SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015
VOLUME CL, ISSUE 20
Alum group aims to aid sexual assault activism
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DON’ T BRUSH IT OFF
Brown Alumni to Stop Assault strives to support student activists, build on past accomplishments By SUSANNAH HOWE SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Brown Alumni to Stop Assault, an emerging alumni group, aims to keep alums engaged in sexual assault policy reform and to harness the power of the alumni community to hold the University accountable to lasting change, group leaders said. The group’s founding members have » See BASTA, page 3
ELIT WHITE / HERALD
Graduate students rallied on the Main Green Wednesday to demand dental coverage be included in their health insurance plans.
BUCC talks deficit, sexual assault policy, faculty diversity U. works to reduce budget deficit by expanding research revenue, master’s programs By BAYLOR KNOBLOCH SENIOR STAFF WRITER
ASHLEY SO / HERALD
President Christina Paxson P’19 addresses the council, outlining specific plans for decreasing the operating budget deficit.
The Brown University Community Council focused on financial concerns such as the budget deficit and revenue growth, as well as policy related to sexual assault and faculty diversity, as its meeting Wednesday. President Christina Paxson P’19 presented major fiscal decisions made
at the February Corporation meeting, noting that the body approved a 4.4 percent increase in tuition and fees and an 8 percent increase in financial aid for next academic year. She highlighted the budget deficit as the most pressing issue at hand. “A budget deficit of this size is something we really need to address,” Paxson said. In fiscal year 2014, the deficit amounted to $8.8 million, and it is expected to drop to $6.7 million in fiscal year 2015, she added. “One way out of this is to focus on revenue growth,” Paxson said. New “research revenue” and master’s programs as well as a jump in the undergraduate
student population will drive this growth, she added. Sexual assault reform and the Task Force on Sexual Assault’s interim report, which was released in December, also drove much discussion. The task force aims to finalize a comprehensive policy on gender violence and develop a hearing process for student complaints by the end of March, said Russell Carey ’91 MA’06, executive vice president for planning and policy and co-chair of the task force. Carey said student feedback on the report has been largely “positive” since its release. “My sense is that the » See BUCC, page 2
Researchers tackle gaps UCS reviews history of alcohol policy change discusses campusin hepatitis C treatment Council wide alcohol survey that “Do One Thing” seeks to provide screenings, treatment to underserved communities By CAROLYNN CONG STAFF WRITER
A program run by University researchers aims to quickly identify and provide comprehensive treatment for medically underserved patients who are chronically infected with the hepatitis C virus, according to a new study published in the Feb. 14 issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Hepatitis C — a blood-borne disease that inflames the liver — is an
INSIDE
“underfunded, understudied and seriously large health problem,” said Amy Nunn, assistant professor of behavioral and social sciences and medicine, who co-authored the study. “Its magnitude is not to be underestimated and there are at least five to seven times as many people living with hepatitis C than its more infamous counterpart, HIV,” Nunn said. Unlike for hepatitis A and B, there is no vaccination available for hepatitis C. The study, which was conducted in several medically underserved Philadelphia neighborhoods, was “to my knowledge the largest nonclinical hepatitis C screening that has ever been undertaken,” Nunn said. » See HEPATITIS, page 4
By NATALIE FONDRIEST SEIOR STAFF WRITER
Senior Director for Planning and Student Engagement MaryLou McMillan presented data from the 2011-2012 campuswide survey on alcohol habits to the Undergraduate Council of Students at its general body meeting Wednesday. At the council’s Feb. 4 general body meeting focused on the interim alcohol policy changes, administrators noted that results of the survey prompted concern and reevaluation of alcohol policy. Contrary to perceptions that “drinking at Brown is very much like any place
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McMillan said. According to social norm theory, particularly bad incidents stand out in one’s memory over the majority of scenarios, said Samuel Rubinstein ’17, member of the UCS Academic and Administrative Affairs committee. Social norms and alcohol culture create a larger problem than the current legal drinking age, McMillan said in response. The external review to assess campus alcohol use and policies that the University commissioned last May commended Brown’s multi-faceted alcohol policy approach, especially its medical amnesty and support for students recovering from alcohol-related issues, McMillan said. The review recommended improving Health Services and Counseling and Psychological Services screenings to » See UCS, page 2
WEATHER
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015
SCIENCE & RESEARCH DNA nanopore “cages” can be used to study genetic mutations and enzyme reactions PAGE 4
indicated high rate of binge drinking at Brown
elsewhere,” the data does not “quite match elsewhere,” McMillan said. Fortyfive percent of Brown students had five or more drinks in a two-hour span during the two weeks prior to completing the survey, compared to 36 percent of college students across the country, according to the National College Health Assessment. The survey results indicated a higher drinking rate among seniors than expected, McMillan said. But several UCS general body members said they were not surprised by the results. Many members said they expected the 53 percent pregaming rate indicated by the study to be higher amongst the entire student body. College students, especially those living in a first-year dorm environment, have a tendency to “over-perceive what the frequency is” of drinking on campus,
COMMENTARY Corvese ’15: Female students should not feel pressured to live up to senior spring expectations
COMMENTARY Powers ’15: In certain cases, minors should not have right to reject life-saving treatment
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TODAY
TOMORROW
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UNIVERSITY NEWS PAGE 2 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
RYAN WALSH / HERALD
UCS Vice President Sazzy Gourley ’16, UCS President Maahika Srinivasan ’15 and Senior Director for Planning and Student Engagement MaryLou McMillan discussed alcohol policy.
