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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2018
VOLUME CLII, ISSUE 57V
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Providence Police identify teenage shooting victim GirlsGetMath engages local high school students
Police confirm 15-yearold victim as William Parsons, person of interest as Providence student By EMILY DAVIES
Week-long camp inspires girls to pursue STEM, aims to decrease stigma surrounding field
METRO EDITOR
The Providence Police Department identified the victim of Wednesday’s shooting outside Providence Career and Technical Academy as William Parsons, a 15-yearold student at Central High School. Parsons was an “innocent bystander” in a dispute between two other teenagers, police said during a press conference Thursday. “He was standing nearby, and we believe he was shot and killed and was not the target,” said Providence Commissioner of Public Safety Steven Paré . A second teenager, who is a person of interest in the original shooting, accidentally shot himself in the leg while attempting to elude Providence Police, Colonel of Providence Police Hugh Clements, Jr. announced Thursday. He was transported to Hasbro Children’s Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Police confirmed Thursday that he is a juvenile enrolled in the Providence school system. His name has not been
By CATE RYAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
During the second week of August, the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics hosted GirlsGetMath@ICERM, a week-long day camp for girls in the Providence area entering 10th or 11th grade. The program started in 2014 under then-director of ICERM Jill Pipher, the University’s current vice president for research. The program has continued annually, offering 20 to 25 girls the opportunity to work together on interactive math and computer science » See ICERM, page 3
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
EMILY DAVIES / HERALD
William Parsons, a student at Central High School, was shot and killed outside Providence Career and Technical Academy Wednesday afternoon. Community members have placed flowers and candles at the site of the crime. released at this time. Clements announced that the person of interest was to be released from the hospital yesterday. Upon his release, he will be charged with murder, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin confirmed during Thursday’s press
conference. “In conjunction with the school department and the state, we are providing additional behavioral health, social and emotional counseling for kids throughout the day and continuing in the following days,” Mayor of Providence
Jorge Elorza said at the press conference, adding that there will be expanded police presence at Providence Career and Technical Academy, Central High School and Classical High School until Friday. Police seized a handgun Wednesday » See SHOOTING, page 3
New CS prof starts Med student creates 3D brain model MD’20 creates machine learning lab Venegas educational tool that Stephen Bach hopes to help democratize field, connect with students in new position By JONATHAN DOUGLAS SCIENCE & RESEARCH EDITOR
As computer science students flood into the newly-renovated CIT, they will be joined by Stephen Bach, an assistant professor who joined the department this semester. Bach’s hiring comes at a time when the discipline of computer science is exploding at Brown — both in terms of class enrollment and research. For the second year in a row, computer science was the most popular concentration at the University, conferring a total of 184 degrees in 2018, 9 percent of all degrees awarded. Bach researches and teaches machine learning, a field of computer science that aims to detect patterns in large sets of data. Current techniques in this area require massive amounts of labeled data, limiting machine
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
INSIDE
learning’s spread to companies and individuals who can afford to develop this necessary component. But Bach is working to change that. By automating the process of labeling data, he hopes to democratize machine learning and make it easier to apply it to fields such as health care and spam filtering, he said. Bach is in the process of starting his new research lab and has secured start-up funding from the department for a year. He has begun collaborating with other professors in the department to secure funding as he will soon have to rely on outside grants and sources to keep his lab afloat. With Professor and Associate Chair of Computer Science Michael Littman, Professor of Computer Science Eli Upfal and Assistant Professor of Computer Science James Tompkin, Bach is applying for a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency grant as part of the agency’s “Learning with Less Labels” program. The program hopes to decrease the amount of labeled data required by a million-fold, a significant change from the current state-of-the-art techniques, according » See BACH, page 2
clearly highlights brain trauma, injuries By CHRIS SCHUTTE SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Neurosurgeons could one day thank Ollin Venegas’ MD’20 presentation to high school students for allowing them to create detailed brain models of their patients. Venegas has been developing 3D models of the human brain, aiming to provide an educational tool and tactile illustration of the effects of concussions and other head traumas. Working alongside Zak Ziebell ’19, a RISD dual-degree student, Patrick Rashleigh, a data visualization coordinator for the University and other group members, Venegas has created a model that shows both the internal and external impacts of head injuries. Venegas has been interested in head trauma and its effects from a young age. He began the project to illustrate trauma in a presentation he gave last summer to high school students. By encasing a ballistic gel
