W E D N E S D A Y JANUARY 29, 2003
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVIII, No. 6
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
www.browndailyherald.com
VP for Campus Life will leave for UCLA; interim appointed BY JULIETTE WALLACK
Janina Montero, vice president for Campus Life and Student Services, will become the vice chancellor for student affairs for the University of California at Los Angeles beginning July 1. David Greene, assistant to the president, will serve as the interim vice president after Montero’s departure. Montero said she expects to finish this semester, though her final date at Brown has not been decided yet. “I will miss a lot of people,” Montero told The Herald Tuesday, but she called the UCLA position “an extraordinary job” with “very broad” responsibilities. The University is expected to announce Montero’s impending departure today. Montero was one of two finalists for the UCLA position, but it became a one-person race early this week when the other candidate dropped out. She visited UCLA in mid-December to meet with administrators and students. At UCLA, Montero will be in charge of student academic services, student and campus life, student development and life and outreach. The outreach portion of her responsibilities at UCLA will include working with programs that encourage education among children, teens and young adults in Los Angeles. “That is wonderful work,” Montero said,
Kimberly Insel / Herald
Green Party at Brown members gathered in Olnery Lounge to watch the President’s State of the Union.
State of the Union draws varied reactions from students and faculty members BY DANIELLE CERNY AND ELLEN WERNECKE
Faculty and students had mixed reactions to the 214th State of the Union Address Tuesday night, in which President George W. Bush outlined his policy plans for the upcoming year and discussed the current situation with Iraq and his economic stimulus plan. “While the speech was really a call to arms and a rallying of the nation, the first (part), which was the longer (part), was an entirely partisan, Republican speech,” said James Morone, professor of political science at Brown. Bush’s domestic remarks “hit all the issues that drive Democrats crazy,” such as abortion, tax cuts, spending cuts and the healthy forest program, Morone told The Herald. Bush’s address survived an abrupt shift from domestic to foreign policy midway through the address, Morone said. “Both halves were effectual for what they were meant to be, but they did not belong together,” he said. “The second half of the speech, which focused on Iraq, was remarkably effective even though this is an issue I vehemently disagree with,” Morone said, though he felt the administration failed to provide substantial evidence against Iraq.
Morone said the two halves of the speech were placed together because the administration does not think reelection will hinge on the war with Iraq. Instead, they are focusing on the state of the economy after the war is over, an oversight that cost George H.W. Bush his reelection, Morone said. “The president started out weakly,” said Wendy Schiller, associate professor of political science. “He was weak on domestic issues, but strong on foreign policy.” She noted that Bush’s “segue (from tax cuts) into cutting the deficit makes no sense. Most Americans understand that you can’t do both.” On the tax cut, Schiller said, former President Ronald “Reagan tried to do it, and (Bush) won’t be able to do it either. Tax policies are not the reason we are in a recession.” “Whether you agree or disagree with the President,” Schiller said, “he believes … that if he stands by and does nothing, Iraq will do something horrific” that will necessitate military action. She said the president made a “stronger case than people expected” for the war against Iraq.
see MONTERO, page 4
Kerry Miller / Herald
Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Janina Montero will leave for UCLA later this year.
see BUSH, page 9
CCC members discuss changes to grading
Underground weeks from opening
BY CASSIE RAMIREZ
BY LISA MANDLE
Members of the College Curriculum Council discussed the pros and cons of introducing plusses and minuses into the Brown grading system at a meeting Tuesday. The CCC also debated the correlation between grade inflation and the lack of plusses and minuses. Prior to the meeting, members of the CCC reviewed a survey conducted by the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning. The results showed that 82 percent of faculty and 85 percent of teaching assistants thought Brown should adopt a grading scale that included plusses and minuses. The survey was given last semester to some faculty and teaching assistants. CCC member Sean Yom ’03 said, “It makes no sense to give plusses and minuses on regular assignments throughout the semester and then not on the final grade.” Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and CCC
The Underground is several weeks away from reopening with the possibility of serving alcohol, Dean for Campus Life Margaret Jablonski told The Herald. The management of the Underground has had since Dec. 20 to submit a policy proposal for reopening the Underground to the Office of Student Life, but has yet to do so, Jablonski said. General Manager of the Underground Ally Dickie ’03 said in an e-mail that the proposals are being drafted this week and that she hopes to meet with the administration in the coming weeks. Dickie did not return messages requesting to comment on why the proposals were not submitted earlier. Once the proposal is submitted, the students and administrators who manage the Underground will meet to discuss the proposal and share ideas and concerns about liability and operation issues, Jablonski said. The
senior administration will need to approve the plan before the Underground can be reopened, she said. They will also discuss the possibility of serving food, prohibiting smoking and providing different forms of entertainment at the Underground, Jablonski said. Such proposals have not come up before, she added. But with the Underground having been caught serving underage drinkers in the past several years, it is “time to take a full look at the management and operation of the pub,” Jablonski said. The Underground can reopen, but cannot serve alcohol, Jablonski said. Except for a few events in the fall, the Underground has stayed closed despite this provision. Underground Manager Noah Wangh ’03 was unavailable for comment. Herald staff writer Lisa Mandle ’06 can be reached at lmandle@browndailyherald.com.
see CCC, page 4
I N S I D E W E D N E S D AY, J A N UA RY 2 9 , 2 0 0 3 Brown prof conducts NASA study to avoid loss of muscle mass in astronauts page 3
Brown Students for Israel holds mock Israeli elections; Labor beats Likud party page 3
CIS offers filtering program to rid Brown e-mail of junk messages page 11
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Bush plays bad cop/villain in Iraqi conflict, says Joshua Skolnick ’04 column, page 11
Hanyen Andrew Lee ’06 says average fan cheers for dominance, not sport sports column, page 12
snow showers high 36 low 17