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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2017

VOLUME CLII, ISSUE 47

Korean Fried Chicken brings variety to Thayer

Dean of the College The Swearer Center Dean Johnson Workshops Community and Training Partnerships Training prepares students for work in community

Bonner community fellows, community fellows, 3-person outreach coordinating team

Engaged Scholars Program Engaged Scholarship makes use of community partners

Royce/Social Swearer innovation Advisory Fellowships Committee Students in Swearer offer advice to Dean Johnson on implementation of strategic plan

Connect service and academics

LAURA FELENSTEIN / HERALD

Swearer Center strategic plan incites conflict

Plan criticized by students for lack of transparency, burden on community, failure to address feedback By ANNA KRAMER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

A SHIFTING SWEARER This story is the second in a three-part series about the ongoing evolution of the

Swearer Center for Public Service and its philosophy in relationship to the Providence community.

When the Swearer Center for Public Service drafted and implemented its strategic plan in spring 2016, students who worked closely with the center criticized the process of the plan’s creation for its lack of transparency and disregard for the needs of the community. “The way changes were communicated to community fellows … (was)

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pretty disruptive and disrespectful,” said Cathy, a student who requested anonymity because she risks jeopardizing her current position at the center. Cathy is one of several Swearer Center community fellows — students who work closely with a single partner organization, usually over multiple years and sometimes receiving stipends. When Swearer Center Director and Associate Dean of the College for Engaged Scholarship Mathew Johnson » See SWEARER, page 2

Den Den Hospitality Group’s newest eatery offers delicious but expensive Asian cuisine By AMY WANG SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Thanks to the recent opening of Den Den Korean Fried Chicken, passersby may notice a sudden liveliness near 182 Angell St. Once a quiet, infrequently traversed street, the area now serves as a backdrop to crowds of customers bustling in and out of the restaurant’s front door. Owned and operated by Den Den Hospitality Group — the enterprise that also owns Den Den Café Asiana on Benefit Street and Kung Fu Tea on Waterman — Korean Fried Chicken opened on March 25. Even from outside, the restaurant’s white brick walls and sleek black awning radiate clean modernity and understated elegance. The interior of the building is just as tastefully furnished, featuring a welllit two-tiered dining space filled with booths and tables, which can seat

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dozens of talkative diners. Despite the eatery’s emphasis on casual dining, its menu reads much like that of a formal restaurant, containing sections dedicated to starters, entrees and desserts. The dishes themselves are far from cheap — entrees average about $12 to $15, with an “extra-large” platter of fried chicken costing a whopping $36. While these prices are hardly unexpected given the expensive menu items at other branches of the Den Den franchise, they make eating at KFC a bit of a splurge. Menu offerings primarily consist of Korean dishes, such as buckwheat noodles and soondae sausage stir-fry. But some also incorporate elements of Japanese-style cooking: the “Curry Katsu” dish, reminiscent of Japanese Katsu, features a cutlet of chicken, pork, fish or shrimp with a topping of Korean curry. Perhaps justifying the lofty prices, the quality of the cuisine is top-notch. The vegetarian gyoza, pan-fried and delicately wrapped in green dough, burst with flavor; the beef stew features light noodles in a delicious mild broth; the Korean sweet potato fries are complemented wonderfully by their » See KFC , page 2

Education summit seeks Advocates stress training to address rape culture SAPE implements new input of community curriculum around Over 400 students, teachers, residents brainstorm improvements for Providence schools By STEPHANIE REYES SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Residents and educators of all backgrounds gathered to create a future vision for the city’s education system at the All In: Providence Education Moonshot Summit Apr. 8. The event was made possible by support by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, city community members and a $200,000 grant by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation — an organization devoted to educational reforms in New England — according to NMEF Director of Strategic Communications Sean Adamec. The summit sought the input of parents, educators and students “to make a citywide commitment to ensuring that all Providence students are successful,” according to a press release from the mayor’s office. An estimated 450 to 500 people

INSIDE

attended the summit, said Mayor Jorge Elorza. Working in groups, community members cited values such as “accessibility,” “community engagement” and “diversity and inclusion” as the foundation for future educational reforms. “I truly believe we can have the highest performing urban education department in the country,” Elorza said. “I know in order to accomplish that, we need to continue with the steps that we’re taking — but we can’t do it without the community,” he added. Suon Keo, a student at Classical High School, voiced her concerns with the current education structure, noting that the transition from a lower-performing school to one with more rigorous standards was exceptionally difficult for her, Keo said. “When I got into Classical, there was a whole new dynamic and cultural shift for me because I wasn’t taught these tactics — how to test-take, how to study or what to study — so it was hard,” Keo said, adding that she would like to see future education reforms alleviate inequalities in Providence’s school districts. » See SUMMIT, page 2

power, privilege, UCS institutionalizes training By SHIRA BUCHSBAUM SENIOR STAFF WRITER

THE UNDERCURRENT Many attempting to address rape culture on campus try to place attention on more than just those who commit sexual assault. As people on college campuses continue to try to identify and understand the environments that foster rape culture on campus, many sexual assault prevention advocates at Brown are using improved education methods to work toward uprooting and preventing harmful, but common social patterns. Advocates have sought avenues to address rape culture in communities where they feel they can make the most impact, such as Greek houses, athletic teams or incoming first-year classes. “There’s no blueprint for this” kind of sexual assault prevention education that focuses on rape culture, said Ricardo Jaramillo ’18.5, a previous » See COMMUNITY, page 3

ELI WHITE / HERALD

Molly Sandstrom ’17, a masculinity peer educator, and Marc Peters, interim deputy Title IX coordinator, lead a training with the football team.

