Monday, February 3, 2014

THE

BROWN DAILY HERALD vol. cxlix, no. 9

since 1891

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2014

Dining Services reaches new contract agreement

Initiative expands undergrad mentorship

Employees receive retroactive pay increase, additional bereavement time and day care benefits

Students pleased with number of options, but face difficulties navigating multiple programs

By BRITTANY NIEVES SENIOR STAFF WRITER

By MOLLY SCHULSON SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The New Scientist Program is training 25 mentors for the GraduateUndergraduate Mentoring Initiative this semester, giving undergraduates another outlet through which to seek mentorship and advice. While students and administrators lauded the University’s multitude of existing advising options, they also expressed concern over how difficult it may be for students to navigate them.

A ‘program for everything’ Under GUMI, junior and senior science concentrators will be paired with graduate students who will help them build networking skills and prepare for graduate school.

GUMI joins several other peer advising programs targeted at specific groups, including ALANA — the African American, Latino, Asian/Asian American and Native American mentoring program — which was founded in 1994, and the Women in Science and Engineering mentoring program, which began in 1991.

“Programs like WiSE, ALANA and GUMI are … extremely helpful, as they target certain groups of students who might gain from additional advising,” Kira Bromwich ’15, a Meiklejohn leader, wrote in an email to The Herald.

When Katherine Bergeron was appointed dean of the College in 2006, » See MENTORING, page 2

TOM SULLIVAN / HERALD FILE PHOTO

Under a new contract, Brown Dining Services workers will receive an improved pension plan and wage increases, among other benefits.

Brown Dining Services workers and their union, United Service and Allied Workers of Rhode Island, reached an agreement on a new contract with the University in late December. The major financial issues under consideration in the contract negotiations — which began in October 2013 — included wage, pension and health insurance changes.

The University was “ready and willing to offer workers a retroactive wage increase up to October 2012,” said Karen McAninch, business agent for USAW-RI. Dining Services workers will receive 2.5 percent retroactive pay and an additional 2.25 percent this year and in 2015.

The union sought a contract

expiration date of Oct. 12, whereas the University preferred mid-January. The two groups compromised, setting a November 2015 expiration date.

“The University was more than pleased to be able to reach a fair and equitable agreement with our Dining Service employees,” wrote Paul Mancini, director of labor and employee relations, in an email to The Herald. “I think the employees shared this belief, since the vote to ratify the contract was an overwhelming 122 to two.”

A controversial issue that emerged during negotiations was whether Dining Services workers should pay less than other union employees for health insurance, since they earn less income, McAninch said. The workers’ percentage pay is less than that of the higher-paid library and Department of Facilities Management employees, who will be paying 12 percent, and of the custodians, who will be paying 10 percent, she added. It was decided that Dining » See BDS, page 3

Alzheimer’s drug trial yields ‘disappointing’ results Researchers find no improvement of patients’ memories or daily functioning despite reduced protein buildup

By ANDREW JONES SENIOR STAFF WRITER

A recent study co-led by Professor of Neurology Stephen Salloway found that bapineuzumab, a drug previously thought to slow the effects of Alzheimer’s disease, causes no improvement in patients’ memories or daily functioning.

The primary clinical results were “disappointing” because positive results from the drug “would have propelled the field forward at a much greater rate and given

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

much more optimism for Alzheimer’s as a treatable disease,” Salloway said.

Alzheimer’s disease currently affects over five million people in the United States, but it remains without a cure or method of permanently delaying its effects.

The results of the trial were published in the New England Journal of Medicine Jan. 23.

The study, which tested patients aged 50 to 88, showed no significant differences in clinical outcomes between patients given bapineuzumab and those given a placebo. Despite the negative clinical result, the researchers determined patients

given the drug had reduced beta-amyloid protein buildup, Salloway said.

Alzheimer’s is distinguished by a buildup of beta-amyloid and tau proteins in the nervous system, which causes nerve cell breakdown, Salloway said. Bapineuzumab functions as an antibody that breaks down the buildup of amyloid protein in plaques, he added.

The study indicated that bapineuzumab is associated with lower amyloid buildup in patients carrying the APOE ε4 gene, which is associated with increased likelihood of developing the disease.

Craig Atwood, research director of the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Institute at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, said the study’s focus on an immunological vaccination

as a strategy for treatment was misguided.

Past research has documented the negative side effects of destroying amyloid plaques, he said.

“I hope that this paper will lead researchers to start looking at other avenues to identify the underlying disease mechanisms,” Atwood added.

The researchers also discovered that PET scans, a type of brain imaging, can detect a patient’s amyloid plaque buildup, which is beneficial for early detection of Alzheimer’s, Salloway said.

Alzheimer’s has a “long, silent preclinical phase,” during which the disease is hard to detect, Salloway said. Scientists are looking to detect and arrest amyloid buildup early in the process, he added. » See ALZHEIMER’S, page 3

M. BASKETBALL

Bruno takes down Cornell and Columbia at home

By SAM RUBINROIT SPORTS STAFF WRITER

DAVID BRAUN / HERALD

inside

Rafael Maia ’15 lines up for a free throw Saturday night. The forward led the Bears with 18 points and 12 rebounds against Columbia.

The men’s basketball team went unbeaten at home over the weekend, defeating Cornell 78-66 before topping Columbia 64-56. The Bears are now in position to claim first place in the Ivy League with a win Friday against Harvard.

Brown 78, Cornell 66 The Bears (11-7, 3-1 Ivy) exploded

Science & Research

out of the gate against the Big Red (117, 0-4), jumping ahead to a 19-4 lead in the first nine minutes of play. Undeterred, Cornell responded with an 11-0 run and managed to wrangle a 33-30 advantage by halftime. Yet the Bears regained momentum in the second half with a three-point shooting assault — the squad shot 6-of-11 from long distance in the period — to reclaim the lead and earn a 78-66 victory.

“The first five minutes of the game we came out playing really hard,” said guard Steven Spieth ’17. “We got up 19-4 and we maybe let up when we shouldn’t have, which is something we can’t do in league play. … We just need to put the pedal to the metal and put it away as

Commentary

Visions during meditation may be a product of spontaneous neural activity

Former prisoners face difficulties acquiring health care, according to recent symposium

Rattner ’15: Student dependence on anonymity depreciates relationships

Powers ’15: Not everyone is created equal, as genes endow people with different abilities

SCIENCE & RESEARCH, 3

SCIENCE & RESEARCH, 3

COMMENTARY, 7

COMMENTARY, 7

weather

Bears move into second place in the Ivy League with wins, will play for first place Friday

soon as we can.”

Bruno saw stellar performances from Spieth and fellow first-year Norman Hobbie ’17, each of whom finished with 18 points.

Hobbie’s points came exclusively from beyond the arc, where he shot 6-of-9 on the night.

“They were so consumed with our size inside that that opened up some perimeter shots,” said Head Coach Mike Martin ’04.

Spieth’s 18 points, a career best, came on a near-perfect shooting display. The young forward connected on 5-of-5 from the field and 8-of-9 from the charity stripe. » See BASKETBALL, page 3 t o d ay

tomorrow

34 / 23

39 / 30

2 science & research

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2014

Researchers increase power of bacteria-killing molecules Molecules attack bacteria’s “garbage disposal” proteins in promising Brown-MIT study

By JASON NADBOY STAFF WRITER

A joint team of researchers from Brown and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have successfully killed bacteria resistant to typical antibiotics by increasing the potency of a class of molecules called acyldepsipeptides, or ADEPs. Their study was published Jan. 14 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

ADEPs are peculiar, said Jason Sello, lead author of the study and associate professor of chemistry.

“They have a different mechanism of action.”

The ADEP molecules target ClpP, a “garbage disposal protein” whose job in the bacteria is to decompose other proteins no longer necessary in the cell, said Daniel Carney GS, a co-author of the study.

“It’s a very important process in all living organisms to be able to recycle proteins into the building blocks proteins are made from,” Carney said.

Cells want ClpP to degrade specific proteins at specific times, he added.

The ADEP molecule turns ClpP

into a “garbage disposal run amok” that will degrade all kinds of proteins essential to the cell, Carney said.

