Wednesday, January 31 2018 by The Brown Daily Herald

SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2018

VOLUME CLIII, ISSUE 6

WWW.BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

U. implements restorative justice program Committee of Finance New mediation approach reviews budget projections shifts disciplinary focus from guilt, punishment to healing, personal growth

Frustration expressed about Providence school system’s budget management

By SOPHIA GRACE CARTER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Most modern criminal justice systems solely rely on punitive measures — an eye for an eye, or the guilty must be punished for the crimes they commit. At colleges and universities, student conduct policies typically subscribe to similar punishment-based practices. But the University has begun to implement an alternative approach to handling misconduct called restorative justice, which seeks to create conversation between the victim and accused in order to repair any harm caused by the conduct violation. “Traditional, adversarial (and) punitive,” are three words David Karp, director of the Project on Restorative Justice and professor of sociology at Skidmore College, used to describe traditional retributive justice systems. In the traditional system, the objective is to determine “which policies are broken, who did it and what they deserve,” said Kirsten Wolfe, assistant

By SOPHIE CULPEPPER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

ALEX HANESWORTH / HERALD

dean of student conduct and community standards. But unlike typical disciplinary proceedings, restorative justice programs place emphasis on helping the harmed parties reach a resolution that addresses their needs. Restorative justice has been making its way onto college campuses since the 1990s, including at pioneers such as the University of Colorado at

Boulder and Skidmore, Karp said. Since then, a multitude of universities — including Stanford University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan and now Brown — have followed suit, building restorative justice programs within their codes of student conduct. The restorative justice program in » See JUSTICE, page 2

The Providence Committee on Finance convened Tuesday evening in City Hall to discuss the city’s projected budget for the next five years. At the meeting, committee members expressed concerns about the management of the school system’s finances. The bulk of the committee’s agenda was devoted to a review of the five-year budget projections for Fiscal Years 2019-23. The city government is projected to be “at budget or better” for FY 2018-19, said Finance Director Lawrence Mancini. The city ended the last fiscal year with a $5.4 million surplus, Mancini said. “It is the essential task of government to yield a balanced budget,” he added. Toward the end of Mancini’s budget presentation, he admitted this surplus

did not extend to the budget for Providence city schools, which is calculated separately from that of the city’s. “The school budget continues to show deficits in all years, including the most recent year ahead, FY 2019,” Mancini said. The deficit is projected to be “slightly over $3.5 million” for FY 2019, he added. But Mancini said that whenever he meets with school officials, he is assured that “no matter what, it will come in as a balanced budget.” City Council Chair John Igliozzi, in particular, expressed frustration with the school budgeting. “I know they’re going to come up with a balanced budget. Everybody comes up with a balanced budget,” he said. But submitting a balanced budget is “the easy part” and even “disingenuous,” because officials can project developments such as increases in enrollment that do not actually materialize. A balanced projected budget is nothing more than “the work of fiction,” Igliozzi said, which allows the school administrators to “blame the legislature and the executive (when) » See BUDGET, page 2

Scientists seek to develop efficient molecular data storage Elorza Team of researchers receive grant to explore talks molecule synthesis over education next three years Improvements to school buildings, integrating technological innovation top mayor’s agenda By TRISHA THACKER STAFF WRITER

Mayor Jorge Elorza spoke about his vision and goals for education reform with Providence residents at Vartan Gregorian Elementary School Tuesday night. The event was a part of the “Citywide Conversation Series,” a mayoral initiative aimed at improving communication between residents and local officials. Elorza’s education plan targets improvements in physical infrastructure and learning techniques. “Children deserve to study in a classroom that inspires them to learn,” Elorza said, adding that several schools have classrooms with mold and inadequate heating. Over the next 10 years, the mayor’s office plans to invest $400 » See ELORZA, page 8

INSIDE

By CHRIS SCHUTTE

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

A group of University engineers and chemists, led by principal investigators Assistant Professor of Chemistry Brenda Rubenstein ’07 and Assistant Professor of Engineering Jacob Rosenstein ’05, has received a $4.1 million award to analyze new ways to store data using synthetic molecules. The research team has already used 25 unique synthetic molecules to encode and retrieve an 81-bit image and plans to scale up its project with the grant. By using mass spectrometry, Ugi reactions and liquid mechanic robotics, the team aims to make molecular data storage an efficient reality. “The primary advantage (of molecular storage) is that molecules are much denser — you can store them in a 3D volume,” Rubenstein said. “There’s much more information you can store in a much smaller volume.” She added that small molecules are easier to synthesize and model. The team will use Ugi reactions, which combine four components, to

