THE
BROWN DAILY HERALD vol. cxlix, no. 69
since 1891
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2014
U. plans Associate Dean of Biology Marjorie Thompson dies dean known partnership ‘Beloved’ for commitment to advising, with Naval undergraduate curricular reform War College By MAXINE JOSELOW
By ALEKSANDRA LIFSHITS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
inside
Though the University and the U.S. Naval War College are only a 40-minute drive apart, the two institutions have had minimal interaction in the past. But on June 6, President Christina Paxson and former President of the Naval War College Walter Carter Jr. signed an agreement to collaborate on research and teaching. Following the agreement, the two schools will begin to partner by holding joint lectures and planning future research initiatives. Rick Menard, chief of staff to the provost of the Naval War College, said the partnership is in everyone’s best interest, since the institutions can benefit from each others’ facilities. Richard Locke, director of the Watson Institute for International Studies, expressed a similar sentiment. “Without spending any resources, we suddenly have available to us all this new expertise,” he said. Though Carter Jr. has left his post at the Naval War College since the agreement was signed, Locke said he does not anticipate that the administrative turnover or other issues will pose problems for the partnership. The partnership will focus on security-related topics, such as cybersecurity, nonproliferation — the prevention of arms buildup — and environmental change, according to a University press release. These issues will be explored in the forms of joint seminars, annual distinguished lecture series and research, according to the press release. This teamwork “will help shape policy and research as we search for solutions to evolving national security challenges,” said Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., who attended the agreement’s signing, in a statement provided to The Herald by his deputy press secretary Daniel Curran. The two institutions complement each other, Locke said. For example, faculty members at both the University and the Naval War College have significant knowledge about Eastern Europe and the Ukrainian conflict, though they approach similar research from different angles. A group of foreign policy and politics experts — including Assistant Professor of Political Science and » See NAVAL, page 3
Marjorie Thompson ’74 PhD’79 P’02 P’07 P’09 P’12 P’14 P’16, associate dean of biological sciences, died Monday afternoon while on leave from the University this semester, said Katherine Smith, who was appointed interim associate dean of biological sciences Sept. 1. “It’s going to be an extreme loss — a personal one for many students,” Smith told The Herald. “She was beloved by all.” Thompson died at Home and Hospice Care of Rhode Island “surrounded by family and close friends,” wrote Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences Jack Elias and Associate Dean of Biology
HERALD FILE PHOTO
Marjorie Thompson, who died Monday, was known outside of the University for her musical talents as a songwriter, singer and guitarist.
Faculty travel to Liberia to aid in fight against Ebola Two U. profs help to treat Liberian patients while med student works to deliver supplies By JASON NADBOY SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The Ebola virus epidemic may be happening thousands of miles away, but that is not stopping University faculty and students from trying to help fight the deadly disease. Both Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine Adam Levine and Professor of Medicine Timothy Flanigan are working to combat the outbreak in Liberia, while Anshu Vaish ’11.5 MD’16 is working from the states to deliver medical supplies to the affected region. Levine helped found the Ebola
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
Treatment Center in Liberia and is currently working there, isolating, testing and treating patients with Ebola, Levine wrote in an email to The Herald. Flanigan’s work in the country has focused on its capital city, Monrovia, where he is training healthcare professionals to work with medical equipment, he said, noting that many of them lack adequate training in treating Ebola. Health care in Liberia Both Flanigan and Levine noted that Liberia is not well-poised to battle the Ebola epidemic. “The health care system was really struggling before Ebola, so (the Ebola epidemic) was a double whammy,”
Flanigan said. “There are very few local doctors in Liberia,” Levine wrote, adding that there are “maybe 50 in the whole country of four million people.” Nurses and physician assistants make up most of the local medical staff, Levine added, though most of the hospital and healthcare centers in which they were employed closed down at the beginning of the epidemic as large numbers of healthcare workers died from the disease. “I’m so impressed by the Liberian health care workers and the challenges they face,” Flanigan said. Patients mostly hear through the radio of the Ebola Treatment Center, which is funded through the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, Levine wrote. “Patients call the country Ebola hotline and then we send our
ambulance to pick them up,” he added. Since no vaccine currently exists for Ebola, treatment focuses on relieving symptoms. Ebola causes diarrhea, so patients often become very dehydrated, Levine wrote. Restoring fluids to their bodies orally or through an IV is key, Levine wrote. Doctors can also treat “pain, fever, nausea and delirium,” he added. The priority is to stem the epidemic, Flanigan said, noting that more research may lead to the development of vaccines and medication to prevent and treat Ebola. Shipping supplies One of the major struggles health care workers in West Africa face is the lack of proper equipment, Levine wrote. » See EBOLA, page 3
Fall MOOCs explore literature, neuroscience Online Coursera classes have each already enrolled more than 20,000 students this semester By ALEXANDER BLUM SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The University will offer two massive open online courses through Coursera this semester: “The Fiction of Relationship,” taught by Arnold Weinstein, professor comparative literature, and “Exploring Neural Data,” taught by Monica Linden and David Sheinberg, lecturer and professor of neuroscience, respectively. Weinstein’s course was previously offered on Coursera during the summer of 2013, while “Exploring Neural Data”
was taught for the first time at Brown in the spring and is making the transition to Coursera for the first time. As of Friday afternoon, enrollment in “Exploring Neural Data,” hovered around 22,800, Linden said, and enrollment in “The Fiction of Relationship” had surpassed 20,000, according to a University press release. “I was interested in the idea of reaching a lot of people,” Linden said, adding that she believes the class fits well into a contemporary trend in neuroscience, namely a “push for open access to data.” She said she believes that the material covered by the course is very valuable for undergraduate students, regardless of its status as a MOOC. “We didn’t think too much about numbers when we were designing the » See MOOC, page 2
Commentary
LILIAN CRUZ / HERALD
Professor of Comparative Literature Arnold Weinstein says he finds course learning to be “enormously enriched” by online forums.
