Wednesday, March 4, 2020

SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDYA, MARCH 4, 2020

VOLUME CLV, ISSUE 29

UNIVERSITY NEWS

U. sells 90 percent of fossil fuel investments Fossil fuel investments decrease from 6.5 to 0.9 percent of endowment

The process of selling investments in fossil fuel companies began in October 2017, Vice President and Chief Investment Officer Jane Dietze wrote in an email to The Herald. By June 2018, the University had sold most of its fossil fuel portfolio, she added. According to Paxson’s letter, the University has now sold 90 percent of its investments in fossil fuel extraction companies.

The remaining 10 percent is still in the process of being sold, though this process will take time due to the “il-

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Students release new website to streamline housing lottery Using combined coding, data collection, three sophomores develop web-tool

BY CAELYN PENDER SENIOR STAFF WRITER The University is in the process of selling all its direct investments in fossil fuels, President Christina Paxson P’19 wrote in a March 4 Today@Brown announcement.

The letter also informed the community of the University’s new role as a founding partner of the Providence Resiliency Partnership, as well as the University’s progress in reducing greenhouse gases on campus.

Selling off fossil fuel investments

BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

BY MAISIE NEWBURY SENIOR STAFF WRITER

BENJI TORUNO / HERALD

The University began selling fossil fuel investments in Oct. 2017 and had sold off most of its fossil fuel portfolio by June 2018. liquid nature of some investments,” Dietze wrote.

The University’s endowment in-

Dietze wrote. “People know that this sector is dying, … and it’s just not a good long-term investment,” Paxson

vestments are now 0.9 percent in fossil fuel companies as opposed to 6.5 percent before the sale. Of endowment investments in fossil fuels, “The Ivy League peer average, calculated to the best of our ability, is 6.5 percent,” Dietze wrote.

It is due in part to the “accelerating decline in the cost of alternative energy sources” and “escalating uncertainty” in the economic future of fossil fuels that the Investment Office made the decision to sell these investments,

told The Herald. “It carries too much risk for the endowment.”

The Investment Office also thought that investment in fossil fuel companies did not align with the University’s Environmental, Social and Governance criteria. While these standards have been in place in financial and investment decisions for the past five years, their importance to University investments has increased over time,

SEE FOSSIL FUELS PAGE 4

As the University’s Housing Lottery approaches later this month, three sophomores at the University recently created and released Bear Dens, a new online service aimed at helping to guide students through the complicated process of choosing where to live next academic year.

Cole Horvitz ’22, Jordan Idehen ’22 and Jack Schaeffer ’22 came up with the idea for the website after struggling with the lottery during the spring of their first year. “I saw (my friends) organizing spreadsheets, going through data … I thought it could be made so much better and easier,” Horvitz said.

“Housing is a critical part of one’s (University) experience … It impacts academic, social and mental health and students should be able to make a safe and responsible decision,” he added.

According to Horvitz, much of the difficulty students experience during the housing lottery stems from the University’s outdated online resources for on-campus housing.

“What we really noticed was … how clunky and old-fashioned the system was and … how stressful and time-consuming” it made the housing lottery process, Schaeffer said. The Bear Dens site is designed to address these issues.

Horvitz and Idehen began coding the website during the fall 2019 semester. But after completing CSCI 1300: “User Interfaces and User Experience” in the fall, they decided to scrap their code and “completely remodel the interface over winter break.”

On the home page of Brown Dens, students can apply filters including class year, location on campus, room type, floor level and square footage. Students can then click on different available dorms and the website will identify whether the selected dorm corresponds to their filtered preferences. “Basically, as you add filters you add

SEE HOUSING PAGE 2

METRO

METRO

Asthma impacts Providence kids’ daily lives

Bill may require schools to offer free pads, tampons

Exacerbations can increase school absenteeism, financial burdens

BY CLARA GUTMAN ARGEMI SENIOR STAFF WRITER Dr. Sarah Rhoads MD’16 RES’20, a University practitioner who is a resident at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, has several tricks up her sleeve for helping children who come into the hospital with asthma exacerbations.

When young patients’ exacerbations begin to subside, Rhoads asks them to blow bubbles or puff on pin wheels. This helps them practice taking deep breaths, making sure “they’re keeping their lungs open.” Sometimes she’ll give patients Popsicles. “When a Popsicle melts it can be a secret way of keeping a kid hydrated, if they’re willing to take the bait,” she said.

Mónica Huertas, a Providence resident, has three children who have asthma. She and her children have

started calling the doctors at Hasbro “the Popsicle doctors.”

From the moment a child enters the emergency room with an asthma exacerbation, the medical staff at Hasbro launch into a well-rehearsed protocol. It is a situation they see often: Asthma is the most common chronic illness among Rhode Island’s children, The Herald previously reported. Asthma also disproportionately burdens urban, low-income communities of color.

For a child with chronic asthma, the illness can have multiple consequences, from Intensive Care Unit stays to school absences. In addition, asthma medication and ER visits can impose a financial burden on families.

