The Brown Daily Herald S aturday, A ugust 30, 2008
Volume CXLIII, No. 61
Since 1866, Daily Since 1891
Brown slips in national rankings
U. now planning to move UEL Some neighbors unhappy with potential site
By Colin Chazen Staff Writer
First-years arriving on campus may be horrified to learn that instead of receiving the 14th-best education in the country, they will be getting the 16th best. Brown fell two places in the latest edition of U.S. News & World Report’s annual college and university rankings, released on its Web site Aug. 21. Despite the drop in this overall ranking, Brown retained its spot as the school with U.S. News and the secondWorld Report happiest students in 14. Cornell the nation, 15. Johns Hopkins b e h i n d 16. Brown Clemson 17. Rice Univer18. Emory sity, in the 18. Notre Dame Princeton Review’s annual college rankings, Princeton released in Review July. ‘Happiest The test Students’ prep company also 1. Clemson ranked the 2. Brown University 3. Princeton as having the 7th-best college radio station and the 15thbest college theatre. When told about Brown’s fall in the rankings, many students shrugged their shoulders and expressed mild displeasure. “In the top 20, they’re all pretty good,” Lingke Wang ’12 said. continued on page 6
By Chaz Firestone Features Editor
Paolino ’06 MA’07 said jokingly, noting the placement of the American Samoa and Virgin Islands delegations closer to the stage. But York, who has been to the DNC three times before this, was not surprised about the location. “In the four conventions I’ve been to we’ve never had great seats.” The party leaders’ confidence that Rhode Island’s few electoral votes will go to Obama come November might contribute to its lessthan-premium seating, according to York. “You can notice the bigger or uncertain states have seats closer to the front and center,” York said. Nevertheless Paolino, a Clinton delegate and daughter of former Providence mayor Joe Paolino, ,
The Urban Environmental Lab, a converted carriage house that is home to the Center for Environmental Studies, will likely be relocated to a nearby lot on Brown or Olive Street to make room for the Mind Brain Behavior Building, the future home of the merging departments of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences and Psychology, according to University officials. But community members that supported saving the UEL and the College Hill Neighborhood Association, which encouraged the University to park its bulldozer in favor of a flatbed truck, may now prove an obstacle blocking the UEL’s journey from its current Angell Street home. The University has had its eye on the UEL since 2003, when plans to “consolidate the core” of campus were presented as part of the Strategic Framework for Physical Planning, a master plan for expansion adopted by the Corporation. With ground set to break on the proposed Mind Brain Behavior Building next summer, the UEL seemed all but destined for demolition. In May, the Providence Preservation Society named the building and two other Angell Street buildings the city’s most endangered properties. After months of meetings between administrators and community members and students fighting to save the beloved building, a park at 99 Brown St. and a lot on Olive Street next to the recently moved Peter Green House emerged as two of the leading candidates for the UEL’s relocation, which will likely begin next spring. “The interesting opportunity with the UEL is that you’re actually preserving three buildings in one,” said Kurt Teichert, CES’s environmental stewardship initiatives manager. Originally built in 1884 as a carriage house, the UEL was renovated in 1981 for use by CES. Just two years later it was retrofitted to become Brown’s most energy-efficient building, a distinction it still holds today. In order to be moved, the building will have to be disassembled and transported to its new home in three parts, then tinkered with before it is put back together, according to Assistant Vice President for Planning, Design and Construction Michael McCormick. But in a twist that community members call “ironic” in a petition to save the park, the UEL would have to displace a treasured patch of grass
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Meara Sharma / Herald
Among the first to arrive on campus are the approximately 250 first-years participating in the Third World Transition Program, which ran from Tuesday to Friday. More first-years will arrive today.
More first-years at tweaked TWTP By Sophia Li Senior Staff Writer
Nearly 250 incoming first-years participated in this year’s Third World Transition Program — more than ever have before. The rise in participants was not the only change in TWTP, a pre-orientation program to familiarize incoming first-years with the campus resources that address issues of race and other aspects of identity. The roles of the students running the program have expanded, according to TWTP coordinators Soyoung Park ’09 and Kristin Jordan ’09. For the first time, Minority Peer Counselors and MPC Friends took on the responsibility of developing and facilitating TWTP’s workshops, Jordan said.
Chenelle Chin ’12 decided to come to TWTP, which began Tuesday Aug. 26 and went until Friday, precisely because she wanted to hear other students’ stories and perspectives. TWTP delivered, she said. “I was moved to tears by MPCs’ stories of their experiences,” Chin said about the workshop on sexism. “My eyes and my heart have really opened up.” MPCs and MPC Friends also worked over the summer with faculty from the depar tments of Africana Studies and history, and with Gail Cohee, the director of the Sarah Doyle Women’s Center. Jordan said the inclusion of faculty has built upon the knowledge and experiences of the workshops’ facilitators and made
clearer the connections between some of the different “-isms” — racism, sexism, heterosexism and homophobia, imperialism and classism. Previously, the workshops were led by Jamie Washington, president of the Washington Consulting Group of Baltimore, who has worked with TWTP for the past 20 years. Washington, whom Park said was a professional in leading workshops throughout the country, trained the student facilitators this year. Park said having student facilitators had a positive impact on the workshops’ discussions. “It’s easier to open up, be personal, be trusting with a fellow student,” she said. Arianna Ahiagbe ’12 said she continued on page 4
Li’l Rhody delegates watch DNC — from a distance By Franklin Kanin News Editor
Michael Skocpol / Herald
The Rhode Island delegation of 33 cheers at the DNC from their far-flung seats, which were farther from the stage than the delegates from American Samoa.
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CAMPUS NEWS
REALISTIC IN RED College Republicans focus on local elections more than the presidential contest
www.browndailyherald.com
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ORIENTATION
DENVER — Myrth York, a threetime candidate for governor in Rhode Island, is one of the Clinton delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Denver who has switched her support to Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. Despite a few remaining devotees of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, the convention succeeded in giving the Democratic party a sense of community necessary for it to see victory this November, she said. But Rhode Island’s delegation of 33 was on the outskirts of this community as they were stationed high on the far left of the floor. “At first I thought maybe Rhode Island was a territory,” Jennifer
BROWNSPEAK Want to get magic bars at the Ratty after being sexiled? Learn the Brown vocab not in your SAT books
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OPINION
BROWN GUIDEBOOK Ariel Hudes ’11 has some advice on what to write about Brown in your letters home
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
sunny, 83 / 59
tomorrow’s weather Perfect weather to toss a frisbee around on the Main Green or explore Providence
News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com
T oday Page 2
Saturday, August 30, 2008
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
O ff T h e H i l l Saturday and Sunday - Flutterby: Butterfiles in Bloom: Check out the new exhibit at Roger Williams Park Zoo, which includes hundreds of butterflies in a 2,100-square foot greenhouse.
Saturday, Sunday, and Monday from 11 a.m. - Newport Irish Festival: Bring old friends and make new ones at this waterfront festival with food, music, and Irish pride.
Saturday at 7:22 p.m. - Waterfire: Whether returning to Providence or just joining the community, consider stopping by Barnaby Evan’s popular installation.
Sunday at 6 p.m. - Pawsox vs. Lehigh Valley: There’s no better way to get a last taste of summer than a local minor league baseball game at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket.
Sunday at 11 a.m. - Great Gatsby: Be borne ceaslessly into the past with a trip to Newport for a continental breakfast, a film viewing, and a tour of Rosecliff Mansion, which was used in the film. Sponsored by Jane Pickens
Thursday - Movies on the Block: Go see “Star Wars” as part of the ongoing outdoor summer film series at the corner of Westminster and Union streets. The free screening starts at dusk.
Sudoku
Orientation Schedule * indicates mandatory events; (P) indicates events that are open to parents and families
7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. *Class Meeting I Community Values The Real Buzz: The Truth and Lies about Campus Alcohol Pizzitola Sports Center
Saturday, August 30th 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (P) University Resource Fair Sayles Hall, Main Green 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. (P) Campus Tours Leaving from Arnold Lounge, Morris Lounge and Perkins Lounge, at both times. 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. (P) Faculty Advising Fellows Reception for Parents and Families 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. *First Unit Meeting Various Locations — check posters in your unit.
Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.
10:00 p.m. until Saturday September 6th Orientation Scavenger Hunt You have until 6:00 p.m. on Saturday September 6th to complete all challenges with your group.
Midnight Night Tours Starting from Faunce Arch, Main Green
Los Angeles Times Daily oCrossword Puzzle C r o ssw rd Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Nearly boil 6 Kind of school 10 The “m” in E = mc2 14 CD reader 15 Sly look 16 Choir member 17 Persian, today 18 Comfort 19 “You’re putting __!” 20 Goldilocks had a taste from his bowl 22 What hunters hunt 24 Underwear logo 25 Airport area concerned with contraband 26 “When is a door not a door?,” e.g. 30 Middle Corleone brother 31 Jordan neighbor 32 Place for space cadets? 36 Pleased 37 “Spare” meat 38 Eins plus zwei 39 Crazy about 42 Gloomy 44 “... friend is __ you give yourself”: Stevenson 45 Takes by force 46 Mountain chains 49 Buddy 50 Mounted the soapbox 51 “Saturday Night Live” character who introduced herself with “Hewwo” 56 Jeans pioneer Strauss 57 One needing tech support 59 Without face value, as stock 60 Individuals 61 H.S. science class 62 Tee shot 63 Home out on a limb 64 Talk show host Banks 65 Gives the nod to DOWN 1 Error
2 See 47-Down 3 Pronto, to execs 4 Singer Horne 5 Bounce the basketball 6 Beg 7 Stern, at sea 8 Some Caltech grads 9 “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace,” for one 10 1970 #1 hit for Three Dog Night 11 Last new Olds 12 Rainout cause 13 PlayStation and Walkman 21 Stunt biker Knievel 23 Meat-inspecting gp. 25 Bisque crustacean 26 Mrs. Peel portrayer Diana 27 Cuba, to Cubans 28 Pull along the ground 29 Arp or Duchamp 30 Coquette 33 Wall St. figures
34 Nair rival 35 Board members: Abbr. 37 Ring arbiters 40 Storybook monster 41 Railroad bridge 42 Shipboard mop 43 Disney World city 46 Athenian lawgiver 47 With 2-Down, “Fame” singer
48 House overhangs 49 Cheese city in northeast Italy 51 Microbrewery product 52 Nine-to-five routine 53 Samoan seaport 54 Like Pringles Original chips 55 Greek war god 58 A little short, as of money
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Sunday, August 31 9:00 a.m. to 9:50 a.m. (P) University Financial Planning for Parents Salomon Center, Room 101
Kickball Pembroke Field 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. *Academic Expo 2008 Sayles Hall, Main Green
12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Exploration @ Prospect Park Meet in front of the Ratty with your lunch in hand 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Capture the Flag Main Green, meet at Faunce Arch 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Meiks in the Units Arnold, Morriss and Perkins Lounges 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. *On-Line Registration Log into Banner from your computer or a computer cluster 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. *Class Meeting III Community Values Understanding Sexual Assault Pizzitola Sports Center Wednesday, September 3 FIRST DAY OF CLASSES 12:00 p.m. *Opening Convocation Van Wickle Gates (Rain Site: Pizzitola Sports Center) Convocation begins on College Street for the traditional walk. Classes are suspended until 1 p.m. Thursday, September 4 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Career Development Center Open House Hemisphere Building, 167 Angell Street 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Incoming Students only) Activities Night 2008 Olney-Margolies Athletic Center (OMAC)
10:00 a.m. to 10:50 a.m. Balancing Brown: Student Perspectives on Being Involved without Being Overwhelmed MacMillan Hall, Starr Auditorium, Room 117
7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. *Class Meeting II The Challenges and Joys of Creating a Just and Diverse Community Pizzitola Sports Center
(P) Saying Goodbye, Letting Go, and Learning to Live with a Brown Student: A Practical Guide for Parents Salomon Center, Room 101
10:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. The 245th Annual Orientation Dance Alumnae Hall, Pembroke Campus
Friday, September 5 3:30 p.m. Service and Community – Finding Both at Brown Swearer Center, 25 George Street
10:30 p.m. to midnight Games Night The Gate, Lower-level Alumnae Hall
4:30 p.m. Class of 2012 Sky Photo On the Turf Field, Behind the OMAC
Midnight Midnight Movie: L’Auberge Espagnole (2002) MacMillan Hall, Starr Auditorium, Room 117
5:30 p.m. 2008 Adidas Soccer Classic AllCampus BBQ In front of Pizzitola Sports Center Soccer: Stevenson Field, behind the OMAC (Rain or shine)
(P) Accommodations and Services for Students with Disabilities Salomon Center, Room 003
2/4/08
Monday, September 1 Session 1: 9:00 to 10:20 a.m. Session 2: 10:30 to 11:50 a.m. *Academic Seminar Meeting: First Readings Various Locations. Your Orientation packet will notify you of the seminar you should attend.
2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Yoga Lincoln Field
11:00 a.m. to 11:50 a.m. (P) First in the Family Salomon Center, Room 001 A panel discussion among first-generation faculty, staff and students
xwordeditor@aol.com
Midnight Midnight Organ Concert Sayles Hall
Session 1: 9:00 a.m. to 10:20 a.m. Session 2: 10:30 a.m. to 11:50 a.m. *Taking the Leap: On Becoming a Brown Student Salomon Center, Room 101 Attend the session that takes place when you are not in your First Readings Seminar Meeting.
