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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2016
VOLUME CLI, ISSUE 28
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U. fires DPS officer for misconduct Alleged November assault of Latinx Dartmouth student prompted fourmonth investigation By KASTURI PANANJADY AND MADISON RIVLIN SENIOR STAFF WRITERS
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U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-MD, passionately voiced the sentiments of disenfranchised Americans and advocated for respect and integrity as the means by which to improve society in his speech “The Fierce Urgency of Now.”
Cummings calls for compassion Congressman speaks about integrity, respect as core values of representative society By ELI BINDER STAFF WRITER
U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-MD, delivered the Noah Krieger ’93 Memorial Lecture with a mixture of passion, anger and humor Tuesday night. The speech moved students and community
members alike, and as Cummings left the stage, the audience broke into the gospel song “This Little Light of Mine,” inspired by an anecdote Cummings told about the power of compassion. The speech, titled “The Fierce Urgency of Now,” centered around a set of questions that Cummings repeated frequently from the perspective of disenfranchised people across the country to those in power: “Do you hear me? Do you see me? Do you care about me?” He proposed compassion, integrity and respect as the values needed to create
a society in which everyone is represented. He concluded his speech by saying, “when we see and respect each other, there will be a greater nation. There will be a greater world.” Cummings wove together anecdotes from his life, especially his childhood, and his thoughts on contemporary politics. He was born in Baltimore in 1951, and his parents were former sharecroppers without education past third grade. He said that he was placed in a “special ed” program in a segregated Baltimore » See CUMMINGS, page 4
The Department of Public Safety officer accused of assaulting a visiting Dartmouth student participating in the Latinx Ivy League Conference in November has been fired, wrote Executive Vice President of Planning and Policy Russell Carey ’91 MA’06 in a community-wide email Tuesday. Carey provided a summary of the incident itself and the findings of the ensuing investigation conducted by DPS and supervised by Mark Porter, chief of police and director of DPS. Following an initial verbal dispute regarding the DPS officer’s intentions and conduct with regard to an intoxicated Brown student at a party at Machado House, the incident became physical when the visiting student disregarded the officer’s instructions to not re-enter the house, Carey wrote. Though handcuffed after the altercation, the visiting student was not arrested. The investigation concluded that the visiting student’s behavior was not disruptive, and he was not
inebriated to the point “where he was incapable of taking care of himself or in need of medical attention,” Carey wrote. The student did not decide to file a formal complaint or take legal action following the incident. Immediately following the incident, the officer was placed on administrative leave. He was then dismissed after a disciplinary hearing on the grounds that he did not “follow departmental policies and procedures relating to decisions to trespass the student.” While Carey maintained that putting the student under arrest was inappropriate, he wrote that “the amount of force that was used to place the student guest into custody was not inconsistent with departmental policy or procedure.” Carey signed off by reaffirming the University’s faith in the leadership of DPS, including Porter and Paul Shanley, deputy chief of police for DPS. This comes after the union including DPS officers, the Brown University Security Patrolpersons’ Association, took a vote of “no confidence” in Porter and Shanley, sending the results to several administrators, including Carey. Carey specifically wrote about the credibility and experience of Porter and Shanley, who have performed “at the high level of excellence demanded by the University and will continue to do so going forward.”
New hire to oversee CS diversity programs Alums’ reactions to advocates, campus activism divided Student Mosaic+, diversity plan Alums’ opinions diverge across generations, campus activism influences some donors By KATE TALERICO NEWS EDITOR
Student activism over the last two years has contributed to substantial changes on campus, including the recently released final draft of the University’s Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan, the renaming of Fall Weekend to Indigenous People’s Day and the University’s firing of a Department of Public Safety officer accused of assaulting a visiting Latinx student. Amidst this activism, alums have looked on at a University very different than the one they knew when they walked through the Van Wickle Gates.
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Reactions to student activism “(There’s) this build up over time of feeling like you’re not being heard,” said Alyse Ruiz ’09, president of the Latino Alumni Council. While working as a Minority Peer Counselor when she was a student, Ruiz facilitated many discussions regarding students’ lived experiences at Brown. But she did not see any organized student activism comparable to that of the last few semesters. The activism on campus seems to occur in cycles, said Sheryl BrissettChapman ’71, president-elect of the Inman Page Black Alumni Council. But this time around, the activism on campus reflects a national movement. When Brissett-Chapman participated in the 1968 Black Walkout — in which African-American students at Brown and Pembroke left » See ALUMS, page 3
among initiatives to promote inclusion By HATTIE XU STAFF WRITER
The computer science department has hired Laura Dobler, academic program coordinator at the School of Professional Studies, to coordinate initiatives focused on diversity and inclusion. Dobler will work with student advocates in the department’s diversity committee and will be a resource to the CS community on issues related to diversity. The role involves sending students to conferences, such as the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, and to local high schools to expose students to CS at Brown, Dobler said. Prior to her time at Brown, Dobler was the Learning Resources Center Manager at Strayer University and
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Laura Dobler has previously worked with underrepresented minorities in her role as the Learning Resources Center Manager at Strayer University. assisted students — many of whom Increasing diversity has been a were first-generation immigrants or focal point for the CS department minorities — with library and infor- because a diverse community brings mation literacy needs, she said. » See CS DIVERSITY, page 2
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Percentage of computer science graduates who are female The proportion of female computer science graduates has increased since 2010 from 8 percent to 24 percent but still hasn’t reached 50 percent.
