Daily Herald

the Brown

vol. cxlvi, no. 57 Wednesday, April 27, 2011 Since 1891

BUCC addresses ROTC, proposed team cuts DPS arrest

By Margaret Yi
Staff Writer
records go
ROTC and the Athletics Review
Committee. Many in attendance

As of Sunday, only 766 students had

responded to a survey issued by the
to FBI
Undergraduate Council of Students
last week to collect student opinion
on the Reserve Officers’ Training
Corps, said Katherine Bergeron,
dean of the College and chair of
the Committee on ROTC, at yes-
terday’s Brown Community Coun-
cil meeting. The survey deadline
— originally set for May 4 — will
be extended in hopes that more
students will offer their feedback.
Surveys conducted by UCS usually
average 1,500 respondents, said
UCS President Diane Mokoro ’11.
About 50 community members
gathered in the Kaspar Multipur-
pose Room for the meeting to hear
updates from the Committee on
expressed dissatisfaction with both
committees, criticizing a perceived
lack of transparency and the athlet-
ics committee’s recommendations.
Bergeron began the meeting
by summarizing the committee’s
progress in reviewing the Univer-
sity’s stance on ROTC. In the past
two months, there have been over
15 meetings and a wide range of
responses from members of the
Brown and Providence communi-
ties, she said.
She also spoke with an assistant
secretary of the Navy, who is inter-
ested in involving the University
in a cross-institutional program,
Bergeron added. This plan would
allow Brown students to travel to
continued on page 9
By Jake Comer
Senior Staff Writer
Under a federal program recently
activated by the state attorney gen-
eral, anyone arrested by the Depart-
ment of Public Safety will have their
fingerprints and identity submitted
to the Federal Bureau of Investiga-
tion to be run against federal law
enforcement records.
Rhode Island Attorney General
Peter Kilmartin recently activated
Secure Communities, a federal pro-
gram that sends arrest records to the
Hilary Rosenthal / Herald FBI and Department of Homeland
The Committee on ROTC (above) presented at yesterday’s BUCC meeting in Security. The program applies to all
the Kaspar Multipurpose Room as community members looked on. municipal police forces in the state,
including the Providence Police De-

Campaign
partment, and suspects arrested by
Emails underline rape procedures’ flaws DPS are booked by the PPD.
The majority of DPS activity does

over, U. Hall Accuser’s father one student has committed a lifelong consequences of expul-
felony against another. A rape in- sion. Unsurprisingly, the handling
not rise to the level of making an ar-
rest. But the department has arrested
offered to mentor vestigation involves more complex of rape investigations on college six people so far this year, according
seeks money witness in evidence than a case of plagiarism campuses has been the subject of
or underage drinking — and the much controversy, both nation-
to Mark Porter, chief of police and
director of public safety.
McCormick case
elsewhere
stakes are much higher. wide and at Brown. Secure Communities — created
Currently, William McCormick by U.S. Immigration and Customs
News analysis By Nicole Boucheris suing the University and two Enforcement in 2007 — is an agree-
By Amy Rasmussen News Editor alums — a woman who accused ment between the FBI and the De-
Senior Staff Writer If a campus rape investiga- him of rape in 2006 and her fa- partment of Homeland Security to
A rape case on a college campus tion wrongly exonerates a guilty ther — claiming that he was falsely share identifying information on
Total gifts to the University have is a unique phenomenon. It places student, the victim of a violent accused and that Brown failed to arrested individuals, including their
fallen since the seven-year $1.6 bil- university administrators in an crime can be further scarred. If it give him a fair hearing because fingerprints, said Amy Kempe, a
lion Campaign for Academic Enrich- unfamiliar position — that of at- wrongly finds a student respon-
ment came to a close Dec. 31, said tempting to determine whether sible, an innocent person faces the continued on page 8 continued on page 2
Steven King ’91, senior vice president

Top high schools find

for University advancement, and
the University is looking for ways to
increase revenue. The question for
leaders now will be how to “sustain
the support and, in ways, increase
it,” said Richard Spies, executive vice
president for planning and senior
adviser to the president.
Though King acknowledged the
“pullback” in gifts, he said his of-
fice will continue to push for new
approaches to fundraising outside
the “artificial marketing construct
of the campaign.”
“The plan continues — it doesn’t
end here,” he said.
Achieving the initiatives set forth
in the Plan for Academic Enrich-
ment will take time, Spies said. “No
one ever thought that a campaign
over a five- or seven-year period was
just going to get everything done.”
Prior to the campaign, the Uni-
versity raised about $80 million
per year. By 2011, that figure had
more than doubled to $200 million.
The advancement office will try to
maintain the current level of gifts,
said Beppie Huidekoper, executive
continued on page 2
Proud President
admissions success
By David Chung
Senior Staff Writer
Besides rigorous academic curricula,
extracurricular opportunities, long
histories of distinguished alums and
growing national and international
reputations, the Harvard-Westlake
School and Phillips Academy have
something else in common.
Both institutions have sent more
than 45 graduates each to Brown in
the past five years, according to fig-
ures released by the schools’ college
counseling departments.
Top-tier private and magnet high
schools boast high matriculation
rates to the most prestigious colleges
and universities. But these schools
deny that the relationships between
college counselors and college admis-
sion offices help boost their students’
Stephanie London / Herald chances of getting in.
President Ruth Simmons spoke yesterday in Salomon 001 as part of Pride Harvard-Westlake, a college-pre-
Series 2011. paratory day school in North Holly-
wood, Calif., and Phillips Academy, a
Massachusetts boarding school usu-
ally referred to as Andover, are two
of a handful of high schools across
the country that send more than one-
fourth of their students to Ivy League
or highly reputable institutions.
The all-male Collegiate School
in New York City has sent 39.6 per-
cent of its graduates in the past five
years to universities falling under
the “Ivy Plus” umbrella — the eight
Ivy League universities, as well as
Stanford University and the Mas-
sachusetts Institute of Technology.
Among the graduates, 14 have en-
rolled at Brown.
Other New York private and
boarding schools located throughout
New England boast similar statistics.
Trinity School on the Upper
West Side of Manhattan — named
“America’s Best Prep School” by
continued on page 7

Munchies Certified Sellout?

