Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxliv, no. 64 | Tuesday, September 15, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891
As Campaign passes goal, development head to retire
S o u pe d - u p
By Sydney Ember Senior Staff Writer
Kim Perley / Herald
Recent changes to the Ratty include the addition of a new soup and panini station to decrease “congestion.”
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Long-term, In Honduras, coup U. is eyeing disrupts summers new dorms By Alexandra Ulmer Senior Staf f Writer
By Brigitta Greene Senior Staf f Writer
Looking to increase the percentage of undergraduate students living on campus, the University is considering constructing new residence halls as soon as resources permit, said Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior adviser to the president. Roughly 80 percent of undergraduates currently live on campus, according to the July status update to the Plan for Academic Enrichment, President Ruth Simmons’ detailed program for improving the University. In November 2007, the University formally adopted a goal to increase this figure to 90 percent, and has since undertaken “substantial planning for new residence halls,” according to the update. Having a large number of students living off campus is a detriment to the campus community, said Margaret Klawunn, vice president for campus life and student services. “At a time when younger students would benefit from talking to older seniors, they are moving away and are less involved,” she said. Complaints from neighborhood residents and concerns about student safety have also prompted the discussion, she said. Though a new dorm has been
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Ariel Hudes ’11, squashed into a hotel room with six Honduran male actors, was already uncomfortable when the seventh member of the troupe barged in with news that would drastically alter Honduran histor y and her own summer. “We don’t have a president,” the man announced to his fellow actors, who had travelled to the beach town of Tela for a performance, and to Hudes, the recipient of an International Scholars Program grant to con-
duct research in the small Central American countr y. That morning of June 28, Manuel Zelaya, the elected president of Honduras, had been ousted and replaced by the President of the National Congress Roberto Micheletti, making the countr y the first in Central America to suffer a coup since the Cold War. Zelaya, his detractors claim, was tr ying to force through a referendum to tweak the constitution and gain access to another presidential term when the Honduran Supreme Court ordered the milicontinued on page 2
Ronald Vanden Dorpel MA’71, the senior vice president for University advancement who led the Campaign for Academic Enrichment, is retiring, he said yesterday. Vanden Dorpel has agreed to remain at Brown until a search committee, whose members were announced Monday night, selects a replacement. Vanden Dorpel’s retirement, which he confirmed to The Herald yesterday, was announced by President Ruth Simmons a faculty meeting last week, a month after she sent a private letter to colleagues within the Brown community informing them of the news. The main accomplishment of his seven-year tenure, the Campaign reached its original goal of $1.4 billion last May, 19 months before its scheduled completion date. The campaign is set to end in December 2010. “Looking back seven years when we first recommended Ron, I don’t think I could have imagined this whole enterprise would have been as successful as it has been,” Simmons said in an interview. “I think it’s been an incredible effort.” “Clearly, we’re way ahead of our anticipated benchmark,” Simmons said of the Campaign. “We know that we’re going to overachieve our goal.” In an interview, Vanden Dorpel said his desire to travel, coupled with his coronary artery disease, led him to his decision to retire. He said he and his wife are planning to travel to national parks in Alaska and visit the Arctic Circle. “I’m not quite ready for the rocking chair on the porch yet,” he said.
“I’d like to enjoy another 20 years.” Since Vanden Dorpel came to Brown in August 2002, new gifts and pledges have grown from a yearly average of $86 million to $227 million. The Brown Annual Fund has increased 105 percent, from $17 million to $35 million, vaulting Brown to sixth in the nation in alumni giving. Under his leadership, the University also procured two $100 million gifts, one $50 million gift and, most recently, a $30 million gift in May to support scholarship aid. He also improv ed the alumni relations programs and oversaw enormous growth in international fundraising. Simmons said the University selected Vanden Dorpel to lead a new advancement office that combined the previously separate development and alumni affairs units. “His greatest accomplishment is bringing these units together,” Simmons said, adding that his ability to hire, organize divisions and identify the right people to lead various facets of Brown’s fundraising efforts were “phenomenal.” Vanden Dorpel has served in campaign advancement officer positions for 23 years. He spent 15 years at Northwestern University as chief development and alumni relations officer before coming to Brown, which he said was “long enough for any mere mortal.” He is the longest continuously serving chief advancement officer among major research universities, according to Simmons. Vanden Dorpel credited his successful tenure to his staff, volunteers and the Corporation, the University’s highest governing body. “It’s a group continued on page 3
Governor and unions may have an agreement By Joanna Wohlmuth Metro Editor
Governor Donald Carcieri ’65 has reportedly reached a provisional agreement with state employee unions to allow pay cuts in place of layoffs or government shutdown days. Carcieri has been engaged in an ongoing struggle with the unions in an effort to meet budget cut requirements. The proposed agreement requires state workers to take eight unpaid work days in this fiscal year and four in the next, the Providence Journal reported on Saturday. The reported agreement would also
delay the 3 percent pay raise work- have an agreement but anything ers were going to receive next July can happen until the last vote has for six months. Under the plan, no happened.” shutdown days or layoffs can occur Michael Downey, president of until 2011 and workers could re- Council 94, American Federation coup some of the lost wages when of State, County and Municipal they leave state service. Employees, wrote in a statement Representatives for yesterday that the union the governor and unions received a proposal FriMETRO declined to comment on day and is requesting the specifics of any agreement for another meeting with state offithis article, saying that discussions cials before the union moves to are still in progress. approve it. “They are still negotiating on If a proposal is officially aclanguage that both parties can cepted by union leaders, it must agree to,” Amy Kempe, a spokes- be voted on by members before it person for the governor, told The is finally approved. Herald. “In principle, I think we Last week, Carcieri threatened
to lay off 1,000 state workers after a state Supreme Court judge granted a request by the unions to block the first of his planned government shutdown days. In a memo sent yesterday, Depar tment of Administration Director Gar y Sasse instructed department heads to produce layoff lists by this Wednesday “due to the serious fiscal challenges facing the state and the time necessary to prepare and implement layoffs.” “While negotiations with the state’s employee unions have been productive, we have not yet reached a final agreement,” Sasse wrote.
News, 3
Metro, 6
Opinions, 7
Right hand woman Alum takes up vacant post as assistant to President Ruth Simmons
Street smart Rhody homelessness paper wins ‘most improved street newspaper award’
tax man cometh Sean Quigley ’10 sticks his tongue in his cheek in the name of taxation
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