Daily
the Brown
vol. cxlvi, no. 20
Prof dies Students allege assault
after long by Colosseum bouncers
illness
By Greg Jordan-Detamore
Senior Staff Writer
Meiqing Zhang, a senior lecturer
in East Asian studies who had
taught Chinese since 1988, died
Saturday after a long illness.
“It is a huge loss for Brown and
especially for East Asian studies,”
said Dean of the Faculty Rajiv
Vohra P’07.
She was a “highly regarded
figure in the field of Chinese
language pedagogy,” according
to a statement on the East Asian
studies website.
Zhang — who taught CHIN
0910A: “Academic Chinese I” last
semester — “had been ill for some
time” and was on medical leave
this semester, Vohra said, but he
declined to specify the illness.
Though she was struggling
with her illness, “she really want-
ed to be involved in her work in
teaching,” Vohra said. She was
“very well known for her devo-
tion to her students.” Zhang was
also known as a mentor to junior
faculty members, he said.
“One of her jobs was to help
teach the teachers,” said Kerry
Smith, associate professor of
history and chair of the East
Asian studies department. Oth-
ers sought advice from her about
continued on page 4
The mailroom was overwhelmed with packages this year, creating long lines.
news....................2-5
inside
editorial.............10
Opinions.............11
City & State.......12
Herald
Thursday, February 24, 2011
By Jake Comer
Senior Staff Writer
escorted the students outside, Mc-
Gann said. The Providence Police
filed a disturbance report.
Two students alleged they were But Quinn said he and Small-
physically abused by bouncers at wood did not dance on the bar and
the Colosseum nightclub around were instead dancing on the stage.
midnight last night. Michael Quinn Bouncers were kicking men off the
’13 and Jonathan Smallwood ’12 said stage, trying to limit it to female
they were dragged down a flight of patrons, Quinn said. The students
stairs from the second-story club by began dancing on the floor near
their necks. the stage, he said, at which point
Colosseum bouncers outside a bouncer took Smallwood by the
the club around 1 a.m. declined to neck and dragged him towards the
comment. The bouncers said the door.
club management would come out- According to Chris Lisiewski ’12,
side for comment, but management a friend of the two students who
did not appear before the bouncers was present for the altercation, two
asked The Herald to leave. bouncers stood on the stage above
Providence Police Sgt. Tim Mc- Smallwood while he danced “very
Gann said that according to the provocatively at the base of the
club’s staff, the two students were stage.”
dancing on the bar and did not com-
ply with requests to stop. Bouncers continued on page 9
Humanities departments tout practicality
By Aparna Bansal longer-term look at the numbers
Senior Staff Writer tells a less dramatic tale. For the
first half of the decade, between
Though faculty members said they 2001 and 2005, students completed
are not concerned about the level an average of 466 humanities con-
of student interest in the humani-
ties, University data show Brown NEWS ANALYSIS
is not immune to the decades-long
nationwide decline in the propor- centrations per year. The average
tion of bachelor’s degrees granted over the next five years was 452,
in the humanities. a 3 percent decline. The average
While the number of humani- total number of concentrations
ties concentrations declined by 12 completed was constant between
percent between 2009 and 2010, a the two periods.
Mailroom catches up
with package backlog
By Brielle Friedman
Staff Writer
Tasting a warm pistachio muffin
from the Blue Room, shopping for
that perfect fourth class, running into
everyone you know in the Sharpe
Feature
Refectory — these are a few of the
nice things about returning to cam-
pus for spring semester. Waiting in
line in the mailroom for 25 minutes
to pick up a box of textbooks is not
one of them.
The mailroom faced an unusually
large backlog and longer lines this
semester due to weather compli-
cations and an increased influx of
packages, said Fred Yattaw, manager
Brielle Friedman / Herald
of University Mail Services. Mail
Services processed 17,148 pack-
In Harmony
Cogut Center helps create
‘orchestra without borders’
Campus news, 5
Click it for ticket
The Brown Concert Agency is test-driving a new ticket distribution system
today in the hopes of avoiding long lines for Spring Weekend.
The University’s Office of In-
stitutional Research includes 29
concentrations in the humanities
category.
From classroom to boardroom
Though students may be appre-
hensive about the employment con-
sequences of a humanities-based
education, humanities departments
have begun stressing the practical
applications of a liberal arts edu-
continued on page 6
ages between Jan. 24 and Feb. 17,
compared to 15,816 during the same
period last year, according to data
provided by Yattaw.
Mariah Gonzales ’13 waited over
a week to pick up a package because
the line in J. Walter Wilson was con-
sistently excessive, she said. progress in locating Chartier.
“I actually made my brother pick
up a package for me because the
line was so long,” she said, adding,
“I think he thought he was going to
get something out of it because the
package was from my mom.”
Backlog and delays
The lines in the mailroom may
have looked never-ending, but the
quantity of packages behind the
doors was overwhelming. Last Fri-
day morning, employees rushed
continued on page 2
weather
Forever
Alums could hold on
to U. e-mail accounts
CAMPUS NEWS, 4
Since 1891
Herald file photo
See full coverage on page 2.
Ne ws in brief
No leads in search
for asst. women’s
soccer coach
There are no new leads
in the disappearance of
Denis Chartier, an assistant
coach of the women’s soccer
team, according to Lt. Kevin
San Antonio of the Town of
Burrillville Police Department
Chartier, 56, was last seen Feb.
6.
“We’re basically at a
standstill right now because we
have no new leads to go on,”
San Antonio said Wednesday
afternoon.
Chartier’s Dream Card —
a Foxwood Resorts Casino
rewards card — was used at
the Connecticut casino Feb.
6 around 11 p.m., according
to an article yesterday in the
Providence Journal.
San Antonio said the police
department has “been following
up communications with
the family,” but has made no
“This is still an active
investigation,” San Antonio said.
“Until we find Mr. Chartier, we’re
going to follow up on any leads
we can get.”
Chartier has been on the
coaching staff of the women’s
soccer team for 16 seasons,
according to the athletics
department.
The women’s soccer team
held a candlelight vigil for
Chartier Feb. 15.
— Tony Bakshi
t o d ay tomorrow
41/ 35 43/ 22
2 Campus News
calendar Ne ws in brief
TODAY February 24 ToMORROW February 25
5:30 P.m. 4 p.m.
BCA to end Spring
Weekend lines
“Hiroshima: Testimony by Atomic Piano Workshop,
Bomb Survivor,” Salomon 101 Grant Recital Hall The Brown Concert Agency
is test-driving a new ticket
6:30 p.m. 7 p.m.
distribution system for Spring
J.M. Bernstein, “Torture and Ayyam-i-ha Party, Weekend today in hopes of
Modernity,” Pembroke Hall 305 J. Walter Wilson 411 avoiding the long lines and
lost tickets of years past. With
menu the new system, students will
purchase all Spring Weekend
tickets online, including the extra
SHARPE REFECTORY VERNEy-WOOLLEY DINING HALL
tickets released if the concerts
LUNCH are held outdoors. Students will
Falafel in Pita with Tzatziki, Cavatini, Falafel in Pita, then be able to print scannable
Chicken Pot Pie, Zucchini and Marinated Cucumbers, Rice tickets from their computers
Parmesan Sandwiches Krispie Treats instead of picking them up from
the Brown Student Agency office.
DINNER
The idea for the new system
Spice Rubbed Pork Chops, Pastel of Tuna Fish, Mango came about this summer,
Cheese Tomato Strata, Cajun Chicken with Mango Salsa, according to Sandy Ryza ’12,
Corn and Tomatoes Sweet Potatoes in Madeira BCA’s director of ticketing. The
new system was developed
Sudoku partially in response to last
year’s line, which stretched for
hours around George, Brown,
Benevolent and Benefit streets.
Starting at 8 a.m. today,
students will be able to log
on to bsa.brown.edu and
order a free waiver from the
Brown Marketplace to test the
online system. The waiver will
be sent to students’ Brown
e-mail addresses. Students
can then bring printed e-mail
confirmations to the Main Green
entrance on George St. between
3 and 5 p.m. March 1 to be
scanned for entry in a raffle.
For every 200 waivers
ordered, BCA is planning to
give away a free two-day ticket
package. The number of waivers
acr oss to bear
is not limited — any student who
signs onto the website will be
eligible.
The Brown Student Agency
website crashed last year during
the ticket-purchasing period.
“One would hope that we won’t
have the same problem this year,
but there’s always unexpected
difficulties,” Ryza said.
Though BCA is not yet able
to confirm when tickets will
actually go on sale, the system
is being tested now to ensure it
will run smoothly in the coming
weeks, he said. BCA also plans
to implement the system at
its upcoming “Get-Off-The-Hill
Party.”
“The goal is not to have it fail
majorly on Spring Weekend,” he
said.
— Amy Rasmussen
Daily
the Brown
www.browndailyherald.com
195 Angell St., Providence, R.I.
Ben Schreckinger, President
Sydney Ember, Vice President
The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the
Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday through Fri-
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Copyright 2011 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
editorial
(401) 351-3372
herald@browndailyherald.com
The Brown Daily Herald
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Mailroom copes despite
backlog, weather
continued from page 1
around cataloguing items and sort-
ing letters into mailboxes. Boxes were
everywhere.
