WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2013 since 1891vol. cxlviii, no. 105Daily HeraldTHE BROWN

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UNIVERSITY NEWS, 8

BDS contracts Dining Services workers are set to begin negotiations this week for a new contractin

side

UNIVERSITY NEWS, 8 COMMENTARY, 11

Hate holidaysEnzerink GS unpacks the role of race in holidays in Rhode Island and the Netherlands

Behave, docThe Corporation approved a behavioral and social health PhD program last month

By ALEXANDER BLUM AND DAVID CHUNG

SENIOR STAFF WRITER AND

UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR

Expansion in the Jewelry District will be a focus of the University’s growth

over the next decade, based on the vision articulated in President Chris-tina Paxson’s strategic plan. While

undergraduate teaching will remain based on College Hill, the proposed development of administrative offices, research buildings and graduate stu-dent housing in the Jewelry District demonstrates the University’s inten-tion to play a leading role in revitaliz-ing the neighborhood across the river.

The project has attracted wide-spread support from local leaders, but given the Jewelry District’s cur-rent underdeveloped state, the success of these ambitious goals will require significant collaboration with govern-ment officials, private entities and oth-er academic institutions in the area.

The University’s commitment to a major project of urban renewal and transformation will shape the evolu-tion of Brown’s physical campus and define the school’s relationship with its home city and state in the com-ing years.

Brown in the districtWith the establishment of the I-195

Investing in city, U. to expand downtownStakeholders hope to see the area revamped, but concern about campus unity remains

By ISOBEL HECKSENIOR STAFF WRITER

“I’m not looking for the prima don-nas,” said Lynn Rothschild, an adjunct

professor of mo-lecular biology, cell biology and biochemistry

and astrobiologist/evolutionary bi-ologist at NASA Ames who helped advise this year’s Stanford-Brown iGEM, or International Genetically Engineered Machine, group. “We rise and fall as a team.”

Brown and Stanford University have worked together as an iGEM team for the past three years, and the 2013 group qualified for the world championship at the North America Regional Jamboree in Toronto last month.

Despite being locked out of their lab at NASA due to the government shutdown, team members rallied to present four projects to judges at the World Championship Jamboree at Massachusetts Institute of Technol-ogy this past weekend.

Though the 2013 team did not win any special awards and were not finalists this year, “we have a reputa-tion as one of the really strong teams,” Rothschild said. “We have the cool-ness factor.”

Brown, Stanford unite to reach world finals in synthetic biology competitionThough the iGEM team did not win any prizes this year, it will send a project on a space mission

By KIKI BARNESSENIOR STAFF WRITER

The University has begun to imple-ment proposals outlined in President Christina Paxson’s strategic plan after the Corporation approved the docu-ment at its Oct. 26 meeting, Paxson said at a faculty meeting Tuesday.

Faculty members and administra-tors also discussed the University’s decision not to divest from coal com-panies, faculty benefits, a program for excellence in teaching and changes to the faculty rules and regulations before retreating to a restricted ses-sion so that faculty members could discuss recent events at the University.

The University is moving forward with plans to recalculate financial need for international students each year, implement a new post-tenure sabbatical policy, boost support for student summer internships and Un-dergraduate Teaching and Research Awards, create sophomore seminars that emphasize diversity, develop a laboratory for educational innovation and identify more focuses for future TRI-Lab projects, Paxson said.

“These are things that we can do immediately,” she said.

The post-tenure sabbatical policy will offer faculty members a sab-batical at full salary six months after

U. begins to implement strategic plan initiativesFaculty members discussed plans to adapt financial aid, sabbaticals and internship support

COURTESY OF LYNN ROTHSCHILD

Students from Brown and Stanford joined Lynn Rothschild, an adjuct professor of biology and biochemistry and astrobiologist/evolutionary biologist at NASA Ames, at her lab in California to design four projects.

GREG JORDAN-DETAMORE / HERALD

Brown’s presence downtown — anchored around spaces like the Alpert Medical School — will grow under the University’s strategic plan.

» See IGEM, page 4

The third in a

four-part series

By MATHIAS HELLER AND ELI OKUNUNIVERSITY NEWS EDITORS

Roughly three-quarters of undergradu-ates do not support the protests inside List Art Center 120 that caused a sched-uled lecture by New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to be canceled last week, according to the results of a poll The Herald conducted Monday.

Despite opposition to shutting down

the lecture, strong majorities of students agree with protests outside the building and the circulation of a petition before-hand to prevent Kelly from coming to campus, the poll found.

And in the wake of the Corporation’s decision last month not to divest the University’s endowment from large coal companies, student support for divest-ment has fallen, though it remains the plurality opinion.

Though President Christina Paxson’s approval rating has risen slightly over the past month, the proportion of students who disapprove of her has increased threefold, from about 9 percent to near

Poll shows mixed opinions on Ray Kelly, coal divestmentA poll conducted by The Herald revealed shifting approval of President Christina Paxson

» See FACULTY, page 2

» See DOWNTOWN, page 6

Causing the lecture to be shut down via protests inside the auditorium:

Do you agree with the following actions taken by student and community protesters surrounding the

cancelled lecture by Ray Kelly last week?

Circulating a petition beforehand to cancel the lecture:

Protesting outside the building:

8% N/S*

71% Agree

80%

13%

8%

14%

21% Disagree

13%

73%

*N/S = Not Sure

JILLIAN LANNEY / HERALD» See POLL, page 3

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

university news2 THE BROWN DAILY HERALDWEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2013

6 P.M.

LGBTQ Dating Forum

Third World Center Formal Lounge

6:30 P.M.

“Left on Pearl” Screening

Smith-Buonanno, Room 106

2:30 P.M.

Novelist Jamaica Kincaid to Read

Martinos Auditorium, Granoff

4 P.M.

URC Forum

Petteruti Lounge

SHARPE REFECTORY VERNEY-WOOLLEY

LUNCH

DINNER

Salmon Teriyaki, Vegetarian Sweet and Sour Tofu, Korean Style Marinated Beef, Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll

Parmesan Baked Chicken, Vegan Paella, Mixed Baby Mesclun with Honey Dijon, Oatmeal Bread

Vegan Chow Mein, Chicken Broccoli Alfredo Pasta, Shaved Steak Sandwich, Vegan Brownies

Corn Chowder with Bacon and Potato, Italian Meatballs with Sauce, Vegan Great Northern Bean Casserole

TODAY NOVEMBER 6 TOMORROW NOVEMBER 7

c r o s s w o r d

s u d o k u

m e n u

c a l e n d a rreceiving tenure — a change from the past, when they would receive 75 percent of their pay. The change will affect faculty members who received tenure on or after July 1, 2013, said Dean of the Faculty Kevin McLaugh-lin P’12.

Paxson also mentioned the Com-mittee on Master’s Education and the Environmental Change Task Force as two groups that will begin to work toward strategic planning goals. She said the task force was “compelled to move forward quickly,” due to support on campus for additional methods to combat climate change.

She said an Institute for Environ-ment and Society is likely to be es-tablished in the coming months that will focus on issues of climate change among other relevant topics.

At the October meeting, the Cor-poration also decided not to divest holdings from major coal companies, a decision that sparked controversy on campus.

“The discussion was thorough and full,” Paxson said, adding, “It was not a slam dunk. We thought long and hard about it.”

The Corporation did not con-duct a vote to divest from coal, but instead came to a mutual agreement that divestment is not a wise goal for the University at the present time, she said. “We consider that matter settled.”

Professor of Geological Sciences Timothy Herbert said he was “disap-pointed” with the Corporation’s deci-sion, adding that “there is a need for

more leadership” at Brown. “We must chart a path,” he said. “I hope that the University takes this challenge on.”

Provost Mark Schlissel P’15 spoke about administrative decisions re-garding faculty benefits in response to a resolution written by an ad hoc committee on employee benefits in January.

This year, a projected $96 million will be spent on faculty benefits, a number that increases every year, Schlissel said.

But tuition assistance for Univer-sity employees whose children at-tend Brown has remained stagnant at $10,000 per year per employee since 2002, he said.

Schlissel said the best option for the University in addressing the issue is to index the number “to prevent further erosion.” Starting in January, the $10,000 annual tuition assistance provided for children of University employees will increase by a percent-age equal to any increase in University tuition.

Other options that the University considered but ultimately decided against were increasing tuition assis-tance by 36 percent, a percentage that accounts for inflation and increases in University tuition, and providing low-interest loans to tenured faculty members.

Professor of Religious Studies and East Asian Studies Harold Roth, who chaired the ad hoc committee, said indexing is “a step in the right direction,” but more improvements are needed.

Roth said the Tuition Assistance Program currently covers 20 percent

of Brown’s tuition, a number that pales in comparison to the over 60 percent offered at peer institutions, adding, “Why not put that in the strategic plan as something we would be open to?”

“We are unconvinced that it will make Brown a stronger University,” Schlissel responded, though, he said, “it’s not that these things aren’t worth-while to ask for.”

“I’ve never lost a faculty member because the TAP was $10,000,” Schlis-sel said.

The faculty also passed three mo-tions to amend the Faculty Rules and Regulations.

The first motion added the dean and associate dean of the School of Public Health to relevant commit-tees and boards of the University, such as the Graduate Council, the Tenure, Promotions and Acquisitions Committee and the Academic Code Committee.

The second motion amended the membership of the Campus Planning Advisory Board to be consistent with recent staffing.

The third motion revised policies regarding University committee mem-bers who take leave or sabbaticals dur-ing their tenures on the committees. The changes allow for the committee to decide on a one-semester replace-ment for the departing member, which would allow members to con-tinue their terms when they return, as opposed to having to resign from the committee.

