THE BROWN DAILY HER ALD
Shuttle drivers union at Brown, RISD ratifies first contract
SEE SHUTTLE PAGE 2
SEE NERO PAGE 5 METRO
SPORTS
Caffè Nero slated to open on Thayer this April
Men’s basketball weekend split steepens battle for Ivy Madness
SEE BASKETBALL PAGE 6
COMMENTARY
Lair ’28: We should complain a little less — for our own sakes
SEE LAIR PAGE 10
Brown, RISD artists capture music on paper at annual concert
Brown reduces PhD admission targets, warns of potential layoffs amid ongoing federal threats
Federal actions could threaten research, U. endowment, student visas
BY CATE LATIMER AND SAMAH HAMID UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR AND SENIOR STAFF WRITER
On Wednesday, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 reiterated her commitment to the University’s mission and academic freedom while warning of potential staff layoffs and financial steps
that could be taken as the federal political landscape continues to change.
Her statement came as part of the University’s ongoing response to federal actions that threaten research funding, the taxation of the University’s endowment and international student visa status.
At Tuesday’s faculty meeting, Paxson shared that federal actions are “threatening pretty much every major source of revenue that we get as an institution,” including tuition.
In her message, Paxson identified a possible decrease in tuition revenue as
international student visas are threatened, research funding cuts and a potential increase in the current 1.4% federal endowment tax as “threats to our top three sources of revenue.”
In light of this, Brown is taking action to address its “stubborn” structural budget deficit, Paxson wrote.
Such steps previously included slowing faculty and staff growth and monitoring the cost of PhD programs. The University has also begun “more ag - gressively
pursuing these measures” by canceling ongoing faculty searches, reducing PhD admissions targets and leaving staff vacancies unfilled, Paxson explained Wednesday.
Additionally, Brown is creating contingency plans should revenue and funding sources be severely impacted.
Such plans could “force Brown to lay off some employees” and potentially “pull back” its investment in the William A. and Ami Kuan Danoff Life Sciences Laboratories, Brown’s planned seven-story laboratory in the Jewelry District.
“This would harm affected Brown
employees, their families and the local economy, and slow potentially life-saving biomedical research. We do not want this to happen,” she wrote. Though they are not yet taking these concrete steps, “it is only prudent that we plan for this possibility,” Paxson wrote.
In the Wednesday announcement, Paxson also emphasized Brown’s commitment to protecting its mission, calling it “our north star.”
Upper-level TAs have been less than 23% female over the past six semesters
BY ZARINA HAMILTON SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Each time Anna Galer ’25 walks into a new math class, she counts the number of fellow women seated around her. In her experience at Brown, that number has almost always fit on just one hand.
Despite campus-wide efforts to address gender disparities in STEM fields, including through the University-wide Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan, Brown’s Department of Mathematics has remained largely male-dominated.
For the past six semesters, only 23% of seats
in MATH 0350: “Multivariable Calculus with Theory,” MATH 0540: “Linear Algebra with Theory” and 1000-level courses were filled with female students, according to data provided by the department. The gender gap also extends to undergraduate teaching assistants: Since fall 2022, only 16% of UTA positions in upper-level math courses have been held by women.
The University data provided to The Herald only included breakdowns of male and female students and may not accurately represent all gender identities.
Gender balance “is something that we take very seriously at Brown, and are making progress on, albeit at too slow a pace,” Benoit Pausader, a math professor and the department
Defending the University’s mission means “protecting academic freedom” and “if necessary, defend -
DHS agents spotted in Providence amid ICE detainments in RI
Since Trump took office, immigration officers have been active across RI
BY LEV KOTLER-BERKOWITZ AND ANDREA LI SENIOR STAFF WRITERS
In the past two weeks, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been active in several cities across Rhode Island.
On March 4, ICE agents operating in Central Falls allegedly “surveilled and grabbed” an individual “off the street,” according to a social media post made by Alliance to Mobilize Our Resistance Rhode Island, a community support network that advocates against deportation and violence.
The individual is a parent of a Central Falls student, and the detainment took place near school
grounds, according to Central Falls Mayor Maria Rivera.
The arrest was characterized as “brazen and inhumane” by Rhode Island State Senator Jonathon Acosta ’11 MA’16 MA’19 PhD’24.5 (D-Central Falls, Pawtucket) in an interview with The Herald. Acosta said that the arrest follows a “more combative” method of immigration enforcement under President Trump’s administration.
Department of Homeland Security agents were also seen at the Providence Amtrak Station on multiple days last week, according to an Instagram post by the Deportation Defense Coalition.
The Deportation Defense Coalition — consisting of the Olneyville Neighborhood Association, the Party for Socialism and Liberation Rhode Island
ICE PAGE 5
BEN KANG / HERALD
UNIVERSITY NEWS
ADMISSIONS
Students reintroduce bill to ban legacy admissions, testify at State House
The bill was co-introduced by Students for Educational Equity
BY ANNIKA SINGH SENIOR STAFF WRITER
On Tuesday, the Rhode Island House Education Committee held a public hearing on a bill that proposes ending legacy admissions. At the hearing, several Brown students testified in support of the bill, which was co-introduced by Brown activist group Students for Educational Equity and Rep. David Morales MPA’19 (D-Providence).
If enacted, this legislation would prohibit all R.I. universities — including private institutions like Brown — from giving preference in admissions to students whose relatives previously attended the school. California passed a similar bill in September 2024.
SEE introduced a predecessor to this bill in last year’s legislative session, but it died in committee, The Herald previously reported. Because this year’s bill was introduced in February — more than two months earlier in the legislative session than last year’s — the student organization hopes it has a higher chance of passing.
Before reintroducing it this year, SEE refined the bill’s language to focus more on fairness rather than equity, said Eliana Rivas Marte ’27, co-lead of SEE’s Admissions and Access committee. SEE’s campaign to end legacy admissions at Brown dates back to the group’s founding in 2019, according to SEE Co-President Nick Lee ’26. Legacy admissions “is a chief mechanism for perpetuating class inequities at Brown,” he said.
LABOR
A July 2023 study by Brown and Harvard economists found that applicants from families in the top 0.1% of earners are over 2.7 times more likely to attend Brown than those from the bottom 20%. The study noted that legacy admissions — among other non-academic considerations — are a driving factor in this disparity, The Herald previously reported.
In his testimony at the State House on Tuesday, Lee argued that “the privilege of bloodline” should not be a factor in university admissions.
In a previous interview with The Herald, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 said that if the University “were concerned primarily with socioeconomic diversity, it would make sense to eliminate” legacy admissions.
But Paxson noted that the practice “lets alumni know that we really want their students at Brown,” which helps “build a sense of community.”
The University’s “legacy students are now much more diverse, and they will become increasingly so as time goes on,” she added. Brown’s Ad Hoc Committee on Admissions Policies released a spring 2024 report stating that though “removing legacy preferences could lead to somewhat more diversity in the group of admitted students,” the effect would be “modest.”
In his testimony on Tuesday, San Kwon ’25 quoted some of Paxson’s comments to argue that Brown would not voluntarily eliminate its legacy admissions policy — necessitating legislative intervention.
The committee “continues to examine the feedback shared with the University regarding the role of family connections in admissions,” wrote University Spokesper-
At a digital student forum hosted by the committee earlier this semester, all eight student speakers expressed opposition to the practice. The committee “hosted a similar forum for faculty and staff” the week prior, Provost Francis Doyle wrote in an email to The Herald at the time, and has also solicited feedback from alums through a letter by Paxson in the Brown Alumni Magazine.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Rivas Marte shared her experience as a first-generation college student and immigrant from the Dominican Republic. “I had no idea how the college application process worked,” she said. “I had to search all over the city for opportunities, fight for the ones that
I found and work relentlessly to achieve my goals.”
“The college application game is already skewed towards privileged students,” she added.
During her testimony, Ava McKie ’28 noted that higher education institutions “are abandoning students of color and low-income students.”
She claimed that the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling eliminating race-conscious admissions policies has already made it more difficult for students of color to access elite institutions. Legacy admissions only exacerbates this issue, she added.
“I got into Brown out of sheer luck, while many other exceptional students of color were passed over,” she said. Brown’s
class of 2028 — the first class admitted after the 2023 ruling — saw a 40% decrease in Black students and a 29% decrease in Hispanic students, The Herald previously reported.
Morales emphasized that eliminating legacy preference would help ensure that college admissions are based on merit rather than inherited privilege.
“The practice of legacy admissions brings unfair advantages to a certain group of students,” Morales said. “In doing so, it reinforces disparities in access to higher education.”
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on March 5, 2025.
Union representing shuttle drivers at Brown, RISD ratifies first contract
The three-year contract includes an average 24% wage increase
BY EMILY FEIL SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The labor union representing 56 bus drivers, dispatchers, fuelers and cleaners — including shuttle operators at Brown, the Rhode Island School of Design and Rhode Island College — ratified its first contract with transportation operator Transdev last month.
The three-year contract was ratified with 92% approval among voting members and will remain in effect until June 30, 2028, according to Teamsters Local 251 Principal Offi cer Matthew Taibi, who led negotiations for the union. Under the agree ment, Transdev workers represented by Teamsters Local 251 will receive an im mediate 12% pay increase, with an average wage increase of 24% over three years.
One of the key components of the contract includes the establishment of a safety team that will issue safety improvement recommendations to management, according to bargaining team member Daven Cox, a shuttle driver for RISD Rides.
With these provisions, “we will be able to document problems on our lot,
in our vehicles and on our routes,” Cox wrote in a message to The Herald. “I see this as a way to improve not only our working conditions, but also morale.” contribute,” Cox said. The drivers unionized in November 2023, hoping to secure higher compensation and better employment benefits from Transdev, which provides shuttle services at Brown, RISD and RIC.
The union voted to authorize a strike in September and, two months later, warned they would go on strike if bargaining did not progress. The union had in an attempt to facilitate negotiations.
the ultimate goals.” Transdev did not respond to requests for comment.
and Transdev both made amendments to their proposals in order to advance negotiations.
“At times, we’ve felt our company’s refusal to participate in constructive negotiations to be confusing and frustrating,” Cox wrote. “I’m proud of us for remaining level-headed and focusing on
In an October email to The Herald, company’s goal during negotiations was to “reach an agreement that is both fair and equitable.”
Transdev had issued a “last, best and final offer” leading up to the holiday break, but drivers ultimately rejected the proposal, Taibi said. The union returned “to the table, identified wages as the main issue and then the company came back with more money,” he added.
Though the recent contract helps address many of the workers’ concerns, the bargaining committee had to postpone negotiations for an improved healthcare plan, Taibi said, adding that future changes to the current healthcare benefits agreement will require additional bargaining.
One of the key components of the contract for the union includes the establishment of a safety team that will issue safety improvement recommendations to management.
“There were things we were hoping to get, but in negotiation you have to prioritize what you really need,” he said. “It is the first contract. Everything in
“Overall, I think we set the stage for a stronger contract next time,” Cox said. “We learned a lot from this process that we can pass on to the next group of negotiators."
Taibi said that after shuttle drivers joined dining, facilities and library workers at a protest in November, the workers
son Brian Clark in an email to The Herald.
ANNA LUECHT / HERALD SEE introduced a similar bill late in last year’s legislative session, which died in committee.
BOMI OKIMOTO / HERALD
chair, wrote in an email to The Herald.
Pausader added that the gender imbalance largely stems from a lack of interest at the high school level and said the department is working to address this trend.
“This divide has definitely made it difficult to study math here,” math concentrator Abby Schindell ’25 wrote in an email to The Herald.
While she has connected with other female students, teaching assistants and faculty in the department, she wrote that “it often feels hard to find a community in a room full of men.”
As she has progressed from lower-division to upper-division courses, Natsuka Hayashida ’26 has noticed that there have been fewer and fewer women. In MATH 1710: “Topology,” a course she’s currently taking, Hayashida said that she’s one of only two girls. “It’s kind of hard to envision yourself as a mathematician when everyone around you is male.”
While course enrollment for upper-level courses has consistently been above 50 for female students since fall 2022, Galer noted she has been in several smaller sections where she was “the only girl.”
In these smaller spaces, Schindell wrote that she is often “interrupted or talked over at least once” by her peers, making her feel as though she is “looked
FROM PAGE 1
ing against intrusion into our rights to determine the subjects that may be taught and studied at Brown,” Paxson wrote.
She wrote that faculty and students should not feel compelled to change their teachings or study interests out of fear that they “are, or may become, off limits.”
“I don’t see anything that says we can’t teach and study what we choose,” Paxson said at Tuesday’s faculty meeting.
Brown will continue to commit to diversity and inclusion on campus, Paxson wrote. This comes after Matthew Guterl began his role as vice president for di -
down on.”
Mathilde Kermorgant ’25, a mathematics and computer science double-concentrator, also said she noticed the gender divide in her math classes. But for her, “being the only girl in the classroom” has sometimes motivated her to continue studying the subject.
“You just can’t stop, because if you stop, no one else is left,” Kermorgant said.
The number of female UTAs in up-
versity and inclusion earlier this month.
The Trump administration has taken aim at DEI initiatives on campuses nationwide through an executive order and guidance from the Department of Education.
Paxson added that the University has assembled an “administrative leadership team,” led by Provost Francis Doyle, that includes senior University administrators. The committee hopes to address areas of campus threatened by federal policies, develop contingency plans and support the Brown community.