The beginning of the semester
always brings mailroom chaos. The
mailroom received and processed
1,332 more signature packages
between Jan. 24 and Feb. 17 than
between those dates last year, accord-
ing to data provided by Yattaw. The
figures for blue card packages, which
do not require student signatures,
also increased this year, Yattaw said.
A possible reason for the greater
number of packages may be this
year’s larger first-year class, Yattaw
said.
“In the old days when everything
was notices in the mailboxes, we’d
also get rushes between classes. Now
it seems like whenever we send out
a batch of e-mails, the line appears,”
Yattaw said.
But the larger number of pack-
ages is not the only reason the lines
at the mailroom have been long. At
the beginning of the semester, one
employee was absent for six weeks
due to a broken leg, Yattaw said.
Weather is another factor. “We
had two back-to-back days where
I had several employees leave work
early or cancel because of the snow,”
Yattaw said. “That’s a significant time
loss.” Employee absences caused Mail
Services to fall behind in processing
packages. “Once you fall behind, it’s
very hard to catch up,” he said.
Because of the backlog, packages
were delayed in the mailroom for
many students awaiting textbooks
and other items. In some cases,
students received package arrival
notifications from Amazon but dis-
covered their packages had not yet
been processed by Mail Services.
Unusually chaotic
The September influx is even
worse than that of the spring semes-
ter, but Mail Services accommodates
the fall rush by opening a separate
location in Graduate Center for UPS
packages.
“Last September, we handled
30,000 packages,” Yattaw said. “That
many packages — ­ we couldn’t even
process them and get them in (J.
Walter Wilson) if we tried.”
But Yattaw does not think using
the second location in February
would help ease the backlog. The
overhead door at the Grad Center
location would not be usable in snow
Herald
Matthew Burrows, Treasurer
Isha Gulati, Secretary
Business
(401) 351-3360
gm@browndailyherald.com
and rain, he said, and using the Grad
Center location in the spring would
force him to split up his staff.
To prepare for the beginning
of the semester, Yattaw hired five
temporary employees for February.
Mailroom employees are also not
allowed to take vacation time during
the beginning of the semester.
Yattaw has never seen this much
mailroom chaos in January or Febru-
ary — “and I’ve been here awhile,”
he said. “If we continue to have this
kind of situation going forward, then
we’ll have to reassess.” But Yattaw
said the number of deliveries calms
down each year after Valentine’s Day.
“We just always have two really busy
periods a year,” he said.
Please, Mr. Postman
Alex Crane ’12 said he left J. Wal-
ter Wilson and came back about
five times before finally picking up
a package early last Friday morning,
a time of day when lines are gener-
ally shorter.
“The students have been very
cooperative,” Yattaw said, adding
that Mail Services has been able to
help individual students with special
circumstances. Yattaw personally
helped a student locate two packages
that contained textbooks she needed.
“Some students are impatient,
but we try to keep it in perspective
that they are under a lot of pressure.
Nobody’s ever come to me and com-
plained about a staff member being
rude or unhelpful,” Yattaw said.
“I did get a mother who was very
upset because she sent boots to her
daughter,” he said. The student’s box
number had been changed, so the
package had not reached her. Yat-
taw looked into the case and found
the package. “Her mother sent me a
nice appreciation note with a Star-
bucks card,” Yattaw said, smiling.
“I know what it’s like to be a parent
and have a child in school. So I try
to understand.”
Back on track
As of last Thursday, the mailroom
is fully caught up with the backlog
and will be processing packages as
they arrive, Yattaw said.
“I don’t think we should have
a problem now,” Yattaw told The
Herald Friday. “Going forward,” he
said, “we’ll be in regular operational
mode.” If a package arrives in the
morning, a student will probably re-
ceive a notification by noon, he said.
Yattaw commended his staff, add-
ing that on several of the busiest days
this past month, staff members did
not take a break the entire day.
Scout Willis ’13 echoed the praise.
Even during busy periods, “they’ve
always been really nice to me,” she
said, adding, “they’re doing the best
they can do.”
The Mail Services staff has been
very understanding about letting her
leave packages in the mailroom for
extended periods of time, she said.
Willis has not picked up a package
she received over two weeks ago — a
small but extremely heavy box filled
with graphic novels sent from a fam-
ily friend.
She knows it is there, but she still
does not want to carry it.
The Brown Daily Herald
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Chafee ’75 returns from Houston tour
By Caitlin Trujillo
Senior Staff Writer
Governor Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14
returned Monday from a two-day
tour of the Texas Medical Center.
The trip to Houston was the first in
a series of tours that Chafee hopes
will provide models for technolo-
gy-fueled growth in Providence’s
Jewelry District.
President Ruth Simmons, Uni-
versity of Rhode Island President
David Dooley, Providence Mayor
Angel Taveras and Rhode Island
Economic Development Corpo-
ration Executive Director Keith
Stokes accompanied the governor.
The Texas Medical Center, with
its 49 institutions and hospitals, is
the largest medical complex in the
world, said Richard Wainerdi, the
center’s president, chief executive
officer and chief operating offi-
cer. It includes 13 hospitals and
two medical schools making it “a
mecca of sorts” for medical facili-
ties, said Mike Trainor, Chafee’s
spokesman.
Chafee’s first visit to Houston
several years ago sparked the
idea for a similar urban model in
Rhode Island. The Jewelry District
is poised to undergo considerable
change in the coming years with
the official opening of Brown’s new
Medical Education Building and
development of the land freed up
by the relocation of I-195, Trainor
said.
Businesses looking to locate
near hospital facilities could take
Writing Center to hire ESL specialist
By Nora Orton
Contributing Writer
The Writing Center hopes to hire
a specialist in English as a Second
Language by July 2011 to meet an
increasing demand for writing
support, especially among inter-
national students.
This year, the center has al-
ready held 2,300 appointments,
34 percent of them requested by
students who do not speak English
as a first language. Ten years ago,
the center held about 1,200 indi-
vidual conferences with students
per year, according to Director
of the Writing Center Douglas
Brown. This increase, along with
the University’s announcement in
March 2010 that it would require
all seniors to show writing compe-
tency, led to the decision to create
the specialist position.
Gov. Lincoln Chafee ‘75 P’14 recently visited Houston’s Texas Medical Center.
advantage of the highway plots,
Trainor said, sparking economic
development in the district.
In Houston, Chafee first met
with corporate officers from the
Texas Medical Center. He then
met with research, academic and
workforce enhancement directors
as well as community leaders to
discuss how the various institu-
tions have affected the surround-
ing community, Wainerdi said.
The medical center’s success
hinges on collaboration between its
institutions, despite a potentially
competitive business relationship,
wrote Vice President for Public
Affairs and University Relations
Despite an increase in demand
for the center’s writing fellows
among international students,
the center currently does not
have an ESL specialist. “We all feel
strongly that you can’t say writ-
ing matters, so much so that it’s
actually going to be a graduation
requirement, and then not provide
adequate support,” Brown said.
Brown said non-native speak-
ers come to the center with a
unique set of challenges. “There
is a terrible pressure to turn in
work that is completely idiomati-
cally correct,” Brown said. “What
we end up doing out of neces-
sity is helping them with these
smaller-scale concerns because,
if we don’t, they’re … turning in
work that will be graded poorly
regardless of content.”
To address challenges faced by
students who do not speak English
Campus News 3
Caitlin Trujillo / Herald
Marisa Quinn, who also accompa-
nied the delegation to Houston, in
an e-mail to The Herald.
“It was an inspiring day, and
while we have many challenges
ahead ... it is clear that we have
significant assets, too — not the
least of which is our capacity for
collaboration,” Quinn wrote.
Chafee plans to visit four more
cities within the next 60 days. His
tentative next stop is Baltimore —
home to Johns Hopkins University.
Future visits will include Cleveland
— home to the Cleveland Clinic —
as well as Pittsburgh and Worces-
ter, Mass., which boasts a sizeable
medical district, Trainor said.
as a first language, the special-
ist will take on various tasks, in-
cluding holding conferences with
students, conducting workshops
and teaching other writing fellows
how to better help internationals,
Brown said. The specialist will also
work in conjunction with profes-
sors. “We’re inviting all of these
international students to our cam-
pus,” Brown said, “but do faculty
actually appreciate the challenges
they face in the classroom?”
The specialist will begin the
upcoming school year by enhanc-
ing the pre-orientation programs.
For the past few years, the Uni-
versity has offered Excellence at
Brown — a week-long academic
preparation program for students
whose high schools may not have
provided them with adequate col-
continued on page 4
Robert Krulwich addressed natural camouflage in a Wednesday lecture.
Radio host ‘plays’ with
science, octopi, Saddam
By Esther Kim
Contributing Writer
What do Saddam Hussein and an
octopus have in common? If you
are stumped, Radiolab’s Robert
Krulwich could give you a clue.
Radiolab, a popular radio pro-
gram, explores a range of phenom-
ena, from the mechanisms behind
spousal spats and the common
cold to reasons why people who
lie are happier. “Saddam Hussein’s
Octopus” is just one of many un-
conventional topics that Krulwich,
co-host of the show, tackles regu-
larly.
The Smith-Buonanno audito-
rium was packed full of students
and professors yesterday, eager to
hear Krulwich’s engaging stories.
