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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD VOLUME CLXI, ISSUE 18

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23

Nearly a year after Dec. 13 shooting, Brown shifts security posture Fewer external security guards and city officers patrol campus BY JAMES LIBRESCO SENIOR STAFF WRITER Almost a year after the Dec. 13 mass shooting led Brown to heighten its security posture, University officials have scaled back Brown’s use of external security guards, and the Providence Police Department has decreased its campus presence. The development comes as administrators focus initiatives on providing support to campus, and as the Trump administration reviews Brown’s security practices. Following the December shooting, University officials deployed additional guards from two companies — Allied Universal and USENTRA Security Services — to campus spaces including dining halls, the Main Green and Page-Robinson Hall. “Our priority was providing maximum visible presence to support community reassurance,” Brown Police Chief Hugh Clements said in an interview with The Herald. “It served a specific purpose during that critical time.” But now, rather than roaming, the Allied Universal and USENTRA Security Services security guards will remain at specific posts. PPD officers will also remain stationed in targeted locations, but with a smaller presence, Clements wrote in a message to The Herald. Clements declined to comment on the breakdown of staffing numbers, citing security concerns. “This recent shift was a planned data-driven transition from that acute

Analyzing crime at Brown over the years Over 1,500 crimes have been reported to Brown police officials since 2019

Content warning: This article contains mentions of sexual assault. For over 20 years, federal regulations have mandated that American universities maintain detailed logs of reported campus crime. These regulations are a part of the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act, which also includes requirements for the release of annual security reports and issuing of timely warnings. The Herald analyzed University records dating back to 2019, the earliest publicly available data, to understand the trends and evolution of crime at Brown.

The records contain all crimes and alleged crimes reported to campus security offices, such as the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Management, according to S. Daniel Carter, an expert on campus safety legislation. “The intention was always that the campus crime log was intended for student journalists as the primary audience,” said Carter, who helped develop the implementing procedures for the crime log, in an interview with The Herald. “So the purpose was to give campus communities a sense of what was being reported to the campus police department that had previously not existed.” Between January 2019 and October 2026, DPS officials received over 1,500 crime reports, including 698 reports of larceny, 268 reports of vandalism and 86 reports of rape, according to the crime logs. “While the University has enhanced its processes over the years, fundamentally, the goal has remained consistent — to ensure that the University shares infor-

mation about crimes occurring on or near campus with the campus community,” University spokesperson Brian Clark said in a statement to The Herald. In 2019, 18 rapes were reported to have occurred, tied with 2023 for the most occurrences in a single year, according to the crime logs. That number dropped dramatically as students left campus during the COVID-19 pandemic years. After a second peak in 2023, reports of rape have declined. Four rapes were reported to have occurred in 2024, three in 2025 and two so far in 2026. Clark said that there are “many factors that may explain changes in year-to-year incident rates in some crime statistics categories,” citing lower reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic and discrepancies between when an incident occurred and when it was reported. National discourse surrounding sexual assault on college campuses has heightened following recent allegations that a

METRO

SPORTS

COMMENTARY

Providence School Board approves PPSD school consolidation project

Brown women’s Hansen ’30: Brown A deep dive into soccer outpaced is ranked the low- Brown’s relation2-1 by Dartmouth est Ivy on US News ship with Indige-

SEE EDUCATION PAGE 6

SEE SOCCER PAGE 7

BY MICHELLE BI, EMILY FEIL, JAMES LIBRESCO AND CALEB ELLENBERG METRO AND UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITORS, SENIOR STAFF WRITER AND DATA DESK CHIEF

SEE CRIME PAGE 2

UNIVERSITY NEWS

FACULTY

Federal court denies assistant professor Rasha Alawieh’s appeal challenging deportation Alawieh’s case was first dismissed by a district judge in November 2025 BY SAMAH HAMID UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR On Tuesday, a federal appeals court upheld a district judge’s dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the decision to deport Rasha Alawieh, an assistant professor of medicine. Alawieh was deported to Lebanon in March 2025, despite having a valid H-1B visa and a court order requiring 48 hours’ notice before her removal. She had just returned from a trip to Lebanon and had admitted that she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah while there. Hezbollah has been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the federal government. During questioning with a Customs and Border

Patrol officer at Boston Logan International Airport, where Alawieh was stopped upon arrival, she said she attended the funeral out of support from a religious perspective rather than a political one. She admitted to knowing the group was designated a terrorist organization and stated that she has no political or military affiliation with them. The original suit, which was filed in May 2025 by Alawieh’s attorneys, disputed the authority of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol for their role in Alawieh's removal and expedited deportation process. Alawieh’s cousin filed the habeas corpus petition one day after she was prevented from entering the country, which was later amended by Alawieh’s attorneys from Muslim Advocates and

SEE FACULTY PAGE 3

done, security is not static. It must be dynamic and responsive to evolving and current assessments,” he added. Providence chief public information officer Kristy dosReis confirmed in an email to The Herald that the city’s police force has taken on a smaller presence on Brown’s campus. “PPD continues to patrol the area and remains available to assist Brown when requested,” dosReis wrote. “Our approach is rooted in partnership, and we will continue to work with Brown.” In the days immediately after the shooting, Clements was appointed interim police chief and vice president for public safety and emergency management. He replaced Rodney Chatman, who had drawn immense scrutiny from his own officers for allegedly contributing to a toxic work environment. Chatman departed from the University in April as part of a settlement agreement, The Herald previously reported. Deputy Police Chief John Vinson, who was alleged to have perpetrated the toxic environment, left Brown in the same month, according to documents obtained by The Herald. In December 2025, DPS faced 15 offi-

SEE SECURITY PAGE 3 ARTS & CULTURE

— thank goodness! nous communities SEE HANSEN PAGE 10

emergency surge staffing to a sustainable long-term posture,” Clements said, describing the changes as “right-sizing” the University’s deployment of contracted guards. “We try to rely on our Brown DPS to interact and engage with our campus community,” he said. “They are best served to deal with the campus community.” “And I know from all the work I’ve

SEE LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT PAGE 13

Does Nathan Fielder believe Elizabeth Holmes? Would you? SEE REVIEW PAGE 14

GOVERNMENT

Foulkes, Block, Guckian face off in final gubernatorial debate before Nov. 3 general election

Candidates deliberated the state’s pressing issues, like housing and healthcare BY ANNIKA MELWANI SENIOR STAFF WRITER On Tuesday, the three major candidates vying to become Rhode Island’s next governor — Democrat Helena Foulkes, independent Ken Block and Republican Aaron Guckian — participated in their final televised debate before the upcoming general election on Nov. 3. WPRI-12 News hosted the debate at Rhode Island College. Moderators Target 12 Chief Investigative Reporter Tim White and 12 News Politics Editor Ted Nesi posed a series of questions to the candidates, spanning topics such as housing, Flock cameras, healthcare and the minimum wage.

Early on, Nesi reminded the candidates that “the median price of a single-family home” in Rhode Island “is now over half a million dollars.” The state is currently experiencing widespread housing affordability challenges, which have been a flashpoint in this year’s elections. Referencing Foulkes’s widely-advertised plan to build 20,000 housing units by 2034, the moderators asked about the other two candidates’ construction targets. Block argued that before setting specific housing targets, the government should ask the question: “What do developers really need to deliver the units that we have to deliver?” The independent candidate is interested in setting the record straight on “what land can be built on” and “what the permitting and regulatory process is going to be” before projects are initiated. But

SEE GOVERNMENT PAGE 4

PAGE 2

Friday, October 23, 2026

UNIVERSITY NEWS CRIME FROM PAGE 1 Cornell student was raped by seven men at a fraternity house in 2024. Cornell officials disclosed that incident to the community in a campus-wide email. According to Carter, the Clery Act mandates that universities issue so-called timely warnings when a crime “presents an ongoing threat to students and employees.” Universities may also struggle in “determining what reflects an ongoing threat when you have a sexual assault when the parties know each other,” he added. Administrators have the final discretion to decide whether to issue a notification to the community, Carter said. Clark noted that Brown has issued timely warnings in the past for crimes in-

volving sexual assault “depending on the specific circumstances.” “Many factors — such as time between an incident and when it is reported, and in particular whether the University determines that there is a serious or ongoing threat to other community members — play a part in those decisions,” Clark wrote in a statement. Larceny has been a commonly reported crime since 2019, according to the crime logs. Excluding pandemic years 2020 and 2021, the number of larcenies reported remained largely consistent over the years — ranging from 88 in 2024 to 115 in 2019. But in 2025, there were 23 more reports

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of larceny than in the previous year, an increase of around 27%. Stolen items have ranged from scooters and wallets to a gumball machine and a hand-carved bear. Since 2022, the most-reported stolen items were bicycles, at 136, and the second-most were scooters, at 92. Backpacks and wallets were tied for the third-most-reported stolen items, at a distant 15. Larcenies, as with all other reported crimes, are recorded in the crime logs. Annual security reports — which include details of future initiatives to improve campus safety — only include reported statistics mandated by the Clery Act. For example, the report must

include statistics on specific crimes — such as hazing, aggravated assault and arson. The Clery Act was designed to offer some different information from the crime logs and timely warnings, according to Paul Hinkle, the assistant director of programs at the Clery Center, a nonprofit dedicated to crime reporting. These different forms of reporting “are meant to be complementary,” Hinkle said. “That really creates a comprehensive approach to that safety environment.” The Nelson Fitness Center, Keeney Quadrangle and the Sharpe Refectory saw the most reports of larceny since 2019, according to the crime logs.

Forty larcenies were reported at the Nelson, 28 were reported at Keeney and 27 were reported at the Ratty, excluding attempted larcenies and incidents reclassified as lost property. Two places not often frequented by undergraduates — the Department of Facilities Management, located near the Nelson at 295 Lloyd Ave., and the Medical Education building, located in the Jewelry District at 222 Richmond St. — also ranked in the top 10 locations with the most reported larcenies.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 22, 2026.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

PAGE 3

UNIVERSITY NEWS SECURITY FROM PAGE 1 cer vacancies, a figure that decreased to 12 in March, The Herald previously reported. Clements said it has remained roughly the same since then. “We’ve lost some and added some, but it takes — rightfully so — a long time to onboard a police officer,” he said. Placing external guards in specific buildings instead of on walking patrol was strategic, Clements said. “As we move forward, we get a better public safety product when we have directed patrols.” When asked about reports of external guards using cell phones while on duty, Clements said that it “played into our de-

cision making.” “I just want to reassure the campus community that our commitment in keeping the campus safe hasn’t changed, but how we deliver it continuously is always evolving,” he added. “It’s not measured by the shared numbers of security standing on the corner, but by the quality, the readiness and the integration.” Representatives for Allied Universal and USENTRA did not immediately reply to The Herald’s requests for comment.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 19, 2026.

