Monday, December 6th, 2021 - The Brown Daily Herald

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2021

VOLUME CLVI, ISSUE XXXXV

BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

UNIVERSITY NEWS

ARTS & CULTURE

The Herald’s fall 2021 poll results

BMP shows four films in fall premiere BMP holds first inperson premiere since COVID-19 at Avon Cinema

Scan this QR code to interact with poll data online.

Nearly half of students disapprove of Paxson, 66.02% report knowing someone on campus who had COVID-19

BY JED FOX, LIVIA GIMENES, GAYA GUPTA, CAELYN PENDER AND JACK WALKER DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY AND UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITORS

Welcome to The Herald’s fall 2021 poll, conducted in person for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, you’ll find dozens of graphs that will allow you to explore the student body and the myriad identities, experiences and opinions present on campus.

The Herald’s fall 2021 poll posed questions on subjects ranging from how students have encountered COVID-19 to approval of how the University communicates campus policies. With

nearly 1,000 undergradaute student respondents from a variety of campus demographics, the poll, which typically takes place biannually, seeks to measure student opinion and experiences in regard to current events and trends on campus. The questions are developed each semester. With the recent return to in-person operations and the continued influence of COVID-19 on the daily lives of students on campus, several of The Herald’s poll questions address student life following the return to an in-person world. The

BY AALIA JAGWANI SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Demographics Gender The majority of survey respondents

On Thursday, Dec. 2, Brown Motion Pictures held its Fall 2021 Premiere at Avon Cinema on Thayer Street.

The event consisted of screenings of four short films made entirely by student members of BMP, addressing issues from mental health to LGBTQ+ representation.

Among the short films was “I’m, Very, Very Sorry,” directed by José Martinez ’23, about a blogger who faces public outrage after making an incendiary comment online. “Spiral,” written and di-

SEE POLL PAGE 4

SEE BMP PAGE 3

questions also address approval ratings of President Christina Paxson P’19, the Undergraduate Council of Students and the Biden administration. The Herald will release a series of articles about individual poll questions that explore the trends revealed in the poll in more depth.

UNIVERSITY NEWS

SPORTS

BSU hosts Black Excellence Showcase

Women’s soccer looks ahead after 7-0 season

Showcase held annually to highlight Black students, talent on campus

BY KAITLYN TORRES SENIOR STAFF WRITER The Black Student Union hosted its annual Black Excellence Showcase Saturday. According to a BSU Instagram post, the event, formally known as the BSU Pageant, was held to celebrate Black excellence at Brown. The showcase featured six contestants who participated in three events for a chance to win the pageant. These events included modeling, talent and a Q&A. The participants were Justin McAllister ’24, Şiji Şoetan ’25, Ty Scott ’22, Luka Kain ’23 and winners Caziah Mayers ’24 and Makayla McPherson ’24.

McPherson wrote in an email to The Herald that she wanted to participate in the showcase because of her love of performance. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she has not

been able to sing in public, and viewed the showcase as an opportunity to get back on stage.

McPherson added that the event also allowed her to see more Black students at Brown and “celebrate Black joy and talent.”

Mayers wrote in an email to The Herald that he wanted to participate in the showcase because of his love for the Black community at Brown. “We have (the power) to show love to each other within the (Black) community and cultivate spaces that are safe for us despite the hardship we deal with.”

A seventh contestant, Tarrin Dewberry ’25, was unable to attend the event due to illness but called in and said that she was “so proud of … all the participants.”

Delena Alemayehu ’24, who attended the event, said that she was most excited to see new and familiar faces at the showcase. COVID-19, she explained, has made it more difficult for her to meet other Black students at Brown.

The event began with a group dance of all the contestants, followed by a modeling section in which the

Bears went 7-0 in Ivy play, racked up numerous individual awards in 2021

BY PETER SWOPE SENIOR STAFF WRITER An Ivy League title capping the team’s first-ever 7-0 conference season. An NCAA tournament appearance. Twelve total wins. A second-team All-American.

Three conference individual awards. A total of seven all-Ivy League First or Second Team selections and honorable mentions. The list of individual and team accolades the women’s soccer team accrued throughout the 2021 season is a lengthy one. After a 2020 season lost to COVID-19, the team wasted little time picking up where it left off as 2019 Ivy League Champions. Though this historic season came to a conclusion on Nov. 13 with a heartbreaking 1-0 overtime loss to St. John’s University at home in the first round of the NCAA tournament, the 2021 women’s soccer team etched its name into Brown athletics history.

The Bears collected a sizable list

COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS

Brown women’s soccer’s roster features seven all-Ivy selections, while Head Coach Kia McNeill earned Ivy League Coach of the Year honors. of individual awards at both the Ivy League and national levels. Head Coach Kia McNeill was named Ivy League Coach of the Year; forward Brittany Raphino ’23 was named Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year; and midfielder Kayla Duran ’22 was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year. Raphino, Duran and forward Ava Seelenfreund ’23.5 were First Team All-Ivy selections; goalkeeper Kayla Thompson ’21.5 and midfielder Evelyn Calhoon ’24 were Second Team selections; and defenders Cameron Brown GS and Maesyn G’Bye ’22

received honorable mentions, The Herald previously reported. Raphino was also named to the United Soccer Coaches All-America Team as a Second-Team All-American, making her the 13th All-American in program history.

Raphino took great pride in the honor. “It’s an incredible feeling to be recognized at this level,” she said.

“Becoming an All-American is a testament to all the work I’ve put in and the impact my teammates and coaches have had on me these last few years.”

SEE BSU PAGE 7

SEE SOCCER PAGE 3

Commentary

Science & Research Arts & Culture

U. News

Simon ’25: Feminism must reckon white women voting red Page 2

Researchers develop model to select effective cancer treatment Page 6

Rural students reflect on their journey and adjustment to Brown Page 8

Student content creators share experiences of bullying on TikTok Page 8

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2021

Simon ’25: White women vote red. Feminism needs to reckon with that.

BY ALISSA SIMON STAFF COLUMNIST

T ​ his year’s Virginia gubernatorial race between Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin was a nail-biter. Coming at a critical juncture in post-Trump politics, this race had serious implications for the upcoming midterms and state legislation on gun control and abortion. Growing up across the river in Washington D.C., I found myself especially invested. So on Nov. 2, I tracked the race and watched the numbers roll in. Hours passed, and it slowly but surely became apparent: Youngkin would win, bolstered by the support of white women. He will become only the fourth Republican governor of the state over the past 40 years. I closed my laptop, knowing that tweets and articles were already flooding in.

Democrats were shocked, and #WhiteWomen trended on Twitter — but nothing about the evening’s results should have been surprising.

This race wasn’t a fluke but rather a critical case study on the role of white female voters.

Youngkin’s victory demonstrates the extent to which politics can expose the deep divides in contemporary feminism.

Despite 42% of Republican women identifying as feminists, women’s issues and the feminist movement have long been considered liberal territory. I was at the original Women’s March in 2017, perched in a tree, watching a sea of pink pussy hats that seemed to stretch without end across the National Mall. It was exhilarating to be there — a cathartic release of fear and frustration with the misogyny and conservatism that newly-elected President Donald Trump represented. It seemed like a promise for an energetic and concerted movement of progressive social change. With Trump in the White House, why wouldn’t women have been more unified than ever? But the years since have made apparent the disconnect between the mainstream perception of feminism repre-

sented by the March’s pussy hats and “grab them by the ballot” signs, and how female voters actually engage with American politics.

