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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

VOLUME CLVII, ISSUE 37

BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Former mock trial members detail racist incidents

35 first-years displaced by flooding

Three Black former members say there was insufficient response after they complained

Students placed in temporary housing until Friday after water reaches dorm basement

BY SHILPA SAJJA & KAITLYN TORRES UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITORS Three Black former members of Brown Mock Trial said they left the team between summer 2020 and fall 2021 over a pattern of racist behavior by certain other members. In interviews with The Herald, the former members alleged that some members of the team made racist remarks about marginalized groups and devalued the contributions of Black team members. Among the incidents they cited was a 2019 text exchange preparing for the annual all-team costume party, in which one member proposed dressing up as “German soldiers (the good ones ofc)” or “Hispanic women with red lipstick.” Another cited incident involved a member downplaying the impact of colonialism on Africa. In December, Aicha Sama ’24 — a former mock trial member who had left the team three months earlier — filed a Discrimination and Harassment Intake Form with the University, which was reviewed by The Herald. The form detailed her experiences of racism with-

BY KATY PICKENS METRO EDITOR

These incidents have now prompted further investigation of the mock trial team. Earlier this month, Allison Singleton ’22, one of the former team members, reached out to Undergraduate Finance Board Chair Amienne Spencer-Blume ’23 and described “deep inequities regarding the distribution of funding within the group,” Spencer-Blume and UFB Vice Chair Arjun Krishna Chopra ’25 wrote in an email to The Herald. Mock trial received $40,446 — the fifth highest of any student group —

Several campus buildings flooded Monday due to heavy rain, displacing roughly 35 first-year students from their rooms. The Archibald-Bronson dorm saw the most significant flooding, with first-years describing water pouring in through doors and windows and leaking through walls in the basement hallway as the storm went on. Diman, Sears and the Verney-Woolley Dining Hall saw flooding as well, sources told The Herald. “Seventeen rooms were affected and approximately 35 students were temporarily displaced,” wrote University Spokesperson Brian Clark in an email to The Herald on behalf of the Office of Residential Life, the Department of Facilities Management and the Department of Public Safety. “I heard some general commotion from outside my door,” said Col-

SEE MOCK TRIAL PAGE 3

SEE FLOOD PAGE 8

JACK WALKER / HERALD

in the club as a Black member. In the months following her report, Sama said she was disappointed by the lack of action the University took in response. In a statement sent to The Herald, Michael Chandler ’22.5 — who served as the mock trial team president during the 2021-22 academic year and will serve on its executive board this fall — wrote that the team is aware of racist and sexist incidents that have occurred in its history. He wrote that during his first two years, the team had “little to no infrastructure for dealing with instances of racism and sexism.” During his time as president, Chan-

dler wrote, he has tried to prevent instances of racism through trainings. He said he plans to schedule yearly community guideline discussions and strengthen the team’s ombudsperson role — an individual designated to voice members’ concerns to the executive board. “Many of the executive boards in our past did not have inclusivity and diversity as a primary focus,” Chandler wrote. “That is not the case this year, and it won’t be the case in the future.” Members of the executive boards from the 2019-20 academic year did not respond to requests for comment.

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Financial aid antitrust lawsuit to move ahead

Students, organizers discuss 2022 TWTP

Brown remains a defendant in case after rejected motions to dismiss BY JACK TAJMAJER SENIOR STAFF WRITER A lawsuit alleging that Brown was part of a group of colleges that ignored its commitment to need-blind admission policies can move ahead, a federal judge in Illinois ruled in late August. The suit claims that 17 schools, including the University, violated federal antitrust law by failing to maintain need-blind admissions while collaborating on their financial aid policies as members of a group of top-ranked private colleges, The Herald previously reported. Colleges that institute needblind policies do not consider financial

aid as part of their admission decisions. In the complaint, the plaintiffs alleged that some of the colleges in the group — which include most of the Ivy League and other highly-ranked private institutions — factored in financial need when admitting students off the waitlist or as transfers. The complaint also accuses some schools of “wealth favoritism” for children of potentially significant donors and using software that collects data on zip codes or parental occupation. By implementing these practices — or collaborating with schools that use them — every school in the group violated an exemption to antitrust law in the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994, the suit claims. The exemption allows colleges to calculate financial aid in the same way, so long as they practice need-blind admissions.

SEE LAWSUIT PAGE 8

Participants praise program for workshops, community-building activities, mentorship BY NEIL MEHTA SENIOR STAFF WRITER Students who completed the Third World Transition Program, a four-day pre-orientation geared toward students of color, last Wednesday said they found a new community through the workshops. Founded in 1969 as the Transitional Summer Program, TWTP welcomes incoming first-years to Brown with “an introduction to the support structures and resources available to them” and workshops regarding “systems of oppression that exist in our society today,” according to the program’s website. TWTP is organized by a team of student coordinators and staffed by Minority Peer Counselors,

TRACY PAN / HERALD

TWTP, founded in 1969 as the Transitional Summer Program, welcomes incoming first-years to Brown. who oversee cohorts of about 15 students each during the program. MPC Rachel Ly ’25 described the program as a space for students to “learn about themselves, learn about Providence, learn about their communities … and learn about how to survive in a place that wasn’t made for them.” A series of workshops organized

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by MPCs for students was central to TWTP’s programming. Ly organized a workshop centered around ableism, an event which she explained is in line with the program’s focus on systems of oppression. “All of the workshops (in TWTP) were about different ‘-isms,’ ” Ly said.

SEE TWTP PAGE 5

TODAY TOMORROW

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JULIA GROSSMAN ’23 DESIGN EDITOR