SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD VOLUME CLX, ISSUE 4
BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM
Friday, February 14, 2025
Brown among universities suing NIH over ‘flagrantly unlawful’ federal funding cut BEN KANG / HERALD
The lawsuit comes after the NIH announced Friday that it was making cuts to federal funding for research projects, limiting “indirect costs” to 15%.
Brown is joined by other universities and higher education groups
Brown filed a lawsuit Monday against the National Institutes of Health in an attempt to stop a cut to their federal research funding, arguing that it violates
federal separation of powers and strips research institutions of congressionally appropriated funding. The suit is led by the Association of American Universities, the American Council on Education and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, encompassing dozens of higher education institutions. Brown, along with 12 other universities, also signed on to the suit. “This action is ill-conceived and self-defeating for both America’s patients and their
families as well as the nation as a whole,” the ACE, AAU and APLU wrote in a Feb. 10 statement. The lawsuit comes after the NIH announced Friday that it was making cuts to federal funding for research projects, limiting “indirect costs” to 15%. These indirect costs include fees that are not directly related to the research, such as facility fees, electricity and other administrative costs. The plaintiffs called this action “an affront to the separation of powers” and
“flagrantly unlawful” in the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts. A federal judge temporarily halted the funding cut in 22 states, including Rhode Island, on Monday in a separate lawsuit filed by a coalition of state attorneys general. This action follows a series of orders from the White House potentially affecting the University at various levels, including research funding, international students, immigration and diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The cut to research funding “would force many of Brown’s current research projects and clinical trials in medicine and health to cease abruptly,” President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 and Provost Francis Doyle wrote in a statement sent to the Brown community Monday evening. The action could jeopardize Brown research focused on issues such as cancer, dementia and mental health disorders. It
UNIVERSITY NEWS
METRO
SPORTS
ARTS & CULTURE
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
Corporation approves 4.85% increase in undergraduate tuition and fees
First RI temporary pallet shelter opens doors, following months-long delays
Brown Sports Network looks to help students break into the sports industry
Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show stuns with powerful commentary
Less than 1% of clinical drug trials enroll pregnant women
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SEE ECHO PAGE 5
SEE BSN PAGE 6
SEE LAMAR PAGE 12
SEE TRIALS PAGE 14
BY CATE LATIMER UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR
METRO
Ceremony employees seek unionization 16 workers across the cafe’s two locations filed to unionize on Monday BY MAYA KELLY AND ETHAN SCHENKER METRO EDITOR AND UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR Employees at Ceremony’s two locations are seeking unionization. 16 baristas, prep cooks and tea and coffee specialists at the local cafe enterprise are seeking higher base wages, paid sick leave and improved working conditions, employees and organizers told The Herald. The teahouse’s employees petitioned on Monday for an election to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, according to public filings. The employees delivered
a formal notice to Ceremony leadership that same day, asking for union recognition. “We are committed to fostering an open and supportive workplace, and if unionizing is ultimately the direction our team wants to take, we will respect and support that decision,” Michelle Cheng, owner of Ceremony, wrote in an email to The Herald. Ceremony employees approached Local 328, a local branch of the larger UFCW union, because they decided that “the only way” to implement changes they wanted to see at Ceremony was “coming together and forming a union,” said Jaime Parejo, a union organizer for the Local 328 chapter. An employee first contacted Local 328 in early January, Parejo added. Since receiving notice of the unionization plans, Cheng wrote that her priority is ensur-
ARTS & CULTURE CULTURE
SEE NIH PAGE 3
UNIVERSITY NEWS
Mapping love on campus Students, professors, staff reflect on Brown’s chapter in their love story BY MAXWELL ZHANG AND HADLEY CARR SENIOR STAFF WRITER AND UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR
SEE CEREMONY PAGE 3
It was the fall of 1978, and the Pat Metheny Group was playing an Oktoberfest concert at Swarthmore College. Ari Gabinet P’19 P’MD’20, a senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs and pre-law advisor for the University, remembers the day fondly. “Sunlight filtered through the trees, and red and gold leaves were floating down to the stage,” Gabinet wrote in an email to The Herald. “The music was magical, and President Paxson was so beautiful, it was impossible not to fall in love with her.”
SEE LAMAR PAGE 12
post- Magazine
The love story of President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 and Gabinet began that fall at Swarthmore in the first month of Paxson’s first year. Paxson joined Gabinet in the dining hall, where he was sitting alone. Soon after, he asked her to dinner at the Front Porch, a restaurant near campus. She then asked him on a second date, this time at a sandwich shop, and finally, their “courtship was really cemented at the Oktoberfest concert,” Gabinet wrote. After Swarthmore, Paxson and Gabinet got married. On their wedding day, Gabinet recalled getting into an argument with a police officer regarding some shaving cream on their car. “Feeling very liberal in my use of profanity,” Gabinet wrote, he was arrested and Paxson had to bail him out. Paxson and Gabinet have two sons together, and Gabinet said “the early part of our marriage was consumed with two things: professional ambition
SEE LOVE PAGE 16
SEE POST- PAGE 8