SAM BERUBE / HERALD

University researchers, led by Jacob Rosenstein ’ 05 (middle) and Brenda Rubenstein ’07 (front, second from right) have received a $4.1 million grant for their work on molecular data storage. synthesize these molecules. The team plans to complete all of the basic studies in three years, after which they will begin focusing on key aspects of the project, Rubenstein said. The group’s research could have far-reaching implications as “everybody is producing a ton of data

… more data than we know how to efficiently manage. There are a lot of people interested in alternative ways of storing and processing large amounts of data,” Rubenstein said. Today’s data is stored in two dimensions, but in a test tube it would be stored in three dimensions. Doing

so would help search through large data sets much faster, he added. “We are going to make a hard drive in a test tube.” Data storage as it exists today also relies heavily on magnetism, said Nick Chilton, a research fellow » See DATA, page 2

WEATHER

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2018

NEWS U. partners with edX in creation of free online course, ‘Fantastic Places, Unhuman Humans’

SCIENCE & RESEARCH Virtual reality may allow users to control robots when exploring inhospitable environments

COMMENTARY Miller ’19: Gerrymandering is not the sole culprit of political polarization

COMMENTARY Steinman ’19: Ansari case reveals limitations of #MeToo movement in changing consent norms

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TOMORROW

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NEWS

PAGE 2 • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2018

» JUSTICE, from page 1

for Title IX incidents appears increasingly likely, he said. But the University is not ready to use these practices for cases regarding sexual assault, Wolfe said. If the University does implement restorative justice in the Title IX Office, Wolfe and Karp agree that this form of mediation would not be suitable for all cases of sexual assault and should be available only if the victim is interested. In the future, Wolfe hopes to use restorative justice practices not just in disciplinary situations but throughout campus life. “Restorative justice should be used anywhere … we want to be having deep conversations with students about values, conflict and any community issues,” Wolfe said.

“It should be used not only for addressing conflict that arises within the community, but building strength and cohesion,” she added. Karp urges universities and individuals that are skeptical of restorative justice to consider that the shift from retributive to restorative practices enhances, rather than replaces, traditional measures. “Currently, (student conduct hearings) are focused on individual growth, but restorative justice adds in the elements of acknowledgment of harm done and the obligation to make amends to both the victim and the community at large,” Karp said. “The sentiment shifts from students saying ‘you caught me’ to ‘I feel really bad and want to make things better.’”

» BUDGET, from page 1

» DATA, from page 1

they have to fund the cuts or raise taxes to pay for their work of fiction.” “It’s not that people haven’t given them money,” Igliozzi said. Throughout his time on the committee, the school board has asked for more money in “six-month cycle(s)” and repeatedly spent it all, he added. This is “the business of the school department in Providence. … It’s not anyone in particular’s fault, it’s just the nature of that business,” Igliozzi said. But this business is “bad for the people of Providence, because they sell a book of fiction, and the rest of us have to sell the book of reality. I don’t think it’s fair.” “The state is, right now, somewhat short with money, so they’re looking for cuts and changes,” Igliozzi said. “We need to give the people of Providence an understanding of where we are, because things have to change.”

at the University of Manchester who is unaffiliated with the project. It was first identified that single molecules could implement magnetism to store data in 1993. “We’re in a bit of a new era where molecules are actually looking like it’s a feasible possibility to do these kinds of applications,” he added. Senior Lecturer David Mills at the University of Manchester, who is unaffiliated with the project, spoke on the work of synthetic chemistry as a whole. Chemists have a list of molecules they are interested in designing and have recently begun working to bring them to fruition. “From a

synthetic chemist’s point of view, it’s making quite beautiful molecules,” he said. Rosenstein said that he appreciates the interdisciplinary nature of the project. “This is really an interesting project because it combines computing, data and information and chemistry. … It’s using chemistry to do the information processing.” “I think this project is special to Brown. … Rosenstein and I (were) both Brown undergrads. … Here, you can readily knock on anybody’s door,” Rubenstein said. “That’s really what got this started. … It didn’t matter some of us were in chemistry and some of us were in engineering.”