The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs is also providing
per-level courses also varies by semester but still remains lower than their male counterparts. In spring 2023, four of 12 UTAs were women, but the following spring, there were none.
After taking several semesters’ worth of upper-level math courses, both Kermorgant and Schindell noted that their only female TAs have been in MATH 0540.
Kermorgant referred to the depart-
“subject matter expertise in policy and public affairs,” she wrote.
Acknowledging the ambiguity regarding the full impact of federal actions at Brown, Paxson wrote “I wish I could offer more certainty to everyone in our community.”
“What I can offer,” she wrote, “is a steadfast commitment to defending our academic mission and protecting members of our community to the best extent possible.”
UNIVERSITY NEWS
ment’s gender disparity as “a nefarious cycle,” noting that when fewer women enroll in a course, not as many women apply to become TAs for that same course. Without female representation among TAs, Kermorgant explained, female students may feel that they have no one to “look up to and feel comfortable talking to about their struggles in the math department.”
Kermorgant added that gendered stereotypes create the “implicit notion” that math is “too hard” or “just not a girl thing.” Such stereotypes may discourage women from pursuing math-related careers, Hayashida said.
“When there’s this overarching narrative that math is ‘scary,’ it’s hard to rewrite,” Hayashida said.
Working as a TA for both MATH 0100: “Single Variable Calculus, Part II” and MATH 0200: “Multivariable Calculus (Physics/Engineering),” Hayashida said she hopes to inspire other women to follow their passion for math.
Hayashida and Kermorgant are also both undergraduate student members of the department’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. The committee aims to “make sure that the department is a welcoming place for everyone to study math,” said Associate Professor of Mathematics Isabel Vogt, who is also a member of the committee.
Several years ago, the committee
collaborated with the Department Undergraduate Group to launch the Math Families program, which gives younger students access to “professors, peers, advice and bonding,” Kermorgant explained. Each “family” consists of a professor, a graduate student, an upper-division undergraduate student and firstand second-year students. Each member of the “family,” which regularly meets for lunch, is of an underrepresented gender identity.
Though the program is still running, it did not establish any new “families” this semester due to the limited number of female upper division undergraduates concentrating in math, Kermorgant explained. But she added that any student interested in the program can join a pre-existing group.
Vogt hopes that the program will help encourage more women to concentrate in math and apply to become TAs.
“I’ve taught a number of classes at Brown where I had very strong female students,” she said. “I very firmly believe that the gender gap is not an achievement gap.”
“More female representation in the department,” Schindell wrote, is “really important.”
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on March 5, 2025.
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The illustration depicts seven different people, each of which have unique hairstyles, skin colors, genders and clothes. They are standing in front of a blackboard filled with mathematic formulas and equations.
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RIDOH’s new dashboard helps RI residents locate lead pipes
Water in several Brown buildings is partially supplied by lead pipes
BY MEGAN CHAN METRO EDITOR
Last month, the Rhode Island Department of Health launched an interactive dashboard that shows the prevalence of lead material in drinking water service lines, according to a Feb. 17 press release.
RIDOH began developing the dashboard after amendments to the Rhode Island Lead Poisoning Prevention Act required water suppliers to post an inventory of their service lines and the materials they’re composed of, said Ryan Hoskins, an environmental scientist with the RIDOH Center for Drinking Water Quality.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lead typically enters drinking water reserves when lead pipes carrying that water experience corrosion.
But “just having a lead service line does not mean that there is lead in your drinking water,” Director of Health Jerry Larkin said in the RIDOH press release. “Public water systems take many steps to keep drinking water safe from lead, including treatment that reduces corrosion and routine testing, with a focus on homes with lead service lines.”
Hoskins said that “any lead is bad,” but emphasized that there are regulations in place to “minimize the amount of lead” present in drinking water and that public water systems are legally required to
BUSINESS
monitor lead levels in water. He also recommended installing water filters.
In 1986, Congress banned new construction of lead pipes. Under the LPPA, all existing lead service lines in the state must be replaced by 2033.
Rhode Island’s lead pipe frequency is relatively “on par” with the rest of New England, according to Hoskins.
The prevalence of lead pipes in Providence can be attributed to the city’s relatively old infrastructure, said Joseph Goodwill, a civil and environmental engineering professor at the University of Rhode Island.
Cities like Providence that experienced exponential growth and industrialization before the toxicity of lead became wellknown tended to install lead pipes when constructing buildings at that time, Goodwill said.
Putting aside its toxicity, Goodwill said that lead is ductile and bendable, making it a hypothetically “perfect material” for a pipe.
On Brown’s campus, water in several buildings — including the Sciences Library, the Urban Environmental Lab and the Orwig Music Library — is at least partially supplied by lead pipes, according to the dashboard.
The dashboard also shows that buildings on campus have relatively fewer lead pipes than those in the surrounding areas off-campus.
Brown has replaced the majority of lead service lines on campus, according to Michael Guglielmo, vice president for facilities and campus operations.
“The lead levels in the drinking water
in all of our auxiliary housing properties and residence halls — all of the buildings on campus in which community members reside — are below the (Environmental Protection Agency)’s action level,” Guglielmo wrote in an email to The Herald.
Lead action levels are standards set by the federal government to measure “the effectiveness of the corrosion control treatment in water systems,” according to the EPA. The agency’s Lead and Copper Rule sets an action level of 0.015 milligrams per liter. Water systems must take certain actions — like public lead education or line replacement — if 10% or more of water samples exhibit a concentration exceeding the action level.
At on-campus locations where lead concentrations exceed these limits, Brown has provided bottled water service and posted signage near sinks discouraging individuals from drinking tap water, Guglielmo said. The University’s Environmental Health and Safety team also “proactively tested lead levels … in 2007-2008 and again in 2018-2020,” he added.
DeeAnn Guo, a community organizer with nonprofit Childhood Lead Action Project, described the dashboard as “encouraging” and “a step towards more transparency for people across the state.”
Replacing all lead service lines is “very, very important,” said Guo, who also helps coordinate the Lead Free Water RI coalition. “There is no safe exposure to lead, especially for children,” she added.
Initiatives to replace lead pipes in the state are not new, Goodwill said. Providence Water, for example, “has been doing
outreach and replacements for years.” But it wasn’t until LPPA was amended in 2023 that property owners could be reimbursed for any costs incurred from replacing private lead lines.
Incentivizing homeowners to replace their pipes may also be difficult, Goodwill said. Pipes on private properties are split between public and private ownership, so public utilities “can’t replace the whole pipe without contracting and getting consent from the property owner,” he added.
Pipe replacements may be especially difficult for tenants, who often need to
get consent from their landlord before any work can begin. Guo has been working with her colleagues at the Childhood Lead Action Project on a bill that would “allow tenants to sign up or sign off on their lead service line replacement if their landlord is unresponsive,” she said.
“Full replacements should be happening now, even across the country,” Guo added.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on March 5, 2025.
The Heritage Group to acquire longtime RI staple Olneyville New York System
Olneyville New York System will be the group’s most recent acquisition
BY MAYA KELLY METRO EDITOR
After almost 80 years in business, Olneyville New York System is set to be sold to the Heritage Restaurant Group, according to a statement from both organizations. The restaurant, which says they offer “RI’s best hot wieners,” has been owned by the Stevens family since the 1930s.
The turnover follows a chain of similar acquisitions by the Heritage Group.
In the past ten months, the restaurant group has acquired the Brick Alley Pub, The Red Parrot, Flo’s Clam Shack, Caleb and Broad and Joe Marzilli’s Old Canteen
Italian Restaurant, according to Brad Head, co-founder of Wally’s Wieners and part of Heritage Restaurant Group.
The group’s main focus is on “restaurants that have been long-standing within the community,” Head said.
Some community members have raised concerns about the Heritage Group’s latest string of purchases, many of whom “are afraid of change,” said Nicholas Barros, who has worked at Olneyville New York System for 26 years.
“I feel that everything is going to be the same here,” Barros said. “I don’t think
they’re going to change anything” about the restaurant.
Joseph Espinosa has been working at Olneyville New York System since 1983. In over four decades working for the Stevens family, “not much has changed,” he said.
Putting aside an increase in his paycheck and the removal of jukeboxes, changes to the weiner joint have been small, he added. But this change in ownership means the diner will be owned by someone other than Greg Stevens and Stephanie Stevens Turini — the fourth generation of owners within the Stevens family.
“A lot of people might not be happy for them, but I am truly happy for them,”
Barros said of Stevens’s and Stevens Turini’s forthcoming retirement.
It is “an interesting time in the restaurant industry,” Head said, adding that many business owners in the state have been working for decades and are “trying to retire and enjoy their lives.”
For Head, this presents “an interesting opportunity for us to acquire these businesses,” he said.
Espinosa explained that he’s “not really worried about” the change in ownership. “I can mind my business, and I should be able to,” he said.
Last month, the Heritage Group acquired the Old Canteen, an Italian restaurant in Federal Hill that was founded in 1956 by Joseph Marzilli. The building is set to be turned into two separate businesses: Wally’s Wieners and the Copper Club.
Sal Marzilli, Joe Marzilli’s son, announced his intent to sell the Old Canteen three years ago. The eatery was sold this past January, but the change in ownership has not gone without community skepticism.
There was “an outpouring of concern” when the restaurant group first announced they would be turning the Old Canteen into a hotdog restaurant and club, said Rick Simone, the president of the Federal Hill Commerce Association.
People were especially concerned about aesthetic changes to the establishment, which acts as “the gateway” to Federal Hill, Simone said.
Some in Federal Hill were worried that the Copper Club would “draw an inappropriate crowd,” Simone added. But the Heritage Group has “com -
promised,” Simone said. The Copper Club will serve Italian dishes and specialties, and Wally’s Weiners will sport “special menu items that’ll be nods to Federal Hill and the Italian culture as well,” he added.
“We’re going to do our best to be good neighbors in Federal Hill, and we’re excited to become a part of the community,” Head said.
With these promises, Rhode Islanders are “starting to come around,” Simone continued. “They’re grateful that there’s going to be so many nods to the community.”
The restaurant will have an “Old Canteen room” in the back, highlighting the history of the Old Canteen and the wider Federal Hill community, Simone said, adding that “it’s almost like a mini-museum in itself, recognizing the neighborhood.”
According to Samara Pinto, the deputy press secretary for the City of Providence, new business proposals are reviewed by various city departments “based on the type of business and the nature of the request,” Pinto wrote in an email to the Herald.
But the Board of Licenses “has no purview or authority over purchases,” Pinto explained, adding that it “welcomes all investments into our city.”
“Don’t sweat” the changes to Olneyville New York System, Barros said. “I’ll still be here. There’s a lot of guys who will still be here. Nothing should change.” This article
ELLA DAYTON-YAEGER / HERALD
MAYA MURAVLEV / HERALD
The restaurant has been owned by the Stevens family for 80 years.
and AMOR — aims to “educate, organize and mobilize the community,” ONA Director Eloi Rodas wrote in an email to The Herald.
According to the AMOR website, the network supports a defense hotline that “connects community members to AMOR’s case manager and community support network.”
“When a caller reaches out, our volunteer operators offer them support and dispatch a verifier to scout the location where possible ICE activity is taking place,” Rodas wrote.
But while he finds it important to communicate information among members of the immigrant community, Acosta cautioned against the use of public social
media posts to notify community members of ICE activity.
“I don’t want people to be afraid,” Acosta said, adding that communications vshould avoid “the attention or the ire of the federal authorities.”
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley did not receive any communication about DHS’s presence in the city, Smiley’s Deputy Press Secretary Samara Pinto wrote in an email to The Herald.
In two previous instances this year, ICE has notified the Providence Police Department of their “intent to come to the city,” Pinto wrote, explaining that the notifications did not include details about the operations.
On Feb. 24, ICE officers arrested a Guatemalan man in Providence who was wanted in connection to a 2024 home
invasion.
The arrest followed a Jan. 29 ICE detainment of an unidentified individ-
ual in Newport, The Herald previously reported. Since taking office on Jan. 20, Pres-
ident Trump has shared plans for mass deportations and increased expedited removals of immigrants lacking permanent legal status, The Herald previously reported.
Amid these national changes, Providence has stated that it will not “proactively collaborate” with ICE agents.
Similarly, Rivera’s administration is “committed to ensuring that Central Falls is a place where all families feel safe and supported,” she wrote in a statement sent to The Herald.
“Right now, I know many families in our community are feeling afraid,” she said. “I want them to know that I see them, I stand with them and I will always advocate for their safety and well-being.”
The White House and ICE did not respond to requests for comment.
Caffè Nero slated to open on Thayer Street this April
chain’s other Providence location opened in 2023
BY MICHELLE BI SENIOR STAFF WRITER
A new Caffè Nero location, part of an English chain with over 1,000 coffee shops worldwide, is currently under construction on Thayer Street. The cafe will be located in the storefront that previously housed the seafood restaurant Shaking Crab.
The store hopes to open in the later half of April, according to Fallon King, the general manager of the downtown
location and the hiring manager of the new location. But “hurdles” including permits and inspections are currently “up in the air” and might delay opening, she said.
The cafe began exploring the possibilities of a Providence location in 2019, King said. The first location in Providence, on Fountain Street near Kennedy Plaza, opened in 2023. While the turnaround time for a new store is “usually only a few months,” the opening of the Thayer Street location was delayed due to the pandemic.
