Friday, October 22nd, 2021 by The Brown Daily Herald

SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2021

VOLUME CLVI, ISSUE XXIX

BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Students protest conditions faced by BDS

Staff retirement plans offer limited sustainable options

Protest led by Better Brown Now calls on administration, Corporation to improve

Investments in fossil fuel companies, lack of portfolio transparency raise faculty concerns

BY PETER SWOPE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

BY BRENDAN GARDNER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Student protestors on Thursday evening focused on a single unifying question: “Does Brown care?” to which they chanted a resounding “No!” Further calls of “CPax, can you hear us,” “overworked, understaffed” and “Say it loud, say it clear, we want fair wages here,” echoed across the Main Green, down Brown Street and onto Power Street as a large crowd marched to Gardner Jackson Park, across the street from upscale Italian restaurant Bacaro where Corporation members were believed to be meeting. The protestors were participating in a sit-in organized by the student group Better Brown Now, which is among various student organizations calling for action from President Christina Paxson P’19, the University administration and the Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — in response to an Oct. 3 Herald article detailing poor working condi-

PETER SWOPE / HERALD

Students gathered outside of Friedman Hall Thursday to protest poor BDS working conditions. The group later marched to Bacaro. tions faced by Brown Dining Services employees. The sit-in began around 5:30 p.m. outside of Friedman Hall, where a crowd of sign-carrying students packed together and chanted their demands of the University. The goal of the protest was to capture the attention of Corporation members, whom the organizers had learned were meeting inside of Friedman. The few Corporation members who walked past the protestors were met with a shower of boos; others entered Friedman through the side door, according to the event organizers. Not long after the Corporation meeting was scheduled to begin at

6 p.m., the organizers told the crowd that Corporation members were gathering at Bacaro, located about a half mile away on South Water Street. The Better Brown Now organizers partnered with the leaders of #DoesBrownCare, a coalition of 18 student groups led by Brown Democrats to head the march to Bacaro. The crowd walked from Friedman to Bacaro, echoing chants ranging from “All across Providence, fair wages for all of us” to “Treat them fairly” to “Whose pockets are you lining, pay your dining?” to “CPax: Resign.” The crowd ultimately assembled

SEE PROTEST PAGE 8

The University’s retirement benefits for faculty and staff are tied to corporations involved in the extraction of fossil fuels, including Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Enbridge. The current selection of benefits requires employees to choose between investments of subpar sustainability and a stable retirement, faculty members interviewed by The Herald said. All funds with available environmental, social and governance scores (a numerical score that reflects performance on various environmental, social and governance issues) have either average or below average scores. Thus, employees are limited in their ability to select reliably sustainable retirement funds, three faculty members said. Employees use University contributions to access a number of re-

tirement funds, mostly mutual funds, offered through Fidelity and Teacher Insurance and Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund. The University is responsible for determining which carriers to work with and which funds to offer. Even the TIAA CREF Social Choice Account, which the University presents as a sustainable option, contains investments in Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Enbridge, which is responsible for the controversial Line 3 oil pipeline expansion opposed by Indigenous water protectors and environmental activists. The University is in the process of selling off its direct investments and managed funds that are involved in fossil fuel-based companies, The Herald previously reported. In a March 4, 2020, community-wide announcement, President Christina Paxson P’19 wrote that the University’s investment practices must be shaped by “the growing recognition that the world must transition away from coal, oil and gas.” She announced a halt on new investments in fossil fuel companies “unless and until they make significant progress in converting themselves into providers of sustainable energy” and shared that the University had sold off 90% of its

SEE RETIREMENT PAGE 4

UNIVERSITY NEWS

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

U. sells Hoppin House on Benefit Street for $2 million

U. study receives $4.9 million CDC grant

Property sold for $2 million to be converted into luxury apartment building

BY WILL KUBZANSKY SENIOR STAFF WRITER The University sold Hoppin House, a mansion located on Benefit Street which sits on the National Register of Historic Places, for $2 million on Sept. 30, according to the Real Estate and Auxiliary Housing Office. Standing three stories tall with 32 parking spots, the historic property — once home to the “richest woman in America” and, until recently, the Annenberg Institute — will become a luxury apartment building with six to eight units, said Rebecca Mayer, the agent for the buyers, Michael Holt Massey and his wife Sandra Ourusoff Massey. Construction and design on the apartments has begun and will likely wrap up in the next 12 to 18 months.

According to unreleased materials about the zoning change on the property, provided to The Herald by Michael Holt Massey, the renovations will take place within the “existing footprint” of the building and only make “minor exterior changes and necessary repairs” to the outside. Apartment prices, Mayer said, will be set in the luxury range of the market. “The building itself is, from a campus perspective, in no-man’s land. It’s not in the Jewelry District or College Hill,” said John Luipold, vice president of real estate and strategic initiatives. After the Annenberg Institute moved in early 2019, the University found no short- or long-term use for the building, leading President Christina Paxson P’19 and the Corporation to approve putting the property on the market three years ago. The property came close to selling before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but uncertain economic winds led the buyer to back out, Luipold said.

SEE HOPPIN PAGE 2

Study to track antibody levels in nursing home populations over time after COVID-19 vaccine BY KATHLEEN MEININGER SENIOR STAFF WRITER University researchers received a $4.9 million grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine in protecting the nursing home population. “COVID has been a massive public health crisis within the nursing homes. Nursing home staff and residents have accounted for about 40% of all COVID deaths in the U.S.,” said Co-Director of the study, Assistant Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice Elizabeth White. White added that although the CDC has shown that the Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines have high success rates during their clinical trials, these trials “largely excluded” the nursing

Sports

Commentary

University News

Men’s basketball looks to compete for Ivy League Championship in 2021-22 Page 5

Barboza: Brown cares deeply about our dining services and workers Page 7

Sylvia Carey-Butler reflects on role as VP of Institutional Equity and Diversity Page 11

ASHLEY CHOI / HERALD

home population — made up mostly of elderly individuals with comorbidities. “We don’t know the actual effectiveness of the vaccine in” the nursing home population, said Eleftherios Mylonakis, an MD professor of infectious disease whose lab is involved

in processing the data for this study. “Combined with the disproportionate effect (COVID-19) has had on this population, this study is very important.” The prospective study will track the immunity of nursing home residents to COVID-19 over the course of

SEE GRANT PAGE 11

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2021

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Watson Institute honors legacy of former U. President Vartan Gregorian Faculty remembers 16th president’s commitment to diversification BY CHARLIE CLYNES CONTRIBUTING WRITER Vartan Gregorian, Brown’s 16th president and former president of the Carnegie Corporation, passed away last April and was honored in a virtual event yesterday for his commitment to diversity, peace and equal opportunity. “Fostering a More Just and Peaceful World — Vartan Gregorian and His Legacies at the Watson Institute” featured a faculty panel that celebrated Gregorian’s impact in the field of public and international affairs. Gregorian was the first immigrant to serve as the president of Brown. During his tenure from 1989 to 1997, he oversaw a period of diversification and internationalization within the University that expanded Brown’s role as a global institution and saw the founding of a number of new departments. James Head, professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences, described how Gregorian “radically changed Brown” from “a pretty homogenous, basic American” university to a diverse and multicultural community by spearheading initiatives to attract international students.

HOPPIN FROM PAGE 1

CHARLIE CLYNES / HERALD

Prior to his presidency, Gregorian worked to revitalize the New York Public Library system, restoring what Director of the Watson Institute Edward Steinfeld called a “crucial institution of social mobility.” “All those flags you see flying at graduation — that is Vartan Gregorian’s legacy,” said Head. “That was so enriching for students from elsewhere, but also for students from America.” Gregorian was always willing to help support students, even when it came out of his own pocket. When he heard that a small group of Brown students was unable to afford three meals a day, “he gave me access to his personal credit card, and weekly I would invite five or six students for meals at home,” said Lina Fruzzetti, professor of anthropology and a friend

