SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2022
VOLUME CLVII, ISSUE 31
METRO
Examining U. property impact on East Side How dorm construction, off-campus housing has contributed to displacement
UNIVERSITY NEWS
Students, ResLife staff reflect on housing process Students offer ways on their experiences with the housing process. ResLife can improve “It’s been complicated and overhousing selection lottery whelmingly negative,” Jessica Deschenes ’24 told The Herald. Having process
BY FINN KIRKPATRICK & KATY PICKENS SENIOR STAFF WRITER & METRO EDITOR University Hall was the first building on the property of Brown University in Providence in 1770. It was constructed by laborers, both free and enslaved, six years after the University’s founding in 1764. Initial expansion of the campus was conducted at a slow pace, with the second building, Hope College dormitory, not added until 1822. By 1904, all the buildings on the Main Green were constructed, and by 1938 campus had expanded to encompass all the land bound by Waterman, Prospect, George and Thayer streets. In 1920, the Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — saw the need to expand in a structured and comprehensive manner that would see campus development happening on
BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM
BY CANQI LI & KAITLYN TORRES SENIOR STAFF WRITER & UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR HERALD ARCHIVES
Due to factors like urban redevelopment to changing economies, the University has historically shaped College Hill and Fox Point. all sides of its then relatively small footprint. A statement from the Corporation at that time read, “We need now a policy to guide our physical development for the next half century … We must have a comprehensive plan, not indeed as a straight-jacket, but as a ‘pattern in the mount.’” Following nearly 170 years of slow development on College Hill, this newfound conviction caused new development of Brown’s campus to ramp up exponentially, with expansion occurring in all directions. To the south, the campus saw the opening of Wriston
Quadrangle (1951), Keeney Quadrangle (1957) and Graduate Center (1968) to account for increasing residential needs. During this same time, new academic buildings began to populate north, east and west of the Green with the construction of such buildings as the Rockefeller Library (1964), Barus & Holley (1965), Biomedical Center (1969), List Art Center (1970) and Sciences Library (1971). Today, rent and housing prices are
SEE DISPLACEMENT PAGE 8
Thursday marked the start of the housing lottery for the 2022-23 academic year. On Tuesday, as some rising sophomores were scheduled to select their housing, the StarRez portal no longer listed any available beds, The Herald previously reported. Students have expressed their discontent with the housing process on social media through platforms such as the Instagram account @brownummes. To learn more about this year’s housing lottery, The Herald spoke with students and Brenda Ice, senior associate dean and senior director of the Office of Residential Life, to reflect
lived in an “unsafe environment” before enrolling at Brown, Deschenes was given permission from ResLife to arrive on campus early. “Ever since then, (I) have just been fighting with them,” she continued. “When the summer rolled around, they weren’t going to offer me housing and the only way for them to keep me on campus was to make me an RPL for my own class year, which was really awkward and uncomfortable.” Suffering from PTSD, Deschenes applied for accommodations to live with trusted friends for the next academic year. ResLife “denied my accommodation, which was really upsetting, especially because I had a therapist’s note,” Deschenes said, adding that she knows “so many people who apply for fake accommodations.” As a result, she will live alone in a single room in Graduate Center.
SEE HOUSING PAGE 3
METRO
SPORTS
Councilwoman Nirva LaFortune runs for mayor
Gymnastics team caps off historic season with strong performance at nationals
Ward 3 Providence councilwoman would be city’s first woman mayor
Bears send four to individual finals, reach team finals for third time in program history
BY MICHAEL SEOANE SENIOR STAFF WRITER Nirva LaFortune MA ’19 is running to be the next mayor of Providence in the Nov. 8 general election, following a Sep. 13 primary. Term limits prevent the current mayor of Providence, Jorge Elorza, from retaining his post. LaFortune currently represents Ward 3 on the Providence City Council, serving on the Committee on Claims and Pending Suits, the Committee on the Charles V. Chapin Memorial Award and the City of Providence COVID-19 Recovery and Resiliency Task Force, according to her profile on the Providence City Council website. She is also assistant director of the Curricular Resource Center for Peer Advising. LaFortune was born in Haiti but immigrated to the United States at
the age of three to escape the Duvalier dictatorship, she told The Herald. Elected in 2017 to serve on the Providence City Council, LaFortune is the first Haitian American to hold elected office in Rhode Island, according to the Providence City Council website. “Providence is really important to me. I grew up here, graduated from the city’s public schools and am now raising my children here,” LaFortune said. “I know what it means to not have access to certain things and the many barriers that exist for low-income families. I want to eliminate those barriers and create a more equitable city so that everyone can thrive.” As a former undocumented immigrant who attended Pleasant View Elementary School, Nathanael Greene Middle School and Mount Pleasant High School, LaFortune aims to improve educational opportunities in the city. “Education has been at the center of my journey. All our kids need to have a quality education, but most
SEE MAYOR PAGE 2
BY HALEY SANDLOW SENIOR STAFF WRITER Brown women’s gymnastics advanced to team finals at the USA Gymnastics National Championships for the third time in program history Saturday, capping off a season of historic feats. The Bears also advanced four gymnasts to the individual finals on Sunday, with another four making the alternate teams for individual finals. “The team has faced so much adversity (since) the rest of our season was canceled in 2020,” said Head Coach Sara Carver-Milne. “This team was gritty, they fought all the way through and they exceeded expectations, not only for the coaching staff but for themselves.” During the preliminary competition on Friday, the team went in as a “united
Metro
U. News
Commentary
U. public health professors, admin reflect on vaccines, variants Page 2
Number of independent concentrators declines during pandemic Page 4
Simon ’25: The rise of corporate TikTok is problematic Page 7
COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS
On Friday, Brown posted a 194.925, the highest team score of the night and the third-highest team score in Brown gymnastics history. whole” with “a lot of composure” and confidence, said Julia Bedell ’25. That night Brown posted a 194.925, the highest team score of the night and the third-highest team score in Brown gymnastics history. “It was kind of an exclamation mark on the season,” Carver-Milne said. “We had the highest score out of all eight teams in two sessions, and I don’t think I’ve ever smiled more.” Despite lineup changes stemming
from multiple members of the team being sick, Bedell agreed the energy was “amazing.” “I would almost step away from my body and be like, ‘Wow, the energy is great,’” said Taylor Schulze ’25. “Every person was so excited to be out there, despite some people being sick on our team.” Schulze earned her season high
SEE GYMNASTICS PAGE 2
TODAY TOMORROW
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JULIA GROSSMAN ’23 DESIGN EDITOR
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2022
METRO
University professors reflect on new variants, booster vaccines Public health faculty point to effective therapeutics as essential pandemic response BY SAM LEVINE CONTRIBUTING WRITER In the past few weeks, a new Omicron variant has swept across the United States, accounting for as much as 86% of new COVID-19 cases nationwide, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new variant, named BA.2 or “stealth” Omicron, is not as severe as the original BA.1 variant responsible for the COVID-19 surge in January but is significantly more transmissible. The BA.2 variant is just one COVID-19 variant threatening to cause a dangerous surge in cases and hospitalizations, like Omicron and Delta this past year. The Herald spoke with public health faculty and University administration about how booster vaccinations and new variants might fator into the future of the pandemic across the country and on College Hill. According to Philip Chan, Rhode Island Department of Health consultant medical director and associate professor of medicine at the University, new COVID-19 variants are evolving in predictable ways. “It’s to the virus’s advantage … to evolve to be less severe over time” because killing its host would limit its ability to spread throughout a population, Chan said. “It also makes sense for (the virus) to evolve to be more (transmissible and) infectious.”
