Wednesday, February 8, 2023

Brown plans for affirmative action ruling

Paxson discusses admission, future of recruitment at faculty meeting

BY SOFIA BARNETT UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR

With the future of race-conscious college admissions uncertain due to two U.S. Supreme Court cases with rulings set for this summer, the University is preparing to maintain a diverse student body without affirmative action, Associate Provost for Enrollment Logan Powell said at Tuesday’s faculty meeting.

The two cases the Supreme Court will rule on later this year were brought by a group called Students for Fair Admissions against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.

Addressing the premise of SFFA’s case against Harvard, Powell provided data from the Harvard arguments which showed through “counterfactual research” that removing the consideration of race in admissions would result in a significant decrease in students

UNIVERSITY NEWS

from historically under-represented racial backgrounds. Cited by Powell, Harvard’s research indicated that the population of African-American students at the school would be halved, the Hispanic population would drop from 14% to 9% and the white student population would see a considerable increase.

“In our own analysis, this is also what would happen at Brown,” Powell said. “So what do we do, what comes next?”

Powell explained that Brown is pre-

Faculty vote to establish Data Science Institute

Institute will take interdisciplinary approach to data science

BY SOFIA BARNETT UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR

A new Data Science Institute will be established at the University effective July 1 after faculty members approved its creation at the first faculty meeting of the semester Tuesday.

The institute will be anchored by two centers: the established Center for Computational Molecular Biology and a proposed new “Center for Technological Responsibility, Re-imagining and Re-design (CNTR),” according to Kenneth Wong, professor of political science, public policy and urban studies.

Proposed by the Data Science Initiative, the institute will aim to “stimulate innovation and support people aspiring to improve lives in our data-driven world,” said Sohini Ramachandran, professor of biology and computer science and director

of the DSI. “Data is influencing both our research and our daily lives and it’s really changed how our students want and need to be trained.”

According to Ramachandran, challenges such as online election interference, vaccine misinformation and discriminatory decisions made by machine learning systems constitute instances where both “data and data science are crucial aspects of the problem” as well as “potential solutions.”

“These challenges have really taught us that when we create technology that’s unmoored from the social, scientific and human context in which we seek to use it, we create and expose faultlines,” she said. “But these also present us with opportunities for innovation.”

Ramachandran continued, explaining that the establishment of the institute would hold true to the mandate of all institutes at the University: “to augment the disciplinary excellence of our departments and help enable new scholarly connections among them.”

The Data Science Initiative’s ex-

paring to ensure that its recruitment and yield processes — in which the University convinces admitted regular decision students to attend Brown — will continue to lead to the composition of a racially diverse class if affirmative action is struck down by the Supreme Court.

“Institutions of higher education, including Brown, need to take very specific and purposeful steps” to address potential outcomes of the Supreme

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

Superman prompts questions of affordability

METRO City officials, housing experts talk pros, cons, meaning of affordability

BY LILIANA GREYF SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The redevelopment and repurposing of the Industrial Trust Company building, known as the Superman building, has designated 20% of total planned apartments as affordable. While some housing experts question how affordable these units really are, they agreed that adding to the city’s housing stock will be beneficial.

The Superman Building, a 26-story office tower built in 1928, is Rhode Island’s tallest building. It has been empty since its previous tenant, Bank of America, left the building in 2013. The building will be renovated and converted into 285 housing units and retail spaces

Last fall, the Providence City

Council approved a Tax Stabilization Agreement for High Rock Development, the building’s owner, WPRI previously reported. Without the TSA, High Rock would have to pay $56.2 million in taxes, but the deal brings the total amount paid down to $26.8 million. The estimated cost of the project is $223 million. The TSA was passed with two objections by Councilors Mary Kay Harris and Katherine Kerwin.

Brenda Clement, director of HousingWorksRI at Roger Williams University, said that although there are affordable units in the building, the project is “not likely to target those most in need and those … who are filling up our warming shelters and our shelter system.”

High Rock did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Fourteen of the 285 apartments would be designated for people making up to 80% of the area median income, 14 for those making no more than 100% AMI and 29 for those

Researchers partner with Swedish team to improve early Alzheimer’s diagnosis

BY GABRIELLA VULAKH SENIOR SCIENCE & RESEARCH EDITOR

A new study, led in part by the University, will attempt to see if biomarkers in blood tests can help screen for Alzheimer’s disease.

In partnership with the Warren Alpert Foundation, the University’s Carney Institute for Brain Science is supporting the Memory and Aging Program at Providence-based Butler Hospital in launching an observational study.

The Butler-Brown research team — led by Stephen Salloway, professor of psychiatry and human behavior and neurology — plans to use blood-based assays from healthy individuals who may have a higher risk for developing Alzheimer’s as a biomarker — or biological indicator — to study the preclinical stages of Alzheimer’s and better assess disease progression.

The study focuses on early diagnosis

because “the events that distinguish Alzheimer’s disease at the molecular level ... are actually starting one to two decades before the onset of cognitive symptoms,” Project Manager Phil Caffery wrote in an email to The Herald. “It is in the early stages of the disease where treatments would have the greatest chances for success.”

One of the study’s long-term goals is a routine blood test for AD that would make diagnostic assessments for the disease more accessible and less inva-

sive, according to Caffery.

A blood test would also help with “early intervention for Alzheimer’s treatments and lifestyle changes,” said Louisa Thompson, assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior and a co-investigator in the study.

The team at Butler and Brown is also partnering with the Swedish study BIOmarkers For Identifying Neurodegenerative Disorders Early and Reliably

Butler-Brown study aims to use biomarkers to assess early risk of Alzheimer’s

RHEA RASQUINHA/ HERALD

CLAIRE DIEPENBROCK / HERALD

Associate Provost for Enrollment Logan Powell explained that the administration will continue to prioritize diveristy for future classes.

Winter Session course explores international perspectives on HIV/AIDS

Students

BY ROBAYET HOSSAIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

This past Winter Session, 12 University students traveled to Israel as part of BIOL 1980: “HIV/AIDS in Diverse Settings: Focus on Israel.” The course examined HIV/AIDS in the context of Israel’s “diverse society, unique demographics and universal healthcare,” according to its description on Courses@Brown.

