THE BROWN DAILY HER
Seven hours, two languages: One day at a bilingual school
Women’s ice hockey falls 2-4 to Princeton in Ivy opener
Maureen Phipps elected to National Academy of Medicine
Vishwakarma ’29: If you doomscroll, AI should be your wake-up call
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actions, many of which the Democratic Party views as eroding American democracy.
‘We’re in an entirely different world’: Hillary Clinton on higher education, politics
BY IAN RITTER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
In the last few weeks of her 2016 campaign against Donald Trump, then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton delivered a stark warning to a Florida crowd: Trump’s “final target is democracy itself.”
Now, nine years later — and nine months deep into President Trump’s second term — Clinton and other prominent Democrats are decrying the president’s
Before delivering the 104th Stephen A. Ogden Jr. ’60 Memorial Lecture on International Affairs, the former secretary of state sat down with The Herald to explain her perspectives on the state of higher education, the future of the Democratic Party and the role young voters play in preserving democracy.
The tumultuous landscape of higher education
Since Clinton last visited Brown, the state of higher education has changed significantly, she said.
“We’re in an entirely different world, and I don’t say that lightly,” Clinton told The Herald.
In the first nine months of his second term, Trump
has launched a barrage of attacks against Brown and other higher education institutions.
To Clinton, the original goal of higher education “was not just to create scholars, but to create good citizens, to create productive members of society.”
But now, as colleges increasingly emphasize students’ career prospects, Clinton said higher education has “gone so far in the direction of utilitarianism,” pointing to the rising costs of pursuing a college degree.
“It reflects the churn in society and the economy.”
Clinton hopes that instead of just preparing students for the workforce, higher education institutions can find a balance between their scholarly and practical aims and cultivate students’ intellect.
Her visit comes shortly after the University rejected
Brown Corporation accepts over $121 million in gifts and pledges at its fall meetings
Corp. members celebrated dedication of Stephen Sondheim Amphitheater
BY ROMA SHAH SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The Brown Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — has formally accepted over $121 million in gifts and pledges made to the University since May, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 wrote in a Monday announcement, which followed the Corporation’s October meetings.
On Thursday, Corporation members also celebrated the dedication of the Stephen Sondheim Amphitheater on Ruth J. Simmons Quadrangle upon the completion of its renovation,
Paxson wrote.
The construction of the amphitheater, funded by a gift from Perry Granoff P’93 and Marty Granoff P’93, was named after the late American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim — a close friend of the Granoffs. The ceremony included performances of Sondheim’s songs by members of Brown’s community, as well as remarks from Sondheim’s friends.
Some members of the Corporation also attended the launch of the Watson School of International and Public Affairs at an event featuring keynote speaker Gen. Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
At a Friday discussion with Corporation members, Paxson shared priorities for the academic year, including implementing the University’s “Statement of University Values and
Voice,” supporting diversity and inclusion and exploring the use of artificial intelligence in administrative and academic settings, among others.
The Corporation also discussed the potential impacts of federal actions on Brown’s finances and the steps the University has taken to weather potential financial uncertainties, Paxson wrote.
These challenges could include changes to federal financial aid, an increased endowment tax and immigration-related barriers that could limit master’s student enrollment, Provost Francis Doyle said during an early October faculty meeting.
In the past year, the University has taken
the Trump administration’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.”
While Clinton praised the decision, she encouraged Brown and other universities to partake in a “time of reflection” on what has made institutions “vulnerable” to attacks from the federal government, as well as what academic freedom truly means.
“In order to protect (academic freedom), we have to do a better job explaining and defending it,” Clinton said.
College as a time of change
During her first year as an undergraduate student
The Herald sat down with the former secretary of state before the Ogden Memorial Lecture
Hillary Clinton’s visit comes on the heels of the University’s rejection of the Trump administration’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.”
MAX ROBINSON / HERALD
UNIVERSITY NEWS
EVENT
Fmr. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman talks domestic, global orders at Watson launch
Gen. Mark Milley encouraged students to defend American values
BY IAN RITTER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The Watson School of International and Public Affairs celebrated its July opening in a Saturday launch event that featured keynote speaker Gen. Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — the country’s top-ranking military officer — between 2019 and 2023.
In his speech, Milley shared a historical perspective on the current political moment, identifying threats to the world and domestic order and encouraging students to defend American values.
Before he ascended to the position in September 2019, Milley grew up in a military family — the son of two World War II veterans. At the event, Milley said he similarly joined the military to defend the values of the U.S. Constitution, despite his father’s objections.
Milley began his term under President Trump’s first administration, and clashed with the president in several high-profile conflicts. He retired in September 2023, two years into former President Joe Biden’s administration.
In his keynote speech, Milley first spoke of the current international order, which he said has been in place since the end of World War II.
Milley explained that America has written the rules that “are the back office of the world today.”
“Those rules serve to maintain some degree of stability in the international system, and I think that’s important and in American
ACADEMICS
interest to keep those rules going,” he said.
Milley explained that current challenges to that world order include Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s rapid, industrialized rise to global power — what he considers the greatest threat to America today.
He then pivoted to discuss the domestic order in the United States, which he said was defined by the values in the U.S. Constitution. While noting the current presence of political uncertainty in the country, Milley claimed that turmoil has always been present — pointing to the Civil War, the Great Depression and protests during the Civil Rights movement.
Today, “there is political polarization — that is true — but that domestic order is under stress,” he said. “Although it’s bending and it’s under stress, it’s not broken and it’s not going to crack.”
Milley said it is important for students today to understand both the domestic and the international orders “to have the knowledge, the skills and the attributes to reinforce those orders so that those orders don’t break.”
To achieve these goals, he encouraged students to study, be committed and hold the “moral courage” to protect American values.
He finished his keynote by urging students to “preserve and protect” the principles of the Constitution, which he said are the foundation of America and the foundation of the new Watson School.
After his speech, Dean of the Watson School John Friedman and Milley sat down for a question-and-answer session where they spoke about Milley’s background, his time as a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and his views on the current issues facing the country.
When asked by Friedman about distrust in the current government, Milley asserted that past U.S. unrest was more severe than that of the current moment.
“I’m not saying there are not red flags waving in the wind,” he said. “But let’s not jump to conclusions as to where we are as a country.”
“We need to all give way together, move to the middle, deal with each other in civil ways and realize that document — the Constitution — provides the means and mechanisms to evolve with the times,” Milley added.
He noted that President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in American cities, though controversial, is not illegal. He pointed to historical use of federal troops in cities, including to quell unrest and end the violent targeting of Black residents in New York City’s Civil War draft riots, which led to hundreds of civilian deaths.
“When you introduce the United States military onto the streets of America, my
advice is caution,” Milley said. “It’s legal, it can be done, there’s authorities to do it, but understand the instrument you’re to use, understand the conditions in which you’re using it, limit the scale, scope and size of the operation.”
At the same time, “it’s not my recommendation,” he said.
Event attendee Ryan Choo ’29, a prospective international and public affairs concentrator, was fascinated by Milley’s stance on political polarization.
“The things they talked about, like how we can really bring people together regardless of what labels are put onto us, I think that was really refreshing,” Choo said.
Before Milley’s speech, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 opened the event by sharing a summary of the Watson School’s
history back to its time as the Council for International Studies. The council was founded in 1979 and first led by then-professor Newell Stultz under the tenure of then-President Howard Swearer. It grew throughout the years, ultimately becoming the Watson School in July.
After Paxson’s welcome speech, Friedman reflected on the launch of the new school at Brown.
“Building a school like this at Brown is such a wonderful thing because that interdisciplinarity that is needed to make progress on the world’s most difficult policy problems, it just comes naturally here in the air,” he said.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 26, 2025.
Philippine Consulate General offers University $18,000 to start Tagalog courses
Despite funding offer, future of Tagalog courses remains uncertain
BY ALEJANDRO RUIZ SENIOR STAFF WRITER
For the past year, Alexa Theodoropoulos ’27 — vice president of the Brown Filipino Alliance — has been leading the charge for Filipino@Brown (Tagalog@Brown), an initiative advocating for the University to offer a Tagalog language program. Last week, she received confirmation that the Philippine Consulate General would offer the University a contract of around $18,000 to jumpstart a Tagalog language program.
The funding offer was extended by Senator of the Philippines Loren Legarda, a representative from the consulate wrote in an email to The Herald. The grant would require the University to provide a list of proposed programs and allow the consulate to monitor the programs’ implementation.
Theodoropoulos first reached out to the Philippines’s Department of Foreign Affairs on the advice of Charlie Veric, a professor from Ateneo de Manila University, after he mentioned that the department often sponsors Filipino language initiatives in the United States.
Dean of the Faculty Leah VanWey wrote in an email to The Herald that “the University’s current financial situation does not permit the addition of a robust sequence of courses from introductory to advanced Tagalog.”
VanWey noted that while the University is still reviewing the contract from the consulate, the contribution does not meet the
amount needed to offer “a full suite of courses and associated programming in any language that we offer.”
The University told Theodoropoulos that they would come to a decision within a few weeks.
If not accepted by the end of the year, the offer will be forfeited, Brown Filipino Alliance Co-President Anna Zulueta ’25.5 wrote in an email to The Herald. Zulueta is also an organizer with Filipino@Brown.
The money provided by the consulate would be enough to cover “almost all of the first year” of the five-year plan Filipino@ Brown organizers presented to the University, Zulueta said.
“We are very disappointed that getting this grant has so far not persuaded the University to take more action on our cause,” she added.
Funding for the remainder of the program could “come from alumni or external donations,” Theodoropoulos said.
Though Theodoropoulos began working toward the language program last year, calls for the University to offer Tagalog trace back to 1988, when the Filipino Alliance was founded.
Theodoropoulos revitalized these demands last October — the anniversary of the arrival of the first Filipino immigrants in the United States — by drafting a letter to the University, requesting the development of a Filipino language program.
In the letter, she argued that “language representation empowers” students and referenced the recent addition of Tagalog courses at Harvard and Yale. Her letter also mentioned that Brown students have conducted nine group independent study projects in Tagalog or Filipino culture since 2001.
“It’s time for Tagalog to be its own, regularly-offered class,” Zulueta wrote.
Students cannot retake a GISP on the same topic, so “it’s a huge burden on students to reinvent the wheel every time they want to
take a language class,” she added.
Over the fall and spring semesters last year, Theodoropoulos collected around 1,100 signatures for a petition campaigning for the language program. “We tried to get any relevant stakeholder we could possibly think of,” she said, adding that she reached out to undergraduates, alums, faculty and staff.
By the end of the spring semester, she sent the University her letter, attaching testimonials, the petition, a detailed curriculum proposal and an anticipated budget.
Zulueta and Theodoropoulos have also received support from various faculty members.
Rick Baldoz, associate professor of American studies, helped Filipino@Brown build support “both on and off campus,” he wrote in an email to The Herald.
Visiting Lecturer Trang Tran, who teaches Vietnamese at Brown and serves on the Filipino@Brown board, shared the petition with her professional network and her students. Vietnamese was added to Brown’s course catalog in 2021, The Herald previously reported. Tran wrote in an email to The Herald that “there have also been ongoing discussions about aligning potential funding with existing academic initiatives,” such as the Filipino Studies Fund, the Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan funds and partnerships with other universities.
Daniel Ibarra, assistant professor of earth, environment and planetary sciences and engineering, also voiced his support for the initiative. “As a part of the Filipino diaspora at Brown,” he wrote in an email to The Herald, “I am very supportive of establishing a language course.” He added that though he teaches in STEM fields, he hopes that Brown will offer
Tagalog, “like our peer institutions.” Center for Language Studies Director Jeremy Lehnen said that while he is “supportive” of the initiative, it is “important to build a sustainable program that will generate the interest and enrollments necessary for continuation.”
Lehnen wrote that all new courses must undergo a standard approval process, obtaining the approval of the College Curriculum Council.
Theodoropoulos said that despite obstacles, organizers “want to put pressure on the administration to make the right decision and realize how important this is.”
She described the language program as “reparations,” referencing Brown’s role in cultural suppression in the Philippines. Many of Brown’s alums, she said, were “soldier-teachers who moved to the Philippines during the war and forbade the use of Filipino languages.”
Zulueta and Theodoropoulos have been working on “a report on Brown’s ties to the Philippines and Filipino diaspora, inspired by the Slavery and Justice Report,” Zulueta said.
“Brown sees reparations and critical reflection as a priority,” Theodoropoulos said, “but it needs to extrapolate this mode of thinking to all global issues it has been a perpetrator in.”
The consulate wrote that they are waiting on the University to send comment on the draft memorandum of agreement. If approved, the consulate will then plan a signing ceremony with the University. This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on
COURTESY OF MIKE COHEA VIA BROWN UNIVERSITY
Dean of the Watson School John Friedman and Gen. Mark Milley sat down for a question-and-answer session at the
Oct. 26 opening of the Watson School for International and Public Affairs, where Milley asserted that past U.S. unrest was more severe than the current moment.
LIZE DENG / HERALD
Alexa Theodoropoulos ’27, vice president of Brown Filipino Alliance, is leading the call for the University to offer Tagalog.
at Wellesley College, Clinton was president of the Young Republicans club, strongly influenced by her family’s Republican views.
In high school, “those of us that were sitting in the classroom were largely … parroting what our parents said,” Clinton recalled.
But for her, college was different.
“I changed my political affiliations, so by the time I voted, I began voting for the people who I thought more represented the country I wanted to live in,” Clinton told The Herald.
