Thursday, March 5, 2020

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020

VOLUME CLV, ISSUE 30

BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

UNIVERSITY NEWS

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Former UK Prime Minister Theresa May discusses political polarization

Future of edX online courses uncertain

May, current Parliament member, speaks on Western values, global challenges

U. offered only 5 edX courses since May 2017, next steps still undetermined

BY HENRY DAWSON METRO EDITOR Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Theresa May spoke about Western values, political polarization and global challenges during her visit to the University March 4.

The 100th Stephen A. Ogden Jr. ’60 Memorial Lecture, which was held in the packed Pizzitola Sports Center, consisted of a speech titled “Politics, Populism and Polarization: Perspectives on the Global Economy”followed by a question-and-answer session with President Christina Paxson P’19. Paxson drew questions from University students and professors, asking about a variety of topics ranging from Brexit to the American fascination with British cultural phenomena.

Early in her speech, May emphasized the special link shared by the

thought is: let’s rechannel that energy and focus on, instead, creating more online courses on our campus that could be for credit, for on campus student learners,” said Shankar Prasad MA’03 PhD’06, deputy provost for global engagement and strategic initiatives. The University is still determining the next steps for the edX initiative.

BY AUBREY LI SENIOR STAFF WRITER

COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY

Theresa May, a current member of Parliament, discussed her career and the challenges faced by modern political leaders.

United States and the UK. She pointed to a shared linguistic and legal heritage in English and the use of Common Law, and a set of values including a belief in reason, personal liberty, freedom of thought and speech and the constitutional government of nations.

May said these can also be described as “Western values, not because they are the exclusive property of North

American and European liberal democracies, but because those values have so decisively shaped the politics and economies of Western countries over the centuries.”

She relayed the importance of the concept of “westlessness” at the recent Munich Security conference. Westless-

SEE MAY PAGE 2

Since the University partnered with an online platform that offers free courses to over 20 million users in May 2017, only five BrownX courses have been offered. At the start of the partnership with edX, the University was contractually obliged to offer at least 12 edX courses by the end of May 2020, The Herald previously reported.

Offering 12 courses “was in the contract but it was kind of a goal,” said Karen Sibley MAT’81 P’07 P’12 P’17, dean of the School of Professional Studies and vice president for strategic initiatives. “We weren’t able to achieve the goal … but edX hasn’t been difficult about that.”

“It’s a pretty significant investment of time and resources, so the

The partnership with edX intended to promote digital teaching and learning at the University, “reach an audience of learners around the world” and “increase Brown’s visibility” globally, Prasad said.

The first BrownX course, “The Ethics of Memory,” was taught by Associate Professor of English Ravit Reichman in July 2017. The latest course, “Introduction to Engineering and Design,” began November 2018 and was taught by Adjunct Lecturer in Engineering Karen Haberstroh ’95.

The edX initiative was originally overseen by the University’s Steering Committee for Digital Teaching and Learning and was directly managed

SEE EDX PAGE 4

UNIVERSITY NEWS

ARTS & CULTURE

U. Professor tests negative for COVID-19

Alum reflects on his life-inspired ABC series ‘A Million Little Things’

Onésimo Almeida feared exposure following trip to Portugal

BY SPENCER SCHULTZ UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR Onésimo Almeida MA’77 PhD’80 P’06, professor of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, tested negative for COVID-19 coronavirus, after fears of exposure following a trip to Portugal during which he interacted with people who were diagnosed with COVID-19. The professor did test positive for the flu.

University officials confirmed that there are no presumed or confirmed cases of COVID-19 on the Brown campus at this point in time, according to University Spokesperson Brian Clark.

After returning from his trip to Portugal on Feb. 23 and exhibiting some of the symptoms of the early stages of COVID-19, Almeida said the Rhode Island Department of Health did not initially offer him a test for the virus because he did not fit testing criteria, The Herald previously reported.

But on Monday, March 2, RIDOH called Almeida and asked him to drive to a hospital for a COVID-19 test, Almeida wrote in an email to The Herald. Doctors did not allow Almeida to enter the hospital to receive the test, instead offering to swab his mouth, nose and throat in the parking lot of the hospital at 1:30 p.m. that afternoon. “It was explained to me otherwise that they would have to empty corridors of the hospital,” Almeida wrote. “But all of it was conducted very professionally,” he added.

Officials told Almeida that they would notify him with the results of his test by Monday afternoon, or by early Tuesday morning at the latest, according to Almeida. “However, I had to call a few people to get the results by noon,” he wrote, adding that there was confusion among officials about who should inform him of his results.

“It was only after I said that I had lots of journalists from the U.S. and abroad calling me to find out about the results that I finally got an answer.”

Almeida expressed frustration with the lack of cooperation from

SEE COVID-19 PAGE 3

DJ Nash ’95 talks show’s creative development, Brown experience ahead of Friday event

BY NICHOLAS MICHAEL SENIOR STAFF WRITER When DJ Nash ’95 lost a friend to suicide a few years ago, he reflected on John F. Kennedy Jr.’s ’83 tragic death in his journal while on the way to the funeral.

This moment from Nash’s own life made its way into the pilot episode of the hit ABC series he created and executive produces, “A Million Little Things,” which traces the multifarious struggles of a tightknit group in the wake of their friend’s suicide. One of the show’s characters, Maggie, a clinical psychologist who attended Brown, allegorizes Kennedy’s plane crash to the inexplicable suicide: “The clouds came in, and (Kennedy’s) instruments were telling him which way was up, but he didn’t trust them. The truth was right in front of him, and he couldn’t see it,” she tells the distraught friend group at the funeral reception. “He lost sight of the horizon and nosedived, and by the

COURTESY OF WALT DISNEY TELEVISION

The ABC drama created by DJ Nash ’95, follows a group of friends as they attempt to cope with the loss of a member to suicide. time he realized what was happening, it was too late, and he couldn’t pull up. … That’s depression.”

