “I know some kids only played a few minutes, but they really helped us.”

The team looks to recharge after its cross-country trip and the high-energy game, shifting its focus to the Ocean State Tip Off tournament, hosted this weekend at Providence College.

“Hopefully now we’re going to get our systems back because we’ve got a big weekend ahead,” Behn said. Brown’s first matchup of the tournament is Saturday against Providence.

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TODAY

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2017 • PAGE 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

menu

festive feels

SATELLITE DINING ANDREWS COMMONS

Pizza: Harvest, Bacon Alfredo Pho Bar, Poke Bowl JOSIAH’S

BLUE ROOM

Chicken Dinner Bowl, Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables

Bread Bowl Soup Station

DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH

DINNER

Grilled Lemon and Pepper Chicken, Stir Fried Green Beans, Cherry Crumb Pie

Cajun Blackened Chicken, Orange Chipotle Glazed Tofu, Jelly Cake Roll

VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH

DINNER

Breaded Chicken Fingers, Green Beans with Tomatoes, Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Eggplant Parmesan Sandwich, Mac and Cheese Bar, Whole Kernel Corn, Jelly Roll

sudoku

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Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 14-time All-Star catcher Rodriguez, familiarly 6 Smarten (up) 11 Data proc. equipment 14 Amer. economic assistance 15 Dermatologist’s concern 16 Skill 17 *“Karma Chameleon” band 19 Boot part 20 __ Sutra 21 Dipped in a well, maybe 22 Behold, to Livy 23 Tilts 25 *Space traveler 27 Corrida celebrity 29 Global positioning fig.

30 __ alai 32 Turner memoir 34 State with a 45mile Canadian border 38 Notable time 39 With 40-Across, kid’s toy ... and a word that can precede the first word of the starred answers 40 See 39-Across ... and a word that can precede the last word of the starred answers 42 White __ 43 Ministers to 45 Lengthwise 47 “Deadwood” channel 48 Tampa NFLer 50 Learn well 52 *It’s not good to meet with it 56 18-and-overs 59 Programs for 11Across, briefly 60 __ Reason 62 Trendy NYC section 63 Hwy. 64 *Used car selling point 66 D. Petraeus’s title 67 Shorthand system

33 Lots 35 Fair-haired 36 Fireplace foodwarming shelf 37 Tic-tac-toe loser 41 Dicey 44 Two-baggers: DOWN Abbr.

1 Kings shoot them 46 Birds do it 2 Unremarkable 3 Firehouse mascot 49 Eau __ 51 “Project __”: 4 Jeans brand fashion design 5 URL ender show 6 WWII weapon 7 Singles out ANSW R O 8 Shoreline recess 9 Middle Aged?

10 “Swell!”

11 Sewing kit item 12 Spring bloomers 13 Awfully expensive 18 Not back down from, as a challenge 22 Founded: Abbr.

24 Outwits on the stand 26 One invoked during a drought 28 “Live! With Kelly” host 30 Shark attack victim?

31 “__ you for real?”

68 Seen enough 69 Not quite right 70 “The Gondoliers” bride 71 Actor Mike

52 Red River city 53 Made a choice 54 Topple 55 Actress Moorehead 57 The enemy’s 58 Separates by type 61 “Three Sisters” sister 64 Pvt.’s boss 65 Electrical measure

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ANNA KRAMER / HERALD

Thayer Street gets a festive makeover as the holiday season approaches. With around three weeks left until winter break, students are gearing up for finals and looking ahead to a much-needed respite between semesters.

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

“When a team is that hot and we’re still able to find a win, I’m happy about that.”

— Women’s Basketball Head Coach Sarah Behn

See holy cross on page 1. calendar FRIDAY

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EEB Brown Bag Seminar 12:00 P.M. Biomed Center, 202

SATURDAY Shabbat Service and Lunch 10:30 A.M. Hillel

End of the Year Salsa Social 10:00 P.M. Smith-Buonanno Lounge, 107

SUNDAY Catholic Mass 10:30 A.M. Manning Chapel

Baha’i Club Meeting 7:30 P.M. J. Walter Wilson, 402

COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2017

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Undergraduate teaching program needs reform To the Editor: An article released Tuesday by The Herald (“Neuroscience TAs face unclear expectations with hourly based pay”) regarding the pay system for neuroscience teaching assistant positions made a lasting impression on many staff and students within and outside of NEUR 0010: “The Brain: An Introduction to Neuroscience.”