10:00 p.m. to midnight Ice Cream Social Main Green (Rain Site: Leung Gallery, Faunce House)
© Puzzles Pappocom RELEASE DATE– Monday, February 4, by 2008
9:30 p.m. to 11:45 p.m. 2008 Retro-Fest Pembroke Green (next to Andrews and Alumnae Hall)
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. *Individual Meetings with Academic Advisors
2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (Seating begins at 1:30 p.m.) *(P) President’s Welcome to Brown Main Green (Rain Site: Pizzitola Sports Center) 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. *Unit Dinner Sharpe Refectory
Tuesday, September 2 8:00 a.m. Morning Jog/Walk to Wayland Square Meet at Faunce Arch, Main Green 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. *Academic Advising Group Meeting Check your Orientation packet for location
9:00 p.m. to midnight Big Ma’s Talent Show The Main Green (Rain Site: Sayles Hall)
10:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. First Friday Faunce House Food, music, dance and games with dozens of student groups and performances
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once in July by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. POSTMASTER please send corrections to
Ross Frazier, Vice President Mandeep Gill, Treasurer Darren Ball, Secretary By Mike Torch (c)2008 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
24/08
The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the Brown demic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement, once during Orientation and P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Offices are located at 195 Angell St., Providence, R.I. E-mail herald@browndailyherald.com. World Wide Web: http://www.browndailyherald.com. Subscription prices: $319 one year daily, $139 one semester daily. Copyright 2007 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
C ampus N ews Saturday, August 30, 2008
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Realistic, College Republicans look local By Mitra Anoushiravani Staff Writer
With the presidential campaign in full swing, many campus Republicans have their focus on local politics rather than national contests. For starters, the sheer number of people involved in a presidential campaign, Rhode Island’s small electoral influence and the relatively low numbers involved in Republican activities at Brown means conser vatives here face special challenges in political organizing. “We’re realistic about it — we’re outnumbered,” said Christopher McAuliffe ’05, former president of Brown’s College Republicans — a campus group that currently has about 20 active members. McAuliffe, who led the College Republicans during President Bush’s reelection campaign, said the club did not focus very much on the presidential campaign. “We put most of our effort behind Rhode Island candidates. … I think people spend too much time on presidential elections rather than local and state ones,” McAuliffe said. McAuliffe said the Electoral College means Rhode Island is a difficult place from which to get Republican votes. The current president of the College Republicans, Herald Opinion Columnist Sean Quigley ’10, agrees that the group is not holding out for a Red Rhode Island, though he said they will campaign in other parts of the Northeast. “Realistically, we’re not really expecting to win this state,” Quigley said. “But we will go to Manchester, New Hampshire, for a weekend trip sometime in October to do some campaigning.” McAuliffe said there is “certainly some value in working for a campaign, but it’s not the most bang for your buck.” It’s not just size or impact that are keeping campus Republicans’ focus on local events. Joshua Unseth ’09, a locally active Republican, said he won’t be too involved in the campaign of Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee,
in part because the Arizona senator hasn’t inspired him enough. “I won’t be a big campaigner for McCain — a big part of the reason is that I’m busy and another part is that I’m just not excited about McCain,” he said. According to Quigley, Unseth and others, most of Brown’s College Republicans were originally supporting Mitt Romney, who was often at odds with McCain during the primaries. Quigley said McCain will still receive College Republicans’ votes. “We bicker under the tent, but when the tent comes under attack, we all protect the tent,” Quigley said. He added that he thinks students on College Hill aren’t generally active in campaigns. “Brown students tend not to be into grassroots activities and they’re not active campaigners,” he said. “I’m trying to get us more involved but you have to work within the atmosphere you live in.” The atmosphere at Brown seems to be one of debate and discussion amongst the group rather than action, Quigley and other campus Republicans said. “Brown Republicans are less interested in campaigning and more interested in ideas and debating the issues amongst themselves,” said Pratik Chougule ’07.5, a former Rhode Island chairman of the College Republicans National Committee. “College Republicans at Brown are more conservative than they are Republican,” he said. Despite the original tepid feeling toward McCain, College Republicans and student Republican leaders are stressing the importance of the campaign. Colin Motley, a Harvard student who heads the Ivy League Republican Caucus, said focusing on the Northeast “is absolutely worth it for College Republicans.” He added, “I’d say it is critical this fall. First of all, New Hampshire is undeniably a battleground state this year, and it’s been a state where John McCain, in particular, has continued to find success.” The McCain campaign has set up a large effort involving College
Republicans, state party leaders and campus McCain groups who can help campaign in New Hampshire, he said. Campus Republicans are also participating in the publication of a statewide magazine targeting college students, called the College Republican Federation of Rhode Island. Unseth is in charge of the first issue. “I hope that it acts as a forum for Republican students to rally together,” Unseth said of the publication, which will be distributed to College Republican chapters in Rhode Island colleges. Unseth said the magazine will include student-written articles and that he has also been in contact with Republican leader in the state concerning the publication. He would not go into further detail about the publication because he said it is still a work in progress. “I think at Brown, it has gotten to the point where campaigning for conservatism is not fruitful and all we can do is make a mockery of what I like to call Leftist idiocy,” he added. Brendan Boyle, a student at Roger Williams University who is involved in the same publication as Unseth, did not share the mentality of Brown’s College Republicans that focusing on local elections rather than national ones is more fruitful. “Republican students at Brown University and other college campuses across Rhode Island should focus their efforts on all federal, state and local elections,” he wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. “No amount of effort exhausted on promoting something you believe in is ever spent in vain.” Quigley, Chougule and McAuliffe said College Republicans at Brown make an effort to involve themselves in local and state campaigns by supporting local Republican politicians. “In Rhode Island we’ve had Democratic leadership for 40 years, and we have had problems, so one of our goals is to put more Republicans in the State Senate and House and also help candidates on a federal Congressional level,” Quigley said.
W al k this way
Meara Sharma / Herald
International Mentors welcomed first-year students from around the world on campus.
Meara Sharma / Herald
The University was covered over the summer by construction crews, who worked on more than 100 projects costing $15,000 or more, including moving student services to the renovated J. Walter Wilson Laboratory.
U. spends over $45 million on summer renovations By George Miller Senior Staff Writer
A flurr y of construction during the summer months, including the completion of over 100 projects that each cost $15,000 or more, has changed the face of the campus students are returning to this fall. The efforts, totaling over $45 million, ranged from updated utilities to new furniture. The construction supports the goals of the Plan for Academic Enrichment, Brown’s guiding institutional strategy, in improving both infrastructure and student life, Vice President for Public Affairs and University Relations Marisa Quinn wrote in an e-mail. The crown jewel of the summer projects, the approximately $18 million renovations to the J. Walter Wilson building, has created space for offices, classrooms and student services. Nine of the building’s seminar classrooms will open for classes this semester, Quinn wrote. The construction on J. Walter Wilson, which started in October 2007, won’t be entirely finished until the middle of this October, said Raymond Bourcier, the building’s project manager. Work on the front entr y is continuing, and problems with the temperature and key card access are being worked out, he said. Twelve departments moved into J. Walter Wilson in a week-and-ahalf long process ending August 16, Bourcier said. One of those was the Office of Chaplains and Religious Life. “I would say we were all moved in, but that would be a lie,” said Rev. Janet Cooper-Nelson, Chaplain of the University. The chaplains’ of fice was in Faunce House for 55 years — Cooper-Nelson herself there for 17 — and those years take a while to move, she said. Despite the ongoing work, Cooper-Nelson declared the project a success, citing the new technol-
ogy and great views her new office offer. University Mail Ser vices also moved out of Faunce and into J. Walter Wilson, but Faunce isn’t empty yet. It will remain open this academic year, continuing to house the Student Activities Office, the Blue Room, the Campus Market, spaces for student groups and other ser vices. The building will eventually be renovated to create the Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center, perhaps as soon as summer of 2009. Elizabeth Gentr y, assistant vice president for financial and administrative ser vices, oversees Mail Services and the Brown Card Office, which also moved into J. Walter Wilson. “Ever yone is thrilled with the new space,” she said, adding that regular communication and meetings eased the process. Mail Services, the Chaplains’ of fice and the Card Office join other student ser vices, including the Writing Center, Psychological Ser vices and the financial aid office, in J. Walter Wilson. Among other projects, the renovations to Pembroke Hall, which will house the Cogut Center for the Humanities and the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women, will be completed during September, Quinn wrote. The first of three phases of residence hall upgrades was completed, including work on Barbour, Caswell and Hegeman halls and the A tower of the Graduate Center, Quinn wrote, adding that remaining residence hall work will be completed during the next two summer vacations. Utilities work intended to improve reliability and efficiency will be completed next summer, Quinn wrote, but street work will be done by the end of September. Energy conser vation ef for ts also have begun, with lighting upgrades and replaced steam traps, she wrote.
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Saturday, August 30, 2008
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
UEL may move to Brown Street TWC builds continued from page 1 and trees dubbed “Orchard Park” by nearby residents in order to occupy the 99 Brown St. lot, which Teichert said is the leading candidate site for relocation. Robert Reichley, a former executive vice president for public affairs and external relations, lives across the street from the park and has circulated the petition to block its destruction. “The age of the Lab, certainly not its beauty, puts it on the historic list,” reads the petition, which was officially backed this month by the CHNA. “Destroying (the park’s) many trees and other plantings is a crime against nature.” Reichley, a former president of the Providence Preservation Society, said the park is even more beloved by the community than the historic laboratory and that the destruction of the park is a price not worth paying to save the UEL. “I have heard
nobody say this is a good idea to destroy the orchard and put a building on it,” he said. One one hand, Reichley said he appreciates the building and its historical value, but on the other hand, community members do not want to lose their park. The issue is made even more complicated for Reichley by his close history with the University as its spokesman. “I had many such issues that were hard to deal with, and I tried very hard to see the case the way the neighbors see it,” Reichley said. “I never thought I would be on the other side of an issue.” The CHNA has found itself in a similar bind, having voted both to save the building and not to destroy the park. “We love the UEL building. We’d hate to see it destroyed,” said Barry Fain, a CHNA board member. “But the site that they’re choosing, to
Meara Sharma / Herald
The Urban Environmental Lab is home to a community garden with fresh produce. The UEL’s fate has been the subject of community debate because its current site has been slated for the Mind Brain Behavior building
knock down 10 trees, to ignore their neighbors and to kill a delightful oasis of quietness that serves as a wonderful buffer between the institutional zone and the residential zone — that is a mistake.” Both Fain and Reichley said they don’t see the issue as an “either/or,” and would prefer to see the UEL relocated to a different site. “Brown cannot do all of its expansion on College Hill,” Fain said. But though McCormick said no concrete plans have been made, the list of alternative sites is short. “The farther you move the building, the more harm you do to the surrounding area,” he said. The Brown Street and Olive Street sites “are certainly the closest,” he said. McCormick added that the UEL must remain within Brown’s geographic “institutional zone” in order to be used for classes. Teichert and Interim Director of CES Phil Brown said the University will take community opinion into account but will probably move forward if community concern is the only obstacle in the way of the move. “The greenest building is the one you don’t build,” said Teichert, an environmental advocate for the University. “But the UEL comes close.” Teichert said if the community were to succeed in blocking the relocation of the lab — which by the nature of the department it houses would likely show sensitivity to the surrounding environment — then it is likely that some “bigger, badder building” would move in a few years down the road. Brown said the building will complement the surrounding architecture and help to provide an aesthetic transition from the residential zone to the institutional. If the UEL does move, it will likely continue to house CES, Brown said. The Center will move into temporary space in the Metcalf Research Laboratory for the winter and spring, then move back into the UEL by the following semester. Brown said the move might actually make the building a bit smaller due to the dimensions of the land, but that CES will have to adjust. “The Center has always been very tight,” he said. “Even if you have a small house, you can make a big home in it.” Regardless of which option is chosen, McCormick said he recognizes that not everyone can be made perfectly happy and that compromise will be necessary, concessions made by every party involved. “There’s no quick and easy fix,” he said. “If we could lift it up with a helicopter and drop it off in an ideal site, we would.”
sense of community continued from page 4
had attended workshops on similar topics before but thought the facilitators at TWTP knew how to engage the first-year students especially well. “The safe space that TWTP creates and the ground rules for discussion that the coordinators and facilitators set make the workshops so effective,” she said. Daniel Prada ’12 said he found the level of personal information shared “really moving” and even “shocking.” His favorite workshop was the one about heterosexism and homophobia, Prada added, because it dealt with topics infrequently discussed publicly. The eagerness and ability of the incoming students to learn made the workshops special for Natasha Go ’10, an MPC Friend, who said helping the participants move in was one of the best days of her year. “They just give us so much energy,” Go said. This made the work welcome, despite the long hours — Go said the MPCs and MPC Friends came back to campus on Aug. 20 and 21, and they immediately started putting in 14 to 16 hours a day in preparation for the four-day program. Lucy Boltz ’12 said fun activities, like the Third World Olympics held on Thursday, especially helped the first-years bond. “People have broken out of their shells,” she said, attributing the new friendships to cheers, choreography and other unity-building elements of the Olympics, which divided the students into several teams to play games like relay races on Pembroke Field. “There’s a willingness to learn to build a stronger sense of community,” said the director of the Third World Center, Associate Dean Karen McLaurin-Chesson. She added that increased student involvement and other changes in the program have resulted in happier students and a more enjoyable experience overall, reflected by a more consistent number of first-years attending the activities throughout the program. Past years had usually seen a small decrease in participants attending events as the program progressed, she said. The first-year students seemed to agree. “We’re just here to be wacky and have fun,” said Cynthia Luu ’12.
W orld & n ation Saturday, August 30, 2008
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Japanese women shy away from dual mommy role By Blaine Harden Washington Post
Los Angeles Times
A new look at copyright claims from the 1920s could mean that Disney’s iconic Mickey Mouse may not belong to them after all.
Early Mickey trademark looking goofy By Joseph Menn Los Angeles T imes
He is the world’s most famous personality, better known in this country than anyone living or dead, real or fictional. Market researchers say his 97 percent recognition rate in the U.S. edges even Santa Claus. He is the one -- and for now only -- Mickey Mouse. As Mickey turns 80 this fall, the most beloved rodent in show business is widely regarded as a national treasure. But he is owned lock, stock and trademark ears by the corporate heirs of his genius creator, Walt Disney.
