Monday, October 17th, 2022

Glenn starts as new AVP of inclusion

WaterFire’s Barnaby Evans ’75 discusses event

BY NEIL MEHTA SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Tristan Glenn was named as the inau gural assistant vice president for inclu sion, campus culture and engagement in the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity, according to an Oct. 11 Today@Brown announcement by Vice President for Institutional Equity and Diversity Sylvia Carey-Butler.

Glenn started in the role in August and is responsible for “coordinating outreach designed to address (social) climate concerns at Brown,” according to the announcement. Glenn will work with campus faculty, staff and stu dents to improve learning related to diversity, equity and inclusion in line with University goals outlined in the Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan.

Glenn comes to Brown from Ken nesaw State University, where he

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served as assistant professor of special education, according to the announce ment. At Kennesaw State, he served as the inaugural director of the Call Me MISTER program, which “provide(s) academic support, mentorship, tuition assistance and job placement assis tance to promote success among Black male teacher candidates,” according to the program website.

“What I see is there is a genu ine interest in building the kinds of community that we talk so freely and

MacKinnon critiques legal application of consent

Women’s rights expert, scholar presents alternative framework at PPE lecture

BY NEIL MEHTA SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Content warning: This article includes several mentions of rape and sexual assault.

Legal scholar and author Catharine MacKinnon critiqued the legal con struct of consent in a lecture entitled “Sexual Assault and Inequality: A Critique of Consent” hosted by the Center for Philosophy, Politics and Economics Friday evening.

In her lecture, MacKinnon dis cussed how legal definitions of con sent can reinforce gender normativity and place a burden on victims, espe cially in the courtroom. MacKinnon drew the lecture’s content from her 2016 essay “Rape Redefined,” noting that Friday’s event marked the first time it was delivered as a lecture.

In the essay and lecture, MacKin

non proposed a revised definition of sexual assault and rape law. “Sexual assault or rape is a physical invasion of a sexual nature under circumstanc es of threat or use of force, fraud, co ercion, abduction or the abuse of pow er, trust or a position of dependency or vulnerability,” she said.

In her definition, force is not only physical, but may also include the leveraging of privilege surrounding “age, mental and physical disability, immigration, status, sex, gender, race, class, sexuality (and) caste,” she said.

MacKinnon then critiqued the application of consent terminology in criminal law. She noted that the term consent is rarely used to describe “passionate” and “enthusiastic” inter personal sexual interactions, but is often used to defend and justify sexual encounters with power imbalances. MacKinnon described this as a differ ence in the social and legal realities of consent, where sexual encounters with power imbalances are defined as consensual in a legal context due to inefficient and underenforced legislation surrounding consent.

Legally accepting sexual interac

frequently about on campus,” Glenn said in an interview with The Herald. “There is a considerable commitment from each individual to further their own understanding of what it takes to achieve the level of community and culture (and) sense of belonging in the DIAP.”

Glenn said that when approaching issues of diversity on campus, “we have to acknowledge that the ways

BY KATHY WANG SENIOR STAFF WRITER

It seems hard to imagine Providence without the river that runs through its core — or to imagine that same river without WaterFire.

Created by Barnaby Evans ’75 almost 30 years ago, WaterFire has brought crowds of people from all different backgrounds to Providence’s riverfront, with families, couples and friends all gathering together under the dim cover of firelight. For each lighting, the team at WaterFire builds all parts of the display from scratch and takes it all away by dawn the next day.

WaterFire is more than just a community event in Providence, Ev ans said at a talk co-hosted by the

Undergraduate Council of Students and the Brown Entrepreneurship Pro gram Friday. Built to bolster the city’s tourism and entrepreneurship, the tradition now generates millions of dollars for the city and attracts visitors from across the country, he added, noting that cities around the globe have adopted their own versions of the event.

This practice of building and re building is core to the event, inspired by the more than 1,000-year-old wooden Ise Grand Shrine in Japan, which is rebuilt every 20 years, ac cording to Evans. WaterFire’s focus on reconstruction aims to underscore how the craft of building can maintain and strengthen a community.

“Can a city be entirely re-invent ed?”

In recent decades, Providence’s downtown has transformed dramati cally. Fifty years ago, “Providence was in trouble,” Evans said. “There was

SPORTS

W.soccer hangs on to draw vs. Harvard

BY NICHOLAS MILLER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

A women’s soccer rivalry battle for first place in the Ivy League between Brown (8-2-2, 3-0-1 Ivy League) and Harvard (8-1-3, 2-0-2) ended in a 1-1 stalemate Saturday, keeping the Bears on top of the conference with a clear path to their third consecutive league title.

