Friday, March 14, 2025

THE BROWN DAILY HER

VOLUME CLX, ISSUE 8

FEDERAL ACTIONS ROCK BROWN

BY ETHAN SCHENKER UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR

Early Thursday morning, Brown announced it would be implementing a temporary, staff-wide hiring freeze in response to the “uncertainty we now face from federal actions.” In a letter to community members, Provost Francis Doyle and Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Sarah Latham wrote that the freeze will begin immediately and remain in effect through the end of the 2025 fiscal year for positions “with any component of unrestricted funds.”

These comprise 90% of all staff positions, University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald.

An exemption process will be available for positions that, if vacant, would have significant impacts on “critical” operations, are essential to ensure compliance with “regulatory and legal requirements,” “support critical infrastructure” or “are required to ensure

UNIVERSITY NEWS

campus health and safety.”

The hiring freeze will not apply to student employment, according to Clark. Previously announced staff raises will not be affected by these measures, the announcement reads.

The University hired 767 staff during fiscal year 2024, according to the Office of Institutional Research.

Recent federal actions come as the University is looking to reduce a $46 million budget deficit. Brown has previ -

Education Dept. warns Brown may face ‘enforcement actions’ amid antisemitism

concerns

Warning letters were sent to 60 universities on Monday

BY CATE LATIMER UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR

Brown and 59 other universities could face “enforcement actions” if they fail to “protect Jewish students on campus,” according to a letter sent to the universities Monday. The letter was sent to all United States universities that “are under investigation or monitoring in response to complaints filed” with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights about alleged violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

Title VI prohibits federally funded institutions from discriminating on the basis of race, color and national origin, including Jewish ancestry.

University Spokesperson Brian

ing following a voluntary resolution agreement with OCR to which the University agreed in July 2024.” While the Universi ty denied it violated Title VI at the time, the agree ment required Brown to begin and expand non discrimination trainings, among other pro cedural mea sures.

“We have taken extensive action to enhance non-discrimina tion and anti-harass

ously implemented a number of financial measures in response to the shortfall, including a restriction to 1% growth in faculty and 0% growth in unrestricted staff headcount.

The University also announced a

series of other financial measures in the Thursday letter in an attempt to address “the potential significant impacts of federal government actions and

Community members rally against detainment of Columbia pro-Palestinian activist

Approximately 200 students gathered on Main Green this Thursday

BY ANNIKA SINGH SENIOR STAFF WRITER

On Thursday afternoon, approximately 200 students gathered on the Main Green to protest the arrest and detainment of Columbia alum and activist Mahmoud Khalil by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at Columbia on Saturday.

Khalil is a U.S. permanent resident who received a master’s degree from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs last year. He was a lead student negotiator during Columbia’s 2024 pro-Palestinian protests.

On Jan. 29, President Trump signed an executive order that threatened to deport and revoke visas for international students who have participƒjesseated in pro-Pal-

estinian protests. Some of his executive actions have also attempted to restrict immigration and increase deportations.

The protest was organized by Jews for Palestinian Liberation and nine other student activist organizations, including the Brown Divest Coalition, the Palestine Solidarity Caucus, the Brown Dream Team and Students for Educational Equity.

The BDC called on Brown to disclose their current policy regarding campus access for federal authorities.

“If a valid subpoena is presented to Brown for any community member’s records, they must commit to challenging the subpoena,” read a statement from a BDC spokesperson who was granted anonymity for fear of retaliation from the federal government.

When asked about how the University plans to support students,

KAIA YALAMANCHILI / HERALD

ANISHA KUMAR / HERALD

SPEAKER

Former DNC chair and RNC chair dissect Trump’s political comeback

Tom Perez ’83 P’18, Michael Steele spoke about the 2024 election

BY ANNIKA SINGH SENIOR STAFF WRITER

On Wednesday evening, Tom Perez ’83 P’18, former U.S. Secretary of Labor and Democratic National Committee chairman, and Michael Steele, former Republican National Committee chairman, discussed President Trump’s return to power at the Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy.

Speaking at the center’s Alexander Meiklejohn Lecture, the two former party chairs said that both parties need to reflect on the 2024 election’s outcome for different reasons.

Democrats need to be more responsive to voters, Perez argued, adding that Democrats “do too much talking and not enough listening.”

“I think the biggest reason we lost is we need to really better understand voters,” he added. “Democracy is about arithmetic. It’s addition, it’s not subtraction.”

Steele said that the Trumpian brand has cemented itself in the fabric of the Republican Party.

“For the first time, we’re all seeing it for what it really is,” Steele said of the Republican Party. He posed the possibility

STUDENT LIFE

that the Ronald Reagan-era of the GOP was an “illusion” and not “who we are as Republicans.” Instead, he said, President Trump may now be more representative of the party.

“A lot of us are grappling with that question right now,” he said.

He also characterized Trump’s election wins as a culmination of a decades-long career reaching audiences on reality TV.

“Donald Trump had forged a relationship with Americans long before he decided to run for president,” Steele said. “He was on their TVs every week, firing people, looking like he was in charge.”

In Steele’s eyes, this made the presidential race an “asymmetrical game.”

Perez argued that gerrymandering, or the manipulation of election borders, has reversed the roles of voters and elected officials. “Elected officials are picking their voters,” he said. “Voters aren’t picking their elected officials anymore.”

Steele focused on the importance of state and local elections. Despite gerrymandering efforts and public frustration with the electoral college system, he said Americans can look to state legislatures to protect their voting rights.

He also noted the consequences of low voter turnout during the 2024 election.

“Fewer of our American citizens decided to participate this time around,” he said.

Steele said that Trump’s vocal desire for retribution and dictatorship should have been a warning to voters. “Why didn’t you believe him?” he rhetorically asked voters. “Why’d you stay home? Why didn’t you care?”

Michael Vogel GS said that he thought having two speakers from different political parties made for a “cool dynamic.”

Attendee David London ’64, a former Herald staffer, said that he resonated

with both speakers’ criticisms of their own parties. “You hear each of them talk about the things that they did right and the things they did wrong,” he said.

Toby Parker London ’65, also a former Herald staffer, said that she was “particularly appreciative of Tom Perez’s optimism because it’s a pretty discouraging time right now.”

Both Perez and Steele expressed optimism for the future of American de -

mocracy. Perez, a self-identified “eternal optimist,” framed the moment as one of reflection and potential for improvement.

“This is a dangerous moment,” Perez said. “But it’s far more dangerous if we sit home and we allow the appalling silence to take over.”

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on March 12, 2025.

Clubs express uncertainty about identity-based events following SAO warnings

out to two student organizations about affinity events

BY ZARINA HAMILTON SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The Student Activities Office is reviewing affinity and identity-based events to ensure they are open to all students. Students told The Herald that the SAO is acting in accordance with guidance from the University’s Office of General Counsel.

“In addition to Brown’s long-standing Nondiscrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy, there are multiple laws and legal precedents that prohibit discrimination on the basis of protected classes — such as race, sex, religion, national or ethnic origin,” University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald. “Brown prohibits discrimination based on any characteristic protected by applicable laws or Brown policy.”

Clark also cited the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in education.

The Trump administration has recently targeted diversity, equity and inclusion programs at educational institutions, threatening to cut federal funding from universities that do not eliminate race-conscious programming.

Over the last two weeks, the SAO entered discussions with at least two student organizations about whether their previously scheduled affinity and identity-based events could continue as planned.

Brown Outing Club’s “Women’s Rock Climbing Trip,” scheduled for March 1,

was originally advertised as a “trip for women who are looking to learn climbing or spend time climbing in community with other women,” wrote BOC President Sofia Gilroy ’25 in an email to The Herald.

In late February, the SAO contacted the BOC to schedule a meeting and clarify the attendance criteria for the upcoming event, Gilroy said. She told The Herald that during her meeting with the SAO, the office said it was abiding by guidance

from the Office of General Counsel.

After the meeting, the BOC agreed to change the event’s name to “Rock Spot Climbing Trip.”

Student organizations receive guidance from staff members in the Division of Campus Life “to ensure that those organizations understand and uphold the University’s obligation to prohibit discrimination in its programs and activities,” Clark wrote.

On Feb. 25, the SAO also reached out

to the Rib of Brown, a student organization that editor Jules Griswold ’25 described as a “comedy group publication for people of marginalized genders.”

In an email to several Rib’s editors, the SAO expressed concern over the group’s “Man on the Rib” performance that was scheduled to occur the following night.

“Our main point of concern is just ensuring that gender is not a prohibitive factor in someone participating,”

SAO wrote in an email to the Rib. They also cited Title IX as the basis for their concern.

The performance was designed to be “a satirical joke about reverse male beauty pageants” in which cast members performed mock auditions to join the Rib, Griswold told The Herald. But they emphasized that anyone could participate in the show, regardless of their gender identity.

After the student organization clarified the purpose of the event, the SAO allowed the event to proceed unchanged, Rib editor Louisa Cavicchi ’25 said.

Leaders of both the BOC and the Rib said they were unsure how student events will continue to be affected in the future.

“The information we’ve gotten from the SAO has largely been on a case-bycase basis,” Cavicchi said.

Gilroy added that one of the components of the BOC’s mission statement is to acknowledge and break down barriers for identity groups “who might not otherwise get outside.”

“An important way to achieve this goal is to create unique spaces where people can feel comfortable participating because they are within a community that fits their identity,” she said.

Griswold believes the SAO’s guidelines are “intentionally being kept very hazy, especially after all of the recent initiatives for diversity.”

“It just makes it feel very hollow,” they added.

“Campus Life will continue to share information with students about all University policies that may apply as they organize events and activities,” Clark wrote.

ANDREW HSIEH / HERALD

Michael Steele, former Republican National Committee chairman, said that the Trumpian brand has cemented itself in the fabric of the Republican Party.

SAO reached

SCOUT CHEN / HERALD

The Trump administration has recently targeted diversity, equity and inclusion programs at educational institutions, threatening to cut federal funding from universities that do not eliminate race-conscious programming.

EDUCATION FROM PAGE 1

ment measures, cultivate constructive dialogue on campus and sustain a caring and supportive community,” Clark wrote in an email to The Herald.

The Department of Education, alongside other federal agencies, recently launched investigations into five universities over allegations of antisemitism on their campuses. One of these universities, Columbia, was stripped of $400 million of federal funding Friday “due to the school’s continued inaction to protect Jewish students from discrimination,” according to the press release.

The investigating agencies said the cancellation was “the first round” of actions, promising more to come.

“Too many universities have tolerated widespread antisemitic harassment and the illegal encampments that paralyzed campus life last year, driving Jewish life and religious expression underground,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement announcing the letters.

Brown saw an April encampment calling for divestment from companies affiliated with Israel. At the time, Jewish students expressed mixed views on the demonstration. The Brown Corporation, the University’s highest governing body, later rejected the divestment proposal.

“Today, the department is putting universities, colleges and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses,” McMahon said.

HIRING FROM PAGE 1

ongoing shifts in the national economic landscape,” including slowing discretionary spending and instituting a salary freeze for high-ranking administration officials.

President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 will take a 10% salary cut alongside both Doyle and Latham.

“We remain committed to preventing discrimination and harassment based on shared ancestry, including antisemitism and islamophobia, in all of our activities,” Clark wrote.

Other peer institutions who received the letter include Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Cornell.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is also currently investigating the Warren Alpert Medical School for alleged antisemitic incidents that occurred during its May 2024 commencement ceremony. Brown’s medical school was one of four medical schools

under the investigation.

This letter is one in a series of federal actions by the Trump administration that has jeopardized federal funding for higher education institutions.

Last month, the National Institutes of Health announced they would cut federal funding for research. This action would limit indirect costs, such as facility fees, electricity and other administrative costs, to 15%.

In response, Brown, along with 12 other universities and three higher education groups, filed a lawsuit against the decision, arguing that it violates the

UNIVERSITY NEWS

federal separation of powers. A federal judge extended a block on the cuts on March 5.

A week after the NIH announcement, the Department of Education also released a letter threatening to cut federal funding to Universities that do not eliminate race-conscious programs, including DEI, The Herald previously reported.

In response to funding threats, the University has canceled ongoing faculty searches, reduced PhD admissions targets and created contingency plans, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 ex-

plained in a community-wide letter on March 5.

Contingency plans could include staff layoffs and pulling back from the University’s investment in the planned William A. and Ami Kuan Danoff Life Sciences Laboratories.

Threats to federal funding have also influenced other institutions of higher education across the country, leading to hiring freezes and rescinded acceptances.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on March 10, 2025.

In the letter, Doyle and Latham also announced a freeze on non-essential travel. Travel constitutes “an area with significant unrestricted expenses across Brown,” they wrote, noting that travel is deemed essential if it is contractually required, lacks virtual alternatives or is necessary for core academic and research operations.

Other institutions, including Har-

vard and Penn, have also announced hiring freezes.