While the University had hoped for “close to two-and-a-half (million dollars),” the price dropped in part due to the challenges of converting the building — which the University used for office space — into a residence. Still, the $2 million price tag is “one of the larger” property sales the University has ever made, Luipold added. The process of selling to the Masseys took roughly half a year, Mayer and Luipold said. Part of that was an extensive 120-day period to investigate the property, according to Luipold. Mayer said the Masseys also successfully applied for a zoning change to convert the former office space into a multi-family residence. That entailed a lengthy process to change the building’s zoning ordinance to an R-4 Residential District, which “accommodates higher-density residential development.” The University “participated and cooperated in important ways” to assist with that process as the owners of record at the time, Mayer said. She added that the Masseys also engaged neighborhood residents to allay concerns about how the change would impact the area, which includes the Providence Mile of History. Following a presentation from the project’s architect, JP Couture, the Providence Preservation Society wrote a letter of endorsement for the zoning change, Michael Holt Massey wrote in an email to The Herald. The Providence City Council later unanimously approved the change, he said. Advocating to transition an “aban-

time to complete the rezoning process, we were pleased that it went so smoothly,” he wrote. The zoning change, Mayer speculated, will not automatically set a precedent for multi-family zoning for other houses on Benefit Street. “Changing the zoning on that property doesn’t change or improve the ability of someone else to do the same on a property that may or may not have the same merits or qualify in the same way this property does,” she said, noting the extensive footprint of the building at 16,536 square feet, and the lot at 35,463 square feet. “When it comes to development and change, dramatic changes to a neighborhood often aren’t the best thing for it,” she said. “But I happen to feel that Benefit Street and Providence are extraordinarily lucky to have captured (Michael Holt) Massey’s attention. He’s putting the property back on its feet and holding on to his portfolio. There’s not many developers who take that approach.” According to Mayer, the Masseys have experience in buying historically significant properties and renovating them in Newport and in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston. They plan to hold on to the property, and rent out the apartments, she said. Michael Holt Massey added in his email to The Herald that the building will be the couple’s second on the National Register of Historic Places. “We consider ourselves lucky to have the opportunity to restore this landmark architectural gem,” he wrote. “Although the expense of first-class

doned institutional building that paid no taxes” into a “boutique luxury building” on the city’s tax rolls proved an easy sell for the couple’s zoning attorney, Patrick Dougherty, according to Michael Holt Massey. “Although it took a fair amount of

renovations will limit the initial profitability, we expect that, years from now, our children will inherit a good (investment).” “We’re very careful about who we sell our real estate to,” Luipold said, noting that the University often sells

of Gregorian. “They did not know about his contribution, and he wanted it that way.” Before arriving at Brown, Gregorian headed the New York Public Library system, assuming office at a time of dire financial need for the organization. Gregorian succeeded in raising hundreds of millions of dollars over his eight-year term and largely revitalized New York City’s aging libraries. “Such a powerful and positive memory of me from the 1980s was my parents’ reaction to witnessing the phoenix-like transformation of

the New York Public Library system achieved under Vartan Gregorian’s leadership,” said Edward Steinfeld, director of the Watson Institute. “To see such a crucial institution of social mobility resurrected — and then made available to the next generation of children of immigrants and newcomers — was so powerful to anybody and everybody who witnessed it,” he added. Professor of International and Public Affairs and Political Science Margaret Weir, whose research focuses on spatial inequality in American metropolitan areas, echoed the importance of

Gregorian’s work in the library system. Much of Weir’s research focuses on the effects of a lack of federal public assistance on the local level, which “provides for a sector that shields the affluent” while doing “little in the way of equalization.” “There are a few bright spots,” said Weir. “In my research, one of the things that I’ve seen is that even in poorer cities and suburbs that don’t have robust public sectors, libraries have stepped up to play a role far beyond that of book providers.” Multiple professors in the Watson Institute emphasized Gregorian’s continuing legacy in the department. “Vartan Gregorian was, as his friends remember him, a fierce advocate for peace,” said Reid Pauly, assistant professor for nuclear security and policy and political science. Pauly cited Gregorian’s “deep historical understanding that taught him to have an empathy for the interests of all states yet an optimism that those interests could be managed when they clashed.” Head described Gregorian as friendly and witty. He recounts a time that his wife, then a master’s student at RISD, was walking across the Green during freshman orientation. “This short, burly guy rushed up and hugged her, and said, ‘Welcome to Brown!’ And of course it was Vartan out there, welcoming the freshman class.” “He holds a special place,” said Vinnetti. “And only he can fill it.”

BEN POLLARD / HERALD

Hoppin House, the historic mansion on Benefit Street which was sold Sept. 30 for $2 million, will be turned into a luxury apartment building. It was sold to Michael Holt Massey and Sandra Ourusoff Massey. residential properties. “When we put a ‘for sale’ sign on a piece of real estate, we want to be sure this person is going to be a good steward of this property.” Hoppin House’s place on the National Register of Historic Places and the historic nature of Benefit Street, he added, only brought those concerns to the fore. “I’ve been getting a lot of inquiries,” she added. “There does appear to be a huge demand for beautiful housing on the East Side for people who aren’t interested in purchasing but are looking for really nice rental options.”

artist Thomas Frederic Hoppin and his wife, Anna Almy Jenkins, was built in 1853. Hoppin and Jenkins earned a reputation for hosting social events, leading the house to be dubbed “The House of a Thousand Candles” for its luminescent appearance inside and outside when the couple served as hosts. After Hoppin’s death, tenants included former Rhode Island Gov. George Wetmore, and at one point, President Rutherford B. Hayes was entertained in the house. An architectural firm occupied the property for another six decades from

Director of the Annenberg Institute Susanna Loeb said that the move was part of a broader aim to embed the Annenberg Institute more fully in the University and make it more geographically accessible to students in order to increase engagement. “We’re about as central as you can be,” Loeb said of the new location. While Loeb did not lead the Annenberg Institute while it was in Hoppin House, she said that the building likely would have needed renovations to remain usable. And, she said, the Annenberg Institute is benefitting from

The unreleased materials add that the project is focused on creating a “truly special environment for discerning residents and not simply filling the building with tenants.” According to materials from the University, the mansion, designed for

1920 on, before the University bought it in 1990. It then served as headquarters for the Office of Development, later as the home of the Office of Admissions and then as headquarters for the Annenberg Institute before it moved to 164 Angell St.

a more modern office space. “You see the old buildings on campus that have character, that’s a really nice aspect,” she said. “But for collaborating internally and bringing people in from around campus, (the Annenberg Institute) is in a great space right now.”

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2021

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

SPORTS

Men’s basketball team returns to the court for 2021-22 season Veteran players Choh, Gainey, Mitchell lead roster poised to contend for Ivy title BY GABRIELLA SARTORI SENIOR STAFF WRITER The men’s basketball team has not stepped on the court for official competition since March 7, 2020. They will finally return in just over two weeks to compete for their first Ivy League men’s basketball tournament bid. On Nov. 9, the team is set to host Salve Regina University to tip off the 202122 season. The Bears were ranked fifth in the Ivy League preseason rankings, but they hope to outperform these projections and finish top four in the conference to earn a spot in the Ivy League Tournament. In his ninth season as head coach, Mike Martin ’04 is confident his team can achieve its goals. “Our players have been preparing for this season since we last played,” Martin said. “They have worked hard on their individual skills, their strength and conditioning, and have all grown as young men. Since September, when our group first came back together, they have been working really hard together to continue individual improvement and to come together as a team. I’m very excited to see how we continue to grow.” Forward and co-captain Tamenang Choh GS will be one of the veteran captains leading the Bears’ squad. The Brown offense will lean on Choh, a two time all-Ivy selection who averaged 13.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and

COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS

Bruno’s men’s basketball team will return to the court to play against Salve Regina on Nov. 9. 3.3 assists in 2019-20. Choh returned to Brown for his fifth and final year, taking advantage of the COVID-19 waiver awarded by the Ivy League allowing graduate students to compete if they lost a year of playing eligibility to the pandemic. “A lot went into the decision, but I’m here to get a banner,” Choh said. “We’re on the right track so far, getting better and knowing our systems everyday. I’m confident in this team and this coaching staff to do just that.” Alongside Choh is co-captain and guard David Mitchell ’22, who is also heading into his last season at Brown. The senior is optimistic and ready to make an impact for the Bears. “We ex-

pect to be a winning team, especially with our depth,” Mitchell said. “We want tobe the best team that’s ever put on a Brown uniform and I think we have the people to do it. We just gotta go out there and continue to execute and put the pieces together.” Mitchell was a key contributor on the glass in 2019-20, posting 5.2 rebounds per game in just 20.1 minutes per contest, and he will look to continue those efforts in an expanded role this season. Reigning Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year Jaylan Gainey ’22 will complement Choh and Mitchell with his experience, size and impact. The 6’9” forward led the Ivy League

with 2.1 blocks per game in 2019-20 and showed offensive prowess, with 69% shooting accuracy. Rounding out the expected key contributors for Brown this season will be Dan Friday ’24, Perry Cowan ’23 and Paxton Wojcik ’23. Friday and Cowan saw limited playing time as first-years for the Bears in 2019-20 but aim to emerge as team leaders on and off the court. Wojcik, a guard transferring in from Loyola University Chicago, will bring critical postseason experience to the Bears’ front court. In 2020-21, he saw action in 15 games for the Ramblers, who advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16, upending first-seeded University of

Illinois Urbana-Champaign along the way. Wojcik shot 50% from the field and 40% from beyond the arc in the 2020-21 campaign. The Bears played an intrasquad scrimmage open to the public Saturday Oct. 16, the first time the team played in front of fans in the Pizzitola Sports Center court since the 2019-20 season. Associate Head Coach T.J. Sorrentine explained just how excited the team is for the opportunity to return. “They only have a certain time as players, and it brings a smile to my face just to see the guys back out there enjoying themselves,” Sorrentine said. “It’s been so long and we are so excited for this group.” Starting with Salve Regina, Brown faces a challenging non-conference schedule this season. Bruno will face powerhouses such as No. 19 University of North Carolina and No. 21 University of Maryland. Additionally, Brown will be competing in the prestigious Paradise Jam Tournament at the University of the Virgin Islands in November. Martin is excited for the demanding non-conference schedule and the opportunity to take on some of the top teams in the nation. “Our non-conference schedule is very challenging but also will be key in our team’s development as we ready for Ivy play in January,” Martin said. “The team appreciates the opportunity they have in front of them and are looking to continue to advance our program forward.“ In order to have the most success possible this season, Coach Martin leaves his team with one simple goal: “Leave the Brown jersey better than they found it.”