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
COURTESY OF ZAK ZIEBELL
To illustrate the impacts of head injuries, Ollin Venegas MD’20 constructed this model of the brain by molding it from a ballistics gel solution in a skull. solution in a mold and placing the model brain in a skull, Venegas was able to illustrate the damage to neurons and other internal workings of the brain when trauma occurs. The model served as a means to illustrate “what happens to the brain when you can’t see (it), ” Venegas said. His model
is also cheaper than alternatives and highlights head injuries in innovative ways, he added. Venegas later approached Rashleigh to begin work on creating a more simplified mold. “It’s always exciting when someone walks in with » See BRAIN, page 3
WEATHER
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2018
COMMENTARY Schapiro ’19: Soccer is enjoyable to follow, should be more widely watched in United States
COMMENTARY Nugent ’21: Major League Baseball playoff policies fail to reward highest-performing teams
COMMENTARY Klein ’20: Despite strong season, uneven lineup means Boston Red Sox won’t win 2018 World Series
COMMENTARY Miller ’70 P’02: University should protect researchers from nonacademic, political pressures
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NEWS
PAGE 2 • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2018
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
We should all be soccer fans JAMES SCHAPIRO sports editor I have one friend who is an enormous soccer fan, and for the longest time I didn’t understand what his passion was all about. I am a baseball fan above all else, partly because it is the greatest game in the world, but also because I am an American. Moreover, soccer doesn’t have as much of a presence in the United States as it does in other parts of the world. The overblown, stars-and-stripes colored bubble that I occupied meant that for much of my life, I regarded soccer as beneath my interests as a sports fan. This all started to change when I saw the United States’ performance in the 2014 World Cup. Placed in what some called “The Group of Death,” the United States advanced out of the group stage but lost to Belgium in the round of 16. I was angry about the loss but even prouder of the U.S. team, and above all, excited about soccer for the first time in my life. It wasn’t until two years later, though, that I finally understood my friend’s passion. This was in the wake of the 2016 Copa América when the United States lost in the semi-finals to Argentina. I got so excited about soccer after that tournament that I went home and became a fan of the English Premier League. I am entering my third season supporting Chelsea and I can tell you: being a soccer fan is a worthwhile endeavor. Why is it worthwhile? There are a few reasons. For one, the game is very likely on the upswing. Most casual observers know that soccer hasn’t quite caught on in the United States the way baseball, basketball or football have. There are several reasons for this. Obviously, we have never won a World Cup nor have we come
SIMONE ZHAO / HERALD
particularly close. American professional soccer has not caught up to its foreign competitors. Nevertheless, we will get better. Armed with a new roster and a new coach after the sacking of head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, the U.S. Men’s National Team will likely qualify for the 2022 World Cup, which will bring fresh interest to the sport. Then, of course, the U.S. will play its part in hosting the 2026 tournament, which will shine an even brighter light on the game. But even aside from the World Cup, soccer is simply a fun sport to follow. Major League Soccer, the highest league of American professional soccer, may not be the highest quality league in the world. But that doesn’t stop me from wearing my New York City Football Club jer-
sey on match days, with David Villa’s number 7 on the back (I used to wear Frank Lampard’s number 8, but then he retired. I am thankful that, for at least one season, I had the privilege of watching a Chelsea legend play for my team). Likewise, on Chelsea match days, I’ll probably wear my bright yellow Chelsea jersey. You could do the same. Find a team, watch their matches (most are available to stream online, completely legally) and be a fan. I chose Chelsea because Alex Rider, the titular character of a children’s book series that I used to read, supported them, but make your own choice. Choose a team for its history. Its cool uniforms. Its charismatic star player. I chose for a far less compelling reason, and the next day I was watching
a match and jumping off the couch as Eden Hazard and Diego Costa scored on the way to a 2-1 win over West Ham United Football Club. There are a few reasons why soccer is so much fun to follow. There’s the game itself: as a sport, soccer is almost unrivaled in combined action and athleticism. All the pitiful arguments I used to make against the sport have fallen apart now that I actually watch the matches. There is plenty of action, scoring is perfectly paced and there is rarely a dull moment. Perhaps most importantly, play continues uninterrupted by commercials for 45-minute stretches. Talk about breaking out of a bubble — there are no TV timeouts during either half of a soccer game, and it’s a joy to experience.
