Op Eds

Rauschenbach ’23: Brown must respect BDS workers

By Matt Rauschenbach | October 8

Long lines might be the hallmark of the student dining experience at Brown. But these lines are a symptom of a deeper crisis: the shocking conditions facing our dining hall workers. 

Bayard ’24: The GOP’s heart is no longer orderly nor conservative

By Augustus Bayard | September 20

In his 1968 book “Miami and the Siege of Chicago,” novelist-slash-journalist Norman Mailer offered the following characterization of the rank-and-file Nixon supporters he saw at that year’s Republican National Convention in Miami: A “principal of a small town high school, local lawyer, retired ...

Gumus GS: When PhD dreams turn into nightmares: bad mentoring edition

By Selahaddin Gumus | September 17

Nightmares surrounding STEM PhDs are plentiful — classic examples are the student who spends 14 hours a day in the lab, the coworker who sabotages others’ experiments and the newly graduated student who stares down the barrel of two consecutive postdoctoral positions because they are unprepared ...

Gupta ’22: IAPA and the old three-concentration system can and should coexist

By Deepak Gupta | September 13

“Do you pronounce it I-A-P-A or I-APA?” This conversation with my fellow International Relations concentrators was a lighthearted way of passing the time. But questioning IAPA’s pronunciation illustrated how the Watson Institute had transformed over the past year. In April 2019, the Watson Institute ...

Marcus ’82: Three tips for 18-year-old me

By David L. Marcus | September 10

Driving on I-95 in the late summer, I feel something tugging me back to College Hill. As I stroll past University Hall, the Rock and the Ratty, I get wistful. Why didn’t I make the most of those undergrad years? What if I knew then what I know now? More than four decades have passed, but I keep wishing ...

Dardashti: Rosh Hashanah’s promise tells us, ‘you’ve got this.’

By Rabbi Michelle Dardashti | September 8

Elijah is my favorite biblical prophet; he’s got fire and he’s got pain — like all of us. When his fears threaten to snuff out his fire, he runs away — like we sometimes do. God finds him hiding in a cave and, quite literally, calls him out (if you’ve got God hang-ups or anthropomorphism isn’t ...

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Palestine Solidarity Caucus: Brown can no longer be ‘progressive except for Palestine’

By Palestine Solidarity Caucus | August 3

On May 15, the Palestine Solidarity Caucus first shared Brown Community’s Letter of Solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle, which condemns the May 2021 escalations in Israeli state and settler-mob violence against Palestinians across historic Palestine. In that period, Israel forcibly ...

Opinions

Simon ’25: Why Olympism isn’t curing us this time

By Alissa Simon | August 3

The world is on fire, but it’s time to turn on the Olympics again. As our oceans rise and the spread of the Delta variant further exposes deep and defining geopolitical divisions, surfers, track stars and skateboarders from around the world have gathered in Tokyo. Like clockwork, we suspend judgement ...

Opinions

Smith ’23: Brown’s plan to reduce campus red meat consumption without addressing poultry and fish lacks nuance

By Benny Smith | July 7

The Undergraduate Council of Students noted in an April 30 email that Brown will charge a Red Meat Working Group with delivering recommendations for reducing red meat consumption on campus. The rationale stated in the Sustainability Strategic Plan for reducing red meat (i.e. beef and pork) is that it ...

Opinions

Harris ’22 and Iqbal ’24: American response to Uyghur genocide

By Zachary Harris | June 10

Since 2014, the Chinese government has executed a relentless campaign of mass detainment, high-tech surveillance and religious persecution against Uyghur and other primarily Muslim groups in Xinjiang Province (often referred to as “East Turkestan” by Uyghurs). The Chinese authorities call their ...

Opinions

Hodges ’22: In support of a tax on sugary drinks

By Claire Hodges | June 7

The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply harmed Rhode Island’s economy and a quarter of households are now experiencing hunger. Even as businesses start to reopen, an unprecedented number of Rhode Islanders still rely on food banks to feed themselves and their families, and food bank usage grew by 26 percent ...

Opinions

Fuad '23 and Sloan '23.5: Opacity, delays and power imbalances thwart Brown’s PPSD Fund Committee

By Zoë Fuad | April 8

In 2007, Brown drew national attention for promising to account for its role in the transatlantic slave trade. One of these promises brought forth the Fund for the Education of the Children of Providence, a $10 million endowment for the Providence Public School District that Brown intended to fill through ...

Opinions

House ’20: Steven Pinker and who decides how campus culture should be repaired

By Anna House | March 25

I am not the target audience for this. I found this thought echoing around my head as I read Andrew Reed's March 12 column "Steven Pinker Wants to Repair Campus Culture." The piece has a pretty veneer and frames itself as hopeful, but concerned. I am not convinced its true purpose is quite so positive. The ...

Opinions

Herce ’22, Torres ’22, Castañeda ’21.5: Here we go again (showcasing our resiliency in the face of adversity)

By Sibeles Torres | March 24

Content warning: This op-ed includes mentions of depression and suicidal ideation. Brown’s administration, despite receiving multiple learning opportunities to improve its behavior, continues to make decisions that severely undermine the quality of student life. This leaves already exhausted and ...

Opinions

Carroll ’21 and Allums ’21: The case for reparations at Brown University

By Jordan Allums | March 23

Right now, Brown undergraduates are voting on historic referenda that call upon the University to identify the descendants of slaves it harmed during its involvement in the transatlantic slave trade and to provide reparations to those identified descendants. In 2003, then-Brown University President ...

Opinions

Lin '23: Contact Your Representative (Civics 0010)

By John Lin | March 23

The storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6 was a misguided attempt to use political violence to sabotage the democratic process. It clearly failed: Joe Biden is now president, and the instigators of the insurrection are being investigated. Effecting political change requires communication and collaboration ...

Opinions

Ruzicka ’23 and Meirowitz ’22: Restoring accountability in student governance

By Deborah Meirowitz | March 19

Constitutional disputes, student government power struggles and member misconduct — these are the barriers holding Brown’s undergraduate student government back from fulfilling its purpose. Brown’s student government cannot fight for students if we spend our time fighting each other. At the moment, ...

Opinions

Hack ’21: Brown is stranding its students by failing to provide outdoor social options during winter months

By Celia Hack | March 14

On one of my first days as a freshman at Brown, I remember standing in line for the dining hall by myself. I was petrified to go in alone. I found comfort when the first-year in front of me told me he didn’t know anyone, either. Neither did the guy behind me. We all ate together. None of us are ...

Opinions

Bhaskar '21: Reconciling the pharmaceutical industry in the age of COVID-19

By Nidhi Bhaskar | March 11

As the COVID-19 vaccine rollout progresses nationally, all eyes are on the industries responsible for creating and churning out the vaccine in such record time. Given the success of Operation Warp Speed, can we possibly praise the companies that took a huge gambit to provide us the vaccine? Or is their ...

Opinions

Kundra '21: Abortion is an equal rights issue

By Rakhi Kundra | March 8

“My body, my choice.” Growing up, my mom was always quick to remind me of this fact. “You have the right to make decisions about your body,” she would say. “Never let anyone tell you what you can and can’t do with it.” January marked the 48th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark ...