Friday, September 6, 2019

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

VOLUME CLIV, ISSUE 3

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

$12.5 million grant funds new substance abuse research Grant supports junior investigators, provides funding for clinical lab, renovations

BY EMILIJA SAGAITYTE SENIOR STAFF WRITER As substance abuse permeates the national conversation and Rhode Island continues to battle the opioid crisis, the University will further advance research into the connection between substance abuse and chronic illness using a $12.5 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Science.

The grant will establish the Center for Addiction and Disease Risk Exacerbation, said Peter Monti, the director of the center of alcohol and addiction studies, distinguished professor of alcohol and addiction studies, professor of behavioral and social sciences and the leader and principal investigator of the CADRE. The CADRE will be part of the Center of Alcohol and Addiction Studies, the longest-standing of the School of Public Health’s 13 research centers, said Dean of the School of Public Health Bess Marcus. The National Institutes of Health also classifies the CADRE as a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence for its NIH-funded support of biomedical researchers.

Among the advancements to come

with the grant are research laboratory renovations, a new clinical laboratory and a full-time research nurse that will perform physical examinations and ensure proper care of study participants who may be subject to drugs, Monti said.

The lab will specifically allow for the processing and storage of biosamples on-site, said Jennifer Tidey, professor of behavioral and social sciences and psychiatry and human behavior. Tidey will serve as the core director of the clinical lab, overseeing medical supplies and equipment, providing medical and data management support and assisting junior investigators. She will also personally mentorone of these researchers.

The grant will fund multiple research projects examining correlations between substance use and chronic disease, Monti said.

The CAAS “has done amazing work at trying to find treatments for alcohol and tobacco and other substance use, but this center takes it a step further because we’re really focusing on how treatments can affect disease and what the mechanisms are,” Tidey said.

The new center will also enhance the aims of the School of Public Health by bettering health equity and addressing addiction, mental health and resilience, Marcus said. To accomplish these goals, the school has been collaborating with Rhode Island’s governor’s office

SEE GRANT PAGE 6

METRO

Thayer Street businesses shutter over summer Local establishments Tealuxe, The Threading Place, Denali shut doors, Chase opens

BY HENRY DAWSON SENIOR STAFF WRITER Students returned from summer break to a Thayer Street much different from the one they left in May: Tealuxe, The Threading Place, Denali and GNC Live Well all shuttered and Chase Bank opened its doors while class was out of session.

Of all the changes, Tealuxe’s closure hit many students the hardest.

The tea shop had provided warm drinks and a respite from winter chill for over a decade, and it closed without warning May 24. Harold Fowler, a former Tealuxe employee, said that the Providence location was forced to close after it lost the support of its sister tea shop in Cambridge, which shut its doors December 2018 due to a rent increase.

“There was no way (Tealuxe on Thayer) was going to make ends meet,” Fowler said, citing the “very, very dead” summers on College Hill.

Maura Driscoll ’22, who frequented Tealuxe, was disappointed by the closure. “I was really sad about it.

I actually thought it wasn’t true,” Driscoll said. “I always used to go there with my sister when it was cold outside. It provided a nice alternative

SPORTS

Parker ’23 paces offense to win rugby opener Parker scores three tries in first game of college career against Long Island University

TIFFANY DING / HERALD

Over the summer, Thayer Street transformed. Tealuxe, a tea bar beloved by students, closed its doors for the final time May 24. to Starbucks.”

Tealuxe management did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Four other cafes, all chains, remain open on Thayer — Starbucks, two Blue State Coffee locations and Shiru Cafe, which recently raised its prices.

Stores on Thayer have struggled to stay in business despite the constant flow of student foot traffic the street sees each day. At least one restaurant has closed each year since 2016, and 2018 saw the end of restaurant Paragon Viva’s 23-year run.

Massachusetts beauty company The Threading Place also closed over the summer. The company could not be reached for comment.

Ainsley Clapp ’22, who threads her eyebrows monthly, said she was “pretty sad” about the closure.

COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS

Herald: Congratulations on your first collegiate rugby game! For those who don’t follow the sport, what does an outside center do?

Parker: An outside center is someone who supports both the wing and the inside center. They play with the backs — who are the offensive generators of the team. (Outside centers) do less of the contact than the forwards.

The backs are mostly for playmaking, agility and speed. I’m supporting the inside center and the wing as well as making and being a part of plays.