But there’s more than the games. There’s also the sense of global connection that soccer brings, being the world’s most popular sport. I can watch or talk soccer with almost anyone and share a unique connection over a sport that most of the world loves. I, for one, know that soccer has helped pull me out of my star-spangled bubble and given me a greater appreciation for sports on the global scale. How do I know this? My new favorite player, Eden Hazard, was on the team that eliminated the United States from the 2014 World Cup. I don’t even harbor any resentment for our defeat at his hands: I just sit back and watch him score goals for Chelsea, and wait for the next World Cup, because I know that I am a fan of the world’s game now.
» BACH, from page 1
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to a DARPA press release. Bach joins the University after serving as a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University. While there, Bach helped develop a tool called Snorkel, which greatly reduces the amount of time required to label data. Bryan He, a PhD student at Stanford who worked closely with Bach as part of Snorkel, said that Bach helped him put together “one of the most organized” research projects he had ever been a part of. Bach also served as a visiting scholar at Google this year. Excited about the prospect of mentoring students in his lab, Bach has already begun reaching out to undergraduates and graduates to join him. In addition, he will sit on the graduate admissions committee for the department this year, hoping to pull PhD students into his work. His advisee, Shiying Luo GS, said she is excited to work with Bach, describing his patience and interesting research as enticing. Bach will teach two courses during his first year at Brown. In the fall, he will run CSCI 2952C: “Learning with Limited Labeled Data,” a graduate seminar that focuses on much of the work Bach has researched over the last few years. In the spring, he
COURTESY OF STEPHEN BACH
Stephen Bach has joined the University’s computer science department as an assistant professor to further his research on machine learning. will take on CSCI 1420: “Machine Learning,” an introductory course to the field that has seen enrollment skyrocket in the last few years. In fall 2013, the course had just 51 students; last spring, that number reached more than 250. Expected enrollment in spring 2018 is greater than 300 students, wrote Ugur Cetintemel, professor and department chair of computer science, in an email to The Herald. While teaching such a large class requires overcoming logistical problems from classroom space to
grading, Cetintemel believes Bach is prepared for the challenge. “He has an excellent mentorship record and a student-centered perspective on teaching, and he is highly collaborative,” he wrote. Bach is one of several professors to join the department this year, alongside new faculty members such as Assistant Professors Ellie Pavlick and Tim Nelson. The intensive hiring in computer science is reflective of the growth of enrollment and research in the department.
NEWS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 • PAGE 3
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
COURTESY OF RUTH CRANE
Since 2014, the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics has hosted GirlsGetMath@ICERM high school girls the opportunity to learn about math and computer science through a week-long day camp. This year, the program focused on probability, data science, cryptography, image processing and graph theory.
» ICERM, from page 1 activities and attend lectures. “What I absolutely love about the GirlsGetMath program … is that it takes a diverse group of females from around the state, puts them in a room and empowers them to get excited about these very marketable skill sets including mathematics, computer science and cryptography,” said Nicholas Bousquet, a computer science and mathematics teacher at Scituate Senior High School in North Scituate, Rhode Island. Two students from his school attended GirlsGetMath@ICERM this summer. The camp was offered to students at a cost of $100 for the week, but full scholarships were available, said Ruth Crane, the assistant director of ICERM. The students’ tuition does not cover
» BRAIN, from page 1 a project with a concrete plan on how the 3D printer is going to be used for a practical purpose,” Rashleigh said. A physical model brings out certain aspects a digital one cannot, he added. “(It has) been demonstrated time and time again that there are benefits to having something exist in a physical space and be tactile.” Venegas turned his efforts toward creating a more accurate model with Rashleigh and Ziebell, who both work in the Rockefeller Library Digital Studio. The accessibility and cheaper cost of 3D printers compared to other mediums made the technology an exciting option to create the model, Venegas said. Using the RISD Nature Lab, the group first used a human skull as a model template to create the 3D-printed brain and eventually improved it by using a real human brain from a cadaver. “It’s way more impactful if you see something … you get a real sense of what’s going
