The suit claims that 17 schools, in cluding the University, violated feder al antitrust law by failing to maintain need-blind admissions while collab orating on their financial aid policies as members of a group of top-ranked private colleges, The Herald previously reported. Colleges that institute needblind policies do not consider financial aid as part of their admission decisions. In the complaint, the plaintiffs al leged that some of the colleges in the group — which include most of the Ivy League and other highly-ranked pri vate institutions — factored in financial need when admitting students off the waitlist or as transfers. The complaint also accuses some schools of “wealth favoritism” for children of potentially significant donors and using software that collects data on zip codes or pa rental occupation. By implementing these practices — or collaborating with schools that use them — every school in the group violated an exemption to antitrust law in the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994, the suit claims. The exemption allows colleges to calculate financial aid in the same way, so long as they practice need-blind admissions.
A lawsuit alleging that Brown was part of a group of colleges that ignored its commitment to need-blind admission policies can move ahead, a federal judge in Illinois ruled in late August.
JACK WALKER / HERALD SEE MOCK TRIAL PAGE 3 SEE LAWSUIT PAGE 8 SEE FLOOD PAGE 8 SEE TWTP PAGE 5
Students, organizers discuss 2022 TWTP
UNIVERSITY NEWS
floodingdisplacedfirst-yearsby
BY NEIL MEHTA SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Participants praise program for activities,community-buildingworkshops,mentorship
Financial aid antitrust lawsuit to move ahead
BY JACK TAJMAJER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Students who completed the Third World Transition Program, a four-day pre-orientation geared toward stu dents of color, last Wednesday said they found a new community through the Foundedworkshops.in 1969 as the Transi tional Summer Program, TWTP wel comes incoming first-years to Brown with “an introduction to the support structures and resources available to them” and workshops regarding “systems of oppression that exist in our society today,” according to the program’s website. TWTP is organized by a team of student coordinators and staffed by Minority Peer Counselors, who oversee cohorts of about 15 stu dents each during the program. MPC Rachel Ly ’25 described the program as a space for students to “learn about themselves, learn about Providence, learn about their com munities … and learn about how to survive in a place that wasn’t made for Athem.”series of workshops organized by MPCs for students was central to TWTP’s programming. Ly organized a workshop centered around ableism, an event which she explained is in line with the program’s focus on sys tems of oppression. “All of the workshops (in TWTP) were about different ‘-isms,’ ” Ly said.
BY SHILPA SAJJA & KAITLYN TORRES UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITORS
UNIVERSITY NEWS
UNIVERSITY NEWS
Former mock trial members detail racist incidents
UNIVERSITY NEWS Brown remains a defendant in case after rejected motions to dismiss
TRACY PAN / HERALD TWTP, founded in 1969 as the Transitional Summer Program, welcomes incoming first-years to Brown.
Three Black former members say there was insufficient response after they complained 35
Students placed in temporary housing until Friday after water reaches dorm basement
Three Black former members of Brown Mock Trial said they left the team be tween summer 2020 and fall 2021 over a pattern of racist behavior by certain other members. In interviews with The Herald, the former members alleged that some members of the team made racist re marks about marginalized groups and devalued the contributions of Black team members. Among the incidents they cited was a 2019 text exchange preparing for the annual all-team cos tume party, in which one member pro posed dressing up as “German soldiers (the good ones ofc)” or “Hispanic wom en with red lipstick.” Another cited in cident involved a member downplaying the impact of colonialism on Africa. In December, Aicha Sama ’24 — a former mock trial member who had left the team three months earlier — filed a Discrimination and Harassment Intake Form with the University, which was reviewed by The Herald. The form de tailed her experiences of racism with in the club as a Black member. In the months following her report, Sama said she was disappointed by the lack of action the University took in response. In a statement sent to The Herald, Michael Chandler ’22.5 — who served as the mock trial team president during the 2021-22 academic year and will serve on its executive board this fall — wrote that the team is aware of racist and sexist incidents that have occurred in its history. He wrote that during his first two years, the team had “little to no infrastructure for dealing with instances of racism and sexism.” During his time as president, Chan dler wrote, he has tried to prevent in stances of racism through trainings. He said he plans to schedule yearly community guideline discussions and strengthen the team’s ombudsperson role — an individual designated to voice members’ concerns to the ex ecutive board. “Many of the executive boards in our past did not have inclusivity and diversity as a primary focus,” Chandler wrote. “That is not the case this year, and it won’t be the case in the future.” Members of the executive boards from the 2019-20 academic year did not respond to requests for comment. These incidents have now prompt ed further investigation of the mock trial team. Earlier this month, Allison Singleton ’22, one of the former team members, reached out to Undergrad uate Finance Board Chair Amienne Spencer-Blume ’23 and described “deep inequities regarding the distri bution of funding within the group,” Spencer-Blume and UFB Vice Chair Arjun Krishna Chopra ’25 wrote in an email to The Herald. Mock trial received $40,446 — the fifth highest of any student group —
BY KATY PICKENS METRO EDITOR
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM SINCE 1891 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2022VOLUME CLVII, ISSUE 37 Womens soccer takes down Hofstra 3-0 in fourth game of season Page 6 Students share highlights of UTRA-funded summer research projects Page 5 Tiger Sugar is the newest addition to Thayer Street boba scene Page 2 SportsS&RMetro 71 / 60 76 / 58 TODAY TOMORROW Sender ’25: The highway divided Providence. A cap over I-95 can fix it. Page 7 Commentary DESIGNED BY JACK WALKER ’23 SENIOR EDITOR NEIL MEHTA ’25 DESIGN EDITOR JULIA GROSSMAN ’23 DESIGN EDITOR
Several campus buildings flooded Mon day due to heavy rain, displacing roughly 35 first-year students from their rooms. The Archibald-Bronson dorm saw the most significant flooding, with first-years describing water pouring in through doors and windows and leaking through walls in the basement hallway as the storm went on. Diman, Sears and the Verney-Woolley Dining Hall saw flooding as well, sources told The“SeventeenHerald. rooms were affected and approximately 35 students were temporarily displaced,” wrote University Spokesperson Brian Clark in an email to The Herald on behalf of the Office of Residential Life, the Department of Facilities Management and the Depart ment of Public Safety. “I heard some general commo tion from outside my door,” said Col
Although officials are doing their best to control the spread, “it’s a tall order,” he RIDEMadded.isalso requesting that resi dents assist in the effort to control the insect’s“We’respread.asking the public to help us out,” Ayers said. For people who find a spotted lanternfly, “let us know about it, and then, frankly, destroy it.”
