Wednesday, October 5th, 2022

METRO

Activists lament 47% utility rate hike

Public Utilities Commission approves electricity rate increase, relief measures

BY JACOB SMOLLEN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Following a public comment session Sept. 23, the Rhode Island Public Util ities Commission approved a 47% increase in residential electricity bills proposed by Rhode Island Energy for this winter.

The rate increase, which will also affect business’s bills, went into ef fect October 1. Residents and activ ists in Rhode Island have criticized the change, arguing it unfairly harms low-income residents.

According to Ted Kresse, com munications manager at RI Energy, the price increases are mostly due to market factors, such as elevated gas prices resulting from the war in Ukraine and higher regional de mand.

In February, the Division of Public Utilities and Carriers approved the sale of RI Energy, formerly known as Narragansett Electric Company, from National Grid to PPL, The Herald

previously reported. RI Attorney Gen eral Peter Neronha appealed the sale, resulting in an agreement with PPL which froze rates for energy distribu tion for three years and allocated $200 million in direct payment relief for consumers, according to a statement from the RI Attorney General’s office.

The sale had little effect on the recent price increases, according to Kresse.

During the Sept. 23 hearing, the commision ruled on a number of measures to mitigate the impact of the rate increase, such as the use of

Membership rules for tenure committee tighten

Faculty, admin pass motion Tuesday to allow only full, tenured profs to serve

BY SOFIA BARNETT SENIOR STAFF WRITER

University faculty and administration voted to restrict membership of the Tenure, Promotions and Appoint ments Committee to tenured full professors at the first faculty meeting of the semester Tuesday. Previous ly, both non-tenured and associate professors have been able to be part of the committee, which provides tenure, promotion and appointment recommendations to the president and provost.

Forty-three out of the 105 voting faculty members ultimately voted in favor of the motion, with 34 voting against it and 28 abstaining from casting a vote, passing the motion.

Kenneth Wong, professor of edu

cation policy, introduced the motion on behalf of the Faculty Executive Committee.

The motion was prompted by the discovery that four members of the committee were not tenured, Wong said. Having professors on TPAC without tenure creates “organiza tional and logistical challenges” be cause non-tenured professors had to recuse themselves from decisions such as promotions, he added.

Several faculty members ex pressed concerns regarding the mo tion. Christopher Rose, professor of engineering, said he was wary of removing associate professors from the committee.

“What makes me a little bit ner vous is that now it’s the old heads making all the decisions,” Rose said. “An early associate professor may have their ear closer to the technical ground.”

Carlos Aizenman, professor of neuroscience, agreed with Rose that

$3.8 million in cap-and-trade funds to partially offset costs for low-in come customers, Todd Bianco, chief economic and policy analyst for the RI Public Utilities Commission, told The Herald.

The commission also approved a deferral program — which allows customers to delay paying a monthly $6 fee over the winter — and the use of $32 million in credits for customers, which came as a result of a settlement between Neronha and PPL, Bianco

ARTS & CULTURE

First-years provide glimpse into a capella auditions

BY RYA VALLABHANENI SENIOR STAFF WRITER

With the pressure of starting class es, shifting friend groups and settling into an unfamiliar campus, first-years already have a lot to navigate this fall. Some have never been away from home, and others are buying their first pair of winter boots. All are beginning to find that college life is more than a cycle of lectures, papers and exams. Rather, college is heavily shaped by gathering with different people around common interests — a process largely facilitated by student organizations.

Many first-years spend the opening months of the fall semester looking for new communities to join. While Brown’s campus offers numerous op tions — the University is home to over 500 organizations — each year, a large number of first-years gravitate toward a cappella.

With 15 groups, Brown is home to

the most a cappella groups per capita in the United States, according to the Intergalactic Community of A Cappella website. Ten of these 15 comprise IG CAC, an overseeing body that helps or ganize a cappella affairs on campus. All IGCAC groups hold auditions over the same three-day period, though students can ultimately only join one of them, according to Chattertocks member Al yssa Devilla ’23.

The Herald followed four first-year students through the a cappella audi tion process, speaking to them before, during and after.

‘Go do some a cappella’

This year, fall IGCAC auditions were held from Sept. 19 to 21 on the upper floors of Page-Robinson Hall. On almost every level of the building, crowds accu mulated as auditionees waited patiently for their turn to sing for each of IGCAC’s groups. Inside the audition rooms, vet eran a cappella members cheered as the new singers performed scales and variations on various popular songs.

To increase their chances of getting a callback, many students chose to try out for multiple groups. Auditionee

What you need to know about monkeypox

BY HALEY SANDLOW SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The U.S. Department of Health and Human services declared monkeypox, a potentially serious viral illness that belongs to the orthopoxvirus family and spreads through skin-to-skin contact, a public health emergency on Aug. 4. As of Oct. 3, there have been 26,049 total confirmed monkeypox/orthopox virus cases in the United States, including 74 in Rhode Island, according to the CDC. There have been 68,900 cases globally, according to the WHO.

