Wednesday, March 11, 2020

SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Wednesday, March 11, 2020

VOLUME CLV, ISSUE 34

UNIVERSITY NEWS

ACCRIP releases recommendation to divest

BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

METRO

First LGBTQ+ health clinic opens in R.I. Open Door Health clinic provides primary, sexual health care

BY JULIA GROSSMAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

MUKUL KHANNA / HERALD

After efforts from Brown Divest, ACCRIP recommended that the University divest from “any company that profits from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land” and discussed their criteria for selecting companies.

Committee discusses criteria for selecting companies from which to divest

BY LIVIA GIMENES SENIOR STAFF WRITER The Advisory Committee on Corporate

Responsibility in Investment Policies released their official recommendation that the University divest from “any company that profits from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land,” according to the report published Monday. The recommendation was made to President Christina Paxson P’19 and the Corporation, the University’s highest governing body.

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Paxson recaps COVID-19, sustainability, housing Following presentations, administrators discuss tech, political policy

BY CAELYN PENDER SENIOR STAFF WRITER President Christina Paxson P’19 addressed community concerns regarding COVID-19 coronavirus at the Brown University Community Council meeting March 10. Paxson also discussed campus sustainability updates, a report on the upcoming construction of new residence halls and the status of the BrownTogether fundraising campaign.

Paxson opened the meeting by reiterating recent campus announcements concerning coronavirus. There are currently no confirmed or presumptive cases of COVID-19 on the University campus, though three students have been tested for the virus after potential exposure at an event out of state, she said at the meeting.

“When I think about the priorities of Brown, the first is the health of our community,” Paxson said. “It’s older

people … and people with health issues who are really at risk, so I think for students especially, they have to understand that we’re thinking about the whole community.”

Paxson reiterated the decision to suspend all University-sponsored travel both domestically and internationally, the rule to keep gatherings under 100 people and the decision that any students returning from travel to China, Iran, Italy and South Korea have to self-isolate for 14 days before returning to campus, which have been annouced in various emails since last week.

“The second priority is academic continuity,” Paxson said, explaining that the University wants to make sure that students have access to their courses and are able to graduate on time. For example, the University is working on how to help faculty adapt their curricula to work virtually.

“We don’t want to overreact, but we want to be really clear about what the possible downsides are,” Paxson said. She added that if there were an outbreak of COVID-19 at the Universi-

SEE BUCC PAGE 4

During a committee meeting Tuesday, the members discussed their criteria for selecting which specific companies to recommend the University divest from.

Student group Brown Divest published a press release calling ACCRIP’s recommendation “an important victory

SEE ACCRIP PAGE 3

Open Door Health opened March 2 and is now Rhode Island’s first health clinic that specializes in primary care, sexual health and other health initiatives for the LGBTQ+ community. The clinic is located at 7 Central Street in Providence.

Open Door Health provides services “for individuals looking for culturally competent care,” said Philip Chan, the clinic’s medical director and associate professor in the University’s Department of Medicine.

“We also specialize in sexual health … that includes HIV testing, HIV care, STD testing, as well as pre-exposure prophylaxis and hepatitis C testing and treatment.” Open Door Health provides walk-in STD testing.

The clinic was founded to help eliminate some of the disparities that the LGBTQ+ community encounters

in its access to healthcare, according to Chan. “The biggest need that I’ve seen in Rhode Island is the lack of primary care for the LGBTQ+ population,” Chan said. “We’ve had no place to refer people to (for) primary care, and that’s the gap that the clinic is really looking to fill.”

At the official ribbon-cutting ceremony, Gov. Gina Raimondo stated that LGBTQ+ Rhode Islanders “often (face) discrimination and stigma,” and that this clinic is an important step in addressing the needs of that community.

She added that “every Rhode Islander deserves access to safe, high-quality health care provided in a welcoming, respectful and supportive environment,” and that “this beautiful, state-of-the-art clinic will help us meet that goal.”

President and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation Neil Steinberg is proud to support Open Door Health.

