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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2018

VOLUME CLIII, ISSUE 12

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Sotomayor discusses background, hardships UCS updates constitution, outlines elections

Supreme Court Justice connects with students, leads open conversation regarding memoir By SARAH WANG UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR

It was one standing ovation after another as the campus welcomed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to speak in a conversation moderated by President Christina Paxson P’19 Wednesday afternoon. Addressing a packed audience in the Pizzitola Center, Sotomayor touched on a variety of topics ranging from her experiences as a firstgeneration college student to the importance of understanding different perspectives. Sotomayor began by emphasizing how she maintains a sense of relativity when facing hardships. After being diagnosed with diabetes at a young age, she struggled to balance her condition with her everyday life. But it wasn’t until she noticed her cousin — who had a non-functional arm — that she came to recognize others’ experiences with hardships. “As sorry as I felt for myself, …

Changes intend to improve outdated policies, streamline club categorization process By MELANIE PINCUS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY

Sonia Sotomayor talked about her experience as a first-generation college student. Students in the class of 2020 read her memoir, “My Beloved World,” prior to their first semester at Brown. someone would be dealing with something that was more serious and more life-impacting than my condition,” Sotomayor said. “You need that sense of proportionality to remember that no matter how hard things are, they’re harder for other people. If you stick to it, you can find ways around them,” Sotomayor added.

Throughout the conversation, Sotomayor and Paxson drew examples from Sotomayor’s memoir, “My Beloved World,” which members of the class of 2020 read as part of the University’s First Reading program. The memoir was a key inspiration for Ana Sofía Velázquez ’20, who introduced the conversation. Velázquez

said she felt personally connected to Sotomayor because she, too, is from Puerto Rico, and she described the “special spark” alive in their shared culture and college experience. “Having her book as our First Reading encouraged me go to college with an open mind, ready to » See SOTOMAYOR, page 2

The Undergraduate Council of Students approved changes to its constitution and discussed UCS executive board elections at its general body meeting Wednesday evening. Changes to the constitution included removing outdated information, consolidating methods for approving and re-categorizing clubs and outlining a process for student groups to add member removal clauses to their constitutions, said William Zhou ’20, chair of the committee on student activities. Outdated information removed » See UCS, page 2

Thelma Golden reflects From Brown to the crown: Cara Mund ’16 America discusses on curatorial experience Miss philanthropic work, Courtney Martin talks with curator of Studio Museum in Harlem about diverse art career By JACOB ALABAB-MOSER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Thelma Golden, director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, spoke on her curatorial career in the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts’ Martinos Auditorium Wednesday. The 90-minute talk took the form of a conversation with Courtney Martin, deputy director and chief curator of the Dia Art Foundation and former assistant professor of art history at the University. Open to the public, the talk gave audience members insight into Golden’s professional journey, as well as the historical events and issues that have shaped her socially conscious practice, which is especially inspired by the work of many black artists, she said. The two curators guided the audience through Golden’s multifarious career working at some of New

INSIDE

York’s most prominent and innovative museums. Golden detailed her progression, which began with a high school internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, followed by a curatorial position at the Whitney Museum of American Art. In 2000, Golden assumed her current position at the Studio Museum in Harlem. Golden and Martin discussed some of the most revolutionary and influential shows that Golden had curated, including the Biennial Exhibition in 1993 and “Black Male: Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary American Art” in 1994 — both shown at the Whitney. A slideshow projected above the stage accompanied the conversation, which included photos of the diverse and powerful selections of artwork that Golden had curated. Recalling the most enduring work she remembered from the 1993 Biennial, Golden described a piece created by Los Angeles-based contemporary artist Daniel Joseph Martinez: Whitney admission buttons that read “I can’t imagine ever wanting to be white.” Also memorable for Golden was » See GOLDEN, page 3

pageant life with Professor Hilary Levey Friedman By TESS DEMEYER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

When reigning Miss America Cara Mund ’16 began competing in beauty pageants, her goal “was always to be Miss North Dakota, but it was never to

be Miss America.” A contestant from North Dakota had never won the pageant before, and only three women from Mund’s home state had made it into the top 10. When her name was announced as one of the 10 competitors moving forward in the national pageant, she was surprised. During an event Wednesday evening hosted by the Maddock Alumni Center as part of their “Life After Brown” series, Mund sat down with Visiting Assistant Professor of

