SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, FEBRURARY 28, 2017
VOLUME CLII, ISSUE 23
WWW.BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM
U. creates new first-year advising programs Citywide
conversation tackles race, environment in Providence
Pathways program, online summer workshop helps students navigate, engage in open curriculum By ROSE SHEEHAN AND MIA PATTILLO SENIOR STAFF WRITERS
In response to survey results indicating a decline in student satisfaction with academic advising, the University is in the process of launching both a threesession workshop called Pathways, and an online summer module for first-year students. The idea for these developments stemmed from a working group of faculty, staff and undergraduates that began convening weekly in spring 2015 to discuss responses to the survey results and broader improvements that can be made to enhance advising at Brown. The Pathways program, which began this semester, gives freshmen the framework to plan their college careers and consider life after Brown through the lens of their personal values and standards of success, said Jackson Sales ’19. Pathways encourages participants to “think about life as an open curriculum” and provides “a framework for thinking about how to make difficult life choices, given the wide array of options and possibilities,” said Dean of the College Maud Mandel. Sales saw the need for “a structured, community setting” where first-years could discuss how to engage with their
Attendees discuss intersection of racial, environmental injustices across the city By GWEN EVERETT SENIOR STAFF WRITER
ATHENA FENG / HERALD
passions and interests at Brown after he read articles about analogous advising programs at other universities, he said. When Sales brought the idea for Pathways to Mandel in spring 2016, he found the advising working group had also been considering a similar program, Mandel said. Pathways consists of three twohour sessions that will be facilitated by faculty members, administrators and seniors involved with advising through the Curricular Resource Center, Mandel said.
The first session, which took place this past month, focused on reflecting on the fall semester and identifying students’ personal values, said Peggy Chang, director of the CRC and associate dean of the college. The session included a “value evaluation,” in which participants drew connections between their core values and the ways they spend their time, Sales said. “(The first session) made me think: Am I really enjoying my first-year experience, or am I just rushing to try and do everything?” said Yvonne Wingard
’20, a Pathways participant. Choosing a concentration within the open curriculum forms the focus of the second session, Sales said. Faculty facilitators from diverse backgrounds will expose students to different disciplines, he added. The third meeting acts as a “launching pad,” encouraging participants to think intentionally about a plan for their next three years at Brown, Sales said. The session includes reflecting “on notions of success … because there’s » See ADVISING , page 2
Community organizers and residents gathered Monday evening in the basement of Bell Street Chapel on Federal Hill to launch a discussion on the role race and racism plays in the environmental challenges that Providence faces today. While environmental justice is often thought of as an abstract, large-scale issue, it is important to also think about it in terms of personal stories and narratives said Michael Araujo, executive director of Rhode Island Jobs with Justice, a Providencebased group focused on advocating for workers rights. After taking his daughter to the doctor for a checkup, Araujo learned she had high levels of lead in her blood. He later discovered this was because of the high lead count in the soil in his backyard. “I realized that I was raising my daughter in a place » See ENVIRONMENT, page 3
BPAC promotes progressive U. researchers create bat-inspired robot Robot to be used causes at grassroots level for search, rescue, Political action committee formed after election seeks to engage in community activism off College Hill By RHAIME KIM SENIOR STAFF WRITER
“In this kind of new age where you don’t have a Democratic president, what do the Brown Dems look like on campus?” This was the question that Brian Cohn ’17, president of the Brown Democrats, was left asking himself in the wake of President Trump’s victory. The group’s response came in January: Brown Democrats created the Brown Progressive Action Committee, a new committee of students working toward political activism on a grassroots level. BPAC aims to mobilize students new to political activism and centralize progressive efforts on campus and in
INSIDE
Providence, said BPAC Chair Aidan Calvelli ’19. The group will “help people who might not know how to get involved (in political action) but are fired up after the election and want to get politically active.” The Brown Democrats decided the best way to make an impact was to continue educational efforts, but they recognized that “on the other side of the same coin is activism,” both on and off campus. “So we decided it was more important to create a new group of people who were going to be clearly dedicated to the activism side.” BPAC is currently applying to the Student Activities Office to become a category one student group, Calvelli said. The committee was established last month after the Brown Democrats selected the seven-person board from an application process, he wrote in a follow-up email to The Herald. BPAC » See BPAC, page 2
investigation missions in confined spaces By JONATHAN DOUGLAS SENIOR STAFF WRITER
A building collapses and victims are stuck beneath rubble. A rescue team moves debris as quickly as possible but struggles to find people in the chaos. The team launches a robot that can fly through the narrow spaces and nimbly maneuver through the rubble. With the robot’s help, it locates people faster. A scenario like this might now be possible. Funded by the National Science Foundation and the United States Air Force Office of Scientific Research, a group of researchers at Brown, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the California Institute of Technology has created a prototype of a robot based on a bat that can fly in tight spaces and change
COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY
Researchers focused on the mechanisms that enable bats’ sustained and acrobatic flight patterns to design a potentially life-saving robot. direction quickly. Bats,known for their unique flying abilities, have significant control over their wings and the ability to perform acrobatic maneuvers. They are also the only mammals that can sustain prolonged flight — another quality that makes them an ideal model, said Professor of Engineering Kenneth Breuer ’82 P’14 P’16.
