Thursday, February 12, 2009

Daily Herald the Brown

vol. cxliv, no. 17 | Thursday, February 12, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891

Brown TFA apps up 65 percent

Science center could open next January

By Chaz Kelsh News Editor

By Shannon O’Brien Contributing Writer

Teach for America, a nonprofit organization that places recent college graduates and professionals in public schools for two years at a time, is expecting a 65 to 70 percent increase in Brown applicants this year, according to Lisa Krauthamer, who is in charge of recruitment for Brown.

So far, 130 Brown students have applied to the program, which offers four rounds of applications, Krauthamer said, and the organization is expecting more applications before the last deadline Friday.

Ninety-nine Brown students applied to the program last year, an increase from 75 in 2007.

The increase in Brown applications this year is higher than the estimated 40 percent increase nationwide, according to Krauthamer, who attributed the overall increase to several factors, including the election of President Obama and a “momentum” built by Teach for America.

“First of all, there’s just a general change in our country inspired by the new administration,” she said. “Instead of going abroad to make an impact, now is a great time to change things here.”

She also cited increased recruitment efforts on Brown’s campus as a major contributor to the increase in applications.

“Teach for America is growing every year, so we’ve obviously got to accommodate that,” Krauthamer said, adding that increased recruitment at Brown is part of a nationwide effort to solicit more applications.

Students accepted to the program this year offered several reasons why the program is attracting more Brown students.

Like Krauthamer, Fiona Heckscher ’09, who was accepted this year, said the momentum on campus has contributed to a rise in applicants.

“Teach for America has a really obscenely effective recruiting machine,” she said, adding that Brown graduates who have participated in the program in past years send positive reports back, influencing more Brown students to apply.

Heckscher and Adam Siegel ’09, who was also accepted, agreed that the economic crisis could have affected some students’ decision to apply to the program, but added

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The planned science resource center will be on the third floor of the SciLi.

A science resource center in the Sciences Librar y could open as early as Januar y 2010, according to Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron.

The center, to be located on the third floor of the SciLi, will serve as a “nexus point” for students in science classes, bringing together advising, tutoring and studying across science disciplines, she said.

The project is fully funded and unaffected by the economic downturn. There are “certain things that need to go forward even in tough economic times,” Bergeron said.

The project has been under discussion since fall 2006, when the Undergraduate Science Education Committee recommended the cen-

ter’s creation.

A Science Advisory Board comprising faculty from various science disciplines was created in fall 2007 and charged with outlining priorities for the new center, Bergeron said.

The space will be “devoted to bringing faculty and students together,” she said, adding that it will be a place for “pedagogic innovation.”

Bergeron also said the center could support a program similar to the Writing Fellows Program for math and science students. These “math and science fellows” could be on hand in the resource center to tutor students and further help foster “a sense of community.”

Though Bergeron said she continued on page 2

IRB reform could streamline undergrad research

By Sydney Ember Senior Staff Writer

The University’s Research Advisory Board is looking to reform stringent research procedures that currently slow undergraduate research on human subjects.

The board, composed of faculty members who counsel Vice President for Research Clyde Briant, has created a subcommittee to reform

the Institutional Review Board’s stringent procedures and streamline the approval process for these projects.

“The current standards seem to be fine,” said Kenneth Wong, chair of the Department of Education and chair of the subcommittee. “But we are changing the current support that makes the students deal with those standards more efficiently.”

The subcommittee’s new rec-

ommendations, which have been submitted to the Faculty Executive Committee for input, will take effect by the end of the semester or early in the summer, Wong said.

In reviewing the IRB’s current procedures, Wong said the subcommittee looked at the University’s peer institutions, such as Princeton and the University of Chicago, in order to gain perspective on the different possible levels of restric-

tion.

“Brown is kind of in the middle,” he said. “I think what we have here is good. But it does put a lot of burden — or flexibility, depending on how you look at it — on the faculty advisory.”

The federal government began to require universities to pay particular attention to research conducted by continued on page 2

How the tables have turned — on each other work that is a component of many RISD classes. The event also provided a light-hearted avenue for Excitement and anticipation filled students to show off the products Rhode Island School of Design’s of a winter’s worth of hard work, intimate Tap Room Tuesday night. Bullens said.

Members of the Providence com“It’s more of a performance munity joined RISD students and piece than a tournament,” he said, faculty on the top floor of RISD’s adding that the project incorporatMemorial Hall for an unexpected ed many aspects of design, from purpose — to watch four tables. building furniture to engineering The crowd surrounded the tables’ combative wooden barriers delincapabilities — a variety FEATURE eating a fighting ring, of projectiles and swingeager to witness Brass Knuckles, ing limbs designed to batter the Crazy Susan, C-Section and the opposing table into submission.

Kraken vie to become the first-ever If the concept sounds a lot like RISD Table Fights Champion.

Comedy Central’s one-time hit The competition was the robot fighting show BattleBots, culmination of a six-week RISD well, it is.

Wintersession course led by inAfter six long weeks in the structors Shaun Bullens, Ann Ad- workroom, the four tables were ams and Caleb Larson. Fourteen ready for battle — and to captivate students, split into four groups, the crowd with their entertaining designed and built four remote- fighting tactics.

The “Battle Royale” began as controlled, battle-ready tables.

Tuesday night’s showdown the tables raced to determine their ser ved as the class’ official cri- seeds in the fighting matches that tique — the evaluation of student followed. The race results pitted

By Emily Rosen Contributing Writer

post-

Min Wu / Herald

Four tables created by RISD students fought for the title of Table Fights Champion Tuesday night .

the Kraken against C-Section and Brass Knuckles against Crazy Susan.

Each match consisted of two three-minute rounds during which

the tables fought their opponents and knocked down smaller, collapsible tables set up in the ring. A continued on page 2

Inside

News, 3

Sports, 7

is back from abroad and ready to get lost for Valentine’s Day.

Ruckus disappears Brown students will have to find an alternate free music source.

Squash victorious The men’s and women’s squash teams coast to victory at Tufts.

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Tears, triumph in table tussle continued from page 1 table won a round if it knocked out its opponent. Other wise, a group of judges determined the rounds’ winners by awarding them points based on how successfully they fought their competitors.

Brass Knuckles and Crazy Susan faced off in the ring to begin the first match. Crazy Susan, which struck its opponents with a spinning array of protruding tea cups, emerged victorious by a final score of 46-15. (Brass Knuckles was a black box that “punched” its foes with a clenched fist painted on one side.)

“We did ever ything we could,” said RISD sophomore Nicole Mercer, a member of the Brass Knuckles team. “Ever ything that could go wrong did, but it was awesome anyway. I’m still really happy.”

