THE BROWN DAILY HERALD F RIDAY, F EBR UAR Y 16, 2007
Volume CXLII, No. 18
Since 1866, Daily Since 1891
46 percent of students approve of UCS, a third don’t know BY AUBRY BRACCO CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures Davis Guggenheim ’86 was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for his collaboration with Al Gore in “An Inconvenient Truth.”
“Inconvenient Truth” director recalls Derbies, house parties BY REBECCA JACOBSON STAFF WRITER
As an undergraduate, Davis Guggenheim ’86 said he could “outsleep” anyone at the Rockefeller Library. A self-described “total geek,” Guggenheim said he would go to the Rock every night and would sleep at his carrel for three hours instead of working on his senior thesis. Twenty years later, Guggenheim enjoys slightly more auspicious evening plans. On Feb. 25, he will don a tuxedo and walk the red carpet with former Vice President Al Gore in hopes of collecting an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for his directorial work on “An Inconvenient Truth.”
“It’s thrilling,” Guggenheim told The Herald. “It’s not just a golden statue — it means that our message will reach out that much more.” Guggenheim admitted he did not always have such faith in “An Inconvenient Truth,” which tells the story of Gore’s crusade to
cian would be “a terrible idea.” But after viewing the first 15 minutes of Gore’s presentation, Guggenheim realized he had to find a way to make the film work. Filming “An Inconvenient Truth” proved to be a “race against time,” Guggenheim said. Gore, Guggenheim and the film’s producers wanted to complete it before the Sundance Film Festival in January 2006. They finished it in six months, during a time when news was breaking about the realities of global climate change, according to Guggenheim. Hurricane Katrina, the strength of which some scientists
FEATURE fight global warming and is the third-highest-grossing documentary in the United States to date. When producers Laurie David and Lawrence Bender first approached him about directing the documentary, he voiced apprehension. Guggenheim said he initially thought a film on a slide show and an out-of-work politi-
Presidents Day Weekend may be upon us, but students at Brown and colleges around the country know surprisingly little about past presidents of the United States, according to a recent study from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. The study utilized test scores from a 60-question test administered to 14,000 college freshmen and seniors at 50 universities across the country in the fall of 2005. The survey asked questions about topics including economics, international relations and American history. Students were asked multiple choice questions about such presidents as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. “There was less gain in knowledge (from freshman to seniors) about American presidents than
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there was on all the other subjects,” said Gary Scott, senior research fellow at ISI, a conservative group. First-year students answered 57.2 percent of the questions about presidents correctly, and seniors did only marginally better, answering 57.6 percent correctly. At Brown, seniors did worse than freshmen on the presidential section — first-years scored 62.5 percent, and seniors managed to correctly answer just 59.8 percent. Overall, Brown finished 48th of 50 in American History and 44th of 50 in American politics. Scott noted that “the lesserknown colleges scored better,” on the test but that such esteemed institutions as “Cornell, Yale and Duke (universities) scored close” to Brown. Rhodes College had the best performance in the sections on American politics and world af-
CHOSEN “SUN” Charlie Custer ’08, also know as rapper Sun Zoo, releases his latest album titled “Can’t See the Forest” online today
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THE HERALD POLL Tristan Freeman ’07, vice president of UCS, said the large number of students with no opinion of UCS is not a reflection of the current leadership. He noted the importance of “re-educating students about what UCS does on a fundamental level.” Freeman said he was “extremely pleased” that the poll showed more student support for UCS than in the past — the 46 percent who voiced support for UCS this semester is up from the 38.9 percent who did so in last semester’s poll. But approval for UCS is still down from a year ago, when 53.5 percent of students continued on page 6
“ B L A C K B E LT S A N D I V O R Y T O W E R S ”
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Students know little about U.S. presidents, study shows BY CAMERON LEE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Over a third of undergraduates have no opinion of their elected representatives on the Undergraduate Council of Students, according to a recent Herald poll. Asked whether they approve or disapprove of the way UCS is handling its job, 46 percent said they approved, while 20 percent said they disapproved. The 34 percent who said they didn’t know or had no answer is similar to student responses in past polls — 34.5 percent had no opinion of UCS a year ago, and 42 percent gave that response last November. The poll this semester was conducted Jan. 29 to Feb.2 and has a margin of error of 4.7 percent with 95 percent confidence. The Herald poll conducted a year ago had a margin of error of 4.6 percent, and the poll last fall had a margin of error of 4.4 percent. “I don’t think people are going to have a strong opinion about UCS unless they come to meetings or UCS projects affect them,” said UCS Communications Chair Michael
Glassman ’09. But Glassman said he was not surprised that the number of students with no opinion of UCS dropped from last semester. “It reflects everyone being at Brown a semester longer,” he said, noting that students who weren’t aware of UCS in the fall may have had a chance to learn or get involved with the organization since the last poll.
5 CAMPUS NEWS
Eunice Hong / Herald Boston College professor Davarian Baldwin spoke on race and social thought yesterday afternoon.
fairs, Colorado State University had the highest marks on the economics portion and Grove City College students ranked first in American history. But while knowledge of presidential facts is important, it is not indicative of how educated someone is, said Associate Professor of History Michael Vorenberg, who has published works on Abraham Lincoln. “I don’t know if the highest priority should be given to knowledge about what was considered to be basic political knowledge 100 years ago,” Vorenberg said. Vorenberg was reluctant to put much stock in the study, questioning its ability to assess the quality of a student’s education. “I would want to know who was polled by this organization and what was its purpose in conducting these polls,” he said. “If you assume the facts that this poll
Rush underway as Greek houses seek to up student membership
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SHAKE YOUR POM-POMS Trying to offer students healthier ier choices, the Gate introduced the POM line of pomegranate juice to its shelves
BY RACHEL ARNDT SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Rush is in full swing on campus as Greek houses recruit new members for the coming year. The deadline for recruiting, known as Super Deadline Day, is Mar. 6. Starting next Wednesday, the fraternities, sororities and societies will begin to offer bids — or invitations — to students they want to recruit. If the interest is mutual, the student turns in the bid card Mar. 4 to 6, said Alex Dean ’08, program house committee chair for Residential Council and a member of the Alpha Delta Phi Society. Rush — the one time each year when program and Greek houses can formally add new members — is especially impor-
11 OPINIONS
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
POINT-COUNTERPOINT Trevor Gleason ’07 and Amy Littlefield ‘09 debate the finer points, the tactics and the power of protesting
tant for houses that are low on numbers. Greek and program houses are required to have at least 22 in-house members at any given time. Failure to do so can adversely affect a house in the semiannual program house review conducted by ResCouncil. Greek Council, which is made up of all on-campus Greek houses except for St. Anthony Hall, sets the start and end dates for rush. The council also regulates when official events can be held. Currently, houses can hold official rush events Monday through Thursday, 8 to 10 p.m. The council also determines whether alcohol can be served at events: Alcohol is now prohibited at official events, though there is “no specif-
12 SPORTS
M. SQUASH MASHES MIT The men’s squash team nabbed its third victory of the season, taking all nine games from MIT in its final match of the season
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