Thursday, November 29, 2018

SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2018

VOLUME CLII, ISSUE 108

WWW.BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

State continues marijuana legalization debate Bruno loses momentum,

falls to Boston University

After first recreational dispensaries open in Mass., R.I. supporters of legalization speak out

Women’s hockey faces third straight loss, team reflects on mindset, stamina, on-ice energy

By CELIA HACK STAFF WRITER

By JAMES SCHAPIRO

States neighboring Rhode Island are going green — and not only as a result of environmental concerns. The first recreational dispensaries in Massachusetts opened Nov. 20 to long lines spilling out of their doors. Connecticut’s governor-elect, Ned Lamont, has been outspoken about his support for legalization, and the New York Department of Health recommended in July that the state permit recreational use.

Vermont became the ninth state to legalize recreational marijuana possession this summer.

“We’re going to be an island of prohibition if we don’t act soon,” said Jared Moffat ’13, a director at Regulate Rhode Island, a local branch of the Marijuana Policy Project. “The fact that every state around us is moving » See MARIJUANA, page 2

SPORTS EDITOR

When forward Sena Hanson ’20 scored eight minutes into the third period to tie the women’s hockey team’s matchup against Boston University, it seemed that Bruno, coming off a four-game stretch without a win, finally had all the momentum. But instead BU fought back, and a trio of thirdperiod goals — the last an empty-netter — were enough to hand the Bears a third straight loss.

“Right after our first goal in the third period, we certainly were on a high right there. But this has been a continuing theme throughout the year,” Hanson said.

“We’re either ahead or we’re tied, and something happens where our energy

W. ICE HOCKEY

RÉMY POISSON

levels dip on the bench, then it relates to that on the ice, and we just seem to lose all the momentum.”

Hanson scored both of Brown’s goals, the first coming 13 minutes into the first period. For 50 minutes, the game was a nail-biter. But after Reagan Rust scored for BU 11 minutes into the third and the Terriers added two points to their lead in the following minutes, Bruno faded away.

“Our team needs to find a way to be able to play three solid periods,” Hanson said. “Right now, I don’t think we’ve played a single game where we’ve played three very good periods in a row.”

Head coach Carisa Wahlig said that giving up two goals in the final minutes of the game was “unacceptable.”

“We need to be able to buckle down in that situation,” she said.

The Bears put up back-to-back upset wins against nationally-ranked opponents the first weekend of November, but ever since, have been unable to recapture the same level of play over a full game. After defeating Colgate and Cornell, Bruno lost 1-0 to Rensselaer, tied Union 2-2, lost » See HOCKEY, page 3

Potter prequel ‘Fantastic Artist highlights ignored black history Beasts’ lacks luster, magic Returning actors add charm to otherwise disappointing, confusing second installment

By LIYAAN MASKATI SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The release of “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” presents yet another effort to destroy the world of Harr y Potter.

Characterized by disorder, the film is arguably the worst of the recent additions to the Harry Potter franchise and is likely to disappoint most true Potterheads.

To start with, the film suffers from a convoluted and forced plot that follows from the first installment of the Fantastic Beast series: Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald has just staged a grand escape and desires to create a new Wizarding World Order. Credence, who is an obscurial — a wizard who hosts a magical parasite within him, the result of suppressing his magical ability — is plagued by an identity crisis and is determined to discover who

ARTS & CULTURE

INSIDE

he truly is. Meanwhile, protagonist Newt Scamander is given the task of preventing Grindelwald from gaining control of Credence’s powers. At first glance, the premise may sound somewhat compelling, but the film lacks structure and simply fails to juggle its multiple story lines. Indeed, the story grows so muddled that it even necessitated the creation of a “crash course” by the New York Times to help the “most learned of Harry Potter fans” understand the story and its bizarre ending.

Plot critiques aside, one must admit that the returning actors retain their charm. Though most of their roles have been somewhat relegated to the margins, the actors succeed in remaining true to the characters they play. The performances of actors Dan Fogler and Alison Sudol continue to be in-character and add personality to Jacob’s and Queenie’s unique relationship. Eddie Redmayne, in particular, superbly embodies Newt’s adorable, gentle and childlike persona.

The film also introduces several new cast members including Johnny Depp as Grindelwald and Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore. While » See POTTER, page 4

DANIELLE EMERSON / HERALD

Black Gotham Experience uses walking tours and publishes graphic novels in efforts to reintroduce untold black histories from New York City to a new, diverse public.

Black Gotham Experience founder Kamau Ware discusses motivations, purpose in lecture

By ELISE RYAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Kamau Ware, artist and founder of Black Gotham Experience, spoke at the Center

for the Public Humanities Tuesday afternoon as part of his touring presentation highlighting his New York City-based company. Black Gotham Experience offers events like walking tours and produces graphic novels that emphasize erased stories to reveal how the African diaspora has been excluded from public understanding of New York City’s history.