Brand experts reckon his value to today’s Walt Disney Co. empire at more than $3 billion. Acts of Congress have extended Mickey’s copyright so long that they provoked a Supreme Court challenge, making Mickey the ultimate symbol of intellectual property. All signs pointed to a Hollywood ending with Disney and Mickey Mouse living happily ever after -- at least until a grumpy former employee looked closely at fine print long forgotten in company archives. Film credits from the 1920s revealed imprecision in copyright claims that some experts say could invalidate Disney’s long-held copy-
right, although a Disney lawyer dismissed that idea as “frivolous.” Although studio executives are not yet hurling themselves from the parapets of Sleeping Beauty’s castle, the unexpected discovery raises an intriguing question: Is it possible that Mickey Mouse now belongs to the world -- and that his likeness is usable by anybody for anything? For the record, any knock-offs would have to make clear that they did not come from Disney or else risk violating the separate laws that protect trademarks. And the potencontinued on page 12
TOKYO — "I have never met a Japanese man who did not want me to be his mommy." That is the reason, Takako Katayama says, that she has not married. At 37, she has carved out a comfortable life here in Tokyo, with her own apartment, a good job at a cable television network, and a network of family and friends. She has not closed the door on marriage and children. When she meets girlfriends for dinner, they ask each other, "Where are the good guys?" But she refuses to settle for a man who works long hours, declines to share in child-rearing and sees marriage mainly as a way to acquire lifetime live-in help. "I want a mature, equal-partner kind of marriage," she said. "Anyway, there are complete lives without a baby." Therein lies a dismal prognosis for Japan and for many of the other prosperous nations of East Asia. In numbers that alarm their governments, Asian women are delaying marriage and postponing childbirth. In Japan, the percentage of women who remain single into their 30s has more than doubled since 1980. The trend is similar in Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, and the booming Chinese cities of Shanghai and
Beijing. Feminine foot-dragging on the way to the altar has been identified by demographers as perhaps the primary reason for the region's plunging birthrates. Of the 10 countries or territories at the bottom of a 2008 CIA ranking of global fertility rates, six, including Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong, are in the Asia-Pacific region. South Korea also ranks near the bottom. "Women on Strike," a recent recontinued on page 5
Fewer Children East Asia’s most prosperous countries now have the lowest birthrates in the world. Births per woman Countries or territories in Asia 1. Mali 127. United States 208. South Korea 214. Bosnia and Herzegovina 215. Belarus 216. Czech Republic 217. Japan 218. Lithuania 219. Northern Mariana Islands 220. Taiwan 221. Singapore 222. Macau 223. Hong Kong
7.34 2.10 1.29 1.24 1.23 1.23 1.22 1.22 1.18 1.13 1.08 1.05 1.00
SOURCE: CIA THE WASHINGTON POST
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A BAGPIPE WELCOME
U. slides two spots on U.S. News rankings continued from page 1
Meara Sharma / Herald
As students return to College Hill, so do the sounds of local cultures.
“Dropping two points doesn’t necessarily mean Brown has become a worse school.” The reason for the change in Brown’s ranking was not immediately clear, as this year’s sur vey used an identical methodology to last year’s, according to Robert Morse, director of data research at U.S. News. Morse described the change in the University’s ranking as “minuscule.” “Two places is a micro-movement when dealing with 260 schools,” Morse said. The U.S. News rankings, published annually since 1985, are based on 15 dif ferent measurements, including retention, selectivity and peer assessment. Brown generally performs ver y well in selectivity and retention — this year scoring the fifth-highest graduation and retention rate, the ninth-highest selectivity rate, and a predicted graduation rate of 93 percent — but usually ranks lower in categories like financial resources. Brown’s faculty-to-student ratio improved from 9-to-1 last year to 8-to-1 this year with 70.3 percent of
classes having under 20 students. The University’s peer assessment score fell slightly as did its faculty resources ranking and selectivity ranking, although the survey used the Fall 2007 admissions rate of 14 percent, not the Fall 2008 rate of 13.3 percent. In the past, critics have said that college rankings can be misleading and encourage colleges to distort their data through measures like accepting more early decision applicants in order to improve their yield rate, which moves them up in the rankings. U.S. News has tried to counter these criticisms in recent years by removing controversial criteria such as yield rates, and by including a sur vey of high school guidance counselors. In the latest issue, Brown tied Cornell as the fifth-best university in that sur vey. Last year, Barnard, Sarah Lawrence, Kenyon and several other colleges joined a growing group of dissenters against the rankings and declined to participate in the magazine’s annual sur vey, which asks college administrators to assess peer institutions. The percentage of colleges whose administrations filled out the peer review
sur veys fell to an all-time low of 46 percent this year, according to an Aug. 27 article in the Yale Daily News, although it was not clear which schools’ administrators purposefully declined to fill out the sur vey and which lacked the time or resources to do so. Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 said there had “been some discussion about not par ticipating” in the sur veys, but that the University has no plans to tell administrators to stop or to take the more drastic step of refusing to send statistical data to U.S. News. Brown has stayed around roughly the same place in the rankings over the past decade and is not worried about the drop or about tr ying to manipulate the rankings, Kertzer added. “It periodically gets thrown around that if we just got [SAT scores] up to a certain number it could catapult us up in the rankings. But do you want to be selecting students even more by their rankings? I like to think we make our decisions based on what we think would make the best classes,” he said. He added, “There are categories that we do pay attention to. For instance maximizing class ratio. That’s been one of the goals of the plan for academic enrichment.” For the most par t, incoming freshmen and current students said they’d looked at the U.S. News and Princeton Review rankings, but that these did not significantly affect their college choice. “They’re a good indicator, a good starting place,” Maggie Goter ’12 said. “But you have to go beyond them.” Danielle Desbordes ’11 looked at college guides to see what range of schools her test scores fit in, but did not find all their information useful. “The faculty-to-student ratio, that’s important. But is one more student going to make a difference to how you learn?” Desbordes said. Roger Or f P’12 expressed a similar amount of faith in the rankings. “They’re directional, but you can’t take anything away from one school being number one one year and not the next.” Several students said the ranking mattered more to parents and people that are not very knowledgeable about American universities than to the students who actually choose to attend those schools. “The only thing Chinese people care about is the ranking,” said Ang Zheng ’12, a student from China. “That’s what our parents care about.”
A new Herald ranking shows we are the #1 daily newspaper on campus. Look here or drop by the Activities Fair to join.
W orld & n ation Saturday, August 30, 2008
Prison is newest answer to online pirating By Michelle Quinn and Swati Pandey Los Angeles T imes
When five FBI agents arrested Kevin Cogill at his Culver City, Calif., apartment, it marked the newest weapon in the entertainment industry’s war on piracy: felony charges against small-time bootleggers. Cogill posted nine leaked songs from an unreleased Guns N’ Roses album, which has been in the works for more than a decade, on his music blog in June. The site crashed under the traffic, and he removed the songs after a few hours when the Los Angeles-based rock band’s lawyers complained. Now he faces up to three years in prison and $250,000 in fines. On Wednesday he became the first Californian charged under a 3-year-old federal anti-piracy law that makes it a felony to distribute a copyrighted work on computer networks before its release. “In the past, these may have been viewed as victimless crimes,” said Craig Missakian, an assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles who built the case with the FBI and recording industry investigators. “But in reality, there’s significant damage. This law allows us to prosecute these cases.” Cogill, 27, was arrested Wednesday and released on $10,000 bond. He was not required to enter a plea. His public defender, Anthony Eaglin, declined to comment. “I hope he rots in jail,” said Slash, the former Guns N’ Roses lead guitarist. “It’s going to affect the sales of the record, and it’s not fair. The Internet is what it is, and you have to deal with it accordingly, but I think if someone goes and steals something, it’s theft.” The entertainment industry has long fought to protect official release dates. It contends that sales are lost when a movie or song is available for free on the Internet before it hits stores. Leaked songs are often unfinished and of poor sound quality. Pre-release piracy “pops the balloon,” said Eric German, a partner with Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp who has represented the recording industry in piracy cases. “It rips up
the lottery ticket. It takes the wind out of everything.” The Recording Industry Association of America has long relied on civil lawsuits to combat piracy. But the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005 gave it has a new hammer -- felony charges with stiff penalties for posting even one song before its release. The law has been used only a few times, mostly to tackle big commercial piracy rings. But in 2006, two people were charged with distributing a version of a Ryan Adams & the Cardinals album, “Jacksonville City Nights,” on the Internet before it hit stores. They were sentenced to two months of house arrest and two years’ probation. Fans of Guns N’ Roses have experienced a long drought of new recorded material. Led by lead singer Axl Rose, the rockers have been working on their album, “Chinese Democracy,” on and off since the 1990s. Cogill used to work for the band’s record label, Universal Music, and now works at entertainment site Crave Online. Writing under the name “Skwerl,” he uses his blog, Antiquiet, to talk about American politics and the music industry. In early June, he expressed his appreciation for Guns N’ Roses, noting that he had waited half his life for a new album. “The more you [mess] around with the details, the more likely the album is to leak on the Internet, spoiling whatever big plans you’re cooking up anyway,” he wrote in an open blog post to Universal. On June 18, he said he had received nine “Chinese Democracy” tracks from an unnamed source and made them available for streaming, but not download, on Antiquiet. He contended that if the album was good -- and he thought it was -- it would do well financially, despite any leaks. After he removed the tracks, the FBI interviewed Cogill at his office and home, seeking the source of the leaked songs. “I’ve been asked if my legal troubles are over,” he wrote after the FBI’s visit. “The answer is that they haven’t begun.”
Eleven more decapitated bodies found in Mexico By Ken Ellingwood and Cecilia Sanchez Los Angeles T imes
MEXICO CITY -- In a sign of the spreading violence in Mexico, 11 decapitated bodies were found late Thursday near the colonial city of Merida on the Yucatan peninsula, officials said. The bodies bore signs of torture, and some were unclothed. Yucatan state officials said a 12th decapitated body was found later about 120 miles south of Merida, a city that is often used as a gateway for tourists on their way to the famed Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza. Warring drug gangs have routinely decapitated rivals during the past two years as they battle for coveted routes for smuggling drugs north into the United States. Four decapitated bodies were found in Tijuana earlier this week
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in killings that appeared tied to fighting among traffickers over control of the corridor into San Diego. But headless bodies have also turned up in other corners of Mexico as violence has spread beyond traditional battlegrounds along the U.S. border. The Web site of the El Universal newspaper said the bodies found in Yucatan were handcuffed and showed signs that they were beaten. The Reuters news service, citing unnamed police sources, reported that the bodies had tattoos of star signs and the letter “Z.” The Yucatan peninsula has seen scattered violence, but has not previously been a scene of severe fighting between drug trafficking groups. Drug-related violence in Mexico has grown more savage amid a crackdown on traffickers by the government of President Felipe Calderon.
No one came to the door at Cogill’s home Thursday. A man who answered his phone declined to identify himself but said Cogill wasn’t granting interviews. In an e-mail, fellow Antiquiet blogger Britney Bernstein said Cogill’s case was building buzz for “Chinese Democracy.” “Any publicity this album gets is good publicity,” she said. The band released a statement: “Presently, though we don’t support this guy’s actions at that level, our interest is in the original source. We can’t comment publicly at this time as the investigation is ongoing.” Missakian, the assistant U.S. attorney, said his office would bring more cases like this in the future. “Prosecution like this makes others think twice,” he said. John Malcolm, executive vice president and director of worldwide anti-piracy operations for the Motion Picture Association of America, applauded the arrest, saying he expected the movie industry too would pursue criminal charges to stop leaked movies. “Getting the federal authorities involved in the Guns N’ Roses leak was absolutely appropriate,” he said. Ronald Rosen, an entertainment industry lawyer, said record labels lost the public relations battle when they sued people who distributed music over file-sharing networks, with stories emerging of single mothers defending cases over songs they could have bought for 99 cents. “But the public is going to have much less sympathy with pirates” who trade in pre-released material, he said. But Corynne McSherry, staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the arrest of Cogill was troubling for many reasons. It raises the prospect of eager fans going to jail for posting a handful of songs. “Bringing that hammer down on an individual music fan strikes me as entirely inappropriate,” she said. “Taxpayers should be concerned that they are picking up Hollywood and the music industry’s legal costs, particularly when you are going after an individual like this.”
U.S., Russians exchange salvos over Georgia By Richard Boudreaux Los Angeles T imes
UNITED NATIONS -- The United States and Russia on Thursday traded some of their sharpest words over the conflict in Georgia, including a suggestion by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that Washington provoked the fighting to sway the outcome of the U.S. presidential race. The Cold War-style barbs, hurled at long range from the two capitals and face to face at the United Nations, underscored the breakdown of diplomatic efforts to resolve three weeks of tension over Russia’s militar y inter vention in the former Soviet republic. Russia faced international isolation two days after recognizing the independence of a pair of rebel Georgian regions at the center of the conflict. It won no support for the move at meetings of the U.N. Security Council and an Asian alliance that embraces Russia, China and four Central Asian nations. But neither has the Security Council taken any action against Russia, holding six emergency sessions without producing a single statement or resolution. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner announced that the European Union would consider sanctions against Russia when its leaders meet next week. Russia sent troops into Georgia on Aug. 7 after Georgian forces moved against South Ossetia, a pro-Russian enclave that broke from Georgia’s central government in the early 1990s. The brief war ended with a Russian occupation to enforce the separation from Georgia of South Ossetia and the other breakaway region, Abkhazia. Russian leaders said they inter vened after Georgian troops had killed Ossetian civilians and Russian peacekeepers based in South Ossetia.
