Daily
THE BROWN
vol. cxlviii, no. 29
INSIDE
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Snow go
U. spends $368,000 on snow removal this year
Paxson responds to child-care recommendations The University must balance child-care needs with ‘the cost of those needs,’ the provost said SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Work camps Asher ’15 argues U.S. must pay attention to North Korea Page 8
Sweet party Science Center celebrates third birthday with ‘miracle’ today
tomorrow
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since 1891
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013
By KATHERINE LAMB
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Herald
President Christina Paxson announced her support for the general findings of the report published Friday by the Advisory Committee on Childcare, and recommended subsidizing child care for employees instead of bringing a daycare company to campus due to University budget constraints, in an email to the community Tuesday. The committee, formed after the Taft Avenue Daycare Center closed Aug. 31, wrote in its report that “Brown currently under-supports the working parents among its students, staff and faculty and is not competitive with our peers.” The University arranged for a temporary subsidy to compensate for the center’s closure, but it will end Aug. 31, lending some urgency to the issue, Provost Mark Schlissel P’15 told The Herald.
Paxson promised to devote $250,000 to subsidize University employees for child care costs based on their financial needs, targeting those who need it most, Schlissel said. He added that this was especially significant given the University will be running on a tight budget next year, with a projected deficit of slightly more than $4 million. The University will commit to setting aside $100,000 for child care subsidies to go toward graduate students, Paxson wrote in the email to the community. Schlissel said subsidizing child care for graduate students is particularly complex because government tax laws do not allow students to tap into pre-tax dollars the way employees can. The committee will explore the best way to subsidize child care for graduate students, Schlissel said, but one option might be increasing the stipend or scholarship graduate students receive while working on their doctorate. For the current fiscal year, the committee advised a $250,000 yearly budget for subsidizing child care, the formation of a Childcare Planning Group to assess / / Childcare page 4 the possibil-
The Taft Avenue Daycare Center, which exclusively served University employees, closed in August. Herald file photo.
sel said he was “surprised” at the “remarkably and gratifyingly long list of incredibly qualified candidates” who expressed interest in the position. He did not say when a new dean will be named. President Christina Paxson presented the results of the Advisory Committee on Childcare’s report, which was released Feb. 26, and gave her response. The report’s most immediate recommendations included setting aside $250,000 “to assist community members with child-care costs” and dedicating another $100,000 to child-care subsidies for graduate students. The committee also proposed that Brown either continue to affiliate itself with local child-care centers or build one on-site. Paxson expressed her support for the former.
“If I thought we could afford to do everything in this report, I would do everything in this report,” she said, adding that she considered adequate child care fundamental to the productivity of faculty and staff members. Memorial minutes were read for Dwight Sweigart, professor of chemistry, and Leon Goldstein, professor emeritus of medical science. In keeping with the Advisory Committee on Childcare’s recommendation that faculty meetings extend no later than 5:30 p.m., the meeting was concluded half an hour earlier than past meetings. The change left no time for a report from Dean of the Faculty Kevin McLaughlin P’12, who was scheduled to speak about the recent forum on the strategic planning interim report by the Committee for Faculty Recruitment, Career Development and Retention.
ELIZABETH KOH / HERALD
Tuition hikes could harm diversity, provost says Adjunct The faculty meeting also addressed University child care and the search for a Med School dean By RACHEL MARGOLIS SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The current rate of tuition increase is unsustainable and, if unchecked, could limit the demographics of students who could attend Brown, Provost Mark Schlissel P’15 told faculty members Tuesday at this month’s faculty meeting. The budget for fiscal year 2014, approved by the Corporation, sets undergraduate tuition at $44,608 — 4.2 percent higher than the previous year. This increase, which will accompany an equivalent hike in tuition for graduate students, follows a 3.5 percent rise in tuition and fees for fiscal year 2012 and a 3.6 percent increase for fiscal year 2013. Tuition and fees are the University’s
most significant source of income, making up 38 percent of total revenue for the current year. But Schlissel said an increase as high as 4.2 percent “compounds more quickly than society will eventually be able to pay for” and cannot continue in the long run. Schlissel also reported on the progress of the search committees seeking replacements for Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences Ed Wing, Vice President for Research Clyde Briant and Vice President for Computing and Information Services Michael Pickett. The committee to select a new dean of medicine and biological sciences has chosen 15 finalists for the position after reviewing more than 60 candidates. As chair of the committee, Schlis-
Wireless option developed for brain-powered device The tool, made in collaboration with BrainGate 2, tracks activity in patients’ brains By ANDREW JONES STAFF WRITER
University neuroengineers have created a new device that may allow people with paralysis to use their thoughts to control robotic limbs wirelessly. The implantable cerebral mechanism can wirelessly transmit brain signals to a receiver, which can then be interpreted by a computer. The device was described in a study published in the Journal for Neural Engineering last week. The mechanism has been successfully functioning in animal subjects for over a year, the authors reported in the study. This is longer than any previous similar
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
device has been tested, making it “a milestone for eventual clinical translation,” said David Borton PhD’12, the study’s lead author. Borton is currently completing his postdoctorate fellowship at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. In this brain-computer interface, a pill-sized chip of electrodes implanted in the cortex can track the activity of up to 100 neurons, according to a University press release. These signals are then passed on to a hermetically sealed titanium “can,” according to the press release. This receiver contains all the parts of a “brain radio,” according to the release — a lithium ion battery, integrated circuits, wireless radio, infrared transmitters and a copper coil used to recharge the battery wirelessly. The ultra-efficient packing of its components is one of the device’s most distinctive features, Borton said. “What makes the achievement discussed in this paper so unique is how it integrated many individual innovations into a complete system with potential for neuroscientific / / Device page 2
COURTESY OF FRED FIELD
The device, which may be ready for human use in 10 years, was developed by neuroscientists, computer scientists and engineers.
