Thursday, October 1, 2018

SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2018

VOLUME CLII, ISSUE 73

WWW.BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

Students protest sexual assault at rally Bears down Hoyas, earn first win of season Football dominates in all three phases of game, wins 35-7 along with three takeaways

By ALEX SMOLAR SENIOR STAFF WRITER

COURTESY OF ISABELLE CORDOVA

Organized by Amelia Wyckoff ’22 and Liam Bendicksen ’22, the #BelieveSurvivors rally was attended by about 300 students. The event featured speakers and an “open mic” segment where students could share personal experiences.

Gathering in solidarity with Blasey Ford aims to empower all sexual assault survivors

By SOPHIE CULPEPPER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Following Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony accusing United States Su-

Students examine Russian disinformation campaign Fecht ’20, Nassetta analyze Russian strategy to spread falsehoods about Syria through tweets

By CHRIS SCHUTTE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Ethan Fecht ’20 and Jack Nassetta, a junior at the George Washington University, spent the summer analyzing over 850,000 tweets from Russia attempting to spread disinformation about Syria in the United States.

This Russian strategy was launched through a number of fake Twitter accounts in an effort to fracture U.S. political groups, distort facts surrounding current events and create national discord, Fecht said.

The fake accounts’ main objectives are to stop international intervention and, more specifically, to criticize the United States for attacking Syria following the use of chemical weapons in Douma, Syria in April 2018, Fecht said.

Working at the Monterey Institute

INSIDE

of International Studies, Fecht and Nassetta combed through Twitter tweets and to discern fake accounts, typically referred to as “bots” or “trolls.” They also worked to formulate a list of red flags that denote, to a degree of certainty, the validity of the accounts. “It’s subjective in some sense, so you have to come up with fairly objective criteria to have a strong methodology,” Fecht said.

Most of these accounts present themselves as followers of U.S. conservative viewpoints yet criticize President Donald Trump and spread false information to lessen support for the President. “(These accounts) introduce these narratives into altright conversations,” Nassetta said.

“It creates a growing fracture among this narrative.”

The accounts also spread rumors and attempt to shift blame for the attacks. For example, the accounts claim that the White Helmets, a Syrian volunteer organization, is affiliated with Al-Qaeda. Additionally, several accounts claim that the » See CONSPIRACY, page 3

preme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault last Thursday, about 300 students gathered on the Main Green Saturday afternoon » See RALLY, page 2

The football team took the field against Georgetown University Sept. 29, just one day before the one-year anniversary of its last victory. Needless to say, the team was hungry for a win, and Bruno delivered in dominant fashion Saturday, defeating the Hoyas 35-7 at Brown Stadium.

“We won. That’s a great takeaway,” said Head Coach Phil Estes. “We played pretty well in all three phases. We got off to a great start … (and) set the tone.”

From the opening drive, it was evident that this game would be different for the Bears (1-2, 0-1 Ivy).

Quarterback Michael McGovern ’21 used his running skills and strong arm to earn timely first downs, as the team converted a fourth down as well as a third and 11 to keep the series moving. To cap the drive, McGovern found Jakob Prall ’20 in the back corner of the endzone on a fade pass to give the Bears an early touchdown lead over Georgetown (1-4).

“It’s a fun time. You always have to be ready, especially in college,” McGovern said. “When my number got called I thought I was ready, and I just let my performance do the speaking.”

At the start of Bruno’s next possession, disaster appeared to strike.

On the first play, a high snap nearly resulted in a safety and pushed the Bears back to their own one-yard line.

Most teams would run the ball to get some room to safely punt, but the Bears put their chips on the table and fired a play-action pass from the endzone to Jaelon Blandburg ’20 for an important 16-yard gain. From that point forward, the gridiron slanted downhill for the Bears, as McGovern marched his offense the length of the field. On third and 7 on the Hoyas’ ten-yard line, Prall took a reverse handoff and galloped into the endzone to put Brown firmly in control of the game.

By the end of the first quarter, the Bears had amassed a 14-0 lead, while Georgetown only had possession for about three minutes.

McGovern “has been great,” Estes said. “He’s got a good sense of what is going on around him. He’s made plays with his feet as well as throwing it downfield. We can get better for sure, but he’s been outstanding and seems » See FOOTBALL, page 2

Women’s soccer edged by Columbia 2-1

DANIELLE EMERSON / HERALD

Maesyn G’Bye ’22 fires a shot in the loss against Columbia Saturday. The Bears move to 0-2 in the Ivy League, with their next match on the road against the Princeton Tigers this weekend.

Rosen ’22 scores equalizer in the 88th minute, Columbia answers with game-winner in 90th

By TYLER JACOBSON CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Following a 2-0 loss to Dartmouth last weekend, the women’s soccer team looked to capture its first Ivy League victory of the season in the conference home opener against Columbia Saturday. Despite Rebecca Rosen’s ’22 game-tying goal late in the second half, the Lions responded with a goal of their own to

put them ahead 2-1 with just 44 seconds remaining on the clock.

The result marked Brown’s (4-6-1, 0-2-0 Ivy) fourth consecutive one-goal loss to the Lions (5-4-1, 2-0-0) in as many years, with all four of the winning goals having come in the 88th minute or later. » See W.SOCCER, page 2

WEATHER

MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2018

METRO Rhode Island posts August economic report, unemployment dips to 20-year low

NEWS Undergraduate Council of Students tries to fill eight student positions on four committees

COMMENTARY Wu ’19: U. needs to extend need-blind admission policies to transfer applicants

COMMENTARY Nugent ’21: Los Angeles Dodgers are threat for World Series Title after tough regular season

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PAGE 2 • MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2018

» RALLY, from page 1 to rally in support of survivors of sexual assault.

