Daily
Herald
the Brown
vol. cxxii, no. 9
Monday, February 6, 2012
Since 1891
U. buys .xxx domain names in preventative move Bear Bucks receives mixed response By Meia Geddes Staff Writer
Rachel Kaplan / Herald
The University bought two domain names to avoid association with adult content, but brownuniversity.xxx had already been purchased.
Students surfing the Internet for adult content will not find it on brownu.xxx or brownuniv.xxx — the University bought the rights to the two triple-x domain names in December. Brown paid about $100 for each domain name, said Mark Nickel, senior editor and writer at the Office of Public Affairs and University Relations. PAUR chose the two domain names for their clear relationship — or at least potential to be related — to the University, said Darlene Trew Crist, director of news and communications. “The University is going to defend and protect its logo, its name and so forth from fraudulent or
inappropriate use, and it doesn’t really matter where that occurs,” Nickel said. The triple-x domain was created to give both consumers and those avoiding adult content “a way to find or avoid the content,” said Jocelyn Johnson, a spokesperson of ICM Registry. The company sells triple-x domain names to Internet domain name registrars, which sell domain names to customers for $79–129 per year, Johnson said. Schools may “feel they have an obligation to the student body to protect the school’s name of any misuse,” she added. Universities and colleges have been buying rights to triple-x domain names related to their trademarks to defend against those look-
All who attended the meeting agreed that Brown should pay its “fair share,” but students floated a number of different definitions for what that statement means. The University paid more than $4 million in voluntary payments and property taxes to the city in 2011. The University’s exemption from property taxes on buildings
The new centralized vending system called Bear Bucks has the convenience and user-friendliness of a debit card and promises to outdo the constantly out-of-order Card Value Center machines. But some students are experiencing difficulties as the system transitions. “Turns out, they changed the old vending stripe machine in Faunce into a Bear Bucks machine,” said Ted Burke ’14, who was trying to put cash on his vending stripe to do laundry. This “makes it even less likely that I’ll be able to add money to my vending stripe to do laundry given the number of the remaining CVC machines that are usually broken,” he added. Three CVC machines remain on campus. The rest have been replaced by ValuePort III machines, which allow students to access their Bear Bucks accounts. But the new system aims to target just that problem. “The biggest thing was getting away the CVCs that were consistently broken,” said Scott Thacher, director of information technology for campus life and student services. “The biggest change from a
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First plays Student group confronts U. tax status bankruptcy if it does not reign in the city neither reached an agreeshowcase its budget shortfall. ment nor presented a proposal to “It’s not Brown’s responsibility the Corporation, Marisa Quinn, new group’s As the University’s tax-exempt sta- to come in and save the city, but I vice president for public affairs tus draws increasing scrutiny, a also think if Brown had been con- and University relations, told The talent group of students gathered Sunday tributing more all along, maybe Herald at the time. By Adam Toobin Senior Staff Writer
Flawless beauty takes tremendous work — at least, that is the message conveyed in “Opus” by Michael Hollinger and “Speed-the-Plow” by David Mamet, the first plays to be produced by the Repertory Project, an independent theater group headed by Emma Johnson ’14 and Skylar Fox ’15. Both plays, by disparate means, showcase the role of sacrifice in the pursuit of great art. Where “Opus” explores the personal losses suffered when friends and lovers come together in playing professional music, “Speed-the-Plow” demonstrates how either morals or reputation must be lost in order to succeed in Hollywood. Both plays were performed in the Production Workshop Upspace Feb. 2-4. “Opus” follows the members of the Lazara Quartet as they search to replace their “wonderful,” “terrifying” and “visionary” viola player, Dorian (Brian Cross ’12), who was recently fired from the group. Though Dorian is a creative genius, he is also unstable, prone to outbursts and fanatic episodes. Dorian’s romance with another member of the quartet, Elliot (Patrick Madden ’14), is charged with mistrust and anxiety, and many of the play’s most affecting scenes take place between the two. One such dramatic scene
inside
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to discuss ways to facilitate upping Brown’s contributions to the city. Though the group is still in its nascent stage — it does not yet have a formal name — the 20 or so students who attended the meeting made progress towards formalizing specific goals. This week’s gathering took on added importance following Providence Mayor Angel Taveras’ announcement last week that the city may have to declare
that rescue would not be all that necessary,” Zack Mezera ’13, a leader of the group and a BlogDailyHerald contributor, told The Herald after the meeting. “Brown has an opportunity to help out Providence,” he added. Taveras alleged last month that the University reneged on a deal to increase its voluntary contributions to the city by $4 million annually for 10 years. But the University and
Professors present research to global community By Tonya Riley Staff Writer
While a Swiss resort might seem like the perfect winter getaway, the World Economic Forum conference, held Jan. 25-29 in Davos,
feature Switzerland, had nothing to do with skiing and fine chocolate. For the four professors who went — Professor of Neuroscience John Donoghue PhD’79 P’09 P’12 MD’16, Professor of Applied Mathematics Jan Hesthaven, Professor of Classics Susan Alcock and Assistant Professor of Biology Casey Dunn — the conference was a flurry of powerful and influential people, eye-opening presentations and opportunities to present their own work in an “IdeasLab” en-
titled “Decoding Data with Brown University.” According to the forum’s website, the annual conference brings together the brightest minds from every discipline to present solutions to global problems. The selection process is “a little mysterious,” Hesthaven said. It involves representatives of the forum listening to presentations by various professors at select colleges. President Ruth Simmons wrote in an email to The Herald that she, Vice President for International Affairs Matthew Gutman P’14 and faculty members advise the selection of professors who attend the forum. At the conference, Simmons joined a panel discussion focusing on “human capital and competiCasey Dunn / Brown University
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Professors gathered at a Swiss conference to discuss solutions to global issues.
Queer prom Local gem Bad business LGBTQ students have high hopes for fated romantic night
campus news, 3
Historic village offers little-known treasures
FEATURE, 4
Davidson ’14 calls for liberal arts in business education OPINION, 7
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