W E D N E S D A Y APRIL 7, 2004
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXIX, No. 43
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
www.browndailyherald.com
University to raise parking fees, plans alternative transportation
$222 million raised so far in campaign quiet phase
BY SARAH LABRIE
BY JONATHAN ELLIS
A plan to provide students with alternative transportation after cutbacks to student parking this fall has been approved by the University and will include new shuttle routes to Kennedy Plaza and the Jewelry district and possibly off-site parking, said Vice President for Administration Walter Hunter. The plan, designed to reduce the number of cars on campus, was developed by the Ad Hoc Transportation Management Committee, composed of students and faculty and chaired by Director of Real Estate and Administrative Services Abigail Rider. “We provide parking as a convenience for students and faculty,” Rider said. “We just do not have the flexibility to encourage additional cars to come to College Hill.” Due to complaints from neighborhood residents, overnight student parking in the stadium lot will not be available to students next year, reducing the number of on-campus spots from 640 to 500. Parking will still be offered to graduate students and medical students and to seniors and juniors; parking will be available to students on the basis of seniority. The cost of parking on campus for one year will rise from $320 to $450, an amount still “much, much cheaper” than what the city would charge, according to Hunter. Employee parking rates will rise from $200 to $330 as a pre-tax payroll deduction. The Initiatives for Academic Enrichment call for extensive construction, another factor that motivated attempts to reduce on-campus parking, Hunter said. Hunter said he hopes the plan will promote a sense of community among students by encouraging carpooling and shuttle use. The University plans to promote ride-sharing by allowing carpoolers to split the cost of a parking spot and by giving groups higher priority than individuals on the parking-spot waiting list. “The plan will make for a better envi-
nation of media from a licensed source is that in order to avoid illegal activity, “you need the consent of the copyright holder,” Lamboy said. Anime Brunonia writes letters to obtain this consent from companies whose licensed films they want to show, asking permission to show the anime in a public forum, Dilg said. Dilg said he has been more lax in this process than previous society presidents and has, on a few occasions,
The University has raised $222 million in the quiet phase of its capital campaign, but it must raise “considerably more” before the official launch of the campaign, President Ruth Simmons said at the April faculty meeting, held Tuesday. Also at the meeting, Provost Robert Zimmer said he is disappointed that feminist theorist Judith Butler has declined Brown’s offer to lead its new Humanities Center. Butler is currently a professor at the University of California-Berkeley. Zimmer noted that the University is trying to establish a relationship with Oak Ridge (Tenn.) National Laboratory. That institution — which is not a weapons lab — owns instrumentation that can’t be replicated at any university, no matter how wealthy, he said. In her report, Simmons recapped diversity issues facing the University in what she called a “post-Michigan decision world,” referring to last summer’s Supreme Court decisions upholding but restricting affirmative action. She said her experience has shown that programs like the Third World Transition Program lead to better experiences for and higher retention rates of minorities. “I do remain persuaded that none of our programs should exclude based on race,” she added. “TWTP addresses transition issues for students of color. There may be students from many backgrounds interested in (these issues).” Simmons also addressed the media frenzy surrounding the University’s Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. “It is unfortunate that many reports have mischaracterized the work of the committee,” she said. The committee is examining many issues and is not intended to solely answer a “yes-or-no question on reparations,” she said. Simmons said the University will distribute clarifying materials to alumni, many of whom have shown interest in the “parameters” of the committee’s work. Simmons also delivered and reflected on University news. The search committee seeking a vice president for campus life and student services has compiled a shortlist of candidates to be interviewed, Simmons said. One of those candidates was on campus Tuesday, she added. The committee to find a new vice president for public affairs and University relations has also established a list of finalists, she said. Commenting on acceptance letters recently mailed to potential members of the Class of 2008, Simmons said undergraduate applications rose from last year, although the acceptance rate is currently higher than it was at this time last year. Fifty-one percent of accepted students are
see ANIME, page 4
see FACULTY, page 5
Nick Neely / Herald
Warm weather brought students to Pembroke Field for a late afternoon game of ultimate frisbee.
Some endowed seats vacant, but U. says most are filled Weeks after Levinger chair is filled and lawsuit is filed, Brown administrator says unfilled endowed seats are the exception to the rule BY JONATHAN ELLIS
Before he began an unpaid leave from the University last fall, Sumit Guha was the St. Purandara Das Distinguished Professor of South Asian History. But now, with Guha living in New Jersey to complete an outside fellowship, the money for the endowed Das position isn’t going anywhere. Guha’s endowed chair is one of Brown’s more than 120 endowed professorships, according to Associate Provost Nancy Dunbar, who called empty endowed chairs the exception to the rule. Empty endowed professorships drew attention in February when the Levinger Family Trust filed suit against the University for waiting too long — over nine years — to fill an endowed
see PARKING, page 4
professorship in the Levinger name. Just three weeks after the lawsuit was filed in Providence Superior Court, the University awarded the position to Professor of Medicine Alfred Buxton. Vice President and General Counsel for the University Beverly Ledbetter told The Herald the timing was “coincidental.” The exact number of chairs that still remain unfilled depends on “what you count as unfilled,” Dunbar said. Guha technically still holds the Das position, though he currently resides in New Jersey. Other endowed professors often take sabbatical leave. And when junior faculty members earn tenure, they give up any endowed titles they occupy, see CHAIRS, page 6
Fan-subtitled anime complicates Brown club’s legality BY AMY RUDDLE
Anime Brunonia, Brown’s anime club, says it tries to follow copyright law to the letter, but complying with the laws can be difficult considering the complex legislation and array of downloadable anime material. “All the things we do are for fan exposure and sharing — we’re not trying to flout the law,” said Cisco Dilg ’04, president of Anime Brunonia. Anime Brunonia sponsors free weekly screenings of films from the club’s library in Barus and Holley, but the
society does not have a license to show the movies to a public audience like the Brown Film Society does, Dilg said. Since the society’s library consists mainly of commercial DVDs, the screenings could violate copyright law preventing the showing of movies in a public forum. But according to Yolanda Lamboy, associate counsel to the University, a license is not always needed in order to show a film in a public forum. What is essential to understanding copyright legislation and the dissemi-
W E AT H E R F O R E C A S T
I N S I D E W E D N E S D AY, A P R I L 7 , 2 0 0 4 Study claims college students make religion part of lives, contrary to popular belief campus watch, page 3
Natalie Smolenski ’07 says Providence isn’t a renaissance city for everyone column, page 11
Forget differences; vote President George W. Bush out of office, Alex Schulman ’03 writes column, page 11
M. tennis team ready for Ivy League play after losing to Virginia Tech sports, page 12
W. tennis splits up for two competitions while training in North Carolina over break sports, page 12
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
partly cloudy high 53 low 35
mostly sunny high 54 low 36