“There are two themes that are very important for me in my life and in my career,” said Professor of Medicine Rami Kantor, who taught the course. “The first is HIV. … I devoted my life to people living with HIV and research associated with them. The second theme is Israel.”

Kantor was born and raised in Israel, where he then attended medical school and completed his internal medicine residency.

Kantor explained that while the United States and Israel have different health care systems, the provision of HIV care is similar. The class focused on the differences in HIV care among specific populations, which revealed the unique and diverse needs of people in different settings, he said.

The class consisted of a three-day crash course on HIV in Providence and a 10-day trip to Israel visiting clinics and communities within Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Beersheba. During the final week of the course, held back on campus, students aggregated their experiences from the trip into a final paper.

“It was a truly eye-opening experience that put a lot of things into perspective beyond the course — beyond HIV, beyond medicine — putting a whole different outlook on life,” said Tal Chamdi ’23, a student who took the course.

Chamdi characterized the class as a

ecutive committee has been working to propose the Institute for the last 18 months, according to Ramachandran. She explained that the committee believes that a centralized Data Science Institute would ensure that community members and questions about the natural world remain “at the heart” of data science research at the University.

“As a leader in shaping this emerging field, Brown’s DSI will establish new insights that become possible when data science is a close partnership between researchers and educators working in different disciplines and on different parts of the data science pipeline,” the proposal reads.

“We can really uniquely shape and lead in this discipline of data science … by calling on the computational and mathematical sciences to be in close conversation with” the institute, Ramachandran said. “I think it’s an institute that will also uniquely attract and support young scholars whose scholarship spans and connects multiple disciplines.”

Kimani Toussaint, professor and senior associate dean in the school of

“hidden gem,” describing it as a one-ofa-kind experience not offered anywhere else, enhanced by Kantor’s connections in Israel.

‘A lot to learn from our brothers and sisters abroad’

Ellis Clark ’23 recalled the interactions and stories from the communities the class visited as the most memorable moments from the course, relating them to his own sense of community and history.

“We met dozens of healthcare providers and learned very intimately about health care in Israel and in the U.S.,” Clark said. “Getting that experiential learning was so invaluable.”

“Being a queer man, I was really passionate about studying HIV because I feel like it is something that has affected queer communities and communities

engineering, similarly emphasized the importance of a formalized data science institute.

“Being able to bring in the methodologies that would be housed in a data science institute and learning how to ask the right questions, how to interrogate that data and more importantly … connecting with other people who might care about the data is very important,” Toussaint said.

Megan Ranney MPH ’10, outgoing deputy dean of Brown’s School of Public Health, expressed her “wholehearted support” for the Data Science Institute and its ability to serve as a “centralizing” force.

“We know that the future of scientific inquiry is team science,” Ranney said.

At the end of the meeting, Interim Provost Larry Larson discussed the Operational Plan for Investing in Research, an initiative started under former Provost Richard Locke P’18.

Larson informed faculty members that the administration is working to enhance University research investments and faculty support. But he also noted that the program’s “Signature Research Initiatives” would be put on

of color for decades,” he said. “We as a collective, young, queer population are losing a sense of that history, so it was important to me to really dig into it.”

The course has a “unique clinical exposure component” to it, said Natalie Chernysh ’24, one of the 12 students enrolled in the course. Students were exposed to different patient populations and provider types during their visits to hospitals and clinics.

“As somebody looking to go into medicine, it’s a big deal for me to gain that exposure because the U.S. is not ideal in any way,” Chernysh said of her decision to take the course. “There’s a lot to learn from our brothers and sisters abroad.”

Barriers to treatment and a ‘brighter future’

According to Joseph Garland, associ-

ate professor of medicine and clinician educator at the Alpert Medical School, many social and stigma-related barriers prevent HIV patients from receiving care.

In an email to The Herald, Garland described HIV as a chronic disease that requires long-term management. This management is often expensive and can require inaccessible medications.

While in Israel, Chernysh said she remembered an interaction with a man who traveled over an hour to Tel Aviv for treatment.

“He had to essentially hide his HIV diagnosis from his community,” Chernysh said.

“Both within the U.S. and globally, disparities in access, health literacy and social determinants of health remain major barriers to advancement” in HIV care, Garland wrote. “That is

why courses like this are so important.”

Garland noted that there is not yet a cure for HIV — but he has hope for the future of treatment.

“We need the next generation to care as much as we do about people living with HIV,” Garland wrote, “and to keep pushing us forward toward a brighter future.”

Garland added that advancing the treatment and care of people living with HIV has been a rewarding experience. HIV research has substantial energy behind it today, and he hopes to have students from this course one day become his colleagues.

Kantor said BIOL 1980 was the “highlight of his year.”

“I love the personal interactions and relationships with the students as they go through this adventure with me,” he said.

pause until incoming Provost Francis J. Doyle joins the administration this summer.

“These strategic signature initiatives require multi-year support from

the provost and more multi-year engagement from the provost office,” Larson explained. “I wanted to give (Doyle) an opportunity to really put his stamp on that.”

The meeting also included a moment of silence for the passing of Frank Rothman, professor emeritus of biology, as well as John Wermer, professor emeritus of mathematics.

recount experiences in Israel, experts discuss barriers, advancements in care

GABRIELLA VULAKH / HERALD

After 10 days in Israel visiting clinics and communities across the country, students returned to Providence to write a final paper about their experiences in the course. Professor of Medicine Rami Kantor called the course the “highlight of his year.”

INSTITUTE FROM PAGE 1

CLAIRE DIEPENBROCK / HERALD Megan Ranney MPH ’10, outgoing deputy dean of Brown’s School of Public Health, said that the Data Science Institute has her “wholehearted support” as a “centralizing force.”

METRO

After last summer’s drought, R.I. farmers prepare for climate challenges

Experts raise alarms over climate change’s impact on food production

BY MAHIN ASHFAQ SENIOR STAFF WRITER

A relatively short but severe drought last August disrupted food production in Rhode Island, prompting the U.S. Department of Agriculture to declare all of Rhode Island a natural disaster area. With climate change, such events could become more frequent in the future, experts told The Herald.