» UCS, from page 1 identify earlier signs of alcoholism in students, she added. McMillan identified four independent factors for riskiest drinking patterns: identifying as male, living off campus, affiliating with a Greek organization and playing on a varsity athletics team — but “statistics are not destiny,” she added.
The council approved a code amendment initiated by UCS Admissions and Student Services Committee Chair Ryan Lessing ’17 to allow UCS executive board members to apply to campus-wide committees and to allow the council to appoint a student to multiple committees by two-thirds majority. After Parliamentarian Pro-Tempore Aryan Chhabria ’18 raised concerns over potential conflicts of interest, Lessing
said the general body’s right to “final approval is not changing in any way” under the new amendment. As part of the council’s efforts to increase access to administrators, UCS President Maahika Srinivasan ’15 said she helped President Christina Paxson P’19 set up a Facebook account to hold virtual office hours starting Feb. 27. The UCS Outreach and Advocacy committee will meet Tuesday with the
Mental Health Community Council to discuss changes in the medical leave taking process, said Sazzy Gourley ’16, UCS vice president and chair of OAC. UCS Student Activities Committee Chair E-Soo Kim ’15 announced the confirmed speakers for A Day on College Hill’s new mental health panel, to be moderated by Darian Surratt ’15. The panel will include Maggie Jordan ’16, Brown University Health Promotion
nutritionist Tracy Bergeron, Men’s Health Coordinator Marc Peters and University Chaplain and Director of the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life Reverend Janet Cooper Nelson, Kim said. The UCS Academic and Administrative Affairs committee plans to collect proposals for an undergraduate advising feedback form, said Elena Saltzman ’16, chair of the committee.
» BUCC, from page 1
The final portion of the meeting centered on a draft of the Diversity Action Plan, which addresses faculty diversity and was published at the beginning of the semester. “We need to have a critical mass of role models who can support the needs of an ever-growing diverse student body,” said Liza Cariaga-Lo, vice president for academic development, diversity and inclusion. This involves improving faculty recruitment and retainment, she added. The plan also suggests an annual diversity report, which would serve as “a moment to take a look at where we stand in metrics that we will be developing,” Cariaga-Lo said. The overarching theme of the plan is to “help people feel that they are a part of a university that really cares about their well-being,” she added.
response has been positive,” he said. “I was hoping for more engagement, but we still have time for that.” Many of the report’s recommendations “aren’t groundbreaking,” Carey said. But the University has an opportunity to become a leader in sexual assault policy regarding graduate and medical students, he said, noting that many peer institutions lack systems to address sexual assault for grad and medical students. “The biggest issue seems to be the process itself as it relates to issues between faculty and students,” said Joel Simundich GS, president of the Graduate Student Council. “There is a perception that faculty are really privileged in the complaint process and the judicial process.”
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METRO
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015 • PAGE 3
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Spotlight on the Statehouse BY DREW WILLIAMS, METRO EDITOR
An act to improve relations
After its termination in the House of Representatives last year, the “Comprehensive Community – Police Relationship Act of 2014” has been reintroduced to the General Assembly by Sen. Harold Metts, D-Providence, in response to the recent murders of several black men by police officers, according to a General Assembly press release. The bill cites a 2014 study from Northeastern University’s Institute on Race and Justice, which found that officers across Rhode Island are more likely to conduct traffic stops on people of color. To ameliorate what Metts called inappropriate punishment for people of color operating vehicles, a group of law enforcement and community representatives proposed provisions to the bill. The measures include a database for all traffic stops that lists the race or ethnicity of those stopped, notification of the cause of the stop and full audio or visual recording of the stop captured by all police vehicles equipped with the appropriate technology. Looking to foster trust among officers and minors, the bill would also drastically cut the capability of officers to search juveniles without a warrant, according to the press release.
