Opinions - The Brown Daily Herald

Opinions

Fernandez '21: Democratic politicians must do more to acknowledge Puerto Rico’s right to self-determination

By Marysol Fernández | October 3

Puerto Rican issues have long been sidelined in D.C. Puerto Ricans are denied representation in Congress as well as the right to vote for president. They are unable to contribute to the decisions that affect them, and historically, their issues have seldom been discussed in mainstream political conversation. ...

Opinions

Meszaros GS: Increase training in public scholarship

By E.L. Meszaros | October 3

In an era rife with accusations of and reactions to “fake news,” engagement between scholars and the public is crucial for sharing and correctly interpreting research. But public scholarship — and communicating research to the public — has never been a priority for academia, which has instead ...

Opinions

Lehrer-Small ’20: A local partnership model for the Annenberg Institute

By Asher Lehrer-Small | October 2

Last year in a shiny glass room one floor above the Brown Bookstore, the Annenberg Institute for School Reform hosted an event: “Advancing Equity through Research-Practice Partnerships.” The Institute brought in Ruth Lopez Turley, founder of the Houston Education Research Consortium, to present ...

Opinions

Editorial: Brown should amplify community voices in school takeover

By Editorial Page Board | September 30

In a scathing report released by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Educational Policy in June, researchers described major failings of the Providence Public School District. The report, which brought a reviewer to tears, detailed student performance significantly below grade level, teachers without adequate ...

Opinions

Letter: The value of this year’s First Readings

By Rachel Landau | September 30

To the Editor: It’s hard to describe how we felt when we first heard that the First Readings assignment would be The Idiot. Collectively, we have read and re-read the novel at least seven times. One of us is a Slavic Studies concentrator who spent a summer teaching in a Hungarian village; the other ...

Opinions

Corwin '23: Bring back ‘Why Brown?’

By Dorrit Corwin | September 30

Since the eighth grade, attending Brown had been my biggest pipe dream. I was absolutely infatuated with its idiosyncratic and captivating community and was immediately able to envision myself within it. When it finally came time for me to pour my heart into my Early Decision application four years ...

Opinions

Klein '20: How to fix the New York Jets

By George Klein | September 29

The New England Patriots will contend for a championship yet again this season. With a 4-0 record, the Pats are meeting expectations and playing like the best team in the league. Football fans in Rhode Island can enjoy a relatively stress-free regular season, watching New England overwhelm opposing ...

Opinions

Guturu '20, Jiang '20.5 and Niiya '20: Halt the search for new BCSC director

By Shivani Guturu, Jessica Jiang and May Niiya | September 29

Over the summer, the director of the Brown Center for Students of Color was terminated. This came with very little warning to students, who were away from campus and received no official announcement of his termination. Since July, a search committee has been working to find a replacement director for ...

Humanities & Social Sciences

Schmidt '21: Pre-med students should take social sciences classes

By Rachael Schmidt | September 27

Pre-med students coming into Brown often have their class list already mapped out for the next four years. This is understandable, since medical school requirements are so numerous and hefty. In many ways pre-med students lack flexibility in their course load because they are forced to take a number ...

Opinions

Goldberg '22, Triedman '20.5: Building a nationwide movement for ‘Judaism On Our Own Terms’

By Elisheva Goldberg and Hal Triedman | September 27

Last Friday, Jewish students from different schools around the country gathered in the Pembroke Fieldhouse for the first night of the Judaism On Our Own Terms conference. We arranged ourselves on pillows and cushions on the floor, spread out over the entire second floor. We distributed sheets with Hebrew ...

Opinions

Caira '22: Textbook costs undermine the promises of the Open Curriculum

By Alisa Caira | September 26

Shopping period has now wrapped up around campus and, in its wake, it leaves a significant amount of financial woes for some students. With the absurd costs of books and the sheer number required by some professors, students may have to choose their courses based on finances, not their actual interests. ...

Opinions

Hall '20: Academic departments must stop hiding from climate change

By Galen Hall | September 26

“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. ...

Opinions

Ren '23: I did not like the first-year reading

By Johnny Ren | September 24

This past summer, as anxiety and excitement for the coming year stewed within the hearts of Brown first-years all over the country and all over the world, we received a book in the mail. It was our First Readings, a novel called “The Idiot.” I still remember eagerly opening that conspicuously book-shaped ...

Opinions

Secondo '16 GS: Toward a more personal disunion

By Reid Secondo | September 23

1960’s essayist Joan Didion had it right: the center is not holding. It is a country of bankrupt farms and presidential Twitter tirades and commonplace mass shootings. It is a country where families are broken by opioid abuse and today’s children may never learn the social norms that have held society ...

Opinions

Editorial: University should further clarify its ethical gifts policies

By Editorial Page Board | September 23

On Sept.13, Brickson Diamond and Bernadette Aulestia — both members of the Corporation, the University’s highest governing body — wrote a letter defending the ethical underpinnings of the University’s gift policy. Diamond and Aulestia wrote that “Brown does not accept gifts if it’s evident ...

Opinions

Shanmugam '23: To address gun violence, return power to local government

By Arjun Shanmugam | September 23

In the 1800s, Cleveland secured its place as one of the nation’s great commercial centers, linked to arteries of trade like the Erie Canal. In the early 20th century, Ohio’s state capital conducted “The Columbus Experiment,” implementing cutting-edge water treatment techniques that are still ...

Opinions

Aman '20: Brown should use its housing fee to subsidize laundry

By Rebecca Aman | September 20

At Wednesday’s Undergraduate Council of Students meeting, Vice President Jason Carroll ’21 made two suggestions on how to subsidize laundry for students with demonstrated financial need. First, the University could include laundry in housing fees; this way, students who receive free housing as part ...

Opinions

Letter: Students should take advantage of DPS services

By Chun Cheng | September 20

To the Editor: My name is Chun Cheng, and I am a Brown alum that just graduated a few months ago. I am writing regarding an article I saw in The Herald. I lived in an off-campus apartment during my two years of study at Brown University and took advantage of the Brown Department of Public Safety services, ...

Opinions

Simshauser '20: On Italy’s football pitches, racism finds a refuge

By Derek Simshauser | September 19

The season had hardly begun when Italian football’s most vile tradition reared its head. On Sept. 1 — just the second matchday of Serie A (Italy’s top league) — Inter Milan’s Romelu Lukaku readied himself for a penalty against rival club Cagliari. As the Belgian striker stepped up to take ...

Opinions

Meszaros GS: Everyone needs to get vaccinated, take it from someone with HPV

By E.L. Meszaros | September 19

There is currently a vaccine that could help prevent certain types of cancer, but many people are turning it down. The vaccine fights strains of the Human Papillomavirus, which can cause cervical, penile and anal cancer, but some students are still unprotected despite the fact that it’s been around ...