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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015

VOLUME CL, ISSUE 85

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UCS supports Providence Hilton boycott Nimfa DeVecchis, CIS

staff member, dies

Council also votes in favor of $16 increase in Student Activities Fee to $274 a year per undergraduate

Computer operator for CIS survived by husband Anthony, daughter Amanda

By MATTHEW JARRELL STAFF WRITER

The Undergraduate Council of Students passed a resolution encouraging the University to boycott the Hilton Providence amidst an ongoing labor dispute at its general body meeting Wednesday. Introduced by the Brown Student Labor Alliance, the resolution recommended that University events not be held at the Hilton. It also called for the hotel to be withdrawn from all University publications, including the website. The Hilton is one of three hotels managed by the Procaccianti Group, a Rhode Islandbased real estate investment company, to have come under fire from its employees regarding unionization and unsafe working conditions. “Workers have been intimidated when attempting to unionize,” said Daniel Crowell ’17, an SLA member, who introduced the resolution to the council. The hotel has markedly higher rates of workplace injury than the national

By ANICA GREEN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

MARIANNA MCMURDOCK / HERALD

Sazzy Gourley ’16, president of the Undergraduate Council of Students, brought up a past UCS resolution on mailroom labor at the UCS meeting. average, he added. Disputes at the other two properties, the Omni Providence Hotel and the Renaissance Providence Downtown Hotel, attracted the attention of the Brown University Community Council, which passed similar resolutions in 2010 and 2014. BUCC members also discussed the current potential boycott at a Sept. 29 meeting. Precedent for community action on worker rights issues surfaced as a key concern during discussion of the

resolution at the UCS meeting. “UCS has shown a lot of support in the past,” Crowell said. UCS President Sazzy Gourley ’16 cited UCS actions last fall regarding the outsourcing of mailroom labor, including a resolution calling for the University to gather student feedback before making decisions affecting campus employees. Cameron Johnson ’17, another SLA member, reminded the council of the » See UCS, page 2

Nimfa DeVecchis, a staff member in Computing and Information Services, died Wednesday, wrote Karen Davis, vice president for human resources, in a community-wide email. She was 55. DeVecchis served as computer operator I for CIS, reporting to Associate Director of the Data Center at CIS David Rollins. “She was an incredible colleague, always smiling and always willing to go the extra mile to help everyone. We very much miss her,” wrote Ravi Pendse, vice president for CIS and chief information officer, in an email to The Herald. “She truly loved working for Brown,” wrote M arjorie Smith Rubin, IT human resources managerat CIS, in an email to The Herald.

DeVecchis was born in Santa Ana, Philippines, and had worked for Brown since 2008. Before coming to the University, she worked at the former American Insulated Wire Corp. She is survived by her husband Anthony DeVecchis and her daughter, Amanda DeVecchis. “She was the go-to person in her extended family, and she devoted much of her time outside of work to caring for family members, hosting holiday get-togethers and cooking for others,” Davis wrote. “She was especially devoted to her daughter Amanda who was the light of her life.” She was sister to Danilo, Julito, Gino, Rogel and Vicente Adoptante, as well as Rosalinda Fernandes, Victoria Espidol, Gemma Mitchell, Elizabeth Vergara and the late Vergel Adoptante. For community members seeking support, the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life can be reached at 401-863-2344, and the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program can be reached at 800-828-6025.

CS professor receives federal grant for youth math program Krishnamurthi developed Bootstrap over 20-year period, hopes for national school expansion By OLIVIA KATCHER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Professor of Computer Science Shriram Krishnamurthi received a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation for the study and expansion of Bootstrap — an online math program he helped develop that teaches algebra to middle and high school students nationwide by creating one-of-a-kind video games — the University announced Oct. 7. “Algebra is a critical skill, but students don’t seem to appreciate it,” Krishnamurthi said, adding that Bootstrap offers a new way of teaching the subject. With the grant’s funding, Krishnamurthi and his coworkers will be able to expand deployment of the program as well as evaluate the results of the program for students, teachers and parents. Bootstrap’s operating system Emmanuel Schanzer, Bootstrap’s program director, said Bootstrap uses a programming language based on

INSIDE

math, which is how it differentiates itself from other programs like it. He encountered the foundation of this algebraic programming language during his undergraduate schooling at Cornell and later built upon it with the Bootstrap team to translate complex mathematical concepts into ones middle and high school students can comprehend. “It truly is a math class,” Schanzer said. Bootstrap behaves in a formulaic way such that math teachers are familiar with the language and are receptive to the program, he added. Students take the Bootstrap course, consisting of multiple unit mini-projects that make up 25 hours of course material, during their math class. The idea of the program is for students to use learned algebraic concepts to design their own video games, in hopes that those children will retain the concepts for use outside of the video game. “The students learn the combination of math and computer science concepts they need to add features to the games they are trying to build,” said Kathi Fisler, Bootstrap’s co-director. The mini-projects are each conducted twice — at first, students work by themselves but then they » See MATH, page 2

Scientists create 3-D mini-brain Mini-brain provides researchers with simple way to study neurological disease, drug toxicity By ELENA WEISSMANN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

University researchers have found a way to grow a brain in a Petri dish. About a third of a millimeter in diameter, these “mini-brains” are composed of neurons and supporting cells that form synap-

tic connections and produce complex networks. They have a three-dimensional, spherical shape known as a spheroid and achieve a cellular density similar to that of a normal rodent brain. “These spheroids are actually a step closer in biological function to real organs and tissues, but they’re cheaper and faster,” said Jeffrey Morgan, professor of engineering and medical science, co-director of the Center for