Helping fund the clinic “is an opportunity that we have to assist in improving patient-centered primary care by reducing barriers, focusing

SEE CLINIC PAGE 3

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Swearer Center executive director steps down Mathew Johnson will assume new role as Senior Fellow at Swearer Center

BY CAELYN PENDER SENIOR STAFF WRITER Mathew Johnson, associate dean of the College for engaged scholarship and director of the Carnegie Foundation Community Engagement Classification, stepped down from his position as executive director of the Swearer Center March 1. He will assume a new position as a senior fellow to focus on the expansion of the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification, according to a Today@Brown announcement from Dean of the College Rashid Zia. Johnson began serving in the position in January 2016.

Associate Dean and Director of Student Development Betsy Shimberg will serve as interim executive director until a nationwide search finds Johnson’s successor.

“We are committed to ensuring the Swearer Center’s success after a period of tremendous growth,” Zia wrote in an email to The Herald. “In the interim, we know that the Center will be in good

Mathew Johnson stepped down as executive director of the Swearer Center to assume a role as a senior fellow. hands under (Shimberg)’s leadership.” anticipated to take several months.

The University is “currently in the Johnson “and I have been working process of laying out our goals and a very closely to think about the transitimeline for the search,” Zia wrote. The search for a new executive director is SEE JOHNSON BACK

COURTESY OF THE SWEARER CENTER

News

Commentary

Commentary

News

UFB implements three new policy changes aimed at addressing funding equity Page 2

Frieden ’19.5: I experienced tear gassing in Palestine; Kanders must go Page 6

Editorial: U. needs to release long-term plans for dealing with COVID-19 Page 7

Darnella Davis explains the motivations behind her book on racial history in the US Back

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

UNIVERSITY NEWS

UFB amends constitution, adds fund transfer and transparency policies Policy changes address concerns about equitable student group funding

BY JACK BORRIS SENIOR STAFF WRITER Following discussions with highly funded student groups and service-oriented student groups over the past several weeks addressing concerns about equitable funding, the Undergraduate Finance Board passed three new policy changes at their meeting Sunday.

The changes consisted of a constitutional amendment in response to service group criticisms, a concrete transparency requirement for highly funded groups and a new policy allowing the transfer of baseline group funds to other groups funded by UFB. The board’s constitution was amended to require that funded groups either directly or indirectly benefit the undergraduate student body. Previously, the constitution specified that groups must directly benefit students. “The original rationale for that was that Brown undergraduates pay into this fund, so they’re the ones that are tethered to the money,” said UFB Chair Julian De Georgia ’20.

Will Gomberg ’20, executive director of student group Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere, said that “it sounds like a small change, but it will help service and advocacy groups work to achieve their goals.”

He added that although the funds HOPE receives from the board do not directly help students, “the relationships that we build through our work and the community partners that we do the work alongside are really important.”

SARAH MARTINEZ / HERALD

Service groups expressed dissatisfaction with the narrow scope of the previous wording at a March 1 discussion with UFB. “The service groups made the argument that through being able to use the money to benefit (those outside of the University), that indirectly benefited the students by allowing them to engage in service work that was pretty meaningful and impactful,” De Georgia said.

Additionally, the board passed a new policy increasing transparency requirements for highly funded groups. Groups receiving between $5,000 and $10,000 of funding per

year must now provide a three-tofour-sentence summary of how they intend to use the funds allocated to them, while groups receiving more than $10,000 of funding per year must provide a detailed breakdown of their budgets and costs. This information will be available to the public on UFB’s website.

“Hopefully this will enable UFB to do some more analysis and gather more data about how the money is being spent across those groups,” De Georgia added.

UFB also implemented a new policy allowing groups to transfer their

baseline funds to other student groups pending approval of individual cases by the board.

The new policy is the direct result of discussions with highly funded groups and service groups, which were held in late February and early March. These followed an open forum held last semester discussing the board’s fall publication of group funding totals, The Herald previously reported. The funding disclosures released in the fall “kicked off a bunch of conversations about how UFB funds service groups, which things have historically been denied for service groups and how we can amend

our policies to better support them,” De Georgia said.

Gomberg commended the efficacy of the discussions and subsequent policy changes. “UFB has been wonderful throughout this whole process and really receptive to the feedback from (our conversations), and I’m excited to see that they’ve been willing to make the progress that they have,” he said.

