Thursday, September 12, 2024

Black freshman enrollment drops 40% for class of 2028, University data shows

Class of 2028 is first admitted since end of racebased affirmative action

BY TALIA LEVINE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

despite efforts to limit the impact of the supreme Court’s ban on race-based affirmative action, brown’s class of 2028 has a significant decrease in black and hispanic domestic students compared to previous years.

The share of black students in the freshman class dropped 40%, while that of hispanic students dropped 29% compared to last year. The share of domestic asian freshmen increased 14% compared to last year. The number of students who did not report race or ethnicity nearly doubled, from 4% to 7%

The herald’s first-year poll also outlined

early warning signs of marked decreases in the share of black and hispanic students and an increase in asian students. The university only reported the racial demographics of domestic students, not international ones, unlike The herald’s poll. brown is the first Ivy League to report a significant decrease in hispanic and black first-year students. some schools saw similar decreases in racial diversity, such as mIT and Tufts. but for other peer institutions, diversity increased. yale saw a record-high 19% share of hispanic students in its freshman class, while princeton saw little change in its racial diversity.

In the aftermath of the supreme Court ruling that restricted traditional race-conscious admission practices, brown announced several programs to maintain diversity, like building closer relationships with historically black colleges and universities and community-based organizations.

U. community offers final inputs on divestment

ACURM held last public forum on divestment before Sept. 30 deadline

BY KATIE BUTTS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

On Wednesday, community members had one last chance to publicly voice their concerns regarding divestment before an advisory committee on university resources issues their recommendation in under three weeks.

The virtual forum held by the advisory Committee on university resource management follows two hearings from student groups this past week: one group supporting divestment from ten companies with Israeli military ties, and one group opposed. The students’ presentations and public inputs will inform aCurm’s final recommendations, which brown’s Corporation will vote on in October.

The speakers, appearing on Zoom without video, identified themselves as students, alumni, faculty, parents of students and providence community members. The majority of attendees, unlike yesterday’s hearing, were opposed to divestment.

One speaker stated that he felt that divestment would cause “great harm.” he emphatically described the struggles of his Israeli family and friends living in the war zone. another speaker, advocating for divestment, identified himself as a palestinian refugee, and urged aCurm to consider his family’s suffering while making their decision.

Kellner reiterated aCurm’s criteria to issue a divestment recommendation: “Whether the investment of brown university resources in any of the 10 companies identified in the (divestment) proposal before us contribute to social harm.”rre-

“even with a significant number of measures in place to ensure a diverse, talented applicant pool and enrolled class, we recognized the likelihood that declines in the number of students of color at brown and other selective universities were widely anticipated across the country,” Logan powell, associate provost for enrollment and dean of admission, said in a press release.

Last fall, in addition to his normal recruitment visits, powell started traveling with a representative from howard university, an hbCu, to “attract applicants who may not have considered us in the past, but may now consider us,” powell previously told The herald.

In addition to these new programs, brown’s application featured new short-answer essay questions.

One such question invited applicants to “share how an aspect of your growing up has inspired or challenged you, and what unique contributions this might allow you

CORPORATION

to make to the brown community.” While students were not required to discuss their racial background in their answer, they were welcome to do so.

The supreme Court ruled that students could discuss how race impacted their lives “through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.”

Chief Justice John roberts explicitly said that the Court’s ruling should not be “construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life,” highlighting essays as a space in which applicants could touch on their race.

several other universities — including yale and princeton — also added similar essays that provided students with an opportunity to discuss their backgrounds.

Nick Lee ‘26, co-president of the campus group students for educational equity,

Departure comes as Corporation awaits divestment recommendation Trustee resigns in protest of

Oct. divestment vote

information have been removed from the brown Corporation’s website. he did not respond to The herald’s request for comment.

BY ANISHA KUMAR UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR

Joseph edelman, a trustee of the brown Corporation and hedge fund manager, publicly resigned from his brown post sunday. he cited brown’s upcoming vote on divestment in October.

In a letter published in the Wall street Journal, edelman expressed concern about “the university’s attitude toward rising antisemitism on campus and a growing political movement that seeks the destruction of the state of Israel.”

edelman, who is the chief executive officer of biotechnology investment firm perceptive advisors and a graduate of uC san diego, joined the board in 2019 with a projected six-year term. his profile and

his publicized departure from the Corporation breaks with the governing body’s tendency to operate out of the public eye.

“I find it morally reprehensible that holding a divestment vote was even considered, much less that it will be held — especially in the wake of the deadliest assault on the Jewish people since the holocaust,” edelman wrote in his op-ed. “Israel, like all nations, has a moral duty to defend its citizens from terrorist attacks, and that is exactly what it has been doing.”

he criticized the university’s decision to hold an October vote on divestment from companies with ties to Israel in exchange for an agreement with pro-di-

The University only shared racial demographics for domestic students, not international students.

WEEK IN ELECTIONS ELECTIONS

1

Debate between Harris, Trump captures attention of campus

The Tuesday presidential debate between former p resident d onald Trump and Vice p resident Kamala harris captivated audiences, including many first-time voters, across College hill.

a round 200 students gathered for a watch party of the debate, organized by several campus political groups, held in s alomon Center.

professors also watched closely. Four of five professors that The herald spoke to following the debate called harris its winner.

2

Harris, Trump jockeying for position in battleground states

With the 2024 presidential election approaching fast, Kamala harris and donald Trump have been largely unable to extend their slim leads in important battleground states. according to poll reports (2) from FiveThirtyeight, harris holds a 1.0% lead in pennsylvania, while Trump is ahead by just 0.6% in Georgia. Those two states have been pegged by experts as the biggest keys to winning the 2024 election, but given how close the two candidates are currently polling, both states are likely to come down to the wire.

3

Trump’s inflation reduction promises called unrealistic by economists

Former president donald Trump is pledging to decrease energy costs, inflation and mortgage rates. but economists and people wary of Trump’s policies say that his promises to slash regulations and jumpstart oil and gas production are impractical.

Five professors’ key takeaways from Tues debate

Four of five professors agree that Haris was debate’s winner

BY KATE BUTTS AND CIARA MEYER SENIOR STAFF WRITERS

early ratings indicate around 67 million americans tuned into Tuesday’s presidential debate between Vice president Kamala harris and Former president donald Trump.

The h erald reached out to 30 professors from over 10 disciplines to hear their perspectives on the debate. Five shared their key tak eaways.

Four professors say h arris won

Four out of five professors agreed that harris was the debate’s winner. harris won “hands down,” wrote p rudence Carter, professor of sociology and director of the Center for the s tudy of race & e thnicity, in an email to The herald.

Carter described harris as an empathetic and powerful speaker. “a t times, I had visceral reactions to ( h arris’s) words, how she spoke to the camera and those of us watching,” she wrote.

s enior lecturer in economics a lex poterack wrote that h arris seemed to successfully “goad” Trump into going on “ridiculous tangents.”

b ut for Katherine Tate, a professor of political science, the debate won’t change the opinions of potential voters.

“For sure Trump did not beat harris, but h arris didn’t score major points over Trump,” she wrote.

she added that Trump gave a strong performance.

policy-focused approach versus hostile tactics

several professors described Trump’s rhetoric as hostile and focused on personal attacks. They characterized harris as more policy-focused.

“ h arris at times appeared to be the only adult in the room,” Tate wrote.

Carter wrote that her primary impression of Trump was that he lacked clear policy visions. she believes Trump targeted an extreme right audience, whereas harris tailored her performance to appeal to a broader segment of the electorate.

“Voters will go away with Trump being a known quantity, and h arris as someone who is more moderate than expected,” Tate wrote.

race and gender dynamics at play

Carter felt that racial and gender dynamics were palpable at the debate — especially during the discussions of reproductive healthcare access and Trump’s comments on h arris’ race.

s he added that Trump’s attempt to undermine h arris’ identity as a b lack woman was “just plain old insulting.”

When discussing immigration, Trump “repeated the lie that migrants to the u s. were killing and eating other people’s pets,” Tate wrote. according to the debate moderators, that statement, previously debunked by authorities, amplified falsehoods about h aitian immigrants in s pringfield, Ohio.

a my Nunn, professor of behavioral and social sciences, felt “alarmed that we have a presidential candidate who openly throws around racial epithets,” she wrote to The herald.

e conomic and reproductive healthcare policies take the spotlight

poterack believed that harris’ focus on expanding the housing supply was promising. “housing is definitely one of the most important issues the american economy is facing,” he wrote.

both poterack and aparajita majumdar, an assistant professor of history and environment and society, supported h arris’ plan to expand the Child Tax Credit.

majumdar wrote that the plan shows “how governments can meaningfully invest in child care support.”

Throughout the debate, Trump discussed raising tariffs on all imported goods.

poterack believes that across-the-

board tariffs would harm domestic consumers, claiming they could lead to higher prices and a lower standard of living. poterack offered a metaphor to illustrate his view of Trump’s policy.

“If you asked me what is the most important part of baking a cake, I might think about the quality of ingredients you’re going to use, or how well you’d mix the batter,” he explained. “ b ut if I thought you were likely to pour a box of rat poison into the cake, I would say that by far the most important thing is to not pour a box of rat poison into the cake.”

“ d onald Trump’s across the board tariff plan is like pouring a box of rat poison in the cake,” poterack wrote.

Nunn, who is the executive director of Open d oor health, a clinic focused on LG b TQ+ health, wrote that the candidates’ focus on reproductive rights reflects the fact that abortion has “become increasingly more political over time.”

“many women and people with vaginas are highly concerned about potential restrictions to reproductive health services,” she added.

s ome professors also highlighted what the candidates didn’t discuss during the 105-minute debate.

Nunn is concerned about reimbursement rates for primary care. s he fears that low reimbursement rates are “prompting an exodus of providers from the field, which is a public health crisis.”

Climate and energy themes received limited attention from the candidates, which indicates those issues are “unfortunately” not a priority, m ajumdar wrote.

Professors weren’t the only audience of Tuesday’s debate. Around 200 students packed into Salomon Center for a club-organized watch party.

DIVESTMENT FROM PAGE 1

gardless of their views, speakers repeatedly asked Kellner questions related to how aCurm would define the category of “social harm.”