What are the biggest differences you’ve noticed between high school and college rugby?

SEE AOTW PAGE 2

SEE THAYER PAGE 3

Talks to create statewide health system dissolve

BY DANIEL GOLDBERG SENIOR STAFF WRITER

In a dominating victory against Long Island University, first-year Mahdia Parker led the Women’s Rugby Saturday.

While both Tealuxe and The Threading Place lasted on Thayer Street for a number of years, outdoor clothing store Denali closed after less than a year in the area.

The company’s six other locations in Connecticut and Rhode Island have also closed recently, SNews reported. Denali could not be reached for comment.

Nutrition supplement vendor GNC Live Well moved from Thayer to Providence Place in mid-July.

Some of the closed venues, like Tealuxe, have not yet been replaced.

But College Hill saw new businesses open Thayer branches even as four shops disappeared. Most recently, Chase Bank, built on the former Paragon Viva restaurant property, started operating this summer as

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Partners ends plan to merge with Care New England, CNE ends talks with Lifespan

BY AMELIA SPALTER STAFF WRITER Mahdia Parker ’23 has arrived from Harlem with a bang, scoring three tries as an outside center in her first collegiate rugby appearance and leading the Bears to a 60-19 victory over Long Island University Saturday.

Parker previously played rugby for the Columbia Secondary School, where she was voted Rookie of the Year in 2016, MVP in 2017 and top offensive player in 2019, according to Brown Athletics. Parker also captained the New York Rugby Club and was selected to play for Team USA’s U18 Winter Camp during her senior year. For her outstanding efforts against the Sharks, Parker has been named The Herald’s Athlete of the Week.

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Negotiations to create a unified academic health system for Rhode Island, which included the Alpert Medical School, fell apart July 16 after the Care New England health system withdrew from talks and decided not to merge with its larger competitor.

CNE’s decision not to merge with Lifespan, another Rhode Island health system, came about a month and a half after R.I. Gov. Gina Raimondo first asked CNE, Lifespan and the University to discuss a three-party relationship to build an academic health system for the state.

News

News

Commentary

Commentary

Community Dialogue Project gives students opportunity to learn about social justice Page 2

Married professors file age discrimination complaint against U. over denied tenure Page 3

George Klein ’20 diagnoses the problems with the U.S. National Basketball Team Page 7

Andrew Reed ’20 discusses the threats to the world posed by nuclear energy Page 7

Partners HealthCare, which previously had plans to acquire CNE, withdrew its merger application in an effort to accommodate Raimondo’s request, according to its CEO, Anne Klibanski.

Disappointment and Confusion President Christina Paxson P’19 expressed disappointment at the talks’ dissolution. “We continue to believe that merging Lifespan and Care New England, in close partnership with Brown, would deliver … greater access to high-quality affordable health care and job growth that stems from a thriving biomedical research sector,” Paxson wrote in a July 16 statement.

The Med School has strong academic and research affiliations with several hospitals in both systems.

Lifespan is also“extremely disappointed that CNE chose to abruptly end talks,” Lifespan CEO Timothy Babineau

SEE HEALTH PAGE 4

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

UNIVERSITY NEWS

University continues efforts to incorporate transformative justice practices Pilot program to build community, cultivate discourse among firstyear students

BY BECKY WOLFSON STAFF WRITER This fall, 15 to 20 first-year students will have the opportunity to engage in conversations about structural violence, community accountability and transformative justice in a new pilot program called Building Transformational Community.

The program falls within the University’s Community Dialogue Project, which launched last year. CDP aims to “help students foster intentional community and navigate conflict in their everyday lives,” wrote Marc Peters, assistant director for community dialogue and campus engagement, in an email to The Herald.

The BTC program will consist of weekly 90-minute sessions over the course of nine weeks. By having students discuss concepts such as structural violence and community accountability, the program aims to help them cultivate empathetic communication skills, radical self-love and caring communities.

The program will use small group work, large group discussions, reflective exercises, media, readings and presentations to facilitate these conversations, wrote Zoe Kupetz ’22, the lead author of the BTC curriculum, in an email to The Herald.

“Students come to (the Universi-

TALIA MERMIN / HERALD

ty) with diverse backgrounds and life experiences,” Kupetz wrote. “If we, as a campus, do not commit ourselves to the difficult work of interrogating hierarchies of power and privilege (and) critically reflecting on our participation within harmful structures, … we will continue to replicate the oppressive systems that plague U.S. society and the world at large within our own communities on campus.”