The policy changes, effective immediately, are listed in full on the board’s website. Student groups that are required to disclose funding under the new rules must submit the necessary budget data to UFB by April 15.

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Wednesday, March 11, 2020

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

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CLINIC FROM PAGE 1 on the (LGBTQ+) population and promoting new culturally appropriate care delivery,” he said.

Since opening, Open Door Health has seen and treated people every day, according to Chan. While the clinic has mainly seen adult patients thus far, there is a pediatric nurse practitioner on staff.

The Rhode Island Foundation partially funded the clinic with a grant of $175,000 because “we’re focusing on health equity and reducing disparities … and the work of Open Door Health aligns squarely with these objectives,” Steinberg said.

Open Door Health receives funding from other sources as well, including the state’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services and HIV care program, Chan said. In addition, the clinic is supported by the Champlin Foundation, CVS, Blue Cross Blue Shield and the Rhode Island Department of Health.

“Some of these programs are how we’re going to offset (costs) for people that can’t pay or afford care,” said Chan.

“Some of these funders will help step up and provide some safety net funding for those individuals.” Open Door Health bills insurance companies, but specified “we are advocates for public health, and for the people that can’t pay, they should talk to us about different ways that we can still make it work.”

In the future, Open Door Health is looking to expand the range of services it offers. According to Chan, “The

ACCRIP FROM PAGE 1 for our movement.” The group wrote that Paxson and the Corporation now have a choice about whether to divest or to “ignore students and continue to invest in companies causing severe social harm.”

ACCRIP Chair and Professor of Medical Science Chi-Ming Hai said the committee’s goal is not to tell the firms that handle the University’s investments

COURTESY OF OPEN DOOR HEALTH

The clinic was partially funded by the Rhode Island Foundation, and Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo was at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

(LGBTQ+) population really faces a myriad of health challenges,” including behavioral health, mental health and substance use treatment, “so we’re

starting with primary care and STD testing, but we do envision that we will expand to include access to other health services as well.”

Other aspirations for the clinic include education, research and advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community. Ultimately, “we really want to use this clinic

as a platform to really revolutionize care across the state of Rhode Island,” Chan said.

how to divest, but rather to send out a second report to Paxson outlining ACCRIP’s criteria for divestment. Hai hopes that the University will “go back to this report to identify companies,” if they decide to pursue divestment.

The members of ACCRIP then discussed the United Nations Human Rights Council’s list of possible criteria for divestment. These criteria were outlined in a recent Council report containing a database of 112 companies found

to be involved in “activities that raised particular human rights concerns” in the “Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” These activities include supplying “equipment and materials facilitating the construction and the expansion of settlements and the wall,” supplying “equipment for the demolition of housing and property” and providing “security services, equipment and materials to enterprises operating in settlements.”

Committee member Sara Cunningham ’06 said that ACCRIP should look at each of the companies on the UN’s list and decide if the University should divest from them on a case-by-case basis.

Hai highlighted that divestment is still important, even if it has minimal impact. He suggested that divestment is a “negative approach” to the problem, and that instead of only divesting from companies which facilitate human rights abuses, the University

could practice “positive investment” by investing in companies that make humanitarian impact.

Because of low attendance from committee members and the University community, ACCRIP did not make any definite decisions regarding their criteria for divesting. For the rest of the semester, the committee’s meetings will be held through Zoom due to concerns relating to COVID-19.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

BUCC FROM PAGE 1 ty, there are not the necessary resources or facilities to quarantine large groups of students. “If it starts, the possibility around spread is pretty high,” she said.

Later in the meeting, Paxson discussed updates to the campus sustainability goals, which were initially released in a letter last week, The Herald previously reported.

Paxson said that although COVID-19 is a major concern on campus now, long term goals are still important: “Coronavirus will go away. (Climate change) is going to be with us, so we don’t want to take our eyes off of that.”

Discussing announced plans to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 and reduce them by 75 percent by 2025, Paxson said that the University is building two wind turbines in Texas, creating a solar farm in state and planning to convert the central heating loop to run on recycled biofuel.

During the meeting, Paxson also talked about the University’s decision to sell all of its direct investments and managed funds that focus on fossil fuels.