It was a “sharp, relatively short but extremely significant drought,” said Ken Ayars, chief of the division of agriculture and forest environment at the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.

Farmers were the “most impacted out of all people who use water in the state,” Ayars said. He noted that while reservoir levels remained relatively normal, “farmers are dependent on shallower water systems” for crop production, making them particularly vulnerable to dry periods.

The quantity of food production and longevity of the farming season was also impacted by the drought, said Amber Jackson, director of Farm Fresh Rhode Island’s Market Mobile Program. The project aims to “increase the availability and affordability of locally sourced foods, reduce food waste on local farms and share knowledge … (on) healthy lifestyles,” according to its website.

Farmers struggled with “cultivating the amount of crops they normally” can grow because of the drought, Jackson said.

“The drought made for lower yields of many of our crops last summer,” wrote Hannah Wolbach, co-founder of Skinny Dip Farm in Little Compton, Rhode Island and Westport, Massachu-

setts, in an email to The Herald.

“We were able to irrigate some of our crops, but setting up and running irrigation takes a lot of time and labor and energy,” Wolbach wrote, noting the large amount of gas used to power her farm’s main irrigation system.

The drought’s impact was inconsistent across farms in the state, wrote J. Eric Scherer, Rhode Island state executive director of the USDA Farm Service Agency, in an email to The Herald. “Impacted farmers represent about 25% of the producers in the state, mostly in the southern and middle area of the state and the East Bay region,” he wrote.

Ayars added that beyond geographical factors, farmers in Rhode Island “grow various types of crops using various irrigation systems,” causing some farmers to tell him the drought “had almost no impact.”

That was the case at Brandon Family Farm, wrote founder Albert Brandon

in an email to The Herald. He explained the drought did not affect their production significantly: “We have all irrigated acres so the drought affected us minimally, vegetables actually tend to grow better with more sun and less rain.”

Once the drought disaster status was declared, state and federal relief programs offered support to affected farms, with DEM officials responsible for coordinating relief efforts and permit assistance. “We put a team together to respond to farmers during situations like this,” Ayars said. The team included support from the USDA and the University of Rhode Island.

Permit assistance allows farmers to tap into new water supplies at an expedited rate, Ayars explained, and state officials were told to “immediately give farmers permission to dig, add or maintain a pond.” The DEM also modified grant programs to aid farmers’ irrigation during the drought,

including purchasing pumps and other equipment, he said.

According to Scherer, the 2022 drought led to the FSA activating its Emergency Conservation Program, which “helps farmers and ranchers repair damage to farmlands caused by natural disasters and put in place methods for water conservation during severe drought,” according to the USDA website.

Despite the assistance and grants provided, Ayars explained that “there isn’t an exact match between what a program will do and what the need is.”

Climate change and food production

The drought has also raised broader concerns over the impact of climate change on future farming in Rhode Island. “We expect global warming to continue and temperatures in the Northeast to increase over time,” said Kenneth Kunkel, National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration affiliate and research professor at North Carolina State University. “With higher temperatures, soils dry out faster.”

“The Northeast has moved into an era of much more frequent very warm summers,” he added. “The effects of dry periods will likely become more severe faster.”

When asked about the anticipated impacts of climate change, Wolbach, from Skinny Dip Farm, wrote that she expects not only extensive periods of drought, but also “big storm events,” to disrupt farming in the future.

“It is important for us to (grow) on fields with good drainage, or our crops will drown in heavy rain storms,” she wrote. “It definitely is pushing us to figure out how to make our farm as resilient as possible, working on improving irrigation (and) adding more greenhouses.”

According to Scherer, climate change is also one of the USDA’s main concerns. Scherer added that in 2022, the FSA completed its Climate Change Adaptation Plan to place climate considerations into its programs.

Still, many tools that could potentially help farmers face the effects of climate change have yet to be developed. For example, Kunkel said that farmers need “accurate (weather) forecasts three to six months in advance” to decide on ideal crop varieties — but such technology is not yet available.

Wolbach wrote that “to help us get to a place of being more resilient to climate extremes,” farmers need better support in the form of “increased assistance (grants) for wells, irrigation supplies” and other measures.

As the likelihood of future severe droughts increases due to climate change, Jackson emphasized the importance of consumers prioritizing “local farmers and locally produced items.” Doing so provides farmers with a reliable consumer base during periods of extreme weather and uncertainty, she said.

Court’s affirmative action rulings, President Christina Paxson P’19 said at the meeting.

“We’re not just sitting on our hands waiting for the decision to come down,” Powell said. “We’re doing anything and everything that we possibly can.”

Powell explained that while the University expects the Supreme Court to rule that race can no longer be a factor in applicant selection, the administration is hopeful that the Supreme Court’s ruling will still allow colleges to recruit and conduct their yield processes while considering racial identity. To

increase diversity through recruitment and enrollment yield, Powell explained that the University is “broadening (its) outreach.”

“For example, we’re traveling with Howard University to 15 cities in the south and southwest,” Powell said. “Our hope is that by expanding the pipeline of really talented students from diverse backgrounds, and then also working hard on the yield end, that we’ll be able to minimize the damage that would be done.”

Powell added that in every example found by the University of institutions excluding race in admissions, the institutions “do not get back to where they

were when they operated in a race-conscious system.”

Interim Dean of the Graduate School Thomas Lewis also said that “holistic review” will be “crucial” to the graduate school’s response to potential legal changes in their ability to practice race-conscious admissions, as the graduate school intends to continue its focus on diversity.

According to Lewis, the graduate school intends to continue its focus on diversity.

“I can give you my promise that Brown will remain firmly committed to advancing diversity and inclusion on our own terms,” Paxson said. “This

is the ideal that we aspire to.”

Powell also assured the faculty that the University will continue its dedication to campus diversity.

“One of the things I’m most proud of is that as the applicant pool has grown, our academic standards have risen,” Powell said at the meeting. “At the same time, we’ve been able to enroll increasingly diverse classes.”

Forty-five percent of admitted students to the class of 2017 were students of color, whereas 55% of admitted students to the class of 2025 — the last class for which the University shared data about the racial identity of admitted students — were students of color.