Clinton’s four years at Wellesley pushed her to learn “to articulate (her) point of view,” she said. As she grew to understand the political context behind the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War, Clinton was compelled to reevaluate her political alignment.
She urged students, now more than ever, to be “smart consumers of informa-
tion.” This, she believes, cannot happen on social media platforms which she said contain “mis- and disinformation.”
“Sadly, the Trump campaign is quite effective in sowing mistrust and sowing divisiveness,” she added, “and people get sucked into that.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Why voting is crucial
As a current professor of international and public affairs at Columbia, Clinton has witnessed firsthand the protests and upheaval on college campuses, as students have objected to the Israel-Hamas war and federal attacks on higher education.
But Clinton believes that voting is the most effective way students can spark political change.
“If young voters don’t vote in high percentages, nobody will pay attention to them,” Clinton told The Herald. “They can protest, they can write angry letters
CORPORATION FROM PAGE 1
out $800 million in loans. Brown’s endowment has also reached an all-time high of $8 billion. While Brown’s current endowment ratio would entail a 1.4% tax, the University would be required to pay a 4% endowment tax if the endowment were to rise above $750,000 per student.
This year’s accepted funds helped establish numerous endowed positions in recognition of these gifts, including a professorship in data science and computer science, the Giuliani RNA assistant professorship and the Seoam Yoon Se Young
lectureship.
At the meeting, the rooftop at the Health and Wellness Center was named the Barker Family Terrace “in recognition of a lifetime of generous support” from Richard Barker ’57 P’03, P’05, who passed away earlier this year.
The Corporation’s Committee on Budget and Finance also approved the construction of the new Lassonde Innovation and Design Hub. Upon completion, the renovated hub will house the School of Engineering’s innovation and design pro-
UNIVERSITY NEWS
and columns or do whatever they want to do. But people in politics are going to say, ‘That’s really nice, but it doesn’t matter.’”
Young voters, who used to be a historically reliable bloc for Democrats, shifted rightward in the 2024 election. Now, Democrats are grappling with how to win them back.
To Clinton, the solution is clear: The party and its supporters must return to grassroots organization.
“I think we’ve gotten away from organizing by place — and of course we have to organize online, that is essential — but we need much more personal involvement, not just on campuses, but everywhere,” Clinton said.
How Americans can make a difference
During Clinton’s tenure as first lady, she championed health care reform, playing a large role in proposing the Health Security Act of 1993 that hoped to establish universal
grams. It will also contain active learning studios and research laboratory space.
The Academic Affairs Committee also discussed faculty searches and hiring with senior academic deans. Hiring will be based on metrics including the size and composition of the faculty and reappointment and tenure. The University welcomed 38 new faculty members this fall, The Herald previously reported.
The Corporation also approved the appointment of six faculty members to named chairs.
health care coverage.
But the plan was never passed — a fact she attributed to the work of special interest groups.
“Organized groups that know what they’re talking about will always have more influence,” Clinton said. But “even if they don’t know what they’re talking about — if they act like they know what they’re talking about — they can have outsized influence.”
Still, Clinton believes that incremental progress can be made toward reform if advocates just “stick with it.”
After the Health Security Act failed to pass, Clinton pivoted to supporting the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which was successfully established and still provides medical coverage to Americans to this day.
“Making change in American politics is supposed to be hard,” Clinton said, citing the separation of powers and the checks and balances embedded in the Constitution.
Dean of the College Ethan Pollock and Dean of the Faculty Leah VanWey also provided updates to Corporation members on their yearlong project to examine the ways Brown can best sustain quality undergraduate education.
The Corporation also welcomed eight new trustees — Preetha Basaviah ’91 MD’95, Ami Kuan Danoff P’23, Brickson Diamond ’93, Giammaria Giuliani P’28, Tanya Katerí Hernández ’86, Harry William Holt Jr. ’84 P’16, Daniel O’Keefe ’97 and Kathryn Thompson Ph.D.’23, Paxson
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“What we’re seeing with Trump, who is blowing through all of these constitutional and legal safeguards, is someone who wants to impose their own views on people.”
In her conversation with President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 during the lecture, Clinton discussed the value of building relationships with hostile foreign governments and how citizens can combat online misinformation and disinformation.
As the lecture closed, Clinton encouraged attendees to educate themselves and vote on their values to protect an important tenet of America’s political system: democracy.
“Reform it, yes. Modernize it, yes. Figure out how to better run it, yes. But don’t lose it, and most importantly, don’t give it up,” Clinton said at the event. “So, vote — for people who will look out for your interests, but also to protect our incredible democratic experiment.”
wrote. She added that Theresia Gouw ’90 P’28 and Sara Leppo Savage ’90 P’22 joined the Corporation’s Board of Fellows. Along with her husband, William Danoff P’23, Ami Kuan Danoff has been a frequent benefactor for new developments on Brown’s campus and in the Jewelry District, including Danoff Hall and the William A. and Ami Kuan Danoff Life Sciences Laboratories.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 27, 2025.
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Bitty & Beau’s Coffee opens, promoting inclusive employment
Chain employs people with intellectual and developmental disabilities
BY GIA SHIN STAFF WRITER
On Saturday, a crowd gathered on North Main Street for the official opening of the Providence location of Bitty & Beau’s Coffee, a cafe that strives to employ people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Baristas were introduced one by one, cheered on by family, friends and customers. Over 20 employees lined up against the shop’s brick wall, all excited to start work at the new Providence location.
“Jobs are so scarce for this population that people will drive 30, 45, 60 minutes just to get here, to have a job,” said Ben Wright, Bitty & Beau’s co-founder.
Ben Wright started the company in 2016 with his wife, Amy, naming it after their two youngest children, who were both born with Down syndrome. After opening its first shop in Wilmington, North Carolina, the chain has since grown to over a dozen locations across 11 states, employing more than 450 people nationwide.
Bitty & Beau’s aims to set their baristas up for future employment at other coffee shops and beyond. “We always say that the greatest compliment that anybody could pay us is not (that) ‘Your coffee is fantastic,’
even though it is,” Ben Wright said. “It’s to poach one of the employees.”
The grand opening of the Providence location aligned with National Disability Employment Awareness Month, which takes place in October and recognizes the contributions of workers with disabilities and promotes inclusive hiring.
The co-founding duo was motivated to open up the shop when they learned “80%
of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities cannot get a job in their own communities,” Ben Wright said in a speech shortly before the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Imagine if you said that about any other population.”
He added that the company’s goal is to create a place where its employees feel empowered. “They’ve spent a lot of their lives (with) people telling them they really can’t
do anything, so they believe it,” he said.
Ben Wright has seen baristas progress from calling out customers’ names when their orders are ready to thinking, “Hey, I think I could make a drink,” or, “I think I could be on the point of sale,” he added.
Inside the cafe and along the street, baristas in brown aprons chatted with customers queuing to try Bitty & Beau’s menu items, which include coffee, smoothies and
pastries. For some employees, this is their first-ever job, Ben Wright said.
Morgan Ferro, who recently joined the team, smiled as she greeted customers. “I’m excited,” she said in an interview with The Herald. Her mother, Kim Ferro, said she teared up when she saw the community come together to support the new business.
“This is day six now that we’ve been coming every single day (for) training, and Morgan’s a trooper for … giving it her all,” Kim Ferro said.
Among the customers was Joan Wright, who works as a life-skills teacher in Johnston. She said she came to support a fellow teacher’s daughter, who is an employee at the shop, but she also recognized a former student of hers among the baristas. “I’m very familiar with all kinds of students with all kinds of disabilities, (and) this is a wonderful experience and opportunity,” she said.
The event also excited local chef and restaurant influencer David Rivoli, a Johnson and Wales University graduate with over 50,000 followers on Instagram. Rivoli praised the cafe for being a space that could give employees financial stability and “more confidence in life.”
Joan Wright hopes the cafe “brings people together,” she said.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 27, 2025.
Median RI renter unable to affordably rent in any city, new report finds
Annual report shows how R.I. housing landscape impacts state’s economy
BY NATE BARKOW CONTRIBUTING WRITER
For the first time ever, Rhode Island renters earning the state’s median income are unable to affordably rent in every city and town in the state, according to a new report from HousingWorks RI, a local housing research organization.
Since 2005, the group has released a fact book every year examining how Rhode Island’s housing landscape is impacting statewide economic outcomes.
This year’s report found that Rhode Island’s rental prices are increasing at rate faster than that of any other New England state. Since 2018, the state’s home sales prices have increased 65%, while rental prices have grown by 60%. Wages, on the other hand, have only gone up 29%.
Additionally, one in three Rhode Island households are cost-burdened, meaning that they spend more than one-third of their income on housing, according to the report.
Rhode Island is “very dependent on the federal government for housing resources,” said HousingWorks RI Executive Director Brenda Clement in an interview with The Herald. Clement added that around 80% of the state’s housing expenditures come from the federal government.
She added that shifting federal policies may jeopardize Rhode Islanders’ ability to afford housing.
If realized, the federal government’s efforts to limit the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid would have a “really serious impact on
ROBINSON / HERALD
According to the HousingWorkRI report, the number of people experiencing homelessness decreased by 3% from 2024 to 2025.
people trying to not only attain housing, but (also) maintain their existing housing,” Clement said. “If they lose other assistance programs, then things become dicey very quickly.”
The report also found racial disparities in the extent to which housing issues impacted Rhode Islanders. Almost 40% of Hispanic homeowners and 35% of Black homeowners are cost-burdened, compared to only 24% of white homeowners and 19% of Asian homeowners.
Rents are high in the Ocean State because the demand for housing exceeds the supply, House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi (D-Warwick) wrote in an email to The Herald, adding that Rhode Island has been ranked last in the country for new housing
construction for several years.
This housing crisis has only worsened over time, according to Eric Hirsch, a sociology professor at Providence College and the director of the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project.
“Things have gotten demonstrably worse due to the Great Recession of 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic,” Hirsch wrote in an email to The Herald. “Those in the lowest income categories are facing unprecedented levels of homelessness if they can’t find a permanent doubled up situation with friends or family.”
According to the report, the number of people experiencing homelessness decreased 3% from 2024 to 2025. But the 2025 Point-in-Time Count, which mea-
sures the amount of people experiencing homelessness in a single night in January, found a “36% increase in the number of unsheltered chronically homeless Rhode Islanders,” the report reads.
Crossroads Rhode Island, an organization focused on addressing homelessness, has also seen an increase in demand for their housing resources.
“We served nearly 5,600 people last year, an unprecedented number in our 130-year history,” wrote Michelle Wilcox, the president and CEO of Crossroads, in an email to The Herald.
Despite these potentially discouraging numbers, Clement said localities like Providence have managed to make some big gains in housing affordability.
Compared to other cities in Rhode Island, Providence “understands the challenges around affordability and housing … a little bit better,” she said. “They’ve got a little bit more capacity for planning and for managing these projects and approving these projects.”
Last year, Rhode Islanders voted to approve a $120 million housing bond to fund the construction and redevelopment of housing.
In the next few months, $39 million of this funding will be released to “support homeownership initiatives, public development and efforts to accelerate housing production across the state,” wrote Emily Marshall, spokesperson for the Rhode Island Executive Office of Housing, in an email to The Herald.
But even this bond, Hirsch wrote, “is not going to put much of a dent in the affordability crisis.”
Instead, he believes Rhode Islanders need a larger state-driven commitment “to building subsidized project-based housing with project-based subsidies, accepting the public opinion for housing development and passing rent stabilization legislation proposed by the Providence City Council,” Hirsch wrote.
Gov. Dan McKee’s press secretary Olivia DaRocha agreed that the housing bond, by itself, cannot “fully resolve Rhode Island’s affordability challenges,” but that the funding “represents an unprecedented and critical step forward that will make a difference,” she said in a statement to The Herald.
Emphasizing the importance of addressing the housing crisis, Shekarchi wrote that “all positive outcomes start with a good, safe place to live.”
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 30, 2025.
SELINA KAO / HERALD
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EDUCATION
Hundreds of students, seven hours, two languages: One day at a bilingual school
The Herald observed one day in a dual-language immersion program
BY CIARA MEYER METRO EDITOR
On a brisk Friday morning in Lower South Providence, about 350 students flooded into the Nuestro Mundo Public Charter School. Around half of them began their days in classrooms where instruction is conducted entirely in Spanish, while the other half started their first classes in English. Every day, each student receives instruction in both languages.
Founded in 2021, the K-8 school is one of only two public Spanish dual-language immersion schools in Providence — a city in which about one in three students are native Spanish speakers.
On Oct. 24, The Herald visited Nuestro Mundo to observe a single day at the bilingual school.
a Spanish word meaning friendly or kind.
8:45 a.m. | At 8:45 a.m., the Spanish side moved into their science lesson. To kick off the class, students read aloud new vocabulary words like “clorofila,” “ecosistema” and “la planta.”
In a mix of Spanish and English, students discussed how different elements of ecosystems work together: Plants depend on the sun, and animals depend on plants.
Science hasn’t been too exciting recently, fifth grader Alanis Tejada complained in an interview with The Herald. “We just read about stuff,” she said. Last month, the class got to do an experiment where they got to “make rain” in small cups. But Tejada is holding out hope: Her teachers promised more experiments soon.
While Reyes only speaks Spanish during class time, the students follow the school’s language boundaries more loosely. When one student answered a question in English, Reyes gently redirected the class’s
7:45 a.m. | Before Nuestro Mundo welcomes students, Program Director Katie Cardamone and her administrative team arrive early to prepare for the day.
With 250 students split across nine grades and multiple buildings, running Nuestro Mundo takes a lot of “behindthe-scenes” logistics, Superintendent Danira Vasquez said in an interview with The Herald.