Kellner hesitated to offer a universal definition of social harm, but said that “the situation taking place in palestine” is “an unquestionable social harm, and ... there’s probably something close to a universal consensus on that view.”

he compared aCurm’s members to jurors in a trial, characterizing them on multiple occasions as open-minded while acknowledging that they have existing beliefs.

a handful of attendees characterized divestment from companies with Israeli military ties as a slippery slope.

“how would you then (not open) this up to every single other circumstance of countries or companies involved in controversial issues?” one attendee asked. “If this divestment were to pass, would the next logical thing be to divest from Qatar and Turkey for supporting hamas?”

Kellner responded by pointing out that brown can consider more requests in the future.

“In the past, the university has made the decision to divest from south africa, from the humanitarian crisis in sudan and also from tobacco,” he said. “There have been other proposals over time … this is just the one that we’re talking about right now.”

2028 FROM PAGE 1

called the numbers “utterly indefensible” and criticized the supreme Court’s decisions. he said the group is now doubling down on advocating to end legacy admissions, which disproportionately favor white applicants.

“Over the next couple of days, you are going to see (students for educational equity) being pissed,” he said.

The university also re-implemented a test-required policy in march for the

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Community members lobby advisory committee on divestment

ACURM responded to concerns at a listening session Tuesday.

BY ELENA JIANG SENIOR STAFF WRITER

a brown advisory committee has less than three weeks to issue a recommendation on divestment to be voted on in October.

a t the first of two open forums on Tuesday, university community members weighed in.

The forum, held by the a dvisory Committee on u niversity r esource management, follows hearings from both pro- and anti-divestment students this past week. a second public forum will be held on Wednesday.

undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and alumni were all present at today’s session. pro-divestment supporters took up a noticeable majority.

The public forum was the latest glimpse into campus opinion on divestment from companies with Israeli military ties, a hotly contested issue that remains popular among students but deterred top donors and even a Corporation member from the university.

d uring the forum, pro-divestment attendees pointed to “the material reality in Gaza,” calling the anti-divestment proposal presented yesterday “racist and

upcoming 2024-25 admissions cycle. “an analysis of the university’s COVId-era test-optional approach suggested that some students from less-advantaged backgrounds chose not to submit scores when doing so could have increased their chance of admission,” provost Francis doyle said in an email to the campus community on Friday.

powell reiterated that brown will continue to use “race-neutral strategies” in order to admit “increasingly diverse incoming classes.”

dehumanizing.” anti-divestment community members discussed feeling “unwelcome” and how divestment is “creating divisiveness” on campus.

Committee Chair James Kellner was aCurm’s sole spokesperson, responding to questions when explicitly asked and thanking participants for their contributions.

Kellner continuously reiterated aC urm ’s specific question: “ d oes the investment of brown university resourc-

CORPORATION FROM PAGE 1

vestment demonstrators to dismantle an encampment on the campus green.

university spokesperson brian Clark, in an email to The herald, wrote that “while we value the service of our former trustee, he has a fundamental misunderstanding of the decisions that led to the upcoming vote on divestment.”

“Our process allows any university community member to submit a divestment proposal for examination, and does

es in any of the 10 companies identified in the (divestment) proposal before us contribute to social harm?” he said.

aC urm ’s recommendation to p resident Christina paxson p ’19 p md ’20 is due sept. 30. That recommendation will be taken to the b rown Corporation, the university’s highest governing body, for a vote in October.

For aCurm to issue a favorable recommendation, the majority of its members must determine that divestment

not pre-determine the merit or outcome,” he wrote, adding that brown’s process for divestment was established decades ago.

edelman is a major donor to the university. In 2014, the Corporation accepted a $1.65 million gift from him for funding circuit therapy research and upgrading equipment in the Institute for brain science. he and his wife also endowed the faculty director of the Center for human rights.

edelman has been criticized for funding anti-trans advocacy in the united states.

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would positively impact a social harm issue or that a b rown investment contributes to a “social harm so grave that it would be inconsistent with the goals and principles of the university,” per the committee’s charge.

p articipants pushed for a clearer framework on how a C urm plans to define and weigh different forms of social harm.

One attendee referenced an International Court of Justice’s ruling in July which found Israel responsible for apartheid. Kellner declined to comment.

“The committee’s job is not to decide whether apartheid is is a social harm,” he said. “We have no list of things that we say are social harms. We have no set of things that we say count more than” others.

“We also have to consider other aspects of the u niversity’s ability to do its job as an institution. That means the ability to facilitate teaching, learning and research, the ability of the university to meet its financial obligations with money,” he added.

aC urm will issue its recommendation on divestment to president Christina paxson p ’19 p ’ md ’20 by s ept. 30.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 10, 2024.

The edelman Family Foundation, his social impact firm, donated $1 million to the anti-trans advocacy group do No harm in 2022, a huffpost investigation found. do No harm has pushed bills restricting gender-affirming care for transgender people. The foundation also previously donated to parents defending education, a group that opposes critical race theory and affirmative action in schools. In the same year, according to tax filings, e delman’s foundation made a $800,000 donation to the university.

Submissions: The Brown Daily Herald publishes submissions in the form of op-eds and letters to the Op-eds are typically between 600 and 900 words and advance a clear argument related to a topic of campus discourse. You can submit op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

Letters to the editor should be around 250 words and respond to an article or column that has appeared in The Herald, or critique or commend The Herald’s editorial decisions. You can submit letters to the editor to letters@browndailyherald.com.

Submissions undergo multiple rounds of editing. These rounds of editing generally take place over the course of one evening, and you may have to respond to edits late in the evening. If you know you will be unable to do so, please mention that in your email, and we will do our best to work with you.

Submissions can build on reporting from The Herald, reporting elsewhere, official statements from the University or other groups and other reputable sources, but they cannot break news or contain information that The Herald cannot verify. Because we cannot publish unsubstantiated information, failure to provide appropriate sources may mean we have to modify or remove unverified claims.

The Herald will not publish anonymous submissions or submissions authored by organizations. Leaders of student organizations can be identified as such but cannot write under the byline of their organization. The Herald cannot publish all submissions it receives and reserves

hera

Committee Chair James Kellner was ACURM’s sole spokesperson, responding to questions when explicitly asked and thanking participants for their contributions.

Rhode Island primary election results: Whitehouse beats Costa

Morgan beat McKay in Republican Senate primary

BY TOM LI METRO EDITOR

sheldon Whitehouse, rhode Island’s incumbent democrat senator, defeated challenger m ichael Costa in the state d emocratic primary.

In the r hode Island republican primary, s tate r epresentative. patricia morgan defeated r aymond mcCay for the nomination.

b oth r hode Island r epresentatives Gabe a mo ( d - r .I. 1) and s eth m agaziner (d-r .I. 2) ran uncontested in their d emocratic primaries. s enator Jack r eed ( d - r .I.) will be up for reelection in 2026.

The Associated Press called the race Tuesday night, shortly after polls closed.

Whitehouse, who was first elected to the senate in 2006, led the race with 85% of the vote against Costa, an investment manager for several

not-for-profit organizations.

Close to 80,000 r hode Islanders voted in the primary election, or around 10% voter turnout, according

to the state’s Voter Turnout Tracker.

This year’s state primary saw a relative dip in voter turnout compared to previous years. s tate primaries saw 11.8% turnout in 2020, 19.8% turnout in 2018 and 8.9% turnout in 2016, according to the d epartment of state’s elections and Voting d ivision.

Whitehouse and Costa could not be immediately reached for comment.

Whitehouse will now face morgan in the general election on November 5. morgan won 61.5% of the vote in the republican s enate primary

In 2018, Whitehouse defeated republican s enate nominee r obert Flanders with 61.4% of the vote, according to b allotpedia.

Ken hopkins, Cranston’s incum -

bent mayor, won a highly contested republican mayoral primary against s tate r epresentative b arbara a nn Fenton-Fung ( r-Cranston), W pr I projected. h opkins won 58.8% of the vote and will face d emocrat City Council member r obert Ferri in November.

The state’s primary was held alongside those of d elaware and New h ampshire. The results were announced shortly before the 2024 p residential debates between Vice p resident Kamala harris and former p resident d onald Trump.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 10. 2024.

education, housing, environment: major measures on RI’s 2024 ballot STATE

Higher

State proposes holding constitutional convention in measures

BY AVANI GHOSH METRO EDITOR

rhode Islanders will have a lengthy ballot on their hands this November. beyond presidential, senate and house candidates, residents will also get a chance to vote on approving $160 million in support for higher education — and, potentially, to change the state’s constitution.

here’s a preview of the most important issues on the ballot.

Higher Education Facilities Bond Measure

If passed, the state of r .I. would issue $160.5 million in bonds to improve higher education facilities at its public institutions, according to article 5.

The university of rhode Island would receive $87.5 million to construct a biomedical sciences building.

r hode Island College would receive $73 million to renovate Whipple h all, which houses the institution’s department of Communication, computer labs, training spaces for manufacturing businesses and sTem exploration spaces for local K-12 students.

rIC would also allocate some of the funding toward improving their Institute of Cybersecurity & emerging Technologies, which provides opportunities for “business, workplace experience, job placement and career development” in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence according to their website.

Housing Acquisition, Development and Infrastructure Bond Measure

approval of this initiative would allow the state to issue $120 million to increase the “availability of housing, support community revitalization and promote home ownership,” according to the proposition.

$80 million would be allocated toward increasing the low and moderate income housing availability, of which $10 million could “be used to support a new program for public

housing development.” an additional $20 million would go toward increasing “production of low- and moderate and middle-income housing intended for homeownership.” more funds would be allocated toward expanding the volume of affordable housing.

Environmental and Recreational Infrastructure Bond Measure

If passed, this ballot initiative would allocate $53 million toward “environmental-related infrastructure, local recreation projects and for preservation of land,” according to the proposal. These projects include infrastructure improvements at the port of davisville, resiliency measures for the Newport Cliff Walk, local recreation projects and

forests and habitat management.

The state would provide $2 million in grants to improve coastal habitat resiliency and restore floodplains and rivers, many of which became vulnerable following “increased flooding, major storm events and environmental degradation.”

The state would provide an additional $10 million in assistance to coastal municipalities to improve their infrastructure and public safety for these events.