Open for business
In a Wednesday report on Rhode Island’s economy, Gov. Gina Raimondo admitted that the Ocean State is “relatively poor,” noting that it currently ranks 48th in job growth, WPRI reported Wednesday. Raimondo said the solution lies in creating more jobs for middle-class residents and fostering a skilled work force, WPRI reported. These represent two policy areas that Raimondo dealt with in the executive order she signed Tuesday, Rhode Island Public Radio reported. The order tackled regulations on business with the intention of drawing new companies to the state, RIPR reported. Any new proposals on economic regulation must go before the Office of Management and Budget, come with a cost-benefit analysis and be written in “plain language,” the order reads. In the General Assembly, Rep. Michael Marcello, D-Scituate, Cranston, also looked toward promoting business in the state, proposing a bill Tuesday that would gradually eliminate the minimum corporate tax by 2019. This tax currently sits at $500, an amount that Marcello said disadvantages smaller startups.
FBI probes Islamic school vandalism
Due to its potential ethnically charged motivations, vandalism to the Islamic School of Rhode Island in West Warwick last weekend is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a hate crime, RIPR reported. Following the murder of three Muslim students near the University of North Carolina last week, phrases such as “Now this is a hate crime” were spray painted along the school’s exterior, the Providence Journal reported Sunday. Principal Abdelnassar Hussein said community outreach after the vandalism has been supportive and called for a growing police presence at the school in light of anti-Islamic sentiment in the United States, RIPR reported. Sen. Jack Reed, D-RI, denounced the vandalism, citing the principle of religious freedom upon which the state was founded.
» BASTA, from page 1 been following sexual assault activism and reform on campus since graduating from the University, leaders said. Last April, Amy Littlefield ’09, Allison Pappas ’08, Lily Shield ’09 and Amelia Plant ’10 wrote a Herald opinions column about their activism following the formation of the Sexual Assault Policy Task Force. After the editorial, the authors wanted to “formalize” their efforts, Littlefield said. “I really felt like we needed a centralized organization to bring together different alumni voices,” she added. In November, Littlefield contacted several other alums who were concerned about sexual assault, including Catherine McCarthy ’12 and Madeline Ray ’10. The group created its name, developed a website and promoted itself on social media. BASTA currently has more than 50 alums on its listserv and looks to add more. “Hopefully we’ll be a growing percentage of alumni who watch to make sure that the University is following through and is letting us know how they are following through,” Pappas said. BASTA sent a Jan. 26 email signed by 29 alums from the classes of 2008 through 2013 to President Christina Paxson P’19, Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Margaret Klawunn and Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey ’91 MA’06, asking that members of its listserv be included in all future communications about sexual assault on campus. “We felt like we were being left in the dark,” Littlefield said, noting that administrators did not directly notify alums of the recent sanctions on Phi Kappa Psi and Sigma Chi following two separate sexual misconduct reports filed by students who attended separate unregistered parties at the fraternities. Rather than relying on communications from the University, Littlefield and Shield often received news from emails forwarded by Shield’s mother, Renee Shield ’70 PhD ’84 P’03 P’09, clinical professor of health services, policy and practice. “I am glad to know that as alumni they’re as committed as they are to sexual assault and that they care as much as they do about improving the policies and services on campus,” Klawunn said. A Jan. 31 email to BASTA members, signed by Klawunn and Carey, informed members that they would receive future emails. “Longer term, we would like to have better permanent mechanisms for informing alumni about campus issues and will develop some options to accomplish that goal,” Klawunn and Carey wrote in the email. The University also plans on sending a survey to alums to solicit feedback on the Task Force on Sexual Assault’s interim report, Klawunn and Carey wrote. The survey, which is currently being developed, will most likely be sent out in the next month, Klawunn told The Herald. “We were thinking of (the emails) as most relevant to the people who are on campus now,” Klawunn said. “Certainly we weren’t hiding them in any way,” she said, noting that they were available on the University’s Title IX and Campus Life websites. “We’re happy to have alumni informed on these issues and to include them in those messages,” she added. One of BASTA’s main goals is to work with student groups to provide “backup, support and memory,” Littlefield said. BASTA can give student groups “strength in numbers,” she said, adding
that she has been in touch with several current students involved in sexual assault activism. While group members largely agree that students should take the lead, “I would like for us to be a force to help current students keep up the pressure and the momentum even when waves of public interest die down,” Shield said. “Our role should ideally be to follow their cues and to provide some guidance, some advice, from just having been through similar things, having fought similar fights,” she said. Members pointed to alums’ potential to ensure lasting change as a major reason for the group’s formation. “ It’s very easy for the administration to respond to student activism in a way that pays lip service to their demands, while brushing it under the rug a little bit because they know that every class of students is only temporary at Brown,” Shield said. “But the alumni network can be much more long-lasting.” While student body turnover often results in “a wave of activism that lets up over four years,” alums have the potential to take action that lasts over “a period of multiple years,” Littlefield said. While student activism comes in waves due to student body turnover, alums can “keep the University accountable over a period of multiple years and not be a wave of activism that lets up every four years,” Littlefield said. Alums can put pressure on the University in ways students cannot, such as by withholding donations, group members said. Littlefield did not donate to Brown last year or attend her five-year reunion because she “wanted to protest the University’s handling of sexual assault cases,” she said. Donating to specific organizations on campus, such as the Sarah Doyle Women’s Center, is an alternative that ensures the recipient of the funds will use them in a manner that meets the donor’s approval, Pappas said. The University’s frequent requests for donations made the lack of updates on sexual assault especially frustrating, BASTA members wrote in their email.
