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SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

VOLUME CLVII, ISSUE 41

BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Students discuss housing after challenges last spring

FEMA awards U. nearly $4 million in grant funding

Sophomores, juniors largely content with outcomes despite hectic process

Grant to help University cover COVID-19 testing, pandemicrelated costs

BY STELLA CHEN SENIOR STAFF WRITER After a shortage in rooms listed on the Office of Residential Life’s student housing portal left some members of the class of 2025 without room assignments, many ended the spring 2022 semester uncertain of where they would live in the fall. The Herald spoke with seven students about their experiences with the housing process and where they wound up. Michael Lu ’25 described the initial housing lottery experience as stressful and frustrating. “The first moment when the reports started coming in of how quickly housing was going out, we were really angry because we had spent so much time looking at Brown Bear Dens, looking at the spreadsheets,” he said. “Like hours and hours every day that we

BY HALEY SANDLOW SENIOR STAFF WRITER

DANA RICHIE / HERALD

80% of the 165 sophomores received housing assignments before the end of June, while the rest received their housing by Aug. 2. should have spent probably studying or just relaxing.” Due to complications with its initial process, ResLife opened a second housing lottery and an additional assignment process over the summer for

those who did not select housing in the April lottery. Several upperclassmen elected to move off campus after receiving their placements. Lu explained that while the second housing lottery was similar to the first,

ResLife did not release spreadsheets of available dorms prior to the process, so students could not plan to select specific rooms.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will reimburse the University nearly $4 million for costs incurred in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic — namely expenses from its testing services — through FEMA’s Public Assistance Program, according to an Aug. 29 news release. The $3,961,745 of funding will cover the cost of 76,861 COVID-19 tests administered by the University between

SEE HOUSING PAGE 2

SEE FEMA PAGE 2

METRO

Residents protest Morley Field Park redevelopment

RI continues facing COVID-19, monkeypox

Proposed commercial overhaul of park sparks backlash, preservation efforts by locals

BY NATALIE VILLACRES SENIOR STAFF WRITER The Pawtucket Department of Planning and Redevelopment has proposed a commercial overhaul of Morley Field Park, located in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Pawtucket, according to Pawtucket 5th District Representative Clovis Gregor. City officials, who first introduced the idea in May 2021, are looking to sell the 5-acre site to private developer JK Equities LLC, which would turn it into a parking lot and distribution center, Gregor said. In recent weeks, the city’s plans have sparked community-wide backlash among residents, council members and political candidates in the area. “I found (the plan) to be pretty insulting,” Gregor said. “It’s simply not acceptable.” Morley Field Park, first established in 1970, currently stands as

the largest recreational greenspace in Woodlawn, a neighborhood with a working-class population, said Tarshire Battle, founder and executive director of Roots 2Empower. Roots 2Empower is a Rhode Island nonprofit that invests in agriculture and green industries to empower marginalized communities. She said that Woodlawn is home to many people of color and many households live at or below the poverty rate. She added that Woodlawn has many multi-family units lacking substantial backyards or greenspace. As a Pawtucket resident who is familiar with the affected area, Battle expressed her growing disappointment in city officials, pointing out the severe detriments the new facility would have on already disenfranchised populations. According to Battle, the parking lot would generate a heat island, spaces in cities that have higher temperatures than surrounding areas. “That alone is environmental racism in my opinion,” she said. Battle also expressed concerns for the physical and mental well-being

SEE PROTEST PAGE 3

University continues to provide KN95 masks, test kits to students BY MICHAEL SEOANE SENIOR STAFF WRITER Rhode Island public health officials are continuing the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic as a new threat of monkeypox emerges. Officials who spoke with The Herald expressed optimism about Rhode Island’s COVID-19 infection rates and shared preventative tips for monkeypox. COVID-19 The number of daily cases in Rhode Island peaked in January this year, when the daily average number of cases in the state reached over 5,000, according to the New York Times. After a brief surge in May, the number of reported cases has been on a steady decline. An average of 220 cases per day were recorded in Rhode Island last week — a 10% drop relative to infection rates two weeks ago. “I am cautiously optimistic about the direction we are going in with COVID,” said Phillip Chan, Rhode Is-

RHEA RASQUINHA / HERALD

land Department of Health consultant medical director and associate professor of medicine at the University. “We are relatively back to normal. At this stage in the game, it’s about being vigilant and observant.” “Infections are at a low level, which is a great thing,” he added. “We are in a good place with Omicron and COVID in general, but some of the variants are still in circulation.” Since the start of the pandemic, over 420,000 people in Rhode Island have been infected with COVID, and there have been nearly 3,700 deaths. Despite the recent improvement in the state, the virus is killing thousands of people at the national level. “If you

Sports

U. News

Commentary

U. News

Women’s soccer defeats Providence College to claim Crosstown Cup Page 4

Watson panel discusses professor’s new book ‘The Pope at War’ Page 5

Peng ’26: Despite promise, most modern gift economies fail Page 7

U. alum presents silk print exhibition at Nightingale-Brown House Page 8

look at the country-level trends, there are about 80,000 new cases and another 500 people dying every single day,” said Amy Nunn, professor of behavioral and social sciences in the School of Public Health and professor of medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School. “The mortality rate has gone down, but it is not insignificant.” “I think this is something that we’re going to have to grapple with on a regular basis,” she added. “The population has COVID fatigue. No one really wants to talk about it anymore, and this is making things difficult.” The CDC recommends that people

SEE VIRUS PAGE 4

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NEIL MEHTA '25 DESIGN EDITOR