weather

t o d ay tomorrow
inside

news....................2-9
editorial............10 New meal plan caters Faculty considers Have we traded
Opinions.............11 to off-campus hunger language certificates learning for profit?
campus news, 3 Campus news, 4 opinions, 11 68 / 59 65 / 53
2 Campus News
calendar Police dept sends fingerprints to FBI
Today April 27 ToMORROW April 28
continued from page 1
7 P.m. 7:30 p.m.
“Gasland” Screening, “SAAM: Take Back the Night,” spokeswoman for Kilmartin. Juris-
Wilson 102 Smith-Buonanno 106 dictions can opt to activate their par-
ticipation in the program without
8 p.m. 8 p.m.
pressure from the federal govern-
Ghanaian Drumming and Dancing, Visions Spring 2011 Release Party, ment, she said.
Grant Recital Hall Salomon 001 Once a jurisdiction activates the
program, the police departments
menu within that jurisdiction send the
identification information, includ-
ing fingerprints, of anyone they ar-
SHARPE REFECTORY VERNEy-WOOLLEY DINING HALL
rest to the FBI. The FBI runs this
LUNCH information through a database
Beef Tacos, Vegetarian Mori Buffalo Chicken Wings, Red Potato shared with the Department of
Soba Noodles, Vegetarian Tacos, Frittata, Vegan Brown Rice Pilaf, Homeland Security. The program’s
Chocolate Krinkle Cookies Chocolate Krinkle Cookies primary purpose is to identify, and
often deport, illegal immigrants who
DINNER
have already been arrested within
Castle Hill Inn Pork Spare Ribs, Roast Beef au Jus, Vegan Vegetable the United States.
Crispy Fried Tofu, Vegan Ratatouille, Couscous, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, “There isn’t a change in the sys-
Fudge Bars Fudge Bars tem, in the way local police depart-
ments act,” she said. Local police
Sudoku departments still do not have the
authority to enforce immigration
laws, she said.
Ian Eppler ’13, president of the
Brown chapter of the American Civ-
il Liberties Union, said the Secure
Communities program hurts inter-
action between immigrant families
U. aims to diversify funding sources
continued from page 1
vice president for finance and ad-
ministration. But it is important to
remember the economic circum-
stances facing the University. “It’s a
tough time,” she said.
Sponsored funding “is not look-
ing too promising,” she said, adding
Crossword that net tuition — tuition less finan-
cial aid — “is nearly flat.”
“We certainly are going to be
totally dependent on what the de-
velopment office is going to do,”
Huidekoper said. But she said the
University will also be looking to
other sources of revenue.
Professional master’s degree
programs will be one of the most
important funding sources going
forward, she said. She also pointed
to the Summer@Brown program
for high school students, which she
said brings both fiscal and academic
resources to the University by pro-
viding prospective students with an
early “view of their future.”
There are “no current plans for
a new campaign,” Huidekoper said,
and it is unclear when the next cam-
paign will begin.
The rhythm of campaign cycles
varies from school to school, Spies
said. Some schools pursue new cam-
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Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Suspects arrested by DPS will have their fingerprints sent to the FBI.
and police. “I think it’s a bad thing
for public safety, and it’s a bad thing
in terms of what impact it will have
on racial profiling,” he said.
But because the program applies
to all arrests, Kempe said, “It does
away with allegations of racial pro-
filing.”
Eppler called the program “dis-
concerting” and said it could hit
home for part of the Brown com-
munity. “There are a number of un-
documented students here … and
paigns immediately, and others try
to maintain a more regular schedule.
The University’s last cycle saw
a seven-year gap — the Campaign
for the Rising Generation finished
in 1996 after raising $534 million.
The amount of time and effort
that goes into a campaign is “very,
very significant,” Spies said. Volun-
teers and administrators need time
to “catch their breath a little bit, even
while continuing to do the type of
fundraising we have to do every
year.”
A gap between campaigns also
offers “a chance for people to refill
their pockets,” Huidekoper said.
Though it is important to cel-
ebrate past accomplishments, it is
in the nature of the University to
constantly look to the future, Spies
said. “If we just sit still,” he added em-
phatically, “that’s a recipe for decline.”
The annual fund will now move
forward without “the umbrella of
the campaign,” Spies said.
From 2001 to 2011, the fund
nearly tripled in size — from $12
million to $36 million. The goal for
the fiscal year ending in June is $36.5
million.
Currently, King said the office is
about 7 percent ahead of last year’s
figures. Though the office is only
Herald
Matthew Burrows, Treasurer
Isha Gulati, Secretary
Business
(401) 351-3260
gm@browndailyherald.com
The Brown Daily Herald
Herald File Photo
I’m sure they’re a little bit more on
edge as a result of this announce-
ment,” he said.
“At this point in my life, I’m op-
erating under the assumption that
nothing I do is private,” said Michael
Zamost ’14.
Nick Jacob ’14 said he found the
program’s targeting of illegal im-
migrants distasteful. But as far as
privacy concerns go, he said, “What
I have on the Internet is way worse
than my fingerprints.”
40.3 percent of the way to their goal,
Spies said much of the pledge activity
happens in May and June. The $24
million dollar increase since 2001
is “an incredible expression of sup-
port,” he said, pointing to faculty
and student initiatives it facilitated.
The annual fund is “one of the
best in the country,” King said.
The advancement office will fo-
cus on the annual fund rather than
targeted pledges, such as endowing
professorships, King said. He said
he plans to increase its professional
support to younger graduates — and
even to undergraduates — to keep
younger alums connected. Alums
should “really love the place and
want to make sure it continues to
grow,” he said.
The end of campaigns often
brings about some office restruc-
turing, Huidekoper said. Leaders
move on to other schools currently
in the midst of their own campaigns,
opening possibilities for new leader-
ship and new direction.
Currently, the advancement of-
fice is looking for people to fill three
open positions — vice president for
development, director of commu-
nications and director of corporate
and foundation relations, King said.
Kristin Davitt ’88, former vice
president for development, is now
assistant vice president for under-
graduate programs at Penn — which
is in the fourth year of its own cam-
paign. Though Davitt left Brown
due to an opportunity that she said
had “nothing to do with the end of
the campaign,” Huidekoper said it is
perfectly normal for people to want
to move on at the close of such ven-
tures.
“There’s no intent to decrease
support” to the office, she said.
While the post-campaign world
is “a new reality that we’re all operat-
ing in,” King said, he emphasized that
his office would continue to focus on
effective leadership and discussions
regarding University initiatives.
The Brown Daily Herald
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
MunchCard to bring
credits, points to Thayer
By Sahil Luthra
Senior Staff Writer
When they return in the fall, stu-
dents will have the option of a new
off-campus meal plan that will al-
low them to use a credit-and-point
system at Thayer Street venues as an
alternative or addition to other meal
plan options.
The MunchCard plan is the
brainchild of four Brown students
— Ben Vishny ’14, Tucker Adams
’11 and brothers Andrew Tran ’11
and Steven Tran ’13 — who have
spent the past semester setting it up.
Local restaurants will accept
MunchCards, which are wallet-sized
and have a bite-shaped hole in the
corner, and will often offer student
discounts to cardholders. Though
the MunchCard program will not
run through the University, it will
operate with meal credits and points
similar to University meal plans.
A list of participating eateries is
still being finalized, but the found-
ers said it will be complete when
registration opens May 20.
Kabob and Curry has already
signed on, and close to 20 businesses
— including Andreas Restaurant,
New thrift store offers Students petition against
exchange, upcycling Grad School funding policy
By Daniel Jeon
Contributing Writer
Two undergraduates have teamed
up to create Brown’s first student-
run thrift store, providing an outlet
for students to donate, exchange
and buy used goods. The Vault,
which opened two weeks ago, was
started by Hannah Winkler ’13 and
Tara Noble ’12.5 in the hopes of
providing various environmentally
friendly ways for the community to
handle unwanted items.
Since its opening about two
weeks ago, the Vault has had three
days of sales — one in the Salo-
mon Center lobby Monday from 3
p.m. to 5 p.m., one on the Wriston
Quadrangle April 15 and the open-
ing sale in J. Walter Wilson April
8. About 50 students attended the
second sale day on Wriston, which
made substantial profits, Winkler
and Noble said. “Considering we
have no overhead, (the sales) are
great,” Noble said.
Aniqa Anwar ’14, who visited
the store on Wriston, said the Vault
was “a great concept because it’s
really difficult to get rid of clothes
with such a busy schedule.” She
said she traded in some of her own
clothes for store credit and bought a
T-shirt, but added the store should
work on its selection because some
items were “not fit for reuse.”
Winkler and Noble first began
working on their business during
the fall semester. Through part-
nership with the Brown Student
Agencies, the Vault was provided
a temporary space and advertising
funds. Noble said the process was
lengthy and arduous.
Baja’s, Better Burger Co., Froyo-
world, Haruki Express, Juniper,
Mama Kim’s Korean BBQ, Paragon
and Subway — have expressed high
levels of interest, Vishny said.
Students on the MunchCard
plan will be able to choose how
many meal credits and points they
want for the semester during online
registration, allowing them to use
the plan either as an alternative or
a supplement to a University meal
plan. Students must sign up for a
minimum of 30 meals per semester,
though meal credits can roll over to
the following semester.
Students and parents “want the
security of having a meal plan, but
they also want variety,” Vishny said.
The four founders also empha-
sized the flexibility of the card. Stu-
dents can add meals and points at
any point during the semester. The
first four weeks of the fall semester
will be a trial period during which
students can change or cancel their
plans.
The idea for the project came
out of ENGN 0900: “Managerial
Decision Making,” a class three of
the four founders are taking this
semester. A major factor stopping
There are three components to
the Vault — a thrift store, an item
exchange and a workshop. The
thrift store currently sells clothes,
jewelry, books and other acces-
sories donated by students, and
Winkler said she also hopes to offer
housewares in the future. For the
item exchange, Brown students can
bring in their unwanted clothing or
other items to receive store credit
for other goods in the thrift store.
“The Vault is very Brown … with
student-to-student interaction,”
Winkler said.
The Vault is also unique in that it
offers various workshops that align
with Winkler and Noble’s goal of
upcycling, a process that converts
old or useless materials into items
that have more value and a positive
environmental impact. The Vault
offered a T-shirt workshop Mon-
day in Salomon, where students
could bring in used clothing and
upcycle them into other items, such
as bags or wristbands. Noble said
other workshops are also planned
for the future, on papermaking,
repair-and-mending and seasonal
workshops.
The Vault is “very environmen-
tally motivated,” Noble said.
Winkler and Noble said the
Vault is still getting off the ground.
“This is our trial period. … Since
it’s going to be an establishment,
(growth) is going to take longer,”
Winkler said. “The primary hurdle
is getting a space,” Noble said. With
a stable location, “we’d be so much
more efficient and reach out to a
lot more people,” Winkler added.
“It’s an organic evolution,” Noble
said.
Campus News 3
Baja’s, a Tex-Mex eatery on Thayer Street, may sign on to the MunchCard.
students from eating off-campus is
the fact that they needed to use their
meal plans, Andrew Tran said. “We
looked at the market, and it looked
ready for something like this,” he
said.
Kabob and Curry chef and owner
Sanjiv Dhar said the founders’ “spirit
of entrepreneurship” piqued his in-
terest in supporting the MunchCard
program.
Though Dhar said MunchCard
discounts at Kabob and Curry
would be minimal, Vishny said the
discounts could be about 20 percent
for some eateries.
Rie Ohta ’13 said though her Uni-
versity plan is “convenient,” she is
“sick of meal plan.” She said she plans
to look into the MunchCard option,
By Caitlin Trujillo
Senior Staff Writer
Graduate students petitioned Presi-
dent Ruth Simmons and Provost
David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 last
Thursday to reevaluate the new
Graduate School funding policy. The
policy, which was finalized March 9,
requires graduate students in the hu-
manities and social sciences to apply
for additional funds after five years.
The new policy also sets up a
committee of administrators to
review these funding applications.
Prior to the change, department
heads and advisers negotiated
funding levels for rising sixth-year
graduate students, said Sean Dinces
GS, a third-year graduate student
in the Department of American
Civilization.
But administrators making these
funding decisions do not work di-
rectly with graduate students and do
not understand their needs, Dinces
said.
The petition demands removal of
the application process, a guarantee
of sixth-year funding for graduate
students in good standing and more
funding opportunities beyond the
sixth year.
A group of 30 to 40 graduate stu-
dents presented the petition with
over 230 signatures to the offices
of the president and provost last
Thursday. The students also pre-
sented a similar petition from the
undergraduate student body with
100 signatures, said Sara Matthiesen
GS, a second-year graduate student
in the American Civilization de-
partment. Graduate students also
handed out flyers during A Day on
College Hill.
Hilary Rosenthal / Herald
adding she “probably would spend
less” because of the Blue Room’s high
prices.
But MunchCard meal credits —
like University meal credits — set a
price range, which might make it just
as easy to pay cash, said David Man-
ning ’13, who lives in West House
and eats most of his meals through
the co-op. Manning added he would
still look into the MunchCard.
Stephanie Lai ’12, who is off meal
plan and eats on Thayer Street about
once a day, said she would be in-
terested in the MunchCard option.
“When we don’t eat on Thayer, we
make our own food because it’s
cheaper,” she said. “But if Thayer’s
cheaper, that’s probably more con-
venient.”
The petitioning students are not
advocating for a return to the old
system, which was informal but also
inefficient, Dinces said. Instead, he
said they are asking the University
to be accountable for helping stu-
dents to fund their research.
Even if they require more than
five years to complete their research,
graduate students in the life and
physical sciences have access to a
wider variety of outside funding and
thus often need not apply for sixth-
year funding, Dinces said. Graduate
students in these sciences request
research funding less frequently
beyond the fifth year of study, Pe-
ter Weber P’12, dean of the Grad
School, told The Herald last month.
But the national average time to
complete a PhD in the humanities
is nearly 10 years, according to a
2008 study referenced in a press
release from the petitioners. Mat-
thiesen said the new policy is thus
disadvantageous to researchers in
the humanities and social sciences
because it provides funding for only
a portion of their time studying. “We
feel it’s definitely an indication of
what sort of knowledge the Univer-
sity values,” she said.
Simmons and Kertzer have not
responded to the petition, Matthie-
sen said. But Kertzer told The Her-
ald no other school in the country
guarantees funding for sixth-year
graduate students, and such a guar-
antee “doesn’t strike (him) as very
plausible.”
“It might be nice, but it’s not go-
ing to happen,” he said.
The petitioning students will
continue to “rally around” the stu-
dents most immediately affected by
the policy change, Matthiesen said.
Online
declaration
elicits mixed
reactions
By Jackie Choi
Contributing Writer
The new online system for con-
centration declarations, instituted
for the first time for sophomores
and transfer students this spring,
has received mixed reviews from
students and faculty members.
Previously, students were re-
quired to turn in essays and a series
of forms signed by a concentration
adviser in paper form to the Of-
fice of the Registrar, a system that
required three copies of each form.
The new system uses Advising Side-
kick, a web-based program run by
the Office of the Dean of the Col-
lege. In a Feb. 11 Herald article,
Katherine Bergeron, dean of the
College, praised the “green system”
for eliminating the need to print
physical forms.
Timothy Harris, professor of his-
tory and a concentration adviser
for the department, wrote in an
email to The Herald that advisers
would be less likely to read the es-
says now that they are online. He
is concerned the new system may
compromise the faculty-student ad-
vising system. “Students at Brown
have access to extensive one-on-one
advising from faculty, and I worry
that the new system will undermine
advising at Brown,” he wrote.
Gretchen Schultz, concentra-
tion adviser in the French studies
department, wrote there are some
“kinks” in the new system that have
caused some frustration among
concentration advisers and stu-
dents. “My preference would have
been to maintain the paper declara-
tion form, which allows students to
work out the details of their concen-
tration face-to-face with an adviser
during office hours,” she wrote in an
email to The Herald.
But Anna Aizer, associate profes-
sor of economics and public policy,
wrote in an email to The Herald the
electronic declaration system was
