Tuesday, September 11, 2018 by The Brown Daily Herald

SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018

VOLUME CLII, ISSUE 59

WWW.BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

U. alum and first responder remembers 9/11 U. releases Diversity, Inclusion Oversight Board memo

Commemorate 9/11 with ‘equality, justice and transparency,’ says Hanfling ’92 MD

Paxson, Locke respond to DIOB’s annual progress memo on Diversity Inclusion Action Plan

By EMILY DAVIES METRO EDITOR

By KATHERINE BENNETT AND TRISHA THACKER

Dan Hanfling ’92 MD managed a team of rescuers who entered the Pentagon moments after tragedy struck Sept. 11, 2001. Hanfling, an emergency physician, serves as a medical team manager for Virginia Task Force One, part of the National Urban Search and Rescue Response System. The team was established under the Federal Emergency Management Agency to organize response teams to emergency scenarios. Ahead of the 17th anniversary of 9/11, Hanfling sat down with The Herald to reflect on the horrors of the day “we lost a degree of innocence” and call on the University to uphold “equality, justice and transparency.” Herald: Will you describe what you do for Virginia Task Force One? I am an emergency physician and one of the medical team managers on that team. The responsibilities for the medical team manager are essentially three-fold. One is to provide for the safety and medical oversight and wellbeing of the task force members. The work that we do is pretty dangerous and involves a fair amount of risk. The second responsibility is essentially to

SENIOR STAFF WRITERS

DAPHNE ZHAO / HERALD

the patients who we might encounter in the rescue mission — so we officiate the stabilizing care in conjunction with rescue specialists to put a plan together to safely extricate them from whatever place they might be trapped and then manage and stabilize their

care until we can hand them to more definitive management. And then the third responsibility is to more generally support the overarching public health and health care delivery system assessment and evaluation » See 9/11, page 4

On Sept. 8, the Diversity and Inclusion Oversight Board published its annual memo reflecting on the University’s “progress to date and opportunities for continued growth” in realizing goals outlined in the Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan, wrote Shontay Delalue, vice president for Institutional Equity and Diversity, in a community wide email. The University also shared a response from President Christina Paxson P’19 and Provost Richard Locke P’18 addressing the board’s memo. The University’s announcement of the DIOB memo follows the release of the DIAP Annual Report in May, as The Herald previously reported. Released in February 2016, the DIAP aims to increase representation of historically underrepresented groups on campus, strengthen research and teaching on diversity and inclusion issues and improve campus life. The University also required administrative and academic units to create their own departmental diversity and inclusion action plans, or DDIAPs, The Herald previously reported. “We spent the year in conversation, reading through data and reports from

the campus, and then as the annual report took shape we met to discuss items we wanted to see addressed more fully in the future, writing them up in our memo collaboratively,” wrote Matthew Guterl — vice chair of the DIOB, professor of American Studies and chair of the department — in an email to The Herald. The memo was prepared in May but was released at the start of the fall semester. DIOB Memo For the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity, the DIOB memo and response letter present an opportunity to see what a “representative body of community members” feel are the most pressing issues in the implementation of the DIAP, Delalue wrote in an email to The Herald. In its memo, the DIOB raised questions and offered suggestions to maintain progress toward fulfilling DIAP goals. For instance, the board called for the University to provide a progress update on its faculty hiring goals. In 2016, the University committed to doubling its representation of HUG faculty by 2022, The Herald previously reported. In addition, the DIOB asked whether the University’s “efforts to secure funding” to support the DIAP had been successful and pointed out that sharing such information would be helpful for members of the Brown community, according to a copy of the memo. » See DIOB, BACK

Wiesner exhibit evokes childhood nostalgia Sculpture exhibit blurs Building Gallery lines of nature, technology RISD display gives prominence Cohen Gallery exhibition, “Observers and Creators,” showcases work by sculptor David Bowen By GRAYSON LEE STAFF WRITER

The only thing eerier than Providence’s chilly weather is finding a sculpture that appears to mimic its stormy mood. That’s exactly what patrons of the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts found in David Bowen’s scupture exhibition, “Observers and Creators,” last Thursday. Bowen’s installations generally explored the interactions between nature and technology. The three sculptures

ARTS & CULTURE

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showcased tensions between artistic agency and art’s ability to exist independent of its creator. The exhibit was installed in late August and will continue to occupy the Cohen Gallery until Sept. 22. In Bowen’s newest piece, titled “5twigs,” he found five sticks and 3-D printed an exact replica of each of them. The pale, plastic copies are fixed above their natural wooden equivalent, creating perfectly symmetrical halves. Mounted on a dimly lit white wall, the nondescript installation does not immediately catch the viewer’s eyes. The piece seems to play on how closely the visitor pays attention to the clandestine details of the exhibition. The artificial aspects “play a trick on (viewers’) eyes,” said John Dall’Aglio ’19. “I thought they were shadows at first.” » See BOWEN, page 2

to aesthetic vibrancy of children’s literature By SABRINA CHEN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

“Journeys in Visual Storytelling” has arrived at the Rhode Island School of Design Illustration Studies Building Gallery just in time to remind students of their halcyon days of childhood. The exhibition, which will run through Oct. 7, highlights the works of children’s literature written and illustrated by three-time Caldecott Medal winner and RISD alum David Wiesner, celebrating the artistic merit of his stories. The exhibition features two of Wiesner’s books, “Art & Max” and “Mr. » See WIESNER, page 3

ARTS & CULTURE

JASMINE RUIZ / HERALD

The RISD Illustration Studies Building Gallery features work of three-time Caldecott Medal winner and RISD alum David Wiesner.

