Wednesday, November 12, 2008

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The Brown Daily Herald Wednesday, N ovember 12, 2008

Volume CXLIII, No. 111

Since 1866, Daily Since 1891

Two years later, slavery and justice response lags By Sam Byker Staf f Writer

Meara Sharma / Herald

A large crowd of students support the Real Food initiative at the BUCC meeting, holding up signs and eating local apples.

Real Food, governance discussed at BUCC By Melissa Shube Senior Staf f Writer

Nearly 70 students attended the Brown University Community Council meeting Tuesday afternoon to support Real Food, an initiative students said they hope will increase Brown’s investment in “healthy, local, fair, environmentally sound and humane” food. Chancel-

lor Thomas Tisch ’76 also spoke, addressing the Corporation’s receptiveness to student input on University governance. Real Food is comprised of members from four student groups — the Sustainable Food Initiative, Student Labor Alliance, Students for a Democratic Society and emPOWER. The group presented to the BUCC in the hopes that the

council would endorse the movement and issue a recommendation of support to the University Resources Committee, which recommends Brown’s annual budget. The URC would provide the necessary funding for the group to “purchase more local food and sustainable food,” Natalie Jablonski continued on page 4

Prof. resigns suddenly as center director By Michael Skocpol News Editor

The director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies resigned abruptly from his post Monday. James Green, an associate professor of history credited with raising the center’s profile

significantly since taking its helm in 2005, did not indicate a reason for the sudden departure. David Lindstrom, associate dean of the graduate school and a former director of CLACS, has assumed Green’s responsibilities on an interim basis. Faculty and administrators said yesterday they

hope to find a permanent replacement by January. Dean of the Faculty Rajiv Vohra P’07 and Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 will select a new director from within the University after consulting with affiliated faculty. continued on page 4

THE HERALD POLL

With Sex Power God approaching this weekend, many students’ thoughts might turn to sex — but they still are not having much of it. Eighty percent of undergraduates said they had one or no sexual partners, according to a recent Herald poll. About 37 percent of respondents reported one sexual partner and another 44.1 percent said they have not had sex this semester. Only 4.9 percent of respondents said they have had three or more partners so far this semester. Brown students’ sex lives are roughly comparable to college students nationwide. The spring 2007 American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment indicated that 74 percent of college students have had one partner or less over the last year ­­—

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HIGHER ED

Smoke on this Students support Massachusetts’ initiative to decriminalize marijuana possession

www.browndailyherald.com

Off-campus apps are online, but no need to scramble By Emmy Liss Senior Staff Writer

Applications for off-campus housing went live on the Office of Residential Life’s Web site at 8:30 a.m., but students don’t have to hurry to get online this year. Instead, any rising senior who applies by Dec. 15 is guaranteed permission, and juniors will have the same odds of receiving permission as in past years, regardless of how early they apply, according to Natalie Basil, associate director of

though the Herald poll only asked about a period of approximately seven weeks. Students were generally surprised by these results. Many students said they expected the average student to have around two sexual partners. “Either my friends are lying or something’s wrong,” said Emre Ersolmaz ’12, adding that he had the impression most students were “quite (sexually) active.” Upon reflection, Ersolmaz said he attributed the disparity between perception and reality to Brown’s reputation. “Because we have a liberal student body, we’re expected to be more sexually active.” But, he added, perhaps that does not translate into high rates of sexual activity because “people are aware of the fact that we are here to study.” Robin Davis ’10 said she was “shocked” by the results because continued on page 9

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CAMPUS NEWS

continued on page 6

residential life. This year’s process is largely the same as it has been in past years for rising seniors but has changed completely for juniors in response to student frustration and proposals from Residential Council, Basil said. In past years, the process was first-come, first-serve. For rising seniors, this factor was somewhat irrelevant — though it was never official, seniors who applied before continued on page 4

da y o f r emem b r a n ce

Students getting busy less often than their peers think By Sara Sunshine Senior Staff Writer

After a wide-ranging and controversial three-year effort, a University committee released a report in 2006 detailing Brown’s historical relationship to the slave trade. The group, the University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice, proposed a number of ways the University could hold itself accountable and make amends for what the committee dubbed “Brown’s part in grievous crimes.” In the wake of almost universal praise for the committee’s undertaking, both on campus and around the country, the University announced a number of broad and ambitious commitments in response to the report’s recommendations, including a “major research and teaching initiative” on slavery and justice (which quickly took the form of a proposed

academic center), a permanent slave trade memorial on or near campus and a planned $10 million endowment to fund educational initiatives in Providence public schools. But more than two years later, few of those commitments have been fully implemented, and many are still years away from producing tangible results. The piecemeal approach the University has taken toward implementing the report’s recommendations, officials’ failure to consolidate oversight of the broad effort and the vacillation of several committees tasked with decision-making have led to slower progress. Conversations with faculty and administrators involved in various stages of the endeavor — many of whom spoke on condition of anonymity — paint a picture of an effort

Meara Sharma / Herald

Members of the community gather on the Main Green to honor those who served the country in times of war.

Special kitchens Students face unique challenges in keeping kosher and halal dining traditions

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OPINIONS

Get students involved Jeremy Feigenbaum ’11 thinks the University should cancel classes for Election Day

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

12 SPORTS

Equestrian ranks first A loss to UConn still leaves the equestrian team in first place in their league

News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com


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Wednesday, November 12, 2008 by The Brown Daily Herald - Issuu