This initiative comes after several other bills supporting coastal resiliency projects, including h7022, which mandated the creation of a coastal resiliency plan by June 30, 2025, The herald previously reported. The bill was passed through both the house and senate and was

signed into effect by the governor in June.

Cultural Arts and Economy Grant Program Bond Measure

This measure would issue $4 million in funding for r .I. s tate Council on the arts’ Cultural arts and economy Grant program for “capital improvement, preservation and renovation projects for public and nonprofit artistic, performance centers, museums and cultural art centers,” according to the proposition.

The ballot issue would also allocate $6 million to the Tomaquag museum, the Newport Contemporary ballet and the Trinity repertory Company, with each center receiving $2 million if passed.

Ballot Question 1

This question proposes holding a constitutional convention at which delegates could propose changes to the state constitution. In rhode Island, this question, also known as the constitutional convention question, can only be on the ballot every 10 years.

The last state constitutional convention was held in 1984, with a “yes” vote of 53.82%. The question has since been defeated in 1994, 2004 and 2014, according to ballotpedia. Voter registration for the rhode Island general election ends October 6, 2024. Voters can cast their ballots as early as October 16, 2024 — 20 days before the general election — at designated polling locations.

One question proposes holding a constitutional convention at which delegates could propose changes to the state constitution. In Rhode Island, this question, also known as the constitutional convention question, can only be on the ballot every 10 years.

EDUCATION

Providence Public Schools’ state takeover continues despite local objections

Mayor, City Council president, school board expressed opposition

BY CIARA MEYER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

after five years under state control, the providence public school district hoped this year to regain decision-making power over itself.

but last month, a state council decided that ppsd would remain under the control of the rhode Island department of education, or rIde, for three more years.

The decision comes amid other critical progressions in providence’s educational landscape. In July, rIde renewed superintendent Javier montañez’s contract for three more years. The city also anticipates a vote on its new hybrid school board in November, which will feature five elected and five appointed board members.

rhode Island Commissioner of elementary and secondary education angélica Infante-Green recommended the extension of state intervention with the public support of Governor dan mcKee.

since the ppsd first came under state control, the Commissioner and Council have had near total power over district decisions, per rhode Island’s Crowley act. The takeover followed a report highlighting systemic dysfunction in the ppsd by Johns hopkins university.

The Council’s decision to extend the takeover came after two independent reviews of the district’s progress on improv-

HEALTH

made some progress, the district had not yet met the

overturn the decision.

ing students’ academic performances over the past five years, among other issues. a schoolWorks report involved interviews with nearly 300 key stakeholders — including teachers, parents and students, said Victor morente, a spokesperson for rIde both reports concluded that while ppsd has made some progress, the district had not yet met the goals to overturn the decision.

a review conducted by harvard found that the ppsd fared better in mitigating learning loss from the COVId-19 pandemic than comparable districts. despite maintaining relatively steady rates, the ppsd is far from meeting the proficiency goals outlined in its “Turnaround action plan.”

For example, rIde initially aimed to have over 50% of ppsd students proficient in math by the end of the 2024-25 school year. In 2023 math proficiency was only at 13%.

morente also highlighted other accom-

plishments, including increased availability of career and technical education pathways, the expansion of five-star pre-kindergarten programs and the growth of professional development opportunities.

but, the reviews also “found that there were still some challenges with governance” at the local level, said morente.

providence student union executive director denezia Fahie ma ’23, who used to work for the ppsd, questioned the efficacy of both rIde and ppsd in effectively governing the district. she described the takeover as a “disorganized and messy organization attempting to manage a disorganized and messy organization.”

In a joint statement shared on X, mayor brett smiley and City Council president rachel miller expressed disappointment at the state’s decision to continue the takeover. both wrote that the city was “well on track” to begin a transition back to local control

in the 2025-26 school year.

The providence school board unanimously voted to request the end of the state intervention. but since their role is largely an advisory one, the vote has no power to override rIde’s decisions.

Fahie shared that the upcoming transition of the school board from an entirely mayoral-appointed model to a hybrid elected-appointed model brings some hope for better community engagement. she noted, though, that “it’s challenging because we are asking people to vote for school board positions that are disempowered,” she said. “The school board needs power.”

Fahie believes the takeover has failed to engage students. “There currently aren’t any tangible pipelines for students to give feedback,” she said. even when rIde hosts community forums, “there are limitations to where those conversations can go,” she said.

In her recommendation to continue the

takeover, Infante-Green wrote that a return to control before the three-year term ends is possible, if local authorities seem prepared. “It is not the desired intent of rIde to indefinitely maintain care and control of ppsd,” she wrote. The extension is intended to “provide clear stability,” she added.

Fahie said that while she “would love to see those public schools go back to local control,” she believes standard operating procedures, the code of conduct and the ppsd budget need to be updated before the city can effectively control the district.

Infante-Green wrote in her recommendation that local leaders and rIde should work together to develop a comprehensive transition plan.

despite the continuation of the state’s takeover, superintendent montañez’s contract was renewed to support the Commissioner’s goals of maintaining “continuity and stability” in the ppsd, morente said.

Fahie spoke to the previous efficacy of montañez when he was a principal at the ppsd’s Leviton dual Language school, stating that he created a reputation for having a “phenomenal culture, for having well-engaged students, for having phenomenal programming and curriculum.”

montañez wrote in a press release that he “will work with (his) team to build on the areas of progress identified and to swiftly address the persisting challenges we face.” spokespeople for the ppsd and providence Teachers union did not respond to requests for comment.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 10, 2024.

Two mosquito-borne illnesses pose heightened risk in Rhode Island

First probable human case of West Nile Virus hit RI in August

BY CIARA MEYER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

West Nile Virus and eastern equine encephalitis, two mosquito-borne illnesses, have returned to southern New england this summer.

The rhode Island department of environmental management and department of health have found 17 cases of eee and nine cases of West Nile Virus in mosquito samples. Incidents of eee and WNV have also been found in neighboring counties in massachusetts and Connecticut, including in some that directly border rhode Island. Officials encouraged people to take precautions to prevent mosquito bites.

“We’ve detected a higher than normal risk here, for eee in particular,” said al Gettman, mosquito abatement coordinator for the rhode Island department of environmental management.

eee, which is rare, poses a higher risk for humans than WNV.

WNV is more common, but many of those infected are asymptomatic. young children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems are most at risk of developing serious symptoms from eee or WNV, wrote annemarie beardsworth, a spokesperson for the rhode Island department of health, in an email to The herald.

Common symptoms of WNV include fever, head or body aches, vomiting, diarrhea or skin irritation, beardsworth wrote.

eee symptoms are similar, with the addition of seizures, behavioral changes and drowsiness.

an individual in providence County tested positive for WNV this august. rhode Island state officials have not yet reported any human cases of eee this summer.

Nearby massachusetts saw six human cases of WNV and four of eee, while Connecticut saw one human WNV case and no human eee reportings. rhode Island, massachusetts and Connecticut have not yet seen any WNV or eee deaths this summer. Last month, a New hampshire man in his forties died following an eee infection.

“all rhode Islanders should be taking precautions to prevent mosquito bites and get rid of mosquito breeding grounds,” wrote beardsworth. rIdOh encourages individuals to stay inside at sunrise and sunset, when mosquitoes are most active.

“If you have to be outside at those times, wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants, and use bug spray with deeT,” beardsworth wrote.

putting screens on doors and windows, fixing holes in screens and placing mosquito netting over playpens and strollers can help prevent bites, beardsworth added.

Getting rid of standing water around houses and yards — draining gutters, turning

over buckets and removing water from pools and fountains — can prevent mosquitoes from breeding.

“even a very small container, like a five-gallon bucket … can make literally thousands of mosquitoes during the course of the summer,” Gettman said.

rIdem and rIdOh conduct weekly testing across the state for eee, WNV and Jamestown Canyon Virus — a third, rarer mosquito-borne disease. WNV has been impacting communities across the state fairly evenly, but rural areas are at a higher risk for eee, Gettman said.

While about 50 mosquito species exist in the state, one species — predominantly

found in rural areas — is primarily responsible for carrying eee, Gettman explained. The mosquitoes feed on and infect birds, thus infecting other species of mosquitoes that feed on the same birds. Those mosquitoes can then transmit the virus to humans and other mammals.

WNV can be found in both rural and urban areas, Gettman said. Larvae of WNV-carrying mosquitoes are often found in underground stormwater catchment basins, which are common across urban environments.

To target WNV, the state distributes environmentally friendly bacteria that kills mosquito larvae. packaged in small capsules, the bacteria are distributed to communities across the state, placed in stormwater basins at the start of summer and released over 90 days to stave off mosquito reproduction, Gettman said.

WNV has been found in the state every year for over two decades, Gettman said, but there are some years where rhode Island doesn’t detect any eee. There aren’t “firm answers” as to why eee and WNV are sometimes at elevated levels, but some working theories point to fluctuations in rainfall and bird immunity, Gettman said. but Gettman added that “that’s a theory that is certainly not clear.”

In the meantime, “people taking responsibility is of tantamount importance,” Gettman said. “people can do a lot to reduce their own risk.” This article

COCO huaNG / heraLd

Both reports concluded that while PPSD has

goals to

Aizenberg ’26: The world’s latent TB problem may soon become active

dodie’s six-year-old daughter frequently suffered from lung infections and struggled to maintain a healthy weight. as a registered nurse, dodie was understandably concerned, but since her daughter exhibited no other symptoms, she attributed the issue to a common childhood illness from being surrounded by other sick kindergarteners. but her daughter’s condition soon worsened: she became increasingly fatigued, appeared noticeably sicker and developed an enlarged lymph node in her neck. panicked, dodie took her to an ear, nose and throat specialist, who found that her daughter’s lungs were damaged. a biopsy of the lymph node revealed even worse news — her daughter had tuberculosis, a rarity in the u s she was placed on an aggressive treatment regimen, which included multiple antibiotics, weekly check-ups and frequent tests. Fortunately, the treatment was successful, and she was eventually cured.