Organized by two first-year students, the event created a space for University students and Providence community members to share their experiences of coping with sexual and gender-based violence.

Overall, the gathering aimed to empower all sexual assault survivors while criticizing Kavanaugh’s nomination, Justice Clarence Thomas’ “continued appointment” to the Supreme Court in light of sexual harassment accusations and President Donald Trump, who has been accused of sexual assault by multiple women, said Amelia Wyckoff ’22, one of the rally’s organizers.

“We’re protesting the elevation of rapists in our society, and we want to make it very clear to the campus, to the nation, that we do not tolerate sexual violence or sexual assault,” she added.

Alongside her classmate, Liam Bendicksen ’22, Wyckoff told The Herald that they were inspired to organize a protest after watching Blasey Ford testify in front of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her when they were in high school.

During the rally, the crowd chanted “We hear you, we believe you,” as Wyckoff called out the names of Kavanaugh’s accusers: Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick.

Wyckoff then addressed the crowd about cultivating more compassionate responses to incidents of sexual assault. “We will reject the normalization and the acceptance of perpetrators of sexual misconduct” and elevate the voices of sexual assault survivors, she said.

Afterwards, two students who named themselves as survivors of sexual assault spoke about their experiences. Vanessa Garcia ’20.5, the

first to speak, began by identifying herself as “a woman of color, disabled, mentally ill and the daughter of immigrants.” Over the summer, Garcia filed a police report stating that an Uber driver sexually assaulted her.

Afterwards, Garcia said she struggled to combat entrenched and problematic societal attitudes around sexual assault, and referenced comments that blamed her for the assault following a Providence Journal article about the Uber driver facing criminal charges.

The driver was charged with second degree sexual assault and released on bail. He is awaiting a pre-arraignment hearing, according to court records.

Despite the fact that the driver was arrested and charged with sexual assault, “it is somehow my burden to bear. … As a young woman of color, must (I) prevent men from assaulting me, instead of men learning to control themselves?” she asked.

Garcia also criticized The Herald for its approach in covering the incident. The Herald asked Garcia for an interview but did not explicitly inform her that The Herald would seek out the driver’s “side of the story,” Garcia said.

“This man who was deemed a felon by the Providence Police was going to be given an equal platform to speak? Even if he decided to apologize, he was going to be getting space and speaking power that he did not deserve,” she said, and added that she repeatedly expressed this concern to the paper.

“When you go to seek the other side’s opinion, it makes the marginalized (person) feel like you don’t actually care about centering their story,” Garcia told The Herald.

Garcia concluded her speech by telling the crowd that the culture of victim shaming needed to change. “I am tired of people telling me it is my fault,” she said.

Miriam Staffansdotter Langmoen ’17 addressed the crowd next

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD to criticize the University’s response to her assault. Though the University eventually found her assailant responsible, Staffansdotter Langmoen said it took over a year for the University to suspend the student. “There is no glory in the fact that my assailant was finally found responsible and suspended. There is only sadness and anger and injustice,” she said. The University could not be reached for comment by press time.

Staffansdotter Langmoen said she decided to speak because “we too often expect women to stay silent and compliant and cater to the needs of men. We also expect survivors to prioritize the comfort and the reputation of people and institutions of power over our own need for justice and accountability.”

After Staffansdotter Langmoen’s speech, Morgan De Lancy ’22 spoke to the crowd about the national prevalence of sexual assault and the groups disproportionately affected by genderbased violence.

While praising the courage of Blasey Ford’s testimony against Kavanaugh, De Lancy urged the crowd to remember that Blasey Ford’s credibility was inextricably connected to her racial identity and privilege.

Blasey Ford “is white, straight, cis-gendered, upper class and has multiple degrees, which enable her to explain in detail the psychology behind her trauma, … every attribute possible to be perceived credible,” De Lancy said.

“I say this not to discredit her (or deny) the incredible work she is doing or the extent of her pain,” she added.

“I say this because I watched the way the elements of her background were presented as the reasons to believe her story and to support her.”

“What does this mean for the onethird of Native American women who will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime?” De Lancy asked. She added that sexual assault is more prevalent

among individuals from lower-income households and people who are transgender.

As a first-year college student, De Lancy said she found the statistic that one-fifth of all women would be sexually assaulted in college to be terrifying. But, confronting locker room talk, combating gender stereotypes, believing survivors and normalizing conversations about consent were a few ways that society could effectively change the culture enabling sexual assault, De Lancy said.

In addition to featuring student and alumni speakers, the rally featured an “open-mic” segment in which participants could share their experiences of sexual violence with the crowd. Others spoke about their responsibility to be good allies to survivors.

Monita Minea ’19 said she attended the rally due to her personal experience with sexual assault and to protest Kavanaugh’s nomination.

“I’m also a survivor, and I … felt that it was important for Brown students to assemble and show how they feel about Kavanaugh” and other people in power accused of sexual misconduct, such as Trump and Thomas, she said.

“What we wanted to achieve was a space for everybody to share their stories and to make the campus sure and the nation sure that we, as a community, believe survivors,” Wyckoff told The Herald. “People felt safe and loved and accepted, and this was not only a protest, but a rally to show our support.”

