THE BROWN DAILY HER
The signatories argue divestment should be part of University’s goals
BY CATE LATIMER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
One hundred faculty members signed a letter in support of the divestment proposal currently being reviewed by b rown’s advisory committee.
t he a dvisory Committee on University r esources m anagement, or a CU rm , will issue a recommendation by Sep. 30 on the topic of divestment. t he committee is currently reviewing a proposal by b rown d ivest Coalition which identifies 10 companies they claim “facilitate the i sraeli occupation of p alestinian territory.”
a CU rm is specifically tasked with evaluating the social harm of b rown’s investments.
i n the letter, which was obtained by t he Herald, the faculty argue that divestment is a social responsibility aligned with b rown’s commitments as a research and educational institution.
“ t he case under consideration constitutes precisely one of social harm grave enough that, in not taking action, we stand to be at logical, social and moral variance with our goals and principles as a university,” the letter reads.
Faculty signatories pointed to two themes of b rown’s “ b uilding on d istinction” strategic plan: “Creating p eaceful, Just and p rosperous Societies” and “Using Science and tech -
How Brown athletes left their mark at the Paris Olympics
Brunonians earned two bronze medals for the U.S
BY LINUS LAWRENCE AND BEN GOLDBERG
SPORTS EDITOR AND STAFF WRITER
While some students spent their summers traveling for vacations or internships, a group of current and former brunonians took a trip for another purpose this July: to participate in the 2024 Olympic Games in paris.
With four competitors and one coach representing three sports and three countries, brown athletics laid claim to a pair of bronze medals.
the athletes included two recent alumni rowers, Henry Hollingsworth ’22 and Gus rodriguez ’22, as well as a duo of current collegiate swimmers: Zehra bilgin ’25 and amie barrow ’26.
bilgin, who competed in women’s 4x200-meter freestyle race, has been representing turkey in international meets since age 13 and swimming since she was just 9 years old.
“Since my first meet where we got gifted swim caps that had the Olympic rings on it by our coach at the time, it has been a dream of mine to compete at the Olympic level and represent turkey,” bilgin wrote in an email to the Herald.
bilgin spoke to the unique, unforgettable atmosphere at the Olympic Village.
“Seeing such elite athletes be there, knowing everyone had to sacrifice so many things to get to that point and getting to know them and exchange pins (made) this experience even better,” she wrote.
“i actually missed the village life pretty bad my first couple days back home. it just felt like even the air was different there,” she added.
barrow, who competed in the wom-
commitments as a research and educational institution.
nology to i mprove Lives.”
“ a reasonable person may ask why an institution committed to promoting ‘just, peaceful and prosperous societies’ should, as a matter of coherence and principle, be invested (whether directly, indirectly, or through potential exposure) in such entities,” the letter continued.
Faculty members also cited the i nternational Court of Justice’s advisory opinion that i srael’s treatment of p alestinians violates international law.
t he letter urged aCU rm and the Corporation to take action in response to the ruling of the i CJ and other similar organizations. Signatories argued that these organizations have already completed the act of observation and evidence-gathering that allow investors to act in informed ways.
UNIVERSITY NEWS
“We cannot claim ignorance, whatever may be our beliefs or political affiliations,” faculty wrote in the letter.
t he letter called for additional action beyond divesting from the 10 companies identified in the report currently under a CU rm ’s consideration. t he faculty wrote that b rown should show “ethical coherence and leadership in this time of polarization” by ceasing all investments in companies involved in the trade or manufacturing of weapons.
a CU rm will make a recommendation before the b rown Corporation’s vote in October. a ccording to University Spokesperson b rian Clark, all materials submitted to a CU rm are “being read closely and considered by the committee.”
BY AVANI GHOSH METRO EDITOR
a bout a dozen students from Sunrise b rown interrupted a b rown investment Group keynote speaker event monday evening to draw attention to the detrimental impacts of fossil fuels and related investments.
a bout 80 students were in attendance to hear r owdy Stillwell, a petroleum engineer from texas, speak about his experiences working and investing in the oil and gas industry, according to an i nstagram story on bi G’s account.
t he students stood up and held signs saying “ b ig Oil kills” and “death by fossil fuels.” t he signs were also promoting Sunrise’s dire campaign, which calls for University dissociation from
the fossil-fuel industry. Some protesters pointed to the human cost of investment in the oil and gas industry, and shared how they’ve been personally affected by climate change-related wildfires.
“We have to have fossil fuels to put out fires,” Stillwell responded, referring to planes, fire trucks and other vehicles that do not use clean energy, but are vital in saving communities affected by climate disasters. “ i respect your position … but let’s have a conversation.”
a fter about five minutes, bi G leaders called for decorum and demonstrators left the event. Stillwell acknowledged the demonstrators’ calls to discuss the social impacts of fossil fuels when investing.
t he question of human impact is “super valid,” he said. “We need to have these conversations … and i ’m not afraid of having them.” but he also poked fun at the protestors. “that was the first time i’ve ever been protested,” Stillwell added. Rowdy Stillwell discussed investing in the
The faculty argue that divestment is a social responsibility aligned with Brown’s
WEEK IN ELECTIONS ELECTIONS
1
Suspect in Sunday’s Trump assassination attempt prosecuted
Former president donald trump was left unharmed after an apparent assassination attempt at his golf club in West palm beach, Florida, reported the New york times.
this is the second attempt on the former president’s life in under two months.
ryan W. routh, a 58-year-old with a criminal record, was identified as a suspect and is being charged with two federal felony counts.
2 Harris leads polls following last week’s presidential debate
the Vice president currently leads trump by 3 points, although the full impact of the debate and second assassination attempt on trump might not fully be reflected on the data yet.
in five of seven swing states, the leading candidate is ahead by one point or less, reported the New york times.
3 Springfield targeted by bomb threats after Trump’s debate claims
after trump claimed that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating residents’ pets, Springfield schools have received over 30 bomb threats.
Hospitals and government buildings have also been targeted, according to the Guardian.
the claims have been debunked by officials in Springfield, as noted by moderators at the trump-Harris debate.
A majority of decided voters support a Constitutional Convention
BY RYAN DOHERTY AND TOM LI
NEWS EDITOR
EDITOR
Editors’ Note: The Herald will print every Friday moving forward
dear reader,
Starting this week, the Herald’s weekly print edition will run on Fridays for the remainder of the fall 2024 semester. the change was made primarily due to providence’s Washington bridge closure, which has made our previous delivery arrangements impractical. the new distribution time will enable us to better deliver timely news in print.
as before, print editions will be distributed throughout College Hill (in most major academic buildings and dining halls) and online at issuu.com/browndailyherald on Friday mornings. We will continue to publish on our website every weekday.
thank you for your support and readership.
that’s
elected incumbent republican president ronald reagan.
that same year, rhode islanders voted to hold a state Constitutional Convention, which happened two years later.
but, the recent poll indicates that rhode islanders may soon have another chance to revise the state constitution.
While 33% remain undecided on the measure, most decided voters said they are in favor of holding a convention, UNH found UNH polled over 650 likely general
election voters between Sept. 12 and Sept. 16. in total, 738 individuals completed the survey. respondents were polled in the days following Harris and former president donald trump’s televised debate on Sept. 10.
While 61% of respondents rated Harris’s performance as “very good” or “good,” only 24% thought the same of trump’s. Nearly half of the respondents found the former president’s performance “very poor.” Harris currently leads trump 58% to 38% in the state, the poll reported. two percent of respondents support Green party candidate Jill Stein. Only 1% said they were unsure of a candidate. in the democratic presidential primary earlier this year, almost 15% of voters in the Ocean State voted “uncommitted” after a nationwide campaign to express disapproval of the biden administration’s response to the israel-Hamas war.
Editors’ notes are written by The Herald’s 134th Editorial Board: Neil Mehta '25, Julia Vaz '25, Charlie Clynes '25, Finn Kirkpatrick '25 and Kathy Wang '25.
“that was pretty cool.” the University has halted investments in companies that extract fossil fuels and does “not plan to make new investments in fossil fuel companies unless and until they make significant progress in converting themselves into providers of sustainable energy,” according to a march 2020 letter from president Christina paxson p’19 p’md’20.
biG is the University’s “largest and oldest student-run investment fund,” with over $600,000 in assets under management across two funds, according to biG’s instagram account. biG leaders said that the club, whose funds comprise part of brown’s endowment, does not invest in the fossil-fuel industry in accordance with University policy.vestment demonstrators to dismantle an encampment on the campus green.
University Spokesperson brian Clark, in an email to the Herald, wrote that “while we value the service of our former trustee, he has a fundamental misunderstanding of the decisions that led to the upcoming vote on divestment.”
“Our process allows any University community member to submit a divestment proposal for examination, and does not pre-determine the merit or outcome,” he wrote, adding that brown’s process for divestment was established decades ago.
edelman is a major donor to the University. in 2014, the Corporation accepted a $1.65 million gift from him for funding circuit therapy research and upgrading equipment in the institute for brain Science. He and his wife also endowed the faculty director of the Center for Human rights.
edelman has been criticized for funding anti-trans advocacy in the United States. the edelman Family Foundation, his
UNIVERSITY NEWS
social impact firm, donated $1 million to the anti-trans advocacy group do No Harm in 2022, a Huffpost investigation found. do No Harm has pushed bills restricting gender-affirming care for transgender
people. the foundation also previously donated to parents defending education, a group that opposes critical race theory and affirmative action in schools. in the same year, according to tax
on Sept. 16, 2024.
A Brown University initiative is helping students register to vote in upcoming election
Brown Votes offers resources, information for new student voters
BY TEDDY FISHER STAFF WRITER
With U.S. elections coming up this November, b rown wants to give eligible students every avenue to cast their ballots. b rown Votes, a University initiative, is helping simplify the process.
t he initiative’s goal is to reduce barriers to voting, members of the organization said. t he initiative brought to b rown a platform called turboVote, which facilitates voter registration across the country. a njelica Smith, a senior director at d emocracy Works, is helping deploy turboVote at colleges across the United States.
While “16 million youth have aged
into the electorate since 2020,” Smith said, voter registration rates are far lower among young people.
turboVote has also been integrated into m y a ccount and the b rownU app “to help simplify the process,” said Logan tullai ’25, the chair of advocacy for b rown Votes and the national president of e very Vote Counts.
b rown Votes is housed in the Swearer Center. m ary Jo Callan, the head of the center, highlighted the importance of community engagement at not just the national level but also in state and local elections.
“Voting is one of the most important pathways to social change,” Callan said.
“We often overlook the power of state governments. t he decisions that local governments make, those are the decisions that affect our day-to-day lives.”
b rown Votes has made a number of strides since its founding as a stu -
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Sales
Finance
Sinensky
dent group. For instance, election day at b rown is now a holiday, which was difficult to coordinate and accomplish, said austin Wilson, a manager for community-engaged learning at the center. “ t here’s a huge amount of student passion and student direction” for this initiative, he added.
b rown Votes participated in new student orientation this year, and they currently hold non-partisan, issue-oriented information sessions. “ i f your issue is the second amendment,” Callan said, the presentations inform students that “political offices have a say over that issue.”
tullai highlighted that students can choose where to cast their ballot — here in r hode i sland or wherever they call home.
“ i f a student develops a habit of voting in college, they will continue that habit throughout their life,” Wilson said.
in your email, and we will do our best to work with you.
Submissions can build on reporting from The Herald, reporting elsewhere, official statements from the University or other groups and other reputable sources, but they cannot break news or contain information that The Herald cannot verify. Because we cannot publish unsubstantiated information, failure to provide appropriate sources may mean we have to modify or remove unverified claims.
The Herald will not publish anonymous submissions or submissions authored by organizations. Leaders of student organizations can be identified as such but cannot write under the byline of their organization. The Herald cannot publish all submissions it receives and reserves
filings, e delman’s foundation made a $800,000 donation to the University.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com
Students activists held up signs during the presentation to protest investment in fossil fuels.
a SHLey CHOi / HeraLd
INFRASTRUCTURE
McKee introduces relief for businesses impacted by Washington Bridge closure
Affected businesses can now apply for grants up to $2,500
BY MAYA KELLY SENIOR STAFF WRITER
State and local officials announced a new grant program to provide relief for businesses impacted by the Washington bridge’s closure, which has caused traffic problems for commuters between providence and east providence, earlier this month.
the program offers grants of up to $2,500 for restaurants, boutiques, retail shops and other businesses navigating losses stemming from the bridge’s initial closure in december 2023.
“the bridge closure hurt everyone. it was an instant drop in sales,” said Florence Voccola, the owner of F. bianco, a women’s clothing store in providence’s Wayland Square.
Voccola said she has seen multiple neighboring businesses shut their doors recently. minerva’s pizza House, one of the area’s longest-running businesses, closed down in may. before their closure, they frequently posted to their social media about the closure’s impact on local businesses.
“i’m losing stuff because i’m not getting the calls from that side of the bridge,” said James Verity, who owns Verity designs, an interior design consultancy. “it just takes time and time is valuable. it’s the only thing you can’t buy.”
Small businesses experiencing either
CITY POLITICS
a minimum loss of $500 or a 10% loss of revenue due to the bridge closure are encouraged to apply for a grant. businesses can determine their eligibility on the rhode island Commerce website. the grants, which total $2.6 million, will be financed through the federal State Fiscal recovery Fund and included in the state’s fiscal year 2025 budget.