Science & Research
Mills ’15: U.S. military cuts are dangerous while world security faces major threats
Makhlouf ’16: Middle Eastern Studies program does not need more pro-Israel teaching
Study indicates yoga may be beneficial for those suffering from bipolar disorder
HIV research and prevention evolved over the years to include multi-department collaboration
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weather
Agreement encourages increased collaboration on issues of cybersecurity, environmental change
UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR
Edward Hawrot in an email to the Division of Biology and Medicine Tuesday afternoon. “Throughout her time here she remained committed to advancing the University in numerous and enduring ways,” President Christina Paxson wrote in a community-wide email Tuesday night. In her post as associate dean, which she held since 1983, Thompson led the Biology Undergraduate Affairs Office, which oversees the undergraduate biology curriculum and advising system. Thompson completed her undergraduate and graduate studies at Brown, receiving a bachelor of science in biochemistry in 1974 and a Ph.D. in biology in 1979, according to the Biology Undergraduate Affairs Office website. She married husband Ian Thompson PhD’79 and had seven children, six of whom attended or currently attend the University. » See THOMPSON, page 4
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2 university news » MOOC, from page 1 curriculum,” Sheinberg said, adding that both he and Linden are aware of the challenge of ensuring that enough support will be available for people working on the class’s problem sets. “To keep it going, it has to work fluidly,” so support from peers, and proactive participation on the class’s discussion forum will be very important, Sheinberg said. “People are quite liberated and empowered,” by the online platform, Weinstein said. Though some valuable characteristics of classroom instruction are lost when a course is taught online, students feel more comfortable with offering thoughts and input to class discussions, he said, adding that other fields outside of literature may not benefit the same way. Online, Weinstein does not have a physical presence, which means that he does not “get in the way,” of the free flow of
ideas he said. But Weinstein said he acknowledged that “all of that has a flipside,” and both classroom and online learning have their own virtues and blind spots. “It was very exciting. … It was very interesting,” Weinstein said of his previous experience teaching “The Fiction of Relationship” as a MOOC, adding that he was pleasantly surprised by how “productive” he found the course. Students were able to engage with literature in a way that was “enormously enriched” by online forums, he added. The 146 students currently enrolled in COLT1420T: “The Fiction of Relationship” on campus “are going to be double citizens,” Weinstein said. They will register for the Coursera course simultaneously and write a short, ungraded paper at the end of the semester to reflect on the pros and cons of the course as they perceived them. “They may say it is a disaster,”
Weinstein said, adding that in some ways, it is “a kind of experiment.” Linden said that one potential benefit of MOOCs having so many students is that there could be more interesting approaches to solving problems. She added that because people who take the MOOCs are not receiving a formal University credit upon completion, they may be more willing to take risks in approaching problemsolving. Students will face three kinds of assessments in Linden and Sheinberg’s class. There will be quizzes, automatically-graded computer coding assignments and peer-reviewed tasks that will evaluate the students’ abilities to present data “in a way that makes sense,” Linden said. “We don’t know how much people will put in,” Sheinberg said. “We’re just hoping that everyone gets what they were hoping to get,” » See MOOC, page 3
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2014
Symposium addresses inmate reintegration Performances and discussion focus on importance of restoring Pell Grants to prisoners By EBEN BLAKE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
“Our beginnings have already been established, but our ends are nowhere in sight,” voiced performers from the College and Community Fellowship’s Theater for Social Change in a call for prison inmates to gain greater access to education at a symposium Tuesday. Addressing the cycles of incarceration, poverty and lack of access to higher education faced by former prison inmates in the United States, the Restore the Pell Grant Symposium, held in MacMillan 117, focused on the role that Pell Grants play in enabling former inmates to reintegrate into society after incarceration. Pell Grants are federal funds provided to college students who are unable to assume the full financial burden of their schooling. Since the passage of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, individuals in prison have been unable to receive Pell Grant money. The symposium was sponsored by the activist organization Education from the Inside Out Coalition, the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions, the Swearer Center for Public Service, the Center for Slavery and Justice and a number of student groups. Speakers offered a variety of perspectives on why they believed Pell Grants should be restored to ex-inmates and on how to broaden prison populations’ access to higher education. The Theater for Social Change — which spotlights stories of female exinmates — began the program with a mixture of sketches and spoken-word performances from ex-inmates that explored their personal difficulties reintegrating into society and finding work after prison, despite their qualifications. The five performers each related scenes from their lives that demonstrated the problems of life after incarceration — job interviews cut short because of criminal records, deep-seated suspicion from their communities, and a constant, crippling sense of self-doubt and insecurity of their own credentials. Following the performers’ opening, six speakers focused on the power of Pell Grants and higher education in general to free people — especially young men of color — from systems of structural inequality and poverty in America. Andy Horwitz, a law professor at Roger Williams University, moderated the discussion. Dallas Pell, the daughter of the late U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell, D-R.I. — who sponsored the federal legislation creating Pell Grants — opened the panel by highlighting her father’s legacy in expanding educational opportunities for a wider range of Americans. She stressed her father’s despair at the