The armaments in the second matchup were even more unusual. C-Section’s remote-controlled babies emerged from under it to attack opponents while the table sprayed “placenta” made of pink soapy liquid, but they proved no match for the jellyfish-inspired Kraken, which used long, flailing foam tentacles to take on its competitors. The Kraken sent its placenta-squirting opponent crashing to the floor in the next match for a knock-out, securing it a spot in the championship match against Crazy Susan.

But before the top two tables battled for the title of Table Fights Champion, Brass Knuckles and CSection faced each other in the consolation match. One of C-Section’s remote-controlled babies made a futile attempt to knock down a small table in the ring, but before it could succeed, Brass Knuckles’ painted fist knocked out what remained of

its opponent — a “placenta-soaked” tablecloth surrounded by motionless toy babies that had fallen off their remote controls.

Though by that point the crowd had dwindled, the Kraken and Crazy Susan were poised to battle for the crown. The Kraken claimed victor y by a final score of 202-161, to the elation of the team that had labored for so long to create it.

“We’re the best,” said first-year Khalil Custis, who shared the victor y with three fellow RISD students: senior Eunice Kim and sophomores Louis Martinez and Tim Oshida. The Kraken’s conquest was complete — the team also won the “People’s Choice Award” for receiving the loudest audience applause.

But RISD junior Dor y Little, a spectator who said C-Section was his favorite competitor, disagreed with that verdict. “It did nothing but spew amniotic fluid ever ywhere,” he said with admiration.

Tuesday night’s event may have been the debut of Table Fights on College Hill, but the event is not a new phenomenon. Last year’s International Contemporar y Furniture Fair featured 16 tables in the first annual national Table Fights competition, an event founded by Bullens and Adams, who instructed the RISD course. .

All four RISD tables will travel to Chelsea, N.Y., to compete in the second annual national competition this spring. Since most of the tables were damaged during Tuesday night’s fights, the students plan to build duplicates of their gladiators for the second competition.

“Table Fights is a blast, and it’s never happened before at RISD,” said senior Nick Kole, one of the showdown’s announcers. “It’s very much in the true spirit of RISD.”

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Thursday, February 12, 2009

“It did nothing but spew amniotic fluid everywhere.”

— Dory Little, RISD’10

Science center work could begin this summer continued from page 1 hoped money for programming in the resource center will be allocated by the Corporation at its meeting next weekend, she added that some programs, such as the math and science fellows, could be funded by grants.

“One is always looking for grant funding,” she said, adding that she was unsure what the budget for potential programming could be.

An added benefit of the resource center may be a greater ability for the University to procure grants from the National Institutes of Health, which mandate that grants include an educational outreach component, said Associate Dean of the College for Science Education David Targan.

The physical plan for the center is still in the “design phase,” Bergeron said, adding that Bergmeyer Associates, who planned the bookstore renovations, is working on the project.

The center might feature small group study rooms, partitioned spaces and a kiosk at its entrance telling students which classrooms are in use or where certain study groups are being held, Bergeron said.

The center will be designed with heavy input from students and faculty, Targan said. The architects have already attended six focus groups — two with students, two with faculty and two with administrators — he added.

“The focus groups with students revealed that what they were interested in was connecting with other students,” Targan said, adding that the architects can now “go back, literally, to the drawing board” to create final plans for the space.

A model of the resource center might be displayed in the SciLi lobby later this semester to solicit further student input, though the architects already have “a lot of feedback at this point,” he said.

University Librarian Harriette Hemmasi, who attended a focus group last week, said the resource center would be an extension of the Friedman Study Center, though it would be a “slightly more targeted environment.”

Librarians “tr y to stay more in the background” in the Friedman Center since it is “studentoperated,” Hemmasi said, adding that the center could serve as an “equalizing” space between faculty and students, who are not accustomed to meeting outside the

classroom or office setting.

Space for the center on the third floor of the SciLi will be freed up by moving books to the Library Collections Annex, located about four miles from campus, which is just over half-full, Hemmasi said.

Construction on the center will begin this summer with renovations to the building’s heating, ventilating and air conditioning system, currently “designed to house mostly cold books,” Targan said, adding that the work could begin before plans for the center are finalized.

Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry J. William Suggs, who teaches CHEM 0350: “Organic Chemistry,” said the center will encourage students to be active listeners, “not just sit there and consume knowledge.”

Professor of Physics David Cutts, who teaches PHYS 0060: “Foundations of Electromagnetism and Modern Physics,” called the center a “useful model for where learning might be headed.”

Students can also take advantage of the “synergy” between science disciplines by sharing interesting applications of common concepts with students from other courses, he said.

Board aims to reform human research rules continued from page 1 undergraduates because there were frequent lapses in the treatment of subjects when student authors would inadvertently identify subjects by name — a violation permissible only if the person reading the report is the overseeing faculty. But issues arise when this knowledge is shared with a broader audience than the professors, Wong said.

Many of these projects, which frequently involve non-invasive procedures such as filling out surveys or observing computer simulations, still require specific protocols outlined by the IRB in order to ensure the protection of all participants in the studies, especially children.

“They want to make sure no harms are done to the kids, and that the parents are fully informed,” Wong said of the IRB’s strict policy for these cases.

A Research Protections Office chart from Jan. 14 identified eight

human research protocols that were undergraduate projects in the social sciences last year, out of a total of 17. Such a high percentage — life sciences had five protocols in undergraduate projects in 2008 — reflects the IRB’s “unevenness,” Wong said.

The current process for approval, which involves submitting detailed proposals and explaining the recruitment process for participants, can take “eons,” said Rachel Ostrand ’09, who is conducting research involving speech comparison in the Department of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences. While running a survey during her study last year, she wanted to switch to a different hosting Web site for her research. The change took a week and a half to gain approval from the IRB, she said.

Such a slow turnaround, Wong said, is what the subcommittee is trying to avoid by streamlining the IRB’s review process.

Wong said the committee is encouraging stronger faculty support for undergraduates, especially seniors working on theses. By advocating for more information sessions run through relevant departments and the Office of the Dean of the College, Wong said he hopes students will receive more advice on how to proceed earlier with their intended projects in order to save time in the IRB’s approval process.

He said starting projects early would reduce problems and anxiety for students attempting to gain approval for their research, which often carries time constraints as a result of the University’s schedule.

The committee is also advocating for a section on the RPO’s Web site that shares protocols so students can “identify these templates” for possible situations, such as those involving parental consent for minors.

“I think this is a problem that can be solved,” Wong said. “We just need better coordination.”

But the process, despite the current frustration, is not merely a “painful hurdle,” said Professor of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences Sheila Blumstein.

“Ethics is as much a part of research as research itself,” Blumstein said. “The history of humanity has not been very good in testing people.”

“Going through the process is really important because people need to understand when you’re working with any subject, they have rights,” Blumstein said. Students must “never forget that they’re dealing with human beings.”

