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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2015
VOLUME CL, ISSUE 113
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Popularity of S/NC option About 15 percent of undergraduates have been intoxicated during class. Over 9 percent have been under the influence of marijuana — and 7.6 percent rises among undergraduates have been drunk — during class. Less than 4 percent have been under the Intoxication during class
Percentage of courses taken S/NC jumps to 20.7 percent this fall from 17.6 percent in spring 2011
influence of another controlled substance during class. I have been intoxicated during class: 14.5%
10 percent
9.1% 8
By RACHEL SACHS
7.6%
STAFF WRITER
6 4
I have never been intoxicated during class: 85.5%
Marijuana
3.8%
Alcohol
Another controlled substance
2 0
Source: Herald Fall 2015 Poll EMMA JERZYK / HERALD
Students attend class under the influence Nine percent of students have attended class under the influence of marijuana, poll shows By SHIRA BUCHSBAUM STAFF WRITER
While many think of alcohol and marijuana as confined to parties and
dorm rooms, these substances also stage an appearance in the classroom. Approximately 15 percent of Brown students have attended class under the influence of a substance, according to a poll conducted by The Herald last month. About 9 percent of Brown students have attended class under the influence of marijuana, 7.6 percent of students have attended class under the
influence of alcohol and 3.8 percent of students have attended class under the influence of another controlled substance, according to the poll. The poll revealed a correlation between gender and intoxication during class: Male students were twice as likely as female students to have attended class under the influence. “I would say, anecdotally, the » See INTOXICATED, page 2
The percentage of students taking one or more classes Satisfactory/No Credit jumped from 54.4 percent in spring 2011 to 63.4 percent in fall 2015, according to data obtained from the Office of the Registrar. The overall percentage of courses taken S/NC also increased from 17.6 percent to 20.7 percent in the same time period, according to the registrar’s office. But the percentage of students taking all of their classes S/NC remained at below 1 percent. This data only accounts for undergraduates enrolled in at least four courses a semester. Christopher Dennis, deputy dean of the College, said more students may be taking courses S/NC to avoid earning low letter grades. “There’s no question that some of the use of S/NC is grade protection,” he said. The option for students to take an unlimited number of courses S/NC is a trademark component of the open curriculum. Since Elliott Maxwell ’68 P’06
and Ira Magaziner ’69 P’06 P’07 P’10 helped introduce the open curriculum in 1969, students have weighed several factors when choosing whether to take a course S/NC or for a traditional letter grade. The Office of the Dean of the College office hopes that students take advantage of S/NC in the spirit of the curricular reforms that led to its creation, Dennis said. S/NC is meant to encourage students to take academic risks without fear of lower grades, he added. Several students said they gravitated toward the S/NC option just once during their undergraduate careers. Kian Ivey ’16, an applied math-economics concentrator, took an English course S/NC during his first semester as a transfer student at Brown. “I wanted to try a course somewhat outside of my comfort zone,” he said. Ivey said the course’s S/NC status influenced how he approached his work “closer to the end of the semester, when other courses had finals or papers” that would affect his “actual grades.” Saminya Bangura ’16, an international relations and East Asian studies double concentrator, has also taken one class S/NC. She said she chose to take an elective S/NC during a semester in » See S/NC, page 3
Students, faculty travel to Paxson outlines downtown expansion efforts Paris for climate conference U. establishes working Conference complements students’ learning, research in environmental studies course By HARRY AUGUST STAFF WRITER
A dozen students and two faculty members from the University’s Climate and Development Lab are attending the Paris Climate Change Conference as part of the course ENVS 1575: “Engaged Climate Policy at the U.N. Climate Change Talks.” The two-week conference, which began Monday, seeks to create the first legally binding agreement to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. J. Timmons Roberts, professor of environmental studies and sociology and co-teacher of ENVS 1575, created the course to share with students the experiences and contacts he has gained at U.N. Climate Conferences, he wrote in an email to The Herald.