FACULTY FROM PAGE 1

Alawieh worked at Rhode Island Hospital. Marzouk Law. The suit claimed that Alawieh’s expedited removal violated the Constitution, asking the court to declare the revocation of Alawieh’s H-1B visa as a procedural violation and ordering due process before an immigration judge. U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin dismissed the case in fall 2025. According to the brief written by Senior Judge Sandra Lynch, the court does not have “jurisdiction to review (Alawieh’s) claims” because “the Immigration and Naturalization Act has barred judicial review of such

AARON SETO / HERALD

orders, and Alawieh does not fit within the statutory exception.” The First Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in an email to The Herald that they had no comment regarding the decision. Alawieh, who worked at Rhode Island Hospital, was one of three transplant nephrologists in Rhode Island prior to her removal. Her H-1B visa was sponsored by Brown Medicine.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 18, 2026.

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Op-eds are typically between 600 and 900 words and advance a clear argument related to a topic of campus discourse. You can submit op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com. Letters to the editor should be around 250 words and respond to an article or column that has appeared in The Herald, or critique or commend The Herald’s editorial decisions. You can submit letters to the editor to letters@browndailyherald.com. Submissions undergo multiple rounds of editing. These rounds of editing generally take place over the course of one evening, and you may have to respond to edits late in the evening. If you know you will be unable to do so, please mention that in your email, and we will do our best to work with you. Submissions can build on reporting from The Herald, reporting elsewhere, official statements from the University or other groups and other reputable sources, but they cannot break news or contain information that The Herald cannot verify. Because we cannot publish unsubstantiated information, failure to provide appropriate sources may mean we have to modify or remove unverified claims. The Herald will not publish anonymous submissions or submissions authored by organizations. Leaders of student organizations can be identified as such but cannot write under the byline of their organization. The Herald cannot publish all submissions it receives and reserves the right to edit all submissions. All submissions to The Herald cannot have been previously published elsewhere (in print or online — including personal blogs and social media) and must be exclusive to The Herald. Once your submission is published in The Herald, The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. owns the copyright to the materials. Commentary: The editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only. Corrections: The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Postmaster: Please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906. Advertising: The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion. The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. is a financially independent, nonprofit media organization bringing you The Brown Daily Herald and Post- Magazine. The Brown Daily Herald has served the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement and once during Orientation by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Single copy free for each member of the community. Subscription prices: $200 one year daily, $100 one semester daily. Copyright 2023 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

PAGE 4

Friday, October 23, 2026

METRO ENVIRONMENT

Here’s what would change under the $55 million Green Economy Bond on R.I. ballots The bond would fund climate resiliency and other projects across the state BY KARINA YUAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER On Nov. 3, voters across Rhode Island will vote on a $55 million Green Economy Bond, which would fund a variety of environmental projects across the state. Initiatives include $25 million to the Resilient Rhody Infrastructure Fund, $7 million to Narragansett Bay watershed restoration and $12 million for renovations at state beaches, parks and campgrounds. The Green Bond is a “huge opportunity to really make a big difference, and it really does impact every city, town, every neighborhood in the state,” Terrence Gray, the director of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, told The Herald. “It’s a big thing. We’re really hoping the voters support it.” Historically, Rhode Island voters have

been supportive of green bonds, passing a $53 million bond in 2024 and a $50 million bond in 2022. No bonds have failed to pass in recent years, though individual environmental measures have failed. The specific bond initiative proposals were received by RIDEM and were chosen through a value-based ranking system, which evaluated project applications based on their foreseen benefits. The projects that ranked the highest will be the ones that are ultimately funded if the bond passes, according to Gray. Within the bond, there are funds set aside for cleaning up and restoring brownfields — former industrial sites that could cause environmental contamination if developed on — as well as recreation grants to finance soccer fields, playgrounds and other neighborhood recreation facilities. These are “very popular programs, all of them,” he said. According to RIDEM, the brownfields project has “created over 11,800 temporary and permanent jobs, leveraged nearly $1.51 billion in additional funding and cleaned

up nearly 376 acres of contaminated land.” Gray added that climate change is a major factor in many of Rhode Island’s environmental problems and “is changing everything from our forests to our fisheries to our coastline.” If passed, the largest portion of the bond will go towards the Resilient Rhody Infrastructure Fund, which helps the state prepare for climate-change-based disasters such as storm surges. The Resilient Rhody Infrastructure Fund was developed by the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank and other statewide partners. The RIIB specifically put together a Municipal Resilience Program in 2018 which helps cities and towns identify projects to improve preparedness for natural and climate-related hazards. Since 2020, the plan has distributed $24 million to resilience programs. If passed, the $25 million grant would be the largest round of funding RIIB has ever received, Bill Fazio, the executive director of the RIIB, told The Herald. Because Rhode Island is a coastline state, there are “a lot of areas that are very

vulnerable to sea level rise,” Fazio said. The Green Bond “will help Rhode Island invest in pre-disaster mitigation work, work that will save money in the long run,” Fazio said. “After a disaster, the recovery costs are usually four or five times higher than it would be if you put in a pre-disaster mitigation project.” The additional $7 million for protecting Narragansett Bay would go toward projects focused on issues including stormwater management and habitat restoration. According to Jed Thorp, the director of advocacy at Save the Bay, Narragansett Bay is facing a variety of issues, including “water pollution, stormwater pollution and nonpoint source pollution in general.” “In many cases, we know what the work is that needs to be done, but there just aren’t the resources to do all that work,” he said. “Having a pot of money at the state level that cities and towns could tap into to do those projects is extremely important.” Should the bond pass, Save the Bay would not directly receive and utilize the funds. Instead, the organization plans on

helping communities access the money for green infrastructure projects such as creating rain gardens, controlling invasive plants and mitigating floods, according to Thorp. Pollution in the bay can harm economic activity in a variety of ways, from stormwater runoff causing beach closures to high pollution levels closing certain shellfish areas. “There’s been different studies on how much of the state's economy is tied to the bay and the health of the bay,” Thorp said. “It’s probably in the billions of dollars.” Rhode Island’s blue economy — the state’s ocean-based industry which includes shipbuilding, conservation and defense — generates 8.8% of the state’s GDP and accounts for 5.7% of overall employment. Gray emphasized that the Green Bond does not include an exhaustive list of the environmental issues that need to be resolved in Rhode Island. “The demand always exceeds the funding available,” he said.

sues impacting the state, Foulkes said, “I think we need to be leaning into renewable energy,” adding that it is “great for the planet, but it’s also good for our pocketbooks.” “Wind is coming onshore at 9 cents a kilowatt hour, solar at 4 to 6 cents a kilowatt hour, both much cheaper than natural gas,” she said. The moderators also posed a question about Flock cameras, which have come under fire for surveillance and data security concerns. Several municipalities across the state have terminated their contracts with Flock. “I’m very concerned about Flock cameras and the ability of bad actors to get into those databases,” Block said. “I think we should highly regulate Flock cameras.” Guckian shared similar views on supporting regulation, specifically saying he would work with law enforcement officers to develop specific policies, remarking that he is “all in on the blue in regards to Flock cameras.” Foulkes agreed with the regulatory approach to Flock and reiterated her connection with the law enforcement community. “The blue are all in on me,” Foul-

kes responded through cheers from the audience. “I thank the state troopers for endorsing me.” All three candidates agreed that the state budget is set to pose major challenges this fiscal year. “I’m not going to do what I think politicians too often do, which is stand up here and make a promise that I can’t commit to,” Foulkes said. “This is going to be a really challenging budget year.” Guckian communicated a more controversial approach to the state budget. He plans to allocate 10% of the budget — around $1.5 billion — to savings redirected to supporting retirees. According to him, the solution to budget challenges is working “directly with the front line union workers” and providing them incentives. “When they get savings and fix systems, we can lower taxing fees. We can also work with the federal government. We can get grants,” Guckian said. Throughout the course of his campaign, Guckian has leveraged his membership of the Republican party to argue that he will produce better outcomes when working to get federal funding.

When the mediators started to push candidates toward closing statements, Foulkes expressed worries about insufficient time to discuss the state’s issues regarding healthcare. “I think the thing that worries me the most is what the Trump administration has done with the Big Beautiful Bill,” she said. “40,000 Rhode Islanders in January are at great risk of losing access to Medicaid,” Foulkes added. She said she wants to help Rhode Islanders understand how to fill out the complex Medicaid paperwork by tasking “Medicaid navigators” with assisting residents. The White House did not immediately respond to The Herald’s request for comment about changes to Medicaid. Block focused his comments about healthcare on his “One Stay, One Bill” plan. He described that, after hospital discharges, “the months of bills from all kinds of different providers trickle in, and the experience can be more painful than what sent you to the hospital in the first place.” “I believe that the hospital should provide one bill to the patient within 30 days of discharge that has all the prior

bills right on there,” he explained. One attendee, Donna Letendre, said that her perceptions of the candidates “definitely” changed after the debate. “I’m backing Ken Block,” she said. “He’s a very honest man.” Regarding Foulkes, Letendre thought that the former CVS Health executive did “a good job.” She said that Guckian “just made up nonsense.” Clovis Gregor — Pawtucket City Council’s District 5 representative — told The Herald that he is supporting Foulkes and added that he is looking for a candidate “who’s going to be transparent relative to the budget and how the spending is done.” Attendee Hanne LeBlanc said she believes that Foulkes “has always been very strong,” but thought that Block “stood out a little better” during the debate. “We think the state’s in a tough place right now, so we’re paying attention,” her husband, Robert LeBlanc, added. “We want to hear some new ideas.”

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 18, 2026.