The program will have a strong focus on transformative justice, a form of conflict resolution that does not use

punishments such as disciplinary measures and sanctions. Through this focus, Peters wrote, the program will support students in “maintaining community in times of conflict, and engaging in healing practices when harm occurs.”

To further support transformative justice practices, the University hired Dara Bayer ’08 over the summer to be a Transformative Justice Program Coordinator on campus. “I see the (BTC) pilot program as an inherent part of the transformative justice program,” Bayer wrote in an email to The Herald. “The

AOTW FROM PAGE 1 Definitely the commitment. I have practice four days a week now, while I used to only have practice two days a week. (The Bears) have a game every weekend. I see a lot more passion from the team here. The girls are really committed, and it makes you want to be committed. I feel like I have to push myself more because you are a part of a team for a reason and you’re supposed to support each other as a family. It’s motivating and inspiring. I’m really happy to be a part of it.

What made you choose Brown?

Obviously academics — you just don’t get this experience anywhere else. Also, the location. I didn’t want to be too far from my family so my parents can come see me play. (In Providence), they can come visit me, and I can go

goals of the (BTC) program support the conditions that allow for community accountability processes to take place when there is harm.”

“Transformative Justice is often only understood as a framework that focuses on responding to harm, but (in the pilot curriculum) it also exists as a set of values that guide a community’s way of being at all times,” Bayer added.

Bayer hopes that students who go through the pilot program will gain the skill sets needed to be transformative justice practitioners, who can respond

to harm in their communities without using the legal system or punitive institutional frameworks.

“I have every confidence in the content that our student staff developed and am hopeful that the program will be successful,” Peters wrote. “I am more excited for the potential of the Building Transformational Community pilot program than I have been for maybe anything I’ve been involved with during my time at Brown,” he added.

visit them. The environment is different from New York City, but now that I’m in it, I can see myself here. (Brown) values diversity and values differences as strengths, not as weaknesses. The students want to learn and are willing to work and are willing to put in the effort. Those are values I hold dear and it seems like the University and the people in it do too.

city?

There are no streets signs anywhere! I’m just like, ‘Where am I? What is this? Where am I going?’ It’s very confusing at first, but now that I know some of the names relative to other streets, I’ve oriented a little bit.

There are fewer people, but the people who are here are nice and genuine. I’m really excited to be in Providence. I feel like it will be a great home for the next four years.

What other activities are you considering outside of rugby?

I’m thinking about joining (the Black Student Union) and doing some things with the Brown Center for Students of Color. I haven’t checked out everything, but once I delve into the resource fair, I think I’ll find a lot more things (that) I’m interested in.

Coming from New York, how has it been adjusting to living in a smaller

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Do you have a signature move or style of play fans should look forward to?

I do a great head fake. … If they don’t catch it, it’s a great move for me.

Women’s rugby will next compete against West Chester University of Pennsylvania Saturday.

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3

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Two professors sue University in response to tenure rejection Professors claim Paxson rejected tenure based on age, case to be dismissed

BY OLIVIA BURDETTE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

After President Christina Paxson P’19 denied tenure to 67-year-old Rachel Rojanski, senior lecturer in Judaic Studies and adjunct professor in History, Rojanski and her husband filed a lawsuit against Paxson and the University for age discrimination and other complaints in April 2019.

The 2017 rejection opposed the recommendation of both the Tenure, Promotions and Appointments Committee and Provost Richard Locke P’18.

Both parties have agreed to an amicable resolution and the case will be dismissed in the next few weeks, Director of News and Editorial Development Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald. Rojanski, her husband and their legal representative did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

In 2010, the University hired Rojanski’s husband, Professor of History and Judaic Studies Adam Teller, as an associate professor with tenure. Previously, he and Rojanski were associate professors at the University of Haifa in Israel. The University allegedly promised Rojanski a job as a visiting professor for three years, after which she would be put up for tenure, the plaintiffs claim in the suit. They allege that in 2017, when Teller was under consideration for a

tion in the Judaic Studies department in exchange for his “promise to remove himself from consideration” for employment by The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The University denied these claims in their response to the suit.

Plaintiffs Rojanski and Teller claim that Rojanski’s rejection was the first instance in 15 years that a Brown presi-

according to the complaint.

