W E D N E S D A Y SEPTEMBER 3, 2003
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVIII, No. 63
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
www.browndailyherald.com
Some units swell to 80+ students under new system; peer counselors struggle BY LISA MANDLE
defined herself. Brought up in a household exposed to various religions, Dean attended a Jewish school but was taught how to cross herself correctly before mass. She also spoke of her first day as a Brown professor, young and nervous, during which a student mistook her for another student. “These experiences are pretty banal versions of the constant and complicated psychological and cultural negotiations all of us are forced to engage in,” she said. “They aren’t always pleasant, but they keep you alert. You are forced to think at every minute about where you are and who you are and mostly about who you are not.
Changes to the first-year unit system designed to even the workload for peer counselors led to some unintended consequences, as many counselors faced the daunting task of getting to know 80 or more new students. This year’s first-years were divided into 22 units with approximately 80 students in most units, said Jennifer Bauer ’06, a residential counselor in Emery-Wooley. Bauer has 78 first-years and four counselors in her unit. Last year the residence halls were divided into about 30 units. The counselor-to-student ratio ranged from 1:8.7 to 1:20 depending on the unit, said Director of Student Life Jean Joyce-Brady. That spread narrowed this year, with units falling between a 1:15 to 1:22 ratio. The national average counselor-to-student ratio is 1:40, Joyce-Brady said. The restructuring came in response to complaints from counselors about the disparity in the number of first-years they were responsible for, she said. But several counselors said that even though the difference in ratios of counselors to first-years shrank this year, their overall workload increased with the size of their units. “The kids always have someone to go to, but it is harder for counselors to make sure we know all of the firstyears,” Bauer said. There are about 90 counselors, Bauer said. In the past, most units had one residential counselor, one minority peer counselor and one woman peer counselor. Now units have between three and five counselors, with the number of RCs, MPCs and WPCs varying from unit to unit. Some units must share WPCs, Bauer said. “Being responsible for 40 students last year was difficult. Having 80 makes it that much harder,” said Zahara Kassam ’05, an MPC in Morriss-Champlin last year. Counselors have to memorize all of their first-years’ faces and get to know something special about each, even though there are other counselors in the unit, she said. The administration intended for each unit’s counselors to “work with the ratio model” by having each counselor be able to provide support for the entire unit, but focus on bonding with only a portion of their firstyears, Joyce-Brady said. But not everyone got the message. “It may be that communication needs to be strengthened,” Joyce-Brady said. “It’s not a reasonable model to
see CONVOCATION, page 7
see UNITS, page 9
Alex Palmer / Herald
Professor of History Carolyn Dean gave the Convocation address inside the OMAC due to inclement weather. In addition to the changed setting, students were invited to walk through a cardboard cutout of the Van Wickle gates.
Rainy weather puts a damper on 2007 Convocation festivities BY DANA AYOUB
Gray skies and empty gates greeted the 240th Opening Convocation yesterday. A few hapless students who hadn’t heard Convocation was moved to the OMAC due to rain milled aimlessly about the Van Wickle gates. Welcome, Class of 2007. Those fortunate enough to find their way to the OMAC heard the last speeches of Orientation, which covered everything from the weather to how to think critically. President Ruth Simmons welcomed all students, staff and faculty, telling them that “memories are not made by fair weather” and she was “just as happy to see you all here as I would be to see you on the Green.” Even though it did not rain during Convocation, the decision was made in the morning to move the event inside because of morning drizzle. The ceremonial procession through the Van Wickle Gates was also initially cancelled, though the Gates were left open all day for first-years who wanted to walk through. But after the speeches, Simmons announced that all could return to the Green as usual for the formal process ion of the Class of 2007. To the entering class, Simmons said “learning will take place in these halls and you will be changed for it” while professors “will engage you as partners of learning.” She ended her proclamation by advising students to “cherish your time here.” Professor of History Carolyn Dean delivered the keynote address, entitled “Critical Thinking.” Her speech stemmed from an evaluation she received last semester, in which a student criticized her for not defining critical thinking, even though she demanded it from the class. She found the definition hard to explain and told the incoming class she would try “to get at this elusive thing everyone says you should and will learn to do and some professors have the temerity not to define.” To clarify the intangible term, Dean related two anecdotes, the first of which described the multiple ways she
Brown Annual Fund exceeds goals by $700,000 BY ELLEN WERNECKE
Even amid a University-wide fiscal crisis and a national economic recession, the Brown Annual Fund celebrated a record year, exceeding its financial goals by $700,000. The Brown Annual Fund experienced a 15 percent increase in gifts in the past fiscal year, raising a total of $19.7 million in the period ending June 30. The success of this year’s campaign was primarily due to three challenge grants, large gifts dependent on the number of donors who participate in the fundraiser. The challenge grants, offered by Chancellor Stephen Robert ’62, the Joukowsky family and an anonymous alumnus, increased both the number of gifts and their amounts, said Annual Fund director Tammie Ruda. One of the largest areas of growth came from Brown’s most recent graduates, as the Joukowsky family challenged the classes of 1993 to 2003 to give to the
Annual Fund. The number of donors from those 10 classes alone rose 22 percent from last year, Ruda said. “This year’s giving represented an enormous vote of confidence,” said Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and special advisor to President Ruth Simmons. “At a time when the economy was as tough as it was, for people to step up to increase the level of support shows an incredible boost for the University and what the president has proposed,” Spies said. “The University needs growth (in the Annual Fund) to keep the Initiatives for Academic Enrichment on schedule,” Ruda said, adding that none of the University’s projects are tied directly to the Annual Fund, tuition or other sources of revenue. “We’re underwriting some of the most exciting projects on campus right now.”
I N S I D E W E D N E S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 3 , 2 0 0 3 Rain and cautious optimism bring in the first faculty meeting of the year page 3
Promoting crosscultural integration, sophomore counsels South African children page 3
John Brougher ’06 tells the RIAA to give up its futile attack on file sharing column, page 11
see ANNUAL FUND, page 9
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Confronting his addition, Ian Cropp ’05 explains sports gambling’s allure sports column, page 12
Women’s soccer begins season with the edge of international summer play sports, page 12
rain high 67 low 59