Most children who come into the hospital with asthma exacerbations receive an albuterol dose, which helps open up their airways and is found in prescription rescue inhalers. Sometimes children also receive steroids to calm inflammation. “Most kids at that point are doing okay,” Rhoads said.

SEE ASTHMA PAGE 3

R.I. bill would help students who lack sanitary products, maintain privacy

BY JULIA GROSSMAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER If passed, a bill currently in the Rhode Island State Senate would require all of the state’s public schools that include grades six through 12 to provide free feminine hygiene products in bathrooms. Sen. Valerie Lawson (D-East Providence and Pawtucket) introduced this legislation in February “so feminine hygiene products would be available to students at no cost,” she said.

Specifically, bill S2183 would require that feminine hygiene products be provided in both gender neutral and women’s bathrooms, Lawson said. The term “feminine hygiene products” includes both tampons and sanitary napkins. If the bill passes and is signed into law, it would go into effect before the beginning of the 2021-22 school year.

Megan Geoghegan, communications

director at Rhode Island Department of Education, said that RIDE supports the bill, but that its implementation would “be a locally deployed process.”

The lack of access to sanitary products and the absences this creates motivated Lawson to introduce this bill.

“As educators, we want kids to be in school … and any obstacles to that hurt kids academically,” Lawson said.

“We want to remove whatever barriers that exist, and we want to support (students) in any way that we can.” Lawson believes the bill could remove one of these barriers: “It’s one less thing they

SUMMER ZHANG / HERALD

have to worry about.”

Kelly Nevins, executive director of the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island — whose mission is to help advance gender equity through systematic change — believes that the bill would “absolutely” help support girls in going to school and in getting an education. If “you can’t afford feminine hygiene products and you’re on your period … that prevents you from going to school,” Nevins said.

“We provide, for example, toilet paper; why can’t we provide feminine

SEE BILL PAGE 2

News

A&C

News

Commentary

TODAY

TOMORROW

UCS, UFB hold information sesssions for prospective candidates Page 2

French Film Festival brings Francophone film productions to PVD for six weeeks Page 3

President Paxson assures faculty there are no current cases of coronavirus on campus Page 6

Ren ’23: Admitting when we don’t know is essential, better than inflating knowledge Page 7

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020

UNIVERSITY NEWS

UCS, UFB election season kicks off with information sessions

Changes include introduction of new online signature platform

BY JACK BORRIS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Kicking off the Undergraduate Council of Students and Undergraduate Finance Board spring election process, the UCS elections board held three informational sessions for prospective candidates this week.

In order to run for a position, students are required to attend one of the three information sessions. Next, students must collect signatures from the student body to support their candidacy, after which candidates will be confirmed March 8.

Students hoping to run for the UCS President, UCS Vice President, UFB Chair and UFB Vice Chair positions must collect 200 signatures from students either on paper or using a new online platform. All other positions will require students to collect 100 signatures to be eligible for candidacy.

“One of the changes we’ve made is

that now we’ve allowed students that are considering running to get signatures through an online platform,” said Elections Board Co-Chair Mary Stack ’21, emphasizing the increased accessibility of the new system. Previously, students were required to gather signatures on paper.

Stack added that the elections board has increased the voting period from two to three days, with the intention of increasing voter turnout. Additionally, student groups now have three days after the candidate debate to endorse candidates, up from the previous period of less than one day.

“We definitely want to engage more of the student body,” said Elections Board Co-Chair Alex Song ’20. “Brown certainly is not last but certainly not leading in student engagement, and that’s really important for us,” he added, referencing a previous Herald article that showed that the University’s student voter turnout in the 2018 UCS presidential elections was the second lowest in the Ivy League. He also emphasized that the newly lengthened student group endorsement period is intended to increase accountability within groups, as the prior period left little time for groups to have longer

discussions and make more informed endorsements.

A student who attended one of the info sessions and expressed interest in a candidacy for a UFB position cited their experience working within other student groups on campus as a motivator for their interest in the position. “I realized there were some things in UFB that I wanted to work toward improving, specifically … transparency,” they said.

Due to UCS restrictions on announcing prospective candidacies, the student could not be named.

Although the student expressed a strong desire to improve many UFB policies, they ultimately decided not to move forward with their candidacy due to the large time requirement of the role. “I did a lot of thinking over the past few weeks and decided that I could not commit to that to that time for the next school year,” they said.

An open-to-the-public debate between candidates for the UCS President, UCS Vice President, UFB Chair and UFB Vice Chair positions will be held March 13. Online voting for the undergraduate student body will take place from March 16-19, with the winning candidates taking office after the conclusion of the spring semester.

USHA BHALLA / HERALD

BILL FROM PAGE 1

SUMMER ZHANG / HERALD

HOUSING FROM PAGE 1 or remove the rooms that match or don’t,” Idehen added.

This straightforward approach to organizing the data was inspired, in part, by Horvitz and Idehen’s time in CSCI 1300. “That’s where the … modern, simple, lightweight design came from,” Idehen said. Horvitz added that they also had sought advice from Jeff Huang, assistant professor of computer science and the instructor for the class. “Making an interface takes a lot of iteration and prototyping. I got a lot of feedback from him,” he said.

