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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2016
VOLUME CLI, ISSUE 20
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BEAR Day honors staff member achievements with awards Staff members honored for excellence in diversity, citizenship, innovation in annual ceremony By JULIANNE CENTER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
More than 500 people filled Salomon 101 to celebrate the achievements of staff members at the annual Brown Employee Appreciation and Recognition Day Monday. President Christina Paxson P’19 gave awards to 12 individuals and three teams from 14 different departments for excellence in the categories of citizenship, diversity, efficiency, innovation, leadership, rising star and service. BEAR Day began in 2005 under the presidency of Ruth Simmons to replace the annual service award luncheon and other sporadic staff recognition ceremonies “with the goals of creating a culture of appreciation and fostering a sense of community,” wrote Angela Hilliard, communication and program manager of human resources, in an email to The Herald. The Excellence Award Selection
Committee reviewed 126 nominations representing 59 departments to select award winners “who bring a diverse array of skills and experiences to their positions,” Hilliard wrote. Paxson had the “chance to publicly and openly express (her) appreciation to staff ” on behalf of the University in her fourth BEAR Day opening remarks. “Every day should have a little bit of BEAR day spirit,” she said as she spotlighted some of the work accomplished by the honorees. Barbara Chernow, executive vice president for finance and administration, took the stage to present the Excellence Award winners. Among those honored were recent graduate Darcy Pinkerton ’14, awarded the Rising Star for her fundraising and engagement efforts for the School of Public Health, the grounds team that “cleared over 80 inches of snow during the blizzard of 2015” and Sidalia Piriquito, a custodian in the Math and Judaic Studies departments. Piriquito “even shares vegetables from her garden with faculty members, staff members and students,” Chernow said. “Can we talk after this?” Chernow added jokingly.
BRITTANY COMUNALE / HERALD
Brown Employee Appreciation and Recognition Day honors University staff members from various departments for professional excellence in categories such as diversity, innovation and service. Men’s Health Coordinator Marc Peters was awarded the Excellence Award for Innovation. Though he was only hired in 2014, Peters has initiated
“programming addressing toxic masculinity and violence prevention” and “coordinated a sexual assault peer organization,” Peters said.
Peters works with athletic and Greek organizations to “build healthy communities,” organizes Men’s Health » See AWARDS, page 2
Applicant experiences racism, homophobia New aid policies to help Interviewer admits to allegations, continues to conduct interviews with status under review By ALEX SKIDMORE SENIOR STAFF WRITER
High school senior Matt Sarafa posted a video on YouTube Feb. 9 claiming his Brown alumni interviewer used racist and homophobic language during his interview. Sarafa subsequently withdrew his application to the Class of 2020 because of the experience. In the video, which now has over 62,000 views, Sarafa details his experience interviewing for Brown admission. He starts off the video explaining why Brown is his “dream school,” adding that he loved the campus and its liberal reputation. But Sarafa’s interview in Southern California proved to be more than disappointing. “Before I can even get a word out of my mouth … (the interviewer) says, ‘Just so you know, I don’t want you to be shell shocked if you get into Brown, but they’re not very accepting of your kind at the school,’” Sarafa said in the video. “The only thing that I could think of is him discriminating against me because I’m gay,” Sarafa said later in the video.
INSIDE
The interviewer told him that the University was not very diverse when he attended, Sarafa said, adding that his interviewer said the students were “very WASP-y,” referring to “white, Anglo-Saxon protestants.” Sarafa also said in the video that the alum told him, “The only place you will find Orientals in the town surrounding Brown is working in Chinese restaurants and laundromats.” After finishing the interview, Sarafa said he did not receive a business card or his interviewer’s contact information. When Sarafa returned home, he emailed the interview coordinator to get the name of his interviewer, he told The Herald. Sarafa said he never received a reply. Vice President of Alumni Relations Todd Andrews ’83 did not respond to a question in an email from The Herald regarding the name of the interviewer. The day after his interview, Sarafa told his high school counselor about his negative experience, and his high school contacted the University about the interview. When Leora Johnson ’01, assistant director of alumni interviewing and admission, responded to Sarafa’s high school counselor, “It was the most cookie-cutter, copy-and-paste (response),” Sarafa said in the video.
“She was trying to sweep (the situation) under the rug and keep me quiet,” he told The Herald. In an email provided to The Herald by Sarafa, Johnson wrote to Sarafa to apologize for the alum’s behavior. She called the alum’s comments “unacceptable” and said his behavior does not represent “how we instruct or train our interviewers,” pledging to “follow up accordingly.” “The interview report is actually very positive, mentioning your accomplishments and fit for Brown,” Johnson also wrote. Still, the email from Johnson did not provide Sarafa closure, he said. “I knew ever since I stepped out of that interview room that I wanted to personally talk to somebody at Brown about this,” he said. Sarafa emailed Johnson saying he wanted to talk to her over the phone, but he did not receive a response. The next day, he tried to call her but received no reply. Two days after Sarafa’s original email, Johnson called him to speak about the situation. When Sarafa asked Johnson about the status of his interviewer, she said the alum had admitted to using homophobic and racist language, Sarafa told The Herald. Though the University is reviewing his status as an interviewer, he will continue to » See INTERVIEW, page 3
low-income students Health insurance fee waiver, international travel allowance among new UCS initiatives By MATTHEW JARRELL STAFF WRITER
The Undergraduate Council of Students released details Tuesday on new University policies and programs affecting students receiving financial aid. These revisions mark the culmination of a process that began with a Corporation focus group in May and continued with the debate, revision and release of the Pathways to Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan over the last three months. A UCS email, sent to the student body, listed a number of changes to the structure of financial aid for “high-need” students, classified as those for whom the expected parental contribution amounts to less than $5,000, as well as some geared towards the general aidreceiving population. “This is a really important step forward in making the Brown experience more equitable for all students,” said UCS President Sazzy Gourley ’16. The role of student action was emphasized as integral to the restructuring of financial aid policy. “Our peers in
First-Gens@Brown, 1vyG, the Brown Center for Students of Color, as well as Residential Peer Leaders, international students and countless others have worked tirelessly to push for increased support for low-income students,” UCS wrote in the email. The May focus group was “eyeopening for Corporation members and administrators,” Gourley said. A number of action items were introduced during the focus group that came to constitute the new policies, with UCS organizing the follow-up and pitch process to the administration, he added. Initiatives that will take effect during the 2016-17 school year, some of which have already been released as part of the DIAP and the 2017 budget, include: scholarships to cover University Health Insurance for high-need students unable to waive the requirement; a $1,500 allowance towards travel home for international students; food and housing provision for high-need students during times of University closure; doubling the Campus Life Emergency Fund; and an expansion of the summer vouchers program. A new position — Assistant Dean of the College for Financial Advising — is also being created. The dean “will advise and support low-income students on » See AID, page 3
WEATHER
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2016
NEWS Bannister House open for viewing after recently completed renovations
NEWS Carrie Nordlund MA’01 PhD’06 to head Watson’s newly designed MPA program
ARTS & CULTURE Brown Band emphasizes oral traditions, fosters mischievous, fun-loving culture
ARTS & CULTURE Cable Car Cinema to showcase award-winning French films in upcoming festival
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» AWARDS, from page 1 101, which gives male-identifying students the space to discuss how masculinity affects their lives, and co-facilitates a support group called Men Talking. He is also currently collecting submissions from maleidentifying students for a Men’s Story Project performance on the topic of personal masculinity in March, he added. “I work with an issue I am deeply passionate about with young people who care so much about making their community safer and a more just place,” Peters said, adding that his programs have been successful because students are “so hungry for the conversation.” Kris Cambra, director of biomedical communications, received the Excellence Award for Citizenship for starting a new program that brings art exhibits to the Alpert Medical School. While at work in the “new shiny building,” Cambra “heard from the staff that they would love to see