professor named State Poet Rick Benjamin will work to expand the public face of poetry through artsrelated activism By BRUNO ZUCCULO SPORTS STAFF WRITER
Everyone deserves to experience poetry, “whether those people are 6 years old, or 90 years old, or incarcerated or getting their GED at the community center,” said Rick Benjamin, the newly appointed State Poet of Rhode Island and adjunct assistant professor in the Center for Environmental Studies. Governor Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 announced Benjamin’s appointment as the fifth State Poet of Rhode Island in a January press release. Benjamin will serve a five-year term, replacing previous State Poet Lisa Starr.
FEATURE
A poetic post The position, created in 1989, does not entail any specific duties by law. But according to a publication by the Office of the Governor, it “is traditionally held by an artist who represents the highest achievement in poetry” in the state and who “serves as the principal advocate for poetry in Rhode Island.” “For many years already I have been involved in poetry and community engagement,” said Benjamin, who is the author of “Passing Love: Poems” and a forthcoming collection entitled “Floating World: Poems.” Even so, his selection came as “a big surprise,” and it / / Poet page 2 was an honor
2 university news C ALENDAR WEDNESDAY
MARCH 6
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just to be nominated, he said. Community outreach “Dr. Rick Benjamin is an accomplished and committed poet and educator who has taken his love for and belief in the power of poetry far beyond the classroom and out into our Rhode Island communities,” Chafee said in the press release. Benjamin has participated in various nonprofit organizations and programs that promote the arts among the wider state community. Through his involvement with initiatives such as Rhode Island River of Words, Project 540 and New Urban Arts, Benjamin has extended his passion for poetry outside of academia. “I wish that as part of our citizenship here we take seriously the idea that art needs to be in public schools, and that public schools right now are suffering with a lack of the arts,” he said. One of his goals as State Poet is to “try to circulate more enlightened thinking through poetry,” he said. “I believe this medium is charged with (a) level of transformation,” he said. “It has incited people to change and to think differently.” One of his specific aims is to find a sponsor to fund several classes and workshops for teachers, especially those in Rhode Island public schools. These classes would be geared toward giving teachers incentives to explore their own creativity, he said. He also wants to increase poetry and arts education in general in public schools, he said. Everyone has something to learn from poetry, he said. Each community has something unique to offer, and any program trying to bring two different groups together through poetry will result in a “rich exchange” for both par-
/ / Device page 1 gain greater than the sum of its parts,” Borton said in the release. Professor of Engineering Arto Nurmikko, who oversaw the invention of the device, said the tight sealing was one of the two major challenges the team encountered. The hermetically sealed can is imperative for the device to function properly because “unwanted electricity entering the body” and “biological materials going into the device” could be hazardous, Nurmikko said. The second challenge was making the device run on “ultra-low power,” Nurmikko said. A reduced need for power would increase “longevity of operation as well as keep heat low,” he added. Another innovative feature of this technology is its allowance for mobility of the subject, said Juan Aceros, one of the report’s co-authors and a former senior research associate at Brown. Most other
COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY
Rick Benjamin, adjunct assistant professor in the Center for Environmental Studies, will serve a five-year term as Rhode Island’s State Poet. ties, he added. Journey back to Brown Benjamin currently teaches two courses at Brown this semester: AMST 2961: “Poetry in Service to Schools and the Community” and ENVS 0520: “Wild Literature in the Urban Landscape.” William Serratelli ’16, who is taking “Wild Literature,” called the seminarstyle course “informal,” adding that Benjamin presents himself as though he were “just a student.” Benjamin often uses a metaphor to describe the class as “caught in a dense thicket,” Serratelli said. “Our job is to wander through this thicket together.” Benjamin does not dictate a spesimilar devices require a wired connection, which can restrict the subject. “It allows animals to be freely moving,” said Aceros, who is now an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the University of North Florida. “This means that the animals can behave like they would in the wild.” The wireless setup of the system could reduce the risk of infection because the skin will be able to be fully closed, Aceros added. After such long-term success in animals, one of the research team’s top priorities is to “push this device for human applications,” said co-author Ming Yin, a Brown postdoctoral fellow and electrical engineer. One of the device’s most important applications could be allowing people suffering from paralysis to control robotic limbs, Yin said. The device was created in collaboration with the BrainGate research team, a group of scientists and engineers at
