Thursday, April 27, 2017

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017

VOLUME CLII, ISSUE 58

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Ivy League works to assist students in face of threatening immigration policies Universities offer legal resources, institutional support to those affected by immigration policies By PRIYANKA PODUGU

valuable role of international students and scholars across the Ivies, each school has developed its own approach to providing holistic support to vulnerable student communities — from lobbying government officials to providing mental health resources.

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

As President Trump approaches his 100th day in office, still adamant on tightening immigration policy, undocumented students and students targeted by Trump’s immigration bans still face an uncertain future. However, Ivy League schools have taken action through public and private measures to support their undocumented students and international students from the six Muslimmajority countries listed in Trump’s second executive order. In this year alone, universities in the Ivy League took legal action against both of Trump’s executive orders on immigration by filing amici curiae briefs in February and April, The Herald previously reported. As members of the Association of American Universities, Ivy League schools also signed a public letter protesting Trump’s actions that curtailed entry into the United States for individuals from six Muslim-majority countries, The Herald previously reported. While these statements reiterate the

Lobbying for the preservation of DACA In response to growing concerns about the termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, several Ivy League universities have begun lobbying government officials to save the program. For the first time in its history, Princeton began officially lobbying on the issue of the DACA program by advocating for the passage of the Bar Removal of Individuals who Dream and Grow our Economy Act, the Daily Princetonian reported March 2. The BRIDGE Act “would allow people who are eligible for — or who already have — DACA to receive work authorization” and remain in the United States “for, at most, three years,” according to the website of the National Immigration Law Center. Lobbyists from the AAU were present when the act was first introduced, the Daily Princetonian reported. Princeton has also “been involved in educating lawmakers about the importance of

the Act (and) has submitted a statement of support” of the Act. Princeton is not the only Ivy League school seeking the act’s passage. According to Cornell’s news page, Barbara Knuth, senior vice provost and dean of Cornell’s graduate school, met with Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in an effort to secure his sponsorship of the act. Meanwhile, Drew Gilpin Faust, president of Harvard, met “Harvard alumni in the Department of Homeland Security to discuss how changes to (DACA) could

affect undocumented students,” reported the Harvard Crimson Dec. 12. Faust also met with Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Schumer to discuss “federal policies protecting undocumented students,” the Crimson reported in February. She also met with Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., who co-sponsored the BRIDGE Act alongside Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. to discuss the act. Steven Gerencser, assistant director of government relations at Brown, said securing the passage of the BRIDGE Act

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through lobbying has been a “priority for Brown.” He added that President Christina Paxson P’19 has met with Brown’s Congressional delegation to speak about this issue. Providing legal representation and support Ivy League schools, including Brown, have also allocated legal resources to undocumented students who may need » See DACA, page 2

UFB clarifies perceived publication cuts Paxson initiates new Shifting student group climate change task force funding to UFB leads to tightening of budget for 2017-18 academic year By EDUARD MUÑOZ-SUÑÉ SENIOR STAFF WRITER

In an April 25 meeting with leadership of at least eight publications, the Undergraduate Finance Board clarified its decision to not approve funding for student publications’ printing expenses for spring 2018. Chair of UFB Jordan Ferguson ’17 said UFB will not cut spring 2018 printing budgets entirely, but UFB intentionally did not approve them in order to begin a conversation with publications about how to reduce their printing costs. Student publications were meant to interpret the complete rejection of funds for printing in spring 2018 as “pending,” rather than as a final decision, Ferguson said. Budget requests returned by UFB to student publications April 17 showed that no print funding was granted by UFB for the spring 2018 semester. The rejection of printing costs was followed by a UFB email that announced the April 25 meeting, in which UFB would “discuss the future of funding

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printing costs for publications” with leaders from student publications, according to a copy of UFB’s email obtained by The Herald. “Printing costs take up a significant portion of our allocation, and it isn’t a sustainable practice for the Student Activities Fund. You will see that your groups have received funding for fall printing costs but not for spring. The board would like to present some alternative and work with you all to find the best solution,” the email read. Ferguson cited an overall tightening of UFB’s budget for the next academic year to an influx of new student groups demanding funding from UFB which were previously funded by the School of Engineering and the Swearer Center for Public Service. “If we give everyone fall printing, everyone can operate as normal,” Ferguson said. “But now we can have a conversation, almost a full year in advance, detailing how we can go forward knowing that budget constraints are going to be tighter next year,” Ferguson said. Editors from several publications expressed initial frustration over UFB’s lack of communication regarding the perceived denial of funding for printing publications, The Herald previously reported. UFB declined to

comment to The Herald until after the April 25 meeting. Jane Argodale ’18, metro editor and an incoming co-managing editor for the College Hill Independent, said UFB’s email to publications following the perceived cuts “sent us into a state of panic because it wasn’t clear that we would get any of our print funding back at all,” Argodale told The Herald. “I really wish (UFB) opened up this conversation before they’d sent out these budget proposals,” Argodale said. “It would have been a lot more comfortable for us to be having a conversation about reducing our costs if it didn’t just start with a zero.” “The ways (student publication leaders) were put on hold and the ways we were strapped for any root of communication that felt productive for that full week meant there was no way for us to actually mobilize,” said Dolma Ombadykow ’17, co-managing editor of the Indy, at the meeting. Jordan Stein ’17, editor-in-chief of the Brown Noser and of the Brown Jug, mentioned another miscommunication involving his UFB representative, which occurred before the budget requests were returned. “The reason why we have any sort of reaction to the budgeting decision » See UFB, page 3

U. community members to examine business, investment practices regarding sustainability By RHAIME KIM SENIOR STAFF WRITER