something different on the walls,” she said. Inspired by the community’s desire for artwork, Cambra began to commission three art exhibits a year. Last May, the school hosted the first ever medical student art exhibit to showcase the students’ “hidden talents in painting, drawing and sculptures,” she added. Other exhibits have included Beyond the Diagnosis, a partnership with the Rare Disease United Foundation, which displayed artwork of children and adults with rare diseases to educate students and the community. The subjects could communicate with the medical community and doctors in training, “allow(ing) them to tell their stories,” Cambra said. The art exhibits have “given a platform and sanctuaries for different angles on medicine,” Cambra said, adding that the exhibits’ effects reach beyond the immediate medical community. Since its debut at the University, the exhibit has traveled to Harvard Medical School and will
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD soon be aired on a CBS morning show. Of the three Excellence Awards for Diversity recipients, Director of Leadership Programs in the School of Professional Studies Kisa Takesue ’88 received the award for placing social justice at the forefront of the Brown Leadership Institute, according to the BEAR Day pamphlet. After ending her activism-based undergraduate career at the University in 1988, Takesue was hired as an assistant dean of student life in 1996. Since then, she has “expanded support programs for students of color, international students and first-generation students,” according to the pamphlet. Though she has “had the opportunity to have several different jobs at Brown,” her favorite aspect of any position has always been “creating inclusive and empowering educational experiences for students,” Takesue wrote in an email to The Herald. Thanks to Takesue’s “color-conscious” efforts, diversity training in the Leadership Institute includes dialogues on identity development,
intersectionality, socio-economic status and first-generation college experiences. She has also worked to ensure that the faculty members teaching workshops are scholars and students of “various backgrounds, disciplines and lived experiences.” “It feels terrific to be recognized, but I am just one of many who support University diversity efforts day after day, year after year,” Takesue wrote. Overall, the honorees said they enjoy BEAR Day and the recognition it brings to staff members who often go unnoticed behind the scenes of the University. “BEAR Day is a terrific opportunity for staff to gather together as a community in celebration of one another and our combined contributions,” Takesue wrote. “At a school, obviously students and faculty are going to be most important — that’s the ambition,” Cambra said. “But in the background are all these staff members who make everything work … It’s just nice to know that Brown recognizes that and knows
that there is a huge component of staff that makes it successful as well.” “People who don’t win awards also make incredibly important contributions to the University,” Paxson added, recognizing Norman “Bubba” Morris, who has worked in the Brown Bookstore for 33 years. During Paxson’s staff office hours, Morris had mentioned that he would miss having access to the fitness center after he retired someday, inspiring her to create a new employee benefit. She announced that, effective immediately, “upon retiring from Brown with 25 years of service or more, employees will receive free lifetime membership to the fitness center and library.” Staff members were then asked to stand up if they had served the University for five, 10, 20 and 30 or more years. One by one, each category stood to be showered with applause by the audience and their peers. “For folks to have the opportunity to stand in front of their peers and have their work honored and validated is a really awesome thing,” Peters said.
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» AID, from page 1
» INTERVIEW, from page 1
financial issues that may intersect with academic, social and personal issues,” according to the UCS email. The recommendations came from a working group consisting of students and administrators and addressed action items that stemmed from May’s focus group meeting. The working group, headed by University deans and directors as well as student leaders from UCS and other organizations, formulated the changes now slated for enactment. “The goal was to try to suss out where the gaps in our package were, and to begin to see how we could address them,” said Dean of the College Maud Mandel, chair of the working group. “We divided the semester into themes that were associated with the basic issue areas in gaps for low-income students,” Gourley said. “We tried to pull in administrators from across campus” that corresponded to the areas of the action items for consultation. The process to adopt the changes proceeded smoothly given the nature of the administrative procedure, Mandel said. “One of the most gratifying parts of the process was articulating areas of need and addressing them quickly,” she said. “It was pretty rapid for a University bureaucracy.” UCS also detailed a series of efforts that have not yet been implemented, which they pledged to adopt. These include: coverage of the Summer Health fee for students remaining on campus; small stipends for highneed students to cover extracurricular activities throughout the year; a reduction of the Summer Earnings Expectation for all students receiving aid; and summer earnings waivers for multiple summers. The SEE is at the top of the agenda, Gourley said. Students are currently expected to contribute $3,100 for each summer, with a fee waiver exempting them from no more than one summer of the expectation. “It is very difficult to pursue lowpaying or unpaid internships over the summer while also having the burden of saving,” Gourley said. “It would be ideal if the SEE could be reduced or eliminated entirely.”
conduct alumni interviews because there is not enough evidence to remove him at this time, Sarafa said Johnson told him. After his phone call with Johnson, Sarafa immediately withdrew his application from the University. Upon emailing Johnson Feb. 16, The Herald received an automatic reply stating that she is on parental leave. Dean of Admission Jim Miller
’73 initially agreed to an interview with The Herald but canceled Feb. 16, citing unexpected schedule constraints. When canceling, Miller suggested The Herald speak to Andrews in his stead. Sarafa, an award-winning advocate for LGBTQ individuals, said he does not want anyone else to have such a negative interview experience. “At one time in my life, I didn’t have a voice,” Sarafa said, adding that he wants to support people in that same position.
The admission office cannot speak about any applicants by name, Andrews wrote. “We were deeply troubled to learn of the experience reported by the high school student interested in attending Brown — an experience that does not reflect in any way the University’s commitment to being a welcoming, diverse and inclusive community,” Andrews wrote. The admission office will continue to review the interviewer’s status, Andrews wrote. “To my knowledge, this
is the first report of an incident of this kind in a decade or more,” he added. Moving forward, Sarafa hopes his video will provoke an examination of the University’s alumni interview standards. “I’m over the situation for myself, but I don’t want other people to have to go through these situations,” he said. “I understand that there are people who fall through the cracks, … but Brown isn’t taking responsibility for what happened,” he added.
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Campaign donations among faculty, students demonstrate liberal bent Total U. contributions to candidates lag behind those of peer schools’ students, faculty members
Campaign donations from Brown faculty members, administration and students heavily leaned toward Democratic candidates, with more campaign donations supporting Hillary Clinton than Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-VT, according to data from the Federal Election Commission. University professors, administrators, staff members and students donated a total of $21,138 between April and December. Professors and administrators gave a total of $5,354 to Clinton, while Sanders received $2,073. Professors and administrators donated no money to Republican candidates. The average donation per faculty member or administrator was $796. Clinton received 18 donations, with an average of $297 per donation, while Sanders received 25 donations, with an average of $83 per donation. In comparison to other top universities like Stanford University, Harvard, Yale and Columbia, faculty members and administrators donated much less overall, according to data from the FEC. But Brown affiliates followed similar trends to other elite institutions with faculty members donating overwhelmingly to Democratic candidates, especially Clinton.
young women for not supporting Clinton. Feminism means that women can make their own political choices regardless of opinion polls or other people’s views, Gill said. Dean of the College Maud Mandel donated $1,000 to Clinton. When asked why she chose to donate, Mandel said, “I gave that donation as a private citizen,” citing that as dean of the college, she did not feel it would be approopriate to comment on her donation. Though President Christina Paxson P’19 did not donate to any presidential candidate in 2015, she does have a history of giving to Democratic organizations and candidates. In 2008, she gave $250 to Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign, and in 2014 she gave $15,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the official campaign arm of the Democrats in the House of Representatives. Most recently in 2015, she donated $1,000 to the campaign of U.S. Rep. Jim Langevin, D-RI. The average donation amounts made by University affiliates follow national patterns, in which Sanders raises money mostly through small contributions, said Adjunct Lecturer in International and Public Affairs Richard Arenberg. “People in higher education see more substance on the Democratic side,” Gill said of the overall donations trends. Mandel and Arenberg noted that the relatively small sample size of Brown donors makes it difficult to draw any conclusions.