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

POST- MAGAZINE

Biomedical Engineering and a coauthor of the study. Mass production of these spheroids of neural tissue will help researchers study neurological disorders, brain injuries, toxicity and drug efficacy, according to the paper, which was published online Oct. 6 in the journal Tissue Engineering Part C: Methods. “There are so many ideas floating around in science, and some of the best ideas are high-risk and high-reward,” said Diane Hoffman-Kim, associate » See BRAIN, page 2

WEATHER

THURSDAY, OC TOBER 15, 2015

METRO Three R.I. schools receive Blue Ribbon honor from U.S. Department of Education PAGE 3

COURTESY OF DIANE HOFFMAN-KIM

Grown in Petri dishes, mini-brains consist of neurons and supporting cells that form synaptic connections and produce complex networks. They resemble the standard brain of a rodent and open the door to new research.

COMMENTARY Cheit, Josephson, Loury, Miller ’70 P’02, Spoehr: The University should stand up for free expression

COMMENTARY Esemplare ’18: Brown students have pride in their education, not in their sports teams

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» MATH, from page 1 contribute to a larger project in their second attempt, in what Schanzer calls “practice and application.” During the second go-around, students are paired with one another, and together they must combine their knowledge to finish making the video game. Pairing students together creates a type of positive peer pressure and a sense of teamwork, Schanzer said. Each of the program’s units introduces a different mathematical concept by utilizing both paper and pencil activities and computer challenges that the students can then apply to the production of their video games. “The kids create a game that represents their personality, and with the program being implemented into math classes, Bootstrap is able to reach every child because everyone is required to take it,” Krishnamurthi said. “We are changing the way people think about algebra.” Teachers are given the option to “sprinkle Bootstrap across their lesson plans, to integrate and mix the program more heavily or to teach it as a stand-alone course,” Schanzer said. 20 years in the making Schanzer pitched the idea to

» UCS, from page 1 University’s important role in the community. “Don’t forget how big a player Brown is in the city of Providence,” he said. “When students make a statement that we’re not going to tolerate this, it plays a huge role” in catalyzing change, he added. Austin Lessin ’19, one of three dissenters in the vote, expressed concern that the issue was not raised with the parent companies of the hotels, the Hilton Hotels Group and Marriott Hotels, before being brought to UCS. Those corporations could proceed with removing the Procaccianti Group from operation of their properties if the violations were found to be severe, he said. UCS Campus Life Chair Kevin Garcia ’18 responded with skepticism about the effectiveness of that strategy. “Topdown pressure is not the best way to approach this,” he said. “The more quickly

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Krishnamurthi and Fisler, who were previously working on an outreach project called Program by Design, 20 years ago. The program’s credibility has been built up over the last decade, Schanzer said. Brown students have contributed to building the software system and have taught Bootstrap in some middle and high school afterschool classes. In 2010, Kurt Spindler ’13, a software engineer at Uber, taught Bootstrap classes to seventh graders at Gilbert Stewart Middle School after Schanzer came to his CSCI 0170: “Computer Science: An Integrated Introduction” class and pitched the idea. Around 10 Brown students were volunteering with Bootstrap at this time, Spindler said. Teams of three or four Brown students worked with more than one school each semester and were assigned to classes of about 15 students. Spindler said the program is a “really great way” to introduce kids to math and science. “It sounded like an amazing opportunity and it was definitely rewarding,” he said. “Kids at that age have such abstract concepts and creative minds,” Spindler added. “It’s their exploration phase.” Jonah Kagan ’13, a software engineer for the technology company

Clever, taught Bootstrap to sixthgrade students in the spring of 2010. “I had a lot of fun working with the kids in the program, and it helped me develop both my teaching skills and reinforced my own knowledge,” he said.

we work, the better we can support the workers.” UCS also unanimously approved a request to increase the Student Activity Fee out of each student’s tuition by $16 to $274 per year. The action would result in a “total increase in revenue of $101,000, which would go solely toward the maintenance of student groups’ current level of funding,” according to the resolution. The hike in the Student Activity Fee is necessary because of inflation, which has caused an average 45 percent rise in costs for student groups, said UCS Student Activities Chair Dara Bernstein ’18. The Undergraduate Finance Board, which allocates funding to all categorized student groups, currently faces a shortage of $100,000 when accounting for current revenues and fixed costs. The fixed costs include costs associated with the Department of Public Safety and other security services needed at events organized by student groups.

To reach the requested increase of $16 per student, the UCS Student Activities committee divided the required increase of $101,000 by the number of currently enrolled undergraduates, Bernstein said. Last year, the council requested an increase of $21 per student but was only granted one of $8. The council concluded its meeting by categorizing five new student groups. Brown chapters of Project HEAL, an organization supporting those struggling with eating disorders, and The Petey Greene Program, a prisoner education initiative, were both approved as Category S groups. This category includes groups sponsored by larger national organizations that are often service-based. Three groups were also granted Category 1 recognition, receiving the lowest level of funding from UFB. Brown’s Associated Puzzlers, the Thin Noon Journal and Write It Brown Noveling Club received this designation.

