THE
BROWN DAILY HERALD vol. cxlix, no. 16
Open Graduate Programs enable interdisciplinary, master’s-level research in secondary field By EMILY WOOLDRIDGE SENIOR STAFF WRITER
“When people ask me what I study, I love saying Egyptology and applied math,” said Christian Casey GS. “Their face turns a little pale.” Expanding the spirit of the undergraduate open curriculum, the Open Graduate Programs, launched last school year, allow doctoral students in the Graduate School to pursue a master’s degree in a secondary field of their choice. Students participating in the project may combine two degrees that appear to be unrelated, but have been conceptualized by the student to enhance knowledge, said Peter Weber, dean of the Grad School. “This program doesn’t exist anywhere else,” Weber added. “At other universities, students are only able to pursue a master’s degree in a discipline closely related to their field.” With the application deadline for next year’s program approaching Friday, Weber expects to receive about 20 to 30 applications and hopes to fund 10 to 15 students in the new cohort, he wrote in an email to The Herald. The numbers have grown from the past two groups, in which around 20 students applied and nine were funded each year. The new cohort, selected by a committee of deans and senior administrators, will be announced before spring break, Weber said. Once they are accepted to the Grad School, students are eligible to apply to the program. The Open Graduate Programs do not provide students with a compass — the nature of the program requires them to navigate their academic plans partially on their own, but gives them “a lot of different tools to grab” when approaching questions and solving problems, Casey said.
FEATURE
Prof. vies for Congressional seat U. faces drop in research funding Mark Alliegro seeks to limit federal influence, faces crowded Republican primary field in campaign By EMMA HARRIS STAFF WRITER
Mark Alliegro, professor of molecular biology, cell biology and biochemistry, announced his candidacy for Massachusetts’ 9th congressional district last month, one of four declared Republican challengers to incumbent Rep. William Keating, D-Mass. Alliegro must win the Sept. 9 closed primary, in which only independents and registered Republicans may vote, to run against Keating in the Nov. 4 general election. If he wins the primary, he will likely face an uphill battle against Keating, who was elected to his first term in 2012 by a margin of 25 percentage points. Denouncing the “huge, bloated and intrusive reach that the federal government has on our daily lives,” Alliegro said he believes in downsizing inefficient bureaucracy. The United States has strayed from its “constitutional form of government,” Alliegro said, adding that restoring the government’s constitutional basis ranks atop his list of priorities and would solve many issues facing the American public. A history buff, Alliegro said he consistently refers back to the Founding Fathers and others who had a profound impact on shaping the country. “Abraham Lincoln once said, ‘We are the rightful masters of our Congress and courts,’ but that doesn’t seem to be the case these days,” he said. “People tend to forget that the United States is not just a land mass — it’s an idea, a destination and a land of laws created by some genius founding
By ANDREW JONES SENIOR STAFF WRITER
External research funding to the University declined by about 17 percent in fiscal year 2013, Provost Mark Schlissel P’15 said in a faculty meeting last week. Though total grant volume has fallen by 20 percent since 2011, Schlissel said it has increased by almost 7 percent so far in fiscal year 2014, The Herald reported last week. Scientific research in areas such as biology, medicine and public health has been hit especially hard, Schlissel told The Herald. Investigators in these disciplines are primarily funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, he added. The drop in funding is a “significant decrease,” Schlissel said. For academics, the dearth of funding translates to a slowing in research, decreased acceptances for graduate students and fewer published papers, Schlissel said. There is a “need to take seriously the decline and develop strategies for » See FUNDING, page 3
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
COURTESY OF MARK ALLIEGRO
Mark Alliegro, professor of molecular biology, cell biology and biochemistry, hopes to win a seat in Massachusetts’ 9th congressional district. doctrines,” Alliegro added. By significantly altering the country’s guiding ideology, as he said the federal government has done recently, “you’ve erased the United States. What you have is just any other country in the world.” Touting himself as a proponent of small businesses, Alliegro said he believes the federal government has gone “way overboard and created a sea of red tape” that is a “prohibitive damper of growth.” Excessive
regulation imposes overly burdensome costs on small businesses, he said. Alliegro said he strongly opposes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, arguing that the law has failed to insure the estimated 30-50 million uninsured people in the United States and to reduce medical costs. The Affordable Care Act’s reliance on youth participation is a key weakness of the law, Alliegro said, adding that » See ALLIEGRO, page 2
U. clarifies financial aid policies to reflect federal guidelines In wake of criticism, U. updates site to say only FAFSA required for federal aid applications By JILLIAN LANNEY SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The University has revised its financial aid website in response to a letOh, the humanities ter released Feb. 3 by the Democratic Ioana Jucan GS wrote her first play members of the U.S. House Committee when she was in primary school, casting on Oversight and Government Reform the most eligible actress — her sister that identified Brown as one of 111 — for the comedy. Jucan was awarded a higher education institutions violating “distinction for arts” at a school assembly the Higher Education Act. for the production. The complaints in the letter, which Jucan grew up attending theatre fes- was addressed to U.S. Secretary of tivals and reading philosophy in Roma- Education Arne Duncan from ranknia. Now she is studying performance ing committee member Rep. Elijah » See OPEN GRAD, page 2 Cummings, D-Md., revolve around
inside
Life sciences hit especially hard by lack of external funding as national economy struggles
the use of forms other than the Free Application for Federal Student Aid to determine applicants’ eligibility for federal assistance. The 1992 version of the Higher Education Act made completing the FAFSA the sole requirement for students seeking federal financial aid in order to simplify the process and reduce costs for applicants, Cummings wrote in his publicly released letter. The use of additional forms remains compliant with federal law as long as institutions state explicitly that only completing the FAFSA is necessary to receive federal financial aid. The allegations against Brown surround use of the CSS PROFILE, a more in-depth financial aid application run by the College Board, which enables students to apply for aid directly from » See FINANCIAL AID, page 3
Science & Research
ISABELLA OLEA / HERALD
The University amended its financial aid website following public allegations of misinformation at 111 higher education institutions.
