SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD VOLUME CLX, ISSUE 16
BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
METRO
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
What Brown students researched around College Hill this summer
Editorial: Brown must foster AI literacy
OPINIONS
ARTS & CULTURE
SPORTS
SEE EXHIBIT PAGE 4
SEE UTRAS PAGE 7
SEE EDITORIAL PAGE 10
SEE TSITP PAGE 12
SEE TURF PAGE 14
New RI State House art exhibit celebrates state’s Latino ‘pioneers’
‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ delivers satisfying finale
Indoor turf facility on track to open for spring semester
Law firm threatens Brown’s funding over research about anti-offshore wind groups LILA QUINN / HERALD
Marzulla’s threats to cut off federal funds would likely not apply to the CDL, which is privately funded and does not receive support from the sources that Marzulla Law listed, according to the head of the center, Timmons Roberts.
Marzulla Law sent letter to University demanding research be retracted BY ELISE HAULUND SCIENCE & RESEARCH EDITOR This past July, Brown made a deal with the Trump administration to restore the University’s federal funds. But the deal was not the end of threats to Brown’s research funding. On Aug. 11, Brown received a letter
from Marzulla Law, a law firm with close ties to the conservative legal movement, on behalf of Green Oceans, a local anti-offshore wind group. In the letter, the law firm demanded the University retract three publications from 2023 and 2024 authored by researchers at the Climate and Development Lab, claiming that the publications contained “materially false claims” about the nonprofit and caused “significant harm.” In the letter, which was obtained by The Herald, the firm stated they are “preparing coordinated reports to key public
and private funding bodies,” including the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy and the Mellon Foundation. The letter stated that “Green Oceans will consider all available legal remedies” if the University does not comply. In an email to The Herald, Barbara Chapman P’18 P’20, a Green Oceans trustee and member of the litigation team, wrote that the organization believes it has the grounds for further legal action. “The publications contain provably false statements that have damaged Green Oceans’ reputation and fundraising and
have been amplified by others,” Chapman wrote. In a statement to The Herald, University Spokesperson Brian Clark affirmed Brown’s commitment to “academic freedom” and the right of faculty to “shape their own research and course of instruction at Brown.” Marzulla Law’s threats of endangering federal funding would likely not apply to the CDL, which is privately funded and does not receive support from the sources that the law firm listed in its letter, according to the head of the center, Timmons Roberts,
who is a professor of environment, society and sociology. As a think tank that studies climate change policy based within the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, one of the CDL’s primary research areas is the “seemingly grassroots and sometimes actually grassroots” organizations that oppose the development of offshore wind plants in the northeastern United States, said undergraduate CDL researcher Charlotte Calkins ’27.
SEE WIND PAGE 6
UNIVERSITY NEWS
UNIVERSITY NEWS
Intl. students more socioeconomically diverse after need-blind admissions, Herald poll shows
$16.75 million donation to fund new Innovation and Design Hub
Class of 2029 first class admitted under a need-blind policy for international students
The building will house an expanded Brown Design Workshop
BY TIFFANY XIAO SENIOR STAFF WRITER First-year international students in the class of 2029, the first cohort admitted under a needblind paradigm, are more socioeconomically diverse than preceding classes, data from The Herald’s First-Year Poll suggests. The need-blind policy, which domestic applications have been evaluated under since 2003, ensures that “applicants’ ability to pay for their education will not be a determining factor in the admission decision,” according to Brown’s financial aid office. The University announced the expansion of
post- Magazine
need-blind to international applicants in 2021. It was implemented during the last application cycle after the University raised $120 million to fund the initiative. Only nine other U.S. colleges currently offer a need-blind admissions policy for international students, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 said in her convocation speech for the class of 2029. While Brown’s official admissions data has yet to be released, The Herald’s First-Year Poll, which is based on responses from about 45% of the incoming class, suggests the percentage of international first-year students on financial aid and from low-income backgrounds have increased. Nearly 55% of international students in the class of 2029 received financial aid, compared
SEE ADMISSIONS PAGE 3
SEE POST- PAGE 8
BY CATE LATIMER UNIVERSITY EDITOR A $16.75 million donation will support the renovation of the Prince Lab into the Lassonde Innovation and Design Hub, Brown announced Thursday. The building will feature an “expanded and modernized” Brown Design Workshop, classrooms and research labs. The building will also house two engineering master’s programs: the master of science in innovation management and entrepreneurship and the Brown-RISD master of arts in design engineering. The hub will “provide a new center for entrepreneurial learning and create new opportunities
Arts & Culture
for Brown students to build community around the creative process,” President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 wrote in a press release. Sergio Gonzalez, senior vice president for advancement, added that the hub will “expand hands-on, experiential learning opportunities” and “strengthen Brown’s position as a leader in design engineering education.” The donation was made by the Lassonde Family Foundation, led by Pierre Lassonde P’EMBA’18 P’AM’24, a Canadian businessman who has previously given multi million-dollar donations to the University of Utah and Polytechnique Montréal. He serves as the co-founder and chairman emeritus of Franco-Nevada Corporation, a publicly traded mining and energy royalty company. Renovations to the 63-year-old building will begin in spring 2026 and will take approximately 18
SEE LAB PAGE 2
SEE ADDISON PAGE 13