In response to recommendations made by the Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investment Policies, President Christina Paxson P’19 announced plans to create a task force to address climate change and environmental concerns in University business and investment practices as well as increase the marketing of the Brown University Sustainable Investment Fund, according to a community-wide email sent Wednesday. ACCRIP, which examines ethical and moral responsibility in the University investment policies, provided recommendations to Paxson in December 2016. The recommendations came in response to a presentation made by Fossil Free Brown in 2014 suggesting divestment from the top 200 fossil fuel companies. The Task Force on Climate Change and Business and Investment Practices

will make recommendations to Paxson after reviewing the University’s “commitment to environmental sustainability and addressing climate change” in its business and investment practices, according to the website of the Office of the President. The task force will be charged in Fall 2017 with producing an interim report by the end of the semester and final recommendations by March 2018. The task force will assess existing investments and procurement, as well as external vendors and contractors currently hired by the University based on their commitment to sustainability practices, according to the Office of the President’s website. The task force will also assist existing committees, including ACCRIP, by making recommendations on the University’s proxy voting guidelines. Additionally it will support the Sustainability Strategic and Planning Advisory Committee, which is charged with meeting the University’s greenhouse gas emissions targets set in 2008, and determine the necessity of creating a standing committee that will continue the task force’s work “on an ongoing basis,” according to the website of the Office of the President. » See SUSTAINABILITY, page 4

WEATHER

THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017

NEWS Community members divided over prospective new preforming arts center to replace UEL site

NEWS Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage ’86 talks upcoming work, MFA program at Brown

NEWS Brown Survivors Speak list sparks student criticism for group’s lack of accountability

COMMENTARY Kumar ’17: Graduation offers opportunity to move away from resentment, fear

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Students divided over location of proposed performing arts center

Poll finds 40 percent of students disagree with building performing arts center on UEL site By RACHEL GOLD & CINDY ZENG STAFF WRITERS

Two months after the Corporation, the University’s highest governing body, authorized the construction of a new performing arts center in the middle of campus, the undergraduate student body is split on whether the center should be built in its proposed location along the Walk between main campus and Pembroke, according to The Herald’s undergraduate spring 2017 poll. The new center will require the demolition of several campus spaces. The arts center would establish a hub for music, dance, theater and multimedia art, which the University currently lacks and has considered a priority since 1974, according to a Feb. 11 communitywide email from President Christina Paxson P’19. According to a University press release, constructing the center would require demolishing a “parking lot, three residential structures and two academic buildings” — including the Urban Environmental Laboratory, a center for environmental studies and activism on campus. Tension between two communities About 40 percent of students strongly or somewhat disagree that the University should build a new performing arts center on the site of the UEL, according to the poll. About 34 percent reported that they have no opinion, while just over one quarter of students are somewhat or strongly supportive of the project. The narrowness of these margins reveals the thorniness of a decision that implicates two critical spaces on campus — the home of the environmentallyminded community and a potential new home of the music community. Individuals in both constituencies wish it weren’t so. “They are trading one community center for another,” said

» LIST, from page 8 cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences, acknowledged that the University needed to make changes to its sexual misconduct policies but said the rape list that appeared that year lacked integrity. “I do not believe in any means to an end,” she said, according to a 2004 Herald article. “If students wanted to make accusations, they should have done so officially to the institution. We were working on a new policy and were growing more sensitive to student needs without these unfair accusations,” she said in the article. But students then and now would not write the names of their alleged sexual assailants on bathroom walls if they felt they had a more legitimate avenue to adjudicate campus assault, said Jenn David-Lang ’91 MAT ’97, one of the students who spearheaded the 1990 rape list and ensuing activism against the University. At the time, victims of sexual assault at the University felt they “were not taken seriously by the Brown disciplinary system,” she said, adding that the rape list was “a last resort effort” after several students had been let down by the Brown administration. “It wasn’t just a list of men,”

Katie Rademacher ’19, the current president of the Brown University Orchestra. “In order for the performing arts people to have a place where we can all come together and we can all create together, … we have to get rid of that kind of space for environmental science people. That doesn’t sit right with me.” The proposed center will include a concert hall that will be large enough to accommodate an orchestra and seat hundreds of students and community members — the type of space the University lacks compared to peer institutions, said Frank Jodry, senior lecturer in music and director of choral activities. The value of the UEL For students who will be directly affected by the destruction of the UEL, the cost-benefit analysis can’t be a quantitative question, said Brendan George ’18, an environmental studies concentrator who is also a member of the Jabberwocks a capella group and the IMPROVidence comedy group. But even those students who don’t interact with the UEL on a daily basis benefit from its presence, said Logan Dreher ’19, an environmental studies concentrator. Not only are many groups housed at the UEL — such as Bikes at Brown — but it also provides space for collaboration between students and organizations like Farm Fresh Rhode Island and the African Alliance, a community organization for African refugees. “Because so many things have started in the UEL, and it is this space for collaboration, its impacts go so far beyond the people who use it,” Dreher said. “It creates a space for people to bring sustainability to other places.” The UEL also represents a history of student commitment to sustainability and a growing commitment to environmental justice: The UEL is a historic carriage house that was renovated in David-Lang said. “It was disseminating information. People have a strange idea that is was just a list of men, but it was a dialogue.” Several changes were made to policy around sexual misconduct that year. After 1990, the University made sexual misconduct a punishable offense in the student conduct code for the first time and defined policies around disciplinary procedures. Additionally, administrators added a segment on sexual assault education to first-year training and appointed a point-person for women’s concerns on campus. More recently, the University made sweeping changes to sexual assault policy following student activism in 2014 and 2015. In 2015, the University created a Title IX office and appointed Walsh as program office. Within the new office, she created a new sexual assault policy and procedure, which more clearly defined punishable offenses and moved the handling of these cases from the jurisdiction of the Office of Student Conduct to the Title IX Office. Feminists at Brown, various members of SAPE, the Title IX Office’s main email line and Liza Cariaga-Lo, vice president for academic development, diversity and inclusion, did not respond to requests for comment for this article.