Commentary
Professor’s analysis suggests babies were killed in ancient Phoenician sacrifical rituals
Lecture on race and blindness calls into question concept of ‘colorblindness’
Dorris ’15: Socioeconomic class divisions too often go unaddressed at Brown
Sindhu MD’17: Budget cuts to food stamp programs will exacerbate economic instability
SCIENCE, 4
SCIENCE, 8
COMMENTARY, 7
COMMENTARY, 7
weather
Open curriculum influences grad program
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014
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2 university news » OPEN GRAD, from page 1 philosophy, an emerging field in academia, by pursuing a PhD in theater and performing studies and master’s degree in philosophy. The field examines questions such as how performance or performativity contribute to philosophy and how philosophical ideas are staged in performance, Jucan said. Despite its recent emergence, the discipline has historical roots. Philosophers for centuries have referred to “the theater of the mind,” Jucan said. Some philosophers argue theater is in opposition to the truth, but Plato expressed his philosophy through dialogue, she said. Jucan writes and directs plays, and she sometimes acts in her own productions, she said. She is currently working on the third segment of a trilogy about cynicism, in which she collaborates with people in visual art, dance, sculpture and other forms of media. “It’s interesting to see how the pieces transform when everyone is contributing, occupying the same space,” Jucan said. Lakshmi Padmanabhan GS is also stimulating dialogue between two disciplines within the humanities through the Open Graduate Programs. By pursuing a PhD in modern culture and media and a master’s in history, Padmanabhan is able to explore LGBTQ movements in India and constructions of India in film and the media. According to Padmanabhan, a background in history is helpful when pursuing these explorations. She is currently examining media discourse and photographs of protests while thinking about “how the protesters are performing their strength and vulnerability,” she said. From Egyptian script to STEM The Open Graduate Programs are not just for those interested in combining disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Casey is using applied math to decipher ancient Egyptian script. Though he entered college as an undergraduate
» ALLIEGRO, from page 1 enrollment for this demographic has fallen short of expectations. “The idea that we’re going to reduce the cost of medical care always is and always was a sham,” he said. Premiums have increased and are projected to keep rising, and PolitiFact ranked the White House’s promise that people would be able to keep their current health plans as the 2013 “Lie of the Year” in December, he said. As a Massachusetts resident, Alliegro said, he has seen the “little model version” of the Affordable Care Act in effect. Since Massachusetts enacted its health care reform law in 2006, the state has had the most expensive health premiums in the nation, he said. Though Massachusetts does not rank first in every health spending category, the state tops the nation in many cost measures, according to multiple reports. Though Alliegro has public service experience serving as a Falmouth Town Meeting member, he has not worked extensively in politics or law. But being a legislator “doesn’t require that you be a lawyer,” he said. Alliegro said he likes to “hail back to the old model that this country was created out of citizen representatives,” referring to John Adams, Patrick Henry and Davey Crockett. “When they
wanting to study computer science, Casey ended up majoring in classics. When he came to Brown, he decided to pursue both interests in a more intimately connected way. In the past, Egyptologists have devoted their lifetimes — and sacrificed their necks and backs — to understanding a few scripts, Casey said. With computer technology, more documents can be deciphered in less time, which allows an Egyptologist to “explore multiple questions in their career,” Casey said. He is also interested in using probability and statistics to assess grammatical trends in Egyptian, so scholars can have a better understanding of the grammatical rules, he added. Though most Egyptian scholars are not opposed to their new and shiny flat-screened partners in academia, “some people aren’t comfortable with the things I want to present because they have a deep mathematical component,” Casey said. “If you are someone who has studied humanities or social sciences your whole life, these concepts may be difficult to understand,” he added. The connection between Egyptology and applied math exists in “how you think about problems,” Casey said — for example, thinking of “a computer program as a proof and language as a puzzle you need to make sure you put together right.” Jing Feng GS is another participant in the Open Graduate Programs, pursuing a PhD in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in the Program in Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship, which teaches students how to start a company or market a product, Feng said. “Before (PRIME) I spent all my time in the lab,” she said. “Now I have a totally different experience.” Feng’s research involves creating a device to detect glucose levels in a pain-free way, she said. Using Feng’s device, diabetics can measure glucose through their saliva instead of pricking their fingers. “Some companies are working
toward putting this device on the market, but it is not currently there,” Feng said.
had to go to Congress, they dropped their hunting muskets and their hoes and their quill pens and got on their horses and rode to Philadelphia, or later Washington, and they did their people’s business,” he said. But “a class of political elites” now dominates Washington, he said. Representatives are “detached from reality and the people they are supposed to represent,” Alliegro said. “We need to turn D.C. back over to the citizens.” Alliegro said he believes his career in the biological sciences would help him apply an objective, analytical mindset to the task of evaluating legislation. “It doesn’t make a difference what your vocation is. What you need is life experience, and I’m no spring chicken,” he said. Michael Chapman ’84, who has worked with Alliegro as a visiting scientist in his lab at the Marine Biological Laboratory, praised his colleague’s potential ability to transfer medical experience into Capitol Hill service. “As a legislator, he would never put party politics above doing the right thing,” he said. But before he books his ticket to Washington or even advances to the general election, Alliegro must face several Republicans with more political experience. John Chapman, a
former White House aide under President Reagan and the state industrial accidents commissioner for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, launched his campaign for the seat last month. Alliegro will also be up against Plymouth County GOP Chair Vincent Cogliano Jr. and attorney Dan Shores in the Republican primary. Alliegro said he is “not focused on other candidates,” but instead on his own campaign, highlighting his strong staff and the support he has already garnered. “I’m what a lot of people would call a small fish,” he said, acknowledging his outsider status. But “our professional and powerful team is pushing us to the forefront of this campaign,” he said. Since Alliegro filed a declaration of candidacy in October, his campaign has raised just over $13,500, according to the Federal Election Commission, only about $500 of which is made up of loans. But Alliegro has raised significantly less than Chapman, who has $105,802 on hand compared to Alliegro’s $11,986, according to FEC filings. Keating’s campaign declined to comment. If Alliegro does not win the election, he will teach a course at Brown in spring 2015, he said.
Advising and support Students in the Open Graduate Programs “feel at home in two departments,” Padmanabhan said. They also find support from the Grad School and among each other. When Padmanabhan visited Weber before applying for the program, “he helped me map out classes and offered great suggestions,” she said. “He always has tissues in his office. He jokes that they are for students coming in who break down,” she added. Casey applied to the program his first semester, but didn’t receive a spot until his second time applying. “It was disappointing, but I got great feedback from the Grad School,” Casey said. After taking math classes at Brown and reapplying to the program the following year, Casey showed he had the requisite drive and ability, he said. Though completing two degrees can be difficult and requires discipline, Casey said he doesn’t mind because “what I’m doing in the program is something I would do in my spare time.” Liftoff “Even though I am four years away from the job market, I feel there is a demand for people who can think across disciplines,” Padmanabhan said. “The work that I’m doing now can lead me down a variety of paths.” Feng said she feels PRIME has prepared her for the world of business, teaching skills not often learned in the lab. She said she hopes the knowledge she has gained from PRIME will help her create a company to make the technology she has developed through her research accessible to the general public. Casey, on the other hand, has created his own niche in academia. “I’m the only person that I have ever heard of ” studying Egyptology and applied math, he said. Weber anticipates “the program will grow and eventually move out of the pilot phase,” he wrote.