Harvard has been a strong challeng er during Brown’s two-season run as Ivy League champion. “I don’t know if I can even describe it,” said defender Kayla Duran ’22.5 regarding games against Harvard. “It’s definitely a battle.”

“It’s everything. That’s why we come play D-1 soccer at a big program,” said forward Brittany Raphino ’23. Ra phino scored for the Bears Saturday, repeating tradition after she scored against Harvard in both 2021 and 2019.

Because Harvard tied Penn 1-1 to open Ivy League play, Brown remains in sole possession of first place.

In the first half of Saturday’s game, Harvard controlled the majority of pos session in their 4-3-3 formation, often finding space in dangerous areas out side of Brown’s box. Brown relied on three central defenders who denied space behind, with Duran making mul tiple key slide tackles to deny through balls on goal.

“We needed to really put it to Har vard,” Duran said. “They like to be a lit tle bit technical so we had to really get them off their game by being physical.”

On the other end, Brown played a more direct style true to the Bears’ at tacking identity, launching lob balls for

Raphino and forward Ava Seelenfreund ’23 to run onto.

About 17 minutes in, Raphino burst through the left side of Harvard’s de fense before cutting the ball back at the penalty spot for Seelenfreund — whose shot landed wide.

Following a long ball in the 22nd minute that landed in the front of the Harvard box, a Crimson center back gave the ball away to Raphino. Raphino then created a 2-on-1 as she drove forward with Seelenfreund open up to her left. Raphino feigned a pass,

Volleyball

Inaugural associate vice president will address campus diversity, social climate

COURTESY OF TRISTAN GLENN

The new assistant vice president role was created as part of the University’s Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan.

METRO Barnaby cites Japanese temple as event inspiration in student discussion

Bears have path to Ivy League championship after heavyweight bout against Crimson

COURTESY OF CHIP DELORENZO / BROWN ATHLETICS

Forward Brittany Raphino ’23, who scored Brown’s only goal Saturday, also scored against the Crimson in 2021 and 2019.

‘Luckiest Girl Alive’: An uncomfortable, unexpected trauma dump

and the wounds are still fresh. When she is approached by a documentari an hoping to talk about a mysterious event from her past and “finally” tell her side of the story, she declines mul tiple times until she caves, opening old wounds and a flood of flashbacks.

BY REBECCA CARCIERI ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

“Luckiest Girl Alive” is one of the cra ziest and most unexpected films of this year — but not in a good way. The film was marketed as a typical psycholog ical thriller with an attractive woman as its lead, but viewers would never guess the gory twists and turns at its core. It’s the kind of movie that you desperately want to turn off because it is so uncomfortable, but you stick through it just to see how messed up it can get. While it is not a great film, it is one that will leave a lasting impact.

The film follows TifAni “Ani” FaNelli (Mila Kunis), a beautiful, ed ucated and successful woman who is engaged to handsome and affluent Luke (Finn Wittrock) in her seemingly perfect life. Ani has a harsh internal monologue, constantly critiquing herself and others around her. The film jumps back and forth between the current seemingly perfect Ani and her high school self (Chiara Aurelia), who doesn’t really fit in and is on a scholarship at an elite private school. It becomes clear that she endured traumatic events in her teenage years

One minute she is in a jewelry store with her fiance, and the next she is holding a bloody knife. As the film unpacks what truly happened all those years ago, the viewer is taken on a path of crazy twists and turns with a disappointing ending.

When the events of Ani’s past are finally revealed, the film deals with it so clumsily that it feels almost ir responsible. The two events that Ani experienced are so traumatic that, as a viewer, it is difficult to watch. They are so unreasonably graphic that they can be triggering for anyone who has experienced anything remotely sim ilar. It is astounding that there isn’t a trigger warning at the beginning of this film, though there are campaigns for Netflix to add one.

While “Luckiest Girl Alive” is a disturbing film, Kunis does her best with the material and successfully portrays a woman trying to hide her past. Kunis appears so perfect and put together that it’s hard to like her at first. There is nothing redeeming about Ani until her past is revealed, which then makes the viewer feel guilty for their initial dislike. Kunis effectively portrays a girlboss who is deeply disturbed and traumatized on

the inside. You’re able to see all of the hidden emotion behind Kunis’s eyes as Chiara Aurelia expertly portrays the younger version of Ani.