The Herald is currently in the process of reporting on a police report filed

by Vanessa Garcia ’20.5 against an Uber driver for second-degree sexual assault. It is The Herald’s policy to reach out to those charged with serious crimes for comment on their charge when reporting a news story in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of events.

» FOOTBALL, from page 1 like he gets better every game.”

The start of the second quarter saw the Bears continue the onslaught as Sebastian Dovi ’19 made a diving interception on the Hoyas’ sideline to end a promising Georgetown drive.

As the Hoyas’ defense started to clamp down on Brown’s offense, a muffed punt killed Georgetown’s momentum and gave Bruno the ball on the fouryard line. Two plays later, Prall again had the ball in his hands, running into the endzone for another touchdown.

At half-time, the Bears led 21-0, and had only given up 94 yards and forced three turnovers. McGovern was 16-26 with 163 yards and a touchdown.

But the beginning of the second half saw a reborn Georgetown offense take the field. Hoya quarterback Gunther Johnson used his legs to escape the pocket, and running back Jackson Saffold helped move the ball against the Bruno defense. Joshua Tomas took off for the endzone on a 17-yard sweep to put the Hoyas back in the game.

“There were just a few hiccups in the second half,” Estes said. “They made some adjustments, and the quarterback started to run the ball a little bit.”

But Georgetown’s newfound life did not last for long, as McGovern and the Bears responded forcefully. McGovern narrowly escaped a sack and launched

TED ORBEN / HERALD

Jakob Prall ’20 scores one of his three first-half touchdowns for the Bears. Led by quarterback Michael McGovern ’21, Bruno put up a season-high of 35 points in their first victory of the season. a deep pass to the opposite side of the field to running back Allen Smith ’22.

Smith took off toward the endzone, but could not beat the safety and was tackled at the four-yard line. On third and goal, McGovern again escaped the pocket and barely snuck inside the pylon for the touchdown. With the score, the Bears led 28-7.

The rest of the matchup belonged to the invigorated Bears defense, as it halted three Georgetown drives at the end of the third quarter and beginning

of the fourth on fourth down.

The Bears got the ball back with about seven minutes left in the game and went on a long, clock-killing drive to effectively end the contest. With 48 seconds to go, Smith punched in a touchdown on a third-down run for the final score, as the Bears took a 35-7 lead.

McGovern finished the game 23-42 with 269 yards, one passing touchdown and another rushing touchdown. The Bears’ offense had no turnovers while

the defense recorded three takeaways.

Prall ended the contest with one receiving touchdown and two rushing touchdowns, all in the first half.

“We’re just taking it one game at a time,” McGovern said. “Now our complete focus is on (The University of Rhode Island). We’re going to try to get a win on them and get back into Ivy League play.”

The Bears will take to the road next week to face URI in the Governor’s Cup Saturday at 1 p.m.

» W. SOCCER, from page 1 Despite the loss, there were a number of positive takeaways from the Brown side.

“I’m really proud of the team for leaving it all out there and still fighting with minutes left in the game,” said Head Coach Kia McNeill.

Columbia started the game firing out of the gate. Brown’s defense absorbed most of the initial pressure until the 19th minute, when Columbia’s Amaris Hemmings broke through. Hemmings finished off a loose ball near the penalty spot following a corner kick to put the Lions up 1-0.

But as the sun set over StevensonPincince Field, the Bears’ confidence grew, and they responded to the goal with attacking threats of their own. “(The goal) was a small setback, but it was early on in the game,” Rosen said.

“I had all the confidence in the team that we would step it up. We gained momentum in the second half of the first half and kept it going throughout the rest of the game.”

“It was about telling ourselves that we had the tools to win the game,” said defender Lauren Hinton ’22. “We all had that forward-thinking mindset to get the ball to our top scorers. We were all on the same page.”

Scoring opportunities were certainly present, as the Bears outshot the Lions 13-3 in the second half and 20-8 overall.

In the 65th minute, Abby Carchio ’20 curled a free kick from just outside of the box around a six-person Columbia wall into the waiting arms of the keeper. In the 83rd minute, Sara Bermudez ’22 headed a free kick from Maesyn G’Bye ’22 just over the crossbar. Bruno remained goalless through the first 87 minutes.

“At the end of the day, you have to put the ball in the back of the net in order to compete in these games,” McNeill said.

But in the 88th minute, the Bears evened the game at one. G’Bye lofted a free kick from midfield into the box that Rosen redirected into the left side of the net for her second goal of the year.

“Rosen is one of the best players in the league in the air, so anytime we have set pieces, we are looking to find her,” McNeill said.

Moments later, Brown pushed upfield once again. But a quick Columbia counterattack in the 90th minute, capped

by Jordyn Geller slotting a shot to the right of the keeper, squandered the Bears’ hopes for a comeback.

Bruno seeks to make a number of improvements as it continues Ivy League play over the next few weeks.

“We just have to get more clinical in the final third,” McNeill said.

Brown needs to “keep having cohesion in the back and keep working on that defensive shape,” Hilton added.

The Bears travel to Princeton (6-2-2, 1-0-1) next weekend in search of their first league win. They will face a tough Tigers squad that has suffered its only two losses to nationally ranked opponents in #13 North Carolina State University and #10 Georgetown.