The three creators divided the work up between them: while Horvitz and Idehen coded most of the website, Schaeffer organized meetings with Residential Life, Residential Council and the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship and marketed the website to students.

According to the University website, ResCouncil is a “student advisory board that provides assistance and insight to the Office of Residential Life.”

Horvitz was responsible for designing the user interface of the Bear Dens website, and Idehen completed data engineering, feeding information about the existing housing options into the code of the platform.

The students worked primarily with ResLife and ResCouncil to collect data, and the project was otherwise entirely student-operated. “We didn’t ask for any funding,” Schaeffer said. He added that the students wanted the program to be accessible to all students, so “It’s all free to every user.”

Initially, Idehen collected data mostly by himself, but after realizing how much work the project required, he approached ResCouncil and “they agreed to help us and form a committee of six to eight students,” he added.

Idehen suggested that ResCouncil was willing to communicate because “they’re students too, so they get where we are coming from.”

Victoria Cao ’23, a member of ResCouncil, agreed with the Bear Dens founders that the current housing lottery system is challenging for students to navigate. “The housing

lottery is very intimidating and this tool will make the process easier for students to choose their housing,” she said. “ResLife could be doing more to make (the process)clear to students,” she added.

The Bear Dens founders have high hopes for student engagement with their service. “We already have over 1,000 users, and we’re expecting that number only to grow as the lottery approaches,” Schaeffer said. He added that they hope to incorporate student feedback into future developments of the website. “We have a lot of plans (for the site) but we aren’t sure where to start. We want to know what the students want from it first,” he added.

Ultimately, the three creators hope that students will use the site to make their housing lottery experience less stressful. “I also hope that this can inspire more students to take up projects like this to help Brown modernize interfaces,” Horvitz added.

“We can accomplish a lot, even in just one year.”

hygiene products to students that need them?”

This bill would also promote privacy for students and allow them to get the products they need without “having to go to any adult in the building,” Lawson said.

Similar legislation has been passed in other states, including New York, Illinois, California and New Hampshire, where it has largely been successful, according to Lawson.

A pilot test was also run in Providence, but this bill “would make it statewide,” Lawson said.

Success with the program in cities and in towns may help this bill pass, Nevins said.

Currently, the bill has been referred to the Senate Education Committee. At a hearing date to be determined, “the committee will consider it and take hopefully a vote on it,” said Lawson.

The Women’s Fund of Rhode Island “will probably submit written testimony to support it,” Nevins said.

If this vote is successful, it will be voted on in the full Senate Chamber, where Lawson is “optimistic” about

the bill’s passage.

There is also a companion bill in the Rhode Island House of Representatives that was introduced by Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee (D-South Kingstown and Narragansett); it proposes the same stipulations.

The passage of this bill would impose some monetary costs on Rhode Island Public Schools. Geoghegan stated that RIDE has not seen an official fiscal impact analysis yet, but that “the cost will be borne by the districts rather than the state.”

According to Lawson, “the initial costs would be the dispenser and then … the ongoing costs would be providing the sanitary products.” She added that “a per bathroom projection” of costs is difficult, as “it depends on how frequently that bathroom is used.”

However, some preliminary costs have been calculated. Pricing depends on if some machines need to be retrofitted as opposed to newly acquired and if schools are going to purchase in-stall trash cans, Lawson wrote in an email to The Herald. She added that currently, “we’re running at (approximately) $727/bathroom.”

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

3

A&C

Providence French Film Festival connects Brown with Providence French Studies and MCM departments show Francophone cinema to Providence

BY LIZA MULLETT SENIOR STAFF WRITER The Providence French Film Festival kicked off its 22nd year of bringing Francophone cinema to Providence Feb. 28. The festival hopes to “showcase a richness of voices, perspectives and insights from established filmmakers and emerging directors of Francophone cinema from all parts of the world,” according to the event’s press release.

The six-day festival offers a wide range of content in various subject matters and forms, featuring comedies, dramas, documentaries, animations and children’s shorts from French-speaking regions. “We tried to make sure we have content that hits different demographics,” said Regina Longo, media archivist and lecturer in the Department of Modern Culture and Media department.

Longo serves as the artistic director of this year’s festival and stressed the importance of showing “films that focus on women, have strong, positive characters that are people of color, dealing with legacies of French colonialism … (and) challenging certain things that (dominate) public conversation right now.”

“How do you shift and tell the story from the point of view of the person

ASTHMA FROM PAGE 1 The staff’s goal is to make sure that children can go four hours or more without needing albuterol. If their condition necessitates breathing treatment every one to two hours, they get transferred into more intensive treatment areas.

In that scenario, Rhoads will communicate the message to the family by telling them that their child “has shown that he is getting a little bit better, … but we think he needs to be watched closely.”

Dr. Nicholas Nassikas MD ’15, a University Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine fellow specializing in asthma, treats patients who have been transferred to the ICU for asthma exacerbations. He helps the ICU’s staff navigate life support machines that can provide oxygen for those patients, or even breathe for them. “Asthma is scary because it can get very bad very quickly,” he said.