No other aspect of the film is in teresting or relevant. Ani’s fiance Luke is a boring, self-centered man who has never experienced any im perfections in his life. Ani’s mother

(Connie Britton) is a middle-aged woman trying desperately to fit in with Luke’s family without much suc cess. There is simply not much else to note besides trauma and Kunis’s acting chops.

It is a shame that the film is mar keted as a regular thriller that a group of women might enjoy on a Saturday

LIFE IS A HIGHWAY

night with popcorn and a glass of wine. Instead, it makes you want to hide underneath a blanket and call your therapist, if you’re even able to make it to the end of the film. If the movie had more nuance and sensi tivity given its heavy subject matter, perhaps this could have been a better film.

Come enjoy the beautiful sights of coastal Rhode Island! The non-exhaustive list of sights and attractions here inludes the Sci-Li, little skunk families huddled together on the Main Green, trash cans overflowing with college student garbage and this blurry image of a highway.

Mila Kunis holds this disturbing psychological thriller together

COURTESY OF NETFLIX MEDIA

The traumatic events featured in the movie are dealt with clumsily, almost to the point of being irresponsible.

The graphic and triggering nature of its scenes make for an uncomfortable viewing experience.

nothing going on, there weren’t even restaurants downtown (that) would open in the summer.”

But Providence has always been an “extremely entrepreneurial city” with a “pretty remarkable history to hear,” Evans said, pointing to its early uptake of automobile manufacturing.

In recent years, local stakeholders have worked to improve public con ditions. The Providence River Park, for example, was a work of public entrepreneurship that placed “a bet on the future of the city,” Evans said. Decades prior, community members with similar hopes of transforming Providence — specifically, a group of local designers — wanted to uncover the river that went underneath the streets of Providence, according to Evans. “The only way we (could) do that … (was) to physically pick up the river,” he said.

According to Evans, the river relo cation project included relocating the Woonasquatucket River, the Moshas suck River and their confluence with the Providence River.

“The only reason why the design ers wanted to move the river … was they felt it really important that the park not be stopped by buildings (so people did not have) to go around (or) through traffic and come back to the park,” he said.

Construction for the project led the downtown World War I Monument to be moved to a new site, making way for three separate bridges along the riverfront, two of which disguised pipe carriers.

Reflecting on the project, Evans noted that many businesses and en terprises struggle to make their ideas connect with the public. Taking into consideration how city residents would engage with the newly-uncovered riv erfront, Evans began to envision Wa terFire as a way to bring the river park positive attention.

The team wanted to “make Prov idence a destination city and a place where things happen to the streets downtown,” Evans said.

“Building as a verb”

The artistic intention behind Wa terFire comes from a Shinto temple in Japan — Ise Jingu — which, constructed

approximately 1,300 to 2,000 years ago, is one of the world’s oldest preserved wooden objects, according to Evans. “Every 20 years, they build the temple again,” he said.

Evans emphasized that the tradi tion the temple creates is significant to WaterFire and the community it sustains.

“Their reverence is for the building, but not the building as a noun, but the building as a verb,” he said.

“Shinto tradition says that it’s not the physical object that has its presence and its importance to the community,” Evans said. “It’s the fact that the community is engaged with entrepreneurship and energy to com munitize the building, and that the skills to build it are still held within the living community.” Similarly, Wa terFire brings people together under themes of reconstruction, community and entrepreneurship, he added.

Evans said that the WaterFire display is built from scratch for each lighting because the event’s organizers want to foster a sense of community among volunteers, reflecting on the process as a collective ritual main tained and passed down within the community.

When the fire is first ignited, it burns brightly then grows darker and darker until a boat “comes over the horizon, out of the darkness,” full of volunteers and members of the community to add their own block of wood to bring the fire back, Evans said. Similar to how “entrepreneurs would add their ideas” to the community, “that’s how a community keeps itself on track,” he added.

According to Evans, WaterFire rep resents all stages of life in a commu nity. People have marriage proposals, celebrate weddings and host funerals during WaterFire — but event organiz ers never publicly announce them. “It (is) up for people to figure out” what they’re witnessing, he said.

Evans added that he tried “to build a work that would use elements of many, many cultures.”

“If you think of the fire references, you’ll see that echoes respectfully from cultures all over the planet,” he said. I want “to talk about what it is that we as humans gather together (in this) ritual celebration.”