GYMNASTICS FROM PAGE 1 on beam of 9.900 at Friday’s meet, advancing her to the individual finals on Sunday. At Saturday’s team finals, the Bears finished fourth with a score of 193.300. Texas Woman’s University won the meet with a score of 196.025, followed by the Air Force Academy and Lindenwood University. “I definitely think there was a bit of nerves, so we didn’t perform our best as a team,” Schulze said. “But after we
MAYOR FROM PAGE 1 people in Providence can’t afford to send their children to private school,” she said. LaFortune has made ending the state takeover of the local public school system a key part of her platform, she said, which would increase community representation on the Providence School Board, expand access to high-quality after-school programs and recruit a more diverse group of teachers for the district. “Nirva has been a higher education administrator for more than fifteen years now. Her love for Providence is deep and real,” said R.I. State Representative Rebecca Kislak ’94 (D - Providence), who has endorsed LaFortune’s campaign. “I trust her leadership and her vision for how our public schools should be run.” The councilwoman’s platform is also centered around making Providence more secure and lowering crime rates. LaFortune emphasized the importance of hiring officers who grew up and now live in Providence, repealing the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights and creating a diversion unit to respond to
Chan emphasized that vaccination remains important in preventing severe disease and the transmission of new variants. “The emerging variants are less severe in general but still can cause severe disease, especially among those that are
for the amount of protection booster shots can offer healthy people, Chan said, so he is “optimistic that we will not necessarily need a booster shot every year.” But this situation could change should a new vaccine-resistant variant emerge,
immunocompromised or older,” Chan said. “The vaccines are still effective in preventing transmission, infection (and) … severe disease.” According to Chan, there is emerging data that the vaccine may be effective in preventing “long” COVID, or the longterm health issues people have reported from being infected with COVID-19 which include persistent fatigue, brain fog and muscle pain. Because of these reasons, Chan underscored the need for people to receive their booster. On March 29, the Food and Drug Administration approved a second booster shot for Americans ages 50 and older and immunocompromised individuals. Chan said that he supports this decision, encouraging these groups to receive this additional dose to further minimize their risk of dying if they contract COVID-19. But Chan is hopeful that younger Americans will not need a second booster and believes that yearly additional doses might not be necessary for most people. “At this point, the data really shows that you need one booster shot … to really optimize protection,” he said. Chan referenced a recent study conducted in Israel that found that healthy, young healthcare workers who received a second booster did not receive significant added protection from the virus. This data may mean that there is a “ceiling effect”
Chan added, which would require modifications to existing vaccines. The potential for vaccine-resistant variants means that “vaccines are going to have to evolve in tandem with the variants,” which could result in people needing more doses in the future, according to Amy Nunn, professor of behavioral and social sciences and medicine. For Nunn, one of concern is the low booster vaccination rates among children. “I’m not totally sure why somebody would give their kids two shots and not three, or why people wouldn’t vaccinate their kids at all,” Nunn said. “Most (kids) have already gotten vaccinated for many, many, many other things in recent years … because they are required to go to school.” Nunn hypothesized that hesitation among parents may be because of limited data on the booster vaccines and its efficacy for children. But regardless of the reasons, unvaccinated children pose a threat to the community’s ability to prevent the spread of variants, she said. “People worry a lot about their kids, but what they’re not thinking about is how not vaccinating children can actually affect older adults because it contributes to more viral spread,” Nunn added. On College Hill, the University has rolled back COVID-19 guidelines, including indoor masking and routine testing. We “feel confident,” said Executive
Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey ’91 MA’06. “We can’t predict (the future), … but based on what we know now, I would expect (the loosened restrictions to last) throughout the rest of the semester.” According to Carey, the University would only reinstate masking and testing requirements in response to increased positivity rates or new government guidelines. “But right now that is not what we are experiencing,” Carey said. “We don’t have any reason to expect that in the coming weeks.” As for the future of the pandemic, both Nunn and Chan agree that finding effective treatments for COVID-19 will be essential to curbing the threat of the virus. “The focus is going (to be on) preventing severe disease and that’s why treatments are key,” Chan said. “Testing if you have symptoms, early access to treatments — that’s where the money is.” Chan predicts that COVID-19 will
eventually become endemic, meaning that it will always be present at some level in the population and may peak annually, as other respiratory viruses do during winter months. The public health response will then likely become focused on treating “people who get really sick and then hopefully … (preventing) severe illness and death,” Chan explained. Nunn agreed with the need for improved therapeutics. “What we’re trying to do is … vaccinate our way out of this because we don’t have good therapeutics yet,” she said. “We’re trying to treat with prevention and that’s just because we don’t have a lot of tools.” Though there are some medications for COVID-19 already available, they are not very effective and need to be taken very early, Nunn explained. Once effective “medications come online, it’ll be a game changer.”
finished our last event we kind of came together and … the whole team broke down into tears, just reflecting on the amazing season we had, how great the seniors are and how sad we are that they’re leaving.” On Sunday, four gymnasts competed in the individual finals. Bedell posted a 9.8125 to tie for third on vault and Angela Xing ’24 took home third on beam, scoring a 9.850. Schulze tied for sixth on beam with a score of 9.800 and Mei Li Costa ’22 scored a 9.800 on bars, taking seventh.
The Championships concluded a record-breaking season for the Bears. Throughout the semester, the team broke the program record for highest team score and earned the highest team scores for vault, bars and floor. Multiple gymnasts emphasized how the team came together throughout the spring semester. At their very first meet of the season against Yale, they posted a 188.700. By the end of the season, they had claimed four of the five top team scores in program history, including the top score of 195.975 at the
inaugural Gymnastics East Conference Championship on March 19, where they placed second. It was a “slow and steady return to competition,” Carver-Milne said. The team had a smoother start to its routines than past seasons, pacing themselves and building confidence to “peak when it counted.” “I got so many incredible messages from some of the top coaches in the country,” Carver-Milne added. “Brown’s being noticed. And that was extremely rewarding because we knew this team
had the talent to do so well.” Ella Poley ’23 and Bedell both said the Bears were the “underdogs” this season. “We’re all just really excited and really proud of what we accomplished this year,” Poley said. “No one ever really considered us a true competitor or someone to look out for,” Bedell said. “But this year, seeing how successful it was and also getting the opportunity to contribute to that was an amazing experience — something that I wouldn’t trade for the world.”