Kathy Takayama, executive di-rector of the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning, gave a pre-sentation on the center’s departmental peer teaching observation training. Established in 2012, the program in-volves professors observing and giving feedback on other professors’ classes within departments.

James Valles, chair of the physics department and professor of physics, said five teachers in his department volunteered to participate in the train-ing and observation.

The training program works to-ward “breaking down the walls of the classroom,” a traditionally private en-deavor, Valles said. “I’m pretty happy that now we have the words to talk about our teaching.”

The program was discussed in response to the Faculty Executive Committee’s focus on excellence in teaching this academic year, said Iris Bahar, chair of the FEC.

The voting and non-voting mem-bers of the faculty moved into a re-stricted section at the conclusion of the meeting to discuss “recent events on campus,” Paxson said.

The restricted session was formed so that the members of the faculty could have a “private discussion,” Schlissel said.

» FACULTY, from page 1

28 percent.

Ray KellyA substantial majority of students ex-

pressed opposition to the stop-and-frisk policing practices Kelly has enforced in New York City. But most students disagreed with the actions student and community protestors took inside List that caused his lecture at Brown to be shut down.

About 56 percent of students said they strongly opposed stop-and-frisk and 22 percent were somewhat op-posed, while just 8 percent supported the practice.

Close to 7 percent of students re-ported no opinion of stop-and-frisk, and another 7 percent indicated they were not familiar enough to answer.

Around 71 percent of students agreed with protestors’ circulation of a petition beforehand calling for Kelly’s lecture to be canceled. Twenty-one percent dis-agreed with the petition action and 8 percent said they were not sure.

The event was planned to be part of the Noah Krieger ’93 Memorial Lecture series hosted by the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions.

Nearly 80 percent of students agreed with student and community activists’ protests outside List when Kelly was set to deliver his lecture, while close to 13 percent of students disagreed, and about 8 percent reported they were not sure.

But nearly three-quarters of students — around 73 percent — disagreed with protestors’ actions inside the auditorium that shut down Kelly’s lecture. About 13 percent agreed with those actions, and 14 percent said they were not sure.

“I think that trying to get the lecture canceled in the first place was definite-ly the most civil action,” Will Sano ’16 said, calling the petition campaign the best way for students and community members to express their concerns. “I do think the lecture should have gone forward, given that it had been formal-ized and scheduled.”

Sano added he understands protes-tors’ perspective, but “I just don’t agree with their silencing of Ray Kelly,” he said.

Misbah Noorani ’17 said she believed most protestors had strong feelings about Kelly coming to speak at the University, but she added that a “mob mentality” formed among some who protested in-side the auditorium.

Though student views on protestors’ actions surrounding the lecture corre-lated somewhat with race, majorities in every racial category disagreed with the protests that shut down the lecture.

About 76 percent of white students disagreed with the protests inside the auditorium, compared to 55 percent of black students. Two-thirds of Hispanic students and 77 percent of Asian stu-dents said they disagreed.

Roughly 90 percent of black students agreed with the protests outside List,

compared to 81 percent of white stu-dents, 77 percent of Asian students and 76 percent of Hispanic students.

Support for protestors’ circulation of a petition before the lecture calling for Kelly’s talk to be canceled also had racial differences. Around 70 percent of white students and 71 percent of Asian stu-dents agreed with the petition campaign, compared to 80 percent of Hispanic stu-dents and 74 percent of black students.

Coal

A majority of students who expressed an opinion on the Corporation’s choice not to divest from coal companies op-posed the decision. But the percentage of the student body favoring divestment decreased from 52 percent in The Her-ald’s previous poll, conducted Sept. 30 to Oct. 1, to 44 percent in the poll con-ducted Monday.

About 20 percent of students — the same share of the student body as last month — reported no opinion on the University’s decision not to divest.

Paxson announced the decision not to divest the University’s endowment assets in a community-wide email Oct. 27, following last month’s Corporation meeting.

Student opposition to divestment doubled since the previous poll. A com-bined 28 percent of poll respondents this week indicated support for the Corpora-tion’s decision not to divest while just 14 percent of students surveyed in the previous poll opposed divestment.

Opinions on divestment differed by gender, with 37 percent of males sup-porting the Corporation’s decision com-pared to 22 percent of females. About 50 percent of females disagreed with the University’s decision, compared to 36 percent of males.

“I’m for (the University) not divest-ing because I’m from coal country,” said Rebecca Noga ’17, who hails from north-eastern Pennsylvania.

Collin Wiles ’15 said he disagreed with the Corporation’s decision but added that he felt Paxson could not be blamed for the decision.

“I feel that the Corporation was re-sponsible for the decision more than Christina Paxson” was, he said.

Students who supported the decision not to divest generally felt students have at least some influence on University administrative decisions.

But 73 percent of students who strongly disagreed with the divestment decision said they believe student voices and opinions have little to no impact on the administration.

Paxson

At the start of her second year in of-fice, Paxson has become an increasingly polarizing figure on campus. The poll showed a steep rise over the past month in her disapproval rating, which jumped from about 9 percent in the previous poll to 28 percent this week.

But the percentage of students who

indicated approval also increased slightly, from about 43 percent to 48 percent. The proportion of students with no opinion fell by about half.

“She’s being very diplomatic, but she’s not being as sensitive to student needs as I would like her to be,” said Anna Zeidman ’15, who said she somewhat approves of Paxson’s performance.

Black students were significantly less likely to approve of Paxson’s job per-formance: Less than a third expressed approval, compared to an average of 49.5 percent across all other races, including

a slim majority of white students.Male students approved of Paxson

at a higher level — 54.3 percent — than female students, at 42.1 percent.

Student influence

At a university whose curricular dis-tinctiveness and identity largely resulted from student mobilization in the 1960s, current undergraduates are split over how much influence their voices and opinions have on the University’s deci-sions — an issue some student activists have highlighted as a grievance about

the administration.Roughly half of poll respondents

said students have some influence on administrative choices, but another 41.5 percent said their opinions have little to no influence. Only 7.3 percent believe students have significant influence.

First-years were much more likely than students in any other year to say student voices have significant or some influence on the administration. And approval of Paxson was generally cor-related with a belief in students’ ability to effect change.

university news 3THE BROWN DAILY HERALDWEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2013

Full poll results1. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Christina Paxson is handling her job as president of the University?12.7% Strongly approve34.8% Somewhat approve24.2% No opinion22.3% Somewhat disapprove5.9% Strongly disapprove

2. How much influence do you think stu-dents’ voices and opinions have on adminis-trative decisions at the University?7.3% Significant influence49.0% Some influence35.9% Little influence5.6% No influence2.2% Not sure

3. Do you agree with the Corporation’s recent decision not to divest the Univer-sity’s endowment assets from large U.S. coal companies?9.5% Strongly agree18.7% Somewhat agree19.7% No opinion22.1% Somewhat disagree22.1% Strongly disagree7.9% Not familiar enough to answer

4. Do you support the stop-and-frisk polic-ing policies enforced in New York City under Police Commissioner Ray Kelly?1.2% Strongly support6.6% Somewhat support7.3% No opinion21.9% Somewhat oppose55.9% Strongly oppose7.1% Not familiar enough to answer

5. Please indicate whether you agree with the actions taken by student and commu-nity member protestors surrounding the canceled lecture by Ray Kelly last week.

Circulating a petition beforehand to cancel the lecture:71.2% Agree21.2% Disagree7.5% Not sure

Protesting outside the building:79.7% Agree12.7% Disagree7.7% Not sure

Causing the lecture to be shut down via protests inside the auditorium:13.0% Agree73.2% Disagree13.8% Not sure

Methodology

Written questionnaires were administered to 863 undergraduates Nov. 4 in the lobby of J. Walter Wilson, the Sciences Library and the Stephen Robert ‘62 Campus Center during the day. The poll has a 3.1 percent margin of error with 95 percent confidence. The margin of error is 4.6 percent for the subset of males, 4.2 percent for the subset of females, 6.4 percent for first-years, 5.9 percent for sophomores, 7 percent for juniors, 5.7 percent for seniors, 4.8 percent for students receiving financial aid and 4.9 percent for students not receiving finan-cial aid. All reported cross-tabulations are statistically significant.

Numbers may not add up to exactly 100 percent due to rounding.The sample polled was demographically similar to the Brown undergraduate population

as a whole. The sample was 55 percent female and 45 percent male. First-years made up 23 percent, sophomores were 28 percent, juniors accounted for 20 percent and seniors were 29 percent. Of those polled, 44 percent receive financial aid from Brown and 56 percent do not. Students reported all races with which they identify, with about 54 percent identifying as white, about 24 percent as Asian, about 9 percent as Hispanic, about 9 percent as black, about 1 percent as American Indian/Alaska Native, about 1 percent as Native Hawaiian/Pa-cific Islander and 3 percent as other.

University News Editors Mathias Heller ’15 and Eli Okun ’15 coordinated the poll. Herald section editors, senior staff writers and other staff members conducted the poll.

Find results of previous polls at thebdh.org/poll.

R E S U LT S A N D M E T H O D O LO G Y» POLL, from page 1

Questions from The Herald’s undergraduate poll conducted a month ago:

Do you support the conversion of multi-user bathrooms in residence halls to gender-neutral status?How much of a role should standardized test scores play in public high school graduation requirements?

How often do you masturbate?What is your opinion of President Christina Paxson’s strategic plan?

For the results of these questions and others, go to thebdh.org/poll.

science & research4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALDWEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2013

All hands on deckSix students from Brown and seven

students from Stanford were selected for the 2013 team this past February.