Youngkin overcame a deficit in the polls and rallied in the final weeks of his campaign by striking a chord with white women through his renewed focus on social and

University of Southern California, describes the female voter as “the one swing voter” in recent American elections. However, looking deeper into the category of ‘women’ reveals that political patterns at the intersections of race and gender are far more stable.

Black women, in particular, have been characterized as the “backbone of the Democrat-

“Feminism needs to speak honestly about conservatism and the rifts it creates between those who identify with the platform.”

cultural issues. In particular, he articulated a conservative vision of education that appealed to white mothers, proposing abolishing mask mandates and banning Critical Race Theory — and literature by Toni Morrison — in the classroom. This approach to education is a staple of a conservative feminism that emphasizes traditional gender roles and family values alongside economic empowerment for women. The results of this approach were striking: 74% of white women without college degrees voted for Youngkin, and there was a 13-point swing among white Virginian women overall toward the Republican party.

Part of the shock comes from the fact that — even with feminism broadly considered a liberal movement — ‘women’ as a demographic are considered a neutral force in bipartisan politics. Jane Junn, a professor of political science and gender studies at the

ic party” and consistently turn out in large numbers to vote blue. The white female demographic has also been consistent, voting Republican in 16 of the last 18 presidential elections. And though many white women may have decried Trump’s election, between 2016 and 2020 their support of his presidency increased. Though this insistence on interpreting politics through identity may seem reductive, as demographics can generalize and create endless categories that may be more divisive than informative, ignoring these distinctions would be equally problematic. Intersectional identities aren’t just predictive polling tools; in this case, they provide insights into the conflicting priorities and patterns of exclusion within the feminist movement — conflicts that need to be reconciled for the movement to progress holistically.

The progress made on feminist issues

such as the wage gap, anti-rape policy and trans rights is often due to political advocacy work done by non-white women. In contrast, Professor Jatia Wrighten of Virginia Commonwealth University noted that white women more often than not promote legislation serving their own interests, but not those of women overall. These divisions are representative of the feminist movement’s struggles to operate intersectionally. And even the act of identifying that struggle becomes challenging when many cis, white feminists identify with their womanhood but ignore the power and privilege of their whiteness, “dodg(ing) their own complicity,” per writer Lyz Lenz. This enables the types of fear that Youngkin capitalized on — fears of trans women in bathrooms and CRT curricula. The fact that his stance on CRT was crucial to his victory is telling. White women aren’t just ignoring racial issues; many of them are actively voting in accordance with racialized anxieties — and against the interests of women of color.

The outcome of the Virginia gubernatorial may be nothing new. Still, this time, the message is unmistakable: Progressivism is not inherent to any one identity, and certainly not that of womanhood. Feminism needs to speak honestly about conservatism and the rifts it creates between those who identify with the platform. Likewise, white women can no longer hide behind their gender without acknowledging the effects their ballots and beliefs have on a larger electorate.

Alissa Simon ’25 can be reached at alissa_simon@brown.edu. Please send responses to this op-ed to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@ browndailyherald.com.

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Brown to host first campus-based COVID-19 booster clinic Self-administered COVID-19 testing to begin at Alumnae Hall Monday

BY GABRIELLA VULAKH SENIOR STAFF WRITER The University plans to offer a campus-based COVID-19 vaccination booster clinic the week of Dec. 13, Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey ’91 MA’06 announced in a community-wide announcement Friday.

University Health Services is working with the Rhode Island Department of Health to host the clinic, most likely in the Health and Wellness Center, Carey told The Herald.

In addition, the University’s Alumnae Hall testing site will transition Monday to self-administered testing only, with plans to continue self-administered testing into the spring semester, Carey said.

Self-administered testing has already been offered at the One Davol Square testing site since Nov. 8, The Herald previously reported. “We foresee (self-administered testing) being the process going forward,” Carey said.

“Nothing’s completely certain, and if for some reason there was a reason to

make a change, we would. But it has gone very well, and we’ve got a lot of positive feedback … and we’re very confident about expanding it.”

The University does not plan to make other changes to COVID-19 guidelines before the end of the fall semester, leaving current mask requirements in place through the winter break.

Carey cited the emergence of the new COVID-19 variant Omicron as one reason for not loosening the mask mandate in the remaining weeks of the semester.

“We’re watching (Omicron) really carefully,” paying attention to ongoing research about the variant’s transmissibility and virulence, or extent of causing harm in the body, Carey said.

“Both (these factors) are important right now because something can be transmitted easily but not be particularly threatening in terms of the effect that it has on people — and the opposite can be the case, too.”

Though it is too early to gauge the threat from the variant from the developing research, the University would “absolutely” make changes to guidance “if we get any indication from the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), Department of Health or from our own faculty experts” that a change is necessary, he added.

To protect the campus community

GUS REED / HERALD

Health Services is working with the Rhode Island Department of Health to host the clinic, most likely in the Health and Wellness Center. from the various COVID-19 variants, “we’re strongly encouraging people to get the booster,” Carey said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends those ages 18 and older receive a booster shot either six months after their initial Pfizer or Moderna series or two months after their initial Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Approximately 6,296 COVID-19 tests were conducted on campus from Nov. 27 to Dec. 1 as students were required to test on days one and five after Thanksgiving break, regardless of whether they had traveled away from campus or not, according to the Friday announcement. In past weeks that required biweekly testing, the

testing program saw between 12,000 to 18,000 tests.

The volume of testing is also “just about where we expect it to be,” Carey said. The Office of Student Conduct, which “oversees compliance for undergraduate student testing requirements, … has been actively following up with students” who have not complied with the testing requirement, he added.

Among those who have tested so far, there were 25 asymptomatic COVID-19 positive results, yielding a positivity rate of 0.4% — up from 0.19% to 0.26% during the past four weeks, depending on the number of tests conducted. This remains a lower rate in comparison to Rhode Island’s, which currently stands at at 4.9%.

“There are absolutely more positives this week than what we’ve seen over the past couple of months and on a weekly basis, but it continues to be very similar presentations — low to moderate symptoms, no severe illness, no hospitalization and no indication of spread,” Carey said.

The number of cases align with what was expected this week given increased testing, and do not provide reason to change current guidance, he added.

Carey noted that, while state leaders are currently monitoring Omicron, the Delta variant “has impacted us the most so far,” responsible for “driving the increases in Rhode Island” COVID-19 positive cases.

Looking ahead to next semester, “hopefully, we can continue on the path we’re on, which is making concerted and deliberate steps back towards more normal operations,” Carey said. But, “we’re prepared to scale up testing and make other adjustments if we need to,” he added.

With the “increasing and constantly changing travel restrictions around the world” due to Omicron, “we know that particularly international students … will be impacted,” Carey said. “We are encouraging students who need individual support to reach out to student support services and campus life.”

MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2021

SOCCER FROM PAGE 1 Duran similarly gave credit to her teammates for her recognition as Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year.

“I am really grateful to be able to share this award with my team. If I could give the award to my entire back line (Lauren Hinton ’22, Jessica Hinton ’24, Brown and Thompson) I would,” she said. “I would not have succeeded without their hard work and support, and for that I am just really thankful.”

