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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2017

VOLUME CLII, ISSUE 15

Online voting proposal wins BrownThink Undergraduate public policy competition focuses on cybersecurity, provides hands-on perspective By ANNA KRAMER

By PRIYA PODUGU SENIOR STAFF WRITER

DOROTHY WINDHAM / HERALD

The team scored 900 out of a possible 1000 points, according to the competition judges. Twelve teams of undergraduates participated and the margin of victory was small, judges said. The competition gave “a hands-on perspective in an environment you can’t get in a classroom setting … that simulates the real world,” Henney said.

All four of the winning team members praised the resources, workshops and speakers made available to the competitors. Ambassador Richard Boucher and John Nicholson, first secretary for cybersecurity at the British embassy, spoke Saturday on the future of security, » See POLICY, page 4

Annenberg Institute searches for new director Institute to promote educational equity through interdepartmental research STAFF WRITER

INSIDE

In the wake of the United Nation’s condemnation of Israel’s settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, 17 Brown students traveled to Israel and Palestine over winter break on a trip sponsored by Project Interchange. Project Interchange, a self-described “nonpartisan and apolitical” educational institute owned by the pro-Israel American Jewish Committee, seeks to “advance understanding of Israel across key fields and diverse constituencies around the world,” according to the project’s website. Though the project’s goal is to educate individuals about Israeli culture and society, it has been criticized for presenting a slanted narrative of the Israeli and Palestinian conflict to college students. Accessibility and appeal Project Interchange is one of a few opportunities for Brown students to travel to Israel and Palestine. Students can also take a similar trip through UNIV 1001: “The Israeli-Palestinian

By ANNA KRAMER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

MARIANNA MCMURDOCK / HERALD

“The Annenberg Institute: A Road Map” highlights the institute’s focus on school reform, addressing the consequences of educational inequity. University, including two senior staff members of Annenberg and Dean of the Faculty Kevin McLaughlin, to review Annenberg’s history and programs. Together they compared the

Annenberg Institute to other similar educational policy institutes around the country. The institute put forth three key » See ANNENBERG, page 2

Conflict: Contested Narratives,” a destination-course offered during the Wintersession, or through Birthright, a Hillel International sponsored trip run by Brown/RISD Hillel. Keiner Oliveira ’19 said that Project Interchange was an appealing option for him because he “didn’t want to take a course … I wanted to immerse myself immediately.” Because the trip was free, it was “more accessible” than Wintersession, he said. Wintersession courses cost over $7,000, though financial aid was available for students. Additionally, Birthright trips are only available to Jewish students. Project Interchange works to “present perspectives well beyond the Zionist spectrum,” said Seffi Kogen, AJC’s assistant director for campus affairs who accompanied Brown students to Israel and Palestine in 2016. A trip was created exclusively for Brown students, partly due to the project’s desire to return “a full cohort of students that could introduce nuance that they gleaned” from the trip to campus dialogue, he added. But the trip’s accessibility and its ability to effectively engage with campus dialogue has been a sticking point among Brown students. “The kids who go on these trips are not seeing everything,” particularly an Arab’s experience of trying to visit Israel, said Sara Al-Salem ’17, a former » See PI, page 2

Swearer Center to house Carnegie Classification Center hosts initiative, hopes to become national leader in field of community engagement

By AILEEN SEO

In anticipation of its 25th anniversary in 2018, the Annenberg Institute for School Reform will hire a new director as it seeks to expand its mission to address inequalities in education. The main recommendations proposed in a plan called “The Annenberg Institute: A Road Map” build on the institute’s mission of educational equity that has been central to its work for over twenty years, wrote Michael Grady, interim executive director of Annenberg, in an email to The Herald. “Equity has been our guiding light, connecting our research, technical assistance, community engagement work and our support to districts,” Grady said in a University press release. The charge to reshape the institute’s mission has been led by Provost Richard Locke, who during summer 2017 invited faculty from across the

Project Interchangesponsored trip draws criticism Brown students travel to Israel, Palestine with hopes of nuanced perspective on conflict

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Students and judges at the second annual BrownThink public policy competition analyzed and critiqued proposals addressing cybersecurity issues Saturday and Sunday. The event, hosted in the Joukowsky Forum of the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, included panels with prominent leaders in the field of cybersecurity, a model United Nations simulation, cyber games, proposal preparation and presentation of final proposals. Eren Ileri ’18, Christopher Bey ’17 , Vladimir Borodin ’19 and Laura Henney ’19 took home a cash prize and the chance to collaborate with the Center for Strategic and Contemporary Research for their winning proposal, “Addressing Infrastructures for Online Voting Systems in NATO.” The team’s policy proposal included a North Atlantic Council Committee on electoral cybersecurity, a convention on the infrastructure of end-to-end virtual internet voting and election network monitoring with emergency response, Ileri said.