Gary Wessel, professor of biology and the advisor for Brown’s contingent of the team, said team leaders take special care in selecting students from different academic backgrounds. “Hav-ing that extreme diversity adds a lot of fun to the team,” he said.

“One of the aspects that is really ex-citing (about iGEM) is that anyone can actually do it,” said Simon Vecchioni ’13, a co-captain. One member from Stanford is a communications major, another studies biology and history. Nguyen Le ’16 applied as a first-year with little experience in the field, but quickly became emersed with more experienced applicants who joined the team, Wessel said.

After team members are selected in February, they meet about once a week, Wessel said. When the semester ends, the students travel to Rothschild’s lab at the NASA Ames Research Center in California, where they work through-out the summer.

“The opportunity to work in a team is special,” Wessel said. “The iGEM concept really is a team concept.”

Even though the group combines students from two universities, they “really become one team,” Rothschild said. When the team members from Brown and Stanford saw each other in Toronto after being apart since the summer, outsiders would have thought they hadn’t seen each other in years, Rothschild said.

Sophia Liang ’15 and Trevor Kalkus, a senior at Stanford, said some of the best experiences at iGEM were outside of the lab. Kalkus said one of his favorite parts of the summer was camping in Yosemite National Park with members of the team.

Liang said when the team first

arrived in California, they were un-sure of their living situation and some of the team members ended up staying in a mobile home.

It was “a great bonding experience,” she said. “I sincerely had a great time living in a mobile village.”

Space mission Rothschild said having three insti-

tutions — Brown, Stanford and NASA — working together is “unusual.” Working at NASA is a great opportu-nity for the students because they are exposed to life outside of academia and to researchers and students from around the world, she said.

Rothschild said iGEM “requires a lot of time and a lot of love.” While NASA was not originally enthusiastic about hosting the iGEM team, they are now realizing the benefits, she said.

“Especially for me as a foreign stu-dent from Vietnam, the idea of work-ing in NASA is truly thrilling,” Le said.

Alissa Greenberg, a human biology and history major who graduated from Stanford in the spring, said iGEM is also an opportunity to be very hands-on. While she had “zero practical lab experience” before iGEM, the team is “at liberty to pursue any kind of project within reason that we want to.”

Wessel also described the program’s immersive nature.

“Normally we learn by reading books and papers … synthetic biology is the opposite. Your job is to design new things,” Wessel said.

While most teams only focus on one project, “this is a superstar group of 13 students who did four projects,” Rothschild said.

The first project, ‘BioWires,’ in-volves the construction of a one-atom thick wire that uses a strand of DNA as a structural template. The second project sought to create a bio-brick — a readily usable piece of DNA — which the team hopes will fight antibiotic re-sistance. Project three, ‘De-Extinction,’

seeks to bring ancestral genes back to life. The final project adds onto the 2011 Stanford-Brown iGEM team’s PowerCell, which releases fixated nitrogen and sugars in space so that bacteria can survive and replicate in the environment.

The last project is particularly ex-citing because it will be launched on a 2016 German space mission and the 2013 iGEM team focused on preparing the project for space, Rothschild said.

The show must go on The 2013 iGEM team faced unique

challenges due to the government shutdown, Rothschild said. After the regional competition in Toronto, the team was ready to do more experi-ments but was locked out of the NASA building.

One of Rothschild’s graduate

students was able to go into the build-ing for 15 minutes, during which she emailed people asking what they need-ed and gathered as many samples as she could. But not all of the experiments could be taken, and the shutdown impacted which tests were finished in time for the World Championship Jamboree, Rothschild said.

Greenberg said the experience made the team aware that a lot of sci-ence is only possible because of more powerful, larger institutions like the federal government.

Even without all of their experi-ments completed, the team presented at the World Championship Jambo-ree this past weekend. The team was judged on six components, Wessel said, which consist of a 20-minute presen-tation, a website, a poster presenta-tion, outreach to the community, the

number of BioBricks a team created and its actual research projects.

“In the past years there has been a ‘sweet 16’ which we made, but this year they didn’t list it,” Rothschild wrote in an email to The Herald. But the fact the team made the world finals “is still pretty impressive,” she wrote.

“I want (the students) to just have a ball,” Rothschild told The Herald. “I want to give them the joy of science.”

Kalkus said his favorite part of being at the competition was seeing teams from all over the world come together. “It’s a conglomeration of people united around science,” he said.

Vecchioni pointed to the satisfac-tion in making it to the world finalists as a team.

“We all started this together and we all finished this together,” Vecchioni said. “We came full circle.”

COURTESY OF LYNN ROTHSCHILD

The Stanford-Brown iGEM team could not finish all of its desired experiments at the NASA Ames Research Center because of the government shutdown, but the team still presented its work at the world championship.

» IGEM, from page 1

Follow us on Twitter! @the_herald

university news 5THE BROWN DAILY HERALDWEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2013

An alum who helped uncover footage of Mitt Romney shares insights on journalism and politics

By MATHIAS HELLERUNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR

Presidential campaigns are often most remembered for video clips or sound-bytes that come to define candidates’ personas for voters.

During the 2012 campaign, Re-publican presidential nominee and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was plagued by a video of himself speaking at a private fund-raiser about his belief that 47 percent of Americans were “dependent upon government” and paid no income taxes. The comment caused a flurry of negative coverage, and many politi-cal analysts have called the incident a pivotal moment of the election.

The reporter who helped bring this story to light, David Corn ’81, is the Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones magazine, an MSNBC commentator and a seasoned vet-eran of many national campaigns. The Herald recently talked with Corn about the 2012 campaign, investiga-tive reporting and his time at Brown.

The Herald: You were instru-mental in breaking the “47 percent” story about Mitt Romney. Can you

talk about how exactly that news got revealed?

Corn: I’d spent weeks and weeks digging into Mitt Romney’s invest-ments when he worked at Bain, and I’d done a series of stories on a subject that very few people had looked at, and I discovered that he’d been in-vesting in companies that had been outsourcing jobs to countries with lower wages and lesser labor stan-dards. Because I was doing that, I was always … chasing ledes, and I came across a video that was posted anonymously talking about a trip he made to a Chinese company that I thought was involved in some of these investments. ... We eventually tracked down the original poster of that video. ... He agreed to talk to me and send me the full video, which had no further information on his overseas investments but did have the 47 percent comment. So it was because I had been doing investiga-tive reporting on a subject area that many reporters were ignoring that I was able to reach a position where I discovered that great scoop.

Some have said the revelation of that news — shortly after Romney had picked up some momentum from the first debate — was the key moment in the fall campaign and ended his chances of being elected. Do you agree?

It’s hard to tell because we don’t

know what would have happened without the video. One thing to consider when thinking about the role of the 47 percent video … is the penetration and the length of the story. Pollsters for both the Obama campaign and the Romney campaign told me that all the independent vot-ers — who often are low-information voters — whom they were talking to in focus groups knew about the 47 percent video and had an opinion of it. It became a water-cooler conversa-tion topic that almost everyone knew about instantaneously. That doesn’t happen that often. Most importantly, it became part of a news cycle for a week or a week and a half. ... What happened with the 47 percent video is that it really threw the Romney cam-paign off (its) game plan for a week and a half to two weeks. It sucked up a lot of (the campaign’s) energy, atten-tion and perhaps most importantly, opportunity.

Much of political journalism to-day seems tied up in the world of 24/7 commentary on cable and fast-paced digital formats. As someone who’s worked for a long-established magazine but also for MSNBC, do you think this shift has been detri-mental to high-quality reporting?

The information technology we’ve seen over the past 10 to 20 years and the impact on journalism is completely a double-edged sword.

It’s given journalists like myself tre-mendous opportunities to expand our reach and to compete. Those of us who work for smaller outfits now can break stories, and, more impor-tantly, win attention for those stories as much as anybody working for the New York Times or the Washington Post. ...

But the cost of all this is that we live in a nanosecond by nanosecond news cycle where things come and go so fast that it’s difficult to have a deep and disciplined discussion about a matter. ... Everybody’s sort of racing like chickens with their heads cut off to one story and then racing back. With the availability of 24/7 me-dia, every little wrinkle or hiccup in any given story becomes completely magnified but often overly hyped and exaggerated. You see things like the IRS scandal or Benghazi.

There’s so much chest-thumping and foot-stomping that happens im-mediately that gets a lot of attention because the media are working in real-time and the deeper story that may take a couple hours or even a day or two lags behind, and by then, the political contours of a story have already been established.

You may have heard about the Oct. 29 event on campus when a group of protestors interrupted New York City Police Department Com-missioner Ray Kelly during a talk he

was set to give, causing the talk to be cancelled. Were there any similar events where protestors shut down a talk during your days at Brown?

What was big when I was in school was the divestment movement in South Africa. Lots of students would protest or sit in to make a point that Brown as a societal leader should join the movement in making sure money was not invested in companies that were doing business with the apartheid regime in South Africa, a racist regime. ... There might have been demonstrations that blocked entrance-ways or (disrupted) meet-ings, but I don’t remember anyone being fully shut down.

But I’m of two minds with these sorts of things. I like the idea of let-ting people talk, but then having as much protest around it and as much dialogue afterwards and during, be-cause if you’re going to have a con-troversial speaker, I’d want to make sure you’d have time to challenge that speaker and have other views conveyed at the same time and at the same event. ... If you can beat an op-ponent with an argument rather than silence them, you usually are going to end up better in the long run. But I fully understand the energy and com-mitment that goes into protest activ-ity, civil disobedience and the like.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Exclusive: David Corn ’81 discusses investigative reporting in Q&A

By KHIN SUCONTRIBUTING WRITER

Rebecca Mears ’15, president of the College Democrats of Rhode Island and Justin Braga ’16, chairman of the College Republican Federation of Rhode Island, engaged in a public debate Tuesday to discuss topics rang-ing from the recent U.S. government shutdown to national poverty. The event marked the first time in over five years that the heads of the two organizations debated publicly.

