SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2022
VOLUME CLVII, ISSUE 61
BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM
UNIVERSITY NEWS
UNIVERSITY NEWS
Past, present of U. sexual assault activism Police make arrest following antisemitic note at Hillel Offices, organizations reflect on history of addressing sexual violence on campus
Case has been turned over to Attorney General’s office as of Thursday
BY RHEA RASQUINHA SENIOR STAFF WRITER In November 1990, Brown’s “rape list” made national headlines, and women started a movement to redefine how the University handles sexual assault. In 2007, a protest by the student-run Sexual Assault Task Force called attention to the issue of sexual violence on campus after the University’s 2006 crime report documented zero instances of sexual assault the previous year. Last August, four women filed a federal class action complaint against the University, claiming it neglected to protect students from sexual harassment and sexual abuse and “actively prevented the reporting of such harm.” There is a long history of sexual assault and sexual violence on campus, and student activists today are still fighting for resources and University accountability.
BY PETER SWOPE SPORTS EDITOR
NAT HARDY / HERALD
Brown has a long history of sexual assault activism, beginning in the ’90s and continuing today with End Sexual Violence @ Brown. How the University currently responds to sexual assault on campus In 2015, the University began implementing recommendations from the final report of its own Sexual Assault Task Force, including implementing a unified policy on sexual and gender-based violence, creating a Title IX Office and establishing additional policies for training and handling cases. These efforts have evolved into University resources available for survivors of sexual assault today, such as BWell Health Promotion and the Title IX and
Gender Equity Office. BWell oversees the University’s 24/7 Sexual Assault Response Line, Sexual Harm Acute Response and Empowerment advocates and five peer education programs, including the Sexual Assault Peer Education Program. “As a department, BWell does work at several levels of the social-ecological model to prevent sexual violence in its many forms,” including improving “systems and processes, educational community interventions and con-
SEE ACTIVISM PAGE 3
The Providence Police Department arrested a suspect in the case of an antisemitic note being left at Brown RISD Hillel, wrote Executive Director and Rabbi Josh Bolton in an email to the Hillel community Thursday afternoon. “I am encouraged to report (that) the Providence Police Department has conducted a full investigation and an arrest has been made,” he wrote in the email. “The case has now officially been turned over to the Attorney General’s office.” The antisemitic note, which included violent threats against Jewish people written on a donation card, was discovered in the Hillel reception area Sunday, The Herald previously re-
ported. Hillel immediately contacted the University’s Department of Public Safety, who referred the case to PPD. This incident followed two previous incidents of antisemitic graffiti found over the summer, The Herald previously reported. Bolton added that the suspect is not a member of the Brown, RISD or Hillel communities but that Hillel cannot currently release any more details. He expressed thanks to PPD and DPS “for their swift and thorough handling of this situation.” PPD has not responded to requests for comment as of press time. “We would also like to extend our gratitude to the many voices within the Brown RISD Hillel and College Hill communities who have expressed support for BRH and Jewish students at Brown and RISD,” Bolton wrote. “We’re grateful that with assistance from Brown DPS and BrownRISD Hillel staff, the Providence Police were able to successfully in-
SEE HILLEL PAGE 11
ARTS & CULTURE
METRO
Persian poetry group discusses language, culture
Trader Joe’s in Fox Point opens for business
With Cambridge, group provides participants community, exposure to literature BY MIRA WHITE CONTRIBUTING WRITER Before teaching Persian at the University, Michelle Quay, visiting lecturer in language studies, spent several years working on a Persian poetry group at the University of Cambridge alongside Annabel Keeler, an affiliated researcher at Cambridge. Hoping to recreate this experience on College Hill, Quay began to consider how she could create a similar space for Persian literature exploration on campus. During the spring, Quay officially brought the Persian Poetry Reading Group to the University. The group, which meets online four times throughout the semester, is held in collaboration with Cambridge and is open to both university communities, according to Events@Brown. The group invites students with an interest in the Persian language to read, translate and discuss
Persian poetry and verse. “It hasn’t even been a full year yet,” Quay said. Since its incorporation at the University, Quay and Keeler have worked to grow the group and make classical Persian poetry and literature more accessible to students in an international context. According to Quay, the group hopes to help students develop their ability to read Persian poetry so that they can combat inaccurate literature translations. Most students are new speakers looking to connect with their culture, which Quay said “gives us a motivation for why these texts are so important.” The group, which is also open to staff affiliates of both universities, provides a “community building aspect” that Quay said creates a more natural environment for language learning. As a group that builds off of each other, incorporating native staff speakers into the group “exposes students to this totally different worldview” — an authenticity that she emphasized is difficult to find anywhere else. Kanha Prasad ’22.5, a participant in the group, feels that it has helped those looking to connect with their culture
SEE POETRY PAGE 6
Shoppers share excitement about convenience, location, food selection BY NEIL MEHTA SENIOR STAFF WRITER Following years of speculation and an official announcement last week, Trader Joe’s held a grand opening ceremony Thursday morning for its new Fox Point location that was attended by over 100 shoppers. The new location — the first Trader Joe’s in Providence — is a welcome addition to the lineup of grocery stores in the city, according to several shoppers who spoke to The Herald. The grocery store hired over 75 new employees, called crew members, in preparation for the grand opening, Trader Joe’s Public Relations Manager Nakia Rohde wrote in an email to The Herald. There are no current plans to expand to additional locations in the city, Rohde added. A line of shoppers formed around the store for a ribbon cutting ceremony leading up to the grand opening at 8 a.m., after which they were welcomed into the building.
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Sender ’25: Brown must house students while protecting Providence Page 4
The Bruno Brief’s Episode 3 looks into art and sex in Providence Page 7
Watson panel compares humanitarian responses in Syria, Ukraine Page 12
ROCKY MATTOS-CANEDO / HERALD
The grand opening ceremony featured a ribbon cutting before allowing shoppers into the store for the first time. Crew Member Erin Langlois told The Herald that staff members have “been working really hard … for the past two or three weeks” to stock the store and build shelves in preparation for the grand opening, adding that the team was “really excited when we saw the line wrapped around the building this morning.” Shopper Sumana Chintapalli MD’26 said she was “delighted” about the opening. “I’ve totally taken on the Rhode Island custom of not traveling far to go anywhere,” Chintapalli said. “The other Trader Joe’s (in Warwick) seems really far to me.”
Chintapalli, a student at Warren Alpert Medical School, highlighted the store’s proximity to the medical school building and its offering of organic foods, though she noted that the store opening may introduce traffic in the area. “I don’t know … how this will change how long it takes me to get to school,” she said. Cranston resident Candace Gauvin said the location is much easier to get to than the existing Trader Joe’s in Warwick — the only other location in the state — and added that she is looking forward to the store’s selection of foods.
