SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD VOLUME CLXI, ISSUE 10
BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM
FRIDAY, APRIL 3
Spring Weekend 2026 lineup announced
KENDRA EASTEP / HERALD
The BCA announced the 2026 lineup at midnight on Friday BY ANN GRAY GOLPIRA AND TALIA LEVINE ARTS & CULTURE EDITORS Thee Sacred Souls, Magdalena Bay, BunnaB, Isabella Lovestory and Undertow
Brass Band will perform at Spring Weekend 2026, the Brown Concert Agency announced at midnight on Friday during the BCA’s annual Spring Weekend lineup release party. This year’s one-day concert will take place on Saturday, April 25. Benjamin Daniel ’29, who attended the lineup release party, told The Herald that he is “most excited about Magdalena Bay,” adding that he has “been following
her for years.” “She’s extremely talented, I think she’s gonna just really blow us out of the water,” Daniel said. This year’s lineup is almost a year in the making, the three co-presidents of BCA — Cole Francis ’26, Peri Ferguson ’26 and Thomas Seidel ’26 — told The Herald. Planning for Spring Weekend 2026 began as soon as last year’s concert came to an end, Seidel said. After Spring Weekend
2025, the BCA offered the student body the opportunity to contribute feedback. Seidel told The Herald that some of the only concerns were that the concert felt like it was “dragging on for students.” “Some people were sort of tired by the end of four acts,” Seidel said. “We have to meet the campus where they’re at.” Spring Weekend, which previously took place over two days, was converted to a one-day festival after the BCA’s
budget was reduced by over $250,000 in 2023. In a BCA poll sent to students in fall 2024, 52.8% of the 1,348 respondents voted in favor of a one-day festival with more prominent performers as opposed to a two-day festival. Offset, JT, Ravyn Lenae and Zack Fox headlined the concert alongside the Undertow Brass Band last year.
SEE SPRING WEEKEND PAGE 12
ADMISSIONS
UNION
Brown admits 5.35% of applicants to class of 2030
Graduate fellows seek to unionize in unprecedented move
Brown’s regular decision acceptance rate decreased slightly to 3.94%
The action follows a state law protecting graduate workers’ right to unionize
BY ROMA SHAH AND ALI SCHAPIRO UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR AND SENIOR STAFF WRITER The University admitted 1,674 applicants to the class of 2030 on Thursday evening, bringing the overall acceptance rate to 5.35%. A total of 47,937 prospective students applied to join the incoming first-year class — 42,531 during regular decision and 5,406 during early decision. With 3.94% of regular decision applicants admitted to Brown’s incoming class, the University saw a slight decrease from last year’s 4% regular decision acceptance rate. In December, the University admitted 16.5% of early decision applicants — a slight dip from the class of 2029, but the sec-
Science & Research
ond-highest rate in the last five years. Explore all the available data on The Herald's interactive dashboard. Early decision notifications were postponed two days following the Dec. 13 mass shooting. Admitted students told The Herald that the tragedy did not change their feelings about attending Brown. “This group of admitted students represents a breathtaking spectrum of experiences and backgrounds, and yet they are united by a commitment to carving their own academic path and making a meaningful impact within the Brown community and the world beyond,” Associate Provost for Enrollment and Dean of Undergraduate Admission Logan Powell said in a University press release. Powell added that the admitted students “have demonstrated a tremendous spirit of collaboration
SEE ADMISSIONS PAGE 3
SEE PAGE 15
BY JAMES LIBRESCO AND EMILY FEIL SENIOR STAFF WRITER AND METRO AND UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR In a historic move, graduate fellows at Brown are seeking recognition as part of the Graduate Labor Organization, the union representing graduate student employees. On Monday morning, leaders from RIFT-AFT Local 6516, GLO’s parent group, sent a message to University officials announcing the graduate fellows’ intent to unionize, according to communications obtained by The Herald. The move appears to be the first of its kind at a private U.S. institution of higher education, some-
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thing union organizers argue is made possible by a novel Rhode Island law passed in August that explicitly codifies the right of graduate student employees — including fellows not working as teaching or research assistants — to unionize. Graduate fellows are students who receive stipend funding unrelated to whether or not they officially work as research or teaching assistants. The University’s current contract with GLO includes only graduate student employees recognized by the National Labor Relations Board, many of whom are teaching or research assistants. Fellows are not currently recognized at the federal level, according to Patrick Crowley, the president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO branch, which advocated for the bill’s passage. “This is exactly why we did it: to make sure that workers who don’t have the right to organize federally can or-
SEE UNION PAGE 2
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