In an interview Thursday with CNN, Putin suggested that there had been U.S. encouragement for Georgia’s offensive and perhaps an American presence amid the combat. At a news briefing, the deputy chief of Russia’s militar y general staff, Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, showed off an enlarged color photocopy of what he said was the passport of a U.S. citizen, Michael Lee White, born in 1967. He said it had been found in a South Ossetian village among items belonging to Georgian forces. The U.S. Embassy in Georgia said it had no information on the matter, The Associated Press reported. Putin told CNN: “If that is confirmed, it’s very bad. It’s very dangerous.” He said he suspected a link to American domestic politics: “If my guesses are confirmed, then that raises the suspicion that somebody in the United States purposefully created this conflict with the aim of aggravating the situation and creating an advantage . . . for one of the candidates in the battle for the post of U.S. president.” Putin did not name a party or candidate. White House press secretar y Dana Perino called Putin’s contentions “patently false” and “not rational.” At the United Nations, U.S. Deputy Ambassador Alejandro Wolff told the Security Council that Russia’s claims to be protecting Russian citizens in South Ossetia were a sham. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, seated in the same chamber, called Wolff’s statement hypocritical. He brought up the U.S.-led 2003 invasion of Iraq, strongly opposed by Moscow but justified by the United States as an effort to root out what it said were caches of nuclear, chemical and continued on page 8
Detainee suicides prompt federal suit By Josh White Washington Post
WASHINGTON — When Mani al-Utaybi fixed a makeshift noose around his neck and hanged himself in a Guantanamo Bay cell in June 2006, the Saudi Arabian detainee had been close to being transferred to his homeland and freed, his attorney and military officials said. But no one told him. As Saudi planes began arriving at the U.S. detention facility to bring groups of prisoners home to Riyadh for a repatriation program, Utaybi’s attorney, George Daly, tried to let his client know during a visit in May that he had been cleared for release. But, Daly said, U.S. military officials told him that Utaybi did not want to meet with him. Lacking authorization to put the classified information on paper, Daly left for North Carolina. He learned three weeks later of the June 10 suicide, he said Thursday.
Attorneys for Yasser al-Zahrani, a second detainee who committed suicide that day, said they think Zahrani had been set to leave the prison soon. Attorneys for the third suicide victim that day, Salah al-Sullami, said they were unaware that the Defense Department had deemed him unprosecutable because of a lack of evidence, though he had not been cleared for release. The detainees’ family members and attorneys said the captives would not have taken their lives had they known about the change in their circumstances. In interviews this week, they said U.S. officials should be held accountable for the deaths and are pursuing a wrongful-death lawsuit in federal court, arguing that the suicides were preventable. Talal al-Zahrani questions whether his son’s death was a suicide and has found little solace in a U.S. investigation released last week. “Simply the death of a child brings
sadness in normal circumstances,” Zahrani, 54, said through an interpreter yesterday by telephone from Jiddah. “If you were to add to this that our son had received so much abuse, harm, systematic torture and then, in the end, wrongful killing, then you would get a better picture of what we feel. “Before we heard of his death, we were hopeful he might be released any day, and we were just awaiting his return,” he said. “I really cannot find the words to express how that has impacted us.” The U.S. military has maintained for two years that the suicides were a coordinated act of aggression; a military officer has called them an act of “asymmetric warfare” against the United States. The investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service showed that the men took their lives in similar ways and almost simultanecontinued on page 9
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Saturday, August 30, 2008
U.S. economy is drag on global car market
Russian-U.S. relations still tense after Georgian conflict
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By Ken Bensinger Los Angeles T imes
For several years, carmakers have been reaping the benefits of explosive growth in emerging global markets, even as U.S. sales have tanked. That may be changing. On Thursday, Toyota Motor Corp. said it was cutting its worldwide sales forecast for 2009 by 7 percent, to 9.7 million cars and light trucks. And while a large part of that comes out of a bleak U.S. sales picture, 300,000 of the revision comes from international markets, including a 150,000 cut in Asia, among the fastest-growing regions in the world in recent years. That and other indications that the growth in countries like Brazil and China may not keep up its double-digit pace could have grim implications for automakers. Companies such as General Motors Corp., Toyota, Volkswagen AG and Ford Motor Co. have bet heavily on emerging markets in recent years, boosting production and marketing to catch a piece of the ascendant action. GM, for example, now relies on foreign markets for about 59 percent of its sales by volume, with a substantial por tion of that, and nearly all the growth, in emerging markets. "The developing world is not going to keep up the frenzied pace we've seen," said analyst Rebecca Lindland of research company Global Insight. Her company predicts that the volume of car and light truck sales in South America, which increased 27 percent last year, will grow by 13.5 percent this year, and just 6 percent in 2009. Russia, up 31 percent in 2007, is on pace for 27 percent growth
this year and Global Insight predicts it will reach only 12 percent next year. And Eastern Europe, another hot spot, should see 13 percent growth this year, down from 18 percent last year, Lindland said. By comparison, the company predicts U.S. auto sales will decline 10 percent this year and 2 percent in 2009. Experts point to a variety of reasons for the emerging slowdown. First, many of the problems facing the U.S. economy are affecting other economies as well -- and in some cases even more dramatically. Countries like Argentina are being hit by double-digit inflation, while others are known for economic and monetar y policies that are unfavorable to foreign investment. In addition, the unpredictable nature of developing economies, from unstable governments to economies reliant on the price of commodities and raw materials, makes any long-term bet hazy. “Russia is flush with cash because the price of oil is high,” said Peter Morici, a business professor at the University of Mar yland and former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission. "But if the price of oil doesn't keep going up, the growth won't be there anymore." On top of that, some developing countries show early signs of saturation as the emergence of the middle class slows. Some of this unpredictability is already in evidence. China, which has seen car sales grow by more than 20 percent annually for the last three years, has been a hotbed of investment from carmakers. Pairing with domestic par t-
ners, companies like Toyota, Ford and GM have all built plants to meet what has been seen as an unslakable thirst for automobiles in the world's most populous nation. But in July, Chinese car sales rose just 6.8 percent over the same month a year earlier, the smallest such gain in two years. And through the first six months of the year, China's auto market only grew 17 percent, a slide attributed to increasing gasoline taxes designed to slow pollution. "These markets have seen some pretty strong growth," said GM spokesman John McDonald. "But these countries aren't exempt from the direction of the global economy." Even with the prospects of a slowdown in those markets, automakers have little choice but to compete for a piece of the emerging action. U.S. auto sales are deeply troubled, and Western Europe is now showing signs it's come down with at least some of the economic illnesses afflicting America. GM and Ford are wallowing in nearrecord losses, while Toyota -which also counts the U.S. as its prime marketplace -- is seeing its fortunes turn as well, having reported its worst profit decline in five years this month. Meanwhile, an increasing number of car companies, lured by the prospect of growth, are reaching into developing markets. That only makes competition even stiffer. "It's hardly a secret that those are the countries where you need to be," said Lindland. "But it's a symbolic event when a company like Toyota revises forecasts for those regions. It shows that nobody is immune."
continued from page 7 biological weapons hidden by thenPresident Saddam Hussein. “I would like to ask the distinguished representative of the United States: Weapons of mass destruction. Have you found them yet in Iraq, or are you still looking for them?” Wolff accused the Russian of making “specious comparisons.” “I’m not a psychologist and I don’t know what brought on the free association we heard from Ambassador Churkin,” he said. “There is no territorial ambition or desire to dismember Iraq,” the American envoy said. On the other hand, he asserted, “Russia is dismembering Georgia.” Such polemics have hamstrung the 15-member Security Council. Early in the conflict, the United States sought to use the Security Council to condemn Russia’s military intervention and mobilize pressure to halt it, even at the risk of provoking a Russian veto. But the United States backed down after two other veto-wielding permanent members, Britain and France, pressed for a consensual approach. They preferred a resolution that would solidify a French-brokered cease-fire proposal and open the way to an international peacekeep-
ing mission in Georgia. That approach failed too. The council deadlocked over rival French and Russian drafts as Russia defied the West by keeping large numbers of troops in undisputed parts of Georgia. Talks to find a compromise were set back by Moscow’s recognition of the two breakaway regions. “It is a source of profound disappointment to us . . . to witness the council rendered incapable of discharging (its) responsibility to maintain international peace and security,” Indonesian Ambassador Marty Natalegawa told Thursday’s session. China, Vietnam and Libya, frequent allies of Russia in the council, did not address the meeting, which consisted almost entirely of criticism of Moscow’s action in Georgia. Perhaps wary of separatists and restive religious groups at home, China joined Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on Thursday in refusing Russia’s appeal to recognize the breakaway Georgian regions. Instead, those countries, which comprise the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and met in Tajikistan, voiced suppor t for the principle of preser ving the unity and territorial integrity of nation states.
Welcome back.
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Detainee suicides prompting lawsuits continued from page 7 ously. Each man fashioned a noose out of strips of T-shirts and bedsheets, hung blankets in his cell to conceal his actions, left a similar suicide note and hanged himself at night to avoid detection. Navy Cmdr. J.D. Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman, said Thursday that Defense Department officials have continuously sought to repatriate detainees and that more than 500 have been returned home. But he said it is U.S. policy not to notify detainees beforehand. “It would be inappropriate to provide significant advance notice to detainees regarding pending departures, in the event plans could change with receiving nations, among other concerns,” Gordon said. The government has reported that two of the men had been on hunger strikes for a long time to protest their confinement. Documents obtained by The Washington Post indicate that the men were part of a group that Guantanamo officials dubbed the “Force Feeders Club,” enduring sometimes painful feedings through tubes and being strapped to chairs so they could not purge the nutrients. Sullami, a Yemeni, had been
treated for irritation and infections in his nasal passages as a result of the feedings for six months, according to medical records. Saudi detainees such as Utaybi and Zahrani were in line to go home under an agreement with Riyadh to repatriate captives who are not slated to face war-crimes trials. In Saudi Arabia, former Guantanamo detainees go through a repatriation program and government officials agree to mitigate any threat the men might pose. Pardiss Kebriaei, a lawyer at the Center for Constitutional Rights, said she filed legal papers in the case alleging negligence by U.S. authorities even before the military investigation showed that guards did not follow some procedures and apparently failed to notice the hangings until hours later. “Our main focus is really the fact that the men were in the exclusive custody of the United States, and the responsibility there is by virtue of that,” Kebriaei said. “I think the families want recognition of what they have suffered, of the fact that their sons were wrongfully detained for four years without charge. They want an apology, which they have never had. And they want closure.” Sullami’s attorney said investiga-
tive documents show that there was no evidence linking his client to terrorism. “The government caused these deaths by first wrongfully detaining them, and secondly, in a most cowardly fashion, refusing to acknowledge their mistake and immediately moving them out,” Engelhardt said. “They now say they were engaged in warfare against the United States. If they died as enemies of this country, we know who made them that.” Talal al-Zahrani, still convinced that the U.S. government has been covering up wrongdoing in his son’s death, said that he believes many Americans are concerned about humanitarian issues at Guantanamo, but that he now holds considerable ill will toward the U.S. government. “It is a government that has shown so much arrogance and misuse and abuse of power, injustice, and it has treaded over the rights of people and the feelings of people,” he said Thursday. “During the past few years, because of these practices, it has generated so much hatred against it.” Daly said that had he met with Utaybi, he would have been able to tell him about his imminent transfer, possibly averting the suicide.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
S ummer pic k ins ’
Meara Sharma / Herald
Fresh tomatoes grow at the Urban Environmental Lab in the lingering warmth of Providence summer.
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becoming the next president. I think he’s a very strong candidate,” she said. “I think he really has the qualities the country needs to really refocus and get our priorities straight.” York said Clinton delegates who do not yet support Obama will likely change their mind. “There’s a handful of Clinton delegates who still aren’t on board with Obama,” she said. “That’s one that will change because the stakes are so clear and high. But there are still a few people who are disappointed.” York thinks that in order to change the minds of those dedicated Clinton delegates and keep those supporters that it already has, the party needs to continue to emphasize the differences between Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona, as Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware did with respect to foreign policy in his vice-presidential Michael Skocpol / Herald nomination acceptance speech on Patricia Flanagan, associate professor of pediatrics, supports Senator BaWednesday night. rack Obama before his Thursday night speech at Denver’s Invesco Field. “The fact is, in terms of judgment on foreign policy issues, Obama has been right and Bush and McCain have been wrong, and the Bush administration is starting to come around,” she said. “People need to understand it’s a matter of judgment and Obama’s judgment is Flanagan watched her husband far superior.” continued from page 1 participate as a delegate at the 2004 Despite her initial candidate of like York, that the convention had DNC. She became excited about preference not becoming the nomibeen a success. Clinton’s campaign this year and nee and the delegation’s distant seat “I think we’re all going to leave became one of the 13 delegates from assignment, Flanagan enjoyed the Denver ready to rally together as a the state pledged to Clinton. convention for its speeches and the party in Providence,” she said. But Clinton failed to win the opportunities to meet new people Like Paolino and York, Patricia nomination, and Flanagan said she and be a part of the nomination Flanagan, associate professor of pe- now gives her full support to the process. diatrics, changed her support from Democratic nominee. “It has been tremendous — very T:10 in Clinton to Obama. “I am very excited about him exciting,” she said.
Rhode Island delegates do their part for Dem unity
Editor’s Picks: Bruno’s games not-to-miss for the fall season By Amy Ehrhart Sports Editor
Sept. 5 & 7: The Ivy League titlewinning men’s soccer team will be taking the field as hosts of the annual Adidas Soccer Classic tournament versus Big East adversaries St. John’s College and Villanova University. The annual pre-game BBQ takes place Friday, Sept. 5 in front of the Pizzitola Sports Center, and makes for an excellent kick-off weekend for fall sports.
Center following the roof collapse of the Smith Swim Center last year, but this facility is not large enough to host any competitions.) If last year’s games against Connecticut College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are any indication, these two games should be an exciting chance to watch Brown dominate.