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cific direction for his students to take, Serratelli said. Instead, it is “the fact that we’re all searching together — the journey is what we’re supposed to get out of it,” he said. Benjamin has taught courses in several departments, including literary arts and English. He is also currently lecturing at the Rhode Island School of Design. Above all, Benjamin said he is happy to be able to continue doing what he enjoys. “I will always be interested in combining my work as a community practitioner with my life as a teacher and as an artist,” he said. —With additional reporting by Alison Silver Brown, Stanford University, Massachusetts General Hospital and Providence’s VA Medical Center. In 2011, BrainGate 2, the second phase of the BrainGate clinical trials, successfully allowed a paralyzed woman to control a robotic arm with her thoughts, The Herald reported last year. While the BrainGate 2 device requires a wire, this wireless interface would improve mobility and practicality, Yin said. This type of device will prolong observable periods of brain activity because the patient will not have to be wired to the computer, said Professor of Neuroscience John Donoghue PhD’79 P’09 P’12, director of the Brown Institute of Brain Science and co-leader on BrainGate 2. “It will allow people who would be in the BrainGate study to be using the device all the time,” Donoghue said. “That’s really important.” The researchers estimated the device could be approved for and functioning in humans within the next decade. In the next few years, the research team hopes to improve the device further by making it smaller and allowing it to transmit more neural data, according to the press release. One of the most gratifying aspects of the study was the cooperation among researchers from a wide range of disciplines, Yin said. Inventing a device like this required the combined expertise of neuroscientists, computer scientists and biomedical, mechanical and electrical engineers, he said. “None of this is possible if you don’t have this closely-knit community,” Nurmikko said. “It’s the spirit of Brown.” —With additional reporting by Kate Nussenbaum
university news 3
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013
THIS WEEK IN HIGHER ED
BY MATHIAS HELLER UNIVERSIT Y NE WS EDITOR
SCIENCE CENTER ART
Oberlin cancels classes after racially charged incidents on campus A chain of what Oberlin College officials referred to as “haterelated incidents” caused Oberlin’s President Marvin Krislov to cancel classes at the Ohio liberal arts college Monday, the New York Times reported. The campus has witnessed several recent incidents, including a sighting of an individual wearing Ku Klux Klan garb near the Afrikan Heritage House Sunday, as well as racial epithets and images of swastikas graffitied on multiple buildings in the past month, the Times reported. Krislov’s call for a “day of solidarity” Monday in the events’ wake was met with a gathering of students and faculty members in support of tolerance and diversity. College officials said the campus security department and Oberlin city police are investigating the incidents.
MIT physicist nominated to become U.S. Energy Secretary President Obama announced Monday the nomination of Ernest Moniz, professor of physics and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to be the U.S. Secretary of Energy, the Associated Press reported. Moniz, who serves as director of MIT’s Energy Initiative, has been an MIT faculty member since 1973. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he would gain control of the federal agency responsible for managing the country’s nuclear weapons and nuclear energy programs as well as general energy conservation measures.
Sexual assault case roils Occidental College Occidental College officials’ decision not to issue a campuswide alert following an alleged sexual assault has sparked a wave of criticism from students and faculty members, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday. After a female student sought medical treatment for an alleged sexual assault that occurred Feb. 24, the Los Angeles Police Department initiated an investigation. But school officials determined the campus faced no “continuing threat” and chose not to inform students, wrote Dean of Students Barbara Avery in a campus-wide email sent Feb. 28, following an outcry over the administration’s decision not to immediately inform the community.
Penn concludes largest-ever fundraising campaign
Penn President Amy Gutmann informed the Ivy League university’s Board of Trustees Thursday that Penn’s Making History campaign raised a total of $4.3 billion between its launch in October 2007 and its conclusion at the end of last year, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported. The fundraising campaign was the largest in Penn’s history, surpassing its original goal of $3.5 billion by about $800 million, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian. Revenue marked for academic programs and research accounted for $2.2 billion, the largest single share of funds raised.
CORRINE SZCZENSNY / HERALD
An art exhibit at the Science Center depicts artistic scenes in nature. The Science Center recently celebrated its third birthday in a party that included “miracle berries,” which make sour food taste sweet.
