Wednesday, February 25, 2020

SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2020

VOLUME CLV, ISSUE 24

BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Female leaders in fashion encourage students

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Graduate students protest for contract

Over 100 attend SUGSE protest as representatives meet with U. administration

BY JACK WALKER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

ane von Furstenberg, and Liz Lange ’88, who created the first fashion-forward maternity brand for women and has styled pregnant celebrities including Reese Witherspon and Cate Blanchette. They were joined by Brittany Lo, CEO and founder of Beautini,

“What do we want? Contract! When do we want it? Now! If we don’t get it? Shut it down.”

Chanting to beats banged out on pots and pans, over 100 graduate students and allies marched from the Van Wickle Gates to 225 Dyer Street yesterday, where bargaining committee members of the graduate student union Stand Up for Graduate Student Employees met with members of University administration to negotiate for a union contract.

“The point of marching the bargaining committee down there was to show

SEE FAB PAGE 2

SEE SUGSE PAGE 4

SARAH WANG / HERALD

The panel featured five female CEOs and founders: Daniella Pierson, Sandra Campos, Liz Lange ’88, Brittany Lo and Sterling McDavid.

Fashion@Brown hosts panel to highlight leadership of women in fashion industry

BY SARAH WANG SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Although female consumers fuel the fashion industry, they are not often represented in the top-level management of many labels, with a majority of fashion houses being headed by male CEOs. To spotlight the leadership of women in the industry, The Powerhouse Women in Fashion panel held Tuesday evening featured five

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Students express opinions on new residence hall plan Students lament the uncertain future of Bagel Gourmet, East Side Mini-Mart

BY JACK BORRIS SENIOR STAFF WRITER Students expressed mixed reactions to the University’s Feb. 18 announcement of a plan for a new residential community on campus.

Adding close to four hundred beds to the inventory of housing available to students, the new residence hall will help ensure that the University can continue to provide housing in accordance with the six semester on-campus living requirement, The Herald previously reported. The plan calls for two buildings to be built on Brook Street between Charlesfield Street and Power Street at the current site of a parking lot and several businesses frequented by students.

Students on campus lamented the conditions of existing dorm buildings and questioned why the University is

not prioritizing renovations of existing structures. “It bothers me a little bit that they’re focusing resources on building a new dorm when I feel like a lot of the dorms we currently have aren’t in super great repair,” said Anna House ’20. House, who lived in Graduate Center her sophomore and junior years, said that the dorm is in need of extensive renovations to improve living conditions for students.

“I haven’t really thought about (the new dorm) too much,” said Amory Tillinghast-Raby ’21.5. “As a junior, I won’t really have the chance to take advantage of the building.

Taking some pressure off of the Providence housing market is a good thing though, and from what I understand, this dorm will do that.”

The plan quickly drew backlash on Dear Blueno — a student-run Facebook page that solicits and posts anonymous submissions — with many commenters expressing concerns about the proposed residence hall’s effect on small businesses and the appearance of the neighborhood.

SEE DORMS PAGE 3

entrepreneurial women who have defied the odds to become founders and CEOs of their own companies.

Hosted by Fashion@Brown, the panel included Daniella Pierson, who founded The Newsette newsletter for women as a college sophomore. The panel also featured Sandra Campos, CEO of the iconic fashion brand Di-

METRO

PVD founding documents return to City Hall City charter, deed, compact on display together in Providence City Hall for first time

BY BEN GLICKMAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER In 2011, while rummaging through a box labeled “To be indexed” in the dusty attic of City Hall, then-City Archivist Paul Campbell stumbled upon the 1648 Town Charter for the city of Providence — written on a piece of lamb vellum the size of a paperback book. Until then, the document had been thought lost to history.

Nearly a decade later, the charter has found a new home in City Hall, along with two other founding documents of the city. The 1637 Providence civil compact, the 1638 deed to Providence and the 1648 town charter were united for the first time Feb. 18 as part of a new display outside of the City Council chambers. The deed to Providence was formerly displayed in the Rhode Island State House.

Caleb Horton, the current Providence city archivist, helped organize

BEN GLICKMAN / HERALD

The original 1648 Town Charter was thought to be lost until City Archivist Paul Campbell found it in the attic of Providence City Hall. the new display. “These things need to be shown to people,” he said. “They can’t just hide upstairs.”