Ware started the lecture by breaking down his personal background. Hailing

from a family of academics and debaters, Ware grew up accustomed to discourse and stories, which inspired his love of books and graphic novels. The library became his “happy place,” he said, which naturally led to an interest in archives and artifacts.

Though influenced by his upbringing, Ware’s company’s mission was ultimately inspired by a question he received from » See GOTHAM, page 4

WEATHER

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2018

ARTS & CULTURE Chemist-turned-artist’s sculptures explore migration, otherness, global interconectedness

NEWS Undergraduate Council of Students updated by Communications Committee

COMMENTARY Flores ’18 MD ’22: War in Yemen described as worst humanitarian crisis, U.S. complicit in violence

COMMENTARY Flynn ’20: Brown One for the World chapter opens, emphasizes effective giving to charities

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NEWS

PAGE 2 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2018

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Scientist-turned-sculptor transforms quotidian objects into multisensory art Rina Banerjee draws on immigrant experiences, reflects on lasting legacies of colonization

By ANNABELLE WOODWARD SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Celebrated multimedia artist Rina Banerjee spoke to Brown community members yesterday about her trajectory from a research chemist to a sculptor showcased by the Whitney Museum of American Art. Banerjee is well-known for creating dynamic, multisensory artwork that explores themes of migration, otherness and global interconnectedness. In her lecture entitled “Make Me a Summary of the World,” Banerjee spoke with Assistant Professor of History of Art and Architecture Holly Shaffer about the ways her immigrant identity and scientific background have profoundly influenced her work.

Banerjee was born in Calcutta, India in 1963 and immigrated to London with her family at age three before settling in New York. While Banjeree and her family members often felt “displaced” and “clumsy” in the United States, they also reveled in the excitement of “choice” that the United States offered.

» MARIJUANA, from page 1 toward (legalization) means we’re going to have to deal with the reality of legalization whether one likes it or not.”

The two fully licensed dispensaries that opened in Massachusetts are located between an hour and an hour and a half away from Providence. Rhode Island residents over 21 can legally purchase the product in Massachusetts, but possession of more than one ounce is considered a misdemeanor in Rhode Island, Moffat said.

“Whether it’s gray market or actual legal cannabis, people from Rhode Island, just by proximity, are going to find a way to indulge,” said Nadir Pearson ’19, founder and president of the Student Marijuana Alliance for Research & Transparency. The gray market, in this case, includes Massachusetts residents’ legal right to “gift” up to one ounce of weed, Pearson added.

Moffat said he is hoping that

“Defining yourself as an American immigrant was very different than being South Asian in London,” Banerjee said. One of the ways in which her family constructed an identity in a new country was by curating an assemblage of household objects, she added. “I found myself watching my mother make choices, like: the lamp … would be Chinese, the carpet should be Indian, the curtains should be from Sears, the Tupperware should be from Tupperware.”

Banerjee’s curiosity about the personal and cultural significance of household objects would later inspire much of her artwork. But coming from a family of engineers, she faced “a lot of pressure” to follow suit, so she studied the sciences and received a degree in polymer engineering from Case Western Reserve University. She soon found that engineering was not her calling, but her studies taught her volumes about how to make “useful” things from base materials. This knowledge inspired her to start making sculptures that combined plastics and found objects. She enrolled in a Master of Fine Arts program at Yale and received her degree in 1995.

Since then, her work has been featured in countless prestigious biennials and is currently featured in a

mid-career retrospective at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Banerjee and Shaffer discussed a number of her early and recent works, including the installation “Home within a Harem,” a bedroom-resembling installation exhibited in 1998, and “Bone Flower,” a 2006 installation of antique lanterns covered in beads from a Caribbean and African store in Union Square. The crosscultural sculptures were placed in a sand-like base to make

them look “washed ashore” — a reference to the experiences of migrants.

Oliver Coulson GS, a history of art and architecture student, said about Banerjee’s work: “It’s an interesting way to think about portraits beyond the traditional concept of the art form.”

Shaffer, whose scholarship focuses on 18th- and 19th-century arts in South Asia and Britain, reflected on being personally touched by Banerjee’s work.

Banerjee “has been one of those rare

interlocutors who has helped me to see and understand, particularly how contemporary migrations of people and objects can trace back to Empire and colonization.”

Sponsored by the Brown Arts Initiative, Banerjee’s talk was part of the Warren and Allison Kanders Lecture Series, an “annual series of presentations and student interactions led by prominent contemporary artists and art-world luminaries” at Brown.

regional change will force the Rhode Island legislature to move toward legalization, which has thus far been stymied. A legalization bill sponsored by Rep. Scott Slater D-10 and Sen. Joshua Miller D-28, didn’t move forward in the House or the Senate in 2016. Another bill, titled “Adult Use of Cannabis Act,” died in the House Judiciary in 2017. Slater will be leading another charge to pass a recreational legalization bill in the House in the 2019 legislative session and predicts that enthusiastic backing from the governor, speaker or senate president will be a necessity for its success.

