Wednesday, November 8, 2017

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 08, 2017

VOLUME CLII, ISSUE 103

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U. struggles to keep up as AI industry booms Grad school strives to recruit Recent changes have underrepresented students led to ballooning course enrollment, evolving sabbatical system

Administrators, faculty, students collaborate to make culture more equitable

By JONATHAN DOUGLAS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

In recent years, the field of artificial intelligence has exploded, enabling leaps in computer image recognition, speech translation, robotic movement and a number of fields with wide-ranging implications. Based on improved techniques originally developed in the 1950s, researchers have been able to train computers to recognize patterns using large data sets and complex statistical techniques. Companies such as Google, Microsoft and Facebook have led the push, hiring hundreds of researchers in the field, implementing AI in their products and creating research groups focused on tackling major issues in the field.

The explosive growth in AI led by the private sector has heavily impacted the computer science department over the last five years, leading to ballooning AI course enrollment, increased faculty numbers and an evolving sabbatical system.

Ballooning Course Sizes CS recently surpassed Economics as the most popular concentration at

By PRIYANKA PODUGU SENIOR STAFF WRITER

TINA YANG

the University. As more students have flocked to the concentration, rising course enrollment has placed an increasingly heavy burden on professors.

Previously, CSCI 1430: “Computer Vision” had 28 students enrolled in Fall 2009. Now it has over 100 students. Similarly, enrollment for CSCI 1460: “Computational Linguistics” jumped from 19 to 104 students between 2010 and 2016.

Professor of Computer Science

Art, design featured in statewide film festival Cable Car Cinema, other venues screen films from 10 different countries, including documentaries

By ERIC CHOI STAFF WRITER

The third annual Providence Art & Design Film Festival opened last Thursday, bringing films to Rhode Island that “focused on diverse disciplines within art and design,” according to the festival website. Films will be shown in Providence, Newport and Jamestown at various venues.

The 12-day film festival covers a vast array of topics, ranging from how an artist deals with her mental illness through sculpting to films that center on Chinese typography. The festival also features “Loving Vincent,” an animated film composed of 65,000 oil paintings by 120 artists making up each shot. Also featured is a documentary that follows the influence of Russian oligarchs in

INSIDE

the art market — a scenario that might remind first-years of their First Readings text “The Tsar of Love and Techno.”

Providence venues include Cable Car Cinema and the Rhode Island School of Design Museum Auditorium. The film “Design That Heals,” was accompanied by a question-and-answer session with the movie’s media producer, Thatcher Bean.

“These were two of the most intense films I’ve seen in a long time,” said Fran Loosen, a movie-goer who watched “Heaven Is A Traffic Jam On The 405” and “Design That Heals.” “It’s so wellcurated that you can come to anything and you’re going to be completely blown away by it.”

The festival is comprised of films from 10 countries, including short films, documentaries and longer feature films.

“Part of what I’m interested in doing is finding people that are invested in material and can speak to it from … personal experience,” said Emily Steffian, the artistic director for the film » See FILM, page 3

Michael Littman has witnessed these changes firsthand. Littman has taught and conducted research in AI since the 1990s, when the field was still relatively niche. This semester, Littman is teaching CSCI 2951F: “Learning and Sequential Decision Making.” A graduate-level class initially capped at 20, the course now contains 44 students.

Assistant Professor of Computer » See AI, page 2

The University announced that the “largest-ever cohort of students” from historically underrepresented groups entered graduate programs this fall, representing 12 percent of the entire class of graduate students, according to an Oct. 5 press release. The number of students from HUGs has increased 38 percent since 2015.

Administrators view this as a step forward in their goal to double the representation of students from HUGs by 2022, as outlined in the Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan. The University defines HUGs as “those who self-identify as American Indian, Alaskan Native, African American, Hispanic or Latinx and Native Hawaiian and/or Pacific Islander,” according to the DIAP. This increase reflects changes made at the Graduate School to improve recruitment and retention of these students, said Marlina Duncan, associate dean of diversity initiatives at

the Graduate School.

To build a pool of diverse applicants, the School of Engineering purchases lists of students to contact from the Educational Testing Services, the organization that administers the GRE, with an emphasis on students from underrepresented backgrounds, said Jennifer Casasanto, associate dean for programs and planning.

In a more personal style, faculty also contact applicants and encourage them to apply, Casasanto said.

Those personal connections can go a long way. Maria Fernanda LugoBolanos GS, a first-generation student from Mexico, said she would not have applied to Brown if not for the insistence of a Brown alum, as she worried that her background would place her at a disadvantage compared to other students. “I don’t know English well …

I didn’t know what it really meant to be in an Ivy League,” she said.

In addition, federal programs like the Initiative for Maximizing Student Development — which provides grants to universities to recruit doctoral-track students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents from underrepresented groups — also help make the School of Engineering more accessible, Casasanto said. The University’s IMSD » See HUG, page 2

U. allows flexibility in faculty requirements Faculty discuss Republican tax bill’s potential impact on faculty, students

By EMILY DAVIES SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Tuesday’s faculty meeting featured a motion that would allow faculty to reduce their teaching load below one course per semester under special conditions and a discussion of the University’s response to House Republicans’ proposed tax code.

The motion, which was approved by a faculty vote, was introduced by Timothy Herbert, professor of oceanography. It amends the faculty rules to permit active, “in residence” professors to “course bunch,” meaning they can condense the number of courses required by their respective departments per year into one semester, Herbert said.