In 2016, when Rhoads was an intern at the hospital, a girl suffering from an asthma crisis was brought into the emergency room by Emergency Medical Services. She was having such a hard time breathing that she couldn’t even talk. The girl was taken into a specialized room within the ER where she received heightened treatment before being transferred to the ICU. The breathing treatments she received helped her recover and she “went home a day or two later,” Rhoads said. It was the first time in her medical career that she had witnessed a situation where a child with asthma ended up in the ICU. In most cases, children leave the hospital relatively quickly, Rhoads said.

When a child who is having a really tough time breathing receives “a few simple therapies” that make them feel better, and they end up “running out the door, … that feels great,” she said.

who doesn’t always have the voice, who isn’t always in power? We want to have a different perspective,” Longo said.

The festival screened “Varda by Agnès,” narrated by renowned director Agnès Varda. In her posthumous documentary, Varda chronicles her career as an experimental filmmaker focused on social commentary and feminist issues.

A stop-motion anthology about the colonization of Africa, “This Magnificent Cake!” dissects the legacies of colonialism in the Belgium-occupied Congo. “By the Grace of God,” winner of the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prix at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival, dramatizes the resurfaced pedophilia scandals of the French Diocese of Lyon. “Zombi Child” is a drama that explores a young Afro-Haitian woman’s relationship with her family’s past practices of Voodoo culture as she navigates her life as a new student at an elite French boarding school.

The University’s Department of French Studies has long integrated the festival into its curriculum, connecting students studying the French language to the larger Francophone culture. “The Festival is important for our curriculum because it allows our students to watch films they would not see otherwise, and it exposes them to recently released films from other parts of the world, thereby enhancing their knowledge and understanding of France and the French-speaking world,” Stéphanie Ravillon, senior lecturer in the French department, wrote in an email to The

Herald.

Longo noted that “almost everything” being shown at the festival is a Rhode Island premiere. The limited release of these films in the Rhode Island area and the United States has prevented many audiences from viewing a wide array of Francophone film, but the festival hopes to combat this roadblock and expose the greater Providence area to French cinema.

“I just want people to get a chance to see as much as they can of different types of things,” Longo said. “Films for

kids, films for young adults and teens, films for adults, with a mix of themes: some are political, some are comedy, family drama. Some are French commercial cinema.”

Longo expressed excitement to connect not only Brown students to Francophone cinema, but the greater Providence community — particularly students at Hope High School. The PFFF is providing free tickets for Hope students to attend a viewing of “The Fall of Sparta,” a Québécois comingof-age film. “We’re opening that one

up on Monday afternoon, so the kids can get there after school. We really hope to create a connection between Hope and Brown.”

At the first showing of “Varda by Agnès,” Madison Hough ’22 said the PFFF is “a really cool festival that kind of brings the greater Providence arts community to Brown and brings global film to campus and to Providence. I thought (“Varda by Agnès”) was really amazing … learning about Agnes Varda’s life story and creative ability. …It was really inspiring.”

After an asthma exacerbation, the child leaves the hospital with a piece of paper explaining how to treat asthma if it happens again. One of the hardest parts of Rhoads’ job is seeing children come to the emergency room repeatedly because their asthma is not well controlled.

Sometimes she has to write absence notes for those children if they missed

adding that children with asthma miss, on average, two more weeks of school than children without asthma. In some districts with high asthma prevalence, this difference is larger.

There are multiple factors causing asthma-related absenteeism, just as there are multiple factors causing asthma itself.

After spending time in the hospital,

has established programs on asthma management education tailored to caregivers and children. Some of these efforts have existed for over 20 years, Koinis-Mitchell added.

One of these, the Rhode Island Asthma Integrated Response (RI-AIR), is one of only four programs of its kind in the country and receives federal funding. RI-AIR identifies children

asthma. “Individual schools … have target teams, made up of administrators, social workers, the school nurse and other staff members, who regularly analyze attendance data and suggest interventions for students with high absenteeism,” wrote Laura Hart, Providence Public Schools District director of communications, in an email to The Herald. If the cause of a student’s high absenteeism is asthma management, the school will often reach out with additional referrals and supports.

Beyond affecting their school performance, a child’s recurring asthma can also have a high financial cost for their family.

Huertas, the Providence mother whose children frequent “the Popsicle doctor” for their asthma, has seen these costs firsthand. On her healthcare plan, the co-pay for chewable steroid tablets is $5, and inhalers cost her $35, she said.

She buys four inhalers a month.

In addition, Huertas estimates that she pays $100 every time one of her children goes to the emergency room. She’s been there 11 times in the past three years, bringing the cost up to $1,100, she estimated.

This cost can impose a financial strain on some families. A few years ago, an adult family friend of Huertas’ with chronic asthma died from an exacerbation, leaving two children behind, “because she couldn’t afford her pump” medication, Huertas said. “I was like, here’s an albuterol, … take mine, but I guess it just wasn’t enough. She died from a(n) asthma attack, it’s so sad, and I always get scared, I take my kids right to the doctor.”

And at the doctor’s, the cycle of asthma’s effects on children’s everyday lives begins all over again.