Moffat argues that legalization would allow the government to develop regulations and public safety plans, such as educating people about the risks of driving under the influence of marijuana. He also cited the 20,000 jobs Massachusetts could gain — “jobs we’re not getting (in) Rhode Island” — and the tax dollars forfeited if the state’s

lack of progress in this area continues.

Moffat, who helped Slater craft the 2016 bill, believes that Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello D-15 and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio D-4 are partially responsible for the continued illegality of recreational marijuana because “they’ve never even allowed a vote on the bill,” he said.

Mattiello has not recently articulated a definitive position on the matter, though he has voiced concerns with legalization, the Providence Journal reported.

“The sale of recreational marijuana will raise revenues for our state, but it will also increase social costs and public safety concerns,” wrote Larry Berman, communications director for Mattiello’s office, in an email to The Herald. “We will have to determine what the net impact would be for Rhode Island in light of the legal sales in Massachusetts.”

Ruggerio did not respond to The

Herald’s request for comment.

A Rhode Island legislative commission to study the impacts of recreational marijuana legalization began in 2017. The final report was originally planned for March 2018, but it has since been pushed to February 2019.

Slater is pessimistic about seeing the report at all, saying that the commission has become “bogged down” by conflicting views about legalization.

Slater has no doubt legalization would garner public support; a recent WPRI poll found a majority of Rhode Islanders want legalization of recreational marijuana for those over 21. But in the House, support would depend on the specific language and content of the bill, Slater said.

“I’m still working the issue, but I do believe I have the support amongst the members if you polled them. … But certain folks will want to see certain things in the bill,” Slater said. Content up for debate includes the destination of

the prospective tax revenue and whether or not the state will expunge criminal records for marijuana possession.

Because Rhode Island already has infrastructure for medical marijuana growth and distribution, implementation of recreational marijuana would be seamless, Slater said. Right now in the state, cultivators are only allowed to sell to medical marijuana dispensaries — which has created more marijuana supply than there is legal demand, said Spencer Blier, founder and CEO of Mammoth Inc., a cultivation center in Warwick. The Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation issued over 30 licenses to cultivators, yet there are only three “compassion centers” in the state. None of these centers are necessarily reliant on cultivators because they can grow their own marijuana.

Recreational marijuana “is really the only thing long-term that’s going to help us,” Blier said.

COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY

Rina Banerjee originally received a degree in polymer engineering from Case Western Reserve University before turning her knowledge of base materials into art. She received her Master of Fine Arts from Yale in 1995.

NEWS

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2018 • PAGE 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

UCS committee aims to increase transparency

JASMINE RUIZ / HERALD

The newly formed Communications Committee pitched several plans to make UCS more accessible to students, including a new feedback form, office hours with UCS members, town halls and an information campaign.

UCS internal committee shares initiatives with body such as town hall meetings, Instagram page

By MELANIE PINCUS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The Undergraduate Council of Students heard updates from its Communications Committee at its weekly general body meeting Wednesday evening.

The Communications Committee was established this year, and though a lot of their work is “very structural and internal … we believe (it) will benefit the school greatly,” said Communications Director Sofia Jimenez ’21.

All of the initiatives discussed are “still a work in progress,” Jimenez added.

Deputy Communications Director and Deputy Appointments Chair Joey Ravenna ’22 presented the first initiative: a “Student Communication Pathway” that would institute a Google Form to replace the previous platform for students to voice complaints and concerns to UCS. The Communications Committee would then write reports based on student submissions and refer them to the appropriate UCS committee chair.

“My hope is that this is a pathway for students to be able to get their issues heard in their student government … and that way students have some sort of outlet for their problems,” Ravenna said.

The second initiative, entitled “yoU-C-uS,” would aim to increase the body’s visibility through an Instagram page featuring general body meeting recaps as well as member and committee spotlights. Presented

by Nadia Goldberg ’21 and Brendan Caver ’21, the initiative would also set up office hours for students to meet with members of UCS.

“People can just come and talk in more of a one-on-one setting about their ideas,” Goldberg said. Office hours would “provide a space for students to share ideas and suggestions” and connect “students with resources they need to accomplish their goals,” she added.

The initiative could also involve a semesterly town hall — a highly publicized general body meeting that would be “the high-priority meeting of the semester for getting non-members of UCS to come,” Caver said.

A third initiative would be an information campaign that would use a series of videos to better communicate what UCS is to the student body.

“We’ll be spreading the word mainly through videos … just because (students) can interact with it, and that’s more enjoyable for them,” Bryan Guan ’22 said, though they would also use other means such as posters and fliers.

A set of talking points would be “the foundation of … our information campaign,” and would aim to clarify the role of UCS, Ravenna said. The campaign would describe UCS as the “legislative body” for students and stress that the group does create effective change on campus.