Thursday, February 12, 2009

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“I thought it was important for posterity to record UCS opinion.” — Clay Wertheimer ’10

UCS responds to Morning Mail policy reversal

By Ben Schreckinger Senior Staf f Writer

Courtesy of Ruckus.com

The Ruckus music service abruptly shut down last week, with only the above image left on its Web site.

Ruckus shuts down without notice

By Colin Chazen Senior Staf f Writer

Ruckus, the free Internet music ser vice subscribed to by the University, abruptly shut down Friday.

The company has yet to release a statement about the cessation of ser vices beyond a terse message on its Web site: “Unfortunately the Ruckus service will no longer be provided. Thanks.”

The University began offering students free access to Ruckus in September 2006 as a legal alternative to peer-to-peer downloading sites. The ser vice allowed students to download 1.5 million music tracks for free and thousands of movies for a small fee, according to a University statement at the time.

But the software only worked on Windows, and restrictive licences prevented the songs from being transferred to iPods or copied onto compact discs, limiting its popularity.

“Unless a ser vice is going to be usable on your iPod, most people didn’t want to use it,” said George Loftus, executive director of the Ocean State Higher Edu-

cation, Economic Development and Administrative Network, a nonprofit organization that provided the University with access to a Ruckus ser ver.

By pooling together thousands of subscribers from universities across Rhode Island, OSHEAN was able to surpass Ruckus’s 7,000-subscriber minimum and receive a dedicated ser ver without paying the fee Ruckus charges for smaller subscriber networks.

The ser ver is still operational and OSHEAN has not received any instructions from Ruckus about the ser ver or its repossession, Loftus said. OSHEAN staff members have placed phone calls and sent e-mails to their Ruckus representative but have yet to receive a reply, according to an e-mail sent from OSHEAN to the University.

“There’s no fee,” Loftus said.

“I think that’s part of the reason they didn’t feel compelled to contact us.”

Songs downloaded from Ruckus came with a 30-day license and will continue to play until that license expires, Loftus said, but the licenses can no longer be renewed.

Loftus said OSHEAN will look for alternative ser vices to offer Rhode Island schools, but Ruckus was the only music downloading ser vice that did not charge a fee.

“The whole marketplace is ver y topsy-tur vy right now,” Loftus said. “We have yet to find a fee-based subscription ser vice that students feel is worth paying for.”

Students inter viewed by The Herald seemed largely unaware that Ruckus had shut down.

“I was going to download it and I never did,” said Lauren Davis ’09, who said she listens to most of her music through other students’ iTunes. “I’m not tech-savvy.”

David Schwartz ’09 said he’d heard about Ruckus, but never downloaded it. He used to download music from shareware sites and peer-to-peer networks but stopped after he filled up his computer’s hard drive. He said he sees little appeal in limitedaccess subscription ser vices like Ruckus.

“I can listen to (music) anytime I want on YouTube or get it from a friend,” he said.

The Undergraduate Council of Students passed a revised resolution in response to the Office of Public Affairs and University Relations’ reversal of its more restrictive Morning Mail submission policy at the UCS general body meeting Wednesday night. The resolution recognized “PAUR’s expeditious response to student concerns,” called for the public relations office to continue the open Morning Mail policy and requested improved communication between PAUR and UCS. Early Friday morning, PAUR discontinued its policy that restricted Morning Mail announcements to events accommodating at least 300 people in response to student feedback. UCS Communications Chair Clay Wertheimer ’10 credited the change to student feedback and a proposed UCS resolution in opposition to the policy.

Wertheimer, the resolution’s sponsor, told The Herald Tuesday night he was “really pleased” with the reversal, which was “exactly what the resolution was calling for.” He said he still planned to bring the resolution up for a vote, because the UCS executive board

“thought it was important to officially record our opinion on the issue.”

But in an e-mail sent later that night to the UCS general body and obtained by The Herald, Student Activities Chair Ryan Lester ’11 wrote that passing a resolution calling for a change that had already been made would be “silly … slightly spiteful and completely useless.”

Lester attached his proposed resolution with the e-mail, which “thanks and supports the Office of Public Affairs and University Relations for its immediate response,” and requests that UCS be consulted about any future changes to Morning Mail.

In an e-mailed response to the general body obtained by The Herald, Wertheimer wrote that he was “not accepting” Lester’s changes, but later in a second response Wednesday morning included an updated resolution containing many of the Lester’s changes.

“I thought it was important for posterity to record UCS opinion,” Wertheimer told the UCS general body Wednesday night, adding that the amended resolution “had more relevance for the future.”

Wertheimer’s amended resolution passed without opposition.

Economy may have spurred jump in Brown TFA apps continued from page 1 that it was not a criterion for them.

“People who might not have been quite ready to take the leap” and apply to the program could have found that the economic downturn provided “just that little push,” Siegel said.

As for the difference in applicant increase between Brown and the

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nationwide average, Heckscher cited an environment at Brown that particularly encourages public service. In contrast, she said, her friends at other schools “fight a lot of preprofessional pressure from peers and professors.”

So far the program has selected 25 Brown seniors to begin working this fall. Fifty-five Brown applicants are going through their last round of interviews this week.

Metro The Brown Daily Herald

“They don’t understand the role the Journal plays in the fabric of Rhode Island.” — John Hill, ProJo reporter Thursday, February 12, 2009 | Page 5

Residents testify against More job cuts on the way for ProJo outdoor gas meters

By Lauren Fedor Senior Staf f Writer

By Anne Speyer Staf f Writer

Rhode Island homeowners and a spokesman for public utilities company National Grid testified before the Rhode Island House Committee on Corporations yesterday about a proposed bill that would regulate the placement of gas meters on private residences.

The bill would require all public utility companies to consult with property owners before relocating any gas regulator or meter. The bill — H-5088 — also states that utility companies are “prohibited from installing gas regulators and/or gas meters on the visible front of any residential property” unless “there exists no prudent and feasible alternative to such location.”

Many property owners oppose the exterior installation of gas meters because of issues of safety, expense and aesthetics.

Advocating for the passage of the bill were representatives from the West Broadway and Fox Point neighborhood associations, Coleman Realtors, the Providence Preser vation Society, the Newport Restoration Foundation and Rhode Island’s State Historic Preservation Office.

For these groups, who have struggled for several months to prevent National Grid from installing meters on the exteriors of local properties, the bill represents “a way to solve a real problem,” Edward Sanderson, director of the State Historic Preservation Office, said during the hearing.

National Grid testified against the passage of the bill, maintaining that the installation of outdoor gas meters is necessary for safety and convenience. National Grid’s representative at the meeting, Frank McMahon, explained the problems associated with leaving gas meters inside a residential structure.

“There are safety issues. There are convenience issues to both the homeowner and National Grid, and there are emergency shut-off issues,” he said.

At an Aug. 27 hearing in front of the Public Utilities Commission, a National Grid representative was directly asked about the safety issues involved in the inside placement of a gas meter.