SEE GROCERIES PAGE 11
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2022
UNIVERSITY NEWS
BCC, 180 Degrees, GRC members reflect on consulting experiences Students familiarize with industry, practice casing, interviewing, networking BY KATHY WANG SENIOR STAFF WRITER When Michelle Lee ’23 first joined Brown Consulting Club, she “had no idea what consulting was,” she said. Now she is the president of the club. BCC, which consists of 40 to 50 members each year, is made up of two subgroups: projects and committees. The former works with professional clients to solve business questions and the latter connects students “to consulting firms or mentors in the industry,” Lee explained. “Our projects (help students) figure out whether consulting is a fit for them, because they’re doing work that’s very similar to what a consultant would do,” Lee said. She added that the projects are “a good way for (students) to get skills ahead of time (such as) researching, communication, talking to clients, et cetera.” Nasim Mohammadzadeh ’24 joined the projects team as a firstyear and took on the position of marketing chair for two semesters before returning to the team this year. Mohammadzadeh said that the opportunity to be involved in consulting allowed her to explore different fields before settling on finance. “If I didn’t have BCC and (the experience of ) working on projects … I probably would still be in consulting, because I wouldn’t know that I (didn’t) like it as much as I liked finance,” Mohammadzadeh said. Alex Green ’25 had a similar experience in the Brown chapter of 180 Degrees Consulting. The Brown chapter, which has around 35 members, is part of a global organization that focuses on collaborations with
nonprofits across over 150 chapters, according to Emily Moini ’23, current co-president of 180 Degrees at Brown. Green said he joined the club this semester after he felt unsure of his career path and heard positive feedback from friends and family. “I would say so far, my time in 180 (Degrees) has really cemented that (consulting) might be something I want to do in the future,” he said. He explained that club members receive “access to so many resources.” The club conducted an internal survey in order to restructure the chapter and better serve its members, Moini said. The results of the survey indicated that members wanted a greater pre-professional focus and a greater impact on real-world nonprofit projects. 180 Degrees can offer “a great opportunity to learn about nonprofits and how the sector works, while also gaining this pre-professional experience,” she said. Moini added that 180 Degrees has a global leadership program that provides guidance on their work, as well as “access to this broader ecosystem of resources.” The Brown chapter of the Global Research and Consulting group — another international organization with a University branch — has access to a similar pool of resources, according to current GRC president Arushi Parekh ’24. The global team “hosts a ton of different networking opportunities for GRC members to meet with each other from different schools (and) learn more about what consulting is,” she said. With 45 to 50 members, GRC has two branches: the consultant team and a student-run think tank called “Insight,” which produces articles on social issues and publishes them on its website. Even though Mohammadzadeh does not currently plan to go into
consulting, she said that BCC has taught her more about the interview process and working with professionals. Lee said that BCC brings “different firms in to host info sessions or panels to go over what the firm’s mission is … (and) what makes them different from other firms.” Lee added that BCC connects its members to mentorship opportunities and helps them practice casing, an aspect of many consulting job interviews. These events led Mohammadzadeh to understand “what big firms (in general) are looking for” and that “recruiters are also people, (not) robots that go through resumes,” she said. She added that her experience interacting with clients in BCC taught her how to present herself in a professional manner. 180 Degrees and GRC host similar programs. According to Moini, 180 Degrees is hosting a workshop series called “Driving Impact” this semester, which is open to all undergraduate students and includes “weekly (or) biweekly workshops that are led by experts within the nonprofit space,” and plans to host an alumni panel “with current alums that are working within consulting firms.” Parekh said that GRC trains new members on the basics of consulting every year and plans to host casing workshops. She highlighted “education, training, resources and exposure to consulting” as focuses of the group’s board. GRC “really strives to create an environment in which students can learn more about consulting … specifically social consulting, and tries to be as open as possible,” she said. “The main part of our application process is that we don’t require any previous consulting experience.” Green said that the 180 Degrees recruiting process “felt very competitive.” According to Moini, about 200 students expressed interest and the
COURTESY OF BROWN CONSULTING CLUB
Brown Consulting Club programs are open to the entire undergraduate student population, with the exception of alumni events. 20 to 30 coffee chat slots offered by e-board members were filled up “almost immediately.” She added that the group ended up receiving 100 applications and accepted 15 new members. “It is competitive in the sense that a lot of people are going to apply and only a small fraction of those are going to get a position,” Moini said. “I think that going through (this) process is probably a really great learning experience for anyone interested in that kind of space.” She added that “what consulting firms want to see is that you’re a leader, you’re someone that can take on a complicated problem, develop a structured solution to it and actually deliver results, and there are so many ways to do that outside of a consulting club.” According to Lee, BCC’s recruiting process attempts to replicate the hiring approach professional consulting firms take, but they “try to make it as barrier free as possible.” On top of attendance at an info session and a resume submission, BCC’s process includes a written application and an interview with behavior questions and a small case study, she said. Lee added that the written application has a research component where applicants are asked to submit
a small report on a business question. This year’s research component was about “how you would attract people to attend a movie theater,” she said. “We’re very transparent about what we need,” she said. “We walk (applicants) through what the application is going to look like, past examples of good applications (and) a sample interview just to make sure that everyone is equally prepared.” “They have a pretty rigorous recruitment cycle … but I think it’s a good reason (because) even if you don’t end up getting into the club … it’s really good preparation for what an actual consulting interview might be like,” Mohammadzadeh said. She added that BCC has helped her “get (her) feet wet with interviewing, because (she had) two to three interviews a week” during recruitment season. “We completely understand that there are high and unnecessary boundaries to the industry,” Lee said. All BCC programs, except those featuring alumni, are open to all undergraduate students, according to Lee. She added that the mission of BCC “is and always will be about increasing the accessibility to the consulting industry, both for (their) members (and) the general Brown community.”
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2022
ACTIVISM FROM PAGE 1 fidential individual and community support,” wrote BWell Director Tanya Purdy in an email to The Herald. Through a Culture of Consent and Community Care program offered to students during orientation, all undergraduates also receive “foundational education in consent practices, bystander intervention and supporting survivors,” Purdy wrote. SAPE “has its roots in student activism and traces its beginning back to 32 years ago when Health Education, now BWell Health Promotion, first partnered with student activists and educators,” Naomi Ninneman, BWell associate director for empowerment and prevention services, wrote in an email to The Herald. Through its many iterations, the program “has consistently centered around sexual violence prevention and survivor support” through student-staff collaborations, she added. According to Ninnenman, 618 students from 26 student groups participated in one of the two-hour SAPE workshops during the 2021-22 year. Similarly, the creation of the SHARE advocate position began with student activism. The first version of the role was created by the University in 2008 partly in response to the student-run Sexual Assault Task Force, according to an email to The Herald from BWell Associate Director for Response Services Alana Sacks. Sacks explained that the expanded SHARE advocate role was developed in 2014 per the recommendations of the University’s Sexual Assault Task Force. Following a period of high demand on the original role and “another round of national attention and scrutiny” surrounding sexual assault, “substantial resources and policies were then dedicated to the issue of sexual violence,” she wrote. “In the time since, the SHARE advocates have become a trusted resource to many student survivors and … community members supporting survivors,” Sacks wrote. A second fulltime SHARE advocate was also added to BWell’s staff to further support the office, she added, but this position is currently vacant until a hiring search commences in the spring. “Sexual violence does not exist in a vacuum,” Purdy added, which has led BWell to work with several campus partners to create a more expansive approach to sexual assault awareness and prevention. The University’s Title IX Office “provides support measures as well as a process that deals with sexual harassment,” which is the umbrella term for sexual assault, stalking, dating violence and domestic violence, said Title IX Coordinator Ebony Manning. The office offers formal and informal processes for cases, along with support measures such as no-contact orders and academic modifications. “This is a personal decision for someone to go through the process,” Manning said. “Knowing that they have (support and resources) available to them, … I think that helps individuals make informed decisions on how they want to handle their situation.” The office also offers ongoing education programs, including group-specific trainings and compliance team trainings for the campus community, Manning said. “We’re always out there trying to educate folks on what we do and what our process looks like.” Manning’s team is currently preparing for the release of new federal