“fine on the whole.” She said the
only issue was confusion on the part
of students and faculty members
who thought the online system re-
placed a face-to-face meeting.
Nicola Ryan ’13 found the elec-
tronic system to be “relatively ef-
ficient,” saying he started his form
the day before it was due and had
his concentration — economics —
approved in an hour.
“I didn’t have any problems,”
Ryan said. “If anything, it was al-
most too easy to declare a concen-
tration.”
Caitlin Taylor ’13, who filed two
concentrations, said it was annoying
to have to wait for her first con-
centration to be approved before
being able to edit her second one.
But on the whole, she found the
online system preferable to having
to write everything out.
“If people are complaining,
they’re stupid,” she said.
“It takes a while to get used to
continued on page 4
4 Campus News
Faculty considers offering language certificates
By Ashley Aydin
Senior Staff Writer
Though discussions of a proposal
to offer foreign language and cul-
ture certificates for undergradu-
ates will continue next semester,
faculty have questioned the ra-
tionale behind offering such pro-
grams and the ability of language
departments to accommodate the
increased enrollment the certifi-
cates could bring. The University
does not offer minors, but the
proposed certificates would es-
sentially function as minors in a
foreign language.
To receive certification, a stu-
dent would be required to take
six language and culture courses
focusing on a specific language,
work or study abroad in a country
where the language is spoken and
maintain an online portfolio of
work, wrote Katherine Bergeron,
dean of the College, in an email
to The Herald.
Almost all students completing
language concentrations combine
them with second concentrations,
according to Bergeron. The pro-
posed certificates would require
fewer courses than any concentra-
tion program.
Many of Brown’s peer institu-
tions offer certifications or minors
in foreign languages. The Office of
International Programs has en-
couraged the University to offer
certificates since 2007, accord-
ing to the minutes of a March 8
faculty forum held to discuss the
proposal.
Defining proficiency
Many faculty think language
certificates are a good idea, but
it remains to be seen how the
University “would go about do-
ing this,” said Cynthia Garcia
Coll, chair of the Faculty Execu-
tive Committee and professor of
education.
One consideration involves
how best to test students on their
language proficiency. “We’re not
going to just give a student a test
and then give them a certificate,”
she said. “They have to develop a
portfolio.”
Departments and faculty have
to ask themselves what they are
“actually certifying,” said Kerry
Smith, professor of history and
chair of the East Asian studies de-
partment. “After three years, are
we saying that you’re proficient
or fluent? What about someone
taking third-year French who
has already taken French in high
school? I’m not sure how we go
about comparing what we mean
by proficiency.”
It is also unclear whether lan-
guage departments can support
the implementation of language
and culture certifications.
“The language departments
came out and said, ‘Wait a minute,
we don’t have the infrastructure
for this,’” Garcia Coll said.
Language departments are al-
ready overwhelmed, Smith said.
“There would be an additional 10
to 15 students to teach. Does it
mean this will diminish the qual-
ity of instruction?” he said. “If you
look at the staffing numbers of our
peer institutions, we don’t com-
pare well. It’s a long struggle to
try to correct that.”
The University’s lack of lan-
guage certifications places it out
of step with peer institutions, most
of which offer minors or similar
certifications.
“We are always comparing our-
selves to other institutions,” Garcia
Coll said. “I’m sure it is part of
the motivation but not the only
motivation.”
But the University does not
base decisions on its peers, Smith
said. “That’s not the way Brown
does things.”
‘Commodifying language’
Faculty and department chairs
also questioned whether the pro-
posed certificates would be used
solely to help students make their
transcripts look more appealing.
“There are questions such as,
are we commodifying language
acquisition? Is it just another thing
that students can put on their re-
sumes, or is it something that can
bring students a real understand-
ing?” Garcia Coll said. “We want
them to be really interested.”
In the past, similar proposals
have been turned down by faculty,
Luiz Fernando Valente, associ-
ate professor of Portuguese and
Brazilian studies and chair of the
department, wrote in an email to
The Herald.
“Many of us believe that such
certificates go against the basic
principles of the Brown curricu-
lum,” he wrote. “A Brown educa-
tion should not be a process of
accumulating credentials, but
rather of developing an integrated
program of study that makes sense
for each individual student.”
Valente emphasized that a for-
eign language certificate would
be the equivalent of a minor in
the foreign languages. And mi-
nors were eliminated with the
implementation of the New Cur-
riculum.
“Why not offer a certificate in
computer science for students who
would like to do work in com-
puter science beyond the basic
level, but not enough to complete
a concentration?” he wrote. “We
shouldn’t attempt to reintroduce
minors through the back door.”
An incentive to learn
For students, a certificate might
make learning languages more re-
warding, said Kai Loh ’14, head
of the Brown Language Society,
a student group formed to serve
as a Department Undergraduate
Group for students learning lan-
guages.
“If there were language cer-
Students, faculty evaluate
online declaration process
continued from page 3
things and the main change is in
the delivery method, not the ma-
terial,” said Bergeron. “The basic
structure in declaring concentration
is the same, but we still encourage
many suggestions and feedbacks
from both faculty and students,
and we have recently made small
adaptations in the online declara-
tion system that pertain to some
particular departments.” Bergeron
said students should not be any less
likely to seek out their advisers as
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The Brown Daily Herald
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
tificates, people would want to
go beyond certain levels,” he
said. “People usually stop at the
400-level. I think the major gains
come from taking classes in the
upper levels.”
Loh said there are many gaps in
terms of resources for language at
Brown. “Compared to our peers,
there’s a long way to go,” he said.
“I know at Princeton, language
classes are kept to a small size,
about 12 students per class.”
Loh cited the open curriculum
as a factor in the popularity of lan-
guage classes at Brown. “Because
of the open curriculum, some-
times students have no incen-
tive to study languages,” he said.
“Having the certification would
spark more interest in learning
languages.”
Moving forward
A committee of language de-
partment chairs will work in the
fall to address the concerns raised
by the faculty, Bergeron wrote.
Faculty who favor the proposal
are “excited about the possibility
of encouraging more students to
continue their language studies to
an advanced level, and they like
the interdisciplinary nature of the
requirements,” Bergeron wrote.
Faculty who oppose the certifi-
cates “are concerned about a strain
on departmental resources and
the need for a broader discussion
of language teaching at Brown.”
Valente said that at a meeting
of foreign language department
chairs with Bergeron last week, it
was clear that most of the chairs
prefer not to proceed with foreign
language certificates at this time.
“We agreed, rather, that we
need to create a task force to as-
sess the current state and future
aspirations of foreign language
departments,” he wrote. “Brown is
behind other universities in terms
of support and facilities for for-
eign languages, and focusing on a
certificate would distract us from
more important and pressing is-
sues regarding foreign language
study at Brown.”
the online declaration cannot be
done before a face-to-face advising
session. “We have no intention of
discouraging faculty-student advis-
ing,” she said. “Once the semester is
over, we plan to email each depart-
ment and get their feedback on the
new system as a whole.”
“The most important thing is
to have the new program work
for all students and faculty alike,”
Bergeron said.
— Additional reporting by
Shefali Luthra
Ne ws in brief
$5.5 million grant
to help fund labs
The University’s Center
of Biomedical Excellence for
Cancer Signaling Networks was
recently awarded a Center of
Biomedical Research Excellence
grant worth more than $5.5
million to be paid in annual
$1.1 million increments for five
years. The grant will be used
to purchase and maintain new
equipment for the Center for
Genomics and Proteonomics.
This marks the third time in
15 years that the center has
received funds from this grant.
The center currently serves
about 40 labs, conducting
research in subjects including
engineering, immunology,
biology and molecular
pharmacology, said Christoph
Schorl, assistant professor of
molecular biology, cell biology
and biochemistry.
“We want to get as many
people in as possible to make
use of the infrastructure,”
Schorl said, adding that the
facility aims to be as inclusive
and accommodating as
possible. Schorl and others
who work in the Protein
Genomics labs do not have
research projects themselves
but assist others with their
research, something Schorl
called “mercenary science.”
There are about 120 regular
equipment users, ranging
from undergraduates to
post-doctoral candidates to
professors, Schorl said.
The new equipment funded
through the grant will impact
a community broader than the
University, helping to make
the Jewelry District and Rhode
Island a more competitive
place for research, Schorl
said. Small biotechnology
companies and researchers
from Rhode Island Hospital
are currently welcome to use
the facility for a relatively
low user’s fee due in part to
the support of this grant and
grants previously received.
After this most recent grant,
the Genomics Core Facility will
be “weaned off” of funding
from the National Center for
Research Resources, which
awards the research excellence
grant a maximum of three
times to the same institution,
Schorl said. The facility will
explore other options for
self-sustainability, including
increasing user fees and
applying for smaller grants,
Schorl said. It was an “amazing
achievement” to receive the
grant three times, he added.
— Kristina Klara
The Brown Daily Herald
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Facilities Management to
undertake summer projects
By Greg Jordan-Detamore
Senior Staff Writer
Come June, students may be on
vacation, but the Department of
Facilities Management will have
no shortage of assignments. With
the seniors’ departure after Com-
mencement Weekend, Facilities
Management will quickly get to
work on a number of campus im-
provements.
Staff will install more bicycle
racks, improve the area adjacent to
Caswell Hall, repair sidewalks and
perform classroom and dormitory
room renewal as well as energy
conservation projects.
“We try to start as early as we
can,” said Stephen Maiorisi, vice
president for Facilities Manage-
ment. There are only about 10
weeks to get much of the work
done. The absence of much of
the student body allows Facilities
Management to complete projects
without as much interference as
there would be during the aca-
demic year.
About $47 million will be spent
over the summer, said Paul Dietel,
director of project management.
This expenditure is comparable to
those of previous years, Maiorisi
said.
Currently, bikes can be found
locked to railings, trees and other
objects across campus. But the in-
stallation of about 80 to 100 new
bike racks in around eight loca-
tions will ease these parking woes.
The rack locations have not yet
been finalized, Dietel said.
New stairs to the sidewalk from
the east side of Caswell Hall will
allow a “safe egress path” for stu-
dents exiting the dorm, Maiorisi
said. Currently, students exit onto
a patch of dirt and must then jump
down several feet to reach the side-
walk.
Sidewalks will be replaced in
various locations around campus.
Pending city approval, the Uni-
versity will also replace several of
the artistically designed crosswalks
on Thayer Street. The mosaic-style
crosswalks would be replaced with
traditional ladder designs, Dietel
said.
The Main Green will see in-
creased lighting as a result of com-
munity feedback about current
lighting levels, Maiorisi said.
MacMillan 117 and Salomon
001, as well as classrooms in Wil-
son Hall and Barus and Holley,
will be upgraded over the summer.
Improvements may include fresh
coats of paint, new carpeting and
updated audio-visual equipment
and will cost about $100,000, Di-
etel said.
Along with classroom updates,
about 600 rooms will be painted
this summer, Maiorisi said.
Solar panels will be installed on
the roof of the GeoChem building,
which Dietel called “a really cool
project.”
Work will continue on major
capital projects, such as the Medi-
cal Education Building — sched-
uled to open for classes in August
— the new fitness and aquatics
center and the renovation of the
Metcalf Chemistry and Research
Laboratory.
Work will be completed on the
$15.5 million Institute for Com-
putational and Experimental Re-
search in Mathematics — located
at 121 South Main St. — with one
floor done in June and the other
in July.
In the Jewelr y District,
streetscape improvements as well
as the creation of a new public
plaza will occur over the summer.
“Our goal is to get (the plaza) done
by the end of the summer,” though
construction work has not yet be-
gun, Maiorisi said.
Facilities Management will also
conduct regular repair and main-
tenance, he said.
Campus News 5
Forum examines ethics of ROTC
By Caroline Flanagan
Staff Writer
Over 100 students, professors and
community members crowded into
MacMillan 117 last night for the
Janus Forum Town Hall panel on
the presence of the Reserve Officers’
Training Corps at Brown.
Luther Spoehr, senior lecturer in
education, spoke first, advocating
for the return of ROTC to campus.
Though ROTC instructors should
not be given faculty status and
students should not receive credit
for military courses, ROTC could
provide many benefits for Brown,
particularly by improving its public
image, he said.
“For the past 40 years, some
colleges and universities, includ-
ing Brown, have taken the attitude
that they are too pure to be sullied
by contact with the military. This
attitude must change,” Spoehr said.
The presence of ROTC cadets on
campus “will expand significantly
the meaning of diversity” as well as
allow students to abandon military
stereotypes and move away from
prejudice, he said. “It comes down
to the University’s self-interest and
self-respect. It’s hypocritical for the
University to live off its privileged
position in American society and
not give back. ... Restoring ROTC
now would be a useful and signifi-
cant statement. We should make
that statement and we should make
it now,” Spoehr said.
The next speaker, Amit Jain
’12, said he could not support the
program because of the military’s
policy on those who identify as
transgender. The military defines
being transgender as a gender iden-
tity disorder. People who express
this identity — for example, by re-
questing to wear the uniform of the
opposite sex — are at risk of being
dishonorably discharged, he said.
The military’s transgender policy
goes against Brown’s discrimination
policy, he said, which states that the
University does not discriminate
based on gender identity or gender
expression.
“Transgender Americans face
discrimination across all walks of
American society. ... The transgen-
der community is marginalized, de-
graded and denied at every turn,”
Jain said. “As a student who believes
in our country and believes in our
military, but also believes in human
rights and the rights of our peers, I
believe we should depart from our
peer institutions.”
Joy Joung ’11, who until recently
was the only ROTC cadet on cam-
pus, advocated for ROTC’s rein-
statement. She began by addressing
sexual assault in the military and
said there is only a minor difference
between the proportion of women
who suffer sexual assault in the
military — 33 percent — and the
proportion who suffer sexual assault
in college — 25 percent.
The military is a progressive in-
stitution in some ways, she said.
For decades it has paved the way
for social change, she said, citing
women’s rights, desegregation and
the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
If the University does not allow
ROTC back on campus, it would be
hypocritical to continue its relation-
ship with the Providence College
ROTC program, she said.
The final speaker, Professor of
English William Keach, applauded
the military’s repeal of “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell”, but cautioned that it
may not resolve issues of LGBTQ
discrimination. Attitudes within
the military will be slow to change,
he said.
The ideals of the University
might not correspond with the ide-
als of ROTC, Keach said.
He quoted President Ruth Sim-
mons’ speech on the eve of the Iraq
War. “Universities have a particu-
larly important role to play in the
advent of war. As in all times, uni-
versities must today cling to their
commitment to the dispassionate
search for truth. ... As scholars, true
to our task, we are morally obli-
gated to continue and strengthen
that examination, bringing to light
questions and insights that could
be useful to the nation in the un-
winding of war and the restoration
of peace and prosperity. The task
of the scholar to probe deeply and
the role of the university to foster
edifying debate must be protected
especially in times of war.”
ROTC may conflict with that
inquiry, Keach said, adding it’s im-
portant that a university stand back
and observe the military.
“For me, it’s not a question of
aloofness or purity, but a question
of engagement,” he said. “There are
a lot of ways in which the University
can learn about and participate in
the U.S. military and remain inde-
pendent and retain its intellectual
status.”
Audience members from diverse
continued on page 9