“It was a financially motivated decision. To go along with that, Brown has been amping up, ramping up its use of (environmental, social and governance) standards when it makes investment decisions,” she said.

Paxson also mentioned the University’s goal to house 80 percent of students on campus and the plans to build a new residence hall between Charlesfield and Power streets.

“One of the benefits for students on campus is to build a strong community,” Paxson said. “But there are some other benefits that are really important. …

We’ll be moving students out of the East Side housing market onto campus.”

Paxson updated the community on the BrownTogether campaign, which has a goal of raising $3 billion. As of last week, the campaign had raised more than $2.3 billion, which is tracking ahead of schedule.

ROSLYN CORIZ / HERALD

At the Brown University Community Council meeting March 10, President Christina Paxson P’19 discussed campus preparations in response to COVID-19, campus sustainability plans and the BrownTogether campaign.

In addition to Paxson, Assistant Vice President of Government and Community Relations Al Dahlberg and Chief Digital Officer and Chief Information Officer Bill Thirsk spoke at the Tuesday meeting.

Talking about the 2020 election cycle, Dahlberg gave a report on the University’s political activity policy and the 2020 U.S. Census.

It is important that students and faculty follow the University’s political activity policy “in order to preserve our tax-exempt status,” Dahlberg said.

“As a tax-exempt institution, we need to make sure that our university

resources aren’t being used for partisan or political purposes,” Dahlberg said, citing University policy.

In terms of the U.S. Census, Dahlberg explained how University students living off campus will have to coordinate with their roommates in order to submit one census form per household.

Students who live on campus will be counted by the University as living in their dorms.

“We’re perilously close to losing one of those (Congressional) seats” in Rhode Island, Dahlberg said, encouraging students living off campus to make sure they are counted in the

census.

Thirsk made the final presentation at the meeting, talking about improvements to University technology.

He referred to the video conference with Jessica Meir ’99 as an example of technological achievement.

The University is currently creating a portal, which will be known as myBrown, to combine all its current access points in one place.

“You will have links based on your role­— faculty, staff, students — it takes you exactly to those resources you need,” Thirsk said. “We’re doing a lot of engagement and integration

across different systems to help faculty get to where they need to go quickly.”

The University has other technological goals to work towards, including expanding the use of digital engagement tools in classrooms, improving the speed of the online pre-registration process and continuing to expand resources for researchers.

“The goals really create a culture of innovation,” Thirsk said. “People learn how to take chances and risks and expand the base of capable leaders.”

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | TODAY

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Wanted: Cyber Sleuths and Threat Hunters 12:00 P.M. MacMillan Hall

Engaged Scholars Program (ESP) Info Session 12:00 P.M. Swearer Center

Brown University Women’s Lacrosse vs Virginia Tech 4:00 P.M. Stevenson-Pincince Field

POC Watson Mixer: Community Building Dinner 5:30 P.M. Watson Institute

TOMORROW Econ DUG: Faculty Lunch Lecture with Greg Siourounis 12:00 P.M. Friedman Hall

Brown Bag Concert 12:00 P.M. Sayles Hall

The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEM and Medicine 3:00 P.M. Sciences Library

What Does it Mean to be Radical?

5:00 P.M. Faculty Club

Q U OTE OF TH E DAY

S U D O KU

“As we strive to be honest, offering clearer historical accounts … that confront traumatic events and incite knowledge, we’ll be advancing knowledge.”

—Darnella Davis SEE DAVIS BACK

SPR I N G H AS SP RUN G !

RELEASE DATE– Monday, February 13, 2012

Los Angeles Times Puzzle CR O SDaily SWOCrossword RD Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Hitchhikes 7 Hiker’s snack mix 11 “Cocoon” director Howard 14 “Très sexy!”

15 Chevy hatchback 16 Tavern order 17 Baker’s sweetener 20 Columnist Landers 21 Swiss calculus pioneer 22 Odds and ends 23 “__ silly question, get . . .”

24 “Twittering Machine” artist Paul 26 Cinnamon blend for a Thanksgiving recipe 33 “The Sheik of __”: 1920s song 34 “Poor me!”

