The Brown Daily Herald T hursday, J anuar y 24, 2008
Volume CXLIII, No. 2
Since 1866, Daily Since 1891
High lead levels found in 17 U. buildings
Mid-year entry difficult for transfers By Max Mankin Senior Staf f Writer
By Nandini Jayakrishna Senior Staf f Writer
The transition to life at Brown can be especially difficult for midyear transfer students. With only a small group of students enrolling each January, current and former mid-year arrivals have said that, at times, they faced a disorganized reception. This year, 22 transfer students, split evenly between men and women, and one visiting student from Tougaloo College in Jackson, Miss., were admitted to the University. They come from a wide range of the nation’s colleges and universities , including Vassar College, Wesleyan University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. According to Carolyn Denard, associate dean of the College, some transfers were originally admitted to Brown as freshmen, attended other colleges, and then returned to Brown. Others realized that their first college choice did not turn out the way they had hoped. “The most challenging transition, from my perspective, is adjusting to the transfer credit system,” Denard wrote in an e-mail to The Herald, explaining that Brown courses carr y four credit hours while courses at other schools often only count for three. “We do all we can in transfer advising to explain how our system works and how as a transfer student it is sometimes better to have more time at Brown than less time.” Robert Warner ’10.5, a transfer student from New York University, said he experienced the challenge that Denard identified. For example, Warner said he was unable to transfer credit from an NYU French class to qualify for an intermediate French class here. Some mid-year transfer students can encounter even more substantial challenges. “I hit the ground running pretty hard,” said Liam
Courtesy of weforum.org Global leaders and U2’s Bono at the 2005 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. President Ruth Simmons is attending this year.
Simmons attends Swiss economic forum
By Jenna Stark Senior Staff Writer
For the first time in six years, President Ruth Simmons is attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Following its motto, “entrepreneurship in the global public interest,” the forum, which began yesterday and will end on Jan. 27, serves as an opportunity for heads of state, presidents
of non-government organizations, cabinet ministers and religious, media and business leaders to meet and discuss a theme — this year, “The Power of Collaborative Innovation.” Created in 1971 by Klaus Schwab, a former professor of business policy at the University of Geneva, the World Economic Forum now includes more than 2,500 participants from 88 coun-
tries. Simmons is attending this year’s forum because the timing works with her schedule and the theme relates to the University’s recent internationalization efforts, said Assistant to the President Marisa Quinn. “The internationalization effort at Brown is about advancing the program and offering it at Brown continued on page 4
U. loses Pulitzer-winning playwright to Yale By Rachel Arndt Metro Editor
Courtesy of Brown.edu
Paula Vogel will head the playwriting department at Yale.
continued on page 4
Brown’s playwriting program is losing its long-standing director. Professor of Literary Arts Paula Vogel, a Pulitzer Prize winner, announced just before the start of the spring semester that she will move to Yale this summer. Vogel has been appointed chair of the Department of Playwriting and the Eugene O’Neill professor of playwriting at the Yale School of Drama. Her appointment will last five years. Vogel could not be reached for comment, but in an automated e-mail response she wrote, “All I can say is that I’m very proud of the work I’ve done at Brown, of
my former and present students, and how much I’ve enjoyed being here.” She continued, writing that her time at Brown has “flown by watching the new plays written by Brown writers.” “I feel like I’ve just about done everything I can do,” Vogel told the New York Times in a Jan. 18 article. Vogel, who won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for “How I Learned to Drive,” spent 24 years at Brown. She is “at the point where she is interested in trying something different,” said Brian Evenson, director of the Literary Arts Program. “More than anything, she’s been
Seventeen academic buildings have water with lead levels close to or higher than the federal limit, according to a study conducted by the Office of Environmental Health and Safety last fall. The study involved collecting water samples from all on- and offcampus University buildings and comparing their lead levels to 15 parts per billion — the standard set by the Environmental Protection Agency, said Stephen Morin, EHS director. Though the study indicated the presence of lead in the water in some buildings, Morin said it is “not a serious problem.” “Most buildings have been fine,” he said. Residence halls “were our first priority — checking the areas where students lived, quickly.” Lead levels in all residence halls were well under 15 parts per billion, Morin said, adding that though this finding didn’t surprise him, it was “nice to confirm that.” The buildings with some of the highest levels of lead were 50 John St. and 37 Cooke St. Three undergraduates — Libby Delucia ’09, Matthew Wheeler ’09 and Megan Whelan ’09 — alerted the University to the presence of high levels of lead after they tested campus buildings for their environmental science class. They found the applied math building to have nearly 150 parts per billion of lead, which is ten times the federal limit, The Herald reported Oct. 1. The students submitted their data to Morin, who said he decided to investigate the matter further “to make sure that the numbers were right.” “It made sense to me and to Brown that if we didn’t have that continued on page 6
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Challenging Giuliani’s views in Fla., a student gets booed By Joanne Wang Contributing Writer
When Erik Resly ’08 heard that Rudy Giuliani was speaking at a retirement community church near his Fort Myers, Fla., home, he was excited at the prospect of spending his afternoon listening to the Republican presidential candidate. But he never expected to get booed by more than 1,000 people during the Jan. 14 speech. After speaking, Giuliani, who has been campaigning heavily in Florida, opened the floor to questions. Resly said that when he got his turn with the microphone, he
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stated that he believed that Giuliani, when speaking with targeted voters, tends to oversimplify his explanation of why Islamic terrorists are anti-American. Resly said he then began to ask Giuliani to clarify and defend his stance. But Resly never got to ask everything he wanted because he said the crowd of about 1,000, most of whom appeared to be seniors, began booing him. Resly said that one woman behind him shouted, “See what the universities are teaching our students these days?” The man who was holding the microphone for Resly began to take the microphone,
pakistan’s future Students and faculty react to Benazir Bhutto’s death and Pakistan’s politics
www.browndailyherald.com
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CAMPUS NEWS
Resly said, but he grabbed at it and shouted, “You’re taking away my democratic right!” The former New York mayor seemed to agree, saying the international relations concentrator had “an absolute right” to finish the question, which Giuliani did answer. Though he was disappointed by the booing, Resly said he appreciated Giuliani’s initial willingness to call on him to ask a question as well as his later willingness to “stand up” for Resly’s right to speak. “I know candidates are typically less inclined to call on the younger generation because we tend to be more hard-line,” Resly said. “Not
Hungry? Snack while shopping! Renovations to Brown Bookstore will include a new cafe
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OPINIONS
every presidential candidate would be willing to face hard questions.” Still, Resly, who said he is “not the biggest Giuliani fan,” said he was struck by the “hypocrisy of the entire situation.” After having been discouraged from speaking, Resly felt that those present later claimed that “freedom of speech was precisely what made this country great” in appraising Giuliani’s response to the situation. Resly felt that in some ways the booing crowd had been “renouncing their own rights as Americans.” Resly’s question centered around continued on page 8
Distracted student Kevin Roose ‘09.5 loses concentration in the Sciences Library
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
sunny, 32 / 17
Rahul Keerthi / Herald
A contaminated tap at The Herald’s office at 195 Angell St.
tomorrow’s weather It’s getting sunnier on College Hill, but we’re still jealous that Ruth could be snowboarding in the Alps.
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