4 university news / / Childcare page 1 ity of an on-campus daycare center for small children, creating a central online resource for learning about the University’s childcare options, amending regulations so more graduate students qualify for the University’s back-up care plan and increasing funding to cover travel expenses for family members who accompany grad students, postdoctoral researchers and staff members on work-related trips. Of these recommendations, Paxson endorsed the proposed subsidy budget and creating an online childcare resource. In her response to the report, Paxson attempted to strike “a balance between the needs of people with children and the cost of those needs,” Schlissel said. Schlissel said he thought making subsidies need-based was a wise choice, because it would ensure that money were spent on those who needed it most. But a faculty member at Tuesday’s faculty meeting criticized that decision, saying it seemed “strange that we have
to have a Robin Hood effect whenever there’s a benefit.” Paxson responded at the meeting by saying unaffordable childcare would act as a tax upon young children. Paxson did not endorse the committee’s suggestion for running a daycare company on the edge of campus as a goal for the near future, Schlissel said. The Taft Avenue Daycare Center, which was located at 48 Taft Ave., was the only full-time childcare service exclusively for children of University employees and graduate students and had operated for 22 years before closing due to facility safety issues and new state regulations for cribs, The Herald previously reported. The University has been without its own childcare service for the young children of faculty members, staff members and graduate students for six months since the center closed. A parent-organized petition to stop the center’s closure, signed by 1,700 community members, did not save the daycare center but prompted the formation of the 10-person committee to report
on the issue. While a daycare company on the edge of campus would be ideal, it would also be a difficult and expensive endeavor, Schlissel said. “It’s not our core business to be involved in things other than education and research,” and having a daycare company on campus would be like starting a business in a new field without prior experience, he said. Providing family-friendly policies to employees at the University is “not a brand-new issue” and was a problem even before Taft closed, said Schlissel, who formed the committee. Before the 2008 financial crisis, another committee had met to discuss family-friendly policies, but many of their recommendations were “put on the shelf ” when the crisis hit, Schlissel said. The University’s next moves following the committee’s suggestions will be the “strongest steps forward in recent memory,” Schlissel added. “There’s nothing more important in
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013
life than feeling like your kids are wellcared for, comfortable and safe,” Schlissel said, adding that the University needs to do a better job if it “wants to be the kind of place where people can work and be productive at all different stages of their life.” As a first step, Paxson suggested the University reach out to existing daycare companies to ask if they would like to partner with the University by setting aside a number of spots in exchange for being featured on the University website or in advertisements, Schlissel said. “If money were no object whatsoever, then I think the University would be able to consider more seriously in the short term finding a company and providing them with physical space, but that would cost literally millions of dollars,” Schlissel said, adding that the committee will first need to “explore every other option.” Paxson has also asked Schlissel to form a Childcare Planning Group that will include community members with children and determine the fairest way to allocate the subsidy dollars she has set aside, Paxson wrote in the email. The committee issued a list of longterm suggestions, including reexamining teaching schedules so that faculty members with children are not forced to teach past 6 p.m., assessing the accessibility of on-campus lactation rooms, negotiating with local daycare centers to consider hours and yearly schedules that comply with those of University employees and shortening the four-year minimum requirement of continued service to receive paid maternity leave. Of these goals, Paxson agreed to change faculty
meetings but not teaching schedules, to assess the University’s lactation rooms and to work with local daycare centers concerning scheduling. Paxson did not agree to reduce the four-year waiting period but supported the adoption of a gender-neutral “family leave” policy. Paxson’s suggestions include a number of things that “were very simple and should have been done long ago,” such as forming the new website and scheduling the monthly faculty meeting to end by 5:30 p.m., Schlissel said. Paxson thought reforming teaching schedules would compromise the goal of spreading out classes so they do not conflict with each other and so they make “optimal usage of all the different rooms across campus,” Schlissel said. “I’m not incredibly optimistic that we can solve this problem,” he said. Going forward, Schlissel said he will first assemble the advisory group and then collaborate to design the details of a plan for how to allocate the $250,000 in subsidy money, which will be available Sept. 1. Until then, the committee will have to figure out how to help graduate students with childcare, Schlissel said. The steps they will take aim to “diminish the strain in psychological and financial burdens” for employees trying to organize and afford convenient childcare, Schlissel said. “It will make people’s lives easier, and in doing so it will make them more productive” as students, faculty members and staff members, he said.
/ / Health page 8
diets. This is not that. It’s so positive and enriching,” Peseri said. It’s not about dieting — it’s about “trying to choose the best foods for you,” she explained. Peseri recalled a memorable exercise from the summer, one that taught her to enjoy her meals and to not rush through them: Participants “chewed one blueberry very slowly” and let themselves “be mindful (and) truly experience the flavors,” she said. YAM’s wellness program also coincides with National Nutrition Month, Atkins said.
strive to live the most optimistic, fruitful, thankful and healthy sort of life. ... I try to help others live that way too,” she said. Like Altman, Peseri discussed the collaborative nature of the program — people share “ideas and recipes” and support one another. Peseri said she finds the program to be flexible and well-structured, giving participants the ability to take what they want from it. She said she also appreciates the program’s approach to eating. “I really despise fad
—With additional reporting by Rachel Margolis
university news 5
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013
University snow removal expenditures exceed expectations Snow removal costs were up, but increased energy efficiency measures reduced heating costs By MAX SCHINDLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Following an unusually snowy winter this year, the University has spent an estimated $368,000 on snow removal — more than it has in the past six years, said Stephen Maiorisi, vice president for facilities management. The University spent more than three times last year’s cost, Maiorisi said. Approximately 48 inches of snow fell in Providence this winter, with 18 inches accumulating during Winter Storm Nemo. The average annual snowfall for the past six years is approximately 36 inches, and the average annual cost for snow removal expenditure is $121,000, Maiorisi said. Funding for snow removal comes from the Department of Facilities Management’s $60 million annual budget, Maiorisi said. The cost of snow removal this year “was more than we planned to spend,” Maiorisi said, adding that if the University overspends on those efforts, “we can find a way to make up for it without cutting back significantly in other areas.” Total snowfall does not correlate directly with expenses, Maiorisi said, adding that the cost of removal is driven by personnel concerns. “It’s the timing of the storm that matters,” he said. Because Winter Storm Nemo fell during the weekend, employees were likely to be off. A number of facilities employees stayed on campus to assist with cleanup efforts, he added. “We had 140 or so people who were here at various times — custodians and
groundskeepers — who worked overtime. They came in for that weekend,” Maiorisi said. Some facilities workers spent the Friday night of Winter Storm Nemo in University housing, The Herald reported last month. Students complimented facilities and maintenance staff for cleanup efforts during this year’s heavy snowfall. “They’ve always been so efficient,” said Zach Silverstein ’13. “You know where Brown ends and where Providence begins based on the sidewalk cleanup.” Last year, the University recorded 18 inches of snowfall, The Herald reported last March. The 2012 winter was the second warmest on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Other students expressed delight at playing in the snow and at the difference between the snowfall from year to year. “Last year we had maybe an inch of snow the entire winter,” said Natasha Freeman ’15, adding that she enjoyed this winter more because she “played in the snow, had snowball fights and did Ratty tray sledding” this year. Despite this season being somewhat colder, the University will spend 12 percent below normal energy usage this winter, since the University has implemented a number of energy efficiency improvements, Maiorisi said. When budgeting for snow removal, Maiorisi said, many variables must be taken into account. “I think the one thing to not overlook is that nobody really knows what the winter is going to hold,” Maiorisi said. “What we really do is overtime — with our dollars — and we really rely on our staff ’s ability to get here and clear the campus so we can keep the University open.”