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014
THIS WEEK IN HIGHER ED
BY KIKI BARNES, UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR
Sculpture sparks controversy at Wellesley College A lifelike statue of a sleepwalking man in his underwear at Wellesley College caused controversy after being put on display on campus last week, the Boston Globe reported. The bronze-and-paint artwork, entitled “Sleepwalker,” is part of a larger exhibit at Wellesley by artist Tony Matelli called “New Gravity,” the Globe reported. More than 900 people have signed a student-led petition on Change.org calling for the sculpture to be removed and questioning the decision to have it installed at a women’s college. The sculpture has become “a source of apprehension, fear and triggering thoughts regarding sexual assault for some members of our campus community,” the petition’s authors wrote. Lisa Fischman, director of Wellesley’s Davis Museum, posted an online response to the petition last week. Fischman highlighted what she called the importance of interacting with art outside a museum setting, adding that the sculpture is a “passive” structure. “Art provokes dialogue, and discourse is the core of education,” she wrote. Many people driving past the statue have stopped in the middle of the road to look at the artwork, and many students have been seen taking pictures with it, the Globe reported.
Georgia frat members charged with hazing Eleven male students at the University of Georgia were arrested and charged with hazing Thursday, the New York Times reported. The students, who are members of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, allegedly beat students with their fists as a part of an initiation ritual at a fraternity member’s home Jan. 27, the Times reported. University of Georgia Chief of Police Jimmy Williamson told the Times that medical care was not necessary for any of the students. The university has placed the fraternity chapter under suspension while the police conduct an investigation, the Times reported. Hazing is a misdemeanor for which convicted individuals can face up to 12 months in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Rutgers prof. suspended Rutgers University suspended anthropologist and evolutionary theorist Robert Trivers from teaching with pay for allegedly refusing to teach a class, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported Monday. Trivers was slated to teach two courses — “Introduction to Social Evolution” and “Human Agression” — but was replaced after one week of classes, the Chronicle reported. After complaining to the Rutgers administration that “Human Aggression” was a subject with which he was unfamiliar, Trivers told students in the course that he would “do the best he could” in teaching the class, Trivers told the Chronicle. Rutgers officials responded by telling Trivers that he was “effectively refusing to teach the course” and wrongly involving students in an administrative dispute, the Chronicle reported. Trivers denied that he refused to teach the course and is meeting with Rutgers administrators to discuss the issue.
IRS dictates adjunct professors’ health benefits eligibility The Internal Revenue Service released final regulations Monday for how colleges should calculate the workloads of adjunct professors when determining benefit distributions, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported. According to the IRS report, one possible workload calculation would add an additonal hour and 15 minutes in time spent preparing and grading outside the classroom to adjunct professors’ official work times for every hour they spend teaching. To account for time spent outside the classroom, the IRS regulations in the report can be used to determine eligibility for relevant faculty members to receive health benefits, the Chronicle reported. The rules may affect how universities determine how other duties such as attending faculty meetings and holding office hours can be included in workload calculations for benefits, the Chronicle reported. The report brings attention to the subjective and uncommon work circumstances that many adjunct professors experience, wrote Maria Maisto, president of New Faculty Majority, an advocacy group for adjunct professors, in an email to the Chronicle. Though many community college leaders expressed apprehension that these regulations would significantly increase expenditures on health care for employees, a recent analysis cast doubt on the likelihood that costs would be greatly affected by the new IRS guidelines, David Baime, senior vice president for government relations and research at the American Association of Community Colleges, told the Chronicle.
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014
» FUNDING, from page 1 understanding how it came about,” said David Savitz, vice president for research. To address the funding problem, the University is currently recruiting a new director of research development and support services, who would help researchers identify and apply for funding for which they are competitive, Savitz said. An ailing economy Research at the University is “definitely being harmed” because “without external support, research projects are either not able to proceed or not able to get started,” said Kevin McLaughlin P’12, dean of the faculty. The types of research reliant on external support often contribute to society as a whole, McLaughlin added. The drop in funding can be largely attributed to the ailing economy, McLaughlin, Schlissel and Savitz all said. But Schlissel said he is “confident that it will come back up again as the
»FINANCIAL AID, from page 1 their institution or other sources outside the federal government. The application is fee-based, and applicants must pay $25 to send the profile to one institution and $16 to send it to each additional recipient. These fees are automatically waived if a student demonstrates significant financial need, according to the College Board website. Many institutions, including the University, use the CSS PROFILE in granting non-federal aid, but the application is not necessary to access federal funds — a fact that was not openly stated on the Office of Financial Aid’s website. The Financial Aid Office is “revising the language on our website to ensure that all applicants are aware” that the FAFSA is the only requirement to seek federal aid, wrote Jim Tilton, director of financial aid, in an email to The Herald.
science & research 3 economy recovers.” The expiration of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 took an especially significant toll on University research, Savitz said. The act, which was intended to stimulate the economy after the 2008 recession, included more federal funding for research. When the bill expired, the University experienced a drop in funding as a result, Savitz said. “That rippled its way through not just Brown, but all university research,” Schlissel said. But, he added, “I fear that we were down more than our Ivy League peers.” Researchers may also not be submitting as many grant proposals, contributing to the drop in externally funded research, Savitz said. Researchers must submit many proposals in order to successfully receive grants, but due to grants’ high denial rates, it is easy for some researchers to become discouraged and stop sending submissions. Savitz cited the NIH’s 10 percent proposal acceptance rate as an example. “It is extremely difficult for young
scientists to garner initial funding,” wrote James Morgan, professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences, in an email to The Herald. He added that when he started working as a researcher 30 years ago and was applying for grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Development, a part of the NIH, about 20 percent of grants were accepted. But the acceptance rate had dropped to 5 percent by fiscal year 2013. ‘Adapting and catching up’ Researchers’ current goal is to get as much of the “shrinking pie” of funding as they can, Schlissel said. The administration is encouraging University researchers to write more grant proposals in order to increase their chances of receiving funding, he said. To stay competitive with peer institutions, researchers must adapt to the changing culture of grant submissions, Savitz said. Both Schlissel and Savitz said there is a national trend of grants being awarded to larger, group proposals
with multiple investigators. In general, Brown researchers are still “adapting and catching up a little bit relative to our peers” in this arena of funding, Savitz said. This lag could be due to Brown’s small size compared to that of other peer research institutions, Schlissel said. Once named, the new director of research development and support services will help researchers apply for these larger, collaborative grants. “If we can make the development of these proposals a little bit less daunting, we will have more faculty who are willing to take a lead in pursuing them,” Savitz added. But Morgan wrote that he is concerned these big projects that “attract a constitutency” may “drown out small competitors, regardless of their worthiness.” Researchers could also garner more external funding by seeking financial support from sources other than the NIH and NSF, such as the Department of Energy or the Department of Defense, Savitz said.
And researchers could benefit from corporate funding “when that aligns with the research mission at Brown,” he added. Despite the low level of external support, the University continues to hire new laboratory scientists and staff members, Schlissel said at the faculty meeting, The Herald reported. Junior faculty members are provided with start-up funds when they are hired by the University, which accounts for the steadily increasing number of lab personnel, McLaughlin said. These beginning packages are made up entirely of University dollars, he added, and are given with the assumption that new faculty members will begin to find external support after settling in. The University has tapped into reserves to provide “bridge funds” to some researchers to allow them to continue their work during periods of low external funding, McLaughlin said.