The civil compact is a commitment by the citizens of Providence to govern with a separation between church and state; the agreement was the first of its kind in Colonial America.

The deed to Providence details the official purchase of land by Roger Williams from the Narragansett Native American tribe. Williams arranged a

News

Commentary

News

Peter Roberts ’83 discusses Trump’s policies that affect international students Page 2

Douglas ’20: New upperclass housing project not worth the investment Page 6

Forty students from the class of 2021 elected into Phi Beta Kappa honor society Back

formal legal agreement under English law.

The town charter made Providence a township within the colony that would eventually become Rhode Island: Providence Plantation. Williams had returned to England in 1643 and succeeded in persuading Parliament to combine Providence, Portsmouth and Newport into a single colony.

SEE DOCUMENTS PAGE 3

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2020

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Roberts ’83 advises international students on visa applications Nelson Center Lecture addresses “Public Charge rule,” quotas, changes under Trump

BY MAISIE NEWBURY SENIOR STAFF WRITER Standing at the front of the Liz Lange Lecture Hall in the Jonathan M. Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship, Peter Roberts ’83, founder and principal of Roberts Immigration Law Group, addressed the evolving challenges facing U.S. foreign national and immigrant entrepreneurs.

“Our great leader recently killed what was a huge gift to the immigrant entrepreneurial community,” Roberts said, referencing President Donald Trump’s removal of the Obama administration’s International Entrepreneur Rule.

In addressing the termination of this program, along with the Trump administration’s new “public charge rule” implemented only Monday, “it’s all pretty scary. You have to educate yourselves about what these rules are,” Roberts said.

The public charge rule, which prohibits immigrants and foreign nationals who have accepted certain types of government benefits from receiving green cards, “is here to stay,” according to Roberts. “It’s like the bane of our existence now,” he said. The rule is broadly interpreted as a measure to reduce the number of people eligible for visas, including green cards and H-1B. A foreign national describes a person with a non-immigrant visa, and an immigrant describes a person with

FAB FROM PAGE 1 and Sterling McDavid, co-CEO and co-founder of Burnett New York.

The theme of the event was “#InCharge,” a movement started by DVF that promotes personal commitment and respecting and trusting one’s own character as the core of one’s strength.

“It’s not about being in charge of people, it’s about being in charge of yourself,” Campos said. “It’s about being in charge of your decisions, your role and how you support other women.”

The five panelists discussed their own career paths and the leadership, ambition and mental strength that helped them ascend to their current positions as powerful women in the fashion industry. Campos said that “I always worked for men. I always had

a green card.

“They accomplish this by essentially redefining what it means to be dependent on government benefits, which makes you ineligible” for visas, Roberts said.

According to Roberts, those interested in applying for a green card can see what government benefits could make them ineligible on the “Declaration of Self-Sufficiency” form, which “lists out the services that, if you took advantage of them, you could have a problem” with the green card application. For those applying to other non-immigrant visas, the “Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker” form lists other services that would make those applicants ineligible.

Those with pending green card applications are not exempted from this new set of rules. “Even though you didn’t have to answer the questions on your application, they will ask you them in the interview,” Roberts said, referencing the interview every green card candidate must go through before their eligibility is finalized.

Another obstacle facing green card applicants is the “quota-based system,” Roberts said. “If you are from India or China, there is a limited number of green cards made available each year,” he said.

“It has to be fixed because it’s such a joke now. If you’re from India, it’s about a 10-year wait. China is less, but not by much.”

Regarding visa applications, “one of three things can happen when you apply: They approve it, they deny it or they put you through administrative processing and extensive background checks,” Roberts said. Cases are being put through administrative processing

more and more frequently under the Trump administration, he added.

“You have to understand some things about what you do, especially with research,” he said. “Fields like artificial intelligence, biomedical engineering, genetic engineering have all begun to trigger background checks.”

Roberts also explained the many types of visas available to U.S. foreign nationals, the restrictions they have and what distinguishes them. He informed the crowd that foreign nationals can start their own businesses. “They want you to think it’s impossible but it isn’t.

Not really.”

