Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxliv, no. 36 | Monday, March 16, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891
Watson director’s unpopular agenda draws ire By Sydney Ember Senior Staff Writer
More than a year into his tenure, Vice President for International Affairs David Kennedy ’76 has alienated colleagues over the direction of the Watson Institute for International Studies by pushing a legal studies program staffed by close personal acquaintances with non-traditional academic credentials. In multiple interviews, faculty members and administrators inside and outside Watson expressed growing discontent with Kennedy’s actions in advancing his agenda, which has included a global governance program, the hiring of lawyers to Watson’s faculty and a proposal — largely rebuffed — to allow the Institute to grant tenure to its appointees. Kennedy, a professor at Harvard Law School, joined the Brown administration in January 2008, charged with bringing his expertise in international affairs and global governance to bear on the University’s efforts to raise its global profile. The administrative structure surrounding his new position meant the director of Watson would report directly to him. But just months after Kennedy started, the director, Barbara Stallings, unexpectedly resigned, prompting Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 to ask Kennedy to serve as interim director in her place. Since then, Kennedy has been filling two jobs, overseeing new
Kim Perley / Herald
David Kennedy ’76 has alienated many colleagues at the Watson Institute in his efforts to create a legal studies program.
partnerships between Brown and international institutes of higher education while leading the busy Watson Institute — balancing what some have called an extremely demanding workload. The search for a new full-time director of Watson is in progress. “David Kennedy already has a major job as vice president for international affairs,” Kertzer said, adding that Kennedy would most likely not be asked to fulfill both jobs permanently.
Though Kennedy said in an interview last month that many of his original plans to advance the University’s international programs were still on track, faculty opposition has stymied the implementation of key elements of his agenda. Faculty members at Watson and in related departments have expressed concern that Kennedy’s proposed global governance program tilts the Institute too far in the direction of legal studies, a sentiment echoed by Abbott Gleason, an adjunct professor
Several alums prepare for race to State House
inside
News.....1-3 Arts........5-6 Spor ts...7-9 Editorial..10 Opinion...11 Today........12
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By Ellen Cushing Senior Staff Writer
A female student was photographed by a stranger while she was showering in the first-floor bathroom of Diman House on Thurs., March 12, Department of Public Safety officials confirmed this weekend. The alleged peeper was “a collegeage guy that had been in Diman previously, as reported by residents of the house,” according to Amanda Filiberto ’11, vice president public relations of Kappa Alpha Theta, the sorority that occupies the first floor of Diman. In an e-mail to The Herald, Filiberto wrote that the alleged peeper entered the bathroom on Thursday morning and tried to take pictures of the showering woman. According to an e-mail sent by sorority president Ellen Loudermilk ’10 to members of Theta on Thursday morning and obtained by The Herald, he also tried to open the shower curtain before getting on his hands and knees to take pictures with a cell phone. The woman was not hurt, according to Mark Porter, director of public safety for Brown. The woman screamed, and the peeper left immediately after, running continued on page 2
Arrest your friends! It’s OK — it’s for charity By Matthew Klebanoff Staf f Writer
By Kevin Pratt Contributing Writer
Though the 2010 gubernatorial election in Rhode Island is more than a year away, potential candidates are already gearing up for the race. Former Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee ’75, a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies, told The Herald he was “ver y seriously” considering entering the race as a potential Independent candidate. But he said he would wait until April to finalize his plans. “I want to finish my Brown commitments and then make a decision,” he said, adding, “I know that the University does not want any mixing of political activities with Brown duties.” Chafee said he had trouble attracting college students to his former campaigns as a Republican. “I anticipate now running as
at Watson and professor emeritus of Russian history, who served as director of the Institute from 1999 to 2000. “I think a certain number of people don’t understand what it is,” Gleason said of the program. “They’re suspicious of a program that they don’t have an idea what it’s about.” Though a global governance program would be well-situated in today’s international political climate, Gleason said, some faculty members see Kennedy’s particular vision for the program as more befitting of a law school. “He came to build a legal institution,” said Ross Cheit, an associate professor of political science, adding that Watson offered a way for Kennedy to create a strong legal studies program without a law school. “Watson looked like a good place to create a law school,” said Professor of Sociology Mark Suchman, who heads a legal studies colloquium at Brown and was hired around the same time as Kennedy to promote legal studies. Kennedy “played the politics wrong,” Suchman said, and so was unable to gain the support of colleagues for an academic program that few in theory opposed — and many backed. “He did a lot of things that were political mistakes,” Suchman said. “Institution building is a political
Peeping Tom snaps shower pics in Diman
Min Wu / Herald File Photo Visiting Watson fellow Lincoln Chafee ’75 is considering a run for governor in 2010.
an Independent (to be) a little bit easier,” Chafee said. “I would welcome any support that might come from Brown students.” State finances and Rhode Island’s high unemployment rate will figure prominently in the 2010 campaign, Chafee said. Republican Gov. Donald Carcieri ’65 faces terms limits in 2010 continued on page 2
At 11 a.m. last Saturday, Evan Smith ’09 awoke to a series of knocks on his bedroom door and a gruff voice: “DPS! Open up!” Smith opened his door to find two Department of Public Safety officers waiting for him. “I answered the door in my bathrobe,” Smith said. “They told me I had to get dressed because they had to take me away.” Luckily for Smith, he wasn’t really arrested. He was just a target of Jail and Bail, one of the latest pranks carried out by Brown’s Relay for Life committee, which organizes an overnight walk each year to raise money and awareness for the American Cancer Society. Jail and Bail “is an event where, if you give us five dollars and give us the location of a friend at some point on Saturday, we will have a DPS officer go and arrest them,” said Margaret Watson ’11, co-chair of Brown’s Relay For Life committee and a Herald senior business
Courtesy of Relay for Life
Students were arrested by DPS as part of Jail and Bail, a prank to raise money for the American Cancer Society.
associate. DPS officers presented all detainees with a warrant for their arrest and brought some to a “jail” in Wilson Hall 205, Watson said, where they had mug shots taken while wearing handcuffs. Other
captives were released on the site of their arrest, after posting a $2 bail. The committee decided to promote awareness for Relay for Life continued on page 2
Arts, 5
Sports, 7
Opinions, 11
walking on eggshells Students show off art made of flannel, eggshells at the Student Art Exhibition
Beaming to the podium W. gymnastics dominates in last meet before the ECAC Championship.
GRAD Center GRIEF Ivy Chang looks back on two years living in the “stony fortress” of Grad Center
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