WEATHER

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018

ARTS & CULTURE Paul McCartney displays range of emotions on sixteenth solo album, “Egypt Station”

NEWS New position of interim associate dean for international graduate students filled by Shayna Kessel

COMMENTARY Vilsan ’19: Sustaining college friendships promotes happier, healthier future

COMMENTARY Nagayoshi ’14: U. students should consider teaching, racial diversity lacking in profession

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Paul McCartney takes fans on emotional journey McCartney’s 16th solo album ‘Egypt Station’ is his best individual effort yet with array of moods By LIYAAN MASKATI SENIOR STAFF WRITER

After half a decade of waiting, fans of former Beatles star Paul McCartney can finally revel in his new solo album “Egypt Station.” Released Sept. 7, this collection of 14 tracks — and two instrumental bookends — marks the 16th album of McCartney’s largely underwhelming solo career. While “Egypt Station” might not signal a ‘break’ for McCartney’s solo efforts, it certainly has more potential than its predecessors and is likely to be a milestone of the singer-songwriter’s late solo career. “Egypt Station” is unique in its travelogue vibe. The album “starts off at the station on the first song, and then each song is like a different station,” McCartney wrote in a statement published by producing company Capitol Records. “I think of it as a dream location that the music emanates from,” he wrote. The album features an eclectic melange of tracks, charged with a whole spectrum of emotions in which existentialism and profound contemplations morph into lust and

» BOWEN, from page 1 Many of the attendees at Thursday’s reception were interested not only in the installations’ messages, but also in their material function and the artistic process behind their creation. “TelePresent Wind” proved to be confusing to visitors such as Deepak Khirwar ’19, who ultimately found the technological and modern themes compelling, he said. In the work, 42 dried plant stalks are attached to mechanisms on the floor that imitate the movement of plants in the wind. The piece had visitors guessing why the stalks were moving, with some positing that the movement of the visitors elicited the wind-like effects through motion sensors. “It makes me wonder what’s happening. And then I wonder why I’m intrigued by something so dead,” Dall’Algio said. In actuality, as Bowen himself explained on the exhibition flyer, “the individual components of the installation are moving in unison as they mimic the direction and intensity of the wind from 1,300 miles away.”

COURTESY OF THE_ADMIRALTY

Paul McCartney’s latest album “Egypt Station” shows more potential than his former solo albums. The release reflects McCartney’s stream of consciousness and covers various themes including love and politics. light-hearted, crude humor. One of the first tracks “Egypt Station” greets the listener with “I don’t know,” one of the two singles McCartney released ahead of the album. The unmistakably McCartney-esque piano ballad is infused with a amalgam of angst, frustration and self-doubt accompanied by carefully scattered

Sensors located at the University of Minnesota provide real-time data to direct the sculpture’s movement. But as a result of the sudden rain and wind on Thursday evening, it seemed to many as though the stalks were mimicking the weather directly outside of the gallery, lending an immediacy to the sculpture. A maze of wires on the floor blurred the lines between natural and artificial. “It looks like roots and vines. He could have set the wires in straight lines to be more efficient,” Khirwar said, pointing to the lengths that Bowen went to recreate nature through technology. “Growth Rendering Device,” Bowen’s oldest sculpture on display, is a system in which a small plant relies on light and food provided by a device. The device also records the plant’s realtime growth through “rasterized inkjet drawings” produced every 24 hours on a long roll of paper, according to the flyer. Bowen explained that “Growth Rendering Device” has undergone this process many times before, and that the plant has grown to be quite large in previous incarnations of the sculpture.

dashes of fatalism and reassurance. “I don’t think I can take it any more,” McCartney croons, in this raw confession of human emotion. “Where am I going wrong? I don’t know. … What’s the matter with me?” he sings. His contemplation and self-doubt is briefly replaced with a deceptive sense of optimism. “But it’s alright, sleep

tight, I will take the strain,” McCartney warbles, almost reassuringly, before swiftly transitioning back to his former pessimistic, contemplative and existentialist frame of mind. If “I don’t know” produces the impression that at age 76, McCartney is now fatigued and ready to slow down, pop rock songs such as “Come On

To Me” and “Fuh You” are quick to suggest otherwise. “If you come on to me, I’ll come on to you,” McCartney chants between a sequence of animated doot-doo-doos in the former track, while a similarly salacious “You make we wanna go out and steal. … I just want to fuh you” marks the latter. With McCartney’s age and knighthood in mind, this vulgarity is somewhat shocking. While it seems unlikely that the singer-songwriter is attempting to belie his age, it is possible that he is trying to lend a contemporary vibe to his music. As “Egypt Station” rolls along, McCartney delves into themes ranging from love and friendship to politics. Amid constant shifts in mood and tempo, he condemns President Donald Trump in “Despite Repeated Warnings,” discusses family life in “Back in Brazil,” reminisces about his drug usage in “Happy With You” and reflects on friendship in “Confidante.” Despite being a fusion of such starkly contrasting pieces of music, the vicissitudes of the album, somehow, do not seem uncomfortable at all. The records retain incredible musicality, while simultaneously being a reflection of McCartney’s stream of consciousness. Indeed, while much of McCartney’s solo records may have had questionable success, it’s safe to say that “Egypt Station” really nails its tracks.