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
INSIDE
“There is no better way to learn about climate policy than to see it being made,” he wrote. The students, equipped with tools to “effectively shape policy,” will attend the conference events and conduct research for the class with the hope of “fostering transformational learning experiences,” wrote Guy Edwards, visiting research fellow in environmental studies, who co-teaches the class alongside Roberts, in an email to The Herald. Other University researchers who study climate change stressed the importance of this climate conference and the need for immediate action. “Unless dramatic emissions reductions are achieved now, we are headed for the most rapid climate change in several million years,” wrote Stephen Porter, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, in an email to The Herald. Moreover, “slow processes in the earth will keep a ‘memory’ of what we do now for centuries — every year of increased emissions and warming commits us to a longer-term future » See PARIS, page 8
group to spearhead Jewelry District development
By ROLAND HIGH STAFF WRITER
President Christina Paxson P’19 presented the University’s vision for future development in the Jewelry District — highlighting the eventual construction of a translational science complex — at the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting Nov. 23. She originally announced the proposals in her operational plan released Sept. 15. Translational science is “the entrepreneurial pathway that connects basic science to practice,” Paxson said. While Brown culture encourages collaboration among departments, the University lacks a “physical home for translational sciences,” said Cass Cliatt, vice president for communications. “There is a vision right now, but it’s way too early to say that there is a
METRO
SAM BERUBE / HERALD
Future development in the Jewelry District will include the University’s construction of a translational science complex. plan,” Cliatt said. The University still all departments necessarily need more has much to accomplish in terms of space, the projects could prove helpful fundraising, developing partnerships for those that seek increased room or and planning academic programming, collaboration. she said, noting that a working group Both Arthur Salisbury, president of has been established to spearhead the Jewelry District Association, and these efforts. Terrie Wetle, dean of the School of Details such as the cost of the com- Public Health and professor of health plex and the scope of the expansion services, policy and practice, expressed have not yet been determined, she excitement about the University’s inadded. vestment in the Jewelry District. Kavosh Asadi GS said though not » See EXPANSION, page 3
WEATHER
TUESDAY. DECEMBER 1, 2015
METRO R.I. HPV vaccine mandate for seventh graders causes outcry from community members
SCIENCE & RESEARCH U. works to increase funding of graduate programs, add resources to STEM fields
LETTER Murage ’17: Students should not target understaffed CAPS when lamenting mental health issues
COMMENTARY Doyle ’18: A few B’s or C’s on students’ transcripts will not ruin their future prospects
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UNIVERSITY NEWS PAGE 2 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2015
» INTOXICATED , from page 1 percentage of guys who use weed is higher,” said Ethan Taswell ’19. Political leanings also emerged as a correlated factor. Nearly 64 percent of students who said they have been under the influence of marijuana during class said they would vote for Bernie Sanders, compared to 45 percent of all respondents. But 17.5 percent of students who said they have been high during class said they would vote for Hillary Clinton, compared to 23 percent of all respondents. Members of Greek organizations were more likely to have attended class under the influence. While 11 percent of Brown students are involved in Greek life, 22 percent of the students who said they have attended class under the influence of marijuana and 14 percent of the students who indicated they have gone to class under the influence of alcohol are in a Greek organization. “I’m surprised it’s more weed than alcohol in frats,” said Kyle Tildon ’19, noting that fraternities have a reputation for alcohol use. Additionally, students who have sold illegal drugs for profit were six times as likely to have attended class under the influence of drugs. Many students expressed little surprise at the correlations. The liberal campus atmosphere may be more conducive to smoking weed, said one first-year who asked to remain anonymous due to confidentiality concerns. Several students noted that Spring Weekend may have skewed the poll results, as students may experiment with substances during the concerts but not during the rest of the semester. “Before Spring Weekend, I had class all day. And in my last class of the day, everyone showed up totally drunk except me,” said a sophomore who requested anonymity for privacy reasons. “There were people drinking straight vodka from Poland Spring bottles.” Another sophomore said he attended almost every session of his first-year seminar under the influence of marijuana after he “saw the direction the class was going.” The sophomore, who requested anonymity for fear of self-incrimination,