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solutions to diverse issues, wrote Ugur Cetintemel, chair of the computer science department, in an email to The Herald. “We want intellectual diversity, which brings with it innovation, creativity and ideas that can address important societal problems,” he wrote. According to data collected last year in the 2015 Report of the Diversity Committee, only 24 percent of graduating CS students were female — a marked rise from 8.3 percent in 2010. But in 2014, only 11 percent of faculty members were female. Though every academic department was recently tasked by the University to create a diversity and inclusion plan, the CS department has been attempting to promote diversity for years, said Amy Greenwald, associate professor of computer science and chair of the department’s diversity committee. Every summer, CS students teach at the Artemis Project, a summer programming camp for rising high school freshman girls, Greenwald said. Over the course of the school year and during the annual Hour of Code event, CS students also visit Providence high schools to give coding lessons, she added. While in the past the department has focused its efforts outwards on the Providence community, it has recently begun to turn its focus inwards to create a more inclusive community within
the department, Greenwald said. The department is in the process of drafting a diversity and inclusion plan. The plan is currently under review by faculty members and will be opened up to the community for comments in a few weeks, Dobler said. “We have been focusing on structural changes to make (a) lasting impact,” Cetintemel wrote. “We have also significantly extended our training and communication efforts and established multiple diverse venues to facilitate continuous feedback and discussion.” The CS department has also hired seven student advocates who will serve as liaisons between students and faculty members and will review the diversity and inclusion plan, Greenwald said. Students first approached faculty after a parody of the “Nigerian prince” scam email that many students found racially insensitive was sent to CS students in November to recruit TAs, said Alex Karim ’17, one of the student advocates. They wanted to prevent a similar situation from happening again and — noting a lack of diverse leadership in the department — begin “a greater conversation about diversity,” Karim said. “Programmer culture is inherently masculine and classist,” said Gareth Chen ’17, a student advocate. “As someone who looks like they would fit into the department, I have a responsibility to make things better.”
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» CS DIVERSITY, from page 1
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Source: 2015 Report of the Diversity Computer Science Department Committee The committee of student advocates includes a representative from newly formed student group Mosaic+ and a representative from Women in Computer Science, Dobler said. Mosaic+ was created by a group of students who also wanted to address the lack of diversity in computer science, said Nifemi Madarikan ’17, co-coordinator of Mosaic+. While the group focuses on peer mentorship and support for underrepresented minorities, it is open to people of all
backgrounds, added Chelse-Amoy Steele ’18, another co-coordinator of the group. The 2014 “fall semester was really lonely,” Steele said. “Now, being black and being in this department makes me really proud. I’m challenged on a daily basis because of my identity, but that’s not … going to stop me from being happy here.” As the Mosaic+ representative on the student committee, Madarikan hopes that the department will reach
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out to find partners in academia and the industry through both Mosaic+ and as part of the diversity and inclusion plan. “Problems we face here with underrepresentation are problems people face elsewhere,” Madarikan said. “I would love to leverage possible resources outside the University, … and this may be with industry partners who are looking to invest in certain students and create opportunities for them.”
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» ALUMS, from page 1 campus to protest the University’s lack of concern for black students — activism on campus felt much more isolated from the national backdrop, she said. Dec. 3, students gathered in University Hall to confront President Christina Paxson P’19 regarding their demands to build a more inclusive space on campus. The methods of activism exhibited were “a little disheartening,” said Amber Oliver ’97. “A lot of people are very unhappy with the way Brown is moving,” said Louis Schepp ’71. He added that students have exercised “a lack of civility to people with contrary opinions” to their own. “Some of (the activists’) behaviors toward the provost and the president have discredited them,” said Derek Knop ’97. “There’s a real focus on feelings not being hurt that … may be specific to this cohort of students,” he added. “These college students, who are so easily offended, are not going to be able to survive in the real world,” Schepp said. While students may have felt that Paxson was not particularly accessible, “there has to be mutual respect on both sides,” Oliver said. But others feel that students’ strong emotion was an appropriate response to the way they have been treated by the University. “It comes out of this frustration of having these lived experiences,” Ruiz said. “Students might have reflected or have come to realize that the action they took during the fall got the University to listen, but was also a learning experience in terms of what methods of protest get the institution to act,” said Tho Phan ’11, presidentelect of the Asian/Asian-American Alumni Alliance, or A4. Students may have also gained critical knowledge about how different parts of the University’s management came together to respond to their demands. Oliver advocated for a method of “coalition building,” in which activists could choose several student representatives from within their ranks to meet closely with administrators. “If there had been something like that, it would have been just the learning experience you’d want to have,” Oliver said. While Oliver was on campus, she felt that activism tended to come from homogenous, small groups of minority students. She said that she was disappointed to see that this has not changed nearly 20 years after she graduated, adding that she was sad to see “how segregated the campus feels.” “Why isn’t the Brown community coming forward?” she said. While she was proud to see that minority students were speaking out, she expressed the need for the entire Brown community to come together in solidarity, expressing together their demands for the community. “The more people who come behind a movement, the better,” Oliver said. “If you want meaningful change