Oct. 18 & 19: The Head and Tail of the Charles races in Boston always feature the best crew competition of the fall. The women’s crew team will be looking to start where Sept. 8 & 9: The men’s tennis they have left off after winning two team doesn’t have any home matches consecutive NCAA titles, while the this semester, but their first one up men are building on another strong at Har vard will year after resurely provide cently winning SPORTS some drama. the prestigious The Crimson ECAC Tur fer grabbed an Ivy title in 2007 after Award. Bruno took the 2005 and 2006 titles, and the Bears are eager to reassert Nov. 7: Last year against Cornell their dominance. The one-hour trip University’s Big Red, the volleyball north will be worth it to see how the team won in an epic five-game battle Ivy title will pan out come April. before a huge Pizzitola crowd. This year’s rematch should provide more Sept. 27: The homecoming foot- hard-hitting plays at to jump-start the ball game at Brown Stadium is al- last home weekend of the season. ways thrilling to attend, and this year the Bears will have a score to settle Nov. 8: The last home game for as they play Ivy League Champion the seven seniors of the women’s Harvard, who edged by the Bears in soccer team will make for an emoa seven-point game last year. tional night on Stevenson Field, so don’t miss this game against Ivy Oct. 14 & 29: The No. 19 men’s League rival Yale University. The water polo has only two “home” field hockey team will also be playmatches all year at Wheaton College, ing its final game on this Saturday just over the border in Norton, Mass. night against Yale, and they will be (Brown has built a temporary pool saying goodbye to four outstanding behind the Olney Margolis Athletic seniors of their own.
Morris on Campus Life According to an Upperclassman
world view having enoughmoney T:8 in
101 CHRIS L MARTIN
123 YOUR STREET 12345 ANYWHERE, U.S.A.
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Asher ‘09: Football team is full of promise this season
H ere to help
Bobby Sewall ’10 as a serious running threat, when he took over the primary rushing duties to pick up No matter how busy you are this fall, 144 yards against Dartmouth, and try to get to a Brown football game. another 80 in the team’s seasonIn the already exciting atmosphere ending win over Columbia. of college football, the Bears, ranked In addition to rushing and receivthird in the Ivy League in a preseason ing, Sewall, a former quarterback, poll, promise to deliver an electrify- showcased his throwing abilities last ing brand of football this season in year as well and adds versatility and their quest to bring an Ivy League trickery to the Bears’ offense. championship back to Brown. He will be joined by Buddy Their offense, which led the Farnham ’10, whose combination of league with 31.2 speed and power points per game makes him one SPORTS in 2007, is led by of the league’s quar terback Mimost dangerous chael Dougherty ’09. Dougherty, receivers. Last season, Farnham’s a co-captain along with defensive league-leading 78 receptions and 10 back Darrell Harrison ’09, averaged receiving touchdowns earned him over 300 passing yards per game last first team All-Ivy honors. year in his first season as a starter, Brown also features a formidable including a 403-yard performance in defense, led by Harrison, who tied Brown’s win over Dartmouth in the for third in the Ivy League with four penultimate game of the season. interceptions last season, including The final two games of the season one which he returned 65 yards for a also saw the emergence of receiver touchdown in a 31-17 win over Penn. The defense also boasts James Develin ’10, who in only his sophomore season led the league with six sacks and 13.5 tackles for losses. The defense will also be anchored by a hard-hitting core of linebackers, which includes Frank Nuzzo ’09, John May ’09, Steve Ziogas ’09 and Miles Craigwell ’09, the four of whom accounted for 15 tackles for losses and seven forced fumbles last season. The atmosphere of a college football game is a very special experience, and it will be even more so with the hard-hitting, big-play style of football we can expect from Brown this year. Have no doubt, the Bears’ home games will be the perfect way to kick off your Saturdays this fall. By Benjy Asher Sports Editor
Herald Staff Photo
Meiklejohn training happened across campus Friday, including outside the Sciences Library, where students learned the ins-and-outs of academic peer advising.
Benjy Asher ’09 will be at Bruno’s game versus Stony Brook on Sept. 20 at 12:30 p.m.
Want to get oriented? Become a campus reporter by joining The Herald! Stop by our table at the Activities Fair to learn how to get involved, get trained, and get out on campus and beyond with The Herald.
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
An early Mickey Mouse image may end an old copyright continued from page 5 tially free Mickey is not the most current or familiar version of the famous mouse. Copyright questions apply to an older incarnation, a rendition of Mickey still recognizable but slightly different. Original Mickey, the star of the first synchronized sound cartoon, “Steamboat Willie,” and other early classics, had longer arms, smaller ears and a more pointy nose. The notion that any Mickey Mouse might be free of copyright restrictions is about as welcome in the Magic Kingdom as an old hag with a poisoned apple. Yet elsewhere, especially in academia, the idea has attracted surprising support. “That `Steamboat Willie’ is in the public domain is easy. That’s a foregone conclusion,” said copyright scholar Peter Jaszi of American University’s Washington College of Law. The issue has been chewed over by law students as class projects and debated by professors. It produced one little-noticed law review article: A 23-page essay in a 2003 University of Virginia legal journal argued that “there are no grounds in copyright
law for protecting” the Mickey of those early films. Roger Schechter, a George Washington University expert on copyright, called the article’s argument “a plausible, solid, careful case.” By contrast, a Disney lawyer once threatened the author with legal action for “slander of title” under California law. No suit was filed. No one expects Disney, which declined interview requests, to surrender Mickey without an all-out legal brawl. And the cost of what has been an academic exercise would soar if moved into a federal courtroom. “Law and equity might line up on the side of forfeiture,” said Michael J. Madison, associate dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. But “Disney has enough ammunition on its side to dissuade all but the most well-financed competitor, or any but the most committed public-interest advocates, from challenging Mickey.” The stor y begins once upon a time, when a longtime Disney devotee dared awake the dragon in the Disney company’s legal department. Gregory S. Brown, 51, a former Disney researcher who has lived in the same one-bedroom Hollywood
apartment for two decades, seems an unlikely giant-killer. Thin, pale and bespectacled, he looks the part of an obsessive archivist. He has worked little since a heart attack in 1998, getting by mostly on disability payments. As a child, Brown was intrigued by a book on the hard slogging by Walt Disney and his brother Roy to establish themselves in the early days of film and animation. That launched a lifelong fascination with the business side of the Disney empire. While in high school, Brown visited Disney offices to research a term paper and ended up getting hired as an assistant to Disney archivist David R. Smith in 1974. Brown helped catalog correspondence between the Disney brothers and had access to other internal records. Brown was struck by the Disneys’ early disorganization. It took years, for example, for the brothers to decide whether their company should be a corporation, a proprietorship or a partnership. Brown moved on from Disney to the University of California, Los Angeles, the American Film Institute and a brief producing career, and then he teamed with a friend
in a 1980s takeover bid for Harvey Productions -- home of Casper the Friendly Ghost. Conducting a “due diligence” assessment of Harvey’s assets -- making sure that no legal or financial problems could haunt the purchase -- Brown found a stinker. After release of the movie “Ghostbusters,” Harvey had sued Columbia Pictures in 1984, complaining that the cartoon ghost in the logo of Bill Murray’s crew looked an awful lot like Casper’s sidekick, Fatso. Columbia Pictures convinced a judge that a lapsed copyright had dumped Fatso into the public domain, ending the case. Brown also discovered that Harvey had failed to renew other copyrights covering the company’s ghosts. Casper was public property too. Now armed with knowledge about the frequency and implications of copyright confusion, Brown launched a business venture exploiting some of that murkiness. He would market recreated animation cels from a 1933 Mickey Mouse short called “The Mad Doctor.” Brown had discovered that the Disneys failed to renew copyright claims on that film. But the Disney company sued so quickly that Brown never sold a cel. While “The Mad Doctor” was indeed out of copyright, that longago oversight had not freed Mickey, whose ostensible copyright protection predated the short. Brown lost. Worse, he was clobbered with a $500,000 judgment. In the waning days of his case, Brown returned to the arguments of Disney lawyers who wrote that Mickey Mouse had been created by Walt Disney Co. in 1928. The former archivist knew that the company didn’t exist then. He wondered: Whose name is on the original copyright? Brown was one of the few who knew that odds of a mistake were high. “Everybody screwed up copyright in the ‘20s, ‘30s and ‘40s,” said Schechter, the author of several books on copyright law. “Under the 1909 Act, courts were really insistent on formalities.” Brown went searching for flawed formalities -- and found one. It was on the title card at the beginning of a “Steamboat Willie” cartoon that had just been rereleased on a 1993 LaserDisc honoring Mickey’s 65th birthday. It said in full: “Disney Cartoons; Present; A Mickey Mouse; Sound Cartoon; Steamboat Willie; A Walt Disney Comic; By Ub Iwerks; Recorded by Cinephone Powers System; Copyright MCMXXIX.” For Brown, it was as if the glass slipper fit him perfectly. The key was location of the word “copyright” in relation to the name “Walt Disney.” There were two other names listed in between -- Cinephone and Disney’s top studio artist, Ub Iwerks. Arguably, any of the three could have claimed ownership, thereby nullifying anyone’s claim under arcane rules of the Copyright Act of 1909. Brown leapt on the ambiguity, asking the court to reconsider its ruling against him on grounds that Mickey Mouse was out of copyright. But he was too late. Without ruling on the merits of Brown’s arguments, the judge tossed it aside as untimely. Arizona State University professor Dennis Karjala, a Brown acquaintance, suggested that one of his law school students look into the claim as a class project. Lauren
Vanpelt took up the challenge and produced a paper agreeing with Brown. She posted her project on the Internet in 1999. Across the continent, a Georgetown University law student stumbled on Vanpelt’s paper more than a year later. “I just came across it,” Douglas Hedenkamp said. “I was intrigued.” Today, title-card claims are no longer required. But when courts rule on historical copyright issues, they follow the laws in place at the time -- in this case, says Hedenkamp, the 1909 law requiring that the word copyright or its symbol be “accompanied by the name of the copyright proprietor” -- a rule scholars said means in the immediate proximity. The authoritative “Nimmer on Copyright” says that a copyright is void if multiple names create uncertainty, and courts have agreed. In 1961, a federal judge in Massachusetts cited the “accompanied by” rule in throwing out a copyright claim by newspaper cartoonist Art Moger. Moger’s name was included in the title above his panels, but the name of another artist ran inside the boxes. “The fact that (Moger’s) name is prominently displayed ... does not, by any means, rule out the possibility” that the other artist is the copyright holder, the judge wrote. Hedenkamp finally wrote to Disney’s in-house lawyers, an attempt to satisfy his curiosity. Had he missed something? Or was there really a problem with Mickey’s copyright? Disney legal advisers were not amused. General Counsel Louis Meisinger wrote back that it would be “inconceivable that any modern court would find any confusion about the identity of the proprietor of Mickey Mouse cartoons.” He even threatened Hedenkamp with legal action if the young scholar openly advanced such claims. “With respect to your plans to otherwise promote these as being in the public domain,” Meisinger added, “please be advised that slander of title remains actionable under California law for both compensatory and punitive damages.” Nonetheless, Hedenkamp spelled out his arguments in the Virginia Spor ts and Enter tainment Law Journal, a publication of the University of Virginia’s law school. It attracted little attention off-campus. Hedenkamp never heard from Disney again. Now 32, he works at an Irvine, Calif., firm handling commercial law. He describes himself as a “huge fan” of Disney. He also says that because Disney has taken advantage of so many characters created by others, it is only fair that artists get to borrow from Disney. “Other people should get to put their spin on those old characters,” Hedenkamp said. Roy Disney said he had never heard the theory about problems with the title cards. Nor was he surprised. During those early years, he said, “Nobody knew what they were doing.” Meisinger, the former general counsel, is now a Los Angeles County judge. Asked about the Hedenkamp article during a visit to his chambers, Meisinger gave an instant nod of recognition but ignored an invitation to take up the argument again. “Everything has to fall into the public domain sometime,” he said, then headed back to court.
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Candace Rondeaux / Washington Post
A family that fled Pakistan’s Bajaur tribal area after the Pakistani army launched an anti-Taliban assault now lives at a camp near Peshawar.
Pakistan’s push in tribal areas triggers flood of refugees By Candace Rondeaux Washington Post
NOWSHERA, Pakistan — Lal Bahadur walked down from the mountains about two weeks ago. With his back to Afghanistan and his wife and five children alongside, he descended steep inclines through the northern edge of Pakistan’s tribal areas as artillery fire boomed around them. It was nearly a full day before the family found a place to rest. By the time they reached the district of Nawagai, the price of a ride to safety in the nearby city of Peshawar had already increased 10-fold. When they arrived in Peshawar from the volatile tribal area of Bajaur, Bahadur found that apartment rents in the city had almost tripled, putting them well beyond his reach. So the family came here to this refugee camp about 45 miles east of Peshawar, where nearly 1,000 residents of Bajaur have recently sought shelter in the wake of a massive military offensive against Taliban insurgents. An estimated 200,000 people from the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan have been displaced since the Pakistani army launched the Bajaur operation early this month in response to growing U.S. pressure to take action against the Taliban in the region, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Local officials say the flood of refugees into northwestern and central Pakistan has overwhelmed cities such as Peshawar. And as the army began to push into the tribal area of Kurram last week, government officials in cities as far away as Karachi were bracing for more waves of people. The political and economic fallout from Pakistan’s push against the Taliban and al-Qaida has widened into a major humanitarian crisis, analysts and local officials here say. Yet a week after the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf, the government has announced no specific plans to address the refugee problem in the border regions, which now appears to be spilling over into the rest of the country. Last week, the crisis grew so acute that Pascal Cuttat, head of the Red Cross in Pakistan, called urgently for shelter, medical treatment and food for Bajaur refugees. The aid agency estimates that the military operations in Bajaur and neighboring tribal areas have driven about 14,000 people westward across the border into the troubled Afghan province of Konar, where last month nine U.S. soldiers were killed in a well-coordinated Talibanled attack. In Peshawar, a city of more than 3 million, the waves of new arrivals
have brought with them numerous problems. Last week, migrants held several protests in the city over the Bajaur offensive and the lack of government assistance. Peshawar’s 5,000 police officers have struggled to contain the violence stemming from the protests and from clashes between refugees and local residents. And the influx of people has driven up prices for basic goods across the city, officials said. “All around Peshawar, on every side, the situation is volatile because of the people coming from Bajaur, Bara, Dera Adam Khel and the people from Swat and Waziristan,” said Ghulam Ali, the mayor. “All of this is impacting the infrastructure in Peshawar. The schools, the health system — everything is overloaded.” Bahadur, 40, said he had little choice but to leave Bajaur. Pakistani troops have been pounding the area with bombs dropped from helicopter gunships and fighter jets since Aug. 10. He and dozens of refugees at the camp said they received no warning of the operation. “We had no idea it was going to happen. The government didn’t tell us anything, and we didn’t see them anywhere,” Bahadur said. Pakistani army officials have said that dozens of Islamist insurgents have been killed in the Bajaur operation. Little, however, has officially been said about the civilian toll. Local news reports suggest more than 200 people have been killed. Meanwhile, the refugees at the camp in Nowshera wait and wonder about the fate of those they left behind, subsisting on two meals a day of beans and bread. Their own survival is not assured: An outbreak of cholera and typhoid fever has already killed two young girls here. Subhan Ullah, the camp director, acknowledged that conditions are far from optimal and that the army’s push into other tribal areas near Bajaur would probably increase the challenge for the government. Ullah said he is looking for a larger piece of land to accommodate the anticipated surge in numbers. “We are doing what we can to support the people here,” he said. The government has set up several camps for tribal area refugees across the country. But as in the camp in Nowshera, abysmal conditions and outbreaks of disease have driven many to seek shelter elsewhere. In Rawalpindi, the garrison city near Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, hundreds of refugees set up camp in several parks this month. Last week, Rawalpindi police moved to disperse the camps. Bahadur and several others at Nowshera said they are also considering leaving soon.
