The Brown Daily Herald M onday, A pril 7, 2008
Volume CXLIII, No. 46
Steal attempt: Hoops coach Robinson may go West
Becker ’09, Bell ’10 commence campaigns for UCS presidency
O ut i n t h e R a i n , for now
By Chaz Kelsh Senior Staf f Writer
By Stu Woo Senior Editor
He brought the Bears his offense, using elements of his alma mater’s team to lead them to title contention this year. He brought them pep and emotion, screaming animatedly at them
SPORTS from the bench. And he brought national ink, telling reporters about his brother-in-law, presidential candidate hopeful Barack Obama. Now, after two years in the small world of Brown and Ivy League hoops, a big-time program is luring men’s basketball Head Coach Craig Robinson to bring all that out West. Robinson is the top candidate
Joanna Wohlmuth / Herald
Sean Flanagan, a Northeastern University student and a transfer applicant, stopped by the Office of Admission Friday. See Campus News, page 5
continued on page 4
No easy way to move UEL, Brown tells community By Rachel Arndt Metro Editor
Putting Brown’s Urban Environmental Lab on a flatbed truck and driving it to a parking lot past the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center is only one of several options for the building that were discussed at an April 3 community meeting the University hosted to discuss its physical development. The UEL, along with two other buildings, is currently standing in the way of the University’s planned Mind Brain Behavior Building on Angell Street next to the Walk. To make way for the new home of the Department of Cognitive and Linguistics Sciences, the Department of Psychology and the administrative offices of the Brain Science Program, the University must submit an amendment to its Institutional Master Plan, the current version of which has already been approved by the city. Thursday’s meeting — made up mostly of East Side and Wayland Square residents and Brown administrators — was required by law “to show (the public) what is changing,” Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior adviser to the president, told community members. “It’s a good process to go through.” The UEL was converted from an old carriage house to hold the Center for Environmental Studies in 1981, and it was renovated in 1983 to become what Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies Harold Ward called the most “energy efficient building on campus,” according to a Nov. 7 article in The Herald
3
ARTS & CULTURE
The building aimed to be “a model house to show what can be accomplished in an urban environment with a solar greenhouse, insulation, water-conserving plumbing, and a recycling facility,” according to Encyclopedia Brunoniana. Along with the UEL, the two houses at 127 and 129 Angell Street must be “removed” before construction of the Mind Brain Behavior Building begins in spring 2009, McCormick said. Both houses are owned by the University and rented to students. Though the University has named 11 possible sites for the building — including Pembroke Field and the parking lot of Barus and Holley — it has had little luck finding homes for the building on campus. During the meeting, Chris Tompkins, president of the College Hill Neighborhood Association, called Pembroke Field “the most underutilized space in all of Providence.” According to Spies, the field is the “largest undeveloped site” Brown owns. Moving the buildings would be expensive, Spies said. Relocating the Peter Green House last summer cost about $5.5 million, according to McCormick. “We can’t find a site where we get more benefit than damage,” McCormick said. The concerns range from the grade of hills to damaging trees while moving the buildings. “If we exhaust all the possibilities ... the importance of (the Mind Brain Behavior Building) is such that we would have to go ahead,” Spies said. “We think six to eight
‘reckless’ runaway Jessica Goldschmidt ‘10 plays a runaway wife in PW’s last big show this year
www.browndailyherald.com
Since 1866, Daily Since 1891
5
continued on page 6
No students EMSed at half-full Starf*ck By Gaurie Tilak Staf f Writer
Despite Starf*ck, Saturday night was slow for Emergency Medical Services. The Queer Alliance event drew about 150 people to Leung Gallery that night — without anyone receiving EMS attention at the event. In fact, EMS staffers weren’t even present at the event. “Nobody needed EMS, no one passed out, and there were no fights,” said Aida Manduley ’11,
an event coordinator for the Queer Alliance. Turnout for the event was lower than in previous years, Manduley said. About 150 people attended the event in Leung Gallery, which has a capacity of 290, she said. In 2005, Starf*ck was cancelled after Sex Power God received negative publicity the previous fall on The O’Reilly Factor, a show on Fox News hosted by conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly. Since then, both Sex Power God and Starf*ck
have been required by the University to have EMS on site. This was the first QA dance since 2005 that wasn’t required to have EMS on site, said QA Secretary Zachary Marcus ’10. “We’ve shown that we’ve become capable of keeping it under control,”Marcus ’10 said. Instead, party managers were responsible for contacting EMS in case it was needed. No one at the event needed atcontinued on page 4
Pulitzer winner reads from latest work By Nandini Jayakrishna Senior Staf f Writer
Book lovers crowded inside the doors and sat in the aisles of MacMillan 117 Friday night as bestselling author Jhumpa Lahiri read from her latest short stor y collection and emphasized that, as a fiction writer, she does not believe in restricting herself to any one genre and enjoys writing both short stories and novels. Raised in South Kingstown, Lahiri is the first woman of Indian descent to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction — an award given for her debut collection of stories, “Interpreter of Maladies.” She has also authored a novel called “The Namesake,” which was recently made into a movie with the same name. The Brown Bookstore organized the reading, selling nearly 200 copies of Lahiri’s books at the event, wrote Tova Beiser, the bookstore’s trade books and promotions manager, in an e-mail.
continued on page 4
CAMPUS NEWS
As Brian Becker ’09 and Martin Bell ’10 square off for the presidency of the Undergraduate Council of Students in next week’s election, many other positions will go uncontested or empty, with an upcoming referendum holding the future of class representatives in question. Candidates for every UCS position turned in the signatures they had gathered and officially began campaigning Friday at 7 p.m. The elections will be held on MyCourses from April 15 to 17. Only two elections besides the presidential are contested. Michael MacCombie ’11 and Herald Account Manager Ellen DaSilva ’10 are running for UCS vice president, while Herald Sales Manager Lily Tran ’10 and Jose Vasconez ’10 are running for chair of the Undergraduate Finance Board. Other positions will be filled by candidates running unopposed. Ste-
fan Smith ’09 is running unopposed for UFB vice chair, while Harris Li ’11 is running for UCS treasurer. Ryan Lester ’11 is running for chair of the Student Activities Committee and Herald Opinion Columnist Tyler Rosenbaum ’11 is running for chair of the Academic and Administrative Affairs Committee. No one is running for chairs of the Campus Life Committee or the Admissions and Student Services Committee. “I don’t think this has happened in a long time,” said Elections Board Vice Chair Ellie Cutler ’10, referring to the lack of candidates for the two committee chairs. If a referendum passes next week to abolish class representatives, UCS will not elect class representatives to fill vacant seats at its first meeting next year, Elections Board Chair Rakim Brooks ’09 said. In that case, only students running for class representative positions
continued on page 4
a helping hand Once again, Brown students head to New Orleans to help rebuild
11
OPINIONS
Courtesy of Brown.edu
Jhumpa Lahiri, who authored “The Namesake,” spoke on fiction writing and read from her work Friday night.
A hummer’s worth Professor of Economics Allan Feldman examines the carbon footprint of the Berylson Family Fields
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
cloudy, 53 / 36
tomorrow’s weather Don’t let the clouds get you down — UCS’s Ratty debate will brighten and enlighten your evening
News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com