said smoking marijuana on the way to the seminar — his only humanities class on top of four science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses — helped him engage with the material and contribute to discussion. Smoking before class “made it more fun and interesting,” he said. “It was also an experiment to do the whole course high, just to see what would happen.” “You could probably only get away with this in a freshman seminar” because it “won’t determine your career,” he said. But he noted that he still took the class seriously and went prepared to each seminar. “It was my favorite course,” he said. High students in class are “more common than you think because you don’t know someone is doing it,” he added, noting that alcohol is more conspicuous. Carol Cohen, senior associate dean of the College for class advising and health and personal issues, said it is important to distinguish between students who arrive to class under the influence once and those who arrive to many or all classes under the influence. Cohen, who works with students whose academic performances suffer due to substance abuse, noted that the poll did not distinguish between onetime or recreational users and more frequent or addicted users. Currently, her office is currently conducting a search for a dean for issues of chemical dependency. The person who fills this position will work as a liaison for sobriety groups on campus and Health Services. The dean would not be a clinician, but rather “an academic dean who intimately understands the struggles of a person dealing with a substance issue and helping them to succeed academically,” Cohen said. “If anything is surprising (about the data), it’s just sort of the normalness of the idea that anybody would go to class under the influence,” she said. Cohen stressed the importance of refraining from writing off students’ substance use as typical college behavior without risk. “I’m comfortable with (students’ substance use) as long as people are happy and healthy doing it,” she said.
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Intoxication in class and gender
Male students were more likely to have indicated that they have been under the influence of alcohol, marijuana and other controlled substances during class than their female peers. I have been under the influence of ... 9.6%
MALE
alcohol FEMALE
5.9%
12.9% marijuana 5.9%
another controlled substance
5.7% 5.7%
... during class.
Source: Herald Fall 2015 Poll
EMMA JERZYK / HERALD
Intoxication in class and Greek affiliation Students who are members of Greek organizations are twice as likely to have been under the influence of alcohol and nearly three times as likely to have been under the influence of marijuana during class.
25 percent 22.1%
20 15
14.7%
10 GREEK
5
7.6%
6.8% NON-GREEK
0 I have been drunk during class.
I have been under the influence of marijuana during class.
Source: Herald Fall 2015 Poll
EMMA JERZYK / HERALD
Having been high in class and voting preferences
Students who indicated they have been high from marijuana during class were more likely to say they would vote for Bernie Sanders and less likely to say they would vote for Hillary Clinton. STUDENTS WHO SAID THEY HAVE BEEN UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF MARIJUANA DURING CLASS
STUDENTS WHO SAID THEY HAVE NOT BEEN UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF MARIJUANA DURING CLASS
Other: 18.8% Other: 23.1% Would vote for Hillary Clinton: 17.5%
Would vote for Bernie Sanders: 63.7%
Would vote for Bernie Sanders: 43.3%
Would vote for Hillary Clinton: 23.1%
Source: Herald Fall 2015 Poll EMMA JERZYK / HERALD
UNIVERSITY NEWS
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2015 • PAGE 3
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Percent of students taking at least one course S/NC
The popularity of taking courses Satisfactory/No Credit has steadily risen over the last four years. In spring 2011, 54.4 percent of students took at least one course S/NC, whereas 63.4 are taking at least one course S/NC in fall 2015.
60 percent
’1 5 Sp
rin g
’1 4 Sp
rin g
’1 3 Sp
rin g
’1 2 rin g Sp
Sp
rin g
’1 1
50
Source: Office of the Registrar EMMA JERZYK / HERALD
» S/NC, from page 1 which she took five classes. “S/NC courses are a cool option for people who can’t really handle the stress of grades all the time but want to take extra classes,” Bangura said. But Liam Callanan ’18, a computer science concentrator, said he has “never really felt a reason” to take a class S/NC. Each semester, professors designate a number of courses mandatory
S/NC — particularly fiction courses in the Department of Literary Arts and nonfiction courses in the Department of English. Twenty-two of the 29 literary arts courses being offered in fall 2015 are designated mandatory S/NC. These 22 classes are all art workshop courses, said Thalia Field, professor of literary arts and chair of the department. “We don’t believe that you quantitatively evaluate art,” Field said. “So if
you’re in a workshop class — and this has been true for decades — you take it pass-fail.” Mary Moynihan ’19, who is enrolled in two mandatory S/NC courses this semester, said the S/NC status somewhat affects her approach to the assignments. Since ENGL 0900: “Critical Reading and Writing I: The Academic Essay” is an essay-based course, “sometimes you might not do that final edit or revision because you know you’re going
to pass with the grade you’re going to get,” Moynihan said. Dennis said some students may hesitate to take courses S/NC due to pressures from outside the University, such as competition for jobs and graduate school admissions. “Of course Brown doesn’t exist in a vacuum — the world cares about grades,” he said, adding that despite the University’s lack of an official GPA, every student knows his or her GPA.