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The Swearer Center for Public Service aims to become a national leader in the field of community engagement by hosting the operations of the Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement — a designation that indicates a university’s exemplary service record — according to University administrators. As the “host” of the Carnegie Classification, the Swearer Center will field applications for the prestigious designation and provide space for data concerning Carnegie-classified schools, said Matthew Johnson, director of the Swearer Center. “The classification is like the Oscars,” Johnson said. “We didn’t win the Oscar. Instead, they came to us and said, ‘Will you run the Oscars?’” The decision to host the Carnegie

Classification is part of a larger Swearer Center project, the National Field-Building Initiative, which intends to place the Swearer Center at the heart of national attention in the field of community engagement, Johnson said. Its three primary focuses include conferences, awards and research. The initiative should interest large potential funders, Johnson said. He hopes the Swearer Center will become a “seed-bed or laboratory” for new practices. Schools earn the classification after undergoing a complex, yearlong application process and gathering reams of data that prove remarkable student involvement, Johnson said. About 360 schools have met the necessary threshold. As home to the Carnegie Classification, the Swearer Center will shepherd the standard and ensure universities merit the designation, said Dean of the College Maud Mandel. The Carnegie Foundation’s previous partner, New England Resource Center for Higher Education, stepped away from the task, leaving an opening for a » See CARNEGIE, page 2

WEATHER

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2017

NEWS New linguistics research finds no difference in communicated information across speech rates

NEWS Ratty kicks off spring semester with organizational decor, culinary changes

COMMENTARY Smith GS: Columnists’ reliance on insults makes critique of President Trump less effective

COMMENTARY Liang ’19: Scientists should embrace civic engagement, make research accessible to public

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» CARNEGIE, from page 1 successor, Johnson said. The Carnegie Foundation and John Saltmarsh, the former director of NERCHE, chose the Swearer Center. “We needed to find a place where (the Carnegie Classification) could be well-administered” and sustainable, Saltmarsh said. “Carnegie was looking for a highly respected university and center,” and Matthew Johnson’s new leadership at the Swearer Center made it “clear that Brown was the best choice,” he added. “They chose us because it’s clear that from the top down … I have the support and institutional leadership to grow the center and reposition (it) as a national leader,” Johnson said. The Swearer Center will administer the new applications for the 2020 cycle, receive all incoming applications and

» PI, from page 1 Herald columnist from Saudi Arabia who argued the project cannot achieve its aim to influence campus dialogue without including anti-Zionist perspectives. Al-Salem has not gone on the trip herself and said she would not consider going on the trip in the future. “If Israel is really a country for all … tell me why can’t I get in without facing harassment or (extensive) questioning?” Al-Salem said. Al-Salem also said her brother, a U.S. citizen, was detained for eight hours upon reaching customs in Israel, highlighting alleged discrimination that Arab Americans face while traveling through the area. Caroline Jones ’19 who went on the Brown-exclusive trip said that, on campus, students frequently “pick a side and don’t talk about it for fear of offending the wrong person … My default was to side with Palestine but (my opinion) wasn’t nuanced enough (for me) to take ownership of it.” Jones expected the trip to be “very pro-Israel,” but said she still agreed to go on it based on her desire to learn more about the Israel-Palestine conflict. Matthew Jarrell ’18, a former senior staff writer for The Herald who went on a Project Interchange trip in 2015, said Brown students who are passionate about the conflict tend to be “very set in their beliefs,” and their advocacy work deals less with “promoting dialogue and more with convincing people that their side is the right one.” Influence on campus dialogue Students appeared to have learned about Project Interchange by word of mouth. Jarrell said he learned about the trip from Jillian Lanney ’16, a former Herald managing editor. Jones, a current section editor at Brown Political Review, and Samantha Kiernan ’19 said they learned about the trip from Jarrell, who is currently the content director at the BPR and a college student-ambassador

» ANNENBERG, from page 1 recommendations to renew its efforts to promote equity, Locke said. First, the institute will strengthen its focus on educational inequality in relation to school reform. Locke said that Annenberg could focus on the causes and consequences of educational inequality across the country and look for strategies to mitigate the consequences. The recommendations also suggest that Annenberg integrate its work with University research by creating professorships that will be based in the

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house all prior and current applications and data, Johnson said. The center will use the data to determine best practices in the field, he added. Application for the designation occurs every five years, Johnson said, adding that the University will need to apply in the 2020 cycle in order to ensure it merits the classification. Johnson will recuse himself from the application review process at that time, he said. He did not express concern about the University earning the designation. “I think we’re doing leading work in the field,” he said. Johnson identified several requirements to earn the classification, all of which ensure universities integrate community engagement in learning and measure its impact. The Swearer Center has hired one additional staff member, Georgina Manok,

who is a program manager for research and assessment and spends about half her time working with the Carnegie project, Johnson said. Hosting the classification does not require University funding, Johnson said. Instead, the program self-sustains from application fees paid to the Swearer Center, he added. Undergraduates are likely to engage with the data and the Carnegie Classification over the next few years, Johnson said. For example, research could inspire a student’s honors theses, he said, adding that one student has already requested to work as a research assistant with Carnegie Classification. The Swearer Center will focus on sorting and analyzing the data to obtain valuable information for best practices, he said. “We’re seeking to contribute to a national conversation in higher education