1981 and later inhabited by students who wanted a space reflecting their values. “Destroying a community gathering place in favor of a more imposing and less accessible building (is) not in line with the principles of environmental justice,” Dreher said. “It goes along with Brown’s history of taking away from the Providence community and taking away historic buildings to create new ones.” The UEL also serves as a center of campus life for students involved in environmental coursework and extracurricular activities. It produces a tightly knit community that attracts many students to concentrate in environmental studies and science, said Angelica Arellano ’18. “I was trying to think of something I haven’t done in the UEL — I’ve showered there, I’ve napped there, I’ve cried there,” Dreher said “If you think about the nutrient cycle, this is our built environment of a nutrient cycle,” George said. “You have healthy minds coming in, working together and creating great new ideas from other healthy minds.” The UEL is to the environmental community what the proposed performing arts center will be to the music community: a space for students, faculty and staff members to interact in formal and organic settings, as well as an accessible center connecting Brown to the greater Providence community. Needs of performing artists “Brown should think big and think not only about Brown University’s needs but also the needs of the city,” Jodry said. “The facility can make summer arts festivals happen … to enliven the life of the city.” Many students involved in performing arts on campus agree that it is necessary to have a proper, high-quality facility to reflect the needs of the extensive art community. “We have some very high-quality performances in music going on that are not in a place that is suitable for a

» DACA, from page 1 them, as well as to international students from the six Muslim-majority countries listed in Trump’s most recent executive order on immigration. In an email to The Herald, Marisa Quinn, chief of staff to Provost Richard Locke, wrote: “We believe it is important for students to trust and feel comfortable with the attorney of their choosing and have offered possible options of area attorneys for consideration. In some instances, the attorneys have provided services on a pro bono basis, while in others, the University has covered associated fees. We have also had alumni offer pro bono services and can also make those available to students for consideration.” The University has “offered access to immigration and legal advising” and housing to affected students over breaks in addition to virtual learning opportunities for students stranded abroad, according to a University press release. The Herald previously reported that the University covers one appointment with an attorney of a student’s choosing under its undocumented student initiative. As per this arrangement, students can usually meet with immigration lawyers twice to discuss applying for or renewing their DACA status, in addition to discussing family legal issues. Some universities go so far as to

performance of that caliber,” said Devon Carter ’19, a music concentrator, who is on the board of Brown Opera Productions. “The space is actually letting down the art,” Carter said. “Take Granoff, for example. There are very few ensembles that would go well in that space. … The stage is too small for a large group, and the house is too big for a small group,” he added. Theater arts groups currently host performances in locations all over campus, but student music groups have a very limited number of facilities to use. The orchestra regularly rehearses in Alumnae Hall and performs in Sayles Hall, which is the only place large enough for a music group of that size, said Maxwell Naftol ’19, a music concentrator who has performed with the orchestra since his freshman fall. “There’s definitely a lot to be improved upon in terms of sound and acoustic quality,” Naftol said. At every rehearsal, students have to spend 30 minutes before and after setting up and breaking down equipment; for concerts, all equipment must be transported via moving truck to Sayles Hall, he said. “The most important thing is that all of the things that exist in the UEL right now — all of those departments and offices, those programs — have another space when the UEL is demolished,” said Cora Wiese Moore ’19, an environmental engineering concentrator, an active member of the chorus and a harpist. “I personally have more of an incentive to support a performing arts center,” she added. She said she would prefer that the music spaces on campus be centralized at the new center. “Personally, with the harp situation, it’s awful,” Moore said. She currently practices in the wooden shed in Alumnae Hall, where there is no soundproofing, and stores her instrument in the same space, which is not designed for storage. Cameron Neath ’18, a theater arts concentrator, is currently directing a production in downtown Providence.

She said that Brown’s own facilities for performing arts are “incredibly limited.” Student groups are not allowed to use the facilities monopolized by the theater department, so many shows go on at Production Workshop or in various rooms around campus. But space is limited even for the theater department, which has the Leeds and Stuart theatres. Senior students have to do a capstone project, yet “the department does not provide those seniors with any space to do that performance,” she said.

guarantee legal representation to their students. In a column written in the Yale Daily News after the election, President of Yale Peter Salovey wrote that Yale was “committed to making sure that our students who face legal action as a result of any changes in the government’s stance on immigration enforcement have legal representation, and the University will provide resources to help those students.” According to Yale’s Office of International Students and Scholars website, students in need of legal assistance are asked to email the office’s director. Some universities have utilized their law school resources to provide legal representation for undocumented students. In an email to The Herald, Jason Corral, a staff attorney at the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Legal Clinic, wrote that he provides “complete representation to immigrants within the Harvard Community and (is) paid by the University.” Corral wrote that his main priority is to assist undocumented and DACA students at Harvard. “I do provide full representation to students that are interested in applying for and renewing their DACA status. Further, I am available on a limited basis to the families of undocumented and DACAmented students in so far as investigating forms of relief available to family members that may include the student. For the

needs of family members living in other states I try to connect them with legal resources outside of Massachusetts such as other clinical programs and legal services agencies.” Corral also wrote that he can work with Harvard faculty and staff but “continued availability in that regard may be subject to capacity if the demand becomes too great. It is assumed that faculty and staff are more likely to have the financial resources to obtain outside counsel if necessary.” The Harvard Immigration and Refugee Legal Clinic, which is staffed by seven attorneys, also provides immigrant legal services to the greater Boston and Cambridge area on humanitarian-based cases including asylum cases. “HIRC does have clients that are in removal proceedings,” Corral wrote. However, Corral, who is in charge of representing members of the Harvard community, wrote that he has “not had to represent anybody from the Harvard community in immigration court nor am I aware of anybody that is currently facing removal proceedings,” but he has “applications pending before (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) for adjustment of status (green card) and asylum.” The clinic has also partnered with the law firm WilmerHale, which “agreed to » See DACA, page 3

Possible alternatives Naftol was very surprised by the poll results. “I really don’t want it to be framed like music department or performing arts in general is trying to be greedy and take this land, because I don’t think that was anyone’s intention,” he said, adding that “they’re both important, but it’ll be easier to relocate the smaller one of the two, which is the UEL.” One possible reconciliation would be to locate the performing arts center off College Hill, Jodry said, adding he would like to see the center constructed at the current site of the School of Professional Studies in the Jewelry District — the best piece of real estate the University owns because of its riverfront location. Not only is parking limited on campus, but the proposed site sits atop the Thayer Street bus tunnel, which means hundreds of thousands of dollars would have to be invested in noise mitigation, Jodry said. Instead, he envisions an “architecturally significant” gathering place in the Jewelry District that hosts professional artists traveling the New York-Boston circuit, serves as an anchor for the community by putting on events like music festivals and offers a home base for students and faculty members involved in the performing arts, he said. “There is a hole that needs to be filled,” Rademacher said. “But I don’t think you fill a hole by taking from another area and putting it there.”