The change comes as part of a joint initiative between Dean of Faculty Kevin McLaughlin and the Faculty Executive Committee to find new

EMILY DAVIES / HERALD

The motion to allow in-house professors to “course bunch” in special circumstances is part of efforts to support faculty members in their research. ways to support faculty in their research. Targeted at “large and complex projects,” course bunching is meant to be employed only in “exceptional” cases and during the preparatory or first-year period of any given research endeavor, Herbert said. To receive permission to teach zero classes during a semester in residence, faculty must go through the department chair, vice

president of research and dean of faculty. If granted approval, professors are expected to attend to all other duties of active faculty, such as advising, Herbert said.

“I think it’s a good thing,” Senior Associate Dean of Faculty and Professor of Engineering Janet Blume told The Herald. “The care is taken to make » See FACULTY, page 3

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NEWS Providence venue Aurora hosts a benefit for Puerto Rico Friday, raises over $3,000

SCIENCE & RESEARCH Circadian rhythm linked to sense of smell, challenges current thinking of scientists

COMMENTARY Mitra ’18: Many lessons to be learned from the first year of the Trump administration

COMMENTARY Vilsan ’19: OISSS does not help international students enough to secure jobs, internships

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» AI, from page 1 Science George Konidaris has felt the tidal shift as well. Konidaris teaches CSCI 1410: “Artificial Intelligence,” an introductory undergraduate AI class.

The class had 48 students in spring 2009, but its numbers have more than doubled to 99 this fall. During his time teaching the class and its equivalent course at Duke University, he has seen students’ interests change. Previously, students would get interested in AI through their coursework, which is heavily focused on the topic’s theoretical aspects. “Now, students every day are reading about it in the New York Times. There’s a new article every week,” Konidaris said. As the subject’s audience has widened and its importance grown, Konidaris has adapted his teaching to broaden the scope of the class beyond theory to give students a “flavor” of what AI has to offer.

Hiring Difficulties The rapidly increasing pace of AI and the computer science field in general has placed staffing burdens on the department as well. Five or 10 years ago, topics like AI and data science were barely on the radar, said Ugur Cetintemel, chair of the computer

» HUG, from page 1 program was originally implemented in the Med School and expanded to the physical sciences, mathematics and engineering departments when the University received a $3.3 million federal grant from the National Institute for General Medical Sciences.

The University also sends representatives to national conferences and fairs.

“Brown has a strong presence” at these conferences, said Caroline Kuo, assistant dean of diversity and inclusion at the School of Public Health.

“If we don’t get students to apply, then it’s impossible to get them into the pipeline.”

Besides recruiting diverse students, the Graduate School is also working to make itself more welcoming.

“We can attract amazing students, but when they get here, we need to make sure that this is an inclusive environment,” Duncan said, adding that she has worked closely with faculty members and students to re-examine curricula and student programming to achieve these goals. Some of the University’s efforts include hosting town halls and weekly events to facilitate

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

science department. Today, the department is racing to hire faculty to stay on track with peer institutions.

This year, the department added Daniel Ritchie, assistant professor of computer science, and Ellie Pavlick, who will join the faculty in spring 2018 as an assistant professor.

The department has also increasingly relied on lecturers, who solely teach and are hired on more tentative contracts. The department also seeks to add a new lecturer for some of the introductory courses next fall, Cetintemel said.

But these additions are not enough to keep up with course sizes and other universities. Peer institutions’ CS departments are bigger and growing faster, Cetintemel said. For example, while Brown added only one new tenure-track professor for CS for this semester, Princeton added eight, he added.

The department has been forced to reckon with the lure of industry as well. Offering salaries that are sometimes double or triple what Brown pays, according to several University sources, large tech companies like Google and Microsoft are increasingly attracting PhD students studying AI who might otherwise enter academia.

These firms have many other material advantages over academia as well, including large data sets, huge processing power and a less restricted budget to bolster their AI endeavors. With a large talent pool and research teams focused on improving products, tech companies have contributed large amounts of high quality research.

Sabbatical Changes Tempted by these attractions, professors have increasingly turned to the industry for sabbaticals and, to a lesser extent, full-time jobs. The attraction of private industry is not new to computer science; during the tech boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s, computer science departments across the country were often left gutted by large companies looking for top talent, Littman said. Nowadays, while some similar poachings have taken place at universities like Carnegie Mellon University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, some of the field’s brightest minds are now shared by academia and industry. Last year, Littman went on sabbatical to tour companies to get a better sense of the work they were doing. Stefanie Tellex, assistant professor of computer science, has considered taking a similar

sabbatical, Cetintemel said, adding that she will potentially explore a robotics research project in the private industry in Boston.

While the department has sabbatical procedures in place, students and colleagues are often left to scramble when a faculty member leaves.

Graduate students, who are typically dependent on a single professor as their advisor and mentor, can be left without strong guidance. Additionally, professors are often forced to switch their teaching responsibilities at the last minute.

Cetintemel said the department needs to reevaluate its sabbatical procedures in light of the changes brought on by AI. If faculty members are increasingly taking sabbaticals, the department will need to establish a new model that covers these professors’ teaching loads and graduate students.

Graduate students could potentially work under multiple professors instead of one, leaving them with at least one advisor should another decide to go on sabbatical. Additionally, the faculty size can be expanded to adjust for those on sabbatical.

Though the recent boom in AI driven by private industry has certainly affected the department, many

faculty members viewed the changes as complementary to the University. Research at tech companies today is fundamentally different from university research, Konidaris said.