for Project Interchange. Project Interchange offers trips tailored for specific colleges across the country. The Brown-specific trip was offered for the first time in 2016 in response to a “disturbing trend” in the way Brown students have protested against Israel, Kogen said. “What we’ve seen is that Israel’s detractors are moving toward a strategy that is built more around disrupting events and working to exercise the heckler’s veto,” he said, referencing the Janet Mock petition and Michael Douglas protest Spring 2016. Al-Salem agreed with Kogen’s position that student protests have led to silencing speakers on campus. But she disagreed with his characterization of this tactic as being limited to anti-Zionist students on campus. Prior to offering university-specific trips, Project Interchange offered media trips for student journalists and leaders of different student organizations in the United States. “These trips have included members of The Herald and the Brown Political Review,” said Lanney, who went on the media trip in 2014. “The media trip (was) specifically geared toward student journalists and expose(d) you to a lot of people in journalism in Israel,” Lanney added. Applications for the media trip required student journalists to disclose their school newspaper’s circulation and staff size. Myra Clark-Siegel, Project Interchange’s director of communications and senior strategic counsel, said this information was necessary because “when you’re looking at bringing a group of student leaders, … you want to make sure you have a nice cross section” that represents their college campus. Though the institute offers trips to college students, Project Interchange “usually focuses on mature audiences like professors, researchers and academics … people with more power than Brown students,” Oliveira said. “Focusing on these individuals is important

because then the conversation transitions onto other areas in the world.” “That they are targeting student leaders (to go on this trip) … should be an immediate red flag” that this could be a propaganda tool, said Al-Salem, questioning the project’s desire to recruit individuals who wield considerable influence on college campuses. Post-trip, some students stay involved with Project Interchange and go on to work with AJC. Project Interchange alums have received opportunities to attend “conference call briefings and earn alumni venture funds … (they) are also connected through AJC advocacy work,” Kogen said. After finishing his trip with Project Interchange, Jarrell said he was invited to a retreat with AJC’s board of directors.

institute itself. This falls in line with the institute’s efforts to promote equity by focusing on faculty-led social science research and post-doctoral, graduate and undergraduate programs, Grady wrote. The Annenberg might also tap into the University’s interdisciplinary nature, involving departments like economics, political science and Africana studies, to expand the scope of its work, Locke said. Thirdly, the institute plans to increase community engagement by working with different local organizations to “translate research into practice,” Locke

about the way in which to intersect the doing and the thinking that students engage in,” Mandel said. The National Assessment of Service and Community Engagement will join the Carnegie Classification in the research category of the field-building initiative, Johnson said. He added that the Swearer Center will partner with the Siena College Research Institute as a cohost of NASCE. NASCE is a nationwide survey implemented across colleges and universities that “measures the rate, frequency and depth of engagement in the undergraduate student body,” Johnson said. The University participated for the first time this year and will soon receive a report about Brown’s students, which will be made public, he added. As part of the awards section of the initiative, the Swearer Center will partner

with the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities to grant the Lynton Award, Johnson said. Awarded annually to one U.S. faculty member early in their professional career, the Lynton Award is given to the applicant that exemplifies the best of engaged scholarship. While the Swearer Center is in conversation to potentially host a number of national studies and awards, it may also create an award named after Howard Swearer, the founder of the center, Johnson said. The Swearer Center also plans to host conferences and discussions in the field, Mandel said. Johnson said he is planning to hold a “state of the field” conference for students, scholars and researchers, where he envisions sharing the data gathered from the Carnegie Classification and setting a national agenda for the future of community engagement.

COURTESY OF PROJECT INTERCHANGE

Students on the trip discussed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and explored the day-to-day reality of life in Israel.

Accusations of bias in the itinerary From Dec. 27 through Jan. 4, students with the Brown-exclusive trip met political and cultural leaders from both Israel and Palestine. Speakers included Likud politician Amir Ohana, former director of the Israeli Security Agency Ami Ayalon and CEO of Wassel Group Huda El-Jack. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement was brought up frequently as a topic of discussion by speakers in response to students’ questions, Kiernan said. “Many of the speakers that we interacted with, even those from Palestine, seemed to convey that BDS … is going to put a lot of stress on Palestine given that Palestine’s economy is intertwined with Israel’s,” she added. Oliveira said El-Jack argued that BDS would not “help the economics of the region at all and, instead of boycotting goods, they should be creating new innovation … and push for negotiating.” Paraphrasing El-Jack, Oliveira added, “Increasing boycotts could create a negative effect where Israel might take boycotting their products personally … and decide not collaborate with Palestine.”

However, Al-Salem, who is also a former member of Brown Students for Justice in Palestine, which supports BDS, said that having “two people speak on behalf of all Palestinians” is dangerously misleading. Current members of SJP did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Herald. Clark-Seigel said the trip exposes students to realities that are not apparent from the outside and that “co-existence” could be found in Israel. “Go into any Israeli hospital, and there are Muslims and Jews working side by side together … often on campuses, that reality is not shared … people don’t even realize that that is a reality.” But Al-Salem pointed out that “as an Arab-Israeli citizen you don’t have the same rights of a regular Israeli citizen.” She questioned whether the program provided students with an accurate picture of what being Palestinian or Arab in Israel actually involves. “Did they go into Gaza? No. Did they go into settlement camps?” Students who went on the Brownexclusive trip met Arab-Israeli citizens and talked with litigation lawyers covering discrimination cases, Jones said. During his 2015 media trip with Project Interchange, Jarrell visited Ariel,

