THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDA
Volume CXLII, No. 57
Regional councils will guide U.’s international pursuits
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25 , 2007 25,
Since 1866, Daily Since 1891
Glassman ’09 elected UCS president in squeaker
TA K I N G B A C K T H E N I G H T
BY MICHAEL SKOCPOL SENIOR STAFF WRITER
BY MICHAEL BECHEK SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The University will form regional advisory councils around the world to help Brown identify opportunities, build visibility and raise funds to support its internationalization effort, senior University officials told The Herald. Vice President for International Advancement Ronald Margolin said he has begun assembling the first two councils — one that will focus specifically on China and another that will deal with Asia more generally — both of which should be active by the end of 2007. The creation of a third council, which will focus specifically on India, should begin soon, he added, and will be able to begin its work by March 2008. Some preliminary discussions have also taken place on an Africa council, and University officials are also considering creating councils for Europe, the Middle East, Latin America generally and Brazil specifically, though there is no current timetable for the development of those councils, Margolin said. The Office of the President and
Michael Glassman ’09 was declared the winner of the run-off election for president of the Undergraduate Council of Students last night, defeating Moses Riner ’08 by just 81 votes. Glassman’s 746 votes — or 53 percent of the votes cast — were just enough to beat Riner’s 665 in the head-to-head showdown. The run-off was needed after none of the original three presidential candidates was able to win a majority in the first vote, held last week. Glassman, currently the UCS communications chair, finished slightly behind Riner on that ballot, slightl said Christina Kim ’07, the UCS elections board chair. Stefan Smith ’09 was eliminated from the race after the first vote. Voting for the run-off election took place on MyCourses between 12 p.m. Monday and 5 p.m. Tuesday. In the other run-off ballot, Jonathan Natkins ’08 was declared the winner of the race for Undergraduate Finance Board vice chair with 570 votes, or 51 percent. Natkins and Don Trella ’08, a Herald Opinions Columnist, were forced into a runoff despite being the only two candidates for the position because neither received a majority in the first vote, due mainly to write-in votes. The results of the two run-off elections were announced just after 10 p.m. Tuesday on the steps of Faunce House. Glassman, Riner and members of the elections board were joined by several other UCS members as well as friends of the candidates. As he received congratulations from senior members of UCS, Glassman told The Herald he was “excited” about his election. “I guess I’ve got my work cut out for me,” he said. Glassman’s election as UCS president marks the end of a closely watched race that briefly attracted controversy when a candidate who had run on a platform of “dissolving” UCS if elected was disqualified. Eric Mukherjee ’09 was taken off the ballot by the elections board just hours before voting began for failing to attend two required meetings. Mukherjee was initially unaware that he was a candidate for president, The Herald reported Thursday. His campaign was spearheaded by friends without his knowledge and began as “a joke,” he said, but he decided to go forward with his campaign after sensing that his platform had strong support from students. Glassman, a New York City native and a two-year veteran of UCS, told The Herald his goals include developing a student response to Banner, renovating dorms, expanding January@Brown and reaching out to people who show interest in participating in UCS.
continued on page 4
Eunice Hong / Herald
The Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance and other campus groups held a Take Back the Night event Tuesday night to protest rape as they marched through University buildings.
Nobel Prize-winner Mello ’82 to speak at baccalaureate Craig Mello ’82, who was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, will deliver the baccalaureate address at Commencement next month, University officials announced Tuesday. Mello, a Howard Hughes investigator at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, was awarded the prize with Andrew Fire of Stanford University for their discovery of RNA interference, a phenomenon they documented in a landmark 1998 pa-
per that has significantly affected research efforts worldwide. Mello and Fire discovered the mechanism of RNA interference, which leads to “gene silencing.” The discovery has allowed researchers to study gene regulation by controlling the expression of specific genes and has therapeutic implications for genetic diseases. Mello will also receive an honorary degree at Commencement on May 27. His address will take place in the First Baptist Church
in America the day before. Mello, who was a biochemistry concentrator as an undergraduate, told The Herald in October that he had fond memories of Brown. “Brown was a fantastic place for me,” he said. “The education I got there just prepared me so well for my future.” Mello, 46, is a native of Fairfax, Va., and now lives in Shrewsbury, Mass. — Michael Bechek
Profs voice support for more undergrad science research funding BY JAMES SHAPIRO SENIOR STAFF WRITER
At a faculty forum Tuesday sponsored by the Faculty Executive Committee, the Undergraduate Science Education Committee heard feedback from professors on its proposals for promoting undergraduate education in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. The 20-person committee consists of eight students and 12 fac-
ulty and administrators working in those areas, known as STEM fields. The event was intended as a venue for professors outside the committee to express their opinions about a draft of the committee’s upcoming report, titled “Improving Undergraduate Education in the STEM Fields at Brown.” The forum, attended by about 30 professors, did not include voting or any formal motions. A final version of the committee’s report will be released at
some point in May, said Karen Fischer, professor of geological sciences and chair of the committee. The committee’s recommendations focus on the areas of curriculum, research opportunities, advising efforts, academic support and admission. Forum participants expressed particular concern over research opportunities for undergraduates. A draft of the committee’s upcoming report recommends increasing “the number of Universi-
ty-funded undergraduate summer research positions by 50 per year, with a target total of 450 across all fields for the year 2012.” The recommendation is contingent upon continued demand from students and sufficient space to accommodate them in research projects. Associate Dean of the College and Dean for Science Programs David Targan ’78, a member of the committee, said professors continued on page 8
Pulitzer-winner Maraniss shares Roberto Clemente’s mythology BY CHAZ FIRESTONE SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Eunice Hong / Herald
Washington Post editor David Maraniss delivered the Casey Shearer Memorial Lecture Thursday night.
INSIDE:
3 CAMPUS NEWS
CHAFEE ’75 UPDATE Students say former f U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee ’75 has been an important addition to Brown despite his limited teaching role
www.browndailyherald.com
7 CAMPUS NEWS
Roberto Clemente’s life was one of graceful athleticism and personal adversity adversity. A black Puerto Rican, Clemente emerged from the cloud of racism that enveloped the United States in the Jim Crow-era to become one of the greatest right fielders in Major League Baseball history history. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Davis Maraniss relayed the Pittsburgh Pirate’s inspiring story yesterday to a small but attentive crowd in Salomon 101. Maraniss, associate editor of the Washington Post and author of “Clemente: The Passion and CHEATING CHEATERS 30 academic code violations from last semester have gone before a faculty committee — a sharp increase from last year
Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero,” as well as a best-selling biography of former President Bill Clinton and an account of the Vietnam War, delivered the seventh-annual Casey Shearer Memorial Lecture in honor of Casey Shearer ’00, a promising writer and aspiring sports journalist who died days before he was to graduate from Brown. The lecture — entitled “The Mythology of Sport” — followed the life and tragic death of Hallof-Famer Roberto Clemente. Maraniss recounted Clemente’s entrance into and graceful domination of Major League Baseball
11 OPINIONS
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
continued on page 4 PROTEST KING Jesse Adams ’07 believes Martin Luther King’s brilliance was in his well-thought out strategies, something campus activists should consider
12 SPORTS
W. TENNIS TOPS .500 The women’s tennis team rode another weekend sweep, this time over Harvard and Dartmouth, to its first winning Ivy mark since 2003
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