every expense of the program — funding is gift and grant-based. In the past, funding has come from a wide array of organizations such as the American Mathematical Society, Math for America, Microsoft Research and others. These types of donations allow the program to run at high quality with a lower financial burden on the students and their families. “There is clear evidence that even though jobs in STEM are growing very rapidly and they pay better than a lot of other jobs, women are very underrepresented in these careers,” said Katharine Ott, one of the program’s organizers and an associate professor of mathematics at Bates College. At a young age, girls start feeling that boys may be better at math and science, said Amalia Culiuc, another one of the program’s organizers and an
assistant professor of mathematics at Amherst College. The camp also aimed to change stereotypes around STEM. “There’s an image in the media of math being a lonely activity,” said Brendan Hassett, the director of ICERM. However, when all of the participants are together learning new math concepts at the camp, “it makes it very easy to see how math can be something that can be really exciting,” he said. “The energy is infectious.” Many events at ICERM function to foster collaboration between professional mathematicians. One of the advantages of hosting the program at ICERM was that the girls had exposure to scientists in a range of programs, Culiuc said. This year, the Data Science Initiative hosted the TRIPODS Summer Bootcamp at ICERM, a program that brought together professionals
in machine learning. The concurrence of the events gave the girls the chance to ask visiting speakers and participants about their careers. “One of the goals is to give the group of high school women exposure to mathematics that they don’t see during their regular high school classes,” Ott said. She added that the program this year covered “probability, graph theory with applications to biology, data science, cryptography and image processing.” Some of the activities were driven by the interests of certain professors on campus, Hassett said. For example, Professor of Engineering and Computer Science Pedro Felzenszwalb helped collaborate on the 3D printing unit for the camp. Beyond GirlsGetMath, ICERM has hosted other events that follow a similar
model as part of their aim to facilitate collaboration and camaraderie between woman-identifying mathematicians at different stages in their careers, Hassett said. One such program was the Women in Data Science and Mathematics Research Collaboration, which took place in July of 2017. Some high school students may not realize how important math is to their career goals, and the program helped keep that door open for the students, Ott said. Starting this year, the week-long curriculum was made available by request to other teachers and educators across the nation, Crane said. The hope is that the program will be carried to other institutions beyond the University. Already, “there is a satellite program functioning at the University of Rochester,” Culiuc said.
on in your skull when you hit your head,” Ziebell said. Ziebell and Venegas spent an arduous two hours preparing the human brain for scans by removing the membrane with careful precision, Ziebell said. The sight of an actual human brain shocked Ziebell at first and provided quite the scare for the Nature Lab faculty and a nearby tour group that happened to see it, he added. “I’ve studied the brain on a theoretical level,” Zeibel said, but after 10 minutes of “just holding it and looking at it,” he found himself thinking “someone was inside of that in some sort of way.” Following the model’s completion, the printed brain could be thrown and hit to show the kinetic effects and dyed to show internal damage. Most people think that a concussion is “as simple as knocking your head and your brain jostling around,” Venegas said, but having the model show the real effects will help educate the public. The group hopes the model can find a wide range of applications,
from increasing public awareness to neurosurgery training, Venegas said. Furthermore, he hopes to see the model used for patients about to enter surgery. Neurosurgeons will hopefully be informed of precise injuries or abnormalities the patient has through a physical model. “You can see a broken leg, you can see a broken foot, but you can’t really see severed neuronal connections and what that means,” Venegas added. Venegas is currently working to improve the model by using plastic material to make the model cheaper and more accessible to other groups and organizations. Additionally, he is aiming to add another layer to the brain to increase the model’s detail. He plans to eventually create a curriculum based on his previous presentation on trauma and create a universal lesson plan that can be picked up and used by other schools, groups and presenters. Venegas and his group are also actively seeking partnerships and collaborations to advance their project.
» SHOOTING, from page 1
the tragedy. “My question to the mayor of Providence and to the governor is ‘why did you open school today?’ It’s a school shooting, it’s a tragedy. All of our children are crying and mourning. They should be counseled at home first, Friday as well as today, and let them go into next week,” Washington told The Herald. Director of Communications for Providence Public Schools Laura Hart said schools opened after a discussion involving the Providence School Department, police and other educational experts that determined “it is important for students to have access to resources as soon as possible.” Parsons is Providence’s eighth homicide victim this year, according to the Providence Journal.