Attendees of the talk said that they found it helpful. “My significant other is an immigrant from Turkey, and he’s in the process of applying for a green card,” said Dana Biechele PhD’25. “It’s good because I learned about a lot of different visas he would be eligible for if the green card were to fall through,” she added.

“I just moved here and my wife is a citizen, and I’m not,” said Gatot Hendrabudra, whose wife works for the University. “I’m thinking of starting a business, and I just want to know the laws.” Hendrabudra added that he recently applied for a green card and now knows about changes to the “Declaration of Self-Sufficiency” form and things he will need to look out for in his interview.

“As someone who advises F-1 and J-1 students, … I am glad I attended the event,” Kelsey Dennis, assistant director for International Student Services, wrote in an email to The Herald. “It is interesting to learn more about visa options for foreign national entrepreneurs after graduation,” she added.

In a Nelson Center speech, immigration lawyer Peter Roberts ’83 addressed the struggle that entrepreneurs applying for visas face.

male CEOs, and I never thought it was a problem (because) I was always trying to compete with them” and aspire to reachtheir position.

McDavid, who started her career on as the only woman on a 15-person team at Goldman Sachs, said that she originally felt she needed to “be like the guys” in order to have success in the workplace. Ultimately, McDavid realized that “one of the best things I could do to inspire and empower other women is to go off and do my own thing and show them that I can do it.”

The panel also discussed the evolution and changes of the fashion industry in the last 20 years. Campos said that the biggest game changers in recent years have been technology and social media. “Ten years ago there was no Instagram. There wasn’t such

an influx of influencers who really impacted fashion,” she said. “It’s a very evolving business because it’s very subjective” and transforms in response to consumer behavior shifts.

Campos added that unlike in the past, consumers today are drawn to authentic companies with real purposes and missions.

Despite the disruptions from within the fashion landscape over the past two decades, Lange commented that the industry is still very much about delivering “the right” product. “At the end of the day, it’s about clothes that make you feel good and make you feel like you look good,” she said.

Lange also gave her alma mater audience words of advice as budding entrepreneurs. “Before anyone does anything new, nobody thinks it’s a

good idea,” she said, encouraging the audience members to trust their entrepreneurial sense to “see the invisible” of what is missing in the market.

To uphold one’s confidence in their brand, Lange also advised the audience to “keep their blinders on” to the noise of competitors.

The panel also addressed students on the brink of graduation who are uncertain about their future career paths. “If you’re thinking about starting your own business, if you don’t feel like you would die if you saw someone else doing something similar, then you know (the business is not for you). If you don’t feel a thousand percent sure, I would strongly encourage you to get experience in other places,” said Lo, who gave up a corporate offer from L’Oreal after

COURTESY OF THE NELSON CENTER

graduation to pursue her own beauty company.

Anna Marx ’20 wrote in an email to The Herald that the “witty and endearing” panelists of the event sparked great conversation that empowered women who are interested in entreupenurship and the fashion industry. However, Marx wrote that the talk could have engaged in deeper discourse on racial, ethnic, body type and class diversity within the industry.

“Frankly, the industry is incredibly difficult to tap into if you do not look a certain way or have access to an elite network and wealth,” she wrote.

“This is a topic that seems relevant to a discussion on gender diversity in fashion but was never mentioned during this panel.”

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2020

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

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TIFFANY DING / HERALD

The new university housing complex is planned to be located on the lot that currently holds Bagel Gourmet. Adding more beds to the inventory of housing available to students, the new residence hall will help ensure that the University can continue to provide housing in accordance with the six semester on-campus living requirement.

DORMS FROM PAGE 1 The future of Bagel Gourmet, an eatery close to residence halls on the south side of campus, sparked concern among students. One of Bagel Gourmet’s locations currently occupies space in a building that is set to be demolished to make way for the new residence hall.

“It’s a great initiative because

DOCUMENTS FROM PAGE 1 These documents, now nearly 400 years old, are presented alongside a digital kiosk offering transcriptions of the documents and relevant historical background in English and Spanish.

“Through the assistance of 21st century technology, every Providence resident of every walk of life, age and language can be proud of the documents that began our story,” said Mayor Jorge Elorza in a press release.

