Monday, March 20th 2023

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Elections, friends, admissions: The Herald’s Spring 2023 poll

Poll explores student demographics, lifestyles, opinions on University policies

BY RHEA RASQUINHA, CHARLIE CLYNES & SAM LEVINE METRO AND UNIVERSITY NEWS

SECTION EDITORS

Between March 7 and 9, Herald staffers polled over 1,000 undergraduate students on a variety of questions ranging from demographics and lifestyle to the approval ratings of campus leaders and policies. Some of its notable findings can be explored below. You can further explore the data on your own using our interactive site.

The Herald conducts a campus-wide poll each semester to identify trends in student opinions and experiences. Our questions are selected by Herald editors, and the data analysis and design is completed with the support of The Herald’s Tech Team.

Midterm election voting

In the fall 2022 poll, The Herald

and Brown Opinion Project asked students whether they planned to vote in the U.S. midterm elections in November 2022. Among eligible voters, 82.9% said that they planned to vote — but only 52.7% of eligible voters surveyed this semester said that they voted in the midterm elections.

Research from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University estimated that around

27% of Americans aged 18-29 voted in the 2022 midterm elections, the second-highest turnout for youth voters in nearly 30 years after a turnout of 31% in the 2018 midterm elections.

Social circle

In this semester’s poll, 61.1% of respondents described their social circle as a friend group, while 38.9% said their social circle consisted of individual friendships. This break-

down did not vary significantly by class year, though The Herald previously reported that the class of 2024 has struggled to find community after arriving on campus in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.

Students on campus often build their networks through clubs, residence halls and shared classes. Student-athletes reported finding a strong community of peers on their teams, whose upperclassmen members help first-years and new recruits

adjust to academics and life on College Hill. Dating apps like Bumble — as well as Brown students — have developed new apps designed for users to make friends and grow their social networks.

A Dartmouth study of college students found that the nature of their social circles remained relatively consistent post-graduation. The study also found that students’ race and

SEE POLL PAGE 8

Pichardo ’26 makes Division I baseball debut

SPORTS Bears play home opener against Bryant, set to begin Ivy Play next weekend

BY LINUS LAWRENCE SPORTS EDITOR

Olivia Pichardo ’26 made history on Friday, taking her first collegiate atbat and becoming the first woman to play Division I Baseball.

A November press release announced that Pichardo had been named to the Bears’ roster, garnering national attention, the Herald previously reported.

“It’s nice to get your first out of the way,” Pichardo said following the game. “It was a really special moment.”

“It was the culmination of a lot of hard work for Liv,” Head Coach Grant Achilles said, adding that he is “just really proud of her for all that she’s done to get to this point.”

Pichardo’s debut came as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the ninth inning, with the baseball team (2-11) trailing 10-1 in their home

ARTS & CULTURE

F@B goes off campus in largest show ever

opener against Bryant University (7-8).

“I had a plan, and I just stuck to it,” Pichardo said.

That plan: to be aggressive early. Pichardo pulled a first-pitch fastball from Bryant pitcher M.T. Morrissey, grounding out sharply to first base.

Pichardo didn’t want the weight of the moment to take away from her focus as she approached the plate. “I tried not to think about it too much.

I (was) just taking deep breaths, just sticking to my routine that I would always do,” she said. “Baseball’s a very mental sport, so the best that you can do is just simplify everything.”

“We’re just happy for her,” said center fielder Derian Morphew ’23. “I don’t think we, in the moment, (think about) how important or influential of a moment it is. We’re just excited to see her get the chance to prove what she has.”

Morphew also pointed out the positives in seeing Pichardo swing early rather than late on a fastball in the low-90s, as rookies typically have to adjust to increased pitch speeds.

“I’m proud that we’re the team

SEE BASEBALL PAGE 2

Runway featured 100+ looks from 23 student designers during annual event

BY MAGDALENA DEL VALLE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Students in trench coats, sunglasses and colorful skirts filled the chairs that lined the long catwalk. Their heads turned in unison, following the models down the runway. One model showed off a tight sheer dress with flower motifs flowing from her knees to the hem. Another donned a coat with a garment bag sewn onto its shoulders.

More than 100 looks from 23 student designers made their way through the room during Fashion@Brown’s annual fashion show Friday evening. The year’s show, “Fashion Beyond the Screen,” was F@B’s biggest yet and was the first to take place off campus.

Students flocked to 1 Davol Square for the sold-out event. Many waited in the standby line hoping that one of the 350 seats along the runway might become available.

“For us to really pull this off takes an entire village,” F@B co-President Natalia Brown ’23 told The Herald.

Many of the featured designers learned to make clothes by attending Fashion@Brown design workshops throughout the fall and spring.

Natalia Brown emphasized that all 11 subsidiary F@B teams participated in the event, including models, hair and makeup, graphic design and diversity, equity and inclusion. The teams also carefully curated the music that would complement each look, with a DJ standing beside the catwalk.

But the spotlight — both literally and figuratively — shone brightest on the work of the designers. From the moment the first model sauntered onto the runway in a black bodysuit with a

set of stuffed arms hanging from her shoulders to the final lap where the designers walked alongside the models wearing their collections, it was clear that the show was celebrating months of hard work.

