THE
BROWN DAILY HERALD vol. cxlix, no. 60
since 1891
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2014
Campus reacts to outsourced Mail Services’ new system UCS to Students raise concerns about impact of transition on former mailroom staff as deliveries ramp up By KATE KIERNAN METRO EDITOR
Since the University began outsourcing Mail Services jobs to employees from office technology company Ricoh USA last month, students, faculty and staff members have expressed doubts about the new system’s efficiency in the face of an influx of packages at the semester’s start, in addition to raising questions about the impact the staffing change will have on former Mail Services employees. Reasons and reactions The University decided in May to
outsource its mailroom operations to Ricoh in response to surveys from the student body and an external review conducted by Ricoh and United Parcel Service this past year, wrote Beppie Huidekoper, executive vice president for finance and administration, in a letter to the Undergraduate Council of Students made publicly available on the council’s Facebook page this summer. The complaints were not about employees’ performances, Huidekoper wrote, but about the need for the University’s mail services to modernize and improve. Following the survey and review, the University received a proposal from Ricoh to contract with the company to run Mail Services, Huidekoper wrote. Two unionized Mail Services employees are continuing to work in the mailroom and two others obtained jobs » See MAILROOM, page 3
focus on advising, sex assaults Council plans to work on sexual assault task force, mental health resources and student advising By CAROLINE KELLY SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The Undergraduate Council of Students will focus this year on improving sexual assault policy, mental health services and student resources such as financial aid and technology access, UCS leaders said. Many efforts that began last spring to reform the University’s sexual assault policy will continue this semester, said UCS Vice President Sazzy Gourley ’16. A task force will oversee the sexual assault policy component of the review of the Code of Student Conduct, which is set to be revised this year. The council will appoint four student representatives to the task force, said UCS President Maahika Srinivasan ’15. The students’ role on the task force will be an “incredibly important one with a lot of gravity,” Srinivasan said. “We want to make sure that as an (executive) board, … we really understand the complexity of what the task force is facing so that we can identify students with the qualifications that would be really well suited to that.” The council will also work to advocate for mental health resources and support for Counseling and Psychological Services in light of CAPS’ decision » See UCS, page 2
DAVID DECKEY / HERALD
While administrators highlighted the need for the University’s mail services to modernize, some students have questioned the outsourcing transition.
Taubman New Wi-Fi network increases speed Center aims to expand Computing and Information Services offers expanded coverage after student complaints By ALIZA REISNER STAFF WRITER
By MARINA RENTON SENIOR STAFF WRITER
inside
The Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions will “be much more ambitious” going forward, James Morone, the center’s new director and professor of political science, public policy and urban studies, told The Herald as he prepared to introduce former President Bill Clinton at a Taubman Center event in New York Wednesday night. Morone replaced Marion Orr, professor of political science, public policy and urban studies, at the center’s helm July 1. Morone aims to broaden the Taubman Center’s focus to encompass international politics and to create new partnerships with places across campus — including the Watson Institute for International Studies, the Swearer Center for Public Service and the School of Public Health — that already engage in public policy work. “Empowering people to make change, to make the world better, is just so important and that really is the mission of Taubman,” Morone said. As director, Morone said, he hopes to align students, faculty members and staff members with resources that can facilitate their work, adding that he sees the center as a tool students can use to help make a difference in their communities. » See TAUBMAN, page 3
In response to student complaints about the quality of the campus wireless network, Computing and Information Services installed a new wireless network this summer meant to replace Brown-Secure and Brown-EZ, said Ravi Pendse, vice president for computing and information services and chief information officer. The new network, which is called Brown, provides the campus community with a wireless Internet connection
not connect to Brown-Secure, leading to confusion, Pendse said. “We are expecting this new Brown network to work perfectly, so no one will need to connect to Brown-EZ,” he said. Instead, Pendse said he hopes that “each time a student opens their laptop, they’re connected to Brown, and it is working.” Students interviewed said they have been happy with the quality of the Brown network thus far. “I appreciate CIS listening to our complaints and making the effort to create an entire new network,” said Ben Silver ’17. Several other students who were formerly frustrated with Brown’s wireless said they no longer have a problem connecting and are pleased with its improved speed.
Raimondo leads in gubernatorial poll Clay Pell’s support nearly tripled over the summer, threatening Angel Taveras in Democratic primary By ALEXANDER BLUM SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Over the summer, the Rhode Island gubernatorial race intensified as advertising campaigns were launched, candidates left the field and the Sept. 9 primary for both major parties drew near. A WPRI poll of the Democratic gubernatorial race conducted from Aug. 11 to 14 shows General Treasurer Gina Raimondo leading Providence Mayor Angel Taveras by 5 percentage points and Clay Pell, a political newcomer and the grandson of the late Sen. Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., by 6 points. The three
METRO
candidates received support from about 32 percent, 27 percent and 26 percent of those polled, respectively. The poll shows frontrunner Raimondo leading the other Democratic candidates among multiple demographic groups, including men, women, middleaged voters and senior citizens, though nearly 13 percent remain undecided. Taveras leads with voters ages 18 to 39 but is tied with Pell in support from union voters. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Todd Giroux received support from under 2 percent of those polled. In the Democratic primary, “it is unclear who labor backs,” said Ted Nesi, WPRI political correspondent, noting that Raimondo is generally favored by private-sector labor unions, while Taveras and Pell are receiving roughly equal support from public-sector labor unions. Pell advantageously received support from the teachers’ unions, Nesi said. “The potential is there for Clay Pell to
Commentary
Gender politics in the gubernatorial race
With the top three candidates polling almost evenly, a higher percentage of women than men remain unsure. 34.3 30%
30.3 26.2
25
27.5
Female
Male
25.1 26.3
20
15.7
15
9.7
10 5 0
1.5 1.3
Raimondo
Taveras
Pell
Giroux
Not Sure
Source: WPRI.com EMMA JERZYK / HERALD
take voters from Angel Taveras and give the primary to Raimondo,” Nesi said, adding that the division among unions has added an interesting dynamic to the Democratic race. WPRI’s recent poll results may show that significant changes occurred in the race’s trajectory over the summer.