Of those funds, $1.2 million will be allocated to businesses in east providence, $800,000 will be designated for the City of providence and the remaining $600,000 will go toward supporting other businesses outside of those locations, according to matthew touchette, director of communications at rhode island Commerce. providence previously encouraged local
businesses to apply for low-interest, longterm economic injury disaster Loans. but many business owners were hesitant to take on additional debt and expressed their desire for grants that could help them cover costs, touchette explained.
as time went on, some businesses ended up applying for loans, but other options remained bleak, said rick Simone, the managing director for the rhode island Small business Coalition and president of the Federal Hill Commerce association. Of the business owners he knew applied, the majority did not get approved, he said.
the grants are set at tiers of $500, $1,000 and $2,500, determined based on the business’s reported levels of economic loss. but for some, that money is not enough.
“it’s an insult to us, that kind of money,” Voccola said. “With the rent so high everywhere, $2,500 is nothing.”
“even if somebody gets the max of $2,500, that gets gobbled up in a month or less,” Verity said. the governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
“We wish that it was more money, but something is better than nothing,” Simone said.
While touchette agreed that businesses suffered significantly during the first week of the temporary bridge closure, he felt that the economic impact seemed to have been somewhat alleviated over time.
“When they started to open lanes on the eastbound span of the bridge, it did alleviate a lot of those issues,” he said.
“even though we were able to get six
lanes moving again pretty quickly, and traffic volume is back to where it was, businesses still need help to offset some of the losses,” Governor dan mcKee wrote in a press release.
according to Voccola, the losses from the bridge are ongoing. “it’s been nine months already, and there doesn’t seem to be an end to it. i’m very distraught,” she said.
“ t he economic impact on r hode island, small businesses and the larger business community is going to be felt for a long time,” Verity said. “it’s just unfortunate.”
along with the Washington bridge Small business Grant program, r i. Commerce has prioritized helping providence and east providence businesses for other relief funding opportunities like the placemaking initiative, the main Street r i. Streetscape improvement Fund and the Site readiness program.
“We were able to give substantial grants to both cities as a result,” touchette said. interested small businesses should visit the r i. Commerce website and apply before the Sept. 24 deadline. afterwards, the department will evaluate the initial response and consider opening another round of applications.
“We never stop evaluating how we can help businesses,” touchette added.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 17, 2024.
Providence residents testify for changes to updated Comprehensive Plan draft
The plan serves as a guide for city’s next 10 years of development
BY AVANI GHOSH METRO EDITOR
On monday, the providence City Council hosted a public hearing for the Comprehensive p lan, a document that helps guide the city’s urban planning and development.
in their testimonies, residents mostly addressed the plan’s changes in housing, transportation and sustainability policies. the draft of the 2024 updated Comprehensive plan also includes changes to land use, design standards, arts and cultural development, community spaces and public facilities.
Transportation providence resident diane Librandi testified in support of a more extensive bus system, saying she relies heavily on the rhode island public transit authority.
but last tuesday, when Librandi tried to bus to her statewide primary elections polling location — which had been changed at the last minute — she realized that ripta does not service the area.
the current Comprehensive plan draft hopes to increase bus ridership through more frequent and reliable service. While the plan “advocate(s) for new bus routes,” Librandi argued that the ripta must also ensure that more locations are accessible and connected.
Librandi also voiced her support for
keeping the ripta bus hub in Kennedy plaza rather than relocating it to a new area. She cited its centrality to the providence downtown area as a main reason why it should stay as is.
Greg Gerritt, another resident who testified at the hearing, supported Librandi’s view and argued the money that would go into relocation should instead be used to improve existing transit infrastructure.
Housing and zoning
Liz mauran, vice-president of the mile of History association, a nonprofit promoting preservation within the city, testified that creative solutions and strict design review are necessary for further development in p rovidence, noting vacant commercial spaces as possible options for adaptive reuse.
mauran added that she hopes to see the return of historic tax credits and other incentives in housing developments to minimize the destruction of significant properties.
Fox point Neighborhood association president Lily bogosian also stressed the importance of balancing historic preservation with development. She pointed to the strong opposition to development on Wickenden St. as an example, stating that its historic “funky, artistic vibe” attracts residents and visitors alike.
bogosian said that Wickenden St. has been designated as a high density priority zone, “which places all these old buildings and its history … in serious jeopardy.” She added that to create more housing units, developers are turning multiple historic
properties into large buildings with “nominal accommodations” from the city.
bogosian asked the City Council to consider changing Wickenden’s designation back to a C2 zone — a community commercial zone — so that its history can be preserved.
Lucy berman, a representative from Central providence Opportunities, brought up equity concerns about current zoning practices. “With this plan, providence has an opportunity to advance equitable zoning reforms so that we can be a city that develops deeply affordable housing without displacement,” they said.
berman pointed to the comprehensive plans of Seattle and minneapolis as examples of cities that have centered racial equity in their housing and zoning development policies.
“a s it stands, this plan sees providence falling behind,” they said. “it does not acknowledge how the built environment perpetuates racial disparities and does not propose a plan of action to ameliorate and prevent harm to communities of color.”
Sustainability
Gerritt said that he approved the draft’s solutions on issues of sustainability, but he also believed more changes are necessary. “if we are going to have an economy that works in this city, we have to focus on climate justice,” he said.
Gerritt added that while providence has a myriad of industrial zones, “what we haven’t done is figure out how to protect the health and well-being of the people who live next to the industrial zones.”
In their testimonies, residents mostly addressed the plan’s changes in housing, transportation and sustainability policies.
Gerritt noted the prevalence of asthma in such areas due to high rates of pollution and lack of effective measures to manage environmental hazards. “We need … to make sure that the kids who live next to industrial zones don’t have asthma.”
resident Steve ahlquist echoed similar sentiments, arguing that environmental justice is key to addressing climate change.
“We need to empower communities to reject industries that poison their children,” ahlquist said, pointing to how more affluent and politically engaged neighborhoods — such as the east Side — have more power to do so than neighborhoods near the port, for example.
in his testimony, ahlquist also called
for “no more fossil fuel development of any kind in providence.”
“the language around environmental justice and climate change in the plan needs to be tightened” to prevent people and industries from exploiting any possible loopholes in its current phrasing, ahlquist added. “i would like to see us do better.” this plan is updated every 10 years. the City plan Commission will approve the most recent draft on June 18. the State of r i. will also review the plan before implementation.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com
aVery GUO / HeraLd
EDUCATION
Hoping to regain control over education system, residents lobby for changes
Participants voiced concerns about local accountability
BY CIARA MEYER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
approximately 100 community members gathered this Saturday to provide input on how the providence public School district can improve in hopes of transitioning back from state to local control.
the rhode island department of education has taken over the district for the past five years and recently decided to continue the takeover for three more years, despite local objections. at Saturday’s meeting, providence mayor brett Smiley said that he took ride’s decision as a challenge to demonstrate “to ride and the K-12 board that we’re prepared because we want our schools back.”
Smiley introduced the meeting as a space to gather feedback and advice to help ppSd make progress on the turnaround action plan — the city’s guide to creating a model school district.
Community members entering the event responded to prompts written on sheets of paper hung on providence Career and technical academy’s lobby walls. participants referenced concerns that little to nothing had changed since ride first took over the district. Others
BUSINESSES
wrote that they were worried a return to local control would mean less accountability for ppSd leaders.
Concerns about ride’s management of ppSd were mirrored in a summary of survey results shared in remarks by providence director of recreation Stephen Grace. the “return to local control survey,” which has received over 500 responses so far, found that a majority of respondents believed that the district had been “moving in the wrong direction” since the takeover began and wanted to see an immediate return to local control.
City officials started taking steps in anticipation of the transition, forming a return to Local Control Cabinet with collaboration
between the mayor, the city council and the school board. many members of the city council, school board, ppSd, city leadership and ride were present at Saturday’s meeting.
Councilman John Goncalves (d-Ward 1) said in an interview with the Herald that it will be important for the plan and timeline of the transition to be community-driven. “We really have to meet people where they are,” he said.
Carol pagan ’99 mat ’00, a teacher at ppSd’s Leviton dual Language School, expressed concern that the takeover has led to an increase in testing. She shared that this has been especially challenging because multilingual students are required to take their assessments in both their native languages
and english. “if we’re over-assessing, where’s the time for instruction?” she said.
pagan said she hopes that plans for a transition back to local control will put the needs of “language learners more at the forefront.”
after the opening remarks, participants were invited to discuss four focus areas in breakout groups — attendance and graduation, family and caregiver engagement, school quality and test scores. a fifth breakout group for Spanish speakers discussed all four topics.
members of the school quality group expressed a lack of understanding about how school quality was assessed, and many described ride’s star-rating system as confusing. participants also voiced concerns about teacher and leadership turnover, inadequate support for students with special needs and a disconnect between decision-makers and stakeholders. Some suggested district leaders spend more time visiting schools to better understand the day-to-day experience of ppSd teachers and students.
dozens of attendees were wearing “Stop the Wait ri” shirts in support of an organization that advocates for charter school availability.
although Stop the Wait ri focuses on charter schools, founder and CeO Seguí rodríguez said many charter school families still have students in ppSd. She said she thought the city could have done more to advertise the event, noting that “in the Spanish room,
Meet Gary Wallace, Providence’s tinkering printer
The founder of Hall of GraFX tells The Herald about the shop’s origins
BY MEGAN CHAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Hall of GraFX’s storefront is easy to miss. t he business is only identified by the small logo tacked beside its double doors.
t here’s an irony to this company, which produces bespoke graphic prints but hosts the most unassuming of exteriors.
On this monday afternoon, founder Gary Wallace is the only person in the office. He’s dressed unassumingly too: a black t-shirt, green sweatpants and a yankees cap.
“We’re not (wearing) suits and ties, like sales reps. Sales reps are scary people,” he later explains.
Wallace prides himself on being approachable and “cool.” His office is packed full of Star Wars funko pops — 96 and counting. He even owns a funko pop of himself, a gift from a former intern. but ogle at his collection for too long, and you’ll miss the splay of award plaques hung modestly below his shelves. On most of them, “Hall of GraFX” is plated in gold.
t he shop, founded in 2012, uses its vast arsenal of machines to print virtually anything.
“ i have, probably, some of the biggest machines in the state,” Wallace says as he enters “the dance floor,” a room nicknamed for its impressive boast of printers.
to an untrained observer, the machines look more similar than not. b ut Wallace, who spent much of his career flying around the world to fix machines like these, distinguishes them with technical precision.
From Switzerland to india and aus -
tralia, Wallace spent most of his time traveling to keep machines like these alive. b ut it was in New Jersey where Wallace embarked on his most poignant journey.
in New Jersey, he saw a machine being stored “in a place that wasn’t really a print shop,” Wallace recounted. His client, on the brink of retirement, wanted the machines fixed so he could sell them. Struck by sudden inspiration, Wallace agreed to buy them.
“ i always daydreamed of having my own place,” said Wallace. He had spent most of his career hopping between jobs, honing his design craft and repair skills while being limited by bureaucratic micromanagement.
“ talent should be doing his own thing,” Wallace continued. So the design-technician became C e O of his own company.
“there was no business plan, no bank loan … no nothing. Just, ‘ yeah, let’s do it,’” Wallace said. “and i know i’m pretty good at this stuff. i ’ve been doing this for the biggest companies in m anhattan, been doing it around the world.”
Hall of GraFX has become a p rovidence staple, printing and designing materials for some of the most famous local events like pVdFest, Waterfire and the d ominican Festival. a ccording to its website, the shop also has working relationships with various political campaigns, the p rovidence p lace m all and the cities of providence and Central Fall.
t he company also makes prints for non-profits, usually at a discounted rate. “most of these companies can’t really afford much,” said Wallace, echoing similar sentiments in his previous collaboration with the Womxn project education Fund, t he Herald previously reported.
Wallace’s generosity is founded on more than just charity. “i help out other companies (and) they keep coming back,”
i think there were 4 parents outside of (Stop the Wait ri-affiliated) parents.”
andrea Gonzalez Sanchez, interim program manager with young Voices ri, noted that students need to be more included in conversations about the future of the district. “Student voice is necessary,” she said, adding that organizers need to ensure “that young people are here speaking up for themselves.” the city promoted the event through social media, the city’s website and newsletters and the pVd 311 system, providence deputy press Secretary Samara pinto wrote in an email to the Herald. event details were also shared at community events and displayed on flyers that were distributed throughout the city. Gonzalez Sanchez and Seguí rodríguez both said they felt the meeting was short. “Some conversations should have been longer,” Gonzalez Sanchez said. She also suggested that participants should have had a way to share contact information to keep “fighting for a shared cause.”
“We’re not reaching everybody,” Grace acknowledged. “those of you in this room should feel empowered to host your own community conversations.”
a second community conversation on education will be hosted by the mayor on dec. 14.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 15, 2024.
Wallace said. Word of mouth, especially through social media, has been formative to Hall of GraFX’s momentum.