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2021

RETIREMENT FROM PAGE 1 fossil fuel investments since it began liquidating these funds in October 2017. Unlike the endowment investments, which are held by the University, employees’ retirement funds are held individually and purchased with University support. But the University still decides which carriers to do business with, and through its retirement offerings, faculty say, continues to indirectly support fossil fuel companies. Kimberly Almeida, director of University benefits operations, wrote in an email to The Herald that there are many ways employees can choose sustainable investments. “In any defined contribution retirement plan, it is the responsibility of participants to select their own investments in the manner which they believe is in their best interest,” she wrote. Almeida cited the TIAA Social Choice fund as an example of a sustainable option for employees. “ESG scores, among several other factors, were considered as part of the selection process,” she wrote. Faculty concerns Still, multiple faculty members expressed concerns about the sustainability of their investment options. Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology J. Timmons Roberts first became concerned about the environmental sustainability of University-provided benefits “decades ago,” he wrote in an email to The Herald. The portfolios “support fossil fuel corporations and other major companies which are obstructing adequate actions on climate change,” he wrote. When asked if he thought the University currently provides employees with adequate access to reliably sustainable portfolios, Roberts wrote, “NO. The Fidelity plans include ZERO socially responsible portfolio choices.” He recommended that the University add an additional company, such as Parnassus Investments, which takes ESG scores into account when compiling its funds. Roberts added that there are larger obstacles that need change. “Transparency is a huge barrier,” he wrote. “We need indices or disclosures on the fossil fuel content of our retirement choices.” Adjunct Lecturer in Environment and Society Cary Krosinsky, who teaches a recurring class on sustainable investment, agreed that there are larger

systemic issues at play. “I’m not mad at Brown at all,” Krosinsky said. “It’s just a situation that we find ourselves in.” TIAA is “really not changing the world with their Social Choice (fund),” he added. “I’ve long been concerned about that.” The history of the Social Choice fund, Krosinsky said, may help to explain why it’s involved with what he called “dodgy companies.” He said that the shortcomings of the current ESG metric allowed TIAA to effectively greenwash, or promote as environmentally friendly on the surface, the Social Choice fund. “It was intended to be a low-cost ‘ESG’ fund, but without really any attempt to connect investment dollars with impacts,” he said. “It’s just taking some negative data on companies and screening out a small handful” of the most egregious companies, he added. “You don’t get much impact if that’s all you do. The fact that a fund like that might end up with a few companies that make you scratch your head is an indication of a suboptimal scenario.” E-Soo Kim, a member of the corporate communications team at Nuveen, which is a global investment manager of TIAA, wrote in an email to The Herald that in selecting companies to include in the Social Choice fund, TIAA “favors” companies with higher ESG performance relative to the rest of their respective industries. Companies included in TIAA’s portfolios, such as Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Enbridge, Kim added, have made steps toward decarbonization and reduction of emissions. Some “industries that are labeled generically as ‘ESG unfriendly,’” Kim wrote, “may be an important part of holistic, market-wide transformation and achieving at-scale environmental and social outcomes.” Krosinsky agreed that the sustainability of a fund cannot necessarily be determined by its specific holdings. “In theory, you could own companies to try to help them change for the better,” he said. But the actions of the companies in the Social Choice fund, he said, are “reasonable evidence that there might be a problem,” and that the investments carriers do not seem to be pushing for greater sustainability. Kim noted that Chevron “recently committed to net-zero operational emissions by 2050” and that she does

TRACY PAN / HERALD

Faculty expressed concerns about the environmental sustainability of their retirement investment options. not “believe this progress would have been made without the active, ESG-focused ownership of Nuveen and other shareholders.” Challenges of choosing more sustainable investments When asked what individual universities could do to improve retirement benefits’ sustainability, Krosinsky said, “You could ask (TIAA) to do better, which they should … or you could look around for alternatives and actually compare them and pick a better option if TIAA-CREF doesn’t do what you want.” Almeida noted that employees could design their own plans on both the Fidelity and TIAA platforms. “Plan participants can access a wider array of socially responsible/ESG funds through the Self Directed Brokerage Account on both the Fidelity and TIAA platforms,” she wrote. “These Self Directed Brokerage Accounts offered essentially allow participants to access the universe of mutual funds,” she wrote. “Participants can select from a wide array of socially responsible/ESG choices to meet their needs, as they choose.” But Krosinsky said that his “experience is that faculty … have no idea how to connect their investments to these issues. They don’t feel like they’re experts in investing, let alone (knowing) how to connect investing to the environment … They care, but they don’t know what to do.” A faculty member with past experience in investment banking and socially responsible investing also raised con-

CA L E N DA R

cerns that building a custom retirement fund is perhaps outside the skill set of the average employee. He asked to remain anonymous due to fear of professional repercussions. “The (Fidelity BrokerageLink option) is for more experienced investors,” he said. “That becomes really, really complicated … if you don’t have (the necessary information).” The faculty member said that he finds the “very, very limited” options offered by the University concerning. “I want a healthy Earth and a healthy environment, but I’m investing in these companies that are ruining it.” Much of the problem, he added, lies with the brokerage firms themselves and the finance industry’s reluctance to include climate change risks in conventional risk assessments. Transparency is also a key concern, the faculty member said. “Some funds will disclose (ESG scores), but the bigger companies, like Fidelity, don’t even include that information,” he said. “There is no data.” Fidelity did not respond to requests for comment. Toward greater transparency and sustainability Ultimately, regulation is necessary to ensure transparency, the faculty member said, as many firms are hesitant about disclosing the ESG scores of their portfolio holdings. “We really need to push to pass legislation requiring full disclosure.” He mentioned the Climate Risk Disclosure Act of 2021, sponsored by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-M.A., and

Rep. Sean Casten, D-I.L., which would require every public company to disclose its greenhouse gas emissions, its fossil-fuel related assets and any risks that climate change may pose to the company. If the bill becomes law, the faculty member wrote in an email to The Herald, “then everyone will see how their retirement savings and investments are impacting climate change.” “For Brown’s retirement accounts, it won’t be pretty,” he wrote, “but hopefully disclosure will encourage more responsible investing by faculty and staff.” The bill passed the House Financial Services Committee in May and is awaiting a vote in the House and Senate. Like Roberts, the faculty member suggested that the University could replace its existing carriers to expand employees’ ability to make sustainable investments. “If we’re not provided (sustainability information) through Fidelity, maybe we should go somewhere else — (somewhere) that’s going to do the research, (somewhere) that’s going to take the time,” he said. He added that he hopes the University will put pressure on the brokerage firms it uses to release more information on sustainability. “Brown University is small … but it could be a great first step to influence other colleges and other universities, other workplaces,” he said. “This is an opportunity to take a step and be a leader in the field,” he said, “to open this dialogue and demand more information, more data.”