In this process, the candidate assembles a dossier of their accomplishments in teaching, scholarly work and service to the University, according to the Faculty Rules and Regulations.

Based on that dossier and recommendation letters from leading outside scholars, the candidate’s department

University. TPAC then reviews the candidate’s dossier and votes on whether to submit the candidate to the Provost, the President and ultimately the Corporation for approval.

Plaintiffs Rojanski and Teller alleged that Paxson “refused to grant Professor Rojanski tenure because she is 67 years old,” which they claimed is

the University has “publicly expressed a preference for younger faculty and expressed displeasure at the aging of Brown’s faculty.”

When the University blocked Rojanski’s tenure, she claims it did “irreparable damage” to her academic career, according to the suit. The plaintiffs claim the University is liable for these

prestigious professorship in Jerusalem, a dean promised Teller that Rojanski would be promoted to a tenured posi-

dent has denied a tenure candidate after they were approved for tenure in every step of the University’s review process,

votes on whether to recommend the candidate to TPAC, a committee composed of 12 tenured professors at the

a violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. The plaintiffs also alleged that under Paxson’s leadership,

damages.

THAYER FROM PAGE 1 part of the bank’s expansion into the Greater Boston Area, The Herald previously reported. The Thayer branch opened August 1.

Some local activists have challenged Chase Bank’s new presence on Thayer for its funding of fossil fuel companies. In response to the opening, Climate Action Rhode Island led multiple protests in front of the building, calling for community members to boycott the bank. At a protest Thursday, the group filmed a member holding a small dog and cutting a Chase card in half outside the bank as part of a social media campaign.

Brian Wilder, a Cranston resident and Climate Action RI member, attended the protest yesterday. “When

BENJI TORUÑO / HERALD

Two married University professors filed a lawsuit against President Christina Paxson P’19 and the University for age discrimination and other complaints after the University denied tenure to 67-year-old Rachel Rojanski. The case will likely be dismissed in the coming weeks.

they see their brand getting recognized for the bad brand it is, we think they’ll change direction with their lending practices,” Wilder said.

Vice President of Northeast Regional Communications for JPMorgan Chase Carolyn Evert responded to the protests in an email to The Herald.

“JPMorgan Chase has a long history of advancing environmentally sustainable solutions for clients and its own operations. … We firmly believe that balancing environmental and social issues with financial considerations is fundamental to sound risk management.”

Chase will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony and grand opening Sept.

18. Climate Action RI plans to hold at least one more protest.

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LITERARY ARTS COURSES, FALL 2019 For First Year Seminars: LITR 0100 workshops (Introduction to Fiction, Introduction to Poetry) and LITR 0510 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.

For LITR 0110 workshops (Fiction I, Poetry I and Digital Language Arts I): 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 Screenwriting) & LITR 0310 and LITR 1110 (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, 4 September. Most sections may accept samples through early afternoon, Friday, 6 September.

For LITR 1000, LITR 1150/1151/2 and LITR 2110 workshop/seminars: attend the first class session; bring a literary writing sample with you.

For LITR 1200 literature course: register through Banner during the registration period; and/or attend the first class.

LITR 0310M – Refusing Objecthood ~ LITR 1000 – The Arts Workshop ~ LITR 1110N – Potential Literature ~ LITR 1150M – Short Fiction Experiments ~ LITR 1151O – Ideas of Narration before Don Quixote ~ LITR 1151S – Fan_Fic ~ LITR 1151X – Interdiciplinary Arts: Translation as Concept ~ LITR 1151Y – Against Genre ~ LITR 1152A – Historic Avant-Garde ~ LITR 1152B – Ekphrasis in Action ~ LITR 1152D – Island of the Mind (HIST 1964S) ~ LITR 1152E – Between the Seams ~ LITR 1152H – Writing from the Archives ~ LITR 1200 – Writers on Writing ~ LITR 2110O – Dialogue, Monologue & Dialect

For details, see https://www.brown.edu/cw or visit “courses at brown”

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019 wrote. Lifespan also intends to continue collaborating with “like-minded institutions” such as CNE, he added.

TIFFANY DING / HERALD

Care New England healthcare system chose to pull out of tri-party talks to build a unified health system in Rhode Island with Lifespan and the University’s medical school. President Christina Paxson P’19 called the conclusion disappointing but sees CNE and Lifespan as valuable partners.