GOVERNMENT FROM PAGE 1 he was unable to provide an exact numerical target. “I want to build housing for the middle class,” Foulkes said. “I have a very aggressive plan, and I do want to use the millionaires’ tax. … Instead of having it go into the general fund, I want people to know where that money is going.” Foulkes emphasized the need to build houses affordable for the average family in Rhode Island. Guckian proposed an incremental approach to creating more housing units, starting at 1,000 units and, through expediting the permitting and licensing process, increasing construction from there. Another key issue in this year’s elections has been Rhode Island’s affordability crisis. In response to a question about a potential bill to raise the minimum wage to $20 by 2030, Foulkes committed to signing it while Guckian was opposed to the change. Block said that “17 to 20 is a lot on our small business community” and that he’d veto such legislation. Block gave a “qualified yes” when asked if he’d sign the bill. To more widely address economic is-

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 21, 2026.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

PAGE 5

METRO HOUSING

Advocates demand housing accessibility, protest alleged police misconduct The Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project organized the rally BY HORATIO HAMILTON CONTRIBUTING WRITER On Wednesday, Providence community members rallied at Kennedy Plaza for the Housing Now National Day of Action, calling on Mayor Brett Smiley to increase housing accessibility and take action against alleged police misconduct that occurred at the plaza. The rally was organized by the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project, a group that advocates for housing policy reform. Protestors delivered a letter to Smiley’s office, outlining a number of demands, including that the Providence Police Department adopt a “disciplinary matrix” — a type of policy document outlining how law enforcement officers should handle different types of cases. At the protest, RIHAP also outlined a ten-point “People’s Action Plan,” which includes demands for state construction of heavily-subsidized housing, a ban on “evictions, raids and destruction of tent encampments … until residents have viable housing alternatives,” and provide funding for walk-in shelters. “We can end homelessness when we make compassionate and effective policy choices that invest in solutions that ensure that everyone has a safe and stable place to call home and to thrive and live healthy lives,” said Molly Richard, an assistant professor of public health at the University of Rhode Island, at the protest. At the rally, acting director of RIHAP Eric Hirsch said an unhoused individual

Protestors delivered a letter to Smiley’s office, outlining a number of demands. was knocked unconscious by police officers during an arrest at Kennedy Plaza in August. “They really showed no concern about the fact that she was unconscious,” Hirsch said. “She could have been in the process of dying.” According to Hirsch, the individual, who identifies as a transgender woman, is now being held on the men’s side of the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institute. According to PPD spokesperson Kristy

DosReis, the individual was “picked up on an active warrant for a violent offense” and “not targeted for being unhoused.” An internal investigation into the arrest found that it was “consistent with departmental policies and procedures,” she wrote. At the protest, Richard also noted the 2012 Rhode Island Homeless Bill of Rights. “(The Bill) recognizes the rights and dignity of folks, but rights on paper are not enough,” Richard said. “They have to

HORATIO HAMILTON / HERALD

be meaningfully enforced, and the police and other officials responsible for regulating our public spaces have to be held accountable when they mistreat people and violate those rights.” Legislation to update the bill to require that unhoused individuals are given a 15-day notice before an encampment is disbanded passed the House this spring but stalled in the Senate. Terry Wright, an RIHAP volunteer,

also delivered a speech on the secondary consequences of frequent interaction with police officers. “Harassment makes it harder for people to access services, keep jobs and maintain staying healthy,” Wright said. “Harassment is not public safety, but an escalation of trauma.” “Unhoused neighbors are our neighbors,” she added. “They are our friends, and they deserve respect.”

HEALTH

Some R.I. immigrants no longer qualify for Medicaid under Oct. 1 H.R. 1 restrictions R.I. organizations plan to support people who are no longer covered BY MAXWELL SILVER SENIOR STAFF WRITER On Oct. 1, changes to Medicaid qualifications that remove immigrants of various statuses — including refugees, asylees, parolees and victims of human trafficking — from coverage went into effect in Rhode Island. The change comes from H.R. 1, or the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed by President Trump in July 2025. According to Kerri White, communications director for the R.I. Executive Office of Health and Human Services, the state “sent a series of notifications to impacted individuals in the past several months including mailed notices, digital notices, emails and text messages.” “At least 100 of our clients, people we serve, have received letters from the Department of (Health and) Human Services notifying them that their Medicaid has been closed,” Omar Bah, founder of the Refugee Dream Center, said in an interview with The Herald. “Some have not even adjusted properly to the U.S. society or community, and then the worst part is, a lot of them don’t even know. They are not even aware that their Medicaid has been shut off,” Bah added. In response to the new restrictions, the Refugee Dream Center is partnering with Street Medicine — a Warren Alpert Medical School program dedicated to providing

medical services to unhoused populations — to provide care to the individuals who have lost insurance. “All of the populations listed already struggle with finding food and paying for housing, and they are scared because of the changes in immigration policy. Now they also have to worry about medical care,” wrote Kate Murphy, spokesperson for Dorcas International, a R.I. non-profit that serves immigrants and refugees. “Losing medical care is not only placing a strain on the medical system, but it’s

leaving our immigrants, refugees, asylees and survivors of domestic violence and trafficking in an even more vulnerable situation,” she added. In total, as of June 2026, over 250,000 Rhode Islanders were enrolled in Medicaid. According to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program restrictions enforced by H.R.1 will lead to 100,000 individuals becoming uninsured nationwide by 2034, reducing federal spending by $6.2 billion.

ANNIE WU / HERALD

“It is a little early to be able to gauge the impact of the (Oct. 1) changes, but we can expect more of the same — patients delaying care and having to pay out-ofpocket when they do need the care. Or they will just wait until they have no choice but to go to the emergency room,” Elena Nicolella, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Health Center Association, wrote in an email to The Herald. The next H.R. 1 restriction on Medicaid is set for Dec. 31 and will introduce work requirements of at least 80 hours

per month or a salary of $580 per month for qualification. While the Oct. 1 change is estimated to affect fewer than 3,500 individuals in the state, the Rhode Island Current reported, the upcoming work requirement is estimated to put 24,600 Rhode Islanders at risk of lost coverage. “The state has to create new administrative systems to be able to comply with these federal regulations, and all of those mean more opportunities for mistakes and more opportunities for people to fall through the cracks and lose benefits that they are otherwise eligible for,” said Nina Harrison, policy director for the Economic Progress Institute, a R.I. organization focusing research and policy for low-income Rhode Islanders. Alongside qualification restrictions, H.R.1 is also expected to cause a loss of $275 million in federal Medicaid funding for Rhode Island beginning in fiscal year 2028, according to the Economic Progress Institute. “I think most people understand that we already have a fairly fragile healthcare system here in this state, with a shortage of primary care providers,” Harrison said. Harrison added that the combination of reduced coverage and budget cuts will overwhelm hospitals, free clinics and health centers, “who are going to be left trying to take care of the people who have lost health insurance.”

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 19, 2026.

PAGE 6

Friday, October 23, 2026

METRO EDUCATION

Providence School Board approves PPSD school consolidation project

The contentious merger was voted on at the Oct. 21 meeting BY NATE BARKOW AND AMBER MARCUS-BLANK SENIOR STAFF WRITER AND METRO EDITOR

Around one month after Providence Public School Department Superintendent Javier Montañez proposed two school consolidation projects, the Providence School Board voted in favor of the mergers at Wednesday’s meeting. The project seeks to merge Young Woods Elementary School with Roger Williams Middle School, as well as Anthony Carnevale Elementary School with DelSesto Middle School. Ben Holstein, Acting Chief Operating Officer at the PPSD, stated at the meeting that the priority of these consolidations is “to get more students into new and like-new seats by 2030.” According to the meeting slides, PPSD’s other goals include a Pre-K hub for specialized instruction, a grades PK-8 pathway on the east side of Providence, preservation of seats at high-demand schools and reduction of inefficient operating costs. “Investing and building a true pre-K hub, and in particular one that is very proximal to the recreation center as our Young Woods (Elementary) School is, was a priority for us to really consolidate those supports under one roof,” Holstein said. The Rhode Island Department of Education can provide reimbursements for capital projects, including school consolidations, for up to 80% of the cost, PPSD spokesperson Alex Torres-Perez previously told The Herald. But under a state incentive, if construction is completed by June 30, 2029, 91% of those costs will be covered. “This revised capital plan will make the best and most effective use of our construction funding to benefit as many students as possible,” Montañez wrote in a statement to The Herald. “Delaying this decision would have a domino effect on the entire project and put our ability to substantially complete the work by the June 30, 2029 reimbursement deadline at risk.” He added that if the PPSD misses that

deadline, the City would be on the hook for $40 million in funding reimbursements. This would mean the district would need to either find that additional funding or reduce the project’s cost. According to Providence Teachers Union President Lindsay Paiva, while the PTU looks forward to students having access to new spaces, they are concerned about the lack of teacher input during the process. “There is currently no teacher representative on the Providence School Building Committee and meetings are often rescheduled or changed with minimum notice, which has made it challenging for PTU to participate meaningfully in these conversations,” Paiva wrote in a message to The Herald. “Educators, along with students, are on the ground in classrooms every day and should be integral to the design and layout of the new schools and in determining programmatic priorities.” The PPSD did not immediately respond to The Herald’s request for comment. According to Torres-Perez, the PPSD has held over 200 meetings involving families, staff and community members over the past 18 months to “gather feedback and help shape this revised capital plan.” Holstein said that the PPSD has met with the relevant stakeholder groups — including school staff and leadership, families, community members, students and “specialized groups” — to discuss the plans. “I think we need to have a framework for how (the model) works at PK-8, such that we have sufficient staffing to meet the students’ needs,” Holstein said. The PK-8 model “keeps families together (and) eliminates those separation points where people might consider going to a school out of district,” said Chris Spiegel, project executive of Left Field in Rhode Island, a project management firm where he works on capital improvement programs. “When the school building committee votes unanimously to approve something, I think it’s a good message for this board that we should also do the same,” said Andrew Bramson, a member of the Providence School Board for Region 1.

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This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 22, 2026.

