Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxliv, no. 4 | Monday, January 26, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891
Leniency on payments to U. aided hundreds this spring BY brigitta greene Senior Staff Writer
Approximately 360 students benefited from a temporary policy allowing students with outstanding tuition balances to pre-register for spring classes, a University administrator said. The plan, announced last fall to aid students’ families in the difficult economic climate, allowed all students to sign up for courses this semester regardless of payment status, said Elizabeth Gentry, assistant vice president for financial and administrative services. Normally, students who owe more than $1,000 are blocked from pre-registering for classes in the following semester. Additionally, about 40 students with outstanding balances of more than $5,000 were allowed to remain officially enrolled in the University despite rules that prohibit students with balances over that amount from living in residence halls or attending classes. Ten more students, who were in danger of exceeding the temporary upper limit of $7,500 in unpaid dues, were also able to remain enrolled after working closely with financial aid officers to work out payment plans, said James Tilton, director of financial aid. The loosened restrictions, an-
nounced in an Oct. 31 e-mail to the community from Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98, were created in an atmosphere of rising concern among administrators that the University might be facing a wave of families suddenly unable to make payments on tuition, Gentry said. She emphasized that rapidly fluctuating economic circumstances and a lack of data make it difficult to plan even for the near future. Though there was great concern last semester, the numbers have so far been manageable, she said. “Right now we’re very comfortable with balances,” she said. “We will have to look at it semester by semester.” Kertzer wrote in his e-mail last fall, “We recognize the economic difficulties that many of our students and their families are facing and want to do all that we can to be helpful in these challenging times.” “The good news is what was intended was achieved,” he told The Herald last week. Pre-registration for the fall 2009 semester will not occur until April, giving the University time to collect further data before announcing whether it will extend the temporary policies. “We don’t have a good enough picture at this point,” Gentry said. “The truth is we’re not really seeing it yet.”
B I T T E R S W E E T D E F E AT
BY sydney ember Senior Staf f Writer
embodiment of what the New Curriculum is all about,” he said. Rosenberg and Miles Hovis ’08 came up with the idea for the site, created a basic design and presented it to Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron last year, Rosenberg wrote. Bergeron offered him funding to work on the project over the summer,
Five Brown faculty members have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, receiving a prestigious honor that recognizes leaders in the field for their important contributions to the physical and life sciences. Professor of Neuroscience John Donoghue, Professors of Biology Mark Bertness and Susan Gerbi, Professor of Medical Science David Berson ’75 and Professor of Engineering Jimmy Xu were all elected fellows in December and featured in the Dec. 19 issue of Science, the top-level journal published by the AAAS. “I just congratulate the faculty,” said Clyde Briant, the University’s vice president for research. “It’s wonderful for them and it’s wonderful for Brown.” He said the awards not only are very high honors for the faculty but further establish Brown as a major research university. Four of the professors said they did not expect to be named fellows of the world’s largest scientific body. Donoghue could not be reached for comment. “It came as a big surprise to me,” said Gerbi. “I didn’t know I was nominated.” Gerbi studies ribosomes — the parts of cells responsible for building proteins from the genetic blueprint — and the initiation of DNA replication. She and her team of researchers discovered that ribosome biogenesis — the cellular process of making ribosomes — could be used diagnostically for predicting cancer. In her research, Gerbi found that a certain steroid hormone receptor is important in initiating DNA replication, a significant discovery regarding hormonally sensitive cancers such as breast cancer. She said she hopes the discovery will lead to finding new kinds of therapy targets and to earlier diagnoses of these types of cancers — a result that has personal implications for Gerbi, herself diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago. Xu — recognized for his contributions to nanotechnology and laser science and the only non-biologist honored — said he too was surprised to learn of his election as an AAAS fellow. “What I do is just fun things,” he said. “I pursue science and explore what’s interesting regardless
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Justin Coleman / Herald
Goalie Nicole Stock ’09 broke the school record for career saves this weekend, but women’s hockey dropped two games to fall to 3-16-1.
Verizon improves cell phone coverage on College Hill BY etienne ma Staff Writer
Can you hear me now? For Brown students with Verizon Wireless cell phone service returning from winter break, the answer is now more likely to be yes. The activation of a new “cell site” — a transmitter for wireless data — on College Hill is responsible for the change, said David Thomson, a spokesperson for Verizon. In addition to better reception, Verizon users should now enjoy faster internet service on their phones
and experience fewer dropped calls, Thomson said. The new cell site was activated Jan. 2 and is located in the steeple of a church on Angell Street, Thomson said. (He said he was unsure of the name of the church.) The transmitting radios, which have an operating radius of two miles, are approximately the size of a toaster. The recent activation at Brown is part of a wider Verizon campaign to add cell sites nationwide. Students have already noticed a significant change on the northern side of campus, where many said
Verizon service had previously been spotty. The change was obvious “as soon as I got back to campus,” said Eric Lewin ’12, a Champlin resident. Last semester, he said, he had little to no reception in his room, but he now has service throughout the building. “The quality of the calls themselves has also improved,” Lewin added. “Not just in terms of fewer dropped calls, but also less static.” Jessica Faiz ’12, another Chamcontinued on page 2
Better reception Verizon Wireless installed a new transmitter in a church steeple on Angell Street. • The transmitter has a radius of two miles. • Students report better reception around Pembroke and northern campus.
Student, dean introduce shopping period by keyword By Anne Simons Senior Staf f Writer
inside
Looking for that fourth class, but only have a small hint of an idea of what you want? Only, perhaps, one word? As the first week of shopping period drew to a close Friday afternoon, the University unveiled a new method for students to browse for courses online. The
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software, called CourseMap, is designed to allow students “to explore the Brown curriculum via keywords or topics of interest,” wrote Dan Rosenberg ’09, its creator, in an e-mail to The Herald. According to the CourseMap Web site, a user can enter a term such as “Internet” to see all the courses that have something to do with that subject.
Top science faculty named to nat’l society
The goal of CourseMap is “to expose students to courses that they would not have found other wise,” Rosenberg wrote. CourseMap was not created to replace other sources of course information like Mocha, the Critical Review or Banner, he said. Rather, “it is designed to illuminate relationships across departments based on common content, which I feel is a great
Arts, 5
Sports, 7
Opinions, 11
ghostly voices Grammy- and Tony-winner Duncan Sheik ’92 releases a haunting new album
M. Hoops: no revenge The men’s basketball team fails in its second straight bid to beat Yale’s Bulldogs
the reality of war Fatima Ageel ’12 writes about watching war — and experiencing it
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