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Brown Democrats: Raimondo for governor, Elorza for mayor

In recent weeks, Rhode Island has made national headlines with a series of appearances by the biggest names in the Democratic Party, including President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman ...


Opinions

Makhlouf ’16: Civility and its discontents

It has been one year since the Ray Kelly lecture. In the past year, numerous discussions both within and outside Brown have reflected on what happened that evening ad nauseam. To some extent, these conversations were lackluster. A significant position was left out of the equation entirely. I have yet ...


Opinions

Kenyon GS: Which direction will our HBO (GO) go?

If you are at all like me, you enjoy getting into bed with Bill Maher once a week. Let me rephrase that: You enjoy getting into bed to watch some “Real Time with Bill Maher.” For me it is a regular habit, a hobby perhaps, but nevertheless a comforting routine brought to fruition by piggybacking ...


Opinions

Tobolowsky GS: Freedom of expression is for everybody

Forgive me if, like Professor of Biology Ken Miller ’70 P’02, who recently reopened the attack on the members of the Brown student body who prevented Ray Kelly from speaking here, I have not yet put this issue to bed. But in his Oct. 1 Herald guest column, in which he defended what he called “academic ...


Opinions

Feldman ’15: Giving thanks while giving students a break

Thanksgiving is a federal holiday: The government closes, mail delivery halts and schools recess for the day. But to travel and prepare for the holiday, more than a single day must be given off. University students need a break to cushion the holiday. Currently, Brown students do not have classes canceled ...


Opinions

Cohan ’17: Finding the beauty in sports

“Rebounds, with their reliable uncertainty, are part of what makes basketball beautiful. There are general rules that dictate the nature of missed shots. But thanks to the perfect design of the basketball hoop, there will always be randomness.” This quote — at the end of a Kirk Goldsberry article ...


Opinions

Rotenberg ’17: Too liberal to notice

On Oct. 15, The Herald published an opinions column by Peter Makhlouf ’16 about university campuses that argued that “right-wing ideology (shies) away from critical examination.” Makhlouf posits that right-wing groups, including ones to which I belong, think colleges are “force-feeding liberal ...


Opinions

Fossil Free Brown: Imagining Brown fossil-free

Dear Brown community, Some of you may have already heard about Fossil Free Brown, a new campaign asking that Brown University remove its investments from the top 200 fossil fuel companies. We want to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves to the Brown community and clarify a couple of misperceptions ...


Opinions

Carty ’15: Tragedy, comedy and Buddy Cianci

After serving 22 years in the Providence mayor’s office, after two forced resignations, after one plea of “no contest” to an allegation of assault with a lit cigarette, after indictment in an FBI probe entitled “Operation Plunder Dome” and after five years in federal prison for racketeering, ...


Opinions

Hillestad ’15: 257 Thayer — elitist enclave

257 Thayer: sophisticated and sustainable college living. No doubt, that’s a catchy slogan. I understand why that’s appealing to a lot of Brown students. After all, I like to consider myself sophisticated and environmentally conscious. And I wouldn’t want to feel guilty about my fancy new digs, ...


Opinions

Ingber ’15: The oldest hatred in new and old forms

Anti-Semitism is not something we talk about on college campuses. While we may discuss anti-Semitism abstractly in academic conversations, it is something we believe we are beyond, something reminiscent of backward 20th century totalitarian regimes. But this ancient hatred of Jews persists around the ...


Opinions

Feldman ’15: Moderate religion a rarity in college

Academia and religion have long struggled to coexist because they seem based on mutually exclusive ideals. Academics generally rely on facts and reason, while religion relies on faith. This conflict can be epitomized in theories characterizing creation, such as the theory of evolution and the Big Bang, ...


Opinions

Blake ’17: A chance for a sports hierarchy to grow

The Big Ten, one of the five power conferences of the NCAA, recently announced that all its member institutions would guarantee athletic scholarships for all four years that an athlete attends college. This is a drastic step toward reaffirming the importance of academics in the collegiate model of athletics, ...


Opinions

Shin ’17: A sad colony of the digital

Over the fall weekend, as I was enjoying leisurely post-midterm cleanup in the afternoon sunlight, I came across a copy of Patrick Suskind’s “The Story of Mr. Sommer” helplessly squashed underneath a pile of overbearing textbooks. Tucked inside the book was a receipt showing that it was purchased ...


Opinions

Duncan ’15: What makes a ‘Transformative Conversation’?

There are many reasons to be skeptical of conversation for conversation’s sake. One conversation does not undo hundreds of years of systematic oppression. One conversation does not eliminate privilege or even make a critical mass of community members aware of its own. Last Wednesday night’s conversation ...


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