2 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2022THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
Tiger Sugar joins Thayer boba scene as fourth milk tea shop on street
A new shop has joined the Thayer Street bubble tea scene: Tiger Sugar. With franchises across the country, Tiger Sugar found a new home at 288 Thayer in June and has found great success since, according to manager XiangOnChen.opening day, “we had a huge line that went all the way down to So ban,” Chen said. “It was crazy. … We expect huge lines in big cities, but not in Providence.”WhileTigerSugar will be the fourth bubble tea venue in the Thayer area, Chen said their drinks are bound to stand out: The tapioca pearls are so creamy that they leave distinctive stripes on the inside of their cups — hence the name Tiger Sugar. “We import natural ingredients from Taiwan,” he added. “The way we cook our boba takes about three hours.”Chen, in addition to managing the new Tiger Sugar franchise, is a junior at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He commuted to Providence multiple days a week throughout the summer and is planning on coming by the shop most weekends now that the school year is Adamunderway.Gendreau ’24 went to high school with Chen in Massachusetts. “He is a really nice guy with an im peccable sense of humor,” Gendreau wrote in an email to The Herald. “This is the first Tiger Sugar in Rhode Island, and my friend Xiang worked to help make that a Gendreaupossibility.”addedthat he enjoys the variety of pearl sizes offered at the shop, and that his personal favorite drinks are the non-milk teas. “I think that although there are four different boba shops on Thayer, they are all very different experiences given pricing, menu options and over all atmosphere,” Gendreau added. “It provides different options for students. Because the Brown University popula tion is dispersed around Thayer Street, it seems as though all four shops can economically survive.” Jess Weng ’24 said she thought the abundance of boba on Thayer was ex citing.“Ilove boba, so it’s not a downside for me,” she explained. “There were a lot of people (when I went), but the wait time wasn’t too bad.” Weng purchased the lychee black tea, which she said she preferred over the milk tea drink that her friend pur chased. “It just depends on your taste,” Weng added. Chen explained that operating on Thayer Street and being the first Tiger Sugar in Rhode Island was especially exciting given his family’s connection to Providence. “When I first came to this country, I lived in Providence with my relatives,” he said. “I know the area.”
His family also runs a restaurant on Hope Street called Lucky Kitch en Chinese Cuisine. Chen was first introduced to Tiger Sugar when his girlfriend began working at a location in Flushing, N.Y. “That’s why we got interested, be cause the drink is just so unique,” he said. “It tastes really good, so I wanted to open (one) myself.” The shop is currently open from noon to 10 p.m. every day. Chen said he was especially excited by universi ty students returning, and he said he hopes that many will come by the shop for a late-night milk tea.
BY KATY PICKENS METRO EDITOR
Another piece of legislation signed into law in July will require the gener ation of between 600 and 1,000 mega watts of energy capacity from offshore wind farms. The law will help Rhode Island move toward its aspirations of becoming a leader in offshore wind development. “Already home to the first offshore wind farm in the country, this pro curement establishes Rhode Island as a leader in the blue and green econo mies,” said Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos in a press release. “This procurement has the potential to power 340,000 homes each year and will create hundreds of well-paying jobs. Our goal to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2033 is the most ambitious in the country but projects like this will ensure we get Alongsidethere.” these pieces of legisla tion, Erica Hammond, the lead orga nizer at Climate Jobs Rhode Island, a climate and labor advocacy group, emphasized a law signed in June in stituting labor standards for renew able energy projects greater than three megawatts. The standard “requires that workers are paid the prevailing wage with a significant incentive to hire workers in apprenticeship programs,” Hammond said. The act also requires projects receiv ing public money or tax incentives to enter a labor peace agreement, which is a contract between an employer and unions, Hammond added.
The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority unveiled the first 14 buses of its new electric bus fleet in mid-Au gust, with more set to arrive in the coming months. The vehicles are the first electric buses RIPTA has operated, according to an Aug. 16 press release.
The drought’s severity led the United States Department of Agriculture to declare a drought disaster for Rhode Island several weeks ago, triggering authorization for relief money to go to affected farmers.
Invasive lanternfly arrives in Rhode Island The spotted lanternfly, an invasive pest that has plagued eastern states for years, has arrived in Rhode Island. The insects can cause crop damage and harm deciduous forests, Ayers said. State officials at RIDEM are “watching closely” to track the pest’s spread after a lanternfly population was discovered in North Smithfield, Ayers said. In addition to monitoring lanternfly populations, the state will work to exterminate them when they are found, especially next winter, he added.
Ocean State hit by severe drought Despite recent downpours, Rhode Island is suffering a severe drought as of Aug. 30, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra tion-run U.S. Drought Monitor. The drought is expected to continue into September, said Robert Megnia, a meteorologist at the National Weath er Service. Severe drought is the third most extreme level out of five, accord ing to the drought monitor. And 53% of the state is going through an extreme drought, the U.S. Drought Monitor’s second-highest classification. Droughts in the region are “fairly uncommon,” Megnia said. “Typically in southern New England in general, it’s pretty hard to get drought conditions.”
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that each bus will save up to 135 metric tons of green house gas emissions annually, accord ing to the release. In addition to reducing RIPTA vehicles’ contributions to climate change, the buses will have envi ronmental justice benefits, lowering emissions on a corridor where “many low-income and diverse communities have been affected by air pollution,” the release said. Air pollution in Providence dispro portionately affects low-income people and people of color in the I-95 corridor that the R-Line traverses, The Herald previously reported.
METRO RI passes goal of 100% renewable energy as drought, invasive insects hit state LOKI OLIN / HERALD
METRO First Tiger Sugar location in RI features all natural ingredients, creamy flavors
Summer 2022 saw many developments in environmental news. Rhode Island made a number of advances in its tran sition to renewable energy and was hit by drought, while an invasive insect arrived in the state for the first time. Here is some environmental news in the Ocean State you may have missed over the summer: One hundred percent renewable en ergy standard becomes law Gov. Dan McKee signed legisla tion in June requiring 100% of Rhode Island’s electricity to come from re newable sources by 2033. The act places the Ocean State as a national leader in state-level climate policy with the earliest deadline for simi lar transition plans passed to date, according to a press release from McKee’s office. The act prescribes a specified in crease in the percentage of Rhode Is land’s electricity supply coming from renewable sources each year, and it relies on carbon offsets to reach its goals. This means that while electricity can still be generated from fossil fuel sources after 2033, utility companies must purchase an equivalent number of renewable energy credits, which then subsidize the generation of an equal amount of renewable energy elsewhere.
BY EMMA GARDNER METRO EDITOR
JULIA GROSSMAN / HERALD
The shop is currently open from noon to 10 p.m. every day. Manager Xiang Chen said he was especially excited by students returning, and hoped that many would come by the shop for a late-night milk tea.
RIPTA rolls out first fleet of electric buses
Rhode Island environmental news you might have missed this summer
The electric buses will replace the diesel buses on the R-Line, accord ing to the press release. The R-Line runs north-south through Pawtucket, Providence and Cranston and is RIPTA’s largest line by ridership.
State and federal agencies are coor dinating relief for farmers, Ayers said.
“The weather patterns that we see are no doubt climate related,” said Ken Ayers, chief of the Division of Agri culture and Forest Environment at the Rhode Island Department of En vironmental Management. He added that the rapid oscillations between significant drought and significant precipitation are indicative of the changing climate.
In the discrimination and harass ment form she filed with the University in December 2021, Sama detailed her team member’s comments and wrote that the team treated her “very dif ferently” because of her race. She also noted that she was the only Black wom an on the team for most of her time with the club. “I had to stop doing an activity I genuinely enjoyed because the envi ronment was toxic and hostile for Black women,” she wrote.