NEWS

MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2018 • PAGE 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Rhode Island unemployment at 20-year low Rate continues to drop after recession, though some criticize lack of job offerings in certain fields

By DYLAN MAJSIAK SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The Rhode Island unemployment rate is down to 4 percent for the month of August and closely trails the national August rate of 3.9 percent, according to a recent report released by the R.I. Department of Labor and Training. There are 8,900 more employed residents than there were exactly a year ago.

“It’s been significant progress recently to come down and be right on level with the national unemployment rate,” said Nora Crowley, chief public affairs officer for the R.I. Department of Labor and Training. She added that the R.I. unemployment rate is currently the lowest it has been in 20 years.

The Great Recession in the late 2000s left Rhode Island with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. The state had the nation’s highest unemployment rate of 9.3 percent in 2013, but it has since improved to 30th, according to the R.I. Department of Labor and Training. This trend should continue to improve in the coming months, Crowley said.

The department pays particular attention to middle-waged industries — which are in sectors such as manufacturing and construction — because these fields provide opportunities for middle-class families. Through efforts such as the business-led partnership program Real Jobs Rhode Island, which connects employers to potential employees and provides training programs, the state has invested in these sectors because they have been slow to recover from the recession, Crowley said.

In the past year, the state added 1,800 jobs in the Professional and Business sector, 400 in the Financial Services

ANDREW FRIBERG / HERALD

sector and 1,500 in Health Care and Social Assistance.

Real Jobs Rhode Island plans to go further in developing “robust industries” such as technology and hopes to double its training efforts in those fields. The program surpassed its projected annual target of placing 3,500 trained employees by 200 as of Sept. 1, Crowley said.

“A thriving economy in Providence and in Rhode Island is certainly good for the greater community and the state’s residents,” wrote Director of News and Editorial Development Brian Clark in an email to The Herald.

But CEO of Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity Mike Stenhouse believes that a downward trend in unemployment in the state still does not provide a full picture of Rhode Island’s economic climate.

“A lot of people check in the box that they worked a few hours,” Stenhouse said. “But if you really look at whether or not they’re prosperous, the answer is no.”

While the state does offer lowerpaying jobs, its high-tax and regulatory policies continue to drive away business

owners and further investments in highend industries, Stenhouse said. “Compared to the money people are making and … the taxes they are paying, it is not a good environment for a business to be established and grow.”

For Brown students, these job prospects may push them toward moving elsewhere after graduation.

In his job search, Kevin Argueta ’17.5 found that Rhode Island’s highest paying jobs are predominately in software and not in engineering, his intended field. The engineering firms he encountered were focused on expanding outside of the state. Argueta, a R.I. native, relocated to Virginia to pursue a job offering in electrical engineering.

Senior Ryan Miller ’19, a double concentrator in architectural studies and urban studies, is also looking beyond Rhode Island for employment.“While I know of some very interesting smaller architectural firms in Providence, I don’t have the impression that it’s a huge field in Rhode Island,” Miller said. “I think that the specialties that I’m interested in related to design are more likely to be active in larger cities than Providence.”

» CONSPIRACY, from page 1 chemical attack in Douma did not happen at all, Fecht said. “I do think it’s effective. I don’t know how effective,” Fecht said.

“It’s so cheap, and they definitely create some kind of division. It’s a success, and they’re going to keep doing it,” Nassetta added.

Fecht described the process as both “quantitative and qualitative.”

The team used software such as Excel to analyze data but also looked at individual users to identify fake accounts. Characteristics including the date of the account’s creation, discussion of Russian politics from someone claiming to be American and a preoccupation with conspiratorial themes were considered to be indicative of fake accounts.

The project began when both Nassetta and Fecht were fellows at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California. Fecht has a military background with skills in data analysis and spent several years working for

In the future, Nassetta and Fecht aim to delve deeper into the tweets being sent by these fake accounts and analyze which ones received engagement by looking at favorites and retweets, Fecht said. The fake accounts are “casting a wide net, but they know that one in every 20 (tweets) is going to be a hit and is going to change minds,” he added.

Russia is not the only country in which disinformation tactics are being employed, Fecht said. Saudi Arabia saw a spike in fake accounts spreading disinformation and condemnation of the arrest of a number of the country’s activists and the nation’s scandal with Canada, Nassetta said. Additionally, a rise of disinformation has been seen within Iran, which has attempted to influence the American political scene and prevent American intervention, Fecht added.

While there is still little evidence of disinformation tactics used in the United States, we may soon see a rise in this type of propaganda, particularly in the 2020 presidential election, Fecht said. There was a suspect-

DAPHNE ZHAO / HERALD

the National Security Agency and the Navy before coming to Brown as a Resumed Undergraduate Education student. Nassetta has a background in political communication with a focus on disinformation.

After analyzing tweets to identify common themes among these fake accounts, they produced a 50-page report on their research, Nassetta said. “You’re just looking at this (account) and (thinking), ‘I can’t tell if you’re crazy, if you’re super ideologically committed to this conspiratorial stuff or if you’re a Russian troll.’

There’s a ton of uncertainty,” Fecht said.

In addition to the 50-page report, Fecht and Nassetta published a companion piece meant for a popular audience in The Washington Post, and the team has since garnered wideranging praise for the work. They have even received an offer from the State Department to further discuss their findings, Nassetta said.

ed rise in fake accounts connected to the ongoing Senate campaign in Texas, as a number of Twitter accounts tweeted the same message supporting Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), he added. Since it is not currently possible to determine which accounts are fake with complete certainty, there is no concrete way to combat this disinformation, Nassetta said. “You can only build up resistance yourself,” he added. “You want to be attuned to the sources of information.”