Once the ADEP causes the ClpP to lose control, the bacteria dies.

“There are just a handful of targets we know to exploit,” said Andrew Phillips, a professor of chemistry at Yale University not involved the study. “ClpP is what you would call an emerging opportunity.”

“There are no drugs on the market that target ClpP,” Sello said.

More than two million people are infected by drug-resistant bacteria, Sello said, referring to a 2013 Centers for Disease Control threat report.

These bacteria kill 23,000 people a year, he added.

Origins of and synthesizing ADEPs The original ADEPs were antibacterial compounds produced by living organisms, Carney said. “But it turned out that the natural products, although they were interesting antibacterial compounds, were not good drug candidates,” he added.

“While they killed bacteria on a petri dish, if you tried to actually cure

Changes in death rate for selected diseases between 2000 and 2010 While researchers have made major developments in the treatments of many diseases in recent years, the death rate for Alzheimer’s has increased.

70 percent

Alzheimer’s disease

60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Heart disease

Prostate cancer

Breast cancer

Stroke

HIV

-10 -20 -30 -40 -50 Source: Alzheimer’s Association JILLIAN LANNEY / HERALD

» ALZHEIMER’S, from page 1 Alzheimer’s should be viewed as a “major public health problem,” Salloway said. Over the next 15 years, there are projected to be 77 million baby boomers turning 65, which is the beginning of the “risk state” for the disease, he added.

These numbers translate into a significant increase in the time and money involved in caring for those who develop the disease, Salloway said.

“It’s like a tidal wave we’re facing,” he added.

Professor of Neurology and dementia researcher Brian Ott, who was not involved in the study, echoed Salloway’s dissatisfaction with the experiment’s results.

“I think that the results of these two clinical programs were disappointing to

the Alzheimer’s research community and heightened concerns about the potential efficacy of passive immunotherapy as an approach to slowing progression in (Alzheimer’s),” Ott wrote in an email to The Herald. Researchers at Rhode Island Hospital are exploring new avenues for Alzheimer’s research, he added.

The U.S. Congress and the Group of Eight — an international forum made up of eight of the world’s leading economic powers — have each designated finding drugs to delay the effects of Alzheimer’s by 2025 as a top priority, Salloway said.

Since the clinical study yielded negative results, Salloway said he ultimately envisions a cure for Alzheimer’s as a “cocktail drug” composed of several individual drugs that each attack the onset of the disease at different points.

an infection in a mouse, the natural products didn’t work.”

In the mid-2000s, a company called Bayer Healthcare began to manipulate ADEPs with an eye toward drug development, Carney said, adding that they tried to rigidify the ADEP compound to make it bind to a target protein.

“In order for a small molecule to bind to a protein, it needs to first be the same shape, just like a key needs to be the right shape to fit into the lock,” Carney said. Similar to the way keys need to be rigid to fit into a key hole, molecules need to be rigid to bind tightly to a target, he added.

In their study, Carney and his colleagues synthesized ADEP molecules of different levels of rigidity, including some less rigid than the Bayer compound and some much more rigid, he said.

“In the main text there’s not really a lot of discussion about the chemical synthesis and where these molecules came from, but we essentially needed to build them,” Carney said of their study.

“At first the process is sort of slow,” Carney said, “but after the first couple molecules you can start to make them fairly quickly. So by the end of the project, the synthesis was streamlined

pretty well so we could make larger quantities.”

Carney and Sello synthesized the ADEPs at the University, but sent their compounds to MIT Professor of Biology Robert Sauer’s lab to analyze how they interact with ClpP, Sello wrote in an email to The Herald.

» MENTORING, from page 1

Meiklejohn Peer Advising program, which has about 350 active advisers who provide first-years with insight into adjusting to Brown’s academic and social culture.

“I’ve never been at an institution where undergraduates had at their disposal so many resources,” said Christopher Dennis, deputy dean of the College.

“The number of advising programs and variety really speaks to the way students learn and … seek help,” said Undergraduate Council of Students President Todd Harris ’14.5. “I think it’s very Brown to have a lot of different ways that students can get their advice and figure out how to make decisions.”

“advising was not robust enough,” said Kathleen McSharry, associate dean of the College for writing and curriculum.

“So we developed programs we never had before,” she added.

“There’s almost a mentoring program for everything, which is really cool,” said Leah Haykin ’16. She joined WiSE last year as a mentee and is currently a mentor to a prospective biology concentrator.

Under Bergeron’s tenure, peer mentoring programs such as NSP’s Peer Advising and Leadership Initiative and the Curricular Resource Center’s Matched Advising Program for Sophomores were created.

“Peer advising is essential. It’s one of the linchpins of Brown student culture.

The open curriculum can’t function without it,” McSharry said.

In MAPS, sophomores opt into a mentoring relationship and are paired with an older student with similar academic interests, said CRC Director Peggy Chang ’91.

MAPS is “at capacity in terms of how we staff it, but for the past two years we’ve been able to accommodate all of the students who applied,” Chang said.

This year, 120 sophomores are participating in MAPS, up from about 40 who participated in MAPS during 2010, its inaugural year.

Peer mentoring can come from departmental undergraduate groups, too. There are about 45 active DUGs right now, wrote Darcy Pinkerton ’14, a DUG student coordinator, in an email to The Herald.

In addition to having the option of taking part in these targeted programs, all first-year students participate in the

Significance of ADEPs Sello said he and his colleagues’ compounds were “even more potent” than the ADEPs previously created.

There was an innovation gap in antibiotic drug development from 1960 to 2000, Sello said. “We have been depending on old classes of structure type” for antibacterial drugs.

“The Sello lab has (made) a significant advance in moving (ADEPs) closer to clinically viable compounds,” wrote Gerry Wright, director of the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at McMaster University who was uninvolved in the study, in an email to The Herald.

“We’ve not seen a really new chemical scaffold and target in antibiotics in over 25 years, so getting this (much) closer to the clinic is fantastic.”

Future of ADEPs Researchers should next test

Advising vs. mentoring Some students make a distinction between advising and mentoring, Chang said.

“Mentoring implies more of a relationship or a fuller understanding of who the student is,” she added.

Haykin said she appreciated the fact that she had a female WiSE mentor who was older and had gone through similar experiences. Now as a mentor herself, she said she provides “general peace of mind and sanity tips” to her mentee.

Both PAL and GUMI mentoring require “regular or periodic face-to-face contact, and that tends to be important for establishing mentorships,” said Joseph Browne ’11, coordinator of NSP. In PAL, participants commit about two hours per week to small group meetings, he added.

Whether students are looking for advising or mentoring, “all students should work very hard to find someone or some group of people here who are invested in getting to know them as a scholar and as a person,” Chang said.

whether ADEPs have a similar impact on bacterial pathogens when present in an animal host, wrote Michael Thomas, an associate professor of bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who was uninvolved in the study, in an email to The Herald.

“We have been working on pushing this forward,” Sello said.Experiments infecting mice with bacteria and trying to cure them with ADEPs have been promising, he added.

Carney said ADEPs in high concentrations have not appeared lethal to mice.

Researchers should also examine whether ADEPs are toxic to humans, said Jon Clardy, a professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at Harvard Medical School who was uninvolved in the study.

“Really getting a full grasp on the side effects of these molecules … won’t really be known until clinical trials,” Carney said. “Hopefully we’ll get there.”

The research team is also investigating other chemical structures that might have similar effects to ADEPs, Carney said.

This is important in case ADEPs don’t turn out to be successful in humans, he added.

Lacking a list McSharry noted that there is no comprehensive list of the University’s advising options where students could easily see all the opportunities available for mentoring and advice, adding that students might get lost navigating the available options.

“Students are overwhelmed by communication,” McSharry said. “It’s not a problem limited to Brown or higher education. There’s so much noise, it’s difficult to know what to pay attention to.”

Many students will not know a program exists “no matter what you do, in terms of table slipping or Morning Mail,” Browne said.

Some wonder if the University should focus on strengthening the advising programs it has instead of creating new ones.

McSharry said “it’s hard to come up with staff resources” when new initiatives are created.

“I think strengthening these individual programs is really essential,” Harris said. Basic communication and ensuring that students are knowledgeable about the advising process is important, he added.

