THE BROWN DAILY HER ALD
ARTS & CULTURE
Local RIPTA riders concerned over service reductions on 45 bus routes
Will your Brown degree put you in the top 1%?
‘Twinless’
masterfully depicts the innate desire for companionship SEE REVIEW PAGE 12
Women’s soccer trumps Northeastern, ties against Wake Forest
Student activist leaders voice opposition to Brown’s deal with Trump UNIVERSITY NEWS SEE ACTIVISM PAGE 15
Black, Hispanic student enrollment partially rebounds
after last year’s drop, Herald poll suggests
Class of 2028 saw significant drop in Black and Hispanic enrollment
BY IAN RITTER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
After Brown saw a drop in Black and Hispanic students last year, enrollment has partially rebounded for the class of 2029, a Herald poll of incoming first-year students suggests. The class of 2028 was the first cohort
admitted after the Supreme Court ruling that outlawed race-based affirmative action. The cohort saw a significant drop in the share of Black and Hispanic students.
Approximately 12% of this year’s incoming class identifies as Black, while another 12% identifies as Hispanic, according to The Herald’s first-year poll. This marks an increase from the class of 2028, which saw 8% Black and 10% Hispanic enrollment, according to last year’s Herald poll data.
The poll data signals a partial return to the Black and Hispanic enrollment levels
the University enjoyed prior to the Supreme Court decision. The class of 2027 polled at 13% Black and 15% Hispanic, The Herald previously reported. According to Brown’s Common Data Sets, the class of 2028 was 5% Black and 10% Hispanic, while the class of 2027 was 9% Black and 14% Hispanic. These numbers differ from The Herald’s data likely because students are asked to select a single identifying race, and international students are counted in a separate category. The Herald’s poll allows students to select multiple races
Top RI elected officials receive bomb threats, state police find no evidence
The threats came just one day after conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was killed
BY ANNIKA SINGH METRO EDITOR
Several Democratic Rhode Island elected officials received bomb threats via email Thursday, according to Greg Paré, director of communications at the Rhode Island State Senate.
Senate President Valarie Lawson (D-East Providence) and Senate Majority Leader Frank Ciccone III (D-Providence, Johnston) were among those who received threats, he confirmed.
According to the Boston Globe, the threats were directed at the lawmakers’ homes. The Globe also reported that R.I. State Police did not find any evidence of bombs at either residence.
This incident comes one day after Charlie Kirk was shot at an event at the Utah Valley University.
Prominent R.I. leaders, including Gov. Dan McKee, condemned the Wednesday shooting as an act
of political violence.
“I strongly condemn all violence, including the violence against Charlie Kirk, and my deepest condolences go out to his family,” Lawson said in a statement on Thursday evening.
WPRI reported that R.I. State Police confirmed a third local public official received bomb threats, but did not identify the official.
“I am grateful for the prompt and thorough response of law enforcement and the fire marshal's office,” Lawson said in the statement.
Ciccone is currently in California attending a legislative leadership conference, the Rhode Island Current reported. In an email to The Herald, Ciccone wrote that the R.I. State Police notified him of the threats, explaining the threat was “supposedly” placed in his mailbox.
Lawson and Ciccone were elected to lead the R.I. Senate following the death of former Senate President Dominick Ruggerio in April.
“Political violence in any form has no place in our democracy,” Lawson said. “Let us all remember that we are Americans first, and we settle our differences at the ballot box.”
and relies on a partial, representative sample of the student population.
After last year’s drop in Black and Hispanic enrollment, The University announced initiatives to sustain racial diversity, including the creation of five regionally based admissions positions, new programs for high school guidance counselors and increased collaboration with QuestBridge — a program that matches low-income students with top universities.
While University Spokesperson Brian Clark did not directly answer whether these
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
initiatives helped bolster racial diversity for the incoming class, he told The Herald that “additional perspective from Brown on our approaches to sustaining an academic environment that prizes intellectual openness and diversity would come as we formally release enrollment data.”
Institutional data, which is usually compiled in October, has yet to be released for this year’s class, according to Clark.
As part of Brown’s agreement with the
Faculty understand, critique Brown’s pause on net-zero emissions efforts
University announced last month that its carbon reduction efforts would be paused
BY SAMAH HAMID SENIOR STAFF WRITER
After a federal agreement and an ongoing budget deficit rocked the University’s balance sheet, administrators announced early last month that its carbon reduction efforts would be paused for the year. While environmental faculty — many of whom produce work focused on mitigating the effects and causes of climate change — see the pause as a setback for the University’s efforts, many told The Herald they understand why the decision had to be made.
Brown plans to resume the paused work in phases starting in fiscal year 2027.
“Leaders in the Office of Sustainability and Resiliency are actively working with campus partners to finalize specific actions to reduce costs and determine elements of net-zero planning that can be shifted or amended,” wrote Amanda McGregor, a University spokesperson, in an email to The Herald.
According to McGregor, the pause will not affect “Brown’s commitment to sourcing all of its campus electricity from renewable sources or the University’s ongoing transition from gas-powered to electric equipment and vehicles.”
Brown will also “continue its commitment to net-zero buildings for new construction, including the under-construction indoor turf facility and the Danoff Laboratories life sciences research facility,” McGregor wrote, adding that the University believes
The poll data signals a partial return to the Black and Hispanic enrollment levels at the University prior to the Supreme Court decision.
KAIA YALAMANCHILI / HERALD
KAIA YALAMANCHILI / HERALD
UNIVERSITY NEWS
LEADERSHIP
Meet the new directors leading the Watson School in its first year
As the school enters its first year, directors are creating new initiatives
BY IAN RITTER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
As the Watson School of International and Public Affairs enters its inaugural academic year, three of the school’s centers welcomed new directors. The new school, which opened on July 1, aims to expand Brown’s work and influence in the field.
The Herald spoke with the newly appointed administrators about their goals for the new school and the upcoming year.
Eric Patashnik: Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy
Eric Patashnik, professor of public policy and political science, will be the director of the Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy. Patashnik previously served as the director of the master’s in public affairs program and as the chair of the Department of Political Science.
Throughout this year, the center’s events will focus on “democratic erosion and resilience, economic inequality and opportunity and innovative and effective government,” he wrote in an email to The Herald.
“This is a critical moment for understanding how the American political system works, for digging beneath the headlines and for probing how our political institutions, democratic norms and governing routines
LEADERSHIP
are evolving,” Patashnik added.
Patashnik expressed his excitement to continue the work of Professor of Political Science Wendy Schiller, who stepped down from her roles as the interim director of the then-Watson Institute and the director of the Taubman Center in June.
Patashnik earned his master’s in public policy and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He then went on to work at Yale, the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Virginia before joining Brown in 2016.
Ieva Jusionyte: Center for Human Rights
and Humanitarian Studies
As the new director of the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies, Professor of International Security and Anthropology Ieva Junsionyte will seek to prioritize opportunities for students and community engagement.
The CHRHS’s programming for the year will “lean more strongly towards events addressing the situation of human rights,” Junsionyte wrote in an email to The Herald. Part of this initiative includes a new seminar series that will focus on “unlawful detentions, forced disappearances and deportations” around the world,
including in the United States, Mexico and China, she wrote.
Other events that will be hosted by the center include “Hack for Humanity,” an annual competition for students that will focus on global gun violence this year, as well as a mini-symposium centered on forced disappearances and a new annual human rights lecture.
Jusionyte has worked at Brown since 2021 and previously worked at Harvard and the University of Florida. She holds a Ph.D. and a master’s of arts from Brandeis University and earned her bachelor’s degree from Vilnius University in Lithuania.
Patrick Heller: Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia
Patrick Heller, professor of international and public affairs, social sciences and sociology, has been a member of the Brown community for over 20 years. He first arrived on College Hill in 2001 as the director of the development studies concentration — now a track under International and Public Affairs — and will assume the directorship of the Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia.
Heller encouraged all students to get involved with the Saxena Center: “Whether you have a long-standing interest in South Asia or are just curious, we offer a wide range of events that cut across disciplines and areas of interest and all are welcome,” he wrote in an email to the Herald.
Under his new leadership, the center will host an inaugural national conference by and for Ph.D. students doing research in South Asia. He also plans to develop new partnerships with South Asian universities.
Heller has served in many other capacities at Brown, including as the chair of the Department of Sociology and director of the graduate program in development. He previously worked at Columbia and holds a master’s of arts and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 8, 2025.
Nicholas Monk named Sheridan Center executive director
Monk will step into his role at the Sheridan Center on Oct. 1
BY SAMAH HAMID SENIOR STAFF WRITER
On Oct. 1, Nicholas Monk will assume the role of executive director of the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning.
As executive director, Monk hopes to ensure that “teaching and learning at Brown is given the highest possible profile” so that all students can be “as successful as they could possibly be,” he told The Herald.
The Sheridan Center coordinates Brown’s Peer-led Tutoring Program and Writing Center, as well as an English language support program.
Monk said he was “thrilled” when he found out he had received the position, describing the role as “one of the great jobs in teaching and learning centers in the U.S. — the plum job, if you like.”
He currently serves as the director of the Center for Transformative Teaching at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, which has far fewer staff members than the Sheridan Center — a change he said he was excited about.
In his new role, Monk will be tasked with writing a new five-year strategic plan for the Center, as the current plan is ap-
FROM PAGE 1
proaching its final year. The plan outlines the Center’s initiatives and goals across all of its programs.
On a day-to-day basis, Monk will be responsible for connecting with administrators and staff to adapt the Sheridan Center’s operations to meet the University’s goals.
“Dr. Monk will need to be attuned to campus priorities related to teaching and learning and solicit input from students, faculty and administrators to create responsive programs and services for the Center’s diverse constituencies,” wrote Matthew Goode, director of operations and the Brown Learning Collaborative at the Sheridan Center, in an email to The Herald.
Deputy Provost Janet Blume — who Monk will report to — described him as “visionary and adaptable.”
Monk “impressed the search committee and the Sheridan team with his collaborative and inclusive leadership style and his clear commitment to teaching and learning in all its forms,” Blume wrote in an email to The Herald.
“I’m continually impressed by his enthusiasm and collegiality,” Blume added.
Beverly Russell, associate director of the UNL’s Center for Transformative Teaching, described Monk’s departure as “bittersweet.”
“He’s really cherished here,” Russell said, adding that Monk’s colleagues at the
UNL are both “excited for him” and “sorry to see him go.”
According to Russell, Monk is someone who “gets the balance right.”
Monk had only been the inaugural director of the UNL center for about seven months before the COVID-19 pandemic started. But that didn’t stop him from rising to the challenge, Russell said.
“He’s just really good at being able to quickly adapt and meet urgent and emerging needs, as well as also being a steady, reliable and calming presence,” she said.
She believes Monk is well-suited for his new position because of his fondness for challenges and his passion for meeting new people. As Monk is both an academic scholar and someone with experience directing a teaching and learning center, Russell feels that the role is a good fit.
“He’s really a pleasure to work with,” Russell said. “I think Brown has made a great choice.”
Monk has a doctorate degree in English and comparative literature from the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. Russell believes that Monk’s diverse higher education experiences in both England and at the UNL will provide a “fresh perspective” at Brown.
Blume added that the Sheridan Center thrives at developing “long-term (strategies) for improving teaching and learning, as well as meeting emergent and unexpect-
ed needs as they arise.”
“I am confident that Nick, who comes to the Sheridan Center with a strong track record of advancing teaching excellence, fostering inclusive learning environments and leading transformative initiatives that ben-
efit both students and faculty, will continue to build on these strengths,” Blume wrote.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 10, 2025.
for Teaching and Learning on Oct. 1.
federal government to restore hundreds of millions in canceled funding, the University is required to report and publicly disclose certain admissions data. “We will release admissions and enrollment data on a single timeline to ensure consistency in the information across all internal and external sources,” Associate Provost for Enrollment and Dean of Undergraduate Admission Logan Powell wrote in an email to The Herald.
students last year, but The Herald’s polling results makes her hopeful. At this year’s club fair, 170 students signed up for the LSU, a significant increase from the 81 who expressed interest last year, she said.
Crystal Ordonez ’27, co-president of the Latinx Student Union, said she was “disheartened” by the drop in Hispanic
“While we’re unsure whether this spike reflects an increase in Latine-identifying admitted students or an increased need for community during challenging political times, we’re overjoyed by this momentum and look forward to building on it,” Ordonez said.
Members of the Black Student Union did not respond to requests for comment.
“Brown is and will remain firmly committed to advancing the diversity that is central to achieving the highest standards of academic excellence and preparing our students to grow and lead in a complex world,” President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 wrote in an announcement following the Supreme Court’s decision.
Additional reporting by Nyria Delph.
COURTESY OF PATRICK HELLER, TONY RINALDO VIA IEVA JUSIONYTE AND ERIC PATASHNIK
The new directors expressed their excitement for increasing programming and initiatives within the Watson School.
COURTESY OF NICHOLAS MONK Nicholas Monk will assume the role of Executive Director of the Sheridan Center
STUDENT LIFE
Black Convocation seeks to empower first-year students
The eighth annual event featured speeches and student performances
BY ZARINA HAMILTON SENIOR STAFF WRITER
As universities grapple with how to maintain racial diversity on campuses with the end of race-based affirmative action and wholesale attacks by the Trump administration, the Black Student Union’s eighth annual Black Convocation aimed to welcome first-year students to the University.
