THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2006
Volume CXLI, No. 22
www.browndailyherald.com
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
MANLY MONOGAMY Med School professor’s first novel on “happily married men” receives press from ABC News and NPR FEATURES 3
THE CASE AGAINST COMPOST Jason Carr ’09: Contrary to what environmentalists claim, recycling is not logical or cost-effective OPINIONS 11
SPLITSVILLE M. hoops splits weekend matches for the fifth time in six weeks of Ivy play SPORTS 12
TODAY
TOMORROW
snow / showers 36 / 18
pm showers 35 / 19
Corporation divests from Sudan, sets tuition at $44k
Students rally for divestment outside Corporation meeting
BY ERIC BECK NEWS EDITOR
BY CHLOE LUTTS SENIOR STAFF WRITER
A group of approximately 50 students gathered on the steps of Faunce House at 11:30 Saturday morning to encourage the Corporation — meeting a stone’s throw away in University Hall — to vote for divestment. The students braving the 28-degree weather were gathered to “let the Corporation know today that Brown is serious about divestment,” said Scott Warren ’09, head of the Brown chapter of Students Taking Action Now: Darfur and a member of the Darfur Action Network, which planned the rally. Warren said students “just wanted to ... show our support for divestment.” Warren called for the Corporation to take action and do so promptly, pointing out that 10 more people would die in Darfur while the Corporation was meeting. He praised Harvard and Stanford universities and other schools that have already divested from companies facilitating genocide in Darfur, adding that “Brown University has an opportunity to do the same thing today ... but they can also kill this whole momentum.” Harvard divested $2.4 million from one company, PetroChina, and Stanford divested from four companies. The decision, Warren said, “should not be complicated. ... Universities should be lining up” to divest, he declared to applause from the assembled students. The urgent nature of the issue was front see DIVESTMENT, page 6
Class of 2010 pool is larger, more diverse
Number of Asian-American and Latino applicants up, black applicants down BY STU WOO CAMPUS WATCH EDITOR
With a record-setting 18,298 total applicants for the class of 2010, Brown’s applicant pool is getting larger every year — and more diverse. Total applications are up 8.2 percent from last year, and all but one minority group saw an increase in applications from last year, according to statistics provided by the Office of Admission. The number of Asian-American and Latino applicants increased by 11.9 percent and 12 percent, respectively, while American Indian applications increased by 14.1 percent (although they still made up less than 1 percent of the pool). International applications increased by 7.1 percent. Brown saw a 4.7 percent decrease in the number of black applicants, but Dean of Admission Jim Miller ’73 said that is not a cause for concern. see ADMISSIONS, page 6 Editorial: 401.351.3372 Business: 401.351.3260
Kori Schulman / Herald
Students gathered on the steps of Faunce House on Saturday to demand the University’s divestment from Sudan.
At its February meeting this weekend, the Corporation voted to divest University funds from companies doing business in Sudan in response to the ongoing genocide in the country’s Darfur region. The University’s governing body also approved a 4.7 percent hike in undergraduate tuition and fees, increased the University’s operating budget by 8.2 percent and formally accepted nearly $20 million in gifts. In an e-mail sent to the Brown community Saturday, President Ruth Simmons called the decision to divest “a critically important and strong statement by the University community regarding our abhorrence of the genocidal actions being supported and undertaken by the Sudanese government.” The University will exclude from its direct investments any companies “whose business activities can be shown to be supporting and facilitating the Sudanese government in its continuing sponsorship of genocidal actions and human rights violations in Darfur,” according to the e-mail. The University will also require external account managers to exclude such companies from their direct investments. By deciding to divest from companies doing business in Sudan, the Corporation adhered to Simmons’ recommendation. see CORPORATION, page 6
Senior UCS officer apparently tried to destroy inaccurate, outdated report Printing of mid-year report cost UCS almost $1,000 BY BEN LEUBSDORF METRO EDITOR
A senior member of the Undergraduate Council of Students apparently attempted Saturday night to destroy all copies of a mid-year report to students — 6,000 copies costing almost $1,000 to print — after concerns were raised within UCS about the report’s accuracy and presentation. The report, which was to be distributed to students through campus mail, consisted of a cover sheet, two pages of committee information and three pages of members’ names and titles in large type. Much of the information in the members list was outdated, presenting the composition of UCS as of last October, before internal elections held early this semester led to a re-shuffling of senior positions. Communications Chair Michael Thompson ’07 apparently tried to throw away the reports, though he denies doing so. In an e-mail sent late Saturday night to Academic and Administrative Affairs Chair Tristan Freeman ’07 and later obtained by The Herald, Thompson
indicated he would dispose of them. “No one who doesn’t now have an electronic or paper copy of the midyear report will ever be able to get one, unless the information is shared by someone who currently has such info,” Thompson wrote. “Every copy of the reports has
been moved to a secure location and I doubt anyone on UCS will ever see them again. This includes all 6 boxes and all the copies that were in the garbage cans.” see REPORT, page 4
Jacob Melrose / Herald
Six thousand copies of the Undergraduate Council of Students’ mid-year report sat undistributed outside the UCS office in Faunce House Sunday.
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