The team at Brown studied how real bats move and created a model for the robot’s flight patterns, said Hamid Vejdani GS. Using a wind tunnel and a camera-rigged room, they were able to analyze how bats fly under perfect conditions and in varying wind speeds. David Boerma GS helped train bats to land in specific spots within » See ROBOT, page 2
WEATHER
TUESDAY, FEBRURARY 28, 2017
NEWS Jessica Fisher’s ’16 passion for dance, geology left mark on faculty, peers
NEWS Professor John Savage reflects on 50-year career, founding of CS department
COMMENTARY Smith GS: Breitbart uses layout, headlines, content to manipulate readers’ reactions to news
COMMENTARY Murage ’17: Despite NGO, government intervention, African wildlife doomed for extinction
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» BPAC, from page 1 will be a separate group from the Brown Democrats, Cohn wrote in an email to The Herald. The Brown Democrats did not allow any of its current executive board members to apply for the BPAC board, Cohn wrote. Nonetheless, BPAC and Brown Democrats continue to work closely together. Abby Sanft ’18, political director of Brown Democrats, and Cohn regularly attend BPAC meetings as members, Cohn said. Similarly, Calvelli has since been appointed a board member of Brown Democrats. Instead of aligning politically with the Democratic Party like the Brown Democrats, BPAC focuses on promoting progressive causes such as criminal justice reform, reproductive healthcare, LGBTQ rights and environmental issues, Calvelli said. “There’s a lot of people on this campus, for instance, that call themselves progressive but not Democratic,” Cohn said. BPAC aims to mobilize that broader range of people. “Our first goals are likely going to
» ADVISING, from page 1 obviously a big diversity (of opinions) in the group of what success means,” he added. The third session is more than “a lot of talk” and “philosophizing,” Sales said, adding that it also asks students to envision daily habits that line up with their values. Pathways is situated in the spring of freshman year because by their second semester “students are a little more comfortable with Brown,” Sales said. The program introduces concepts that can then be implemented sophomore year, Chang said. Over 50 first-years are currently participating in Pathways and have been divided into small groups based on availability, Chang said. “We want to catch the students who want or need such a program, and that’s not everybody,” Mandel said. Pathways targets first-years who either feel “that their first semester of advising was
be locally oriented because there’s a lot of really good, aggressive legislators here in Rhode Island,” Calvelli said. “Rhode Island legislators are really accessible — you can just head down to the State House and talk to people.” BPAC’s legislative director has also coordinated efforts to reach out to “those within the progressive caucus in the Rhode Island State House,” Cohn said. At BPAC’s first meeting on Feb. 8, the board encouraged attendees to urge Speaker of the Rhode Island House Nick Mattiello to bring the Justice Reinvestment Bills — six bills that aim to reform Rhode Island’s criminal justice system — to a vote once they clear committee. BPAC provided attendees with an email template they could use to contact Matiello. The group’s efforts go beyond just emailing, too. On Feb. 15, about a dozen students from BPAC attended a hearing on a bill banning conversion therapy in the Committee of Health, Education and Welfare at the Rhode Island State House. BPAC looks to engage broadly with insufficient” or want to be reflective about their education, she added. Students who are overwhelmed and struggling during their freshman year should know that they “have someone to talk to” and that it’s okay to be uncertain about one’s future, she added. Pathways may expand to include as many as several hundred first-years, Mandel said. Current participants fill out a survey after each session, generating feedback to improve the program, Chang said. The refinement of the program is “an iterative process,” Sales said. “I’m hoping to get a really nice final product that’s a fixed part of the Brown advising ecosystem,” he added. Since Pathways is just beginning, “it’s hard to say how it’s going to go,” Wingard said. But so far, Wingard thinks the program is “a positive thing.” The online summer workshop for incoming first-year students will
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
NAOMY PEDROZA / HERALD
The Brown Progressive Action Committee seeks to involve students who are new to political activism and focuses on furthering progressive causes such as criminal justice reform and environmental issues. Rhode Islanders across the state. On Saturday, BPAC encouraged students to attend a Rhode Island Progressive Democrats of America canvassing event in Pawtucket against a local bill that would require the government to
investigate immigration violations, Calvelli said. Despite BPAC’s focus on local activism, “down the road, we also know that stuff at the national level is going to be really important,” Calvelli said.
BPAC organized a phone banking event last week where students called their representatives about both national and local issues, he said. BPAC plans to hold regular phone banking events, he added.