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Brownspeak A to Z: The Herald’s freshman guide A capella: An oversubscribed on-campus vocal activity. If you live near the Wayland or MoChamp arches, you might want to invest in soundproofing for your room. A.B.: Everyone else calls it a B.A., but we know that’s Absolute Bullshit. Their degrees, not ours, that is. A.B.-Sc.B.: The five-year program that will get you two — count ‘em, two! — degrees before you leave. Remember, though, that one of them is Absolute Bullshit. ADOCH: A Day on College Hill. A lot of you probably came to this spring event right after acceptance letters went out. We eschew homework for a day and throw parties unusually large for Tuesday nights. This is not necessarily indicative of life at Brown... Annmar y Brown Memorial: The creepy building next door to Health Services is an actual tomb. With dead bodies. ARRR!!!: Pirate a cappella. Sea shanties never had it so good. Banner: The new computerized student record system that replaced Brown’s venerable pink-and-white course registration forms. The interface makes AOL dial-up circa 1996 look like an iPhone. LOL. Berman, Chris ’77 P’08
P’09: “Boomer” is one of ESPN’s most visible and popular stars, for those not in the know. He concentrated in history at Brown and got his broadcasting start covering baseball for WBRU-FM. (See BSR.) Binder, Dave: A Spring Weekend tradition. He sings mediocre but endearing covers of bachelorette party favorites to hordes of drunken Brown students every year. (See Spring Weekend.) Blue Room, The: Brown’s version of Blue State Coffee — but all the proceeds go to Brown Dining Services. It’s great for a bagel or Equal Exchange coffee between classes. They take only flex points and cash, so neither meal credits nor Daddy’s credit card will help you out here. BOLT: Brown Outdoor Leadership Training is a unique opportunity to learn simultaneously how to tie a trucker’s hitch, avoid the sophomore slump and bury your poop with a trowel. Five days in the White Mountains of New Hampshire with nine total strangers, and apparently, people don’t hook up. Brown Band: They make your high school marching band look like a military troupe. Sure they use profanity and their uniforms have “flair,” but they can march on ice! Brown Daily Herald, The: The finest independent student
newspaper in this fair Republic. Published since 1866, daily since 1891, the Herald is financially and editorially independent from the University and is always looking for new talent.
through College Hill (literally), from next to Starbucks on Thayer Street to the intersection of Waterman and North Main streets. Don’t try walking through the tunnel. Just don’t. Trust us.
Brown Democrats: Founded by alum JFK Jr. ’83. As elections approach, membership swells.
Buxton: International House tucked away on Wriston Quad. Starving artist types from RISD have been known to look through their garbage, but other than tight jeans and cigarette butts, we’re not sure what else you’d find there. Did we mention the blaring techno?
Brown Republicans: Once, they could all fit in a Perkins triple, but are a growing and increasingly vocal presence on campus. BSR: Brown Student Radio, WELH 88.1 FM. WBRU-FM’s estranged hipster cousin broadcasts in the evenings, seven days a week. The signal doesn’t really reach into most Brown dorms (they’re that underground, yo), so you’re better off listening on their Web site. (See WBRU.) BTV: Brown Television, home of elaborate student-made comedies and infinite reruns of “Mean Girls.” Relish the two hours a week when there’s sound. Airs through IPTV (see IPTV). BuDS: Brown University Dining Services tries with pumpkin carving competitions and theme days to be as adorable as its acronym. Also, inventors of the (in) famous Polynesian Ratatouille. Bus Tunnel, The: Technically the “Rumford Bus Tunnel.” It goes
Cable Car, The: Just down College Hill, the Cable Car doubles as a cafe and cinema showing great independent and foreign films. Plus, it has loveseats ... and live blues music before almost every evening showing. Campaign for Academic Enrichment: Brown’s crusade for the minds, hearts and cold, hard cash of your parents, your grandparents and your great-aunt in West Palm Beach. Also known as “Boldly Brown.” (See Plan for Academic Enrichment) Campus Market, The: Small venue stashed underneath the Blue Room and clearinghouse of elderly frozen burritos and ginger beer, as well as gum, Nutter Butters and paper towels. Staffed entirely by student workers, the Campus Market has a 32 percent chance of having what you’re look-
ing for. But they take Flex Points. Carberr y, Josiah: Brown’s legendary professor of psychoceramics (the study of cracked pots). He only exists on Friday the 13th. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. He also has the only double chicken patty sandwich available at a Rhode Island fast food restaurant named after him. (See Jo’s) Carter, Amy: We know President Jimmy Carter’s daughter attended Brown. We know she didn’t graduate. The facts end there. Cianci, Vincent a.k.a. “Buddy”: The renowned, longest-serving former mayor of Providence just got out of the slammer. First elected in 1974, he resigned in 1984 after pleading no contest to assaulting his wife’s lover with a fireplace log, hosted a radio show for a few years, was then reelected in 1990 — until he was convicted of federal crimes in 2002. Legend has it Buddy used to ride up to Brown frat parties on a white horse during his first term. He could often be seen playing cymbals with the Brown Band at football games. Recently, his exploits have been documented in a number of ways, including The Prince of Providence, a book by ProJo reporter Mike Stanton (see ProJo); BUDDY—The Rise and continued on page 15
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to who’s who and what’s what on College Hill continued from page 14 Fall of America’s Most Notorious Mayor, an Emmy-award winning documentary; and lets not forget “Buddy” Cianci: The Musical. Cicilline, David ’83: Providence’s gay, Jewish, Italian mayor who’s also a Brown alum. He’s trying to separate City Hall from its corrupt past (see Cianci, Vincent). First elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006. CIT: The Thomas J. Watson Center for Information Technology. If you don’t have a printer, you’ll be spending a lot of time here. But only $30 worth of time. (Computer Science concentrators, expect to spend closer to $200,000 worth of time here.) College Hill: The vantage point from which you look down upon the residents of Providence — literally, but hopefully not metaphorically. Fairly difficult to walk up, worse when riding a bike. Especially during winter. College Hill Independent: College Hill’s weekly news rag, but more importantly the Herald’s chief kickball competitor. They certainly know how to shake their HIPS and STIR up controversy. Concentration: In the rest of the world, this is called a “major.” Corporation, The: In October,
February and May, the cabal of rich men and women who really run Brown meet in Sayles to decide our future. You don’t know who the members of the Brown Corporation are, and that’s probably just how they like it. CPR: 1. Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. 2. Course Performance Report, a narrative evaluation of your performance in a class. You can request one of those from any professor, either in addition to a letter grade, or to supplement an “S” in an S/NC class. (See S/NC) Cranston: Rhode Island’s third-largest city, but you’ll probably never go there. Most notable for serving as the inspiration for Quahog of “Family Guy.” Credit/Meal Credit: Getting into Brown is only half the intellectual battle. It’s not in your upper-level bio classes that you’ll meet your greatest mental challenge; rather, it’s in deciding how to purchase food on campus most effectively. The exchange rate for meal credits is one credit to $5.75. Dating: If you live in Perkins, you might not date your unitmates, but you are statistically doomed to marry one of them. The rest of you are just doomed. Due Date: It is always flexible. Even when the professor swears otherwise. (See Extension)
EMS: EMS stands for Emergency Medical Services. It also stands for Eastern Mountain Sports. Call the wrong one and instead of getting a stomach pump, you’ll be getting a thermos and a GPS system to help you stumble home. Endowment, small: The reason behind most of the University’s financial problems ... in bed. Extension: You will most likely ask for at least one of these in your time at Brown. Make up a good reason, and you’ll probably get it. Even when the professor says at the beginning of the year that he or she never gives extensions. (See due date). Facebook.com: Making stalking easier than ever. Most of you first-years probably went through most of high school using it. Freaks. Federal Hill: Providence’s “Little Italy,” they like to say. Since it’s only really one street (Atwells Avenue), it means you can get great pasta, delicious cannoli and vengeance for your brother’s murder all in one place. Fish Co: The off-campus bar with a Brown night. No fish, but alcohol if you’re legal — or look it. First-years: Everybody else calls them “freshmen.”
First-year seminars: Take one while you can, you lucky bastards. Frank ’42, Sidney E.: Liquor magnate associated with Grey Goose, Jagermeister and sexual harassment lawsuits. He only studied here for one year, but after he gave more than $100 million for financial aid and the Life Sciences building (which bears his name), the University retroactively gave him his degree. Fraternity: These might be considered cool ... at some other schools. FriSC: Unveiled in Jan. 2007, the Friedman Study Center is a 24-hour haven for procrastinators, housed in the basement of the SciLi. Front Green: Also, Quiet Green. A good place for reading or making out on pleasant days. Gate, The: The couch-infested rec room of Pembroke Campus. Simply decent pizza becomes stellar when you can buy it with meal credit instead of actual money. GCB: The Graduate Center Bar, an actual bar buried in the basement of Grad Center. A good place to go on a weeknight to split a pitcher of beer and a game of pool. It’s $30 to become a member, but if you’re an illegal young’un you’ll have to stick to Fish Co. Graduate Center: Grad Center has all the charm of a sterile, riot-proof bunker — but without the sterility. Home to many of Brown’s sophomores, this fivebuilding abomination has been plaguing the campus aesthetic since it was constructed, or by some accounts, assembled from Lincoln Logs. The only valuable thing about this structure is the land it is currently devaluing.