“The meter can be inside, but the regulator should be outside,” said the representative, Thomas Teehan, according to a transcript of the hearing. Gas meters provide a reading of a home’s gas usage, while a regulator controls the pressure of gas entering the home.

Jessica Jennings, a member of the West Broadway Neighborhood Association, urged the committee to pass the bill. She called the safety issues a “myth,” adding that “it’s always been safe” to have meters inside the home.

Michael Young, a real estate agent for Coleman Realtors, told the committee that he believed exterior gas meters would negatively affect property values.

“Our main concern is for the value of the homes. This is a very difficult market we’re currently existing in,” he said.

Jennings also said reinstalling the meters would prove costly.

“It’s obviously more expensive to move the meters,” she said, citing National Grid’s proposed budget for its Accelerated Replacement Program, which allocates $12.8 million to the replacement of gas equipment.

Rep. Steven Costantino, D-Dist. 8, chairperson of the House Finance Committee, has supported the bill since he helped introduce it on Jan. 14.

“We just want the owners consulted,” he said.

McMahon admitted that National Grid needed to improve its relationship with property owners.

“We’re here today because of poor communication,” he said. “We don’t disagree that there needs to be better communication with people about where meters go. National Grid recognizes that this has been a contentious issue.”

If the committee passes the bill, it will go to a vote in the full House.

While on-campus dining establishments continue to provide morning editions of local, regional and national newspapers, the dailies students may take for granted are under constant anxiety due to shifting trends in news media.

As adver tisement revenues plummet and more readers turn to the Internet to get their news, publications like the Providence Journal are feeling the effects.

And though the death of the newspaper industr y has been widely reported for many years, newspaper companies’ challenges and concerns have escalated in recent months.

On the heels of a series of layoffs last year, the ProJo may soon face a fresh round of workforce reductions, according to a statement released last month by Robert Decherd, president and chief executive of ficer of A.H. Belo Corporation, which owns the newspaper.

Last July, Belo announced a plan to cut the corporation’s workforce by nearly 14 percent, eliminating 500 full-time jobs from the company’s various holdings, according to a Jul. 28 article in the ProJo. Belo also owns the Dallas Morning News.

Last summer’s announcement came after months of revenue losses. In 2008 alone, Belo’s second-quarter revenue fell 15.1 percent, and in the three months leading up to the layoff announcement, the company reported a net loss of $3.19 million. During the same period in 2007, the company netted a profit of $12.9 million.

Maribel Correa, director of investor relations for Belo, declined to comment on how many positions were eliminated at the ProJo last year.

The Providence Newspaper Guild — representing 400 employees of the ProJo and 200 at the Worcester Telegram and Gazette — reported on its Web site that 22 ProJo employees accepted buyouts in September 2008. The

following month, an additional 31 employees were laid off.

October’s layoffs eliminated the entire part-time workforce of the paper’s news department.

Correa said that while the cutbacks in 2008 included voluntar y severance packages, or buyouts — providing “certain benefits,” different from those provided if an employee was let go — the impending layoffs would not include buyouts.

Correa declined to specify how many employees would be let go at the ProJo in the coming months.

In his Januar y letter to employees, Decherd announced that a second round of layof fs would “probably be in the range” of an additional 500 jobs corporation-wide.

Specifics about the reduction will be released no later than midFebruar y, he wrote.

Decherd also presented other initiatives aimed at improving Belo’s finances in the letter, including suspending the company’s 401(k) savings matching program and eliminating many reimbursement policies for expenses such as telephone costs and monthly parking fees.

And while the loss of benefits has many concerned, John Hill, a ProJo reporter and president of the newspaper guild, said employees have “bigger worries” — namely, the specific scale and severity of the upcoming staf f reductions.

“The cuts are getting to the point that we’re worried how the paper is going to be able to maintain itself,” Hill said, adding that

decisions about the ProJo’s future are “being made by people half a continent away.”

“They don’t understand the role the Journal plays in the fabric of Rhode Island,” he said, “and that’s on the verge of being lost.”

This is not the first time that Hill and the newspaper guild have expressed concern about Belo’s management. In a referendum published on its Web site last month, the guild encouraged Decherd to “forgo his recent 140 (percent) raise and return his base salary to its 2008 level of a quarter million dollars a year.”

“If people are being laid off, and people are being asked to give up their jobs, it would be nice for him to lead by example,” Hill said.

But Hill understands that the problems at the ProJo are only part of a larger, national issue.

“We’re not alone,” he said, adding that “the business is going to be ver y different” from now on.

A March 2008 report by the Pew Research Center reported that the Web sites of local, regional, national and even international newspapers are falling behind other Internet sectors as they search for a revenue model different from print advertising.

The Internet has surpassed “all other media” except television as an outlet for national and international news, with 40 percent of Americans and nearly 60 percent of Americans under 30 reporting that they get most of their national and international news online, according to a statement released

by Pew last December.

World & Nation The Brown Daily Herald

Thursday, February 12, 2009 | Page 6

Courtesy of NASA

New Mars rover too costly, critics say

By Joel Achenbach Washington Post

PASADENA, Calif. — In a “clean room” in Building 150 of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is something that looks ver y much like a flying saucer. It’s a capsule containing a huge, brawny Mars rover, a Hummer compared with the Mini Coopers that have previously rolled

across the Red Planet.

This is the Mars Science Laborator y, the space agency’s next big mission to the most Earth-like planet in the solar system. But it’s been a magnet for controversy, and a reminder that the robotic exploration of other worlds is never a snap, especially when engineers decide to get ambitious.

The launch has been delayed

for two years because of technical glitches. Approved at $1.63 billion, the mission’s price tag will be at least $2.2 billion, NASA now estimates. Critics say the cost has really quadrupled since the project was first dreamed up. What no one can doubt is that ambitious missions tend to become costly ones, which jangles the ner ves of officials who know how easy it is for a Mars mission to go bust.

Alan Stern, a planetary scientist and former NASA associate administrator for science missions, charged in a New York Times oped column last year that the cost overruns of the Mars Science Laborator y are a sign of a “cancer” of spending profligacy that is overtaking the space agency. Stern, now a private consultant, argues that the new rover is too ambitious, with too many new technologies in play, making a cost overrun all but inevitable.

“It’s not just that it’s a bigger rover. It’s also an entirely new kind of landing system. It’s also that it’s nuclear-powered. It’s also that it’s carr ying multiple instruments far beyond what’s ever been done,” Stern said in an inter view. “We need to go to a strategy where we can access Mars frequently and take advantage of what we’ve already invented.”

NASA of ficials acknowledge that they are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in Mars exploration. But they say it makes no sense to do the same things over and over again with modest changes.

The new rover, weighing 1,875 continued on page 8

SportsThursday The Brown Daily Herald

Thursday, February 12, 2009 | Page 7

Bears of all stripes win Ivy athletic awards

s p o rt s i n b r i e f

Squash teams top Tufts The men’s and women’s squash teams shone against Tufts at the Pizzitola Center Tuesday. The women cruised to a 9-0 shutout, while the men posted a convincing 8-1 victory.