EDUCATION

Providence School Board postpones vote for removal of president

After six hours of discussions, the vote was moved to Nov. 18

BY NATE BARKOW AND AMBER MARCUS-BLANK SENIOR STAFF WRITER AND METRO EDITOR After six hours of discussions that ended early Thursday morning, the Providence School Board opted to postpone a vote on removing President Ty’Relle Stephens until the next regular board meeting on Nov. 18. The vote follows months of controversy over Providence School Board leadership, which involved a heavily publicized conflict between Stephens and Rhode Island Department of Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green. The Wednesday meeting began at 6 p.m. with three hours of public discussion before shifting to a private executive session. After deciding to postpone the removal vote in the closed discussion, the board resumed

its public session at 12:05 a.m. The board cited a desire for more time to review their bylaws, which will allow Stephens to serve as president for at least the next few weeks. “My commitment remains unchanged: To keep the educational interests of Providence’s children at the forefront of our work,” Stephens wrote in a letter to the Providence community earlier this week announcing the motion for his removal. “If I were in my colleagues’ position, I would think long and hard about this decision, because given the choice, I would much rather deal with Ty’Relle Stephens, the President, than Ty’Relle Stephens, the Board member.” On Sept. 14, board Vice President Anjel Newmann filed a complaint with RIDE alleging that Stephens violated state law by preventing the board’s majority from adding a motion to remove him from the presidency to their Sept. 23 meeting agenda. On Oct. 18, Infante-Green issued an order stating that the board could vote to remove Stephens. Stephens wrote in his letter to the Providence community that he was concerned

about the decision to bring the issue to RIDE. “I have become increasingly concerned by the Commissioner’s conduct throughout the restoration of local control,” he wrote. Providence Public School District transitioned from state to local control in July. In an email to The Herald, RIDE Chief of External Affairs Victor Morente wrote that the order is “focused on a question of state education law: whether a majority of Providence School Board members have the authority to seek the removal of board officers who, under Rhode Island law, serve ‘at the pleasure’ of the board.” “It is profoundly disappointing that the state’s highest education official appears increasingly entangled in internal governance disputes while the academic achievement and educational well-being of Providence’s children demand urgent attention,” Stephens added. “I think after Ty’Relle is removed, the school board will be able to do its job better,” said Corey Jones, one of the board members who filed the motion to vote on Stephens’

removal, in an interview ahead of the Oct. 21 meeting. Jones named several charges against Stephens, alleging that he created a difficult work environment and previously made suspect promises to his campaign donors, including promising them positions in the PPSD. Stephens “categorically denies these allegations,” he wrote. “They are entirely fabricated and unsupported by any evidence presented to me.” He added that, “as board president, I do not possess independent statutory authority to appoint school department personnel. Any suggestion that I could unilaterally guarantee such appointments fundamentally misrepresents the established division of responsibilities between the school board and superintendent.” Three senior PPSD officials resigned in September, publicly criticizing Stephens during a school board meeting. “Ty’Relle is extremely difficult to work with,” Jones said, which makes it “very difficult to recruit talent in a district that needs the best-quality talent.”

When one candidate applied to a position in the Providence schools, Jones said, “Ty’Relle didn’t disclose that (the) applicant … had worked on his political campaign, which is a clear conflict of interest.” “As board president, I do not possess independent statutory authority to appoint School Department personnel,” Stephens wrote to The Herald. “Any suggestion that I could unilaterally guarantee such appointments fundamentally misrepresents the established division of responsibilities between the School Board and Superintendent.” Jones acknowledged that there is a limited amount of proof behind his allegations, but said that “when you hear repeated rumors that you know all are quite similar … that you know it’s usually not a coincidence and it’s probably true.” “The chairman is entitled to his opinion,” Stephens wrote. “However, my focus remains where it has been for the past six years: on the students of Providence public schools and ensuring they receive the quality education they deserve.”

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

PAGE 7

SPORTS SOCCER

Brown women’s soccer outpaced 2-1 by Dartmouth, falls out of first place in Ivy League The result marks the Bears’ first conference loss of 2026 BY SAJIV MEHTA SPORTS EDITOR Brown women’s soccer team (8-3-2, 2-1-1 Ivy) arrived in Hanover this past Saturday for a marquee matchup with Dartmouth (9-2-2, 3-1-0 Ivy) without having dropped a game since Aug. 30, sitting at the top of the Ivy League standings as the only team without a conference loss. Ninety minutes of gameplay later, Bruno had conceded two consecutive goals and slipped to a 2-1 defeat. The Bears headed for the team bus back to Providence having tumbled to No. 4 in the Ivy League. Brown will face a conference opponent in each of the three weekends left in the regular season in their quest to return to the Ivy League tournament, which features the top four teams in the league. Since the tournament was revived in 2023, Bruno has played in every rendition. “We knew going into the game that it was going to be a tough match,” Brooke Birtwistle ’28, who scored Brown’s lone goal on Saturday, wrote in an email to The Herald. “Dartmouth has always been a very physical and direct team.” Before the game, the Bears and the Big Green appeared almost indistinguishable on paper. Each team sported records of 8 wins, 2 losses and 2 draws thus far this season. Playing in pink uniforms for cancer awareness, the Big Green created the first real chance of the evening just three minutes into the contest. Forward Angelina Vargas ’27 deflected a center attempt past the Bruno end line, and Dartmouth’s resulting corner kick curled toward the back post and Big Green midfielder Lourdes Lauterborn. But the ball flew a few feet too far, and it landed harmlessly out of bounds. The game’s first shot came in the 10th minute when midfielder Joy Okonye ’27 sent a spinning shot with her left foot toward the near post from the box’s left boundary. The ball never had the power to challenge Dartmouth goalkeeper Ola Goebel, who easily caught it in a crouch. Okonye found another opportunity to shoot from the left corner of the box five minutes later. Though that shot carried more speed, it sailed wide left. In the 19th minute, Vargas’s run with the ball in the box ended with a Dartmouth defender pushing the ball out of play, creating a corner kick for Brown. Okonye, continuing her constant offensive pressure, took her spot at the right arc. Okonye’s kick flew toward the near post, where Vargas used her head to deflect it toward the center of the goal. In an attempt to keep the ball from crossing the goal line, a Big Green player used her knee to deflect it. But the ball went straight to the far post, where Birtwistle was battling a Dartmouth player, and the Brown midfielder kneed the ball into the goal to give Brown a 1-0 lead. The score marked Birtwistle’s fifth goal in the past five games. Though she had not scored a goal for the Bears before this season, she has climbed to the No. 2 spot on the team’s goal leaderboard. “I went into the box, like I do on every corner, knowing it could be the only one we get and that I needed to do whatever I could to help the team,” Birtwistle wrote. The Bears got three shots off in the remainder of the first half — each one 10 minutes after the last. But Bruno could not

string together attempts to build further momentum. Less than 90 seconds before halftime, Dartmouth equalized. After a collision, the

a Dartmouth cross from near Brown’s right end line found Big Green forward Emmanuella Frimpomaa, who was placed on the doorstep of the goal. Frimpomaa threaded

Big Green was awarded a free kick directly in front of their bench, and Dartmouth forward Madison Rose made the most of the opportunity. Rose launched a missile of a kick into the dark sky, and it soared all the way to the crowd of white-and-pink-clad players assembled in front of the Bruno goal. Though Brown goalkeeper Addison Etter ’29 dove to the ground, she could not secure the ball, and the Big Green’s Tasha Udebhulu slipped the ball across the goal line. The two teams went into the locker rooms for halftime tied 1-1. After they emerged, Dartmouth quickly eclipsed Brown. In the sixth minute of second-half play,

the ball through a Bruno defender and Etter for an impressive tap-in score that gave Dartmouth a 2-1 advantage. After Dartmouth’s second goal, the Bears created five shots to just one by the Big Green. But the home side demonstrated their defensive tenacity and did not allow Brown to score again. The final tally rested at 2-1. “Although the result wasn’t what we were hoping for, this team is very resilient and has a great mindset when it comes to setbacks,” Birtwistle wrote. “(We) have had so many other great performances this season. One loss doesn’t change that.” The Bears will be back in action at Stevenson-Pincince Field when they host Har-

COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS

Before the game, the Bears and the Big Green both sported records of 8 wins, 2 losses and 2 draws thus far this season. vard (9-3-1, 3-1 Ivy) on Saturday at 7 p.m. Harvard this weekend.” “I have full faith in this team, and I’m confident we’ll respond well and be ready for the next game,” Birtwistle wrote. “It’s This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 19, 2026. already behind us, and our focus is now on

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Elaina Bayard FEATURE Managing Editor Chloe Costa Baker

Section Editor Christina Li

Section Editors Helen Hen Anika Kotapally

HEAD ILLUSTRATORS Junyue Ma Lesa Jae

ARTS & CULTURE Managing Editor Sasha Gordon

COPY CHIEF Jessica Lee

Section Editors Gabriella Miranda Rebecca Sanchez

excerpt from

“tea time”

NARRATIVE Managing Editor Gabi Yuan

by Ina Ma

LIFESTYLE Managing Editor Hallel Abrams Gerber

orange rind with sweet spice Tastes like cooling autumn mornings and buzzing

Section Editors Alayna Chen Tatiana von Bothmer

breakfast chatter. Recently, I’ve gotten into the practice of running. Not “just running,” but running as metronomical meditation. Down the hill, across the

See Full Issue:

ISSUU.COM/POSTMAGAZINEBDH

Copy Editors Eve Kobell Kate Schuyler Michelle Wassef Su Yang LAYOUT CHIEFS James Farrington Alexa Gay Amber Zhao

Section Editors Lucie Huang Chelsea Long

Constant Comment

Friday, October 23, 2026

POST-POURRI Managing Editor Tarini Malhotra

Layout Designers Hannah Gapp Lily Rantanen Joshua Rezneck Emma Vachal SOCIAL MEDIA Yana Giannoutsos Hung Lam Eva Mahajan Rebecca Sanchez

canal, around India Point Park, up the Blackstone

OR FIND COPIES AROUND CAMPUS!