UCS wants to improve the advising experience of students, Harris said.

Results from UCS’ fall poll, which garnered the highest number of responses in recent years, show the sophomore advising experience needs the most improvement, he added.

Chang said advising is a two-way street. “It’s up to the students to put their faces in front of us and come see us, but it’s also our job not to rely on electronic communication,” she said.“I can name so many seniors who say, …

‘I finally figured it out, but that journey of finally figuring it out wasn’t easy.’”

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science & research 3

Panel discusses lack of health care options for formerly incarcerated Many previous prisoners with substance dependence, other mental issues cannot access treatment

By RILEY DAVIS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Many prisoners do not receive adequate health care upon their release, a problem that was the focal point of an event entitled “Incarceration, Disparities and Health in America in the Age of Health Care Reform” held Friday in the Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts.

The symposium featured presentations on the realities former prisoners face accessing health care, followed by a question-and-answer session with panelists. With an audience of about 70 people, it was the first of a four-part series on prisoner health.

The event began with a presentation

by Sol Rodriguez, executive director of the Rhode Island-based nonprofit OpenDoors. OpenDoors reintroduces former prisoners into the community upon their release, helping them attain housing, health care and employment.

The enactment of the Affordable Care

Act has made the process of receiving health care more manageable for formerly incarcerated individuals, but there are still significant obstacles, Rodriguez said. Many prisoners battling substance abuse and mental health problems are met with resistance when they try to seek treatment outside of prison, she added.

Without access to the proper medication they were receiving when incarcerated, many individuals wind up back in jail.

OpenDoors is working with prisoners to give them the best possible preparation for release, Rodriguez said in her presentation.

The benefits of the program to prisoners still surprise her sometimes, Rodriguez said. “It amazes me how much they change, how much more confident they are, how engaged they are with their lives,” she said of the prisoners involved.

Rodriguez’s talk was followed by a presentation by Emily Wang, assistant professor at the Yale School of Medicine and co-founder of the Transitions Clinic Network. The Transitions Clinic

Meditation study links history to science Light experiences during meditation similar to visualizations caused by sensory deprivation

By ASHNA MUKHI STAFF WRITER

Practitioners of Buddhist meditation have reported seeing globes, jewels and little stars during meditation-induced light experiences. The neurobiological explanation for these visions was the subject of a recent study led by Willoughby Britton, assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior, and Jared Lindahl, professor of religious studies at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina.

The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology Jan. 3, connects first-hand accounts of these light experiences and reports of them from Buddhist texts to scientific literature on similar light visions that occur during sensory deprivation, perceptual isolation and visual impairment.

Sensory deprivation, or the lack of input to one’s senses, and perceptual isolation, a monotonous form of input, bear similarities to certain meditation practices and can therefore be used to investigate the biology behind these light experiences, Britton said.

Buddhist meditation, said Noah Elbot ’14, a leader of the Brown Meditation Community, includes practices such as breath awareness, repetition of a particular phrase, or concentration on an image in order to bring the mind to the present.

Because the blocking of sensory input is seen in both sensory deprivation and Buddhist meditation, the authors

hypothesized that the light experiences may be caused by a spontaneous firing of neurons in response to a lack of input, a phenomenon referred to as homeostatic neuroplasticity, Britton said.

“Neurons have a point of activity that they fire at,” Britton said. “If there is no input, the neurons don’t like that, and they start to fire on their own, causing hallucinations.”

These visual hallucinations induced by meditation practice suggest that meditation may lead to increased neuroplasticity, which has been linked to cognitive improvements in learning, memory and attention, according to the study. If this hypothesis proves true, meditation could have significant cognitive benefits.

This study is one of the first that attempts to connect data from historical texts and first-hand reports from current meditation practitioners with scientific research.

“While science has been studying meditation as a way of better understanding the brain, it often overlooks the rich information that religious texts have,” Lindahl said. If people examine meditation only from a scientific perspective, their understanding will be limited, he added.

“This is a paper that respects what the humanities have to offer to science,” Britton said. While meditation is being used increasingly as a clinical practice, the tremendous amount of knowledge on meditation is not being communicated to the scientists and clinicians using it, she added.

This sort of interdisciplinary research aligns with Brown’s values, Britton said. “Really bridging humanities (and) science is necessary in order for rich new dialogues to happen.”

is specifically designed for people coming out of the prison system. Its goals are to provide quick access to health care for recently released individuals, bring in employees who have been incarcerated in the past to work with the newly released individuals, and partner with organizations like OpenDoors to make the transition out of prison as easy as possible, she said.

With Medicaid expansion having come into effect Jan. 1, “there isn’t a better time to do (the event),” said Bradley Brockmann ’76, director of the University’s Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights and organizer of the symposium.

“There hasn’t been any focus that we can see that highlights the fact that simply handing individuals a Medicaid card is not enough,” he said, which is why the symposium was formed. More than 60 percent of the prison populace is substance-dependent or substance-abusing, and 44 percent of federal prisoners have histories of mental health problems, Brockmann said.

“That was really phenomenal to hear so many perspectives that you

don’t normally hear,” David Katzevich ’16 said of the event. “People have got to take action, raise it as an issue, and take political action if you can — I have been motivated to, absolutely.”

“It would have been nice to have someone from the political side to represent that point of view, but I think having everyone together on the same page exchanging ideas is a really valuable thing,” Craig Erickson MD’15 said.

Rodriguez told The Herald the main thing she hoped people would take away

from the event was knowledge about “all the positive things we’re doing.” She said she also wants people to know that “the system is still not fixed.” Even with increased access to health care, there are still “barriers” that need to be broken, especially in Rhode Island, she said.

The symposium was co-sponsored by the Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights, the Pembroke Center, the School of Public Health, Brown/Tufts/ Lifespan Center for AIDS Research and the Damiano Foundation.

» BASKETBALL, from page 1

their record shows.”

Though he had a standout performance, Spieth stressed that the focus remained on securing victory for the team.

“We have better scorers than me on this team … and it’s really important to get them going early,” Spieth said. “At the end of the day, it’s about getting the win, and it doesn’t really matter who has the most points.”

Despite Cornell’s struggles this season — the Big Red entered the matchup ranked last in the Ivy League — the program has recently given Brown considerable trouble. Prior to Bruno’s 84-65 victory in Ithaca late last season, the Big Red had won the previous 13 showdowns against the Bears. Friday’s win was the first home victory for Bruno over Cornell since Martin’s playing days.

“Cornell had dominated us recently, so it was good to get that one,” Martin said.

But the Bears still had to survive an unexpectedly tough battle against the struggling Cornell squad.

“We underestimated them a little bit,” Hobbie said. “They’re a lot better than

Brown 64, Columbia 56 Saturday’s showdown against the Lions (13-8, 2-2) proved to be a more balanced matchup. Neither team managed to claim more than a five-point lead in the opening half, and the Bears went into the locker room with a slim 28-26 advantage.

The two teams continued to trade baskets for much of the second half. In the final 10 minutes of play, with both teams in foul trouble, the game came down to free throw shooting. Columbia’s only points in the final 10 minutes of play came from the charity stripe, and stingy defense from the Bears down the stretch allowed them to clinch the eightpoint victory.

Forward Rafael Maia ’15 delivered an impressive performance, claiming his fourth double-double of the season with 18 points and 12 rebounds. The big man even connected on two three-pointers.

“We were ready from the start,” Maia said. “We were very focused mentally to win this game, especially on the defensive end of the court. We were able to

do our job and stick to our principles to get this win.”

Maia has been forced to contend with an injured shoulder throughout the season, restricting him from practicing three days every week. Martin said he was impressed with his forward’s perseverance given the circumstances.

“Tonight was the first time he had to play back-to-back” nights, Martin said.

“He was flying all over the floor tonight for loose balls and offensive rebounds. … That was a pretty impressive performance.”

Forward Cedric Kuakumensah ’16 was the team’s second-leading scorer with 13 points.

With the win over the Lions, the Bears are now tied with Yale for second place in the Ivy League behind an undefeated Harvard squad. Bruno heads north this weekend to take on the Crimson and Dartmouth.