JFK Jr. lecturer discusses DADT, ROTC

continued from page 12
before political expediency,” and he
believed the repeal of “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell” was the right thing to
do. “If I lost my congressional seat,
so be it,” he said.
During a question-and-answer
session after the lecture, Rapha-
ela Lipinsky DeGette ’11 asked
Murphy his opinion on bringing
ROTC back to Brown. Murphy,
who participated in ROTC him-
self, said Brown should bring the
program back.
Murphy said it was an honor to
serve in Iraq, during which time he
“became a witness to our foreign
policy.”
“I came out of Iraq thinking it
wasn’t the right thing to do,” said
Murphy, who altered a bill within
his first six weeks in Congress to
set a time frame for withdrawing
soldiers from the country.
After his talk, Murphy told The
Herald he has always been com-
mitted to fighting for justice — re-
gardless of whether the crime is
committed on the streets or in a
corporate board room — and he
is “excited to bring this vision to
office.”
“He is the definition of inspir-
ing,” said Katerina Wright ’11, pres-
ident of the Brown Democrats. “It
is so easy to lose faith in politics,
but he makes you believe that there
are good people out there.”
Jeremy Feigenbaum ’11, presi-
dent of the College Democrats of
Rhode Island and a former Herald
opinions columnist, said he was
particularly impressed that Murphy
was open about taking positions on
Iraq and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
that were not mainstream positions
in his district, but were still in the
broader national interest.
Despite the warm spring day,
approximately 50 students attended
the lecture entitled “Ideals in the
Age of Political Cynicism” in Salo-
mon 001. Previous recipients of the
John F. Kennedy Jr. award include
Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. and Bill
Clinton.
6 Campus News
Demystifying UFB: Funding process draws mixed reviews
By Aparna bansal
Senior Staff Writer
The Undergraduate Finance Board
distributed over $1.1 million raised
through the Students Activities
Fee to fund groups on campus this
year, according to Chair Adam
Kiki-Charles ’11. But the funding
process remains largely unfamiliar
to the general student body.
The board allocates funds
to student groups according to
a three-tiered category system.
The roughly 270 Category II and
160 Category III student groups
receive baseline funding of $200,
though Category III groups may
also submit budget proposals in
the spring to receive additional
funds. Category I and service
groups receive no funding.
Funding decisions for Category
III groups are made according to
the nature of the group, the na-
ture of its hosted events, previous
funding levels and UFB’s budget,
Kiki-Charles said. The board pri-
oritizes funding activities that will
“directly impact Brown students,”
especially those offered free of
charge, he added. But funding
levels range widely given the di-
verse needs of groups who qualify
as Category III. And determining
the right amount can prove tricky.
In the board room
“We tend to look at the mis-
sion of the group,” said Ralanda
Nelson ’12, Undergraduate Coun-
cil of Students student activities
chair and UCS president-elect.
“Can they operate in the fullness
of that mission with the amount
of funding that we provide?”
A representative from each
group meets with a UFB repre-
sentative to discuss budget pro-
posals. While funding is partly up
to the board’s discretion, there are
certain rules that UFB always fol-
lows. Funds are usually provided
for capital improvements, but UFB
does not fund food, recruitment
or fundraising efforts, events held
during reading period or decora-
tions.
“The hard and fast rules are
there for a reason,” Nelson said.
Though UFB created the Student
Activities Endowment in 2009,
the board has limited funding.
Stephen Robert ’62 P’91 recently
pledged $1 million to the fund,
committing himself to leading
fundraising initiatives.
The endowment’s expansion
will provide UFB with “a lot of
flexibility in the future,” Kiki-
Charles said. UFB is also looking
into the expansion of media ser-
vices for all groups, Nelson said.
Due to high levels of required
funding, the Brown Lecture Board,
the Brown Concert Agency, the
Special Events Committee and
UCS — all Category III groups
— are given special consideration,
Kiki-Charles said. “Their mission
requires that we treat them differ-
ently,” he said of the four groups.
“They produce singular events that
impact thousands of students.”
UFB funds food at SPEC events
and the Brown Lecture Board and
BCA receive large lump sums to
host high profile speakers and per-
formers on campus, he said. UFB
is also working to provide UCS
with discretionary funds to start
new projects.
“I don’t think of it as a ‘us ver-
sus them’ fight for funding,” said
Liza Weisberg ’12, co-president
of Brown Lecture Board. “We
definitely trust that the UFB has
the best interests of our student
group in mind.” Though the Lec-
ture Board’s budget will be smaller
this year, she said the UFB was
“always very helpful in collaborat-
ing and cooperating.”
“My representative was very
knowledgeable of things that went
above and beyond just funding
student groups,” said Fiona Con-
don ’12, station manager of Brown
Student Radio. She added the pro-
cess was “easy and quick” when a
piece of equipment broke and she
had to make a supplemental fund-
ing request. Though BSR rarely
receives all the funds it requests,
the group is always provided with
an explanation of UFB’s decisions,
she said.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
A controversial process
But certain groups have had
more difficulty with UFB. Natalie
Van Houten ’14, treasurer for Stu-
dents for Sensible Drug Policy, ex-
pressed frustration that her group
only received $273. The group also
did not receive funding to travel
to a conference that club mem-
bers traditionally attend. SSDP
was asked to come back with an
argument for why four students
should be able to attend the con-
ference, she said. UFB will nor-
mally fund up to three students
to go to conferences, according
to its website.
“We feel like we really have
been shafted,” Van Houten said,
adding that five out of seven items
for which she requested funding
were rejected. “The budget that’s
been written for next year is just
ridiculous,” she said. The group
was asked to return to UFB at a
later date for supplemental fund-
ing.
Charlie Wisoff ’11.5, former
president of the Brown University
Mediation Project, said his group
did not receive the same funding
level it had previously received be-
cause UFB demanded more details
about the requested funds. “I think
(UFB) could probably be a little
more democratic — (get) more of
the student body involved in the
process,” Wisoff said.
The Brown Band, another Cate-
gory III group, also faced problems
getting funding for off-campus
events.
Dara Illowsky ’14, the band’s
business manager, said UFB’s poli-
cies were more stringent this year
— she was asked to go through the
appeals process and had to answer
questions about specific items be-
fore she could receive any funding.
The board should be more trans-
parent about budgeting, Illowsky
said. They “should be very explicit
about where funding is going and
where it’s coming from,” she said.
But the board is more open
than many groups give it credit
for, Nelson said. Though UFB has
closed deliberations, it posts its
policies and minutes on its web-
site, including information on why
an objection was made.
Illowsky said she recognized
the dilemma that UFB faces. “I
know it’s frustrating for them, too
— when they can’t give out money
that they want to,” she said.
Funding philanthropy
Two years ago, UCS and the
Student Activities Office created
a new category designated S for
service groups. Groups that fell
in this category were no longer
www.browndailyherald.com
The Brown Daily Herald
eligible for UFB funding.
This semester, Health Leads
was changed from a Category II
to a Category S group. Amy Traver
’12, co-campus coordinator of the
group, said the loss of funds will
mean the group can do less to pro-
mote awareness on campus and
will now focus solely on helping
the Providence community.
“We are connected to a national
organization, but we are still very
much a Brown student group,”
Traver said. “We should be able
to access the things that Brown
student groups have access to.”
There needs to be “better com-
munication” between UFB and
service groups, she said. For now,
the group continues to receive
funding from the Swearer Center
for Public Service and its national
organization.
Seeking other sources
In addition to funds from UFB,
student groups can approach the
SAO for funding. The Late Night
Fund is available for any groups
seeking to host non-alcoholic
events on weekend nights, said Ka-
tie Colleran, program associate for
student activities and religious life.
The fund supported over 40 events
last year, including the Brown Folk
Festival and a comedy night for
Stand Up Comics, she said.
Funding also comes from high-
er up. Dean of the College Kather-
ine Bergeron said student groups
unable to find funding through
other mechanisms often apply for
discretionary funds from her of-
fice. But budget constraints left
fewer discretionary funds available
this year, she said. The office re-
cently funded events such as Strait
Talk, guest speakers, film screen-
ings and a production of “Rent.”
“We don’t make people jump
through too many hoops,”
Bergeron said. Students apply-
ing for funding had to include a
faculty endorsement with their
application.
Certain groups such as the Ivy
Film Festival have also been “great
about off-campus fund raising”
and use corporate sponsors in ad-
dition to UFB spending, Nelson
said.
The board is actively engaged
in dialogue with the SAO to dis-
cuss how to better support student
groups lacking funds, Kiki-Charles
said. He said conversations need to
continue, not only about how UFB
can better support student groups,
but also about how the University
can better support UFB. “If we
had infinite funding we could give
(groups) a lot more support,” he
said, “but the reality is we don’t.”
The Brown Daily Herald
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Elite college preparatory schools get more students in
continued from page 1
Forbes Magazine last year — sent
21 students to Brown and matricu-
lated 37.3 percent of its students to
“Ivy Plus” universities in the past
five years.
Twenty-two graduates of Phillips
Exeter Academy, a boarding school
in Exeter, N.H., enrolled at Brown in
the past three years, while 250 alums
have entered other “Ivy Plus” institu-
tions in that time. Milton Academy
in Milton, Mass., sent 24 students
from its past three graduating classes
to Brown.
But according to Jim Miller ’73,
dean of admission, personal relation-
ships between prestigious institu-
tions and secondary schools do not
impact these numbers.
“We do not admit schools,” he
wrote in an email to The Herald. “We
admit students.”
Attracting talent
Miller credited these prep
schools’ ability to attract a diverse
and talented group of students with
their high college admission rates.
The growing global reputations of
institutions such as Andover, Ex-
eter and Milton allow the schools
to enroll exceptional students from
all corners of the world, he wrote.
And renowned day schools, such as
Harvard-Westlake or public magnet
Stuyvesant High School in New York,
benefit from their footing in larger
metropolitan areas.
Such preparatory schools pos-
sess a high level of talent, and the
greater number of applicants from
the schools is “inevitable,” he wrote.
Brown receives more than 75 appli-
cations from many of these schools
each year, he wrote, adding that “it
makes sense” for schools with such a
large number of applications to see a
high number of acceptances.
“The successes of these schools
in our admission process … is a
function of the unique opportu-
nities they have to find promising
students across a broad geographical
spectrum and educate them well,”
Miller wrote. “We do not have any
quotas, expectations or targets for
any institution for any reason.”
But the top independent schools
across the country expect they will
maintain a “batting average” in uni-
versity admissions, said Stephen
Nelson, senior scholar at Brown’s
Leadership Alliance. College coun-
seling is undergoing a process of
“professionalization,” Nelson said,
making it the college counselors’ jobs
to get students into top universities.
Though he is unsure whether an
“on-the-phone relationship” exists
between universities and certain
high schools, he said college ad-
missions are affected by trends, and
universities tend to invest their time
in schools and regions from which
students consistently enroll.
Nelson, an alumni representative
of Gettysburg College, said there are
schools from which Gettysburg seeks
prospective students and other insti-
tutions it avoids based on previous
matriculation statistics.
Examining the relationships
Martha Lyman, associate head of
school and director of college advis-
ing at Deerfield Academy, a board-
ing high school in Massachusetts,
denied the existence of any special
relationship between Deerfield and
universities. According to the acad-
emy’s website, six members of the
class of 2010 enrolled at Brown while
48 others matriculated at the remain-
ing “Ivy Plus” institutions.
Tamar Adegbile, an upper school
dean at Harvard-Westlake, said her
school has developed a positive re-
lationship with Brown, but students
at Harvard-Westlake do not receive
“preferential treatment” in the ad-
mission process. Ed Hu ’87, Har-
vard-Westlake’s chief advancement
officer and former associate dean of
admission at Brown, has often led
Harvard-Westlake students on tours
of the University, but Adegbile said
Harvard-Westlake has not used the
relationship to its advantage.
But she added that athletes, espe-
cially water polo players or students
with family connections to Brown,
may have a greater chance of being
admitted.
Max Lubin ’12, a graduate of
Harvard-Westlake and a member
