Wednesday, December 7th, 2022

CS TAs cite overworking, HR hurdles

BY WILL KUBZANSKY UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR

Unionizing was not the first solution explored by exasperated teaching assistants in the computer science department.

Facing systemic issues within the department, such as overworking and inaccurate hour logs, the TAs sought department help. They communicated with and met department leaders and secured a raise for their colleagues. But they found that change insufficient.

Months after presenting their concerns, a group of computer sci ence undergraduate TAs announced their intention to unionize in an In stagram post on Monday. Organizers described issues in the department in their announcement, including TAs frequently working overtime, under reporting hours and playing the “role

of professors” by “writing handouts, rubrics and lecture slides,” according to the Teaching Assistant Labor Orga nization’s press release.

And these issues span courses across levels in the department and are persistent, The Herald found through interviews with organizers, other undergraduate TAs and depart ment officials.

Before the union was officially

Provost Richard Locke reflects on 7-year tenure

CHEN / HERALD

announced, The Herald interviewed nine students involved in organizing TALO about departmental issues and TAs’ attempts to address them prior to unionization. They said TAs often work more hours than the University allows, are tasked with developing large portions of course material and have worked without official positions

Suspect arrested following Wayland break-in Sunday

behind 13 Brown St., the email read.

BY NEIL MEHTA SENIOR STAFF WRITER

A suspect has been charged with breaking and entering and willful trespass after reportedly breaking into Wayland House, according to a Monday email sent to Wayland resi dents by Vice President for Campus Safety Rodney Chatman. The suspect was arrested Sunday after being ap prehended by DPS.

On Sunday morning, a Wayland resident contacted DPS regarding “a suspicious person in the room of an other student,” according to the email. The suspect fled the scene on foot after being confronted by the resident.

DPS dispatched an officer to the scene after receiving a call about the individual. The suspect was arrested

“We will continue to gather in formation to determine if additional charges are warranted and if he was involved in any other crimes,” Chatman wrote, adding that the department will look into “how long he may have been present in Wayland House and how he may have entered the building.”

According to DPS Director of Ad vocacy, Engagement and Communica tions Quiana Young, the investigation is ongoing.

“We are in the early stages of our investigation and have received a mul titude of information and tips,” which DPS is reviewing for accuracy, Young wrote in an email to The Herald.

Wayland resident Alexia Embiricos ’25 told The Herald that she pursued the suspect after receiving a concerned text from another resident.

On Sunday morning, Embiricos — who lives in one of two fourth-floor suites in Wayland — received a text from a resident in the neighboring suite

ARTS & CULTURE

U. alum characters across fiction, film

BY MIZUKI KAI SENIOR STAFF WRITER

At the end of the month, Richard Locke P’18 will conclude his tenure as the Uni versity’s provost to begin his role as vice president and dean of Apple University, the tech company’s corporate leadership school. Since his appointment as the 13th provost in 2015, Locke has served over seven years as the University’s chief academic officer.

Locke arrived at the University in July 2013 as director of the Watson Institute for International Studies. In his three years as director, Locke helped integrate the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Insti tutions into the Watson Institute and also launched the one-year Masters in Public Affairs program. Additionally, the Watson Institute raised over $35 million under his leadership, according to a 2015 University press release.

In July 2015, Locke succeeded Pro fessor of Chemistry, Engineering and Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology, and Biotechnology Vicki Colvin, now the director of the Center for Biomed ical Engineering, as the next provost. In a letter announcing his appointment, President Christina Paxson P’19 said that Locke “emerged as the leading choice among outstanding candidates to lead the University’s academic pro grams,” and that his “appointment (would) sustain the momentum” of the Building on Distinction strategic plan.

Building on Distinction

Much of Locke’s tenure was shaped by the University’s Building on Dis tinction initiative, a 10-year strategic plan launched in 2013 to further invest in capital projects, increase financial aid, strengthen community ties and cultivate diversity. One of Locke’s first tasks as provost was to lead the initia tive’s operational planning to execute these goals.

“I felt very excited about it,” Locke told The Herald. “For me, the priori ties were always about how we raise

BY REBECCA CARCIERI ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

What do Brian Griffin from “Fami ly Guy,” Carrie Bradshaw from “Sex and the City,” Cliff Calley from “West Wing” and Andrea Sachs from “The Devil Wears Prada” all have in com mon? They all walked through the Van Wickle Gates. The Herald spoke to authors and screenwriters whose characters attended Brown to learn how the University’s name has been evoked in popular culture.

Among its peer institutions, Brown is noted for its culture of campus activ ism and commitment to academic and intellectual freedom with its unique features such as the Open Curriculum and shopping period. Over the course of the history of the University, Brown has been described as the progressive, hip and creative Ivy, and it has been the location of many works in popu lar culture from novels to television to films.

Brown in the novel

When Jeffrey Eugenides ’82 wrote his 2011 novel “The Marriage Plot,” he wanted to see how the 19th century trope of a marriage plot — the type of story that centers around a couple and potential obstacles on their way to marriage — “might function un der contemporary mores,” Eugenides wrote in an email to The Herald.

“The Marriage Plot” focuses on three college friends from Brown Uni versity — Madeleine Hanna, Leonard

Bankhead and Mitchell Grammaticus — in their senior year in 1982 and their first year post-graduation.

While his novel didn’t have to take place at Brown, he wanted it to be some place “like Brown,” Eugenides said — a “small, liberal arts school caught up in the craze for French theory.”

While he doesn’t think Brown is a more compelling setting for a novel

TAs describe working extra hours, developing large components of courses

Locke helped steward Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan, Building on Distinction

UNIVERSITY NEWS Man is charged with breaking and entering, willful trespass as DPS investigates

Authors, screenwriters share reasons for sending their fictional characters to Brown

JENNIFER

ASHLEY CHOI / HERALD

‘Tripledemic’ of respiratory viruses burdens RI health care system

Respiratory Syncytial

BY EMMA MADGIC SENIOR STAFF WRITER

After years of dealing with the spread of a contagious and dangerous virus, Rhode Island is now facing its next challenge: three viruses at once.

Respiratory viruses such as influ enza and COVID-19 are well known, but Respiratory Syncytial Virus is less discussed. Elevated cases of RSV are adding burden to hospitals in the state already grappling with COVID-19 and the flu, creating what some have called a “tripledemic.”

RSV, described by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a “common respiratory virus that usu ally causes mild, cold-like symptoms,” affects all age groups. Infants, young children and older adults are at highest risk for severe RSV infection.

Hospitalizations for RSV are higher and have begun to rise earlier than in previous years, leading to hospital bed shortages in Rhode Island and across the country.

“What we’re seeing currently is that as a result of some of our COVID mitigation approaches — masking, so cial distancing, improved ventilation and just general isolation … — a lot of different respiratory viruses decreased over the last couple years,” said Phil ip Chan, consultant medical director for the Rhode Island Department of Health and associate professor of medicine and behavioral and social sciences. “So what we’re seeing and experiencing now is a resurgence in some of these viruses, particularly RSV and the flu.”

RSV is also affecting a broader age group than in the past, possibly due

to lack of immunity from the past two years of COVID-19 prevention efforts. “Typically it’s thought of as something that affects infants and children under age five,” said Amy Nunn, professor of medicine and behavioral and social sciences. “All of a sudden it’s impacting kids a little older than that but also the elderly.”

Although most infected people re cover within one to two weeks, RSV is the most common cause of pneumonia and bronchiolitis in children less than a year old. Each year the virus caus es 58,000 to 80,000 hospitalizations among children younger than five, 60,000 to 120,000 hospitalizations among adults 65 and older, approxi mately 100 to 300 deaths of children under five and 6,000 to 10,000 deaths of adults 65 and older, according to the CDC.

Hospitalizations peaked in Rhode Island in early November, with Hasbro

Children’s Hospital — the only chil dren’s hospital in the state — experi encing severe crowding. Hasbro went beyond full capacity with additional families in the waiting room, NBC News reported.

Although hospitalizations are now down from their peak, Chan said that every hospital in Rhode Island is still “incredibly busy.”

Nunn noted that many public health experts agree the resurgence of viruses is a result of the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, but emphasized that it is just a theory. “The truth is we don’t really know, epidemiologically, what’s happening,” Nunn said. “It might also be that the strains are more infectious, or people are just getting sicker, but it seems like both of those things are happening.”

“The most effective mitigation mea sures are vaccination,” Nunn said. But because there is no vaccine or effective

treatment for RSV, “prevention is our best treatment,” Nunn said.

Nunn added that overburdened hos pital systems are a signal that more public health mitigation measures are necessary. “When health systems begin to buckle, then we have major public health problems because we want to be able to take care of the sickest people,” she said.

But Nunn said that mask mandates and other measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic “might not be the most practical solution at this point” due to public fatigue.

“We don’t want to push mitigation measures so much that we turn people off,” Nunn said. “We have to be thought ful about our messaging because I don’t want people to start to tune us out.”

“At some point, if people are tuned out, they may not listen to you when they really need to,” she added.

Associate Vice President for Campus

Life and Executive Director of Health and Wellness Vanessa Britto MSc’96 noted that although University public health measures have been relaxed, the infrastructure the University built during the COVID-19 pandemic is still in place.

