Monday, October 18th, 2021

SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2021

VOLUME CLVI, ISSUE XXVII

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Family Weekend returns to campus Events included Brown-sponsored WaterFire, a capella concerts

UNIVERSITY NEWS

New design engineering concentration proposed Design engineering committee believes new design-focused engineering option

BY JASPER YEH SENIOR STAFF WRITER White tents and cloth-covered cocktail tables were set up across campus on Friday as families arrived for Family Weekend 2021. Music played on speakers while parents and students picked up refreshments and lined up at photo booths on the Main Green. Last year, the usual Family Weekend events could not take place due to COVID-19 restrictions — as a result, this year’s event was a first for many families of the classes of 2024 and 2025.

As of Oct. 12, nearly 3,000 families had registered for Family Weekend, with 2,732 of the registrants signing up for in-person participation and 193 opting to attend remotely, according to Director of Parent and Family Engagement Mikele St-Germain. She wrote in an email to The Herald that this num-

BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

NAT HARDY / HERALD

This year’s Family Weekend saw 2,732 in-person registrants, as well as 193 remote particpants, surpassing recent years’ registration ber is higher than in previous years, and that the choice to participate virtually was a feature introduced this year. A select number of events were offered virtually in the form of livestreams and recordings, including the President’s Welcome and the Keynote Address by Soledad O’ Brien P’24.

In her welcome speech, President Christina Paxson P’19 noted the increased number of participants at this year’s events, mentioning that not only were both firstyears and sophomores experiencing

Family Weekend for the first time, but also that many upperclassmen families had not been to campus since the pandemic began.

“The past year and a half has taught us that we can do a lot virtually … but it also displays just how much we value the relationships and collaboration that develops in person,” Paxson said. “I am personally just so grateful to have our community reunited this year.”

Notably different this year’s Family Weekend was the number of

BY STELLA OLKEN-HUNT & GAYA GUPTA SENIOR STAFF WRITER & UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR When it comes to studying design, students at Brown have historically had to try taking Rhode Island School of Design classes or pursue Independent Concentrations.

But soon, the University may offer an option to study design through the engineering department. The Design Engineering Committee — a group of several engineering faculty members chaired by Professor of Engineering Rod Beresford — is currently in the process of creating a design-engineering concentration.

According to committee member Iris Bahar, professor of engineering

SEE FAMILY PAGE 2

and computer science, the group was formally established in March 2020 to move forward with a proposal for a design-focused engineering curriculum.

But discussions of integrating design into the engineering department have been long-running.

‘Really student driven’ While the process of getting a design-engineering concentration approved is just beginning, undergraduate students spearheaded initial conversations about integrating design several years ago.

“Number one, it was really student-driven,” said Michael Donohue, professor of ENGN0032: “Introduction to Engineering: Design,” a fall 2020 course.

In 2018, 10 students proposed incorporating design under a departmental independent study project, Beresford added. Eight of these students went on to create Design@ Brown. Briana Das ’21, one of the original members of Design@Brown, defined the student group as “funda-

SEE DESIGN PAGE 8

ARTS & CULTURE

SPORTS

‘Small Format’ brings food, art for LGBTQ+ space

Football comes up short against Princeton

Gallery frequently holds events to engage with Providence LGBTQ+ community

BY AALIA JAGWANI SENIOR STAFF WRITER It is not often that a coffee shop is also an art gallery and a safe haven for the queer community — but walk down to 335 Wickenden St., and you’ll find that warmth and innovation converge at Small Format.

A space “by and for queer folks,” Small Format is run by self-identified queer individuals who aim to cultivate a community focused on a “collective liberation process,” Founder Tameka Eastman-Coburn said. This process recognizes that in an interconnected society, all peoples should enjoy dignity, respect and individual freedom, necessarily including the LGBTQ+ population.

Small Format opened in October 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which posed numerous challenges from the get-go. The opening process grew more complicated

with delays in liquor licensing and health inspections. And with social distancing in place, processes from physically procuring art to fostering a community in the 500-squarefoot space were more challenging to achieve. This size “previously would have been cozy, and people would have been happy to kind of sit on top of each other … but suddenly you’re only allowed to have one person per 100 square feet,” Eastman-Coburn said.

Small Format met these difficulties by adjusting their model swiftly, including by moving outdoors. Creating an open-air gallery was the shop’s attempt at maintaining the creative gallery experience, Eastman-Coburn said. To her, customer experiences should not just revolve around the art shows, but should also be about finding the creative space to dream, have conversations and build a better world together.

Constantly responding to new pandemic restrictions is what led to the conception of Small Format’s unique model, which combines coffee, food, cocktails and art, with the daily coffee and food services being added

Bears fall 56-42 despite five touchdowns from QB Perry at game during Family Weekend

BY LOKI OLIN SENIOR STAFF WRITER After picking up its first win of the season against Colgate University last week, the football team (1-4, 0-2 Ivy) fell 56-42 to No. 20-ranked Princeton (5-0, 2-0) in an offensive shootout at Brown Stadium Saturday. Princeton had allowed just 32 total points to its opponents this year before the Bears scored six touchdowns on the Tigers in the Family Weekend matchup.

Quarterback EJ Perry ’22 continued his stellar start to the season with five passing touchdowns and 411 yards of total offense, including a season-high 82 rushing yards. But Bruno’s strong effort on offense wasn’t enough to overcome a career performance by Princeton quarterback Cole Smith, who threw for 476 yards and completed 25 of his 27 pass attempts during the victory.

“I’m really proud of this whole team — we’ve come a long way,” Head Coach James Perry ’00 said. “Wins and losses don’t tell the whole story. We played a

terrific team today, and we competed for 60 minutes. Defensively, offensively, we’re making progress.”

Princeton jumped out to an early 14-0 lead before Bruno responded with a sliding touchdown reception by Graham Walker ’24, who continued his outstanding rookie campaign with 59 receiving yards.

As the second quarter continued, Wes Rockett ’23 found the endzone twice. Brown and Princeton traded touchdowns and Bruno finished the first half trailing 28-21.

Rockett, who finished the game with three touchdowns, has established himself as a primary option in Brown’s pass-

first offense over the season’s first five games. “You won’t find many guys who have better hands than him anywhere.