of the men’s water polo team, said
it has been “a long tradition” for the
school’s water polo players to attend
Brown. The coaches at Brown and
Harvard-Westlake do not have an es-
tablished relationship, but Harvard-
Westlake is well-known for its water
polo program, he said.
But Lubin said he believes special
relationships have affected college
admissions in the past. According
Campus News 7
to Lubin, more than 25 students —
what Lubin said was an “absurd”
number — were admitted to Penn
from Harvard-Westlake’s class of
2007 because of connections among
school personnel, but when the ad-
missions officials at Penn changed,
the acceptance numbers noticeably
decreased, Lubin said.
Stanley Bosworth, former head-
master of Saint Ann’s School in New
York, established connections with a
number of universities through his
ability to be “personable,” said Caleb
Townsend ’11, a 2007 graduate of
the school. Bosworth, who retired
in 2004, developed relationships that
were personal at first, rather than
school-to-school, Townsend said.
But as Bosworth consistently sent
talented students to reputable univer-
sities, Saint Ann’s became more ori-
ented toward university preparation.
Bosworth’s influence became
noticeable after his retirement,
Townsend said, as the “gravity”
of the relationships between Saint
Ann’s and top universities has been
“dwindling.”
According to matriculation statis-
tics available on the school’s website,
50 students came to Brown and 152
enrolled at “Ivy Plus” universities
in the six years prior to Bosworth’s
retirement. In the six years after his
departure, 26 Saint Ann’s graduates
have enrolled at Brown, and a total
of 118 have entered “Ivy Plus” in-
stitutions.
Students at Saint Ann’s receive
written reports from their instructors
instead of grades. Universities are
accustomed to the school’s grading
system, wrote Elizabeth Hannan and
Melissa Gibson, college counselors
at Saint Ann’s, in an email to The
Herald. They declined to comment
on whether or not Saint Ann’s has
special relationships with certain
universities that can sway admis-
sion numbers.
Brenda Tan ’14, who graduated
from Trinity last year, said students
at her school expected approximately
50 percent of the graduating class
to be admitted to an Ivy or equally
reputable institution. She said that,
though many of the students who
went to Ivy League schools from
Trinity were legacy candidates, col-
lege counselors who themselves
attended the schools were able to
establish connections and contact
institutions on behalf of students
placed on waitlists.
But Katrina Toal ’12, a graduate of
Hunter College High School, a public
magnet school in New York, said her
school’s counselors “don’t buddy it up
with admissions staff to get students
into schools.” She said she believes
special relationships exist between
Hunter and institutions across the
country, but they are “based solely
on the reputation of the quality of
students at Hunter.” Hunter does not
publish matriculation statistics.
Clogging the applicant pool
But some graduates of these
preparatory schools said attending
competitive schools may have actu-
ally hurt their chances of admittance
to top institutions.
Chris Sulawko ’13, who attended
Stuyvesant, said he was “frustrated”
when applying to Ivy League univer-
sities because of the stiff competi-
tion he faced from his classmates.
The school tends to create the “for-
mulaic college applicant” derived
from a “how-to book,” according to
Evan Schwartz ’13, also a Stuvyesant
graduate.
Due to the caliber of Stuyves-
ant students, some might have had
better luck in the college admission
process had they attended another
high school, said Gabe Paley ’12, a
Stuyvesant alum. Paley said his father
suggested he enroll at the Horace
Mann School in New York, which
was ranked second in the nation last
year by Forbes, to better his college
prospects. Horace Mann boasts a
matriculation rate of 36 percent at
“Ivy Plus” universities, according to
Forbes. Like Hunter, Stuyvesant does
not publish matriculation statistics.
Allen Kramer ’13, a member of
Stuvyesant’s class of 2009, said the
school sends around seven students
each year to Brown, significantly
fewer than it sends to Cornell and
Harvard. But Miller wrote that over
the past two years, Stuyvesant has
2006-10 matriculation to
Brown
Harvard-Westlake School: 47
students
Phillips Academy: 46
Dalton School: 25
Milton Academy: 24 (2008-10)
Saint Ann’s School: 22
Phillips Exeter Academy: 22
(2008-10)
Trinity School: 21
St. Paul’s School: 15 (2007-10)
Collegiate School: 14
been the school with the highest
number of applications to Brown.
Alice Hines ’11, an Exeter alum,
said some students at Exeter be-
lieved their chances of attending a
top-ranked university were hurt by
having attended the school. Above-
average students who did not stand
out among their classmates could
get “screwed over” in the admission
process, she recalled.
College counseling officials at An-
dover, Exeter, Collegiate, St. Paul’s
School and the Dalton School in New
York declined requests for comment.
St. Paul’s, a boarding school in Con-
cord, N.H., sent 15 students to Brown
in the past four years, while Dalton
matriculated 25 graduates to Brown
in the past five years.
Though many of the nation’s top
secondary schools are heavily con-
centrated in New York and New Eng-
land — Forbes placed only two prep
schools located outside the northeast
in its top-20 rankings — Miller wrote
in his email to The Herald that other
schools with pools of gifted students
find similar success in the college
admission process. Among them,
he mentioned the Thomas Jefferson
High School for Science and Tech-
nology in Alexandria, Va. and Li Po
Chun United World College of Hong
Kong. Around 120 alums of the 13
UWC campuses attend Brown, The
Herald reported in February.
8 Campus News
Emails call into question U.’s ability to prosecute rape
continued from page 1
his accuser’s father is a University
donor and fundraiser.
Emails written in the days be-
fore McCormick was accused of
rape and removed from campus
— recently made public during
the course of the lawsuit — high-
light obstacles to adjudicating rape
cases through university tribunals.
Hidden bias
The emails, sent between the
accuser’s father and her residential
counselor, Shane Reil ’09, show
that in the days leading up to the
rape allegation, the alum’s father,
a prominent financier, offered to
discuss career prospects with Reil.
A day after the email conversation
ended, the female alum accused
McCormick of rape. A week later,
Reil authored a damning appraisal
of McCormick in his witness state-
ment for the University sexual
misconduct hearing.
In the emails, written after the
father hosted Reil and a friend
of his daughter at the home of
another financier in Providence,
Reil wrote, “(Your daughter) also
expressed to me that you would
not mind helping me trying to
straighten out a path for my fu-
ture.” After discussing his career
aspirations in the email, Reil add-
ed, “Thank you again for dinner,
and for making yourself available
to me as a mentor. I cannot begin
to express to you how grateful I am
that I can speak to someone who
wants to offer me advice, rather
than ask me for it.”
In his response, the father
wrote, “I am happy to offer my
thoughts on career plans and
things you might think about. …
Let’s talk when I am at Brown this
fall.”
The next day, Sept. 13, 2006, the
female alum, who had previously
taken out a harassment complaint
against McCormick, accused him
of raping her on the evening of
Sept. 6.
A week later, Reil filed a wit-
ness statement for the sexual
misconduct hearing. Reil’s state-
ment indicates that McCormick
had asked an unnamed student
to lie about his whereabouts on
the evening in question. It also
describes McCormick as “emo-
tionally eccentric” and “a tense
individual who is prone to anger.”
Witness statements filed by other
students state that McCormick
punched a wall in anger after his
accuser ditched him at the annual
orientation dance. The statement
concludes, “He does not seem to
have any handle on his emotions.”
What the statement does not
include is disclosure of the re-
lationship between Reil and the
accuser’s father, revealed in the
emails. In the witness statement,
Reil describes himself only as “a
residential counselor in Keeney
Quadrangle.”
But Reil’s nondisclosure of a
potential source of bias does not
violate any University rules gov-
erning disciplinary procedures.
“There are no specific rules regard-
ing disclosing relationships,” wrote
Jonah Allen Ward, senior associate
dean of student life, in an email
to The Herald, though he added
that witnesses are expected to be
truthful in their accounts.
“If you lie during a conduct
board hearing, that’s an of-
fense against you,” said Marga-
ret Klawunn, vice president for
campus life and student services.
According to the Code of Student
Conduct, “Lying in the course of
a student conduct hearing consti-
tutes an offense that is immediately
actionable.”
Much of Reil’s testimony con-
sists of his opinion of McCormick’s
personality and is not entirely
composed of factual assertions.
And in the absence of definitive
hard evidence — the University
did not allow a pair of boxer shorts
allegedly worn by the accuser
during the rape to be sent out for
testing or admitted as evidence
— such character appraisals neces-
sarily take on more importance.
It is unclear what role, if any,
Reil’s statements would have
played at a hearing on the rape
allegation — McCormick signed
an agreement with his accuser to
withdraw from Brown before the
case could be heard. McCormick
maintains he had reason to believe
he had no chance of a fair hearing
and that he signed the agreement
only under duress. It has been
revealed that his law firm at the
time he withdrew, Adler Pollock
& Sheehan, was representing the
University in federal court at the
same time — an apparent violation
of the American Bar Association’s
conflict of interest rules.
The University, McCormick’s
accuser and her father deny
wrongdoing.
Anna Cordasco, a spokeswom-
an for the accuser and her father,
declined to comment. In an email
to The Herald, Reil also declined
to comment. Though University
administrators commented on
disciplinary procedures in gen-
eral, they declined to comment
on McCormick’s case.
The problem of Reil’s witness
statement is representative of the
procedural shortcomings that have
led many critics to argue that uni-
versities should leave rape inves-
tigations to police and the courts.
Rape hearings on campuses
But the question of universities’
role in investigating rape allega-
tions is a thorny one, and Title IX
guidelines set forth by the Depart-
ment of Education’s Office of Civil
Rights mandate that universities
have “grievance procedures” in
place to address sexual misconduct
allegations and to take “prompt
and effective action calculated to
end the harassment, prevent its
recurrence and, as appropriate,
remedy its effects.”
Despite the law’s mandate, uni-
versities have been criticized both
for failing to afford accused stu-
dents due process and for failing
to protect victims of sexual assault.
Robert Shibley, senior vice
president of the Foundation for
Individual Rights in Education,
said he worries that universities
may be intent on conducting hear-
ings expeditiously without also en-
suring that appropriate procedures
are in place to guarantee equitable
outcomes.
“This case is an extreme exam-
ple that is symptomatic of a larger
pattern,” said Azhar Maheed, as-
sociate director of legal and public
advocacy for the foundation, of the
McCormick case.
Majeed said universities lack
the expertise to deal with the
complexities involved in sexual
misconduct cases, particularly in
cases that hinge on “he-said, she-
said” evidence. Due process rights
may not be fully extended to the
accused as they would in a court
system, he said, adding that, in
an effort to pursue a quick resolu-
tion to the matter and protect the
campus, universities can have a
“tendency to tilt the playing field
in favor of the accusing student.”
But universities face criticism
on both fronts. The charge is fre-
quently leveled that rape — a
crime already underreported be-
cause of the stigma attached to
it — is swept under the rug by
university administrators wary of
their schools’ public images, leav-
ing victims alienated and perpetra-
tors unpunished.
Universities’ handling of sex-
ual misconduct has risen to the
forefront of national debate af-
ter the Department of Education
announced it was investigating
a complaint that Yale permits a
hostile sexual environment on its
campus. Earlier this month, Vice
President Joseph Biden and Sec-
retary of Education Arne Duncan
unveiled updated sexual assault
guidelines for colleges, saying uni-
versities are not doing an adequate
job in addressing sexual assault on
campus, particularly in meeting
the needs of victims.
But not everyone agrees that
campuses are an appropriate venue
for addressing the most serious
forms of sexual misconduct. Ad-
ministrators should not address a
criminal offense against a sexual
abuse victim with the same kinds
of disciplinary processes used to
address an “overdue library book,”
said Katherine Hull, vice presi-
dent for communications for the
Rape, Abuse and Incest National
Network. “It is a crime that should
be handled through law enforce-
ment.”
Brown administrators, though,
say the University is capable of
successfully handling rape cas-
es. Ted von Gerichten, associate
counsel for the University, said he
believes the University provides
an adequate process that balances
Title IX’s call for a quick and ef-
fective response with due process
rights for the accused.
The University has a “pretty ro-
bust” policy in place to support
due process and fair treatment
of both the accused student and
the one bringing a complaint, he
said. “Embedded within our code
are the concepts of trying to give
individuals a fair hearing,” he said.
“We have a lot of process in place
for giving notice, giving people
the opportunity to present wit-
nesses (and) statements (and) have
