Wednesday, February 6, 2008

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The Brown Daily Herald Wednesday, F ebr uar y 6, 2008

Volume CXLIII, No. 11

Since 1866, Daily Since 1891

Students’ eyes on Super Tuesday prize

U. budgets for a weak economy

By Joy Neumeyer Contributing writer

Faculty evaluates Plan for Academic Enrichment

Whether doing last-minute campaigning at sunrise, watching election results in a balloon-strewn Salomon 101 or simply doing work at the Sciences Library, Brown students found themselves swept up in yesterday’s Super Tuesday presidential primaries. The primaries, in which the Democratic and Republican presidential hopefuls competed for their parties’ nominations in 24 states, marked the high point of months of work by campus political groups hoping to win voters from nearby participating states such as Massachusetts and Connecticut. The day started early for some members of Brown Students for Barack Obama, which shuttled students back and forth beginning at 6 a.m. from New Bedford, Mass., all day to hold signs at street corners and polling places and make phone calls to local voters. Herald Opinions Columnist Max Chaiken ’09, coordinator for Students for Barack Obama, estimated that he had put 200 miles on his car driving back and forth between the group’s meeting place at Bagel Gourmet on Brook Street and New Bedford. “Students are really trying to sort of catch the wave,” Chaiken said, adding that in the last week and a half Brown’s Obama supporters have become “a true movement.” Nick Greene ’10, who said that he

By Jenna Stark Senior Staff Writer

Rahul Keerthi / Herald

Students gathered in Salomon 101 to watch election returns from Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses. had been planning to join the 6 a.m. trip but slept through his alarm, held a sign in front of a New Bedford middle school. “We’ve been getting a lot of honks all day,” he said. They would be less lucky with votes, as Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., won the state. Walker Ray ’11, who campaigned in New Bedford over the weekend and returned yesterday afternoon, said with a laugh, “if the election were to be decided by who honks the most, I think we would definitely win in a landslide.” Ian Nappier ’10, who spent the afternoon making calls to voters in Colorado and North Dakota, said he got involved with politics for

the first time on Friday after hearing Obama’s victor y speech for the South Carolina primaries. He spoke with enthusiasm of his recent campaign experiences, such as an event in Massachusetts on Saturday at which Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick spoke from a podium, close enough so that “when he was waving his arm it felt like he was going to hit me.” “It’s just so weird to go from not really caring to meeting the governor of a big state,” he said. Members of Students for Hillary congregated in Minden Lounge yesterday evening to walk over to Salomon 101, where the Janus Forum was hosting an event to watch

the primary results as they were announced. Though choosing not to campaign yesterday, the handful of members of Students for Hillary that gathered looked with expectation towards the primaries after weeks of phone-banking. Ivy Martinez ’10 said the group’s Bring Your Own Phone calling events — or “BYOP” ­— have been successful in attracting young people to the campaign. Martinez estimated that the group has grown slightly of late but added that she was surprised when “a ton of people” came up to her yesterday to wish the Clinton campaign good luck. continued on page 6

Carey steps up as U. seeks Homeless advocates protest state budget cuts new head of student life By Jenna Stark Senior Staff Writer

By George Miller Senior Staff Writer

Russell Carey ’91 MA’06, interim vice president for campus life and student services, has been named senior vice president for Corporation affairs and governance, a new position that begins July 1, President Ruth Simmons announced at Tuesday’s faculty meeting. Carey’s new role will make him responsible for leading and coordinating the University’s policies, governance, Corporation affairs and risk management. His duties will include overseeing the Department of Public Safety and the Office of Environmental Health and Safety, addressing issues of risk avoidance and providing direction in University governance and Corporation affairs. “In the area of governance it has long been a strong interest of mine to concentrate on an integrative approach to governance across faculty governance, student governance, Corporation governance and administration governance,” Simmons said. “It is a deeply held value at Brown that students, staff, faculty and even