Several members of UCS expressed concerns about the talking points, particularly one that stated that “UCS is the main and only official form of student government at Brown.” UCS members were troubled because they felt that the statement could create contention with the other forms of student government — the Undergraduate Finance Board and the Class Coordinating Board — and could make an unnecessary hierarchical distinction between the groups.

“These talking points are not final, and … UCS as a consensus is not behind them,” UCS President Shanzé Tahir ’19 said in response to the concerns. “We need to have further conversation about them.”

After the presentation and ensuing discussion, UCS Vice President Camila Pelsinger ’20 praised the Communications Committee for its work in “increasing our transparency” and “helping us be more accessible to the student body.”

Representatives from the Council’s other committees provided updates on their work before the close of the meeting.

In addition to other projects, the Student Wellness Committee announced it is finalizing a SEAS reporting system to provide recourse for students when their needs are not appropriately addressed and is establishing a peer program to support students on leave from the University, UCS Secretary Vanessa Garcia ’20.5 said.

The Academic Affairs Committee is creating three $500 cash awards for peer advisors, tentatively titled the “Exceptional Peer Advising Award,” and continues to advocate for student representation on the University’s disciplinary hearing committee, said Chair of Academic Affairs Mar Weiss ’20, among other work.

The Student Activities Committee has approved registration applications for more than 50 new student groups and more than 15 applications for student group re-categorizations. They have also kept track of attendance at two pilot trainings launched under the Campus of Consent Bill this semester and will do the same at a training today, said Chair of Student Activities Alex Song ’20.

The Campus Life Committee’s work this semester has included collaborating with the Office of Sustainability on a proposal to have water bottle filling stations installed in residential halls, an initiative the committee launched last year. The committee also provided airport transportation for students over Thanksgiving break, and hopes to do so again for future breaks, said Chair of Campus Life Melissa Lee ’20.

» HOCKEY, from page 1 9-1 to Clarkson and fell to St. Lawrence 4-1 before losing to BU. “Having those two games that we won were very nice, but in a sense it got to our heads,” Hanson said. “We’re thinking about the past when we really (should) be looking ahead toward the future, toward the game that we’re actually playing that day.”

After starting 5-2, the Bears have now fallen to 5-6-1. These wins already represent an improvement over Bruno’s 2017-18 2-27 record, but Wahlig said the team should not be satisfied. The Bears need to enter every game with a winning mindset, she added.

“We can’t fall back into the trap of going into games and wondering how much we’re going to lose by, or if we’re going to lose,” she said. “That’s an automatic recipe for disaster.”

Defender Abby Niewchas ’19, who assisted Hanson’s game-tying goal in the third period against BU, agreed that it was essential for the team to maintain its confidence. “That’s something that we’ve been lacking, going into games with confidence knowing we can compete with the teams that we’re playing against,” she said.

Besides confidence, the Bears have another pressing issue to deal with: One player, Hanson, has scored almost a third of the team’s total goals. Hanson has nine goals; no other player has more than five.

“I don’t think, as a coach, you’re ever okay with just one person putting the puck in the net,” Wahlig said. “That makes it very easy for other teams to have your number when you come in to play them.”

But Niewchas and Hanson both saw silver linings in the loss. Hanson said the team’s work ethic has noticeably improved since last season. “This year, we’re willing to work that much harder to win some more games,” she said.

Niewchas stressed the need to remain positive. “I don’t know any team that’s been successful when they’ve been down on each other,” she said. “Building off of what we do well and working on our mistakes is how we move on as a team.”

One game remains for the Bears this semester: the annual Mayor’s Cup game next Tuesday against Providence College. “(The winner of) the Mayor’s Cup, that’s the best team in Providence,” Wahlig said. “In this situation, if as a player you’re not up for a game like that, then I’m not really sure if you belong at this level.”

Hanson stressed accountability, and Niewchas emphasized positivity. Both echo themes that Wahlig has underlined in the past as part of the culture she has attempted to bring to the team. But entering the game against Providence, and as the season continues, Wahlig also emphasized the importance of competitive spirit and sustained hard work.

NEWS

PAGE 4 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2018

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

» POTTER, from page 1 controversy surrounds the casting of Depp in the franchise on account of domestic abuse allegations, the introduction of Law as Dumbledore was undoubtedly a fine decision. Law’s splendid performance as a young, attractive Dumbledore is one of the few appealing moments in this installment, though unfortunately his screen time is grossly limited.

A more incongruous introduction is the depiction of Nagini as a formerly human figure, which is sure to jar fans of the original series. This backstory adds questionable value to an already perplexing plot, and the decision to cast Korean actress Claudia Kim in the role is also one that fans have criticized, worrying that the portrayal plays into harmful racial stereotypes.

Without giving anything away, the film concludes with a “plot twist” that is so implausible, one must pity the creators for having to resort to such a far-fetched end. Ultimately, it is quite disconcerting to think that the film is only the second in a five-part series. After all, “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” tells a sad, but incontestable tale: The magic of Harry Potter can go no further. Stop messing with it.