While dodie’s daughter’s case was serious, her life was likely not in immediate danger because the american healthcare system is well funded and competent at treating Tb, which is entirely curable and preventable. but imagine for a moment that dodie’s daughter lives in India, where someone dies of Tb every 90 seconds. The nearest specialist is hundreds of miles away, making regular appointments difficult. The cost of tests and travel are a significant financial burden, not to mention the limited availability of some essential antibiotics. What begins akin to a common cold rapidly progresses to a life-threatening disease, and without the resources or time to get supplementary care, dodie is helpless to intervene. under these conditions, dodie’s daughter risks becoming one of the roughly 1.3 million people who die from Tb each year — an overwhelming majority of whom reside in africa and asia.

It is inexcusable and dangerous that Tb prevention efforts and research are underfunded and

underpublicized globally, simply because it is not currently an urgent problem in wealthy countries. Though Tb is one of the deadliest diseases in human history and remains a leading cause of death worldwide, treatment remains troublingly inaccessible. and unlike other curable illnesses, Tb infection rates have declined very slowly. between 1975 and 2015, only one new Tb drug entered the market. Isoniazid, the most commonly used antibiotic for Tb, has been in use since 1952. While recent progress has been made toward developing a new Tb vaccine, the only current vaccine was developed nearly 100

zations and better intergovernmental cooperation, we can make significant strides toward curing Tb worldwide.

There is a clear moral obligation to prevent tuberculosis deaths across the globe. There’s an equally clear practical incentive: failing to control the spread of Tb will eventually endanger people in countries where the disease is currently less prevalent. In many places with underfunded Tb programs, patients might only receive partial treatment or the wrong treatment entirely, allowing some strains that are immune to these antibiotics to sur-

It is inexcusable and dangerous that TB prevention efforts and research are underfunded and underpublicized globally. “ “

years ago, and its efficacy is still debated. In affluent countries like the u s., these age-old treatments, combined with improved ventilation and sanitation, were sufficient to curb Tb however, once Tb was under control in the u s., many lost interest in pursuing further treatments for the disease globally. as a result, Tb prevention and research are now significantly underfunded. Those who are lucky enough to receive treatment still endure the painful, nearly two-year regimen that has existed since the 1970s, which involves months-long cycles of drugs like rifampicin and ethambutol which commonly come with many difficult side effects like nausea and rashes. With increased funding for global health organi-

vive. The patient can then spread their infection to others, creating a strain of drug-resistant Tb

This is already becoming a worldwide problem. In 2022 alone, 410,000 people developed Tb that was resistant to traditional antibiotics. These strains are difficult to treat even in countries with the strongest healthcare. alarmingly, Tb cases in the u s. were higher in 2023 than they had been in more than a decade, and a not-insignificant portion of cases are drug-resistant. Though Tb may not yet be a public health emergency in the u s., this upward trend should be taken as a wake-up call to start taking the illness more seriously on a global scale. beating Tb is not as crazy a proposition as

it may seem. In fact, our success in combating COVId-19 proves that it is entirely feasible to develop new ways to tackle Tb pharmaceutical companies were able to develop effective COVId vaccines within a year of origination, and, not too long after, we had paxlovid, which dampens the severity of COVId infections. partly, this was possible because of tremendous funding: governments spent nearly 90 times more developing COVId vaccines that year than they had spent on creating new Tb vaccines in the previous 11 years. It was a product of readily apparent political and economic incentives to stop the spread of COVId

Though Tb is different from COVId in many ways, the principles applied to finding remedies for COVId are similarly relevant to Tb research. Increased funding and awareness will lead to new vaccines and therapies for Tb. There are already reasons for optimism. after a long drought, there have been recent promising innovations in Tb treatment. On World Tuberculosis day, news and hashtags related to the disease reached more than a billion people. These are good first steps in what can hopefully be Tb’s version of Operation Warp speed.

Though Tb remains one of the deadliest diseases, Tb research and prevention programs are within reach, if we can muster the will for it. hopefully, in the near future, everyone will be able to receive a standard of Tb care similar to what dodie’s daughter obtained, and will not suffer a death that could have been preventable.

Ben Aizenberg can be reached at benjamin_aizenberg@ brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

Mumford: Why progressives should want more conservatives at Brown

We need more conservatives at brown. We need to actively recruit and welcome them as faculty, administrators and staff, invited speakers, but above all as students.

you don’t have to be conservative to agree with this. If you’re progressive — as I am — you may feel that conservative ideas are misguided, sometimes harmful, and even hateful. That perspective is legitimate! but a lack of conservatives creates an unhealthy political monoculture, and undermines our community’s social and class diversity. It makes it hard for our current, disproportionately privileged students to communicate with the world outside the academy.

brown is overwhelmingly progressive. based on outside polling, brown has 8.7 liberal students for every conservative one. In the herald’s poll of incoming members of the class of 2027, 72% students identified themselves as liberal and 6% as conservative, a ratio of 12 to 1. (The rest identified as moderate or independent.) The subset who called themselves “very liberal” and “very conservative” were, respectively, 30% and less than 1%. This is not surprising: at selective colleges, students and faculty tend to come from professional families who invest heavily in their kids’ education, and this population has moved left over the decades.

We also know that politically engaged progressives, nationally, are an affluent and privileged group of people. The hidden Tribes survey found that those most passionate about politics, both left and right, are richer and more educated than the average american, and that the most progressive segment of society is economically better-off than the most conservative.

The children of low-income families tend to be less politically engaged than the children of well-educated professionals, but are more likely to be religious and to hold socially conservative beliefs which a lot of brown students would find unacceptable. making such students unwelcome by treating their

ideas as taboo, is unfair to them. It undercuts our self-image as an inclusive institution. along with conservative students, the university should recruit conservative faculty and administrators. unlike in the case of students, this is not really a matter of fairness. Well-educated conservatives could choose to work at colleges with a student body more aligned with their beliefs. but we want faculty who will normalize conservative ideas for our students (and for their own colleagues) and teach classes with conservative perspectives. We want administrators who will make conservative students feel visible, safe and respected.

between people of the same gender is wrong; that being transgender is a mental illness; that climate change and COVId are “hoaxes”; that abortion and birth control should be prohibited; that husbands should have authority over their wives. While these beliefs are held by many americans, they can cause harm to those who encounter them. (similarly, conservatives suffer harm from speech that undermines their own core values.) a more diverse brown might be, for many students, a less safe, more toxic environment.

We can mitigate these risks by practicing informal norms of courtesy in conversation, just like in

I want Brown to do everything in its power to build a politically diverse community. “ “

We owe this not just to our conservative students, but to our progressive ones. If they have little direct contact with conservative beliefs, apart from a sense that they are alien and harmful, they’ll graduate into a society they are poorly prepared to navigate. They will have little capacity to engage with many of the ideas they’ll encounter, and they’ll be alienated from the people who hold them, who are likely to be less privileged than themselves.

I don’t want to minimize the challenge that political diversity will pose at brown. diversity brings conflict. For progressives, conservative beliefs are often dehumanizing to marginalized people. Fox News laughs about “snowflakes” who can’t bear to be offended, but the fact is, words can cause lasting wounds. some conservatives believe that sex

conversations with strangers outside brown, where we don’t assume that everyone in the room agrees with us. but in public settings, where listeners may opt out, conservatives as well as progressives will say controversial, upsetting things. progressives and conservatives will still hate each other’s ideas (and perhaps avoid one another), but will accept that those ideas have social currency and legitimacy equal to their own. They’ll experience brown as a microcosm of the larger society, not an oasis from it.

but how could we get from here to there? Not by any kind of coercion (let alone the kind of toxic government intervention being attempted in some red states today), not by quotas in admissions or hiring, and not by discriminating against progressives.

What I am urging instead is for brown to embrace the importance of political diversity, and say so — repeatedly. When the president speaks about our aspirations, she should mention political diversity, using language like: “at brown we welcome both progressives and conservatives.” When we solicit applications for a faculty or staff position, the announcement should encourage people of all political viewpoints to apply. We should take steps to enrich the applicant pool for conservative candidates who might not otherwise feel welcome applying for a position at brown.

In undergraduate admissions, we should use similarly inclusive language, and we should expand the pool by reaching out to conservative communities: to churches, labor unions, military families. Low-income families — whatever their politics — don’t typically know that selective colleges like brown offer generous financial aid, unless someone tells them.

Those with the interest and qualifications to come to brown, as students or faculty, will still skew left. That’s the nature of our university’s cultural landscape. but even if it takes a lot of work to shift the ratio a little bit, it’s worth the effort.

you may object that if we value pluralism, the way to get there is through institutional neutrality. perhaps officially mentioning politics at all, let alone encouraging a particular viewpoint, is a mistake. but a 12 to 1 imbalance won’t correct itself by being ignored. reaching out to conservatives doesn’t negate institutional neutrality — it makes it possible. I want brown to do everything in its power to build a politically diverse community. If you’re progressive, you should want that too.

Jeremy Mumford is an associate professor of history and can be reached at Jeremy_Mumford@brown.edu. Please send responses to this op-ed to letters@browndailyherald. com and other op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

Rahman ’26: Brown must adopt an action plan for outdoor education

as a meiklejohn peer advisor, I often remind my students that college is a transformative experience intellectually, socially and emotionally. Learning does not only happen in the classroom – it happens in clubs, dining halls and especially in the wilderness. yet brown is failing to provide an outdoor educational experience that allows students to reach their full potential. The time is now for brown to adopt an action plan for outdoor education so that we can best prepare our students for a lifetime of service to their communities, their nations and the world.

Outdoor education provides a unique outlet for students to learn outside the traditional confines of a university campus and instill in its participants values that are critical to their success in life. In the words of sir david attenborough, “If children grow up not knowing about nature and appreciating it, they will not understand it, and if they don’t understand it, they won’t protect it.” On my recent brown Outdoor Leadership Training trip to the White mountains of New hampshire, this fact became especially apparent to me while taking in the wondrous beauty of the alpine zone and witnessing its recession as climate change continues to warm our planet and change its landscapes. Furthermore, while brown often professeses the importance of Indigenous land, simple acknowledgements and moments of silence often ring hollow. The best discussions I have had about land, and what it means to the people who came before us, have been through the firsthand experience of its beauty, utility and, sadly, its steady decline.

Time in nature also presents a cost-effective intervention to reduce stress and improve student mental health outcomes. That, of course, is in addition to the intangible benefits of increased

Letter: Response to ‘Brown’s architecture concentration lost its department. It may be gone for good.’