Tech companies focus their research on short-term goals and only make incremental improvements. At universities, researchers tackle issues that have 100-year time frames instead of five- or 10-year ones. For example, researchers at Brown are able to pull from research conducted across the University, said Pavlick, who does work in natural language processing.

By doing so, she can complete projects that would be impossible at a private company, she said.

The field of artificial intelligence continues to explode, both at the University and across the world. Locally, the Humanity-Centered Robotics Initiative, co-directed by Littman, recently partnered with Hasbro to bring robotic AI-powered pets to the elderly. At Google, researchers have created machine learning algorithms that train themselves. While no one knows how long this current boom will last, Brown is forced to adapt to these changes on the fly, fighting to remain competitive.

conversations around diversity and other issues.

Dean of the School of Engineering Larry Larson said that the School of Engineering aims to revitalize University chapters of organizations like the Society for Women Engineers and the National Society for Black Engineers, in addition to its graduate student advisory board.

Lugo-Bolanos, who served on the School of Engineering’s advisory board, said that discussion topics ranged from publicizing mental health resources for students from underrepresented backgrounds to bringing in more companies looking to hire graduate students. Students also recommended that orientation for PhD and Masters students take place over the course of the semester rather than in the span of one week.

Though the Graduate School has implemented new programming for students this year, improving advising and mentoring throughout the academic departments is the next step. They will work to create a task force aimed at improving advising and mentoring that is composed of students, in addition to the existing support system of faculty.

Duncan said she also met with

STEM and social sciences departments to discuss the importance of assessing applications holistically — considering “personal statements, recommendations and the research statement of the student and not weighing so heavily on the scores.”

The University’s diversity initiatives stem from a long history of student advocacy, said Lydia Kelow-Bennett GS, a member of the Graduate School’s advisory board.

For example, the Graduate School partnered with the Brown Center for Students of Color this fall to hold its first orientation specifically for graduate students of color — an idea that came from the student advisory board that she created in 2015.

That advisory board’s meetings “brought together peer advocacy leaders from across a wide range of issues like race, disability, … sexuality, gender (and) religion,” Kelow-Bennett said.

The board provides a way for the Graduate School to hear the concerns of underrepresented students, she added.

Students continue to advocate for greater equity for underrepresented graduate students. In addition to advocating for an orientation for students of color, Kelow-Bennett said graduate

students voiced concerns about how the University defines HUGs and tracks the number of students of color.

The University does not classify international students as students of color and Asian American students as HUGs: These decisions have led to “institutional invisibility,” KelowBennett said, adding that such lapses caused some students to not receive invitations to certain events, such as a multicultural student dinner.

Duncan acknowledged that while the University’s classification system did result in international and Asian American students not receiving these invitations, she said that the Graduate School will change its application for the upcoming admissions cycle to allow students to self-identify as a student of color.

“The charge of this office is to give priority” to students from HUGs, Duncan said, adding that events like the fall multicultural dinner were not intended to be exclusionary.

Jonathan Cortez GS, another advisory board member, said he hopes conversations expand beyond historically underrepresented groups.

“This isn’t about being a HUG … This is about being a person of color at

Brown.”

The graduate student transition to Brown can also be difficult. Lugo-Bolanos said that she did not realize that she came from a low-income background until she arrived on campus. However, after using resources like Counseling and Psychological Services and the First-Generation College and LowIncome Student Center, she began to feel more confident, she said.

“I see a lot of students suffer in silence,” Lugo-Bolanos said. “But the deans really care about the well-being of students … The professors, the TAs, everyone really cares. They want to bring diverse experiences that students have.”

Now in her final year at Brown, Lugo-Bolanos said she views her background as an advantage and an opportunity because she has “access to these two worlds and … (wants) to connect them,” she added.

“Before my world was just Mexico, … but now I want to travel everywhere, and that’s a gift that Brown gave to me,” she said.

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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 08, 2017 • PAGE 3

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Circadian rhythms linked to smell sensitivity U. study challenges previous research, finds sense of smell can vary depending on time of day

By CATE RYAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

A recent University study has linked olfactory sensitivity — or one’s ability to smell — to circadian rhythm: It showed that the “biological clock plays a role in our ability to smell,” said Mary Carskadon, professor of psychiatry and human behavior and director of the Sleep for Science Research Lab. This study effectively challenged a long-assumed dogma in the field of olfaction — the notion that smell sensitivity remains fairly stable, said Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Rachel Herz, the study’s lead author. The previously held understanding of the olfactory trait was that, besides some variability resulting from effects of gender, age, illness and certain medications, it was “assumed that whatever your smell sensitivity was Tuesday at four o’clock is going to be the same next week Friday at 8 a.m.,” Herz said. The study suggested otherwise, showing “it’s a variable state that changes as a function of the circadian phase of the individual,” she added.

The study involved 37 adolescent subjects, aged 12 to 15, and found their peak olfactory sensitivity to be around 9 p.m., while “nobody (showed) peak olfactory sensitivity from … 2:30 a.m. to 10 (a.m.),” Herz said. Carskadon emphasized, despite this general trend, the timing was variable and “had different features from child to child.” The adolescents’ smell sensitivity was analyzed using Sniffin’ Sticks, a series of pens with odored tips that allow measurement of the threshold at which an odor is detected. Additionally, a protocol called forced desynchrony enabled researchers to separate hours awake from circadian phase, Herz said.