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
government Title IX regulations in 2023. Each presidential administration typically releases new guidance, and policies and regulations may change to be in compliance with federal guidelines, Manning said. In a post-#MeToo era, Manning has noticed an uptick in cases disclosed anonymously or through social media during periods of increased public attention on high-profile cases of sexual assault. While the office cannot formally respond to these forms of reporting, “the process that we conduct hasn’t changed … (for) anyone who comes forward and says, ‘Something happened to me, and I want the institution to look into it,’” she said. “I just want people to know that there is an office that is there to support them, and if we’re not the office to support them in that moment, we then connect (them) to student support services … so that they do not feel alone,” Manning said. Manning has been with the University for seven months and also serves on the Office of Institutional Equity & Diversity’s compliance team. While her caseload so far “has been manageable,” she added that “sometimes it can be overwhelming.” “I think that’s just the nature of the business,” she said. “It’s difficult work, someone has to do it and it should be done right.” Student activism surrounding sexual assault on campus In the University’s 2015 campus climate survey on sexual assault and sexual misconduct, 25% of undergraduate women and 25.7% of students identifying as TGQN — transgender, genderqueer, gender non-conforming, questioning or non-listed — reported experiencing non-consensual sexual contact since arriving at the University. By 2019, these metrics had minimally changed, with 24.5% of undergraduate women and 30.2% of TGQN students reporting having experienced non-consensual sexual contact. The 2019 report also discussed progress after implementing recommendations from the University’s Sexual Assault Task Force in 2015. The percentage of students who believe that it is “very or extremely likely” that campus officials would fairly investigate a report of non-consensual contact and take the report seriously almost doubled from 2015 to 2019, though women were less likely than men to hold these beliefs. In April 2021, the Week of Protest led by End Sexual Violence @ Brown, a coalition of student organizations, demanded that the University do more to address sexual violence on campus. Following the protests, the organizers were invited to speak with University administrators about their demands, co-organizer Carter Woodruff ’21.5 wrote in an email to The Herald. “I was not present at the meeting and cannot speak to its content, but from what I gathered, there was not a willingness from the University to enact substantive change anywhere near the degree to which we called for it.” “The purpose of our movement was to shed light on the ways in which the culture, institutions and norms at Brown reinforce administrative complacency and general impunity with regard to sexual violence on campus,” Woodruff wrote. Through her time organizing both ESV and Voices of Brown — a platform where students can anonymously share stories of their experiences with
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NAT HARDY / HERALD
The University has increased resources that aim to confront sexual violence and support survivors on campus, including some offered by BWell Health Promotion and the Title IX and Gender Equity Office. sexual violence — Woodruff was in contact with several alums who had previously organized on campus. “They seemed alarmed but not surprised at the similarities between the issues they faced and those we face today,” she wrote. “As we spoke about how to fortify the current movement, we discussed the need for longevity, consistency and steering clear of capitalizing upon any individual story.” “There was not a specific incident that started ESV, and we were very intentional with this,” wrote co-organizer Ha-Jung Kim ’23 in an email to The Herald. “We wanted there to be an ongoing effort to end sexual violence, and using one incident to kickstart an organization often leads to a significant uptick in mobilization that fizzles out.” Later in 2021, students and alums filed a federal class action lawsuit against the University, and the University filed a motion to dismiss the case in March 2022. An Oct. 18 order ruled that the lawsuit can partially move ahead. Much of the University’s motion to dismiss was granted, but the possibility of an injunction remains, which may require the University to change its policies surrounding sexual assault. “Generally speaking, the University appears to have continued on with its prior efforts” to confront sexual violence, including “expanding the resources available through BWell, launching an online reporting platform through Title IX and engaging in the Culture of Respect Program,” Woodruff wrote. “Though I applaud these efforts, they are not enough. It is not a fluke that the student body protested enmasse without a specific inflammatory incident one year ago,” she added. “We are tired of sexual violence being the status-quo on campus.” The future of sexual assault activism at the University The new leadership of ESV has worked to restructure the group. Originally a coalition which student groups signed onto, the group is now split into two parts: policy and survivor support, said Chloe Chen ’24, an ESV survivor support coordinator. The survivor support team aims to create a peer-to-peer program that matches people one-on-one, “especially for survivors who don’t want to go straight to administration,” Chen said. The team has recently started
recruiting members and matching peers based on identities and relevant background, said Sophia Block ’24, another ESV survivor support coordinator. Mentors will “serve as a liason connecting survivors to campus resources” and will be trained in resources at Brown and beyond,” she said, with the hopes of creating a “safe space for a survivor of sexual assault.” ESV is also developing diversity and inclusion and finance teams. The survivor support branch is University affiliated, while the policy team is not, which eliminates administrative barriers, said Michelle Ding ’25, an ESV policy coordinator. The policy branch is more similar to what ESV used to do, forming this semester to create community within the team and look “critically at Brown’s policies,” including for Counseling and Psychological Services and international student support. “It’s already hard enough to look at how Title IX laws apply for domestic students,” she added. “For international students who just came to Brown, it might be their first time in the U.S.,” and they may not know what to do after experiencing sexual assault. At the time ESV formed, there was only one person in the Title IX office and two SHARE advocates for the entire school population, Chen said. The University had a huge response to COVID-19 that was integrated between departments, she recalled, but “we wanted that same response to sexual violence as an epidemic at this school.” “A lot of the departments on campus that are focusing on this issue are ultimately looking out for the school,” Chen said. The Title IX Office is mandated to support both the survivor and perpetrator, while ESV is explicitly focused on survivor needs, so it is “important to have a group that’s separate from the University,” she added. But there is still a long way to go for both University policy and the general culture around sexual violence. “A big part of our mission is ending the bigger system of oppressions that is the root cause of sexual violence,” including racism, sexism, xenophobia and homophobia, Ding said. The general public opinion of students is an extremely important factor in putting pressure on administration, she added. Ding also pointed to ESV’s growing presence on campus: Hundreds of students participated in the Week of Protest, over 2,240 follow the organization on social media and 40 student
organizations helped raise more than $3,000 for local abortion funds in a summer mutual aid campaign that ESV organized, she said. The 2021 protests included reading a list of demands for University administration, but Kim, Chen and Block do not think that any have been met. Among these demands are more campus resources for survivors, including increased funding for the Title IX Office, BWell, SHARE and CAPS, along with more employees for these offices and programs. “Sexual violence is a serious issue nationally, not only at colleges and universities across the U.S., but beyond campuses in society more broadly,” wrote University Spokesperson Brian Clark in an email to The Herald. “For that reason, we don’t expect the work of preventing and responding to incidents to ever be done, even as we work collectively on campus to build on significant progress in recent years” through “a sustained effort by campus leaders, students, staff and faculty.” Regarding criticisms surrounding the extent of resources for sexual assault survivors on campus, Clark pointed to ongoing projects such as “new education and prevention efforts, the creation from the ground up and then expansion of Brown’s Title IX Office and its resolution policies and procedures (and) the continuing full-scale transformation of CAPS to best meet student needs.” “Brown has been and remains fundamentally committed to preventing and responding to sexual violence, and we’ll continue to identify new ways over time to build on what’s working and identify new ways to provide support in areas where we have more progress to make as a campus,” Clark wrote. The previous two SHARE advocates were “absolutely amazing people” who worked closely with ESV on developing their programs, Chen said, but both have moved to different positions. Even with their roles filled, the extent of professional support for student sexual assault and mental health concerns would be too low, she added. Though no longer a leader of ESV, Woodruff has “confidence that ESV will continue to be a strong force for change at Brown into the foreseeable future,” she wrote. “Sexual violence has been endemic at Brown throughout its history, and battling it will require a sustained effort.”