“We’re well aware of the team they are,” Martin said of the matchup against the Crimson. “It’s great for our guys to have that type of opportunity, and with opportunity comes responsibility. We’ve got to prepare ourselves.”

» BDS, from page 1

upgraded to 52 weeks a year, becoming full-year employees. A cook’s helper and baker’s helper will be hired as well.

“We did not get as much as we wished for, but are convinced that this is something that needs to be done in stages,” McAninch added.

Workers also received a day care subsidy, which requires an adjusted gross family income of under $100,000 and a child under age six.

The allowance ranges from $1,000 to $4,000 depending on income, McAninch said. “There were several people in Dining who were applying as soon as we ratified,” she added.

Workers whose shifts start at or after 5 p.m. will receive a shift differential, which essentially serves as overtime pay. The differential currently applies to employees at Josiah’s and Andrews Commons, she said.

The Dining Services workers have received support from Brown students, especially the Student Labor Alliance, which worked with both the workers and their union this past fall. SLA members attended one of the first meetings last

October between Dining Services workers and USAW-RI and listened to their concerns and demands, said Chance Dunbar ’17, an SLA member.

“Students and workers face connected challenges in terms of raising their voices and demanding justice and respect from a Brown administration that constantly attempts to stifle their power,” wrote Gabrielle Tomson ’15, another SLA member, in an email to the Herald.

Following the meeting, the SLA drafted a petition calling for Dining Services workers’ demands to be met.

The petition was made at the request of the Dining Services workers and urged fellow students to stand in solidarity with them, Dunbar said.

“We are only as satisfied as the workers are satisfied,” he said, adding that in his post-negotiations communication with workers, they have had a positive response to the contract’s results.

Ann Hoffman, director of administration and human resources for Dining Services, declined to comment on the Dining Services contract changes.

Services workers will continue to pay 8 percent until the contract’s expiration.

Following the expiration, their health insurance payment will go up to 9 percent.

Dining Services workers’ pension was improved and is now in line with the Facilities Management workers’ plan. The multiplier, which incorporates employees’ years of service and average wage for the last or best five years, increased from 1.74 percent to 1.78 percent.

Workers’ bereavement will also improve, changing from five working days to five calendar days of bereavement for situations affecting workers’ immediate family.

As the school year includes multiple breaks during winter and summer, Dining Services workers often struggle to collect unemployment during these periods, McAninch said. To take a step toward resolving this issue, five Dining Services workers who currently work 41 weeks of the year — distinguishing them as partial-year workers — will be

Likelihood of incarceration, by race and gender The lifetime rates for white, black and Hispanic men and women in America. The United States leads the world in incarcerations with over 750 per 100,000 people.

1 in 17 1 in 3

WHITE

MEN

BLACK

1 in 6

HISPANIC

WOMEN

WHITE

1 in 91

BLACK

1 in 18

HISPANIC

1 in 45

Source: Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights AVERY CRITS-CRISTOPH / HERALD

4 sports monday W. BASKETBALL

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2014

W. HOCKEY

Bears split on New Bruno swept by ECAC foes York Ivy road trip Co-captains Clarke ’14 and Bikofsky ’15 lead Brown scorers in both contests

By BRUNO ZUCCOLO SPORTS STAFF WRITER

A road trip to New York brought the Bears their first Ivy League win of the season this weekend. Brown beat Columbia 79-57 Saturday after losing to Cornell 80-70 Friday.

“We wanted to come out with positive energy and turn things around, because it’s still early in the season,” said co-captain Lauren Clarke ’14, who led the Bears (7-11, 1-3 Ivy) with 45 points this weekend.

Cornell 80, Brown 70 Friday’s game started with a threepoint shot made by Sophie Bikofsky ’15. Unfortunately for the Bears, this was one of the few moments they were ahead — Bruno held the lead only three times for a combined 97 seconds through the whole game.

“We kind of had a lapse for four or five minutes and dug ourselves into a hole, and then we had to fight back,” Clarke said.

By the 10:34 mark in the first half, Cornell (11-7, 3-1) had taken a 2414 lead. But with an eight-point run over four minutes, the Bears quickly got back into the game and caught up with the Big Red. The two teams traded baskets for the rest of the half, and at halftime Cornell held a 35-33 lead.

The Bears came out of the locker room with a newfound energy. With some early points, they managed to take the lead once again when Clarke made a shot from beyond the arc with 17:16 left. But this would be Brown’s last lead, as Cornell quickly regained the advantage on its next play. The rest of the half went smoothly for Cornell, who maintained a comfortable lead of five to 10 points until the final buzzer.

Cornell’s Shelby Lyman led all scorers with 24 points, closely followed by Clarke, who scored 22. Bikofsky also finished the game in double digits, tallying 13 points.

Cornell curiously did not call on its bench much — reserve players scored only five points, and none were on the court for more than 15 minutes. But this didn’t seem to harm the Big Red, as they notched their fifth win in six

games.

Brown 79, Columbia 57 Unlike Friday’s game, when the Bears trailed most of the night, Bruno jumped out to an early lead Saturday that it would hold for the rest of the game. This time, it was Columbia (4-14, 1-3 Ivy) who struggled to catch up to Brown — but to no avail. This resulted in a resounding first Ivy victory of the season, marking the end of a four-game losing streak.

“Everything came together, and we played really well as a team,” Clarke said. The win “gets the momentum going for the team, gives us that confidence boost.”

Back-and-forth scoring runs by both teams characterized the first 10 minutes of the game. The Bears surged ahead 8-0 in the first two minutes, but the Lions rapidly reacted and tied it up with 15:11 on the clock.

The Bears responded with a onesided campaign, making five shots in as many minutes to jump ahead 17-8.

Bruno carried this nine-point lead to the end of the half, making the score 31-22 at the break.

The second half saw much of the same dominance from Brown, and the Lions did little in terms of staging a comeback. The Bears managed yet another scoring run with 11 straight points in three minutes, putting them up 47-28 with just over 13 minutes to go. The 20-point lead proved too much for Columbia to overcome, and the two teams traded baskets for the rest of the half.

Clarke once again led the Bears with 23 points. Bikofsky added 18, making 5 of 8 attempted treys, while Sophie Beutel ’14 scored a career-high 11 points. Tori Oliver led Columbia with 21 points.

One of the Bears’ goals is always to hold the opposing team under 60 points, Bikofsky said. Brown’s defense worked well against Columbia, recording 13 steals and allowing only a 31.4 percent conversion rate from the field for the Lions.

“We made some defensive adjustments that we needed to,” Bikofsky said. “We were out-rebounded by Cornell, but then we out-rebounded Columbia.”

Next weekend the Bears will host Harvard and Dartmouth in the Pizzitola Center on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

TOM SULLIVAN / HERALD

Ariana Rucker ’16 and Vanessa Welten ’14 both scored against Colgate on Friday, but it was not enough to prevent Bruno’s second consecutive winless weekend. The Bears will return home next weekend.

Bruno loses twice on the road, but Moore’s 2,000th save provides weekend’s bright spot

By LAINIE ROWLAND SPORTS STAFF WRITER

The Bears fell to Colgate 3-2 in overtime and dropped a 4-0 decision at Cornell this past weekend, staying at the bottom of the ECAC rankings and extending their winless streak to five games.

Of the 12 ECAC teams, Colgate (7-19-2, ECAC 4-12-0) is ranked 11th, followed only by Brown (2-16-5, 1-123). Cornell, who came into the game with only three losses this season, sits in third place in the conference. A bright spot in the sour weekend came Friday against Colgate, when Bruno goalie Aubree Moore ’14 reached 2,000 career saves — the first Brown women’s hockey player to do so since 2009.

Colgate Facing off on Friday against the Raiders, the Bears arrived to a packed stadium for Colgate’s annual Autism Awareness game. The Raiders went up 2-0 over the Bears with a powerplay goal late in the first period and another tally midway through the second. Bruno retaliated on a power play with three minutes to go in the second, when Ariana Rucker ’16 netted her fifth goal of the season, assisted by

»ANALYSIS, from page 8 forcing a defensive rotation to help toward the slashing ball carrier. This difficulty stopping a one-on-one drive led to a number of uncontested layups and threes.