» GOTHAM, from page 1 a middle school student while working at the Tenement Museum in New York.

“Where were the black people?” she asked after patiently listening to the history he provided of immigrant Americans living in New York City in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Black Gotham Experience’s website explains.

In the talk, Ware discussed how he “began to realize that there’s actually a problem with the artifacts and a problem with the archives. … There are things that are unwritten,” he said, adding that in the recording of history, stories lacked visual representations or accounts from diverse perspectives — the materials that historians and students gravitate toward. Ware founded Black Gotham Experience as a means of both discovering and revealing these untold histories.

The name “Black Gotham Experience” comes from Ware’s consideration of the dilemmas he works to make evident.

He chose “black” because “when I think about blackness I feel like that is something that connects people throughout the diaspora, whether they are from West Africa, the Caribbean, South America, North America,” he said.

“Gotham” goes beyond Ware’s interest in comic books. In his origin story, Batman resides in Gotham, a fictional city often likened to New York City. The cities have become synonymous in tellings of the story, but “New York City is not technically Gotham,” Ware said.

“Gotham is those imaginary spaces,” he added, noting that the Providence people encounter today is different from the historical Providence, which must be imagined to be understood, as so many stories have been lost over time. “Those are Gothams — that collective unconscious history that is present … but that is not represented,” he said.

Ware has tried to reintroduce unwritten histories through his art. Drawing on history of the camera as a method of making marginalized stories visible, Ware took photographs of individuals cast as forgotten historical figures. He broke the

COURTESY OF GAGE SKIDMORE

Eddie Redmayne — pictured above — returned to the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ series as protagonist Newt Scamander, portraying the prequel’s hero with an adorable, gentle and childlike presence. Other returning actors include Dan Fogler and Alison Sudol who play Jacob and Queenie respectively.

photographs with long vertical lines to invoke known images of tribal marks, barcodes and historical etchings while stripping away contemporary technology. Photographs in this style appear in “Other Side of Wall Street,” a graphic novel produced by Black Gotham Experience, which is being released in chapters.

We are “right in that time period where it makes sense to begin to go back to those documents and say things are missing. Let’s try to photoshop black folks back into history,” he said.

Black Gotham Experience works to reintroduce a more complete history through walking tours on New York City streets.

Marisa Brown, assistant director of programs at the Center for the Public Humanities, noted the important ability of these tours to reach a new and diverse public by telling stories in a way “that not just students can participate in, but adults, children, people of all ages of at any stage of life,” she said.

The tours provide Ware and participants the opportunity to disconnect from artifacts and their one-sided histories.

“We have to be mindful of how artifacts alone create the same kinds of realities that we’re trying to critique,” he said, adding that new teaching and learning techniques must be utilized to reintroduce lost voices. To exemplify this dilemma, he raised a painting of Rhode Island ship captains who would become trustees of the University, pointing out the black servants at the edges of the image. While they were present, their stories were not the focus, and thus remain untold.

“If you only stick to what’s painted but don’t look at what’s not painted, you’re going to get two different pictures,” Ware said. Artifacts are not adequate tools to understand an inclusive history. “It’s like having the wrong software, like trying to design a building with Google sheets,” he added. Understanding these stories requires using your imagination to connect the hidden dots, he said. “Part of our operating system as human beings involves our empathy, our imagination, our creativity,” he said.

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TODAY

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2018 • PAGE 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

menu

is the sun or finals setting quicker?

SATELLITE DINING ANDREWS COMMONS

Pizza: Pepperoni, Chicken Parmesan, Barbeque Bam Bam, Make Your Own Pasta, Macaroni and Cheese Bar JOSIAH’S

BLUE ROOM

Taco Thursday, Rodeo Burger, Quesadilla Station

Focaccia Sandwich, Minestrone, Chicken Tikka Masala

DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH

DINNER

Creamy Squash Bisque, Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Braised Autumn Greens, Frosted Brownies

Granola Bread, Grilled Latin Spice Pork Chops, Roasted Beets, Mexican Ribbon Cake

VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH

DINNER

Garden Chili, Seasoned Curly Fries, Noodle Bowl Bar, Double Chocolate Cookies

Vegetable Barley Soup, Gnocchi With Cabernet Marinara, Chocolate Espresso Cake

sudoku

SAM BERUBE / HERALD

The sun sets on an early afternoon on Wriston Quadrangle. As the fall semester draws to a close, students on campus well-rested after Thanksgiving Recess are preparing for the impending finals season.

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

RELEASE DATE– Monday, October 29, 2012

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle c rNorris o s sandwJoyce o rNichols d Lewis Edited by Rich

ACROSS 1 Golf pros regularly break it 4 Gemologist’s weight 9 Force back 14 “__ had it up to here!”