King believes that the two locations “won’t be competing against each other too much.” The downtown shop attracts mostly tourists and “people swinging
through,” while the Thayer shop will mostly target college students.
Thayer has faced high business turnover since the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to recent closures including J Life Mart and Berk’s Shoes & Clothing Store.
Owning a business on College Hill is “a challenge,” said Howard Gantz, manager of Thayer sandwich shop Cracked.
“Rents are disproportionately expensive on Thayer Street compared to other places,” Gantz said, adding that prices for renters have been “driven up” in recent years.
Fairwin Li ’28, a barista at campus coffee shop the Underground, sees the recent closures as “a sign that the general area around Brown isn’t doing as
well economically.”
“It feels like Thayer Street is kind of dead,” he said, adding that he felt like Caffè Nero isn’t bringing anything new to the main street. “I kind of wish that we had something more interesting.”
But the new cafe could “bring some brightness back” to Thayer, Li said. He hopes that it will create a “social vibe” on Thayer as well as serve as a “third place” for Brown students.
Kathryn Joukovski ’27 said she is looking forward to the cafe’s opening, adding that Caffè Nero “feels a little bit more local” compared to larger chains such as Starbucks.
Joukovski is optimistic that buying from the new Caffè Nero will provide
a way to “contribute to the community and the local economy.”
Mark Blyth, a professor of international economics and international and public affairs, is “delighted” about the new location, he wrote to The Herald. Compared to other chains, he views Caffè Nero’s coffee as “much richer and much more like proper Italian coffee.”
The new location will be “a win-win for everyone,” Gantz said. He is hopeful that the cafe will “draw people into the area.”
Caffè Nero “is still in its expansion phase in the U.S.,” King said. To her, opening and running a business in the “tight knit” city of Providence is “truly the best case scenario.”
RI bill would require fossil fuel companies to pay for environmental damages
State legislators introduced the Climate Superfund Act last month
BY ANDREA LI SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Last month, Rhode Island State Senator Linda Ujifusa (D-Portsmouth, Bristol) and State Representative Jennifer Boylan (D-Barrington, East Providence) proposed the Climate Superfund Act to the R.I. Senate and House of Representatives, respectively. The bill would make major fossil fuel companies pay for the damages their carbon emissions have caused in Rhode Island.
Large fossil fuel companies — defined by the bill as companies that have produced over 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the past three decades — would pay a share proportional to the cleanups and damages they have caused. “Peer-reviewed allocation analyses” would determine the amount that each company pays, according to
the bill. The collected funds would be allocated for climate resiliency projects in the state. Potential projects include the construction of seawalls to strengthen coastal defenses, improving stormwater systems and emergency shelters and expanding bike and pedestrian paths, Boylan and Ujifusa wrote in a joint state -
ment to The Herald.
Terrence Gray, director of the R.I. Department of Environmental Management, expressed concerns about the bill’s feasibility in a letter to the House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.
“It is uncertain how RIDEM would determine the proportional share of total costs as required by this legislation,”
Gray wrote in the letter.
Gray also cited legal concerns, referencing how Vermont and New York have faced lawsuits after passing “comparable” bills.
In another letter to the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee, American Petroleum Institute Northeast Region Director Michael Giamio called the bill “bad public policy,” “unfair” and potentially “unconstitutional.”
Giamio did not respond to The Herald’s request for comment.
“What’s unfair is Rhode Islanders having to pay exorbitant fees for our energy,” said Cassidy DiPaolo, director of communications for Fossil Free Media.
DiPaola is a part of Fossil Free Media’s Make Polluters Pay movement, which advocates for states to pass similar climate superfund acts.
Boylan wrote that Barrington’s vulnerability to “tidal and storm flooding” has shaped her policy agenda.
“Seeing projections of sea level rises and how that will impact and physically divide my community into an island com-
munity has pushed addressing climate change to the top of my priorities,” she added.
Ujifusa noted that the Ocean State “is uniquely vulnerable to climate disasters, with 400 miles of coastline and an economy dependent on tourism and marine trades.”
James Crowley — senior attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation, an environmental legal advocacy organization — emphasized the importance of “state and local action” in Rhode Island, which is “already feeling the impacts of the climate crisis.”
“Preparing for and responding to the impacts of climate change will impose enormous costs on our state,” Crowley wrote in an email to The Herald. “It makes sense for major fossil fuel companies to help pay for the damage that they have knowingly caused with their products.”
COURTESY OF R.I. DEPORTATION DEFENSE COALITION
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley did not receive any communication about DHS’s presence in the city.
The
The company hopes to open the store in mid- to late April.
CHRIS NGUYEN / HERALD
COURTESY OF R.I.
Men’s basketball weekend split steepens uphill battle to qualify for Ivy Madness
It now seems unlikely that the Bears will qualify for Ivy Madness playoffs
BY GUS BAILEY SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Over the weekend, the men’s basketball team (14-12, 6-7 Ivy) faced off against Harvard (11-15, 6-7) and Dartmouth (14-12, 8-5). Both of these away games were crucial to the Bears’ uphill battle for a spot in Ivy Madness.
On Friday, the Bears — currently slotted in fifth place in Ivy League standings — started strong, storming back from a double-digit deficit in the second half to defeat Harvard 59-52 in Cambridge. But on Saturday in New Hampshire, Brown was unable to replicate that success and fell 78-58 to Dartmouth.
After these two games, it seems unlikely that the Bears will qualify for Ivy Madness.
But “nothing is guaranteed,” Aaron Cooley ’25 wrote in an email to The Herald.
In Friday’s high-stakes game against Harvard, the Bears jumped out to a 12-7 lead in the first eight minutes. But the Crimson fought back, closing the half with a 26-15 run. By the time the teams headed for the locker rooms, Harvard held a sixpoint advantage.
Just five minutes into the second half, Harvard managed to extend its lead to 10 points. But the Bears tightened the defen-
BASKETBALL
sive screws, only letting the Crimson secure 10 more points during the rest of the night. Forcing 12 turnovers, Brown’s efforts on the defensive end opened the door for a dominant Bruno comeback.
With less than eight minutes left, Lyndel Erold ’25 snatched an offensive rebound to score a putback layup, giving Brown their first lead of the second half.
They never trailed again.
In the final three minutes, Landon Lewis ’26 scored eight points — just one short of the nine points he scored that game — to help cement the 59-52 win.
“We knew it was a sink-or-swim, lifeor-death kind of game,” wrote Cooley, who led the team with 14 points on 6-for-11 shooting. “It was a gritty game that came down to who wanted it more.”
Brown won the rebound battle 3630 and forced five more turnovers than Harvard.
There aren’t “many more opportunities I’ll have to play basketball close to home in Boston,” wrote Cooley, a senior from Roxbury, Massachusetts. “I just wanted to put on for my fellow friends and loved ones who pulled up to watch the show.”
On Saturday, Brown started the game on another hot streak. Displaying their defensive prowess, the Bears held Dartmouth scoreless for the first five minutes. Offensively, Brown exploited the Big Green’s lapse and claimed an early 9-0 lead.
But Dartmouth did not go down easy. Over the next 13 minutes, the Big Green fought back until they claimed a narrow three-point advantage with just over two
With just one more game to go in the regular season, the Bears need a miracle to sneak into the Ivy League’s final playoff spot.
minutes to go until halftime. Lewis — who led all players in scoring with 22 points — responded with back-to-back layups to put Bruno up by one to close out the half.
But in the second half, Brown was unable to contain Dartmouth’s offense, which gave the Big Green 48 of its 78 total points. The Bears also struggled at the free-throw line, shooting just 2-for-14 in the game compared to Dartmouth’s 22for-26. This disparity proved decisive, as the 20-point disparity made the difference
in the 78-58 loss.
With just one more game to go in the regular season, the Bears need a miracle to sneak into the Ivy League’s final playoff spot.
A home matchup against first-seeded Yale awaits the Bears on Saturday — a game they must win to have any hope of making Ivy Madness. For the seniors, it will be their final regular season game in the Pizzitola Sports Center, and if the Bears do not make Ivy Madness, it will be their final game in
a Brown uniform.
In this final game, Cooley hopes to “leave the jersey better than (he) found it.”
“I just hope that in my four years here I reshaped the culture and brought upon a joy to the Brown University campus that hadn’t been felt before,” he added. “This last game will be a testimony to that.”
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on March 5, 2025.
Women’s basketball finishes 1-1 in Ivy weekend road trip
Weekend split sustains Bruno’s fifth place in Ivy League standings
BY COOPER HERMAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The women’s basketball team (11-15, 5-8 Ivy) went 1-1 in two Ivy League games on the road last weekend, losing 70-44 to Columbia (21-5, 12-1) and defeating Cornell (7-19, 3-10) 38-36. Despite the loss, the Bears remain in fifth place in the Ivy League standings.
Bruno began their weekend tour at the Francis Levien Gymnasium in New York City, where they faced the Ivy League’s top-ranked team, the Columbia Lions, who have been nothing short of dominant this year.
Needless to say, Brown, who lost just weeks ago to Columbia by almost forty points, had a steep challenge in front of them entering the weekend.
On Friday, the Bears started slowly, scoring a measly four points in the first quarter with layups from Grace Arnolie ’26, who topped Brown’s offense with 15 points, and Gianna Aiello ’25. Columbia, on the other hand, found their offensive rhythm early, making shots from inside the paint and outside of the arc. The Lions were also aggressively crashing the glass, earning second-chance offensive opportunities that proved to be a difference maker.
Despite the Bears’ slow offensive start, they turned things around during the second quarter. Fueled by an eightpoint quarter from Isabella Mauricio ’25, Brown put up 13 points. At half, Bruno
was down 26-17. The second half was characterized by the Bears’ lack of ball security. Up against a sizable lead, Brown lost the turnover battle by a debilitating 18 to 8 margin during the game, losing the steals battle 13-to-1. Columbia’s defensive aggression quashed any hope for a Brown comeback. Fueled by their defense, the Lions outscored the Bears by 10 points in the third quarter, grabbing a lofty 19-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
To the Bears’ dismay, the fourth quarter was more of the same as the Lions’ dynamic offense refused to slow down,
outscoring the Bears 19 to 12 and handing Brown a devastating 70-44 loss.
Despite the rough game, the Bears were able to shake off Friday’s struggles and earn a hard-fought 38-36 win at the Newman Arena in Ithaca, New York against Cornell the following day.
“It’s got to come down to finding a way and really trusting our group,” said Head Coach Monique LeBlanc in a statement to Brown Athletics. “I thought they played tough and really gritty when it was tough to score.”
Led by Aiello, who secured her fourth career double-double with 15 points and
16 rebounds, the Bears showed supreme toughness and grit to outlast an energetic Cornell team.
In the first quarter, the Bears claimed an early lead, spearheaded by Aiello. Over the next five minutes, they pushed their advantage to 12-4. But as the first quarter wound to a close, Cornell’s offense exploded. In less than five minutes, the Big Red dropped 11 points, totaling 15 and claiming the lead heading into the second.
To the Bears’ credit, Cornell’s early offensive success did not deter them. In the second quarter, Brown approached the Big Red’s potent offense with tremendous
aggression, limiting Cornell to just four points — the fewest points scored in a single quarter by either team that day — a remarkable defensive turnaround.
Simultaneously, the Bears maintained their offensive rhythm. At halftime, Brown held a narrow 21-19 lead over Cornell.
Coming out of the locker room, the Bears showed no signs of slowing down, emerging with a palpable energy that led to a quick three-pointer from Mauricio, followed by an acrobatic tip-in from Beth Nelson ’26.
Heading into the fourth quarter, the Bears held a 31-24 lead over Cornell.
Knocking down free throws, swatting opposing shots from Cornell and grabbing defensive rebounds, Aiello was nothing short of phenomenal.
“(Aiello) has really earned it in her career, and we trust her,” LeBlanc said in a statement to Brown Athletics. “She’s aggressive, and she’s an awesome teammate. She wants the ball and wants to be able to do anything she can to help the team.”
Aiello’s performance sustained Bruno’s lead despite some late offensive threats from Cornell. Even though they were outscored 12-7 in the final quarter, the Bears narrowly secured a 38-36 win. Brown must now focus on facing their final opponent of the regular season, Yale (4-22, 3-10). The Bears will go toe-to-toe at the John Lee Amphitheater in New Haven, Connecticut on Saturday at 2 p.m. The contest will be streamed on ESPN+ and is sure to be a nail-biter.
COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS
COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS
Gianna Aiello ’25, who notched her fourth career double-double with 15 points and 16 rebounds on Saturday, surveys the Cornell defense.
SWIMMING & DIVING
Men’s swimming, diving knocks down records in best Ivy Championship finish since 2022
Jack Kelly ’25 and Marton Nagy ’28 led Bruno to its fourth-place finish
BY DENNIS CAREY SPORTS EDITOR
Last weekend, men’s swimming and diving ended its season with a fourth-place finish in the Ivy League Championships — the team’s first top-four finish since 2022. Bruno toppled 11 program records throughout the meet, dominating in the 1-meter dive, 100-meter breaststroke and 400-meter individual medley.
During the four-day competition, the Bears scored 927.5 points — just 15 more than fifth-place Cornell’s 912.5.
