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Opinions

Ha '18: Is Brown a real lemon?

From the standpoint of an outsider, Brown has many unique and attractive features. It seems to have liberal academic, social and financial traits that are drastically different from those of other institutions: the open curriculum, the progressive student body and the University’s promise to meet ...


Opinions

Editorial: Work out the facilities

Iced-over sidewalks, blistering winds and layers of snow residue spell disaster for any type of outdoor physical activity. In the winter months, exercising often requires flocking to Brown’s gyms, where one can lift weights or run comfortably in a safe environment. The University has four gyms that ...


Opinions

Editorial: The registrar could save reading period

Brown has canceled classes twice already this semester, first on Jan. 27 and again yesterday, Feb. 9. Provost Vicki Colvin sent a campus-wide email Sunday suggesting that faculty members avail themselves of reading period’s buffer to make up for lost class time. But the proposed rescheduling raises ...


Opinions

Letter: Brown has proud history of military service

To the Editor: In his Feb. 5 column “ROTC:  Return of the Criminals,” Peter Makhlouf ’16 made the claim that “Brown has a rich ‘anti-military,’ anti-war history.” Perhaps his fiery rhetoric precluded actual research, because his historical myopia is disappointing. Similarly disappointing ...


Opinions

Gonzales '18: With snow, your 2016 presidential forecast

Much like our midterms, finals and course papers, the upcoming presidential campaign looms in the back of our minds. We prepare for a presumably clear-cut Democratic primary and a heavily contested Republican one. As a proud and openly secular liberal institution of higher learning, most members of ...


Opinions

Asker '17: Debunking non-cancellation complaints

Last week, many Brown community members were disappointed to learn that classes and administrative functions would not be cancelled on Monday, Feb. 2. The bad news came during the first quarter of Super Bowl XLIX in an email from Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey ’91 MA’06, ...


Opinions

Secondo '16: Weathering a not-so-winter wonderland

“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom” may be the U.S. Postal Service’s unofficial motto, but it sounds like the narrative of a Brown student trudging to class through a Providence winter. One of the most unexpected lessons I have learned during my time at Brown is that the aftermath of any ...


Opinions

Letter: ROTC should not have campus presence

To the Editor: I appreciate and agree with Herald Opinions Columnist Peter Makhlouf’s ’16 strong opposition to the Brown faculty’s approval of a resolution to establish partnerships with Navy and Air Force ROTC units at Holy Cross. There is, as he says, an admirable tradition of anti-war and anti-military ...


Opinions

Powers '15: A culinary revolution

Last week, New England faced Winter Storm Juno, which dumped enough snow on Brown’s campus to cancel classes and close all nonessential University buildings. Much to the dismay of Pembroke students, dining operations were centralized to the Sharpe Refectory. Anyone who went to the Thayer Street CVS ...


Opinions

Corvese '15: Prohibition at Brown? We’ll see

Some students reacted to the University’s recent announcement that alcohol is prohibited at large-scale parties in residential spaces as if the administration had resurrected the Eighteenth Amendment. The immediate reaction was laughable. In a recent Herald article gauging campus reactions to the ...


Opinions

Makhlouf '16: ROTC: Return of the criminals

A November 2014 Herald article described the lack of military support on Brown’s campus. The article outlined how students considering careers in the military and participating in ROTC programs on campus feel marginalized by “the anti-military — and even hostile — stigma attached to ‘schools ...


Opinions

Letter: Diversity in hiring conflated with subjectivity

To the Editor: An article in the Feb. 4 issue of The Herald, “Faculty endorses tie to Holy Cross ROTC program,” significantly misrepresented the report to the faculty by the Committee on Faculty Equity and Diversity. By linking “high expectations for diversity in hiring practices” and “a new ...


Opinions

Editorial: Amazon and a community commitment

On Tuesday, Amazon announced the opening of its first brick-and-mortar retailer on a college campus. The store at Purdue University offers free one-day shipping on course materials, as well as in-person exchanges and 24-hour pickup. But it is unclear whether the expansion represents a helpful service ...


Opinions

Okun '15: Brown, blue and gray

Editors’ note: This piece discusses depression and its effects. It began — where else? — in chemistry class. Tenth grade. A girl that I had always found annoying bounced into the room, chattering about her new endeavor to ask friends about their first kisses. The stories were adorable, she recounted, ...


Opinions

Editorial: Imagine Ratty 250+

In the wake of revived discussions surrounding the future of the beloved Sharpe Refectory, the University must consider the inherent gravity of its decision-making process. While the Ratty has served as a hub of student dining since its construction as part of the larger Wriston Quadrangle development ...


Opinions

Editorial: Whether we weather the storm

Like many students, staff members and faculty members, Sunday night was spent watching the Super Bowl and eagerly awaiting an email from Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey ’91 MA’06. Was Brown going to succumb to the National Weather Service’s projected 28-hour long ...


Opinions

Kenyon GS: Check the privilege, and grab a shovel

I come from a region of the United States that is regularly referred to as the “snowbelt.” It’s an unofficial term for those states directly due east and those southeast of the Great Lakes that receive gargantuan quantities of lake-enhanced snowfall every winter. Buffalo, New York — part of ...

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Mills '15: ‘American Sniper’ not what we needed

I recently had the chance to watch the new movie “American Sniper” about Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. It is, to use one of my Brown vocabulary words, “problematic.” A good versus evil story that doesn’t capture the muddied reality of the Iraq War, it paints Chris Kyle as a Texas cowboy hunting insurgents ...




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