We NEUR 0010 undergraduate teaching assistants feel that this article, while necessarily bringing to light a fundamental University-wide issue that requires attention and consideration, did not comprehensively reflect administration-level failures to sufficiently fund for the efforts of neuroscience and other department TAs. Instead, the framing of this article allocated much attention to the course instructors, Professor of Neuroscience Michael Paradiso and Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience John Stein, and other related faculty members. Our UTA staff recognizes that the prominence of our voluntary responses, compared to those from TAs from other courses, was the central factor in the article’s scrutiny of NEUR 0010 in particular. Yet the danger in focusing on and selecting highly particular quotes from such a specific group, especially in the context of a University article, is that it inevitably misdirects attention to its immediate professors and associated faculty, distracting and deterring readers from understanding the fundamental issue residing at a greater level.

Importantly, we would like to see an article that is focused more on the University-wide devaluation of student labor, as this is not an issue unique to the neuroscience department. The current article does not emphasize enough that the discussion of the neuroscience department indicates a symptom of a larger issue, not something that is endemically wrong with the neuroscience department or the professors within it.

STAY UP-TO-DATE. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK.

Anna Bjella ‘18, Stephanie Chan ‘19, Risako Kimura ‘18, Aidan O’Shea ‘19, Oliver Tang ‘19, Amy Thoman ‘18, Adrianna Wenz ‘18, Dorothy Yam ‘19 NEUR 0010 undergraduate teaching assistants

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COMMENTARY FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2017 • PAGE 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

A Built space RANDI RICHARDSON staff columnist

This September, the student organization Black Students United at Cornell submitted a list of demands to their administration in which they defined the historically underrepresented black students on campus as “Black Americans who have several generations in this country.” In response to their demands, Bami Oke ’20 wrote a recent column in The Herald, yet she uses the term “African American” to describe “black folks whose families have lived in the United States since the time of the Atlantic slave trade.” Clearly, many people use the two terms interchangeably. I have no problem with these inconsistencies because the definitions are personal, but they can also produce confusion. Quite frankly, in reading the BSU statement and Oke’s response, I have no idea which identities within blackness they are describing, because the conversations are often reduced to circular arguments steered by varying definitions.

This ambiguity in referencing various black identities in the United States is one of the reasons that conversations pertaining to them cannot happen effectively. “African Ameri-

can” and “Black American” are the terms used most commonly, yet they are generally ineffective because they still allude to slavery. Depending on who is asked, African Americans and Black Americans are usually defined as the descendants of enslaved people in the United States. But it’s disheartening to label a group of people based on their connection to slavery; there is no life to it, no for-

people in the United States did in fact build this country during slavery and long thereafter. Built people exemplify excellence, strength and so much more because enslaved people endured a boatload of atrocities for over 300 years. While Built still refers to slavery, it does so in a progressive manner that symbolizes both the past and future of black people. There is action behind Built.

describe their histories and current situations. These conversations are perhaps most important to have on college campuses because, for the greater part of history, predominantly white institutions such as Brown didn’t accept the very people that built their campuses. Only recently has there been a valiant effort to promote diversity and inclusion on campuses, but there is so much

‘Built’ is a term recently coined by a group of Brown students and is, in my opinion, the only term that adequately describes the descendants of enslaved people because it has more power than the arsenal of words currently used. ward movement behind it. It is beyond time to build anew off the labor that was sacrificed. For this reason, we need to devote a completely different term to describe the person descended from enslaved people in the United States: “Built.”

“Built” is a term recently coined by a group of Brown students and is, in my opinion, the only term that adequately describes the descendants of enslaved people because it has more power than the arsenal of words currently used. Built is reflective of the knowledge that black

The true power in the term, however, is that it finally gives these identities a name that does not use “America” in the title. This omission is important because it highlights the fact that Built people are not products of America; America is quite literally a product of Built people. Given all that this country has done to oppress Built people, why should we have to wear a name that directly references that very history?

It’s time that Built people reclaim their identities and are represented by terms that adequately

more to be done. To catalyze these conversations and create spaces specifically dedicated to Built people, there need to be student groups solely dedicated to Built students on campuses. Right now, Built students at Brown are free to join the vaguely-defined Black Student Union, which serves as a melting pot for anyone who identifies as black. Organizations like BSU bring together the intersecting identities of blackness and form a sense of community across them. This demonstration of solidarity is valuable and breathtak-

ing, but there should also be room for student groups specifically directed toward particular identities. For example, Harvard has a Nigerian Students Association, the University of Texas at Dallas has a Kenyan Students’ Association and Brown itself contains the African Student Association and Students of Caribbean Ancestry. The presence and continued role of these groups within their communities only underscore the fact that Built people need a group of their own.