“We receive near-constant communications from the University soliciting funds for Brown, yet we have been left off of updates regarding an issue that many of us will take into account when considering whether to donate,” the members wrote. “Aren’t we part of the Brown community? We are when they want a donation from us,” Littlefield said. Though members praised the recent recommendations from the Task Force on Sexual Assault, some expressed concern over how the proposals will be implemented. “Even if steps are taken toward implementing the changes, that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be lasting,” Pappas said. “The longterm follow-through is more challenging than setting the individual momentary goals.” Many members who feel they made an impact during their time at Brown were discouraged by the University’s handling of Lena Sclove’s ’15.5 alleged rape last spring. “We’re hearing the language in the disciplinary code that we thought was going to … make sure people like her got what they needed from the disciplinary system, and in fact the system had failed again,” she said, adding that it felt like the issue had moved “back to square one.” Holding the University accountable and preventing any backsliding is central to the group’s mission, members said. “What we most want the University to know is that we’re watching its progress very closely,” Littlefield said. The input from alumni voices will likely “have an impact,” Klawunn said. “We pay attention to alumni — I think they have a lot of important perspectives on these issues.” BASTA members are considering creating a timeline of sexual assaultrelated activism that would be featured on the group’s website, Pappas said. The timeline would give multiple generations of alums the chance to tell the story of what was happening when they were on campus and offer current students a stronger sense of history on which to build their activism, she added.
SCIENCE & RESEARCH PAGE 4 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Nanopore ‘cages’ trap DNA strands, enable less expensive testing Device has potential for commercial application, more comprehensive experiments with DNA By FRANCES CHEN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
A newly developed DNA “cage” allows scientists to more easily and quickly identify specific portions of a DNA strand. The cage — which traps a single DNA strand — acts as a tiny test tube in which scientists can perform biochemical experiments to determine whether the strand contains a particular gene sequence, according to a new study by University researchers. The device was developed by Derek Stein, associate professor of physics and engineering, and Xu Liu ScM’11 PhD’14, who led the project during his time at Brown. The traps use nanopores, tiny holes in the cage, that can function as sensors, Stein said.