On Sunday, students gathered in the Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center for the eighth annual iteration of the event, hearing from several speakers and connecting with each other over food, games and conversation.
Founded in 2018, Black Convocation was created to empower incoming Black students and celebrate their achievements,
BSU Co-Vice President Milan Ndjiki ’27 explained.
This year’s theme, “Black Brilliance: Boundless Futures,” emphasized the talent
and innovation of the Black community throughout history as well as the opportunities to come for the class of 2029 over their next four years at Brown, BSU President Olivia Baptiste ’26 said in her opening remarks.
As universities grapple with how to maintain racial diversity on campuses with the end of race-based affirmative action and wholesale attacks by the Trump administration, the Black Student Union’s eighth annual Black Convocation aimed to welcome first-year students to the University.
On Sunday, students gathered in the Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center for the eighth annual iteration of the event, hearing from several speakers and connecting with each other over food, games and conversation.
Founded in 2018, Black Convocation was created to empower incoming Black students and celebrate their achievements, BSU Co-Vice President Milan Ndjiki ’27 explained.
This year’s theme, “Black Brilliance: Boundless Futures,” emphasized the talent and innovation of the Black community throughout history as well as the op-
portunities to come for the class of 2029 over their next four years at Brown, BSU President Olivia Baptiste ’26 said in her opening remarks.
In addition to being scholars, students also have a responsibility to use education to transform, contribute and fight against injustice, Gallon said. But she stressed that this is not an endeavor to take on alone, and that each student should take advantage of the community of peers, mentors and faculty around them.
Following Gallon’s remarks, firstyear students were introduced to various student organizations centered on Black identity, with poetry readings from the Black Star Journal, introductions from historically Black Greek life leaders and performances from Shades of Brown and OJA! Modern African Dance.
“It’s a way for students to see the potential clubs they could join,” Ndjiki ex-
plained. She added that OJA!’s performance at Black Convocation in past years has inspired students to try out for the group.
Following the ceremony, students moved to the Petteruti Lounge for soul food and games like Uno and Jenga. As they chatted with their peers, several first-year students who spoke to The Herald reflected on their experiences attending the event.
For Jadyn Sinclair ’29, the biggest takeaway was how vibrant the Black community is at Brown, something she said she was worried about as an incoming first-year student.
Coming from a predominantly white high school, Sinclair “saw how divided Black communities can be in spaces where there’s not that many of us,” she said. “This reminded me that there is a home for our community.”
Sunday’s Black Convocation allowed first-year students to feel welcome in that
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community, said Parker.
“This was a good way to connect with other Black students, because sometimes it can be hard to find each other,” Parker said. “It’s really nice to know that this is a space we can come to, get to know each other, be introduced to the school, and be introduced to the community.”
Shakira Simo ’29 added that attending Black Convocation was especially important for her to start building a community on campus.
“The people here will probably be with us for the next four years,” Simo said. “I feel like it’s so important that we have events like this where we can come together, see familiar faces and recognize that we’re not alone.”
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 7, 2025.
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This year's annual Black Convocation opened with the procession of over 150 first-year students into the Leung Gallery.
New city crime center draws criticism from anti-surveillance advocates
The center aims to use surveillance data to support Providence police
BY ANNIKA SINGH METRO EDITOR
Providence is now home to the state’s first Real-Time Crime Center, aiming to support the city’s policing efforts with real-time surveillance technology and data, Providence officials announced last month.
But the new center — which uses public and registered private security cameras, license plate readers and 911 call data to monitor crime — has drawn criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island, an individual rights advocacy group.
On Aug. 21, the ACLU R.I. made public a letter addressed to Mayor Brett Smiley and Police Chief Oscar Perez, describing the center as “an all-encompassing surveillance system” and expressing concerns about the lack of explicit privacy safeguards on the data collected for the center.
In their letter, ACLU R.I. wrote that they had reviewed the center’s standard operating procedures and determined that “it possesses no semblance of a meaningful privacy policy.”
The RTCC “is designed to improve response times, expedite investigations and make every Providence neighborhood safer,” City Press Secretary Anthony Vega wrote in an email to The Herald. The system allows the police to immediately tap into over 100 live cameras in response to incident reports around the city.
Providence businesses and citizens can opt to integrate their private cameras
ENVIRONMENT
with the center, giving the RTCC access to real-time footage. So far, 13 businesses and one citizen have chosen to share surveillance footage, Vega wrote.
According to the Providence Police Department’s website, only trained and authorized personnel have access to the center’s data and video feeds, and “the retention of data depends on the technology associated with the camera system it was recorded on.”
Data retention limits and usage auditing also aim to reduce misuse of camera footage, city officials wrote in the announcement.
In their letter, ACLU R.I. called for stronger departmental policies and mu-
Spot a spotted lanternfly?
Local sightings of the red-winged bugs have spiked since June
BY TALIA EGNAL SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The spotted lanternfly, an invasive insect indigenous to parts of China, India and Vietnam, has now infested Providence County and several other areas in Rhode Island, according to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.
The red-winged bugs were first spotted in R.I. in August 2021, but relatively warm temperatures last winter caused the population to rapidly grow this year, said Cynthia Kwolek, a senior environmental scientist at RIDEM. Local sightings have also spiked since June, she added.
According to RIDEM’s sighting map, Providence has reported the most spotted lanternfly sightings across the state.
These bugs often spread through high-movement areas like bus stations, rails and highways, Kwolek told The Herald. Because of this, they are more commonly found in urban areas, she added.
Spotted lanternflies pose a “relatively high” threat to agricultural production, Dov Sax, a professor of environment and society and ecology, evolution and organismal biology, wrote in an email to The Herald.
This is because spotted lanternflies feed off sap from young trees and vines, which may harm or kill plants, Kwolek said. They also excrete a waste product called honeydew, which can cause mold infestations.
nicipal legislation to ensure privacy protections. The message also described the center as an “Orwellian threat,” arguing that the system’s standard operating procedures allow the cameras to be used in unspecific “incidents involving suspicious behavior.”
A city ordinance and strengthened department policies would “protect individuals from inappropriate and unlawful surveillance,” wrote ACLU R.I. Policy Associate Madalyn McGunagle in an email to The Herald. The organization has yet to receive a response from city officials, she added.
Vega noted the center will adhere to local, state and federal laws. It is supported
by $1 million in federal funding secured by U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.).
According to the PPD website, data collected is “used to inform policing strategies and improve response effectiveness — not for surveillance.”
The RTCC has “already contributed to faster response times and more effective investigations,” Vega wrote. He added that the center has played a role in investigations, including one related to a July double-shooting and another related to a stolen suitcase at Kennedy Plaza, which led to “arrests within minutes,” Vega added.
The center does not conduct 24/7 live surveillance and sharing private camera footage is voluntary, Vega explained.
“Shared footage is used only to respond to active criminal incidents or public safety emergencies,” he wrote.
According to McGunagle, the center is a local example of a national expansion of surveillance technology, which she finds “troubling.” There are over 300 real time centers across the country, according to the National Real Time Crime Center Association website.
“These expansions are often used to justify and normalize even deeper intrusions into personal privacy,” she said.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 7, 2025.
They might be here to stay, RIDEM says
Spotted lanternflies also pose a major threat to vineyards and pick-your-own fruit farms throughout the state. Recently, farmers have had to apply more pesticides and put nets over trees to combat the dire threat, Kwolek added.
But these insects are not expected to harm timber production. According to Robert Verrier, the president of Rhode Island Wood Operators’ Organization, spotted lanternflies rarely affect the large and healthy trees best for timber production.
Kwolek anticipates that the state will never be free of spotted lanternflies again, but emphasized that RIDEM has hope for biological control methods that could reduce the current need for pesticides. Local predators may also adapt to control the population, she added.
RIDEM currently works with partners in 20 other states to prevent the spread of invasive species, said Tee Jay Boudreau, RIDEM’s deputy chief and state forester.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is also running trials to use parasitic wasps, the spotted lanternfly’s native predator, to control the population. Unlike yellowjackets, these wasps would not string or bother humans, Kwolek said.
The department’s current goal is to contain the insects in the cities, where they can do less harm. “We’re just trying to do what we can to protect our agricultural areas at this point,” she said.
MAX ROBINSON / HERALD
The Providence Public Safety Complex on Sept. 2. The center is funded by a $1 million federal earmark from U.S. Senator Jack Reed.
KAIA YALAMANCHILI / HERALD
According to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Providence has reported the most spotted lanternfly sightings across the state.
KATE BUTTS / HERALD
From Italy to Japan: RISD students jet across the world for summer courses abroad
Students expand their knowledge while exploring local cultures
BY DIA NANDA SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Many students spend their summers at home with friends and family, taking time to recharge after an intense school year. But for a few students at the Rhode Island School of Design, the summer months provide the best opportunity to explore the world and learn beyond College Hill.
This summer, RISD’s Global Summer Studies program offered three unique courses in Japan, Italy and Brazil. These three-to-six week programs taught by RISD faculty in foreign countries aim to promote “cross-cultural exchange and experiences that inspire creative agency,” according to RISD’s website. The programs are also open to Brown students and students in art and design programs across the country.
For RISD sophomore Jolin Zhang, taking “Looking At, Looking Through, Looking Back: Glass as an Intervention of Existing Architecture” presented an opportunity to immerse herself in Japanese culture while advancing her degree in glassblowing.
As part of the course, Zhang spent one week in Toyama, a city near the western coast, and two weeks in the Tokyo area. During her time in Japan, Zhang’s class worked in a local studio to create an exhibition of glass pieces.
Like Zhang, Brown-RISD Dual Degree student Maximos Spatharakis ’29 also participated in the program in Japan in hopes
TRANSPORTATION
of exploring art beyond RISD’s borders. For him, the experience brought “new people, a new place (and a) new activity,” he told The Herald.
Both Zhang and Spatharakis emphasized the differences between RISD’s approach towards glass production and that of the local studio.
The local studio had “a completely different setup,” said Zhang. “If we’re building a wall, the RISD glass department is using bricks. … But in Japan, we started straight from concrete.” Due to these differences, the final result is a “lot smoother, so the optics are a lot clearer,” she added.
According to Spatharakis, there is a larger focus on teamwork at RISD, whereas in the Japanese studio, the work was more “solitary.”
He also noticed that the pieces produced in Japan were much more “fragile” and “methodical” than what he was used to producing at RISD.
Although Zhang had never taken an architecture class before, the course encouraged her to think more about “how a space can guide a viewer or affect their experience,” she said. As an example, she described how the hot shop — the glass studio — was designed to stay cool during hot summers through architecture that promoted ventilation.
The experience of working in the shop, Zhang said, was, “eye-opening.”
Over 8,000 miles away from the Japanese glass studios, RISD junior Victoria Gambill spent her summer taking “Letterpress Letterscape” in Rome.
As an illustration student, letterpress was uncharted territory for Gambill. But
she was drawn to the program due to the opportunity to learn “something that (she) wouldn’t be learning here” at RISD, she told The Herald.
At first, Gambill struggled to adjust to life abroad. “Everybody speaks Italian, and I don’t really speak Italian, so you have minimal capabilities to talk to other people around you,” she said.
But eventually, she settled down in the nation’s capital and was awestruck by its history. During her three weeks there, she explored works of art that have long
inspired her, such as the Sistine Chapel and the Pieta in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Like Gambill, Zhang believed that one of the best parts of the program was exploring the Japanese cities in which she was located. Zhang recounted forming strong connections with local students and attending festivals during her time abroad.
For Spatharakis, studying abroad helped him realize that even though artists across the world may use different approaches when creating, there is a universal
appreciation for the practice.
As artists, he said, “we see the same beauty in different ways.”
Gambill called the study-abroad experience highly “valuable,” and she encouraged other students to try it.
“I definitely think I’d want to go back” to Rome, she said, already having signed up for another stint abroad.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 9, 2025.
Local RIPTA riders concerned over service reductions on 45 bus routes
The route reductions are set to take effect starting Sept. 27
BY PAVANI DURBHAKULA SENIOR STAFF WRITER
On any average day, visitors to Kennedy Plaza are met with a stream of office workers rushing out of nearby buildings, packs of students carrying backpacks and the occasional travelers dragging around their suitcases.
At Providence’s largest transit center, dozens of people wait for the bus to take them throughout Rhode Island. But starting Sept. 27, many of them will be waiting much longer to catch their bus.
On Aug. 25, Gov. Dan McKee and Rhode Island Public Transport Authority CEO Christopher Durand announced a new budget framework aiming to reduce the agency’s $32.6 million operational deficit. To meet these goals, RIPTA will reduce service along 45 bus routes, Cristy Raposo Perry, a RIPTA spokesperson, wrote in an email to The Herald.
The new plan includes “targeted service reductions informed by demand data,” McKee wrote in a letter to RIPTA’s board of directors. In late July, RIPTA proposed to eliminate 11 full bus routes and significantly reduce service on several others. Between July 28 and Aug. 6, the agency held 12 public hearings across the state on the proposed service reductions and eliminations.