On Tuesday, the instructions on the Financial Aid Office’s website were updated to inform applicants that they must submit a FAFSA to be eligible for federal financial aid. The Financial Aid Office also added language to its website Tuesday afternoon clarifying that the financial aid application process involves the FAFSA to qualify for federal aid and the CSS PROFILE for University-provided assistance. But students who wish to be eligible for the “nearly $100 million in Brown scholarship aid and certain other scholarships” must still complete both the CSS PROFILE and the FAFSA, wrote Marisa Quinn, vice president for public affairs and University relations, in an email to The Herald. “We are pleased that a number of institutions have changed the language on their websites, and we hope that other schools will follow suit,” Cummings wrote in a statement released
to The Herald by the Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Democratic press secretary. “We are interested in learning what actions the Department of Education can take, but we would prefer these schools take action on their own.” Sam Reinert ’17, who applied for financial aid last year, said he was unaware that the CSS PROFILE was not necessary for federal financial aid. “We didn’t really think anything of it, we just did it because we thought it was part of the (aid application) process and that they needed more information,” said Eddie Mansius ’17. The University and many other private institutions use forms like the CSS PROFILE in order to provide aid to students from families with higher income levels that make them ineligible for federal Pell Grants, said Lucie Lapovsky, principal for Lapovsky Consulting and an expert in higher education finance
and governance. In doing so, elite institutions can attract students from low-income backgrounds who might otherwise be dissuaded from attending expensive private schools. The committee examined the aid application processes of over 200 institutions before releasing its findings, according to Cummings’ letter. Princeton was the only Ivy League university not found in possible violation of the Higher Education Act. In his publicly released letter, Cummings called for a meeting with Duncan to address the named institutions’ alleged violations of the Higher Education Act. College accessibility and affordability have been popular issues among prominent Democrats over the past several years, Lapovsky said. “They’re trying to make sure there are as few barriers as possible,” she said. Several students said while they
were unaware how the CSS PROFILE and FAFSA made them eligible for different types of aid, they had no problem filing both applications. “I don’t like the College Board in general, … (but) for the sake of financial aid, whatever they need to get you financial aid is probably necessary,” said Daniel Rabine ’17. “If the University requires it, I assume they have a solid reason,” said Josh Kurtz ’17. But President of Brown for Financial Aid Alex Mechanick ’15 called the CSS PROFILE’s complexity and financial burden “appalling.” The system is neither transparent nor designed with students in mind, he said, adding that the fees and lack of parental involvement can be prohibitive for many aid applicants.
-With additional reporting by Isobel Heck
-With additional reporting by Caroline Kelly
4 science & research
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014
Analysis sheds light on ancient Phoenician child sacrifice mystery Study helps clarify ongoing debate about whether Phoenicians sacrificed their kids By ALBERT ANDERSON STAFF WRITER
New and detailed assessments of centuries-old burial sites suggest Phoenicians and their Carthaginian successors performed rituals of child sacrifice — adding new evidence to a mystery archaeologists have long debated. The new analysis, co-authored by Professor of Archaeology Peter Van Dommelen, is published in the current edition of the journal Antiquity. Phoenician child sacrifice has been a contentious issue in archaeology for the past century, though contemporary Greco-Roman accounts and evidence from the burial sites themselves suggest the practice took place, Van Dommelen said. The burial sites, known as trophets, are located along the coasts of North Africa, Sicily and Sardinia and are filled with the cremated remains of small children and occasionally animals. Archaeologists have recently rekindled the debate, with some contending that these sites are simply
separate child cemeteries. This assertion is based on bone analysis that points to a significant number of prenatal remains, as well as analysis of contemporary infant mortality rates, Van Dommelen said. But Van Dommelen said he disagrees with this conclusion. “You need to historicize your scientific result before you come to a conclusion,” he said. In the recent analysis, he and his European colleagues used evidence collected from previous on-site digs to develop their conclusion. They noted that the inscriptions left on markers at the sites are of a sacrificial and not funerary nature, and that the number of remains compared to the trophets’ centuries of use suggests only a couple depositions per year, much less than one would expect at a conventional cemetery, he said. The paper also cites the “unanimous” support of contemporary Greco-Roman sources, Van Dommelen said, some of which explicitly state that Phoenicians practiced this custom. “It is not about depositing children that died accidentally — it is actually an offering being made to a god,” Van Dommelen said. “At least a significant percentage (of deceased children) we can reasonably assume must have been
COURTESY OF PETER VAN DOMMELEN
The infant remains from Phoenician grave sites around the Mediterranean, indicated above, were analyzed in a recent study.
COURTESY OF PETER VAN DOMMELEN
To conduct their analysis, researchers including Professor of Archaeology Peter Van Dommelen examined evidence from Phoenician burial sites, like the one above. Inscriptions on site markers indicated child sacrifice. sacrificed.” “Science is making archaeology very much an interdisciplinary field,” Van Dommelen said, adding that traditional historical approaches must also be factored into conclusions. Trophets are largely found to the north of larger Carthaginian cities, which started as Phoenician colonial settlements. They were often among the first structures built, and acted as open-air sanctuaries or ritual sites, Van Dommelen said. As the cities expanded, the trophets remained unmoved, which indicates their importance. Despite what scientists and archaeologists have already discovered, there are still mysteries surrounding the trophets. Though Van Dommelen referred to the sacrifices as a “contract” with the gods to be offered in times of distress in exchange for good fortune, the exact nature of the rituals remains
a mystery. “We don’t have any written literature from the Phoenician-Punic world,” Van Dommelen said. Researchers have not discovered trophet sites in the center of the Phoenician homeland in modernday Lebanon, where the Carthaginian civilization originated. The presence of known trophets in places where the Phoenicians expanded for trade raises questions about why the practice coincided with the civilization’s expansion. Matthew McCarty, a lecturer in classics at Princeton who was not involved in the study, said he agreed with Van Dommelen’s recent paper. “I think it’s a model for the kind of clear reasoning and attention to the actual evidence that we have from the ancient world to make a compelling argument,” McCarty said. “I think it’s a slam dunk.”
McCarty added that Phoenician child sacrifice “will continue to be an issue because it’s a politically and culturally fraught one, but academically, scientifically, it probably should no longer be an issue, it should be settled.” Susan Alcock, director of the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, echoed McCarty’s sentiment. “This topic is a real flashpoint in archaeology in the Mediterranean. It is very hard to talk about it without people overreacting or getting upset, but it is a phenomenon that we have to study carefully and understand in its own cultural context,” she said. Van Dommelen brings a unique expertise to Brown, Alcock said, calling him an outlier in a field dominated by study of the Greeks and Romans. “There aren’t many places in North America that teach this kind of thing, so it adds a whole new dimension to archaeology at Brown.”