At the elementary level, each grade has two teachers: one “Spanish-side” teacher and one “English-side” teacher. Halfway through the day, students switch sides.
8:05 a.m. | Every day, Vasquez and Erroll Lomba, the school’s student support specialist, race each other to announce the arrival of the yellow school buses over the staff’s walkie-talkies. “That’s how we get the staff going,” Lomba said.
On Oct. 24, Vasquez got to her walkie-talkie first.
The leadership team rushed outside, just before a sea of uniform-clad students spilled onto the sidewalk. “What’s goin’ on, man?” Lomba asked a passing student, leaning down to match the child’s height.
“As a kid, (I) would walk into school pissed almost everyday,” Lomba said in an interview with The Herald. Now, as a school administrator, he wants kids who might feel the same way “to know that people are excited to see them.”
“I get to be the first person that greets them, who might make them laugh for the first time in the day. It matters,” he said.
8:25 a.m. | In neighboring rooms, two fifth-grade classes began instruction: one in Spanish, one in English. Both start each day with a morning meeting.
Spanish-side teacher Maryann Reyes put a prompt up on the board, asking students to write down two things they admire about a classmate. “He jumps like Michael Jordan,” one student shared about a peer. Another described a classmate as “amable,”
hood in particular to interact with the earth,” said parent volunteer Jenna Legault.
12:20 p.m. | Just after noon, the cafeteria buzzed with hungry fifth graders eager to hang out with their friends.
A group of fifth grade boys pounced on the opportunity to loudly repeat “6 7,” referencing a popular TikTok trend. Fifth grader Beckham Gibb sadly told The Herald that “6 7” has been banned from class.
“I’ve told them there’s a time and place. During the morning, go for it. Get it out and say your ‘6 7s,’” Reyes said.
Gibb’s friend group mostly spoke in English during lunch. But Gibb and other students said they often mix in Spanish when socializing.
“We speak both,” said Noah Perez, another fifth grade student. “Mostly English, but we speak both.”
12:40 p.m. | After some corralling by Lomba, the fifth graders headed outside for recess. Gibb and his friends played an intense game of tag, followed by several rounds of four-square. While Tejada sat at a picnic table chatting, fifth grader Biannet Frias Pacheco attempted the monkey bars.
The school has been undergoing extensive construction — they are building a gymnasium that borders the playground, as well as a middle school building and administrative spaces, according to Cardamone — that often prevents the students from having recess outside. During indoor recess, Gibb likes to play Jenga or shadow box, he said.
Sánchez López’s daughter and a Nuestro Mundo fifth grader, occasionally attends Fish Club. Her favorite part of the school day, she said, is simply “when I am with Mr. E.”
Sánchez Hurtado grew up speaking mainly Spanish at home and began attending Nuestro Mundo in August. Now, the fifth grader “switches naturally” between both languages, according to Sánchez López.
1:40 p.m. | When the school’s “enrichment” block began, the first fifth-grade cohort headed to art, and the second went to health class.
Pacheco said.
2:25 p.m. | Before dismissal, both the Spanish and English teachers hold an “intervention” period during which students complete individual work that is tailored “to what they need specifically,” said Reyes. 3:15 p.m. | At last, dismissal. In a gradeby-grade trickle, students filed out of the building onto the playground to meet their parents or onto the sidewalk to board buses home.
“My kids are happy when I pick them up from school,” said Ana Alvarado Perez, a Nuestro Mundo board member and the parent of fifth grader Noah and first grader Zoe.
While Gibb said Oct. 24 was a fairly typical day at school, excitement for the following week — “spirit week” — was already brewing. This past Monday, students dressed in red or orange to represent team “apple” or team “pumpkin.”
Tejada was most excited for Friday, Oct. 31, which will be “character day” at Nuestro Mundo. In her family, the “tradition is that we can’t dress up as anything scary” for Halloween, she said.
Honey Tejada, Alanis Tejada’s mom, is excited for spirit week, too. At Nuestro Mundo, “they celebrate a lot of different things,” and parents are often able to come in as volunteers, she said.
Looking ahead
attention by having another student repeat it in Spanish.
10:00 a.m. | On the English side, it was time for math.
At tables clustered throughout the room, students wrote improper fractions and mixed numbers on scrap paper. Teacher Paula Fernandes called on some fifth graders to scrawl their answers on whiteboards at the front of the classroom. In a corner of the room, a one-to-one paraprofessional and a special educator helped coach students through the problems.
All teachers at Nuestro Mundo are also trained to provide scaffolding to support students with lower levels of proficiency in either language, Cardamone said. The school has recently hired multilingual tutors and interventionists to help provide additional support.
“I use many visual aids, bilingual materials and routines that allow them to express ideas in either language before reaching full proficiency in both,” wrote Miguel Sánchez López, a Spanish language arts and social studies teacher, in a message to The Herald. “We also work a lot on building confidence — reminding them that being bilingual is a superpower, not a limitation.”
11:00 a.m. | While the fifth graders continued with their core subjects, Nuestro Mundo’s fourth graders were gardening in the backyard of a school building around the corner.
The students visit the garden at different times of the year based on their class curricula, said Dan Penengo, whom students call “Farmer Dan.” Penengo is a staffer at Gather Farm in Johnston who regularly comes in to help Nuestro Mundo students in the garden.
Recently, seventh graders visited the garden to learn about compost, while kindergarteners planted tulip bulbs.
“It’s really important to me that there’s an opportunity for kids in this neighbor-
1:00 p.m. | While the majority of fifth graders returned to their classrooms after recess, a select few made their way to “Fish Club” in the school’s main office. Lomba, affectionately known as “Mr. E” by Nuestro Mundo’s students, created the club on a whim after some students asked to help feed the fish in his office.
The club has become a favorite for several fifth graders. One girl added calcium to the fish tank, another checked off instructions on a to-do list and a third dropped food in — “just a pinch,” Lomba reminded them.
Luciana Sánchez Hurtado, who is
In art, the fifth graders made designs that older students will put on pots to auction off at a school fundraiser. Art Teacher Megan Tresca set guidelines: no Halloween or Christmas-themed art since “people of different religions celebrate different holidays.”
“And no ‘6 7,’” Tresca added, eliciting disappointed responses from the class.
Students settled on a variety of subjects, ranging from pumpkins to stick figures playing soccer to “Latinas 4 ever” scrawled next to a Dominican flag.
“I wish there was art everyday,” Frias
This December, Nuestro Mundo is up for its first charter renewal, five years after its opening.
During the renewal process, each school is primarily evaluated for its financial health, the strength of its board of directors and its academic performance, according to the Rhode Island Department of Education’s Charter School Performance Review System.
Cardamone feels confident about the school’s performance in the first two categories. But in test scores, “we’re not where we want to be,” she said.
The percentage of students who demonstrate science proficiency is still in the single digits, according to RIDE. Despite a 100% increase in standardized test scores last year, just one in five students was classified as having met or exceeded expectations.
To Cardamone, this can be partly attributed to differences between bilingual and monolingual education.
“Because we are teaching those biliteracy skills and teaching them to compare and contrast the languages and make cross-linguistic connections,” Cardamone said, “it takes like five years to get them to a place where they are proficient in both languages.”
Research shows that simultaneous language acquisition can initially slow English vocabulary development.
Despite this, interest in the school is at an all-time high. Last year, over 900 students applied to attend Nuestro Mundo, said Marybel Martinez, the school’s family liaison, enrollment coordinator and data manager. Through Nuestro Mundo’s lottery admissions system, only about 80 were admitted.
“This school is so young and is still growing,” said Lomba, noting that it still needs time to “fully bloom.”
“This neighborhood deserves a place that’s respecting of young people and the languages that they come with,” he added.
FOOTBALL
Football falls to Cornell in second overtime heartbreaker
Brown fell to 7th in the Ivy League rankings after a 30-24 loss
BY SAJIV MEHTA STAFF WRITER
With just over 5 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s match-up against Cornell (2-4, 1-2 Ivy), the Brown football team (3-3, 0-3 Ivy) had an 11-point lead, possession of the football and the first conference win of the 2025 campaign seemingly in their pockets.
Then, chaos came knocking.
Suddenly energized, Cornell bounded around their home field, bombarding the Bears on both offense and defense. Bruno attempted to keep pace, but Cornell’s onslaught pushed the contest to overtime — then second overtime — eventually handing the Bears their second defeat in a row.
“We had opportunities to finish the game … and we failed to do that,” Head Coach James Perry ’00 said in a post-game interview. “But it doesn’t take away from the fact that there were times, both offensively and defensively, (when) we played really well.”
After the game’s first 3 drives resulted in punts, the Big Red broke through the defensive skirmish. Less than 10 minutes into the first quarter, Cornell stampeded into Brown’s red zone. From there, a forceful 5-yard touchdown rush by running back Jordan Triplett –– his first of 3 that day ––created a 6-0 lead for the Big Red. A shanked point-after kick held Cornell’s advantage at 6.
But on Brown’s next possession, they unveiled their offensive game-plan: the long ball. Quarterback James Murphy ’27 delivered a 18-yard strike to Trevor Foley ’28 and then heaved a 34-yard high-arcing tight spiral to Ty Pezza ’26, bringing the Bears to the Cornell 15.
Just 3 plays later, Murphy returned to Pezza, who found a clean lane between the right hash and numbers and waltzed straight over the goal line. Kicker Drew Crabtree ’29 put the point-after through the uprights to give Brown a 7-6 lead.
After back-to-back scores, the next 3 drives culminated in punts. Brown’s offense floundered into a 3-and-out, and Cornell failed to move the ball 20 yards on either of their attempts.
But when Bruno’s offense took to the field with 10 minutes remaining in the second quarter, yards became like burnt-orange leaves in late-October Ithaca –– easy to come by.
Brown collected two first downs in two plays. On the next snap, Murphy launched a deep shot in Pezza’s direction, who was battling a Cornell defensive back 1-on-1. Leaping several feet higher than the disoriented cornerback, Pezza secured the pass, taking Bruno inside Cornell’s 10-yard line.
“We knew we were going to be able to take advantage of (deep passes),” Murphy said. Before the game, Murphy told his receivers that deep balls were their “opportunity to go out there and show what (they) can do.”
But once the Bears created a short field, their vigorous momentum quickly stalled. Cornell’s defensive front stuffed a firstdown rush by Matt Childs ’28 and sacked Murphy on third down. On fourth-and-long, Crabtree put a 38-yard field goal attempt just inside the left goal-post, bringing Brown to a 10-6 lead.
With momentum on their side, the defense stone-walled the Big Red at the goal line. On a fourth-and-1 from the 2-yard line, defensive end Jack Middleton ’28 broke through the line. Clearly under pressure, Cornell quarterback Garrett Bass-Sulpizio released an errant pass toward the end zone, which Nevaeh Gattis ’26 effortlessly batted down.
As the first half came to a close, the Bears launched a final offensive sprint. On first down, Murphy turned to the long ball yet again, hurling the football 50 yards to a double-covered Solomon Miller ’26. Reading the ball perfectly, Miller slowed and swiveled, ditching Cornell’s defenders and seizing the pass at the Big Red’s 48-yard line.
Despite advancing into the red zone, the Bears failed to finish the drive. Murphy forced a pass into tight coverage, where a Cornell cornerback tipped it into linebacker Keith Williams Jr.’s waiting gloves, effectively ending the quarter.
The second half started with a nightmare sequence for the Big Red. After earning just 1 first down, Bruno linebacker Sam Smith ’26 swatted a pass attempt on third-and-10. On fourth down, Cornell punter Will Buck slipped while receiving the snap and the ball bounced against his off-balance leg, skidding to the 40-yard line, where Brown defenders recovered it.
In 3 plays, the Bears rushed into the red zone. But there, the drive faltered, and after Crabtree’s 38-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right, the score remained 10-6.
“We did a really poor job in the red zone today,” Murphy said. “We weren’t able to punch the ball in and settled for field goals too many times.”
But Cornell’s offense struggled in the red zone as well. On a fourth-and-7 from Brown’s 10-yard line, the 6-minute drive ended with a hasty throw from Bass-Sulpizio that clattered harmlessly off the end zone’s turf.
Taking over, Bruno went right back to work, displaying their dynamic passing attack. An 18-yard throw to Pezza and 44yard shot to Miller highlighted the Bears’ movement toward the end zone.
Yet again, the red zone tormented Brown, forcing a field goal attempt from Cornell’s 7-yard line. Luckily for the Bears, a running-into-the-kicker penalty granted Bruno a fresh set of downs — an opportunity they did not waste. On the final quarter’s opening play, Childs took a direct snap at Cornell’s 1-yard line and pushed through the line of scrimmage to claim a 17-6 lead. Down by 11 points, the Big Red began to move with increasing urgency. But after tearing across the field, they found no answer for a dominant Bruno defense.
On second down, Ivy League sack leader Ike Odimegwu ’27 shook his blocker and took Bass-Sulpizio down for a loss of 7. On fourth-and-2, Bruno descended on BassSulpizio, pounding him to the ground and creating a turnover on downs.
If Brown scored again, they could put the game away. But with victory on the hori-
zon, the Bears started playing conservatively, straying from the tactics that had led them this far. This new strategy turned out to be a mistake –– 2 consecutive 3-and-outs set the stage for Cornell to get back in the game.
In only 90 seconds, Cornell moved to Brown’s 10-yard line, where Bass-Sulpizio scrambled downhill and dove into the end zone. After the Big Red converted their 2-point-conversion attempt, Brown’s advantage fell to 3.