But Field said she has not witnessed any negative repercussions of S/NC literary arts courses on a student’s transcript. The literary arts department frequently places concentrators in top-ranked graduate programs, she said, noting that a literary arts graduate three years ago was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. “We have seen no correlation between our workshop pass-fail option and future success,” she added.
» EXPANSION, from page 1
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Wetle said various proposals have suggested that the complex include laboratory space, “translational space for Brown faculty and faculty from other institutions” and the potential for entrepreneurial “startup space.” The complex may also someday feature hotel and conference buildings, she said, adding that such facilities would mesh well with existing University buildings downtown. Wetle said she has not heard of proposals for the University’s translational science complex to include areas designated for undergraduates, though she noted that Brown is “vertically integrated” across all levels of education. “We have undergrads in our centers all day long,” she said. Over the last five years, Brown has significantly expanded its presence downtown. The Alpert Medical School campus on Richmond Street opened in August 2011, and the School of Public Health on South Main Street opened in February 2013. The current South Street Landing Project — a partnership between Brown, the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College — is expected to see completion in early 2017 and feature a blend of administrative offices and other venues. Cliatt said the public-private collaboration on the South Street Landing Project represents a good model for further investment in the Jewelry District. The University’s translational science complex could complement Wexford Science and Technology’s proposal to establish a 1-millionsquare-foot life sciences building on land previously occupied by Interstate 195, the Providence Journal reported. When it comes to affecting the local community, Wetle said that “jobs will be made available,” and that the projects should “bring people into Providence who will spend money.”
METRO
PAGE 4 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2015
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Concerns remain after R.I. HPV vaccination mandate Organizations such as Rhode Islanders Against Mandated HPV Vaccines protest RIDOH’s decision By KYLE BOROWSKI STAFF WRITER
After mandating a first dose of the human papillomavirus vaccine for all students entering the seventh grade, the Rhode Island Department of Health estimates that almost threequarters of seventh graders had received their first dose by the first day of the 2015-16 school year, said Joseph Wendelken, acting public information officer for RIDOH. The actual percentage might be even greater in the Ocean State, which already boasts one of the highest HPV
immunization rates in the country, Wendelken said. The percentage does not take into account students who had vaccinations even a week after the first day of school due to extenuating circumstances such as delayed physical examinations, he added. RIDOH passed the mandate in July 2014, and it officially took effect Aug. 1, The Herald previously reported. “We expect that number to keep climbing,” Wendelken said. “It’s typical that when a vaccine is incorporated into the school immunization schedule, it starts at a baseline and
starts to creep up as doctors, parents and school administrators get used to that being a part of the routine.” Some Rhode Islanders have expressed reluctance to accept the decision, both because of the nature of the mandate and because of the association of a sexually transmitted disease with young children. Aimee Gardiner, director of outreach for Rhode Islanders Against Mandated HPV Vaccines — a nonprofit created to oppose the mandate — said the organization and others favor “standing for our rights and for not having an overreach of government.” “The problem is not about the vaccination itself whatsoever,” Gardiner said. Rather, the organization takes
issue with the government mandating a vaccination for a disease when it does not impact a child’s education. Gardiner said that the organization has three main goals with regards to HPV vaccinations: to make HPV vaccinations an option instead of a mandate, to make it more difficult for RIDOH to mandate another vaccination in the future and to advocate for informed consent. Once a vaccine is mandated, “all the risks and benefits that the patient has the right to know tend to go by the wayside,” she said. Gardiner said she believes the decision of whether or not to vaccinate should rest solely with families. If an HPV vaccination is antithetical to its beliefs, a family can declare a
religious exemption by completing a RIDOH form, she said. Wendelken said he believes it is important that children are vaccinated around the seventh grade because the vaccine is most effective when administered to 11- and 12-year-olds. He stressed the fact that though HPV is transmitted sexually, children have the greatest response to the vaccine if it is administered “long before there’s any sexual contact.” “The HPV vaccine protects against a virus that we know leads to cancer, and it’s incredibly beneficial and valuable,” Wendelken said. “Now it’s up to doctors across the country and state to try to communicate to parents the importance of this immunization.”