“The hearings had record attendance,” said Amy Glidden, co-chair of Rhode Island Transit Riders, a public
transport advocacy group. “I’ve attended these hearings over the years, and I’ve never seen such a large crowd as the one I saw at the Providence evening session.”
Hannah Galan Johnsen, the co-owner of Pothos Plant Shop on Ives Street, testified at one of the hearings. There was “no seating left, people were standing in the aisles, and there was even a full overflow room,” she said.
“I was overwhelmed in a very positive
way to see how our community members showed up for everyone.”
RIPTA’s goal is to “to close the deficit and preserve as much service as possible for Rhode Islanders who rely most on public transit,” Raposo Perry wrote in an email to The Herald.
After receiving feedback from the hearings, RIPTA has proposed to decrease the frequency of over two-thirds of routes instead of fully eliminating any routes.
Some lines will change from service every 60 minutes to every 90 minutes and others will have weekend service eliminated. These service reductions are budgeted to save RIPTA $4.4 million towards their budget deficit, according to Raposo Perry. But many Rhode Islanders who rely on the RIPTA told The Herald that these service reductions will still have a significant impact on their everyday lives. Glidden said that while RIPTA’s new
plan aims to limit the impact of its service reductions, the agency is “still doing service reductions on 45 out of 67 routes.”
She called the situation a “pyrrhic victory” — a Roman battle in which “the losses that were sustained were so severe, it’s like you didn’t win,” Glidden explained. Even though no routes were completely eliminated, the service reductions will still “devastate the system,” she added.
Galan Johnsen is also worried about how the RIPTA service reductions will affect small businesses and their communities.
The reductions will reduce the flow of business traffic and visibility, she told The Herald, adding that RIPTA is particularly important to Pothos Plant Shop because a bus stop along Route 92 is very close to their store. RIPTA currently plans to reduce Route 92’s Sunday frequency from every 30 minutes to every 45 minutes
Galan Johnsen is “concerned for … people who can’t get to their jobs on time because of the weekend service cuts and people who can’t get to their doctor's office.”
Her store now offers a promotion where customers can get a free plant propagation if they call McKee to oppose RIPTA’s service cuts.
“A lot of people have called without actually taking us up on the cutting,” she said. “It’s been a really great way to increase awareness on the issue.
“I take the RIPTA bus home,” she added, often riding Route 33 home to East Providence. “As a RIPTA rider myself it’s the least I could do.”
RHEA RASQUINHA / HERALD
MAX ROBINSON / HERALD
The service reductions are budgeted to save RIPTA $4.4 million toward its budget deficit, according to RIPTA spokesperson Cristy Raposo Perry.
Locals question allocation of city crime resources after recent arrest of six ATV drivers
Providence, Pawtucket police collaborated to carry out the operation
BY LEV KOTLER-BERKOWITZ SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Police officers arrested six all-terrain vehicle riders in Pawtucket two weeks ago for participating in a mass “ride-out”— an event where large groups of riders travel, often recklessly, in packs on public roads. Local residents expressed concern that such police activities misallocate the use of public resources and taxpayer dollars.
Roughly 100 riders took part in the socalled “ride-out” event near East Avenue in the Oak Hill neighborhood in Pawtucket, the city’s police department wrote in a press release. Riders disregarded traffic laws, blocked intersections and caused heavy congestion.
Five adults and one juvenile were arrested in the combined effort by Pawtucket and Providence Police Department. Each adult was charged with reckless driving, and one adult faced two additional charges for altering a vehicle identification number and resisting arrest.
At least four of the arrestees were released on a $1,000 personal recogni-
SCHOOLS
zance bond last week. Details regarding the case of the arrested juvenile have not been released.
Both Providence and Pawtucket have ordinances that prohibit the use of offroad vehicles on city streets, and “riders operating these vehicles illegally on public streets are subject to enforcement,” wrote Anthony Vega, press secretary for the city of Providence, in an email to The Herald.
In this case, however, the arrests were made “after officers observed reckless operations that created immediate safety risks,” Vega wrote.
Several users voiced their concerns about the operation in the comment section of a social media post by local news source What’s Going On In Rhode Island. Some characterized the operation as a waste of taxpayer dollars and suggested that the city focus on ongoing infrastructure projects, which currently include the I-95 Washington Bridge that is in the process of being demolished and reconstructed.
“They don’t have better things to do (than) arrest dirt bike riders?” asked Pawtucket resident Brandon Thompson in the comment section of the post. In a separate message to The Herald, Thompson explained that he believes riders “should not
be arrested … unless the vehicle is stolen or someone is hit.”
Vega explained that Pawtucket police were joined by the Providence Police Department’s Community Response Team to conduct the arrests. At the time of publication, he did not share additional information about the CRT’s budget. Vega later clarified that there is no separate line item for the CRT in the police department's budget.
The arrests occurred after the Pawtucket Police Department received information that the ride-out was planned for Aug. 30. The department’s Special Squad, which investigates criminal vice — or commercial — activities in Pawtucket, notified the CRT regarding their belief that the ride-out would “affect both jurisdictions,” wrote Pawtucket Detective Sergeant Mario Comella in a statement sent to The Herald.
Launched in 2023, the Providence Police CRT aims to combat the illegal use of ATVs and dirt bikes in Providence, The Herald previously reported.
In 2023, the CRT seized 63 illegal ATVs and dirt bikes over five weeks, according to Mayor Brett Smiley, a stark comparison to the 102 bikes seized over the course of three years under then-Mayor Jorge Elorza.
The CRT uses community tips, un-
dercover work and video technology to “proactively … keep these illegal vehicles off the streets,” Vega wrote. The CRT has a tip line and an email address for individuals to report information anonymously about vehicles being driven or stored illegally.
The team has also used various measures, including publicly crushing and discarding seized vehicles and reminding residents of their illegality, to deter the unlawful use of dirt bikes and ATVs.
“Enforcement against illegal ATVs is a matter of public safety and quality-of-life,” Vega wrote. “Addressing them helps pre-
vent accidents and injuries while ensuring those who live, work and visit the city feel safe on the streets.”
Correction:Apreviousversionofthis articlemisstatedthatVegadidnotrespond toaninquiryaboutsocialmediacomments madeaboutthearrests.Vegarespondedto those remarks. The article has also been updated with additional information regardingtheCRT'sbudget.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 9, 2025.
Photographer Sally Mann breaks down her creative process, discusses new book
Her book, “Art Work: On the Creative Life,” was released on Tuesday
BY JAMIE JUNG SENIOR STAFF WRITER
On Tuesday, photographer Sally Mann dove into her creative process in a discussion about her new book, “Art Work: On the Creative Life,” at a Rhode Island School of Design event.
Mann is a three-time recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and was named “America’s Best Photographer” by Time magazine in 2001. She is most recognized for her black-and-white portraits of her family and rural Southern landscapes. This is the first time Mann has visited RISD since 2012.
Her book, released on Tuesday, documents Mann’s creative outlook on cap-
magazine in 2001.
turing the “perfect” picture. During the talk, Mann read an excerpt from the book reflecting on the countless trials and errors of photography.
A slideshow of alternative shots of
“Candy Cigarette” — one of Mann’s most recognized works — played in the background until finally landing on the frame Mann described as “the one.”
Giving another example, Mann also
spoke about her frustrations with not being able to capture the “perfect” picture of her daughter holding the dead body of a duck on her family farm.
“In the end, the first picture was the best,” she told the audience. It was “just not good enough.”
In the question-and-answer portion of the event — led by RISD photography professors Steven Smith, Brian Ulrich and RISD Associate Professor Jung Joon Lee — Mann emphasized the necessity of failure in order to triumph in the process of art.
The appreciation of failures and imperfections also extended to the work itself, specifically referring to “Untitled (Deep South #16),” a picture of a Southern landscape with ink smudged across.
“That’s the power of photography,” Mann said. “People think it’s real.”
At one point, a student in the crowd asked Mann if she is “constantly setting up pictures” in her head. “If I don’t have a
camera with me, I’m not thinking of photographs,” Mann responded. “But, I do walk around a lot with that eight by 10 format in my head.”
While the event was attended by RISD students, many crowdmembers were local residents unaffiliated with the school. One of these residents, Patrick Noonan, is a Warwick-based photographer inspired by Mann’s work.
Like Mann, Noonan “started out doing landscape portraits without people, and then moved into mostly people,” he told The Herald after the event. “A lot of my work is in black and white.”
Given their similar backgrounds in photography, Noonan looked forward “to see where (Mann was) at now in her life,” he said.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 10, 2025.
New Ed. Dept. guidance sparks uncertainty around U. get-out-the-vote efforts
University says it “will make any necessary adjustments” to comply
BY ETHAN SCHENKER UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR
Brown says it is “carefully reviewing” new Department of Education guidance banning the use of federal work-study aid to pay students who help register voters on campus. The guidance could spark fresh uncertainty over Brown’s get-out-the-vote efforts to increase turnout ahead of the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential election.
The three-page memo, signed by then-Acting Assistant Secretary of Education Christopher McCaghren on Aug. 19, reverses a Biden-era policy allowing institutions to pay eligible student workers to assist with voter registration using federal work-study financial aid.
“Federal Work Study is meant to pro-
vide students opportunities to gain real-world experience that prepares them to succeed in the workforce, not as a way to fund political activism on our college and university campuses,” said Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent in an Aug. 19 press release announcing the guidance.
In an Aug. 26 email to The Herald, University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote that Brown is “carefully reviewing the guidance and will make any necessary adjustments” to the University’s “current policies and practices to ensure compliance.”
The Higher Education Act of 1965 requires institutions to take steps to promote student voter registration, and dipping into federal work-study aid was one way colleges have funded these initiatives, said Jill Desjean, the director of policy analysis at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.
On College Hill, Brown Votes — a student-led civic engagement initiative
housed within the Swearer Center for Public Service — typically employs work-study eligible students to support voter registration efforts ahead of presidential elections, according to Rosie Shultz ’27, a member of Brown Votes’s civic engagement team. But now, under the new guidance,
schools may need to fund these initiatives’ employees with non-work study funds, Desjean said. Shultz said that Swearer staff are engaged in ongoing discussions about the best path forward.
During the last academic year, 37% of
undergraduate students on financial aid at Brown had federal work-study included in their aid offer, The Herald previously reported. Jobs found through work-study are similar to other jobs on campus, but the wages for work-study jobs are funded in part by the federal government.
The new guidance “is impactful, and it could make a difference in a bunch of races around the country, especially local races where student voter registration drives can be very consequential,” said Jim Newberry, who co-chairs the Higher Education Team at the law firm Steptoe and Johnson.
The Department of Education did not respond to a request for comment.
Shultz emphasized that even in the face of the new guidance, Brown Votes will continue their voter registration initiatives. “We have students that are on payroll,” she said. “We have students that are not on payroll that are just as dedicated to this work. And it is something we will absolutely continue to do.”
MEDIA BY ANNA LUECHT / HERALD Police conducted the arrests on Aug. 30 in response to a “ride-out” event of over 100 dirt bike, ATV and e-bike riders.
SANAI RASHID / HERALD
Sally Mann (left) is a three-time recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and was named “America’s Best Photographer” by Time
KAIA YALAMANCHILI / HERALD
The Swearer Center for Public Service on Sept. 1. The guidance could inject fresh uncertainty into efforts to increase voter turnout at Brown ahead of the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential election.
CAMPUS
On Simmons Quad, a century-old plan set to be finished in late October
The quad is set to reopen with an amphitheater, increased accessibility
BY IAN RITTER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
From its time as a baseball field to the home of the beloved Blueno sculpture, Ruth J. Simmons Quadrangle has been a staple of the Brown campus. But starting this June, the quad was closed off to the public for the construction of a new amphitheater.
The renovated quadrangle, set to open with an official ceremony in late October, will offer new outdoor seating options and a communal space for student organizations and classes to convene. It will also feature a new accessible route from Soldier’s Arch to the Main Green. Other changes include improved drainage, adjusted entries to the Lincoln Field Building and Maxcy Hall and the planting of hardwood trees that will bloom in the spring.
The plan for an amphitheater on Simmons Quad builds on one first conceived in the early 20th century. In 1901, Frank Law Olmsted Jr. — son of the world-renowned landscape architect behind works including New York City’s Central Park and Boston’s Emerald Necklace — was asked by the University to conduct a study of Simmons
CAREERS
Quad, then known as Lincoln Field.
At this point in time, Lincoln Field was not officially part of the University, according to University Architect Craig Barton ’78, but, “there was an interest in formalizing what had become a kind of gathering space for the University.”
The study mainly focused on preparing “plans for (the quadrangle’s) grading and the location of future buildings,” according to a 1902 Brown Daily Herald article. It also suggested the construction of a “traditional amphitheater” for the then-University sports field, according to Barton.
Though Olmsted’s plans were never used, the hopes for an amphitheater resurfaced several years ago after a donor asked President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 if it was possible, Barton said. At the time, there was no push for the project.
That has since changed.
As Brown’s campus expanded further east with the construction of the Brook Street Residence Halls, the Engineering Resource Center and new athletic facilities, a more accessible route from Thayer Street to the Main Green became necessary, Barton said.
a new amphitheater for students and
students and performances, Barton said.
