T U E S D A Y MARCH 9, 2004
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXIX, No. 28
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
Proposal aims to expand Medical School admission
24-hour study space opens in New Pembroke, space in Faunce House to follow
BY MERYL ROTHSTEIN
For the first time since the 1980s, the Medical School will open its application process to students completing their undergraduate education at any college or university, pending the approval of a two-year experiment announced by Provost Robert Zimmer at a faculty meeting last Tuesday. Unlike most medical schools, Brown’s medical school currently accepts only students from the Program in Liberal Medical Education, current Brown undergraduates or those from special avenues, like postbaccalaureate programs, according to the Medical School’s Web site. An open application process will help the school “get the best students it can get,” Zimmer said. “It can’t help but enhance what is already a really incredible student body.” A broader mix of students from the top schools in the country will inevitably enrich the Medical School’s culture, he said. The proposed change is also a way to increase visibility of the Medical School, said Interim Dean of Biology and Medical Sciences Richard Besdine. Because most undergraduates at other colleges cannot apply to Brown’s medical school, pre-medical students and their advisors might not know of it, Besdine said. “Having the name of Brown in front of more people will ultimately be good for the college and the graduate program,” he said. “We’re terrific, and everybody should know that we are.” Greater visibility in communities relevant to medicine inevitably increases a school’s attractiveness to students, those seeking residencies, faculty, federal granting agencies, potential donors and many others, Zimmer said. The standard admission process, which will be open to students entering in September 2005 and 2006, will not increase the size of the class or reduce the number of enrolled PLME students, Besdine said. The opportunity to open the application process resulted from a two-year window with fewer PLME students that left 10 to 12 spots open, he said.
BY KATE GORMAN
more difficult to provide these accommodations, she said. “The problem of rooms is always a big one,” Axe said, especially during midterms and finals period. One possible solution is a testing center that would provide extra rooms for students to take exams, as well as extra proctors. But Axe said the possibility of such a center is “still in the idea stage at this point.” DSS is currently in the process of upgrading some of its equipment, such as voice-activated software that transfers
Students pulling all-nighters now have places other than the Center for Information Technology to watch the sun rise. The first of two new 24-hour study spaces is now open on the ground floor of New Pembroke #4, said Ari Savitzky ’06, chair of campus life for the Undergraduate Council of Students. Another 24-hour study space is set to open in a few weeks in Faunce House, Savitzky said. These spaces are the first of many forthcoming near-term improvements to community and campus life, he said. Planning for the 24-hour spaces and other common-area renovations began at the beginning of this academic year, Savitzky said. “There has been a big push to improve common resources on campus in order to make students’ academic and social lives better, and the study space at New Pembroke #4 is a part of that,” he said. Savitzky said students and administrators involved in creating the space looked for a regional balance of places to study on campus, since the Rockefeller and Sciences libraries are a long walk from Pembroke campus. “The 24-hour spaces fit into our larger vision for building community at Brown by creating an environment where students are able to interact and engage with one another,” said UCS President Rahim Kurji ’05. The New Pembroke #4 facility will help meet the demand for late-night study areas, he said. “It is especially good for those students who may not feel safe going to a library late into the night,” Kurji said. Sonia Gupta ’06, UCS Chair of Admission and Student Services Committee worked with Savitzky on getting 24-hour spaces established on campus. “We requested that the spaces have card access, computer networking capabilities, computer clusters, study conducive furniture, study carrels and vending,” Gupta said. But not all of these amenities are available yet, said David Greene, interim vice president for campus life and student services. Greene said getting the 24-hour study spaces open and available for students to use as soon as possible was a higher priority than opening them with all of the planned amenities intact. “The way the New Pembroke #4 study space is set up right now, with literally borrowed furniture, is not how it will stay. We will be renovating both the New Pembroke #4 and Faunce 24-hour study spaces over the next couple of months and over the summer,” he said.
see DISABILITIES, page 5
see STUDY SPACE, page 5
Nick Neely / Herald
Monday’s snow came after several weeks of warm weather, dusting Sayles Hall and the Main Green.
College students’ mortality caused primarily by accidents, suicide BY SARAH LABRIE
Brandy Cooks ’04 remembers attending a weekend party at a fraternity house. Almost everyone there was intoxicated, but Cooks most clearly remembers one student who drank until he vomited and passed out. The most striking thing about the situation, said Cooks, was that the people around him didn’t seem to be at all concerned for his well-being. “People just looked at him as though it weren’t unusual,” she said. Decades ago, college students were being killed in conflicts such as the Korean and Vietnam wars. But today, accidents related to alcohol like the one Cooks observed and suicide are the leading causes of death on college campuses, according to multiple studies. The recent media focus on Harvard University’s high rate of depression among students — a Harvard Crimson poll reported that 80 percent of Harvard undergraduates felt depressed at least once last year — has some colleges wondering what they can do to safeguard students’ mental health. A 2002 Harvard study found that a high rate of excessive drinking on college campuses helped make motor vehicle accidents the leading cause of death
see MED SCHOOL, page 4
among college students. The study also revealed that levels of binge drinking among students remain the same as in the early 1990s, despite more concentrated efforts on the part of administrations to end it. In addition, alcohol abuse may lead to depression and suicide, further increasing mortality rates. “I can understand how these issues would effect the lives of college students,” said Serena Hon ’06, who has worked with Brown’s Emergency Medical Services for three semesters. On Friday and Saturday nights, Hon said she estimates that more than 90 percent of the calls EMS receives are due to alcoholrelated injury or illness. Depression is also a central contributor to campus deaths. A Kansas State University study found that over the course of a decade the number of students who report depression doubled and the number of students who report considering suicide tripled. Another study, by the American College Health Association, found that a third of students surveyed felt depressed to the point where they were unable to function normally. Nine see MORTALITY, page 4
Brown was pioneer in accommodating learning disabilities BY STEPHANIE CLARK
Brown is considered a pioneer of support programs at competitive universities for students with learning disabilities, according to Executive Associate Dean of the College Robert Shaw. The flexible structure of Brown’s curriculum is helpful for students with learning disabilities, Shaw said. Disability Support Services, which provides support for students with a wide range of physical, psychological and learning disabilities, offers a number of resources for learning-disabled students. The most common of these include the use of volunteer note-takers, extended time and quiet rooms for taking tests and
textbooks on tape for students who have difficulties with their reading load, said Cathie Axe, coordinator of Disability Support Services. Learning-disabled students are also provided with ample opportunities to discuss academic issues with qualified administrators, such as Axe or Shaw. The job of DSS is to “work with the students and provide the support they need, and also to support the professors,” Axe said. The faculty in general is “very supportive” of students who need special accommodations for exams, but with the growing numbers of such students, it has become
W E AT H E R F O R E C A S T
I N S I D E T U E S D AY, M A RC H 9 , 2 0 0 4 Underground rail tunnel could allow Brown to expand outward metro, page 3
www.browndailyherald.com
Christopher McAuliffe ’05 says the abortion fight is more than men versus women column, page 7
Providence needs cities’ help to improve, writes Councilman David Segal column, page 7
W. ice hockey finishes successful regular season, bests Yale University sports, page 8
Senior m. basketball players set new Brown record for wins during a college career sports, page 8
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