an Israeli settlement that is situated in the Central West Bank, Jarrell said. Jarrell said he was surprised there was a settlement so far into the West Bank, but the deputy mayor of the settlement allegedly justified the settlement’s location citing Israeli security concerns. “The mayor said that it was essential for Israel’s security — they (needed) … to have these outposts in the hills to have high ground,” Jarrell said. “I’m not sure how that argument stacks up logically … the settler perspective was not one that I had heard before, so to be exposed to it on (the media) trip was a good thing,” he said. Jones said she believed all perspectives were well-represented throughout the trip. “A big focus of the program was that we were supposed to come away from it thinking that there is no easy solution.” “I don’t think there’s such a thing as neutrality … in any issue,” said Oliveira. “Instead of seeking neutrality, it’s better to seek understanding.” While it is unfair that Palestinians do not have an opportunity to run a similar trip, “I think (AJC’s) purpose is to expose that there is more to the conflict than to impose an opinion,” he added.

said. He hinted that a community fellows program or practitioners-in-residence programs might be in the works. Changing inequality in schooling, especially urban education, requires building “a relationship between people who produce knowledge at institutes like Annenberg and people … engaged with changing communities through economic and housing development,” said Richard Gray ’85, director of community organizing and engagement at Annenberg. Gray further noted that the institute’s role is to “build knowledge” and

“address issues in real-life situations” in a way that can be “practically used.” This cannot happen in a transaction but rather requires a relationship, Gray said. In the past, Annenberg has worked with organizations throughout the community, including Urban Youth Collaborative, an organization that challenges the school-to-prison pipeline through educational reform and youth empowerment, and Journey for Justice, which fights school closings that disproportionately impact African American and Latino communities, Gray said.

Annenberg has attempted universitycommunity research collaborations, but few have had much impact or staying power, Grady wrote. Part of the success of the strategy will require a new leader with a “crystal-clear vision and track record for translating academic research into positive impacts for systems serving children and families.” As the University launches a search for Annenberg’s next director, Grady wrote that the new director should be able to provide guidance on how to pursue the new mission for the institute.

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Speed of speech unrelated to amount of information conveyed Recent research suggests qualitative content of fast, slow speech varies with age, gender By STEPHANIE ZHANG SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Whether we speak lightning fast or at snail speed, the amount of information we convey is about the same, according to new University research. In a recent study published in the journal Cognition, Uriel Cohen Priva, assistant professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences, investigated the relationship between speed of speech and the rate of information a person conveys when speaking. Priva based his research on previous findings regarding speech rates in local contexts. “We’ve known for a while that language is a communication channel and, as such, … we try not to provide too much information at any one time,” he said. Simple phrases such as “salt and pepper” illustrate this effect. The word “pepper” is likely to have a shorter duration when preceded by “salt and” rather than “sugar and.” This is because the phrase “sugar and pepper” provides new or unexpected information, while “pepper” in the context of “salt and pepper” is predictable, according to the research. Edward Gibson, professor of cognitive science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, found in the past that across languages, words “are shorter when they’re more predictable from the local context.” While previous studies focused on the length of individual words or sounds, Priva applied this inquiry to global contexts “where we know that

some people speak faster than others,” he said. Priva used two main data sets in his research: the Switchboard Corpus, composed of 2,400 ten-minute telephone conversations about an assigned conversation topic, and the Buckeye Corpus, composed of 40 nearly hour-long conversations. In order to quantitatively analyze speech, Priva defined linguistic information using two metrics: lexical information, the rarity or complexity of words used, and syntactic information, measured through usage of the passive voice, which is a less frequently used sentence structure. Priva found that faster speakers tended to use more common words and less complex sentence structures, while slower speakers used rarer words and more complex syntax. This finding was surprising in that it “does not agree with the tacit assumption that we first choose what we say and then we modify our speech to fit that,” he said. “Instead, it would seem that how fast we speak dictates what we say.” This outcome raises the question of who is responsible for the limitations of communication, Priva said. “Is it the speaker who is more or less likely to produce content-full language in a given timeframe, or the listener who’s forced to understand what they’re being told fast enough?” Doria Charlson GS, a teaching assistant for TAPS 0220: “Persuasive Communication,” which is primarily taught by Senior Lecturer in Theatre Arts and Performance Studies Barbara Tannenbaum, said these findings were consistent with the listener-centered approach taught in persuasive communication. “In eliminating (filler) words and using shorter sentences

that have more precise meaning, what you say … has more of an impact for the audience,” she said. In addition to the possible relevance of Priva’s finding in learning to communicate more effectively, Gibson suggested potential engineering applications, such as when designing natural user interfaces. In v i d e o games or other examples of artificial intelligence, “if you’re trying to simulate real humans, you want to have this kind of bottleneck PIA MILEAF-PATEL / HERALD in your interactions,” he said. number of words as women, he said. While the general relationship Priva gave several potential explaobserved between speech rate and nations for this disparity. “Because information rate is likely universal we have zero reason to assume that across languages, Priva added that men are more capable in language use, “current research finds differences be- (what) I believe is driving the effect is tween old people and young people that men and women do speak differand (between) men and women. It’s at ently and that’s a socio-linguistic fact least possible that these are specific to about … power,” he said. the socio-linguistic facts of American One manifestation of that differEnglish.” ence is that women tend to backchanUpon statistical analysis, data from nel — use words such as “uh huh” or male and female speakers illustrated “okay” that indicate they understood that male speakers, in general, con- what was said. veyed more information in the same Women also tend to hedge more.