“I felt like they only listened to me about the racist culture (when) I embarrassed them on social media,” Singleton said. Jones had already left. He quit the team at the end of the spring 2020 semester because he said he felt that his negative experiences would only continue if he stayed.
Juana De Los Santos, assistant vice president of equal opportunity and di versity for the OIED, said that after stu dents file a Discrimination and Harass ment Intake Form, her office determines next steps in a meeting with an OEID officer. De Los Santos added that OIED cannot discuss individual cases filed in the past or that are currently pending. “It saddens me to hear that a stu dent may have been disappointed with our processes,” she wrote in an email to The Herald, adding that she welcomes them to reach out to the office to dis cuss their situation further. Sylvia Carey-Butler, vice president for institutional equity and diversity, said that the BMT complaints were referred to the Office of Student Con duct and Community Standards. “This was not something that OIED actually investigated and resolved,” said Car ey-Butler.Sama said she was referred to Kirsten Wolfe, associate dean and associate director of student conduct and community standards, and Dara Kwayera Imani Bayer ’08, who leads the University’s Transformative Justice Initiative. The Transformative Justice Initiative is a support program at the University that builds “the capacity of individuals and communities to respond to harm in transformative and non-pu nitive ways,” according to its website. Wolfe directed most questions re garding the mock trial club and Sama’s complaint to the Student Activities Of fice but wrote in an email to The Her ald that the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards reviews all complaints of code of conduct viola tions and, if warranted, “will conduct an investigative review to interview witnesses and collect all relevant in formation.”Wolfealso wrote that if an allegation does not “rise to the level of a violation of the Code of Student Conduct, other options may be explored,” including no-contact orders, the Transformative Justice Initiative or restorative options through the Office of Student Conduct.
“This feels racist” Former mock trial members Sin gleton and Jared Jones ’22, who left the team before Sama joined, said that early on after joining the team, they felt their contributions were devalued because of their race. At first, Singleton said, “I felt like, ‘Okay, this feels racist, but they’re not actually saying the N-word or anything I could explicitly point to.’” But Singleton’s feelings changed in the fall of 2019, when her team planned its costumes for an annual all-team party. In a team GroupMe chat reviewed by The Herald, one member proposed dressing up as “German soldiers (the good ones ofc)” or “Hispanic women with red lipstick.” In response, another asked, “What is Hispanic aside from the Thelipstick?”original commentator respond ed, “The attitude. The colors of Mexico. The offensive accent. The sombrero. TheWhensass.”a third member raised a con cern that the suggestion was offensive, the second wrote that the person who suggested the costume is “somewhat Mexican” and that they “gave us all a Mexico pass.” In response to the suggestion that they dress up as German soldiers, a member wrote, “Yes you all go as Ger man soldiers and I’ll wear a huge Star of David. Totally appropriate and not offensive” and then suggested that an other member could “bring her personal copy of Mein Kampf.” After these messages, Singleton then wrote in the GroupMe and said, “I just want to make it clear that it’s not okay to even joke about dressing up as people of color for costumes. As the sole person of color on this team, it was extremely uncomfortable to read that.” Some members in the chat apolo gized for their actions. One wrote, “Sorry for my part in that. Didn’t mean to make you uncom fortable and I’ll be more careful in the future.”Another wrote, “Same … did not mean to offend anyone and will be more careful in the future,” adding “:)” at the Butend.to Singleton, the replies to her message were insufficient. “The apologies I received in the GroupMe did not address the seriousness of the situation,” Singleton wrote in an email to The Herald. “Suggesting to dress up as an ethnic group for a party, is not simply ‘offensive’ or ‘uncomfortable’; it’s Singletonracist.” noted that one member reached out to her outside of GroupMe with a more in-depth apology. But “without action, words often fall short,” she added. The mock trial executive board wrote in an email to The Herald that the members who wrote those messag es have since left or graduated. “The leadership working at that time does not reflect our current team nor do they represent the actions this e-board would take in that situation,” the board wrote. A promise to change After the exchange, Singleton re ported the incident to the team but was disappointed by the response. Caleb Eickmann ’21, who served on the e-board in spring 2019, said that in previous years, the team offered an anonymous form for members to share concerns, but otherwise had “fewer sys tems in place to handle instances of racism and sexism compared to later years.” In fall 2019, the team created the ombudsperson position, Eickmann wrote in an email to The Herald. After seeing the comments in her team’s GroupMe, Singleton described her experience in November 2019 to Eickmann, who at the time served as the team’s ombudsperson. Eickmann then discussed the incident with the e-board.
In the meeting with Bayer about the Transformative Justice Initiative, Sama said that Bayer outlined the ways in which mock trial could undergo an ac countability process. Sama, who had left the team months earlier, told Bayer that she would not be part of the process.
“It’s not my place to have to fix their issues,” Sama said. Bayer declined to comment. Sama and Bayer met with an ad ministrator from the Student Activities Office in January to further discuss how they could facilitate a better environ ment within the club. Sama said that was her last contact with both Bayer and the SAO administrator. She said she was frustrated that the initiative wanted her to take part in planning how the mock trial team would address the racist incidents. Last month, Sama detailed her experiences with mock trial and the subsequent ac countability process in a Medium post. Even months or years after leaving, the pain of their experiences persists for members who quit the team. Being a part of the team “robbed me of my confidence,” Singleton said. “It took a very long time for me to build back the confidence that they stole from me. … It felt like they were chipping away at my sense of self.”
“It was just a combination of bad experiences and the microaggressions that really led me to quit,” Sama said. When Sama left the team, she sent an email to the e-board. The email, which was reviewed by The Herald, described her reasons for quitting and the comments that the team member had made in the dorm room. “Part of me wanted to stay be cause I felt like leaving would mean that the microaggressions, problematic comments and overall mistreatment of women of color would ‘win,’ ” she wrote. “I now realize that the strong and healthy thing for me to do is to leave Brown Mock Trial.” “Brown Mock Trial needs to do better,” she continued. “Diversity and inclusion training, better training for captains and creating a more intensive ombudsperson role needs to happen — and the burden should not fall on the few people of color in the club to make things right.” In a response, the e-board wrote Sama that they were “making chang es to make sure your experience isn’t replicated ever again.” One of these changes included implementing train ing with the OIED.
The e-board believed that the best response would be to hold a training on bias and racism, but wanted to avoid a meeting solely on the specific situation, Eickmann said in an interview with The Herald. Before the end of the semester, the e-board members and Eickmann also individually met with the team members involved in the GroupMe chat to make clear that “that was not accept able behavior on the team,” he said. In spring 2020, Singleton checked in with Eickmann and found out that “no consequences resulted from” her complaint about the messages and no training had been held yet, she said.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2022 3THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS during the 2018-19 school year, accord ing to UFB data. UFB granted BMT such a large budget due to “a high degree of trust in the judgment of mock trial’s leaders,” Spencer-Blume and Chopra wrote. Because of Singleton’s state ment, UFB has initiated an investigation of BMT’s use of funds.
