Compared to other countries, voter turnout in the United States is dismal. Of all age groups in this country, millenials are the worst at showing up to vote. Clearly voting isn’t the only kind of civic engagement available to us, but it’s one option among many that is important to participate in. ...
Now in my fourth (and final) year at Brown, I thought nothing could surprise me. Naked people with donuts? Sure. Neil deGrasse Tyson chilling on Simmons Quad? Boring. Yet on a recent dreary mid-October day, I was proven wrong when I saw not one, but two first-years with lanyards around their necks. That’s ...
A few weeks ago, a group of Minority Peer Counselors hosted one of several planned workshops designed to address issues facing racial and ethnic minorities at Brown. The workshop, entitled “Are You Problematic?”, came in the wake of the Black Alumni Reunion that had taken place two weeks prior. ...
Last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) released a series of videos discussing her Native American heritage, as well a DNA test that concluded she had a Native American ancestor six to ten generations back. Though Warren took this DNA test in response to racist taunts from President Trump and others ...
A few weeks ago, the University hosted the 2018 edition of the Black Alumni Reunion weekend. This reunion was particularly special as the year 2018 marks 50 years since the 1968 student walkout by black students from Brown and Pembroke College. The weekend was filled with events celebrating black alums ...
A discussion I have been particularly interested in and that I have seen arise constantly among students and faculty at Brown is the discussion on the intricacies of language, especially in regard to its essential role in framing the way we view and interact with our circumstances. Recently, these questions ...
If you’re a sophomore or a junior, you’re probably already in the process of looking for a place to live next year. The current state of apartment hunting in Providence is reminiscent of the recruiting cycle — it happens earlier and earlier every year, and chances are that all of your friends ...
Most undergrads who have applied to an organization outside of Brown — virtually everyone — have had to take the annoying step of calculating their GPA. In the spirit of its unique educational philosophy, Brown refuses to calculate GPA; but other organizations, obviously, do not share this philosophy. ...
On Oct. 2, the Sastifactory/No Credit deadline passed without much fanfare. Forty-nine years after its inception, the S/NC option is so ingrained in the Brown experience that it doesn’t stand out as abnormal. That’s a problem. S/NC is truly unique; Brown is one of just a handful of schools that ...
At the start of the semester, I visited Health Services for my annual screen for sexually transmitted infections. Before going to the lab, my doctor asked me to call my insurance provider to make sure Lifespan labs — where Health Services sends patients’ bloodwork and other samples — was “in-network,” ...
Last week, Amazon announced a wage hike for all its employees — everyone, even temporary employees, would make at least $15 an hour. This is great news — more money in the pockets of workers isn’t something to dismiss. But we should be clear about one thing: It was the power of people, not the ...
For many incoming students, the first tangible links to Brown are advisors, people who will be guiding and looking out for us from the moment we reach campus and begin to pick classes. In addition to our academic advisors, first-years are surrounded by all forms of student-led guidance: Meiklejohns, ...
With the 2018 midterm elections less than a month away, much of the optimism for Democrats has been focused on the House of Representatives. This is for good reason — a “Blue Wave” is more likely to manifest in the larger sample of 435 House races, in which 432 have a Democratic candidate. Moreover, ...
By any metric, the past few years have not been good to liberal democracy. As Larry Diamond, a Stanford University professor of sociology who specializes in democracy, famously noted, we may be in the midst of a global “democracy recession.” Populists with autocratic tendencies have enjoyed electoral ...
Women’s reproductive rights are once more at the center of the political discourse in the United States. As the Senate moves to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, a decision that will affect nationwide legislation for decades to come, people around the country are yet again compelled to ...
In a post-9/11 world, in pursuit of its mission to thwart terrorism in the United States and ensure national security, U.S. intelligence agencies have become larger, more complex and, if possible, even more secretive. There has been no concomitant change in oversight, however, allowing almost imperial ...
He is nine years old, 10 at most. His feet dangle above the ground. His tiny arms rest uncomfortably on the dinner table. He is holding in his miniature hands the newest iPhone, swiping and scrolling as though it were second nature. Conversation swells around him, but he is unaware. Then, minutes later, ...
On Monday night, I test drove a JUMP bike on a journey from Wayland Square’s Starbucks to the Rockefeller Library. The bike shattered my expectations, especially after the electric pedal-assist kicked in and made the hill up Angell Street seem like an airport runway. I would classify the experience ...
Earlier this week, Aidan Calvelli ’19 wrote a column calling to ban consulting firms from campus, arguing that “the mad rush to help rich companies get richer obscures a search for employment animated by an independent quest for meaning and social fulfillment.” But Calvelli’s argument relies ...
Complaints about off-campus permissions for rising juniors aren’t new. For example, in 2017, The Herald reported that many students thought the process was a hassle and faced pressure from landlords to sign leases before receiving permission to live off campus. Ultimately, this frustrating process ...
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