Kuakumensah was often called on to protect the paint. The Ivy League’s leader in blocks posted four against Cornell but was unable to turn any shots away against Columbia. Maodo Lo and Grant Mullins, Columbia’s starting guards, got into the paint frequently, eluding Kuakumensah for easy layups and drawing fouls from the big man.

The Bears will have to work harder in future games to fight through picks and stay with the ball handler, instead of switching or simply letting the player drive to the basket.

co-captain Jennifer Nedow ’14.

In the third period, Vanessa Welten ’14 struck again for Brown, tying the score at two and ultimately sending the game into overtime. Welten’s goal was her first of the season, utilizing assists from Janice Yang ’15 and Brittany Moorehead ’15. But Bruno’s comeback effort was foiled about four minutes into the five-minute, sudden-death overtime as Colgate knocked in a goal, handing the Bears a heartbreaking loss in the final minute.

“It was nice to see our team fight back and get to overtime,” Yang said.

“It was obviously disappointing to lose the two points, but we fought hard.”

Moore turned aside 27 shots in the contest, while Colgate goalie Ashlynne Rando successfully defended a meager 16 shots from the Bears, who regularly struggle to match opponents in shots taken.

Cornell Taking the ice Saturday in Ithaca, the Bears faced a strong Big Red (163-4, ECAC 11-2-3) and suffered a decisive 4-0 shutout defeat. Bruno was able to hang with Cornell through the scoreless first period, with goalie Monica Elvin ’17 filling the net in place of Moore.

But the Bears failed to score on a five-minute power play after the Big Red incurred a major penalty halfway through the first.

The Bears committed a penalty to

begin the second period, giving Cornell an advantage that would result in the first goal of the game and trigger a burst of momentum for the home team.

Thirty seconds later, Big Red struck again, scoring their third tally with six minutes left in the stanza.

Bruno started the third period in a deep hole and had not yet attempted a shot when Cornell scored its fourth goal of the game. The score prompted the Bears to bring Moore back into goal for the last 17 minutes of competition. Moore and Elvin combined for a total of 36 saves, while Cornell’s Lauren Slebodnick, the ECAC leader in win percentage, combined with an underclassman to stop all 18 shots from Bruno.

While Cornell won decisively over the Bears, many of Brown’s losses are very close games, Yang said. Of the 16 games Bruno has lost this season, 10 have been decided by a margin of two points or fewer.

“We’re working on getting that mentality of finishing our games and really capitalizing on our opportunities,” Yang said. “The thing about our team is that we always work hard, and we’re never going to give up.”

The team will take on Rensselaer (10-15-2, 6-9-1) and Union College (8-19-1, 3-13) at home next weekend.

Both teams present Brown with a chance to battle a squad near the bottom of the conference standings, and to skate to a much-needed victory.

What’s new One way to beat a screen offense is to eliminate the pick-and-roll entirely.

About five minutes into the second half against Columbia, the Bears switched from their usual man-to-man defense to a 2-3 zone. The zone effectively took away the screen and forced the Lions to pass the ball around the perimeter, often making them settle for long jumpers.

Though they stuck with the strategy only for a few possessions, the Bears held Columbia to 4-of-17 shooting after employing the zone. The Lions failed to hit a field goal in almost 10 minutes to end the game.

The zone “may have gotten them out of rhythm,” Martin said. “They had us in some scramble situations when we were playing man in the first half … so I thought the zone was a good change

of pace, but our bread and butter is our man-to-man defense.”

Despite its sizable impact against Columbia, don’t expect Martin to turn to the zone frequently. While it flummoxed the Lions momentarily, as they struggled to work the ball inside to their post players — something they had done all game — zones are often easily broken once holes are discovered.

Bruno might go to the 2-3 zone next weekend against Harvard, a team that averages the second-most points in the Ancient Eight. The Crimson do not look to shoot threes — they have the fewest attempts from beyond the arc in the conference. A zone would pack the key and force Harvard to take more perimeter jumpers, which could give the Bears an edge and eventually lead Bruno to first place in the Ivy League.

today 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2014

menu SHARPE REFECTORY

s e a h aw k s s o v e r e i g n t y VERNEY-WOOLLEY

LUNCH Bulgur Stuffed Peppers, Meatball Grinder, Snow Pea Pods, Canja Soup, Yellow Beans with Marinara Sauce

Red Potato Frittata, Italian Marinated Chicken, Sauteed Zucchini and Onions, Potato Vegetable Chowder

DINNER Bourbon BBQ Chicken, Sauteed Greens, Acorn Squash, Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Chicken Pot Pie, Vegan Ratatouille, M a s h e d B u t t e r nu t S q u a s h , Mediterranean Salmon Stir Fry

JOSIAH’S

THREE BURNERS

QUESADILLA OR GRILLED CHEESE

Gnocchi

Grilled Cheese

BLUE ROOM

SOUPS

DINNER ENTREES

Chicken Noodle Soup, Fire Roasted Vegetable Soup, Beef with Bean Chili

Naked Burritos

DAVID DECKEY / HERALD

The Seattle Seahawks dominate the Denver Broncos en route to a 43-8 victory, taking the Super Bowl XLVIII title.

sudoku

SAM KASE / HERALD

crossword Editor’s Note: Entries for the starred clues have two interpretations.

ACROSS 1 A child may pick at it 5 They follow ABCDE 10 Places with saunas, usually 14 Elbow bone 15 Indigenous group in Brazil *16 Clock’s sound *17 [Doorbell] 18 ____ Rapids, IA 19 Prefix meaning against 20 Distance divided by time 22 Name tag for lawyers 23 Teen ___ movies 24 Leaned, in Britain 26 Comp. key next to alt 27 Chemist’s workplace 30 The Good Book, abbr.

31 P, in Greek 32 Wall St. degree 35 Performances before opening night 39 Nobel Prize city *40 Pattern like a grid 41 Diet berry 42 Letter from one on vacation 45 Fire leftovers 46 Collection of things 47 Org. established as the Lab of Hygiene 48 ___ Willie Winkie 49 Attorney’s study 50 Device more intense than a flashlight 52 Comedic movie spinoff 55 Khaki-colored 56 Diffuses through air *60 Famous gorilla 61 Espresso drink 63 Hip bones, technically 64 Fungal cylinders 65 Bar from one’s native country *66 Pitch-varying speech

Flipping the switch

By Ian Everbach ’17

Sophomores slump into Petteruti Lounge for some Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to cure the winter blues. The ice cream social Sunday was the first event in the 2016 Class Board’s Sophomore Slump Month.

comics Let’s Talk | Nava Winkler

calendar 02/03/14

67 If-____ statement 28 Opposite of thesis, 50 Language 68 Phonographic in music for biological record 29 Emit smoke, as a classification 69 Sharp fencing chimney 51 Increase in salary sword 31 In an echoing way 52 32-card betting 32 Latin American game DOWN parrot *53 “Nonsense!”

1 Soap bubbles 33 Loud, harsh sound 54 Fairy tale starter *2 Horse-hoof sound 34 Remark to the 55 Common NYC 3 Actress Hathaway audience sight 4 Bakery item like a 36 Habitual drunk *57 Rubber sandal doughnut *37Rap with an 58 Fork prong 5 Univ. teaching electronic beat 59 Wise old man staff 38 Pouch-like 61 Tome of 30-across 6 U.S. Special structure in cells 62 Slippery snakelike Forces member, 43 Fighter pilot’s grp. fish informally 44 Muscular strength 7 “___ thou sought 49 Requires a For solutions, contact: the whole earth username and crosswords@ over?” password browndailyherald.com.