Metro
Mills ’15: New semester is a time to take risks and do new things
Sundlee ’16: Unpaid internships create more problems than opportunities
Stakeholders debate the impact of Common Core’s implementation in Rhode Island
Urban greenhouse to facilitate hands-on environmental education for elementary schools
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New director intends to broaden global impact, create partnerships with other centers
that is two to three times faster than that of Brown-Secure, Pendse said. The network also offers improved coverage and capacity and the highest possible bandwidth to enable better video streaming, he said. The introduction of the new network marks the end of a series of improvements to wireless coverage on campus, Pendse said. Early last year, CIS updated Brown-Secure as an immediate response to criticism, he added. The former networks’ main problem was “capacity,” Pendse said, noting that not all devices in crowded classrooms or residence halls were able to connect simultaneously. CIS also decided to remove the Brown-EZ network because most students used it only if their devices could
An April poll by the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions found that among likely Democratic primary voters, nearly one third at the time supported Raimondo, roughly one quarter backed Taveras and about 35 percent remained undecided, The » See GOVERNOR, page 5 t o d ay
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2 university news » UCS, from page 1
RYAN WALSH / HERALD
“We have this really incredible golden opportunity,” UCS President Maahika Srinivasan ’15 said of revisiting advising with a new dean of the College.
to add more staff members to its eight psychotherapists, Srinivasan said. The office is currently finalizing its hiring process, she said. Many students who were not UCS members but attended a UCS general body meeting addressing mental health last spring expressed a desire for greater demographic diversity and area specialization among CAPS staffers. “The hope was that ... (additional staff) would bring more depth to issues of diversity” in CAPS, Srinivasan said. The council will also set its sights on aggregating and extending financial aid. Last semester, the council started a task force in conjunction with the Office of
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2014
Financial Aid to ensure that the office was effectively communicating aid opportunities to students who could take advantage of these options, Gourley said. “One product to come out of that that was implemented this year is to have funding for two student liaisons who work for the Financial Aid Office to help work on how they engage with students and make more of their information accessible,” he added. Last year’s efforts to improve online resources will continue this semester, with goals including more wireless printing and improved wireless networks, Gourley said. New initiatives will also be introduced such as a more streamlined students’ page on the University’s main website and a new UCS website. Srinivasan, who campaigned for the UCS presidency last spring with a platform that emphasized undergraduate advising reform, also anticipates working with both Dean of the College Maud Mandel and Chair of the UCS Academics and Administrative Affairs Committee Elena Saltzman ’16 to address the issue. “We have this really incredibly golden opportunity, I think, with a new (dean of the College) to come in with a fresh slate…basically an opportunity to take three steps back and look at our advising system and see how it’s working,” Srinivasan said. Saltzman said she intends to work to improve sophomore advising by easing the transition from first-year advisors to concentration advisors. “It felt like pre-concentration resources were kind of lacking, so something we want to make sure is that it’s a more cohesive transition for sophomores,” she said. “My team is going to work on really delving into what our advising system looks like internally — how advisors are picked, how advisors and students are matched, how each department handles advising.” E-Soo Kim ’15, UCS Student Activities chair, said she hopes to change the student group application from a hard deadline to a rolling application to help “people who are making new groups, and groups that want to change their (funding) categories,” she said. She added that she also intends to bring back the annual
leadership orientation program for new group leaders. Walker Mills ’15, chair of the UCS Campus Life Committee and a Herald opinions columnist, said he would like to focus on student dining experiences by putting comment and suggestion boxes in the Verney-Woolley Dining Hall and the Sharpe Refectory, and then extending them to other eateries. “We’re always talking about being better in touch with the student voice, and this will generate a lot of feedback, probably both positive and negative, and give us ideas for projects,” he said. He also anticipates negotiating with deans for proposals and funding. “A lot of it comes down to dollars and cents,” he said. “If students want more fresh vegetables and locally sourced foods … it’s going to cost money.” The council’s technology efforts will mainly stem from the UCS Admissions and Student Services committee, said committee chair Ryan Lessing ’17. A major effort will be the creation of a subcommittee in computing and Internet technology. “There’s a lot of talent in the student body for computer science, and there’s a lot of people who want to build cool things to help people at Brown,” Lessing said. “Our hope is to serve as a facilitator, or work with students who want to build cool things … and work with CIS to make that happen.” UCS Treasurer Malikah Williams ’16 said she will pursue her personal priority of making the council more accessible to the student body. “It’s about going out and telling people about UCS because a lot of people don’t know about it or have a negative opinion of it or don’t think we get things done,” she said. Though he will not be involved with the council in an official capacity, former UCS President Todd Harris ’14.5 said he anticipates a productive and adaptable council. “I’m definitely going to be there to make sure that there is continuity from last year…and any advice that I can provide I’m happy to give,” he said. “I think (Srinivasan) is going to do a great job, I think this UCS is set up to keep improving and make sure that we reflect student needs more and more every year.”