“We still are doing many of the things behind the scenes that we were doing, even at the height of the pan demic,” Britto explained.

“For many, many years we’ve had flu vaccine clinics, we’ve developed systems to support students who were ill and couldn’t be in the classroom and mechanisms for communication to deans and faculty, et cetera,” Britto said. “And so a lot of those lessons we were able to apply and scale up — as well as expand — when we were faced with issues around the pandemic. We had to pivot and use them in a different kind of way, but we continue to use” them.

Although Britto noted that RSV is “much more strident in the younger pediatric population,” she encour aged students to follow basic pre vention measures including washing their hands, covering their mouths when they cough and staying home when ill.

Britto said that there is one more flu and COVID-19 booster clinic this semester on Dec. 15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room of the Health and Wellness Center. Students can walk in to receive flu shots and register for an appointment to receive a COVID-19 booster.

Britto does not expect the Univer sity to adopt a mask mandate, but she added that “we certainly want people to understand how important masking can be, and we certainly want people to feel encouraged to use that.”

“We all have personal responsibility that we should take as part of a commu nity,” Britto said. “That’s true whether you’re here at Brown or at home or wherever you are. That’s not something that can always be mandated.”

stating that “she was walking out of her room and she saw a man either enter ing or exiting our other friend’s room,” Embiricos said.

“As I was walking down the stairs to go to their lounge, I saw a man just lurking in the stairwell,” she continued. When the man saw Embiricos, he began walking away. Embiricos took a photo of the man, then checked on her friend and called DPS.

Embricios subsequently returned to the suite’s lounge, where the suspect had fled to, and confronted him. He then left the suite after taking a bottle from a table, she said.

“I chased after him for a bit, but then kind of just gave up,” she added.

“By that point, DPS came.”

Virus joins COVID-19, influenza to add to RI hospital bed shortage

BILAL ISMAIL AHMED / HERALD

The suspect fled Wayland House on foot after being confronted by a resident, according to a Monday email sent to Wayland residents by Vice President for Campus Safety Rodney Chatman.

ASHLEY CHOI / HERALD

Faculty vote to permanently extend first-year orientation by two days

2007 to 2019. This moved Academic Advising Day to the Tuesday after Labor Day, when first-years were expected to register from 7 p.m. to midnight the night before classes, he added.

BY ALEX NADIRASHVILI UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR

Members of the University's faculty voted to extend first-year orientation by two days during the last faculty meeting of the semester Tuesday, making per manent a pilot program from the three most recent academic years.

First proposed in 2020, the pilot program’s schedule shifted Academic Advising Day and first-year registra tion to the Friday before Labor Day weekend, The Herald previously re ported. The pilot program extended the total first-year orientation from four to six days, making Brown’s orienta tion more similar to peer institutions in length.

Kenneth Wong, professor of edu cation policy and chair of the Faculty Executive Committee, spoke in favor of the change, which ultimately passed with a 66% majority. The FEC previously requested that the Dean of the College elicit feedback from faculty advisors and students from the past two pilot years, Wong said.

“The evidence strongly suggests that academic advisors have fully en gaged in the revised orientation cal endar and that their earlier advising has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of under-registered and unregistered students,” Wong said.

Dean of the College Rashid Zia ’01 presented in favor of the motion. Ac cording to Zia, the University’s orienta tion program was shortened from six to four days for the academic years from

Before the pilot program, 10% of first-year students were not yet regis tered with a full-time course load be fore starting classes, Zia said. But the pilot program has reduced the number of under-registered students by 84% and unregistered students by 87%.

Based on input from first-year students, the College found that stu dents were largely in favor of the new orientation schedule, Zia said. Over three-quarters of students said that “advising meetings helped me under stand how to plan my education within Brown’s Open Curriculum,” according to Zia’s presentation.

The College also noticed a “signif icant overrepresentation” of students with historically marginalized identi ties among those who could find bet ter advising and guidance through the extended orientation program.

The program “allowed us to reach more (students) and address what is a pretty large equity gap amongst our students,” Zia said.

“If we’re talking about students that are potentially disadvantaged,” said Sylvia Kuo, senior lecturer in econom ics, “setting them up with (resources) earlier I think is actually a really good thing.”

Kuo noted that, as an academic advisor, she found many of the con versations she was having with stu dents to be “less frantic” than those typically had on the Tuesday before classes began.

Mark Blyth, professor of interna tional economics and international and public affairs, said that he does not be lieve “the numbers justify this ultimate

change.” According to Blyth, a report on the pilot program given to faculty referenced 47 unregistered students and 174 under-registered students between 2016 and 2019, accounting only for about “2.5% of all students,” meaning that 97.5% of all students were accommodated by the current system, Blyth said.

“I am wondering, given that level of efficacy, how much of a problem we’re trying to solve,” Blythe said.

Amanda Jamieson, associate pro fessor of molecular microbiology and immunology and pathobiology gradu ate program co-director, expressed con cerns about conflicts the new schedule creates for those involved with graduate student advising. When Academic Ad vising Day occurs, Jamieson said that

many graduate student advisors who are also involved with advising under graduates are going on departmental retreats and “being asked to be in two places at the same time.”

Zia added that the University is al ready considering ways that the orien tation schedule can be amended to ac commodate graduate student advisors.

Jim Valles, professor of physics, said that he found the permanent change “incredibly compelling,” as it allows students to reflect on their initial reg istration and take the time to consult with their Meiklejohn peer advisors and academic advisors.

Senior Lecturer in Mathematics Daniel Katz added that having regis tration occur days in advance of the first day of classes allows professors

who teach larger courses more time to communicate with students about their needs and avoid instances where “you have 80 (students) in a room that the scheduling office gave us for 40 people.”

Zia added that the University plans to build out pre-orientation training for students concerned about techni cal issues with registration that their academic advisors cannot answer. This year, the University also offered students and advisors Zoom meetings when seeking answers to such ques tions.

“This is really about whether we want to be a welcoming and supportive place for all of our students,” Zia said. “We can fix (the issue of underprepared students). We know how to do this now.”

Motion solidifies pilot program stretching first-year orientation from four to six days

DANA RICHIE / HERALD

The University’s first-year orientation schedule was originally extended from four to six days through a pilot established in 2020 which was extended to the 2022-23 academic year.

Ukrainian students acclimate to life on College Hill

BY ELIZABETH HIRSCHFELD CONTRIBUTING WRITER

This spring, the University offered 13 Ukranian applicants notice of an “ad vanced likelihood of admission” to the class of 2026, The Herald previously reported. The Herald spoke to some of these students as they near the end of their first semester at Brown, as well as sophomores from Ukraine, about the highlights, surprises and challenges of their time on College Hill.

Students said they have appreci ated support from the University and the opportunity to connect with other Ukrainian students amid the interna tional conflict back home.

In addition to offering these Ukrainian students advanced likeli hood of admission, the University also provided these students financial aid, immigration assistance and additional advisory support, The Herald previously reported.

Oleksii Shebanov ’26, a student from Ukraine, said discovering a passion for history has been one of his favorite parts of the semester. He has appreciated the freedom to choose courses without re strictions and being surrounded by fel low students exploring their passions. “We are determined to be curious and to study something interesting,” he said.

Hlib Burtsev ’26, another student from Ukraine, is planning to concen trate in applied mathematics-biology. He added that he has taken advantage of student support resources such as CareerLAB, academic advising, Coun seling and Psychological Services and his professors’ office hours.

“I tried to use every resource that we have available because it’s free,” he said. Burtsev added that he has enjoyed

taking piano lessons and that the Inter national Mentoring Program was one of his favorite parts of the semester.

Burtsev has found that he has grav itated toward spending time with other international students. Shebanov added that he feels especially connected to other Ukrainian students. “We are really bound by our common experience,” he said.

“We're constantly worrying about what is happening in Ukraine and what's happening on the front line,” Shebanov explained. “But at the same time, it gives us an energy to do something here.”

Artem Agvanian ’25, also from Ukraine, said that he is looking forward to seeing his father for the first time in a year and a half over winter break. His family moved to Lithuania as a result of

the invasion, he said, and after receiving his bachelor’s degree, Agvanian hopes to find a way to connect his studies to his life back home and is considering moving back to Ukraine.

Both Shebanov and Burtsev have enjoyed meeting friends through the unofficial Ukrainian house, which holds events to raise awareness about Ukrainian current events and history, Burtsev said. While the students who attend are primarily from Ukraine and surrounding countries, the events are open to all students.

A consistent challenge for Sheban ov since arriving on campus has been knowing that his family is not in a safe environment — he often worries about whether his friends and family back home will have sufficient access to

electricity and drinking water.

It has also been hard, he said, to speak with them on the phone. “My par ents have only two hours of electricity per day, which is terrible,” he said. “I might not talk with them for a couple of weeks because almost all my classes are in the morning. And that's the only time when they have this two-hour slot of electricity and they can talk with me.”

“I can enjoy my life with electricity — which may sound really surprising that electricity can be enjoyable — but people in Ukraine don't have this,” he added.

Shebanov also worries about the economic situation in Ukraine and how it negatively affects his family. “The eco nomic situation in Ukraine is dreadful, to be honest — the unemployment rates,

the inflation rate (and) the exchange rate of the dollar,” he said. “That's why they're struggling a lot.”