Now nearing the end of its second season, “A Million Little Things” traces the narratives of seven Bostonian friends attempting to navigate individual struggles after facing collective loss.

Emotionally laden scenes are inherent in a show with suicide at its core, but Nash emphasized the importance of

S&R

Metro

A&C

Commentary

U. grants 2020 Seed and Salomon awards to fund faculty research Page 2

Students react to Biden wins on Super Tuesday, as Sanders follows in second.

Page 3

“Radical Roots” events series celebrates Women’s History Month Page 4

Shanmugan ’23: Democrats need to appeal to rural voters to win 2020 election Page 7

using this trauma as an impetus for change: “This show is not about one friend dying but about seven friends finally living,” he explained.

The tragedy expressed in the series is not only a catalyst for positive change in the characters Nash writes but for the producer himself. The writing process has been a method of catharsis, and the

SEE THINGS PAGE 2

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

Seed and Salomon Awards support research on campus Awards presented to over 30 projects in fields from public health to humanities

BY KATHLEEN MEININGER STAFF WRITER Since 2003, the University has helped initiate and develop research projects through the Seed and Salomon awards.

The Office of the Vice President for Research recently announced the 2020 winners in both categories.

Vice President for Research Jill Pipher, Elisha Benjamin Andrews professor of mathematics, describes the Seed awards as an investment in Brown researchers who are just starting out. “The Seed awards are primarily to provide a starter fund to make the researcher more competitive for external funding,” Pipher said. “This is for someone to do a proof of concept, pilot program, run an experiment, get some data, get started

THINGS FROM PAGE 1 show has become an outlet for dealing with these feelings of existential grief, Nash said. “I write myself into my characters, but I just hide it by them being different genders and different races.”

This freeing process of writing is something Nash first began to explore in his undergraduate career, where he concentrated in English and Economics. In a screenwriting course with Paula Vogel, a playwright and visiting professor to the University at the time, Nash “learned how to write scripts and tell stories effectively,” he said.

Beyond his coursework, Nash said that one of his most influential Brown experiences was his work as an RPL, where he developed an “awareness of how to not be politically correct but politically conscious,” he said. The empathetic cognizance that Nash developed at Brown has been something of vital importance in his narrative encounters with potentially triggering subjects: Nash referenced “trigger warnings and ... ‘for more information’ cards on the screen” as gestures credited to an awareness he developed during his time at the University.

After his time at Brown, Nash began his career in comedy. Now, he finds that his background in standup plays a critical role in informing his drama work despite the differences between the two genres. In

on their project so that when they apply for federal awards they are more competitive.” The Salomon awards, which “are smaller amounts of money,” are designed to support existing projects, Pipher added. “The impact on their

to look at their cardiometabolic health outcomes, as well as test some stored samples from pregnancy,” Bengston said. She hopes that her data will eventually be used to develop interventions that help mothers and children at high

Salomon awardee Professor of Environment and Society and Sociology Scott Frickel studies the “mobilizations in Argentina protesting (or) mobilizing against the industrial use of pesticides in agricultural regions.” For the se-

scholarship and their research is still tremendous.”

One Seed award will help a pair of professors research HIV in pregnant women in the East African country of Malawi. Assistant Professor of Epidemiology Angela Bengston and her coPI, Assistant Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences Jennifer Pellowski, plan to use the seed funding to study cardiometabolic health in mothers and children. “We’re partnering with a cohort called the Drakenstein cohort which is a long-standing cohort of mothers and their children … who (collected) lots of data on psychosocial factors and clinical factors and samples during pregnancy.” Bengston said.

“We’re going to be leveraging our Seed funds to follow up (with) those kids and moms at 5-8 years post-partum

risk for cardiometabolic issues, which can cause heart disease and diabetes.

Assistant Professor of Engineering Jongwhan Lee was also awarded Seed funding for his research on blood flow in the brain and Alzheimer’s. Lee’s lab uses 3D imaging to study blood vessel changes in rats over time. His lab plans to use their Seed funding to use these images to create a computational model of blood vessels in the brain, and ultimately use this model to understand how blood flow affects Alzheimer’s in human patients. “If we can understand how the vessels have defects in the early stage of the disease, we can detect such vascular changes from the retina … and (use) that to make some new diagnostic tool that enables us to screen patients at risk at very early stages.” Lee said.

lected project, his lab is studying the impact scholars have on the movement, both at the academic and social level.

“We’re using the Salomon award to fund a research trip for me to go down to Buenos Aires next fall to work (on) analyzing and organizing the data to write a book from this project.” Frickel said, adding that this research “will bring new insights as to how knowledge can be mobilized and used to advance social justice and environmental health issues.”

The Seed and Salomon awards together were presented to over 30 research projects. This year’s selected researchers join a large group of 247 Salomon recipients and 159 Seed award winners in fields ranging from public health to the humanities and social sciences.

“A Million Little Things,” Nash said, “the moments of comedy allow us to go even deeper.”

In his personal life, Nash finds himself using humor as a coping mechanism, a practice he has carried into his character-writing. “In life, when you feel like you just can’t take any more, the world gives you a reason to laugh,” Nash explained.