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2014
» MAILROOM, from page 1 with Ricoh, while a couple of employees have retired and several more continue to look for work but want to return to the mailroom, said Karen McAninch ’74, the union representative for many University workers, who represents the retained Mail Services employees. One of the employees who had originally been laid off by the University was recently offered another job at the University not in Mail Services, said a worker who requested anonymity out of concern of retribution for speaking publicly. Marisa Quinn, vice president for public affairs and University relations, and Elizabeth Gentry, assistant vice president of financial and administrative services, said they heard the employees who still work in the mailroom are satisfied. Gentry said the retained employees “have been contributing a lot” to the operations. But some sources interviewed said Mail Services workers have not experienced an easy transition into Ricoh’s system. One Mail Services worker, who has several years of experience in the mailroom, temporarily lost card swipe access to J. Walter Wilson and was prohibited from working overtime and accessing aspects of Ricoh’s new system, McAninch said. And while administrators said outsourcing mailroom operations would lead to better technology and faster service, students have experienced long
» TAUBMAN, from page 1 “Every individual, I believe, has not only a responsibility towards their community but also the possibility to really make a difference,” he said. Ross Cheit, professor of political science and public policy, described Morone as “an all-star teacher” and said he was “very hopeful” about his selection. As chair of the Department of Political Science in the late 2000s, Morone was energetic and inclusive and “had a sense of vision for the department,” Cheit said. Under Morone’s leadership, Cheit expects the Taubman Center to have more of a global emphasis, a shift “in keeping with the goals of the University,” he said. Morone expressed a desire to expand the center’s global reach because “public policy no longer stops at the water’s edge,” he said. He added that he would like the center to have “have a real imprint and voice in the national debates as well as those within the state.” In response to past criticism of its polling practices, the center will conduct a “close overhaul” of the system, Morone said. The center should also rethink its graduate program, Cheit said, though he added that he is unsure what form those improvements should take. “There’s been a sense for a while that the University should do things to improve that program,” he said. “I’m looking forward to seeing the Taubman Center under (Morone’s) leadership,” wrote public policy concentrator and former Undergraduate Council of Students President Todd Harris ’14.5 in an email to The Herald. Harris wrote that he hopes the center helps students take advantage of opportunities to participate in and discuss local and state public policy issues. Such opportunities allow students to “both apply their learning and simultaneously work to find solutions to community problems,” he wrote. Looking ahead, Morone said he is optimistic about the center’s expansion and future. “We’ve got great hopes,” he said.
lines this week as Ricoh employees adapt to a new system and campus, multiple sources said. The Ricoh employees staffing the mailroom are mostly temporary rather than permanent, McAninch said. Their lack of familiarity with the campus could cause students to experience lower-quality service, she added. The University will continue to work with former Mail Services employees to help them find new work and will take comments from students and faculty members into consideration, Quinn said, asking for patience from the community during the transition. The mailroom makeover Several of the changes implemented since Ricoh began operating in the mailroom addressed issues that Mail Services employees had repeatedly raised for a while, said Felix Tettey ’15, who worked in the mailroom from summer 2011 through last spring. The UPS overflow package site that previously operated out of a basement in Graduate Center E during the first weeks of school has been moved to the space in Alumnae Hall formerly occupied by the Gate. Mail Services employees have long expressed concerns about Grad Center’s usage for UPS services due to electricity shortages and a lack of storage space but were told by the University there were no other spaces available for the operation. Gentry said she thought the Grad
Center site “was quite dangerous” for students because of its long driveway and the new space in Alumnae Hall will be available until Oct. 10, when the influx of packages will likely start to decrease. All package deliveries will then be moved back to J. Walter Wilson, which might include “reconfiguration” of the pickup windows, she said. The new system begins with students swiping into a kiosk to put them in a queue before presenting their Brown ID and retrieving their package in order to prevent long lines at the counter, Gentry said, adding that the average time for students to receive packages was two minutes. But Maahika Srinivasan ’15, president of the Undergraduate Council of Students, said she had heard “nothing but negative” reactions from students about their mailroom experiences over the past several days. Though students have recognized the technological improvements, many have complained to her about the amount of time and confusion involved in retrieving packages. Since Ricoh closed mailroom operations on Labor Day, rather than having Mail Services remain open as in the past, employees were behind schedule and overwhelmed by the amount of deliveries Tuesday, the anonymous worker told The Herald, which led to managers being called downstairs and fielding many complaints from students. “We had a couple of small bumps
in the road” on Tuesday, Gentry said, though she added that she felt that as the week has progressed, the problems have been minimized. Student involvement In early July, Student Labor Alliance members received an email from McAninch encouraging them to get involved in direct action, said Irene RojasCarroll ’15, an SLA member. Student activists focused on the new contract initiated with Ricoh and the treatment of non-unionized Mail Services workers released from their jobs, Rojas-Carroll said. The group then circulated a petition on social media, sent letters to the administration and organized a protest on campus in solidarity with Mail Services employees this summer. One of the concerns from students about the new changes in Mail Services was the lack of communication to students from administrators, which prompted several students to meet with the administration over the summer, said Justice Gaines ’16, who helped organize and attended the protest. Tettey was told in the spring that he could no longer hold his work-study position because there was not enough money in the budget, but he was not informed of the switch until after the fact. He said the University’s lack of a campus-wide announcement suggests something “dubious” about its actions. Gaines, Tettey and Srinivasan said