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2022
Sender ‘25: U. must house students while protecting Prov. It is without question that the housing crisis in Providence has reached a breaking point. Local universities are seen as major contributors to this crisis, with Brown as a prime example. Brown squeezes Providence’s housing market in two ways. University students often come from families with higher incomes than the surrounding community and they seek off-campus housing as upperclassmen, reducing the available housing for the community and inflating prices. However, there is a greater structural issue at play. Brown, like most universities, is tax exempt, which means that the University does not have to pay taxes on some of its valuable real estate in Providence. This lost revenue for the city limits the possibility of municipal action needed to build or preserve affordable housing. Thus, as Brown extends its physical footprint to make way for new housing, it is actually exacerbating the fundamental issue which has helped to precipitate this crisis. There is a solution to these two housing problems which neither Brown nor Providence has seemingly considered: By building out the Wriston Quadrangle, Brown can accommodate far more housing on its existing footprint, protecting both Providence’s housing market and its tax base. Wriston Quadrangle was completed in 1952, and its construction required the razing of 51 historic homes. In the design of the new section of campus, architects decided to surround the entire area with a four-foot moat and mount a towering wrought-iron fence around it to protect the lower floor windows. This decision has not only led to inconvenience for students who now have to take circuitous detours to reach each building on the quad, but it also sends a clear message to the community. While the moat and fence purportedly serve a practical purpose, visually they tell only one story: Brown wants to keep the community out. After securing the land, the University cleared it of its history, then erected defensive ramparts to separate the community from the campus within. Today, this is not the message Brown wishes to send — the University’s more recent construction efforts, like the Brook Street dorms, the Brown Bookstore, and the Nelson
Center for Entrepreneurship, do a much better job of meaningfully engaging with their surroundings. Wriston Quadrangle, in its current state, does not seem to fit Brown’s modern vision for its campus. This creates an opportunity to both modernize Wriston and help Providence solve its growing housing crisis. Brown should extensively remodel or reconstruct a number of street-facing dorms on Wriston to reconnect the campus with the
rooms. This would not only increase the capacity of Brown’s on-campus housing, but would also create an opportunity to make it more attractive and add modern amenities to dorms during renovation. All street-facing dorms within Wriston could be expanded significantly, which would certainly help make notable progress towards Brown’s goal of guaranteeing on-campus housing for 80% of its student body.
“By building out the Wriston Quadrangle, Brown can accomodate far more housing on its existing footprint, protecting both Providence’s housing market and its tax base”
street and significantly increase the quantity of housing on Brown’s current footprint. In particular, Harkness, Chapin and Sears Houses would make for good conversions since they all border busy neighborhood streets. Take Chapin House: This dorm affronts Thayer Street, and its current design serves as a significant barrier between the street and other parts of campus. A possible intervention for Chapin could involve filling the moat, expanding the dorm so that it is flush with Thayer Street and then adding arches through the building so that students can pass freely into Wriston. Even this limited intervention would serve to link the street and campus and would add a number of dorm
By providing more housing for students without purchasing any new property, Brown would be able to meaningfully address the housing crisis in Providence. With additional rooms and renovated dorms, more students may opt to stay on campus, meaning the amount of housing stock available to Providence residents, especially in Fox Point and College Hill, would increase. Also importantly, unlike some other recent Brown projects, no property would have to be acquired from the city, meaning no existing housing or businesses would be displaced, and the tax base for the city would not shrink. Additionally, remodeling Wriston could also greatly enhance pedestrian flow on
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campus, increasing the porosity which makes college campuses so enjoyable and special. The rest of Brown’s campus demonstrates that it is not only possible, but greatly beneficial to have continual interplay between academic and streetscape elements in the community. Doing so creates congruence with the community’s architectural context and makes the campus approachable, not only to students, but also to greater Providence. Furthermore, the renovated Wriston dorms need not be out of step with the architectural history of campus or the surrounding neighborhood. Wriston itself is a prime example of this, as none of the buildings themselves are especially historical and were instead built to mimic the meaningful architectural context around them. There is no reason these new dorms cannot do so as well and still accommodate new amenities and increased campus access. Ultimately, this is not the easiest way for Brown to grow on-campus housing, but it would be incredibly beneficial not only for the University but for Providence. By choosing this challenging option, Brown would demonstrate its true commitment to the success of the city that it is so closely tied to. This option would not result in a single displaced business or resident in Providence while meaningfully reducing housing pressure in the community. Further, it would show that Brown is not a university that hides behind high walls, but rather one that welcomes the community in and does not shut itself off from the streets that define it. For the sake of the city, and for Brown’s benefit, the University must choose the harder option and find spaces for new housing within our existing campus.
Gabe Sender ’25 can be reached at gabriel_sender@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and other op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2022
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
5
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
Medical students provide annual health screening at Burnside Park
Event aims to help homeless populations access medical care, food, hygiene services BY JARED ZHANG SENIOR STAFF WRITER Rhode Island Medical Navigator Partnership, a program created by Warren Alpert Medical School students, partnered with House of Hope, a Rhode Island-based organization aimed at supporting individuals experiencing homelessness, to host the annual Burnside Park Health Fair Oct. 15. The health fair aims to provide free medical care, food, hygiene services and other resources to Providence community members, especially those experiencing homelessness, according to Makena Mette MD’25, who helped organize the fair. As part of the event, RIMNP partnered with Project Weber/RENEW, a peer-led harm reduction and recovery support program, to offer hepatitis tests, HIV tests, flu vaccines and naloxone kits to help prevent opioid overdose, according to Mette. Other services included stations to measure blood pressure and blood sugar. Volunteers also worked to connect
community members with legal support to obtain state IDs and free bus passes. “The goal is to provide a comprehensive approach to health screenings,” Mette said. House of Hope brought a portable shower unit staffed by a registered nurse as part of its Shower to Empower program to offer free showers, haircuts and hygiene services, said Sara Melucci, director of outreach at House of Hope. A foot clinic was included as part of Shower to Empower, where people could have their feet cleaned and dried. Dry socks were also provided. “It’s a very dignifying thing to be able to take a shower,” Mette said. “To be clean is so important, and it’s something a lot of us take for granted.” No appointments were required to participate in the fair, and services were available to all who attended. “The goal was to create additional open space with no barriers to” healthcare, Melucci said. This year, an estimated 150 to 200 people attended, according to Mette. To run the fair, “there was a team of around 60 volunteers, which were mostly medical students in RIMNP but also included some Program in Liberal Medical Education Brown undergraduates.” In January 2022, more than 1,300 people experienced homelessness, according to Juan Espinoza, communication and development manager
ANDREW ZHONG / HERALD
At an event coordinated by the Rhode Island Medical Navigator Partnership and House of Hope, medical students helped provide medical care and resources to individuals experiencing homelessness. at the Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness. “The current numbers are likely even higher,” he said. “Unfortunately, we see (that) a lot of (homeless) people’s access to medical care is through emergency rooms,” said Margaux Morisseau, deputy director at RICEH. Morisseau added that many people experiencing homelessness live in tents,
which cannot be locked up and left unattended while receiving medical care. “When all (their) worldly belongings are in that tent, … people may decide to forego appointments to protect their belongings,” she said. Providing care to people where they felt most comfortable was an intentional objective of the fair’s organizers, according to Melucci. “Individuals are
distrustful of our healthcare systems,” she said. “Part of our goal is to go out and meet people where they are — on their home turf.” “We recognize (that) there are a lot of structural barriers in accessing the healthcare system,” Melucci added. “We know (the fair) won’t resolve all issues, but we want to build connections that will endure.”