Organized a year before the 2014 midterm elections, the hour-long event aimed to encourage student political involvement and awareness, Mears and Braga said. “Debate Night in Rhode Island” attracted a large audience in Salomon 101, including gubernato-rial candidate and Mayor of Cranston Allan Fung. About 200 students from Brown, Providence College, Roger Williams College and University of Rhode Island attended the event, as did multiple faculty members.

Mears said she was excited to see youth get involved in a student-orga-nized political event.

“We’re out there to show that these issues do pertain to students,” Mears said.

Braga said he hoped “that people will be able to walk away and see that

Republicans support those who live on the margins of society.” He added that he realized he represented a minority political viewpoint on campus and hoped to draw more people to support the Republican Party. “I’m excited to get out there and show people what my party stands for (and) what I stand for as a person,” he said.

The debate began on a lively and playful note, with moderator Ted Nesi, a political correspondent for WPRI-TV, asking the audience about their news habits and joking about being shouted off stage in reference to the recent controversy around Ray Kelly’s presence on campus. Once the debate started, the tone became serious and high-spirited.

Braga said both Republicans and Democrats shared the blame for the government shutdown in Washing-ton. But Mears took a more aggressive stance, attributing the $24 billion costs and 800,000 workers furloughed last month to the Republicans in Congress. She expressed the need for compro-mise between the two parties.

On the topic of policy address-ing poverty reduction, Mears said she would like to see greater efforts to make health care more affordable, reassess minimum wage and increase investments in human capital. Mears expressed discontent with the cur-rent focus on welfare as a means of addressing the issue of poverty. “We expect them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps when they don’t have any boots,” she said.

Braga said the issue was personal,

relating it to his experiences in an inner city high school in which he had classes with students who were homeless. He advocated the need for a “social safety net” for people like his father, who lost his job during the economic recession. Braga called for a focus on education, increasing economic opportunity and building more comprehensive prison reforms through youth courts and juvenile programs.

“(Democrats) will continue fight-ing the war on poverty but the Repub-licans will win the war on poverty,” Braga said.

Mears said Braga was fighting for the right reasons, but reaching the wrong conclusions. “If you want to get people to climb up the social ladder you have to provide the ladder,” by raising minimum wage, Mears said. Braga, in response, said raising mini-mum wage is like “pulling the ladder out from under people who are trying to get up.”

Nesi then steered the conversa-tion toward policies meant to spur economic growth in Rhode Island. Braga suggested some solutions to combat Rhode Island’s unemploy-ment rate — the third highest in the country — and to ameliorate the busi-ness climate, including eliminating or reducing substantially the state sales tax, ending corporate welfare by cut-ting corporate taxes and building a stronger education system to produce a stronger workforce.

Mears disagreed, arguing that the high corporate tax rate is countered

by tax incentives and tax breaks. In addition, she said the high sales tax is balanced through sales tax exemp-tions for food, clothing and medicine. She shared her own ideas of how to increase economic growth in Rhode Island, which included increasing in-vestment in infrastructure to create more jobs, improving the business climate and investing in education and human capital to retain college students within the state through stu-dent loan credit.

“They come here for four years, they learn and they leave. It’s sad,” Mears said.

The debate became more heated during the topic of gun ownership and the second amendment. Braga called for states and municipalities to pre-vent gun violence by employing armed guards at schools to protect students. “The only people who should have a gun in a school are the police who are there to help them,” Braga said.

Mears, on the other hand, said she believed having armed guards would only increase the number of arms on a school campus. “The easiest way is not always the best way,” she said. Mears called for a universal background check before purchasing a gun, add-ing that 90 percent of Americans sup-ported this policy. This is significant, she said, because “we can’t even get 90 percent of Americans to agree that we landed on the moon.”

In addition, she said she hoped to see a limit to the amount of ammuni-tion purchased and innovative tech-nology to increase safety and security

for the owners of the gun and for those around them.

Mears and Braga also discussed education and the role of standard-ized tests such as New England Com-mon Assessment Program in Rhode Island Braga said standardized tests are a necessary graduation requirement because they ensure that the people who are “the future of our workforce and our country” are truly prepared for college.

“We cannot go back to the dark ages anymore,” where diplomas were handed out to just about everyone, Braga said.

But Mears said the NECAP exams were never meant to be used as stan-dardized tests, but as a means of rank-ing students against one another. “The test is the wrong test to give,” she said.

Mears advocated improving the quality of public schools so that stu-dents will not have to narrow down their choices to private schools and charter schools.

Braga said it is important to put efforts into improving charter and private schools to promote school choice. “Don’t give a blind check to public schools,” he said. “Make them compete for those dollars.”

Mears, in response, said, “Chil-dren’s education should not be subject to market whims.”

Regardless of their differing opin-ions on current political issues, Braga and Mears both expressed mutual re-spect and admiration for each other, and both received nearly equal ap-plause at the end of the debate.

Debate aims to increase student political involvementSpeakers discussed topics including the U.S. government shutdown and national poverty

university news6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALDWEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2013

Redevelopment District Commission and the 2011 relocation of the Alpert Medical School downtown, the city’s hope to transform the Jewelry District into a center of intellectual, technolog-ical and entrepreneurial activity con-verged with the University’s interest in increasing its presence in the area to accommodate Brown’s growth. The commission was created to revamp the land made available when the in-terstate highway was redirected by a construction process begun in 2004.

Paxson’s strategic plan calls for developing a “vibrant mixed-use en-vironment” in the Jewelry District that includes spaces for medical education, research, administrative, residential and retail functions. This continues a project launched under former President Ruth Simmons’ Plan for Academic Enrichment, which envi-sioned a gradual buildup of Brown’s presence in the district. That vision focused initially on medical and life science research facilities but eventu-ally branched out to additional aca-demic and administrative functions.

The University first ventured into the area in 2004 with the acquisition of 70 Ship St., which now houses Med School laboratories and supports life science research. The University pur-chased the Med School’s current home at 222 Richmond St. for office space in 2004 before overhauling the build-ing in 2009.

“One of the things it came back to was the limitations of the exist-ing campus,” said Dick Spies, former

executive vice president for planning as well as one of Simmons’ senior ad-visers.

Limited space in the Biomedical Center left administrators without “a lot of obvious choices,” Spies said. “We do lose something (by expanding off of College Hill), but it is more than offset by what we gain.”

The University has invested more than $200 million in the district in the past decade, initially leasing real estate to raise money but gradually repurposing those spaces for Brown to use, said Russell Carey ’91 MA’06, ex-ecutive vice president for planning and policy and co-chair of the Committee on Reimagining the Brown Campus and Community. Carey said he sees Brown as becom-ing “a positive and contributing neighbor” through its involvement in this part of the city.

The Univer-sity plans to move more academic and administra-tive functions that “can do well out-side College Hill” to the district, Carey said. The Office of Continuing Education is currently housed at 198-200 Dyer St., and the Admission Office moved to the space earlier this year. The University owns and leases buildings in Davol Square to house Computing and Information Services and administrative functions for the Med School.

But functions like undergraduate

teaching might not fit well in the area, Carey said.

When the School of Engineering needed additional laboratory and research space to support a growing faculty and student body, the Jewelry District was tapped as a potential loca-tion for expansion.

But a University study conducted with design and planning firm Sa-saki Associates last year found that given the high degree of collaboration across departments at the undergradu-ate level, moving any undergraduate teaching downtown would disrupt Brown’s educational and academic work, Carey said.

“What they found was that stu-dents in engineering are just as much

a part of this campus and the campus com-munity as any other major,” said Larry Larson, dean of the school of engineering. Moving the School of Engineering “out of that community” would “do damage to this great, interactive culture we have at Brown,” he said.

Some local stakeholders expressed disappointment in the choice not to move the school downtown.

But “no one questioned the deci-sion,” Carey said.

Making the connectionAs Brown increases its presence

in the district, administrators intend to connect the area with College Hill to keep development from “fractur-ing the University,” said Iris Bahar, professor of engineering and co-chair of the Committee on Reimagining the Brown Campus and Community.

“We don’t want to develop two campuses that are separate and dis-tinct,” Carey said.

The notion that “the Jewelry Dis-trict will be the area for graduate students, and College Hill will be for undergraduates” is incorrect, Paxson

told The Herald. “The idea is to main-tain College Hill as the academic core of the University … for undergradu-ates as well as graduate students and the faculty.”

The Point Street Bridge serves as a major route between College Hill and the Jewelry District, and plans are being formulated for a new pedestrian and bicycle bridge across the river on old I-195 foundations, Carey said.

Paxson said the University will need more frequent shuttle services, especially at night.

Rerouting of RIPTA bus services may be a logical step forward, Bahar said. No formal negotiations on this project have begun.

Ideally, RIPTA would construct a streetcar offering rail-based service connecting College Hill to downtown — including the Jewelry District — and Upper South Providence, said Amy Pettine, RIPTA special projects manager. The streetcar would improve the mobility of college students and other public transit users, but the “primary objective is economic de-velopment,” Pettine said, adding that permanent rail systems attract busi-ness, people and investment to cities.

But “the streetcar is a longer-term project” that will not move forward until it can be funded, Pettine said, cit-ing the federal government’s rejection of a grant application from the city to help pay for the railway.

Though Providence Mayor Angel Taveras expressed support for the pro-posal in the economic development plan he released in March, “a lot of things are competing for (his) atten-tion,” Pettine added.