they met with Huidekoper, Gentry and a representative from the Human Resources Department over the summer to talk about the University’s decision and its impact on workers and students. But it became clear in the meeting that administrators had already finalized the outsourcing plan, Srinivasan said. The letter to UCS has been the University’s only official communication about the mailroom changes so far, though students are still interested in getting more information, Gaines said. Srinivasan said UCS will continue to function as a “channel of communication” between concerned students and the administration about the changes, particularly if reactions to the mailroom operations remain negative. Campus connections Mail Services employees do not solely run the mailroom but serve as the first point of contact for many people unfamiliar with Brown’s campus because of J. Walter Wilson’s central location, Tettey said. He added that new students, parents or visitors frequently ask Mail Services employees for directions. It is challenging to balance recognizing the role of Mail Services employees as part of the Brown community and ensuring that students get the most efficient service, Srinivasan said. -With additional reporting by Molly Schulson
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2014
U. seeks new CareerLAB director to replace Simmons CareerLAB to continue implementing changes, BrownConnect during search process for director By EMMA HARRIS SENIOR STAFF WRITER
A committee is currently reviewing applications from across the country for the role of director of the CareerLAB, in the wake of former CareerLAB Director Andrew Simmons’ assumption of the role of associate dean for graduate student career advising. Jim Amspacher, career adviser for Careers in the Common Good, is currently serving as CareerLAB’s interim director as a search committee begins the process of finding a new director, said Dean of the College Maud Mandel. Mandel declined to disclose any information about the search committee’s makeup. A specific timeline for the search
has not been established, but students can expect a new director to be hired this academic year, Mandel said. The committee will seek to prioritize finding the highest-quality candidate over concluding the search faster, she added. The committee is looking for a candidate who will bring “energy” and “direction” to CareerLAB’s existing programs and who has a personal vision to improve CareerLAB, Mandel said. With a number of new programs this year, CareerLAB will not wait for its new director to begin implementing changes, Mandel said. During Amspacher’s time as interim director, CareerLAB is set to unveil a host of changes based on student feedback, he said. These changes include expanding walk-in hours for all students and adding a second day to career fairs. Coordinators also plan on creating a graduate careers conference, introducing more programming for underclassmen, postponing the networking and professional development
session JanLAB so it takes place during the academic year instead of winter break and redesigning CareerLAB’s website, he added. Additionally, CareerLAB is planning a November launch of BrownConnect, an initiative meant to “expand student access to high-quality research opportunities and internships through the alumni and parent community,” said Aixa Kidd, director of BrownConnect. These efforts aim to support the vision President Christina Paxson laid out in her strategic plan, Kidd said. CareerLAB administrators are currently letting students test a beta version of BrownConnect and taking their feedback into account for possible improvements, she said. BrownConnect will “make a big splash,” Kidd said, adding that there will be “more to come” as the project builds through the next two months. Kidd declined to comment further on BrownConnect’s launch, saying that more information will be released
RYAN WALSH / HERALD
CareerLAB plans to host more walk-in hours and programming for underclassmen while also launching a new networking initiative this fall. during the program’s November rollout. While CareerLAB has faced criticism from students in the past for focusing too heavily on technology, finance and consulting, BrownConnect will expand career opportunities in fields for all students, Amspacher
said. “This perception of career centers is not unique to Brown, … and CareerLAB has intensive programming in all fields.” The new director will come to CareerLAB at a “big growth point,” Amspacher said.
Semester shopping kicks off with sunny start First-years and returning students split time between shopping and relaxing on Main Green By JASON NADBOY AND SOPHIE YAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER AND STAFF WRITER
As shopping period kicked off Wednesday with a sunny start, the Main Green came to life with clusters of students catching up and sprawling out between classes. “The weather is nice,” Carlin Smith ’18 said while sitting in a circle on the grass with a group of fellow first-years. The group had been relaxing there for hours, said Samantha Altschuler
» RIDE, from page 8 until they were implemented.” But some experts said the main cause of the rising discontent is low parental awareness of what the standards actually do. “There is a gap in communication between the system and the parents,”
’18, another member of the group taking advantage of the sunshine. While first-years got acquainted with campus and each other, upperclassmen had some welcoming words for them. “It’s great to see so many new faces on campus,” said Tucker Iverson ’16. “It’s a little weird,” said Chandler Carter ’15, who returned this semester after studying abroad in London last year. “It’s different … but it’s good seeing people I haven’t seen in a while.” Students of all years spent the day figuring out their course loads for the semester. Matthew Spiegel ’18, who already knew three classes he was definitely taking, said he was busy all day
shopping for a fourth. “Music theory was a lot of fun,” he added. Neil Pandey ’18 also said he was looking forward to shopping classes, most of them in the Department of Computer Science and Department of Mathematics. “This is my first time taking CS,” he said, adding that he decided to explore computer science because “it sounded interesting, and it opens up a lot of opportunities in the future.” But different students approached shopping period in different ways: Though Altschuler said she felt it was a good concept, she said she is “too stressed out of a person” to shop extensively and would worry about finding new courses.