It is important that people around the world support Ukraine through this conflict, Burtsev said. Because of Russian attacks, large amounts of in frastructure in Ukraine have been de stroyed, resulting in a lack of electricity in areas of the country, according to Burtsev. Without heating in his home city of Kyiv, Burtsev worries that some people will struggle to live through the winter.

Agvanian appreciates the Univer sity’s efforts to aid Ukrainian students and the resources available to them, he said. “It's always nice to know that there is some safety net and somebody has your back.”

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DANA RICHIE / HERALD

In addition to offering Ukrainian students advanced likelihood of admission in the spring, the University also provided the students financial aid, immigration assistance and additional advisory support. The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. is a financially independent, nonprofit media organization bringing you The Brown Daily Herald and Post- Magazine. The Brown Daily Herald has served the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement and once during Orientation by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Single copy free for each member of the community. Subscription prices: $200 one year daily, $100 one semester daily. Copyright 2022 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

Physicians raise concerns over post-Roe abortion education

BY OWEN DAHLKAMP STAFF WRITER

In the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision in late June, the Supreme Court overturned constitu tional abortion protections established in Roe v. Wade. Now, physicians have expressed concerns over potential dis crepancies in residency abortion training that might arise in more conservative regions.

Nearly 45% of obstetrics and gyne cology residencies are located in states that are likely to outlaw abortions, if they have not already done so. Prior to the Dobbs decision, many residents training under restrictive jurisdictions were already traveling to more lenient, neighboring states to receive more indepth abortion training, Time Magazine reported.

Benjamin Brown ’08 MD’12, profes sor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Warren Alpert Medical School, told The Herald that “abortion is essential (and) contraception is essential.”

Brown explained that “because these are types of care that people need con sistently throughout their reproductive lifespan, … it is absolutely essential that OB/GYNs are trained to provide this care.”

“Abortion is healthcare. It’s not just an elective procedure,” said Beth Cronin, Rhode Island section chair for the Amer ican College of OB/GYNs and associate program director for the University’s OB/GYN residency program. Cronin explained that many complications of pregnancy can only be treated through an abortion.

Mindy Sobota ’95, associate profes sor of medicine and clinician educator, noted that the decision comes with mor al implications for healthcare provid ers. “When you have a patient who is pregnant who really doesn’t want to be pregnant, and you can prevent so much hardship for that patient, but you’re unable to do that, it’s heartbreaking,” Sobota said.

“The ripple effect from the Dobbs

decision is not only going to affect the people immediately impacted today,” Brown added. In coming years, individ uals seeking reproductive healthcare might suffer “because their provider couldn’t get (abortion) training when they were in that phase of their career.”

In Rhode Island, abortion rights remain protected through the state’s 2019 Reproductive Privacy Act. The act also ensures that medical profession als across the state can access abortion training of a legally protected caliber.

Cronin said that she feels confident that the University’s residency program will continue to provide residents with pa tient-centered, quality abortion train ing.

But beyond the Ocean State, pro spective reproductive healthcare work ers are grappling with the implications of more stringent abortion policies on their medical training.

In an email to The Herald, a medi cal student in Texas — who requested anonymity for fear of personal reper cussions — wrote that they witnessed “tough conversations among physicians about how frustrating the Supreme Court decision was” during a clinical rotation within an OB/GYN department. In Texas, abortions are banned at any stage of pregnancy.

For many patients in places like Texas, traveling out of state is the only

means by which they can legally obtain an abortion. “Most patients I have seen do not have the means to travel out of state,” they noted.

With an interest in adolescent med icine, they worry “about the pregnant teens who will no longer have abortion as an option.” But, in any residency pro gram, they maintain that “it’s important for students to be familiar with termi nation of pregnancy.”

When asked if the new law deters them from pursuing fellowships in Texas, they expressed uncertainty. “It’s important for people who grew up here and are familiar with the politics and culture to stay here as physicians, but the state’s conservative policies make it hard.”

With over 1,000 medical students applying to the Brown’s OB/GYN res idency program, Cronin noted that many applicants who reside in restricted states favor Brown’s curriculum due to the opportunity to provide abortion care under legal protections.

Brown said that, at the Universi ty’s medical school, “as our graduating medical students are thinking about where they want to pursue training, they are having to make decisions about whether they feel that they will be able to get comprehensive, medically-ac curate, patient-centered care in states where abortion is restricted.” Many of

his students are worried that they will be unable to gain such training.

Sobota added that the increase in medical students seeking residency in states with legally upheld abortion rights might lead to a shortage of phy sicians in states with more stringent reproductive rights. An increasing number of physicians have moved away from states where they could be criminally prosecuted for providing the essential reproductive care to patients who need it.

“If this patient comes in and has this complication, can I do what is medically necessary to save their life, or will I be prosecuted?” Cronin asked. “Where is that line?”

“I am concerned that (physicians) will not feel safe in settings where abor tion is highly restricted,” Brown added. This “may lead to a shortage of providers in some of those areas.”

The four healthcare professionals who spoke with The Herald all empha sized the adaptability of the field to abortion restrictions, especially over the last decade.

They said that the medical field has a long history of adapting to support reproductive healthcare. “Providing care in many parts of this country has been a herculean task for a long time,” Brown said. But the Dobbs decision might prove difficult for the field to adjust to.

Sobota said that “a move toward demedicalizing abortion in general” is one way to ensure that changes to med ical training do not harm communities in need. This might include increasing advocacy surrounding access to medi cation abortion pills, she added.

Cronin highlighted the possibility of training out-of-state residents at the University in abortion care as a way to ensure regions with stringent abortion laws still have access to well-trained healthcare providers.

In the University’s internal med icine residency program, Sobota has been “training all primary care resi dents in medication abortion,” which she described as “unusual for internal medicine.”

“Only a few residencies are really teaching residents and even fewer giv ing them the opportunity to offer this service in their residency practice,” she explained. “We are working nationally to broaden that training.”

For some doctors, the fear remains that the Dobbs decision may result in a new generation of undertrained phy sicians.

“I have concerns (that) in five years, in 10 years, in 20 years,” Brown said, “a person who needs abortion care … is going to have someone sitting across the room from them who is not well-trained and who cannot provide that care.”

TODAY’S EVENTS

Planetary Lunch Bunch with Xing Wang 12 p.m. Lincoln Field Building, Room 117

Africana Studies/Rites and Reason Theatre Holiday Party 4 p.m. Andrews House, 1st Floor

TOMORROW’S EVENTS

Make Tea with BWell 11 a.m. Health and Wellness Center, Mul tipurpose Room

DEEPS Colloquium with Madison Smith

12 p.m. MacMillan Hall, Room 115

Early Modern World in U.S. Li braries and Collections 5:30 p.m.

John Hay Library, Lownes Room

Nonfiction@Brown: Liza Yaeger, Listening as Action 6 p.m.

Pembroke Hall, Room 305

Condensed Matter Seminar with Priya Sharma 1 p.m. Barus and Holley, Room 723/724

Do’Nut Worry About It 2 p.m.

Sarah Doyle Women’s Center, 26 Benevolent St.

MDs from U., Rhode Island worry OB/GYNs in some states will lack sufficient knowledge

JULIA GROSSMAN / HERALD

Nearly half of obstetrics and gynecology residencies are in states in which abortion is likely to be banned, meaning doctors training in those fields may receive less comprehensive or lower quality training, doctors told The Herald.

PETA criticizes U. laboratories for animal welfare violations

in areas of animal health, animal husbandry and other relevant topics throughout the year,” Pipher wrote.

BY MIRA WHITE STAFF WRITER

In a Nov. 17 open letter, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals called President Christina Paxson P’19 to address “serious concerns about failing oversight in Brown’s animal experi mentation program.” PETA cited 11 violations of federal animal welfare guidelines between July 2021 and May 2022 reported by the University.

Written by Andréa Kuchy, research associate at PETA’s laboratory inves tigations department, the open letter cited instances in which experiments in University labs have deviated from protocol set by the Institutional Ani mal Care and Use Committee. The IA CUC, made up of faculty, veterinarians, staff and other community members, is responsible for the oversight of an imal use in University laboratories, according to Brown’s website.

According to the open letter, there have been incidents of animals “used in unapproved procedures,” those who have “died or were euthanized due to starvation or dehydration” and animals that were left to “suffer beyond the established humane endpoints.”

Brown self-reports these offenses to the IACUC, which shows the Uni versity’s “commitment to the highest standards of animal welfare, as all inci dents of noncompliance are taken very seriously,” Jill Pipher, vice president for research at the University, wrote in an email to The Herald.

Kuchy suggested that violation instances outlined by PETA’s letter, which include “the death of mice from starvation and dehydration, failure to provide animals with safe housing (and) failure to euthanize a mouse

according to veterinary directives,” fall under IACUC jurisdiction. These concerns were previously highlighted in a July 2021 open letter written by PETA Vice President of Laboratory In vestigations Cases Alka Chandna, The Herald previously reported.

The 2021 open letter cited 23 vio lations in Brown’s laboratories from March 2019 to April 2021, The Her ald previously reported. According to Chandna, the decrease in violations from 2021 is not substantial.