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Midday Music 12 p.m. Granoff Center for Creative Arts, 154 Angell St.
ULock or ULose Bike Registration 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Pembroke Green
BIOWEEK: The Future Scientist: Jobs and Industry 2 p.m. Lincoln Field Building
Buddhism 101 - College Hill Buddhists For Peace 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Page-Robinson Hall
TOMORROW’S EVENTS Career and Internship Fair School of Engineering 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Engineering Research Center
Dia de los Muertos Celebration 3 p.m. Stephen Robert ‘62 Campus Center
Brown University Women’s Ice Hockey vs. Quinnipiac 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Meehan Auditorium
Stress SMASH! 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Keeney Quad
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POETRY FROM PAGE 1 and family or simply better understand Persian literature. “Given that there aren’t yet any regular courses at Brown which focus on Persian poetry, I think that the group has allowed many people to begin getting their feet wet with this very important tradition,” Prasad wrote in an email to The Herald. “Many of the people who come to the meetings aren’t necessarily from humanities backgrounds,” he added. “Many of them are members of the Iranian diaspora who want to be able to communicate with their families in a richer way.” The group focuses on readings from renowned Persian poets Shamsud-din Muhammad Hafez and Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, which help develop participants’ language and reading skills while also engaging with contemporary topics, including love, Prasad explained. Prasad recalled the “divine love” that poets write about in their literature and how even today you can find lyrics “with words like saaqi, the mythical dispenser of ecstatic wine, or divaneh, someone who has lost themselves in rapturous love, to refer to one’s beloved” — phrases that some may know but not understand the meaning behind. The participation of graduate students and university affiliates at both Cambridge and Brown has
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS helped deepen the community learning aspect of the group. “Many of the participating members from Cambridge tend to be graduate students and faculty with at least a couple of years of engagement with Persian poetry,” Prasad wrote. “One can learn a lot just by listening to them.” From Cambridge, Keeler has played a significant role in helping the group learn more about Persian verse. With a PhD in Islamic studies, her knowledge is instrumental, as “the mysticism that she has is extremely important to the group,” according to Quay. “She works in this field, she translates (and) she researches,” Quay said. Keeler thus does not only bring linguistic knowledge to the group but also important contextual knowledge of the literature. The group held its second meeting of the academic year Oct. 25. The meeting was run primarily in English to accommodate the varying Persian comprehension levels of its participants. Throughout the session, Quay and Keeler instructed students to read verses in Persian and then interpret what they had read, breaking down the poetry both linguistically and analytically. Much of the lesson focused on the idea of interpretation over translation, as suggested by a staff affiliate. With this approach to the reading, students offered multiple
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2022
GINA BAE / HERALD
The group meets online four times per semester and is held in collaboration with the University of Cambridge. Staff from both institutions are welcome to participate. conclusions about what they had read and the true meaning behind the literature. Quay said that in the future she hopes to open the group up to more Persian speakers on campus
and make it more of a natural environment for those wishing to learn about their language and culture. “Persian speakers are pretty proud of their poetry so — even if they can’t attend (the group) them-
selves — they are so happy to hear that we’re running it,” she said. The group acts as a form of “community building that also serves actual student needs which is hard to do otherwise.”
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2022
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
7
PODCAST
The Bruno Brief: Pushing boundaries of sex, art in Providence tion rights and contraceptives. This week, our focus goes back to 1978. We will be talking about our more artsy neighbors to the west and how a run in with the Providence police sparked a debate over the censorship of art, the morality of pornography and how sex is politicized. I’m Elysee Barakett. This is the Bruno Brief. So, Finn, you recently wrote about this wild RISD show for The Herald. Where did it all begin?
BY THE BRUNO BRIEF TEAM In the third episode of the Bruno Brief’s series on sexual politics, we explore the history of art, sex and politics in 1970s Providence. We speak with Finn Kirkpatrick, senior staff writer and Bruno Brief producer, about his reporting on the topic, which dives into the police raid of a gallery violating state anti-obscenity laws and what constitutes the boundaries of acceptable artwork. Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or listen via the RSS feed. Send tips and feedback for the next episode to herald@ browndailyherald.com. The Bruno Brief is produced in partnership with WBRU. Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or listen via the RSS feed. Send tips and feedback for the next episode to herald@ browndailyherald.com. The Bruno Brief is produced in partnership with WBRU. Newscaster Good evening from News Center 12. It looks as though the state will soon have an opportunity to test its tough new anti-obscenity law signed just last week. This afternoon, Providence police raided that controversial art exhibition called “Private Parts,” a show that some people consider obscene. Laurie McDonald We took off and went to New York for about a week because we were worried that we were going to be thrown in jail, or, you know, we just didn’t know what was gonna happen. And we had no idea that there had been this new obscenity law that had been passed recently. Elysee Barakett For the past two weeks, we have been exploring the landscape of sexual politics on Brown’s campus from nudity and sex parties to abor-
Finn Kirkpatrick On April 14, 1978, an ad appeared in the RISD press that said “Private Parts — anonymous of course.” “Private Parts” was an exhibition organized by RISD photography students, and they were denied gallery space on the RISD campus. So they set up shop in the gallery of the Electron Movers, a video art collective composed of former RISD students. The show was intended to be a tongue in cheek parody of pornography, working mostly in photography but other mediums as well. Unbeknownst to the Electron Movers and the artists behind the exhibition, five days before the opening of the gallery, the state of Rhode Island passed an anti-obscenity law, and some saw this exhibition as coming in direct conflict with said law. The images in the exhibition were provocative while still comical. Images included a rabbit humping a chicken on one end of the spectrum and a middle aged woman watching tv while grabbing the penis of her completely naked husband on the other. Laurie McDonald was a member of the electron movers, and she can tell you the rest of what happened. Laurie McDonald The weekend when the show was being installed, at the close of Sunday when we were locking up, all of a sudden, a Providence policeman appeared at the door, and he said, “I need to come in and look at the show.” And we were just, I don’t know, we were in our mid-20s and we really had never had any kind of encounter with police before. It was quite shocking and upsetting. So we were just kind of hovering at the door while he was walking around looking at the work. And all of a sudden, we heard him start to laugh, which was good because the intention of the
show was to be humorous. And so after, I don’t know, 10 or 15 minutes, he came back to us and he said, “Look, I don’t see anything wrong with this, but I need to tell you that you’re going to be raided in the morning by the Providence Police.” Finn Kirkpatrick Well, the police did in fact show up on opening day, confiscating 43 pieces in total, most of which were destroyed afterward. The Electron Movers were afraid of the potential legal repercussions and so they all packed up and fled to New York City. Artists involved in the show got in contact with the ACLU, and they were provided with lawyers to defend them in court. The public response towards the police was mostly negative. McDonald filmed the raid as it was going down and asked members of the public what their thoughts on the matter were. Exhibition visitor How do you tell what’s objectionable? Does it have to turn you on, sir? Finn Kirkpatrick As another negative response to these events, Kathie Florsheim, a RISD alumni, penned a scathing letter to then-RISD President Lee Hall about his lack of comment over what had occurred. Elysee Barakett In her first letter she wrote, ” Until last week, I had never been ashamed to admit I attended RISD. Now I shudder at the thought simply because you, as president of the school, have refused to take a stand against what the Providence police did to the show at Electron Movers.” Finn Kirkpatrick President Hall in response wrote, “I must remind you that the exhibition was not sponsored by Rhode Island School of Design and is a matter for private citizens who are functioning independently as professional artists. I am interested, nonetheless, in your opinion.” Elysee Barakett But that wasn’t a good enough answer for Florsheim, who responded back by writing, “You need not remind me that RISD did not sponsor the Private Parts show, as your pub-