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THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017 • PAGE 3

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» DACA, from page 2 provide some pro bono services to assure that we meet the demands of the Harvard community.” Cornell has also used legal clinics available through its law school to provide affected students with legal representation. Beth Lyon, a clinical professor of law at Cornell Law School and founder of Cornell’s Farmworker’s Legal Assistance Clinic, said that “because … we had people who did a range of different kinds of immigration work, we felt comfortable in offering our resources as direct representation to our students at Cornell.” As per university policy, “our resources are available to provide counseling, brief advice and referral … to undocumented students and DACA students across the university” free of charge, she added. The university was able to cover the costs through a “specific fundraising appeal,” she said. In an email to The Herald, Sarah Paoletti, a practice professor of law and director of the Transnational Legal Clinic at Penn’s law school, wrote that the university “has not set up a legal assistance fund for our students” but that “in terms of legal aid to UPenn students, (the Transnational Legal Clinic with support from our Toll Public Interest Center) conducted three immigration information and referral clinics for members of the Penn community. Those were free clinics, where law students were on hand to provide basic information and responses to general questions and assist in screenings — and then we had members of (a private law firm) on hand for free immigration consults. For two of the three clinics, we also had a representative from” the university’s International Student and Scholar Services office, she said. In addition, during the third clinic, Paoletti found that some people had been calling one of the local legal services providers and that three or four of those cases will

» UFB, from page 1 was because when we met with our UFB rep, he told us explicitly that it was UFB’s intention, as an organization, to move all print publications online within the next few years completely,” Stein said. “He said that definitively.” But this “was a miscommunication,” Ferguson said. Ferguson apologized for the lack of communication between UFB and publications, and “the miscommunication and misinformation that has been circulating for the past week,” he said. “UFB chose not to respond … in an effort to make sure that all of you all were hearing it from us first and … to make sure that it wasn’t a back-andforth ‘he said, she said.’” The response from alums to the perceived printing cuts was significant, Ferguson said. He mentioned an online petition that was created to restore funding to the Indy and other student publications. Over 400 people, some of whom are alums who work in the publishing or journalism industry, signed the petition. Though he received several emails from alums about the perceived printing cuts, Ferguson said he waited to respond until after he had met with publication leaders. The pressure to tighten the spring budget began at the start of the spring 2017 semester when UFB learned that it would absorb a number of student groups previously funded by the

now receive pro-bono representation. Harvard, Columbia and Cornell also offered know-your-Rrghts presentations. Corral said he and HIRC staff members had hosted several knowyour-rights presentations on campus and off campus, which “initially focused on rights surrounding international travel and took the form of town hall style forums.” They have also hosted general know-your-rights presentations on immigration law. “We’ve had (Cornell) students and non-law faculty do know-your-rights presentations,” Lyon said. She added that undocumented students also created “sensitivity training sessions” for staff members. “It trains people who deal a lot with the students about the issues that undocumented and DACA students face, what the threats are as far as the stressors are in their lives,” McKee added. Other universities have partnered with external law firms to provide their students with legal support. According to Dartmouth’s Office of Visa and Immigration Services’ website, Dartmouth has enlisted the help of Curran & Berger LLP to “provide support and assistance to undocumented students on campus, including workshops/information sessions on DACA and DACA renewals (and) representation of individual students and their families (with discounted attorney fees).” In a letter titled “Dear Colleagues: Executive Order on Immigration,” Debbie Prentice, dean of the faculty at Princeton, wrote that the university, which does not have a law school, had “shared with potentially affected students and scholars the information we are receiving from a law firm that follows these matters closely and has advised members of our community in the past.” The letter includes a link to Fragomen Worldwide Immigration Law Firm. Ixchel Rosal, associate vice president

for student life at Columbia, said “the university itself is not offering (legal) representation but the university has secured the pro bono services of a law firm in town. We can refer students to that law firm.”

School of Engineering and the Swearer Center beginning fall 2017, Ferguson said. The new financial commitment encompasses approximately 20 additional student groups “with very large budgets,” he said. Associate Dean for Programs and Planning for the School of Engineering Jennifer Casasanto could not be reached by press time to confirm that the School of Engineering will continue to fund all of its student groups for the 2017-18 academic year. But in an earlier interview, she said it had funded the groups during the 2016-17 academic year. “Engineering has not cut any funding (for student groups) … but has tripled the amount of student funding in just the last three years,” she said . Dean of the College Maud Mandel confirmed that, since September 2016, student groups from the Swearer Center have drawn funds from the Student Activities Office. The center has “formed a partnership” with SAO to transfer “existing balances associated with any (Swearer Center) student group” to the SAO, Mandel wrote in an email to The Herald. However, for the 2017-18 academic year, the Swearer Center will stop transferring funds to the SAO to fund those groups, she wrote. “In September (2017), the Swearer Center Student Advisory Committee will be developing a policy and procedure for allocating funds it controls for student requests that fit the strategic

direction of the center,” Mandel wrote. UFB’s draws its budget from the student activities fee, which for the 2016-17 academic year was $274 per student — adding to a UFB budget of $2.1 million, Ferguson said. UFB’s budget funds not only student groups but also the Sarah Doyle Women’s Center, LGTBQ Center and Brown Center for Students of Color, as well as others groups, he said. All student groups that receive funding from UFB are categorized by the Undergraduate Council of Students as Category II or Category III student groups. Both categories receive a baseline funding of $200 from UFB, and Category III student groups “may request supplemental UFB funding,” according to the Undergraduate Council of Students’ website. Every academic year, UFB sets its budget to include a “rollover” of approximately $300,000 from the previous year’s budget, Ferguson said. This money adds to UFB’s budget for supplemental funding, which is where most money comes from for student publications. Every fall, UFB can make a request to the University Resource Committee to increase the student activities fee, thereby increasing UFB’s budget for the next academic year, Ferguson said. This request is made before UFB determines the allocation of its budget that spring. In fall 2016, UFB believed it could successfully distribute funding for the 2016-17 academic year and maintain its usual $300,000 rollover for the 2017-18 academic