“Without comedy, this show would be too heavy to watch.” Through employing moments of levity in situations that might otherwise dwell in the macabre, “A Million Little Things” elucidates friendship’s optimistic potential without trivializing trauma.

A USA Today review reflected on the show’s success in mediating the conversation between comedy and drama: “Call it feel-bad feel-good TV, or uncomfortable comfort food. ... More often than not, ‘(A Million Little) Things’ is a little comforting.”

Since its premiere in Sept. 2018, the show’s balance of lightness and intensity has contributed to its resonance. The first season, comprised of 17 hour-long episodes, amassed an average of 4.27 million viewers per airing.

Because of its personal roots, Nash was unsure of how the show might be received. “I hoped the show would resonate with people, but I didn’t anticipate the way in which they would identify and see themselves in these characters,” he said

of his experience with the show’s popularity. “I started off by telling my story, and what I realized pretty early on was that we were telling our story.”

Nash conveyed his excitement to be returning to campus this Friday with two of the show’s cast members, James Roday, who portrays Gary, and David Giuntoli, who plays Eddie, for a workshop and panel hosted by the Literary Arts Department. The workshop will feature Nash’s pitch for “A Million Little Things,” but it will also offer an opportunity for students with current projects in the works to pitch their ideas for feedback. Following will be a panel with Nash and the two actors on the creative construction of “A Million Little Things,” alongside general industry advice.

Laura Colella, who teaches screenwriting at the University and one of the event’s organizers, spoke to her excitement for the unique experience: “I am just glad that students who aren’t in the screenwriting classes — which are by necessity quite small — will have this opportunity to have some way to get information and inspiration through an event outside of the classroom.”

Nash will be holding a story pitch workshop from 10 to 11:30 a.m. which requires an RSVP on Friday.

There will also be a Q&A with Nash, Roday and Guintol at the McCormack Family Theatre from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

MAY FROM PAGE 1 ness, according to May, is the idea that the world and Western countries may be becoming less Western.

“A world in which the Western alliance is a less effective force for good, less willing or able to stand up for the values we believe in, is a more dangerous world,” May said.

She also noted a polarized Western political sphere as another threat for future stability.

“The domestic politics of mature democracies are increasingly characterized by a polarization of opposing viewpoints and rancor,” May said. She pointed to exacerbating factors such as terrorism and toxic online discourse, which stem both from a “perverted Islamist ideology that is a travesty of the Muslim faith” and groups motivated by far-right extremism.

“Whereas patriotism, a love of one’s country, is a positive political force, nationalism is of its nature a narrow, aggressive and sometimes a racially charged creed. Globally, we observe a similar challenge,” May said. “In place of a united front among nations committed to shared values … a polarized politics has taken hold. It views the world through an absolutist prism of winners and losers which sees compromise and cooperation as signs of weakness, not shared strength.”

May detailed three factors contributing to challenges for global leadership to overcome in the near future.

The first factor is a “fourth industrial revolution” that consists of nanotech-

nology, artificial intelligence and the Internet of things. The second factor is the repercussions of the global financial crisis of 2008 — namely, a loss of faith in political and economic institutions.

Finally, leadership must overcome the burden imposed by climate change. May emphasized that all of these factors disproportionately affect less urban, “provincial” communities.

Although the talk was nominally focused on polarization, some community members thought May’s speech felt too broad, especially in comparison to the more directed question-and-answer session with Paxson.

“One thing Paxson did well was to make sure to get questions from all over the (undergraduate) population other than professors,” said Elaina Kim ’21, a student at the event.

Some students also felt ambivalent towards the term “westlessness.”

“It felt a little like East vs. West,” Kim said.

Eva Carpenter ’22, another attendee, added that “I feel like the intention definitely was not malicious … but she is from a conservative party from England.”

Ishaani Khatri ’21, who also attended the event, said “I have family members in the East but I’m a U.S. citizen. Am I Eastern or Western? I don’t think I’m either, and I feel like in that sense I don’t really love (the term westlessness). … Maybe the point she was making was fantastic but the wording was something I really got hung up on.”

THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

3

METRO

UNIVERSITY NEWS

U. students react to Super Tuesday results

GSC discusses unions, international student needs

Students express mixed reactions to outcomes of Biden, Sanders, Warren

BY OLIVIA GEORGE METRO EDITOR Voters in 14 states — from California to Maine — cast their ballots for their choice Democratic candidate March 3, when more than one third of all delegates for the Democratic National Convention were up for grabs on Super Tuesday.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) clinched California, Colorado, Vermont and Utah while former Vice President Joe Biden emerged victorious in the other 10 participating states. Although Mike Bloomberg, media mogul and former Mayor of New York, won American Samoa, he announced he was ending his presidential bid Wednesday.

In Rhode Island, students on College Hill expressed mixed reactions to the results.

“I think that it is concerning how now it really is a man-on-man race between Biden and Bernie,” Zachary Federman ’23 said. Though a supporter of Sanders, Federman added that he fears that with such a sudden narrowing of the race, voters will vote tactically, rather than for the candidate they really support. “The whole point of the primary is you vote for who you want.”

The Democratic field has indeed narrowed substantially over recent days. Tom Steyer, a former hedge fund manager, dropped out of the race after a third-place finish in the South Carolina primary Saturday. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg announced decisions to suspend their presidential campaigns Monday after poor performances in the South Carolina primary. Both have since endorsed Biden.

“I’m surprised that Biden did so well and disappointed that the moderates coalesced around (him),” Duncan McManus ’20 said. This sentiment was

COVID-19 FROM PAGE 1 RIDOH officials, who he said initially denied his request for a COVID-19 test.