To the editor:

Terminating the architecture Concentra tion is a grave mistake in my eyes – it is a signif icant loss for the department of and architecture and for brown program has been all around successful (there are long waitlists for the intro studio, high-level work produced, students getting into top grad schools afterwards). In addition, the concen tration has secured much external funding, top notch faculty, and a state-of-the-art studio space on campus. It has brought a large, creative and diverse cohort of additional concentrators to the department. It is also a uniquely successful experiment in higher education, as it combines training in architecture with the humanities through careful examination of historical prec edent.

There are two ways forward: Let’s find a new home for this vibrant and visionary program elsewhere on campus, or retool it in such a way that everyone in our department can embrace it (and this time let’s involve former and cur rent students as well as all relevant faculty in the process and win the support from the senior administration). after all, architecture is the art of building up - not tearing down.

dietrich Neumann (professor of the modern architecture and urban

self-confidence as students learn to master knots, cook for themselves on camp stoves and lead others in the wilderness. something unique about the outdoors is the ability to connect with people simply because they are people. This is quite different from connections we make on campus which are often circumstantial from shared classes and activities.

Today, the two major campus groups operating in the outdoor education space are the brown Outing Club, which plans various outdoor trips throughout the school year, and bOLT, brown’s

To

students learn practical outdoor skills such as knots, backcountry cooking and tarping, as well as intangible leadership skills and a newfound community for students adjusting to sophomore year or a completely new campus.

as the Treasurer of the brown Outing Club and a bOLT leader, I have seen first hand the transformational impact of these programs, yet I know there is still work to be done.

despite our efforts, bOC has a number of challenges and unmet needs. Namely, demand for our trips far exceeds availability and the lack of

move Brown in line with our peers, the University must adopt a comprehensive outdoor education action plan to increase access, funding and diversity of trips and participants.

pre-orientation backpacking trip for sophomores, transfers and resumed education students. each year, bOC operates a community gear room, plans dozens of trips and takes hundreds of students on a variety of outings ranging from whitewater rafting to picnics at India point park. bOC’s mission is simple: to get students outdoors, no matter their background or their ability to pay. bOLT, on the other hand, provides a comprehensive fiveday backpacking program that brings over 100 students and 30 leaders into the wilderness. here

WEB EXCLUSIVE

university support to rent department vans also means that we are limited to utilizing volunteer drivers at a high liability or using rental cars at a high cost.

meanwhile, bOLT has plenty of room to grow wat scale. While over 100 students heading to the wilderness might seem like a big number, it’s far smaller than peer programs such as the harvard First-year Outdoor program’s 400 students and princeton Outdoor action’s 640 students. There are also a number of financial barriers to partic-

ipation in bOLT such as the $450 participation fee, and the fact that bOLT leaders, despite putting in more than 180 hours of training, are the only group of pre-orientation leaders that aren’t compensated. This is a huge burden since bOLT conflicts with bruno Leader and Community Coordinator duties, making the choice to lead peers on this transformational trip an especially difficult one.

To move brown in line with our peers, the university must adopt a comprehensive outdoor education action plan to increase access, funding and diversity of trips and participants. This starts by establishing a working group within the division of Campus Life to address the issues that I’ve laid out and raise funds to support expanded programming. The current system also means that each outdoor group operates within its own silo, creating redundancies like separate bOC and bOLT gear rooms. It is imperative that this group think of ways to share resources and support student efforts to increase outdoor programming. Finally, while brown is primarily an undergraduate institution, we must not leave our graduate and medical students behind. Through coordinated efforts, brown is ideally situated to truly become an outdoorsy school — a place where learning happens both within and outside of the classroom.

‘Tas Rahman ’26 can be reached at tasawwar_rahman@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and other op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

Check out the Fall 2024 Courses in or (adjacent to) Contemplative Studies! https://contemplative-studies.brown.edu/

COST/RELS 0120 - The Classical Chinese Philosophy of LifeLarson DiFiori

COST/RELS 0535 - Self-Transformation and Transcendence in Later Daoist Contemplative Traditions - Larson DiFiori

COST/RELS 0565 - The Sound of One Hand: Zen in Asia and the West - Harold D. Roth

COST 1082 - Me, Myself and I: Exploring Senses of Self from a Multidisciplinary Perspective - Nicholas Canby

PHP 1880 (COST 1080) - Meditation, Mindfulness and HealthEric Loucks

PHP 1890 (COST 1890) - The Craving Mind - Judson Brewer

RELS 2380A - Chinese Buddhist Texts - Harold D. Roth and Jason Protass. (Reading proficiency in Classical Chinese required and knowledge of Buddhism preferred.)

SOC1871Z - Martial Arts, Culture and Society - Michael Kennedy

TAPS 1280K - Mindfulness and Movement: Interoceptive Expressive Arts - Michelle Bach-Coulibaly

U. launches orientation program for rural students

Students find home in international orientation

Here’s what Brown archeologists found this summer

REVIEW: Lanthimos’s “Kinds of Kindness”

FIELD HOCKEY

Women’s hockey drops two close games in weekend homestand

Bruno starts season winless despite flashes of all-around prowess

BY GALEN GIBB STAFF WRITER

Following a defeat against the university of massachusetts at Lowell (2-2, 0-0 ae) on Friday, the brown women’s field hockey team (0-2, 0-0 Ivy) battled boston university (2-2, 0-0 patriot League) down to the wire this weekend, hoping for their first win of the season.

but after an hour of regulation play and 20 nail-biting minutes of sudden death, the bears kept the game deadlocked at 2-2, only to narrowly lose 2-3 in penalty shootouts.

“I am very happy with our team’s performance today, as I was on Friday, yet am disappointed and dissatisfied with the result,” head Coach britt broady wrote in a message to The herald.

despite the final score, bruno relentlessly attacked the Terrier defense. The team attempted nine penalty corners and a total of 20 shots — creating double the number of scoring opportunities bu did — but still recorded one fewer shot on target. “We created many high quality chances yet were unable to capitalize (on them to) turn this contest into a dominating win,” broady wrote.

brown’s staunch defense early on counterbalanced their struggle to convert scoring opportunities. While the bu back line blocked two penalty corners and another two shots in open play by 6:46 into the match, the bears did not allow a single shot attempt the entire first quarter.

WATER POLO

Julia hitti ’25 anchored the bruno defensive unit. When the Terriers got into transition off a missed penalty corner by brown 4:01 into the first quarter, hitti intercepted a crucial cross that would have given bu a point-blank shot at the home goal. she also deflected a Terrier penalty corner attempt off the goal line in the beginning minutes of the third quarter.

“We played great defensively today,” hitti wrote in a message to The herald. “I was happy with our defensive organization, interceptions and patience — all things we worked on after Friday’s game against umass Lowell.” by their fourth penalty corner, with

2:35 left in the first quarter, bruno’s offensive persistence was rewarded. Off a quick inbound pass from Lucy adams ’26, Jule rothenberger ’28 drove the ball low towards the direction of goal, allowing Lucie schroeder ’28 to redirect it into the back right corner of the net, putting brown up 1-0. Through this sequence, rothenberger notched her first collegiate assist, and schroeder her first collegiate goal. bu began to turn the tide in the second quarter. With just 2:01 elapsed, they evened the score at 1-1 with a penalty corner that ricocheted the ball past the bruno defense and into the net in a slow roll. brown responded with four shots in the proceeding

seven minutes, all to no avail. bu then retaliated with a penalty stroke that required goalkeeping heroics from Kylee del monte ’27, who saved the shot to keep the score tied through halftime. Neither team could maintain momentum for long in the second half. 6:36 into the third quarter, adams tallied her second assist of the day by dribbling around two defenders deep in the right side of the Terrier circle. she passed the ball towards the penalty spot, where rothenberger guided it past the goalline for brown to jump ahead 2-1.

The bears only enjoyed this lead for 18 seconds before bu scored in the next

possession via another penalty corner to tie it at 2-2.

Gridlock in the midfield defined the rest of regulation and sudden death. The Terriers closed off spacing along the wings that had permitted bruno’s midfielders and forwards to apply offensive pressure in earlier quarters, and brown did the same with the middle. Oftentimes, the bears relied on adams to move the ball forward with her exceptional dribbling and passing skills.

“(she) is one of the very best players in the country,” broady wrote. “Our opponents attempt to limit her touches on the ball and impact on the game. despite being the focus of defensive attention, Lucy continues to be a very dangerous threat and can change the game at any moment.” a tied scoreline after 80 minutes initiated the penalty shootout. after four shots from each team, the shootout stood at 2-2. The fifth Terrier scored, but the fifth bruno missed, leaving brown with a loss of the smallest margins.

“We have a very strong team this season and are aiming to win as many games as we can and earn a spot in the Ivy League championships,” rothenberger wrote in a message to The herald. “We all believe in the potential of our team and are focused on building on our strengths and addressing our weaknesses as we move forward.”

The women’s field hockey team will continue to vie for their first win of the season against 4-time NCaa champions the university of Connecticut this Thursday at Goldberger Family Field.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 9, 2024.

Men’s water polo concludes Bruno Classic with thrilling double-overtime win

Bruno opens season with 2-2 weekend, losing Saturday’s two games

BY COOPER HERMAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

saturday marked the beginning of the brown men’s water polo season — and the bruno Classic, an annual event held at the Katherine moran Coleman aquatics Center. The bears started off the weekend with two losses before coming back for air on sunday.

brown played four games in the event. On saturday, the bears lost both of their games to top-notch programs in No. 14 Fordham university (3-0) and No. 7 university of the pacific (3-0). but on sunday, the tide turned in bruno’s favor.

The day began with a 16-13 win over No. 17 California baptist university (1-3), and ended with a dramatic victory against the united states air Force academy in double overtime.

“We were more prepared,” said head Coach Felix mercado of the team’s performance in the Classic’s second day. “We got (the losses) out of our system on s aturday, and we were more ready to play today.”

The contest against a ir Force was intense from the start, as both squads demonstrated immense offensive aggression. The Falcons wasted no time, scoring a goal in the game’s first ninety seconds. but brown’s Goran Narancic ’27 responded thirty seconds later with a goal of his own to tie the game.