Now is the time to establish such a student group here at Brown. As a Built woman on campus, I have found a nucleus of 20 people who want to identify similarly — more people than I had initially imagined — and this sense of community has helped us express our common, racialized experiences at Brown and across the country. Together, we are building a space on campus that caters to our varying needs. Built is currently an unofficial student group, but we will be filing for categorization by the Undergraduate Council of Students next semester.

I encourage any students or potential supporters who are interested in learning more to reach out to me directly for more information.

Randi Richardson ’20 can be reached at randi_richardson@brown.edu.

Tech has a gender problem ANDREW FRIEDMAN staff columnist Like many other Brown students on the hunt for a summer internship, I am captivated by the tech industry. There are many obvious reasons driving students to seek jobs and internships at companies such as Google, Amazon, Uber and Tesla: These companies are innovative and seem to pamper their employees at every turn, from benefits (Google offers its employees free massages and nap pods) to creative office designs (Airbnb models its headquarters’ conference rooms after apartments rented on the site). But perhaps most importantly, tech companies are extremely powerful in the modern global economy, making the work done there all the more impactful. Google continues to map the world, Amazon has brought a significant portion of consumer retail online, Uber has introduced the age of self-driving cars to Pittsburgh and Tesla has revolutionized the electric car, to name just a few innovations.

The industry, however, is still relatively young, and its companies’ actions now walk the line between growing pains and abuses of power. As Mark Liang ’19 noted in his recent column (“Too much tech,” Nov. 14), these companies are now deploying their clout in real estate markets: Amazon has cities “pimping themselves out” as potential sites for their new headquarters while Snap Inc. “single-handedly” gentrified Venice Beach, to the dismay of its lower-income residents. Though tech companies receive more attention for their roles in producing these urban problems, more insidious are the issues of gender-based pay imbal-

ances and sexual harassment plaguing the entire industry. These two problems are inextricably linked, as gender imbalances in pay and power put men in a position to harass, while cases of sexual harassment are usually symptoms of wider gender-based issues. The tech industry has well-documented problems on both fronts, and unfortunately it seems as though the known cases are only the tip of the iceberg.

For example, Google — whose public rela-

In particularly egregious cases, these kinds of sexist attitudes can balloon into pervasive cultures of sexual harassment. Within the tech industry, Uber is the poster child of this phenomenon. The company was rocked by a mass firing of twenty employees this past summer, including the company’s former CEO, Travis Kalanick, following investigations into 215 sexual harassment claims. Now Uber, in addition to facing lawsuits against taxi driver

The industry, however, is still relatively young, and its companies’ actions now walk the line between growing pains and abuses of power.

tions history had long remained unmarred — is perhaps the most notable tech company to be called out for gender-based wage disparities. According to a New York Times report published this year, Google pays its female employees less than male employees “at most job levels.” These kinds of relatively widespread problems can be symptomatic of even deeper cultural issues. For Google, this certainly seems to be the case: This summer, the company fired a software engineer, James Damore, who sent out a company-wide memo claiming that women are paid less because they experience “higher levels of neuroticism” than men, among other reasons.

unions around the world, faces a lawsuit for racial and gender discrimination from three female plaintiffs.

The issue of sexual harassment is particularly relevant now in light of allegations against Harvey Weinstein, former President George H.W. Bush, Kevin Spacey and Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., among other entertainers and politicians. But the issue deserves special attention in the tech industry because of its influence over the country’s ideas and values. Tech companies control the channels of communication through which ideas are created and shared, and have an inordinate impact on the information

to which people are exposed. Just look at President Trump’s prolific use of Twitter, or Facebook and Google’s role in the 2016 election. If we allow gender discrimination to go unchecked in the country’s most influential companies, the culture can spread to other industries and it will only result in the tech industry becoming more male-dominated by construction. We are already seeing some of this in action: Although there are no exact numbers, according to the New Yorker, almost half of the women who enter tech eventually leave — more than double the rate among men — and among women who do leave, 60 percent claim that harassment contributed to their decision.

As Brown students, it is worth our time to investigate the histories of companies where many of us aspire to work. But, given that 16 percent of the Class of 2016 went into the tech industry, I wouldn’t advise students to simply write off companies that have questionable records, since the vast majority do. Instead, the Brown student body has a tangible responsibility to engage with these companies and improve their cultures and equitability should we ever work for them. There are Brown alums in the process of doing this, such as current Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi ’91, who signed the White House’s Equal Pay Pledge in 2016 as CEO of Expedia and plans to promote a similar ethos at Uber. While gender-related problems are dissected on a daily basis at Brown, the tech industry continues to struggle to even acknowledge the existence of these concerns. Brown students can and should help to address these important issues in the professional world.