introduce them to the advising system and prepare them to engage with the philosophy behind Brown’s open curriculum, Chang said. “We realized that it might be more effective if we talked to students about (an advising network) before they even launched into the whole advising process,” Mandel said. The goal is to guide students through understanding a relationship not only with an advisor, but also with an open curriculum and a liberal arts environment that values the spirit of free inquiry, Mandel added. The workshop will consist of four 15-minute modules, each examining a different aspect of the transition to Brown, Mandel said. Maitrayee Bhattacharyya, senior associate dean of the college for diversity and inclusion, leads the module on the University’s spirit of free inquiry. The module will examine three topics regarding free inquiry: what it means,
the conditions that foster it and how students can contribute to it, she said. The second module will guide students through the “open curriculum in a liberal arts education framework” and teach them to build an advising network, said Besenia Rodriguez, senior associate dean for curriculum. Though around 90 percent of students choose to attend Brown because of the open curriculum, it’s still a radical concept that high schools often fail to prepare students for, she added. The third module, led by Yolanda Rome, associate dean of the college for first-year and sophomore studies, will help students adjust from high school academics to college classes. The module will include calendar simulations to help students understand time management, which is “a huge chunk of what allows a student to be successful in college,” Rome said. It will also focus on “normalizing the seeking of resources” — such
as tutoring, the Writing Center and group problem sessions — as an option for all students, not just those who are struggling, Rome added. The final module hopes to ground students in their Brown experience so that they can bring their own identities and perspectives to their educational journey, said Carol Cohen, senior associate dean for class advising and for personal and health issues, who leads the group planning this module. The teams have been working on the workshop all year, incorporating students and faculty into educational skits for the modules and collaborating with the School of Professional Studies. They hope to test the modules on current students in late spring and have it ready by this upcoming August. “Between the (online workshop) and Pathways, it’s all an experiment,” Chang said. “We’re just going to assess it and see how it goes.”
» ROBOT, from page 1 the team’s laboratory, though it was no easy task. “It’s just as perplexing as it sounds,” Boerma said. Using food rewards and a number of different bats, the team was able to encourage movements relevant to the research. From the data and analysis put together by the team at Brown, roboticists at Illinois and the CalTech built a robot that flies like a bat. The robot can be used for search and rescue missions, inspections and other expeditions that take place in confined spaces, Breuer said. “It’s really encouraging to see how pure biological interests can translate into solutions to problems that people actually care about,” Boerma said. Building robots based on biological models is a relatively new technique — some of the first prototypes of such robots used basic models of movements starting as early as the 1970s, said Kaushik Jayaram, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard. Known as bio-inspired robotics, this area of study has become increasingly popular, he added. Bio-inspired robotics encourages collaboration between different fields to draw upon multiple sources of knowledge and frames of thought.
CATHERINE HABGOOD
“Engineers and biologists working together to answer common questions which both fields are interested in
can definitely move us further ahead than if these groups work individually,” Jayaram said.
In the future, the team hopes to explore how bats land and react to blasts of wind, Breuer said. Additionally, they
aim to test the robot in Brown’s wind tunnel and make improvements to its design.
NEWS
TUESDAY, FEBRURARY 28, 2017 • PAGE 3
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
» ENVIRONMENT, from page 1 where we can’t touch the soil,” he said. The city of Providence, through its Racial and Environmental Justice Committee, is aiming to look at sustainability through a lens of racial equality, said Leah Bamburger, who works in the Office of Sustainability for the city. This meeting was an opportunity to establish a base with community members and bring their concerns back to the committee, she added. Araujo encouraged 40-plus attendees to break up into small groups to discuss their main environmental concerns. Upon reconvening, Araujo cold-called on each member of the audience to summarize the concerns they had discussed, adding that their participation was vital to bringing the
nuances of environmental injustice in Providence to light. The list of grievances includes concerns about the low quality of Providence drinking water — it is among the worst in the country in terms of lead contamination — as well as dumping of trash in vacant lots across Providence, lack of access to green spaces and the disposal of liquefied natural gas in South Providence. Environmental injustice in communities of color should be brought to light, said Asata Tigrai, a community organizer in Providence. In many communities of color, residents move into homes without realizing that the ground, structure or water are contaminated with lead, she said, adding that these conditions are not being adequately addressed by Providence policy-makers. Tigrai has worked to
push back against the city constructing public housing projects and schools on former dumps, arguing that these are contaminated and as such threaten the safety of schoolchildren, she said. Many attendees brought up the environmental privilege enjoyed on the East Side, which is apparent through the amount of greenery and public parks that are harder to find in other parts of the city. Much of the discussion centered around the idea of privilege: “I can’t help but think about these things in terms of white supremacy,” Araujo said, adding that while Providence has one of the oldest black populations in the United States, 75 percent of that population has been forcibly displaced into different parts of the city since the 1960s. Another attendee noted that the
construction projects the city takes on do not always benefit the communities they directly impact: A highway construction project currently runs through the middle of Olneyville despite the fact that the community has one of the lowest rates of car ownership in the city, he said, adding that this construction project “won’t benefit (Olneyville) in any way.” Some students attended the event — one noted to the group that he feels Brown exists in a bubble of environmental privilege. Colin Kent-Daggett ’19, another attendee, said he had attended because he wanted to be more involved in the Providence community beyond Brown. “I think we all need to be careful about how and when we go into the Providence community” because Brown students often lack the
expertise on the specific issues affecting individuals those communities. Araujo was impressed with the level of turnout at the meeting, noting he had only expected a handful of people. Political vitality has been potent in Providence and across the nation since the election of President Trump, Tigrai said. “It’s bringing us all together … never before in the last 30 or 40 years have we come together” to this degree, she said. But in order for these conversations to effect real change, people need to challenge the systems of power that exist in the United States today, Tigrai added. “We can change our hearts and our minds, but we have to use our hearts and our minds to change the system of economics” that disproportionately affects communities of color, she said.
Jessica Fisher ’16 remembered for positivity, tenacity
COURTESY OF DANIELLE PERELMAN
Jessica Fisher ’16 was a member of Fusion Dance Company and won the the Sarah LaMendola Award for Outstanding Research in Geological and Environmental Sciences at Brown.