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BRITTANY COMUNALE / HERALD
Students play after Winter Storm Nemo dumped 18 inches of snowfall on Rhode Island. Because of the timing of the winter’s abnormally high snowfall, the University has spent $368,000 on snow removal. Herald file photo.
Ling-A-Ling | Ling Zhou
COMICS
6 editorial EDITORIAL
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013
EDITORIAL CARTOON b y i va n a lc a n ta r a
The wrong debate
Almost every week when Congress is in session, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., takes the floor to talk about one of the defining issues of our generation: climate change. On Feb. 27, standing in front of a sign that read “Time to Wake Up,” Whitehouse implored the Obama Administration to uphold its commitment to combat future climate change We applaud Whitehouse’s tireless campaign to inspire the federal government to respond to our effect on the environment. But Congress has not followed his lead. And instead, clashing interests and a misguided debate over the global warming’s existence have derailed the possibility of substantively discussing and combating climate change. Tens of thousands marched in a Feb. 17 rally demanding action on climate change in Washington, D.C. International pledges, such as the Kyoto Protocol, set global goals for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and countries like India and Australia have individually implemented carbon taxes. But at the same time the United States has infamously continued to disassociate itself from the Kyoto Protocol and seems to abhor the very idea of a carbon tax. Rather, the biggest political issue for American environmentalists now is the proposed Keystone Pipeline. The pipeline exemplifies the interrelated and contradictory concerns of energy independence and climate change. President Obama’s recent inaugural address — hallmarked as boldly liberal — communicated an ambiguous stance on energy. The Keystone Pipeline is a golden opportunity to refine large reserves at home and create jobs. But a large commitment to unclean oil sources betrays the promise of a sustainable future. There is also hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for natural gas, which has been a boon to the domestic energy industry in states like Texas, North Dakota and Pennsylvania. The influx of natural gas has helped drive down cost while simultaneously allowing the United States to lessen dependence on imported energy sources. Environmental lobbyists have doggedly fought fracking in states like New York and California. Both the pipeline and fracking have significant implications for the energy lobby, environmental lobby, labor unions and even foreign policy. Another challenge to responding to environmental issues is the debate over the validity and definition of climate change. The formidable antienvironmental lobby has stalled progress, continuing to dismiss empirical data that supports theories of global climate change. This backlash labels the “hysteria” over inconclusive sources as an attack on the middle class and American capitalism. There has been a steep drop in the number of Americans that believed the continued burning of fossil fuels would cause climate change in the past decade — a drop, according to the Nation, directly attributable to a rejection of scientific consensus by many Republicans, especially Tea Party members. This debate has sparked hostility in our politics despite its complete uselessness. Each side has argued with vigor in an attempt to convince the populace about the existence of gargantuan scale shifts in temperature, the increased occurrence of extreme-weather events and the threat to our shores and farms. But by blaming scientists for false data and a political agenda, the anti-environmental lobby has shifted the focus to proving an abstract global issue rather than taking practical action to lessen the harm done by our industries and our use of vehicles and housing. We need to wake up to the realities of our effects on the environment. And our nation’s policies need to reflect these realities. Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board: its editor, Dan Jeon, and its members, Mintaka Angell, Samuel Choi, Nicholas Morley and Rachel Occhiogrosso. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013
North Korea: our generation’s moment ADAM ASHER Opinions Columnist In light of the country’s recent nuclear testing, it’s a safe bet we’ll be hearing about North Korea a fair amount in the coming months. It’s no secret that North Korea is an extremely oppressive place — one of the last strongholds of totalitarian communist government. Kim Jong-Un, like his father Kim Jong-Il before him, is the object of more or less constant ridicule here in the United States and around the world. It’s not as if the North Korean government has been keeping a low profile. It may be surprising then, that I am arguing we need to start paying more attention to North Korea and start taking its government more seriously. More specifically, we need to begin putting pressure on our leaders to look at North Korea’s forced labor camps not, in the words of the Wall Street Journal, “as mere distractions from stopping its nuclear weapons and missile programs,” but as the issue that most requires our immediate attention. For those who don’t realize the scale of North Korea’s forced labor camps — or their existence — one estimate from the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea places the number of people being held in the country’s labor camps
at 200,000 and the number of those dead from “torture, starvation, disease and execution” at 400,000. One such camp is the infamous Hoeryong, usually referred to simply as “Camp 22,” which covers around 500 square miles. Defectors report that within its confines, men, women and children are worked to death in mines and factories, savaged by guards and guard dogs alike, and public executions are carried out in which children are forced to par-
Jong-Il. This means children are often born into camps, either dying in infancy — some suffocated by guards in front of their mothers — or growing up knowing only despair and cruelty. We know these camps are there because we can see them. Our satellites are so good, in fact, that we can even make out the individual people in them. What’s our excuse? What are we going to tell our children when they ask us why we let millions of people die — includ-
It’s all well and good to make jokes about Kim Jong-Un’s weight, but political cartoons alone didn’t stop Stalin, and memes alone won’t stop Kim.