in this country, you need to have the majority come behind it.” But Jo’Nella Queen Ellerbe ’15 said that when she was a student, she felt the support of allies from different communities across the University. She cited last year’s die-in protesting the killings of young black men across the country as an event that was attended in equal numbers by both people of color and white students. “The people in the forefront should be people of color,” Ellerbe said, while still encouraging allies to be a part of the protest. But those students most affected by an issue should be those “speaking the loudest and having agency.” Students “have every right to the University. I think sometimes underrepresented students forget that,” said Justin Coles ’11, secretary of the IPC. “I’d like to see the day that we don’t need to protest because we’re all being treated equally,” said Tiffani Scott ’98, president of the IPC. Administrative changes Oliver said she is proud of the gains that student activists have made, but fears that the changes, such as the renaming of Fall Weekend to Indigenous People’s Day, may be more “tokenistic” than truly meaningful. Still, she is impressed that “a relatively small group was able to bring about some change.” “It’s a really nice indication of what’s possible at Brown and isn’t possible at some places,” she said. But Schepp worries about the image that student activists are giving Brown and their impact on the University. “Clearly the University overreacted,” Schepp said with regard to the DIAP. “There may be a disagreement on what improvement looks like,” Knop said. “At minimum, alumni would like to be sure Brown’s reputation is sustained, if not advanced. Ultimately, we have to live with our diplomas. We don’t want those to be undermined.” Schepp also said that he felt that Paxson too easily gave into the demands of students, particularly in the case of the alleged assault of a Latinx student by a DPS officer. Her response — to address student concerns during that meeting and subsequently reschedule and pay for the conference — “was totally inappropriate,” Schepp said. “She showed no backbone.” But Phan said those demands serve a greater purpose. “We should always work to build a better Brown,” he said. “And with building a better Brown, there are always going to be greater demands” from students. Cass Cliatt, vice president of communications, said alums “in general are happy that the University is looking into this issue,” with regard to the DIAP. The Alumni Association will continue to inform alums about issues of diversity and inclusion on campus and how the University is working to combat them through the DIAP. As representatives from Alumni Relations have hosted events across the country, they have witnessed the disparities in opinion by generation
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have and actively worked to bring education to all sides of the conversation. “It’s all about sharing experience,” Cliatt said. “We recognize there will be differences, … but they are no different than the population at large.” Alumni groups, such as A4 and the Latino Alumni Council, vocalized their own concerns with Paxson face-to-face. In meetings with her and through letters to the administration, they were able to advocate for initiatives that would make specific impacts within their communities. “Now it’s up to the University to have built-in updates about where they are” in their progress, Ruiz said. She hopes that Paxson’s response will set the standards for the future of activism on campus. Donations The wave of campus activism directly follows Paxson’s October 2015 announcement of her BrownTogether $3 billion capital campaign. Students at the call center who chose to remain anonymous cited multiple instances in which alums have chosen not to donate as a result of student activism in recent years. The Annual Fund has one of the most direct connections to alums at the University: Every year, the fund reaches out to 100,000 alums and parents, most broadly through the call center. Besides asking for money, students at the call center also have the opportunity to address any concerns voiced by alums. “On matters as complex as the ones that have generated headlines
in the Brown community recently, the opinions shared by (alums) are as varied as those found across the country in the broader national conversation,” wrote Tammie Ruda, executive director of annual giving for the Annual Fund, in an email to The Herald. Students working at the call center indicate why an alum chooses not to donate — for reasons ranging from insufficient funds to concern with the way Paxson is handling her job. Ruda declined to comment on any data that the Annual Fund has collected concerning alums’ reasons for refusing to donate. “In looking at overall results, the number of alumni who have given so far this year is very consistent with results from the same time last year,” Ruda wrote. When staffers call graduates from the last decade, they are more likely to gather sympathy for students’ activist efforts, said one call center staffer. Male graduates who graduated before 1971 — the year Brown became co-educational — often respond to calls with the catchphrase “Brown is really progressive now,” the staffer said. The connotation is generally negative. Another staff member pointed out that though older alums may be worried about the direction Brown is moving in and refusing to donate, these may be the same alums who are upset that Brown started accepting students of color or became coeducational. As fundraisers for the University, students working at the call center
must be aware of activity on campus, particularly student activism, the staffer said. Because the only time alumni may be contacted by the University each year is through the call center, students working there are an “outlet for all of their frustrations and concerns,” she added. “It’s all these changes they’re not a part of,” the staffer said. Knop said that recent events have been on his mind as he has considered donating to Brown. Other alums, whether they agree with the actions of students and administrators or not, indicated similar skepticism. Schepp, who was asked by the University to help fundraise, said he declined to support the University until he’s satisfied with Paxson’s management. “I can’t ask people to send money to Brown that is then going to be turned around,” he said. For now, Schepp will contribute donations to sports, where he feels more confident his money will be used in ways he approves. Ellerbe, who graduated last year, said conversations with fellow alums have indicated their appreciation for Brown, as well as skepticism concerning how their donations would be allocated. “I love Brown, but I’m not sure,” she said. “If and when I have that monetary privilege where I can make a big donation and want to, I definitely hope it goes toward somewhere I feel that it’s needed.” — With additional reporting by Shira Buchsbaum
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A country in ruins, an education disrupted by war Syrian scholar at Brown reflects on homeland, media perception after being forced to leave By KATE TALERICO NEWS EDITOR
This story is the third in a three-part series about Syrians in Providence and at Brown.