With a renewed push for a renovation, the University took the opportunity to redesign the quadrangle and include a new amphitheater as an “informal venue” for
“If you had any mobility challenges as a permanent condition or if you’d broken an ankle and you were on crutches, you were out of luck,” Barton said, referring to the steps that flanked either side of the quadrangle. “You couldn’t get from Soldier’s Arch up to the Main Green without going back out to Waterman (Street) and coming back through Faunce Arch, which is a hike.”
Owen Vaccaro ’28, co-czar of the Inter Galactic Community of A Cappella at Brown University, expressed excitement for the amphitheater as a new performance space for students.
“I think just the nature of amphitheaters is very communal (and) very inviting to people,” he said. “Accessibility has been an issue for IGCAC in the past, so I’m hoping that with the new amphitheater we can assuage some of those problems.”
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 9, 2025.
Will your Brown degree put you in the top 1%? Experts, students weigh in
Students cited community as key reason for choosing Brown
BY TIFFANY XIAO SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Research shows that an Ivy League education can be a gateway to financial success. But what makes these institutions so valuable might extend beyond the curriculum they provide.
A 2025 study published by Opportunity Insights shows that students are substantially more likely to earn an income in the top 1% and three times as likely to be working at a prestigious firm if they attend an “Ivy-Plus” school — a cohort of schools including the eight Ivy Leagues, Stanford University, Duke University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Chicago. The benefits of attending an “Ivy-Plus” school hold true for students across socioeconomic backgrounds, according to the study.
“Attending an ‘Ivy-Plus’ school, even relative to att1ending a top state flagship school… (makes) students substantially more likely to be a top income earner,” said John Friedman, co-director of Opportunity Insights, dean of the Watson School of International and Public Affairs and a professor of economics and international and public affairs..
In 2021, 18% of billionaires on the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans attended Ivy League schools.
Friedman speculated that the unique advantages of an “Ivy-Plus” education are tied primarily to the capabilities of the student body.
He described the social capital that students gain from studying at a school like Brown — the interaction between a pool of students who “have done a lot more before
they come to Brown and are on a trajectory to do a broader set of outstanding things once they leave Brown.”
“I think that the courses we teach here at Brown are great, but I’m not sure they’re that much greater than the courses that are taught at the University of Michigan,” Friedman said.
But according to a 2002 paper published by economists Stacy Dale and Alan Krueger, an institution’s average SAT score has an effect on earnings that is “indistinguishable from zero.”
While highly selective universities like the Ivy Leagues are globally renowned, the value-adds of a Brown degree and education may vary across industries.
Jessica Skelton ’99, a partner at Pacifica Law Group, emphasized the significance of attending a name-brand school for individuals interested in pursuing a career in law.
“While it’s not my favorite thing about the legal field, school reputation remains extremely important, especially in obtaining your first job out of law school,”
she said. “Law school reputation is most important, but if you did not attend a top law school, a degree from a highly respected undergraduate institution can be very helpful.”
When deciding which college to commit to, Selam Asfaw ’26 said it was Brown’s name recognition that made her “willing to uproot my life and move away from my family.”
But other students chose Brown for its network and extracurricular offerings — the social capital alluded to by Friedman.
Although Alice Xu ’27 is now pursuing an eight-year baccalaureate-MD degree through Brown’s Program in Liberal Medical Education, she initially faced uncertainty over whether to commit to Brown or to her local state university.
“Everyone that I knew in medicine was encouraging me to go for the state school full-ride option because medical school is so expensive,” Xu said. “The advice was to do your cheapest undergrad option that would get you to the position where you could apply to a really good medical school.”
But Xu chose Brown to pursue opportunities for personal advising, alumni relationships and research positions, which were likely to be more scarce and competitive at her state school. She reflected on how the Brown network “really is like family.”
Christie Cadette ’27 highlighted the importance of the strong peer support system she found through Mosaic+, a transitional mentorship program for minority students in computer science at Brown.
“The people that I met there helped affirm and showcase that I could be successful in computer science as a minority,” Cadette said.
Cadette, who interned at Microsoft over the summer, said she received guidance on the internship application process after meeting a panelist at an event on campus for women in computer science.
“It’s the students that comprise the university that makes it valuable,” said resumed undergraduate education student Irene Choi ’27. “Rubbing shoulders with people who are heading in the same direction as you and also that are equally as ambitious … benefits us a lot.”
SCOUT CHEN / HERALD
Construction on Simmons Quad as of Sept. 4. The redesign includes
performances.
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
fortunate byproduct of the extraordinary times we find ourselves in.”
ratory constructions in New England” upon its estimated opening in 2027.
Emanuele Di Lorenzo, a professor of Earth, environmental and planetary sciences, expressed disappointment about the decision to pause Brown’s carbon reduction efforts, but he recognized the University’s financial strain.
“These are not easy decisions, and I don’t negatively judge the administration for making them,” Di Lorenzo wrote in an email to The Herald. “I support prioritizing keeping colleagues and staff employed as the more immediate concern.”
Similarly, Director of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society Kim Cobb described the decision as an “un-
But despite the delay, Di Lorenzo believes Brown can still reach net-zero. He noted, though, that “the longer the delay, the harder it will be to stay on track.”
“Renewable electricity is already secured, but further upgrades, such as improving heating systems, are time-sensitive,” Di Lorenzo wrote. He explained that the pause could lead to higher costs and delayed benefits for those on campus.
Stephen Porder, professor of ecology, evolutionary and organismal biology and environment and society, echoed this sentiment.
In an email to The Herald, Porder noted that one of the biggest dangers of a pause “is that it is hard to restart, and the finan-
cial headwinds faced by the University are likely to remain strong for some time.” He believes that the University will still be able to reach its goals if the pause only lasts for a single year.
Porder led the writing and implementation of the University Strategic Sustainability Plan, which included the University’s carbon reduction targets. Brown’s goals include decarbonizing its buildings, ceasing fossil fuel combustion on campus and progressing to completely electric heating, Porder explained.
The University has already made major efforts toward its emissions goals, including acquiring all of its net annual electricity from renewable sources, Porder wrote. But he added that these goals cannot be achieved without “significant expense.”
“Thus, it is imperative that our community, and our leadership, remain laser-focused on the critical goal of emissions reduction,” he wrote. “If one of the richest universities in the world (even in this moment) cannot ‘afford’ to decarbonize, who can?”
Beyond the University’s financial challenges, supply chain shortages for sustainable equipment and a lack of federal prioritization of emission reductions have led to increased difficulty in achieving net-zero targets, said Kurt Teichert, a teaching professor in IBES.
For Teichert, the pause is an example of “sound fiscal management.” He expressed optimism in being able to make future investments in “higher efficiency equipment” after Brown’s pause on emissions efforts
BIOLOGY
is lifted.
“Hopefully some of the supply chain issues will be sorted out, and we’ll be able to make even more happen with that money than we could this year under very challenging economic conditions,” he said.
Cobb added that it would be possible to “make up for lost time” if the University is able to recommit to its net-zero path as soon as possible. She said she was “fairly confident” that this issue is valued enough by the Brown community to be continued “as soon as this particular moment has passed us by.”
Teichert noted Brown’s strong standing among its peers in its efforts towards sustainability, adding the University has always backed its carbon reduction and energy efficiency goals with a financial plan before making any “declarations.”
But not all environmental faculty members were as satisfied with the University’s explanation.
“I was not aware of Brown’s decision beforehand, and I would have advised against it,” wrote Baylor Fox-Kemper, professor of Earth, environmental and planetary sciences, in an email to The Herald. “I still advise against it now.”
While Brown’s emissions are a “tiny fraction” of global emissions, Fox-Kemper explained, “if everyone paused on their reduction plans, we’d miss many key climate targets.”
He believes the University will “eventually” be able to achieve its net-zero goals, but he expressed doubt that Brown will “lead in this area,” he wrote.
“It is a time that we look to leadership to steward our community through this moment,” Cobb said. “And it is my sincere hope that we can be back on a path to investing in our campus decarbonization as soon as possible.”
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 9, 2024.
Yale Stem Cell Center director discusses novel gene regulation research
Mac V. Edds Lectureship covered new findings in gene regulation
BY JONATHAN KIM SENIOR STAFF WRITER
On Wednesday afternoon, Haifan Lin, the director of the Yale Stem Cell Center, discussed his innovative research findings in stem cell gene expression and regulation at Brown’s 2025 Mac V. Edds Lectureship.
Hosted by the Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, the event is held on a near-annual basis to honor Edds’s legacy. A pioneer in the field of developmental biology, Edds was the former director of medicine in Brown’s Division of Biology and Medicine.
Lin opened his lecture by discussing the shortcomings in the conventional understanding of gene expression and regulation, which is explained through the central dogma of biology that refers to the genetic flow of information from DNA to RNA and then protein.
Genetic regulation is controlled through a variety of mechanisms in this pathway, including changes at the transcriptional level — or the process of producing messenger RNA from DNA. These changes encompass processes like
epigenetic regulation, which alters gene expression by chemically modifying DNA without changing the underlying DNA sequence, Lin said.
He explained that historically, stem cell research has focused on transcription factors, and as a result, far less is known about the role of post-transcriptional regulation. Lin acknowledged the dearth of research on gene expression of embryonic stem cells — cells found in the early stages of embryonic development and capable of differentiating into most cell types in the adult body — and discussed how his own research addressed these gaps.
In one study, Lin explored the role of pumilio proteins in post-transcriptional control. Pumilio proteins are a family of proteins that bind to RNA to control protein production after transcription in early embryogenesis.
Lin helped discover that Pum1 proteins — a subset of pumilio proteins — play a crucial role in the differentiation of stem cells, while Pum2 proteins promote properties that allow stem cells to replicate themselves. Through regulating over a thousand types of mRNAs, these proteins can enhance or repress protein synthesis.
In the second half of the talk, Lin discussed his discovery of a novel group of small noncoding RNA molecules called
Haifan Lin, director of the Yale Stem Cell Center, opened Wednesday’s lecture by discussing the shortcomings in the conventional understanding of gene expression and regulation.
PIWI-interacting RNAs, or piRNAs. The journal Science included Lin’s discovery in their list of 2006’s 10 most important scientific breakthroughs.
Lin’s studies found that piRNAs derived from certain DNA segments are capable of degrading mRNA and other non-coding forms of RNA.
“We were euphoric about these find-
ings,” Lin said during the lecture. “If you liken the genome to the world, the traditional genes are like the old world, and suddenly, we found ourselves landed in a completely new world.”
Jien Li GS, a second-year graduate student studying aging biology, shared his surprise at the novelty of these findings and the existing limitations in the field.
“It shows how much more there is to discover,” Li said. These findings, he added, “are important enough that we should have a better understanding of (them) by now, but we don’t.”
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 10, 2025.
JONATHAN KIM / HERALD
BOMI OKIMOTO / HERALD
The Urban Environmental Lab on Sept. 2. The University has not stated whether the pause will set back Brown’s 2040 emissions goals.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Brown awarded $20 million to lead artificial intelligence research institute
The grant was awarded by the National Science Foundation
BY IVY HUANG SENIOR STAFF WRITER
A $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation will support the new AI Research Institute on Interaction for AI Assistants, called ARIA, based at Brown to study human-artificial intelligence interactions and mental health. The initiative, announced in July, aims to help develop AI support for mental and behavioral health.
“The reason we’re focusing on mental health is because we think this represents a lot of the really big, really hard problems that current AI can’t handle,” said Associate Professor of Computer Science and Cognitive and Psychological Sciences Ellie Pavlick, who will lead ARIA. After viewing news stories about AI chatbots’ damage to users’ mental health, Pavlick sees renewed urgency in asking, “What do we actually want from AI?”
The initiative is part of a bigger investment from the NSF to support the goals of the White House’s AI Action Plan, according to a NSF press release. This “public-private investment,” the press release says, will “sustain and enhance America’s global AI dominance.”
According to Pavlick, she and her fellow researchers submitted the proposal for ARIA “years ago, long before the administration change,” but the response was “very delayed” due to “a lot of uncertainty at (the) NSF.”
One of these collaborators was Michael Frank, the director of the Center for Computational Brain Science at the Carney Institute and a professor of psychology. Frank, who was already working with
ASTRONOMY
Pavlick on projects related to AI and human learning, said that the goal is to tie together collaborations of members from different fields “more systematically and more broadly.”
According to Roman Feiman, an assistant professor of cognitive and psychological sciences and linguistics and another member of the ARIA team, the goal of the initiative is to “develop better virtual assistants.” But that goal includes various obstacles to ensure the machines “treat humans well,” behave ethically and remain controllable.
Within the study, some “people work basic cognitive neuroscience, other people work more on human machine interaction (and) other people work more on policy
and society,” Pavlick explained.
Although the ARIA team consists of many faculty and students at Brown, according to Pavlick, other institutions like Carnegie Mellon University, University of New Mexico and Dartmouth are also involved. On top of “basic science” research, ARIA’s research also examines the best practices for patient safety and the legal implications of AI.
“As everybody currently knows, people are relying on (large language models) a lot, and I think many people who rely on them don't really know how best to use them, and don’t entirely understand their limitations,” Feiman said.