According to Joseph Wendelken, public information officer at the RIDOH, the state is following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines for testing, The Herald previously reported. According to the RIDOH website, an individual’s risk for COVID-19 is “closely tied to their recent travel history,” including travel to areas with community transmission of COVID-19.

Portugal is not currently listed as one of these areas.

But Almeida noted that RIDOH should have been more responsive to

VICTORIA YIN / HERALD Members of the Stand Up for Graduate Student Employees bargaining committee gave updates on current union efforts and protests.

SUMMER ZHANG / HERALD

echoed by Massachusetts native Mark Buckley ’23, a member of Brown Students for Bernie, who said he was sure the battle for his home state would be between Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sanders. But as soon as Klobuchar and Buttigieg endorsed Biden, he feared the moderate vote would capture the majority.

After concerns of absentee ballot delays, Buckly traveled for more than two hours by train Monday night so he could cast his vote for Sanders early Tuesday morning in his hometown, before returning to campus later that day.

Though disappointed to see his home state go to Biden, Buckley added that “a lot remains at play.”

Jack Ostrovsky ’23, also a member of Brown Students for Bernie, took advantage of Minnesota’s early voting laws and submitted his ballot over winter break. Sanders emerged triumphant over Hillary Clinton in Minnesota’s 2016 primary, making Sanders’ loss to Biden during this cycle a particularly large blow, said Ostrovsky.

While some students were disappointed by Biden’s surge, others articulated excitement. Despite Butt-

igieg’s exit from the presidential race, University student group Bruno For Pete still held a Super Tuesday watch party which, according to the clubs’s co-chair Joshua Neronha ’22, evolved into “a Joe Biden party more than anything.”

Speaking on behalf of the group’s board, Neronha added: “I think most of us see Joe Biden as our clear second choice and our choice for the nominee.”

“I think that everyone got a little ahead of their skis on maybe declaring the death of the Biden candidacy,” said Jack Kates ’20. Kates, a Massachusetts native, voted for Warren Tuesday, but said it “looks like (her nomination) is not going to happen now, so now I’m rethinking.”

Ocean State voters will head to the polls on April 28. In the meantime, students expressed commitment to mobilizing support for their preferred candidate in the months to come.

“As important as Super Tuesday is, I’m not giving up hope,” Ostrovsky said.

“There are still states left. Now is not the time to give up.”

—Ben Pollard contributed reporting.

his request for a test because he was at a “conference very close to people who had tested positive, and I had symptoms similar to the ones associated with coronavirus.”

“Doctors should think empirically, I suppose. I was bringing a fact that should alter their list of established norms. But it was like talking to a wall,” he wrote. “See, I could be infected and spend my whole weekend going around and socializing, infecting lots of people and that was not of concern to the Department of Health.”

Almeida also compared Rhode Island’s response to his potential COVID-19 case to the responses his colleagues experienced. His friend

from Switzerland, who also attended the conference, was tested for COVID-19 “immediately upon arrival in his home town and requesting to be tested.”

Almeida has already resumed lectures for his course UNIV 1520: “The Shaping of World Views,” after missing three days of teaching.

To make up for lost classes, Almeida and his students agreed to meet one evening for a three hour session. “We must stick to the syllabus,” he said.

To make up for the inconvenience, he plans on offering his students dinner from a Portuguese restaurant in East Providence. “Good food is guaranteed.

My treat.”

Monthly meeting focused on SUGSE, student-driven programming

BY JACK WALKER SENIOR STAFF WRITER At yesterday’s monthly meeting, the Graduate Student Council discussed various GSC initiatives, and members of the Stand Up for Graduate Student Employees bargaining committee shared updates on current union efforts.

Since last year, SUGSE members have been bargaining for a contract for graduate student employees, including clear job descriptions and better compensation, among other demands, The Herald previously reported. General body members had the opportunity to ask SUGSE representatives questions about ongoing efforts, which led to a tense discussion.

At past GSC meetings, the Executive Board proposed plans to create tax workshops for graduate students, The Herald previously reported. Some general body members said that previous workshops had limited capacity, resulting in several students being turned away. GSC President Kathryn Thompson GS said the GSC planned to increase space at future events. Other workshops to be held in the future to fit the needs of students in various departments were also discussed.

One program, a master’s-specific career development workshop, aims to help master’s students through a student-run initiative, said Sophie Don GS, GSC chair of master’s advocacy.

The GSC also said that it is planning information sessions for recognized graduate student groups.

These aim to help current student organizations better understand funding and collaboration with the Student Activities Office, among other entities, Thompson said.

Additionally, the GSC discussed

the needs of international graduate students and the programs designed to meet them. Beenish Pervaiz GS, GSC chair of international advocacy, said that new programming will focus on “easing the burden of financial restraints on international students, specifically.” There will now be set days designated for international students to meet with a tax consultant, and future plans include web videos to help international students with their taxes and a graduate student representative in the Office of International Student and Scholar Services, Pervaiz said.

The GSC is also continuing its focus on graduate student mental health, The Herald previously reported . To further advocate for graduate student mental health, members of the GSC Executive Board said they passed out mental health care bags to graduate students in the graduate student space in the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, including informative pamphlets about mental health and programming on campus as well as self-care items like coloring books.

Upcoming programming includes a Mental Health Week featuring specific events for students of color and LGBTQ+ students, as well as a graduate student Paint ‘N Sip, said Shingai Kagunda, GSC chair of student life. This programming aims to “create safe spaces for grad students and show that (the GSC is) very deliberate about mental health.”