The looks were arranged by theme: nature, girlhood and future. Some, like those of F@B designers Charles Usadi ’25 and Cara Ianuale ’26, fit seamlessly into one category. Others were more

SEE FASHION PAGE 5

Brown China Summit hosts annual event about U.S.-China relationship

CLAIRE DIEPENBROCK / HERALD

ARTS & CULTURE

Hyperpop duo evolves sound with unedited vocals, raw instrumentation

BY FINN KIRKPATRICK ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

100 gecs, the hyperpop duo consisting of Laura Les and Dylan Brady, have been reinventing what modern music can be since 2010, when they first met in their hometown of St. Louis. After getting their start at digital music festivals hosted on Minecraft, 100 gecs finally found their big break with the release of their 2019 debut album “1000 gecs.” Featuring hits like “Money Machine,” “Hand Crushed by a Mallet” and “Stupid Horse,” the record defied notions of contemporary music etiquette, opting instead for abrasive electronic instrumentation and distorted, high-pitched “nightcore” vocals. But this sound isn’t just insane for insanity’s sake — it’s central to the identity of the artists behind the music. Les once explained in an interview that pitching up her vocals helps her feel more comfortable with her identity as a transgender woman, an exploration that dates back to some of her earliest SoundCloud releases, such as “how to dress as human.”

The gecs’s newest release, “10,000 gecs,” shows substantial development in the duo’s sound and identity: While their characteristic high-pitched vocals are still very much in the mix, they are no longer ubiquitous. Listeners are granted glimpses into the raw, unfiltered emotive power of Les’s voice while Brady maintains the group’s signature absurdist energy. Unlike in past releases, their backing in “10,000 gecs” is not entirely computer-generated. Electric and acoustic guitar, along with funky bass and disco drum beats, populate the mix and demonstrate that 100 gecs are not a one-trick pony afraid of evolution.

“10,000 gecs” is most exemplary in its energy, matching that of the grunge and punk music that took American suburbia by storm from the late ’70s to the early ’90s. But while that music appealed to a skateboarding, spray-painting crowd of teenagers re-

100 gecs appeals to today’s

belling against their parents, the gecs appeal to today’s disaffected youth who spent their childhoods playing Minecraft and developing social anxiety. To be very clear, this is far from a dig at the group’s sound. In fact, it’s the opposite: 100 gecs are able to capture an increasingly prevalent cultural sound and attitude to a degree that requires distance from mainstream music. This comes through in the album’s sounds, which range from harsh screeches and overproduced upbeat horns to brief breakthroughs of truly beautiful acoustic guitar. No other music can quite match the way 100 gecs bottle up the unique absurdity of life in the digital age.

The album begins with “Dumbest Girl Alive,” which greets listeners with the blaring “THX” sound effect. The mix then comes in with an energetic rock guitar riff complemented by harsh drums and video game-like electronic sound effects. This intensity is then countered by acoustic breakdowns that slowly build into the song’s highest peaks. Following this song is “757,” the

the bottom of the ninth with a two-run rally but ultimately came up short 9-6.

most traditionally gecs-sounding track of the album’s 10 songs.

“Hollywood Baby,” one of the album’s standout numbers, is next. It’s a perfect example of 100 gecs’s unrivaled energy as an increasingly distorted reiteration of “you’ll never make it in Hollywood, baby” eventually breaks into gorgeous all-out chaos.

The album’s streak of instant classics continues with “Frog On The Floor.” While a substantial energy shift from the album’s first three tracks, the song still encapsulates everything that makes 100 gecs the most interesting group currently making music. The song mixes the strangely complementary sounds of ska and a children’s educational program theme song, then morphs into a slow-jam funk beat backed by distorted “ribbits” voiced by Les. The song is exactly as its title suggests: the account of a frog on a floor. And while you could try to break down the frog to represent something greater, that doesn’t seem to be what 100 gecs is going for. The energy of the song’s composition with

its wacky lyrics is all that is needed for a good time.

Next is “Doritos & Fritos,” chockfull of catchy lyrics and funky guitar rhythms, followed by “Billy Knows Jamie,” with guitar lines and vocals that feel derivative of Rage Against the Machine and Beastie Boys. But just as these motifs start to wear, listeners are smacked on the head with heavily distorted electronic metal riffs filled in with harsh vocals that, if you forget to check the volume, will blow out a speaker — or an eardrum. After this comes “One Million Dollars,” a song entirely made up of samples, bass drops, distorted record scratches and the occasional clear guitar line hidden underneath abrasive electronic noise.

The two songs before the album’s finale are nothing more than hilarious lyrics backed by experimentation in a variety of musical styles. The first, “The Most Wanted Person In The United States,” is a laid-back hip-hop track with nonsensical lyrics, good rhythm and a solid beat. It’s followed by “I Got My Tooth Removed,” which opens as an

emotional, somber ballad. Then, the beat drops and the track is revealed to be another youthful ska song about getting a tooth pulled.

The album’s final track “mememe,” with the only true thematic message in the record, strongly concludes a monumentally great album. It reignites the conversations about identity that formed the earliest moments of 100 gecs’s career, but while Les’s vocals were heavily distorted on those songs, her verse on “mememe” is mostly with natural vocals, making it the most emotionally raw song of the gecs’s entire discography.

“10,000 gecs” is a new dawn for 100 gecs, as the album demonstrates that the duo can continually incorporate new instrumentation and musical ideas while still maintaining the core energy that makes them so special. Everything that 100 gecs makes feels both entirely original and also the result of years of perfectionist rehearsal. Their sounds push the limit of what can be aurally palatable, but they always end up on the right side of being absolutely awesome.

that did it, and Olivia’s the girl that’s doing it,” said senior catcher Jacob Burley ’23. “She works really hard and she’s very impressive. I think more than anything that she deserves it, and I’m just happy for her.”