Ling Song ’18, however, packed her first day of shopping period with classes, beginning with ECON 0110: “Principles of Economics” at 9 a.m. “I’m going to go to a lot of classes to try to take advantage of (shopping period) because I have so many things I want to do,” Song said. “Brown lets me pursue all of that.” Besides economics, Song also shopped classes in the Department of Chemistry, School of Engineering and Department of Modern Culture and Media. “It’s hard to manage my schedule and plan everything out,” she said. Familiar with the often frustrating process of course registration through Banner, upperclassmen expressed relief
that the process went fairly smoothly this year. Carter, who is concentrating in modern culture and media, said the highlight of her day was not having registration issues. “Last year, I was all ready to register for classes, but then I got locked out” of Banner, said Phoebe McAuliffe ’17, who was able to register for all her classes right away. Smith said she knew some people who were “freaking out” because they did not get into their desired classes, but added that she “luckily got into all the classes I wanted.” “I’m loving Brown at the moment,” McAuliffe said. “They let me take what I want.”
Wong said. The “National Opinion Research Center found that about half of the parents are not aware of what Common Core standards are about.” Some teachers have raised doubts about the fairness of the teacher evaluation component of Common Core. But Krieger said this component is critical to making teachers aware of
what they need to impart in the classroom. Sheryl Green, a Rhode Island middle school teacher who requested that her school district be withheld so as not to disparage her school, said Common Core calls for an increase in frequency of teacher evaluations, mandating that every teacher be evaluated
annually. “Your kids have to improve, and if they don’t you’re in jeopardy of having a poor evaluation,” Green said. The Common Core standards represent the “knowledge that teachers should be helping students obtain,” Krieger said. But some teachers are concerned
that the standards demand too much of them, causing students to suffer. “The teachers are evaluated by a huge rubric. Instead of having room for creativity and freedom of knowing what works best in the classroom, you have to make sure that your lesson covers everything in the rubric, and it’s way too much,” Green said.
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2014
» GOVERNOR, from page 1 Herald previously reported. Though Raimondo’s lead over Taveras has not increased dramatically since April — rising just under 2 percentage points — Pell’s support has nearly tripled, while the percentage of undecided voters has plummeted by more than 22 percentage points, according to a comparison of the two polls. “Clay Pell is now a real threat to Angel Taveras, and maybe even to Gina Raimondo,” Nesi said, adding that Pell “has dumped a huge amount of his own money” into his campaign to bolster support. Though there are no August poll results for the Republican gubernatorial race between businessman Ken Block and Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, Block’s campaign manager Jeff Britt said “we are in pretty good shape going into the primary,” adding that a Block campaign poll conducted in July indicated that Block held a 9-point lead over Fung. But Nesi said he was not wholly persuaded by the Block campaign’s claims. “We’ll see next week if their polling was right,” he said, adding that it is difficult to get a sense of where the Republican
primary stands given that Republican voter sample sizes are small in Rhode Island, and voter turnout is highly variable. Britt emphasized that Block’s participation in several debates and forums throughout the summer has allowed the campaign to establish “a good level of communication with the media and the public.” “It’s regrettable,” Britt said of Fung’s ad campaigns, which he characterized as uncharitable and sometimes misleading, adding that the Block campaign is “going to stay positive.” Block has tried to avoid running negative ads about his opponent, though he has sometimes been forced to respond to Fung’s ads with “contrast pieces,” Britt said. “There’s no doubt that Allan Fung definitely went negative first,” Nesi said, noting that in spite of this, the Block campaign has “not been shy” about responding accordingly. In April, several of the Democratic candidates signed a People’s Pledge that stipulated that candidates would pay for any third-party attack ads or selfpromotion ads, though the Repulican candidates did not sign the agreement. Despite the pledge, Raimondo,
Taveras and Pell have spent approximately $10 million among the three of them, marking a “massive amount of
money,” Nesi said. “In some ways, it’s hard to tell who (the People’s Pledge) benefitted,” since it is hard to establish
which Democratic candidate would have received the most third-party help, he added.
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2014
comics
menu SHARPE REFECTORY
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Comic Sans | Neillie-Ann Tan ’18
LUNCH Falafel with Pita Bread, Spinach Pie Calzone, Green Beans with Roasted Tomato, Ice Cream with Fresh Berries
Vegetarian Cream of Mushroom Soup, Vegetable Strudel, Curly Fries, Chocolate Chip Cookies
DINNER Broccoli Noodle Polonaise, Baked Potato Bar, Slow Roast Pork Loin with Herbs, Eclairs
Buttermilk Cornbread, Roast Turkey with Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Chocolate Espresso Cake
JOSIAH’S
THREE BURNERS Gourmet Tacos
Moving Parts | Odie ’17
QUESADILLA OR GRILLED CHEESE Make-Your-Own Quesadilla
sudoku
calendar TODAY
SEPTEMBER 4
4:30 P.M. VISUAL ARTS ICE CREAM SOCIAL
Do you know your way around a canvas? Do you dabble in pastels? Check out the mini ice cream social for current and potential visual arts concentrators. List Art 2nd Floor 7 P.M. ACTIVITIES FAIR 2014
Learn about more than 250 student groups on campus and meet friends along the way! Olney-Margolies Athletic Center
crossword TOMORROW
SEPTEMBER 5
11 A.M. “FRESH TO YOU” DISCOUNT FRUIT AND VEGETABLE MARKET
An apple a day keeps the fall colds away. Take a stroll along the river for local fresh produce. 121 South Main St. 3 P.M. SWEARER CENTER OPEN HOUSE: WANT TO CHANGE THE WORLD?
Visit the center for an open discussion about public service and community at Brown. 25 George St.