HEALTH FROM PAGE 1 wrote in an email to The Herald. The creation of a unified, locally-controlled health system would have benefited both systems’ patients and communities as well as the University, Babineau wrote.

pelling and exciting vision,” he added.

CNE’s board of directors considered multiple factors when deciding to withdraw, including “the financial stability of the combined system, community need (and) anti-trust considerations,” Charles R. Reppucci, chair of CNE’s board of directors, and James Fanale,

Still, Fanale and Reppucci “look forward to expanding (their) collaboration with Lifespan and Brown University on new clinical and academic opportunities,” according to the press release.

Paxson maintains that despite the “disappointing conclusion” to the talks, CNE and Lifespan will both remain “val-

Sciences Jack Elias wrote in an email to The Herald that the University still has a “vision for an integrated solution that further provides exceptional health care and medical education.”

“As the largest, most preferred, and most financially robust health system in the state, Lifespan remains steadfast

“Lifespan remains perplexed as to why CNE chose to abandon this com-

president and CEO of CNE, stated in their announcement.

ued partners” to the Med School.

Dean of Medicine and Biological

in its commitment to our patients as well as Brown University,” Babineau

Uncertain Future Talks to create a unified health system involving R.I. medical institutions were first announced 2017, when Boston-based Partners Health Care declared plans to acquire CNE. Paxson initially voiced concerns that a Partners-CNE merger would make healthcare more expensive and difficult for R.I. residents to access, The Herald previously reported. The University later became an official academic partner in the planned CNE and Partners merger, The Herald previously reported.

CNE appeared excited about Raimondo’s request for talks in June and urged that they be conducted immediately before withdrawing in July. The company declined to comment to The Herald.

After the June talks were announced and Partners withdrew, S&P Global Ratings downgraded CNE’s financial outlook from “positive” to “stable,” according to WPRI. S&P analysts told WPRI that it was “highly unlikely” that CNE could significantly improve its financial performance without acquisition by another company. CNE had lost over $53 million in 2016, The Herald previously reported.

CNE has “implemented a remarkable turnaround with significant improvements,” Fanale and Reppucci stated in their July 16 announcement.

“We have exciting growth plans, clinical development opportunities, and plans for capital improvements” and are “confident and optimistic” about CNE’s future, they added.

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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

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Wrapping up our first week of classes and papers, staffers at The Herald work into the early hours of Friday morning putting together the issue you are holding in your very hands!

Q U OTE OF T H E DAY

“I see a lot more passion from the team here. The girls are really committed, and it makes you want to be committed.”

CR O S SWO R D

—Mahdia Parker ’23 SEE AOTW PAGE 1

C L A RI F I CATI ON A previous version of the July 22 article “University concerns prompt Sigma Chi fraternity to lose housing privileges” stated that the fraternity Phi Kappa Psi previously lost housing and University recognition “when the University found the group responsible for providing a drink that contained a date rape drug at a fraternity party.” In fact, the University found a “strong likelihood” that two students were “administered alcohol and/or some other drug diminishing their normal functions to a degree that placed them at a risk of harm” at the group’s party. The Herald regrets the error.

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6

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

GRANT FROM PAGE 1 and health department. New strategic plans for the School of Public Health include more addiction programming for students and the community, Marcus said.

“This new center fits exactly into the mission of the school,” Marcus said.

“What we really want to do to address the global challenges in addiction is train many, many young scientists who are passionate to go out to communities all over the world and make a difference.”

The effects of the grant will last for the upcoming decade and a half and will provide funding for four studies over five years. After two years, some researchers may split off from the original group and apply for independent grants, which will open up funding for a new set of researchers, Monti added. Based on the investigators’ performances over the next five years, the CADRE may renew the grant for two more five-year periods. Monti hopes that after 15 years, the center will sustain itself.

Researchers will investigate alcohol, marijuana, opioids and smoking, said Assistant Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Carolina Haass-Koffler. HaassKoffler will focus her research on opioid use and the effects of oxytocin on stress responses in people receiving treatment for opioid addiction. Assistant Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences Elizabeth Aston will study how cannabis affects inflammation, mood and pain. A third researcher, Assistant Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences Mollie Monnig, will research the connection between alcohol, HIV and inflammation, according to a University press release. The fourth project is still awaiting final approval, Monti said.