And that’s very evident,” Coach Perry said. “It does seem like EJ and Wes have a nice connection as far as timing and, spatially, where they’re going to be.

That’ll be fun to watch over the next five weeks.”

The Tigers scored two touchdowns to open the third quarter, stretching their lead to 42-21. Smith’s passing, combined with the 130 yards and four touchdowns supplied by standout running back Collin Eady, made Princeton’s offense nearly impossible to contain.

COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS

Coaches and players were proud of the team’s ability to fight against No.-20 ranked Princeton and compete for all 60 minutes.

SEE SMALL FORMAT PAGE 5

SEE FOOTBALL PAGE 3

University News

Science & Research

Commentary

Arts & Culture

Athletes use motorized scooters to save time commuting on campus Page 2

Asymptomatic positive COVID-19 cases have been declining for the past month Page 3

McGrath ’24: Senate minority holds economy hostage through filibuster Page 4

Prof. Laid Hunt’s “Zorrie” nominated for National Book Foundation fiction finalist Page 5

TODAY

TOMORROW

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2021

SPORTS

Scooter culture zips ahead among athletes Athletes cut time spent traveling to practice with Spin, personal electric scooters

BY WILL KUBZANKSY SENIOR STAFF WRITER Walk behind the Olney-Margolies Athletics Center, and you’ll find a sea of motorized scooters — orange, rentable Spin scooters stand ready to be unlocked by a phone, while U-locks secure privately-owned matte gray and jet black scooters to a bike rack.

They zip through campus, down Thayer Street, in front of the Sharpe Refectory, past the empty grass where Blueno once sat. And as the scooter speeds by, the rider is often seen sporting that unmistakable team-issued backpack.

According to five student-athletes who spoke to The Herald, both rented and personally owned two-wheelers have ingrained themselves in the culture of the University’s student-athletes.

With a full student body finally back on campus, rental scooter use has soared, according to Sam Andrews, a community engagement liaison for Spin. Ridership has consistently broken weekly and daily records since late summer, he said.

“The most student riders that we have (in the Providence area) are Brown students,” Andrews said.

For athletes, scooters — which charge overnight and have batteries that last all day — help carve out time otherwise lost to transit between classes and practice.

For example, the baseball team’s

FAMILY FROM PAGE 1 events that were held outdoors due to public health concerns. Securing tent rentals has been a logistical challenge due to a national tent shortage, St-Germain wrote. Nevertheless, “it is great to be able to use the event-production techniques from … last year and expand upon those lessons learned to create a fun, safe weekend for families.”

Since all visiting family members are considered limited-duration visitors under the University’s COVID-19 Campus Safety Policy, they were not required to submit proof of vaccination or testing.

St-Germain explained that apart from mandated masking at all indoor events, guests were also required to wear masks outside when social distancing wasn’t possible, and hand sanitizer dispensers were installed at various campus locations.

One event unique to this year’s Family Weekend was a full lighting of WaterFire co-sponsored by the University on Saturday night. There was also a Brown hospitality tent and myriad performances by campus groups held at a closed-off section of College Street. Numerous Brown community members featured at the lighting ceremony, with Paxson, Dean of the College Rashid Zia ’01 and President of the Brown Alumni Association Carlos Lejnieks ’00 among the torch-bearers. There were also several a capella performances spanning the weekend, with some

Ryan Marra ’23 lives in Grad Center — one of the southernmost dorms on campus — and has to commute almost a mile to the athletics complex, one of the northernmost points.

“I was spending a lot of time walking to places, on top of working out and practicing,” he said. Marra noted that he often goes back and forth from main campus to the athletics complex two or three times on an average day.

“Walking close to five, six miles a day was doing a toll on my legs.”

Marra then found the cheapest motorized scooter he could buy. It immediately paid off, he said.

“I just have a lot more time to do stuff,” Marra said, explaining that he now leaves for his scheduled events 10 or 15 minutes later than he would have before.

Marra purchased his scooter early this semester. Derian Morphew ’23, who also plays on the baseball team, said he followed Marra’s lead. Then, “five or six” more team members got their own, too. Morphew said that he scooters everywhere — like to his 6 a.m. weight-lifting sessions — leaving more time to fulfill other obligations.

Daryn Davis ’24, a member of the women’s track and field team, said she got her scooter early this summer.

“I was tired of walking, and it was hot everywhere,” she said, adding that if she went to practice, she didn’t feel like she needed to add physical activity to her day by walking. Davis now lives in Barbour — a 10 or 15 minute uphill walk to her team’s practice facilities, but a much shorter ride.

“If I’m running late, I can get somewhere in two minutes instead of eight,” she said.

Roughly 75% of her team rides scooters of some sort, she estimated.

groups having not performed in-person since start of the pandemic, and many newer members performing in front of a live audience for the first time.

Parents’ level of participation in scheduled Family Weekend events varied, but many agreed that the main purpose of the weekend was to see their children.

Alex Weiner ’87 P’24 from Westchester County, Mass., mentioned that he did not plan on attending any of the events, but rather he wanted to experience Brown and the surrounding community. “We’re here for the restaurants,” Alex Weiner said with a laugh. His daughter, Livia Weiner ’24 said she was “super excited” that her family was here. Because her brother is also going off to college soon, Livia Weiner said she took advantage of the opportunity to give him a college tour and introduce him to life as a college student.

Jaewoo Ahn ’23, who is originally from South Korea but whose mother now lives in Washington D.C., similarly enjoyed the family visit. “It’s nice because I was able to show (my mom) around, let her see my friends, what it’s like to be a college student here … instead of just texting her,‘I’m good, I’m alive,’” Ahn said.

Valerie Allen ’94 P’24, mother of Eden Allen ’24, attended Family Weekend with her husband, who is also a Brown alum. Her family had just come from the Black family soiree hosted by Harambee House

LOKI OLIN / HERALD

The convenience factor proved key for Amanda Ofulue ’23, also a member of the women’s track and field team, who said she rides a Spin scooter or electric bike almost every day.

“If I have class, I’ll have practice 15 minutes later,” she said. “I have to scooter from the other side of campus to make it.”