exclusion of former convicts from the Pell Grant program. Glenn Martin, a co-founder of the Education from the Inside Out Coalition, explored the problems of the criminal justice system in America and spoke of Pell Grants’ potential to greatly reduce reincarceration through effective reintegration. The United States contains roughly 25 percent of the world’s prison population, despite accounting for only 5 percent of its total population, Martin said. The explosion of criminal justice laws has hurt poor, minority populations disproportionately through arrests, while young black men are the greatest victims of violent crime in the United States, he added. Noah Kilroy, a former inmate and the co-founder of the Transcending Through Education Foundation, a group that offers scholarships to people recently released from prison, offered an emotional examination of his own history in prison as a young man. He discussed his rehabilitation due to educational opportunities that no longer exist for former inmates. “Education saved my life,” Kilroy said, citing the importance of connecting ex-prisoners with the learning resources they need to rehabilitate and gain a sense of accountability. Robert Corrente, former U.S. attorney for Rhode Island, presented the importance of Pell Grants as a matter of community health and criminal justice. “It’s a colossally stupid idea to be actively enforcing a policy that undercuts the success of reintegration,” Corrente said, criticizing inmates’ exclusion from receiving these federal funds. “We’re making it less likely for people to stop reoffending.” Brenda Dann-Messier, a former assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education, and Vivian Nixon, executive director of the College and Community Fellowship, focused on convicts’ access to Pell Grants as both a way out of poverty and the cycle of incarceration. Dann-Messier and Nixon examined how prison education currently trains inmates for obsolete fields and needs to adjust to train skilled workers for high-wage and indemand sectors. All the panelists agreed that, based on the current political climate of Congress, reform seems unlikely for the short term. While President Obama would potentially sign reform legislation, a bill restoring ex-inmates’ access to Pell Grants would fall short of passing Congress, the speakers said. But Nixon ended the discussion with a message of hope, comparing the prison reform movement to previous civil rights battles. “You would never have a movement for change that didn’t include real voices from the people who it affects the most,” Nixon said, calling for exinmates to be more vocal in the debate. “And here, we need to make sure that those who have been impacted by the criminal justice system finally get the opportunity to speak.”
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2014
This Week in Higher Ed BY MAXINE JOSELOW, UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR
U. of Illinois dismisses professor over tweets
The trustees of the University of Illinois voted last week to withdraw an offer of a tenured position to a Palestinian-American professor after reviewing his tweets about Gaza this summer, the New York Times reported Friday. Prior to the vote, a petition protesting the appointment of Professor of American Indian Studies Steven Salaita was circulated by pro-Israel students, faculty members and donors who found his tweets antiSemitic, the Times reported. “Let’s cut to the chase: If you’re defending #Israel right now you’re an awful human being,” read one of Salaita’s tweets from July 8. “Professor Salaita’s approach indicates he would be incapable of fostering a classroom environment where conflicting opinions would be given equal consideration,” President of the University of Illinois Robert Easter said after the vote, the Times reported. Salaita told The Jewish Daily Forward his tweets were taken out of context and “misunderstood,” adding that he opposes anti-Semitism and would never seek to punish students for expressing pro-Israel views.
Report finds hope for humanities A report released last week by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences found that the number of humanities departments and humanities faculty members at U.S. colleges and universities has remained relatively stable since the most recent recession, the New York Times reported Sunday. But the number of humanities majors saw a slight decline, and foreign language departments saw some of the greatest cuts, according to the report. The AAAS considered eight humanities disciplines, including art history, English, foreign languages, history, history of science, linguistics, religion and combined English and foreign-language programs. “We expected there would be more change. That was one of the surprises coming out of this report,” Robert Townsend, director of the Washington office of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, told the Times.
Harvard to face former professor’s lawsuit A former associate professor of social sciences at Harvard plans to file a lawsuit against the university for allegedly violating Title IX and Title VII when denying her tenure last spring, the Harvard Crimson reported Thursday. Kimberly Theidon, former associate professor of the social sciences, alleges the university denied her tenure to punish her for commenting on a March 2013 Crimson article about sexual assault, the Crimson reported. The right to free speech, including online commentary, is protected under Title IX. In her comments on the story, Theidon defended the anonymous sexual assault victims who were quoted and engaged other commenters claiming to be “men’s rights” activists, the Crimson reported. Additionally, Theidon alleges the university also denied her tenure to punish her for counseling a student who claimed to have been sexually assaulted by a male faculty member, the Crimson reported. Jeff Neal, director of university communications at Harvard, told the Crimson that the university based Theidon’s tenure decision solely on academic merit and had no knowledge of her “advocacy” related to sexual assault.
» MOOC, from page 2 Linden said. Weinstein said he was skeptical of attempting to gauge what students have gotten out of his MOOC. “I don’t think this will replace the classroom … at least not yet,” he said, adding that he
is concerned that online classes — if offered for credit at other institutions — could eventually lower the net number of faculty positions at colleges and universities across the country. “I will not be proud if some people lose their jobs, or if some places close up shop” because of digital education, he said.