ISSUE 6

PAGE 8

River Greenway, and back across Lloyd Avenue. No

my own pulse fill the space instead. Occasionally, a

HORSES

lone boat horn rings across the Seekonk and cuts through gray post-dawn mist. The sun beams brilliant diamonds onto the rippling water. They bounce off the crests of lulling river waves into my eyes, and

VOL 38

headphones—sounds of feet hitting asphalt/gravel/ concrete in biomechanical fashion, rushing cars, and

becomes red without rubbing, and I raise a hand to

My high one that makes me better than you

the sun to shield my face…

Maximus

The one I led to water but can’t get to drink

The dead one I’m beating

The one Richard III would trade his kingdom for

The one I saved by riding a cowboy

The one little Abigail DIED FOR #shelsilverstein

55 _____power Yamaha 4-stroke engine

The one that James Farrington is mogging on

OCT 23

little gems get stuck beneath my eyelids. My sclera

10. Trojan

Cover by Tarini Malhotra

dancing with the stars? 1

by Ronan Carolan illustrated by Amalija Marich

Across

1. Dance of Brazil, or an Adidas shoe 6. “As dead as _____ nail.” 7. Seventh-century pope 8. It can be common, or one

of five 9. British bums

Down

“This is me mogging on a horse.”

1. What often is paired with chips, or an Afro-Cuban dance 2. Doe follower, in song

3. 293 around Saturn, 1 around Earth 4. Idaho’s capital 5. Sign of spring, astrologically

Want to be involved? Email: elaina_bayard@brown.edu !

“Rest in peace Desert Santa.”

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

PAGE 9

table of contents 1. stye town east

9. tea time

Coco Kanders

Ina Ma 10. you look familiar

3. halcyon days

Yana Giannoutsos

Danielle Li 5. i think i’ve been here before, i think we all have Samaira Mohunta

11. metamorphoses@brown

6. the fabric of sisterhood

12. dancing with the stars?

Ina Ma Ronan Carolan

Madi Diaz 7. not out yet Elaine Rand

“Made meditative by wooded seclusion and backed by the chatter of wind-rustled leaves and wood thrushes’ soprano exchanges, I bent over a blank sheet of paper and wrote my first real letter.” — Nina Lidar, “across the distance” 10.24.24

“So I’m a princess and I’m a mermaid and I’m the only person in the world and I open my wings and I’m free to fly and I’m always dancing.” — Mar Falcon, “if i could (still) fly” 10.22.25

letter from the editor Dear Readers, You might be asking, why is the Family Weekend issue western-themed? To which I would say, what’s more community-oriented than cowboys, riding together, living together, and watching the sun set over the prairies together? I would also say, we liked the way it looked. Fall is truly upon us now. The colors are changing and the wind is blowing, so maybe I find myself craving a sunny western warmth. Maybe I want the simple nostalgia of a life on the land—it seems preferable to my midterms. But if I can’t have that, I am welcoming Family Weekend, to see those I care about and show them around the campus that has grown to mean so much to me. This issue of post- is eclectic in its offerings. For Feature, Coco regales us with the tale of an eye infection. In Narrative, Samaira encounters feelings of déjà vu across campus and Danielle recalls scenes from her childhood. For A&C, Elaine tries to live in the moment of a concert and Madi watches Pitch Perfect with her sisters. Ina spills the dining hall tea and Yana maps the campus

in Lifestyle. Finally, we close out this issue with a crossword from Ronan and a comic from Ina. Fellow students, I hope you can find yourself in these pages. Families, I hope you enjoy this little glimpse into life at Brown University. Read through this issue of post- together, preferably on horseback.

Yeehaw,

Elaina Bayard Editor-In-Chief

OctOber 23, 2026

PAGE 10

Friday, October 23, 2026

COMMENTARY

Hansen ’30: Brown is ranked the lowest Ivy on US News — thank goodness! Brown is officially the worst school in the Ivy League — at least according to the finalized 2027 U.S. News and World Report’s Best National Universities Ranking published in mid-September. This year Brown dropped to No. 16, its lowest ranking in the last 10 years. This year, U.S. News updated its rankings to more heavily weight early career success, including placing 5% of ranking weight directly on postgrad earnings by major. Now, more than half of the ranking comes from measures of student outcomes. This new system defines success, at least in part, by something that has never been Brown’s definition: how much money you make. In a world where undergraduate education is increasingly shifting from an exploratory experience to a stepping stone for employment, Brown should be proud to nurture students who don’t chase the highest earnings but who instead seek to live meaningful lives. If high rankings mean prioritizing income over impact, Brown’s low ranking is something to be proud of. Brown students make a brave choice: They choose to lead lives of service, meaning and purpose beyond simply careerism. Due to the changed scoring methodology, Brown’s decreased ranking can be partially attributed to the fact that Brown grads do make less money compared to students from other elite schools. The median yearly income for Brown graduates who received federal aid four years post-grad is the lowest in the Ivy League, at approximately $95,000. That median income is lower than the Ivy with the next-lowest income, Princeton, by approximately $14,000, and lower than the Ivy with the highest income, Harvard, by around $40,000. This begs the question: Why are Brown graduates making less than other Ivy League graduates, and what does that actually say about the education received at these schools? This is where Brunonian values come in. At Brown, about 15% of students choose careers for the common good, and those are typically lower-paying jobs. About a quarter of Brown’s Class of 2025 are employed in the nonprofit or government sectors, while Columbia reported 5% and Cornell reported

6% of students in those sectors. Penn reported only 23 graduates from the Class of 2025 working in the nonprofit sector. While it is hard to measure exactly how many alums from each school are pursuing social-impact work, the long-standing trend seems to be that Brown graduates choose the nonprofit sector more than their peers. More recently, The Princeton Review included Brown on its list of “Top 20 Best Schools for Making an Impact,” the only Ivy on the list. Rather than best preparing students for the lucrative private industry, one of Brown’s exemplary patterns is the large number of Fulbright scholars

nomics, widely considered a major that results in some of the highest-paying post-grad jobs, was reported as the most popular intended concentration in this year’s incoming first-year class. As someone intending to study the humanities, I have often heard the all-too-common joke that I will be “majoring in unemployment.” I feel this pressure to choose fields that result in higher earnings because this is how our society defines success, and I am not alone; my peer Evan Tao ’27 recently commented on the high number of Brown grads who matriculate directly into high-paying corporate jobs after leaving College Hill.

LORI LAI / HERALD

that come from College Hill. This year, Brown was the second-highest producer of scholars nationally and has ranked in the top three producers for the last 10 years. Additionally, three Rhodes Scholars were selected from Brown last fall, joining the list of 58 Brown awardees dedicated to public service and scholarship. Despite many Brown students choosing careers in the common good, the pressure to pursue fields with higher salaries still exists on College Hill. Eco-

The U.S. News ranking directly feeds into this cultural phenomenon and the social value placed in high-paying jobs. Their list claims to rank the best universities in America, and when they place schools whose graduates make more money higher on that list, they directly relate income levels to greatness. The problem is that the U.S. News and World Report dominates the college ranking sphere and can influence students making their college decisions. Because of how much it shapes perceived education-

al quality, universities even “change their behavior” to fit the methodology and accrue a higher ranking. Brown must not succumb to that pressure. Brown’s focus since its founding has been to provide a liberal education that prepares its students to tackle the world’s greatest problems, and students continue to fulfill that promise of interdisciplinary learning. While Brown might not be able to claim a “Top 10” status, we can shift the narrative around what success looks like by embracing our reduced ranking and focusing on the assets Brown brings to the table. We don’t need to change who we are to maintain our reputation of excellence, we just need to refocus the narrative. I encourage us all to remember that what makes Brown great is not our income after we graduate, but rather the fulfillment a Brown education brings to our lives through the many moments of unquantifiable joy and profound learning experienced throughout each of our four years. Fascinating discussions from classes outside your concentration, insightful messages from guest lecturers and silly skits are all part of what makes Brown a great institution. By taking advantage of Brown’s strengths, maintaining focus on learning and serving the world, students can change the narrative among the student body, and the University can change the narrative for students who look to these rankings to assess collegiate excellence. By emphasizing who we are, the students who choose Brown will understand that our true excellence surpasses any ranking. Our lower score in a ranking system that values money over impact on the world is a sign that Brown students have not completely abandoned the purpose of their Brown undergraduate education. We should be proud to attend the lowest-ranked Ivy; Brown students use their education to pursue their passions, better the world and give their lives meaning.

Sophie Hansen ’30 can be reached at sophie_hansen@ brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

Canfield ’28: Admissions is wrong about AI checkers Thank God ChatGPT was only released 11 months before I applied to Brown. At the time, its writing skills were nowhere near where they are today, and I was not tempted to worsen my college admissions essays with its sloppy prose. I cannot say the same for today’s high school seniors. I pity those who are wrestling with the moral quandary of using artificial intelligence in their college applications. Many may embrace the tool purely out of fear that their peers will use the technology to their advantage. Others point out that wealthier students have access to paid college counselors and admissions coaches who edit and maybe even write their essays for them. Could AI be the great equalizer in college admissions? I certainly don’t have all of the answers to these questions. But I do know that AI strips the very humanity from our college essays that they are meant to communicate. The irony in outsourcing a personal reflection to a machine is obvious, but it will not stop students from taking this route. Brown claims that it prohibits all AI use in admissions materials. But last week, The Herald reported that Brown’s admissions department does not use third-party AI checkers when evaluating applications. This leaves the University with little recourse to protect the integrity of its admissions. By holding off on using AI detection to absolutely avoid mistakenly rejecting an applicant for using the technology, the University fails to enforce its own policy

and indicates a lack of understanding of how important it is that we do not fill the undergraduate student body with a cohort of cheaters. Let’s do some math. As of July, the best AI detection software on the market, Pangram, boasts a false positive rate of 0.0041% — a University of Chicago study also found that a previous version of Pangram achieved near-zero error rates. Say 30% of college applicants use AI to assist with their admissions essays, as found in one 2024 report, then out of the 249,950 essays 100 words or longer from students who applied to Brown’s class of 2030, about seven of them would get falsely flagged as being AI-generated.