Faculty exclusively support Democratic candidates In 2015, Professor of Classics and Philosophy Mary Louise Gill gave 13 gifts to Sanders ranging from $10 to $100, totaling in $698. Gill said she has supported Sanders since the first day of his campaign because she prefers his approach to that of Clinton’s. She chose to donate multiple times instead of all at once. “Sanders’ campaign is entirely funded by small donations from ordinary people like me who don’t have money to give all at once,” Gill said. “I gave when he did something amazing, like when he had a good debate, when he nearly won Iowa and did win New Hampshire,” she added. Gill pointed out that older people tend to support Clinton while younger people tend to support Sanders. But Gill emphasized that “all ages have their own views,” after noting that feminist leaders such as Gloria Steinem have chided
Similar patterns at top universities In comparison to peer institutions, Brown faculty donations followed similar trends of leaning toward Democratic candidates, but total donations were much less. Faculty and administration at Brown donated a total of $7,443, whereas Harvard faculty and administrators donated roughly $131,000, Yale donated over $111,000, Columbia faculty members raised $97,350, and Stanford faculty donated $156,000, according to the Yale Daily News. At Stanford, 77 donors contributed a total of $127,000 to Clinton. Sanders raised only $5,600 from 24 people affiliated with the Palo Alto-based university. Only 12 Stanford faculty members gave to a Republican. At Yale, 59 faculty members donated $96,000 to Clinton, while 19 faculty members donated $5,700 to Sanders. Similarly, at Columbia, Clinton
By SUVY QIN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Proportion of donations to presidential campaigns by administrators, faculty members Brown Clinton Sanders
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donations accounted for $75,000 of the $96,000 raised overall by faculty members and administrators. Sanders received donations from 21 faculty members, while Republicans received donations from only eight. Harvard demonstrated the most significant pro-Clinton support of these four universities. Harvard faculty members gave only $3,290 to Sanders, significantly less than the $118,000 donated to Clinton, but also much less than the nearly $9,000 donated to Republican candidates Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former candidate Jeb Bush. Only at Harvard and Stanford did donations to Republican candidates outpace donations to Sanders. Gill attributed Brown faculty’s relative inactivity to the fact that these are wealthier institutions where faculty and staff are paid more. Arenberg noted that these are larger institutions, and it is not strange that there are large Democratic and Republican followings at these schools. “It’s early in the process,” Arenberg said. “By the time of election day, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were Brown faculty who donated to Republicans.” But Arenberg expects that donations will continue to lean Democratic, he added. Students donate more to Clinton Seven students donated a total of $8,490 to Clinton, with an average total donation per student of $1,213. Three students donated to Sanders for a total of $270 and average total donation per student of$90.
Two students donated the maximum an individual can donate in one election period of $2,700 — one to Clinton and one to Rubio — the only Republican donation among Brown affiliates. Austin Rose ’19, a member of the Republican Club who supports Rubio, was surprised by the large donation made to Rubio, who usually attracts smaller donations. “I tend to think of Rubio as someone who is much more populist and kind of middle-of-theroad, moderate Republican,” Rose said. Nicolas Schank ’16 donated five times to Sanders for a total of $105. Though he initially supported Clinton, once he learned more about Sanders through an “Ask Me Anything” event on Reddit, Schank switched to Sanders. He cited Sanders’ lack of super PACs as one reason he found it important to donate. Donating regularly, as Schank does every month, is valuable for campaigns because it creates a consistent flow of money so the candidates “know how much money they have at a given time,” he said. Schank was unsurprised that Sanders, who usually receives smaller donations, did not receive more donations. “Within the Sanders voting community, it’s definitely more important to be volunteering and doing other things than just donating,” Schank said. “Some strong supporters may not be donating, but may be involved in deep ways.” Donations reflect political atmosphere None of the students interviewed were surprised by the strong
Democratic leanings by student or faculty member donations. “If you look at Brown University’s history, even among Ivy League schools, Brown is far and above the most liberal in terms of faculty,” Rose said. “There’s the obvious issue of how much does that bleed into the culture here in that there is no representation of conservative viewpoints.” Some students and faculty members agree that faculty members should strive to keep political beliefs separate from the classroom. “Faculty should represent a wide range of approaches, sources and questions to any topic,” Mandel said. Gill tries not to talk about political issues in the classroom because she believes it would be inappropriate to do so. Schank was not concerned that professors and administration leaned heavily Democratic. “I wouldn’t find it problematic if they donated to Republicans,” Schank said. Faculty members do not have to remove their political beliefs from the classroom, since “people should be able to say whatever they want to say,” Rose said. But faculty should give an evenhanded representation, he added. Rose stated that he has experienced instances in which the classroom drifts to the left, and no effort is made by the professor to bring it back to the center, whereas when the class drifts to the right, an effort is made. “The issue becomes when everyone is saying what they want to say, and it’s all the same. Then we’re just missing diversity on campus,” Rose said. “It’s not that the expression itself is bad.”
Channer experiments with language, plurality of culture Author reflects on Jamaican heritage, conflicting identity during Wednesday reading By JENNIFER SHOOK SENIOR STAFF WRITER
“I see friends here, ... and I see newly made friends here,” said Colin Channer, a 2011 transplant to the local Providence community, as he surveyed his audience in the McCormack Family Theatre to begin his reading Wednesday. Channer was born in Kingston, Jamaica, a heritage that is reflected in his work, particularly in his novels “Waiting in Vain” and “The Girl with the Golden Shoes.” He is fascinated
with a “plurality” of cultures and what he calls the “accidental genius” of Creolization in the Americas. Channer read from “The Girl with the Golden Shoes,” his 2007 novel about a runaway girl named Estrella. The novel is set in 1942, on an imagined Caribbean island called San Carlos that Channer based on his Jamaican roots. Combining the 1940s local voice of Jamaican patois with the southern Caribbean dialects as a means for linguistic modernism, Channer said constructing the world of the island was one of the most
exciting parts of writing the novel. Thus, Channer decided to write the story and imagine the characters in the novel as a means to preserve 1940s Jamaican culture while maintaining a more modern dialect. He imagined himself translating that Spanish dialect into English, a process that would render his story into a more accessible form of Jamaican patois. Channer also read from his most recent book, “Providential,” a 2015 collection of poems spurred by his move to Providence in 2011. Channer said that before moving to Providence, he did not write poetry. His move to the city, colleagues at Brandeis University, and changes in his personal life, such
as becoming a single father, led him to experiment more with the genre, a shift that he says he is happy with. “Every prose writer wants to be a poet deep down,” Channer joked. He explained that “Providential” was inspired by the idea of the proliferation of New England culture in the Caribbean colonies as well as his conflicting New England and Jamaican identities. “In a sense I am from New England,” Channer said, adding that since New England’s founding, the region has colonized a large portion of the world, particularly the Carribean. This colonization left a large impact on the island, as colonizers have a
longstanding “habit of making every place New England,” he added. Channer closed with advice that he had given to students in the Literary Arts program earlier in the day by saying that “the most important aesthetic is bum in chair — sit down and write and try to make something of it.” Jennifer Davis-Allison ’73 said that she was drawn to the Channer’s reading because, as a Jamaican, she was intrigued by the idea of being able to see a Jamaican poet at Brown. She said she felt particularly connected to Channer’s “blend of background in terms of Jamaica and (Providence). There’s this real power in hearing this author.”