Unlike his first digital printing job in m anhattan, which catered towards brand names, Hall of GraFX mostly retains a grounded target audience. and unlike other local printing studios, Hall of GraFX boasts machinery capable of large-scale printing without hefty variable costs. Wallace doesn’t need to hire service technicians, for example, when he can fix machines himself. the office’s unassuming location is also part of this business model — Hall of GraFX enjoys cheaper rent, and their customers enjoy cheaper prices.
“ i f you can last five years, they say your business is going to work,” Wallace continued. Hall of GraFX is still standing, twelve years into its operations.
“ i ’ve seen things i liked, seen things i didn’t like,” said Wallace. He rattles — often in sports metaphors — about business philosophies he’s adopted over time.
He tries to make “one base hit a day” and compares great business mentors to famous gymnasts like Gabby d ouglas. but Wallace most passionately spoke of the athlete r aygun, an a ustralian breakdancer who went viral for her performance at the 2024 Olympics. “ i clapped for her while everybody (booed) her,” he said. “She wasn’t great. everybody knows it, but she had the guts to go on stage in front of the whole world and perform, (and) now, she’s more famous than anyone else.”
it’s not difficult to understand why Wallace resonates so deeply with r aygun. a s a fellow artist, Wallace understands the frustration of criticism. b ut he also understands the unexpected rewards that come with offering opportunities to the unassuming.
“She wins,” Wallace says, describing raygun. He might as well be talking about himself.
This article originally appeared
Sept. 15, 2024.
at
There’s an irony to this company, which produces bespoke graphic prints but hosts the most unassuming of exteriors.
a
Concerns about RIDE’s management of the PPSD were mirrored in a summary of survey results shared in remarks by Providence Director of Recreation Stephen Grace.
SPORTS
Meet the players that helped Brown’s squash teams win three national championships
The two squash teams were converted from varsity squads to clubs
BY DENNIS CAREY SPORTS EDITOR
brown’s two squash teams lost their varsity status in 2020. but that hasn’t stopped them from excelling.
in February, the men’s/co-ed team won the club national championship for the second year running, and the women’s team finished fifth among club teams in the country. Since the program’s demotion to club status, the two teams have collectively won three national championship tournaments out of the four for which they qualified.
“What i love most about brown squash is how close everyone is, making squash a team sport,” captain Vedant Gupta ’25 wrote in an email to the Herald. “Securing these titles together is not only rewarding but also vali-
dates all the hard work we’ve put in as a team.” in 2023, both the men’s/co-ed and women’s teams cruised to crushing victories in the national tournaments. the men’s/co-ed team replicated that re-
sult this year. after powering their way through the opening rounds, notching 9-0 victories against both boston University and penn, they faced the University of Chicago in the finals. at last winter’s nationals, the bears handed
the maroons a 9-0 domination in the opening rounds of the tournament. Winning 8-1 in the finals, bruno came up one game short of a perfect tournament.
“things have often been challenging for us as a club team that primarily plays varsity programs during our season,” Gupta wrote. “but credit goes to everyone on the team — and Coach Gaskin — for holding themselves accountable to the same standards as any varsity program and putting the work in every day.”
“there was a chip on our shoulders,” co-captain Leo Shack ’25 added. “previously we had competed in college nationals with other varsity programs. We wanted to make a statement that we should be in ‘the big leagues’ with other varsity programs.”
despite not winning the national championship, the women’s team has demonstrated dramatic growth from its initial positioning after being reclassified as a club sport.
Captain Zoya Unni ’25 recalled that, when
Women’s Soccer drops road-trip game to No. 17 Ohio State
Despite an impressive effort, the team fell for the second time this season
BY DENNIS CAREY SPORTS EDITOR
On Sunday, women’s soccer (2-2-3) faced off against No. 17 Ohio State (6-1-1). despite bruno’s impressive stat sheet, the buckeyes sent the bears home with a 2-0 loss, their second of the season. the bears remain winless against the buckeyes through two matchups, the first loss being a 3-2 defeat in 2022.
While the bears had numerous chances in the second half, the game had already been decided within the first twenty minutes. after a shot that didn’t find the net in the first two minutes of the game, the buckeyes earned a corner at almost exactly the four-minute mark. a successful conversion brought them a 1-0 lead within five minutes of play.
according to captain alexis “Lexi” Quinn ’25, the bears did not “show up like brown Women’s Soccer.” the team struggled to find their feet and “were stepping out late,” “out of position” and
“not pressing as a team.”
“it was a complete mess,” Quinn wrote in a message to the Herald.
Quinn played the full 90 minutes at center-back, keeping the team’s press organized and the backline intact.
“instead of putting out fires in front of the goal and making last-ditch sliding efforts to get the ball out of the net, a good center back should be organizing the midfield, keeping their line and dictating the press’s shifting,” she wrote about her performance.
after a relatively quiet period with neither team registering a shot on goal, Ohio State restarted their attack. after two passes got the buckeyes into the final third, a short drive and well-placed shot outside of the box put the bears down by two.
“We had a slow start against Ohio State and conceded two goals early,” Head Coach Kia mcNeill wrote in a message to the Herald. “i think it was just a lapse of focus in those two moments, and good teams will punish you for those types of mistakes.”
bruno managed to create a few of their own chances, but were not clinical enough in front of goal to score.
Soon after Ohio State’s second goal, the bears
found their first chance of the day, slicing open the buckeyes’s back line and putting Joy Okonye ’27 through on goal. but her shot was saved, preventing the bears from drawing one back.
the same happened later in the second half, when angelina Vargas ’27 found herself driving in on goal after a well-placed pass beat the backline once again. However, Vargas’s attempt to find the far post didn’t have the power to beat the keeper and the ball was once again saved.
“We just need a bit more composure in front of goal,” mcNeill wrote. “i’m happy we are generating chances, but now we have to reward ourselves and take care of our chances.”
the second half was dominated by the bears whose substitutes gave them a newfound confidence.
“the subs came on ready to play,” Quinn wrote. “Sometimes, when our starters are playing afraid to make mistakes and lose their spot, it’s nice to have fresh legs come on with this pride and fight to prove their worth and earn their spot.”
bruno registered nine shots in the second and forced three saves out of the Ohio State keeper. individually, Nadja meite ’28 notched four of the bears’ 13 shots.
“as the first half drew to a close we had all
she was a freshman, the recently demoted team didn’t even have a coach at first.
building a program of this caliber isn’t easy, Head Coach arthur Gaskin said. “the main pieces to the puzzle are to enjoy the process of learning (and) improvement, and consistency.”
Looking ahead to this season, Gaskin thinks that maintaining the team’s training “will put ourselves in strong footing.” Fans of the team can look forward to “a lot of home matches this year,” he wrote.
“there should be a lot of intense and gritty matches where we’re able to show off our skills and determination,” Unni added. “i’m very excited for the season to come and really just want to enjoy all of the moments involved since it’s my last year on this team.”
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 16, 2024.
COUrteSy OF brOWN atHLetiCS Bruno managed to create a few of their own chances, but were not clinical enough in front of goal to score.
the momentum. and then in the second half we just went at ‘em,” Quinn wrote. “and honestly, we gave them a run for their money.”
despite the loss, the second-half performance against Ohio State might give the team newfound confidence as conference play approaches. the short gap between now and the first ivy game against Harvard will also give the bears time to improve.
“i think the biggest thing i want our team
Men’s tennis kicks off season with Brown Fall Invite
The Bears played against Merrimack, Quinnipiac and Yale
BY COOPER HERMAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
the men’s tennis team kicked off their season with the annual brown Fall invite in providence. the bears played a number of both doubles and singles matches over the weekend against merrimack College, Quinnipiac University and yale.
“i’m proud of how the team came together this weekend,” Head Coach alex Kasarov wrote in a statement to the Herald. “there were some strong performances, and even in areas where we can improve, the effort and energy were there.” the bears began the invite early Saturday morning with two doubles matches against the merrimack Warriors.
the first of the two matches looked promising. James Lian ’27 and tobias Luo ’28 started the bears off with a narrow 6-4 victory over merrimack’s morgan donovan and Kabir Chhabria. by controlling the pace of the game, minimizing unforced errors and capitalizing on merrimack faults, the underclassmen duo secured an early bruno victory.
the following doubles match between George bader ’25 and brian Chong ’25 took on
merrimack’s Charles robertson and Valentin riveros was less impressive. the merrimack duo demonstrated impressive power and chemistry, forcing bruno errors and swiftly handing the senior duo a 6-1 loss to conclude doubles play that morning. the bears and Warriors then played four singles matches. Lian got the bears off to a fantastic start in singles play, defeating merrimack’s mateusz Gradzki 7-6(8), 6-2, and 11-9.
On the other court, Luo dominated, crushing morgan donovan in two quick sets 6-0 and 6-1, securing his first collegiate singles victory in the
process. While Luo impressed, he was not complacent. “i am happy i got my first collegiate win, but i feel like i could have performed better,” he wrote in an email to the Herald. “my game was solid, but i just need to work on a few things.”
Just as the bears seemed to be dominating the singles matches, the Warriors flipped the script, winning the other two matches with short sets. Kabir Chhabria defeated Chong 6-2 and 6-3, while on the other court, Charles robertson defeated bader 6-1 and 6-2. the Warriors’ last-minute effort left things all tied up between brown and merrimack, as the teams finished 2-2 in singles and 1-1 in doubles after play against merrimack.
play between the bears and bobcats began with two doubles matches. Quinnipiac’s Finn burridge and Carlos braun-Simo took on Lian and Luo, the young duo coming off an impressive win. but this time, the underclassmen were outmatched. burridge and braun-Simo were more disciplined, capitalizing on the bears’ mistakes and defeating bruno 6-0.
the latter doubles match was between Quinnipiac’s yasha Laskin and Csanad Nyaradi and brown’s senior duo, bader and Chong. to the bears’ dismay, the Quinnipiac squad swept bruno in doubles play, scarcely winning 7-5. “Quinnipiac was very solid and their doubles were strong,” Luo wrote. “they were more aggressive than us and that really showed.”
after the two doubles matches versus Quinnipiac, the bears and bobcats brawled in singles. Lian spearheaded the bears’ effort in singles, taking on Quinnipiac’s Finn burridge. Lian struggled with burridge’s serve during the first set, dropping it 6-2. Nevertheless, Lian adjusted and finished strong, winning the last two sets 6-1 and 10-3.
“(burridge) had a big serve and a big forehand, so he was tough to break down initially. He also competed hard, which i respect out of any of my opponents,” Lian wrote.
Unfortunately for bruno, Lian was the only winner in singles versus Quinnipiac, as the bobcats’ braun-Simo defeated Luo in two sets 6-3 and 7-5. braun-Simo “was very solid,” Luo wrote.
“He outplayed me and found my weaker spot and honed in on that. it was a tight match, but a few points here and there cost me.”
On the other court, brown’s Chong and bader both lost singles matches to Quinnipiac, closing out play on Saturday. after all matches against Quinnipiac, the bears finished 1-3 in singles and 0-2 in doubles.
to continue to work on is our quality and decision-making in the final third,” mcNeill wrote. bruno closes out non-conference play on thursday looking for a road victory against Northeastern.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 18, 2024.
Outside of Lian’s victory, the bulldogs were nothing short of dominant, winning the other three singles matches against brown’s Luo, bader and Chong.
the critical singles losses to the bulldogs left the bears with a 1-3 singles record and 0-2 doubles record against yale — the exact same as their record against Quinnipiac the day prior. across the weekend, the bears finished with a singles record of 4-8 and a doubles record of 1-5. the squad will return to action on Friday, Sept. 27th at the three-day-long yale Fall invite. matches will be held at the Cullman-Heyman tennis Center in New Haven, Connecticut.
“Our main goals are to keep improving as a team and ensure we’re playing our best tennis by the end of the season,” Kasarov wrote. “We’re focused on consistency and staying competitive in every match. We’ll take it one step at a time.”
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 18, 2024.
On Sunday morning, the bears launched play against the yale bulldogs, starting off with two doubles matches. yale’s dylan tsoi and Walker Oberg gave the bears underclassmen duo a tough match, closely defeating Lian and Luo 6-4. On the other court, the bulldogs maintained dominance, defeating brown’s bader and Chong 6-1. in singles play, Lian secured the lone brunonian victory, defeating tsoi 6-1 and 10-5 in the first and third sets. “Given all three of my singles matches went the distance, there were definitely a lot of ups and downs, but i feel that i performed well on big points when it mattered the most,” wrote Lian.
COOper HermaN / HeraLd Chong and Bader share a handshake in their doubles match against Quinnipiac.
en’s100-meter breaststroke for the Gambia, also spoke highly of her experience in paris.
“i spent three weeks in the Olympic Village. i raced on the second day of the Olympics, so after that, i did my best to explore and soak up the experience. all Olympic athletes had access to every sport, so i spectated quite a bit,” barrow wrote.
barrow’s presence at the games was one of historical significance, as she became the first woman to represent her nation in swimming.
“it’s a huge honor to be the first woman to represent the Gambia in swimming, though it is disheartening that the term ‘first woman’ still has to be used in 2024,” she wrote.
both swimmers also spoke to the meaning of getting to experience such an event alongside a fellow bear.
“it was very nice to watch (amie) become an Olympian while both of us were also representing the brown student and athlete family,” barrow wrote.
a pair of former brown teammates also represented brown at the Olympic Games, as Hollingsworth and rodriguez competed as part of the U.S. rowing contingent to paris.
