T H U R S D A Y APRIL 3, 2003
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVIII, No. 44
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
Pride month begins with a call to action
www.browndailyherald.com
Cicilline, others voice concerns over Providence public schools
BY DANA GOLDSTEIN
Step up to the front lines in a “revolution of love,” Lindsay Mann ’03.5 told an audience at the 2003 Pride Month Convocation. The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Alliance’s Pride Month began with energetic calls to action Wednesday night in MacMillan. The primary medium of the evening was spoken-word poetry, with students sharing their work alongside Celena Glenn, a veteran of New York’s famed Nuyorican Poets Café. “There are no spectators here,” said Mann, who coordinated Pride Month. “This is a call to action.” Mann asked audience members to consider the many fronts on which the battle for equality has yet to be won — both at Brown and in the wider world. “Brown University and the Office of Residential Life blatantly discriminate against queer students,” she said, alluding to the limited amount of co-ed housing offered by the University. Mann also argued that the LGBT community should have an on-campus resource center. Despite anti-sodomy laws in thirteen states, anti-gay activism by groups such as Westboro Baptist Church and the passage of 1998’s Defense of Marriage Act, which created a federal barrier to the legalization of same-sex marriage, Mann said she is confident the LGBT fight for equality is succeeding. When Glenn began her performance, she explained that, because she did not realize the evening was going to be a pride event, she had not brought material particularly suited to LGBT issues. But Glenn used this to her advantage. “I’m so amped up,” she said. “People are dying and the people of our country are proud of it. “If we stay within our communities we’re really just re-oppressing ourselves,” Glenn said, asking that LGBT activists reach out to the women’s movement, ethnic and racial equality movements and the peace movement. “Issues pertaining to the queer community don’t have to be blatantly queer on the surface to be relevant,” Mann told The Herald. “We were really psyched to have (Glenn). We thought she was really incredible.” Glenn advocated for an activism consisting of personal relationships, likening attending rallies or being on a listserv to nothing more than “buying the right shoe or buying the right coffee.” Twisting the words of commercial catchphrases and governmental rhetoric, Glenn’s poems ruthlessly attacked the systems of inequality that enrich the wealthy while continuing to oppress the underprivileged. “Believing all that you can be means realizing all that you
Zach Frechette / Herald
Some Providence teachers spend too much class time showing movies like “Men in Black” and “xXx,” and not enough actually instructing, public school students said at an education forum Wednesday. Students, teachers, parents and other community members voiced this concern and others, during the event, which was organized by Providence Mayor David Cicilline ’83. The forum was held at Springfield Middle School and featured Cicilline, Brown President Ruth Simmons, Superintendent of Schools Melody Johnson, Providence Teachers Union President Philip DeCecco and Hope High School student Jennifer Rice. The community expressed its opinions in nearly two hours marked by frustration and exasperation. Issues included the standards implemented by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, poor performance, the lack of parent involvement, teachers who show disrespect toward students, the unresponsiveness to students with special education needs, inadequate facilities and over-enrolled classrooms. Discipline was one of the most prominent issues of the evening. Many parents and students said suspensions are distributed excessively and unfairly and that making students stay home from school is not effective punishment. Auretha Brown spoke of losing her job as a server at the Brown Faculty Club due to the tardiness and absence that resulted from her child being expelled eight times from Springfield Middle School. After seven months of employment with the Faculty Club, she has had to return to welfare payments to support her family, she said. She later told The Herald she was impressed with the turnout at the event but was cautious of its impact. She said that the actions of the school administration will reflect whether the event was truly a success. A current Brown employee, Mona Delgado spoke of the importance of outreach that involves parents and families in the schools. She criticized the practice of busing in students from far parts of the city because it made parent involvement difficult. Many parents, she said, do not even know where their child’s school is. An
see PRIDE, page 4
Celena Glenn, a veteran of New York’s Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe, spoke at Wednesday night’s Pride Month convocation.
see SCHOOLS, page 4
BY JEFFREY AUSTIN
Brown class of 2007 is first under need-blind admission policy BY LINDA EVARTS
This year’s new need-blind admission policy in part brought a six percent increase in the number of students receiving financial aid, according to Director of Admission Michael Goldberger. Under the policy, applicants’ financial circumstances are entirely separate from the decision-making process. Noting the increase in the percentages of students of color and financial aid recipients, he said, “it all goes along with the announcement of need-blind admissions.” But need blind’s impact was minimal, Goldberger said. Under the previous policy, 90 percent of applicants were selected without consideration of their financial situation. For the remaining 10 percent of applicants, financial need was one of many factors in the decision. Goldberger said the philosophical impact of needblind admission was of primary importance. No longer restrained by practical concerns, admission officers were able to pursue the most able and diverse student body
possible, their goal being “to get the very best kids here and for money not to be a factor,” he said. The resulting class shows subtle increases in racial, ethnic and economic diversity. Students of color comprise 35 percent of the student body, as compared to 33 percent of the Class of 2006. Among those admitted to the Class of 2007, 62 percent of students were offered financial aid, as compared to 56 percent the year before. The male-to-female ratio remains slightly tipped: 47 percent of those accepted are male and 53 percent female. Brown saw an increase in applications this year as well. Applications received totaled 15,153, up from 14,612 last year. Two hundred fewer offers were extended than in previous years, with 2,258 people — or 14.9 percent of applicants — accepted. The Harvard Crimson reported today that Harvard University accepted 9.8 percent of its applicants and the Yale Daily News reported that the university accepted 11.4 percent of applicants. Acceptance rates for
other Ivies were unavailable. Twenty-two percent of applicants who applied early decision were accepted and 13 percent who applied regular decision were accepted, Goldberger said. He said 1,400 admitted students are expected to matriculate. Those admitted to the Class of 2007 reflected an increase in the number of students planning to pursue a bachelor of science degree. Twenty-nine percent reported interest in pursuing the sciences, compared to 27.5 percent in the Class of 2006. Geographic distributions are largely the same as those from last year. California contributes the greatest number of admitted students with 13 percent, closely followed by New York with 12 percent and the combined input of Rhode Island and Connecticut with 9 percent. International students comprise 11 percent of those accepted.
I N S I D E T H U R S D AY, A P R I L 3 , 2 0 0 3 UMass feud with Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney takes a turn for the ugly campus watch, page 3
Int’l students must fill out new gov’t forms in an effort to track travel electronically page 5
Brett Cohen ’03 tells us why women should become sluts for peace opinions, page 15
see ADMISSION, page 4
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Alexandra Toumanoff ’06 discusses how to evaluate your mom’s new breast implants opinions, page 15
Baseball team preps for Ivy League play with a Spring Break road trip sports, page 16
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