Last week, Paxson announced a reduction in PhD admission targets and warned of potential layoffs amid the University’s assessment of ongoing federal financial uncertainty. The University has also formed a working group tasked with assessing “the orders coming out of Washington, D.C.”

In March 2020, the University implemented a staff and faculty hiring freeze with “very few exceptions,” citing financial uncertainty stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, faculty expressed concerns over the long-term effects of the freeze on plans for departmental expansion.

The impact of Thursday’s hiring freeze on academic and administrative

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units remains unclear, along with the extent of cuts to discretionary spending.

“Brown continues to explore a range of scenarios,” Clark wrote. “But the actions detailed in today’s message to campus are those that we are moving forward with at this time.”

Additional reporting by Cate Latimer.

email, and we will do our best to work with you.

Submissions can build on reporting from The Herald, reporting elsewhere, official statements from the University or other groups and other reputable sources, but they cannot break news or contain information that The Herald cannot verify. Because we cannot publish unsubstantiated information, failure to provide appropriate sources may mean we have to modify or remove unverified claims.

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Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits federally funded institutions from discriminating on the basis of race, color and national origin, including Jewish ancestry.

EDUCATION

Traditional snow days have fallen following falls in snowfall

Providence has seen a steady downward trend in snowfall

BY EMMA MEJIA CONTRIBUTING WRITER

In 2015, the Providence Public School District extended the school year due to a surplus of snow days. But a decade later, an extension to the school year of this kind is unlikely given the state’s low snowfall and a shift toward virtual learning instead of traditional snow days.

“We’re in a multi-year period where we’re getting below normal snowfall,” said Andy Nash, meteorologist-in-charge at the National Weather Service based out of Massachusetts.

On average, Providence has received 32.6 inches of snow by this point in the year for the past three decades, Nash said. But in 2025, the Providence region has only received 15.6 inches.

Snowfall in Providence has shown a downward trend over the past 20 years. While some years, like 2015, have seen above average snowfall there have been

LOCAL BUSINESSES

Businesses

several years where snowfall has been significantly below average.

In the case of inclement weather, districts are allowed to hold all virtual learning days, which can count toward

their required instructional hours, per a bill signed by former Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo in 2017. The bill required the Rhode Island Department of Education to create a policy that allowed

are shelling out for eggs in the

Most recent outbreak of bird flu has driven up the cost of eggs

BY LILY SELTZ STAFF WRITER

At Cracked, a Thayer Street restaurant specializing in egg sandwiches, dozens of egg cartons line a shelf above the store counter’s buffet line. Customers often look at the array and comment “‘wow, that’s a lot of money right there,’” said Howard Pantz, one of the shop’s owners.

Since its opening last November, the price of eggs has skyrocketed.

The inflated prices come amid a nationwide shortage of eggs caused by a national outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu. The bird flu has killed more than 30 million birds this year, according to the March 7 U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Egg Markets Overview.

We “held on as long as we could before tweaking prices,” Howard Pantz, one of Cracked owners, told The Herald. The menu has seen an increase of about 50 cents per egg sandwich.

But Cracked is not the only Providence egg establishment that has been hit hard by rising prices. Many have been forced to raise prices and adjust their offerings, and some consumers report shifting their purchasing and eating habits in response.

Guillermina Perez, the manager of Bagel Gourmet’s Meeting Street location, first noticed the shortage around the end of January, she said in an interview with The Herald. The interview was conducted entire-

ly in Spanish and translated by The Herald.

Bagel Gourmet recently added a 50cent surcharge to all products containing eggs, including their breakfast sandwiches and burritos.

Since then, what Bagel Gourmet pays for a shipment of 180 eggs has doubled, from $60 to $120, Perez added. She said that the establishment has also encountered supplier-imposed limits to the number of eggs they can buy at once.

Though the 50-cent surcharge has helped Bagel Gourmet counter the higher cost of eggs, Perez thinks it has also driven down demand. Selling egg products are key to Bagel Gourmet’s business, and Perez expressed concern that ongoing supply and price issues could threaten the College Hill staple in the long term.

Retailers and grocery shoppers alike have been hit hard by the egg shortage.

Claire Erlandson, a student at Johnson and Wales University who frequents Trader Joe’s, noticed that eggs have been scarcer and more expensive, a trend they say started last month.

districts to submit instructional day plans for these virtual learning days.

For the 2024-25 school year, 32 learning educational authorities — which include districts and standalone schools — in Rhode Island have submitted virtual instruction day plans.

Ten-year-old Alice Conaty and her sister, 8-year-old Claire Conaty, are students at Dr. Joseph A. Whelan Elementary School in North Providence, who spent their most recent snow day learning online instead of sleeping in. Alice Conaty appreciated not having to go to school in person, but said she still spent most of her day doing school work, while Claire Conaty said she didn’t spend any time outside.

While Alice and Claire Conaty might not remember a time before the COVID-19 pandemic normalized online learning, older students recalled what snow days were like before virtual learning became prominent.

“Before the pandemic, when there was a snow day, it was just snow day,” said Hailey Santos, a 16-year-old student at Classical High School. “Now when they mention it, they also bring up Zoom as a possibility.”

Santos remembered having more frequent snow days when she was in elementary school, times when she “usually went out in the snow and played all day,” she said.

For Mildred Suchite, who graduated from the PPSD’s now-closed 360 High School in 2024, snow days in elementary school were a rare treat.

“I was so excited to have a day off,” she said. Suchite recalls that a snow day meant a full day off, which she took advantage of to play in the snow with her cousins.

Like Santos, Suchite noted how days off school changed significantly during the pandemic, recalling that teachers would still hold their classes, just over Zoom.

Suchite said she feels that the snow days she experienced in childhood are far more rare now.

“It doesn’t snow as often anymore,” she said. “Little kids now don’t have that opportunity to go outside and play.”

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on March 12, 2025.

face of shortage, price hikes

weeks and started relying on other protein sources.

With prices at Whole Foods and Good Fortune approaching anywhere from $6 to $10, Erlandson was “shocked” to find a dozen eggs at Trader Joe’s for less than $4. But while Trader Joe’s has managed to keep its prices low, they have struggled to supply enough eggs to last until closing.

To adapt to plummeting supply, the store implemented a policy limiting egg purchases to one dozen per customer per day. The policy went into effect nationwide in early February, according to Nakia Rohde, public relations manager for Trader Joe’s.

Cracked has been shielded from the supply issues that have plagued Trader Joe’s and Bagel Gourmet. The restaurant is exclusively supplied by Stamp Egg Farms in Johnston.

Stamp Egg has not lost birds to the bird flu so far, according to Brijette Stamp, a family representative of Stamp Egg Farms.

But Cracked is not the only Providence egg establishment that has been hit hard by rising prices. Many have been forced to raise prices and adjust their offerings, and some consumers report shifting their purchasing and eating habits in

Guillermina Perez, the manager of Bagel Gourmet’s Meeting Street location, first noticed the shortage around the end of January, she said in an interview with The Herald. The interview was conducted entirely in Spanish and translated by The Herald.

Bagel Gourmet recently added a 50-cent surcharge to all products containing eggs, including their breakfast sandwiches and burritos.

Since then, what Bagel Gourmet pays for a shipment of 180 eggs has doubled, from $60 to $120, Perez added. She said that the establishment has

also encountered supplier-imposed limits to the number of eggs they can buy at once.

Though the 50-cent surcharge has helped Bagel Gourmet counter the higher cost of eggs, Perez thinks it has also driven down demand. Selling egg prod ucts are key to Bagel Gour met’s business, and Perez expressed concern that ongoing supply and price issues could threaten the College Hill staple in the long term.

Retailers and gro cery shoppers alike have been hit hard by the egg shortage. Claire Erlandson, a student at Johnson and Wales University who frequents Trader Joe’s, noticed that eggs have been scarcer and more expensive, a trend they say started last month.

Before the most recent spike in bird flu, Erlandson made omelets for breakfast and used eggs in her baking. Now, she has limited her egg purchasing to one carton every two weeks and started relying on other protein sources.

With prices at Whole Foods and Good Fortune approaching anywhere from $6 to $10, Erlandson was “shocked” to find a dozen eggs at Trader Joe’s for less than $4. But while Trader Joe’s has managed to keep its prices low, they have struggled to supply enough eggs to last until closing.

To adapt to plummeting supply, the store implemented a policy limiting egg purchases to one dozen per customer per day. The policy went into effect nationwide in early February, according to Nakia Rohde, public relations manager for Trader Joe’s.

Cracked has been shielded from the supply issues that have plagued Trader Joe’s and Bagel Gourmet. The restaurant is exclusively supplied by Stamp Egg Farms in Johnston. Stamp Egg has not lost birds to the bird flu so far, according to Brijette Stamp, a family representative of Stamp Egg Farms.

Stamp Egg Farms has noticed a positive

shift in demand over the last few months, “particularly as more customers have been looking for reliable, locally sourced eggs,” Stamp wrote in a message to The Herald. “While prices have increased industry-wide due to avian-related shortages, we’ve worked hard to keep ours as stable as possible.” Because of the national shortage, eggs have become a “commodity item,” said Pantz. In early January, Stamp Egg raised its prices from $5 a dozen to $7 a dozen in order to match increased demand and to compensate for bird flu-related costs like staff personal protective equipment, Stamp said.

La Creperie on Thayer Street recently switched their supplier to Stamp Egg Farms in search of lower egg prices — an essential ingredient in their crepe batter. So far, they’ve managed to keep prices the same, despite their egg-related costs nearly quadrupling since the fall. “We want to keep our customers happy,” said Leslie Albuquerque, owner of La Creperie.

Sin Bakery on Westminster Street has also faced extremely high prices for eggs, which they use in their specialty cakes, desserts and egg sandwiches. Sin has been paying about $147 for an order of 180 eggs this year, compared to about $38 in 2024. So far, they’ve avoided raising prices—but “I can’t promise that we won’t,” said Elyse Johnson, a manager at Sin.

The bakery has made one change. In the past, they sold individual brownies — an egg-intensive treat — at the retail counter. Now, in order to avoid waste, they have implemented a 48-count purchase minimum.

Egg prices have started to tick down in the past few weeks, as both the bird flu and demand for eggs have abated, according to the USDA. But shop owners continue to remain concerned about prices in the near future.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on March 12, 2025.

ISABELA GUILLEN / HERALD

recent spike in bird flu, Erlandson made omelets for breakfast and used eggs in her baking. Now, she has limited her egg purchasing to one carton every two

RIPTA efficiency study lags behind schedule amid looming $32.6 million budget

Study would identify ways to cut costs, align budget with projections

BY PAVANI DURBHAKULA SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Last May, the Rhode Island legislature gave the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority an additional $15 million from the state’s unspent pandemic relief reserves to help alleviate their budget deficit — on the condition that RIPTA would conduct an efficiency study to assess their operations and finances by March 1.

But as of March 13, RIPTA still has not selected an outside firm to conduct the study, according to Cristy Raposo Perry, RIPTA’s director of communications and public outreach. The agency now faces a $32.6 million budget deficit for fiscal 2026.

The final requests for proposals from outside firms were due on March 13. The study is now set to start on April 1, Raposo Perry wrote in an email to The Herald.

EDUCATION

House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi (D-Warwick) finds it “disappointing” that RIPTA has prolonged their timeline when the legislature wants to ensure the “money we allocated is being utilized in a prudent fashion,” he wrote in an email to The Herald.

If RIPTA’s budget deficit cannot be closed, RIPTA “would need to reduce our workforce by nearly 300 employees,” which would “involve significant service cuts statewide,” Raposo Perry wrote.

Not only will the efficiency study identify where RIPTA can be more cost-efficient, but in light of the organization’s budget deficit, the study could open the door for more funding from the state, said Patricia Raub, co-coordinator of Rhode Island Transit Riders’ Working Group, explained that the study could open the door for more funding if RIPTA is able to prove its financial efficiency.

RIPTA CEO Christopher Durand explained that the study was delayed due

to recent leadership changes within the organization, in a letter addressed to Shekarchi, Gov. Dan McKee and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio (D-North Providence, Providence)

“Taking our time to complete the analysis correctly is more important than conducting it hastily to meet a deadline,” Durand wrote in the letter.

Durand stepped up as interim CEO when his predecessor Scott Avedisian resigned last April, and was later named CEO in November. RIPTA paused the study until the transition had concluded so Durand could adjust the scope of the study to align with his goals for the organization, he wrote in the letter.

According to Raposo Perry, RIPTA has seen decreased passenger revenues that have not returned to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. RIPTA also receives funding from the state’s gas tax revenues, which have declined with transitions to electric vehicles and increasingly fuel-efficient cars.

“Federal relief funding was crucial in helping to offset these financial challenges,

but it was always intended to be a temporary solution,” Raposo Perry wrote. “We’re cautiously optimistic that this efficiency study will identify areas where RIPTA can be more cost-efficient.”

