The month of October saw events that shook Brown to its core. Between the Corporation’s decision to not divest the endowment from holdings in major coal companies to the protests against New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly’s lecture, the Brown community grew polarized, and beliefs from ...
This week, Provost Mark Schlissel P’15 announced the launch of an Environmental Change Task Force at Brown. He described the group as “charged with recommending actions that members of the Brown community might take, beyond campus-based sustainability efforts and discussion of divestiture, ...
You know what really grinds my gears? Brown Dining Services. I’ve been a little tense about how food services around here are run for a while now, but when a friend of mine talked to me about what food is like at Boston University, it pushed me over the edge. In comparison to BU, Brown University ...
On Sept. 22, 2011, I thought I killed someone. We were hiking in a group in an extremely rural part of India’s northern border. We were supposed to stop to camp. I strongly advocated that we continue. Eventually, I convinced our daily leaders of the merits of continuing. One person never made it ...
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 campus makes it difficult for conservatives to express opinions without immediately being cut down by liberal dogmatists, ...
I’ve always fancied a certain similarity between my new home of Rhode Island and my old home, the Netherlands. 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 ...
Last weekend, President Christina Paxson sent an email to the Brown community informing us that the University would not divest from coal. This was a setback for Brown Divest Coal, a group that has been working to convince administrators to remove the University’s endowment assets in various utilities ...
This past week showed an excitement and vitality that arguably hasn’t existed on Brown’s campus since the struggle for need-blind admission in the 90s. Despite highs and lows and victories and frustrations, the feeling that something important is happening on this campus is undeniable. This feeling ...
A few weeks ago, Zach Ingber ’15 wrote a column lamenting the prevalence of “intolerance for certain political perspectives” (“Free speech at Brown?” Oct. 20). Ironically, much of the student body received his plea for free inquiry with the exact type of intolerance that he described. And ...
It is telling that of all the reflections on last Tuesday’s events circulating on Facebook, The Herald and other media, those that only superficially engage the concept of “free speech” as an abstract principle and couch their arguments in the rhetoric of respect and civility bewail the protesters’ ...
We regret your decision. We regret your continued and deliberate willingness to invest in an industry quickly consigning our generation to life on an inhospitable planet. Understand that you do so in defiance of thousands of students, hundreds of faculty members and members of the Brown community ...
Most first-years quickly learn Sex Power God is one of Brown’s most famous — or infamous — traditions. The SPG Facebook event page calls itself “the greatest party of the year.” So who wouldn’t want to go? SPG is intended to be an inclusive event, during which students can feel free to explore ...
On Feb. 25, 2006, I gathered with more than 40 students on a cold Saturday morning on the then-Faunce House steps, urging the Corporation to divest Brown’s assets from foreign companies aiding the Sudanese government’s genocidal campaign in Darfur. At the conclusion of the rally, which was the pinnacle ...
Back in March, rhetoric surrounding the upcoming 2013 MLB season was uncharacteristically pessimistic in Boston. Coming off their worst season since 1965, the Red Sox had slashed $33 million in payroll during the offseason and seemed poised for a second consecutive year in the cellar of baseball’s ...
I went to scores of seminars and talks during my four years as an undergraduate at Brown, but the one I will never forget took place on the evening of Nov. 30, 1966. The speaker, a Brown alum, had been invited by the Faunce House Board of Governors to take part in its fall lecture series. But once his ...
Just before his speech was canceled by the relentless interruptions of protesters, New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said, “I thought this was the academy … where we’re supposed to have free speech.” So did I. But at Brown’s most recent demonstration of its inability to foster healthy ...
In 2012, 55 percent of those stopped and frisked were black, 32 percent were Hispanic and only 10 percent were white. In the same year, 89 percent of stops and frisks involved citizens not guilty of any crime. It would take significant convincing to demonstrate to me that this type of policy does not ...
Within half an hour after President Christina Paxson announced the Corporation’s decision not to divest from coal on Sunday, my Facebook News Feed was overrun with criticisms of Paxson’s letter. Despite rallying alongside more than 100 other student activists last Friday in support of divestment, ...
“Always dress nicely.” “Don’t walk too quickly.” “Be polite, and say ‘sir’ or ‘ma’am’ if they speak to you.” “Do not give them a reason to stop you.” “Do not raise your voice if they question you.” “Avoid dimly-lit streets.” “Don’t loiter in stores.” “Don’t ...
In light of the Taubman Center of Public Policy and American Institutions’ decision to host Ray Kelly, police commissioner of the city of New York and creator of the controversial “stop-and-frisk” policy, members of the Brown and Providence communities have come together to demand his lecture ...
Solutions by The State News