» HEPATITIS, from page 1 The researchers’ program, called “Do One Thing,” has been in the works since early 2012 and includes large-scale outreach, a door-to-door awareness campaign, mobile units and aggressive linkage-to-care services, said Stacey Trooskin, assistant professor in the division of infectious diseases and HIV medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine and a co-author of the study. The program also included new features for hepatitis C screening. Many of the current screening procedures only include an antibody reactive test, but 15 to 25 percent of patients who test positive for antibodies have already cleared the virus on their own and are no longer chronically infected, Trooskin said. That
Some researchers see nanopores as ideal devices for investigating reactions between a polymer and other molecules, but previously there was no way to perform an experiment on the DNA that had passed through the nanopore, said Daniel Branton, professor of biology at Harvard, who was not involved in the study. This new device makes it possible for investigators to use nanopores to study reactions that would not have been observable otherwise, he added. To trap a DNA strand, the researchers place a nanopore in two reservoirs of salt water and apply a voltage to the water, Stein said. This hole is so small that it forces the DNA strand to pass through head to tail, unfolding any potential tangles. The
small size of the nanopore also allows it to serve as a sensor — if the DNA passes through, it will block a significant portion of the current that was sent, Stein said. Scientists can then measure this current to determine if the DNA strand has indeed gone through the hole, he added. Once the strand is inside the cage, scientists can perform biochemical experiments to reveal the presence or absence of specific DNA sequences. This method can be particularly useful for identifying specific genes or mutations in the strand, Stein said. The DNA can be mixed together with a probe that will bond to a sequence of interest. Examination of the binding between the DNA molecule and the probe can reveal whether a target sequence is present. This little test tube allows for researchers to examine the molecule both before and after the
experiment, which was not possible prior to the study. The device can also be used to learn more about enzymes and other molecules, Liu said. Scientists can use a known sequence of a DNA strand to learn more about enzymes and other chemicals by observing how those enzymes react to the DNA molecule. The alternative to this technique, a full sequencing of a DNA molecule, usually requires more lab work and more expensive equipment, Stein said. The development of these little test tubes offers a faster and more portable option — one that any scientists with nanopore experience can easily create, he added. “They laid out very clearly how to make the cage,” Branton said. “It’s a very simple, straightforward procedure.” Stein said he hopes the nanopore
cage will become commonplace in labs. Though the DNA cage is easy to reproduce, specialized researchers may not want to create one on their own, he said. The easiest way to achieve more widespread use of the device is for a company to turn it into a product that could be bought off the shelf, he added. Liu, who is working at the nanopore startup Two Pore Guys, is helping to develop the technology to commercialize it and “change this from an academic process to an industry process,” he said. This process includes changing steps in their procedures to make structures at a lower cost and finding ways to automate the whole system, he said. Currently, interested researchers “need to go to a lab bench to assemble the cage and perform the experiment … but customers do not want to do this,” he added.
system allows for false positive results for hepatitis C, she added. But “Do One Thing” was one of the first community-based hepatitis C testing programs to apply a model of confirmatory testing, Trooskin said. The confirmatory test allows for a same-day blood draw with results available within 48 hours of testing, Nunn said. Nunn said the accelerated screening process for diagnosis was just the first step toward treatment. Patients must be linked to care, retained through the treatment process and ultimately cured, she said. One of the biggest hurdles to overcome was ensuring that patients received their entire treatment regimen, Nunn said. Many patients had other “competing
demands in their lives,” including other health issues and problems with substance abuse. “Most people fall out of care right after they get the results of their rapid test,” she added. It is important to be adaptive to the “multidimensional components of someone who might have hepatitis C,” said Brianna Norton, primary care specialist at Montefiore Medical Center, who was not involved in the study. For example, there is a potential link between hepatitis C, HIV and syphilis, she added. Nunn said the program assigned volunteer patient navigators to deliver the confirmatory test results and to “hold (the patients’) hands and make sure they did not fall out of care.” Other obstacles included helping
patients find health insurance and acquiring a referral from a primary care provider. The treatment process for hepatitis C is systematically challenging and “this need for a referral was a true barrier,” Trooskin said. “The patient navigation piece was key to helping patients overcome that issue,” she added. Though effective medications with few side effects exist, they “are astronomically expensive and getting insurance approval is extremely arduous,” Norton said. Barriers to treatment persist at the level of the system itself, not the patient, said Lynn Taylor, assistant professor of medicine and director of the Miriam Hospital’s HIV/Viral Hepatitis Coinfection Program, who was not involved with the study.
“Right now we need to take a giant machete and hack through the red tape and the bureaucracy and the politics and stop preventing people from gaining access to the lifesaving medications,” she said. Nunn said the program worked within the confines of a constrained system. “Though it has been overwhelmingly challenging, with patient navigators, talented physicians and army of students, we were able to overcome all those barriers,” she said. The next step involves expanding the program into more communities, Trooskin said. “I want to cure everyone and replicate this model, and I want to expand training efforts to clinical settings here in Rhode Island,” Nunn said.
