SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Friday, September 23, 2022
VOLUME CLVII, ISSUE 44
UNIVERSITY NEWS
U. plans for new life sciences building Researchers look forward to new facilities, collaboration opportunities
BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM
ARTS & CULTURE
Tattoo artist jankypoker works to create ‘safe space’ Self-taught Rena Jiang ’23 has become popular artist for students seeking tattoos
BY JARED ZHANG SENIOR STAFF WRITER The University has begun planning to build a new integrated life sciences building in Providence’s Jewelry District as it runs out of space for research in its current facilities, according to Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences Mukesh Jain. “In May, the Brown Corporation authorized the University to begin the process of selecting an architect (for the new life sciences building), and that process is now underway,” University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald. The University hopes to share news about the selection of an architect within the next few months, he added. The University will launch an extensive programming phase to assess factors such as space needs, design, projected scale and estimated costs,
BY LAURA DAVID ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR
DANA RICHIE / HERALD
Life sciences research continues to grow on campus and across the country, as does the capacity of researchers to make discoveries.
Clark wrote. The first steps will likely take four or five years, he added. The University is currently looking for design teams that have previously developed academic research facilities and also have a commitment to sustainable design practices, Clark wrote. Currently, the University has three biomedical facilities, two on campus — the Biomedical Center and Sidney Frank Hall for Life Sciences — and one off campus — the Laboratories for Molecular Medicine at 70 Ship St., Jain wrote in an email to The Herald.
“The BioMed Center opened in 1969, so it’s the oldest and most dated of our facilities, and it’s completely maxed out. Sidney Frank and the Laboratories for Molecular Medicine opened in the mid-2000s, and both are nearing capacity,” Jain wrote. “Right now, we are essentially out of space for research, not just in BioMed.” Not only are the existing research facilities nearing maximum capacity, some need significant investments
SEE CONSTRUCTION PAGE 2
METRO
When you first walk into the studio of Rena Jiang ’23, it feels like you’re there to see an old friend. Though dotted with tattooing equipment, the space is far from clinical; an open skylight and window let in the breeze of a fall day, and the white wood walls create a cozy atmosphere. Sitting on the massage table on this particular Saturday afternoon is Perry Allen ’23 — an old friend of Jiang’s — waiting to be tattooed. Allen shifts nervously in the chair. “Wait,” he says as Jiang ties a tension band around his elbow. “It’s a little tight, can we maybe reposition? I don’t want my arm to fall asleep.” He has selected a finely-drawn leafy branch as his design, and the two debate its place-
ment. They decide to put the stencil on Allen’s forearm. Jiang wets a sponge and completes the design’s stencil transfer. She picks up her ink and needle, and she begins. Known on social media as jankypoker, Jiang has become a go-to tattoo artist on campus. “Honestly, I just picked this design because I wanted one of Rena’s tattoos and her books fill up quick, so I impulsively signed up once they opened,” Allen joked. Jiang’s business began as an experiment between friends. “It was just like a COVID thing,” she said. “I wouldn’t say that I had planned on turning it into a business. It just sort of happened that there was a lot of demand, and it was me and three other girls living bored in a house with nothing to do. So, we bought a couple of needles and we” started trying them out. As more and more people in her social circle began to notice her work, she started booking through Instagram direct messages, she said. “It was defi-
SEE POKER PAGE 3
SPORTS
RIPTA bus driver shortage affects students, residents Shortage reflects nationwide trend in lack of transportation staff, according to RIPTA BY SAMEER SINHA METRO EDITOR The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority is experiencing a shortage of bus drivers, affecting those who rely on the transit system to get to school, work or around town. Issues with staffing have left many riders without their regularly scheduled buses, according to WPRI. This issue has been particularly severe for buses used by the Providence Public School District; it is unclear exactly how many students have been affected by the issue, but around 4,500 students in a given year generally request a bus pass. Demi Egunjobi, an 11th grader at Classical High School, said that a majority of her friends take the RIPTA to commute to school. In the wake of the delays caused by the driver shortage, Egunjobi has begun to walk to school.
“It takes so long to wait, and when we do wait … it’s so crowded,” she said. Walking home takes an hour to an hour and a half for Egunjobi, but even this long commute is similar to how long a bus ride would take when factoring in the unusual wait times. On Thursday morning, six school bus routes were canceled, and the previous day, five were canceled, the Providence Journal reported. Barbara Polichetti, director of public affairs for RIPTA, wrote in an email to The Herald that RIPTA met with the division leaders of the Amalgamated Transit Union, the union that represents Rhode Island bus drivers, “to discuss how to resolve recent bus service disruption for” Providence school students. In the meeting, the union recommended that RIPTA “call upon former bus operators who are current employees in different roles to help transport school” students, but RIPTA has thus far not been able to recruit any former bus operators. RIPTA offered a short-term solution to the driver shortage for students, allowing them to take any bus, even if it
SEE RIPTA PAGE 2
First-year student-athletes find community Teammates help players adapt to multiday trips, rigorous practice schedules BY LINUS LAWRENCE SENIOR STAFF WRITER Late Sunday night, a flight carrying the men’s water polo team back from the West Coast landed in Boston. The team had embarked on a road trip through California beginning Friday in which they played three games in a span of just over 24 hours, arriving back on campus soon after midnight Monday morning. “I spent three (hours) of our six-hour flight (to California) doing my computer science lab on the plane,” goalkeeper Kole Newman ’26 said. “If I wasn’t working on that, I was pretty much sleeping.” All first-year students face a myriad of new experiences during their transition to Brown — attending orientation events, shopping classes, building new routines and acclimating to other elements of college life. For student-athletes, these experiences come in addition to a rigorous athletic schedule and adapting to new team dynamics. Three fall student-athletes spoke with The Herald about the unique benefits and
Arts & Culture
Commentary
Metro
Scholars criticize Dobbs abortion decision at Pembroke Center panel Page 4
Slusarewicz ’23: College drinking culture needs change Page 6
New cookie, waffle shops coming to Angell Street during fall semester Page 8
VICTORIA YIN / HERALD
The women’s soccer and men’s water polo teams both returned to campus after midnight Monday morning. challenges of their first-year experience and what they have learned in their first few weeks at Brown. On the day that the men’s water polo team returned to campus, the women’s soccer team also returned from a multi-day cross-country trip to Stillwater, Okla., where they fell to Oklahoma State University the day before. The Bears dealt with a flight cancellation en route to the game and battled extreme heat while playing away from home, The Herald previously reported. While weekend trips typically occur only a few times per season, rigorous practice schedules are a reg-
ular part of a first-year athlete’s daily life. “The days are pretty packed,” said Naya Cardoza ’26, a forward on the women’s soccer team. A student-athlete might have “a sport-related event in the morning, go to class(es) … and then, on top of all of that, there’s things that you need to fit into the day,” such as eating, resting and completing coursework. “The travel schedule has definitely impacted how I’ve been able to settle into my first year at college,” Jessie Golden ’26, a defensive specialist on
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TODAY TOMORROW
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SIRINE BENALI ’23 DESIGN EDITOR
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NEIL MEHTA ’25 DESIGN EDITOR