Andrew Friedman ’19 can be reached at andrew_friedman@brown.edu.

SPORTS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2017

Brady-Belichick tandem has Patriots at home in first place CHARLIE BLASBERG sports columnist Everything is falling into place for both the Patriots and the rest of the NFL. Entering Week 13, all is well in New England. The Pats have a 9-2 record and are sitting pretty atop the American Football Conference East.

Teams that posed a threat early in the season have all stumbled to mediocrity. Tom Brady is healthy. Rob Gronkowski is healthy. And the defense has corrected its early mistakes.

With four out of their remaining five games against soft AFC East opponents, the Patriots will earn a firstround bye in the playoffs and advance to play Pittsburgh in the Conference Championship game. It’s all so simple, isn’t it?

Every NFL season seems to begin with a great degree of uncertainty.

The flurry of offseason moves, cou-

pled with how little the preseason games indicate, makes any earlyseason speculation essentially meaningless. Sure, it is fun to watch your team win on opening day or to be first in their division for a few weeks.

But the first quarter of the season, this year in particular, reveals very little about who will be playoff contenders. The true litmus test of a

able starts to the season. The Jets and Dolphins had 3-3 and 4-2 records, respectively, through six weeks and the Bills started their season 5-2. Almost on cue, though, each of those teams has given way to other contenders with better head coaches and stronger quarterbacks. The Jets and Dolphins have both lost five straight while the Bills have lost three of their last four

ers, Saints and Panthers, reveals organizations that have good coaches and good quarterbacks. Most other teams struggle due to a revolving door at those two key roles, yet they perpetuate their losing ways by ousting their staff and players after poor seasons.

The Eagles have been remarkable this year in that they don’t fit

This simple formula for NFL seasons has given me many enjoyable fall and winter afternoons watching my beloved Patriots thump the opposing “tomato cans” on a weekly basis. playoff football team is if it has the right people in the two most important places: head coach and quarterback.

This theory is most apparent in the AFC East. Despite being mired in the shadow of the Patriots for the better part of two decades, the Jets, Bills and Dolphins actually had respect-

games. Meanwhile, the Patriots, who were even with the Dolphins through six games have won seven straight.

Everything is right in the NFL at the moment. The cream has risen to the top, while the bad teams have reverted to their losing ways.

A glance at this season’s successful teams, like the Patriots, Steel-

the mold. The team has a leaguebest 10-1 record with a second-year quarterback in Carson Wentz and a head coach, Doug Pederson, who is in his first season with the team. Acknowledging that the Eagles are the exception and not the rule, this NFL season has gone according to script.

Many teams enter the season with

high hopes, but the only teams that have staying power have the right people in the two most important roles.

While each individual football game is still exciting to watch, tracking an entire campaign is dull and monotonous because of the very basic script each season follows. In the past 14 seasons, just four different quarterbacks have represented the AFC in the Super Bowl. But as a New Englander, I am okay with that. This simple formula for NFL seasons has given me many enjoyable fall and winter afternoons watching my beloved Patriots thump the opposing “tomato cans” on a weekly basis. I will continue to enjoy spending my Sundays this way until a team can devise a new formula to win or until a new great quarterback/coach duo surfaces. But for now, everything in the NFL is in its right place.

Charlie Blasberg ’18 can be reached at charles_blasberg@brown.edu.

Forecasting Frank Ntilikina’s future SAM GRIGO sports columnist Through 21 games, the New York Knicks, with a record of 11-10 and the seventh-best point differential in the Eastern Conference, have substantially outperformed their preseason projections. FiveThirtyEight’s CARMELO ratings pegged the Knicks for just 30 wins at the start of the season. Just about a quarter of the way through the year, New York has already improved its forecast by seven wins and boosted its chance of making the playoffs to 29 percent.

Much of the team’s success can be attributed to Kristaps Porzingis making the leap to stardom in his third season. But Frank Ntilikina, New York’s rookie point guard and last year’s eighth overall pick, has generated his own share of buzz — and for good reason. Ntilikina, who stands at 6’5” with a 7-foot wingspan, has made an immediate impact defensively. The Knicks defend about a point better per 100 possessions with the rook on the floor, per NBA.com, and Ntilikina has racked up the highest steal percentage of any rookie guard with more than 100 minutes played, according to Basketball Reference’s Play Index.