Competing in the men’s eight, Hollingsworth — captain of the rowing team during his time at brown — helped propel the U.S. to a bronze medal from the bow seat, with a time of 5:25.28 that was barely beaten by Great britain and the Netherlands.
the medal marked the nation’s first in the event since the 2008 beijing Games.
rodriguez served as an alternate for the team, receiving his own Olympic moment during the spare’s race, rowing with his German counterpart: “it felt like a very apt experience for the Olympics.” rodriguez wrote. “Countries came together and raced under two flags in the same shell”.
For rodriguez, Olympic competition runs in his blood. “my dad was an Olympic
rower, and it makes me so happy to follow in his footsteps and make my whole family proud,” rodriguez said.
He credited brown Crew’s storied program for his post-grad success, specifically citing 23-year Head Coach paul Cooke ‘89. “brown was instrumental to getting me where i am,” rodriguez wrote, adding that Cooke “made me the rower that i am today.”
One of brown’s biggest accomplishments at the paris Olympics came from a former student-athlete making her mark without rippling a wave or scoring a point.
emilie bydwell ’08 helped coach the USa Women’s rugby Sevens team to its first-ever medal, capturing the bronze in dramatic fashion as her team scored a try and conversion kick with time expired to defeat 2016 gold medalists australia.
b ydwell, who was a three-time all-american at brown and the 2007 Collegiate p layer of the year, was selected in 2021 to coach the national women’s rugby sevens team, following in the legacy of former b rown University coach Kathy Flores.
bydwell’s task as Head Coach of USa Women’s rugby Sevens went beyond onfield success; She also aims to grow the game throughout america.
“it has to be about more than the medals,” bydwell said. there has to be “a purpose that transcends the outcome and extends to what we wanted audiences to see, hear and feel.”
bydwell described preparation for the decisive bronze medal match as “one of my
most challenging moments as coach,” as the favored australian team was upset by Canada in the semifinals earlier that day.
Having prepared to face the Canadians, the U.S. instead had to pivot to prepare to face australia, “a team we hadn’t beaten all season,” and “the best offensive team in the world,” according to bydwell. but the U.S. pulled off the thrilling victory with a final score of 14-12.
bydwell credited her experiences at brown and the mentors she had for shaping the coach she has become. She highlighted her relationship with former Head Coach Kerri Heffernan, who taught bydwell to be herself while coaching, and credited Kathy Flores for showing her an “authentic leadership model.”
bydwell called her coaching style one “grounded in empathy, care and love,” values which are “reflective of who i am, and i learned that at brown.”
For bydwell’s team, her focus will now turn to “figuring out how to maintain our momentum and build from the ground up” with roster turnover.
For rodriguez, the goal is to “bring home a gold medal” one day in the future.
For barrow and bilgin, their attention now turns back to the bears’ upcoming season, which kicks off on Nov. 1 with a match-up against Harvard.
being an ivy student athlete is hard,” bilgin said. “So being able to achieve this dream of becoming an Olympian while also studying at an ivy League institution … helped me realize myself better and how everything really is possible if you want
it bad enough.”gardless of their views, speakers repeatedly asked Kellner questions related to how aCUrm would define the category of “social harm.”
Kellner hesitated to offer a universal definition of social harm, but said that “the situation taking place in palestine” is “an unquestionable social harm, and ... there’s probably something close to a universal consensus on that view.”
He compared aCUrm’s members to jurors in a trial, characterizing them on multiple occasions as open-minded while acknowledging that they have existing beliefs. a handful of attendees characterized divestment from companies with israeli military ties as a slippery slope.
“How would you then (not open) this up to every single other circumstance of countries or companies involved in controversial issues?” one attendee asked. “if this divestment were to pass, would the next logical thing be to divest from Qatar and turkey for supporting Hamas?”
Kellner responded by pointing out that brown can consider more requests in the future.
in the past, the University has made the decision to divest from South africa, from the humanitarian crisis in Sudan and also from tobacco,” he said. “there have been other proposals over time … this is just the one that we’re talking about right now.”
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 15, 2024.
COUrteSy OF brOWN atHLetiCS
Zehra Bilgin, who competed in women’s 4x200-meter freestyle race, has been representing Turkey in international meets since age 13 and swimming since she was just 9 years old.
COUrteSy OF ZeHra biLGiN
Letter from the Editor
Dear Readers,
I’ve been thinking a lot about delight recently—the ways in which it manifests in the world, and the ways in which it appears before me. Delight is ephemeral; I use my butterfly net to swipe at the world and capture those glimmers of joy, letting them fly around and metamorphize in my mind. The other day, I made good on my resolution to wake up at 8 a.m. every day by waking up at 8 a.m. just once. What a great feeling, to shoot up against the extra weight of gravity that I usually fight in the mornings. But like many delights, it’s short lived; the next day I got caught hitting the snooze button two, three, four too many times, admonishing myself when I finally got ready to take on the world. I’ve been reading Ross Gay’s The Book of Delights, an experiment in finding a bit of joy everyday, and I noticed that many of his delights are marred by the impurities of the world around him, a reminder that most of what is good is often not forever.
This week in post-, we’ve got some stories at an inflection point too. In Feature, our writer details the story of her medical transition and journey to find joy. Meanwhile, in Narrative, one writer explores the way that the fairies from her childhood built her world, while the other writer learns about the eternal mystery of his parents through the music that they enjoy together. One of our Arts & Culture writers is celebrating the long-awaited rise of Charli XCX, and our other writer is picking apart the act of feeling itself, where emotions come from and how they evolve. Finally, in Lifestyle, our writer reflects on her past four years through books that she’s loved, ones that she wants to share with all of you. Of course, it wouldn’t be an issue of post- without a crossword, so make sure you get the chance to check that out before you run off as well! Today’s delight, perhaps unsurprisingly, has been this wonderful first issue of post-. Looking around—as we welcomed our new editors, welcomed back our vintage editors, and celebrated the fact that we all made it to this exact place in space—I can’t help but feel a deep sense of satisfaction, a breath of relief, that the year is off without a hitch. It’s a bittersweet feeling, my last semester of post-, surrounded by fleeting delights. I do promise that we will make it as amazing as we possibly can this semester, so stay tuned, and share the delight of post- with your friends this week!
Absolutely elated,
Joe Maffa Editor-in-Chief
“Do you think it’s rude to bring a bookbag to a darty?”
“I have never seen such a wellcrafted group of annoying people.”
1. Charli xcx
2. Bratwurst
3. Bratz dolls
4. The B(ratty)
5. Veruca Salt
6. Bratislava
7. Brat Pack
8. Queen Elizabrat
9. My ungrateful shit-eating sister
10. Bratatouille
“The crowd mentality, the one affecting the coat population on campus today, needs to be one of inclusivity and support, under whatever circumstances or for whatever reason.”
— Sean Toomey, “The Tan in Man”
“The water awoke myself to my body, a thing so funnily forgotten. The coldness pressed against my limbs so that I could feel every hair I’d always pondered shaving off, and in the full of my throat a fresh thud of heartbeats gathered.”
— Elena Jiang, “On Coastlines and Other Beginnings” 09.21.2023
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Joe Maffa
FEATURE
Managing Editor
Klara Davidson-Schmich
Section Editors
Daphne Cao
Elaina Bayard
ARTS & CULTURE
Managing Editor
Elijah Puente
Section Editors
Emily Tom
AJ Wu
NARRATIVE
Managing Editor
Katheryne Gonzalez
Section Editors Gabi Yuan
Ananya Mukerji
LIFESTYLE
SOCIAL MEDIA
Managing Editor
Tabitha Grandolfo
Section Editors
Alex Hay
LAYOUT CHIEF
Gray Martens
Layout Designers
Amber Zhao
Alexa Gay
Romilly Thomson
STAFF WRITERS
Nina Lidar
Sarah Frank
Pooja Kalyan
Ana Vissicchio
Gabi Yuan
Lynn Nguyen
Samira Lakhiani Ellyse Givens
Ishan Khurana
Will Hassett
Lily Coffman
COMMENTARY
O’Riordan ’27: Brown’s financial aid
in almost every regard, brown is one of the most generous universities in the United States when it comes to financial aid. they are in the top 20 universities with the most generous financial aid packages, they are one of only around 100 universities that are need-blind in their admissions process and are one of only 75 universities that meet 100% of demonstrated financial need. it’s clear that brown makes a concerted effort to help lower income students get to brown, but i believe they could do more to make expected family contributions more equitable.
Within a financial aid package, the expected family contribution is the dollar amount brown believes your family can and should contribute to your education. this is calculated based on your family’s income, savings, assets, investments and personal circumstances. rounding up, about 50% of brown students are on financial aid, with an average grant of $49,830, meaning the student’s family would still be paying $39,118 out of pocket. the other half of students are paying full tuition which, for the current school year, is $88,948. Using these numbers, we calculate $69,389 as the average amount a student will pay to attend brown University.
Students often use outside scholarships as a means to supplement this high number and pay for their education. However, after $5,000, any outside scholarship will not lower one’s expected family contribution. this means that the average student would be able to decrease their payment to brown by only 7.5% using outside scholarships.
regardless of whether a tuition payment is made by the family or an outside source, brown will get the full amount of money they have billed. this could put middle and lower income families in a situation where they are paying more than is comfortable, but there is virtually no way to lessen the expense.
Unlike FaFSa , brown also considers the income of noncustodial parents in determining a
cannot be one-size-fits-all
So, as usual, lower income families suffer the most from efforts to prevent bad behavior by the rich. Only 44% of custodial parents receive their full amount of child support, with the average payment being around $450. i f the majority of single parents cannot depend on a few hundred dollars a month to clothe and feed their children, how can they expect that same coparent to pay b rown the many thousands of non-court-man -
It’s clear that Brown makes a concerted effort to help lower income students get to Brown, but I believe they could do more to make expected family contributions more equitable. “
“
family’s financial need. this makes sense: if your parents getting a divorce meant you could go to school for free, every high-income family with a primary breadwinner would legally end their marriage and list the non-earning parent as the child’s custodian. and 70% of brown’s families come from the top 20% — permitting such an obvious loophole would put a serious dent in brown’s bottom line.
dated dollars that the University expects? pell Grants, which are federal scholarships designed to help low-income families pay for college, are awarded by Fa FSa’s metrics of need. However, if b rown disagrees with Fa FSa’s assessment, the pell Grant will only “result in a dollar-for-dollar reduction to University Scholarship and … (will not) impact the student contribution.” t he grants should not be a bonus given to elite uni -
versities for accepting poor students. to make these grants virtually ineffectual for lower income students is immoral and greedy. plus, brown already has many fantastic programs in place to help lower income students get into and afford the College. it doesn’t seem like that far of a stretch to ask them to put more measures in place that make college more accessible for those in the middle- and low-income classes. For example, brown could let students use scholarships to pay for $5,000 of their tuition, then split the remainder 50-50 between their expected contribution and direct payment to brown. at a school with such wide ranges of economic circumstances, placing the same cap on someone paying $10,000 and $60,000 is unfair. $5,000 is a much more significant chunk of one tuition compared to the other, a textbook example of the difference between equity and equality. brown can and should update their policies to reflect equitable financial practice. it seems ironic that accepting middle- and low-income students is a pr boost for brown, but multiple programs that, in principle, are designed to aid these students often end up lining brown’s pockets, leaving marginalized families to wrestle with student loans and work overtime to afford the college of their dreams.
Mary O’Riordan ’27 can be reached at mary_oriordan@brown. edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
Lee ’26: Brown’s own admissions policies are responsible for plummeting diversity
t he numbers tell the story, even if the email doesn’t.