But despite finishing in fourth place, Bruno started the meet looking up from fifth. On Wednesday, the first day of the competition, the Bears mustered two fifthplace finishes in the 200-meter medley and 800-meter freestyle relays — a performance that needed to improve if they hoped to pass Cornell.
On Thursday, Christian Duetoft ’28 notched Bruno’s first individual points with a fifth-place finish in the 500-meter freestyle. His teammate Matt Williamson ’27 swam a faster time of 4:18.75 in the consolation final for the same event, setting a new program record.
In the 200-meter IM, Marton Nagy ’28 bested another program record, finishing in 1:42.69. His efforts earned him a sec-
TRACK & FIELD
ond-place finish — and 28 points for Bruno.
“Marton’s first Ivy Championship meet exceeded what were already very high expectations,” Head Coach Kevin Norman wrote. “Sometimes that first championship meet for a freshman can be a little intimidating, but Marton was completely unfazed and embraced the moment.”
In the other pool, Rowland Lawver ’26 became Brown’s first athlete to ever win the 1-meter dive at the Ivy Championships. His score of 370.30 was the ninth-highest in Ivy League history for the event.
On Friday night, the Bears truly came out of hibernation. Williamson opened the
night swimming 8:56.13 in the 1000-meter freestyle, earning him his second program record of the meet.
But the night was dominated by Nagy — who won the 400-meter IM with a time of 3:24.64, another program record — and Jack Kelly ’25, who stunned the competition in the 100-meter breaststroke.
Swimming a 50.60, Kelly won the event for the second year in a row and broke the program, pool and Ivy League record. The time also qualified him for the NCAA Division I championships, set to take place at the end of this month.
“Seeing all the hard work from the full
season pay off with time drops at Ivies made all those hours in the pool and the gym worth it,” Kelly wrote to The Herald.
“It’s such a rewarding feeling.”
Bruno ended the third day by breaking yet another program record — this time in the 400-meter medley relay, swam by Nagy, Kelly, Tucker Peterson ’26 and Marcus Lee ’25.
On Saturday — the fourth and final day of the meet — Williamson managed a sixthplace finish in the 1650-meter freestyle, while Lee finished eighth in the 100-meter freestyle.
Nagy set yet another program record,
swimming a ninth-place 1:42.69 in the 200 backstroke. And Kelly’s second-place finish in the 200-meter breaststroke qualified him for another NCAA championship event.
At the NCAA championships, Kelly hopes to “represent Brown on college swimming’s biggest stage the best way (he) can,” he wrote. “Whether that’s making a final or just giving it my all, I want to make sure I leave everything in the pool and make my team proud.”
After finishing this year’s Ivy Championships with three titles, a new Ivy record and a number of broken program records, Bruno can look toward their future with excitement.
“When the lights are brighter and the moment is big, like (at) Ivy Championships, it really magnifies your team’s strengths and weaknesses,” Norman wrote in a message to The Herald. He also coached the team to their fourth-place finish in 2022, earning him the Ivy League Coach of the Year award.
“I think our performance at Ivy Championships (this year) was a product of the leadership we have on our team and the confident mindset we approached the meet with,” he added. “We will obviously have big shoes to fill with our senior class graduating … but we have a lot of young talent on our roster and an exciting class coming in.”
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on March 5, 2025.
Joseph Oduro ’26 clinches triple jump title as Brown’s teams falter at Ivy Heps
BY LYDELL DYER SPORTS EDITOR
With one jump to go in the men’s triple jump finals, Joseph Oduro ’26 watched as Yale’s Brian Di Bassinga stole the lead. For three rounds, Oduro’s 15.24-meter jump topped the rankings until Bassinga managed to outperform him by .01 meters on his final jump.
Now in second place, with the last triple jump of the Ivy League Indoor Heptagonal Championships, the pressure of an entire season’s worth of work rested on Oduro’s shoulders.
“On my last jump, I was in second place, back against the wall and all eyes on me,” Oduro wrote in a message to The Herald. “My teammates, coaches and family cheered and (leant) me their energy.”
With one last chance to claim gold, Oduro took to the runway and landed as the gold medalist for the event. Leaping 15.58 meters, Oduro blew past Bassinga’s mark, winning the event and setting a personal record in the process.
“The fuel from the fans, my teammates and even the faces of my competitors — it all pushes you to be better,” Oduro wrote. “That’s what competition is about. I love it, and it lights the fire in me every time. I’m so grateful for the opportunity and the people who helped me get here.”
Despite stand-out performances, the Bears failed to improve on last year’s outcome. At the 2024 championships, the
women’s team finished in fourth place with 84 cumulative points while the men took fifth, buoyed by a 45-point effort.
But, this year, both teams dropped in their respective standings — the women’s team finished in seventh place with 32 points while the men finished last.
Princeton dominated the competition, leading the men’s team with 189.5 points and the women’s team with 168 points.
During the two-day championship, individual athletes can earn points for their team by finishing in the top six of any given event. Gold medals earn ten points, silver medals earn eight points and bronze are worth six. Athletes in fourth place are awarded four points, fifth place two points and sixth-place finishers are awarded one point.
“We had many PRs and great perfor-
mances, but I do feel that as a team we want more,” Chidinma Agbasi ’25, who has been a bright light for the women’s team all season, wrote in a message to The Herald. “We finished 4th last year as women and this year we finished 7th. We are … very determined to improve through outdoor and get back to where we once were.”
On Saturday, Agbasi set the foundation for the Bears. Delivering the best performance of her career, Agbasi launched a 19.77-meter long weight throw. Agbasi extended the University record by 0.5 meters — a record she herself set at the Yale Invitational three weeks ago — and clinched the bronze in the event.
“I was very very grateful to be on the podium with my teammate,” Agbasi wrote, referencing Michelyn Appiah ’27, who finished in fourth place with an 18.81-meter throw. Appiah, who set a personal best as well, now ranks second in program history, trailing behind Agbasi.
Throughout the first day of competition, four other athletes secured points for Brown. Frank Monahan-Morang ’26 won a silver medal in the men’s long jump with a career-best 7.38-meter leap. He was awarded Second Team All-Ivy honors for his efforts in the long jump.
Delaney Seligmann ’25 took home the bronze in the women’s pentathlon with 3,850 points. Along the way, she won the pentathlon long jump with a mark of 6.04 meters.
In the men’s weight throw, Keith Daigneau ’27 set a new personal record of 19.97 meters which earned him fifth place in the event. Capping the day off, Jada Joseph ’25 earned one point with a
sixth-place finish of 6.09 meters in the women’s long jump.
By the end of day one, the women’s team ranked third with 17 points while the men held on to sixth place. On Sunday, despite Bruno’s best efforts, the other Ivy teams began to pull away.
Joseph attempted to level the playing field. Competing in the women’s triple jump, she delivered an emphatic 12.77-meter performance and won the bronze medal.
Gabriel Thai ’27 set a new personal record in the men’s heptathlon. Totalling 4,722 points, he finished in fifth place. While competing in the seven-competition event, Thai finished second in the pole vault and third in the 1,000-meter race, setting personal records in both events.
Though a number of other athletes were able to clinch top-five finishes, ultimately, Bruno’s efforts could not keep pace with talented Princeton and Harvard rosters. Despite Saturday’s rankings — with the women ranking at the top, and the men standing in the middle of the pack — the women had fallen to seventh place while the men stood in eighth by the time the competition concluded.
The women’s track team plan to compete in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships while the men’s team will compete in the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America Championships on March 9. This weekend will mark the end of the indoor season as the track team pivots to outdoors.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on March 5, 2025.
COURTESY OF KAYLEIGH HALASZ VIA BROWN ATHLETICS
Jack Kelly ’25 set an Ivy League record in the 100 breaststroke.
Track and field finished near bottom of Ivy Indoor Heps
COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS
Joseph Oduro ’26 won the Triple Jump Title at the Ivy League Indoor Heptagonal Championships.
post-
Letter from the Editor
I recently started writing poetry again. If you’re an avid post- reader, you may have read one of my pieces last year. However, after being interrogated by my Pre-College residents this summer about the poem, I decided to clean up my digital footprint and republish it under a pseudonym. This got me thinking about what it means to invent and reinvent a persona. I think about the molts of personality I’ve shedded following large transitions in life. A more subdued version of me decomposes in Northwest Indiana, and I ponder what layer I’ll leave behind in Providence. Considering I also registered for the MCAT this weekend, I don’t think this poem was the only thing fueling this introspection.
Well-Arranged
MARCH 5
ISSUE 5
Our writers this week have also been pondering portrayal. In Feature, Samira discusses the tensions between Western and non-Western perspectives on arranged marriages. On the Narrative side, Sarah talks about collecting postcards and speculating about the lives of those sending and receiving them, and the managing editors venture slightly into my territory of A&C to write about our experiences watching films. In A&C proper, Ann talks about her joy and anger in playing the Roblox game Dress to Impress, while Ozzy recounts a notable Rock and Roll Hall of Fame performance. In Lifestyle, Michelle reflects on the progression of her New Year's resolutions, Reina talks about Providence winters through the perspective of someone from the west coast, and AJ created an Oscar-themed crossword. In post-pourri, Tarini shares a love letter to her fairy lights that keep falling down, no matter how they’re secured.
As I combed through the recently posted courses on CAB, I was hit with the realization this will be my last time procrastinating work by contemplating courses more than six months away. I can only hope to earn a spot in Advanced Poetry. Unfortunately, I do not think I will include my aforementioned post- poem in my sample submission. Instead, I will use my MCAT-fueled identity crisis to peel back layers with greater efficiency than one of those chemical foot peels.
“Not one cavity ever— I’m a dental darling.”
“I defeated hunger. Not world hunger— my own.”
“I don’t have patience for a letter. I don’t like wasting time putting pen to paper or finding a stamp or waiting for USPS to drive past your house. I care about you, and you should know that today.”
— Eleanor Dushin, “I’m Trying to Tell You”
“My most cherished times are spent sprawled on the floors of my friends’ rooms, wrapped in the warmth of the pillows and blankets on their twin XLs as time unravels quietly in the background of our conversations.” — Katherine Mao, “Restful Rhythms”
Employee of the Month (SpongeBob SquarePants)
Tablecloth material
Section Editors Daniella Coyle Hallel Abrams Gerber
POST-POURRI Managing Editor Susanne Kowalska
Section Editor Olivia Stacey
HEAD ILLUSTRATORS
Junyue Ma Kaitlyn Stanton
Managing Editor
Tabitha Grandolfo
Section Editors Eliot Geer
Chloe Ovbiagele
LAYOUT CHIEF Gray Martens
Layout Designers
Amber Zhao
Alexa Gay
James Farrington
Irene Park
STAFF WRITERS
Nina Lidar
Gabi Yuan
Lynn Nguyen Ben Herdeg
Daphne Cao
Indigo Mudbhary
Ishan Khurana
Sofie Zeruto
Sydney Pearson
Ayoola Fadahunsi
Samira Lakhiani
Ellyse Givens
CROSSWORD AJ Wu
Ishan Khurana
Lily Coffman
COMMENTARY
Barrozo ’26: To Brown’s international students, don’t let your visa decide your education
When I applied to Brown, I was enamored by the promise of the Open Curriculum. As an indecisive learner with far too many interests, I saw Brown as a perfect fit — an academic playground where I could explore freely. However, within my first year, my idealized expectations quickly unraveled. As an international student, I discovered that this supposed freedom was not without its limits: Immigration policies and job market constraints reinforce the idea that the humanities are a luxury that international students cannot afford. Though there is pressure to choose STEM, this choice often comes at the cost of true intellectual fulfillment. The humanities remain worth pursuing, despite systemic obstacles, because they cultivate the resilience necessary to overcome them.
For many foreign students, choosing a major is more than a simple matter of passion, it is a decision tied to post-graduation visa restrictions. While those graduating with a STEM degree are awarded three years of post-graduation work authorization, those in the humanities are only eligible for a single year. From the moment that I expressed interest in the humanities, I was met with skepticism. These constraints burden nearly every international student who seeks to immigrate to America and influence many to prioritize visa-compatible majors and career paths over their true intellectual curiosities. After all, a single year out of college is no time at all. What meaningful career foundation can a recent graduate lay in just 12 months?
To alleviate these anxieties, many internationals opt for STEM degrees, an unsurprising choice given a labor force where STEM majors have a clear advan-
tage post-graduation. Not only do STEM fields offer higher salaries, but they also provide more job opportunities compared to the humanities. This disadvantage is especially apparent in the choices of many Brown students where, in 2022, 40% of graduates concentrated in some combination of economics, applied mathematics, and computer science.
The STEM visa extension seems especially promising in the current political climate. While
The uncertainty is so great that institutions like Brown urged all international students to return to Providence before President Trump’s inauguration. If American universities cannot even anticipate what’s coming, how can we? Choosing STEM may seem like the safest option with a structured, wellplanned, three-year trajectory, but if we can’t predict the next few months, let alone the next several years? How tangible is that security? Instead, this
Blindly following a predetermined path in STEM leads nowhere, but pursing what you truly believe is transcendent. “
“
President Trump has previously made vague promises of green cards for international graduates, no serious measures have been taken to date. Still, the echoes of his last administration remain in the memory of international students: Changes to H-1B visas — the work visas many international students require post-graduation — favored higher international wage earners, and visa denial rates reached 24% in 2018, as opposed to a mere 2% under the Biden administration in 2022.
uncertainty is something we must learn to bear. International students cannot secure just any type of job if they want to extend their time in the United States. The ideal job must both accept foreign workers’ applications and be willing to sponsor a graduate once the three initial years are up. These jobs are exceedingly rare and concentrated among a few firms: the top 30 H-1B employers account for 40% of the annual cap of 85,000 visas. They exist primarily in specific, well-paid industries, such as
finance and tech, and are largely concentrated within major corporations where positions are extremely limited.