advisers.”
“A university has the adminis-
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
trative process that works for it.
I’m not going to say it’s perfect.
I don’t think any institution has
perfect procedures,” von Gerich-
ten said. “We have the resources
available to get to the truth as best
as we can.”
University v. judicial proceedings
University procedures differ
from those of police and the courts
in their length, thoroughness and
standards of evidence. “We’re not a
criminal process, and we say that
from the get-go,” Klawunn said.
At private universities, victims of
sexual assault have the option of
pursuing remedies through uni-
versity procedures without pursu-
ing criminal complaints.
In criminal courts, an offense
must be proven beyond a reason-
able doubt. In Brown disciplinary
proceedings, verdicts are made
based on “the preponderance of
evidence” — a lower standard of-
ten used in civil trials.
In addition, Title IX requires
that universities’ responses to
sexual misconduct be “prompt,”
whereas criminal investigations
and trials can take months — or
longer if a conviction is appealed.
While Brown’s processes are
swifter, the courts are often more
thorough. And some kinds of
pertinent information, like Reil’s
relationship with the female alum’s
father, would be far more likely to
come to light during the course
of a criminal investigation and
prosecution.
Within the judicial system, par-
ties have the opportunity to un-
cover potential sources of witness
bias during discovery, said Robert
Friedman, professor of law at the
University of Michigan. “It’s not
just that the witness is sprung on
(the defendant),” he said. During
this period, both sides are permit-
ted to ask questions of witnesses
and compel the owners of relevant
documents to turn them over.
In the federal court system,
there are laws in place to force the
prosecution to disclose evidence
that may undermine a witness’s
credibility, Friedman said. He said
that Supreme Court’s rulings in
Brady v. Maryland and Giglio v.
U.S. stipulate that prosecutors
must release to the defense any
“exculpatory evidence” — that
which may be helpful to the de-
fendant.
The viability of the courts
The argument that the evi-
dence in some rape cases is too
complex to be handled internally
is one the University has accepted
in the past.
In 1996, the University Disci-
plinary Council declined to hear
a rape case after the accused stu-
dent’s adviser argued the evidence
was too complex and could only
be properly handled by the courts.
The University accepted the ar-
gument and declined to hear the
case. But the accused student was
a relative of the Jordanian royal
family and questions of diplomatic
immunity arose after the decision
was made. His father had donated
money to Brown, and his adviser’s
research in Jordan depended on
The Brown Daily Herald
the royal family’s cooperation. The
Department of Education’s Office
of Civil Rights opened a Title IX
investigation, which was later
halted when the parties involved
and the University reached a secret
out-of-court agreement.
Despite the suspicions sur-
rounding that University Disci-
plinary Council’s decision, many
with experience in college rape
cases agree with the sentiment
that courts handle the cases better
than colleges. And representatives
from both the Rape, Abuse and
Incest National Network and the
Foundation for Individual Rights
in Education told The Herald last
year that universities do not pro-
tect victims’ identities any better
than police and the courts do.
But campus disciplinary pro-
ceedings sometimes provide the
only viable recourse for rape vic-
tims, said a female student who
brought a rape complaint this year
through the University. The same
factors that complicate the evi-
dence in rape cases also make it
more difficult to obtain a convic-
tion in a court of law. “It’s a real
legal conundrum,” said the female
student, who spoke on the condi-
tion of anonymity.
She said the judicial system
is not set up to handle cases like
hers — a rape allegation lacking
physical evidence — but that “it’s
the school’s job to protect its mem-
bers” and provide “some type of
justice.”
Due to revisions to the Univer-
sity’s sexual misconduct policies
in 2010, the female student’s case
was automatically referred to a
Student Conduct Board hearing
— more formal than the admin-
istrative hearing that McCormick
was scheduled to face before he
withdrew from Brown. During
the hearing, she said she, the ac-
cused student and witnesses faced
extensive questioning from an
administrator, a faculty member
and a student on the board. In her
case, the board found the accused
student guilty of rape.
The female student said she be-
lieves the University performed
well under the circumstances.
Not above reproach
In rape cases, universities find
themselves stuck balancing be-
tween considerations of speed and
exhaustiveness, between the rights
of the accused and protection for
victims and between the require-
ments of the law and recognition
of their own limitations.
With the stakes so high, and
the evidence frequently difficult
to interpret, these processes face a
more intense level of scrutiny than
other administrative actions do.
University sexual assault in-
vestigations are held to a higher
standard than other administra-
tive actions. Like Caesar’s wife,
they must be above suspicion to
avoid criticisms of their integrity.
But McCormick’s lawsuit raises
suspicions about Brown’s policies
that remain unallayed.
And, with Reil’s emails, critics
of the University’s policies have
hard evidence to point to in mak-
ing their case.
The Brown Daily Herald
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Final decision on ROTC RUE explores the ‘nontraditional’
remains uncertain
continued from page 1
the Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
nology or College of the Holy Cross
in Massachusetts to participate in
their naval ROTC programs be-
cause no such programs are cur-
rently offered in Rhode Island.
ROTC’s current arrangement with
Providence College would likely
remain unchanged.
At this point, the committee is
not recommending changes to the
1969 resolution, which recognized
ROTC programs as extracurricular
activities, thereby rendering ROTC
courses ineligible for University
credit.
In a question-and-answer ses-
sion, audience members brought up
the issue of transgender discrimi-
nation and how it factors into the
committee’s recommendations.
Bergeron said the committee still
needs time to “formulate an ap-
propriate response.”
Another audience member
questioned the academic implica-
tions of allowing ROTC back on
campus. President Ruth Simmons
assured the audience that faculty
members will have the opportunity
to offer input on the committee’s
recommendations.
Simmons said the committee’s
report on ROTC will be made avail-
able to the public, though she did
not specify when. After she reviews
the report, it will then be presented
to the Corporation, though the
University’s highest governing body
has not indicated a desire to provide
much input on the decision. She
said she hopes the committee will
offer its recommendations before
summer break.
Athletics Review Committee
Chair Richard Spies, executive vice
president for planning and senior
adviser to the president, led the
discussion on the proposed cuts
to four varsity teams.
Spies said the recommendations
should be considered as a “whole
package” that will strengthen ath-
letics in the long run. In addition
to cutting teams, the committee’s
report also recommends increasing
the athletics budget by 10 percent.
But even with the budget increase,
it will be challenging to support the
Janus panelists debate
military’s role on campus
continued from page 5
perspectives took advantage of the
question and answer session follow-
ing the panel.
An audience member ques-
tioned how Brown could make its
voice heard about discrimination
policies within the military.
The best way to change the mili-
tary is from within, and Brown is
marginalizing itself by rejecting
ROTC, Spoehr maintained. Brown
should not marginalize itself, Jain
agreed. But it might be more pow-
erful for Brown to respectfully dis-
agree with its peers, he said.
At the end of the forum, mem-
Campus News 9
continued from page 12 become full-time students.
RUE students “don’t have par-
— only four students were admit-
ted in his year — can make him
RUE community and outside of it. ents who are going to pay for us,” “question the legitimacy of (his)
34 remaining teams, Spies added. Danford, recently a finalist in Keough said. nontraditional path.”
Cory Abbe ’13, a member of the the Mr. Brown pageant, said he tries Accepted students said they Ayed said she originally applied
women’s fencing team, asked about to live with “one foot steeply in the find the aid they are provided with to Brown as a transfer student with-
the criteria on which the review RUE population and one foot danc- meets that need — with one excep- out knowing about the program.
committee based its recommenda- ing around at house parties.” tion. The University expects RUE Only after she had begun the ap-
tions to cut teams. students to earn roughly twice as plication process did a University
“In the end, it wasn’t a formula. Money matters much as traditional students for advisor tell her about RUE. At that
It was a judgment of a combination Though RUE students generally their summer earnings contribu- point, Ayed said she was “told that
of factors,” Spies replied. express gratitude for the program, tion, Keough said. obviously with my background —
A member of the audience there is one factor many say they Salsone said the assumption is with my personal history — I wasn’t
also asked if it would be possible would change — its size. that their experience gives them a necessarily considered a traditional
to postpone a decision on cutting The program’s small size has a higher earnings potential. “It can student.”
the programs to allow the teams to lot to do with the increased costs be an assumption that’s not re- “I wish that we had a bigger
figure out alternative plans. of attending Brown, according to ally founded in anything,” he said, presence, honestly,” Keough said,
Students expressed collective Maitrayee Bhattacharyya, associate noting that he cannot return to the calling the RUE program “the silent
disappointment and frustration dean for diversity programs and the military for a summer job. program.”
with the quality of the answers from designated advisor for RUE stu- For most RUE students, discov-
review committee members, char- dents. “Brown has a very strong ‘The silent program’ ery of the program happens through
acterizing them as overly vague, commitment to meeting need,” Students in the program describe word of mouth. Danford said a
and said the committee lacked and RUE is no exception, she said. themselves as “nontraditional.” former coach was a RUE graduate
transparency. But unlike in the traditional “What does traditional mean, at and told him about the program.
“We feel that the reports, which admissions process, the program the end?” Ben Ayed asked. As president of the Resumed Un-
obviously took a lot of time and receives a set amount of money each Though programs like RUE exist dergraduate Student Association
effort, may not have had as much year. The University rates RUE ap- at many universities they are often — a group that serves both RUE
data or rigorous analysis that we plicants on a need-blind basis, then not very large or well publicized. students and adult students return-
feel should have been included,” accepts as many top candidates as “The information is there, but ing after extended leaves of absence
said Tanya Nguyen ’13, a member it can fund. Bhattacharyya noted you definitely have to be looking — Danford said his overall goal has
of the women’s fencing team. that though many RUE applicants for it or have heard about it. It’s not been “to celebrate RUE.”
The Organizational Review have already excelled in professional hidden,” said Bhattacharyya. “If this program didn’t exist, I
Committee first proposed cutting fields, they often stop working to Danford said the program’s size wouldn’t be at Brown,” he said.
teams two years ago, Simmons
told The Herald after the meeting.
But the proposal to cut teams was
struck down at that time. “The aim
comics
here was to bring it back and have a Cloud Buddies! | David Emanuel
fuller discussion,” she added.
Teams were not given more time
to respond to the recommenda-
tions because the Corporation set
guidelines for the review process
that were not presented to the
Athletics Review Committee un-
til this February, Simmons said.
Consequently, it was difficult for
the committee to alert teams sooner
because the committee could not
formulate recommendations until
recently, she added. “The timing is Dr. Bear | Mat Becker
very unfortunate,” Simmons said.
Simmons said she believes that
public discussions, such as those on
ROTC and the review committee’s
proposals, are valuable but do not
always occur at peer institutions.
“What made our process differ-
ent is we don’t make our decisions
just like that. When we have people
participate, we’re ahead,” she said.
“It’s not just about a budget. It’s
about what’s the best experience
we can give our students.” Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline
bers of the Coalition Against Special
Privileges for ROTC stood in the
lobby asking audience members to
sign a petition to keep ROTC off
campus.
Julie Pittman ’12, a member of Gelotology | Guillaume Riesen
the coalition, said she was surprised
the forum “ended up being a forum
to talk about how we feel about the
military rather than how we feel
about ROTC.”
“I wish the debate could have
centered around the idea of ROTC
existing on campus as an extracur-
ricular, and how even as an extra-
curricular it’s problematic that we’re
providing support for a discrimina-
tory program,” she said.
10 Editorial & Letter The Brown Daily Herald
Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Editorial Editorial comic by sam rosenfeld

