THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2006
Volume CXLI, No. 16 THE BIZARRO BROWN John Brown University expels its only opnely gay student over violations of its community covenant CAMPUS WATCH 3
GENDER DEFENDER Courtney Jenkins ’07: Brown students should consider shopping oftenoverlooked gender studies courses OPINIONS 11
DOUBLE THE FUN Sarah Demers ’07: A former two-sport athlete looks back on her experiences competing on two teams SPORTS 12
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BY TARYN MARTINEZ STAFF WRITER
What do most Brown Medical School students do in their few hours of spare FEATURE time each week? Catch up on sleep, hang out with friends, call family members back home and battle Rhode Islanders’ obesity. Or that might just be Rajiv Kumar ’05 MD ’09, chairman of Shape Up Rhode Island, a nonprofit initiative in which citizens of the Ocean State will compete to lose weight. “Ever since I started med school, I’ve become increasingly interested in obesity and its effect on society,” Kumar said. “It’s one of the biggest problems affecting us today.” Kumar’s initiative seems to be just in time. Rhode Island’s obesity statistics show an overwhelming need for better
Activists from all over the state, including members of the Brown Democrats and Queer Alliance, assembled at the State House yesterday to “get engaged” in the fight for marriage equality in Rhode Island. Politicians and citizens alike expressed support for the legal recognition of samesex marriage at the Valentine’s Day rally, which was spearheaded by Marriage Equality RI. Student groups including the Brown Democrats marched demonstrators down to the State House early in the afternoon. The rally took place in the main atrium of the State House and began with a musical lineup that included such Valentine’s Day standards as The Beatles’ “All You Need is Love.”
Jean Yves Chainon / Herald
Members of Queer Alliance and the Brown Democrats gathered Tuesday evening in the State House to advocate for same-sex marriage legislation.
Mild weather, conservation lessen energy cost overruns by $500,000 An unusually mild winter and efforts to conserve energy seem to be paying off, as University energy costs did not meet original projections made in the fall. “We were originally projecting our energy costs to be over budget by $3.6 million. It now looks like we will be closer to $3.1 million over budget,” said Elizabeth Huidekoper, executive vice president for finance and administration. Rising oil prices during the summer and fall prompted the University to expect a total spending increase of at least 10
TOMORROW
Rajiv Kumar ’05 hopes to “Shape Up R.I.”
BY HANNAH MILLER STAFF WRITER
BY THI HO CONTRIBUTING WRITER
TODAY
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Rhode Islanders team up to lose weight
Brown Dems, Queer Alliance turn out in support of same-sex marriage
see RALLY, page 8
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percent early in the school year. In an Oct. 20 University-wide email, Provost Robert Zimmer and Huidekoper estimated a near 50 percent increase in energy costs for the academic year. “In dollar terms, our energy costs will rise from $12.5 million last year to approximately $18.1 million for the year ending June 30, 2006,” they wrote. In an attempt to decrease energy costs, University administrators and the Environmental Task Force, a group created to inform students about energy consumption, tried to recruit short-term help from students. They advised students to turn off lights and appliances not in use and to put their computers
Jean Yves Chainon/ Herald
The construction of the Life Sciences Building and rising oil prices were some of the factors that ran the University’s energy costs over budget by $3.1 million this year. Editorial: 401.351.3372 Business: 401.351.3260
in sleep mode. Administrators also fixed thermostats at 68 degrees for the winter season. Huidekoper partly attributes the decrease in energy costs to these energy-saving measures. “We are, so far, very pleased that the conservation efforts, combined with the relatively mild weather this winter, are likely to result in significant savings this year, “ she said. Energy is measured by a metering system that shows how much electricity is being used at the University, said Kurt Teichert, resource efficiency manager and adjunct lecturer in environmental studies. He said he hopes for more comprehensive energy conservation efforts in the future. Teichert said the University will turn to more long-term energy-saving solutions aiming at more energy-efficient systems. “One of the key things we face is in the older buildings that still run on steam. Steam is very hard to control because ait doesn’t allow us to control temperatures,” Teichert said. “We’re also increasing efforts at investing in electrical efficiency,” he said. Energy conservation is not a new concern at the University. “These are all things that have been ongoing. The key thing is to continue,” Teichert said.
health — 56 percent of adult Rhode Islanders are overweight or obese, according to a 2004 study by the Centers for Disease Control. Even with those numbers, though, Kumar said Rhode Island isn’t one of the worst states in terms of obesity. “But it’s still not good enough!” he added. “Obesity is an epidemic now,” said Ray Rickman, chief advisor for Shape Up R.I. and president of the non-profit Adopt A Doctor, which he co-founded with Kumar. “It’s not just a lifestyle issue, it’s a health issue. The stats say that we’re going to have the first people in America that don’t live longer than their parents.” “We have to reverse this trend,” he added. Kumar’s challenge was to create a program that not only helped people lose weight but see SHAPE UP, page 6
Two March forums set for plus/minus discussion BY CHLOE LUTTS SENIOR STAFF WRITER
At its meeting yesterday, the College Curriculum Council scheduled a University-wide forum for March 9 to discuss the possible addition of pluses and minuses to the grading system. The forum will follow an additional forum hosted by the Undergraduate Council of Students scheduled for March 2. The council passed a resolution “to recommend to the Dean (of the College) that the CCC … will work with UCS so UCS can set up a meeting to discuss (changes to the grading system) with as many students as possible,” said Lecturer in Education and Vice Chair of the CCC Luther Spoehr. The members of the CCC will attend this discussion, and faculty members will also be invited. “In the interest of having the kind of discussion this place needs to have, we need to have more than one” meeting, Spoehr said. Jonathan Waage, professor of biology and senior advisor to the Dean of the College, said a preliminary meeting run by UCS would be valuable to hear viewpoints “that have not been heard before” and give students the opportunity to discuss the issue before the University-wide forum and “to try and clarify … how the students see it.” The CCC considered whether discussion on the issue should revolve around pluses and
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minuses or encompass a wider debate about all possible changes to Brown’s grading system. However, the council did not come to any conclusions on this issue. Waage, who raised the issue, said, “I am not suggesting a radical change in course. Let’s just be really clear about what we are discussing here.” CCC member Freya Zaheer ’06 supported the idea of two forums. Another member, Shyam Sundaram ’08, agreed the UCS-sponsored meeting could allow students an opportunity to formulate and “categorize” their views before the University-wide forum. In addition to making their concerns heard at the meeting, “students need to make a very concerted effort to reach out to their faculty members,” Zaheer told The Herald. Sundaram added that students should “encourage them to come to the forums.” Waage echoed this point, saying that individual conversations between students and faculty members provide the most important avenue for discussion, a point that was also emphasized at the CCC’s last meeting. Spoehr said he believes the “primary rationale for changing the grading system is clarity, precision and ultimately honesty,” not controlling grade inflation, which he said he thinks is “almost inevitable” due to other elements of the grading see CCC, page 4
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