According to Frank, the goal is not to “replace human therapists,” but rather to
assist them.
Assistant Professor of the Practice of Computer Science and Philosophy Julia Netter, who studies the ethics of technology and responsible computing and is not involved in ARIA, said that ARIA has “the right approach.”
Netter said ARIA approach differs from previous research “in that it really tried to bring in experts from other areas, people who know about mental health” and others, rather than those who focus solely on computer science.
But the ethics of using AI in a mental health context is a “tricky question,” she added.
“This is an area that touches people at a point in time when they are very, very
vulnerable,” Netter said, adding that any interventions that arise from this research should be “well-tested.”
“You’re touching an area of a person’s life that really has the potential of making a huge difference, positive or negative,” she added.
Because AI is “not going anywhere,” Frank said he is excited to “understand and control it in ways that are used for good.”
“My hope is that there will be a shift from just trying stuff and seeing what gets a better product,” Feiman said. “I think there’s real potential for scientific enterprise — not just a profit-making enterprise — of figuring out what is actually the best way to use these things to improve people’s lives.”
Brown astronomer captures first evidence of merging galaxies in local cluster
Anthony Englert GS observed a light bridge between two galaxies
BY ELIZABETH ROSENBAUM STAFF WRITER
When studying local galaxy cluster Abell 3667, Anthony Englert GS, a Ph.D. candidate in physics, noticed something unique. Connecting the brightest galaxies in two small clusters within Abell 3667 was a faint bridge of light. This bridge, he explained, is evidence that the two galaxies are actively merging — a phenomenon that has not yet been observed in local galaxies.
“When you’re the first person ever to see this region of the sky at this depth, you’ll see things that nobody else has ever seen,” said Professor of Physics Ian Dell’Antonio, the principal investigator of the lab that conducted the study.
Englert’s results about Abell 3667 were published last month in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Galaxy clusters, Dell’Antonio explained, are “the biggest things that the universe has fully made by the present epoch.” Abell 3667 contains a multitude of smaller clusters. Each of these smaller clusters contains multiple galaxies, and the biggest, brightest one is called the “brightest galaxy cluster” or BCG.
When two galaxy clusters are merg-
When two galaxy clusters are merging, differences in gravitational forces will pull objects unevenly, causing stars to be ripped from one galaxy to another.
ing, differences in gravitational forces will pull objects unevenly, causing stars to be “ripped” from one BCG to another. This forms the light bridge that the team observed, Englert explained.
“In the future, (the galaxy clusters) will merge, creating a much bigger galaxy in the center of” Abell 3667, wrote Mireia Montes, a fellow at the Institute of Space Sciences in Spain and coauthor of the paper, in
an email to The Herald. Montes helped interpret the data from telescopes at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, which captured the images of this galactic interaction.
According to Dell’Antonio, this phenomenon should actually be “a fairly common thing” based on numerical simulations of gravity. “Almost every galaxy that’s crashed into or passed by another galaxy
should have these very faint streamers of stars,” he said.
But Englert’s findings mark the first time this merging has actually been observed in a “local galaxy” — a galaxy in the Milky Way’s immediate cosmic neighborhood. Abell 3667 is located about 800 million light-years from Earth, Englert explained.
Discovering the light bridge was not
easy, he said, as the bridge itself was very faint and difficult to see.
“Low-surface brightness astronomy is really, really challenging to do because when you take an image through a telescope, usually you have to do lots of corrections” due to other artifacts in space interfering with the image, Englert said.
But an algorithm that Englert built enabled the astronomers to create images that depicted the merging galaxies. Without these “amazing images,” scientists would not have such detailed information on the current state of the cluster, Montes wrote.
But “there is a lot that we are still not seeing hidden in the faintest regions of the galaxy,” she added. She noted future data from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory — a federally funded project that began observations this year — may provide “a lot of information about what our universe looks like (and) how it evolves.”
Dell’Antonio explained that the bridge of light observed in Abell 3667 could be indicative of future merger events between the Milky Way and Andromeda, our closest galactic neighbor.
But “that’s five billion years in the distance,” he said. “So it’s not a personal worry of anyone alive.”
COURTESY OF NOIRLAB
KENNA LEE / HERALD
The Carney Institute for Brain Science on Wednesday. The new AI Research Institute on Interaction for AI Assistants initiative aims to help develop AI support for mental and behavioral health.
OPINIONS
Canfield ’28: The answer to gerrymandering is not more gerrymandering
Last month, Texas Republicans approved a mid-decade redistricting plan that could give the party five additional congressional seats in the 2026 midterm elections. After months of unpopular policies spewing from the federal government, Trump-backed GOP representatives have decided to gerrymander their way to continued control of Congress rather than listening to voters’ concerns.
Governors in blue states have criticized the move as a threat to democracy and have vied to balance the scales by redrawing their own congressional maps. Spearheading this effort, Gavin Newsom is attempting to bypass California’s independent redistricting commission to gain blue seats ahead of the midterms, potentially offsetting Texas losses. Such a move would undermine the work California has done to create fair elections for all its constituents. While claiming the moral high ground, Newsom has merely joined his Republican counterparts in silencing voters across the aisle. Democrats must realize that the answer to gerrymandering cannot be more gerrymandering — a path that would send the nation into further political upheaval. Instead, Democrats should fight for legitimate elections in the courts and on Capitol Hill.
Partisan gerrymandering, while legal, is deeply unpopular. A recent YouGov survey found that 69% of Americans believe that it should be illegal to design electoral maps that put a specific party at a political disadvantage. These unfair redistricting practices hinder competition in congressional elections. In 2024, only 8% of congressional races and 7% of state legislative races were won by less than five points. Without fear of losing their elected office, politicians across the political spectrum can functionally ignore a large portion of their moderate constituents, instead playing to the increasingly extreme bases and threatening democratic integrity across the country.
Redistricting does not necessarily have to lead to unfair elections. Several states, including California, already implement some form of a nonpartisan redistricting commission to remove political calculus from the equation when creating electoral
districts. California’s redistricting commission was established almost two decades ago after Californians voted in a ballot measure to ensure fair representation for all in their state constitution. Though Newsom’s proposed plan to give his party an edge in
Democratic Party not resort to the same tactics to salvage these very institutions? Those who ask this question raise a fair point. Democrats must respond harshly to Trump’s redistricting efforts. But Democrats are already the minority group in Congress —
Congress would only temporarily remove redistricting control from the commission, doing so would set a dangerous precedent that future politicians could use to justify further gerrymandering. Even if Newsom’s plan is not repeated, Republicans in California deserve to have their voices represented proportionally in 2026. Failing to do so would be a stain on California’s election integrity.
Some critics argue that President Trump’s extreme tactics demand a new political playbook. If Trump is allowed to continue his assault on America’s institutions with little pushback, why should the
losing a few more seats is not significant enough to justify further harming our elections.
To properly counter Texas’s redistricting, Democrats should instead focus their attention on supporting litigation, such as the National Redistricting Foundation’s legal assistance in a recent lawsuit against Texas. The complaint argues that Texas’s new congressional map breaks up coalition districts that have a majority of minority voters, indicating that Texas Republicans may have violated the Voting Rights Act by considering race when drawing the new maps. Instead of disenfranchising more voters,
Democrats should call attention to the fact that 60% of Texans belong to a racial minority, but minority voters only control 27% of congressional seats. Democrats should stop gerrymandering through targeted lawsuits rather than creating more election inequality.
Lawmakers angered by Trump’s push to gain more red seats should also turn to national legislation on redistricting. Prior bills, such as the Freedom to Vote Act and the Redistricting Reform Act, would have banned partisan gerrymandering by adopting commonsense standards, including bans on mid-decade redistricting and criteria for drawing maps without favoring political parties. By focusing on long-term solutions, Democrats can effectively respond to Trump’s attacks on our elections while maintaining their integrity.
Trump’s push to redraw congressional lines in red states is a symptom of his crusade to divide the nation. When Americans are separated politically, Trump thrives. He can point to extreme policies on the left as justification for his own abuse of federal power. Democrats who take Trump’s bait by advocating for gerrymandering in their own states will only find greater problems down the road, as more governors on both sides of the aisle pledge to weaken the credibility of their elections.
By making the same disgraceful political move as Trump, Newsom’s response to the president amounts to: “He started it.” While California may guarantee a win in the short term, doing so would threaten years of progress toward election integrity. Students on College Hill should not forget their morals by praising nearsighted politics. Instead, Brunonians who fear Trump’s growing authoritarian rule must stay focused on the ultimate goal of preserving American democracy beyond this administration.
Ethan Canfield ’28 can be reached at ethan_canfield@ brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
Galor PhD’96: A dangerous bargain over Jewish identity
As a Jewish-Israeli scholar, I feel compelled to voice my moral and political dissent from the agreement that Brown University signed with the federal government on July 30. While I recognize the extraordinary pressure our leadership faced, I cannot remain silent about the implications of what has been conceded with respect to Jewish members of the community. Far from singling out Jewish community members for special protection, the agreement imposes an assumption of unitary identity that conflates diverse Jewish experiences into a single, undifferentiated category. The agreement does not simply resolve a financial emergency. It redefines Jewish identity in ways that are historically fraught and politically dangerous. First, through a biolog-
KAIA YALAMANCHILI / HERALD
ical or racial categorization that reduces Jewish identity to ancestry or descent. Second, through an expectation of compliance with ideological surveillance.
The use of the category “shared Jewish ancestry,” as mentioned in President Christina Paxson’s P ’19 P’M’20 letter, is problematic. And indeed, the apparently benevolent intention to “collect information on the climate for students” with this ancestral connection strikes a wrong note, as well. Both phrases carry disturbing historical echoes of Jewish identity determined not by self-understanding but by descent. In Germany in 1935, the Nuremberg Laws identified Jews by the religion of their grandparents, not their own practices or convic-
tions. The shared assumption is that, once identified, all Jews are somehow alike. To see a contemporary American university adopt similar logic under government pressure is profoundly disturbing.
Narrowing Jewish identity to a nationalist, ethnically defined model delegitimizes Jewish traditions that are diasporic, progressive and justice-oriented. It misrepresents our community and feeds longstanding antisemitic tropes about Jewish influence and separateness. When accusations of antisemitism are used to silence critics of Israeli policy, the result is a hollowing out of both academic freedom and the moral seriousness required to confront real antisemitism when it appears.
The irony is stark on campuses like Brown, where Jewish life is vibrant, diverse and politically engaged. Many Jewish students advocate for Palestinian rights and approach Israeli policies with critical engagement. Under the definitions now being embedded in federal agreements, such students themselves could be labeled antisemitic.
Jewish students, faculty and staff are not the only ones affected. Palestinian, Arab and Muslim members of the community — already subject to suspicion and smear campaigns — are especially vulnerable. The racialization of Jewish identity creates a double standard: Jews are defined as a protected class by bloodline, while Palestinians are framed as political threats by association.
In recent years, politically motivated groups have conflated criticism of Israel with antisemitism, compiling watchlists and pressuring universities to discipline faculty and students. When this dynamic is embedded in a federally monitored framework, it takes on a more dangerous, institu-
tionalized form: Jewish identity is now tied to compliance with a prescribed political ideology.
If a student believes that a statement is critical of Israel — whether in a lecture, discussion or assigned reading — any disciplinary action can now be fed directly to the federal government. Even a single remark, stripped of context, could become part of an official record that influences internal reviews, faculty promotion decisions or the renewal of contracts. In such an environment, professors may self-censor to avoid triggering complaints, impoverishing academic discourse for everyone. Brown has long been a place for critical inquiry and courageous debate. We must remain so. That means defending the right to criticize state power, including Israel’s. It means resisting the misuse of antisemitism as a political weapon. And it means rejecting any effort that defines and totalizes Jews according to bloodline or grants protection at the expense of others.
My father survived Auschwitz. My family’s story is a Jewish story, but also a warning. When identity becomes the basis for surveillance and control, no community is truly safe. We must not allow the language of protection to become a cloak for censorship and fear.
Katharina Galor PhD’96 is the Hirschfeld Associate Teaching Professor of Judaic Studies and serves as Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Judaic Studies program. She can be reached at katharina_galor@brown. edu. Please send responses to this op-ed to letters@browndailyherald.com and other op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
KENDRA EASTEP / HERALD
Barth Wu ’26: Chew On This: Amaryllis
Many of the restaurants on Westminster Street, the slightly shi-shi culinary stretch of Providence’s downtown, feel the same: mid-century modern tables and chairs, warm lighting and an affluent clientele. Amaryllis offers the same trappings, but a few critical details set this globally-inspired and locally sourced restaurant apart.
The entire operation is contained in a single room, and bar stools wrap their way around a butcher-block counter separating the kitchen from the rest of the dining space. In another corner, a haloed portrait of Luigi Mangione, the man charged with murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, accents the aluminum washing sink and dishwasher. The space has been stacked with Tetris-like skill, and the seating teeters between cozy and cramped. With no music, dining is punctuated only by conversation and the sounds of a kitchen — metal on wood and the symphony of a stove. The menu whispers of the Mediter-
The
ranean, weaving together flavors from Spain, Italy and Northern Africa and featuring locally sourced protein and produce.