ticipate. There are no conceivable bounds to human cruelty for the men who run North Korea’s forced labor camps. They aren’t going to close on their own, either. The horrible fact is that the camps serve important roles for the North Korean ruling elite, both politically and practically. They keep political dissidents in check — often by eliminating them entirely — and stave off any possible revolution. Part of how they accomplish this goal is by breaking down families — “rooting out class enemies for three generations,” in the words of Kim
ing those who have died from famine, the death toll already reaches into the millions — and did nothing? Where were the protests, the pressure on our government representatives? We’ll just have to tell them what older generations told us about why we didn’t bomb the train tracks to Auschwitz or help the Tutsis in Rwanda: “I don’t know.” There are steps governmental bodies can take to put more pressure on the North Korean government. We can tighten and enforce existing sanctions to put pressure on the ruling elite. The United
Nations Human Rights Council can indict North Korea’s leaders and “make aid conditional on concrete goals such as the closure of forced-labor camps.” Some have even advocated military action. I have neither the expertise nor the authority to say what steps would be best. What I do know is we need to change not only our conversation but also our actions. The first step is to make shutting down Camp 22 and all others like it a central focus of our generation’s human rights legacy by treating it with the seriousness the topic demands. It’s all well and good to make jokes about Kim JongUn’s weight, but political cartoons alone didn’t stop Stalin, and memes alone won’t stop Kim. Until we show those in power that we care about stopping the ongoing atrocities in North Korea, it is almost guaranteed nothing will happen. Even if the U.S. Department of State or the U.N. does take action on North Korea, labor camps will inevitably take a backseat to the nuclear issue unless popular sentiment dictates otherwise. And even if it does, it’s a stretch. But it would be shameful of us not to learn from history and at least try. Adam Asher ’15 is studying classics and political science, and can be followed on Twitter (@asheradams). For more information on this topic, visit http://freekorea.us/camps/.
Solidarity with resistance to apartheid LUKE LATTANZISILVEUS Opinions Columnist This week marks the fourth annual Israeli Apartheid Week at Brown. It comes at a time of great Palestinian resistance. These are some of the broadest protests we’ve seen in a while, which makes solidarity with this resistance to apartheid all the more important. The first major protest was held Feb. 21 in solidarity with hunger striking prisoners at Ofer Prison. Many of the prisoners at Ofer are Palestinian children. These hundreds of children were prosecuted by military court — something that, of course, would not occur to a Jewish Israeli citizen. Most of the children plead guilty, whether or not they actually were. They pled guilty because the alternative would mean detention whilst awaiting the outcome of lengthy court proceedings. This detention could ultimately last three times longer than detention for a guilty plea. These protests intensified after it was revealed on Feb. 24 that one of the detainees, Arafat Jaradat, was tortured to death. This and many other forms of legal discrimination are made possible by the unique distinction Israel draws between citizenship and nationality. While it is much easier for Jews to gain Israeli citizenship than it is for Arabs, technically anyone can become an Israeli citizen. But only Jewish people can obtain Jewish nationality, which grants a whole distinct set of rights. There are some thirty laws that specifically privilege people of Jew-
ish nationality, in areas such as immigration rights, naturalization, access to land and employment. Citizens of Israel are also required to carry identification cards that allow the Israeli military to immediately determine whether a person is Arab or Jewish. Another major protest took place in response to the continued closure of Shuhada Street to Palestinians in Hebron. This street is the heart of the Hebron market. While Jewish settlers are allowed to set up shops on this street, Palestinians are legally forbidden to do so. Palestinians are also not allowed to
Israel. It is one of the many elements severely restricting Palestinian movement. Palestinians sometimes have to wait days at checkpoints before being allowed to pass between regions — if they are allowed at all. Palestinians cannot return to their homeland or move freely in the area that is supposedly Palestine. The Israeli army responded to this series of protests with gas canisters, rubber bullets, skunk water, flashbangs, live rounds and, in the last case, tank-fire. These protests aren’t just a response to re-
These protests aren’t just a response to recent events. They are about decades of occupation and apartheid.