lic statements to that effect made your position very clear. You have intentionally avoided the point of my letter. Whether or not RISD sponsored or was directly or indirectly involved in this show is irrelevant. The First Amendment rights that are at stake here involve the school regardless of its relationship to this show. I think you have betrayed RISD, the community of artists that looks to RISD for leadership and yourself as an artist.” Finn spoke to Lindsay Caplan, assistant professor of the history of art and architecture, to find out what this incident means in the broader context of art at the time. Lindsay Caplan When you talk about pornography and you talk about sexuality, you’re often talking about artists that are trying to get at a more affective response. That brings up these questions of cultural conventions but nevertheless tries to shock, tries to horrify, tries to push the limits, again, of a public — is antagonistic towards a public. That might not be true in this case, though, like maybe this was a movement that was expressing their own sexuality and their own liberatory imagery and it was actually for an audience that shared that and it was shocking to some people. Finn Kirkpatrick Once this case actually reached the courts, it was quickly thrown out by the judge and the raid was deemed unlawful. But the damage had already been done. Much of the artwork was never seen again. In 1985, as the result of a follow-up class-action lawsuit, each artist was awarded $100 as compensation. Elysee Barakett This incident is very much a product of its time. The law weaponized sex by deeming it as something dangerous, and now we see a lot more nudity and sexuality in art and media. The fact that photographs taken by a group of RISD students could warrant such a response also shows how powerful art can be. The incident posed questions on whether we should constrain art and artists. Lindsay Caplan I think it was 1968. The performer Charlotte Mormon performed a piece
that she made in collaboration with the artist Nam June Paik called “TV Bra,” and she was topless and she was arrested for nudity. And she was not convicted because she was seen as a kind of unknowing, she was seen as doesn’t know what she’s doing. And so it was very infantilizing and really insulting, but she doesn’t, the conviction doesn’t go through but she was arrested for being nude on stage, topless on stage. That is a case in which there were laws about what you could or cannot do in public. Finn Kirkpatrick The backlash towards the exhibit in many ways went to further reaffirm the intentions of the exhibition. While McDonald made sure to say that RISD students at the time didn’t have any grand political intentions behind their work, they were very interested in pushing beyond the bounds of what was considered acceptable in art. Laurie McDonald The art establishment can be a very conservative institution, and very self-serving, too. So that was part of the motivation, too, is to kind of think outside of the box that has become so institutionalized and so predictable. And those things are all important to us. Elysee Barakett Thanks for listening, and we’ll be back next week to talk about sexual assault advocacy on campus. This episode was produced by Caitlin Carpenter, Liliana Greyf, Finn Kirkpatrick, Katy Pickens, Jacob Smollen and me, Elysee Barakett. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to The Bruno Brief wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review. Thanks again.
post-
NOV 4 — VOL 30 — ISSUE 7
FEATURE
See Full Issue: ISSUU.COM/POSTMAGAZINEBDH
NARRATIVE
woven into the seams
scars are worth a thousand words, too by Marin Warshay
ceaseless sequentialities a reflection on time and milestones by Ellyse Givens illustrated by Connie Liu Chairlifts have always scared me. I remember when I had to board one for the first time, swiveling my skis atop the faded red line dyed into the ice below me as I waited for the seat. I looked back over my right shoulder, anxious to get the timing right. The chair was coming—my chance. I was ready. The cushion touched the back of my hamstrings and I bent my knees instinctively, just like my dad told me to. My backside collided with the chair—I had succeeded. But this euphoria turned out to be fleeting. My skis were stubborn. They didn’t leave the ice, although my body had. I found my weight propelled forward into space, the chair’s force overcoming me. I screamed as I tumbled headfirst down a small slope of snow. My small body eventually skidded to a halt atop the slipperiness.
of surrendering to its forward trajectory. But I still vividly remember vividly the feeling of falling off, of wiping the white dust from my goggles and finding dozens of otherwise cordial skiers staring at me in confusion. Unlike everyone else around me, I simply could not keep up with the conveyor’s continual motion. I don’t ski much anymore. Yet, that feeling of falling off the chair, of loss, of I can’t keep up with everyone else, still feels familiar to me, despite the fact that I stand atop concrete and not snow. The chairs I keep missing have only grown more important: experiences, milestones, pleasures that I cannot recover. I fear that the right people, the right opportunities, the right ideas are passing me by —chairs that won’t return.
I spit out some beige colored snow and looked back at the sky above me. My chair had already traveled far ahead of where I had fallen. I missed my chance.
This fear plagued me as I smeared a tear off of my phone’s screen. The face looking back at me was crying too. There was too much distance between us, we went to two different universities, we should enjoy our 19-year-old freedoms. The timing was not right. If we had met in high school, or after college, or in another life, it would have been different. We said “I love you” as we established our permanent goodbye ...
*** I eventually learned how to use the chairlift, shifting my weight backward into the cushion instead
“The loon’s warbling tune will continue to reverberate in my heart forever, a reminder that I should keep fighting, that a wilderness that’s a little dirtied, or a little different from my perfect memory of it, is still one that will always be worth fighting for.”
An old scar is suddenly itchy, forcing me to remember a time of which I have no recollection. It’s a penny-sized crater, puckered on my right side, kissing my rib cage. My body’s permanent dimple. I mindlessly sweep my fingertips over its edges, wondering if it’ll hurt. It never has. If it ever did, I have no idea. They say “every scar has a story,” no matter how big or small. This forgettable divot is my scar, but it wasn’t my story. About two months before my mom’s due date, it was clear I wouldn’t make it to term if she didn’t have a C-section—and soon. On January 11, 2001, my mom got a call that her procedure was scheduled for the next day. With little time to process, my parents prematurely had a third kid. Their hopes of me being a spring baby were gone, and I wasn’t in the clear yet. I had a rare condition called chylothorax—lymph fluids had accumulated in my chest cavity, making it hard to breathe and creating the potential for lung damage. After being in an incubator, undergoing major surgeries and being hooked up to tubes for ten weeks, the condition healed on its own and I was able to go home with grateful parents, and a new imprint on my body. Calling this my “background” feels fitting for the sheer lack of space it takes up at the forefront of my mind. I can recall the way my life began only through stories I’ve been told. I have the facts, but have to infer the emotions. Where does a story reside when its physical proof and its memory are separated and can never coexist? The way my parents recount my birth is wildly detached from my sense of self. I imagine it feels a bit separate from the way they see me now. But how much did my birth affect the way they treated me? The feeling of dread and unadulterated fear stored in their bodies, puppeteering their perception of the kid they almost lost. Their wound, for which I got the stitches. My parents lived a lot of life before they had kids. I’d like to say that their experiences shape the way I see the world, but I am only affected by the way they choose to relay those moments. Adults should be the all-knowing, omnipotent wizards. But we are all living life for the first time. To think about them going through my birth as young parents, as parents at all, is heartbreaking—a feeling that is more poignant than a memory. We all know what it’s like to hear our inner dialogue—you are your main character, whether or not you conform to the trope of embodying the lead role. And that doesn’t exclude my parents, or
—Isaac Eng, “On Loon Time” 11.05.2021
“Since I traveled alone on most of these trips, I hatched my thoughts while sitting at boarding gates, my little free time combining with an underlying sense of loneliness.” —Holly Zheng, “Thoughts in the Clouds” 11.02.2018
any family for that matter. I have my narratives and they have theirs. My first dog was my mom’s third; my visits to Cleveland throughout the years were my dad’s trips home; I’m temporally part of their lives while they are the entirety of mine ...