» NAVAL, from page 1 International Studies Jeff Colgan —will give a talk at the University entitled “Ukraine and the New World Disorder” on Oct. 17 that students from both institutions are welcome to attend, Locke said. Robert Zoellick, former president of the World Bank and former deputy secretary of state, will lecture at the Naval War College sometime in mid-October, he added. Discussion about a potential partnership between the University and the Naval War College began in 2003, Locke said. But efforts to launch the partnership stalled until Locke visited the Naval War College’s campus last year, he said, adding that “such a partnership should have happened a long time ago.” Looking ahead, the next step for the partnership is joint teaching and classes in which students from both institutions can participate, Locke said. For example, many elite military staff in the Naval War College’s masters program who aspire to careers in public policy could benefit from taking classes at the University, he said. “We are trying to figure out a way to get them to spend their second year hanging out here with our students and faculty, so that our students can interact with them and learn from them,” he added. Overall, the agreement is flexible, and both institutions will be ready to take on opportunities as they come along, Menard said. “We are still in the beginning stages of understanding what each institution has to offer,” he said. Students and faculty members from both institutions have expressed excitement about the partnership and surprise that it didn’t happen sooner, Locke said. Peer institutions such as Stanford University, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology currently have comparable programs in place, he added.
Ebola outbreak statistics as of Aug. 31
SENEGAL
110
GUINEA
NIGERIA
771 579 494
21 16 7
SIERRA LEONE
1,216 1,107 476 LIBERIA
The Ebola virus — which causes excessive bleeding and death for over half of infected individuals — has spread throughout several countries at an unprecedented rate. The 2014 Ebola outbreak is the most deadly recorded in history.
1,698 403 871 Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Avery Crits-Cristoph / Herald
» EBOLA, from page 1 Vaish is helping to send large shipments of supplies to the region. Some of the supplies include gowns, gloves, masks and chlorine, he said. The equipment that is needed in Liberia is very simple, so Brown students can help by collecting and donating supplies, he added. Three-quarters of a ton of supplies have already been shipped, Vaish said. “We’re targeting to send another 13 tons.” “It’s very difficult to get material in,” he added. “Shipping takes too long by sea, so we’re doing it by air freight.” The problem with shipping by air is that few carriers travel to the areas in West Africa where the supplies are most needed, Vaish said. “The lack of carriers raises the price considerably.” Facilitating communication between the different parties involved is also difficult, Vaish added. Vaish acts as the negotiator between the donors and non-profits in the United States and government officials and
health care workers in West Africa, he said. His unique experience previously working for a company in Sierra Leone has given him considerable connections in the area, he added. ‘A human issue’ “It’s a very human issue we should all be concerned about,” Vaish said of the epidemic. “Rhode Island has one of the biggest Liberian populations outside of the area,” said Susan Cu-Uvin, professor of obstetrics and gynecology and director of the Brown Global Health Initiative, and many members of the Liberian community are worried about their relatives overseas in Liberia. Students interested in helping to fight the disease can “raise money for one of the few organizations currently working in Liberia now to fight Ebola, such as International Medical Corps or Doctors Without Borders,” Levine wrote. They can also get involved through the Global Health Initiative. “Brown is very well known for its social conscience,” Cu-Uvin said.
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4 university news » THOMPSON, from page 1 Though Thompson was set to teach BIOL 3643: “Histology” this semester, her leave of absence prevented her from instructing the course, Smith said. Last spring, Thompson led two sections of BIOL 0320: “Vertebrate Embryology,” according to Banner. Over her time at the University, she taught histology to medical students and embryology, biological illustration and scientific writing to undergraduates, Elias and Hawrot wrote. In past summers, she offered an introductory biology course to high school participants in the Summer@ Brown program, according to the Biology Undergraduate Affairs Office website. She also participated in several committees tasked with evaluating the biology program, chairing the Biology Curriculum Committee and serving as a member of the Program in Biology Advisory Committee, according to the Biology Undergraduate Affairs Office website. Thompson advised hundreds of students every academic year, including those pursuing independent research,
Elias and Hawrot wrote in their email. In her email, Paxson noted that Thompson mentored students with “boundless support and friendship.” “My goal is to run this office just as she would, and to keep advising students just as she would,” Smith told The Herald. Beyond the biology department, Thompson bolstered a number of groups focused on academic affairs. She was chair of the Academic Awards Committee and a member of the Senior Dean’s Council, the BioMedical Faculty Council and the College Curriculum Committee, according to the Biology Undergraduate Affairs Office website. Additionally, Thompson helped found the Science Center and elect undergraduates to the Brown chapter of Sigma Xi, an international honor society for science and engineering. As a dean, Thompson won several awards including the Barrett Hazeltine Senior Class Citation and the BioMed Dean’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and Advising, Elias and Hawrot wrote. “A respected leader and valued colleague, she was always willing to share her advice and expertise,” Paxson wrote.
Outside of her University position, Thompson enjoyed pursuing her artistic passions. An avid songwriter, singer and acoustic guitarist, she released six albums and performed on radio and television programs including “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” according to her website. Last year, Thompson went on tour, performing her music in North Carolina, Georgia, Ohio and Massachusetts. She also started Cellular Fun, a business aiming to produce “biologically correct jewelry,” according to its website. A funeral service will be held Thursday at 1 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El in Providence, Elias and Hawrot wrote. Students, faculty members and staff members are welcome to leave written condolences for Thompson’s family at the Office of Biology Undergraduate Education in Arnold Lab, they wrote. For support, Brown community members can contact the offices of Counseling and Psychological Services, which can be reached at 401-863-3476, and Chaplains and Religious Life, which can be reached at 401-863-2344. The CAPS line is open on evenings and weekends, as is the University’s administrator-on-call line, 401-863-3322.