The Bears managed just five hits in Friday’s game. Tobey McDonough ’23 and Bryant’s Chase Jeter matched zeros early on, keeping the game scoreless until the top of the fifth, but an offensive explosion from the Bulldogs helped them seize a blowout win in the series opener.

Bruno’s bats came alive in Saturday’s doubleheader, tallying 27 hits across both games. The Bears jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first contest on RBIs from Morphew and Ray Sass ’23 in the second inning. But Bryant stormed back with two massive frames, scoring all their runs in a three-run third and six-run fifth to knock Bears starter Santhosh Gottam ’25 out of the game.

The Bears attempted a comeback in

In the second game on Saturday, the Bears erupted for an eight-run rally in the bottom of the third inning, highlighted by a soaring grand slam from left fielder Jared Johnson ’25. Morphew, Burley and Mika Petersen ’26 also had RBIs.

“We realized their tendencies late in counts,” said Burley on the Bears’ offensive display. “They wanted to try and get us to chase down and away with a breaking ball. I think we just kind of shifted our mindset (and) shifted our approach.”

“Being able to have a clearly defined approach and be aggressive … that forces pitchers to pitch to your strengths, not to their strengths,” Achilles said.

The Bears plated three more in the later innings, with freshman DJ Dillehay ’26, who went 3-for-5 across the doubleheader, contributing an RBI knock in his first career start at shortstop.

Starting pitcher Bobby Olsen ’23, who was on the mound for the Bears’ first win of the season against Penn

State the weekend prior, tossed six innings of two-run balls, striking out six batters in the process.

Olsen has “electric stuff,” said Achilles. “I think it’s hard to be comfortable in the batter’s box when he’s commanding his pitches, and we saw that again today.”

Reliever Jack Seppings ’25, a member of Team Great Britain’s roster for the World Baseball Classic, threw three dominant innings of relief, allowing just one run and one hit while striking out six Bulldogs to earn a save and lock down an 11-3 Bears win.

The win gave the Brown home crowd something to cheer for in the team’s first series of the season at Attanasio Family Field at Murray Stadium.

“It’s exciting to see friends (and) some family come out and support us,” Morphew said. “It’s a little different of an atmosphere to be at home and have the entire stands rooting for you.”

The Bears will play one final game against Bryant at 3 p.m. Wednesday before kicking off Ivy League play against Columbia in New York on Saturday. The

COURTESY OF ANDREAS LAWEN VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS / LICENSED UNDER CC 4.0

disaffected youth while matching the energy of grunge and punk music popular from the 1970s to the 1990s.

BASEBALL FROM PAGE 1

Olivia Pichardo ’26 was named to the Bears’ roster in

‘10,000 gecs’: 100 gecs take glorious journey into the unknown

‘The Elephant Whisperers’ offers vision of human-animal coexistence

Story about couple, adopted baby elephants melts hearts, wins Academy Award

BY SAHIL BALANI CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The 95th Academy Awards became a historic moment for the Indian film industry when “The Elephant Whisperers” became the first documentary produced in India to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film.

This Tamil-language documentary released in December 2022 has become a point of pride for India, which celebrated the documentary’s win — as well as that of “Naatu Naatu,” a song from the Indian Telugu-language movie “RRR” which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Running just 41 minutes, “The Elephant Whisperers” focuses on Bomman and Bellie, a caretaker couple who are members of the Indigenous Kattunayakan Tribe, and their bond with two adopted orphan elephants, Raghu and Ammu. The film illustrates the harmonious intersection between Indigenous knowledge systems, nature and religion.

The documentary was shot at the Theppakadu Elephant Camp, which is in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu, 30 minutes from where director Kartiki Gonsalves grew up.

Gonsalves’s personal connection with the forest is apparent throughout the documentary, as is the connection between the caretakers and Raghu.

Watching Bomman and Bellie feed him milk, bathe him and play football with him can only make a viewer cheer for the happiness of this unique family.

Gonsalves, thanks to her previous

experience working as a natural history photographer, captured some of the rare biodiversity of the nearby forests in the film’s cutaways, with transitional shots of different animals and birds that help the viewer appreciate the land. This feeling is accentuated by the optimistic and playful background score composed by Sven Faulconer.

The intensity of the bond between the elephant and the caretakers becomes clear in the documentary’s climax when Raghu is assigned to different caretakers more experienced with adolescent elephants. Audiences see the separation anxiety and pain Bomman and Bellie both feel, watching their grief-ridden, sleepless nights and their loss of appetite.

Apart from caretaking, the documentary also shows the religious integration of elephants within the community. From decorating the elephants’ trunks with beautiful artwork to including them in the Kattunayakan Tribe’s religious ceremonies, the audience sees a community grateful for the animals, unlike others that view elephants as crop destroyers. In one scene, Bomman, both a priest and a mahout, says “God and elephants are one for me,” highlighting the fact that without either, he would have nothing to eat.

The glimpses of Indigenous practices are hidden gems in the documentary. Audiences watch Bomman and his companions climb steep and

rocky hills to get honey from bee colonies. Kattunayakan women sing and dance around a fire — leaving viewers curious about the lives and practices of the community.

While the documentary is optimistic about humans and animals living in harmony, it briefly covers the conflicts that arise due to their proximity. Raghu’s mother, who died due to electrocution from a man-made fence while searching for food in nearby villages, exemplifies this tension. “This bittersweet aspect of the story was crucial to what I wanted to say,” Gonsalves said in an interview with The Guardian.