In addition to these four studies, the grant will provide $50,000 annually for a pair of pilot projects, according to the press release. This funding is specifically intended for postdocs who identify as and intend to dedicate their research to underserved minorities, Monti explained. These groups are often underrepresented in biomedicine,

TIFFANY DING / HERALD

A $12.5 million NIH grant will fund a new research center studying the links between substance abuse and chronic illness as part of the Center of Alcohol and Addiction Studies. Researchers will study abuse of alcohol, marijuana, opiods and smoking. and researchers for the pilot projects medication called Yohimbine will also disorders, Haass-Kofflersaid. “We (are) students and others in the community, are being actively recruited, Monti be administered in safe doses to the trying to create a team effort in order Monti and Marcus agreed. added. individuals to increase the stress re- to have a better understanding” of how “The core mission of this school is The influence of the CADRE’s re- sponse. She will then examine their to overcome different disorders and to advance science and train tomorsearch will extend beyond the School ability to deal with the urge to use outcomes, she added. row’s leaders, and this grant really adof Public Health and throughout the opioids again after experiencing the The new funding for these research dresses both of those,” Marcus said. state. “Addiction and addiction-related stress. Haass-Koffler will specifically projects will help promote budding This grant is “kind of like planting problems are off the chart in the state investigate if this reaction decreas- researchers from the School of Public the seed so it can bloom all over, and of Rhode Island,” Monti said. es more for those who are also given Health to the next stages of their ca- we will have more capacity to address Haass-Koffler will conduct her oxytocin, a stress-related hormone, reers, such as from postdoc to junior the many addiction-related challenges study on people from a clinic who are compared to participants who take a investigator, Monti said. The grant will here in Rhode Island and nationally in treatment and are stable on bu- placebo instead, she said. help ease this otherwise challenging and globally,” Marcus added. prenorphine, an opioid replacement Although the junior researchers transition for researchers, both Monti “We are all very excited. We really therapy medication. She will subject will be investigating addiction from and Marcus said. are looking forward to start(ing) this these individuals to stressors, which different angles among different A number of people have already big adventure all together,” Haassinclude drug cues — images, videos participants, the researchers want to expressed interest in contributing to Koffler said. and objects they associated with the collectively establish a database that these projects, and the grant will gendrug while they were using it. An oral would help explain the onset of various erate employment opportunities for

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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

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What has gone wrong for Team USA?

BY GEORGE KLEIN SPORTS COLUMNIST The first week of the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup has proven troublesome for Team USA. Even though the group stage of the tournament was not expected to present much of a challenge, USA narrowly defeated Turkey on Tuesday by just one point in overtime. Even so, Turkey should have won, only missing free throws in the closing moments to choke away the contest. Considering USA also lost to Australia in an exhibition game leading up to the tournament, it is clear that this edition of the international team is not the country’s strongest. So what has gone wrong, and how can U.S.A. Basketball fix the current situation?

First of all, the NBA’s most elite superstars don’t play for Team USA in World Cups.

Kemba Walker and Donovan Mitchell, top 25 but certainly not top 10 NBA players, are the best on the roster for this World Cup, which makes sense. The Olympics represent more of a chance for international advancement of an individual’s brand. But the World Cup? It’s under the radar and largely unnoticed by the general public. So we shouldn’t expect names like Stephen Curry and James Harden to appear — there’s no need for the sport’s biggest faces to risk injury when they already carry their respective teams through long NBA seasons. And after Paul George’s serious leg injury in a 2014 Team USA scrimmage, the league’s superstars will choose carefully when to participate in international events.

That being said, even with an absence of superstars and a number of other dropouts (including players such as De’Aaron Fox and Montrezl Harrell), there was still plenty of potential for Team USA to field a more effective team. A quick scan at the roster reveals glaring weaknesses. Between Harrison Barnes, Khris Middleton and Jayson Tatum, there are a lot of possessions that end in tough and contested shots after little ball movement. For that matter, no one on Team USA is known for tremendous passing. Walker and Mitchell are fine at it but aren’t exactly known for major assist totals as they focus on creating their own shots. Backups like Derrick White, meanwhile, don’t have the ability to set everyone else up for easy chances.

Another glaring issue has been the lack of creation on offense from Team USA’s bigs. Myles Turner boasts incredible shot blocking and rim protection, but he needs others to orchestrate open shots and dunks for him. Brook Lopez camps out behind the three-point line to space the floor. Mason Plumlee is mobile, but he isn’t someone who demands the ball and makes dribble moves.