COVID -19 AT BROWN LAST 7 DAYS*

OCTOBER S

Completed Tests

People Tested

6,879

6,464

Confirmed Positives

Positivity Rates

0.1 %

9 SINCE AUGUST 24, 2020*

Completed Tests

People Tested

559,856

18,025

Total Cases

Prevalence

806

4.5 %

*AS OF OCT 21.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2021

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | POST- MAGAZINE

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OCT 22 — VOL 28 — ISSUE 5

FEATURE

See Full Issue: ISSUU.COM/POSTMAGAZINEBDH

NARRATIVE

Circle the Drain

washing dishes, healing wounds By danielle emerson CW: abuse Step one: The water needs to be scalding. It needs to hurt when you touch it. Step two: Pour a quartersized glop of dish soap into the sink. Let water run over the cap, so you don’t waste any. Step three: Watch the bubbles rise like clumps of white clouds, until they’re at a comfortable height with the water’s surface. When my father taught me how to wash dishes, he told me to always start with the plates, stacking them at the bottom; then the silverware, slipping them against the sides; and then the cups, turning them sideways with the surface of the water. He said it’s best to do dishes with a washcloth, so you

Parents' Weekend reflections on the parent-child bond, through college & beyond by ellyse givens illustrated by Rémy poisson ig: remyp_art Brown’s annual Family Weekend is an opportunity to give parents “a small taste of the intellectual and cultural vitality of [their] student’s home away from home.” I open my eyes groggily and see my parents sprawled out beside me—it’s Saturday of Brown’s Family Weekend, but I’m not at Brown. I’m on the white duvet of my parents’ hotel room bed, the Omni Providence bathrobe laid atop my legs for warmth. My eyes are puffy from crying—exuding “cultural vitality.” *** In my head, it would be perfect. A clean room, a football game. A bright-eyed, perfectly adjusted college freshman escorting her parents through her

new world. I would have all my homework done; they would be impressed by my time management, my exemplary hospitality skills. They would go home and say that parents’ weekend was perfect, because Ellyse, as always, is perfect. The days before their arrival were meticulously designed. On Thursday night, the night before their arrival, I would get into bed having completed three midterm essays, 10 days in advance of their due dates. Then I would wake, beautiful, on Friday morning, greet my parents with a smile, and present the tenets of my new world. In the days preceding my parents’ arrival, I wrote two paragraphs. My hands shook as I sat longingly in my dorm, yearning for the words, the knowledge to spill out of me. It didn’t. Instead, I squeezed the tiny bumps on my face until they bled. I ate five pears and then a cup of ice cream at 1:45 a.m. I woke Friday a fraction of a human. My face was scarred, my stomach a rock, my sinuses exhausted from the lingering cold coming up on the second month of its stay. Yet I pressed makeup into my eyelids and skipped outside my door to greet my parents. Because I was perfect...

“That’s a good old-fashioned, well-bred American snail...Made in the USA!” “Does your family, like, really *do* gender?” “No, I think they just really do blazers.”

2. Having an Airhead and shutting up 3. Being a bimbo at Brown 4. Running off into the night to scream at the river

those weird soap dispensing dish scrubbers—the refillable ones that break after a week of serious use. Cleaning was important when I was little. Everything had to be spotless; the counters needed to be wiped, the stove scrubbed and sanitized, the pantry and cabinet doors wiped daily. Our living room was vacuumed everyday and dust was never allowed to settle anywhere...

ARTS & CULTURE

A Name with Room to Grow Part Two why I still don’t use a nickname By Magdalena Del Valle “My name is like my hair: Even if I hate it sometimes, it still follows me around. It is all tangled up. One knot made by the m and the a, and another formed by the g and the d. Magdalena. People always remind me what a beautiful name I have. I think it’s horrible. If I had a simpler name it would be easier to introduce myself to other people. I wouldn’t have to say it as quickly as possible, hoping they won’t ask me to repeat it. Although most of the time, they do. To me it sounds like a tongue twister too complicated for them to say. Most of the time, it is. Whenever someone learns my name, they make it sound smoother than it really is. Like turning a square into a circle, cutting away all the edges. It had too many of them anyway... ”

LIFESTYLE

Things to Normalize 1. Avoiding eye contact anytime I walk anywhere

can reach tricky corners in plastic containers and the rounded bottom of mugs. He hated sponges and

6. Being a bimbo period 7. White mysteries 8. Data, through log transformation 9. Crying on the Main Green

Brown "Rice" Purity Test by alexandra herrera

10. Shazaming songs to fit in with your friends

5. Being on the edge of glory and hanging on a moment of truth

post–

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

October 22, 2021

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2021

McGough ’23: To get transit rolling, get rid of cars Only a few American cities sport a metro system worth writing home about. Any outsider who has ridden the train to get around Chicago, Boston or Washington, D.C. will attest that the experience is charming, somehow evocative of both a rustic yesteryear before cars and a soon-attainable urban future. Many leave wondering when their hometowns will get to enjoy

completion, the car became so indispensable that we had to rebuild our communities to accommodate them: Suburbs sprouted up off expressways and parking lots popped up off turnpikes. Cars were soon everyday essentials, required for most basic chores. Streetcar tracks were ripped up or paved over, and it seemed the United States had turned its back on mass

to transit in droves. To expand mass transit, cities have recently attempted to neutralize the political threat drivers pose by building around them. Rather than putting transit back on the streets like the days of yore, planners have opted to avoid removing car lanes, instead buying expensive right-of-way elsewhere, frequently far from

cities nationwide, like Minneapolis and San Francisco, have already taken these baby steps and demonstrated their effectiveness. Another trick would be to make driving more expensive through taxation and then funnel the revenues to transit expansion. It may seem punitive to tax cars and gas to fund transit, but the current transportation system

the simple pleasures of mass transit. From countering climate change to lowering barriers for low-income people, the benefits of having modernized, convenient and comprehensive mass transit systems are well-known. Despite the United States’ longstanding car culture, 77% of Americans agree that the country would benefit from expanded public transit systems. Even when voters learn that their taxes may increase, 57% still agree that it’s time to expand transit options. Given the well-understood benefits and broad support for public transit, why have we failed as a country to build efficient and quality mass transit in every American city? Dysfunctional legislatures, austerity politics and corporate lobbying may be accomplices, but the true culprits are even more widespread in the United States: cars. To get transit rolling, we must get drivers off the roads. Once upon a time, any American city worth its salt had a streetcar mass transit system, running in public rights-of-way (designated public property for transportation) and crisscrossing neighborhoods at street level. Without cars, these urban railroad systems were the primary force that shaped patterns of living in the metropolis. Only the busiest cities, where streets were clogged by pedestrians and carriages, developed true, grade-separated metro systems — that is, subways and elevated rail. In the years to come, only those systems would survive. When they were first introduced in the late 1800s, cars were novelties for the super rich, replacing horse-drawn carriages but by no means revolutionizing urban transportation. It was not until 1908 that the Ford Model T was introduced at a low-enough price point to entice middle-income commuters. Almost instantly, America’s early streetcar transit systems began to decay. Gradually, driving became more popular, sucking up potential streetcar riders and demanding ever-more-ample space to combat ever-more-headache-inducing car traffic. The building of the Interstate Highway System was the final nail in the coffin for early American public transit. With the system’s

transit in favor of the seemingly utopian family

where people actually live. When transit au-

is already heavily biased in favor of driving. We spend nearly $200 billion on roads annually just to make driving possible. On top of that, cars cost us billions in climate and health impacts every year. Increasing gas and vehicle taxes would actually balance these costs and push people toward healthier and more sustainable transit systems. Taxing new vehicles, enforcing tolls, charging for street parking and increasing the gas tax are all options in this vein. Another strategy, freeway removal, has already seen exceptional domestic success. Amid the freeway frenzies of preceding decades, miles of unnecessary and later-underutilized urban highways were constructed, cutting up large communities for the convenience of comparatively few commuters. Cities like Milwaukee and Rochester have already realized their mistakes and chosen to dig up highways. Plenty more, seeing their successes, are preparing to follow suit. Cities should also take steps to return their streets to transit and pedestrians. Instead of trying to avoid removing parking or driving lanes, transit planners should prioritize reducing vehicle capacity while planning projects and in turn, ensure their projects succeed. Planners should narrow streets with more than two lanes in either direction and add sidewalks and bike lanes. It’s time for political leaders to start building for the transportation system we need, not planning around the broken system we have. Americans broadly agree it is time to pivot toward a system that expands transit, and that requires not only building new infrastructure, but also unbuilding car-centric infrastructure. Once leaders accept the zero-sum reality of transportation, we will begin the transition to the mass transit systems we deserve.