The University has endorsed “cre-ating a more user-friendly city,” and linking College Hill and the Jewelry

District would require collaboration between RIPTA and Brown’s shuttle service, Pettine said. While the shut-tle’s schedule is flexible, its capacity could be overwhelmed if the proposed expansion brings more people to the Jewelry District, she said.

The satelliteThose who find themselves spend-

ing more time in the Jewelry District struggle to remain connected to Col-lege Hill while building another com-munity.

“There is a river and a hill” separat-ing the neighborhood from College Hill, said Karen Sibley MAT’81 P’07 P’12, dean of continuing education.

The Office of Continuing Educa-tion moved off College Hill February 2012, after the University determined that there was insufficient space to accommodate growth in its programs.

Sibley identified differences in the environment, the inability to “run into colleagues” during lunchtime and her awareness of being removed to a de-gree from the main campus.

“I have my life down the Hill, and I have my life on the Hill,” said David Gonzalez ’14, who works in a Jewelry District-based laboratory.

The district is unlikely to become a true “satellite campus” until peo-ple have a reason other than work to spend time there, Gonzalez said, adding that he would never go to the Jewelry District if his laboratory were not there.

But the plan’s proposals to create a community downtown could benefit medical students, who spend more time in the Jewelry District because of their studies.

“It’s great to be building a medical

This four-part series examines the broad impacts President Christina Paxson’s strategic plan could have on the University and its implications for the next decade. Read it online at: thebdh.org/legacy.Monday: Monday’s story compared Paxson’s strategic plan to that of former President Ruth Simmons, analyzing how developments on and off College Hill have affected the ambition and scope of Building on Distinction.Yesterday: Tuesday’s story examines the financial strategies the University may use to support the strategic plan’s proposals and endeavors while assessing how financial realities determine what projects Brown can undertake.Today: Today’s story explores how Building on Distinction could shape Brown’s presence in the Jewelry District, looking at the effect that presence may have on academic culture and the broader Providence community.Thursday: Thursday’s story analyzes how the strategic plan could impact Brown’s status as a “university-college,” navigating tensions between the liberal arts and preprofessional programs, humanities and sciences, and undergraduates and the Graduate School.

»DOWNTOWN, from page 1

GREG JORDAN-DETAMORE / HERALD

WATERMAN

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Alpert Medical School

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CORRINE SZCZESNY / HERALD

Employees and students who work in buildings now based in the Jewelry District like the Office of Continuing Education described a culture of separation from the University’s College Hill campus. Herald file photo.

“We don’t want to develop two campuses that

are separate and distinct.”

Russell Carey ’91 MA’06EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT FOR

PLANNING AND POLICY

Timeline: Development in the Jewelry District

Sept. 30, 2003: University acquires 70 Ship Street

Oct. 11, 2003: Corporation approves Strategic Framework for Physical Planning as a guide for future physical planning and development

Jan. 5, 2007: University acquires seven Jewelry District properties, including 222 Richmond St., future home of Alpert Medical School

Apr. 26, 2010: University begins renovating 222 Richmond St. for the Med School

Aug. 15, 2011: Med School’s new building opens

Jan. 30, 2012: Ship Street Square, a plaza across the street from the Med School, opens to the public

March 2012: As a result of the Providence Core Connector study, RIPTA’s Board of Directors selects a streetcar as the preferred alternative for a new transit line connecting College Hill and the Jewelry District

May 1, 2012: Office of Continuing Education moves to 200 Dyer St.

May 17, 2013: Admission Office moves to 200 Dyer St.

Sept. 5, 2013: Federal government rejects Providence’s request for $39 million toward the streetcar line

» See DOWNTOWN, page 7

university news 7THE BROWN DAILY HERALDWEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2013

science community,” said Honora Bur-nett MD’15, president of the Medical Student Senate, adding that additional research facilities in the Jewelry Dis-trict would be con-venient for medical students.

A l l i s on Kay MD’15 also ex-pressed enthusiasm for the idea of a “medical campus,” citing the proposed expansions’ poten-tial to help “build Brown’s research name.”

Further developing the neighbor-hood could improve its appeal to stu-dents, Gonzalez said.

“There’s no draw to the area,” and it is definitely possible to “make students feel like it is a little more part of their home,” he said.

Though it would be positive to make the area “a little more gentri-fied, a little more revitalized,” it is im-portant to do so without losing the Jewelry District’s “industrial charm,” Gonzalez said. Given the area’s key role in Providence’s history, he said he hopes the University respects the Jewelry District’s legacy even as it ex-pands its presence.

“I don’t want it to be obvious that you’re on Brown’s campus,” he said.

Regardless of how the expansion ultimately develops, Gonzalez said he thinks “the average Brown student is not going to be affected at all.”

Land regulations determined by the I-195 Commission and city of-ficials will likely “set the tone” for the Jewelry District’s transition to a mixed-use area and must foster pri-vate-sector investment, said Daniel Baudouin, executive director of the Providence Foundation

The I-195 Commission decides to whom it sells the land, and though the local market will likely not support a significant retail presence, Brown’s ex-pansion will probably create potential for commercial growth, he said.

Engagement and regrowthFrom the start, “the notion of

greater engagement with the commu-nity around us” fueled the University’s interest in the Jewelry District, Spies said. Downtown development would provide more space for the University and allow it to better integrate with the city and the state.

“There’s always room for growth,” said Henry Sachs, chief medical officer of Bradley Hospital, which collabo-rates with Brown on medical research.

University facilities could com-plement the hospital’s work, he said. “They have some bench research tools that we don’t have on the clinical side of things.”

The University is currently iden-tifying and promoting partnerships that could increase Brown’s presence in the area at minimal cost. Officials have been in talks with Richard Galvin ’79 at Commonwealth Venture Prop-erties about constructing a graduate student housing complex at a site cur-rently occupied by a surface parking lot, Carey said.

The building, which would house 250 to 300 postgraduate students, would have retail space and a 600-spot parking lot beneath the build-ing, The Herald previously reported. Brown is not making any financial contributions to the development

but will be responsible for marketing the apartment-style housing units to graduate students in return for the developer’s investment, Carey said.

Paxson announced earlier this year that the University is consider-

ing working with CV Properties and local public universities to renovate the Dy-namo House, a for-mer power plant in the Jewelry District that has been unused for years.

Dynamo House could house a University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College joint nursing education center through a partnership with the University, said William Gearhart, vice president for administration and finance at RIC.

He called the partnership “mu-tually beneficial” and said it would serve as an “economic stimulus” to the district and the city.

With half the building housing nursing programs, the other half would have University administrative and faculty functions, though Carey said Brown does not immediately need such space. Dynamo House offers ap-proximately 250,000 square feet of space, about three times larger than Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center.

Carey said a decision will need to be made this year on moving for-ward with these projects. Given the estimated $206 million price tag for the renovation of Dynamo House, challenges remain, but the University remains excited about the process, he said.

“It would free up some space on College Hill that we need to develop next year and would also help us transform the Jewelry District into a thriving economic hub,” Paxson said.

The economic rippleThough some local stakeholders

continue to voice concern over the University’s property tax exemption — which, as Brown expands into the Jew-elry District, could result in the city losing direct tax revenues — positive economic externalities from Brown’s involvement in the neighborhood could outweigh those issues.

The expansion of administrative offices and graduate housing units alongside present research facilities can provide a valuable foundation for revitalizing the Jewelry District and overcoming opposition to the Univer-sity’s physical growth by those critical of Brown’s tax exemption, said Arthur Salisbury, president of Jewelry District Association.

Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 P’17 said disagreement over the Univer-sity’s tax-exempt status will not sig-nificantly affect its expansion into the Jewelry District. City leaders and school administrators signed an agree-ment in May 2012 detailing a plan for the University to pay $31.5 million to the city over 11 years in lieu of prop-erty taxes.

The economic relationship be-tween the city and the University is “a careful balance,” said Laurie White, president of the Providence Chamber of Commerce, adding that she thinks Brown “will be able to see eye to eye” with the city as the neighborhood de-velops further.

‘Waiting for development’Bahar characterized the Jewelry

District as “a piece of land waiting for

development.” “There is a ton of undeveloped op-

portunity in the Jewelry District,” in-cluding about 20 acres of land owned by the I-195 Commission, said Colin Kane, chairman of the commission.

Given space limitations on Col-lege Hill, Chafee said the University is “making good decisions” to expand its presence downtown. The city wel-comes such growth, he said.

But the land is “not earmarked for the University,” and the commission is “not compelled to sell to the lowest common denominator,” Kane said.

Given the Med School’s relocation and the potential growth of activity around Dynamo House, Carey said the neighborhood is cultivating a campus

community feel, with Richmond Street serving as a “spine of development.”

But in developing the neighbor-hood, administrators must balance the planning of commercial, academic and residential spaces, Bahar said. As the population reaches a “critical mass,” the area will attract entities such as retail businesses and artistic ventures, she added.

The new developments are taking root in a “very strategic location in the heart of the city, which is very promising to the future,” said J. Ver-non Wyman, assistant vice president for business services at URI.

Stakeholders in the Jewelry Dis-trict’s expansion will be focused on how their partnership projects and

investments unfold in coming years.“What we’re looking for is to see

that area develop … to provide a va-riety of economic and other benefits to the citizenry,” Gearhart said.

As Brown expands its presence in the city, the shape and character of its academic programs may change as well — particularly the Univer-sity’s graduate programs. The final story in this series will examine how Brown’s academic emphases could change under Paxson’s strategic plan, paying key attention to tensions be-tween graduate and undergraduate programs, prioritization of the liberal arts and professional studies and the conception of Brown’s identity as a “university-college.”

