Wednesday, October 29, 2003

Page 1

W E D N E S D A Y OCTOBER 29, 2003

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVIII, No. 102

An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891

www.browndailyherald.com

ResCouncil advocates more coed housing BY MONIQUE MENESES

Next semester’s housing lottery will offer an unprecedented number of coed suite options if the Office of Residential Life approves a proposal passed at ResCouncil’s Tuesday meeting. The five-page coed suite proposal recommends that “all suites in Minden, Barbour, Young Orchard, and the Graduate Center be designated optionally coed in the upcoming lottery.” The only suites currently available to coed groups are those in Vartan Gregorian Quad and Morris-Champlin, as well as a limited number on Wriston Quad. ResCouncil will “almost certainly” send the proposal to Dean for Campus Life Margaret Jablonski and ResLife today, said Jesse Goodman ’04, ResCouncil chair. “In my opinion, this recommendation will result in some level of expansion that will affect the lottery for next year,” Goodman said. Jablonski told The Herald she is in favor of offering a “reasonable amount” of coed suites and is open to recommendations from ResCouncil about the extent of these offerings. But, Jablonski added, she will not make a final decision about this year’s coed options until the Residential Life Committee, co-chaired by Goodman and Assistant Dean of Student Life Salvador Mena, submits a report on the result of last year’s lottery. The Committee will complete its report within the coming weeks, Jablonski said. ResCouncil’s proposal in favor of more coed suites cites council surveys that show more students would choose coed

Sara Perkins / Herald

When editor of the Daily News, Zimbabwean Geoff Nyarota was arrested on six occasions between 2000 and 2002. He received two death threats, his office was bombed and the paper's printing press was destroyed. Nyarota captivated a packed house in Wilson 102 on Tuesday night.

University faces labor charges BY MICHAEL RUDERMAN

The Laborers’ New England Region Organizing Fund has charged the University with condoning unfair labor practices stemming from an incident at the construction site for the new Facilities Management offices on Lloyd Avenue. According to a letter sent to President Ruth Simmons by Regional Organizing Director Nick Manocchio, the University hired contractors who, over the summer,

see RESCOUNCIL, page 7

CCC votes to keep GPA off transcripts BY ELLEN WERNECKE

Would you pay to keep your GPA a secret? The College Curriculum Council voted unanimously Tuesday not to recommend that grade point averages be added to official or internal transcripts in implementation of the new computerized registration and transcript system, despite an estimated $100,000 price tag. Dean of the College and CCC Chair Paul Armstrong said Vice President for Computing and Information Services Ellen Waite-Franzen quoted him the estimated price, which would include not only removal of GPA computation, but also changes to reflect the current tuition credit system. Armstrong called the current policy of GPA non-computation “a symbol of

the New Curriculum” and evidence that the University is a “wonderfully idiosyncratic place.” “As (Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry) William Suggs said at our last meeting, we’ve been wondering what the cost of the New Curriculum was,” Armstrong said, “and we found it.” “Not calculating the GPA is a small thing, but it’s a significant difference in a way that would be a shame to give up,” he added. Armstrong said, “It’s not a very large price to pay to signal we’re putting learning first.” “The GPA at Brown is meaningless,” said Associate Professor of sociology Ann Dill. “I don’t know any employer worth working for who will deny you an

interfered with workers’ rights by locking them into their job site during breaks, preventing them from meeting with union officials. The National Labor Relations Board has assigned an investigator to test the validity of the charges. Vice President for Administration Walter Hunter expects the investigation to conclude in a matter of weeks. “We’re pretty confident that the investigation will be thorough and impartial and conclude that the charges against Brown have no weight,” Hunter said. If the charge is upheld, the University could face fines and a possible order to cease and desist any unfair labor practices. The NLRB charge implicates the University and two non-union firms Brown hired — Cranshaw Construction, a contractor hired by the University, and D’Agostino and Associates, a masonry subcontractor hired by Cranshaw. The labor union accuses the University, and specifically Simmons, of inaction “to stop or change the offending behavior,” in the charge. The labor union cites the actions of the D’Agostino subcontractors as violating the National Labor Relations Act. “It’s pretty clear that Brown is not responsible for the actions of a subcontractor, under a contractor,” Hunter said. “We don’t have any control over the labor relations policies of a contractor’s subcontractor.”

Journalist discusses challenges to free press BY ZACH BARTER

During Geoff Nyarota’s tenure as editor-inchief of Zimbabwe’s only independent daily newspaper, his office was bombed, his printing presses were destroyed and he was arrested six times. But through it all, the Daily News never missed an issue. Nyarota, now a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, spoke about his career in journalism and challenges currently facing Zimbabwe before an over-capacity crowd of 130 students in Wilson Hall Tuesday night. Nyarota’s talk was the second in a series of lectures sponsored by The Herald and was co-sponsored by the Africa Group. After the government fired him from posts at two other state-controlled papers, Nyarota founded the Daily News on a shoe-string budget in 1999. “I had the sense that the people of Zimbabwe were totally disillusioned with the government media,” Nyarota said. “The Daily News became a runaway success almost from day one.” The Daily News quickly became Zimbabwe’s best-selling paper. But its criticism of President Robert Mugabe and efforts to expose corruption led to a gov-

see CCC, page 6 see UNION, page 6

I N S I D E W E D N E S D AY, O C T O B E R 2 9 , 2 0 0 3 UPenn students question newspaper’s “racially insensitive” crime coverage campus watch, page 3

Student sues Northwestern for failed grade and lack of diploma campus watch, page 3

No need to congratulate selves for listening like first-graders, says McAuliffe ’05 column, page 9

see ZIMBABWE, page 4

TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Sarah Green ’04 says students, faculty and U. show some bias against transfers column, page 11

Volleyball picks up second league win against Big Green, but bleeds defeat with Crimson sports, page 12

rain/wind high 62 low 40


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