Sensing the danger, Brown’s offense kicked into gear. A perfect 45-yard toss to an in-stride Miller sent the Bears to Cornell’s 34-yard line, and for a moment, it seemed as if Bruno would score, thereby dashing any hopes of a Big Red comeback.
But Cornell’s defense buckled up, forcing a fourth-and-6. With the chance to put the game away, Murphy looked to Pezza on a short in-route. But Cornell’s secondary wrapped him up before he could reach the line to gain.
As the final 2 minutes ticked, the Big Red channeled the moment’s electricity, marching 66 yards to set up a game-tying field goal attempt. With the game on the line, first-year kicker Jonathan Roost took the field. Showing no nerves, he drilled the kick, sending the game to overtime.
The rules of overtime give each team the opportunity to score from their opponent’s 25-yard line. Brown’s offense faced the challenge first.
On just the second play, Pezza created magic. Catching a short checkdown at the 25-yard line, he turned upfield, tiptoeing down the right sideline and beating the Big Red to the goal line.
Determined not to be outplayed, Cornell responded. Facing a third-and-long, BassSulpizio found a soft spot in the defense, throwing a bullet to leaping tight end Ryder Kurtz. From the 2-yard line, Triplett punched it in –– tie game.
Headed to second overtime, Cornell’s offense stepped up first. In a repeat of the previous drive, the Big Red handed the ball to Triplett at the goal line. From the 1-yard line, he punched it in.
But Brown’s defense had a small victory: They stopped Cornell’s mandatory 2-point conversion attempt. If Bruno’s offense managed to score a touchdown and convert for 2, they would hold off the Big Red.
Such were the stakes when Brown was facing a fourth-and-1 at Cornell’s 5. Wasting no time, Childs took a direct snap with aspirations of his earlier touchdown. This time, though, the Big Red were ready. The defensive front assailed Bruno’s offensive line, thrusting Childs to the ground behind the line-to-gain to triumph in the contest.
Jubilant at their heroic comeback, the Big Red stormed the field.
Reflecting on the draining loss, Murphy said, “I know that this group of guys will play their best football the last four games of the season. (We have to) learn from what happened today ... we can’t feel sorry for ourselves.”
Brown will look to shake off their disappointment at Penn (4-2, 2-1) Friday night. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 27, 2025.
Brown Skiing forms recreational team to facilitate weekend trips
The team’s captains believe 100 students will join the club
BY ALICE XIE SENIOR STAFF WRITER
For students looking to hit the slopes this spring, Brown Skiing is establishing a new recreational ski team that will coordinate lodging and transportation for all students who join.
Currently, Brown only has a small competitive racing team of around 15 students, and prospective members must complete a series of tryouts to earn a spot, according to Brown Skiing co-captain Jordan Stornelli ’26. While the competitive ski team is “very structured” in terms of lifting and training, the recreational team will be focused on having fun and getting students on the mountain, Stornelli said. All students will be eligible for the recreational team.
According to the organization’s interest form, members of the team have to pay annual dues ranging between $200 and $500 to help cover costs associated with the trips.
“We’ve always known that there are a lot of people who want to ski or even snowboard (at Brown), and we don’t have anything to offer them, so it just felt like this might be a thing that people were in-
terested in,” Stornelli said.
Luca Gwathmey ’28, a lifelong snowboarder, said he was previously “underwhelmed” by the snowboarding opportunities at Brown. But as soon as he found
out about the upcoming creation of the recreational team, he got involved.
Based on student sign-ups and interest, Brown Skiing co-captain Alexander Ziegler ’27 said he expects about 100 students to join the recreational team. To make running trips easier, the Brown Skiing captains are looking to fill leadership positions specifically for the recreational team, according to co-captain Daniel North ’26.
In establishing the team, Ziegler hopes to grow the skiing community at Brown.
There are “a lot of students at Brown who just don’t have a lot of experience either with skiing or with planning ski trips, and so we want to use our experience and our resources to make that easier for students,” Ziegler said.
The captains of the ski team also hope to “bring winter sports to underrepresented minorities, because there’s kind of a stereotype that it’s not for” those groups, Stornelli said. By encouraging all students to attend trips, the ski team hopes to “demystify the skiing space.”
According to the organization’s interest form, members of the team have to pay annual dues ranging between $200 and $500 to help cover costs associated with the trips. The team is unable to offer financial aid for the dues this year, the form states. Eashan Iyer ’28, who signed up to be a part of the recreational team, cited community among his main reasons for joining. Because the recreational team doesn’t race competitively, the team is “more so about going to these different mountains and making friends with the people there and having a good time,” Iyer said. Especially in a season when many sports are on hiatus, the ski team hopes to “lift the spirits of the people during the cold and gloomy winter times,” North said. “We’re trying to push people to go outside, even when it’s really cold, and have a great time.”
30, 2025.
COURTESY OF ALEXANDER ZIEGLER
COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS
The Bears facing off against the Big Red on Saturday. After a back-and-forth in the fourth quarter led to a double overtime and eventual loss, Brown was handed its third loss in the Ivy League.
ICE HOCKEY
Women’s ice hockey falls 2-4 to Princeton in Ivy opener
Despite back-and-forth goals, Bears conceded two in final period
BY RAHUL SAMEER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
On Friday night in the Meehan Auditorium, the women’s ice hockey team (3-1, 1-1 ECAC) faced Princeton (1-3, 1-1 ECAC) in their first Ivy match of the season. After an intense battle, Brown came up short, losing 2-4 and catapulting Princeton ahead in the rankings.
Brown and Princeton were neck-andneck in the first period, with the Tigers barely edging Bruno out 9-8 in shots on goal. But throughout the latter two periods, Princeton’s offense pulled away, dominating Brown 13-6 and 13-10 in shots on goal, respectively.
Despite the loss, Head Coach Melanie Ruzzi felt that the team “executed much of our game plan,” she wrote in an email to The Herald.
“Ultimately Princeton made one more play than we did,” Ruzzi added.
The game opened with a flurry of shots. Less than 30 seconds into the match, Jade Iginla ’26 stole the puck and dashed toward the Princeton goal. She fired the first shot of the game, with the puck straying wide left. Reclaiming possession, Princeton’s Hannah Fetterolf streaked down the left flank of Brown’s goal and launched at close range, but Brown goalkeeper Rory Edwards ’27 blocked the shot.
Over the next 10 minutes, the two teams were deadlocked, but the game was far from passive. They racked up a combined total of 18 attempted shots, with
Bruno taking 10 of them.
Despite Bruno’s slight edge in aggressive plays, disaster struck just over halfway into the first period. After an unsuccessful Brown attack, Princeton’s Emerson O’Leary seized the puck from behind her own goal. Feinting to the side, she darted past Monique Lyons ’28 and passed to Megan Healy, who stumbled and lost control over the puck. In the resulting scramble, the Tigers’ Issy Wunder snatched it and slammed the puck into the net from close range, marking the first goal of the game.
But Brown recovered swiftly. With just over 2 minutes remaining in the period, Princeton’s Mackenzie Alexander attempted to score, but Lyons stood in her way. Instead of simply deflecting it, she charged up the rink, with three Tigers in hot pursuit. Princeton chased her to no avail, and as Lyons drifted past the goal, she cleanly knocked the puck in, bringing the intense match to a tie.
An invaluable asset to the team, Lyons finished last year’s regular season ranked second in the country in goals per game among first-year players. She was also named to the All-USCHO Rookie Team.
Ruzzi noted that Lyons “made big plays at both ends of the ice” and hopes “that USA Hockey is taking notice of her.”
Lyons attributed her successful goal to the team’s rigorous preparation, which “made all the difference,” she wrote in an email to The Herald.
“During the game I knew exactly where to be, read the play, blocked the shot and used my speed to beat the Princeton players for a breakaway,” Lyons added.
With the score tied going into the second period, Brown kept the momentum
The
in preparation for a defensive-zone
going, winning 3 of the 5 faceoffs that took place during the first 4 minutes. Princeton maintained a strong defense, preventing Brown from capitalizing on these opportunities.
Four minutes into the period, Princeton saw an opportunity to take back control of the game. For the next 30 seconds, Princeton hammered away at Bruno’s defense, taking three shots. As Edwards fell to her knees in an effort to block Princeton’s constant stream of shots, she left a critical opening which O’Leary snuck the puck through, earning the Tigers’ second goal of the game.
Down by 1, the Bears seized a golden opportunity when Princeton’s Jane Kuehl was sent to the penalty box for 2 minutes due to roughing. Rosie Klein soon followed due to interference. With a twoman advantage, Bruno’s Victoria Damiani ’28 charged toward the goal, flinging the puck but narrowly missing to the left. Iginla recovered the puck for the Bears, and after
SELENA KAO / HERALD
Despite the
being chased out of the goal radius, set up a beautiful assist to Margot Norehad ’27.
“I didn’t hesitate when Jade passed me the puck,” Norehad wrote in an email to The Herald. “I was just in the mental state of, ‘Ok, I am scoring this.’” Norehad was positioned right in front of the goal, and in spite of the stoic line of Tigers in front of her, she slammed the puck into the net, leveling the score at 2-2.
With the teams deadlocked going into the final period, the stakes were high. In the first 9 minutes, the Bears appeared to be marginally more dominant than Princeton, taking 9 of the 14 shots — yet this would change in a matter of moments as Princeton’s Katherine Khramtsov defended an attempt to score by Miranda Calderone ’27 and, deftly sweeping the puck with her stick, raced toward Brown’s goal.
As Khramtsov rushed down the rink, her teammate Kuehl kept pace with her. Khramtsov headed to the left and knocked the puck right into Kuehl’s path as she
dashed toward the goal. In the blink of an eye, Kuehl had struck the puck past Edwards, catapulting Princeton into a 3-2 lead.
For the rest of the game, Bruno struggled to match Princeton’s score for a third time, even after taking 8 consecutive shots in just the last 2 minutes. But any hopes of Brown making a comeback were dashed when, with just 17 seconds left on the clock, Princeton scored their fourth and final goal on an empty net, created during Brown’s attempt to increase their offensive numbers.
The final score rested at 2-4.
The Tigers “did a great job on capitalizing on (Brown’s) defensive coverage mistakes,” Lyons wrote in a message to The Herald. She added that Princeton’s “defensemen are active all over the ice,” making them a tough team to contend with.
While Bruno’s offensive tactics were able to generate several “threatening chances,” Ruzzi explained that the team will aim to improve at their “coverage in extended defensive zone shifts.”
Just a day after the tough loss, Brown bounced back against Quinnipiac, defeating the Bobcats 1-0 with a goal by India McDadi ’26 sealed the game and improved the Bears’ ECAC standings.
Brown will travel to New York to face Colgate on Halloween. The next day, the Bears will take on Cornell in Ithaca.
Looking ahead to the Bears’ next match, Ruzzi said that “the team will be ready to go.” Norehad echoed this sentiment, adding that Bruno would head into their next game “with a new start, new score and an open mind.”
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 27, 2025.
Women’s soccer rises to No. 2 in Ivy League with win against Cornell
BY MILES MONROE SENIOR STAFF WRITER
On Saturday afternoon in Ithaca, the women’s soccer team (9-2-4, 3-1-2 Ivy) dominated Cornell (5-6-4, 2-4) in a highly-anticipated, playoff-implicated 2-0 victory.
With the win, the Bears rose to second place in the Ivy League. This coming Saturday’s match against No. 1 Princeton will be the Bears’ final chance to claim the top seed in the Ivy League Tournament.
The team entered the weekend after a 2-2 draw against Harvard (5-5-3, 3-2-1) on Oct. 18 left Bruno barely hanging onto fourth place — the final qualifying spot for the Ivy tournament. But in just one match, the Bears turned their luck around.
“The team, as well as the coaching staff, hold each other to a standard that we know we are capable of each and every day,” wrote Addison Etter ’29 in an email to The Herald. Etter made her first career start as goalkeeper on Saturday.
Despite the pressure to come home with a win this weekend, Bruno looked as calm, cohesive and skillful as ever. In the early stretches of the game, Brown dominated possession, ruthlessly hounding Cornell’s defense for any cracks.
Bruno’s first major chance came just 8 minutes into the match, when a beautiful ball to 2024 First Team All-Ivy midfielder Joy Okonye ’27 sailed through the defensive
line. Although Okonye’s shot was deflected out, it earned Brown’s third corner kick in the first 9 minutes.
While the Bruno offense continued to penetrate Cornell’s side of the field, Brown held strong on the defensive half.
Supported by the team’s strong back line, Etter only faced 2 shots on goal in the entire first half — both of which she saved.
“I could be confident stepping into the net knowing I had the confidence of my team in front of me,” Etter wrote. “Even though it was my first full 90 minutes, the coaching staff made sure I felt prepared, and I am grateful for their support and belief in my ability to step in net for this team.”
The scoreboard remained empty throughout most of the first half, but in
the 30th minute, the Bears broke through. Nadja Meite ’28 lofted a gorgeous ball from just past midfield to Angelina Vargas ’27, who received it near the right side of the box. Without a second to waste, Vargas passed the ball across the face of the net to a wide-open Okonye, who scored her seventh goal of the year.
Okonye now stands in first place in goals scored in the Ivy League, tied with Naya Cardoza ’26 and Dartmouth’s Stephanie Lathrop. She also ranks first in the conference in points and is tied for first in assists.
Energized by their 1-0 lead, the Bears kept the momentum going. Not even 7 minutes after Okonye’s score, Audrey Lam ’27 set up to take the team’s fifth corner kick
in the first half. She sailed a beautiful ball into the box — ensuing immediate chaos.