COURTESY OF REGINA LONGO

With cultural content for the whole family, the Providence French Film Festival brings comedies, dramas, documentaries, animations and children’s shorts produced in French-speaking areas to Providence.

MADDY CHERR / HERALD

school while they were in the hospital because of asthma.

Asthma contributes to school absenteeism, according to Dr. Daphne Koinis-Mitchell, professor in the departments of Psychiatry and Human Behavior and Pediatrics and director of the Community Asthma Program at Rhode Island Hospital.

“We see the rates of absenteeism are much higher in children with asthma in urban school districts compared to children without asthma,” she said,

children might be tired and parents may choose to keep them home. Some caregivers do this “for fear that (their children) may experience asthma symptoms when they’re in a school setting,” Koinis-Mitchell said.

Even if they go to school, lost sleep due to asthma can affect a child’s academic performance, because it can make it harder for them to pay attention and concentrate in class, she said.

In order to help families better control their children’s asthma, Hasbro

with asthma living in high-risk areas, conducts screenings and designs tailored, evidence-based interventions. “If (families) adhere to the intervention, their asthma outcomes will improve,” Koinis-Mitchell said, adding that these outcomes include school absenteeism and academic performance.

The intervention might include coordinating with the school nurse and other staff at the child’s school.

Some schools have multiple systems in place to help address their students’

This article is part of the series “Asthma in Providence.”

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020

METRO

Goncalves ’13 MA’15 wins Ward 1 Democratic primary

COURTESY OF JOHN GONCALVES

Backed by endorsements from several progressive organizations, Goncalves overcame relatively low fundraising to win the Ward 1 Democratic primary. Because no Republicans or independents are registered, he will be the only candidate on the ballot for the April 7 special election.

U. alum, school teacher effectively clinches City Council seat by healthy margin

BY BEN GLICKMAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER John Goncalves ’13 MA’15 won the Democratic primary in Providence’s Ward 1 special election Tuesday by a wide margin.

Goncalves, a 25-year resident of Ward 1, overcame challenges from Nick Cicchitelli, president of the Fox Point Neighborhood Association, and Anthony Santurri, owner of the Colosseum nightclub.

Ward 1 includes College Hill and parts of

FOSSIL FUELS FROM PAGE 1 Paxson said. This decision “positions us to be actively engaged in pushing … the companies we invest in to be more socially responsible,” she continued.

Though the past several years have seen student protests and activism regarding divestment from fossil fuel companies, this activism did not have a direct impact on the University’s decision to sell these investments, Paxson said. “I think that the activism we’ve seen on campus is very much part of growing awareness that fossil fuels are not the future,” she said.

Paxson“purposely stayed away from the language of divestment” in her letter because of its political connotations on campus.

“This is a more nuanced decision,” she said, adding, “I hope (the decision) makes people proud of Brown. … I hope that people who have deep ethical con-

Fox Point, the Jewelry District, Wayland Square and downtown Providence.

Because no Republicans or independents are running for the seat, Goncalves will be the only candidate on the ballot in the special election on April 7.

According to unofficial results reported by WPRI, Goncalves received 708 votes, while Cicchitelli and Santurri received 286 and 194, respectively. With 1,188 votes total, voter turnout was about 13 percent.

“This campaign from the very beginning had the slogan of ‘community first,’” Goncalves said in his victory speech.

“This is the spirit that is needed to do the next step of enacting real change in Providence. I am looking forward to bringing our ‘community first’ campaign to City Hall.”

Despite his large electoral victory, Goncalves was out-fundraised by his competitors. Santurri raised just under $35,000 and loaned himself $20,000, while Cicchitelli raised $17,000 and loaned himself $5,000. Goncalves — the only candidate who did not fund any of his campaign — raised just under $16,000.

Goncalves garnered the endorsements of multiple progressive groups, including Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere, a University student-run group, and Climate Action Rhode Island.

Santurri was supported by the Providence police union, the Rhode Island National Organization for Women and several state senators and representatives.

In January, Seth Yurdin vacated the seat Goncalves will now fill. Yurdin, who

had served on the council since 2006, said he wanted to focus on his law practice.

Goncalves teaches at The Wheeler School and serves on the City Council’s Special Committee for the Study of a Progressive Tiered Property Tax, which researches property taxation in the city.

Along with Santurri, Goncalves is the co-founder of the Providence Coalition of Neighborhood Associations, which is comprised of 19 neighborhood groups around the city that focus on solving issues faced by residents.

In his statement, Goncalves said he would like to work with his opponents in Ward 1. “I consider both my opponents Anthony Santurri and Nick Cicchitelli as community leaders on so many fronts, and I am looking forward to working with them as we work to move Ward 1

forward,” he said.

Goncalves’ platform included fixing Providence Public Schools and taking environmental action. He emphasized his work in opposing the proposed property tax reform in June 2019.

“While talking to voters and supporters of John on the campaign trail, I had the privilege of meeting so many longtime — and often lifelong — Fox Point residents,” said Campaign Manager Jason Roias. “It was refreshing to hear time and time again that John was someone who inspired so many of them through his constant commitment to the community he grew up in. I know Ward 1 is in good hands.”