Last week, p rovost Francis d oyle sent an email to the University titled, “ b rown’s newest students, by the numbers.” in the email, he discloses the demographics of the Class of 2028, the first class to be admitted since the Supreme Court outlawed race-based affirmative action. t he numbers are indefensible. t he first-year b lack student population decreased by 40% compared to last year. t he Hispanic/Latine population dropped 29%. b rown University, a school that defines itself on pioneering inclusivity and an Open Curriculum to foster diverse thought, has a freshman class that includes a mere 18% of underrepresented students.
m any students reacted in uproar — a collective callback to b rown’s institutional history. b rown’s diversity is not rooted in willing inclusion but in response to student protest, predating even the merging of b rown and pembroke College. in 1968, 65 b lack students from both b rown and pembroke College walked out to protest racist admissions practices. Seven years later, students occupied University Hall to increase financial aid for students of color and establish the b rown Center for Students of Color. in 1992, 253 students once again occupied University Hall, this time for need-blind admissions and to increase awareness for lack of class diversity. t hree decades later, we respond with the same outrage: b rown does not do enough for student diversity. p redicting student ire, b rown’s statement led with its softest words and spokesperson smile, expressing that the University laments the effects of eliminating affirmative action and is expanding race-neutral admissions strategies to maintain their sliver of diversity. t he thesis of the p rovost’s argument reads, “We believe our commitment to implementing lawful measures to ensure a diverse, talented applicant pool and enrolled class was essential in avoiding a more precipitous decrease in racial and socioeconomic diversity.”
i assert the contrary. e ven after the SCOt US ruling against affirmative action, b rown is contributing to this diversity drop through intentional admissions practices, including legacy admissions and the reinstatement of standard -
ized testing. to truly mitigate the consequences of the Supreme Court decision, the University must eliminate admissions practices that advantage the resourced few.
b rown’s practice of legacy admissions is directly antithetical to the racial and socioeconomic diversity the University claims to be fostering. With legacy preference, applicants with familial connections to the University compound the monetary and cultural privilege of having an i vy League parent with admissions preference, resulting in a direct correlation to
To
sity are also disproportionately white, a direct result of the centuries of exclusion non-white applicants have faced within b rown’s admissions process. Surveys conducted by Students for e ducational e quity in 2023 corroborated these findings, also identifying legacy students at b rown’s campus as disproportionately white. a lthough legacy students make up only 8% of the student body, that number feels more significant when placed alongside the demographic numbers released last week — equal to about half of the number of underrepresented ( b lack/Hispanic/
truly mitigate the consequences of the Supreme Court decision, the University must eliminate admissions practices that advantage the resourced few.
wealth and race. a ccording to a 2023 analysis co-authored by b rown professor John Friedman, “legacy students from families in the top 1% (of income) are 5 times as likely to be admitted as the average applicant with similar test scores, demographic characteristics and admissions office ratings.” Legacy students outside of the 90th income percentile still receive a significant advantage, being three times more likely to be accepted than peers with similar qualifications. e ven p resident p axson, a fourth-generation legacy student herself, admitted that if b rown University “were concerned primarily with socioeconomic diversity, it would make sense to eliminate” legacy admissions. meanwhile, class privilege feels like a qualification to join the b rown student body, where the median household income is above $200,000 and 60% come from the top income decile.
a report presented to the Supreme Court found that legacy students at Harvard Univer-
Latine) students. t he University’s legacy preference is representative of b rown’s approach to admissions policy: praising student diversity in community-wide emails, but neglecting to take substantive steps towards increasing it. i n the same breath, b rown re-mandated standardized testing in a supposed effort to maintain class diversity. i n practice, it may be producing the opposite effect. a lthough test scores are correlated with first-year undergraduate G pa , they are also strongly correlated with parental involvement and socioeconomic status due to the inaccessibility of equitable test-preparation materials, with children of the wealthiest 1% being 13 times likelier to score above a 1300 on the Sat than low-income students. a t the University of Chicago, a movement to test-optional permanence resulted in record increases in b lack students, Hispanic and Latino students, rural students and first-generation students within a year. yet b rown contin -
ues to reinstitutionalize a policy that discounts students of color and low-income students in the admissions process.
t he solution to b rown’s diversity problem is not doubling down on inequitable and outdated policies. Of course, b rown’s irreverence would not single-handedly reverse the damage caused by the SCO t US ruling ending affirmative action. b ut as the saying goes, the first step to making a change is acknowledging that you’re part of the problem. b rown is certainly complicit.
t he University understands these correlations. i n fact, one of their initial reactions to the SCO t US ruling was establishing an ad hoc committee of Corporation members and b rown senior faculty “to ensure that the University is fully realizing its educational mission and upholding its commitments to academic excellence, equity, access and diversity”. p axson charged this team to reevaluate three undergraduate admissions policies: legacy admissions, early decision and test-optional permanence.
Change should have been imminent, in a perfect storm of historical relevance and student activism. yet nothing happened. Standardized testing was once again mandated for incoming undergraduates. Legacy admissions is still maintained; the University called upon community input, but have not yet provided a forum to do so.
Here’s the harsh reality. affirmative action is gone, and the only way to reverse the staggering drop in underrepresented students is for b rown University to acknowledge its own inequity. a t this juncture, b rown has the responsibility to put action behind their words. t hey can fulfill their mission of equitable admissions or demonstrate that the school’s commitment to student diversity is just performative at best. t herefore, i conclude with this call to action. b rown, live up to your commitment by going beyond the email. Leave your tests and leave your legacy.
Nick Lee ‘26 is co-president of Brown’s Students for Educational Equity and can be reached at nicholas_m_lee@brown.edu. Please send responses to this op-ed to letters@browndailyherald.com and other op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
Guan ’27: Harris isn’t a perfect candidate. Progressives should support her regardless.
Caught between geopolitical tensions, political polarization and a chaotic candidate swap, the 2024 United States presidential election is set to become one of the most consequential in american history.
Kamala Harris’s entrance into the race has significantly improved the democrats’ fortunes: polls suggest she is broadly more popular than biden and stands a better chance of winning the election. despite the rejuvenated strength of the democrats, internal party divisions continue to cast a long shadow over Harris’s candidacy, meaning this election remains far too close to call.
While i find it terrifying that an election featuring a candidate who does not have basic respect for democracy can be so close, what alarms me further is the sentiment among many progressives in refusing to support Harris over a variety of topics, most notably the biden administration’s response to the war in Gaza. but by focusing solely on Harris’s shortcomings in this issue, we lose sight of the bigger picture: her opponent.
i agree Harris is not a perfect progressive candidate — far from it in fact. Her fairly strict stance on border security and refusal to support a national fracking ban would leave any progressive feeling rather underwhelmed at best. but amidst all the arguing about Harris’s views on Gaza, we have of-
ten failed to remember that our only alternative to her at this point is donald trump. during his administration, the State department not only defied decades of american foreign policy by moving the american embassy in israel to
should provide little confidence for how trump’s diplomacy could resolve the present conflict with any consideration for the palestinian people.
Nowhere was this juxtaposition more evident than during tuesday night’s presidential debate.
I’m sure no progressive Harris boycotter wants Trump to win, but their actions directly increase the probability of such. “
Jerusalem and recognizing the disputed city as the israeli capital but also ordered the closure of the palestine Liberation Organization office in Washington, the de-facto palestinian embassy to the United States. While the administration claimed the closure was meant to pressure the palestinian government into negotiating with israel, such action
“
While Harris committed to working towards a ceasefire deal that guaranteed the release of the remaining hostages, trump offered no concrete plans of action and instead repeated claims that the conflict would have never started if he were president, further insinuating that Harris “hated” both Jews and arabs.
i’m sure no progressive Harris boycotter wants trump to win, but their actions directly increase the probability of such. in a two-way race as competitive as this one, any apathy by the democratic party base directly benefits trump. perhaps the saying “don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good” falls short when many would not even consider Harris “good.” but while Harris may stack up poorly against the progressive ideal, trump remains a far worse alternative. there will never be a “perfect” candidate for any prospective voter because politicians, like all of us, have their own unique views on different issues we may or may not agree with. i write this not to defend Harris’s progressive record, but rather to remind us that the disastrous consequences of a second trump presidency mean that we must put aside our differences and ensure trump never enters the Oval Office again. the only way of ensuring that is throwing our full support behind the only alternative: Kamala Harris.
Lucas Guan ’27 can be reached at lucas_guan@brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
Lair ’28: RI needs media literacy education to equip students against misinformation
the United States is in the midst of a media literacy crisis, and it’s only getting worse.
Just last month, former president donald trump reposted images of a “Swifties for trump” rally, “accepting” the endorsement of taylor Swift and her fanbase. Critics eagerly pointed out that the singer has adamantly criticized trump since his first campaign and, more importantly, the images he shared were entirely ai-generated. trump’s ridiculous claim, while easily disproved by taylor Swift’s endorsement of Vice president Kamala Harris, is telling of the rising influence of misinformation in U.S. politics.
misinformation is not a new issue, but the past few years have seen unprecedented amounts of misleading and false claims. the pandemic, artificial intelligence and a consistent increase of internet bots have all contributed to an abundance of misinformation on nearly every internet platform. the U.S. simultaneously faces record-low trust in mass media and record-high misinformation throughout informal information sources such as social media, blogs, and podcasts — a perfect formula for an
ill-informed and misled public. this era of misinformation has shifted the structure of political debates. disagreements are no longer defined by a difference in opinion or policies, but entirely different perceptions of reality. and it’s challenging to accomplish (or even find) common goals when americans can’t agree upon any sort of objective truth, evident by the low level of congressional progress in the past two years. misinformation is crippling US politics throughout all levels of government, and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down any time soon. How can we stop it?
education is a promising approach; teaching students how to critically analyze information allows them to identify false or misleading claims, especially online. but most schools haven’t yet adopted curriculums that teach students how to responsibly consume information, let alone digital information. a 2018 study of 753 middle and high school students across twelve states found that 68% of middle school students could not properly question advertising and authorship in a news source, and over 70% of high school students thought that
an oil company-sponsored article on climate change was more reliable than one written in the science section of the atlantic. Critical analysis is lacking in students of all ages throughout the nation, and there is a pressing need to address these deficiencies.
Several states have already implemented media literacy programs in public schools. California passed a bill in November of 2023 requiring these lessons in four different subject areas, joining delaware, texas and New Jersey. While the large-scale impacts of the programs has yet to be determined, a 2022 Stanford University study found that high school students in one district significantly improved their abilities to spot misinformation after attending media literacy classes.
rhode island has yet to consider adopting a similar media literacy program. Only 1 in 3 students in the state learn how to interpret news articles, and even fewer are taught to evaluate the bias or monetary incentives of news organizations. Currently, students miss out on lessons that are not only essential for future civic engagement, but also to the
development of critical thinking skills. the purpose of public education is to prepare every student for a successful adulthood, and currently, rhode island schools aren’t succeeding in this mission. despite having some of the highest spending per student in the nation, rhode island schools fall behind neighboring states in terms of program quality, student outcomes and social mobility. there must be an intentional effort to improve and modernize the curriculum if we hope to improve student performance, and a required, universal media literacy program is the first step. media literacy education isn’t a fix-all, but it is a reliable commitment to the future of all rhode island students and the future of the United States. Well informed citizens are the foundation of american democracy, and educated youth are usually the catalyst for positive change in government. if we fail to equip students against misinformation, we risk raising a generation prone to deception. but if we empower students against misinformation, we will not only improve ri public education, but also build back a nation united in truth.
Woodilla ’27: The University must take ownership for the CS department’s challenges
this shopping period has been wild for anybody hoping to take a brown CS course. in response to unprecedented enrollment demand, the Computer Science department instituted enrollment limits on “almost all” of its courses this semester, which has left students scrambling to enroll in CS courses they want to take or, worse, need to take to finish their degree. enrollment prospects have been even more grim for non-concentrators, and riSd students didn’t even get the memo. Fortunately, enrollment has stabilized, but as noise about the situation continues, it’s unclear how many students are exiting shopping period satisfied with their CS enrollment. While the CS department clearly owns substantial blame for this mess, we can’t understand the department’s failure without also acknowledging that the University put it in an unmanageable situation perhaps the rollout of enrollment limits was doomed to fail from the beginning, since department leadership made the decision to enforce the limits without consulting students, Utas, the faculty of the department or even the department’s two directors of undergraduate studies. this begs the question: if neither the department’s faculty nor its undergraduate studies directors were involved with this decision, then who did make this decision? and why did they do so without consulting anybody? it’s
clear the department, or at least its leadership, acted improperly, but the University is also responsible for setting the department up for failure. in president paxson’s august 29th letter outlining the University’s priorities for this academic year, rather than including a much-needed initiative to expand brown’s Computer Science department (possibly into a School of Computer Science, given the concentration’s rapid growth in the past decade), she paid lip service to a University effort to advance the use of ai in administrative and academic activities (whatever that means). the letter didn’t
mention the department once. this unwillingness to acknowledge the department’s needs has led to evident strain. any student who has taken a brown CS course can confirm that the department has become concerningly reliant on
It’s clear the department, or at least its leadership, acted improperly, but the University is also responsible for setting the department up for failure. “ “
Utas. Lines at ta hours are often unbearable, and tas themselves have long voiced concerns about being overworked. While the department’s finances are not public, some professors have suggested the department is underfunded. if the University doesn’t see that the department is in need of relief, it must have its head in the sand.
Some might reference the University’s recent declines in financial growth as the reason for its inaction. Undergraduate tuition isn’t expected to significantly increase any further and endowment returns are expected to shrink from the last decade’s averages, making future departmental budget increases more difficult to attain. but if president paxson really wants to make ai research and application a priority for brown, then the University has no choice but to support the only department that will make that happen. as long as brown’s finances are competently managed, the University should never have a reason to underfund a department to the point of dysfunction.
So as students sit through the CS courses they have (or haven’t) ended up with as the result of a bizarre and poorly decided enrollment process, they can thank the University for putting the CS department in its current situation by neglecting its obvious needs. if the department ever wants to grow out of its current state, the University must come to the table.
ARTS & CULTURE
INTERVIEWS
‘Speak No Evil’ star Mackenzie Davies talks gender performance, horror movies, social anxiety
The actress used personal experiences to build her character new film
BY AYANA AHUJA SENIOR STAFF WRITER
“Speak No evil,” the newest release from director James Watkins, is a classic horror film — filled with the tropes and thrills most beloved by fans of the genre. but underneath its formulaic plot is an interesting exploration of gender performance.
the film follows americans Louise (mackenzie davis) and ben dalton (Scoot mcNairy), and their daughter agnes (alix West Lefler) as they spend a weekend with british couple paddy (James mcavoy) and Ciara (aisling Franciosi), and their son ant (dan Hough) at their country house. but what should be an idyllic vacation, turns eerie. between ant’s inability to speak and his panicked fits, paddy and Ciara’s often strange and unsettling behavior, Louise quickly realizes something strange is afoot. ben, on the other hand, pushes her concerns aside.
in a roundtable interview with the Herald, davis spoke about her experiences starring in “Speak No evil.”
d avis explained how she related to and embodied her character in the film.