William Potter, director of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said their research “contributed significantly to our understanding of how these (social media) tools could be misused.” It is “unusual to have underg\raduates who are relatively new to the subject gain that kind of international attention,” he added. “I was exceptionally proud of the two of them for the quality of the research, the manner in which they presented it and the attention it generated.”

NEWS

PAGE 4 • MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2018

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

UCS recruits student representatives for councils, boards Council seeks diverse applicants to advise, provide feedback to administration

By MELANIE PINCUS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The Undergraduate Council of Students is looking to recruit applicants to fill eight open undergraduate positions on four councils and boards: two on the Brown University Community Council, one on the Diversity and Inclusion Oversight Board, three on the Student Advisory Board on Equity and Diversity and two first-year spots on the Financial Aid Advisory Board, ac-

cording to UCS Appointments Chair Jason Carroll ’21.

Serving as a student representative “is one of the most direct ways to have an impact on the administration and have your voice heard and to just make change,” Carroll said.

The BUCC is a forum for University-wide issues, and its members include President Christina Paxson P ’19 and Provost Richard Locke P ’18.

Student representatives on the council, including undergraduates, graduate students and medical students, “broaden and enrich the discussion of issues brought to the Council,” Senior Associate Secretary of the Corporation Catherine Pincince wrote in an email to The Herald. “Their

perspectives have contributed to an informed consideration of issues important to the Brown community,” including diversity and equity, mental health and sustainability, Pincince added.

The DIOB works to evaluate the University’s progress toward the objectives outlined in the Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan, which include increasing representation of historically underrepresented groups on campus and promoting research and teaching on diversity and inclusion issues.

Having student representatives on the DIOB “builds upon the inclusive process the University engaged in when the initial (DIAP) was developed by having all constituent groups have a voice in the process,” Vice President

for Institutional Equity and Diversity Shontay Delalue, who co-chairs the DIOB, wrote in an email to The Herald.

The Student Advisory Board on Equity and Diversity aims to identify methods for community education on diversity and cultivate effective communication about issues regarding diversity, among other work.

Members of the Financial Aid Advisory Board, which advises the Office of Financial Aid, will have the opportunity to examine “Brown’s financial aid policies (and) how that affects students,” Carroll said.

Applications are available on the UCS website and will be open until Oct. 7 at 11:59 p.m.

Those interested may apply for up

to three committees, must be in good academic standing and will be asked to submit a 500-word response explaining their interest in serving as a student representative and why they would be a good choice, Carroll said. Applicants will be interviewed from Oct. 8 to Oct. 15. After interviews, nominations approved by UCS President Shanzé Tahir ’19 and Chief of Staff William Zhou ’20 will be sent to the relevant council or board.

“The application’s open to everyone.

I would hope that we can get a range of voices and experiences heard and represented on these different councils,” Carroll said. “I would love to have a diverse and representative group of students representing us.”

Atkins ’84 honored for innovative teaching Alum aims to help educators become more effective at helping lowincome students

By TRISHA THACKER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Brown alum Norman Atkins ’84 P’10 P’14 received a Heinz Award in the Human Condition category for his work on pioneering innovative teacher training models and improving learning outcomes for low-income students, according to the Heinz Awards’ website.

The Teresa Heinz and Heinz Family Foundation award annually recognizes six recipients and gives them a $250,000 unrestricted cash award, according to a Sept. 18 press release.

Atkins, who is the founder of Uncommon Schools and co-founder of the Relay Graduate School of Education and North Star Academy, said he was surprised and excited to learn he had won the award. “The work that I’ve been doing for the past 30 years has been all about trying to fight poverty and, mostly, to fight poverty through education,” he said. “So it’s a big honor to receive an award that recognizes that work and has gone to people who are my heroes such as Geoff Canada, Marian Wright Edelman and Paul Farmer.”

The Relay Graduate School of Education, an accredited institution of

higher education, trains teachers and principals and provides certifications at the master’s level. “I wanted to help the next generation of educators, of teachers and principals, to develop the mindset and skill and the experience to make them effective at helping particularly low-income children, mostly in urban environments, to compete and achieve at the same level as their more affluent peers,” Atkins explained.

The Heinz Awards were established

by Teresa Heinz “as a tribute to her late husband, U.S. Senator John Heinz,” said Kim O’Dell, director and program officer of the Heinz Awards. The award seeks individuals who share the values and attributes exemplified by Heinz through six award categories: arts and humanities; environment; human condition; public policy; technology, economy and environment; and the Chairman’s Medal, which is a lifetime achievement award.

Atkins’ work has been motivated by the structural problems in U.S. education. “There is an achievement gap in the country where low-income students are finishing high school on average about four years behind their more affluent peers,” he said. “I believe this isn’t due to an inherent difference in the students themselves but a failure in the education system.”

O’Dell said the scale of Atkins’ work was a significant factor in determining his award win. “The jury felt that

his work is addressing a systemic issue and will have a broad societal impact,” O’Dell said. “It is not just in one city or one school, but it is replicable and being implemented throughout the country.” She added that Atkins’ creativity and deep-seated interest in equitable outcomes resonated with the jury. “They also acknowledge that if we don’t change educational outcomes for low-income kids, there is really no reason to expect that there is any way we are going to disrupt intergenerational poverty for those families,” O’Dell said.