35 Carpenter’s cutter 36 Places for compost 37 Little ones who, they say, are made up of the ends of this puzzle’s four longest entries 39 Israel’s Netanyahu, familiarly 40 Took a load off 41 Writing implements 42 Elegant dress material 43 “All finished!”

47 Make less difficult 48 Ages upon ages 49 Heart or liver 52 The devil 54 Tavern spigot 57 1966 Beach Boys hit 60 Sick 61 __ pro quo: substitute 62 Laundry employee 63 Santa’s little helper 64 Trig function 65 Equivalent of A-flat DOWN 1 Old Roman garment 2 Sound of traffic frustration

3 __ Bator, Mongolia 4 Fellow 5 Feature of a clear day 6 Dog also called a Persian Greyhound 7 Garden entrance 8 Too much of a good thing 9 Little wagon’s color 10 Have in one’s hands 11 Classico competitor 12 Norwegian royal name 13 Indoor ball brand 18 Shepard who hit golf balls on the moon 19 Lone Star State sch.

23 LAPD alerts 25 Grazing lands 26 Blue Ribbon beer 27 Dickens villain Heep 28 Underwater ray 29 Examine grammatically 30 Last Supper query 31 Mountain quarters 32 “Dallas” surname

37 Thousands, in a heist 38 Buy for the future, as gold 39 German road 41 Manners to be minded 42 Rock-throwing protesters 44 Marsh duck 45 Heavy metal band named for a rodent 46 “’Bout this large”

49 Boo-boo, to tots 50 Turn at the casino 51 __ of Mexico 53 Senate page, for one 54 Rocking Turner 55 Expert server, in tennis 56 Whodunit quarry 58 Rapa __: Easter Island 59 Japanese dramatic form

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

xwordeditor@aol.com

02/13/12

REBECCA HO / HERALD

By Anna Gundlach (c)2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

02/13/12

As the sun comes out and students enjoy the weather on the Main Green, new flowers look forward to the coming spring as the receding winter forces the old flowers to wither away.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

I was tear gassed by the IDF. Warren Kanders Must Go.

BY TAL FRIEDEN OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Last fall, I watched a livestream of the Whitney Museum filling with smoke. The smoke emanated from bundles of sage burned by members of Decolonize This Place, an activist collective based in New York City advocating for the removal of Warren Kanders ’79 P’23 from the board of the museum. #WarrenKandersMustGo, said Decolonize This Place. The group filled Whitney atrium with sage smoke to symbolize the tear gas that Warren Kanders sells to the Israel Defense Forces, the U.S. Border Patrol and the Egyptian military. Watching the livestream, I was immediately transported back to the Palestinian village where I had smelled the chemical just months before.

Later in the fall, I learned that Kanders is a donor to Brown, where he sponsors the Brown Arts Initiative and sits on the Presidential Advisory Council for the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society. I recalled the tear gas I had smelled, the Palestinian teenagers with guns pointed at them and the olive trees I saw torn from the ground. It’s possible that the very tear gas I encountered had put dollars in Kanders’ pocket — dollars which followed me back to Brown in the form of Kanders’ hypocritical “protest art” exhibit.

Warren Kanders has given dirty money to Brown, and the University has gobbled it up.

Kanders sells tear gas that is used to target and harm civilians — potentially including Brown students like me and my Palestinian, Egyptian,

Indigenous, and Latin American classmates.

Warren Kanders must go.

In my first year at Brown, I started studying Arabic and took one of my favorite courses on Middle Eastern literature. The summer after my junior year, I was lucky enough to get a LINK award from CareerLAB in order to work for +972 Magazine, an online publication based in

ens of hours of footage of the IDF arresting children, demolishing homes and evicting Palestinian families. I was horrified by the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, where children are tried in military courts and IDF soldiers help tear olive trees from the ground.

One day after work, another reporter offered

“I’ll never forget the smell of the tear gas that was used against me and the Palestinians standing at my side.”

Tel Aviv. As an intern, I was able to use my video-editing skills, my interest in Middle East politics and my Arabic translation capabilities to produce videos about the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. It was an incredible real-world application of the work I was doing late into the night at the Rock.