The film also highlights traumatizing tiger attacks that many villages near the forests face. Bellie opens up

about her past and talks about her first husband, who was killed by a tiger. This incident caused Bellie to feel fearful of nearby wildlife — but coming from the “heart of the forest,” she maintained a belief that the well-being of the forest and ecosystem is important.

“The Elephant Whisperers” earned its bragging rights well before the Oscars —and its Academy Award only served to further cement its reputation. From its cinematography to the story, the documentary captures its viewer’s attention instantly. The bite-sized film peeks into an ecosystem where humans coexist peacefully with nature — a more sustainable community that could serve as inspiration for the rest of the world.

State lawmakers introduce bill limiting, regulating solitary confinement

he has witnessed individuals struggle psychologically due to the practice. A 2019 study in North Carolina found that formerly incarcerated individuals who were placed in solitary confinement were 78% more likely to die from suicide in the year after their release.

BY JULIA VAZ METRO EDITOR

Content warning: This article includes mentions of suicide.

On March 7, Senator Jonathon Acosta ’11 MA’16 GS (D - Central Falls, Pawtucket) and five other Rhode Island lawmakers introduced the Solitary Confinement Reform Act, which seeks to limit the amount of time incarcerated individuals may remain in solitary confinement.

While previous iterations of the bill have attempted to abolish solitary confinement, the new text focuses on limiting and regulating the use of the practice within incarceration facilities, Acosta said. The bill reads that “restrictive housing” should be “for the shortest time” and “with the least restrictive conditions possible.” It specifies that all prisoners must receive, at minimum, four hours of out-of-cell time every day.

The bill would also establish a five-member “restrictive housing oversight committee” to monitor the use

of solitary confinement in the state. The director of the Department of Corrections — or a designee — will serve on the committee, along with four members appointed by the governor, speaker of the house, senate president and the Black, Latino, Indigenous, Asian-American and Pacific Islander Caucus of the general assembly.

“The idea (of the bill) is to try to make what are largely inhumane conditions … as humane as possible,” Acosta said.

Acosta highlighted positive re -

sponses from community members following the introduction of the bill.

“I actually just got a call this weekend from a woman whose son is in the medium security facility at the (Department of Corrections), and she was just thanking me for being the sponsor,” he said. “People seem to be excited.”

According to Acosta, the act “is a culmination of years of work and activism on behalf of several formerly incarcerated folks.” To draft the act, Acosta and other sponsors worked closely with community organizations including

the Stop Torture RI Coalition, which is “an alliance of local community organizers, formerly incarcerated people and their loved ones,” according to its website.

“We understand that the Corrections Office uses solitary confinement as a way of holding individuals accountable, but they abuse it,” Brandon Robinson, community organizer for the coalition, said in a March 9 press conference.

Robinson, who was formerly held in solitary confinement, shared how

“Individuals deserve to have the chance to be rehabilitated versus continuously punished,” he said. “Even though they are incarcerated, they still have rights, and they should have those rights afforded to them.”

OpenDoors, part of the Stop Torture coalition and “the first and largest agency in the state specifically dedicated to helping people that have been in prison,” is also supporting the act, according to Nick Horton, co-executive director of OpenDoors. “We got involved because we saw that this was an important issue for the community that we serve and represent,” he said.

Solitary confinement is one of the most extreme ways “prisons will deny people rights or will punish them overly harshly or treat them inhumanely,” Horton said. “Although the prisons in Rhode Island are largely run very safely and have a lot of very excellent staff, there are also a lot of potentials for abuses of power and mistreatment.”

Acosta said that he is “cautiously optimistic” about the passing of the bill, though “nothing is in stone until it’s signed.”

COURTESY OF NETFLIX

“The Elephant Whisperers,” which runs just 41 minutes, focuses on a caretaker couple and the bond they forge with two orphaned elephants.

EMILY SUONG / HERALD

Men’s lacrosse loses late lead, falls to Harvard in overtime thriller

Crimson tie game in closing seconds, score first in sudden-death extra period

BY AUSTIN XIANG STAFF WRITER

The men’s lacrosse team (3-3, 0-1 Ivy) fell short against the Harvard Crimson (3-2, 1-0 Ivy) in a 16-15 overtime thriller at Stevenson-Pincince Field Saturday. Attacker Aidan McLane ’25 paced the team with seven goals, while attacker and midfielder Matteo Corsi ’25 recorded his first career hattrick, but neither effort was enough to propel the Bears to a victory in their Ivy League conference opener.

“I’m proud of our team,” Head Coach Mike Daly said. “They showed a lot of fight. A lot of the young guys really stepped up into key roles.”

Harvard kicked off the scoring just 35 seconds into the first quarter, courtesy of a goal from Hayden Cheek, and quickly extended their lead to two with a goal by Nick Loring. Bruno’s offense fell flat for most of the first quarter, with McLane’s first goal of the day marking Brown’s first shot on goal nearly 10 minutes into the game.

Just when it seemed like the Bears could gain momentum, Harvard responded immediately with a goal from Sam King and took a 3-1 lead. McLane and Marcus Wertheim ’26 each tacked on a goal for Brown late in the first quarter to keep the game tied at three going into the second.

This was the theme for most of the game: Brown played catch-up and kept the game within reach while Harvard bent but refused to break. In 60 minutes of play, the Bears held a lead for less than two minutes but were never down by more than three.