NAYANA KURDU / HERALD

Only seven. The University would likely argue that they wouldn’t want to risk rejecting even one student for a false positive. “We would never want to assume that someone who just prefers to use em dashes in their writing copied the content of some large language model,” Associate Provost for Enrollment and Dean of Undergraduate Admission Logan Powell recently told The Herald. But the potential consequence of not using an AI checker to screen admissions essays vastly outweighs the unfortunate byproduct of rejecting seven potentially qualified applicants. While it is unfortunate that these

seven hypothetical students would be unfairly punished, this random bad luck happens in admissions all the time. Admissions officers spend very little time on each application, perhaps as little as eight minutes by some accounts. Even the most seasoned officer is bound to make more than seven mistakes when reading thousands of applications. We allow human error in college admissions; why not near-zero machine error? The reality is that if we do not use AI checkers, Brown will admit students who are unqualified and morally unfit to attend the University. Writing an admissions essay with AI outsources an applicant’s critical thinking to a machine. Applicants will not have the opportunity for personal reflection and to demonstrate their ability to think through and write a compelling argument of their own — a skill that is critical for a liberal arts education. Brown’s first institutional value is the pursuit of knowledge and understanding “by educating students duly qualified for discharging the offices of life with usefulness and reputation.” I fear what will come of our school if we cannot determine the integrity of an increasingly large number of our applicants. A generation from now, will students admitted off the labor of a machine still be qualified to discharge the offices of life with usefulness and reputation? Critics of AI detection software argue that it is unreliable and inaccurate. A study from 2023 found that “available detection tools are neither accurate nor

reliable.” Another 2023 study showed that detectors had higher false-positive rates for text written by non-native English speakers, a troubling reality for a University in which international students comprise 14% of undergraduates. Screenshots of AI detectors flagging the U.S. Constitution for being AI-generated have gone viral on social media — did James Madison have early access to Claude? But just as AI has improved rapidly in the last few years, these detectors have also made progress. A more recent 2025 study found that AI detectors “effectively distinguished AI-generated content from human-written texts.” If Brown is not using every resource at its disposal to protect its admissions process, then it is failing. There have always been applicants who use outside resources to write their essays for them, and admissions officers have to rely on their experience and intuition to judge if students’ words are truly their own, a less-than-ideal solution. Unfortunately, no software exists to detect essays written by a paid admissions advisor. But it does exist for AI, and it is foolish not to use it. College admissions is imperfect — that does not mean that we should give up on it.

Ethan Canfield ’28 can be reached at ethan_ canfield@brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald. com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

PAGE 11

COMMENTARY Editorial: We’re still waiting to hear about DIAP In 2016, the University pledged approximately $165 million over 10 years to Pathways to Diversity and Inclusion: An Action Plan for Brown University. In the five years since the plan’s creation, DIAP ensured the hiring of 42 new faculty members from historically underrepresented groups and doubled the number of graduate students from these groups as well. DIAP also supported programs and initiatives at research centers focused on race, ethnicity and immigration. However, since the plan came to its expected close in May 2025, Brown has left the community wondering what comes next. In October 2025, President Christian Paxson P’19 MD’20 formed an ad hoc committee tasked with making recommendations for the future of diversity on campus, largely based on DIAP. The deadline for these recommendations was May 1, 2026. Nearly six months later, the University community has heard nothing regarding these recommendations — including whether Paxson ever received them. Thus, DIAP ended with no substantive clarity on the successes of the past nor future initiatives to come. Facing an imminent transition to a new University president and a time of unprecedented political turmoil surrounding “DEI,” the path for diversity and inclusion at Brown has become unclear. It is time the University provides an overarching review of its past initiatives and a plan for the future of diversity and inclusion. When it comes to the efficacy of DIAP, Brown has left its community in the dark. From 2017 through 2020, and in 2024, the University has released annual reports on DIAP’s progress. And in 2021, the administration released a sweeping report analyzing the first five years of the initiative. The report provided a single summary of the concrete steps the University had made to improve diversity and inclusion, and what areas still needed improvement. But no such report has been released for the latter half of the plan. Given

KAIA YALAMANCHILI / HERALD

the timeframe of the last report, an analysis of DIAP Phase II is long overdue. The approximately $165 million funding for DIAP came as part of the BrownTogether campaign, Brown’s most ambitious decade-long funding campaign that involved over 76,800 donors. This level of involvement from alums, families, faculty and friends aligns with the mission of DIAP Phase II, which included an acknowledgement that Brown “must continue to call on all members of our community” to help create an inclusive learning environment. However, community involvement only goes so far without public knowledge of the successes and limitations of the last five years, and the results of DIAP as a whole. Ten years ago, the editorial page board responded to the launch of DIAP by applauding DIAP’s plan to “outline a specific implementation that community members can participate in and hold the University accountable for.” Under the current state of affairs, we are unable to fulfill this promise. Despite the Brown community’s funding and involvement in DIAP, now that the plan has reached its close, we have an incomplete understanding of its effects. Those who made DIAP

possible deserve to know whether their dollars were donated in vain. In addition to not knowing how the second half of DIAP went, we are also left wondering what the future of diversity and inclusion will look like at Brown. Despite Paxson charging an ad hoc committee with producing a recommendation for the future of DIAP, the community has received no information about the program’s future. While it may be possible that the University has received the recommendations and has not released them yet, past committee reports have been released in much less time. As a result, this reality seems unlikely. The Ad Hoc Committee on Admissions Policies was charged with submitting its recommendations to Paxson and the Corporation before the beginning of the Spring 2024 semester. Then, just after the start of that semester in February 2024, the University released an executive summary of the recommendations. Another example is the Land Acknowledgement Working Group, which was given a Dec. 31, 2021 deadline to submit a land acknowledgement recommendation to Paxson. Again, the recommendations were released to the rest of the University two months later.

Universities are often criticized for increasing administrative work and bureaucratic bloat. Without a proper report detailing the tangible results of DIAP, the program could be used as a primary example of this bloat. Facing a $30 million deficit for fiscal year 2026, the Office of the President is aiming for $15 million in budget cuts, including 48 staff layoffs. Facing these dire circumstances, it is shocking that the University is comfortable allowing a project in which it has invested $165 million to fizzle out without a final report to guide the path forward. An executive summary of the report’s findings would allow the University to effectively defend its initiatives. We understand how the Supreme Court’s ruling on Harvard v. Students for Fair Admissions, alongside a presidential administration intent on attacking DEI in higher education, could leave any university frightened to release a report on diversity and inclusion. But this fear didn’t prevent Paxson and Doyle from demanding the results of the report in October of 2025 — and it will not stop us from demanding them now. Without knowing the results of DIAP Phase II, the Brown community will not be able to analyze the pathways of effective change or areas of future need. DIAP can direct the future of student-led, departmental or University-wide initiatives to understand the ways to move forward. Whether or not we agree with the proposed future of diversity and inclusion at Brown is uncertain — but we should have the opportunity to make such an assessment.

Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board, and its views are separate from those of The Herald’s newsroom and the 136th Editorial Board, which leads the paper. A majority of the editorial page board voted in favor of this piece. Please send responses to this editorial to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

Jain ’30: Banning Greek life won’t eliminate sexual assault at Brown Last week, Cornell announced that it would ban all parties and social events in fraternity houses for the rest of the academic year. This decision comes as a result of a national conversation about the role that Greek life should take on college campuses in the wake of the Title IX sexual assault investigation at Cornell. Notably, the New York Times recently published an op-ed arguing that Greek life is fundamentally flawed and called for its abolition across U.S. universities. As Brown looks inward to our own practices surrounding sexual violence, we must recognize that Greek life at Brown is dissimilar to Greek life at peer institutions, and thus we cannot subscribe to this national antidote for minimizing sexual assault on college campuses. Rather, the University should formulate a tailored sexual assault reduction plan for Brown’s culture and needs. The case for the abolition of Greek life as a fix to pervasive issues with sexual assault on college campuses hast merit. Research shows that fraternity members are three times more likely to commit sexual assault as other male students, and that sorority-affiliated women are 74% more likely to be assaulted. Much of this risk stems from fraternity party culture. Previous studies have suggested that women who attend fraternity parties often — settings where heavy drinking and drug-use are prevalent — are more likely to experience incapacitated sexual assault. Greek life is unique at Brown primarily due to its limited scope and on-campus status. As of 2022, only 9% of the undergraduate student body is reported to be involved with a Greek organization, and all recognized organizations are mixed with non-affiliated students in dormitories on Wriston Quad and Patriot’s Court. This means that Brown’s Department of Public Safety and Emergency Management is able to easily and quickly patrol and respond at the on-campus locations, and students not affiliated with Greek organizations are just a floor away. These residence halls also have community coordinators that provide an additional level of peer oversight and are liable to university policies. This integration helps ensure a level of safety which organizations that only house members of a specific Greek organization do not benefit from.

SAMANTHA BIRNS / HERALD

This is dissimilar to the role Greek life plays at many of Brown’s peer institutions. At Dartmouth, roughly 60% of eligible students belong to a Greek organization. At Cornell, a third of students are involved in Greek life. At Penn, a quarter of students are part of Greek organizations, and the Daily Pennysylvanian described frat culture as having a “stranglehold” on social life and campus culture. When Greek Life is prevalent on campus, the case for abolition seems like an obvious solution to reduce instances of sexual assault. But at Brown, the abolition of Greek life would only eliminate one potentially high-risk environment, without addressing the risks of sexual assault at other, much more prevelant social outlets that exist on College Hill. At Brown, additionally, roughly 60% of Greek organizations are sororities or are gender-inclusive. In contrast, at Cornell, roughly 30 of 50 recognized chapters are all-male fraternities. Studies link sexual assault beyond fraternities to all-male groups that control a party’s space and alcohol and enforce rigid masculine norms — features that make up less than half of Brown’s recognized Greek life. Despite the limited scope and immense oversight of Greek life at Brown, sexual assault remains a persistent problem. A 2019 campus climate survey found

that one in four undergraduate women at Brown reported non-consensual sexual contact, and only 29.1% of students said they were very or extremely knowledgeable about how Brown defines sexual assault and misconduct. It is clear the issue is not Greek Life — rather, it is much larger. This demonstrates the need for a specially tailored University plan focused on reducing sexual assault on campus. By implementing recurring, peer-led sessions on consent throughout the year, Brown could reinforce orientation training and close the gap between knowledge and practice. Consent training is required every year at universities such at Dartmouth, and every two years at UVA. As the editorial page board argued, the University should implement a new, transparent sexual assault reporting and more comprehensive data collection system. This system would help Univeristy leaders understand what risk factors lead to sexual assault at Brown specifically, and how to mitigate those risks. Brown’s record of sexual assault points out the prevelance of sexual assault in certain kinds of relationship, rather than in specific types of organizations. In 2020, survivors shared more than a hundred stories on the Voices of Brown Instagram page, most alleged assaults took place by partners, friends, or friends of