“It’s just such a delight (when) …

» FACULTY, from page 1 sure that in doing this, faculty will be present and on campus for advising when their teaching load is shifted around from one semester to another.”

Some universities allow any professor to course bunch, but this motion does not give blanket permission, Herbert said.

Faculty raised concerns that this change was only applicable to professors in STEM. Herbert responded by assuring that other aspects of the research-directed initiative will focus on faculty in the humanities and social sciences, which will be discussed in future meetings. One of these proposed initiatives is the “top-up” sabbatical, which guarantees full pay during a full year of sabbatical, McLaughlin said. Currently, sabbaticals do not guarantee a year of full pay.

The benefits of course bunching include “the recognition of leadership in areas of scholarship that comes along with being the lead institution on large, complex proposals,” Herbert said.

Later in the meeting, Provost Richard Locke P’18.5 stressed the ramifications of the tax bill working its way through Congress this week. He

» FILM, from page 1 festival. “It’s got to be educational, engaging to watch and … connected to people around our community.”

Apart from Steffian’s criteria, this year’s films don’t follow a particular theme. “Last year, there were a lot of films about photography and this year it was pretty eclectic. … Many different disciplines were featured,” said Daniel Kamil, program director for the festival.

“We expanded the kind of idea of what we were … considering to be art and design.”

Steffian believes Providence is a prime location to host the film festival. “I just felt … that in and of itself

Providence is such an artistic community that there are people here that would come.” She cited Brown and RISD as notable creative communities.

But the film festival is even attracting people from outside of the Providence community. “People are coming from all over the place. They’re coming from Massachusetts and Connecticut,” Steffian said.

The festival’s organizers are optimistic about future editions as well. “In our third year, we’ve hit our stride,” Kamil said. “We’re going to … continue to explore this to see whether it’s worthwhile expanding it beyond the current footprint.”

COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY

A study by Mary Carskadon, director of the Sleep for Science Research Lab, examined the relationship between sense of smell and circadian rhythm. one of these kinds of findings emerges from this very complex method of collecting data,” Carskadon said.

This research was a piece of a larger project being conducted by Carskadon.

The larger study looks at “whether the timing, … quantity and type of food that adolescents eat is different as a function of their body type,” she said.

The idea to look more closely at smell sensitivity was born from an “aha” moment in which she realized smell sensitivity might be related to dietary habits.

Herz’s expertise in smell and taste lent itself well to the project; she has a book coming out this year entitled, “Why You Eat What You Eat.” Smell is a crucial sense in ways beyond its everyday implications for taste.

“This is more evidence that you need to have auditory fire alarms,” since even smoke’s strong odor would likely not be enough to alert someone of danger during the nighttime period of decreased sensitivity, regardless of whether or not they were awake, Herz said.

Herz has speculations about the evolutionary reasoning behind peak olfaction taking place in the evening.

There are “three possible reasons: It helps with satiation for food when there isn’t a lot available, it helps with potentially detecting predators when light levels are low, and … it helps for selecting (a) more compatible mate,” she said.

This data may also have implications for clinical settings, Carskadon said. It could influence other research being done with olfaction by giving researchers a sense that their measurements could be affected by the time of day at which they are collected.

Chih-Ying Su, professor of neurobiology at the University of California at San Diego, said the study “was very exciting” due to its novelty and it will “open the doors” for other studies by raising “interesting questions” from the neurobiological standpoint regarding how this modulation of sensitivity occurs.

touched on several provisions in the bill that have the potential to negatively affect the University, including a proposed 1.4 percent excise tax on net investment income on private institutions with endowments of at least $250,000 per full-time student and at least 500 full-time students.

This proposal affects 68 institutions, of which the University is one.

“We don’t know the full scope of this, but it’s actually a real issue for us to be concerned about,” he said.

Locke also highlighted other provisions that target students, such as repealing the student loan interest deduction and the impact of eliminating certain clauses in the current tax code which permit educational institutions to provide their employees, spouses and dependents with tuition reductions that are excluded from taxable income.

“We are working closely with Ivy Plus colleagues and our different associations … to basically identify objectionable provisions and to determine their impact and to develop a coordinated strategic plan to defeat these provisions,” he said.

The University has formed an “ad hoc tax group” as a branch of the Government Relations Working Group

that was developed earlier this year, Locke said. The tax group, made up of “key administrators,” is working with the congressional delegation and staff in Washington, D.C. They are directing advocacy efforts on leadership in the House and Senate, with a particular focus on the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Finance Committee, Locke added.

The meeting also featured President Christina Paxson’s P’19 report on the corporation meeting and BrownTogether campaign. The BrownTogether campaign is on target to reach its goal by 2022.

“I hope we can do better and either end early or go above our goal,” Paxson said.

The meeting concluded with a presentation from Vice President for Research Jill Pipher on the University’s research initiatives, which stressed the importance of expanding infrastructure to grow research in certain areas, and a round table discussion on Title IX led by Title IX Program Officer Rene Davis. Faculty were asked to consider a scenario in which an undergraduate student who identifies as transgender shared concerns about a professor with their academic advisor.

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The film festival featured the animated movie “Loving Vincent,” for which 120 artists crafted 65,000 oil paintings for each shot in the movie.