Vaccination rates for Rhode Island seventh graders
Though officials at the Department of Health were pleased with the rate at which seventh graders were vaccinated against human papillomavirus, rates still lagged behind those for other mandated vaccines.
100 percent 80
84%
86%
Meningococcal disease
Tetanus, diptheria and pertussis
97%
98%
98%
Chicken pox
Hepatitis B
Measles, mumps and rubella
72%
60 40 20 0 HPV
Source: Providence Journal EMMA JERZYK / HERALD
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COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2015
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
EDITORIAL
Expanding ROTC options We applaud the University for expanding ROTC options by forming two new partnerships that will let students participate in the Naval and Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps next semester. Before this expansion, Brown students only had the option of participating in an Army ROTC partnership with Providence College, and Brown and Dartmouth were the only Ivy League schools to not give students an option for participating in Navy and Air Force ROTC programs . By increasing the number and types of such programs available to students, Brown has found a way to honor its 1969 resolution to not have its own program while augmenting partnerships with other institutions. Hopefully, the two new partnerships will attract more ROTC students — there are currently only four. Joining ROTC programs is a great way for students who want enter the military to prepare for this career path without sacrificing a good college education. This expansion is also beneficial for the student body as a whole. An increase in students interested in the ROTC would likely diversify the student body politically. Members of the United States military tend to be more conservative than average Americans. In a 2013 poll conducted by Military Times, approximately 41 percent of military personnel identified as “conservative” or “very conservative.” Furthermore, a 2009 survey of 4,000 Army officers found that between 1976 and 1996, the percentage of senior military officers identifying as Republican increased from onethird to two-thirds, while the percentage of those identifying as moderates decreased from 46 percent to 22 percent. Therefore, students who enter ROTC programs could be more likely to hold conservative viewpoints than other students. There is no denying that Brown is a liberal campus: According to The Herald’s spring 2015 poll, 58.5 percent of students consider themselves somewhat to very liberal on fiscal issues, and 83.9 percent consider themselves liberal on social issues. While Brown’s progressive history is a point of pride for many students, increasing the number of students with more conservative leanings would only diversify the discourse on campus. Students would gain more opportunities to learn from each other’s differences. Additionally, more students participating in ROTC programs would healthily challenge the way many Brown students think of the military. In left-leaning intellectual spaces like our campus, it is easy to conceptualize the military in theoretical terms. But outside of the bubble that encapsulates liberal institutions like Brown, the military is an important entity: 7.3 percent of all Americans have served in the military at some point in their lives. As Karen McNeil, program director of the Office of Student Veterans and Commissioning Programs at Brown, told The Herald, interaction with ROTC students could remind Brown students that people who choose to go into the military are just “normal people,” which would in turn help the ROTC students who already attend Brown feel less “singled out.” Brown’s expansion of ROTC options is not a drastic move. The University is not bringing an ROTC program to campus — it is simply providing more opportunities for students who want to get involved. Hopefully, this will attract more military-minded students to pursue an education at Brown and create a more supportive environment for the few who already are. Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board: Emma Axelrod ’18, Eben Blake ’17 and Aranshi Kumar ’17. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
K I M B E R LY S A LT Z
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Misguided notions on mental health issues To the Editor: I disagree with the argument posed in Chad Simon’s ’16 Nov. 23 op-ed “Depressed? Who isn’t?” It comes across as misinformed, contrived and utterly pointless on the state of mental health issues. Firstly, Simon describes Counseling and Psychological Services as the “most inefficient and unqualified” service offered at Brown — a remark extended from an egocentric viewpoint. Yes, CAPS has its issues, most of which are institutional. But to downplay the work that the psychologists, psychiatrists and administrative personnel do is very inconsiderate. CAPS is understaffed, and taking into account that the staff members attend to more than 350 students a week, we should remember to acknowledge their hard work. It is wrong to direct our anger at the CAPS personnel, who work very hard to help the Brown community. The source of the inefficiency is the administration, which has been unrelenting in making CAPS more accessible to Brown students. Secondly, Simon argues that recontextualization of one’s own depression is the panacea to the debilitating illness. This is one of the many approaches that are used in therapy; Simon
“There were people drinking straight vodka from Poland Spring bottles. ” — Anonymous sophomore
See intoxicated on page 1.