15 Single-celled critter 16 Bo’s’n’s “Hold it!”

17 Blink of an eye 18 Rocky, for one 19 Midterms and finals 20 Do-or-die moment 23 “Para __, oprima numero dos”: customer service option 24 Woos 27 Crystal ball consulter 28 Bringing up the rear 31 Cut back 32 Offbeat 35 Cowboy’s footwear 37 Pieces on a board 38 When the Brontës wrote 43 Cannes crony 44 Arrow-shooting god 45 Prez before Jack 46 Prefix with second 48 Computer operator 50 Bottom-line concern 54 Hole for a shoelace 56 Heart, soul, or heart and soul 59 Precisely 62 Cheer for a diva 64 Fragrant compound 65 Game based on crazy eights 66 Seethed 67 Underground Railroad traveler 68 Fort Worth sch.

69 Stockpile 70 Repaired, as a shoe 71 “But then again ...”

DOWN 1 The Fishes of the zodiac 2 Opposed (to) 3 Bon Appétit offering 4 Mountain retreat 5 BP merger partner 6 Drugstore name derived from the prescription symbol 7 Genesis sibling 8 Infield protection 9 Betting odds, e.g.

10 Bring into balance 11 Deli meat 12 Body shop quote: Abbr.

13 Many USMA grads 21 Card worth a fortune?

22 Squid relatives 25 Palm smartphone 26 Mail out 29 Belittle 30 Trinity member 33 Deer mom 34 “Sex for Dummies” author, familiarly 36 “__War”: Shatner novel

38 Rooftop rotator 39 Uncertain response 40 Wide-screen technique introduced in the ’50s 41 Island in the Aegean 42 CSA general 47 Antipasto tidbits 49 Beach house, maybe 51 At one’s post

52 Wall-mounted candleholder 53 Embark 55 “Holy moly!”

57 “Date Night” actor Carell 58 Destroy, as documents 60 Miss Trueheart of “Dick Tracy” 61 Nobel Peace Prize city 62 Painter’s deg.

63 Caribbean liquor

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

“Part of our operating system as human beings involves our empathy, our imagination, our creativity.”

— Kamau Ware, artist and founder of Black Gotham Experience

See black gotham experience on page 1.

C L A R I F I C AT I O N The article “Granoff exhibit reflects on trauma of slavery” has been updated to include Katherine Chavez’s ’19 and Benjamin Lundberg Torres Sánchez’s roles as curators of the exhibit “Tolerably Black.”

CORRECTION An earlier version of the article “Rhea Stark ’18.5 earns Rhodes Scholarship” stated that Holly Shaffer serves as the advisor to Stark’s research that eventually became her honors thesis. In fact, Holly Shaffer serves as a co-advisor to Stark’s research that eventually became her honors thesis.

xwordeditor@aol.com

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ENG Seminar: Biomedical Engineering 9:00 A.M. Barus and Holley, 190

Fall Seminar: Michael C. Lorenz, Ph.D 12:00 P.M. Sidney Frank Hall, 220

Biology of Aging Seminar: Richard Loeser 12:00 P.M. Biomedical Center, 202

Talk: Eran Touch, Tel Aviv University 12:00 P.M. Watson Center, 368

TOMORROW

By Don Gagliardo & C.C. Burnikel (c)2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

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The Long Civil Rights Movement 10:00 A.M. Nightingale-Brown House

Leavetaking Tea & Talk 11:00 A.M. Campus Center, 228

Learn Persian @ CLS Table 11:30 A.M. Page-Robinson Hall, 312

Brown University Orchestra 8:00 P.M. Sayles Hall

COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2018

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COMMENTARY THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2018 • PAGE 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Demand justice in Yemen and action from R.I. Democrats JOSE FLORES

op-ed contributor The war in Yemen has resulted in what United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres describes as “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.” It may also rank among the least reported global conflicts, with onethird of Americans unaware a war in Yemen is even taking place. There is strong reason to believe the United States is complicit in creating a humanitarian disaster in Yemen. Saudi Arabia’s blockade of Yemen’s main port city has led to a severe famine in the country, with millions of Yemenis at risk of starvation. New estimates indicate that up to 85,000 children have already starved to death or died of related diseases since fighting erupted. Several cholera outbreaks in the country have similarly been linked to deliberate attacks on agricultural and water infrastructure by Saudi-led forces. When a bus full of children was bombed in an airstrike in August, the bomb used was supplied by the United States. In the past decade, the United States has sold $89 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia.

In February of this year, Senate Joint Resolution 54 was proposed to cease American military support to the Saudi-led coalition by invoking

the War Powers Resolution. However, the Senate motioned to table the resolution with a vote of 55-44 and it was essentially dead in the water.

Unfortunately, Rhode Island’s senators failed to check the Trump administration’s continued support for Saudi Arabia’s campaign in Yemen.

Ten Democrats joined Republican

di planes. While the Pentagon has claimed that its support for the Saudi campaign is limited to those means, the New York Times reported in May that the United States Army deployed its special forces on the Saudi border with Yemen.

