F R I D A Y FEBRUARY 25, 2005
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXL, No. 21
www.browndailyherald.com
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
‘MEASURE’ COMES UP SHORT Innovative approach to Shakespeare’s dark comedy loses comic relief of original A R T S & C U LT U R E 3
DEMS NEED CHAFEE Caleb Karpay ’08: The liberal senator is the best Democrats can hope for in a Republican OPINIONS
OUTSIDE SHOT W. hoops takes on Harvard and undefeated Dartmouth in bid to stay in race for Ivy championship 7
SPORTS
8
TODAY
TOMORROW
light snow 30 / 15
sunny 32 / 15
Resignations give UCS wake-up call
Corporation arrives for Feb. meeting
BY SHAWN BAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
BY ERIC BECK SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Seven students have resigned from the Undergraduate Council of Students this semester, marking an uncharacteristically high turnover rate for the representative body. The seven resignations comprised three officer positions and four class representative positions. “I can only speak of my three years in UCS, but I haven’t seen a turnover like this in such a condensed period of time before,” said UCS President Joel Payne ’05. Schuyler von Oeyen ’05, UCS alumni liaison, agreed that the scale of departures f was unprecedented. “I don’t think we had as many resignations the whole of last year,” he said. Payne pointed to a variety of reasons for the large number of resignations, including health, personal and academic issues. “There was one member who left to study abroad, and there were a lot of younger members who weren’t ready for the kind of commitment that UCS requires,” he said. In internal elections, the vacant officer positions were filled by then-class representatives. The vacancies for representatives were opened to the entire student population. “The elections were fully legitimate, and were run according to what is specified in the UCS constitution,” said UCS Communications Chair Zachary Townsend ’08, a Herald copy editor and former associate member who was elected to his executive board position in the internal elections. Von Oeyen said the high turnover rate has had a disruptive influence on the workings of UCS this semester. “Yes, I certainly think it’s been difficult. Ari Goodstein’s (’06) resignation was especially difficult because he was the Admission and Student Services (Committee) chair. The chairs of the committees have priorities and tangible issues to tackle, and it’s tough for someone else to come in and take over,” he said. In an e-mail announcing his resignation to other officers, Ethan Wingfield ’07, the previous communications chair, highlighted positive changes on campus but voiced his unhappiness with some of the workings of the council, noting “the fall semester saw a decline in the effectiveness and direction of UCS.” He added he was resigning due to his other commitments, saying, “I cannot effectively help lead two organizations, run a company and excel in my coursework.” Wingfield runs élan, a Web development firm which lists UCS Appointments Chair Ben Creo ’06, Townsend and Cash McCracken ’08, the UCS secretary, as associates. One member who resigned, speaking on the condition of anonymity, expressed his frustration that the council was overly focused on internal matters in the fall semester. “The emphasis in UCS was on being a family and being well-connected, but we weren’t really getting anything done. We were focused on reforming the elections process and completely internal matters, but there were still problems on campus, like summer storage and student groups that lacked funding, and these weren’t being addressed by UCS,” he said.
The University’s powerful decision-makers are descending on College Hill this weekend to allocate funds, set tuition increases and plan for Brown’s future. Nearly all of the 54 Corporation members — including 12 fellows and 42 trustees — are expected to be on campus for a meeting of the Brown Corporation, the top governing body of the University. The Corporation meets three times annually — in October, February and May. Each weekend conference includes com-
see UCS, page 5 Editorial: 401.351.3372 Business: 401.351.3269
2006 budget, including tuition and transfer aid, approval of donations on agenda mittee meetings, general body sessions and discussions with faculty, said Russell Carey ’91, vice president and secretary of the University. The February meeting is especially notable because the Corporation sets the University’s operating budget for the next fiscal year, Carey said. The budget for each year is first recommended by the University Resources Committee and approved by President Ruth Simmons before consideration by the Corporation. Members of the Corporation’s commit-
tee on budget and finance will first debate and evaluate the budget in their committee meeting today. The chair of the committee will then present the budget to the Corporation for action during the general body session Saturday, Carey said. Provost Robert Zimmer, who chairs the URC, told The Herald Feb. 3 that the budget recommended by the URC for action by the Corporation this weekend includes provisions for financial aid for transfer and Resumed Undergraduate Education students. According to Carey, it is rare for the Corporation to significantly alter the budget recommended by the URC and the president. The Corporation’s budget decisions include changes to tuition and room and board fees for the next academic year. Also this weekend, the Corporation is expected to approve the selection of an architect for Sidney E. Frank Hall, said Frances Halsband, an architect who designed the University’s master plan for physical expansion. Each member of the Corporation serves on at least one of the committees, which meet Thursday or Friday, Carey said. see CORPORATION, page 4
Tough Senate battle ahead for Chafee ’75 BY ROBBIE COREY-BOULET METRO EDITOR
Kori Schulman / Herald
Widely published author and Harvard English professor Jamaica Kincaid read to a full house in Sayles Hall Thursday night.
Kincaid reading ‘funny and humble’ BY STEFANIE SIMONS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Thursday night renowned author Jamaica Kincaid delivered a reading to mark the first event of Brown’s Caribbean Heritage Week 2005. The event filled Sayles Hall with current undergrads, graduate students, alums, faculty and President Ruth Simmons — an “old friend,” said Kincaid. The reading coincides with the publication of Kincaid’s latest book, “Among Flowers: A Walk in the Himalaya,” a National Geographic Directions account of her trip to Nepal for “seed collecting.” But Kincaid also discussed her “endless obsession with her mother” and read from two of her novels. In his introduction, Professor of Africana Studies Paget Henry reviewed
the import of Kincaid’s writing within “the tradition of feminist writing” as well as the “discourse of Caribbean existentialism … (and historicism).” Henry, who grew up with Kincaid on the island of Antigua, praised her for her exploration of “Africana spirituality” and her “genre-bending” work. Many members of the crowd closed their eyes as Kincaid lowered her voice to read pieces Henry described as “all so beautifully written.” Her novel “Mr. Potter” would be “great to read to children,” said Laura Wood ’03.5. Kincaid’s conversational tone elicited laughter from the crowd, especially when her cell phone rang mid-reading. see KINCAID, page 4
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
Sen. Lincoln Chafee ’75, R-R.I., jumpstarted fundraising efforts for his 2006 re-election campaign last week, garnering over $50,000 in two Providence fundraisers that featured a supportive Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the second most prominent leader among majority Republicans. The high-profile events came on the heels of a University poll that placed Chafee well behind Rep. Jim Langevin, DR.I., who has not formally launched a campaign for the junior senator’s seat. Langevin has said he will announce by April 1 whether he will try to oust Chafee from the Senate or pursue re-election to the House of Representatives. Poll results indicated 41 percent of Rhode Islanders would support Langevin, while 27 percent would vote for Chafee if they vied for the same position. Though Chafee’s campaign attributed the results to the public’s limited knowledge of Langevin’s platform, the numbers may foreshadow a highly contested reelection bid, according to Professor of Political Science Darrell West, director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy and conductor of the random telephone survey. Chafee’s approval numbers have dropped by 10 points in the past year, a reflection of the opposition he faces from Rhode Island Democrats combined with conservative challenges that he does not adequately support the Republican platform or President George W. Bush’s national agenda, West said. see CHAFEE, page 5 News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com