Krulwich played a short clip of
an octopus, known as the “master
of disguise” due to its camouflage
ability. If plastic surgeons knew
how to mimic the octopus’s natu-
ral tendency to blend into its sur-
roundings, Hussein’s life would
have been a lot easier, Krulwich
said.
“Play is important to us,” said
Krulwich of Radiolab’s style.
“We clearly don’t know what we
are talking about,” he joked. The
purpose of the show is to ask the
questions that people want to ask
of scientists but think are inappro-
Rachel Kaplan / Herald
priate or ignorant, he said.
“It’s really exciting to see stories
put first in talking about science.
Radiolab has been a great leader
of that,” said Casey Dunn, profes-
sor of ecology and evolutionary
biology.
“I really like the topics they dis-
cuss on Radiolab. There is definite-
ly a science component,” said Asya
Rahlin ’12, a biology concentrator.
In Krulwich’s words, Radiolab
is not afraid to “take these scien-
tists off the pedestal, to a certain
degree.” When asked how he gets
scientists to “play,” Krulwich re-
plied that he and his co-host Jad
Abumrad “make a mood that
would be impolite to resist.”
According to Krulwich, the best
way to present a science story is to
empower listeners to make discov-
eries on their own. “If people are
feeling smarter than you are, that’s
exactly where you want them,” he
said.
“We do not target people who
love science, but we target people
who love stories,” Krulwich said of
his intended audience. “We do this
for everyone,” he added.
Brown is “a good school for
people who are willfully curious,”
Krulwich told The Herald, add-
ing that Brown students are self-
motivated and “able to search for
things on their own.”
4 Campus News
The Writing Center hopes to hire a specialist in English as a Second Language by July to help meet the needs of
international students.
ESL specialist coming to Writing Center
continued from page 3
lege preparation — and the Inter-
national Mentoring Program to
help new students transition to
life at Brown.
Adwoa Hinson ’14, who is
from Ghana, said she attended
Excellence at Brown, where she
received a writing fellow who has
helped her considerably this year.
“It’s easier when you have
someone there for you one-on-
one,” Hinson said.
Brown said he hopes to expand
these programs through the addi-
tion of the ESL specialist.
“What I’m looking at doing
next summer is working with (the
Office of Student Life) to integrate
an academic component to the
IMP program. It’s really important
that they get an introduction to
academic culture,” he said.
Dean of the College Katherine
Bergeron said the new specialist
will also be a resource for gradu-
ate students. “We have graduate
students who need to undergo
further training to improve their
language skills when they are here
as (teaching assistants),” she said.
TAs can use the Writing Center
to improve their written English
and can also take courses in spo-
ken English through the Center
for Language Studies.
With the addition of an ESL
specialist, the language center
hopes to increase collaboration
with the Writing Center, said Bar-
bara Gourlay, coordinator of the
English for International Teaching
Assistants Program.
Hiring a specialist is only the
initial step in expanding resources
for ESL students, said Jose Ro-
driguez ’12, a receptionist at the
center whose first language is
Spanish.
Stephanie London / Herald
He recommended that, in ad-
dition to support through the
Writing Center, the University
establish an official undergraduate
course for ESL learning. “No class
is specifically tailored for ESL stu-
dents,” Rodriguez said. “Brown
is really lacking in that sense in
terms of addressing the needs of
ESL students.” Rodriguez said he
felt compelled to take a summer
course at Columbia, where there
is an entire American Language
Program that offers classes spe-
cifically for non-native students.
International students accepted
to the University have a “sophisti-
cated understanding of English,”
Gourlay said. But true under-
standing requires much more than
mastery of grammar and vocabu-
lary. For example, students must
know idiomatic expressions and
the cultural assumptions behind
them.
“We thought the position
would have a nice home in the
Writing Center,” Bergeron said. “It
would give it a certain visibility,
and there are lots of undergradu-
ate needs that it would serve.”
The ESL specialist will also aim
to help international students out-
side the classroom, Brown said.
“I very much want this person
to play a prominent role on cam-
pus,” he said. “I want international
students to be completely aware
of who this person is and to feel
comfortable turning to him or
her.”
The Brown Daily Herald
Thursday, February 24, 2011
UCS considers permanent
e-mail addresses for alums
By David Chung
Senior Staff Writer
The Undergraduate Council of Stu-
dents reviewed a proposed project
to allow alums to maintain their
Brown e-mail addresses, approved
changes to its Student Activities
Code of Operations and discussed
the agendas of its constituent com-
mittees at its general body meeting
Wednesday night.
Jake Heimark ’11, a fifth-year
student who pushed for the Uni-
versity’s adoption of Gmail as a
first-year, has been working with
the Admissions and Student Ser-
vices Committee, Computing and
Information Services and Alumni
Relations to establish a system un-
der which students would have
access to their Brown e-mail ad-
dresses indefinitely after gradu-
ation. Heimark said he believes
that this change could allow alums
to have a continued association
with the University and that recent
graduates, who may frequently
change jobs but need to maintain a
stable “personal, but professional”
e-mail address, could especially
benefit from the change.
Students and alums who share
names will have different e-mail
addresses, regardless of whether
or not they are concurrently en-
rolled. “There doesn’t seem to be
too many roadblocks,” Chris Col-
lins ’11, chair of the Admissions
and Student Services Committee,
said. He said he hopes the project
will be approved this semester and
added that President Ruth Sim-
mons has been notified about the
initiative.
Heimark assured UCS mem-
bers that he is in no way attempt-
ing to replace the alumni.brown.
edu e-mail addresses available to
alums but is trying to offer them
an additional choice.
UCS also continued review-
ing minor changes to its Code of
East Asian studies
prof dies after illness
continued from page 1
teaching Chinese, he said.
“The many students who were
fortunate enough to have her as
a teacher, and all who knew her
Operations made in response to
the new student group applica-
tion. Following a few additional
suggestions by UCS members to
clarify the code, the council ap-
proved the changes submitted by
committee chair Ralanda Nelson
’12 and Anthony White ’13.
The Admissions and Student
Services Committee plans to work
with the Department of Facilities
Management to improve satellite
gyms across campus. Its current
goals are to renovate the Bears
Lair, garner increased funding to
replace athletic equipment and
shift the duty of cleaning gym
equipment to regular University
custodial staff. The University
frequently repairs old, broken
equipment and currently hires
temporary outside staff to clean
equipment, said Abhi Reddy ’13,
a member of the committee.
Aaron Zick ’11 of the Cam-
pus Life Committee said he will
continue efforts to improve Blue
Room services and will meet with
the manager to review issues re-
garding staffing and lines. The
committee is also planning to
work with the Office of Residen-
tial Life and Brown Dining Ser-
vices to increase the number of
garbage cans on campus as spring
approaches.
The council as a whole is pre-
paring for UCS elections and stu-
dent appointments to University
committees. UCS has already re-
ceived applications for a student
representative position on the
University Resources Commit-
tee and will be reviewing them
and conducting interviews in the
coming days, UCS President Di-
ane Mokoro ’11 said. A number
of information sessions regard-
ing positions on approximately
25 University committees will
also be held throughout March,
UCS Appointments Chair Michael
Schneider ’13 said.
as a mentor, together benefited
from her commitment to their
success,” Smith wrote in a state-
ment that Vohra e-mailed to the
faculty yesterday. “We have lost
a wonderful teacher and a good
friend and miss her very much.”
Zhang first joined the depart-
ment in 1988 as a teaching assis-
tant and was later promoted to
lecturer and then senior lecturer.
She coordinated Brown’s Chinese
language program from 2002 to
2007 and received the University’s
Harriet W. Sheridan Award for
Distinguished Contribution to
Teaching and Learning in 2007.
She also helped direct the summer
program in Chinese at Middle-
bury College.
There will be private funeral
services for Zhang, and plans for
a campus memorial service will
be announced “in due course,”
according to a statement on the
East Asian studies website.
The Brown Daily Herald
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Student musicians connect with Israeli-Palestinian Orchestra
By Clare de Boer
Staff Writer
The Cogut Center for the Humanities
has teamed up with a group of Israeli
and Palestinian musicians to create
a summer institute in Berlin. A pilot
program will send Brown students to
the German capital this spring break
to collaborate with musicians from
Nazareth, Israel.
Brown has been developing a re-
lationship with the group, the West-
Eastern Divan Orchestra, since its
December 2006 visit to campus, ac-
cording to Michael Steinberg, profes-
sor of history and music and director
of the Cogut Center. That visit, which
included a performance and discus-
sions, led to an invitation to partner
with the orchestra.
The University asked, “How can
we make this a more ambitious pro-
gram?” said Steinberg, who is spear-
heading the project in collaboration
with Nabeel Abdullah Ashkar of the
orchestra as well as the Daniel Baren-
boim Foundation in Berlin. He is
in the process of developing a cur-
riculum that focuses on educating
through music.
The mission is “learning to hear”
and to develop a “capacity for un-
derstanding people different from
ourselves,” Steinberg said. “Everyone
is converging to build something that
is truly synthetic and original in its
disciplinary connections.”
“Exactly what we’re studying?”
said Dylan Nelson ’11. “That’s a good
The Cogut Center for the Humanities plans to send six Brown musicians to Berlin to pilot a collaboration with the
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.
question.”
