The Brown Daily Herald Wednesday, J anuar y 23, 2008
Volume CXLIII, No. 1
Since 1866, Daily Since 1891
RISD selects new president
Chuck Norris doesn’t cry, but he does sue
By George Miller Senior Staf f Writer
The Rhode Island School of Design has announced its next president — and he’s coming from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. John Maeda will take up his new job on College Hill this June, coming from his post as associate director of research at the MIT Media Laboratory. His work has been covered in the New York Times, the Economist and the International Herald Tribune, and he was named one of the 21 most important people for the 21st century by Esquire magazine. Though he’s been internationally recognized for his work in design and technology, he said he’s not necessarily a fan of technology. “I’ve had my doubts about it,” Maeda told The Herald. “Today we’re stuck in a catch-up game,” he added, as computers and gadgets get more complex and “bloated” every year. Simplicity has been the subject of his most recent research, including a book called “The Laws of Simplicity.” RISD, he said, is able to address the question of integrating technology with traditional art and design. He said he thought the idea of simplicity resonated with the presidential search committee, which unanimously recommended Maeda to RISD’s board of trustees. The search committee’s work took nine months, but members said they are satisified with the result. “Couldn’t be happier,” said RISD senior Angela Manes-Muir, one of two student representatives on the search committee, which also included members of the board of trustees, faculty, the RISD museum and the school’s administration. “He just has this incredible vision of where art and design can go.” Manes-Muir said she was impressed by his vision, sense of humor and, of course, his resumé. Since all RISD faculty members are required to be practicing artists, it’s good to have a president who is one too, she added. Student reaction to Maeda has been very positive, with only a few negative comments on RISD’s Daily Jolt Web site, she said. A Jan. 9 meeting at which Maeda spoke was packed with students, she said. Maeda has made an effort to communicate with the RISD community, even six months before he’s due to take over. “My plan right now is to understand RISD,” Maeda said. “I’m on a fact-finding kind of journey right now.” An internal blog, viewable only by RISD students and faculty, came out when Maeda’s selection was announced in December. There, he said, he talks about “everything,” asks about Providence, and gets input from students and alums. The blog — the first of its kind, according to Maeda — averages about ten comments a day, he said. Maeda has continued on page 4
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Stargazing Set your watch by the stars at the soon-to-be renovated Ladd Observatory
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood Senior Staff Writer
did not return a message seeking additional comment. Other schools included in the investigation are Harvard, Columbia, Northwestern, Cornell, American, Brandeis, Fordham, Alfred and Pace, along with Alfred State, Manhattanville, Siena and Hobart and William Smith colleges and the College of New Rochelle, Benjamin Lawsky, a spokesman for the attorney general, told the Associated Press. It was not yet clear why Brown was among those schools subpoenaed for the investigation. A spokesman at the attorney general’s Albany, N.Y., office did not return a message left Tuesday. Four of the five study abroad providers that were initially subpoenaed at the beginning of Cuomo’s investigation currently offer their services at Brown’s Office of International Programs, The
If you believe the online “Chuck Norris Random Fact Generator,” then you know that the martial arts expert and actor “does not read books. He stares at them until he gets the information he needs.” In the case of Ian Spector’s ’09 new book, he’s locked in more than a staring match. In December, Norris sued Penguin Group in an attempt to stop publication of “The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 Facts About the World’s Greatest Human.” Norris, the “Walker, Texas Ranger” star, was denied a temporary restraining order against Penguin to stop book sales, according to Stacy Noble, Spector’s publicist. Spector created the “Chuck Norris Random Fact Generator” on his website, http://4Q.cc/, in the summer of 2005. The Web site also includes “Fact Generators” about the actors Mr. T and Vin Diesel. The satirical “facts,” which poke fun at Norris’s tough-guy persona, are submitted by Web site visitors. Some of the highestranked “facts” include “Chuck Norris can speak Braille,” and “Chuck Norris’ tears cure cancer. Too bad he never cries.” Norris once publicly recited “facts” from Spector’s website on the “Best Damn Sports Show Period,” a show on Fox Sports. More recently, Norris appeared in a television ad endorsing Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who recited some “facts” similar to those found on Spectors’ site. The “Random Fact Generator” became a Web sensation, and publishers began approaching Spector in the spring of 2006. When the book was published on Nov. 29, Norris asked the U.S. District Court in New York City to suppress
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Min Wu / Herald File Photo
Brown’s Office of International Programs is among those involved in an investigation of study abroad practices.
U. subpoenaed in study abroad inquiry New York AG’s investigation now includes four Ivies By Michael Bechek News Editor
Brown has been subpoenaed by New York’s attorney general in connection with an investigation into college study abroad programs, the University confirmed in a statement Tuesday. Andrew Cuomo, the New York attorney general, has expanded his investigation of colleges’ study abroad practices to include 15 schools, the New York Times reported Monday. Cuomo began his investigation in August after a Times article revealed practices at some schools in which university representatives steered students toward “preferred” programs in exchange for cash, travel perks or
seats on program advisory boards from the providers of those programs. Kendall Brostuen, associate dean of the College and director of international programs, told The Herald in November that Brown had no such agreements with study abroad providers and that he would condemn such practices as unethical. “We’ve been very transparent,” he said then, adding he did not expect “any contact whatsoever” from the attorney general’s office. Brostuen did not immediately respond to a request for comment left Tuesday afternoon. Michael Chapman, vice president for public affairs and University relations, said in the statement that the University “has received” a subpoena and that it is “currently reviewing (it) and will be responding to the attorney general’s office.” A spokeswoman for the University
Brown professor defends evolution in South Carolina Biology textbook stirs controversy by Melissa Shube Staff Writer
One professor’s critique of the presentation of evolution in a textbook written by Professor of Biology Ken Miller ’70 and Joseph Levine almost prevented the book from appearing in South Carolina classrooms. The textbook “Biology” was up for approval by the South Carolina Board of Education when retired Clemson professor Horace D. Skipper wrote a four-page review of the book, critiquing its treatment of evolution. “In the view of this retired professor, what was wrong with
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our book was that we presented evolution to be true,” Miller told The Herald. Skipper’s critique was presented to the South Carolina Board of Education, which has the last word on what books can be offered to the state’s schools. “The textbook under review fails to provide the necessary evidence (for the Darwinian theory of evolution),” Skipper wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. “It seems reasonable to offer additional theories including creation and intelligent design, since all theories on origin are outside the scientific method.” The sales representative for Miller’s book received word of
research update Prof.’s drug promises to help muscular dystrophy patients
Chris Bennett / Herald File Photo
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Professor of Biology Ken Miller ‘70, who has advocated teaching evolution, recently found his popular textbook up against creationist critics.
political insider Adam Cambier ’09 observes the antics at the Iowa caucus
tomorrow’s weather Gray skies and snowflakes as white as Chuck Norris’ teeth
snow 29 / 12 www.browndailyherald.com
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