At the meeting, Paxson also discussed challenges within a “shifting national landscape” of higher education.

We’re “seeing a discourse in the media and in politics in which diversity, equity and inclusion efforts have been … inaccurately and possibly cynically redefined as universities’ attempts to indoctrinate students to adhere to specific political agendas,” Paxson said. “This, to me, is very, very concerning.”

Paxson said that while the University exists as a private college in a “fairly liberal state,” the University has a stake in diversity policy affecting “children across the country, who are the Brown students in the future.”

HARSHINI VENKATACHALAM / HERALD

ADMISSIONS FROM PAGE 1

(BIOFINDER) led by Oskar Hansson, professor of neurology at Lund University, according to William Menard, research operations manager at Butler’s Memory and Aging Program.

“Dr. Hansson’s group is one of the leading international research groups in developing blood-based Alzheimer’s disease markers that can also distinguish older adults with the brainbased Alzheimer’s disease pathologies,” Caffery wrote.

Menard added that BIOFINDER’s study features a “similar parallel protocol,” offering an “international aspect to the study — to be able to look at data from both sides of the Atlantic.”

To collect necessary data for the blood assay, the Butler-Brown study “emphasizes methods that are minimally invasive and scalable,” Thompson said. “It’s just not feasible to do advanced neuroimaging for all older

adults. … Things like blood tests, retinal imaging and cognitive screening are very easy to implement in a number of clinical medical settings — so that’s the focus.”

The research teams in the U.S. and Sweden are working to “make protocols as similar as possible” between the sites, Thompson added.

“Although harmonizing study procedures of this complex study can be challenging, the project will allow us to collect the data from study participants who are geographically and racially diverse,” Hwamee Oh, professor of psychiatry and human behavior and a co-investigator in the study, wrote in an email to The Herald. “The findings from the study will be more generalizable than those of a study conducted in one region.”

One slight difference in the two teams’ protocols is the type of diagnostic testing conducted, according to Thomspon.

While the project emphasizes less invasive procedures for screening, the U.S. portion of the study will use neurological imaging including positron emission tomography scans — an imaging method that injects radioligand, a radioactive substance, into the body to help researchers measure participants’ metabolic activities. The imaging, in turn, helps researchers visualize Alzheimer’s disease pathology in the brain.

“We hypothesize that there will be a strong association between the level of a biomarker called p-tau217 in the blood and the level of cerebral amyloid plaques that we see in the brain using a PET scan,” Thompson said.

The Swedish team will use a lumbar puncture — a medical procedure in which a needle is inserted between two vertebrae and a sample of cerebrospinal fluid is collected for diagnostic testing — in place of a brain PET scan for their screening.

“We know that lumbar puncture is far more acceptable for patients in Europe and other countries, and in the United States people have a much stronger aversion to that test so we tend not to use it,” Thompson said.

“We have very different health care systems and different languages that we’re using for the study, so there tends to be just general differences in the way that research studies are conducted,” she added.

The study will also feature slightly different memory, language and attention assessments on iPads, Thompson said. Participation in the study will last approximately five years.

Currently, about 16 participants are enrolled in the Butler-Brown study — cognitively healthy individuals 50 to 80 years old, according to Menard; the study is aiming to reach a total of 200 participants over the next two years, according to Menard.

“We’ve just started to screen for

this project, so it’s been really great to see the amount of interest there is,” Thompson said. She added that the project is prioritizing recruiting participants from underrepresented populations in Rhode Island.

“BIPOC community members have a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, being diagnosed later, being misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all for memory loss,” Caffery wrote.

The Memory and Aging Program is also part of a national effort to “better understand how we can share Alzheimer’s disease risk information with older adults,” Thompson said.

She added that “based on our prior research, we know that sharing information about genetic risk for Alzheimer’s and … test results with participants is something that most people find very helpful, so we want to be able to give back to our participants who are giving their time and energy to contribute to the research.”

CALENDAR

TODAY’S EVENTS

High Energy Theory Seminar Featuring Atul Sharma, Harvard

1:00 p.m. Barus and Holley, Room 555

Carney Conversations: More Human Than Human? - ChatGPT

4:00 - 5:00 p.m.

Virtual Event

TOMORROW’S EVENTS

“Learning to Use EHR Data in Learning Health Systems”

11:00 a.m.

Online

“Race & Democracy” with Professor Eddie Glaude, Princeton 5:00 p.m.

Salomon Center for Teaching

A Conversation with Mona Chalabi

4:00 - 5:30 p.m. Martinos Auditorium

Affirmative Action: Past, Present, Future 5:00 - 6:15 p.m. Petteruti Lounge

When Women Lead with Author Julia Boorstin

12:00 p.m. Nelson Center

Edith Stein and the Gestalt of the Feminine Soul

6:00 p.m.

Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center

ARTS & CULTURE

‘Infinity Pool’ raises interesting questions, fails to fully answer them

BY FINN KIRKPATRICK ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

2022 was a particularly strong year in horror filmmaking, and Brandon Cronenberg tried to carry that torch into 2023 with his sci-fi horror thriller “Infinity Pool.” Brandon — son of legendary director David Cronenberg, known for his bone-chilling body horror — has much to prove beyond just making a great movie. He inevitably has to prove that he can at least come close to matching the success of his father, who is known for classics such as “The Fly” and “Crash.” But while “Infinity Pool” contains a lot of promising material, Brandon’s latest film needs much more to be placed in conversation with the finest works of the senior Croenenberg.

The film picks up in an idyllic resort with luxurious rooms, poolside breakfasts and direct beach access. James Foster (Alexander Skarsgård), an author whose only novel was released six years prior, is staying at the resort with his wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman), the daughter of a successful publisher. One morning, Gabi (Mia Goth), a fan of Foster’s work, approaches him and invites him to a dinner double date with her and her husband, Alban (Jalil Lesert).

The following day, Gabi and Alban

ARTS & CULTURE

invite Foster and Em on a drive around the countryside. With some finagling, the group manages to acquire a car and be allowed outside of the fenced-off resort premises into the otherwise danger-filled fictional nation of Li Tolqa, a locale unlikely to host the next season of “The White Lotus.” After their day, and a few too many drinks, Foster hits and kills a local farmer on the drive back to their lodgings. Gabi and Alban tell him not to call the police, who are corrupt and will not take the accident lightly.