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ARTS & CULTURE Earth2Trump Roadshow addresses impacts of Trump policies through performance

NEWS U. creates emergency fund for scientific research in case of government funding cuts

COMMENTARY Bornstein ’18: Grassroot solutions necessary to combat sexism in modern athletics

COMMENTARY Cardoso ’19: Dilma Rousseff ’s impeachment indicative of Brazil’s widespread political corruption

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» SWEARER, from page 1 stepped up in January 2016, the University charged him with strengthening the center’s mission and making it a national leader in service, said Dean of the College Maud Mandel, whose office oversees the Swearer Center. As his major initiative, Johnson’s 10-year plan includes significant growth of programs linking service to academics, the introduction of the new Bonner Community Fellows program and a restructuring of community partnerships. In the wake of community concerns about a history of sometimes disrespectful student behavior, the strategic plan orients the center’s philosophy around the belief that students engaged in service can learn from the community, Mandel said. A philosophical shift Swearer officials wrote the plan’s first draft in December 2015 while Johnson was a consultant to the University and, following administrative evaluation, released it for public comment January 2016, Johnson said. The plan was finalized in March. The strategic plan emphasizes a reciprocal learning relationship between students and members of the Providence community, in contrast to a model of direct service, Mandel said. Take a food bank, for example. With direct service, students volunteer their time or donate to the food bank. A critical and reciprocal approach asks students to address the systemic issues behind hunger, said Betsy Shimberg, the center’s director of student development. “Even the most well-intentioned students benefit from training and reflection” on their attitudes toward service, Shimberg said. Shimberg hosts trainings

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for students, including recent workshops for the center’s “Civic Engagement Series,” a pilot program developed as a result of the strategic plan. The Swearer Center was “too comfortable in what (it was) doing before” and not as deliberate about evaluating their relationships with their community partners, said Naomi, a student working at the center who requested anonymity for fear of repercussions from her coworkers. Direct service often lacks the mutual relationship that community service can provide, said Kai Salem ’18. “Students need to understand and acknowledge community expertise, rather than just the expertise of the academy.” A key piece of the strategic plan, the memorandum of understanding — a contract now required for all community partners — defines rules and responsibilities between the center and each individual partner organization. The memo requires partner organizations to acknowledge their expertise in the particular field of service students are providing. “We in the Swearer Center are not issue-area experts,” and “students should be supervised by those who are,” Johnson said. Defining this responsibility is the best “ethical practice,” he said. Additionally, the memo gives community partners a formal way to challenge the center and student actions should they violate the contract. The memo also increases community partners’ financial burden when they demand a service the center cannot provide for free, Johnson said. The Swearer Center previously explored creating memorandums of understanding with partners a few years

ago, said Joe Battaglia, director of curriculum and instruction at the Met High School in Providence. “It got so messy that they just essentially gave up on” the idea. The previously proposed contract gave away most of the rights of the community partner, and the Met’s lawyers recommended that the school never sign the contract, he said. Swearer struggles with transparency When community fellows first saw the final draft of the plan, they expressed concern about the Swearer Center’s lack of communication regarding the future status of certain community partnerships, such as English for Speakers of Other Languages, Partnerships for Adult Learning and Writer’s Group, among others, Cathy said. The center then cut community fellow positions across programs including Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere, Outdoor Leadership Environmental Education Program and the Swearer Classroom Program, she said. The cuts occurred as the center prepared for an influx of Bonner fellows. Bonner fellows would eventually take over the work of current community fellows, with the intent that the increased workload and burden on current community fellows would exist only for a year-long transition period, according to several community fellows. The community fellows discussed their concerns about their program cuts and evolving community relationships with Johnson and Shimberg spring 2016, but the plan’s changes occurred anyway, Cathy and Naomi said. Johnson acknowledged the truth behind some of students’ qualms with the failure to fully incorporate student voices.

» SUMMIT, from page 1 Classical, frequently ranked as one of the top schools in the state, stands above most others in the Providence school district as a magnet school with reading and mathematics proficiency scores more than double the city average, according to 2016 Rhode Island District Report Card education data. By the same metrics, Central High School, located in the same city block as Classical, performed at around half the city average. “It’s unfair because the environment (at each school) is so different, and when it’s different, there are different levels of expectation,” Keo said. She hopes new teacher trainings will increase awareness of the diverse history and cultural

Though the plan did not include all student suggestions, their input still shaped the center’s decisions, Johnson said in response to Cathy and Naomi’s criticisms. Additionally, “sometimes what students want contradicts best practices in the field,” he said, giving the example of students who objected to increases in required training. To gather student feedback, Johnson established the Student Advisory Committee upon his arrival. Comprised of students who participate in a variety of Swearer programs — including but not limited to Bonner fellows, community fellows and students in the Engaged Scholars Program — the committee discusses student issues and raises concerns to Johnson. The full committee meets at least once a month for about two hours, while the five subcommittees meet between full body meetings, said Benjamin Miller-Gootnick ’17.5, a SAC member. Lauren Maunus ’19, a SAC member for two semesters, left because the committee was “just a lot of talking” and failed to make a direct impact — “a shared sense among many of the students” on the committee. Refugee Tutoring Program leaves Swearer Center Many of the most frustrated studentrun programs have given up fighting the changes or are currently seeking alternative options, Cathy said. The Brown Refugee Youth Tutoring and Enrichment program decided to leave the Swearer Center when it realized its concerns were irreconcilable with the center’s new mission, said Max, who worked with BRYTE and requested anonymity for fear of losing his position there. As of 2016, BRYTE was the center’s backgrounds of students while also increasing student’s access to emotional support beyond that of a guidance counselor, she added. “I just wish there could be a better relationship between students and teachers, so they can better understand each other, work together and build a bigger picture within school relations,” Keo said. Jenny Li ’14, a current educator at Attleboro High School in Massachusetts, spoke about the obstacles that she and many other teachers experience due to the lack of support within the education system. Li hopes more Providence students will be encouraged to invest in the community and go into teaching. “It’s important to continue holding