City Council President Sabina Matos — the first Latina City Council President in Providence history — highlighted the accessibility afforded by these Spanish transcriptions in an email to The Herald.

“As an immigrant who moved to this country just 20 years ago this year, and as a non-native English speaker, I felt that it was very important that we share our City’s important story so that the majority of our residents would have access to the documents that shaped who we are,” Matos wrote.

Horton suggested that “Providence has always been a city of

Brown definitely needs more new housing,” said Lucy Spahr’ 22.5. “On the other hand, I think it’s really unfortunate that they’re taking down Bagel Gourmet, but there’s another one on Thayer (Street), so it’s not too bad,” she said.

With an estimated completion date of fall 2022, current sophomores and upperclassmen will have already graduated before the residence hall’s open-

sanctuary.” He noted that “Roger Williams settled here because he had to — he was basically a refugee.”

Williams established Providence after he was expelled from the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony for his support of separation between church and state.

Shaina Weintraub is the reference and multimedia administrator for the City Archives, and also runs the Archives’ social media accounts.

She says that it is important to bring history to people in a “fun and engaging way.”

“People don’t want to have to read a whole book,” she said. “They want to get the gist of something.” Weintraub says the digital kiosk serves this purpose.

“We tried to write (the background information) in a way (that) people can really understand it,” Horton said.

Horton hopes that the city’s residents will take note of the message of tolerance within the documents.

“Seeing (the documents) makes me proud, and I think the goal is to make other people proud of this city,” he said.

ing. “I am a little disappointed that it won’t be ready until after I graduate,” Spahr added.

The design of the new residence hall also provoked student opposition.

“I’m totally a stickler for the traditional architecture on Brown’s campus, and after seeing photos of what (the new dorm) would look like, I feel like it will be really out of place on the Brown campus and in the surrounding com-

munity,” said Dorrit Corwin ’23.

University student group Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere expressed admiration for the planned residence hall, forecasting that it would drive down rent prices on College Hill.

“We applaud the University’s recognition that relieving the University community’s impact on the surrounding housing market is an important responsibility of University leadership,”

wrote HOPE Director Will Gomberg ’20 in an email to The Herald.

Lucas Gelfond ’23 echoed the sentiment expressed by HOPE, displaying excitement for the new residence hall and the impact it will have on the community. “It’s really awesome that Brown is being thoughtful in the way that we impact the Providence community at large regarding housing prices,” he said.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2020

COURTESY OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS

The rally, which took place on Tuesday afternoon, occurred before Stand Up for Graduate Student Employees bargaining committee members sat down to continue negotiating with University representatives over a union contract. Bargaining has been ongoing since last April, though the groups have yet to reach an agreement on several issues.

SUGSE FROM PAGE 1 that there is an entire union behind the six people that are in the room,” said Rithika Ramamurthy GS, chair of the SUGSE bargaining committee.

“It’s not just eight to 10 voices, it’s an entire student body that supports us.”

According to Ramamurthy, University administrators frequently refer to budget limitations as a reason that they hesitate to accept the union’s demands. Despite a recent increase in tuition, as The Herald previously reported, she noted the absence of a proportionate change to graduate student workers’ resources or wages.

SUGSE has been negotiating with the University for just under a year, The Herald previously reported. Since its inception in 2014, the organization has successfully advocated for a

number of changes, including dental insurance for graduate student workers and protecting funding for sixth-year students.

A flier distributed by the Union noted several concessions won on behalf of graduate students by the bargaining committee, including “more control over class sizes and limits on work hours, more protections for victims of harassment and discrimination and independent grievance procedures to enforce those protections.” Proposals of graduate student benefits that SUGSE says the University administration has not accepted include a stipend raise, a vision plan, affordable health insurance coverage for dependents and improvements to the current dental plan.

A SUGSE press release following the rally stated that this march aimed to pressure administration to accept

the final terms of the agreement, which cannot be enacted until both parties agree on all aspects of the proposed contract.

The University has also not committed to continued bargaining if the National Labor Relations Board enacts a proposed rule allowing private universities to refuse to recognize graduate student unions. This enactment would overturn a ruling established during the Obama administration that created opportunities for collective bargaining. According to a pre-election agreement signed in June 2018 by the University, SUGSE and its union affiliate — the American Federation of Teachers — the University would have “no further obligations to the union” if the rule were to take force before the University and the union reached a collective bargaining agreement, The

Herald previously reported.