SAM KASE / HERALD

The University built Ship Street Square, a public plaza adjacent to Alpert Medical School, with hopes of bringing cultural revitalization to the neighborhood alongside its academic and institutional investments.

“I have my life down the Hill, and I have my life on

the Hill.”

DAVID GONZALEZ ’14

DOWNTOWN, from page 6

university news8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALDWEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2013

U. to establish behavioral and social health PhD program

By SARAH PERELMANSENIOR STAFF WRITER

The Corporation approved a new doc-toral program in the Behavioral and Social Health Sciences during its meeting at the end of last month.

The program will welcome its first class of up to four doctoral students next fall, said Professor and Chair of Behavior and Social Sciences Christo-pher Kahler, with about four additional students entering the program each year. The program will reach its full size — 16 students — after four years, he added.

The program has an “applied focus,” and students will conduct research at centers including the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies and the Insti-tute for Community Health Promotion, Kahler said. Research is such a critical component of students’ studies that it will seem they “have a department home and a center home,” he added.

Doctoral students will be eligible to receive their degrees after about four years, he said. The first two years will be relatively “class-heavy” and allow students to explore advanced work in topics ranging from biostatistics and epi-demiology to intervention and research techniques. The next two years will be primarily devoted to research, he added.

The department has been expand-ing course offerings over the last several years, so most required courses will be drawn from current offerings, wrote BSHS Graduate Program Director Kate Carey in an email to The Herald.

“There is one new course on the PhD curriculum that has not yet been offered: an advanced proseminar on behavioral and social sciences interventions that will be added to the curriculum when we have a cohort of second and third year students,” Carey wrote.

“We have not had a doctoral pro-gram that is focused on persons who want to have careers in … behavioral and social health interventions,” said Terrie Wetle, dean of the School of Public Health. “We’ve always seen this hole in the fabric where we wanted to fill.”

“This is a way to build on that set of

coursework and educational activities that we have in the master’s program and take it all the way up to the doctoral level,” Kahler said. The School of Public Health’s masters program was approved in May 2011, The Herald previously re-ported, and the school entered its third year of operation this fall, Wetle said.

Carey, a professor of behavioral and social sciences, has past experience in curricular development and research about prevention and risk reduction techniques to address alcohol and sub-stance abuse in college-aged students, Wetle said.

Existing faculty members will run the program, and it is unlikely additional faculty members will be hired in the next several years, Kahler said.

Most accepted students will have completed a master’s in public health degree, though a master’s is not a formal prerequisite, Kahler said. Completion of a master’s will give students a leg up since they will have already completed research and advanced coursework in public health, he added.

Faculty members in the School of Public Health have been planning the program for more than six years and

included provisions for it in a previous five-year strategic plan for the school, Wetle said. Many of the University’s faculty members have a strong passion for researching interventions that could diminish the effects of alcohol and ad-diction on public health, so the focus of the program matches a strength of the department, she added.

When initially crafting the program proposal, faculty members examined the doctoral programs that the top 15 schools of public health in the country already offer to determine the demand for this sort of program, Kahler said. They discovered that only around five schools — including Johns Hopkins and the University of Pittsburgh — of-fer analogous programs.

Once the proposal was formed, fac-ulty members presented it to the Gradu-ate Student Council for suggestions and, ultimately, approval. The bulk of the pro-posal remained the same, though the name was changed from “Program in Behavioral and Social Sciences” to “Pro-gram in Behavioral and Social Health Sciences” to provide more clarity about the focus of the program, Wetle said.

The proposal passed the Faculty

Executive Committee and the Academic Priorities Committee with few changes, except to clarify the proposal, before going before the Corporation for a vote, Kahler said. The program’s approval has garnered “enthusiasm,” and some poten-tial applicants have already called the department, Wetle said.

The creation of the school of public health has helped generate excitement about the program, Wetle said. “The more national visibility we have (through the school), quite frankly, the better the applicant pool” of both prospective stu-dents and faculty members, Wetle said.

Faculty members said the program will provide good opportunities for un-dergraduates.

“We anticipate that the presence of doctoral students will create even more opportunities for undergraduates in pub-lic health and other concentrations to gain research experience and mentoring,” Carey wrote. “In the School of Public Health, PhD students do TA courses, so the pool of potential TAs will grow.”

Applications for next fall’s class can be submitted online through the gradu-ate school from now until Jan. 5, Wetle said.

The program will depend on current public health faculty members and will include up to 16 students

By MADELEINE MATSUICONTRIBUTING WRITER

Brown Dining Services workers may begin negotiating a new labor con-tract with the University this week after more than two months of delays, said Karen McAninch, business agent for the United Service and Allied Workers of Rhode Island.

BDS employees’ most recent con-tract expired October 2012, and admin-istrators and workers have continued to abide by the expired contract’s terms over the past year, wrote Ann Hoffman,

director of administration for Dining Services, in an email to The Herald.

BDS employees’ switch to new union representation has delayed ne-gotiations over a new contract, admin-istrators and union representatives said.

Dining Services workers voted last year to switch union representation from the Service Employees Interna-tional Union Local 615 to the USAW because they believed USAW, a smaller, locally based union, would better advo-cate for their priorities, McAninch said.

The switch to the new union caused a holdup in the commencement of new

contract negotiations because of a series of elections to select BDS workers’ rep-resentatives in the USAW, McAninch said.

The recent federal government shutdown further delayed contract negotiations by slowing down the cer-tification process by which USAW re-ceived approval from federal regulators to represent Dining Services workers, McAninch said.

Union leaders also chose to post-pone negotiating with the University out of respect for Manuel Gomes, a Dining Services employee who died last month, McAninch added.

“The game plan is to get going as soon as possible,” McAninch said,

adding that she hopes negotiations will begin this week. “Most contract nego-tiations are usually completed within a month, but this might take longer because we are a new union, and the list of issues people have brought to my attention is relatively long.”

Staff members will seek to advocate for higher wages and having more em-ployees assigned to certain shifts to ease understaffing issues, union leaders and student activists said.

The Student Labor Alliance started an online petition last month advocat-ing for Dining Services workers’ labor concerns to be addressed, wrote Beilul Naizghi ’16, a SLA member, in an email to The Herald.

The petition calls for “a fair contract with a living wage, good health ben-efits and an end to understaffing” and has received about 750 signatures, said Chance Dunbar ’17, a SLA member.

Dining Services workers “are trying to mobilize more support and are ready to be more vocal about these issues,” Dunbar said.

SLA members will complement the petition by creating a collection of photos and written stories about Dining Services workers, Dunbar said. Activists also plan on submitting their petition to University administrators to demon-strate “solidarity” with staff members during the negotiations, he added.

Union organizers and student activ-ists highlighted wages as a top priority for the negotiations.

Dining Services staff members who have worked fewer than 15 years are currently paid $12.52 per hour, and those who have worked more than 15 years are paid $17.61 per hour, McAninch said, adding that all workers last received wage increases in October 2011. Though union negotiators will advocate for a higher wage, they have not yet set a specific target for a wage increase at this point, she said.

Union negotiators will also try to persuade the University to address em-ployees’ concerns about the number of days worked yearly, McAninch said. Most Dining Services workers currently do not work full-time year-round due to winter and summer breaks, she added.

“We hope to increase the number of folks working 52 weeks a year” by persuading the University to hire more employees to assist with summer ac-tivities that require Dining Services assistance, McAninch said. Events that occur when students are not on campus often are understaffed, she said.

Union negotiators will also seek to increase health and pension benefits for BDS workers, McAninch said.

Beppie Huidekoper, executive vice president for finance and administra-tion, declined to comment on the ne-gotiations while they are underway.

Dining Services to press for improved pay and benefits in negotiationsUnder new union representation, Brown Dining Services workers will seek increased staffing

Eric & Eliot | Willa Tracy

c o m i c

university news 9THE BROWN DAILY HERALDWEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2013

SHIRLEY LEUNG / HERALD

BDS does not verify whether the rennet used in its dishes comes from animal or non-animal sources. The FDA does not require food producers and manufacturers to provide this information on their food labels.

BDS’ use of rennet, cage-free eggs draws mixed reactions

By RILEY DAVISSTAFF WRITER

Though Brown Dining Services has im-plemented several changes this semester in favor of more animal-friendly practices and better accomodations for students with dietary concerns, questions persist over some posted ingredients — such as the food byproduct rennet — that some students said the University should more clearly publish and classify.

This semester marks the first time BDS has posted sub-ingredients for dish-es served at the Sharpe Refectory and Verney-Woolley Dining Hall, a change administrators said is meant to help students with allergy issues and other dietary concerns.

BDS has also transitioned to purchas-ing only “100 percent cage-free” eggs in response to student efforts to convince the University to adopt more animal-friendly policies regarding food in dining halls, wrote Gina Guiducci, administra-tive dietician for BDS, in an email to The Herald.

The move to use only cage-free egg products came as a result of the Uni-versity’s 2009 commitment to the Real Food Challenge, a campaign for colleges and universities to transition their food budgets to purchase more sustainable and animal-friendly products, Guiducci wrote.

“Cage-free eggs have been a focus of those efforts from the beginning,” she added.

Brown Vegetarian Society members expressed enthusiasm for the University’s shift to cage-free suppliers, adding that they have been pushing for this change for nearly five years.

“I’m happy we made the transition,” said Stephanie Haro ’16, a Brown Veg-etarian Society co-leader. “It’s better than what we were buying before.”

But Haro said determining whether the suppliers the BDS uses are genuinely cage-free remains difficult because many suppliers do not post the details of their animal policies on their websites.