The comment came after a discus sion about that member’s dating app profile, during which the member said they would prefer to date people with knowledge of a specific work of Euro peanTheliterature.comment about colonialism that followed was “insensitive,” said Adam Gendreau ’24, a former BMT member who was present at the social.
The ombudsperson for fall 2020 led a general training for the team that October, which multiple members said failed to meaningfully address diversity and anti-racism within the club. The ombudsperson at the time did not reply for comment in time for publication. Af ter the fall training, members said they saw little change in the team’s culture. In spring 2021, during a social gath ering in a dorm room, a white member of the team downplayed the impact of colonialism on Africa, multiple people present told The Herald.
“I had to sit there for a moment and say, ‘Look, I can continue on this path, knowing that these people will never change,’” he said. “That’s why I said I’m not going through this kind of stuff.”
“It really changed the tone in the room.” Shortly after the comment, Sama and Gendreau left the room. The mem ber apologized to Sama after she left the room and in a later message. The member declined to comment. The mock trial e-board team wrote in an email to The Herald that they were made aware of these comments “several months” after the incidents occurred. The board contacted the Office of In stitutional Equity and Diversity and had the team member take diversity training through OIED “due to their specific comments.” Sama decided to leave the team in September 2021.
The new mock trial guidelines in cluded a permanent ombudsperson po sition who would lead more frequent trainings, Eickmann said. Starting fall 2020, Eickmann said that each small team would be required to meet with the ombudsperson to discuss how to deal with potential issues.
Eickmann said the training did not occur in fall 2019 because the team had just a few weeks before the end of the semester, and the board had already planned a sexual assault prevention training, which limited schedule avail ability. Eickmann left after the fall se mester to study abroad. The e-board did not find a new om budsperson or hold a diversity and in clusion training in the spring, according to BMT leadership. In an email to The Herald, BMT leadership attributed the delay in find ing a new ombudsperson and the lack of training to “the COVID-19 pandemic, the shutdown of many Brown organiza tions, the complete shutdown of college mock trial and the abrupt departure fromDuringcampus.”the summer of 2020, an anonymous Instagram account called @blackivystories was created for Black students at Ivy League schools to share their experiences. Singleton submitted a post that was shared in August re garding her experiences with the team, sheInsaid.the post, Singleton described her teammates’ GroupMe comments and the subsequent lack of action by the e-board.TheInstagram post has received over 1,700 Eickmannlikes.said the e-board moved its diversity and inclusion training ses sion — originally planned for the fall 2020 semester — up to summer 2020 because they felt it was important to hold the training as soon as possible in light of the Instagram post. In response to the post, the 2020-21 e-board sent an Aug. 1 2020 email to its club members outlining the next steps they planned to take.
Reporting Misconduct
The email, which was reviewed by The Herald, discussed plans to address the concerns conveyed in Singleton’s post, including anti-racism and eti quette workshops, guidelines to re spond to instances of racism on the team and a review of the team audition process. The executive board mandated that all returning members attend a virtual anti-bias training before the fall semes ter, Eickmann said.
MOCK TRIAL FROM PAGE 1
Limited Change
“One of my goals was to try and make sure that that kind of situation, to the extent possible, wouldn’t happen again,” Eickmann said, referring to the GroupMe exchange. Singleton said she left the team before the fall 2020 semester began.
Chandler wrote to The Herald that the team has also worked with the Com munity Dialogue Project to develop guidelines for fostering a diverse and inclusive community within the club. “Making sure my team knows that they are loved, supported and respected is my primary goal, and I will work to ensure that it is the primary goal for every executive board member that comes after me,” he wrote.
Feathers of every color covered 34th Street in New York City Saturday night. Groups of girls in boas, crop tops, ripped jeans and exuberant makeup stood out side Madison Square Garden, waiting for doors to open to the 360 degree stage inside. It was the ninth night of a total of 15 shows at Madison Square Garden for Harry Styles’s Love on Tour 2022Saturday’sresidency.show comprised mostly of songs from Styles’s most recent album, “Harry’s House,” which was released this past May. Styles opened with “Daydreaming,” one of the rock ier, feel-good songs on the album. Styles rose up from the center of the stage decked out in a red Gucci jump
ARTS & CULTURE Styles electrifies New York City during his 15-show residency at Madison Square Garden
4 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2022THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS TOMORROW’S EVENTS 7:30 a.m. 70 Ship StreetSFThWTuMS 765 8 2 3 4 141312 15 10 11 9 25 2423 26 17 18 16 2927 28 1 30
SPH State of the School ’22 4 p.m. Ruth J. Simmons Quadrangle 22212019
2 p.m. Leeds Theatre, Lyman 102 DPS Property Identification 12 to 3 p.m. Main Green Supersymmetric Phenomenology & Rare Signals in Colliders 1 p.m. Barus and Holly 555
Master’s Student Welcome Back 10 a.m. Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center
First-Year Health Careers Advis ing Orientation 4 p.m. BERT
Coffee with Campus Safety 7:30 a.m. Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center
Harry Styles takes over Madison Square Garden on Love on Tour 2022 BY REBECCA CARCIERI ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR
Styles performed the ballads “Matil da” and “Little Freak” with such emo tion and conviction that it was almost hard to remember that he was smiling and bouncing around the stage only moments prior. The variance of tone and energy suggested the depth of Styles’s starpower and emotional in telligence.Inbetween “Cinema” and “Music for a Sushi Restaurant,” Styles incorporated a transition with horn instrumentalists playing the introduction to the Village People’s “YMCA,” a surprisingly effec tive way to tie the two songs together. The addition of the live horn players also added an increased level of fun and excitement to the already extrav agantTheshow.only song on the setlist from Styles’s five year-stint in the boyband One Direction was their most popu lar song, “What Makes You Beauti ful.” Styles added a rockier flair to the tune, which made it sound more mature. The audience was dancing and screaming so much that the floor of Madison Square Garden actually House” song “Love of My Life.” The highlight of the concert, how ever, came after Styles sang his famous ballad, “Sign of the Times.” During Styles’s first solo tour, Live on Tour, he would regularly sing his unreleased rock song “Medicine,” which some believe is a bisexual anthem. However, in recent years, Styles has rarely played the tune. On Saturday night, Styles decided to play the song fans yearn to hear every time they see him live. The opening drumbeats and guitar chords had fans screaming even louder than they did when Styles first arrived on stage. It was an experience everyone in that room will likely never forget. Styles concluded his phenomenal show with “Kiwi,” a hit from his first album. Throughout the show, Styles took the time to engage with his audience: He sang “Happy Birthday” to a fan and talked to two young children holding a sign saying it was their first concert. Even while he was perform ing, Styles made an effort to wave and blow kisses to fans in every section
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REBECCA CARCIERI / HERALD Styles engaged with audience members by singing “Happy Birthday” to a fan and blowing kisses to every arena section.
“The research I did was mostly translational medicine so this project could actually be applied on patients,” Ding said. “That is kind of crazy to think about because … when I go into the lab, I’m not just pipetting and working with cells — this could really be used in the future in a very prac ticalTheway.”application cycle for spring 2023 SPRINT/UTRA semester opportu nities will open for students in UFunds from October 7 to 24.