“We have never seen (monkeypox) spread like this before,” said Philip Chan, consultant medical director of the Rhode Island Department of Public Health and associate professor of medi cine and behavioral and social sciences at the University. “What we’re … wit nessing now is really a (public health

emergency), as (has) been declared by the WHO.”

According to data reported by the CDC, the seven day average of daily monkeypox cases peaked around Au gust 10 and has been declining since.

A vaccine is currently available to prevent monkeypox, recommended by RIDOH specifically for groups that are typically impacted by the disease. The vaccine consists of two doses admin istered 28 days apart. Brown will host a monkeypox vaccine clinic Oct. 15. RIDOH also provides a list of commu nity vaccination clinics available on

their monkeypox web page.

“With a significant number of folks being vaccinated, we are actually seeing decreasing trends in monkeypox, final ly, across the world, across the U.S. and most states in the country,” Chan said.

The University will report cases to the community “only when there is a public health rationale for doing so, such as providing information that would help community members re spond in ways that can help make them safer,” wrote Vanessa Britto MSc’96,

First-year students seek song, community in a cappella student groups on campus

Experts discuss statistics, symptoms, vaccines, stigma of virus

RHEA

associate vice president for health and wellness, in a Sept. 2 email to the Uni versity community.

Symptoms and science

Historically, monkeypox tended to cause sporadic outbreaks in central and west Africa, yet has recently spread “like never seen before,” Chan said. Monkeypox spreads through skin-toskin contact, which occurs in many instances through sexual contact. Though anyone can contract the virus, gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men are disproportionately affected, he added.

If an individual believes they have contracted monkeypox, they should check in with a doctor or a clinic “im mediately,” Chan said, adding that in dividuals should call their doctor or clinic prior to their visit so their doctor can be aware and take any necessary precautions.

According to Britto’s Sept. 2 email, students that believe they’ve contracted the virus should first reach out to Health Services to schedule an appointment with a provider. Those who test posi

tive for the monkeypox virus are then required to isolate in accordance with CDC and RIDOH guidelines. The Uni versity will provide temporary isolation housing to students but “travel home will be an important consideration whenever possible.”

According to RIDOH’s website on Monkeypox information, “infection typ ically begins with flu-like symptoms and swelling of the lymph nodes and progresses to a rash on the face and body.” If they have reason to do so, an individual’s healthcare provider may swab the skin of the rash or lesion to be sent for monkeypox testing, Chan said.

The JYNNEOS vaccine used to pre vent monkeypox was initially designed and used for the prevention of small pox, which is also in the orthopoxvirus family. Immunity to one virus in the family also provides immunity against the other viruses in the family, Chan noted, but people are typically not vaccinated against smallpox because it has been “theoretically eradicated from the world.” But because of concern over smallpox in the military, there are “national stockpiles” of vaccines.

The vaccine is a two dose vaccine series, administered at least 28 days

apart. According to RIDOH’s webpage on monkeypox, “vaccination within four days of exposure can prevent illness and if given within 14 days of exposure can significantly reduce severity of illness should the person develop illness.”

“There is some early emerging data that is showing that (the vaccine) ap pears to be quite effective,” Chan said.

“We do recommend that Brown community members who are eligible to receive the vaccine do so,” Britto wrote in an email to The Herald.

Lena Noya ’25 received the mon keypox vaccine at a clinic hosted by Open Door Health. After calling ahead to make sure there were appointments available, she went to the clinic with a few friends.

“It seems like the safe thing to do,” Noya said. “I think if it’s available, there’s no reason not to get it and to prevent the spread throughout the com munity.” She added that, monkeypox may be more transmissible given the party culture on college campuses.

“Certainly for groups that are im pacted by monkeypox, (RIDOH) defi nitely recommends that those groups get vaccinated,” Chan said. “Really for gay and queer (men) of the Brown com

munity … I would make a strong public health push for them to really consider getting a JYNNEOS vaccine because we are still seeing transmission.”

Noya noted it “would be good” for the monkeypox vaccine to be more readily available to Brown students in the future.

Stigma and support

Monkeypox is not considered a sex ually transmitted inflection, rather it is “sexually associated,” Chan said. It is not clear if the virus can be transmitted through genital fluids, but it is associ ated with intimate skin to skin contact and rashes around the genitalia, rectum and mouth.

There is current debate around clas sifying monkeypox as a sexually trans mitted infection, according to Anthony Faccenda, director of the AIDS Project Rhode Island. Part of the hesitancy in doing so centers around “not wanting to give people a false sense of secu rity,” Faccenda wrote in an email to The Herald. While monkeypox is often contracted through sex, it can also be spread through kissing and, in rarer cases, touching objects used by some one who has monkeypox.

“Labeling something as an STI can lead to stigma and inhibit someone from seeking treatment,” Faccenda con tinued. “Recently, dozens of (APRI’s) clients have expressed concerns that the climate surrounding monkeypox mirrors that of the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s.”

“It is crucial not to single out any one group when talking about monkey pox prevention,” Faccenda wrote. “At APRI, we educate all clients on mon keypox, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.”