The bears and Falcons traded goals

back and forth for the remainder of the quarter, with air Force holding a slim 3-2 lead. In the second quarter, brown amplified their offensive pressure, moving the ball well and capitalizing on weak air Force defensive rotations. after great ball movement from d aniel h adar ’27 and scoring from Jaxson Tierney ’27, the bears exploded for a six-goal quarter that yielded them an 8-7 lead at halftime.

brown and air Force traded goals for most of the third quarter as well, with neither team gaining an advantage of more than one goal. but with 1:03 left in the third quarter, máté Tymcyna ’27 — who finished with a game-high five goals — scored for the third time, extending the bears’ lead to 11-9 by the start of the final quarter.

brown maintained their momentum in the beginning of the fourth quarter, as ramzi megalli ’27 launched the ball past the Falcons’ defense to give the bears a 12-9 lead — their largest of the day — with just 6:12 left in the game.

Just as brown seemed to pull away, the Falcons came soaring back, converting brown turnovers into offensive opportunities. In the span of just four minutes, air Force scored three unanswered goals to tie the game at 12-12.

With 0:45 left, brown’s Ilias stothart ’26 scored a go-ahead and seemingly game-winning goal to give the bears a 13-12 lead.

Then, the unthinkable happened.

With just 0:07 left and the b ears in possession, a ir Force’s d avid b rown ripped the ball out of Tymcyna’s hands and passed it to Jack r ichards, who fired it

into the b rown net as the clock wound down. a stunned home crowd sat in awe as the b ears’ momentum appeared left dead in the water.

d espite the jarring turn of events, the b ears remained poised. b oth teams scored their 14th goal in the first three minutes of the overtime period. In the second overtime, Tymcyna scored what would finally prove the decisive goal, giving the b ears a 15-14 victory and a s unday sweep.

mercado credited the team’s resil-

ience throughout the long match to its “composure.”

“We are talented and mature enough to overcome situations like that,” mercado said. playing in overtime “was probably a really good thing to happen to us because now we know that we’re capable of overcoming certain things” as the young season opens.

“We’re smiling,” hadar said following the game. “What better opportunity would you have to go play in front of a home crowd in overtime when the stakes

are high?”

The bears will continue their season this saturday in Long beach, Ca against biola university (1-3), and return home for a september 28th doubleheader against the massachusetts Institute of Technology and Johns hopkins university. saturday’s contest will begin at 10:00 a.m. and can be streamed on espN+.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 9, 2024

Máté Tymcyna ’27 led the Bears with five goals.

REVIEW

“Dìdi” heartfully captures Asian American adolescence in the early 2000s

Sean Wang’s debut follows thirteen-year-old Chris Wang

BY ISABEL HAHN ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

The experience of growing up has been captured on film countless times — and for good reason. There is perhaps no other period of life that feels more sensitive, more eye-opening or more chaotic than the peak of adolescence. While director sean Wang leans into the universality of being a teenager in his recent semi-autobiographical film “dìdi,” he also takes the genre a step further by incorporating delicate cultural nuances and playful digital references into his take on “coming of age.”

“ d ìdi” follows Chris Wang (Izaac Wang), a Taiwanese american 13-yearold in his last month of summer break before entering high school. It’s 2008 in Fremont, California, and the digital world has only just begun to take shape. Kids are surfing the web on their home-installed pCs, posting blurry selfie-status updates to Facebook and uploading shaky dIy prank videos to youTube. Chris lives with his mother, Chungsing (Joan Chen), older sister Vivian (shirley Chen), and grandmother Nai-Nai (Chang Li hua), and often clashes with them due to cultural and generational divides. Chris’s father is mentioned to live separately in Taiwan, responsible for the family’s income, but his absence appears to be a difficult topic for Chungsing to address directly and for

REVIEW

Chris to cope with.

While he is dìdi — m andarin for “younger brother” — at home, outside with his rowdy group of friends, Chris is nicknamed “Wang Wang.” unsure how to define himself, he struggles to both hold onto his childhood and mature as quickly as possible. One moment he is play-fighting with a group of neighborhood boys, the next he is stealing his sister’s band tees for a more sophisticated outfit. From trying to impress his crush madi (mahaela park) to tagging along with an older group of boys as their makeshift skateboard filmer, Chris deals with changing social circles and underlying feelings of being misunderstood by others — feelings that

bleed into his tense relationship with his mother. Throughout “dìdi,” Chris’s life is defined by uncertainty. as the film follows him from home to crowded house parties to suburban skateparks, viewers — no matter their age or background — are made to reminisce on a time when they too felt like the world was moving too fast for them to catch up.

Like many other coming of age films, “dìdi” is modeled off of its director’s real life experiences growing up, with Chris serving as a stand-in for s ean Wang’s younger self. While much of the film’s narrative is not extremely groundbreaking — many of its plot points are reminiscent of those in well-known indie teen

films like “mid90s” and “eighth Grade” — Wang manages to create a portrait of growing up as an asian american in the 2000s that feels authentic, both a personal love letter to his youth and a film that can resonate with many. Not only does “d ìdi” depict elements of Wang’s own past, the film also evinces Wang’s reflection on the cultural and familial dynamics that dominated his teenage years and are present in his artistic craft. some of the most delicate and poignant moments of “dìdi” come from scenes of Chris and his relatives, one such example is him having fun taking a video of his grandmother on his camcorder. Glimpses of Chungsing’s personal dreams beyond motherhood, as

well as the arguments she has with her critical mother-in-law, subtly show Wang’s appreciation for his own mother — and perhaps also contain an apology.

Though Taiwanese a merican diasporic culture is a prominent part of the film, these aspects never feel overbearing or forced. “d ìdi” is able to appeal to a widespread audience, while also providing many asian american viewers with a refreshing representation of their community on screen.

“dìdi” ends almost as mundanely as it begins, in a place where neither Chris nor the audience knows where he really stands. The next four years of high school are impossible to predict, but despite the uncertainty that still lingers with Chris, we feel that things are going to turn out okay. Ironically, Wang’s debut coming of age film tells us that adolescence is anything but narratively linear, an up-and-down experience with no clear-cut beginning or end. Chris comes to understand his mother a little more, patch things halfway back together with his friends and start freshman year on a fresh note. however, we know that his life is still far from perfect; conflicts are sure to still come and go. Wang doesn’t try to offer a solution to teenage angst, but he shows us that a time will eventually come when one will be able to look back on all the emotions that come with growing up — and maybe even make a movie with all that they’ve learned.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 5, 2024.

Sabrina Carpenter may be “Short n’ Sweet,” but she’s got big star power

Carpenter expertly weaves hallmark puns and double entendres

BY CAMPBELL LOI SENIOR STAFF WRITER

after dominating the charts and radio with singles “espresso” and “please please please” — deemed “songs of the summer” — sabrina Carpenter has finally released her highly anticipated album “short n’ sweet.”

Opening several shows for Taylor swift on The eras Tour in the summer of 2023, Carpenter enchanted audiences with her performances, going viral for the creative and cheeky innuendos she made onstage.

Now well-known for these playful and bold lyrics, Carpenter has expertly woven her hallmark puns and double entendres throughout “short n’ sweet.” even the album’s title takes on a double meaning, at once describing the length of the record — which clocks in at just 36 minutes — but also Carpenter herself, who is 5 feet tall.

Though it seemed to have happened overnight, Carpenter’s success is certainly no accident. she has been working in the industry for nearly a decade, initially as a staple of disney’s brand, releasing four albums through its label hollywood records and starring in “Girl meets World.” d espite being Carpenter’s sixth studio album, “short n’ sweet” is only her second since breaking away from the disney umbrella and signing with universal music

Group in 2021. Carpenter’s departure from d isney has been far from simply administrative in nature: 2022’s “emails i can’t send,” her first album with Island records, marked a clear growth in her musical aesthetic. The album showcased Carpenter at her most vulnerable, with more raw and mature songwriting than ever before. Tracks like “Nonsense” saw Carpenter spinning her sweet and innocent persona in a more mature and sultry direction — a striking divergence from the clean and

wholesome image characteristic of her child stardom.

Carpenter follows this same trajectory with “ s hort n’ s weet,” branding herself as a striking and bold woman empowered in her sexuality with clever lyrics that don’t take themselves too seriously. Tracks like “ e spresso” playfully describe Carpenter to be so alluring that she induces insomnia, while on “Good Graces” she reminds her lover of her power over him and suggests that it is a privilege to be with her. Free from the

constraints that come with maintaining a d isney-appropriate image, Carpenter dives into this new niche with ease. even so, longtime fans will be pleased to find that “short n’ sweet” still offers the same painfully relatable relationship woes that have characterized Carpenter’s music since the beginning of her career. Tracks like “sharpest Tool” show a struggle to navigate love and relationships reminiscent of her early music. but it is also here that her growth is the most palpable, both in her skill as a songwriter and as a person,

as she trades the adorable awkwardness and innocence of 2015’s “Can’t blame a Girl For Trying” for a greater sense of wisdom, experience and clarity. perhaps the most impressive aspect of “short n’ sweet,” though, is its broad range of sounds and genres. Carpenter’s folk and country-inspired twang on tracks like “please please please,” “Coincidence” and “slim pickins” has earned her comparisons to d olly parton, while “Good Graces” and “bed Chem” see her shining just as bright on r&b beats. Though undeniably still a pop album at its core, “short n’ sweet” stands out amongst competitors by bending and blending various genres. Furthermore, the cultural impact of “short n’ sweet” can and should be examined within the broader lens of recent music trends. In recent years, many industry analysts have described pop music as a dying genre, arguing that social media has created a difficult environment for the birth of new pop stars as more and more audiences tire of the genre and shift toward rap and r&b

In the past few months, though, a wave of pop music has gained ever-increasing traction: alongside artists such as Chappell roan, Tate mcrae and Olivia rodrigo, Carpenter has dominated the music scene and worldwide zeitgeist with a strength that hasn’t been seen from pop artists since the 2000s, leading many to applaud these women for “saving pop music.” This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on

Though Taiwanese American diasporic culture is a prominent part of the film, these aspects never feel overbearing or forced.