largest community partnership program, with six community fellows who each worked with 24 tutor-student pairs that met weekly at in-home tutoring sessions. Under the new strategic plan, the Swearer Center reconsidered its relationships with partners such as BRYTE, Johnson said. The Swearer Center no longer intends to sponsor direct service programs as it lacks the capacity to handle the programs’ potential ethics, liability and finances, he said. “It would have been unethical to continue sponsoring (BRYTE),” he added. He said that the center does not have the necessary expertise to train and manage students tutoring refugees in their homes, and behaving as if it did would have violated “best practices” in public service. When community fellows raised concerns about leaving refugee students bereft of a program they had come to depend on, the Swearer Center proposed creating an in-classroom program with the Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island, Max said. The BRYTE community fellows rejected the plan because it failed to consider that many refugee students could not attend an in-classroom, after-school tutoring program due to familial and work constraints, he added. Instead, the program found a new home and sponsor in the Alpert Medical School. The Med School partners with the Refugee Health Clinic at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, Max said. BRYTE’s move to the Med School is logical and beneficial as the presence of doctors who specialize in refugee health care and the assistance of a University human development professor ensure that BRYTE students follow best practices in the field, he said.

spaces like this where folks can literally see each other (and) speak to one another … because so much of that is not encouraged in the school system,” Li said. Elorza said that input from the crowd would influence future work on the city’s education system. “Going forward, we are going to make sure we report back to this group to let them know how it’s influenced the work we are doing and continue to do,” Elorza said, praising the summit’s ability to unite Providence residents. “We want to continue to open up different avenues and pathways for people to engage with us,” Elorza said. “I think there’s going to be a lot of positivity coming from this.”

GUS REED / HERALD

Den Den Korean Fried Chicken, which opened March 25, offers a wide selection of Korean and Japanese starters, entrees and desserts.

» KFC, from page 1 creamy, sweet-sour dipping sauce. The spicy rice cakes, also known as “Tteok-bokki,” stand out in particular among the menu items. Soft and chewy, stewed with assorted vegetables in a thick, syrupy chili paste, the rice cakes encapsulate the perfect mix of sweetness, salt and spice. In contrast, the eponymous “Den Den Korean Fried Chicken” falls short of expectations. The chicken, which comes in three varieties — Dark (Soy Garlic); Red (Spicy); and White (Lemon Cream) — lacks both flavor and savor. While the texture is delectably

crispy on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside, there is nothing striking about the taste. None of the three flavors linger, and all fail to make customers crave more. All in all, the fried chicken is simply not the capstone dish expected by the restaurant’s name. Despite its expensive menu, Den Den Korean Fried Chicken boasts a strong and varied selection of dishes, a clean and pleasant atmosphere and, most importantly, good food. Two weeks in, the latest addition to Thayer’s dining scene continues to entertain a hefty influx of customers and promises to do so for a long time.

STEPHANIE REYES / HERALD

All In: Providence Education Moonshot Summit, supported by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, brought together community members to discuss how to better ensure the success of Providence students.

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2017 • PAGE 3

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» COMMUNITY, from page 1 Masculinity 101 coordinator. Many schools rely on older models of sexual assault prevention education and lack resources for prevention or masculinity workshops like those at Brown. Student efforts to design and implement comprehensive curricula have resulted in much of the programming used on campus to recognize and dismantle rape culture. Along with rape culture, the broader “culture of entitlement” fostered at Brown creates a social atmosphere that may contribute to gender-based harassment, said Molly Sandstrom ’17, a peer educator with Masculinity Peer Education and a previous coordinator for the Sexual Assault Peer Education program. Though this culture of entitlement coexists with and influences rape culture, acts of entitlement are not just sexual and can manifest in everyone’s daily behavior. Health Services has worked with existing communities — clubs, teams and Greek houses — through different peer education programs such as SAPE to educate students on how privilege and oppression contribute to this culture of entitlement and to cultivate a “day-to-day” culture of consent in its place, said Elliot Ruggles, a sexual harrasment and assault resources and education advocate. Combating a culture of entitlement SAPE, a student organization under Health Promotions, has led the charge in dismantling a culture of entitlement. SAPE leads workshops for various student groups on power, privilege, oppression and entitlement and how these social forces can foster an environment amenable to sexual assault. The program overhauled its curriculum last semester, departing from the previous bystander intervention model and opting for a system that teaches students to recognize rape culture and draw from their community values to prevent sexual assault, said Sandstrom. As a key part of the programming, members of a specific community build an action plan grounded in shared standards. The previous model reinforced survivor- and bystander-blaming and treated assaults as isolated events uninfluenced by other forces at play, Sandstrom said. “Bystander intervention focuses primarily on the actions of the bystanders and those in need of intervention. It becomes all too easy to blame the actions or failure to act on bystanders,” Sandstrom wrote in follow-up email to The Herald. “Even if someone does intervene and does everything ‘right,’ it doesn’t adequately address the aggressor’s behavior.” “When small actions or behaviors go unnoticed or unchecked, they are increasingly normalized,” said Sandstrom. Catcalling, using jokes and crude language to objectify others, sexist attitudes and non-consensual touching constitute a larger culture of entitlement, which can then escalate to sexual assault. “The threshold becomes lower for violence to occur,” Sandstrom said. The change in curriculum aims to equip community members with resources to support survivors and actively decrease harmful behaviors, she said. Greg Lowry ’17, a SAPE peer educator, agreed that students should learn