afternoon. The weapon never entered a school building. “It is unlawful for a minor under the age of 18 to possess and use any firearm or ammunition, unless he has a firearm permit and is at an approved rifle range or camp and is in the presence of a qualified adult,” according to the National Rifle Association. Parents of local high school students gathered in front of the Providence Career and Technical Academy sign Thursday, where candles and flowers lined the school’s cement sign, which was still visibly stained with blood. Howard Washington, a parent to two students at Central High School, is frustrated that his children were expected to return to school less than 24 hours after
SPORTS
PAGE 4 • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2018
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
MLB’s playoff system needs to be fixed PATRICK NUGENT sports columnist Baseball loves to laud itself for meritocratic policies, from a grueling 162 game season that exposes any weakness and only rewards true quality, to the extensive minor league system that provides easy replacement for any player not making the grade. But some of the postseason policies that Major League Baseball has implemented in the last 25 years in the name of that meritocracy have failed to truly reward the best teams. This dissonance stems from one fundamental aspect of the current postseason system that flies in the face of competitive logic: that winning a division can matter more than a team’s record, and determine home field advantage. Now, winning a division isn’t easy, particularly in the six-month slog that an MLB team endures. But certain divisions are much easier to win than others, and winners of less competitive divisions should not be rewarded with home field advantage over wild card teams with better records. The current American League wild card race provides a perfect illustration of how this system falls short. If baseball season ended today, the playoff system would hurt a better team while bringing the added economic benefits and competitive
edge of extra home games to a city with only a middle of the pack team. The Cleveland Indians are not a bad baseball team, and they will deserve the division crown they are going to win. They have perennial MVP candidates in Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez, and a rotation with past Cy Young winner Corey Kluber and current Cy Young contender Trevor Bauer. When healthy, their bullpen can go toe-to-toe with the best in the league. The Indians’ winning percent-
card team that was fresh off defeating the league’s best regular season team and holding a better record than Cleveland. But despite this, it would be the Indians enjoying home-field advantage. The wild card game and the entrance of at least one team from every division still hold merit in protecting smaller markets’ postseason chances. But MLB can take an easy, concrete step towards a more fair postseason by reseeding teams according
compared to others. By the end of the season, the Yankees and the Athletics will have played the Red Sox and the Astros, the leaders in their respective divisions, nineteen times. The Indians will play each of these teams six times all year, while the Yankees and Red Sox will see each other six times in September alone. Cleveland, meanwhile, plays more than a third of its total games against the White Sox, Tigers and Royals, who would be the
We shouldn’t have to see a team that wins 90 games playing host to one that won 100: it simply isn’t fair.
age, though, is not only lower than the other two division leaders in the American League, but also lower than the two wild card teams, the Yankees and Athletics, who would face each other in a one-game elimination playoff if the season ended today. Because of MLB’s present format, beyond the Indians being spared the luck-susceptible one and done wild card game, they would escape a matchup with this year’s juggernaut Red Sox who hold the league’s best record. Worse still, if the Indians advanced to the League Championship Series, they might face a wild
to regular season record with each round, rather than giving preference to division winners. We shouldn’t have to see a team that wins 90 games playing host to one that won 100: it simply isn’t fair. Only exacerbating the current format is the simple fact that not only is winning those 100 games harder than winning 90 games, but that winning 90 games in the American League East or West is harder than doing the same in the Central. MLB’s insistence on weighted, division-heavy scheduling simply makes the field of play unfairly difficult in some divisions
three worst teams in the American League if not for Baltimore’s historic bout of losing this year. The win total that will bring Cleveland their division crown is lower than the one that will bring two teams a mere wild card berth. It also hasn’t come loaded down with the hard-fought wins against teams in a division with three teams above .500. In the Central, Cleveland is the only team with a winning record, having beaten up on four losing teams in various phases of rebuilding. It’s not like baseball is any stranger to this type of postseason format
change either. The addition of one wild card spot in 1994 and then another in 2012 went a long way to make sure teams like this year’s Yankees and Athletics don’t get snubbed an invitation to the dance completely. But giving home field advantage to division winners over teams with better records is misguided. On top of that, baseball has already fixed the indefensible practice of the All Star game deciding World Series homefield advantage by reinstituting a record-based system. This should be the same kind of no-brainer. If baseball truly wishes to institute a meritocracy in its postseason, this year’s Indians should play mostly on the road, and wild card teams should be granted what they earn in the regular season. The Indians are not a team that should be hosting a playoff series. At most, they should be a team with a chance at an underdog run against better opposition. Instead, they are going to be the number three seed in the American League playoffs. So much for meritocracy.