Cicchitelli and Santurri did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

cerns about fossil fuels will feel good about the decision.”

The Investment Office has made no new investments in fossil fuel companies and will not do so unless these companies “make significant progress in converting themselves into providers of sustainable energy,” Paxson wrote.

“Ironically, some of the world’s traditional energy supply companies may yet play a role in providing sustainable solutions,” Dietze wrote. If companies that traditionally engaged in fossil fuel extraction were to implement “transformational energy or carbon mitigation technologies … the Investment Office would fulfill its duty to re-evaluate such a development” and determine whether or not to reinvest in such companies, she added.

Community partnership and sustainability Paxson also wrote about the University’s involvement in the Providence

Resiliency Partnership, an organization focused on “developing strategies to buffer residents and businesses from the effects of sea-level rise.” This group, which also includes the University of Rhode Island and WaterFire Providence, will focus on how Providence can “become more resilient in the face of the inevitable impacts of climate change,” Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey ’91 MA’06 told The Herald.

The planning of this organization began in early 2019 with a forum held at the University in collaboration with the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society. “The effort now is to bring people together,” Carey said. Though the concrete goals of the organization have not been formed, this year it will focus on raising awareness and money as well as developing “some potential projects and priorities,” Carey added.

Paxson’s letter also explained that

the University is on its way to achieving the goals laid out in its February 2019 pledge to cut campus emissions down to net zero by 2040 and reduce them by 75 percent by 2025. Two wind turbines the University constructed in Texas will begin producing energy in the spring, and the University-financed solar farm to be built in Rhode Island is on track to begin producing power in 2022, according to the letter.

The University has also made progress in shifting its central heating plant to run off of “sustainable electricity.”

There are two near-term plans currently in consideration to reduce greenhouse gas emissions before the conversion to sustainable electricity: burning recycled biofuel instead of natural gas and offsetting natural gas usage through investment in a renewable natural gas project, according to the letter. The central heating plant heats 70 of the buildings on campus while the other 140

are heated separately, said Vice President for Facilities Management Michael Guglielmo, Jr. Paxson wrote that the University “plans to confront the realities of climate change” as the demands evolve, through the plans laid out in the letter as well as the sustainability plan currently being developed.

Stephen Porder, assistant provost for sustainability and professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, wrote an in email to The Herald that he is “very proud to be part of a university that is rising to this incredibly important challenge.”

Porder, who has been working on creating the sustainability plan for the University, is “excited for the committee of faculty, staff and students to review all the feedback (on the sustainability plan) we’ve received, improve the plan, get it approved and then move into Phase 2.”

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | TODAY

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S U D O KU

Super Tuesday Debrief 12:00 P.M. Stephen Robert ’62 Hall

Chopin Piano Recital with Benjamin Nacar ’12 12:30-1:30 P.M. Cogut Institute, Pembroke Hall

Become a Ginger Warrior!

1:00 P.M. Faculty Club

Theresa May Lecture 5:00 P.M. Pizzitola Sports Center

TOMORROW Pathobiology Seminar 12:00 P.M. Sidney E. Frank Hall

Tai Chi 12:00 P.M. Alumnae Hall

LINK/SEW Open Hours 1:30 P.M. CareerLab, 2nd Floor

Fefu and Her Friends 8:00 P.M. Stuart Theatre

Q U OTE OF TH E DAY

“We see the rates of absenteeism are much higher in children with asthma in urban school districts compared to children without asthma.”

—Dr. Koinis-Mitchell SEE ASTHMA PAGE 3

C L ARI F I CAT I ON

CR O S SWO R D

Clarification: The March 3 article “Mohamed Malim discusses nonprofit work in fashion industry” was updated to clarify that the Center for Latin America and Caribbean Studies within the Watson Institute brought Malim to speak.

C ORRECTI ON A previous version of the March 3 article “Vietnamese Students Association presents ‘The Birth of Vietnam’” misspelled Âu Cơ as u Cơ. The Herald regrets the error.

SU PE R ( WARM) T UESDAY

AREEZ KHAN / HERALD

On an unusually warm early March day as voters all over the country went to polling stations for Super Tuesday, students enjoyed the pleasant weather on the Main Green.

6

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020

UNIVERSITY NEWS

President Paxson addresses coronavirus concerns at faculty meeting Administrators say there are no confirmed campus cases, discuss further measures

BY LIVIA GIMENES SENIOR STAFF WRITER At Tuesday’s monthly faculty meeting, President Christina Paxson P’19 urged faculty not to panic because of the spread of the COVID-19 virus in Rhode Island and said that the University is “going to be prepared” if the virus reaches campus.

Paxson told faculty to help students understand “that this is not the plague, this is not the end of the world and to keep calm.”

Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey confirmed that there are no current presumed or confirmed cases of coronavirus at the University and discussed what measures the University is taking to prepare for the possibility of community members contracting the virus. He announced that a page with continuing updates on the state of the

virus nearby will be linked on the front page of the University’s website because it is “a very fluid situation” that is “changing rapidly.” He also assured faculty that the University is taking protective measures in conjunction with Health Services and the Rhode Island Department of Health to insure the safety of the community.