the University’s code of conduct office includes two facilitators, the victim, the offender and representatives from the community. The two facilitators lead a conversation in which the involved parties work through the conflict to heal those who have been harmed. That healing process usually involves creating a plan of action that will benefit both the victim and the community at large, Wolfe said. Used as an alternative or a supplement to traditional disciplinary proceedings, the new program can only be implemented when both parties have consented to the process and the offender has admitted their guilt. Students can only choose to use

the new method for incidents that the office deems to be less serious. “If suspension should be an option for the offender, the case will go to a higher tiered hearing,” Wolfe said. The program is still young; since its conception fall 2017, restorative justice has only been used twice — first for a case regarding theft and the second for property damage. For the student victim in the theft incident, restorative justice was more effective than the traditional punitive approach, said the victim, who wished to remain anonymous because disciplinary proceedings are confidential. “I don’t think punishing someone in this instance would have made a difference or really helped. Instead, with restorative justice, we were able

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD to channel a bad thing that happened into something good, and we actually became really good friends through the process,” the student said. The offender from that case is currently working on a project that should help amend the harm done to the victim and the University. While colleges and universities are not currently applying restorative justice to cases that fall under Title IX, Karp and other researchers at Skidmore are investigating the option. Previous federal guidance banned mediation and other informal punishment practices for cases of sexual assault and gender-based violence, Karp said. But with the release of new guidelines from the Department of Education last fall, implementation

COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The Providence Committee on Finance discussed the city’s budget predictions and the school budget deficit Tuesday evening.

NEWS

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2018 • PAGE 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

U., edX partnership expands with new course offering Free online course ‘Fantastic Places, Unhuman Humans’ began yesterday By ALLIE REED SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Students across the world began traveling through mythical literary realms to explore various facets of humanity Tuesday, assisted in their quest by virtual guide Leila and a computer generated likeness of James Egan, professor of English and interim director of the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage. Students who enrolled in the free online University course “Fantastic Places, Unhuman Humans: Exploring Humanity through Literature” have access to this virtual world through the online educational platform edX. The University partnered with edX in May 2017 to expand its global reach and to further engage students, alumni and families that make up the Brown community, said Eve Formisano, director of strategic initiatives for the School of Professional Studies. edX, founded by Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2012, offers free online courses to its user base of over 14 million students, Formisano said. Users can also pay a $49 fee to receive a verified certificate upon the completion of a course. In summer 2017, the University ran its first two BrownX courses in collaboration with edX: “The Ethics of Memory,” a literary course exploring memory through reading and selfreflection, and “Artful Medicine: Art’s Power to Enrich Patient Care,” a medical humanities class that examines how the medical community harnesses the power of art and empathy to improve patient care. Nearly 5,000 students ages 14 to 93 from an array of countries have taken advantage of the University’s partnership with edX, Formisano said. The University is contractually obliged to produce at least 12 courses

ALEX SKIDMORE / HERALD

in the first three years of the partnership with edX, said Larry Bouthillier, senior director of Digital Learning Initiatives. “A lot of work goes into creating these courses. We have the technical ability to turn out a lot of them, but it will be costly,” he added. The University does not yet know the cost of creating these courses but hopes to craft a budget for the program in the coming weeks, he said. A small number of edX partners are generating revenue from online courses, but most institutions are “lucky just to break even,” Bouthillier said. “Revenue is a last thought,” he added. Instead, the University primarily hopes that the partnership will provide the opportunity to experiment with different types of learning platforms. To design a new course, a professor

must partner with course designers on the online learning and innovation team. The new “Fantastic Places” course is more of a collaboration with the course’s instructional designer, Naomi Pariseault, than it is his own teaching, Egan said. In the design process, Egan met with Pariseault weekly to discuss assignments and course learning goals. “This is one of those dream projects that you always wanted to work on and still can’t believe you got the chance to do so,” Pariseault said. Her team is responsible for creating all of the online courses offered by the University through edX and other platforms, as well as other digital learning initiatives like the FirstYear@ Brown online orientation for incoming undergraduates that began this year. Designing an online course

“seemed like a really interesting pedagogical challenge,” Egan said. Through his course, he has created content that will equally engage the attention of a 15-year-old and a 70-year-old student, he added. Egan has already taught an online-only class for Brown students and expects that his edX teaching experience “will be a little bizarre,” he said. “It doesn’t feel like teaching to me,” Egan said, adding that hearing students’ laughter and answering their questions in the moment is a major benefit of in-classroom teaching. Unlike Egan, Fred Schiffman, vice chairman of medicine for the Alpert Medical School, was new to online learning when he began teaching “Artful Medicine” in July. He credits the ease of transitioning from in-classroom to virtual platforms to John de

Szendeffy, his instructional course designer. Before this experience, Schiffman felt as though his teaching skills were dependent on the connections he made with people in the classroom. Once he started teaching the course, Schiffman’s worries faded. “I was able to connect with people all over the world … People opened themselves up in a way that was astonishing,” he said, adding that even virtually, his students were willing to share their personal experiences with medicine. The next few courses will include offerings that tackle cybersecurity and medical humanities, Formisano said. The University would also like to experiment with more rigorous courses because the three-week classes offered thus far have been more aligned with “personal interest” rather than graduate level learning, Bouthillier said.