mental health crises around the city. “As a single parent who lost someone to gun violence, I want to make sure that our city has a public safety infrastructure that is rooted in the community and reflects its diversity,” LaFortune said. LaFortune also spoke about Rhode Island’s housing affordability crisis, noting that, as mayor, she would adopt a multi-layered approach toward reducing housing prices throughout the city. “I still remember moving here and having to share a one-bedroom apartment with the rest of my family. I had to share a bed with my grandmother and two sisters,” she said. “Housing should be affordable for everyone in Providence — regardless of their income.” If elected, LaFortune would look to increase access to safety shelters, use tax credits to incentivize building low-income housing units and improve protection for tenants to lower eviction rates. “Over 40% of Providence residents are renters. We need to pass legislation that creates more pathways for home ownership and reduces income discrimination,” LaFortune added. “To
make sure that our families feel secure, we need to make sure that they’re not being displaced as well.” According to Matt Rauschenbach ’23, LaFortune’s campaign manager, her mayoral campaign is a historic opportunity to change the face of leadership in both Providence and Rhode Island. “Nirva is uniquely qualified to meet the needs of this city’s working families,” he said. “We have the chance to elect the city’s first woman and first Black mayor and to truly reshape politics in the state.” “We need to continue raising money, meeting with small business owners and community leaders and keep knocking on as many doors as possible before the elections,” Rauschenbach added. “I’m excited and I think we have a good chance here.” LaFortune underscored that she, or whoever serves as Providence’s next mayor, must “work collaboratively with the city council.” “We don’t always have to agree, but the priority is the city of Providence,” she said. “If we can work toward the common goal, which is the people, we can get a lot of things done.”
Nirva LaFortune is the first Haitian American elected to public office in the state and has worked more than fifteen years in higher education.
TALIA MERMIN / HERALD
Additional reporting by Haley Sandlow.
COURTESY OF NIRVA LAFORTUNE
FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2022
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
3
ARTS & CULTURE
‘Elite’ Season 5 trades murder mystery for messy, unhinged storylines Latest season of Spanish Netflix show attempts to breathe life into overdone formula BY LIVIA GIMENES STAFF WRITER Flickering lights shine on a body, barely moving in absolute shock. The camera pans up, revealing Las Encinas’ classic blue and maroon uniform, now smothered in blood as police sirens echo in the background. That’s how the latest season of the hit Spanish Netflix series “Elite” begins. At the time of its debut in 2018, “Elite” was revolutionary in the teen drama canon. It was a beautiful mesh of “Gossip Girl” and “How to Get Away with Murder.” It delivered all the excitement you would expect from a teen drama while also handling a gripping storyline that avoided the camp and cliche of some American shows like “Pretty Little Liars” and “Riverdale.” Now in its fifth season, “Elite” has returned to follow the lives of the wealthy Spanish teens who attend the prestigious international school Las Encinas and, of course, deal with another murder. Still, the fifth leg of the show struggles to live up to previous seasons. After Season 3, all the loose ends regarding the murder of Marina Nunier Osuna (Maria Pedraza) — the initial victim in the show — were tied up, and half of the main cast graduated high school and left the series. The later sea-
HOUSING FROM PAGE 1 When asked about the accommodations process at the University, Ice said that the department works with Student Accessibility Services to understand how ResLife can help students. She said that the “collective group” between the departments allows ResLife to come to a “process formation.” Naphat Permpredanun ’24 describes this year’s housing lottery as “confusing.” Permpredanun said that the switch from housing groups receiving a single room selection time slot to each group member receiving individual times was an unnecessarily complicated change to the housing process. “The system is a little bit concerning (because) we don’t know how the lottery is distributed in general,” he said. Permpredanun added that the online housing portal’s inefficiency has complicated the housing assignment process. When Permpredanun submitted his housing application with a group of three other students, the system said that their application had an error, which he felt made the situation more complicated and stressful. Ice said that housing allotment times are different this year because this is the first year ResLife is using a new platform for a different housing selection process than last year. During the 2020-21 academic year, students were assigned rooms rather than choosing them, Ice added. “We would have to go back a few years pre-pandemic to determine what that last cycle was when students actually went through that general selection,” she said. This
sons sought to introduce a new slate of characters to carry on the story with the remaining cast. This is where the show struggled the most — finding novel stories to tell with the new cast while following the same murder mystery format. Season 4 focused on connecting new siblings Ari (Carla Diaz), Patrick (Manu Rios) and Mencia Blanco Commerford (Martina Cariddi) and Philipe Florian Von Triesenberg (Pol Granch) to other characters. But it lacked the signature suspense the show is known for. Season 5 suffered from the opposite problem. In fact, watching this season felt like seeing all of the plotlines from the previous seasons on steroids. Every episode included a crazy-themed party for seemingly no reason other than to show the characters making out half-naked in random costumes. For a show already known for not shying away from nudity and explicit scenes, this season featured even more mature content, including an almost four-minute-long sex scene between Iván (Andre Lamoglia) and Patrick. And while the latest episodes offered a diversity of LGBTQ+ representation, having many multidimensional gay and lesbian couples on screen, the show made questionable choices while executing these pairings. The obvious issue is the love triangle that emerged between Patrick, Iván — the son of a Brazilian soccer star — and none other than Iván’s soccer star dad himself, Cruz (Carloto Cotta). That’s not to mention the fact that while chasing down Patrick, Iván is also two-timing Patrick’s sister Ari
while she is trying to get her boyfriend Samuel (Itzan Escamilla) out of jail. While it was definitely not boring to watch, it felt uncomfortable to see a father-son duo pine over the same seventeen year old. In addition, there is also the relationship between Philipe — a French prince — Cayetana (Georgina Amoros) — Phillipe’s former girlfriend and student-turned-janitor at Las Encinas — and Isadora (Valentina Zenere), a self-proclaimed “Ibiza Party Empress.” This is one of the show’s oddest storylines, giving the season no sense of direction. In the previous season, it’s revealed that Phillipe used to film him and Cayetana having sex without her consent. He also attempts to force sex with Cayetana while drunk despite her not consenting. This behavior comes to a head at the start of this season when he is publicly accused of sexual assualt by another woman who his family has attempted to silence. The show goes out of its way to try to redeem Phillipe. He repeatedly tries to prove to Cayetana that he is fundamentally good and goes to counseling at her request. Still, the problem is that viewers have no reason to like Phillipe and no desire to see his character redeemed. A teen murder mystery about the scandalous lives of the elite doesn’t seem like the best place for a storyline about a royal family dealing with sexual assault scandals. Much like the new “Gossip Girl” reboot, “Elite” is better off not trying to pursue these storylines.