But somehow word gets out, and Foster is woken up the next morning

by state officials. At the brutalist building he and Em are escorted to, Foster is sentenced to death — but there’s a catch. Li Tolqa has cracked the code on cloning technology, and tourists facing execution can pay for a clone of themselves to be killed in their place. And the convicted have to watch themselves get killed.

The rest of the film revolves around this high-concept plot device, following a secretive group of resort guests that have all witnessed their clones’ deaths — a group that surprisingly includes Gabi and Alban. While this is a fascinating premise, the film ultimately

does a much better job at setting up ideas than it does completing them. At one point, Foster is asked if he ever wonders whether his “original self” or his clone was the one actually killed, a possibility due to the strange cloning process. In asking this question, the film reaches toward a poignant paranoia but is unable to latch onto this feeling before it dissipates.

But the quality of many of the film’s individual scenes make up for some of its shortcomings. The effects in the initial cloning sequence are just about perfect, using a combination of “Star Wars”-esque computer interfaces

with 1980s-looking 3D renderings à la “Tron.” Despite their clearly dated look, the effects work flawlessly to set up a uniquely charming yet unsettling aesthetic. The same is true of all of the film’s other surrealist sequences, including, but not limited to, a psychedelic root-fueled masked orgy. But the issue with many of these aesthetically interesting scenes is that they are not nearly as disturbing as they think they are. They use some shocking imagery, but their effect never lingers in the mind for particularly long.

What should not be subject to criticism, though, is the performance of Mia Goth. Adding to a repertoire that includes 2018 remake “Suspiria,” “X” and “Pearl,” Goth is slowly cementing herself as one the foremost horror actresses of this generation. And even if the quality of this film fails to fully match her talent, she raises the bar in every moment she can. Gabi is a character who is initially hard to fully pin down on a moral map, and Goth is able to display all the possibilities with incredible believability. When the curtain is finally lifted, she gives it her all and carries the film on her back.

“Infinity Pool” is by no means bad — it has too many really great elements to fully write it off. But it also leaves too much to be desired to give it particularly high marks. It presents Brandon Cronenberg as an exciting visual director with daring ideas, even if they don’t quite work in this outing. But at the end of the day, its originality must be admired, no matter the disappointment that ultimately surrounds it.

‘Maame’ beautifully recounts coming-of-age, adapting with life’s changes

Jessica George’s debut novel captivates an insightful glimpse into love, loss in modern age

BY DAPHNE DLUZNIEWSKI SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Maddie Wright has been taught to keep things to herself. Family matters and personal problems are private and not to be shared. But she has one confidant: the readers of Jessica George’s new book “Maame,” in which she is the protagonist. The author’s debut novel, released on Jan. 31, has already made waves throughout the book community with its insightful writing and loveable main character.

Maddie Wright has been called “maame,” pronounced “ma-meh,” her whole life. She explains that in Twi, a dialect of the Akan language spoken in Ghana, “maame” has many different meanings. For her, it means “woman,” a label paradoxically fitting and ironic. On the one hand, Maddie is a girl who has been forced into womanhood much too soon. When Maddie was younger, her mother spent more time in Ghana than in their hometown of London. Her brother never seemed to be around much either, as he preferred his friends’ families to his own. It was often just her and her father, a deeply introverted man who never had much to say. When he is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, the responsibility lies on Maddie to care for her father and pay their bills.

Maddie seems to have missed out on

the milestones typically enjoyed by other 25-year-olds. Her relationship history is limited to one awkward high school fling, she does not go out to clubs or bars with

friends and she still lives in her childhood home. As a result, she has yet to feel like a real woman.

When her mother announces she is

returning from Ghana, Maddie sees this as an opportunity to finally make a change in her life, as she no longer has to take care of her father. She has a clear vision of who she wants to be: a woman with a killer sense of style, a full social calendar and a life of her own.

Of course, life never seems to coincide with what one wants. When tragedy forces Maddie to confront a steeper change than she was ready for, she is forced to reinvent herself in more ways than anticipated.

“Maame” is simultaneously a tragedy and a comedy, but most of all, it is a love story — not one that focuses on two people, but one that focuses on what it means to be loved by family, friends and oneself. The story is about the love that carries you through times that seem impossible to overcome.

Coming-of-age novels are a popular genre in modern fiction, but George weaves relatable themes in a way that is uniquely personal and avoids sounding trite. Her grasp of these themes is beautifully exemplified in Maddie’s narration, in which she alternates from speaking to herself to speaking to her audience, making the readers feel like they are having a conversation with their best friend. Maddie’s anxious yet funny inner dialogue allows readers to actually experience the mood in any given scene. This unfiltered access into Maddie’s mind adds an emotional dimension that makes “Maame” a captivating read.

George’s convincing depiction of living in the digital age adds to the poignancy of the book. Whereas literary attempts to record the omnipresence of technology often come across as corny

or forced, George skillfully captures it in an entertaining yet subtle way. Moreover, it is an avenue through which she addresses difficult topics to suggest their pervasiveness in modern society.

Throughout the book, George provides readers with glimpses into Maddie’s Google searches, which range from “what to wear a yellow pantsuit to?” to “symptoms of a panic attack.” These searches often play a humorous role, but they also allow George to creatively introduce conversations about depression and mental health. George also employs excerpts from Maddie’s work emails and lewd online dating app conversations to reveal how commonplace microaggressions and racism are in her daily life.

“Maame’s” setting in the internet era becomes the perfect background through which George can gracefully encourage readers to examine such issues in their own lives.

“Maame” is the type of book that leaves you wanting to cry, not because it is sad, but because it is full of emotions you will need to release in some way. Part of what makes George’s writing so powerful is that she does not coddle readers in the slightest. She avoids deception with perfect relationships and sappy empowerment storylines. She does not write that everything is going to be okay. She helps readers find comfort by developing a character who struggles, copes and grows in a realistically messy fashion. Maddie’s growth demonstrates that while facing loss and change is part of being human, it is possible to feel happy with a new normal.