‘Building up’ In New York City, there is a city Department of Education initiative for every child in New York City public schools to learn how to program by 2020, a requirement the city has promised to meet, Krishnamurthi said. Similar initiatives are underway in Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well, he added. “Very few schools have qualified computer science teachers,” Krishnamurthi said, adding that people who know computer science “could make much more money working somewhere else as opposed to being a teacher.” By working directly with school districts, Bootstrap is able to reach a much larger scale and maintain long-lasting relationships with communities, thus “building up master teachers,” Schanzer said. “Through Bootstrap, we are changing the way algebra and computer science are taught.” In addition to teaching students

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algebra, Bootstrap also trains teachers in coding and the implementation of the Bootstrap curriculum. It provides detailed lesson plans for teachers who otherwise would not be willing to learn and incorporate a new program into their agenda, Schanzer said. “We provide everything (teachers) need,” Krishnamurthi said. Bootstrap originated as an afterschool program, but the directors found it had a greater impact when incorporated into mandatory math classes. “Extracurricular computer science classes tend to reach a narrow band of students — often those from privileged backgrounds,” Fisler said. Integrating Bootstrap into teachers’ curriculums allows the program to reach students who otherwise would not have access to this after-school activity. The computer science community is male-dominated, and incorporating computer science concepts into a math class allows students of all demographics to learn about programming, which could lead to students wanting to become computer scientists, Schanzer said. “There are trends in creating computer science electives and clubs, but the moment it becomes optional is when it becomes problematic,” he added. Studies have shown that girls are more motivated when the project they

are partaking in is socially applied as opposed to theoretical, Schanzer said. Teachers using Bootstrap in their classroom are recommended to suggest video game ideas, such as helping out a younger sibling or picking up trash at the bottom of the ocean, to stimulate students’ minds and make them excited about computer science and algebra.

» BRAIN, from page 1

centers, Hoffman-Kim said. This feature of the mini-brains may allow researchers to use them to study strokes. “Strokes are very common in adults and result in a lack of oxygen and nutrient diffusion into the brain. We’ve tried to mimic this in vitro in a lab setting,” Boutin said. To simulate a stroke, the researchers can remove the oxygen supply to a particular chamber of the mini-brain or put the brain into a different medium that lacks the required nutrients, Boutin said. By adding soluble drugs into the cell media, researchers can also test the effectiveness of new drug treatments before conducting clinical trials. This may reduce the amount of animal testing, Hoffman-Kim said. The 3-D mini-brains are “novel” because of their depth and shape, wrote Barry Connors, professor and chair of the Department of Neuroscience, in an email to The Herald. The brains “might be useful for studying the movement of molecules like drugs, nutrients and transmitter molecules through the complex matrix of brain cells,” he added. “And perhaps most interesting of all, they could be a good place to study the molecular signals that allow neurons to develop and hook up into the sort of organized circuits that comprise real brains,” he wrote. Some individuals have contacted the researchers with ethical inquiries, Hoffman-Kim said. But people should not worry, as “these brains are for sure not thinking — they’re super simple,” she said. “As a scientist, as I get more mature, I’m in awe of how complex the brain is.,” Hoffman-Kim added. “These mini-brains just don’t approximate that complexity.”

professor of medical science and engineering and the corresponding author of the study. “We’ve developed a platform where you can test out a lot of these ideas at once and compare the results,” she said. The mini-brains contain a diverse array of cells including neurons, neural stem cells and glial cells, which are support cells. Cells in the tissue produce their own extracellular matrix — a scaffolding that provides structure and affects cell differentiation — creating an external layer that mimics the “squishiness” of a normal brain, Hoffman-Kim said. In contrast to most cell cultures, the mini-brains are grown in a unique three-dimensional Petri dish developed by Morgan, who commercialized the engineering mold when he founded MicroTissues Inc. in 2009. The researchers dissected rats within two days after their birth and extracted parts of their brains, said Molly Boutin GS, the study’s co-lead author. “You can take that chunk of tissue and break it into single cells and then put those cells into threedimensional molds. When they fall into the wells of the Petri dishes, they self-assemble and form little spheres,” she said. This small sample of living tissue from a rodent can produce thousands of these spheroids at an approximate cost of $0.25 per mini-brain, according to the University press release. Unlike normal brains, the spheres of neural tissue do not have a blood supply. Instead, they are placed in a medium rich with vitamins and nutrients. Because the brains are so small in size, oxygen can diffuse into their

Looking forward With the help of the grant he received, Krishnamurthi hopes Bootstrap will “go big” and maximize its reach within the education system. For many years the program has been trying to get people interested in the teaching of computer science through math, and the grant represents federal recognition of that goal. The program is currently focusing on its expansion in the United States. It has already made a mark internationally in countries such as Turkey, Costa Rica, Finland, Thailand, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Canada, Pakistan, France, India and Brazil. “We’re trying to get into many more schools, particularly with more teachers who don’t think of themselves as people who can teach computer science,” Fisler said. “We need to get math teachers from various backgrounds comfortable, confident and willing to use the program.”