» TRADITIONS, from page 8
see that everything else is going to change. When I hear young girls who have made this choice, took that very difficult step and went to the wedding and now they tell me, “My kids will never do what I have done, they’ll have to abide by my new family rules,” I find that problematic.
of why they did what they do, I go, “Wow, this is good, this is exactly what I would have wanted, a totally different world.” This is what I want people to get, that there are these women who are willing to fight for what they want. We keep thinking that women in India (are) sort of weak — no! These are strong people.
her when they visit. In Bengali tradition, when visitors come, you always give them something — either water, sweets, food. That’s what saddens her: that she can’t do that because of the religious differences. Where do you see the marriage culture of places like this going in the future — do you see it evolving or staying the same? What changes are in store? I see that there will be a place for these unions in the society, but I can’t
If you could have people take one thing away from this most recent book, what would it be? I was raised to think in terms of these really wonderful ideals, and when I see these young women articulating some of those ideals to me
What’s next on the agenda? Do you have any current projects you’re working on? I’ll go back again to the village. I’m doing now the social history of the town itself, which is a history that’s both textual and visual. In the last 35 years, some major changes took place. All of that will be part of this film that we did. Anything else you’d like to add? No, but I’m happy about this book. This is the one book that I’m really glad about because it’s different. It’s not simply about straightforward anthropology because I bring in the voices of some of these young women to describe the situation themselves. I enjoyed doing this. This interview has been condensed for clarity and length.
today 5
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014
menu SHARPE REFECTORY
songs of seduction VERNEY-WOOLLEY
LUNCH Sundried Tomato Calzone, Cajun Spiced Chicken Sandwich, Pesto Seafood Pasta, Edamame Beans
Autumn Bisque, Split Pea Soup with Ham, Mixed Vegetables Creole, Italian Marinated Chicken
DINNER Vegan Mediterranean Stew, Pasta E Fagioli, Grecian Style Beef, Mediterranean Eggplant Saute
Bourbon BBQ Chicken, Macaroni Pudding, Stir Fry Jamaican Pork, Corn Cobbettes
JOSIAH’S
THREE BURNERS
QUESADILLA OR GRILLED CHEESE
Stuffed French Toast
Grilled Cheese
BLUE ROOM
SOUPS
DINNER ENTREES
Chicken and Wild Rice, Baked Potato, Butternut Squash and Apple
Naked Burritos
sudoku
ALAN SHAN / HERALD
Members of the Ursa Minors, an a cappella group, sell in-person and over-the-phone singing valentines in the lobby of J. Walter Wilson. The group will sing Valentine’s Day songs to loved ones tomorrow.
comics Against the Fence | Lauren Stone
RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Los Angeles Times Puzzle c r o sDaily s w oCrossword rd Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Scale on which diamond is assigned a “10” 5 Owl’s question? 8 “Music __ charms ...” 12 The Sego Lily is its state flower 13 Map out 15 Nymph rejected by Narcissus 16 Actress Elisabeth 17 Deck opening 18 Work on jerky 19 WWII aircraft carrier plane 21 Iowa native 23 Tax-sheltered nest egg 25 Hippy dance 28 1963 Newman film 29 Ousted Iranian 33 Arctic “snowshoe” critters 34 Quizzical sounds 35 Bears owner/coach who won eight NFL titles in four different decades 37 Singer Piaf 38 Soup base 39 Luxury craft 40 Quiet “Quiet!” 43 “Ulysses” actor Milo 44 Quaint pronoun 45 “Isn’t __ bit like you and me?”: Beatles lyric 46 Solvers’ cries 47 Tremulous glow 50 Except 54 Beeline 59 “Hava Nagila” dance 60 Different 62 Worker welfare org. 63 Progress slowly 64 Organ with chambers 65 Son of Odin 66 Sinister chuckles
67 “Revenge is __ best served cold” 68 Seven: Pref.
DOWN 1 Soft stuff 2 Will-wisp link 3 Truck 4 Poet Silverstein 5 Words said with a double take 6 Fez, e.g. 7 Corsage flowers 8 “Consarn it!” 9 Motrin target 10 Those folks 11 Suffragette Julia Ward __ 13 Former Labor secretary Elaine 14 Where she blows 20 Vehicle safety measure 22 Jug band percussion instrument 24 “Say what?” 25 Tackled 26 “Vega$” actor 27 Mythical river of forgetfulness
30 Grating 31 “Hello, wahine!” 32 Can’t stand 33 “You, there!” 36 Doo-wop syllable 40 Went from first to second, say 41 Jeans bottom 42 Pounds 48 Ado 49 Mars neighbor 50 __ Tzu
51 Fine-tune 52 B’way seating area 53 Sounds from the stands 55 Shakespearean verb 56 1975 Wimbledon winner 57 Hit the mall 58 Antlered deer 61 Ginza agreement
Culture Shock | Chloe Hequet
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
calendar TODAY xwordeditor@aol.com
02/12/14
FEBRUARY 12
1 P.M. MASCULINITIES IN AFRICAN- AND ASIAN-AMERICAN LITERATURE
As part of the Masculinity Series, Daniel Kim, associate professor of English, will discuss his book, “Writing Manhood in Black and Yellow: Ralph Ellison, Frank Chin and the Literary Politics of Identity.” Sarah Doyle Women’s Center 6 P.M. WISE VALENTINE’S DAY PARTY
Women in Science and Engineering will host a viewing of “Sleepless in Seattle” and lead paper heart basket making. Free candy will be available. Sciences Library, Science Center
TOMORROW
FEBRUARY 13
2:30 P.M. READING BY FICTION WRITER MATT BELL
As part of the Writers on Writing Reading Series, Matt Bell will read from his works “How They Were Found” and “Cataclysm Baby,” among others. 70 Brown St., McCormack Family Theater
By Jim Horne and Jeff Chen (c)2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
5 P.M. SOPHOMORE SLUMP: SPEED DATING 02/12/14
The 2016 Class Board will be hosting speed dating as part of its Sophomore Slump month. Free dessert will be provided. Alumnae Hall, Crystal Room Lobby
6 commentary
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014
EDITORIAL
National, campus financial models are unsustainable With the deadline looming, House Republicans have repeatedly said they will compromise with Democrats and aren’t seeking to fight an impending raise of the debt ceiling. It is certain that our national debt will only grow ever larger, casting a greater shadow on the generations who will have to pay it off one day. In parallel news on campus, the Corporation recently announced a 3.8 percent tuition hike for fiscal year 2015. This increase will raise undergraduate costs to over $59,000 a year, an exorbitant amount that is not unique to Brown. To some, the national and campus news may seem relatively unrelated. One affects every citizen of the United States; the other, merely the 6,000 or so undergraduates who attend Brown and their parents. But, in fact, both announcements demonstrate a worrying pattern. We — whether that “we” means Brown students or American citizens — are willing to put off the requisite budgetary tightening until a later date over and over again, which serves only to exacerbate the problem. Our national debt can’t balloon uncontrollably forever; neither can college tuition rates around the country. These debt-building policies and rising costs beg the question: When will we be willing to say enough is enough? Both of the recent announcements will require someone to pay higher costs down the line, and the responsibility to repay these debts will fall in the hands of our generation. We’re the ones who will end up with thousands of dollars in student loan debt, and we’re the ones who will be paying off the massive national debt those before us have accrued. As we enter the workforce, the choice will soon be in our hands, just as it is currently in the hands of our parents. Do we perpetuate the current system and continue to put off the tightening of the economic belt? Or is it time to demand some sort of structural change, a move toward efficient and pragmatic allocation of resources? As the rising generation poised to take our places in larger society, we have the opportunity to begin calling for the latter. In terms of our national debt, we need to be the ones to figure out smarter ways to spend. How can we make a dollar spent by the government stretch further and reach more people? The political sphere too often consists of ideological debates concerning whether the government should spend money, but we need to be the generation that emphasizes how the government spends funds. We need to be more concerned with finding better ways to run a government, rather than entangling ourselves in these bitter and entrenched philosophical debates. Calling for more efficiency in Brown’s administration is one way in which we, as students of this university, can begin to make an impact in this regard. We can push for more of a shared services model, as has been employed at the University of Michigan and which will likely save that institution about $17 million a year. It would entail connecting aspects of the University that can be integrated readily. We can protest lavish spending by the University on unnecessary projects and administrative bureaucracy. It’s time to make our voices heard; if we’re the ones who will be paying these costs, we need to do our best to reduce them. It’s time to say, “Enough.”