APRI has worked closely with RIDOH since the start of the outbreak in May to educate Rhode Islanders about the monkeypox virus, Faccen da wrote. In June, the organization started including monkeypox testing materials in their at-home HIV testing program, mailing test kits throughout Rhode Island. The organization has also helped vaccinate 100 individuals during six clinics from August through October.

Students wishing to learn more about the monkeypox virus may visit Brown’s monkeypox FAQ page, RIDOH’s webpage on monkeypox or the CDC’s webpage on monkeypox.

Anna Samel ’26 tried out for the Ursa Minors, the Chattertocks and the Jab berwocks. Her choices, she said, were more or less arbitrary. “I don’t know much about any of them,” she said. “I’m kind of just randomly going for it and hoping for the best.”

Some auditionees chose to focus on only one or two groups to not overex tend themselves. “I didn’t think about applying to a whole bunch (of a cappella groups), mostly because freshman year is busy,” auditionee Nina Lidar ’26 said.

“I sort of thought I’ll just try out for one. If it works out, cool. If not, I’ll just try it out again later.”

Most auditionees The Herald spoke to had some form of previous singing experience, and many had done their fair share of a cappella in high school.

“I’ve been singing my whole life,” said auditionee Jordan Heinrich ’26. “I’ve had formal lessons since I was five, which stopped during COVID, and then I did a lot of musical theater in high school.” She was also a member of an a cappella group in ninth grade.

Auditionee Fergus Bolton ’26 had been in charge of all of the a cappel la groups at his high school. Yet upon arriving at Brown, he was still unsure whether singing was something he wanted to pursue. In the end, his moth er helped make the decision for him.

“My mom said, ‘Fergus, you’re good at singing, go do some a cappella,’” Bolton explained. “So I said, ‘Okay.’”

Some auditionees had already been exposed to the University’s a cappella scene before coming to campus. The Brown Derbies visited Samel’s middle school in England, she explained.

For her solo on audition night, Samel chose to sing “Royals” by Lorde. “It’s actually the song I auditioned with during my freshman year of high school,” she said. “It worked well for me then, so I’m hoping it has some magic left.”

Bolton and Lidar both chose Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon,” albeit for different reasons.

“Most of my repertoire is pretty classical, operatic stuff, and it sort of bridges that gap between modern music and classical music quite well,” Bolton explained. “And it’s in my range, which is quite important.”

Lidar, on the other hand, chose the song because she found it “short and sweet.”

“I know the lyrics, and that was kind of all I was looking for in a song choice,” she said. “I’m comfortable singing it.”

Practicing proved to be a bit difficult for some auditionees. Heinrich takes music classes on campus, so she was able to use the space to rehearse after her lessons.

But Samel pointed out that a col lege dorm is a less-than-ideal spot for singing at the top of one’s lungs. “I have not been practicing too much because one, didn’t want to do that in front of my roommate, and two, didn’t want my neighbors to hear,” she said.

Lidar also felt that she should have practiced more than she did. “I started about an hour ago,” she said.

Still, most auditionees left Page-Robinson feeling both confident and relieved.

“I feel good,” Heinrich said. “I feel so much less nervous than I was before, because afterward there’s nothing I can do about it. I think it was the right song. I think I was just nervous, and I’m hop ing to work on that.”

Many auditionees were impressed with the levels of support the IGCAC groups offered. All the groups, they said,

seemed to want their auditionees to feel as comfortable as possible.

“They seemed like a fun group,” Lidar said, in reference to her audition for the Jabberwocks. “They were super welcoming and encouraging.”

‘I’m just going to try to have fun’

These brief, under-ten-minute per formances are only the first step of the IGCAC audition process. After three nights of solo auditions, followed im mediately by deliberations, each group assembles a list of students they’d like to see for callbacks, DeVilla explained.

Auditionees told The Herald they re ceived the results of the callbacks via email.

Samel received her first email that Wednesday night around 11:50 p.m. She would discover the results of her other auditions the next morning, re ceiving two callbacks — one from the Chattertocks and the other from the Ursa Minors.

“I was excited,” she said. “I actually tried to do the worm.”

Bolton, who received callbacks for the Bear Necessities, Brown Derbies, Jabberwocks and Alef Beats, was simi larly elated and could not wait to share the news. The first thing he did was text his mother.

Lidar was not called back for the second round of auditions.

The IGCAC callback process is more exhaustive than the initial audition, several auditionees told The Herald. First-years said it typically lasts four hours and involves exercises in vocal blending, learning some of the group’s repertoire and solo performances. Au ditionees are often invited to chat and have coffee with group members be forehand.

Those involved still tried to ap

proach this second stage of selection with optimism and realistic expecta tions.

“Even though I definitely will be nervous, I want to try to approach it with an open mind and just try to be happy that I’m there, rather than worry ing about whether I’m going to get in,” Bolton said before his callback.

Heinrich expressed a similar senti ment, especially after being so nervous at her first round of auditions. “With callbacks, I’m just going to try to have fun and kind of forget about it a little,” she said beforehand.

In addition to getting to sing, many auditionees were excited by the pros pect of becoming members of a student group on campus.