Friends, roommates, advisors recall Fisher’s unparalleled warmth, kindness By EDUARD MUÑOZ-SUÑÉ SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Throughout her time at Brown, Jessica Fisher ’16 could always be found dancing, reading, drawing or finishing her thesis in the geology center. Even after more than a year of chemotherapy and over a month of intensive radiation treatment for brain cancer, Fisher strove to maintain an active and busy lifestyle and always made time for her friends. Fisher, who passed away Jan. 25 at the age of 22 after a two-year battle with brain cancer, never let anything get in her way, her friends said. Mariela Mannion ’16, a long-time friend and former roommate, described Fisher as “inspiring” and said that meeting Fisher made her think, “Oh, this is why you go to college at a place like Brown.” Fisher refused to take any time off from Brown while she was sick, and she graduated in four years with honors as a Sigma Xi scholar and received the Sarah LaMendola Award
for Outstanding Research in Geological and Environmental Sciences. Jan Tullis, adjunct professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences and one of Fisher’s advisers, recalled her bright outlook and creativity. She “was a very positive, can-do person … and it was so inspiring that someone could remain so positive through such dire circumstances,” Tullis said. Her creativity, Tullis recalled, often showed itself in her geology work. While on a geology trip in Argentina, Fisher combined her passion for dance with her research and conceived a photography series in which she posed for dance moves atop different rock formations. For her senior thesis, Fisher examined fragments of 18 million-yearold fossilized leaves from the islands of New Caledonia in the southwest Pacific Ocean to determine weather patterns in the area during the time period. After the project, on which she worked with Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Andrew Leslie, Fisher decided to use more creative methods to further explore her work. Her senior spring, Fisher completed an independent
study in the visual art department and created a series of paintings inspired by the fossilized leaves she had studied. In her final two years at Brown, while undergoing a grueling treatment of chemotherapy, Fisher’s roommates banded behind her to help her manage her workload. As part of her treatment, Fisher took chemotherapy pills every day for a week, causing her to feel extremely nauseous. To combat this, she took additional anti-nausea and anti-seizure drugs. “We called it chemo week,” Mannion said. “Chemo week was bad, but the week after was worse. (Fisher) would plan her school work around those two weeks, because that was when she was the most sick.” Despite the demanding treatment, Mannion and others recalled Fisher’ unfaltering care for her friends. In the midst of the difficult treatment, Fisher would “drop everything she was doing to talk to me and help me and give me good advice,” Mannion said. “(Fisher) inspired us to be more grateful … (a) perspective that you sometimes lose in college when you’re consumed with day-to-day
life,” Mannion said. “All the little things are not super consequential … What (Fisher) valued were the people around her and the experiences and adventures that she could have.” Fisher wanted a “sense of normalcy” and was “very determined to still live her life,” Mannion said. Even during the worst of her treatment, Fisher worked on crossword puzzles every morning over breakfast in the Sharpe Refectory, Mannion recalled, “to make sure her brain was still working.” Fisher was unfailingly strong throughout her medical treatments, according to friends. When she started to lose her hair from the chemotherapy and radiation treatment, Fisher decided to shave her head completely as a sign of rebellion against her disease. “She would walk around bald,” Mannion said. “It showed a lot of strength, especially since she had long beautiful hair. (It was) a radical display … She was being brave and saying, ‘This is what I’m going through.’” Fisher donated the hair she had shaved to a charity that creates wigs for people who have lost their hair due to medical conditions, recalled Emily Maenner ’16, another former roommates of Fisher and a close friend.
“She had done incredible research about where she wanted to donate her hair,” Maenner said. Fisher wanted to “find an organization that was completely patient-centered.” As they left the hair salon, Maenner recalled, a woman also receiving a haircut admitted to them that she had struggled with cancer as well, and she said how proud and impressed she was with Fisher’s actions. Fisher continued to participate in practices and performances with the Fusion Dance Company, where she had danced for three years and served as artistic director in her fourth. “The first time I saw her dance, I was shocked at how alive she looked on stage and how much every part of her body was electrified,” Mannion said. Fisher’ liveliness on the stage was reflected in her personality. “When I think of (Fisher), I think of a lot of warmth,” Mannion said. “She was a beautiful light in my life, and it was such a privilege and such a joy to get to be her best friend for the time that I got with her.” The Fusion Dance Company’s spring show, which premiered this past Friday and Saturday, was dedicated to Fisher.