“This is a team that embraces all challenges and we just kept grinding all game,” wrote attacker Trevor Glavin ’23 in an email to The Herald. “I’m proud of my teammates and proud of the way we competed for 60-plus minutes.”

The Crimson started the second with a hot hand, stringing together three consecutive goals to push the score to 6-3. But Bruno was unfazed, responding with three straight goals of their own to tie the game at six. Mc-

Lane scored his third of the day; Glavin scored, assisted by a behind-the-back, no-look pass from Wertheim; and PJ Behan ’26 made his career-first goal.

In the half’s final two minutes, the Crimson extended their lead back to three after a pair of goals from King and a goal from Miles Botkiss with just six ticks left on the clock. The game entered halftime with the Crimson up 9-6, posting 17 shots on goal to Bruno’s nine.

McLane and Corsi led off the scoring in the third, cutting the Crimson’s lead to just one point. But Harvard would not back down and managed to keep the lead throughout the quarter despite allowing two more goals to Ryan Behrens ’25 and McLane, who had recorded five goals by the end of the quarter.

“We all have roles on the team, and Aidan’s is to score,” Daly said. “Aidan did his job and executed his role.”

Entering the fourth down 12-10, Bruno managed to tie the game at 12 thanks to Wells Bligh ’25, who scored his first goal of the season, and McLane, who secured a sock-trick — six goals total — around a minute into the fourth. Brown and Harvard later exchanged a pair of goals, leaving the game tied at 14 with a little less than three minutes remaining.

“We had great face-off play all game,” Glavin wrote. “The defense did a great job getting stops in the third quarter and we were able to score and make a run back at them.”

It was Corsi who came through in the clutch for the Bears, scoring both the game-tying goal at 14, and the goahead score with just over two minutes remaining, handing Bruno their first lead of the match. Both goals came in the span of a minute.

“Our first lead was that 15-14, so that’s a heck of a way to play a game

CALENDAR

down that whole way,” Daly said.

A victory seemed within reach for the Bears, who possessed the lead and the ball with under two minutes to play. But after a costly turnover, Harvard regained possession and scored with just 13 seconds to go, tying the game at 15 apiece and forcing overtime.

In overtime, Brown continued a second-half theme by winning the faceoff, despite face-off Matthew Gunty ’23 playing injured for most of the match. Gunty won 20 out of 27 faceoffs in total, including eight to Harvard’s one in the fourth.

“I just had good wing play, had guys rallying around me and just knew that my team needed a win, so I kept going,” Gunty said.

Despite having the ball first in overtime, the Bears struggled to convert. A turnover put the ball in the Crimson’s hands, and even with a gutsy save by

TODAY’S EVENTS

Climate & Environment Lunch

Bunch: Brad Marston

12:00 p.m.

Lincoln Field Building

Serving a Plate Back Home: Migration Stories Exhibition

4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. 94 Waterman St.

TOMORROW’S EVENTS

Intersections: Judaism, Chaplaincy and University Life

12:00 p.m.

Page-Robinson Hall Room 411

Fluids Seminar: Tracy Mandel, UNH

3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Barus and Holley Room 190

goaltender Connor Theriault ’24 to regain possession, Bruno failed to score on four shot attempts and eventually turned the ball over again just as the shot clock expired.

After clearing the ball, Harvard called a time out to set up the game-winning play. The Crimson converted with 13 seconds left in overtime when King snuck a shot through Theriault’s legs to secure Harvard’s victory.

“I’m proud of our assistant coaches for having this team ready to play. I’m proud of our players for playing,” Daly said. “But in a one-goal game, that’s on the head coach to find that play.”

On Saturday, the Bears will look to bounce back on the road against University of Massachusetts at Amherst (4-3), a team they have not beaten in six years.

“We’re just going to do the fundamentals,” Gunty said. “Get back to work this week and beat our next opponent.”

Study Abroad 101 Information Session

1:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Page-Robinson Hall 411

Nuchi nu Miji; Okinawa’s Water of Life | Film Screening

7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

List Art Building 120

Author Elisabeth Houston Artist Talk and Performance

1:30 p.m.

Granoff Center, Kooper Studio

Chemical & Environmental Engineering Seminar: Jillian Goldfarb

4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Barus and Holley Room 190

COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS

A victory seemed within reach for the Bears, who possessed the lead and the ball with under two minutes to play. But Harvard regained possession and scored with just 13 seconds to go, forcing overtime and scoring first in the sudden-death extra period.

Brown China Summit discussions explore U.S.-China relationship

BY HARRY YANG STAFF WRITER

The annual Brown China Summit — a conference that brings together leaders and scholars from different fields to engage in critical discussions on U.S.-China-related issues — took place in the Stephen Robert ’62 Hall this weekend.

The summit centered around the theme “Discovery and Recovery: How China Can Balance, Lead and Follow in 2023.” The summit included 13 panels on political economy, sustainability, international relations, business and other topics.

Leung Chun-ying — former chief executive of Hong Kong and current vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference — was this year’s keynote speaker. Leung led Hong Kong from 2012 to 2017, including during the “Umbrella Movement” in 2014 that called for increased citizen involvement in the city’s elections, and stepped down at the end of his term in July 2017.

On Saturday evening, Leung spoke via Zoom with Chas Freeman, former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, who also served as the primary interpreter during President Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to China.

Leung’s keynote talk focused on the development of Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. “Hong Kong is definitely a very interesting and attractive place for young people to develop their career,” Leung said.

