SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD VOLUME CLVIII, ISSUE 31
FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2023
ARTS & CULTURE
METRO
Students launch new ‘desi-gned’ magazine Design, art magazine celebrates South Asian culture, aims to topple barriers to knowledge
Proposed project combines I-195 parcels, Brown property Proposal includes initial residential building, future mixeduse developments
BY KATHY WANG & JULIA VAZ UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR & METRO EDITOR When Siddharth Thuppil, a student at the Rhode Island School of Design, introduced Yukti Agarwal ’24.5 to his “birth child,” Agarwal jumped at the opportunity immediately. Together, they created “desi-gned,” New England’s first publication for the South Asian diaspora. On Thursday, the publication celebrated its inaugural issue at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum’s Grand Gallery. Agarwal, who currently serves as desi-gned’s editor-in-chief — Thuppil, now graduated, is listed as the founding editor — said the magazine, which combines design, personal reflections and academic research, centers native terminology and seeks to solidify histories created by South Asians. “There aren’t a lot of knowledge archives of South Asian history,” Agarwal said. The word “desi,” according to the magazine, is the “ethnonym of the people, cultures
BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM
BY RHEA RASQUINHA METRO EDITOR
KAIOLENA TACAZON / HERALD
“desi-gned” is free for anyone who wants it in hopes of making the magazine’s knowledge widespread, Yukti Agarwal ’24.5 said. and products” of South Asia. The title of the publication, desi-igned, highlights South Asian representation while emphasizing the arts and design aspect of the magazine, according to Agarwal. Through desi-gned, Agarwal hopes to present South Asian experiences, which are diverse but united by the “relics of human triumph and human suffering,” without “fetishizing our own culture.” “We were thinking about … what does it mean for us — the South Asians — to live in New England and to study (at) Brown and RISD, which are two (institutions) that
were built on colonial exploits and on native lands,” she said. The project explores ways to “contextualize our existence here today in relation with these histories.” ‘Labor of love’: Research, writing, funding desi-gned is divided into four major sections: “material memories,” “spaces and places,” “transcontinental conversations” and “literary musings.” “Material memories” focuses on the relationships between objects and their
SEE DESI-GNED PAGE 5
A newly proposed mixed-use project in the I-195 Redevelopment District would combine two parcels with an adjacent property owned by the University, according to an April 12 University press release. The project — proposed by Boston developer CV Properties — includes an initial residential building and longterm plans for two other mixed-use developments on 195 Parcels 14 and 15 as well as the adjacent University property at 198-200 Dyer Street, according to the release. According to a letter of support from the University to the I-195 Commission, the University has endorsed the project, offering its property for the project contingent on the selec-
tion of CV Properties’ proposal“Brown already has significant investments, academic, research and administrative activity in this area of Providence,” the letter from Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey ’91 MA’06 reads. “Therefore, Brown is extremely interested in the outcome of the RFP and is aligned with the Commission in its commitment to furthering the positive development of this neighborhood.” According to the release, the proposed residential property — which would stand on Parcel 14 and the University property — would create 375 construction jobs and 30 permanent jobs. The master proposal could create at least 1,500 construction jobs and 1,600 high-skill permanent jobs. The project would also provide new space for commercial and laboratory use. CV Properties’ proposal states that the project team would include architecture firm SGA, engineering and design group VHB and Shawmut
SEE PARCELS PAGE 4
METRO
UNIVERSITY NEWS
Report finds low teacher retention, diversity at PPSD
Siblings at U. talk admissions experiences
High turnover among teachers part of national trend, state officials say BY STELLA CHEN SENIOR STAFF WRITER According to a March 15 report from Brown’s Annenberg Institute for School Reform, the Providence Public School District continues to face growing teacher attrition — a challenge since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report, part of the Annenberg Institute’s ongoing partnership with PPSD and the Rhode Island Department of Education, also detailed the district’s struggles to attract new applicants and increase diversity among educators. “It’s way more nuanced than I think we were expecting” when research began last fall, said Kate Donohue, senior project manager at the Annenberg Institute and an author of the report. Donohue added that it is difficult to distinguish which challenges covered by the report can be attributed to the
pandemic and which are due to the 2019 state takeover of the district. “In our brief, we report on the three-year (teacher) retention rates,” Donohue said. “It’s lower than the rest of the state, but when you look at other urban districts, there’s more and more data coming out … which are on par (with) or higher than PPSD.” But “that doesn’t mean it’s an issue that they shouldn’t care about,” she added. “Nothing in the Annenberg report was remarkable,” wrote Maribeth Calabro, president of the Providence Teachers Union, in an email to The Herald. “I think we would be remiss if we failed to discuss the impact (that) the teachers leaving (and) vacancies are having on teaching and learning.” According to Donohue, around 150 teachers left the district last year. “If we use an example of 150 classroom teachers leaving, and each teacher has 22 students,” Calabro wrote, “that means at some point, 3,300 students may be
SEE PPSD PAGE 8
Dean of admission discusses impact of siblings on admissions, applications from twins BY OWEN DAHLKAMP SENIOR STAFF WRITER When identical twins Kayla Mukai ’25 and Kelly Mukai ’25 applied to colleges, their processes were identical as well. They applied to the same list of schools — and were accepted, waitlisted and rejected by the same schools. “It was exactly the same,” Kelly Mukai added. When applying to Brown, students must indicate whether they have a sibling applying during the same admissions cycle. Students can also indicate that they have a sibling already enrolled at an institution of higher education — at Brown or elsewhere. “Every applicant is reviewed individually, holistically and contextually,” Logan Powell, associate provost for enrollment and dean of admission, said in an interview with The Herald. “We very often make separate decisions on twins in the applicant pool,” he added, explaining that the same is true for any number of siblings applying.
S&R
Podcast
Commentary
Brown EMS launches newsletter on CPR, first aid resources Page 4
The Bruno Brief: Brown’s reputation as the “Happy Ivy” Page 7
Sender ’25: Providence can benefit from the shift to remote work Page 7
ASHLEY CHOI / HERALD
Powell added that there “is no legacy consideration for sibling applicants,” but noted that knowing when an applicant’s sibling already attends Brown is “helpful — it’s interesting and we always take note of it.” “We try to balance the individual review that we do for every student with the impact on the family,” Powell said, acknowledging that potential family dynamics could arise due to differing decisions. “We pay very close attention to when those decisions are different … and we verify that those are the right outcomes.” But despite their identical list of schools they were interested in, the Mukai twins were not set on going to
TODAY
Page 2
54 / 86
school together. “It definitely wasn’t set that we were gonna go to the same college,” Kelly Mukai said. “We were very open to going to different schools.” Rebecca Ward-Diorio ’23 and Lily Ward-Diorio ’23 took an entirely different approach: Brown was the only school they applied to together. “We actually did not intend to go to the same school,” Rebecca Ward-Diorio said. “That was never the plan.” “We were really, really competitive in high school, so (applying to the same schools) was our biggest fear and probably why we didn’t apply to more together,” Lily Ward-Diorio added.
SEE SIBLINGS PAGE 5
TOMORROW
49 / 68
DESIGNED BY JANE ZHOU ’25 DESIGNER SIRINE BENALI ’23 DESIGN EDITOR NEIL MEHTA ’25 DESIGN CHIEF