According to Evans, WaterFire is “a

privilege.

very meditative, almost religious work about the fragility of life.” Evans added that WaterFire represents “a balance between life and death.”

“If you think of fire as represent ing life, it’s always, miraculously and dangerously, right above the water that (could) instantly put it out,” he said. “But you can reverse that in the end game as well, because fire will boil water away to nothing.”

WaterFire also incorporates other binaries, like hot and cold and dark and light. “If you start to think about them, (you) will see them throughout the piece,” he said.

Evans also noted that organizers purposely choose background music that the public might not be familiar with — including music from different cultures.

“If you’re listening to music, you sort of put it in the background, (and) you already have an emotional state that’s associated with that,” he said. “Your brain is doing something differ ent when it has to respond to music it doesn’t know.”

“We’re creating WaterFire delib erately to have various elements out there,” Evans added. “When you next go to WaterFire … just sit down next to a stranger and say, ‘What is this thing?’ You just started a conversation. He’ll talk to you for hours.”

A counterintuitive entrepreneur piece

The first WaterFire was held on Dec. 31, 1994, under a snowfall that welcomed the start of a new year, ac cording to Evans. He added that they only intended to have the event once, but many attendees asked him after the inaugural lighting when the next event would be.

Today, Evans noted that WaterFire is held about 20 times a year. “This year, I think we’re doing (it) 24 times over nine months,” he said.

Evans listed six rules for hosting WaterFire: build the entire thing from scratch in a single day; turn off all the surrounding lights; set everything on fire; do the exact same event every night; never advertise at all and invite everyone to come for free; and break it all down by dawn.

“It’s a very counterintuitive piece (of) entrepreneurship, particularly doing it for free,” he added.

Evans said that the yearly WaterFire budget is $2.4 million, which covers costs associated with portable bath rooms, performers, boat maintenance and a team of roughly 20 full-time, paid staff — although WaterFire re lies largely on a group of volunteers, which ranges from 50 to 300 people on a given day.

According to Evans, WaterFire pri marily functions financially through sponsorships. Companies sponsor an

event by collaborating on its program ming. For example, the University will sponsor an Oct. 22 lighting to celebrate Family Weekend, covering roughly half of the lighting’s total cost.

The other half of the event’s fund ing, Evans said, comes from the state. WaterFire “generates about $150 mil lion in spending every year” for Rhode Island from the sales and hotel taxes paid by people who dined and stayed in Providence for the event, he said.

WaterFire also collaborates with nonprofit organizations on projects, Evans added. Recent efforts have in cluded raising awareness for clean water, collaborating on projects with the Narragansett Indian Tribe and working with the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Awareness Institute to help breast cancer survivors celebrate life with their families and thank their clinicians.

WaterFire, according to Evans, has turned Providence into a destination city. Cities such as Rome, Venice, Sin gapore and Houston have hosted their own WaterFire events modeled after the Providence original.

When Evans first created WaterFire 28 years ago, he did not imagine it to become a city tradition. He simply wanted to bring community members together, immersed in the same ritual and spiritual atmosphere. He feels he’s succeeded.

in which an individual identifies and presents inform, influence and impact … the ways in which issues of power and privilege function in our envi ronment.”

He said that his approach “neces sitates a full-fledged commitment to building capacity” for individuals to understand issues of power and

Glenn said he looks forward to shaping the assistant vice president new role at the University.

“The good thing is (that) because the position is new, I am active in the process of building that which we believe will be most useful to the institution,” Glenn said.

In the new role, Glenn will report to Carey-Butler, who told The Herald

that the OIED “is excited (Glenn) is re ally expanding our capacity to do more nuanced education and training.”

Glenn, who holds a PhD in curricu lum and instruction from the University of South Florida, said he draws from his academic background when approach ing issues of diversity on campus.

When considering how to provide professional development, consul tation and support at Brown, Glenn

said he draws on his scholarship and teaching experience.

Glenn said that he is dedicated to collaborating with the campus community when building equitable spaces on campus.

“I don’t endeavor to be the singu lar voice in terms of this work,” Glenn said. “What I endeavor to do is to work in community, work in collaboration, work in partnership with others who

are committed to (and) passionate about achieving equity, inclusion and social justice.”

“It does truly take a village,” he added.

The OIED also welcomed Kristin Malloy as the Americans with Disabili ties Act/504 coordinator at Brown. She began her work at the University this month, according to the announce ment.