The women showed no signs of weakness against the Jumbos, with all nine Brown players winning in three games. Breck Haynes ’09 earned a 9-4, 9-3, 9-5 victory at No. 1 for the Bears. Other dominant performances included the No. 4 match, which Kali Schellenberg ’10 won, 9-0, 9-0, 9-1, and the No. 8 match, which saw Erika Kohnen ’12 defeat her opponent by a score of 9-0, 9-1, 9-0.

On the men’s side, Adrian Leanza ’11 struggled in the beginning at No. 1, dropping the first game 9-7, but recovered to win back-to-back 9-0 games before pulling out a 10-8 victory in the fourth game to secure the win. At No. 2, Benjamin Clayman ’11 lost the first set 9-5 but came back to win three straight games. The most dominant match of the day came at No. 7, where Alex Heitzmann ’10 cruised to a 9-0, 9-1, 9-0 victory.

The men will resume competition next Tuesday against MIT, at Pizzitola for the last time this season, while the women will travel to Harvard beginning Friday to compete in the Howe Cup National Championship.

Skiers race to the top at meet Over the weekend, the ski team had several strong finishers at the Boston College Carnival at Wildcat Mountain.

The women earned a team victory in the Giant Slalom, led by Kia Mosenthal ’12, who finished second with a two-run combined time of 1:59.63, and Krista Consiglio ’11, who earned third place in 2:01.43. Consiglio also turned in a strong performance in the Slalom, finishing second overall with a two-run time of 1:34.64.

She was followed by Blaine Martin ’11, whose time of 1:38.81 placed her 14th. The Bears, who finished sixth as a team in the Slalom event, will return to the slopes on Feb. 21, when they will compete in the Eastern Collegiate Ski Conference Regional Championships at Waterville Valley.

— Sports Staff Reports

By Benjy Asher Sports Editor

Justin Coleman / Herald

Chelsey Binkley ’11 was named the ECAC Gymnast of the Week for her performance on Sunday.

s p o rt s b y t h e n u m b e r s

Award-winning Bears Matt Mullery ’10 At Dartmouth (Feb. 6): 3-of-14 field goals, 6-of-9 free throws, 12 points, 13 rebounds At Harvard (Feb. 7): 13-of-16 FG, 1-of-4 FT, 27 pts., 3 rebs., 1 block Season averages: 16.1 pts., 6.0 rebs., 1.7 blks., .582 FG percentage

Natalie Bonds ’10 Vs. Dartmouth (Feb. 6): 2-of-8 FG, 3-of-5 FT, 7 pts., 4 rebs., 7 blks.

Vs. Harvard (Feb. 7): Did Not Play Season averages: 6.9 pts., 5.3 rebs., 1.2 blks., .427 FG pct.

Chelsey Binkley ’11 Vs. Bridgeport (Feb. 8): Floor-9.825 (1st place), Vault-9.575 (4th), Beam-9.650 (5th)

— Sports Staff Report

Chelsey Binkley ’11 was named the ECAC Gymnast of the Week for her performance against the University of Bridgeport at the Pizzitola Center Sunday. Though Brown lost narrowly, its team score of 189.575 was the highest the team had scored in a dual meet since 2004, and Binkley was an integral part of the Bears’ success.

Binkley earned the only individual title of the day for Brown, winning the floor exercise with a score of 9.825, a personal best for Binkley in the event. She also set personal bests in two other events, scoring a 9.575 on the vault to finish fourth and a 9.650 on the beam, good enough for fifth place.

Though the men’s basketball team lost two games over the weekend, Matt Mullery ’10 was named to the

Ivy Honor Roll for his strong play. In a 63-61 overtime loss to Dartmouth on Friday night, Mullery scored 12 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to record his first double-double of the season. Then, in a 64-63 loss to Harvard on Saturday, Mullery led the Bears with a career-high 27 points, 21 of which came in the second half, on 13-of-16 shooting from the field. Mullery is Brown’s leading scorer this season, with 16.1 points per game, and his .582 field goal percentage is tops in the Ivy League.

In a rough weekend for women’s basketball, Natalie Bonds ’10 still managed to earn a selection to the Ivy Honor Roll for the second straight week. Bonds turned in an outstanding defensive effort in a 58-27 loss to Dartmouth on Friday, blocking seven shots, while also contributing seven points and four rebounds. Bonds is currently fifth in the Ivy League with 1.2 blocks per game.

Page 8

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

W orld & N ation

Thursday, February 12, 2009

“Nobody has built something like this before.”

— Charles Elachi, Jet Propulsion Lab director

Mars rover more advanced, expensive than ever continued from page 6 pounds, is more than twice as heavy as either Spirit or Opportunity, the remarkably durable rovers that have been sniffing around Mars for the past five years on a mission originally designed to last just 90 days. Those rovers have six instruments each; the new rover has 10, including detectors for organic compounds. The old rovers could reach out, scratch the Martian surface and tr y to get a sense of things, but the new rover can retrieve a sample and put it in various analytic chambers. Earlier rovers were solar powered, but this one has a nuclear power source that will allow it to operate day and night.

The new rover is more rugged, capable of navigating much trickier terrain. It can operate at higher latitudes with harsher climates. It has its own meteorology station.

It has a color camera that shoots video. It can do almost ever ything but make espresso.

“We need a larger suppor t structure. We need a more capable arm. We need to be able to look at not just the geology but much more the chemistr y, much more the organic elements. We have to have a more capable rover,” said Jim Green, director of NASA’s planetar y science division.

Happy Birthday Lincoln!

He acknowledged that the cost overruns will put a crimp in the planetar y science budget, which is running at about $1.3 billion a year. The Mars program specifically will feel the effects, and there will have to be cuts or delays in the next rover mission, scheduled for 2016, he said. But he added that the Mars Science Laborator y will be worth it.

Because it’s such a large rover, engineers had to invent a new landing technique, called a sky crane.

The rover also needed dozens of motors and gearboxes to accomplish the many tasks outlined by scientific investigators. It was the iffy performance of those motors and gearboxes in tests that forced NASA to pull the plug on the mission’s scheduled 2009 launch.

Richard Cook, the project manager, said that in calculating the cost and the amount of time necessary for designing the mission, “we didn’t extrapolate how much more complex it was” than the Spirit and Opportunity mission.

Mars is already strewn with the litter of crashed spaceships. Some probes go there and simply vanish.

As Charles Elachi, director of the Jet Propulsion Laborator y, put it, “Mars is ver y unforgiving.”

Elachi tried to illustrate how tricky it is to get a spaceship to Mars and bring it to rest in a spe-

cific region on the surface. Imagine you’re playing golf, he said.