All’s well that ends well
As reading period approaches, we are all looking for ways to avoid
studying for finals, and seniors especially may find the best tactic to
be nostalgia. Reflecting over the last year, we have seen Brown evolve
in many areas, and we are proud to see most of these changes have
been for the better.
The physical face of campus has been updated, and we have cel-
ebrated the completion of the Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center
in Faunce House and the opening of the Perry and Marty Granoff
Center for the Creative Arts. As Brown continues to expand — reno-
vating the Metcalf Chemistry and Research Laboratory, moving the
medical school to the Jewelry District, breaking ground for the new
aquatics center and seeking to create more on-campus housing for
undergraduates — we hope the University will solicit student input
and plan wisely to construct high-quality and cost-effective facilities
for the Brown community.
Student life is also on the verge of renovation. We are grateful to
have witnessed the much-needed growth of the student activities
endowment. Coupled with the agenda of the newly elected president
of the Undergraduate Council of Students, we expect to see improve-
ments in the way student groups operate and individuals participate
in campus activities. Of course, there are some issues of student life yet
le tter to the editor
to be resolved, such as deciding whether to bring the Reserve Officers’
Training Corps back to campus and looking for options to relieve the
housing crunch. When the new provost Mark Schlissel P’15 takes of-
UCS presidents oppose cutting teams
fice, we hope he will give these issues serious consideration. To the Editor: cites “a small number of fencing programs nationally,”
And just because most students are leaving Providence in a few but it does not take into account the six of our Ivy League
weeks, that does not mean the current local and state issues will grind As proud alums and former student leaders, we were counterparts that support women’s fencing programs
to a halt. The summer promises many new political developments concerned to learn about the proposed cuts presented and the five that support men’s programs. And while it’s
worth following. Most importantly, the contentious budget process recently by the Athletics Review Committee that would a positive development that the Committee recommends
will move forward for the first time under Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s ’75 eliminate the women’s skiing, wrestling and men’s and increasing the athletic budget overall, we disagree that
P’14 administration. How the budget gets hammered out will have women’s fencing programs. these funds be primarily directed toward higher coaching
significant real-life implications — a major component of the plan is The competitive outcomes of these programs speak for salaries. Why not also invest that increase in all 37 of our
a broadening of the state sales tax — and will also set the tone for at themselves with, for example, the fencing team placing existing intercollegiate teams, including these endangered
least the next few years of Chafee’s governorship. By the time we return in the top 15 nationally in 2011, or the women’s ski team programs that have been recommended for elimination?
in the fall, medicinal marijuana will be sold from state-regulated dis- qualifying for 10 of the last 10 national championships. We know that compliance with Title IX federal guide-
pensaries, gay marriage might be a reality and a new streetcar system But these athletic teams equate to more than just wins lines related to gender equity in athletics will influence
for Providence will be closer to fruition. and losses on the field of athletic competition. They this decision, and we staunchly support the objectives of
We have occasionally been critical in the past months. But looking help tell the history of our alma mater as much as any Title IX. But we are also sensitive to the pain that these
at the bigger picture, we are very pleased to see how much progress entity within the University community. As much as we cuts would cause current students, prospective students,
Brown has made over the last year and look forward to more growth remember enrolling in ENGN 0090: “Management of alums and coaches and their families.
in the coming one. We wish the graduating seniors well in their future Industrial and Nonprofit Organizations” with (Professor As former student leaders, we know that these deci-
endeavors and all returning students a safe and enjoyable summer. Emeritus of Engineering) Barrett Hazeltine, gathering on sions are never easy. But we also know how important
the Main Green with our classmates and enjoying meals these programs are to Brunonians, and we hope that our
Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. Send comments at the Sharpe Refectory, we also recall the exhilaration of sentiments are taken into consideration as President Ruth
to editorials@browndailyherald.com. a big win on the wrestling mat and on the slopes. Simmons contemplates the future of the skiing, fencing
These athletic teams and the pride they have given us and wrestling programs.
helped shape our Brown experience, and we would be
disappointed if future generations of Brunonians could Rodrick Echols ’03, UCS President 2001-2002
not experience these wonderful memories. Many of these Allen Feliz ’04, UCS President 2002-03
student-athletes embody the best of Brown and have Rahim Kurji ’05, UCS President 2003-04
demonstrated past and current excellence in athletics, Joel Payne ’05, UCS President 2004-05
community involvement and academic experience. Brian Bidadi ’07, UCS President 2005
We respectfully disagree with some of the findings of Sarah Saxton-Frump ’07, UCS President 2006
the Athletics Review Committee. For instance, the report John Gillis ’07, UCS President 2006-07