SYRIANS IN PROVIDENCE Tarek was pulling up to his apartment building when he heard the missiles. There was no siren — just the sound of mortar shells soaring into the ground in front of his building and the dull thuds that followed. Tarek — a scholar who came to Brown in February to resume his research and whose name has been changed to protect his anonymity — had just arrived home from the Syrian university at which he taught before his studies there were interrupted by the country’s civil war. It was 4 p.m., and Tarek was caught in crossfire. The neighborhood fell into a blackout for 15 minutes as rebel missiles rained down on Tarek and his neighbors. People lay in the streets, “blood everywhere,” he said. Tarek grabbed a man who had been struck by shrapnel and drove him to the hospital. This was not the first time Tarek had feared for his life on his own street. He has seen a seven-year-old neighbor girl get struck and killed by a piece of shrapnel outside of his apartment. He has watched as planes have flown over his street, and he has prayed that they belong to the government led by President Bashar alAssad, rather than rebels. The fighting in Syria has resulted in a mass migration out of the wartorn state. Since the conflict began, 6.5 million Syrians have been internally displaced, and over 3 million have fled to bordering countries, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Tarek left Syria at the point at which he felt that — due to the constant bombings and threats from both the Assad regime and rebel groups — he had the least control over his life. “I had my apartment, my car, my students,” he said. “I was able to change my environment before.” Now, his family in Damascus lives
» CUMMINGS, from page 1 school, where his school counselor told him that he would never be able to fulfill his dream of becoming a lawyer. But Cummings persevered, becoming a lawyer and then a congressman. He framed his success against all odds as an argument for the importance of helping those who are disenfranchised and having empathy in designing policy. In an emotional and powerful moment, he spoke about Freddie Gray — a black man killed in police custody in Baltimore — and last year’s protests in Cummings’ district. “I am Freddie Gray,” Cummings declared, highlighting the numerous similarities between himself and Gray to illustrate the potential that was destroyed by a corrupt system and the need for compassion in
without fuel or heat, receiving only an hour of electricity every eight hours and constantly remaining under the threat of rebel crossfire. The United States has offered several rebel groups humanitarian aid and military communications gear. In 2014, Obama asked Congress to fund a program that allowed American personnel to train rebels in marksmanship, navigation and other skills. Turkey partnered in this project, which aimed to train 15,000 rebels within the borders of Jordan who would then return to Syria to fight, according to the BBC. The plan ultimately failed. Tarek was not surprised. “When we say that we are going to give arms to the moderate opposition, I laugh,” he said. “We don’t have a ‘moderate opposition.’ That’s no longer true.” “Instead of sending arms, you should send those intellectuals who are living outside of Syria, in Europe, to try and create a basis of change in Syria,” Tarek said. Intellectual freedom in Syria The tensions in Syria had been building long before they erupted in civil war. Adnan Adrian Wood-Smith, the University’s associate chaplain for the Muslim community, spent 10 months in Damascus between June 2010 and April 2011 for a graduate program. As tensions slowly crescendoed underneath the surface, Wood-Smith tried to focus on his studies, but even those seemed to be under governmental influence. In one lecture he attended, a Muslim lecturer directly addressed an Egyptian scholar who was speaking out against Assad’s government. “Why doesn’t he come here and see that everything is good?” At the time, Wood-Smith was shocked by how heavily the scholar pushed the clearly pro-government propaganda. He left the lecture. But Wood-Smith’s opinion has since changed. Nearly two years later, the same scholar whose talk WoodSmith walked out on was killed by a suicide bomber who attended his lecture. His story travelled back to the American-Muslim community, where it became the subject of much discussion. Wood-Smith reflected on his traditional Islamic theology for an explanation as to why his professor had bowed public discourse. He repeated the question he asked the media when he spoke at Gray’s funeral: “You see him today. But did you see him when he lived?” Cummings repeatedly identified the lack of empathy between groups as a critical problem. “There are many in our society today who don’t see each other, and we live right next door to each other,” he said. Cummings spoke about a wide variety of contemporary issues, intertwining grave political and social issues with an off-the-cuff humor that caused the audience to erupt into laughter at times. He urged students to speak out against proposed laws that weaken voting rights and called economic inequality the issue that “underpins everything else.” He said that he felt passionate about reforming the criminal justice system
so easily to Assad’s propaganda. “We, as Muslims, stand up against injustice, but we don’t rebel against leaders,” Wood-Smith said. “Because every leader — no matter how unjust he or she is — is keeping something down. And once you open that up, then you’re opening it up for all corruption to come out, and all hell breaks loose.” Wood-Smith said that he was better able to appreciate that theory, given the aftermath caused by the Arab Spring and various countries’ revolts against their own leaders. As demonstrations escalated and Wood-Smith feared that the situation would reach its climax, he began to tell teachers that he would be leaving his graduate program early. “Our teachers would act like nothing had happened at all,” he said. When he told them he was leaving, they asked, “Why?” “You could tell that things were not going to go any better because people weren’t listening to each other,” Wood-Smith said.“You could no longer functionally operate in society because everyone was just like a robot,” Wood-Smith said. “It’s like a twisted nightmare. You know that, beneath the surface, people have legitimate concerns. But all you see is that people are happy.” But despite the corruption within the Assad regime, people found ways to reason around the Syrian government’s abuse of power. “People there for the most part felt that power is power at the end of the day, and there’s always going to be oppression from those in power — that we always have to stand up for injustice but not fool ourselves into thinking that we can have stability without a certain amount of oppression.” Americans, Wood-Smith said, tend to believe that the government can play a role in saving its citizens from oppression, but are slow to recognize the part power plays in that shift. The West considers democracy the best form of government for all countries, but more than any certain form of government, what Syrians want most is stability, he added.
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Adnan Adrian Wood-Smith spent 10 months living in Damascus but left his graduate program early as conflict heightened in the region.
