W E D N E S D A Y OCTOBER 22, 2003
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVIII, No. 97
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
www.browndailyherald.com
Horowitz to speak at U. twoand-a-half years after controversy BY JULIETTE WALLACK
It’s been two-and-a-half years since the national media descended on Brown’s campus over the controversy sparked by an advertisement in The Herald denouncing reparations for slavery. Now, David Horowitz, who solicited the ad, is bringing his provocative politics to the campus his views tore apart. The College Republicans are bringing Horowitz to campus for a lecture tonight and hoping things don’t get ugly. “I would hope that the average Brown student is intelligent enough to understand the counterproductive and hypocritical nature of an actual disturbance,” said Joe Lisska ’04, president of the College Republicans. Lisska said he’s hoping, “perhaps naively,” that the lecture will proceed without interruption. “It’s my secret and possibly naïve hope that he’s going to come to campus, and, when his lecture’s done, students are going to ask him some very, very tough questions and put him on the spot,” Lisska said. Horowitz’s ad, which appeared in over 20 college newspapers across the country, was titled “Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Slavery Is a Bad Idea — and Racist Too.” It appeared in The Herald on March 13, 2001. The ad incited two debates — one centering on whether the content of the ad was racist and another over whether The Herald should have printed the ad in the first place. Tempers reached a boiling point when members of the newly formed Coalition of Concerned Brown Students stole the entire press run of the March 16, 2001 issue of The Herald. The Coalition’s actions attracted the attention of national media outlets, and debate quickly centered on issues of free see HOROWITZ, page 7
Michael Flaxman / Herald
Mayor David Cicilline ’83 presented the city’s plan for the 2004 fiscal year to residents of Fox Point and the Fox Point Citizens Association on Tuesday night.
METRO SPECIAL
A year’s progress: Simmons addresses staff at forum BY MONIQUE MENESES
President Ruth Simmons and a panel spoke to over 400 staff members in Sayles Wednesday afternoon, discussing different aspects of staff involvement in the Initiatives for Academic Enrichment. Speakers at the forum included Simmons, Provost Robert Zimmer and Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Elizabeth Huidekoper. The discussion focused on recent improvements in staff communication and increased staff involvement in University decision-making. Panel members also answered questions about benefits and transportation problems. Staff members were given two documents upon their arrival at the meeting. The first noted goals of the Academic Enrichment proposals met in the past
year, and the second listed representative committees and boards comprised of faculty, staff and students. Overall, the University has had a “very successful year,” Huidekoper said. The creation of a Human Resources Advisory Board, composed of faculty and staff, for instance, has led to increased feedback on human resources policies and improved the quality of oral, electronic and print communication. But more work still needs to be done in this area, Huidekoper said. When the Academic Enrichment initiatives were first proposed to the Corporation in February 2002, they contained a collision between “internal” and “external” forces, Zimmer said. While internal forces drove the see SIMMONS, page 4
Faculty guides grad students through research process BY ZACH BARTER
Liz Maclennan / Herald
Julia Finkelstein GS, a first-year student in the master of public health degree program, said the small size of Brown’s graduate programs allows her to work closely with her advisor.
Learning material is one task for graduate students, and teaching it is another. But creating it — through research, analysis and presentation — is a different experience altogether. Grad students and their advisors say the process is not without its frustrations. “Writing a dissertation requires solving the unsolved problems and making a real contribuGRADUATE tion to the field,” said Professor of Economics SCHOOL David Weil, who serves as the department’s at 100 director of graduate studies and a research advisor. “That’s a difficult business.” Though requirements vary by department, conducting research is a common fixture of graduate programs at Brown. Faculty advisors within their departments help students navigate the process. Grad students run into problems at all stages of the research process, Weil said. The most common concern grad
Mayor talks taxes with Fox Point residents BY JONATHAN ELLIS AND SAMUEL CULVER
Fox Point residents angry about a possible property tax increase confronted Mayor David Cicilline ’83 at a meeting of the Fox Point Citizens Association on Tuesday. Many said they thought the purpose of the meeting was originally to protest a potential tax hike. But Cicilline attempted to assuage his audience by promising to find alternative ways to address the city’s $58.9 million deficit while keeping property taxes level. “We need to move away from the regressive property tax scheme and find another way to generate revenue. We can’t rely on the property tax anymore,” he said. Most of the revenue for the city of Providence comes from property taxes and state aid, he said. The reduction of state aid in 2004 will place pressure on the city to generate more revenue. Cicilline presented the city’s plan for the 2004 fiscal year. This includes $3.8 million in contributions from area colleges and universities. Cicilline told The Herald in an interview he was pleased with the agreement between Providence and the area’s colleges and universities to collect $40 million over the next 20 years in lieu of taxes. “You never get everything you want,” he said. “But I’m satisfied we reached the right solution, one that allows us to continue our strategic relationship.” The city will also look to find additional revenue with the increased cost of liquor licenses and closely enforced parking permits. “We are looking for ways to diversify and bring in more money to close the gap in this deficit,” Cicilline said. While Cicilline is trying to cut costs for the city, about $18.8 million of the expenditures come from old contracts the city is obligated to pay.
see GRAD, page 8 see TAXES, page 7
I N S I D E W E D N E S D AY, O C T O B E R 2 2 , 2 0 0 3 Forwarded Harvard email treated like spam by providers for alums other e-mail campus watch, page 3
Stanton, author of Cianci’s biography, tells quirky tales from the mayor’s tenure page 5
Nuclear weapons expert says U.S. is unbalanced in combatting threats page 5
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T With Horowitz visit, Michael LittenbergBrown ’04 suggests how to handle debate column, page 11
Despite hard play throughout game, field hockey loses 2-0 to No. 10 Princeton sports, page 12
showers high 52 low 34