friends. This exacerbates silence as victims know they will keep seeing their abuser in class and on campus, and in 2015, nearly half of Brown women who didn’t report believed nothing would be done about it. These dynamics thrive in any tight-knit social circle where loyalty overshadows accountability — whether this be a club, a team, or a friend group. Additionally, Brown already has prevention programs through BWell Health Promotion, wherein students can train as peer educators in two programs — Sexual Assault Prevention Education, which leads workshops on consent, bystander intervention and supporting victims of sexual abuse — and the Sexual Health Awareness Group, which runs sexual health workshops and answers students’ questions through a confidential texting service. Both are student-led, but their scope is limited. SAPE’s workshops are delivered primarily to students who request them, and SHAG’s workshops focus mainly on safer sex. Brown should build on both by requiring annual SAPE workshops in smaller groups, and expanding SHAG’s work to further emphasise consent. Such measures would make comprehensive strides towards a safer culture on campus. Creating a plan to measure the successes and implementation of these measures would benefit Brown more than targeting the tiny fraction of campus in fraternities. Each student, organization and administrator holds a responsibility for making Brown a safe and respectful place to live and learn. Disbanding student organizations is not the fix. Rather, we must work together to foster an educated and secure environment. It is time Brown creates a more unified and comprehensive consent education program that all students, regardless of year, consistently undertake. At Brown, sexual assault is a cultural issue — rather than enacting a “band-aid” fix, we must seek a comprehensive solution that truly makes campus safer for all.

Anoushka Jain ’30 can be reached at anoushka_jain1@ brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.edu.

PAGE 12

Friday, October 23, 2026

SCIENCE & RESEARCH BIOLOGY

Nobel Prize Laureate Craig Mello ’82 P’15 P’22 set to join Brown’s faculty Mello won the 2006 Nobel Prize for discovering RNA interference

“spiritual undertaking,” said it would be “refreshing to be in an environment where it’s okay to be philosophical.”

BY ANGEL LOPEZ & NISHITA MALHAN SENIOR STAFF WRITERS Craig Mello ’82 P’15 P’22 has always wanted to return to Brown. Now, 45 years after graduation and a Nobel Prize later, he will join the faculty of the Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry in summer 2027. Mello will work in the Giuliani RNA Center, which works to “advance RNA science through fundamental discovery, technology development and translational impact that accelerates life-changing health solutions,” according to their website. Mello’s role comes after decades of experience working with RNA. In 2006, Mello and Andrew Fire won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering RNA interference — a phenomenon where double-stranded RNA interferes with mRNA to regulate protein translation. “This Nobel-winning discovery gave researchers, for the first time, the ability to silence virtually any gene,” Dean of Medicine and Biology Sciences Mukesh Jain, who is also the senior associate provost for life sciences and senior vice president for health affairs, wrote in an email to The Herald. The discovery “opened up a whole new class of drugs in which synthetic RNAs can be used to silence disease-causing genes,” Jain added.

Mello’s role comes after decades of experience working with RNA. In an interview with The Herald, Mello described his Nobel-winning discovery with Fire as a “stunning surprise.” The two conducted their research on the worm species caenorhabditis elegans: a “self-fertile hermaphrodite,” Mello explained. They discovered that injecting double-stranded RNA anywhere in the worm’s body can silence genes across generations. The researchers originally injected the specimen in the gonad — the reproductive

gland responsible for secreting sex hormones — but found that administering the RNA in other places had the same effect. When the researchers injected the worms with double-stranded RNA, they found that the worms twitched in a way that might indicate gene suppression. “I always call the worm the real Nobel Prize winner because it’s such a great system,” Mello said. When Mello received the call in 2006, his wife thought it was a “prank call.” After

COURTESY OF CRAIG MELLO

receiving the news, his next call was to his parents. “My mom says, ‘Craig, you’re so young. Could you win another one?’” he recalled. According to Walter Atwood — chair of molecular biology, cell biology and biochemistry — the connection between Brown and Mello “runs very deeply.” “I’ve always wanted to be at Brown,” Mello said, expressing excitement to return to an “interdisciplinary environment.” Mello, who described science as a

Jain wrote that alongside his contributions to existing research at Brown, Mello’s experience in biotechnology “will be invaluable for other researchers who are in the process of starting companies or licensing their discoveries so that they can be developed into therapeutics that can help patients.” Mello said that he is excited to work with undergraduate students, describing them as “fearless.” “It would be just so much more fun when the undergrads were around,” he said, reflecting on his experiences with summer undergraduate researchers in his lab. Jain wrote that Mello’s lab “will bring an infusion of new ideas and potential new directions for research.” “(Mello) fits in perfectly,” said Atwood. “He’s an RNA biologist, a developmental biologist. His coming to Brown is really going to energize a lot of us doing research.” Mello said it is important for everyone to have a basic “understanding of our genetics” to make informed decisions, such as whether to receive immunizations or what kinds of medicines are safe. “I would just be thrilled if I inspire some other people and help generate more scientists, more smart public citizens of the world,” he added.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 19, 2026.

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PAGE 13

UNIVERSITY NEWS LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

A deep dive into Brown’s recent relationship with Indigenous communities The Herald dug through archives, articles and other resources

SOPHIE SMITH / HERALD

BY RACHEL WICKER SENIOR STAFF WRITER This article is the third in a series about the University’s land acknowledgment commitments. In 1636, when Roger Williams established Providence Plantations, he bought the land from the Narragansett Indian Tribe. Unlike many other colonists of his time, Williams acknowledged that New World land was not unoccupied or simply up for grabs. He aimed to establish trust with the indigenous community. But as more settlers arrived in Rhode Island, conflicts began to erupt between the colonists and the tribe. More than a century later, in 1770, Brown University settled in Providence, the historic homelands of the Narragansett Indian Tribe. “I don’t think it’s any secret that Brown doesn’t have a good relationship with the Indigenous community, specifically the Narragansett,” Mack Scott, assistant professor of Critical Native American and Indigenous studies and an enrolled member of the Narragansett Indian Tribe, told The Herald. This is not only due to “historical harms,” but also recent University actions that have been viewed negatively by the Narragansett Indian Tribe, he said. In 2021, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 charged a working group with creating recommendations for a land acknowledgment and subsequent commitments to strengthening the University’s relationship with Indigenous peoples. Faculty and staff shared in interviews with The Herald that several controversies have inhibited progress toward the commitments. The Herald dove into the archives to understand the history that has influenced Brown’s institutional relationship with the Narragansett Indian Tribe and other local Indigenous communities. How student activism created institutional change In 2016, Brown reached national headlines when it changed the fall holiday designated “Columbus Day” to “Indigenous Peoples’ Day.” This change was preceded by campus activism that began years prior; in 2008, students and faculty staged a speak-out focused on protesting the Columbus Day holiday. In 2009, the University renamed it “Fall Weekend.” In October 2015, Natives at Brown organized a demonstration demanding Fall Weekend be renamed Indigenous People’s Day. More than 300 students and Indigenous community members attended the protest, which involved performances of traditional songs and dances, speeches by citizens of local tribes and a campus march. Jeamilett Martinez ’28, co-coordinator for NAB told The Herald she thanks student activism for many of the resources she has as a Native student on campus. “A lot of the things that I benefit from — like having (the House of Ninnoug), being able to study (Native American and Indigenous Studies), having a DUG and having Indigenous professors and mentors — have been because of student activism,” Martinez said. In the fall of 2015, before the protest that led to Brown changing Fall Weekend to “Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” a since-re-

The Herald looked into Brown’s institutional relationship with the Narragansett Indian Tribe and other local Indigenous communities. moved op-ed published in The Herald suggested that Native students should celebrate the benefits of Columbus’s arrival in the Americas. Students and faculty responded by meeting with Paxson to urge institutional commitment to research and teaching on Native American and Indigenous peoples. This student push helped spur the creation of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative and CNAIS, The Herald previously reported. NAISI was founded in spring 2016, and CNAIS launched in spring 2023. endawnis Spears, practitioner in residence for tribal engagement at the Swearer Center, said that “the roots of the land acknowledgment and the subsequent five commitments” are from student activism. “None of this would be here without their decision to highlight the need for some institutional changes at Brown,” she said. How a professor’s false claims hurt institutional reliability Elizabeth Hoover PhD’10 worked as an associate professor of American Studies at Brown and served as the faculty chair of NAISI from 2019 until her departure from the University. Shortly after, she was revealed to be non-Native despite previous Indigenous claims. In 2023, Hoover issued a public apology admitting she is white, claiming she was unaware her family’s Indigenous claims were untrue. Javin Felipe ’26, a former senior advisor for NAB, said the incident “earned Brown a reputation.” When he attends Native conferences and introduces himself as a Brown student, “that’s kind of the first thing that pops into their head.” “Not many people realize how big of a scandal this was (among) Native scholars, or not even just Native academia, but the Native communities across the country,” he added. Indigenous identity fraud — in which an individual falsely claims Indigenous heritage — has occurred at universities in both the United States and Canada. It’s “not uncommon,” Felipe said. “But it’s sad that this happened at Brown and was allowed to happen at Brown.” How the University ‘mishandled’ one of the first land transfers