The Tuesday afternoon protest integrated elements of the cacerolazo, a type of protest frequent in Latin America distinguished by the use of household items to create a loud collective noise.

Melody Chapin GS, one of the protest organizers, said that engaging in this form of protest was “not only to make some noise, but to join in solidarity with the rest of the world, especially Latin America … in a larger fight for equality.”

Several members of the Providence community were among the hundred-plus attendees. Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Healthcare Professionals President Francis Flynn participated, telling marchers in a speech that he and his organization were “thrilled (the protesters) are out here today … because (they) are advocating for better worker conditions for

all of (themselves).”

“Unions in general are very important for building workplace democracy and for ensuring that workers have a say in their working conditions,” as well as in their pay and benefits and that they have “some degree of collective power to determine how their work is carried out,” said Siraj Sindu GS, a member of the SUGSE Bargaining Committee.

Moving forward, SUGSE leaders intend to organize weekly pickets to continue demanding attention and progress from the University administration. “We’re not willing to compromise on things we think are important to us,” Ramamurthy said. “Grads from all across the board suffer from economic insecurity, and we don’t … want to accept anything less than we deserve.”

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2020

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | TODAY

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CA L E NDA R TODAY

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Stop the Bleed, Save a Life!

12:00 P.M. Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center, Petteruti Lounge

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Resumes & LinkedIn Profile Building 12:00 P.M. CareerLab, 1st Floor

TOMORROW

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‘A Taste of Mardi Gras’ Community Buffet Luncheon 11:30 A.M. Faculty Club

Ann Goldstein, Editor of The New Yorker 4:00 P.M. Salomon Center, Room 101

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Womxn of Color Reception 5:30 P.M. Faculty Club, Huttner Room

Novelist & Poet Ben Lerner 5:30 P.M. McCormack Family Theater

Q U OTE OF TH E DAY

“It bothers me a little bit that they’re focusing resources on building a new dorm when I feel like a lot of the dorms we currently have aren’t in super great repair.”

—Anna House ’20 SEE DORMS PAGE 1

HE R E C OMES TH E SUN CR O S SWO R D

VICTORIA YIN / HERALD

Excited students gathered together on the main green to worship the emerging February sunshine and vitamin D as campus temperatures skyrocketed above 55 degrees.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2020

Douglas ’20: We don’t need another dorm JONATHAN DOUGLAS ’20 STAFF COLUMNIST

Last week, the University announced that it would tear down several buildings, including the original Bagel Gourmet and East Side Mini Mart, and put a new dorm intended for upperclassmen in its place. The University hopes the dorm will alleviate the housing burden facing the East Side and strengthen the sense of community for upperclassmen.

An alternate version of the announcement could have read, “University to build more overpriced housing while hurting local community.” The new housing plan is based upon fundamentally misguided principles that will hurt students financially while undermining the character of the local neighborhood, as well as relocating some of its most beloved local establishments.

The University cited student demand as one of the principal drivers behind its decision to construct a dorm between Charlesfield and Power Street. Eric Estes, vice president for campus life, said that students have specifically asked for accessible housing with more community space and kitchens. Each of these goals is admirable, but a 375-bed residence is not the best way to tackle any of them. The University can and should make more housing options accessible — modifying existing dorms and off-campus houses owned by the University would better meet the existing need without incurring the cost associated with building an entirely new dorm. More community spaces are a constant demand from students — repurposing one of the existing historic homes owned by the University as student space would be better than building a massive new complex. More kitchen space would indeed let students cook healthier, cheaper meals on their own — letting more juniors off campus would give them access to fridges and stoves at a cheaper price to students.

Moreover, the plan intends to foster a stronger sense of community for upperclassmen. A

new dorm is not the way to accomplish this. By junior year, most students have already found a place within Brown’s social ecosystem, having settled into clubs, friend groups and local organizations. Upperclassmen do not mingle in their dorms as often as they did in their first two years and instead choose to do so in other social venues. On-campus residences don’t necessarily bond students closer together, so building a new dorm does not necessarily foster more community. Instead, Brown could pay for a round of drinks for the senior class at the Graduate Center Bar. They could make senior week activities free for everyone. They could host more free dances for juniors. Hell, if they held a social event for both classes every month

highest-ever tuition; moreover, both this tuition and room and board will almost certainly increase to new heights by the time the scheduled construction process is completed before fall 2022.