Education Hilary Levey Friedman to discuss her journey to the Miss America pageant. Mund said she was hesitant to set her sights on the national title. “I don’t know if it was the mentality that it had never been done before, (or) if it was the mentality that there (were) all these people along the way that never saw me even as a Miss North Dakota,” Mund said. “It’s great. It’s the best job ever, but I just wonder why I never dreamed » See MUND, page 3

COURTESY OF CARA MUND

Cara Mund ’16, who concentrated in business, entrepreneurship and organizations, is now shifting her focus to philanthropy, involving herself with the Make-a-Wish foundation.

WEATHER

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2018

NEWS Graduate Student Council prepares for unionization forum, discusses spring semester budget

SCIENCE & RESEARCH Alumni develop web app to help visualize statistics and supplement classroom content

COMMENTARY Foster ’19: The debate over Canada Goose jackets highlights real socioeconomic issues

COMMENTARY Vilsan ’19: Media may want to focus on Trump’s policy instead of his personality

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» SOTOMAYOR, from page 1 overcome any struggle that came my way so I could achieve my goals, and so I could beat the odds, as Justice Sotomayor did,” Velázquez said. As a first-generation college student, Sotomayor had no point of reference for many stages in her life, she said. “If you don’t come from a background that can explain the markers of life — the markers of success — then you don’t really know how to aspire to success.” In spite of the lack of reference points, she attended

Princeton just three years after it began accepting women into the university, and went on to graduate summa cum laude before going on to earn her law degree from Yale. She is now the first Hispanic and third woman to become a Supreme Court Justice. While Paxson moderated the talk with questions of her own, the majority of the conversation focused on answering questions from pre-selected students in the audience. When asked by Evan Coleman ’18 how citizens can advocate for the truth during an era of misinformation,

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Sotomayor emphasized the ability to step into other people’s shoes. “So many people start fighting about the facts and the importance of the facts as opposed to the importance of the principles that are motivating the discussion,” Sotomayor said. Once you understand what’s important to the other side, “that’s the beginning of compromise. That’s the beginning of serious conversation,” she said. Another student, Emilio Picayo ’20, asked how being Latina affects her role and perspective as a judge.

“What you got is Sonia Sotomayor. What Sonia Sotomayor is is not just a Latina,” she said. “I can’t pick out one piece of me and tell you that uniquely affected this decision in this way. … (Being Latina) influences (me), but not in ways you can quantify and not in ways I can tell you.” Sotomayor ended the questionand-answer session by answering a question by Patricia Rodarte ’19 about how to address those who feel that their sense of belonging is attributed to affirmative action. Sotomayor carries her status “with pride,” she

said. “What I’ve done is more valuable because I’ve worked harder than (others) have, and will have gone has far as (others) have.” Outside of her role as a judge, Sotomayor is currently working on three books: an abridged version of “My Beloved World” for middle school students, a picture book capturing her life through “the influence of words, books and documents” and a book describing how people with disabilities — such as her own experience with diabetes — contribute positively to society.

» UCS, from page 1 from the constitution included a passage requiring all clubs to have mailboxes in the Student Activities Office and sections about Category I student group funding. These groups can now apply for funding from the UCS Initiatives Fund, which provides block grants to undergraduates and student groups categorized below Category III, according to UCS’ website. Changes to the club approval process will allow new groups to receive official approval from UCS more quickly, Zhou said. Without the change, there are many steps involved in the process. “You have to meet with so many people and it has to go through many different links. It can take a long time,” he added. Instead of requiring clubs to be approved by the Student Activities Committee and a UCS general body vote, the general body will only discuss clubs that present concerns. “How we hope to facilitate that is by publishing a list of all the applications that are coming through our committee on a live Google Form that all the (general body) members can see,” Zhou said. The third set of changes to the constitution will require new student groups or groups applying for re-categorization to include a member removal clause in their club constitution. UCS will post a template developed with the Title IX Office and other student leaders for such a