how to establish this culture based off consent. “Consent is part of what (we) do on a regular basis. (People) already know how to do this,” but they need to bring it into daily practice beyond sexual interactions. First-year training SAPE hosts trainings for “anyone who will listen,” Ruggles said. But the University perennially struggles to reach those who need training the most and make trainings more relevant to how people experience entitlement daily. The University first attempts to train students during their formative week of orientation. Lowry joined SAPE as a result of his involvement in revamping the first-year sexual assault prevention curriculum. As a former residential peer leader, Lowry found the orientation sexual assault presentation “tokenizing and ineffective,” and afterwards, he “started picking out the difficulties with trying to educate people” on the subject, he said. “A lot of the information is really similar” between sexual assault prevention, violence prevention and safe alcohol and drug use, said Kevin Swartout, assistant professor of psychology at Georgia State University and researcher on sexual assault perpetration. “If we can create an integrated approach, … we would have a better shot at it being effective.” Swartout noted that after most schools’ first-year orientations, students never receive further training. “Booster sessions” could remind students of the campus policies and effective practices, but Brown does not currently have mandatory follow-up programs to reiterate prevention training after first-year orientation. Students may receive SAPE training, but that is on a local level in student organizations, clubs and societies. Along with some peers, Lowry designed a new first-year orientation curriculum to identify how power and privilege create entitlement, he said. The programming also “uses different models of consent in everyday life, not just sexual situations,” in an attempt to build an understanding of consent, he added. Other access points But for many students, hook-up culture remains the most predominant aspect of rape culture they regularly encounter. In this climate, masculine people are expected to be the actors in initiating sex, coercing passive feminine people, said Jordan Ferguson ’17, a Masculinity 101 coordinator. “The hook-up culture is more apparent in the social scene surrounding Greek life and sports teams,” said Lauren Shin ’19, who has researched hook-up culture in Brown Greek life and is a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. Greek Council mandates SAPE training for all of its new and returning members. Groups like athletics teams and the marching band have all received training in the past. Athletic teams and Greek houses are important access points for training because their members often throw large parties and peers regard them as social leaders, Lowry said. “These people also have a lot of social capital, so having them lead that discussion and tell other people that it’s important means they are going to listen,” Lowry said. Athletic teams are not currently

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Garrett Robinson ’19 and Kenari Drayton ’19 play on the football team and work as masculinity workshop facilitators. Drayton said he was motivated to get involved in masculinity workshops to serve as a familiar face.

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Greg Lowry ’17, a SAPE peer educator and a former residential peer leader, helped design the new first-year orientation on sexual assault prevention that focuses on identifying power, privilege and entitlement. required to receive SAPE training. Nonetheless, Marc Peters, health specialist and interim deputy Title IX coordinator, regularly works with the football team, which “has shown a longterm commitment” to understanding and addressing hypermasculinity, he said. He has also worked with other teams on an ad-hoc basis. A few years ago, upperclassmen members of the football team were “out of control,” prompting the sessions with Peters, said Garrett Robinson ’19, a member of the team. Robinson works closely with Peters and two teammates, Kenari Drayton ’19 and Jordan Ferguson ’17, to run educational programs on masculinity. “Last year, after a game that we lost, I heard a couple of seniors talking in the showers saying, ‘Ah, let’s take it out on some girls tonight,’ and it was really upsetting to hear that,” Robinson said. With the masculinity educational programs, Robinson has not seen that behavior from the team. Drayton said he was motivated to get involved in Masculinity Peer Education precisely to serve as a familiar face. “I wanted people to see me and see what I was doing, and think, ‘Okay, my friend is doing this. Let me see why he’s doing this and support him.’” The athletics department administration recognizes that some men’s sports are steeped in hypermasculinity. Senior officers have used departmentwide resources, such as surveys and exit interviews, to provide student athletes ways to gauge the climate around sensitive issues like sexual assault, said Colin Sullivan, deputy director of athletics.

“Could we do more? Absolutely. Everyone can always do more,” said Carolan Norris, senior associate athletics director for student athlete services and senior woman administrator. Norris recognized that students, including Ferguson, have spearheaded the conversations around hypermasculinity and sexual assault in athletics. But the athletics department comprises over 900 student athletes, and a lack of resources and time has stymied attempts to train all athletes by SAPE, she said. Student leaders encourage a comprehensive and community-based approach to training. Shin noted that a mandatory Greek Council sexual assault prevention lecture she attended in fall 2016 was led by unfamiliar adults who “detached themselves” from the intimacy of the issues. Those who mandate the training are “missing a huge part of the campus” beyond Greek students, Shin said. “We need to see men teaching other student organizations” to ensure that this work is not done solely by women and gender-nonconforming individuals, she added. Though the narratives of sexual assault survivors need to be the focus of prevention work, “we need to create a culture that doesn’t put the onus on survivors and victims to end rape culture,” said Je-Shawna Wholley, program coordinator for the LGBTQ Center. Taking steps In February, the Undergraduate Council of Students voted to require Category 3 student groups to have at least one executive board member go

through SAPE training in order to receive funding from UCS, formally extending the reach of sexual assault prevention training beyond Greek Houses. “It was interesting to me that Greek Houses were required to have SAPE training, but other groups are not,” said Viet Nguyen ’17, president of UCS. The new legislation — funded by the Office of Campus Life — is a twoyear plan, with the first year featuring a student group opt-in training. By spring 2018, all organizations must have a SAPE liaison to re-categorize as a student group, Nguyen said. “If you’re getting funding from this school, you should learn what this school values,” Lowry said. A culture of entitlement will not disappear without community buy-in and concerted efforts. The Division of Campus Life is creating a one-year, full-time fellowship that will focus on supplementing BWell’s peer education work next year, wrote Vice President of Campus Life and Student Services Eric Estes in an email to The Herald. “Brown is lucky to have Title IX and Health Promotion to advocate for and support this work,” Sandstrom said. “But this work shouldn’t be limited to an Ivy League institution just because we have the resources.” Rape culture is “not ephemeral. It’s omnipresent. I don’t have the solution to fix it. When we can make the cognitive switch that rape culture isn’t separate from the culture we’re breathing on college campuses, we’ll see change,” Ferguson said. “Whether we’re talking about it — that’s ephemeral.”