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ARTS & CULTURE PAGE 4 • WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 08, 2017

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Pop-folk duo ‘The Weepies’ perform at Granoff Center Deb Talan ’90, Steve Tanden also hosted a song-writing workshop for students

By CINDY ZENG SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Two guitars, one piano, one couple: The Weepies, an indie pop-folk duo starring Deb Talan ’90 and Steve Tannen, performed at the Martinos Auditorium at Granoff Center for the Creative Arts last Friday. They played stripped-down acoustic versions of their songs — the group’s setlist included oldies such as “Stars” and “Gotta Have You,” dating back to their 2006 album. The two also hosted a song-writing workshop at 2 p.m. in Granoff earlier that day. “(My wife and I) listened to every song either of them had ever recorded,” said Butch Rovan, professor of music and director of the Brown Arts Initiative, in his opening address for The Weepies’ performance. “Knowing that Deb was a Brown grad, we always had this dream that we’d bring them back to do something with Brown.”

“It (isn’t) just their diligence and generosity and spirit that they bring to

the act of making music, it’s their wit, their humor, their intelligence, their openness that makes their music so special,” Rovan added.

A lyrical and lilting style characterizes The Weepies’ music. Their performance drew members from the University and wider Providence community, who sat attentively in the darkness of the auditorium. Between songs, to the soft strumming of their guitars, Talan and Tannen shared stories and insight into their songwriting process.

For their encore, Talan crooned softly into the microphone the poetic words of “Stars”: “and I feel a pull to the blue-velvet dark and stars.”

“This is a song that we really cowrote,” Talan said, as they prepared to perform their encore. “We had the flu.

So we started it together, and then one would kind of pass out after a while and then the other would write a verse and then pass out. So this is inspired by high temperatures.”

“The majority of the time, it’s pure force of will that gets a song started, recorded and done. Performances are a little different — they are fed by the give-and-take with the audience,” wrote Talan and Tannen in an email to The Herald. “The best crowds inspire better performances and vice versa. It

COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The husband and wife musical duo performed stripped down acoustic versions of songs from the group’s 2006 album at the Martinos Auditorium at the Granoff Center Friday. leaves you open in a way that’s hard to talk about, and it’s addictive,” they added.

“Society doesn’t highly value art or music except in rare cases, so especially as you start out you have to defend your empty time and protect the effort it takes to make something or find your way,” Talan and Tannen

wrote. “You have to get comfortable doing your own thing in a fundamentally individual way. That’s challenging every day.”

The Weepies evoked nostalgia within many of members of the audience, some of whom found it difficult to find others with a shared interest in The Weepies.

“My parents used to sing them to me. … The last one that she sang, “Stars,” it’s one of my favorites,” said Julia Ostrowski ’20, an attendee of the performance. It was her third time seeing The Weepies perform live. “This was amazing, really emotional and just a very lovely experience to have much later on in life.”

Aurora hosts ‘Mi Gente’ benefit show for Puerto Rico According to Providence artist Norlan Olivo, fundraiser garnered over $3,000

By CONNOR SULLIVAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Friday night, Providence venue Aurora hosted “Mi Gente” — a benefit show thrown to promote support for Puerto Rico in the wake of the tragic circumstances resulting from Hurricane Maria’s landfall. Light reflected off of Aurora’s disco ball for the duration of “Mi Gente,” galvanizing the concert’s throngs of perspiring bodies to dance in an uplifting display of support for the island that many call home.

Though the artists present at the show comprised a wide spectrum of genres, each act grounded itself in hiphop and dance conducive to high energy. Providence artists Norlan Olivo, Da Huey X, Wacklikedat, Ushamami, Cam Bells and Shenge all echoed the powerful aspects of Latin American genres, like Bachata, in the ignition and throttle of their music, functioning

CONNOR SULLIVAN / HERALD

Light reflected off the disco ball hanging off the ceiling of Aurora, which illuminated students dancing to the music of local Providence artists. as an auditory painkiller for those affected by the tragedy.

“It was great to see many folks

come together to show empathy through dance,” said attendee Shey Rivera, a decorated Puerto Rican artist

and writer who serves as artistic director of the Providence arts nonprofit AS220. “Dance parties are necessary spaces to practice radical joy and to care for one another, especially (dance parties) that are by and for (people of color) and queer folks — they’re brave spaces where we can be ourselves and sweat off decolonization,” Rivera added, underscoring the cathartic potential of dance.

While the University has helped to relieve the crisis through providing free enrollment to students from the University of Puerto Rico, local Providence artists have done their part by coordinating benefit concerts like “Mi Gente.”

“I wanted everyone in the community — specifically people of color — to come together and feel united in an effort to raise money for Puerto Rico,” Olivo said, who performed at the show and helped organize it with the Aurora staff and members of the Providence-based arts agency Stay Silent. “We raised over three thousand dollars at the event between door sales and percentages taken from the bar,” Olivo added, alluding to the proceeds

garnered from drinks and the event’s suggested $10 donation.

“It was a very unique experience with a great audience and choice of musicians,” said Annie Phan ’20. “It was also very heartwarming and inspiring to know the money went to a good cause.”

The show marks Aurora’s last official event — a fact that many Providence-based musicians and artists, including Olivo, have mourned. “There was a moment towards the end where I stopped the music and said into the mic, ‘I know there will never be another space like Aurora, but there will be a new space, because we always find a place. When they close the door on us, we just open another one,’” Olivo added, maintaining a degree of optimism for the creative capital’s future in spite of Aurora’s closure. “After that, I played Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Alright’ and the entire crowd just started jumping and singing along.”