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NEWS

PAGE 4 • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2018

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Metro Roundup

Science & Research Roundup

BY EMILY DAVIES, METRO EDITOR

BY PRYANKA PODUGU AND JONATHAN DOUGLAS, NEWS EDITOR AND SCIENCE & RESEARCH EDITOR

Bills introduced to increase minimum wage, close gender pay gap

Enzyme shown to regulate inflammation, metabolism in fat tissue

Rhode Island’s progressive Democrats launched a coordinated campaign to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour during a press conference Tuesday. Titled “Fight for $15 and Fair Pay,” the campaign began when legislators, workers and advocacy groups gathered at the State House to introduce two new pieces of legislation. The minimum wage bill, sponsored by Sen. Jeanine Calkin, D-Warwick and Rep. Marcia Ranglin-Vassell, D-Providence, aims to gradually increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2023; thereafter, the wage would rise with inflation. The Fair Pay bill, sponsored by Sen. Gayle Goldin, D-Providence and Rep. Susan Donovan, D-Bristol, would remove hiring practices that depress wages for women and people of color. “Hardworking Rhode Islanders need to earn enough to pay the rent, put food on the table and provide the stability and security that a family needs to thrive,” read the R.I. Fight for $15 and Fair Pay Bill Introduction and Kickoff Facebook page. Rhode Island’s minimum wage is currently $10.10 per hour, which puts the state almost $3 above the Federal Minimum Wage of $7.25 an hour. The state’s minimum wage was last changed in 2017, when the General Assembly approved a measure that increased the minimum wage from $9.60 to $10.10 beginning Jan. 1, 2018 and then to $10.50 per hour beginning Jan. 1, 2019. Pay in Rhode Island is not as high, on average, for workers who identify as female than for those who identify as male, according to a 2017 study by the nonpartisan National Partnership for Women and Families. The median annual pay for a woman who holds a full-time, year-round job is $44,050, while that of a man is $51,368. This difference means that women are paid 86 cents for every dollar paid to men. Further, black women in Rhode Island are paid 58 cents and Hispanic women are paid 51 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men, the study reported. Supporters of the bills include the Center for Justice, Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Economic Progress Institute, Jobs with Justice and Planned Parenthood.

A study conducted by researchers at the University identified an enzyme, SNRK, that could play a role in combating obesity in humans, according to a University press release. The study focused closely on the two primary sources of fat in the human body: white and brown fat tissue. White fat, which is linked to obesity, stores excess calories while brown fat burns calories to produce heat. SNRK alters the physiology of fat tissue in mice, reducing inflammation in white fat cells and increasing the metabolism of brown fat cells. Researchers bred mice without the gene that produces SNRK and compared their fat tissue to that of normal mice. They found that mice lacking the SNRK enzyme had a “higher concentration of microphages” — immune cells used as markers for inflammation — in their white fat tissue than normal mice. The mice lacking the SNRK enzyme were also heavier and had a lower metabolic rate, indicating that the absence of SNRK affected the functioning of brown fat. Researchers then examined SNRK’s effect on humans, studying a group of 12,000 women. They found that mutations in the “genes responsible for SNRK production … were directly associated with higher body mass index” and risk of obesity. The study, which was led by Jie Li, a research associate in epidemiology at Brown, and Bin Feng, a research associate in epidemiology at the Alpert Medical School, was published in the academic journal “Diabetes.”

Report of Rhode Island State Police looks toward the future State Police Superintendent Ann Assumpico outlined measures to recruit and retain women and people of color in the police force, as recommended by the results of an outside assessment of the state’s law enforcement agency. The assessment details steps to increase representation that are centered on recruiting, the promotion process and administrative actions, stated the Focused Assessment of the R.I. State Police, issued to Assumpico in December 2017. The recommendations came after a review of General Orders, interviews with relevant personnel and an anonymous employee survey on existing promotion and disciplinary processes. Assumpico, the first woman in charge of the state’s law enforcement agency, was sworn in after the State Police’s 2016 class provoked “a general sense of disappointment given the underwhelming graduation rate of women and persons of color in the new class,” the assessment stated. Assumpico has also experienced difficulties retaining minority and women recruits, she said Tuesday. This year, 44 percent of the 1,403 applicants for the training academy were minorities or women compared to 35 percent in last recruitment drive in 2014. The report comes as Republican gubernatorial candidate Allan Fung criticized Governor Gina Raimondo for “taking her eye off the ball” when it comes to crime, as detailed in a 15-second web video released Monday.