COurTesy OF spOTIFy

The most impressive aspect of “Short n’ Sweet” is its broad range of sounds and genres.

UNIVERSITY NEWS

ACADEMICS

Brown’s architecture concentration lost its department. It may be gone for good.

HIAA told concentrators it would stop housing architecture concentration

BY JULIANNA CHANG UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR

On april 16, roughly 20 architecture concentrators walked into List art building for a meeting expecting pizza and exciting announcements. Instead, they were served some bad news: the department will no longer house the architecture concentration starting in fall 2028.

Current and prospective concentrators — including students that just matriculated this fall — will still be able to declare and complete their architecture concentrations as usual, hIaa Chair Itohan Osayimwese told The herald. but students matriculating after this fall will no longer be able to declare the concentration.

unless the concentration is made into its own department or picked up by another before then, it will no longer be offered at brown.

The history of the concentration before 2016, hIaa was home to one undergraduate concentration: the history of art and architecture. according to the department’s website, the concentration “trains students in the techniques of close-looking, visual description and interpretation and critical analysis that are necessary to locate the work of art in history.”

but there were always students who “showed a strong inclination towards wanting to study architecture,” Osayimwese told The herald. at that time, hIaa offered an architectural studies track that incorporated more design coursework than the concentration itself.

hIaa has also long offered hIaa 0100:

“Introduction to architectural studio design” to expose students to the basics of the discipline. but for students wanting more than just one course, the department often directed them to the neighboring rhode Island school of design’s department of architecture, which offers more in-depth studio courses accessible to brown students, depending on seat availability.

In early 2016, to meet the increased demand for design coursework, hIaa established architecture as a new interdisciplinary concentration that would be available for students to declare starting that academic year, The herald previously reported. The

concentration, though, would be offered as a bachelor of arts degree, requiring prospective architects to pursue a masters or doctorate in architecture post-graduation.

Originally, making the concentration possible relied upon a formalized arrangement with rIsd’s department of architecture, where brown concentrators would take a number of their studio courses at rIsd but this arrangement was short-lived, as rIsd struggled to accommodate so many students in studio classes, Osayimwese explained.

With university approval, hIaa hired part-time studio professors and established its own series of design courses in 2020, making the new concentration fully self-sufficient. The department also stopped offering the architectural studies track to focus on the new concentration, according to a timeline Osayimwese shared with The herald.

“Our intention was to offer this program to see if it was something we could support and if it was going to work,” she added. “I think we did a great deal of work in order to try and meet that goal for ourselves and for our students.”

Increased growth and pre-professional pressures

Over the past eight years, the architecture concentration has grown in popularity. according to the concentration’s website, the graduating class of architecture concentrators has nearly doubled — from 12 to 21 — in the past four years alone. Now, Osayimwese speculates that architecture concentrators make up nearly half of the total number of hIaa concentrators.

many concentrators, like Lainey bechta ’25, stumbled upon architecture at brown — bechta came in as an engineering concentrator. “but I realized I liked the design aspects and statics and hated everything else, so I switched to architecture my sophomore year,” she said.

Others, like harrison douglass ’26, one of the architecture departmental undergraduate Group leaders, intended to pursue architecture from the start. “I thought architecture was really interesting, and I knew I had an interest in art history,” douglass said. “I liked that the (architecture concentration) is pretty interdisciplinary, so you have to take art history classes, but you also take studio courses.” but as the years passed, Osayimwese noticed that the students’ pre-professional desires — often to apply to graduate school

to become a licensed architect — and the department’s initial vision were growing further apart.

“We found over the last eight years, really, that what students were more interested in was a more conventional approach to studying architectural design,” she said, leading the department to ask: “are we the best people to meet these expectations? Is this our role?”

since 2016, hIaa has tried to accommodate the needs of concentrators by adapting the curriculum, changing concentration requirements, increasing advising for students and hiring studio faculty to bring the concentration closer to what students desire, Osayimwese added. but still, the concentration wasn’t perfect. many concentrators faced difficulties getting into hIaa 0100 — which is a prerequisite for the more advanced studios and required for the concentration but only offers a maximum of 15 seats per section.

“It’s an introduction class, so (it makes sense) that people outside of the concentration can have a chance to dip their toes in and see if they like it,” said anahis Luna ’25, one of the architecture duG leaders. “but the fact that it was limited to 15 people made it incredibly hard to break in.”

To accommodate this growth in popularity, hIaa opened a new designated architectural studio space in 2022 and began offering two sections of hIaa 0100 last spring.

but despite some challenges, professor of the practice in architecture marthe rowen believes the concentration has successfully prepared students for a future in architecture. “The proof of that is that our students are getting into architecture schools, and our best students are getting into the best architecture schools,” she said.

bechta, meanwhile, believes that the program “is setting you up for graduate school, but not for success.”

according to bechta, most graduate programs require applicants to have taken physics and calculus courses — neither of which are requirements in the concentration at brown.

“I’m going to have an advantage over those who have done no architecture work going into graduate school,” they added. but if I really wanted to be serious about architecture . . . I would have gone somewhere else. (I’ll be successful) relative to peers who have had no experience, but to anyone else in the architecture field, a b.s

are kind of a joke.”

Osayimwese noted that offering a bachelors of science or a more advanced degree in architecture had never been discussed. historians don’t offer sc.b.s.,” she said. architecture is a resource-intensive field, Osayimwese said. “and to put it simply, the resources were not made available for us to offer a full program in architecture,” she added. “We didn’t ask for them, because that’s not what we had envisioned in the first place.”

‘Uncoupling’ the concentration In response to these challenges and the widening gap between the department’s and students’ visions, hIaa was faced with some tough decisions about the future of the concentration over the last academic year, Osayimwese said.

In september, the department formed an ad hoc committee devoted to proposing solutions to this issue. and throughout the fall semester, hIaa senior faculty conducted teaching observations in studio courses, which confirmed “concerns expressed by students and identified in previous reviews of the concentration,” according to a timeline provided by Osayimwese.

according to her, the department largely incorporated student feedback through course evaluations and confidential student meetings with their faculty advisors. but there was no formal opportunity for students to share their thoughts on the future of the concentration until april, when the decision had already been made.

With the ad hoc committee’s findings and advice from curricular deans, hIaa faculty ultimately decided to “uncouple” the concentration from the department during a November vote.

In april, the College Curriculum Council — the governing body of undergraduate curriculums and concentrations at brown — voted to phase out the architecture concentration from hIaa , following a proposal submitted by hIaa and on the 16th of that month, Osayimwese announced the decision to the concentrators.

Luna, douglass and bechta all attended that meeting in april. “I showed up like 20 minutes late because I had been in another meeting, and I saw that the room was dead silent,” Luna said. “It just seemed very hostile.”

“so we get there, and we have the pizza,” bechta said. “and they’re like, ‘so we will be decoupling’ … and they kept saying the word ‘decoupling,’ but … we’ve been

using the term ‘dropped,’ because it’s not decoupling if you’re leaving us and not providing us any support or anywhere else to go,” bechta added. “That is leaving us on the side of the road.”

douglass added that “there was a slight sentiment of, ‘damn, they abandoned us.’ but at the same time, everyone knows that this is a good move because it’s just fair to the students and fair to the teaching faculty.”

Luna agreed, noting that the decision makes sense in retrospect. “I was maybe a little oblivious, but I think everyone else was kind of queued on at some earlier point or kind of knew that something was up.”

What comes next?

all courses required for the concentration will continue to be offered until the last architecture concentrator graduates. but starting next year, no new concentrators will be accepted.

Osayimwese emphasized that there will be no changes to the concentration over the next four years. “We fully embrace our obligation, and we’re committed to serving the students who are at brown right now” and incoming students, she said. hIaa will also continue to support architecture alumni, specifically to those hoping to attend graduate school. at the meeting, hIaa emphasized that it is possible for another department to pick up the concentration, or for the concentration to become its own department or school. but “the department, as a unit, is not currently involved in any conversations to create a new program,” Osayimwese said.

douglass believes it’s possible for the concentration to be picked up by another department.The future of the concentration, he added, “is in someone else’s hands, but not sure whose hands just yet.”

Osayimwese emphasized that, in the meantime, hIaa hopes to refocus its attention on “what we’ve done really well for a long time, which is teach courses on the history of art and architecture, some of them including components of (design and making).”

“I’m still thinking about going to graduate school, but it’s sad to tell people about your time at brown and be like, ‘yeah, I concentrated in architecture, but it’s no longer offered,’” Luna added.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 5, 2024.

Brown’s divestment proceedings criticized over environmental considerations

Criticism was born out of comments made by ACURM’s chair

BY RYAN DOHERTY UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR

Comments made by the head of an advisory committee reviewing brown’s divestment proposal garnered criticism — and a mass letter — from environmental experts and advocates.

James Kellner, the committee chair, asked whether pro-divestment advocates have considered the environmental benefits of companies on the table for divestment. he noted that some of the companies identified also work toward clean energy

development.

a n open letter to a C urm , the committee, signed by around 100 community members, largely affiliates of the Institute at b rown for e nvironment and s ociety, argues that such factors should not be taken into consideration when discussing divestment.

“We wholly reject the use of companies’ positive climate impacts as a means of outweighing the grave social harm caused by b rown’s investments in the Israeli occupation of palestine,” the letter reads.

The letter also argues in favor of divestment through an environmental justice lens. s pecifically, it criticizes the environmental consequences associated with Israel’s

military campaign in Gaza, including carbon emissions and hazardous material from bombings.

“The carbon emissions of Israel’s bombing campaign in the first 60 days of its invasion was equivalent to burning at least 150,000 tonnes of coal … this is likely a “significant underestimate,” the letter reads.

“It is in I bes’s d Na to reject the slaughter of p alestinians and the desecration of palestinian land,” the letter continues.

The letter is not officially affiliated with I bes a representative from the institute did not respond to a request for comment.

Keller also did not respond to a request for comment in time for press.

ACTIVISM

Anti-divestment students make their case to Brown’s advisory committee

Students based presentation on 39-page memo obtained by The Herald

BY SOPHIA WOTMAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Five students brought their case against divestment from 10 companies with ties to the Israeli military before brown’s advisory committee on monday evening.