Interested in joining The Herald? Come to one of our info sessions at 195 Angell: Saturday, Sept. 6, 1:00 - 2:30 pm Tuesday, Sept. 9, 7:30 - 9:00 pm Sunday, Sept. 14, 12:00 - 1:30 pm
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2014
Try something new WALKER MILLS opinions columnist
“Try something new.” How often have you heard that linr, or perhaps the frequently quoted Eleanor Roosevelt recommendation to “Do one thing every day that scares you”? Probably often enough that, by now, you just roll your eyes by now. But when you weigh that advice against your immediate opportunities, you can’t afford to shrug it off. The four years we have at Brown — four and a half or five, for some of us — cannot be allowed to slide into the abyss of habit and routine. The myriad opportunities we have during this short time and the freedom we have to move and explore the world around us may never come again. So take me seriously when I implore you to try something new or branch off from what you know. No time is more ripe for straying from the path of the known than the start of the fall semester. Summer still seems like it’s going to stretch on forever, midterms are distant on the horizon, and you have all the energy you need to invest in new enterprises — so take advantage. Shop a class you know nothing about, sign up for a club, start an intramural team, explore Newport — RIPTA is still free for Brown students — or even just walk down an unfamiliar street on College Hill. It’s all too easy to show up to school in the fall and start right back where you left off: doing the same things with the same people. Before you know it, fall has become early winter with midterms and finals, and you no longer have the time or the energy that you did at the semester’s start. Don’t fall into the rut you’ve made for yourself, and don’t get complacent with your experiences. Trying new things can also be beneficial to your health. A 2007 study by psychologist Richard Walker of Winston-Salem State University found that people who have a wider array of experiences better hold onto positive emotions. Just this summer, the Mayo Clinic suggested as part of its “12 Habits of Highly Healthy People” series that in order to live a happier and more healthful life, it is important to make a habit of trying new things. Go to the Student Activities Fair on tonight, where nearly all student groups and clubs will be, eager
to have you sign up for whatever it is they do — be it rock climbing or taekwondo. Also, the first two weeks of the semester are shopping period. Shop a few curveballs — the Department of Egyptology and Assyriology is offering an introduction to hieroglyphics, and the Department of Theater Arts and Performance Studies is offering its ever-popular TAPS 0220: “Persuasive Communication.” And don’t forget that Brown students can also take classes offered by the Rhode Island School of Design. Another 1,500 opportunities to do something you haven’t done before can be found milling around asking for directions to the Sharpe Refectory or wearing brand-new gear from the Brown Bookstore. That’s right — first-years. While usually the eager horde is steered clear of, each and every first-year provides an opportunity to meet someone new. These first-years might have interesting things to say and diverse perspectives to share. So at the risk of sounding carnal: You don’t have to just try new things, but you can also try new people. Some might warn of doing too much, of overextending yourself or stretching yourself thin. Those are legitimate concerns — everyone knows those people who try to do so much that they end up doing little. A 2012 New York Times column by Tim Kreider aptly called it “The ‘Busy’ Trap” stressed the danger of adding more to your plate just so you can feel fulfilled, when in reality, you are doing less. So take heed — rather than sign up for all of the several hundred student groups at the Activities Fair, just pick a handful, and show up to the first meeting of only the one that most interests you. But don’t let a fear of becoming too busy dissuade you from trying new things — your opportunities are still knocking, whether it’s amateur polo or amateur StarCraft that strikes your fancy. That’s the case for trying something new. It doesn’t matter if it’s big or small, if it takes all day or just a moment, life-changing or just memorable. You won’t have a better opportunity, it’s probably good for your health, and you’ll probably enjoy yourself. That’s the goal anyway.
Don’t fall into the rut you’ve made for yourself, and don’t get complacent with your experiences.
Walker Mills ’15 can be found doing the same things he’s been doing for four years. Help break the monotony by emailing him at walker_mills@brown.edu.
Q U O T E O F T H E D AY
“I’m loving Brown at the moment.” -Phoebe McAuliffe ’17
See SEMESTER on page 3.
commentary 7
I VA N A L C A N TA R A
End unpaid internships ROBYN SUNDLEE opinions editor
As we conclude the summer, many of us will be departing that bittersweet, collegiate summer experience of the unpaid internship. There’s nothing more exciting than being accepted to a program at a prestigious organization and nothing more dismaying than subsisting on scraps for three months. Still we tell ourselves it will be worth it in the end. This is just part of climbing that career ladder, right? It’s true that the unpaid internship offers experience, connections and a line on the resume, but the larger ethical implications of a system that demands unpaid labor ultimately negate these benefits. Many arguments have been made against unpaid internships. The system has been called illegal, unfair and exploitative. But above all, it’s destructive to our society. Unpaid internships contribute to the widening class divide. While there are some who can secure funding through their universities, the majority of students who take these prestigious unpaid internships are those who can afford to work for free and travel to the locations of the internships. For students who don’t happen to be blessed with generous or wealthy parents, this path is simply not an option. They miss a rung in that career ladder that has become expected by the professional world. There are some options available to those of us lucky enough to attend comparatively wealthy institutions like Brown, but throughout the rest of the higher education world, this is not necessarily the case. Students who can’t afford to take the financial hit of an unpaid summer have to work all the harder to keep pace with their more affluent peers or else suffer a disadvantage when emerging into the job market after graduation. This trend is especially evident in Washington, where I spent my summer. On Capitol Hill, seasons of
congressional work experience are required to obtain even the lowestpaying positions. The students who can achieve these minimum requirements generally come from wealthy families, and thus Capitol Hill is deprived of sorely needed perspectives from those who don’t hail from affluent backgrounds. This only serves to increase the disconnect between American lawmakers and the class that makes up the majority of the population.
