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Daily Herald the Brown

vol. cxliv, no. 19 | Wednesday, February 18, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891

Cafe Roba Dolce closes suddenly after eviction Penn works to contain meningitis

By Sydney Ember Senior Staf f Writer

Roba Dolce closed its doors Tuesday and its owners were notified that they were being evicted from their corner location on Thayer Street, a shocking development that left Nino DeMartino, the owner of the panini and gelato cafe, searching for answers. “Unfortunately, we have a situation where we are subleasing, and the people who are subleasing are defaulting,” DeMartino said in a telephone interview yesterday. “It just happened today, suddenly, and it was unexpected.” Students and passers-by appeared taken aback by the darkened storefront, with many people stopping to read the notice tacked onto the front entrance. The eviction notice, filed on Monday in Rhode Island’s Sixth District Court, came a mere three weeks after the cafe was granted a limited liquor license by the Providence Board of Licenses. DeMartino said he was not notified before being served with the eviction notice. He said he was hoping to negotiate “some kind of adjustment” in court allowing him to continue to operate his business while the legal aspects of the case are discussed, though he said the likelihood of a successful re-

Filling the gap: students take years off in Israel

By Ellen Cushing and Gaurie Tilak Senior Staff Writer and Higher Ed Editor

Three students at the University of Pennsylvania have been hospitalized with meningococcal infection, according to health alerts issued by the school.

HIGHER ED

opening during the proceedings was unclear. “It’s really bad what they did,” DeMar tino said, “but it’s the law.” “Hopefully, we can get resolved soon and continue to ser ve the community,” he said. Murray Gereboff, the attorney representing the landlords, New

York-based real-estate company Stonehenge Partners, Inc., in the legal proceedings, said the eviction was filed because the tenants “wouldn’t pay their rent,” owing $36,000, though he did not specify who was guilty in defaulting on payments. He said the district sheriff ser ved the execution yesterday, but “there isn’t much more that

By Etienne Ma Staf f Writer

FEATURE

Justin Coleman / Herald

The men’s basketball team lost to Penn Friday night but won its first Ivy game of the season in an upset over Princeton.

inside

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www.browndailyherald.com

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Zipcar membership doubles after minimum age lowered

tops y- t u r v y

When Sara Glick ’10 arrived on College Hill freshman year, it was not her first time living away from home. After graduating from high school, Glick spent a year in Israel to learn more about her Jewish heritage.

News.....1-4 Higher Ed..5-6 Spor ts...7-9 Editorial..10 Opinion...11 Today........12

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Kim Perley / Herald

The Italian cafe Roba Dolce was evicted from its Thayer Street storefront on Tuesday.

By Lauren Pischel Staf f Writer

“I had been in school for 12 years, and then I was going in for another four,” Glick said. “It was good to have a break.” Many students who take socalled “gap years” choose to spend the time in Israel to explore their cultural roots, while others seek to gain a deeper connection with the countr y itself. “People that spend time in Israel feel much more connected with their Jewish identity,” said Yossi Knafo, Israel Fellow at Brown/RISD Hillel.

I know.” DeMartino’s lawyer declined to comment about the case. Before he was served the eviction notice, DeMartino, who has owned Roba Dolce since November 2007, said business had been going “okay,” especially given the current

Penn announced Thursday that two students had suffered the infection, which can cause meningitis, and announced the third case on Friday. The three students all had a “common interaction through Penn’s Greek system,” according to the Feb. 13 alert. The alert recommended preventative treatment for anyone who attended Greek-related events at Penn held since Feb. 2 and for anyone who had “prolonged contact” with those who did. Penn also canceled all “university and student-sponsored parties” for the weekend, the alert said. An e-mail to community members from Brown Health Services about

See Sports, page 7

Since Zipcar implemented changes to its program over the summer, the number of Zipcar members has almost doubled, according to the Brown Transportation Office. Last July, Zipcar lowered the minimum age for drivers from 21 to 18 and added two more cars to its fleet to raise the total number of cars on campus to seven. Zipcar is a car rental company that offers “self-ser vice access to cars 24/7,” according to its Web site. After a membership fee of $30 a year, members can pay for hourly or daily usage for a price that includes gas and insurance. According to Carleia Lighty, the transpor tation manager for Brown, the number of Zipcar users at Brown has increased from 472 to 790 since July, when the changes were put into effect. Roughly 60 percent of users are students, Lighty estimated, while roughly 40 percent are faculty and staff. The service is not only for those

affiliated with Brown, she noted, but for others the age minimum remains 21, and the rates are higher. The Zipcar program has “realized over 100 percent growth” in users and vehicles at Brown in the past three years, said Matt Malloy, Zipcar’s vice president of new market development. He attributed the program’s success to an “ongoing relationship” that Zipcar has with Brown. “What’s great about it is you have seven cars to pick from. If you need a car (for) just one hour, you can get one. You can’t normally rent a car like that — you gotta do 24 hours,” said Lighty. “You don’t have to deal with all the insurance and parking of the personal vehicle and just everything that goes along with having your vehicle.” For Pete Ciullo ’12, Zipcar made things easier when he went with his friends to attend a concert in Massachusetts. Ciullo has used Zipcar twice — he first used the continued on page 3

Higher Ed, 5

Sports, 7

Opinions, 11

OFF THE TENURE TRACK Colleges and universities nationwide are hiring more part-time faculty

FEBRUARY FREEZE Men’s hockey extended its losing streak to seven games over the weekend

THey’re MAt good The wrestling team had a 49-0 shutout against Wagner over the weekend

SCILI PLANNING Nick Werle ’10 offers helpful hints for the SciLi’s science resource center

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

herald@browndailyherald.com

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

C ampus N EWS

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

“It was a very important time to find myself and devote my time to exploration and personal growth.” — Harry Reis ’11, on his gap year

Students take year off after high school to volunteer, study in Israel continued from page 1

“Israel is so a part of your life all of the time,” Knafo said. “You hear it mentioned about 100 times in a ser vice in synagogue.” For their years abroad, students can choose from a wide variety of programs and projects, including learning Hebrew, volunteering in schools and working on farming collectives.