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METRO

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015 • PAGE 3

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Blue waters and now Blue Ribbons in the Ocean State Archie Cole Middle, Nayatt and Francis Varieur Elementary receive U.S. Dept. of Education honor By RACHEL SACHS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Three Rhode Island public schools — two elementary schools and one middle school — were among the 285 public and 50 private schools recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2015. The honor recipients were announced by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in late September. Archie R. Cole Middle School in East Greenwich and Nayatt School in Barrington, which serves students from kindergarten through third grade, were named as Exemplary High Performing Schools for having successful student bodies both as an aggregate and within various subgroups based on state assessments, said Elliot Krieger, public information officer at the Rhode Island Department of Education. Francis J. Varieur Elementary School in Pawtucket was recognized as an Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing School for making significant progress in narrowing the achievement gaps between their overall student performance and that of various demographic groups. “We don’t have this many (Blue Ribbon Schools) every year necessarily, so it was great to have three,” Krieger added. “It’s a huge honor to be recognized,” said Tracey Whitehead, principal of Nayatt School, noting that Nayatt joins previous Blue Ribbon recipients Barrington Middle School and Barrington High School. “When I first started here, Nayatt School was categorized under the Rhode Island Accountability System

as a typical school,” Whitehead said. Over three years, Whitehead said she and her colleagues have worked to create a professional learning community, where teachers “get together and problem solve … and work together for consistency in the implementation of our curriculum and in our assessments.” Funding from the Department of Education’s Race to the Top grant program has enabled faculty members and administrators at Nayatt to participate in a variety of training programs. “We’ve become very adept at looking at our school data and at meeting the needs of each child,” she added. At Archie Cole, a culture of kindness and respect is the key to success, said Principal Alexis Meyer. “There is a value in positive healthy relationships, and it is those relationships among the faculty, staff, parents and the larger school community that allow for a culture that breeds excellence,” she added. To foster these individualized bonds, students are placed into “teams” of approximately 100 students overseen by five teachers. Those teachers meet four times per week for common planning to discuss the social, emotional and academic progress of their students. “The last thing I say everyday to the kids on the morning announcements is ‘Remember to be kind to one another.’ It seems very simple, but it’s a powerful statement,” Meyer added. At the Varieur School, 72 percent of students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, according to the National Blue Ribbon Schools’ website. “The knowledge that everybody is responsible for their own

success” has led to a narrowing of the school’s academic achievement gaps as assessed by New England Common Assessment Program exam scores, said Edna Coia, the school’s former principal of four years. She transferred to Elizabeth Baldwin Elementary School in Pawtucket this fall. “From the time that they came to the building, I told the parents, the students and the staff that everybody has their responsibility, and we have to do it to the best of our ability not only in academics but also behavior,” Coia said. Teachers come in early and stay late at Varieur School, to offer additional support programs for struggling students, Coia said, adding that the school is open throughout the summer to help students complete their summer work and ensure that they have access to computers. “The achievement gap at Baldwin is not nearly as narrow,” Coia said of the elementary school at which she now works. Coia was transferred to Baldwin — which has a similar demographic profile as Varieur School — in hopes that she will be able to effect positive change, she said. Honors such as the Blue Ribbon are “very important because too often teachers and principals in public schools are not being recognized for their good work,” said Kenneth Wong, professor of education and chair of the department. “It is … a way to recognize the schools’ accomplishments as well as give additional incentives for the

COURTESY OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Archie R. Cole Middle School, Nayatt School and Francis J. Varieur Elementary School were recognized as National Blue Ribbon Schools. educators in those schools to continue to do the work that they are doing.” It is important to provide opportunities for educators from successful schools, such as this year’s Blue Ribbon honor recipients, to share ideas with others, Wong said. Meyer, who sits on the executive board of the Rhode Island Association of School Principals, said that there are always ongoing opportunities for school principals to engage and collaborate with each other.

But Krieger said that there is not currently a formal way in which Blue Ribbon schools share their methodologies with other schools. “It’s not just school-to-school exchange. It has to be identifying functional or theme-based areas, where the more effective schools can share with their peers on that particular topic,” Wong added. Universities can also play a role by organizing some of these professional exchange conferences, Wong said.

METRO

PAGE 4 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015

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Spotlight on the Statehouse BY EMMA JERZYK, METRO EDITOR

Abandoned homes Mayor Jorge Elorza has partnered with Rhode Island Housing to start a $3 million fund offering small loans to those renovating abandoned homes in Providence, according to a Tuesday press release. The fund is part of EveryHome, a larger program intended to help decrease the number of boarded and abandoned properties across the city. EveryHome is “a suite of tools” that will expand the receivership program and withhold vacant properties from tax sales, according to the press release. The Mayor’s Office is also “working closely with local and minority-owned business contractors to connect them with EveryHome projects,” according to the press release. The program plans to fill every vacant and abandoned property in the city over the next six years.

Chafee campaign The Rhode Island Democratic Party and the LGBTQ Caucus hosted a watch party for the Democratic presidential debate Tuesday at Mirabar in Providence. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 P’17, who continues to poll below 1 percent, participated in the debate. “He’s got to make the case for why he’s running for president, and why he thinks he would be better than the other folks on the stage,” U.S. Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., who attended the watch party, told WPRI. Chafee told voters in his opening statement that he has had “no scandals.” He also called attention to the fact that he has served as a mayor, a U.S. senator and a governor — a combination of roles no other candidate can lay claim to. Though he tried to focus the debate on his vote against the Iraq war, Chafee struggled when answering a question about a past vote he made in favor of repealing the Glass Steagall Act, legislation that prevented commercial banks from investing in securities. Chafee said it was his first Senate vote after being appointed to his seat by then-Gov. Lincoln Almond because his father, who held the seat prior, had died. COURTESY OF DOC SEARLS

Global warming The Rhode Island House Commission on Economic Risk Due to Flooding and Sea Rise will meet at 2 p.m. Thursday to view presentations about flooding and current plans for rising sea levels in Rhode Island. The commission will receive three presentations. Grover Fugate and Jim Boyd of the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council will present on Newport, Westerly and the Providence Port, which will serve as case studies. Elizabeth Stone from the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy and Janet Coit, director of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, will also present at the meeting. Caitlyn Greely from the Department of Administration and Teresa Crean from the University of Rhode Island Coastal Resource Center will talk about businesses in North Kingstown dealing with climate change. The meeting will be open to the public.