“Developing a functional transportation system cannot just be about encouraging public transit, but it must also be about discouraging driving.”

roadster. Meanwhile, drivers became key political stakeholders, advancing their interests at the local and state level. Fast forward half a century, and cities are still paying the price of the loss of streetcars. Put bluntly, we killed American mass transit in favor of polluting liabilities on wheels, but the bleeding didn’t stop there. Politicians also happily traded away control of streets to a new, uncompromising constituency: drivers. Today, as cities search for space and money to expand transit options, unyielding motorists with decades of car culture at their backs regularly stonewall these efforts. They often force cities to scrap, or at the very least radically alter, common-sense transit solutions to maintain cars’ dominance. Transportation is a zero-sum game — every trip can only be taken once. For this reason, developing a functional transportation system cannot just be about encouraging public transit, but it must also be about discouraging driving. When we exclusively focus our efforts on building transit that avoids inconveniencing drivers, we are not actually shifting rides toward transit, but just putting a band-aid on a broken system. A better future for transit is possible, and the first step is to make driving harder. Once driving is sufficiently difficult, people will demand new options and migrate

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thorities do develop in established corridors, they are often forced to bridge over or tunnel under streets at high expense, budgeting for a few expensive projects over many cheap ones. Insisting on expensive new corridors or grade separations limites options and ultimately misses the point: Transit thrives when driving is miserable, so planners should commit little energy to protecting drivers. This dynamic is visible in the United States today if you know where to look. Cities with notoriously awful driving commutes, like Washington D.C. and New York, have the nation’s most developed transit systems. That said, most American cities do not enjoy the natural density that makes driving a chore and grade separation feasible. To support great transit systems, cities must move to actively worsen conditions for drivers to push them onto transit. American transit will not succeed so long as driving is the easy default. Getting started will not be hard. After decades of car dominance, most aspects of our lives depends on car travel, so there are plenty of small steps we can take to make driving harder. Small things, like banning new drivethrus and gas stations near transit corridors, as well as repealing ordinances that mandate minimum parking allotments for new developments, are smart first steps. Urban-minded

Jackson McGough ’23 can be reached at jackson_mcgough@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and other op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

Submissions: The Brown Daily Herald publishes submissions in the form of op-eds and letters to the editor. Op-eds are typically between 750 and 1000 words, though we will consider submissions between 500 and 1200 words. Letters to the editor should be around 250 words. While letters to the editor respond to an article or column that has appeared in The Herald, op-eds usually prompt new discussions on campus or frame new arguments about current discourse. All submissions to The Herald cannot have been previously published elsewhere (in print or online — including personal blogs and social media), and they must be exclusive to The Herald. Submissions must include no more than two individual authors. If there are more than two original authors, The Herald can acknowledge the authors in a statement at the end of the letter or op-ed, but the byline can only include up to two names. The Herald will not publish submissions authored by groups. The Herald does not publish anonymous submissions. If you feel your circumstances prevent you from submitting an op-ed or letter with your name, please email herald@browndailyherald.com to explain your situation. You can submit op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com and letters to letters@browndailyherald. com. When you email your submission, please include (1) your full name, (2) an evening or mobile phone number in case your submission is chosen for publication and (3) any affiliation with Brown University or any institution or organization relevant to the content of your submission. Please send in submissions at least 24 hours in advance of your desired publication date. The Herald only publishes submissions while it is in print. The Herald reserves the right to edit all submissions. If your piece is considered for publication, an editor will contact you to discuss potential changes to your submission. Commentary: The editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only. Corrections: The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Postmaster: Please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906. Advertising: The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2021

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

Simon ’25: TikTok celebrates the radically mundane lives of teenage girls It’s the end of a long day and I’ve collapsed on my bed. My sneakers and a backpack full of readings lay limp on the floor. Or maybe it’s a little past noon and I’m idling on the Main Green checking my phone between lectures. Either way, my fingers find themselves twitching toward TikTok, a familiar compulsion. I open the app and see a girl showing off her collection of pastel highlighters and Mildliner pens. I scroll. Another girl is styling a pair of flared jeans three different ways. I scroll again, and they keep coming: a hack for folding your hair into a claw clip, a compilation of a week’s worth of “hot girl walks,” someone testing out Emily Mariko’s latest recipe. The videos blur one into the next, and create a smeared semblance of girlhood, womanhood or something in between. I can’t explain why I find these videos, dozens of little snippets of disparate lives, so compelling. It likely has something to do with the addictive properties of social media altering my brain chemistry, but there’s something more to it. It’s comforting, grounding, even. In a society that sends a thousand conflicting signals about what it means to be a young woman, I find myself constantly searching for some outside instruction, some objective point of reference on how to dress, eat and be. Social media has long amplified these comparisons, which prey on the insecurities piled on women. That craving to look to others in order to better understand ourselves may be near-impossible to escape. But there is a change taking place on the front lines of TikTok, of all places. We’re watching a new, self-directed and refreshingly authentic era of women’s lifestyle content being made literally under our noses. Vlogs, days-in-the-life, recordings of meal planning and school routines — all of which can generally be referred to as “lifestyle content” — far predate TikTok or the Internet at

large. Society has always directed women to look toward people who have their lives “together” for routines and products that will allow us to then replicate their health or happiness and map it on top of our own lives, like some bizarre form of papier-mâché. What once unfolded solely through Cosmopolitan articles and self-help books has merely shifted platforms to YouTube vlogs and sponsored Instagram posts about diet gummies and yoga routines.

ingly infinite number of corporations with a vested financial interest in building a culture of comparison between women. At 13, I bought bronzer from CVS in an attempt to reconfigure my jaw into the shapes I saw on Instagram. I copied outfits from Pinterest and tried dream journaling, though I never could keep up the habit. What I was doing, I now know, was positioning myself as the audience of my own adolescence, an idealized version of which was being acted out to me, usually by adults who

“We’re watching a new, self-directed and refreshingly authentic era of women’s lifestyle content being made literally under our noses.”

These dynamics of influencers and audiences, of self-improvement and image-making, are particularly prevalent among women, young women in particular. They are the linchpin of a vicious cycle that snatches away our sense of security in our own lives before peddling it back to us without ever quite delivering the satisfaction promised. Lindsay Crouse of The New York Times describes that cycle as a “long-standing American tradition: stoking the insecurities of teenage girls to cash in on them.” The broadly-defined “wellness market” of products and services — which center upon beauty, fashion and physical and mental health — depicted in various forms of lifestyle content is valued at $1.5 trillion; there is a seem-

made social media their profession. With a new generation entering adolescence, the stage was set for a transition to take place. Gen Z, jaded by an oversaturation of online messaging, has consistently proved its cynicism and increasing intolerance for content that feels manufactured. More and more, we gravitate to what we perceive as intimacy rather than idealistic constructions. Emma Chamberlain is perhaps the most obvious example: She rose to YouTube stardom, securing a coffee company and a brand deal with Louis Vuitton along the way, by being one of the first YouTubers to truly understand the appeal of authenticity and create videos that, while edited for hours, managed to feel like the real life

of a real teenager. Yet the phenomena that’s been occurring through TikTok isn’t defined by a few key faces like Chamberlain’s. The app’s complex algorithm and the casual atmosphere of the For You page means that content from another 18 year old with an average lifestyle and a negligible number of followers could easily land in my lap. Some of these female creators have videos with thousands of likes, but many have less than a dozen. Almost none of them will be getting brand deals with major fashion houses. They are making their videos in between classes or after work. They are studying in sweatpants or trying on outrageous eyeshadow looks. They are moving into their first apartments or cleaning up their depression rooms. They are eating salmon rice and donuts and cups of ramen. This collective creation of attainable everyday-ness is something we haven’t seen before, or at least not on this scale. Even though I still struggle with my need to aspire to something outside of myself, I’m encouraged by the fact that, in these glances at the screen, I can recognize what I’m looking at: something familiar and thrillingly boring. It’s so easy to despair nowadays at the twisted games of identity that social media plays on women — the forces that shape our habits and desires before we even know how to articulate them. There’s something refreshing in playing those games right back, in redefining relatability in 60-second clips and sharing glimpses of lives that are “together” — just maybe in a different way. Alissa Simon ’25 can be reached at alissa_ simon@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald. com and other op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