In 2017, members and supporters of the Pokanoket tribe pushed for the University to return land in Bristol, staging a campus march and an encampment that lasted over a month. For a time, negotiations stalled due to disagreement over various tribal claims to the land, The Herald previously reported. In a community-wide email response, the Steering Committee of NAISI wrote that the Pokanoket Nation “is not recognized by the other federally recognized Wampanoag communities.” Eventually, Brown reached an agreement with the Pokanoket Nation in which the University pledged to put a portion of the land in a preservation trust. According to the agreement, the trust intended to be accessible to the Pokanoket Nation, as well as other tribes with historical claims to the land, The Herald previously reported. In 2024, Brown transferred 255 acres of the Mount Hope property to a preservation trust established by the Pokanoket tribe. The remaining 120 acres were to be sold to the Town of Bristol. According to the announcement, the deed for the land transfer states that the Pokanoket shall “provide and maintain access to the lands and waters of the Property to all members of all Tribes historically part of the Pokanoket Nation/Confederacy,” in addition to various bands and tribes within the Wampanoag nation. Scott said the land transfer from the Mount Hope property has negatively impacted Brown’s relationship with the Narragansett Indian tribe. “To have one of the first ever instances of an institution doing this land back effort in providing land to a Native community that the Narragansett are saying are non‑Native is a real big slap in the face,” Scott said. Students at NAB have also criticized the land transfer, saying the University “mishandled” the transfer, The Herald previously reported. In an email to The Herald, University spokesperson Brian Clark wrote that “Brown made considerable effort to directly engage interested parties in the future of the Mount Hope property” and stated that the Narragansett Indian Tribe declined to participate in the process. How the University has recorded Indig-

enous history When the University was given Rhode Island industrialist Rudolf Haffenreffer’s collections, there were over 60,000 artifacts from Native American tribes. According to the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology website, Haffenreffer owned land at Mount Hope in Bristol, the location of King Philip’s War, an armed conflict between New England colonists and Native Americans. Haffenreffer began collecting Native American artifacts from New England and built the museum to house his collection. After Haffenreffer’s death, his family donated the museum — including the majority of its collections — as well as a portion of the land to Brown in 1955. In 1990, Congress passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which requires institutions to return Native American human remains and cultural items discovered on federal or tribal lands to the Indigenous communities they originated from. At that time, the Haffenreffer Museum possessed artifacts that fell under NAGPRA’s scope. Haffenreffer sent out nearly 1,000 letters to notify tribal communities that originally owned these items. But the museum is still working to return these items to Indigenous communities, according to Robert Preucel, a professor of anthropology and director of the Haffenreffer Museum. The Haffenreffer Museum’s possession of these items has sparked controversy between the Narragansett Indian Tribe and the University over the years, according to Scott. In 1999, The Herald reported that the Tribal Historical Preservation Officer for the Narragansett Indian Tribe claimed that officials at the Haffenreffer Museum were not honest in their handling of Native American artifacts known as the Burr’s Hill collection. They claimed that the Haffenreffer Museum had misattributed the collection to the Wampanoag tribe. More recently, in 2023, Narragansett officials said the Haffenreffer Museum failed to adequately consult the Narragansett Indian Tribe about the museum’s possession of 10 human remains and 24 funerary objects associated with the Narragansett. “NAGPRA is an important issue be-

cause it is not just a matter of physically returning ancestors,” Spears said. “It also is a legal process. It is an intellectual process. And for tribal nations that are looking to receive their ancestors back, it is a spiritual process.” In an email to The Herald, Preucel wrote that the University administration has “funded a dedicated museum staff position for repatriation and provenance” and hired an external organization, Bernstein & Associates, as NAGPRA consultants for the museum. Preucel was a member of the working group that established the land acknowledgment statement and serves on the NAISI steering committee. He added that the museum is hoping to build partnerships with tribes and collaborate with them to create educational programs. How the University moves forward Scott said that recent controversies — including NAGPRA disputes and the Bristol land transfer — have caused a “rift” between Brown and the Narragansett Indian Tribe that has inhibited community-engaged work. The controversy of the land transfer “is definitely influencing our ability to live into the five commitments,” Spears said. According to Scott, there were efforts for some professors to create community-engaged courses with local tribal communities, but due to “the tradition of animosities” those courses were not able to occur. The 2026 status report acknowledges relational challenges, including “recent land claims and transfers” and “scholar identity appropriation.” “These issues have impacted the University’s institutional relationships with regional tribal and Indigenous partners,” the report reads. “Building trust and strengthening these relationships are foundational to the work moving forward.” Spears said that stronger trust between Indigenous communities and the University is necessary for Brown to effectively progress towards the commitments. “I think we are in a phase of building that trustworthiness right now,” she added.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 20, 2026.

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Friday, October 23, 2026

ARTS & CULTURE REVIEW

Does Nathan Fielder believe Elizabeth Holmes? Would you? In “You Can See Everything,” Fielder follows the Theranos founder BY REBECCA GOODMAN UNIVERSITY NEWS AND ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR The best review of Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s documentary “You Can See Everything” would say nothing at all. For a film that bends genre as much as this one, the ideal preparation is none. Whatever you think you know and whatever you expect, Fielder and Oppenheim’s documentary on disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes will stun you in every possible way. Thirty four days before beginning her prison sentence, Holmes invited Fielder and

Oppenheim — and with them, the public — into her life with her fiance Billy Evans and their two children. The result is, at the very least, the standout movie of the year so far. What begins as a bizarre slice-of-life story unfolds into something akin to a psychological thriller — perhaps even more for the audience than the people on screen. Just when you think the film cannot possibly go further, it does. In 2003, at the age of 19, Holmes founded Theranos — a company that promised a device that could perform the testing of conventional labs with only a pinprick of blood. In 2015, Forbes named Holmes the youngest female self-made billionaire. But when it came to light that the technology did not work, her empire fell apart. In 2022, she was convicted of multiple counts of fraud and sentenced to over 11 years in federal prison. But even with the force of law against

her, truth is slippery in the face of Holmes, whose piercing gaze and beady blue eyes are almost impossible to read. One especially revealing moment comes when Fielder shows Holmes Abbott and Costello’s famous “Who’s On First?” comedy bit. Holmes’s reaction to the routine and apparent inability to understand its basic humor seemingly confirms the unique, impenetrable quality of her mind. It begs the question: Did she knowingly defraud investors at Theranos, or did she truly believe she was telling the truth? Fielder seems to struggle with the question. Fielder — the mind behind “The Rehearsal” and “Nathan for You” — is likely the only filmmaker who could have gone toe to toe with Holmes for this movie. It’s three hours of the irresistible force paradox — Fielder, of course, the unstoppable force and Holmes the immovable object. Locked

in intense conversations framed on screen as though their faces are centimeters apart, it often feels like the two are about to kiss. Alongside the captivating dynamic between Fielder and Holmes, Evans — Holmes’s fiance — is an unexpected and entirely bizarre addition. His eyes are almost as blue, wide and shifty as his fiancee’s, and the two share an unabashed commitment to Holmes’s innocence. Evans bares all in this documentary: the good, the bad and the ugly (but mostly the latter two). The camera work from cinematographer David Bolen is intimate and severe, providing a visceral view of the inner workings of this absolutely nutty group of people. Just as he captures the almost-sexual tension between Fielder and Holmes, Bolen crafts laugh-out-loud framing moments where Fielder, lurking behind Holmes, comes into focus with his characteristi-

cally penetrating expression. As wild as this film is, it is also exceptionally funny. Whether in moments when Fielder breaks the fourth wall or lapses in his serious demeanor to reply incredulously to Evans or Holmes, the film capitalizes on its palpable tension with comic relief. This inclination toward laughter is perhaps rooted in the fact that neither Fielder nor the audience know what to make of what they’re seeing. Holmes claims to sincerely believe that she did nothing wrong — but belief is just as elusive as truth. Watch this documentary with a crowd. You might leave the theater knowing even less than when you walked in. In any case, you will see absolutely everything.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 20, 2026.

ORCHESTRA

R.I. Philharmonic Orchestra to take first international trip to Florence

Their performance will honor the anniversary of the Arno River flooding BY NEIL SAJNANI CONTRIBUTING WRITER

On Nov. 3, ten musicians from the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra will travel to Florence, Italy, to perform Mozart’s Requiem alongside the orchestra of the Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, an elite training center for young and emerging artists in Florence. The performance — which will occur at the Basilica of Santa Croce on Nov. 7 — will serve as the R.I. Philharmonic’s first-ever international performance. The concert commemorates the 60th anniversary of the catastrophic flooding of the Arno River in Florence, which inundated the

city and left much of its art in ruins. Following the flood, thousands of young American volunteers rushed to Florence as “Mud Angels” to support the city’s restoration efforts. Providence also faced serious flooding following the arrival of Hurricane Carol in 1954. As two cities that had experienced significant flooding events, Providence and Florence signed a “friendship pact” in 1998. On the 25th anniversary of the pact, singers from the Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino joined the R.I. Philharmonic for the Sott’Acqua Festival at the Grace Episcopal Church in Providence. The Philharmonic’s trip is an opportunity for Providence to “return the favor,” said Executive Director at the R.I. Philharmonic and Music School David Beauchesne. The November performance will be the grand finale of the “Rising from the Arno” festival, which celebrates 60 years of art,

resilience and stewardship in Florence. It is part of the larger “Splendor of Florence” initiative, an international effort to preserve the city’s heritage. The concert will not only reinforce cultural connections between Florence and Providence, Beauchesne said, “but also (remember) those who lost their lives in this terrible flood, and the incredible collaboration and partnership that went into restoring” the city’s art and architecture. For the last five years, Beauchesne has been working with the artistic team at Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino to organize the concerts in both Florence and Providence. Katherine Winterstein, a teaching associate at Brown and the associate concertmaster of the R.I. Philharmonic, has worked with the orchestra for nearly 30 years and is learning Italian in preparation for the trip.

Winterstein said that throughout her time in the R.I. Philharmonic, she has watched the organization grow significantly in quality. She said that she thinks the Florence trip will allow the orchestra to raise its profile. David Rogers, the director of artistic operations at the R.I. Philharmonic and Music School, described the last 10 years as “challenging” for the orchestra as a result of the pandemic and the lack of “a steady music director” around that time. But during the 2025-26 season, Ruth Reinhardt — a German conductor based in Switzerland — joined the orchestra as its new music director. Winterstein described the orchestra under Reinhardt as “collaborative,” adding that it felt like the group was “working with her and not working for her.” Reinhardt will conduct the November performance. According to Beauchesne, the trip was in the works long before Reinhardt had joined

as music director two years ago. So, he took the lead on the concert’s artistic direction, alongside the Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. For the trip, Rogers will oversee orchestra production and work with musicians to manage their logistical needs. This includes planning travel documents as well as arranging for a basset horn — a unique instrument required for Mozart’s Requiem — to be lent to the R.I. Philharmonic by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. “Music links people from all over the world in ways that almost nothing else does,” Rogers said. “It is so important to have those kinds of connections … they last a lifetime.”

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Oct. 21, 2026.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

PAGE 15

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Friday, October 23, 2026

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