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‘Invasion!’ challenges audiences, casts light on Muslim experiences Sock and Buskin’s production offers series of vignettes that highlight talented direction, action By JUSTIN FERENZI STAFF WRITER

Who is Abulkasem? The question pervades “Invasion!,” Sock and Buskin’s latest production about the Muslim experience in the Western world. The play is not easy to describe — nor should it be. At its most basic level, the show is a series of intersecting vignettes that trace the ethereal identity of a figure the characters hold to a near-mythological status. At its loftiest, it is a scathing critique of the way American society treats Muslims and other marginalized communities. The play opens with a coup de theatre, a playful prank on the audience that director Ashley Teague MFA’17 asks us to bear with in her program. From there, viewers follow a series of scenes — rowdy high school students disrupting a class trip, flirtation and harassment in a dive bar, an unreliable Greek chorus consisting of a panel of “experts” and so on. Certain vignettes stand out for their talented execution, their poignancy and their richness. Chief among them is a scene in which an immigrant apple picker hires a translator to tell his story. As he professes his love for ABBA in Arabic, the interpreter provides intentionally mistranslated English depictions of increasingly stereotypical acts. “I burn the American flag and the Israeli flag!” the translator falsely claims the man is saying, right before the apple picker dances energetically to “Waterloo.” Haunting the apple picker’s waking

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COURTESY OF MARK TUREK

An unconventional look into the lives of Muslim individuals in American society, Sock and Buskin’s “Invasion!” interweaves a thought-provoking variety of vignettes. hours are repeated calls from Abulkasem, a nerdy young man who used a fake name to pick up a girl at a bar. The girl gave him a fake number — one that turned out to be the apple picker’s, and so Abulkasem has been repeatedly pestering the apple picker under the impression that he is reaching the object of his desire. The name Abulkasem is used throughout the play as a pseudonym, a legend, a scapegoat and a metaphor. The name, of course, stands in for the skewed Western perception of Muslim people, but anyone can be Abulkasem. “Who is Abulkasem?” the playbill

asks. “Is it you?” Near the end, a panel of pseudoexperts — one of whom is named, appropriately if bluntly, Arnold Drumpt — erupts into a frenzy over the need to track, identify and capture yet another nebulous Abulkasem. One of the panelists shows a video montage of Western depictions of Arabic people, featuring everything from Disney’s Aladdin to CNN reports, and points to every other character, claiming that he — no, him — no, her — is Abulkasem. “Why does Abulkasem matter?” the moderator asks exasperatedly. No one

answers, for no one cares. Many of the vignettes cannot be done justice in a brief review. The often wraithlike movements of the characters on stage, the nuance of the dialogue and the brilliance of the structure are all necessary to observe for oneself. And that does not mean simply to watch — this play demands the most of its audience, requiring intent listening, thoughtfulness, open-mindedness and engagement. Perhaps the greatest feat of the play is its implicit refusal to allow passivity. Attention must also be given to the

hyper-talented ensemble cast. Each of them adds an integral component to the show, carrying out multiple roles through the duration of the play while maintaining dramatic tone shifts and quick-changes with elegance and professionalism. “Invasion!” is quite unlike any other contemporary play. Swedishborn writer Jonah Hassem Khemiri’s words, coupled with Teague’s decidedly personal direction and the cast’s skillful acting, has made this show among the strongest of Brown’s performances this year.

Earth2Trump performance brings together art, protest Roadshow addresses Trump environmental policies, treatment of indigenous people By ELIZABETH TOLEDANO SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Entering downtown Providence’s Columbus Theater for Friday night’s E arth2Trump Roadshow of Resistance, local community members encountered a wide array of booths and petitions offering everything from the opportunity to sign senatebound postcards to the chance to pick up free endangered species-themed condoms. Closer to the main stage, speakers blasted popular hits by ’60s and ’70s bands such as Canned Heat and

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The Mamas and the Papas alluding to a history of protest. A dancer in a polar bear suit grooved to the music, adding a cheerful element to an otherwise politically charged event. Earth2Trump Roadshow of Resistance, affiliated with the Center for Biological Diversity, showed how performance can function as protest, featuring a series of acts that addressed President Trump’s policies, particularly those that pertain to indigenous peoples’ rights and environmental degradation. “There (are) so many ways to resist,” said Brytnee Laurette, an activist and speaker touring with the roadshow. “A lot of people think that, you know, to be

an activist you have to be on the frontline … I think art is activism. There’s a word for it, too, it’s ‘artivism.’” Planning for the show began in November, following the election, and the first tour began in January, Laurette said. In addition to speeches by Laurette, the show includes performances by musicians Lyla June and Casey Neill and features speeches from activist and Lakota elder Cheryl Angel. Earth2Trump has already toured the West Coast and the South, and throughout April, it will continue to tour the Northeast. During Friday’s performance, Laurette took the stage just after 7 p.m., thanking local tribes for allowing the roadshow space on their land. A Narragansett family joined her, offering a local standpoint on global issues by

pointing out that the city of Providence is not guiltless in the nation’s affronts to indigenous peoples. The parking lot of the Providence mall covers an ancestral burial ground, noted a speaker. Cheyenne and Diné artist Lyla June’s performance followed Laurette’s comments. She began with a hip-hop piece focused on the political issues the show hoped to tackle. Afterwards, she sang piercing, hopeful and, at times, sorrowful songs, addressing environmental issues and indigenous rights today. Casey Neill came next, bringing a slightly more positive attitude, suggesting that people “find one issue (they) care about and dig in.” He invited audience members to join the dancer in the polar bear suit and himself on stage for his song “Ice Bear,” which centers around endangered

polar bears. “Critters don’t have voices,” Neill crooned. Angel spoke about the immense challenges she faced protesting at Standing Rock. She described standing on the frontlines wearing goggles on nights she felt sure she would face arrest. Bringing her hands together, she suggested two ways of resisting: prayer and action. Throughout her speech, Angel offered a message of intergenerational hope and respect. She joined June in a prayer for Syria following Friday’s missile strike. Angel finished the show with another prayer. “Sometimes it’s hard and you lose hope,” Laurette said. On the tour, she wants to create a space to “share and learn from people just traveling through.”