problem was exacerbated by the implementation of the new housing platform — which had not been used before — where the selection is automated rather than selected manually by students. The new platform, in which each student in a housing group is given a separate time, allows “students (to) have more agency in their housing selection process” since the different times let students adjust their group to their needs. To improve the housing assignment system, Permpredanun suggested that ResLife accommodate students more. “Accommodations are one of the most important aspects of student life at Brown. If we get a better housing experience, we can get a greater (college) experience and better mental health.” Melissa Aldana ’24 emphasized the importance of building community on campus, given that students have been away for a long time due to the pandemic. “But it’s difficult to do that when our housing situation is so stressful,” they said. “We could build a community if we had a more accessible and user-friendly system.” “Be mindful (that) students aren’t very well versed at reading floor plans (and) navigating portals with an unreliable platform,” Aldana added. According to Aldana, it is important to consider where a student lives and who they live near. “(I’d also like to) urge them to be cognizant of student info and student feedback and try to incorporate that, because …it’s very rare coming back to campus and getting a sense of normalcy,” she said. Ice believes that the department’s
goal “should be to strive to create an experience that students can appreciate and thrive in.” Ice said that ResLife started working on housing selection as early as the September of the previous academic year. Although they might not formalize the actual process at that time, ResLife starts thinking about who and what they need to consider for the next housing assignment process, said Ice. They may learn about specific groups of people that need to be taken care of through feedback received either formally through surveys, or informally through open forums, one-on-one conversations with students, email messages or focus groups. “(Answering) the ‘how we get there’ (requires) thinking about our current housing stuff,” Ice said. Questions regarding housing construction, potential renovations and housing occupancy are brought up early in the planning process so that ResLife staff can start planning. According to Ice, ResLife collaborates with other departments in the housing selection process. Along with SAS, ResLife works with their “capital planning and facilities team when (they) talk about the use of construction or renovation,” she said. While ResLife works with other departments within the University, they also consider student feedback in their housing process. Ice said that since joining Brown in September 2021, she has been committed to listening to students to meet their needs. “The more we sit and listen to students, the better we are as practitioners and the better opportunities we have to enhance and even modify
COURTESY OF MATÍAS URIS VIA NETFLIX
A number of storylines, such as that of the relationship between Patrick, Iván and Cruz, feel uncomfortable and extreme. The main issue with these storylines is that it does nothing for the plot in the long run. It just seems that this plot point and these pairings exist in separate bubbles. While Cayetana seems to be aware of what’s happening with Ari and her siblings and Samuel seems to know what’s happening with Phillipe, the relationship between these characters doesn’t really spill over. One of the most captivating things about Season 1 is that its characters were actually intertwined. One person’s storyline had direct consequences on the others, and all ultimately tied into the murder of Marina. It made viewers feel like they were watching a connected universe while also keeping them on their toes to try to figure out who killed Marina. Because all of the characters in Season 5 seem so disconnected, the unfolding of the murder mystery is extremely dull to watch. The show
throws in some red herrings, but they are not effective. It is really easy to tell why and how the character is going to die since there is not much else going on for the victim. With no interesting mystery to supplement and feed off the drama, “Elite” feels like any other messy teen show with a side of murder mystery. Even before the release of Season 5, the show had already been renewed for a sixth season and announced a new slate of characters, as Samuel, Rebeka, Omar and Cayetana are leaving the show. One can try to hold out hope that now that the show only has cast members post-Season 3, it might finally be able to reinvent itself. After all, the murder mystery formula of the show is growing stale, and there is only so many murders that can happen at Las Encinas before viewers start wondering why the Spanish 1% still wants to study there.
MUKUL KHANNA / HERALD
The Office of Residential Life started working on aspects of this year’s housing selection as early as September of the previous academic year. the student experience,” she stated. “I don’t think that (satisfying everyone) is a marker that anyone can or should be attaining or striving for,” she said, “but I do believe we have a responsibility to sit and listen to support students.” “I want to … say that we know that there are things we do well with the selection process and things that we can stand to improve,” Ice told The Herald. “But I don’t want to assume what those modifications will be without that general feedback from students. We will take the formal and the informal feedback however we capture it and begin to think about what we can and should be doing differently from a process standpoint.” Ice also mentioned that ResLife has been trying to accommodate the academic schedules of students when it comes to the housing lottery. “We know that it won’t hit everyone’s ideal, but we want to get as close to a period where it doesn’t feel like we are competing with or further frustrating or complicating (students),”
she said. She added that she looks at the University calendar to avoid the times students will be the most busy academically. According to Aldana, issues related to the housing selection process may also directly impact newly admitted students’ college choices. “The housing situation … could be a determining factor between going to Brown or not,” Aldana stated. “Because yeah, the academics are great, but if you’re not happy living here, or are very stressed out about the housing process, it’s ridiculous.” Ice predicts that while the Brook Street dorms will increase the housing inventory for the University, it will allow ResLife to take other residential buildings and floors “offline” for renovations. “Rather than wait for new construction, it’s important for us to think about what we’d be doing with our existing” residential buildings, she said.
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2022
UNIVERISTY NEWS
Independent concentration paticipation declines during pandemic Student participation in program decreases by nearly one third in twoyear span BY SWARAJ AGARWAL CONTRIBUTIING WRITER Just 31 students submitted independent concentration proposals in the 2020-21 academic year, marking a 27% decrease from the 41 students who submitted proposals during the pre-pandemic 2018-19 academic year, according to Peggy Chang ’93 MA’13, associate dean of the College and director of the Curricular Resource Center for Peer Advising. The number of accepted proposals decreased to a similar degree — falling roughly 28% in the same two-year span — marking a clear decline in participation in the program during the pandemic. Independent concentrations, which allow students to pursue “an area of study not currently offered through a standard concentration,” have long been a staple of the Open Curriculum. Through an independent concentration, students independently evaluate and plan the trajectory of their education, using CRC guidance to select courses and “scholarly methodologies” with which they will approach their work, according to the CRC website. In order to pursue an independent concentration, students must first develop a proposal including an overview of their designed concentration, their planned course of study and an explanation of why such a curriculum could not be pursued through current concentration offerings. Students may propose their independent concentrations “as late as their fifth semester,” Chang noted. Chang suggested that the decline in proposals in recent years might be explained by the fact that “advising operations had to be fully remote last year.” Given the constraints of public health guidelines, “first-years and sophomores were unable to meet pro-
KAITLYN TORRES, GAYA GUPTA AND JACK WALKER / HERALD
fessors and develop relationships in the same manner,” she explained. Enrollment in the program has also previously benefited “from being able to participate in events like A Day (on) College Hill and the Academic Expo, but this year we were just not able to.” Emily Moini ’23, who is pursuing an independent concentration in philosophy, politics and economics, views the independent concentration program “as almost an ultimate manifestation of the Brown spirit of free inquiry.” Moini said that she was a bit apprehensive about the independent concentration application process, given that conversations with other independent concentrators made it “clear that this process would be a time-consuming one.” Moini agreed that the decline in independent concentration proposals might be caused by challenges posed by the pandemic, as participating in such an intensive process while also navigating public health restrictions would only make the application process more draining. “It was very hard to adjust to the campus last spring,” Moini explained. “Figuring out how to make that a more sustainable environment … took a lot of my energy in a way I
hadn’t necessarily anticipated.” “Adapting to life during the pandemic would prevent people from making the time for a proposal process as time consuming as this one,” she added. Reetam Ganguli ’23, who is pursuing an independent concentration in cancer engineering, said that difficulties finding a faculty advisor for the concentration in a remote setting might also have contributed to the decline in submissions. “Although the professors were setting up online meetings, it has its pros and cons,” he explained. “It saves the time for traveling far, but it can get difficult, especially with older faculty members who take some more time to respond. Thus, the process can get tedious.” John Lin ’23, who is pursuing an independent concentration in health systems and policy, agreed that the “pandemic made the application difficult.” But, for Lin, he “was fortunate enough” to have visited the CRC before being sent home as a first-year and found it to be “really supportive,” he explained. He also added that his recent remote meetings with the CRC have been “very helpful” despite the barrier to in-person access posed by
CA L E N DA R
the pandemic. Lila Zimbalist ’23, an independent concentration coordinator at the CRC who is pursuing an independent concentration in computational neuroscience, said that resources provided by the CRC can help students navigate the application process. When applying for her program, Zimbalist was “a bit worried about submitting the proposal,” but she was ultimately provided with CRC records of past successful applications that gave her “a strong understanding” of
the application process as a whole, she said. Although Chang agreed that it was “harder for (the CRC) to engage with students remotely,” she was “happy to see that in a fully remote year we still (had) 30 students that submitted a proposal.” In fall 2021, the CRC received 16 proposal submissions, which leaves Chang “optimistic” for the future of the independent concentration program, she said.