Scooters are embedded in the football team’s culture, according to Sami Miller ’25. When he arrived on campus for preseason, the seniors on the team puttered around on their own two-wheelers and advised the underclassmen to make the leap into scooter ownership.

Now, after heeding their advice, he rides his scooter “everywhere.”

Athletes who purchased their own scooters said they spent anywhere from $200 to $550. Davis, though, said that she has no regrets about her purchase at the high end of the cost

and was on the way to the Shades of Brown a capella concert when she spoke with The Herald. Because her family lives in Massachusetts, Allen said that they often visited campus before COVID-19 struck, but being back on campus was still a good experience. “It’s so wonderful to see Eden here,” she said with a smile.

“I’m very proud of her, she works very hard and … she’s enjoying it.”

Julius Gylys P’24 and Michelle Bishop P’24 from Gainesville, Florida had attended several forums by Saturday afternoon. In the morning, they attended “A Look at the 2021 UN Climate (IPCC) Report and Our Climate Future,” where faculty discussed climate change and other environmental issues. They later sat in on a talk by Joel Selanikio MD’92 about the effects of technology and economics on healthcare before listening to a talk on conspiracy theories and disinformation by Jonathan Rauch, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Bishop described the events as “top-notch,” while Gylys said they were “phenomenal.”

“For me, it’s this combination of the talks (and) the atmosphere and feeling like this is an incredibly rich environment,” Bishop said. The events “have really just confirmed what we imagined, that (Brown is) an incredible environment.” Speaking about her son, Gylys added: “He’s in the right place.”

spectrum.

“It’s the best purchase I’ve ever made,” she said. “Every penny was worth it.”

While Ofulue is holding out for a bike or a car instead of buying her own scooter, she still enjoys her Spin rides and the hint of nostalgia they provide: “I used to ride Razors, the push ones, when I was a kid,” she said.

“It’s a step up.”

The brand names — such as GoTrax and Swagtron — seemingly attempt to invoke motion and excitement.

And while Spin scooters top out at 15 miles per hour, other personally-owned scooters can speed up to around 20 miles per hour.

“I can keep up with the cars if I want to,” Davis said.

Morphew said that riding downhill without headwind is when he goes fastest. He described the experience as “absolutely fun,” but also “kind of

dangerous.”

Miller explained that his current scooter was actually the second he had owned — the first broke on a ride down College Hill from Keeney Quadrangle.

Miller emerged unscathed.

“I was going down and I was pressing on my brake button,” he said. “And then I heard a snapping sound, and the scooter went flying.”

Riders on the baseball team like Morphew are encouraged by their coach to “be smart” and not to put multiple riders on a scooter or do tricks, Morphew said.

Regardless of the risks, each athlete interviewed sang the praises of the scooter-ownership experience as a whole — even evangelizing for them.

“Regular students should get scooters, too,” Miller said. “You guys would really like them.”

MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2021

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

VP Carey reflects on fall mid-COVID With COVID-19 cases consistently declining, U. ‘feels like we’re on a very good path’

BY GABRIELLA VULAKH SENIOR STAFF WRITER The number of positive asymptomatic COVID-19 cases on campus has continued to decline for the past four weeks, with only six cases during the week of Oct. 10 to Oct. 15, according to the Healthy Brown COVID-19 Dashboard.

“It’s still early” to tell if Family Weekend this past weekend will impact COVID-19 spread on campus, but the University felt “very confident and comfortable” with the events planned while staying “cautious and keeping an eye on (positive case numbers),” said Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey ’91 MA’06.

The beginning of the semester saw an uptick in COVID-19 cases, which “caused a fair amount of stress,” particularly for new students who tested positive and missed 10 days of the semester in order to isolate, as well as for Health Services, student support teams and contact tracers, Carey said.

In contrast, the Brown community is now doing “extremely well,” bringing the case numbers down by “adhering to guidance and taking steps to protect themselves and others,” he said.

“Students should feel very good about how they responded, and, in

NAT HARDY / HERALD

The University will monitor COVID-19 case numbers after Thanksgiving and winter breaks, which can increase risk of infection due to travel. general, we feel like we’re on a very good path,” he added.

Reflecting on the semester so far, Carey said that “there’s always things that can be done better,” like “pivoting quickly to in-person dining and the challenge that has had on the dining staff,” who both work in the dining halls and manage food deliveries to students in isolation. In addition, the University’s lack of infrastructure to manage trash overflows is a “fair criticism,” Carey said.

Looking at the “big picture” of “where we were in August and early September with a lot of uncertainty about the Delta variant and how it would impact a fully vaccinated population, I think everybody did their best and came through it quite well,” he said.

The University is currently “anticipating most eagerly” vaccinations for five- to 11-year-olds, which the Food

and Drug Administration advisory committee is meeting to discuss Oct. 26, Carey said. While this is “probably not on the radar screen of most students, it absolutely is for faculty, staff, graduate and medical students with young children” and will have a “significant impact on people’s comfort levels,” he added.

The University will be monitoring Thanksgiving and winter breaks, both of which include a lot of travel and “can produce some risks,” Carey said.

For the spring semester, the University is having “active conversations” about booster vaccine doses and testing frequency and type, Carey said. “There’s clearly an effort at the federal level to make antigen testing, (or) rapid testing, more readily available to people, and I could see that having an impact on the campus, but it’s still not entirely clear how successful those efforts are going to be.”

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FOOTBALL FROM PAGE 1 “They’ve done a terrific job recruiting and cultivating speed on their team, but they also execute at a very high level,” Coach Perry said.

“I thought our guys were challenging them — it’s just they were responding.

Credit to them, both terrific players and really well-coached players.

That’s what we were up against today.”

Brown’s defense quickly shifted the momentum after the Tigers’ touchdowns which resulted from knocking the ball loose from a scrambling Smith. Joseph Shell ’23 recovered the ball and ran untouched to the endzone in a play that mirrored Shane Prevot ’24’s scoop-and-score against Colgate last week.

“The defense made another great play, another game-changing play — that scoop-and-score was deja vu from last week when Prevot did it,” Rockett said. “Shell got his own this week. Plays like that have the sideline getting rowdy and picking everybody up. I think we just build on that.”