Other panelists included National Academy of Governance Professor Peijun Duan; artist Suzanne Anker; former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and

FASHION

FROM PAGE 5

abstract. All of them were meticulously curated and executed.

“It’s really incredible. I’m kind of living out my Project Runway dreams,” Ianuale said.

Before joining F@B this year, Ianuale had only ever upcycled garments and made elastic-waist skirts. Now, her collection titled “Dear Cara” includes four pieces that trace her changing relationship with femininity. A pink dress represented youth and innocence, and a top with ribbon wrapped all around it represented repression. The third ensemble, a skirt with the words of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie written

Central Asian Affairs Susan Elliott; George Washington University Professor of Law Donald Clarke; and urbanist Alain Bertaud.

This year’s summit was the second to take place in person since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to BCS Co-President Joey Qiu ’24. Last year’s summit organizers dealt with returning to “putting on an in-person event,” while this year the team was able to expand on the previous year’s foundation, he added.

“China is coming back from a tough year of COVID and domestic turbulence,” Qiu said. The theme is about recovering, “rediscovering what China’s strengths are moving forward” and finding “balance between” both leading and following, he noted.

According to Qiu, he and BCS Co-President Autumn Qiu ’25 aimed to “provide a space for engaging dia-

all over it, celebrated the rediscovery of feminine joy and exploration. Her last piece, a pink quilted dress with ribbons cascading down the piece, pays homage to feminist quilters.

“What an exciting thing and honor to be able to wear somebody’s art and to show that to the Brown and greater Providence community,” said Aliza Kopans ’25, who walked in Ianuale’s pink quilted dress.

Like Ianuale, many of the designers learned to make clothes this year. The F@B design directors led a series of workshops throughout the fall and spring to teach the team technical skills. They even planned a trip to FABSCRAP, a textile reuse site in New York, so student

logue,” “increase the diversity of the team” and “attract audiences from more backgrounds and perspectives.”

“We started emailing speakers in September,” said Xiaokang Xue ’25, director of the summit’s sustainability-focused panel. The list of speakers was finalized earlier in the year.

“The summit this weekend had over 350 (attendees),” Joey Qiu told The Herald — a seven-fold increase from 2022’s total. “And many of the audience (members) were non-Chinese.” The increase in audience numbers and diversity was “huge progress” for the summit, he added.

“One of the biggest difficulties we encountered was how to present a conference about China to a group of American and international students,” said Joey Qiu, emphasizing that a “key solution” was creating a more diverse team.

designers, regardless of their experience, could gather the materials they needed.

“I knew the basics of a sewing machine but really didn’t know anything beyond that,” Usadi told the Herald. After attending F@B workshops and learning from the design leaders, he created three looks for the show.

Usadi channeled nature in his line and even sewed dried vine seed pods onto one of his dresses. As the model wearing this look progressed through the catwalk, the pods rustled against each other to add another sonic dimension overtop the DJ’s music.

The designers got to decide how many looks they wanted to create for the show, ranging from one to nine.

Joey Qiu said he hopes that the summit helped audiences enhance their understanding of China. “Many people have a preconception about China,” he said. “The main goal of the conference was for everyone to walk out of the panels and (look) at China from more dimensions.”

Patrick Anders ’25 joined the summit’s finance team this year and directed its “Order and Law” panel, finding panelists through team members’ connections, alumni or the University.

“We’ve had great speakers in the past, and we used the brand name and the great work we have done to show people that they should also join,” Anders said.

Enthusiastic about environmental protection, Xue told The Herald that he gained more experience in event organizing and learned about sustainability through moderating the panel.

Buzzy Martin, a first-year student at the Rhode Island School of Design told The Herald, “I was just being a little extra,” referring to the nine denim-based looks he exhibited.

Martin added that each designer received $70 from F@B to build their collection, no matter how many pieces they ultimately decide to make. In Martin’s case, staying within his budget was easy since the concept behind his collection was to not use any new fabric. He utilized different scraps of jeans and scarves to create a unique assortment of looks.

According to many F@B members, teamwork was an important element of accomplishing the show. “It feels like a group effort even though it’s my

“I think international collaboration is very important in combating climate change, especially the cooperation between the U.S. and China,” he said. “I hope the panel facilitated conversation on sustainability at Brown and beyond.”

This was the second year Danny Xu ’23 attended the summit. “I’m interested in the political economy and international relations panels,” Xu said. “They had really good guests coming to speak.”

Xu said he particularly enjoyed listening to Freeman, who also moderated the panel on “China’s Rise in International Relations.”

“The panel was more practitioner-focused than last year,” Xu told The Herald. “There were people who could share stories and fun facts, and I think this made it more accessible to the general audience.”

line,” Usadi said.

At the end of the show, the design team gave a special shoutout to Design Director Seabass Immonen ’23 for his mentorship across four years at F@B. He, in turn, reminisced about the club’s growth — this year’s event featured nearly twice as many designers as his first show.

A sense of exhaustion, exhilaration and accomplishment exuded from all the F@B members as soon as the last model stepped off the runway. “I just was so impressed by the fashion and the professionalism of the models and the designers,” F@B co-President Kaila Zimnavoda ’24 said. “I think it’s amazing that these are students.”

Former Hong Kong chief executive delivers keynote; 350 audience members attend

COURTESY OF ERIN XI

This year’s summit featured 13 panels on topics including political economy, sustainability, international relations and business.

Fang ’26: College students aren’t sleeping enough. Nap pods could help change that.