Holding signs reading “This Budget Is An Immoral Document” and “Don’t Balance The Budget On The Backs Of The Poor,” activists, developers, the homeless and about 20 Brown students filled the State House yesterday morning

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HIGHER ED

METRO

Courtesy of brown.edu

Russell Carey ‘91 MA’06 alumni should be welcomed into the process of debating the goals of the institution. There has to be a very robust and sincere effort and I’ve always wanted someone who could carry the banner that way.” Carey will take over some of the duties that are currently handled by Walter Hunter, vice president for administration and chief risk officer, whose resignation was announced

Safety in phones Students can download software to their phones, allowing them to be tracked if in danger

www.browndailyherald.com

continued on page 4

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CAMPUS NEWS

to voice their opposition to cuts in Gov. Donald Carcieri ’65’s supplemental budget affecting support for the homeless and affordable housing programs. The supplemental budget, designed to fill a $150 million shortfall in the fiscal year ending in June, was released by the governor last month. In his Jan. 22 State of the State address, Carcieri told Rhode Islanders they must make sacrifices in order to turn around the state’s weak fiscal health, according to a Jan. 23 Providence Journal article. Rhode Island is experiencing its worst budget deficit since a crisis in the early 1990s, according to the Journal.

Hunter Resigns Vice President of Administration and Chief Risk Officer to return to law practice

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OPINIONS

The budget would eliminate the $7.5 million budget of the Neighborhood Opportunities Project, which provides funds for construction and rent subsidies. It would also require Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation, which acts to prevent homelessness and provides financial assistance to low-income tenants, to give $26 million back to the state. Other measures include a six-day unpaid furlough for state employees and an assortment of extra fees. At the demonstration, co-sponsored by the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless and the Statewide Housing Action Coalition, a crowd of more than a hundred listened to a series of speeches before moving to three different rooms to watch a House finance committee hearing on the supplemental budget. “We are being locked out ... and doors are being opened for the rich,” said Duane Clinker, a pastor at the Hillsborough United Methodist Church in Warwick. “We’re all related.” He recalled his 2001 arrest for staging a sit-in at the continued on page 4

No Cheating For U. Graham Anderson ‘10 wonders why some students still cheat

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

The University is budgeting for a tight economy and a changing government attitude toward higher education, expecting “more risk in the next year, more need for scholarship support” and a more difficult fundraising environment, President Ruth Simmons told the faculty in its monthly meeting Tuesday. Faculty also discussed a reassessment of the Plan for Academic Enrichment, which has guided the University’s growth for the last few years, with many professors expressing concern over the strength of the Graduate School. The changes in next year’s budget, which the Corporation will approve later this month, include a slower growth in tuition, an increase in endowment payout and a smaller increase in faculty and staff salaries than in previous years, Simmons said. She also noted there would be more financial aid for both undergraduate and graduate students, but not in an imitation of the financial aid packages of Harvard and Yale. Next year’s budget will reflect the significantly worsening economy, Simmons said. She added that the ongoing debate about how universities should use their endowments is here to stay. “I would like to be able to say that it will depart with the administration in Washington, but it’s taken root in an extraordinary way,” she said. Simmons said she is not worried about government inquiries into endowment spending. “Unlike many of our peers, I think we have a powerful story to tell,” she said. “That’s why (other universities) jumped so quickly to dump all this money into financial aid.” Reassessing the plan Along the lines of spending priorities, the faculty also discussed a reassessment of the University’s development and expressed a desire to strengthen the Graduate School, following reports on the Plan for Academic Enrichment from Simmons and members of the Faculty Executive Committee. Ruth Colwill, associate professor of psychology and FEC chair, began the meeting with a discussion of the FEC’s report to Simmons on the Plan for Academic Enrichment. Colwill reported four major themes in the faculty’s input on improving the plan, including the need for a stronger graduate continued on page 4 tomorrow’s weather Rainy weather as gloomy as your favorite candidate losing on Super Tuesday

Rainy, 47 / 33 News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com


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