A previous pilot initiative partially funded by the GSC allowed all graduate and medical students free access to fitness classes at the Jonathan Nelson ’77 Fitness Center this academic year, The Herald previously reported. Statistics from the program’s first semester showed significant increase in participation in the classes by graduate students as compared to before its launch.

GSC leadership hopes that further increased use of the classes will show the importance of free access and will help make it standard and recurring after this semester, said a student at the meeting.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020

ARTS & CULTURE

Sarah Doyle Center celebrates Women’s History Month Center selects theme ‘Radical Roots,’ discusses multiplicity of feminism

BY MINE KOVAVISARACH SENIOR STAFF WRITER On March 2, the Sarah Doyle Center for Women and Gender celebrated the start of Women’s History Month and their Women’s History series. With the theme of “Radical Roots,” this year’s event series is comprised of lectures and workshops taking place across campus.

Throughout the month, the center will present lectures given by University faculty and notable guest speakers, including Combahee River Collective founder Margo Okazawa-Rey, Penn State University Associate Professor of English and African American Studies Shirley Moody-Turner, Curator of Rhode Island Collections at the Providence Public Library Kate Wells and Assistant Professor of History Emily Owens. A long-standing tradition of the center since the 1990s, this year’s Women History Month not only includes presentations on women’s education, health and sexual identity, but also hosts casual lunch time conversations in which students

can ask speakers about their activism, scholarship and personal experiences as women. Events will run until March 18.

Choosing the theme and selecting the speakers were “collective” decisions made by the SDC staff in their weekly meetings, according to Senior Assistant Director Felicia Salinas-Moniz.

The theme of “Radical Roots” was “born out of a few of our staffers who were doing programming around our community garden,” Salinas-Moniz said.

While considering the radical feminism of the 1980s and the garden project at the same time, SDC staff realized that the words “radical” and “radish” had the same etymology — both evolved from the Latin word “radix,” meaning “root.” So, they decided that this year’s series would be represented by the symbol of the radish.

“We’ve always been very thoughtful with our theme and tie it in within all the programs, but this is the first time we’ve thought about the logo and these other elements to piece (the series) together,” Salinas-Moniz said.

“We were thinking about the garden … and (the director of the SDC) was thinking a lot about the radical feminist tradition we’re inheriting,” explained Billie McKelvie ’21, the center’s zine librarian. McKelvie mentioned the rise

REBECCA HO / HERALD

Students and faculty gathered in the Sarah Doyle Center for the celebratory event marking the beginning of Women’s History Month. of an ecofeminist movement and how thinking about combining the community garden and feminism has caused a lot of conversations about “the current political moment we’re in.” “It just came together,” they added.

“For all our programming … the history is the key component,” Salinas-Moniz said. “We try to bring events that are varied in nature, but we make

sure we have events that highlight important moments in feminist history.”

Salinas-Moniz also emphasized the center’s aim to bring in speakers that “give a more complicated and nuanced” interpretation of crucial moments in feminist history, like the women’s suffrage movement in the 19th century and its disparate impacts on white women and women of color.

The ultimate goal of the series, aside from showcasing feminist history and supporting current feminist work, is to “bring more awareness to the scope of things that our Center does,” said Salinas-Moniz.

“We have a wide reach,” she added. “I want students and the campus community to know that they can find a home here.”

SUMMER ZHANG / HERALD

EDX FROM PAGE 1 by the School of Professional Studies, Sibley said. The Steering Committee was responsible for the “higher-up landscape for online education, like Coursera and edX,” Sibley added, while a team of “instructional designers” in SPS worked closely with professors to produce the BrownX courses.

After a summer 2019 organizational change, the Steering Committee was dissolved. The edX partnership fell under the purview of the Office of the Provost, and Computing and Information Services took on digital learning initiatives, Sibley said.

Professor of English James Egan said that developing his BrownX course “Fantastic Places, Unhuman Humans” was a “natural evolution” for him, as he was already in the process of developing the materials for a “Brown-only online course.” Still, Egan said, “it felt like a lot of resources … that could have been devoted to something else Brown could get more out of.”

“Fantastic Places, Unhuman Humans” was “gamified,” immersing stu-

dents in a virtual world in which they completed sequential learning tasks, Egan said. The teaching approach was “innovative and challenging,” and the course was well-supported by the Office of the Provost and the digital design team.

Vice Chairman of Medicine for the Alpert Medical School Fred Schiffman taught the BrownX course “Artful Medicine: Art’s Power to Enrich Patient Care” and planned to offer two more BrownX courses that would investigate music and food as medicine.

The development of the courses, however, was paused indefinitely, Schiffman said. “It is in my belief that the School of Professional Studies decided, somehow, that (these BrownX courses) were put on hold … I’d love to continue to do this, for sure.”

Teaching on edX “felt like a community of learners in a way one never really expected,” Schiffman said.

Despite the large class size, “I felt I could connect (with students) through emails and responses. It was a big surprise how much I learned from my students.”

THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | TODAY

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Kate Brown: “The Great Chernobyl Acceleration” 12:00 P.M. Sharpe House 125

American Hegemony and the Rise of China 12:00 P.M. 111 Thayer Street

The Agency of Images 2:30 P.M. BioMed Center 202

Palestine VR — Immersive Virtual Reality 4:00 P.M. 280 Brook St.

TOMORROW International Women’s Day Brunch 10:30 A.M. Sarah Doyle Center

Deerskin Painting Workshop with Keri Helme 2:00 P.M. Sayles Hall 005

First-Year Friday!

