Monday, November 20, 2017

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SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017

VOLUME CLII, ISSUE 111

WWW.BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

Bears defeat Central Conn., fall to Cal U. evaluates potential

effects of tax plan

Mehta ’19 shoots 60 percent from three-point range in close loss to topranked California team

Provisions would tax endowment, waived grad student tuition, additional tuition aid

By RILEY PESTORIUS STAFF WRITER

The women’s basketball team was back in action this week, starting off with a commanding 78-55 victory at Central Connecticut State University Thursday but following with a 89-79 loss to No. 20 University of California at Berkeley Sunday. Playing against the Blue Devils (0-3), the Bears (2-1) controlled the flow of the game from the start, limiting CCSU to just seven points scored in the first quarter. Guard Justine Gaziano ’20 led her team with 22 points, five rebounds and two assists. Bruno struggled from three-point range, scoring on just five of 24 attempts, but was still more successful than the Blue Devils, who converted on four of 25 from three. “We did well in transition. We had a really good first quarter,” said Head Coach Sarah Behn. Bruno added 12 points in fast break offense, while limiting its opponent to just four. Behn added that her team’s strong start

By ROSE SHEEHAN SENIOR REPORTER

ELI WHITE / HERALD

The Bears started strong against Central Connecticut State, earning a 12-4 advantage over the Blue Devils in the first quarter. was important, but they must work on playing consistently. “We probably played 22 to 24 good minutes of basketball. We have to get that up into the 30s.” Although the Bears turned over the ball 17 times, they ultimately were

able to find success in their rebounding, collecting 55 boards, compared to Central Connecticut’s 41. Forward Janie White ’18 was the leading rebounder for the Bears, gathering eight. Guard Taylor Will ’19 was once » See BASKETBALL, page 3

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a tax overhaul Nov. 16 that would impact the income from the University’s endowment, the tuition assistance program for employees and graduate student tax rates. The bill would also reduce tax incentives for charitable giving to the University and eliminate the student loan interest deduction. The House tax package shares many provisions with the Senate version, which was approved by the Senate Finance Committee Nov. 16. Taxing University earnings Both the House and Senate bills would impose a 1.4 percent annual excise tax on the net investment incomes of private universities with assets of more than $100,000 per student. This provision would not affect Brown significantly, said Daniel Hemel, assistant

professor of law at the University of Chicago. Based on the endowment’s 13.4 percent return in fiscal year 2017, Brown would pay a tax equal to 0.2 percent of its endowment, he added. The tax paid by the University “could be in the range of anywhere between a little over $3 million and a little over $6 million per year,” said Provost Richard Locke P’18. Thirty-two percent of the endowment’s earnings “go just to scholarships and fellowships, and another 20 percent goes to supporting professors,” Locke added. The excise tax would “really hurt people and support for people.” “At least in the revised version of the House bill,” the excise tax is “limited to about 70 institutions across the country,” said Patrick Thomas, director of Notre Dame Law School’s tax clinic. As such, this provision would not generate a significant amount of money for the government, yielding only $2.5 billion between 2018 and 2027, Hemel said. For comparison, “the total cost of the reduction in the corporate tax rate is about $1.5 trillion” over the next 10 years, he added. Financial considerations are not » See TAX, page 2

New initiative connects Nitro Cart to set up shop on West Side IBES, Nelson Center Baristas, bike mechanics Program assists student development of solutions to environmental problems By MARI HERREMA STAFF WRITER

The Program for Environmental and Civic Engagement, a new initiative of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, brought together IBES and the Jonathan M. Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship for the first time. Announced in October, the collaborative project aims to assist students’ development of entrepreneurial solutions to environmental issues by providing them with resources, including funding and advising. PECE was created in the wake of a fundraising effort by the leadership of IBES, after which Director of IBES Amanda Lynch approached Stephen Porder, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and environment and society, to lead the project’s development, Porder said. Porder, who teaches the introductory course ENVS 0490: “Environmental

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Science in a Changing World,” knew he could advise students on how pressing particular environmental concerns are, Porder said. But for entrepreneurial expertise, Porder approached the Nelson Center about collaborating on PECE. While many students in the Environmental Studies and Science concentrations are already considering ways to solve environmental problems, they might not “see anything at the nexus of entrepreneurship and solutions,” Porder said. “It’d be really great if we could incentivize a broader group of students — not just students who come at it from an environmental perspective, but people who come at it from an entrepreneur perspective, to think about these issues,” he added. Porder’s early conversations with directors of the Nelson Center focused on how PECE could take advantage of resources and grant programs the center already offered. Part of the Nelson Center’s philosophy is defining “entrepreneurship as this methodology for solving problems,” said Daniel Warshay ’87 P’20, executive director of the Nelson Center. This methodology » See PECE, page 3

to work side-by-side come December in shop opening on Federal Hill By BAYLOR KNOBLOCH SENIOR REPORTER

Campus favorite Nitro Cart brewers will open their first brick and mortar cafe this winter at 288 Broadway in a space shared with DASH Bicycle Shop. With construction for The Nitro Bar already underway in the existing bike shop, both vendors are excited to collaborate. “It has always been a pipe dream of mine to open up a space for a community of people, especially something around craft coffee that’s locally sourced and sustainable,” said Audrey Finocchiaro, one of The Nitro Cart’s two owners. Serendipitously, DASH owner Leo LaBelle was looking to bring in a hip coffee retailer to fulfill his longtime goal of creating a combined coffee bar and bike shop — a concept he has seen in a few cities across the country, he said. With its loyal clientele, strong brand, established Instagram following and young employees (all under the age of 25), The Nitro Cart fit the bill. “The Nitro guys are onto a wave that

BAYLOR KNOBLOCH / HERALD

DASH Shop owner Leo LaBelle has long sought to collaborate with an innovative coffee retailer to create a combined coffee bar and bike shop. we wouldn’t be able to keep up with,” LaBelle said. As a self-professed “old fart” at the age of 45, LaBelle expects that The Nitro Cart brand will prove a “good complement” to his existing store, he said. “I’m a big fan of their brand,” said

Sean Manning ’18.5, a loyal drinker of the nitro brew. “It’s cool seeing young people start a business like this.” The plan is to open The Nitro Bar in December, said Andrew Tower, the architect and interior designer working » See NITRO CART, page 3

WEATHER

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017

SPORTS Football falls to Columbia 24-6 Saturday in final match of winless Ivy League campaign

SPORTS Men’s hockey blanks Princeton 3-0, falls to Quinnipiac 5-0 in split weekend road trip

COMMENTARY Mitra ’18: Sexual assault is chronic issue that continues to plague U.S. politics

COMMENTARY Savello ’18: Rise in number of CS, engineering concentrators could have mixed consequences

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