“Instead of directly saying there’s a problem, they would say, ‘I think there’s a problem’ or ‘maybe there’s a problem,”’ Priva said, adding that this also “has to do with power.” “It’s something that’s the result of culture and socialization,” Charlson said. “Society teaches heteronormative male power. We’re interested in evening out the playing field (for those) who don’t have that kind of power.” “As (Tannenbaum) always says: ‘Men have to be credible. Women have to be credible and likeable,’” Charlson added.

New year brings new changes to Sharpe Refectory Improvements include new serving stations, relocated dish returns, fresh tiling, decor By UGOCHI IHENATU SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Students returning to campus this semester were met with an updated Sharpe Refectory after it underwent partial interior renovations over winter break. The University’s Department of Facilities Management, Bon Appetit Management Company and Brown University Dining Services worked together to design the Ratty’s new interior space. The layout considered operational efficiency, aesthetic enhancements to the decor and enhancements to the number of service points in an effort to improve traffic-flow, said Peter Rossi, director of Brown University Dining Services. The new renovations rearranged the setup of the Ratty; beverages and dish returns have been relocated, and there are fewer tables in the dining hall. Additions include three new serving stations, which have allowed dining staff to offer new food options for students. New tiling and decor were also added to all serving stations.

A majority of the costs of renovation went toward purchasing new kitchen and server equipment, Rossi said. In Spring 2016, a committee composed of University administrators, employees of BUDS and students selected Bon Appetit to work with BUDS to improve dining experiences on campus, The Herald previously reported. The committee asked potential food supply vendors to submit proposals on how they planned on working with BUDS to improve service to students. The committee was looking for a company who would be responsive to the needs of the University, work well with the BUDS team, increase food quality and selection and work with the current Ratty space, said Christian Hanson ’17, a member of the committee. Bon Appetit was selected because their vision for the Ratty aligned with the University’s goals for the dining hall. “The recent enhancements to the Sharpe Refectory are a direct reflection of our partnership with Bon Appetit,” Rossi said. So far, the partnership between BUDS and the Bon Appetit team is going well and the company has been a welcome addition to the BUDS staff, Rossi added. Bon Appetit plans on expanding the Ratty’s seasonally based menu offerings

NAOMY PEDROZA / HERALD

The new pizza bar offers a revamped selection, situated between a new sandwich and wrap bar and the omelette bar, an old Ratty favorite. Soda stations and desserts have been relocated to improve traffic flow. and increasing food sustainability at the Ratty, Rossi added. Bon Appetit and BUDS are also working on enhancing the menu at dining locations across campus and are planning special culinary events in the future. BUDS has received positive feedback from students about the Ratty’s new design, but there are some students who do not welcome the new

renovations. “(The new renovations) feel uncomfortably separate from the rest of the Ratty, which is still old,” Nikki Tully ’19 said. “And the food did not improve with it.” Jessica Zambrano ’17 stated that in the first couple of weeks of the new semester it took a lot longer to get food. Many students seemed to be spending

extra time wandering around, trying to find what they were looking for. “I’m more used to it now, but I don’t understand why the changes were necessary,” Zambrano said. The partnership between Bon Appetit and BUDS is still developing, though there are currently no plans for future renovations, Hanson said.

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Course content impacted by political climate Professors draw on turbulent current events as opportunities for intellectual growth By MIA PATTILLO SENIOR STAFF WRITER

As students grapple with the recent actions of President Donald Trump, professors too have found themselves adjusting, redoing courses and syllabuses to acknowledge the political tumult, which some say has created an unusual backdrop for learning and teaching experiences. Classes in the political science, history and public health departments have all been impacted by the controversial changes that have occurred at the hands of the new Trump administration. James Morone, professor of public policy, political science and urban studies, “reworked” his course PLCY 0022: “City Politics” in the wake of decisions made during Trump’s turbulent first few weeks, specifically his executive order banning immigrants from seven countries. “I agonized about whether to throw out my notes and simply address the

ban on the first day of class,” Morone wrote in an email to The Herald. Ultimately, he decided to teach his class in a way that “underscores Trump’s behavior and how it fits into American politics and history.” Healthcare stands as another aspect of America’s politics that Trump’s administration is slated to alter drastically. Ira Wilson, professor of health services, policy and practice, who teaches the class, PHP 0310: “Health Care in the United States,” said he has changed the syllabus of his course to use current events to teach students about underlying principles of healthcare. “Instead of looking at what’s happening as good or bad, right or left, it’s more about using it as an opportunity to understand how insurance, Medicaid or healthcare disparities work,” Wilson said. Wilson aims to make his content “real and human,” teaching students that changes can have a profound impact, leaving those without health care frustrated and scared, he added. Wilson also updates an “In the News” section on his course web page, which lists current events that directly relate to course content. Associate Professor of History Vazira Zamindar also