Taking a gap year, Glick said, of fered her a break from a fasttrack culture which propels young adults from high school to college, followed immediately by work or graduate school. “Israeli society is ver y dif ferent than American society,” she said. “In Israel, people take a lot of time to just travel and just discover themselves.” Glick spent the first semester taking classes at Hebrew Univer-

sity and the second semester volunteering in a school. “The kids (at the school) were crazy,” Glick said. “They would yell at the teacher, calling her fat and ugly. I got really good at saying, ‘Don’t hit him.’” Most gap-year programs are divided into two semesters like Glick’s was. Most gap-year programs are also highly structured. “Once I got there, I found that I could not do certain things and go certain places, and that was really annoying,” Glick said. Jenna Zeigen ’12 worked on a farming collective for the first half of her gap year and then volunteered in a high school for the second half. The program Zeigen participated in was smaller than most, with only 48 other students.

“We had this closeness that I just cannot describe,” Zeigen said, that was “beyond the bond of friendship.” Harr y Reis ’11, president of Brown Students for Israel, spent the first semester of his gap year learning Hebrew in Jerusalem. During his second semester he volunteered in an ambulance and in an “absorption center” that provided housing to recent immigrants. “It was a ver y important time to find myself and devote my time to exploration and personal growth and friendships without the obligations of being in school,” Reis said. Some students said they found it difficult to describe their experiences in Israel when people asked

them. “It is just a question that you can’t answer, because it is just this comprehensive experience,” Zeigen said. “It is like asking what the first year of college is like.” Adjusting to Brown was difficult at first for Glick, who — like many gap-year students — entered college a year older than most of her fellow classmates. “The first week before classes was hard. I felt a little bit different than the other freshmen who had just come out of high school,” she said. “But then once classes started, I felt like ever yone else.” “I think it was one of the best decisions I could have made for myself,” Zeigen said. “I’m definitely more outgoing since going on the program.”

news in brief

Banner internal record gets facelift

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Daily Herald the Brown

Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372 | Business Phone: 401.351.3260 Stephen DeLucia, President Michael Bechek, Vice President

Jonathan Spector, Treasurer Alexander Hughes, Secretary

The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement, once during Orientation and once in July by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. POSTMASTER please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Offices are located at 195 Angell St., Providence, R.I. E-mail herald@browndailyherald.com. World Wide Web: http://www.browndailyherald.com. Subscription prices: $319 one year daily, $139 one semester daily. Copyright 2009 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

Changes have been implemented to Banner’s internal academic transcript page, the Office of the Registrar announced in a community-wide email yesterday. The update fixes problems with the old online transcript, which displayed some unwanted records and omitted others, and which was not amenable to printing. Programmers encountered technical difficulties earlier this month, but those issues were resolved quickly. Most students interviewed last night said they had seen the e-mail and visited the new Banner site, but plenty said they continued to have issues with the Banner transcript, despite the changes. “It’s more clear-cut, but there are still discrepancies,” said Sherrie Khadanga ’09. Michael Levy ’10 said he had already sent an email to Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron voicing his concerns about the new system. Levy said he was “very disappointed” by the update because the transcript now displays dropped courses. “I drop courses at all different times,” Levy said. Showing the dropped courses has “no purpose” and is “not functional,” he said. Levy also said his friends were concerned that the transcript did not display the grade of “S with distinction.” — Unikora Yang and Lauren Fedor

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

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C ampus N EWS

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“This is our livelihood, and these people come in and shut our doors, and now we have nothing.” — Nino DeMartino, owner of Roba Dolce

Program seeks to replace Hope High writing tutoring Sarah Julian Contributing Writer

When the Writing Fellows program at Hope High School ended last year, Sejal Jhaveri ’09 and Cristina Rodrigues ’10 wanted to make sure the school’s students would continue to get the writing help Brown students had previously offered. The two have collaborated to create the Literacy Fellows program, which aims to replace the functions of the old program. Jhaveri’s and Rodrigues’ program was created through the Swearer Center for Public Service. In addition to discussing the new program with former Writing Fellows program director Britt Harwood ’09, the two are also working with Jonathan Goodman MAT’89, head of the English department at Hope High and co-director of the previous Writing Fellows program with Harwood. The Literacy Fellows plan to work in classrooms at Hope twice

a week, every other week. They will work to improve students’ writing and teach the foundations of essay writing, Jhaveri said. She has tutored Hope students for the SAT and said many students are not even proficient in basic grammar. “English and literacy skills are so important to being a successful person,” she said. The goal of the program would be to help the high school students master these skills. “Classrooms at Hope are big,” Harwood said. “Having volunteers in the classroom automatically means each student is getting more individual attention.” According to Harwood, students at Hope are generally behind grade level in reading and writing. “The ultimate goal is really trying to help students value their own writing and academic work, and to facilitate improving their writing,” she said. Jhaveri said she is still looking for more volunteers, but plans to start the program next week.

Thayer loses Italian cafe continued from page 1 economy. “Everybody’s suffering a little bit,” he said. “Under my supervision, we made more money than ever.” But he said there had been a 20 to 30 percent decrease in business since 2007, a trend he said he had been hoping to combat with the recently granted liquor license. “We finally got the license,” he said, “but now we can’t even operate.” DeMartino said his goal had been to create a classic Italian cafe — not a full-scale restaurant — with the limited license, fostering a social atmosphere for students and local residents. But with his cafe doors currently locked, the windows boarded shut and the phone disconnected, DeMartino acknowledged his plans were uncertain. “We’re trying very hard to accommodate people,” he said. “If

you don’t have money, you can’t operate.” DeMartino, who said his cafe caters primarily to Brown and RISD students, has been in the restaurant business for 16 years, he said. His goal in life, he said, has been to support his family, especially his children, whom he said he wants to send to college. “I’m a family man, and I have children,” he said. “If this doesn’t go well, what am I going to do?” Many Brown students were equally stunned. “They had amazing paninis,” said Mike Tackeff ’12. “I always thought they were a little expensive, but it was a good place to take a date.” Without the cafe, DeMartino said he is unsure if he will be able to support himself or his family. “This is our livelihood,” he said, “and these people come in and shut our doors, and now we have nothing.”

