The Brown Daily Herald T hursday, N ovember 29, 2007
Volume CXLII, No. 117
Since 1866, Daily Since 1891
Professors weigh in on 2008 election
U. dodges study abroad scandal
By Jenna Stark Staf f Writer
By Chaz Firestone Senior Staff Writer
Three political science professors discussed their predictions for the 2008 presidential election in front of students and community members at a well-attended event Wednesday in Petteruti Lounge. Professor of Political Science Darrell West, Associate Professor of Political Science Wendy Schiller and Assistant Professor of Political Science Jennifer Lawless each gave 10-minute overviews of their analyses of the upcoming election before opening up the discussion to questions. West, the director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy, opened the meeting with his prediction that Sen. Hillar y Clinton, D-N.Y., will win the election and make histor y as the first female president of the United States. “I think the most impor tant factor that’s conditioning the 2008 election is Bush fatigue,” West said. “One of the most interesting public opinion numbers of this election is that about two-thirds of Americans feel our country is heading in the wrong direction. This is great news for the opposing party.” West said Clinton’s success would continue a historical pattern. In times of war, the American public has consistently chosen the more hawkish candidate for president. West also predicted Mitt Romney will be the Republican candidate since former New York City
As universities expand their study abroad programs and turn to thirdparty providers to meet increasing demand, some fear that cozy relationships and conflicts of interest may abound under the tables of the study abroad industry — and that students may be paying the price. The New York Times reported in August that some universities and their representatives were receiving perks and cash incentives in exchange for steering their students toward specific companies’ programs, entering tacit or explicit agreements of exclusivity. By entering preferred relationships with study abroad providers, universities are said to stifle competition between providers, giving preferred companies little incentive to offer competitive pricing and leaving internationally-minded students who want credit for their foreign study no choice but to enroll in university-approved programs. Three days following its initial article, the Times reported that New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo had begun an investigation of these practices, issuing subpoenas to five major study abroad providers, four of which — the Center for Education Abroad at Arcadia University, the Danish Institute for Study Abroad, the Institute for the International Education of Students and the Institute for Study Abroad at Butler University — currently lend their services to Brown. At Brown, “we have no exclusivity agreements whatsoever,” said Kendall Brostuen, associate dean of the College and director of international programs. “We approve programs, not providers.” Brostuen said he has never received the perks and cash incentives allegedly given to study abroad officers, and he added that he would condemn such practices as unethical. But the Times also reported that university officials benefit from free or subsidized travel to program locations and memberships on provider advisory boards — both of which Brostuen said are common in the industry and take place at Brown.
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Chris Bennett / Herald
Tom’s Tracks, which opened in 1985 on Thayer Street, will likely shut down at the end of the year.
Tom’s Tracks to shut doors at year’s end By Gaurie Tilak Staff Writer
On St. Patrick’s Day in 1985, Tom Farnsworth, Rick Bellaire and Kristin Kearney opened an independent record store on Thayer Street. When it closes at the end of this year, it will be the latest in a long line of independent stores to shutter on Thayer. Tom’s Tracks has survived a downturn in album sales in the last decade, but its doors will close partly because its namesake, Farnsworth, is suffering from deteriorating health. “I had planned to call it quits when I had my 25th anniversary,” Farnsworth said. The store will shut down after almost 23 years in business. Over the course of the ’80’s and
Ondaatje shares new book, but little else By Alex Verdolini Contributing Writer
www.browndailyherald.com
METRO In addition to Tom’s, there are only four other independent record stores left in the state, Farnsworth said. The store’s only remaining competition consists of the chain stores in the Providence Place Mall, he said. The music industry as a whole has suffered over the past decade. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, the recording industry grew from a net value of approximately $8 bil-
lion to $14 billion between 1991 and 2000. However, between 2000 and 2006, the industry shrank to $11 billion. Farnsworth was able to maintain his business by overseeing the store in person. “I was able to keep going because I didn’t have to hire retail counter help,” said Farnsworth, who worked at the store seven days a week from opening to closing for several years. But Farnsworth’s deteriorating health will partly force the store to close. Last October, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Additionally, he has suffered 14 strokes to date. In November, Farnsworth cut down on his hours after suffering from a stroke. In January, he became blind in both continued on page 4
S occ e r stunn e d
ARTS & CULTURE
Novelist and poet Michael Ondaatje offered little insight into his literary project last night. After reading for nearly an hour from his latest novel, he retired from the stage of Salomon 101. He returned with seeming reluctance to answer a single question before stepping down again. The writer spoke and signed copies of his book in the last event of the Literar y Ar ts Program’s “Writers on Writing” series. Ondaatje’s novel “The English Patient,” a fragmented romance set in World War II-era Europe and North Africa, has been his greatest success to date, winning a Booker Prize. In film adaptation, it garnered nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture in 1996. His next novel, “Anil’s Ghost,” the account of a woman’s return to Ondaatje’s native Sri Lanka to investigate war crimes, met with less commercial success but earned him the Irish Times In-
INSIDE:
’90’s, many retailers opened and closed record stores on Thayer Street. “Twenty years ago there were probably six record stores on Thayer Street,” said Bellaire, the store’s assistant manager and chief merchandise buyer.
ternational Fiction Prize, the Giller Prize and the Prix Medicis. After a brief introduction by Brian Evanson, director of Literary Arts, who called Ondaatje’s latest book “perhaps his boldest and most ambitious novel yet,” Ondaatje took the podium. In his distinct, inscrutable accent — it has traces of Sri Lanka, England and Canada in it — he read several long passages from “Divisadero,” tracing the story of Anna, one of the novel’s several protagonists and its closest approximation of an authorial mouthpiece. “Divisadero” is a novel of kaleidoscopic complexity. It opens with the account of peaceful family life on a North California farm — a widower living with two daughters and a young farmhand named Coop — but both the story and the continued on page 6
postpost- interviews Coheed and Cambria and Bon Iver and says goodbye to Volume 8.
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METRO
Ashley Hess / Herald Kevin Davies ’08 gathers his thoughts immediately after ODU’s Ambane Emmanuel’s goal knocked the men’s soccer team out of the NCAA tournament. See Sports, Page 12
Crime at Hope high A Hope High School student was arrested last Tuesday for bringing a gun to school.
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OPINIONS
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
Apple Inc. Stinks Matt Prewitt ’08 delves into all the reasons Apple and its products are wrong for consumers.
Questionable practices? When Brown students wish to study abroad and receive credit for their time off College Hill, they have three options: Brown-sponsored programs, approved third-party programs and petitioned programs. In order to ensure the quality of programs not run by the University, OIP officials are sent to schools all over the world on “familiarization visits” and “formal site reviews” to assess them for academic rigor, student support and other factors. “I can tell you from experience, they’re work,” Brostuen said of the visits. “It’s exhaustive, it’s worthwhile, but it’s not extravagant.” continued on page 7
12 SPORTS
Season over The men’s soccer team’s NCAA tournament run was halted by ODU last night at Stevenson Field.
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