“It appears that the disregard for animals and seeming contempt for federal animal welfare laws remains the same” at the University, Chandna wrote in an email to The Herald.

The University, which receives federal funding from the National In stitutes of Health, is also required to self-report such laboratory practices in violation of animal welfare guidelines to the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare in a timely fashion, Chandna wrote. The University received around $140 million in funds from the NIH in the 2022 fiscal year.

But the exact use of these funds is

difficult to determine. According to Pipher, “without a complex analysis, it is challenging to give a precise answer about what portion of NIH-funded re search includes some use of animals.”

Pipher wrote that the University also funds other research projects, including a project with the National Institute of Aging developing nursing home projects for dementia without the use of animals.

While not all University projects funded by the NIH involve animals, for those that do “it’s not in Brown University’s interest to be transparent regarding what happens to animals in its laboratories,” Chandna wrote.

As an agency that funds university research like Brown’s, “OLAW is not keen to publicize that institutions that receive millions of tax dollars from NIH are operating afoul of the law,” she added.

Benny Smith ’23, Brown Animal Rights Coalition executive leader, wrote in an email to The Herald that “researchers are required to be very open about the treatment of humans in any experiment they perform, and the

same should be true of other animals.”

Smith added that acknowledge ment of biases against certain species of animals in the University’s laborato ries is important because, in practice, not all species tend to receive equal protection in laboratories.

“These violations are not published by Brown University or federal au thorities. Instead it falls on watchdog groups like PETA to use the Freedom of Information Act to secure this in formation — and to share the infor mation,” Chandna wrote. “There’s a stunning lack of transparency and accountability that’s woven through the system.”

Pipher cited the University’s Center for Animal Resources and Education, a “department composed of a core of dedicated individuals that provide quality animal care,” as an example of the University’s efforts to better comply with these regulations and protocols.

“All individuals employed in CARE undergo didactic and hands-on train ing at the time of employment and receive additional ongoing training

Chandna wrote that the University should implement “a zero-tolerance policy for faculty and staff who fail to comply with animal welfare regula tions,” and inform University labs that the IACUC will withdraw approval for lab protocols and revoke the research ers’ animal experimental privileges if such violations continue.

The decision to implement such a policy must be a shared interest among the institutions associated with mis conduct in University laboratories, in cluding NIH and OLAW, Pipher wrote. Significant changes would have to be made in each department that are sim ilar to the corrective actions IACUC enforces including “the retraining of individuals involved in an incident” and “suspension of a research proto col,” Pipher continued.

In the hopes of changing animal research laboratories for the better, PETA has suggested that the University should adopt its Research Moderniza tion Deal. Shifting away from “the use of animals in experimentation toward non-animal, human-relevant research methods reduces the likelihood of vio lating animal welfare laws,” Chandna wrote.

PETA’s Research Modernization Deal focuses primarily on how research to cure diseases can be optimized. The deal recommends ending laboratory strategies using animal experimenta tion and advancing “high-tech non-an imal testing strategies.”

In response to the idea of adopting PETA’s deal, Pipher wrote that “many of the scientific advancements that re quire the use of animals today will one day also serve to protect both human and animal populations.”

“There should be strong ethics oversight for any research happen ing (at Brown) that involves sentient beings,” Smith wrote, “humans or otherwise.”

PETA cites animal starvation, dehydration, unapproved procedural practices on campus

RHEA RASQUIHNA / HERALD

Center for Philosophy, Politics and Economics completes first semester

faculty “through a variety of different analytical lenses.”

BY SARAH ONDERDONK SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The University’s new Center for Philoso phy, Politics and Economics, established July 1, has seen “an exciting period of growth” during its first semester, said David Skarbek, the center’s director and associate professor of political science.

The PPE Center’s mission is to “promote research and teaching that engages in scholarship across all fields that intersect through” philosophy, politics and economics, according to the center’s website. The center offers opportunities for “all levels of academic inquiry” including center-affiliated fac ulty, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, research workshops and several undergraduate programs.

Since the center’s establishment, “we've had some excellent program ming,” Skarbek said. “We've had econ omists and philosophers here and con versation coming both from Brown and universities across the country.”

Faculty members voted in favor of establishing the center at the May 2022 faculty meeting following months of pushback from students and faculty, who raised concerns regarding the potential influence of science-deny ing donors in the center’s creation, The Herald previously reported. Such concerns arose because the center was intended to absorb the Political Theory Project, a University research program previously partially supported by the Koch Foundation, funded by billionaire and conservative political mega-donor Charles Koch.

An interdisciplinary, cross-genera tional approach to academia

Skarbek said that one way the PPE Center encourages interdisciplinary collaboration across academic levels is through its Philosophy, Politics and

“Collaborations between different generations of scholars and across different disciplinary boundaries is important because the world is faced with a lot of pressing social problems right now,” Skarbek said.

The PPE Center has hosted several events this semester, including a lec ture with Chris Blattman, professor of global conflict studies at the University of Chicago, and Jessie Trudeau, a PPE postdoctoral fellow, about conflict in Latin America.

Trudeau is one of many participants in the center’s Postdoctoral Fellow ship Program, which selects “top talent across the disciplines to be in residence at Brown for two years” to participate in the center’s research activities, accord ing to the center’s website. In their time at Brown, the fellows pursue research, publish work, participate in PPE events and help create new courses.

“Brown has a lot of people that I wanted to meet and interact with and has an intellectual experience that is so different,” Trudeau said.

“Hearing from people with different backgrounds and expertise and then getting their feedback on my own work has been really useful,” she added

The new PPE center has also ab sorbed some of the PTP’s “most inter esting programs,” such as the postdoc toral programs, the Agora Lecture, the Odyssey Lecture and the Janus Forum Lecture Serie, Sharbek said.

Students Against Koch Influence weighs in

Some of the PPE’s former critics have since been involved in the center’s creation and programming, according to Ethan Drake ’24, a member of Students Against Koch Influence.

The organization that was formed in reaction to the then-proposed PPE Center. The group expressed concern over the PTP and its development into the PPE when the plans for the center were introduced, The Herald previously reported. The group specifically object ed to the PTP and the center’s previous

In SAKI’s most-recent Instagram post from May 2022, the group an nounced it would “work with faculty to write the PPE Center’s mission state ment, ensuring it is distinct from other, Koch-backed PPE Centers.”

“We worked with (Provost Rich ard Locke P’18) to do that, but I'm not entirely sure how much of our input actually ended up playing a role in the (final) mission statement,” Drake said. He added that he has not yet seen the University address its policy on deny ing donors who “actively engage or knowingly engage with science disin formation.”

“We thought there was going to be more work from the administration to ward denying these donors,” he said. “But there haven't been any commit ments.”

Locke wrote in an email to The Her ald that SAKI’s input did in fact help shape the mission statement of the new center, though “this is completely sep arate from the gift acceptance policy

Sponsoring new projects, events

Drake said he has attended a few PPE events this semester and is excit ed by PPE Center’s new programming. He is currently working with the PPE Center to organize the Baldwin and Glaude Reading Group, which will cen ter discussions on topics such as race and democracy.

“After all that work that we did last spring … against the money that the (PTP) has been taking for almost two decades … it is cool that we can be an active part in shaping how that money is spent,” Drake said.

This reading group will be hosted by the recently launched Democracy Project, “a research and programming wing” of the new center, according to Melvin Rogers, associate director of the PPE Center and associate professor of political science. Rogers serves as a director of the Democracy Project, along with Juliet Hooker, professor of political science, and Bonnie Honig, professor of modern culture and media

and institutional structures of dem ocratic societies,” Rogers wrote in an email to The Herald.

“The Democracy Project is just getting going, but it aims to be a focal point on campus that pushes us all to reflect on what are democracy's nec essary conditions,” Honig wrote in an email to The Herald.

Honig added that the Democracy Project has sponsored two programs so far: “Our Country”, a play co-spon sored by the Brown Arts Institute, which is set to open in New York City in January 2023; and a conversation about “Happening,” the film adapta tion of the book by Nobel Prize Winner Annie Ernaux.

Rogers wrote that he believes the PPE Center and the Democracy Project are opportunities for the University to consider its civic footprint.

“It's a very exciting time to be a part of” the PPE Center, Skarbek said. “And to be part of building something at Brown that we think is going to be a permanent and very positive influence on the campus for years

ANDREW ZHONG / HERALD

Members of Students Against Koch Influence provided input on the mission statement of the PPE Center after it absorbed the Political Theory Project, according to SAKI member Ethan Drake '24.

Faculty propose new Data Science Institute at final fall meeting

science work as well as seed awards, which the initiative plans to begin next semester.

BY ALEX NADIRASHVILI UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR

At the final faculty meeting of the semester Tuesday, Professor of Biol ogy Sohini Ramachandran, director of the Data Science Initiative, gave a presentation summarizing the initia tive’s proposal to form a Data Science Institute at the University. Faculty members will vote on whether they support establishing the new institute at the next faculty meeting in February.

The current initiative focuses “on the development of computation and statistical methods of analyzing com plex and heterogeneous data,” accord ing to Ramachandran’s presentation.