Wow Barbecue to move into 183 Angell St. before May Thayer’s newest barbecue joint offers authentic Chinese skewers, family style dishes By KYLE BOROWSKI METRO EDITOR

A new restaurant is coming to Thayer in the form of Wow Barbecue, a Chinese eatery with two locations already open

in Boston. With the establishment of Wow, Thayer now counts two barbecue restaurants among its own, along with Durk’s Bar-B-Q which came to Thayer this past February. Wow will be located at 183 Angell St. — across from Korean Fried Chicken and only blocks from Durk’s. While the possibility for competition remains, Wow promises grilled options more in line

METRO

with traditional Chinese barbecue rather than the Southern fare offered at Durk’s. Wow’s store managers seemed unfazed by the preponderance of Asian cuisine already offered on College Hill. “There are a couple of Chinese restaurants in the area,” the managers wrote in a business plan submitted to the Providence Board of Licenses,“but none of them does Chinese BBQ.” At Wow’s existing Boston restaurants, this concept translates into dishes

likely more familiar to American audiences such as crab rangoons, General Tso’s Chicken and fried rice, in addition to more authentic Chinese cuisine like grilled pig feet, lamb kidney and chicken heart. “We are a restaurant inspired by authentic Chinese BBQ skewers,” the store’s managers wrote. The skewers will be available in meat, vegetable and seafood options, in addition to some “larger Sichuan family style dishes to

share,” they added. At lunchtime, the restaurant “will (have) a fast food environment” based on the sale of lunch box and noodle dishes while dinner will be characterized by a casual, sit-down dining experience, the managers wrote. While the exact date of Wow’s arrival is still unknown, a website for the Thayer Street District Management Authority lists its opening as sometime before May of this year.

TODAY

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2017 • PAGE 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

golden on the green

SATELLITE DINING ANDREWS COMMONS

Pizza: Mushroom’s Revenge, Spicy Sausage and Garlic, Miss Maple JOSIAH’S

BLUE ROOM

The Muffaletta, Sante Fe Salad, The Isabella Burger

Beef Chili with Beans, Broccoli and Cheddar Soup

DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH

DINNER

Cobb Salad Bar, Rhody Seafood Manicotti, Sundried Tomato Calzone, Lemon Squares

Great Vegetable Soup, Tamale Pie, Carrots Plaki, Herb Rice, Carmael Latte Cake

VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH

DINNER

Cream of Broccoli Soup, Beef Tacos, Caesar Salad Pizza Bar, Lemon Snack Squares

Beef Lo Mein, Garlic and Basil Mashed Potatoes, Greek Salad Bar, Vanilla Caramel Latte Cake

sudoku

LILLY NGUYEN / HERALD

Students gathered around a golden retriever on the Main Green on Tuesday, National Pet Day. With clear skies and temperatures reaching an unusually high 70 degrees, the weather was perfect for dog-petting.

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

“I’m worried when non-scientists try to make decisions about what types of science are important.”

c r Norris o s sandwJoyce o rNichols d Lewis Edited by Rich

ACROSS 1 Monster 9 “Doesn’t anyone else see this?” 15 Ivory tower milieu 16 Ottoman officials 17 Blue chip, e.g. 19 It’s south of Vesuvius 20 Vermont ski resort 21 Bar choice 22 URL part 23 Lamb kin 24 Flushed 25 Small change, maybe 27 Réunion attendee 29 Job transfer consequence, for short 30 Winner of the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Music 32 Incan herd members 34 Artisan 36 Horn of Africa native 39 Disney character voiced by Robby Benson 43 Spacewalks, for short 44 Bargaining side 46 Uruguay’s Punta del __ 47 Pump choice: Abbr. 48 Augsburger’s article 49 Neapolitan crowd? 50 Spring bloomer 52 Soft bunches 54 Foot massage expert? 55 Fitness ideal 58 17th/18th-century division of New France 59 Motel posting 60 Grammer with Emmys 61 Intern, often DOWN 1 Adaptation words 2 Transition zone between plant communities 3 Obsessed 4 Poet __ St. Vincent Millay

5 NSAID, e.g. 6 “__ babbino caro”: “Oh my beloved father” (Puccini) 7 Monkeyed (with) 8 “You look familiar ...” 9 __ fatso: bit of Archie Bunker languagemangling 10 Didn’t play 11 Creeds 12 Euclidean proposal 13 Honoree of a sixmeter-high Johannesburg statue 14 Oaxaca y Veracruz 18 Part of FEMA: Abbr. 26 Guayaquil girls: Abbr. 27 Delicate 28 Iconic bull 29 Indian princess 31 Team that plays in Fla.’s Amway Center 33 Chocolate companion?

35 An abbreviation of 36 LPGA star who is the youngest living World Golf Hall of Fame inductee 37 Not neat 38 Mysteriously enchanting 40 Elaine’s home, in Arthurian legend 41 Close overlap of fugue voices

42 Ring around a crib? 45 Score words for a pair 51 Criteria: Abbr. 52 Caterer’s delivery 53 Like many horses 54 Seurat’s Seine scene 56 Road reversal, familiarly 57 Punk rock offshoot

ANSW R

— Baylor Fox-Kemper, associate professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences

See research on BACK.

O S

calendar TODAY MARCH APRIL

2017 Annual Research Symposium 9:30 A.M. Alumnae Hall

Fulbright 101 5:00 P.M. BERT 130

10 7

11 8

12 9

10 13

11 14

12 15

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14 17

15 18

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17 20

18 21

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23/30 26 24 27

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Machine Learning in Mechanism Design 12:00 P.M. CIT 368 Brown Amateur Radio Club Meeting 6:30 P.M. Sayles Hall, 305

TOMORROW Engineering Seminar: Biomedical Engineering 9:00 A.M. CIT 165

Perception Action Seminar Series 12:00 P.M. Metcalf Research Building, 305

Reading: Dodie Bellamy 5:30 P.M. McCormack Family Theater

International Poetry Night 6:00 P.M. Smith-Buonanno, 106

COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2017

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COMMENTARY WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2017 • PAGE 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