“At any time in my life, but espe cially because I’m a freshman right now, I think having an environment so positive and being able to do some thing I really like doing would be great,” Samel said.

“It would be a really nice way to establish myself within a community on campus,” Lidar said. “Freshman year is turbulent, and so it would be lovely to have as a designated community.”

“If I don’t get this, I do still have a group to be a part of,” she added, re ferring to her involvement in Brown’s choir. But a cappella groups tend to have a more contemporary repertoire, she added that she really wanted to get back into singing that kind of music.

Heinrich used callbacks as a time to put a cappella in perspective.

“Now I’m kind of taking a step back, being like, ‘Well, if I try again, and if I have more choices, is there something I would want more?’” Heinrich said.

While incredibly happy with the two callbacks she received, she was starting to realize that this search for commu

nity she had embarked on could also involve other student groups outside of a cappella.

“I’m definitely looking forward to getting into the performing arts scene, whatever that may be,” Heinrich said. She plans to attend a theater audition soon and continue seeking out other musical opportunities.

‘I ended up in the place I wanted to end up in’

After callbacks, all of the audition ees were given a few days to decide their rankings of the a cappella groups under their consideration. Samel was very thankful for this time, explaining that she felt welcome at both callbacks.

“Both groups did a good job of al ternating between singing and talking about the group and letting the people that were called back get a feel for what the group was like,” she said.

Decisions were finalized between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Friday, when each student slid a card containing their ranked preferences into a pink box sit ting in the Sciences Library basement, Heinrich said.

That night, all of the IGCAC groups convened to match the auditionee’s top choices with their own. They then no tified everyone who attended callbacks of the final outcome of their audition, she continued.

Heinrich, Bolton and Samel, like the rest of the auditionees, were told to be in their dorms by 11:30 p.m. Shortly after midnight, each was sur prised with a group of singing college students standing right outside their dorms.

“I opened my door to go do some thing and they were all standing there,” Heinrich said. She was invited to be come one of the newest members of

the Alef Beats, who were now singing a welcome in her name.

The Alef Beats were the only group Heinrich had written down on her card.

“It wasn’t an end-all-be-all (that) I had to be in an a cappella group this se mester, so I kind of just chose the one that I knew I wanted to be in,” she said. She explained that she had “put all of (her) eggs in one basket” but was happy things worked out well in the end.

“I liked the Jewish aspect a lot, so I felt a little bit more connected with the Alef Beats just because of that,” Heinrich added. “I ended up in the place I wanted to end up in.”

Bolton and Samel received similar welcomes that same night — Bolton from the Bear Necessities and Samel from the Chattertocks. Both were in credibly excited by the outcomes, hav ing based their decisions largely off of the sense of community these groups exuded.

“The Bears were just the group I felt the most comfortable in,” Bolton said. Samel expressed a similar senti ment. “The Chattertocks really seem like they’re kind of a family, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Despite the elation, IGCAC audi tions felt exhausting for many audi tionees. The entire process took about two weeks from start to finish and in volved 10 IGCAC groups and hundreds of auditionees. The process repeats at the start of the spring semester. But without an influx of bright-eyed firstyears the second-round auditions tend to be smaller.

“It’s quite a big time commitment when it’s all happening,” Bolton said. Now that it is over, he cannot wait to dive back into singing. But more than that, he is looking forward to “having a whole new group of friends.”

ASHLEY CHOI / HERALD

‘The Real Bling Ring: A Hollywood Heist’ warns of danger of celebrity

Docu-series tells story of teenagers famous for robbing Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom

BY MAGDALENA DEL VALLE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

In 2009, four teenagers from Cala basas, California, made headlines for successfully robbing the homes of celebrities like Paris Hilton, Au drina Patridge and Orlando Bloom.

The group, known today as the Bling Ring, is the subject of a new Netflix mini-documentary series detailing their crimes and the toxicity of the endless pursuit of fame.

Featuring two of the original members of the Bling Ring, Alexis Neiers and Nick Prugo, the docuseries reveals a new angle on a story orig inally made famous by tabloids and the 2013 film starring Emma Watson ’14. In the three 50-minute episodes, Neiers and Prugo take viewers through their experience of becoming infa mous criminals.

Prugo describes him and his best friend Rachel Lee’s obsession with status, celebrity and material things, which drove them to casually check if cars were unlocked and break into Paris Hilton’s house to swipe her clothes.

Neiers, whose involvement in the crimes of the Bling Ring is more am biguous, also cites a hunger for fame as driving her entanglement with the thefts. Before participating in rob bing Orlando Bloom, Prugo gave her his “leftovers” from a previous heist, which Neiers and her family claim she assumed were from Prugo’s work as a stylist. Prugo disagrees, saying Neiers

Many of Alexis Neiers’ and Nick Prugo’s accounts contradict each other. Often, the stories change when told by one member of Neier’s family or another. What never falters as characters tell their versions is everyone’s desperation for fame and becoming “somebody.”

knew that the clothes he was giving her were stolen.