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2014
H O N E Y, C A N YO U H E A R M E ?
JUSTINA LEE / HERALD
“Bit Symphony,” an art piece created by composer Tristan Perich, adorns a Granoff Center wall as part of an exhibit exploring sound.
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2014
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Students gathered in Sayles Hall Tuesday for the first-ever separate fall Technology Career Fair,where they could meet potential employers and learn about careers in computer science and related areas.
comics Class Notes | Philip Trammell ’15
crossword
Moving Parts | Odie
calendar TODAY 12 P.M. FALL CAREER FAIR
Over 90 employers from both the public and private sectors will come to campus to discuss internships and full-time job opportunities for undergraduates and graduate students. Sayles Hall
TOMORROW 4 P.M. FORMING SPIRIT: ART BETWEEN RELIGION AND SECULARISM IN POST-COLONIAL INDIA
As part of a year-long series, The Art of Invisibility, this first film screening is presented by Professor Kathryn Myers from the University of Connecticut. 85 Waterman St.
6:30 P.M. ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAM HOUSE OPEN
8 P.M. FREE BEGINNER SWING DANCE LESSONS
DINNER
No partner or previous experience is required for this session of swing dancing sponsored by the Brown Swing Dance Club. 79-81 Waterman St.
A home cooked meal is waiting for any student interested in learning about the Environmental Program House and its two food co-ops. 111 Brown St.
9 P.M. PULP FICTION SCREENING 6 P.M. SQUARE INC. HACK-A-THON
Brown coders will be putting on an hour-long coding competition designed by Square Engineers, including a discussion of internships and career options. CareerLAB
Brown University Film Forum starts off its second year at the University with a screening of the 1994 dark comedy film “Pulp Fiction,” written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Smith-Buonanno 106
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2014
EDITORIAL
We are not excellent sheep Brown in no way conforms to the paradigm presented by William Deresiewicz in his book, “Excellent Sheep.” Though Deresiewicz conceded in his lecture that Brown is halfway toward promoting and perpetuating a liberal arts system, we firmly believe that the University is uniquely positioned within the realm of higher education and, through the New Curriculum, allows students to explore the gamut of academic spheres, devoid of post-graduate pressures. Though we agree that there exists an increasingly dangerous pre-professional phenomenon festering in the ‘elite’ cadre of universities, the foundation of the Brown education operates in a contrarian mode with respect to the aforementioned situation and truly captures the essence of a liberal arts education. In his work, Deresiewicz presents a critique of the current structure of American higher education in funneling undergraduate students into a limited collection of professions, most prominently finance and consulting. Harvard — undoubtedly the preeminent benchmark in higher ed — sent 31 percent of its most recent graduating class into these two fields, according to the the Crimson’s 2014 Commencement Issue. Though this recent figure falls below historical peaks, Deresiewicz argues that even this percentage is a point of significant concern and speaks to students’ collective need for security eclipsing ‘true’ interest. We, too, are worried that practicality is progressively overshadowing intellectual curiosity within the collegiate environment. While Deresiewicz targets the Ivy League in his critical analysis, this blanket generality does not account for the variance in the academic undergirding of these eight institutions, a point particularly cogent with regard to Brown. Unlike the other Ivy institutions, Brown’s New Curriculum affords students the opportunity to engage in pure academic exploration, without the need to fill general departmental requirements. This systematic difference allows students to delve deeply into particular academic spheres or alternatively, gain a broad understanding of many. In no way does this model conform to a sense of pre-professionalism. According to The Herald’s 2014 Spring Poll, 50 percent of students claim they are not concerned that their concentration will hinder their ability to find a job after graduation, a statistic that undercuts the general claim of the need for practical or relevant skills. Though Deresiewicz said that Brown was halfway to achieving a liberal arts model, we assert that this is a dramatic underestimation and that the true mechanics of a Brown education allow the individual to gain a sense of self, isolated from the pressures of post-graduate pursuits. We urge the University to continue to promote its current model of education, disjointed from broader job market prospects, and to maintain its clear alignment with the liberal arts. Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board, led by Alexander Kaplan ’15 and James Rattner ’15. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
A N G E L IA WA N G
Q U O T E O F T H E D AY
“If it makes sex feel terrible, people won’t want to use it.” — Sara Vargas, post-doctoral fellow
See HIV on page 8. EDITORS’ NOTE A column in Monday’s Herald (“The Ivy League lament,” Sept. 15) contained a few passages with wording or syntax that was overly similar to a New Yorker piece published this summer on the same topic. Those passages have been modified online to remove the resemblance, and we have determined that the similarities were inadvertent. The integrity of our attribution is of utmost importance to The Herald, and we are taking steps to ensure that no similar mistakes happen in the future. Editors’ notes are written by the 124th Editorial Board: Eli Okun ’15, Mathias Heller ’15, Sona Mkrttchian ’15, Maddie Berg ’15, Katherine Cusumano ’15 and Kate Nussenbaum ’15.