Virtual reality used to control robots A new study led by a team of undergraduate and graduate students allows users to control robots in virtual reality. Researchers hope the technology will be used to control robots remotely from large distances, bringing users directly into the surroundings of the robot. Robots are particularly useful in environments that are not accessible to humans, such as distant planets and dangerous war zones. Today’s technology allows operators to see the robot’s surroundings using normal camera software, but controllers will now be able to fully immerse themselves in a robot’s environment using the team’s new techniques. An HTC vive virtual reality headset controlled the robot located in the Humans to Robots lab, headed by Assistant Professor of Computer Science Stefanie Tellex. Furthermore, the team was able to control a robot located in Cambridge, Massachusetts over 41 miles away. In the future, researchers hope to move the robot in more complex ways, including navigating it around an environment rather than just moving it in a predefined manner. The study was led by David Whitney GS and Eric Rosen ’18.

Clay minerals on Mars may have formed in primordial steam bath Researchers questioned the early history of Mars by suggesting that the planet’s clay minerals formed during the creation of Martian crust long before the appearance of water, according to a University press release. Previously, scientists believed that the presence of phyllosilicates, or clays, on Mars’ surface meant that the planet possessed sustained “surface water, groundwater or active hydrothermal systems” at some point in its history, according to the press release. However, Brown researchers propose that a molten magma ocean, which once existed on Mars’s surface, played a critical role in creating the clays. As this ocean began to cool and solidify, water and other substances might have been be pushed to the surface, “forming a thick, steamy atmosphere surrounding the planet,” according to the press release. This, in turn, would have converted the newly solidified surface into clay. Kevin Cannon GS, who led the study, said the resulting atmosphere “would have been the hottest and wettest Mars ever was,” the perfect climate to create large deposits of clay. To test their hypothesis, researchers examined rock samples similar to Martian basalt in a high pressure device simulating the temperature and atmospheric conditions present on Mars as its magma ocean disappeared. After cooking the samples in the device, researchers found the rocks to be completely transformed, according to the press release. While researchers cannot prove conclusively that their scenario occurred on Mars, their labs and experimentations support a strong hypothesis that could be further tested through Mars exploration, according to the press release.

CHECK OUT THESE OTHER COST and COST RELATED COURSES! COST 0035: Saints and Mystics of India Srinivas Reddy TTh: 9 - 10:20 A.M. Sayles Hall, Rm. 205

COST 0450: Stages of the Contemplative Path Jared Lindahl TTh: 9 - 10:20 A.M. J. Walter Wilson, Rm. 401 MedLab: M, 4 - 5 pm Hillel, Winnick Chapel

COST 1020: Cognitive Neuroscience of Meditation

CONTEMPLATIVE STUDIES 0100: INTRODUCTION TO CONTEMPLATIVE STUDIES IS NOW OPEN TO JUNIORS AND SENIORS! Class meets Wednesdays: 3 - 5:30 pm J. Walter Wilson, Rm. 301 MedLab meets Monday, Wednesdays: 9 - 9:50 am For location, please contact anne_heyrman-hart@brown.edu

Sara Lazar T: 4 - 6:30 P.M. Smith-Buonanno, Rm. G12

RELS 0100: Introduction to Buddhism Jason Protass M,W, F: 11 - 11:50 A.M. Churchill House, Rm. 106

RELS 0120: The Classical Chinese Philosophy of Life Larson DiFiore M,W, F: 10 - 10:50 A.M. 59 George St. - S. Miller House, Rm. 101

RELS 1425: Buddhist Poetry

Jason Protass M: 3 - 5:30 P.M. 59 George St. - S. Miller House, Rm. 101

TODAY

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2018 • PAGE 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

snow-capped caesar

menu SATELLITE DINING ANDREWS COMMONS

Pizza: Cheese, Pepperoni, Spicy Sausage and Garlic, Assorted Roasted Mushroom JOSIAH’S

BLUE ROOM

Chicken Wings Bar, Quesadillas

Beef Chili With Beans, Broccoli and Cheddar Soup

DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH

DINNER

Roasted Eggplant, Meat Lovers Pizza, Fried Southwest Black Bean Burger

Split Pea Soup with Ham, Grilled Citrus and Herb Chicken, Spaghetti Puttanesca

VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH

DINNER

Pork Carnitas, Italian Beef Noodle Casserole, Habanero Salsa, Steak Fries

Liz’s Tomato and Saffron Rice, Creamy Parmesan Primavera, Rotini Pasta

sudoku

SAM BERUBE / HERALD

Students awoke to a campus covered in a blanket of snow on Tuesday. Some sought refuge in the Ratty for a warm chocolate croissant, while Augustus Caesar kept watch.