James Verrilli MA’90, co-founder of the North Star Academy Charter School of Newark and senior dean of Relay, also commended the large-scale impact of Atkins’ work. “He created North Star Academy with me, that started as a one school and 72 kids to now 5,000 kids in 14 different campuses. He created Uncommon Schools, which is 43 schools across the northeast. Then, he created Relay Graduate School Education, which now has 18 campuses across the country.”

Atkins attributed much of his success to the time he spent at Brown and the network he created there. He concentrated in history and was a Herald editor. “What I got out of my education at Brown was a deep commitment to social justice and a deep belief that education is the up-escalator, a way up, for people in the world, regardless of where they are from,” he said.

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The th William F. Church Memorial Lecture

“Mediterranean Captivity through Arab Eyes, -” Nabil Matar Professor of History and English, University of Minnesota Wednesday, October ,  : pm Smith-Buonanno,  ( Cushing St.) Free and open to the public

5 Mabil Matar is Presidential Professor in the President’s Interdisciplinary Initiative on Arts and Humanities and Samuel Russell Chair in the Humanities at the University of Minnesota. His research in the past two decades has focused on relations between early modern Britain, Western Europe, and the Islamic Mediterranean. He is the author of numerous books, most recently A Moroccan Ambassador in the Mediterranean World: Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Miknasi, - () and British Captives in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic: - ().

TODAY

MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2018 • PAGE 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

menu

n at u r e s t r i k e s b a c k

SATELLITE DINING ANDREWS COMMONS

Pizza: Sammy Special, Barbeque Chicken Ranch, Caprese Pulled Pork Sandwich JOSIAH’S

BLUE ROOM

Dumpling Bar, Samosa Burger, Panini Grill

Bread Bowl, Turkey Chili Soup, Spinach & Feta Soup

DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH

DINNER

Pulled Smoked BBQ Chicken, Coconut Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Sauteed Pork with Orange

Beef Pot Pie, Cavatelli with Romano Bolognese, Steamed Snow Peas

VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH

DINNER

Chana Masala, Sloppy Joes Sandwich, Spicy French Fries, Corn O’Brien

Italian Meatballs with Sauce, Couscous, Pizza Rustica with Spinach, Lima Beans

sudoku

NICOLE KIM / HERALD

The sun was shining down on walkways across campus this weekend. But students walking in the brisk fall weather may have to avoid uneven concrete near the Main Green.

Q U O T E O F T H E D AY

RELEASE DATE– Monday, October 1, 2012

Los Angeles Times Puzzle c r o sDaily s w oCrossword rd Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Scottish hat 4 Cries out loud 8 Dull sound 13 Whartonʼs “The __ of Innocence” 14 Summer Olympics event venue 15 Covering for “piggies” 16 Big stink 18 Stored in a database, say 19 Rural storage structure 20 Amateurish dive 22 Opposite of a big star 25 “__ a trap!”

26 “The Ballad of John and __” 27 Men 28 Bearded flower 32 Barely get, with “out” 34 Added a chip to the pot 36 Maine college town 37 Bearded fairy tale trio 40 Cartographerʼs book 41 Oven setting 42 Word in most Commandments 43 Finger-on-hotstove reaction 44 Sinister 45 Neuter, as a horse 47 Seasonal potable 48 Stand the test of time 50 Mumbai-based film industry 55 Protected inlet 57 Camden Yards ballplayer 58 Hired hoodlum 61 Long-lasting resentment 62 Frozen drink brand 63 Outlaw Clanton 64 Gather a bit at a time 65 Studentʼs book 66 Composer Rorem DOWN 1 Settings for columned documents 2 From the top

3 Mountain Dew 35 Trinidadʼs 50 Tennis great Bjorn competitor partner 51 Like some 4 Undercover 36 Made goo-goo doctorate agent eyes at seekersʼ exams 5 “__ la la!”

38 Murphyʼs __ 52 Queue 6 Word with hatch 39 Communicate 53 “Livinʼ La Vida or prize with hand __”: Ricky Martin 7 Gin fizz fruit gestures hit 8 Broadway 44 Leafy hideaway 54 “In memoriam” awards 46 Charlie Brownʼs write-up 9 “The Tao of tormentor 56 Viewed Pooh” author 47 Hosiery material 59 Superman Benjamin 48 Draw forth nemesis Luthor 10 Either of two 49 Bring to mind 60 Allow Monopoly sqs.

11 Venus de __ ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: 12 Little chirp 15 Makes a mad dash 17 Western wolf 21 Wasnʼt honest with 23 Gives a thumbs-up 24 Second of two bell sounds 27 Caught wind of 28 Outlet store abbr.

29 Tournament in which you play everyone else at least once 30 Facts, briefly 31 Tender-hearted 32 Site for cyberbidders 10/01/12 xwordeditor@aol.com 33 Flier on a string

“We’re protesting the elevation of rapists in our society, and we want to make it very clear to the campus, to the nation, that we do not tolerate sexual violence or sexual

”

assault.