Down 56-35 in the fourth quarter, Walker leapt over the back of a Princeton defender and hauled in a long pass from EJ Perry to spot the ball at Princeton’s six-yard line. Two plays later, EJ Perry targeted Hayes Sutton ’23 in the endzone, who made the catch with eight seconds remaining.

“It’s very reassuring for EJ to be able to let the ball loose and know somebody’s gonna jump through the ceiling (and) make that play,” Rockett said of Walker’s highlight play. “And I think we were just really vibing on that drive ­— getting that touchdown and going into next week is big.”

Sutton’s last-minute touchdown was his third of the year and final-

ized the score at 56-42 in favor of Princeton. While most of Brown’s scoring plays came from passing, much of the Bears’ offense stemmed from EJ Perry’s ability to run the ball — something he did 16 times against Princeton.

EJ Perry noticed that Princeton’s defensive focus on pass coverage left him with room to run the ball. “They played deep and played underneath a bunch of these routes, and it opened up some lanes,” he said.

Coach Perry lauded EJ Perry for his ability to produce points against Princeton’s defense. “Their defense statistically is either tippity-top, or close to the best in FCS. So it wasn’t like they’re a one-sided football team,” Coach Perry said. “It would be impossible to play better (than EJ did) … the playmaking was off the charts. I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Brown was unable to slow down Princeton’s offense, with the Tigers scoring touchdowns on eight of their 10 full drives. “You can only cover so many people for so long. The way (Smith) was distributing the ball — that’s very, very hard to stop,” Coach Perry said. “It’s not like I sit here and say ‘we blew all these coverages.’ We played a very good team and a very good quarterback.”

As the Bears prepare for their next game against Cornell, the team will focus on maintaining their offensive momentum and refining their fitness. “The challenge for us will be how we handle tomorrow,” Coach Perry said. “We rely on our ability to get stronger throughout the season. We take a lot of pride in that. So we’re going to need to do that tomorrow and in this week of practice.”

SPORTS

Field hockey drops to 2-2 in Ivy League play with defeat against Penn Bears fall short 3-0 to Quakers despite late fourth quarter comeback

BY GABRIELLA SARTORI SENIOR STAFF WRITER The field hockey team (6-8, 2-2 Ivy) fell just short against Penn (5-6, 2-2 Ivy) in a 3-2 defeat Saturday afternoon at Goldberger Family Field. The Bears faced a 3-0 fourth quarter deficit before narrowing the Quakers’ lead to one goal, but Bruno left itself too little time to find the tying goal and complete the comeback.

The Bears trailed for the entirety of the game after giving up two goals in the first five minutes. Both teams went scoreless through the second and third quarters before the Quakers extended their lead to 3-0 at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Bruno did not back down without a fight, despite the deep hole it had to dig itself out of. As the fourth quarter ensued, Brown got on the board with 8:39 remaining. Cameron Kinsella ’24 scored off a pass from Stacey Lukasheva ’25 to notch the Bears’ first goal of the afternoon.

Goalkeeper Jodie Brine ’23 exited the game with 3:12 to help Brown with a power play in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. The Quakers were awarded two penalty corners shortly after, but the Bears’ defense

COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS

Cameron Kinsella ’24 scored the Bears’ first goal off an assist by Stacey Lukasheva ’25. The Bears trailed for the entire game after giving up two goals in the first five minutes of the match. Brown will play Cornell next.

stood firm even without a goalkeeper.

Defensive saves from Danielle van Rootselaar ’22 and Julia Hitti ’24.5 kept the Bears in the game without letting up another goal.

With 16 seconds left in the game, Brown was awarded a penalty stroke,

taken by van Rootselaar, who converted to extend her point-scoring streak to nine games in a row. The senior also added a game high 11 shots out of the Bears’ 18 total shots.

Despite the loss, Bruno outshot the Quakers 18-15 with an 11-10 edge in

shots on net.

Head Coach Jill Reeve explained how despite the loss, she was proud of the team’s effort and perseverance in the face of an early deficit.

“I was really proud of that effort,” Reeve said. “Our rhythm was off in

the first quarter, which gave Penn opportunities they capitalized on.

We brought some fight in the end and that uncovered our capabilities, which I think is great for them to know that if they’re behind they can come back.”

Brine had a similar reaction toward the team’s performance, emphasizing her disappointment in the slow start. “Obviously we started out slow in the first five minutes which is a shame because our defensive unit is way better than what we showed in the first quarter,” Brine said. “We got it back together and really fought back, but (we) really wish we had those extra five minutes back at the end of the game.”

The Bears had a quick turnaround Sunday as they headed across town to play Providence College at Lennon Field. Bruno lost 2-0 in the non-conference match, dropping its overall record 6-8.

Ana Claire Piacentini ’23 reflected on the physical toll of the back to back games. “We gotta ice bathe and keep our bodies healthy,” Piacentini said. “This will help us play our game moving forward, keeping the same energy we come out to play with from the start. Just gotta regroup and know our game.”

Brown will head on the road for its next game against Cornell. The Ivy League matchup is scheduled to begin this Saturday at 11 a.m. in Ithaca, New York and will stream on ESPN+.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2021

McGrath ’24: The filibuster as a tool for partisan cynicism

BY SARAH MCGRATH STAFF COLUMNIST

Last Tuesday, the House of Representatives voted to raise the federal debt ceiling, narrowly avoiding fiscal calamity had the United States defaulted on its loans. The vote came less than a week after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reached a deal with Senate Democrats to lift the statutory limit on federal borrowing by $480 billion, effectively delaying the looming debt crisis until early December. While a long-term solution has yet to be negotiated, McConnell has made it clear that he plans to filibuster all additional attempts to raise the debt ceiling moving forward.

By requiring 60 votes to end debate, the filibuster effectively imposes a supermajority vote requirement on proposed legislation. As McConnell’s blatantly partisan brandishing of the filibuster reveals, this outdated procedural rule clearly does little to encourage bipartisan compromise. In fact, in today’s ongoing debt ceiling debate, the filibuster has both enabled a small minority of senators to hold the nation’s economy hostage simply to teach Democrats a lesson and utterly warped our congressional incentive structure — empowering McConnell’s blatant cynicism and threatening the future of our nation’s economy as a result.

