The Brown Daily Herald T uesday, O ctober 9, 2007
Volume CXLII, No. 84
Since 1866, Daily Since 1891
Only 3 violent campus crimes reported to FBI in 2006
Admissions officers question value of SAT writing section
By Simon Van Zuylen-Wood Contributing Writer
By Sophia Li Contributing Writer
Crime rates at Brown and in Providence dropped in 2006 from 2005, according to a recent FBI report. But Mark Porter, Brown’s chief of police and director of public safety, said he believes the report could be misleading because local agencies sometimes define and classify crimes differently than the FBI.
Yet McCracken said he feels the project gives voters information they ought to know. “It’s really important for the people to know where the candidates stand — and have stood — to know how they’ll actually act when they’re in office,” he said. That’s why McCracken is determined to keep the site’s content fresh. “I’m trying to figure out a way to either get other people who are interested in it, or to fit it into (my) schedule,” he said. Reality Check ’08 tries to catch presidential contenders in their own double-talk, which will hopefully encourage them to clarify their positions. “What we’re really trying to do is look at what the different candidates are saying on the campaign trail,” McCracken said. “So
For two years, college applicants have had to complete a writing section on the SAT, but Brown and other universities are still reserving judgement on how much the section actually tells them, and it remains a relatively minor component of a student’s application, admission officials say. “I think we’re all still waiting to see how valid of a credential it is and how it compares to performance in the classroom,” said Dean of Admission Jim Miller ’73. “We haven’t yet given it the same credence we give other credentials with which we’re more familiar, like the standard SATs and the (Advanced Placement) scores and the subject tests,” Miller said. Miller noted that SAT writing scores have been used as a factor since the implementation of the writing section in 2005. Previously, Brown required that applicants complete the SAT Subject Test in writing. Miller said he hopes the writing section will prove to be a useful predictor of how applicants would perform in college, but he said there is no clear evidence for that yet. Nancy Viggiano, a spokeswoman for the College Board, which administers the SAT, said colleges should wait and see how the writing section plays out. “The SAT writing section is new and scores should be fully evaluated before they are used for making any kind of high-stakes decision,” she wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. Viggiano wrote that colleges should collect the writing scores of their matriculating students and
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METRO The University and the city annually submit their crime statistics to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting program, which gathers data from about 17,000 law enforcement agencies around the country, said bureau spokesman Steve Fischer. Agencies voluntarily submit crime data to the FBI program. Violent crimes in Providence dropped from 1,207 in 2005 to 972 in 2006. These crimes, as defined by the FBI’s report, comprise murder, forcible rape, robbery or aggravated assault. The city’s property crimes — which include burglaries, thefts and arson — fell from 9,124 to 8,585 in the same period. The University’s crime trends matched the city’s — property crimes dropped from 230 in 2005 to 178 in 2006, according to the Sept. 24 report. Brown’s three violent crimes in 2006 — versus two in 2005 — were the lowest among the Ivy League schools who reported to the FBI. Yale, Cornell and Harvard universities — with larger student bodies than Brown’s — each had more violent crimes: Six at Yale, four at Cornell and 11 at Har vard. The University of Rhode Island, the only other Ocean State university to report, had six violent crimes on its Kingston campus. Brown’s Department of Public Safety, like the law enforcement agencies at many universities and in most U.S. cities, reports all criminal offenses that occur on or around campus. Because the information is presented to the FBI on a voluntary basis, there is no guarantee it is complete. Unlike Brown, many universities don’t send any information. Porter said DPS reports all on-campus crime to the FBI and that he is confident the department is doing all it can to provide valuable information to the FBI. We send data to the FBI “because we take dealing with crime issues very seriously. In order to do that we think it’s important to understand the information and understand the data that we have, and certainly share that data.” When Brown students are involved in off-campus crimes, DPS is alerted, but the Providence Police continued on page 6
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Scott Kunstadt / Herald
Cash McCracken ’08 has started Reality Check ’08, a blog that tracks political candidates who “flip-flop” on issues.
Flip-floppers beware: McCracken ’08 is watching By Abe Lubetkin Staf f Writer
Cash McCracken ’08 and three classmates — all self-described “political junkies” — developed an ambitious idea last spring. For their group project in PPAI 1700U: “Communications, Advocacy and Public Affairs,” they created a Web site called Reality Check 08 (realitycheck08.org) to catch presidential candidates “flip-flopping” on issues. Now McCracken is facing a reality check of his own. As the presidential primar y heats up, the Web site is more pertinent than it has ever been. But McCracken’s three fellow bloggers have graduated and started full-time jobs, and McCracken is taking a full course load while trying to land a job of his own for next year. With little time and few helpers, he’s strug-
gling to keep the Web site up to speed. “Last semester we each had our own responsibilities and would help each other research,” he said. “It’s harder now that
FEATURE there’s not that class element.” Last spring, McCracken, Matt Listro ’07, John Butler ’07 and former Herald opinions columnist Jesse Adams ’07 researched for several hours each day and updated the site regularly. Their work drew quick notice: After a few months, Reality Check ’08 was linked on Time Magazine’s political blog and was attracting about 500 visitors a day. But with a political news cycle that rarely lasts longer than 24 hours, blogs are only as good as they are recent. McCracken last posted on Aug. 20.
Birth control prices jump, but students are largely unaffected By Gaurie Tilak Contributing Writer
Daniela Postigo / Herald
Birth control pills, such as those pictured here, have become more expensive for some students due to federal legislation.
Ris ’05 in R.I. for good Despite his loss in last fall’s City Council election, Ethan Ris ’05 says he is sticking in Rhode Island — and politics
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CAMPUS NEWS
mycourses for them MyCourses allows professors the ability to track student use but few use the feature
Due to federal legislation, students at Brown and around the nation can no longer get birth control pills for less than market price, but the number of students getting birth control through University Health Services has remained about the same. In the past, pharmaceutical companies provided large discounts on sales of birth control pills to universities, allowing colleges to provide birth control to students at low cost without using health insurance from either the school or parents. That birth control was offered in “clinic packs,” which could be used for three or four months. But that changed with the introduction of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, which was signed into law
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OPINIONS
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
Olympic odds Adam Cambier ’09 handicaps those cities in the lead to land the 2016 Summer Olympics
in February 2006. The new birth control policy has been in place since this January. The law was designed to save taxpayers close to $40 billion over the next five years by slowing the rate of growth on mandatory spending for federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid. But a provision in the law meant pharmaceutical companies no longer provided reduced-price birth control to student health centers — Brown’s included — according to a Sept. 10 article in the Boston Globe. The legislation has also affected health clinics such as Planned Parenthood. For a period of time, the change went largely unnoticed because most university pharmacies, including Brown’s, stocked up before continued on page 8
12 SPORTS
Crossed up The football team’s defense couldn’t figure out a way to slow down Holy Cross in a 48-37 loss
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