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should have done more research to substantiate his remarks. Furthermore, an approach that has been shown to work for one person does not necessarily work for another. Instead of downplaying other approaches that are in use for mental illness treatment, we should be more willing to synergize different approaches for a more positive outcome. Mental health professionals, such as our very own CAPS staff, are doing exactly this. Thirdly, suicide is a serious and catastrophic issue. Unlike what Simon argues, suicide is more of a public health issue than a private choice; unless we continue to see it as such, we run the risk of failing those who suffer from suicidal thinking. There is a plethora of research devoted to the study of suicide as well as mental health; it is our duty to educate ourselves before making misinformed remarks. I believe that all issues should be discussed with extreme care, compassion and seriousness. Mental health discussions warrant this. It is arguments like those expressed in Simon’s op-ed that are halting the progress of fighting and destigmatizing mental illness.
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COMMENTARY TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2015 • PAGE 7
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Grades will not define your identity ALLIE DOYLE OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
I’ve always found Brown to be a calming environment. The simplified grading system, the guarantee that no F’s will haunt my transcript and the general emphasis on learning over achieving generally keeps my stress level lower than that of students at other universities with atmospheres that encourage competition. This isn’t to say that there aren’t nights during the semester when I have too much work to even contemplate completing it all. But these nights have largely been manageable, especially with the help of peers. Unfortunately, Brown’s grading system can cause uncertainty during finals. In some classes, I can get anywhere between an 85 and a 100 on a final exam or paper, and it will still be an A. But this comfort comes with a drawback. If I score an 84.9, I’ll walk away an entire letter grade lower. So it’s difficult to focus on studying for an important exam knowing that the difference of one point could change the letter I’ll see on my transcript in a few weeks. There’s nothing like being stuck between
two multiple choice answers, knowing this one question could decide your fate. For those applying to graduate or professional schools, the anxiety is worse. As I stare at those two multiple choice answers, I picture the admissions officer at Harvard Law School combing through my transcript with a magnifying glass, circling every B (or C). I decide that if I end up with a B in this class, I’ll
gled. A course in which you were far out of your comfort zone. A course in which you really stretched yourself and grew as a student. Wear those B’s (or C’s) as a badge of courage. You pushed yourself — and you didn’t drop the class the day before the final exam (even if you wanted to). You’ve probably heard a thousand times that your grades don’t define you and that you’re more
capacity to succeed, regardless of a few imperfect grades. About 88 percent of Brown students are accepted to law school, and about 84 percent are accepted to medical school, according to the University’s website. This is well above the national averages of 72 and 45 percent, respectively. And it’s highly improbable that those several hundred students all had straight A’s.