As part of my work at the magazine, I went to the B’Tselem archives, where I watched doz-

to bring me with him to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where I could shoot some b-roll for my video series. Together we drove along a highway that only Israelis can use, into the occupied territory. In one of the villages we visited that day, there happened to be a protest.

Palestinian residents were protesting the IDF bulldozers that had shown up overnight to tear up their village farmland. My colleague and I set

up shop across the highway from the protest, looking on and recording footage with the help of some Palestinians from the village.

Suddenly, I saw smoke through my camera lens and started to smell the putrid odor of tear gas. Before I knew what was happening, an Israeli soldier grabbed my camera and cornered me behind an 18-wheeler that was parked along the road. He threw my camera to the ground, grabbed his gun and left me to pick up the pieces. When I walked out from behind the truck, he was pointing his gun at the teenager who had been standing next to me moments before. As a Jewish American, I’m told that Israel exists to protect me. I’ll never forget the feeling of being assaulted by a soldier with a Jewish star on his uniform. I’ll never forget the smell of the tear gas that was used against me and the Palestinians standing at my side.

After months of public demonstrations, Kanders resigned from the Whitney Museum’s board. It became clear that there was no place for someone profiting from tear gas on the Museum’s leadership. The University can and should end its complicity in this violence — it simply chooses not to. When it became clear that the Sacklers engineered and profited from the opioid crisis, Brown rightfully redirected their donations to addiction treatment organizations. What makes Kanders any different?

Tal Frieden ’19.5 can be reached at tal.frieden@gmail.com. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

C O R R E CT I O N A previous version of the March 10 article “University appoints Dr. Ashish Jha as new School of Public Health dean” referred to Jha as the director of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. In fact, he is a professor of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. The Herald regrets the error.

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Wednesday, March 11, 2020

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

7

EDITORIAL

Editorial: Brown must address students’ long-term COVID-19 concerns In response to the spread of COVID-19 and the ever-heightening accompanying international concern, the University has announced and implemented a number of public health measures. All events with over 100 attendees must be “postponed, canceled or offered virtually;” this includes admissions tours and A Day on College Hill. All non-essential University-sponsored travel, both domestic and international, has been suspended, and students returning from China, Iran, Italy and South Korea are required to self-isolate for at least 14 days away from campus. The University also announced Monday that three Brown students are being tested for COVID-19 after travel to a venue outside of Rhode Island may have exposed them to the virus; the students are in isolation, awaiting results expected within 48 hours of the campus-wide email. That same afternoon, Gov. Gina Raimondo declared a state of emergency in Rhode Island.

Given the severity of the situation and the fiduciary responsibility that defines the relationship of University administrators to students, we believe the University’s proactive measures thus far have been appropriate and justified, and we commend them for that. But given the current environment of fear and uncertainty, we strongly urge the University to communicate its long-term contingency plans — extending as far into the future as summer break — to the greater Brown community as soon as possible.

When the University first announced its preventative measures, responses from the student body included general disapproval of the policies. Among specific criticisms, some deemed the University’s decision to cancel large events but not in-person classes contradictory and ineffective, since students would still inevitably be in close quarters in large lecture halls. Additionally, some considered the University’s response overblown because they do not think COVID-19 poses a legitimate threat to Brown’s campus.

But with the news of three potential cases here, our purported bubble of protection on College Hill may not be as foolproof as we think.

Many of our undergraduate peers continue to perpetuate the notion that, as a college campus, Brown is at less risk of being

impacted by the virus because our population is the picture of youth and good health.

But this limited view fails to account for a number of very real groups that are part of our community: immunocompromised students, older faculty and staff and students who call affected areas home, to name a few.

In this vein, the University has been prudent in its established measures so far, realizing that transmissive and asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 do pose a viable threat to our community. This type of response is especially important in light of the fact that the nature of campus living makes college campuses a unique breeding ground for viral transmissions.