With 10 Republican votes effectively required to pass all legislation, the modern filibuster allows the minority party to potentially kill the entire legislative agenda of the majority party. Many argue that this procedural rule encourages bipartisan compromise: Unable to pass legislation with a simple majority vote, the party in power is theoretically forced to negotiate with senators from across the aisle. However, this connection plainly isn’t born out in the historical record: While filibuster usage has increased exponentially over the past several decades, Congress has

become less and less productive over roughly the same time period.

“The feedback loop of American politics is fundamentally broken,” wrote Vox Co-Founder and New York Times Columnist Ezra Klein.

“Rather than judging the results of the agenda they voted for, voters are left assessing why so little has happened, and trying to un-

lies the filibuster’s greatest flaw: By relying on compromise from the political actors least incentivized to make it, the filibuster empowers obstruction at the expense of actual governing.

Debates over the debt ceiling are nothing new. In fact, the debt ceiling has been raised 78 times since 1960. Three of these votes even

“The filibuster has utterly warped our congressional incentive structure — empowering McConnell’s blatant cynicism and threatening the future of our nation’s economy as a result.”

derstand who is to blame for their problems going unsolved.”

In today’s polarized political landscape, the minority party has virtually no incentive to compromise with the majority, making the filibuster’s 60 person vote requirement an impossible threshold for most legislation. In cases of political stagnancy, voters rightfully frustrated by the lack of legislative action tend to punish the majority party at the polls regardless of who is actually to blame. And with control of Congress now up for grabs in virtually every cycle, the minority party has little motivation to make concessions in the current Congress when they could potentially regain the majority just a few months down the road.

In order to compromise with Republicans, then, Democrats must effectively offer them something of greater value than winning the next election — something that for politicians is virtually impossible to find. Herein

occurred during the Trump presidency, all of which McConnell tellingly supported. However, stonewalling in these debates has become increasingly common over the past several decades. For instance, in 2011, Republicans once again brought the economy to the brink by refusing to raise the federal debt ceiling unless Democrats made significant cuts to federal spending. While congressional Republicans were perhaps acting irresponsibly even then, the difference between then and now is stark: In 2011, Republican leadership actually had specific demands for the majority to consider. Today, McConnell has none.

“Republicans’ position is simple. We have no list of demands,” McConnell wrote in a public letter to President Biden. “For two and a half months, we have simply warned that since your party wishes to govern alone, it must handle the debt limit alone as well.”

Foregoing an ideological case for this stonewalling, McConnell has instead opted

CA L E N DA R

to say the quiet part out loud. Making no attempt to hide his bluntly partisan motivations, McConnell’s grim candor exposed the filibuster as the tool for nihilistic partisan maneuvering it has long been, utilitized by both Democrats and Republicans when politically advantageous.

Denmark is the only other modern democracy required to continuously raise its federal debt ceiling. Notably, however, Denmark operates in a parliamentary system. While abolishing the filibuster would in no way make the United States as directly democratic as Denmark (as Klein once again points out, the United States still has significantly more minority veto points than any other comparable democracy), eliminating the supermajority vote requirement in the Senate would similarly award the ability to govern to the majority coalition. In this system, without a filibuster, the majority party has both the incentive and ability to govern, making the decision to raise the federal debt ceiling an obvious function of government rather than an opportunity for partisan posturing. Denmark has only been required to raise its federal debt ceiling one time within the last 20 years, passing the measure well before the nation even came close to brushing up against the limit.

As the current debt ceiling crisis illuminates, the filibuster does more to enable cynically motivated stonewalling than it does to encourage bipartisan compromise. If politicians wish to realign this warped congressional incentive system once and for all, they must move to abolish the filibuster before McConnell decides, again, to leverage our nation’s economy for a theoretical boost in the polls.

Sarah McGrath ’24 can be reached at sarah_v_mcgrath@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@ browndailyherald.com.

COVID -19 AT BROWN LAST 7 DAYS*

OCTOBER S

3

M

4

Tu

5

W

6

Th

7

Completed Tests

People Tested

F

S

8,956

8,287

1

2

Confirmed Positives

Positivity Rates

6

0.1 %

8

9 SINCE AUGUST 24, 2020*

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24/31

25

26

27

28

29

30

Completed Tests

People Tested

555,676

18,014

Total Cases

Prevalence

805

4.5 %

*AS OF OCT 17.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2021

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

SMALL FORMAT FROM PAGE 1

Letter: Rhode Island’s history of refugee mutual aid continues

as an additional source of income. And though ithey were introduced out of necessity, food and coffee now form an essential part of the Small Format experience: “There’s something so healing about going into a space and being able to break bread with people … so having food, thoughtful food, available is fundamental to how the development has shifted,” said Eastman-Coburn.

The shop’s first exhibition was called “Third Space.” It was based on the idea that Small Format would be the space members of the queer community could turn to outside of their homes and workplaces to “self-actualize and just exist,” Eastman-Coburn said. Sharon Cho GS, a new staff member at Small Format, said, “Within the walls of Small Format is ideally a space that allows people to thrive through the freedom of expression, through joy and fun and that connection with community.”

The need for this physical space and a community to turn to only increased during the pandemic. Eastman-Coburn said that, to her, what confirmed the importance of opening during the pandemic was “the amount of people just

To the Editor: I commend Alissa Simon ’25 and The Herald for the Oct. 6 column concerning the expected arrival of Afghans in Rhode Island. The article points out our state’s record of receptiveness and the complications that inevitably arise from cultural and linguistic adjustments facing new arrivals. It also describes the jury-rigged structures that try to enable their transition.

Happily, we have a history here of mutual effort working out to the advantage of the community and the refugees.

A hundred years ago, Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island was a new mutual aid entity responding to fallout from the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire. It helped refugees from the eastern Mediterranean seeking a home here with both their immediate needs of food and shelter and also with learning the language and cultural expectations of their new environment. These were essential for their rapid entry into the workforce and to achieve self-sufficiency. In later decades, DIIRI facilitated the arrival to our state of those fleeing the rise of Nazism and World War II, the Vietnam War and its aftermath and, more recently, Syria’s turmoil.