While traditionally quantitative disciplines are the core partners to data science — applied mathematics, biostatistics, computer science, eco nomics and computational molecular biology — Ramachandran believes that “the scale of available data is influenc ing research in every discipline,” from engineering to the humanities.

“When we look ahead at Brown, we see data science as a new transdisci plinary research enterprise … (that) will lead us to unforeseen break throughs,” she said.

The initiative has been develop ing the institute’s proposal over the last 18 months. A draft proposal was submitted to the Academic Priori ties Committee, which oversees the University’s academic programs and makes recommendations to President Christina Paxson P’19 about the dis tribution of resources in support of education and research, according to the APC website. The final proposal was approved in November.

The Data Science Institute will establish expanded support for post doctoral fellows, long-term partner ships to bring data science projects to campus, professional development for students seeking opportunities in data

The initiative has laid the ground work for much of the proposed insti tute’s work, according to Ramachan dran. Currently, the initiative houses the undergraduate certificate in data fluency, which has 54 active certificate declarations, she said. The initiative will also host an event with Mona Cha labi, a data journalist, next semester.

Through the initiative's work, Ra machandran said that she has noticed an “enthusiastic interest across a range of disciplines in both engaging in data science research and incorporating data influence and critical data studies into more and more courses across campus.”

“What I think is achievable with a Data Science Institute is a different picture of how data can influence our research,” she added. “It’s one where we look at our universe, our world and the societies and organisms that are in it through a lens together.”

External assessment of research administration

Provost Richard Locke P’18 pre sented findings from an external as sessment of the University’s research administration conducted by the Hu ron Consulting Group, “a global profes sional services firm that collaborates with clients” to create effective operat ing strategies, according to its website.

The goal of the assessment was to “evaluate research administration across the University and recommend changes to support the goal of dou bling in five to seven years,” according to Locke’s presentation.

Following its assessment, Huron found gaps in the systems used by the University to manage its research — in cluding its pre-award and post-award processes — and a lack of communi cation between the various systems.

Locke’s presentation also cited Huron’s findings of staffing challenges in grant writing and post-award management, as well as the need to engage in better training for staff members.

Faculty also cited the need for better proposal development support,

staff support for award administration and guidance with difficulties dealing with purchasing processes, according to Locke’s presentation.

To account for these gaps in the University’s research enterprise, Hu ron recommended that the University “upgrade (its) research administration systems as soon as possible, hire staff in targeted research administration functions, develop standard proce dures and training for research ad ministrators across campus … (and) establish clearer connections,” among other recommendations.

In the spring, Paxson, incoming In terim Provost Larry Larson and several academic deans and faculty members across the University will work to de velop an operational plan for imple menting Huron’s recommendations.

Paxson assured that Huron’s rec ommendations remain consistent with the University’s previously announced goal to integrate its biomedical and health sciences research with its health system partners, Lifespan and Care New England.

Faculty Executive Committee Report

Kenneth Wong, professor of edu cation policy and chair of the Faculty Executive Committee, discussed the FEC’s efforts to clarify the timeline for final faculty grade submissions and plans to facilitate faculty communi ty-building with Mary Jo Callan, vice president for community engagement, and the Office of the Provost.

The FEC is also working on a draft proposal to permanently extend the faculty’s winter break to Jan. 9, 2023, after its initial implementation during the 2022-23 academic year.

Diane Lipscombe, professor of neu roscience, gave an update on behalf of the Task Force on the Status of Women Faculty.

After a year of gathering both “qual itative and quantitative data” from faculty members, the task force found concerns related to family care, pay equity, tenure and promotion, hiring practices and more, Lipscombe said. The task force will submit its final report to the Office of the President and Office of the Provost next semester.

President’s Report

In her monthly President’s report, Paxson discussed the University’s fis cal year 2021-2022 Annual Financial Report.

According to Paxson, the University closed FY22 with “continued strong financial health,” featuring a budget surplus of $49.5 million and a -4.6% endowment return rate, The Herald previously reported.

Throughout FY22, the University enhanced its financial aid for low- and middle-income students, succeeded in fundraising for international students and advanced DIAP goals for diversify ing faculty, Paxson explained.

The University will pay “close at tention to inflation trends over the next several months,” Paxson said, with the ultimate goal of achieving a balanced budget each year, maintain ing a “reasonable” endowment draw and keeping manageable debt levels.

The meeting also featured mo ments of silence for the passing of Donald Blough, professor emeritus of psychology, and Ferdinand Jones, professor emeritus of psychology.

Meeting also includes summary of external research assessment, task force reports

JACK WALKER / HERALD

In its assessment of the University’s research administration, Huron Consulting Group found gaps in the systems used by the University to manage its research and a lack of communication between systems.

Editorial: The future of affirmative action at Brown

The Supreme Court seems poised to ban affir mative action, the use of race-conscious consid erations in college admissions. During hearings in late October, members of the court’s conser vative majority made no efforts to hide their skepticism of affirmative action’s constitution ality as used at Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

The court’s expected ruling against Harvard and UNC would dismantle years of legal prece dent and send shockwaves through universities nationwide. On College Hill, a blanket ban on affirmative action would undermine our admis sion process.

Brown joined an amicus brief this year with 14 other institutions of higher education de fending Harvard and UNC and affirming its sup port for affirmative action. The brief quotes for mer Brown President Ruth Simmons: “We know that difference is one of the primary means for students to test themselves, to test their back ground, to test their ideas, to challenge as sumptions. And in that context, it is in coming in contact with difference that we tend to deep en our learning.”

Race-conscious considerations help univer sities create diverse communities. As decades of research have shown, a racially diverse student body benefits students who get to interact with others of different backgrounds. Affirmative ac tion works to build that kind of student body — evidence suggests that when affirmative action is banned, racial diversity falls.

And the use of race in admissions not only helps universities and colleges build diverse communities — it empowers them to address the effects of racism. Racism continues to hin der the health, career opportunities and educa tional opportunities of racial minorities. Black, Hispanic, Native American and Pacific Islander students, for example, continue to be underrep

resented in higher education. So long as racial inequality exists, affirmative action is a crucial corrective, helping provide marginalized stu dents with opportunities they would otherwise be unjustly denied.

Some opponents claim that affirmative ac tion is itself an unfair form of discrimination. Arguing against the practice in 2007, Chief Jus tice John Roberts wrote, “The way to stop dis

come from wealthy backgrounds.

However, class — even though it is clearly correlated with race — is not enough to shape a truly diverse student body; race provides a di mension that class can’t fully capture. To ban race-conscious considerations is to deny how racism itself — not correlates of racism or other forms of oppression — continues to negatively affect racial minorities. As Tufts University so

ings, universities, especially the elite univer sities at the heart of current litigation, “are the pipelines to leadership in our society.”

And in a pluralistic democracy, a society’s leaders must reflect that society in all of its diversity.

Yes, diversity is hard to define exactly — and race is only one part of the picture. There will never be an exact calculus for determining when a community is diverse enough. And yet, while questions of diver sity are complicated, this does not mean we shouldn’t wrestle with them. We have a re sponsibility to address the societal implica tions of racism, and affirmative action is one of the tools to do so. It is no silver bullet — and conversations about diversity should not end with affirmative action — but it is still necessary.

crimination on the basis of race is to stop dis criminating on the basis of race.” But our world is not simple nor color-blind enough for this reductive color-blind logic to work. In a world where racial inequality persists, true equality requires us not to turn away from issues of race but to confront them head on. To ignore race entirely is to pretend, naively, that the system is now fair.

Others have argued for alternatives to race-conscious considerations. For example, some have suggested emphasizing students’ socioeconomic status rather than their race in admissions considerations — an especially sa lient point at places such as Harvard and Brown, where a disproportionate share of students

ciologist Natasha Warikoo puts it, “Racial in equality is not just class in disguise.”

Still others question the meaning of diversi ty itself. During the hearings in October, Justice Clarence Thomas stated, “I’ve heard the word diversity quite a few times, and I don’t have a clue what it means.” In Thomas’s view, stu dents attend college simply to learn “physics or chemistry or whatever they’re studying.”

But the purpose of a college education has never been merely about learning “phys ics or chemistry.” It has long entailed learn ing from peers — and racial diversity makes for richer learning. It also provides a path way to opportunities and upward mobility. As Justice Elena Kagan said in October hear

Affirmative action has made a difference. As Assistant Professor of Political Science, Public Policy and Education Jonathan Collins told The Herald, the policy’s impact is visible during commencement, when graduating stu dents and alums walk through the Vin Wick le Gates. Year by year, the classes get more diverse: “You start to see graduating classes from Brown University that start to better re flect the makeup of not just the country, but the world.”

We have made progress. But in losing affir mative action, we would be taking a step back.

Editorials are written by The Herald’s Edi torial Page Board. This editorial was written by its editor Johnny Ren ’23 and members Irene Chou ’23, Caroline Nash ’22.5, Au gustus Bayard ’24, Devan Paul ’24 and Kate Waisel ’24.

EDITORS' NOTE

A final farewell from 132 to you

Seventy-four papers. One-hundred-twenty-two production nights. Seemingly endless hours together, holed up at 88 Benevolent St. And yet, it feels so soon — today’s paper marks our 74th and final issue as The Herald’s 132nd Editorial Board.