“especially for women, there’s this desire to be easy and cool. you bear the weight of a society that sometimes isolates you, but you don’t want to complain about it all the time because it makes you a killjoy,” she said. “So, you might complain three or five times, but then try to be easy and fun. i used that to understand Louise.”
“you can see it in her relationship with her family — her husband is having an easy time, the kids are enjoying themselves, and she’s asking: ‘Why can’t i enjoy this too?’ She’s right to feel uneasy, but there’s a desire to fit in,” davis added.
in fact, much of the suspense in “Speak No evil” relies on the conflict between Louise and ben. the film makes several callbacks to past issues in their marriage and showcases ben’s repeated refusal to listen to Louise’s concerns.
davis felt a similar sense of frustration when playing Louise.
“i struggled at first with why she was so silent because she had good instincts and knew what was happening most of the time. it was a challenge to justify that silence. i’m impulsive and would have acted on my instincts. i made up a backstory to help it make sense for me. i wanted her to be layered and complicated, not just subservient,” she said.
Louise and ben’s relationship dynamic is especially interesting when compared to
I could find another (film) like this, I’d do it again. “ “
For
actors, you just want to try your hand at everything. If
paddy and Ciara’s picture-perfect infatuation with each other — although cracks in their relationship appear in their disparaging treatment of ant. in a heated moment where Louise and ben know they are in danger and try to calmly leave, paddy and Ciara bar their way. Louise utilizes paddy and Ciara’s seemingly secure relationship as bait, going off on a speech about how her own unfaithfulness led to her marriage with ben going awry.
d avis explained that, at first, she thought this scene came “out of nowhere.”
“it took me a long time to figure out the goal of that scene. even down to the second of shooting, i was still wondering what it was about,” she said. “it took a lot of work, and James Watkins was great at humoring me through it.”
though these suspenseful moments often toe the line a little too closely between anxiety-inducing annoyance and apathetic tedium, davis’s character brings much-needed expressive and emotional depth to the film.
“in the movie, my character is more compliant because there’s been a transgression in the marriage. i see it as a gesture of solidarity, like, ‘you’ll take the lead on this trip, and if we survive, i’ll get the next one,’” davis said. “the film does a funny exploration of gender performance, especially with the men, but it’s not heavy-handed or didactic. it’s a fun exploration of how gender impacts social behavior.”
davis also discussed some of her inspirations for the film. She referenced the bourgeois couples in austrian director michael Haneke’s films such as “Caché” and “Funny Games” with characters who were “a bit divorced from their instincts.”
interestingly, d avis decided not to watch, nor was she encouraged to watch,
the 2022 danish film of the same name that “Speak No evil” was based on. She wanted the 2024 version to be her own and let things “unfold organically.” during the interview, davis also shared her experience with social anxiety, which she sees reflected in the film.
b eing alive is hard,” d avis said. “you’re trying to be empathetic, understanding, caring, intuitive and respectful to yourself — it’s a lot to juggle.”
“ t he film places social anxiety on the same plane as mortal danger because that’s how it feels,” she added. “you have a fight-or-flight response to social missteps, and the movie captures that feeling.” perhaps it is those frequent personal moments of terror people feel in their
own lives — social awkwardness or uneasy tension — mirrored on screen that draw audiences to the horror genre.
“at a screening last night, people were clapping, screaming and groaning together, like the whole theater became one organism. you don’t get that anywhere else,” davis said. “For actors, you just want to try your hand at everything. if i could find another (film) like this, i’d do it again.”
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 16, 2024.
The 76th Emmy Awards: Predictable and devoid of humor
The ceremony featured a lack of excitement and a surplus of subpar jokes
BY MANAV MUSUNURU SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Continuing a years-long trend of subpar awards shows, the 76th emmy awards on Sunday was a largely unamusing and excruciatingly dull three hours.
the predictability of winners contributed to the show’s overall dryness. “the bear,” which received a record-breaking 23 nominations as a comedy series, won 11 awards. a nd, as expected, the most nominated show “Shōgun” — receiving a whopping 25 nominations — won the most awards of the night, racking up 18 trophies.
One of the only major upsets of the night was “the bear” losing to “Hacks” in the Outstanding Comedy Series category. although surprising, the victory of “Hacks” is understandable. Unlike “the bear,” a drama series with integrated elements of dark comedy, “Hacks” is unambiguously comedic and truly encompasses the nature of its content.
Hosted by father-son actor duo eugene and d an Levy, the ceremony frequently fell flat in its attempts to amuse both its live and television audiences. the
presentation for the Outstanding Supporting actor in a Comedy Series award consisted of an oddly placed advertisement and a chaotic attempt at humor. While presenting the award, “Only murders in the building” stars Steve martin, martin Short and Selena Gomez were abruptly interrupted twice by an audio recording of Shingles vaccine Shingrix’s slogan, “Shingles doesn’t Care.” another more painful segment happened right before “it’s always Sunny in philadelphia’s” Kaitlin Olson and rob mcelhenney presented Liza Colón-Zayas with the award for Outstanding Supporting actress in a Comedy Series for her performance in “ t he b ear.” t he duo
started their bit with an analogy likening supporting roles to jockstraps, but their delivery of the innuendos in such a weird and awkward manner was reminiscent of the unpolished acting commonly seen in disney Channel sitcoms.
political comments and jabs were also made throughout the night. most notably, when presenting the award for Outstanding Lead actress in a Comedy Series — won by Jean Smart for “Hacks” — Candice bergen mentioned how former Vice president dan Quayle was upset by her portrayal of a single mother in the ‘80s sitcom “murphy brown.” bergen then took a dig at republican Vice presidential candidate Jd Vance, joking, “today, a
republican candidate for Vice president would never attack a woman for having kids. So, as they say, my work here is done. meow!”
but, the delivery of this presentation may have been slightly better for brown students — maiya Jannah ’25 was the trophy presenter for the category and handed Smart the award.
the ceremony’s monotony was also occasionally alleviated by memorable reunions and nostalgic moments. d uring special segments, presenters delivered tributes to various groups represented on television: moms, dads, doctors and even villains. recognizable faces, such as Kathy bates, mindy Kaling and Viola davis, among others, made appearances during these sequences.
a reunion of present and former SNL cast members Seth meyers, m aya rudolph, Kristen Wiig and bowen yang for the show’s 50th anniversary was also a welcome segment — though it was littered with unsuccessfully delivered jokes about Lorne michaels, the creator of SNL.
For her performance as toda mariko in “Shōgun,” anna Sawai became the first asian actress to win the award for Outstanding Lead actress in a drama Series.
One of the ceremony’s highlights, Sawai received her award in tears and dedicated her win to “all the women who expect nothing and continue to be an example
for everyone” before leaving the stage. as expected, “Shōgun” itself won the award for Outstanding drama Series, becoming the first non-english language series to win in the category. Hiroyuki Sanada — who had won the award for Outstanding Lead actor in a drama Series earlier in the ceremony — delivered one of the best acceptance speeches of the night in Japanese.
“We would like to express our deepest gratitude to all the crew, directors and masters who have inherited and supported our samurai period dramas up until now. t he passion and dreams that we have inherited from you have crossed oceans and borders,” Sanada remarked.
ironically, a ceremony that honors the best in television was ultimately an example of bad television itself. Jampacked with awards and numerous dry monologues, there was insufficient time for the award winners to truly express their gratitude beyond reciting flurries of “thank you’s”. With so many talented writers, actors and directors, there should be no reason for one of the biggest award shows in entertainment to have a ceremony so bland and unremarkable.
COUrteSy OF Variety Ironically, a ceremony that honors the best in television is itself an example of bad television.
ARTS & CULTURE
Brown offers paid art jobs to students and local artists through this new program
ArtsCrew is a new arts workforce development program
BY KATE ROWBERRY SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Neil Stringer ’27 volunteered to usher at the Lindemann performing arts Center’s inaugural performance last October. He soon learned that, through artsCrew, he could have been paid for the job.
artsCrew is a workforce development program run by the brown arts institute with a twofold mission: supporting local artists by hiring and training them and helping the institute operate its venues and run events, according to Jamil Jorge, artsCrew’s manager.
both community members and students at brown and other local schools make up the nearly 80-strong workforce. When it was launched last year, artsCrew hired about 100 members, with a roughly equal number of students and non-students, Jorge said.
“i kind of think about (brown arts institute) as a teaching arts institute in the way
that you might think of a teaching hospital,” Jorge added, citing the wide range of roles artsCrew members may fill based on their interests — from working as preparators to ticketing with visitor services in the box office.
Since Stringer intended to continue volunteering at campus performances, joining artsCrew’s visitor services and producing teams was “the obvious way to make money and also keep doing what i’d like to do,” he said.
Job openings for community members at artsCrew are temporarily closed because the position garnered nearly 100 applications, Jorge said.
Various other arts-related roles on campus, such as public art tour guides and the gallery assistants at the bell, have now been integrated into the artsCrew workforce, said avery Willis Hoffman, professor of the practice of arts and classics and artistic director of the brown arts institute.
the program allows staffers to work
in roles outside their primary assignment during periods of high demand to “build in flexibility,” Hoffman explained. For example, if artsCrew cannot fill shifts for ticketing, then those shifts are opened up to staff outside of visitor services roles. during the pandemic, when 95% of artists and creatives lost their creative income, Hoffman visited the Lindemann performing arts Center construction site and was inspired to initiate artsCrew. after seeing the complex structure of the Lindemann, she realized she needed a sizable workforce to “activate the space,” she said. in spring 2023, alongside other brown arts institute staff, Hoffman taught the first artS 1800: artsCorp and the Future of arts Work” course, which encouraged students to consider what a program like artsCrew would mean for the campus.
the program was renamed “artsCrew” during the spring 2024 semester, after trademark issues made “artsCorp” difficult to register as a name for the program that could be licensed to other universities.
this fall, Jorge is teaching artS 1800: “artsCrew & the Future of arts Work.”
He explained that the course will utilize
interviews, fieldwork and community discussion to examine what kinds of training artsCrew can implement to help members expand their skills.
Sam Ho ’27 started working with artsCrew in January in the visitor services and exhibition departments, and later as a public art tours guide. artsCrew is “very centered on helping people gain experience in the arts,” she said, noting that working with artsCrew helped her find a summer internship at the Gagosian Gallery.
the job provides “an inside look into a lot of the arts events at brown,” Ho added, noting that she staffed events such as “il Cinema ritrovato on tour” and the Gendo taiko concert “in return,” which she otherwise would not have known about.
Once her visitor services duties are over, “i get to also experience whatever the event is,” Ho explained. “it’s just kind of a cool way to explore what’s going on at brown in terms of arts and theater and performance.”
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 12, 2024
‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’: the non-banality of evil
In Mohammad Rasoulof’s latest, autocratic paranoia shapes a family.
BY DANIEL ZHENG CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Upon hearing the setup of iranian filmmaker mohammad rasoulof’s latest film, one might be forgiven if they immediately begin hearing the echoes of Hannah arendt’s famous “banality of evil” that permeated the film world amidst the buzz of “the Zone of interest” around a year ago. indeed, “the Seed of the Sacred Fig” seems, at first glance, to check off all of the same boxes as Glazer’s film: it follows iman (missagh Zareh), a government official who gets promoted to bureaucratic pawn for an autocratic government that transforms prejudice into checkboxes on a sheet of paper. a ll of those same themes are there — he is just “doing his job” — and arendt’s name might as well let out a pre-emptive sigh from the overworked proliferation of think-pieces that rasoulof’s film appears all but certain to spawn as well. if this setup feels too obvious (or too banal, if you will), the film is anything but. despite being kickstarted by iman’s promotion, “Sacred Fig” never shows him at the aforementioned bureaucratic job, save an eerie repetition of a shot where he walks into the office building and a few smoke-obscured fire-escape conversations
with his boss Ghaderi (reza akhlaghirad). instead, the film takes place largely within the confines of iman’s home, where the responsibilities of his new job threaten a delicate balance within his family. and so, the main character of “Sacred Fig” is not iman at all, but those forced to exist in his absence: his two daughters, rezvan (mahsa rostami) and Sana (Setareh maleki), and especially their mother Najmeh (Soheila Golestani), who is put into the impossible position of trying to keep together a rapidly disintegrating family unit.
the first half of “Sacred Fig” thus operates as a terse political-domestic drama focusing on the repercussions iman’s new job forces upon his family in a time of political unrest in tehran, iran. First, rezvan and Sara are forced to keep iman’s promotion a secret, then they are asked to stop talking to certain friends, and so on. the film largely stays within this domestic context, demonstrating how authoritarian systems reproduce their paranoid logic at every level of life.
a s rasoulof put it in his introduction to the screening i attended, his film asks the question: “how do we become autocrats?” Or, in the terms of the notso-subtle metaphorical epigraph that the film opens with — the sacred fig (ficus religiosa) spreads its seeds onto other trees, strangling them and growing a new
one in their place.