Yemen was already one of the poorest countries in the region be-

Whitehouse rationalized his March vote against Senate Joint Resolution 54 by saying, “I don’t see how precipitous withdrawal of the limited support the U.S. military provides would make things better in achieving our humanitarian or strategic aims.”

Since March, conditions in Ye-

There is strong reason to believe the United States is complicit in creating a humanitarian disaster.

senators in voting against the resolution, including Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Jack Reed, D-R.I. In the future, Whitehouse and Reed must use their power to curb the United States’ involvement in ongoing humanitarian crises before they grow astronomically worse.

Since 2015, the United States has backed the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen materially in the form of weapons, intelligence and midair refueling of Sau-

fore the war began. In 2014, Houthi rebels, mostly Shia and opposed to Yemen’s ruling regime, seized control of land in northern Yemen and the country’s capital, Sanaa. In a purported effort to restore Yemen’s government, Saudi Arabia began airstrikes against the rebels in 2015.

Exacerbated by the conflict, conditions are harrowing for the millions of Yemenis facing cholera outbreaks, coalition airstrikes on civilian targets and potential famines.

men have become more untenable.

International outrage over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudi government may have been the impetus for Reed to introduce the Saudi Arabia Accountability and Yemen Act of 2018 along with other senators. He describes the bill as “comprehensive legislation to ensure effective Congressional oversight of U.S. policy toward Saudi Arabia and Yemen and demand meaningful accountability for the murder of Jamal

Khashoggi.”

Thankfully, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, reintroduced Senate Joint Resolution 54 for a vote yesterday, and both Whitehouse and Reed voted in favor of the resolution this time around. The Senate overall voted 6337 to advance the legislation, moving it one step closer to passage. But, going forward, Rhode Island’s representatives in Congress must do more, and act much earlier, to prevent American military involvement in humanitarian crises. Months after Senate Joint Resolution 54 was first tabled, the civilian death toll in the port city of Hodeidah — which has been the target of concerted coalition attacks in recent months — grew by 164 percent, compared to the first five months of 2018.

We can’t wait as the United States abets horrific acts. We can’t wait as innocent civilians perish in intolerable conditions. By failing to demand justice, we continue to muddy the ethical line in the sand in the already turbid proverbial waters of the Middle East.

Jose Flores ’18 MD ’22 can be reached at jose_flores@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

Pledge one percent to One for the World JAMES FLYNN staff columnist A chapter of One for the World is opening at Brown. OFTW is a national nonprofit organization that seeks to promote effective altruism — finding the most effective means of benefiting others, as informed by hard evidence — on college campuses. Started by Wharton MBA students, OFTW already has chapters at peer schools such as Columbia, Georgetown University and Harvard. An organization for effective altruism is a valuable addition to Brown, which is known for its culture of activism and engagement.

To illustrate the principle of effective altruism, here is a fairly straightforward philosophical dilemma, proposed by Peter Singer, the father of the effective altruism movement. Imagine that you are on your way to work and are walking next to a lake. You look and realize that a child is drowning in that lake. You have the opportunity to jump in to save him, but to do so would be inconvenient to you; you would get your clothes all wet and would then be late to work. Would you save the child? I imagine that everyone would do so without equivocation — the ethical obligation to the child’s life trumps the minor inconveniences. What if you were wearing an expensive suit that would be ruined by a jump into the lake? Still, the child’s life would be more important. Now imagine that the child lived in a distant country, yet you nonetheless had the power to save him and at only a small cost to yourself.

Would you still be ethically obligated to do so?

To those who would answer affirmatively to that last question, effective altruism offers a way to help. Organizations guided by this principle,

such as OFTW, help people to give rationally so as to get the greatest “bang for the buck.” They select charities that are the most effective — in terms of demonstrable outcomes, cost-effectiveness, feasibility and financial need, for example — and encourage people to donate to them. Because of these effective charities, it is relatively simple to help the equivalent of “the drowning child” in a distant country.

Effective altruism organizations have rigorous methodology for selecting charities. OFTW draws its charities from the nonprofit The Life You Can

Students can choose the amount of money they want to donate and the frequency of their donations. They can choose among several effective charities. Importantly, they do not have to donate straightaway; a broke college student, weighed down by student loans, can pledge to donate once they receive an income by postponing their initial donation by up to three years later. And students are of course not bound to any commitment that they later might want to modify.

Assessing the effectiveness of a philanthropic organization is never an easy task, and some may

As Brown students, we should think about the benefit to others that could come from putting aside a small amount of money.

Save. Consider the Against Malaria Foundation, a favorite of effective altruists. It installs mosquito nets in places where malaria is still rampant. It estimates that every 50-250 mosquito nets installed — each of which costs a mere $2 — equals one life saved. Thus, it is estimated to cost between $100 and $500 to save a life. If many individuals donated just small amounts to the Against Malaria Foundation, then the sum of their donations could save an immense number of lives.