Patrick Nugent ’21 can be reached at patrick_nugent@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
Why the Red Sox won’t win the World Series GEORGE KLEIN sports columnist Boston has certainly enjoyed a special summer of baseball, the title of this column notwithstanding. Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez are both worthy MVP candidates, Chris Sale has dominated and even David Price finally looks like something close to his old self. The Red Sox currently own a sparkling 97-44 record, good for a nine and a half game lead in the American League East over the New York Yankees, who have the secondbest record in the majors. With that said, in spite of all the positivity, the Red Sox have clear weaknesses that can be exploited once they reach the postseason. Don’t be surprised to see another early exit in the playoffs for the Red Sox. First of all, Boston’s lineup is horrendously unbalanced. Betts, Andrew Benintendi, Martinez and Xander Bogaerts make for a fearsome combination that can end games in the first inning. But after that, the situation gets murky. First baseman Mitch Moreland occupied the third spot in Boston’s lineup for most of the season, often to the chagrin of
fans. He is now dropping rapidly in the depth chart, only hitting for a .193 batting average and .593 onbase plus slugging in the second half. Infielder Eduardo Núñez has also disappointed, along with Rafael Devers and Jackie Bradley Jr. Brock Holt won’t scare anybody at the plate in October, nor will any of Boston’s catchers, the underwhelming trio of Sandy León, Christian Vazquez and Blake Swihart. Admittedly, the Red Sox have made some nice additions
the lineup. The rest of the order simply has to do the bare minimum. But runs are tougher to come by in the postseason, especially in the later rounds, when a team faces a different high-level starter every game. Fans saw a glimpse of this possibility in a late August four-game split against the Cleveland Indians. The Red Sox were not able to dominate a playoff-caliber team from the beginning and were forced into higher pressure, 50-50 situations. Players
Yuli Gurriel and Josh Reddick. The Red Sox simply do not have the same kind of starting lineup depth. Another issue with this Boston team is the pitching. The ability to shut down an opposition’s offense for long stretches of time becomes vital in the postseason. Do Boston’s pitchers have that level of dominance within them? Chris Sale has pitched like the best starter in the American League when on the mound this season, but
Don’t be surprised to see another early exit in the playoffs for the Red Sox. to the roster with the likes of Steve Pearce, Ian Kinsler and now Brandon Phillips. Yet the point remains — Boston’s lineup drops off massively after that first four. But why does this matter? If Betts, Benintendi, Martinez and Bogaerts can create four runs on their own each game, then who cares about the rest? The trouble comes with the nature of postseason baseball. Against the Chicago White Sox or Miami Marlins, the Red Sox can easily overwhelm with the offense at the top of
like Vazquez and Bradley Jr. will be huge negatives at the plate in October. If Moreland can’t hit against the Baltimore Orioles, what will he do when facing Justin Verlander? The 2017 Houston Astros established the precedent for the kind of lineup that wins the World Series in today’s game. It requires aboveaverage hitters all the way up and down the order. The Astros may have boasted stars like José Altuve, George Springer and Carlos Correa, but they also had guys such as Alex Bregman, Marwin Gonzalez,
he has spent a good amount of time on the disabled list with shoulder issues. While it is easy to shrug at DL stints as a way for the team to rest the lefty, this is yet another bump in the road for a pitcher who has a history of tailing off in September and October. It’s not a foregone conclusion that Sale will be his usual self in October. Meanwhile, David Price’s postseason struggles are well-documented, Rick Porcello is inconsistent and the bullpen has been spotty, especially Joe Kelly and Matt Barnes. The Indians and the Astros both
have rotations better suited for postseason play. Cleveland can start Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and Trevor Bauer (assuming Bauer returns from injury on schedule). Houston, meanwhile, will throw Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Dallas Keuchel and Charlie Morton. Both rotations surpass Boston’s, and the Red Sox’s back half of the lineup won’t give the team many chances to strike. This edition of the Red Sox feels eerily similar to the 2001 Seattle Mariners. Those Mariners recorded the most wins in Major League Baseball history (tying the 1906 Chicago Cubs) with a record of 116-46, and appeared poised to march to a championship. But Seattle lost to the Yankees in the American League Championship Series in five games. The Red Sox have a good chance of succumbing to the same fate — a loss to a capable American League team in the playoffs.