Reluctance to become a sanctuary campus While universities have made efforts to connect students with legal resources, no school in the Ivy League has explicitly agreed to call themselves a sanctuary campus. In an email addressed to students at Penn, Amy Gutmann, president of Penn, wrote that the university “is and has always been a ‘sanctuary’ — a safe place for our students to live and to learn.” However, Gutmann noticeably left out the word “campus,” which was intentional, wrote Paoletti in her email to The Herald. “Guttman also noted that the university stood by and valued its DACA students and international students and would continue to support the DACA program,” Paoletti wrote. “And, finally, (Guttman) noted the university would not cooperate with (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and would not facilitate any ICE enforcement action without a court order. So, in practical effect, Penn is a ‘sanctuary campus.’ We also happen to be in a city that is a sanctuary city, with very strong statements from our mayor,” Paoletti wrote. Harvard declined to declare itself a sanctuary campus because administrators believed that the term “offers no concrete protections and may put undocumented students in greater danger,” according to the Crimson. However, in an email to The Herald, Phil Torrey, a managing attorney at the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Legal Clinical Program, wrote about the sanctuary campus toolkit that he created for the Cosecha Movement, a nonviolent advocacy group working for undocumented

immigrants. The toolkit addresses the concerns administrators frequently have about using the term “sanctuary campus.” Torrey wrote that “the kit provides legal foundation for many different strategies that campuses can pursue that are both legal and protective of their immigrant communities.” Torrey also wrote that he hopes the Harvard administration will change its perspective on the use of “sanctuary campus.” “The administration is taking tactics that courts are questioning and tactics that rely on fear and intimidation. It’s important for communities to show that they will not stand for such tactics,” he wrote. Student and community support Columbia has also created support groups specifically for undocumented students through their Counseling and Psychological Services. Rosal said that after the election, “some of the undocumented and DACA students were feeling very stressed and feeling very isolated. We reached out to the Counseling and Psychological Services here on campus to see what support we could offer to these students.” “The idea came up to create a support group specifically for DACA and undocumented students,” she added. Rosal declined to provide specific details about the group for confidentiality reasons. Bita Shooshani, a licensed mental health counselor at Brown, said that Counseling and Psychological Services did not have a support group specifically for undocumented students at this time. She added that she worried that forming a group specifically for these students might be a “safety concern.” However, Shooshani also said that it was critical for undocumented students at Brown to know that CAPS resources are available to them. “Services are totally accessible to them in terms of being concerned about any confidentiality questions that they might have.”

“Confidentiality is something that’s reviewed with students when they come in. … If they were to be affected by something that (causes them to need to speak to) … someone immediately, we do offer triage services,” she added. Shooshani also pointed out the work of Jorge Vargas, CAPS’s student care coordinator. “He identifies resources that would help students with … (accessing) housing and legal support resources as well,” she said. Students have also taken active roles in advocating for their peers. Student groups like the Brown Immigrant Rights Coalition played leading roles in informing administrators on how to better support undocumented and DACA students on campus, The Herald previously reported. At Princeton, student activism played a large role in campus dialogue due to the work of Princeton Advocates for Justice, an intersectional student group advocating for human rights. PAJ is a “coalition of roughly 30 or so student groups (on campus),” said Nicholas Wu, president of PAJ. After Trump issued his first travel ban, PAJ organized a Feb.17 event where over 300 people sent letters and made calls to members of Congress, Wu said. Since that event, Wu said that the group has remained active by holding a fundraiser for the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund at Princeton and helping organize a protest demanding the university divest from private prisons and their “role in migrant detention.” The group also took an advocacy trip to Washington, D.C., he added. “In the wake of what happened with the first travel bans and other steps that the Trump administration has taken, we felt that these broad affronts to basic human rights needed a broader coalitionbased response, and that’s where the impetus (to form) this group really came from,” Wu said.

year, Ferguson said. Because of this, it did not request an increase in the student activities fee for the 2017-18 academic year, which it would have needed to do in fall 2016, Ferguson said. “In September, when we were approached by the URC, we declined to ask for an increase given the fact that, for the past two years, we had asked for an increase,” Ferguson said. He added that the URC often does not grant activity fee increases if UFB constantly asks for one, as that “doesn’t show any forethought.” UFB is now in a position where it not only is unable to request additional funding for the 2017-18 academic year but also has to fund more groups for the year. When UFB learned that it would have to fund newly categorized groups without additional funds, UFB had to decide whether it should let more people draw from the pre-set budget, or “leave groups out hanging to dry,” Ferguson said. UFB examined its three largest financial commitments — transportation costs, performance groups and student publications — for possible reductions to its budget to compensate for the additional student groups requiring funding, Ferguson said. To reduce transportation costs, UFB will attempt to partner with major transportation companies to set a fixed, discounted price for a bulk number of tickets, Ferguson said. To reduce performance group costs, UFB

is asking groups to reuse costumes. For publications, UFB allocated approximately $90,000 for the 201617 year solely for publication printing costs, a figure that has been increasing since 2014, Ferguson said. UFB proposed three possible plans to reduce print budgets in 2017-18, Ferguson said. Similar to how it plans to reduce transportation costs, UFB may house all the publications under a single printer in order to standardize a fixed, discounted price in return for bulk printing. Currently, publications employ a number of printers and are left autonomous to find their own printers, Ferguson said. Alternatively, publications might internally review the number of printed copies actually read in an attempt to reduce the overall number of copies. Third, UFB would pay for a publication to shift to a website if the publication wishes to go fully digital. Ferguson also made clear that UFB would offer flexibility to publications who want to find ways to reduce their budgets. “We’re willing to work with all of you to make sure everyone gets what they need and everyone gets what they want. We’re not trying to take anything away from anyone,” he said. “I want that to be very clear.” The next step for student publications is to return to their executive boards and discuss possible means to reduce their printing expenses, Ferguson said.