8 The Iran-___ War Solution to last Monday’s puzzle: 9 Cookie container 10 Platform for sports-fans or microphones *11 Table tennis 12 Divisions of a play 13 Improv scene 21 Aristocratic gals 23 Love, abroad 25 Fliers 26 Framework for a vehicle 27 Treatment for Parkinson’s disease

TODAY

FEBRUARY 3

12:00 P.M. SUPER DUPER HEAVY PETTING

As part of the Sophomore Slump series, the 2016 Class Board is sponsoring photo-ops and general cuddling with baby animals to counter stress and any case of the Mondays. Wriston Quad 7:00 P.M. FILM SCREENING: “FOOTNOTE”

“Footnote,” a film about a tense relationship between a man and his father, will kick off the University’s first annual Jewish Film Festival. Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, Martinos Auditorium

TOMORROW

FEBRUARY 4

2:30 P.M. A READING BY POET JORIE GRAHAM

1996 Pulitzer Prize winner Jorie Graham will read from her books “Sea Change,” “Swarm” and “The Dream of a Unified Field: Selected Poems 1974-1994,” followed by a conversation. Sponsored by the Literary Arts department. McCormack Family Theater 5:30 P.M. AMBASSADOR NIRUPAMA RAO AND RICHARD LOCKE DISCUSS: “INDIA, CHINA, THE US AND WORLD POLITICS”

Former Indian Ambassdor to the United States Nirupama Rao converses with Director of the Watson Institute Richard Locke about current events regarding three of global politics’ most influential nations. Watson Institute, Joukowsky Forum

6 commentary

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2014

EDITORIAL

Big-time college sports exploit athletes Last week, football players at Northwestern University voted to petition the National Labor Relations Board for employee status, the first step toward becoming a labor union. This is a welcome challenge to the NCAA, a multibillion-dollar industry that generates revenue for everyone except the players themselves. For too long, the NCAA has hidden behind the “scholar-athlete” identity to justify not paying athletes who may suffer financially and physically during their college years. As controversy surrounding the NCAA and its tax-exempt status grows, it is time to recognize big-time college athletes as the moneymakers they are and compensate and protect them accordingly.

Alongside the Northwestern news came revelations about athletics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where a well-known professor was recently indicted for running courses that did not actually exist for football players. The New York Times reported that the fraudulent activity, which may have been going on since 1997, involved dozens of classes and hundreds of grade changes. Further, reading specialist Mary Willingham recently alleged that over eight years of researching UNC basketball and football players, she discovered that 60 percent of the players read at between a fourth- and an eighth-grade reading level, and 10 percent were below a third-grade reading level. Such stories directly contradict the justification that big-time college athletes operate as “scholar-athletes” and that the college education they are receiving is compensation enough.

The NLRB will consider the petition of the Northwestern students in the wake of a recent movement to unionize among graduate students at New York University, where students leaders are planning to sign a contract despite a 2004 NLRB ruling in a Brown case that graduate students are ineligible for collective bargaining rights. In any case, it is clear that big-time college athletes generate far more money, and based on the UNC case are receiving far less educational training, than can be accurately encompassed in the “student-athlete” relationship.

In a broader sense, as NCAA scandals continue to surface, we must consider why this multi-billion-dollar industry is allowed to use academia as a shield from taxes and stronger oversight. While college baseball does exist, the MLB supports minor league teams, which pay their unionized players salaries and give them other protections. In contrast, both the NFL and the NBA essentially use college teams as a de facto farm industry, absolving themselves of responsibility for protecting up-and-coming athletes physically and monetarily. As more information about the risk of head injuries in football specifically begins to pile up, it has become more and more obvious that student-athletes are taking on significant risks for which they deserve compensation.

The NLRB should recognize the Northwestern athletes for the workers they are, and begin the conversation about how they can be appropriately compensated and protected. Further, it is time to consider the cost of having a ruthless industry tar the good name of American universities, and whether the power of the NCAA has begun to detract from the mission of American universities altogether.

Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board: its editors, Matt Brundage ’15 and Rachel Occhiogrosso ’14, and its members, Hannah Loewentheil ’14 and Thomas Nath ’16. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

A N G E L IA WA N G

q u o t e o f t h e d ay

“Hopefully we can stay hot and string together some wins coming into the playoffs.”

— Mark Naclerio ’16

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commentary 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2014

Nature matters ANDREW POWERS opinions columnist

In his 2013 inaugural address, President Obama reiterated an idea central to American political thought: “The most evident of truths — that all of us are created equal — is the star that guides us still.” Since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the notion that “all men are created equal” has shaped and pervaded every aspect of our culture.

But the accuracy of this popular claim is a matter of science, not politics. What are the respective and relative effects of genetics and environment upon an individual’s ability to succeed? The phrase “nature vs. nurture” represents an underlying constituent of most national debate, but rarely do politicians engage in discussion of this topic, despite its bearing on economic and social justice issues.

Modern society is increasingly intolerant of all forms of inequality. In particular, political correctness is taken to factually unjustified extents. Phrases such as “differently-abled” illustrate our aversion to acknowledging disparate evaluations of life. That’s not to say that such a characterization is always inaccurate — autism is a paradigmatic example of different ability — but it would be inaccurate to indiscriminately apply it to all individuals.

It would be an uncharitable straw-man to characterize those who support a “nature” view as categorically rejecting the influences of environmental factors. Brief introspection demonstrates the benefit living in the developed world has had in shaping our lives. It

would also be unfair to say that those who support a “nurture” view believe we are all created identical to one another. The theory of evolution guarantees that, to some infinitesimal degree, certain individuals will have higher abilities than others.

Though there is a spectrum of positions on this issue, people can be demarcated into two distinct camps: those who believe genetics plays a measurable role in success and those who believe it does not. While different beliefs can run the gamut of options, it seems to me that this delimitation provides the best account of the ongoing disagreement.

been disadvantageous throughout most of our evolutionary history, but it is irrelevant given a sufficient food supply. Individuals who have mutations in one or both copies of the MSTN gene are endowed with increased muscle mass and lower body fat. In athletic competition, such individuals have a significant genetic advantage irrespective of the effects of coaching, performance-enhancing drugs or other environmental factors.

Genetic variation can lead to tragedy, excellence or anything in between. Many Brown students are willing to accept that sexual orientation, and even gender identity, exist on a

Appeals to political tradition, national culture or emotional necessity have no bearing upon this sobering biological reality.

The claim that we are all created — at least approximately — equal is excessive, and compelling counterexamples demonstrate that it is not consistent with empirical observation.

Imagine a child born with a genetic terminal illness that drastically reduces his life expectancy and quality of life. It’s infeasible that he could be as successful as a healthy child by any reasonable measure of success. And it’s obvious that this result is due almost completely to nature, rather than environmental effects.

Of course, genetic effects are not always detrimental. Most humans have two copies of the MSTN gene, which is responsible for the production of the protein myostatin. Myostatin inhibits muscle growth and leads to higher body fat. As a matter of energy conservation, superfluous muscle growth would have

genetic spectrum. So too do intelligence, athleticism, attractiveness and other characteristics that can contribute to one’s success. The proposition that some individuals are born with innate advantages or disadvantages is not a prescriptive moral one, but rather a descriptive scientific one. Inadequacy in one form or another does not prohibit success but assuredly inhibits it. Appeals to political tradition, national culture or emotional necessity have no bearing upon this sobering biological reality.

One might believe that everyone should be equal under the law, but this is clearly not the case even in current practice. There exists an increasing demand in our society to level the playing field with measures like the Americans with Disabilities Act. Those who suffer from genetic mental disability are not afforded the same rights or responsibilities as healthy

individuals, and laws such as the ADA provide provisions specifically for those affected by genetic physical inequality.

The causal root of these individuals’ suffering is their genes. A business’s lack of handicapped parking isn’t “discrimination” against the disabled, but a refusal to help a victim of the genetic lottery. The business’s passive existence does not make the individual worse off.

We can’t have our cake and eat it too. We can’t legally mandate assistance for these members of our society while simultaneously denying their inequality.

It’s one thing to say everyone deserves to succeed. It’s quite another thing to say everyone is equally equipped to do so. We certainly do not need to condemn victims of genetic misfortune, but we should acknowledge their disabilities for what they are — inherent inequalities. This is particularly true for those who would like society to compensate for such differences through legislation.

Both genetics and environment affect the courses of our lives, and it’s distressing that one of these factors is almost entirely beyond our control. Perhaps in the future this will no longer be the case. But striving to expose, understand and affirm truths that make us uncomfortable is a part of intellectual growth.

We are not all created equal, and intentional ignorance of this fact is not a mature response with which we should be satisfied.