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
U. reveals Bannister House after completed renovations Historically significant house now part of University’s Brown to Brown Home Ownership Program By SHAWN YOUNG STAFF WRITER
The University held an open house Wednesday at 93 Benevolent Street, known as the “Bannister House,” to celebrate its completed renovation. The house is the former residence of famous African-American painter Edward Mitchell Bannister, a nationally recognized painter and co-founder of the Providence Art Club who lived in the house from 1884 to 1899. At the open house, John Luipold, assistant vice president for real estate, summarized the house’s history and the University’s renovation efforts to attendees of the event. The Department of Facilities Management led the renovation, with construction beginning in July and ending in December. The renovation was the product of an advocacy effort by the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society, the Providence Preservation Society, community partners and Brown students, Luipold said. Luipold mentioned that one student in particular, Evan Sweren ’15, wrote
multiple columns and met with him to advocate for the renovation. The Bannister House, built in 1854, has changed hands multiple times over the course of its 150-year history. In the late 1930s, the building was bought and renovated by Euchlin Reeves and Louise Herreshoff, the great-granddaughter of John Brown, the brother of the University’s namesake, Nicholas Brown. The University acquired the building in 1989 and used it as a storage unit for refrigerators. In his column, Sweren pointed out the coincidence of the Bannister House’s history. “In short, the greatgranddaughter of John Brown, a slave trader, destroyed the home of Edward Bannister — a black teacher, painter (and) activist,” he wrote. The goal of the renovation was to restore the house to its condition when Bannister was living there, Luipold said. This involved removing a concrete storage unit attached to the house, peeling off the brick veneer wall on the house’s exterior, repainting the exterior and installing hardwood floors. The entire project cost about $520,000, Luipold told The Herald. Brent Runyon, executive director of the Providence Preservation Society, said he “appreciated Brown’s stewardship” throughout the Bannister House’s
COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY
Bannister House, the former residence of famous African-American painter and activist Edward Mitchell Bannister, was open for viewing in celebration of its recently completed renovations. The house was built in 1854. renovation. Though there was concern endangered properties list” due to the under the University’s control. that the renovations would remove any renovations. To celebrate the cultural and historitangible evidence of the Reeves’ occuThe house is now part of the Univer- cal significance of the Bannister House, pancy in the house, those losses would sity’s Brown to Brown Home Ownership a plaque was placed on the exterior of be “acceptable if the house was restored Program, which renovates vacant and the building, noting that the Bannisto the condition it was in when Bannis- under-utilized properties and sells them ter House is “closely associated with ter was there,” he added. Runyon also to staff or faculty members. The house prominent members of Providence’s mentioned that the Bannister House can only be sold back to the University, 19th-century African-American comwould be taken off the PPS’s “most ensuring that the properties remain munity.”
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Nordlund to head Master’s of Public Affairs program Former NYU senior administrator plans to grow, increase recognition of Watson Institute By UGOCHI IHENATU CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs welcomed Carrie Nordlund MA’01 PhD’06 as the new associate director of the Public Policy Program and senior administrator of the Master’s of Public Affairs Program earlier this month. Nordlund arrived at Brown fresh out of her position at New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. There, she oversaw faculty of the graduate and undergraduate programs in public policy. At Brown, in addition to the MPA program, she will assist in running the undergraduate public policy concentration, facing competition in winning over students also drawn to international relations, political science and history. The Brown MPA program is a newly designed one-year program in which students gain critical skills in analysis, global policy and work in the field. The program allows its students the opportunity to specialize in a specific policy area and gain hands-on experience in a 12-week consultancy, in which
they are assigned a specific project to tackle. Students are also required to make international education part of their studies through a two-week, immersive global policy program. As she takes the helm of the MPA program, Nordlund’s number one priority is to build a strong class for next year to ensure the program’s success and visibility on campus, she said. She also hopes to strengthen the undergraduate public policy program by distinguishing it from other concentrations such as political science and by increasing the number of undergraduate concentrators. Nordlund aims to build and maintain the momentum that the MPA program has already gathered as well. Last year, leaders at the Watson Institute reshaped the MPA program so that it could be completed in one year rather than two. Nordlund said that these changes should continue to inform the program’s future growth. Looking outward, she is challenged to distinguish Brown’s MPA degree from the numerous graduate programs that exist today. Because the Brown MPA program lasts only one year rather than two, Nordlund believes that it is positioned uniquely among other programs in the country. “Students will think, ‘I don’t really have two years. I for sure don’t have time for a PhD. Three years is really stretching it — but one year? I might
have one year,’” Nordlund said. She also believes that the Brown brand bolsters the strength of the MPA program. The name recognition associated with the University increases prospective students’ excitement surrounding the program. She also wants to publicize the program to undergraduate public policy concentrators on campus. Nordlund noted that the program’s small class size distinguishes it from those of other institutions. Other school’s public policy programs range from about 300 to 400 students. Brown’s MPA program constitutes no more than 60 students, which allows for each graduate to get a lot of attention from faculty members, she said. Faculty members will not only know the names and backgrounds of students, but will make sure that each graduate will be placed in a post-graduate career bestsuited to their studies. The Brown MPA is also the only program in the country that has a required international component. Students travel to one of the international sites that the program has set up outside of the United States to meet with policy makers, experts and entrepreneurs in the policy field. The global policy experience and the 12-week consultancy placement have been huge successes in the program, creating networking opportunities for graduates to secure future employment and allowing the graduates to explore
COURTESY OF WATSON INSTITUTE
As associate director, Carrie Nordlund MA’01 PhD’06 will oversee the Master’s of Public Affairs program at the Watson Institute. different sectors to see where they fit in best, Nordlund said. Nordlund will work closely with several of the Watson staff members, including Jim Morone, director of the Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy, and Edward Steinfeld, director of the Watson Institute, who both said they are thrilled that she will be joining their team. “She really knows public policy and is really committed to social justice and social change,” Morone said. Steinfeld noted Nordlund’s rich experience as a senior-level administrator at the NYU public policy program will inform her administrative effort in many aspects of the MPA program, such
as recruitment and curricular management issues. “She’s done it successfully before, and now … we (will) work with her to do it successfully again here at Brown,” Steinfeld said. Morone said he hopes that, through the MPA program, the University will come to be associated with a policy analysis program that is both rigorous and associated with global social change. He believes that Nordlund is the embodiment of this goal. “Carrie will be indispensable as (the MPA program) takes flight,” Morone said. “We’re counting on her to see how to take Brown to not just the next level, but the level after that.”