KATHY WANG / HERALD

WaterFire has a yearly budget of $2.4 million and 20 full-time staff members, relying on 50 to 300 volunteers for each event, WaterFire creator Barnaby Evans ’75 told students.

The Bruno Brief: Season 4 will focus on sexual politics at Brown

THE BRUNO BRIEF TEAM

Stay tuned!

Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or listen via the RSS feed. Send tips and feedback for the next episode to herald@browndailyherald. com. The Bruno Brief is produced in partnership with WBRU.

Jack Wrenn

I want to say clearly we’re past the peak of recreational nudity at Brown. Right, OK, in so many ways we’re in a bit of a renaissance.

Finn Kirkpatrick

This season on the Bruno Brief…

ganizing it now. Like if you want to do it go ahead, because we don’t want this to stop being a tradition. So I was like, “Sweet, let’s do it.”

David Wilson

You can hear all the screaming and yelling and stuff and they gave out the donuts and everyone got a big laugh out of it and then they ran out. It was like a streak, like they used to do in the ’70s.

Katy Pickens

Brown, past and present. What’s with the Naked Donut Run? What was Sex Power God?

Madison Lease

Sayles is the most sexy building so I think that’s where it would take place.

Jacob Smollen

And its lesser known counterpart, Starf*ck?

Katy Pickens

Finn Kirkpatrick

What was art like during the sexual revolution? We’re going to look into queer culture at Brown and we’ll end the season with a deep dive into the current state of hook-up culture on campus: How do apps like Tinder and Bumble impact how we view relationships, love and sex?

Jacob Smollen

It’s season four. This is the Bruno Brief.

Let’s talk about sex. Coming soon to your podcast feeds: It’s season four of the Bruno Brief. This season, we’re focusing on sexual politics at Brown.

Olivia Duba

We actually don’t have anyone or

Here at the Bruno Brief, things are getting spicy. This season, we are delv ing into sexual politics at Brown.

Jacob Smollen

We’re going to explore nudity at

How has abortion access and activ ism changed in the last 50 years? How has the #MeToo movement manifested on campus?

This trailer was produced by Katy Pickens, Jacob Smollen and Finn Kirkpatrick.

Music: Hard Boil by Banana Cream at Blue Dot Sessions

TODAY’S EVENTS

Q&A with State Legislators Mc Cray and Roem 9 a.m.

Stephen Robert ’62 Hall, Leung

Student Q&A with Evan Wolfson, founder of Freedom to Marry 10 to 11 a.m.

Institute, Room 256

TOMORROW’S EVENTS

Ethnography and Filmmaking in Fieldwork

to 1:30 p.m.

Thayer St, McKinney Conference Room

Amazon Forest Vulnerability and Resilience to Drought 12 p.m.

Barus & Holley Room 155

International Mentorship Pro gram Resources Workshop 12 to 1:30 p.m. Page-Robinson Hall, Room 310

Chemical and Environmental Engineering Seminar 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Barus and Holley, Room 190

Oxford-Cambridge Information Session 12 to 1 p.m. Page-Robinson Hall, Room 411

Jonathan Lemire: “The Big Lie” 4 p.m. Watson Institute, Joukowsky Forum

tions as consensual does not remove their power imbalances, but rather just “makes them tolerated,” she said.

While consent is subjective, laws typically define consent according to its “external expression,” MacKinnon said. As a result, consent becomes “the reason that the alleged victim is put on trial.”

In court cases surrounding rape, “the focus is relentlessly on (the victim),” she said, “and in particular (on) what she does with her body, on what she was thinking, on her dress or what her prior statements or prior experiences were.”

These cases examine “what she is doing with herself … rather than what (the perpetrator) was doing with his power,” she added. MacKinnon emphasized the importance of con sidering power dynamics as part of force when consent is discussed in a legal context.

Keelin Gaughan ’25 and Fengyu Seah ’25, who attended the lecture, praised MacKinnon’s legal critique. Gaughan described the event as “an enriching experience.”

Gaughan and Seah both attended the event after reading MacKinnon’s work in classes and found the lecture relevant to a university audience.

“We read some of MacKinnon’s

work in the GNSS 0120: ‘Introduc tion to Gender and Sexuality Stud ies’ course that I took last year, so I was familiar with her work going in,” Gaughan said. “I really admire her writing. I also think that the topic of the lecture was very relevant to university life.”