Much of Neiers’s and Prugo’s ac counts contradict each other. Often, the stories change from one member of Neier’s family to the next. What stays consistent as the interview ees tell their stories is everyone’s desperation for fame and becoming “somebody.”

Prugo, who felt insecure about his socioeconomic background and sexual ity growing up, explains that he became more confident with every new luxury he stole. He says he felt proud while rid ing into school in a stolen Porsche and

even more satisfied sauntering around Hollywood — and posing for photos — wearing Orlando Bloom’s sunglasses.

Neiers, who wanted to be successful in the entertainment industry before meeting Prugo, manifested her immi nent fame through a daily morning chant with her family. Eventually, E! Entertainment offered her a reality TV show, which eventually followed her into her trial. Neiers’s obsession with celebrity, however, becomes her downfall when she became addicted to drugs and teams up with Prugo to fund her addiction.

A prevalent theme throughout the

series is the dangers of celebrity. On several occasions, interviewees dis tinguish between celebrities and stars. Celebrities, they explain, are famous for being famous, citing the Kardashians and Hiltons as popular examples. Stars, however, are famous because they are talented. From Marilyn Monroe to Lady Gaga, stars have a quality that eventu ally leads to their fame.

The documentary’s main warning is that celebrity for the sake of celeb rity leads to dark consequences: sev enteen-year-olds stealing rings and Rolexes. It leads to a young woman allowing a film crew to broadcast her

as she awaits her trial. It leads to audi ences unconsciously applauding such actions because they too are obsessed with celebrity and will watch anything related to it.

At one point while watching “The Real Bling Ring: Hollywood Heist,” you realize that you are the prob lem. You are unable to look away as Prugo and Neiers describe the inside of Bloom’s house or the opulence of Hilton’s accessories. You realize that they got the fame they so desperate ly wanted and that you are partially to thank for that. And that becomes terrifying.

TODAY’S EVENTS

Neta Crawford — The Pentagon, Climate Change, and War 1:00 p.m.

Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs

Contested Freedom and the (Un) timely Uses of Black Childhood 4:30 p.m.

Pembroke Hall

TOMORROW’S EVENTS

Coffee with Campus Safety 9:00 a.m. Manning Walkway

Hispanic Heritage Month Dis cussion 12:00 p.m.

Watson Institute

Addressing the Challenges of Precision Medicine 4:00 p.m. 164 Angell Street, 3rd floor, Open Seminar Space

Nonfiction@Brown: Diana Khoi Nguyen 6:00 p.m. Friedman Hall

Biomedical Engineering Seminar: Brett Owens 11:00 a.m. Barus and Holley

Provost Search: Student Listen ing Session 12:00 p.m.

Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center

COURTESY OF NETFLIX MEDIA

U. professor awarded Roman Technology Fellowship by NASA

BY MEENA PANDIT CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Assistant Professor of Physics Jonathan Pober was recently awarded NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellow ship in Astrophysics to advance his work on a groundbreaking lunar telescope.

Pober is one of six early-career re searchers across the United States to receive this award, according to a NASA press release. Meenakshi Narain, chair of physics, wrote in an email to The Herald that the department is proud of Pober’s achievements and believes “this new and prestigious award will allow Professor Pober to develop a long-term vision for the field of astrophysics, and establish himself as (a) future leader of innovative large projects at NASA.”

Pober’s work on the NASA-funded radio telescope will offer new ways to answer questions related to the cos mological dark ages, or the period be tween the Big Bang and the first star formation, Pober said. This period — during which there was no light in the universe, only hydrogen and some he lium — has been completely unstudied because scientists do not yet have a telescope to see it, he added.

Because the early universe almost exclusively contained hydrogen, scien tists need a way to observe the non-vis ible light — or long radio waves — hy drogen emits to study this time period.

The researchers are designing a special type of space telescope called a radio telescope to capture these waves, which can help fill large gaps in researchers’ knowledge about the history of the uni verse, Pober said.

Pober has experience using radio

telescopes on Earth, but the planet’s atmosphere limits him and other re searchers’ ability to view these long radio waves. For this reason, Pober and his team are designing a radio telescope that can be autonomously assembled and deployed on the far side of the moon.

The challenge of this project is to “balance the need for something we can actually build with something that can actually do the science,” he said.

“Having an antenna that a rover can autonomously build looks a lot different than an antenna you would build here on earth, where you can actually have a team of people assemble it.”

With funding from NASA, the re searchers are testing various telescope designs that will allow them to build

the telescope in space.

With the NASA funding, Pober and his team will be able to simulate data for several telescope designs and then determine which design is optimal for their work. Willow Smith GS, a PhD student on Pober’s team, is debug ging the simulation code to ensure that it works. Once completed, “we’ll start producing actual simulated data,” Smith said.

Narain noted her appreciation for the opportunities this funding will open up for undergraduates, graduate students and postdocs in the study of physics and new technologies.

Over the course of this decade, the team’s focus will shift to building small er telescopes on the far side of the moon which will look for extrasolar planets

around other stars and analyze their radio signals.