As each day passes, more COVID-19 news from around the world reaches students’ fingertips. Other schools continue to cancel events, limit travel and even suspend in-person classes, in addition to instructing students not to return from spring break for indeterminate amounts of time. While these reactions may be necessary interventions to curb the spread of the virus, they also inevitably leave students with dread, wondering about future potential negative impacts — not just on their health, but also on major life events, such as graduation, summer internships and future living situations. Many students have begun to ask themselves questions such as “Will my family still have a graduation ceremony to attend?” or “If I have to stay in Providence for the summer due to the virus, will Brown provide resources for me?” We urge the University now to go beyond some of its peer institutions by acknowledging these fears and providing as many details as possible, as soon as possible, to address and mitigate these broader concerns. We believe the University should prioritize addressing three areas of concern in particular.

First, if a student on campus tests positive for COVID-19 — especially relevant given Monday’s announcement of three potential cases — and is told to self-quarantine, what does the quarantine process entail? Will the student be moved from their current residence hall? Will Dining Services deliver meals to a quarantined student if the student cannot provide their own food?

Will other important campus resources like Counseling and Psychological Services still be available to them? These are all ques-

tions students are asking about the undefined self-isolation process that could seemingly befall them with little notice.

These questions become all the more salient in light of the possibility that affected students may be in quarantine if or when the University decides to encourage people to return home.

Second, if the University cancels all in-person classes and urges all students to return home, will Brown have options for students who cannot do so? Given that a majority of our peer institutions have already decided to take this step, many in the Brown community are well aware that we might be next. This question is particularly urgent for low-income students who may not have the resources to immediately relocate, as well as for students who may not feel comfortable returning home due to their family situations and students who may have to return to locations, both domestic and abroad, where the effects of COVID-19 are even more widespread. For instance, Amherst College announced Monday that all students are expected to evacuate campus by March 16 — but if a student is unable to leave campus, they can petition to remain in their dorm to continue remote learning.

The third set of concerns that should be promptly addressed is the most long-term.

If COVID-19 escalates and students are either strongly advised or required to leave campus for the rest of the semester, will the University have resources in place to aid students who will suddenly have to figure out housing, employment and financials for the rest of the semester — and potentially the summer?

In fact, summer uncertainty could create a whole other set of problems for students. While we know we cannot expect the administration to predict the status of COVID-19 a few months from now, the possibility of the global health emergency preventing students from making summer plans until April or May — or derailing existing plans entirely — is a realistic concern. Does the University expect to be able to offer its own typical summer programming, and will it assist students whose summer plans fall through?

Though these scenarios are not an exhaustive list of possibilities for how

COVID-19 could impact Brown in the months to come, they are immediate possibilities that have worried our peers and should thus be directly addressed by the administration. In addition to outlining various contingencies, the University should make clear exactly what circumstances would trigger the enactment of any given plan — whether one confirmed case on campus, a certain number of confirmed cases in Rhode Island or otherwise.

To our fellow classmates and University community members: We urge you to thoughtfully consider the announcements of evolving University action as driven by the community’s best interest. More importantly, we must be vigilant and sensitive to the situation of those around us.

Even if you believe your own health is not at risk, in an environment where any number of individuals could be asymptomatically carrying the virus and passing it on to their immunocompromised peers, we all have the obligation to carry out best health practices by washing our hands, watching where we cough or sneeze and practicing social distancing when necessary. As a community, we are also obligated to be sensitive to how COVID-19 is impacting others with whom we share our campus. Be aware of your privilege if home is nearby and recognize how paranoia is giving way to racism and xenophobia affecting those who do not share that privilege.

In the days to come, more cases of COVID-19 around the country will likely be discovered and Brown community members will continue to anxiously consider the future. We acknowledge the unprecedented nature of the situation, which has required new levels of response on a nearly day-by-day basis. Though we recognize that this is an evolving situation and the University’s response requires deliberation, we hope the administration will take the opportunity to address student concerns as much as it possibly can.

Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. This editorial was written by its editor, Krista Stapleford ’21, and members Amanda Brynn ’21, Riley Pestorius ’21, Vicky Phan ’21 and Dylan Tian ’21.

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8

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Davis talks importance of untangling US racial history Darnella Davis presents book about history surrounding her multiracial family

BY CLARA GUTMAN ARGEMÍ SENIOR STAFF WRITER Artist, writer and scholar Darnella Davis grew up in a family of Indigenous, Black and white descent. “My family included everybody,” she told the audience of a Tuesday evening lecture called “Why Untangling Our Red, White and Black Heritage Matters,” hosted by the University’s Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice. “I thought that was the norm,” she added.