“Star ting in Los Angeles, hit the golf ball toward St. Andrews,” he said (for those who aren’t golf fans, that’s a ver y famous course in Scotland). “It has to go straight into the cup. And the cup is moving.”

And yet NASA has had many successful Mars missions over the past several decades, dating all the way back to Mariner 4, which flew

by Mars in 1965. That spacecraft returned 22 images of a dusty, cratered world, instantly ending speculation that Mars might harbor vegetation.

Two Viking landers in 1976 conducted the first experiments looking for life on Mars. The Pathfinder mission of 1997 showed that a cheap, lightweight probe could bounce to a safe landing cushioned by air bags. In the past five years, Spirit and Opportunity have outperformed all expectations, even crawling into craters for a closer look.

But after all that, it remains unknown whether Mars harbors life beneath its surface, or did many billions of years ago, when the planet was warmer and wetter. The new rover might be able to get closer to an answer by searching directly for organic matter that might be associated with living things.

Editorial & Letters The Brown Daily Herald

Page 10 | Thursday, February 12, 2009

e d i to r i a l

U. should reinstate ROTC Since the Vietnam War, Brown has maintained a ban on the Reserve Officer Training Corps, forcing interested students to enroll in the ROTC program at Providence College. During the presidential campaign, President Obama labeled “the notion that young people here at Columbia or anywhere… aren’t offered the choice” of military service on campus “a mistake,” arguing that students ought to at least have the option of joining.

We agree and feel that Brown should overturn its outdated ban on ROTC and restore students’ freedom to serve their country during their college careers. In adopting this stance we are breaking with The Herald’s previous position that the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which forbids gay soldiers from serving openly, should disqualify the military from recruiting on Brown’s campus. While we agree that DADT is offensive and imprudent, we feel that the ROTC ban is a counterproductive response. Military recruiting on Brown’s overwhelmingly liberal campus could provide gay soldiers with valuable allies in the ranks.

Some argue that Brown students drawn to military service are more likely to be conservative (and hence opposed to gay rights), or that the number of students in ROTC would be too small to make a difference. However, according to Maj. Matthew Porter, ROTC enrollment officer at Providence College, ROTC classes across the country tend not to be ideologically skewed. The evidence supports this claim. According to a report by the National Defense Research Institute, available data on college students “suggest that young officers may be less condemning of homosexuality than their enlisted counterparts” and young adults who plan to serve in the military “are not disproportionately conservative or Republican.”

Porter also noted that moving ROTC back onto a school’s campus in places with ROTC enrollment similar to Brown’s (we currently have two ROTC students) would increase the total by up to 15 students. A recent Christian Science Monitor article reported that officers and recruiting experts believe the effect on the military of just “a handful of new officers” from Ivy League schools “would be enormous.” Brown could make a significant difference by changing its policy, even if other colleges don’t follow suit.

This isn’t the only reason to allow ROTC. Among others, the program would give Brown students an avenue to full scholarship, an important benefit in the current economic climate. The military, gay soldiers and Brown students can all benefit from ROTC. They should not be deprived of the opportunity in an effort to prolong the University’s ineffectual opposition to the policy. ROTC deserves its day on College Hill.

Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d Editor-in-Chief Steve DeLucia

Managing Editors Michael Bechek Chaz Firestone

editorial Arts & Culture Editor Ben Hyman Hannah Levintova Arts & Culture Editor Features Editor Sophia Li Features Editor Emmy Liss Higher Ed Editor Gaurie Tilak Higher Ed Editor Matthew Varley Metro Editor George Miller Metro Editor Joanna Wohlmuth News Editor Chaz Kelsh News Editor Jenna Stark Sports Editor Benjy Asher Sports Editor Andrew Braca Asst. Sports Editor Alex Mazerov Asst. Sports Editor Katie Wood Graphics & Photos Graphics Editor Chris Jesu Lee Graphics Editor Stephen Lichenstein Eunice Hong Photo Editor Kim Perley Photo Editor Justin Coleman Sports Photo Editor production Kathryn Delaney Copy Desk Chief Seth Motel Copy Desk Chief Marlee Bruning Design Editor Jessica Calihan Design Editor Anna Migliaccio Asst. Design Editor Julien Ouellet Asst. Design Editor Neal Poole Web Editor

Associate Editors Nandini Jayakrishna Franklin Kanin Michael Skocpol

Senior Editors Rachel Arndt Catherine Cullen Scott Lowenstein

Business General Managers Office Manager Shawn Reilly Alexander Hughes Jonathan Spector Directors Ellen DaSilva Sales Director Claire Kiely Sales Director Phil Maynard Sales Director Katie Koh Finance Director Jilyn Chao Asst. Finance Director

A le x yuly

l e t t e r to t h e e d i to r s

Minority hirings a start, but not enough To the Editor: The recent article on minority faculty hiring (“Minority prof. hiring accelerates,” Feb. 9) suggests that Brown should be applauded for its progress since 2003. I join the chorus of those applauding. However, the article also suggests to me that care must be taken not to fall into the trap of using the most favorable statistical analyses to represent our progress on this front.

It is accurate to show that the overall increase in minority faculty from 90 to 126 represents an achievement which merits applause. Even so, it is important to

emphasize that the representation of minority faculty is still only 18.29 percent of the total faculty. This represents an increase of 3.01 percent of the faculty total.

While we increased the number of minority faculty by 36 during the period, the number of non-minority faculty was increased by 64. It is hard to close the gap unless the hiring ratio changes more.

Levi Adams Vice president emeritus of government and community affairs Feb. 9

Five score and nineteen years ago our fathers

Managers Local Sales Kelly Wess National Sales Kathy Bui University Sales Alex Carrere Recruiter Sales Christiana Stephenson Credit and Collections Matt Burrows

brought forth on this campus a new newspaper,

Opinions Opinions Editor Sarah Rosenthal Editorial Page Board James Shapiro Editorial Page Editor Nick Bakshi Board member Zack Beauchamp Board member Sara Molinaro Board member