TIFFANY DING / HERALD

President Chelse-Amoy Steele and Vice President Naveen Srinivansan gave a presentation on running for a position on the UCS executive board, noting the difficulties potential candidates must face in order to collect signatures and meet the necessary requirements. clause on its website. UCS President Chelse-Amoy Steele ’18 also gave a presentation on running for a position on UCS’ executive board at the meeting. The campaign process will begin early March. “I can tell you from experience it’s no cakewalk. It’s not easy,” Steele said. “There are definitely a lot of tools and strategies you can use to

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get through it.” Currently, to run for UCS president or vice president, candidates must obtain 400 student signatures. Candidates for other positions must collect at least 250 signatures, Steele said. But this process remains a “major source of stress and a possible barrier to people running” because of the amount of time it requires to gather

these signatures, Steele said. “I would really like to look at the whole elections process in general to see if it is fair and accessible.” Both Steele and UCS Vice President Naveen Srinivasan ’19 discussed their experiences with the campaign process. “It’s definitely a time where … you have to lean on your friends a bit more

than usual,” Srinivasan said. “Social media is definitely very overwhelming during the campaign,” he added. Steele also recapped changes to the Campus of Consent Bill that she presented at last week’s general body meeting. Representatives from Category III groups that would be affected by these changes will be present at next week’s meeting, Steele said.

NEWS

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2018 • PAGE 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Thelma Golden serves as the director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem. She previously interned at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and held a curatorial position at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

» GOLDEN, from page 1 the exhibition catalogue she curated to accompany “Black Male,” which featured the works of prominent authors such as bell hooks and Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America Tricia Rose MA’87 PhD’93. The pair’s conversation ended with a

» MUND, from page 1 bigger. That’s what I tell other girls — just because it’s never happened before doesn’t mean that you can’t be the first one to do it.” Mund is not only the first winner from North Dakota but also the only Miss America to have graduated from an Ivy League school. She capped off her Brown career in 2016 by completing a thesis and receiving a degree in Business, Entrepreneurship and Organizations. As an undergraduate, Mund interned in the U.S. Senate and was heavily involved on campus through dance teams, the club cheerleading team and Kappa Delta. Before becoming president of the sorority, she served two terms as vice president of community service. “She was a big force behind our big philanthropy event … because she’s genuinely very interested in philanthropy, and she’s done a lot for the Make-A-Wish Foundation,” said Jardelle Johnson ’19, current president of Kappa Delta. “As president, everyone really loved her,” Johnson said, adding that Mund was very

question-and-answer session with the audience, in which Golden spoke of her plans to open a new Studio Museum in Harlem in 2021. “Museums are important sites for the critical conversations we need to have in our culture and I welcome that opportunity,” Golden said. “When everyone talks about the moment we’re in, I value that artists

are looking and listening. … I know the results of (their craft) will be … incredibly powerful.” “(Golden is) very put together, you could tell by the way she answered questions that she knows what she does,” said Margaret Hu ’18, a former Herald opinions editor. “She’s a superstar in the art world.” The talk will be followed by a

enthusiastic and passionate. “She was a big role model for me coming in as a new member because she was always very bright and smiley and so accomplished. We love her a lot, and we’re very proud of her.” Though she no longer organizes annual philanthropic events for her sorority, Mund’s passion for helping others is evident in her involvement with her official platform, the MakeA-Wish Foundation, and through her role as the National Goodwill Ambassador for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. “Not only do I get to make wishes come true, but I also make miracles happen,” Mund said. “It’s been a blessing because I walk into these hospitals and there’s often times that the children are very guarded. You come in with the crown, and they say, ‘You don’t know what I’m going through.’” But her involvement with Make-A-Wish results in immediate connections with the children, she added. Since being crowned Miss America in September 2017, Mund has already visited eight hospitals across the country and met with patients at Hasbro