ROLAND HIGH / HERALD

keeps an “In the News” section for her course, HIST 0150D: “Refugees: A Twentieth-Century History.” Zamindar’s course began in full only a few days after Trump implemented his immigration ban. She began the class with a clip about the order and its direct impact on refugees. Last year, Zamindar’s course led a group of students to come up with the idea for

an “engaged scholar” organization of political activists at Brown, she said. “Continuing (to) engag(e) with current-day refugee issues in Providence is a part of my class,” she added. This underlying desire to connect course content to current-day material is one that threads throughout many policy-charged classes. Richard Arenberg, visiting lecturer in political

science, currently teaches three courses that have been affected by the political climate: PLCY 1701H: “Congressional Leadership, Parties and Public Policy,” POLS 1090: “Polarized Politics” and POLS 1824C: “Political Communication.” “I’ve had to acknowledge that some of the concepts that I normally emphasize are thrown up in the air by the manner in which Trump has been operating,” Arenberg said, citing the idea of “alternative facts” as a recently created term that has affected his course, POLS 1824C: “Political Communication.” The intense acceleration of the separation of parties has also been a fascinating aspect to examine in his “Polarized Politics” course, he added. Other courses have been impacted in subtler manners. For example, Assistant Professor of History Jennifer Lambe explained that while her course, HIST 2981N: “Moral Panic and the Politics of Fear,” has yet to explicitly address Trump or his policies, it does serve as a “metatextual conversation” framing these issues. “The current media tends to cap us in this endless presentness, but as a history course, it feels good to seek context that enriches us,” Lambe said. Her graduate seminar provides a space for analyzing and dealing with events that may have reverberations in other parts of students’ lives, she added. “Using current events as a tool to understand complexity isn’t always easy, but it is a really great opportunity” for growth, Wilson said.

» POLICY, from page 1 addressing aging national cybersecurity defense and the particular dangers of online espionage. They also spent time answering student questions about the future of cybersecurity, the role of the courts in determining governmental powers and free access to the internet. Highlighting the importance of the competition, Boucher said, “Politicians don’t know much (about cybersecurity) and don’t know” what stance to take. The competition addressed the intersection between technology and policy, said Aaron Zhang ’20, who appreciated the chance to blend the two in developing his policy proposal. The event “is geared towards public policy concentrators, which makes it less intimidating,” said competitor Max Mines ’20.

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Pizza: Pepperoni and Meatball, Spinach and Feta, Bacon Chicken Ranch JOSIAH’S

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Three Bean Chili, Turkey Sausage and Kale

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Nacho Bar, Tofu Veggie Ravioli and Sauce, Bacon Ranch Chicken Sandwich, Brownies

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sudoku

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The Rhode Island Blood Center will be collecting blood tomorrow at Brown/RISD Hillel 11 p.m. to 7 p.m. Students can stop by in between classes or before Valentine’s Day dates and do a good deed.

Q U O T E O F T H E D AY

crossword

“The classification is like the Oscars. We didn’t win the Oscar. Instead, they came to us and said, ‘Will you run the

”

Oscars?’

— Matthew Johnson, director of the Swearer Center

See Carnegie on page 1. CORRECTION Correction: A previous version of the story, “Town hall crowd urges RI congressmen to resist Trump,” mislabeled U.S. Rep. Jim Langevin and U.S. Rep. David Cicilline ’83 as state representatives. In fact, they are U.S. representatives. The Herald regrets the error.

calendar TODAY FEBRUARY

Feel Good. Give Blood! 11:00 A.M. Brown/RISD Hillel

Study Abroad 101 Info Session 12:00 P.M. BCSC

Valentine’s Day Social 12:00 P.M. List Art Building

POC Improv Workshop 7:00 P.M. Metcalf Research Building

TOMORROW Understanding Microagressions 12:00 P.M. Sharpe Refectory

Peer Advisor Open Hours 1:30 P.M. CareerLAB

Brown EMS Open House 5:00 P.M. Health Services

Trauma in the Classroom 5:30 P.M. Sarah Doyle Women’s Center

COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2017

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COMMENTARY TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2017 • PAGE 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Beyond ‘Pence’s Poodle’ BENJAMIN SMITH staff columnist Columnists for major news organizations, like the New York Times, criticize President Donald Trump formulaically: They combine critique of his latest policy decisions with creative personal attacks — many of which are pointed and often amusing. New York Times columnist Charles Blow called Trump a “compulsively lying bigot,” for example and “a paragon of the clueless.” New Yorker staff writer Steve Coll called him “Digital Age Mussolini Lite.” And New York Times’ Gail Collins chose “Pence’s Poodle.” While entertaining, this approach is not as impactful as it could be. Every day, a fresh crop of insults appears in major newspapers’ opinion sections, blogs and social media. But overexposure makes readers immune to their impact. There’s nothing left to say. Trump’s hair, hands, clothes, words, past, ideas, thoughts and decisions have all been insulted exhaustively. Dozens of insults follow his every tweet. They have lost their purchase. Columnists rely too much on these insults. While many of their columns provide insightful and valuable arguments, the power of their message is often lost in the per-

sonal attacks that these writers can’t help but include. They need to do a better job. By steering away from their argument and toward repetitive personal commentary, columnists are not exercising the full potential of their substantial influence. A 1995 New York Times article claimed that columnist James Reston had the po-

umnists should do more than just make us laugh. Nor should they just make us angry. Rather, columnists should find creative ways to elicit unexpected emotions. If readers feel angry after reading every column about Trump, they’re not thinking or feeling anything new. They are simply repeating the same pattern. There’s no space for reflec-

that is poised to leave everything he stands for behind. His brazen displays of political power only belie his weak character. A new and effective angle could draw out this tension by allowing readers to feel angry about Trump’s policies but simultaneously pity his weaknesses. Readers would then be forced to engage with and reflect on Trump in a different way.