Now, the 20-year American involvement in Afghanistan has ended, but its effects are still felt in the forced abandonment of their country by tens of thousands of Afghans upon whom we deeply depended.

Those Afghan allies of ours and

their endangered families are rightly being given sanctuary after their decades-long service to U.S. interests. As have other refugees, they will enrich and energize our community.

The column is correct in pointing out that in our system, national, state and municipal governments, individually and collectively, are inadequate to meet the challenge of supporting refugees’ transitions. However, there was heartening news in recent days when Congress provided significant financial support for Afghan resettlement in the continuing resolution to keep our government open.

DIIRI and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence are expecting approximately 250 Afghans to arrive in the coming months. These organizations will provide their traditional help with immediate concerns such as health matters, lodging and modest survival needs, and then support the next level of adjustment: learning English and preparing for education or employment. But as previous experience has shown, many others contribute to mutual aid and give new arrivals a helping hand. These include congregations, individuals, families and now refugee citizens who are eager to pay it forward with their special insights. There may well be roles for elements of Brown University as well in this enriching work.

Bill Twaddell ’63 Former executive director of DIIRI

coming and sitting and talking with me every week, like they just needed somebody to talk to. People were extremely lonely, specifically queer folks feeling separated from their families in bigger ways.”

Beyond the provision of this space, Small Format has also held several events to directly engage with and contribute to the community, including a “free market” to help people meet their basic needs. Small Format’s first free market was held within the first week of opening, when they provided necessities such as basic food staples and winter clothes. “We also had a cupcake fundraiser for Hurricane Ida victims,” Cho said.

For local customers like Molly D’Anderich, being a part of these “cute little events,” such as giving out free plants for Juneteenth, makes her feel good about spending her money there.

“I’ve been coming here for a while,” D’Anderich said. “I like the vibe and their mission and the fact that they support the local Providence community and queer, Black and brown people.”

Recently, Small Format also hosted a “Reclaiming Radical Mindfulness and Meditation” series. The series was “spe-

5 cifically geared toward giving QTBIPOC folks in the Providence Community a toolset for dealing with the world,” Cho said. The shop teamed up with Chris Rodriguez, a mindfulness practitioner who reached out to Small Format to “engage with the community in ways that make meditation and mindfulness accessible and introductory.”

Amid the chaos and stress of the pandemic, the series has proved to be more relevant than ever. “There’s changing information every single day, and to make it digestible, to make your body acclimate to extreme and heavy information coming to you every single day (through practicing mindfulness and meditation), we can learn more skills to metabolize this information, to make it easier to live in your body,” Eastman-Coburn said.

The exhibition currently on display at Small Format is centered around the theme of “collective memory.”

“We are all, actively, all the time, creating memories,” Eastman-Coburn said. “But the folks that write the history books, the memory of things, are not our people, so we, right now, are coming together to create these collective memories and tell our stories.”

AALIA JAGWANI / HERALD

Small Format’s first exhibition, “Third Space,” helps create a safe space that the LGBTQ+ community can turn to outside of their homes and workplaces. “Collective Memory” is the current exhibition on display.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

6

MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2021

ARTS AND CULTURE

Laird Hunt’s novel nominated for award Literary arts professor’s novel “Zorrie” named as finalist for National Book Award

BY REBECCA CARCIERI SENIOR STAFF WRITER The National Book Foundation announced Professor of Literary Arts Laird Hunt’s novel “Zorrie” as one of its five finalists for the National Book Award in the fiction category Oct. 5. The non-profit organization celebrates the most acclaimed works of literature in the country, with the vision of expanding their readership and highlighting their cultural signifiance in national conversation. The Foundation annually announces one winner in each of the five categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature and young people’s literature. The winners, which will be announced on Nov. 17, will receive $10,000 and a bronze sculpture.

Hunt’s novel “Zorrie” follows the life story of Zorrie Underwood, who experiences the difficulties of living in rural, Depression-era Indiana. She spends time working odd jobs in the West, before returning to her home state. At only 176 pages, the novel follows Zorrie’s triumphs, defeats, dreams and personal losses.

Hunt’s inspiration for Zorrie came from his own grandmother and other women in the rural midwest, who took on many tasks such as running farms and raising families. “‘Zorrie’ is a book I believe in pretty fiercely. I actually started writing it almost 20 years ago. It’s a fairly early project but one that I set aside.

But, it’s based on my experience living on this farm in rural Indiana with my grandmother, who did a lot of the raising of me,” Hunt said.

The short length of the novel was inspired by Gustav Flaubert’s 19th-century novella “A Simple Heart,” which told an entire life story

COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY

Hunt has previously received the Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine, the Bridge Prize and the Anisfield-Wolf Award for Fiction for past work. in less than one hundred pages. Hunt wanted to “stay tight” and see how much he could “explore and express in a limited number of pages.”

“It was a really interesting and worthy challenge that I was always happy to have. I was never tempted to make it longer,” Hunt said.

He wanted to ensure that, at the end of the novel, readers understand that every life has complexity, texture and meaning — that there are simply no small lives.

Hunt has written various short works and seven other novels, including “Kind One” and “Neverhome,” which have also received prestigious awards. In Hunt’s work, he finds it important “to stay alive as a writer,” challenging himself to create characters from various backgrounds that make up the historical fabric of America. “Neverhome,” which won the Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine and The Bridge Prize, is about a woman who leaves her husband, disguising herself as a man in order to fight as a Union soldier during the Civil War. For this novel, Hunt spent a significant period of time conducting research on the Civil War period.

As a previous judge for the Na-

tional Book Award, Hunt understands the quality of works that are in the running for the award and was proud to have even made the longlist. One of Hunt’s proudest accomplishments is receiving the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction for his novel “Kind One,” a story about two slave girls who take their white mistress into captivity during the Civil War period. The award is for works which have promoted racial tolerance and diversity.

“To get a call from Skip Gates, who announced I won this prize … and to sit next to Wole Soyinke, who was getting a Lifetime Achievement award, that was pretty darn special to me,” he said.