In her lecture, Davis — who is of Cherokee Freedman descent on her father’s side and Muscogee Creek heritage on her mother’s — explained why she wrote her book, “Untangling a Red, White and Black Heritage,” and why examining the complexities of the United States’ racial past is important.

Davis’ book tells the history of her family, which includes “tribal leaders, prospectors, midwives, former slaves and slaveholders, ranchers, rodeo riders and attorneys,” she said at the lecture. According to the Washington Post, the book “is part family genealogy, part academic text and a completely sobering look at how former Black slaves of Native American tribes, and mixed-race descendants, have been treated.”

The realization that her family’s story “is a really important story that nobody else is telling,” prompted Davis to write the book.

Davis sees her work as fitting within a broader effort to untangle

JOHNSON FROM PAGE 1 tion and make sure that it is successful,” Shimberg said. “He has so much knowledge in his brain … so he’s making sure that all of that transfers over (to me).”

Alhough not interested in a permanent executive director position, “to be in this role is pretty incredible for me,” Shimberg said. “I’m humbled that (the University) trusted me with this leadership.”

Johnson chose to step down because he wants “to explore new chal-

DANIELLE EMERSON / HERALD

For Davis, “Untangling a Red, White and Black Heritage” fits within an academic trend that highlights racial complexities in US history. the United States’ complicated racial history and correct “notions about our multiracial past,” she said. She cited the work of scholars who “resist the constraining language and racial silence that oversimplify our tangled past.” Davis added that this “work grapples with our discomfort in finding appropriate nomenclature for speaking about who we are, and who can speak for or about us.”

Beyond academia, Davis also sees the New York Times’ “1619 Project” as contributing to this effort, because “it shakes up the existing narratives about the advent of slavery in this country.”

“As we strive to be honest, offering clearer historical accounts … that confront traumatic events and incite knowledge, we’ll be advancing knowledge — and that’s why untangling who

we are matters,” she said.

Chaelin Jung ’23 attended the lecture because her ETHN 1200C: “Introduction to Asian American Studies” professor recommended it. She was drawn to “the idea of what history gets erased and what history gets remembered.”

Jung added she was “a little worried” the event would get canceled because of growing fears of COVID-19 spread on campus. Tuesday’s lecture was sparsely

attended, with only a handful of students and community members gathering in Friedman Hall.

For Heather Sanford PhD ’20, an Interdisciplinary Opportunity fellow for the CSSJ who invited Davis to campus, Davis’ lecture fit the practice of “inviting scholars that fit within the larger public humanities” approach of the CSSJ.

lenges” that he would not be able to if he continued to serve as executive director, he wrote in a statement to The Herald. “Specifically, I want to focus on the Carnegie Classification and help harvest insights about good practice from the recent application round to share with the field.”

The Carnegie Classification, which operates out of the Swearer Center, is a designation given to universities for success in community engagement.

The University was awarded this designation Jan. 31, The Herald previously

reported.

Johnson also plans on working with 16 Canadian and 20 Australian universities over the next two years to “adapt the classification to their national contexts” as well as “revise the U.S. classification application in preparation for the 2023 cycle” of university applications, he wrote. He also will serve as a representative of the Carnegie Foundation to explore new collaboration opportunities.

Johnson is proud of many of his accomplishments during his time as

executive director, including “the shift we made from seeing community partners as a place of need to seeing community partners as true partners, imbued with wisdom, knowledge and agency,” Johnson wrote. He is also proud of “the diversity and inclusion work we have done to make Swearer a much more inclusive space” and “the team of staff that came together to do the hard work of change.”

Johnson mentioned the growth of new programs such as Brown in Washington and the Bonner Community

Fellowship as some of the highlights of his tenure as executive director, as well as “increased donor support and our move to a new location more fitting our needs.”

Shimberg said that one of Johnson’s most important accomplishments during his tenure was establishing a system to standardize Community Corps workshops, so that any staff member can step in to run a workshop if the need arises, she said.