The select few who reassert their commitment to the humanities may seem to be doing so with little security and a daunting path ahead. For many international students, returning home — where humanities careers can face even greater challenges — might become a reality, yet they remain unshaken.
Yes, of course, the humanities are worth it. Despite a less-than-linear path ahead, students should hold firm, not out of naivety, but because passion and dedication are important. Blindly following a predetermined path in STEM leads nowhere, but pursuing what you truly believe in is transcendent. Moreover, humanities degrees from institutions like Brown can lead to successful careers, providing graduates with invaluable analytical skills that are highly valued across industries. Clinging to the illusion of control that STEM offers may seem pragmatic, but what is security without purpose? The humanities demand resilience, but in return, they offer something far more valuable: meaning.
For international students, staying in the U.S. means navigating an inherently exploitative immigration system. Instead of chasing the illusion of security in a system that will never guarantee it, we can embrace the risk of being true to ourselves.
Julia Barrozo ’26 can be reached at julia_barrozo_do_amaral@brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
Letter: Response to ‘Half-mushroom burger at Josiah’s sparks debate on taste, sustainability’
To the Editor:
I appreciate the recent piece on Josiah’s pivot to half-mushroom burgers and Brown's efforts to reduce red meat consumption on campus. We all owe a big thanks to Brown Dining Services for taking on the challenge of helping achieve our sustainability goals while providing healthy, tasty food for our students, faculty and staff. The article mentioned the nitrogen footprint as a motivation for red meat reduction — but it's more than that.
Brown’s Strategic Sustainability Plan has five
focal areas: climate change, nutrient pollution, water use, biodiversity and human health. Eating less — or no — red meat and dairy helps with each of these. Producing a half-pound burger can release the equivalent of up to 50 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, while burning a half a pound of coal produces about two pounds! That same half-pound burger can add about 20 pounds to your nitrogen footprint, largely due to the fossil fuel-derived nitrogen fertilizer required to grow the crops — mostly corn and soybeans —
that are fed to cows. Nitrogen pollution affects air and water quality, and thus human health, as well as having multiple other negative environmental effects. Speaking of water, that half-pound burger requires about the same amount of water as a seven-hour shower. And clearing land for beef production is responsible for about half of all tropical deforestation —- one of the biggest threats to biodiversity.
Simply put, eating less red meat and dairy is one of the biggest steps an individual in our com-
munity can take to live more sustainably — especially for students who can’t yet control what type of car they drive or how they heat their homes, but can choose to eat more sustainably at on-campus dining halls.
Sincerely, Stephen Porder (Associate Provost for Sustainability, Acacia Professor of Ecology, Evolutionary and Organismal Biology and Environment and Society)
Lair ’28: We should complain a little less — for our own sakes
“I am so tired” or “I have so much work to do” is how I start most of my conversations. These complaints rarely express how I’m actually feeling, but they’re always a way to break the ice. But even when I’m not actually tired or don’t have much to do, these complaints still manage to put me in a bad mood and stifle my motivation to complete assignments.
As the first-year excitement of college wears off, it is easy to slip into a headspace where our education feels like something to get over with, rather than something to enjoy. But our college experience should be a service to ourselves. In order to make our education fulfilling and worthwhile, we have to be self-motivated and
curious. If we just let our years pass by, we waste countless resources that could enhance our personal growth. As college students, we have to ditch complaint culture and take charge of our own academic well-being.
Just look at Sidechat. Some of our largest, most visible conversations are complaints about Brown’s facilities, our classes or each other. Here’s the crux of the matter: Complaining is easy, and complaining is fun. It’s all too relatable. Most of us are tired, we all have plenty of work to do and “I’m so excited to write my paper due tomorrow!” doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Complaining is the surefire force that unites us as college students, making it the perfect conversation start-
Our negative default isn’t our fault. We are essentially hardwired to be pessimists. Negative experiences cause intense emotional responses and strong memories. And because these bad events stick in our heads, we base our decisions off of them, producing an all-around
To an extent, blowing off steam by venting is a cathartic — and sometimes beneficial — experience. Seeking validation and
advice from others can be a healthy step toward overcoming roadblocks or moving past a difficult experience. But never-ending complaints only leave us in an echo chamber of stress and gloom.
If our initial reaction to schoolwork is annoyance, we overlook the incredible opportunities we have as Brown students. Our education is a process to be enjoyed, not just a race to graduate with a big-name degree and a high starting salary. If we only value the University because of its post-grad opportunities, we set ourselves up for four years of exhaustion. And while financial security is a valid academic incentive, if it is the only one, our time here becomes an imposition rather than a privilege.
Of course, students should continue to criticize Brown. Direct feedback and action are necessary checks on an institution with a wide scope of influence, but Sidechat posts and bad attitudes are not the most productive ways to improve the University. Structural change requires informed and organized dialogue, and if anything, a general culture of complaining only dilutes the most important criticisms. There is plenty the administration can do to make Brown a better place, but we should still appreciate the opportunities we have as students here. Gratitude and constructive
criticism are not mutually exclusive. Each of our college experiences is different, but most of us can find more positivity in our everyday lives. An easy way to start? Avoid the complaints we mindlessly attribute to schoolwork. It is easy to approach an assignment as an inconvenient interruption to your TikTok scrolling, or to start every conversation about all of the work we have to do. But then, we sacrifice the passion that could make our learning environment even more enjoyable.
Remember how excited you were to get into Brown? We owe it to ourselves to make the most out of our college experience, and to do so, we have to push past our negative tendencies. Our words can seem unimportant, but they have a real effect on our happiness and stress. There is no need to force a smile all day or completely avoid talking about the hard parts of college, but we can actively choose to change our perspective toward a college experience that we are incredibly lucky to have.
CJ Lair ’28 can be reached at craig_lair@brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
Rackoff ’25: Reflections from an anti-Zionist academic echo chamber
Last month, I attended the “Non-Zionist Jewish Traditions” conference hosted by the Cogut Institute for the Humanities. The conference consisted of five panels and two roundtable discussions across two days. I attended one each day. While I, unfortunately, did not experience the full program, the combined four hours I spent at the conference provided me with an eye-opening window into the world of anti-Zionist academia and the danger of an echo chamber. I remain convinced that to pursue truth and not ideology, anti-Zionist and Zionist academics must seriously engage with counter-narratives.
Before the conference, I naively believed the event would simply examine the fascinating stories of non-Zionist Jews through history. What I instead saw was an extreme portrayal of Israel as the pinnacle of evil in the world. Though I’ve encountered this position amongst my peers at protests, I have never heard it so explicitly stated by faculty members.
During the final panel titled “Roundtable: Anti-Zionism, Anti-Semitism and the Stakes of the Debate,” Beshara Doumani, a professor of Palestinian studies at Brown, remarked that “Global Israel” has become “the north star of the rise of fascism all over the world.” The room responded to this proclamation with head nods and snaps.
Doumani made another remark that prompt-
ed me to whip open my notebook. In agreement with Adi Ophir, visiting professor of humanities and Middle East studies, Doumani asserted “that in order to pursue a liberatory imagination of what it means to be a Jew, the first move is to become an Anti-Zionist,” a questionable characterization from someone who is not themselves Jewish.
I am wary of mischaracterizing this gathering as monolithic, given that the conference was open to everyone — apparently, some attendees identified as liberal Zionists. However, the anti-Zionist perspective monopolized the discussions that I attended. The characterization of Zionism as inherently racist and genocidal went unchallenged, creating a hostile environment for anyone inclined to “own up” to their Zionism, even if it included fierce criticism of contemporary Israeli policy. This hostility became clear to me during a question I posed about antisemitism.
During the same panel, the speakers discussed how the pro-Israel lobby suppresses anti-Zionist speech, especially at universities. While I agree that some Zionist groups mischaracterize any criticism of Israel as antisemitic, I also know that antisemitism is often part and parcel of anti-Zionist activity. In response to the panelists’ points about free speech, I asked: How should administrators engage
with the real concerns on behalf of Jewish students that anti-Zionist protests are often entangled with antisemitism? When I finished my question, many in the room laughed, and one of the panelists audibly scoffed.
This conference highlights the ever-deepening polarization surrounding conversations about Zionism and Israel. Professors did not merely criticize the Jewish state, they attacked the founders of Zionism and their adherents as genocidal, Jewish supremacists.
The issue with this conference was not that academics spoke vehemently against Zionism but rather that no voices offered opposing perspectives. Brown is not lacking in Zionist professors, particularly in our outstanding Judaic Studies department, yet none of them were present at the event. Whether their absence is attributable to themselves or that of the conference organizers, I cannot know. But it was an absence that I felt poignantly.
The Cogut Institute received more than 1,500 emails in protest of the conference. Although many Zionist students and alumni pressured the administration to cancel the event, this would have been a mistake. Counteracting extreme distortions of Zionism does not require shutting down conferences. After all, suppressing false and skewed narratives
does not eliminate the beliefs underlying them, and restricting the free exchange of ideas contradicts the University’s epistemic mission. An honest pursuit of truth demands that we allow for the expression of ideas that might be perceived by some as uncomfortable or even dangerous.
When I attended the “Non-Zionist Jewish Traditions” conference, I stepped into an echo chamber. Though I do not expect Zionist professors to sway their fellow academics, their mere presence at a conference like this would signify that anti-Zionism is not a mandate within the academy. If our mission is to examine Zionism, non-Zionism and anti-Zionism in a rigorous, academic manner, it is imperative to include professors who do not consider Zionism a fundamentally fascist, genocidal and Jewish supremacist movement, and who are willing to speak to this effect.
I am thankful that those who sought to cancel the conference failed; I am also hopeful that next time around, such gatherings will resemble more of a scholarly dialectic than a party convention.
Maya Rackoff ‘25 can be reached at maya_rackoff@brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
Editorial: Brown’s Fulbright achievement is what makes Brown, Brown
In the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, Brown defined its unique place within the American consciousness by flaunting its countercultural streak through the newly formed Open Curriculum and vehement student activism. The legendary but fleeting Semiotics — later Modern Culture and Media — department helped produce iconic writers and thinkers such as Ira Glass ’82, Jefferey Eugenides ’82 and Rick Moody ’83. John F. Kennedy Jr. ’83 brought a certain swagger to the University that really put it on the map. It was cool to go to Brown — cool in a way that Harvard could never have dreamed of.
Now, in an age where prospective students obsess over rankings and metrics, the unique nature of Brown’s undergraduate experience can get lost in the data. By the numbers, we do well across the board — and really well in certain Brown-esque areas. But no statistic can capture the essence of the University — that factor which makes it a truly cool place to go to college. The recent announcement that Brown was the top producer of Fulbright students for the fifth time in a decade comes the
closest — out of all the rankings — to encapsulating that special quality that makes Brown, Brown.
As of September, U.S. News & World Report says we’re No. 11 in the nation for economics, Niche says we’re No. 3 for public health, No. 4 for global studies and No. 4 for English. Also according to U.S. News, we’re No. 8 for first-year experiences, No. 18 for innovation and No. 12 for “Best Value.” That’s nothing to complain about. But do these rankings really provide the best reasons as to why a prospective student should attend Brown? We don’t think so. And we’re willing to bet that if you asked a Brunonian on the main green, they’d concur.
Let’s hone in on the areas of excellence that best represent Brown’s aura. For the past six years, U.S. News has listed us as the No. 1 school for “Writing in the Disciplines.” Now we’re talking. In every facet of the Brown undergraduate experience, not just in the literary arts department, writing is integral. Combining this with third-place “Undergraduate Teaching Programs” makes for an education that is not only deeply introspective but also fantastically engaging.
We’re also No. 4 for our Senior Capstone program. On top of our writing and teaching, this feels closer to pinpointing the Brunonian magic. It’s about more than just learning the material. It’s about having interests and pursuing them. It’s about the weird and unusual questions we’re obsessed with and the independent intellectual adventures we go on.
But, really, our achievement of being the top producer of Fulbright students for the fifth time in nine years — having been in the top three all the while — is what best tells the story of our dear, dear Brown University.
The U.S. government calls it the “flagship international academic exchange program.” Fulbright students are awarded grants to go abroad and “pursue graduate study, conduct research or teach English.” Brown prepares us to pursue adventure, seek immersion and ask the questions no one else will ask — all on our own terms. This scholarship is about leadership, academic distinction and worldliness, but all through the lens of an independent,
Ricks ’27: African American identity matters
As Black History Month came to an end last week, I reflected on my identity as an African American at Brown. My contemplation has left me with more questions than answers, but there are a few things I know to be true. African Americans hold a unique identity within the United States and the African diaspora. This identity should be recognized and celebrated both during and after Black History Month.