U. allocates resources to deal with winter weather Facilties Management confronts frozen pipes, parking difficulties, spends $330,000 on icy weather By RACHEL SACHS STAFF WRITER
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Last week’s low temperatures and snowfall brought new challenges to Facilities Management and University Transportation. While the University closed Feb. 8 and students did not attend class, staff members and administrators came in to clear the snow and maintain University operations despite the cold. Instead of ice or snow accumulation, the biggest issues posed by winter weather this year have been due to cold temperatures, which cause pipes and other devices to freeze, said Stephen Maiorisi, vice president for facilities management. When temperatures dropped below zero last week, air conditioners used to cool the servers in the data center of the Center for Information and Technology froze. Because of this malfunction, Facilities Management switched operations to the identical backup system in the Geology-Chemistry Research Building,
Maiorisi said. When the University closed Feb. 8 and all classes were cancelled, facilities workers arrived early to begin clearing parking lots and pedestrian paths for students, faculty members, staff members and visitors. Whether the University is open or not, students must travel between their residence halls, dining halls and health services, Maiorisi said. Maiorisi and his colleagues begin to prepare for winter storms as soon as they hear about them. The day before a storm arrives, staff members spread sand and ice-melt pellets, which are stockpiled around campus before the start of the season. Depending on when the weather is expected to hit, workers may be instructed to come in early. If the University is closed, only the staff members specifically needed are asked to work, and the rest stay home. Staffing decisions such as these affect the snow removal expenditures due to the cost of paying workers overtime. Even if the University is open, staff members working longer than their normal shifts are paid overtime, Maiorisi said. When the University is closed, those asked to come in earn
twice the pay normally received when working under normal conditions, according to the University’s Facilities Management collective bargaining agreement. The University’s shuttle services also continue to serve community members in inclement winter weather. When snow results in a parking ban, and the University is still open, the stadium parking lot and Lot 2 on Hope Street open to Brown community members, and shuttles drive community members from their cars to the Brown Office Building and back. On days when the University is closed, the daytime shuttle does not run, said Carleia Lighty, director of transportation and Brown card services. But depending on the progression of the weather throughout the day, transportation services tries to run the evening shuttle from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. Any other decisions to shut down are left to First Transit, the vendor that provides the University’s shuttle services. If First Transit determines that the roads are getting too bad for safe driving, they notify Lighty, who sends out a notice an hour before service shuts down to give students a chance to get the transportation they need, Lightly added.
Snow removal annual budget
Facilities management spends $330,000 of its roughly $65 million each year on snow removal. Most of those funds go to paying workers overtime for their grounds management work.
Wages Overtime
$80K
$100K
Supplies Contracted Services
$120K
$30K
Source: Stephen Maiorisi, vice president for facilities management KATE TALERICO / HERALD
“They try to stay out an additional half an hour to make sure people are not stranded or stuck at the shuttle stops,” she said. “We try really hard to not leave folks without transportation.” All costs associated with the shuttle services are part of the University’s contract costs with First Transit. If a shuttle is damaged in an accident due to icy roads or other factors, there is no cost to Brown, Lighty said. Despite the recent storm, Maiorisi
expects that facilities will not exceed its winter weather budget of $330,000 for the year “because it’s been a fairly normal winter, even on the mild side.” This is in contrast with the 2014-15 winter, when the University spent $670,000 on snow removal. Maiorisi noted that, though the total amount spent on snow removal varies from year to year, the University consistently spends around $7,000 per inch of snowfall.
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ARTS & CULTURE PAGE 7 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2016
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Band marches to its own irreverent, tradition-steeped beat Relaxed environment, troublemaking, oral tradition create unique culture for members By BAYLOR KNOBLOCH MULTIMEDIA FEATURES EDITOR
The Brown Band’s Tuesday night practice in Fulton Rehearsal Hall is lively with banter and laughter, both among musicians and with head student conductor Daniel Muller ’17 as he leads the group through various musical numbers. “We’re not like a high school marching band,” said Carol Medina ’18, sousaphone — the marching band version of the tuba — player and band general manager or “Mom.” “It’s structured chaos,” said Iuliu Balibanu ’18, percussionist and band business manager or “Money God.” The Brown Band isn’t a marching band but rather a “scatter” or “scramble” band, meaning its members run loosely between formations on the field rather than marching in unison. All of the Ivy bands are scatter bands except for Cornell’s. “We’re a little bit more low-key than your average marching band,” said Caleb Hersh ’17, trumpet player and band president. By not enforcing attendance in any formal way, the band ensures that “people are there because they want to be there and not because they feel like they have to,” he said. Meet the members Despite a lack of requirements for participation, a core group of about 50 members regularly attends rehearsals and games, said Greer Christensen-Gibbons ’18, flute player and band recording secretary. “Coming here was literally a 180-degree turn,” said Gaby Usabal ’19, who plays the mellophone — the marching band version of the French horn. Joining the band was a seamless transition from her high school group despite the disparate styles of the two, Usabal said. “It was almost like picking up with some old friends that you always had,” she said. “I’ve never felt more welcome anywhere else.” Coming from serving as the drum major — someone who conducts and leads the band — of her high school’s competitive marching band, Hayley Siegel ’17 watched her brother play in the Brown Band. She decided to follow in his footsteps, opting for a more relaxed band experience in college. “I was excited to have a place where I could continue playing but have it not be intense,” said Sidney Karesh ’16, trombone player and former band president. “It wasn’t just something that I was doing for the music,” Karesh said. “We’re not the Ohio State Marching Band … It’s a community.” The group also welcomes people who have never played an instrument before.
“If people want to join the band and don’t play any instruments, then they can learn,” Karesh said. “Usually they end up on cymbals.” “The president of the band two years ago started playing no instrument,” Hersh said. “She learned the cymbals and became the most dedicated member of the band.” “We have wider appeal than just the people who were in marching band in high school,” he said. “It really becomes a central friend group to a lot of people in our membership. There’s a lot of shared experience.” The band’s traditions Established in 1924, the band has a long history and many traditions. “There’s a saying that if the band does something twice, it becomes a tradition,” Hersh said. A large part of this culture is what the band calls “bus songs,” which they sing while traveling to away games. Passed down orally, these songs poke fun at other schools, herald certain landmarks along the drives, tell stories from the band’s past and even thank the bus driver. “We have songs for everything from when we go through tollbooths to when we’re pulling back into the street behind Fulton,” Hersh said. Percussion coach and band alum Karen Mellor ’82 recognizes many traits of the band from when she was a student member. “I think every generation is wild in its own way,” she said. “A lot of the traditions are the same,” she said, remembering the bus songs from her time in the band. “You can come back 30 years later and still recognize the songs and the traditions and still enjoy the camaraderie,” she said. Each year at Commencement, alums return to campus to play with the band and share memories. The band is working on compiling their stories in a blog to keep the group’s history alive. One alum shared the story of the origin of the iconic buttons, which the band members wear on their uniform blazers and hand out at games. “It’s a tradition that we’ve been doing since the late sixties,” Hersh said. “The alum who was on the board who originally proposed the idea (did so) because he had some family or friends who were a button manufacturer, and we were interested in having a new promotional tool,” he said. Now, a different button is printed for each football game of the season, typically poking fun at the opposing team. On the bus ride of the band’s winter trip this weekend, students will generate button ideas for next football season that they will vote on later in the spring. The band doesn’t get to see the final buttons — or know which designs won — until the week of each game. “We print a couple hundred for each game,” said Lim, whose role as corresponding secretary includes managing the button printing and distribution at
ELI WHITE / HERALD