JULIA GROSSMAN / HERALD
Undergraduate students can submit an independent concentration proposal until the end of their fifth semester.
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108 Students in on-campus, designated off-campus quarantine housing
25* *APPROXIMATE
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FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2022
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | POST-
5
See Full Issue:
APR 15 — VOL 29 — ISSUE 8
FEATURE
ISSUU.COM/POSTMAGAZINEBDH
NARRATIVE
Goodbye Strangers
an ode to (some of) the kids I used to babysit by OLIVIA COHEN Today I was on Instagram, and I saw a post from a girl named Victoria, whom I babysat from when I was in eighth grade all the way through high school. She was 10 when I first met her. I used to drive her to lacrosse practice and help her pick out the colors of her braces. I taught her how to play Egyptian Ratscrew and took her to Starbucks for pink drinks even though she wasn't allowed to have sugar. I gave her advice on her friend drama and helped her with her French projects and sat within eyesight in the hallway outside her door at night so that she ...
ARTS & CULTURE
Big Friendship
on platonic and/or romantic relationships by INGRID REN illustrated by CONNIE LIU To sign “best friend” in American Sign Language, hold your hand in front of your shoulder, palm facing in. Cross your middle finger over your index and gently close your remaining fingers. Hold it the way you might hope for something half-heartedly. Perhaps a best friend. Throughout grade school and high school, I always had a best friend. The one who wore sticker earrings every day before finally getting her ears pierced. The one I signed a handwritten friendship contract with in fourth grade. The one I spent hours with over Skype. And to this day, the one who makes me laugh
until I cry and who knows what I’ll dislike on a menu. The one who holds my secrets within the lines of her palms. There were occasional transitory periods between best friends, fade-outs and fade-ins, but I never felt platonically lonely until college. Throughout my first semester at Brown, I met more people than ever before while also feeling unbearably lonely at times. I was jealous of the newly formed best friend pairs who I saw confidently and exclusively confide in each other. Meanwhile, I dispersed bits and pieces of myself among many, but I didn’t have one college best friend with whom to share my whole self...
X
the film, the factor, and the epoch by Dorrit Corwin Lights flicker and reflect across our frightened faces as we pick popcorn kernels out of our braces. We laugh uncontrollably, to mask the pure terror that resides beneath. Desperate to encounter an adrenaline rush like the drugs we’re too young to take, we spend most of our free time riding roller coasters and finding movies that make our stomachs lurch. Once we’re approaching the 100foot drop or the cinematic climax in which we know all the characters will be viciously killed before our eyes, we convince ourselves that we’re not scared at all. It’s completely predictable. We know how this ends. There’s no reason to fear the inevitable...
LIFESTYLE
Either Or
post- mini crossword 3
“I tried to type ‘bag’ and it autocorrected to ‘vagene.’"
by ETHAN PAN
“I am not 5’7”, I am definitely 5’11”. Don't know why people say I have 5’7” energy.” “The problem is that whenever I have short hair I look like Richard the Third, but whenever I have long hair I look like Tarzan.”
“But this day’s weather—the delicate snow with its low whispers, a hushed blanket pulled over Brown’s campus—tugged at my heart.” —Danielle Emerson, “Coffee Grounds” 03.26.21
“Maybe that’s the secret: The whodunnit makes you a nine-year-old viewer again, but the resolution proceeds to complicate your carelessness.” —Rob Capron, “Screen Memory” 11.01.19
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Want to be involved? Email: kyoko_leaman@brown.edu!
ACROSS
DOWN
1 XXX or XVIII+
1 Black tea of India
6 Mount ____, New York
2 Product from Adam & Eve?
City hospital system
3 Wedding or welding
7 Apt rhyme for "fling"
4 He's a dope cyclist
8 Pre-frosh schmoozefest
5 Pinching or penny-pinching
9 Famous artist (of Impressionism or drag
April 15, 2022
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
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FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2022
UNIVERSITY NEWS
Slavic Studies Polish Program revived after years of inactivity Faculty, students express plans for program, discuss upcoming events, fellowships BY ALEX NADIRASHVILI UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR When Paulina Duda, visiting assistant professor of Polish cinema and culture, arrived on campus this spring, she aimed to revive the University’s formerly inactive Polish Program. Polish language classes were reinstated in the Slavic Studies department last semester, after the program had been in “hibernation” over the past several years, according to Zoey Grant ’24, who is currently enrolled in PLSH 0200: “Introductory Polish,” taught by Duda. Duda was supposed to arrive on campus during the summer 2021 semester, but because of visa issues and the COVID-19 pandemic, she was unable to begin her position until January. During Duda’s absence, Associate Professor of Slavic Studies Michal Oklot “graciously agreed to teach the introductory Polish language course.” Oklot said that his new colleague is “the best possible candidate for this position in this country,” adding, “we are very lucky to have her.” Interested students were reaching out to Duda even before her arrival. “She was more than happy to answer my questions and provide me advice,” Grant said. “She took in my thoughts, gave me the benefits of each language (offered in Slavic Studies) and left the decision up to me. So it really was helpful advice.” Duda plans to develop the Polish Program through “three pillars”: increasing the Polish culture-based course offerings, hosting more Polish-based events on campus and developing fellowships for students
studying the language. There are currently 12 undergraduate students enrolled in Duda’s introductory class, a majority of whom she expects will continue with the language in the coming years. Other students in the program are taking her course PLSH 1050: “Polish Cinema: Uneven Histories, Uneasy Aesthetics” or pursuing independent studies related to Poland, she said. Culture and language “go hand in hand,” Duda added. “Studying a language is not only about saying certain phrases in a correct way. It’s also about knowing the cultural context and references, all the nuances and cultural codes.” In terms of events, while the program has several possible speakers lined up for the next year — including Geneviève Zubrzycki, a comparative historical and cultural sociologist focusing on Polish identity — Duda wants to ensure that the program addresses “more pressing issues that are more prevalent for the border Slavic community.” “It is our role as university professors to increase awareness of the events and developments in politics, history and culture of the regions of our interest,” Oklot said. “Naturally, we have to respond to” the Russia-Ukraine war. The program has already taken action to do so through “From the Maidan Revolution to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: Art, Activism and Humanitarian Crisis,” an event that was held in collaboration with the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs in March. Duda and Oklot are also working with the Kosciuszko Foundation, which is dedicated to promoting education and cultural exchanges between the United States and Poland, to create fellowships for students who want to study in Poland over the summer. These fellowships were supposed to start this year, Duda said,