Rhode Island is ranked last out of all 50 states in bridge conditions. According to Gov. Gina Raimondo’s Rhode Works proposal, 22 percent of the state’s bridges are structurally deficient.

State reps, governor disagree on DOT Raimondo, Republicans introduce opposing plans for fixing nation’s worst infrastructure By ISABELA KARIBJANIAN STAFF WRITER

After getting taken out of the budget in the last legislative session, Gov. Gina Raimondo’s RhodeWorks proposal, which would use truck tolls to pay for investments in infrastructure, has once again come to the forefront of Statehouse political debates. Raimondo’s plan addresses the fact that Rhode Island is ranked last out of all 50 states in overall bridge condition, according to a Governor’s Office press release. Approximately 22 percent of bridges in the state are structurally deficient, according to the RhodeWorks proposal. By tolling commercial trucks on several bridges along major roads such as I-95 and I-195, the plan intends to prevent future deficits by making fixes now and creating 6,487 jobs over 10 years. The plan, which was in Raimondo’s proposed budget, passed through the Senate but not the House and faced significant objections from Republican representatives. In response, Raimondo put forth a new plan Sept. 30 to overhaul the Rhode Island Department of Transportation. By aiming to increase funding, improve accountability and reprioritize projects, Raimondo and RIDOT

Director Peter Alviti hope to “build a world-class transportation system,” according to a press release. One version of this plan includes additional funding from RhodeWorks — which Raimondo continues to tweak in hopes of getting it passed in a future legislative session. Raimondo also developed an alternate version of this plan that does not include the added revenue that would come from RhodeWorks, in case the legislation does not pass through the General Assembly. House Republicans agree that the state’s infrastructure problems should be addressed, but they would favor a proposal without additional taxes and tolls. The Republican plan, revealed Oct. 7, reallocates over $875 million from the state budget over the next 10 years to address deteriorating infrastructure. Some sources for this funding include redistributed money that usually goes toward the general fund. The plan also aims to trim General Assembly functions from the budget, including $300,000 annually from the Medical Advisory Board’s budget and government programs such as the Museum of Labor. House Minority Leader Rep. Brian Newberry, R-North Smithfield and Burrillville, supports the plan and is critical of RhodeWorks. One of Newberry’s primary concerns is the negative impact RhodeWorks’s tolls could have on Rhode Island’s trucking economy. “We have an eight-point-something billion dollar budget,” Newberry said.

“We can find money in the state budget.” Rhode Island is already one of the highest-taxed states in the country, and the population cannot afford any additional taxes or tolls, Newberry said. Regarding the exact sources of funding in the Republican proposal, Newberry said he finds room for discussion. “We have more than enough money to spend,” he said. “We can always nit-pick about where to cut.” Speaker of the House Rep. Nicholas Mattiello, D-Cranston, who was opposed to passing RhodeWorks when it was first presented, is against the new Republican plan. “This is Rep. (Patricia) Morgan’s (R-Warwick) recycled proposal supported by a minority of the minority caucuses. She didn’t have enough support last session to offer a budget amendment and now she is trying to keep her flawed plan alive,” Mattiello wrote in a statement to The Herald. Unlike Newberry, Mattiello does not believe there is room in the budget for the sort of reallocation the Republicans are proposing, citing the existing $150 million structural deficit heading into the next fiscal year. “While we all agree that our roads and bridges need our attention, I have not accepted any plan at this time,” he wrote. “I prefer an approach that produces a genuine, sustainable revenue source that helps us grow economically.” The Governor’s Office had not responded to a request for comment by press time.

TODAY

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015 • PAGE 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

in the shadows

SATELLITE DINING ANDREWS COMMONS

Pizzas: Buffalo Chicken, Bacon Cheeseburger, Harvest JOSIAH’S

BLUE ROOM

Made-to-Order Quesadillas

Soups: Turkey Chili, Chicken Artichoke Florentine

DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH

DINNER

Hot Baked Ham on a Bulkie Roll, Tortellini Provencale, Fresh Vegetable Melange

Pirate Ship Pork Loin, Au Gratin Potatoes, Tofu Parmesan

VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH

DINNER

BBQ Beef Sandwich, Cheese Tortellini, Onion Rings

Cajun Pasta with Chicken Tofu Parmesan, Green Beans with Tomatoes

sudoku

ARJUN NARAYEN / HERALD

Students dot the Main Green, relaxing or doing schoolwork as they enjoy the last few weeks of warm weather under the changing leaves.

