Thursday, October 11, 2007

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The Brown Daily Herald T hursday, O ctober 11, 2007

Volume CXLII, No. 86

Since 1866, Daily Since 1891

Plans for new dorm may be on hold after pool shutdown By Debbie Lehmann and Scott Lowenstein Senior Staff Writers

A “planned initiative” for the construction of a new dorm, set in motion this time last year, seems to have disappeared from the administration’s immediate agenda. Some student leaders familiar with the issue say the plan for a new

From College Hill to China

dorm was set aside due to the potential cost of building a new aquatics facility to replace the Smith Swim Center, saying University officials told a group of students earlier this month that the project would not begin in the next few years. Yet President Ruth Simmons’ call last week for a reassessment of the Plan for Academic Enrichment could change University priorities

and suggests that a new dorm is not necessarily on the backburner, said a student who has met with administrators about the matter. Plans for a new swim center and plans for a new dorm have not been specifically framed as mutually exclusive. But the expense of a new swim center — necessary after the Smith Swim Center was deemed irretrievably damaged last semes-

ter — has effectively taken new housing off the administration’s immediate agenda, according to Kevin McDonald ’08, who serves on the Campus Planning Advisory Board. “Planning has completely stopped,” McDonald said. “They haven’t thrown away the plans, but

Glass professor Rachel Berwick, who became head of the department this year, says her goal is to “teach glass as a sculptural medium” and give students a solid foundation in the art. A student must be dedicated and focused, Berwick says, because glass art is done primarily through trial and error and because the medium is so fragile. Berwick received her bachelor’s degree in glass at RISD and continued her education at Yale, studying sculpture.Glass continued on page 12

continued on page 6

A n o t h e r d a y , an o t h e r pr o t e s t

By Chaz Firestone Senior Staf f Writer

continued on page 6

INSIDE:

3

METRO

www.browndailyherald.com

Chris Bennett / Herald As community members advocate action against the Bush Administration and war in Iraq, Brown College Republicans stage their own protest to counter the anti-war protesters, urging passersby to “honk to end this protest.”

Down the Hill, glass is a hot topic at RISD By Allison Wentz Contributing Writer

On a hot Friday afternoon in Providence, a group of students gather near a furnace, sweating while their professor teaches. The professor retrieves molten glass, glowing orange on the end of the iron rod, and quickly begins to roll and shape the material, losing no time as it hardens more and more each second. He does none of this alone, though — at least two students help him each time he takes the glass out of

the furnace. One of the Rhode Island School of Design’s smaller departments, the Department of Glass consists of 33 undergraduate and graduate

FEATURE students. Housed in RISD’s Metcalf Building at the corner of North Main and Waterman streets, the department is home to a half-ton continuous melt furnace, diamond saws, sandblasting machines and studio space for upper-level students.

By Hazel Pike Contributing Writer

While the University created a Sexual Assault Advisory Board this spring to focus on sexual assault on campus, a group of Brown and Rhode Island School of Design students banded together to form a task force intended to bring additional attention to the issue, which some say Brown fails to adequately address. Associate Vice President for Campus Life and Dean of Student Life Margaret Klawunn, a member of the University committee comprised of administrators and students, said the board’s purpose is to improve communication with students on sexual assault issues. The student task force has a more activist role, according to post- columnist Amy Littlefield ’09, also of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance. “We started this task force to start raising awareness about the resources that do exist and to start pushing the University for better resources,” she said. In crime statistics for 2006 recently released by the Department of Public Safety, four cases of sexual assault were reported, but Littlefield said she believes this number is lower than the number of actual offenses. “Investigations of allegations of sexual assault are, by their very nature, extremely sensitive processes and we work hard to insure that we respect the privacy of all parties involved,” Klawunn wrote in her e-mail. “Protecting privacy and adhering to confidentiality standards shouldn’t be confused (with but is) sometimes misconstrued as keeping the issue quiet.” Last fall, DPS revised its crime statistics after The Herald reported that the statistics showed no sexual assaults in 2005. Four on-campus sexual assaults reported to the Office of Student Life were left out of

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Internationalization takes shape with med student exchange

A new medical exchange program between Brown and China’s Zhejiang University was symbolically signed into agreement last night by President Ruth Simmons and Zhejiang President Wei Yang PhD’85 over cocktails at Simmons’ Power Street home. In the first significant agreement since administrators placed internationalization high on the University’s agenda last year, the exchange program will allow students at the Warren Alpert Medical School to study at local hospitals in Hangzhou while Chinese students study in Providence. Zhejiang University is one of the most prestigious universities in China and is home to over 40,000 students. Yang, who earned his Ph.D in engineering from Brown, told The Herald he was excited to return to Brown and create the exchange program — the first of its kind between Zhejiang’s medical school and any American university — and called Brown the perfect candidate for such a program. “We have very unique similarities between Brown University and my university,” Yang said. Seeds of the program were planted over a year ago when Simmons and other University officials traveled to Beijing and signed a document of interest with Zhejiang officials. Associate Dean of Medicine Julianne Ip ’75 MD’78 said the Zhejiang medical school was looking to implement an eightyear M.D. program for Chinese high school graduates, so three representatives from Zhejiang came to Brown for a week to learn about the Program in Liberal Medical Education. “Eight months later, totally out of the blue, President Yang contacted and then met President Simmons,” Ip said. “It turned out to be a perfect match, because President Sim-

Sexual assault resources must be improved, students say

Zyrra supports women’s needs

aft e r a u s c h w it z

By Meha Verghese Staff Writer

George Miller / Herald Alvin Rosenfeld MA‘62 PhD’67 P’89, professor of English at Indiana University, spoke last night in Salomon 001 on Primo Levi and forgiveness after Auschwitz.

Raising the russian The Navy may rescue the Russian submarine that sunk in the Providence River in April.

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CAMPUS NEWS

out of africa Five students and an alum spent four weeks in Kenya filming a documentary about microfinance.

FEATURE

It was during her time at Brown that Christi Andersen ’97 began to feel that she needed more comfort and support. Her feelings didn’t stem from the quality of the food in the dining halls or the sophomore advising system, but from the lack of well-made bras that could support her 34DDD frame. “I realized that I was having a really hard time as my body was changing — it probably started with the freshman 15,” Andersen said. But her bra-shopping troubles paid off — Andersen, along with business par tner Derek Ohly, launched a new company, Zyrra,

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OPINIONS

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

Internet 2.0 The new frontier of college demonstration and activism, says Maha Atal ’08, will be online.

earlier this year with the goal to fit women with custom-made bras that look attractive while providing support. Since commercial bras only vary in cup size and band width, many women buy bras that don’t fit them correctly. Andersen is hoping to change that. Andersen first thought of this concept during her sophomore year at Brown. “It was getting really depressing to be 19 (years old) and looking at granny bras,” she said. After graduating from Brown with a degree in computer science, continued on page 6

16 SPORTS

Bears beat eagles The juggernaut that is the men’s soccer team won again last night, beating No. 5 Boston College, 1-0.

News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com


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Thursday, October 11, 2007 by The Brown Daily Herald - Issuu