Children’s Hospital Tuesday. After her year-long reign, Mund plans to begin pursuing a law degree in fall 2019 at the University of Notre Dame Law School. The Miss America Organization has supported Mund’s academic endeavors by giving her “nearly $100,000” in scholarship money, she said. When asked about the recent controversy regarding leaked emails that exposed the pageant CEO disparaging former contestants, Mund said she was shocked. But she also noted the positive aspects of the organization, such as its ability to give women a national platform. “I feel as Miss America, I represent what it means to be a woman in today’s society,” she said. “That is being welleducated, being able to stand up when other people sit down and say ‘I don’t think this is right,’” Mund said. With seven months left in her reign, Mund is determined to make a difference. “I’m constantly focused, from the day I was crowned, on leaving this legacy. The crown only lasts a year, but the impact lasts a lifetime,” she said.

workshop conducted by Golden Thursday, in which she will host more conversations with students in the arts and humanities about her career. The Brown Arts Initiative presented the talk as the third installment of its Warren and Allison Kanders Lecture Series, which aims to bring art world visionaries and progressive contemporary artists to

campus, said Anne Bergeron, managing director of the BAI. “Thelma was one of the first (curators) to think about (the relationship between the art and the viewer) in a very masterful way and, in so doing, created community.” The last installment of the lecture series, a talk with artist Wangechi Mutu, will happen March 14.

NEWS

PAGE 4 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2018

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Graduate Student Council plans unionization forum, reviews budget

TIFFANY DING / HERALD

The Graduate Student Council discussed the previous semester’s budget as well as outlined the upcoming semester’s $4,150 budget. In addition, the council showed a presentation on GradCON, the annual gathering of Brown Masters and Doctorate alums who have pursued careers outside of academia.

As SUGSE begins card campaign to assess union election support, GSC evaluates spring priorities By ERIC CHOI SENIOR STAFF WRITER

At its first general body meeting of the semester Wednesday evening, the Graduate Student Council announced its plans for a unionization forum this semester and voted on its spring budget. Unionization is a “topic that is

actively discussed on campus” and relevant because Stand Up for Graduate Student Employees has “just started their card campaign” — the first step toward union election, said Alastair Tulloch GS, president of the GSC. The forum will take place later this semester and will gather members of parties such as SUGSE, the Office of the Provost and the GSC, Tulloch added. Tulloch described the structure of the forum to those present. “People would submit questions to us … (and) we would compile those and filter questions that we would identify as the most relevant ones and then send

those questions to different entities who would participate in the forum,” Tulloch said. The forum is a “fact-finding mission” for the “stakeholders,” said D’Ondre Swails GS, vice president of advocacy of the GSC. “The best place to go for information would be SUGSE since they are the ones who are actively (launching) this campaign, but as an elected body, we also have the duty to inform our constituents,” Swails added. No date has been set for the forum, but it will be “before spring break,” Tulloch said. The GSC also passed its spring

line-item spending budget. Treasurer of the GSC Eboni Chambers GS presented a financial plan that included items like conference funding and GSC full body meetings. The budget’s total was $4,150. Chambers also reviewed last semester’s budget. “For the most part, we did okay with our spending,” Chambers said. “We did go over for orientation, but … other than that, we did relatively well — we have $284.41 left.” The GSC also saw a presentation on GradCON, which is an annual “gathering of Brown MA and PhD alums

who have pursued careers outside of faculty positions,” said Sam Caldis GS, member of the Graduate Library Advisory Committee. These careers might include civil service, administration or consulting, Caldis added. The last GradCON was held Nov. 11, 2017. “The number of participants has increased every year and the sciences have participated very strongly — the humanities and social sciences less so,” Caldis said. He asked for graduate students in the humanities and social sciences to give feedback on how to make GradCON “more useful.”

Panel examines Gershwin’s problematic legacy, musical influence FirstWorks lecture tackles cultural appropriation in the context of late composer’s works By LIYAAN MASKATI SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Members of the Providence community flocked to the NightingaleBrown House Tuesday for a discussion about the work and complex legacy of American composer George Gershwin. “Reimagining Gershwin” was a part of the FirstWorks Artistic Icons Series, which explores artists whose works have greatly influenced the

arts or have transformed their respective genres, said Kathleen Pletcher, executive artistic director of FirstWorks. “In this case, Gershwin has an incredible music legacy,” Pletcher elaborated. The lecture aimed to examine Gershwin’s continued relevance and discuss some of the ways in which the composer’s music evokes a “number of issues to be explored about race and the African American (influences that are) incorporated” in Gershwin’s compositions, she said. Taking the form of a panel discussion, the talk featured jazz critic Larry Blumenfeld; musician, composer and producer Melvin Gibbs; and saxophonist, composer and