proposition that all letters may be sent to

Post- magazine Arthur Matuszewski Kelly McKowen

conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the

letters@browndailyherald.com

Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Chief

Jessie Calihan, Jessica KirschnerJulien Ouellet, Designer Sydney Ember, Seth Motel, Copy Editors Mitra Anoushiravani, Caroline Sedano, Sara Sunshine, George Miller, Chaz Kelsh , Night Editors Senior Staff Writers Mitra Anoushiravani, Colin Chazen, Ellen Cushing, Sydney Ember, Lauren Fedor, Nicole Friedman, Britta Greene, Sarah Husk, Brian Mastroianni, Hannah Moser, Ben Schreckinger, Caroline Sedano, Melissa Shube, Anne Simons, Sara Sunshine, Staff Writers Zunaira Choudhary, Chris Duffy, Nicole Dungca, Juliana Friend, Cameron Lee, Kelly Mallahan, Christian Martell, Seth Motel, Jyotsna Mullur, Lauren Pischel, Leslie Primack, Alexandra Ulmer, Kyla Wilkes Sports Staff Writers Nicole Stock Senior Business Associates Max Barrows, Jackie Goldman, Margaret Watson, Ben Xiong Business Associates Stassia Chyzhykova, Misha Desai, Bonnie Kim, Maura Lynch, Cathy Li, Allen McGonagill, Thanases Plestis, Corey Schwartz, William Schweitzer, Kenneth So, Evan Sumortin, Haydar Taygun, Webber Xu, Lyndse Yess Design Staff Jessica Kirschner, Joanna Lee, Maxwell Rosero Photo Staff Alex DePaoli, Frederic Lu, Quinn Savit, Meara Sharma, Min Wu Copy Editors Rafael Chaiken, Ellen Cushing, Sydney Ember, Lauren Fedor, Anna Jouravleva, Jennifer Kim, Younhun Kim, Tarah Knaresboro, Geoffrey Kyi, Janine Lopez, Frederic Lu, Jordan Mainzer, Kelly Mallahan, Madeleine Rosenberg, Riva Shah, Luis Solis, Rachel Starr, Jason Yum, Web Developers Jihan Chao

C O R R E C T I O N S P olicy The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.

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Opinions The Brown Daily Herald

Thursday, February 12, 2009 | Page 11

Of plaid shirts and protests JEANNE JEONG Opinions Columnist In the opening ceremony of the Ivy Leadership Summit, held at Brown this past weekend, sketch comedy group Out of Bounds performed a skit incorporating stereotypes of the different Ivy League schools. Predictably, Brown was portrayed as the meditationloving, plaid-shirt clad activist of the bunch.

Yet dissent-happy students complain that we are currently stuck in an apathetic generation, drifting away from the “age of protest.”

But perhaps this idea is only true in the minds of select Brown students. Here, the counterculture can be considered the main campus culture, and those who deviate from it are at risk of being viewed as “commercial” and unwilling to fight for a cause. Realistically, however, not all students care to be in Students for a Democratic Society, and the reason is not because they lack intelligence or passion. In defense of my fellow seemingly apathetic, conforming students, not every cause must be fought for by every student. Rather, battles must be picked with care, and no opinion should be forced.

There exists some odd expectation that Brown students should be a certain way and accept certain things. The unfortunate truth is that we students have come to ac-

cept only what we already believe, allowing conformity to the non-conformist culture and turning up our noses at most everything else. The most aesthetically displeasing objects can be perceived as ironic, and obscure music that really should stay that way is overly appreciated.

All this is trivial alone, but it becomes problematic when it is combined with an air of superiority over those who disagree.

The double standards of activism and political correctness are apparent nearly every-

Unfortunately for the sophomore class board, however, the idea of the show alone was received with criticism and accusations of fostering sexism. Perhaps a sophisticated nude art gallery showing would have attracted more attendees and respect?

And we can’t overlook those MSex tableslips. I suppose such racy images are more acceptable because they are attached to an idea of open, healthy sexuality and freedom — just like half-naked models are okay in the Sustainable Food Initiative fund-

We students have come to accept only what we already believe, allowing conformity to the nonconformist culture and turning up our noses at most everything else. where. From MSex tableslips to the lingerie fashion show, the past week serves as an example of the presence of occasionally excessive indignation.

Brown students pride themselves on being comfortable with sexuality, as long as it’s nonchalant and hip. And if we were a school that also prided ourselves more on sports and less on knowledge of indie bands, my guess is that the lingerie fashion show would have met with greater success.

raising calendars, as long as they promote the trendy idea of sustainable food.

I have no problem with any of the above.

I enjoy art galleries with or without nudity, have contemplated buying a SuFI calendar and was admittedly disappointed when the lingerie fashion show was canceled. But this double standard concerning the acceptance of sexuality and objectification of the naked body exemplifies the dominant culture on our campus. There is omnipresent

pressure to have some sort of sophisticated, open-minded narrowness about what is acceptable and then to protest against what is not.

The expectations imposed on students to join various groups in protest and politics and whatever else Brown kids are “supposed” to be interested in end up having negative side effects. It’s hard to be all that into activism when there’s an overwhelming push for one particular side of a given issue. Those who complain that our generation is apathetic need to realize that perhaps we seem that way because we are constantly bombarded with pleas to have an opinion on everything.

Further, we are endlessly persuaded to have the right — or in our case, left — opinion on everything. Awareness might be necessary, but coercing opinions is not. Neither is looking down on those who choose to employ discretion with personal opinions rather than leap at any chance to express them.

Ultimately, we know our student body is unlike that of Penn, Princeton or any other Ivy. Though we can pride ourselves on this, we should recognize that Brown is not made unique simply because students mold to its own distinct stereotype.

Jeanne Jeong ’12 is a first-year from Ashburn, Virginia. She can be reached at jeanne_jeong@brown.edu

Merits of the in-between

BY JONATHAN TOPAZ Opinions Columnist On Saturday morning, still very much in the process of fully waking up, I walked slowly into a friend’s room, when I was immediately bombarded with the question: “How many of your professors have any idea who you are?”

In my semi-conscious state, I gave him a pretty straight answer — probably about two or three out of eight — without realizing at the time that I will probably end up leaving my first year at Brown not having known 75 percent of the people who taught me.

Perhaps I am hypersensitive to this.

Coming from a small high school in New York City at which humanities classes were capped at 16, few classes had more than 20 students and up to 25 percent of one’s final grade was allocated to class participation and one-on-one meetings with the teacher, I have grown accustomed to knowing my educators personally. Students generally met exclusively with at least one or two teachers each week, for as long as 45 minutes at a time. The boundaries between students and teachers were, in many ways, broken down.

Obviously, one would have to be delusional to propose that Brown, a university of nearly 6,000 undergraduates, can provide the same level of individual attention as my high school did. One would also be misguided in saying that Brown professors are inaccessible, as most make themselves readily available to students via e-mail, before and after class for questions and, of course, ev-

ery week at office hours. And one would also be ill-advised to contend that my high school is half the institution that Brown is.

But next time you are on Banner take a look at the capacity for a range of classes.

The obvious trend is hard to miss — the vast majority of classes tend either to be uncapped (signified by the capacity of 999 students) or seminars capped at 20. Brown students often prize these seminars, as discussion-based classes allow for debate and direct relationships with professors.

Many classes — namely introductory or

offers, must we leave so many classes uncapped and susceptible to preposterously large numbers?