Andrew Powers ’15 believes that nature accounts for anywhere between 10-20 percent of an individual’s overall success. He can be reached at andrew_powers@brown.edu.

Our dependence on anonymous communication JAMES RATTNER opinions columnist

The Brown community is missing out on important conversations and opportunities to start and strengthen relationships. Too often we settle for anonymous communication: buying a cappella Valentine’s Day grams, sending roses or posting to anonymous Facebook groups. Last school year, students created Brown University Confessions, Brown Admirers and Brown University Compliments as outlets for anonymously sharing thoughts with the community. But using secret messages makes us less likely to raise disagreements or appreciate friendships, and it even prevents some relationships from ever starting.

The result is a more isolated and lonely student body, lacking self-esteem and deprived of valuable experiences.

In the wake of New York Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly’s visit to Brown last fall, many students took to Brown Confessions to share their reactions. On Oct. 29, one student posted, “I’m ok with racial profiling, as long as it stops terrorism.” Another wrote, “I agree with Ray Kelly’s policies. They are proven to be effective, and save human lives. Yet I can’t voice my opinions at this school, I should protest you all.”

Instead of confronting our friends over controversial issues, we settle for Facebook, content to voice our opin-

ions without having a true argument.

Posting on a message board may elicit dozens of comments, but it is not the same as discussing these issues in person. Kelly’s visit raised questions, but it did not spark all the debates it might have. While President Christina Paxson’s public forum in Alumnae Hall formally opened the dialogue, far more conversations should have occurred around Sharpe Refectory tables where people kept quiet, scared of being called racist or conservative.

Nowhere is the loss of valuable experiences clearer than with secret admirers. There have been over 3,500 posts on Brown Admirers.

Most contributors include some variation of, “If I had the courage to go up to you, I totally would,” “One day I’ll get the courage to walk right up to you and brush your sweet soft cheeks and then show you what the purpose of life is,” or the simple “I wish I had the courage to tell you to your face that you’re a beautiful woman, inside and out.”

While these sentiments are beautiful, and many of the comments are more than “Oh, you sexy, delicious beast. That is all,” they have minimal impact on the non-digital world.

For all the poster knows, the feelings may have been reciprocal. How many flings, relationships and stories were forgone because people settled for an anonymous post rather than actively

pursuing an interest?

I can empathize with fears of rejection, but surely friends should not require Brown Compliments to share basic emotions. Yet one student was uncomfortable saying, “Thanks for being absolutely the best. I’m so glad you’re my friend.” Anonymous compliments carry a fraction of the weight of a thoughtful letter or conversation.

I am sure the friend’s day was a little better because of that post, but the friendship was largely unchanged, and the recipient was unable to return the compliment.

see with all these thousands of vessels.”

In some instances, these Facebook pages may help students feel normal.

They may want to know others have similar depressing thoughts or uncommon fetishes and feel validated by affirming comments. Plenty end in, “Am I the only one?” Other posts are simply funny comments that would lead to conversations happily forgone: “I’m relieved when a bathroom at Brown has paper towels and not just a hand dryer.” And I believe part of the thinking behind these pages was to create fun forums where we can all enjoy others’ positive sentiments, especially when people thank the entire band or the stranger who returned a wallet.

But anonymous messages have made us at best complacent, and at worst depressed.

Indeed, a University of Michigan study last year found that reading about others’ happiness on Facebook — or, for example, scrolling through Brown Admirers posts looking for one about yourself — actually makes us sadder. More importantly, all we have to do to be happier is speak in person or over the phone.

Too many teenagers and young adults desperately need a little more self-esteem. Some could use less. In 2008, then-President Ruth Simmons spoke at Collegiate School’s high school graduation in New York City.

Not appreciating that the young men

We should all summon a little more courage to discuss issues that make us uncomfortable and express our feelings for friends and crushes.

Open communication can foster powerful friendships. The “special relationship” between the United States and the United Kingdom was strengthened by the personal bond between Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin Roosevelt. The two leaders exchanged over 1,700 messages between 1939 and 1945, many going beyond their professional relationship. On the eve of D-Day, Churchill wrote Roosevelt, “Our friendship is my greatest standby amid the ever-increasing complications of this exacting war. … I am here near Ike’s headquarters in my train.

His main preoccupation is with the weather. There are wonderful sights to

in the audience were more often called arrogant than humble, she urged us to be more confident. It is the lack of communication, of open appreciation, that undermines our morale.

Too many George Baileys are walking around not realizing their significance.

The three anonymous Facebook pages are not unrelated. The student who has the confidence to disagree with his teaching assistant is probably also okay asking out strangers.

The University cannot directly inspire students to share their feelings. But fostering a community of intellectual openness will boost many students’ emotional openness.

Ultimately, if we want to learn from each other and foster strong relationships, we should all summon a little more courage to discuss issues that make us uncomfortable and express our feelings for friends and crushes. With the holidays just behind us and Valentine’s Day around the corner, now seems as good a time as any to open up a little. Let’s start off slow.

No need to pronounce your love for the girl on the next treadmill in the Jonathan Nelson ’77 Fitness Center.

But maybe start by telling someone his friendship is a “stand-by amid the ever-increasing complications of this exacting war.”

James Rattner ’15 will not reply to anonymous comments but can be reached at james_rattner@brown.edu.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2014

THE

BROWN DAILY HERALD sports monday M. HOCKEY

Bruno’s leading scorers supply offensive firepower Bears must improve on the power play to contend against ferocious ECAC opponents

By DANTE O’CONNELL SPORTS EDITOR

The men’s ice hockey team came into the weekend facing not just two of the strongest teams in the ECAC, but two of the hottest teams in the nation. Colgate came in on a five-game winning streak, and Cornell had not lost since Nov. 30.

Though Bruno emerged with a weekend split and could not improve from its seventh-place conference ranking, it showed that it can play with — and beat — the top teams in the country.

“We’re making really good strides coming up the stretch,” said Mark Naclerio ’16. “Hopefully we can stay hot and string together some wins coming into the playoffs.”

ANALYSIS

What’s strong Naclerio and Nick Lappin ’16 were on a different wavelength than anyone else in uniform this weekend. Bruno’s two leading scorers seemed to find each other in the right spots at the right times.

Against Colgate, Naclerio and Lappin teamed up for three of the team’s

five goals. Each score came on an assist from the other, featuring crisp passes in the offensive zone.

Naclerio and Lappin continued to create a number of scoring opportunities against Cornell, but goalie Andy Iles answered their attempts most of the game.

After being repeatedly frustrated by Iles, Lappin managed to get a wrist shot past Iles midway through the third, only to see it careen off the right post. Naclerio finally broke the scoring drought with less than two minutes to play for his teamleading 14th goal of the year.

Before the season began, Head Coach Brendan Whittet ’94 called the top line of Lappin, Naclerio and Matt Lorito ’15 “one of the best in the nation.” His star players have lived up to the high praise.

Against Colgate, Brown turned in a strong effort in the neutral zone. Despite mustering 32 shots on Tyler Steel ’17, who continued to play well for the Bears this weekend, the Raiders struggled all game to get the puck into Bruno’s end of the ice.

“We just played a really intelligent hockey game,” Whittet said. “We’re just continuing to get better and better.”

Despite narrowly falling Saturday to the Big Red, the Bears demonstrated the resiliency they will need to be successful down the stretch. When Cornell scored its second goal on a two-on-one late in the third period, it appeared to be game over. Goals had been at a premium, and with just six minutes left, a comeback

M. BASKETBALL

seemed improbable.

But Bruno did not quit. After the goal, the Bears put up a majority of their third-period attempts, outshooting the Big Red by a lopsided 14-2 in the frame.

Whittet aptly called the game “frustrating,” referring to the numerous scoring opportunities that did not materialize.

What’s wrong It is difficult to find much to criticize in the Bears’ performance against Colgate. The power play struggled yet again, managing just one shot on two opportunities. But the Bears more than made up for these struggles at full strength with five goals.

Against Cornell, difficulties on the man advantage proved to be one of the key factors in Bruno’s defeat. The Bears could not score on any of their five power play opportunities, failing to score a power play goal for the fifth-straight game.