but plans have stalled because of the pandemic and current conflict in the region. Duda has found that developing a Polish program at Brown is much easier than at other universities across the nation because of the helpful academic structures that already exist at the University. Because of the Open Curriculum, “students take classes based on their own interest,” Duda said. “They ask me questions. They are interested in the culture and are always interested in asking me questions about Polish music.” Additionally, Duda has inherited existing institutional knowledge about the Polish program’s former structure before it became largely inactive around 2016, she said. During the spring 2012 semester, in collaboration with the Kosciuszko Foundation, the University sponsored Maggie Harrison to join Brown’s faculty in a Polish language lecturer position, Duda said. Along with academics, Harrison was heavily involved in fostering a Polish community on campus, she said. She did so by holding weekly conversation hours, screening Polish films and hosting cultural dinners at the nearby International House of Rhode Island. “I had to do the marketing and promotion of the program, but I didn’t find it overwhelming,” Harrison said. “I think just having the caliber of students that I did and camaraderie with students was absolutely wonderful.” Harrison left the University following a four-year appointment, after which Oklot took over teaching the Polish language classes for several semesters. When Oklot found he did not have the capacity to maintain this workload combined with his own classes, the program “flatlined,” Duda said. With Duda’s arrival and current global attention focused on the East-
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
132nd Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief Ben Glickman Managing Editors Benjamin Pollard Caelyn Pender Senior Editors Katie Chen Gaya Gupta Jack Walker post-magazine Editor-in-Chief Kyoko Leaman Sections Arts & Culture Editors Rebecca Carcieri Irene Chou Laura David Metro Editors Brendan Gardner Oliver Kneen Liza Mullett Katy Pickens Sameer Sinha
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Twelve undergraduate students are currently enrolled in Duda’s introductory Polish course. ern European region, academic interest in Slavic studies has increased at the University. “We are witnessing an important change, a historic change, which brings us back to the Polish program,” Duda said. “It’s unfortunate that it takes a war to get most people to think about Slavic Studies, but it’s undeniable to say that Ukraine and, by extension, Poland’s reaction to Ukraine (has) brought more attention to this region of the world,” Grant said. Grant, who is particularly interested in the cultural and historical significance of Polish literature, believes the University is “obligated to also reflect an interest in Polish studies.” The war in Ukraine has emphasized, according to Grant, that studying the Slavic region beyond Russia is central to a cohesive Slavic Studies program. “The unique historical and cultural relationships between all (of) these countries and regions that occupy this designation” is important, she said. “It’s important to teach Russian literature with the context of neighboring countries, especially Poland,” Oklot said. “It’s impossible to understand the evolution of Russian prosody without understanding the
Polish prosody. It’s impossible to understand Russian romanticism without Poland.” Because the Polish classes on campus are primarily language-focused, two undergraduate students at the University, Karolina Palac ’24 and Jessica Jacyno ’24, are planning to start an on-campus Polish Club which would focus more on the nation’s culture. Palac and Jacyno are hoping to host cooking, movie and music nights through the club as a way to make Polish culture more accessible to students “who don’t have space in their schedules” for a class, Jacyno said. Through the club, “you can make a sort of community at Brown with people who want that connection to Poland, have not experienced that connection with their culture before or who are just interested in Poland as a whole,” Palac added. Harrison only has “best wishes” for the Polish program at the University. One thing Brown “does very well is just building cultural awareness, global awareness, … awareness of one’s community, sense of belonging (and) sense of responsibility,” she said. “It’s so important that these (programs) continue.”
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FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2022
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY
7
Simon ’25: Corporate TikTok is not your friend If you have a TikTok account, you’re probably familiar with Duo — the bright green owl mascot of the language learning app Duolingo. On Duolingo, Duo encourages users to practice daily conjugations and vocabulary, but on the official Duolingo TikTok account, Duo has a “full-fledged personality” of his own. He (or, rather, an employee in a Duo suit) twerks, fangirls over Dua Lipa and drops sassy replies in the comments — garnering over 2 million followers in the process. Duolingo is one of the more successful examples of a new kind of social media presence. Alongside teenage influencers, there are now a host of multimillion dollar companies that have cultivated online personalities into overnight celebrities. But these bizarre, parasocial interactions can cross the line from relatable Gen Z humor into something more sinister. The rise of corporate TikTok isn’t just a sign of a new age of advertising, it also has implications for how young people engage with online media and marketing that is increasingly intimate. Gen Z often views itself as immune from the pitfalls of social media or the forces of corporate manipulation. After all, we’ve been raised by the internet; we know how to spot scams and edited photos. We sense when we’re being sold to, and we don’t like it. Frito-Lay has noted that “newer generations are increasingly turned off by blatant, promotional marketing.” With a cultural emphasis on individuality and “avoid(ing) labels,” young people are also more likely to eschew brand names in favor of thrifting, DIYing or otherwise making the generic their own. Social media is a home base for today’s teenagers and young adults. Surely we couldn’t be outsmarted on our own turf? But these generalizations are just that — generalizations, and they obscure the power that companies still have to shape the way young people purchase, consume and think.
Even before TikTok came onto the scene, brands were deploying strategies of online relatability to reach young consumers. In the infamous “fast food Twitter feuds,” multimillion dollar restaurant chains like Wendy’s, IHOP and Burger King slung quips at each other with the language of a tech-savvy teenager. And, driven by a desire to appeal to users wary of traditional advertisements,
Young people in the comments are happy to play along — asking Amazon for their missing packages, or for Duo, whom memes portray as violently threatening, to spare their families. There’s something fascinating about this game of pretend, of watching a corporate mascot engage in the petty, silly and absurd to create a personality that feels trustworthy. Yet while these campaigns can be undeni-
“Marketing plays an increasingly invasive role in our lives and the boundary between the commercial and the personal becomes blurrier by the day; digital fluency is no longer sufficient protection.”
companies like Frito-Lay have developed “anti-ads” that reject logos and name-branding altogether. It’s effective, too. In the past few years, the Wendy’s Twitter account has reached 3.8 million followers. TikTok has provided the perfect platform for companies to utilize this marketing strategy to the nth degree. In an app built on replicating dances and trendy sound bites, it doesn’t take much to mimic popular trends to make relatable content that doesn’t feel like it’s coercing you to buy anything. The result, when you stop and think about it, is somewhat surreal: a marketing strategist — sometimes a member of Gen Z themselves — using a verified, brand-name TikTok account to mimic the actions of a bored teenager in their room.
ably clever, even downright funny, the companies behind them deserve scrutiny. For instance, hidden under the snarky one-liners and innocent profile picture of the Wendy’s Twitter account is a company with assets totaling over $5 billion and a franchise operator CEO who donated over $440,000 to Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign. Frito-Lay, the same company adapting to a no-marketing marketing strategy to capture Gen Z consumers, also has a checkered past. Hundreds of workers at a processing plant in Topeka recently went on strike to protest forced overtime shifts and dangerous, smokefilled conditions. And when not posting POVs on TikTok, Amazon has faced scandal after scandal concerning its treatment of employ-
ees. Young people, especially teenagers and college-aged students, have proven to be more concerned with social justice issues such as these than previous generations. On platforms like Instagram and Twitter, takedowns of problematic companies and calls for boycotts are commonplace. But, there is a serious disconnect between the ways we call out corporate greed and malpractice and the attention we continue to give those same companies on TikTok and similar platforms. That attention presumes relatability and mutuality when many of these brands are actively undermining the values that make the communities we form online so important. It might seem futile to point out the dangers of engaging with the content of a company we would otherwise deem problematic. After all, laughing at Wendy’s Twitter account is hardly a direct endorsement of its executive’s values. But there are other reasons to be wary of corporate TikTok, for what it says about our own relationship with social media more than anything else. Anti-ads and other forms of “relatable” marketing are so subtle that we often can’t discern what content is authentic and what is manufactured. Marketing plays an increasingly invasive role in our lives, and the boundary between the commercial and the personal becomes blurrier by the day; digital fluency is no longer sufficient protection. The assumption that the younger generation’s social media savviness translates automatically to critical, informed engagement with corporate content is misguided — and it is doomed to disappoint us. Alissa Simon ’25 can be reached at alissa_ simon@brown.edu. Please send responses to this op-ed to letters@browndailyherald. com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
WILDCARD: THINGS THAT ARE DEAD TO US
REBECCA HO / HERALD
Looking at these wilting flowers, we are reminded of things from our past we want to let go of. Your midterm grade? Dead. That month-long situationship? Dead. The bangs that you cut last night in a moment of panic? Dead. It is time to move on to greener pastures.
FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2022
DISPLACEMENT FROM PAGE 1 comparatively much higher on the East Side than the rest of Providence, The Herald previously reported. In the context of several complex factors ranging from urban redevelopment to changing economies, the University has historically shaped College Hill and Fox Point since its founding. In the last century, Brown has contributed to the displacement of low-income and non-white residents through its property expansion and dorm development as well as a surge in off-campus student housing that began in the 1970s. As the University grew in both size and enrollment, with the number of undergraduate students growing from 687 at the beginning of the century to 5,832 by the end, the campus required more space and resources to operate. The expansion of Brown’s campus The University began purchasing parcels of land for what would become Wriston Quad in 1922, The Herald previously reported. There hadn’t been extensive on-campus housing in the early 20th century, with most students instead living off campus, but one University administration sought to change this. Under the leadership of President Henry Wriston, whose tenure was from 1937 to 1955, the University significantly increased dormitories for students in an effort to compete with comparable, elite universities at the time. On May 29, 1950, the Providence Journal reported that construction on Wriston Quad had begun, and that the quad would be “bounded by George, Thayer, Charlesfield and Brown Streets” and “house Brown’s 17 fraternities and also will contain nine freshman dormitories.” The University got permission from the City to remove the segment of Benevolent Street between Brown and Thayer. Fifty-one historic homes would be demolished to make way for the dormitories, leading to conflict between the University and local residents. Long-time Providence resident Ed Bishop ’54 P’86 P’91 told The Herald in 2009 that during property battles with the University at this time, College Hill residents could feel like “Brown (was) a 1,000-pound gorilla and (was) going to get what it wants in the long run.” Once completed in 1952, Wriston Quad comprised about a third of housing on the University’s campus. And the development continued, with the proposal for Keeney Quad and the demolition of several historic homes leading to the creation of the Providence Preservation Society, The Herald previously reported. “We were founded … in 1956, in large response to some of the activity and expansion of Brown on College Hill,” said PPS Director of Preservation Rachel Robinson. Two historic homes were moved to Benefit Street from the quad in a preservation effort, The Herald previously reported. “Decades ago, there were opportunities to move houses around, but that opportunity is gone,” said Executive Director of PPS Brent Runyon. A 2006 report published by the University in collaboration with R. M. Kliment & Frances Halsband Architects outlined that of the 235 buildings on Brown’s campus, 31 of them were constructed by Brown before 1955. 60 buildings were built by the University or others after 1955. The remaining 144 buildings were built by others for
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS various other purposes before 1955, mostly residential. Buildings such as Maddock Alumni House, the Faculty Club and Corliss-Brackett house were all houses of mostly wealthy Rhode Islanders which were bought by Brown between 1938 and 1955. Under the presidency of Barnaby Keeney, beginning in 1955, expansion continued with the buying up of more residential properties to make way for new developments. To make way for Keeney Quad, the University offered up for sale eight houses that would have been destroyed otherwise. While the buildings were on sale for $1 each, the process of moving the houses would have cost the purchasers $30,000 to $40,000, The Herald previously reported. The University also purchased the building for Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church at 193 Meeting St., a historically Black congregation, in 1961. The congregation relocated to a smaller site on Rochambeau Avenue that same year. In the mid-1800s, “it is thought that Bethel served as a final destination for escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad,” according to the church’s website. Today, the original location — now a walkway to the Grimshaw-Gudewicz Building — is commemorated by a plaque. Ray Rickman, executive director for Stages of Freedom, told The Herald that he believed the University should pay $1 million in reparations to Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church to recognize the reduction of their capacities after moving to a smaller facility. The University declined to comment on the topic of granting reparations to the church after multiple requests from The Herald. Brown didn’t often lose property battles, Rickman added, saying that typically plans to construct dorms went through despite pushback from the community. In a 1986 issue of the Brown Alumni Magazine, it was reported that $11 million had been set aside for the construction of a new dorm on the block bounded by Thayer, Brook, Benevolent and Power streets — what would eventually be named Vartan Gregorian Quadrangle. At this point the land — which was owned by the Alfred Ringuette family, operators of a car garage and Mobil station — had yet to be officially acquired by the University, but negotiations were in progress. The University had wanted this land since the early 1970s and after a year of negotiations, The Brown Alumni Magazine reported in November 1986 that the land had officially been purchased for $1 million. Due to the high prices of construction, the University pivoted its plans from building a dormitory only to constructing a dorm that incorporated commercial space on the ground floor for retailers to move into. This prompted concern from the site’s neighbors, with one resident, Thomas C. Piatt ’75, MD ’78, chairman of the East Side Historic Residential Association, saying to BAM, “We didn’t choose to be neighbors of a commercial district. We’re frightened about the future of Brook Street.” Robert A. Reichley, the vice president for university relations at the time, responded to neighborhood concerns by stating, “Brown has felt a strong obligation to let its neighbors know what the plans are when the neighborhood is affected. We’ve brought the neighbors in on our projects whether or not we’ve had to go to the zoning board about them. We’ve
often profited by this, and frequently we’ve changed our plans as we have moved forward.” After a veto from the city zoning board that blocked the University from constructing the proposed commercial space, Brown initially scaled back its plans, moving to build just a residential dormitory. But two years later, the University announced the purchase of a separate commercial space for $1.75 million, to be operated by Brown with the intention of offsetting the steep construction and operating costs of the new development. The University is currently constructing another dorm on Brook Street which will house 353 students, The Herald previously reported. This dorm will stand on the former location of this commercial plot, which was demolished in the fall of 2021, and its sister dorm will be directly across from this plot, on the other side of Brook Street. “In the current era, planning for an evolving Brown campus happens continually, with opportunities for community input built into master planning and for specific projects as Brown partners with city leaders, community organizations and local stakeholders to consider its relationship to adjacent neighborhoods,” wrote University Spokesperson Brian Clark in an email to The Herald. “To understand the approach taken to campus development projects from prior centuries, it’s important to look back to archival materials, records and news coverage from the time and statements from University leaders and local stakeholders alike,” Clark explained. “Original materials like those can best offer facts and perspective on projects and decisions from those particular moments in time.” “Studentification” and the impact of off-campus housing Besides physical property expansion and construction, off-campus student rentals also impacted displacement and gentrification on College Hill and in Fox Point, The Herald previously reported. Fox Point had previously been a neighborhood composed of Irish, Portuguese and Cape Verdean immigrants for many years, according to Ward 1 Councilman John Goncalves ’13 MA’15, a long-time Fox Point resident. “Most of those people have been completely (priced out) of the neighborhood,” he said. “That is partly due to unbounded University expansion.” The University was a “catalyst for a lot of larger forces” driving changes in housing for the surrounding community, said Marijoan Bull, Westfield State University associate professor emerita of geography and regional planning. She was previously an adjunct professor at the University. “Over time, you had increases in enrollment that were not matched to increases in on-campus student housing,” Bull said. “Then students were looking farther and farther afield from directly around campus for housing, and Fox Point became a central area,” Bull added, describing the slow increase in students renting homes as “encroachment” into the neighborhood. Nathaniel Pettit ’20, working with Bull, engaged with the phenomena of “studentification,” or student-driven gentrification, in his 2020 honors thesis. Some University students impacted the rental market because they could afford to pay higher rents than working-class families, he explained.