“It’s moments like those that make me believe that, in a weird way, we’re changing the city and really making progress … even if it seems like an unwinnable battle sometimes,” Olivo said.

TODAY

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 08, 2017 • PAGE 5

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Pizza: Spicy Sausage and Garlic, Pepperoni, Assorted Roasted Mushroom, Roasted Brussel Sprout and Ham JOSIAH’S

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Local Providence children socialize and network on the Main Green. While the weather has been chilly of late, the green remains a spot for University students and community members to sit, snack and chat.

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

“Dance parties are necessary spaces to practice crossword

radical joy and care for one another ... they’re brave spaces where we can be ourselves and sweat off decolonization.

”

— Shey Rivera, Artistic Director of AS220

See puerto rico on page 4.

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Pattern Theory Seminar 12:00 P.M. 170 Hope Street, 108

Bradley Hayes 12:00 P.M. CIT, 440

Development Studies Luncheon 12:00 P.M. Watson Institute

Archaeological Illustration Club 3:30 P.M. Rhode Island Hall, 109

TOMORROW

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MPA Admissions Open House 11:00 A.M. Watson Institute

Brown Meditation Community Sit-In 4:00 P.M. Manning Chapel

Library FYI Workshop 4:00 P.M. Rockefeller Library, Hecker Room

Interfaith Supper 5:30 P.M. Chaplain’s Home

COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 08, 2017

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

EDITORIAL

We can’t be silent about gun violence When, in December 2012, a shooter fatally killed 20 elementary school children in a town just two hours away from our own campus, President Christina Paxson P’19 decided to sponsor a series of forums on school shootings. She urged the Janus Forum to sponsor a talk on gun violence and signed a letter with the Association of American Universities that urged President Obama to act on gun control.

Five years later, our country is seeing some of the bloodiest acts of terror in its history. On Oct. 1, a gunman released fire on a crowd of concertgoers in Las Vegas, killing 58 and injuring more than 500 in the deadliest mass shooting by an individual that the United States has ever seen. And Sunday, a shooting at a church outside of San Antonio, Texas left 25 people dead and more injured.

The Columbine shooting that rocked the country in 1999 is no longer one of the ten deadliest shootings the United States has seen. Three of the worst five have occurred in the past year. But the dialogue surrounding campus has not reflected the continual impact of these horrific events.

Administrators are not talking to us about it. Students aren’t talking about what’s happening — or, at least, not publicly. Is it because these tragedies occur so frequently that we’ve become numb to them? Because they don’t feel close enough for us to feel their impacts? Or because these isolated incidents don’t give us a general impression of larger systemic issues in how our country deals with gun control?

We are bothered by this radio silence — and we know other students are, too.

With all the challenges today’s political climate presents, we urge the University and its students not to allow these events to escape our periphery.

There are many steps that we can take to combat the isolation that students feel when they internalize their reactions. We ask the University and the groups it sponsors to host forums where students can have a chance to speak to both on the personal impact of gun violence and its greater implications for the country. We hope the University will create spaces to further activism for students who want to work to affect gun policies on regional or local scales.

And, at The Herald, we will continue to offer the forum that exists in these pages for you to project your voice on these issues.

After the attack on Tuesday, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a speech, “We’ll respond as we always do. We will be undeterred.” As students, we should be undeterred — but we should be bothered. In the face of the mass shooting in Texas Sunday, let us not respond in the same way we have in this past month — let us carve out spaces to talk about what’s bothering us. Tragedy cannot be ignored.

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COMMENTARY WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 08, 2017 • PAGE 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Lessons from a lost year MILI MITRA opinions editor

Exactly a year ago today, the unthinkable happened. Donald Trump — real estate magnate, creator of birtherism and self-confessed “pussy”-grabber — was elected 45th president of the United States. In the months since, his administration has treated us to a whirlwind of scandals, headlines and even threats of nuclear war. It has also inadvertently given us a live-action civics lesson on how not to run a democracy and revealed much about the fabric of this country in the process.

So what have we learned in the last year?

We’ve learned that norms once thought to be inviolable can be violated after all. Two years ago, we could not have imagined electing a president who refused to release his tax returns, insulted a Gold Star family and boasted about sexually assaulting women on tape. We would not have given credence to a candidate who blatantly reaffirmed stereotypes about minorities in his rhetoric and policy proposals.

We would not have tolerated a president who threatened to lock up his opponent after the election. In the last year, we have seen respect for critical values and the rule of law crumble before our eyes.

We’ve learned that a hostile power has the ability to interfere with a cornerstone of this nation’s identity: the

electoral process. We still don’t know the full extent of Russia’s involvement in the elections, but we know that it launched a coordinated campaign to infiltrate our social media feeds and spread misinformation; hacked into the Democratic National Committee’s servers and released emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign; and seemingly had direct contact with members of the Trump campaign. Yet, incredibly, the president’s voter fraud commission seems more focused on disenfranchis-

est echelons of this government, and I worry that their presence will never be completely eliminated.

And we’ve learned that the governing party is unequipped or unwilling to address these concerns. There have been a few exceptions: U.S. Senators John McCain, Susan Collins, Jeff Flake, Bob Corker. But they have been drowned out in a sea of conformers who have blatantly prioritized their political standing over their self-respect. The Democratic Party, mean-

to protect, a few principled voices in Congress have stymied the president’s most ludicrous plans and state and local governments are pushing back harder than ever. The fourth estate, too, has risen to the challenge of a government that has very little respect for independent media or transparency. In a time when the central leadership of this country is in disarray, many of its institutions have stood their ground.