With voluntary attendance policies, the Brown Band is comprised of dedicated and passionate musicians. Members pass down oral traditions and relish their rich and occasionally felonious history. games. “They go pretty fast,” she said, adding that she’s often running around passing them out to attendees at the homecoming game. “People will expect the buttons every single game.” In the role of band historian, saxophone player Ben Weedon ’16 has been engaged in digitizing the band’s scripts — the documents, written by band members, that are read over the P.A. system during football pregame and halftime shows, as well as at the ice shows at hockey games. “We run around screaming while a script reader over the P.A. system reads a script,” Weedon said. “The script is usually making fun of the other school or making really bad jokes,” he said. “But then the band stops running around screaming, forms some sort of glob-like shape on the field because we’re not very good at that, and then we’ll play a song. And then repeat.” “The raunchiness of the band was very evident in the seventies,” Weedon said, adding that the band even stole the Harvard bass drum. “Some members of the band dressed as an ABC news crew and convinced a freshman member of the Harvard band that they wanted to film their bass drum because they have a giant bass drum,” he said. “We got the freshman to help us load it into the back of a pickup truck, and then we just drove it away. We got caught and apparently maybe put in jail for a short amount of time. The people who stole it are referred to as the Foxboro Four.” Today, this story lives on in the lyrics of a bus song from that time period, Weedon said. “The direction of the irreverence in terms of what we’re making fun of has changed over time, but the quality of irreverence and disrespect for authority has definitely persisted,” Weedon said. “We just do weird things. We write really weird scripts.” The pregame script for the football
game at Harvard Sept. 26, 2015 reads, “We have to admit we’re a little intimidated to be here today, considering that Harvard’s football team has won its last 15 games. But with a winning streak that long, we feel like they must be compensating for … something. After all, while football prowess wins you fame in the streets, we all know that what really matters is fame in the sheets … of paper. Go for those diplomas, kids!” This provocative wordplay is typical of the band’s scripts. “When they’re at their best, they’re spreading their contagious fun and making people a little nervous in the process,” said Matthew McGarrell, director of bands and senior lecturer in music. “For a football game, they’ll run their script by us, and we’ll take a look at it, but we haven’t provided many changes in my time, if any,” said Mike Neely, marketing and promotions officer of the Department of Athletics and athletics liaison to the band. “There’s a lot of tradition behind what they do, and you don’t mess with tradition.” Controversial past Going through old scripts, current band members have had to come to terms with the band’s history. “We’re digitizing scripts from the sixties and the seventies, when the band was a different band,” Karesh said. “They were still the same spirit but less what would be considered tactful now, or even right or kind.” In the eighties, the band was banned from the United States Military Academy at West Point and the College of the Holy Cross for provocative scripts or cheers, Karesh said. The West Point incident resulted from a “decently sexist cheer,” Weedon said. “We would not have done what got us kicked out of West Point now.” The band is currently grappling with how to archive its scripts in a productive way. “We want to own up to what we’ve done but not continue to perpetuate that
stuff,” Weedon said. This year, the band is undergoing a thorough review process of its bus song lyrics, making sure they are socially conscious and sensitive to everyone, Karesh said. Though the bus songs and scripts differ in that the songs are only heard by the band members, the Brown Band is trying to reform both in order to become more inclusive. “Tradition is not an excuse for harm,” Hersh said. “It’s a constant reevaluation,” he said, adding that they are currently trying to eliminate many of the gender pronouns in the lyrics. “The songs, in a way, are the Brown culture preserved in amber,” McGarrell said. “They reflect, to a certain degree, the way things were and not the way things are now.” Supporting sports Perhaps inadvertently, Brown’s scriptwriting, Canadian-anthem-singing, button-wearing students are the biggest sports fans on campus. The Brown Band plays at football, basketball and hockey games. “We’re not one of those big schoolspirit schools where we have the giant tailgate on game day with 40,000 or 50,000 fans showing up to a football game,” Muller said. “There are a couple of people I see at every game aside from the parents, but otherwise it’s really just us who goes to every single game. I’ve been to every single home football game over the past three years.” “I definitely have a lot of respect for them because they’re our only fans,” said football player Jake Hall ’18. “We see the football players around, and when they learn we’re in the band, they actually thank us,” Muller said. “You don’t see a lot of students come to the football games, but the band is always there,” Mellor said. “In November, it’s 33 degrees, and it’s raining, and the band is there cheering the football team on.”
ARTS & CULTURE PAGE 8 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2016
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Cable Car Cinema to show selection of French films Local Providence theater celebrates week-long French festival with 15 film screenings By REBECCA ELLIS SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Starting today, Providence’s Francophiles and cinephiles can unite at the Cable Car Cinema, where the Providence French Festival will run through March 3. In honor of the country that is credited as the birthplace of cinema and brought viewers “Amelié” and “The Intouchables” among many other subtitled sensations, the theater will screen roughly three French films each weekday and six on the weekends. “Film has always been very, very important in French culture,” said festival director and former Visiting Associate Professor of French Studies Richard Blakely. To select this year’s films, the Modern Culture and Media and French departments reached out to Daniel Kamil, the owner of Cable Car. In one long on-going email chain, all parties pitched in potential titles. After brainstorming, Kamil, Blakely and a few other experts narrowed down the lengthy list of 50 films to just 15.
With curatorial skill, the film aficionados produced a finalized list, composed almost entirely of “regional premieres,” films touching down in Providence for the first time. Some haven’t even reached New York or Boston, Kamil said. One film hadn’t breached the U.S. border. “Le Petit Prince,” a movie not yet commercially available anywhere in the United States, will be on display on Saturday, Feb. 27, only at the Cable Car. Unfortunately, it has already sold out. But the festival offers 14 other highly acclaimed French films for those more drawn to dramas than the light-hearted animations of “Le Petit Prince.” Though the festival has been held for 20 years, Blakely says this year’s sheer “number of first-rate films” sets the production apart from past festivals. Of the eight films nominated for best film in the Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent of the Oscars, four are featured in Cable Car’s lineup. Of the seven films nominated for best director, four will be screened at the festival. And, as a testament to the curator’s sensibility, all nominations were released after the festival’s list was finalized.
MATTEO MOBILIO / HERALD
Cable Car Cinema will show 15 highly acclaimed French films as part of the week-long Providence French Film Festival. The films were selected by the MCM and French studies departments and the owner of the theater. Though the 15 films represent the cinematic cream of the crop, Blakely and Kamil each have films they’re especially excited for. Kamil is eagerly anticipating “Marguerite,” a piece centered on a wealthy Parisian woman who, fooled by her family into believing she has a voice meant for the stage, brings her questionable singing voice to an audience. Blakely finds himself most looking forward to “The Measure of a Man.”
After having seen the film on his trip to France, he was “absolutely astonished by how good it is and how good the acting is.” Once again, Blakely’s taste was endorsed by critics — this time, the Cannes Film Festival. The lead of the film, Vincent Lindon, was selected as best actor in Cannes in 2015. The festival could have been hosted at any theater or in any screening room on campus. The movies could even have been made available to
stream from the comfort of a dorm room. But, Blakely says, the festival needed the intimacy of a small community theater like the Cable Car. “I would always insist that my students see the films for (my) course together in a screening room, not just on their screens or, God forbid, on a smart phone,” he says. “Sitting there laughing together, getting upset — there’s a participatory aspect of cinema that I think is extremely important.”
TODAY
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2016 • PAGE 9
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
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SATELLITE DINING ANDREWS COMMONS
Pizzas: Nacho, Spicy Five Cheese, BBQ Bam Bam Make Your Own Pasta JOSIAH’S
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Turkey Chili, Fire Roasted Veggie Chicken Tikka Masala
DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH
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Black Rice with Roasted Tofu, Beef Stew, Red Potato Frittata, Banana Split Eclair
VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH
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Turkey and Wild Rice Soup, Stuffed Shells with Meatless Sauce, Cream Cheese Brownies
Vegan Cannellini Bean and Tomato Soup, Grilled Cilantro Chicken, Apple Streudel Pie
sudoku
MATTEO MOBILIO / HERALD
Bright lights on the Quiet Green illuminate the dusk to guide students home after a long day of classes. Milder weather contrasts with the stress of midterm season as mid-semester quickly approaches.