This year has seen crucial changes to our political and cultural climate, both on campus and around the world. Our editorial staff has stepped up, deftly navigating these topics with grace, sensitivity and integrity.

When a leaked memo indicated Roe v. Wade would soon be struck down, several students trusted us to tell the stories of their own abortion experiences. Members of Natives at Brown shared the struggles they’ve faced getting recognition from the University for their work and activism, in addition to the community they’ve created as an organization. And when Ukrainian and Afghan students faced con flict in their home countries, they described their journey to Providence and how they’ve since navigated college life.

Our reporters have also engaged in journalism that has held power accountable. They’ve rigorously investigated allegations of racism within one of the Universi ty’s most highly resourced clubs, prompting the Undergraduate Finance Board to investigate its funding. They’ve dug deeper into computer science teaching assistant concerns over strenuous working conditions.

The Herald’s Data Desk has also launched ambitious and cutting-edge projects during our tenure. This semester marked an inaugural collaboration with the Brown Opinion Project in conducting our semesterly poll, resulting in an interactive and immersive website to showcase the results. Using data from the poll, reporters embarked to ask students: “Where on College Hill are you happiest?”

Our Bruno Brief podcast staff has elevated our coverage in the past year, offering listeners immersive and deeply reported episodes week after week. Last semester, reporters dove into the history of gentrification on College Hill. More recently, the team has thoughtfully and creatively covered sexual politics on campus, writing about queer history at the University and Brown’s penchant for baring it all.

As we hand off our keys and say our goodbyes, we’re already so proud of all that the 133rd Editorial Board has accomplished and all that’s yet to come. We’re excited to see The Herald staff innovate, particularly by expanding the paper’s data and

digital presence, while bringing you critical coverage of campus and the greater Providence community. And, of course, we will wait with bated breath for every new TikTok and Instagram reel that appears on our feed.

And as our time at The Herald comes to a close, we’re grateful for so much.

We’re grateful for a redecorated office, falling posters and all. Slowly sinking couches and old keyboards that clack just right. Electric tape for beautifying our slug board. Benoptocon.

We’ll miss the POC picnics and LGBTQ feasts that keep our communities close. Happy hours and 9-spots that bring our staff together. Forgiveness for all the times we have run late to vertical, requested specifically in the form of donuts.

Heng Thai and meal swipes gifted by section editors for sustaining us all the times we said we’d cook but didn’t. Dunkin’ runs for some pre-prod pep, and Metro Mart runs when it’s going to be a late one. Coke Zero, of course — at all times of day.

And we can’t forget to appreciate all our friends and family who supported us through this year — for all the times we’ve slept through plans, missed evening activities or talked endlessly about the paper.

We’ve been lucky enough to spend 2022 alongside a team of immensely talented writers, editors, photographers, coders, designers and business staff — some of the most thoughtful, funny and kind people we’ll have the privilege of meeting during our time here at Brown. We will always admire their dedication to the paper, and we are endlessly appreciative of the patience they’ve shown as we’ve navigated this year. We couldn’t have done this without them.

And finally, we’re grateful for you, our readers. Whether through inspiring our latest coverage, coming forward as sources or keeping us accountable, we’ve been lucky to have earned your readership. Thank you for engaging with The Herald through out this year. We hope you keep reading through the next — we definitely will be.

—Editors’ notes are written by The Herald’s 132nd Editorial Board: Ben Glickman ’23, Benjamin Pollard ’23, Caelyn Pender ’23, Katie Chen ’23, Gaya Gupta ’23 and Jack Walker ’23 MA’23.

“To ban race-conscious considerations is to deny how racism itself … continues to negatively affect racial minorities.”

than any other school, he reasoned that “avoiding trouble was reason enough” since he is familiar with life at the Uni versity.

Cecily von Ziegesar, the author of the critically acclaimed “Gossip Girl” series, had a different reason for in cluding Brown in her work.

“It seemed like a likely place for a ‘Gossip Girl’ character to go,” von Ziegesar wrote in an email to The Her ald. “Brown has a certain cache.”

“Gossip Girl” follows the lives and romances of the privileged social ite teenagers at the Constance Bill ard School for Girls, an elite private school in New York City’s Upper East Side. It specifically focuses on best friends Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen whose lives were shared with the public via the eponymous gossip blogger.

Von Ziegesar worked as an editor for a company that produced young adult book series and noticed that “all of their series took place in fictional suburban towns.” Growing up in New York City, her “high school experience was very different.” She noticed that the Upper East Side’s Manhattan private school experience hadn’t been explored and that there were opportunities for humor.

“It was a world I felt like I knew well, as an insider and an observer,” she wrote.

At the time of writing, von Ziege

sar’s husband’s boss, her agent and a wealthy classmate of hers had all attended Brown. She specifically noted an instance where she spent a week end at her friend’s country house in 9th grade where she met her sister’s boyfriend, also a Brown alum, which further shaped her interest in the Uni versity.

“He was English and so insanely handsome. He taught me where to put the finger bowl after I’d used it: ‘On the left, Ces.’ I think that must have made a huge impression on me,” she wrote.

In the novel, she decided that Eric would attend Brown as he seemed like someone “who would want to go to a school with a good reputation, but he wouldn’t be competitive about grades.” In von Zeigesar’s experience, the more academically competitive girls, such as Blair, would want to go to Yale.

Brown in television

While von Zeigesar didn’t write the television adaptation of her series, she agrees with the direction in which the show had taken the characters. In the television series, the parents of the characters had a much larger role than they did in the books, and it is noted that Lily van der Woodsen, Serena’s mother, attended Brown. In the show, Serena, rather than Eric, applies and is accepted to Brown, but ultimately does not attend. Serena is also incidentally based on a classmate of hers that went

to the Rhode Island School of Design.

“Serena — in the books and the show — is a bit lost. She’s finding herself and she chooses a different path,” she wrote.

Stephanie Savage, one of the coshow runners of the “Gossip Girl” se ries noted how the decision for Lily van der Woodsen to attend Brown was inspired by a 1998 Vanity Fair article about Brown entitled “School for Glamour.” The article highlighted Brown’s status as “the Ivy’s hottest school” and the types of students that went there.

“It felt like Lily would fit right in with the crowd — with the children of actors and activists, Wall Street barons and actual Barons,” Savage wrote in an email to The Herald.

Savage also worked with Josh Schwartz in the television series “The O.C.” The idea for the show came out of an initial conversation Schwartz had with Savage about centering a series around Orange County. As someone from the East Coast who attended the University of Southern Califor nia, where many students came from Orange County, he “felt like (he) had some things to say about that world and experience,” Schwartz wrote in an email to The Herald.

As a Providence native, Schwartz grew up a few blocks away from Brown and “always loved the campus and the ethos of the school.”

Growing up, he added, he thought “the students (he) saw were the height of sophistication and were just impos

sibly cool.” His interest and familiarity with Brown led him to feature the Uni versity in “The O.C.”

“The O.C.” follows a group of teen agers as they navigate high school, growing up, and relationships in Or ange County, California. In the series, characters Seth Cohen and Summer Roberts applied to Brown.

He didn’t have both of the char acters attend the school as a twist — though Seth seemed to be the obvious choice to be accepted, only Summer, “who was the O.C. equivalent of a Val ley girl for much of the show’s run to that point,” is accepted and ultimately attends Brown.

“There was good drama to be had in Summer being accepted and Seth having his heart doubly broken,” wrote Schwartz.

Ian Maxtone-Graham ’81, a televi sion writer and producer, also wanted to pay tribute to Brown, especially be cause he attended the school. In “The Simpsons” episode “Lisa Gets an A,” he got his opportunity.

The main premise for the episode follows Lisa Simpson cheating on a test and ultimately feeling bad about it, originally an idea from current “Fam ily Guy” showrunner Rich Appel, who was another writer on the staff. Max tone-Graham and the writers shaped the storyline to follow Lisa getting sick and addicted to video games, conse quently resulting in her not wanting to go back to school and neglecting her studies.

The writing team wanted her to pan ic and worry that she wouldn’t get into Harvard if she failed the test and then have to go to Brown — a lesser school in her mind — instead. Ultimately in the series, Lisa attends Harvard and then Yale.

“I chose Brown because I went there, and I felt like the school could take a joke,” Maxtone-Graham wrote in an email to The Herald.

Brown in film

Ron Bass, the screenwriter behind the 1997 romantic comedy “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” saw an opportunity to credit the University while writing the film.

The story follows a woman who re alizes she is in love with her best friend when he decides to marry someone else. In the film, the two protagonists Juli anne Potter and Michael O’Neal are friends from their time at Brown.

Bass, who has degrees from Stan ford, Yale and Harvard, noted that Brown was not a name that he had heard as often in film, and wanted to change that.

“Just made a momentary decision to give a fine school the credit I could — not that mention in a film means any thing, it was just what I wanted to do,” Bass wrote in an email to The Herald.

With dozens of fictional alumni among its ranks, and thousands of re al-life applicants continuing to apply each year, Brown has made its mark on the cultural landscape.

through Workday — the University’s human resources management system — which causes hours to be backlogged and has led to students choosing to work without Workday positions.

Working without Workday positions violates labor laws, said Tom Doeppner, associate professor of computer science in research and the department’s director of undergraduate studies.