We’ve also learned, bizarrely, to be grateful for this slow, bureaucratic and

In the last year, the Trump administration has treated us to a whirlwind of scandals, headlines and even threats of nuclear war. It has also inadvertently given us a live-action civics lesson on how not to run a democracy and revealed much about the fabric of this country in the process.

ing Americans and undermining his erstwhile opponent than protecting this democracy.

We’ve learned that the worst elements of American history, elements we thought were all but eradicated, have silently persisted on the fringes of society. We have seen these elements enjoy tacit support from a morally deficient White House and seen them pour into the streets in violence. Hatemongering, race-baiting and chauvinism now have a voice in the high-

while, has been plagued with division, dissent and general toothlessness. No, our politicians have not exactly been beacons of hope in the era of Trump.

On the flip side, we’ve learned that this country can withstand a Trump presidency — something that I, for one, wasn’t at all sure of a year ago.

Thus far, the system of checks and balances has proven strong enough to push back against the worst ideas and policies. The courts have consistently upheld the values they were created

conflict-ridden political process: In some ways, this sluggishness has protected many of us from the worst of the Trump administration’s follies. If this government was more efficient and amenable to change, we might have seen a quick-fire Obamacare repeal, the passage of regressive tax reform and the construction of a wall on the Mexican border without substantial pushback. As it stands, these policies have been held back — for now.

But perhaps the most hopeful les-

son of all: We’ve learned that, far from being apathetic, citizens are more engaged with the political system now than at any other point in recent memory. We have seen large swathes of the population mobilize, from the Women’s March in January to the large-scale activism before the Senate healthcare bill came to vote. Local organizing has risen to the forefront of national political discourse, the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood are receiving more donations than ever before and Google searches on things like the Emoluments Clause and judicial review have spiked. Inspiringly, more women than ever are running for office at every level of government.

And just yesterday, two Democratic candidates for governor raced to victory in Virginia and New Jersey. As we look forward to the 2018 midterm elections, we can take heart in these trends and remember that this phase is only temporary. As Haruki Murakami once wrote, “Where there is shadow, there must be light.”

We will learn much more about the Trump administration and the strength of this democracy in the months to come. I don’t pretend to know what to expect or how to brace for it, but I am clear on one thing: We are experiencing history. The real question is whether we’ll put these lessons to practice, or erase them from our memories and face this same moral crisis again.

Mili Mitra ’18 can be reached at mili_mitra@brown.edu.

Revamping Brown’s work authorization for international students FABIANA VILSAN staff columnist As an international student, the path to finding internships or permanent employment opportunities in the United States is paved with obstacles. After all, many companies do not offer sponsorship for work authorization, and the H1B Work Visa Lottery is exactly what it sounds like — a lottery. There is no way to guarantee that your application for employment will even be considered, let alone approved. Thus, international students are understandably nervous come recruiting season. Unfortunately, Brown’s Office of International Students and Scholar Services does little to make this path any easier.

For one, the OISSS requires international students who aren’t seniors to receive internship offers ahead of time and create a concurrent independent study course that demonstrates their internship is directly relevant to their field of study. Students must then submit these documents to obtain federal Curricular Practical Training authorization — which mandates their internship be in a field related to their concentration. While all international students, regardless of their institution, must follow federal rules, Brown’s specific work authorization process is far more demanding than those of peer institutions. This puts Brown’s international students at a disadvantage, making it difficult for them to pursue internship and job opportunities in the United States.

To be clear, the OISSS can be helpful. The professionals at the OISSS are incredibly knowledgeable and willing to help students navigate the work authorization process. For example, the OISSS organizes several workshops throughout the year to inform students about employment authorization. However, these efforts do not change the fact that Brown’s CPT program and its requirements are an unnecessary burden. Satisfying these additional requirements is stressful and time-consuming. And

gram, such as Harvard, only require students to demonstrate that they can receive academic credit from their internship, even if it does not directly pertain to their chosen major. Northeastern University simply requires students fill out the I-94 form — which travelers must complete upon arrival to the United States — and receive approval from their advisors. At Brown, however, students must find a professor willing to sponsor an independent study course. The independent study course and pro-

Brown’s specific work authorization process is far more demanding than those of peer institutions. This puts Brown’s international students at a disadvantage, making it difficult for them to pursue internship and job opportunities in the United States.

the only other work authorization option is the federal Optional Practical Training program — which grants all those on a student visa 12 months of work authorization during college or after graduation. Therefore, international students have to make the difficult choice between tackling Brown’s requirements to obtain CPT authorization or using some of their valuable OPT authorization time.

Peer institutions that offer the CPT pro-

posed employment opportunity must then be approved by the student’s concentration advisor and the Assistant Dean for International Students Asabe Poloma. This process generally takes between two and three months to complete, forcing students interested in applying for CPT authorization to secure job offers early in their spring semester in order to qualify.

Further, many students at Brown are interested in pursuing career opportunities that

do not directly relate to their concentration.

And many companies welcome and admit applicants with diverse academic backgrounds that do not necessarily relate to the industry.

As an international relations concentrator, I’ve noticed that many of my peers choose radically different career paths due to the broad nature of the concentration. While some IR grads choose to follow their passion for international public service, others choose to pursue careers in finance and consulting. It is impossible to determine which internships or careers will logically follow from an international relations degree, much like many other degree choices at Brown. Thus, it is unnecessarily prohibitive to require international students to demonstrate a well-defined connection between their chosen concentration and their internship offer. Ultimately, this rule disadvantages international students as they attempt to explore potential careers and figure out what they really want to do after graduation.