But for all his defensive prowess, Ntilikina has struggled mightily on offense to start his career. Of the NBA’s most highly-touted rookie point guards — including Ben Simmons, Lonzo Ball, De’Aaron Fox and Dennis Smith Jr. — Ntilikina owns the lowest assist percentage, the highest turnover percentage and the second-worst true shooting percentage. Ntilikina is a 19-year-old with less than 400 NBA minutes under his belt, so it’s far from time to

panic about his development. Still, for a New York team that’s banking on the Porzingis-Ntilikina pairing to drag the franchise out of mediocrity, it’s worth asking: What is reasonable to expect out of Ntilikina’s career?

To get a grasp of how guards with playing styles similar to Ntilikina’s progressed after their rookie seasons, I dug up the statistics of every first-year guard that appeared in at least thirty games since the be-

likina’s offensive potential fits that of a shooting playmaker, though he has exhibited more defensive potential than is typical of that type of player. Contemporary shooting playmakers include stars like Damian Lillard, Stephen Curry and Isaiah Thomas.

Those comparables seemed too broad, so I drilled deeper by finding rookie guards classified as shooting playmakers who posted three-point, free throw, usage, rebounding, as-

his first 18 games. They’re also both tall, long defenders, unlike many of the other guards clustered as shooting playmakers. The one major caveat: Neither Holiday nor Crawford was as bricky in their first year as Ntilikina has been shooting from the perimeter. Holiday shot 39 percent from three and 76 percent from the free throw line as a rookie, while Crawford shot 35 percent and 79 percent, respectively. Ntilikina’s shooting numbers currently sit at

SAM GRIGO / HERALD

ginning of the three-point era (the 1979-1980 season) using the Play Index. I used model-based clustering to identify the three different “types” of guards: non-shooting playmakers, who tend to boast high assist totals and rate well defensively; shooting playmakers, who compensate for their lack of defensive skill with ability to space the floor; and combo guards who shoot, rebound and defend, but do little to make their teammates better.

With his relatively high assist and three-point attempt rates, Nti-

sist, turnover and steal tendencies in Ntilikina’s range. Using this methodology yields a list of guards who made their debuts at age 22 and over — like Nando De Colo, Steve Blake and Phil Pressey. But a pair of younger players stand out from the list: Jrue Holiday and Jamal Crawford, who entered the league at 19 and 20, respectively.

As rookies, Holiday and Crawford displayed the same mix of high three-point attempt volume, low free-throw frequency and spotty playmaking that Ntilikina has over

just 25 percent from three and 64 percent from the line.

He has only attempted 32 total threes and 14 free throws this season, so it’s possible that despite the pre-draft concerns about his shooting, Ntilikina’s true perimeter accuracy is closer to that of Holiday and Crawford than his present stats indicate. It might be smart to think of Holiday and Crawford as best-case scenarios for Ntilikina’s offensive development, players representative of his ceiling should he turn into a reliable deep threat. With that in

mind, here’s a chart of Holiday and Crawford’s offensive output by age as measured by Offensive Box PlusMinus, a stat from Basketball Reference that estimates a player’s offensive contributions in points per 100 possessions above or below average.

Considering his defensive prowess, if Ntilikina can reach the 1.5 to 2.5 OBPM range that Holiday and Crawford began occupying around their fourth seasons, he’ll be a borderline all-star and a key two-way cog that can mesh with any set of teammates seamlessly.

It’s likely Ntilikina will approach Holiday’s aptitude as a playmaker — he already possesses solid vision and his decision-making and ball security will improve as he matures into his early 20s. The concern is that his jump shot never materializes into a real weapon, clogging vital passing and driving lanes on offense.

Ntilikina will always have a role as a defensive ace, especially as he fills out and learns the intricacies of NBA-level defense. But the Knicks didn’t pass on Smith at pick number eight to draft a defensive stopper without elite athleticism and a broken jumper, particularly as the NBA continues to place more value on the three-point shot than ever.

New York needs at least one more star to pair with Porzingis to become a factor in the east, a task that will become daunting if Ntilikina’s icy shooting proves to be symptomatic of something more than teenage growing pains. Ntilikina’s defense and passing alone gives him a high floor, but for the Knicks to challenge Boston and Philadelphia in a few years, he’ll need to develop into a threat from distance.

Sam Grigo ’18 can be reached at samuel_grigo@brown.edu.