quote of the day

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editorial
Arts & Culture Editor
Business
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The Brown Daily Herald
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Liberal learning is under attack
By julian park
Opinions Columnist
Much like a cancer, the University’s growths,
initiated in the name of profit and prestige,
threaten its health.
Before, I’ve called this the logic driving the
corporatization of our university, but today
I’m going to call it the logic of the attack on
liberal learning.
Changes Brown has recently undergone
have physically harmed the lives of members
of our community — cancerous, in some cas-
es, to the point of the surgical removal that
the University called organizational restruc-
turing and everyone else called layoffs.
The layoffs of 2008-2010 occurred for
one reason — because risky endowment in-
vestments were made to compete with peer
schools. The University was able to grow, and
when risks came home to roost, cuts came at
the expense of our staff ’s livelihoods.
This cancer has overrun and corrupted
our most fundamental principle: the liber-
al learning that underlies our open curricu-
lum. This principle would seem to espouse
the equality and importance of diverse disci-
plines operating in academic freedom.
Pure and simple, the search for profit and
prestige has increasingly guided Brown’s de-
cision-making since the Plan for Academic
Enrichment. That plan and the campaign that
funded it have operated along lines at direct
odds with liberal learning.
In the life and physical sciences, as well as
at Alpert Medical School, these plans meant
growth. Faculty was one of the central areas
of growth outlined by the PAE. Of all seg-
Overlooking personal responsibility
By Oliver Rosenbloom
Opinions Columnist
In her recent column, Sofia Ortiz-Hinojosa
’11 castigated Brown marijuana users, argu-
ing that their consumption funds gang vio-
lence in Mexico (“4/20 and the drug war,”
April 18). Her column incited a strong back-
lash from readers because no one wants to
hear that the Brown community has a hand
in gang violence. It is much easier to avoid
self-examination and pin the blame for this
violence on the U.S. government’s drug poli-
cies, as a column and a letter did last week
(“Letter: Pot on campus not from Mexico,”
April 19, and “In the drug war, keep your
eyes on the real killer,” April 22).
Contrary to what Ortiz-Hinojosa’s crit-
ics argue, drug violence is not solely caused
by bad policy. It is also caused by individ-
ual consumers prioritizing their desire for
substances over the safety of those who are
impacted by the drug trade. Ortiz-Hinojosa
acknowledged the multiple aspects of this
problem, while her critics only focused on
the policy aspect of drug-related violence.
This rush to clear the Brown community
of any blame for drug violence is indicative
of a larger trend on campus. We refuse to ac-
knowledge personal responsibility for the
effects of our actions. Instead of individual
accountability, we attribute all injustice to
larger social forces, most commonly to gov-
ernment policies. According to this state of
mind, social problems are never created by
individuals who make immoral or irrespon-
ments of the faculty, the life and medical sci-
ences have grown the most since the spurts
began, by 26.9 percent, with physical sciences
second at 18.2 percent, followed by social sci-
ences at a 15.8 percent and humanities at a
paltry 8.1 percent. Nonetheless, the humani-
ties still have the greatest number of profes-
sors all told — 200 — while the physical sci-
ences have but 12 fewer.
The humanities’ size can be understood
by the fact that they incorporate the most
departments, programs and centers by far,
with 25. The humanities departments aver-
age eight faculty each, while the social scienc-
No graduate student would knowingly choose higher
salaries and more summer funding over a guaranteed
sixth year of funding.
es have slightly more than nine each, the life
and medical sciences have more than 19 each
and the physical sciences have more than 23.
The largest areas of the University have con-
tinued to get larger, and have disproportion-
ately benefited from investments.
The areas of greatest growth generate the
most revenue — those which, balance would
tell us, shouldn’t need disproportionate sup-
port. But expanded research in science, tech-
nology, engineering and mathematics trans-
lates to greater federal and corporate grants,
and with those come profit margins with
which increases in the number of tuition-
paying undergraduates can’t compete.
Expanded research demands new and
bigger facilities, and the single area of greatest
sible choices. Instead, these problems stem
solely from bad legislation.
While government policies certainly
contribute to drug violence, it is irrespon-
sible to deny the consequences of our indi-
vidual choices. Regardless of the merits of
legalization, we currently live in a society
where individual drug use often funds vio-
lent gangs. Admiral James Winnefeld, lead-
er of the U.S. Northern Command, testified
that American drug consumption provides
Latin American cartels with $40 billion ev-
ery year. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
We refuse to acknowledge personal responsibility
for the effects of our actions. Instead of individual
accountability, we attribute all injustice to larger social
forces, most commonly to government policies.
also notes, “our insatiable demand for ille-
gal drugs fuels the drug trade.” The existence
of the alternative policy of legalization does
not absolve individual drug users of partial
responsibility for funding the drug trade
and the related violence that ensues.
Brown’s moral blindness to the connec-
tion between individual drug use and gang
violence is a symptom of a belief in the be-
nevolence and ability of government. This
reliance on policy solutions is connected to
our political liberalism. The vast majority of
Brown students are social liberals, and lib-
eralism is defined by its belief in the pow-
er of government to address social prob-
lems. When Brown students identify a so-
cial problem, they immediately look to the
government to fix it, a mindset that is com-
Opinions 11
expansion — the life and medical sciences —
proves it. Ninety-five-million dollars were in-
vested into the Sidney Frank Hall for Life Sci-
ences, and $45 million into the Medical Edu-
cation Building in the Jewelry District.
This reorientation of the University’s pri-
orities has become a threat to those who don’t
directly aid in achieving efficient growth.
The restructuring the University underwent
in 2009-2010 can serve as a model to under-
stand how the University interprets the effi-
ciency it covets.
Despite the fact that the PAE’s second
phase, which came in 2008, recommended
staff increases to accommodate faculty in-
creases, more than 200 staff were lost last year
alone, including 66 lost to layoffs. This could
only be justified in terms of monetary effi-
ciency, for while staff are necessary, they are
not profitable and rarely prestigious.
In the case of Brown graduate students,
whose numbers have grown by 14 percent
since May 2008, the cancerous nature of this
growth can be understood best in the new
pilot project called “Dissertation Comple-
tion Funding.” On paper, without context,
these funds appear to be a boon — they cre-
ate a standardized application process to ac-
cess University funds for sixth year doctoral
work, awarding money months earlier than
in years past.
mon among liberals. We have a deeply held
belief that a well-informed and rational gov-
ernment can devise policies that will solve
all of our problems. This positive vision of
government makes us overlook the key role
that individual choices play in creating so-
cial problems.
Those who believe in the positive poten-
tial of government and are fixated on policy
solutions to social problems are less likely to
take individual responsibility for address-
ing these social problems. The differences
in charitable giving between liberals and
conservatives illustrate this point. Liberals
believe in active government policies to ad-
dress injustice, yet they take less personal
responsibility for fighting poverty. Arthur
Brooks, a former professor at Syracuse Uni-
versity, found that conservatives donate 30
percent more to charity than liberals, even
though they earn 6 percent less. Philoso-
phy on the proper role of government was
the second most important factor in deter-
mining an individual’s charitable contribu-
tions. Those who disagreed with the state-
ment “government has a responsibility to re-
duce income inequality” donated four times
as much to charity as those who agreed with
the statement.
The more positively you view govern-
ment, the less likely you are to take person-
The pretty package disguises major con-
cerns. To begin with, only graduate students
in the humanities and social sciences apply.
All graduate students in the profitable scienc-
es receive their funding from external grants.
While money is now being centralized in
the graduate school in the name of efficiency,
these funds are now budgeted in advance of
any calculation of need. In order to calculate
merit, a new system has been established to
rank graduate students against departmen-
tal colleagues, and departments against other
departments.
Creating a centralized internal ranking
system does nothing but establish the sort
of competition that is fundamentally inimi-
cal to academic freedom. You’d think that the
school that prides itself on the right of its un-
dergraduates to take any course Satisfactory/
No Credit would understand that.
Where the University doesn’t directly
profit, it’s after prestige. The new policy re-
stricts graduate student funding towards the
recruitment of more competitive applicants.
The Dean of the Graduate School, Peter We-
ber, has confided to graduate students that
there isn’t less money — more money had
just been put towards graduate students’ first
five years.
No graduate student would knowing-
ly choose higher salaries and more summer
funding over a guaranteed sixth year of fund-
ing. But more money up front looks better,
boosts the number of applicants and, conse-
quentially, our graduate school rankings, our
prestige and our profit.
Julian Park ’12 would rather see Brown
drop in ranking than sacrifice its values.
Contact him at
julianfrancispark@gmail.com.
al responsibility for addressing social prob-
lems. Brooks wrote, “If support for a policy
that does not exist … substitutes for private
charity, the needy are left off worse than be-
fore. It is one of the bitterest ironies of liberal
politics that political opinions are apparent-
ly taking the place of help for others.” This
sentiment applies to both charity and drug
violence. The politically liberal Brown com-
munity believes the government alone is re-
sponsible for ending drug violence. Unfor-
tunately, this belief prevents us from taking
individual steps that would end drug vio-
lence. The most obvious such step is to stop
consuming narcotics.
A belief in the positive potential of gov-
ernment is not inherently flawed or objec-
tively wrong. But it comes with the nega-
tive consequence of diminishing our sense
of personal responsibility for addressing so-
cial problems. It is crucial that all of those
who have a positive view of government ac-
knowledge this negative consequence and
fight it by examining how their own actions
contribute to social problems.
As a college community, we do not have
the opportunity to instantly change Ameri-
can drug law. What we can do is limit our
own consumption of the substances that
fund violent crime. Such an action would
require us to acknowledge our own moral
responsibility, instead of looking to the ex-
ternal source of government and deflecting
blame from ourselves.
Oliver Rosenbloom ’13 is a history
concentrator from Mill Valley, Calif.
He can be reached at
oliver_rosenbloom@brown.edu.
Daily Herald
the Brown
Former Congressman Patrick Murphy spoke yesterday in Salomon 001.
Politician lauds repeal
of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
By Shanoor Seervai
Contributing Writer
As Former Congressman Patrick
Murphy walked to the podium yes-
terday afternoon for the Brown
Democrats’ John F. Kennedy Jr. Lec-
ture, he offered his hand to the stu-
dents filling the hall. He sustained
this gracious tone throughout the
lecture, as he spoke about defend-
ing the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell” and the timely withdrawal of
troops from Iraq.
The Brown Democrats pre-
sented Murphy, the first Iraq War
veteran to serve in Congress, with
School’s in: Undergrads resume study
By katrina phillips
Staff Writer
What do a former American Bal-
let Theater dancer, an ex-convict-
turned-voting rights advocate and
a former guitarist for the Mighty
Mighty Bosstones have in common?
They are all alums of the University’s
Resumed Undergraduate Education
program, and they all went through
these experiences before enrolling
in their first class here.
feature
The small program offers adults
who have been out of high school
for six years or longer an alternative
to the traditional application pro-
cess. Rather than extracurriculars
or SAT scores, RUE applicants are
evaluated on their experiences after
high school and can include people
who had limited opportunities to
attend college straight out of high
school.
The program is highly competi-
tive, with fewer than 10 applicants
admitted each year. According to
Nick Danford ’11, president of the
Resumed Undergraduate Students
Association and a former profes-
sional ballet dancer, successful
applicants to RUE have a unique
experience and tell their story “in
a compelling way.”
“It’s nice that in the (admissions)
process, they look at everything
you’ve done — all of you — rather
than just what you look like on
paper,” said Megan Keough ’14, a
Stephanie London / Herald
the John F. Kennedy Jr. award for
his advocacy in civil rights.
Despite opposition from his
district, Murphy said he took the
lead on the repeal of “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell” because the legislation
violates the military’s goal to treat
all people with respect regardless of
color, sex, race, religion and sexual
orientation.
“Kicking people out” of the
military for reasons of sexual ori-
entation is a waste of money, he
said. He said he has always tried to
“put what (he) thought was right
continued on page 5
former ballet dancer and freelance
writer.
Having abandoned traditional
schooling at the age of 12 to focus
on her dancing, Keough never took
the SATs or ACTs. The standard
admissions process would not accu-
rately portray her when she decided
to return to school, she said. “My
high school transcripts were like
11-years old. What does that say
about me now?”
Board room to Blue Room
While most students were busy
filling out applications with extra-
curricular activities, students like
Danford and Karima Ben Ayed
’12.5 were busy pursuing careers
on the stage with the Nevada Bal-
let Theater in Las Vegas and in a
corporate office, respectively.
Ben Ayed was born in Tunisia
and later lived in France and Ger-
many before coming to the United
States with her husband to study at
a community college in Virginia.
She worked in language instruc-
tion, corporate training and account
management before returning to
school.
David Salsone ’12.5 also trav-
elled before applying to Brown —
through his time in the military.
One of five former military mem-
bers currently enrolled in the RUE
program, Salsone said he lived in
Bahrain for four years while serving
with the Army.
“I could’ve stayed in telecom and
taken the six-figure job that they of-
fered,” he said. But, “I honestly just
City suggests revised teachers’ contract
By Claire Schlessinger
Staff Writer
At a hearing last night, the City
Council Education Subcommittee
presented its recommendations
for negotiating a new Providence
teachers’ contract, the single big-
gest expense in the city budget and
the most costly teacher contract in
the state. The current contract is
set to expire in August.
city & state
The hearing was the last of four
on the contract negotiations that
started Feb. 17. Sam Zurier, sub-
committee chair, city councilman
and former Providence School
Board member, presented two
options for negotiating the new
contract ­— both of which would
cut costs for the district through
measures including permitting
more flexibility in school opening
times, staggering bus schedules to
increase efficiency, reforming the
system of awarding bonuses for
taking five or fewer sick days and
changing the way the district pays
its substitute teachers.
The first option would increase
teacher salaries by 5 percent this
year and 2 percent in subsequent
years, while reducing the overall
cost of the contract by 5 percent.
The second option would hold
salaries constant and save the city
10 percent on the contract.
had an academic curiosity.”
This same curiosity has led doz-
ens of parents, ex-military service
members and former dancers —
groups that Danford said RUE
“loves” — to apply to the program.
“RUE is not some kind of second
chance program,” said Danford. “
These people have very valuable
experiences. They contribute just
as much to the classroom experi-
ence as people who have taken the
typical route.”
Nate Albert ’01, an RUE alum,
was the guitarist for the ska band
Mighty Mighty Bosstones before
applying to Brown. Andres Idarraga
’08 is an ex-convict who advocated
for giving Rhode Island ex-felons
the right to vote, a goal he accom-
plished during his time on campus.
A state referendum approved giv-
ing ex-felons the vote in 2006, and
Idarraga was able to register to vote.
RUE students often return to
their professional careers again after
graduation. Rachel Moore ’92 was
a ballet dancer before RUE — she
is now the executive director of the
American Ballet Theater.
Culture shock
With their less traditional back-
grounds, many RUE students also
carry a fair amount of baggage that
can make full-time study more
complicated for them than it is for
other students.
The University makes a few pol-
icy exceptions for RUE students. In
addition to not being required to
live on-campus or purchase a meal
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
The report also proposed in-
creasing the school year by two
days, lengthening the school day
and mandating that parent-teacher
conferences occur after school
rather than during school hours.
The subcommittee laid out a
“‘tool kit’ for the negotiating par-
ties to consider that can support
significant reforms and improve-
ments while also yielding savings
for the city,” according to the re-
port.
Zurier said the purpose of the
report was not to criticize teachers,
but rather to hold them to higher
standards. He said many teachers
go above and beyond what is stipu-
lated in their contracts because
they care about their students.
“Thank God a lot of our teachers
don’t care what’s in the contract,”
he said.
Nevertheless, “whatever is in
that document is going to be very
important,” he told The Herald.
Karina Wood, interim execu-
tive director of People for a Better
Providence, a non-profit that seeks
to raise awareness about local is-
sues, said the contract creates poli-
cies that directly impact students’
education, parental interaction
with teachers and the number of
school days in the year.
As a Providence resident for 13
years and a parent of Providence
public school children for six,
Wood said this is the “first time
that I’ve seen a discussion — a
Nick Danford ’11 (above) danced in the Nevada Ballet Theater before coming
to Brown.
plan, RUE students have the option
to study part time. These allowances
can be crucial for married students
like Keough, or those who continue
their professional career while en-
rolled and often need to commute.
But not everyone takes advan-
tage of these exceptions. Salsone
opted to live on-campus for his first
semester, and Ben Ayed is currently
on meal plan.
“It’s a nice way … for me to meet
students from my classes, to meet
students I met through other orga-
nizations and sometimes to just sit
at a table and chat with someone I
don’t know,” Ben Ayed said.
For many RUE students, the
greater challenge is adjusting to
academic life. Keough said she had
public discussion — of ways that
we can improve and reform educa-
tion as a whole in Providence, like
looking at the teachers’ contract.”
Wood called the recommenda-
tions a “win-win-win” situation for
taxpayers, teachers and students.
At yesterday’s hearing, Zurier
summarized the subcommittee’s
work so far. The subcommittee’s
first hearing on the Providence
teachers’ contracts was Feb. 17 ­—
nearly a week before Providence
Mayor Angel Taveras drew the ire
of the union by firing all 1,926 of
the city’s teachers. The hearing was
billed as a first step in building a
collaborative relationship between
the Providence Teachers Union
and city administrators.
The relationship between Provi-
dence School Board President
Kathleen Crain ’93, Superinten-
dent Tom Brady and Providence
Teachers Union President Steve
Smith has deteriorated since then.
“I don’t think I could make that
same presentation today,” Zurier
said.
The negotiating parties may not
accept the ideas the subcommit-
tee has proposed, but significant
changes to the current contract
are necessary, Zurier told The Her-
ald. Even though past negotiations
have yielded small changes, the
severity of the city’s fiscal woes and
looming changes for Providence
schools could make this year dif-
ferent, he said.
Courtesy of Nick Danford
difficulty connecting with younger
undergraduates on a meaningful
level, while Ben Ayed said, “In my
case, I wish I would socialize more,
to be frank.”
But these students ultimately
seem to feel they connect with
fellow students through common
academic passions. “I’m a little dif-
ferent, but not in any way that mat-
ters,” Salsone said. He participated
in Brown Outdoor Leadership
Training and briefly played on the
men’s crew team before National
Collegiate Athletic Association reg-
ulations regarding prior education
forced him to quit. He said he has
undergraduate friends both within
continued on page 9