Unmistakably based upon the real-life protests in the region after the death of mahsa amini in police custody, rezvan and Sara portray a generational divide in which younger people in the country are increasingly defiant against the theocratic regime, the mandatory hijab law and the police’s abuse of women. Nowhere is this more obvious in “Sacred Fig” than a scene where Najmeh, rezvan and Sara sit on the couch watching a news broadcast that describes a woman’s (unnamed, but obviously a stand-in for a mini) death by “natural causes” and the protesters as rioters. Sara, however, is scrolling on her phone — initially seeming to suggest a political apathy — before the film cuts to the reverse shot revealing that she’s actually on instagram watching smartphone videos of the very same events, just without the editorialized broadcast. the separation between generations is literalized throughout the film in these appeals to social media and their on-the-ground “reality,” in opposition to the propagandized broadcasts watched by their parents. the virtual walls of social media that separate the parents from their children become, over the course of the film, real walls turning the house’s initially welcoming space into one of slammed doors, shuttered windows and furtive glances.
as tensions ratchet up at his job, iman begins to snap more and more at his children, especially when they voice their support for the protesters he sentences indiscriminately. the disappearance of iman’s gun — gifted to him as a safety measure alongside the new job — turns the strain of the family into an all-out implosion. paranoid that either his wife or one of his daughters stole the gun, iman turns his house into a prison, angrily ransacking their rooms and sending his family to a blindfolded interrogation. “in my own home, i don’t feel safe,” remarks iman at one point, the irony of his comments lost upon him.
t his asphyxiation of the family stretches “Sacred Fig” out to a breaking point — unbearable, and perhaps in the same breath a bit repetitive (168 minutes makes for a long movie). but it doesn’t take long for rasoulof to detonate the narrative with a left-field third act escalation that transforms the initially slow-plodding scenario into a thriller complete with a car chase and a maze sequence reminiscent of “the Shining.” beyond re-energizing the plot, this genre change testifies to the urgency that rasoulof wants to evoke — the situation in iran for rasoulof is so harrowing or even “horrific” that operating in the language of genre is the only way to express the experience’s affective charge.
even so, what’s most brutal about “Sacred Fig” is nothing the formal conditions of genre can recreate. instead, the most genuine moments of horror in rasoulof’s film come when the film cuts abruptly from Sara watching her smartphone directly to the social clips themselves, blowing them up to full size. amidst these moments, viewers begin to realize that the smartphone videos they are seeing were not reproduced by rasoulof but are actually clips from the protests in “real life.” this formal technique, which often places brutal and horrific violence in full display — alongside the film’s obvious mirroring of reality — imbues “Sacred Fig” with an acute sense of political urgency, jarring the spectator out of their cinematic trance.
d issolving the boundaries between fiction and reality, rasoulof thus positions his film as an explicit call to action, while also drawing implicit attention to the “reality” of his own filmmaking process. Formerly imprisoned by the iranian government multiple times, rasoulof filmed “Sacred Fig” in secret, producing small chunks at a time. When his prison sentence was renewed, he had to escape by foot out of iran and smuggle the footage out of the country. at the end of the day, rasoulof tells us, this version of evil is anything but banal.
The sacred fig (ficus religiosa) spreads its seeds onto other trees, strangling them and growing a new one in their place.
COUrteSy OF NiCK deNtamarO Both community members and students at Brown and other local schools make up the nearly 80-strong workforce.
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
Brown researchers develop new method for mapping the moon’s surface
New technology can help select landing sites for future explorations
BY LILIANA CUNHA STAFF WRITER
Over 50 years ago, NaSa put a man on the moon — and now they want to do it again. but to ensure the safety of their crew, they will need a better understanding of its topography. a new collaboration between a brown professor and an alum might just be the missing piece.
a paper published earlier this year by benjamin boatwright phd’22 and James Head phd’69, a professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences, proposes new refinement to current imagining technologies using a method they call “shape-from-shading.”
Current mapping methods of the moon’s topography require scientists to make complex calculations based on photos of the moon’s surface from two open-
source tools, observing, for example, the angle at which the photo is taken and the distance of the camera from the surface. but these technologies provide images in very low resolution and do not work well in areas with low contrast or shadows.
the new technique takes several images of an area of the moon’s surface, superimposing them onto one another and using an algorithm to calculate the slope of certain areas based on the way the different images are illuminated.
“based on the tilt of the surface toward the sun and the direction you’re taking the picture from, there’s a certain amount of brightness,” Head explained in an interview with the Herald. “and these illumination geometries give us better-precision topography.”
this quality of resolution is key to selecting the safest areas for exploration, the researchers say. Currently, their focus is the South polar region of the moon.
“you’re basically interpreting height from shadows,” boatwright said. “and that can actually give you a really high-resolu-
tion view of the topography that matches the resolution of the images, which are typically a lot more detailed than, say, those of global topography models.”
to ensure a higher resolution, the new method looks at smaller areas of the moon’s surface. “there’s always going to be a trade-off between resolution and the amount of surface you’re able to look at, because typically, the bigger the area, the lower the resolution.”
While pre-existing topography models render larger surface areas, they have also been typically used for different purposes, such as “regional characterization of something like the geology of the ages,” boatwright said. “but if you need a spacecraft to be able to land in and navigate a safe place, then you really need something that’s able to resolve individual boulders and hazards on the surface.”
“the better the resolution, the better the idea of the topography,” Head said. “and that’s really critical in planning a robotic landing. it’s even more critical when you want to do traverses and go
driving over the surface.” the researchers are already pushing their methods further, considering how it could be incorporated into Virtual reality technology.
“Vr has many potential applications for educational purposes and public outreach,” boatwright said. “i’d like to have these really, really high-resolution topography models in Vr so that people can essentially go in, and it’ll be like they’re standing there on the moon” which could be game-changing for astronaut training or geological studies of the moon, he added.
Head is also involved in another project which will be a part of artemis, an exploratory robot mission spearheaded by NaSa the dating an irregular mare patch with a Lunar explorer — or the dimpLe experiment — will collect information on a mound first discovered during the apollo 15 mission. the experiment “can provide insights into both the moon’s volcanic history and the history of the entire solar system,” Head said in a press release.
eleanor buchanan ’25, an undergraduate collaborator on the dimpLe experiment, explained in an email to the Herald how both projects compliment each other. “the exact route that these robots would (travel on the moon) is still undecided — thus the usefulness of an accurate 3d rendering,” she wrote. “being able to map out these lunar traverses ahead of time is important to NaSa ; the more easily we can model a site, the better prepared robots — and potentially astronauts, eventually — will be to do geology there.” boatwright also highlighted the importance of open-source science, saying he was “making sure that all of the datasets and all of the code that i used is publicly available, and that people can reproduce what i did.” “Science is meant to be collaborative. it’s meant to be open,” he added. “you’re supposed to build upon what other people have done before you.”
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 17, 2024.
Brown medical students want to bring the arts to the Warren Alpert curriculum
Three students seek to establish a medical humanities program
BY JAANU RAMESH SENIOR STAFF WRITER
John robert Cobb was a renowned orthopedic surgeon who left an indelible mark on the field of spine surgery, thanks to his contributions to scoliosis research. He defined the Cobb angle, medicine’s most widely referenced measurement of spinal deformity. He also graduated from b rown University in 1925 with a degree in e nglish Literature.
Scientific history is rich with such examples of physicians who intertwine their passions for medicine and the humanities, said a shley Knebel ’22 md ’27. i n fact, for Knebel, d iana Wang md ’27 and Kelsey b ogdan md ’27, their interest in pursuing medical studies arose from a love for art.
Wang, a violinist who grew up seeing how deeply music impacted the people around her, said she was stunned to find that “there wasn’t any dedicated curriculum for humanities in medicine” when she arrived at b rown.
b ogdan was also surprised to find, over a conversation with Wang at Seven Stars b akery in her first year of medical school, the lack of humanity classes at Warren alpert medical School. “the arts teach you ways to ask questions,” bogdan said. “ b rown is already such a hub for interdisciplinary thought and scholar-
According to Ashley Knebel ’22 MD’27, scientific history is rich with such examples of physicians who intertwine their passions for medicine and the humanities.
ship, but we lack any kind of humanities curriculum in the required curricula of the medical school.”
t he three believed it was essential to create a common hub for the work “scholars and professors at the medical school have been doing for decades,” b ogdan said From there, the medical Humanities i nitiative was born.
a ccording to b ogdan, t he m H i will provide “connection and collaboration,” in the humanities between b rown, Warren a lpert and the r hode i sland School of d esign.
Wang identified four key elements within the initiative: a “Lunch and b e”
series showcasing local artists in r hode island, a medical Humanities pre-clinical elective at the medical school, formal changes introducing humanities to Warren a lpert’s d octoring curriculum — during which all students are expected to learn clinical skills — and the formation of a student committee to explore and expand the m H i t he student committee has already attracted more than 70 interested members, according to Wang.
t he m H i is currently in consultation with Warren alpert’s medical Curriculum Committee to formalize these initiatives in perpetuity so all medical students explore the intersection of medicine and
the humanities while at b rown.
Knebel emphasized the tremendous value of the arts in communication. “even because of our little circle,” she said, referring to her collaboration with Wang and bogdan, “i’ve found that i respond to things very differently. because of d iana, i now associate certain songs with feelings that i might struggle to communicate otherwise. because of Kelsey, i pay closer attention to the strong reactions i have to certain pieces of art.” to explain the relationship between art and medicine, Wang drawed a connection between the series of cardiology classes second-year medical students
take and the musicality of heart murmurs.
Heart murmurs are taught with very musical terms, she said, as the students describe “rhythm” and “crescendo” during their assessments of heartbeats. “ t here are direct translational skills to be found in the arts,” she said. “ musicians can pick up heart murmurs faster.”
m ariah Stump, an m H i faculty advisor and assistant professor in the department of medicine, also described the value of the students’ work and the importance of the arts in her own practice as a physician.
“ t he arts inform our clinical decision-making and our ability to sit with concepts like uncertainty,” she said. a s a physician and dancer who studied biology, philosophy and e nglish concurrently as an undergraduate, Stump found that “what makes you a skilled clinician is your ability to sit with concepts like grief and loss and uncertainty that inform the human condition.”
i n collaborating with Wang, Knebel and b ogdan, Stump’s vision for the mHi is for it become something that sets b rown’s medical school apart.
“For people in the arts, penetrating scientific institutions” can be tremendously difficult, b ogdan said. “ i think the m H i is about using our positionality to break down walls between the arts and sciences.” This article originally appeared online
EDUCATION
Linguistics program charts its own course apart from CLPS department
The independent program boosts course offerings, new faculty
BY CATE LATIMER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Starting this year, prospective shoppers can select a new course code when perusing Courses@brown: LiNG. With it comes new courses like LiNG1512: “Language and ethnicity,” a product of the revamped linguistics program.
though the linguistics program became independent from the Cognitive, Linguistic, and psychological Sciences department last year, additional changes have gone into place this fall. this has brought the linguistics program greater independence, allowing it to recruit new faculty and expand its course offerings.
CLpS has been renamed to Cognitive and psychological Sciences, or Copsy for short. it has recruited six faculty members for the academic year.
“this split allowed both groups to focus on their own vision and their own agenda,” said david badre, chair of the Copsy department.
Copsy will continue to offer four concentrations: psychology, cognitive science, cognitive neuroscience and behavioral de-
FACULTY
cision sciences. badre said that they are looking for ways to both simplify the concentrations and “craft student-centered pathways” based on diverse interests.
meanwhile, the linguistics program now looks to attract students with a broader range of interests related to linguistics, said Scott anderbois, the director of the linguistics program.
many students lack opportunities to explore the field until college, he said. the change has allowed the program to offer its introductory course in both the fall and spring semesters, granting students more opportunities to learn the discipline’s basics.
Faculty within the program also said that the association with CLpS limited how professors could approach their research, hiring and event planning.
“being part of CLpS meant that we had to function as if linguistics were a branch of psychology,” Uriel Cohen priva, an associate professor of linguistics, wrote in an email to the Herald.
Now, in an individual program, professors say they can make interdisciplinary connections beyond psychological sciences in fields ranging from computer science to anthropology.
it’s nice to be able to explore some of those areas that maybe fit less well with the rest of cognitive science and psychology,”
said Jaime benheim, a visiting assistant professor of linguistics who joined brown last year.
this also helps attract more students to the field, anderbois said. His spring 2024 course, CLpS0350: “playing with Words: the Linguistic principles behind Word Games and puzzles,” is an example of diversifying the program’s offerings through classes students might be interested in even if they hadn’t previously been exposed to linguistics.
the separation has also led to increased freedom to hire new faculty with diverse academic backgrounds like benheim. as a sociolinguist, she studies the relationship between language and society, emphasizing how individuals use language to construct identities for themselves.
“When we tried to recruit new faculty (before the change), we had to explain how new hires would benefit the rest of CLpS, rather than linguistics on campus,” anderbois said.
CLpS only requires professors to teach two classes per year, whereas many humanities and social science departments require three, he explained. Now that linguistics is an independent program, the teaching load has increased to three courses, leading to a wider array of course options.
“Last year, when we were in CLpS, we were teaching half as many linguistics
classes as we were when i started at b rown,” a nder b ois added.