“I took a class last semester called POLS 1355: ‘Women in Politics,’ and we had read one of MacKinnon’s arti cles, and I remembered really enjoying (it),” Seah said.

Consent “is simultaneously a very important issue and one that we run up against throughout our lives,”

Seah added. “The framework of con sent is something that’s especially relevant to the college campus.”

Gaughan underscored MacKin non’s argument about incorporating considerations of power imbalances in legal discussions of force.

“I think the most powerful part of

her lecture was the critique of how the rhetoric surrounding consent is very unclear in legislative con texts,” she said. “I found her idea of using force as a definition and an all-encompassing term to account for power dynamics and inequality very compelling.

NEIL MEHTA / HERALD

Legal scholar and author Catharine MacKinnon’s proposed revision to the legal application of consent includes focusing on power differences and the use of force in cases of rape, instead of focusing “relentlessly” on the victim, she said at a Friday event.

causing the lone defender to lean to

Seelenfreund and opening a path to goal. Raphino seized the opportunity and rocketed a shot past the Harvard goalie.

“I juked to see if she would go with Ava and she ended up doing so. I knew I had my lane to the right and it was just one versus one with the goalie from there,” Raphino said.

But in the second half, Brown’s

defense, secure throughout most of the first 45 minutes, became porous.

The ball rarely left the Bears’ defen sive zone, with defenders resorting to long heaves up the field to release the pressure.

“We were up a goal. Naturally, they (started) sending numbers for ward, they (started) chasing the game a bit. So (we were) playing a little more defensive,” said Head Coach Kia McNeill.

In the 70th minute, Harvard for

ward Angela Caloia flicked the ball over a defender on the edge of the Brown box before firing a left-footed volley that went just wide. Short ly afterwards, a shot from Crimson forward Hannah Green took a sharp deflection, forcing Brown goalie Bella Schopp ’26 to make a diving reaction save.

Less than a minute later, the Crim son finally broke through. Harvard’s Ainsley Ahmadian controlled the ball 25 yards out and unleashed a biting

shot that flew into the top left corner of the goal.

“Anytime you’re defending for 45 minutes, it’s inevitable that they’re going to break you down once,” Mc Neil said.

For the final 15 minutes, Brown dropped even farther back, seemingly giving up on attacking. But the Bears hung on for as long as possible.

In “the last 15 minutes, if we could (have gotten) a counter or a fast break, that (would have been) a great thing,”

McNeil said. “But we’re still at the top of the Ivy League and I think that’s our first and foremost goal.”

With Harvard only two points be hind in the Ivy League, Brown cannot afford to stumble in its remaining Ivy play against Cornell, Penn and Yale.

Harvard will face Princeton, Dart mouth and Columbia in the coming weeks.

“We’re still in the driver’s seat,” Ra phino said. “We’re still in control of our own destiny to get a 3-peat.”

Smith ’23: Brown must stop abusing pigs to teach medicine

For years, the Warren Alpert Medical School has been criticized by physicians, legislators and even one of the country’s largest news papers for its continued abuse of live pigs in the emergency medicine residency program. Even as nearly every other medical center in the country has moved toward more humane practices, University leadership has ignored calls for change and common sense morality. It’s time for Brown to put an immediate end to the needless and cruel abuse of live pigs for medical training.

According to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a leading nonprof it that advocates for changes to outdated and unethical research practices, the medical school operates on and kills pigs to teach only one medical procedure, known as a “surgical airway.” This involves anesthetizing the pigs and slicing open their necks before operat ing on and then euthanizing them. The fact that Brown uses anesthetics before this pro cedure does not excuse the injury and killing of a living animal. PCRM has been pressuring Brown to reform this policy for years, arguing that the University is on an academic island when it comes to training with live animals. Over 97% of emergency medicine residen cy programs in the United States and Canada have stopped using animals for medical train ing and instead have transitioned to using simulation devices or cadavers, according to PCRM. In fact, Brown is the only Ivy League school that still uses animals for medical training. The clear consensus in academia is that using animals is unnecessary and that training with simulations or cadavers is equally effective.

Even if it were not unpopular, the culling of pigs for medical training is clearly uneth

ical. Pigs are known to be highly social and emotional animals — not so different from you and me. Studies have found that pigs are intelligent, too; they seem to know whether humans are paying attention to them and are capable of tool use. Researchers have com pared their intelligence to that of dogs and chimpanzees. Any dog lover would be ap palled if their canine companions were to be

mals for medical training in cases where there are adequate alternatives. Unfortunately, both of these bills have stalled or died in commit tee, which is all the more alarming consid ering that Brown appears unwilling to adopt these basic animal welfare standards without being forced by law to do so. The University should be leading on animal welfare, not the subject of targeted legislation.

standards that avoid gross negligence.