Seven other TAs not involved with the union’s organizing committee had noticed many of the same problems but said issues vary between courses, and larger classes with fewer TAs feel a more intense burden.

TA workloads have “been a tough problem,” Doeppner said. “Many TAs felt that (their) course really needed them to work, and they would put in the time.”

Doeppner, who spoke to The Herald on behalf of the entire department, noted that the department has procedures in place meant to alleviate many problems that TAs and TALO described. But union organizers said that implementation of the guidelines varies across the depart ment, and when problems arise there is no formal avenue for TAs to report concerns.

If TAs have an issue with a professor, Doeppner has encouraged them to reach out to him or Roberto Tamassia, profes sor of computer science and department chair. He added that when students bring him complaints, he will discuss them with the professor for those students’ courses and send the relevant faculty member the anonymized complaint.

Several TAs also noted that intense pressure and emotional burden comes from being overworked and bearing re sponsibility for course development.

“I feel like the CS department could not exist without the TA program,” said Parker Simon ’24, a head teaching as sistant for CSCI 0330: “Introduction to Computer Systems.”

pains”: A rapidly expanding department

In 2011, 57 students graduated with degrees in computer science, including joint concentrators, Doeppner said. In the spring, 366 computer science concen trators graduated from the department.

This semester, CSCI 0150: “Introduc tion to Object-Oriented Programming and Computer Science” has 424 students en rolled, according to Courses@Brown. In 2016, the same course had 323 students.

The TA program has grown as well, with “about 400” TAs working for pay or course credit this semester, according to Doeppner. Those TAs are primarily undergraduate teaching assistants and HTAs, who manage and hire UTAs and help plan courses.

UTAs are primarily responsible for grading assignments and answering student questions during office hours and on Ed Stem, the department’s online forum for students to ask questions about courses. The role’s responsibilities are outlined in the UTA missive, a document written by department representatives and meta teaching assistants, who over see the department’s hiring and physical space assignments.

“The department across the board is dealing with these growing pains,” said Daniel Ritchie, assistant professor of com puter science and instructor of CSCI 1230: “Introduction to Computer Graphics.”

“A central question we’re dealing with (is) how do we scale to the demand we’re experiencing,” Ritchie said. To address issues in the past, “typically informal pro cesses worked” because “the department was small.”

“As things scale up, you need to impose more structure sometimes,” he added.

Last spring, an open letter from UTAs and HTAs circulated within the depart ment asking the department and Uni versity administration to work with TAs to change how they were treated. Signed by 44 people, including 33 who identified themselves as TAs, it called for clearer ex pectations for workloads and job descrip tions, better compensation and reduced course material creation responsibilities after the start of the semester.

Eight TAs who spoke with The Her ald said their work creates an emotional burden. The letter noted that “TAs have often felt personally responsible for a course’s success and operation.”

The open letter also called for “for malized reporting mechanisms,” which the department lacks, said Nick Young ’23, a five-time TA who was not involved in union organizing.

The letter was written after the first of four meetings last spring between nine TAs and three department representa tives: Doeppner, Kathi Fisler — professor of computer science for research and the department’s associate director of under graduate studies — and Ugur Cetintemel, professor of computer science and chair of the department at the time.

The meetings prompted some chang es, said Colton Rusch ’23 and Eva Lau ’23, HTAs for CSCI 0320: “Introduction to Software Engineering” who helped write the letter and served on the union organizing committee. The union orga nizing committee and working group have overlap but are not the same.

This summer, the department re ceived University permission to raise TA wages roughly 20% across the board, Do eppner said. UTAs are now paid $15.50 per hour, HTAs are paid $17.50 per hour and MTAs are paid $23 per hour, according to an August email sent to the department reviewed by The Herald.

The department also edited job de scriptions and the missive for HTAs and UTAs, Rusch said.

“The old HTA missive said generally, ‘You should do whatever it takes to keep the course running smoothly,’ ” Ritchie said. Fisler added that the group designed a form meant to assign “key tasks” ahead of time to faculty course instructors and TAs that a “handful” of courses have used this fall, including Ritchie’s.

Still, TALO’s organizers felt the de partment’s decentralized structure pre vents enforcement of guidelines, with some TAs still putting in too many hours and taking on course development well into the semester that is meant for breaks and TA camp — when TAs come back to campus early to put together key piec es of a course. Some also said they have continued to experience problems with their Workday positions.

Doeppner clearly outlined workload expectations for UTAs — and noted that TAs should be paid for all hours worked — in a 2021 all-TA email and a speech at an all-TA meeting during fall 2022 TA camp, both of which were reviewed by The Herald. He relayed a similar message to faculty members, he said, adding that he did not mention HTAs’ workloads to student staff but did to faculty.

On Oct. 20, Fisler reached out to mem bers of the working group, many of whom had joined the organizing committee, to resume work, according to an email reviewed by The Herald. Rusch explained to The Herald that the working group decided not to respond because many of their broader concerns about the depart ment had gone unaddressed in the spring. By then, members were instead focused on organizing the union.

Inaccurate timesheets and working without positions

Earlier this year, two courses entered TA camp with multiple student workers

not having positions in Workday, accord ing to multiple HTAs. Both incidents, which were in larger courses with more than 10 TAs and 125 students, were con firmed by Doeppner.

In the first instance, the course began work with UTAs who did not realize they weren’t yet registered in Workday, where TAs log their hours to be paid. Upon learn ing this, unregistered TAs stopped work until they were onboarded.

In the second, UTAs without positions initially were instructed not to work by their HTAs, but then were instructed to begin course development shortly after — despite not yet being in Workday’s system — in an effort to prevent extending work into the semester. They later backlogged those hours.

In an August meeting at the start of TA camp, Doeppner said students not in Workday were not allowed to work. He also said he received a “number of emails about TAs not having their positions,” ac cording to a meeting recording reviewed by The Herald.

MTAs manage hiring for UTAs in consultation with Doeppner and Fisler, and professors hire HTAs, but it is the department’s responsibility to onboard TAs into Workday, Doeppner said. One administrative staff member is primarily responsible for enrolling the roughly 400 TAs in Workday and managing hours, Doeppner confirmed.

As an employer, the University is subject to the federal Fair Labor Stan dards Act, which requires employers to accurately log time worked by employees. Hourly workers are also required to record all time worked, according to University guidelines.

TAs who have been hired but do not yet have Workday positions over academic breaks or during TA camp often continue to work while waiting for their Workday positions, said Young, the five-time TA. When students do that work, it violates the University’s policy, Doeppner said.

Doeppner emphasized that the de partment aims to compensate TAs for every hour they work, regardless of if they were in the system — rhetoric that Young said he has noticed.

The department has implemented a new strategy to address previous adminis trative issues: onboarding TAs onto Work day immediately after they are offered a job, Doeppner explained. Previously, students were onboarded during or after breaks in the academic calendar. Hiring all TAs “by default” keeps the department from making errors, he added.

Course development and professor bandwidth

Course development was mentioned as a source of extra work for seven TAs interviewed, all of whom were involved in TALO.

Each TA said their respective professor took a different approach to course de velopment. Because computer science is ever-evolving, courses constantly change to keep up, Young said.

This semester, Tim Nelson — assistant professor of computer science and the instructor for the course Lau and Rus ch TA — has increased his role in course development, removing work that would have previously fallen upon HTAs.

Nelson did not respond to multiple requests for comment by press time.

“The problem is, that’s Tim’s deci sion,” said Galen Winsor ’22.5. Winsor, a CSCI 0320 UTA and socially responsible computing teaching assistant, meaning he is responsible for ethics-focused ele ments of the course, as well as a union organizing committee member, also helped write the letter. The department lacks standards to ensure all professors develop courses beyond lecturing, said Derick Toth ’23, a UTA for CSCI 1230.

Doeppner said CS professors face a “huge amount of pressure” to ensure TAs do not have excessive hours, and that management intervenes if there is con cern TAs are overworked. Professors are accountable for their courses through feedback and course review and should be “familiar enough with the assignments to help students that might otherwise go to a TA,” he added.

Anika Ahluwalia ’23, HTA for CSCI 1300: “User Interfaces and User Experi ence,” said that while course instructor Jeff Huang, associate chair and associate professor of computer science, is involved in course development, HTAs were re sponsible for adding an assignment, changing the structure of a studio and creating a two-day “user interface camp.”

This work stretched into the semester. She attended two union meetings but was not involved in its organization.

In response to questions about Ah luwalia’s workload for his course, Huang wrote in an email to The Herald that he appreciated his HTAs’ dedication and has spoken with them about managing their workload. One provision resulting from those conversations was a 15-hour work limit, after which “work should cease.”

Zack Cheng ’23, an HTA for CSCI 1230 who did not sign the letter but helped organize the union, said that he was re making course materials and creating new demos — examples of completed assign ments — through the beginning of the semester. Ritchie, the course’s instructor, said that he “inherited” the course with the intent to modify its curriculum while keeping high-level topics the same. While Cheng expected to make large changes, he said that work hours were greater than he expected.

“It’s hard to work to develop a course while you’re working on your own cours es,” said Rusch, “and trying to be a per son.”

Ritchie said that when he sees Cheng getting “overworked,” he has tried to in tervene. But Cheng noted that he has to “really ask” Ritchie to review materials.