NEWS
PAGE 4 • TUESDAY, FEBRURARY 28, 2017
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Co-founder of CS department reflects on 50-year career John Savage used time at State Department to develop international cybersecurity course By ROSE SHEEHAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
In a career spanning several disciplines and nations, John Savage has advised the Obama administration on cybersecurity, traveled around the world to provide his expertise to international leaders and co-founded the computer science department at Brown. Now, as he enters his 50th year at the University, Savage reflects on how his research and work outside of Brown inform his teaching and “help prepare the next generation” of computer scientists, he said. The birth of a career, and a department After earning his PhD in electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Savage started his professional life at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey. At that time, he had no intention of rejoining academia. But in 1967, he wound up composing a “handwritten letter … to the chairperson of the division of engineering,” and Brown soon hired him as faculty. “I was finding myself moving into computer science,” though Andy van Dam, professor of computer science and the department’s other co-founder, “was a little reluctant to believe I was a computer scientist,” he said. Savage quickly shifted his research focus from electrical engineering to “some of the theoretical aspects of computer science,” said Thomas Doeppner, associate professor of computer science and vice chair of the computer science department. When van Dam approached Savage about organizing a computer science program at Brown, they first proposed the creation of a center for computer science and then an
undergraduate concentration. But after facing reluctance and rejection from other faculty members, “we got so frustrated that we decided we (had) no choice — we (had) to go ask for a department,” Savage said. Other faculty members resisted the concept of a computer science program because they could not envision the future of computation, Savage said. “There were certain people in the departments we came from that didn’t think the discipline would ever amount to anything — that it was just a fad at the time and that nothing would ever come of it,” said Doeppner, who was hired as an applied mathematics professor with the understanding that he, along with other new hires in the applied math and engineering departments, would become computer science professors in the new program. Savage and van Dam “lobbied the administration to get this to happen,” Doeppner added. The University approved Savage and van Dam’s application for a computer science department in the 1978-79 academic year. Savage was instrumental in securing Kassar House, the first location of the computer science department, Doeppner said. “He worked daily with the construction team” to renovate the building “to the extent that they gave him a hard hat … and called him honorary foreman,” he added. During his tenure as chair of the computer science department from 1985 to 1991, Savage also engineered the construction of the department’s current building, the Center for Information Technology, Doeppner said. Career shift toward cybersecurity In 2009 Savage started to work in the State Department through the Jefferson Science Fellowship Program, an opportunity that cultivated his interest in cybersecurity. He decided to work in the Office of the Coordinator for Cyber Issues, which had been
created by former President Barack Obama only three months earlier. His work in the State Department “put him squarely inside of the intelligence community” and exposed him to the “policy dimensions” of cybersecurity, Savage said. Since the field of cybersecurity was relatively new and he “was one of the few people who understood the policy side and the technology side,” Savage traveled extensively to consult with world leaders regarding how they could best prevent cyber threats, he added. When he returned to Brown after finishing his fellowship, Savage filled in the University’s cybersecurity knowledge gaps by beginning to teach the course CSCI 1800: “Cybersecurity and International Relations,” he said. For him, the benefits of his cybersecurity work include “not only intellectual stimulation but also an opportunity for me to bring back to the University and to students in particular all the things that I’ve learned,” Savage added. Constant curiosity in a changing field Since Savage and his colleagues laid the foundations for computer science at Brown, the department has broadened and become more interdisciplinary, Savage said. Now, fellow faculty members approach computer science from an economic perspective, apply computation to biology, focus on big data analysis and also use encrypted databases to ensure more secure communications, he added. Savage said that he hopes computer science will continue to collaborate with other fields and industries such as banking, economics, sociology and political science. “I would love to see political scientists take an interest in (cybersecurity) because we need to resolve many governance issues and … persuade governments that they should adhere to certain norms” for online activity, he added. Throughout his career in a shifting field, Savage has always viewed intellectual stimulation as his primary
COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY
John Savage co-founded the computer science department in 1978. He has advised the Obama administration and foreign leaders on cybersecurity. motivation, he said. “I could bend your ear about cancer and how it progresses, about the microbiome; I could bend your ear about world politics; I could talk to you about the electro-magnetic pulse threat that could be produced by a nuclear weapon exploding way above the atmosphere.” First and foremost a teacher Savage “takes a big interest in the educational process,” Doeppner said. He shares his passions with students and encourages their own interests, Doeppner added. When Savage teaches, he “really puts his all into it,” said Anne Rothen ’17, one of Savage’s advisees who served as his teaching assistant. His “past experiences” beyond Brown enrich his classes, Rothen added.
Savage makes students his top priority, said Zoe Stoll ’17, one of Savage’s advisees who has been a teaching assistant for “Cybersecurity and International Relations” for three years. “He really listens to his students,” so he will modify his entire curriculum to meet their needs, Stoll added. Before she took Savage’s classes, Stoll “didn’t even know what cybersecurity was,” she said. “He makes it really accessible to people who have no background at all.” Savage helped Stoll get her first internship and find the connections she needed to obtain a job with a web security company, she said. Savage will end his tenure on July 1 of next year. The computer science department will host a celebration in honor of Savage’s 50 years at Brown May 26.
TODAY
TUESDAY, FEBRURARY 28, 2017 • PAGE 5
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
menu
here comes the sun
SATELLITE DINING ANDREWS COMMONS
Pizza: Bacon Chicken, Spinach and Feta, Pepperoni and Meatball JOSIAH’S
BLUE ROOM
3 Cheese Chicken Bacon Ranch Quesadilla
Soup: Three Bean Chili, Turkey Sausage and Kale
DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH
DINNER
Canja Soup, Grilled Lemon Pepper Chicken, Steamed Summer Squash
Braised Fennel, Creamy Smashed Sweet Potatoes, Pork Chops With Seasoned Bread Crumbs
VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH
DINNER
Pulled Pork Sandwich, Italian Marinated Chicken, Carrots in Orange Sauce
Apricot Tofu with Sesame Lo Mein, Spaghetti Sauce, Savory Chicken Stew
sudoku SARA RUNKEL / HERALD
As record-high temperatures warmed the grass and the sun’s rays illuminated campus, students flocked to the Main Green in droves to listen to music, chat with friends and catch up on schoolwork.
