M O N D A Y OCTOBER 6, 2003
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVIII, No. 86
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
www.browndailyherald.com
Times ed. Siegal describes a postBlair newspaper BY MILES HOVIS
The past five months have been the worst in Allan Siegal’s 43 years at The New York Times. The assistant managing editor and newly-appointed standards editor discussed pressing issues in modern journalism and the aftermath of the Jayson Blair scandal in a lecture Saturday in Carmichael Auditorium. Siegal has been a central figure in the highly publicized ethics reforms at The Times that followed the discovery of Blair’s plagiarism and fabrications last spring. Blair resigned May 2. What followed was a a movement concerning the newspaper’s handling of Blair from both staff and readers that led to changes in the paper’s editorial policy and personnel, including the resignation of executive editor Howell Raines, Siegal said. Siegal said the Blair scandal was a catalyst for action at The Times. He described “an orgy of rebellion against (the) leadership” of the paper, as staff members rose up against an editorial hierarchy they saw as distant and unresponsive. But the last month at the paper has been a “cheering time” in at least one way, Siegal said. He said the staff is no longer afraid to “push back or speak out” against perceived mismanagement. That’s helped uncover sources of discontent on a much smaller scale than the Blair scandal, he said. Siegal said one staffer came to him recently with a complaint about a photo of California gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenneger pointing to a crowd of supporters. The employee felt Schwarzenneger’s gesture resembled a Nazi salute. Siegal said he disagreed that the photo was an example of bias, but that it revealed a new open atmosphere at The Times. After the scandal, Siegal was selected to head a standards committee to determine how newsroom culture at The Times led to the Blair controversy. Despite his protests, the committee was dubbed the “Siegal Committee.” Siegal said the committee conducted an exhaustive investigation of recent articles that readers claimed contained errors, intentional or otherwise. He said The Times set up a Web site for public reporting of Blair’s fabrications which also drew complaints about a large number of articles not written by Blair. As for journalistic policy, Siegal said The Times now requires more accurate documentation of sources,
Kerry Miller / Herald
New York Times Assistant Editor Allan Siegal spoke about life at the paper post-Jayson Blair.
see SIEGAL, page 4
Homeschooled students at Brown apply and adjust to college life like everyone else BY HANNAH BASCOM
For the approximately 25 students at Brown who were homeschooled during high school, the undergraduate admission and social adjustment process is just like everyone else’s. Homeschooled students submit the same applications, unlike at other schools, which require additional SAT II scores or other supplemental materials, said Michael Goldberger, director of undergraduate admission. “For us, everybody goes through the exact same process. They may have different credentials, but we just treat them
BSR plans to expand to daytime programming BY ALEXIS KUNSAK
Although Brown Student Radio is an independent student-run station, it must receive approval from The Wheeler School — which means not airing anything “that might offend somebody’s grandma,” according to the BSR station manual. That’s because the grade school owns BSR’s broadcast signal and can decide what material is suitable for its listeners. But soon, BSR may not have to worry about offending Providence-area grandmothers ever again. The student-run station applied to the Federal Communications Commission three years ago to purchase its own space on a new signal from a tower in South Providence. The signal would allow BSR to expand its listenership to all of Providence and other parts of Rhode Island. BSR competed with hundreds of other applicants
for space on the signal and learned over the summer that the FCC narrowed the field to six, mostly religious organizations, said BSR General Manager Shauna Duffy ’04. Negotiations are now underway between BSR and the other six stations to share space, pending approval from the FCC. The signal change would give BSR more editorial independence but also increase its volume of programming. The station currently airs a variety of music, sports and talk shows nightly between 7 p.m. and 2 a.m. But the station hopes to expand to time slots with less competition from other forms of entertainment, mainly primetime television, Duffy said. With more hours available, BSR could include
like everyone else,” Goldberger said. Because some high schools now no longer give grades, the absence of graded transcripts poses no additional problems for homeschooled applicants, he added. Last year, of the 50 homeschoolers who applied to Brown, 10 were admitted and six matriculated. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of homeschooled students nationwide is increasing by as much as 15 to 20 percent annually. But the number of applications Brown receives from homeschooled students has not increased in recent years, Goldberger said. Once homeschoolers arrive at Brown, like everyone else they have different experiences, Goldberger said. “For kids who still went to school to do band, to play sports … they probably have no trouble adjusting socially. For kids who didn’t get to interact there are probably some problems,” he said. Ethan Wingfield ’07 said he has had no trouble adjusting socially at Brown because he had to seek out social activities and friendships as a homeschooler. “To develop social skills as a homeschooler, you have to actively pursue getting to know people — people who do have much more genuine people skills,” he said. Wingfield’s family homeschooled all six of their children. “My parents like the results that they’ve been getting. Homeschoolers tend to be very advanced academically, socially and developmentally,” he said. Homeschoolers have no more problems handling the academic load than other students, Goldberger said. In fact, some said they felt they are more prepared for the hands-off approach of the New Curriculum. “Brown academics are more similar to homeschooling — they’re self-governed,” said Justin Fike ’07, who was
see BSR, page 4 see HOMESCHOOL, page 7
I N S I D E M O N D AY, O C T O B E R 6 , 2 0 0 3 “You Can Count on Me” star Laura Linney ’86 talks about her path to the big screen arts & culture,page 3
Eli Swiney ’04 sees a coming crisis in the Republican Party as the primaries near column,page 11
Jonathan Liu ’07 reveals which female author liberal males drool over column, page 11
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Brown football loses home-opener Governor’s Cup to URI for third year in a row sports, page 12
Red Sox fan Kate Klonick ’06 argues why Boston shouldn’t win the series sports column, page 12
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