Herald File Photo

Twice as many students have signed up for Zipcar after the company changed its rules and added cars.

Zipcar registrations gain speed on campus continued from page 1 service last December — and has had no difficulty booking the cars for travel. The pricing, Ciullo said, is “pretty fair” and “pretty inexpensive” because the cost would usually be divided among friends. But Marielle Giancarlo ’11 cited price as the largest deter-

rent to using Zipcar. Despite the perks of Zipcars, many students have yet to try the ser vice, and several inter viewed by The Herald said they didn’t have the need for it. Some were unsure what Zipcar was, while others were unaware that Zipcar operated with a minimum age of 18. Emily Reese ’11 found Zipcar

“appealing,” while Cydney Dupree ’11 said that she has “been wanting to” use Zipcar, though neither had tried it. Zoe McKinnell ’12 also intends to rent a Zipcar once she has her license. “Many students use Amtrak to get around, but Zipcar would be cheaper.” “We’re proud of the program,” Lighty said.

Higher Ed The Brown Daily Herald

Meningitis at Penn linked to Greek system, fencing team

National trend favors untenured faculty By Nicole Friedman Senior Staff Writer

continued from page 1 the outbreak at Penn also tied the infections to Penn’s fencing team. The Brown team participated in a tournament with Penn’s team at Columbia last week. Jeanne Leong, a Penn spokesperson, was unable to confirm that one of the affected students was involved with the fencing team, but both Brown and Columbia have issued health alerts that specifically referred to the schools’ fencing teams as at risk. One of the infected students has already been released from the hospital, Leong wrote in an e-mail to The Herald, while “the other two are in fair condition.” To ensure that more students aren’t infected, Penn health services is offering preventative antibiotic pills to students free of charge. The cost of the treatment is being shared by the university and the city of Philadelphia, Leong told The Herald. Pennsylvania state law already requires all entering undergraduate students to receive one dose of the meningitis vaccine, Leong said. But, she said, the vaccine only protects the body against four of the five strains of meningitis. The Penn students all contracted the strain of infection not covered by the vaccine. Antibiotic treatment was available to students over the weekend and on Monday and will continue to be offered on a case-by-case basis for the remainder of the week, Leong wrote in her e-mail. So far, about 3,000 of the 10,000 undergraduates at Penn have opted to receive treatment, she wrote. But Penn sophomore Lucy Medrich, who did not take the antibiotics, said many students were not concerned by the outbreak. “I didn’t get a prophylactic because I didn’t go to any frats over the time period they said the meningitis outbreak occurred,” she wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. “Most of my friends aren’t worried about it

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 | Page 5

Courtesy of Pamela Ellerman / The Daily Pennsylvanian

About 3,000 University of Pennsylvania students received preventative meningitis treatment at the school’s Student Health Service, above.

either.” In response to the Penn outbreak, Brown Health Services issued an e-mail alert on Monday recommending preventative treatment for students who have had close contact with the students in the Penn Greek system or fencing team. Twelve Brown students received the prophylaxis yesterday and about 20 other students went to speak with Health Services, said Health Services Director Edward Wheeler. Although no cases have been reported at Brown since the Penn outbreak, the Brown e-mail alert was sent because of the potential seriousness of the disease, Wheeler said. The situation at Penn poses “a very low risk,” he added. “We don’t have any reason to believe that anyone was actually in contact with the people who actually have it,” he said. “We’re just being cautious.” Symptoms of meningitis include stiffening of the neck, high fever, headache and rash, Wheeler said.

It is spread through close physical contact, like kissing or sharing utensils, cups or toothbrushes, he said. Brown fencers contacted by the Herald Tuesday all said they are not concerned about the outbreak, although several team members said they had already gone to receive antibiotics from Health Services. “Personally, I am not worried about this scare,” fencer Scott Phillips ’11 wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. Phillips added that a Health Services representative was planning to come to the team’s practice yesterday to offer the antibiotic pill to anyone on the team who wanted it. Joseph Isaacson ’11 wrote in an e-mail that he is not worried about infection because contact between fencing teams during the tournament was “limited to a quick handshake.” But he is glad Brown offered the team treatment. “Even if chance of infection is near zero,” he wrote, “it is better to offer those most at risk some preventative treatment.”

Colleges and universities around the country are hiring fewer faculty members on the tenure track, choosing instead to hire contingent faculty, which include adjunct professors and lecturers. As of 2007, full-time tenured faculty made up only 21.3 percent of faculty nationwide, down from 36.5 percent in 1975, according to the Department of Education. Full-time, non-tenure-track faculty and part-time faculty together made up 68.8 percent of national faculty in 2007, compared to a combined total of just 43.2 percent in 1975. This trend is often attributed to the lower cost of part-time and untenured faculty, said John Curtis, director of the department of research and public policy for the American Association of University Professors. Part-time faculty do not receive full benefits and are often hired on a per-course or per-credit basis at “rates that are well below those paid to full-time faculty,” he said. The current economic crisis will “exacerbate this situation” by providing colleges and universities with “the rationale for a further decrease of workplace security,” wrote Steffen

Hantke, a professor at Sogang University in South Korea, in an e-mail to The Herald. Hantke co-edited a book about the struggles of adjunct faculty. But Brown and other top-tier institutions buck the national trend. Of Brown’s 689 regular faculty members, 637 are professors, associate professors or assistant professors, meaning they either have tenure or are on the tenure track, according to the Dean of the Faculty’s Web site. The remaining 7.5 percent of regular faculty members are lecturers and senior lecturers. In addition to regular faculty, Brown currently has 200 to 300 visiting and adjunct faculty members, Associate Dean of the Faculty Elizabeth Doherty said. Unlike many other schools, Brown has a student body whose size remains relatively constant from year to year and a commitment to using regular faculty in teaching “whenever possible,” Doherty said. Other top schools are similarly situated. Of Stanford’s regular faculty — which does not include faculty at its Medical Center — 54 percent are tenured and an additional 16 percent continued on page 6