It is not difficult to see how the construction of the new dorm, built alongside the 162bed Wellness Center and Residence Hall set to open in 2021, could be used to restrict off-campus permission. Brown’s current policy allows a limited number of juniors and all seniors to live off campus, in part due to the limited capacity of current dorms. If the University constructs enough housing, it could potentially alter its policy to require all juniors to stay on campus in the future, as well as a limited number of se-

ly that only national chains could afford to pay this new rent; thus by gentrifying the neighborhood, Brown is undermining local store owners and may be ushering in even more large corporations to Providence’s East Side.

The University also hopes to alleviate rising rent prices in the surrounding community to make neighborhood housing more affordable for locals. In reality, it is unlikely that decreasing undergraduate renters would bring in more locals; instead, graduate students would be more likely replacements, because graduate students represent a growing population at Brown and one that the University intends to increase in the coming years. Community members should voice these concerns at Brown’s

“If they held a social event for both classes every month for two decades, it could STILL be cheaper than building a new dorm.”

for two decades, it could STILL be cheaper than building a new dorm.

The plan for the new dorm does not merely address students’ needs poorly — it actually hurts them in the long run. The entire construction process, from knocking down the existing buildings to erecting the new one, will cost tens of millions of dollars, further straining the University’s budget and thus likely increasing student tuition. Furthermore, students will likely pay more for housing in the new residence hall than they would for off-campus housing, considering that on-campus housing costs almost $1,050 per month. Off-campus houses are typically significantly cheaper than the University’s options, even when summer subletters fall through. The cost of construction will likely put even more financial pressure on students that already pay the University’s

niors. Such a move would cause even more financial harm to students who would save money by choosing significantly cheaper off-campus housing.

Beyond its effect on Brown’s population, the construction of the new building will potentially harm the local community more than it will help it. The current proposed site sits directly adjacent to a largely residential neighborhood, and the building will be a stark architectural contrast to the nearby homes. Though Brown promises to work with the current tenants of the occupied building at the site to help them relocate — which include PieZoni’s, Bagel Gourmet, East Side Market and the Providence Police — any new residents in the building would almost certainly have to pay a significantly higher rent than the current rate because of the newer facilities that will be offered. It is like-

public meetings on the construction, which are set to be held on March 2 5:30-6:30 pm and March 3 8:30-9:30 am at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs.

So no, members of the Corporation, we don’t need another dorm. We don’t need fancy new lounges, more Twin XL beds or more awkward run-ins with freshman year hookups.

We need cheaper tuition. We need vibrant local businesses, not more Starbucks, Chipotles and

By Chloes. We need more faculty members in understaffed departments. Let’s work on those problems first.

Jonathan Douglas ’20 proudly lives off campus and encourages other students to do so. He can be reached at jonathan_douglas@brown.edu or by mail at an undisclosed off-campus location.

Opinions pieces published in The Herald — which include columns, op-eds , letters to the editor and editorials — are written independently of news coverage.

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2020

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

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Parasite Won. So Did the Oscars. So Did I. BLISS HAN STAFF COLUMNIST We didn’t know. We hoped, but at the same time, we didn’t dare to. Five of my closest friends and I packed into a room in the basement of the Rock, crowding around my phone as we streamed the end of the 2020 Academy Awards ceremony. On the stage of the Dolby Theatre, thousands of miles away, Jane Fonda opened the golden envelope that contained the name of the winner of the Oscar for Best Picture. She looked at the name, looked up and paused. We all held our breath, and that moment seemed to last forever. Even before she spoke, my gut told me something that my head refused to let me believe. History was about to be made.

The undeniable greatness of “Parasite” is the very reason I thought the Oscars would ignore the film as a contender. The Academy Awards have quite a reputation for being tonally insensitive and routinely awarding movies that they see as indisputable achievements over those that challenge societal norms and speak to the moment — not to mention for failing to award women and people of color. After all, the 2020 Oscars featured a nearly all-white cast of nominees for the acting awards and exclusively male candidates for Best Director.