“With these experiments, scien tists will be able to understand the interaction between stars and planets and their magnetic fields, and how that might lead to a hospitable or inhospitable environment for life,”

Pober said.

Pober believes that in 10 years, scientists will have a few hundred antennas on the far side of the moon, and perhaps by the 2030s or 2040s, a large array of thousands. “If (an array of telescopes) gets built in the next three decades, I would call that an achieve ment,” he said.

After the telescopes are built, scien tists will be able to view the long radio waves they are looking for, which will

help answer long-standing questions, including about the origins of the uni verse and the nature of dark matter, Pober said.

According to Pober, this is a very “large-scale and ambitious project.”

But in the meantime, “we have to show that we can operate smaller-scale experiments and get good science out of them before we can build a really big thing that can do cosmology and answer the big questions,” he said.

For Pober, receiving this award feels not only exciting, but also reassuring. It means “NASA is taking this project seri ously,” and that the science his team is working on is exciting enough to make it “worth continuing investigations and thinking about how to turn the tele scope array into a reality,” he said.

including non-full, tenured professors in committee discussions allows for diverse perspectives and advice within the committee.

“There are people like distinguished senior lecturers that might be able to give better insight and comment on (certain) cases,” Aizenman said. “As sociate professors can (also) bring in a great deal of expertise.”

Aizenman proposed a future con versation dedicated to identifying ways ineligible faculty members can provide input to TPAC, even if they aren’t for mally on the committee.

Nancy Khalek, associate professor of religious studies and history, expressed concern that the change would nega tively affect gender diversity within the committee.

“I’m concerned (because), at the moment, we have a committee … an alyzing the status of women at the associate level,” she said. “I’m won dering about gender diversity and our full range of diversity and what it will mean if we limit the number of people who can serve on TPAC.”

Khalek suggested a “tiered solution where there are alternatives to cover some of the recusal” in hopes to maintain diversity within TPAC. She expressed hes itation over voting on the motion without

having the demographic breakdown of the University’s full professors.

Luiz Valente PhD’83, professor of Portuguese and Brazilian studies and comparative literature, pushed back on concerns about equity.

“I am someone who has served on

many committees, including TPAC,” he said. “I’m a little confused by what is not equitable about having the deci sions made by full, tenured professors.

I don’t know what kind of equity you would be looking for.”

“Sometimes we raise the issue of

equity at Brown without really thinking hard about what it means,” he added.

Prior to bringing the motion to a vote, President Christina Paxson P’19 made note to “come back with data on the composition of TPAC over time” with the intent to “have a broader dis

cussion on (the committee makeup) in another faculty meeting.”

Wong also presented a motion to appoint Paul Williard, professor of chemistry, as an interim TPAC mem ber for the 2022-23 academic year. The motion passed with an 88% majority.

Award will advance Pober’s work designing a radio telescope array on far side of moon

COURTESY OF JONATHAN POBER

This rendering represents FARSIDE, the satellite that Assistant Professor of Physics Jonathan Pober and his team aim to land on the moon this decade. Pober’s funding from NASA will help him and his team test out designs for telescopes to send to the moon.

MUKUL KHANNA / HERALD

Christopher Rose, professor of engineering, said he was wary of removing associate professors from the Tenure, Promotions and Appointments Committee. “What makes me a little bit nervous is that now it’s the old heads making all the decisions,” Rose said.

“We have effectively eliminated the impact for our most vulnerable constit uents, and they will not see an increase in their overall electric bills when com pared to last winter,” Governor Dan McKee said in a statement.

Based on average use, a residential customer paying the new rate will see an increase of around $52 a month on their electricity bill, according to PPL. But with relief measures, the “average” low-income ratepayers will actually be paying slightly less than last winter, according to Bianco.

Despite relief programs, some poli ticians and activists are still concerned about the coverage of the energy relief programs.

“Working class families are told that they make too much in order to

qualify for low-income subsidy energy programs,” state Representative David Morales MPA’19 said. “We’re going to see working- and middle-class families and households end up in severe utility debt that will carry on with them for the next years to come.”

“If you’re … the majority of work ing class people in the state, you’re still going to be impacted,” said Camilo Viveiros, executive director at the George Wiley Center, a non profit which advocates for equitable utility access.

Advocates and residents also voiced frustration over the commission’s deci sion to approve the price hike, arguing that the energy company should have taken the brunt of the costs from rising energy prices.

“People are already struggling des perately around utility costs.” Viveiros said. “If the rate increase was rejected,

that (relief) money could have had a longer term impact.”

“There hasn’t been much of an ap petite from the Public Utilities Commis sion to demand that our public utility companies do more to serve Rhode Islanders,” Morales added.

The hearing solely focused on whether RI Energy acquired their energy as planned and calculated appropriate rate estimates, Bianco said, leaving the PUC’s hands tied.

On both counts, the commission de termined that the company did its job correctly, he said.

“If someone were to make a case that the plan wasn’t followed, that’s one thing, (but) that didn’t happen here,” Bianco said. “The commision works hard to balance the interests of Rhode Islanders.” RI Energy is legally prevented from making a profit off their energy supply, he added.