As a literary arts professor, Hunt noted how he is oftentimes influenced by the “striking conversations” and writing talents of his students.

For aspiring writers, Hunt shared a few words of advice: “Endure. Stay with it,” he said. “If it’s something you do for a couple of years, then that’s great if it makes you happy.

But, if you really want to go after it, buckle up and get ready for it to take a while.”

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2021

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

7

METRO

E-bikes back in Providence: an early look at the Spin e-bike program Public safety, emissions reduction, equitable access lie at heart of rental program

BY MIKE KUHARSKI STAFF WRITER The City of Providence saw the return of an electric bike rental program in June, this time operated by the electric bike- and scooter-sharing company Spin. The orange bikes have become an increasingly common sight around College Hill, but the Spin program, which aimed to put 400 bikes on Providence streets by September, has yet to reach that goal.

The goal of deploying 400 bikes by September has now been pushed back to October due to manufacturing delays, Andrew Grande, director of media relations for the Providence Mayor’s Office, wrote in an email to The Herald.

But while Providence residents await the delivery of the additional bikes, the program’s current fleet has been operational since June.

Grande wrote that the Spin e-bikes and e-scooters offer “healthy, sustainable transportation options for Providence residents and increase access to transit across the City.” Specifically addressing accessibility, he said that the program includes ways for people lacking smartphones or credit cards to ride and provides discounted memberships to qualifying individuals.

The program offers “deep discounts” to anyone receiving government assistance to improve access to the bikes and scooters Spin operates, Liza Burkin, organizer of the Providence Streets Coalition, wrote in an email to

The Herald.

Additionally, Grande noted that Providence chose to partner with Spin in part because the mayor’s office felt confident about Spin’s proposed program for shared micromobility.

Kurt Teichert, senior lecturer at the Institute for Environment and Society, wrote in an email to The Herald that micromobility programs like the Spin e-bike program “solve the ‘last mile problem’” associated with public transit use. This is an issue where people are more likely to use public transit if it gets them where they are going efficiently, but tend to refrain if they have issues getting from the end of a transit route to their destination.

Micromobility is “both an alternative and a complement to mass transit,” Burkin added.

Additionally, e-bikes allow public transit to more effectively compete with cars, a combination which could help reduce carbon dioxide emissions from personal automobile use, Teichert wrote.

The cost barrier to using e-scooters and e-bikes is also much lower than that for owning a car, Burkin added.

But Teichert said that while e-bikes compete with cars, the e-scooters accompanying them could replace walking, thereby leading to more energy use than a scenario lacking scooters.

Many of these elements of the bike program were noted by Grande, who wrote that the City’s interest in the program was at least in part due to the potential for easing traffic, increasing environmentally friendly transit usage and promoting healthy lifestyles.

While Teichert stated he maintained some initial skepticism about the health benefits of e-bikes, especially as compared to traditional bicycles, he

JULIA GROSSMAN / HERALD

The Spin team met multiple times with city officials to discuss safety and vandalism concerns, in addition to the potential environmental impacts of increased usage of e-bikes and e-scooters across the city. recognizes the benefit of greater speed and lower exertion, which allows them to better compete with cars.

Especially because the 2019 termination of the JUMP e-bike program came on the heels of a number of safety and vandalism concerns, maintaining the safety of riders and the bikes themselves is key for the Spin program’s lasting success.

Members of the Providence Police Department and City government “proactively met with members of the Spin team” to discuss safety concerns prior to launch to try to avoid issues the previous program faced, Grande wrote.

Teichert noted that the Spin S-300 bikes’ locking mechanism does not as easily allow for the vandalism and unpaid ridership that was seen with the old JUMP program. The more effective

locking mechanism is such that even with a cut cable, the rear wheel of the bike remains immobilized.

Another safety concern is the location of the bikes when not in use, which is something that often impedes pedestrian pathways and could pose an issue especially for those of limited mobility or visual acuity, according to Teichert. Usage by inexperienced riders is another concern Teichert expressed as a public safety issue.

Grande noted that to solve these issues, the City is relying on a combination of “respectful participation” of users and the work of the local Spin Operations teams to clear the e-bikes from blocking pedestrian paths.

Additionally, Teichert noted the City introduced the program on a zero-cost model, “so the City has not made capital

investments in the bike share systems.”

In fact, Spin pays a fee for e-bikes and e-scooters that are parked on City streets, he added.

But “the primary investment from the City is to improve cycling infrastructure,” he wrote. This aims to provide a separate, protected lane of travel for cyclists, distinct from that for automobiles as part of the Great Streets Initiative, which, according to the program’s website, aims to make Providence’s streets “safe, clean, healthy, inclusive and vibrant.”

With significant interest in the success of the program, the expected delivery of more bikes this month will mark the first chapter of the story of Spin e-bikes in Providence.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2021

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

8

DESIGN FROM PAGE 1 mentally a Departmental Undergraduate Group but for design.”

Design@Brown helped students navigate Independent Concentrations in design by, for example, helping them decide what classes to take, but soon realized they needed more infrastructure for studying design at the University.

“A lot of advocacy had to be done within an actual department. Changes had to be made within the formal college curriculum, and not just … in these informal student-run settings,” Das said.

When they first presented their ideas to the School of Engineering, Das said that they weren’t “met with the greatest of receptions.”

“There was general resistance to change the way engineering has been thought of historically at Brown. Design can often feel like ‘oh that’s a RISD thing,’” when really, she explained, design is an “interdisciplinary craft that in many ways is built for a school like Brown.”

Despite their apprehensive reception, Design@Brown wrote a 63 page proposal for how design could come to Brown that recommended creating ENGN0032 and a design B.A. concentration.

ENGN0032: A “design process” in itself When the DISP presented their ideas for a design-engineering curriculum at an engineering faculty meeting January 2019, Donohue approached the group about his interest in teaching a design class.

“The students presented this idea (for ENGN0032), which I just absolutely loved, and I said ‘hey, if you need somebody to teach one of these classes I’d be happy to help,’” he recalled. The class, he continued, was the first “baby step” into pursuing the group’s initiatives.

While student interest for design engineering has existed for some time, the creation of and interest in ENGN0032 really indicated the need for design to be integrated into the engineering department, Das said.