How could the very same voting body have recognized a South Korean film, featuring completely Korean dialogue and an all-Korean cast, as the best film of the year? Especially when there were so many other “Academy-friendly” movies that they could have acknowledged, especially the cinematically brilliant war movie “1917.” But Fonda’s pause put all my doubts to rest. Nobody pauses to read the name of a winner that would surprise no one and genuinely delight only a few. The pause is only there when the name of the winner is about to rewrite the history of the most famous awards in film and bring an entire country to its feet.

Furthermore, the Academy awarded a truly important masterpiece just one year after the fiasco surrounding their Best Picture pick, “Green

Book,” though that is not to say that the voting body is completely absolved of their past transgressions. But when Fonda finally said the word we had been waiting for — “‘Parasite!’”

— my friends and I screamed so loudly in the Rock that I have no doubt that every other student that was at the library could hear us. Since many of us are ethnically Korean, we proceeded to tearfully call our parents in a wash of national pride. It was an emotional night that linked us together, much like that first night that we had watched it together.

I grew up a movie lover. Not a film expert or a student of the craft, but I was, and still am, a fan who enjoys seeing important stories be-

diet. And my most beloved films touched me on a deeply hidden emotional level, and somehow managed to make me feel understood and loved through a screen. Those were movies like “Lady Bird,” which showcased an often contentious but endlessly loving mother-daughter dynamic so intimately familiar to me that I was already bawling after watching the first scene.

“Parasite” was the perfect storm: a movie that connected me to my friends, taught me about a true societal problem and personally moved me. I first watched it in an auditorium in Smitty-B, bundled up with my closest friends in matching pajamas and a pot of

cal climate that emphasizes the haves versus the have-nots, it is hard to imagine a more timely masterpiece, or one that is more relatable to so many people around the globe. It is fair to say that “Parasite” hit me like a truck: It espoused the same anti-capitalist message that I had, albeit in a far more elegant way, but it also left me feeling a little dirty about my own role in the system. Visually stunning and entirely unforgettable, there is no doubt that “Parasite” is an all-caps IMPORTANT movie, and everyone should make the time to watch it.

“Parasite” is not the kind of movie that allows any audience — a group of college

“Parasite hit me like a truck: It espoused the same anti-capitalist message that I had, albeit in a far more elegant way, but it also left me feeling a little dirty about my own role in the system.”

ing represented in one of the most beautiful and impactful art forms. I completely ate up all of the commentary about why movies are incredibly important: They bring people together, they not only comment on society but have the power to change it and, more than anything, film “is important because it gives us the ability to form lasting human connections … by letting us share our experiences with each other.” I grew up singing along with the ubiquitous tunes of “The Sound of Music” and “Les Misérables” with my parents. As I got older, the most popular movies, such as “The Avengers” franchise, proved to be a reliable source of conversation and connection with my friends and classmates. Other movies became teachers of the negative aspects of society and sources of personal transformation, such as a different Bong Joon Ho film, “Okja,” which helped inspire me to cut meat out of my

freshly cooked ramen. Though legally questionable, the movie stream had perfect clarity and accurate subtitles for the few of us who are not Korean. And the movie itself did not disappoint our sky-high expectations. It was like a cinematic roller coaster, complete with audible gasps and expletives. I distinctly remember wanting to crawl out of my own skin several times, out of the sheer discomfort that came with the masterful buildup of suspense. Few movies have left me speechless when the final scene finally cuts to black, but “Parasite” rendered me catatonic for several minutes. It was a movie of black humor, laying bare the most flawed aspects of modern society. It took capitalism to task in a manner that showed that each and every person, whether wealthy or poor, was both a victim and a perpetrator in an economic system that pits everyone against each other. In a politi-

friends, a theater of Hollywood A-listers or its home country of South Korea — feel good about themselves. But somehow, it allows all of us to feel proud of ourselves. Korea can take pride in being the birthplace of a revolutionary piece of art that upset traditional favorites to become the first foreign-language film to win the highest honor in film. The Academy can pat themselves on the back for finally overcoming that “one inch tall barrier of subtitles.” And our group of friends, both Korean and not, can cheer for the victory of a movie that we all love and that helps bind us together.