McNeill credited her Coach of the Year honor to the overall growth and success of the program. “Looking at where this program was six years ago and where we are now is incredible to see. When I took this job six years ago, I knew that this program was a sleeping giant and had incredible potential, and I think getting recognition like Ivy League Coach of the Year is just a testament that the hard work we have poured into this program has paid off,” she wrote in an email to The Herald. “My staff and I have really worked tirelessly over the years to push this program to a new level — recruiting blue-chip athletes from all over the country, developing our current players, teaching the game and just challenging our players to be the best they can be.”

She also took pride in the academic strength of the program. “I’ve always thought that Brown can give players the best of both worlds academically and athletically, and now we can say that we are a top-10 academic institution and a top-25 soccer program,” she added. “There are not

BMP FROM PAGE 1 rected by Catherine Kasparyan ’22, follows a young woman’s crippling anxiety surrounding a pregnancy scare. Alex Poe ’24’s “Deadbeat Diaries” chronicles four post-adolescent burnouts as they rely on dark humor to process their emotions while preparing for their friend’s funeral.

“Sunshine,” directed by Jason Goodman ’24, portrays a stereotypical gay best friend who is left without a purpose, or personality, in the absence of his “rom-com protagonist roommate.”

Each film was about 15 minutes long, and each displayed the adeptness of the student directors, producers, actors and crew members as well as the effort that went into creating the films. Each stage of the process — from the conception of a script to the silver screen — was meticulous, starting with a biannual screenplay competition that usually yields around 70 to 80 scripts, said Managing Director Rehaan Kaul ’22.

The screenplay coordinators chose 10 of these, which the Executive Board of BMP eventually narrowed down to four.

In making their decisions, screenplay coordinators “will take notes on the various elements, like character developments, plots, world building — all of these aspects that go into a successful script,” said Managing Director and former Screenplay Coordinator Josie Bleakley ’23. “A lot of people are coming in from a fiction-writing point of view and so they don’t take into account that film is a visual medium, so another characteristic becomes revealing plot points visually and writing your screenplay in a manner that deals with images instead of

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

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a lot of schools out there that can say that, so I’m happy to be a part of one that can.”

For McNeill, in some ways this year’s Ivy League championship meant even more than the 2019 title.

“In 2019 we proved we can do it, and we belong. In 2021 we proved that we are building something special with sustained success,” she wrote.

“Personally, that is what I wanted to see — can we not only do this once, but can we have repetitive success.”

McNeill emphasized the importance of adapting to pandemic conditions and working to improve the team in whatever way possible. “We came up with an idea to do what we called P.A.C.T. Plans, an acronym that stood for Physical, Attitude, Character, Technical/Tactical,” she wrote. “Each week, we were still doing things that would allow us to bond as a team (which was incredibly important when we were remote), but also allow our team to grow technically and tactically, individually and collectively in ways that we hadn’t done before.”

She attributed the Bears’ success to their persistence throughout the pandemic. “The team was incredible through all of that, and I do think it had a direct correlation to the success we were able to have this fall,” she wrote. “The adversity we face as a team and on the field is nothing compared to the adversity we faced in 2020. If we could get through that, we can get through anything.”

Duran credited the team’s work between the 2019 and 2021 seasons for putting the Bears in a strong po-

sition to succeed this fall. “Winning the Ivy League championship this year really was testament to all the hard work we put in during the COVID year,” she said. “It really showed the perseverance, grit and determination that our team had. As a team, we took this time off to better ourselves and our team both on and off the field.”

“The COVID year really showed the drive our team has to develop and be the best,” she added. “Given the adversity everyone faced in 2020 and reflecting on a great season we had this year, I am immensely proud to be part of such a strong team.”

Thompson praised the team’s ability to respond to the unique adversity Ivy League soccer players faced.

“Coming back from the pandemic was difficult for everyone, but the Ivy League had it particularly difficult because we didn’t get the spring season that most other schools got.

It required a lot of trust in our teammates and individual work in order to stay fit and come in ready once we were finally able to be together in August,” Duran said. “The team has done a wonderful job of staying disciplined while simultaneously taking care of mental health in order to show up as our best selves.”

According to Duran, the team’s recent success has grown its desire to compete at a national level as well as in the Ivy League. “These back-toback Ivy titles give us the momentum and belief within our team that we not only have the ability to be the best in the League but also (to) compete to be one of the top programs in the country,” she said.

“I get really excited thinking about our team’s future,” Duran said. “We have great energy going into the spring and hope to continue our success in the 2022 season.”

Thompson, a graduating senior, noted that she leaves the women’s soccer program with great pride in her teammates. “It was an honor to play alongside so many intelligent, skilled and amazing women,” she said.

“This final season for me was a lot of fun, and I felt like all of our hard work paid off in a big way that made me tremendously proud of this team.”

Thompson knows that the team will have to work hard to replicate its success going forward, but she remains optimistic that it will be able to do so. “We had a massive roster this year of 36 players, so I’m excited to see how the younger players grow into themselves and make this team their own. Despite not getting a lot of playing time, the younger classes have an immense amount of talent that I can’t wait to watch in the coming years,” she said. “With back-to-back Ivy titles, there’s definitely going to be a target on this program’s back, so they’ll need to continue to push each other day in and day out in order to build on the past success.”

Sheyenne Allen ’23 emphasized that the Bears’ disappointment with this season’s ending will drive the team to strive for even greater accomplishments next year. “I believe our expectations for the 2022 season will be even higher than (they have) ever been. As a team, we believed we were destined for a far run in the NCAA tournament,” she said. “The

fact that we got knocked out early on was heartbreaking, and we really don’t want to feel like that in the future.

That being said, this loss will motivate us and drive us to work harder to ensure that we reach our fullest potential next season.”

“Our expectations are pretty simple: go undefeated in all of our non-conference games, (win) another Ivy Championship and get to the third round of the NCAA tournament,” she added.

McNeill believes that the ability to build on a strong returning core puts the team in a good position for the future. “The fact that we are returning a good core of our roster including the Ivy League Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year is incredible,” she wrote. “The thing I am looking forward to most is the fact that we have an entire spring to train, teach and grow together. A lot of these players have only been playing together for 90 days. Now we have a whole year to train together and continue to gain chemistry, confidence and develop individually and collectively.”

Ultimately, McNeill and her team have NCAA tournament aspirations.

“We want to continue to be a team that competes for Ivy Championships, and what I really want for this team is to make a deep run in (the) postseason. That was cut short for us this fall in the NCAA (tournament), and I think that really stung given the talent we had,” she wrote. “The returning group can use that as fuel and motivation to continue to set a high bar for ourselves and make sure we make the most of this offseason.”

just internal thoughts,” Kaul added.

After the selection of the script and a series of interviews, producers and directors are chosen and matched with projects. They then proceed without much mediation from the managing directors, allowing them to realize their creative visions. “I think what’s cool about being a director is that everyone on the team is so good at their specialized jobs, and the role of the director is to make sure that each little piece is put together in a way that makes a cohesive film,” Kasparyan said.

“Spiral” was Kasparyan’s first directorial endeavor outside of class.