I VA N A L C A N TA R A
Q U O T E O F T H E D AY
“What you need is life experience, and I’m no spring chicken.” — Mark Alliegro, professor of molecular biology, cell biology and biochemistry See alliegro on page 1. CORRECTION An article in Friday’s Herald (“Paxson picks provost search committee,” Feb. 7) incorrectly stated the number of people on the search committee for a new provost. The committee includes eight faculty members, two of whom are also administrators, rather than eight faculty members and two other administrators. The Herald regrets the error.
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.
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commentary 7
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014
Why we won’t talk about class BY CARA DORRIS opinions columnist
It’s Saturday night. I’m at a Brown Divest Coal party, in line for a unisex bathroom, where two girls divide five perfect lines of cocaine. AmEx Card. Platinum. I’m thinking about last March, when Susan Patton wrote a letter to the Daily Princetonian, urging women to find husbands before graduation. She claimed they would not find men of the same caliber upon leaving Princeton. She used phrases like “intellectual equal” and “educated.” What she meant was far simpler: After leaving Princeton, these women would not find husbands in the same class. We don’t talk about class in America because we don’t all agree it exists. Instead, we use shorthand: “income inequality” and “poverty.” We don’t talk about class at Brown because it brings up images of a game — a fading one — sometimes called the American Dream. It’s hard to admit that we’ve already won. These are the facts: According to a Herald poll last semester, at least half of us don’t receive a single dollar of financial aid. At least half of us pay full tuition — presently $60,460, when combined with room and board and indirect costs. This is more than the median U.S. household makes in a year. Some thought socioeconomic di-
versity would increase after the 2003 transition to need-blind admission. However, according to Michael Goldberger, dean of admission from 1995 to 2005, the University’s socioeconomic diversity has barely changed since 2003. “Things are very slow and subtle the way they move in places like this,” he told The Herald in 2012. Class expression isn’t like race or gender. It’s not as easy to see. The differences appear when we thoughtlessly talk about unpaid internships or spring break flights to the Caribbean. When somebody buys drinks for seven people and says, “It’s on me,” or takes a leave of absence to volunteer in East Asia, documented by highconcept Instagram photos. Nonprofit, Common Good, Artist: Are these future careers or different names for class privilege? “It’s not like people are walking around in sneakers,” Katharine Grimes ’14 told The Herald in 2012. Step back for a moment. Think about your friends — you know who their parents are. You know the names of their siblings, their sexual orientations, their genders. You know where they grew up. But do you know how much money they have? Does this question make you uncomfortable? We like to imagine that inside the Van Wickle gates lies a classless community. When I first stepped on campus, though, the distance between the haves and the have-nots appeared wider than Cara Delevingne’s thigh gap. During Fashion Week. Class segregation is a two-step
process after the initial craziness of move-in weekend. First, lower-income students are shocked by garish displays of wealth. They feel displaced. They learn to perform. Resentment ensues. Second, upper-class students sense this resentment. They also learn to perform: Remember that first Family Weekend, when you saw a Prada-clad mother linking arms with a girl in a thrift store sweatshirt, so
We all want a ragsto-riches story, to say that when we reached our dreams they were covered in claw marks. But at Brown, sometimes our rags are wholly fictional. overwashed it had holes? Other times, upper-class students decide they don’t want to change their lifestyles. So they channel off. It’s just too much guilt. Last year, when Lorde’s song “Royals” went viral, we were thrilled to sing about “post code envy” and fantasies of ball gowns. But when the song played at certain program house parties — charging $350 dues so members can drink the very Grey Goose the song cries out against — I couldn’t help but think that the real
fantasy was the lower-class lifestyle itself. As a first-year, I visited Harvard — where 70 percent of students receive financial aid — and was asked if it were true: Was Brown really a place of guitar circles and vague protests, where people who called themselves “artists” spent summers working as unpaid interns, living in wildly eclectic, helplessly cool apartments? Of course I was offended. But I don’t deny that Brown’s more-organic-than-thou culture can be stifling, especially when coupled with extreme wealth. Does a pay-your-way volunteer position in Ghana really trump a retail position at Macy’s? This is not to say we are ignorant of class struggle. Most Brown students understand extreme poverty pretty well. We study it in anthropology classes, field studies and backpacking trips. What most of us don’t understand is how the rest of America lives — what it’s like to work a job after a long day of school, not to be able to afford restaurant food, to stay in Providence when the flight home is too expensive. We can’t all possibly be middleclass. So we find solidarity in social justice. At times we dabble in the politics of victimhood because it lessens the guilt. We all want a rags-to-riches story, to say that when we reached our dreams they were covered in claw marks. But at Brown, sometimes our rags — made from 100 percent recycled materials, for every one purchased a new one goes to a child in need — are wholly fictional.