SAM BERUBE / HERALD

David Bowen’s sculptures combine organic and mechanical materials to mimic natural occurences such as wind movement and plant growth. For example, “5twigs” compares twigs with identical plastic 3-D printed models. “Right now it’s more of a death rendering device,” Bowen said, gesturing to the small and inconsistent growth

recorded on the paper. Looking at the piece, Dall’Aglio was interested in how nature is sustained by synthetic

mechanisms in Bowen’s work. “The plant has become inauthentic and (is) sustained by inauthenticity,” he said.

NEWS

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018 • PAGE 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Pilot administrative role supports international graduate students Shayna Kessel assumes role as interim associate dean for international graduate students By ALICIA MIES STAFF WRITER

Associate Dean for Master’s Education Shayna Kessel took on the new role of interim associate dean for international graduate students May 1. The position, created by the Graduate School and the Office of Global Engagement, was made to support the 38 percent of graduate students who hail from outside of the United States, wrote Dean of the Graduate School Andrew Campbell in an email to The Herald. While still upholding her duties as associate dean for master’s education, Kessel will support international graduate students with a myriad of issues that are specific to them. She said that international students often have unique needs, including handling visa issues, adjusting to life in

» WIESNER, from page 1 Wuffles”, and includes page displays and Wiesner’s preliminary sketches, covers, models and dummy books. The “Art & Max” exhibit is about two lizards who paint together, and throughout the events of the story, one of the characters draws over the other. Because of this, one character takes on many textures, composed of different artistic mediums such as watercolor, pastel and ink. Wiesner, who took over two years to create this book, attributes his inspiration to “a desire to work with different media,” Wiesner said. “As I began to pull out different

a new country and professional development abroad or at home. “Little things that domestic students may casually do can have a really deep impact for an international student, so we want them to be informed and prepared and to know their unique resources,” Kessel said. Kessel’s position is even more imperative given recent political discourse at the national level, said Associate Provost for Global Engagement and Strategic Initiatives Shankar Prasad. For example, the Supreme Court’s decision upholding President Trump’s travel ban last June may impact international students. “This is really a world in which the rhetoric seems like we don’t want international students in America, and I think it’s really important for Brown and other institutions like us to say, ‘No, we want you. We need you, and we’re so happy that you’re here,’” Prasad said. Prasad added that Kessel’s position was also created following the realization that there should be more “structural resources” for

international graduate students. Previously, the functions of supporting international students have always existed among various associate deans in the graduate school. Now, the administration is experimenting with consolidating those functions into Kessel’s position to try to better support students, though the role is still in its pilot phase, Campbell wrote. “We want to use the pilot period to assess whether consolidating functions that meet the needs of international graduates is best met by a single position or person, or (through) having the various functions of the position be distributed,” Campbell wrote. Campbell and Prasad will assess how effective the consolidated position is before they start thinking about whether or not to fill the role permanently. Kessel was chosen for the additional position because of her current work as the associate dean for master’s education. According to Campbell, a sizable number of international graduate students are master’s students. Because of that

overlap, Kessel will support all master’s students, as well as international doctoral students. “In a way, this work is a natural extension of the work that I’ve been doing in the graduate school for the last two and a half years,” Kessel said. Kessel started in the new position with this year’s international graduate student orientation last month. Though there has always been an orientation for international graduate students, Kessel said that this year’s program centered more around the students’ voices. “The tone of the program was more community building and welcoming students rather than compliance, which has been more of the case in the past, and students had a little bit more flexibility about when they could attend certain sessions,” Kessel said. The orientation organizing team also built in extra time for socializing and meet-and-greets with deans, and it removed content that was already covered in a graduate student of color orientation and a general graduate student orientation, Kessel said. She added

that the changes paid off and many students loved the new programming. “It’s a really, really important role that needed to be created,” Prasad said. “Already we’re seeing an impact in the role that the international students feel. Just having someone who can advocate for the needs of international students across the university is really important.”

types of paints and materials, I started playing with them to recall their feel,” Wiesner said, and described how he used various media to draw roguish characters. “Mr. Wuffles” is set from a cat’s point of view. While the cat plays with a toy spaceship, aliens that live in the spaceship befriend insects to try to defeat the cat. After shelving the work for eight years, suddenly “everything clicked.” Soon after, Mr. Wuffles was finished. Susan Doyle, head of RISD’s illustration department, noted the contrast in color palettes between the cat’s home and the aliens’ spaceship and pointed out the apparent thoughtfulness that characterizes Wiesner’s work.