The precarious state of Brazilian democracy CONNOR CARDOSO staff columnist This past week, Eduardo da Cunha, the former president of Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies — the lower house of its national legislature — was sentenced to 15 years in prison after he was convicted on corruption charges relating to his involvement in Brazil’s gargantuan grafting scandal, Operation Lava Jato (translated as Operation Car Wash). This fitting conclusion to da Cunha’s sensational fall from power provided an almost surreal context for former President Dilma Rousseff ’s Monday lecture “The Challenges for Democracy in Brazil.” Indeed, it was da Cunha that accused Rousseff of malfeasance in the first place, having instigated the impeachment proceedings against her in late 2015. His conviction almost immediately prior to Rousseff ’s lecture, though, is not just a humorous bit of irony — rather, it portends dark things for the health of Brazil’s relatively nascent democracy. To the casual observer, Rousseff ’s cries of a “political coup” may have seemed like sour grapes — the bitter rationalizations of a politician seeking to vilify her opponents and protect the legacy of her party. But upon deeper

inspection, there is really no clearer way to describe her ouster than as an institutional coup d’etat based entirely in political factionalism. Firstly, Rousseff found herself among the very few of Brazil’s political elite that were not implicated in Operation Lava Jato, which involved breathtaking corruption and grafting through Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras. As a result, the

vestigation himself — could put an end to the probe, saving himself and most of the others implicated. Indeed, in the Chamber of Deputies, 303 of its 513 members were under investigation for corruption, as were 49 members of the 81-member Senate. Of the 65 members on the impeachment commission in the Chamber of Deputies, 38 voted to impeach Rousseff, and of those, 37 were under in-

oil and transportation conglomerate Transpetro, that “a change in government” would result in an agreement to “staunch the bleeding” posed by Operation Lava Jato, in which both were implicated. With this in mind, Rousseff ’s claim that Brazil was “one step from an actual coup” no longer seems like hyperbole. But while her impeachment was, by any metric, profoundly

Upon deeper inspection, there is really no clearer way to describe Dilma Rousseff ’s ouster than as an institutional coup d’etat based entirely in political factionalism.

investigation of politicians implicated in the scandal proceeded, unabated, under her watch. While many in Rousseff ’s own party have been implicated in the scandal, including her predecessor and mentor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, her political opponents have made it clear that they intended to impeach her so that her vice president, Michel Temer — a member of another political party and under in-

vestigation for charges related to the Lava Jato scandal. In case their voting patterns did not signal their intent clearly enough, some members of President Temer’s cabinet have elucidated their motivations. Senator Romero Jucá, president of Temer’s Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, was caught on tape suggesting to Sérgio Machado, the former president of the Brazilian

and disturbingly anti-democratic, the aftermath of her departure presents problems of its own. Rousseff ’s Workers’ Party has ruled without interruption since 2003, when da Silva was first elected. The Workers’ Party has implemented and run on extensive social welfare programs which have been credited with helping to significantly reduce extreme poverty, hunger and HIV

rates in Brazil. It was on this platform that Rousseff was reelected in 2014. However, her successor, Temer — who is not a member of Rousseff ’s party and is, unbelievably, currently banned from running for president, despite ascending to the position as Rousseff ’s vice president — has begun to implement severe austerity measures. This is all in spite of the fact that Rousseff ran on exactly the opposite platform. Following the Senate’s approval of his budgetary amendment, which caps federal spending for the next 20 years, protests erupted across Brazil. Shockingly, even members of his own party have called for his resignation. Ronaldo Caiado, a leader of Temer’s political coalition, stated publicly that he should resign. While reasonable people can certainly disagree over the wisdom and efficacy of Rousseff ’s policies and even her decisions, which, in fact, were fairly divisive in Brazil, it seems indisputable that her impeachment was a product of corruption and political tribalism. Rousseff ’s lecture was aptly named — Brazil’s democracy faces several sinister challenges, indeed.

Connor Cardoso ’19 can be reached at connor_cardoso@brown.edu.

Don’t honk if you support equality QUINN BORNSTEIN op-ed contributor “Eat a hamburger!” “You girls just made my day!” “Put a shirt on, pervert!” “I can see your cootch through your shorts!” These remarks and many more salacious ones have been directed at me and my teammates on the women’s cross-country team — often accompanied by wolf whistles, honking and leering out the car window. Once a driver even touched himself as he idled alongside my teammate. In my day-to-day life, I have not yet felt the direct impact of women being paid 80 cents on the dollar. Never in the classroom or the workplace have I been made to feel inferior because of my sex. Only when I am running do I feel unequal — frustrated that I cannot run after dark or on a wooded trail alone. My neck is getting pretty sore from looking over my shoulder for 65 miles a week. “Getting catcalled can ruin my whole run,” says Alexis Van Pernis ’18, a middle-distance runner. “In a group, it matters less because we’ll often laugh it off and take comfort in the fact that there’s strength in numbers, but when I’m running alone, it makes me very aware of how vulnerable I am.” The past 50 years have revolutionized athletic equality for women. In 1967, one of the first female finishers of the Boston Marathon had to fight off the race director who tried to rip her number off once they saw a woman on the course. Five years later, Title IX outlawed discrimination on the basis of sex in “any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance,” especially athletics. Despite these strides for female athletes, sexually-aggressive language needs to be placed

higher on the agenda of women’s issues — for athletes and non-athletes alike. This behavior, which in the past has been normalized as “locker room talk,” has moved from the shower room to the campaign trail to the White House. It may just be anecdotal, but my teammates and I have noted that the frequency of verbal attacks has risen along with President Trump’s political status and the media coverage of his misogynistic comments. These trends galvanized the women’s marches in Washington, New York, Boston and dozens of other cities this January. But we need to do more than stand in solidarity on Beacon Hill and cheer on Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, as my

women. But even the latter is focused on domestic and sexual violence, not its verbal and gestural precursors. This issue is particularly salient for those whose day-to-day travel and activities take them down unpopulated routes and make them feel unsafe. This past summer, three women were killed mid-run; while random homicide is very uncommon, fear of it is not. According to a survey conducted by Runner’s World magazine, 43 percent of women experience harassment while running, compared to only 4 percent of men. The long-term solution could be donating to organizations, like NOW or Emily’s List, so that more women who understand this plight can be elected to Congress and enact legislation to pro-