BMP encourages students of all levels of experience to apply for these roles. “We have workshops and trainings for the specific crew roles because we’re trying to stress that you do not need to have past experience to get in, because historically people have been intimidated by that,” Kaul said.

Putting together this event was not without its challenges. For Bleakley, this involved adapting to BMP’s in-person operations for the first time. “I had only been a part of BMP during COVID, and I had never gotten to experience what things were supposed to be like,” she said.

“So it was both a challenge and a joy to get to learn on the job and see what the Brown filmmaking community is like in person.” On a directorial level, there were “challenges related to finding locations, to figuring out shots and to some of the technical details. We had a smaller crew at the beginning of the process, too, so a lot of people were doing a lot of different roles,” Kasparyan said.

But the time, effort and rigor that went into making each of the

films paid off at the premiere, not only evident in the full theater but also in the audience’s enthusiastic reactions. Sam Caplan ’22, an audience member, came in support of his friend involved in the premiere.

“The acting was brilliant. The writing was brilliant. I’d say all the technical aspects seemed on par with any real film,” he said.

This year’s films aim to expose people to different perspectives on complex issues, Bleakley said.

“Something that I hope the audience comes away with is connecting with the media, but also feeling inspired or like they’ve learned something.”

Aside from aiming to provide the audience with a thought provoking experience, managing directors expressed the importance of celebrating the work that went into the short films.“You sacrifice a lot of weekends, you probably don’t go out to party as much and you don’t get to meet friends as much. You’re spending five weekends on set. So it’s just about the feeling of seeing your work on the big screen and celebrating all the people who put in that work,” Kaul said.

Beyond the recognition of their work, the cast and crew also found a sense of community that was cultivated in the filmmaking process.

With COVID-19 restrictions taking a heavy toll on production, the premiere brought a lot of the crew together, Managing Director Isabelle Yang ’22 said. “A lot of the underclassmen … who haven’t had any previous experience being on crew were able to get involved and make friends through that.”

Ultimately, the BMP team members The Herald spoke with were not only proud of the work they had

done, but also grateful for the process and for being a part of something that every individual on the team cared so deeply about. “You see the amount of people who care about the project grow throughout the semester,” Managing Direc-

tor Katia Rozenberg ’22 said. “Each of them plays an important role in making it happen, so knowing that this many people will dedicate their weekends to this is really rewarding.”

COURTESY OF ROZELLA KIM

The Executive Board of BMP chose four screenplays of around 70 to 80 scripts to be produced for their first student premiere since COVID-19.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2021

POLL FROM PAGE 1

identified as female, outnumbering male respondents by seven percentage points. More than 3% of responsidents identified their gender as other. This aligns generally with national trends reported earlier this year by The Wall Street Journal, which found that women made up a record high 59.5% of college students and men 40.5% at the end of the 2020-21 academic year.

Class Year A majority of survey respondents were sophomores, at 39%. First-year students followed at 30%, then juniors at 20%, with seniors comprising the lowest percentage of participation at 11%.

What type of financial aid do you receive at Brown?

More than half of survey respondents receive no form of financial aid, while 44% receive some form of financial assistance through partial or complete grants covering all costs. According to the National Center for Education statistics, during the 2019-20 school year, 46% of undergraduate students at Brown received some form of grant or scholarship aid with an average aid amount of $47,590, while another 12% received federal student loans averaging $5,812.

Are you currently on a varsity sports team?

An overwhelming majority of survey respondents are not varsity athletes, with just under 8% of respondents participating on a varsity sports team. On May 28, 2020, the University transitioned 11 varsity teams to club status as part of its Excellence in Brown Athletics initiative. In June 2020, men’s track, field and cross country were reinstated as varsity sports. Paxson cited concerns surrounding the decision’s impact on the University’s goal “to build and sustain diverse and inclusive communities” on campus — especially for Black students and alumni — in the decision to restore the team to varsity status. On Dec. 18, 2020, a federal judge upheld a University settlement to reinstate women’s fencing and equestrian teams to varsity status after a group of plaintiffs filed a motion saying that the demotion of women’s teams disproportionately impacted female athletes on campus.

More athletes are on some form of financial aid than non-athletes. Among non-athletes, 43.52% are on financial aid, while 47.37% of athletes receive some form of grants covering all or part of their tuition.

How would you describe your sexual orientation?

18% of survey respondents identify as bisexual, 7% identify as gay, 67.5% identify as heterosexual and 7% identify as other. A February 2021 Gallup report found that nearly 6% of adults identify as LGBT in the United States, a 1% increase from 2017. The highest proportion of LGBT-identifying adults were of Generation Z, or those aged 18 to 23 in 2020: One in six of Gen Z identify as LGBT, and 11.5% identify as bisexual.

Race/ethnicity (check all that apply) Racial and ethnic data is integral to understanding the University’s student body. While a majority — 53.9% — of respondents identify as white, people of color make up the majority of the overall student population as of fall 2020, according to The National Center for Education Statistics. The most common racial/ethnic identity after white was Asian, with 33.2% of poll respondents identifying as such.

Concentration area(s) The most popular concentrations were in the humanities/arts and the physical sciences (including math and computer science). Business (including economics and Business, Entrepreneurship and Organizations) was the least popular concentration area. These trends parallel spring 2020’s poll results, with the physical sciences remaining the most popular field and business lagging behind as least popular.

58.2% of respondents strongly or somewhat approving of their work and 9.3% of respondents strongly or somewhat disapproving.

Do you approve or disapprove of how the University communicates plans and policies to students (e.g. campus public health guidelines, three-semester plan, dining and financial aid policy)?

Since The Herald’s last poll in spring 2020, the University has faced over a year of unprecedented policies and guidelines on campus. From initial plans to send students home due to concerns over COVID-19 in March 2020 and the postponement of in-person Commencement ceremonies, to the three-semester plan and changing COVID-19 policies on campus, the University communicated a litany of information to students in a range of formats. 57.5% of respondents strongly or somewhat disapprove of how the University communicates policies with students, while 35.7% strongly or somewhat approve.

Do you approve or disapprove of the Biden administration’s actions since inauguration?

When Joe Biden won the presidency in November 2020, many left-leaning Brown students reacted with excitement but emphasized the need for continued action, while some conservative Brown students were disappointed with the outcome. A year into his presidency, Democrats on campus have emphasized holding Biden accountable to his campaign promises while many Republicans have expressed disappointment in his policies. 53.9% of respondents strongly or somewhat approve of the Biden administration’s actions, and 30% of respondents strongly or somewhat disapprove of its actions.

COVID-19 What has your contact with COVID-19 been since March 2020?

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, 48,918,251 people in the United States have been infected with COVID-19 as of Sunday. Brown’s campus and student body have not been immune from the pandemic’s pervasiveness, seeing a total of 885 cases among students, faculty and staff since August 24, 2020, as of Monday. Students on campus have had different levels of contact with COVID-19, with 133 respondents reporting that they have had COVID-19.

In what form do you prefer to take exams?

After a year-and-a-half of online exams, the University returned to in-person exams with resumption of more normal operations in August 2021. After such a long period of online testing, many students found it difficult to return to pre-pandemic exams. Only 25.8% of respondents expressed a preference for in-person exams, while 10.3% prefer timed, online exams and 63.9% prefer untimed, online exams.

Campus Life How often do you view online student platforms such as Dear Blueno and Blueno Bear Admirers?

