Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Page 1

T U E S D A Y MARCH 23, 2004

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXIX, No. 38

An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891

www.browndailyherald.com

Simmons plans to teach after capital campaign launches BY MICHAEL RUDERMAN

President Ruth Simmons plans on teaching at Brown, but it might be a while before students can shop her course. When Simmons was appointed the 18th president of the University, she was given faculty appointments in comparative literature and Africana studies. But it will be a few more years before she has time to fill these roles, she wrote in an email to The Herald. With the responsibilities of undertaking a capital campaign and running the University, teaching undergraduates would prove difficult. “I would love to be able to teach when the campaign is well launched, which should be in a couple of years,” she wrote. Simmons wrote she would likely lead a course in francophone literature, crosslisted in the comparative literature and Africana studies departments. Due to the “uncertainty” of her schedule, she wrote, “It would be prudent to have someone co-teach with me.” Simmons would add teaching responsibilities to the 70 to 100 hours per week university presidents typically work, according to Stephen Nelson, a research associate in the Education Department whose area of specialty is the university presidency. “The demands are so great that it prevents presidents from teaching, especially if there is a crisis or a campaign,” Nelson said. During campaigns, presidents spend about half their time off campus raising funds and much of their on-campus time preparing for fundraising events and meetings, he said. see SIMMONS, page 4

Paul Levande / Herald

Journalist Rubén Martínez delivered the keynote address at Latino History Month Convocation, cosponsored by The Herald, last night in MacMillan 117. Martínez discussed his struggle to define his identity as a Latino growing up in Los Angeles, Calif.

Latino History Month Convocation speaker tells audience he struggled to define his identity BY STEPHANIE CLARK

The borders of the United States are beginning to be redefined to include immigrants, said Rubén Martínez, keynote speaker for the Latino History Month Convocation, co-sponsored by The Herald. Martínez, an Emmy Award-winning journalist, poet and performer who grew up in Los Angeles, Calif., gave a talk enti-

ous backgrounds in outreach work. Jablonski said she doesn’t expect a significant drop in the number of hours available for outreach, but said she does expect the waiting time for students trying to get appointments to decrease. This is especially important when students can’t accurately assess their own mental states, Jui said. Although Psych Services has someone on call 24 hours a day, Jui said he did not make use of that service the first time he called because he did not realize how pressing his situation was. “They expect you to be pretty honest, but when you’re down, it’s pretty hard to be honest with yourself,” he said. Having access to a psychotherapist sooner would

He spoke about his own struggle to find an identity, beginning with growing up in California, which “was a very WASPy environment when I was growing up,” Martínez said. “I tried to do as the Romans, or in this case, the California WASPs.” He learned to speak English with no accent and to mispronounce his name in order to Americanize it. In later parts of his life, Martínez said he found himself part of a movement of cultural nationalism in Los Angeles, mentored by a “founding generation of Chicano artists that was coming into its own.” He also traveled to El Salvador in the midst of that country’s civil war. “The lesson I learned in El Salvador was quite different than the lesson I learned in L.A.,” Martínez said. “In L.A. ... I learned about color. In El Salvador I learned about class.” Martínez cited both of these experiences as crucial to his understanding of being Latino. “When you put divisions of class alongside divisions of race, or the color of your skin, you come to a much better understanding about the way the world really works and what the struggle is all about,” he said. The borders between cultures are blending, Martínez said. He mentioned the example of Tijuana, Mexico, where white American, Latino and African American cultures are inextricably mixed. “Tijuana is a cultural hall of mirrors, where each door you walk through leads to a different world,” he said.

see PSYCH, page 4

see MARTINEZ, page 6

tled “The New Americas: How Migrants Have Changed the U.S.,” which focused on divisions in the United States and the changing definitions of individual and societal identity. It’s difficult for Latinos to establish an identity “in this topsy-turvy country we live in,” Martínez said. “It’s hard to find a place to plant your feet, to feel one, to feel whole.”

Psychological Services addresses increased demand with reorganization BY KIRA LESLEY

When Jonathan Jui ’07 felt depressed earlier this year, he called Psychological Services to make an appointment with a psychotherapist. He was told he would have to wait one or two weeks at the least. Two days later, Jui had an emotional breakdown, he said, and had to call Emergency Medical Services for assistance. With more students asking for clinical appointments than at any other time during the past 15 years, Psych Services’ staff is unable to meet their needs, according to Belinda Johnson, director of Psych Services. But a planned restructuring of the department will allow Johnson’s staff to provide appointments more quickly, she said. After assessing the situation, Psych

Services decided last month to eliminate the Assistant Director for Outreach position, the job Kent Yrchik-Shoemaker performed for 16 years, Johnson said. In place of that position, Psych Services is hiring another psychotherapist. The search to fill the position is currently underway, and Johnson said she expects to have hired someone by the start of next semester. With Yrchik-Shoemaker’s position eliminated, responsibility for the outreach portion of Psych Services’ program will be spread over several psychotherapists, Johnson said. Dean for Campus Life Margaret Jablonski said that in some ways the change will be advantageous for outreach into the Brown community, because different therapists can draw on their vari-

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 2 3 , 2 0 0 4 Students go to Boston Market restaurants to protest suppliers’ treatment of workers metro, page 3

Korean Adoptee Mentoring Program connects mentees with Korean heritage campus news, page 5

M. lacrosse struggles over weekend but looks ahead to continuing season sports extra, page 9

Ari Savitzky ’06 says it’s the community’s responsibility to stop hate crimes column, page 11

M. tennis shakes up doubles pairs, still finds success in weekend matches sports, page 12

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

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