THE BROWN DAILY HERALD M ONDAY, F EBR UAR Y 26, 2007
Volume CXLII, No. 22
Since 1866, Daily Since 1891
Corporation approves student center, elects new chancellor BY ROSS FRAZIER NEWS EDITOR
The Corporation, the University’s top governing body, was especially busy this weekend, discussing a strategic vision for the Alpert Medical School, approving next year’s $704.8 million budget and electing a new chancellor. It also approved a social choice fund and endorsed an official response to the report of the University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. The Corporation, which is required to formally accept all gifts of more than $1 million, accepted nearly $22 million in donations to the University. A gift of $3.5 million was given to support Commerce, Organization and Entrepreneurship programs. William Rhodes ’57, a trustee emeritus and Citigroup executive, donated $10 million to establish the Rhodes Center for International Economics, which will be part of the Watson Institute for International Studies, and to endow a professorship in international trade and finance. The Corporation also accepted four gifts that will fund a $15 million renovation of Faunce House as a 24-hour student center. A $5 million gift from outgoing Chancellor Stephen Robert ’62 P’91, along with three other anonymous gifts, will fund the new facility, which will be named in Robert’s honor. It may include performance spaces, a food court and meeting and study spaces, according to a University news release. Student support offices currently housed in Faunce, such as the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life, may be moved across the street to the J. Walter Wilson Laboratory, which will be renovated to accommodate them, the release said. The Corporation also approved a social choice fund, which will focus on environmental responsibility. The fund will be established and administered through the Office of Advancement, and the University’s continued on page 4
$700m budget boosts U. spending BY ROSS FRAZIER NEWS EDITOR
The Corporation approved a $704.8 million University budget for next year during its general business meeting Saturday, raising tuition and fees by 5 percent to bring total undergraduate costs to $45,948 next year. Faculty salaries will increase by 5 percent, and graduate student stipends will rise to $18,500. The $120 million budget for the Division of Biology and Medicine, which was increased 14.5 percent last year, was only raised by 4.4 percent for next year. The University’s general budget, which funds the College and Graduate School, will total $508 million next year — a 7 percent increase. Brown’s budget next year calls for a $9.3 million deficit, which it will make up using some of its $50 million in reserves, which were authorized by the Corporation in 2004. By next year, it will have used half of those reserves. University officials have said the need for reserves is to be expected with the heavy spending called for by the Plan for Academic Enrichment. “It is clear that the University’s aspirations will continue to require the investment of reserves and balances for the next five to seven years,” read the University Resources Committee’s annual report, released last week. One of the University’s largest expenditures is financial aid, on which it will spend $56.9 million next year — an 8 percent increase. Financial aid for international students will increase nearly 40 percent continued on page 4
Tai Ho Shin / Herald BET Chairman and CEO Debra Lee ‘76 (left) with Robby Klaber ‘07 and Young Peck ‘07, co-presidents of the Brown Entrepreneurship Program.
BET CEO Debra Lee ’76: success is about risk-taking room-only crowd in Leung Gallery to “take risks, learn from them, grow with them and reinvent yourself if necessary.” “I fundamentally believe that you either are or are not an entrepreneur. I really don’t think you can aspire to be an entrepreneur,” she said — though she said it may be possible to “learn to do it better along the way.”
BY ABE LUBETKIN STAFF WRITER
Entrepreneurship is innate, not a learned skill, Black Entertainment Television Chairman and CEO Debra Lee ’76 told students at the Brown Entrepreneurship Program’s 10th Annual Forum Saturday afternoon. Lee encouraged a standing
Drawing largely from events in her own life, Lee discussed how ambition and open-mindedness propelled her from her racially segregated hometown of Greensboro, N.C. — where she grew up in the 1960s — to Brown and Harvard Law School, then on to a corporate law firm in Washington, continued on page 8
Students overwhelmingly support early admission fall — the deadline is traditionally Nov. 1. Early applicants hear back from the University in mid-December and are required to attend the College if they are admitted.
BY JAMES SHAPIRO SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Most Brown undergraduates support early admission, according to a recent Herald poll. The majority of respondents — 73 percent — said they believe Brown should offer an early admission program to the College, while only 15 percent said the University should not offer early admission. Another 12 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. The University currently offers high school students the opportunity to apply early decision in the
THE HERALD POLL
Last in a three-part series on admission policies
Early applicants constitute 36 percent of the class of 2010 and were admitted at a rate of 22.7 percent, compared to the class’ overall acceptance rate of 13.8 percent. Early admission has received extensive attention since Harvard University decided last September to discontinue its single-choice early action program, which did not require admitted students to
commit to attending Harvard. In the following weeks Princeton University and the University of Virginia followed suit and terminated their binding early admission programs. Harvard, Princeton and UVa’s decisions were primarily in response to concerns that early admission disproportionately benefits applicants with more resources and knowledge about college admission. “Early admission programs tend to advantage the advantaged. Students from more sophisticated backgrounds and affluent high schools often apply early to increase their chances of admission, continued on page 6
Alums discuss future of college radio BY MEHA VERGHESE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Tai Ho Shin / Herald Peter Tannenwald ‘64, Dan Berns ‘69, Rita Cidre ‘07, Dan Oppenheim ‘98, Jason Sigal ‘07, Susan Smulyan, Associate Professor of American Civilization (left to right), at a panel discussion on college radio.
INSIDE:
3 ARTS & CULTURE
PEMBROKE’S PAST The Pembroke Center is celebrating its 25th anniversary by hosting a series of lectures and discussions on culture and gender
www.browndailyherald.com
5 CAMPUS NEWS
DEEP SPRINGS DETOUR At least one current student spent time at Deep Springs College, a substance-free, allmale College in California, before coming to Brown
Alums and current students from WBRU and Brown Student Radio discussed balancing creativity and commercial success in radio Sunday evening on a panel on “The Importance of College Radio,” one in a series of campus events celebrating 70 years of college radio at Brown. Peter Tannenwald ’64, Don Berns ’69, Dan Oppenheim ’98, former WBRU General Manager Rita Cidre ’07 and BSR General Manager Jason Sigal ’07 addressed the evolution of Brown college radio and challenges facing stations today. Susan Smulyan, associate professor of American Civilization, opened
11 OPINIONS
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
SPECTATOR SPIN Justin Elliott ’07 takes the University’s conservative publication, the Brown Spectator, to task for lacking journalistic standards
the panel by explaining that student interest in the two campus radio stations sparked the series of events celebrating college radio. WBRU and BSR were also eager to work together and put to rest rumors of rivalry between them after an article about the alleged rivalry appeared in the Brown Alumni Magazine last year, she added. The panel discussion focused on radio stations’ need to reinvent themselves in the face of newer communication technologies. Berns urged students to help save the medium. “Right now is the time to come up with some idea to save radio as continued on page 8
12 SPORTS
M. HOOPS SPLITS The men’s basketball team survived a flood of three-pointers in topping Columbia but fell to Cornell despite 33 points from Mark McAndrew ’08
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