Scrambling in front of the net, both teams fought desperately for possession until the ball bounced off the heads of both teams’ players and fell to the feet of Corine Gregory ’27. Mere feet from the goal, Gregory executed the tap-in to claim a 2-0 lead for Brown going into halftime.
“I’m really excited for this team and proud that we’ve put ourselves in a position to compete for the Ivy League Championship,” Head Coach Kia McNeill told Brown Athletics after the game. “I’ve said it all season, but this group is special, and I want to keep coaching them as long as possible.”
Entering the second half, Cornell’s players fought with everything they had, leveraging a surge of energy in an attempt to turn the game on its head.
“Cornell is a dangerous team, and with both teams fighting to keep their postseason hopes alive, these are never easy games to play in,” McNeill said.
Less than 1 minute into the second half, the Big Red fired its first corner kick of the match, a dangerous shot that Etter narrowly managed to scrape off the goal line. Even though the scoreboard still showed a Bruno advantage, it felt as though Cornell was the one in charge.
“Etter was tremendous in goal,” McNeill said. “She handled a lot of set pieces and service into the box really well. We knew that was one of Cornell’s strengths, and her calmness and composure in (goal) helped us manage those moments effectively.”
In the 61st minute, Cornell finally found
the back of the net. Expertly converting a free kick, the Big Red’s Mariana Kessinger crossed the ball into the box, where a header found the back of the net. But before Cornell could celebrate, the referees called the goal back due to an offsides penalty. From there, Brown fortified its defensive end, preserving the Bruno lead for the remainder of the match.
Despite outshooting the Bears 10-4 in the second half, Cornell was unable to get past Etter, who delivered 5 incredible saves in the half to record a shutout in her first collegiate start.
“I’m really happy with the result and the way the team played today,” McNeill said. “It wasn’t always pretty, but we grinded it out to get the win and the shutout.”
When the horn sounded with the final score of 2-0, Brown was one huge step closer to clinching a spot at the Ivy tournament.
Brown will face No. 1 Princeton (6-5-3, 4-2) at home this Saturday at 1 p.m. for the team’s final regular season game. With a win, Brown could claim the top seed in the Ivy League as they head into the Ivy tournament.
“Coming off an important win at Cornell, I think the team is excited to get into training this weekend and prepare full force ahead to put up a fight and great performance against the Tigers,” Etter said. “We definitely have the talent to do well in the Ivy tournament and beyond … but all we are focusing on is one game at a time.”
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 30, 2025.
Bears huddle
faceoff.
4-2 loss, Head Coach Melanie Ruzzi was happy with the team’s performance.
The Bears are in prime position to qualify for the Ivy League Tournament
COURTESY OF JAMIE FIEDOREK VIA BROWN ATHLETICS
Joy Okonye ’27 sets up for a kick. Brown’s final score of 2-0 against Cornell pushes the team closer to securing their spot in the 2025 Ivy League Championship.
Dear Readers,
This past weekend, I flew home to California. I originally planned to fly back for a quick trip to attend the wedding of one of my childhood friends, who I’ve known for almost two decades. But, I ended up staying an extra couple days to accompany my mother through a scary surgery. Over the quick span of just a few days, I witnessed the beauty of everlasting love through a joyous celebration, before spending hours in a hospital waiting room, anxiously reflecting on the fragility of life. I can easily say it was an eventful weekend filled with duality—excitement and fear, all the good and all the bad.
A lot of this weekend was spent thinking about time. At the wedding, my friends and I talked about how weird your 20s are, watching your friends move through completely different stages of life and comparing timelines, always wondering if you’re moving too fast or too slow. Then, waiting rooms are never fun. Time seems to move impossibly slowly there, and all you can do is sit helplessly and twiddle your thumbs…so, you end up spending the time sitting and pondering—about how much you cherish the person you’re there waiting for, the time you’ve spent with them so far, and how you want to make the most of every moment you have with them moving forward. While time in the waiting room may be moving like molasses, it dawns on you how time is also fleeting.
This week, our writers are also reflecting on how they spend their time and the times we live in today. In Feature, Ivy discusses her fascination with utopia and contrasts it with the dystopias we currently inhabit. In Narrative, Christina shares memories of traveling by car and train over the years, while
Nina steps out of her body for a discussion on loneliness and solitude. In Arts & Culture, Chelsea talks about poet Ada Limón and the gendered portrayals of how we love in literature. Alternatively, Sofie shares her thoughts on cutting toxic people from your life, inspired by the song, “Cross You Out.” As a RUE student myself, I have to give a special shoutout to this week’s Lifestyle writers and fellow RUE students, Elaine and Merissa! Elaine takes us along on her tumultuous knitting journey, while Merissa tells how a recent haircut led to both self-reflection and a reflection on societal standards of what defines ‘pretty.’ After reading all of these wonderful introspective pieces, make sure to check out Dolma’s fall-themed crossword and Alayna’s interactive ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ post-pourri article to help you decide how to spend your Halloween night!
When big life events come our way, we tend to do a lot of reflecting—on time spent and all the ways we want to spend our time moving forward. Let this be your (and my) reminder to slow down, take a deep breath, and appreciate where you’re at. There is no need to compare timelines with your peers and stress about whether or not you’re on the right track. Instead, just try to cherish the time you have with your friends and family, and make the most of every experience. And, of course, if you’re looking for another great way to spend your time, make sure to read this week’s edition of post-.
Alayna Chen on all-hallow's eve 17
“I’m sorry, I’m the weakest link.”
“His mouth irritates me.”
Couples Costumes
1. Cher from Clueless and lowkey her brother???
2. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande—just their fingies
3. Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci in Conclave
4. Mama and a Girl Behind YOU
5. Ball and chain
6. John Updike and John Downdike
7. The Trolley Problem if you pull the lever and The Trolley Problem if you don’t
8. Pomegranate and grief
9. The lion and the lioness who do not concern themselves with each other (flop marriage)
10. 2/3 Challengers (or all 3 idk) (or 4 with the ball)
“ Here’s what I’ve jotted down so far as tenets of American mythology: the open road, outlaws à la Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the anxiety and appeal of motion, the salt flats in Utah, dustred handprints on the walls of a dried and ancient canyon, and dangerous nostalgia for a nonexistent better time.”
— AJ Wu, “american myth in motion”
— Nélari Figueroa-Torres, “recording scriptures of glory” 10.26.23 5
“When my grandma sits down and tells me something from her past it feels like a charm to add to my own life bracelet. Like the ones we used to make with glass beads, Grandma, do you remember? When we sat on your heavily mattressed four-poster bed with the black columns, counted beads to string together, and measured our wrists with a corner store fishing line. ”
by Dolma Arow illustrated by Christina xu
1. Color to wear for Breast Cancer Awareness Month
4. Time period in history
5. Activity with pumpkin
8. Soothe a baby
9. Mine, not yours
1. Tree nut used in pies
2. Stands for retirement account in the USA
3. Prefix that can mean sleep/ numbness
6. To promise
7. Long, long time EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
COPY
Copy
LAYOUT
Layout
James Farrington
Tiffany Tsan
SOCIAL
OPINIONS
VP Guterl: Students can shape Brown’s future by completing the campus climate survey
In the coming months, a committee of faculty, staff and students will draft an important framework for the University’s future — one which will define a campus where every member of our community enjoys the benefits of opportunity, belonging and access, and where we collectively value and respect each individual’s contributions to our campus. As the chair of this Ad Hoc Committee on Diversity and Inclusion, I know that our success depends on hearing from University stakeholders about what is working well, what is not and where there is hope for a better Brown. I also know that the student campus climate survey released Tuesday — a part of the comprehensive 2025-26 campus climate survey — is our very best chance to hear from students across all degree programs.
Though I acknowledge that University committees might not be the most exciting topic for most students, this committee should be different. The committee is taking on the responsibility of fostering a more inclusive campus with fierce determination, committed to cultivating a truer sense of belonging at Brown in response to a world off College Hill that is often cruel. We want better for students here and for every member of our community. The results of this inquiry will inform a series of discussions and focus groups we will host with the Brown community in the spring, which will shape our next plan for diversity and inclusion.
Any framework is only as good as its materials. To make a good plan, the University needs to hear from candid voices, because positive change can only
come from reckoning with facts. From our students, we want to know where they find joy and where they take solace. We want to know where students turn for help in a moment of grave need. We want to know where students are comfortable speaking boldly and
We need to measure how many feel lonely and isolated, set apart and adrift. We desperately want Brown to be a place where every student can walk into a classroom and feel both heard and seen by their professor, or enter a residence hall and be enveloped by
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The University creates a new framework for diversity and inclusion only once a decade, so students taking this year’s campus climate survey have a rare opportunity to shape Brown’s next chapter at a time when so many are gravely concerned about the future.
acting with confidence, and where our community sustains imagination and curiosity.
But we also need to know how many of our students have ever felt the sting of bigotry or exclusion. We must understand how social media conversations wound us, individually and collectively. We have to learn where our students feel unwelcome.
the warmth of peers. We need to know if that isn’t happening so that we can address it. Students know best what it means to belong, and they know best where we fall short. I earnestly hope they will share what they know because we need to understand where we fail so that we can become better together.
Why does this matter? Because we know that it is right, and that we owe it to each other. Because we know that when we leverage our collective strength, it is certain that academic discovery, collaboration and invention will follow. Because by thoughtfully and intentionally attending to the needs of everyone, we ensure that we are preparing our community for a life of kindness, commitment, teamwork and shared imagination — curricular and co-curricular lessons we can only complete in concert.
As students open their inboxes this week to find a link to anonymously complete the survey, it’s beyond important that they complete it. The University creates a new framework for diversity and inclusion only once a decade, so students taking this year’s campus climate survey have a rare opportunity to shape Brown’s next chapter at a time when so many are gravely concerned about the future.
Six minutes is all it takes. Six minutes to play a role in shaping the environment for our campus. Six minutes to compel us to do better. Six minutes to capture the University’s attention and influence change.
I urge all students to take the survey seriously so that we can do right by our community.
Matthew Guterl is vice president for diversity and inclusion and chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Diversity and Inclusion. He can be reached at matthew_guterl@brown.edu. Please send responses to this op-ed to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
Vishwakarma ’29: If you doomscroll, AI should be your wake-up call
Every generation struggles with new technology. When innovation promises to streamline our lives, there are always critics bemoaning the loss of the good old days. Ten years after Google search was released, The Atlantic’s Nicholas Carr asked, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Carr observed that his attention span as a professional writer was declining, which he attributed to repeated Googling. Where in the past, Carr could spend hours reading complicated prose, now he could only truly focus on a handful of pages of academic text at a time. Today’s Brunonians may find even Carr’s three-page reading capacity impressive. Just like Carr was addicted to the answers Google gave him, we are addicted to the entertainment Instagram and TikTok provide us. This may have devastating consequences for our generation.
A fifth of first-year students surveyed said they use AI to streamline their academic work, even when not permitted to do so. Furthermore, the vast majority of us spend over three hours of free time per day on a screen. Of social media platforms, Instagram and TikTok reign supreme.
Surprisingly, despite this overwhelmingly digital lifestyle, over half of first-year students also have a somewhat negative or very negative opinion of the increasing prevalence of generative AI. When it comes to social media, this mistrust is warranted due to the ease with which misinformation spreads with the help of deepfakes. This skepticism has to be channelled into healthier screen time habits before we are knee-deep in an artificial reality we
can’t even recognize.
Last week, a friend showed me an Instagram reel of a figure skater performing a triple axel. It was impressive but uncanny — the skater’s wrist was twisted back at an unnatural angle and her uniform displayed the name of a nonexistent country. Still, if he hadn’t pointed out that the video was AI-generated and posted by an automated account with thousands of similarly generated reels, I would never have noticed the flaws in the three seconds I spent before swiping to the next video.
While I’m unlikely to be harmed by clips of figure skating tricks, what worries me is AI’s improvements in both ease of use and its accurate replication of human likeness. Although deepfakes have been around for almost a decade, generating them was no easy task. Now, anyone can create these videos at an incredible scale with OpenAI’s Sora 2 and similar tools. Because AI models are trained on videos and content that already exist on the internet, these generated videos often repeat and amplify the same darkness — racism and sexism under the guise of entertainment — which poisons the web.
AI’s function as a mirror for human bias has already proved dangerous, and even deadly. Adam Raine, a teenager using ChatGPT as a therapist, died by suicide after confiding in the chatbot instead of a human support network. The technology’s tendency to affirm the user’s inputs fails the most vulnerable in our society — including young people who are still finding their values, responses to challenges and sense of purpose in life. Imagine a
“ “
If we don’t stop now, when it’s still possible to discern which videos are human-made and which are computer-generated, we’ll soon become addicted to an increasingly artificial reality.
child scrolling on Sora 2, OpenAI’s entirely AI-generated social media app, and viewing the exact videos they ask for — entering a rabbit hole of their own creation.
Intentional disinformation also spreads more easily when supercharged with generative AI. In CSCI 0150: “Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming and Computer Science,” students are shown examples of political campaigns conducted with AI generated content, such as the infamous Obama deepfakes. When political figures malign their adversaries on the national stage, less informed social media users may be easily convinced by the argumentative tone and realistic visuals. Our elderly relatives are especially vulnerable to this kind of misinformation, but that doesn’t mean college students won’t fall for it.
If you doomscroll, consider just how slippery this slope is. We all know how hard a habit social media usage is to break, even without advanced software designed to create content tailored to our
interests, aspirations and fears. If we don’t stop now, when it’s still possible to discern which videos are human-made and which are computer-generated, we’ll soon become addicted to an increasingly artificial reality.