Listing sub-ingredients online has “been a priority for the department for some time, but software upgrades that re-cently became available made it possible,”

Guiducci wrote. Posting sub-ingredients in meals at the Ratty and V-Dub online required BDS to assign a staffer to collect nutritional data from food producers, distributors and other parties involved in BDS food preparation, Guiducci wrote.

But posting the sub-ingredients online has led to concerns from some students about BDS’ use of rennet — a cheese byproduct that occasionally is derived from animal stomach enzymes — in some dishes labeled as vegetarian.

Though most rennet comes from non-animal alternatives, BDS does not verify whether the rennet used in its dishes comes from animal or non-animal sources, Guiducci wrote.

No more than 11 percent of cheese products in the United States contain animal-derived rennet, Guiducci wrote, citing a study by the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research.

“The FDA does not require food pro-ducers and manufacturers to provide this information on food labels, so we do not have the information available,” Guiducci wrote.

Some students voiced surprise and concern over the fact that BDS does not check whether rennet used in its dish-es comes from animal or non-animal sources.

“I would expect better from them,” said Jana Foxe ’16. “They should be con-scious of the fact that there are vegetar-ians out there who don’t want to consume any kind of animal products at all.”

Others said they were unaware of the presence of rennet but were not surprised the eateries do not check the source of the substance in dining hall dishes.

“I’m vegan, but I’m not surprised this kind of thing came from Dining Ser-vices,” said Adam Horowitz ’16, a Brown Vegetarian Society co-leader. “There’s a lot of vegan dishes that they serve that have honey, which doesn’t make them strictly vegan.”

Horowitz said he went off meal plan after his first year at the University be-cause he found the labeling of vegetarian and vegan dishes in on-campus eateries to be unreliable.

Other students with dietary restric-tions said they have never encountered a problem with BDS. Abid Haseeb ’16, who subscribes to the Kosher/Halal meal plan, said he has never encountered any problem with the preparation of his food.

“I’m pretty satisfied with the fact that (the Kosher/Halal meal plan) even exists,” Haseeb said.

A new list of sub-ingredients posted online includes the controversial product rennet

I’ve always fancied a certain similar-ity between my new home of Rhode Island and my old home, the Neth-erlands. The founding stories of both certainly emphasize a tolerance that was far ahead of their times: Just as the Netherlands offered refuge to the persecuted pilgrims and Huguenots who would later travel to the Ameri-cas, Rhode Island remains inextrica-bly linked to Roger Williams and the “distressed of conscience” who ques-tioned both the validity of colonial charters vis-a-vis native peoples and the intolerant state churches of oth-er colonies. How ironic, then, that it is this little state and my little coun-try that continue to celebrate archaic holidays that are, at the very least, ra-cially and culturally insensitive.

The Netherlands is extremely pro-tective of its Sinterklaas day, a popu-lar children’s holiday and a variation on Santa Claus. This national cele-bration makes a public spectacle out of minstrelsy, as Sinterklaas’ helpers are not elves but Black Petes — usu-ally white Dutchmen in blackface with golden earrings, Afro wigs, red lips and broken Dutch accents. Since 1975, Rhode Island has been the only state in the United States still to cel-ebrate Victory Day each August to commemorate the U.S. victory in the Pacific theater of World War II. Often referred to as V-J day, it is an official holiday for state employees. Traditions are important to preserve, but when they become conflated with racism, xenophobia or ethnic hatred, they should be unequivocally and immediately abolished.

The Black Pete debate is nothing new, but it grew to unprecedented heights last month when an adviser to the United Nations, University of the West Indies Professor Verene Shepherd, called for an investigation of the custom. Over 2 million Dutch men and women signed a Facebook petition protesting Shepherd’s ini-tiative. Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Sinterklaas is not a matter for

the government, and that “Black Pete happens to be black, there is noth-ing I can do about it.” This fallacy casts the holiday as a local, private decision, rather than the national and publicly funded holiday it truly is. The main argument for keeping Black Petes is that they are a tradi-tion, distinctive of Dutch culture, and that they have nothing to do with racism. According to those es-pousing this line of argument, Black Petes are black be-cause they fell through chimneys full of coal while delivering presents. Obviously, this does very little to explain the lips, the Afro and other racialized characteristics.

But hundreds of the Dutch have seized the debate as a vehicle to air their profoundly racist sentiments. When a popular Dutch singer, Anouk, voiced her support for eradi-cating the Black Petes from the hol-iday, she received death threats and was told she “and her own Black Pe-tes” — Anouk has a black partner and several mixed-race children — should go back to their “country of origin.” Each of these comments re-ceived several thousand likes on a popular social media network.

In the Hague, dozens of pro-testers, many of them in blackface, surrounded a dark-skinned Papua woman who was there to call atten-tion to the United Nations’ neglect of atrocities committed in West Papua by Indonesian colonizers. Without even asking why she was there, they pushed her around and yelled racial slurs at her. They assumed that be-cause of the color of her skin, she was there to antagonize them. While the vast majority of Dutch people con-demns such racism and prides itself on equality, it is clear that the Black Pete’s existence enables the persis-tence of racial stereotypes that feed the opinions of this intolerant mi-nority. In addition, the insistence on keeping Petes black points to more a widely-shared racial — if not rac-ist — assumption. “Rainbow Petes,” which were introduced a few years

ago to make Sinterklaas more inclu-sive, failed to charm the masses, and all municipalities voted to return to exclusively black Petes within a few years.

The case of Victory Day is no less interesting but has been discussed at length by Rhode Island Public Radio over the years.

“I don’t think (the Japanese) have any right to tell us they don’t like

V-J day because we won the war,” they quoted a veteran as saying. The dif-ficulty here lies in the name especially. There were thou-sands of civilian casualties in Hiro-

shima and Nagasaki. To coin this a “victory” is insensitive and discrimi-

natory, as it suggests that the lives of the Japanese civilians were somehow worth less than those of others. Re-marks like those of the veteran indi-cate that Victory Day, too, is inextri-cably linked to notions of national superiority.

The idea that holidays are some-how not governed by rules of com-mon sense or inclusivity because they are supposed to be “fun” is ex-actly the reason why there are peo-ple who think it’s cool to wear Tray-von Martin/George Zimmerman duo outfits for Halloween. There are thin lines between tradition and bla-tant racism and insensitivity. Many practices that seem innocent or part of a national heritage continue to reinforce disparities between vari-ous social groups. This is the case in the United States, in the Netherlands

and in many other countries.Black Petes have to go. Victory

Day has to go. But this doesn’t mean that Sinterklaas as a celebration of Dutch identity cannot persist. The United States has numerous federal and state holidays to commemorate the sacrifices made for freedom by its servicemen and women. These kinds of holidays form an important part of each country’s national fabric. If we strip away the offensive elements, these celebrations can truly come to represent the entire population.

Suzanne Enzerink GS can be contacted at suzanne_enzeri-nk@brown.edu, and will hap-

pily send links to photos of the Dutch protests to anyone who

cares to see them.

commentary10 THE BROWN DAILY HERALDWEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2013

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AANCHAL SAR AF

Q U O T E O F T H E D A Y

“They come here for four years, they learn and they leave. It’s sad.” — Rebecca Mears ’15

See debate, page 5.

Have a merry, racist holiday

“There are thin lines between tradition and

blatant racism and insensitivity. ”

SUZANNEENZERINK

opinions columnist

Prior to the Ray Kelly incident, Zach Ingber ’15 expressed his concern that the Brown community does not adequately take “conservative” ideas seriously. He claimed that the cam-pus makes it difficult for conserva-tives to express opinions without im-mediately being cut down by liberal dogmatists, and felt that this attitude belies the Brown mission statement to “preserve knowledge and under-standing in a spirit of free inquiry.” (“Free speech at Brown?” Oct. 21).

In response, Matt Breuer ’14 chided him for being “naive.” He agreed with Ingber that conserva-tives don’t have much of a voice here, but said condescendingly — and a little too honestly — “It’s too bad that conservatives at Brown feel lonely or underappreciated, but that is the nature of attending an over-whelmingly liberal university.” In short, conservatives don’t belong here (“Clearing the air: Free inquiry at Brown is alive and well,” Oct. 24).

Breuer has confirmed Ingber’s point. The “liberalism” that pervades the University is not the free inquiry Brown’s mission compels it to pre-serve. It is actually a spirit of confor-mity that rejects anyone whose line

of thought breaks from the short list of acceptable speech. How is it possible to discuss important pub-lic policy issues while silencing key but unpopular viewpoints? A Brown student should be able to give shape to and voice ideas, so long as they align with his understanding of what is ethical, moral and true.

Unfortunately, many academics see dissenters as evil and anti-pro-gressive. For example, Daniel Car-rigg GS misleads his readers stat-ing that a “fundamental tenet of economic conservatism” is one that advocates “tax cuts for the wealthy and retirement benefit cuts for the middle class” as a spur to economic growth (“A deepening divide in the Democratic party,” Oct. 24).

This is a straw-man fallacy. No fiscal conservative would ever ad-vocate such a policy. Economist and Reagan adviser Milton Friedman fa-vored broad-based tax cuts as the best cure for economic stagnation because, as he argued in a 2000 in-terview, “it enables the ultimate con-sumer — the ultimate individual, you and me — to decide how the money should be used.” A 10 percent tax cut across all levels would benefit everyone equally. Wealthier taxpay-ers would receive larger rebates than others because, under a progressive tax system, they pay more in tax-es. Only by a calculated distortion could this be construed as a “tax cut

for the wealthy.”Similarly, a fiscal conservative

would not advocate for “retirement benefit cuts for the middle class.” Rather, a true fiscal conservative de-mands accountability and that pub-lic debts, including pension funds, be funded first before other projects.