And so, Team USA’s offense regularly becomes repetitive with lots of iso ball. Walker, Mitchell, Tatum, Barnes and Middleton go against a defender one-on-one, take up lots of time and shoot. Opposing defenses can focus on whomever has the ball, leaving USA’s bigs alone, since no one is passing to them and they don’t pose a legitimate threat on their own.

The key for 2023 will be creating a more cohesive team. That means more pass-heavy guards, bigs with well-rounded skill sets and solid role players who can move the ball effec-

“USA must change, or face disheartening consequences.”

tively. Barnes and Tatum, for instance, can’t thrive in reduced roles because their games are predicated on lots of touches and shot attempts.

But for now, Team USA must make some quick adjustments in order to win the World Cup. Beating Turkey, who is ranked only 17th in the world, by one point does not inspire much confidence. USA’s best chance is to spread the floor as much as possible, since there is so little space generated by its collection of playmakers. That means starting Walker, Mitchell, Joe Harris, Middleton and Lopez against most teams (though not against the imposing offensive skills of Nikola Jokic and Serbia). This lineup looks small for sure, but Middleton’s defensive abilities and Lopez’s height, not to mention the sub-NBA quality of offense in the World Cup, can help to mitigate the problem.

Team USA should also start to reward those performing at a high level with more playing time. Tatum, who struggled mightily and shot only 31.8 percent in the group stage, saw lots

of action, averaging the second-most minutes per game on the team. The forward will miss at least two games with a sprained ankle, but if he returns to the tournament, coach Gregg Popovich should resist the urge to give him big minutes over better-performing players.

USA faces Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece in the next round on Saturday. Hopefully the team comes out with better energy and ball movement than it has displayed for most of the tournament. Greece is ranked eighth in the world, so top-ranked Team USA should be able to take control of the game quickly. But if the American players continue to struggle and fail to play with pace, it’s easy to imagine Giannis dominating the proceedings and securing an upset. USA must change, or face disheartening consequences.

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.

The Hidden Dangers of Nuclear Energy

BY ANDREW REED STAFF COLUMNIST

In civilization’s fervent search for alternatives to fossil fuels, nuclear energy has been the most promising. It produces more energy more efficiently — and with less carbon emissions — than solar, hydro and wind power. For many, nuclear power long seemed like the answer to the world’s energy concerns. But then came Three Mile Island in 1979, Chernobyl in 1986, Fukushima in 2011. With each new disaster, public opinion sours.

But time passes. And for the last few decades, making reactors safer to operate has been the primary focus of nuclear engineers. In fact, nuclear engineers have said that some of the newest generation of reactors, which will begin production in 2030, will be even walkaway-safe — that is, you could relinquish all control of the reactor, forever, without incident.

Inevitably, and even perhaps in my lifetime, the threat of nuclear meltdowns will be a relic of a technologically feeble era. But that’s what scares me.

The increased safety of nuclear reactors threatens to obscure the inherent dangers of their very existence. And as fossil fuels continue their terminal decline toward extinction, countries currently not operating reactors will operate them in the future. As more nuclear material is produced and more reactors come online the risks of nuclear war or nuclear terrorism only increase.

Reactors require fuel — uranium, but not the kind you can dig out of the ground. Current nuclear reactors require uranium-235 (U-235), an isotope which accounts for 0.7 percent of the uranium you can mine. Reactors generally require between 3-5 percent U-235 in order to sustain a chain reaction. You get to that magic number by separating the U-235 isotope in a process called enrichment. Unfortunately, the processes and materials used to enrich uranium to the reactor-grade threshold are the same as those used to reach the weapons-grade-enrichment threshold — 90 percent, according to the

International Atomic Energy Agency. 5 percent vs. 90 percent may seem like a massive gulf — but, unfortunately, once you’ve gone from 0.7 percent to 5 percent, you’ve already done about three-quarters of the work. Furthermore, one of the byproducts of producing energy from a nuclear reactor is, in part, plutonium-239, another material that can be used to make a nuclear weapon.

Now you can see the problem — “going green” through nuclear energy can be a wonderfully benign and even altruistic disguise for a weapons program. If you think I’m being overly pessimistic, this was exactly the cover story used when Iran tried to acquire the bomb in 2003, and when North Korea did acquire the bomb in 2006. It’s only a matter of time until another nation successfully turns their nuclear energy program into a weapons program.