“I know past participants said that some of their longtime friends were from TWTP,” she added, “and I think that might shape up to be the case for Accordingme.” to MPCs and students, TWTP’s cohort system allowed for stu dents to form relationships with their MPCs beyond the program. Throughout the orientation events, Ulin emphasized he was the first-years’ peer, he explained. “I think I was successful in doing so because now … everytime I see them in the gym they wave … and we catch up,” he said. “I’m really excited to see them flourish here at Brown.”
The cohorts were “a really nice way to meet new people and find out what people’s interests were,” Boyd-Weatherly said, adding that her MPC was helpful in providing advice about classes, extracurriculars and life at Nguyen’sBrown.TWTP cohort offered a community that made the transition to Brown “easier,” she added.
“Taking up space as a student of color (and) as a Black person on a pre dominantly white institution’s campus, I noticed (during general orientation) that there are so few of us,” Francis added. “If we don’t take up this space, a lot of issues (or) grievances that we have won’t be heard by the wider pop ulation of Brown.”
Cole Francis ’26, another TWTP participant, noted that he now feels “more comfortable being (himself) and starting off this journey with a different lens,” he said. “I don’t have to dim my light or assimilate to any broader culture at this school.”
SCIENCE & RESEARCH SPRINT students670supportedprogrammorethanundergraduatethissummer
TWTP participant Dre Boyd-Weath erly ’26 said she enjoyed the MPC workshops, especially the ableism workshop, for “bringing issues that don’t affect us to light, especially when we’re in community with people” af fected by them. After originally joining TWTP to learn how to navigate campus and access available resources, Boyd-Weatherly said she found a “warm and welcoming” community of students.“I’mstill talking to students from TWTP,” she said. “It’s fun to now come to orientation events and be around people who did Boyd-WeatherlyTWTP.”added that she ap preciated having a support system in place before orientation began, which she was “really nervous about” before arriving on campus.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2022 5THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS For UTRA recipients, opportunity brings new skills, mentorship
COURTESY OF AMY SIMMONS
Learning, developing skills Tolu Ogunfowora ’24, a biomedical engineering concentrator, worked with faculty mentor and Director of Biomed ical Engineering Kareen Coulombe, as well as Stephanie Roser MS’22 GS, on her UTRA Ogunfowora’sproject.research focused on optimizing the protocol for differen tiating human-induced pluripotent stem cells into cardiac fibroblasts, a type of cell which promotes connec tiveOgunfoworatissue. said that she had some experience with the skills needed for this project, such as knowing how to maintain cell cultures, but said that this summer gave her the chance to “real ly hone in on my skills” and develop new ones, such as fixing, imaging and freezing cells. “I was able to do the protocols with out looking at the instructions and I knew why I was doing certain steps and had a better understanding of the science behind it,” Ogunfowora said. “It’s a little bit difficult going from theoretical in a classroom to knowing you actually like doing it day-to-day … so just being able to experience it and learn either that she really liked it and wants to continue it or … to rule it out, either way can be super valuable,” RoserAnnasaid.Shlimak ’24, a chemistry concentrator on the chemical biology track, worked with assistant profes sor of neurosurgery Maria Guglielmo MD’92 to create her own UTRA project that was not originally on the listed opportunities page. Her project used urine toxicology screenings to study the effects of marijuana on pain outcomes and opioid management following elec tive spinal surgery over a nine month postoperative period. Shlimak’s UTRA experience also included shadowing her faculty men tor Guglielmo’s surgical operations at Rhode Island Hospital and interacting with patients during clinics at her of fice in East Greenwich and at Newport Hospital.Shlimak said that she was able to learn “how to communicate with pa tients about clinical research and what it takes to write a good abstract, how to analyze your data and the best statistics forms to use in order to get results that both are accurate … but also descriptive enough where it helps you answer your researchElizabethquestion.”Ding’24, a biology con centrator, worked with Professor of Medical Science and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Wafik El-Deiry. Ding’s research specifically focused on testing cancer cell lines with a drug of interest known as ONC201 to determine the cell lines’ reactivity and sensitivity to theDuringdrug.her UTRA, Ding also de veloped new lab skills she had “only learned about through biochemistry (class),” she said. “So it was really cool to be able to incorporate things that we learned from class” into re search.Some projects were collaborations between students receiving UTRA and those with other funding. Biomedical engineering concentrator Angelina Schorr ’24 worked with Assistant Pro fessor of Engineering Vikas Srivastava and Zahra Ahmed ’18 GS on a project studying pH regulation of the cancer tumor microenvironment using hy drogels.While Schorr’s grant was through the Neal Mitchell ’58 Systems Thinking Project Award, her undergraduate lab partner had an UTRA grant.
TWTP FROM PAGE 1
This summer, students who received the Karen T. Romer Undergraduate Teaching and Research Awards — a University program launched in 1986 — worked with faculty on research collaborations and teaching projects for 10 to 12 weeks, according to the UTRAUTRAswebsite.fallunder Summer and Se mester Projects for Research, Intern ships and Teaching, a collection of Uni versity-funded research and teaching opportunities. It promotes mentoring relationships between faculty and stu dents, career exploration and learning new skills while providing financial support for students, Oludurotimi Adetunji, UTRA director and associate dean for undergraduate research and inclusive science, wrote in an email to The“TheHerald.SPRINT program supported more than 670 undergraduate stu dents (this summer), of whom about half were UTRA recipients,” Adetunji wrote.Students told The Herald that their UTRA-funded research allowed them to develop new skills while also re ceiving mentorship. For some, the op portunity offered a chance to test out what they learned in the classroom; others found that the experience af firmed their passion for research and STEM.Students could apply to pre-ap proved faculty-listed opportunities or develop their own project with a Brown faculty member. The stipend was $2,500 for domestic projects and $3,000 for international projects. “Funding is possible through the generosity of many donors as well as institutional contributions through the University budget process,” Adetunji wrote. “Last year, the SPRINT program provided nearly $4 million in funding to support over 800 undergraduate stu dents,” he added.
Ilana Nguyen ’26, another partici pant, praised TWTP for fostering new friendships among incoming firstyears.“Because we moved in early, it was … a lot easier to just walk up to random people and say ‘hi,’ ” Nguyen said. “You had shared experiences to talk about, and you know that they were there because they are interested in some of the same issues as you were.”