Provost Richard Locke P’18 told faculty to take special precautions in the classroom and not to come to work if they were feeling sick. He said that faculty should be prepared to use tools from the Brown Center for Digital Scholarship and Zoom Web Conferencing to teach their classes over video chat if necessary.

Also during the meeting, Paxson emphasized the need to take a stance on the issue of investing in companies that emit large amounts of carbon emissions. Paxson confirmed that the University has removed 90 percent of its investments in fossil fuel companies. Still, Paxson said that it is not possible to sell all investments in these companies since the University holds indirect investments that are difficult to identify.

Assistant Provost for Sustainability

Stephen Porder also outlined revisions to the Strategic Sustainability Plan draft, which he presented for the first time at an open forum last month, The Herald previously reported. Porder, who is also a professor of Environment and Society and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, announced a faculty forum to discuss the plan in more detail, to be held March 18.

Locke also announced a one-year pilot program for stricter accountability for faculty references. Under the program, new junior faculty hires will be required to check a box in their applications if they have committed code of conduct violations at previous academic jobs. Checking the box will not immediately eliminate candidates, according to Locke. Instead, it will allow the University to “take a closer look” at candidates’ behavior when considering potential hires. In the case of senior faculty, there will be a new system of connections in which the University will contact the dean’s office at candidates’ former employers to check for conduct violations. Locke said he hopes the policy will help “safeguard our community in a way that will not hurt the hiring process.”

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President Paxson P’19 stated that, even with no current risks, the University has further prepared measures to deal with the coronavirus.

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

7

The power of saying “I don’t know” JOHNNY REN ’23 STAFF COLUMNIST

I am guilty of it — giving opinions on things I know little about. Most of the time, the stakes are low. I argue with friends about sports teams that I never watch, music that I rarely listen to and shows that I have only ever seen once. My limited knowledge does little to prevent me from crafting oversized arguments.

But then again, in most casual conversations, it hardly matters who is really right in the end.

I don’t think I am alone in this behavior.

During conversations on unfamiliar topics, we strain for the few dregs of knowledge that we actually possess, trying our best to make a little bit of information seem like a lot.

This tendency to inflate our own knowledge and expertise makes sense. No one likes to be left out of a discussion. No one likes to leave a question unanswered. From a conversational standpoint, saying “I don’t know” is like a shot in the foot that forces the conversant to limp away in another direction. It seems far better to feign comprehension.

Yet, at times, I also fear that we can tread too far down the path of unfounded expertise.

Each time we are unwilling to acknowledge our own inexperience, it becomes harder to admit it in the future. But this practice has its own repercussions. For the sake of intellectual clarity and honesty, it is time to embrace the power of saying “I don’t know.”

After all, the stakes aren’t always so low.

Conversation is more than just an ephemeral exchange of dialogue. When we talk about is-

sues that we know little about, we may oversimplify them because our understanding is so limited.

For certain topics, nuance is more than just beneficial; it is integral. For example, when discussing politics and policy, we must address multidimensional aspects of our beliefs. If we talk about these issues in imprecise terms, it may be better not to talk at all. Simplistic arguments can delude us, providing easy answers

comfortable truth about ourselves — what do we know at all? What do we know about anything?

Obviously, we should not restrict ourselves from all conversation. If absolute knowledge were a prerequisite for having an opinion, I would not be writing for The Herald. I am advocating not for fewer discussions, but only for more honest ones.

Nor do I want us to be apathetic. Saying

People love to fixate on all the information that validates their existing beliefs, ignoring all the possible contradictions.

Even the most well-informed people can never obtain complete knowledge. And it takes a considerable amount of bravery and integrity to recognize the finite bounds of what we know. In this way, “I don’t know” becomes less a phrase and more a frame of mind. Certain subjects will always elude our understanding,

“We treat ignorance as a kind of tragic human error, when, in reality, it is a natural part of the human condition.”

to difficult questions.

This behavior is exacerbated by our culture.

From television screens to news pages, we are inundated by a constant deluge of punditry.

Everyone in the media seems to be an expert, and so we may place the same expectations on ourselves. On a more personal level, we may just want to appear intelligent, letting empty arguments cover up holes in our own comprehension.

A latent sense of fear underlies it all — a fear of seeming inadequate, of seeming misinformed. We treat ignorance as a kind of tragic human error, when, in reality, it is a natural part of the human condition. And intellectual humility can be challenging. The act of saying “I don’t know” requires us to expose an un-

“I don’t know” will not be a cure-all for poor conversation. Instead, we can admit to ignorance while remembering to ask questions. We can defer the formation of our opinions until a point when we know more. We should not stop seeking knowledge — I simply think we should begin by acknowledging the gaps in our knowledge. If anything, the act of saying “I don’t know” can be a powerful motivator for learning more, so that one day we can reasonably and confidently say, “Here’s what I think.”

So much of our public discourse has become all about dominance. Rarely does anyone want to admit that they are wrong. As a result, intellectual hubris has become ubiquitous.