Syrian stigma in Rhode Island Closer to his new home, Tarek pointed out the stigma that surrounds Syrian refugees in Rhode Island. Syrian immigrants have been subject to Islamophobia and xenophobia
for years, said Hasan Alsawaf, a dentist from Greenville, R.I. who immigrated to the United States when he was 21. Though Rhode Island welcomed its first family of Syrian refugees last week, debate has still ensued around whether or not the state should admit more refugees. Sen. Elaine Morgan, R-Charlestown, Exeter, Hopkinton, Richmond and West Greenwich, has spoken out against bringing refugees to Rhode Island. She stressed the importance of “keeping them in their own region and culture,” in an email to The Herald. “Shipping them to all parts of the world is not a service to them,” she wrote. Americans of Syrian ancestry already make up a notable portion of Rhode Island’s population. According to the U.S. Census American Community Survey 2009-2013, Rhode Island has the highest per-capita population of people with Syrian ancestry of any state. Within Rhode Island, 1,071 people listed that they are of Syrian descent with single ancestry. Including those of multiple ancestries, the Syrian population already living in the state
adds up to 2,325 people, according to U.S. Census data from 2010. Alsawaf said that he has personally felt the stigma of being Syrian while living in Rhode Island’s more rural and suburban regions. Despite that, he continues to run for the Rhode Island Senate seat in his district. “I want to raise up the Syrian name,” Alsawaf said. He ran as a Republican for District 22 of Rhode Island last year, personally funding much of his own campaign. He believes the reason for his loss is the stigma behind his Arab name. Alsawaf said that he knows many Syrian-Americans who have changed their names to blend in with the greater population. “I want my children to be proud of their name,” Alsawaf said. “They are embarrassed.” He said that his dental practice has received calls from patients looking to schedule a first appointment who cancel upon hearing his name. The same effect occurs for voters at the poll, he added. “I want to enable and empower Muslim-Americans in this nation — not just Syrians — to hold these same positions,” Alsawaf said.
because without his education or good upbringing, he would probably “be sitting in some jail cell.” Cummings also denounced Donald Trump, describing his brand of blaming others as divisive and dangerous. Political polarization is one of the biggest problems facing American society, Cummings said. He told The Herald that he believes it can only be fought by acting with integrity. In his speech, he said that integrity means that politicians need to be held accountable to their constituents, not their parties. The 2010 Supreme Court Citizens United decision that prohibited the government from limiting independent political expenditures from nonprofits is “probably one of the most damaging things to our democracy that we can imagine,” Cummings told The Herald, and he urged students to fight against
the decision. “I think that student activism is very important, but it has got to go beyond just showing up at a rally. It has got to go to voting,” he added. Cummings told The Herald that he finds it “very hard to be optimistic” about the state of the government, in large part due to the way campaigns are financed. He said he often wonders “whether people truly come to Washington to represent the interests of the average person on Main Street.” “Our society will only take but so much. In some kind of way, it will be shifted back to where it is supposed to be,” Cummings said. “I believe that. But it is going to take us making that happen.” Cummings said that he had two lessons for students in the audience. The first was about following their passions, as he implored students to “do whatever
it is that feeds your soul.” The second was that students should remember that there are always going to be difficulties in life. Audience member Praveen Srinivasan ’18 appreciated that Cummings provided a message that was against hate. Cummings knows “that ultimately right now the entire electoral system is very much rigged to disenfranchise the very people who need the most help from the government,” Srinivasan added. Marian Styles-McClintock, a Providence community activist, was excited to see Cummings after following him in the news for a long time. She said that the most memorable part of the speech for her was Cummings’ life story of overcoming so much adversity. “He is an example of what can happen” when children who are not expected to succeed persevere.
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menu
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SATELLITE DINING ANDREWS COMMONS
Pizza: Honey Boo Boo, Mushroom’s Revenge, Sausage and Spicy Garlic Po’ Boys/Rich Boys JOSIAH’S
BLUE ROOM
Gourmet Grilled Cheese
Beef Chili, Hearty Veggie Soup Naked Burritos
DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH
DINNER
Hunan Hot and Spicy Shrimp Stir Fry, Chinese Fried Rice, Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bars
Sweet Ginger Pork Stir Fry, Marsala Sweet Potato Saute with Chives, Orange Delight Cakes
VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH
DINNER
Tacos, Caribbean Jerk Chicken, Zucchini and Summer Squash, Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bars
Cilantro Chicken, Vegetarian Butternut Squash Risotto, Raspberry Mousse Torte
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Though usually bustling with activity, the J. Walter WIlson stairway stops to take a breath in the middle of the day.
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“In my experience, I think class is much more polarizing RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, March 9, 2016
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DOWN 38 Contentious 48 Canine care 1 Having five border gp.? sharps, happening 50 Tax time VIPs musically 39 Israeli guns 51 Thing to run 2 Scratch, say 40 “Maude,” “Phyllis” 54 For this purpose 3 At no cost and “Rhoda” 57 Pacific Rim 4 President before 41 “You’re on!” continent Sarkozy 42 Dir. assistance 58 Avis modifier 5 Digression leadinfo 59 Hip-hop’s __ in, in texts 44 Frozen floater Yang Twins 6 Table extension 45 “¿__ pasa?” 63 King of Spain 7 Cold War initials 46 Beale and 64 Non-Rx 8 Early anesthetic Bourbon: Abbr. 65 Neat ending? 9 Foul tip? 10 Med. school ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: subject 11 Newborn’s natural insulator 12 Botox target 13 Films that usually had live music 18 Scrubbed, at NASA 22 Word with bud or flap 23 Bikini part 24 Country mail svc. 25 Utility abbr. 29 Chihuahua cheers 30 Tear to pieces 32 ISP option 35 Service pro 37 Feathery neckwear 03/09/16 xwordeditor@aol.com
than race is at Brown.” — Nika Salazar ’16, chair of Sock and Buskin
See socioeconomic diversity in theater on page 8. CORRECTION An article in Tuesday’s Herald (“Hummus options added after SJP protest,” March 8) stated that Peter Makhlouf ’16 said the Dinning Services movement is “the single strategy for Palestinian rights from our perspective as students.” In fact, Makhlouf was talking about the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement. The Herald regrets the error.
