The Brown Daily Herald F riday, A pril 4, 2008
Volume CXLIII, No. 45
Since 1866, Daily Since 1891
THE HERALD POLL
SPOTLIGHT
Professor solves a meteor mystery Students split on where U.
should spend financial aid
By Chaz Firestone Features Editor
72 percent think U. should fund more aid over new dorm
Last September, something strange landed near the rural Peruvian village of Carancas. Two months later, so did Peter Schultz. One was an extraterrestrial fireball that struck the Earth at 10,000 miles per hour, formed a bubbling crater nearly 50 feet wide and afflicted local villagers and livestock with a mysterious illness. The other is the Brown geologist who may have figured out why. The fiery mass shot across the morning sky bursting and crackling like fireworks, villagers said after the Sept. 15 impact. An explosive crash tossed nearby locals to the ground, shattered windows one kilometer away and kicked up a massive dust cloud, covering one man from head to toe in a fine white powder. Many thought the streaking fireball — brighter than the sun, by some accounts — was an aerial attack from neighboring Chile. Curious shepherds and farmers approached the crash site to find a smoking crater reminiscent of a Hollywood film, laden with rocks and stirring with bubbling water that emitted a foul vapor. But curiosity
By Joanna Wohlmuth Senior Staff Writer
Courtesy of brown.edu
continued on page 4
Professor of Geological Sciences Peter Schultz
Kristof: Don’t get apathetic about Darfur By Alex Roehrkasse Senior Staff Writer
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof applauded activists’ response to the violence in Sudan’s Darfur region yesterday, but called on Americans not to grow fatigued and apathetic toward the atrocities that continue to ravage the troubled region. Kristof, a columnist and for-
mer reporter for the New York Times, recounted with vivid and often gruesome detail stories of systematic rape, mutilation and murder that he has collected in his 10 visits to Darfur. “I don’t just want to inform you. I want to galvanize you,” Kristof told about 400 people in Sayles Hall. “Washington has provided leadership when national interests are at stake, but whenever
national values are at stake, then, in fact, leadership comes from folks like you.” Kristof explained that there’s a special imperative to address the conflict in Sudan because the killings, which the White House and Congress have identified as genocide, represent a “tearing apart of the human fabric.” He acknowlcontinued on page 9
The overwhelming majority of undergraduates — 92.7 percent — support the University’s new financial aid policy, a recent Herald poll found. But on the details, including whether it should further increase aid for those who have it or boost the number of students receiving aid, students are split more evenly. When asked about the University’s decision to ease the financial burden on students from lower- and middle-income families, 71.7 percent said they strongly approve of the new policy, and another 21 percent said they somewhat approve. When asked about alternate investments, 72.2 percent said that they thought the University should spend its money on financial aid, while 19.1 percent preferred the option of a new dorm. “The real positive is people support improvements in the financial aid program,” Dean of Admission Jim Miller ’73 said. “We’ve tried to respond to where we felt the most students could benefit.” Students were divided on the question of whether to expand financial aid to include more students or increase aid to those already receiving it. 49.1 percent thought the University should offer aid to more students, while 37.2 percent thought it’s more important for Brown to increase aid to students already receiving it. “As a student on financial aid, (the aid package is) still not necessarily enough, so I see how people think they should get more,” said Nermarie Velazquez ’10. “But it would be good
if the University could spread aid to more students. ... (The new financial aid initiative is) a good first step but they could still work on it.” Amandeep Gill ’08.5 also said that “a lot of students (who) are getting aid aren’t getting enough,” and suggested the split poll results may reflect the proportion of Brown students receiving aid. Currently, around 41 percent of students qualify for need-based aid and the number may rise slightly — by 1 or 2 percentage points — in the next year as the new financial aid initiative is implemented, said Director of Financial Aid Jim Tilton. In creating the new financial aid program, “we wanted to address the needs of students having problems making ends meet with financing their education,” Tilton said. When asked to choose where the University should focus its funding, 72.2 percent of students said that they thought financial aid should be prioritized ahead of the construction of a new dorm, while 19.1 percent said a new dorm should come first. “I would probably prefer that aid be expanded” before new dorms are built, said Matt Jacobs ’11. Because the University does not have the financial resources that some other elite universities do, “if people really want Brown to increase aid they need to focus on growing the endowment. ... They definitely couldn’t build new dorms for a while,” he added. “I would want a new dorm instead because some are really old and falling apart,” said Kristen Sebasky ’10. “But I understand for people on financial aid that they have a problem with it.” In response to an increasing amount of student loans being issued and the rise in the average amount of debt students face after graduation, continued on page 6
W a l l I n t h e f ami l y
THE HERALD POLL
No surprise: students cutting classes often By Max Mankin Senior Staff Writer
Not all Brown students may be like Ferris Bueller. But a majority of them skipped class at least once in an average week in March. According to a recent Herald poll, only 44.0 percent of students said they did not skip class for the week of March 3. The poll, conducted from March 10 to 12, also found that 30.9 percent of students said they skipped class once that week, 18.8 percent two to three times, 2.3 percent four times and 3.4 percent five times or
3
ARTS & CULTURE
more. The results stunned neither professors nor students. “That sounds pretty accurate,” said Cr ystal Vance ’11, who said she does not skip class often.“But I know people who skip class at least once a day,” she said. “My classes are way too small” to skip, she added. Barrett Hazeltine, professor emeritus of engineering who teaches ENGN 0900: “Managerial Decision Making,” which has 389 students, said students “feel less invested” in larger classes because
feeling too free? Take a step back in time to a 1945 Japanese internment camp at the debut of ‘The Mikado’
www.browndailyherald.com
Meara Sharma / Herald
The Visual Arts Department Undergraduate Group gathered last night to paint the walls of the List Art Center stairwell.
continued on page 8
5
CAMPUS NEWS
Turn off the light! Andreas Kraemer analyzes the future and politics of global climate change initiatives
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OPINIONS
Admissions season Sarah Rosenthal ‘11 is concerned about the college admissions craze gripping the country
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
Rain, 44 / 41
tomorrow’s weather Just when the weather was getting nicer, expect more rain — and more reasons not to get out of bed for class
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