Not all, but “many students in a place like Brown can pay a little bit more,” Pettit said. “But also, landlords are incentivized to take in students because our standards (for housing quality) are a lot lower.” “A lot of people have kind of argued historically” that without the necessary amount of housing for students on campus, students have entered the rental market and “helped to drive up the costs in those areas,” said Peter Asen ’04, deputy director of development and governmental affairs for the Providence Housing Authority. A 1970 article from the Providence Journal entitled “Fox Point residents fear displacement” discussed how residents felt the threat of being pushed out because of the development of luxury apartments, citing a “great housing shortage” at the time. The University recognized that this displacement was in part driven by students renting off-campus housing, and the Acting President Merton Stoltz encouraged students to avoid living in Fox Point in a Feb. 16, 1970 letter to the student body. “The demand for housing in the area surrounding the University now exceeds the supply, and the increasing number of students from Brown and other institutions has created pressures in nearby communities, particularly Fox Point,” the letter read. According to a 1969 Ad Hoc Committee on Housing and Expansion report, the total number of students (including graduate students) not living in University housing went from 1,189 in 1961 to 2,183 in 1969 — an 83% increase over the decade. The report also states that for undergraduates specifically, there was a 287% increase in students living off campus in that time frame. The University acquired a property, formerly the Bond Bread Company, at the corner of Brook and John streets in Fox Point in 1965. Initially, it had planned to build a parking garage on one of those spaces, according to a Sept. 1, 1966 article in the Evening Bulletin. The article described that this plan was met with opposition from Fox Point residents. The plan was ultimately blocked by the city council in 1966, and then the University came up with a new plan for the parcel of land. “There was a lot of controversy over its future,” Pettit said. “And a lot of Fox Point residents were really concerned Brown was making this southward push around 1970.” There ws a moment in the early 1970s, Pettit explained, when the University wanted to address the impact of student rentals by building affordable housing for the Fox Point community. The University Community Relations Committee, specifically the subcommittee on housing, met April 16, 1970 and described a plan to build housing on the Bond Bread site, saying there was “consensus” that “the program should be aimed at displaced or about-to-be displaced Fox Pointers.” ˙ But, the University did not show plans for the apartments to Fox Point residents for a year after this announcement, according to a flier handed out at a meeting with community members at Fox Point elementary school auditorium December 4, 1971. “Brown has already EXPANDED TOO FAR into Fox Point. We must make sure it doesn’t EXPAND ANY FURTHER!” read the flier, written in English on one side and Portuguese on the other. The writers demanded that the site be turned into affordable homes rather than apartments, which was the preference of 87% of Fox Point
8 residents, according to the flier. Edward Sulzberger ’29 was a developer and Corporation member that the University put in charge of the project. The University would sell him the land once he presented a plan that was supported by Fox Pointers, the Providence Journal reported November 18, 1971. He was not trusted by the residents to ensure that Fox Point residents, rather than those affiliated with the University, would be housed in this development, according to the 1969 Ad Hoc Committee on Housing and Expansion report. Sulzberger told The Herald Dec. 7, 1970 that he hoped the space would be “rented to faculty and married grad students.” The Herald reported Dec. 6, 1971, that a “vocal and often emotional gathering of Fox Point residents voiced overwhelming opposition to (Sultzberger’s) plan to build apartments there,” effectively blocking the plan. The site, the article continued, would likely be condemned. Brown would ultimately abandon the project, despite a brief failed attempt to build housing on that site again in 1978. “It was a really disastrous event, and I think it really left deep wounds between Brown and Fox Point,” Pettit said about the Bond Bread saga. In a University housing committee recommendation report for the 197172 school year, plans were enacted to try and curb pressures put on the East Side housing market by student oversaturation in the area. The main policy created by this report was the limiting of approved off-campus residents to no more than 500 students. Along with that measure, it was decreed that, with the exception of extenuating circumstances, no student could live in Fox Point. But, students continued to live off campus. According to an article from The Herald published December 1, 1987, of the undergraduate body of around 5,500 students, approximately 1,500 were living off campus. The reasons mentioned in decisions to live off campus included some pull but mostly push factors. Many students were unhappy with the state of on-campus housing, citing concerns of cleanliness and general maintenance. Richard Spahr, manager of Residential Facilities at the time stated, “Eight (dorm buildings) are in good to excellent condition, twenty meet the minimum standards and eleven have serious cosmetic, structural or functional problems.” Living off campus also provided students with more freedom in many aspects of their lives, from throwing parties to having better and cheaper meals to being able to study without having constant noise in their hallways, The Herald reported. Many upperclassmen today continue to live off campus, with some community members having concerns about their impact on rental markets, The Herald previously reported. “Admittedly, most of the damage has been done,” Pettit said. He explained that it’s unlikely that Fox Point will become “a vibrant immigrant community” or a community for the working class again. “Maybe that piece can’t be reversed.” But, Pettit added, “Brown students have a responsibility to know the history that our University played in shaping the East Side.” Additional reporting by Rhea Rasquinha.