This is why OFTW encourages students to pledge one percent of their future income to effective charities. What is to an individual a small amount can have a disproportionate impact.

voice reservations about the manner in which certain philanthropic organizations have navigated institutional power dynamics. But going so far as to dismiss all philanthropy as inherently flawed is simplistic and perhaps even irresponsible. As Brown students, we have an obligation to think about how we can use our resources to contribute meaningfully to the world in which we live, and effective altruism provides a robust starting point.

One common objection to the pledge is that one percent is too much money. But the average salary of Brown graduates is $63,000 per year.

One percent of that would be a donation of $50

dollars per month, which over time will substantially help the recipients of the effective charities. Of course, a certain amount of money is not equally burdensome to everyone, and OFTW is not asking anyone to donate what one cannot afford. It is nevertheless helpful at least to put these numbers into perspective.

Another objection is that pledgers cannot be sure whether their money is actually going to help those whom it is intended to help or is instead being used irresponsibly by the charity. But unlike some other philanthropic groups, effective altruism organizations prioritize transparency.

The Against Malaria Foundation, for example, shows each donor robust and updated data on when their donation is used and the distributor, the country and district of the installed mosquito net. It also keeps updated statistics on its overall distribution patterns and on the number of people that it is reaching. Of organizations that accept donations, the data indicate these charities are among the most reliable.

OFTW is Brown’s first and only student organization for raising philanthropic donations that will hopefully increase students’ altruistic impact. As Brown students, we should think about the benefit to others that could come from putting aside a small amount of money. Of course, not everyone can afford this burden; but for those who can, I suggest considering taking the pledge.

James Flynn ’20 took the OFTW pledge, and the OFTW student group will be in the Ratty from 11:30am to 1pm to answer any questions about OFTW. He can be reached at james_flynn1@brown.edu.

Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and opeds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

NEWS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2018

Twitter bots impact climate discussion, U. researchers find Of 144,000 users analyzed discussing climate change, around 23,000 identified as bots

“climate change” and “global warming.” The script was written by Sean Miller GS, a data science master’s student. From there, the group created a network depicting how the tweets

learning algorithm developed by separate research organizations, that takes in a twitter handle and returns the likelihood that the specific account is a bot.

144,000 users, the group found that roughly 23,000 were bots, Marlow said.

Together, these bots were generating 20 percent of all tweets collected, he added.

By AURIA ZHANG STAFF WRITER

With President Trump actively denying the existence of climate change, views on the topic remain polarized. Conclusions from reports conducted by researchers and engineers often clash with personal opinions. A new study led by Thomas Marlow GS addresses this divide, analyzing the connections between political polarization and climate change on Twitter.

Many conservatives dispute the concept of climate change — manmade climate change especially, Marlow said. “We’re interested in how that can be.”

Marlow believes that one of the “big drivers” behind this denial is social media influence. “We’re scraping hundreds of thousands of tweets to see if there are patterns of certain … groups that speak about the issue in different ways,” said Timmons Roberts, professor of environmental studies and sociology at the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society who helped facilitate the project. The group also attempted to determine whether the tweets were genuine or from automated Twitter bots that promoted “certain discourses,” he added.

After tapping into the Twitter stream, which Marlow calls the “fire hose,” the researchers used a Python script to filter out tweets containing key words and phrases, such as

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

YILAN GAO

within a specific topic are connected to one another and how they relate to other topics. Finally, the group fed the tweets into a botometer, a machine

The group ran a pilot study over a three-week period this past summer and gathered some preliminary results. Of their initial sample size of

The group also found that there were two topics that dominated discourse: global warming itself and how the Trump administration and other

nations are reacting to climate change.

The topic that attracted the greatest number of bots was focused on a specific campaign on a climate policy in Canada. “98 percent of all tweets about that campaign and that policy were generated by bots,” Marlow said, “So, they’re prevalent.”

“We need to understand how discussions are taking place,” Roberts said, including “who is leading those discussions (and) who is manipulating those discussions.”

“It is important, very important, to understand how opinions flow,” said Auroop Ganguly, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern University who was unaffiliated with the study. Ganguly believes that researchers should address what “causes these opinions to change,” and the impacts of opinions across diverse groups. The University project “is a good way to understand what is happening,” he added. “It’s fine to have opinions, as long as we understand where it is coming from and why.”

In the future, the group hopes to continue work on the project and expand their data set to include more tweets. By doing so, they would be able to look at specific moments in time pertinent to climate policy, such as the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015 or President Trump’s announcement that he would withdraw from the agreement in 2017. They are also looking for a more detailed explanation of how bots influence the discourse on climate change and contribute to an already polarized network.

“We know they’re working” Marlow said, describing bots on Twitter.

“Are they just retweeting? Are they generating content? Are they actually tweeting at people? We just don’t know what they’re doing.”