arranger Russ Gershon, as stated on FirstWorks’ website. “It’s an interesting, unusual stretch of speakers, and I’m excited to see the conversation between these three,” said Professor of Political Science Richard Snyder. Much of the discussion focused on the theme of racial identity and cultural appropriation in the context of Gershwin’s musical achievements. “When you get to Gershwin, you know he’s famous, but you don’t know where the elements (in his music) came from,” Gibbs said to the audience. A significant point of discussion was Gershwin’s controversial opera, “Porgy and Bess,” which is said to

have been influenced by the Gullah culture. Gibbs, who is of Gullah descent himself, described how thinking about “Porgy and Bess” in the context of the Gullah culture changed his perspective of the piece and of Gershwin. “That’s what problematizes Gershwin for me,” he said. “As a craftsman, I have the highest appreciation for (him),” but the composer’s commonly accepted legacy obscures the accomplishments of his grassroots influences, he added. Often, the speakers referred to their own experiences in the world of music. As a white jazz musician, “the idea of participating in this clearly African American form (of music) has been part of my DNA as

a musician. I’m always very conscious of that,” Gershon said. “Willing ignorance or erasure of a source is sometimes a very dangerous thing.” The lecture, entitled “Reimagining Gershwin: Rhapsody in Black and Blue,” was organized in partnership with the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage, the non-profit arts organization FirstWorks and Snyder. Accompanying the lecture is a performance of “American Rhapsody: The Gershwin Songbook,” which will showcase a 17-piece big band — the only band to be assembled by the Gershwin family themselves, Pletcher said. The performance will take place Feb. 22 at The Vets.

TODAY

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2018 • PAGE 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

year of the boar (a self portrait)

menu SATELLITE DINING ANDREWS COMMONS

Make Your Own Pasta Pizza: Cheese, Pepperoni, Bbq Bam Bam, Mary Jane Pizza JOSIAH’S

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sudoku

JAZMINE RUIZ / HERALD

Artist Minsoo Thigpen ’18 is a concentrator in applied math and painting. Thigpen’s work hangs in the Granoff Center for Creative Arts, captioned “I was born in the year of the boar — I am always seeking my fortune.”

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

crossword

“What you got is Sonia Sotomayor. What Sonia Sotomayor is is not just a Latina.” — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor

See Sotomayor on page 1.

CORRECTION A previous version of the article “Faculty members seek to improve relations with staff ” stated that faculty members passed a motion to rename the Program in Science and Technology Studies to the Program in Science, Technology and Society Feb. 6. In fact, the motion to rename the Program in Science and Technology Studies was presented at the Dec. 5 faculty meeting. The Herald regrets the error.

calendar TODAY FEBRUARY MARCH

31 1

10 9

10 11

Master of Public Affairs Open House 11:00 A.M. Watson Institute

How Many Ways Can You Plagarize 12:00 P.M. Rockefeller Library

Amy Hemple Reading Fiction 5:30 P.M. McCormack Family Theatre

Thursday Night Interfaith Supper 5:30 P.M. Chaplin’s Home

TOMORROW

11 12

12 13

13 14

14 15

15 16

16 17

17 18

18 19

19 20

20 21

21 22

22 23

23 24

24 25

25 26

26 27

27 28

28 29

Music Now with Tania Leon 1:00 P.M. Orwig Music Building, 109

Writing is Live: Miku, and the Gods 8:00 P.M. Leeds Theatre, Lyman Hall

Scientific Computing Seminar: Yang Yang 11:00 A.M. 170 Hope Street, 108

Anthropology Talk by Dr. Jeffrey Quilter 12:00 P.M. Giddings House, 212

COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2018

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Destroying the UEL would betray the community To the Editor: I fully understand the need for a larger, upgraded performance space. I lobbied for years with success to build a new performing arts space in Greenwich, Connecticut, for public school students. However, consider this experience of a P’14. I did not pursue Brown in the late 70s because Providence and parts of College Hill were so ugly, only to return around 2009 or 2010 to a historically preserved city and campus — so much credit goes to Providence preservationists and a relatively cooperative Brown development plan. Of course, the Hill now feels a tad overbuilt, but there are respectful renovations and glimpses of the diverse land use and structures of the Hill’s distinguished past. The cluster of buildings and open garden space around the Urban Environmental Lab provides exactly that glimpse — delightful space staking