George Klein ’20 can be reached at george_klein@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
TODAY
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 • PAGE 5
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SATELLITE DINING ANDREWS COMMONS
Pizza: Buffalo Chicken, Pepperoni, Cheese, Italian Sausage Pho Bar, Poke Bowl JOSIAH’S
BLUE ROOM
Chicken Finger Bowl, Rodeo Burger, Quesadilla Station
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DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH
DINNER
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Vietnamese Style Chicken, Cantonese Tofu Stir Fry, Banana Coconut Whoopie Pie
VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH
DINNER
New England Style Clam Chowder, Breaded Chicken Fingers, Greek Salad Bar
Chicken Marsala, Broccoli Florets, Rice Pilaf, Ravioli with Pink Vodka Sauce
sudoku
ANITA SHEIH / HERALD
Before yesterday’s thunderstorm broke a spell of unseasonably hot weather, students braved the midday heat to enjoy their lunches in groups outside on Wriston Quadrangle.
Q U O T E O F T H E D AY
“You can see a broken leg, you can see a broken foot, ”
and what that means.
— Ollin Venegas MD ’20
See BRAIN on page 1.
Read Join
crossword
but you can’t really see severed neuronal connections
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TOMORROW SHAG Lunch & Learn with Health Services Providers 12:00 P.M. Petteruti Lounge
Women’s Rugby Match 12:00 P.M. Marvel Field
Walter Feldman: A Memorial Exhibit 1:00 P.M. David Winton Bell Gallery
Welcome Back Shabbat 8:00 P.M. Chabad House
COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2018
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
LITERARY ARTS COURSES, FALL 2018
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
For First Year Seminars: LITR 0100 workshops (Introduction to Fiction, Introduction to Poetry) and LITR 0710 seminars: spaces were filled by the Dean of the Collegeʼs office. No wait lists are created before the first class meeting; attend the first class to see if space has become available. These courses are open to First Year undergraduate students only.
Don’t rescind honorary degrees
For LITR 0110 workshops (Fiction I, Poetry I, Digital Language Arts I, Screenwriting I) and LITR 1110N*: spaces were filled during the registration period. No wait lists are created before the first class meeting; attend the first class to see if space has become available. For LITR 0210 (Fiction II, Poetry II), LITR 1010 (Advanced Fiction, Advanced Poetry, Advanced Digital Language Arts, Advanced Screenwriting, Writing 3D) & LITR 0310* (Special Topics) workshops: writing samples are due in the front hallway of the Literary Arts Building, 68.5 Brown Street, between 10 am and 4 pm on Wednesday, 5 September. Most sections may accept samples through early afternoon, Friday, 7 September. For LITR 1110S* and 1150/1151* workshop/seminars: attend the first class session; bring a writing sample with you. For LITR 1200 and 1230/1231* literature courses: register through Banner during the registration period; and/or attend the first class. LITR 0310K – The Web Narrative ~ LITR 1110N – Potential Literature ~ LITR 1101S – Fiction Into Film ~ LITR 1150A – Ecopoetics in Practice ~ LITR 1150M – Short Fiction Experiments ~ LITR 1151X – Interdiciplinary Arts: Translation as Concept ~ LITR 1151Y – Against Genre ~ LITR 1151Z – Paysagisme: Art and Ecological Responsibility (1/2 credit course) ~ LITR 1200 – Writers on Writing ~ LITR 1231I – Sacred and Profane: Dante, Milton, Rushdie
For details, see https://www.brown.edu/cw or visit “courses at brown”
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Self-described “non-donating” alum Nicholas Morley ’13 raised engaging questions about the nature of honorary degrees in a May 18 Herald op-ed entitled “Rescind Junot Díaz’s Honorary Doctorate,” but as a donating alum, I would humbly suggest that the University steer clear of revoking such distinctions. Junot Díaz is certainly not alone among controversial honorees. Surely, if we are to reconsider his honorary doctorate, we might also wish to take a look at the honorary degrees of former Illinois Governor Otto Kerner (1961), imprisoned for mail fraud, and Pennsylvania State football coach Joe Paterno ’50 (1975), allegedly implicated in covering up a pedophilia scandal. And then the alums who turned their backs at graduation on former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (1969) and Secretary of Defense Harold Brown (1977) will want their bites at the apple, as well as more recent graduates still seething over awards
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to Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi (2017) and Jordanian autocrat Hussein bin Talal (1999). I suppose the Prohibitionists will then have a claim against liquor baron Sidney Frank ’42 (2005), and the anti-communists will once again raise the case of Owen Lattimore (1975) … and soon we will be left only with Theodor Geisel, Dr. Seuss, (1987), if we can overlook his support for the internment of Americans of Japanese descent during World War II. I fear it is much easier to start cutting off heads than to stop, which is why the French Revolution ended with Robespierre on the guillotine. Rather than revisiting history, Brown might prove prudent to leave its past symbolic decisions, both wise and unwise, alone. History has a way of handling these matters quite effectively on its own, as the names of the overwhelming majority of honorees from past generations are not even remotely familiar to most current undergraduates.