The a dvisory Committee on university r esources m anagement, or aCurm, will make a recommendation on divestment to p resident Christina paxson p ’19 p md ’20 by s ept. 30. brown’s Corporation will then vote on divestment during its October meeting.

The presentation was one of several online public forums being held by a C urm this month. Last week, six students representing the b rown d ivest Coalition presented their proposal for divestment. aCurm will hold open listening sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday allowing community members to directly address the committee.

The anti-divestment presentation was based on a 39-page memo written by a group of students, including monday’s presenters, who oppose divestment.

These students argued that the bdC proposal does not meet the committee’s requirements for divestment,

ACADEMICS

refuting the claim that Israel’s actions constitute a redressable social harm.

aC urm will only recommend divestment if it determines that a company causes social harm that could be mitigated by divestment, or that a company perpetuates a “social harm so grave that it would be inconsistent with the goals and principles of the university,” according to the committee’s charge.

d uring the group’s presentation, b rooke Verschleiser ’25 told the committee that recommending divestment would be “reductive,” “antithetical to free inquiry” and “damaging to the

university’s reputation and finances.”

When questioning the presenters, aC urm Chair James Kellner raised a perceived contradiction in the group’s argument that divestment would be both symbolic and also perpetuate social harm against Jewish students on campus and Israelis.

In response, Verschleiser aimed to reconcile these two points.

“I do not believe divesting from these 10 companies will have any effect on alleviating the suffering of palestinians, or would affect the ability of Israelis to protect themselves,” Verschleiser said. b ut divestment would

have a negative impact because of “what it signals to the world and to the Jewish students on this campus,” she added.

In his statement to the committee, former h erald staff writer Lev Kotler-berkowitz ’27 asserted that divestment would cause “the isolation of Jewish students — and our sense that our views are not welcome in class or conversation — (to) increase exponentially.”

The presenters also claimed that divestment would signal that b rown was taking a side in the Israel-palestine conflict — thereby “stifling” produc -

tive dialogue and discussion between students with different viewpoints, which they say contradicts the u niversity’s mission.

anila Lopez m arks ‘26, a representative of bdC, wrote in a statement to The herald that the group believes the anti-divestment presentation “failed to disprove the social harms clearly articulated in our report.”

Kellner also asked the presenters how they would address students who are “morally outraged” by Israel’s actions, even if they agree with the presenters’ argument that this conduct does not meet the legal definition of apartheid or genocide.

In response, one of the students present on the forum contended that it is aC urm ’s role to “distinguish between those understandable feelings of moral outrage and the facts on which they are based.”

Other aC urm committee members asked clarifying questions to the student presenters on topics such as the specific contributions of the 10 companies to Israel and Israel’s settlements in the West b ank.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 9, 2024.

CS students struggle to register for courses following new enrollment caps

Students remain uncertain about Fall coursework amid restrictions

BY BENICIO BEATTY STAFF WRITER

Getting into courses with limited seats has always been tough. In the department of Computer science, registration has become far more challenging.

In an email sent to Cs students on april 13, department Chair roberto Tamassia announced that enrollment caps would be placed on “almost all” courses starting this semester.

The department is “unable to give the same open access to its courses as in previous years” because of limited classroom space, budgeting and course staffing, wrote Jeff huang, associate chair of computer science, on behalf of the department.

Over the last decade, computer science has rapidly grown in popularity. The number of awarded Cs degrees nearly tripled since 2015.

shriram Krishnamurthi, a Cs professor, believes that the department is underfunded, limiting its ability to financially support the number of Tas needed. but he said the addition of enrollment caps was premature.

“This was not a consensus decision by the department’s faculty. This was a decision made by the department leadership,” Krishnamurthi said. “There was no formal vote.”

multiple faculty members, worried that the caps would prevent students from registering for their desired courses, requested that the department create a centralized pre-registration form to measure course demand, according to a document shared with Cs students this fall.

since upperclassmen are the first to register for classes, faculty feared that sophomores would be shut out of courses because of the new caps, Kathi Fisler, co-director of the Cs undergraduate program, wrote in an email to The herald.

In the form — which opened at the start of pre-registration last spring — students were able to request an override for four courses, two of which could be listed as “priority courses.” students then listed their semester level, concentration and the courses they would like to take. For priority courses, students could indicate whether or not the course was required for graduation and explain any special circumstances.

based upon these factors, students have been manually approved for courses. according to the department website, some professors began approving override requests before the end of pre-registration, while others are waiting until students have completed some coursework in the fall.

use of the centralized pre-registration form was up to the professors’ discretion. some courses requiring override requests instead granted them directly through Courses@brown or created a separate application process, according to the department website.

huang noted that many introductory Cs courses fill up during spring pre-registration, leaving few spots for incoming students. To help mitigate the problem, courses were assigned lower caps during pre-registration that were raised during the summer to allow incoming undergraduate, graduate and transfer students to register in the fall.

according to Krishnamurthi, the enrollment challenges in the department echo bigger concerns over brown’s shopping period. professors often have difficulty adjusting to enrollment changes and hiring

the proper number of Tas as students add and drop courses from their schedule so frequently.

Registration woes as the fall semester begins, many students remain unsure about what Cs courses they’ll be taking.

Jason Wu ’25, a Cs concentrator, worries that his options for upper-level courses will be limited by the enrollment caps. “Now, it doesn’t come down to luck, like how fast you can click a button,” he told The herald. “rather, it’s more like, ‘are you the right person to take this class?’”

Lucas Chan ’25, an apma-C s and physics double-concentrator, noted that some courses gave priority to sophomores and juniors over seniors to “ensure that the Ta pool would be full for the coming semesters.”

Chan also suggested that the enroll-

ment caps and registration system may have prohibited non-concentrators and students at the rhode Island school of design from registering for Cs courses.

“I think a lot of (rIsd students) didn’t even know that this was the system, so there might be an issue with communicating these new standards to people outside of the Cs concentration,” he said.

“Let’s be honest — this is a very unpleasant situation,” Krishnamurthi said.

In response to the enrollment caps, many students have been shopping and registering for backup courses in case they don’t get into any others — what the department refers to as a “traffic jam.” The department has since encouraged students to drop and remove those courses from their cart to allow the department to redistribute their seats.

On sept. 8, students received updated instructions from the directors of the

Cs undergraduate program: Fill out more forms. students missing necessary courses to make progress in their degrees were advised to complete a “critical situation” form. Those registered for courses they would prefer to drop were asked to fill out a “would-drop” form.

at this time, the department is not able to process non-Cs or non-joint-Cs concentrators’ requests until all Cs concentrator requests are processed.

“With the goal of allocating sufficient seats by the end of shopping period, we are working with the instructors of popular courses to admit students beyond the cap and possibly over last year’s enrollment levels,” huang wrote in an email to The herald.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 8, 2024.

CAMPUS LIFE

Brown police service dog leaves for R.I. College

The Department of Public Safety is searching for a new comfort dog

BY CLAIRE SONG SENIOR STAFF WRITER

e lvy, a Labrador retriever and member of b rown’s d epartment of p ublic s afety, has left College h ill for mount p leasant.

h er departure to r hode Island College was announced in a Today@ b rown messaged by Vice p resident for p ublic s afety and e mergency m anagement r odney Chatman. h er handler, Campus p olice Officer d ustin Coleman, also left for r IC.

“We will greatly miss her presence at b rown,” Chatman wrote in the announcement.

e lvy arrived at b rown via a program called p uppies b ehind b ars, which trains incarcerated individuals to raise service dogs that are deployed across a range of institutions. Chatman said he became interested in the program while looking for ways to diversify the services offered by the d epartment of p ublic s afety to include mental and emotional health.

a s Chatman was reading up on

comfort dog programs, Coleman expressed interest in adopting one

The result was a success. s tudents, staff and faculty alike “would stop what they were doing and run over to greet Officer Coleman and e lvy” when they made appearances on the m ain Green, he said.

“Whenever I did see ( e lvy), it was super nice and I really enjoyed it,” a bria h amberg ’25 said. “I have

a dog at home so, you know, withdrawal.”

h amberg used to sell tickets for the athletics program and would often run into e lvy and Coleman while at games.

“I know not every student likes dogs, but it’s just a nice thing to have,” she said. “I don’t know if it fosters any kind of campus unity, but to me it felt like it did. e veryone seems to love e lvy.”

a nnie ye ’26 echoed h amberg’s sentiment, adding that she and her friends are “all big fans” of e lvy. “I first saw her walking through the halls in my dorm freshman year. I thought she was really funny, really cute,” ye said.

b oth h amberg and ye expressed hope that dps would continue its comfort animal program by finding a successor to e lvy. Chatman confirmed that the department is “moving forward with the acquisition of a new dog,” but said the process may take some time.

CAMPUS HEALTH

New COVID-19 vaccine will be available on campus next month

Hours for vaccine clinics will be released in the coming days

BY CLAIRE SONG SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The new COVId-19 and flu vaccines will be available to students at brown within the next month.

The u niversity will distribute the new vaccines on campus, with clinic hours being announced in the coming days, said Vanessa b ritto, who oversees b rown’s health and wellness division. The updated vaccines were recommended by the C d C for people who are older than six months.

surges of COVId-19 typically occur during the summer and winter, according to ashish Jha, dean of the school of public health. The CdC recommended the vaccine to protect against a potential surge during the colder months.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 5, 2024.

u nlike the flu, infection levels of COVI d -19 “linger at a low level” before rising “back up,” Jha explained. This happens because, as the virus evolves, previous versions of vaccines aren’t as useful, requir-

ing an updated product for proper protection.

The new vaccine was developed to protect against the latest strain of COVId-19, called Kp.2.

“The virus that’s dominant right now is very different from the virus that was dominant six months ago or a year ago,” Jha said. “so even if you got infected a year ago, you’re not going to have that much protection from that infection.”

according to Jha, the new vaccine is especially important for people that are immunocompromised and older adults. he advised students to talk to their older relatives or those who are most at risk about receiving the vaccine.

Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the pandemic Center at the s chool of p ublic health, encouraged students to take precautionary measures against COVI d -19, such as using a mask in indoor spaces. s he also encouraged students not to wave off any symptoms as a cold and to test for the disease in order to prevent further spread of the virus.

This article originally appeared online at browndailyherald.com on Sept. 5, 2024.