Barboza: Brown’s commitment to dining services and employees In the weeks since Brown returned to more traditional operations for fall 2021, a news story, op-ed and editorial on The Herald’s pages have raised questions about and shared perspectives on dining operations at Brown. Some of these are rooted in fact. For example, like nearly all food service providers nationally, Brown has faced challenges returning to pre-pandemic staffing levels, given the major impact of COVID-19 on the employ-

cruiting staff right now. In no way do we diminish the impact of a 7% vacancy rate on current employees, but it’s important to clarify that we’re not operating at some small fraction of typical staffing levels. As we work to return to full staffing, we’re making assignments across our professional, student and temporary staff in

and shift supervisors, as well as regular meetings with the director of labor relations for dining and union leaders. And we pride ourselves on our open-door policy, through which any employee is encouraged to interact with dining’s senior team. We also include a union member on every search committee for any

ment market. And unpredictability in the supply chain has delayed equipment arrivals and at times forced temporary menu and service adjustments — such as the use of disposable plates and cutlery in the Sharpe Refectory and Verney-Woolley — to alleviate pressure points in operations. But we are committed to stop using disposable service items as soon as possible, hopefully by next week. Another important change coming next week is that, based on student feedback, we will resume the ability to use Flex Points at the Blue Room as of Monday, Oct. 25. At the same time, there is significant misinformation circulating about Dining Services, especially in regard to our care and respect for Brown Dining Services employees. I write to clarify and correct points and make clear our deep appreciation for the hard work, dedication and flexibility of all dining staff, as well as to offer a few updates on dining at Brown. When background checks wrap up this week on a small number of new hires, we will be at 93% filled staffing rate for bargaining unit positions. And we continue to work aggressively to fill remaining positions by recruiting at hiring fairs, placing ads, conducting one-on-one outreach and expediting hiring. We are also actively recruiting more student workers and welcome applications from members of Brown’s student body. Each of these efforts comes at a time when

ways that balance reasonable employee expectations with the dining needs of campus. Overtime work is always optional and staff are paid either one-and-a-half or double (depending on total hours worked) their regular hourly wage. It’s also important to make clear that Brown is a leader in the local food service industry in regard to hourly wages, regular increases, employee benefits and opportunities for advancement — all topics that we continue to discuss as we work in good faith with union representatives toward a renewed bargaining agreement this fall. Importantly, we were able to avoid layoffs of any regular dining staff during the pandemic, despite reduced dining operations on campus and the significant negative financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve heard claims that the voices of dining staff are not being fully considered. We disagree wholeheartedly. Our employees are valued and important members of the dining family whose

open management position. Through these policies — and many others — we incorporate the perspectives of all employees in Dining Services decisions. We are also committed to providing staff the tools and resources required for success. We recently purchased $300,000 in new equipment and added a new truck to our fleet of vehicles. As is the case nationally, we have seen longer lead times for some orders given supply chain challenges; at this point, the vast majority of equipment has arrived. Of course, installation cannot always happen on the day of arrival, as most equipment requires a specialized technician, another service in high demand. To address this in the long term, we recently created a position within Dining Services whose sole focus will be facilities and equipment. In addition, Verney-Woolley’s dining facilities will undergo a major renovation next summer. The project will enlarge and enhance the production area,

many food service providers struggle to keep their doors open, given the challenges of re-

voices, ideas and concerns are critical to our success. We hold daily meetings between staff

adding cooler and freezer space and increasing seating capacity and student-facing stations.

“Our employees are valued and important members of the dining family whose voices, ideas and concerns are critical to our success.”

Across everything we do, safety and hygiene are our top priorities. All dining supervisors and culinary managers are licensed by the state as food safety managers, and all lead and first cooks are certified in food safety. We work with the Rhode Island Department of Health on both scheduled and unscheduled inspections, contract with a vendor who specializes in dining safety and are proud of our reputation for providing healthy and delicious food served safely. We are committed to providing made-fromscratch recipes and emphasizing sustainable fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins and healthy fats, in many cases sourced from local vendors. We offer a variety of options across our dining units and are always open to student feedback. We care deeply about our dining staff. We are working aggressively to return to pre-pandemic staffing levels, add equipment and resources to our operations and ensure healthy, fresh food options for all members of the Brown community. To advance that work even further, Dining Services will soon begin its scheduled five-year strategic planning process to evaluate, plan and best position dining operations and facilities to align with needs across campus. There will be ample student representation on the committee leading the process and opportunities for all students to offer input via polls, surveys and other mechanisms. We look forward to continuing to work together with students, dining staff and union representatives to build an even better dining program to serve every member of the Brown community. Vice President of Dining Services George Barboza can be reached at george_barboza_jr@brown.edu. Please send responses to this op-ed to letters@browndailyherald. com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2021

PROTEST FROM PAGE 1 across the street from the restaurant at Gardner Johnson Park, continuing their chants directed at Paxson and the Corporation, whom they believed to be inside the restaurant. The Herald could not verify the presence of Paxson or Corporation members at Bacaro. At two different times, Bacaro employees crossed the street to speak to the event organizers and inform them that the restaurant would not be attempting to compel them to leave. They also informed the organizers that Paxson had ordered 20 pizzas for the student protesters. According to @betterbrownnow on Instagram, an account run by the organizers, the 20 pizzas that were supposedly ordered never arrived. “Brown is a learning community where individuals hold and express a wide range of views,” University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald. “Each of us as members is free to debate and protest while respecting the freedom of others to disagree.” Better Brown Now organizers Zoë Fuad ’23.5, Lauren Griffiths ’24 and Jada Wooten ’24 spoke to The Herald about their motivation and aims in planning the sit-in. “The Brown Daily Herald article about the conditions (dining) workers are facing — particularly how they’re understaffed, how equipment is not being replaced (and) how there are some things that are not following sanitation protocol — was really kind of the last straw for us. We had been doing research throughout the summer about students’ experiences with COVID, looking specifically at how dining, ResLife, (Counseling and Psychological Services) and financial aid negatively impacts students’ health and well being, which was already worsened because of the pandemic,” Wooten said. “Seeing also how these same conditions are affecting staffers in the Brown dining

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

halls made us realize that the system is not only harming students but also harming staff. That was our inspiration to organize.” Fuad added that “it has really been the cumulative efforts of a huge coalition of groups, and that final BDH article was really just the straw that broke the camel’s back. This anger has been building up all summer (and) students really want to say something. All we’re doing is providing them an opportunity to do so.” In an Oct. 22 op-ed for The Herald, Vice President of Dining Services George Barboza wrote that by the end of this week, BDS will be at a 93% filled staffing rate. He noted that the University recently purchased $300,000 in new equipment and created a new role in BDS focused specifically on facilities and equipment. “Across everything we do, safety and hygiene are our top priorities,” he wrote, adding that “our employees are valued and important members of the dining family whose voices, ideas and concerns are critical to our success.” The organizers emphasized that, upon learning of the Corporation meeting, they were especially motivated to take action. “When we looked into it and figured out how this could really be used as an opportunity to leverage the voices of the dining workers, we really wanted to take it on,” Griffiths said. The organizers received an outpouring of support, according to Fuad. “A lot of students were already ready to say something,” she said, adding that within a day of spreading information about the demonstration on social media, the group received nearly 100 responses. “So many communities within this school are already so upset and talking amongst themselves about what they want to do to make change.” Ultimately, the organizers hope that this will provide an opportunity for cooperation between student leaders and University administration. “We want to take a collaborative approach

to this. We think that everyone has really the best interests at heart for this community: for students and for our staff,” Fuad said. “We hope that by bringing people together, we’re making a statement that shows we want things to change. We believe that we can work with those in charge and in power right now to really bring about that change.” The organizers acknowledged that immediate change is difficult to achieve, but they hope that the University will begin to address the issue. “We are hoping for a response from Dining or from the administration to The Brown Daily Herald article,” Wooten said. She also hopes the University will “allow a forum to begin outlining ways to improve the conditions for workers.” Wooten attributed much of her motivation for marching to Bacaro to her disappointment with the Corporation’s lack of engagement with the protestors. “I went in thinking that we’ll use this action (as) a starting point for conversations. It was kind of clear (the Corporation) didn’t want to engage with us,” she said. Upon hearing that some Corporation members may have been at Bacaro, she “just really wanted to be heard. I really kind of wanted to disrupt the conversation.” Matthew Rauschenbach ’23, one of the leaders of the #DoesBrownCare coalition, echoed Wooten’s sentiments. When the group heard about the Corporation’s possible moveto Bacaro, “we decided that the whole (goal) was (to) make them hear our voices here,” Rauschenbach said. For Wooten, the Corporation’s possible meeting at Bacaro reflected how out of touch they are with the issues students and employees face. “It’s telling that when they did move, (they didn’t) move into one of the Brown dining halls,” Wooten said. “They’re clearly not seeing the conditions that workers face or students experience. They moved into one of the nicest restaurants in Providence.” Organizers also saw the decision to

order pizza for the protesters as a hollow gesture. Paxson “bought 20 pizzas when that money could be put to way better use,” Griffiths said. While he was also critical of the Corporation, organizer Shazain Khan ’24 called on students themselves to do more to support Dining Services workers. “It is the fault of the Corporation (for) not foreseeing this problem and not taking care of it, but students also have to do our part,” he said. “Demonstrating is a great first step, but we have to be involved at the dining halls. We have to support our dining hall workers. They’re severely understaffed, on the student side and on the normal staff side, so we need to show them kindness (and) we need to show them that we are there for them.” Rauschenbach, who wrote an Oct. 3 op-ed critical of the University’s response to dining worker conditions for The Herald, believes that conditions are favorable for Brown to respond to student activism with immediate changes. “The University has become accustomed to pretending like what we’re saying doesn’t matter. I think that this time is going to be different because they are renegotiating the union contract. We are in this kind of pandemic transition to a new economy where workers are saying, ‘We’re tired of bad conditions,’” he said. “This is the moment we have to capitalize on to make sure that we improve the biggest issues: the conditions (and) the communication.” He added that wages are another major issue, but one that he hopes will be addressed in contract negotiations. BDS’s contract, which was negotiated three years ago, will expire Nov. 1, The Herald previously reported. Ellis Ward ’24 specifically cited the conditions faced by dining workers detailed in The Herald as his reason for attending the protest. “But also, I do know some of the Brown Dining Services staff personally, and I listened

