The Brown Daily Herald T uesday, F ebr uar y 5, 2008
Volume CXLIII, No. 10
Since 1866, Daily Since 1891
Lupe Fiasco booked for Spring Weekend BY Allison Wentz Staff Writer
Rapper Lupe Fiasco is scheduled to perform Friday, April 11, as part of Spring Weekend, a spokeswoman for Atlantic Records, which represents the artist, confirmed. David Horn ’08, the booking chair of the Brown Concert Agency, which is in charge of bringing the entertainment to campus, said that BCA “can’t confirm or deny” the Spring Weekend lineup at this point. It is not yet clear which other artists will be performing at Spring Weekend, but Horn said BCA plans to announce the full lineup later this month, once all of the bookings are confirmed. BCA wants to make Spring Weekend more of a festival this year, he said, trying to connect the two main concerts on Friday and Saturday by adding entertainment from other student groups — such as dance, comedy and other musical performances. They are still in the early stages of coordinating these plans, however, Horn said, so the details
Journalist Risen ’77 subpoenaed
have not been worked out. Spring Weekend, which is scheduled for April 10-13 this year, will once again include solo performer Dave Binder, according to the singer’s Web site. A folk singer known for his tours around college campuses, Binder is considered a staple of Spring Weekend, performing covers of songs from several genres during his traditional Sunday afternoon show. Horn said that BCA members think that having shows Friday evening and Saturday afternoon “worked really well” last year and plan to keep this schedule. One of last year’s performers, The Roots, was initially scheduled to play on Thursday, but the show was moved to Friday because of conflicts with the band’s touring schedule. Horn said that BCA is still uncertain about locations for the weekend’s shows but that Meehan Auditorium will be the rain location for both. “I’m really looking forward to announcing the lineup in the coming weeks,” Horn said.
Kenya on students’ minds By Catherine Straut Staff Writer
When she was in Kenya last year, Monica Melgar ’08 used to take the bus from Nairobi to Kisumu. She’s back in the U.S. now, but as unrest in the 35-million person, former British colony grows, Kenya is still on her mind. She learned that a bus on the route she took was recently stopped and burned, and its female passengers raped. “Thinking about how many times I took a bus from Nairobi to Kisumu really brings it home,” she said. Kenya has experienced violent conflict since the results of its Dec. 27 elections were posted. Charges of a fraudulent election have surfaced ever since President Mwai Kibaki’s sudden victory over the leading candidate, Raila Odinga, spurring tribal violence and chaos. As that violence continues, Kenyan students at Brown and those connected to the East African nation are concerned for family and friends. Rahul Nene ’09, who lived in Kenya for 14 years, said he believed the first few weeks of violence were the worst and hopes that the situation will begin to calm down because of international attention to the situation. Nene still has extended family living in Nairobi. He said they are all safe because the more metropolitan areas in Kenya seem to be less affected by the tribal violence that has become common in the slums and countryside.
Gov’t seeks source for alum’s CIA book By Jenna Stark Senior Staff Writer
3
METRO
www.browndailyherald.com
continued on page 4
continued on page 4
Courtesy of Wikimedia
Rapper Lupe Fiasco is scheduled to perform on campus on April 11.
Students question task force on advising By George Miller Senior Staff Writer
Students and faculty discussed how to get faculty members to be better advisers Monday night at a sparsely attended forum in Salomon 101 about the recommendations of the Task Force for Undergraduate Education. Attendees asked for details about the report’s recommendations, while task force members shared discussions about improving the undergraduate experience at Brown which were not included in the report. The task force has been discussing improvements to the Brown education since last spring. It released
its preliminary report on Jan. 30, a set of 25 recommendations for improving students’ experiences on campus, with a particular focus on advising. This fall, the report will form the backbone of the University’s required self-study for its reaccreditation. The report will address the following: general education, concentrations, advising, pedagogy and assessment. Student speakers said faculty needed more incentive to take advising seriously, a sentiment members of the task force seemed to share. According to the report, only 70 percent of faculty, out of the 80 percent who are on campus at any given time, fulfill their duties as advisers.
Nun free-falls from the heavens into presidency
s t u d y a b roa d
By Leslie Primack Staff Writer
Courtesy of NASA.gov
NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft flew by Mercury on Jan. 14, giving Professor of Geological Sciences James Head PhD’69 and his team valuable information.
See Campus News, Page 3
continued on page 6
Will we matter? Probably not, says R.I. political buffs, referring to the Ocean State’s influence in the primary elections
Advising “isn’t a service, it’s a part of the curriculum,” said Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron, who chaired the task force. “It’s a requirement in the way that the writing requirement is required at Brown,” task force member Rakim Brooks ’09 told The Herald after the forum. “This campus really needs to have a serious discussion about the state of the university-college.” Members of the task force echoed the audience’s concerns about whether the report had enough “teeth” or “muscle,” particularly with regard to its advising recommendations. Bergeron called
New York Times reporter James Risen ’77 has become one of the latest journalists to be subpoenaed by a federal grand jury. A subpoena issued last week is attempting to force Risen to reveal confidential sources from a specific chapter in a book he wrote about the CIA, the New York Times reported Feb. 1. The chapter in question — in Risen’s 2006 book “State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration” — reported that the CIA had unsuccessfully attempted to gain access to Iran’s nuclear program, starting as early as during the Clinton administration. Risen and fellow New York Times writer Eric Lichtblau won a 2006 Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program. Risen’s “State of War” expanded on his reporting on the wiretapping program. None of the reporting from the chapter in question appeared in the Times. “We’re going to fight” the subpoena, said David Kelley, Risen’s lawyer. Risen may “file a motion with the court contending that the subpoena should not be enforced because it would violate the First Amendment,” said Kelley, a former U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York. According to the Times, the subpoena was delivered to the New York-based law firm representing Risen and has ordered his presence in front of a grand jury
5
CAMPUS NEWS
Squashed Players miss six courts in the Smith Swim Center, which closed after proving structurally unsound
11
OPINIONS
FEATURE
Sister Joan Lescinski PhD’81 is far from the stereotypical rulerwielding Catholic school nun. At the age of 60, she skydives, flies planes, laughs easily and recently became the first female president of St. Ambrose University. Lescinski moved into her new office in Davenport, Iowa, last October, after serving as president of St. Mar y-of-the-Woods College, a small women’s liberal arts school in Indiana. “She’s quick. She’s bright. She’s extraordinarily intelligent,” said Vicki Kosowsky, chief student development officer at St. Mary-ofthe-Woods College and Lescinski’s
Overpowering Kevin Roose ‘09.5 says media outlets are overdoing coverage of the presidential primaries
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
colleague since 1998. Lescinski’s colorful and at times risky lifestyle is no recent development. As a child, she went for rides in her uncle’s private plane, an experience that “engendered a real love of anything that flew,” she said. For her 40th birthday, a friend bought her a ride in a hot air balloon. When she turned 50, her parents gave her a unique birthday present: an offer to fund any trip or adventure and help their daughter fulfill a lifelong ambition. Lescinski instantly knew what she wanted to continued on page 8
tomorrow’s weather From the heavens, no nuns, but plenty of rain
Rainy, 57 / 33 News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com