To start, my dining partner and I ordered the beet carpaccio ($12). It was a riot of color: Tthe wine-red magenta of the beets was slick with green-gold olive oil and crowned with an unapologetic hunk of feta. Often earthy and forthcoming in flavor, the beets were surprisingly delicate, and the feta — simultaneously rich and sharp — was a most agreeable companion.
The pistachio mole mushrooms ($18) were a tangle of green fungi in a puddle of salsa macha, a Mexican condiment made of nuts and chili. The mushrooms were meaty and were complemented by the creamy and slightly acidic salsa. Both plates were refreshing and light, perfect for a warm evening.
The only disappointment was the main dish: braised local chicken thighs with harissa, roasted fennel and dates ($28). It arrived golden and piled on a marvelous blue plate, but it wasn’t hot in the slightest. The chicken was room temperature and slightly tough, as though the marinade had been neglected or forgotten. Creamy quartered potatoes were a welcome reprieve from the tough chicken and the chewy dates. Still, a few bites were delicious — corners of chicken that had absorbed more of the braise and bits of fennel caramelized in shmaltz.
menu whispers of the Mediterranean, weaving together flavors from Spain, Italy and Northern Africa and featuring locally sourced protein and produce.
“ “
For dessert, we enthusiastically opted for the blood orange olive oil cake with vanilla ice cream ($14), of course. Though the chicken was a disappointment, the cake was anything but that. The sponge was tender and warm, and it arrived dusted with powdered sugar, drizzled with olive oil and christened with rose petals. We did our best to savor each bite, but it disappeared quickly.
Dining at Amaryllis feels as though you have been invited into someone’s home kitchen. The plates are patterned and mismatched but clearly
chosen with care. The stove peeks out from behind the bar, making you feel like a kid watching a parent cooking for you. Overall, you’ll find a blend of punchy ingredients and more delights than disappointments.
Service: considerate
Sound level: very conversational
Recommended dishes: beet carpaccio, blood orange olive oil cake
Hours: Wednesday through Saturday 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Price Range: Appetizers $6-19, Entrees $26-42
Stars: 3/5
Eleanor Barth Wu ’26 can be reached at eleanor_barth_ wu@brown.edu. Please send responses to this op-ed to letters@browndailyherald.com and other op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
Editorial: Brown must step in to save the Critical Review
As students decide between Brown’s nearly 1,400 course offerings this shopping period, one obstacle remains constant — a dearth of Critical Reviews.
The Critical Review, a student-run course evaluation website, provides an essential service to the Brown community by helping students make informed choices about their course schedules. Its reviews provide a written description of course content, teaching style, assignments and class difficulty, among other data. In navigating the Open Curriculum, the abundance of choice can feel overwhelming. The Critical Review is an important resource that allows students to discern which courses are the best fit for their interests and learning styles.
Despite their clear utility, these reviews are in jeopardy due to poor survey response rates. Between fall 2021 and fall 2024, the number of reviews has declined by 27%, and only 17% of courses offered last fall currently have reviews. This scarcity means that outside of large lecture courses, it is quite difficult to find course evaluations — particularly for smaller humanities classes. Given these challenges, it is not enough to merely encourage participation. Brown must step in to make these reviews mandatory by integrating them into the existing required course evaluations.
The troubles we speak of are not new. Efforts such as modernizing the website, improving outreach and changing survey methods, though valuable, have thus far failed to raise participation rates. One potential reason for this failure is that the Critical Review suffers from what economists call the free rider problem, a type of market failure occurring when individuals can benefit from a public good or service without contributing to its upkeep. When it comes to course surveys, one has little incentive to fill out the forms in the midst of a busy finals season. In economics, the solution to the free rider problem is intervention by the gov-
ernment. In our case, it is by the University. Brown already requires students to complete course evaluations before allowing them to access grades as soon as they are released. This requirement undermines the Critical Review by making students feel like their independent survey is redundant. What we propose is simple: integrate the Critical Review survey into the existing Canvas course evaluation. For both professors and students, this would transform the survey from an optional exercise into a unified, required and essential part of the University’s social contract.
We recognize that some professors may have
concerns about receiving lower reviews due to bias. Yet, broader participation dilutes these effects as larger sample sizes better reflect reality. Other professors may worry that prospective students will avoid shopping courses that are described as exceptionally difficult or time-consuming. But students have a right to know what they are signing up for. Furthermore, unlike Rate My Professors, the Critical Review is curated, which means whatever negative reviews may exist are contextualized by a thoughtful student reviewer to provide a bigger picture.
The Critical Review is an important comple-
ment to the freedoms afforded by the Open Curriculum. The University must act to preserve the Critical Review before it disappears altogether.
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.
ANISHA KUMAR / HERALD
KATHARINE KNOWLES / HERALD
ARTS & CULTURE
REVIEW
‘Twinless’ masterfully depicts the innate desire for companionship
James Sweeney’s new film is unparalleled in its storytelling
BY REBECCA GOODMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
James Sweeney’s “Twinless” — a dark comedy about two men who connect over their grief — is distinct in its unique structure, meticulous dialogue and potent performances. When Dennis (James Sweeney) meets Roman (Dylan O’Brien) at a support group for bereaved twins, their quick mutual understanding cuts through their loneliness. “Twinless” explores what it means to be a twin and how it feels when that symbiosis gets severed.
The film stars O’Brien at his career high as he disappears into the characters of Roman and his deceased twin Rocky, embodying them with such sincerity that it is hard to believe that both are fictional characters. Sweeney, who also wrote and directed the film, paints vivid characters with his masterful screenwriting. Bolstered by an intuitive portrayal of Roman’s mother, Lisa (Lauren Graham), and the perfectly played grins of Dennis’s coworker, Marcie (Aisling Franciosi), the film is a sensational
ALUMS
feat of acting, cinematography, sound design and script.
Accustomed to having a partner in everything, Dennis and Roman begin standing in for the other’s deceased twin, accompanying each other to lunch, the gym and the grocery store. The beginning of this friendship is conveyed through a sequence of short scenes, a directorial choice that certainly contributes to the film’s initial sense of stunted emotion and may have fared better as a smoother montage. The vignettes lead up to a title card that appears over 20 minutes into the film. From this point on, the film pivots from a buddy comedy to a withering, mesmerizing, biting portrait of the lengths people will go to suppress their loneliness.
Despite its devastating overtones, the movie is remarkably funny: It’s dry, witty, sarcastic and earnest all at once. Sweeney in particular is an adept comic — perhaps because he wrote the jokes himself, but also due to his capacity for a wry, even sardonic delivery. Repeatedly, the film induces hilarity from the audience only to quickly halt it with a short, searing line that reminds them of the film’s underlying blistering pain.
Twice in the movie, Roman misquotes a phrase popularly misattributed to Win-
From the title card onwards, the film pivots from a buddy comedy to a biting
someone to great lengths for the balm of companionship.
ston Churchill: “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” He makes a small error in his language, though, replacing “through hell” with “to hell” — indicative of his overwhelming guilt. Marcie finally corrects Roman’s quote at the end
of the film, a correction that symbolizes Roman’s evolution and the difference between how Marcie and Dennis respond to Roman's grief.
“Keep going” is perhaps the message of “Twinless.” Regardless of suffering and
betrayal, you still have to get lunch — and you might as well eat with company.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 7, 2025.
Sexologist Suzannah Weiss ’13 reframes women’s pain, pleasure in upcoming book
Her new book was inspired by a reinterpretation of a biblical passage
BY SUMMER SHI SENIOR STAFF WRITER
In her upcoming book, “Eve’s Blessing: Uncovering the Lost Pleasure Behind Female Pain,” journalist, sex educator and former Herald arts & culture editor Suzannah Weiss ’13 traces how women’s pain has been historically normalized while their pleasure has been treated as taboo.
The book — set to be released in the United States on Sept. 15 — weaves together cultural analysis, biblical reinterpretation and interviews to create a larger story
about women’s health and experiences, Weiss explained in an interview with The Herald.
The idea grew out of Weiss’s first book “Subjectified,” which explores sexual empowerment and the “orgasm gap” — the sociological phenomenon in which males and females experience orgasms at different rates.
“Subjectified” included a chapter about the normalization of what Weiss calls “female pleasurelessness.” But she soon realized there was so much to the topic that it could be made into its own book.
As Weiss was developing her second book, a conversation with her agent reminded her that it is not just women’s pleasurelessness that gets normalized.
Women’s pain, Weiss realized, is often
subjected to similar treatment.
To connect these themes in the book, Weiss turned to the Bible. While reading Maya Dusenbery’s book “Doing Harm,” she came across a reference to the curse on Eve, the Genesis passage often interpreted as sentencing all women to a painful childbirth. But Weiss believes its interpretation is more ambiguous than Dusenbery claims.
“‘Thou shalt give birth in sorrow’ really meant something more like, ‘You will give birth anxiously, or you will have children fearfully,’” Weiss explained. To her, this wasn’t a divine curse so much as “God warning Eve what was to come because of the world that she lived in.”
This reinterpretation shaped the structure of “Eve’s Blessing.” One chapter, for instance, focuses on how patriarchal sys-
tems shape modern hospitals into spaces that expect and accept women’s suffering. Weiss connects this logic back to the rise of agriculture and the tracing of paternal lineage.
“Essentially, men saw women as property,” she explained. “So I see this curse as a metaphor for all these things in society that are messing up women’s health.”
These patterns are longstanding, wrote Associate Teaching Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies Denise Davis MA’97 PhD’11 in an email to The Herald. “There’s a ton of evidence out there showing how pain experienced by women, and especially women of color and Black women, is misread, disregarded or otherwise not taken seriously,” Davis wrote.
According to Davis, there are multiple reasons for this trend.
The testimonies of women of color are “somehow invalidated, because nonwhite people are generally disbelieved,” she wrote, adding that “the pain that women describe hasn’t been studied or experienced by researchers and clinicians in a historically male-dominated field.”
Christian tradition, Davis wrote, “sanctifies women in pain, women starving themselves (and) women who deny their sexuality” — a phenomenon that she noted is often seen through the iconography of suffering saints.
Davis also wrote that psychologist Sigmund Freud’s Madonna-Whore complex “shockingly still holds up.” The complex divides women into two categories — one of purity and one of promiscuity — and is widely considered to be a deeply misogynistic concept.
To push against the societal narrative that women should just endure pain, “Eve’s Blessing” spotlights women who refuse to accept pain as inevitable. And while Weiss’s book draws on interviews with patients, activists and health professionals, the themes present throughout these interviews resonate far beyond the book’s pages.
Tara Langdale-Schmidt, founder of women’s health company VuVatech and Weiss’s sex coach, spoke to The Herald
about her own experience with undiagnosed pelvic pain and the stigma surrounding it.
“I kept going to the doctor and saying that (my pelvis) hurt, and no one helped me,” she recalled. “They didn’t even give me a diagnosis.” When she finally discovered the term “vulvodynia” online, she had to bring it up with her OB-GYN herself.
For Langdale-Schmidt, real change begins with open conversation. “The more we share, the more we’re going to get help and help others,” she said. “We just have to be our own advocates.”
Those same ideas echo throughout “Eve’s Blessing,” in which Weiss notes that silence around women’s pain has been reinforced for generations.
“It’s taboo to talk about sex or to talk about periods,” Weiss told The Herald, emphasizing how inadequate sex education and stigma within families often keeps women from seeking help.
Doctors must “do a better job listening to women” and accept that “they may not know everything,” Weiss said.
The book’s release arrives at a moment of renewed political battles over sex education and reproductive rights.
Weiss views online communities as essential to keeping conversations alive despite censorship and pushback from institutions and the government. Much of her knowledge of sexual empowerment, she said, was “learned on the internet.”
With her upcoming release, Weiss also hopes to expand the scope of responsibility in reproductive debates. “Men need to take more ownership over their own bodies,” she said, pointing to condoms and vasectomies as two underutilized methods.
Ultimately, Weiss wants to shift the cultural script away from endurance and toward possibility.
“I dislike womanhood being defined by how much pain we can take,” she said. “Womanhood should be defined by our amazing capacity for pleasure.”
COURTESY OF ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS
portrait of how loneliness can push
COURTESY OF SUZANNAH WEISS
To push against the societal narrative that women should just endure pain, “Eve’s Blessing” spotlights women who refuse to accept pain as inevitable.
REVIEW
Big Thief brings raw sincerity, percussive soundscapes to ‘Double Infinity’
The album expands on the band’s tendencies with freshness, maturity
BY NORA ROWE SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Released Sept. 5, Big Thief’s newest project, “Double Infinity,” treats listeners to cascading rhythms and pared-down poetics. The release — a celebration of everyday life — is a powerful testament to the band’s enduring creative energy. Unflinching and sincere, Big Thief approaches their sixth studio album in full color.
With a runtime of just over 40 minutes, “Double Infinity” is concise, clear and honest. The album’s cover — a striking green lime against a black background — marks a change in aesthetic from the faded, sketchy photographs that characterized their previous albums.
Despite their new look, “Double Infinity” continues Big Thief’s genre-defying style. The album effortlessly drifts from electronic and vocal swoops on “Grandmother” to a play on traditional folk music in “How Could I Have Known” — all the while preserving the band’s use of multilayered and unconventional percussion.