—Amelia Wyckoff ’22

See rally on page 1.

calendar TODAY NOVEMBER MARCH

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Careers in Psychology 12:00 P.M. CareerLAB

Talk: Yaron Minsky 12:00 P.M. CIT, 368

Brown Statistics Seminar 4:00 P.M. 121 South Main Street

TJX Information Session 8:00 P.M. CareerLAB

TOMORROW

By Gareth Bain (c)2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

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On the Job Market with Kids 10:00 A.M. CareerLAB

An Inside Look at Election Coverage 12:00 P.M. Joukowsky Forum

Getting Started in Data Visualization 1:00 P.M. Rockefeller Library, 160

Fluids at Brown 3:00 P.M. Barus and Holley, 190

COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2018

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

CareerLAB should bear responsibility for recruiting culture, too To the Editor: Over the last few days, readers of The Herald have witnessed a heated online debate unravel over Brown’s recruiting culture, specifically with regard to consulting. Despite the veracity of each person’s stance, a key component of the argument still remains unaddressed: the critique of Brown’s career resources in general. I posit that fault lies not with students, who tend to flock overwhelmingly to technology, finance and — yes — consulting jobs, but with our school’s career resources, which overemphasize these select few fields and, as a result, frame them as the main avenues for post-graduation employment.

A quick look at the calendar of job- and internship-related events at the Center for Careers and Life After Brown reveals a plethora of coffee chats, info sessions and mock interviews for technology, finance and consulting firms, with the occasional nonprofit or law firm info session peppered in for flavor. The same problem was evident at last Tuesday’s career fair, which, to quote an email I recently received from CareerLAB about public sector opportunities, “is dominated by consulting, finance and tech.” There exist so many more careers in both the public and private

sectors, but how can we expect students to learn about or choose these jobs if they have no exposure to them?

Being proactive in the career search is equally fruitless for students trying to avoid technology, finance and consulting. I have heard personal accounts from friends who went to CareerLAB seeking guidance on how to enter unconventional career fields, only to walk away discouraged about their employment prospects because Brown’s only career center lacks the resources to adequately advise them.

If CareerLAB recognizes its shortcomings in non-technology, finance or consulting fields but continues to merely ignore them and brush students off, then of course, we will continue to flock to the “Big Three.”

If students are worried about gainful employment after graduation, there are numerous opportunities for well-paying jobs beyond the three narrow fields we hear about at Brown. Students might be pursuing these opportunities if they knew about them. However, until we have a career resource center that can accommodate more than just a few select careers, the dominance of the Big Three industries will continue to prevail at Brown.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

COMMENTARY MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2018 • PAGE 7

Transfer admission should be need-blind PATRICK WU

op-ed contributor In 2003, the University became needblind for domestic, first-year applicants.

This meant that Brown would not consider the wealth of an applicant (or their family) in granting admission.

In this, Brown affirmed a core tenet of college admission: No candidate should be favored for coming from a rich family; no candidate should be harmed for coming from a poor one.

President Emeritus Ruth Simmons, in developing the proposal, spoke of it as a moral obligation. It is an obligation that Brown has never upheld for transfer or international students. Because the international case involves further complications, I here address only the case of domestic transfer applicants. But I suspect very similar things can be said for international students.

Over 1,000 potential transfer students apply to Brown each year through a need-aware process, which means that the University can consider each applicant’s ability to pay when deciding whether to grant admission. For this reason, many apply without requesting financial aid, thereby promising to foot the sticker price of Brown each year they are here. This year, the total cost of attendance runs to $73,892. Since transfer students who do not apply for financial aid when they apply for admission are barred from ever receiving aid, those transfers are then required to meet that cost each year they attend.

For those who transfer in as

sophomores, they will pay over $220,000 to graduate. That’s about three times the median net worth of an American household. Here’s another way to appreciate that sum: Around 70 percent of Americans could drain their entire bank account, sell their house, sell their car, sell their possessions, sell the

not a panacea for all that ails college admission today, we can at least take one clear step in the right direction by making transfer admission need-blind.

Thus far, I have argued that Brown’s need-aware transfer policies are unjust. But perhaps such wrongs can be tolerated because they provide crucial

this is truly a rationale the University wishes to adopt, it ought to make it publicly known. Would-be transfer applicants have a right to know that this is how Brown views them: as sources of funding for first-years. Third, even if we grant the empirical suppositions needed for this view, the morally right

University admission should not depend on how much money one’s parents make; by now, we accept that this is a basic tenet for any fair admission scheme.

literal clothes off their literal backs and still be unable to afford that.

Such a system flagrantly advantages those who come from families with means, treating unjustly those transfer applicants who must apply for aid if they are to attend Brown at all. This is wrong. University admission should not depend on how much money one’s parents make; by now, we accept that this is a basic tenet for any fair admission scheme. And while fixing this is

funding that allows Brown to attract a truly diverse first-year class. With such a view, whatever injustice is dealt to transfer applicants can be justified by the fair treatment of first-year applicants and the opportunities provided to them.

This reply suffers from three faults.

First, it is empirically unsupported; as of yet, there is no evidence to suggest that Brown requires the tuition payments of transfer students to subsidize its financial aid packages. Second, if

response will simply be to admit fewer students until we can afford to run a fair admission process. In this way, justice can be done to all.

Another objector may note that if transfer students are willing to pay the sticker price and Brown can use those funds to, say, promote diversity in higher education, why shouldn’t we adopt such a policy? Everyone stands to benefit.

My reply is that exactly similar

considerations will hold for first-year admission. There too, we can set aside a portion of the seats for those who have the means to pay. In fact, we might even be able to rack up more funds as people spend all four years committed to Brown. But in fact, we should not do this. Why? Because it wrongs the applicants. So too for transfer applicants.

I close by addressing a third objection: the University cannot afford such a shift, given our paltry endowment. But here, I suspect the policy does more harm than good. If Brown expects to be financially solvent in the long-run, it must expect alumni to give, on average, more than they received in financial aid.