The Save RIPTA Coalition, which consists of several community organizations and labor unions — including RI Transit Riders — is supporting a package of seven bills which aim to close RIPTA’s budget deficit.

“If enacted, these bills could provide a sustainable annual revenue stream for RIPTA of approximately $7 million,” wrote State Senator Samuel Zurier (D-Providence), a sponsor of several of the bills, in an email to The Herald.

State Representative Terri Cortvriend (D-Portsmouth) said that future government funding for RIPTA remains uncertain until the general assembly’s revenue conference in May, which will consider findings from the efficiency study.

“Conceptually, I support RIPTA,” said Cortvriend, but she doubts the agency will get more funding in the future.

How PPSD is responding to potential immigration enforcement in local schools

Guidelines aim to address fears prompted by Trump administration

BY JOY CHEN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

At a Feb. 26 Providence School Board meeting, the Providence Public School District’s legal counsel presented strategies for cooperating with immigration enforcement on school grounds. This comes after Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha and the Rhode Island Department of Education released guidelines protecting immigrant students’ rights on Jan. 27.

On Jan. 20, the Trump administration rescinded previous policies that protected “sensitive locations” — including elementary and secondary schools — from Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions.

The February PPSD presentation outlined new measures to implement FERPA requirements in line with RIDE’s guidelines. Now, families have to opt in to allow the district to share student information to third parties, as opposed to the previous opt-out

system. This opt-in protocol will apply to everything from online “Honor Roll” lists to media requests.

At the school board meeting, legal counsel from the PPSD stated that if ICE arrives at schools, attorneys from the PPSD will go to the schools to handle legal proceedings.

In a press release, Rhode Island Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Angélica Infante-Green stated that “unless there is a real public safety exigency, immigration enforcement does not belong on school grounds where it has the potential to negatively impact all students regardless of immigration status.”

RIDE’s guidelines include not disclosing student information under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and not requiring schools to collect immigration status information during the enrollment process.

According to Victor Morente, a spokesperson for RIDE, the guidelines are suggestions and local school committees can decide what guidelines to implement.

“What they choose to implement may vary from community to community,” Morente wrote. He added that “the response

to immigration (enforcement) may differ depending on the number of immigration attorneys” in a district and because of variation in school building security measures

“For some schools, you have to get buzzed in or signed in to enter,” Morente explained. “For some, you don’t.”

Morente affirmed that ICE agents need a judicial warrant to enter nonpublic areas in schools. ICE administrative warrants, notic-

es to appear and administrative subpoenas are not sufficient to grant agents access to schools.

RIDE issued their guidelines after many school districts contacted the department seeking guidance on how to respond to federal authorities if they sought access to student information, Morente said. The parameters seek to “give direction on how districts could address this (situation) if it did happen,” he

explained.

Morente clarified that there have been no reported incidents of ICE agents trying to enter schools.

Anna Kuperman ’94 MAT’97, a teacher at Classical High School, shared that she still holds fears about immigration enforcement despite the city of Providence’s reassurances. She said that there is “a lot of insecurity and fear for students” among teachers, especially since they “don’t exactly know the ins and outs of what’s going to happen.”

Julianna Espinal, an organizer with OurSchoolsPVD and a 17-year-old student at Classical High School, shared that she believes state officials could do more to protect students without proper legal status, particularly in guarding their home addresses.

Morente reiterated the state’s commitment to supporting immigrant students.

“All students in the U.S., regardless of immigration status, have a right to an education,” he said.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on March 12, 2025.

RI attorney general, 20 others file lawsuit to halt Education Dept. layoffs

Plaintiffs say workforce reduction will effectively dismantle department

BY AVANI GHOSH AND ANDREA LI

METRO EDITOR AND SENIOR STAFF WRITER

On Thursday, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha and 20 other attorneys general filed a lawsuit to block the Trump administration from laying off over 1,300 U.S. Department of Education employees.

The suit comes two days after the Department of Education released a statement saying that it had “initiated a reduction in force impacting nearly 50% of the Department’s workforce.”

In a March 11 interview with Fox News, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon confirmed that the RIF is a first step in

Trump’s mandate “to shut down the Department of Education.”

In their suit, the plaintiffs argued that “the layoffs are an effective dismantling of the Department.”

The Department of Education’s elementary and secondary programs serve over 50 million students and close to 18,200 school districts nationwide. Its programs also “provide grant, loan, and work-study assistance to more than 12 million postsecondary students,” according to the Department’s website.

In their suit, the plaintiffs argued that the RIF would incapacitate “key, statutorily-mandated functions of the Department, causing immense damage to plaintiff states and their educational systems.”

According to Neronha’s press release, layoffs would affect a variety of services including the availability of speech therapy for school-aged children with special needs, federal support for children in rural communities and services for children from

underserved communities.

The elimination of the Department of Education “will severely hobble Rhode Island’s ability to enforce civil rights laws in this state,” wrote Timothy Rondeau, director of communications for Neronha’s office, in an email to The Herald.

Although the layoffs are not set to take effect until March 21, Rondeau explained that RIF has resulted in the closure of the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights branch in Boston, which covered Rhode Island. These closures have affected “half of the Offices of Civil Rights across the country,” he added.

The Department of Education also oversees the college financial aid process, facilitates Pell Grants and manages federal work study programs. In its statement, the Department said it “will continue to deliver on all statutory programs that fall under the agency’s purview.”

But with the recent layoffs, the Department’s administration of these programs would be “at risk” and will result in “higher costs to attend institutions of higher education,” the attorneys general argued in the suit.

The plaintiffs also alleged that the Trump administration’s layoffs are “an unlawful violation of the separation of powers” as only Congress can “abolish executive agencies.” They added that “the executive has no authority to incapacitate a congressionally created agency.” “This is thoughtless, it is reckless and it must be stopped,” Neronha said in the press release.

White House did not respond to The Herald’s request for comment.

ISABELA GUILLEN / HERALD

The

KAIOLENA TACAZON / HERALD

The Department of Education’s elementary and secondary programs serve over 50 million students and close to 18,200 school districts nationwide.

SOPHIA LENG / HERALD

Some of RIDE’s guidelines include not disclosing student information under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and not requiring immigration status information when students enroll in schools.

SPORTS

BASKETBALL

Men’s basketball ends season with 70-61 loss to Yale

Bruno bids seniors farewell in the final home game of the season

BY DENNIS CAREY SPORTS EDITOR

This Saturday, men’s basketball (1413, 6-8 Ivy League) closed their season against Yale (20-7, 13-1), losing 70-61 in the Pizzitola Sports Center. The Bears needed the win — and two other unlikely results — to qualify for the Ivy Madness Tournament, hosted by Brown next weekend.

The game was also the final time that seniors Lyndel Erold ’25, Sam Klores ’25, Kino Lilly Jr. ’25, Aaron Cooley ’25 and Nana Owusu-Anane ’25 donned Bruno colors.

In typical fashion, Lilly was directly involved in nearly half of Bruno’s points, notching 19 with five assists. He closes his college career with the most three-pointers made in program history, coming in second for points scored.

Lilly is “a better person than he is a player,” Head Coach Mike Martin ’04 said. “He’s an amazing teammate. He allows you to coach him… every minute of every day.”

But the standout performance of the night was Bruno’s paint defense. Holding Yale — one of the more physically dominant teams in the Ivy League — to only

HOCKEY

Lilly Jr. ’25 closes his career with most made threes and second-most points scored in program history.

14 points in the paint and nine offensive rebounds, the Bears managed to temper the best team in the league.

“I’m not sure (Yale has) scored that few points in the paint all year,” Martin said. “You got to tip your hat to” Bruno, he added.

Landon Lewis ’26 was a key player in this defensive performance, grabbing nine rebounds and three blocks.

After the Bulldogs scored the first four points in the game, a three-pointer by Cooley got Bruno up and running.

But the Bulldogs warded off an early Bruno drive, jumping out to a 22-8 lead with 11 minutes to play in the first half. It looked as though the Bears’ hopes for victory were already waning early in the game.

Bruno still fought back. Set off by a

lay-up from Adrian Uchidiuno ’27, the Bears went on a 10-0 run to get themselves within four points of the Bulldogs. From then on, it was raining threes at the Pizz. Excluding free throws, the next five buckets were scored from behind the arc, with both teams trading back and forth.

With the score at 31-24 and three minutes left to play in the first half, another triple from Alexander Lesburt Jr.

’26 got Bruno within four points of their first lead of the game. Two good free throws from Uchidiuno — in response to another Bulldog basket — took the Bears into the half within punching distance of Yale.

After halftime, Bruno stormed out of the locker room, tying the game in less than two minutes into the half. The Bears then stretched their lead out to 37-35 off of a layup from Erold.

For the rest of the game, both teams traded the lead back-and-forth in a shootout. The game finally slowed back down after a three-pointer by Lilly put the Bears up by one, 42-41.

After Yale stole their lead back and continued knocking down shots, a three-pointer from David Rochester ’28 tied the game at 47 with 13:24 to go. Another layup from Uchidiuno took the lead back — Bruno’s last lead of the game.

Uchidiuno “stepped into a huge opportunity and played great,” Martin said. “We needed him on the court.”

But Yale’s John Poulakidas took over soon after. Scoring 10 of the Bulldogs’ last 16 points down the stretch, his late surge kept the Bears at arm’s length. Despite their last-minute efforts, Bruno was unable to get themselves back into the game and their season ended in defeat.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on March 9, 2025.

Men’s ice hockey beats Princeton 3-2 in thrilling playoff win

Bruno moves on to the ECAC Quarterfinals for the first time since 2019

BY MILES MONROE STAFF WRITER

On Friday night, the men’s ice hockey team (14-13-3, 9-11-2 ECAC) defeated Princeton (12-15-3, 7-12-3) 3-2 in the first round of the ECAC playoffs. The win marks the first time since 2019 that the Bears have qualified for the ECAC Quarterfinals.

From the opening puck drop, it was a physical game. A sign of the intensity to come, the Bears and Tigers got into a shoving match in front of the Brown net not even three minutes into the game.

Nine minutes into the game, Princeton struck first. The Tigers caught Brown off guard after quickly playing the puck across the ice from their own defensive zone. Princeton’s Jayden Sisan crept into Brown’s defensive zone and fired a shot past screened Brown goalie Lawton Zacher ’27 to claim the 1-0 lead.

Not even four minutes later, the Bears came back swinging. Exploiting a Tiger penalty, the Bears levied four shots on goal within two minutes. But in the end, the team could not convert and the teams entered the second period at 1-0.

Just 41 seconds into the second period, Ryan St. Louis ’26 heroically intercepted a pass at the top of Brown’s defensive end. He raced to the other end of the ice and smoothly slotted the puck past the Princeton goalie. This marked St. Louis’s 10th goal of the season.

“It’s a resilient group; we’ve seen it

COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS

“It’s a resilient group; we’ve seen it all year,” Head Coach Brendan Whittet ’94 noted. “We didn’t get rattled down 1-0, and I thought we got progressively better as the game went on.”

all year,” Head Coach Brendan Whittet ’94 noted. “We didn’t get rattled down 1-0, and I thought we got progressively better as the game went on.”

Marked physicality continued to play a prominent role in the game as both sides laid their bodies on the line for a shot at the quarterfinals. The rough playstyle was on full display when Brendan Clark ’25 laid a tough hit on a Tiger, prompting the referees to threaten a five-minute major penalty. It ultimately resulted in a two-minute boarding penalty after review. The boarding call on Clark summed

up a second period that was headlined by penalties. In one period, at least one team had a man-up advantage for 10 minutes.

Princeton had two more power plays in a row after Clark’s boarding call, but Brown’s defense held strong. Bruno put everything on the line to prevent Princeton from scoring and Zacher made five clutch saves throughout their man-down play to keep the score at 1-1. The game remained tied for the rest of the second period.

“I’m proud of the guys for the way they responded,” Whittet commented about

the team’s early game struggles. “Our goal is to win the ECAC Championship; that was the first step.”

In the final period, the Bears put their desire to make the quarterfinals on full display. They competed with the same physicality of the second, but without the penalties.

With under 14 minutes left to play, the lefty Tyler Kopff ’27 finally broke the tie. Speeding past a defender on the right alley and cutting back across the face of the net, Kopff scored to put the Bears up 2-1. Playing from behind, Princeton fought

to get back into the game. But Brown’s defense held strong, led by Zacher’s incredible 20 saves.

With under two minutes left, Princeton pulled their goalie in a last-ditch effort to even the score. St. Louis made the Tigers pay when he stole the puck and skated it into the empty Tigers’ net in the final minute of the game to make the score 3-1.

Max Scott ’27 “makes hockey a lot easier and Brendan Clark creates room for everyone else on the ice,” St. Louis said when asked about what allowed him to be so effective on Friday night. “I really like the way our line and team have been playing as of late, and we just need to carry that into next weekend.”