As a Brown student, you likely value intentionality in the things you consume and came here looking for that same trait in others. So why use your taste, your cultural knowledge and your hardearned writing and reading skills to let a statistical model do the living for you? When the time comes, imagine sitting down after a long day of class and opening your phone to events which never happened created by machines that have never felt. On that day, will you recognize what you lost?
Arya Vishwakarma ’29 can be reached at arya_vishwakarma@brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
KENDRA EASTEP / HERALD
Berkwits ’29: When the nation’s politics are ‘America First,’ the news we read shouldn’t be
Moments after he was sworn into office in 2017, President Trump stated that “from this day forward, it’s going to be only America first.”
“America First” — a pithy, decisive and arguably narcissistic phrase — helped define Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. And this January, as his second term began, he plowed forward even more forcefully with this same public-facing ideal — the American nation must, and will, come before all else. Through this rhetoric, the Trump administration is pitting the American people against the rest of the world, encouraging us to lose our compassion for the citizens of other nations. However, our ignorance doesn’t prevent our policies from shaping lives overseas. In fact, this attitude of apathy is lethal. To combat this impeding sentiment of callousness, we should grip fiercely onto universal respect— specifically by consuming global news.
The America First ideal existed long before President Trump embraced it. The slogan first gained national prominence in 1915 under former President
Woodrow Wilson, but grew in the 1920s as numerous nativist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, used the phrase to push for policies opposing immigration. In 1940, the America First Committee was established in an effort to promote isolationism and keep the U.S. out of World War II. One notorious speech given by AFC spokesperson Charles Lindbergh stated that the Jews, whose “greatest danger to this country lies in their large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio and our government,” were pressing the nation towards war, and that these “natural passions and prejudices … (will) lead our country to destruction.” America First has historically been a vehicle for fascist agendas, encouraging extreme nationalism and consequently diverting attention away from foreign affairs. Its resurgence should be an alarm for us all.
In an era where political figures are weaponizing our identity, we must make a concerted effort to stay educated and empathetic towards events that do not
MAX ROBINSON / HERALD
directly involve us. We — the people, the citizens, the students — exist under many spheres of news consumption: The Herald caters to us as Brunonians and
ticles by world leaders and politicians. There are many global news resources subsidized or sourced by the University — all we need to do is use them.
“ “
We
must cultivate a personal stake in the greater global public, a larger, yet essential part of each of our identities.
Rhode Island residents, and the New York Times caters to us as Americans. But, we must cultivate a personal stake in the greater global public, a larger, yet essential part of each of our identities. We can take the first step towards this lofty goal by following global news.
Global news spans anywhere from political uprisings and environmental advances to arts and culture. It is incredibly diverse, yet highly applicable to the social and political trends we see in our cities, states and nation. To educate oneself about the triumphs, suffering, advances or adversities of other nations is to give it magnitude, which can lead to not only financial or material support, but also celebrate, condole or validate the experiences and events depicted.
And, global news is abundant. While numerous free global news outlets exist, such as the BBC, Brown students, faculty and staff are also provided free access to Foreign Affairs, as well as full article and text access to the Economist through the Brown Library. Additionally, for those interested in news curated by the Brown undergraduate community, the Brown Journal of World Affairs publishes biannual issues featuring ar-
To endure the rest of Trump’s second term, we must cultivate radical compassion. In an interview a couple of weeks after being sworn in as Vice President, JD Vance stated that “you love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country and then, after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world.” Let us use this as a wakeup call to the danger of the federal government’s harmful rhetoric. Let us remember that love is not mutually exclusive. Empathy should not reach capacity. Care can extend from our next-door neighbors to our peers across the globe. As American citizens we must combat this sentiment by learning about others with fervency. May we read with the hope of rebuilding bridges, sensitivity and humanity.
Talia Berkwits ’29 can be reached at talia_berkwits@ brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
Editorial: DPS mismanagement is a threat to public safety
Earlier this year, officers described the work culture of Brown’s Department of Public Safety as “toxic” and “dangerous.” After two recent votes of no confidence from both the Brown University Police Sergeants Union and the Brown University Security Patrolperson’s Association, it is clear that Police Chief Rodney Chatman and Deputy Chief John Vinson have failed to meaningfully respond to these concerns.
Brown has an obligation to ensure all members of its community — including those tasked with protecting it — are safe. Yet, the University has not made any definitive statement on how it will resolve this internal discontent. Instead, it has blankly reiterated its commitment to student safety while failing to address the concerns expressed. We demand action, not another round of empty assurances.
DPS leadership’s shortcomings actively put students at risk. Twice in recent years, the department has mishandled threats to campus safety. In 2023, the DPS did not adequately respond to a shooting threat by a former football coach. In 2021, when responding to a bomb threat, the DPS took
nearly an hour to call a Providence Police Department K-9 unit in to investigate. These blatant violations of the department’s standard operating procedure would have put community members in danger if the threats had been actualized.
Chatman has defended the department’s response to these threats by claiming that officers are adequately equipped to handle such incidents on campus. But based on the unions’ recent votes of no confidence, this appears not to be the case.
The Patrolperson’s Association also alleges that the DPS leadership has prioritized filling administrative positions while cutting back on deployed officers. The union says these actions strain “the department’s ability to effectively serve the Brown University community.”
The Police Sergeants Union claims that policies and actions by Chatman and Vinson have jeopardized both public safety and sergeants’ well-being. The Herald previously reported that Vinson has frequently been described as “vindictive” and a “micromanager,” and that his attitude toward employees creates tension in the workplace.
Brown has an obligation to ensure all members of its community — including those tasked with protecting it — are safe. Yet, the University has not made any definitive statement on how it will resolve this internal discontent.
Chatman’s response to sexual harassment allegations made against Sergeant Kevin Pepere has been similarly inadequate. After Pepere made inappropriate advances toward a colleague, the department failed to separate the alleged victim from her harasser in work environments, The Herald previously reported. When the leaders of the department tasked with keeping our campus safe fail to protect their own employees, how can students feel anything but vulnerable? In a moment when trust is already waning in the University’s ability to adequately address cases of sexual misconduct, this mishandled situation only increases feelings of doubt. Brown should do all it can to ensure community members feel safe on campus. Instead, a lack of urgency has characterized the University’s responses. University Spokesperson Brian Clark previously told The Herald that “Brown takes any reports of harassment and discrimination very seriously.” Yet public safety officers still quit due to a toxic work environment. Clark also wrote that when investigating claims of misconduct, Brown takes “all necessary steps to ensure the independence and integrity necessary to ensure that findings are objective.” Yet the University outsourced its investi-
gations of the department to a consultancy allegedly affiliated with Chatman. He further wrote that “Brown DPS is deeply committed to protecting the safety of students, faculty, staff and campus visitors.” Yet both votes of no confidence alleged that they have failed to do so.
The University is failing in its obligation to provide all members of the community a safe environment to work and learn. Chatman and Vinson have lost the trust of their officers — and now, the editorial page board. Brown must move beyond opaque statements and half-hearted investigations and instead take decisive action to restore safety and integrity to the DPS.
Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board, and its views are separate from those of The Herald’s newsroom and the 135th Editorial Board, which leads the paper. A majority of the editorial page board voted in favor of this piece. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
KAIA YALAMANCHILI / HERALD
ARTS & CULTURE
REVIEW
You might not regret watching ‘Regretting You’
The film is an adaptation of eponymous novel written by
Colleen Hoover
BY TIMOTHY RO CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Released on Oct. 24, “Regretting You” — an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel of the same name — attempts to translate the author’s emotional storytelling to the screen. To some extent, it succeeds.
Compared to last year’s disjointed “It Ends With Us” adaptation, “Regretting You” feels more cohesive and self-aware. It may stray from the source material, but the movie offers enough glimmers of warmth, humor and humanity to make it worth a casual watch.
Set in a quiet Texas town, the story follows Morgan Grant (Allison Williams), a young mother grappling with the revelation that her husband had an affair with her only sister before his death — a fact she keeps secret from her teenage daughter, Clara (Mckenna Grace). While confused by her
mother’s silence, Clara navigates all the chaos that adolescence brings, including a budding romance with the introspective and nonchalant Miller Adams (Mason Thames). As Clara and Morgan struggle to understand one another through their grief, the film examines how people try to rebuild after lacerating betrayal.
One of the film’s greatest strengths lies in its depiction of adolescence. The awkwardness of first love, the impulsivity of teenage emotion and the immaturity that shrouds coming of age are captured with surprising authenticity. Clara’s moments of reckless affection and stubborn defiance feel real, mirroring the very messy contradictions that define young adulthood. There’s humor too: Moments of spark and wit cut through the heavier themes and remind viewers that grief and hatred, though consuming, cannot erase the absurdity of life.
Despite these touching moments, the film loses its footing with the pacing of the adults’ storyline.
Morgan’s character growth feels rushed, and her eventual healing arrives too suddenly to feel earned. The dialogue, though
serviceable, often flattens the emotional depth the scenes require. There are slight flashes of sincerity — a few flashbacks and pauses that briefly bring the characters to life — but the movie too often substitutes much-needed quiet introspection with overwrought monologues or overdramatic arguments.
Much like “It Ends with Us,” the newest Colleen Hoover adaptation stumbles under the weight of its own ambition. What could have been a heartfelt exploration of love, grief and forgiveness instead becomes an uneven portrayal of growing up, breaking down and trying to heal.
With two more Hoover adaptations — “Reminders of Him” and “Verity” — already in the works, perhaps Hollywood is still learning how to navigate the fine line between emotional storytelling and excess. For now, “Regretting You” sits somewhere in the middle — not a masterpiece, but not quite a misstep either.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 29, 2025.
Despite containing a bit of sincerity sprinkled throughout, the film often replaces much-needed quiet introspection with unnecessarily overdramatic monologues and arguments.
Black Arts Expo highlights creative achievements of Black students
Black Star Journal hosts event to connect community with Black art
EVENT BY SONIA CHU CONTRIBUTING WRITER
This weekend, the basement walls of Alumnae Hall were plastered with photographs of personal items, animated videos and vibrant acrylic oil paintings. Surrounded by these visuals, artists read out poems and other creative works to an audience that snapped their fingers and hummed affirmation in response.
The Black Arts Expo, held on Oct. 25, sought to showcase the creative works of Black artists and performers. The expo was hosted by the Black Star Journal, a publication that seeks to uplift Black voices at Brown and the Rhode Island School of Design, as well as archive Black life around Providence, said Kourtney Beauvais ’26, co-editor-in-chief of the BSJ. Other creative groups, including WORD! Performance Poetry Group and RISD Black Artists and Designers, were also featured in the event.
The BSJ “seeks to counteract that negativity that’s kind of inherently embedded
in the way that everyone is kind of forced to perceive race,” Beauvais said. “I would hope that it’s an opportunity for people to view their Blackness as something to be explored and defined on their own terms.”
BSJ Co-Editor-in-Chief Nelsa Tiemtoré ’26 said the expo was “a good opportunity for community building and just celebrating student artists and poets on Brown’s campus.”
“Having a space where their fellow peers can validate their talents and be like ‘You are amazing’ and just celebrate and uplift them is really important,” she added.
Both Beauvais and Tiemtoré said planning an event with various mediums of art
was no easy task: Organizers had to find a room that would work with the different mediums displayed, come up with ways to hang up art that couldn’t be taped to the wall, and source the necessary equipment for open-mic performances.
“It’s been a lot of planning, going back and forth, but we got there, which is good,” Tiemtoré said prior to the event, adding that she was “very excited” for the expo. “We have a lot of really amazing artists and their pieces are so beautiful,” she said.
Visual art, live poetry and photography were a few of the mediums featured at the expo. Farhiyo Omar ’28, a photographer for the BSJ, said she submitted some of
her creative photographs to the expo after receiving encouragement from other BSJ members. Many of her photographs drew from her Somali Bantu culture and African identity, featuring items such as baatis — a traditional Somali clothing item — and concepts such as ubuntu, Omar told The Herald.
Ubuntu, “means I am because you are,” she said, explaining that capturing connection and community is important to her photography. “Culture is a big thing that has been apparent in my time here at Brown and throughout the world, so I just love to emphasize it.”
Zahira Branch ’26, section editor of stories at the BSJ, read out her own short stories at the expo — this, she said, increased her confidence in her writing. Her work — which touched on feelings of grief and warmth — used detailed description and literary devices such as repetition, she said in an interview with The Herald.
“Being with the Black Star Journal, it’s really boosted my confidence,” Branch said. “Like, maybe, you should put your work out there, you know, maybe you can read your work and get feedback, and people can appreciate it as it is.”
Students also presented poetry during a series of open-mic performances. Naja
Woodard ’27, social media coordinator at WORD!, performed two poems.
One of the poems, titled “Lost in Translation,” discusses how some meaning is lost in the process of translating thoughts to words. “And maybe I’ll find just the right amount of words to light up the mind that’s ready to accept them,” Woodard recited as she read the poem.
“I think it’s just accepting the idea that your words will not resonate with everyone, but as long as you are able to impact just one person, I think that’s enough,” she explained.
Beauvais said she hopes the Black Arts Expo “shows Black artists that they’re appreciated outside of the Black community, and that non-Black people feel more comfortable consuming and engaging with Black art.”
She also said that she hopes the expo gave Black artists and performers increased exposure, both at Brown and in the broader community.
“I hope that people come away with a greater appreciation for Black artists,” she said.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 26, 2025.