Brown students’ collective experience of sleep deprivation is apparent this midterm season as heads nod forward during lectures, people slump over library desks and yawns abound. It’s all a part of the grind — the constant cycle of working until early morning, waking up barely in time for a 10 a.m. class and catching brief naps here and there before starting to study again.

Despite the well-researched consequences of sleep deprivation — including fatigue, brain fog and shortened attention span — college students continue to sleep too little. We are among the most sleep-deprived populations, with more than 70% of college students reporting that they receive less than the daily eight hours of sleep typically required by young adults and 50% reporting daytime sleepiness. Colleges like Brown should invest in nap pods to help mitigate their students’ chronic lack of sleep.

Nap pods are chair-like pieces of furniture that allow individuals to take naps in busy environments. They come in many shapes: reclining chairs with large privacy domes, capsules with sliding doors and pods shaped like futuristic, colorful jelly beans. Many have features such as sleep timers, music and lighting adjustments to optimize a user’s napping experience.

The point of nap pods is to provide users with a private, comfortable setting to recharge when they cannot sleep in a bedroom. Taking a short nap can be extremely beneficial, as research suggests even short naps can increase energy levels, boost creativity, strengthen memory and lower the risk of cardiovascular issues. Dozing in nap pods grants users all these benefits without the soreness

campus commuter students who are unable to return home during the long school day. At these colleges, nap pods are located strategically in places like libraries, study rooms and engineering schools so they are easily accessible to students. Sleep timers in the nap pods would ensure that all individuals will have an opportunity to nap without needing to wait too long.

portance of a good night’s sleep, but they would not make going to sleep earlier or napping during the day any easier for students, who would still have the same busy schedules. Thus, nap pods offer universities a unique opportunity to invest in their students’ well-being in a practical and tangible way.

Currently, Brown’s BWell website has a page on the importance of sleep and a link to a sleep hygiene assessment. Both are helpful sources of information, but Brown can do more to ensure its students can actually sleep eight hours a day and avoid pulling all-nighters, as the website suggests. Although nap pods are expensive, with many costing $8,000 to $12,000 per pod, Brown should commit resources to this investment in the health of its relatively small student body.

and muscle pain that can accompany naps slouched in a chair or over a desk.

Plenty of companies and universities have already taken advantage of nap pods, including Google, Facebook, Stanford University, the University of Florida and the University of California at Berkeley. The University of California at Los Angeles has special nap pods for

In theory, there are other ways colleges could help their students get more sleep. The obvious option would be to reduce coursework, but this would be contentious, and students could find other avenues — clubs, research and other classes — to fill up their schedules. Sleep education campaigns could help students become more aware of the im -

Adequate sleep is an essential yet frequently overlooked component of college students’ well-being. We need more sleep, and installing a few nap pods around campus would help us dream a little sweeter.

Juliet Fang ’26 can be reached at juliet_ fang@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald. com and other op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

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“We need more sleep, and installing a few nap pods around campus would help us dream a little sweeter.”

Munshi ’23: In pursuit of knowledge and God at Brown

In the Islamic tradition, we have a famous saying from the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ : “Islam began as something strange, and it will return to being something strange, so give glad tidings to the strangers.”-

Many Muslims, even if we are hesitant to say so, feel strange at Brown. Our religion is strange to the average person here, which makes us strange to them too. We are the strangers praying in the hallway who everyone stares at as they rush by. We are the strangers completely sober on a Friday night. We are the strangers sitting in the classroom, debating whether we should mention our religious perspective or just remain silent like usual.

Most of the time, a lot of my fellow Muslim students and I don’t mind too much. Why should we? After all, we chose to come to this secular university knowing it wouldn’t be the easiest place to practice our faith. We broadly anticipated that practicing Islam would be difficult. We did not expect, however, that not only would the University ignore the healthy relationship between Islam and academic achievement, but that it would also prioritize a secular worldview when given a choice between a secular and an Islamic worldview. This is unacceptable, especially in a setting that claims to value ideological diversity and freedom — Muslim students should not have to set aside their faith to study at Brown.

Some might point out that people of faith will be limited in their academic pursuits out of fear of compromising their religious values. They often assume that this is the fault of the religious individuals themselves. But everyone has sacred values that they are unwilling to compromise on their journey through their academic careers. The only difference for Muslims and other followers of faith traditions, as opposed to students with non-religious worldviews, is that our values are part of a concrete faith larger than ourselves, and thus are not easily compromised.

There have been many influential Muslim figures in the history of intellectual pursuit whose ideas are too often taught to be

divorced from the faith that inspired them. These thinkers, part of an ongoing and productive scholarly tradition steeped in religious conviction, developed fundamental ideas like the scientific method and algebra while being devout religious adherents. While the typical student may be able to name a handful of ancient Greek philosophers and Enlightenment thinkers, they will probably never learn of some of the intellectual achievements in between, such as how Cartesian skepticism was earlier articulated by al-Ghazali or how Ibn Khaldun formulat-

Reason, nor a dress more beautiful than the dress of Knowledge, because God was known by Reason and worshiped with Knowledge.” This sentiment highlights the common view among Muslims that religion is inseparable from knowledge.

At Brown and many other universities, however, religion is treated as an individual choice in the same way one is able to choose their interests — it does not cross into the classroom. Religion exists merely as an extracurricular activity which the University does not consider core to its mission. And for the

lims are proud of their intellectual history, and it’s why many of us refuse to do away with our worldview while pursuing education. Previous Muslims — the great scholars I mentioned earlier on — would not have been able to accomplish what they did if they, too, were forced to divorce their academic pursuits from their understanding of Islam. Indeed, Islam is not only our belief system as we approach education but, for many of us, it is the motivation to pursue scholarship in the first place. The Muslim worldview informs what questions are asked and how findings are interpreted.