use certain Israeli-only highways in the West Bank. Most of the Hebron settlement is illegal under international law, as are many other settlements in occupied Palestine. And yet the Jewish settlers are protected by the Israeli military, while this same military does very little to protect Palestinians from regular violent abuse by the settlers. Meanwhile, there was a protest last Friday against the separation wall. The wall puts many parts of the West Bank on the Israeli side, de facto annexing these parts for
cent events. They are about decades of occupation and apartheid. The United Nations’ definition of apartheid is “inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them.” As the definition suggests, the crime of apartheid is not something that is meant to apply only to South Africa. The system in place in Israel today, while of course in some ways different from that
which occurred in South Africa, fits the definition of apartheid perfectly. The Israeli laws mentioned above are inhuman and specifically set up so that Jewish people systematically dominate the Arabs. The purpose of this apartheid is the removal of Palestinians from the land. It is a settler-colonial project meant to create a modern, Jewish state — at the expense of the Palestinians. Israel has managed to make about 5.5 million Jewish people the majority in a state which encompasses most of the native homeland of about 10 million Palestinians. Around half of the Palestinian people have been forced out of their land and are now refugees. This is the secret of the socalled democratic state of Israel. Palestinians can vote, but the Israeli government keeps them artificially in the minority by not allowing the Palestinians that they forced out of Israel to return. The Palestinian people are fighting back against Israeli apartheid, but they could use all of the help they can get. Not only are all of the forces of the Israeli state against them, but this state is propped up by $3 billion every year in United States foreign aid as well as the technical expertise of many U.S. companies. Israeli Apartheid Week is meant to help people learn about Israeli apartheid and the hardships of the Palestinian people. But more importantly, it is meant to involve people in the goal of divesting from this apartheid state. Luke Lattanzi-Silveus ’14 is a member of Brown Students for Justice in Palestine and would love to be contacted at luke_lattanzi-silveus@brown.edu.
daily herald science & research THE BROWN
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013
Science Center birthday features sweet treat Sensory-altering ‘miracle berries’ were used to celebrate the Science Center’s third anniversary
BY SAHIL LUTHRA, SCIENCE & RESEARCH EDITOR
Researchers develop simplified climate change modeling program Researchers including Professor of Physics James Marston presented a new technique that could simplify the process of modeling climate change in a study published Tuesday in the journal Physical Review Letters. The process generally requires supercomputers that can perform complex analysis of changes in a variety of weather variables. The new approach, known as direct statistical stimulation, focuses on general forces that affect climate change rather than single details of weather history. Marston and his co-author spent the past years developing the computational tools necessary for the approach, according to a University press release. The study tested the model’s effectiveness in simulating fluid jets, such as those found underwater or in the atmosphere, according to the press release. The authors found their approach yielded similar results to the traditional modeling approach. The authors have made the modeling technology available on Apple’s App Store so other researchers in the field can test it further, according to the release.
By EMMAJEAN HOLLEY STAFF WRITER
A room full of students gobbled down lemon wedges yesterday in celebration of the Science Center’s third anniversary. But it wasn’t a sour experience — the students had just sampled “miracle berries,” which make acidic food taste sweet. This is the second year in a row the Science Center has celebrated its “birthday” in this way, said Jodie Gill, Science Center program coordinator. Upon entering the event, students were provided with a plastic tray holding two items: a lemon wedge and a large, red berry. This was the miracle fruit, or synsepalum dulcificum, which originated in Africa. John Stein PhD’95, senior lecturer of neuroscience, presented the science behind the taste-twisting experience to the 40 to 50 students who attended the event. “Mammals have five senses: sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami — the Japanese word for ‘delicious flavor,’” he said, adding that the miracle berry “messes around with your perception of sweet.” The chemical responsible for the fruit’s sensory-altering effects is miraculin, a glycoprotein that changes the structure of cell receptors that communicate sweet taste to the brain, Stein said. Humans taste sweetness when “sucrose binds to receptors on your tongue, activating a messenger system” that releases a neurotransmitter to the brain through a biochemical cascade, Stein said. But the miraculin in “miracle berries” binds to these sweet receptors, making them activate in response to acids, triggering the brain’s sense of sweet, he said. Stein asked for two volunteers from the audience to participate in a blindfolded taste test. He instructed them to “mash the berry around on (their) tongue, resisting the temptation to swallow the juice,” and he invited the audience to do the same. Afterward, the students were fed an unidentified
SCIENCE & RESEARCH ROUNDUP
Study examines effect of political conflict on HIV therapy CAROLINE GRANOFF / HERALD
Students sampled “miracle berries,” which activate taste receptors to make acidic foods — like pickles, vinegar and lemons — taste sweet. food item. One of the students correctly guessed that she had been fed plain yogurt, but said it tasted “like vanilla yogurt without the vanilla.” The other student guessed she was eating cream cheese. Students generally reacted with pleasant surprise to the sweet taste of the lemon and continued to sample various acidic foods, such as plain cranberry juice, pickles, tomatoes and vinegar, which were laid out at different tables around the Science Center. “In the past when we’ve done this, we’ve just given everyone a tray with all the foods on it,” Gill said. “But I think it definitely adds to the experience to have people walk around and bounce ideas off of each other.” Many students reacted positively to eating the berry. “It’s flavor-inverting,” Lucas Eggers ’13 said. “I can still taste the vinegar and hot sauce in the back of my throat, but on my tongue it tastes like it’s wrapped in sugar. There’s a lot of cognitive dissonance going on, and it’s crazy.” “It was funny how fast I got used (to) it,” Jordan Beck ’14 said. “I was just sitting there eating my lemon, and then I realized, ‘Wait, I don’t normally eat
lemons!’ But it tasted like lemon candy, and it was delicious.” Both Stein and Gill said they have heard many people describe the strawberries as “the best (they’ve) ever had.” Eggers said they were even more delicious and sweet than the ones he used to pick near his house during his childhood summers. There are real-world applications for the effects of the miracle berry, Stein told The Herald. “It could be an important tool for diabetics — this would allow them to enjoy, say, plain cranberry juice the same way we enjoy the ridiculously sweetened kind. But it would also be useful for anyone trying to reduce the empty calories of sugar in their diet.” But there are practical obstacles to using the berry regularly, Stein said. Berries cost about $2.00 each, and they are difficult to cultivate because of their fragility. “The size of the protein causes it to be easily denatured, giving it a shorter shelf life,” Stein said. Given the event’s success, Gill plans on holding a similar event next year, she said. “This is just a really fun and educational way to celebrate the existence of the Science Center,” she said.