Cornell’s strong penalty kill unit, third in the ECAC with an 86.4 percent kill percentage, made the problem even worse.

In order to have success going forward, Bruno will need to do a better job taking advantage of its opportunities.

The return of defenseman Brandon Pfeil ’16 next week, a player Whittet said “runs the power play,” should improve efficiency on the man advantage. Pfeil has missed the past three games due to a hand injury.

Poor execution in the final 90 seconds

DAVID DECKEY / HERALD

Mark Hourihan ’14 applies pressure in the offensive zone Saturday. Brown fell to the Big Red after failing to convert on a number of scoring chances. also hurt the Bears. After a torrent of scoring opportunities over the last 10 minutes, Bruno could not generate much of anything after pulling Steel. The Bears failed to keep the puck in Cornell’s zone three times when it mattered most, including on a final opportunity with 20 seconds to play.

Cornell’s size also plagued the Bears.

Cornell had 13 skaters listed at 6-foot-3 or taller; Brown had just seven. The Big Red’s physical presence made it much more difficult for Bruno to generate the same kind of neutral zone success that characterized its victory over Colgate.

In another unfortunate turn of events for the Bears, officials failed to review what may have been Brown’s first goal of the evening midway through the second period. A flurry of action in front of the Cornell net led to a pileup, under which the puck may or may not have trickled

across the goal line.

“We have cameras that we pay a lot of money for,” Whittet said. “I have no idea why it wasn’t reviewed.”

In the third period, the officials would review a similar play, eventually ruling it a goal for the Bears. The earlier blunder was another indication of Bruno’s bad luck Saturday evening.

What’s new Rather than joining Naclerio and Lappin on the usual top line, Lorito played on a different line due to the absence of Massimo Lamacchia ’15. Whittet has tinkered with lines in the past, typically by moving Lorito between center and right wing. A key question remains whether Whittet decides to keep his top three scorers together on the top line, or if he chooses to distribute his stars throughout the lineup going down the stretch.

M. HOCKEY

Strong offensive attack Home weekend yields mixed results After beating Colgate, fuels weekend success Bears fall to Cornell

Free-throw shooting and screen defense should improve for Bruno to keep winning Ivy matchups

By ALEX WAINGER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

With Ivy League basketball season in full swing, the Bears picked up two crucial wins against the Big Red and the Lions this weekend, elevating them to second place in the conference.

The Bears started the weekend with a convincing 78-66 victory over Cornell. Bruno then took down Columbia 64-56 in a game that remained close until the closing minutes. Here is a look at some of the keys to Bruno’s success.

ANALYSIS

What’s strong Against Cornell, Norman Hobbie ’17 and Steven Spieth ’17 both contributed 18 points, eclipsing teammate and Ivy League leading scorer Sean McGonagill ’14. The next day, Rafael Maia ’15 posted an 18-point outing of his own, and Cedric Kuakumensah ’16 bolstered Bruno’s scoring with 13.

Against Columbia, McGonagill scored just third-most on the team for the second game in a row, with 10 points on a tough 2-of-10 night from the field.

Though Columbia kept its focus on McGonagill, other Bears performed well, said Head Coach Mike Martin ’04. “His fellow captains (Maia and

Kuakumensah) stepped up and were great. Up and down the lineup we got great contributions.”

“I was wide open a few times (against Cornell) — it kind of shocked me,” Hobbie said. “When I go in the game, I try to take as much pressure off of Sean as I can by getting open.”

Utilizing offensive sources other than McGonagill will be critical to the Bears’ success in the future. If an opponent is able to lock down the All-Ivy senior, other members of the team will have to carry the scoring load. With Columbia and Cornell keying on the team’s star, role players and starters alike stepped up.

The Bears also displayed strong perimeter defense in both games, which has been one of the team’s strengths all season. Bruno held Cornell to 3-of-22, a meager 14 perecent, shooting from beyond the arc. Columbia fared slightly better than Cornell, shooting 6-of-22 from deep — about 12 percent lower than the team’s season average.

What’s wrong The Bears struggled with free throws throughout the weekend, shooting a combined 27-of-44 over the two games. These numbers are consistent with the team’s performance from the charity stripe this season, where they hold the lowest conversion rate in the conference at about 64 percent.

Bruno also showed some weakness in defending the pick and roll. Columbia and Cornell had success driving past the first Brown defender, often » See ANALYSIS, page 4

for first home loss since November

By ANDREW FLAX SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Taking on two ranked opponents in a critical home weekend, the men’s hockey team defeated No. 18 Colgate Friday, but fell to No. 11 Cornell despite a strong third period Saturday.

In any other conference, going 1-1 against two ranked teams might be considered an achievement, but in the merciless ECAC, it is of no help. Both teams within two points of the Bears in the standings, Yale and Rensselaer, also split their weekends to keep the standings in stasis. With a tough road ahead, the Bears will have to scrap for every point.

Brown 5, Colgate 2 To kick off the weekend, the Bears snapped Colgate’s (13-11-3, 9-5-1 ECAC) six-game winning streak with a dominant performance Friday.

Mark Naclerio ’16 led the way for Bruno (9-9-3, 6-7-1), scoring two goals and adding a beautiful assist through traffic to Nick Lappin ’16.

Strong neutral zone play was key for the Bears, who forced many Colgate turnovers leading to odd-man rushes.

The game’s first goal came on one of those many breakaways, when a shot by Garnet Hathaway ’14 was blocked into the air but fell behind Colgate goalie Charlie Finn and into the net.

“We were able to gum up the neutral zone a lot,” said Head Coach Brendan

Whittet ’94.

In addition to getting opportunities from defensive play, Bruno helped itself with great offensive execution, fueled by smooth passing.

“I thought the (defense) were doing a really good job of getting the puck up to us right away,” Lappin said. The forward took full advantage of the breaks the team manufactured, contributing two assists along with his goal.

Naclerio said he was also happy with how the offense performed, specifically on breakaways.

“It’s just about converting on those, and that can be the difference in a game,” he said.

Whittet had strong praise for his team after a well-played game on both ends. “I thought we played really intelligent, disciplined hockey,” he said.

Colgate’s head coach, Don Vaughan, also gave Brown credit. “They did a really good job of trapping through the middle,” he said. “We got beat.”

Cornell 2, Brown 1 In a game that was brutal in every sense of the word, the Bears fell narrowly Saturday to Cornell (12-4-5, 8-3-4) despite outshooting the Big Red 34-20.

Bruno found itself in a much different game than the matchup against Colgate. Cornell’s defenders dampened the offense at every turn, and the Bears could not convert on any of their few clear opportunities.

“It was an absolute battle,” Whittet said. “It was a war.”

Though Cornell made the offense’s job difficult, Bruno stepped up and did the same for the Big Red’s forwards.

Cornell’s two goals were not conceded easily; the first was crammed in as the

puck sat in the crease and every player tried to get at it, while the second came on a rare breakaway as Cole Bardreau went top-shelf on Tyler Steel ’17.

The difference in the game may have been the remarkable play of Cornell goaltender Andy Iles. He stonewalled every Bruno scoring chance, including an amazing stop on a two-man breakaway by Lappin and Naclerio. Whittet described the save as “ridiculous,” adding that Iles posted an impressive performance.

Bruno’s struggles on the power play also contributed to the loss. The Bears had five opportunities on the man advantage but failed to score on any, with their lone goal coming off a Naclerio tip-in with 1:51 left in the game.

“The power play was our Achilles heel,” Whittet said.

The Bears ratcheted up the intensity in the third period, outshooting Cornell by a massive 14-2 margin. They nearly tied the game at one early in the period when some frantic poking at the Cornell goalmouth ended with the puck in the net, but the referees had stopped play and did not review.

Whittet said he was not upset with how his team played, calling the performance “a good game,” but he said he was disappointed with the outcome.

“It was a chance for us to really put our mark on the season,” he said. “We didn’t get it done, but it wasn’t through lack of effort.”

Bruno’s streak of consecutive games against ranked opponents continues next weekend as the squad travels to No. 4 Union, the ECAC points leader, and then to Rensselaer, which is tied with Brown in the conference standings.