Wiesner’s work has “an element of fantasy but (is) drawn very realistically,” Doyle said, also noting Wiesner’s attention to detail and imagination. The exhibition also features an iPad displaying Spot, an iOS application created by Wiesner. The storybook application serves as a visual adventure experience in which, by pinching and zooming, viewers may move to different worlds. “Spot goes back to my time at RISD when I played around with the idea of worlds within worlds,” Wiesner said. Wiesner tried for years to use that concept in a book, but when he first saw the pinch and zoom feature of an iPad, he realized that “this would be

the perfect way for (viewers) to explore connected worlds.” For each transition, Wiesner had to create around a dozen large paintings. Wiesner, who holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration, recalled RISD as a school that he was “waiting for his whole life to go to.” Not only did he enjoy the school, but he was inspired by the architecture of the surrounding city. “When I draw neighborhoods, I tend to make them look like Providence,” Wiesner said. Eileen Holland RISD ’19, a student who helped set up the exhibition, found that Weisner’s process of developing the final narrative and the compositions of his illustrations were

the most fascinating aspects of the exhibition. “From the initial rough sketches to compositional studies on tracing paper, color studies and even clay models of the characters, there is a great deal of planning and experimenting that was necessary to create the finished product,” Holland said. Jacqueline Lee RISD ’20 similarly noted that the exhibition reveals the art of creating works themselves. “My favorite part of the exhibition is the effort David puts in the planning phase of the artwork,” Lee said. “Being able to see all of the incarnations of one page or all of the ‘dummy’ versions of a story puts into perspective the work it takes to make a narrative.”

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Kessel, the associate dean for master’s education, will now also help international PhD students.

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» 9/11, from page 1 and location of where the great needs might be. With that job title, what does your day-to-day look like? I try to sleep until noon — no, just kidding. First of all, the work that my colleagues and I do is not the only thing we do. In my case, I serve as a Special Advisor in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response at the Department of Health and Human Services, working on the National Health Care Preparedness Program. On every given day that means I get in my car and commute like everyone else to my office downtown in Washington, participate in meetings, review policy briefs and try to develop pilot programs and other innovative thoughts and ideas around advancing the capabilities of the health care sector in disaster preparedness and response. I also hold an academic position at the John Hopkins Center for Health Security and chair the National Academy of Sciences Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness. So I have a very varied schedule, and then on top of that I have these responsibilities. The medical component of our task force meets once a month for a training. The whole team meets twice a year, and at one of those meetings, we do some sort of full-scale exercise where we practice the work that we do. Recently, we conducted a full-scale exercise on the ground of a hypothetical earthquake. What I’ve tried to articulate for you is that this work is ongoing, but it doesn’t necessarily require everyday participation. We have an awareness, alert and activation status. I have all my gear ready to go and at a moment’s notice, we are given somewhere between four and six hours to assemble

at our warehouse where we have all of our gear, all of our equipment and trucks that are packed and ready to go. Then, depending on whether it’s a domestic or international deployment, we either set out by ground convoy — buses or trucks — or in the case of international deployments, we fly to where we have to go. You are in an intense and risky profession. What inspired you to pursue that career? I was never too enamored with a desk job. My father was a businessman and he wore suits and traveled on airplanes and went to meetings. It didn’t seem exciting to me, so part of my interest in going into medicine was to do things that were different and varied. That’s what really drew me to emergency medicine. Do you have family or friends who are nervous when you are deployed? I have a wife and two kids — one who graduated college, one who is in college. They know that this work is important to me, and they know that I’m doing everything possible not only to take care of my team members but also to take care of myself. And they understand that this comes with the commitment to service that I feel strongly about, that I think I’ve instilled in my kids. They also recognize that we have a culture of safety. The mantra of our team is “we will be willing to risk a life to save a life,” but beyond that we’re not going to take undue risks when it’s not likely to yield a significant benefit. If you are comfortable, will you describe the moment when you made the decision to enter the Pentagon 17 years ago? It was an absolutely beautiful, early September day — at least here in Washington. No humidity, blue

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD skies, not a cloud in the sky, absolutely gorgeous. I was heading to a meeting at the National Reconnaissance Office — Grateful Dead playing loud — to go over some first aid training and what we call safe haven training that they had requested. I got to the National Reconnaissance Office and the gates were closed, and a soldier was standing outside with the biggest machine gun I’d ever seen. He told me to turn my car around, the facility was closed and that the United States of America was under attack. I was like, ‘what are you talking about?’ He goes, ‘if you haven’t turned on your radio, I suggest you turn on your radio. The United States of America is under attack.’ I turned on WTOP and looked at my pager. My pager had 50 messages and I was like ‘oh my god.’ I turned around and made a beeline to the hospital. Up until that point in time, I thought we would be potentially responding to an overwhelming number of causalities coming from New York City. And then, as I was very briefly overseeing the initiation of our Disaster Preparedness protocol at the hospital, I was told that the Pentagon had been hit, and that our task force was being mobilized, and that we were going down to the Pentagon. The next thing I knew, I was in a vehicle and heading down to liaison with my task force, most of which was already assembled on the buses. On the grounds of the Pentagon, the first thing we were asked to do by the FBI was to join them in a big walk across the field to look for any pieces of evidence. So we joined them in one walk across the field, and I think some found pieces of the plane. And then we began to set up our operations and not long after noon, some of our guys were already going into the Pentagon. The first thing I had to deal with

was one of our guys who went in and then came out with some smoke inhalation. The one thing that our task force was not prepared for at that time was to go into work in a setting of an active fire. Even though we are firefighters, the task force itself does not necessarily have all of the necessary personal protective equipment required to deal with an active fire. So one of the first things I had to do was manage one of our rescue specialists. I actually ended up sending him back to the hospital for more definitive stabilization and management. To this day, he is sort of angry that I took him out of the fight so early. I went into the building late that afternoon — maybe four or five — to get a sense of what we were looking at. It was devastating, I mean it was horrible. It was obvious by that point in time that anyone who had survived had already gotten out. You were not going to be finding survivors. We saw people who were killed, either by the collapse itself or by the concussive forces of the explosion and rapid deceleration of the plane into the building, which generated these shock waves that in some cases killed people just sitting in their chairs.

you for 9/11 or for what you do now? The fact that I had the tremendous opportunity to study medicine at Brown really set me on my career path. In addition to studying medicine, the faculty was so supportive and encouraging of students to identify their own interests and really pursue their interests. I found emergency medicine to be interesting. I credit the support and encouragement of the faculty for allowing me to pick and choose and do the sorts of things that I continue to do in the present day.