“It’s about bringing people with
diverse interests together — not nec-
essarily with a scripted conversation
— but to experiment with different
forms of discussion and raise open
questions in pursuit of knowledge
that could then become a positive
force for the world,” said Nelson, a
Cogut fellow who has been involved
in the planning of the project and
was selected to participate in a pilot
program during spring break.
Klaus Wowereit, the mayor of
Berlin, offered to provide space to
Daniel Barenboim, the orchestra’s
conductor and co-founder, to use
for a purpose “that embraces the
values of democracy after the fall of
the Berlin Wall,” Steinberg said. The
building, which is located next to
the Berlin State Opera House, is cur-
rently under renovation, and world-
renowned architect Frank Gehry has
Campus News 5
made an “extremely exciting offer”
to participate in the design of the
building as a pro bono project, Stein-
berg said.
The orchestra, which according
to its website is made up of an equal
number of Israeli and Arab musi-
cians, meets each summer in Seville
for rehearsals, lectures and discus-
sions, followed by an international
concert tour.
The nascent program’s first ses-
sion is scheduled to take place in the
summer of 2013 or 2014, contingent
on the renovation of the space. It will
be staffed by Brown professors and
involve around 40 students from the
Middle East. A pilot program, run-
ning during this year’s spring break,
will include six Brown students and
six musicians from Nazareth.
Nelson said it is “unclear how the
relationship with the students from
Palestine will play out.” It is a “pretty
Courtesy of Luis Castilla
formidable” task to bring students of
different ages and educational back-
grounds together, he said, but “the
general aim is to have an openness of
discussion that would not necessitate
rigorous academic thought.”
The program’s use of classical
Western music has received some
criticism, according to Henry Peck
’11, a leader of Brown’s Common
Ground who will participate in the
pilot program. But Peck added that
the music provides a “clean tool” for
dialogue. “I see classical music as a
neutral medium with no particular
resonance for either community,”
Peck said.
Nelson also voiced support for the
choice of medium. “To communicate
globally, one must open oneself to
global modes of communication, and
at this point, classical music is that
global means,” he said.
Steinberg has selected students
for the pilot who have interests in
music, international relations and
Middle Eastern studies, he said. He
hopes that the students who attend
the pilot will remain involved with
the project at Brown.
Nelson said he is applying for an
AT&T New Media Fellowship from
the Watson Institute for International
Studies to continue working with the
orchestra in Nazareth this summer.
Peck said he intends to remain part
of the initiative “possibly afterward
in Europe, or from here,” he said.
The Cogut Center has received
a gift to pay for the students to at-
tend the pilot, Steinberg said, and
the Daniel Barenboim Foundation
has taken financial responsibility
for the renovation of the space. The
financial plan for the second phase
— the program itself — has yet to be
developed, he added.
Peck described the project as an
“orchestra without borders” that is
using “music as a language to redress
mass injustice and connect commu-
nities that have historical disagree-
ments.”
Nelson also said he saw significant
potential for the project. “By bringing
together people on the ground with
scholars, this project could integrate
different forms of knowledge into a
meaningful message for the world,”
he said.
Steinberg called the initiative a
“real education project.”
“It’s very Brown, it’s very original,
it’s very interdisciplinary,” he said.
6 City & State The Brown Daily Herald
Thursday, February 24, 2011

Ne ws in brief Career anxieties spark double concentrations

Student robbed at
Brown and Barnes
The Department of Public
Safety e-mailed a crime alert
to the campus community
at 7:59 p.m. last night
regarding the robbery of a
male student. According to
the alert, the robbery took
place near the intersection
of Barnes and Brown streets
around 1 p.m. yesterday.
The alert notified
students and employees that
the victim was struck from
behind before his tablet
computer was taken. The
alert described the suspects
as three “unidentified black
males,” all between 15 and 17
years old.
According to the e-mail,
two of the suspects fled
north on Brown St. and the
third ran east on Barnes St.
after the incident.
DPS Sgt. Bob Mackisey
told The Herald that
the Providence Police
Department informed DPS of
the robbery.
— Jake Comer
continued from page 1
cation.
“A liberal arts education pre-
pares a person to live in this world.
To think, write, read and critically
evaluate … is exceptionally valu-
able,” said Gale Nelson AM’88, as-
sistant director of the literary arts
program and the concentration
adviser for the literary arts program.
In September 2007, the English
department conducted a survey to
find out what careers alums who
had concentrated in English were
pursuing. The results were then
posted on the department website.
The survey was “a way of answer-
ing a question often posed in many
departments — ‘What am I going
to do with X major?’” said Coppelia
Kahn, professor of English. “The an-
swer is really ‘anything you want.’”
Several departments and univer-
sities have conducted similar studies
in recent years, Kahn said.
“It definitely made me feel more
confident,” said Yuli Zhu ’12, an
English and neuroscience concen-
trator. She said she felt reassured
seeing that English concentrators
had gone on to careers in science
and medicine.
“I think there is a practicality
in anything you choose to major Percentage of B.A.s granted in humanities
in — it’s up to the individual to find
what that is,” she said .
nationwide 1966-2007
Last semester, the comparative
literature department also posted
information on its website show-
casing past concentrators and their
career paths. The project was not
intended to attract more concen-
trators, but instead to inform cur-
rent ones, said Stephanie Merrim,
professor of comparative literature
and the department’s primary con-
centration adviser. The project was
in part a response to a November
2010 Herald editorial suggesting
that all departments follow the Eng-
lish department’s lead and provide
first-hand accounts from past con-
centrators.
“I’m not particularly worried be- Number of humanities concentrations
cause our concentration is robust
this year,” Merrim said. “It’s a very completed at Brown 2001-2010
Brown kind of concentration, with
a lot of latitude. … It prepares you
well for the economic times because
it prepares you broadly.”
To illustrate the practical ap-
plications of a literary arts degree,
the literary arts program also holds
panels on small press publishing,
Nelson said. Many students who
concentrate in literary arts take
on second concentrations or take

Gili Kliger and Julien Ouellet / Herald

clusters of classes in other areas, he concentrate in something practical

said. Concentrators then go on to
graduate school for related study or
go into publishing and writing, he
said, adding that one recent alum
is now a writer for the New York
Times.
“Brown attracts the type of stu-
dent who resists equating what
they’re studying to a job,” said Jo-
seph Pucci, associate professor of
classics and the department’s con-
centration adviser. “That doesn’t
mean they’re not thinking about
it, but there doesn’t always have to
be a correlation.”
He said that the majority of
classics concentrators go to medi-
cal school, law school or graduate
school after graduation, though
some get jobs in finance, teaching
and even airline piloting or comedy
writing.
“There are some students that
are hesitant, and almost always
it is a discussion driven by their
parents,” Pucci said, adding that
he advises students to take classics
as a second concentration if they
are concerned about career paths.
For love or money
Natan Last ’12, who creates
crosswords for The Herald, said he
decided to concentrate in econom-
ics in addition to literary arts, to
“pragmatically pad (his) resume”
and to “learn something useful and
appear hirable.”
“I asked my friends, ‘If money
wasn’t an issue, what would you
major in?’ and many said, ‘History,’”
Got tips? he said. “But the hard truth is it’s not
going to get you a job.”
herald@browndailyherald.com Last said students should take
advantage of the curriculum and
while also taking interesting classes
in other areas.
“If you decide your concentra-
tion early on, there is a lot of room
to try new things,” he said.
Last is not the only student
hedging his bets by double-con-
centrating.
“I love English so much, but I
wasn’t sure what a career in that
meant. Becoming a professor or
writing books seemed scary and
tentative,” said Catherine McMar-
thy ’12, who is pursuing a double
degree in English and psychology.
She added that many of her friends
in the humanities took up second
concentrations in subjects like
economics and were interested in
finding financial internships for the
summer. The number of economics
concentrators has nearly doubled
since 2001, from 96 to 180.
“It’s far more important to take
demanding subjects,” said Mary
Gluck, professor of history and a
concentration adviser. The Univer-
sity categorizes history as a social
science. Some other schools, such
as Yale, consider it part of the hu-
manities.
Gluck said she recognizes career
anxiety on campus, but feels that
a liberal education and the “intel-
lectual perspective” it provides are
invaluable for any career.
Despite career anxieties, many
students recognize the value of
concentrations in the humanities.
“You’re going to be best at doing
what you’re most passionate about,”
said Jacob Combs ’11, leader of the
English DUG. “There’s so much of
life you can’t measure in disposable
income.”
The Brown Daily Herald
Thursday, February 24, 2011
R.I. Republican Party to select new chairman next month
By Amy Rasmussen
Senior Staff Writer
Four months out from the Novem-
ber elections, state Republicans
have turned their attention to the
party’s future in Rhode Island. After
four years under the leadership of
Giovanni Cicione, the party will pick
a new chairman next month, and
speculation has begun about poten-
tial challengers to Democratic Sena-
tor Sheldon Whitehouse in 2012.
The Rhode Island Republican
Party will hold its biannual elec-
tions March 19 for five leadership
positions. Kenneth McKay, a former
chief of staff to Republican Nation-
al Committee Chairman Michael
Steele, and Patrick Sweeney, the for-
mer deputy campaign manger for
Republican John Loughlin’s failed
congressional bid, are the two can-
didates vying for the chairmanship.