LIFEST YLE
spreading kindness on campus easiest ways to brighten someone’s day by Sarah Frank A little kindness can go a long way: A compliment
3. Get to know the campus staffers
here, a favor there, and you brighten someone’s day.
The dining hall, mailroom, and the janitorial
Kindness is easy, and below, you’ll find some simple ways to spread it here at Brown.
staff are all people that every Brown student interacts with but may never take the time to know. Take it from me: I learned the name of every V-Dub worker last year and coming to eat was always like coming home. Jean and Jo always wave hi from behind the taco station; Mo and Alan wave from the grill. Frieda gives me a hug and chats with me about classes. Octavia and Amanda always greet me with a smile and Maria always makes sure I have the food I want.
1. Compliment strangers If you’ve ever had anyone tell you your sweater is cute or your hair looks good, you know the uplifting effect a compliment can have. Try to pay three compliments a day and you’ll notice it makes you feel just as good as if you were receiving them. The other day, I told a girl on the Quiet Green that her Halloween costume was adorable and she looked so happy. It took me only a few seconds to give her an additional boost of confidence. 2. Offer to take people’s pictures Families are always visiting Brown and taking pictures because, well, it’s Brown. There’s usually one family member delegated to taking the photo
4. Send spontaneous texts Every day, I choose one friend to check in on. I’ll send a text like “how are you today?” or “how was your weekend?” Not only does it help me maintain friendships, but it also makes the recipient feel loved and cared for. A week or so ago, I texted a friend I hadn’t spoken
rather than being in it. A couple times a week, I go up to people on the Main Green and ask if they’d like me to take a picture of them all together. Everyone is happy, especially the photographer, and you get to be responsible for
to in a year to wish her a happy birthday. The last text we’d exchanged was her wishing me happy birthday: a little bit ironic, I know. But from there, we struck up a conversation about our college experiences and how our lives have changed and everything in between. A
that family's lasting memory.
simple “Happy Birthday” rekindled a friendship ...
“I have some vegan tendencies but I also have some Catholic ones.” “Does anyone know about any good salads?”
Nouns to Name a Pet 1. Peanut 2. Cardboard 3. Potato 4. Fume hood 5. Mic 6. Asbestos 7. Socks 8. Shoes 9. Goose 10. Toast
ARTS & CULTURE LIFEST YLE
a dream of dance: finding comfort in discomfort
a body in motion and in emotion by Alaire Kanes I dream of dance. Behind my closed lids, loose limbs and flashes of color swirl into a black vortex. I imagine explosions of color and glitter and
a body in flight, but not in motion a reflection on Entanglement by Dawson Phillips by Jacob Gelman illustrated by Connie Liu
bodies being torn apart and sewn back together again. I move through space and time, worlds shifting and energy moving. When I see people dance, I want to weep. I want to flail my extremities and then sob. I crave dance. I shut my eyes and I see my body leaping, shaking, bounding, feeling. A body in motion and in emotion. Waking up means my movement halts and my unbounded emotions freeze. I become clumsy, stagnant, rigid; it’s a pattern that repeats before and after my respite of slumber. I laugh when I’m uncomfortable, giggling in the hopes it distracts from my furious blush and sweaty upper lip—giggling because I’d rather exude exaggerated joy than cry (how morose!). Messy despair can be ugly.
Stepping into a wide square room, I am immediately struck by the monochrome adorning the walls. The room is white, and the air conditioning blasts from the ceiling, sending a preliminary chill
seemingly senseless, nonsensical loops. I wonder if they’re in pain. I approach one of the images, captivated by the repetitive composition; with each print wired together
down my spine. Then a second, and third, on and on, cascading—reverberating—through my body. Around the room, each wall is decorated with a myriad of
to make one large canvas, their pain multiplies—as does my discomfort, so too my captivation. The geese stare at me, their eyes looking into my enthralled ones.
I’ve never been a do-er, but I’ve always wanted to be. To be that idealized version of myself, who jumps
prints, each one displaying a different representation of geese.
I draw my hand to the piece, reaching as if to unwind their entangled necks, and then caress their beak
at every opportunity, rises to every occasion, and creates. Vibrant acrylic paintings, best friends with
A knot forms in my throat as I sympathize with the geese, their necks contorted and knotted into
with a gentle You’ll be okay, but actually stopping just before I make contact. The pain continues ...
the stranger in line at the Ratty, whole new futures through storytelling ...
post–
Want to be involved? Email: kyoko_leaman@brown.edu!
***
November 4, 2022
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2022
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
Brown Dog Lab studies canine cognition, behavior, perception Studies in new lab inform researchers on how dogs respond to humans, environment BY KATHLEEN MEININGER AND ANNA KIM SCIENCE & RESEARCH EDITOR AND SENIOR STAFF WRITER The Brown Dog Lab has studied dog cognition and behavior since its founding in 2020. By recruiting canine research participants around Providence, the lab seeks to understand how dogs respond to their environment and human actions, according to Principal Investigator Daphna Buchsbaum ’02, assistant professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences. Over the past 10 to 15 years, there has been increased interest in studying dogs for both theoretical and practical reasons, Buchsbaum said. Unlike apes, who are evolutionarily related and cognitively similar to humans, dogs are more evolutionarily distant from us, which allows scientists to study how different evolutionary processes shape their behavior. For example, “dogs have been selected to have certain kinds of communicative and social skills that make them particularly good at relating to humans and successfully living among humans,” Buchsbaum said. In research, dogs are also easier to work with because they live with humans and do not need to be housed in a lab, she added. “As humans, I think it’s very natural
for us to ask questions about our own intelligence and about human-like intelligence, but animals are interesting in their own right,” Buchsbaum said. “They can be intelligent in ways that are very different from us and … solve problems that are relevant to us in ways that we can’t necessarily accomplish.” Buchsbaum said she first developed an interest in studying canine cognition during her doctoral studies when she started search and rescue training with her own dog. “I got to see the kinds of cooperation and partnership that you develop when working with dogs,” she said. Buschbaum said that she began to wonder, “What does this look like from the dog’s perspective? What is the dog understanding about these kinds of interactions we’re having? How are they learning and representing these tasks that we’re doing together?” She then began studying canine behavior during her time at the University of Toronto. In 2020, she took up a faculty position at the University and started the Brown Dog Lab as well as the Computational Cognitive Development Lab, which investigates the ways children learn. Both labs “fall under a bigger umbrella of understanding where intelligent behavior comes from,” she said. Buchsbaum defines intelligence as the ability of organisms to use abstract thinking, create cognitive representations and “flexibly solve problems that are new to them or in a variety of domains.” The Dog Lab is currently work-
COURTESY OF DAPHNA BUCHSBAUM
Daphna Buchsbaum ’02, assistant professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences, first developed an interest in studying dog cognition during her doctoral studies. ing on three projects, according to Buchsbaum. The first project investigates “how dogs understand pointing,” said Miriam Ross GS, a cognitive science PhD candidate in the lab. Interestingly, “dogs are generally pretty good at this, and they can learn this as puppies with not a lot of experience. But apes and primates, our closest living relatives, don’t understand pointing.” By evaluating dogs’ responses to pointing, this particular project seeks to learn the “differences between dogs in different cultures in different countries,” Ross said. Another project uses Zoom as a medium, working with dog owners to investigate dogs’ food preferences. “Basically, we manipulate the order of presentation and the location of different food items and see if dogs go to the food they prefer more or just the closest food,” Lauren Bonner ’24, an undergraduate research assistant at
