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Opinions

Pipatjarasgit ’21: In order to properly hold the University accountable, we need to understand its governance committees

By Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit | October 1

In the past several months, the University has made many consequential changes with significant student impacts through its various governance committees. Some of them are related to the COVID-19 pandemic, while others are not. Some were largely understandable and uncontroversial, such as the decision ...

Opinions

Ruzicka ’21: Alumni interviews with prospective students build community — why destroy them now?

By Emilia Ruzicka | September 29

As our world is cast into turmoil by a global pandemic, almost everything about our daily lives has changed. It comes as no surprise that the college admission process has also changed during this time. Brown University specifically has made a few amendments to its admission procedures. Like many institutions, ...

Opinions

Walsh' 23: We need to have a national conversation about humor

By Matt Walsh | September 28

TikTok is a social media app like no other, and its “For You” page’s algorithm is why. While the page’s exact mechanism is unclear, its goal is anything but: It monitors each TikTok user’s preferences based on their likes, views, comments and follows, curating an endless feed of videos that ...

Opinions

Reed '21: A recipe for more equitable college admission

By Andrew Reed | September 27

For the past several years, the righteous fight for equity and fairness in college admission has been mired in a state of moral confusion. Everyone wants fairness, but how? Empowerment, but for whom? To knock down barriers, but which ones? To some, the answers are clear, and even more obvious to them ...

Opinions

Fernandez '21: Puerto Rico Self Determination Act: A Step Towards Liberation

By Marysol Fernández | September 24

This week marked three years since Hurricane María made landfall in Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017. It is a moment during which painful memories of collective trauma flood the minds of many Puerto Ricans, demanding that communities meaningfully reflect on where they are now and how they got there. Over ...

Opinions

Han '23: What we owe to each other – lessons from ‘The Good Place’

By Bliss Han | September 23

**spoiler alert** This piece will discuss events that occur up to the fourth season of “The Good Place.” When I was a kid, I believed in answers. This wasn’t a coincidence – everything in a normal kid’s life is geared toward finding the right answers. Like many, I went to school and drilled ...

Opinions

Shanmugam '23: Trump’s failure to rekindle the coal industry

By Arjun Shanmugam | September 22

On March 4, 2020, President Christina Paxson P’19 informed the Brown community that the University’s Investment Office was stepping away from fossil fuels once and for all. The announcement – which followed years of student protests emphasizing that the University’s dirty energy investments ...

Opinions

Apple '21: Think nationally, vote locally — State elections matter more than you think

By Caleb Apple | September 21

The next 50 days may prove to be among the most consequential in American history, the last chance to reverse the erosion of democracy and loss of international partnership and standing over which President Trump has presided. To be sure, the presidential and senate elections will be key to ushering ...

STEM

Schmidt '21: STEM students can still find research opportunities during the pandemic

By Rachael Schmidt | September 21

COVID-19 has taken a toll on the healthcare system, the job market and the simple ability to conduct activities that once took place in person. This disruption also extends to summer internships and other professional development opportunities for students that went remote or were canceled altogether, ...

Opinions

Ruzicka ’21: Where is Brown’s Plan B?

By Emilia Ruzicka | September 15

Last week, on Sept. 10, 2020, President Christina Paxson P’19 sent an email to the Brown community announcing that the University would be moving forward with Phase 2 of its reopening plans. Under this direction, undergraduate sophomores, juniors and seniors who elect to return to campus will move ...

Opinions

Pollard '21: Classes should be accessible. Where are the standards?

By Beth Pollard | September 14

Shopping period is in full swing, and while the start of the semester is normally a time filled with options and new opportunities, students face obstacles to accessing their education. While professors and students alike struggle to adapt to online learning, many courses include problematic policies ...

Opinions

Walsh '23: We Need to Fight for Inclusive Sex Ed Nationwide

By Matt Walsh | September 13

In the same year that Congress defined marriage as between a man and a woman, Justice Antonin Scalia opined that some groups among LGBTQ+ people were actually quite privileged. In his dissent to Romer v. Evans in 1996, Scalia wrote that “those who engage in homosexual conduct tend to reside in disproportionate ...

Opinions

Ruzicka ’21: Your money or your life

By Emilia Ruzicka | August 19

“Why Brown?” Thousands of prospective students have answered this question as they vied for a coveted spot in the next class of Brunonians. Once the lucky ones were chosen, we all said “yes” for different reasons: the unmatched academic freedom of the Open Curriculum, the ability to connect ...

Opinions

Ruzicka '21: Don’t Sell Shopping Period Short

By Emilia Ruzicka | July 15

Since the University administration announced its plans for the fall 2020 semester on July 7, 2020, students have been focused on making their decisions about whether or not to return to campus. I have admittedly been contemplating the same dilemma and during my research I noticed an oversight in the ...

Opinions

Kelley Tackett: The promise of joy

By Kelley Tackett | June 1

The first time I went swing dancing, I simply followed the music. It was a snowy February night, and I was walking home from a late shift at The Herald when the soft notes of Ella Fitzgerald found me on the sidewalk behind Sayles. I wandered up the steps for a peek in the window, and found myself dancing ...

Opinions

Elizabeth Tran: Confidence-in-the-making

By Elizabeth Tran | May 31

Last fall, I attended a workshop hosted by legendary public-speaking professor Barbara Tannenbaum. In the warm comfort of her home that evening, a small group of 30 students sat around her cozy living room. Besides the home-cooked pizza that she had prepared for us, each of us came in search of the ...

Opinions

Anita Sheih: Thank you, friends

By Anita Sheih | May 30

Over the past four years, my professors taught me about the history of museums, how to read like a writer and to question who has the right to tell what stories. But after I finished my readings, submitted my essays on Canvas and closed my laptop; when I grabbed a meal at the Ratty or went to the basement ...

Opinions

Priyanka Podugu: What grief taught me about compassion

By Priyanka Podugu | May 28

A couple days before classes started last fall, I learned that my grandmother was dying. She was the oldest member of my family, but we did not expect such a rapid decline in her health. With one phone call, my family suddenly faced the daunting task of transplanting ourselves in under 24 hours from ...

Opinions

AJ Davis: Finding meaning in the small moments

By AJ Davis | May 26

Anticlimactic. That is the descriptor most used when discussing graduation for the class of 2020. Some of us may be fortunate enough to enjoy a double commencement, while others unable to attend will miss two ceremonies instead of one. We’ve lost the final revels of Spring Weekend, the mornings at ...

Opinions

Eduard Muñoz-Suñé: How the pandemic expanded my perception of success after college

By Eduard Muñoz-Suñé | May 25

The coronavirus has radically changed the last three months of my college experience by ending in-person classes, making me leave campus and postponing my graduation. For all of us in the class of 2020, the pandemic has created new obstacles that we could not have foreseen. Many of us will struggle ...