On “Double Infinity,” these rhythms are fully realized, as seen in the controlled cacophony of the album’s second track, “Words.” Big Thief’s percussion, accompanied by shimmering sound effects, grants an otherworldly quality to their work.
Adrianne Lenker, Big Thief’s lead singer and primary songwriter, offers un-
REVIEW
failingly unique reflections on love and aging. Lenker’s voice, raw and lilting, is the ideal medium for delivering lyrics in heartbreaking detail that feel like a window straight into her soul. “Los Angeles, 3:33, nothing on the stereo / Dirty tea, you’re like the Mona Lisa,” Lenker sings on “Los Angeles.”
But Lenker also finds power in simplicity. Throughout the four-and-a-half minute song “Happy With You,” she sings only three lines, over and over. Lenker knows that love can be complicated and deeply personal. She knows that artists have tried to describe it for centuries, and she also knows that there are infinite expressions for love. But sometimes, all you need is one phrase. And in the case of “Happy With You,” sometimes you need it 44 times.
At only nine tracks long, “Double Infinity” is less than half the length of the band’s previous album, “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You.” But the album displays no less depth and breadth of emotion. Lenker’s strikingly original songwriting brings definition to each track on the album and prevents it from feeling overproduced with its intricate sonic layering.
Big Thief approaches this latest release with freshness and maturity. With the band now comfortable in the studio, “Double Infinity” offers audiences a glimpse into a future still rich with promise.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 10, 2025.
Conan Gray’s ‘Wishbone’ is required listening for hopeless romantics
The singer’s fourth studio album offers 12 ballads of heartbreak
BY ANN GRAY GOLPIRA SENIOR STAFF WRITER
A year after the release of his third studio album, “Found Heaven,” Conan Gray has once again captivated indie-pop enthusiasts with his newest — and similarly heartbreaking — record, “Wishbone.”
Debuting at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart, the album highlights Gray’s poetic lyricism and unfiltered vulnerability through a stunning 12-song display that was released on Aug. 15.
While the artist is most known for “Heather,” his viral 2020 ballad, his newest album wastes no time in showcasing the devastating lyricism and hopeless romanticism that catapulted Gray into fame in the first place.
Opening with “Actor,” his latest album tells the story of a secret romance as he recalls, “Nobody saw us in the hotel lobby / And nobody saw us with your sweatshirt on me.” The chorus later addresses how Gray felt like he was “being erased” as he reckoned with the doomed nature of his love, singing that “the church bells won’t stop ringing / For an undead wedding day.”
“Caramel,” the record’s eighth track, encapsulates feelings of nostalgia. Using the metaphor of burnt sugar to represent how he romanticizes a former relationship, Gray writes, “Yeah, you burn inside my memory so well / You caramel, you’re caramel / And the longer burn, the sweeter that you smell / You caramel, you’re
caramel.”
In “Nauseous,” the singer-songwriter shows off his lyrical capabilities once again, noting the downsides of his trusting nature: “Too trusting and loving, depending and kind / Behind every kiss is a jaw that could bite / And maybe that’s why I feel safe with bad guys / Because when they hurt me, I won’t be surprised.”
“Wishbone” undoubtedly has its fair share of grief, but its parallel themes of hope and young love set the record apart from Gray’s prior work. In “My World,” he mentions letting go of others’ perceptions of him, confidently claiming, “It’s my world and it’s my life / It’s my girl and it’s my guy / I’ll kiss ’em if I might like.”
Considering Gray’s notoriety for his passionate, yearning ballads, “This Song” pokes fun at this reputation, directly addressing the song’s subject and revealing in the chorus, “Something I’ve tried to say / But now I’ll say it straight / I wrote this song about you.”
“Wishbone” gives listeners both Gray’s signature heartbreak ballads as well as an unexpected element of hope and growing self-confidence. In an era of pop music that promotes made-forradio melodies at the expense of intentional lyricism, “Wishbone” consists of thoughtful poeticism combined with a catchy and modern instrumental foundation. In that sense, the record is a delightful anomaly, and its ability to have it all makes it a perfect blueprint for upcoming releases.
COURTESY OF 4AD
The album’s cover — a striking green lime against a black background — marks a change in aesthetic from the faded, sketchy photographs that characterized their previous albums.
COURTESY OF REPUBLIC RECORDS
“Wishbone” wastes no time showcasing the heartbreaking lyricism and hopeless romanticism that catapulted Conan Gray into fame in the first place.
SOCCER
Women’s soccer trumps Northeastern, ties against Wake Forest
Team tied 1-1 at Wake Forest following 2-0 win against Northeastern
BY MILES MONROE SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Last Thursday, the women’s soccer team (4-1-1, 0-0 Ivy) clinched a thrilling 2-0 home victory over Northeastern University (1-3-2, 0-0 Coastal Athletic Association). Three days later, the Bears tied 1-1 against nationally ranked Wake Forest (5-1-1, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) in North Carolina.
Following an electric three-game win streak to start the season, the Bears headed into Thursday’s match-up against the Huskies with a 3-1 record.
“Our team came in extremely fit and ready to jump into the season,” captain and goalkeeper Bella Schopp ’26 wrote in an email to The Herald. The first-year “and transfer additions this season integrated well with our returners, and the team had great chemistry right from the start.”
After suffering their first loss of the season to the University of Minnesota (42-0, 0-0 Big Ten) last Monday, the Bears were determined to return to glory against Northeastern. From the opening whistle, it was all Bruno.
Throughout the first half, the star-studded Brown offense mercilessly peppered the opposition with intricate passes, attacks and strikes, putting up 15 shots to Northeastern’s one. But despite the pal-
VOLLEYBALL
‘Firing
OF
Jael-Marie Guy ’29 celebrates with Rylee Keeley ’28 at the Bears’ Thursday matchup against Northeastern.
pable advantage, the Bears couldn’t find the back of the net.
At one point Brown got close, hitting the crossbar on two occasions, but the Husky defense stood firm. In addition to those near-misses, Northeastern’s goalkeeper, Eliza Teplow, made five impressive saves to keep the Bears scoreless by halftime.
Even at 0-0, Head Coach Kia McNeill stayed optimistic. “It was good that we were hitting the crossbar and the post and testing the goalkeeper,” McNeill told Brown Athletics. “It was just a matter of time.”
When the second half began, it was finally Brown’s time to shine. Just eight minutes after the break, 2024 Ivy League Rookie of the Year Ella Weil ’28 scored the first goal of the day. Joy Okonye ’27 — who was named to the 2024 All-Ivy First team — got credited with an assist after
her shot-on-goal bounced off the crossbar, finding Weil in the perfect position to head the ball in.
Up by one, the defense continued to thwart any chances the Huskies had at evening the score. Meanwhile, the Bruno offense kept pushing, hungry for a second goal.
The final tally came via the team’s rookie class in the 74th minute, when Naomi Nnewihe ’29 weaved her way down the left flank until she reached the Husky endline. Deep in enemy territory, she found a wideopen Jael-Marie Guy ’29, who smoothly put the ball away to secure her first career goal.
Even after the goal, Brown’s offense kept firing, outshooting Northeastern 27-5 throughout the whole night.
“We created lots of great scoring opportunities, and we have a very strong
defense,” Schopp wrote. “Our fitness and high press have given the opponent lots of problems and allowed us to create great offensive opportunities.”
But the Bears had little time to celebrate the win when just three days later, they faced off against then-No. 17 Wake Forest. Although they were facing the highest-ranked opponent of their 2025 schedule, the Bears were not intimidated.
“We were ready to play and gave Wake Forest all they could handle,” McNeill told Brown Athletics. “We created some quality chances and knew this game was going to come down to taking advantage of those opportunities.”
High energy and close chances headlined the game’s first half. Both teams came out swinging, trading off scoring opportunities in a clash between two attacking machines. But with strong defensive performances and stellar play by the goalkeepers on both sides, neither team gained an edge on the other.
The Demon Deacons almost got on the scoreboard in the 29th minute when they sent a missile from the top of the box toward the Brown goal. But Schopp was ready, diving to save the ball and collecting the first of her two first-half saves.
“We have set very high goals for this season, and as captains, we have the responsibility of holding ourselves and teammates accountable and leading the team on and off the field,” Schopp wrote. “We are a very driven and hard-working team that wants to set new records and achieve new heights.”
Though the Bears outpaced Wake Forest 5-4 in first-half shots, both teams entered halftime scoreless — a condition that was soon to change.
In the 67th minute, after evading multiple defenders at the top of the box, Okonye found Guy open on the right wing. With two defenders lunging at her, Guy faked the cross, cut back to the middle and lifted an absolute beauty to the top left corner past the Wake Forest keeper to claim a 1-0 lead.
Brown attempted to lock down on defense after the score, holding Wake Forest to 10 shots while posting 14 themselves. But just minutes away from glory, the Deacons pounced.
Exploiting a numerical advantage while on offense, Wake Forest hammered a shot off in the 86th minute. Bouncing off the tip of Schopp’s fingers, then the crossbar, the ball landed in the top right corner. The game concluded with an even score of 1-1.
“This result shows that we can go toeto-toe with one of the top teams in the country,” McNeill told Brown Athletics. “Now it’s about building on that and asserting ourselves in the games to come so that we are in good form come conference play.” Bruno looks to get another win on the board in their next matchup at 7 p.m. on Thursday night at home against Hofstra University (3-1-2, 0-0 CAA).
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 9, 2025.
on all cylinders’: Women’s volleyball kicks off season with Ocean State Cup
BY LYDELL DYER SPORTS EDITOR
Women’s volleyball (2-1, 0-0 Ivy) set the court ablaze in their first appearance of the 2025 season, sweeping Bryant University (2-4, 0-0 American East) 3-0 to kick off the Ocean State Cup on Friday. Brown followed up their dominant season opener with a split performance on Saturday, losing their first game against Providence College (3-3, 0-0 Big East) by a margin of 3-0 but trouncing the University of Rhode Island (2-4, 0-0 Atlantic 10) to end the tourney.
By the competition’s conclusion at Providence College’s Alumni Hall late Sat-
urday evening, three teams had each racked up two victories and one loss: Brown, Bryant and Providence College. Down to a three-way tiebreaker, the overall victory was awarded to the Friars, who finished the tournament with two 3-0 sweeps, and one 3-2 loss.
“Our performance this weekend was good,” Head Coach Taylor Virtue wrote to The Herald. “We certainly have a lot of work to do to polish our systems and tempo, but overall I am encouraged with what we were able to do this weekend.”
Entering this season, the Bears are looking to improve on last year’s 11-14 record and climb the ranks of the Ivy League.
The Bears placed third in preseason polling, trailing behind only Yale and Princeton, the Ivy League announced on Aug. 27.
“We have a handful of goals for this
season, but the one that matters the most is winning an Ivy League Championship,” Virtue wrote. “Preseason was awesome and we were able to prioritize both hours in the gym and recovery, which has allowed us to head into our competition season with a full and healthy roster.”
When Brown finally took to the court against Bryant on Friday afternoon, they played without the rust of a months-long off-season. Instead, winning three consecutive sets — 25-12, 29-27 and 25-21 — the Bears demonstrated that they were prepared, in sync and ready to fight.
Mariia Sidorova ’26, who finished last year’s season with a team-high 335 kills, led Bruno’s offensive surge. For three consecutive sets, she hounded the Bulldog defense, spearing through their armor with 14 total kills.
Sophia Wolfson ’28 and Ally Panzloff ’27 bolstered Bruno’s offense, adding 11 kills each. In addition to the Bears’ offensive flurry, Brown delivered a strong defensive performance, outblocking Bryant 6-2 and winning the battle for digs 43-34.
Despite Friday’s triumph, when the Bears returned to Alumni Hall on Saturday morning to face Providence College, it was as if every ounce of firepower they deployed the previous day had been captured in a bottle and thrown in their faces. Brown was outscored, outsmarted and outplayed, leading to a 3-0 loss.
In two of the sets, the Bears fell by double digits, suffering a 25-14 defeat in the first set and a 25-12 loss in the third. Only the middle set provided any hope for Brown.
Spurred by effort more than anything else, the Bears outworked the Friars, racking up more attempts and kills in the second set. But ultimately, Brown was held back by their own mistakes, and following one too many errors, Bruno lost 25-21.
But just an hour and a half later, the Bears swarmed the court with new and reinvigorated energy. Sidorova set the tone early and claimed Bruno’s first point. URI fought valiantly throughout all three sets, but the Bears performed meticulously, exploiting the holes in the Rams’ defense and chipping away at their endurance.
Clinching the first set 25-19, Brown ran it back in the second set, claiming another 25-19 victory. The third set was the most contested one of the game, with Brown trailing 20-18 as the match wound down to the final stretch.
Thanks to kills by Panzloff and Hannah Flannery ’26, Brown was able to tie the game, but as both teams approached the 25-point margin, URI held the edge. For a dangerous moment, the Bears found them-
selves trailing 24-23, staring at a possible URI victory.
Then, Wolfson stepped up.
