Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxliv, no. 58 | Monday, July 20, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891
Metcalf overhaul planned after new building scrapped
PRE-SORTED STANDARD u.s. postage paid
By Sara Sunshine Senior Staf f Writer
permit no. 2475 Providence, r.i.
Months after scuttling plans to build an ambitious new brain science building in the wake of financial losses, the Corporation has approved a “schematic design” for the renovation of Metcalf Chemistry and Research Laboratory into a new “mind brain behavior” center, according to Vice President for Facilities Management Stephen Maiorisi. The approval of plans for Metcalf represents the official abandonment of plans to construct an entirely new building along the newly completed Walk, said Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior advisor to the president. The University first announced its intent to renovate rather than undertake new construction for both the center and a planned medical education building in Februar y. The medical education building is to be located in
U. will seek to trim $30m more from next budget By Seth Motel News Editor
hospitals, are typically exempt from property taxes. Rhode Island and its cities have been suffering from the economic crisis that has swept the country, putting pressure on government coffers. Providence has a substantial budget deficit and city leaders are looking to raise additional revenue. The two bills represent a potential $27 million in annual revenue for the city, according to the Providence Journal. Both proposals originated in the office of Providence Mayor David Cicilline ’83. “It is a basic principle of fairness,” Cicilline said. The residents of Rhode Island who pay property taxes are being unfairly burdened and those who take advantage of city services
Months after the Corporation approved a reduced budget for the fiscal year that began July 1, the University is now looking to cut another $30 million from next year’s budget, administrators said. Of the cuts sought, about $15 to 20 million would be realized through organizational changes, Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 and Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Beppie Huidekoper said in interviews. For fiscal year 2011, which begins a year from now, the University estimates it will save about $7 million from revisions to planned capital projects and an additional $5 to 10 million through policy changes. The Organizational Review Committee, which comprises 10 administrators, three faculty members and two students, will be responsible for finding an extra $15 to 20 million in savings. “What I perceive is that the University is trying to reorganize internally, which is a different strategy than simply cutting the budget,” ORC member Jason Zysk MA’07 GS wrote in an e-mail. Kertzer said the revisions will still allow for an increase in the budget over the next several years, though not as much as anticipated. The education and general budget, which consists of the entire budget except for that of the Division of Biology and Medicine, will increase from $550 million in 2010 to $600 million in 2011. But that figure represents
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Kim Perley / Herald
Workers broke ground on the Creative Arts Center on Olive Street. See
a University-owned building in Providence’s Jewelr y District. The renovation, which will begin in June 2010, will gut Metcalf, leaving only its structural walls and transforming the interior to
summer construction photos, page
suit research needs, Maiorisi said. Additionally, the renovations will develop the previously unused attic space, upgrade lecture halls, establish common areas and create more spacious stair wells.
6.
“We compare it to the transformation of J. Walter Wilson,” Maiorisi said, referring to the former laboratory space that opened continued on page 6
Taxes on private colleges advance in R.I. legislature By Anne Simons Senior Staff Writer
Two bills have made progress in Rhode Island’s General Assembly that could cost Brown and its students millions of dollars if they become law. One bill would allow cities to assess a “student impact fee” of $150 per semester for out-of-state students who attend private colleges in Rhode Island. The universities would pay the municipal governments directly, allowing them to raise the funds as they see fit. The other proposed legislation would allow cities to collect a fee of up to 25 percent of property taxes from nonprofits with properties valued over $20 million. Nonprofits, such as private universities and
Courtesy of Brown.edu (left), Herald File Photo
David Kennedy (right), hired to lead the University’s efforts to raise its global profile, will be replaced by Michael Kennedy (left), no relation.
Watson’s Kennedy abruptly quits post By Sydney Ember Senior Staff Writer
inside
David Kennedy ’76 resigned abruptly last month as vice president for international affairs and interim director of the Watson Institute for International Studies, shortly after University of Michigan sociologist Michael Kennedy was selected as Watson’s new director. Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 informed the faculty of Kennedy’s resignation in an e-mail on June 10. David Kennedy will return to Harvard Law School, where he was a professor of law and director of Harvard’s European Law Research Center when he was selected in late 2007 to head Brown’s internationalization effort. Kennedy’s resignation has left
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uncertainty regarding Brown’s internationalization agenda, forcing the administration to scramble to fill the vacancy before the academic year. The position of vice president for international affairs will be filled from within the University, Kertzer said, in contrast to the more highprofile search that yielded Kennedy’s appointment. “We’ve gotten various things going,” Kertzer said of Brown’s recent internationalization efforts. “It’s going to be imperative to get another vice president quickly so we don’t lose that momentum.” David Kennedy’s decision to return full-time to Harvard, where he continued to teach as an adjunct
‘Hermione’ to go from Hogwarts to College Hill By Ben Hyman Arts & Culture Editor
It has been perhaps the most obsessively scrutinized college decision process ever endured. ARTS & Emma Watson, the British actress who plays the bookish but valiant Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies, has confirmed, after months of
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speculation and rumor, that she will attend Brown this fall. Watson’s decision became public when ‘Potter’ star Daniel Radcliffe told the U.K.’s The Guardian newspaper about his CULTURE co-star’s college plans in a July 4 interview. The actress herself verified her impending matriculation Sergiy Galonkin
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‘Harry Potter’ star Emma Watson.
Arts, 5
Sports, 7
Opinions, 11
Going to the Chapel Happy couples have been coming to College Hill to say, ‘I do’
Man Down The men’s hockey team searches for a new coach; Crew goes to England
Open Tour Topaz ’12 argues for a more even-sided view for tours of College Hill
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