Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxlv, no. 45 | Friday, April 9, 2010 | Serving the community daily since 1891
Relay for Life breaks participation records By Sydney Ember News Editor
Friday’s Relay for Life is slated to become the most successful student charity event at the University in the six years since it first hosted the 12-hour volunteer activity in 2004, according to its co-chairs. There is already a record-breaking number of registered participants competing on 84 teams during this year’s relay, said Jasmina Stritof ’11, one of the event’s co-chairs. The event, which will take place in the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center, had also already received more than $83,000 through its Web site as of Thursday night — a total which does not include an additional $11,000 in registration fees, other donations and between $7,000 and $8,000 that Stritof said she anticipates raising at the event itself. She said she hopes the relay event will raise more than $100,000, which would break the previous fundraising record of $98,646 set in 2006.
awesome blossoms
“This will be the biggest charity event Brown has seen in seven years,” Stritof said. In Brown’s inaugural relay in 2004, 750 people participated in the event, which was the highest turnout before this year’s registration — 763 as of late Thursday night — broke the previous record, she said. Last year, there were 497 participants and 60 registered teams, which raised $60,000. This year’s surge in participants is due in large part to increased publicity efforts, Stritof said, adding that this year’s organizing committee — which has 50 members compared to last year’s 15 — has been instrumental in generating awareness for the event. “Our committee is extremely enthusiastic and dedicated,” Stritof said. “We just have the manpower.” The committee has been aggressively promoting the event, which she said has sparked unprecedented community support. “I’ve been involved in Relay For Life since freshman year,” said Kenji
By Alicia Chen Senior Staff Writer
taining these policies and continuing public announcements of the new measures has likely helped to alleviate the concerns of many students, said Director of Financial Aid Jim Tilton. But some students still have concerns about the level of aid available for students who only partially qualify for aid. “Changing financial aid to give some students a full ride is great and necessary,” said Alicia Maule ’11, a Minority Peer Coun-
The venue for this year’s Gala will be changed from the Westin Hotel to an on-campus location, according to an e-mail sent to students Thursday afternoon. Ticket sales were put on hold Thursday for a “few days” while organizers wait to determine the new venue and its capacity, according to the e-mail. The venue change comes after several days of discussion and negotiation between the event’s organizers — the Key Society and the 2010 and 2011 Class Boards — and the Student Labor Alliance, Westin workers and management, University administrators and legal counsel. The groups involved began searching for a new location for the event following concerns raised by the SLA about the labor dispute between workers and hotel management. “Our goal is to have it next Saturday, but we’re going to make an announcement as soon as we have more information,” said Neil Parikh ’11, the 2011 Class Board president and one of the event’s main organizers. The new location has not been officially determined yet, he said. Event organizers are considering holding the event in Andrews Dining Hall, which has a limited capacity of between 400 and 500 people, said Key Society secretary Mayra Reyes ’10. Last year’s event took place in a tent with a capacity of 1,000, Parikh said. Originally, organizers did not think it would be possible to pull out of the contract with the Westin, Parikh said, adding that the
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Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald
Spring has sprung — flowers bloom on the Main Green outside the John Carter Brown Library.
Morimoto ’11, whose mother was affected by cancer. Besides seeing the results of the organizers’ ongoing efforts, he said he is looking forward to participating in an event with people who are “passionate about what I’m passionate about.”
Indu Voruganti ’12 said she is also participating in the event to support people she knows who have been affected by cancer. “My family and my friend have continued on page 3
AG Lynch ’87 Most are confident in financing school takes shot at becoming gov. By Nicole Boucher Senior Staf f Writer
By Dan Alexander Sports Editor
Former Brown basketball captain Patrick Lynch ’87 waited in the Roosevelt Room of the White House for President Barack Obama.
SPORTS Lynch, now the attorney general of Rhode Island, was in Washington in March to meet with Obama and a group of attorneys general from around the country. When Obama walked in, the president first greeted those he knew best, starting with the attorney general from his home state, Illinois. The atmosphere was formal, but then Obama approached Lynch. “He came around to me, stops and says, ‘How’s your game?’ which changed the tone of everything else,” Lynch recalled a day later. “I laughed. I said, ‘I’m working on it.’ ” Lynch’s basketball days at Brown ended over two decades ago, but his life has been intertwined with basketball ever since. In the years since he walked out of the Van Wickle Gates, Lynch has
The number of students confident in their or their family’s ability to finance their Brown education increased significantly since last semester, according to a recent Herald poll. The poll found that 68.8 percent of applicants felt “ver y confident” or “somewhat confident” about their ability to fulfill tuition costs, compared to 59.4 percent last semester. A total of 29.0 percent said they were worried and 2.2 percent
reported that they did not know or had no answer. This rise in confidence comes during the second year of new financial aid initiatives approved by the Corporation that include
THE HERALD POLL reducing loan amounts for all students on financial aid and eliminating parental contributions for families with income under $60,000 and assets under $100,000, according to the Office of Financial Aid’s Web site. Main-
BUGS’ ‘Pirates’ is a swashbuckling success By Anne Speyer Arts & Culture Editor
A Gilbert and Sullivan show, when done right, is pure fluff — a delightfully absurd piece of entertainment that invites the audience to laugh without asking them to think too
ARTS & CULTURE
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald
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News.....1–4, 9 Arts........5–6 Sports.....7–8 Editorial....10 Opinion.....11 Today........12
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Gala moves back onto campus
Kaitlyn Scott ’10, as Frederick, resists the advances of nursemaid Kenna Hawes ’13 in “The Pirates of Penzance.”
hard. Brown University Gilbert and Sullivan’s production of “The Pirates of Penzance,” running in Alumnae Hall through Sunday, is Gilbert and Sullivan done right.
The cast, directed by Alex Hills ’11, never seems to take itself too seriously, and the production — while not always polished to perfection — is immensely fun to watch. For a show centered around a young man apprenticed to a band of pirates because his childhood nursemaid confused the word “pilot” for “pirate,” this is an entirely fitting approach. Frederick, the budding buccaneer in question, believes his term of indenture to the pirate king is over, until a surprise twist involving the complexicontinued on page 6
Arts, 5
Sports, 7
Opinions, 11
Cuban Revolution Kym Moore directs Eduardo Machado’s “The Cook,” opening in Leeds Theater
two losses Siena clips the baseball team in Wednesday’s doubleheader
Life after college Mary Bates GS explains why graduate school is not for everyone
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