Letters, please! letters@browndailyherald.com calendar TODAY
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COFFEE WITH A COP 8:00 A.M. Main Green
WELLNESS AT BROWN!: RESTORATIVE YOGA 12:00 P.M. 200 Dyer Street, Room 101
LE SALON: FRENCH CONVERSATION TABLE 4:00 P.M. Faunce, Room 225
NOVELIST BEN MARCUS TO READ 4:30 P.M. McCormack Family Theater
TOMORROW SATELLITE CAREERCON: FASHION 6:00 P.M. CareerLAB Library
ONE DROP OF LOVE 7:00 P.M. Churchill House
AMP VOICE MASTER CLASS 4:30 P.M. Orwig Music Building, Room 315
REFUGEES: EUROPEAN IDENTITY IN CRISIS? 8:00 P.M. Lung Gallery
COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2016
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Spotlight on the Statehouse: March 9 BY LAUREN ARATANI, NEWS EDITOR
SEC charges RICC with fraud The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a complaint against the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation and underwriter Wells Fargo Securities, accusing them of willfully misleading investors when they offered bonds for video game company 38 Studios, the Providence Journal reported Monday. “We allege that the (RICC) and Wells Fargo knew that 38 Studios needed an additional $25 million to fund the project, yet failed to pass that material information along to bond investors, who were denied a complete financial picture,” Andrew Ceresney, director of SEC, told the Journal. The state loaned $75 million to the video game company, owned by former Red Sox star pitcher Curt Schilling, in 2010 to produce a massively multiplayer online role playing game. The company declared bankruptcy in 2012, leaving many taxpayers wondering where the state’s loan went.
Bill could increase judiciary diversity The Rhode Island House Judiciary Committee is now considering a bill to require the Judicial Nominating Commission to be representative of the state’s racial and gender proportions and to list a lawyer of color every time the commission sends the names of potential judges to the governor, the Journal reported. “It’s come to the point where we do not need to study it. We do not need to talk about it much more, but rather we need to act,” said Rep. Anastasia William, D-Providence, while addressing the House Judiciary Committee. The process currently favors those whose fathers were or are judges, and often results in the “bogus” disqualification of lawyers of color, Williams said.
L IO R A M O R HAY I M / H E R A L D
comic P-Branes and Bosons | Ricky Oliver
myRA in RI A new program titled “myRA” will create a simple savings program for Rhode Islanders who don’t have experience with saving, WPRI reported. “It’s a way for people at all income levels to begin building wealth and preparing themselves for retirement,” said U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI. myRA is a Roth IRA, a special retirement account that will invest money in a U.S. Treasury savings bond, which has no risk of losing money. Standard paychecks, checking or savings account funds and federal tax refunds can all be deposited into the account. Richard Ludlow, executive director of the myRA told WPRI that people have already began contributing to their savings for the first time. Once an account reaches $15,000, it will automatically roll over to a Roth IRA plan from a private financial institution.
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COMMENTARY WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2016 • PAGE 7
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Why Brown needs a gynecologist CHARLOTTE TISCH op-ed contributor Like many people, I am not particularly fond of pelvic examinations. Even when performed with the utmost care, sensitivity and expertise, this essential examination can be a source of both anxiety and discomfort. I recently visited Health Services to deal with a nonurgent “female” issue. I was prompted to ask my doctor about her credentials when her suggested course of treatment included applying a known vaginal irritant. It turns out my doctor at Health Services was a family medicine doctor, not a gynecologist like I had requested on the phone. When I asked where the gynecologist was, the doctor informed me that Health Services does not have a gynecologist on staff and offered me an off-campus referral. I left my appointment feeling flustered. My first qualm was with Health Services’ website, which offers gynecological examinations without mentioning that there is no board-certified gynecologist on staff. This lack of transparency astounded me. How
could this happen at a school that prides itself on its commitment to its female students’ well-being? I checked online and called oth-
do not, though the latter three have a “women’s specialist.” From what I could gather from its website, Brown Health Services offers no such thing.
while, there are over 3,500 Brown students with vaginas who cannot get proper gynecological care on campus. It is ridiculous that we do not have at
EMMA JERZYK / HERALD
er universities’ equivalents to Health Services to see how they meet female students’ gynecological needs. Within the Ivy League, Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Penn have gynecologists on their health services’ staff. Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell and Princeton
Hiring a gynecologist would not be the first example of Brown having a specialized medical staff member. In fact, the athletics department has an entire medical staff with two team physicians and nine athletic trainers to treat 900 student athletes. Mean-
the very least a part-time expert to meet our specific medical needs. I understand that different bodies have different yet equally important medical needs. I understand that as a cis-woman, I can only speak to a cisfemale perspective. Some may argue
that the prioritization of hiring a gynecologist is sexist. The important difference for me is time sensitivity. It is recommended that men be screened annually for prostate cancer starting at age 50. This affects very few students during their time at Brown. It is recommended that women be screened annually for cervical cancer starting at age 21. Being diligent and consistent with this practice is essential. Most female undergraduates will turn 21 during their time at Brown, and almost all female graduate students are over the age of 21. I do not hate Health Services. In fact, I am confident that my doctor that day was an excellent family medicine provider. But at the risk of sounding like a feminist picture book, the vagina is a special organ that requires special attention. If Brown is truly concerned about the health and well-being of its female students, the University should make gynecological care — provided by a board-certified gynecologist — physically and financially accessible.
Charlotte Tisch ’17 can be reached at charlotte_tisch@brown.edu.
