Daily
Herald
the Brown
vol. cxlvi, no. 77
Friday, September 30, 2011
Since 1891
Facilities bargains for wage increases
Bears to battle URI in Saturday night game By Ethan Mccoy Sports Editor
After dropping its Ivy League opener to Harvard last Friday in a disappointing, rain-soaked drubbing, the football team will be back at Brown Stadium under the lights Saturday for the Governor’s Cup. In last year’s first-ever night game in the stadium’s 86-year history, the Bears (1-1, 0-1 Ivy League) topped Harvard (1-1, 1-0) in front of the cheers of 17,350 fans. This year, as the sun sets, the Bears will take on URI (1-2), who
Ne ws in brief
By Jordan Hendricks Senior Staff Writer
took home the cup last year with a 27-24 overtime win. “Nobody takes the game lightly,” said Head Coach Phil Estes. “It isn’t about being a non-conference
game.” “We look at this game as kind of David versus Goliath,” Estes continued. “Goliath was so much bigger, stronger and faster, and that’s a
continued on page 3
lot like this Rhode Island team. But David had a plan that day, and he executed it to perfection.” continued on page 8
By Nic Cavell Contributing Writer
Cynthia Frost, the University’s vice president and chief investment officer, netted a total of $1,011,351 in compensation for 2009 — the highest amount for any University official. The figure represents an increase of over 13 percent in Frost’s annual earnings from the 2008 calendar year, according to the University’s most recent Form 990 tax filings. In 2009, some top officials, including President Ruth
Simmons, took voluntary pay cuts in response to the 2008 economic downturn. Frost, hired as the University’s CIO in 2000, bears chief responsibility for investing the University’s more than $2 billion endowment. She reports to the chair of the investment committee of the Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — and Beppie Huidekoper, executive vice president for finance and administration. Frost was acting chief during the financial crisis of 2008, when
RIPTA proposes streetcar service
H o w N o w, B r o w n Co w ?
Line would connect College Hill to Jewelry District By Kat Thornton Senior Staff Writer
As part of ongoing efforts to develop a thriving knowledge district in Providence, the Rhode Island Public
city & state
Transit Authority released a proposal Monday to launch the “Core Connector” — a two-mile stretch of streetcar service that would run through the Jewelry District, downtown and the heart of College Hill, with a stop in front of the Starbucks — Elizabeth Carr on Thayer Street.
The streetcar service was originally the idea of community members involved in Transit 2020, a group that Rep. David Cicilline ’83, D-R.I., started when he was mayor of Providence to develop a plan for the city’s transit, said Steve Durkee, secretary for the RIPTA board of directors. RIPTA began studying the idea in 2010 when it decided to fully explore the concept of connecting the universities and institutions around the city, Durkee said. “It is the type of transit decision that is happening in all great 21st
Lydia Yamaguchi / Herald
continued on page 2
Students enjoyed a visit from the Rhody Fresh Cow yesterday at the Farmer’s Market on Wriston Quadrangle.
Planet, Earth Black/White D&C Mercury could provide clues to Earth’s history
Science, 6
Shanks ’12 asks us to confront differences
Opinions, 11
Department of Athletics gets coal — find out why DIAMONDS & COAL, 10
weather
Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 announced yesterday afternoon that he will not distribute licenses to medical marijuana compassion centers. Chafee has delayed authorizing these licenses for months, garnering resentment from medical marijuana patients and advocates. The General Assembly passed an amendment in 2009 to allow the cultivation and distribution of medical marijuana to card-carrying patients through state-licensed compassion centers designated as their primary caregivers. In April, after three centers had been selected to receive state licenses, Chafee received a letter from U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha notifying him that such centers violated federal law. “I cannot implement a state marijuana cultivation and distribution system, which is illegal under federal law and which will become a target of federal law enforcement efforts,” Chafee said in a statement. “Federal injunctions, seizures, forfeitures, arrests and prosecutions will only hurt the patients and caregivers that our law was designed to protect.” Chafee added that he hopes to work with the General Assembly, advocates and patients to improve the state’s current system for medical marijuana cultivation and distribution through legislation approved by federal law. Students for Sensible Drug Policy is planning a rally at the State House Saturday afternoon to protest Chafee’s decision, said Kat Reardon ’12.5, former president of SSDP.
inside
continued on page 2
Herald file photo
The Bears played their first home night game ever last September at Brown Stadium in front of 17,350 fans.
CIO still highest paid employee
Chafee ’75 will not license pot centers
news....................2-3 Arts..........................4 Science...............5-6 Opinions.............11 SPORTS..................12
the University lost about $800 million, roughly 27 percent, from the endowment. Since then, Frost has presided over the University’s recovery. Taking the difficult market into consideration, Frost’s job is one that “not many are qualified to do,” Huidekoper said. To keep an employee like Frost, who had years of experience in Duke University’s finance administration, the University must pay a premium in “retention bonuses,”
As the Department of Facilities Management’s labor contract approaches its Oct. 12 expiration date, negotiations for the next three-year contract are moving forward smoothly. The University and Facilities Management workers made “progress” yesterday in resolving “big ticket issues” such as health care costs and wage increases for workers, said Karen McAninch ’74, business agent for the United Service and Allied Workers of Rhode Island, a union that represents Facilities Management. Other issues — whether workers will staff University buildings off campus and the number of available health providers — are still under review. As the University expands its presence in the Jewelry District and beyond, the question of whether Facilities Management employees will staff off-campus properties has increased in importance. Yesterday’s meetings focused
t o d ay
tomorrow
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