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2014
Objectivity and its discontents PETER MAKHLOUF opinions columnist
Last week, Jason Ginsberg ’16 wrote an article on what he believes to be the misleading nature of the Middle East Studies Initiative’s programming (“Brown’s Middle East misnomer,” Sept. 11). To begin with, the central premise of his argument needs to be clarified, as the author himself seems a bit bewildered. Ginsberg writes that his pro-Israel leanings are left unrepresented by MES, yet at another point, he insists that any mention of Israel at all is “left out of the mix.” It is unclear whether he believes the program leaves out Israel altogether, or, more likely, the narrative on Israel that he favors. Seeing as Ginsberg himself refers to two of the program’s events, the luncheon seminar on the Second Intifada and the “Why Gaza Matters” panel, he seems to be well aware that MES speaks on Israel, though he selectively hears what characterizations of Israel he would like to hear. Ginsberg’s article on the whole is riddled with gross instances of cognitive dissonance, as it insists on the presentation of his singular viewpoint — favoring the Zionist narrative — while at the same time expressing a desire for a wide range of diverse perspectives. One method that the author is fully cognizant of is his character-
ization of MES as a so-called “Islamic” program, complete with innuendos that accompany a reference to Islam in a post-9/11, War-on-Terror world — all of which contribute to a subtle current of Islamophobia. Further, Ginsberg posits some link between the alleged Islamic nature of the program and a dearth of discourse around Israel, and even completes the association with a bold reference to ISIS’ recent violent rise in the Middle East. This is a common paradigm of
are time and time again the targets of surveillance, criticism and attempts to silence debate. Ginsberg joins a long legacy of neo-McCarthyist watchdogs in higher education who seek to perpetuate fear about “Arabs” and educators who defend them, just as they once ranted about “Communists.” The MES program at Brown devotes an enormous effort to critically discussing Israel and Palestine through literature, film, lecture and debate — a claim which can be con-
Gaza this summer, as in years past, and as it is heard each and every day in the West Bank. Ginsberg flips the premise of objectivity on its head by asserting that pro-Israel views are underrepresented, despite the fact that we observe the contrary in the media, the U.S. government’s official view and widespread American political sentiment. Thus, if MES were to insist on objectivity, it would come in the form of speaking for the underrepresented — unheard popula-
Ginsberg joins a long legacy of neo-McCarthyist watchdogs in higher education who seek to perpetuate fear about “Arabs” and educators who defend them, just as they once ranted about “Communists.” diametrically opposing West vs. East, the Judeo-Christian tradition versus the Islamic one, and moreover, associating the Islamic tradition with violence. When put into focus alongside the comments regarding “modern Israeli advances,” the analogy descends into an Orientalist trope of civilization versus barbarism. But this dichotomy does not remain in the abstract, and Ginsberg does not seem to notice the gravity of his words, nor their irony. Various American and Israeli academics and organizations have attempted to implicate Middle East studies programs in condoning acts of terror for years, especially since 9/11. Middle East Studies programs
firmed by a brief glance at the program’s semester schedule and suggested course list. And as it becomes exceedingly clear that the initiative executes due diligence in addressing pressing, relevant topics concerning Israel, one question remains: Does it have to? That is, even if MES were to hold its tongue and remain silent on the issue, does it not have that right? More importantly, why does a colonizing, occupying power need its voice heard above and beyond the American media’s overt support of Israel and the litany of Israeli ambassadors, spokespeople, generals and so-called “analysts,” who flood the cable news networks again and again? Power speaks for itself, and the Israeli voice was clearly heard in
tions like the Palestinians. The often-heard claim regarding the “objectivity argument” is that unless two sides are clearly delineated and represented, any subsequent panels, events and lectures are somehow biased. The objectivity argument is a red herring, with quite upsetting implications, especially when one considers the method in which it attempts to use the cry of suppressed speech to suppress speech in turn. Objectivity is breached when facts are twisted, fabricated or grossly misinterpreted. The absence of a panelist who will support Israel’s right to kill does not breach objectivity. Understanding 1948 as a violent rupture in Palestinian his-
tory, rather than as the founding of Israel, does not breach objectivity. Positing different understandings and underrepresented views is not only evidence of an apt University program, but actually satisfies Ginsberg’s criteria, when he writes: “Departments … should strive for this exposure, challenging students of all views and backgrounds.” Readers of his article could question how much the author hopes to be exposed or challenged when he repeatedly references the “comfort” he desires to experience while participating in such discussions. Certainly it would be a mark of a lackluster, unmeritorious university if its students completed four years in ideological comfort. The essence of vigorous inquiry that is at the heart of any institute of higher education lies in challenging one’s preconceived notions — especially those held nearest and dearest. Surely our time at Brown is to be spent aspiring for higher knowledge beyond the comfort which hearing our cherished views repeated might provide. The university is one of the few havens of undeniably safe expression. I urge the author to spend a week in the West Bank or an hour in Gaza in order to fully experience the gravity of the phrase “my usual sense of comfort and freedom has been constricted.”
Peter Makhlouf ’16 can be reached at peter_makhlouf@brown.edu.