to their stories,” he said. “They’re completely overwhelmed and they don’t have the support that they need.” Ward’s hopes of the University were similarly related to the day-today conditions of dining workers. “We want the University to raise wages for Brown dining staff and to address the equipment shortages and (the) shortage of workers,” he said. For attendee Isabella Garo ’24, the protest was deeply personal. “I come from a Latino working class family. I busted ass to get into this school, and I was told that Brown University was an institution that fought for people like me from my community,” she said. “To get to Brown and see the dining staff — who are largely Latino and Black, like myself — being overworked and underpaid was just like a huge slap in the face. It just showed me that I don’t belong here and was not ever intended to be in a place like this.” Garo’s main request of the Brown administration was a simple one: “empathy.” “I’d like to see that actual connection finally happen and for (the University) to actually do something instead of just this performative, empty promises bullsh*t that’s been happening this whole time,” she said. Fellow protest attendee Oren Kohavi ’24 hoped to see tangible change, including improved transparency and communication, on the part of the administration. “What it feels like right now is like the student body is just like this nameless mass that the administration just needs to calm down instead of actually addressing their concerns,” he said. “The other thing I want to see is genuine effort. I want the administration to tell us concrete steps.” Anne-Emily Rouffiac ’24 also attended because she wanted to see improved conditions for dining workers. “I’d love to see (the Brown administration) make concrete changes … to ensure that every member of our community is valued, because they always say that they are doing just that.”

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2021

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R.I. changes drug possession charges from felonies to misdemeanors New law reclassifies possession of 10 grams or less of fentanyl, heroin, cocaine BY OLIVER KNEEN SENIOR STAFF WRITER Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee signed a bill into law on Sept. 28 that reduces personal-use possession charges for certain controlled substances from felonies to misdemeanors. The new statute applies to amounts of 10 grams or less and includes fentanyl, heroin and cocaine. Attorney General Peter Neronha said he views the misdemeanor charges less as punishments and more as pathways to get people with substance use disorders into treatment. The new law allows for a maximum penalty ot two years of jail time, which is double the one-year maximum of most misdemeanors. But Neronha clarified that the logic behind this is not to prolong jail sentences. “The maximum penalty often defines how long the court can have supervision over somebody,” he said. He added that public health experts view two years of supervision as “more appropriate,” given that most people require more than a year to complete substance use disorder treatment. According to Neronha’s own research, out of the 400 or 500 personal-use felony cases involving fentanyl in a five-year time frame, only one to three people were sentenced to time in jail, and none of these sentences exceeded roughly 30 days. “If you were going to be facing the consequences of a felony conviction, that ought to be something serious enough to warrant felony treatment,” Neronha said. “These cases just didn’t warrant felony conduct.” State Senate Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey (D-Warwick), who introduced the bill, said that a treatment-based approach is more cost-effective than criminalization, as Rhode Island spends roughly $100,000 per year to incarcerate one person. Associate Professor of Epidemiology Brandon Marshall praised the law as “one step toward addressing racial (and) ethnic inequities in our criminal justice and public health systems,” emphasizing that people of color are arrested and incarcerated more frequently for drug crimes and receive more severe sentences than white people. Haley McKee is the co-chair and co-founder of the Substance Use Policy, Education and Recovery PAC, which wrote and lobbied for the original version of this legislation. She said that 658

out of the 1,111 simple drug possession arrests in Rhode Island in 2019 were of people of color. She added that this occurred despite the overwhelmingly white composition of the state and the similar drug usage rates among white people and people of color. Neronha added that the law helps his office — which consists of 70 attorneys who are tasked with prosecuting between 8,000 and 9,000 pending felony cases “at any given time” — to focus on “the most significant cases,” such as those of drug dealing, violent crime and public corruption, rather than small personal possession charges. The weight of a felony The consequences of a felony conviction are personal for Project Weber/ RENEW’s Overdose Prevention Program Director Dennis Bailer, who was convicted of a felony on a drug possession charge before the bill was passed. When police officers discovered $40 worth of cocaine while investigating his vehicle during a traffic stop, Bailer — who struggled with a substance use disorder at the time — was charged with a felony. Although he was confined at the police station “for a weekend,” Bailer said the charge continued to follow him even after he sought treatment, resulting in rejected housing and employment applications. According to Haley McKee, Bailer’s story isn’t unique, as felony convictions often deny people the “holy trinity” of “housing, employment and education.” She added that misdemeanors are less stigmatizing than felonies and thus don’t pose the same threat to people’s ability to “fully participate in society.” Bailer also said that felonies result in fees, fines and related court appearances that may further trap individuals with low incomes in the criminal justice system. “The charge really isn’t equal to the crime,” he said. Bailer, who testified in legislative hearings while the bill was under consideration, added that the over-criminalization of personal-use possession charges “doesn’t serve any practical purpose.” RIPCA, charging dealers The legislation passed with strong bipartisan support in both the State House and Senate. But Haley McKee said this did not occur until more than two years after the introduction of the original version of the bill, which defined the maximum possession before a more serious charge as 28 grams. While she said the bill had “overwhelming support from all the people who are in power,” the “extremely adversarial” lobbying efforts of the Rhode Island Police Chiefs’ Association prevented the original bill from leaving committee

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The legislation was introduced by State Senate Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey (D-Warwick) and cites support from Gov. Dan McKee, Attorney General Peter Neronha and local community organizations. in 2019. The law passed after Neronha re-introduced the legislation in another legislative session with a more modest 10 gram maximum. RIPCA Executive Director Sid Wordell said his organization is opposed to the drug reclassification law. He emphasized that RIPCA still supports minimizing the damaging effects of felonies by improving convicted people’s access to housing and employment, facilitating expungement and using the Attorney General’s present powers to divert cases so that individuals can complete treatment programs in lieu of receiving felony convictions. “But with that said, 10 grams of (drugs like) fentanyl, never mind carfentanil, can kill hundreds of people,” Wordell said. “There was no way that we could support that.” Neronha acknowledged the dangers of fentanyl but maintained that the law “doesn’t do anything to protect people who sell fentanyl.” He emphasized that, while the law reclassifies personal-use possession of 10 grams or less as a misdemeanor, it still treats possession of any quantity with intent to sell as a felony. Despite this, Wordell said that someone in possession of 10 grams of fentanyl “is clearly dealing in the drug,” and the new law would make it harder for law enforcement to charge this person with a felony in the absence of other information that specifically links the individual to a clear intention to deal. While he acknowledged that the Attorney General’s office has been able to charge people found with up to 10 grams with dealing since the change in the law, Wordell said he will have to “wait and see if things work out.” Marshall, the epidemiology profes-

sor, is less concerned about the possibly reduced ability to prosecute dealers than the issues that result from a focus on prosecuting dealers. He said that although he understands why people may be inclined to blame overdose deaths on the person that supplied the substance, lower-level traffickers and dealers “are often using themselves or have substance use disorders.” Additionally, he believes this focus won’t effectively counter drug abuse within the population, given that even higher-level traffickers are “very quickly” replaced whenever caught. Bailer confirmed that the boundaries between user and dealer are blurry, since many people work as middlemen in order to support their own drug usage. While he agrees that law enforcement efforts should focus on “the actual mid-level dealers,” he cautioned that serious attention should be given to ensure that “the people who are on the streets and just trying to survive” aren’t wrongly labeled as dealers. The future of drug policy Haley McKee hopes the consequences of this law will parallel those seen in Connecticut, which passed similar defelonization laws in 2015 and subsequently experienced “fiscal savings of about $12.7 million a year in cost of corrections,” no increase in crime and a per capita overdose death rate lower than Rhode Island’s. Because of the support she has received from the Governor and Attorney General, McKee believes Rhode Island is “uniquely positioned” to build upon the state’s previous strides in drug decriminalization and overdose prevention — such as the approval of the nation’s first Harm Reduction Center, where individuals can safely use drugs under

professional supervision. She hopes the state will expand defelonization of personal-use possession to the originally proposed maximum of 28 grams and eventually realize the goal of full decriminalization. Instead of moving toward further legalization or decriminalization, Wordell believes the state should focus first on improving the availability of treatment services for substance abuse. Because the distribution of grant funding for recovery programs is concentrated in the most densely populated areas of the state, he said that many Rhode Islanders with substance use disorders who live outside these areas do not have uninterrupted access to resources for their addiction problems. He added that the insufficient availability of resources makes it difficult for police officers to transfer those with substance use disorders to a treatment provider. Wordell said the state should allocate more money in proposed budgets to substance abuse programs and law enforcement. Marshall said the solution to the drug abuse epidemic lies in a “compassionate approach” that expands voluntary access to treatment and bolsters the present harm reduction system, adding that the drug reclassification law is “a very good first step.” Neronha hopes the law will allow the criminal justice system to serve as a “pathway” for people to escape their substance use disorders. “People are going to do better when they’re through the cycle of addiction, in terms of getting employment (and) providing for their families. It’s going to keep them out of the criminal justice system going forward,” Neronha said. “That will help them succeed, and that will be good for them and the rest of (society) as well.”