What disturbs me more than the occasional flaunting is the blatant lying about wealth. We’ve reached a tipping point. We can all admit we’re tired of students pretending they were escaping from inner cities instead of complaining to SAT tutors in suburban McMansions. So we talk about race. We debate gender. We explore different aspects of sexual orientation. But we never touch upon our biggest normative segregator. The time has come to abandon class-blind lenses and acknowledge that we come from vastly different backgrounds. Class is sticky, because it intersects with most minority groups. That’s all the more reason to talk about it. Back to the party. Someone brings up the environmental devastation caused by the drug war, and the room goes silent. Two girls argue and one boy shakes his head. Someone says the drug war isn’t relevant anymore; the real problem is prescription drugs. Someone offers me an Adderall. A glass breaks. We agree to sweep it up tomorrow. It’s too late to say, “I shouldn’t have.” I say goodbye to a few students I watched protest in the Occupy College Hill movement my first year. They are tired, they haven’t been sleeping. Tonight, they rally for change. Tomorrow, they prepare for banking interviews on Wall Street.
Cara Dorris ’15 can be reached at cara_dorris@brown.edu.
Brother, can you spare a dime? KUNAL SINDHU opinions columnist
Living in the shadows of Brown, most of us are largely insulated from the trials and travails of Providence’s South Side. But if you hop on a bus and pay close attention to your surroundings, you will notice that several of the city’s neighborhoods, including the West End and Elmwood, suffer from elevated rates of poverty, high levels of crime and widespread food insecurity. As a result, Providence is a natural target for a plethora of anti-poverty programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as the food stamp program. The benefits offered by SNAP are quite modest: In 2013, the average recipient received $4.38 per day. But the program has proved to be highly effective, decreasing an average recipient’s likelihood of experiencing food insecurity by 30 percent. Unfortunately, American policymakers typically don’t heed facts when crafting legislation. Last week, Congress passed a new Farm Bill, a once-every-five-years affair that codifies the federal government’s agriculture and nutrition policies by allocating spending for programs like crop insurance for farmers and SNAP for needy families. Driven primarily by prodding from Congressional Republicans, who dislike the high costs of the food stamp program and view it as a disincentive to work, this iteration of the bill will cut $8 billion from SNAP over the next decade. Such a blatantly callous act will not only harm millions of Americans — including millions of children — but also reduce the long-term potential of the U.S.
economy. Historically, participation in SNAP has generally been modest, with less than 10 percent of the population typically receiving benefits at any one time. But enrollment in the program has grown substantially during President Obama’s term in office — since 2008, enrollment has surged 50 percent. About 15 percent of Americans and 17 percent of Rhode Islanders now receive SNAP benefits, at an annual cost of $76 billion to the federal government. A large number of children in particular are dependent on the program — nearly half of all beneficiaries are under the age of 18.
Not only is cutting food stamps profoundly stupid, but it also is ethically reprehensible and violates our moral imperative as Americans to ensure that every citizen, and especially every child, has an equal opportunity to succeed. What accounts for the recent explosion in SNAP enrollment? Is it the “entitlement culture” ushered in by the reign of Obama, as Congressional Republicans would have you believe? Absolutely not. While it is true that SNAP enrollment has increased recently, this is primarily a reflec-
tion of the devastation wrought by the Great Recession, itself caused by reckless bankers unconcerned with the suffering of Main Street. With abnormally high nationwide unemployment and poverty rates and income inequality at its highest level since the Roaring Twenties, it is no surprise that more Americans are now dependent on government assistance, let alone food stamps. Indeed, with the economy as weak as it has been over the past five years, it is a wonder that more Americans are not enrolled in SNAP. The Farm Bill, though, ignores current macroeconomic conditions. The Heritage Foundation, an influential player in the crafting of GOP policy, alleges that the bill will tighten eligibility to encourage more people to seek employment on the grounds that “food stamps (discourage) work and (reward) dependence.” But does $4.38 per day — representing just 36 minutes of work at the federal minimum wage — actually act as a disincentive to work? Quite simply, the answer is no: In reality, roughly 60 percent of SNAP recipients eligible to work do so. Moreover, for those recipients unable to find work, with nearly three applicants for every job opening in America today, these cuts will cause many to lose a key funding source for regular meals. What else will these cuts accomplish? Academics have consistently found SNAP to be one of the most effective forms of economic stimulus available to policymakers. For every $1 that the government invests in the program, the U.S. economy expands by approximately $1.79. Thus, over 10 years, an $8 billion cut to SNAP translates into roughly $14 billion in lost economic output. What about the the program’s costs? Will cuts to SNAP help reduce future budget deficits, as Heritage would lead you to believe? While di-
rect program costs will be reduced, these cuts will actually cause federal health care costs to soar by exacerbating the food insecurity of millions of Americans. In fact, a recent study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that a $2 billion cut in SNAP benefits could lead to $15 billion in increased health care costs for diabetes alone over the next decade. Additionally, by exposing millions of children to the effects of chronic nutrient deprivation, the bill will lay fertile ground for the development of widespread chronic disease in America’s next generation. Poverty destroys potential, kills dreams, causes disease and reinforces perpetual inequality. SNAP, while not a cure, has proven to be one of the most effective anti-poverty programs the federal government has ever devised. Targeting the program for cuts will not, as the GOP and the Heritage Foundation claim, lower unemployment or reduce the deficit; instead, it will simply reinforce inequality, damage the economy and leave millions at risk of food insecurity. Not only is such a strategy profoundly stupid, but it also is ethically reprehensible and violates our moral imperative as Americans to ensure that every citizen, and especially every child, has an equal opportunity to succeed. It’s a shame that we have given Congressional Republicans the opportunity to once again play destructive politics and jeopardize the livelihoods of millions of Americans, including thousands of our fellow residents in Providence. Make sure it never happens again by helping to vote them out in November.
Kunal Sindhu MD’17 can be contacted at kunal_sindhu@brown.edu.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014
THE
BROWN DAILY HERALD science & research SCIENCE & RESEARCH ROUNDUP BY ISOBEL HECK, SCIENCE & RESEARCH EDITOR
Gene prolongs aging in flies Until recently, researchers believed that mutations in the “I’m Not Dead Yet” gene, Indy, occurred only in laboratory fruit flies. But, as explained in a study published online Jan. 31 in the journal Aging, the mutation also exists in wild fruit flies, according to a University press release. Indy is a gene that has been shown to increase the life span of laboratory fruit flies, according to the release. Researchers had previously wondered why a mutation so beneficial would not exist naturally in the wild, said Professor of Biology Stephen Helfand, a researcher involved in the study, in the release. The researchers found that wild fruit flies have a mutation to the Indy gene that involves insertion of a transposable element called Hoppel. The study, led by postdoctoral scholar Chen-Tseh Zhu, shows there are two main positive effects of this mutation, according to the release. In the study, heterozygous fruit flies with Hoppel insertions on one Indy gene laid more eggs than both fruit flies without the insertion and homozygous fruit flies with the insertion on both genes. Both fruit flies with the insertion on one gene and those with the insertion on both genes lived longer than fruit flies without it. This study is among the only ones that have shown the potential advantageousness of inserting a transposable element into a gene, Helfand said in the release.
