Issuu

SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD VOLUME CLVIII, ISSUE 37

Friday, April 28, 2023

UNIVERSITY NEWS

A look inside the new performing arts center Lindemann Performing Arts Center features multi-configurational performance hall

COURTESY OF WARREN JAGGER

The slanted design of the viewing area allows for a different viewing experience not found in Sayles or Alumnae Hall. thing,” according to DelSesto. Granoff lacks an ideal performance space for a full orchestra, for example. “We always knew that at some point we were going to need to expand again,” DelSesto said. ‘Five buildings in one’: A transforming Main Hall The Lindemann, which has one main level and three underground floors, is meant to address the need for more rehearsal and performance spaces on campus. It contains one major per-

Physicians discuss challenges to medication abortions

BY OWEN DAHLKAMP SENIOR STAFF WRITER “Confusion and fear.” That’s what Mindy Sobota ’95, primary care physician and associate professor of medicine, said is the goal of recent court rulings on the abortion pill mifepristone. Since the Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone for retail distribution in January, anti-abortion groups across the country have launched lawsuits to challenge the decision. On April 7, a federal judge in Texas ruled to overturn the pill’s 23-year-long approval for in-clinic distribution by the FDA, citing safety concerns. That same day, a federal judge in Washington ordered that mifepristone remain widely available in the 17 Democratic-led states that challenged the Texas ruling in a lawsuit. Five days later,

Examining Brown’s payments to Providence in lieu of taxes

BY RHEA RASQUINHA METRO EDITOR

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

R.I. health care professionals remain committed to providing medication abortions

METRO

Negotiations underway on new agreements for payments

BY RYA VALLABHANENI ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Many members of the Brown community pass through the walkway between the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts and the Lindemann Performing Arts Center every day. While Granoff is a familiar space to many — frequently used for classes, performances, art installations and more — the Lindemann rarely appears as anything more than a mystery box. But after nearly four years of construction, that is finally going to change: The Lindemann Performing Arts Center is nearly complete. Lindemann was born out of a need for a “state-of-the-art, acoustically excellent performance space” on campus, according to Chira DelSesto, director of programs and operations at Brown Arts Institute. While the Granoff Center partially fills this need, “it doesn’t do every-

BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

the Fifth Circuit court of appeals upheld the FDA’s original approval of the pill in 2000 but invalidated the drug’s approval for retail distribution in chain pharmacies such as Walgreens and CVS. On April 21, the Supreme Court ruled that mifepristone will remain widely available while the case returns to the 5th Circuit for appeal. With conflicting rulings, many physicians in Rhode Island — including Sobota — have found delivering patient care difficult. “I found the Texas ruling shocking as a physician, because never before has an FDA-approved medication had this sort of ruling,” Sobota said. “It’s really shaking my trust in the basic balance of power that underlies our country and its governance.” When Sobota was a teenager in the 1980s, a family planning clinic near her house was bombed by anti-abortion groups, she said. In the 1990s, a colleague of hers was murdered for providing abortion care. Sobota said that now, “the tactics have really changed toward what

SEE MIFEPRISTONE PAGE 2

formance hall, several practice rooms and rehearsal spaces that may also be utilized for performances. The building’s main level consists largely of a lobby — soon to be decorated with the works of well-known American artist Leo Villareal — and the Main Hall, the only space in the building designated solely for performances. The hall is transformable and can take on five different configurations due to its retractable seats, moving stage

SEE LINDEMANN PAGE 4

The University’s tax-exempt status for its institutional properties dates back to its 1764 charter. In the last two decades, the University has signed two agreements to make voluntary monetary contributions to the city of Providence in lieu of property taxes. In June 2003, Providence established a memorandum of understanding with four nonprofit institutions of higher education — Brown, Johnson and Wales University, Providence College and the Rhode Island School of Design — defining a schedule of annual voluntary payments to the city in lieu of property taxes. Brown’s an-

nual voluntary payments through this agreement gradually increased from slightly above $1 million in fiscal year 2004 to slightly over $1.4 million in fiscal year 2023. The 2003 MOU also included a series of augmented voluntary payments for properties taken off the tax rolls shortly before 2003, along with a schedule for transition payments for properties purchased by the colleges that would be removed from the commercial tax roll. A few months before the 2003 MOU was signed, former Governor Donald Carcieri ’65 unveiled a budget that, if it passed, would have allowed Providence to require nonprofit institutions to either pay property taxes or make voluntary cash payments in lieu of property taxes. The budget would have also increased Rhode Island’s payments in lieu of taxes, in which the state reimburses Providence for a fraction of the property tax value of

SEE PILOT PAGE 3

METRO

Abortion coverage bill passes R.I. House Bill ensuring equal abortion procedure coverage will now move to state Senate BY YAEL SARIG SENIOR STAFF WRITER The Rhode Island House of Representatives voted to pass the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act Thursday, which would ensure coverage of abortion procedures for individuals on state employee health plans and on Medicaid. A total of 49 representatives voted in favor of the bill’s passage, with 24 voting against. The House passage follows three years of the EACA — which was first introduced in 2020 — failing to make it to the governor’s desk to be signed into law. The bill will now move on to the Rhode Island Senate. Majority Whip Katherine S. Kazarian (D-East Providence), who introduced the bill in the State House this year, said that “this bill will ensure that all women, no matter what insurance plan they’re on, will receive healthcare coverage.” “It’s about ensuring that women don’t have to make medical decisions based on what their coverage allows,”

Arts & Culture

U. News

Commentary

‘Jury Duty’ abandons modern shows’ crass comedy Page 3

Mala Htun talks gender equality, women’s rights law in lecture Page 5

Editors’ Note: Reflecting on a semester leading The Herald Page 9

RHEA RASQUINHA / HERALD

she said, adding that the bill is “not about re-debating the question of choice.” “This is about equity, this is about coverage,” Kazarian said. Representative Robert E. Craven Sr. (D-North Kingstown), who supported the bill, said he sees the EACA as the next step in protecting the right to an abortion. “I stood on this floor in 2019 and we codified Roe v. Wade,” Craven said, referencing the 2019 Reproductive Privacy Act, which wrote Roe v. Wade’s protections of abortion rights into Rhode Island state law. “This is the accompanying bill. We created a right

TODAY

Page 10

41 / 63

that a woman had to get an abortion (in 2019) … (but) you can’t exercise the right until you can afford to pay for it.” Opposition arguments to the bill dominated much of the hearing. Many of the legislators who opposed the bill cited the burden it could place on taxpayers. Some representatives also voiced objections to the bill on what they considered to be moral grounds. Others argued that contraceptive access should be expanded or made free instead. Representative Charlene M. Lima (D-Cranston) said the state must not

SEE EACA PAGE 2

TOMORROW

46 / 51