3:00 P.M. Stephen Roberts ’62 Campus Center

Death, Spirituality and the Matter of Blackness 6:00 P.M. Alumnae Hall Crystal Room

Q U OTE OF TH E DAY

S U D O KU

“It was a big surprise how much I learned from my students.”

—Fred Schiffman, VC Medicine, AMS SEE EDX FRONT PAGE

C L ARI F I CATI ON

RELEASE DATE– Monday, October 21, 2013

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle CR O S SWO RD Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Floating platforms 6 Guy or fellow 10 Haughty sort 14 Creepy starer 15 Top military draft category 16 Skid row denizen 17 German cars bought by Riyadh residents?

19 Not many 20 Releases (on), as an attack dog 21 Cafeteria carriers gone missing?

23 QB’s mishap 24 Tennis icon Arthur 25 Makes a choice 26 Drawing upon 28 100-yard race 30 Shoulder wrap 32 “Once __ a time ...”

34 PC software 38 Rose of baseball 39 Hard to hear 40 Was a passenger 41 Figure skater’s leap 42 Uncle Remus’s __ Rabbit 43 Nursery-rhyme Jack or his wife 44 Put down, as floor tile 46 “__ my case” 48 Fixes with thread 50 Plastic coffee container designed for a Keurig brewer 51 Sports enthusiast 54 Streamlined onion relatives?

57 Pie à la __ 58 Basketball’s __ “The Pearl” Monroe 59 Stories you’ve heard a bajillion times?

61 Bad to the bone 62 Promgoer’s concern 63 Leaning somewhat 64 Lousy grades 65 Like so 66 Zappos.com inventory

DOWN 1 Big name in vermouth 2 A second time 3 Vary irregularly, as prices 4 Koppel and Knight 5 __ Lanka 6 Teeth-and-gums protector 7 Conductor Previn 8 “Star Wars” princess 9 “Piece of cake!”

10 Out-of-tune string instruments?

11 Like Jack 43Across’s diet 12 Does as directed 13 Curtain call acknowledgments 18 Part of YMCA: Abbr.

22 How-__: instruction books 24 Feel lousy 27 Neato water sources?

28 Insult comic who was a frequent Johnny Carson guest 29 Crumb-carrying insect

30 Relaxation center 31 Put a curse on 33 Dessert with a crust 35 Financial planner’s concern 36 Handheld computer, briefly 37 Go down in the west 39 “The X-Files” gp.

43 Ninth mo.

45 Pop the question

47 Ploy 48 Work really hard 49 Spooky 50 Reeves of “Speed” 52 Dancer Astaire 53 Homes for chicks 54 Future flower 55 J.D.-to-be’s exam 56 __ A Sketch 57 Trig or calc 60 Prof.’s helpers

A previous version of the article, “Brown sells 90 percent of fossil fuel investments,” stated that “The University is in the process of selling all its direct investments in fossil fuels.” In fact, it is more clear to say that “The University is in the process of selling all of its direct investments and managed funds that focus on fossil fuels.”

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

PE N- SI VE L I ST EN ERS

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10/21/13

DANIELLE EMERSON / HERALD

By Erik Agard (c)2013 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

10/21/13

Students gather at The Underground Cafe for an intimate reading from a speaker. Colorful writing utensils and vibrant bundles of flower petals sprawl across the table as the event unfolds.

6

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020

UNIVERSITY NEWS

UCS adds three referendums to elections ballot

DANIELLE EMERSON / HERALD

During the general body meeting, UCS voted and decided to include multiple referendums to the ballot for their upcoming elections. Referendum propositions, which addressed food security and the establishment of a Disability and Justice Center, pass by majority votes.

Referendums address food insecurity, DJCC, constitutional amendments

BY JACK BORRIS SENIOR STAFF WRITER At its general body meeting Wednesday evening, the Undergraduate Council of Students voted to add three referendums to the ballot of the upcoming UCS and Undergraduate Finance Board elections.

Referendums can be proposed to the Council directly by any UCS

member or by any undergraduate student who collects 300 petition signatures. The Council then votes on the proposed referendums, with those that pass appearing on the ballot for students to vote on.

UCS Chief of Staff Melissa Lee ’20 and Nell Salzman ’22 presented the first referendum, which proposed a meal swipe donation program to benefit Providence-area organizations combating food insecurity. The program would donate the cash value of any of students’ leftover meal swipes to local food banks.

Describing her motivations for proposing the referendum, Salzman pointed to the prevalence of food insecurity in Rhode Island. “This is

a way that Brown can donate to the community in a very feasible and tangible way,” she said.

The referendum also asks students if the University should release Dining Services’ financial data, including the number of unused meal swipes at the end of the semester.

Salzman expressed that existing meal swipe donation options, such as the granola bar drive conducted by student organization Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere, are comparatively inefficient.

Lee said that those working on the referendum had debated the idea of allowing students to donate extra

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meal swipes to other Brown students, but ultimately “thought it would be more strategic and helpful to focus on the Providence community.”

The referendum proposal passed by a simple majority vote, with the final wording including requests for Dining Services to be transparent about surplus revenue and meal swipe data, in addition to asking about the proposed meal swipe donation program.

Next, Chair of Student Wellness Shivani Nishar ’20 and Vanessa Garcia ’20.5 proposed a referendum that would allocate a certain percentage of the University’s annual budget to creating a Disability Justice Cultural Center.

Last year, Nishar and Garcia received 692 student signatures on a petition to prioritize the establishment of the center, according to Garcia.

“The DJCC will allow the community to build solidarity with others whose narratives are often silenced,” Garcia said. They emphasized that the proposed center “would carve out a space on campus that values the diversity of disability in the same way that other marginalized identities are recognized.”