EDITOR
Presenting research findings Students receiving UTRAs were in vited to present their project findings in an optional research symposium, which Ding described as a “celebration of everyone’s work.” Over 200 UTRA recipients presented at the symposium, according to Adetunji. “People would come up to you and actually want to hear what you did and have some follow-up questions,” Ogun fowora said. “It was just a really nice feeling to be able to share with other people who are really curious and want to knowShlimakmore.”said that the symposium was a “good (way) to have a refresher on how to verbalize your findings and was also really interesting to see other students’ projects and what other op portunities there may be for research at Brown.”Schorr echoed Ding, Ogunfowora and Shlimak’s remarks, adding that she “felt seen and like I was doing some thing that Studentsmattered.”werealso able to “share their project summary and scholar products in the Brown Digital Reposi tory, take part in elevator pitch events, write reflection essays and respond to a feedback survey at the end of the project cycle,” Adetunji wrote. Future directions After the summer UTRA experience formally ends, many students will con tinue working on their respective re search projects during the semester. Ogunfowora said she was “excited” to keep optimizing the protocol for her project during the fall. “I’ve always been interested in research, so I guess this was pretty much my first time actually having my own project to work on and so it was nice to see what goes into that and to know that I’m genuinely interested in research and the types of research I might want to do later on,” Ogun foworaRosersaid.said that “research is a pret ty translatable, valuable experience, whether it’s for industry research, grad uate school (or) medical school, it’s a genericSimilarly,skill.”Ding said that her “project is definitely far from over” and that the summer UTRA was a “really good foundation” for her future research and career goals in medicine.
UTRA was launched in 1986 and falls under a collection of University funded opportunities.
BY GABRIELLA VULAKH SCIENCE & RESEARCH
She added that she was also able to develop more general skills outside of lab work such as “patience and per severance, because obviously these (experiments) don’t go right the first time, it takes a lot of repetition … but then I would always come back the next day with a really good attitude, and just try again.” Mentoring relationships Ogunfowora said that part of what made the UTRA experience “really rewarding” was working with Roser, who would send her scientific journal articles and let her observe various ex periments in the lab. “Anytime I had a question, she took her time to explain the nuanc es of even something like scientif ic writing that you wouldn’t think would be so specific,” she said. Roser “was really supportive … and I wasn’t afraid to make mistakes,” Ogunfowo ra added.Rosersaid that having Ogunfowora work with her was “super helpful.” “We try to always make sure it’s a balance of benefiting the undergrads so that they get a lot more research experience and … benefiting the grad uate students so we get some help on a project,” she added. Schorr also felt that her lab men tor was “very patient with me and would always be very uplifting, which was just very heartwarming. I real ly couldn’t have asked for a better mentor.”Shlimak said that working with a mentor “who’s been in the field for a really long time, specifically a woman, has been a very good experience for me. To hear about everything that she went through in the process of determining what she wanted to do professional ly and navigating the whole medical education process was important for me to Schorrsee.”also mentioned that a high light of her research experience was “working with other women in STEM and female engineers, especially be cause engineering is such a male-dom inated field.”
“That includes ableism, classism, rac ism (and) environmentalism,” among others.Lyadded that when speaking to students after the workshop, many noted that ableism was never discussed in their high schools or the media they consumed. “I thought it was really spe cial to highlight something that is so pressing (but) definitely isn’t in the limelight enough,” she said. MPC Brandon Ulin ’25 organized a workshop on cisheterosexism, the con cept that cisgender identity, heterosex uality and binary sex assignment are privileged in society. “Before college, a lot of the students aren’t exposed to these heavy terms,” he said, “so we wanted to find a balance between exposing them to the terms (while) opening conversation and allowing them to ask questions.”
The women’s soccer team (4-0-0) con tinued its sizzling start to the 2022 season with a commanding 3-0 victory over the Pride of Hofstra University (31-1) Sunday afternoon. The Bears rode a strong offensive performance to victory at Stevenson-Pincince Field, with for wards Brittany Raphino ’23, Ava Seelen freund ’23.5 and Miya Grant-Clavijo ’25 each finding the back of the net. Last year, the Pride were one of only four teams to defeat last year’s Brown squad, which made the Bears’ victory all the more significant, said Head Coach Kia “ItMcNeill.wasalittle bit of a revenge match for us,” she said. “We were on the other end of this last year, so it was great that our team was able to respond and come away with a convincing win.” Last season, Hofstra won the Colo nial Athletic Conference and defeat ed Providence College, another team which took down the Bears, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before being eliminated by the University of SouthBrownCarolina.was aggressive from the opening whistle, putting extreme pres sure on the Pride defense right away. The Bears failed to convert on multiple scoring chances in the game’s open ing minutes, with midfielder/forward Zoe Maxwell ’22.5 sending a shot just wide of the post and a Raphino attempt clanging off the post after she went past multiple defenders. Raphino appeared to score the first goal of the game off a header, but the score was ruled out due to a foul. Bruno was finally able to get on the board in the 15th minute when Seelenfreund weaved her way through the Hofstra defense before passing to Grant-Clavijo, whoBrownscored.immediately went back on the attack and Seelenfreund again carved through the defense, this time delivering a strike that went well be yond the hands of Hofstra goalkeeper Skylar Kuzmich to find the back of the net.“We just moved off each other and picked our moments,” Raphino said. “We practice this day in and day out but once we can execute, it comes down to … believing in each other.” “Our defense has been so solid, so to reward the team with goals is really all we can do to put together” well-round ed performances, Seelenfreund added. Even with a two-goal lead under 20 minutes into the game, the Bears stayed aggressive and refused to con cede any ground. A bend-but-notbreak defensive effort from the Pride kept the score at 2-0 well into the sec ond half, despite constant pressure from Brown’s offense. The Bears were able to break through again in the 60th minute when Raphino finally managed to find the back of the net. Her shot appeared to be heading well wide of the net before curling back in, awing the crowd and her teammates. Neither team was able to make much offensive headway for the final 30 minutes of the game as Brown coasted to a comfort able 3-0 McNeillwin.emphasized the importance of her team’s cooperation in putting together well-rounded offensive perfor mances. “The great thing is we have so many people on our team that can score goals for us, so even if (opponents) fo cus on (Raphino), we still have (Seelen freund), we still have (Grant-Clavijo and) we still have (Maxwell),” she said. “The more dynamic and dangerous we can be in the final third, the better off we’re going to be as a team.” Bruno’s offense dominated from start to finish, consistently keeping the Hofstra defense on its heels and preventing the Pride from ever mount ing a comeback. Brown’s dominance was clear on the stat sheet — the Bears attempted 16 total shots including eight shots on goal, while Hofstra recorded two shots and one on goal. The one-sided game flow meant limited save chances for goalkeeper Clare Gagne ’24, who has only allowed one goal through four games since tak ing over after last year’s Second Team All-Ivy selection Kayla Thompson ’21.5 graduated.Gagne“stepped in this year like she was a veteran,” Raphino said. “We have all the confidence in the world in her.” Seelenfreund noted that it is “very important” to perform well against strong non-conference opponents, adding that playing well in non-con ference games is “how you build mo mentum going into conference” play. “This is a good team and to put away three goals against them really says something about where we can go” as the season goes on, she added. The Bears will take on another ma jor non-conference foe this Thursday when they host the Ohio State Univer sity Buckeyes, a Big Ten powerhouse, at Stevenson-Pincince Field at 7 p.m.
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SPORTS Bears move to 4-0 on season ahead of clash against Ohio State Thursday evening
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Women’s soccer shuts out Hofstra University in 3-0 victory
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COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS Goals from Brittany Raphino ’23, Ava Seelenfreund ’23.5 and Miya Grant-Clavijo ’25 led to a shutout win for the Bears. The Pride were one of four teams to defeat the Bears last year, making the victory even more significant, according to Head Coach Kia McNeill.