Princeton netted one last goal with three seconds left, but it was too late and the buzzer sounded with a score of 3-2, clinching the victory for Bruno.

“It was a great game and a great atmosphere,” Whittet said in a message to Brown Athletics. “That’s why you want to play at home in the playoffs. It gives you a little bit of an edge.”

Brown hopes to carry this momentum into the ECAC Quarterfinals against No. 1 Quinnipiac (22-10-2, 16-5-1) this Friday. They will face the Bobcats in a best-ofthree series.

“I don’t care who we play. We’re going to win,” Whittet said. “It’s been an incredible team to be a part of and to coach. They’re good guys and good players who play the game the right way.”

CHRIS NGUYEN / HERALD

Kino

UNIVERSITY NEWS

DINING SERVICES

Students grill new Ivy Room station

Students raised concerns about the quality, variety of new offerings

BY ALEJANDRO RUIZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

On March 4, the Ivy Room opened its new grill station, replacing the eatery’s typical rotating hot meal options. The grill — which has been moved to the Ivy Room from the Sharpe Refectory — now serves half-beef, half-mushroom burgers, Nashville hot chicken sandwiches, pretzel bites and more, as well as some vegan options.

Brown Dining Services announced the change in an Instagram post last month. Although the grill has moved downstairs to the Ivy Room, the Ratty will continue to offer staples like French fries, grilled chicken and black bean burgers, according to a Today@ Brown post from Dining Services. The Ivy Room’s make-your-own smoothie bar and grab-and-go sushi and salad options will remain unchanged.

The new offerings do not affect pricing at the Ivy Room, wrote Vice President of Dining Services George Barboza

LABOR

in an email to The Herald. A meal swipe will cover one of the grill offerings, with “french fries or (an)other side, and a fountain beverage.”

Barboza wrote that the change was part of Dining Services’s efforts “to introduce new and exciting menu options.”

Inspiration for the update came from Dining Services’s weekly meetings, in which “concepts are introduced and the latest food trends are analyzed to bring the healthiest and freshest options into our units,” Barboza added.

But not all students are excited about the change.

Zoë Kountoupes-Wilson ’28 said she used to look forward to checking the Ivy Room menu every day — but not since the offerings have changed. “It is just fried chicken and pretzels” every day, she said.

Brandon Magloire ’27 noted that the new offerings seem too similar to the options at Josiah’s, Brown’s late-night eatery that serves chicken sandwiches, the same half-beef, half-mushroom burgers, salads and a rotating entree.

Since Jo’s and the Ivy Room are the only dining halls open after 9 p.m. during the week, Magloire said the change has reduced the “variety” of Brown’s latenight bites. “I can definitely see the same food options getting really old really fast,” he added.

Both Magloire and Aidan Flores ’27 said they noticed a drop in the quality of food at the Ivy Room. Flores said the new addition is “definitely inferior to what we had before” because “it just tastes really bad.”

Flores also criticized the new half-mushroom, half-beef burger that Dining Services introduced to Jo’s at the start of the semester in hopes of increasing sustainability on campus. This 50/50 burger, now offered in the Ivy Room, has sparked controversy over its taste and quality.

Barboza emphasized that Dining Services remains receptive to student feedback.

Campus unions, labor activists protest in support of postdocs, library workers

Approximately 100 attended the rally on the Main Green

BY EMILY FEIL SENIOR STAFF WRITER

On Tuesday afternoon, approximately 100 community members attended a rally on the Main Green in support of postdoctoral researchers and library workers, who say that their unions’ negotiations

with the University have stalled.

The demonstration, held by the Student Labor Alliance, featured speakers from campus unions and local activists.

Shortly after the rally began, members of Brown Postdoc Labor Organization walked out of a scheduled bargaining session with the University to join the protest. Organizers told attendees that the planned walkout was in response to what postdocs see as continued unresponsiveness to a proposal they introduced in July 2024 that would increase

base salaries by at least 47%.

“Compensation remains a significant focus as we continue productive, good-faith conversations with union representatives directly at the table,” University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald.

Postdoctoral researchers and fellows unionized in January 2024 and have been bargaining for their first contract with the University since last May. A June interim agreement with Brown increased compensation to meet salary minimums recommended by the National Institutes of Health, but organizers say that the University has not responded to their long-term compensation proposal for seven months.

Clark wrote that Brown has “issued counter-proposals on all but three BPLO proposals” and has continued to meet regularly with BPLO organizers since reaching the interim salary agreement last summer, adding that the two parties have “made progress” on more than 20 articles and “are close to tentative agreements on a significant number of articles.”

The USAW-RI unit representing library support staff has been bargaining with the University since late August, just before their previous three-year contract expired on Sept. 30, 2024. At the rally, they also raised issues with the bargaining timeline.

In December, “we had thought that we concluded with bargaining,” Amy Cardone, business agent for USAW-RI, told The Herald, adding that library workers believed they were “at a tentative agreement.”

“Our last thing was to set up ratification, vote, hold meetings and get finalization on language regarding co-pays,” she added.

In November, library staff also protested contract negotiations, expressing frustration with scheduling meetings and language in University counter proposals.

Clark wrote that the University and the bargaining unit have “made significant progress, and we continue to work through key provisions, including on

health insurance, retirement benefits and other topics.”

“Our focus remains on respectful, productive and good faith conversations directly with union representatives,” he added. “We deeply value our library employees and we look forward to continued progress at the bargaining table.”

Other unions joined the protest in solidarity and echoed the demands of BPLO and library workers.

“We’re here to show our support for our fellow workers and say that they deserve to be fairly compensated,” Shravya Sompalli ’25, an organizer for the Teaching Assistant Labor Organization, said at the rally.

After the rally, a group of postdocs, library workers and other community members marched along Waterman Street and picketed in front of Faunce Arch.

ANNA LUECHT / HERALD

Shortly after the rally began, members of Brown Postdoc Labor Organization walked out of a scheduled bargaining session with the University to join the protest.

KENNA LEE / HERALD

The Ivy Room opened its new grill station last week, but students are disappointed by the changes it has brought about.

ANNA LUECHT / HERALD

post-

Letter from the Editor

These are my first printed words in post-, and probably also my last. So a bit of hello and goodbye at the same time. We’re not entirely strangers though—this probably isn’t the first work of mine you’ve seen. This is my 57th issue that I’ve designed for post- (I counted for the first time today). So if you’ve read an issue of post- anytime since fall 2022 and noticed any column alignment errors, that's on me. After four years, the individual issues and the long prod nights with good food and good friends start to blend together. However, I do remember the way it all felt and the genuine happiness that doing layout for this wonderful magazine has brought me.

Our writers this week have also been thinking about memory, and what you take with you. In Feature, Nahye reflects on how expressing grief and pain in writing can rob the writer of those feelings, and Francis writes on how to see the good in uncertainty. In Narrative, Helen talks about the

MARCH 12

VOL 35

ISSUE 6

memories of home that sweet potatoes evoke, and Jedidiah discusses the bittersweet nature of visiting a childhood home. In A&C, Sara reflects on Fleabag and the omnipresence of love, and Ishan talks about the book Why Fish Don’t Exist and finding order in chaos. In Lifestyle, Daphne channels Buzzfeed for a Thayer restaurant personality quiz, Jedidiah reflects on Google storage limits and the ephemerality of memory, and Lily has created a crossword you need a little luck to solve. For post-pourri, Emmanuel writes about rugby and approaching new experiences with neutrality.

I’ll be leaving layout in the capable hands of two incredible new co-chiefs, who I’ve had the privilege to know, train, and see totally eclipse my own design abilities. The role of designer, and especially layout chief, is a supporting role above anything else, and I love it for that reason. I get the opportunity to highlight the work of all the talented writers and artists on post- and package it up for you, the reader, to enjoy. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no better job here.

There’s a wall in the office that was bare when I first got here. Over the years, it has slowly filled up with photos, signs, and a haphazard assortment of other objects documenting in some way the people who spent their Wednesday nights in that room. From my point of view right now, graduation and beyond feels a bit like copying my consciousness and memories into a clone and sending it forward into the unknown where I (as I am now) cannot follow. It’s hard to know what will transfer, which parts of me will keep moving forward and which parts will stay behind. But I’ll always be happy knowing that some little relic of me—my beat up freshman year ID— will stay affixed to that wall, in the company of friends, no matter where that future self goes.

In case I don't see ya,

Gray Martens Layout Chief

“I’m keeping my hazard lights on so people know I have fear.”

“I won’t have sex with you, but I will marry you.”

“I’ll tell my son that every mile his grandparents traveled, they shed more of their skin, sanded down more of their corners, became so small in the soul that they could carry it all in a suitcase, taking with them only

— Daniel Hu, “Chinese Summer, American

Day

Cutie

3.14

Key Lime 5. “Sweetest Pie” by Megan Thee Stallion & Dua Lipa 6. Boysenberry 7. Whoopie 8. Cream 9. Shepherd’s

Chart

by Lily Coffman

Orifice that aptly rhymes with jaw

5 Posed on a chair in an artist's studio Lucky people

Creator of the pantsless Pooh

Saint celebrated on March 17, informally 8 7

Menounos of pre-movie fame 1 Like this clue

FEATURE Managing Editor Klara Davidson-Schmich

Section Editors Daphne Cao Elaina Bayard

“As the cycle of seasons returns to summer soon, I think about how far I have come from a year ago. My plans are more ambitious, but I channel my self-doubt into self-determination. What am I doing? is a question of little significance to me as I continue on with my little daily miracles, and as I

— Lynn Nguyen, “Eureka Euphoria”

03.14.24

ARTS & CULTURE Managing Editor Elijah Puente

Section Editors Lizzy Bazldjoo AJ Wu

NARRATIVE

Managing Editor Katheryne Gonzalez

Failed to be

Hip hop track by 2 Guyz N the Parque ft. Candace Partner to them 2 5

Chelsea Long

LIFESTYLE

Managing Editor Tabitha Lynn

Section Editors

Daniella Coyle Hallel Abrams Gerber

POST-POURRI

Managing Editor

Susanne Kowalska

Section Editor Olivia Stacey

HEAD ILLUSTRATORS

Junyue Ma Kaitlyn Stanton

COPY CHIEF Jessica Lee

Copy Editors Indigo Mudhbary

Anika Kotapally

Lindsey Nguyen

SOCIAL MEDIA

Managing Editor

Tabitha Grandolfo

Section Editors Eliot Geer

Chloe Ovbiagele

LAYOUT CHIEF

Gray Martens

Layout Designers Amber Zhao

Alexa Gay

James Farrington

Irene Park

STAFF WRITERS

Nina Lidar

Gabi Yuan

Lynn Nguyen Ben Herdeg

Daphne Cao

Indigo Mudbhary

Ishan Khurana

Sofie Zeruto

Sydney Pearson

Ayoola Fadahunsi

Samira Lakhiani

Ellyse Givens

CROSSWORD

AJ Wu

Ishan Khurana

Lily Coffman

COMMENTARY

Mackie ’59: Brown’s unfinished business: pedestrianizing Brown and Benevolent Streets

On April 30, 2012, Brown and the City of Providence signed a Memorandum of Agreement in which the University purchased sections of Benevolent, Brown and Olive Streets. In addition, the City licensed 250 revenue-producing on-street parking spaces to Brown for faculty and staff use. In turn, the University agreed to pay Providence $31.5 million over 11 years. The street purchase created an opportunity for Brown to convert these streets, which encompass 65,000 square feet of asphalt in the heart of campus, into inviting pedestrian walkways.

Shortly after the transaction, a June 2012 amendment to the University’s 2011 Institutional Master Plan revealed that Brown intended to “create a safer and more welcoming environment for pedestrians” on the streets. The Amendment noted that “all three streets carry minimum vehicular traffic but very high pedestrian activity.” Now, more than a decade later, Brown has done little to fulfill this vision. The University must renew its commitment and pedestrianize Brown and Benevolent Street.

Historically, Brown has repurposed several streets in order to consolidate and improve its campus. As described in “Brown University: An Architectural Tour” by Raymond P. Rhinehart ’62, Brown Street originally ran through the eastern flank of the Main Green, enabling vehicles to traverse the gravel roadway between Waterman and George Streets. The 1904 installation of the Nicholas Brown Gate on George Street eliminated this throughway. The building of Wriston Quadrangle in 1952 gobbled up a long stretch of Benevolent Street between Brown and Thayer Streets. More recently, Manning Street morphed into Manning Walkway with the creation of the Science Quadrangle in 1990.