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Struggling colleges hire more part-time profs; Brown bucks trend continued from page 5 are on the tenure track, information on the university’s Web site shows. Around 62 percent of Dartmouth’s total faculty are either tenured or on the tenure track, according to that school’s Web site. Harvard and Yale both employ around 68 percent of their regular faculty in tenured or tenure-track positions, according to their respective Web sites. Those figures do not include research faculty or academic support personnel. Curtis said research universities often employ graduate students to teach courses, decreasing their need to hire non-tenure-track faculty. Top-

tier universities also employ professors in full-time, non-tenure track positions as research faculty — positions that are not always included when schools calculate their regular faculty numbers. Brown does not track the number of adjunct and visiting faculty members, Doherty said, but the number of regular faculty has gone up so fast that “it would be hard to imagine that adjuncts and visitors would have increased at anywhere near that rate,” she said. In addition to allowing institutions to “contain or control the cost” of faculty, having fewer tenured positions gives institutions flexibility to adjust the size of the faculty to enrollment

levels, said Professor of Education Kenneth Wong. Hiring faculty on fixed-year contracts is also a “flexible way to bring in new ideas to the teaching program of those institutions,” said Wong, who serves as chair of his department. But the use of non-tenure track and part-time faculty can have negative consequences for students, Curtis said. Since non-tenure track faculty members often hold other jobs, they are less available to students, which places the burden of advising and writing letters of recommendation almost entirely on tenure-track faculty, he said. Also, without the protections of tenure, contingent faculty may be less willing to address controversial

issues or “challenge students to really take on tough questions,” he said. Nonetheless, many faculty members choose not to be on the tenure track for various reasons. Instructors who are solely interested in teaching sometimes choose not to be on the tenure track, since review for tenure focuses on a professor’s publications and scholarly efforts in addition to teaching. Because contingent faculty are evaluated on teaching ability and student enrollment, adjunct faculty members are “often among our best teachers,” said Professor of Economics Andrew Foster, who also chairs the Department of Economics. At Brown, many adjunct faculty

members are hired to teach specific classes about their field of work, Wong said, citing professional performers, teachers and judges as examples of professionals who have taught as adjunct faculty members at Brown. Brown has a hiring freeze in place for staff and administrative positions, but not for faculty, and it will continue to hire tenure-track professors. If any group is affected by changes in hiring, Doherty said, “it’s more likely to be on the visitor and adjunct group.” If a department wanted to hire a visiting or temporary faculty member, the University would be more rigorous in determining the necessity of the hire, she said.

SportsWednesday The Brown Daily Herald

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 | Page 7

M. hoopsters score first Ivy win Hockey team continues on seven-game slide

By Benjy Asher Spor ts Editor

By Dan Alexander Sports Staff Writer

After a devastating 73-52 loss to Penn (7-13, 3-3 Ivy) on Friday night, the men’s basketball team (7-15, 1-7 Ivy) bounced back the following night, earning its first Ivy League win under new Head Coach Jesse Agel in an upset 61-43 win over Princeton (9-10, 4-2 Ivy). Penn 73, Brown 52 Friday’s matchup with Penn was an emotional game for both sides. Brown was coming off two narrow losses the previous weekend, 63-61 to Dartmouth and 64-63 to Harvard, while Penn had lost back-toback Ivy League home games for the first time in 41 years, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian. To add to the tension, three starters for the Bears — Matt Mullery ’10 and tri-captains Chris Skrelja ’09 and Scott Friske ’09 — were former recruits of Penn Head Coach Glen Miller, who held the head coaching job at Brown through the 2005-2006 season. “It’s always difficult when we play against players I recruited,” Miller said. “They’re good guys, which is why I recruited them, so I want to see them do well, but I also want to win.” Early on, Tyler Bernardini had the hot hand for Penn, leading the Quakers with 13 first-half points en route to a game-high 16. Adrian Williams ’11 kept the Bears in the game with his hot shooting, as he went off for 15 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field, including three treys, in the first half. Two free throws from Williams tied the game at 21 with 7:04 remaining in the first half, but the game quickly began to slip away from the Bears. The Quakers finished the half from that point on with an 18-8 run, including seven points from guard Harrison Gaines in the last 3:08 of the half. “They played at an extremely fast tempo, and they had great guards who pretty much blew by us at will,” Agel said. In the second half, the Quakers’ offense continued to click, as Gaines and guard Zack Rosen ran

Courtesy of Jesse Russell Morgan

The men’s basketball team lost against Penn Friday but beat Princeton the next day for its first Ivy win of the season.

the motion offense to perfection to build a 20-point lead, 56-36, with 9:52 left to play. As the Penn defense clamped down on Williams, Brown struggled to generate any offense. Mullery, the Bears’ leading scorer on the season, was held to just 12 points, while tri-captain Peter Sullivan ’11 managed just seven points and Friske and Skrelja made just one field goal each. “We struggle when people get in our face, because we don’t have a lot of guys who can create off the dribble to get shots for themselves or for other people,” Agel said. “We also didn’t cash in on free throws, and we just looked rattled on the floor.” Brown shot 11-for-21 from the charity stripe, while shooting just 34 percent from the floor, and Penn cruised to a 73-52 victory. Brown 61, Princeton 43 On Saturday, Brown opened with three-pointers by Williams and Mullery on back-to-back possessions to take an early 6-0 lead, but a 19-8 run gave Princeton a 19-14 lead with 4:49 left in the first half. Treys from Mullery and Morgan Kelly ’11 gave the Bears a one-point lead, and at halftime the score was knotted at 21. Mullery led the way with 12 points in the first half, and finished with a gamehigh 19, along with six assists and four blocks. After the slow first half, in which Brown shot just 38 percent

from the floor and attempted only two free throws, the offense was operating on all cylinders in the second half. The Bears came out of the locker room and put together a 17-3 run in the first nine minutes of the half to take a 38-24 lead. During the run, Sullivan, who was held to a single point in the first half, scored six points, while Williams hit a pair of treys and Mullery continued to make his presence felt in the post, adding five points. Free-throw shooting was key for the Bears, who shot 14-of-19 from the line in the second half. Sullivan led the offensive effort for Brown in the second half with 12 points, including 7-of-9 free throws, to finish with 13 points. Skrelja had a solid all-around game as well, chipping in with nine points and a team-high nine rebounds, while Williams knocked down three treys to finish with 11 points. The Bears also protected the ball, committing only nine turnovers, well below the team’s season average of 14.7 turnovers per game. Brown will try to carry its momentum into Friday night’s game against the Columbia Lions (10-12, 5-3 Ivy), who defeated the Bears, 65-59, in the first meeting between the teams. Then, on Saturday, Bruno will take on first-place Cornell (17-7, 7-1 Ivy), looking to avenge a 90-58 loss at the hands of the Big Red on Jan. 30. Both games will be at 7 p.m. at the Pizzitola Center.