NEWS

PAGE 4 • THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Pulitzer winners discuss MFA Program at U. Stephen Karam ’02, Gina Gionfridd MFA’97, Lynn Nottage ’86 talk experiences at U. By BELLA ROBERTS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

For the past 10 years, Brown alums have consistently been nominated the Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. This April, Lynn Nottage ’86 P’20 won her second Pulitzer Prize in this category, continuing the decade long trend with her play “Sweat,” which explores economic stagnation and the lives of steel workers in the town of Reading, Pennsylvania. While some past-winners studied in Brown’s Master’s of Fine Arts program and others studied playwriting as undergraduates, all point toward Brown as the root of their success. Nottage, the first woman to win two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama, was initially inspired by Paula Vogel, who was the head of Brown’s graduate playwriting program when Nottage was a student. “It’s been a struggle. Hopefully, young women will see what I’ve been able to accomplish, and … they might sit down at a desk and write a play,” Nottage said. Gina Gionfriddo MFA’97 was nominated for a Pulitzer in Drama in 2013 for her play “Rapture, Blister, Burn,” a dark comedy exploring the consequences of internet pornography. Gionfriddo credited her success to Brown’s MFA program, which she said provided her with the time

and space to focus on writing. “It was two years where I had my education funded and I could focus 100 percent on my writing,” she said. “You develop your skill set faster than when you are working a 40-hour a week job.” Nottage, however, believes that the necessity of an MFA depends on the individual. While some writers need graduate programs to grant them the freedom to explore, other emerging writers prefer to dive deeply into the world of writing on their own time, she said. “You can’t give people talent. But you can inspire them to go deeper and write expansively and to be more adventurous,” Nottage said. She now teaches as an Associate Professor for Columbia’s MFA program. Stephen Karam ’02, who was nominated twice for a Pulitzer in Drama in 2012 and 2016, shared a similar sentiment. Karam recalled forcing himself to work day jobs that were uninteresting but financially stable to give himself the opportunity to write. “It’s what I needed to do to free me up to pursue something that felt impossible,” Kramer said. “Some people get a job to make them feel safe, others need to run at it 100 percent. There is no right or wrong — it’s just what you need to do to be able to pursue (writing),” Karam said All three playwrights agreed that producing their work at Brown was crucial to their developing careers. “I had three full productions of my plays while I was at Brown. I think there’s

LAURA JARAMILLO / HERALD

stuff you learn as a playwright that you have to learn through having your plays being produced, and I think that’s an incredible education,” Gionfriddo said. Karam noted the importance of developing his adaptation of a Jane Austen novel with Brownbrokers, a student run theater group who produces a studentwritten musical every other year. “I had a lot of productions at Brown,” Nottage said. “If I hadn’t had that time to play in the sandbox, I might not have had the confidence to move forward in this career.” The playwrights also credited their success to the faculty who taught and inspired them. “I was fortunate enough to study with several really incredible playwriting professors,” Nottage said. “They were really key in me beginning to find my voice.” “Studying with Paula Vogel was the

reason I went to Brown. I was drawn to her dark, irreverent sense of humor,” Gionfriddo said. Gionfriddo also spoke on the importance of fostering peer connections at Brown. Gionfriddo met Peter DuBois AM’97, the director of “Rapture, Blister, Burn,” at Brown when he was in the graduate theatre program and she was in the playwriting program. After directing her thesis “U.S. Drag,” DuBois went on to direct three of her plays. The playwrights stressed the pertinence of continuing to write. “See as much theatre as you can and write as much as you can. Do what you can to create a life where you have space for writing,” Gionfriddo said. “You have to keep continuing to explore the craft. It’s really about making a commitment to doing that,” Nottage said.

» SUSTAINABILITY, from page 1 The task force will be comprised of experts on the environment and climate change, staff members from the business, investment and administrative offices and student and alum representatives. Two of the four faculty representatives will be experts in the environment and climate change, and a staff member from the Office of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Initiatives in the Department of Facilities Management will be also be appointed. Other staff members will represent the business and investment offices, including one representative each from the Brown University Investment Office, the Controller’s Office and the Business and Financial Services department in the Division of Finance and Administration and the Office of Government and Community Relations. Two undergraduate students, one graduate student and one alum will represent the student body. In response to the second recommendation, Paxson said the Division of Advancement has already been discussing methods to increase marketing of the BUSIF, which is a sustainable endowment option that was created in January 2016 . Potential strategies include increasing the online visibility of BUSIF on the “Giving” pages of the Brunonia website as well as in existing communications channels such as email newsletters, especially to young alums, who are “one of the audiences for which this ‘gifts of any size’ option has appeal,” Paxson wrote in the community-wide email.


TODAY

THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017 • PAGE 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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portraits of the artists

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Pizza: Cheeseburger, Spicy 5 Cheese & Garlic, Pepperoni JOSIAH’S

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DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH

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sudoku

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An array of nine portraits adorn a piece of art centered on human subjects, each of which depict a variety of poses and countenances framed by 12 parallelograms uniformly patterned on the display.

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Q U O T E O F T H E D AY

“I think Brown is really where I began to find myself as a playwright.” — Lynn Nottage ’86

See NOTTAGE on page 4. CORRECTION A previous version of an article published April 25 titled “Downtown murals add culture to creative city,” misstated the name of Erminio Pinque as Minio Pinque. Also, Big Nazo was referred to as a gallery. In fact, it is a puppet performance group. The Herald regrets the error.