In 2002, the University hired Frances Halsband as its lead architect, to create a Master Plan, which would “determine what twenty-first century Brown will look like.” In 2003, Halsband also produced the Strategic Framework for Physical Planning, which governs all capital projects to this day. On College Hill, the primary principle was to “develop a circulation infrastructure that will foster community and unify and enhance the campus and its surroundings.” Halsband was particularly attuned to people and the way they moved about campus in search of

a sense of place and community. She wrote that “the elimination of much vehicular traffic on campus creates an oasis of safety and quiet” and “a simple lane … speaks of a great freedom of pedestrian activities — walking, meandering, contemplating, even sitting down.” Her vision led to fellow architect Todd Rader’s creation of The Walk, which connected the Ruth J. Simmons Quadrangle to the Pembroke Campus, providing the Brown community with safe and pleasant passage.

phasize the connections and transition to more welcoming and vibrant spaces.

After former President Ruth Simmons stepped down on June 30, 2012, the Rader plans faded into obscurity. The University pivoted to a new 10-year initiative in 2014, “Building on Distinction: A New Plan for Brown.” Although infrastructure and maintaining “the sense of intimacy and connectedness of the campus” were highlighted as key components of the new plan, no official mention of the Brown and

Every inch of green space is more critical to student physical and psychological well-being. These barren streets do nothing to promote intimacy, connectedness and a sense of community.

Rader followed up The Walk with an equally inspiring plan to convert Benevolent, Brown and Olive Streets. After the 2012 Institutional Master Plan Amendment detailed Brown’s intention to proceed with the street conversion plan, he noted that the acquisition presents “a unique opportunity to alter long standing campus boundaries and create larger campus blocks uninterrupted by city traffic.” The plans were transformational, connecting two distinct areas into a cohesive whole by linking “disparate preexisting buildings (that) linked back to the Main Campus quadrangle.”

The proposed green corridors included rain gardens to help manage stormwater, which often flooded nearby buildings. Plantings were designed to reduce high temperatures, and heat-resistant pavers replaced the existing hardscape. Benches provided opportunities for people to relax and congregate, while gateposts at the intersections served to em-

Benevolent street pedestrianization plans has been forthcoming since 2014.

Fast-forward to the present: Brown completed payment of its $31.5 million street acquisition purchase in 2022, with little return on investment to show for the massive outlay. The University does, however, continue to collect parking fees for the 250 on-street parking spaces. Thanks to the completion of the Lindemann Performing Arts Center in 2023, Olive Street has become off-limits to through traffic, with no public parking allowed. Brown and Benevolent streets, however, remain unchanged since the 1950’s — frozen in time.

Students still cycle or walk the streets and sidewalks, breathing toxic fumes and dodging vehicles, while feeling the heat generated by asphalt and vehicles in warm weather. Increased student density has become a byproduct of the ballooning of student enrollment to over 11,000. Every inch of green space is

more critical to student physical and psychological well-being. These barren streets do nothing to promote intimacy, connectedness and a sense of community.

Across George street is the Main Green, the heart of campus, a place which embodies the Brown community spirit. Our University has always prided itself on the beauty of the campus and its intimate scale. As President Henry Wriston reflected in his farewell speech to the Alumni Council in 1955, “This is a place of beauty and charm, and I do not believe that any boy can walk these walks for four years and not have something happen to his heart as well as his head.”

On a hopeful note, the recent repurposing of Andrews House, which removed parking spaces and created a large green space connected to Annmary Brown Memorial, embodies the Rader plan for this area. The next good news would be to hear an announcement that Brown and Benevolent Streets are being repurposed and renamed in honor of Presidents Simmons and Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20. There has been significant movement toward creating campus awareness around the existence of the dormant Rader pedestrianizing plan. Student members of the Brown Pedestrianization Initiative have been hard at work educating the community about Brown’s original intentions. These positive activists recognize that the stakes are much higher now than in 2012, with climate change increasingly impacting the campus. The BPI motto is “A Plan Whose Time Has Come.”

President Paxson’s recent summation of the highly successful BrownTogether Campaign also addressed the future. She spoke of maintaining momentum, which includes “continuing to reinvigorate Brown’s physical campus through targeted development.” Brown and Benevolent street should be on the top of the priority list for improving the quality of life at the University for generations to come.

Peter Mackie ’59 is Brown’s Sports Archivist and has been walking the campus pathways since 1955. Peter Mackie ’59 can be reached at peter.mackie17@gmail. com. Please send responses to this column to letters@ browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

Ahmed ’27: Kids can teach us more than you think

A baby’s piercing wail on a long flight, a toddler launching an assault of questions and a fifth grader unapologetically picking their nose — it’s no question that children have tested our patience countless times. But while kids can surely generate occasional frustration, the positivity and community they bring to society far exceeds the minor inconveniences we may feel when they’re around. It’s time we start reinvesting in our relationships with the youth: After all, they have a lot to teach us.

Hatred against children has a growing presence on-

line. There are X posts that explicitly express this dislike and even call for violence towards them, memes on our Instagram explore pages demonizing them and, of course, TikToks that perpetuate the same hateful message. Hop on Reddit and you can be sure to find manifestos detailing every ounce of their loathing.

This normalization should concern people. In our already polarized culture so divided along ideology, race and gender, let’s not create more instability by throwing age and children into the mix. Let us instead focus on what makes kids so great.

KENDRA EASTEP / HERALD

Children are invisible agents in building strong foundations in a community. Many of the spaces that we enjoy as centers for public gatherings were pioneered for children. Playgrounds, schools and seasonal festivals are all created with kids in mind but end up being used for much more. They bring families together, create organizational groups like the parent-teacher association and provide opportunities for people without children of their own to volunteer. People end up investing time and forging relationships over activities that involve children: Kids become a great excuse to get out there.

Communication, empathy and patience are all skills that we gain from working with children. Intuitively, it makes sense. People underestimate how clear-cut, patient and empathetic you need to be when dealing with little humans who have yet to figure out their emotions or master their speech. What’s incredible about these skills that you develop while surrounding yourself with kids is that you can use them when dealing with very adult things. Need to dumb down an argument? Try explaining it like you would to a kid. Have to deal with tantrums from customers or peers? Take a deep breath and imagine you’re calming down a cranky kindergartener.

I can personally attest to this. I worked at a preschool for years, and my ability to empathize with not just the children, but even other adults, improved drastically. I’ve made it through unbearable roommate situations, frustrating customer service calls and the toughest arguments by using what I’ve learned from interacting with toddlers. Needless to say, I’ve encountered my fair share of mature toddlers and cry-

ing adults. So, the hate on kids loses its value when you realize how childlike a lot of adults can be.

The applications of lessons learned by surrounding yourself with children are endless, and it can be shocking to see the similarities between adults and children. At the end of the day, kids are humans just like us. Our connection to them is that we were at one point them, and they will at one point be us — it’s arbitrary to draw a line between adults and children when our identities are so intertwined. Without monotonous work schedules and adult responsibilities, children can remind us older generations what creativity, innocence and spontaneity looks like. In our chaotic political climate, we could all use a reminder of the joys of leisure and play. In turn, we exist to show them the importance of responsibility. It’s a beautiful back and forth that helps to balance both our needs for responsibility and our desires for fun.

Brown students on campus can go months without seeing kids, but they don’t have to. The University offers a host of opportunities to connect with kids and we should all be leveraging them more often. Whether you’re a math nerd or a creative, there are clubs on campus that build bridges with the children in our community. It’s time to throw out those unfunny jokes and change the conversation about kids. If we can be more interconnected across ages, we can cultivate a more intergenerationally united society.

Shayyan Ahmed ’27 can be reached at shayyan_ ahmed@brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

Tao ’27: Man up and clean your room

Empty Monster cans clutter the closet, sweaty t-shirts hang from the pull-up bar, a used bath towel is draped over the desk chair and the only things neatly stacked are tubs of protein powder. Welcome to the stereotypical college man’s dorm room.

One of the prevailing cliches of college men is how filthy our living spaces are. I’ve seen many men’s college dorm rooms and apartments, and the bar is lower than even I thought possible. It’s time to man up and clean up — not because discipline is inherently good, but because it’s a key step toward gender equality. Let me explain.

I’m as much of a slob as the next guy. For most of my childhood, my father sought to instill in me the value of a clean house. When I began dating my first girlfriend, he saw it as an opportunity to further motivate me: “If you marry that girl,” he would say, gesturing to a sinkful of dirty dishes, “are you going to leave the house like this for her?” I realized that sharing housework was one of the reasons for my parents’ successful marriage. They both valued a clean house, so they never argued about housework. Even better, my father’s willingness to share the burden of cooking and cleaning left my mother ample time to pursue her art business. I decided if I wanted to be seen as husband material, I should put more care into cleaning up.

Many studies have found that women spend more time on household work and childcare than

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men. Single women without children spend more time on housework than their male counterparts, and after marriage, this gap widens. After having a child, surely men take on more responsibilities, right? Nope. One study found that men actually cut back on domestic labor by five hours a week after becoming fathers while women take on far more.

This inequality in household labor is a major driver of the gender pay gap. Longitudinal economic studies of the U.S., Germany and Italy find that spending more time on housework lowers wages more for women than men. In part because of an increased domestic workload, women in the workforce see their incomes fall by half after becoming mothers. This isn’t because husbands spend more hours breadwinning. Even in heterosexual marriages where women are the primary earner, they still spend more time on housework. Equal opportunity in the workplace depends on equal responsibilities at home.

What explains this troubling trend? Since housework is assumed to be their responsibility, women face greater social pressure to keep a tidy house than men do. In one study, people rated an identical room as messier when it was said to be “Jennifer’s” versus “John’s.” Mothers are more likely than fathers to apologize for a messy house. This results in undue stress: Married women have been found to have greater increases in cortisol

If you think cleaning a dorm room is hard, imagine a three-bedroom home. If you build the habit now, you’ll start building intrinsic motivation to keep a tidy home.

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levels, a hormone associated with stress, than their husbands when their space is messy.

Millennial women have tried to encourage their male partners to pick up the slack. A new book and accompanying 100-card deck titled “Fair Play” is one solution marketed to young dual-earner couples for quantifying and rebalancing housework. But many women have found it to be an uphill battle, having to provide constant reminders to their male partners to ensure they get the chores done. Turns out, it’s hard to build new habits as an adult, and cooking and cleaning regularly isn’t as easy as it sounds. Men are facing a skill issue. What has to change here? We do, gentlemen. For the sake of gender equality, we need to care more about cleanliness.

Here’s the good news: Generation Z men, still in the habit-building phase of early adulthood, are uniquely situated to shift the culture here. As I’ve written in a previous column, college is the time to build good habits. If you think cleaning a dorm

room is hard, imagine a three-bedroom home. If you build the habit now, you’ll start building intrinsic motivation to keep a tidy home. Even if you don’t see marriage or children in your future, your actions can go a long way toward raising the bar for other guys.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to schedule an hour or two of cleaning time in your Google Calendar this week. Make a Target run. Buy some Windex, a second bath towel and maybe even some organizing bins and labels. By cleaning your room, you’re doing more than improving your living space — you’re raising the standards of tidiness for yourself and your brothers-in-arms, and thereby advancing gender equality.

Evan Tao ’27 can be reached at evan_tao@brown. edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@ browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@ browndailyherald.com.

Rogers: Universities need courage in the age of American authoritarianism

A few weeks ago, I had the extraordinary opportunity to discuss my work — the role of faith and struggle in democratic politics — with a group of students at the University of San Diego. Despite being in sunny California, we found ourselves drawn to the troubling question: What will we do when our universities are under siege?

In thinking about this question, I’ve found myself drawn to the words of W.E.B. Du Bois. They are not just reflections from the past — they are the words of the hour: “How shall integrity face oppression? What shall honesty do in the face of deception, decency in the face of insult, self-defense before blows?” These words, penned in 1957 in “The Ordeal of Mansart,” were not meant merely as philosophical musings. They capture the existential urgency of moral action in times of crisis. For universities — the institutions charged with producing knowledge, fostering critical thinking and cultivating democratic citizenship — the current moment is existential. Institutions such as Brown must take action by building coalitions and actively engaging in the free exchange of ideas.

The Trump administration’s recent attacks on higher education reveal a coordinated effort to reshape our universities in ways that will permanently alter their mission. Universities are being cast as adversaries, rather than the vital engines of democratic life which they have been. Instead of spaces of inquiry and rigorous debate, some would like to see them hollowed out, reduced to little more than technical job-training centers.

This is not reform — it is an attempt to dismantle the very foundations of higher education’s public mission.

We see the playbook: undermine public confidence in higher education, defund and defang its institutions and use the language of fairness to mask a broader political agenda. If this effort succeeds, the question will not merely be whether academic freedom survives but whether univer-

by a collective sense of responsibility, acknowledging that the burdens of resistance are lightened when shared. Institutions — such as Brown — must form alliances with other significantly resourced universities, civil rights organizations and legal advocacy groups. A unified front can amplify concerns and more effectively pressure policymakers to protect higher education in the long term.

forums, student activism and strategic political testimony. By leaning into these values, universities can garner public support and underscore their role as bastions of democracy. This requires leadership that does not shrink in the face of political intimidation but instead reaffirms its commitment to the principles of free thought, inquiry and dissent.