E. Gordon Gee Lavator y Complex: For the past three Spring Weekends, a sign has graced a bunch of Port-a-Potties to commemorate Brown’s shortesttenured president. It is the only thing named after him on campus. Ever. Gut: An easy class. A really easy class. If you’re looking for more free time (or just like geology), take one of these. Housing lotter y: It’s a lot better now than it used to be. Trust us. Hutchings-Votey Organ: Located in Sayles, it’s the largest one in the world! We suspect there are only three H-V organs in the world. IMP: 1. International Mentoring Program to help first-year international students adjust to studying and living in the United States. 2. The wee folk who work long into the night in the bowels of the Ratty to make us delicious “magic bars.” (See magic bars) Infant Lab: Involving babies and research, it’s in the basement of the old Metcalf Chemistry Lab, across from the greenhouse, and oddly suspicious. Inside Brown: The University’s equivalent of your grandmother’s Christmas newsletter. IPTV: We can watch TV on our computers now. But we can still complain that there are too few channels. It’ll replace regular cable someday. Ivy League: Now that you’re in the Ivy League, some may get you to start thinking that we have rivalries with schools like Harvard and Yale. They are wrong. Harvard and Yale have a rivalry with each other in which they all wear continued on page 16
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Brownspeak A to Z: The Herald’s freshman guide continued from page 15 white, frequently poke each other in the chest and make bar graph comparisons of their endowments. Cornell is the most dubious member, and we are the best. Jo’s: Technically “Josiah’s,” the snack bar of choice for residents south of the Main Green. Located on the ground floor of New Dorm A, it’s the home of wraps, snacks, and fried foods — especially the Carberry. Mmmmm. John Hay, the: One of those very collegiate libraries in which you feel like you shouldn’t touch anything. The Hay has many rare collections and is home to the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection of toy soldiers and the University Archives, for you Brown history buffs. Jolt, The Daily: You probably already know about the Daily Jolt, Brown’s own little Craigslist on training wheels. So instead, we’ll give you a few points to ponder next time you’re obsessively hitting the “refresh” button on the forum: Are the professor quotes real? Who are those cretins in the forums? Do they even go to Brown? Kennedy Jr., John Fitzgerald ’83: We’re glad he broke the family trend of Harvard attendance. Yes, he kept a pig in his dorm. Leung Galler y: Pronounced “lee-ung.” The big gallery above The Blue Room, on the third floor of Faunce. Sometimes home to ballroom dancing practice. Lincoln Field: The green between Sayles and Thayer Street. The upper section is perfect for studying, while the lower part is often the site of football and Frisbee games. After World War II, it
was the site of the Veteran’s College. Before that, it was a swamp. LiSci: The glass and steel behemoth between main campus and Pembroke Campus, formally known as the Sidney E. Frank Hall for the Life Sciences. The logical extension of The Walk runs through it. Maybe one day the naked doughnut run will too. (See Naked Doughnut Run). Loui’s: A Brook Street restaurant you will inevitably discover at 5 a.m., and hopefully you’ll remember it, too. Try the grilled muffins. Magaziner, Ira ’69 P’06 P’07 P’10: The New Curriculum was his brainchild while he was an undergraduate. Now he’s the mastermind behind the Clinton Foundation. Magic bars: One of the few delicious desserts at the Ratty. Not to be confused with a similar concoction baked by naughty upperclassmen during Spring Weekend. Main Green: If you haven’t figured out where this is, go home. Manning Walk: The beautiful walkway from Soldier’s Arch through Sciences Park up to Barus and Holley. Meiklejohn: Pronounced like “nickel-john,” but with an “M.” Alexander Meiklejohn was a professor of philosophy. Meiklejohns are now the upper class counselors who dish straight truth about anything you need to know about academics at Brown. MCM: The Department of Modern Culture and Media, also the kickball roster for the College Hill ‘Dependent. But no smoking allowed inside. MPC: Minority Peer Coun-
selor. The counselors who are specially trained to advise first-year students on minority issues. They are assisted by MPC Friends. Naked Doughnut Run: On the last night of reading period, dedicated scholars in the Absolute Quiet Room in the Rock and in the Sci Li get a special treat: doughnuts! Made doubly delicious by the awkward nudes that hand them to you. New Curriculum: This is what allows you take whatever classes you want, and what allows you potentially to have zero grades when you graduate. It’s 35 years old, but we still call it new. Go figure. (See New Dorm.) New Dorm: Not so new anymore, the former Thayer Street quad is officially called Vartan Gregorian Quad. The two buildings contain upperclassmen suites, often coveted living space for juniors. Building A is home to Josiah’s, a campus snack bar, and the Donald L. Saunders ’57 Family Inn at Brown. 9 a.m.: Too early for class. Don’t even ask about AB hour (That’s Absolute Bullshit too). Ninjas: Believe it or not, 18- to 22-year-olds dress up in hokey costumes and terrorize unsuspecting freshman. (See ARRR!!!). OMAC: Olney-Margolies Athletic Center — where you go to try to keep off the “freshman 15.” Your high school gym had more and better equipment. But the satellite gyms in Keeney, Emery halls and Grad Center will ease the crunch of overgrown athletes keeping you off machines in the OMAC. Orientation: Used to be a week. Is now shorter or much longer, depending on how you look
at. Enjoy this while it lasts. Being overscheduled will never be this relaxing again. Orwig: Underused but beautiful music library; only open until 10 p.m. Pacifica House: A society so secret you can visit their Web site. Page 2: Post-’s most widely read page, because it features a nearly naked guy and girl getting their 15 minutes of fame. Parking Space: Something you’ll never find in Providence, anywhere. Patriot’s Court: An extension of Wriston Quad. A bit quieter, in theory. Otherwise unremarkable. Pawtucket: A city bordering Providence, which is pronounced puhTUCKet, not PAWtucket. The locals tend to get rabid if you say it wrong. The movie “Outside Providence” takes place here. Pembroke: The northern part of Brown’s campus used to be Pembroke College, an all-female coordinate to Brown. The official merge occurred in 1970, though under-the-table sexiling had been going on for years (See Sexile). Legend has it that if you walk over the seal on the steps leading up to the college, your next sexual encounter will result in impregnation. Or you’ll meet the person you’re supposed to marry here at Brown. Or both. We can’t remember. Perkins: 1. A beloved pancake restaurant that has not yet made it east of New York. 2. A first-year dorm that is nearly as far away as the nearest Perkins Restaurant. We hope you guys brought mopeds. Plan for Academic Enrich-
ment: Ruth’s vaguely sinistersounding plan to ensure that your kids have a better Brown experience than you. (See Campaign for Academic Enrichment) PLME: Brown’s Program in Liberal Medical Education lets you go straight into the Medical School without ever taking the MCATs. Only available to students admitted to PLME. post- : The Herald’s witty, interesting and beautifully designed arts and entertainment magazine. post- includes music, film, theater and dining reviews, interviews and scintillating feature stories. It comes out in The Herald every Thursday. Power Street Garage: Formerly one of the few lots where students could park; now, thanks to development, a place to gaze wistfully as a shuttle whisks you to your car in a new lot far, far away. ProJo: The Providence Journal. Rhode Island’s largest daily newspaper. They get very excited when big things happen in this tiny state. It’s not exactly the New York Times, but it’s cute that the ProJo recycles all the Times’ stories, anyway. Providence Place Mall: One of the crowning achievements of the previous mayoral administration (see Cianci, Vincent), this sprawling shopping center provides almost everything you need in a 15-minute walk from campus. As long as everything you need can be found at chain stores, a multiplex and a food court. Queer Alliance: The current name of the LGBTQ student organization. One of the most visible student groups on campus, it focuses on making Brown a more continued on page 17
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to who’s who and what’s what on College Hill continued from page 16 positive space for queer students by providing a variety of educational and social programming. And one or two huge, risqué, highly publicized parties that are sometimes attended by Fox News producers (for the totally clueless, yes, we mean Sex Power God). Ratty: The Sharpe Refectory. According to legend, the full name got shortened to “Rat Factory,” and lazy Brown students took the name a step farther. It has road signs for easy navigation, but watch out for bottlenecks and congestion. Love it: It loves you. RC: 1. The black sheep of the cola family. 2. “Resident Counselor,” the dedicated individual who will guide you through Orientation, help you adjust to college life, and give you (almost) free condoms, then persuade you not to vomit on yourself (or your roommate) after your first trip to Wriston Quad. Reading period: Ten days off between when classes end and final exams begin. You’re supposed to finish up your work but you’ll end up going to classes your professors refused to cancel. Registrar: Michael Pesta. Nice guy. Hopefully, thanks to the new computerized system for course registration (See Banner), the office won’t take a week to process your course selections or confuse your registration at least four times while you’re here. Rhode Island: Officially the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Lil’ Rhody is the smallest state in the nation with the longest name, and now, your home. RIPTA: The bus. You can ride it for free!
RISD: Rhode Island School of Design. Brown students can, at least in theory, take advantage of classes at RISD, but the lack of storage space and RISD’s wildly different schedule hinders most Brown students from heading halfway down College Hill. But those who make it into classes at RISD usually find them well worth the trouble. Rock, The: The John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library. The main humanities library on campus where students spend more time hitting the books than they ever thought possible, probably more because they get lost in the cryptic, dimly lit stacks and less because they’re motivated. Bathroom-wall graffiti from this building propagated a serious anti-sexual harassment movement a few years back, so respect it. Be warned of the earpiercing, closing-time bell — and remember, if you’re there to hear it, you’ve been working too long. Roommate contract: This document governs your interactions with your bunkmate-to-be and lays down important ground rules concerning his or her interactions with others. Sounds positively Big Brother, but can make a difference in your life if you take the time to look at it, fill it out, sign it and turn it in. (See Sexile.) Sc.B.: Everyone else calls it a B.S., and that’s why those degrees are Bull Shit. (See A.B.) S/NC: Satisfactory/No Credit. The option to take any class “Pass/Fail.” One of the beauties of the New Curriculum. (See New Curriculum). SciLi, The: The Sciences Library. Fourteen stories, colorcoded according to the pH system (“The books get more ‘basic’ as you go higher up”), of books primarily in foreign languages.
You’re supposed to have sex on the 13th floor before you graduate (we hear there’s a nice view of the city up there). Also home to the Friedman Study Center (see Frisc). Seekonk: A beautifully trashy municipality directly across the border in Massachusetts, with three multiplexes, strip malls, suburban paranoia and every chain store you could ever need. Only 10 minutes away by car/cab. Sexile: A merger of the words “exile” and “sex.” What happens if you have a roommate who wants to invite a special friend over to spend the night. You end up sleeping on the floor in the lounge. If you even have one. Simmons, Ruth: Brown’s 18th president and the first black president of an Ivy League school. She has a cult-like following among students and her Plan for Academic Enrichment will give this year’s first-years everything we never had. (See Campaign, Plan for Academic Enrichment) Spoons: The Assassins-type game every freshman unit ends up playing. You can identify firstyears for several weeks because they’re carrying around plasticware. Also a delicious cafe in Wayland Square. Spring Weekend: In a good year, the much-ballyhooed Spring Weekend means big-name bands playing on our very own Main Green, couches on Wriston, lots of drinking and canoodling. In a bad year, expect lots of reverb inside the hockey arena. Stadium: It’s over a mile away. This would be a huge pain if anyone besides alumni went to football games. Stockpot: This monthly newsletter from BuDS is perhaps
THIRD WORLD OLYMPICS
the only campus publication to rival The Brown Daily Herald in journalistic ambition and integrity. SunLab: Located on the first floor of the CIT, the SunLab is filled with high-powered workstations for computer science students. Good luck trying to get a computer on the night before a big project is due. Or on Friday or Saturday night, for that matter. T.A.: Teaching Assistant. They teach some intro-level language classes, as well as some courses in math and other departments. Some are helpful. Some are useless. Some will end up dating your roommate. Thayer Street: Serving as the DMZ between Brown and its real-world neighbors, this avenue was formerly home to a plethora of eclectic shops and a roving motorcycle gang. Now it’s a glorified food court. But Chipotle might be coming soon! Tom & Tom: The “Juice Guys” of Nantucket Nectars fame are indeed dedicated Brown alums. Tom Scott started a TV network two years ago called Plum TV that broadcasts only in upscale vacation spots, and one of the two Toms comes back every year to talk to Professor Barrett Hazeltine’s management classes. Trolley, The: A bus disguised to look like a trolley, run by RIPTA, which goes from Thayer Street to Kennedy Plaza and Federal Hill. The other route goes, um, somewhere else. (See RIPTA) Turner, Ted: Started his college career at Brown before getting thrown out for (depending on whom you believe) either poor grades or “fraternizing” with a female student back when those things were against the rules, wink wink. And look at him now! UCS: The Undergraduate Council of Students, which tries really, really hard to be an effective student governing body. Underground, The: An oncampus bar, located in Faunce
Sophia Li / Herald
Nearly 250 first-years came to Brown early for the Third World Transition Program, participating in events like the Third World Olympics, above, on Lincoln Field.
House. It used to be easy for under-21s to get drinks here, but after an administrative crackdown and an unpleasant debacle involving local high school students, there’s not much of a reason to go here instead of the GCB. During the week, it’s the Hourglass Cafe, where proceeds go to Oxfam. Not open a lot. Unitcest: A merger of the words “unit” and “incest.” It’s when you hook up with someone in your unit. Yep, this is why “It’s Complicated” exists on Facebook. University Hall: Come here to meet with deans or visit Ruth during her office hours. The oldest building on campus, it’s on the National Register of Historic Places, and at least one slave contributed to its construction. Van Wickle Gates: So important that they’re only open twice a year. (Well, and for most of this summer. But they’re still really important.) V-Dub: The Verney-Woolley Dining Hall. The junior member of Brown’s dining halls, it’s smaller, more intimate, and features a Now That’s What I Call Music! soundtrack. Watson Institute: The Watson Institute for International Studies. Home of the International Relations concentration and world-renowned research. Former Rhode Island senator Lincoln Chafee ’75 and former ambassador to the United Nations and Herald Editorin-Chief Richard Holbrooke ’62 are fellows here. WBRU: 95.5 FM, one of the largest radio stations in southern New England and the oldest college radio station in America. Purported to be “the original alt-rock.” We’re not arguing. (See also BSR) Wickenden Street and Wayland Square: These are two other commercial districts within walking distance that aren’t Brown-related. Wickenden is famous for its head shops, pubs and an exotic accessories store.
E ditorial & L etters Page 18
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Saturday, August 30, 2008
S t a ff E d i t o r i a l
Make this place your own Class of 2012, you are now descending on — or actually ascending — College Hill. Not for ADOCH, or just for a walking tour and info session. For real this time. Here’s our two cents — 15 doses of it — as you make this place your home for next four years, more or less. 1. Call your parents (they miss you). 2. But don’t consult them on ever y decision you make, because your mistakes are your mistakes now. Even if that means you eat the Saturday Night Jambalya at the Ratty. 3. After recovering from the Jambalaya, take advantage of the VDub’s Mediterranean bar. 4. Use shopping period to find classes you really love. Memorizing the names of all the U.S. senators and representatives (and their parties and the states they’re from) for a political science class can be fun — if you’re a politics junkie. 5. Find one extracurricular that challenges you, and let it get in the way of your classes once in a while. (Look for The Herald at the Activities Fair!) 6. Make time for your friends (pre-gaming together before going to Phi Psi doesn’t count). 7. Don’t get EMSed. 8. Don’t spend all of your four years south of Bowen and north of Charlesfield. Go jogging in Fox Point or ice skating in Kennedy Plaza. Volunteer with organizations around the city. Take a bus to Newport (free on RIPTA) or Boston. 9. Consider taking your roommate along. He or she is not as weird, scar y and mean as you think. Don’t be afraid to make friends with people you think you have nothing in common with. (That’s what Facebook is for.) 10. Take a semester off if you need it. The real world can wait a few more months. 11. Don’t deprive yourself of sleep. You’ll feel stronger (faster, better) if you’re committed to resting. Friday will not seem so far away. 12. Take pictures. (Just be careful of which ones end up tagged on Facebook.) 13. Enjoy this weather while you can. Providence gets more rainfall than Seattle, the temperatures will soon drop to frosty lows, the days will get shorter, and many days will start to feel like the basement of the librar y. We don’t mean to scare you — Brown will still be great — but go outside now, while you still can. Right now. Go. 14. Read The Herald ever y day to stay informed — better yet, join The Herald! And solve sudoku during class. 15. Make sure you have one experience that pushes you to the limits of what you thought you were capable of accomplishing. And remember, although you may have heard and read a lot about Brown – it’s time to make it your own.