comic Ampersand | Wasita Mahaphanit

crossword

calendar TODAY

OCTOBER

Finding Data and Data Literacy 5:00 P.M. Rockefeller Library

Korean Movie Night 6:00 P.M. Wilson Hall, Room 301

What is Leave? 7:00 P.M. J. Walter Wilson, Room 402

Leading Women: Internship and Work Experience Panel 8:00 P.M. BERT 130

TOMORROW Relay for Life Fundraiser 11:00 A.M. Main Green

Masquerade Ball 6:00 P.M. Alumnae Hall Auditorium

Family Weekend Dance Conert 2015 8:00 P.M. Ashamu Dance Studio

Brown Jazz Band Family Weekend Concert 9:00 P.M. Grant Recital Hall

COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

EDITORIAL

Sophomores searching for support As sophomores approach their spring semester, they are expected to reflect on their time at Brown and determine which concentration provides them with the right departmental fit, curriculum and job prospects. Unfortunately, too few departments and concentrations provide students with substantive and centralized information to best help them make that determination. The University’s declaration process is so operationalized and mechanistic that it fails to guide sophomores through the reflective process of making an important life choice, instead asking them to answer a set of isolated essays through the Advising Sidekick website. Ultimately, most students are left to their own devices to develop a method for making such a choice. While this freedom may seem integral to the open curriculum, departments and Departmental Undergraduate Groups should play a stronger role in helping students envision themselves as members of an academic department, rather than anticipating that students will stumble in on their own. First and foremost, students with different resources, familial obligations and social capital will approach declaring a concentration differently. Institutionally, however, few underclassmen are exposed to what it means to focus in a particular discipline or develop a substantial amount of knowledge in one subject area. The Office of the Dean of the College organizes concentration fairs throughout the year to showcase the many academic options students have, but without extended exposure to an academic department, for most students, declaring is a leap of faith. There is no denying that these leaps are an important part of the college experience, but if the University developed more avenues for exposing students to concentrations or departments, students would make betterinformed choices and feel more assured in them. The University should consider making it compulsory for students to visit at least two faculty members in different fields of study. It should also consider asking peer departments to organize events that indicate how their disciplines fundamentally differ. By hearing the contrasting perspectives, methodologies and assumptions that characterize a particular concentration, students could choose the concentration that best supported their future endeavors. Administrators could also ask all concentration advisers to work with their DUG to host early information sessions targeted at underclassmen about a concentration. By speaking to students early about required classes and career paths that past concentrators have taken, advisers will help guide individuals to realize whether a certain area of study is the right fit. This would save many students the pain of discovering too late that a concentration was, in fact, not suited to their particular interests. DUGs and departments could do more outreach in classes with high underclassmen enrollment and analyze postgrad data for concentrators to proactively provide students with critical information. The current sophomore advising path does not foster as much exploration, thought and exposure as it could. If the system were improved, students who would otherwise eventually end up following the same path they assumed they would in high school might discover that these fields were no longer pertinent to their newfound interests. Changes to the current system would help students make these realizations early and allow them to more fully survey the many academic pathways Brown offers.

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CORRECTION A graphic accompanying an article in Wednesday’s Herald (“Plan to provide licenses to undocumented workers stalls,” Oct. 14) misidentified Arizona as New Mexico. The Herald regrets the error.

Q U O T E O F T H E D AY

“I learned how to work, how to get work done and how to work with other people.” — Peter Norvig ’78 P’16 P’18, director of research at Google

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COMMENTARY THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015 • PAGE 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Free expression matters ROSS CHEIT DAVID JOSEPHSON GLENN LOURY KENNETH MILLER LUTHER SPOEHR OP-ED CONTRIBUTORS

Something is missing from the fine words spun by President Christina Paxson P’19, Provost Richard Locke P’17 and Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey ’91 MA’06 in recent days about the need for discussions on power, privilege, responsibility, feelings and community expectations. Something big. Sadly, what the administration has refused to articulate is the core value of this or any other university: free expression. Their refusal stands in stark contrast to the response of another university faced by a nearly identical set of demands for suppression and self-censorship of unpopular ideas. Instead, the administration has accepted the claim that certain forms of free expression, including opinions columns in a campus newspaper, may cause “harm” to our students. Because we wish to protect the University commu-

nity from “harm,” it therefore becomes acceptable, according to the president, provost and executive vice president, to demand that The Herald admit it made a mistake in publishing controversial opinions. In the future, according to the administration, The Herald must “live up to the expectations of the Brown

bedrock commitment to social justice and equity.” What it will actually confirm is its own timidity and cowardice in the face of voices for censorship and the suppression of ideas. Only a month ago, the student newspaper at Wesleyan University published an opinions column

ministration respond? The president, provost and vice president for equity and inclusion penned a letter entitled “Black Lives Matter and So Does Free Speech” that included this powerful statement: “Debates can raise intense emotions, but that doesn’t mean that we should demand ideological confor-

We reject the attempt to frame free expression with which one disagrees as “harm” or to claim that speech that some may find offensive must be censored. At stake are the soul and character of a liberal and open university.

community.” In clear English, the administration wants the student editors of The Herald to suppress all opinions pieces that could be deemed offensive by some members of the University community. By stifling such opinions, they hope, the University will affirm its “intrinsic,

challenging the Black Lives Matter movement. Some students reacted to the column immediately, charging that it had harmed students of color and claiming that the newspaper had neglected “to provide a safe space for the voices of students of color.” How did Wesleyan’s ad-

mity because people are made uncomfortable. As members of a university community, we always have the right to respond with our own opinions, but there is no right not to be offended. We certainly have no right to harass people because we don’t like their views. Censor-

ship diminishes true diversity of thinking; vigorous debate enlivens and instructs.” We strongly support the rights of all who have criticized controversial opinions pieces published by the Wesleyan Argus and The Herald. We hope that they will continue to express their critical opinions and take issue with the controversial views contained in those columns. But we reject the attempt to frame free expression with which one disagrees as “harm” or to claim that speech that some may find offensive must be censored. At stake are the soul and character of a liberal and open university. We expect the administration to stand up for free expression whenever it is challenged. To date they have failed to do so.

Ross Cheit is a professor of international and public affairs and of political science. David Josephson is a professor of music. Glenn Loury is a professor of the social sciences and of economics. Kenneth Miller ’70 P’02 is a professor of biology. Luther Spoehr is a senior lecturer in education.