Courage is not an abstract virtue but a practical necessity. It requires us to speak when silence is the safer option, defend institutions of learning and critique and refuse to let fear dictate the limits of our moral imagination.

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sities will continue to exist as spaces of dissent, discovery and democratic renewal.

Courage is now required.

Universities must recognize that courage is not solely about the bravery of a single institution. Instead, courage is shaped and sustained

In addition to forming coalitions, universities must actively engage in public discourse to highlight the importance of academic freedom and the potential dangers of governmental overreach.

This means using every platform available — public statements, media engagement, faculty-led

Courage is not an abstract virtue but a practical necessity. It requires us to speak when silence is the safer option, defend institutions of learning and critique and refuse to let fear dictate the limits of our moral imagination. Our universities, legal frameworks and advocacy networks must be activated, not just defended, for the road ahead will demand more than indignation. It will require action. The courage to stand together, forge alliances, speak out and insist on academic freedom is the only way forward.

If universities fail to act now, they may soon find themselves without the power, resources or moral credibility to act at all. History will not judge universities by the threats they faced but by how they chose to respond. The moment is here. Brown, what will you do?

Melvin Rogers is a professor of political science and associate director of the Center for Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He can be reached at melvin_rogers@ brown.edu. Please send responses to this op-ed to letters@ browndailyherald.com and other op-eds to opinions@ browndailyherald.com.

ARTS & CULTURE

45th Annual Student Exhibition showcases bold, experimental works in Granoff

Jurors selected works that challenge convention, invite engagement

BY SUMMER SHI STAFF WRITER

Until April 6, artworks from the 45th Annual Student Exhibition are on display in the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts.

Curated by multidisciplinary artists Abdu Ali GS and Falaks Vasa MFA’23, the installation highlights student works that embody artistic experimentation, risk-taking and personal expression.

As jurors, Ali and Vasa evaluated submissions based on the artworks’ ability to challenge traditional artistic conventions and engage viewers beyond surface-level aesthetics.

“I was looking for works that took risks — whether that be materially, conceptually or formally,” Vasa, who is also a lecturer

and critic at the Rhode Island School of Design, told The Herald. “These works also tended to be the ones that read as the most

EVENT

authentic expressions of the artists, and I was so humbled to see so many works that were pushing boundaries and taking those risks unapologetically.”

The jurors awarded first prize to alea adigweme GS for “[untitled],” a 2020 experimental short film that weaves together VHS-C footage, Snapchat videos and iPhone audio recordings. The piece explores themes of illness, trauma and memory through an intricate layering of adigweme’s personal archival material.

“‘[untitled]’ escapes description,” adigweme wrote in an email to The Herald. “It draws the viewer into a vortex — of despair and illness-made-illegible — to wait, for hell, alongside its Black protagonist and amidst the syncopated static and digital residue of her life.”

Created while adigweme was pursuing a master’s of fine arts at the University of California at Los Angeles, the film serves as a personal reckoning with her experience of being diagnosed with breast cancer in her early 30s.

The second prize was awarded to “Support for Processing My Bra Trauma” by

Lauren Ward ’27, and third place went to “Engrave” by Selim Kutlu ’29. Honorable mentions included “Digital Divination” by Simone Klein ’25, “Too Scared to Try” by Nan Dickerson ’26 and “(in)dependent: Wearing as Performance” by Benjamin Rozea ’27.

In addition to the awarded works, the exhibition featured a diverse range of pieces exploring innovative techniques and interdisciplinary approaches. One such work was a sculptural coffee table created by Chloe Chow ’26, which she said is “made of plasma-cut machined steel sheet metal.”

“The piece’s reflective surface is distorted by hand-burnished swirls,” Chow said. “The negative space of various cut-out icons lets light pass through the surface, casting a shadow of a creature below the tabletop.”

“Sharp, fragmented limbs protrude from the body of the table and scamper across the

painting is on display, reflected on the challenge of determining when a work is truly complete.

“I think that if I wanted to, I could pour over the details forever,” Zhang told The Herald. “But I kind of like how there are some places that aren’t as tight and rigid and perfect as they could have been.”

“The looser strokes with the palette knife and the more abstract aspects lend themselves to an unfinished feel — but in a finished way,” she added. “I didn’t want to keep tweaking it to the point where it’s too perfect, because then it’s not natural.”

For students hoping to see their work in future exhibitions, Vasa advised them to “continue to be honest with your work and create it to the standards you set for yourselves, as opposed to any internalized standards from the art world.”

“Only you can make the work you make, and, in my opinion, nothing gets

floor, jabbing the viewer,” she explained. “As a mechanical engineering and visual art double-concentrator, the piece further explores my craft of sculptures at the intersection of fine artistry and technicality.”

Sulan Zhang ’28, another artist whose

into exhibitions quicker than work that feels fresh, authentic and you,” Vasa added.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on March 11, 2025.

Brown playwrights experiment during ‘Writing is Live’ festival

The five-day festival featured six original student plays

BY ANN GRAY GOLPIRA SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Through this year’s annual “Writing is Live” festival, students in Brown masters of fine arts playwriting program debuted six original “plays in progress,” featuring everything from a sleep-inducing virus to fraternity hazing.

The festival — which was hosted by the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies — featured an in-progress format that allowed the playwrights to give notes, tweak their scripts and experiment with their shows all while being surrounded by peers, teachers and community members.

Although the five-day festival came to a close on Sunday, playwright Dhari Noel GS said that there will likely be many more drafts of the shows before they are finalized, noting this festival isn’t the “final step in the play’s life.”

While the festival offers students the chance to experiment with their shows in front of a live audience, some students noted that the experience was still accompanied with nerves and pressure.

Kathy Ng ’17 MFA’25 described the anxiety that comes with moving her writ-

ten work from a thesis workshop to the stage. For Ng, this feeling is both “torturous and pleasurable” and makes playwriting “a unique genre of writing.”

Leading up to the festival, Jimmy Fay GS changed their play “about 600 times” but was excited to see how it would play

out on the stage. Fay’s show, titled “Straight Wedding,” follows two young straight people’s attempt to marry in a world where queerness is the norm.

Fay discussed how the play’s theme of a wedding arose from their own obsessions with the celebration, as well as the

respective grief they felt while watching that fantasy “crumble before their eyes” as they navigated their own queer and transgender identity.

“What if straight people had to experience that (grief) too?” Fay asked in an interview with The Herald.

Noel’s play “Is Cry You Cry’n?” which also serves as his thesis production, follows two separate storylines: a Caribbean family’s wedding and a fraternity celebrating their last night of a hazing-filled “hell week.”

Notably, both events take place in the same basement but many years apart.

After receiving their TAPS undergraduate degree from Brown in 2017, Ng returned to campus in pursuit of a playwriting MFA after getting “bit by the (playwriting) bug,” she told The Herald. Ng’s speculative feature play, “Kingdom,” imagines a world where children fall asleep in a mysterious pandemic.

Ng said their time in the MFA program has been “transformative” and filled with “life-changing classes.”

Noel expressed a similar sentiment, noting that throughout the program, they have “completely transformed — as a writer, as a person and as an artist.”

Although the program is small, the playwrights said they are able to experiment with and nourish their craft while learning from the equally passionate writers alongside them.

“In this room, it’s the best writers I’ll ever meet,” Noel said. “We can really trust each other.”

LILA QUINN / HERALD

Although the program is small, the playwrights said they are able to experiment with and nourish their craft while learning from the equally passionate writers alongside them.

ELLIS ROUGEOU / HERALD

Lauren Ward’s ’27 “Support for Processing My Bra Trauma,” a gigantic cardboard bra, won second prize.

ELLIS ROUGEOU / HERALD

Chloe Chow ’26 made a sculptural coffee table with sharply cut sheet metal “casting a shadow of a creature below the tabletop.”

In her painting, Sulan Zhang ’28 used loose strokes and incorporated abstract aspects, embracing “an unfinished feel — but in a finished way,” she said.

ELLIS ROUGEOU / HERALD

ARTS & CULTURE

REVIEW

‘So Close To What’ is so close to being more than just a good time

The album is a fun & sexy ride but offers listeners little more than that

BY ALYSSIA OUHOCINE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Tate McRae’s new album “So Close To What” is full of sexy, thrilling tracks that push McRae into a new echelon of pop stardom. But despite being McRae’s most mature record yet, the album’s unabashed exploration of desire lacks any concrete emotional weight.

The road to release was not a smooth one for the Canadian singer-songwriter. In January, just before the album’s planned release date, a significant portion of the record was leaked. This spurred her to return to the studio and record three new songs before announcing the new tracklist on Instagram.

“Obviously, that makes you look at the project differently,” she said in an interview with podcast host Jake Shane at a Spotify listening party. “I was just so devastated, because I’m like ‘there’s nothing I can do about this.’ The whole project is online.”

The leak wasn’t the only part of the album rollout that took the internet by storm.

“It’s ok I’m ok,” the record’s lead single, was not only a trending TikTok sound, but also took the top spot on Billboard’s “Hot Dance/ Pop Songs” chart. It’s for good reason, too. Starting off strong with a fast-paced beat and ending on the catchy refrain “I don’t want him anyway, girl, take him,” listeners were ushered into a coming-of-age for McRae.

The album’s next single “2 hands” upped the ante as McRae instructs her lover on the terms of their fling. The song opens up with the incredibly satisfying pitched-up lines “I want your two hands / Don’t ever let me go / I want your two hands / Two hands on me,” capturing a distinct 2000s-pop sound.

REVIEW

COURTESY OF BETH SARAVO

Just before the album’s planned release date, a significant portion of the record was leaked, spurring McRae to record three new songs.

“Sports car” is the highlight of the three pre-released singles as it brings the album’s tension to a fever pitch. “Oh my guy,” McRae sings in the self-assured manner central to the album, “You don’t wanna waste my time.” The song’s music video features McRae trying on a number of personas, but she has nothing to hide. The album is rife with McRae’s lamentations on the state of modern romance, but more importantly, what it means to be unafraid and unashamed.

The 45-minute-long album is infused with a commanding nature. “Miss possessive” is feminine and bold. Opening with a voice note from superstar Sydney Sweeney, the song is a cautionary tale. While the 21st century has made catfights an unpopular trope, McRae is unafraid to invoke it in this bold opener.

The drama continues in “Revolving door,” which sees McRae bemoaning a protracted toxic relationship. The song is propelled by a dynamic bass that culminates in a bridge pervaded by desperation. Lyrics like “Life feels worse, but good with you in it / Supposed to be on stage, but fuck it, I need a minute” essentialize the push and pull of lust and love that takes a life of its own in the album.

“bloodonmyhands,” featuring Flo Milli, is another dance track that celebrates the sheer talent of rebounding after a messy breakup. Flo Milli’s verse on the song is high-energy and necessary in an album threatening to buckle under the weight of its repetitiveness, both in sound and content.

The album’s other collaboration sees McRae singing alongside her boyfriend The Kid LAROI on “I know love.” The pair’s

relationship certainly adds depth and charm to the track. Like Flo Milli’s guest appearance, LAROI’s verse is a blessed break from McRae’s solo songs. It’s not that songs like “Means I care” and “Signs” are not enjoyable, but the album simply loses strength in McRae’s attempt to curate a hyper specific aesthetic, losing some of the album’s intimacy.

The album’s high points are the songs that diverge from its major themes. “Purple lace bra” opens with a sweeping instrumental that transitions listeners to an angry McRae, who vehemently objects to being reduced only to her sexuality. “Like I do” is another album standout, acknowledging the pitfalls of friendships that are less than genuine. The song is low-key but fast-paced, subversively capturing an element that is true to McRae’s musical persona: She is

not afraid to be who she is and, more importantly, to call things as she sees them.

The songs “Dear god” and “No I’m not in love” blend — and even disappear — into the record’s body. “Nostalgia” is the album’s most personal track, chock-full of reflections on McRae’s family history, self-sabotage and fear. Lyrics like “I manifested you would leave / So the day you did, I had you beat / Three steps ahead of everythin’” capture a softness beneath the dominating tone of self-possession. The album would have benefited if this element was integrated throughout the record, rather than being tacked on at the end. “Greenlight” is the closest the album comes to a breakup song, while “Siren sounds (bonus)” is a sonic experience that, while not fully original, is captivating in its passion.

“So Close to What” marks a definitive change in the trajectory of McRae’s career. The young girl who started posting original songs on YouTube is now on the clear path to becoming a household name with this album. McRae herself is a dynamic performer, gaining a cult following obsessed with her high-energy dance interludes.

The album’s marketing is a masterpiece in itself. McRae has emerged as an “it-girl,” attending pilates classes with heartthrob Glen Powell, dating a fellow popstar and rocking the latest fashions. But is this enough to make an album worth listening to?

