T H U R S D A Y SEPTEMBER 4, 2003
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVIII, No. 64
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
www.browndailyherald.com
Network at full capacity after outage BY JONATHAN ELLIS
After viruses, firewall glitches and a student’s incorrectly configured equipment caused campus Internet outages over the past two weeks, the University’s computing network has returned to normal operations, said Alan Usas, executive director of academic and network systems and services for Computing and Information Services. In the latest network mishap, a student who tried to set up a wireless access point but incorrectly configured it inadvertently cut off several residents of Goddard House from the Internet, Usas said. CIS worked with the student to correct the problem, he said. Personal routers or wireless access points, which allow more than one computer to benefit from a single ethernet jack, can often cause network problems. “Ideally, we’d prefer no (wireless access points) installed in the dorms,” Usas said. “We have to visit the policy on that,” he added. Meanwhile, Brown’s own wireless network has not grown from its initial rollout last spring, and expansion has been delayed by other projects, said Ellen Waite-Franzen, vice president for CIS. Prior to Commencement in May, 160 different users logged on to the wireless service, said Richard Boes, director of network technology. Usas said he understood students might wish to use a router in their rooms, such as to connect video game consoles to the Internet. But he urged students to call the Help Desk first to assess their plans. “We may have to ask you to disconnect it,” he said. Network problems caused by students’ personal equipment occur about four times a year, Boes said. That trend will continue as routers and wireless access points become more see CIS, page 5
File photo
The Thayer Street Improvement District plans to revitalize the commercial street with better security, lighting and sanitation.
Thayer St. set to improve BY MONIQUE MENESES
Next time you walk down Thayer, make sure to take a second look. The Thayer Street Improvement District, a project headed by members of the Brown community, business owners and members of the Providence community, has kicked off plans to revitalize Thayer Street. Some changes since May 2003 include additional security, additional lighting and improved sanitation. Deborah Dinerman, Brown’s community and government relations liaison, said the TSID project began in 2000, in response to growing problems with sanitation, safety and the overall condition of the street. Mike Shore, the owner of the spaces occupied by student-frequented Thayer
UCS President Kurji ’05 reflects on past and projects a bright future BY JONATHAN HERMAN
Rahim Kurji ’05, president of the Undergraduate Council of Students, began UCS’s first meeting of the academic year by commenting on the Council’s inefficient past and potentially bright future to an audience of mainly firstyears. The Council discussed limiting the length of its meetings, but came to no conclusion after input from over a dozen UCS members. A decision was postponed until the next executive session. Elections for first-year representatives to UCS will be held Sept. 15 and Sept. 16 online. Candidates must attend an informational session on Monday or Tuesday, collect 50 signatures from fellow firstyears and complete a mission statement
by Sept. 12. The Associate Chair of the Undergraduate Finance Board will be elected at the Sept. 10 UCS meeting because the elected associate chair recently resigned. “It was encouraging to hear that a lot of the issues that people brought up were areas we were working on,” said Interim Vice President for Student Life David Greene. “It was good to see all the people here, particularly the first-years.” Kurji echoed Greene’s sentiment. First-years have “been here for a week and you guys have already realized the problems we have been dealing with for years,” he said.
hangouts like Johnny Rockets and Kabobn-Curry, compared the area five years ago to Thayer Street today. “People didn’t come to Thayer Street at night or if they were alone because they were afraid back then,” Shore said. “Parents and students visiting Brown were often disillusioned by the drug dealers and punks who surrounded Brown’s campus. Today, however, the streets are much cleaner and I believe both students and parents feel safer on campus.” Shore’s business partner, Mark Leventhal, said Thayer is an indelible part of Brown’s image. “There is a symbiotic relationship between Brown, its students and Thayer Street,” he said. “Students come to Brown because of what is around Brown — what it has to offer both socially and environmentally.” The TSID project is targeting the area that spans from Bowen to Waterman streets. The most observable changes, Dinerman said, include improvements to the streets’ security and sanitation. Both Shore and Leventhal agree the changes have been good for the Brown community and have benefited their businesses as a result. “People are noticing that Thayer Street is definitely much cleaner now,” Shore said. “At Johnny Rockets, for example, many more families are coming. More students from surrounding high schools and middle schools are coming after school to grab a Coke. Parents are allowing them to come because the element of fear is not there anymore.” Although the administration and business owners seem to be seeing and feeling the effects of the changes, many returning students told The Herald they did not
Lack of funding may result in lost stipends at Teach for America BY JULIAN LEICHTY
The non-profit organization Teach for America, one of the largest employers of recent Brown grads, recently lost a portion of its AmeriCorps funding, potentially putting teacher stipends in jeopardy. The budget gap has left Teach for America unsure of how it will fund stipends for the program’s nearly 2,000 teachers. But the organization has promised to provide the funds to this year’s group, which includes eight members of the class of 2003. Each Teach for America recruit currently receives $4,725 every year for their own education. Teach for America received about 5 percent of its funding from AmeriCorps last year, according to Christina An, Northeast recruitment director for Teach for America. “We were definitely given verbal commitments, and then this happened — it was definitely a shock,” An said of the July 11 notification sent by the Corporation for National and Community Service, which funds AmeriCorps programs. The form letter said its grant “was not selected for funding.” Teach for America is committed to providing all current recruits with their educational awards this year, An said. The lost funding has been “replaced by public and private
see UCS, page 5
see TFA, page 4 see THAYER, page 5
I N S I D E T H U R S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 0 3 New booklet documents the state of Rhode Island’s history with the slave trade page 3
Two Brown students spend the summer in South Africa interning with the Bafokeng King page 3
Cecilia Kiely ’04 tells us why students think Geo 5 is a humanities class column, page 11
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Republicans are using legal but lethal methods to take over, says Youngsmith ’04 column, page 11
A look at the sailing team’s successes and a preview of the NFL’s first week sports, page 12
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