Terri Wright, a housing organiz er with Direct Action for Rights and Equality, said that DARE is organizing a clinic to help people sign up for pro grams, such as the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, in order to soften the blow of the price increase.

“Hopefully this energy assistance comes in handy for families that need it. I know there are a few folks out there who only wish that they qual ified for this program because the increase is going to eat up a lot of funds,” she said.

Wright said she’s used an oven to “push the heat around” during past winters and is pessimistic about the increase, regardless of the relief mea sures. She said she’s worried about the “domino effect” the price hike will have on families that already have many oth er essentials to pay for, “making life a

little more harsh.”

Morales said that he would like to see a more systemic overhaul of the energy distribution payment system.

“It’s also long overdue that we finally pass a percentage of income payment plan,” Morales said. Under such a program, customers would pay a certain percentage of their income for their energy bill, regardless of how much they use. Similar plans have been implemented in other states, such as Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Maine.

Electricity rates will likely de crease again in the summer as the demand for natural gas wanes in the warmer months, according to Kres se. But he warned that even next summer’s rates will likely be pricier than in previous years, and “next winter’s rates could also be on the higher end.”

Schiller ’25: When are overheard words stolen?

“Then they set the corpses on fire … My sister was still alive after being shot seven times. As for me, a bullet went through my left cheek. I can’t smile. My face won’t let me.”

If you found this quote disturbing, good — that was its intent. It is taken from “DMZ Col ony’’ by Don Mee Choi, an award-winning po etry book capturing the unseen anguish of war and colonization in Korea. The work primarily presents itself as translations of others’ ac counts, interspersed with Choi’s personal expe riences. The particular lines quoted above are said to come from a 10-year-old boy, referred to as Orphan Heo Jeom-dal. His story goes on for a whole page and is followed by the equal ly horrific accounts of several other orphaned children. At the end of the book, however, Choi reveals that she had fooled the reader all along — the stories of orphans she had “translated” were not real accounts at all, but works she’d written herself.

I read the book for a poetry class at Brown, and I’ll admit that Choi fooled me — I was thoroughly convinced she’d included real ac counts from children. Before I learned the truth, I was struck by who those words belonged to. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was exploit ative, rather than poetic: Was Choi taking a real child’s suffering and selling it as poetry?

She wasn’t, of course, but her work raised an important question about boundaries in poet ry. As free-form poetry has become more pop ular, the definition of what constitutes a poem has also grown broader. One essay by writer and poet David Ebenbach even defines poetry as “a piece of writing that rewards you for reading it as though it’s a poem.” Reading “DMZ Colony,”

it occurred to me that there are essentially no ethical boundaries around what we can describe as poetry. For example, if Choi had used real accounts, could we really label those people’s suffering as poetry just because we can success fully read it as such? The ethics of found poetry – poems patchworked together from words that have already been written or said – are more dubious than the poetic community seems to acknowledge.

On a personal level, I’ve always loved the

works require credit, and those over a certain length often require explicit consent. But not all speech is copyright protected in practice, and in some cases, such as overheard speech, the person whose quote is taken will never even know that it happened. Perhaps words that don’t contain information that traces back to a specific person can always be repurposed as art work. To others, it’s only acceptable if the poet adds enough of their own spin to it.

One possible boundary is that it depends on

cretion to decide what is okay to steal or how much modification is enough seems fundamen tally wrong. The line is not theirs to draw — that right should belong to the speaker. Some one else’s consent is not to be assumed, even if one can do so with reasonable accuracy.

To have ethical found poetry, we must be more meticulous about obtaining explicit con sent for the words we borrow, providing credit and being tactful when exposing another’s sto ry. When we do not, the line between artwork and exploitation grows thin. This applies across artistic disciplines: “The Afghan Girl” and many other photographic works have faced contro versy because their impact relies on the painful story of another without effective consent and credit. “DMZ Colony” certainly draws the read er’s attention to this threat, and my classmates and I were likely not the only ones to mistake it for expository behavior.

concept of found poetry. In fact, I wrote my very first article for The Herald about the benefits of eavesdropping and found poetry. I championed the pastime as innocent and romantic, dismiss ing concerns of intrusive behavior with a quick disclaimer: It’s fine “as long as it doesn’t turn into outright violations of privacy.” But where does the line fall? What words can be ethical ly borrowed from the public space, and what words are simply stolen?

As it stands, there is no definitive boundary for using borrowed speech. Of course, due to copyright laws, most excerpts from published

the situation. Some thoughts, shared in passing, are very clearly okay to borrow. A while ago, an old man in front of me in a Starbucks said, “Rain is okay, rain is the way.” I don’t think he or anyone else was harmed by my scribbling it down for a future poem, or my sharing it here. Other things — like a eulogy or a story shared in confidence at a support group meeting — are clearly too personal to borrow at all, and others must be modified or used in fragments. Part of a poet’s job is knowing the difference.

However, I don’t think this solution is suffi cient. Allowing the writer to use their own dis

BROWN FREEZES OVER

Poetry is an immensely powerful tool for expression. It can convey expanses of emotion and experience that prose struggles to cap ture in far more words. It can inspire masses, and can even save lives. So, while poets are not quite superhuman, the famous saying holds true: “With great power comes great responsi bility.”