Q U O T E O F T H E D AY
“The band stops running around screaming, forms
RELEASE DATE– Thursday, February 25, 2016
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle c rNorris o s sandwJoyce o rNichols d Lewis Edited by Rich ACROSS 1 Beach tube letters 4 Tube in Paris 9 __ butter: cosmetic moisturizer 13 Roofing sealant 14 Gem weight unit 15 Home extension? 16 __ standstill 17 Intensive study program 19 Classic laundry soap 21 They’re drunk at socials 22 Fish in hamo, a Japanese delicacy 23 It’s the opposite of a flying one 26 Auto racer Busch 27 “Uh-huh” 28 Miscellany 30 Faux pas 33 Certain king’s pride 36 Nunavut people 39 Mighty clash 42 Simple type of question 43 “Good one!” 44 Dumped, perhaps 45 Sister brand of the Sensor razor 47 “You’ve found the right person” 49 D.C. bigwigs 51 2014 WNBA Finals runner-up 57 Wood-scratching tool 58 Pakistani bread 59 Loosen, as laces 60 Award to be announced February 28, previously won by the first words of 17-, 23-, 39and 51-Across 64 Cellular messenger 65 Take the helm 66 Trees yielding caffeine-rich nuts 67 Staples of many websites 68 Giveaway bag 69 One-for-one deals 70 Touch gently
34 Surveillance org. 50 Have because of DOWN 1 British Invasion 52 Accesses 35 Moral principle drummer illegally, in a way 37 Not close to 2 Hibachi spot 53 Hitched behind 100% 3 Mali money 54 Camera holder 38 Texas senator 4 Real people? 55 In a way, slangily Cruz 5 Maestro’s forte 56 Old Milwaukee40 Neither partner 6 Refrain bit making ingredient 41 Avatar of Vishnu 7 Many a reggae 58 “Morning Edition” 46 Faddish berry in musician airer smoothies 8 Additional 61 Links supporter 48 Hesitant okay 9 “Fifth Beatle” 62 Suffix with form 49 Old Milwaukee Sutcliffe 63 Criticize maker 10 “Sure, take it!” 11 Picasso ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: supporter 12 “Set Fire to the Rain” singer 15 Call for help 18 “The Censor” of Rome 20 Part of a winter suit 24 Penultimate contest, for its winner 25 Work with pupils 26 Bob Marley Museum city 29 The Blackbirds of the NCAA’s Northeast Conf. 30 Babe’s pen 31 Falsity 32 “Everything’s ready to go!” 02/25/16 xwordeditor@aol.com
some sort of glob-like shape on the field because we’re not very good at that, and then we’ll play a song.
”
— Ben Weedon ’16, Brown Band historian and saxophone player
See band on page 7. CORRECTION An article in Wednesday’s Herald (“Brown hosts diversity, inclusion workshops,” Feb. 24) stated that President Christina Paxson P’19 encountered daily prejudice as a female president of a university. In fact, she encountered daily prejudice when she was a female college student studying economics. The Herald regrets the error. An article in Wednesday’s Herald (“Judge rules Title IX lawsuit against Brown to proceed,” Feb. 24) stated that the University will review a Title IX lawsuit. In fact, the University will review the judge’s decision with regard to the lawsuit. The Herald regrets the error.
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China: America’s Foreign Policy Puzzle 7:00 P.M. BERT, Room 015
Dinner and a Murder at St. Anthony Hall 7:00 P.M. King House (St. Anthony Hall)
Providence French Film Festival — “Marguerite” 9:00 P.M. Cable Car Cinema
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West African Dance and the Politics of Diaspora 4:00 P.M. Ashamu Dance Studio
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Taxidermy, Art and the Animal Question 7:30 P.M. LIST Art Building
Providence French Film Festival — “Bébe Tigre” 6:30 P.M. Cable Car Cinema
COMMENTARY PAGE 10 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2016
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
EDITORIAL
The intersection of science and politics We applaud Professor of Biology Kenneth Miller ’70 P’02 for his continuous role as an advocate of public science. Miller attended the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual meeting Feb. 13 and spoke about his experience as first witness in the historic Kitzmiller v. Dover trial. Partially thanks to Miller’s testimony, the judge ruled that teaching intelligent design as an alternative to evolution is the same as teaching creationism, which violated the Establishment Clause and is therefore unconstitutional. As this case demonstrates, political activism and science, two fields that seem fairly unrelated, often intersect. In fact, Miller said in a press release earlier this month that “Effective public advocacy on the part of science is as necessary today, maybe more necessary, than it was in (the Kitzmiller v. Dover)trial.” Indeed, tension between the scientific community and the religious right leads to many conflicts, including debate over using embryonic stem cells and climate change. Advocacy on these issues is important, and Brown students passionate about people having access to comprehensive educations, medical advancements and clean resources should be involved. But for many students interested in politics and activism, scientific concepts such as these might seem intimidating. On the other side of the disciplinary spectrum, many students passionate about science may not have extensive political experience. Here we encounter one of the few pitfalls of the Open Curriculum. We have long lauded the freedom that Brown’s open curriculum presents in allowing students to consume ourselves in our studies, learning for the sake of learning and educating ourselves about our passions. But the ability to take only the courses required for our chosen concentrations and those that immediately interest us means that sometimes we are not exposed to important material we would not expect to find intriguing. We take this opportunity to remind students of all the possibilities beyond Brown to combine areas of interest that could seem at first glance unrelated. While it is not required to take a biology class in order to graduate with a political science degree, having a basic understanding of the subject might help future politicians understand policy concerning issues concerning the environment, curricula required in public schools and public health issues. While most students graduating with science and math degrees do not need to take any public policy or political science classes, understanding government can be helpful when dealing with policy that affects research funding and public school curricula. While we are lucky to have a curriculum that allows us the freedom to immerse ourselves in studying what we love, Brown students should make a point to take classes that fall outside of our comfort zones. Our four years here present a unique opportunity to educate ourselves in areas about which we may never have otherwise learned. For the future of public science advocacy, it will not be enough to have people who understand science and people who understand persuasion and how the law works. We will need more people like Kenneth Miller, who understands both. Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board: its editors, Emma Axelrod ’18 and Emma Jerzyk ’17, and its members, Eben Blake ’17 and Leeron Lempel ’19. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
R O L A N D H IG H
comic A Horse of Any Other Name | Zach Silberberg
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COMMENTARY THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2016 • PAGE 11
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Waterboarding is nonsense AVERY ROCK staff columnist The practice of waterboarding U.S. detainees has returned to public discourse as a talking point in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Several candidates, most notably Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL, and Donald Trump, have come out strongly in favor of removing the current ban on the practice, which was instated within days of President Barack Obama’s inauguration. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, while less enthusiastic than Rubio and Trump, also seems to be in favor of using waterboarding under select circumstances. There are three primary arguments used in favor of removing the ban: waterboarding promotes national security, is not severe enough to qualify as torture and is morally justified when used against people who are guilty of crimes against humanity. Upon inspection, these arguments are unsupported and in some ways actively self-contradictory. The primary argument in favor of waterboarding suspected terrorists is that doing so will allow the United States to gather military intelligence and protect American lives. There is no evidence that waterboarding actually does this. December 2014 saw the public release of an abbreviated version of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report on the Central Intelligence Agency’s Detention and Interrogation program from the Bush era. This program used a variety of coercive interrogation methods including waterboarding. The report — compiled after reviewing millions of pages of documents including interrogation
transcripts — found that there was not a single case where the so-called Enhanced Interrogation program produced unique, valuable information. Some detainees subjected to coercive techniques did reveal accurate information, but there was no case in which the program was the only source of this intelligence. If all of the information produced was redundant, the program was not necessary for national security. In fact, the program’s most notable output was inaccurate information, resulting from detainees telling interrogators what they wanted to hear. This led to misinformed military missions, the imprisonment of innocent people and other actions that wasted resources but supported the illusion that coercive interrogation was advancing the war
lent to that of organ failure. The phrase “generally recognized” here is misleading. Most of the world, including the United States, has ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture. This document classifies torture as any act by which a state official intentionally inflicts severe mental or physical suffering on a prisoner to obtain information. The requirement that pain be analogous to organ failure is a U.S.-exclusive interpretation of the term “severe” articulated in the Aug. 1, 2002 memo from Judge Jay Bybee to White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales. This memo states that “severe” in the context of pain means “difficult to endure,” then concludes somewhat bizarrely that to be difficult to endure, pain must give the impression that enduring it
the body tries to prevent system collapse. While not causing the type of physical damage people associate with torture, waterboarding actually does a better job of causing the type of pain associated with organ failure than, say, flaying a prisoner’s fingers would. No sensible appraisal of its impact on a prisoner can state that it is not a severe technique. The final argument I wish to address is that the use of waterboarding or other forms of torture is justified or even necessary when the prisoners in question are guilty of crimes against humanity. Trump has cited the fact that ISIS decapitates people as rationalization for bringing back waterboarding and permitting additional methods of torture. Essentially, he claims
We don’t need to fight a bad strategy with the same bad strategy.