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Jacob Appel ’96, MA ’96
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COMMENTARY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 • PAGE 7
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
U. should safeguard researchers’ independence KEN MILLER
op-ed contributor Criticism is part of science — indeed, science couldn’t move forward without it — but sometimes that criticism can be brutal. Assistant Professor of the Practice of Behavioral and Social Sciences Lisa Littman is getting a taste of that right now in the reaction to her paper on rapid-onset gender dysphoria. Wednesday’s article in The Herald detailed some of this criticism, which included claims that Littman’s study was “flat-out bad research,” that it was “incredibly dangerous” and that it would “do a lot of damage” to trans youth and the LGBTQ+ community. Some of these reactions are to be expected and reflect the workings of the scientific process. A study exploring the origins of sexual selfidentity, whatever its findings, is bound to provoke strong reactions and pushback from those who are skeptical. Detailed critical analysis of her methodology, including the fact that she relied on surveys of parents rather than interviews with the youth themselves, is clearly called for, and the journal that published it has said as much. This, too, is part of the scientific process. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen, as the saying goes, and that clearly applies to research on human sexual identity. Littman’s
provocative study is getting plenty of critical attention, and that’s a good thing. I wish I could say the same for Brown’s institutional reaction to such criticism. In frank terms, it has been nothing short of shameful. One would expect a university devoted to open inquiry and academic freedom to vigorously defend the independence of its research-
academic freedom, it simultaneously implied that Littman had not properly listened “to multiple perspectives” or recognized the “limitations” of her work. The same letter indicated that Marcus would organize “a panel of experts to present the latest research in this area and to define directions for future work to optimize health in transgender communities.”
cerns from members of the Brown community that “conclusions of the study could be used to discredit the efforts to support transgender youth and invalidate perspectives of members of the transgender community.” What she did not explain is why a speculative fear of how research findings could be used by unnamed individuals should play any role in determining the academic merit of
One would expect a university devoted to open inquiry and academic freedom to vigorously defend the independence of its researchers as they investigate controversial topics.
ers, and to support their efforts to investigate even the most controversial topics. Instead, Brown cowered. It removed references to Littman’s paper from its “news distribution” web sites, and then published a statement from Dean Bess Marcus of the School of Public Health that implicitly undercut the work of its own researcher. While Marcus’ letter contained fine words regarding
While no one could argue with the goal of optimizing health in such communities, there is little doubt that such a panel would be organized in a way to explicitly challenge the work of this junior faculty member, reject her methodology and conclusions and even undermine her decision to investigate the topic of gender dysphoria itself. Marcus went further, citing con-
Littman’s work. These actions send a very clear message to every member of the research community at Brown. If your investigation engenders substantial social criticism from stakeholders, whether inside or outside of the University community, Brown will run and hide. It will bury your research findings, surrender to the most vocal of your critics and then
call in “experts” to wash its hands of the whole affair. As Jeffrey Flier, former Dean of Harvard Medical School, wrote in a recent opinion piece, the stakes are very high for the University at this point. “Its leaders must not allow any single politically charged issue — including gender dysphoria — from becoming the thin edge of a wedge that gradually undermines our precious, hard-won academic freedoms.” To be clear, I am not calling for Brown to defend the specific work in question. Littman’s study may well be poorly designed, methodologically flawed or incorrectly interpreted. That will be for the larger scientific community to decide, and decide it will. But what Brown must do is to affirm the right of its researchers to take on the most difficult questions in science and society and to stand up for their independence when challenged. This it has failed to do, undercutting the work of every researcher at this institution. On this point I stand with Littman, and I hope the rest of our research community will do the same.
Ken Miller ’70 P’02 is a professor of biology and can be reached at kenneth_miller@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
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