Black and African American are often used interchangeably. African American is a term that some define as an ethnic group in the United States who are descendants of enslaved Africans. In contrast, Black is a racial designation that encompasses various ethnic groups across Africa and the African diaspora. Black people make up 13% of the U.S. population and only 9% of Brown undergraduates. This year’s first-year class saw a 40% decrease in Black students. Although the majority of Black people in the U.S. are African American, meeting an African American student at Brown has been an anomaly in my experience. The Black population at Brown seems to consist mostly of first- or second-generation immigrants from countries like Nigeria or Ghana. While I am grateful for the
diverse range of Black identities I have been exposed to in college, I am always struck by the small African American presence on campus. I am not alone in my experience of feeling like a “minority within a minority.” Students have written about the issue at Harvard, Penn and even here at Brown.
Race-based affirmative action at schools like Brown was created in part to mitigate the discrimination faced by African Americans in the wake of Jim Crow and slavery, yet we seem to benefit the least from it. This isn’t to say that first or second-generation Black students are overrepresented, but that African American students are woefully underrepresented — and this is a form of erasure.
During the spring of my first year, I went to a Black Student Union meeting where we watched and discussed “I am Not Your Negro,” a documentary about the life and work of James Baldwin. I raised my hand to share my experience of being African American at Brown — the heavy weight of going to an institution built on your people’s forced labor and the isolation of being a minority within your community. In response, one of my peers said that it wasn’t my fault that I didn’t
know where I came from. I can recall several other instances where my Black peers gave me befuddled looks when I said I was from the United States. I grew up with a strong cultural identity, knowing that African Americans have lived in this country since before it was founded. Our ancestors tilled this land, built this economy and died for a country that regarded them as three-fifths of a person. Do our unique historical, artistic and political contributions to this country not constitute a cultural identity?
Now more than ever, our African American identity is under attack. Last month, some federal agencies prohibited observances of Black History Month, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth. This comes after a years-long campaign to ban the study of African American history under the pretext of combating “Critical Race Theory” and “wokeness.” Most recently, the Trump administration mandated that all universities get rid of race-conscious programming and threatened to defund universities that do not comply. These efforts are attempts to whitewash this country’s racist history and deny the history and culture of African Americans. As everyday citizens, there is only so much we can
untraditional pursuit of knowledge. Simply, we at Brown excel in the untraditional. While this metric gets closest to conveying what the Brown experience is like, the only way to understand what it’s all about is to enroll. But if you happen to find yourself in need of an elevator pitch, we hope you’ll keep this in mind. Fulbright students are who our country, according to the State Department, sends to foster “mutual understanding between the United States and other countries.” If you’re looking for a statistic that says: Why Brown? That’s the one we’d choose.
Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board, and its views are separate from those of The Herald’s newsroom and the 135th Editorial Board, which leads the paper. This editorial was written by the editorial page board’s members, Ethan Canfield ’28, Rchin Bari ’28, Paul Hudes ’27, Paulie Malherbe ’26, Ben Aizenberg ’26, Tas Rahman ’26 and Meher Sandhu ’25.5.
do in the face of this unprecedented erasure. But as students and community members, we must demand that Brown do more to make this campus an accepting and representative environment. Black spaces on campus must recognize our cultural identity, not invalidate it. Even in light of federal attacks on race-based admissions, the University must strengthen its efforts to encourage Black and African American students to apply and attend.
Lastly, I’d like to leave my fellow African Americans with a message. In a political era where our history and literature are under constant threat, we must claim our culture with pride. This starts with showing up in the classroom, the community and Black spaces on campus and demanding more from this institution and our peers. During Black History Month and beyond, we must stand firm in our cultural identity.
Kendall Ricks ’27 can be reached at kendall_ricks@brown. edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@ browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@ browndailyherald.com.
ARTS & CULTURE
ALUMNI
Brown alum Han Nguyen ’21 travels the world on ‘The Amazing Race’
Han Nguyen teamed up with her brother to compete in the reality show
BY MANAV MUSUNURU ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR
As children, Han Nguyen ’21 and Holden Nguyen would watch “The Amazing Race” every Friday night, ever since a classmate told Holden Nguyen about the show at school.
So when they were selected to compete in the 37th season of the reality competition show, it was “a dream come true” for Holden Nguyen. It “felt like a joy to me, the opportunity to do something that I’ve always wanted to,” he said.
In the show — which aired the first episode of its new season on Wednesday night — teams of two compete in challenges spread throughout a variety of global destinations in hopes of winning a $1 million grand prize. Each week, the slowest team to reach the “Pit Stop” — a mandatory rest checkpoint at the end of each leg of competition — is eliminated from the contest.
“The whole thing was so hard,” Han Nguyen said. “Probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life, and I’ve done a lot of hard things.”
But while the grand prize was an incentive, the siblings had other reasons for wanting to compete on the show.
After Holden Nguyen went to military boarding school, the siblings rarely interacted with each other, and when Han Nguyen attended Brown, the only time the pair had together was during
REVIEW
winter break. But even then in the time they had together, the two would butt heads.
“(Holden and I) would get into a heated argument … and then we would never reach a resolution,” Han Nguyen said. “I would fly back to the East Coast, and Holden would go back to school, and we … wouldn’t talk until the next winter break.”
Competing on “The Amazing Race” was a way for the two to rebuild their relationship and make up for lost time.
Contestants do not have access to phones, isolating them from the outside world. For Holden Nguyen, adapting to this situation was one of the most difficult aspects of the competition.
“The only other person that you really have is your teammate,” he said, adding that the show’s circumstances helped strengthen the siblings’ relationship throughout the competition.
“I’m very lucky that I got to learn how to trust my brother in this very specific public instance,” Han Nguyen added.
The sibling duo is one of the youngest teams to compete in the show’s history, and at 22 years old, Holden Nguyen was the youngest competitor in the 37th season.
Although the pair’s age benefited them in the show’s physical challenges, it was a detriment in other areas.
“The race requires you to have pristine and very refined decision-making (skills),” Han Nguyen said. “When you go through life and you get more wisdom, that decision making becomes more and more refined … unfortunate -
ly, we did not have years on our side.”
Despite the disadvantage, Han Nguyen and Holden Nguyen relied on their college experiences — as a Brown alum and a Stanford student — to guide their strategy throughout the race.
Holden Nguyen said that the duo’s “approach to education was very similar to (their) approach to the race.”
Drawing upon past educational experiences “helped bridge a little bit of that youthful indiscretion of not having the life experience to have really sharp decision-making,” he explained.
During her time at Brown, Han Nguy -
en was a member of the women’s swim team. But for her it wasn’t her athletic ability that was important in the race, but rather the top-down problem-solving that she learned from her concentration in international relations.
“Learning from all these amazing, smart people (at Brown) that had different perspectives from me … was key in building relationships,” she said.
As a student athlete, the time management skills she gained from balancing academics and practice also helped her in the race.
“The thing that got me through four
years of D1 swimming was just taking it one day at a time, one practice at a time, one stroke at a time, one class at a time,” she said. “I think that mindset also was very key in our strategy during our time on the race.”
The first episode of the season saw teams travel to Hong Kong. Subsequent episodes will take teams around the world to Bulgaria, France, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Portugal and the UAE.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on March 5, 2025.
Oscar-winning ‘Conclave’ transports audiences to the tension of papal conclaves
Edward Berger’s film perfectly captures factionalism in the Catholic world
BY MANAV MUSUNURU ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR
Factional. Tense. Dramatic. Papal conclaves are high-stakes gatherings in the Catholic world where cardinal electors convene in Vatican City to appoint the pope. As Pope Francis’s declining health dominates headlines, international attention has been drawn to the process of selecting his successor.
Although director Edward Berger tends to sensationalize papal conclaves in “Conclave,” the film nonetheless gives audiences a glimpse into hypothetical factionalism and controversies that sway the votes of cardinal electors during these rare gatherings.
The film centers around the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), as he attempts to organize a papal conclave to elect the next pope, while unraveling mysteries surrounding his fellow cardinals that threaten to throw the results of the election into jeopardy.
The film progressively picks up pace after its slow rising action in the first half-hour, throwing audiences onto a rollercoaster of shocking revelations and plot twists as Lawrence uncovers the cardinals’ pasts.
At 120 minutes, the film’s runtime is the shortest of this year’s Best Pic -
ture nominees. But screenwriter Peter Straughan has perfectly adapted the plot of Robert Harris’s eponymous 2016 novel for the screen, creating arguably one of the most captivating political thrillers in recent years. Even with a limited runtime, the film never feels too rushed, allowing viewers to fully digest every new controversy before moving on to the next.
It’s no surprise that Straughan won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay at this Sunday’s Oscars.
Composer Volker Bertelmann brings the tense atmosphere of Vatican City to life through his score. Dominated by strings and the ethereal vibrations of the Cristal Baschet — a relatively unknown type of crystallophone played with wet
hands — the film’s score emphasizes the ambition, anger and anxiety brewing in the characters throughout.
The dramatic election in “Conclave” would be incomplete without the cast’s impactful performances. Fiennes masterfully depicts the struggles of Lawrence as he attempts to shield the cardinal electors from the bias of outside sources while investigating the rumors surrounding his peers and attempting to bolster support for his peers in the liberal faction of the Church.
Fiennes was not the only actor who skillfully portrayed the tumultuous emotions of the cardinals during the papal conclave. Each cardinal perfectly captures a unique attitude: the irate Cardinal
alone makes “Conclave” worth the watch.
Bellini (Stanley Tucci), the conniving Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow), the ruined Cardinal Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati), the close-minded Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto) and the benevolent Cardinal Benitez (Carlos Diehz) weave a complicated narrative tapestry through their actions. The cast was collectively recognized with Critics’ Choice and Screen Actors Guild awards for their performances.
Isabella Rossellini — nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars for her portrayal of Sister Agnes — has little screen time and even fewer lines. A few scenes throughout the film display Agnes’s facial expressions, emphasizing her observant nature and hinting at her pivotal
role in the film. In these few appearances that Rosselini makes, she showcases her talent in conveying the sheer influence of Agnes, even without words.
Regrettably, “Conclave” was excluded from the Best Cinematography category at the Academy Awards on Sunday. Rather, “Emilia Perez,” a film that does not attain even a fraction of the immaculate artistic talents of “Conclave” cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine, was nominated in the category.
Nevertheless, the cinematography of “Conclave” makes it worth the watch. Fontaine beautifully captures the stark contrast between the bright red cloaks of the cardinals and the muted interiors of the Vatican. Each individual scene could be a standalone work of art, particularly one overhead sequence depicting white umbrellas moving across a courtyard as the cardinals migrate to their final round of voting.
With its dramatic bent, “Conclave” provides audiences with a fascinating tale of betrayal, mystery and surprise. In a different year, “Conclave” would have been the favorite for Best Picture at Sunday’s Oscars. It does what most other films struggle to do — perfectly balance the various aspects of filmmaking from visuals to performances. “Conclave” is a political thriller unafraid of confronting religious taboo topics and a masterpiece in 21st century film.
COURTESY OF FOCUS FEATURES
Stéphane Fontaine’s cinematography
COURTESY OF KIT KARZEN VIA CBS
The sibling duo is one of the youngest teams to compete in the show’s history, and at 22 years old, Holden Nguyen was the youngest competitor in the 37th season.
Brown musicians, RISD artists capture music on paper at Sketching Sound concert
RISD artists sketched Brown musicians as they performed live music
EVENT BY DIA NANDA AND SUMMER SHI SENIOR STAFF WRITER AND STAFF WRITER
On Saturday afternoon, musicians and illustrators shared the stage at the Lindemann Performing Arts Center’s Riley Hall for the “Sketching Sound Chamber Music Concert,” an event combining live chamber music with real-time visual art.
While students in Brown’s chamber music groups performed classical and contemporary pieces, artists from the Rhode Island School of Design and global drawing nonprofit Urban Sketchers drew the musicians in action. The musical pieces included works by Felix Mendelssohn, Dinuk Wijeratne and Ludwig van Beethoven. Musicians were depicted in a variety of mediums, ranging from ink to charcoal.
After musicians performed each piece, the artists displayed newly completed sketches to the audience and added their works to a growing collection on the wall. The audience was also invited to create sketches based on their own artistic interpretations of the event.
“Watching the way musicians and artists inspired each other to open paths to new ways of creative expression was thrilling,” said Lois Finkel, the director
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of strings and chamber music at Brown.
Finkel, one of two main organizers of the event, originally drew inspiration from Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Project’s 2005 residency at RISD, where RISD students drew alongside live music.
“It sparked the idea to try to make this happen for music students at Brown,”
Finkel told The Herald.
The event was created several years ago when Finkel met Leonard Long, a
RISD illustration instructor. Both professors expressed interest in fostering a collaboration between the
schools, which led to the first Sketching Sounds event.
Finkel said that the environment created an “intensity of focus” for the musicians, drawing from the “awareness that the artist and audience was actively listening and drawing inspiration from their music making.”
Among those in the audience was Ziqi Fang ’26, a violinist and singer who had performed in previous iterations of “Sketching Sound.” Watching the illustrators bring sound to life on paper led Fang to reflect on the way music and art intertwined throughout the performance.