Ritchie said he oversaw planning for course development and was happy to “take passes” on materials but does not have the “bandwidth” to write code be cause of his additional responsibilities in advising and research.

Other TAs, such as Paul Biberstein ’23, Simon and Harisen Luby ’23 — another HTA for CSCI 0330 — said their course development work primarily ended with TA camp. In CSCI 0330, HTAs planned the course’s logistics and wrote a script, but Doeppner is “very involved,” Simon said.

Last semester, TAs for CSCI 0200: “Program Design with Data Structures and Algorithms” struggled with work that began in summer 2021 to develop a course merging former classes CSCI 0160: “Introduction to Algorithms and Data Structures” and CSCI 0180: “Computer Science: An Integrated Introduction,” said UTA Harshini Venkatachalam ’23, a Herald illustrator.

Venkatachalam is a member of the organizing group, a UTA for CSCI 1810: “Computational Molecular Biology” and a former UTA for CSCI 0200. CSCI 0200 canceled its final two labs, a move TAs encouraged, Venkatachalam said.

This semester, most of CSCI 0200’s course content was “predeveloped,” Seth Sabar ’24 said, noting that the HTAs oc casionally “touch up” labs and projects.

Ahluwalia said she often feels like the “face” of her course, a sentiment echoed by other TAs.

“Immense amount of pressure”: TAs working extra hours

In the spring, beyond the changes from the meetings, the working group distributed a survey reviewed by The Her ald in which 65 TA respondents cited a

culture in which extra work hours were expected. It also showed that a slight majority had underreported their hours when logging them.

Two TAs, who were involved with either the organizing committee or let ter group, told The Herald that they had worked significantly more than their authorized 20 weekly hours in 2022 — Ahluwalia this fall and Joe Han ’22, a member of the spring’s working group, last semester.

Department guidelines state that UTAs should work no more than 10 hours each week, Doeppner said. The expec tation for HTAs is less “spelled out,” he said, but HTAs should never work more than 20 hours weekly, the University’s recommended limit for undergraduate employees. TAs are allowed to work 40 hours per week during TA camp.

Ahluwalia worked an average of 29 hours per week for the two-week span between Oct. 23 and Nov. 5, according to a payslip reviewed by The Herald. Once she hits 15 work hours in a week, Ahlu walia now meets with Huang, the course instructor, to determine what to prioritize — but still typically works 20 to 25 hours each week, she said.

With 391 students enrolled in Ah luwalia’s course, work tends to exceed the capacity of the 15-person TA staff, she said. Because the course was small er when it was last taught in 2020, it is understaffed in TAs, Doeppner said; as a rule, each course has one TA for every eight to 10 students. CSCI 1300 has a ratio of one TA to about 26 students.

Huang wrote that “if (TAs) end up working more” than the limit in his course, “they should be paid” for each additional hour.

Han said he logged 20 to 30 hours a week in the first half of the spring 2022 semester as an HTA for CSCI 0200. By the end of the semester, Han’s average dropped below 20 hours per week. Sabar, then a UTA for the course, said HTAs reg ularly logged more than 20 hours.

With a new course, “mid-semester adjustments” may be needed, Fisler, the instructor for CSCI 0200, wrote in an email to The Herald.

This fall’s curriculum for CSCI 0200 has been different, said Sabar, now an HTA. This semester, he has consistently recorded about 15 hours weekly, aside from the first two weeks when his total was near 25. The class’s unusually high TA-to-student ratio helps keep his work load lighter, he said.

“We’re unhappy if you work more hours,” Doeppner said. “We’re even more unhappy if you don’t report the hours.” Students who work more than 40 hours in a week should receive overtime pay, he added.

Cheng, Simon and Luby separately said that their workload typically ranges from 15 to 20 hours per week, though Luby worked around 25 hours in the first weeks of the semester, she said. She par tially expected to go over 20 hours. She enjoys the job, she said, and feels com fortable going to Doeppner with concerns.

“It becomes a problem when pro fessors aren’t aware” of TAs’ extra work, Luby said.

“I feel an immense amount of pres sure,” Luby explained. When things go awry, “it’s hard not to feel like it’s your fault.”

“In general, faculty members should be aware of other HTAs being overly stressed,” Doeppner said. “This is some times difficult because a student might be feeling a huge burden by the position, and they’re doing an amazingly good job of not letting it show.”

Han recalled one instance of working until 4 a.m. “A lot of people (were) count ing on me,” he said, “and I can’t afford to let this go wrong.”

“Growing

funds to support people and academic excellence.”

The BrownTogether campaign, launched in 2015 to fund Building on Distinction, has raised over $3 billion to fund its goals, such as establishing 123 endowed professorships, The Herald previously reported. The financial aid budget also grew significantly under Locke’s tenure, he said.

“I feel proud of the work that I did there,” Locke said. “Having been a fi nancial aid student myself many years ago, I knew how important that was.”

Locke said that the University has grown stronger academically as a result of Building on Distinction.

“You're only as strong as the people you're able to attract and keep, wheth er they're students or staff or faculty,” Locke said. “I feel like my focus on peo ple was the right thing to do as provost.”

Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan

When Locke took over as provost, he initially did not have any concrete plans regarding diversity and inclusion at the University, he said.

When he took office, he said he was "fortunate" to meet colleagues such as Professor of Africana Studies Tri cia Rose and Professor of Humanities and Critical Theory, Africana Studies and History of Art and Architecture Anthony Bogues, who shared read ings and educated him on diversity and inclusion.

“And then, there were the students,” Locke added. “I remember there was all this mobilization in the fall of 2015 of undergraduates and graduate stu dents, and I would go to the protests and listen.”

The Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan was subsequently finalized and released in February 2016. The plan outlines the University’s commitment to “a set of concrete, achievable actions that will make Brown more fully diverse and inclusive,” the document reads. The plan also confronts the reality and enduring legacies of the University’s historical exclusion of marginalized groups.

“The role that I played as provost (in the plan) was promoting a lot of faculty hiring, working with the deans and the different departments, doing a lot of trainings and workshops for department chairs (and) for (Directors of Graduate Study) and (Departmental Undergraduate Groups), working with the grad students and just showing that this was always going to be a priority,” Locke said.

Since DIAP’s inception, the Uni versity has nearly doubled the total number of faculty from historically un derrepresented groups, according to a 2022 memo released by the University.

Locke said that though the Univer sity has made significant progress in its compositional diversity, more work remains to improve the culture and climate of the community to ensure that everyone feels “fully seen and valued for who they are.”

Additionally, by launching and working with initiatives such as the Dis placed Scholars Program, International Writers Project and the New University in Exile Consortium, Locke also helped to welcome students and scholars from areas affected by conflicts and natural disasters such as Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Puerto Rico.

“I felt that this wasn’t just my job as a provost — it was my job as a parent

and a citizen,” Locke said. “My great faith is that that work will continue after I leave because it's now a part of our fabric.”

Navigating COVID-19

The last three years of Locke’s tenure were marked by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The pandemic meant that being provost was a 24/7 job,” Locke said. “At first, none of us knew what was going on and how to manage it.”

Locke helped manage the logistical challenges of the pandemic, including implementing a three-semester model in the 2020-21 academic year and pilot ing a COVID-19 testing program, The Herald previously reported.

Locke also said he struggled with

personal losses while leading University academics through sudden changes.

“At the beginning of the pandemic, I lost my mom, my mother-in-law and one of my best friends,” Locke said. “And the job also suddenly became very, very complicated.”

Despite the pandemic’s challenges, Locke noted “a silver lining,” citing the University’s ability to “anchor itself on its core values to navigate the on going and shifting challenges of the pandemic.”

“We made sure that we didn't lay off any full-time employees, we continued to pay people because it was our responsibility to do so and we gave meals to peo ple in the community,” Locke said. “There was this moment where it

didn't matter whether you were a provost or groundskeeper or student or faculty member — we were united as a community in solidarity and mu tual respect.”

Parting Words

Though Locke will shortly depart for Apple in California, Locke noted that he will always cherish his time and experiences at Brown.

“I love Brown,” Locke said, reflecting on his time at the University. “I love what Brown does.”

“The magic of Brown is that it at tracts really smart, creative, out-ofthe-box thinkers, whether it's students, faculty or staff,” he added. “It's a gift for me to have had the privilege of working here for almost a decade.”

FIN.

Today

But most

Who knows

program? Or perhaps

to become real journalists — working at Buzzfeed!

The future is full of uncertainty. But there is one thing I’m sure of: 132 will be dearly missed.

Lots of Love, The paper you once called your own

COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY

Richard Locke P’18 led initiatives to increase staff diversity, handle instruction and testing during the COVID-19 pandemic and increase financial aid.

is a day of goodbyes. The Herald bids farewell to its daily production for the semester. We also part ways with our pals Graf, Slug and TK.

sadly of all, our paper says goodbye to its 132nd Editorial Board, who have fearlessly — though oft imperfectly — led The Herald over the last year.

where the individuals on this board will end up in the next chapter of their lives. Stuck at Brown completing a fifth years masters

returning to their upper-middle class home in little-known Westchester, N.Y. Or maybe they’re embarking on their journeys

JULIA GROSSMAN / HERALD