The men’s hockey team (2-19-4, 2-133 ECAC) fell to ECAC rivals Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (7-21-2, 6-11-1) and Union (15-13-2, 8-9-1) in away games last weekend, extending Brown’s losing streak to seven games. RPI had a 4-2 lead heading into the final frame on Friday night, and assistant captain Matt Vokes ’09 scored his ninth goal of the season with just over seven minutes left in the game to bring the Bears within one goal. But the last minutes ticked away without either team netting another goal, making the final score 4-3. The Bears lost again the next night when Union goaltender Corey

Milan had a shut-out until Bobby Farnham ’12 beat Milan with 1:17 remaining in the game to make the score 2-1. Union scored an empty-net goal with 2.8 seconds left to make the final score 3-1. RPI 4, Brown 3 The Bears headed to Troy, N.Y., on Friday night to close out the season’s series with the RPI Engineers. When the teams faced off against each other earlier in the season, RPI handed Brown one of its worst defeats of the season in a 7-2 game. The Engineers took to their home ice Friday night amid a four-game losing streak. The weekend before, they had lost a home and an away continued on page 8

Wrestlers sweep weekend By Katie Wood Assistant Sports Editor

The wrestling team finished off its final road trip of the season on Saturday with a 3-0 sweep over Boston University, Harvard and Wagner, including a 49-0 shut-out against Wagner. After a win at Princeton last weekend, the Bears have rattled off four wins in a row heading into the final weekend of the regular season. “We did a much better job this weekend,” said co-captain Matt Gevelinger ’09. “In the past we have underachieved. This weekend we felt that we were capable of winning three and finally reached our potential.” Brown 25, Harvard 19 Brown traveled to Cambridge, Mass., to take on Ivy League foe Harvard early Saturday afternoon. The Crimson failed to suit up a full team as Greg Einfrank ’10 won by forfeit at 125 pounds to start off the meet. Harvard controlled the middle-weights as

its team put together five wins in the next seven matches. Eli Harris ’09 lost 8-3 at 133 pounds and Stephen DeLorenzo ’10 bounced back from the Harris defeat and pulled away from his opponent with a technical fall (6:36). Rickey Bailey ’11 could not get started and fell 16-0 in a tech. fall (2:48) at 149 pounds. For the next five matches, the Bears and the Crimson would battle back and forth, each team recording two major decisions to keep the match close. No. 4 J.P. O’Connor handed Bryan Tracy ’10 a 14-3 major decision at 157 pounds. But Jeff Lemmer ’12 returned the favor to the Crimson at 165 pounds and scored his own 15-6 major decision. Despite a fever, Bran Crudden ’10 battled his opponent and fell by a slight 5-2 margin at 174 pounds. Louis Caputo (No. 10) recorded a 10-0 major decision over Gevelinger at 184 pounds and Leo Saniuk ’09 handled continued on page 9

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

S ports W ednesday

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Men’s hockey loses two games over the weekend continued from page 7 game, both to Union. After a scoreless first period during which RPI outshot Brown 10-6, the Bears began the second period with 1:26 remaining on a power-play. Jeff Buvinow ’12 took the puck from the top of the left face-off circle to the point and fired a rocket with under a minute remaining on the power-play. Assistant captain Aaron Volpatti ’10 deflected the puck to Milan’s fivehole to give Brown a 1-0 lead. RPI evened the score 2:40 later when Jeff Foss tried a shot from the blue line. Mike Clemente ’12 stopped the puck, but Justin Smith won the rebound. Smith took a shot from just outside of the crease and put the puck across the goal line. Clemente started in net for the Bears on both nights last weekend. Head Coach Roger Grillo has experimented with different players in goal recently. Last weekend, Clemente and Dan Rosen ’10 each got starts. The weekend before, Mark Sibbald ’09 got a chance in net too. “I think we have three very good goaltenders,” Grillo said. “I don’t think we have a definite number one.” Grillo said he was impressed with Clemente’s play last weekend. “I thought he played really well. There’s a goal or two that he’d probably want back and that’s generally the case when you don’t win,” he said. The Bears reclaimed the lead when Jack Maclellan ’12 scored the third goal of the period 4:00 after the opening face-off. RPI goaltender Allen York stopped three shots in a row, but couldn’t make the fourth save on Maclellan’s shot from the bottom of the left face-off circle. Brown maintained the 2-1 lead until RPI gained a 5-on-3 man advantage late in middle frame. Chase Polacek knotted the score at 2-2 with a slapshot 16:11 into the period. The Engineers took the lead just 24 seconds later while they still had a one-man advantage. Clemente stopped one shot, but the puck went loose in the crease, and Alex Angers-Goulet managed to knock it into the net. RPI’s scoring spree continued when they put in their third goal in just over a minute on a shot from the bottom of the right face-off circle, giving the Engineers a 4-2 lead. “You take out that 1:16 and we actually played a heck of a game,” Grillo said. Vokes added to his team-leading scoring statistics with 7:07 left in the game when he beat York with a wrist shot from point-blank, to make the game 4-3. Grillo pulled Clemente, who tallied 26 saves on the night, with 1:13 left in favor of an extra attacker. Despite the man advantage, the Bears only managed to get off one shot before the buzzer sounded with RPI still ahead 4-3. Union 3, Brown 1 Union came into their Saturday match-up against the Bears having won two of their last three games. They had fallen to No. 7 Yale (19-