Years of obstinacy and moral failure on Brown’s part have failed to break animal rights advocates’ resolve on this issue. This past Thursday, during the fall meeting of the Brown Corporation, physicians and activists from PCRM led a demonstration outside of Page-Robinson Hall to ask Brown’s leadership to change its policy on the use of live pigs. We at the Brown Animal Rights Coalition have gathered over 500 pen-and-paper signatures in support of this effort over the past month. With continued pressure from the Brown community, administration will hopefully see reason and make the necessary changes.

hurt and killed for medical training despite the existence of better methods. There is no principled reason for pigs to be treated so much worse than dogs or great apes, so the handling they receive in Brown’s emergency medicine training program is senseless and arbitrary.

Community members have been advo cating for the end to this cruel practice for years. A 2020 petition endorsed by the Brown Animal Rights Coalition has garnered nearly 4,000 signatures to date, but no policy change has resulted. Bills were also introduced in the Rhode Island General Assembly this year and last which sought to ban the use of live ani

The treatment of pigs in emergency medi cal training is just one example of a myriad of documented animal rights abuses at Brown. From March 2019 to April 2021, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has accused the University of committing at least 23 viola tions of federal animal welfare guidelines. In the past, PETA has alleged that researchers at Brown inadvertently starved bats and endan gered monkeys and ferrets who escaped from improperly secured cages. Numerous mice have died of starvation or dehydration as well. We cannot expect that every animal will be treated like family, but Brown should at the very least be able to hold itself to welfare

Brown ostensibly prides itself on being a forward-looking and progressive institution, but it is impossible for the University to live up to this self-image while the medical school lags behind its peers on animal welfare. The facts of the matter are clear: Pigs are intel ligent living creatures, and most emergency medical programs have opted to respect these animals by refusing to subject them to need less and fatal surgeries. The ongoing abuse of pigs in our emergency medicine residen cy program is a vestige of outdated modes of medical practice and views on animal rights. Leadership at the Alpert Medical School must catch up to the times and replace these oper ations on pigs with equally effective nonani mal training methods.

Benny Smith ’23 can be reached at austin_ smith@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald. com and other op-eds to opinions@brown dailyherald.com.

“The ongoing abuse of pigs in our emergency medicine residency program is a vestige of outdated modes of medical practice and views on animal rights.”

Volleyball sweeps Penn but loses 5-game win streak to Princeton

BY ADIZA ALASA STAFF WRITER

The volleyball team (9-7, 5-2 Ivy) re turned to play two games in the Pizzi tola Sports Center after four games on the road. The Bears swept Penn (2-15, 1-6) in three sets Friday night before Princeton (14-3, 6-1) ended Brown’s five-game win streak in four sets Sat urday night.

Brown 3, Penn 0

Brown’s offense continued to thrive Friday night as the Bears hit .376. Cier ra Jenkins ’24 provided 37 assists in the match, earning her 1,000th career as sist in the final set. The junior reached the milestone on a kill by Kate Sheire ’24. Sheire, along with Kayla Griebl ’25, led the team in kills with 10 each.

Brown’s defense held Penn to .143 hitting, led on the backline by Victoria Vo ’25 with 11 digs. The Bears outblocked the Quakers at the net 7-1, with Beau Vanderlaan ’25 posting four on the night.

Bruno opened the match with a strong 7-3 start spurred by three blocks, each of which Sheire contrib uted to, before taking off on an 11-2 run in the middle of the first set to take a 21-10 lead. A flurry of kills by Vanderlaan, Sheire, Griebl and Gabby Derrick ’25 fueled the Bears’ extended run. Brown closed out the set with a block by Vanderlaan and Jenkins for a 25-13 win.

The Bears continued their momen tum into the second set, jumping to a 9-3 lead. Two kills by Sheire and one each by Vanderlaan and Griebl sparked the strong start. The two teams scored back and forth in the middle of the set until the score was 17-11 in favor of Brown. Bruno charged on to take a 20-15 lead, but three straight points from Penn brought the Quakers within two. Penn fought to stay in the set, trading points with Brown until the Bears reached set point at 24-21. Penn answered with a point, but Griebl end ed the set with a kill for a 25-22 victory.

