M O N D A Y NOVEMBER 8, 2004
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXIX, No. 105
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
www.browndailyherald.com
DPS continues arming process, though no end date announced BY AIDAN LEVY
Though students will be informed prior to the arming of Department of Public Safety officers, University officials decline to say when that day will be, saying only that DPS is “well into” the arming process. In response to a perceived increase in crime on and around the Brown campus over the past decade, President Ruth Simmons decided last December to arm the Department of Public Safety with pistols. Each DPS officer is currently involved in more than 200 hours of rigorous training to prepare for the change, which is yet to take place. “It’s a piece of the puzzle that’s too big to ignore,” said Chief of Public Safety Paul Verrecchia. “We’ll be able to take on more responsibility and still rely on the Providence Police Department, but more as an equal partner,” Verrecchia said. While DPS has declined since last December to provide a timetable, Simmons sent a campus-wide announcement on Dec. 1, 2003, that projected the implementation to take between 12 and 18 months. “We’re well into it,” said Walter Hunter, vice president for administration. “But it’s not in anyone’s best interest for a timetable to be announced.” Simmons decided to arm DPS following two years of “serious and intense discussions” with officers, administrators, faculty and students, according to the Dec. 1 announcement. The issue was first introduced in 1992, when then-President Vartan Gregorian decided against arming on several different occasions, arguing that students felt sufficiently safe without an armed campus police force. With weapons capability, officers will
Nick Neely / Herald
Hans Dejong ’08 and Benjamin Boas ’06 spent Sunday afternoon on the Main Green with Brown’s Out of Hand Juggling Club.
Printing card system cuts cluster paper use by about half BY JONATHAN HERMAN
The PAW Prints program instituted at the beginning of this year has greatly reduced the number of pages printed by students, according to Kara Kelley, director of personal technology for Computing and Information Services. The number of pages printed at computer clusters under the PAW Prints program in September and October is only about half the number printed in the same months last year,
see DPS, page 4
Kelley said. Brown students and faculty printed more than 1 million pages in the first two months of the last academic year. This year, they’ve printed about 500,000 pages. Despite policy changes, discarded printouts still litter the printers at the main computing clusters, although it appears that many fewer sheets are discarded than were last year.
When the Ivy League implemented a seven-week “rest period” for all student-athletes in 2002, coaches and players alike were unhappy with the rule. But a revision of the rule to allow coaches more flexibility in scheduling the rest period has pacified concerns that it was unnecessary and could put Ivy teams at a disadvantage when competing against teams from other conferences. The Council of Ivy Group Presidents mandated in the summer of 2002 that coaches schedule seven weeks of “rest” per year, in one-week increments. During “rest periods,” student-athletes could not practice with coaches and could not use some athletic facilities. Those restrictions were in place for the 2002-2003 academic year. “The main thing was to have the stu-
dents have more time to decide on their own what to do, with the idea perhaps to pursue other extracurriculars or maybe spend more time studying,” said Carolyn CampbellMcGovern, senior associate director of the Ivy League. Opponents of the rule argued that Ivy League teams would be put at a disadvantage when competing with other Division I schools that had no such rest period and already had the advantage of athletic scholarships. They were also unhappy with being told how much rest time they needed by a group that was not directly involved with athletics. “It was rough to deal with,” said women’s soccer head coach Phil Pincince. “It ruined the rhythm we were trying to build with our players.” Diane Short, head coach of the vol-
leyball team, said the restrictions were too hard on her players. “The studentathletes wanted to come in and practice, and here they were not allowed to,” she said. At Brown, student-athletes argued that as students who were smart enough to attend an Ivy League institution, they were more than capable of scheduling their own time. “It was frustrating because it felt like some bureaucracy was telling us how to spend our time,” said baseball pitcher Shaun McNamara ’06. A year later, the league acquiesced to the concerns of athletic directors, adopting a proposal from Ivy athletics directors that the league allow coaches to schedule the 49 rest days one at a time.
see REST, page 4
see IDOL, page 7
see PRINTING, page 4
W E AT H E R F O R E C A S T
I N S I D E M O N D AY, N O V E M B E R 8 , 2 0 0 4 Jed Resnick’s ’06 familiarity with musicals helps bring Brownbrokers’ “Psyche” to life arts & culture, page 3
RISD Works’ current exhibit of alums’ work captures images of Cuba and New Orleans arts & culture, page 3
With Bush back for four more years, Aaron Cutler ’08 is worried about a prolife Supreme Court column, page 11
BY ROBIN STEELE
Starting next semester, students at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte can do more than just watch the TV hit show “American CAMPUS WATCH Idol” — they can receive credit for watching it. The first-time elective “Examining American Idol through Musical Critique” will be offered by the music department in the spring of 2005, to coincide with the premiere of the show’s fourth season in January. James Grymes, a professor in the Department of Music at UNC-Charlotte, will teach the “Idol” course. He said students in his class will discuss basic music vocabulary and the art of performance while developing criteria to determine the ideal “American Idol.” The class is available to music and nonmusic majors and will require students to watch the show weekly, discuss voting results, participate in online discussion forums and evaluate contestant performances. Students are not, however, required to vote. Grymes described himself as a big fan of “American Idol.” According to Grymes, he came up with the idea for the class when he was watching the show last season. “Randy (Jackson) would say that (the contestants) sounded really pitchy. Most people wouldn’t know what that meant,” said Grymes. He decided that the show would make a good learning tool for
Upon a year’s review, changes to mandatory rest period meet approval of coaches, athletes BY CHRIS HATFIELD
UNC-Charlotte takes ‘Idol’ worship to new level
Women’s ice hockey defeats Cornell and Colgate universities, despite trouble with injuries sports, page 12
Football bounces back from last week’s loss to Penn by defeating Yale University 24-17 sports, page 12
MONDAY
sunny high 48 low 27
TUESDAY
sunny high 42 low 24