Success: not a numbers game SAMANTHA SAVELLO staff columnist If you ask Brown students why they like their school, chances are the S/NC option and related academic freedom will be within the top five reasons. In fact, it’s this lack of emphasis on grades — and the complete nonexistence of GPA — that draws so many of us to Brown in the first place. Lower academic pressure means we can focus more on a broader definition of learning and understanding rather than just cramming for the sake of a letter grade. But at the same time, many of us would be kidding ourselves if we said we didn’t want the A in a tough class or that we didn’t care about missing the grade cutoff by one point. As much as we try to deny or downplay it, grades do matter to a majority of students. And who can blame us? We live in a society that is highly focused on quantifiable measures of achievement and self-worth. In a world where high grades, a high-paying job and an array of material items equate to success, it’s difficult not to let your self-esteem ride on how well you do in your classes or whether or not you get accepted to a highly selective internship.
We strive for certain benchmarks that signal success. In search of acknowledgment and selfconfidence, we shoot for the A’s, we aim for positions that one out of 100 of people get, and — ironically enough — we place value on an “S with distinction.” That’s not to say that this mindset is a bad thing. In fact, in many cases, being goal oriented can reap various benefits in classes, oc-
their values. Such means of self-discovery stay with students for life, leading to long-term advantages as opposed to the short-term benefits of an A on a test. Nonetheless, acts of personal enrichment are often put on the back burner in order to make room for more measurable endeavors like studying or resume building, which yield more quantifiable results. Brown, with its academic flexibility, does a
Brown is known for its academic freedom, which gives us the unique opportunity to engage in unquantifiable activities that contribute to a well-rounded education.
cupations and even relationships. But it is important to keep in mind that unquantifiable achievements and actions can be just as meaningful — if not more so — to your personal growth as quantifiable ones. For example, engaging in meaningful discussions with professors during office hours or connecting with the Providence community can be vital in helping students uncover their interests and develop
relatively good job at encouraging and promoting unquantifiable experiences and reminding students that grades are not everything. Each day, Morning Mail advertises a multitude of keynote speakers, cultural events and discussions. Some of these activities even take place off campus, perhaps indirectly prodding us to engage more with the Providence community. We even have workshops entitled “How to Talk
to Professors During Office Hours” in case we need the extra push. Just because we are heavily encouraged doesn’t mean we are actually doing it. Think about how many times you’ve missed on-campus events because you “had to study” or you skipped out on office hours because you “had too much work to do.” I’m not saying we should all forgo our academic responsibilities for the sake of reveling in more experiential forms of learning. (That would certainly be a bad idea; you would flunk out.) But it’s important to be more mindful of the tremendous opportunities presented to us through academic leniency. After all, at the end of the day, what will you remember more: the hour-long conversation you had with a professor about your shared love for the same author or the string of facts that you spent three hours squeezing onto a tiny index card for your midterm? Brown is known for its academic freedom, which gives us the unique opportunity to engage in unquantifiable activities that contribute to a wellrounded education. We would be doing ourselves a disservice if we failed to take advantage of it.
Samantha Savello ’18 can be reached at samantha_savello@brown.edu.
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NEWS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2016
Financial stress strains student involvement in theater Low-income students navigate fitting classes, work shifts, rehearsals into schedule By KASTURI PANANJADY SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Last week, the Production Workshop held Performance Craft Week, a series of tech- and design-based crash courses facilitated by Brown students about lighting, directing, sound design, set building, costume design and dramaturgy. “We have noticed that the same people tend to design over and over again for our shows,” said PW board member Luke Denton ’18. In spreading theatrical knowledge, the workshops aimed to address a skill set disparity resulting from socioeconomic divides that limit some students’ prior exposure to the world of theater. “Conversations around diversity often get centered just around race,” said Nika Salazar ’16, chair of Sock and Buskin. “In my experience, I think class is much more polarizing than race is at Brown.” This polarization is particularly visible in theater because of the discipline’s “long and incredibly complicated history of being a privileged, upper-class institution in the United States,” Denton said. The financially precarious nature of the profession self-selects performers and artists who can afford the risk, he added. “That issue goes far beyond Brown.” “People seem to think that they need to have a certain cultural background in order to appreciate theater,” said Patricia Ybarra, associate professor of theater arts and performance studies. “My experience is quite the opposite.” At the department’s Feb. 4 discussion on diversity and inclusion, TAPS Associate Professor Kym Moore said “As theater-makers, we need to break apart the notion of theater as being ‘theat-ah’ and make it just about going to see a show.” (Class)room Ybarra sees similar insecurities play out on a daily basis in the
classroom, she said. Her course, TAPS 1670: “Latino/a Theater and Performance,” attracts both students wellversed in theater and students with backgrounds in ethnic or American studies. Each group of students often believes that the other group is better qualified to appreciate the primary texts, Ybarra said. This sometimes leaves students questioning whether they should have taken the course, she added. “Of course, they should all be taking the course,” Ybarra said. “People know more than they think they know.” Salazar described her first few TAPS classes at Brown as a struggle to “catch up” with her peers, many of whom had benefited from summer theater courses and strong theater programs in their high schools. “I came to Brown having absolutely no formal training outside of a couple of theater productions I had done in high school,” Salazar said, adding that her feelings of inferiority nearly put her off theater entirely. Three years later, along with being the chair of Sock and Buskin’s board, Salazar is now set to graduate in May with a double concentration in TAPS and psychology. She is also the author and director of “The Red Paint,” this year’s Senior Slot show, a funded opportunity for seniors to showcase their directorial skills. Salazar felt “incredibly lucky” to have been able to declare a theater concentration. Since Salazar is paying her own way through college, she may have “had it easier than some students” in that her family always recognized that it was her decision to make, she said. Despite finding her family supportive in the long run, Salazar struggled with breaking the news to them. When she told her father about concentrating in theater, he initially responded to her decision by saying, “You could have done anything.” “Theater is what I want to do with my life, but there’s a lot of guilt around