Professor to serve on task force Maureen Phipps, chair and professor of obstetrics and gynecology and epidemiology, was recently appointed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, according to a Women and Infants Hospital press release. The task force is a panel of non-federal experts and researchers who publish recommendations about “clinical preventive services, such as screenings, counseling services or preventive medicines,” according to the release. Phipps’ research focuses on various pregnancy-related issues, including contraception, postpartum depression, prenatal care and adolescent pregnancy, according to the release. Dennis Keefe, president and CEO of Care New England Health System, said in the release that he approved of the appointment. “We are so pleased that, through her involvement with the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, Dr. Phipps will have an even stronger voice in transforming the future of health care for generations to come,” he said.
Neuroscience professor wins grant Earlier this month, Christopher Moore, associate professor of neuroscience, received a $150,000 grant from the Brain Research Foundation in Chicago, the Providence Journal reported. Moore was one of 80 people to apply for the grant and one of three who received money from the foundation, the Journal reported. With the money, Moore plans to investigate how neurons communicate with each other, which could inform research relating to Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy, the Journal reported. The goal of this research would be to reduce the intrusion and pain related to treatment of these diseases.
IN CONVERSATION
Modern-day marriages explored Anthropology prof. studies tensions of inter-caste and inter-religious marriages in an evolving India By RILEY DAVIS SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Lina Fruzzetti, professor of anthropology, recently published a book entitled “When Marriages Go Astray: Choices Made, Choices Challenged.” Fruzzetti held a book signing Tuesday at the Brown Bookstore for her new work, which chronicles the tales of intercaste and inter-religious marriages in Bishnupur, India, and the intersection of tradition with women’s choices in modern-day Bengal. The Herald sat down to speak with Fruzzetti about her most recent publication. The Herald: What got you interested in the topic of inter-caste and inter-religious marriages? Lina Fruzzetti: This is a follow-up. I started doing work on marriage some 35 years ago. The young girls now tell me, “We are not interested in arranged marriages; we are interested in choosing our own partners.” I started this work somewhere between 2001 and 2002, and because of the nature of the work, it’s a very sensitive issue. I can’t just go and do field work like I do in normal anthropology. (Normally) you attend marriages, you attend life cycle rites, you participate with them. This was different. This was primarily built around identifying such couples and then asking for permission to do interviews. You said you’ve been going to the same town almost every year. How did you initially choose this town to study? Oh, that is a long story. (Bishnupur) is about 90 miles outside of Kolkata. I learned the language. This (town) had access to trains, access to buses. And it had two colleges, a regular sort of bachelor of arts college and an engineering college. And I thought this would sort of lend itself to a nice mix of community to work with, and
ASHLEY SO / HERALD
Lina Fruzzetti’s latest book takes an in-depth look at the realities and repercussions of marriages that break from cultural traditions. also the town had a 10 to 15 percent Muslim population, but it is primarily Hindu. So everything felt right, but we had looked at five (or) six other towns before we chose this one. What was it like doing field work for this book? What did the process entail? This is different, as I said. These young girls don’t tell their parents they have selected someone to marry. It’s all done surreptitiously. Because (the topic) is so delicate, upper-caste women marry lower-caste men, Hindu women marry Muslim men, some of these Hindu women convert to Islam. The delicate nature of all of these didn’t warrant that I would just go to a household and say, “Look, can I interview?” It would all have to be word-of-mouth. These weddings are not fully accepted. Are there any tales, anecdotes or people in particular that stuck with you when you were writing this book? Yeah there were three or four — I remember there was this really feisty woman. She was a Brahmin, an upper-caste woman, who married
a Muslim. He worked as a driver in her uncle’s household, and that’s how they met. They just took off one day. It was a love-marriage that developed between them. They went out of town, got married, came back and of course his mother would not accept her even though she converted to Islam. So she lives outside of town, but her motherin-law constantly harasses her. One of the things I ask (these couples) is, “Would you allow your daughter to do exactly what you guys did, to make a choice?” And they say, “Never.” How does the marriage culture in Bishnupur compare to that of other cultures? It’s the same. The problems around the idea of this kind of marriage (are) something that you find reflected in many other places where these kinds of unions are taking place. One of the young women who married into a Muslim household tells me that finally her family accepted that fact that she had done what she did, that it was her choice. And they will come and see her children, but they won’t even take a glass of water from » See TRADITIONS, page 4
Lecturer speaks on sight’s relationship to racial perceptions Researcher examines how vision and perceptions of race interact in both blind and sighted populations By MEGHAN FRIEDMANN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
“Seeing race is a social, rather than merely visual, experience,” said Osagie Obasogie, a professor of law at the University of California Hastings College of Law, in a lecture Tuesday afternoon. This conclusion, which Obasogie reached through his research, could have implications for policy and law, he said. Through research he began in 2005, Obasogie endeavored to confirm or refute the idea that blind people do not consider race because it is a visual experience, he said in the lecture. He explored this question by conducting interviews with more than a hundred
people of different races, ages and residencies. Some participants were sighted and others had been blind since birth, he added. Through his interviews with sighted people, Obasogie concluded that “sighted people have a visual understanding of race” and “believe blind people have a diminished understanding of race,” he said. But, after interviewing the blind participants in his study, Obasogie hypothesized that blind people understand race in the same way as sighted people. Blind people develop an understanding of race based on what people around them say and do, Obasogie said. Though they cannot see physical characteristics, blind people still associate race primarily
with visual factors, such as skin color, due to social interactions, he added. “All individuals are trained to seek and give meaning to the visual distinc-
“Seeing race is a social, rather than merely visual, experience.” Osagie Obasogie
PROFESSOR OF LAW AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA HASTINGS COLLEGE OF LAW tions that society deems as important,” Obasogie said. Obasogie used these findings to question the ideology of colorblindness, which is frequently brought up in relation
to the law. The ideology suggests that sighted people should mimic the way “blind” people supposedly perceive race — that is, that they should not take it into account at all, Obasogie said. Because his research shows that blind people have a comprehensive understanding of race, it calls into question the entire basis for the colorblindness ideology, Obasogie said. “Colorblindness” has recently been used by courts to get rid of affirmative action, Obasogie said. He said he hopes his research can change the use of colorblindness and lead states to consider racial factors and discrimination when giving out benefits, he added. Audience members responded positively to Obasogie’s lecture. Krishan Aghi ’15 said he spent a lot of time researching Obasogie prior to
the event and that his high expectations were met. He added that he found the lecture “enlightening.” Aghi and Rana Suliman ’16 both said they liked Obasogie’s research. Meg Miller ’15 agreed, but added that she wished he had included research on people who had not been blind since birth as well. Aghi said he agreed with Obasogie’s conclusion that colorblindness is harmful. It is important for the court system to take past discriminations into account, he added. Colorblindness does not work because it “is premised upon a lie,” Obasogie told The Herald. It can be harmful in the real world, where “the past continues to be with us,” he added. The lecture was held in MacMillan 117 and hosted by the Third World Center. About sixty people attended.