Q U O T E O F T H E D AY
“There were certain people in the departments we came from who didn’t think that (the computer science department) would ever amount to anything — that it was just a fad.
”
—Thomas Doeppner, chair of the computer science department
crossword
See Computer Science on page 4.
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BrownX Breakfast Info Session 8:30 A.M. Petteruti Lounge
Behind the Scenes of Public Art Commissions 12:00 P.M. Nightingale-Brown House
Women’s History Series Celebration 3:00 P.M. Sarah Doyle Women’s Center
Bain and Company Diversity Event 8:00 P.M. CareerLAB
TOMORROW Summer Study Abroad Info Session 12:00 P.M. J Walter Wilson, 440
Afternoon Chats with Dr. John Asher Johnson 2:00 P.M. Lippitt House
The Rise of Populism 4:00 P.M. Watson Institute, Joukowsky Forum
Frantz at Providence French Film Festival 9:15 P.M. Cable Car Cinema
COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • TUESDAY, FEBRURARY 28, 2017
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
All historic buildings, spaces should be considered in performing arts process To the Editor: Yesterday’s article on the potential demolition of the Urban Environmental Lab raises the larger question of the potential tradeoffs inherent in the placement of the performing arts building on the site of the UEL. I am totally in favor of a performing arts venue, which is long overdue. However, if the University simply destroys a significant number of historic structures and the lovely Mary Sharpe Park on Waterman St. — as they did for the Manning Walkway with the Engineering building — the tradeoff would not be worth it. Norwood
House on Waterman St., the two historic houses on Angell St. and the brick building for graduate students next to the Walk on Waterman St. are all significant components of the charm that defines Brown’s campus. Hopefully the space needs of a performing arts center will allow for keeping the 19th century vista along Waterman St., which is part of a beautiful stretch greeting everyone descending the slope toward Thayer. Moving the two Angell St. Greek revival houses, expensive as it may be, must be part of the solution. P IA M I L E A F PAT E L
Peter Mackie ’59
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COMMENTARY TUESDAY, FEBRURARY 28, 2017 • PAGE 7
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
News’ new groove — a liberal reads Breitbart BENJAMIN SMITH staff columnist At the Conservative Political Action Conference last Friday, President Trump intensified his war on the media by berating once again so-called “fake news.” “Fake news doesn’t tell the truth,” Trump said. “It doesn’t and never will represent the people, and we’re going to do something about it.” Then, in an unprecedented move, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer barred news organizations deemed unfriendly to the Trump administration from a press conference. The New York Times reported that “reporters from the Times, BuzzFeed News, CNN, the Los Angeles Times, Politico, the BBC and the Huffington Post were among those shut out of the briefing.” News organizations permitted to attend the briefing included the conservative-leaning Washington Times, One America News Network and Breitbart. This is scary. Trump and Bannon have turned the media into a battleground, with the likes of the New York Times on one side and the right-wing Breitbart axis on the other. Last week’s press briefing is an unnerving example of how the Trump administration can elevate organizations like Breitbart by de-
nying its competitors a seat at the table. Estimates indicate that 10 percent of Americans now get their news primarily from Breitbart — a number high enough to merit attention. As a liberal, I hadn’t read Breitbart before last week. I first heard of it when Steve Bannon became chief
reads. The first thing I noticed was Breitbart’s unusual aesthetic. Its logo is a white, block-letter “B” encased in an orange square, and its headlines change from black to orange font when you hover over them. The bright, oscillating colors and doomsday headlines evoke a sense of com-
views were morally suspect. But as I thought about it more, I realized it was doing something significant that I couldn’t ignore: Through web design and selective reporting, it was curating news to produce a specific reaction. Breitbart has no interest in creating the impression that it is a passive,
Breitbart has no interest in creating the impression that it is a passive, innocent messenger merely relaying the news of the day. It embraces and champions its role as a news curator.
strategist at the White House, but I dismissed its reach as insignificant. Recently, though, I decided to give the website a look — mostly out of curiosity and partially out of a desire to diversify my news intake. I wanted to step outside of my comfortable echo chamber of news, which is normally limited to the New York Times and New Yorker, to see what a significant portion of the American public
bativeness and malcontent. Breitbart’s aesthetic, coupled with unabashedly right-leaning articles, leave the reader with no choice but to feel vaguely angry and pessimistic about the state of world affairs. It supplies news with an attitude. My initial impulse was to reject the website in its entirety and never visit it again. It evoked feelings of unease and frustration, and its
innocent messenger merely relaying the news of the day. It embraces and champions its role as a news curator. Breitbart does not just report the news — it reports the news its way. Through a combination of web layout, headlines and article content, Breitbart ensures that readers will react in the way that it wants: with a feeling that, as the Guardian’s Adam Gabbatt phrased it, “the world is go-
ing to hell in a handbasket … unless our guys can fix it.” This is significant because Breitbart is redefining the relationship between news organizations and truth. For the likes of the New York Times, the Boston Globe and the Washington Post, accurate reporting is paramount, and the truth is rooted in objectivity. For Breitbart, the truth is that the world is in disarray, and reporting is a means of communicating that reality. Breitbart is busy driving a wedge between the assumed, natural relationship between truth and news. Breitbart has re-envisioned the news website, not as a place where people go to learn about current events, but as a place that tells them how to feel about current events. In Breitbart’s world, truth takes a back seat to emotion. If it can succeed in its mission to change the role of news, then “news” itself could become subjective — something that we embrace or reject emotionally, rather than interpret intellectually. This would mark an unsettling victory for the Trump administration in its war on the media and truth. I hope Breitbart’s project fails. In the meantime, I’m going to cling to the New York Times for dear life.