Expertly dismantling the Rams’ defense, she scored a game-saving point, tying the match at 24-all. In extra points, Panzloff, assisted by Julia Kakkis ’28, reclaimed a Bruno lead, and with it all on the line, Wolfson took the final shot, cementing a 26-24 Brown win.
“There were two keys that allowed us to beat both Bryant and URI,” Virtue explained. “We served very well, which created a lot of predictability from our opponents and secondly, our offense was firing on all cylinders.”
In the matches that the Bears won, they averaged more than 16 kills-per-set, “which is far and above (their) kills-per-set goal,” according to Virtue.
“During the Providence (College) match we struggled to find steadiness in first contact, both serving and passing which created a much less efficient offensive stand for us,” she added
The Bears will next compete in a weekend triple-header in Orlando, Florida. They will kick off the competition with a Friday afternoon match-up against Florida Atlantic University, followed by a 12 p.m. game against Arkansas State University on Saturday and a 1p.m. contest against University of Central Florida on Sunday.
“Next week we will be facing a much higher level of competition and we are incredibly excited for that,” Virtue concluded. “Our team is hungry to learn and get better after this weekend and we will be prepared to go to battle on Friday.” This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept.
ATHLETICS
The Bears beat Bryant, URI but lost to Providence College
The Bears' match against Rhode Island on Saturday. The Bears placed third in preseason polling, only trailing behind only Yale and Princeton, the Ivy League announced on Aug. 27.
COURTESY OF KAY HALASZ VIA BROWN ATHLETICS
ADMISSIONS
Early decision isn’t legally binding, but many applicants to Brown think it is
A lawsuit was filed against Brown and 31 other schools about ED
BY NYRIA DELPH SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Each college admissions cycle, students opting to apply via early decision are faced with an agreement that they, along with their parent or legal guardian, must sign, vowing to attend the institution if accepted.
While it is often described as binding, a new lawsuit alleges that colleges present the legally toothless agreement as one that carries the full force of law.
This perception, some students told The Herald, made them wary of applying early, even if Brown was their top choice. Others applied early with the false understanding that it was legally binding.
Associate Provost for Enrollment and Dean of Undergraduate Admission Logan Powell, wrote in a message to The Herald that the University has “never claimed that the early decision process is legally binding.”
Brown’s online admissions materials do not explicitly mention a “legal” obligation, with one webpage characterizing the early application as “a binding agreement.”
The Common Application, Scoir — which owns the Coalition Application — and 32 universities, including Brown, are facing a class action lawsuit alleging that
they falsely present early decision admissions as legally binding.
Plaintiffs argue the early decision agreement intentionally resembles “a contract” that leads applicants to believe they have a legal obligation to attend an institution that admits them via early decision.
The Common Application’s “application dictionary,” for instance, defines early decision as “a ‘binding’ application process” that permits students to apply early to one school. It also states that “if admitted, you must withdraw your other applications.” The word “binding” is written in quotes without explanation.
The lawsuit also accuses the defendants of violating antitrust laws through
early decision admissions, arguing that the application plans represent a mutual agreement among institutions to not compete for students admitted early. The suit was filed by three students and a recent graduate, none of whom are known to be directly affiliated with Brown.
In response to the suit, University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald that Brown “stands by the integrity and fairness of its admission process.”
Many students who spoke to The Herald said they believed they would face consequences or retribution if they did not attend Brown if accepted early.
Luke Daniel ’29 interpreted “binding”
as “enforced, but not inescapable,” adding that he “was under the impression that ED was legally binding except for financial reasons.”
Roselym Reyes Moscat ’28 made a similar assumption: “I thought binding meant if I (got) accepted into Brown, I would have to go.”
Other students like Nikhil Kannan ’29 did not apply early, despite Brown being his top choice school. Kannan wrote that he didn’t want to be “bound” to a school because he “wanted to be able to explore (his) options,” and compare prices.
Celia Peña ’28 felt a “moral obligation” to attend Brown when she was accepted early. “It would have eased a lot of my
anxiety knowing (early decision) wasn’t legally binding,” she said.
Benson Zou ’27, who also believed early decision was legally binding, said he heard a rumor that if students did not enroll in the college they were accepted to early decision, “our high school would be blacklisted from the university.” He kept this in mind while applying early to Brown.
Zou told The Herald that he regretted applying early because he did not receive the amount of aid he was expecting.
Colleges will make exceptions to the early decision agreement in special circumstances — most commonly when a student receives insufficient financial aid from the university they’ve committed to, said Cathleen Sheils, a former director of undergraduate admissions at Cornell and a senior associate director of college counseling at Solomon Admissions Consulting.
Even for students who knew the agreement was not legally binding, they still noted its weight in the college admissions process. Katie Kunkel ’29 still chose to “treat it as being legally binding.”
Rahul Ramakrishnan ’29 wrote that although he knew ED wasn’t legally binding, he thought there would be consequences for not enrolling in the school if accepted early. “By turning a spot down,” he said, “it’d be almost impossible to gain an acceptance elsewhere.”
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 7, 2025.
Student activist leaders voice opposition to Brown’s deal with Trump admin
After the deal, some student activists are now reluctant to take action
BY ZARINA HAMILTON SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Following Brown’s July 30 agreement with the Trump administration to restore federal funding, student activist organizations have condemned a variety of the deal’s resolutions, citing concerns with the agreement’s new regulations on transgender students, commitments to sharing records to the federal government and restrictions on diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Among the various resolutions outlined in the University’s agreement with the Trump administration was a requirement that Brown provide investigative files,
including “student disciplinary records” to the federal government upon request.
Now, some student activists say that group members feel hesitant to engage in activism, citing concerns over uncertainty about how this provision of the agreement will be enforced.
In April, the Trump administration announced plans to freeze $510 million in federal research funding over concerns regarding antisemitism on campus, as well as diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. By agreeing to pass a series of resolutions, Brown reached a deal with the Trump administration to restore the frozen funds on July 30.
According to the agreement, the University may use a unique identifier for students in place of their name or other personally identifiable information when sharing requested information with the
federal government. But the Education Department’s or the Department of Health and Human Services’s Offices for Civil Rights may ultimately request the identifiable information if they deem it necessary to monitor Brown’s compliance with the agreement.
In response to a request for comment, University Spokesperson Brian Clark referred to a series of frequently asked questions posted by the University to address concerns with the agreement, emphasizing that there are “no changes in how reports are made to or handled by the Office of Equity and Compliance Reporting.” The guidance also reemphasized that records will share “de-identified information” that does not include the names of any reporting or accused parties.
“Now that student records can be shared with the Trump administration, I
think that groups are going to have a lot more fears about engaging in activism,” Sunrise Co-Coordinator Charlotte Calkins ’27 said. “Even though there’s steps in between directly sharing students’ names, that is very much possible.”
"It is particularly worrying to students who are vulnerable to the government," she added, saying that it could lead to "investigating their visa or citizenship and threatening their ability to reside in the" U.S.
In an Aug. 23 statement posted on Instagram, Brown Democrats wrote that they were “deeply alarmed” with the agreement and called upon the Brown community to “hold the University accountable to its previously stated values.”
One of the club’s primary concerns with the agreement were sections regarding transgender and gender-non-conforming students’ access to female-only spaces on campus such as restrooms and housing, according to Brown Democrats Vice President Jacqueline Zhang ’27.
“I think that’s really disappointing that trans students’ livelihood and their experience at Brown is so easily given up to this capitulation,” she added. “The agreement also adds to this overall unwelcoming, unsafe environment for the trans community.”
Clark explained that the agreement does not prevent the University from “implementing gender-inclusive measures on campus,” such as gender-inclusive housing and restrooms.
“We remain fully committed to serving the needs of all students and community members in a manner consistent with our long-established policy of nondiscrimination,” Clark wrote.
Do Not Comply, a student group advocating against the Trump administration’s directives on higher education, criticized the agreement’s impacts on transgender students in a statement posted on their
Instagram profile. The group also condemned the elimination of DEI programs and the provision outlining the conferral of student records to the federal government when requested.
This fall, Brown Democrats plans on organizing progressive support around midterm elections in Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and Virginia to further push back against the Trump administration, said Sylvie Watts ’26, president of Brown Democrats.
While the student group leaders were unhappy with the University’s compliance, they emphasized that the overall blame lies with the Trump administration.
“Brown was put in a very impossible position,” Zhang said. “It’s really important to remember that it was Trump’s fault, and Brown is complying with them.”
The Trump administration did not respond to a request for comment.
Amid the uncertainty regarding the enforcement of the agreement, Calkins said that student groups are putting more value in behind-the-scenes organizing work, especially for “students who maybe can’t speak out quite as much.”
“Even though they’re nervous and that’s what’s affecting what actions groups take, there’s also a renewed energy to join organizations,” she added.
Simon Aron ’28, one of the leaders of Do Not Comply, emphasized the importance of student and faculty voices in pushing for the University to stand up against the Trump administration.
“I’m proud of all the work that we have done, and I’m ready to keep going and keep fighting,” Aron said. “Because this is not over.”
MAX ROBINSON / HERALD
The complaint was filed by three students and a recent graduate, none of whom are known to be directly affiliated with Brown.
MAX ROBINSON / HERALD
Students at an April 18 Do Not Comply protest on the Main Green. Do Not Comply criticized the University’s July 30 agreement with the Trump administration for its impacts on transgender students.
METRO
ENVIRONMENT
Infamous turkey ruffles feathers on College Hill
Most recent turkey sightings in the area can be traced to one bird
BY MICHELLE BI SENIOR STAFF WRITER
As Brown students flocked back to campus last weekend, they may have noticed a large brown bird wandering the streets.
He is known as the College Hill turkey — a moniker the Providence community has lovingly bestowed upon the bird.
The turkey is male and most likely “anywhere between one and four years old,” according to Sheida Soleimani, the founder of Providence-based wild bird clinic Congress of the Birds.
The tom, a term for wild male turkeys, likely settled down in College Hill during his quest for a partner during mating season, Soleimani said. But he does not seem to have found one.
The radius of the turkey’s territory, as well as his age and gender, led Soleimani to believe most turkey sightings in the area were all that one bird.
“He’s a chill turkey, just hanging out, trying to find love,” Soleimani added.
One of the turkey’s most frequented spots is outside the Providence Athenaeum, located just west of the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library. Stephanie Ovoian, the head of research and library services for the Athenaeum, said she first spotted the turkey in May and that he has been “visiting on and off” since then.
The turkey likes to “hang out in the mulch (and) dig some little holes,” Ovoian added, noting that the feathery friend often visits the library’s garden beds and parking lot. Residents of Benefit Street told her that they have observed him sleeping on the Athenaeum’s roof at night, she added.
Because it was first spotted near the “little plot of grass” by the Superior Court on Benefit Street, library staff dubbed the bird “Esquire,” Ovoian said.
But on other parts of College Hill, the turkey has quickly gained a reputation for wreaking havoc on the streets.
“I almost hit (him) with my car last spring,” said Ivyhailyn Montoya ’27, a former Herald copy editor, who saw the bird while driving up College Street. “I had to swerve out of the way,” she added.
Acadia Phillips ’28 also encountered the turkey several times throughout the summer. “I would have to stop my car and get out and chase (him) out of the street,” she told The Herald.
On Aug. 30, Phillips spotted the turkey again by the Rock. “(He) started chasing me back,” she said. “I had to run and jump in the car.”
According to Erika Cole, the director of the Providence Animal Care and Control Center, the office has received several reports from Providence residents saying they are concerned for the turkey’s safety. Animal Care and Control has also received a report from a patrol officer who was “confronted by the turkey while on a detail,” Cole added in an email to
According to Soleimani, Congress of the Birds received “anywhere between five to 10 calls per day this summer” from Providence residents worried about the bird’s safety.
Wild turkeys in the Ocean State date back to the early stages of New England colonization, during which they were “super common across the landscape,” said Lizzi Bonczek, the upland game bird biologist for the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management’s Division of Fish and Wildlife.
This population declined and was eventually eradicated in the 1800s due to overharvesting and habitat loss, Bonczek added. But a century later, as farms across
the region were abandoned due to the Great Depression, there were “increased suitable habitats for turkeys,” Bonczek said. “And biologists began to consider reintroductions.”
From the 1980s to 1990s, RIDEM collaborated with the National Wild Turkey Federation on a wildlife restoration program to move turkeys from other states and “establish new turkey flocks” throughout Rhode Island, RIDEM Spokesperson Evan LaCross told The Herald.
Today, “turkeys have colonized every single town in Rhode Island, except for Block Island,” Bonczek added.
The juvenile male on Brown’s campus may have found one of the best dwellings in the area. Bonczek described college
campuses as a “great habitat” for a turkey. She pointed to the open grassy areas and roost trees — with wide horizontal limbs to sleep on — as attractive natural features for these birds.
The turkey is “a representation of the fact that we share our space with wild animals,” Soleimani said, adding that turkeys are also common in other areas around Providence like Swan Point Cemetery, Smith Hill and India Point Park.
“For us to think that we are the only ones that inhabit space is extremely egotistical,” Soleimani added.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 8, 2025.
The Herald.
BOMI OKIMOTO / HERALD
Often seen roaming around campus, the College Hill Turkey was sighted on Waterman Street in late August.