The expectation of college students to work for free is a perversion of the professional system and an obstruction to making our society more egalitarian. Unpaid internships are especially insidious in that many organizations use them as free labor. While there are laws in place to prevent this, they don’t stop the perpetuation of the idea that in many fields, young people are expected to “pay their dues” and take on grunt work for free before advancing. These tasks, such as fact-checking and proofreading, directly benefit the organization and therefore should be paid. Such actions are in direct contrast with the U.S. Department of Labor’s guidelines for legal internships. Not only are lower-income students being inadvertently discriminated against, but the ones who do manage to do unpaid internships are often exploited. From a narrower perspective, Brown prides itself on being an institution dedicated to social justice, and it offers many fine resources for securing summer funding through the LINK (Linking Internships and Knowledge) award, Summer Earn-
ings Waiver and other grants. But in the end, this current policy still isn’t enough. If a student receives a full LINK award of $3,000 and is living in an expensive area like Washington or New York, these funds don’t even come close to covering rent, food, airfare and other living necessities. Many cannot find the time to subsidize these extra costs with another job, because many internships demand full work weeks. In January, President Christina Paxson announced the University’s plan to expand funding to support one unpaid internship or research opportunity for each student on financial aid. This is an encouraging move in the right direction. It is important for the administration to recognize that these grants need to increase not just in number, but also in worth. Unpaid internships in major cities are still unreachable for those without privileged backgrounds who live beyond driving distance of the internship’s location. Additionally, Brown should loosen its restrictions on allowing internships to count for credit. That would alleviate some of the heavy costs that come with the unpaid internship. In an ideal world, unpaid internships would be abolished completely. Sadly, the practice has become firmly ingrained in fields where cash is tightest, and most organizations will be disinclined to pay for work they’ve been getting for free for decades unless there is legal coercion. The expectation of college students to work for free is a perversion of the professional system and an obstruction to making our society more egalitarian. Brown, as a selfproclaimed bastion of social justice, should combat this poisonous trend. Summer internships for less affluent students should be less about survival and more about exploring.
Robyn Sundlee ’16 is not at all bitter about working for free this summer. … She can be reached at robyn_sundlee@brown.edu.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2014
THE
metro
BROWN DAILY HERALD
Paxson, Taveras to launch new Thayer St. rollout Commercial district revamp funded by U., city, community sources as part of ongoing project By MOLLY SCHULSON AND ALON GALOR METRO EDITOR AND STAFF WRITER
President Christina Paxson and Mayor Angel Taveras will cut a ribbon to symbolize the official opening of the “new and improved” Thayer Street commercial district on Sept. 28 during the Festival Fete Thayer Street art festival, said Donna Personeus, executive director for the Thayer Street District Management Authority. In May, after 18 months of planning by city officials, the University and other stakeholders from Thayer Street and the surrounding area, Paxson and Taveras announced several planned changes for the commercial district. The College Hill Neighborhood Association also provided input, Personeus said. Providence, the TSDMA and the University funded the revamp project,
Taveras said during the announcement ceremony in May. “Without each one of these players, none of this would have happened,” Personeus said. “It was crucial that each one of these groups stepped up, and when we needed somebody, they were there.” Construction on the roads and sidewalks began shortly after the announcement, followed by the development of bump-outs, green spaces and public seating areas. Throughout the redevelopment process, the TSDMA “made a big effort” to inform the public which roads were blocked and which businesses remained open, Personeus said. “The majority of work that would affect students was done when students weren’t going to be (on campus) on purpose,” she added. “There was a lot of planning to make it as painless as possible.” All the work on Thayer Street is on schedule and within budget, wrote Bonnie Nickerson, director of the long-range planning division for the Providence Department of Planning and Development, in an email to The Herald.
COURTESY OF THE THAYER STREET DISTRICT MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY
More public seating areas and green spaces are two major installments of the Thayer Street redevelopment project. The redesigned commercial district will also feature bicycle parking and tree improvements. Over the next few weeks, new signage, parking meters, benches and bicycle parking will also be installed, she added. Other future projects include the construction of a bike repair station and the improvement of trees, Personeus said, adding that these developments may take a year to complete. Thayer Street does not only serve
Brown students, Paxson said in May. “This street represents an intersection of people from very different backgrounds — it’s Brown and (the Rhode Island School of Design) and (the Wheeler School), and business owners and people who live in the community, sometimes for many generations.” Another project in the works is a parklet — parking spaces converted into a
public seating area in front of the Brown Bookstore. Providence and the TSDMA invested $10,000 in the parklet, which “can be taken out in the winter when the weather gets bad,” Personeus said. Built in two sections by Orion Red, the parklet will be installed in time for the festival — an event that will feature work by local artists, live music and entertainment, she added.