McKay resigned last April follow-
ing a high-profile controversy over a
$1,900 outing to a California lesbian
bondage-themed nightclub attended
by young Republican donors. The
outing was billed to the RNC. He did
not authorize the reimbursement of
the expense.
McKay’s resignation will reflect
positively him as a candidate, be-
cause he accepted responsibility for a
scandal in which he was not officially
involved, Cicione said.
Cicione, who has filled the un-
paid position since 2007, said he is
stepping down to spend more time
on his law practice and with his fam-
ily. As chairman, Cicione spearhead-
ed the 2010 Clean Slate initiative ­­— a
push to elect a group of Moderate,
independent and Republican candi-
dates to the Democrat-dominated
General Assembly.
The chairman will be selected
by more than 300 elected officials
and delegates from around the state.
One of the party leader’s first chal-
lenges will be to address the GOP’s
dire financial situation. According to
Cicione, there was roughly $5,000 in
the Republican Party’s bank account
when he first took office. The GOP
now has only “a few thousand” in its
account, he said.
“Fundraising is always the num-
ber one priority — we spent all of
our money and more at the last elec-
tion,” he said. “It’s going to be a hard
start.” Cicione said he plans to make
himself available to the new chair-
man in the hopes of “a smoother
transition.”
Sweeney said he realizes fun-
draising has to be “an immediate
thing.” Until sufficient funding is
available, “you’re spinning your
wheels,” he said.
But McKay is “better positioned”
to raise the funds that the party
desperately needs as it heads into
the next election cycle, said Vic-
tor Profughi, Rhode Island College
professor emeritus of political sci-
ence and director of the polling firm
Quest Research. McKay is “coming
into this run as a seasoned veteran,”
he said.
Formally trained as a lawyer,
McKay served as former Gov.
Donald Carcieri’s ’65 chief of staff
through two successful election
cycles and worked as a campaign
consultant for Florida Gov. Rick
Scott. He also brings experience on
the national level — from 2007 to
2010, he served as chief of staff to
Republican National Committee
Chairman Michael Steele.
Setting priorities
McKay, who has recently been
making the rounds on local radio
talk shows, was direct with his pri-
orities when speaking with WPRO’s
Dan Towne. “I’m into campaigning,
and I want to see more Republicans
get elected,” he said.
Sweeney, 14 years McKay’s ju-
nior, said though he lacks national
experience, his drive to successfully
reorganize the party is just as strong.
“Our resumes are pretty similar,”
he said. Besides his experience as the
deputy manager of Loughlin’s cam-
paign, Sweeney is also a practicing
attorney and has served as an aide
to Carcieri.
“Winning races is my number
one priority,” Sweeney said. “It’s the
sole reason for running.”
One important advantage Swee-
ney has over McKay is his close as-
City & State 7
sociation with the Rhode Island
Young Republicans. He serves on
the group’s board, and “that potential
base is a strength for him,” Profughi
said.
Travis Rowley ’02, the Young Re-
publicans chair, endorsed the young
lawyer as the group’s preferred can-
didate in early December.
Sweeney’s recent accomplish-
ments with the Young Republicans
include helping elect Christopher
Ramsden to the Barrington School
Committee in early January.
Republicans now control the
board three to two, which Sweeney
said has not happened since 1972.
“We put our money where our
mouth is,” he said.
A ‘stealth movement’
Sweeney said he plans to ac-
complish Cicione’s 10-year goal of
gaining a Republican majority in the
General Assembly in just six years.
He wants to immediately double
the GOP’s representation in the state
legislature, which currently stands at
10 seats in the House and eight seats
in the Senate. Among Sweeney’s first
targets would be General Assembly
races the party lost by less than five
points and the 20 contests that did
not have a Republican challenger in
the last election, he said.
McKay, who did not respond to
requests for comment, expressed his
confidence that the Republican Party
could eventually gain a majority in
Rhode Island in a recent interview
on former Mayor Vincent “Buddy”
Cianci Jr.’s talk radio show.
“I think it can be changed or I
wouldn’t do it,” he said.
Though the candidates may
speak of grand plans to counter the
long-standing Democratic majority,
Profughi said the current number of
General Assembly seats held by the
Republican Party speaks for itself.
Republicans hold no statewide
elected offices. Democrats occupy
29 of 38 Senate seats and 65 of 75
seats in the House.
“If they have some kind of a
stealth movement going,” Profughi
said, “then those that are part of the
movement don’t know about it.”
One of the most important pri-
orities of the incoming chairman will
be to rebuild the credibility of the
party. Thus far, “it has not been seen
as a very viable alternative to the
Democratic majority,” Profughi said.
Still, if the Republican Party
works to “shore up its grassroots ef-
forts in various communities across
the state,” there are certainly “popu-
lations that could conceivably be
receptive to an alternative” he said.
In Cranston, Republicans gained
three council seats and retained the
mayor’s office in the November elec-
tions. Cranston and Warwick are
examples of communities the new
chairman might effectively target,
Profughi said.
Challenging Whitehouse
Potential Republican challengers
to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse in 2012
have already been considered. The
race is of critical importance to the
state GOP as it hopes to increase its
national prominance.
While both Sweeney and
Profughi agree that it is too early
to speculate credibly on the 2012
race, Carcieri, Cicione, Superinten-
dant of the Rhode Island State Police
Col. Brendan Doherty and Warwick
Mayor Scott Avedisian have been
suggested as potential candidates.
Cranston Mayor Allan Fung,
whose name also surfaced as a pos-
sible challenger, recently told WPRI
that he is not considering a run in
2012, citing the sheer expense of the
proposed campaign without the sup-
port of national Republicans.
“Unless the national Republican
Party plunks down $5 million, it’s
going to be a very expensive race,”
he said.
As of this month, Cicione said
he has made no plans to run for of-
fice. Carcieri, who recently finished
two terms as governor, has publicly
announced his intentions to spend
more time with his wife in Florida.
He has not discounted a 2012 Sen-
ate bid.
Profughi said Whitehouse has
taken a step in the right direction
by increasing his visibility. “He’s out
there, and he’s going to have a good
war chest,” Profughi said of the ju-
nior senator’s current fundraising
efforts. “He’s doing what he needs
to be doing.”
8 City & State
Med school reprograms for health care reform
By Kat Thornton
Senior Staff Writer
Provisions of federal health care re-
form have begun to take effect in
Rhode Island, and the University is
adjusting to the changes.
The Alpert Medical School is
changing the way it teaches future
doctors, encouraging students to
pursue primary care and focusing
its curriculum on patient interaction,
said Edward Wing, dean of medicine
and biological sciences.
Administrators have also im-
posed important changes to Univer-
sity-provided health care for students
and employees.
Learning to care
Because federal health care re-
form now requires all individuals
to carry health insurance, officials
expect demand for primary care
to increase. A resulting shortage of
primary care doctors could have a
detrimental effect on the system.
And because radiologists and sur-
Hearing examines public school curriculum Climate commission to
continued from page 12
parent-teacher conferences or at-
tend a conference requested by a
parent.
Zurier also noted that the city
may be out of compliance with
the minimum school day length
mandated by the state. In 2008,
the state required that all second-
ary school teachers have one to
two hours per week of planning
time. The current contract does
not allow the district to extend the
teacher work day. Instead, students
are now sent home early on Tues-
days and Wednesdays.
Despite the report’s discourag-
ing findings, the meeting also con-
tained a note of optimism. Com-
geons earn more than three times
as much as primary care physicians
on average, doctors have been dis-
incentivized to pursue primary care,
Wing said.
In response, the Med School
is attempting to combat this shift
away from primary care by offer-
ing programs that encourage patient
interaction. Thanks to a recent grant,
students in the school’s primary care
department can now spend one af-
ternoon per week in a doctor’s office,
Wing said. “For the first time now,
doctors are teaching the students,”
he said. In addition, the Med School
now requires students to practice
“doctoring” — interacting with pa-
tients in a doctors office setting — all
four years, said Jeffrey Borkan, pro-
fessor of family medicine and chair
of the family medicine department.
Borkan said the Med School, like
any educational institution, has to be
responsive to changes in society. A
common complaint is that medicine
is taught “in a vacuum,” devoid of
real-world experience, he said. The
mittee members recognized that
many Providence teachers went
above and beyond the require-
ments and mentioned two “ideal”
teacher contracts — in the New
Haven, Conn. and ABC United
districts in California —­ that could
serve as models for Providence.
Councilwoman Sabina Matos
­— who is not on the subcommittee
— attended the hearing because
her children are entering public
school.
“Right now, I believe (my son)
is going to get a better education at
a charter school in Pawtucket than
right here in his own neighbor-
hood,” she told The Herald. “What
happened here today is a piece of
the puzzle. We also need to look at
school will now place more emphasis
on learning bedside manner, work-
ing in teams and using electronic
health records, he said.
“Curricular reform is an ongo-
ing process,” he said. “All education
should respond to changes in so-
ciety.”
Though the University cannot
solve the salary gap between pri-
mary care doctors and higher pay-
ing medical professions, Wing said,
health care reform does authorize
a 10 percent increase in Medicare
funds paid to primary care doctors.