Eva Schiller ’25 can be reached at eva_schil ler@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald. com and other op-eds to opinions@brown dailyherald.com.

“What words can be ethically borrowed from the public space, and what words are simply stolen?”

RYAN RHEW / HERALD

Faculty, admins add members to Academic Priorities Committee

BY SOFIA BARNETT SENIOR STAFF WRITER

A motion to increase the number of faculty members sitting on the Aca demic Priorities Committee from six to eight passed with a 95% majority at the first faculty meeting of the semester Tuesday.

The motion will be effective starting July 1, 2023. The APC oversees academic programs at the University and makes recommendations to the president about the distribution of resources in support of education and research, ac cording to the APC website.

Kenneth Wong, professor of edu cation policy, political science, public policy and urban studies, introduced the motion on behalf of the Faculty Executive Committee. “Right now, we have eight senior administrators and six faculty members,” Wong said. “The rationale behind this motion is to bring parity and balance to the membership of APC.”

Provost Richard Locke P’18, who has chaired the APC for over seven years, advocated strongly in favor of this mo tion, saying that an increase in faculty members will lead to more enriched discussions surrounding important committee decisions.

“I am very supportive of increasing the number of faculty who serve on (the APC) because I think it’s really import ant for the quality of the decisions,” he said. “Having a strong faculty voice and having parity is really good for this committee and for faculty governance in general.”

Fundraising Developments

President Christina Paxson P’19 also announced updates regarding the BrownTogether campaign, a fundraising campaign that will aid the University’s investments in faculty, graduate stu dents and undergraduates.

The University expanded the cam paign goal from $3 billion to $4 billion last fall, The Herald previously reported.

Paxson shared that the University has already raised more than $400 million since increasing the goal and thanked all “advancement colleagues” and “ac ademic leaders” who have spurred the fund’s growth.

Locke explained that the University aims to use its increased fundraising

to enhance research and scholarship on campus.

“We want to make sure that we’re measuring the success of this plan not just by research dollars,” but by the tangible results of ongoing research, he said.

Locke said the University has made efforts to address major faculty con cerns relating to research, including giving faculty more time to work, fur ther institutional support and more seed and travel funding.

“We are actually doubling the amount of the Humanities Research Fund(s) so there are more funds avail able for people to seek grants, ” he add ed, referencing the program to support research in the arts, humanities and social sciences.

Currently, the University is working closely with the Committee on Facul ty Equity and Diversity to update its sabbatical policy by increasing salary support during sabbatical semesters from 75% of salaries to 100%, Locke said. Despite having to work through

budget issues for this change, Locke said he remains optimistic on the Univer sity’s ability to make this adjustment.

Locke and Paxson plan on further discussing these changes with the Corporation, the University’s highest governing body, and working with the University Resources Committee to put the initiative into effect.

“As important as it is to provide the support, we also want to make sure that the process … is inclusive and transpar ent,” he added.

Other fundraising updates includ ed the establishment of 123 endowed professorships and the raising of $70 million for international student fi nancial aid, advancing the University on its “path to becoming need-blind for international students,” Paxson said.

University Capital Project Updates

Thomas Roberts, professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology, provided updates on three residential projects at the University: River House, which will be used for

graduate student housing; the Brook Street Dormitory, which is expected to be completed by fall 2023; and the new Health and Wellness Center that opened last year.

The new Lindemann Performing Arts Center is also currently under con struction and is expected to be finished in October 2023. Churchill House, home to the Rites and Reason Theatre, also recently began construction to “add a bit of space for housing faculty,” Rob erts said. The University is also in the process of reimagining the design of Andrew’s House, which will eventually be home to the COVID Institute for the Humanities.

Andrew’s House is “going to provide wonderful opportunities broadly for humanities at Brown,” Roberts said.

Roberts also emphasized that the University is prioritizing the health of the community and planet as it executes its new capital projects.

“We’ve made great progress in sus tainable building and operations in the last year,” he said, “and we’re going to

continue to make that progress.”

COVID-19 Count

Vice President for Campus Life Eric Estes shared the University’s COVID-19 reports for the start of this academic year.

“I’m grateful to report that the weeks of Sept. 19 and Sept. 26 have seen a significant decline in the num ber of reported cases of COVID by stu dents,” he said. “The overall trend has been downward for the past two and a half weeks, including the start of this week.”

Estes also reported that the Uni versity’s COVID numbers “continue to be lower than most of our peer in stitutions, both last semester and this semester.”

The meeting also included a mo ment of silence for the passing of Phillip Lieberman, professor of cognitive and linguistic sciences, as well as Sheila Blumstein, professor emerita of cog nitive, linguistic and psychological sciences.

VICTORIA YIN / HERALD

The motion to add two members to the Academic Priorities Committee will be effective starting July 1, 2023. The APC oversees academic programs at Brown and makes recommendations to the president about the distribution of resources in support of education and research.