Do you think about that day regularly? I can’t say I think about it regularly, but it’s part of my DNA now. Last year, I spent an afternoon at the Pentagon with a few colleagues from India who we have been working with toward developing an agreement on biosecurity issues. That’s the first time that I’d been there since 9/11, so it definitely brought back a flood of memories. I can’t say I think about it every day, but I guess a small part of me remembers it all the time.

What steps do you hope the University takes to memorialize 9/11? I think back to being a kid and remembering my grandparents getting a little bit misty-eyed when they talked about Pearl Harbor Day. For us, that was just a day on a calendar. It was a point of historical importance, but beyond that, it didn’t mean anything. My guess is that that is what will happen with 9/11. I think for the University to honor the importance of that day, it needs to uphold all of the ideals that the University stands for with regards to equality, justice and transparency. To me, that becomes as important as anything else. Of course you want to remember the responders, you want to remember those who lost their lives, but I think the more important thing is to look to the future and make sure we don’t have those kinds of events ever again, and to recognize that some of the root causes that led to that terribly tragic day were born of all sorts of misconceptions and misunderstandings that places like Brown and other institutions of higher education are working to undo and prevent in the future. That, to me, would be the most important lasting legacy.

Would you say that anything that you did at the University prepared

— This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

TODAY

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018 • PAGE 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

p o s t e r pa l o o z a

SATELLITE DINING ANDREWS COMMONS

Pizza: Pepperoni, Cajun Chicken, Spinach and Feta Pulled Pork Sandwich JOSIAH’S

BLUE ROOM

Taco Tuesday, Vegetarian Beet and Kale Burger, Jalapeño Burger

Focaccia Sandwich, Chicken Kadhai, Avial Vegetable Curry

DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH

DINNER

Carne Asada, Black Bean Taco Filling, Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas, Fried Plantains

Garlicky Hoisin Pork Stir Fry, Roasted Cauliflower with Red Onion, Ham and Bean Soup

VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH

DINNER

Honey Mustard Chicken Sandwich, Cajun Tofu Melt with Cheddar and Slaw, Nacho Bar

Swiss Steak, Sienna Roasted Couscous, Rotini Pasta with Olive Oil, Mexican Salad Bar VICTORIA YIN / HERALD

sudoku

Students shopped for decorations for their dorm rooms, apartments and houses at the poster tent outside the Sharpe Refectory. Poster options ranged from city views to album covers to movie advertisements.

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

“My goal in life is to leave the environment in far better

condition than I found it in, because it is incredibly unfair to dump environmental problems on the generations to

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come.

—Alex Duryea, petitioner from Nature’s Trust Rhode Island

See national grid on back

crossword

calendar TODAY SEPTEMBER MARCH

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18 25

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Wellness At Brown: Home Buying 12:00 P.M. 85 Waterman Street, 015

Graduate Student WalkIn Hours 3:00 P.M. CareerLAB

Tech Talk with Down Dog 5:30 P.M. Watson Center for Information Technology, 368

12 16

Improv Workshop 7:00 A.M. Salomon Center, 001

TOMORROW Workshop: Utilizing Brown’s Resources 12:00 P.M. J. Walter Wilson, 203

London School of Economics Info Session 12:00 P.M. J. Walter Wilson, 440

Engineering Activities Fair 2:00 P.M. Engineering Research Center

College Consulting Group Info Session 7:30 P.M. Barus and Holley, 190

COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

EDITORIAL

This election season, make your voice heard On Sept. 12, Rhode Island voters will have the chance to cast their ballots in primary elections for offices at the local, state and federal level. The midterm general elections are in November, when all the seats in the House of Representatives and 35 seats in the Senate will be up for vote. These two election days will have a momentous impact on the direction of the United States. Still, the low turnout of young voters — who, almost reliably, do not vote in midterms — is deeply worrisome, and even threatens to compromise the sanctity of our representative system, widening the mismatch between elected representatives and the constituents to whom they are ultimately responsible. (To be sure, the problem of underwhelming turnout is not limited to young people: Across age groups, four in 10 registered voters did not participate in the 2016 presidential elections; President Trump won with fewer than 80,000 votes in three states.) This election season, in a political moment fraught with cantankerous partisanship and grassroots energy, we urge students — at colleges in Rhode Island and young people more generally — to put into practice their electoral power, get registered and vote. The sorry turnout rates of young voters is a persistent problem in American politics. In the 2016 presidential election, only 46.1 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds voted — the lowest reported voting rate of any age group. In contrast, the second-lowest group, 30 to 44-year-olds, boasted a voting rate over 12 percentage points higher. In midterm elections, young people’s voting percentages are even lower: The turnout rate of millennials between the ages of 18 and 24 — the age of most college students — is only 20 percent. Meanwhile, baby boomers between the ages of 45 and