5-1, 14-3-1) the night before in a 4-2 game. The first time Brown faced off against Union this season, the Bears left with their first victory of the season, a 5-4 win on Dec. 5 at Meehan Auditorium. Grillo said the difference between the two games was Brown’s power play. In the first game, the Bears were 3-for-6 with the man advantage. They went 0-for-8 on the power-play last Saturday. Saturday’s game was more of a defensive battle than the last match-up. Corey Milan, who gave up all five goals against Brown in the teams’ first meeting, was perfect in net until he let one by him with 1:17 remaining. Union took control in the first period, gaining a 16-5 shot advantage. It took Union all 16 shots to finally beat Clemente. Brock Matheson fired the puck from the left point and teammate Adam Presizniuk deflected it past Clemente for his 13th goal of the season, to put Union ahead 1-0 at the end of the first period. The goal siren lit up far fewer times in the second period on Saturday than it had the previous night, when Brown and RPI combined for six second-period goals. The middle frame was scoreless on Saturday until Jason Walters made it a 2-0 game with five seconds left in the period. Milan passed to Lane Caffaro, who fed Walters on the left wing. With the last seconds ticking away, Walters threw a shot on net from the left boards. The shot that would prove to be the game-winning goal deflected off of a Brown defenseman’s skate and went into the net. “That was kind of a downer,” Clemente said. Like the first two periods, the last 20 minutes remained scoreless until the end of the frame. With Brown trailing 2-0 and just 1:35 remaining, Grillo pulled Clemente in favor of an extra attacker. The strategy worked as Buvinow won the puck on the right wing and passed it off to Maclellan. Maclellan fed Farnham, who scored Brown’s lone goal on the night. The goal prevented the shutout, but it wasn’t enough to bring the Bears back. Grillo pulled Clemente again after the face-off at mid-ice. This time, the extra attacker wasn’t enough and Union scored an emptynet goal with 2.8 seconds left, making the score 3-1. The two losses keep Brown at the bottom of the ECAC standings with only seven points. “We’re not giving up,” Clemente said. “We’re going to keep battling. Everyone is still coming to practice and working hard.” Brown will take on No. 10 Princeton for the third time this season in New Jersey next Friday at 7 p.m. The Bears lost their home opener, 4-1, against Princeton and lost another to the Tigers in a 5-1 game at Meehan on Jan. 31. “The expectation is to go down to Princeton and beat them,” Grillo said.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

S ports W ednesday Wrestlers win four straight continued from page 7 his opponent 11-1 for a major decision at 197 pounds. Harvard could not fill the heavyweight spot as the Bears narrowly edged the Crimson 25-19 with the help of 12 free points from forfeits. “Everyone stepped up and did their job as certain people had to get bonus points and not get pinned in order to win the match,” Einfrank said. “It was nice to see — the team coming out of the weekend on a high.” Brown 49, Wagner 0 The Bears had a few moments to rest before they faced off with Wagner for the second match of the day. Many new faces filled the lightweight positions in the dual, taking down the Seahawks 49-0. Einfrank was stuck on the bench yet again as Wagner did not have a 125-pound entry, earning six points with the forfeit. Ross Baldwin ’09 (133), Grant Overcashier ’12 (141), Bailey (149), Tom Fazio ’09 (157) and co-captain Chris Musser ’09 (165) each rolled to convincing wins. The Seahawks were never able to recover as Crudden (174) battled through a 7-6 decision, and Gevelinger (184), Branden Stearns ’09 and Zach Zdrada ’09 carried out the perfect match for the Bears. Despite the dominant win, the Bears still have a lot of work to do in order to finish out the season strong, Gevelinger said. “Our goal is to continue to improve,” he said. “Each day we try to get a little bit better.” Brown 17, BU 15 After an impressive win over Wagner, the Bears traveled across town for their final match of the day against BU. The team arrived a little early for the 7 p.m. dual and had the op-

portunity to see the Terriers in action against Sacred Heart. Once Brown’s match began, Gevelinger (184) pulled out a close 3-0 win, keeping the momentum going from the Bears’ hard-fought match against Harvard and their domination over Wagner. Stearns (197) fell in a tough 4-2 decision as Zdrada (heavyweight) kept the score low once again with a 6-3 decision. Einfrank was ready to wrestle despite sitting out the first two matches. He finally had the opportunity to wrestle for his team and aimed to score as many points as he could for Bruno because he knew it would be a tight match. “I watched my opponent against Sacred Heart, so I knew what was coming,” Einfrank said. “I went out aggressive and got some bonus points for the team. It was crucial for everyone to battle for points.” Einfrank delivered for his team and recorded a 19-4 tech fall (5:15) to earn five crucial points. Brown and BU traded wins the next four bouts as Harris (133) fell 3-2, DeLorenzo (141) won 4-1, Dave Foxen ’11 (149) would not let his opponent distance himself for bonus points, falling 11-6, and Tracy (157) managed to hold on for a 6-4 decision. The Terriers took the next two matches, but with the score close, Lemmer (165) and Crudden (174) held off their opponents from scoring bonus points. The Bears prevailed 1715 despite their last two duals. The Bears return home for the final weekend of the regular season to take on No. 3 Cornell on Friday at 3 p.m. and Columbia on Saturday at 2 p.m. “We’re excited to finish off on a strong note, especially after four straight wins,” Einfrank said. “We’ll try to get some upsets, show them that we’re serious about wrestling.”

