Wednesday, September 26, 2007 by The Brown Daily Herald

The Brown Daily Herald Wednesday, S eptember 26, 2007

Volume CXLII, No. 76

U.’s performance improves in Trojan sexual health survey By Chaz Kelsh Contributing Writer

Brown ranked 39th in a recent survey of sexual health resources at 139 American colleges and universities, up from 44th in last year’s survey. The survey, called the Annual Sexual Health Report Card, was commissioned by the manufacturer of Trojan condoms and performed by research firm Sperling’s BestPlaces. Released Sept. 10, the survey gave Brown a grade point average of 3.09 — a B. Last year, the survey’s first year, Brown received a C grade of 2.1. The increase is especially meaningful because last year’s survey surveyed only 100 schools. Brown’s improved performance is more a result of the cursory nature of the survey, than of improvements in campus health programs, Health Educator Naomi Ninneman told The Herald. “It’s not like some big new thing exists,” she said. “We can’t compare last year to this year and say, ‘that’s something we did very differently.’ ” However, Ninneman added, this year’s result “felt more accurate” than last year’s. Brown’s sexual health resources earned two A’s in the survey, for Web site and hours of operation. Brown received seven B’s — for a separate sexual health awareness program, the availability of contraceptives, HIV and STD testing, lecture or outreach programs, student groups and sexual assault programs — and two C’s, for drop-in appointment availability and anonymous advice through e-mail or a column.

Two of those grades are significant improvements over last year, when Brown received F’s in the contraceptive availability and anonymous advice categories. The survey categories are based on what students need to be healthy, said Melle Hock, a representative for the Trojan brand. However, the survey did not contact individual students for their opinions. “You would need an overwhelming response” in order to have any statistical significance, Hock said. Ninneman expressed concern that the survey might have overlooked some parts of Brown’s approach to sexual health. “We have a lot of questions about what this really tells us. I think there are some things that are more invisible that Brown does,” she said, mentioning table-slipping as a large part of Health Education’s outreach that surveyors might miss. She also said she wondered whether surveyors knew about the sex advice columns that appear in post-, The Herald’s weekly supplement, and which Web site they were evaluating — The Health Services site or the separate Health Education site. Questioning the B grade for contraceptive availability, Ninneman said condoms are “about as close to free as you’re going to get without being all the way there,” adding that students can take a condom from their RC’s door and then pay the 15 cents later, if necessary. As for outreach programs, she said, “It seems like (sexual health) continued on page 7

T h e $ 1 6 0 , 0 0 0 q u e st i on

$160,000 ...so as to end up flaccid, immobile, alone on the carpet of a dorm room, shirtless, wheezing, intellectually menopausal, cutting lines on an iBook® with a pre-paid Discover® card, watching consecutive hours of user-generated porn, in the dark, in a hoodie, apolitical, remorseless, eating saltand-vinegar potato chips from a bag without a napkin: like some hero, pretending to be otherwise, on a Wednesday, during discussion section. Carl Dickerson / Herald Students investigate a mysterious sign outside the Modern Culture and Media building on Thayer Street yesterday. The $160,000 figure may refer to the University’s tuition for four years.

CHEM 0330 over-enrollment sends students for loop Nearly 600 students are currently enrolled in CHEM 0330: “Equilibrium, Rate and Structure,” a popular introductory chemistry course that has historically accommodated only 510. The class, which comprises mostly underclassmen, is a prerequisite for higher-level courses in inorganic and organic chemistry and

FEATURE

www.browndailyherald.com

continued on page 4

By George Miller Contributing Writer

Last fall, while his classmates were preparing for their sophomore year at Brown, Dan Parnes ’10 was on a plane to Bangkok, Thailand. Parnes had taken a year’s leave from school — and would spend eight months of it traveling in Southeast Asia and South America.

CAMPUS WATCH

have to sit on the stairs.” The unwieldy class size presents an even greater challenge for labs. CHEM 0330 requires five hours of lab a week in addition to the three hours of lecture. The increased enrollment makes it difficult for students to arrange to switch lab section times or make up missed sections. “Everybody needs to be a little

Math prof. doubles as musician

By Sophia Li Contributing Writer

INSIDE:

a requirement for biology, engineering and chemistry concentrators. Currently, there are three lecture classes, all held in MacMillan 117, which has a capacity of 300 — but even with three separate lecture time options, students are squeezed for space. “If you don’t come to the lecture early, you might not be able to get a seat,” said Herald Contributing Writer Noura Choudhury ’11. “There are usually about 20 students who

By Erika Jung Contributing Writer

Parnes ’10 takes year off to travel around the world

Taking time off had been at the back of Parnes’ mind even before his first year at Brown. “I toyed with (deferring between high school and college), but I felt that I should go to school ... and then when I graduated from college, I would take time off to travel,” Parnes said. “I came to school and I realized that as much as I loved it, I just wasn’t ready to be here and wasn’t ready to make the most of my time here.” “I met a frightening amount of older people who had had that plan too, to take time off after college to travel, and they just never did,” he said. “The more people I talked to who said that, the more

Since 1866, Daily Since 1891

Min Wu / Herald

Dan Parnes ’10

ing his freshman year, Parnes worked constantly, waiting tables in a restaurant in his hometown of Sun Valley, Idaho. He was also employed for a two-week conference by an investment firm based in New York. With his earnings from the summer and money he had saved from previous employment, Parnes paid his way to and through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia,

frightened I got that I would do the same thing.” Parnes then resolved not to delay his travels until after graduation. “My parents were really supportive and open to the idea. They believe that traveling opens your mind,” Parnes said, adding that his mother had spent time in Mexico and Europe, and his father in Africa, in their youth. During the summer follow-

Universal Applicant College applicants may soon dump the Common Application for the Universal College Application.

continued on page 4

CAMPUS NEWS

CLIMATE CHANGE Next time a cell phone goes off in class, it may be a text message tracking climate change.

Alex Kontorovich’s family has been steeped in math for generations. But he is the only member of his family who studied number theory and also became a musician. “That was sort of an accident,” he said. Kontorovich, who is 27 and an assistant professor of mathematics, arrived at Brown in September after completing undergraduate work at Princeton University and receiving a Ph.D. from Columbia University. As he said a friend of his pointed out, the Bears were really the only choice after the Lions and Tigers. Kontorovich is currently doing research in number theory, a branch of mathematics concerned largely with the study of prime numbers — the building blocks of numbers, he said. There is a vast catalog of unanswered questions in number theory, he explained, some posed millennia ago by the Greeks. “Most of these problems are hopeless,” Kontorovich said. “If these problems have been around

OPINIONS

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

Baku olympics? Adam Cambier ‘09 roots for the underdogs in the other 2016 Olympic competition — for host city.

Courtesy of brown.edu

Assistant Professor of Mathematics Alex Kontorovich

for 2,000 years, what says I’m going to be able to completely solve it?” But, he added, there are always partial answers to be found. A classic example of a number theory problem is the Goldbach conjecture — the assertion that any even number greater than two can continued on page 4

12 SPORTS

Balancing Act The Herald speaks with Alicia Sacramone ‘10 about her decision to become a pro gymnast.

News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com