Common Core attracts controversy Urban greenhouse to State officials defend national program aimed to facilitate shared curricular standards By ZACH FREDERICKS SENIOR STAFF WRITER
A year after Rhode Island implemented Common Core across its public school systems, some parents and stakeholders in the debate have raised concerns about the initiative’s efficacy and interference with local control of education. But as activists in some school districts call for the ability to opt out of the nationwide standards, the Rhode Island Department of Education defended Common Core’s impact on improving students’ outcomes. Parents and teachers in Smithfield opposed to Common Core started a petition last spring calling for Rhode Island to repeal its participation in the initiative and for schools to be able to opt out of the program’s standards, multiple news outlets reported. The standards, which Rhode Island adopted on July 1, 2010 and put into effect last fall, call for dramatic changes to students’ K-12 educational experience. State officials drafted the Common Core initiative in 2009 with the goals of raising educational standards in language arts and math and creating “consistent, strong, clear benchmarks” nationwide for these subjects’ instruction, according to Common Core’s website. “Common Core is meant to allow us to compare education across states,” said Kenneth Wong, professor of political science, public policy and urban studies and chair of the education department. The difficulty of comparing standards has been a problem for American education, causing students to suffer, he added. “If we have a student who is highperforming in Connecticut, when that student moves to Massachusetts, he
might go from being an A student to a B student,” Wong said. Common Core’s website states that the program’s standards call for key analytical changes in language arts and math that “are designed to ensure students are prepared for today’s entry-level careers, freshmanlevel college courses and workforce training programs.” These changes are considered to be “more rigorous” than many current state-level guidelines, Wong said. The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers were involved with drafting Common Core, which some parents find to be an unsettling national intrusion into local educational authority. “Parents are upset that education is being usurped by corporations and the federal government,” said Jean Lehane, spokesperson for Stop Common Core in Rhode Island. Some have raised concerns about certain testing requirements that states must meet to receive federal grant money, Lehane said, citing the Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems, a grant program tied to states’ implemention of testing standards, as one example. “The testing has become too frequent and too high-stakes,” Lehane said. But RIDE stated that Common Core standards do not call for the adoption of a specific curriculum, leaving local authorities jurisdiction. “The standards are just statements about what kids should be able to do at each grade level,” said Elliot Krieger, public information officer at RIDE. Still, many parents and teachers are concerned that education will rely too heavily on standardized testing and that teacher evaluations will be based on test results rather than portfolios, Lehane said. By giving more funding to states that adopt Common Core, the federal government has strongarmed its way around the laws that put education under local jurisdiction,
she added. Lehane expressed concern that many private education companies influenced the shaping of the Common Core standards, adding that the Federal Educational Records Privacy Act has become too lenient when granting students’ academic data to third parties, including marketing researchers who want to make new profitable products geared toward Common Core standards. But RIDE pushed back against this claim, saying federal grants and national lobbying influences were not the main drivers behind the program’s implementation. “We received a federal Race to the Top grant under the condition that we adopt world-class standards, and in our case, the world-class standards were Common Core,” Krieger said. “The decision to adopt Common Core goes back further than the grants.” The concerns about Common Core have also risen at the national level, with each of the states approaching the standards with criticisms of federal overreach and action to counter the standards. Conservative candidates for elections in states have campaigned on repealing Common Core if elected, the New York Times reported. In Alabama, Arizona and Florida, state legislators, many of whom sympathize with the Tea Party and conservative political branches, have introduced or passed legislation to weaken the Common Core, according to the Chicago Sun-Times assessment of the 50 different states’ approaches to the standards. And Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal announced August 27 that he sued the Department of Education over the implementation of the standards and the use of federal funds as motivation for standardizing the testing in states. Some anti-Common Core activists feel they are being kept uninformed about the program, Lehane said. “Nobody really knew about the standards » See RIDE, page 4
open in Providence Proponents of space tout educational, environmental, economic opportunities for city By EMILY WOOLDRIDGE STAFF WRITER
This fall, the first urban greenhouse in Providence will be built on a vacant lot at 433 Prairie Ave., according to a press release from the City of Providence’s Office of Sustainability and Healthy Communities Office. The project was funded by the Lots of Hope program, which transforms empty city-owned spaces into urban farms. The 3,200-square-foot lot offers a range of environmental, educational and economic opportunities, said Chris Barnett, senior public affairs officer of the Rhode Island Foundation, a nonprofit that donated $55,000 to build the greenhouse. Local students, farmers and environmental enthusiasts all stand to benefit from the new space, he said. The foundation’s donation was matched dollar-for-dollar by the environmental nonprofit Partners for Places, according to the city’s release announcing the greenhouse. The greenhouse, which will be built near Mary E. Fogarty Elementary School and Robert L. Bailey IV Elementary School, can facilitate handson environmental education and help the Providence School Department reach its goal of having 15 percent of food purchases be locally sourced, according to a statement released by Mayor Angel Taveras’ office. But since greenhouses generate more products during summer months than others, the Lots of Hope greenhouse may not have a significant impact on local school meals, said Dawn King, visiting assistant professor of environmental studies. Given existing demand, just one greenhouse in
the neighborhood would not provide enough produce for all of the schools, she added. Brown students have been intimately involved in developing the Lots of Hope program, King said, citing two students who worked on the greenhouse project this summer. The city government hopes to develop agricultural micro-businesses by offering farmers who use the new greenhouse low-cost leases, according to the press release from the Office of Sustainability and Healthy Communities Office. Urban agriculture is already a booming sector in Rhode Island, King said. Though the total number of farms across the country declined, Rhode Island saw an increase in farmland from 2007 to 2012, the Providence Journal reported in February. Locally grown food contributes to Rhode Island’s food culture, but King said she hopes sustainability “isn’t just a passing trend.” The Lots of Hope program’s other initiatives — including the Meader Street Farm, Manton Bend Community Farm and improvements to an urban farm in Olneyville that are currently underway — have been great ways to engage the community, Barnett said. The Lots of Hope program partnered with the African Alliance of Rhode Island, a nonprofit that works to improve the lives of African residents in the state, and other community organizations to develop the Meader Street and Manton Bend Community farms in the last couple of years, King said, citing these collaborative efforts as positive examples of inclusive environmental movements. The Lots of Hope greenhouse is expected to begin growing plants and produce this May, according to the Office of Sustainability and Healthy Communities Office press release.