Pride and prejudice NICHOLAS ESEMPLARE opinions columnist

It’s Saturday morning, and there’s an energy across campus. Students meet up with friends and don their school gear, applying temporary tattoos and face paint for the afternoon’s football game. Tailgating starts two hours before game time. The student body packs the stands and holds its collective breath in anticipation of the game to come. Any Brown student would tell you that sort of rally is not something they’ve experienced, at least not on their own campus. Prototypical school spirit is a trait that Brown unambiguously lacks. Sports events are poorly attended, and you wouldn’t know the words to our fight song unless you Googled them (I did, to make sure we had one). Such an absence of spirit, at least outside of Brown’s campus, is considered a bad thing. Athletes bemoan poor attendance, and my friends at other schools sympathize with what they see as my lack of a genuine college community. I, however, cannot join in these lamentations. As an avid sports fan, I often wish Brown sold out basketball and lacrosse games and rallied behind its successful teams. Yet though Brown lacks spirit in a traditional

sense, a pride — not in Brown’s history but in its principles — permeates the campus. Brown is unique, and its students, to varying degrees, understand their role in its bold experiment in education. The open curriculum and the S/NC option encourage academic experimentation with no risk of killing your grade point average in the process. Alas, the unthinkable: learning for learning’s sake. These popular features are not what outsiders may think of as convenient ways for stu-

game, I wish that others at Brown shared my love of sports. There is a rush associated with blind and whole-hearted institutional pride — a rush that I fully embraced throughout high school. My point is only this: There are worse things to worry about. Brown students are proud of where they go to school, and for the most part, they’re happy about it. I believe this is the most valuable type of pride, a pride that is quiet and soft-spoken. It is neither arrogance nor the sort of blind,

If Brown lacks traditional spirit, it is because it glorifies the individual and pokes holes in the belief that a school should be most proud of its athletics department.

dents to avoid requirements and reduce their workloads. Brown’s policy is the manifestation of a bold vision, one that posits that students can be trusted with their own education. I do not mean to act as if I am above participating in spirited activities on campus. Far from it. Every time I watch Brown’s soccer team at Stevenson Field or tailgate a football

drone-like institutional allegiance so common among colleges and countries. It says not that our school is best, only that it is best for us. It’s founded in something more substantive, and altogether more real, than a fight song or a football team. Brown students may miss out on a fun aspect of college life, but our soft-spoken pride

creates a more tight-knit community than would packed stadiums or primal fight songs. I claim only that this is a different sort of pride — a pride stemming from something more concrete than colors and mascots. It is a pride not in where we go to school so much as in how we go to school, a pride built from something greater than the simple fact that we all eat at the same dining halls and study in the same libraries. George Bernard Shaw once called patriotism “your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it,” and I see traditional school spirit as a conviction along similar lines. Yet just as a true patriot believes not only in his country but also in its values and principles, so a true spirit arises from a pride not only in a school’s name but also in its practices. Traditions can be helpful in unifying a community, but I prefer the institution that talks about what it is today. If Brown lacks traditional spirit, it is because it glorifies the individual and pokes holes in the belief that a school should be most proud of its athletics department. I would rather be proud of a curriculum than a mascot.

Nicholas Esemplare ’18 is a double concentrator in English and economics. He can be reached at nicholas_esemplare@brown.edu.

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015

Q&A: Peter Norvig ’78 P’16 P’18 reflects on experience in tech world Google research director discusses Brown education, developments in artificial intelligence By CLARISSA CLEMM STAFF WRITER

When Peter Norvig ’78 P’16, director of research at Google, enrolled at Brown, he knew almost nothing about computer science — a nascent field in which classes had just begun to be offered and for which there was no concentration. “I thought it was an obscure and strange branch of mathematics that not many people understood,” Norvig said. “It seemed as odd as doing 17th century Italian literature.” But during his time as an undergraduate, Norvig stumbled into the field and discovered his specific field of study — artificial intelligence — when he took a course in the psychology department. Norvig said he remembers the class, professor and book, but when he looked back at his transcript last year, he found that he had received no credit for the course. “The class was very influential to me, and it turns out I didn’t complete it,” Norvig said. After graduating with a bachelor of science in applied mathematics, Norvig received a PhD in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley. Since then, he has served as a faculty member at two universities and held leadership positions at Junglee, Harlequin, Sun Microsystems and NASA Ames Research Center before joining Google in 2001. Now, as director of research at Google, Norvig oversees the division of Google known for its groundbreaking research in a variety of areas, including human-computer interaction, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Norvig spoke with The Herald about the next frontiers for research, as well as his experiences at Brown and in the tech industry. Herald: What were some of the most valuable things you learned at Brown? Norvig: I learned the basics. I learned

how to work, how to get work done and how to work with other people. Back then, nobody owned their own computer, so people would congregate where the computers were and hang out late at night. There was a real sense of camaraderie. The best things were my fellow students and the faculty members. Some of them, like Professor of Computer Science Andy van Dam and Professor Emeritus of Applied Mathematics Ulf Grenander, are still around. I worked as a teaching assistant, and I learned more from that than from the classes themselves. What mattered more were the people and what you got interested in. I’m not sure classes mattered all that much. What are some of the lessons that you learned throughout your career? I learned a different definition of success. Originally, when I was a grad student, I looked at what was a cool problem. I would look at what I knew and what I didn’t know and saw how we could push things forward. When I moved out of academia and into the industry, success was not just a cool problem. It was looking at what people actually want. If they want something and you can do it, that’s the right solution, even if it’s not technically new. You have to deliver something useful. It changed the way you look at things. What are you working on at Google now? I watch other people do things and hope to contribute to that when I can. There are a variety of projects — language and image understanding, user interfaces, online education. We’re also working on education and helping all our partners teach the students. Part of that education is internal, since we are trying to do a better job with bringing our own staff up to speed on all the things they need. What are some of the questions that still need to be answered? What do people want to do? Who’s going to be in charge? How are people going to act with their machines in the future? There is a lot more emphasis on interaction with the everyday