Lorenz Hart’s downfall is palpable in ‘Blue Moon’ despite faltering plot
validation.
BY SONIA CHU CONTRIBUTING WRITER
With Richard Linklater behind the camera and Ethan Hawke center screen, “Blue Moon” offers an intimate insight into an artist’s unraveling as well as Broadway’s golden age. The biopic follows Lorenz Hart (Hawke), a lyricist and one-half of a songwriting duo with Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott). Together, the pair wrote hits like “My Funny Valentine” and the titular track, “Blue Moon.”
Set one evening in Sardi’s, a New York bar and a staple for Broadway stars, the movie explores Hart’s reflection of the
partnership and his declining career. After opening night of “Oklahoma!,” Hart languishes over the smashing success that Rodgers has found with his new songwriting partner Oscar Hammerstein II (Simon Delaney).
After “Oklahoma!,” Rodgers and Hammerstein went on to become one of Broadway’s most famous duos, contributing to Broadway shows such as “The Sound of Music.”
Despite his disdain for the show, Hart knows “Oklahoma!” — and by extension his old collaborator — will be extremely successful, which only adds to his misery.
This cements the core of the film: A sad, withering man who was once a genius has been isolated due to alcoholism and emotional detachment. Hart — who was believed to have lived as a closeted gay man — struggled to form any lasting
relationships, and this shows in Hawke’s performance.
At Sardi’s, Hart laments to anyone who will listen. Eddie (Bobby Cannavale), the bartender, is subject to Hart’s lyrical monologues about life, work and an illustrious 20-year-old girl, Elizabeth Weiland (Margaret Qualley). Hawke delivers his seemingly endless dialogue with swift sincerity.
At the same bar, legendary writer and author of “Charlotte’s Web” E.B. White (Patrick Kennedy), reads quietly at a nearby table until Hart pulls him in to witness the throes of his misery.
Nearby, Rodgers appears burdened by competing loyalties that seem to drain him over the course of the evening. Scott deftly manages these overwhelming tensions with a performance that suggests carefully crafted self-censorship.
At Sardi’s, the actors provided a range of performances. Cannavale is dashing and an artfully restrained comic. Qualley plays the role of charming protege well, but struggles to summon any semblance of range beyond biting her lip. Kennedy is uncanny as the “Charlotte’s Web” author, whose quiet composure offers a stark contrast to Hart’s theatrical disposition.
But the most astonishing feat of the film is Hawke’s transformation as Hart. His shrunken stature, crinkling face and bald spots render the actor unrecognizable. Hawke embodies the awkward, drunken whimsy and delirium of Hart with an effusive earnestness.
Hart’s infatuation with Elizabeth is uncomfortable and difficult to understand but is critical to Hart’s story. With a crumbling career, he desperately clings to the young beauty for a final reach at
While the movie effectively captures a man’s unraveling, it fails to build beyond its initial premise. The central tension — the break in Hart and Rodgers’ partnership — never comes to a head. On top of that, Linklater dances around Hart’s suffering, and the film itself never reaches a climax. Though some of his tangents are poetic and almost moving, Hart’s endless theatrics fall flat.
Nevertheless, Hart’s character remains compelling in some ways — despite his professional fall from grace, he remains dedicated to his artistry. As all of Hart’s bridges burn, he dances right across them. This
JAKE PARKER / HERALD
The Black Arts Expo on Saturday. The pieces featured in the event ranged from visual art to poetry to photography.
COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES
Film follows Lorenz Hart as he mourns partnership with Richard Rodgers
REVIEW
‘Fancy Some More?’ artfully reengineers PinkPantheress’s discography
PinkPantheress’s new album pushes bounds of previous music
BY KENDRA EASTEP CONTRIBUTING WRITER
On Oct. 10, PinkPantheress released the remix album “Fancy Some More?” — the follow-up to her sophomore mixtape “Fancy That.” The expanded album is divided into three discs that explore new twists on popular sounds.
The first disc features a dozen vocalists spanning multiple genres. Collaborators include R&B singer Ravyn Lenae and hip-hop soloist JT, both of whom performed at this past year’s Spring Weekend.
The first disc opens with the same instrumentals that back “Fancy That” hit song “Illegal,” but instead of hearing PinkPantheress’ viral introduction —
“My name is Pink and I’m really glad to meet you” — listeners are greeted with Brazilian popstar Anitta’s own rendition of the iconic opening. “My name’s Larissa, aunque tengo otro nombre,” Anitta sings, marking the start of her verse that blends Spanish and English and is the perfect icebreaker to the conversational song. Anitta’s vocals engage with PinkPantheress’s throughout the track, breathing air into the chorus.
“Stars + Yves,” the first disc’s fifth song, is equally delightful. After PinkPantheress sings, “It’s getting darker in the city,” the sound changes, and South Korean singer Yves brings a new energy to the track. Throughout her short verse, Yves dangles the song in suspension while her cold vocals reverberate over a warm, steady heartbeat. As the track speeds up, the melody seamlessly rolls back into PinkPantheress’s hands — a testament to the pair’s natural chemistry.
REVIEW
JT’s rendition of “Noises” is another immediate favorite. With a nearly palpable momentum, “Noises + JT” springboards off the first chorus and slips into an addicting rap.
The most streamed remix from the release, “Stateside + Zara Larsson,” continues the first disc’s high-energy sound, elevating the original track from a pop earworm to a hot and throbbing anthem fit for the runway. Larsson struts through her verse, singing: “Boots, that’s my ego boost / Schedule ain’t been loose for a minute / Yeah, I’m that girl, I’ve been it.”
The disc shifts tempo in “Romeo + Ravyn Lenae,” with the track slowing to an instrumental that compliments Lenae’s smooth, yet sparkling sound. Echoes of saxophone flirt with overlapping harmonies that soften the song and give it a sensual edge. But, the song is followed by another rendition of “Romeo” that fails to match up to Lenae’s. British alt-pop singer Rachel Chinouriri’s deeper register squirms under the higher key of the song, and the fast tempo makes her long, belted notes feel out of place. While the first disc serves to em -
bellish the tracks’ pre-existing sounds, the second aims to subvert it entirely. Each song is reimagined by a producer, made to be blasted through speakers at a rave or on a dance floor aglow with LED lights.
Of the second disc’s 10 tracks, “Girl Like Me + Kaytranada” stands out. The repetition of the lyric “Let it all go” is hypnotic against the thumping percussion and muted synths. London-based producers Nia Archives, Basement Jaxx and Sega Bodega also mix innovative renditions of “Illegal,” “Tonight” and
“Nice to Know You,” respectively. Although singers tend to release unnecessary remixes of their latest album to manufacture streams on music platforms, “Fancy Some More?” is a worthy addition to PinkPantheress’s discography. By working with a diverse selection of up-and-coming artists, PinkPantheress is able to test out new styles while honoring her signature hyperpop sound.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 29, 2025.
Tony award-winning musical ‘SIX’ is a riveting tale of King Henry VIII’s wives
The Providence Performing Arts Center hosted the show over past week
BY ANN GRAY GOLPIRA SENIOR STAFF WRITER
From Oct. 22 to Oct. 26, the North American tour of Tony award-winning production “SIX: The Musical” took over the Providence Performing Arts Center for a week of pop ballads, witty lyrics and “her-story” — the show’s clever, feminist rebranding of “history.”
Written by University of Cambridge students Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, the show has taken the world by storm, dominating both London’s West End and New York City’s Broadway while becoming a common feature performance at award shows.
The show itself follows the six dead wives of King Henry VIII while they reclaim their stories as a 21st-century girl group, with each queen assuming a persona of a famous modern-day pop artist. Centered around a one-word summary of each queen’s ultimate fate — divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived — the musical offers a modern retelling of their often grim realities and untold identities.
Theatergoers were immediately en-
veloped in the welcoming atmosphere of the venue upon their entrance. Crowns, capes and other Tudoresque accessories dotted the crowd as the lights began to dim and enthusiastic shouts of the audience members heightened the audience’s anticipation.
The show follows the queens’ marriages in order, starting with Catherine of Aragon (Emma Elizabeth Smith) and her biographical song “No Way.” She sings of her consistent loyalty to the king despite his frequent affairs, affirming there’s “no way” he can replace her. With backing
vocals from the other queens, Catherine’s ballad is characterized by a powerful stage presence and an impressive series of riffs. Throughout the song, the other five queens provide backup dancing and vocals, and the collective strength of each woman’s voice blends flawlessly into an effortless harmony.
Next, Anne Boleyn (Nella Cole) — inspired by Avril Lavigne and Lily Allen — takes center stage for a cheeky rendition of “Don’t Lose Ur Head.” After the audience learns she is moving in as one of Henry’s mistresses, Boleyn sings
“Don’t worry, don’t worry / Don’t lose your head / I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.” The song’s conclusion ironically mirrors its title — that is, with Boleyn’s decapitation.
But the show takes a more laid-back approach for Jane Seymour’s (Kelly Denice Taylor) solo, “Heart of Stone.”
The piece follows Seymour’s undying devotion to the king, as well as the birth of their first son through an emotional, piano-centric ballad reminiscent of the work of Adele.
Staying true to its setting as a modern-day pop concert, “SIX” makes full use of its spectacular light shows and glamorous, sequined outfits. These elements especially stand out during “Haus of Holbein,” which features glow-in-the-dark props, techno undertones and frequent dance breaks.
“Get Down,” sung by Anna of Cleves (Hailey Alexis Lewis), shines as one of the show’s most comedic, girl-power filled songs as she shoots back at the king for claiming she didn’t look like her “profile picture.”
“I’m the queen of the castle / Get down, you dirty rascal,” she sings.
The piece — featuring hints of Rihanna and Nicki Minaj — pokes fun at history through a series of Tudor-themed jokes like “I look more rad than Lutheranism”
and “dance so hard that I’m causin’ a sensation / Okay ladies, let’s get in reformation.”
Up next is Katherine Howard’s (Alizé Cruz) “All You Wanna Do” starts out as a sultry, upbeat number, mirroring the sounds of artists like Ariana Grande and Britney Spears. But the piece takes a drastic turn as Howard acknowledges the trauma elicited by each of her previous relationships.
Finally, the only one of the six who survived, Catherine Parr (Tasia Jungbauer), mourns her lost lover with “I Don’t Need Your Love” before all six queens return for a shared finale. While acknowledging the often-forgotten history of the Tudor queens themselves, the show offers an alternative ending that reimagines the queens’ identities outside of the man they married.
With numerous pop ballads reminiscent of the artists guests already know and love, “SIX” brought Broadway to Providence for a fun, comedic and inspiring evening. Its glamorous costumes, colorful lights and enthusiastic celebration of girl power makes it one of the standout new musicals of the past decade.
COURTESY OF PPAC
Pictured are the six (dead) wives of King Henry VIII, which the performance follows while they reclaim their stories as part of a 21st-century girl group.
KENDRA EASTEP / HERALD
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
AWARDS
Professor emerita Maureen Phipps elected to National Academy of Medicine
Phipps received recognition for her leadership in women’s health
BY LAILA POSNER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
On Oct. 20, the National Academy of Medicine announced the election of 100 new members. Among those elected to the class of 2025 was Maureen Phipps, a professor emerita of obstetrics and gynecology at the Warren Alpert Medical School.
Being elected to NAM is “one of the highest honors in medicine,” wrote Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences Mukesh Jain, also a NAM member, in an email to The Herald. Election to NAM signals that “you have made longstanding, substantial contributions” to the medical field, he added.
Phipps earned a place on the prestigious list “for her visionary academic and executive leadership in women’s health, and her transformative contributions to pressing health care challenges across state, national and global contexts,” NAM wrote in a news release.
NAM also cited Phipps’s research on reproductive and maternal health, which focuses on improving outcomes
EVENT
for vulnerable or under-resourced women and families. Phipps was also a professor of epidemiology at Brown’s School of Public Health, according to a University news release.
But beyond the prestige, election to NAM also comes with new responsibilities. As “the nation’s thought leaders in medicine and science,” members of NAM are expected to provide “important recommendations on critical medical and scientific issues,” Jain noted.
Leadership of this scale is familiar territory for Phipps. During her tenure at Warren Alpert, she chaired the University’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and served as assistant dean for teaching and research in women’s health. She also led women’s health for the Care New England health system, which operates Women and Infants Hospital — a major Warren Alpert teaching affiliate.
Throughout her career, Phipps also championed a variety of women’s health initiatives, such as leading the Women’s Reproductive Health Research Scholars Program and the Brown and Women and Infants Hospital National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health. She also chaired the Rhode Island Task Force on Premature Births, which was convened in 2006 as a response to the increasing
number of premature births in the state.
After retiring from Brown in 2019, Phipps served as CEO of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, until leaving the post in 2023.
Phipps told Brown News that her election was “an unexpected recognition of the care and commitment I brought to my work as a clinician, professor, researcher, leader and member of the community.”
She emphasized that her work “bridged many departments across Brown as well as the medical and public health community of Rhode Island.”
Phipps’s work “was characterized by its rigor and collaborative spirit,” wrote Caron Zlotnick, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology, medicine and psychiatry and human behavior, in an email to The Herald.
Zlotnick called the honor “well-deserved” for Phipps, whose career “epitomizes scholarship and service.”
Phipps also flourished as an advisor, according to Valery Danilack-Fekete PhD’14, an associate research scientist at the Yale School of Medicine who Phipps mentored during her time at Brown.
In an email to The Herald, Danilack-Fekete described Phipps as “a wonderful role model as a scientist and a leader,” adding that Phipps “inspires
excellence” among colleagues and mentees alike.