Referencing the Council’s 2019 Fall Poll, Nishar noted that a majority of students who voted on the creation of the center voted in favor of its establishment. She said that the referendum would “help (UCS) put pressure on the administration in a more direct way than just saying that students support this.”

The Council voted to add the referendum to the ballot in a simple majority vote.

The third referendum proposed moving out of date logistical elements of the UCS Constitution to the Council’s bylaws. Because modifying the constitution requires a formal vote of the student body, specific elements such as election timing were proposed to be moved to the body’s bylaws, which can be modified within the Council.

The referendum proposal passed when put to a simple majority vote, with the final wording emphasizing UCS’ ability to update its constitution to reflect its values and updated operational logistics.

Sophie Culpepper ’21, who is a Managing Editor of The Herald, also presented to the general body at the end of the meeting on the structure of The Herald and its role in interacting with UCS. She detailed interview logistics, information about talking to reporters and ways to respond to Herald coverage.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

7

Democrats need to realize that the electoral deck is stacked against them

BY ARJUN SHANMUGAM ’23 STAFF COLUMNIST

After the 2016 presidential election, political airwaves seemed dominated by two refrains: “Donald Trump is our president!”

“Actually, Hillary won the popular vote.”

Both statements are equally valid. Despite their gripes, liberals could not deny that Donald Trump would occupy the Oval Office. On the other hand, perhaps Republians should have qualified their enthusiasm by acknowledging that their candidate spoke for a minority of the American people.

These opposing outlooks are rooted in an underlying issue that is more complex than mere partisanship. The 2016 election is proof of a system that disproportionately rewards the rural vote. In vying for control of the House of Representatives, the Senate and the presidency, urban political voices are at a disadvantage because of the outsized influence that sparsely populated states hold in our electoral system.

The result is that representation in the federal government fails to adequately reflect public opinion. In an age of polarization along geographical lines, Democrats are the ones who lose out. If they hope to win in 2020, Democrats need to take into account this deep-seated rural advantage and shift their strategy to win more rural votes.

The numbers demonstrate this disconnect between the electoral and popular votes. Over the past few elections for the House of Representatives, Republicans have won a share of seats that is four to five percentage points higher than the portion of the popular vote they garnered. In the 2018 midterms, even as many Republican seats were taken by Democrats, their losses were hedged by gerrymandering

— according to one analysis, Democrats’ current advantage in the House would have been 16 seats larger if congressional boundaries had been drawn fairly.

The Senate, where Republicans control 53 seats, is even less representative of the popular vote: The 53 GOP Senators in the hundred-member body represent about 15 million fewer people than the 45 Democrats who sit across the aisle. And in the Electoral College, the five most rural states in America have twice as many electoral votes per resident as the five largest states do.

now that the previous two Republican presidents won in this manner, it is time for Democrats to take notice.

Why now, at the start of the new millennium, does the Electoral College fail to represent the views of the majority of Americans? Over the past few decades, geography has increasingly come to predict party affiliation: The Democratic Party now largely represents cities, while the Republican Party largely represents rural America. Before this sociopolitical sorting intensified at the end of the 20th century, the Constitution’s bias against voters in major

“ If they hope to win in 2020, Democrat need to take into account this deep-seated rural advantage and shift their strategy to win more rural votes.”

Believe it or not, the disproportionate representation of small states was a deliberate part of the Framers’ original plan. The Senate, for instance, was intended to guarantee that small states have a meaningful influence in government and are protected from the tyranny of the majority. The Electoral College was designed as a concession to Southern states, protecting the political influence of their voting populations while leaving slaves disenfranchised. The design of the Electoral College system was not a real problem until the 2000 presidential election, when George Bush won the White House through the Electoral College despite earning fewer votes than Al Gore. This was the first time since 1888 that the popular vote and the Electoral College produced opposite verdicts. But

population centers affected both parties about equally. Republicans depended on moderate Eastern elites, such as the Rockefeller Republicans, as much as they did on social conservatives to form winning coalitions. Democrats, on the other hand, could count on urban political machines such as Tammany Hall, even while they also relied on the “Solid South” for victories, until they lost Southern support with the passage of the Civil Rights Act. But the era of parties that crossed geographic lines is now a distant memory. The 13 most densely populated states are represented by 121 Democrats and 73 Republicans in the House.

The other 37 less densely populated states are represented by 163 Republicans and 72 Democrats. The Republicans are definitively the par-

ty of rural America, and so they benefit from the advantages in representation that are built into the Constitution. The Democrats, standard-bearers of cityfolk, must deal with the ramifications.

The upshot is that while the Democrats should be cognizant of the systemic disadvantages they face, they need to reshape their political strategy to better suit the needs of moderate and even conservative voters in places such as the Rust Belt to compete outside of states like New York and California. In practice, they will have a hard time doing so because of the growing progressive wing of the party, which could alienate rural voters who might otherwise consider voting blue.

The challenge facing the Democrats thus adds a new twist to an important question: What exactly do working-class Americans care about? Even if the structural reforms presented by candidates such as Bernie Sanders are popular in urban centers, can they win over enough moderates to overcome our government’s bias against the political influence of the coasts?

Just as important: Is Biden’s time-tested message to the Rust Belt enough to rebuild the blue wall?

The two wings of the Democratic Party offer different answers, and it is not clear which will more effectively resonate with voters. But if there is one thing that our broken system of uneven representation should teach Democrats, it is that they need to tailor their message to the highly diverse geographies around the country, not just to the urban centers. Even outside of the cities, our country moves. It breathes. It votes.