I see no reason why such a supposition should not also hold for transfer applicants. As it stands, transfers who pay full sticker to attend may later find themselves wondering why they should donate to a school that never donated to them.

Recently, President Christina Paxson P’19 has promoted the “Brown Promise,” a commitment to replacing loans with University grants in financial aid packages. Given the recent hubbub surrounding the policy, I find it surprising that University administrators (and fellow students) have not directed more attention to this basic inequity in how Brown decides whom to admit. A policy we abandoned in 2003 lives on for transfer students.

Patrick Wu ’19 can be reached at patrick_wu@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald. com and op-eds to opinions@ browndailyherald.com.

USHA BHALLA / HERALD

SPORTS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2018

Don’t sleep on the Dodgers PATRICK NUGENT sports columnist It’s easy to write off this year’s National League on the road to the World Series. On Friday, the New York Yankees joined the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox, all American League clubs, at the 100win mark. The best teams in the National League, the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers, sit at only 95 wins. Even the Oakland Athletics, a team headed for just the second wild card in the AL, has more wins than any team in the senior circuit.

But the team to be worried about as the playoffs begin can be found in the NL — L.A. It’s true the Dodgers didn’t crack triple-digit wins and only earned a playoff spot in the final weekend. They also finished even with their division rival the Colorado Rockies, a tie that led to a 163rd game to decide the division winner tonight.

Regardless, a closer look at the standings reveals what the team’s overall record doesn’t immediately show.

The Dodgers win when it counts, and nothing counts as much in baseball as October. Ninety-one wins in an MLB season is no easy feat in and of itself, but the way the Dodgers have picked up those wins is what makes them particularly dangerous.

The simplest metric that predicts how a team will perform when the rubber hits the road is to look at its record against winning teams. When the Dodgers have come up against teams over .500 this season, they’ve won 50 — more than any other playoff team — and only dropped 38. None of the 100-win American League teams have more than 41 wins

against winning-record opponents.

By overall winning percentage, those AL teams have had more success, but the Dodgers’ road to October has

the reasons the Cleveland Indians shouldn’t be given preferential playoff treatment for beating the weaker teams in their division. Their win

against good teams as the Dodgers, but they have a losing record against L.A. this year. At only 23-31 against teams with winning records, don’t

By overall winning percentage, those AL teams have had more success, but the Dodgers’ road to October has been paved with harder-fought victories.

been paved with harder-fought victories. It’s one thing to win, but it’s another to beat good teams and beat them consistently.

I wrote a few weeks ago about

total against teams better than .500 only restates the point that Cleveland is not as good as their record indicates. Not only has Cleveland won fewer than half as many games

expect Cleveland to hang around long in October.

All of this only matters, of course, if it has any bearing on the postseason. Against the other four NL playoff

teams, the Dodgers have played to a 24-15 record, or a .615 winning percentage. Shrink the sample size down to a best-of-five or best-ofseven series, and the Dodgers are easily clear of their necessary winning percentage. Obviously, baseball isn’t played on paper, and a couple of bad games could still mean that the curtains will close for L.A. Even so, the Dodgers have positioned themselves to do well.

Against the Rockies, which the Dodgers will face in a one-game playoff to determine the NL West champion, L.A. is 12-7 on the year.

That puts game 163 in Los Angeles and takes away Colorado’s mile-high home field advantage. Even if the Dodgers can’t muster a win in that game, they’ve assured themselves a wild card berth and need only a little bit of luck to find themselves in the NL Division Series.

Last year’s Dodgers team won 104 games on the way to a World Series loss. At first glance, this year’s team is a tier below that one. However, the 2017 Dodgers were only 36-33 when faced with teams above .500, and they came within a win of a Commissioner’s Trophy. This year, bolstered by deadline acquisitions in Manny Machado and Brian Dozier, and with most of last year’s pieces still in place, the Dodgers look dangerous.

Don’t be surprised if, a month from now, L.A. is celebrating its first World Series title in 30 years.

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.

A film screening and conversation Paul Laurence Dunbar: Beyond the Mask Monday, 1 October at 7 pm McCormack Family Theater 70 Brown Street, Providence [use Fones Alley entrance]

“Paul Laurence Dunbar: Beyond the Mask” is a film documentary about the life, work and legacy of the first African American author to gain international fame. The son of former slaves, Dunbar (1872 – 1906) was the prolific author of numerous volumes of poetry, several novels, and widely-published essays critical of Jim Crow laws, lynchings, and what was commonly called at the time “the Negro problem.” He is perhaps best remembered for his poem “We Wear the Mask,” and for lines from another poem, “Sympathy,” that became the title of Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Filmmaker Frederick Lewis will be on hand to introduce the film and to lead a post-screening discussion.

Writer, director and co-producer Frederick Lewis is a professor in the School of Media Arts & Studies at Ohio University and a 1983 graduate Brown‘s Literary Arts program.

His previous documentaries have been seen on PBS stations throughout the U.S., and have been screened at more than 60 cultural/educational venues, including the National Gallery of Art, the Lake Placid Film Forum and the Explorers Club in NYC. Professor Lewis is a recipient of the PresidentialTeacher Award, Ohio University’s highest honor for transformative teaching, curriculum innovation and mentoring.

Sponsored by Africana Studies/Rites & Reason Theatre, Literary Arts, and Modern Culture & Media at Brown