This is not to suggest that Brown or other secular schools should become religious universities instead of secular ones. But universities should reconsider their insistence on secular teaching and organization: Not only may it alienate religious students, but in many ways, it disadvantages and strains us academically. Brown’s practice of secularism should not mediate these worldviews, but instead facilitate them.

ed a rigorous method of studying history that anticipated much of Western historiography. We are even robbed of opportunities to see modern Muslim scholars at work: Students at Brown rarely learn from practicing Muslim professors.

It seems that ideas from the Islamic world can only survive in academic environments when cleansed of any relation to their grounding in Muslim thought. This tendency in secular academia serves to appropriate ideas from the Muslim world and further implies that Muslims, along with other people of faith, may only have a place in the academy if they too cleanse themselves of their religion.

However, faith is inextricably linked to the academy for Muslims: Pursuing knowledge holds an esteemed position in Islamic thought. Renowned Muslim theologian and philosopher al-Harith al-Muhasibi wrote that “there is no adornment like the adornment of

activities that Brown does consider core, it makes decisions regarding their time and location that prioritize the University’s needs over the needs of its religious communities. For example, holding a graduation ceremony on the same day as Eid — like Brown did a few years ago — implies that Islam and its practice are only appropriate in the times and places that the University deems so.

This treatment of religion as an extracurricular creates unnecessarily rigid spatial and epistemic separations between the spiritual and educational. These separations present a dilemma for Muslim students: We can either relegate our faith to the non-academic and pretend it’s unimportant to our studies, or we can carry our faith into academic pursuits at the risk of being dismissed by our professors and peers.

For us, religion isn’t a choice, but a lived reality and a way of viewing the world. Mus -

Any time I express my frustration with a lack of Muslim perspectives in academia, well-meaning professors confusedly refer me to the Department of Religious Studies. It gets old trying to explain to them that I’m not interested in studying religion — I’m interested in studying the world while holding on to my religion. Like all students at Brown, Muslim students want a place in the truth-seeking collective project of the University, not to be shoved in some corner because of our faith. Muslims are prepared to feel strange at Brown, but not prepared to depart from our beautiful religion.

This op-ed was originally published on Thursday, March 16, 2023.

Sameerah Munshi ’23 can be reached at sameerah_munshi@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@ browndailyherald.com and other op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

“Muslim students should not have to set aside their faith to study at Brown.”

class greatly influence the structure of their social circles.

Considering race in admissions

Nearly two-thirds of respondents who voted in the 2022 U.S. midterm elections last November said that they believe Brown should consider race in admissions. This was 20% higher than the 46.3% of respondents who did not vote. The future of race-conscious admissions in the United States — also known as affirmative action — is in jeopardy as the Supreme Court is expected to rule against the practice in two cases against Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

The University has a long history of student activism — and more recently, legal support — for race-conscious admissions. In 2007, a Herald poll found that 53% of students supported race conscious admissions policies. The administration has filed amicus briefs along with other universities in support of protecting race-conscious admissions policies.

The end of affirmative action would have significant implications on admissions at universities: Harvard presented data in its court arguments showing that ending affirmative action would result in a significant decrease in matriculation of students from historically underrepresented racial backgrounds. The University is actively preparing for the potential overturn of race-conscious admissions policies this summer, Associate Provost for Enrollment Logan Powell has said on multiple occasions this spring.

Paxson approval

This semester’s poll showed that older students expressed less intense disapproval of President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20. While 25% of seniors strongly disapprove of the way Paxson is handling her job as president of the University, 34% and 44% of juniors and sophomores strongly disapprove of Paxson, respectively. First-year students disapprove of Paxson the most of any year, with more than half of all first-years surveyed saying they strongly disapprove.

With a resurgence of on-campus activism in recent semesters, many groups have launched campaigns that demand the University revise its gift acceptance policies and cut its remaining ties with the fossil fuel industry. In 2020, the University’s Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investment Policies recommended that the University divest its endowment from “any company that profits from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land,” a call around which student activist groups have recently resumed activism.

Paxson recently told a conference that she rejects calls to use the endowment as “a tool for political advocacy.”

Sleep habits

Around 80% of respondents who do not receive any financial aid reported that they sleep seven or more hours on average. 77.3% of respondents who receive grants covering some costs similarly reported that they get seven or more

hours of sleep a night on average. But only 67% of respondents who receive full financial assistance reported getting that amount of sleep on average — more respondents in this category said they sleep five or six hours on average. Studies have shown that financial stress can be correlated with insufficient sleep and can have significant impacts on college students’ wellbeing and academic performance.

The percentage of seniors who sleep more than seven hours is higher than that of any other class year. Around 70% of first-years reported sleeping seven or more hours, while 79.2% and 78.5% of sophomores and juniors reported sleeping the same amount, respectively. 83.7% of senior respondents

reported sleeping seven or more hours on average, more than any other class year.

Our analysis also found trends in sleep habits that varied depending on if respondents self-identified as varsity athletes and first-generation college students. To explore these cross-tabulations and many more, you can visit our interactive tool.

In the coming weeks, The Herald will publish a series of articles investigating individual poll results and cross tabulationss in greater depth.

Non-demographic questions in this poll have been weighted by class year based on matriculation statistics from the University.