“It’s so interesting to see people’s creative process. You can sit here and watch someone complete a drawing in 10 minutes while listening to these amazing
The 24 Hour Play Festival delivers comedic genius
Playwrights spent a whole day crafting absurdly hysterical shows
BY ANN GRAY GOLPIRA SENIOR STAFF WRITER
From cussing unicorns to an uproarious sixth-grade love story, Something on the Green’s 16th Biannual 24 Hour Play Festival exemplifies what student theater should be. Featuring four hilarious short plays, the festival came to life over 24 hours, from 7 p.m. on Friday night, when writing began, until 7 p.m. on Saturday, when the brand-new plays were performed.
Upon entering the crowded Upspace in T.F. Green Hall, audience members were greeted by a small black box theater and a litany of Tate McRae songs. Setting the tone for the evening, the playbill attributed a variety of “special thanks” to things such as “Trader Joe’s,” “Sofia’s physics homework,” “tall grandmas everywhere” and “Beyoncé.”
Each play title followed the SOTG acronym, with the first play, “SMMMM oUHHHH tSSS GRRUM,” being no exception. The play — written by Avinoam Levin ’26 and Alicia Joo ’26 — followed the inner workings of the invented company “Unicorn Starbucks.” In it, staff members were tasked with rebuilding their business after a series of setbacks, including a zero-star Yelp rating and a health code violation.
Led by the company founder, Silvermane Sugartoes, the employees, adorned with pink paper horns and business attire, save their dying company through the invention of the Humanccino — a frappuccino made of humans. Featuring
cussing unicorns, not-so-subtle Starbucks innuendos and energetic acting performances, “SMMMM oUHHHH tSSS GRRUM” had audience members cracking up from the evening’s outset.
With equally endearing characters and a similar level of playful absurdity, the night continued with Yaffa Segal ’25 and Riley Gramley’s ’25.5 piece, “SAVE oUR tRAGIC GRANDMA.” Johnny, hav -
musicians,” Fang said. “It’s a space where there is a constant burst of creativity, where you are constantly inspired.”
“This is one of my favorite events that the department does,” said Emily Dolan, chair of the music department at Brown. “It’s one of the most wonderful collaborations with RISD that Brown has.”
For Paul Olson, illustrations instructor at RISD, the event was “free and loose.” He said he believes the experience provides an escape from the steady stream of school assignments.
Brown-RISD Dual Degree student Maximos Spatharakis ’29 said that he had never been to an event like this before.
It was a “nice departure from the normal day-to-day, clean cut concerts,” Spatharakis said.
Spatharakis added that he had always wanted to draw at a concert but never had because of how socially “scary” it seemed to bring a sketchbook to an orchestra performance.
When the concert came to an end, the audience, artists and musicians all flooded the sides of the room, admiring the artworks that had been created throughout the night while reflecting on the experience of hearing music live.
For Finkel, “the abundance of sensory stimuli in the room was palpable,” she said.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on March 2, 2025.
ing recently booked a gig as the “after photo” in a weight loss commercial, shares his dream of one day appearing on the silver screen and making his ailing grandmother proud.
Yet after talking to her caretaker, Johnny learns how severe her disease is, and, looking for ways to help her, he calls upon a strange passerby and his magical goat. After paying $8,500 to drink the goat’s coveted milk, the group — consisting of Johnny, the caretaker, the stranger and the goat — proceeds to travel through the grandmother’s memories. The wild, unexpected plot kept viewers on the edge of their seats as the motley crew raced through both time and space — all while keeping the magical goat close at hand.
The third performance of the night took on a “Saturday Night Live” quality. Written by Acadia Phillips ’28, “SPEAKING oF tHE GAYS” follows sixth-grader Marcus, as he navigates a crush on his teacher, Mr. Turner. Marcus shares his feelings through a love note during the first scene. With a musical-theater-worthy rendition of “My Heart Will Go On,” Marcus confesses his feelings in the hopes of taking Mr. Turner to the sixth-grade prom.
With hysterical performances during the students’ sex education presentations, including one sixth-grader receiving “five big booms” for her presentation on abstinence, “SPEAKING oF tHE GAYS” featured a wide range of immensely unique and equally entertaining characters.
One such standout performance included Maren White’s ’27 satirical rendition of sixth-grader “Kyle.” Her backwards baseball cap and nonstop basketball dribbling around the tiny
stage intensified the piece’s sketch comedy-like appeal, with Marcus himself even falling for the character at the end of the show.
Finally, the festival’s fourth play, “SHOOTING oVER tHE GRAVE,” written by Thomas Ward ’27, finished the night with equally fantastic and kooky characters. The list of names and characters alone, including “Drew P. Asscheeks,” “Cole N. Oscopy,” and an appearance from former President James Buchanan continued the night’s absurdity.
In a town full of cows with various gastrointestinal issues, Drew, the sheriff, meets up with Buchanan as they track down a recently escaped Oscopy and his “delicious villainy.” With intermittent musical narrations from Silver String Sally, Drew and Buchanan traverse through the Wild West in order to stop Oscopy from finding a hidden treasure.
Ultimately, the piece takes a surprising turn, with Silver String Sally again entering the narrative only to reveal herself as the true villain and forcing both Drew and Oscopy into a shooting match. After Drew wins and proceeds to kill all the remaining characters besides Buchanan, she rides off into the sunset — the audience — using the president’s piggyback ride as her steed.
Overall, Something on the Green’s 24 Hour Play Festival took audience members on a comedic, unpredictable and delightful journey this past Saturday. With their witty writing, compelling characters and memorable stories, each play left audience members cackling.
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BOMI OKIMOTO / HERALD
The concert was hosted at the Lindemann Performing Arts Center’s Riley Hall.
TALIA LEVINE / HERALD
With intermittent musical narrations from Silver String Sally, Drew and Buchanan traverse through the Wild West in order to stop Oscopy from finding a hidden treasure.
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
BIOLOGY
Reducing expression of a specific protein in mice regulates food consumption, researchers find
Suppressing opsin 3 reduced food consumption in mice
BY JONATHAN KIM SENIOR STAFF WRITER
A recent study by researchers at Brown and other institutions found that suppressing the protein opsin 3 in mice can reduce food consumption. Their work has sparked discussions about the possibility of using a similar mechanism to treat diseases such as diabetes and obesity in humans.
Opsin 3, or OPN3, is a protein within the opsin family, which primarily allows animals to detect light. But OPN3 is a non-visual opsin, meaning its function is not related to the processing of light in vision. According to lead author Hala Haddad PhD’23, OPN3 has been found in the hypothalamus — the area of the brain responsible for controlling processes like body temperature, hunger and sleep — while visual opsins are typically located
MENTAL HEALTH
inside the eye.
Haddad worked on the project alongside Professor of Medical Science Elena Oancea and other researchers from Oancea’s lab. The team collaborated with researchers at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Stanford University and the Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Celular in Argentina.
The researchers used an animal model to test their findings. When the team designed mice that were missing OPN3, “we could show that they had changed food consumption behavior” and ate less, said Richard Lang, the director of the Visual Systems Group at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and co-director of the Science of Light Center.
It also made neurons in the hypothalamus more excitable, “so they responded to signals from outside much faster,” Oancea said.
While the study focused specifically on the hypothalamus, Haddad said she is interested in exploring OPN3 function
in other parts of the brain, including the cerebellum and hippocampus, which are primarily responsible for memory and spatial navigation.
Lang is also interested in whether OPN3 interacts with other non-visual opsins in the brain, including OPN5, which has been found to help regulate the body’s temperature cycle.
“What I’m most excited about next is to try and understand how OPN5 and OPN3 integrate their activity to regulate” energy stability, food consumption and body temperature, Lang said.
Lang said the results of the study may have implications for human diseases, including obesity and diabetes. But both Lang and Oancea noted that additional work must be done to determine whether these mechanisms occur in humans and the potential clinical implications of these findings.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on March 2, 2025.
RFK Jr. has attacked SSRIs, but how do these mental health treatments work?
Antidepressants can be prescribed by Brown Health Services
BY FRANCESCA GROSSBERG STAFF WRITER
This is the first in a series of articles about the science of various aspects of college life.
Use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, has increased among college students since 2007. But the medications, widely used to treat a variety of mental health conditions, have recently gained negative traction. Skepticism has increased amid recent criticisms from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the newly confirmed Secretary of Health and Human Services.
But what does “selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor” mean, and how do these drugs work?
SSRI medications, which include Zoloft, Prozac and Lexapro, involve serotonin, a “natural neurotransmitter” — a molecular messenger similar to a hormone — synthesized by all humans, according to Adam Pallant, the clinical director of Student Health Services. Serotonin is important for a variety of bodily functions, including mood regulation and sleep.
“The SSRI medications inhibit the ‘reuptake’ or metabolic breakdown of these natural molecules, allowing for more durable and sufficient presence of the serotonin to do its work,” Pallant explained. The more durable serotonin can help “alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression.”
Lawrence Price, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior, explained that when they were first released, SSRIs were meant to replace tricyclic antidepressants — a different class of antidepressant drugs — as the first line of treatment.
SSRIs are better tolerated and have fewer side effects than the older tricyclics. SSRIs also pose a lower overdose risk.
“These new drugs were safer, they were much easier to use, the dosing was more straightforward,” Price said.
SSRIs have been the “standard of care” for almost 40 years, he added, Its uses have expanded beyond treating depression to addressing anxiety disorders and obsessive compulsive disorder.
Obtaining a SSRI prescription typically starts with an evaluation with a clinician, such as a psychiatrist or primary care provider, Price explained. If the professionals determine that the patient could benefit from using an SSRI without health concerns, the clinician prescribes the medication and continues to monitor progress.
At Brown, students seeking SSRI treatment or psychotherapy can reach out to Health Services. The department has clinicians who have “the capacity and expertise to prescribe SSRI class medications,” Pallant wrote. Many SSRI medications are stocked by the Brown pharmacy.
Antidepressants are commonly used across age groups, but some studies sug-
gest that younger people on SSRIs — the most frequently prescribed antidepressant — may experience an increased risk of suicidal thoughts or behaviors. But not all research agrees about this risk, according to Price.
Still, Price said that among the psychiatry community, there is a “greater reluctance” to prescribe them to people younger than 25 years old.
According to the Mayo Clinic, SSRIs pose potential risks to patients’ appetite and sleep, potentially causing anxiety and other discomfort. Price emphasized that side effects can be mediated via follow-ups with physicians, and that the medication can be quickly discontinued if suicidal thoughts begin to occur.
Even with the potential risks, SSRIs have proved useful for some students at Brown.
Bryson Boone ’27, a leader of student mental health organization Brown Active Minds, shared that SSRIs were “life-changing” for him, and that he didn’t “trust” medication until he gave SSRIs a chance. Boone added that he has seen improvement in his mood since starting SSRIs.
Michael OuYang ’26, a leader of one of Brown’s suicide prevention and mental health clubs, No Empty Seats, said that while he is not on SSRIs, using antidepressant medication has been “monumental” in aiding his mental health. He also em-
phasized the importance of destigmatizing mental health treatment via medication or therapy.
On Feb. 13, President Trump issued an executive order establishing the “Make America Healthy Again” Commission. One of the commission’s charges is to “assess the prevalence of and threat posed by the prescription of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, stimulants and weight-loss drugs.”
Kennedy, chair of the new commission, has attacked SSRIs and their use in young people, falsely claiming that they are more addictive than heroin, The Hill previously reported.
For the time being, Health Services will continue to operate as usual, according to Pallant.
“We will have to see if the Department of Health and Human Services or any of its committees will make changes to our prescription capacity or clinical approach,” Pallant wrote. “It is just a big unknown at this point.”
Boone expressed concern about Kennedy’s anti-SSRI rhetoric building stigma about using SSRIs or seeking mental health support.
But for Boone, “if we’re so scared about SSRIs, it doesn’t mean we should eliminate them … it means we need to research them more.”
LIA KIM / HERALD
The Brown University team collaborated with researchers at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Stanford University and the Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Celular in Argentina.
SUMMER SHI / HERALD
UNIVERSITY NEWS
FACULTY
Faculty Executive Committee discusses clarified non-tenure faculty tracks
Recommendations include formation of new committee
BY SAMAH HAMID SENIOR STAFF WRITER
At Tuesday’s faculty meeting, the Faculty Executive Committee proposed a preliminary recommendation distinguishing two tracks for research faculty: research scientists and research scholars. Research faculty are non-tenure track faculty who focus primarily on research, rather than teaching.
This recommendation comes in response to a report submitted last year by a faculty task force concerning research faculty, The Herald previously reported. According to this report, more than 250 faculty members — the majority of who are in the School of Public Health and the Division of Biology and Medicine — are considered research faculty.
The FEC recommended the creation of “two tracks to reflect the two types of appointments (within research faculty) that already exist but have very heterogeneous titles across the University,” said Kristina Mendicino, chair of the FEC and professor of German Studies.
The purpose of these tracks is to establish a “verbal distinction” that will allow the Office of the Dean of the Faculty and other related offices to “implement some of the changes to benefit promotion structures that are recommended in the reports,” Mendicino explained.
The report recommended creating a clearer advancement path for Brown’s research faculty, as well as providing explanations of expectations and benefits
DINING SERVICES
at each level. It also proposed giving assistant, associate and research professors the same level of benefits as provided to tenure-track faculty and staff.
The FEC’s recommendations also outline a plan for the creation of a Research, Promotions and Appointments Committee for research faculty — similar to the existing Tenure, Promotions and Appointments Committee, which serves tenure track faculty.
