In response to Steven Chizen's '14 column ("RIPTA's educational value," Feb. 24), I commend the author for recognizing that "students first must leave College Hill to understand what's beyond the bubble." However, while I whole-heartedly agree that there is a larger and more diverse Providence community beyond the Hill, the article's arguments for using the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority to learn more about the city are quite problematic. Not only is the article potentially offensive to students at the University, who are characterized as naive and sheltered, but it also insults those who do not live on College Hill because it fails to consider their experiences and perspectives. Though the author intends to broaden our myopic worldview, ironically, he ends up enforcing harmful stereotypes of urban communities.
Chizen explains that "ever since the bus tunnel was constructed in 1914, Brown and College Hill students have implicitly accepted residing in a sheltered bubble away from a larger, unprotected society." I question Chizen's ability to know that for almost a century students and residents in the area acknowledged the tunnel, but feared the "unprotected society" to which the tunnel would inevitably lead them.
Furthermore, Chizen constructs his argument around the idea that people on College Hill do not know how to ride a bus. "For the overwhelming majority of Brown students who are not from Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority is most likely a foreign concept," the author stipulates, offering a forgiving but sweeping generalization about us Brunonians. Contrary to what Chizen thinks, the public transportation system is not a phenomenon specific to Providence.
Many Brown students and College Hill residents have taken a city bus before, and for them, the most astonishing news about RIPTA is that, with a swipe of your Brown ID, you can take the bus anywhere in Rhode Island for free. If you actually pass the tunnel from time to time, you can see that many students are in on the "secret" and wait for the scheduled bus to arrive. More than a handful of our classmates have discovered that the tunnel is not "merely a detour that interrupts the walk from their dorms to the Main Green." If there is in fact a problem with students not riding the bus, the issue is that not enough students find reason to take advantage of RIPTA.
Some aspects of Chizen's article may actually be offensive to Providence residents who live off of the Hill. "Riding the bus gives Brown students a unique cross-section of Providence's myriad problems," the author encourages. In this way, Chizen describes Providence in the worst way possible. He makes the "bus community" sound like a tourist attraction designed as a free supplement to the pricey Ivy League education. RIPTA is not a social experiment, and if you treat it as such, you are showing your privilege, not checking it.
Moreover, describing the kinds of people you may encounter on the bus as "a Vietnam war veteran who's missing his legs, a toothless mentally-disabled woman who sings loudly the entire ride and a young adult begging for money as he takes a swig from his flask" is rude. Providence is not just home to people who are proof of "an urban setting of poverty, homelessness, alcoholism and poor health care," and even if it were, you should not regard its residents merely as archetypes of destitution. If you can characterize Providence residents this way, I wonder if you have ever really interacted with, let alone learned from, someone who takes the bus. If an urban wasteland is all you see when you step away from the Van Wickle Gates, I wonder if you have ever seen Water Fire, visited the capital building, skated at the Bank of America City Center or entered the Providence Children's Museum. Providence has its fair share of troubles — especially financial troubles — but the city should be appreciated as more than just a reminder that poverty exists in the world.
Let's be honest — we are sheltered on College Hill. However, wandering through Providence and glancing at the world through imperial eyes is not the solution. Hop on the bus and really take a look around you, but treat the city and its citizens with respect. They are not here for your entertainment.
Helen McDonald '14 is a professional bus rider and can be reached at helen_mcdonald@brown.edu if you need lessons.
