T H U R S D A Y MARCH 21, 2002
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVII, No. 40
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
www.browndailyherald.com
Spies: office space not a problem in short-term
At State House rally, activists call for action on housing bill
BY JULIETTE WALLACK
BY CHRIS BYRNES
With the Corporation’s support secured for President Ruth Simmons’ Proposal for Academic Enrichment, University officials are now planning to add 100 new faculty members. But some are concerned the University doesn’t have enough room for a 25 percent increase in personnel. The University is equipped to deal with the short-term implications of the increasing faculty size, said Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning. But in the long run, the number of new faculty members will pose a space problem, and Brown must deal with that, he said. The University can use space that is available around the campus for the next two or three years, Spies said. With the completion of Carr House, which houses the English department and creative writing program, and the Watson Institute for International Studies, space opened up around campus, he said. “People have done a pretty good job in recent years of stockpiling that space for this purpose,” Spies said. Because the open space is located all around campus, how it is used will depend on what departments receive new faculty appointments. “That’s going to take a lot of work,” Spies said. “You can’t put somebody in the English department … and assign them an office two miles down the road.” The University faces a shortage of office space in the long term, Spies said, so “the University’s committed to undertaking a master planning exercise to look at the space we have and the spaces that are available.” The review of available space, which Spies said is in preliminary stages, will also identify spaces the University could use to build or expand. Spies said the University’s goal is to get the full review process underway by early summer. Spies said using the available space around campus allows the University to plan for the next few years. “It allows us to go forward immediately, though we’ve clearly got a bigger, longer term problem,” he said. “There are a whole set of questions which we have to get some help working through and that we have to go through systematically.” Some faculty appointments will cause more space problems than others, Spies said. “Even junior faculty in some fields require 1,000 or 2,000 square feet of space to carry out their research,” he said. But, Spies said, he doesn’t expect the eventual space crunch to affect how new faculty are appropriated to specific departments. “Inevitably, there are going to be lots of compromises” in deciding the location of faculty offices, he said. But “the idea is to make those decisions based on the best academic arguments and then try to make the space work.” Current faculty members are not con-
Brown students and community activists rallied at the State House Wednesday calling for the passage of an affordable housing bill that has stalled in the Senate for the past month. The bill, which would authorize floating a $10 million debt over two years, follows Gov. Lincoln Almond’s decision to freeze $5 million in state budget allocations toward affordable housing. Almond’s decision was motivated by the need to close a potential $70 million deficit in this year’s budget, but was problematic. Following the decision the government received several lawsuits claiming the act was unconstitutional. Attended by approximately 25 people, the rally was organized and led by Eric Hirsch, treasurer and board member of People To End Homelessness. Hirsch urged the Senate to take positive action on the bill, saying, “We don’t know why the Senate hasn’t agreed to pass this, and we don’t care.” Rev. Duane Clinker, one of four pastors arrested for staging a sit-in at the State House this fall, called for volunteers to be trained in civil disobedience. “We have incredible power. The time has come to end forced homelessness in Rhode Island,” Clinker said. Hirsch told The Herald he was cynical about the prospects of change any time soon. “I hope (they will act soon). The Senate leadership tells us they’re moving ahead, but they’ve kept ‘moving ahead’ for a month,” he said. He said building contractors were forced to put down their tools mid-construction this fall when Almond froze their funding. Green Party mayoral candidate Greg Gerritt who attended the rally, expressed his lack of confidence in the Senate. They were “dithering, not actively opposing,” he said. “This should be a no-brainer,” he told The Herald, and added that homelessness needs to be completely eliminated, not just reduced. Abraham Young ’04 and Cate Oswald ’04, a Rhode Island native, lead a fledgling student group at Brown focused on affordable housing issues and were responsible for organizing student participation in the rally. Oswald said the purpose of the rally was to demonstrate the continuing urgency of the housing shortage and the tireless work of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless. Oswald said Brown students have direct interest in the housing shortage. “We are contributing to some of the lack of affordable housing as we move off campus and into some of the different neighborhoods, especially Fox Point,” she said. The Senate continues to deliberate on the bill as it waits for the results of the lawsuits. In early March, the Senate passed a measure calling for Almond to release $5 million in housing funds immediately.
Josh Apte / Herald
A new Hillel House will provide additional resources for students often frustrated by the lack of available space in the current facility.
After years of obstacles, Hillel construction slated for May start BY KATIE ROUSH
After five years of planning, the renovation and expansion for a new BrownRISD Hillel building will begin in May of 2002, said Executive Director of Hillel and Associate Chaplain Rabbi Richard Kirschen. The construction plan was finalized two weeks ago when Martin Granoff, Brown-RISD Hillel building campaign co-chair and trustee of the University, announced that Hillel had raised enough money to go ahead with the construction. The announcement follows five years of campaigning and fundraising. It is a $9 million project, but the actual building construction will cost $5 million, Kirschen said. He said since last September, the goal of the Hillel staff was to begin work in May. “I’m excited we are breaking ground when expected,” Kirschen said. “I think this will be a really important addition to the Brown community.” Brown-RISD Hillel, the center of Jewish life for the Brown and RISD community, is a chapter of the international Hillel foundation. Located at 80 Brown
St., the Hillel building and land are privately owned by the foundation. Hillel purchased two lots next to the present building, at 106 Angell St. and 100 Angell St. The upcoming construction will result in a building that rests on the three lots, Kirschen said. Because the three buildings are historical Rhode Island landmarks, the inner spaces can be altered but the outer frames can not be razed. Hillel is working with the Providence based architectural firm Hayes/de Boer Associate Architects, which specializes in architectural preservation. The three buildings will be unified by new additions that will preserve the architectural integrity of each structure, Kirschen said. The building will be named the Glenn and Darcy Weiner Hillel Center, after two Cornell graduates who died in a plane crash several years ago. The new center will house offices for students and Hillel employees, include multipurpose rooms and “student friendly spaces,” a redesigned kitchen, and a computer cluster, Kirschen added. see HILLEL, page 4
Chris Byrnes ’04 edits the metro section. He can be reached at cbyrnes@browndailyherald.com.
see SPACE, page 6
I N S I D E T H U R S D AY, M A RC H 2 1 , 2 0 0 2 Rhode Island welfare increasing in effectiveness, Taubman study shows page 3
Food bank aims to end hunger across state within the next three years page 3
In discovery, Brown research shows monkeys turn thought into action page 5
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Abby Shoben ’02 clarifies importance of open dialogue and debate on campus column,page15
Women’s icers enter ‘Frozen Four,’ looking to claim NCAA hockey title page 16
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