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Hydrocarbons and the Circulation of Power 1:00 P.M. Watson, Joukowsky Forum

Hot Sauces, Salsas and Pickles 1:00 P.M. 200 Dyer Street, 101

Fire: A Biography 4:00 P.M. 85 Waterman, Carmichael Auditorium

SPEC Presents: Carnival! 5:00 P.M. Main Green

TOMORROW The Americas and the Generative Power of Fire 3:00 P.M. John Carter Brown Library

Philosophers on Diversity 3:30 P.M. Smith-Buonanno, 106

Intro to Buddhist Practice 4:30 P.M. J. Walter Wilson, 411

Interrupt 4: A Digital Language Conference 6:00 P.M. Granoff Center


COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

K I M B E R LY S A LT Z

comic Cat Ears | Najatee’ McNeil

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COMMENTARY THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017 • PAGE 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Leaving Brown, and hate, behind NIKHIL KUMAR staff columnist

With Commencement just 31 days away, many of my fellow seniors find themselves in the throes of a fullblown existential crisis. Last September, I wrote myself “A pep talk for senior year,” in which I found cause for optimism despite “a general sense that the world into which we were born is dissolving and morphing into something new and terrifying.” Nearly eight months later, the global political landscape has changed dramatically, but the tension between hope and despair feels more palpable than ever. How can we react to the challenges assaulting us from every direction without yielding to negativity? The first possible reaction is fear. Still unsure of my post-graduation plans, it would be dishonest of me not to admit to feeling an occasional twinge of crippling anxiety over my uncertain future. Perhaps I will have to move in with my parents due to a sluggish job market; perhaps my professional career won’t reach the heights of my academic career. This personal fear is magnified by political upheaval around the world. Will North Korea instigate a devastat-

ing nuclear war? What does the future of Russo-American relations hold? Will we remain powerless to save innocent civilians in Syria or persecuted gay men in Chechnya? If you only read the news, the world can feel very scary indeed. But there’s no point in succumbing to fear — it’s the least productive of reactions and no fun whatsoever. We’re talking about our lives, after all, and we have to battle to make them as fruit-

party loyalties for the greater good. Anger is useful when it can be channeled to productive ends, as it was during last Saturday’s March for Science. But it’s important not to misdirect this anger toward scapegoats like immigrants, people of color and religious minorities. We should throw our righteous indignation at the decision makers, not at marginalized people who bear the brunt of their damaging poli-

police officers were injured. On Tuesday, Jugelé’s partner, Etienne Cardiles, delivered a moving tribute during a ceremony attended by French President François Hollande and presidential candidates Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen. Amid personal memories of Jugelé and remarks on the indispensability of police officers to democratic society, Cardiles spoke unwaveringly (in French) about rejecting hate:

Indeed, service is a far better reaction to today’s challenges than hate. Whereas the latter can only be destructive, the former is always creative. By identifying what we can do best to help others, we can mend the rifts that divide us and enrich our own lives.

ful and secure as possible. The second reaction, then, is anger: indignation at a federal government that threatens to undermine the success of science and medicine, fields that have worked magic for the quality and quantity of life; rage at the terrorism that continues to leave many stricken with fear and the armed conflict that destroys families and societies; disgust with political leaders incapable of putting aside their

cies and rhetoric. Nor should we automatically hold those on the opposite side of the political spectrum in contempt. When anger slips to hate of the other, we become uglier as individuals and as a society. Last week, a French police officer, Xavier Jugelé, was shot dead while on duty on the Champs-Élysées. The Islamic State quickly claimed responsibility for the attack, in which two other

“This hate, Xavier, I don’t have it … because the general interest, the service of others and the protection of all were part of your upbringing and your convictions, and because tolerance, dialogue and temperance were your greatest weapons.” In Jugelé’s life — as in Cardiles’, too, despite his grief — there was no room for hate. He was too preoccupied with the hard work of serving others to consider despising them.

Indeed, service is a far better reaction to today’s challenges than hate. Whereas the latter can only be destructive, the former is always creative. By identifying what we can do best to help others, we can mend the rifts that divide us and enrich our own lives. At Brown, this spirit of service is everywhere, from the staff members who keep our facilities clean and safe to the faculty members and administrators who have stepped up in recent months to defend the future of higher education. And of course, this spirit is best embodied in the students, be they entrepreneurs or social justice advocates, artists or scientists. The work that the Brown community performs every day in the service of others is the very opposite of the hate that Cardiles so eloquently rejected. It is love in action. With the strength of this love, the only logical reaction can be hope. Stronger than fear or anger, this hope is powerful enough to eclipse hate altogether. Negativity is such a weighty burden. Fear is crippling. Unchecked anger is blinding. Hate is suffocating. When I pass through the Van Wickle Gates on May 28, I intend to shed that weight — for a lighter, brighter future.

Nikhil Kumar ’17 can be reached at nikhil_kumar@brown.edu.

Augmenting Human and Machine Intelligence with Data Visualization Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg Co-leaders of Google’s “Big Picture” data visualization group

Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg are pioneers in data visualization and analytics. Their research has helped shape the field, and the systems they’ve built are used daily by millions of people. As leaders of Google’s data visualization research group, they focus on finding new ways for users to understand and explore data. Their team’s work has appeared on the Google search page, on YouTube, and in mission-critical internal data analytics tools.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017. noon ICERM, Brown University 121 South Main Street, 11th Floor Providence, Rhode Island Light refreshments will be served

Tickets: datasciencelecture.eventbrite.com

DATA SCIENCE INITIATIVE LECTURE SERIES

Co-sponsored by ICERM


NEWS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017

List alleging names of sexual assaulters appears in campus bathrooms Brown Survivors Speak acts anonymously, bears semblance to 1990 rape list created by activists By GWEN EVERETT SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The names started appearing at the end of fall semester. Some lists had three names, others as many as 15 by the time they started cropping up in the middle of spring 2017. Students found them scrawled in black permanent marker in women’s bathroom stalls around campus. An anonymous group, Brown Survivors Speak, claim that the people on the list committed sexual assault, and the group has made posts on its anonymous Facebook profile that suggest that the University has mishandled its role in sexual asssault on campus. In a March 9 Facebook post, the group explained that it aims to empower survivors and “end sexual violence on campus.” “To the extent that students are making use of this anonymous form of protest because they don’t think the university is taking claims seriously … (that) is a concern,” said Stephen Brown, director of the Rhode Island American Civil Liberties Union. The list’s emergence follows the January departure of Title IX Program Officer Amanda Walsh and Jessica Katz, the University’s internal investigator. This has left the Title IX office headed by interim staff members from other University departments who are