the Dog Lab, said. One of the lab members will “run a Zoom session with the dog and (the) owner, coaching the owner through how to demonstrate the experiment,” Buchsbaum said. “It’s been going very well.” This method allows dogs who are highly anxious or live far away to participate. The third project utilizes eye tracking goggles to look at how dogs “evaluate their visual environment,” Buchsbaum said. After being trained at home by their owners with a training pair of “little doggy goggles,” dogs come into the lab, where they “have a pair that has eye tracking equipment on it.” These goggles have one camera pointed in at the dog’s eye and another pointed out at the broader world, allowing researchers to track dog attention, she said. The Brown Dog Lab is the first lab to use this 3D tracking in the real world, Buchsbaum said. To participate in Dog Lab studies,
dogs must be up to date on their rabies vaccinations and cannot have a bite history or aggression history with humans, Buchsbaum said. Other than that, “we’re pretty much open to any dog.” Participants “get an appointment and (they) come in with (their) dog for about half an hour to an hour and (they) essentially just play a game with them,” Ross said. “It’s a study, but the priority is the dogs have fun. They get a lot of food or they get to play with toys.” “We don’t pay people for coming in, but we give them a little certificate of their dog and it goes from being a freshman all the way to getting a PhD,” she said. In the future, the lab hopes to study canine social interaction by combining eye tracking work with previous work it has done on social reasoning. This will help researchers understand how dogs attend to their human partners, Buchsbaum said.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2022
GROCERIES FROM PAGE 1 “There are certain things that I can get here that I can’t get anywhere else,” she said. “Natural (products) like lavender, vegan or gluten free things — that’s what I’m interested in.” Mathieu Greco ’26, a photo editor for The Herald who got up at 7 a.m. for the grand opening, said he has “never woken up this early before.” Greco said he “lived one minute away from Trader Joe’s” in his hometown and visited almost every day. “When I heard about this one opening, I was very excited,” he said,
HILLEL FROM PAGE 1 vestigate this incident and complete an arrest,” wrote University Spokes-
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adding that he is looking forward to the store’s grocery selection and the friendliness of staff. Ward 1 Councilman John Goncalves ’13 MA’15 was among the shoppers at the grand opening. Goncalves welcomed the new grocery store to Fox Point in a press release Thursday morning. “We’re so thrilled and excited to welcome Trader Joe’s to the neighborhood,” Goncalves said in the press release. “Residents from near and far are enthusiastic about the grand opening of another grocer that will offer fresh produce and organic foods to the Capital City and beyond.”
Trader Joe’s opened in Fox Point at 8 a.m. Thursday to a line of community members, including many students from the University.
person Brian Clark in an email to The Herald. “While we hope this offers some level of reassurance, it remains deeply distressing that members of
the Jewish community on campus, and in places well beyond, continue to face antisemitic acts like this, which should have no place in any
ROCKY MATTOS-CANEDO / HERALD
community.” Bolton concluded the email by writing that he “look(s) forward to shifting our attention to the contin-
ued and important work of shaping a diverse, vital, engaged, bold (and) creative Jewish community on College Hill!”
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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2022
UNIVERSITY NEWS
Watson panel compares humanitarian responses in Syria, Ukraine Visiting scholars reflect on aid, impacts, futures of two humanitarian crises BY ISHITAA GUPTA SENIOR STAFF WRITER On Thursday, the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs’s Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies hosted a visiting scholars panel that discussed key issues facing humanitarian crises in contemporary politics, specifically in Syria and Ukraine. The event was a part of the CHRHS’s Visiting Scholars Program, which aims to “bring academia and practitioners together to create a space where meaningful dialogue can go on,” according to Alexandria Nylen, research associate at the CHRHS and the event’s moderator. The event began with CHRHS Visiting Scholar Chiara Romano Bosch outlining the unique aspects of the humanitarian situation in Ukraine. Bosch provides technical oversight and first wave surge support at the United Nations World Food Programme, the world’s largest humanitarian organization that uses food assistance as a means of supporting people recovering from conflict and disasters across the globe. Bosch spoke about how not having a WFP Ukraine office created unique challenges for the organization, which forced them to operate out of Poland in the early days. “The first question we had to look into was to find out what do people need and how do we help them,” she said. “But
how do we do that when everybody’s moving?” Bosch said that the constant mobility of Ukrainians, due to the crisis, caused the organization to adapt its response daily. Currently, WFP is prioritizing ways to implement humanitarian programs in Ukraine that local actors can carry on once WFP leaves the country. Visiting Scholar Armany Qaddour, regional director of the nonprofit organization Syria Relief and Development, noted that there was a different and more short-sighted humanitarian response in Syria. She provided a brief history of the Syrian crisis surrounding human rights violations, emphasizing “the repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure … health facilities, schools (and) marketplaces.” Qaddour went on to say that the conflict in Syria is recognized as a non-international conflict, unlike what is happening in Ukraine. As a result, it has different applicable humanitarian policies and human rights laws that make navigating international accountability more complicated, she said. The panel then moved on to a moderated question-and-answer session, where Bosch and Qaddour considered the similarities and differences between the two conflicts. A key difference, according to Bosch, is the rapid speed with which people in Ukraine were displaced. The crisis in Syria didn’t have “a very institutionalized response,” Qaddour said. Because local actors in Syria were directly involved with the conflict, there was a lagging response and “access issues” to civilian aid. Bosch and Qaddour also spoke about
ISHITAA GUPTA / HERALD
The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs hosted visiting scholars Chiara Romana Bosch and Armany Qaddour through its Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies program. the shifting allocation of international resources from Syria to Ukraine when the conflict in Ukraine first began. An indirect consequence of the Ukraine conflict, according to Qaddour, was the reallocation of funding and senior-level humanitarian experts from Syria to Ukraine. Qaddour added that modern desensitization to global conflicts has led to resources being shifted to other conflicts as opposed to expanding resources altogether. When more crises arise, international groups must come to terms with their capacities of aid, Qaddour added. “I think that (shift is) the reality with any humanitarian response,” she added,
explaining that this is not a new situation with conflict in Syria and Ukraine. Bosch then outlined potential impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war, specifically in relation to food insecurity. Due to the conflict, Ukraine has been unable to sufficiently export its global resources, she added. “There will also be a trickle-down effect from Ukrain(ian) (exports) … (and there is also) the loss of wheat, grain, oil and fertilizer from Russia,” Bosch added. “This will cause massive problems in the Middle East, Northern Africa and is also going to impact inflation all over Europe.” The panel concluded with audience
questions and a further discussion of the difficulties facing humanitarian organizations as they continue to decide how to allocate resources between different conflicts. Attendee Nader Maarouf ’23, who said he has been following the crisis in Syria closely, was most interested in learning about how the conflict in Syria is directly related to the war going on in Ukraine. Maarouf said that he learned the most from the question-and-answer portion of the event. Bosch and Qaddour’s “work is just so inspiring and admirable,” he said, especially because of “how they risk their lives for it.”
OVER THE GARDEN WALL
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My dearest beloved, Isosceles? Scalene? Equilateral? I could not possibly triangulate my unbound love for you. Has the estate held up since I left for business in London? When you look out the window, do the ripe plum trees still greet you in the mornings with their sweet aroma? And how about our son, Eugene? I wish him nothing but the best as he embarks on his journey to that quiet liberal arts college in Cambridge. With love, Yours Truly