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

“(This business is) bad for the people of Providence, because they sell a book of fiction, and the rest of us crossword

have to sell the book of reality. I don’t think it’s fair.

”

— John Igliozzi, city council chair

See budget on front.

calendar TODAY JANUARY MARCH

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Meditation and Mental Health 9:00 A.M. J. Walter Wilson, 512

Michael S. Goodman ’74 Memorial Lecture Series 4:00 P.M. Metcalf Research Building, 101

2018 Midyear Activities Fair 7:00 P.M. Alumnae Hall

Resume Writing 8:00 P.M. CareerLAB

TOMORROW

14 12

15 13

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17 15

18 16

19 17

20 18

21 19

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Wellness at Brown: Faculty/Staff Spin 7:00 A.M. Nelson Fitness Center

Warm Up to Study Abroad 12:00 P.M. J. Walter Wilson Lobby

Engineering Seminar: Biomedical Engineering 3:00 P.M. Barus and Holley, 190

Gerardo Contino y los Habaneros 7:30 P.M. Granoff, Martinos Auditorium

COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2018

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Traitors don’t make good fellows To the Editor: It is disheartening to read that Brown students want to offer Chelsea Manning a visiting fellowship at the Watson Institute (“Ricci GS, Hemmatian Borujeni GS: Invite Chelsea Manning to Watson,” Jan. 24). I’m all for controversy. Invite Ray Kelly, Rick Ross and Milo Yiannopoulos to talk. Let them challenge your perspectives and meet them with your hard questions and your picket lines. That’s what we do. But offering a fellowship, an invitation into our community? This is someone who was charged with aiding the enemy during wartime. Julius Rosenberg and Benedict Arnold are similarly qualified. Manning has no academic credentials to speak of. This is someone whose claim to fame was releasing 700,000 classified documents to WikiLeaks,

an organization complicit in subverting the 2016 U.S. election in concert with Russian intelligence. In no sense was Manning’s leak a victimless crime. As the New Yorker reported in August, hundreds of Afghan people were identified in documents released to the public. The military tried to notify them and limit the damage “but many could not be found, or were in environments too dangerous to reach. Their fate is unknown.” Who we invite to speak displays the quality of our discourse. Who we invite to teach displays the quality of our character. Walker Mills ’15 Note: The author is currently forward deployed as an activeduty member of the U.S. armed forces.

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COMMENTARY WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2018 • PAGE 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Gerrymandering — a political scapegoat EMILY MILLER staff columnist According to an old saw, gerrymandering is the “root of all political evil” in the United States. Certainly, it has been a facet of majority rule since the Union was formed. But is it the fundamental corruption of an otherwise flawless system or a scapegoat for many other political ailments? Gerrymandering is the intentional manipulation of suffrage by corralling voters with known political leanings into voting districts where their ballots will cause partisan advantage or disadvantage to one party, race, class or point of view. The act of gerrymandering is usually accomplished via the drawing of voting districts to favor or accentuate a point of view or party affiliation over its competitors. Today, regardless of which political party is currently in power, gerrymandering is still a tool used nationwide to solidify and thereafter preserve the influence of the party in question. In some instances, district lines have been drawn so finely as to encompass single houses or create districts whose maps are so convoluted as to have been nicknamed “Goofy Kicking Donald Duck” or “The Upside-Down Elephant” based on their physical resemblance to those scenar-

ios. Many argue that this practice reduces competition, ferments extremism and improperly dilutes voices in a political system where everyone is entitled to an equal and unweighted vote in the election of their government representatives. Yes, gerrymandering creates small, misshapen districts — concentrating like-minded individuals, diminishing or increasing their voting power, drowning out many voices and breeding a platform for extremism. However, it is naive to think that gerryman-

cent of R.I.’s 770,589 voters.” This state of affairs has policy implications; in 2016, the Democratic-held legislature passed a law that increased tolls on trucks though the majority of voters polled preferred an alternative Republican proposal. In response to 2011 redistricting, The Herald editorialized: “We cannot support a redistricting bill that was conceived without the best interests of Rhode Island at heart.” The argument is clear that gerrymandering has imbalanced the Rhode Island political

district, which encompasses southern and western Rhode Island, fall from over 85 percent to 65 percent, and the number of expected Republican seats out of the current two rises from 0.2 to 0.3. While not insignificant, these small increases alone do not reflect a large enough impact to claim that gerrymandering has been the sole impediment to fairness in the democratic process in Rhode Island. And, according to the same research, Rhode Island’s second congressional district is one of only 30 districts of the 435 in

