THE BROWN DAILY HERALD T HURSDAY, F EBR UAR Y 22, 2007
Volume CXLII, No. 20
Since 1866, Daily Since 1891
Many students support affirmative action in College admission
TOUR OF CAMPUS
BY JAMES SHAPIRO SENIOR STAFF WRITER
More than half of Brown undergraduates support considering an applicant’s racial and ethnic background in the admission process, according to a recent Herald poll. A narrow majority of respondents — 53 percent — said they favor the University’s use of race and ethnicity as a factor in admission, while 30 percent said admission decisions should be based solely on merit. Another 17 percent said they had no opinion or did not answer. The poll was conducted from Jan. 29 to Feb. 2 and has a margin of error of 4.7 percent with 95 percent confidence. “In the admission process we’re looking at a dozen or more variables for each applicant. Some are subjective, some are objective, and race can become one of those variables,” said Dean of Admission James Miller ’73. “It is not ever the sole factor. For any student there is no sole factor that determines admission.” Miller cited diversity as the major reason for employing affirmative action. “We are trying to construct a community that is as vibrant, as interesting and as talented as we can make it. Part of that involves making sure that people from all parts of society have a chance to come to Brown and take advantage of the opportunities here,” Miller said. “It is important, as America changes demographically, that places like Brown identify people who are going to be leaders in emerging communities and that we play a role in training them to be leaders,” he added. The extent to which race and ethnicity actually affect admission decisions at Brown and other private universities remains unclear, as private universities, unlike many public institutions, rarely disclose their admission data. “Freedom of Information (Act) requests generally only apply to government institutions, such
Chris Bennett / Herald Tour Guide James Kraemer ’08 speaks to a group of interested students and parents at Soldier’s Arch on Wednesday.
Quiz Bowl team heads to nat’l competition BY ANNA ABRAMSON CONTRIBUTING WRITER
It doesn’t play on a court or field, but one of Brown’s most successful teams has been winning competitive regional tournaments and is heading to a national competition this spring. Quiz Bowl, a relatively new group at Brown, competes in team “Jeopardy”-style trivia tournaments. Brown’s growing team qualified Feb. 10 for a national competition in Minneapolis by winning a tournament hosted by Harvard, where Brown defeated several other teams including Yale, Dartmouth and Boston universities and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The team has performed well at several other regional competitions this year, winning the Penn Bowl over winter break by defeating 16 teams from schools including the University of Chicago, Princeton University and Williams College. The team hosted two tournaments on campus last fall, each drawing a field of 10 to 12 teams. When Jerry Vinokurov GS arrived on campus two years ago — having played quiz bowl as an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley, and in high school — he found that while Brown had a team, it was inactive. Vinokurov organized other grad students and first-years who had played in high school to renew the continued on page 4
INSIDE:
3 METRO
Facebook profiles become makeshift memorials BY KRISTINA KELLEHER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Though Luis Pagan ’06, a 22year-old senior from Providence, died while swimming off the coast of Mexico in January 2006, his profile on Facebook is still active, serving as a memorial for his friends who post written messages on his page’s “wall” even today. “Sometimes I miss the third grade. I miss the recess. I miss the candy. I miss you,” wrote Rebecca Barlow in a Feb. 6 message on Pagan’s wall. “I saw some shooting stars the other day and thought of you.” Facebook has allowed Barlow, who attended third to 12th
grade with Pagan, to stay connected with her friends whom she was no longer in touch with on a daily basis. Now, it’s one way she has to remember a friend in death, as Barlow was unable to attend Pagan’s funeral or visit his gravesite. “I know he’s dead, no longer physically able to read his wall posts or check his messages. Heck, the ‘no recent activities’ remind us of that every day,” Barlow said. “But like a gravestone covered in flowers or notes, Facebook is letting some continued on page 6
THE HERALD POLL
First in a three-part series on admission policies
are able to provide your students with a range of ideas, opinions, outlooks and views. Literature on learning clearly establishes a relation between depth of learning and complexity of thinking,” she said. “Individuals bring something to the institution, not in spite of their background, but because of it,” she added. Students interviewed by The Herald expressed a variety of views on affirmative action, ranging from supportive to critical. “A lot of people here come from a homogenous background. It’s beneficial for them to be exposed to people who come from different walks of life, though I don’t think that race and ethnicity are the only areas where that manifests itself,” said Alex Dean ’08. “(Minority students) can contribute to our school’s diversity without hurting our reputation in any way. All of the students of color here are really intelligent continued on page 4
Joint RISD/Brown degree program ready for 2008 launch BY FRANKLIN KANIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
A new five-year dual degree program that would award students a bachelor of arts or bachelor of science degree from Brown and a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Rhode Island School of Design is set to launch in 2008. The idea of a dual degree program is not new, said Roger Mayer, professor emeritus of visual art at Brown and a member of the working group responsible for the new program. “It is also something that has been pointed out by visitors who come here,
VIRUS OUTBREAK IN R.I. The norovirus, a disease that causes symptoms similar to those of stomach flu, is being recorded in surprisingly large numbers in the state
www.browndailyherald.com
FEATURE
as large flagship state universities. They do not apply to private colleges or universities such as Brown, Princeton or Harvard. It’s difficult to get reliable data from private institutions,” said Edward Blum, a visiting fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. The racial and ethnic diversity of the Brown student body has remained roughly constant in recent decades. “The ethnic diversity of the class has been pretty consistent here, I would say for at least 20 years,” said Brenda Allen, associate provost and director of institutional diversity. Allen said diversity is critical to education. “With a diverse student body and diverse faculty you
5 CAMPUS NEWS
who note that the two schools are immediately adjacent to one another, but there’s really nothing ... that (brings) students together in a more formal way,” he said. The proposal has been approved by Brown’s Academic Priorities Committee and the College Curriculum Council, as well as by those committees’ counterparts at RISD, but it still needs approval by both the Brown and RISD faculty. Administrators and professors in the program’s working group told The Herald they expect the program to continued on page 6
QUEER CONCENTRATION? An undergraduate working group affiliated with Queer Alliance is pushing to increase course offerings and faculty in queer studies
Meara Sharma / Herald File Photo RISD’s fall 2006 art sale.
15 OPINIONS
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
ASIAN DISCRIMINATION? Neil Vangala ’09 and Jon Bogard ’09 offer two different viewpoints on college admission’s treatment of students with Asian backgrounds
16 SPORTS
SPORTS EXTRA! An extra-large Sports section covers men’s tennis, women’s basketball, gymnastics, women’s swimming and women’s hockey
News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com