now charged with handling sexual misconduct cases brought to the office. This is also not the first time a list of this kind has appeared on campus: In 1990, four Brown students created a similar “Rape List.” The ensuing discussion around the list pushed University administrators to address the issue of sexual assault on campus. Activists on other Ivy League campuses have created similar lists, such as one at Columbia that surfaced following a complaint filed by 23 students with the Department of Education about the school’s mishandling of sexual assault cases. Brown Survivors Speak adds to its list through an anonymous Google Form, where students submit a name and, thus, “out an aggressor” who had hurt them or someone that they knew. The group functions publicly through an anonymous Facebook profile named Marie Turner, which, in March, added over 400 Brown students as friends, most of whom are women. The Turner profile also includes a link to the public Facebook page for Brown Survivors Speak, but the page was deactivated in mid-March. Brown Survivors Speak did not respond to multiple requests for comment through both the email address provided on the Google Form, messages to the Marie Turner page and via messages to a student thought to

be associated with the group. The name Brown Survivors Speak first appeared in 2014, when a list of five names was found on campus. The University does not know the identity of the individuals responsible for the list, wrote Russell Carey, executive vice president of the University, in an email to the Herald. The Department of Public Safety has responded to eleven reports of names posted in restrooms on campus, according to University administrators. While the model of Brown Survivors Speak is similar to that of the 1990 rape list, some aspects have changed. In 1990, students themselves directly added to the list by writing on bathroom walls, but the Brown Survivors Speak list is posted only by the members of the organization itself, according to the organization’s Google Form. The 1990 list also mentioned support services for survivors of sexual assault around Providence. The current list does not. Student and outside reactions Brown Survivors Speak has come under scrutiny by some of those named on the list for the group’s inability to verify the legitimacy of names submitted through the form. In March, a student’s name was “falsely submitted to the sexual assault outing form,” according to the March 9 post on the group’s Facebook page before the page was de-activated. The

group apologized and wrote that the student’s name had been submitted by a “rape apologist,” or someone who defends rapists, and that the group had later “been made aware that (the student) could not have committed sexual violence on this campus.” In an effort to prevent similar situations, Brown Survivors Speak wrote in the post that it had changed its “approach to ‘outing’ aggressors” by asking survivors to provide a non-Brown email with their submissions so that members of the group could “be in contact with them.” Brown Survivors Speak wrote that they felt this would “strongly discourage rape apologists from trying to discredit or falsely accuse people through the form.” The student whose name Brown Survivor Speaks removed from the list still supports the group despite the controversy. “Survivor support is my utmost priority,” the student said in a message to The Herald. That student, and other students on the list, requested anonymity for fear of professional and personal repercussions. Multiple sources, both those on the list and not, expressed concern to The Herald that the Brown Survivors Speak lists target people of color and people of low-income backgrounds who may not have the means to pursue defamation suits. Students reacting to the list felt similarly. “It seems there is a great opportunity for prejudice,” said Maggie Shea ’19. Shea also argued that students and University community members would not feel comfortable if a list with offenders of other types of very serious crimes appeared on bathroom walls. “There’s something casual about it,” she said, arguing that the list may trivialize sexual assault. Lists created through anonymous submission and posted anonymously raise questions about the legitimacy of information provided, Brown said. If students are “anonymously targeted without any real chance to defend themselves,” that jeopardizes principles of due process and could be defamatory, he said. A student on the list could potentially claim defamation, but a legal suit would be difficult given that the leaders of Brown Survivors Speak act anonymously, Brown said. That was also the case in 1990: Even when men filed complaints about being placed on the rape list with the University, the anonymous nature of the contributors to the list made it difficult for administrators to act. Holding the University accountable Universities have a legal obligation to offer sound Title IX protections and procedures to their students, Brown said. The anonymous Marie Turner profile has made statuses that suggest the organizers of Brown Survivors Speak take issue with the University’s treatment of campus sexual assault. On March 6, Marie Turner posted of series of statuses. “Brown University is an institution that financially benefits from continually allowing rapists on their campus,” one status read, adding: “If an aggressor is paying $70,000 to you, what incentive do you have to cut them off?” Another status read, “Brown University fosters communal

silence around the idea of rape culture.” Carey reaffirmed the University’s continuing support for the Title IX Office. The “University’s approach to addressing issues related to sexual and gender-based harassment and violence has been a significant and ongoing priority at Brown — both from the standpoint of education and prevention and in refining procedures for filing, investigating and resolving complaints in a prompt and equitable way,” Carey wrote to The Herald. The University encourages victims of sexual assault to use the Title IX process, reach out to a Sexual Harassment & Assault Resources & Education advocate or seek support from Counseling and Psychological Services, he wrote. As for the creators of the list, damage to University property is a violation of the student code of conduct, but “beyond policy that relates to property, speculating about violations in the absence of the specific details of a specific instance is a hypothetical,” wrote Brian Clark, director of news and editorial development, in an email to The Herald. Named on the list “I was shocked when I found out my name was on it,” said a student who was named on the list. The student said they did not know why their name had been included on the list. The list places a “moral stain” upon those on the list “even if (the accusation) is unsubstantiated,” the student said. “Legally you’re innocent until proven guilty, but, morally, you’re guilty until proven innocent.” Another student named said the list lacks accountability from the anonymous members of Brown Survivors Speak. Still, for some of those on the list, their naming has prompted self-reflection. “I’ve spoken to some of the men on the list … (and) the first response I’ve gotten from several is a question of how they can improve and not knowing where to go” to learn more about consent, wrote another student named on the list in an email to the Herald. But he noted that attending consent workshops may pose a problem as a student named on the list “because our presence may inherently break the comfort of a safe space.” Several students on the list said that since they were named, they have felt acquaintances and some friends avoid or distance themselves. One student on the list fears that the list will jeopardize their job prospects. Three of the students on the list told The Herald that they had been contacted by University deans, who told them that they were on the list. But another student on the list said no University administrators had contacted them. While it has no “policy, per se” about how it responds to the list, the University’s “practice in general is to offer support or resources to all students, whether on this particular topic or other issues,” Clark wrote in an e-mail to the Herald. In 1990s, the list pushes change In 1990, former University President Sheila Blumstein, professor of » See LIST, page 2


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