Brown controlled the third set from the first serve, and two consecutive

kills by Jilienne Widener ’24 cushioned Bruno’s lead in the middle of the set at 13-6. Sophia Miller ’23 added a kill to extend the Bears’ lead to eight. Later in the set, Penn cut Brown’s lead to six, but kills by Sheire and Elise Curtin ’23 brought the match to a close, with the Bears taking the set 25-17.

Brown 1, Princeton 3

Both teams hit below their .300plus season averages Saturday night as Princeton was held to .206 and Brown was held to .176. The Bears maintained their strong defense at the net, out-blocking the Tigers 17-6, with Derrick posting a team-high nine. But Princeton’s backline defense collected 83 digs to Bruno’s 67.

Miller led Brown’s offense with 13 kills, adding 14 digs for a double-dou ble. Jenkins also posted a double-dou ble with 36 assists and 12 digs. Despite two other Bears recording double-fig ure performances – Vo had 21 digs and Jessie Golden ’26 added 10 – Prince ton’s 63 kills to Bruno’s 48 gave the Tigers the edge they needed to break the Bears’ winning streak.

Princeton narrowly took the two

initial sets, the first of which the Bears were leading 21-18 as set-point ap proached. But the Tigers scored the next six points to force a set point with Bruno trailing. A kill by Sheire afforded the Bears one more point before Princ eton took the set 25-22.

The score was 10-10 in the sec ond set when Brown began collecting points using net defense. Blocks by Miller, Sheire, Derrick, Vanderlaan and Griebl gave the Bears an 18-17 advan tage. Princeton’s 3-0 run before the two teams traded points gave the Ti gers the edge in the set. Princeton then took a 24-20 lead, and Brown fought off three straight set points before a kill by the Tigers ended the set 25-23.

The Bears buckled down in the third set, using a 5-0 run in the middle to take a 15-9 lead. Brown pushed its lead to eight and withstood a late 6-1 run by Princeton. Three straight kills by Mill er, Sheire and Widener allowed Bruno to close the set with a 25-19 victory.

Brown fell in the fourth set, despite earning an early 8-6 lead. Princeton used a 7-1 run to go up 14-10. The Bears began closing the gap toward the end of the set, narrowing the score to

21-18 in favor of Princeton, but could not complete the comeback. Princeton took the set 25-20.

Jenkins learned that she had reached the 1,000 career assist milestone after Friday night’s game. “I’m glad that I got the (1,000th) assist off my best friend, Kate Sheire. She’s a killer right side and I’m proud of myself and proud of my team for getting me those passes to make those assists,” Jenkins said.

Facilitating the offense comes with a sense of responsibility for Jenkins.

“I tell my passers, ‘High and off.’ If they can get the ball off the net, I will run anywhere on this court to try and produce a good ball for my hitters to swing,” Jenkins said. “I try to take the pressure off them and put it more on me because I’m used to touching every ball every play.”

Jenkins reflected on the last time her team played at home this season, facing a loss to Yale. “That game was a wake up call for us. Coming off of a high from last season being Ivy League champs, we didn’t have the mindset of, ‘This is a new year, we’ve got to start new,’” Jenkins said. “It was humbling and it really drove us to work harder

in practice.”

Vo, who has been leading Brown’s backline defense this season, attested to the team’s effort in game preparation and how important backline defense is. “Everyone during practice is giving it their all,” Vo said. “If we get a good dig, we get an opportunity to swing. If we get a swing, we get a point. That’s how it works.”

Head Coach Ahen Kim commend ed the relationship that is developing between Vo at libero and Jenkins at the setter position. Jenkins “takes the bur den off of (the backline) and it just gives Vic the freedom to go hunt down some digs,” Kim said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the relationship between Vic and Cierra to find each other in those dig-set opportunities.”

Kim encourages his team to be mindful of the pace at which they play and to be patient in finding the time to score. “Slow down, learn what you need to learn from the last point, but then immediately move on to the next one,” Kim said.

The Bears will begin the second half of their season Friday at Yale at 7 p.m.

SPORTS

Bears see split results during weekend home games, falling to Tigers in 4 sets

COURTESY OF CHIP DELORENZO / BROWN ATHLETICS

The Bears will start the second half of their season at Yale on Friday. After falling to Princeton, the volleyball team lost its win streak but remains up 5-2 in Ivy League play this season.