Bliss Han ’23 can be reached at bliss_han@ brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald. com.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Phi Beta Kappa elects new 40 members Election process overseen by past electees to U. chapter of Phi Beta Kappa

BY CAROLINE NASH CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR On Feb. 12, 2020, 40 members of the class of 2021 were elected to the University’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter, as stated in a letter from the Secretary of the Rhode Island Alpha of Phi Beta Kappa and Professor Emeritus of French Studies Henry Majewski. Phi Beta Kappa distinction represents “outstanding academic accomplishment in the course of a broad liberal education,” according to the University’s website. Elections are held every February to elect and invite new junior members.

To be considered for election to the chapter, a junior must have completed 20 courses over five semesters, with a minimum of 18 courses where they received an A or an S with distinction. Two-fifths of the courses must be within the arts, humanities, social sciences and/or pure mathematics departments, according to the University website.

Not all students who meet these requirements are automatically elected, according to the election guidelines.

Students do not apply for this academic distinction nor are they nominated, and no more than one-third of qualified candidates can be elected in their junior year, according to the guidelines.

“Students are elected based solely on their academic records,” wrote President of Brown’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter and

Chair of English Richard Rambuss in an email to The Herald. “The election is conducted anonymously by fellow students who were themselves elected to Phi Beta Kappa as juniors. Brown’s chapter has followed this student-driven process for decades.”

Election to Phi Beta Kappa was not an established goal for some of the electees, who expressed surprise to The Herald about their acceptance into the society.

Marianna Scott ’21, a newly elected junior, knew of the society but did not know how students were elected. “I knew that (Phi Beta Kappa) existed, but because there isn’t any sort of application process and the requirements for acceptance are somewhat vague, it wasn’t exactly something that I was working towards,” Scott wrote in an email to The Herald. “But I was very excited when I found out!”

Dhruv Gaur ’21 was unaware of the honor society when he was notified of his election. “Phi Beta Kappa wasn’t something that was initially on my radar, so when I got the invite, I had to do a little bit more research. . . . That being said, I’m very honored to be selected,” Gaur wrote in an email to The Herald.

But for other students, Phi Beta Kappa was something they had been working toward during their time at Brown. “I just focused on taking a diverse range of classes in subjects that interested me,” Paul Abrams ’21 wrote in an email to The Herald. “I was excited by the news and felt that it had validated some of my past academic decisions, given that I am still unsure about what career I want to pursue (and) how I should spend the rest of my time at Brown.”

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2020

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Those elected are as following: Paul Benjamin Abrams ’21 William J. K. Adriance ’21 Luke J. Angelillo ’21 Robin Marie Attey ’21 Edward Charles Beaudoin ’21 Aidan James Brice ’21 Sarah West Calame ’21 Deven Parikh Carmichael ’21 Justin Fu Chiang ’21 Finch Collins ’21 Yunxin Deng ’21 Mary Peiran Dong ’21 Dhruv Shankar Gaur ’21 Daniel Jiaran Hu ’21 Catelyn Y. Huang ’21 Viknesh S. Kasthuri ’21 Jordan Avram Kei-Rahn ’21 Sarah Alice Bloch Koppelman ’21 Daniella Viviana Nunziatina Longhi ’21 Matthew Robert Marciello ’21 Cotter Johnson McCarthy ’21 Zoe Elisabeth Mermelstein ’21 Amanda Brynn Mickelson ’21 Isa V. Milefchik ’21 Isabel Holly Mirfakhraie ’21 Maximo Luciano Moyer ’21 Malini P. Naidu ’21 Harlan Samuel Oaks-Leaf ’21 Minako M. Ogita ’21 Luana Pessanha de Mattos ’21 Alexandra Reice ’21 Temma Leeba Schaechter ’21 Marianna Grace Scott ’21 Nicholas Anthony Scott ’21 Eric Michael Solomon ’21 Henry Williams Talbott ’21 Trisha Neel Thacker ’21 Emma R. Weiss ’21 Meiqi Wu ’21 Luoxiao Xu ’21

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