Cut out the cuts WALKER MILLS opinions columnist
We’re not done yet. And I don’t see the end coming anytime soon. Last Wednesday, in a primetime speech addressing the nation, President Obama announced that he was opening a new chapter in the War on Terror and in our involvement in the Middle East. The new campaign would be limited to air strikes and military advisers and supported by what Obama referred to as a “broad coalition” of partners. Despite his pledge that “we will not get dragged into another ground war in Iraq,” an American Delta Force unit conducted a heliborne raid deep into Syria in late August. This can be viewed either as a once-off operation, rightly conducted in an attempt to rescue the late journalist James Foley, or a sign of greater involvement to come. Either way, the U.S. military is going to be called upon again and again in the near future. Last February, the U.S. Department of Defense announced sweeping cuts to the defense budget. These reductions need to be lessened or at least reconsidered. The cuts are significant, and once complete, they will cut Army troop totals to pre-World War II levels while cutting other services nearly as dramatically. Supposedly because our nation had pulled out of Iraq and is almost gone from Afghanistan, we’d be at peace for the first time in over a decade and should cut our forces accordingly. This was before the sky in the Levant was darkened by rockets and war planes, when Russian President Vladimir Putin was playing nice at the Olym-
pics in Sochi and before ISIS had swept across the Syrian border into Iraq. The cuts made a lot of sense at the time — our military budget is huge, so why not roll some of that money into, say, education, where it is desperately needed? And some of the more specific moves made sense, like cutting the aging A-10 Warthog program. A jet designed to hunt Soviet tanks on the plains of Northern Europe didn’t make much sense in the fight against the Taliban. End the F-22 program, too — we’ve already got the best fighter jets in the world,
instead spent building schools and highways or reducing the deficit. But we are the world’s police. That phrase has been somewhat tarnished after our long stay in Iraq and Afghanistan, so I’ll use another metaphor that was coined by Thomas Friedman of the New York Times. “America is the tent pole holding up the whole world of order.” There is no other nation, or coalition of nations, that can enforce order, ensure security or defend freedom like we can. If the United States were to withdraw the Army back to our borders
There is no other nation, or coalition of nations that can enforce order, ensure security or defend freedom like we can. so why spend billions more to replace them? Transfer the National Guard’s Apache helicopters to the active duty Army and instead give the Guard more versatile transport helicopters. But then reality happened. Putin invaded Crimea and eastern Ukraine. ISIS drove almost all the way to Baghdad. Israel invaded Gaza. China is trying to grab islands in the Pacific. America is once again ramping up military operations in the Middle East, American power is bolstering the NATO Alliance in Europe and American ships and planes are deterring aggression in the Pacific. Our service men and women are again being called upon to defend our allies and our interests, and we need to make sure our budget makes their needs a priority. The spending cuts were a nice idea. I would love to see billions spent on bullets and bombs
and call all our ships back to port, who would fill the vacuum? Would Putin keep his tanks rolling past Ukraine? Would ISIS finish off the rest of Iraq? Would China gobble up Taiwan? Would North Korea start shelling Seoul? I’m pretty sure I don’t want to find out. As Americans, we have to face the reality that we live in a world where we are the sole superpower. Friedman painted a clear picture in his three-part opinion piece “Order vs. Disorder.” There is the world of order and freedom supported by American military might, and then there is the mess that falls outside of it. I’ll admit that we sometimes make mistakes, and our best intentions fall victim to military adventurism, or we back the wrong leader. There can also be local disillusionment with our presence, especially when it is long-term
in places like Okinawa or Cuba. But if we dramatically cut our military and step back, no one good will take our place. We can’t even leave Europe to fend for itself — the NATO Alliance has become little more than a four-letter acronym for the U.S. military. In 2013, the United States spent over three times as much on the military than the other 27 member states combined. And in the Pacific? We’re what keeps South Korea free — we have almost 30,000 troops permanently based in Korea and along the Demilitarized Zone. Japan also benefits from U.S. support. For decades, the United States has kept over 15,000 Marines on Okinawa as a tangible deterrent to Chinese aggression. The U.S. government needs to reconsider these cuts in military size and funding. I believe that after 13 years of continuous war in the Middle East, we should be thinking critically about our military spending and make sure we are getting the most value possible out of every dollar spent. We certainly cannot afford to offer anyone a blank check — even our military. But we must also realize we are not at peace. We do not have the luxury of slashing our military spending. Obama made this clear in his speech on Wednesday, promising that “We will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are.” That’s an expensive promise. It’s one we need to keep and make sure we can back up.
Walker Mills ’15 is a senior concentrating in history and archaeology. He intends to commission as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps after graduation. He can be reached at walker_mills@brown.edu.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2014
THE
BROWN DAILY HERALD science & research Yoga improving mental health is no stretch, study suggests Bipolar disorder patients report meditation lessens stress, according to new study by U. researchers By MICHELLE MEHRTENS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Yoga may have potential health benefits for people suffering from bipolar disorder, according to recent findings by University researchers. “We have just completed a larger study of yoga as an adjunctive treatment for people with unipolar depression,” wrote Lisa Uebelacker, an associate professor at the Alpert Medical School and lead author of the study, in an email to The Herald. “We think yoga teaches people how to practice mindfulness: a nonjudgmental focus on experiences in the present moment,” Uebelacker wrote. A possible way to abate suffering is to learn how to accept any and all difficult emotions, and to acknowledge that change is imminent, Uebelacker added. An online survey sent out to people with bipolar disorder who practice yoga gathered many positive responses Uebelacker and colleagues reported in their study, which was published in the latest issue of the Journal of Psychiatric Practice. Approximately one in five respondents deemed yoga “life-changing,” and others acknowledged that the meditative activity lessened anxiety and stress. But “it’s possible that you want to avoid any extreme practice, such as extended periods of rapid breathing,” Uebelacker said in a University press release, as she responded to the few negative reactions catalogued in
ALEXIA DELHOUME / HERALD
Students participate in a Yoga and Mindfulness course at Hillel. Researchers at the Alpert Medical School recently published a study that found that yoga, alongside with pharmaceutical medicine, can be an effective treatment for bipolar disorder and depression. the survey. “I do recommend yoga to most of my patients for many different conditions — not just bipolar disorder,” said David Kahn, a Providence-based licensed psychiatrist who focuses on many psychological issues and was not involved in the study. A student of yoga for three decades, Kahn said he particularly appreciates pranayama yoga, which employs breathing control exercises and emphasizes
relaxation and meditation. “Yoga has a lot of powerful benefits for anybody, especially in optimizing mental and emotional balance,” Kahn said. Various studies show that cognitive therapy focused on mindfulness may avert future depressive episodes in people with persistent depression, Uebelacker wrote. “We usually study yoga in concert with pharmacological approaches to treatment. We don’t
think it needs to be either/or. It’s best if people have many options for how to promote good psychological health.” Continuing research will also involve patients with bipolar disorder and depression. The main focus will be a pilot study comparing the effects of yoga to those of self-help, wrote Uebelacker. She will work once again with Lauren Weinstock, assistant professor of psychiatry and
human behavior, who assisted with the present study. A future goal is to create a significantly larger trial that will collect enough statistical data to pinpoint both the health benefits and risks of yoga, according to the release. But “it may be challenging to tease out the physical versus psychological effects of yoga,” wrote Terence Ketter, chief of the Bipolar Disorders Clinic at the Stanford University School of Medicine, in an email to The Herald.