Benjamin Smith GS can be reached at benjamin_smith@brown.edu.
From jewelry to extinction DANIEL MURAGE op-ed contributor Four semesters ago, I vowed to my roommate that I would take a bullet to save any elephant from poaching. Astonished, he asked, “Why would you do that?” I grinned and said, “Because wild animals, elephants specifically, are majestic and they don’t really care about us.” Then I went on to describe the traits of elephants and the different nuances that make them intelligent and compassionate — the usual stuff you read in the papers and watch on National Geographic but interspersed with personal anecdotes to corroborate my arguments. Then came the sad truths: About 100 elephants are killed every day in Africa, my home continent, and the total number of endangered species increases by the day. In a few decades, these majestic beasts will not be trekking across this green earth (if it will be green at all!). My voice trailed off as I narrated these facts and rose again as I tried to explain why elephants might survive — because non-governmental organizations, governments and conservation activists are working tirelessly to protect elephants and any endangered species. It is with this belief that I joined Save the Elephants three years ago to help protect African wildlife. But now, I don’t care anymore. In fact, I am resigned to seeing the elephants extinct in the near future. If the previous sentence made blood run cold in your veins, then brace yourself for this: I would have the rhinos, the lions, the buffalos, the cheetahs and any of the endangered species disappear from the savannahs and forests all over the African continent. Gone. Thrust into the history books — joining the ranks of
the dinosaurs — for the study of our future generations. Rather than continuing to watch as we slowly and mercilessly slaughter endangered species, I prefer to get done with this inevitable brutality and have us face the consequences of our greed. My recent disillusionment and apathy for the conservation of animals, specifically African animals, has been festering for some time. For a long time, I’d been troubled and even willing to sacrifice my life for endangered wild animals if it came to that. In fact, many other people have suffered this fate. Many continue to do so. But I realized that we had reached a hopeless point
with poachers at their heels (or hooves) day and night? Poachers: villains who have decided to wipe the planet of its biodiversity and who shoot down ranger planes and kill rangers to get to their target animals. Because of them, governments and NGOs spend millions of dollars on anti-poaching equipment and personnel, establish ivory trade bans and educate the public in a bid to protect and save the almost-extinct animals in Africa. But do not be mistaken: Poachers are not the enemy. The American, European and Asian markets are the real enemy; these market forces are the tyrannical overlords that
Here is the truth: All the preaching and high praise of animal conservation is a losing battle — a battle that we continually fail at and might catastrophically fail at very soon.
in our quest when the northern white rhinos’ population dwindled to a mere three. On the entire planet! Then the number of chimpanzees decreased, and the gorillas, and the lions, and the whales and so on. And still, the animal conservationists continued to preach that we could replenish these species, increase their numbers and ensure their continued survival. Just as I was naive two years ago, you might also be fooled into believing that there is something that can be done, that we can somehow save the white rhinos and the elephants. But do you really think three northern white rhinos can save an entire species? And even if you do — disregarding the fact that these beasts don’t reproduce as fast as is needed — can we save them
drive the poaching empire, oblivious of the effects of their unwarranted consumerism of ivory and other wildlife products. For example, in 2015, Cecil the lion was killed by an American dentist, Walter Palmer, who walked free even amid outcry from the international community. After almost driving the southern white rhinos to extinction in the 1800s, Europeans now provide a market for legal and illegal trade for endangered wildlife products. China leads the world in this trafficking empire. Once again, the Africans have been played — their animals have been eradicated from their savannahs and forests right under their noses. By the west and the east. I don’t mean to downplay the extensive efforts by various foreign and
local governments, NGOs and soldiers to protect the endangered. Their efforts are appreciated and necessary. What I critique, though, is the late timing of the international community in joining this animal conservation bandwagon; the reluctance and negligence of international governments to address climate change and its effects on biodiversity; and the well-intentioned but failing conservation efforts of various organizations and governments, as evidenced by the continued dwindling numbers of endangered wildlife. But what finally hurled me into this disillusionment is the inordinate focus of animal conservation over the wellness of people, especially in a continent that has most of the poorest countries in the world. Too many resources are invested in this lost cause, detracting from funding toward humanitarian efforts and poverty relief. Here is the truth: All the preaching and high praise of animal conservation is a losing battle — a battle that we continually fail at and might catastrophically fail at very soon. So, I urge you, adventurous folks, to enjoy watching and reading about endangered animals while they exist. As for me, I am watching and waiting for the scramble of the horns, teeth and skins to end. Then I will begin searching for those wielding the precious jewels, earrings and doormats of lion skins. I will find the tragic remains of the endangered animals we have lost. I will commemorate. I will cremate.
Daniel Murage ’17 plans to devote his time collecting any information on endangered animals and species for historical documentation and enlightenment of future generations. He can be reached at daniel_murage@brown.edu.