This hubris is made all the worse by our cognitive shortcomings, such as confirmation bias.

and it is up to us to recognize when we need to listen rather than to speak.

In short, whether we know a little or a lot about a topic, it is always worth acknowledging the things we do not know. While it is easy to present a facade of competence, it is much harder to reveal our actual incompetence. But in the end, admitting ignorance is the first step toward truly understanding anything, a first step that can be as simple as saying “I don’t know.”

Johnny Ren ’23 can be reached at jiawei_ ren@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald. com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

Gender bias in the critique of Coach Behn

BY KERRISSA HEFFERNAN OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

The Feb. 24 Brown Daily Herald article announcing that the Brown Band will not perform at women’s basketball games to protest the head coach was chilling. Citing and reporting “allegations circulating” and “things we were hearing,” the band and The BDH threatened the career of a well-respected coach and educator.

Female collegiate coaches are among the most vulnerable population to be fired over claims of abuse and unfair treatment. Female coaches know that unlike their male colleagues, speculation is more than enough to remove them. One or two unhappy athletes can drown out all reason and the voices of legions of athletes who are happy with the coach’s performance. Will the Brown Band hold male coaches to the same standard? Will the band scrutinize the language and tone of male football coaches and the happiness of male football players to determine if they will play at football games?

It’s clear that female coaches are held to a different standard than male coaches. Just Google Tracey Griesbaum, Robin Sparks, Sue Parker and Stacy Johnson-Klein — all successful female coaches who were fired in recent years.

Their stories all have similar components, patterns and outcomes. Some unhappy players were cited, abuse allegations were leveled and coaching positions were revoked. Many allegations of abuse leveled at female coaches are thinly veiled sexist accusations that the coach is not appropriately nurturing and maternal.

Years of exemplary evaluations and player testimonies were disregarded, all because “allegations circulated” and “things (were) heard.”

In 2017-18, I was part of a group of Brown coaches and faculty who gathered regularly over the course of a year to discuss teaching, coaching, learning and performance. Sarah Behn was one of the core members of that group. Throughout the year, nine faculty and nine coaches met to discuss instructive readings and our coaching/teaching practices. We

education.

At the gatherings for coaches and faculty, we acquired a deeper understanding of low- and high-stakes learning environments. Brown athletic teams are high-stakes, high-stress learning environments that require student-athletes to take initiative, exercise creativity and assume responsibility for how their decisions and actions affect a team’s outcomes. When they succeed, athletes improve their skills and self-confidence; when they fail, they learn from

tions with players. I believe those who criticize Coach Behn have an unreasonable expectation that female coaches should adhere to gender-based norms of nurturing and maternal behaviors. They likely also expect us to subscribe to the trope that female coaches should create teams where players feel unconditionally supported while male coaches create teams that will equip their players to win. These are destructive, sexist stereotypes rooted in the belief that a woman’s primary charge in any set-

“It’s clear that female coaches are held to a different standard than male coaches.”

also visited each other’s classrooms and practices. For example, a faculty member and I visited the women’s basketball team practices and sat behind the bench at games. My colleague and I took notes on the interactions between players and coaches and examined Coach Behn’s practice plans. Her plans, like those of all the coaches and faculty involved, were shared across the group, and everyone agreed that they were a model of effective teaching.

Moreover, by incorporating persuasive communications, writing, data science, research and reflection, she and the other coaches in the program demonstrated how their coaching practices contributed to the goals of a liberal

the subsequent feedback from coaches and other players and revise their strategy. Whether on a basketball court, in a classroom or laboratory, failure can be gut-wrenching and learning can be uncomfortable. Voices may be raised, demands made, outcomes expected and patience tested. However, these learning environments are often the most necessary and transformative. Educators who can create valuable learning experiences in these high-stakes situations are rare and often the most memorable.

So, why is a well-respected coach being pilloried for being direct and corrective in her coaching style? Male coaches are rarely put under the same microscope for their interac-

ting is to be a domestic caregiver. Sarah Behn is an excellent coach and educator, but she’s not your mom.

Kerrissa Heffernan Ed.D serves as director of the Women’s Rugby Coaches and Referees Association and previously served as a Director of Engaged Sport at the Swearer Center for Public Service, Royce Fellowship Director and Brown University women’s rugby coach. She can be reached at kheffernan@uswrf.org. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald. com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

Opinions pieces published in The Herald — which include columns, op-eds , letters to the editor and editorials — are written independently of news coverage.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD |

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020

F E AT U R I N G

The Rt. Hon. Theresa May MP Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2016-2019)

Politics, Populism and Polarization: Perspectives on the Global Economy

Wednesday, March 4, 2020 | 5 p.m.

Tickets Required For more information, please visit brown.edu/ogden

This event is free and open to the public.

Exact location provided with registration.

Doors open at 3:30 p.m. and close at 4:45 p.m.

Brown or government-issued ID required.

Backpacks, large bags and laptops are not allowed.

To request special services, accommodations or assistance for this event, please contact the University Event & Conference Services Office at universityevents@brown.edu or 401-863-3100.

Office of University Communications | 195655PROV0220