Mia Goth shines through in Brandon Cronenberg’s third feature film

ASHLEY CHOI / HERALD

making no more than 120% AMI. Rent in the Superman Building’s designated affordable units would range from $1,384 to $2,076 a month.

Though these units have been designated as affordable, “only even a small number of those are at the 80% (AMI) level, and 80% is the highest end of what you can really call affordable housing,” said Peter Asen ’04, deputy director of development and governmental affairs for the Providence Housing Authority.

Still, Superman’s redevelopment isn’t a “bad thing in terms of the overall housing crisis,” Asen said. “Housing is probably as good of a use as any for it. It’s a good thing that it’s not going to be sitting empty after all this time … but there’s definitely a reasonable debate to be had about whether the amount of public investment in the property is worth it.”

“I certainly would like to see more units at the 80% and below level, rather than having them at 80, 90 and 100%,” Asen added.

“As Rhode Island continues to lead the region in our economic recovery, this project will help to maintain that momentum by reinvigorating downtown Providence, creating good-paying construction jobs, increasing our state’s market-rate and affordable housing supply and generating further opportunities for the residents and businesses of our capital city,” Gov. Dan McKee said last April when the project was announced.

“Affordability is a challenge both in the city and state,” Ward 1 Councilman John Goncalves ’13 MA’15, who voted to approve the TSA, told The Herald. He is optimistic that the affordable

Rent in the units in the Superman Building would range from $1,384 to $2,076 a month. Ward 1 Councilman John Goncalves ’13 MA’15 said he hopes that the affordable units will help alleviate the housing crisis in Providence.

units will help to alleviate the crisis in Providence.

Goncalves is also excited about the economic prospects of the redevelopment. “Downtown has seemingly been frail throughout the pandemic and it hasn’t realized its full potential,” he said. “Having 285 residential units downtown that will contribute to the local restaurant, tourism, event and hospitality industries downtown is going to be a game changer for the city.”

Goncalves added that the project will “create 1,600 construction jobs with the goal of hiring 20% minority- and women-owned businesses” to contrib-

ute to the redevelopment.

Housing has been a persistent problem in Providence, Clement said. Over a third of households in the state “are cost-burdened or spending more than a third of their income on housing. And so for many, many people, that makes it difficult to keep a roof over their head every day,” she said. Providence has not been building sufficiently to keep up with need since the mid-1980s, she added.

“Within the state as a whole, but especially in Providence, there is just not enough supply of housing. During the pandemic, rents have really gotten out

of control,” Asen said. “The number one thing is definitely just building more and addressing the different barriers to doing that.”

“Building more income-restricted and affordable housing to people at low and moderate-income is obviously very important,” he added.

Though it doesn’t provide access to unhoused communities, the project may ultimately be beneficial, Clement said. “We need housing at varying income levels as well to meet growing demand, but it’s not necessarily going to help people who are in shelters tonight.”

With an ongoing need for more affordable housing, organizations like HousingWorks RI will continue to work to eliminate local barriers, Clement said. “Every time I think about the Superman building, I wish there was a Superman solution for this problem, that we had somebody coming in and addressing things. But it’s not easy.”

“It takes a lot of folks to come together and a lot of people to work hard to make this all happen,” Clement said. “But everybody deserves a safe and decent place to lay their head at night.”

SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

133rd Editorial Board

Editor-in-Chief

Will Kubzansky

Managing Editors

Katy Pickens

Alex Nadirashvili

Senior Editors

Augustus Bayard

Caleb Lazar

Peter Swope

Kaitlyn Torres

Post- Magazine

Editor-in-Chief Kimberly Liu

News Metro Editors Emma Gardner

Rhea Rasquinha

Jacob Smollen

Julia Vaz

Science & Research Editor

Haley Sandlow

Senior Science & Research Editor

Gabriella Vulakh

Arts & Culture Editors

Aalia Jagwani

Finn Kirkpatrick

Rya Vallabhaneni

Sports Editor Linus Lawrence

University News Editors

Sofia Barnett

Charlie Clynes

Emily Faulhaber

Grace Holleb

Sam Levine

Neil Mehta

Haley Sandlow

Kathy Wang

Digital News Director of Technology

Swetabh Changkakoti

Opinions Editors

Anika Bahl

Bliss Han

Melissa Liu

Jackson McGough

Editorial Page Board Editor

Kate Waisel

Multimedia

Illustration Chief

Ashley Choi

Photo Chiefs

Elsa Choi-Hausman

Dana Richie

Photo Editors

Mathieu Greco

Claire Diepenbrock

Rocky Mattos-Canedo

Lilly Nguyen

Kaiolena Tacazon

Social Media Chief

Sahil Balani

Emily Faulhaber

Kaiolena Tacazon

Production Copy Desk Chief

Brendan McMahon

Design Chief

Neil Mehta

Design Editors

Sirine Benali

Maddy Cherr

Ashley Guo

Gray Martens

Business General Managers

Joe Belfield

Andrew Willwerth

Sales Director

Alexander Zhou

Finance Director

Eli Pullaro

Letters to the editor should be around 250 words and respond to an article or column that has appeared in The Herald, or critique or commend The Herald’s editorial decisions. You can submit letters to the editor to letters@browndailyherald.com.

Submissions undergo multiple rounds of editing. These rounds of editing generally take place over the course of one evening, and you may have to respond to edits late in the evening. If you know you will be unable to do so, please mention that in your email, and we will do our best to work with you.

Submissions can build on reporting from The Herald, reporting elsewhere, official statements from the University or other groups and other reputable sources, but they cannot break news or contain information that The Herald cannot verify. Because we cannot publish unsubstantiated information, failure to provide appropriate sources may mean we have to modify or remove unverified claims.

The Herald will not publish anonymous submissions or submissions authored by organizations. Leaders of student organizations can be identified as such but cannot write under the byline of their organization.

The Herald cannot publish all submissions it receives and reserves the right to edit all submissions.

All submissions to The Herald cannot have been previously published elsewhere (in print or online — including personal blogs and social media) and must be exclusive to The Herald. Once your submission is published in The Herald, The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. owns the copyright to the materials.