majoring in an art,” Salazar said. Students from lower socio-economic backgrounds often feel as if they are sacrificing their family’s best chance at upward social mobility by choosing to leave Brown with uncertain financial prospects. Work, study and theater Nicole Martinez ’18 began working for BuDS within the first week of her first semester at Brown. Brown’s financial aid “wasn’t great,” Martinez said, and she wanted to reduce the financial pressure on her parents by paying for books and personal expenses. Her high school theater program was “just awful,” so she never thought she would want to act in college, she said. A production of “Othello” put on by Shakespeare on the Green convinced Martinez to participate in SOTG’s Scenes Fest, a collection of individually performed scenes from Shakespeare. While working on a larger show the next semester, a castmate encouraged her to apply to the SOTG board. A demanding course load last semester forced Martinez to choose between quitting her job and quitting theater. Martinez chose to quit her job. Faced with a similar trade-off between academics, work and theater, Salazar managed both theater and work one semester by scaling back to three courses. Salazar spent hours she could have been doing homework working her job, she said. As a result of often prioritizing theater and work over classes, she is currently taking four concentration requirements in her final semester as an undergrad. In Denton’s case, the balancing act was trickier because of other extracurricular commitments. His first year, Denton’s involvement with theater was shaped by his job as a caterer and cashier for BuDS. His work schedule conflicted with the standard evening rehearsal times, and — as a freshman with limited work experience — he said he could not find other jobs immediately. “I felt like I couldn’t audition for shows because
I’d be missing rehearsals,” he said. He chose to work on tech and design for shows instead of performing, which mostly allowed him the flexibility to work around his work-study commitments. But designing posed its own financial difficulties. Designers for the Production Workshop are expected to procure supplies using their own funds and wait for reimbursements from the University at a later date. “I couldn’t afford to spend $60 on supplies even though the loss was temporary,” Denton said. Last semester, Denton decided to direct his first show, “Comfort and Despair,” with SOTG. His theater commitments became so demanding that Denton not only quit his job, but also his volunteer work as a sex education tutor with Sexual Health Advocacy through Peer Education in order to keep up with his academics. Denton, who aims to enter academia after graduation, said that giving up teaching was a particularly hard decision to make. “Because theater and work are so inflexible, it comes down to both of them in the end,” Denton said, explaining that managing theater and work-study came at the cost of other extracurricular activities. “In my case, I had to go a step further and choose between theater and work because I wanted to be more involved in campus theater than I had been.” Because he earned money over the summer, Denton could stop working for a semester. Denton now works with John Street Studios on set design, a job that allows him to set more flexible hours and stay involved in theater at the same time. “I chose my job keeping theater in mind,” Denton said. Martinez said she applied for desk jobs this semester, but has yet to hear back from any employers. In the meantime, Martinez has tightened up her finances. For example, she has moved to the cheapest meal plan in an effort to save money. “Sometimes I’ll think, ‘is it worth buying this coffee today?’ I’m trying not to be frivolous.” Working for BuDS also requires students to be on their feet for hours and interact with diners constantly, Martinez said, adding that it can be physically and mentally exhausting. Working often left her feeling “drained” when she went to rehearsals after finishing her shifts. “Going to work was literally a struggle every day,” she said. Salazar hopes that students working on large productions, like the ongoing “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” will eventually receive course credit for their work. “Who works 24 hours a week for a class?” Salazar asked, underscoring the amount of time students invest in shows. “It is important
to be told that your efforts are valued,” she said. A concern with such a model is that it may present an unrealistic picture of working in the “real world,” where theater may be less forgiving of financial hardship, Salazar said. But “university theater does not have to follow the model of the professional theater industry,” Salazar said, quoting an earlier conversation she had with Ybarra. “In fact, it should be a model for the professional theater industry.” One of the ways in which the University has sought to make professional theater more accessible is by introducing a debt-free Masters in Fine Arts into the operational plan, Ybarra said. “We’re still working on the logistics of making it happen,” she added. The program was originally designed to “pay for itself,” meaning that all the costs affiliated with the program were covered by tuition. Moving to a debt-free model is an “astounding” step for TAPS faculty members and the administration to take, Ybarra said. “We would have been laughed at five years ago if I had suggested that.” But the only long-term solution to the problem of economic discrimination in theater for undergrads is to reconsider the traditional 7 p.m.-to-11 p.m. rehearsal model, Salazar said. “I am aware that the kind of dedication it takes to work evenings really restricts the amount of time students can also work for profit during the year,” Ybarra said. “At the same time, there’s no way to take the number of hours away,” she said, adding that she was open to considering how to organize those hours differently. Besides work, another challenge to the current late-night rehearsal model is that students are taking more classes in the evenings, Ybarra said. Students working on shows increasingly report conflicts with night movie screenings for their film classes, she added. When Salazar was working on Production Workshop’s “Nudity in the Upspace,” the cast and crew developed a schedule that made sure that no one had to skip work. “I have to pay rent. I’m on meal plan,” Salazar said, explaining that she couldn’t afford the sustained loss in income that dropping shifts demanded. For Salazar, this is the first time in her theater career at Brown that people are starting to recognize how demanding it is to enter theater as a student with financial difficulties and stay involved in it despite work-study commitments. “It’s important not to lose this momentum,” Salazar said. “I hope people will continue having these conversations to make sure Brown lives up to the standards it has set for itself.”