University care
In addition to seeking more fund-
ing for graduate medical education,
the University has lobbied for provi-
sions related to student health in-
surance plans, wrote Marisa Quinn,
vice president of public affairs and
University relations, in an e-mail to
The Herald. “We continue to moni-
tor the rules and regulations issued
related to student health insurance,”
Quinn wrote.
curriculum and administration.”
Zurier reminded the commit-
tee that the union has in the past
expressed the need to improve
teacher quality and eliminate the
seniority-based assignment sys-
tem.
“Maybe this will finally be the
year that these noble sentiments
will provide tangible changes,” he
said.
The next hearing will be March
2 at 4:30 p.m. at City Hall. Mat-
thew Clarkin, Providence’s in-
ternal auditor and former chief
financial officer of the school
department, will discuss how to
increase teacher salaries without
increasing the overall cost of the
contract.
The Brown Daily Herald
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Jeanne Hebert, director of the
insurance and risk office, said there
have already been a few important
changes to student health care in
response to the federal health care
legislation.
Provisions of the law that elimi-
nate limits on “essential benefits,” put
caps on prescription coverage and
the amount insurance companies
will pay for care during a patient’s
lifetime and stipulate denials of cov-
erage for pre-existing conditions and
patient co-pay for preventive care
will have the most impact on institu-
tions of higher education, she said.
Hebert said the University will
not have to change its policies sig-
nificantly because student health
insurance is already better than at
most universities.
Premiums for students will in-
crease initially but will stabilize in a
few years, she said.
The University also recently
changed the employee health care
coverage in response to federal re-
form.
hire organizational staffer
continued from page 12
addressing a number of topics, in-
cluding planting more trees in Provi-
dence and the development of plans
that would more successfully evalu-
ate the impact of natural disasters.
The commission has yet to settle on
a specific direction, Roberts said.
“It’s taken much longer than I
expected already,” he added. “We
have to come up with some way
to move this thing forward.” The
grant, awarded in December, pro-
vides enough funding for one year.
According to Roberts, the group
applied to several organizations for
outside funding, but no one else has
Drew Murphy, director of ben-
efits for the human resources depart-
ment, said the University extended
coverage for children of employees
up to age 26 and eliminated the re-
quirement that covered children be
students. The University now covers
an additional 100 children, he said.
Over-the-counter medication,
unless prescribed by a doctor, can
no longer be purchased with a tax-
exempt flexible spending account,
driving up costs for some employees,
Murphy said.
It is difficult to know how the
new health care mandates will af-
fect University hiring, Murphy said.
Because the law caps the amount an
employer can charge employees for
health insurance premiums, busi-
nesses may be incentivized to hire
wealthier employees.
“Employees need to become part
of the solution to keep health care
costs low,” he said, adding that he
wants to encourage frequent check-
ups for employees, as they cost far
less than emergency room visits.
“jumped” to fund them.
The grant will allow the com-
mission to hire a staffer who will,
among other things, “help people
know what they’re supposed to do
and gather the information that the
commission needs,” Roberts said.
“The students have done a lot of
research,” he added. “We’ve got a lot
we can give this commission.”
The Medical School was awarded
$87,631 for “promoting primary ca-
reers” in Rhode Island, an area in
which the Rhode Island Foundation
has chosen to enhance their funding.
Representatives from the Medical
School declined to provide further
details on the implications of the
award until publication of their own
press release.
The Brown Daily Herald
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Chafee to review bill for Police called to nightclub altercation
undocumented students
continued from page 12
documented students,” she added.
Stalled impetus for national
immigration reform has triggered
more state-level legislation. Ten
states currently have legislation
granting in-state tuition rates to
undocumented students.
The federal Development,
Relief and Education for Alien
Minors Act, which would have
granted a path to citizenship for
undocumented students who
came to the United States before
the age of 16, was defeated in De-
cember. Experts say larger immi-
gration reform remains unlikely.
“The DREAM Act was the only
hope for these students,” said Pi-
chardo, who added that he has
introduced a bill to grant in-state
tuition to undocumented students
for the past nine years.
Both he and Diaz were born
in the Dominican Republic and
have advocated for immigrant
rights. “We must not let up on
our struggle,” Pichardo said.
Advocates are optimistic that
City & State 9
continued from page 1
One of the bouncers then seized
Smallwood said he was “basically
screaming to let me go.” The bouncer
threw Smallwood out of the club,
grip on his neck.
Lisiewski said after Smallwood
and Quinn were taken away, he
Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 will Smallwood in a headlock, Lisiewski and he walked directly back to his asked the bouncers why they had
be more supportive than former said. suite on Vartan Gregorian Quad, thrown out his friends. He said the
Gov. Donald Carcieri ’65, whose “I was told I was dancing too he said. bouncers told him that Smallwood
2008 executive order to combat femininely,” Smallwood said. He said Lisiewski said the second bounc- and Quinn had been “giving them
illegal immigration was heavily the bouncer dragged him through er “took (Quinn) to the ground” be- the finger and mouthing off.” But
criticized by immigrant rights the room and down the stairs to the fore dragging him down the stairs. “neither of them were doing that at
groups. Chafee, who has stated first floor. In response, Quinn said he Quinn said he told the bouncer, all,” Lisiewski said. “They were just
that he is in favor of the DREAM asked the bouncer to “please let go of “I can’t breathe,” as he began to lose dancing.”
Act, repealed the executive order my friend.” According to Quinn and vision, at which point a bouncer
last month. Lisiewski, a second bouncer then said, “Put him to sleep.” Quinn has — With additional reporting by
Chafee approves of the “un- also grabbed Quinn by the neck. visible bruises from the bouncer’s Herald staff
derlying concepts” of the Student
Equal Economic Opportunity Act
legislation, said Michael Trainor,
director of communications for
comics
the governor. But Chafee wants BB & Z | Cole Pruitt, Andrew Seiden, Valerie Hsiung and Dan Ricker
to review the bill’s specifics before
making a statement, he said.
A public hearing to discuss
the bill should occur within six
to eight weeks, according to Diaz.
In the meantime, undocu-
mented Albizures divides his
time between working as a soc-
cer coach, mentoring urban youth
and advocating for undocumented
students.
“I’m very hopeful,” he said. “I’m
going to keep fighting to get my Cloud Buddies| David Emanuel
education.”
Dr. Bear | Mat Becker
Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline
10 Editorial The Brown Daily Herald
Thursday, February 24, 2011

Editorial Editorial comic b y a l e x y u ly

End prohibition
The coming weeks could bring big changes to Rhode Island’s mari-
juana policy. Not only are state Sen. Joshua Miller, D-Cranston, and Rep.
John Edwards, D-Tiverton and Portsmouth, pushing to decriminalize
possession of up to one ounce of pot, but the state Department of Health
will soon select up to three applicants to open medical marijuana
dispensaries. This announcement will begin the state’s transition to a
medical marijuana system more like California’s.
We supported decriminalization efforts last spring, and we encourage
lawmakers to pass Miller’s and Edwards’ bills. As we wrote last year,
decriminalization will reduce expenditures on enforcement — Edwards
estimates $1 to $4 million in savings, while Harvard economist Jeffrey
Miron predicts savings could exceed $10 million — and also allow the
criminal justice system to spend more time dealing with greater threats
to public safety than someone lighting up a joint.
We agree with Edwards that another important reason for decrimi-
nalization is the adverse impact criminal penalties can have on youth.
It cannot be argued that experimentation with drugs precludes success
later in life — see our current president — but a criminal record can
significantly hamper a young person’s aspirations. We must stop sad-
dling people with impediments to success for possessing a drug that
many agree is less harmful than tobacco and alcohol.
The state will also benefit from replacing the current medical
marijuana structure with one utilizing dispensaries. Currently, those
granted the right to use medical marijuana can grow it themselves or
buy from a licensed “caregiver.” But it can be difficult for patients to
find reliable caregivers, some of whom use a medicinal front to grow
more plants for illegal sale. And even legal operations make prime
targets for robbery, putting citizens at risk.
If a bill introduced by Rep. John Carnevale, D-Providence and
Johnston, passes, only dispensaries will distribute medicinal marijuana
by 2013. Replacing over 2,000 caregivers with a handful of dispensa-
ries will make it easier for the state to prevent crime and abuse and
ensure standards of service. But we are concerned with a portion of
Carnevale’s bill that would put state police instead of the Department
of Health in charge of “inspections and records reviews.” Patients who
are entitled to medicinal marijuana under state law should not have
to encounter police at a dispensary — particularly since marijuana
possession would remain a federal felony — just as we do not run
into cops at a pharmacy.
It is disappointing that few public officials are suggesting that the
state go further and legalize marijuana. Legalization is more radi-
cal than decriminalization, but given Miron’s estimate that the state
could save upwards of $40 million by doing so, we believe the option
should at least receive more serious debate. Miller told the editorial
page board that legalization is neither politically realistic nor viable
given federal law prohibiting marijuana. But opponents of legalization
and federal officials will not be persuaded to reconsider without any
proposals on the table.
Nevertheless, decriminalization and dispensaries would constitute
important progress. Besides the practical benefits these measures
promise, they could help reduce the stigma surrounding marijuana
that stifles open debate on more ambitious ideas like legalization. We
allow adults to responsibly use tobacco and alcohol. Marijuana, which
is no more dangerous, should be treated similarly.

Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. Send comments
to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

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The Brown Daily Herald
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Ethan Tobias
Opinions Columnist
Funding a Brown education is already hard,
and it isn’t getting any easier. The Corpo-
ration just accepted a 3.5 percent increase
in tuition for the next academic year, rais-
ing total undergraduate tuition and fees to
a voluminous $53,136. And that’s only for
next year. Given the Corporation’s past in-
creases in tuition, it is sure to continue go-
ing up. How high it will go is impossible to
know, as the University reserves the right
to increase tuition on current students and
even students on study abroad programs.
The expense created by continually rais-
ing tuition is not insignificant. It especially
hurts students whose current finances are
sound but whose financial outlook is un-
certain. Given the economic turmoil of
the past three years and the impending
fights over budgets around this country in
the next few months, this is precisely the
wrong time to increase the burden on stu-
dents.
President Obama froze the salaries of
government employees for the next two
years, which means that while the tuition
of the children of government employees
will increase, their salaries will not. And
with the looming showdown over the fed-
eral budget deficit and the threat of a gov-
ernment shutdown, families that rely on
government subsidies — Social Security,
Energy, ingenuity and arch supports
By Stephen Wicken
Opinions Columnist
You, dear readers, are a tough lot to keep
up with.
Perhaps I ought to clarify. After an ab-
surdly long time as university students,
my Graduate School classmates and I are
starting to have to think seriously about
re-entering the outside world. Once upon
a time, it would have been likely that we’d
all be jumping to grasp the bottom rung of
the academic ladder. Once upon a more-
distant time, we might even have hoped to
get hold of it.
Today, however, the academic job mar-
ket in the humanities is much like Iwo
Jima, Will Ferrell’s post-Saturday Night
Live career or Thayer Street late on a Fri-
day night — a cruel and desolate waste-
land littered with the corpses of hopes and
dreams. Each year, thousands of qualified
candidates emerge blinking from a decade
of misery and malnutrition to find that
there are, on average, three full-time jobs
for which they can apply.
Those earnest souls who genuinely can-
not countenance a career outside high-
er education bolster their curricula vi-
tae with teaching experience by adjunct-
ing at each of the six closest colleges for
a pittance per class. I dimly remember
friends having hit the tenure-track jackpot
— or tenure-trackpot, if you will (which
you shouldn’t) — straight out of graduate
school, but they have immediately disap-
Time to tame tuition
unemployment, federal grants — or gov-
ernment salaries, could suddenly be out of
luck.
The children of state employees, includ-
ing the sons and daughters of millions of
teachers, are in equally dire straits. Gover-
nors around the country are threatening
not only to slash budgets and lay off teach-
ers, but limit collective bargaining, which
means weakening the ability of teachers
to negotiate future higher wages for them-
selves. This is a crisis and it will mean more
Fortunately for all those hardworking middle-class
families that had been saving every nickel to fund an
elite education, there is a much better investment —
take an elaborate and expensive vacation and maybe
buy a car while you’re at it.
middle-class families will struggle to make
ends meet for years to come.
Everyone at Brown surely knows some-
one who will undoubtedly be affected by
the onslaught of cuts. While it is too soon
to know who will get laid off, whose sal-
aries will be frozen or reduced and who
might survive unscathed, one thing is for
certain for these families — tuition goes up
while income stagnates at best.
And the pain of tuition hikes is not
limited to current students. A recently ac-
cepted early decision applicant is already
locked in for the coming academic year,
despite the fact that he pledged to Brown
peared under a cloud, leaving my Gmail
contacts, like rational people in Arizona,
a little fewer and further between with the
passing years.
One of the few comforting aspects of
the academic job track is that there is an
established set of criteria by which one is
judged, much as in law or medicine. Pub-
lications and conference papers, teaching
experience, a good dissertation — these
are the basics from which everyone works.
Outside of such regimented professions,
however, is a whole world of projects and
experiences. After a decade spent in aca-
I suspect that one or two of you enjoy the occasional
malt beverage, but honestly I can’t see where you find
the time.
demic blinders, like a particularly bum-
bling horse, I must confess that it is here
that you lot have me worried.
Despite having been a university stu-
dent since the turn of the millennium, I
prefer to think that I haven’t been com-
pletely wasting my time. In addition to
picking up degrees, I’ve worked as a teach-
ing assistant, written for and edited news-
papers, organized conferences and edited
book manuscripts. I’ve won fellowships,
Opinions 11
when he thought the tuition was only an
outstanding $51,339. If tuition were to
keep rising at the same rate, by senior year
that imaginary student could be paying al-
most $59,000.
A future Brown student might have
some money saved up in bonds, certifi-
cates of deposits or in stocks. At today’s
dismal rates — Bank of America features
one year certificates of deposit accruing
0.60 percent annual interest — a student
whose family has been saving for college
since birth will find that tuitions are steadi-
ly becoming less affordable.
Even the stock market is not such a
good bet. Despite months of growth, the
Dow Jones Industrial Average is only back
to where it was in January of 2007. That
means that the average rate of return on
stocks for the past four years has been nil.
Meanwhile, Brown tuition in 2007 was
$43,754, almost $10,000 less than it will be
next year.
Fortunately for all those hardworking
middle-class families that have been sav-
ing every nickel to fund an elite education,
there is a much better investment — take
held positions in student associations and
conducted research in multiple countries.
A friend and I once hitch-hiked from Eng-
land to Morocco wearing blond mullet
wigs, and despite a night spent in a bus
stop outside a French, ahem, gentlemen’s
club, we arrived physically unharmed —
a crowning achievement, I’m sure you’ll
agree.
But next to you, dear, intimidating
readers, I feel like something of a waste
of space. By the time you graduate, most
of you have worked for members of Con-
gress, hosted radio shows or studied in
Tajikistan. At an age when my immediate
ambition was to captain the college crick-
et team, you start nonprofit organizations,
write books and intern on Wall Street.
You wrap your minds around languages,
philosophies and computer codes while
throwing yourselves into political parties
and protests. I suspect that one or two of
you enjoy the occasional malt beverage,
but honestly I can’t see where you find the
time.
an elaborate and expensive vacation and
maybe buy a car while you’re at it. Flush
away any hint of having money in the bank
and Brown will be forced to subsidize your
tuition bill with financial aid. A family
that makes under $100,000 a year will not
have any loan component of a financial aid
package, and can expect to get a big dis-
count of over half the cost of tuition.
It is this dichotomy of rising tuitions
compounded by rising financial aid pack-
ages to offset the increased tuition that is
eating away at the old middle-class stand-
bys of college trust funds and savings ac-
counts. It no longer makes sense to save for
college when you’re a family making un-
der $100,000 a year because any extra as-
sets will be accounted for in the formula of
financial aid.
The University must face the fact that it
is raising tuitions on families precisely at a
time when their economic futures are least
certain. It is increasing a major expense
while salaries are barely budging. And it is
putting in place a perverse set of incentives
that could discourage families from saving
for college. A Brown education is becom-
ing increasingly inaccessible to a middle
class that does not qualify for substantial
financial aid, and yet does not really have
the money to afford Brown’s exorbitant tu-
ition.
Ethan Tobias ’12 wonders what hap-
pened to all the savings from last year’s
budget cuts and layoffs. He can be
reached at Ethan_Tobias@brown.edu
The prevailing stereotype of the uni-
versity student in my native Britain is that
of a feckless layabout in a dressing gown,
watching daytime television and eating
breakfast cereal between sessions of exces-
sive drinking. In France, the caricature is
of a perpetually smoking, black-clad waif,
cycling jauntily between cafes and revolu-
tions with a scarf flapping poetically in the
breeze. Such typecasting inevitably is slop-
py: Let me expose immediately one glar-
ing inaccuracy when I say that my class-
mates and I ate more toast than cereal.
The popular picture of the Brown stu-
dent — a Converse-shod, skateboard-tot-
ing, interpretive-dancing hippie — might
have a kernel of truth to it. It is your privi-
lege, as young, healthy beings, not to need
the arch support so lacking in trendy foot-
wear, however much you may live to re-
gret it. Even so, your energy and ingenu-
ity sometimes genuinely shock me, some-
thing I didn’t think was possible once I
became accustomed to my dog eating his
own waste. I realize that as a group you’re
not in desperate need of a boost of collec-
tive self-confidence, but I find the prospect
of bumping into you out there in the des-
perate hunt for jobs genuinely frightening.
One piece of advice, however: Get
yourselves some orthotics. You’ll thank
me in 10 years.
Stephen Wicken GS, a fifth-year doctoral
candidate in the Department of History,
has only been likened to “a particularly
bumbling horse” three times prior to
this column. He can be reached at
stephen_wicken@brown.edu.
Daily Herald City & State
the Brown
I ’ v e g ot s o u l ( f o o d )
Students sampled the peach cobbler, collard greens and musical stylings of
Lil’ Wayne at last night’s Soul Night at the Ratty, part of Black Heritage Month.
Hearings address Prov. teacher contracts Bill aims to grant in-state
By Katherine Long
Staff Writer
At a Providence City Council hear-
ing Tuesday night, Amit Jain ’12
presented chart after chart rank-
ing Providence among the worst
school districts in Rhode Island.