Arjun Shanmugam ’23 can be reached at arjun_shanmugam@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@ browndailyherald.com.

The Case Against Bernie Sanders, Pt. 1 of 2

BY ANDREW REED ’21 STAFF COLUMNIST

And then there were two. If there were any doubt going in, Super Tuesday brought clarity to the Democratic race. It is now a race between moderate and progressive. Build it up versus tear it down. Normalcy versus revolution. Biden versus Sanders. The winner will take on Donald Trump in November. But it is perhaps of equal importance that the winner will determine the course of the Democratic party for a generation.

Readers of this column — if such people exist — are no doubt aware of my, at times, fervent opposition to Sanders. In the past, I’ve criticized him and other far-left Dems for promising programs they know will never pass and for playing the self-defeating games of identity and grievance politics. It’s true, I am strongly opposed to Sanders. And because I believe the stridency of one’s views determines the lengths to which one must go to defend them, I feel it is necessary to lay out the reasons for my opposition to Sanders. This is the first of two columns (the second to be published tomorrow) that I will dedicate to making my case.

Sanders is nothing short of an ideological zealot, a true devotee to his cause of “democratic-socialism.” In his 50-odd years as a political emissary from the socialist world, he’s convinced many — but accomplished next to nothing, as I explain in my second column. Really his only claim to fame is being one of, if not the most liberal (by several metrics) members of the U.S. Senate. But now he’s running for President (again) on a platform chock-full of freebies with no real plans to pay for them. He’s pro-

posing — and this is not hyperbole — the biggest expansion of the federal government, ever.

This, alone, is cause for concern. But really, my problem isn’t with the policies as much as it is with what those policies represent. Sanders sees the world through a keyhole: To him, nothing else matters but ideological purity and an uncompromising pursuit of socialist politics. In many cases, this narrow worldview has led him to support policies that hurt the very constituency for which he is fighting.

Strict devotion to one’s ideology may not be intrinsically undesirable, but with Sanders it manifests in some pretty unpleasant ways.

Sanders has taken to apologizing for brutal, dictatorial regimes like Fidel Castro’s Cuba, Communist China, the Sandinista government of Nicaragua, the Soviet Union, Venezuela and others — all because they instituted some of the socialist policies he favors. Criticize him for these apologies, and he’ll accuse you of “red-baiting.” But, in truth, his past is riddled with an unhealthy dose of warmth toward communist, authoritarian and, in many cases, murderous regimes.

While mayor of Burlington, Vermont in the 1980s, Sanders traveled to Cuba on an eightday trip with the goal of securing a meeting with Castro — but he was rebuffed. When he returned, he praised the Castro regime for providing its citizens “free health care, free education, free housing.” But also, amazingly, Sanders praised the Castro regime for helping to create “a very different value system than the one we are familiar with.”

Recently, Sanders has come under fire for his praise of Castro’s literacy program. In an interview about a week ago, Sanders said, “When Fidel Castro came into office, you know what

he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing?” But what he failed to mention is that the Cuban literacy program Sanders praised was largely a re-education program. Sure, they may have read books, but they weren’t exactly reading Dickens. They were being indoctrinated into Castro’s Marxist ideology with books such as “Fidel is Our Leader.”

And at the end of their instruction, each student was forced to prove their literacy by writing a letter to the Supreme Commander, thanking him for teaching them to read.

For some reason, Sanders wants to weigh the pros and cons of oppressive dictators like Fidel Castro and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, who have goose-stepped their people into generations of poverty and bloodshed. But he has totally glossed over the thousands of people Castro sent to labor camps, the thousands his regime murdered and the thousands more who have perished as they’ve made the treacherous journey from Cuba to Florida to seek refuge in the United States. Sanders may think it’s worthwhile to praise the Castro regime’s literacy program, but he has completely forgotten the scores of people who weren’t alive to see it.

Bernie may be right. Castro may have increased literacy rates. But the dead can’t read.

And it’s not just Cuba. Sanders is the only Democratic candidate, for example, who refuses to recognize Juan Guaidó as the rightful president of Venezuela, and he has refused to call Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro a dictator. More recently, Sanders has even praised Communist China as having made “more progress in addressing extreme poverty than any country in the history of civilization.” What Bernie failed to mention is that Red China may also hold the record for killing more of its own citizens than

any other state in the history of civilization. Not to mention China is currently engaging in violent suppression of political protestors in Hong Kong and ethnic cleansing of Uighurs — a Muslim ethnic minority — on a massive scale.

If Sanders’ modus operandi were to try to see the good in every situation — not just in communist dictatorships — maybe his comments would be more defensible. Are we not all concerned that Sanders appears to believe Fidel Castro deserves a more favorable appraisal than Jeff Bezos?

But what is perhaps most troubling is that it seems Sanders views Cuba, the Soviet Union, Communist China and others as success stories — as examples of nations that have implemented well the kinds of socialist policies he champions. But these nations have surely oppressed their own people more than almost every other nation in history.

Sanders seems to give these oppressive governments a pass on human rights for no other reason than that they have implemented some of the socialist policies he favors. Devotion to ideology is one thing, but it shouldn’t be the only thing. Sanders has staked his entire campaign on the proposition of revolution, of the powerless rising up against their oppressors to demand a seat at the table. But for a man who seems genuinely concerned about the little guy, he may want to rethink who and what he holds up as examples of success in the socialist world.

Andrew Reed ’21 can be reached at andrew_ reed@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald. com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

Opinions pieces published in The Herald — which include columns, op-eds , letters to the editor and editorials — are written independently of news coverage.

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