“We’ve seen a shift in student interest in more design related opportunities,” Chris Bull, director of the Brown Design Workshop, said.

While ENGN0032 was only created last fall, this semester over a third of students in introductory engineering courses “chose the ENGN0032 option, which has more of that design flavor,” Beresford added.

Ultimately, work on creating the design engineering concentration is proceeding “because kids have wanted one for years,” said Deb Mills-Scofield, Design Engineering Committee

GAYA GUPTA / HERALD

Students on the Design@Brown team are advocating for the new proposed concentration since they feel that they lack a proper place in either RISD’s design programs or Brown University’s engineering department. member.

Angela Baek ’24, a designer at The Herald and teaching assistant for ENGN0032, appreciated the unique class structure and its focus on design.

“It was really different from every other class I’ve ever taken,” she said.

“First of all, (there are) no tests or exams. It’s all project based, homework is designed to focus on … the design thinking process, which is a lot different than anything else I’ve ever learned at school.”

Faculty have also found that the class attracts more diverse students from varying disciplines and backgrounds. “(ENGN0032) is just the best way to bring in the most people in the most accessible and inclusive way,” said Dana Kurniawan ’22, a teaching assistant in the class.

Donohue also noted that the class has garnered strong interest from people of color, and a majority of the students are women. Of the 21 TAs, he said, 16 are women.

Now in its third iteration, the class is being taught in-person for the first time and has gone through a number of changes. Twenty-one TAs teach a class of 80 students, and many of the TAs have provided their feedback to Donohue about how to make the class better.

“He’s done a fantastic job of collecting feedback,” Kurniawan said.

“We want to create a class challenging enough that (it) will give you a great primer to engineering, as great as ENGN0030 will provide, with more flexibility for cool projects.”

The iterative process of changing and trying new things in the classroom is itself a practice in design thinking, Donohue remarked. “ENGN0032 is a

textbook design process.”

A look into the concentration If you think about the kind of engineering degree Brown should offer, Donohue said, “this is it.”

“It’s so unique to have people that can operate in the engineering world or in the STEM world, and then also in the art world,” he said. “Here at Brown we attract those types of people because of the open curriculum. They’re like, ‘I just want to explore.’”

The Design Engineering Committee hopes that the new concentration will offer students a more design-focused, interdisciplinary and flexible option.

“Most engineering students are doing” one of the B.S. concentrations, Beresford said. “These are ABET accredited degrees” with “heavy course loads that are basically all STEM courses. One of the big changes or points of difference with a design engineering concentration would be that a significant part of it would draw in other disciplines.”

While the design-engineering B.S. will likely have core requirements similar in function to existing engineering options, it will also “integrate courses that have more social science elements,” Bahar said.

The flexibility and the ability to “draw from other areas within Brown” is what makes it different from other engineering disciplines at the University, and what will ultimately further augment students’ education, Donohue said.

What would really set the design-engineering concentration apart from an independent concentration in design, or focusing on design within existing concentrations, would be having an early emphasis on design, Baek said.

While figuring out potential concentra-

tions in her freshman year, she found that most students would only start studying design through a capstone during their third or fourth year.

“With 0032, it just helps that you’re introduced to design early on, so you actually know that that’s something you want to do. And I think the engineering design concentration does the same thing — it brings something that is kind of ‘gatekept’ at the end of the engineering path and it brings it toward the front so you have more experience with it throughout your four years,” Baek said.

Kurniawan added that the concentration would provide much-needed structure for those interested in pursuing design. “The first thing is that there is no home or umbrella for people who would like to get into design more. … If people come in to study design at Brown, they’re gonna find it really difficult to take (RISD) classes.”

As part of the concentration, students will likely also choose an upper level pathway, modeled after the computer science department’s upper level pathways, Donohue said. Some pathways that have been discussed include architecture and urban planning, energy and sustainability, user interface and user experience, healthcare, industrial design and interactive computing.

“Students could follow in some of those pathways or they might create something of their own,” Beresford said.

“What we’re really trying to do here is make a more flexible (B.S.)” Beresford added, “the existing ones are quite prescribed … it becomes pretty programmed.”

In addition to pulling from existing social science, STEM and engineering classes, the Design Engineering Committee hopes to add a few new classes

to the curriculum.

According to Mills-Scofield, the committee is currently considering three classes: one on systems thinking, one on the design brief and one on UI/UX design.

“Most of the design-engineering-interested kids want to understand this system and the bigger picture,” Mills-Scofield said. For instance, in looking at building an electric vehicle, you might not only consider chemical, material and electrical engineering, but also the political science, economics and cognitive science that goes into the designing and the decision making process, she added.

The committee believes that a design-engineering concentration could also cater to a larger pool of students.

Beyond that, Mills-Scofield believes that if you go off the data from ENGN0032, the design-engineering concentration will likely be more diverse and broadly appealing than the existing options.

While the planned design-engineering (B.S.) concentration will not be officially ABET accredited, most faculty agree that it will still readily equip students for any post-undergraduate career.

“I’m seeing ... with my clients and companies, more and more of them are no longer having the standalone engineering department and design department,” Mills-Scofield said. Having a design-engineering concentration equips you to speak in both the design and engineering languages and enter anything from product design to UI/UX design to industrial design, she added.

Nevertheless, the proposal is still in the works and needs to meet several steps before the concentration can be offered.

According to Donohue, the proposal needs to be approved by the School of Engineering faculty and the Class Curriculum Council. At the moment, the committee is focused on creating a presentation for the Engineering Executive Board.

While the faculty will likely hear the proposal within the next month, according to Beresford, it’s difficult to predict when it will officially be passed.

Donahue said he predicts the concentration will be offered by the spring.

The fact that the concentration hasn’t been announced “doesn’t mean that students can’t take courses ... in preparation,” Bahar said.

She recommends interested students start taking some classes in the engineering core and social sciences.

That will “put you in a good position.”

Baek said she hopes to pursue the industrial design track along with an additional concentration in Visual Arts.

“I plan on declaring it when it is approved,” she said. “Hopefully, it’s a ‘when’ and not ‘if.’”