And as the use of nuclear energy becomes safer and cheaper and its use increasingly ubiquitous, we’re looking at a world where many more countries have, at the very least, capability to manufacture nuclear weapons. And when that happens, the probability of nuclear war increases. The chances of it happening in a given year may be small, but one day our luck is going to run out.

Moreover, as countries increasingly rely on nuclear energy, two other risks begin to materialize — nuclear theft and sabotage. In the late 1980s, the U.S. government seriously considered the possibility of a 9/11-style attack on a nuclear plant — at least seriously enough to ram a jet into a slab of reinforced concrete to simulate an attack on a nuclear reactor. Thankfully, the jet didn’t penetrate the wall. So, it seems, for the time being, U.S. reactors, which are housed in reinforced concrete containment buildings, are safe from such an attack. The problem is, these security measures are far from universal — there are many reactors currently in operation that are vulnerable to such an attack.

And as nuclear energy becomes safer, at least some countries will probably continue to forgo the expense of such measures since the primary purpose of concrete containment structures is to contain potential leaks rather than prevent potential attacks, and these leaks are much less

“The increased safety of nuclear reactors threatens to obscure the inherent dangers of their very existence.”

likely with new technological developments.

Even today, should a terrorist decide to fly a plane into an unprotected nuclear reactor, the consequences could be Chernobyl-esque.

Finally, as more and more countries gain access to nuclear materials, the concern for theft grows exponentially. Currently, there’s no good way to recycle nuclear waste, so it must be stored for thousands of years before it is no longer radioactive. The United States alone spends billions of dollars each year protecting its radioactive materials from theft. But with all the capital we have spent on nuclear security, there have been numerous cases of security lapses and even theft in the past few decades — including one last year. In an instance in 2012, a group of Ocean’s Eleven wannabes, led by an 82-year-old nun, descended from the wooded hills surrounding the U.S.’s most secure nuclear complex, cut through a series of three chain-link fences and maneuvered undetected to within 20 feet of the uranium storage building. Lucky for them, the security cameras had been broken for months, and the complex’s new motion detection system had been setting off so many false alarms that the guards just stopped investigating them. Lucky for the rest of us, the intruders’ only desire was to spray paint Bible verses and smear human blood on the walls of the complex. This is perhaps the most striking example of security breakdown, but there are other, less cinematic instances of actual evildoers getting their hands on actual nuclear material, including an incident in 1995 in which a group of Chechen rebels stole a substantial quantity of caesium-137, wrapped it in conven-

tional explosives and left it in a Moscow park.

Fortunately, the bomb did not detonate.

Keep in mind, the concern here is not necessarily that a terrorist could themselves create a nuclear weapon. Though not impossible, there are considerable engineering challenges to doing so. Rather, the more immediate concern is a terrorist obtaining nuclear material, driving a truck filled with said material and conventional explosives into the middle of Manhattan, and detonating what is referred to as a “dirty bomb.”

In doing so, they would disperse radioactive material across the city. A crude bomb of this form would, at the very least, cause extreme psychological chaos.

Many of the problems associated with nuclear technology remain unsolved and seem, for the time being, unsolvable. Technology can all but eliminate the risk of nuclear meltdowns, but the associated risks are intrinsic to the technology itself and only increase with the passage of time. It is up to us to decide if clean energy is worth a fully nuclear planet — if we are willing to trade energy for the chance that a terrorist flies a plane into a reactor or contaminates an entire city with a radioactive bomb. But once this technology spreads, there will be no reigning it in.

Andrew Reed can be reached at andrew_ reed@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald. com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

FAMILY WEEKEND REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!

OCTOBER 18-20, 2019

FAMILY WEEKEND is a highlight of the fall semester, giving families the opportunity to experience the hustle and bustle of the Brown campus at the height of the academic term.

FEATURING: • Weekend Keynote by Dara Khosrowshahi ’91, P’22, CEO of Uber • Meet-and-greets with other Brown families • Forums led by Brown professors and alums • Student performances • Campus tours • Athletic events This Family Weekend, Brown will offer programming related to the history and impact of Brown’s Open Curriculum so that families can join students, alumni, faculty and staff during our year-long, community-wide celebration and exploration of the University’s innovative approach to teaching and learning.

Download Brown’s Family Weekend Guidebook App! Get up-to-the-minute access to schedules, visitor information and more.

Search and download “Brown University Guides” in your app store.

TO REGISTER, VISIT brow.nu/family-weekend