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Sender ’25: The highway divided Providence. A cap over I-95 can fix it.
“If Providence wishes to restore itself to its pre-highway glory, it must waste no time and cover the highway which has done so much harm.”
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@brown dailyherald.com.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2022 7THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY
Highway capping is an effective tool for re connecting communities torn apart by high ways. It not only restores the walkability of the community, but it also restores the community itself by opening land for the housing and re tail spaces that form the backbone of any ur ban neighborhood. This in turn provides great economic benefits for the city, making the land more valuable and bringing in more property taxes. Moreover, the new land does not have to be sold into private hands — these freeway decks can be turned into linear parks, providing additional green space and trails in areas which had previously been concrete jungles. Perhaps the most famous example of such a highway cap is Freeway Park in Seattle. Far ahead of its time, construction on the cap con necting three neighborhoods was completed in 1976. It quickly became a treasured space in Seattle, constructed with a focus on pedestri an access to ensure it would be heavily used by residents. Today, nearly 50 years later, the ben efits of the Freeway Park cap have been readily recognized. In fact, an advocacy group called Lid I-5 has formed with the express purpose of expanding the cap of Freeway Park another 17 acres, which could add 4,500 new homes and a new public park to the area. Though the age of highway capping is still nascent in the United States, caps are already known to have profoundly positive impacts on surrounding communities. Conventional urban highways are known to raise local rates of asth ma, heart disease and other health disorders. But caps on highways limit the exhaust escap ing into surrounding neighborhoods and reduce noise pollution, which has been connected to cognitive impairment in children and negative impacts on heart health. Thus, highway caps can have positive effects beyond reconnect ing neighborhoods and providing livable urban space.Since the construction of I-95, Providence has been a city divided. This has done tremen dous damage to the urban fabric of the city, leaving neighborhoods on both sides of the highway worse off than before. Fixing this dam age requires enormous amounts of money, a challenging sum for Providence to meet, but it is well within the means of the federal gov ernment. And Providence must act soon, as the Reconnecting Communities program dis tributes limited amounts of money only until 2027. If Providence wishes to restore itself to its pre-highway glory, it must waste no time and cover the highway which has done so much harm.
In the 1950s and 60s, Interstate 95 was con structed through Providence, displacing more than 2,000 residents throughout the state. In sheer numbers, this piece of infrastructure, running the length of Providence and cutting downtown in half, may be one of the most de structive in the city’s history. That said, the true scope of the urban devastation wrought by this highway cannot be measured in numbers alone — it divided the city’s neighborhoods, leaving disjointed communities. That is why I-95 must be covered up to restore the city to its pre-high wayAnglory.unfortunate case study in the destruc tion brought by highways can be seen at Ca thedral Square, a small neighborhood set around the Diocese of Providence on the west side of downtown. Once a vibrant center of Providence, this vibrant community began to suffer when Providence’s textile industry de clined in the area and I-95 plowed through in the 1950s. For years, things looked bleak. But in the late 1960s, Providence took a remark able step: Rather than accept that this cor ner of downtown was past its prime, the city brought in world-renowned architect I.M. Pei to design a new plaza in front of the church and reattract those who had fled for the sub urbs. Of course, the community did not see the sort of urban resurgence that city leaders had hoped for. The Providence Preservation Society, which has called the site a “loser,” attributes this failure to the lack of activities to draw patrons. But the organization’s as sessment leaves out one critical point: Even if there were great destinations set on the plaza, the whole area is cut off from half the city by the enormous eight-lane highway that bounds its west side. Here, I-95 serves effectively as a wall, making walking to the square from the residential neighborhoods to the west unpleas ant and tedious, and leaving this once-promis ing pocket of downtown to rot. And that same highway is likely choking other areas of downtown Providence, prevent ing them from becoming lively, walkable areas. Since the highway went up, the desirability of the area has irreparably gone down. The fab ric of the community has been completely torn apart, leaving a great gash that no downtown improvement can heal. At least, that no conventional improve ment can heal. This seemingly incurable urban affliction brought about by highways has fo mented an increased urgency within the fed eral government to restore our cities to their former glory. This has culminated in the De partment of Transportation’s Reconnecting Communities grant program, an effort that will allocate $1 billion over five years for proj ects which either remove highways or amelio rate the damage they’ve done to communities. One type of project this grant program could support is “capping,” the process of building a deck over a preexisting highway and putting usable land on top of it, thereby reconnecting communities and restoring their former vi brancy.Few cities are better suited to pursue this kind of project than Providence. The most de structive section of I-95, the stretch which crosses downtown from the Woonasquatucket to the Providence River, already runs largely in a trench below street level. Highways built in trenches can be easily capped at a lower cost than similar potential projects, which might require costly burials or removals of viaducts. It would still be expensive, but it would come with many benefits.
COURTESY OF MADDOCK THOMAS
ELSA CHOI-HAUSMAN / HERALD
The University has arranged for a shuttle to transport the first-years to campus for their first week of class es, and student support deans have emailed students’ professors explaining the difficult circumstances, according to the“Whileemail.the water was limited largely to the floor and long-term damage to items appears limited, any wet items belonging to students (floor coverings, clothes, linens, books) have been gath ered, inventoried, labeled and removed by a restoration contractor for clean ing,” Clark wrote. “They will be returned shortly and the University will cover all of those costs.” Several first-years expressed that this was a rocky end to their first week at college.“There were a bunch of people down there trying to make sure ev eryone was safe and get people out,” said Maddock Thomas ’26, who lives on the second floor of Archibald but was in the basement at the time of the flooding. “We also had really no clue what to do, because it was just a bunch of first-years who moved in less than a week ago,” he said. “We’re not en tirely sure what to do even if it’s not flooding.”Capoor emphasized that they were impressed by how quickly the students banded together.
“I was really surprised and happy in a way at how well our floor worked together,” they said. Thomas explained that he was concerned that flooding may happen again the next time a large storm rolls through.“Wealso have been told that this just happens sometimes, which feels concerning at a university that is sup posed to be one of the world’s best,” he said. “The timing for first-year students between orientation and the start of classes is certainly less than ideal, but Brown staff have come together to offer support and solutions, and students have been helpful and flexible in adapt ing to an unanticipated challenge,” ClarkClarkwrote.added that the “enormous rainfall totals” during this storm closed down highways and caused flooding across Rhode Island.
“This whole saga from when it start ed pouring to when we were evacuated was roughly 45 minutes,” they said. “If all it takes to flood a dorm and displace (over) 30 people is an hour of rain, I’m quite concerned for the rest of my year.”
Students were evacuated from Archibald-Bronson and were told to find a different place to stay Monday night. Displaced students are currently being housed in the Marriott Providence Downtown until at least Friday while affected rooms are dried and dehumidified.
Kennelly, in his opinion, agreed with the plaintiffs and the Justice De partment. “Regardless of which inter pretation of ‘need-blind’ it adopts, the plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that the defendants do not admit all students on a need-blind basis,” the opinion said.
