Daily
Herald
the Brown
vol. cxlvi, no. 54
Friday, April 22, 2011
Since 1891
Athletics committee recommends axing four varsity teams
Plan also increases budget by 10 percent
Students, coaches vow to fight By Dan Alexander Senior Editor
The reduction from 37 to 34 intercollegiate teams is only one part of the committee’s larger set of recommendations. Another element of the plan would increase the annual athletics budget by roughly 10 percent, according to committee Chair Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior adviser to the president. “If these recommendations are accepted in total, the budget of
Seventy students across four teams— wrestling, men’s and women’s fencing and women’s skiing — learned yesterday that their teams will not exist next year if President Ruth Simmons and the Corporation accept the Athletics Review Committee’s recommendations to cut their programs. Students’ and coaches’ reactions ranged from outrage to disappointment, but all shared a common message — their team must stay. “I almost didn’t believe (Head Coach Atilio Tass) at first, actually,” said fencing captain Alex DePaoli ’11. “It has been in different kinds of phases over the past year. It always seemed like they were pushing it off to another committee, and it would never end up being anything bad.” But the Athletics Review Committee — the most recent in a string of four committees that have analyzed the role of athletics at Brown — made its recommendations for implementation yesterday, beginning weeks of debate about how the University should solve concerns about the athletics budget. The
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By Tony Bakshi Sports Editor
The men’s and women’s fencing teams, men’s wrestling team and women’s ski team will be cut if President Ruth Simmons and the Corporation accept the plan recommended yesterday by the Athletics Review Committee. If the Corporation approves the committee’s proposals at its meeting next month, the cuts will be implemented immediately, effective at the beginning of the 2011-12 academic year. In the report released yesterday at 5 p.m., the committee provided separate reasons for discontinuing each of the three sports. The report cited the need for “a large investment in facilities, infrastructure and coaching to bring the fencing program to the necessary level” as a reason for cutting the men’s and women’s fencing teams. It also cited the “small number of fencing programs nationally.” Six of the other seven Ivy League institutions currently have varsity women’s fencing programs, and five
Courtesy of David Silverman
The men’s wrestling team will be one of four teams eliminated before next season if the Athletics Review Committee’s plan is approved by President Ruth Simmons and the Corporation in May.
of the seven have men’s programs. The University “cannot offer facilities to support competitive skiing in any reasonable way,” according to the report. The committee also cited concerns about the safety of ski team members traveling to New Hampshire and western Massachusetts for practices and competitions. Two other Ivy schools — Harvard and Dartmouth — currently field varsity ski teams. The wrestling program is one of the most expensive University athletic programs and also “requires a large number of admissions slots,”
according to the report. The program creates Title IX issues relating to equitable gender participation — there are 28 males and no females on the wrestling team. Five of the seven other Ivies have varsity wrestling programs. Head Coach Dave Amato, who has headed the wrestling program since 1983, said he believes gender equity was the factor that led to the recommendation to eliminate his sport. “I think the gender killed us because there is obviously no comparable women’s sport,” he said.
Budget increase and athletic improvements
Updated ‘Othello’ Hay Reading Room to get facelift tells lesbian love story By Claire Schlessinger Staff Writer
inside
Move over James Earl Jones — there’s a new Othello in town, and she is feisty. This weekend on the steps of Faunce House, Shakespeare on the Green presents an unusual interpretation of the bard’s classic drama “Othello.” In the original script, “Othello” is about a marriage between a black man and a white woman torn apart by the whispers of infidelity, but director Sisa Mateo ’13 swaps out the black man for a lesbian woman. Surprisingly, the language of the play supports this change, albeit with a few script alterations. The gender pronouns have, of course, been changed, and references to Othello’s complexion cut out. But Mateo chose to keep the well-known expression “the moor” because it is
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simply “a term that implies difference,” she said. The female Othello works so effectively because of Shana Tinkle’s ’11 outstanding performance. She clearly has a mastery of the language and packs a major punch. Her booming voice controls the room, often intimidating the other characters in the scene. Tinkle captures the most critical components of Othello’s character: the strength and poise that demand respect from his — or her — fellow Venetians. Nicholas Morley ’13 as Iago is convincing and precise as he manipulates the characters and causes mayhem. But during his soliloquies, his facial contortions meant to portray his sinister nature read more as an inability to control his passionate desires. Many of the play’s scenes are continued on page 6
Farm fresh
In an effort to make library space more amenable to student needs, the John Hay Library Reading Room and University Archives will undergo a renovation, slated to begin in summer 2012, according to University Librarian Harriette Hemmasi. The planned changes, which are expected to take about a year, will restore the space to its original size and layout. The room currently occupies less than one-third the space it did when it was first built in 1910. Though the space was originally 4,400 square feet, bookshelves installed in the 1930s divided the room. While the shelves were intended to create smaller study spaces within the room, the spaces were gradually taken over for storage and administrative use by the staff, Hemmasi said. The Hay is the only University library open to the general public,
Courtesy of Harriette Hemmasi
Planned changes will restore the Hay Reading Room to its 1910 dimensions (above).
but Alison Bundy, senior library associate specialist of special collections at the Hay, said the Reading Room currently only fits about 21 patrons. According to a brochure distributed by the library, the reno-
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vation will allow for more than 80. With the renovations, the room will feel “traditional but up to date,” said Barbara Schulz, head of library continued on page 2
t o d ay
tomorrow
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