Phipps joins more than a dozen current and former Brown faculty and administrators who are members of the
Howard professor Dana Williams spotlights Toni Morrison’s editorship in talk
Williams urged closely examining Morrison’s work as an editor
BY IVY HUANG SENIOR STAFF WRITER
On Wednesday, Dana Williams, a professor of African American literature and dean of the graduate school at Howard University, spoke at an event titled “On Beauty and Sensibility: Toni Morrison Took a Chance.” In her talk in Pembroke Hall, Williams showcased Morrison’s work as an editor at the Random House publishing company.
The event was co-sponsored by the Department of English, the Department of Africana Studies and the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America.
In his opening remarks, event organizer and Professor of Teaching Excellence in English Kevin Quashie, who teaches ENGL 1760Y: “Toni Morrison,” reflected on how Morrison “tussled through” the idea of “goodness” through-
out her career.
As Quashie welcomed Williams on stage, he described Williams as “a paragon of Black literary studies who has tendered intelligence.”
In her talk, Williams discussed her 2025 book, “Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer’s Legendary Editorship,” and argued for the importance of closely examining Morrison’s editorship — not just her authorial work — to find “traces of beauty and sensibility.”
“Her editorial vision was itself an act of defiance,” Williams said at the talk. “But even more so because its attention to notions of beauty as quiet, discerning and bold was different.”
“She took chances on writers whose work embodied truth and complexity, guided by an ever-present sensibility,” Williams added.
In an interview with The Herald, Williams said the idea for “Toni at Random” stemmed from her curiosity about the books Morrison edited.
When conducting research for her
book, Williams sifted through archival papers from Random House and interviewed Morrison — who helped guide Williams’s archival search — before the acclaimed author’s death in 2019.
Importantly, Morrison provided opportunities to many writers who “might not have otherwise seen publication at the mainstream publishing house,” Williams told The Herald.
One of these writers was visual artist Barbara Chase-Riboud, who had no formal training as a writer when Morrison took her on. Morrison’s work with Chase-Riboud on her poetry collection, “From Memphis & Peking,” highlighted “the essence of Morrison’s editorial vision, the belief that refinement and risk belong together,” Williams said during the talk.
Even the poetry book’s dust jacket — which “places Chase-Riboud removed in half shadow, half illumination, suggesting an artist negotiating both visibility and death” — was a testament to Morrison’s attention to detail as an editor, Williams said during her talk.
Later, Morrison worked with Lucille Clifton on her poetry collection, “An Ordinary Woman.”
“Morrison’s commitment to beauty, in this case, was structural — a determination to help Clifton achieve coherence, decision, resonance and restraint,” Williams said Williams concluded her talk by discussing Morrison’s work on “The Black Book,” a compendium of writing and media that depicts the Black experience from 1619 through the 1940s.
“More than any other project,” Williams said, this book “defined Morrison’s editorship.”
“‘The Black Book’ focuses on the heart, the old verities that made being Black and alive in this country the most dynamic existence imaginable,” Williams added.
Bella Wright ’28, an English concentrator, attended the lecture because of their appreciation for Morrison as a novelist.
“I loved it,” Wright said. “I’ve been reading a lot of mostly (Morrison’s) fic -
tion, so this inspired me to read more nonfiction, just for its political clarity.”
In an interview with The Herald before the event, Quashie said he hoped students attending the event would “appreciate or learn something about how a kind of common-sense term like ‘beauty’ has the elasticity to resonate or inspire other ways to think.”
When he organizes events such as this one, Quashie aims to “deepen and slow down the moment,” he said.
“Morrison believed that any reader of her works has a lot of work to do,” Quashie told The Herald. “She was trying, always, to gift the reader the responsibility to do the work.”
“We tend to think about a book once it’s on the shelf. You don’t think about the route to the shelf,” Williams said. “We don’t think at all about the labor of the people who make it possible, and editors really do a lot of invisible labor.”
Additional reporting by Elizabeth Rosenbaum.
National Academy of Medicine, including Jain, Provost Francis Doyle, Dean of the School of Engineering Tejal Desai P’27 and Dean of the School of Public Health Ashish Jha.
COURTESY OF WOMEN AND INFANTS HOSPITAL
Phipps earned a place on the prestigious list for her research on reproductive and maternal health, with a particular focus on outcomes for vulnerable or underresourced women and families.
JAKE PARKER / HERALD
In her talk, Howard University professor Dana Williams discussed her 2025 book “Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer’s Legendary Editorship,” arguing for the importance of closely examining Morrison’s editorship to find “traces of beauty and sensibility.”
Grad students with children appreciate Brown resources, struggle to find child care
Limited care options leave some grad parents sacrificing academics
BY IAN RITTER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
After working at a biotechnology company for several years, Lisa Ramos-Rodriguez GS wanted to pursue a Ph.D. in pathobiology to expand her career opportunities. But she also knew that she wanted to start a family, and while looking for a doctoral program with support for parents, Brown was one of her top picks.
The University offers financial support and a variety of other resources to help graduate students with children balance their academic careers with parenting. The Herald spoke to four graduate student parents, who said they appreciate the University’s assistance and the flexibility of their programs but still face challenges finding child care.
For Ph.D. and MFA students with children aged six and under, Brown offers a stipend of up to $6,000 per child for up to three children per household. Master’s students who are not pursuing an MFA can receive stipends of up to $5,000. These stipends, though, are only available to students whose gross household incomes amount to $100,000 or less.
Two photos. To the left is a photo of a mother and her child. To the right is a photo of two polaroids of the two together.
Lisa Ramos-Rodriguez GS was able to take advantage of Brown’s childcare stipend to support her daughter’s daycare costs last year.
Graduate students receiving stipends may also receive an extra semester or summer of “stipended support” if they are the primary caregiver for a “newborn infant or adopted child” during their time at Brown — a resource established after the University expanded parental support
STUDENT LIFE
in 2016.
Ramos-Rodriguez took leave in fall 2024 after the birth of her daughter, Esther. She said she was “really surprised” that the University offered the resource, and she was grateful for the financial support.
Since Ramos-Rodriguez was on leave that fall, the directors in her program also told her that she could delay a mandatory exam slated for the end of the spring semester to the beginning of her third year. Ramos-Rodriguez still opted to take the test in the spring, but she appreciated the leniency, she said.
But the hurdles were far from over: When Ramos-Rodriguez returned from leave, she had to balance finishing her program with caring for her daughter.
Unlike other universities such as Columbia and Harvard, Brown does not have its own child care center, though it is affiliated with two local centers.
Ramos-Rodriguez said she began to look at daycare facilities when she first found out she was pregnant, but the programs had long waitlists. Unable to secure a spot for her daughter, she had to look outside of Providence to find child care.
Last year, Ramos-Rodrigeuez was able to take advantage of Brown’s child care stipend to support her daughter’s daycare costs. But, since her partner is now employed after completing his master’s degree, their combined income has risen above the $100,000 threshold, rendering them ineligible for the program.
“The total cost of my daughter’s daycare is $20,000 per year,” she said. “That’s almost half of my (total doctoral) stipend.”
Nicole Casale GS, a master’s student in biotechnology and a mother of four, has been a parent for her entire academic career. Although Casale said that while her older kids can help out at home when she is busy at school, it can be difficult to find child care in a pinch.
Nicole Casale GS, a master’s student in
biotechnology and a mother of four, has been a parent for her entire academic career.
Brown has a partnership with Care. com, a website that vets child care services and helps pair parents with child care options. All graduate students are given premium memberships to the website.
But Ramos-Rodriguez said she has been unable to utilize the resource each time she has tried, as emergency child care on the site is not always available. When these situations arise, she and her partner often have to take additional time off work.
After facing similar issues finding lastminute child care in Providence, Casale said she hopes to start a STEM-based preschool to expand child care options. The school, which is still in development, will have emergency care options reserved for children of Brown students, she said.
For all Ph.D. and MFA students’ children who are under 18, the University also covers health insurance costs, according to Maria Suarez, associate dean of student support at the Graduate School.
Eric Stang GS, who is pursuing a Ph.D.
From frat houses to kickbacks, ‘going out’
In Herald poll, most students reported going out less than once a week
BY JEREMIAH FARR CONTRIBUTING WRITER
If you asked Manaal Saadaat ’26 and Spencer Yang ’29 what “party culture” at Brown looks like, they would have very different answers.
For Saadaat, it usually means hanging out in off-campus houses with a consistent, smaller group of friends. Yang painted a different picture — he can usually be found at larger gatherings hosted by fraternities or events organized by varsity athletes.
In The Herald’s Fall 2025 Poll, most students reported going out less than once a week. The number varied between class years, with seniors most likely to report going out at least once a week and sophomores least likely.
Yang noted that he was surprised by the social scene at Brown when he arrived on campus his first year. “I wasn’t expecting as many parties as there are. I heard Brown wasn’t a big party school,” he said.
Shruti Panse ’26 described Brown as “more of a kickback school than a frat party school.” To Panse, the most enjoyable aspects of partying are usually before and
in the School of Engineering, has taken advantage of this resource for his children.
But unlike Ramos-Rodriguez, Stang opted not to take parental leave after the birth of his first child to avoid delaying his graduation date.
Now, over three years into his program, Stang said he has more flexibility with his research hours. His wife’s job as a medical doctor has very demanding hours, he added, so he works a strict 9-to-5 schedule so he can pick up his kids from school and daycare.
Stang also faced no issues finding child care in the area. Both of his children entered daycare shortly after they turned six months old, before which visiting family members assisted with any child care needs.
Casale expressed appreciation for her professors’ flexibility. Most of her professors at Brown, she said, are very accommodating to her schedule — more so than her professors at the University of Rhode Island were. One Brown professor, she recalled, allowed her to take a class online so that she could pick up her son
from school.
Avery Morrow GS, a Ph.D. candidate in religious studies, has similarly found flexibility within his academic program. Since he commutes from the Boston area, he has limited availability to work as a teaching assistant in classes. But he said his department helped match him with a class that only met once a week, so his wife would not have to consistently leave work early to pick up his kids from daycare.
But science only affords so much flexibility, Ramos-Rodriguez said. “With science, you can’t just not show up.” Due to the nature of her research, Ramos-Rodriguez sometimes finds herself going into the lab at 5 p.m. and working an eight-hour shift after caring for her daughter during the day.
A Ph.D., she added, is “not just a 9-to5.” While managing a project, “you still have this whole other life raising a child.”
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 29, 2025.
varies from student to student
after the actual event when she spends time in smaller groups.
“It’s usually more about the people you’re with than the function,” Panse said.
“Brown’s party culture is a bit exclusive,” Olivia Baptiste ’26, a member of the women’s rugby team, wrote in an email to The Herald. She attributed this fact to hosts who are worried about receiving a noise complaint from local law enforcement.
Even with this exclusivity, it’s often worth the effort to try to find a good party, she noted. “A little bit of hide-and-seek is needed for parties at Brown, but a good party is a great party,” Baptiste wrote.
Edwin Castro ’28 attends what he would traditionally define as “parties”
only about once a semester, but he regularly stops by club social activities once or twice a week. “I’ll usually go out after midterms are done, around holiday season or Halloween,” he said. “It’s like a celebration for me.”
Baptiste added that she has seen a significant shift in what parties look like throughout her time at Brown. “I think party culture differs among upper and underclassmen because underclassmen try their best to go to any party,” she wrote.
As a first-year student, Baptiste was “eager to attend any party,” including those hosted by Greek organizations that she “didn’t love” and “would not attend again as a senior.”
Now, with friends living off campus and access to bars downtown Providence, she often finds herself venturing off campus for nighttime outings.
James Murphy ’27, the starting quarterback of the football team, said the season influences how often he goes out. “There’s obviously a lot of demand with your sport, and then when you don’t have that, it’s like, ‘All right, now I get a chance to enjoy myself.’”
Baptiste described the party culture among athletes as “work hard, play hard.”
In the fall poll, nearly 60% of varsity athletes reported going out at least once a week, compared to around 43% of non-varsity athletes.
Murphy also noted that a lot of socializing happens between teams. “Especially out of season, teams tend to mix with one another, like the football team will mix with the women’s lacrosse team or the field hockey team,” he said. “All athletes are in the same boat where when they’re in season — they’re very focused on their sport — and out of season, they have a bit more time.”
Though multiple students who were interviewed by The Herald noted that alcohol is easily accessible at most parties, nobody said there was any pressure to consume it.
“Students who are substance-free due to personal choice, religious reasons and
some medical issues often experience challenges pertaining to the ways in which college culture embraces substance use,” Lyndsay Garcia, associate dean of the college for junior/senior studies and Recovery and Substance-Free Student Initiatives, wrote in an email to The Herald. She advised that these students may want “to find social circles and events that do not prioritize the use of substances.”
While Saadaat is over the legal drinking age, she chooses not to drink. She also said she has noticed a slight decrease in alcohol consumption among her peers throughout her time at Brown, as many reached legal drinking age and transitioned from fewer large parties to more small social gatherings.
“I would say there’s a healthy drinking culture” at Brown, Saadaat added.
Garcia recommended that students who want to attend parties but aren’t interested in drinking go alongside “a sober buddy” and “make a game out of the event to keep yourself entertained.”
“Bring tarot cards to read people’s fortunes. Count how many people are wearing the same shoes. Try to talk to five new people,” she advised. This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct 28,
ANNEKE BLUE / HERALD
MAX ROBINSON / HERALD
For Ph.D. and MFA students with children aged six and under, Brown offers a stipend of up to $6,000 per child for up to three children per household.