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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015 • PAGE 5
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SATELLITE DINING JOSIAH’S Gnocchi BLUE ROOM Mediterranean Pocket Soups: Chicken Artichoke Florentine, Roasted Vegetable, Turkey Chili ANDREWS COMMONS Pizzas: Nacho, Okie Dokie Artichokie, Pepperoni and Sausage
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President Christina Paxson P’19 and Mayor Jorge Elorza signed the final steel beam of the new Division of Applied Mathematics building at the topping-off ceremony Wednesday.
comic A Horse of Any Other Name | Zach Silberberg
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calendar TODAY
TOMORROW
12:00 P.M. BIOLOGY OF AGING SEMINAR
1:00 P.M. FEEL-GOOD FRIDAY FREE MASSAGES
James Mitchell, associate professor of genetics and complex diseases at the Harvard School of Public Health, will present his work on hydrogen sulfide metabolism in dietary restriction. Sidney Frank Hall 220
The Brown University Relaxation Project will offer students free back rubs and neck rubs to relieve stress. Faunce, Memorial Lounge 4:30 P.M. “UKRAINE: DEMOCRACY AT THE EDGE”
3:00 P.M. MARK GREIF LECTURE
Mark Greif, co-founder of the literary magazine n+1 and assistant professor of literary studies at the New School, will discuss his book, “The Age of the Crisis of Man, 19331973.” Smith Buonanno 106
Timothy Snyder, professor of history at Yale and author of five award-winning books, will speak about the current conflicts in Ukraine. Watson Institute, Joukowsky Forum
7:00 P.M. “SKIPS IN THE RECORD” STAGED READING 7:30 P.M. SMILE LIKE YOU MEAN IT: ON PRETENDING TO BE OKAY
This discussion hosted by Active Minds will focus on the human tendency to repress fears. Wilson Hall 205
Rose Weave MFA’00 will read from her work on opening night. The event will be free and open to the public and hosted by the Department of Africana Studies. Churchill House
COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
EDITORIAL
Green is the new black More than two years ago, a version of the Plastic Waste Reduction Act was introduced in the Rhode Island House of Representatives. The act aimed to ban plastic bags in order to improve state sustainability practices, as well as to eliminate a major source of pollution in Narragansett Bay. After facing opposition in the past, the bill was reintroduced last January as similar bans continue to take hold throughout the United States. While such a law would apply to retail stores, restaurants, farmers markets and flea markets, Brown should actively work to eliminate plastic bags not only on campus, but also throughout College Hill and the greater city of Providence. As an institution of higher education, the University has played an influential role in the community in terms of environmental sustainability. In myriad ways, Brown is already significantly involved in environmental issues in Providence. The University currently partners with several Providence businesses, community groups and government employees — including the Emerald Cities Collaborative, the Providence Sustainability Roundtable, the Ivy Plus Sustainability Working Group, the International Sustainable Campus Network and the Energy Efficiency and Resource Management Council — in order to make the city a greener place. Much of this collaborative effort has strengthened sustainability practices at Brown. From 2007 to 2013, for example, the University reduced its carbon footprint by 30.6 percent by switching to natural gas at its Central Heat Plant, according to the 2013 Sustainability Progress Report. And from 2007 to 2012, the University decreased its energy-related greenhouse gas emissions by 29.4 percent and cut its annual energy costs by $3 million, according to the 2012 Sustainability Progress Report. This marks the eighth year that Brown will file a Sustainability Progress Report — an initiative that originally stemmed from an undergrad’s proposal. Additionally, through programs such as Brown Market Shares, the University promotes the consumption of locally grown foods by Brown community members — thereby connecting students, faculty members and staff members with greater Providence. In light of these efforts, the University should compensate for the lack of support shown for the Plastic Waste Reduction Act in the past few years. Utilizing its role as a powerful voice in the Providence community and leveraging its existing relationships to encourage sustainable practices, Brown should take the next logical step and wage the battle against plastic bags. Extending a hand to ease the transition to a plastic bag-less city should be an easy move on the part of the University — a move that could ultimately provide the final push that the House needs to pass the bill.
A N G E L IA WA N G
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COMMENTARY THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015 • PAGE 7
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Demystifying the senior girl GABRIELLA CORVESE opinions columnist
Being a senior girl at Brown is kind of terrifying. Upon learning of my seniority, some may suspect — or expect — that I am a carefree and perpetually over it SWUG: a “senior washed-up girl.” More than just obnoxious millennial slang, the term was popularized by Yale students and featured in New York Magazine in April 2013. You might be able to identify a SWUG in the wild by her avoidance of emotional relationships and by the aura of sisterhood and white wine surrounding her cohort of fellow SWUGs — as the article puts it, SWUGs possess “utter apathy about their personal lives.” At Brown, embracing the SWUG lifestyle might mean leaving the Graduate Center Bar to go to bed at 12:30 a.m. instead of wandering Keeney Quadrangle until the early hours like we did as first-years. And instead of the Sciences Library, our living rooms are the prime study spots. While I hesitate to call myself “washed-up,” the acronym is delightfully convenient to use when my fellow senior gals and I resign
ourselves to watching Netflix over going to the house party that 126 people said they were attending on Facebook. Though I’m not quite sure I’m a SWUG, I’m definitely nervous. The senior girl must navigate a series of opposite expected cultural positions — either raunchy and promiscuous or sleeping alone, sexpositive feminist goddess or chaste housewife, shattering the glass ceil-
told me to enjoy senior spring. Don’t worry everyone, I certainly am — in between writing an honors thesis, running meetings, submitting cover letters and making sure I have time to feed myself. But the pressure to prioritize fun constantly hovers and leaves little room for anxieties. As alluring as the SWUG life may be, it has the potential to exacerbate our fears of the future. The places we celebrate our carelessness
we will be met with the same social approval we saw in our insular college paradise. I don’t intend for this to be a judgment of my peers — this is a condemnation of a society that often does not treat girls at a bar with as much respect as girls in an office. Freely celebrating our twenties is easy now, but many of us will have to reluctantly act otherwise when a prospective employer sits across the
We should feel free to sit on any part of the senior spectrum, from worriless to worrywart.