It is naive to think that gerrymandering is the sole root of our political problems and that “fairly” redrawing the lines would act as a national panacea. dering is the sole root of our political problems and that “fairly” redrawing the lines would act as a national panacea. Rhode Island is an example of a state where gerrymandering has had discernible results. According to a legal brief quoted in the Providence Journal, “as of 2017, Democrats hold 86 percent of the state Senate seats and 84 percent of the seats in the General Assembly.” The Journal continues: “For context: The 307,600 registered Democrats make up 39.9 per-

system to favor Democrats, and in so doing has drowned out the voices of many constituents. However, according to FiveThirtyEight’s recent “Gerrymandering Project,” regardless of how you redraw the map and redistrict the state, Democrats are still most likely to win both Congressional seats on the national level. According to their model, when redrawing lines to maximize Republican advantage or create the most competitive election, the odds of a Democratic victory in the second

the United States that would be considered competitive — where a party would win by a margin of less than 20 percent — once redistricted to favor either Republicans or Democrats. An argument can be made that Rhode Island is so small that it is not representative of the national landscape, but non-competitive elections are clearly a nationwide problem that the reversal of gerrymandering alone will not solve. These numbers show that gerrymandering to maximize partisan

advantage does not fully explain the symptoms frequently associated with it. A more relevant culprit can be identified in the “Big Sort,” the idea that like-minded individuals are clustering in certain districts, leading to a further polarization of the democratic system. Following the 2016 election, an article titled “Don’t Move to Canada, Liberals. Move to a Swing State” implored liberals looking to flee President Trump’s America to instead move to competitive electoral states and balance the increasingly polarized electoral college. In other words, the article argues that individuals should fight fire with fire: settle away from like-minded individuals to make more districts competitive and increase individual voting power. Certainly, if we continue to view gerrymandering as an evil, we cannot use it as a solution to the very problem of which we complain. At the very least, while we should not lay idle and allow the worst excesses of gerrymandering to persist, we cannot continue to label it as the root of every flaw in our political system.

Emily Miller ’19 is moving to Ohio and can be reached at emily_miller@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald. com and op-eds to opinions@ browndailyherald.com.

When #MeToo is split in two CLARE STEINMAN opinions editor It began with solidarity, with the tragic understanding that if the testimony of one woman is a fabrication and the testimony of two is a conspiracy, perhaps that of a few hundred or million could become a movement. With each woman who took to Twitter or the New York Times or the family dinner table to say “Me, too,” a system that has accommodated sexual assault and harassment became ever more difficult to ignore. And the #MeToo movement, true to the hashtag that precedes its name, could probably only ever have flourished in a time like this, when almost every woman in this country has access to a platform that can carry her protestations across the world. Thanks to social media and the internet, these stories are much harder to sequester or silence. But in its inclusion of the breadth of experiences that constitute sexual assault, #MeToo has begun to dangerously conflate sexual discrimination in the professional and in the interpersonal spheres — two problems which require different approaches and solutions. Initially, #MeToo — at its most successful — showed us that the same culture of sexual harassment and assault that pervades Hollywood exists in workplaces everywhere. The pattern of behavior that Harvey Weinstein, Louis C.K. and Kevin Spacey engaged in to keep their victims silent — drawing on the power to destroy their victims’ careers — is typical of this culture. #MeToo’s true strength lies in its ability to disrupt that power to silence by opening up a floodgate of accusations that can never be closed again.