In my opinion, a major goal of this school should be to promote as much professor-student interaction as possible. The way to realistically accomplish this is not to increase the number of seminars (as this would simply make other classes much larger), but cut down on unnecessarily large classes and these small seminars themselves. While seminars are indeed valuable, numbers tell us that Brown has to find middle ground

With so many great classes that Brown offers, must we leave so many classes uncapped and susceptible to preposterously large numbers?

survey classes such as ECON 0110: “Principles of Economics,” POLS 0400: “Introduction to International Politics,” BIOL 0200: “The Foundation of Living Systems” and myriad others — should be uncapped for obvious reasons. Conversely, narrowly focused classes are often out of hand in their numbers, such as a political science course on the 14th Amendment, POLS 1010: “Topics in American Constitutional Law,” that has 151 students enrolled or AMCV 1611V: “Color Me Cool: A Survey of Contemporary Graphic Novels,” which has 139 students enrolled.

With so many great classes that Brown

and cap many more classes at 50.

Ultimately, the fundamental question is not whether a 50-person class can function as a seminar — it simply cannot. But there are other, more important questions that we can debate as a community. Does a 50-person class make shyer students more likely to ask questions or make comments?

Can professors, at the very least, learn the names and faces of students in these classes? Are office hours less daunting for students in these smaller classes? Can legitimate relationships between professors and students form in a small lecture format?

Common sense and anecdotal evidence

would seem to suggest yes. Many of my friends contest that mid-size classes do not resemble seminars in their discussion format, but in the way professors and students interact. One friend at a small liberal arts school noted that in a class of about 45, the professor knew everyone’s name within the first two weeks of class. It is reasonable to this columnist that a lecture of 50 students is certainly not the same as a lecture of 200 and that professors can connect with students in these classes in meaningful ways.

For skeptics who doubt this, go one step further. Many 50-person classes are equipped with TAs. Fifty-person classes should take one meeting out and replace it with a section. The class would be split in half, with one half having section taught by a TA and the other by the professor. After the quarter, the section groups would switch.

This way, once a week, students would have classes with their professors in a section of 25, ensuring a once-a-week seminar with the professor him- or herself.

While Brown can at times be daunting, it is by no means a big school. Some will say that to cap more classes at 50 is to deprive students of their ability to take classes they might love. However, to allow so many classes to remain uncapped is a form of deprivation itself — depriving students of intellectual and personal relationships with some of the most brilliant men and women in the world.

Jonathan Topaz ’12 is a first-year from New York City. He can be reached at jonathan.topaz@gmail.com

Today The Brown Daily Herald

5

Projo faces another round of layoffs

7

to day

to m o r r o w

46 / 30

40 / 20

M. and w. squash teams crush Tufts

post-

Thursday, February 12, 2009

magazine

Inside...

Brown University l February 12, 2009 l Volume 10 l Issue 3

post

the news in images

Page 12

magazine

03 feature

PIECING TOGETHER MEMORIES \\ allison zimmer

04 film and television

A LOST VALENTINE\\ doug eacho MOVIES ARE FOR LOVERS \\ tanmay misra

05 music

STATE OF THE RADIO, PART 2 \\ wbru response SHORT AND SWEET \\ katie kinsey

07 sexpertise

FOREIGN RELATIONS \\ allie wollner FIELDS OF PASSION \\ sam yambrovich

1

08 from the hill

CRAMMING WITH COFFEE \\ audrey fox YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT \\ ted lamm & alex logan POST- PROVIDENCE \\ anthony badami

comics

c a l e n da r February 12, 2008

February 13, 2008

4 P.M. — The Linguists: Film Screening and Discussion, Metcalf 125

2 P.M. — “Emancipated Memories: Uncovering the Hidden Faces of Slavery,” 357 Benefit Street

5 P.M. — Israeli Film Festival, Brown/ RISD Hillel, Avon Cinema, Salomon 001, MacMillan 117

Vagina Dentata | Soojean Kim

all day — Darwin’s 200th Birthday Party, Sidney Frank Hall Lobby

menu Sharpe Refectory

Verney-Woolley Dining Hall

Lunch — Eggplant Parmesan, Beef Tacos, Mandarin Blend Vegetables, Nacho Bar, Mashed Potatoes

Lunch — Chinese Chicken Fingers with Sticky Sauce, Wisconsin Ziti with Four Cheeses, Steamed Vegetale Melange

Dinner — Mexican Cornbread Casserole, Salt and Pepper Jerk Chicken, Nacho Bar

Alien Weather Forcast | Stephen Lichenstein and Adam Wagner

Dinner — Green Pepper Steak, Eggplant Parmesan, Acorn Squash

RELEASE DATE– Thursday, February 12, 2009

Los Angeles Times Puzzle c r o sDaily s w oCrossword rd Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Some old RCAs 6 Facility 10 Inspiron maker 14 Stallion, e.g.

15 Golfer Mickelson 16 __ Velva: aftershave 17 Last Martin/Lewis film 20 “small & mighty” detergent 21 Car bar 22 Salad days 23 Serious social engagement 27 Part of CBS: Abbr.

28 Boisterous 29 Jack Nicklaus’s alma mater, briefly 31 One of 18 kings 32 Kind of price 35 1917 abdicator 39 What a Manhattan landmark’s inscription is mistakenly assumed to be 42 Half an arcade trademark 43 Theater name 44 “What __!”: “How annoying” 45 Watery expanse 47 Border on 48 Kid __ 51 Pancake flour 55 Bellowing 57 Easily maneuvered, as a ship 58 Actress __ Dawn Chong 61 1909 centennial debut that originally featured the ends of 17-, 23-, 39-, 51-Across and the initials in the circled squares (explained in tomorrow’s puzzle) 65 Advised about 66 Writer Ferber 67 Invite as one’s date for 68 Act of defiance 69 Unilever detergent 70 Expert

DOWN 1 “Funny ... not!”

2 Golden calf, e.g.

3 Great deal?

4 Wisc. neighbor 5 Squalid space 6 Adhesive mixed right before use 7 Put __ on: not release 8 Record half 9 “Evil Woman” gp.

10 Olivia of “The Wonder Years” 11 Magazine for horse owners 12 Full of vigor 13 Backing strips 18 Undulating 19 Bakery offerings 24 Favored groups 25 __-ran 26 Carry-on item 28 Joint for merriment, slangily 30 Literally, “not a place” 31 Old albums 32 Radarman’s bogey 33 Veto 34 Not friendly

36 Only film of its series directed

by William Shatner 37 Quarreling 38 Tarzan player Ely 40 Lady of the haus 41 Model partner 46 Spanish river 47 Citi Field predecessor 48 Not phony

49 “The Three Sisters” sister 50 Arts supporter 52 Singer Lauper 53 Madeline et al.

54 Unleash 56 SensiClear target 59 “Deal me in” indicator 60 Collar type 62 Kareem, once 63 Lake maker 64 Rebs’ gp.

Enigma Twist | Dustin Foley

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Cabernet Voltaire | Abe Pressman

xwordeditor@aol.com

02/12/09

The One About Zombies | Kevin Grubb

By Don Gagliardo (c)2009 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

02/12/09