Monday, March 5, 2007

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD M ONDAY,

Volume CXLII, No. 27

RCH

5 , 2007 5, 200 7

Since 1866, Daily Since 1891

Warren Alpert dead at 86

W AT E R - M A N S T R E E T ?

BY STEPHANIE BERNHARD FEATURES EDITOR

Warren Alpert, who donated $100 million to the medical school now named for him, died of heart failure Saturday morning at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, according to his nephew, Herb Kaplan. Alpert was 86. “Mr. Alpert’s philanthropy will enable the University to enhance medical education at Brown. We are grateful for Mr. Alpert’s support, which will help educate generations of young physicians at the University,” President Ruth Simmons said Sunday in a statement. “He lived his life by having dedication — he had an indomitable spirit,” said Kaplan, who is president of the Warren Alpert Foundation. “He was a fighter to the end.” Born in 1920 to Lithuanian immigrants Goodman and Tena Alpert, Alpert grew up in the economically depressed town of Chelsea, Mass. He joined the U.S. Army after graduating from

Chris Bennett / Herald A fire hydrant spewed water onto the street Saturday near the corner of Thayer and George streets.

Corporation approves social choice fund BY MICHAEL BECHEK SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The Corporation approved the creation of a social choice fund at its meeting last weekend, settling an issue that had been on the University’s radar for at least three years. Donors will be able to earmark their money for the fund, which will remain separate from the regular endowment and will be invested in companies with strong environmental practices. The Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investment Policies, which advises the president on ethical issues related to the endowment, first proposed action toward socially responsible investing in February 2004, said Harold Ward, professor emeritus of environmental studies and chair of the ACCRI. But, continued on page 4

Shaw latest to leave dean of the College’s office BY ROSS FRAZIER NEWS EDITOR

Executive Associate Dean of the College Robert Shaw has resigned from his post at the University to become dean of the School of Education at Westminster College in Utah. Shaw, who has been a lecturer in education, an academic adviser and a College administrator at Brown for 20 years, will continue working in University Hall until mid-June and will start at the Salt Lake City liberal arts college July 1. “I am leaving Brown to accept a position that takes me ‘home’ in two senses. I will be going back full-time to an education department, the field in which I started my career some 35 years ago, and I will be returning to the city where I spent a fair amount of my childhood and where much of my family still lives,” Shaw wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. “I am thrilled to have the oppor-

tunity to work on new challenges but already nostalgic about the many wonderful colleagues Courtesy of Brown.edu and students Robert Shaw I have worked with here.” Shaw’s resignation — tendered in recent weeks — is the latest in a series of departures from the Office of the Dean of the College that will deprive it of more than a collective eight decades of institutional experience, just as University officials prepare to undertake wholesale reform of the undergraduate College. In a meeting of the Undergraduate Council of Students Wednesday, Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron announced the creation of a student-facul-

Courtesy of the Warren Alpert Foundation

Warren Alpert Boston University in 1942, serving in military intelligence during World War II. Alpert was awarded the Purple Heart in 1945. With help from the GI Bill of 1944, he enrolled in Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program and earned his master’s degree in business administration in 1947. Three years later, Alpert started his own business, a small oil marketing company with an office on Eddy Street in continued on page 4

Students oppose adding a foreign language requirement BY EVAN BOGGS STAFF WRITER

THE HERALD POLL

Students are strongly opposed to including a foreign language requirement in the undergraduate curriculum, a recent Herald poll found. Only 27 percent of students said they favor a requirement for all undergraduates to study a foreign language while at the University, and 70 percent said they opposed such a requirement. 3 percent did not know or had no answer. The poll, conducted from Jan. 29 to Feb. 2, has a margin of error of 4.7 percent with 95 percent confidence. Brown remains the only Ivy League school that does not require its undergraduates to

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study a foreign language as a general education requirement. All general education requirements were abolished with the introduction of the New Curriculum in 1969. Currently, only a few concentrations, such as international relations, have a language requirement. The University is beginning a broad review of its undergraduate curriculum — University officials yesterday announced the creation of a Task Force on Undergraduate Education — but Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron said there has been continued on page 4

‘Battlestar Galactica’ star discusses art mimicking life BY ALEX ROEHRKASSE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Academy Award-nominated actress Mary McDonnell spoke to an energetic, packed Salomon 001 Friday about playing President Laura Roslin on the popular television series “Battlestar Galactica” as part of a panel discussion on the show. The panel also featured speakers from the Departments of American Civilization and Modern Culture and Media and the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women. The panel, on “(Re)producing Cult TV: Battlestar Galactica,” addressed the science-fiction show’s relevance to current political

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events and media affairs as well as its insights into contemporary ethics and the formation of modern identities. “Though an entertainment program, ‘Battlestar Galactica’ offers the most serious, sustained and never cut-and-dry look on television at life in a post-9/11 world,” said Lynne Joyrich, the panel’s moderator and associate professor of modern culture and media. While the show’s premise may seem simple, Joyrich said, it engages viewers to review their own stories, histories and possible futures by blurring the lines between literal and figurative messages. “Many of the program’s plots have complex allegorical dimensions,” she said.

FRENCH FILMS The 10th annual Providence French Film Festival is being held this week at the Cable Car Cinema and features more than 20 presentations

www.browndailyherald.com

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The narrative of “Battlestar Galactica” presents a futuristic plight for human survival and self-definition in which the Cylons — a machine race developed as slaves but which evolved, some of whom are able to mimic humans — launch a nuclear holocaust on their former masters, leaving a small band of survivors searching for safe haven on the mythical planet Earth. McDonnell’s character — who was 43rd in line to the Presidency — is thrust into supreme power in a time of crisis and forced to grapple with such issues as ethnic cleansing, torture and counterterrorism. continued on page 6 ENCORE AWARDS The 17th annual Encore Awards were held on Thursday and celebrated the presence of high-quality art, food and culture in the city

Eunice Hong / Herald Academy Award-nominated actress Mary McDonnell spoke on Friday about her role as President Laura Roslin on “Battlestar Galactica.”

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195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

INTERNET INAUTHENTIC Nick Swisher ’08 explains how the Internet has forced entertainers, and specifically comedians, to be up front with their audiences

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M. LAX HALTS HOFSTRA The men’s lacrosse team hosted No. 14 Hoftsra in its home opener Saturday and handed rookie Head Coach Lars Tiffany his first win, 7-6

News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com


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