a hold to the past as it’s been reused, recycled, renewed and restored over time. It is a physical embodiment of what conservation and preservation has meant to students, neighbors, gardeners, visiting parents, historic tourists and to the landscape of Brown. The loss of this area would be an affront beyond the removal of building materials and the destruction of the harmony of this neighborhood; a super structure in this footprint is not contextsensitive design, and Brown owes that to neighbors, students and preservationists. I encourage those professional preservationists of Providence to team up with motivated students to get a national or state registration nomination in place; I’ll help support the legal battle if Brown is foolish enough to pursue that. And no, my child was not an environmental studies major. Laurie Heiss P’14

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COMMENTARY THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2018 • PAGE 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Class cluelessness RUTH FOSTER staff columnist Over winter break, a fight — as fights often do — broke out on the internet. Brown Bears Admirers, a Facebook group where Brown students submit anonymous posts, published a submission in which a user jokingly outlined their plan to destroy all Canada Goose coats on campus. In a responding post, another user fired back, “I know this post will be controversial, but I don’t care because I am hurting and need to speak out. I love my Canada Goose and shaming people for wearing canada goose is bullying.” It’s unclear whether the post — which continued to detail how the author hated being condemned for owning expensive outerwear that they didn’t even ask their parents to buy for them — was a genuine response or an artful piece of satire. At any rate, these posts spawned discussion on other anonymous pages. Users continued to argue back and forth, with some commenters suggesting that their peers were jealous, bitter or discriminatory because of the jokes they cracked at the expense of Canada Goose coat wearers. Others argued that Canada Goose coats were actually a very practical investment because of their ability to last for many years. These posts, taken

together, show how Brown’s largely wealthy student body struggles to constructively engage with class disparities on our campus and in our country. For the most part, the Canada Goose mockery on Brown’s campus is tongue-in-cheek, but there’s a current of frustration that runs beneath the jokes students crack. Seeing gaggles of students clad in coats whose

study also showed that the median income of Brown students’ families was $204,200 per year. To put this number in perspective, the median income for a family in the United States was $57,617 in 2016. These data showed us something we already knew — elite institutions, despite their recent turn toward increasing socioeconomic diversity in their student bodies, are still primarily comprised of very

erwear. The parade of luxury coats that emerges on Brown’s campus in full force each winter is a reminder that we are living in a deeply divided society that clusters wealth and access to opportunity (read: attending an elite university) in the hands of the few. In 2002, Brown became the last member of the Ivy League to introduce need-blind admission. Fifteen years later, some progress

The parade of luxury coats that emerges on Brown’s campus in full force each winter is a reminder that we are living in a deeply divided society that clusters wealth and access to opportunity (read: attending an elite university) in the hands of the few.

cost hovers around a thousand dollars apiece is a reminder that Brown is richly populated with the children of America’s wealthiest. In 2017, the New York Times reported on a study that used tax data to gain insight into college attendance and economic mobility. Study results revealed that approximately a fifth of Brown’s student body comes from families in the top one percent of income earners. Between 1999 and 2013, 70 percent of Brown students came from families in the top 20 percent of earners. The

wealthy students. Several commenters called on their peers to stop complaining and go earn themselves a Canada Goose coat. This is certainly possible — data show that 53 percent of poor students at Brown ended up in the top 20 percent of income earners as adults. Certainly, this would give them the disposable income to buy their own status-symbol coat, but it misses the point. The collective groan over Canada Goose coats isn’t actually about out-

has been made. The percentage of Brown undergraduates with no expected parental contribution to their tuition is 35 percent. But still, 58 percent of Brown students in the class of 2019 receive no need-based financial aid at all. That is, their families are on the hook for the approximately $70,000 a year it costs to send a child to Brown. Our institution is still disproportionately full of the children of the ultra-wealthy. The most bizarre thing about watching the Canada Goose deba-