Admissions officers and employers will see the totality of your experience here: your extracurriculars, your volunteer work, your research and whatever else. This final will not change your life. need to get straight A’s for the rest of my tenure at Brown if I ever want to get a job. I think there’s a good chance you feel the same way sometimes. But never fear; you will be okay. At a rigorous school with a peculiar grading system and exceptional students, eight semesters of straight A’s is unrealistic. Sure, a few students have done it. But in all likelihood, you won’t. And that’s okay. Because straight A’s probably mean you never took a course in which you really strug-
than a number. And I believe that. I know that a difference of one multiple choice question says nothing about me as a student or a person. Still, this sentiment is likely not entirely comforting. While self esteem is important, we’d all prefer for admissions officers and potential employers to see stellar grades on our transcripts. After all, they won’t truly know us as people. The good news is that you will get into graduate school, and you will get a job. Statistics show that Brown students graduate with the
If you’re looking to go straight into the workforce, you’ll be fine too! Approximately 69 percent of Brown students last year graduated with jobs, according to the Center for Careers and Life After Brown. The rest were largely involved with continued education and volunteer work. Fewer than 5 percent were still seeking employment. It can be easy to get caught up in the jealousy of Facebook friends’ boasts of their perfect GPA’s. Still, choosing to attend Brown means accepting its unique grading sys-
tem, along with the fact that graduating with a 4.0 is highly unlikely. With many classes graded on a bell curve in which your grade depends on those of your peers, it’s nearly impossible to be the best all the time. As finals approach, keep in mind that only about half of grades given out at this University are A’s. While that may seem like a high number, it also means about half are B’s, C’s and NC’s. So the odds of getting just one in a semester are pretty high. All that means is you’re not alone. To be clear, this isn’t an excuse not to try or a promise that success will find you regardless of your own will. Brown students have such successful legacies because they work hard to make them. So shoot for A’s! But if you miss, you’ll land among the B’s, and that isn’t a bad place to be. Admissions officers and employers will see the totality of your experience here: your extracurriculars, your volunteer work, your research and whatever else. This final will not change your life. Over the next few weeks, study hard, do your best and then move on.
Allie Doyle ’18 is rereading this op-ed instead of studying for her finals.
SCIENCE & RESEARCH THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
» CLIMATE, from page 1 of change,” wrote Timothy Herbert, professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences and of environmental science, in an email to The Herald. With growing political consensus and pressure from environmental groups to agree to a treaty, this climate conference could prove historic. These climate negotiations in Paris are also noteworthy in the aftermath of the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in the city. The students and faculty members attending the conference are remaining vigilant and avoiding areas of the city where protests were planned, Roberts wrote. While at the conference, the students must write a blog post and oped piece, in addition to working on individual research projects, wrote Kari Malkki ’16 in an email to The Herald. Malkki, a development studies concentrator, will also partner with civil society organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund as well as youth climate justice activists, she wrote. “Attending the Paris conference will truly solidify our understandings of international climate policy,” Malkki wrote, adding that “it is also the ideal place to meet and learn from other individuals and organizations who work on those issues.” The conference will build upon the overall curriculum of the class, in which the students learned “how negotiations work, how different negotiating groups and parties approach the conference and what they want to get out of it,” wrote Kailani Acosta ’16 in an email to The Herald. The class also studied movements in civil society, youth, women and indigenous peoples, among other topics, she added. As part of the Climate and Development Lab, the class also focuses on
“equity, justice and climate finance” in Latin America, the United States and several less-developed countries, Edwards wrote. “I’ve learned that the U.N. climate negotiations are much less about ‘the environment’ as it is understood in the Western imagination than they are about ensuring equitable economic development in a warming world,” Malkki wrote. Izza Drury ’16.5, who also worked as a research assistant for the CDL this past summer, will conduct research on the Vulnerable 20, a bloc of nations most vulnerable to climate change, she wrote in an email to The Herald. Similar to Malkki, Drury wrote that she looks forward to meeting people who have spent more time studying climate change than she has so far. In addition to studying environmental policy in preparation for the conference, the class “generated relevant and important research in terms of international climate change,” Drury wrote. Her group helped produce a 100-page “Adaptation Finance Gap” report that will be distributed at conference side events, she added. The report “analyzes the transparency and accountability of climate finance flows between donor and recipient countries and offers 10 main recommendations for improvement,” Crystal Avila ’16 wrote in an email to The Herald. Avila added that her main takeaway from the course is “how urgent it is for us to effectively address climate change in order to avoid catastrophe for the countries and communities most vulnerable to its impact.” Herbert wrote that he would like to see students pursue a long-term project that assesses the University’s carbon footprint through its investment portfolio and provides guidance for reducing the endowment’s carbon footprint.