49 have a voter turnout rate of 52 percent in midterm elections. While millennials, and young people as a whole, make up a significant portion of the American electorate, their voices are drowned out by the interests of other groups, simply because they don’t vote. In a country experiencing tectonic shifts in demographic constitution and economic security — along with regular attacks on American ideals and democratic institutions once considered invulnerable — the choice to sit on the sidelines during elections has tremendous, troubling consequences for the future. According to a recent Tufts study, students at Brown have a higher turnout rate than the average university, as 59 percent of eligible students voted in the 2016 presidential election. (In 2012, the student body’s turnout rate was one percentage point below the national average.) This is welcome news — but it is still disconcerting that over four out of every 10 eligible Brown students did not cast a ballot. In the United States, it is easy to take representation for granted. But, in truth, voting is a precious right in perilous condition. Across the country, legislators in eight states have introduced 16 bills to restrict voting — through limits on absentee and early voting — on top of the 35 restrictive bills carried over from the previous legislative sessions of 14 states. The burden of restricted voting disproportionately affects black and Hispanic voters, who report experiencing a number of roadblocks — including lacking proper identification, missing registration deadlines, experiencing harassment and having trouble taking time off work and finding their polling place — at higher rates

than white Americans. These obstacles, in total, tend to favor Republican candidates. To their credit, student organizations have made available numerous ways to get involved in local, state and national politics through the activism of partisan student groups and the debates and lectures hosted by non-partisan clubs. The University is also making a concerted effort to increase voter turnout. On Oct. 9 at 7 p.m., the Swearer Center is hosting an Elections Cafe, in which students can talk with local candidates and elected officials. The Swearer Center has also partnered with Turbo Vote, a platform that allows students to easily find information about registration and voting. And this week, the Salomon Center on the Main Green will be used as a polling place. We applaud all the University staff and students who are working toward voter education and increasing young people’s access to voting. But these efforts mean nothing unless students take advantage of them. We hope that, this election cycle, students will have the opportunity to convert their political convictions into action, cast their ballots and assert their voice in the formation of America’s future.

Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board: Anuj Krishnamurthy ’19, Rhaime Kim ’20, Grace Layer ’20, Mark Liang ’19 and Krista Stapleford ’21. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@ browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

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COMMENTARY TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018 • PAGE 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Best friends forever? FABIANA VILSAN staff columnist Many of us spent the early part of our childhoods making friendship bracelets for playground buddies, only to watch those friendships fizzle within months of the symbolic union. Whether it was because of distance, different social circles or being seated apart in homeroom for too many years in a row, few of us still wear those bracelets today. College is supposed to be different — we’re wiser, older and our parents don’t have to arrange our play dates anymore. As seniors head into their final year at Brown, many are optimistic that college friendships truly do last forever. In spite of pessimistic research that suggests maintaining relationships becomes more challenging with age, college friendships continue to endure the test of time. College friendships are a wonderful petri dish. Unlike family, we choose them. Unlike romantic relationships, they are unencumbered by structure. Unlike professional relationships, they lack formality and allow us to show our true selves. At the end of the day, they enhance our college experiences. It would be a pity to give up on them so easily come graduation. In fact, we have reason to fight for our collegiate relationships and hope they survive, for our health, if not for the camaraderie. Distance is perhaps the biggest

obstacle for aspiring BFFs. Even with the boom of social media and video conferencing, nothing quite replaces face-to-face conversation. Research shows that, on average, Americans move every five years, which is terrible news if you believe in the saying “out of sight, out of mind.” And while distance does make adult friendships considerably

heavily on how close your relationship was in the first place. A study of friendships from 1983 to 2002 found that lifelong friends had solidified their bond early on. It turns out, those inside jokes and spring break memories are more than just anecdotes — a shared past is key in building a strong foundation for your friendship. So, the next time

to ring true, with respondents citing relationships as the most important factor in their lives, without even mentioning their finances. As seniors, many of us are actively job hunting and focusing on our financial futures more than ever. Don’t let the hunt keep you from nurturing and building on your relationships. In a materialistic and often

In fact, we have reason to fight for our collegiate relationships and hope they survive, for our health, if not for the camaraderie.

more challenging, it is by no means a death sentence. If you continue to share mutual interests and be present in each other’s lives, distance becomes a mere inconvenience So, as you begin your job search, you can rest easy in knowing that the city you choose doesn’t have to dictate the friendships you maintain. Unsurprisingly, the long-term success of relationships depends

you feel guilty for procrastinating on a midterm paper to spend some quality time with your buddies, know that you are investing the time necessary to cement your relationships when it matters most. As if it weren’t already self-evident, countless surveys demonstrate the importance of friendships to our overall happiness. The cliche “money can’t buy happiness” continues

tragic world, we can count on our friends to stand by our sides. If we lose sight of what is truly important, we risk leading a lonely and unfulfilled life, regardless of what can be found in our bank accounts. Strong friendships are similarly essential to a healthy lifestyle. According to the Mayo Clinic, research shows that friendships surpass familial relationships in pre-

dicting health as people age. A strong support group can help you recover from trauma, encourage you to abandon unhealthy behavior and reduce your stress. Though family is undoubtedly instrumental in guiding you through difficult times, adults with a strong social network tend to have reduced risks of significant health problems. As college students, sometimes it seems as though our friends come and go in cycles — our elementary friends are buried somewhere deep in our memories and our high school friends haunt our yearbooks, so it only makes sense that our college friends will be the next victims in a long parade of exes. But there is reason be optimistic about collegiate relationships. Not only are these friendships the most likely to last, but they are instrumental to your health and happiness. Forget the days when your group of friends was harshly dismissed as a social distraction when you brought back a disappointing grade. As your life becomes crowded with other worries and responsibilities, be it family or work, it is important to continue letting your friends distract you in the best possible ways.