ing or accepting the job that was easiest to get. When we make our declaration of alleged indifference, it becomes open to scrutiny. What if you seem like you’re trying too hard? What if you want a relationship based on more than sex? And what if you’re too busy to be constantly apathetic? The SWUG dialogues exclude the countless and overwhelming concerns brought about by our impending post-graduation lives. My mentors who have graduated have
are not even safe — a bar or a party is often the site of the classic “so, what are you doing next year?” that frequently results in a shrug and a whine. Graduation simultaneously thrills and frightens me. The New York Magazine article notes that some self-identified SWUGs will be “bright-eyed newcomers in New York or Los Angeles,” continuing to practice their youthful ways. But the SWUG is not as widely adored as we may hope. After graduation, it is less likely that
table. Last spring, former Herald opinions columnist Cara Newlon ’14 wrote a sobering column about the difficulties of the months before graduation that was much more sincere than any think piece on being a SWUG (“Newlon ’14: Little senior lost,” Feb. 25, 2014). “I don’t want to worry about rent, insurance and online dating,” Newlon wrote. “I love Brown.” These are the concerns we have to embrace and not be ashamed of
while doing so. Go ahead and post that Facebook status about your job search. From breaking into male-dominated fields to unabashedly celebrating our beauty and bodies, many of us have grown up avoiding traditional expectations of femininity. And while the SWUG has crafted new subversive expectations of apathy and sexual liberation, we shouldn’t let those features restrict us either. It’s okay to be a SWUG, and it’s okay to care. It’s also fine to pick and choose bits of both. We should feel free to sit on any part of the senior spectrum, from worriless to worrywart. And hopefully, the world outside of Brown will give us a welcome reception — vivacious SWUG ideals or not — with respect instead of ridicule. To my fellow senior girls who have already accepted job offers, gotten admitted to graduate school or solidified extravagant plans for the months after May: I’m proud of you. And washed up or not, the rest of us will join you soon.
Gabriella Corvese ’15 is a former Herald opinions editor and can be reached at gabriella_corvese@brown.edu.
The right to die ANDREW POWERS opinions columnist
Last month, an NBC News article detailed the case of Cassandra Callender, a Connecticut seventeen-year-old who was forced by the Connecticut Department of Children and Families to undergo chemotherapy against her and her single mother’s wishes. Callender was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in September after she noticed a lump on her neck. When her mother, Jackie Fortin, failed to bring her to several medical appointments, doctors contacted the DCF, which obtained a court order compelling her to follow the proposed treatment plan, Fox News reported Jan. 8. The Connecticut Supreme Court upheld previous lower court rulings, which decided that, as a minor, Callender is not legally competent to refuse treatment. Callender ran away after only two days of treatment but returned when she realized police were searching for her, at which point she was forcibly taken to the hospital and physically restrained. Assuming her treatment continues uninterrupted, Callender’s doctors testified she has an 80 to 85 percent chance of survival and complete recovery. Without treatment, the cancer would eventually prove fatal. Both Callender and her mother believe chemotherapy is damaging and wanted to pursue alternative treatments — substituting their judgment for that of professionals who devote years to understanding medicine. The court’s decision — despite its debatable morality — serves to validate the concept of consistency that is the crux of any equitable
regulatory system. With a different verdict, a system that governs most aspects of our lives would be compromised. I am deeply sympathetic to principled and uncompromising stances on rights — in particular the right to euthanasia. But it would be inaccurate to characterize this as a dispute over which rights should be afforded to a mentally competent adult. In fact, the opposing legal teams agreed on this point, saying that Callender would have the right to refuse treatment were she not a minor, the Hartford Courant reported Jan. 8. This debate hinges on a much more fundamental question: which rights can a minor have?