COUTRESY OF DERRICK COETZEE

Peter Norvig ‘78 P’16 P’18, director of research at Google, encourages current Brown students to explore problems that interest them and “take advantage” of all that peers and professors may have to offer. user, rather than a programmer. We’re starting to see more things under computer control and becoming more energy efficient. There are lots of challenges, and we choose the ones that are interesting. I grew up thinking about one computer at a time, and now that the Internet came along, we think of lots of computers interacting with each other. We’re catching up to that and figuring out how we make those types of systems safe and reliable. It’s interesting that you can reimagine everything you’re doing and try to figure out a better way to do it. What are some of the things you’re hoping to improve on? Interacting with people on their own terms. We’re getting better and better with language. I think speech recognition had a really big turning

point. The phone is as good as I am in terms of getting individual words, but where I still have the advantage is figuring out what it is you really meant. I think that’s one of the big challenges for us to figure out. Then once we figure out the words, there are the other modalities. Using cameras, we can start recognizing what’s out there in the world. Machines can recognize pictures of cats. We have cars driving around that can recognize other cars, things like that. We also have a great responsibility to make things easier and more understandable and to give fairer access to everybody. Tech has been a benefit to the world in general, but not everybody has equal access now, and we need to try to even that out. What advice would you give to

current Brown students? Find some problems that interest you and work on them. Go out and find something you’re interested in and get involved with it. Read about what other people have done and talk to professors. Brown has great opportunities, and the professors are very open to doing things with you. Spend time with other people around you. There are so many places you can learn, like libraries, or by reading books and online materials. Anybody can do that anywhere. The reason you’re in college, specifically a college like Brown, is because of the people, not so much because of the course material. Take advantage of the other people around you. — This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Study examines effectiveness of antidepressant drugs Researchers find antidepressants less useful for patients with mild or moderate depression By RILEY DAVIS STAFF WRITER

The efficacy of antidepressants over placebos is a long-standing question in the practice of psychiatry. This question, and the narrowing gap in success rates between antidepressants and placebos prescribed for depressed patients, were explored in an article co-authored by Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Human Behavior Walter Brown, which was published in the October issue of the journal World Psychiatry. “I’ve had a long standing interest in placebo response,” Brown said, adding that over 50 percent of studies on antidepressants conclude that

there is no difference between the drug and placebo. Twenty years ago, antidepressants had a success rate of 70 percent in treating depressed patients, while placebos worked roughly 30 percent of the time, the article states. Over the past two decades, psychiatrists have seen those statistics converge. It is important to understand that placebo treatments are not the same as no treatment, Brown said. Even if patients do not receive an antidepressant, those in clinical trials still receive common treatment factors such as counselling and support systems. The effectiveness of antidepressants depends upon the severity of the individual patient’s depression, Brown said. Depression is ranked according to different scales. In its most basic form, diagnosing the degree of depression involves cataloging a range of symptoms — from energy loss to

suicidal thoughts — and assigning that patient a number to indicate the severity of his or her depression. But where on the scale do antidepressants become more effective than placebo treatments? “That’s the central question here,” Brown said. “When antidepressants are used with mildly and moderately depressed patients, they really don’t have an advantage over a whole other range of treatments.” Steven Roose, professor of clinical psychology at Columbia, who was not involved with the article, said that while the article did not cover any breakthroughs in the area, it touched upon some fundamental questions in the psychiatric community, especially in light of rising rates of depression. “This isn’t a particularly new topic,” Roose said. “It’s not that the study is particularly interesting or new or anything; it’s that you have to understand the comparison. We’re

comparing treatment to what?” Paying attention to the specific subject pool is important when studying antidepressants prescribed to depressed patients, Brown said. “When a research study is limited to people who are severely depressed, you get a pretty big difference in the outcome of placebo treatment versus antidepressant treatment.” Brown said it is notable that antidepressants themselves have not improved much over the years. Drugs developed in the 1950s have about the same success rate as drugs developed now, he said. “It’s easy to demonize the pharmaceutical industry,” Brown said, adding that though these companies have developed new drugs, “the biggest problem is their lack of innovation.” It is difficult to know how often antidepressants are prescribed to patients diagnosed with depression, but 70 percent of antidepressant

prescriptions today are written by primary care physicians, Roose said. Primary care physicians do not necessarily determine the severity of depression. An antidepressant prescription may not always be the answer for patients. Evidence-based medicine may play a large role in how often antidepressants are prescribed to depressed patients, said Roy Poses, clinical associate professor of medicine, who was not involved with the study. Evidence-based medicine is the practice of making medical decisions based on the critical review of the best available research, while taking into account a patient’s preferences, physical condition and the health care system, Poses said. In the case of antidepressant prescriptions, “evidence-based medicine can be misinterpreted,” Poses said. “Doctors can be practicing based on whatever the latest trial is.”