cle unfold online was how few students seemed to grasp how absurd the entire thing was. There seemed to be little recognition of the fact that a $900 status-symbol coat is not a practical middle-class purchase. But our society isn’t just intensely class stratified — it is also class segregated. Wealthy families live and work around other wealthy families, which largely insulates them from any meaningful interaction with those who don’t share their income bracket. Surrounded by others of the same ilk, many rich people have no idea just how rich they are. It comes as no surprise, then, that a student body like Brown’s has no clue why others might roll their eyes as flocks of Goose-clad students stroll around campus. Unless Brown students develop a more robust awareness of the realities of income disparity in America, campus dialogue about class will remain stunted — or worse, largely nonexistent. Hopefully, the anonymous internet infighting we witnessed this winter will help spark the conversation about class Brown so desperately needs.

Ruth Foster ’19 can be reached at ruth_foster@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

Media hypocrisy under Trump FABIANA VILSAN staff columnist I like to occasionally browse the Instagram accounts of conservative activists. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine to get a peak into the mentality of the other side of the aisle, especially when it comes to politically-active individuals in my age group. And you know what I’ve learned from this Instagram education? Conservatives don’t care about Trump’s latest outrageous tweet or the Stormy Daniels affair. But there are a lot of posts about the booming economy, low unemployment rates and impressive gains against the Islamic State. And I have to say — I don’t read a lot about these achievements in the mainstream media. Don’t get me wrong, I think President Trump’s attacks on the press are despicable, and I believe journalists have an important role to play in holding elected officials accountable and informing the public. I also think that stories regarding Trump’s ridiculous use of Twitter are important to fully understand the man that the American public has elected president. Yet, I have to admit, conservatives have a point when they complain that the mainstream media refuses to give credit where it’s due. In particular, the media isn’t working to discriminate between the kinds of stories it runs about Trump. Instead, we have a hailstorm of coverage that is often critical of Trump, but not in a constructive, coherent way. That is to say, the White House, its attendant scandals and Trump’s personal improprieties receive the bulk of media coverage, as opposed to the workings of federal agencies, domestic issues and the economy. The average consumer of American news is left drowning in politics, without an

informed grasp of policy. The result is an evergrowing dichotomy between conservative media outlets, who praise Trump religiously, and mainstream outlets, whose critiques of Trump focus too much on his personality — a dichotomy that leaves no room for fact-based debate or centrist, moderate politics. According to a Pew Research Center report, five topics — immigration, health care, Trump’s political skills, U.S.-Russia relations and appointments — accounted for two thirds of the media’s coverage of the Trump administration. On the subject of the latter three topics,

dent and the White House. Of course, Trump is a different kind of president, but members of his base aren’t necessarily wrong when they accuse the media of unfair or biased reporting. According to many Trump voters, their candidate delivered on many of his promises, in spite of grave predictions to the contrary, and these achievements aren’t being forthrightly acknowledged by the mainstream press. For example, although Trump’s actual role in the economy is contested, I think he can legitimately take credit for the downward trajectory of the Islamic State. The terrorist group was in

I have to admit, conservatives have a point when they complain that the mainstream media refuses to give credit where it’s due.

the media almost exclusively assessed Trump’s leadership and character, totally ignoring the ideological and policy foundations of his positions. Further, the media has concentrated more on Trump’s leadership and character — and judged him more harshly on those fronts — than it judged former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. In the meantime, news about the economy and Trump’s aggressive posture toward the Islamic State have been lumped into the one-third of “other” stories covered. What we’re witnessing is a fundamental change in how the media covers the presi-

control of 23,300 square miles of Iraq and Syria at the time that Trump took office, and the territory under their control has since shrunk to only 9,300 square miles. Coalition forces conducted 5,000 airstrikes against Islamic State targets in August 2017, the highest monthly figure in three years. In sum, the president delivered on his promise to give his generals more control over the fight against the Islamic State, and this strategy has paid off. But the media has devoted a tiny percentage of their coverage to this development — even though they were quick to praise Obama for his military victories. Consider the assassination of

Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. In the following two days, the raid that killed him, ordered by Obama, constituted 89 percent of media coverage. And the media focused mostly on the logistics and execution of the raid, not its policy implications. Obama immediately claimed credit for the assassination, even though the raid could not have taken place without the diligent work of the Bush administration. Few media outlets challenged this premise. Today, though, the media has reacted to Trump’s celebration of the Islamic State’s routing with skepticism, eagerly pointing out that Trump inherited his counterterror strategy from Obama. This double standard has — rightfully — annoyed Trump’s supporters. It is a well-known fact that people on both sides of the aisle often use the media as an echo chamber for their own beliefs. And it is true that Trump is an unusual president, whose scandals and statements have no precedent. Still, it’s clear that the mainstream media has formulated and applied a different of set of expectations to Trump — a set of expectations it has held for no other president in the past three decades. By focusing on Trump’s personality, and not his policy, the mainstream media has not provided a meaningfully holistic view of his presidency. And the mainstream media’s skewed coverage hurts the progressive cause, too, by arming the Resistance with juicy personal details instead of the policy prescriptions or information they need to undo Trump’s legacy.

Fabiana Vilsan ’19 can be reached at fabiana_vilsan@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2018

Brown, RISD grads craft online statistics resource Supplemental learning website gains attention for visual representations of statistics By CHRIS SCHUTTE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Daniel Kunin’s ’17 statistical visualization project “Seeing Theory” has recently garnered attention from students, schools and educators. Working alongside Tyler Devlin ’17, Daniel Xiang ’17 and Rhode Island School of Design graduate Jingru Guo, Kunin created visually stunning representations of statistical concepts ranging from probability to inference. The website uses real world examples to supplement classroom learning. Kunin was paired with Guo for the final project in a web applications class at Brown, and together, the team created the first version of “Seeing Theory.” “The (original) goal was to make these interactive visualizations that could contextualize the concepts in an intro stats course,” Kunin said. “All the (previous) resources seemed outdated, and I didn’t find any interactive visualizations,” Xiang said. “Current online education was plain text with no interaction.” After being accepted as a Royce Fellow to continue his work on the project, Kunin shared the team’s work with a few data scientists and math bloggers, one of whom tweeted about it. The project went viral. Since its launch, “Seeing Theory” has morphed from just a supplementary resource into more of an online living textbook, Kunin said. “We expanded the written content massively,” he added. “We’re providing a more detailed written context to each visualization. We’ve also added a whole new chapter on Bayesian inference, and also altered many of the visualizations.” Xiang was enthused about the clarity of the explanations “Seeing Theory”

COURTESY OF DANIEL KUNIN

Tyler Devlin ’17, Daniel Xiang ’17, Daniel Kunin ’17 and Jingru Guo were inspired by computer science classes some had taken at Brown as well as the design experience brought from Guo’s time at RISD. The team began the project around the time of their graduation. offers, considering the complicated tackle some final bugs before volunsubject matter, he said. “Everything is teers take over to translate the webin a concise little bite-sized module, site into Italian, Chinese, Polish and and that is really approachable.” a number of other languages, he said. With a RISD background, Guo “We’ll get to a point when we are satisbrought “a whole new perspective on fied with the results, (and) then we’ll design” to the project that the rest of just let it become a resource on the the team did not possess, Kunin said. internet.” The project has helped launch her de“Working on any project, it’s always sign career, teaching her how to build hard to say this is a place where I can a product from scratch using modern finish.” Guo said. “There’s always a design tools, Guo added. balance between finishing and perXiang joined the project following fection.” Kunin’s initial work with Guo, and Xiang hopes that the project will they discussed expanding their team be incorporated into classrooms to to include Devlin. “We got together at help visual learners, though it is not New Baja’s and just sat there for two intended to fully replace a first-year hours talking about the project,” he statistics education. said. “I thought (the project) would be “Aesthetics is a very important part a good way to solidify all these topics I of learning,” Kunin said. “Math espehad picked up from undergrad.” cially; for me, math is a very beautiful Kunin sees the development of field and, for some students, the best COURTESY OF DANIEL KUNIN “Seeing Theory” coming to a close in way to teach math is to share that beau- The project intends to represent statistical concepts in a way that can be applied to classroom learning at various levels of education. the near future. The team hopes to tiful side of it.”

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