Commentary: The editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only.

Corrections: The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Postmaster: Please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906.

Opinions Head Opinions Editor

Alissa Simon

@the_herald

@browndailyherald

Social Media Editors

Julian Beaudry

facebook.com/browndailyherald

@browndailyherald

Advertising: The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion. 88 Benevolent, Providence, RI (401) 351-3372 www.browndailyherald.com

Editorial: herald@browndailyherald.com Advertising: advertising@browndailyherald.com

DANA RICHIE / HERALD

Fang ’26: Students and universities need to do more to curb food waste

We’ve all been there: the Sharpe Refectory’s having a themed dinner night, and there are so many options to choose from. You visit the comforts line, soup kettles and dessert bar until suddenly you look down at your towering plate of food and realize you’ve taken far too much. You eat what you can, and a mound of leftovers is forked into the compost bin.

It’s no secret that Americans waste a lot of food: The United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service estimated in 2010 that the U.S. wasted approximately 133 billion pounds of food — approximately 30% to 40% of its food supply. College campuses are major contributors, throwing out an estimated 22 million pounds of food each year. Not only is this environmentally unsustainable — it also encourages the development of poor eating habits in college students. Much more effort is needed from students and universities to curb America’s food waste habit.

Food waste contributes to environmental harm through all phases of the food supply chain. When food goes to waste, the land, water and animal feed used to grow that food is also wasted. For instance, throwing away one pound of beef means throwing away 1,800 gallons of water. Additionally, energy used to store and transport food to distributors and supermarkets is also wasted when food is discarded. On the consumer side of food production, food waste rotting in landfills contributes to methane and carbon emissions.

Food waste along the supply chain is also

cumulative: Waste further down the supply chain carries more intensive environmental impacts. Throwing away an apple from the dining hall, for example, also wastes all the resources used to grow, package, store and distribute the apple. The waste resulting from simple decisions like this is concerning without even considering the monetary loss from spending money on wasted food. But without any immediately visible consequences from

(really easy) to take a lot of food and then just throw away whatever you don’t eat.” Without awareness of the importance of portion size and the value of food, it could be more difficult for students to minimize food waste in the future. College-aged students are still forming longterm eating behaviors, so shaping food-wasting habits early on could reduce the likelihood of continued waste in the future.

Thankfully, many colleges are working to

food waste to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Despite these interventions, food waste still remains a profound issue on college campuses and should be considered an ongoing problem requiring multilevel solutions. For example, food waste at the Ratty could be reduced by using smaller or oval-shaped plates. Flyers in the dining hall explaining the impact of food waste could also deter students from taking more food than necessary. Closely monitoring the amount of trash and conducting interventional research could also help Brown find the best strategy to reduce food waste.

Individual awareness can also reduce food waste on campus. It can be tempting to take the phrase “all-you-can-eat” too seriously (Brown, to its credit, uses the phrase “all-you-careto-eat”) when presented with a seemingly boundless amount of food in dining halls, but being intentional about our plating habits can help us eat in a more environmentally friendly fashion. With some mindfulness, students can work with universities to ensure that we don’t bite off more than we can chew — literally.

wasting food, the impact seems far less tangible, contributing to the continuation of the damaging practice.

College life, in particular, makes wasting food easy. While swiping into a dining hall is simple and gives diners more food options, this easy access to food may inhibit a student’s food-management skills. One study at the University of Illinois interviewed a participant who acknowledged that “in the dining halls it’s

reduce food waste on campus. One of the most common interventions is removing trays from the dining halls to make it more difficult for students to grab too much at once. For example, Rutgers University saved $300,000 in food costs and reduced food waste by 20% just by scrapping trays. Reducing plate size in college settings may also reduce individual plate waste. Many colleges including Brown, Harvard and Cornell have also committed to composting

Juliet Fang ’26 can be reached at juliet_ fang@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and other op-eds to opinions@ browndailyherald.com.

Sender ’25: Brown must focus on preserving what it already has

Brown has a tremendous wealth of historic buildings that make its campus one of the country’s most beautiful. This does not come without a cost: These buildings require intensive maintenance that cannot be deferred without serious consequences. Even a century ago, this issue was well understood, when buildings like Robinson Hall were already in “poor condition,” per a 1928 report from the superintendent of grounds and buildings. However, in the past few years, Brown has gone on a building spree, constructing the Sternlicht Commons and the Health and Wellness Center, popularly known as the Wellness Dorm, the Lindemann Performing Arts Center and the Brook Street residence halls. The University has also completed a handful of high-profile renovation projects in the last decade, such as 85 Waterman Street and Friedman Hall, but there is more work to be done. Today, the issue of buildings unprepared for extreme weather looks increasingly likely to come to a head as dorms begin to show a critical need for major repairs.

For the second year in a row, students have watched helplessly as water floods their dorms and, for some, ruins their possessions. Last semester in Keeney Quadrangle, summer storms led to the evacuation of first-year students only weeks after arriving at Brown. This was deeply disruptive for the first-years and a poor way to introduce them to Brown’s campus experience. This issue has not been limited to summer storms though, and last year saw flooding in Diman House as freezing weather ruptured pipes in the basement. Thankfully, no students were directly affected by this flood, but both of these incidents demonstrate that there are plenty of Brown facilities in need of improvements.

The University cannot put off renovations any longer: Climate change is increasing the severity of summer storms and winter cold snaps, putting more strain on buildings. So, while a winter storm last year may have only been severe enough to affect one unlucky dorm’s pipes, storms in coming

years may cause more widespread damage. As if this issue was not obvious already, last weekend’s temperatures below 0 degrees demonstrated how severe these cold snaps can get. The same can be said for summer flooding — more intense summer storms without any building retrofitting could lead to permanent damage.

While recently constructed buildings such as the Brook Street dorms and the Lin -

their students, so the University is smart to exhibit its freshly finished facilities.