Students across campus have found a gathering space in online platforms such as Blueno Bear Admirers and Dear Blueno, which was recently unpublished by Facebook. 9.5% of respondents reported viewing one of these platforms a few times a day, while another 39.5% report viewing them once a week. 23.3% of respondents view these platforms once a semester, and 27.8% never view them.

How often have you attended large social gatherings (20+ people) this semester?

The University lifted the five-person gathering limit Sept. 29 that had been reimplemented due to an increase in campus positivity rates when students returned to campus. While 12.4% of respondents have not attended any large social gatherings this semester, 87.6% of respondents have attended at least one large social gathering since returning to campus in August.

Do you identify as a first-generation college student?

Slightly more than 16% of poll respondents identify as first-generation college students, about the same as what was reported in The Herald’s spring 2020 poll. First-gen students were more likely than continuing-generation students to experience financial hardships during the pandemic, according to the Center for First-Generation Student Success. About 81.1% of first-gen students receive some form of financial aid –– 37.34% receive grants covering all costs and 43.67% receive partial grants.

Methodology The Herald’s fall 2021 poll was conducted over the course of three days from Nov. 9 to Nov. 11 across four major locations on campus: Page-Robinson Hall, the Sciences Library, Faunce Arch and outside the Sharpe Refectory. The poll only includes responses from undergraduate students. Poll responses were collected through a combination of Google Form responses and paper forms. All responses on the online form were required, and The Herald did not include results from polls that were not fully completed. The Herald collected 980 complete responses to its poll.

The Herald collected poll responses anonymously to preserve the privacy of all students who participated. Only select senior members of The Herald’s staff had access to the complete raw data for analysis to preserve this privacy.

The margin of error is 2.9% with 95% confidence. The margins of error for specific subsets are as follows: 4% for females, 4.3% for males, 5.2% for first-years, 4.47% for sophomores, 6.56% for juniors, 9% for seniors, 4.3% for students who receive financial aid and 3.8% for students who do not receive financial aid.

The sample of undergraduate students who took the poll is demographically similar to the student body. Statistical significance was established at the 0.05 level. All cross-tabulations are statistically significant.

Were you a domestic or international applicant when you applied to Brown?

Nearly 16% of survey respondents were international applicants when they applied to Brown. The Washington Post reported on Nov. 15 that amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation saw a significant drop in the number of incoming international students after it had steadily increased annually for more than 70 years. These numbers have once again increased this fall.

University News Editors Livia Gimenes ’23 and Caelyn Pender ’23 coordinated the poll. The poll was conducted on campus by Herald section editors, senior staff writers and other staff members. The creation of the interactive elements and layout of this article were led by Director of Technology Jed Fox ’23. Data analysis was led by University News Editor Gaya Gupta ’23, Gimenes and Fox. Gupta and Pender created the graphics. This article was written by Pender, Gupta and University News Editor Jack Walker ’23.

Are you a legacy student (i.e. you have a parent, grandparent or sibling who attended Brown)?

Just over 14% of survey respondents have a parent, grandparent or sibling who attended Brown.

In an Oct. 27 general body meeting, UCS passed a resolution calling on the University to end preferential treatment of legacy students in admissions. In response, Dean of Admissions Logan Powell attended a Nov. 10 UCS general body meeting and emphasized that legacy students are not admitted to the detriment of first-generation students and are comparably qualified and diverse to the rest of the student body.

Breaking down legacy students by financial aid status, The Herald found that almost 80% of legacy students receive no financial aid, compared to about 52% of non-legacy students.

Are you involved with a Greek life organization? (sorority or fraternity, NOT program housing) 6% of survey respondents are involved in a Greek Life organization, compared to the 13.1% of respondents who told The Herald they were involved in Greek Life in spring 2020. In fall 2020, most members of Kappa Alpha Theta and Kappa Delta, two sororities on campus, voted to disaffiliate from their national chapters amid conversations surrounding their historic exclusion of people of color. Sigma Chi, a fraternity formerly on campus, was suspended in October 2019, and Beta Rho Pi dissolved in 2021.

Campus & National Administration Do you approve or disapprove of the way Christina Paxson is handling her job as the president of the University?

Nearly half — 47.1% of respondents — reported either strongly or somewhat disapproving of how Paxson has handled her job, while 32.8% of students reported strongly or somewhat approving. A higher percentage of students disapprove of Paxson’s work now than in The Herald’s most recent poll from spring 2020, when 43.1% of respondents strongly or somewhat approved and 33.7% strongly or somewhat disapproved.

Do you approve or disapprove of the way the Undergraduate Council of Students is handling its job?

45.7% of respondents strongly or somewhat approve of UCS, while 13.8% of respondents strongly or somewhat disapprove. In The Herald’s spring 2020 poll, UCS had a higher approval rating with

MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2021

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

The Herald’s fall 2021 poll results, cont.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2021

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

Researchers create indicator for cancer treatment selection Study expands clinical assessment to improve treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

BY RAHMA IBRAHIM SCIENCE AND RESEARCH EDITOR A team of Brown researchers is designing an assessment to improve the selection of cancer treatments in older patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

In their population-based study published Nov. 30, the researchers examined the impact of their assessment on treatment selections and outcomes in patients receiving home health care.

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma “is an aggressive cancer of immune system cells” that has an average survival of months without treatment, wrote Thomas Ollila, assistant professor of medicine at the Alpert Medical School and hematologist/oncologist at the Lifespan Cancer Institute.

“Most commonly DLBCL is treated with a combination of immune therapy and chemotherapy and this can cure a substantial number of patients,” added Ollila, who was not involved in the study. “The average age at diagnosis is in the mid 60s,” so DLBCL patients often have comorbidities that render effective treatment more challenging.

These comorbidities correspond to a greater prevalence of chemotherapy complications in older patients, said first author of the study Mengyang Di, a clinical fellow of hematology/oncology at the Yale School of Medicine.

Providers typically decrease drug dosage or remove one or two drugs from the standard treatment to minimize the risk of these complications in older patients, Di added.

But applying this strategy to all

older patients may be overly simplistic, Di said. Some of these patients can tolerate the standard regimen, so attenuating their cancer treatment may compromise their potential to be cured.

“As a clinician, deciding which older patient can receive intensive therapy and hopefully achieve a cure is challenging,” Ollila wrote. “I balance not wanting to undertreat, and thus deprive someone of (a) possible cure, with the risk (of ) overtreating and causing more harm than good.”

It is therefore important to distinguish between older people who are able to tolerate intensive therapy without attenuations from those who are more likely to develop complications from the standard treatment, Di said.

To help make this distinction, the American Society of Clinical Oncology currently recommends that providers complete a comprehensive geriatric assessment in all older patients with cancer diagnoses.

But this recommendation, “is very time and resources-consuming,” making it less feasible to implement in clinical practice, Di said.

The researchers wanted to design an abbreviated version that serves the same purposes as ASCO’s recommendation without losing significant accuracy.

To create this abbreviated model, they conducted a secondary analysis using a combination of data from three datasets: the Outcome and Assessment Information Set, the Medicare dataset and the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results dataset. The OASIS dataset, which comprises data that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services require home health care personnel to collect, includes a standard assessment of multiple geriatric domains.