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Page 9

Editorial & Letters The Brown Daily Herald

Page 10 | Wednesday, February 18, 2009

e d i to r i a l

More free rides Providence can sometimes be a difficult mistress. We want to take public transportation — it’s good for the environment, and best of all, the University gives it to us for free — but traveling on RIPTA buses can be a tragicomic adventure filled with delays, vaguely marked stops and confusing routes. Despite the system’s obvious flaws, the University should continue to encourage students and employees to take public transportation by offering free rides with the UPass program. Recent Herald coverage stated that the University will need to re-negotiate the financial terms of this program in August. Elizabeth Gentry, assistant vice president for Financial and Administrative Services, said that due to RIPTA’s own budget crisis, they will likely want the University to start paying more for the UPass service. We hope that the University will not consider discontinuing this program, which is a valuable service for students and employees. Though the program cannot be expected to solve the parking shortage on campus overnight — which it certainly hasn’t — anything that encourages more people to take public transportation is a good thing. The UPass program will never replace students’ need for cars, unless there is a dramatic overhaul of RIPTA’s routes and services. Those who choose to bring cars to campus are not likely be dissuaded by the promise of free bus rides — especially when most RIPTA routes run infrequently and lack service to popular student destinations like Seekonk and Sam’s Club. However, administrators seem more hopeful that free RIPTA tickets via the UPass program will encourage University employees to use public transportation to commute to work. This is an eminently reasonable expectation for the program, especially with the price of gas fluctuating wildly as it has been over the past year. If nothing else, UPass might make commuting much more affordable for employees. In the end, however, the success of Providence’s public transportation program is completely in the hands of the RIPTA board of directors. They can make Rhode Island a much less car-dependent state by lowering ticket prices, increasing the frequency of service along popular routes and adding more routes where there is a demand. Making RIPTA convenient for use on a daily basis will not be an easy or inexpensive task, but is well worth the investment. The energy crisis in this country is only going to become more severe, and any city with a high-quality public transportation system will have a significant head start in confronting it. 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 Managers Local Sales Kelly Wess National Sales Kathy Bui University Sales Alex Carrere Recruiter Sales Christiana Stephenson Credit and Collections Matt Burrows 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 Post- magazine Arthur Matuszewski Kelly McKowen

Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Chief

Jessie Calihan, Julien Ouellet, John Walsh Designer Sara Chimene-Weiss, Jordan Mainzer Copy Editors Sydney Ember, Lauren Fedor, Sarah Husk Night Editors Senior Staff Writers Mitra Anoushiravani, Colin Chazen, Ellen Cushing, Sydney Ember, Lauren Fedor, Nicole Friedman, Brigitta 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, John Walsh Photo Staff Alex DePaoli, Frederic Lu, Quinn Savit, Meara Sharma, Min Wu Copy Editors Rafael Chaiken, Sara Chimene-Weiss, Ellen Cushing, Sydney Ember, Lauren Fedor, Anna Jouravleva, Jennifer Kim, Younhun Kim, Tarah Knaresboro, Geoffrey Kyi, Janine Lopez, Frederic Lu, Jordan Mainzer, Kelly Mallahan, Allison Peck, Madeleine Rosenberg, Riva Shah, Luis Solis, Rachel Starr, Jason Yum Web Developer Jihan Chao

carly hudelson

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

Deferral and delay stifle dissent To the Editor: With regards to “Vote on renaming Columbus Day put off” (Feb. 11), I must add I am both disappointed and angered by the response from the Faculty Executive Committee after months of cooperating with them. Not only was our time wasted after deferring, yet again, a motion sent in before the actual meeting, but the manner in which we were treated was arguably repugnant. A student in the audience sent us an e-mail after wards: “After years at this school, I’m still shocked and disgusted at the condescension which authority figures give to students, and you were on the receiving end of some of the worst that I’ve ever seen.” The rationale being offered is: “You are inviting the law of controversy and dissent.” I ask, has there ever been meaningful social change without caus-

ing some initial divisiveness? There will always be disagreement, but discomfor t should never be a reason to disregard the values and priorities of this University. The decision is the faculty’s alone. To defer our motion (which already conceded to them the date of the holiday) on the grounds that it might step on someone’s toes is hardly legitimate. I believe the Columbus Day Project, since its inception last fall, has been grossly misconstrued. It began as a small yet symbolic act, a starting point in addressing the neglect and ignorance surrounding the violence and imperialism on which the countr y was founded. It was meant to stir dialogue and provide the impetus for meaningful cooperation across all differences. Reiko Koyama ’11 Member, Native Americans at Brown Feb. 11

No ROTC with ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy To the Editor: Regarding Thursday’s editorial (“U. should reinstate ROTC,” Feb. 12): ROTC may deserve a place on campus. But until “don’t ask, don’t tell” is repealed, ROTC shouldn’t even be up for debate, because Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell violates Brown’s clear nondiscrimination policy. The editorial betrayed a shallow understanding of DADT, arguing that residual homophobia in the military should be addressed by making it easier for Brown students to become young officers: Even “a handful of new officers” from Brown and its peers would “make a significant difference,” it asserted. But how could that handful of Brunonian officers — “up to 15” in one guess — have a greater effect than would removing bigoted antigay policies from the military’s governing structure?

As then-Senator Obama said while campaigning last fall, and as paraphrased in the editorial, “Students ought to at least have the option of joining.” He’s right; this is a question of access, and bringing ROTC on campus would provide easier access for those currently trekking over to Providence College’s Battalion. But until all students — lesbian, gay, straight, bisexual or any other identity — have equal access to ROTC, we can’t allow the organization on campus, just as we wouldn’t allow a whites-only organization to operate here (even if Brown’s involvement might make it more progressive). If Obama follows through on his campaign pledge to repeal DADT, perhaps then we can have a meaningful debate about the role of ROTC at Brown. Chris Gang ’09.5 Former Herald Executive Editor Feb. 13

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. C ommentary P O L I C Y The editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only. L etters to the E ditor P olicy Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and clarity and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed. advertising P olicy The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.

Opinions The Brown Daily Herald

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 | Page 11

Rethink the science resource center: make it bigger NICK WERLE Opinions Columnist In the midst of a campus-wide reckoning over how the current economic misery will shape Brown’s future, the Office of the Dean of the College announced last week that it is moving forward with plans to build a science resource center on the third floor of the Sciences Library. The center, slated to open about a year from now, is intended to bring together science students from different departments and to help build an interdisciplinary science community with dedicated study space and resources targeted at science students. Since the beginning of the semester, I have attended two undergraduate focus groups that debated the design and mission of the science resource center. We analyzed the project’s goals and discussed how the center’s design could best serve the University’s science community. These meetings provided a detailed view of not only the goals and constraints facing the architects but also the project’s motivations and potential. I predict that the science center will quickly become a campus resource nearly as valuable to the student community as the Friedman Study Center. As it stands, however, I believe that the physical plan is too modest to meet all of the needs the Dean of the College has outlined. The solution to this problem is not to reduce the scope of the center, but to increase its proposed size from one floor to two or three in order to satisfy all of the constituencies involved. Currently, the design team is soliciting input from both students and faculty, groups that have starkly different demands for academic space. The proposal aims to squeeze in space

for students to study, for professors and TAs to hold out-of-class meetings, for campus groups to host occasional seminars and for students and researchers to conduct community outreach projects. And all of this is supposed to fit on the third floor. To give some perspective to those readers who have never been above the Mezzanine, the SciLi’s upper levels have only one quarter as much floor space as the Friedman Center. Obviously, this project’s collection of deserving stakeholders and its list of laudable goals will not fit on the third floor alone. The Friedman Center should be used as a design model here. As soon as it opened, the Friedman was recognized as one of the premier study spaces on campus. Indeed, it may