lar to Callender may previously have been afforded rights not usually granted to all minors. Callender’s lawyers unsuccessfully pursued both arguments. One might initially think that even if Callender should have no say in this scenario, it should be the right of her mother rather than the state to select the appropriate course of treatment — or lack thereof. But this position is obviously untenable within the scope of our analysis, as there is overwhelming precedent for the illegality of parents recklessly endangering their children. Certainly, choosing to deterministically allow your child to die unnecessarily would constitute adequate endangerment. Accord-
Allowing Callender to die would have created an inconsistent precedent, destroying the most basic cornerstone of any regulatory system. While this complex problem is not tractable within the limited scope of this article, we might at least consider whether this specific Connecticut Supreme Court decision is consistent — in some intuitively reasonable sense — with society’s moral values. To analyze this, we will examine legal precedent. There are two distinct lines of reasoning, both of which — if successfully employed — suggest that the ruling was not consistent in this respect. One argument goes that it may be the case that minors have previously been afforded similar rights over their own bodies. The other argument goes that minors simi-
ingly, Fortin vehemently sought to dispel accusations that this was anyone’s decision but her daughter’s. In reference to the rights of minors, Callender’s lawyer, Joshua Michtom, said, “They can consent to sex … They can donate blood … They can be tried as adults for certain crimes … So there’s recognition overall that maturity doesn’t happen overnight … The law has recognized that in a lot of ways. We’re just asking that it recognize it in this other way,” NBC reported. While it’s true that society agrees all minors have some rights, it also agrees that they
do not have every right a mature adult would have, such as the right to consume alcohol. Due to the grave and irreversible consequences it entails, the right to die requires far more maturity to exercise than other rights not granted to minors, and so we would not expect it to be granted to Callender. Michtom also wanted the courts to consider that Callender might be a “mature minor” and so should be specially granted the rights of an adult. While there is precedent for such dispensations, all the evidence seems to support the idea that Callender is anything but a mature minor with the capacity to make this serious decision as an independent adult. Callender’s doctors noted that she was hesitant to anger her mother, who lacked faith in medical practitioners. Additionally, Callender buys into her mother’s unsubstantiated beliefs about the dangers and inefficacy of chemotherapy as well as the viability of alternative medicine for the treatment of cancer. Allowing Callender to die would have created an inconsistent precedent, destroying the most basic cornerstone of any regulatory system. Imagine a referee who awarded penalties using an inconsistent set of rules. It would allow him to make any judgment in any situation because there would be no uniform precedent to which he would be held accountable. Consistency prevents the arbitrary penalization of individuals and preserves equity. Of course, it’s another question entirely if the rules themselves are moral. While I’m generally skeptical of the American legal system, it seems that it made the correct — or at least consistent — judgment in this case.
Andrew Powers ’15 can be reached at andrew_powers@brown.edu.
UNIVERSITY NEWS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015
Laptop theft on campus decreased over past seven years Operation Identification provides free laptop and cell phone registration to students, staff members By KATHERINE TALERICO SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The number of laptop thefts decreased from 54 to 12 from 2013 to 2014, said Paul Shanley, deputy chief of police for the Department of Public Safety. Laptop thefts hit a seven-year high of 92 in 2008 but have since seen a gradual decline, he said. The downward trend may be related to the growing number of students registering their devices with Operation Identification, a nationally recognized program run on campus by DPS, Shanley said. During registration, officers record the makes and serial numbers of students’ devices, Shanley said. The officers then place stickers on the devices that can be scanned in the event of recoveries and help return the laptops to their rightful owners.
“The sticker can go under case so you don’t see it,” said Quinn Bornstein ’18, who had her laptop and phone registered at the end of first semester. Four hundred eighty-six students registered their laptops between the beginning of this academic year and December 2014 — the largest number of students to do so in three years, said Crime Prevention Officer Thomas Shelton. “I don’t think it’s going to prevent anyone from stealing my things,” said Anne Prusky ’18, who registered her laptop and phone and attended an event during Property Registration Week, when DPS stationed registration tables on the Main Green, Pembroke and Keeney Quadrangle. “But hopefully if they get lost, they will find their way back to me more quickly.” Students and staff will still have the opportunity to register their property this semester, as registration tables will be set up “at least once every couple of weeks” and announced in Morning Mail, Shanley said.
KATHERINE TALERICO