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

Consider teaching — especially if you’re a student of color TAKERU NAGAYOSHI op-ed contributor If you’re a person of color and passionate about social justice, try becoming a teacher. Our presence in the classroom has long-term implications on how future generations will come to navigate race, and now more than ever, our children need brilliant teachers of color. You might hesitate at this thought. If you’re anything like I was as an undergrad, you might feel like you’re too impatient to handle kids, have concerns about pay (I hear you) or somehow feel — though we might not like to admit it — that teaching is beneath you. (I remember my friend once asked me point blank, “You went to Brown … to teach?”) But if diversity, equity and inclusivity are values that resonate with you, then the teacher diversity problem in this country might make you think twice. Despite the growing number of non-white students, U.S. educators are disproportionately white. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, teachers of color represent a small percentage of the workforce, their retention is lower and they are underrepresented in leadership positions. Even in Massachusetts, the state I currently teach in, close to 97 percent of educators are white compared to the 31 percent of students of color. These stark racial disparities are worse in higher-needs districts that serve lower-in-

come and racial minority populations. As an Asian American, I see and feel this underrepresentation every day — in the hallways of my school, in teacher preparation and development programs and at educator con-

well below the proportion of Asian people in the area. It can feel isolating at times, but the effects of this teacher diversity gap are even more consequential for our kids. We live in an increasingly hostile world

Only through our visibility, proximity to and empathy for those who shape our future can we build the world we dream of.

ferences. I am often among the very few, if not the only person, in these spaces to call out issues that directly affect our students of color. The percentage of Asian teachers in Massachusetts, for instance, is less than one percent,

for children of color — a world more indifferent to or actively discriminatory against the needs, perspectives and dreams of marginalized identities, where the line between fact and fiction is thinner than it ever was. Only

through our visibility, proximity to and empathy for those who shape our future can we build the world we dream of. I’m a believer in the idea that our identities afford us a unique consciousness and the ability to teach others about our experiences. If you’re white, model to kids what it means to be an ally. If you’re male, teach young boys about toxic masculinity. If you speak Spanish, demonstrate the value of being multilingual. If you identify as LGBTQ+, listen to and amplify your students’ queer identities. For people of color (and for all non-majority identities), existence is political and often navigated through the lens of survival. As an educator of color, you have an opportunity to explore that consciousness with students — to push back against stereotypes, to oppose systemic injustice, to celebrate identity and culture and to model what it means to live unapologetically. In other words, my fellow folks of color, y’all can be that teacher you wish you had growing up.

Takeru Nagayoshi ’14 is a high school English teacher in New Bedford, MA. When not teaching, he thinks about law and policy on educational equity. He can be reached at takeru_nagayoshi@alumni.brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@ browndailyherald.com and other op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

NEWS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018

Protestors march on WaterFire against National Grid proposal National Grid-sponsored event draws advocates concerned about proposed liquid natural gas facility

be as soon as this month, according to the Providence Journal. Environmental advocates spoke about the ramifications of fracked gas infrastructure like an LNG facility. “We have to move to a fully renewable energy within the next 25 years, or we are going to bake this planet after that,” Niedel-Gresh told The Herald.

“My goal in life is to leave the environment in far better condition than I found it in, because it is incredibly unfair to dump environmental problems on the generations to come,” said Alex Duryea, a Nature’s Trust Rhode Island petitioner and master’s student at University of Rhode Island who was at the pre-march rally at Roger Williams Monument Park.

Advocates for racial and economic equality also highlighted the social impact of building an LNG facility in South Providence — an area “plagued with environmental racism,” NiedelGresh said, adding that the community surrounding the proposed facility is already contaminated with air and water pollutants. “We’re demanding a publicly

owned utility — and a publicly owned utility that is democratically controlled,” said Anna Brennan of the Providence Democratic Socialists of America. Brennan’s group was also protesting Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission’s recent approval of National Grid’s request to increase electric rates by about 3.5 percent, which amounts to $3.67 per month per customer, according to the commission’s press release. The commission also approved a request to decrease the average rate of gas for residents by 0.9 percent. Monica Huertas, campaign coordinator of No LNG in PVD, reminded protesters of the importance of including those most affected by the proposal in their advocacy work. “We in South Providence have really just the bottom of the barrel stuff — dirty, dirty oil and gas and just really, just nasty things,” she said at the rally before reminding listeners that “you can’t do this without black or brown people. You have to make the space for us.” Democratic gubernatorial candidate Matt Brown cheered on protesters as they marched from Roger Williams Monument Park to WaterFire. “It’s 2018. We need to be having no new fossil fuel burning at all, no new fossil fuel infrastructure,” Brown told The Herald.