He aimed to provide ideas to im-
prove the Providence Teachers
Union contract, which will expire
in August.
The contract hearings are un-
precedented — the city council
does not normally involve itself
in contract negotiations with the
union. Councilman and former
Providence School Board member
Sam Zurier, who organized the
hearings, said they are intended
to “get out of the comfort zone of
incremental change.”
Tuesday’s hearing was the
second of a series of four held
by the subcommittee on finance
and education. It fell on the same
day all Providence teachers were
issued dismissal notices alerting
them that their jobs could be in
jeopardy.
When approached by a Provi-
dence teacher at the hearing,
Zurier said he was not aware of
the notices. But he said the move
likely gives the school district
maximum flexibility in laying off
teachers. The school board will
hold a meeting today for teachers
to voice their concerns.
The subcommittee’s first meet-
ing was Feb. 17. Providence Teach-
ers Union President Steven Smith,
Superintendent Tom Brady and
School Board President Kathleen
Crain were invited to answer
questions about the strengths and
weaknesses of the current contract
and to reflect on what they wanted
to see in the new contract. Smith
was the only one of the three to
Talia Kagan / Herald
attend the Feb. 17 hearing — Brady
and Crain were in Denver for a
conference on labor management.
Smith, who did not attend
Tuesday’s hearing, has expressed
concern that asking negotiating
parties to come up with a “wish
list” for the new contract would
lead to adversarial talks in which
opposing sides are more con-
cerned with their demands than
with student performance. The
Providence Teachers Union and
school board have been noted for
their unusually collaborative sys-
tem of collective bargaining, ac-
cording to the Providence Journal.
At the start of the hearing,
Zurier emphasized cooperation in
finding solutions for Providence’s
ailing school system. No negotia-
tions will take place in public, he
said.
“The council is trying to bar-
gain so that more people are satis-
fied,” Zurier told The Herald. He
pointed to the ineffectiveness of
last year’s state mandate that all
teacher assignments be issued
without regard for seniority as an
example of the importance of bar-
gaining. The Providence Teachers
Union sued the city for enforcing
the mandate, which they argued
violated their contract.
The terms of the contract di-
rectly affect the quality of educa-
tion in Providence. The current
contract stipulates a system giving
senior teachers an advantage in
hiring and firing, the process for
evaluating teacher performance
and the practice of bumping.
If one teaching position be-
comes available, teachers across
the district are shuffled — or
bumped — to ensure that the
most senior teachers hold the
prime jobs, Zurier told The Her-
ald. Bumping can lead to a cascade
R.I. Foundation awards three grants to U.
By amy rasmussen
Senior Staff Writer
The Rhode Island Foundation re-
cently awarded the University three
strategy grants, ranging from $25,000
to $87,631. The grants will be allocat-
ed to the Department of Education,
the Center for Environmental Studies
and the Alpert Medical School.
The foundation has invested
more than $245 million in Rhode
Island organizations over the past
10 years and awarded an unprec-
edented $29.2 million in 2010, ac-
cording to its website. Its grants
provide funding for Rhode Island
organizations dedicated to arts and
culture, economic and community
development, education, health,
environment and human services.
One award, worth $40,000, will
provide funds for the education de-
partment to hire research assistants
to aid in a study of Rhode Island
charter schools, said Kenneth Wong,
professor of education and chair of
the department.
Deborah Gist, commissioner of
elementary and secondary educa-
tion, approached Wong in 2009 with
a request for a comprehensive study
of the charter school system in the
of layoffs.
“If you choose to remove a
French teacher at Mt. Pleasant,
teaching assignments all the way
down to the elementary school
level can be disrupted,” he said.
“This means serious discontinui-
ties in students’ educations.”
Evaluating and retraining
teachers is tied to teacher assign-
ment.
“How can we take poor teach-
ers out of the system if there’s a
seniority-based system?” Zurier
said. “Who gets laid off?”
The city also faced a $57 million
deficit last year, and the school dis-
trict is confronting a $40 million
shortfall for the coming academic
year. This does not necessarily
mean teachers will lose the mod-
est salary increases they gained
in the last contract negotiated in
2007, Zurier said.
“We’re going to study how to
increase teacher salaries by cut-
ting costs on other things in the
contract,” Zurier said. In return,
the city could seek higher con-
tributions to health and pension
plans from teachers, Zurier said.
Part of that process began
Tuesday night. Jain, an intern for
Zurier, examined teacher contracts
in 36 school districts across Rhode
Island, including Providence, and
compared their provisions.
The Providence Public School
Department placed in the bottom
third in all categories of the as-
sessment. At 181 days, the district
has the shortest work year in the
state. Teacher salaries rank 27 out
of 32, according to Jain’s analysis.
Providence teachers are required
to show up five minutes before
class and leave five minutes after,
and have no requirement to give
continued on page 8
Thursday, February 24, 2011
state, he said. Since that meeting,
his team has been working to de-
sign a study that is “relevant to the
current debate going on in the state
right now.”
The charter school system is
currently a point of contention in
Rhode Island political and educa-
tional circles. In recent years, Gist
has pressed for rapid expansion of
the system, but Gov. Lincoln Chafee
’75 P’14 has announced his inten-
tions to take a “thoughtful pause”
to better assess the advantages and
disadvantages of the system. Wong
said he hopes his study will provide
some of the data necessary to make
a more careful judgment on charter
schools.
The department’s study is a
collaboration between the Rhode
Island League of Charter Schools,
the Rhode Island Department of
Education and Brown researchers.
Wong’s team has been working with
the league of charter schools to stan-
dardize its lottery admissions pro-
cess, which will take place March 1.
Starting next month, the study
will follow the New England Com-
mon Assessment Program scores
of all students who apply to Rhode
Island charter schools — whether
tuition to illegal students
By Alexandra ulmer
Staff Writer
Antonio Albizures and his family
left Guatemala in 1992, illegally
crossing the Mexican-American
border by foot and ultimately set-
tling in Rhode Island. He graduat-
ed a member of Blackstone Acad-
emy Charter School’s class of 2009
and nursed the desire to pursue
political science and sociology at
the University of Rhode Island. But
as an undocumented student, he
would have been charged $25,720
in annual tuition — roughly three
times the rate for state residents.
“It was basically impossible for
me to go there,” said Albizures,
though he said he could afford in-
state tuition. “I didn’t even apply…
And this is the state I call home.”
Albizures is a member of the
Brown Immigrants’ Rights Co-
alition. Along with hundreds of
other undocumented students in
Rhode Island, he is keenly moni-
toring the progress of a bill in-
troduced this month that aims to
grant in-state tuition regardless of
immigration status.
If the Student Equal Economic
Opportunity Act passes, undocu-
mented immigrants who attended
a Rhode Island high school for at
least three years and can prove
they are in the process of chang-
ing or planning to change their
immigration status will be eligible
for in-state tuition.
“Many of them are brilliant,
but when they don’t see an op-
portunity, they get discouraged,”
said State Rep. Grace Diaz, D-
Providence, who introduced the
bill with State Sen. Juan Pichardo,
D-Providence. “Instead of sitting
they matriculate or not — for the
fall of 2011, Wong said.
Test performance data will be
available by the end of the calen-
dar year, and Wong said he hopes
to share the findings with Gist and
the charter schools by Feb. 1, 2012.
Wong praised the foundation for
“addressing some of the challenging
issues” across the state. “Education
is a priority for the foundation,” he
said. “They were delighted to sup-
port the project.”
The foundation also awarded
$25,000 for the Rhode Island Cli-
mate Change Commission, which
will work closely with the Brown
Center for Environmental Studies.
The commission was established last
fall to address the effects of climate
change in response to legislation ini-
tiated by graduate students in the
Center for Environmental Studies,
which was passed last June.
The center applied for the grant
after realizing “there was no money
in the state budget,” said J. Timmons
Roberts, director of the center and
professor of sociology and environ-
mental studies.
The commission has proposed
continued on page 8
down and waiting for immigra-
tion reform, we’re moving ahead,”
she added. “Education is always
something good.”
According to Rhode Island
Kids Count, a children’s advo-
cacy group, 130 undocumented
students stand to benefit annually
if the bill is passed.
Taxpayers would not shoulder
any financial burden, as undocu-
mented students would pay their
own tuition and remain ineligible
for federal aid, Diaz said. The state
would actually benefit financially,
she added, as college graduates
tend to contribute higher taxes
while needing fewer social ser-
vices.
But critics charge such leg-
islature could attract more un-
documented immigrants, weaken
state revenue and unjustly favor
foreigners.
“It’s really sending a message to
the illegal community that Rhode
Island is the state to be in,” said
State Rep. Peter Palumbo, D-
Cranston, who opposes the bill.
“It shows we’re getting very soft
on enforcement of illegal aliens.”
Palumbo was adamant that the
bill would not succeed, while Diaz
and Pichardo said they were opti-
mistic it would.
“It’s definitely a bill that de-
serves to pass. I’m hoping there
will be traction,” said Alexandra
Filindra, a postdoctoral research
associate in public policy who is
an adviser to the Brown Immi-
grants’ Rights Coalition.
“It makes good economic, po-
litical and social sense for states
to support the education of un-
continued on page 9