The Medicare dataset includes

KATE OK / HERALD

information on treatment, such as when and how often patients received drugs, as well as treatment outcomes.

The SEER dataset includes information related to cancer diagnoses and prevalence in the U.S. population.

The researchers specifically identified home health care recipients with DLBCL from the SEER and Medicare datasets who also had OASIS evaluations.

Since health assessments are mandatory, the linked dataset provided “a unique opportunity to … passively accumulate data about population health” and develop a comprehensive model, said study co-author Emmanuelle Belanger, assistant professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice at the School of Public Health.

Using the datasets, the researchers created a single variable — named “global risk” — as a measure of age, comorbidity, cognitive status and functional status of patients. The group’s multidimensional assessment expanded on one created by Italian

researchers, adding cognitive status because of the “increasing body of evidence” showing its key role as a prognostic factor in conditions such as lymphoma, Di said.

Patients were categorized as low, moderate or high-risk based on the researchers’ cutoffs for each of the four variables within the global risk indicator.

The researchers hope that the global risk indicator will allow clinicians to assess whether to give patients an attenuated or standard cancer treatment regimen and how likely they would be to develop complications if given intensive standard chemotherapy.

So far, the results have shown a “very strong correlation between the global risk indicator categories” and selection of intensive therapy by providers in real practice, Di said. They have also shown a “strong correlation” between global risk and the incidence of certain outcomes that may be indicative of complications after cancer

treatment.

The study demonstrates that using OASIS may help in making decisions on the types of therapies to give older patients in clinical practice, Ollila wrote. It also “provides surprising information about treatment patterns in older patients and should be eye opening to how we can better treat this population.”

“This is just the first step of constructing this assessment,” Di said.

“In order to use this assessment in clinical practice, we have to do a lot more work, including validation in a more general population.”

Possible ways to validate the model include designing a randomized control trial where some providers use the global risk model and others use standard assessment, Belanger said.

Belanger hopes the study reminds “people of the wealth of data that (exists) about these patients and how (this data) could be leveraged in practice” to improve cancer treatment selection.

EDITORIAL

Brown is back We spent the last year and a half craving the small pleasures, the ones we took for granted before the pandemic hit. Hugging friends and seeing their unmasked smiles. Chatting with classmates before and after lecture. In-person club meetings, before we regularly used “in-person” as an adjective. Sipping coffee while studying around others in The Underground. This semester, we got them back.

Our gratitude for all these little moments, albeit in uncertain conditions, cannot be overstated.

Any semblance of normalcy has been hard-won. The staff in our dining halls, dorms and testing sites have worked tirelessly to keep our campus running. The administration’s COVID-19 mitigation efforts, such as vaccination requirements and investments in widespread testing, have allowed us to maintain in-person experiences. Students, too, have had to make sacrifices, adjusting to college life amid restrictive COVID-19 policies. For all the struggles we’ve had, our community has kept us safe.

The normalcy we have experienced is also abnormal. The University’s COVID-19 policies and testing programs have created a kind of “Brown bubble,” allowing us to live amid low positivity rates even as cases skyrocket elsewhere. The pandemic is by no means over; there are many places across the United States and abroad where COVID-19 remains widespread, ravaging hospitals due to insufficient resources or low vaccination rates. All communities deserve the safety that Brown has provided us this past semester. Having the resources and leadership necessary to safely weather the pandemic has been an immense privilege — not a given.

As we look back on this semester, it is also worth reflecting on the long journey we took to get here. An entire class of students had to make their first friends at

Brown over Zoom. Two classes graduated without a proper goodbye. Students spent entire semesters eating meals sheltered in their dorm rooms and trying to learn through a screen. Some students never even made it to College Hill, enrolling remotely or taking leave. Faculty overhauled what they know about teaching to educate us online. Administrators have worked through the endless challenges of navigating a pandemic: The COVID-19 outbreaks that never occurred due to effective policies are invisible yet meaningful successes for which our University leaders deserve more credit.

The clarion call of this board — that Brown must always do better — remains the same. We will continue to use the board’s voice to advocate for change, but we also believe in the importance of celebration and reflection. At the start of this semester, we reflected on what our community lost during the pandemic. This sense of loss still lingers, but it has also inspired a renewed vitality on College Hill.

We do not know what lies ahead, even for the next semester. Public health conditions are still in flux: Booster shots are more accessible than ever in the United States, but the Omicron variant looms large. What we do know is that we are grateful for this semester. It’s good to be back.

— Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. This editorial was written by its editor Johnny Ren ’23, and members Catherine Healy ’22, Olivia Burdette ’22, Devan Paul ’24 and Kate Waisel ’24.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

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BSU FROM PAGE 1 contestants walked across the stage and struck poses as their biographies were read. The talent section showcased a multitude of the contestants’ strengths, including singing, poetry and dance.

Kash Oseni ’25 said that his favorite part of the showcase was the talent portion since all the contestants were both “beautiful and talented.”

Alemayehu shared similar sentiments and said that the contestants “have different things to express about themselves,” all of which were on display during the talent portion.

Master of Ceremonies Maryclare Chinedo ’22 said that the showcase was like “the Met Gala at Brown.” In its Instagram post announcing the

showcase, the BSU wrote that “dressy attire is encouraged.”

In between each section of the pageant, Chinedo and fellow Master of Ceremonies Faith Hardy ’23 hosted activities to engage the audience. These included a game of song association between students of each class year and a dance break during which both the MCs and audience members took to the stage.

Instead of the contestants giving speeches, the last section was a Q&A between the judges and the participants. Each question pertained to Black life and Black issues, including questions on how to explain to their future children what it means to be Black in America and what Black joy looks like to them.

When asked about what they hope their lasting impression on the community will be, Kain said that they would want to be remembered for how they supported the people close to them and created community. They also added that they wanted to try and leave Providence a better place after their time here. “I want to be remembered by my joy,” they said.

Answering the question on what Black joy meant to him, Mayers said that he thinks of love and “going home for Thanksgiving. … Black joy is feeling happy when the world is not watching you because we have each other,” he said.

In her email, McPherson wrote that she was happy to “just participate in the showcase,” but winning made the

MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2021

KAITLYN TORRES / HERALD

Dressy attire was encouraged for the event, making the showcase like “the Met Gala at Brown,” according to MC Maryclare Chinedo ’22. event even more special.

Mayers wrote that winning the event confirmed that he “can use (his)

poetry and (his) art to voice the deep emotions and varied experiences within the Black community.”

SPORTS

Women’s volleyball cut from NCAA Tournament by U. of Washington Bears’ first tournament appearance in 23 years ends in defeat to 15thseeded Huskies

BY RYAN HANDEL SPORTS EDITOR The women’s volleyball team (20-6) lost to the University of Washington (26-4) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament this past Friday. The Bears traveled to Seattle to face the Huskies in their first tournament game since 1998, and despite a tight third set, Brown dropped the match 3-0.

The Huskies, who made the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament last season, displayed their experience from the outset of the match. Washington raced out to a 5-2 lead after Brown committed a ball handling violation and sent a set out of bounds, forcing Head Coach Ahen Kim to call an early timeout. The Huskies maintained their momentum to go up 8-2, but an ace from defensive specialist Victoria Vo ’25 and a kill from middle blocker Beau Vanderlaan ’25 narrowed the gap

to 8-6. However, Washington reestablished its dominance and pulled ahead 21-12 before winning the set 25-15.