U. researchers collaborate with Miriam Hospital to expand HIV research N.I.H. grant funds to be used to develop new ways of delivering antiretroviral drugs to HIV patients By RILEY DAVIS SENIOR STAFF WRITER
HIV research and prevention is an ever-changing field, and Miriam Hospital is helping lead a new grant to develop innovative ways to deliver HIV-fighting drugs to women. The hospital announced last week that it has received a portion of a $20 million National Institutes of Health grant to develop and test an intravaginal ring as a method of delivering antiretroviral drugs to women to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted HIV. The ring will deliver tailored, timed dosages of ARV medications. Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Kathleen Morrow has received $1.2 million of the grant to study the social and behavioral implications of this intravaginal ring, according to a Lifespan press release. Morrow’s role is to come in and assess whether the product is being received well by potential users, said Sara Vargas, a postdoctoral fellow working with Morrow. Morrow works to bridge the gap between product developers and the
users who actually receive their products, Vargas said. “Dr. Morrow’s main goal is to hear from people as early as she possibly can, so (developers) are not going down the wrong road.” User feedback is especially critical in HIV treatment because “you can have the best drug in the world that delivers perfectly and has a really high protection rate, but if it makes sex feel terrible, people won’t want to use it,” Vargas said. The trend of effective drug delivery for HIV treatment and prevention has been on the rise recently, Vargas said. In recent years, this line of work has increased, but Morrow’s work on this grant is still only “one piece of the puzzle,” she added. Opening dialogue The area of HIV research has grown in prevalence and has spread across disciplines, and current University research on HIV extends far beyond the development of intravaginal rings for women. A wide array of departments often collaborate to focus on both treatment and prevention measures for particular at-risk
groups. Kristi Gamarel, a postdoctoral fellow at the Alpert Medical School, recently published two papers about HIV implications and prevention. The first was on the administration of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis — a preventative drug combination — to men in relationships with other men, and the second focused on how social perceptions affect HIV treatment and prevention in transgender women. Gamarel said she was interested in the social implications that make certain individuals within these groups more likely to seek PrEP over others. For men in same-sex relationships, she found that those most likely to seek PrEP were those with long-term partners in relationships where both individuals were self-reported as HIV negative. “We did find over half of the men who are in relationships were interested in taking PrEP,” Gamarel said. “And the desires for intimacy around condom-less sex were a deciding factor in these men wanting to take PrEP to protect themselves.” In the second study, Gamarel looked at discrimination’s effect on transgender women’s sexual health with their biologically male partners. Social disdain, alienation and
discrimination had an effect on the quality of their sexual relationships, which led to a higher risk of HIV infection, she said. “Mental health is a pathway of HIV transmission, and poor relationship quality could also indicate difficulties with communication or not being on the same page.” Social practices Other societal factors can also play a large role in the likelihood of effective HIV treatment. Christopher Kahler, professor of behavioral and social sciences, looks at alcohol use and its effect on people living with HIV. Kahler said in recent studies, he has explored alcohol use in the context of the question of what living a healthy lifestyle means for those with HIV. One of the primary effects of heavy alcohol use is that it reduces the likelihood that people will take their medication on time and in the correct manner, Kahler said. Another is that HIV-positive people with high levels of alcohol consumption may see their brain function detriorate more rapidly than heavy alcohol users without HIV, he added. As treatment methods have evolved, Kahler said, part of HIV
research has switched from being focused on “prevention and palliative care” and expanded to monitoring the effects of practices of HIV-positive people. Across departments, across continents HIV research has always been an important and widely-tackled topic, said Caroline Kuo, assistant professor of behavioral and social sciences. But the past decade has seen a significant increase in the interdisciplinary methods being used to improve treatment and prevention. “More and more, we’re realizing that we should approach it as biobehavioral prevention,” Kuo said. Kuo, whose research focuses on adolescent, gay and transgender populations in South Africa that are at risk for HIV, said interdisciplinary collaboration at the University extends through departments and across continents to universities in South Africa. Interaction between medical developers and behavioral scientists is key for developing accessible products, Kuo said. “If there is any disease that I would call an interdisciplinary science, HIV really exemplifies that,” she added.