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2021

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UNIVERSITY NEWS

Sylvia Carey-Butler reflects on role as VP Institutional Equity and Diversity New Institutional Equity, Diversity VP plans to foster outreach, collaboration BY KAITLYN TORRES SENIOR STAFF WRITER

On June 24, the University announced the appointment of Dr. Sylvia R. Carey-Butler for the position of Vice President for Institutional Equity and Diversity, The Herald previously reported. The University’s announcement stated that her position would include leading the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity, implementing Brown’s Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan, providing direction on programs and initiatives and overseeing investigations for protected classes, such as groups under Title IX. “It is a tremendous responsibility,” Carey-Butler said in an interview with The Herald. She explained that while she has decades of experience in higher education, she does not yet know about everything thatmakes Brown’s community meaningful. According to Carey-Butler, it is “the norm” for the University to be a learning environment for the advancement of diversity, equity and inclusion. “I am humbled that I find myself at a place where I know I have a lot that I can bring to the table,” she added. Vincent Harris, associate dean and director of the Brown Center for Students of Color, described Carey-Butler as a “visionary.” “She sees the vision … in others that they may not see in themselves,”

he explained. Harris added that this quality makes him hopeful that Carey-Butler will support the University’s equity and inclusion efforts while also listening to the experiences of staff and faculty. Before coming to Brown, Carey-Butler served as the Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer at Kennesaw State University in Georgia for three years. While at Kennesaw, Carey-Butler was a chair of the school’s Presidential Task Force on Race. She worked with a committee, which included alumni and students, to develop a set of recomendations and initiatives to advance diversity on campus. She was attracted to Brown because of how she could advance DEI with the help of campus stakeholders including President Christina Paxson P’19 and Provost Richard Locke P’18. “Brown has been truly forward thinking ... and innovative in their efforts (towards DEI),” she said. In an email to The Herald, Paxson wrote that Carey-Butler was chosen through a nationwide search for a leader who had “exceptional records of commitment to diversity and inclusion efforts.” “We knew Dr. Carey-Butler would be well-positioned to ensure we continue to make gains in our very active diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, both as an institution and a community,” she wrote. “This includes propelling further progress on the priorities re-established through the second phase of the Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan and new and ongoing commitments aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Anti-Black Racism.” Eric Estes, vice president for campus life and student services

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As vice president for Institutional Equity and Diversity, Carey-Butler will work to implement Brown’s Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan. and co-chair of the national search process, wrote in an email to The Herald that Carey-Butler’s role “is a very important one at Brown” and that he looks forward to “working closely with her.” “Sylvia stood out for her impressive expertise and experience,” Estes said in the University announcement of Carey-Bulter’s appointment. “She will make an immediate impact as a leader on campus, particularly in a moment that demands a sustained, thoughtful approach to working together to ensure equity and justice for all members of our community.” Carey-Butler emphasized the importance of collaboration in her work as “no one person can transform a university.” She added that while many universities have a commitment to

DEI, Brown’s commitment is “living” through policies such as DIAP. Currently, she is working to reorganize her office and fill any employment gaps. This includes launching searches for a Title IX coordinator and an associate vice president along with awarding promotions within the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity. Harris said that while he has not worked directly with Carey-Butler on projects yet, she has “shown up” to events he has invited her to, such as the Third World Transition Program, a preorientation program that centers on the experience of students of color. “Her being present … early on in her tenure … just shows that she is going to be someone that (students, faculty and staff) can turn to,” he said. Looking forward, Carey-Butler

wants to increase awareness about how students can engage with the OIED, educate about Title IX and make trainings from OIED more accessible. She also wants to increase awareness about Brown’s affirmative action plan and how it can help the University “achieve a more equitable and diverse environment.” She also looks to enhance the Brown-Tougaloo Partnership Program which, according to its website, is a partnership between Brown and Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi with a goal to enrich “both campuses through student, faculty and administrative exchanges.” “Her experiences working with Historically Black Colleges and Universities and her commitment to community engagement are additional assets,” Paxson wrote. Another project Carey-Butler looks forward to working on is an oral history project in collaboration with the Rockefeller Library. This project would focus on recording testimonies of Brown alumni who had negative experiences in the classroom during their time at the University. “This is a way to give voice to their concerns and let them know that they matter (and that) their experiences matter,” she said. Harris looks forward to working with Carey-Butler to create equity and inclusion efforts for undergraduate and graduate students of color and hopes that their offices continue to collaborate. For Carey-Butler, to “work (herself) out of a job.” “There would be no need for this kind of office,” Sylvia-Butler said, “because everyone would be … looking at their work through the lens of DEI.”

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2021

GRANT FROM PAGE 1 two years, said Professor David Canaday at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine. By measuring levels of COVID-19 antibodies — protective proteins produced by the immune system in response to vaccination — in the blood of nursing home patients over time, researchers can determine how long it takes for immunity to COVID-19 to wear off, he added. Researchers plan to enroll between 800 and 1,000 nursing home residents in Ohio, New Jersey and Rhode Island and measure antibody levels every six months.

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This work will expand upon a previous study published last August by Canaday and Stephen Gravenstein, professor of geriatric medicine and co-director of this study. The earlier study found a significant drop in COVID-19 antibody levels in subjects of all ages approximately six months after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. This was especially detrimental to the immune response of the elderly subjects who had lower levels of antibody to begin with. “We know that immunity (from) many vaccines wanes with time for various reasons,” Rami Kantor, a co-author on the previous paper, wrote

in an email to The Herald. “Immunosenescence, the process of immune dysfunction that occurs with age, is a known phenomenon that represents this process … COVID-19 is a new pandemic and vaccines for it have only been relatively recently introduced. Whether and to what extent and at what pace do the responses to COVID-19 vaccines wane with time in the elderly population … are unknown.” Immunosenescence “is not unique to COVID-19,” said Assistant Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology Lalit Beura, who teaches BIOL 1600: “Development of Vaccines to

Infectious Diseases.” It “is also seen in other vaccines including influenza and pneumococcus.” He added that for these vaccines, “it’s very important to track the immune response so that alternative approaches can be put into place to improve immune response,” including vaccine boosters. Researchers hope the study results will “inform decisions around the ongoing need for boosters,” White said. By answering questions — such as “how effective is the booster? How soon do you have to boost? How long is the immunity going to hold up after boosting?” — findings will help inform clinical decisions on “how to deploy

the vaccines for optimal protection,” Canaday said. The researchers emphasized the importance of understanding immunity in the nursing home population in order to better protect them. “COVID-19 has had an immense effect on the elderly population … It is a horrible situation,” Mylonakis said, referring to not only the mortality rate but also the isolation that the nursing home population had to undergo due to quarantine precautions. “Families were impacted quite significantly. The human element of what happened should not be lost in the minds of anyone.”

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The Lemley Family Leadership lecture series

F E AT U R I N G

Rebecca Henderson John and Natty McArthur University Professor, Harvard University, author of Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire

Reimagining Capitalism Capitalism is in danger of destroying itself — and our world. Learn about what’s wrong with modern capitalism and how business can help create the change we need. Wednesday, October 27, 2021 | 5 p.m.

A conversation moderated by Provost Richard M. Locke, Schreiber Family Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs, will follow the talk. Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs Stephen Robert ’62 Hall, 280 Brook Street, Room 101

Registration required For more information, please visit lemley-lecture.brown.edu Event attendees must comply with all University COVID-19 policies and protocols in place at the time of the event. Closed captioning will be provided. To request additional accommodations or assistance for this event, please contact the Office of University Event and Conference Services at universityevents@brown.edu.

BROWN UNIVERSITY 2021