Unfortunately for Brown, prospective applicants don’t only hear about shiny new buildings. The Keeney flood made headlines in local news outlets, and prospective applicants are likely to find these articles and consider the quality of Brown’s housing when deciding whether to apply. As more intense storms lead to more severe impacts

$100.7 million through a bond, primarily for the construction of the new Brook Street dorms. One can only imagine how far the University could go with that same total wholly dedicated to retrofitting its existing housing supply. Perhaps a savvy administrator could field large sums from alums who remember their time in the same dorms, mitigating the costs of making these changes. Since 2012, Harvard has led a similar campaign for “House Renewal,” which has drawn hundreds of millions of dollars in donations — albeit not without struggles to raise the money. Though new buildings would likely attract more and larger donations than dorm retrofitting, it is incumbent upon the University to change the narrative and demonstrate to donors how enhancing existing spaces will benefit students and make the University more competitive.

demann Performing Arts Center address important needs for the University, the University’s next focus should be the urgent needs of its existing facilities. While it goes without saying that the University must provide adequate shelter in both its new and old dorms to protect its students from storms, they have additional incentives to make this their top priority.

The new construction Brown has engaged in serves two purposes for the University. Of course, the projects address campus needs, especially student housing, but they also elevate Brown’s profile and keep it competitive with other top-flight institutions across the country. Prospective applicants to Brown can read about the unfinished Performing Arts Center or scope out a potential dorm room on Brook Street. Schools across the country are in a sort of arms race to provide the best facilities for

on student housing, the wider stories of Brown’s lackluster facilities will spread. It is possible that without serious interventions, this could become a well-known issue with Brown’s residential experience, overshadowing the University’s important new facilities. By prioritizing retrofits of existing dorms for a period of time, Brown can demonstrate its commitments to the student experience and climate resiliency, the latter of which students find especially desirable in their schools. Rather than letting its buildings be a negative mark, Brown can use this opportunity to become a national leader in updating historical buildings, setting the University above its peer institutions, and attracting positive attention from across the country.

Brown should pursue this opportunity with the same vigor that it has shown in its construction of new buildings. Brown raised

Brown has not announced any new projects on the East Side that will follow the completion of its current projects: It should stay on that course and spend its money ensuring the buildings it already has will last for the 252 years that University Hall has. If it does not, it runs a number of risks. It risks damaging student experiences by subjecting them to the impacts of intense storms. It risks sacrificing facilities to disrepair long before their expiration dates, losing the charm of Brown’s campus. Most of all, it risks seriously damaging its reputation. But if Brown shifts its mindset, it can complete some incredible work in ensuring the resiliency of its campus for many years to come.

Gabe Sender ’25 can be reached at gabriel_sender@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and other op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

This article was originally published online Tuesday, Feb. 7.

“With some mindfulness, students can work with universities to ensure that we don’t bite off more than we can chew — literally.”

“While recently constructed buildings such as the Brook Street dorms and the Lindemann Performing Arts Center address important needs for the University, the University’s next focus should be the urgent needs of its existing facilities.”

Women’s water polo posts 5-1 record at Bruno Classic Invitational

Team outscores opponents 67-34 to start season strong at home

BY AUSTIN XIANG CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The No. 25 women’s water polo team kicked off its season last weekend in dominant fashion, winning five of six games at the three-day Bruno Classic Invitational hosted by Brown at the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center.

The team is coming off a 25-win season last year — the team’s most wins in a season since gaining varsity status in 1999. The Bears’ top three leading scorers from the program’s record season — Zoe King ’23, Claire Pisani ’23 and Lily Weiser ’23 — are all returning this year. King, Pisani and Weiser recorded 73, 60 and 51 goals respectively last season. Despite the team’s recent success, coach Felix Mercado wrote in a message to The Herald via Brown Athletics that he still attempted to keep his expectations “mild” in the team’s first stretch of games.

“Because of our youth, it was important for me not to lose sight of the end goal, and that is to be playing our best at the end” of the season, Mercado wrote. “The beginning is always the unknown, so I find it best to keep expectations low.”

On Friday evening, the Bears came out firing on all cylinders, defeating La Salle University 10-4 and Siena College 14-6. Bruno carried its momentum into

Saturday, beating Long Island University by a score of 13-6, and securing a 10-5 victory over Pomona-Pitzer.

Brown opened day three with a commanding 14-5 victory over Austin College, marking the second time in three years that the team earned five consecutive victories to open their season. However, Brown ultimately suffered their first loss on Sunday afternoon, losing to No. 14 Wagner College by a score of 8-6.

“Wagner ran a very effective zone defense against us and challenged our shooters,” Mercado wrote. “With their zone, once we missed a shot or turned

the ball over they were off with a relentless counter attack.”

Mercado praised seniors King, Pisani, Weiser and Bryn Gioffredi ’23 for their strong play and ability to keep the team focused. Pisani and Weiser recorded seven goals each, while attacker Ashley Penner ’26 led the team with eight goals.

Although the team had a strong offensive showing, Mercado emphasized their impressive defensive performance last weekend led by goalkeeper Shauna Franke ’24. Franke, who amassed 45 saves over the six games, replaced former goalkeeper Marley Presiado ’22,

who recorded 209 saves with a .488 save percentage last season.

Franke “was fabulous,” Mercado wrote. “She had been battling injuries since last year, and I was not expecting her to play more than two games. She pulled me aside this week and said she wanted to go for it, and that she did. The scary thing is she is not even at 80%, and I expect her to keep getting better.”

Mercado described the weekend as “very good,” but added that the team still has “a long way to go” with matchups against the No. 6 University of Michigan, No. 14 Princeton and No.

19 Harvard ahead of them.

“Considering our top opponents already had games under their belts and were more experienced, for us to come out in our first weekend of games with wins over nationally ranked teams like Long Island University and Pomona-Pitzer as well as battle with top-15 team Wagner, I would say that competing for a conference championship is within our sights,” Mercado said.

Bruno will pack their bags and head west for Santa Clara University’s spring tournament beginning Feb. 18 as they continue their quest for a Collegiate Water Polo Association title.

COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS

The Bears’ top three leading scorers from the program’s record season — Zoe King ’23, Claire Pisani ’23 and Lily Weiser ’23 — are all returning this year. King, Pisani and Weiser recorded 73, 60 and 51 goals respectively last season.