Four years of reading anger-inducing columns every morning would not just be painful — it would be unproductive. Columnists should instead challenge readers to feel counterintuitive or surprising emotions about Trump.

litical influence of three senators. Columnists are in a unique position to illuminate Trump’s character because they can veer from the objective, news-focused stance of reporters. Additionally, they have a chance to engage with an audience open to serious reflection in a way that, for example, Saturday Night Live’s audience is not. SNL and Alec Baldwin have done an exceptional job of making us laugh at Trump, but col-

tion, new ideas or imagination. Four years of reading anger-inducing columns every morning would not just be painful — it would be unproductive. Columnists should instead challenge readers to feel counterintuitive or surprising emotions about Trump — pity, for example. Trump is a kind of tragic character, after all. He is a bastion of a dying generation, making a last-ditch effort to hold on to his puerile beliefs in a world

Many are already moved to action without considering Trump in a new light, but by broadening the ways we consider our president and his flaws, columnists can spur a wider audience to active reflection. This tactic also has the potential for political disruption. Trump’s aides have said that he does not want his administration to appear weak. SNL has begun to successfully exploit that insecurity, and Trump has

responded vehemently. Columnists should follow SNL’s lead, but with a more somber depiction of Trump’s weakness that invokes pity, not laughter. If they successfully incite Trump to respond, he will undermine himself. One might argue that columnists’ should aim to keep readers angry. Anger makes people protest. And anger is justified, given Trump’s egregious decisions in office. It could be said that it is dangerous to let people forget their anger, even for a day, because it runs the risk of permitting complacency. But readers of these columns, including most of the Brown community, already realize that they have reason to be angry. They won’t forget, and they don’t need to be reminded every day. Instead, what they need from columnists is space for reflection. Insults and anger preclude reflection, and it is reflection that allows readers to more critically consider their relationship to Trump, rather than defaulting to anger. Though it is effective for SNL to make us laugh, it is ineffective for columns to only incite anger and in turn obscure the important reflection they have the power to catalyze.

Benjamin Smith GS can be reached at benjamin_smith@brown.edu.

Scientific advocacy starts with the scientists MARK LIANG staff columnist Science is at war. There’s no other way to say it — between the rogue Twitter accounts of NASA and the National Park Service and the planned March for Science on Earth Day, recent political events have incensed scientists across the nation. President Donald Trump’s administration has yet to hire a scientific advisor, and researchers are suddenly crawling out of the woodwork with their social commentary for the first time. All I can say is: about freaking time. Okay, maybe I’m over-exaggerating. But let me provide some context for my disgruntlement: The day after the election, I was eager to discuss its political consequences with my professors. In my history class, we spent a whole hour discussing the implications of the win for public policy, international relations and department funding. In my chemistry class, we only discussed chemistry. I don’t think we even mentioned the election in my research lab. Now I know what some of you are probably thinking: “Science is science, and it should be that way in the classroom and in the lab,” or “leave the research for the scientists and the thinking for the policy wonks” or even “wait, we have a history department?” But all you skeptics should understand that the political environment will irrevocably affect us scientists too. We are now facing prospective funding cuts in especially politicized fields such as environmental science and health policy, among others.

Just as Trump’s presidency has split the political atmosphere into factions, so too is the scientific field divided between people who believe research should continue above the partisan nature of politics and those who now feel the need to publicly dissent. For a lot of scientists and engineers, dissent is an unfamiliar concept. A lot of this is ingrained in our training; we are taught that our results should speak for themselves and that truth and evidence will eventually prevail. The scientific method does not include an addendum

partially to blame for the scientifically inept fiasco that is our current administration. The American public deserves better, both from them and from us. Scientific literacy in the United States is low; the general public does well enough to recite certain facts, but it struggles to interpret the societal implications of major scientific findings. Part of that can be attributed to scientists — they don’t engage with the riffraff until the riff-raff becomes loud enough to, let’s say, inspire a March for Science. Marches

The scientific method does not include an addendum for activism or advocacy. We value quality and peer-revision over loudness, and for the most part this strategy has worked. But along the way, some researchers have forgotten a vital part of their audience: the American public.