In short, yes: “So Close To What” may be lacking in the depth necessary to render it a memorable release of 2025, but it certainly panders to what the culture has deemed trendy in recent years. Tate McRae has forged a place for herself in the music industry, and with the confidence she flexes in this record, it can only get better from here.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on March 10, 2025.

Despite falling short of expectations, ‘Mickey 17’ is a pleasure to watch

Bong Joon Ho’s latest fails to live up to standard set by “Parasite”

BY GABRIELLA WRIGHTEN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

From “Parasite” to “Snowpiercer” to “The Host,” acclaimed filmmaker Bong Joon Ho is a master of portraying worlds that are only slightly distant from our own. In these alternate universes, society is heavily divided, poverty runs rampant and any chance of escape comes at a price. In life — and in Bong’s films — this price is often death. This concept sounds dramatic, but in “Mickey 17,” Bong makes it lighthearted, funny and perhaps even rewatchable. The film follows Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) after he joins an outer space expedition to escape a murderous loan shark. A down-on-his-luck pushover desperate to flee, Mickey enlists as an “Expendable” — a rarely requested position that requires him to perform exclusively lethal tasks and be “reprinted,” or cloned, after his death. In a twisted sense, Mickey is lucky. He finds love fairly quickly on the ship and has practically unlimited lives to make the most of it. But when Mickey (version 17) unexpectedly survives his mission, he returns to find that Mickey (version 18) has already been printed. As multiple clones are illegal, the pair attempts to hide from the crew and

save the colony from an alien attack — all at the same time.

The premise of “Mickey 17” is incredibly intriguing. A humorous, sci-fi take on capitalism and space exploration, the movie at first appears to live up to the standards we have come to expect from Bong. But once you factor in the talented cast — featuring Robert Pattinson, Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette, just to name a few — the end product starts to feel just a little disappointing.

As far as capitalist commentary films go, this ranks among the funnier ones. Pattinson triumphs as Mickey in all iterations. His performance as Mickey 17 is perfectly dopey and sweet, and his Mickey 18 is just the right amount of unhinged. All of their mannerisms are different: You can tell which Mickey is in the room before they even start labelling them.

Naomi Ackie is by no means an inexperienced actress, and she rightfully steals every scene she’s in. As Nasha, the ship’s security agent and Mickey’s girlfriend, Ackie embodies a violent, passionate, loving and tender soul. Despite her anger issues, Ackie’s Nasha is visibly caring — a duality hard to pull off in a sci-fi film. With all their characters’ emotions and personalities, Ackie and Pattinson match so well: It’s hard to imagine different actors in these roles.

Ruffalo’s portrayal of politician Kenneth Marshall is Trumpian in all but name

— a choice that feels a bit on the nose for Bong’s usual style — but Collette’s excellent, yet oddly terrifying work as Marshall’s wife Ylfa balances the character out. Overall, though, the film’s political commentary is overdone. The dramatized Trump impression and the premise tell us everything we need to know, but Bong directly communicates the moral of the story multiple times — just in case. Bong has almost no faith we’ll get the point.

As a director, Bong’s presence feels

as consistent as it can with the rest of his work, given the difference in genre. The style and visuals are captivating. Every moment on screen feels intentional and holds some weight in the narrative or viewing experience. But as the film’s writer, Bong falls short of expectations. Aside from the base premise, the plot feels incomplete. Not every film needs to be unpredictable, especially in this genre, but Bong barely builds up to the climax, making the inevitable deaths feel stale and pointless.

If you set aside the revolutionary feats Bong made with “Parasite,” “Mickey 17” is decent. The dialogue is funny, the plot is interesting and every actor is a star. The characters feel real enough to make the world seem so. For that alone, it’s worth the watch. Just don’t think too much about it.

Joon

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

NEUROSCIENCE

Brown researchers develop neural model to understand working memory

Model could help scientists address neurodegenerative diseases

BY JEFFREY MU CONTRIBUTING WRITER

When you try to solve a math problem in your head or remember the things on your grocery list, you’re engaging in a complex neural balancing act — a process that, according to a new study by Brown researchers, isn’t about your memory’s storage capacity, but how efficiently it’s being used.

Researchers created a computer model that simulates the interaction between the thalamus — which assists with short-term memory — and the basal ganglia in the human brain, revealing the strategies that our brain employs to manage and encode sensory information. Researchers on the study told The Herald that despite the theoretical nature of the study, the model could help scientists learn more about neurodegenerative diseases and other disorders.

Researchers compared two models, each containing “stripes” that represented separate storage units. One contained eight stripes, while the other used a streamlined “chunking” method — which merged similar information into an averaged representation — with just two stripes. The study found that the “chunk model was able to efficiently use its stripes and actually outperform the model with eight stripes,” according to Aneri Soni PhD’23, lead author of the study.

Chunking could reduce errors when the brain is overloaded with information, according to Soni.

ASTRONOMY

The impact of the model could extend beyond theoretical neuroscience and shed insight to working memory deficits seen in diseases like Parkinson’s.

Even though “we have a lot of neurons and the ability to potentially represent many items,” the challenge is in avoiding errors that arise when too many items are present, Soni explained.

The model must not only store information, but also decide how to allocate its limited resources to place data and merge similar items. Sometimes, when the model was tasked with remembering four or five items using only two stripes, it “learned to use one stripe and leave the other empty,” Soni said.

These decisions dig into the underlying “management problem” of working memory, a challenge that, as Soni notes, sets the stage for further exploration into how these limitations might be addressed in future research.

For her experiment, Soni used the

color wheel task, a popular tool in visual working memory studies. In this task, the model is presented with colored bars of varying orientations and later prompted to recall the color associated with particular orientations.

The model “had to correctly associate the color of a bar with its orientation and then maintain that information over a delay,” Soni said. The task allowed her to compare the model’s performance with human behavior data collected by the lab in a previous study.

Inspiration for the model traces back to earlier research by Matt Nassar, an assistant professor of neuroscience and cognitive and psychological sciences, which showed how chunking can work in a computational model but didn’t explore how this could play out in humans.

Michael Frank, director of the Carney Center for Computational Brain Science and principal investigator of the paper, explained that the impact of the model extends far beyond theoretical neuroscience and could shed insight to working memory deficits seen in diseases like Parkinson’s.

These disorders could disrupt this new “chunking” process detailed in the paper “leading to difficulties in filtering out irrelevant information,” he said.

Frank added that the basal ganglia, a critical structure involved in regulating cognitive control, acts as a gatekeeper for information entering working memory.

“It prevents you from accessing more than just a few items at a time by inhibiting excess input and forcing the system

to focus on only a couple of different representations at once,” he explained. The model shows that when this gating process fails, the system becomes overwhelmed by competing signals, making it difficult to manipulate information effectively.

Edward Awh, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Chicago, who has spent over thirty years studying human memory, explained that understanding the neural processes that govern working memory is essential because “the contents of working memory define a hundred percent of your lived existence.”

Despite having an abundance of neurons, he explained, humans are typically limited to holding only three to four items in mind.

“If we want to understand working memory capacity limits, then the ultimate accomplishment would be to build a concrete neural model of how information is encoded into working memory,” he said, adding that he is “particularly excited” about the model’s focus on efficient resource management.

Awh, who was not involved in the Brown study, noted the clinical relevance of these findings for disorders such as ADHD and schizophrenia. He believes that a concrete model of working memory could guide targeted interventions to help restore cognitive function in affected individuals.

“Anything we can do to learn about the systems that are challenged is going to help us to conceive of new interventions,” he said.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on March 9, 2025.

Brown researchers may have discovered why Mars is red

Ferrihydrite found to be a main factor contributing to planet’s red color

BY NYRIA DELPH STAFF WRITER

The redness of Mars has made the planet one of the most recognizable in the solar system with its hue serving as a topic of debate in planetary science. A recent study by Brown researchers found the red color is due to ferrihydrite, a mineral in Mars’s dust, raising questions about previous life on Mars.

The study, which was led by Adomas Valantinas — a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences — and John Mustard, a professor in DEEPS, used X-ray diffraction to confirm the ferrihydrate’s structure.

While many planetary scientists thought that ferrihydrite should crystallize on Mars’s surface, the researchers found that “ferrihydrite is thermodynamically stable and does not crystallize in Martian conditions,” according to Valantinas.

The persistence of ferrihydrite may suggest that Mars’s environment previously contained liquid water, presenting larger questions about life outside of Earth.

“One of the biggest questions that I was interested in … was (life) beyond

Earth,” Valantinas said. To gauge the future potential for life on Mars, “we need to understand the conditions and the conditions that were present in the ancient Martian past.”

Through rock formation analysis, the researchers hope to continue their studies to understand when Mars turned red.

In this study, Valantinas used reflective spectroscopy, remote sensing observation and spectrometers from Mars’s orbit and rover data to reinforce his findings.

Inspired by the work of other scientists in the field, Valantinas started to explore this topic during the final year of his PhD.

“I was reading a lot of literature about what has been done in the past and what the community knows about the dust properties” of Mars, Valantinas said. “Not only physical properties, but also mineral composition.”

After completing his PhD at the University of Bern, Valantinas continued the research with Mustard at Brown.

“We did some additional measurements at the University of Grenoble in France with a few French colleagues, and then we even sent a few samples to the University of Winnipeg in Canada,” he said.

Mahmoud Hallak ’25, who is concentrating in physics on the astrophysics track, described the prominence of Mars’ color in astronomy.

“If you were to observe it with the naked eye and through a telescope, you can separate Mars from the other stars in the night skies,” Hallak said. “Mars is just a deep, deep orange that you can’t miss.”

Mustard expressed concern for the future of research funding in the field,

citing uncertainties with funding in the current political climate.

“I’ve always felt that science was a bipartisan issue,” Mustard said, noting that he has noticed a shift in attitude against scientific research.

“There is a perception in parts of the ongoing administration that science should not be trusted,” he added. “That is really hard to hear as … the depth of our discussions and debates that go into our findings are really important.”

BENJI TORUÑO / HERALD

MANUELA GUZMÁN / HERALD

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

New course offers undergraduates rare hands-on experience with human stem cells

BIOL 0610 allows undergraduates to work with human stem cells

BY JONATHAN KIM SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Tucked away in Room 112A of the Biomedical Center, a select group of students can be found spending hours each week cultivating human stem cells. The 15 students taking BIOL 0610: “Modeling Human Disease Using Stem Cells” have the unique chance to design a research project using the cells to explore Alzheimer's disease.

Only a few universities nationwide, including the University of Southern California and Harvard, offer courses that allow undergraduates to work with human stem cells hands-on, according to Chuck Toth, director of the Brown University Multidisciplinary Teaching Laboratories and adjunct professor of biology.

Established just this semester, the course is the only Community-Based Learning and Research course offered by the Program in Biology, Toth said. Students come into the class with varying levels of research experience, but all are given the opportunity to propose and carry out a research project focused on Alzheimer’s using human induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs — adult cells derived from skin or blood that have been reprogrammed to adopt an embryonic-like state. Researchers can then differentiate these iPSCs into any other cell type in the body.

Since they were first isolated in 1998, human embryonic stem cells, or hESCs, have provided rich possibilities for biomedical research and therapy due to their pluripotency — their special ability to differentiate into any cell type. But their derivation from embryos has long raised ethical controversies. iPSCs, which were

ACADEMICS

discovered in 2006, circumvent this issue.

“It’s a steep learning curve, but I think (students are) invested because it’s their own work in there, and I can see they’re really passionate and excited,” Toth said. “That’s what makes it fun and rewarding for me with the class.”

Farthuse Akhter ’25 and Vanya Noel ’25.5 are researching the role of the APOE4 gene — a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular disease — in increasing cholesterol levels. They are also exploring ways to decrease these levels by treating the cells with tocotrienol, a natural compound belonging to the vitamin E family that has been shown to reduce cholesterol levels in other cell types.

“It’s a lot of hands-on learning, which I really love,” Akhter said, emphasizing how much she has learned thus far.

Both Noel and Akhter praised Toth’s ability to support students, especially as many have limited research experience.

“He’s a really good mentor and very patient,” Noel said. “I’ve learned a lot of skills like culturing stem cells and just generally setting up biological experiments.”

As part of the CBLR designation, the course enables students to engage in community outreach through Butler Hospital’s Memory and Aging Program, an affiliate of the Warren Alpert Medical School. Those in the class have the opportunity to volunteer in the hospital’s infusion room and converse with patients, including some with mild Alzheimer’s, said Tara Tang, the outreach manager for MAP.

“What I have seen personally is some wonderful students with wonderful questions, just being in the community, talking to different people, making connections,”

Tang said. “I think that’s really exciting to see and have them be excited about the science that’s happening.”

Toth, who credited Tang with developing the course’s partnership with Butler

Hospital, said that giving students the chance to engage with patients provides a valuable opportunity to see the impacts of their research.

“I think it’s a great way to think about the science of Alzheimer’s and how one studies it, but I think more importantly, it allows them to see the effects of Alzheimer’s in the community,” Toth said.

