In my first semester at Brown, I got a C in MATH 0180: “Intermediate Calculus.” Not a just-missed-a-B C. Not a forgot-to-turn-in-four-homeworks C. Not even an I-don’t-care-about-this-class C. I tried as hard as I could all semester long, and it took a miracle on the final exam to earn my C. You ...
“If you always vote for the lesser of two evils, you will always have evil, and you will always have less.” — Ralph Nader In his time as a consumer advocate, Ralph Nader probably saved more American lives than any soldier or doctor in history. He is the reason why our highways have guardrails, ...
In a column published yesterday, one of my fellow columnists applauded the University’s non-punitive approach to substance use during Spring Weekend. While I agree that Brown’s general lack of severity in addressing drug and alcohol use is commendable, Spring Weekend in particular has two policies ...
Recent events — namely April 20 (4/20) and Spring Weekend — inevitably brought up the topic of substance use among students, which, given the politics of most Brown students, leads to a conversation about the legal and regulatory state of said substances. It’s no secret that at 4:20 p.m. April ...
Last weekend I traveled to New York City, staying with my aunt in Brooklyn and spending much of Saturday exploring Manhattan. One of the highlights of my brief trip was a visit to the Whitney Museum of American Art, which generated much interest when it moved to a new building in May 2015. After experiencing ...
Last Thursday night, protesters gathered at an event sponsored by the Contemplative Studies Department and decried the performance of a Brown alum — Carrie Grossman ’00, a white woman — who chanted Hindu hymns. For sure, their frustration stemmed from a fairly reasonable place: Hindus, Indians ...
When I came to Brown, I was told time and again about the relaxed nature of the open curriculum. I heard stories of the guy who took every class here S/NC, the girl who decided to switch her concentration at the beginning of her senior year and of every other student, it seemed, for whom the sophomore ...
Last month, one of my classmates from middle school passed away. He committed suicide with a kitchen knife after fatally stabbing his mother and brother in their Plano, Texas apartment. His family attributes his “snap” to a prolonged mental illness induced by multiple concussions he sustained while ...
Somehow, it’s already time for pre-registration for fall 2016. As students explore the new Courses@Brown website in a mad dash to shape the perfect schedule, I urge the administration to consider a change that would ensure that every student graduates with a broadened perspective of the world. This ...
I recently had the good fortune of seeing a copy of William Shakespeare’s First Folio. The book is part of a travelling exhibit honoring the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death, and it arrived at the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts earlier this month. As a writer and admirer of Shakespeare, ...
Freshman fall, I took a class called RELS 0055: “Modern Problems of Belief” that questioned why many believe one cannot be both modern and religious. While the class only focused on white male philosophers and never touched on Islam at all, it did enlighten my world with one special reading: “Fear ...
I’m not a big believer in the concept of “hell” — or, more accurately, I wasn’t, until exactly two weeks ago, when I had the tremendous misfortune of visiting the most pathetic government department in what is, almost indisputably, the most pathetic state: the Department of Motor Vehicles ...
As college students, we often rely on our parents for guidance and money, live with roommates we didn’t choose, depend on grades for validation from our professors and base our eating patterns off of cafeteria menu rotations. We sound like a bunch of kids. Yet, the minute we turned 18, we could vote ...
When I started scrolling through BrownConnect and other online portals for summer internships in the United States, the first thing I looked for wasn’t the pay or hours per week. I was just on the hunt for a single phrase: “International applicants are welcome to apply.” The line came up quite ...
In the drunken debauchery that pervaded College Hill on Spring Weekend, as many students staggered down Thayer and waded through the broken glass and discarded Natural Light cans on Angell, it was easy to miss the supreme musical talent that graced the Main Green on Saturday night. There, Mac DeMarco ...
Despite all the warnings from and panic among my peers, I was purely optimistic entering the housing lottery for the first time. My late slot on the second day did not diminish my hopes for Hope College, and I was certain a little of Littlefield Hall would remain open. I spent the preceding Sunday standing ...
Two years ago, I announced to friends and family that I was going to come to Brown. I received the reaction probably given to every Californian planning on attending college on the East Coast: ominous muttering about “real winters” and advice that I prepare myself for a level of academic competition ...
Over the course of the current academic year, perhaps no topic has been more in the consciousness of the Brown community than diversity. Diversity is a common buzzword on college campuses, and we all have at least some sense of what it represents. Whether you have joined in a protest this semester or ...
It’s that time of year again. College decisions have just been released, and decision day is right around the corner for next year’s incoming undergraduates. Many colleges are revving up with tours and accepted student visits — Brown’s program, A Day on College Hill, is quickly approaching — ...
On Friday and Saturday, Brown students will bask in the sun (fingers crossed), sing along to “Trap Queen,” wear ubiquitous tank-tops and get high. Many will abstain, of course. But for some students, drugs are as natural a part of Spring Weekend as the music itself. I’m not interested in demonizing ...
Solutions by The State News