on terror. In this case, the comprehensive failure of the CIA’s program was not in practice but in principle. People subjected to coercive interrogation will say anything to get even a brief respite. Any method that uses physical force to pressure people into divulging information will, by its nature, incentivize false information without necessarily improving national security. There is no reason to think that a revived waterboarding program would perform better, which is to say, accomplish anything. The next argument for waterboarding states that it is not truly torture. Earlier this month, Cruz explained that waterboarding is not torture per se, which by “generally recognized definition” must involve pain equiva-
without receiving medical treatment would result in permanent harm. The memo makes no attempt to claim that waterboarding deviates from the definition of torture in any other respect. Under the more sensible readings of the passage generally used outside the United States, waterboarding unambiguously qualifies as torture. But, even under Bybee’s memo’s absurdly limited definition of torture, waterboarding is not cleanly excluded. Waterboarding involves placing a cloth over the mouth and nose of a person and pouring water over it, effectively smothering them and convincing their brain that they are drowning. It mimics the sensation of imminent death by asphyxiation and causes extreme panic and involuntary physical reactions as
that we have to fight ruthlessness with ruthlessness or risk appearing weak. This is morally and strategically absurd. ISIS’s habit of cutting off heads and other similar practices is contributing to their current downward trend because, as one would expect, cruelty alienates a significant number of the local people they are trying to control and motivates international intervention (Trump himself is, in this very argument, using their own tactics against them). ISIS’s brutality is a short-term strategy that has significant downsides for its political goals. Bringing back or expanding the enhanced interrogation program would have a similar impact on the United States: increasing international hostility, lowering the United States’ moral standing and giving rally-
ing material to our enemies. We don’t need to fight a bad strategy with the same bad strategy. The only logically consistent reason to torture a detainee is the sadistic desire for revenge, which is tactically meaningless and morally deplorable. When viewed as a whole, these arguments are self-contradictory. The idea that waterboarding is fairly benign is not compatible with the idea that it could produce valuable intelligence. The theoretical upshot of treating a prisoner harshly is that he will betray his cause to make the abuse stop. A humane method of forcing your enemies to tell you how to defeat them makes absolutely no sense. Waterboarding is, as it turns out, neither humane nor effective, but could not even in principle be both. Still, the solution is not to simply graduate to harsher methods as Trump has suggested. More severe interrogation techniques would create the same problems of falsified information and international backlash without giving a better chance to produce valuable information or even pretending to obey international law. The renewed discussion of waterboarding is a shrewd attempt by presidential hopefuls who want to be perceived as tough on terrorism and differentiate themselves from Obama’s policies. But the previous coercive interrogation program did not achieve its goals despite violating internationally accepted standards for the treatment of prisoners. The program wasted resources, tiptoed around international law and permanently harmed the international image of the United States. Bringing back waterboarding would be a moral failure and a strategic mistake.
Avery Rock ’18 can be reached at avery_rock@brown.edu.
Monday night marriage GRACE JOHNSON staff columnist There must be something in an ice cream shop’s scent that draws out surprising stories from its customers. Working behind the counter of one such shop last summer delivered both the treat of sweet substances and nourishing narratives. One Monday night a young couple, radiating support and appreciation for each other, shared with me the most memorable story I heard all summer. Finishing each other’s sentences, they described dating in secret at their high school for the mentally ill and living in separate housing through almost a decade of marriage. Because of their forced separation and limited transportation, they only see each other on Monday nights, riding the bus and meeting somewhere like my ice cream shop. That couple’s marriage has a unique dedication in a culture in which nearly half of marriages are said to end in divorce. The devaluing of so-called stable and strong relationships can appear to be simply a generational issue, but we should ask why that generational gap exists. Recent history brims with opposition to patriarchal and heterosexual norms through the second-wave feminism movement and gay rights movement. Each has had tremendous success bringing all humans closer to fundamental rights and equality.
But somehow those movements, combined with our extremely partisan political climate, have brought us to our current moment of division between a progressive redefinition of relationships and traditional relationships. On one hand, there are stereotypes of free love and a hippie lifestyle, and on the other hand, the stereotypes of a nuclear, plastic family with a fetish for procreation. The two ideas are contradictory, yet they both have swaths of staunch supporters. The divide is more extreme than ever in this
connection that physical presence brings. Exposure to more mass media has large effects on relationships as well, ingraining certain expectations in peoples’ minds. Despite recent progress, social norms still emphasize a traditional view of relationships. Historically, that is nothing new. But the exposure we have to more people, the growing materialistic world and greater global pressures to conform are new. How are romantic relationships to achieve stability and mutual support if they are founded on a platform that focuses on the self and
Stability in a relationship is valuable not because it follows a traditional, heterosexual model but because stability is founded on honesty, which is founded in acceptance. political context. This election season in particular has seen the extreme left adopt the victory for gay marriage and the extreme right push the rhetoric of family values. Because millenials boast the greatest share of progressives of any generational group, politics and the generational difference in views toward marriage are deeply intertwined. The technological revolution also divides generations, and it shapes all aspects of our interpersonal communication and relationships. Relationships are almost easier now — in a way, technology diminishes their value. A relationship that was birthed from or revolves around screens loses the
promotes illusion? Stability in a relationship is valuable not because it follows a traditional, heterosexual model, but because stability is founded on honesty, which is founded in acceptance. In order to be honest, we must learn to accept others without reservation, regardless of gender and sexual identity. Women are still fighting for equality, and people of all sexualities are combating discrimination and injustice. As this fight continues, we are learning to accept equality, becoming more honest and in turn creating stability. That honest stability is ultimately needed to combat a high divorce rate, which re-
flects a focus on artificial family values that glosses over the deeper meaning of relationships. Over winter break, the couple came back when I was working a Monday shift at the ice cream shop. Maybe because of a change in season or because of personal matters, they were not in the same gushing mood as they had been in the summer. They did not remember me, so I took the opportunity to ask about how they met just to hear their story again. Despite their decreased energy, they willingly obliged, conversing in the same naturally affectionate way, each filling in what the other missed and discovering new bits that they had forgotten over the years. Those years together illustrate the enduring nature of trust and acceptance in a non-traditional relationship. Social and scientific advancements, essential in our cultural progression, have farreaching effects in perhaps unexpected ways. As we progress, marriage — one of our most integrated institutions — will progress with us. As we move away from restricting expectations for gender and sexuality, we move away from restricting expectations for relationships. And if the Monday night couple is a representation of a nonconforming relationship, there is strength, stability and hope in that nonconformity.
Grace Johnson ’19 can be reached at grace_johnson@brown.edu.