RPAC would be structured similarly to TPAC, but the proposed committee include both tenure track faculty and research faculty to review promotion and reappointment actions for research faculty,
Currently, when research faculty promotion and reappointment cases do come up, TPAC “follows the recommendations of the departments” rather than evaluating cases the same way as tenure track faculty. TPAC’s current caseload of 80 to 96 cases a year does not allow room for more cases concerning research faculty, Mendicino added.
“The purpose of creating this additional review committee would be to ensure that there’s a comparable review procedure in place for research faculty,” she said.
Mendicino also discussed recommendations that were made to the FEC to
change the title of lecturers to “teaching professors,” following the example of peer institutions like the University of Chicago and Emory University.
The FEC is also considering the creation of “lecturer days on TPAC” during which distinguished senior lecturers would be elected to join TPAC for the days when promotion and reappointment cases for lecturers are evaluated, Mendicino added.
Though nothing was voted on during the faculty meeting, Mendicino said that motions had begun to be drafted, and that voting may take place during April’s faculty meeting.
Carlos Aizenman ’93, a professor of neuroscience, voiced his support for renaming lecturers to teaching professors, adding that “it better reflects the job that they do … because they do a lot of advising, sometimes even helping run or even running concentrations.”
Aizenman added that he believed distinguished senior lecturers should be allowed to serve as members of TPAC, rather than reserving their participation for “a special day.”
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on March 5, 2025.
Half-mushroom burger at Josiah’s sparks debate on taste, sustainability
BY DONNA ZHANG CONTRIBUTING WRITER
In an effort to reach the University’s climate and sustainability goals — including net-zero emissions by 2040 — recent initiatives have turned to the kitchen.
Brown Dining Services has dished out a number of changes to reduce its carbon footprint and minimize food waste, from a controversial half-beef, half-mushroom burger to infrastructure improvements.
One of Dining Services’ primary goals has been reducing their nitrogen emission — as excessive levels of nitrogen in the atmosphere can produce harmful pollutants for humans, forests and waterways. This has led Dining Services to serve less red meat.
Recent initiatives include composting programs, reusable containers HENRY
At the start of this semester, Dining Services introduced a new burger at Josiah’s. While the previous burger was fully beef, the new version is half-mushroom and half-beef. Since its introduction, the burger has sparked debate among students on campus.
“The new burgers are significantly less dry and tough than the old ones,” Jonathan Lin ’27 said. He added that the 50/50 version of the burger is “the way to go” in terms of sustainability but that
fully removing meat “would be too far.”
Tony Fusco ’28 also thought the new 50/50 burger was an improvement. “I feel like it has more flavor and a better texture,” he said. “It’s nice to see that they’re still keeping a beef option while making environmentally conscious changes.”
Nick Kitahata ’27 applauded the initiative, saying “promoting awareness of the impacts of consuming red meat is an
important goal.” But “I would be lying if I said (the Jo’s burger) tasted better than before,” he added.
Lily Hong ’28 similarly expressed frustration with the 50/50 burger, calling it a “lose-lose” for both beef lovers and vegetarians. She suggested that in order to be completely sustainable, Jo’s should eliminate beef entirely instead of creating a “half-solution.”
For Priyanka
Nambiar ’28, who is
vegetarian, sustainability plays a major role in her lifestyle. She frequently uses reusable water bottles and takeout containers in order to avoid single-use items.
“I was raised to always be mindful of my environmental impact,” Nambiar said in an interview with The Herald. The University’s sustainability initiatives have “helped me be mindful of my own negative environmental contributions and provided me with resources to change that,” she added.
According to Vice President of Dining Programs George Barboza, recent changes have included creating a composting program, developing a reusable container program, purchasing electric vehicles and replacing dishwashers to “improve energy and water efficiency.” He added that many of these changes are the result of Dining Services’s partnership with the University’s Office of Sustainability and Resiliency.
But these efforts come with challenges. Barboza noted that environmentally conscious adjustments not only have cost and logistical difficulties but also “require coordination with vendors, additional staff training and overcoming initial resistance to change.”
Barboza acknowledged that balancing sustainability with these challenges, as well as student satisfaction, can be difficult but he is committed to improving the process. He noted that “adjustments can take time” and emphasized that his team actively listens to “concerns and suggestions to ensure a smooth transition.”
Future BDS initiatives may include increasing plant-based meal options, expanding reusable container drop off locations and utilizing technology-driven solutions, Barboza said.
Mendicino said.
SCOUT CHEN / HERALD
More than 250 faculty members — the majority of who are in the School of Public Health and the Division of Biology and Medicine — are considered research faculty.
UNIVERSITY NEWS
Meet Matthew Guterl, Brown’s new vice president for diversity and inclusion
New executive actions
test universities’ commitment to DEI
BY ZARINA HAMILTON AND SAMAH HAMID SENIOR STAFF WRITERS
“Humbled, thrilled, determined and nervous all at once.”
This is how Matthew Guterl, a professor of Africana studies and American studies, described his reaction to being named the University’s vice president for diversity and inclusion.
Guterl’s appointment, where he will be tasked with overseeing Brown’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, was announced on Feb. 6 by President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20. He officially assumed the role this past Saturday.
Guterl now leads the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, formerly named the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity. The name change, which also took effect this past Saturday, reflects the office’s current operations given that it no longer oversees the University’s compliance and federal investigatory operations.
As Brown navigates rapidly shifting federal policies and unprecedented scrutiny concerning diversity and inclusion, The Herald talked with Guterl to learn more about his background and goals for his new role.
Guterl’s passion for diversity and in-
FACULTY
clusion stems from his upbringing in an “international, multiracial family,” he wrote in an email to The Herald.
He wrote that his parents adopted children from across the world. “What we now conceptualize as ‘diversity and inclusion’ was the foundational ethos of this experimental, integrated family,” Guterl wrote. “I am passionate about this work because I don’t really know any other way to be.”
Guterl graduated from Richard Stockton College of New Jersey with a bachelor’s degree in history, and went on to earn a PhD from Rutgers University in United States history.
Before becoming a professor at Brown, Guterl taught African-American studies at Indiana University in Bloomington and comparative ethnic studies at Washington State University. From 2001 to 2003, Guterl was a postdoctoral fellow at Brown in the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America.
Guterl returned to Brown in 2012 as the chair of the Department of American Studies, a role he held for nine years. From 2016 to 2022, he also served as the faculty co-chair of the University’s Diversity and Inclusion Oversight Board, which oversees the Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan.
Guterl’s faculty appointments have “always been in interdisciplinary departments,” and he wrote that he enjoys the “challenge of writing, speaking and thinking” across disciplines.
For his new role as vice president, Guterl outlined two primary goals: to ensure
that past diversity and inclusion successes remain “well understood and durable,” and to shape the future of the field in higher education, he wrote.
Accomplishing the latter goal, he added, will “require fearlessness, imagination and the support of the entire campus community.”
Amid recent executive actions targeting diversity, equity and inclusion, Guterl emphasized the importance of the University’s “ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion” and plans to support this commitment “in ways that are lawful, practical and community-driven.”
“This is an important moment — and this is an urgent job,” he added.
A large portion of his new role, he said, will involve collaborating with partners on and off campus, such as the Division of Campus Life, advisory boards from Tougaloo College and the Brown alumni community.
Many of Guterl’s colleagues expressed support for and confidence in his appointment.
Meredith Dawson, a member of the University’s Diversity and Inclusion Oversight Board, described Guterl as “kind, thoughtful (and) certainly passionate about Brown and the importance of a campus with diversity of experiences and perspective.”
Kiri Miller, the chair of the Department of American Studies, praised Guterl for his ability to “foster rigorous and mutually respectful discussion across traditional
academic boundaries.”
Miller noted that one of Guterl’s primary strengths during his time as the former chair of the Department of American Studies was faculty recruiting. “Matt made the department a place where people wanted to be,” she said, “and not just people who look, sound or think like him. That’s a real credit to his leadership.”
Leticia Alvarado, an associate professor of American studies, wrote in an email to The Herald that she was “thrilled to learn Matt was appointed to serve in this important capacity at a moment when institutional commitments to diversity are being tested.”
What do Brown professors do on sabbatical?
Professors say paid leave is more than a break from responsibilities
BY SAMAH HAMID SENIOR STAFF WRITER
From staying on campus to traversing the globe, sabbaticals offer professors the ability to focus on their research with a generous amount of freedom.
Sabbatical is a period of paid leave, offered to faculty members of a certain rank. It is available to those who have been working at the University for a certain amount of time. During this period, faculty do not have to attend to their usual teaching and administrative responsibilities and can instead focus on research or other work.
At Brown, junior faculty members are allowed one semester of sabbatical. Another semester is offered after earning tenure. After that, every six semesters that a professor is in residence and teaching, they can earn one semester of sabbatical.
The Herald spoke to four professors who have recently gone on sabbatical or plan to do so in the next year to learn more about their plans and experiences.
In 2022-23, Professor of Economics David Weil ’82 spent one year away from his professorial duties, combining a semester of sabbatical with a semester of leave without pay.
Weil spent half of this year abroad, teaching mini-courses and seminars at universities around the world and the other half on College Hill conducting research.
This upcoming semester, she plans to “tie up loose ends” from the previous project and start a book on contemporary flamenco dancer Israel Galván. She also plans to write a manuscript focusing on
“the place of museums in modern Latin American literature, poetry and the visual arts.”
Clayton explained that there are different approaches to how time should be spent during sabbatical. Some use it as a time to “recharge and play around with new ideas,” while others look at it as a period of intense productivity, she wrote in an email to the Herald.
She described her approach as closer to the former, using her sabbatical as a time to hone her skills in a language or a dance practice and apply them later on in her writing and teaching.
There’s often pressure on professors to produce research during sabbatical, Clayton said, but “the timing of sabbaticals doesn’t always align with where a researcher is in terms of being able to pro-
duce: Sometimes we really need the time to explore and carry out initial research before entering into periods of more intense productivity.”
Like Weil, Clayton added that many factors affect how and where a sabbatical is spent. In her case, Clayton and her husband, who also teaches at Brown, try to take their sabbaticals at the same time.
Eric Darling, an associate professor of medical science, engineering and orthopaedics, remained on campus during his sabbatical last year.
Darling said that choosing to spend a sabbatical on campus is not an “unusual” choice for any professor, especially those with young kids.
He was able to combine two sabbaticals for a full year’s worth of leave, the maximum time a professor can take off
from teaching.
“Sabbatical is there to try to just learn and further our research capabilities and education, but it’s also to decompress a little bit from being a full-time faculty” member, Darling said.
During his sabbatical year, Darling focused his energy on research projects, aiding students who were facing issues with their work and submitting manuscripts, papers and grants.
He said that the flexibility of leave gave him the time to work on these different projects.
Despite the leeway professors are given to pursue their research, there remains an expectation to continue putting out work during their time away, Darling added.
“It’s not vacation,” he said. “It’s meant to just recharge us and energize our creative juices and get excited about teaching and research and everything that we do as faculty, but you still have that productivity.”
Despite that pressure, “it’s a wonderful perk to have as a faculty member,” Darling remarked.
James Egan, a professor of English, who is currently planning for a full year of sabbatical next year, intends to follow a similar path for a full-year of sabbatical next year.
Egan studies English literature by British colonists in the United States. He said that there is no better place to conduct his research than on Brown’s campus. He specifically noted the John Carter Brown Library, a rare book library that he called “one of the best, if not the best in the world” for his specialty. He plans to work on research for an upcoming book on “pedagogy gamification” with Naomi Pariseault, a senior learning designer at Brown.
Egan explained that his plans for
For Isabella Clarke ’26, a former student of Guterl, he “consistently prioritizes and amplifies the voices of Black students, ensuring our perspectives remain at the forefront of class discussions,” she wrote in an email to The Herald.
“Matt brings an unmatched level of care and engagement to his students’ lives, deeply invested in their success both inside and outside the classroom,” she added.
This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on March 2, 2025.
sabbatical are common for faculty in his department.
“We’re all working on books,” he said. “I don’t think there is much variety in the tenured faculty.”
But choosing to stay on campus is an unusual choice for a humanities professor, according to Egan.
“It’s hard to write a book, and there are a lot of distractions around here,” Egan explained. He added that most humanities professors tend to go “far away” to do their research and work on their books. But he said that coming to work every day is a part of his daily routine that he doesn’t want to change during his sabbatical.
Echoing other professors’ sentiments, Egan agreed that there’s significant pressure on professors to continue putting out work during sabbatical.
After completing sabbatical, professors must file a report to University administration detailing what they did during their time away from teaching. Egan added that the administration grants “a great deal of leeway” to professors, allowing them to determine for themselves how much and what type of work they want to pursue.
According to Egan, the incentive to continue producing research during sabbatical is directly tied to a pay raise for tenured or tenure-track faculty.
“If I come back from my leave and I can show no evidence of research productivity, I will not get much of a pay raise, if any at all,” Egan said.
Still, Egan expressed immense gratitude for the ability to take a sabbatical.
“I feel really lucky to be in a position where I have this,” he said.
COURTESY OF MATTHEW GUTERL Guterl's appointment was confirmed on Feb 7 by President Christina Paxson P '19 P'MD '20 and he officially assumed the role this past Saturday.
CHLOE JOHNSON / HERALD