Washington doesn’t “do anything complex … They’re just really elite at the simple things,” Kim said. “That’s a team that’s been to the Final Four last year … this is above all else, an extremely experienced championship team on their own home court.”

Washington continued to display its offensive prowess in the second set.

The Huskies took a 6-2 advantage after two service aces by Lauren Bays, but two Vanderlaan blocks brought Brown back to a 7-5 deficit. Then Washington launched another commanding run, as three kills by Claire Hoffman helped the Huskies go up 16-7. Washington cruised through the remainder of the second set to take it 25-13.

But the Bears would not go down without a fight, and they kept the third set much closer than the previous two.

A kill by middle blocker Gabby Derrick ’25 put Brown up 2-1, and a block by right-side hitter Kate Sheire ’24 kept the score 4-4. While Washington took an 8-5 lead, the Huskies could not pull away from the Bears, unlike in the first two sets. Kills from Sheire, outside hit-

ter Sophia Miller ’23 and outside hitter Jilienne Widener ’24 kept the deficit at just three, and a service ace by setter Kristin Sellers ’22 put the Brown within two at 17-15. Down 22-20, Bruno was just a few points from taking the set, but the battle-tested Huskies clinched the win with a kill and two consecu-

COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS

The Bears swept multiple major Ivy League individual awards. tive aces.

“We started to get in a rhythm,” Vanderlaan said of Brown’s improvement in the third set. She also noted that despite the tough matchup, her team thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to face a challenging opponent in a postseason setting. “Even when we

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were down 20-24 in the third set, we were all smiling,” she said.

Washington went on to knock off the University of Hawai’i at Manoa (228) Saturday, also by a 3-0 scoreline. The Huskies will face the second-seeded University of Texas at Austin (26-1) in the Sweet 16 on Thursday.

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While Brown was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament, Kim and his players were proud of their historic Ivy League title-winning season. “This is by all accounts one of the most successful seasons this program has ever seen,” Kim said.

In addition to their Ivy League

title, the Bears also swept the major Ivy League individual awards. Kim won Coach of the Year, setter Cierra Jenkins ’24 won Player of the Year, Vo won Defensive Player of the Year and Vanderlaan won Rookie of the Year.

Five Brown players made First Team All-Ivy: Miller, Sheire, Vanderlaan, Jenkins and Vo. The individual awards were “where we really exceeded expectations,” Kim said. “It feels very nice for my team’s efforts to be recognized by our league competitors in such a big way.”

The Bears will gear up for another successful season in 2022 as they return with the vast majority of their key contributors. Brown fielded a young team in 2021, with underclassmen dominating playing time. “If you look at the starting roster, we return virtually everybody,” Kim said.

Sheire noted that despite losing to Washington, the experience of playing in the NCAA Tournament will help her team in coming seasons. “(Coach Kim) loves to say, ‘fail in the right direction.’

We failed, and we’re going to use that failure as a compass.”

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8

ARTS & CULTURE

U. student content creators reflect on Internet celebrity, hate comments Students find online following on TikTok, Douyin, face negative comments

As TikTok and similar social media platforms continue to dominate young people’s screens and content consumption, some students have managed to build a large Internet following of their own as content creators.

But that fame, like celebrity found outside the social media sphere, is not without its downsides. The Herald spoke with two social media content creators, who, along with the positive reception

U.K., China and Israel, Marbach has now gained around 27,000 followers and 5.9 million total views on the app.

Her favorite video that she’s created is the one that garnered her most views — somewhere around 1.9 million. “It’s (called) ‘Five Facts About Me,’ and it was just (about) random things that came up, and it’s just fun because I didn’t think that people would be that interested,” Marbach said.

But this rapid increase in popularity did not come without costs. Since amassing her social media following, Marbach said she has received a considerable amount of hate comments targeting her appearance and Jewish background.

“Once I mentioned being Jewish, then I did get really weird comments, like ‘Oh, it makes sense that everyone

would be a good way to start practicing engaging with political discourse and try to convince people (and) making arguments, but also for other people to see me.”

“When I originally started my platform, I needed a gimmick — a thing to make me stand out,” Paik added. “So, I said, ‘Hello, my name is Isaiah. I’m running for president’ … and that got me a lot of followers at the very beginning.”

By creating political content on TikTok, Paik hopes to educate people, raise consciousness and provide ideas to the general public. “There’s this idea of ‘the Overton window’ in politics — there is the big wide spectrum (that includes) the most far-right and the most far-left ideas, and there is a very small box (that contains) what is acceptable in the modern-day political

TikTok as contributing to the negative comments he has received. “(TikTok) is a bit different from other platforms, because (unlike Instagram), you don’t have a lot of control over who sees your videos,” he said. “Especially when I was first starting out, I didn’t have a large following, but my videos were sent to all kinds of people, which is why I got a lot of reach … and a lot of backlash to the ideas I had.”

Other comments that Paik received seemed to be targeted toward his identity rather than the political ideas he shared. In summer 2020, he used to participate in debates between socialists and libertarians. “Me and five other TikTok creators got together and we livestreamed the debate, and … that’s how I met a lot of TikTokers who very much disagree with me about economic

break from TikTok over the summer to avoid seeing response videos and getting embroiled in back-and-forths.

According to Assistant Professor of Modern Culture and Media Jinying Li, there is something “profoundly social” about cyberbullying. “Cyberbullying is more geared toward the public, since it has an element of humiliation,” Li said. “In a social sense, bullying is about establishing domination. That’s why it’s gender and racially-oriented. Bullying might have a long social history behind it — it’s about establishing domination in a social group.”

Li traced back the origins of bullying behavior to nature’s evolutionary roots. Animals had to “establish alpha male ranks; however, it’s not a purely biological factor, (since) animals are social too,” she said.

they’ve received to their videos, have faced hate comments and cyberbullying ranging from harassment based on their political views to targeted remarks about their identities.

Alice Marbach ’22, a Douyin content creator, said she joined the social media platform — the Chinese version of TikTok — because she wanted to practice her Chinese while at home in London and on leave from the University.

“I’ve always loved making videos, but I don’t really want other people to see them that much,” Marbach said.

“Only two or three people (around me) use Douyin, so it was very low stakes.”

After posting videos about cultural differences between the U.S., the

hates the Jews’ or ‘Oh, the Nazis were right,’” she said. “And (I got) a lot of ignorant comments … But those which were actively hateful made me feel bad.”

In March 2021, Marbach made the decision to quit Douyin. “At that point, I felt like the novelty of it had worn off a bit,” she said. And “the sadness of the negative comments was outweighing the joy of making new videos.”

Isaiah Paik ’22, a TikTok political content creator with over 2 million likes and 75,300 followers, has experienced similar instances of cyberbullying targeting his race and ethnicity.

Paik, who hopes to attend law school after Brown and eventually pursue a career in politics, “figured that (TikTok)

discourse,” he said. “My project is to move the Overton window.”

The hate comments Paik has received have mainly targeted his identity as an Asian-American, he said. “It’s really interesting, because all these hate comments were focused on me as an Asian person, (even) when I was not talking about Asia at all,” he said.