Toth, who is in his first year of teaching at Brown, taught a stem cell class for 11 years as a biology professor at Providence College. He began developing the course structure for BIOL 0610 from scratch when he arrived at Brown just under two years ago.

Toth added he wasn’t nervous about teaching the inaugural course, given his experience working with stem cells at

Providence College. He also attributed the course’s success to two undergraduate teaching assistants, who come into the lab on the weekends and outside of class time to support the students’ projects.

Last semester, Yumiko Imai ’26 helped develop the groundwork for the course, working with Toth through an Undergraduate Teaching and Research Award. Imai is now a UTA for the course, and said that “being able to TA this semester is really exciting because all this work that we did last semester in developing everything to be ready has come to fruition.”

“The group of students is really great,” Imai added. “It feels like the class is really teaching them tangible skills.”

Beyond fostering research experience and participating in community service,

the class can also help students when applying for research or internship opportunities, since hands-on experience with human stem cells is rare among undergraduates, Toth said.

“Many of them might be thinking about grad school, and so having this early exposure to the field can be informative for them,” he added.

While the class may only be in its inaugural year, Toth and Tang hope to build upon the initial success of the course and their newfound partnership in the future.

“The future is so bright,” Tang said. “We hope it’s just the beginning.”

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on March 12, 2025.

How AP, IB credits actually affect the Brown academic experience

Students reflect on whether advanced courses helped them at Brown

BY KATE ROWBERRY SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Many high school students looking to get a head start on college-level courses can choose to take any of the College Board’s 40 Advanced Placement classes. But once Brown students arrive on College Hill, they may be in for a surprise: Brown only offers placement credit for 21 of these courses.

AP credits cannot be used to fulfill the 30 credits required to graduate with a Brown degree, according to the College’s website. Instead, students can use them to place into higher-level courses. But this placement credit is dependent on how students perform on the AP exams, and in some cases, they must also complete a high-level course at Brown to receive it.

In some cases, AP credit can be also used to satisfy concentration requirements or to petition for a semester of advanced standing, which enables them to graduate a semester early. Students who use AP credit to receive advanced

standing must still fulfill the 30-credit requirement.

For some students like Omar Hernandez-Tena ’28, AP credits have been helpful in completing courses at Brown. Hernandez-Tena was able to use his credits to place into higher-level math and chemistry courses, which enabled him to explore his fields of interest.

Similar guidelines are in place for international diploma and certificate exam scores, such as those from the International Baccalaureate program, according to the College’s website.

IB credits “did help me get ahead of my degree,” Victoria Villalba ’25 wrote

in an email to The Herald. After choosing to take IB courses in high school in part because “we were always told that colleges look at them favorably,” Villalba said was able to skip over a prerequisite class for MATH 0100: “Single Variable Calculus, Part II.”

Villalba, an economics concentrator at Brown, wasn’t able to take an IB economics course in high school. But if she had, she wrote that she “would’ve been much more upset” if she arrived at Brown and realized that the IB economics course did not count toward her concentration requirements.

While students cannot typically use

AP or IB credits to meet graduation requirements, exceptions permitting the use of IB credits are granted in rare circumstances.

Individual academic departments ultimately decide if they will award placement credit to students based on their performance on AP and IB exams. Students can also place out of courses in computer science, biology, East Asian studies and more by taking placement tests offered by the departments before classes begin.

But other departments, such as the English and literary arts departments, do not offer any opportunities for students to bypass prerequisites. Instead, some of these departments provide numerous introductory pathways that allow students to strengthen their foundations in the subjects.

Although Jazlyn White ’25 is double-concentrating in English and literary arts, she took STEM-focused AP courses in high school to “make my academic transcript a little more impressive,” she said.

But she doesn’t think that taking humanities AP courses would have made “a large difference” in completing the concentrations, given that the AP English Lit-

erature and AP English Language exams are not accepted for placement credits.

But even when these advanced high school courses do not count for college credit, they still confer some benefits to Brown students. For Villalba, “IB credits really helped me in ways that don’t actually include the Brown curriculum or placement credits.” She noted that her transition to coursework at Brown was smooth due to the IB program’s rigor.

Bamlak Yilma ’27 didn’t get credit for the five AP courses she took in high school. But she took the biology and chemistry placement exams, which helped her skip some introductory courses that she says would have “held (her) back” in the pre-med chemistry sequence. Because of the frequency that Brown offers general chemistry courses, students’ Medical College Admission Test timelines may be delayed, The Herald previously reported.

After placing out of BIOL 0200: “The Foundation of Living Systems,” Yilma “was able to take more biology courses that I was interested in,” she said. This

CALEB LEE-KONG / HERALD

Students can propose and carry out a research project focused on Alzheimer’s disease using human induced pluripotent stem cells.

SUMMER SHI / HERALD

UNIVERSITY NEWS

ty and health of transgender community members.

Spokesperson Brian Clark pointed to the Frequently Asked Questions page maintained by the Office of Global Engagement on the University’s website. The page addresses questions students may have concerning immigration, “including information about what community

“We’re seeing an attack on all fronts,” Rafi Ash ’26, a spokesperson for student group JFPL, said in an interview with The Herald. “These are all fights that are, at this moment more than ever, so clearly intertwined with one another.”

Ash said the moment required a

members should do if they receive a request for information from a government agency,” he said.

“University leaders and staff continue to provide information and support to members of our community who are directly affected in regard to particular issues,” Clark wrote.

The protestors also requested the University destroy footage of past and future political speech on campus, including security camera footage.

The groups rallied in support of three demands circulated by the Graduate Labor Organization: defending the Brown community from federal immigration authorities, protecting freedom of expression on campus and protecting the safe-

FACULTY

“broad, united front.”

Yosan Alemu GS, a GLO representative, said the organizations came together to “not only meet the demands of this moment,” but to “be on the offensive.”

“Rather than agonizing” over the current political climate, she added, “we organize.”

Rally organizers also expressed concerns about safety while protesting.

During the protest, a BDC representative who declined to share their last name, only identifying themselves as Ashe, read a statement prepared by an anonymous group of international students involved in pro-Palestinian activism on campus.

The need to maintain anonymity, Ashe said, “speaks volumes to the climate that

both Brown and the Trump administration have created on this campus.”

“We write anonymously because the moment demands that we do so,” the international students’ statement read. They also called on the University to increase protections for students.

“Neutrality is impossible as the state invades our campuses,” the statement added.

Over the past year and a half, Brown has been a hub of pro-Palestianian demonstrations. Across two sit-ins in November and December 2023 calling for the University to divest its endowment from companies affiliated with Israel, 61 students were arrested. College Hill has also seen an encampment, hunger strike and other rallies that made similar demands. In October 2024, the Corporation, the University’s highest governing body, rejected a student-led divestment proposal.

Ash referenced Brown’s decision to join federal lawsuits on funding cuts, saying the University is “only willing to stand up when it’s their funding on the line.”

In a speech at the rally, Jesse Mathis ’27, a HOPE advocacy lead and the Undergraduate Council of Students’s diversity, equity and inclusion chair, asked whether Brown will “cooperate with federal agencies which seek to undermine our fundamental rights and protections, or stand with its students against oppressive and unjust policies and actions?”

Naoko Shibusawa, an associate professor of history, also spoke at the rally on behalf of Brown Academics for Justice in Palestine. She quoted a 2016 op-ed written by President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 in the Washington Post, which

states that Brown is “a safe space for freedom of expression.”

An excerpt of her op-ed was read at the rally: “Freedom of expression is an essential component of academic freedom, which protects the ability of universities to fulfill their core mission of advancing knowledge,” Paxson’s op-ed reads. “Suppressing ideas at a university is akin to turning off the power at a factory.”

In her speech at the rally, Shibusawa called on Paxson to “remember what you said you believed in 2016. Let’s keep the power on.”

Tom Doeppner, founding member of Brown’s CS Department, to retire

Colleagues describe Doeppner as integral to CS at Brown

BY SAMAH HAMID SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Tom Doeppner, associate professor of computer science and vice chair of the department, is retiring at the end of this academic year.

Doeppner began working at Brown in 1976 — three years before the CS Department was even established. He was one of the department’s seven founding members and has remained at Brown ever since.

He was initially interested in the more theoretical areas of CS, Doeppner told The Herald. But after being charged with running the department’s first computer, his interest in “more practical topics” grew, sparking a passion for teaching.

For the first few decades after it was established, the department’s growth was “fairly slow,” Doeppner said.

Now, four decades later, CS is the University’s largest academic department.

Doeppner described the department as a “success story,” adding that he will miss teaching and interacting with his students — whether it be in class, during office hours or in advising meetings.

Doeppner recalled a specific memory from when his late wife, Katrina Avery, was sick several years ago, and he had to miss several classes to take care of her.

“I made it back for my very last class of the semester — and I’d never seen anything like this before — but after the class, I was given a standing ovation,” he said. “I was in tears then and in tears now, just thinking about it. I think that students can be just

as caring as faculty can.”

To him, Brown is special because the “people, faculty (and) administrators really care about students,” he said. “I hope that students get the impression that all of us here really want them to get through and get something great out of the experience of being here.”

After retiring, Doeppner plans to travel across the country with his loved ones and pursue his passion for wildlife photography.

For his colleagues, Doeppner has been “the backbone of the department,” said CS Professor Andy van Dam, who helped hire

Doeppner back in 1976 and served as the department’s inaugural chair.

Van Dam explained that Doeppner, who is also the director of the CS master’s program, advises and helps to select all of the master’s students — something van Dam described as “a gigantic job.”

According to current department chair Roberto Tamassia, Doeppner taught 5,137 students from 2014 to 2023 — or 9% of the department’s enrollment. This is “by far the most among the CS faculty,” Tamassia wrote in an email to The Herald.

Doeppner’s “advising record is also

amazing,” Tamassia added, noting that he advised 16% of Brown’s CS and joint-CS concentrators last year.

As the department’s co-director of undergraduate studies, Doeppner has been “probably the most influential person in shaping the (CS) undergraduate curriculum,” van Dam said. Doeppner also manages many other administrative duties, including chairing the department’s space committee and serving on its facilities and curriculum committees.

“Replacing Tom is damn near impossible,” van Dam said. After Doeppner retires, “the department will have one of its most valuable members no longer in the picture.”

When Kathi Fisler, co-director of CS undergraduate studies, began working in the department in 2017, Doeppner was “simultaneously head of the undergrad program, head of the (teaching assistant) program, head of the master’s program, head of space and facilities for CS (and) vice chair of the department,” she wrote in an email to The Herald.

“He’s the one who knows how all the pieces fit together,” Fisler added.

After Doeppner retires, Assistant Professor of CS Malte Schwarzkopf will be taking over CSCI 1670: “Operating Systems” and CSCI 1690: “Operating Systems Laboratory,” two of the courses that Doeppner currently teaches.

“These are big footsteps to fill,” Schwarzkopf wrote in an email to The Herald. CSCI 1690 “has a legendary reputation at Brown, and I have more than once encountered famous faculty colleagues at other schools who were undergraduates at Brown and credit (the course) with giving them a strong foundation in systems that

after 48 years

they built the rest of their career onto.” To Schwarzkopf, Doeppner is the reason that the department’s community feels “tight-knit and family-like” despite its growth over the years.

“Tom has patience in spades, an ability to remain calm in communications and a wicked sense of humor,” Fisler wrote, noting that he is “very student-centered.”

Undergraduate students shared similar sentiments, citing their admiration for Doeppner and the wonderful experiences they’ve had in his classes.

“In computer science, specifically, I feel like we stand on the shoulders of giants,” said Kazuya Erdos ’26. Taking CSCI 1670 with Doeppner this semester has given Erdos “the opportunity to learn from someone who is one of those giants.”

Because Doeppner has been teaching the course for so long, Erdos expected the lectures to be “rehearsed.” But halfway through the semester, it’s clear to him that Doeppner is still deeply engaged with the content he teaches.

Doeppner sets his students up for success, according to Jennifer Liao ’26, one of his former students and teaching assistants for CSCI 0330: “Introduction to Computer Systems.”

Though CSCI 0330 is “notoriously difficult,” Doeppner “doesn’t try to scare you,” Liao said.

“After taking (CSCI 0330), I felt so much more confident about my skills in CS as a whole,” she added.

Liao recalled that Doeppner invited her and her fellow TAs to his home, adding that he always made them feel welcome and appreciated.

“I’m very sentimental that he’s leaving,” she said.

KAIA YALAMANCHILI / HERALD

The protest was organized by Jews for Palestinian Liberation and nine other student activist organizations, including the Brown Divest Coalition, the Palestine Solidarity Caucus, the Brown Dream Team and Students for Educational Equity.

KAIA YALAMANCHILI / HERALD

BEN KANG / HERALD

Tom Doeppner , associate professor and vice chair of the department, said he will miss teaching and interacting with his students.