And then came Aziz Ansari. Suddenly, a movement that had been defined by abuses of power, and the efforts that had been made to hide them, was dealt a much more ambiguous hand — not a criminal night, just a bad one. For those who haven’t followed the story, a woman using the name “Grace” gave an account of her date with actor and comedian Ansari, where she claimed that he took her back to his apartment and repeatedly attempted to pressure her into sexual acts, ignoring her obvious discomfort and nonverbal cues. When she eventually voiced her objections, he called her an Uber home. What Ansari did that night was wrong,

Spacey and C.K. actively capitalized on their positions of power to threaten their respective victims. On the other hand, Ansari’s behavior has gripped the public imagination not because he is a celebrity engaging in loathsome behavior permitted solely by virtue of his position of power, but because many men — wellmeaning and otherwise — can, and do, identify with him. Ansari’s case shows us that there are two #MeToo movements: one dedicated to ending the culture of silence that protects powerful serial rapists and abusers, and another dedicated to shifting the norms for consent in all sexual

Ansari’s case shows us that there are two #MeToo movements: one dedicated to ending the culture of silence that protects powerful serial rapists and abusers, and another dedicated to shifting the norms for consent in all sexual interactions. but it stands apart from the other high-profile #MeToo stories in obvious ways. It was not a pattern of abuse of professional power, not a rape. Rather, it was the last in a series of failures that begins with our culture’s belief that men must persuade women to enter into sexual relationships and ends with a blatant violation of respect and trust. Certainly, a power imbalance and a large dose of male entitlement still exist in the Ansari case, but it would be misleading to equate them with the more sinister power dynamic intentionally exploited by Weinstein, C.K. and Spacey. While it can be argued that Ansari poses a threat to Grace by virtue of being a male celebrity, Weinstein,

interactions. The former requires an emphatic and, crucially, public callout to ensure that the perpetrators can no longer hide behind power structures. The latter should take a different approach — outright vilification on social media is a less useful tool when Ansari’s behavior occupies a space that is obviously abhorrent to some but less clearly violative to others. To be sure, Ansari’s behavior ought to be understood as unacceptable — but as our definition of consent is being constantly refined and improved, I am not convinced that online public shaming is an effective method of communication and education. A better, more refined and more lasting definition of positive, enthusiastic con-

sent cannot be brought about through shaming, but requires dialogue. In addition, while abuse in the professional space can be remedied through termination, the only way to resolve a case like Ansari’s is through a change in male behavior, which requires that Ansari understand his wrongdoing. This was certainly Grace’s intent in texting him; I do not believe that talking to babe.net advances this goal. While the onus of consent education should not be placed entirely on Grace — Ansari certainly should have known better, as a self-styled feminist, and must commit himself seriously to understanding Grace’s perspective, as should men everywhere — the process of redefining and refining consent is necessarily a collaborative one. Shutting down discussion through online public shaming, though it can be empowering in the moment, is necessarily selfdefeating for women everywhere as it fails to produce a culture of consensus, only one of fear. The nuanced work of redefining consent should not be accompanied by flashy headlines and viral hashtags, but that is no reason to neglect it. It takes a different approach — overhauls of sex education and the way relationships are depicted in the media, but also conversations between longtime couples and people who are meeting for the very first time. To foster a safer environment and eliminate the scourge of sexual assault from our interpersonal relationships, it is time to think seriously about the tools that are needed to reach a common understanding of consent grounded in equity, respect and empathy.

Clare Steinman ’19 can be reached at clare_steinman@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

NEWS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

» ELORZA, from page 1 million in schooling. In addition to improvements to school buildings, the investment will focus on technological innovation.“Technology is a tool that can be used to customize learning for students,” Elorza said, reaffirming his goal to achieve a 1-to-1 student to technology ratio. Elorza hopes to complement improvements in equipment by investing in summer enrichment programs to prevent students from falling behind during long breaks. There is a link between education and a reduced crime rate, Elorza said. His administration invested $1 million in a summer job program intended to mitigate street violence in Providence. The program provides students with internships at non-profits such as the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence. Elorza also responded to concerns about racial and cultural bias in schools

by elaborating on the importance of positive role models for students. The administration spent $75,000 on school culture coordinators, who bring guest speakers and mentors to strengthen the emotional support available for middle school students, Elorza said. During the discussion session following his talk, community members raised concerns and questions for the mayor. In response to a question about his criteria and model for school reform, Elorza outlined a three-phase process, which includes forming a vision with the community, allocating investments and implementing the ideas efficiently. Elorza opened his talk by reaffirming the administration’s other key priorities, which include finances, infrastructure and accessibility. “Due to large operating surpluses, the shortterm finances are in the strongest shape they have been in,” Elorza said, adding that he hopes to improve pensions and address issues such as uneven sidewalks and potholes.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2018

TRISHA THACKER / HERALD

Mayor Jorge Elorza spoke at Vartan Gregorian Elementary School Tuesday evening as part of the “Citywide Conversation Series.” He outlined plans to invest $400 million in schooling over the next 10 years.