for activism or advocacy. We value quality and peer-revision over loudness, and for the most part this strategy has worked. But along the way, some researchers have forgotten a vital part of their audience: the American public. Scientific papers are regularly released with the most fantastic of discoveries but are often rarely read by people outside the scientific community. Even worse, these discoveries are pulled out of context and misinterpreted, leading to the concept known as “bad science” (I’m looking at you, antivaxxers). Our lack of engagement makes us

are great only if they can lead to some sort of sustained campaign or change. Scientists need to be more proactive, rather than reactionary, if we are to accomplish real change in the field of scientific policy. Scientists should become better advocates for their research to the general public, and that requires communication skills that sometimes aren’t covered as part of a science curriculum, even at Brown. I would kill to be assigned an essay for one of my science-heavy STEM classes. People argue that climatechange denial and political or philosophical

debates should not be mentioned in science textbooks or in the classroom. I disagree — I say give budding researchers the information they need so that they are better equipped to smash arguments apart later. Civic engagement should involve science and those who conduct it, and vice versa. Myron Ebell, who led the Environmental Protection Agency transition team these last few months, said, “I’m a great believer in science, but I’m not a great believer in politicized science.” My response to Ebell is simply that all science is political. Funding is often controlled by national grants. Public opinion is swayed by and often shapes how science is done. Research does not exist in a vacuum. Science education and literacy is especially politicized; it is the reason textbooks mention James Watson and Francis Crick but not Rosalind Franklin. If we, as researchers, do not advocate for better science education and literacy, we will continue to be uninvited to the table of power in Washington. The sooner we recognize that, the closer we will be to fixing this post-truth world that we live in. We as scientists can do better so that we understand the consequences of our own work outside the laboratory. Let’s take a more active role in our advisory capacity to help spread evidence-based knowledge. Let’s run for office. Let’s teach. Let’s publish in Nature, but also in magazines and local newspapers. The New York Times recently ran a headline saying, “In Age of Trump, Scientists Show Signs of a Political Pulse.” We should have had that heartbeat a long time ago.

Mark Liang ’19 is preparing his picket signs. He can be reached at mark_liang@brown.edu.

SPORTS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2017

M. HOCKEY

Bears bested in winless weekend road trip Inability to convert on special teams haunts Bruno in close, late loss to Colgate

By ALEXANDRA RUSSELL SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The men’s hockey team continued ECAC play with a pair of away contests this weekend, falling to Colgate University Saturday and No. 12 Cornell Sunday by tallies of 2-1 and 5-3, respectively. The Bears (4-19-2, 3-14-1 ECAC) were edged by Colgate (8-17-5, 6-102) in a close matchup in Hamilton. Sam Lafferty ’18 tied the score at one in the third, but Bruno was unable to grasp the win, conceding a goal in the final minute of play. “It was a tight game all the way down to the stretch,” Lafferty said. “They got a lucky bounce toward the end.” After two scoreless periods, the Raiders’ Evan Peterson posted the first goal of the evening at 4:49 in the third stanza, snatching the lead. Less than a minute later, Lafferty evened the score with a one-timer in front of the net. Max Willman ’18 and Nolan Aibel ’20 each recorded assists on the play. The Bears had a power play at 8:41 in the third period as the Raiders’ Ken Citron picked up a five-minute major

and a game misconduct for boarding, but Bruno was unable to find the back of the net to take the lead. “It’s no secret that our power play has struggled,” Lafferty said. “We got some power plays late in the third period when it was a tied game and just weren’t able to capitalize on those.” Bruno was denied victory late in the game by the Raiders’ Jacob Panetta, who slotted a goal past Gavin Nieto ’20 off a rebound with 46 seconds remaining in the final stanza. The Bears pulled Nieto for the extra skater with 34 seconds left, but Colgate netminder Colton Point deflected two shots to preserve the score. Nieto made 25 saves in the loss. The following day, the Bears were unable to maintain an early lead against No. 12 Cornell (16-6-3, 114-3) in Ithaca. Andrew Doane ’17 opened scoring at 3:28 in the first period, sending a shot past Cornell goaltender Mitch Gillam off a rebound. Gillam initially saved a shot from Trey Dodd ’20, but Doane finished off the play, edging the puck in for his second season goal. Jack Gessert ’20 also posted an assist. The Big Red responded with four consecutive goals before Dodd tipped the puck into the net at 16:12 in the second period, decreasing the deficit. Joe Maguire ’20 and Josh McArdle ’18 each recorded assists on the play. Lafferty posted an unassisted

ELI WHITE / HERALD

Trey Dodd ’20 and Tim Lappin ’18 bring the puck down the ice. The Bears fell short in the final minutes against Colgate before four unanswered goals signalled Bruno’s downfall in its contest with No. 12 Cornell Sunday. shorthanded goal — his tenth of the season — at 2:17 in the third period to tighten the score, but Cornell answered with another goal four minutes later to secure the victory. “I wouldn’t say there’s a reason why we’re letting leads slip away,” Dodd said. “It’s just more (about) bearing down and building on a lead instead of being content with a one-goal lead.”

“The result obviously wasn’t there, but the effort was,” he added. The Bears are in the final stretch of their season with four games remaining before the ECAC playoffs. “On a given night, one piece of our team game might be going really well and another piece might not quite be there, so it’s just a matter of putting that together,” Lafferty said.

“We were within one goal against a team that was number 12 in the country at the time,” Dodd said. “Moving forward, we’ve just got to keep doing what we were doing right and correct what we were doing wrong.” Bruno will host Dartmouth Friday and Harvard Saturday at Meehan Auditorium. Face-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. both nights.