Every year, Brown attracts students from approximately 100 different countries. Although not all of these students seek job opportunities in the United States, many are interested in seeking work here at some point in their college careers. As such, Brown has a responsibility to make this journey easier for its students by removing some of the barriers to summer employment rather than creating additional requirements for students to fulfill.

Fabiana Vilsan ’19 can be reached at fabiana_vilsan@brown.edu.

NEWS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 08, 2017

Rhode Island applies to host Amazon’s second headquarters U., alongside local businesses, helped develop application package in under seven weeks

By JACK BROOK CONTRIBUTING WRITER

In under seven weeks, the state of Rhode Island managed to put together a competitive proposal for Amazon’s second North American headquarters, following the tech giant’s call for applications Sept. 7. The proposal — submitted Oct. 19 and one of 238 total that Amazon received — outlined potential plans for a headquarters located in one of seven possible cities across Rhode Island, including Providence and Woonsocket.

“Our application package lays out the partnerships, business climate, quality of life and incentives that make Rhode Island attractive — and make our proposal competitive,” said R.I. Secretary of Commerce Stefan Pryor in a press release.

Amazon projects that the site of its next headquarters will receive over $5 billion in direct investments and close to $40 billion in indirect investments, based on investments since 2010 in its first headquarters in Seattle, according to its website. The company also estimates that the new headquarters will include 50,000 high-paying jobs.

“All the anchor institutions, cities and towns — everybody came together and put together one shining bid,” said Tom Giordano, executive director of the non-profit Partnership for R.I., a coalition of 12 local businesses, including the University.

“You don’t really see that happen in too many places.”

In its contribution to the Amazon proposal, the University helped develop the concept for an “Amazon Academy,” a direct response to Amazon’s request for an affiliated higher education program. Rhode Island’s universities would collaborate to develop special opportunities for Amazon employees.

“This would be a talent development partnership,” said Brian Clark, University spokesperson. “Amazon would need access to employment and training” that the University could provide in order to keep potential Amazon

COURTESY OF PRESTON SCOTT COHEN

Because Amazon requested an affiliated higher education program as part of the application package, Brown contributed to the proposal by helping design a talent development partnership plan called Amazon Academy. employees “up to date with the knowledge needed for the workplace.”

Clark emphasized that employees in Amazon Academy might be drawn especially to the University’s School of Professional Studies master’s programs, the executive MBA program, the new data science initiative and the computer science program. The company’s presence could also benefit undergraduate students through potential internships and research opportunities, he added.

Matt Sheaff, communications director for R.I. Commerce Corporation, stated that “no new public money”

was spent on the campaign. It relied primarily on the local ad firm Nail, which was already on retainer by R.I. Commerce Corporation.

However, Partnership for R.I. and its affiliated organizations invested in the proposal by producing marketing videos, funding architectural renderings from two different design firms and bringing together CEOs from leading R.I. companies like Hasbro and Blue Cross Blue Shield to offer testimonials, Giordano said. According to a source involved in the campaign, the Partnership for R.I. contributed between $50,000 and $150,000 in

services to bolster the state’s proposal.

“Amazon would be a good community partner,” said Neil Steinberg ’75, CEO of Rhode Island Foundation and co-founder of Partnership for R.I. “You could have Amazon people here who could serve on boards, be involved in philanthropic efforts — whether in social services or the arts — and you could have many individuals and executives who could be part of the community fabric.”

Though Steinberg and others acknowledge that many of the other cities submitting proposals, such as Pittsburgh or Atlanta, are considerably

larger than Providence or any other R.I. city, they emphasize that the state’s small size does come with some advantages.

“In a lot of other areas, Amazon would be competing directly with numerous other big companies,” said Barrett Hazeltine, professor emeritus of engineering. “But in Rhode Island there is a lot of space — It’s underused.

And in Rhode Island, Amazon would really be king of the hill.”

Providence, in particular, has a strong transportation system in place that could be extremely useful to Amazon, with T.F. Green Airport, Amtrak and a major highway all located nearby, Hazeltine added.

Another key facet of Rhode Island’s application included a series of architectural designs for the new headquarters. Preston Scott Cohen, an architect involved in the campaign, developed potential plans for a headquarters in the vicinity of the state capitol and championed Providence’s unique urban layout as an ideal location for Amazon.

“In Providence, five things converge,” Cohen said. “There is the state house, the transportation hub of the train station, the downtown as a very clear and centralized and beautifully composed entity, the hills of the adjacent neighborhoods bringing a wonderful pedestrian environment and, finally, the close proximity of Brown, RISD and other universities.”

Even if the state’s bid for Amazon fails, Steinberg said the marketing campaign could still draw other companies or future investment from Amazon.

In the last 20 months, the Ocean State has had a surge in business growth with 20 global companies expanding or establishing headquarters in Rhode Island, according to R.I. Commerce Corporation. And while Rhode Island lost out to Boston last year for General Electric’s new headquarters, GE decided to establish a digital division in Providence soon after.

“In a short amount of time, we got the right people around a table to make a best effort pitch for (Rhode Island),” Steinberg said. “The state mobilized very well in gathering together its financial, human and technical resources to put Rhode Island’s best foot forward.”