THE BROWN DAILY HERALD T HURSDAY A PRIL 26, 2007
Volume CXLII, No. 58
B.B. King to receive honorary degree
Internationalization effort begins to take shape BY MICHAEL SKOCPOL STAFF WRITER
BY MICHAEL BECHEK SENIOR STAFF WRITER
A new center to coordinate the University’s global health activities and an Africa development center are among the projects Brown’s internationalization committee will consider, members of the committee and its working groups told The Herald. The internationalization committee, chaired by Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98, was appointed last October to ser ve as a cornerstone for the University’s official effort to raise its international profile. It has since broken into working groups, three of which — global health; global humanities and curriculum; and language instruction and study abroad — will present their findings to the full committee today. The remaining three — global science and technology; global environment and poverty; and inequality and development — will report on May 10. The groups’ preliminar y recommendations will likely form the core of the full committee’s report, and they provide a first glimpse of the sorts of projects President Ruth Simmons, the provost and the vice president for international affairs slated to be appointed this summer may elect to pursue in coming years. Other recommendations in the working groups’ reports include greater support for Brown’s development studies program, an initiative in the nascent field of international investment, creating a summer institute for international humanities and encouraging more science and engineering students to study or do research abroad.
Blues musician B.B. King and the presidents of three New Orleans universities are among those who will receive honorary degrees this year at Commencement, University officials announced Wednesday. Scott Cowen of Tulane University, Norman Francis of Xavier University and Marvalene Hughes of Dillard University will each receive an honorary degree “in recognition of their determination and leadership following Hurricane Katrina,” according to a University press release. Other honorary degree recipients include sportscaster Chris Berman ’77 P’08, actress Kate Burton ’79, Professor Emeritus of Medical Science Stanley Aronson, Pulitzer prize-winning author Samantha Power and Nobel Prizewinning researcher Craig Mello ’82, who will give the baccalaurewhitehouse.gov
continued on page 6
B.B. King will receive an honorary degree at Commencement on May 27.
Student group stirs up ROTC debate BY ALEX ROEHRKASSE STAFF WRITER
The perennial debate over whether the Reserve Officer Training Corps should have a home on Brown’s campus may be reinvigorated with the creation of a new student group — tentatively called “Advocates for Brown ROTC” — calling for the military program’s reinstitution on College Hill. Jason Carr ’09 and Josh Teitelbaum ’08 founded the group to take steps toward breaking down the
Since 1866, Daily Since 1891
campus community’s isolation from what they say is an important social institution. “The military is a big part of society, and as of the moment, Brown has chosen to separate itself from it, and I believe it’s a bad decision on their part,” Carr said. “Brown graduates should be exposed to all walks of life, and exposure to the military can certainly inform Brown students.” Since Brown’s own ROTC program left campus in 1971 over faculty protests of the Vietnam War,
students pursuing ROTC have participated in the Army program at Providence College, the Patriot Battalion, which also serves several other campuses in Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts. Currently, only one Brown student is participating in the Patriot Battalion, according to Lt. Col. Paul Dulchinos, the battalion’s commander and a professor of military science at Providence College. Since a spike of 11 Brown cadets in continued on page 4
Common in many of the reports is the need to better coordinate Brown’s current and future international activities. Assistant Provost Shelley Stephenson, a member of the committee, said the full committee will meet on May 22 to begin producing a final report from the working groups’ suggestions, but no timetable has been set for it to produce the report. Poverty, inequality and development The report of the poverty, inequality and development working group will center on three main recommendations — the international investment initiative, the Africa center and the improvement of development studies — the group’s chair, Professor of Economics Ross Levine, told The Herald. The investment initiative would aim to “establish a ver y prominent reputation for Brown both in terms of teaching and research in the area of international investment,” Levine said. By bringing together scholars and students with a business-centered focus on profitable investing with those concerned about social justice and living standards in developing countries, Brown could potentially be a pioneer in a new field, Levine said. Those two groups rarely interact in modern academia, Levine said, but the working group believes collaboration would allow them to ask, “When is international investment a win-win situation for both recipient communities and busicontinued on page 15
TWC turns 30 years old Coming this fall to the SciLi: DVD rentals Remembering three decades of protest for unity BY IRENE CHEN STAFF WRITER
The Main Green is still a center of small-scale student protest, but 30 years ago a series of student-led demonstrations on campus and a nearly two-day occupation of University Hall compelled Brown to create the Third World Center. Sparked from these calls for racial and ethnic awareness, the TWC today unites students of all racial backgrounds under its roof in Partridge Hall. The center’s name and role on campus have raised questions and caused controversy since it first began in the Churchill House basement in 1976. But this week, the
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center celebrates three decades of supporting students of color and promoting understanding through programs, lectures, the Third World Transition Program and the Minority Peer Counselor Progam. Born out of protest In 1968, a group of black women from Pembroke College camped out for three days at the Congdon Street Baptist Church to call on the University to raise the number of black students in the incoming class to 11 percent. As a result of this — the first major student protest over race at the University — the number of black students who enrolled at the University the following year continued on page 16
REORIENTATION Students and administrators are optimistic about the restructured Orientation planned for the incoming class of 2011
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BY CAMERON LEE STAFF WRITER
FEATURE
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The Friedman Study Center will become home to a new DVD check-out service, allowing students to borrow movies for 24hour periods. The service will begin by Sept. 5, the first day of classes in the fall. Students will be able to check out DVDs free of charge, said University Librarian Harriette Hemmasi. Though DVDs can only be checked out for 24 hours, there will be no consequence for returning a DVD late. Hemmasi said she hopes students will abide by the 24-hour time limit, despite the lack of consequences for not adhering to the rule. “If (students) check things out and then keep them for a week, that really ruins the program,” she said, adding that the library might look to more strictly enforce the KNIVES AND DONUTS This week’s crime log features a knife theft from the Ratty and a mysterious doughnut-flinger operating from a car on Thayer Street
policy in the future. The initiative will start with about 40 DVDs. The plan is to add about 20 new movies per month to the service, which should house a collection of over 200 DVDs by next May, Hemmasi said. The service will be jointly financed by the Division of Campus Life and Student Services and the University library. A list of all titles owned by the library will be available online, and the movies will also be listed on Josiah, the University’s library catalog, Hemmasi said. Because the service is starting off as a pilot program, its survival and potential growth depend on student feedback, Hemmasi said. Brian Becker ’09, chair of the campus life committee of the Undergraduate Council of Students, conceived the idea for a DVD ser-
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continued on page 6 BASEBALL 1ST IN RED ROLFE After Harvard split its doubleheader against Yale, the baseball team found itself No. 1 in Red Rolfe after sweeping Dartmouth
Tai Ho Shin / Herald
The Friedman Study Center will house a new DVD check-out service that will allow students to borrow movies for 24 hour periods.
EDITOR’S NOTE
This is the last regular issue of The Herald until Sept. 5. Check browndailyherald.com for Web updates and look for the Commencement, Summer and Orientation issues on newsstands and on the Web. News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com