Brown researchers explored how political conflict often impedes HIV patients from taking their medications in a review published online in the journal AIDS Reviews last week. When HIV treatment is interrupted, patients often develop resistance to the drugs used for treatment. In the review, the researchers examined how factors such as HIV subtype and genes alter the effectiveness of therapy once resumed. They advocated researching the best ways to stop and resume therapy when doing so is necessary. “Increased awareness of such associations by clinicians as well as politicians and stakeholders is essential,” the authors wrote in the study.
Gestational diabetes does not require daily monitoring Researchers at Alpert Medical School found doctors can efficiently detect which cases of gestational diabetes require drug treatment without daily monitoring of blood glucose levels in a study published in the Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine last week. Gestational diabetes is a form of glucose intolerance that develops during pregnancy. Generally a temporary condition, gestational diabetes usually affects women in their third trimesters of pregnancies and occurs in 2-10 percent of pregnancies, according to the National Institutes of Health. Though dietary changes are often enough to address the condition, gestational diabetes occasionally requires drug intervention. The study examined how long it took doctors to identify patients who required drug treatment when doctors were given values of blood glucose levels each day, every other day and every third day. Doctors could recommend drug therapy within a week in 97 percent of cases that required therapy based on blood glucose level values received every three days, and the start of drug therapy was not delayed relative to when doctors received daily values.
New program offers courses to support healthy living The student-run wellness program promotes healthy habits for students through yoga and meditation By CARA LEMIRE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Students strive to maintain both physical and mental health, but eating mindfully and exercising regularly are not always easy in college. A new studentrun program offered by Yoga and Mindfulness is providing a short-term course in health and wellness habits for students to maintain a healthy living style in the long term. “I’m so passionate about health and wellness, and I never shut up about it,” said Dulma Altan ’14, the creator and coordinator of the wellness program.
UNIVERSITY NEWS
The program, which began its second installment Monday after a “successful” inaugural run last summer, is a threeweek holistic program open to all Brown students, Altan said. The program includes weekly meetings, yoga and at-home meditation or mindfulness. At each meeting, students will discuss their progress, Altan said, and give each other advice and support. YAM teachers will also lead optional weekly workshops that focus on wellness and are open to anyone on campus. This short-term program differs from YAM’s usual offerings in its emphasis on a “more holistic” attempt at wellness, Altan said. When Altan created the program
last summer, she discovered how many people are passionate about wellness, she said: Around 100 people participated in the program, including professors, their spouses, graduate students and undergraduates. With around 40 participants, the current program consists only of students, Altan said. The majority are already involved with YAM, said Shira Atkins ’14, YAM co-coordinator and teacher. The wellness program is not just a program on health and mindfulness, Altan said, but also a way to meet “likeminded people.” She said she recognizes that leading a healthy lifestyle can be challenging, especially for college students. “Doing it alone can be frustrating or confusing or hard to sustain,” but peer support helps everyone succeed, she said. There is no ideal participant, Altan
said. “I haven’t turned anyone away because they weren’t knowledgeable enough,” she said. “We have people who are both unfamiliar with this territory and also people who have very strong backgrounds.” Participants are of all experience levels, and they may choose to participate in different capacities. They are encouraged to attend meetings and practice on their own, but some students cannot make the meetings and will instead check in through Facebook and email, in addition to doing exercises on their own time, Altan said. While the goal of the program is to explore wellness, “it’s not necessarily that on the 21st day of the program, everyone will wake up transformed,” Altan said. Rather, the program is about “getting started on the path” or about “deepen-
ing your definition of what it means to be well and feel good,” she explained. Atkins echoed Altan’s sentiments. “The true intention behind (YAM) is that we want people to feel happy,” she said. YAM holds free yoga classes and is one of the largest student organizations on campus, she added. Before the program’s initial meeting, Atkins told The Herald she planned to speak about “why yoga is awesome, and how this can be something that supports people in their quest to find a healthy balance in all things.” Atkins used to be a dancer, and after she quit, yoga was a way for her to “keep moving and love (her) body.” Alexa Peseri ’14 participated in the summer wellness program and said she enjoyed it so much that she is participating again. “I / / Health page 4