Rhode Island’s state legislature, dominated by Democrats since 1935, has inade-quately funded the state pension fund. In 2011, Gina Rai-mondo, the state’s general treasur-er and a possible Democratic can-didate for gover-nor, held a series of town hall meetings making this very same point. She noted that the state retirement board had deliberately overestimated the rate of return on pension investments, and that the state had repeatedly balanced the books by refusing to make any con-tribution to the pension fund at all. If a private investment firm did what the state did, somebody would be led away in handcuffs.

By falsely demonizing Rhode Is-land conservatives and their mo-tives — and irrationally champi-oning liberals as economic saviors — Carrigg has sidestepped any real debate on the choices available to

those considering the problem of pen-sion reform. Thus, any proposal for re-form based on tax cuts as a way to fix the pension prob-lem is casually cast aside without be-ing considered. We are left with a false dichotomy and a set of false choices amounting to worse and way worse.

In this liberal-ly biased environ-ment, the young conservative intel-lectual is constant-ly lectured, pooh-poohed, ignored or denounced by the voices of “lib-

eralism.” No one will engage him in proper debate because, without any rational analysis, his ideas are auto-matically dubbed extremist, idiotic, cold-hearted, sexist, homophobic and racist. With such epithets hurled at a student daily, one’s sense of free-dom to pursue rational inquiry is

greatly diminished.So, what is a conservative Brown

student supposed to do? Give up his sense of morality? Abandon his principles? Accept bad ideas as good? Give in to get ahead?

Exactly the opposite.Guided by their values and de-

sire for truth, conservative students should be more assertive in defin-ing and shaping their ideas. Non-conformist ideas and beliefs should not be merely tolerated, made politi-cally taboo or mockingly toyed with. Students should think deeper, reject indoctrination and question their presumptions and premises. The Ray Kelly incident served as a case in point that minority opinions here are simply not respected.

The majoritarians at Brown need to respect minority opinions and promote the spirit of free inquiry. As the father of liberalism, John Stu-art Mill, put it, “If all mankind mi-nus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the con-trary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing man-kind.”

Scott Lloyd is a Brown staff member and believes Rhode Island should have zero sales

taxes.

commentary 11THE BROWN DAILY HERALDWEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2013

Free inquiry, not conformity, is our mission

“The spirit of ‘liberalism’ that

pervades the University is not the spirit of free inquiry that is

Brown’s mission to preserve. It is

actually a spirit of conformity that rejects anyone whose line of

thought breaks from the short

list of acceptable speech.”

SCOTTLLOYD

guest columnist

Got something to say? Leave a comment online!Visit www.browndailyherald.com to comment on opinion and editorial content.

daily heraldTHE BROWNscience & research

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2013

Nanoparticle research may spur development of alternative fuels

University researchers have found that gold nanoparticles can help convert carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide, according to a University press release.

The research was led by Professor of Chemistry Shouheng Sun and Wenlei Zhu GS, a PhD candidate in the chemistry department and was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society Oct. 24.

Carbon monoxide is more useful than carbon dioxide in that it can play a part in the development of alternative fuels, according to the release.

Previous research found that gold could play a role in converting carbon dioxide, but University researchers discovered that by reducing the size of the gold into tiny particles of eight nanometers, they could most efficiently catalyze carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide.

“Because we’re using nanoparticles, we’re using a lot less gold than in a bulk metal catalyst,” Sun said in the release. “That lowers the cost for making such a catalyst and gives the potential to scale up.”

Fifth graders come to campus for volcano demonstration

Students from Vartan Gregorian Elementary School descended on campus on Halloween to learn about geology.

The fifth graders spent the morning hearing from students and professors in Brown’s geological sciences department.

“They loved it,” said Shannon Barata, a teacher at the elementary school, in a University press release. “Lessons like this really fill the gaps in our science curriculum.”

The day ended with a demonstration of a volcanic explosion, led by Associate Professor of Geological Sciences Alberto Saal and Bill Collins, a technician in the geological sciences department, according to the release.

Saal and Collins filled a trash can with water before dropping a bottle filled with liquid nitrogen into it, causing water to erupt in a volcano-like explosion.

“Our goal is to inspire and educate the next generation of scientists and engineers,” said Karen Haberstroh, assistant professor in the School of Engineering, in the press release.

Solar Decathlon team designs ‘Techstyle Haus’

A team of students from Brown, the Rhode Island School of Design and the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt in Germany have designed an eco-friendly dwelling they have dubbed “Techstyle Haus” as part of the international Solar Decathlon competition.

The team was selected to compete last December after submitting a proposal, The Herald previously reported.

Since then, team members have been using their €100,000 seed money to create a livable, energy-efficient building they can display in France in July, according to a University press release.

In order to create a house light enough to ship to France, the team decided to craft it out of synthetic fabric. More than 50 Brown and RISD students are involved in creating the house’s design and materials, according to the release.

“We want our exhibition site to teach people about all the different parts of the house and what their functions are,” said Eliza Brine ’15, a team member, in the release. “This is about educating people and moving the building industry in a direction we want it to be going.”

BY KATE NUSSENBAUM, SCIENCE & RESEARCH EDITORSCIENCE & RESEARCH ROUNDUP

By VI MAICONTRIBUTING WRITER

Children who receive welfare may have better educational, economic and health outcomes later in life, said Anna Aizer, associate professor of economics and public policy, at a lecture at the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institu-tions Tuesday afternoon.

Aizer began the presentation, attended by about 60 students and faculty members, by talking about the various short-term effects welfare can have on families with financial dif-ficulties, such as improving children’s

educational attainment.She then presented her research

methodology, which included analy-sis of various governmental data sets. Aizer focused her research around data from the Mothers’ Pensions pro-gram between 1911 and 1930. The program was “the first U.S. govern-ment-sponsored welfare program for single mother families with depen-dent children,” Aizer said.

Aizer compared two groups of children whose mothers had applied for the cash transfers — those who were accepted and those who were rejected because the government de-termined they had “enough,” money, Aizer said.

She added that she found evidence of racism within the pension program and chose to focus her research ef-forts on Ohio, as data from there were less affected.

Her research found that “accep-tance into the program increases the probability of the children’s survival to age 70 by 10 to 20 percent and age 80 by 9 to 15 percent,” Aizer said. She added that the children whose families were accepted to the program received more years of education and consequently earned higher incomes later in life. Children whose families were rejected usually ended up in or-phanages and tended to die younger.

Based on these findings, Aizer concluded that welfare has signifi-cant long-term impacts on health and human capital.

One of the attendees, Angelica Meinhofer Santiago GS, a PhD can-didate in economics, said she enjoyed the talk.

“It is the first project to look at the long-term effect of cash transfers, which makes it innovative,” she said.

Lecture outlines long-term welfare effectsCompared to rejected applicants, recipients show benefit throughout their lives

By STEVEN MICHAELSENIOR STAFF WRITER

A computer game developed to help children learn to control their peanut allergies is being tested in a pilot trial led by Elizabeth McQuaid, research associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the Alpert Medi-cal School and a staff psychologist at Hasbro Children’s Hospital.

The project is a collaboration be-tween McQuaid’s research group at Hasbro Children’s Hospital and Virtu-ally Better Inc., a company that creates health care software.

The game guides children through three scenarios that children with al-lergies often experience in school cafeterias, McQuaid said.

One of the scenarios involves the child being bullied because of a food allergy, a situation that has been re-ported by students, she said.

After completing the scenarios, children gain access to other games such as reading food labels to see if they contain peanuts and playing a matching game with pictures of

children experiencing a specific symp-tom of an allergic reaction, she said.

Children also earn points in the game, which can be used to buy items for a virtual aquarium, McQuaid said.

As part of the pilot trial, McQuaid and her team will visit 32 families with children ages 8 to 12 in order to so-licit feedback on the computer game, McQuaid said.

The number of children with al-lergies has increased over the past de-cade, with 6 to 8 percent of the popula-tion now affected, McQuaid said. She added that the game focuses on peanut allergies specifically because they are common and because children are unlikely to outgrow them.

While resources are available for parents of children with allergies, there fewer resources are specifically for children, and those resources tend to be passive materials like pamphlets, said Josh Spitalnick, vice president of research and director of clinical services at Virtually Better.

“Software is known to have success in achieving behavior modification in general, and the area of food allergy should be no different,” wrote Russell Settipane ’80, an allergist and clini-cal associate professor of medicine at Alpert Medical School not involved in the game’s creation, in an email to The Herald.

The interactive computer game is “not just providing education, which it does — it’s providing the chance to practice real life skills in a safe way on your computer,” Spitalnick said.

McQuaid said with about half of the trial complete, reaction from par-ents and children has been positive.

“Parents feel that it fits a need,” McQuaid said. “We hope it sparks a conversation between parents and children.”

McQuaid emphasized that the soft-ware should not be seen as an alterna-tive to seeking medical treatment, but rather should be used to supplement food allergy management.

“As much as I can accomplish in advising a child to avoid certain foods, there is always room for improve-ment,” Settipane wrote.

Spitalnick said the researchers’ next steps include expanding the scenarios in the game to encompass situations such as birthday parties, sleepovers and restaurant dining and to develop games for other allergens. Research-ers will then test the effectiveness of the software in a randomized clinical trial — the same type of study used to test medications, Spitalnick said.

If the clinical trial goes well, Vir-tually Better may sell the computer game directly to families and school districts.

Software teaches children to manage allergies The computer game presents children with realistic scenarios related to their peanut allergy

CORRINE SZCZESNY / HERALD

Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy Anna Aizer studied welfare primarily from between 1911 and 1930, when the U.S. government sponsored its first welfare program directed at single-mother families.