NEWS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
TUESDAY, FEBRURARY 28, 2017
Mark Baumer MFA’11 dies during barefoot cross-country walk Poet, activist remembered for environmental advocacy, passionate teaching style By VAFA BENHAM STAFF WRITER
Mark Baumer MFA’11, a poet, author and activist, was fatally struck by an SUV Jan. 21 on the 101st day of his journey as he walked barefoot across the United States to protest climate change and raise awareness for the FANG Collective, an anti-natural gas organization in Rhode Island. Baumer, 33, was born in Hammond, Indiana, but later his family returned to New England, where Baumer attended high school and Wheaton College, according to an obituary written by his family. Baumer graduated from Wheaton in 2006 and spent two years in Los Angeles, before coming to Brown after his acceptance into the Literary Arts MFA program. Baumer pursued what he was deeply passionate about, demonstrated by the unconventional and original work he produced and the activism he participated in, according to those who knew him. Baumer was profoundly interested in the intersection of art and politics, specifically how art can advance the edges of politics, said Janet Cooper Nelson, University chaplain. He had the ability to button up, sit down and work in libraries,
but he chose not to do so, as he found deeper meaning in many of his artistic endeavors, she said. Kevin Powell, digital preservation librarian, shared an office space with Baumer for the past year and said he was fascinated to find out about Baumer’s “rich life” outside of work. He found himself following Baumer’s blog obsessively once Baumer left for his barefoot walk. “When he was into something, he was into it passionately,” said Sarah Evelyn, head of instructional design at the University Library. “It seemed like he was always moving, always involved, always committed.” As part of a 12-person Literary Arts MFA program, Baumer taught a section of LITR 0110A: “Fiction I,” a class for which he is fondly remembered by his students for his unorthodox teaching style. Gale Nelson MA’88, the assistant director of literary arts, said that Baumer was a “lively, active individual.” Baumer was someone who wanted to integrate performance art and fiction, he added. Life itself was an opportunity for performance art for Baumer as he sought to find nuance in ordinary interactions, Cooper Nelson said. Baumer’s father was a journalist, so that background may have instilled in Baumer a desire to seek out the story behind everything, she added. For Ana Almeida ’12, who took his “Fiction I” workshop, Baumer’s unique approach was a boon, she wrote in an
email to The Herald. She recalls that on the first day of class he walked in with a white hazmat suit, perplexing the students. He then took a seat and proceeded to read the syllabus verbatim, alienating many of the students in the process — this revealed the kind of person Baumer was, she wrote. Unconventional activities such as walking downtown on a rainy day, mixing cake batter in class and jumping over railings to reach the Rockefeller Library were just some of the ways Baumer engaged students. These activities, beyond giving inspiration to Almeida for her fictional work, were helpful destressers, she wrote. Class hardly felt like work while it “pushed (her) to look at the world differently.” Baumer started working for the University Library as a web content support coordinator in 2012. His duties included supporting the website, developing digital and print content and managing social media, Evelyn said. Evelyn spoke of the writing samples Baumer submitted as part of the job application process. One of the pieces was from his first cross-country walk in 2010, and it showed his distinctive voice, which had a kind of “playfulness” that Baumer was known for. As an active member of the library union, Baumer served as the steward and as part of the negotiations team. He was there for “every rally and protest at Brown and for the larger
COURTESY OF JIM BAUMER
At Brown, Mark Baumer MFA ‘11 participated in many campus protests, working to affect change on issues of climate change and union treatment. community as a whole,” said Debra his cool and the situation was diffused. Nelson, senior library specialist at the At a memorial in honor of BauUniversity. His quirks were evident mer Feb. 4 at the Granoff Center even at union-related events, as she for the Creative Arts, videos of him recalls one Halloween where Baumer gleefully trekking barefoot along the showed up to negotiations with an ad- harsh earth proved to be a profoundly hoc costume made of clothes pins and bittersweet moment. In heartwarma loaf of bread spread all over his body. ing speeches by his parents and other Baumer is also remembered for individuals, the depth of Baumer’s life his principled yet non-confrontational was evident, as shown in photos and approach to conflict. At the memorial videos capturing all the dimensions of speech for Baumer, Karen McAnich, Baumer: a student, a teacher, an activbusiness agent at United Service and Al- ist, an environmentalist, a preacher, a lied Workers, recalled an incident at the lover, a friend, a son, an employee and Renaissance Hotel. At a protest held there a colleague. due to the firing of a union employee, He is survived by his parents Mary Baumer got “nose-to-nose” with a police Tarazewich Baumer and Jim Baumer. officer. Despite many fears, Baumer kept
brown university library and friends of the library to host
An Evening with Nathaniel Philbrick ’78, P’08
KIT NOBLE
Including presentation of the Harris Collection Literary Award
Thursday, March 2, 2017 | 7:00 pm Salomon Center for Teaching, De Ciccio Family Auditorium
#HarrisAward
Join the Brown University Library and the Friends of the Library for an evening with renowned author, historian, and Brown alumnus, Nathaniel Philbrick ’78, P’08. A brief awards ceremony will kick off the event, followed by an interview with Philbrick, led by Associate Professor of History Linford Fisher. free and open to the public. reception to follow. more information: library.brown.edu/harrisaward