Cohen p riva emphasized that the old requirement made it “difficult to teach the breadth of classes that undergraduate linguistics educa tion requires.”
despite the separation, requirements to concentrate in linguistics remain nearly unchanged. anderbois noted. “they can take exactly the same courses as before if they want, but they have more options on the table.”
anderbois agreed with this vision.
While not yet its own department, the linguistics program is looking to the future.
“i believe the University wanted to see that we can function on our own, offer new classes, get students’ attention and serve the greater community at brown before it made long-term commitments,” Cohen priva wrote. “the program stage is supposed to be transitory.”
“We’re really excited for the opportunity that we have here to maximize the contribution of linguistics to the University as a whole,” he said. “We now have this independence and have been working to both recognize existing connections across campus and make new ones.”
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 16, 2024.
Brown welcomes its first professor of sustainable finance and investing
BY REBECCA WENG SENIOR STAFF WRITER
even though mark tracy ’95 graduated from brown with high salary offers from traditional banks and consulting firms, he chose to work in sustainability and agricultural rights.
He later explored various entrepreneurial endeavors, leading startups and managing billion-dollar investments. Now, almost 30 years after his graduation, tracy has returned to campus to assume his newest role: the first professor of sustainable finance and investing at the institute at brown for environment and Society.
returning to College Hill has been a full-circle process, tracy told the Herald. He was drawn back to rhode island after mentoring students and working with other brown alumni to create startups, pointing to the creativity and flexibility of students.
a personal history was also at play: to tracy, brown “feels like home.”
“especially after i lost both of my parents as a sophomore, i was living here full time,” he said. “ t here is a certain comfort here.”
this led him to pursue sustainability work despite offers for more financially lucrative positions. “it took me years to figure out why i chose this path,” he said. “i hated seeing people in a vulnerable position like i was when my parents passed away.”
When working with farmers vulnerable to weather and food prices, he remembered thinking he “wanted to alleviate the unfairness.”
tracy’s first job at the food company Cargill shaped his future career in sustainability. Working with farmers across five continents, tracy learned to “use financial tools” and develop creative solutions. He also advocated for fair prices for farmers and protected vulnerable populations from food insecurity.
in 2018, tracy became head of the finance leadership board at indigo, a startup focused on food distribution, where he applied his previous experience at Cargill to help farmers adopt regenerative farming. He also co-founded earthacre with Viraj Sikand ’17 to support environmental conservation and restoration around the world and bridge the gap between hard science in climate studies and its practical applications for the environment.
“From these experiences, i observed that for a lot of environmental problems, we don’t actually have rigorous scientific backing,” tracy said. “take the example of
the carbon market: are companies actually offsetting the carbon they claim they have? are the impact of these sustainability initiatives on the local people doing more harm than good?”
these are some of the questions tracy aims to answer as he shadows and lectures on food sustainability with Cary Krosinsky, adjunct lecturer in environment and society, in the class eNVS 1545: “the theory and practice of Sustainable investing.”
Open to every b rown student, the class focuses on evaluating a portfolio of companies with environmental initiatives, the investment trends in the sustainability space, as well as how to value nature.
the class was created in response to protests throughout the 2010s that called for divestment from fossil fuels. it investigates how to connect theory and company strategies to current challenges.
“From my experience, brown is more focused on theory than career experience,” Krosinsky said. but “we try to show students how hard it is to push for sustainable change … and how to practically make an environmental impact.”
in ibeS, tracy is helping to develop the curriculum for more sustainability-focused classes — a goal laid out in the institute’s 2023-2028 Strategic plan. tracy is also collaborating with brown’s Center for Career exploration to bring
more internships and full-time opportunities for students looking to make an environmental impact.
“ p rofessor tracy’s addition to the ibeS is really a culmination of a multiyear, student-driven process,” said ibeS
director Kim Cobb, who noted that many students have requested sustainable finance courses across departments. tracy is instrumental to the ibeS’s future in sustainability, according to Cobb. “He’s the needle in the haystack.”
Mark Tracy ’95 returns to College Hill with decades of industry experience
COUrteSy OF marK traCy
A personal history was also contributed to Tracy’s decision to return to Brown: it “feels like home.”
ACTIVISM
Activist communities find a rare consensus: Brown has a free speech problem
Report ranks Brown near the bottom of American colleges for free speech
BY GRACE HU SENIOR STAFF WRITER
With a surge in on-campus protests since the start of the israel-Hamas war last fall, many students across the country have come face-to-face with university policies governing free expression and demonstrations. Students have also navigated rising tensions in and out of the classroom when expressing their views.
Navigating regulations around free speech on campus may be more of a challenge on College Hill compared to at other schools.
a report by the nonprofit Foundation for individual rights and expression placed brown 229th out of 251 top U.S. colleges in campus free speech in its 2025 College Free Speech rankings published earlier this month. brown is the fourth worst-ranked ivy League school, ahead of Columbia, penn and Harvard.
the ranking was based on 14 metrics with two main categories: student perception of the speech climate on their campus and behavior by administrators, faculty and students. Fire used campus surveys conducted from Jan. 25 through June 17, 2024 to make the ranking, receiving 119 responses from undergraduates at brown.
Some have criticized Fire for its recent receipt of funding from prominent groups supporting conservative and libertarian policies. Fire executive Vice president Nico perrino reaffirmed the group’s position as “a nonpartisan organization that receives funding from across the political and ideological spectrum” in an email to the Herald.
Fire ranked brown 212th in “student perception of their college’s support for free speech.”
Student activists, as well as respon-
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dents on the Fire page, alleged that University policies were selectively enforced to discourage campus protests. during last semester’s encampment in support of divesting of the endowment from companies affiliated with israel, University administrators told students their encampments on the main Green were a policy violation. but some students pointed out that on different occasions, tents were present for extended periods of time on Historical Greens during the school year without warnings from administrators.
the University policy does not define what constitutes an encampment.
“the University only chooses to enforce those rules against protestors, not against the act itself, which makes it a very discretionary system,” claimed rafi ash
’26, a member of brown divest Coalition. the rule itself may not specifically target political speech, but it’s a violation that only comes when it’s enforced.”
University Spokesperson brian Clark reiterated brown’s policy that encampments on University historic and residential greens violate the policy, adding that the policy has been in place for years.
Clark emphasized that free speech has been a long-standing value upheld by the University.
“protest and demonstration have long been respected as an acceptable means of expression within the brown community, but this is always subject to time, place and manner restrictions,” he said.
“this is a decades-long standard. it becomes unacceptable when it violates
University policies that are intended to ensure the safety and security of members of the brown community and that there is no interference in the rights of others to engage in the regular operations of the University,” he continued.
Caitlyn Carpenter ’26, a student coordinator with climate activist group Sunrise, asserted the current political climate may deter some students from speaking freely and attending protests out of fear of doxxing and losing employment prospects. “i think that there’s serious ethical questions that (are raised), like who has power and control in what brown University students feel like they can say on campus?”
Some students articulated challenges they had faced when trying to express their viewpoints with peers.
“i think something that a lot of my friends fear is that they can’t speak freely because they’re afraid of getting canceled,” said alex Shieh ’27, the co-president of the Federalist Society.
“When people encounter opposite viewpoints, the response shouldn’t be to make fun of them or shun them or make fun of them on Sidechat,” he added. “that’s not necessarily the best response if you really want to have a diverse environment of ideas.”
brooke Verschleiser ’25, the president of brown Students for israel, said she believes “there is an issue at brown that there’s a sense of, ‘this is the only right answer, and this is the only opinion i’m going to listen to.’”
Other students believed that the University fared better than other peer institutions with the surge of nationwide protests last spring. brown was one of a small handful of schools to reach an agreement with protesters that resulted in the promise of an official divestment vote and the voluntary dismantling of the encampment. the University last year, especially with the encampments, did a pretty good job, especially compared to what we saw
from other schools,” Nash riebe ’27 said in an interview with the Herald.
Some students noted that administrative policy has not eliminated protests and demonstrations.
“it’s up to students to what degree they want to push through the administrative barrier,” everton prospere ’27 said.
“people are always going to find a way to express themselves, regardless of whatever actions the administration might take to discourage that,” michael Ziegler GS, the president of the Graduate Labor Organization, said in an interview with the Herald.
Other students were more skeptical. ian Weiss ’26, director of engagement of the brown political Union, said that he generally hasn’t faced hostility when expressing his viewpoints on campus.
“there are times when voicing more classically republican or democratic tones isn’t as accepted because it’s not the traditional viewpoint of a lot of brown students,” he said. “but i don’t find that my (speech) is being met with hostility so much as it’s just that i disagree with someone.”
Some campus organizations are working to facilitate civil discourse among students. Logan tullai ’25 founded the brown political Union to create an environment where people can exchange viewpoints with peers without fear of judgment through engaging in debates and listening to speakers, he said. Students “appreciate that it’s not an environment where you’re shut down,” tullai told the Herald.
Gray bittker ’27, a speaker in bpU, emphasized the importance of fostering dialogue among students and creating environments where they can express themselves openly.
“a lot of the responsibility has to fall on us as students to make these spaces,” he said.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 18, 2024.
Before departure, Sylvia Carey-Butler reflects on tenure, looks to future
She spoke to The Herald about navigating campus conflicts
BY JULIANNA CHANG AND ANISHA KUMAN UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITORS
a fter three years at the University, Sylvia Carey- b utler, current Vice p resident for i nstitutional e quity and d iversity, prepares to step down from her role.
With six weeks left before her departure from b rown, Carey- b utler spoke with t he Herald about her time leading the Office of i nstitutional e quity and d iversity and her next steps.
p atricia p oitevien ’94 md ’98 will serve as interim vice president starting in November.
Carey- b utler joined the University as O ied vice president in august 2021. a t the time, the University was beginning p hase ii of its d iversity and i nclusion a ction p lan, which aimed to make the b rown academic community more equitable and inclusive.
i n her time at b rown, Carey- b utler revived the Campus Climate Survey, which aims to better understand the
experiences of b rown community members. She also led the expansion of the University’s nondiscrimination policy to include caste after speaking with a group of South a sian students about their concerns.
b ut Carey- b utler’s biggest focus during her tenure was expanding the University’s relationships with historically b lack colleges and universities, in addition to continuing the longstanding program with tougaloo College. this past summer, tougaloo and brown celebrated the 60th year of their partnership.
Last fall, O ied announced plans to launch the b rown-H b CU i nitiative, which aimed to leverage b rown’s knowledge to support and collaborate with a select group of H b CUs, t he Herald previously reported.
a ccording to e lfred a nthony p inkard, b rown’s inaugural Hb CU presidential fellow, the University began conversations with select H b CU presidents back in 2022. With these partner schools, O ied has developed a shared course that will be offered through the d epartment of a fricana Studies starting in 2025, Carey- b utler said.
b ut with Carey- b utler stepping down, the future of the initiative remains unknown. “ i know that the H b CU
initiative will continue,” she said. “ b ut to (what) degree, i don’t know,” adding that the program’s future will depend on the priorities of her successor.
Carey- b utler was also engaged in the administration’s response to campus protests and tensions amid the ongoing i srael-Hamas war. O ied conducted staff and student-facing “learnings” on combating antisemitism and i slamophobia. a ccording to Carey- b utler, these sessions will continue after her departure.
“Last year was pretty intense as we navigated some really difficult times, but i was reminded of the importance of engaging with students,” Carey- b utler said. “Students really want to be able to come to school to learn, to engage with each other, free of anything that might impede that process. We just have to provide that kind of environment.”
Carey- b utler also spoke to the importance of recentering dei ’s definition on “inclusive excellence,” in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action, as well as politicians’ criticism and targeting of dei
“ you can’t have academic excellence without having diversity. Not just diversity around races — it’s gender,
it’s ability, it’s perspective,” she said. Some politicians may “say that having initiatives in dei is taking away from one group,” she added. “ i t is not. i t is ensuring that everyone matters.”
Following a drop in the first-year enrollment numbers of b lack and Hispanic students, Carey- b utler said that the University should work to “ensure continual diversity,” creating an environment where prospective students aren’t discouraged from applying. H b CU partnerships and pipeline programs for minority or low-income students can help break those barriers, she added.
“ i can tell you, every student who is at b rown, every student of color, every student who’s here, is here because they deserve to be here, not because somebody let them in because of affirmative action,” she said.
a s she prepares to step away from the University, Carey- b utler is focusing on laying the groundwork for her successor. Carey- b utler plans to create a transition document that will allow poitevien to understand the work she’s done over the past three years. She also aims to finalize and publish both a dei i mpact r eport and the next diap report shortly
before her departure.
b ut the future direction and priorities of O ied will be in the hands of her successors and the b rown community, she explained. “ t he rearview mirror is small, and the windshield is wide. i ’m looking forward, and i ’m not looking back,” she said.
Following her departure, Carey- b utler will head back to a tlanta, the city she and her husband call home. a fter working in higher education for many years, she said she is ready to move on.
“ r oles can confine you,” Carey- b utler explained. b y “being a part of national committees and conversations, and being able to do research on (my) own, i hope to advance this work in a more impactful way.” She plans to reconnect with institutions she previously worked with through the United Negro College Fund, a philanthropic organization that funds scholarships at H b CUs. She hopes her departure provides the University with “an opportunity to pause, to reflect and to ask the question: What’s next for dei at b rown?” This
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression placed Brown 229th out of 251 top U.S. colleges in campus free speech in its recent ranking.