F ranny C hoi
T he B rown D aily H erald Editors-in-Chief Simmi Aujla Ross Frazier
Executive Editors Taylor Barnes Chris Gang
Senior Editors Stephanie Bernhard Irene Chen Lindsey Meyers
editorial Ben Hyman Hannah Levintova Debbie Lehmann Matt Varley Chaz Firestone Nandini Jayakrishna Scott Lowenstein Michael Bechek Isabel Gottlieb Franklin Kanin Michael Skocpol Ben Bernstein James Shapiro Benjy Asher Amy Ehrhart Megan McCahill Andrew Braca Han Cui Katie Wood
Business
Arts & Culture Editor Arts & Culture Editor Higher Ed Editor Higher Ed Editor Features Editor Metro Editor Metro Editor News Editor News Editor News Editor News Editor Opinions Editor Opinions Editor Sports Editor Sports Editor Sports Editor Asst. Sports Editor Asst. Sports Editor Asst. Sports Editor
production Production & Design Editor Steve DeLucia Asst. Design Editor Chaz Kelsh Copy Desk Chief Kathryn Delaney Copy Desk Chief Seth Motel Graphics Editor Adam Robbins
Darren Ball General Manager Mandeep Gill General Manager Shawn Reilly Office Manager Alex Hughes Sales Manager Lily Tran Sales Manager Emilie Aries Public Relations Director Jon Spector Accounting Director Claire Kiely National Account Manager Ellen DaSilva University Account Manager Philip Maynard Recruiter Account Manager Katelyn Koh Credit Manager Ingrid Pangandoyon Technology Director photo Photo Editor Photo Editor
Meara Sharma Min Wu post- magazine Matt Hill Rajiv Jayadevan Sonia Kim Allison Zimmer Colleen Brogan Arthur Matuszewski Kimberly Stickels
Managing Editor Managing Editor Features Editor Features Editor Associate Editor Associate Editor Associate Editor
Hannah Levintova, Night Editor Ayelet Brinn, Copy Editor Senior Staff Writers Sam Byker, Chaz Kelsh, Sophia Li, Emmy Liss, Max Mankin, Brian Mastroianni, George Miller, Alex Roehrkasse, Caroline Sedano, Jenna Stark, Joanna Wohlmuth, Simon van Zuylen-Wood Staff Writers Stefanie Angstadt, Marisa Calleja, Noura Choudhury, Joy Chua, Cameron Lee, Christian Martell, Anna Millman, Seth Motel, Evan Pelz, Eli Piette, Leslie Primack, Marielle Segarra, Melissa Shube, Catherine Straut, Sara Sunshine, Gaurie Tilak, Meha Verghese, Allison Wentz Sports Staff Writers Peter Cipparone, Lara Southern, Nicole Stock Business Staff Stephanie Cheung, Veronica Yu, Jay Guan, Jennifer Chang, Jamie Phinney, Anna Reisetter, Kartika Chourdhury, Serena Ho, Akshay Rathod, Galen Cho, Maryrose Mesa, Van Le, Maura Lynch, Grant LeBeau, Jacqueline Goldman, Dana Feuchtbaum, Geraldo Guanaes, Lauren Presant, Lindsay Walls, Lucy Wang, Ruyi Jiang, Saul Lustgarten, Diego Gomez, Laura Sammartino, Ava Amini, Charley Chen, Lee Chau, Rory Stanton, Oliver Bowers, Katherine Richards, Alison Greenberg, Lilia Royanova Design Staff Jessica Calihan, Serena Ho, Rachel Isaacs, Andrea Krukowski, Joe Larios, Joanna Lee, Alex Unger, Aditya Voleti Photo Staff Oona Curley, Alex DePaoli, Erik Maser, Kim Perley, Quinn Savit Copy Editors Ria Ali, Paula Armstrong, Kim Arredondo, Ayelet Brinn, Aubrey Cann, Rafael Chaiken, Stephanie Craton, Erin Cummings, Julianne Fenn, Jake Frank, Anne Fuller, Josh Garcia, Jennifer Grayson, Rachel Isaacs, Joyce Ji, Jenn Kim, Tarah Knaresboro, Ted Lamm, Alex Mazerov, Lisa Qing, Alex Rosenberg, Madeleine Rosenberg, Elena Weissman, Jason Yum
C O R R E C T I O N S P olicy The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication. C ommentary P O L I C Y The staff editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only. L etters to the E ditor P olicy Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed. advertising P olicy The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.
O pinions Saturday, August 30, 2008
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Open curriculum, closed minds BY ALVIN KERBER Opinions Columnist Why go to Brown? For some, there are opportunities for excitement and adventure. For some, there are resources to build a foundation for their later lives. But for one of my friends, the primary benefit of Brown was simple: “I went to Brown so that I wouldn’t ever have to take English again. Brown lets you take whatever you want.” He is quite right — Brown does allow students to make many more choices about their education than do other universities. The New Curriculum eliminates the distribution requirements and mandatory courses that are a mainstay at most colleges. Students only need to fulfill the requirements of their concentration, giving them much more freedom to select additional courses as they see fit. In theory, this allows students to push their boundaries further, experience new courses they would otherwise have never considered and spread their horizons (to paraphrase some advertising brochures). Unfortunately for these noble goals, my friend is not alone. I have encountered many other Brown students who, even before classes began, completely eliminated many subjects from consideration. When I asked them why, their reasoning was very similar. I was told that their high school class in that subject had been difficult, dull or atrociously taught. What would be the point of reliving an awful experience? In fact, I spoke with multiple students who said that a strong factor in their college choice had been Brown’s New Curriculum — which they liked because it would allow them to easily avoid large subject areas.
Only at Brown could a student enter thinking that over half the courses there were not even worth considering and never have that conviction tested. Some undoubtedly feel that this is only a minor concern — these students are adults, after all, and Brown should trust their judgment. This seems to be the opinion of most of the Brown faculty and administration. The New Curriculum was created to en-
or distribution requirements, but these are really not that much of a burden. I have difficulty imagining a student missing a dream course on account of a distribution requirement, especially if such requirements are chosen wisely and not made too restrictive. Almost all other universities mandate that students take courses in at least a minimum of varied subject areas, and I have never seen any
Only at Brown could a student enter thinking that over half the courses there were not even worth considering and never have that conviction tested. courage students to explore academically and choose a large variety of novel courses. However, a large gap is left when students use the New Curriculum to ignore unfamiliar, threatening topics. If Brown truly wishes for students to reach out and explore, changes must be made. What, after all, does the New Curriculum really do to encourage openness? Yes, students are not burdened by any mandatory courses
indication that these schools are considered inferior in the higher education community. Furthermore, there is a long tradition of emphasizing a strong liberal arts education in schools such as Brown, and such an education requires knowledge in a diverse range of subjects. After all, is a person really educated who knows next to nothing about almost everything? There is another reason that jumps to mind
for altering Brown’s curriculum. At the moment, the tone of appeals to incoming students and potential applicants is almost desperate in its advertising toward their baser motives. “Come to Brown,” it seems to say, “where you are free to avoid subjects you fear, and where nothing will force you outside your comfort zone.” Is this the best that a renowned Ivy League institution can do? What sort of perspective on the school does this give incoming students? Some prospective students may not look past this trait, giving up on Brown after experiencing the same initial negative thoughts that I first had when I heard about the New Curriculum. Brown could miss some of the brilliant minds of our generation, just because they didn’t feel like hanging around with a bunch of people who went to Brown to avoid taking science or literature classes. Of course, it is very, very unlikely that Brown will choose to eliminate the New Curriculum — the vast majority of students, faculty and members of the administration strongly support it. However, Brown does not need to change the New Curriculum in order for Brown students to take a broad range of courses. Students can change their behavior without any bureaucratic meddling. So, to all incoming or returning Brown students shopping for courses: Try that class that looked too strange or too hard. Give that subject you hated in high school another chance. And, even if it doesn’t work out, you’ll have done one more thing to fulfill real life’s distribution requirements, which Brown will never quite be able to eliminate.
Alvin Kerber ’11 knows next to everything about almost nothing.
Old ideas, new starts BY ARIEL HUDES Opinions Columnist I’m working for a New York City guidebook this summer. We review hundreds of restaurants, bars, parks, attractions, streets and neighborhoods in every corner of the city. We don’t have enough time to visit them all, to really talk to people about them, to make sure we have a diversified and accurate understanding of the subjects before we form our own opinions and set out to summarize in the succinct reviews we write. Doing enough research to understand these places perfectly would be impossible. So when we run out of time, we speculate. We use what we saw in a ten-minute visit to categorize an entire neighborhood. We default to Wikipedia. We opt for big, fancy words when we lack earnest ones. We convince ourselves we’re doing justice to the place of interest. And who knows, maybe we get it right. Or maybe people will go visit these places and wonder if we were speaking the same language when we wrote the review. This week about 1,500 new freshmen will arrive on campus. I’m one of I-have-no-ideahow-many transfer students. And each of us has followed my guidebook-writing formula. We’ve visited for maybe a few nights, spoken with friends, read everything there is to read and formed in our heads nice little pictures of what Brown “is.” Who the students are, what classes will be like, how we’ll spend our nights. It’s a huge university — and four years of our lives — and what we have are simplified, boiled-down little reviews.
And now the real world is going to come and have some fun with us. I’m not pessimistic and I’m not doubting the glory of Brown. I’m just identifying a nagging feeling that starts in a quiet corner of my brain when I go into a long daydream about the perfect afternoons I’ll spend writing on Lincoln Field, the perfect group of friends I’ll have, the perfect professors who will teach me. Because, after all, that’s what the welcome packet told us!
to believe. So, with our happy little equivalents of 150-word paragraphs that summarize it all, are we setting ourselves up for disappointment? Disappointment in realizing that things are different — not better or worse but different — from what we told ourselves they would be? What I know after spending a year at a school that I really liked (Columbia) but never became infatuated with is that, idealist as I am,
We’ve all heard the same “fun-facts” chanted at us on the tours, in the pamphlets and from our friends. And they worked! ... But now it’s time to make the experience our own. That’s what our friends who already go to Brown tell us. That’s definitely what those neat little reviews in our heads are telling us. But no school is that perfect — no group of friends or set of professors without flaw. We’ll never know what we’re getting ourselves into with a college before actually being there, never know what will actually be perfect and what we’ll feel we’ve been misled
no place will ever be perfect. No guidebook review will ever create a picture in your mind that will come to fruition when you experience something for yourself. This inevitably leads to disappointment. However, I also strongly believe that no matter how many of these coming-down-toreality “disappointments” you have, as long as there is one thing that you can hold onto and
really feel connected to, no disappointment will be too great to conquer. It will be the group of friends, or the professor, or the club that invigorates you enough that you feel okay when you feel disillusioned by everything else. One strong baseline is enough to make everything else be okay at the end of the day. We’ve all heard the same “fun-facts” chanted at us on the tours, in the pamphlets and from our friends — the dozen or so extra-cool things about Brown that are sure to rope in applicants. And they worked! Those review writers did a good job. But now it’s time to make the experience our own. Not collectively — individually. Maybe you’ll graduate and repeat those facts for the rest of your life as your favorite part of your undergraduate experience. Maybe you’ll do exactly what you planned as you spent the summer reading everything the Internet had to say about Brown. Or maybe, your Brown experience will be 100 percent different from what you imagined. And in that case, there’s something important to keep in mind: When the things you expected to adore turn out to not be so great, getting angry and annoyed with them will come naturally. When the things you expected to hate have the potential to become your favorites, it may be a lot harder to accept that and allow yourself to adapt to loving them. When you do, you will find your totally accurate, unique, uncliched, can’t-be-boileddown-to-150-words version of Brown absolutely thrilling.
Ariel Hudes ’11 looks forward to writing 800-word reviews of the Brown experience this fall.
B y T he N umbers Page 20
Class of 2012 Bachelor of Arts - 988 (63.6%) Bachelor of Science - 566 (36.4%) Top Areas of Academic Interest 1 2 3 4 5
Social Sciences 406 (26.1%) Physical Sciences 354 (22.8%) Life Sciences 334 (21.5%) Humanities 255 (16.4%) Undecided 205 (13.2%)
Top 10 Concentrations 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Undecided Engineering Biology Economics Intl Relations Mathematics Human Biology Political Science English Chemistry
205 (13.2%) 134 (8.6%) 120 (7.7%) 84 (5.4%) 82 (5.3%) 64 (4.1%) 63 (4.1%) 60 (3.9%) 46 (3.9%) 42 (2.7%)
Top 10 Nations 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Saturday, August 30, 2008
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
China 39 (2.5%) Canada 18 (1.2%) South Korea 11 (.7%) India 11 (.7%) Singapore 10 (.6%) United Kingdom 9 (.6%) France 6 (.4%) Turkey 5 (.3%) Japan 5 (.3%) Bulgaria 4 (.3%)
Admission, matriculation rates and gender and ethnic diversity remain consistent with past years
More than 1 in 10 students have a parent who is an alum, while 14.3% are the first in their family to attend college. Students hail from 51 countries and 49 states. There are also seven firstyears from the American territories.
applied: 20,633 admitted: 2,828 (13.7%)
51 students (3.3%) joined the Program in Liberal Medical Education, and 13 (.8%) joined the new BrownRISD Dual Degree program.
enrolled: 1,554
men: 737 (47.4%) women: 817 (52.6%)
Most students, about 60%, went to public high schools. 32.5% graduated from private schools, while 7.8% went to parochial school. An additional 5% was unknown.
American International women: 817 (52.6%) men: 737 (47.4%)African 151 9.7%
The majority of students hail from California (13.7%), closely followed by New York (13.3%), and Massachusetts (10.6%).
105 6.8% 270 17.4%
Unknown 256 16.5%
138 8.9%
56 Rhode Islanders will enter Brown this semester, and Rhodies make up about 3.6% of the first-year class.
White
Farther away, 181 students come from abroad, and international students make up 11.6% of the class.
Source: Office of Admission
45
44
New York 207 13.3%
2.8%
27 1.7%
124 8.0%
Central 19 1.2% South 181 11.6%
International 181 11.6%
Northern N.E.: 2.9%
Southern N.E. 288 Mid Atlantic 18.5% 218 14.0%
Mid West Mountain
Latino American 9 Native 0.6% American
625 40.2%
Pacific
California 213 13.7%
Asian American
Territories 7 0.5%