www.browndailyherald.com
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2015
Master’s programs see broad growth Paxson looks to improve doctoral programs with greater funding, resources for STEM fields By ELENA WEISSMANN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Enrollment in the University’s master’s programs has increased by 112 percent since fall 2007, while enrollment in doctoral programs has increased by just 5 percent. These numbers likely reflect the efforts made by President Christina Paxson P’19 and former President Ruth Simmons to expand master’s education while improving the quality of doctoral education, as outlined in Paxson’s strategic plan, “Building on Distinction.” Growth of master’s programs is one way that the University can increase funding for doctoral programs, said Bernard Reginster, professor of philosophy and chair of the department. “Each department is awarded a portion of the money that students pay to attain their master’s degrees, and departments can use those funds to support their own doctoral programs,” he said. Master’s students pay $48,272 in tuition per academic year, while the University guarantees doctoral students five years of scholarship and a stipend. Though doctoral programs have experienced little growth, the University has increased the budget for these programs in order to support research, new programs and fellowships. “There is a ‘filling in’ of support dedicated to students in a broad range of disciplines as part of a broader effort to increase the prominence of doctoral education at Brown,” said Peter Weber, dean of the Graduate School. Other efforts to bolster the strength of graduate programs include incentivizing potential students and “changing the way graduate programs are accounted for,” Weber added. The presidential fellowship,
created as part of Paxson’s strategic plan, offers a select number of doctoral students across all departments “enhanced stipend support” for three years. The University has also invested more in internal research funding, said David Savitz, vice president for research. “Funding allows faculty to compete to receive grants, but it’s also funding that supports small-scale research activity, usually in the humanities and social sciences, where you can actually complete a project with a small amount of money,” he said. Increased funding also creates more opportunities for graduate students to learn and develop their careers, Savitz said. “Graduate students are an investment to be made, and the University is certainly pursuing that with new programs and residential fellowships that allow us to compete for the best graduate students in the country,” he added. “We are really trying to push on research, especially in the sciences,” Paxson told The Herald in March. At the time, several graduate students expressed a fear that expanding graduate programs in the sciences would place a strain on resources for the humanities and social sciences. But resources dedicated to the humanities and social sciences have in fact increased, Weber said. “These resources are not intended to increase the cohort sizes, but instead to provide better support for students,” he added. The University is making a concerted effort to improve graduate programs across all departments, not just in science, technology, engineering and math, Savitz said. “There’s a desire to advance the whole agenda — anything from the arts to the humanities to the sciences,” he said. “Within our leadership and within our office, we are very aware that we have to support the whole University.” The University has also pushed to increase participation in Undergraduate Teaching and Research Awards
across the humanities and social sciences. Last summer, around 20 percent of students awarded UTRAs pursued projects in the humanities and social sciences, while the remaining 80 percent developed projects in the life or physical sciences, said Oludurotimi Adetunji, associate dean for undergraduate research and inclusive science and director of the UTRA program. This discrepancy resulted from a significantly larger pool of applicants in STEM fields, Adetunji said. “Even if all the applications in social sciences and humanities were spectacular and we accepted 100 percent of them, the number of projects would still be small compared to the sciences,” he said. The UTRA program actually accepts projects in the humanities and social sciences at a “slightly higher rate” in order to partially account for this discrepancy, Adetunji said. The I-Team UTRA — a type of UTRA that supports interdisciplinary group projects involving two to six students — was developed in part to help increase the number of applications in the humanities and social sciences, he said. “There’s no intent to create an imbalance in the University” between STEM departments and those in the humanities and social sciences, Savitz said. “It’s all about advancing knowledge and addressing important questions, whether it’s in physics, philosophy or English.” Reginster said he has a positive impression of the University’s efforts to expand its graduate programs. “The allocation the philosophy department has received from the Graduate School has not diminished,” he said. “There’s a lot of room for improvement, but the University is at least going in the right direction.” But improvement is not necessarily measured by growth. “It’s not a growth thing — it’s an excellence thing. The question is this: Can we, with existing resources, become a better university?” Weber said.