Never in the classroom or the workplace have I been made to feel inferior because of my sex. Only when I am running do I feel unequal — frustrated that I cannot run after dark or on a wooded trail alone. My neck is getting pretty sore from looking over my shoulder for 65 miles a week. teammates and I did. We in the crowd were just preaching to the choir — one that doesn’t ogle at women in sports bras. Media coverage of the unprecedented turnout at the marches masked the need for policies to protect women when we do not have strength in numbers. We have been taught to keep our wits about us, to counter these offenses with silence because retorting or approaching the heckler could easily escalate the verbal abuse into a physical altercation. The lack of a political or personal voice for women’s safety leaves us without recourse in these daily assaults. The National Organization for Women’s top issues include reproductive rights and justice, economic justice and ending violence against

mote gender equality. But if the Equal Rights Amendment wasn’t passed under former President Jimmy Carter, I doubt it can succeed under Trump. And even a federal amendment stating that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged … on account of sex” would be powerless against these anonymous, day-today harassments. For now, we need a grassroots solution — one that starts with America’s schoolchildren. Sexual respect must be taught alongside sexual education as early as elementary school. Young adults should learn to differentiate between a compliment and a lewd remark — even if their president cannot. Sexual harassment is of course inherently

about sex. But at a deeper level, it is about boundaries, respect and feeling safe where we live, work and run. Studies in the United States and abroad have demonstrated that teaching physical boundaries at all levels of schooling can ingrain a sense of sexual respect that continues into adulthood. Comprehensive and accurate sex education programs that teach the importance of consent, communication and respect equip students with the tools and confidence to discern what constitutes harassment. Thus far, sexual education is only required in 24 states and Washington, in varying levels of detail and adherence to “medical accuracy.” Similarly, only half of all states require any kind of sexual assault education in schools, often leaving it up to the parents or relying on lessons in female self-defense — this policy only normalizes these incidents. U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-VA, summed up the cursory approach by saying “there’s a traditional skittishness about sex education in the K-12 system.” But even the most limited sex education programs may find it more comfortable to teach the importance of respectful, safe interactions with strangers on the street, than those with intimate partners in the bedroom. Many of us heard of the language of consent for the first time our freshman year at Brown. Colleges across the country have now taken up the call of consent — but the middle school boys leering out the school bus window won’t receive this talk for five more years, if at all, and that might be too late. It might be too much to ask our current state legislatures to mandate teaching consent in middle or high school, but it shouldn’t be too onerous for educators to reinforce the elementary school adage, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

Quinn Bornstein ’18 can be reached at quinn_bornstein@brown.edu.

NEWS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2017

U. announces $5 million emergency research fund Money will help researchers finish projects if Trump administration cuts science funding By GALEN HALL SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Provost Richard Locke announced the creation of a $5 million emergency research fund March 28 that will be used to support research projects if government funding is suddenly cut. In such cases, researchers will be able to apply for access to money from the fund, which will ease the process of closing down those investigations, said Vice President for Research David Savitz, whose office will oversee the fund. The University created the fund in response to “concern about how precarious research funding is right now, particularly in politically sensitive areas,” Savitz said. “There have been proposals to dramatically increase funding for defense and homeland security that would come at the expense of funding for agencies that support universitybased research,” Locke wrote in an email to The Herald. Sharp cuts into these agencies’ budgets could stop ongoing University research projects, he added. Although the fund is meant to cover all types of research, investigations in some areas are more prone to be defunded than others, Savitz said. Research in climate change, clean

energy, contraception or pregnancy termination and social or behavioral science are all in particular danger of losing funding, Locke wrote in a press release. Agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fund most climate research, said Baylor Fox-Kemper, associate professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences. President Trump’s recently proposed budget cuts would, if carried out, make such agencies “incapable of doing their work,” he added. The amount of money committed to the emergency fund “was based on the volume of research we currently have that is in these vulnerable areas,” Savitz said. The money, which will come from general University reserves, is meant to cover all of the current research that might face sudden cuts in the near future, he added. The amount of money allocated to researchers will depend on “what’s needed to bring the project to an orderly close,” Savitz said. The money will not be used to complete these projects, but will instead allow them to shut down systematically — ideally in a way that would allow them to restart if funding returns. For example, researchers would need time to archive data for future access, store specimens and pay laboratory assistants for their work, Savitz added. The University had to create a similar emergency fund during the 2013

government shutdown and budget sequestration so that active projects could continue, Locke wrote, adding that “this (new) program is modeled on that earlier plan.” But budget changes during that period carried different implications about the allocation of research funding, Savitz said. While 2013 saw a temporary drop in government research funding, researchers now worry about permanent cuts. “It’s a wonderful thing that we’re in a university that can afford to (provide emergency funds),” Fox-Kemper said. But the fund will not be able to address long-term cuts in funding, and such cuts could do extensive damage to progress in climate research and other fields that are at risk. But Savitz believes that long-term gradual decreases in funding are “more likely to happen” and “more threatening” than an abrupt cut to resources. To prepare for this threat, the University is working to diversify its funding and seek support from private foundations and corporations. The budget proposed by the Trump administration demonstrates an unsettling hostility toward climate science — and other sciences — from a government that, until recently, was its most important source of support, Fox-Kemper said, as “virtually all” of his field’s current funding comes from government sources. “I’m worried when non-scientists try to make decisions about what types of science are important,” he said.

COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY

Baylor Fox-Kemper, associate professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences, expressed appreciation for the emergency funding.

Islam, Islamophobia, and Teaching ‘Difficult Subjects’ in the Age of Trumpism Nancy Khalek

Associate Professor of Religious Studies Brown University

Monday, April 17, 2017 4:00 p.m. The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs Joukowsky Forum, Room 155 111 Thayer Street Providence, Rhode Island