FLOOD FROM PAGE 1
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2022 8THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
“What will be the condition of the rooms we return to? And what happens next time it rains?”
Kennelly sided with the plaintiffs in his opinion, writing that “the burden to show withdrawal in civil antitrust cases is the same as in criminal cases — on the Thedefendant.”original suit also claimed that the group’s method of determining financial aid awards violated the Sher man Antitrust Act by disincentivizing competition, known as the Consensus Methodology within the 568 Group. That methodology, Gilbert said, con sists of a common formula that asks families to contribute as much as possible.TheJustice Department’s state ment agreed that the Consensus Methodology “eliminates an import ant dimension of price competition among schools — whether the offers are identical or the differences are sim ply narrowed — in the same way that an agreement on the minimum net price of attendance eliminates price competition.”Whilethe defendants’ motion to dismiss argued that they lacked market power in any defined market and the methodology primarily offers recom mendations for uncommon financial situations, Kennelly did not deem that either claim could lead to dismissal of the case. “Brown University’s financial aid is set without any specific knowledge or regard for how other colleges are setting their financial aid,” Clark wrote in his email. “We will demonstrate this through the legal process.”
KATY PICKENS / HERALD
“What happens next?” They asked.
“‘actual knowledge of their coconspira tors’ admissions policies is not relevant to whether the 568 exemption applies or whether their conduct violates the Sherman act,” an antitrust law. To maintain its antitrust ex emption, the University would have needed to publicly disavow the 568 Group, Gilbert said in an interview. By not doing so, Gilbert argued they became liable to students and their families for damages that date as far back as “Brown2003.isfully committed to mak ing admission decisions for U.S. un dergraduate applicants independent of ability to pay tuition, and we meet the full demonstrated financial need of those students who matriculate,” Clark wrote.
LAWSUIT FROM PAGE
The motion to dismiss also reit erated Brown’s stance that it did not violate the conditions of its antitrust exemption “if, unbeknownst to them, another member of the (568 Group) was notButneed-blind.”theDepartment of Justice dis agreed, stating that the defendants’
The University claims that its fi nancial aid policies are set without considering other institutions’ offer ings. University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald that Brown plans to make that case in court.Members and former members of that group of colleges, known as the 568 Presidents Group, collectively filed a motion to dismiss in April. But on Aug. 15, U.S. District Court Judge Matthew F. Kennelly denied the motion to dismiss in its entirety and ordered the parties involved to set a schedule for a discovery period — an exchange of information between parties that can include depositions and subpoenaed documents — leading to a“Althoughtrial. Brown is disappointed that it was not dismissed from the case, the University is confident that it will prevail in this matter,” Clark wrote. On Sept. 2, Kennelly ordered the parties to come to an agreement on the timeline by mid-November. The plaintiffs’ proposed timeline suggests that the final hearings before a trial occur after May 2025; the defendants offer a slightly faster timeline overall. In the next phase of the case, the plaintiffs “look forward to taking the depositions under oath of the decision makers at each university who partic ipated in this antitrust conspiracy,” Robert D. Gilbert, managing partner of Gilbert Litigators and Counselors, one of three lead law firms for the plain tiffs, wrote in an email to The Herald. “We look forward to winning sub stantial restitution for the 200,000 stu dents who have been harmed by the collusion of these 17 elite universities and to ending their unlawful practices,” Gilbert wrote. In the motion to dismiss, the defen dant universities and colleges claimed that they are “exempt from the antitrust laws” the plaintiffs allege they have vio lated. They also criticized the plaintiffs’ interpretation of need-blind admissions for ignoring the term’s “structure, his tory and Alongpurpose.”withEmory University and the University of Chicago, Brown claimed that charges against them should be dismissed as they withdrew from the group more than four years ago, beyond the statute of limitations for antitrust suits. Brown left the group in 2012, according to court documents. Kennelly rejected this claim, noting that Brown did not “establish their withdrawal.”Amotion to dismiss indicates “the complaint is legally insufficient,” Daniel Crane, a professor at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor’s law school, wrote in an email to The Herald. Judges do not look at evidence or hear from witnesses, and instead only engage with lawyers, he wrote.
A statement submitted to the court by the U.S. Department of Justice in July disputed the colleges’ definition of need-blind. Need-blind admissions must occur for all applicants, “regard less of whether they are admitted from a waitlist or through a transfer pro cess,” the statement said.
lin Brown ’26, a resident of the Ar chibald-Bronson basement. “I turned the corner (and) … the door was just pouring out water.” Justin Meszler ’26 lives on the sec ond floor of Keeney but was doing laun dry in the basement when the flooding began.“The situation rapidly escalated as more water kept coming in,” Meszler said. “It was really just a frantic team effort of trying to use some sandbags that we found there to block out the water.”While trying to physically stop the water from coming in, several students called the ResLife and Fa cilities Management phone numbers but had difficulty getting in touch with“Istaff.called multiple people on the (back of my Brown ID) card,” Brown said. “I guess it (was) Labor Day, so it’s understandable that they were out of office.” My calls were “transferred multiple times,” he added. “It took a really long time for something to happen.” “Staff from Brown’s Facilities Man agement team and Residential Life offices have been assisting on-site at Archibald-Bronson since late Monday afternoon,” Clark wrote. Poor cell service in the basement made it more challenging for residents to call for help, said Milan Capoor ’26, another resident of the Archibald base ment.Capoor described several inches of water spilling down the hallway and into dorm rooms, sometimes creating hazardous conditions. “I know of one girl who got some broken glass in her foot while trying to walk through the water,” Capoor added. Students eventually called 911, several residents said. Meszler ex plained that first-years on the floor worked to unplug appliances and turn off the power before staff came to help. Marcus Waller ’26 and her roommate, who also live in the Ar chibald-Bronson basement, stuffed towels under the door of their room before“Theevacuating.evacuation process wasn’t re ally one at first,” Waller said. “Honestly, for a good 30 to 45 minutes no one was there.”Students were evacuated from the building’s basement and were told to find a different place to stay Monday night.“One of our friends had to rent a hotel because we had nowhere to sleep,” said Alan Lucero ’26 regarding accom modations Monday evening. According to a Herald-reviewed email sent to Archibald residents Monday at 9:45 p.m., ResLife offered assistance for those who could not find housing.“Residential Life staff worked with students to arrange for overnight housing — some stayed with friends or family, and the University provided rooms on campus to those who needed temporary space on Monday night,” Clark“I’mwrote.incredibly fortunate to have had sophomore friends, to have made connections with people in my class,” Capoor said. “But I can totally imagine a situation where somebody would not have people they’re comfortable sleep ing with for a night.” Several sources who spoke to The Herald said they slept on the floor of friends’ rooms. In an email sent Tuesday after noon, which was reviewed by The Herald, ResLife informed the 35 dis placed students that the water from the dormitory had been removed but that Facilities Management had ad vised that the rooms should remain unoccupied until Friday to dry and dehumidify. Until then, the affected first-years will stay in the Marriott Providence Downtown.
A lawsuit alleging that Brown ignored its commitment to need-blind admission policies is moving ahead after a ruling by a federal judge. 1