first-gen students and faculty in the underrepresented group. … At times it feels arbitrary how we classify someone,” wrote Alison Field — a member of the DIOB, a professor of epidemiology and chair of the department — in an email to The Herald. Field also said that she was confused about how international Brown community members are accounted for in the plan. The board also wrote that the University needed a “renewed focus on how to better support Brown community members with disabilities.” Lastly, the board identified a need for more effective measures to increase transparency regarding most DIAP and DDIAP progress. In its memo, the board posed the question: “Are we making more progress on the campuswide DIAP than we are on the departmental or unit DDIAPs?” For instance, the board recommended conducting a survey of the class of 2019 to gauge “how the changes … documented in the Annual Report have been lived and felt by the students who were present at the start of this moment of institutional transformation,” according to the memo. The board suggested that the University reallocate resources to campus units that demonstrate commitment to

their DDIAP goals as a reward. It also recommended that these departments “document best practices” and “host broader conversations about the challenges” of implementing their goals for the benefit of departments that might be more isolated than others.

fundraising success has not been consistent across campus programs — the University raised more money for financial aid and faculty chairs than academic programs — “high priority items that have not yet seen fundraising success” were added to the University’s operating budget, according to the response to the DIOB memo. Paxson and Locke also wrote that the University is on track to achieve its faculty diversity hiring goals. Additionally, the University will be conducting a climate survey for staff in November 2018 to gauge improvement in staff climate on campus. Paxson and Locke wrote that promoting diversity and inclusion among the University’s staff continues to be a priority and highlighted programs such as First Readings for Staff and the Faculty in Focus Lecture Series as evidence of the University’s efforts to welcome its staff members. To monitor and acknowledge progress in implementing the University DIAP and DDIAPs, Paxson and Locke wrote that the DIAP awards would expand next year to “include one academic department and one administrative/operational department.” Last year the awards were given to “two students, two faculty members

and two staff members,” according to the response. The University will also conduct a survey this fall of faculty, staff and students who were on campus in 2016 to understand “how their experiences of Brown have changed over the last two years.” The response to the DIOB memo highlighted University efforts to be more inclusive of disability. In addition to opening the “fully-accessible” Friedman Hall this year, the University is currently working to make “all of Brown’s online and web content accessible,” according to the response. The project involves reconstructing of the brown.edu website “to bring it into full compliance with federal accessibility standards.” Additionally, the Division of Campus Life, along with the Student and Employee Accessibility services, is “nearing the end of an assessment … to see how services can be strengthened,” according to the response. Over the upcoming year, the President, Provost and Guterl hope make the DIOB more informed of administrative updates, according to the response. The DIOB will meet regularly with relevant administrators directly to discuss University progress in implementing the DIAP.

By EMILY DAVIES METRO EDITOR

Armed with a projector and determination, protesters marched to WaterFire Saturday night in opposition to National Grid’s proposal to build a liquefied natural gas processing facility in the Port of Providence. WaterFire became a space to protest as the event is sponsored by National Grid. As the festivities kicked off, protesters stood over Crawford Street Bridge carrying signs with slogans like “#nonationalgreed.” A projector flashed messages onto the bridge such as “The climate crisis, sponsored by National Grid” and “Dirty LNG in South Providence, sponsored by National Grid.” Protesters, organized by an affiliate of 350.org called Climate Action Rhode Island, highlighted environmental and sociological consequences of the proposed LNG facility, which would store natural gas, said Lauren Niedel-Gresh, a member of Climate Action Rhode Island. Federal regulators cleared the proposal in July, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s final decision could

» DIOB, from page 1

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The University identified a $165 million fundraising goal for DIAP initiatives, The Herald previously reported. Additionally, the DIOB raised concerns regarding the University’s inclusion of its staff, writing that “no single issue seems more pressing this year than the need for an action plan to improve climate for staff.” Though the Department of Human Resources has its own departmental DIAP, the plan emphasizes clarifying exisiting policies over “improving the material conditions of diversity and inclusion.” The board also called for a more precise definition of historically underrepresented groups, particularly when referencing University staff. According to the memo, the board felt “confused about what counts as underrepresented, whether there are critical distinctions across units and ranks, and what measures are needed to address the need for diversity and inclusion.” Through the process of writing the memo, some board members also reflected on the difficulties of defining diversity and historically underrepresented groups. “I would like to include

GRACE WINBURNE / HERALD

Though federal regulators approved National Grid’s proposal to build a liquid natural gas processing facility, environmental advocates cited the detrimental effects of the plan at a WaterFire protest on Saturday.

President and Provost Response In their response to the DIOB memo, Paxson and Locke wrote that by adjusting the time schedule of the DIOB’s work, the Board had more time to evaluate and understand the progress of the DIAP over the course of the academic year. Last year, the Annual Report and the DIOB memo were released in March, The Herald previously reported. While the President and the Provost responded to the specific questions in the memo, they noted that the DIOB “raises a number of questions that could have been addressed through conversations with University administrators and/or data provided by their offices.” On the subject of fundraising, the University is currently “over 60 (percent) of the way toward (its) original stated goal,” in raising funds to support the goals of the DIAP, wrote Paxson and Locke in their response. Because

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