“When I was talking about politics, especially anti-capitalist politics, there were a lot of hate comments, because I’m Asian. A lot of them were like, ‘Go back to China or North Korea!’ or insulting my intelligence using the model minority (myth).”

Paik described the unique nature of how videos are viewed and shared on

issues. They would watch every video I made and (make) response videos, make a duet or stitch, or they would actually respond to me and call me stupid and try to debunk every single point I made.”

This kind of engagement has affected Paik’s aspirations and TikTok activity. “It made me rethink what I was going for and made me not want to debate against or challenge individual creators anymore,” he said. “I tried to shift and focus more on ideas and political figures, and not individual creators who are just like me, because I don’t want to have that kind of a platform where I do drama and beef … all the time.”

He ultimately decided to take a

Li also explained that the behavior of haters is due to a combination of repulsion and fascination, two feeling she described as often “not necessarily opposite to each other — for example, in a typical racial discrimination called orientalism, (which refers to) thinking about racial others, particularly from Asia, as something exotic,” Li said. “This orientalism is a combination of both fascination and repulsion, (together with) fear.”

To address cyberbullying, Li said that within a public sphere like social media, “a lot of things can be openly debated and criticized, so making (instances of cyberbulling) public can be effective.”

BY CANQI LI STAFF WRITER

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Rural students reflect on journey and adjustment to life at Brown Rural students among the groups prioritized in Admissions Office recruitment efforts

BY JACK WALKER UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR From kindergarten to eighth grade, Grace Skavdahl ’23 spent each school day in the same building: a bright pink, one-room schoolhouse 11 miles east of the nearest town. In the days she spent traveling back and forth between the schoolhouse and her family’s cattle ranch, Skavdahl passed by friends and family living on pastures like her own, finding comfort in a place she could call home.

With time, Skavdahl’s passion for literature and her experiences visiting cities in the Northeast instilled in her a curiosity about the world beyond her native Harrison, Nebraska. In high school, an English teacher encouraged Skavdahl to apply to Ivy League colleges, explaining that many were looking to admit more students from rural areas. Bearing his advice in mind, Skavdahl entered the college admissions process and was accepted to Brown.

Recently, the University has sought to increase the presence of students from rural areas on its campus. Rural students are among the groups that the Office of Admissions currently prioritizes in its recruitment efforts, Dean of Admission Logan Powell explained in a Nov. 10 Undergraduate Council of Students meeting. Between application cycles for the class of 2024

and the class of 2025, the University saw a 23% increase in applications from students residing in locations defined as rural areas or small towns by the U.S. Census Bureau, The Herald previously reported.

For rural students like Skavdahl, coming to Brown has meant navigating city life for the first time.

In traveling across the country, Skavdahl found herself en route to new opportunities and hurdles that life in Providence would bring.

Skavdahl’s previous education had not been as “rigorous” as Brown in many aspects. She noted that, while she was passionate about learning, she “didn’t come in with a lot of study skills,” such as completing multiple drafts of essays and studying for extended periods of time.

Skavdahl said that during her first week as a first-year, she got pneumonia, which led her to miss all of her class’s orientation events. This, combined with being so far from home, led her to feel “very isolated.”

“It was hard, socially, and just being away from my family, especially with the way that I was raised. It’s very community-oriented,” she said. “I graduated with six kids in my class, and two of them were my cousins.”

Being away from her family and community “was definitely disorienting” and even “a little bit discouraging at first,” she said. But, for Skavdahl, being away from home did not mean a complete separation from those she depended on, and her family and friends sent her letters and messages checking in on her as she got used to Brown.

Satch Sumner-Waldman ’23, a resident of upstate New York, noted that

despite not specifically bearing the location of his future college in mind when looking for schools, he was glad that he ended up in a smaller city like Providence as opposed to a bigger city like New York or Boston. “The transition is a bit easier going from such a small town to a more relaxed city like this,” he said.

When first looking at colleges, Ellie Madsen ’22 did not explicitly seek to attend a school in a city but wanted to gain experiences beyond what she could find in her hometown of New London, Wisconsin.

“I wanted to leave my hometown, which I think is common among a lot of other rural students,” she said. Near where she lived, Madsen said she did not see “the same educational opportunities” she found in cities, leading her to apply to Brown.

For Madsen, the idea of coming to college in a city had always been an “idealized picture” of the opportunity to find community in a space more aligned with her social and political beliefs.

But, after arriving on campus, Madsen said that the biggest adjustment came from the culture shock of living in an environment like Brown.

“I definitely didn’t get what I imagined,” she said. “For me, I think the biggest change wasn’t necessarily the physical environment around me but more the types of people who I was meeting every day — most of them being from cities, having gone to really good high schools.”

Coming into Brown without the “cultural capital” of other students who attended more elite high schools and who were familiar with an Ivy League culture left Madsen facing barriers to

integrating socially with those around her, feeling pressured to conform to their lifestyles.

“I just felt like such an outsider in that I felt like if I was going to have a conversation with somebody, I was literally putting on a performance and trying to fit in,” she said. For students who were more accustomed to the culture of wealthy, elite educational institutions, “it seemed so natural,” she added. “They had been engaging in this kind of social situation for their entire lives.”

For Andreas Rivera Young ’24, who grew up on a farm in rural Virginia, attending a private high school made him “feel pretty well prepared coming into Brown,” though he said it remains jarring to think about the number of wealthy students from urban areas who attend the University. Rivera Young noted that his discomfort and difficulty with navigating the social scene at Brown are linked both to his identity as a rural and U-FLi student.

Rivera Young has observed an “affluent nature” to how students socialize. He noted students often visit other cities on the weekend, paying for transportation and lodging costs out of pocket. “I know it’s not intentionally exclusionary, … (but) that’s something that I just cannot do,” he said.

Skavdahl noted she was able to integrate better into Brown socially over time, finding friends on the equestrian team. Though she had worried coming from such a rural background would set her apart from her peers, she found that many appreciated hearing about her experiences.

Rivera Young said that, while he has not exclusively made friends with rural

students in his time at Brown, he feels a different connection to rural students, who more often share and understand his experiences.

Madsen agreed that she has found an appreciation for other rural students with whom she can identify. Students from urban and suburban areas “don’t have an understanding of what it’s like to live in a rural area, so I feel like they don’t understand that part of who I am.”

“It’s so rare for me to find a person (about whom) I’m like, ‘Oh, we have similar backgrounds,’” she added. “I really cling to that.”

“When I’m here, I do miss the quiet.

It’s so quiet at home,” said Tuesday Mueller-Harder ’22.5. They said that they have found refuge in small pockets of campus that remind them of life in Vermont. For example, after visiting the University’s Conservatory, a greenhouse at 85 Waterman St., on a particularly difficult day, Mueller-Harder said they “suddenly felt like a person again.”

Regarding where they would like to live one day, Mueller-Harder said “the ideal would be living in the middle of nowhere … but like a five minute walk from the city.”

Sumner-Waldman noted that his time in cities has made him more interested in living in a city in the future, though “bigger cities can be a bit intimidating.”

But Skavdahl still feels a pull back to her roots in the country.

“I really do, personally, want to go back, maybe not to Nebraska, but somewhere a little bit more rural,” Skavdahl said. “It’s just where I personally feel the best and most comfortable.”

“I like seeing wide open spaces,” she added. “I miss the stars.”