Brown Library must keep thinking about how it can repurpose space that is currently wasted housing underused print materials. Of the six on-campus libraries, the SciLi is clearly the most retrograde. Its premier location makes its physical misuse all the more disappointing. With the nearly complete online migration of scientific journals, it hardly seems necessary to keep decades worth of journal archives in the SciLi. I doubt moving the 42 volumes of the Oil and Gas Journal from Thayer Street to the Library Collection Annex in Cranston would seriously inconvenience any Brown researchers, especially considering that the Library’s LexisNexis subscription includes instant access to the journal back to 1978.

As the project team designs the third floor renovation it should focus on meeting the needs of students. have gotten so busy that it has become a victim of its own success. And there is a simple reason why it has worked so well: The Friedman Center was designed solely to accommodate the students who study there every day. Aside from the paucity of outlets in some areas, the Fried’s design intelligently anticipates the ways that students currently study. Indeed, a properly designed science center would take some strain off the Fried and make it a more usable space again. The Friedman Center’s success should also serve as the strongest indication on Brown’s campus of how the University’s libraries will function in the future. It has been clear for more than a decade that libraries will have to physically transform from book warehouses to serve the needs of laptop-toting, twentyfirst century students. Facing this reality, the

As a physics concentrator, the WiFi and the dry erase boards (and walls) in the Friedman Center have been far more useful to me than the 11 floors of books above it. To facilitate this inevitable conversion, the Library, as an institution, should be a full partner in any redesign efforts. In an economic environment that will prevent the University from undertaking largescale capital projects for the foreseeable future, it is important that the administration reconsider the current uses of all existing campus resources. The recent renovation of J. Walter Wilson is a great example of how modernization can reclaim the relevance of underutilized campus spaces for a fraction of the price of a new building. Right now, it is clear that the administration considers the science center to be a one-

floor project. However, for the center to be as successful as possible the current design process should envision that floor as part of a larger complex. The center would be better able to meet its goals if the demands on each floor were pared down with a larger project in mind. During the focus group meeting, the architects, whose most recent on-campus project was the bookstore renovation, seemed keenly aware of the elements that make for effective study spaces. The students who came to the focus groups unanimously felt that the most effective help the science center could provide would be to facilitate the formation of ongoing study groups. Because science students are not the most gregarious on campus, the architecture itself must do a lot of the social engineering. The center should be designed to bring students together in spaces that will be both accessible to newcomers and private enough for students to concentrate. Science students should also be able to reserve the study rooms and see real-time availability online so that more time is spent studying instead of searching for a place to sit. Group study rooms, dry erase boards, fully loaded scientific computing stations, printer kiosks and electric outlets are the components of an ideal resource center for students. As the science resource center project team designs the third floor renovation it should focus on meeting the needs of students, not faculty or outreach programs. If the center is popular with its intended audience, the University can expand the science resource center and move in the remaining programs on higher floors.

Nick Werle ’10 is a physics and modern critical philosophy concentrator from New York.

Slash and burn WILLIAM MARTIN Opinions Columnist The smallest state in the union is in a deep hole. The economic crisis has pushed Rhode Island’s unemployment rate to nearly 10 percent — worse than any other state except Michigan. And this year’s budget runs an estimated $357 million deficit — more than 10 percent of what the state will have spent once the fiscal year ends in June. For now, the needs of the budget and the economy are in competition, and the government is trying desperately to balance the two. It isn’t going well. Last Wednesday, Republican Governor Donald Carcieri ’65 withdrew his support for $20 million of increased taxes and fees that he himself had put forward, only an hour before the proposal was due for a vote before the Rhode Island House of Representatives. The next day, a House fiscal advisor announced that revenue and savings projections had been vastly overestimated. Carcieri’s latest plan is aimed at longterm economic renewal, at the expense of a big chunk of short-term tax revenue. Following the recommendation of a panel he had convened, the governor declared in his “State of the State” address on Feb. 10 that he would seek to scuttle the state’s taxes

on corporate profits and the estates of its deceased residents. Carcieri has the right idea. Cutting these taxes will earn Rhode Island much-needed attention from businesses and retirees, putting the state back on track to economic stability — and ultimately fiscal sanity. But eliminating the taxes entirely would remove two of the main contributions these newcomers could make to eliminating future deficits and allowing the government to deliver on its promises without mortgag-

balanced budgets in the future. But if the Rhode Island corporate earnings tax plunges too far below those of its neighbors, the state economy is likely to see diminishing returns: The bulk of businesspeople willing to move from Connecticut or Massachusetts will make their decision with only a little prompting, and as the tax rate moves towards zero, the state will see less and less marginal benefit. Meanwhile, new Rhode Island businesses would only pitch in for the state budget

Cuts to Rhode Island’s estate and corporation taxes can bolster both the budget and the economy much more quickly and reliably than the gradual elimination Governor Carcieri favors. ing the state’s future. Rhode Island is primarily competing with its two immediate neighbors, Connecticut and Massachusetts. But it doesn’t need to drop its rates to zero to create an enticing business environment. Connecticut taxes 7.5 percent of corporate earnings; Massachusetts grabs 9.5 percent. If Rhode Island lopped off just a third of its 9 percent rate, it would outshine its neighbors while laying the groundwork for

indirectly, through increased sales and income tax revenue, which wouldn’t come close to replacing the tax on profits. The result would be higher deficits and more cuts to vital programs. The estate tax is a similar story — worthy of diminution, not elimination. As in other states, the tax is determined by a complex series of brackets and deductions, but according to Carcieri’s advisory panel, it functionally taxes all estates above $675,000 —

the lowest threshold of any state. Nonetheless, Rhode Island shaves off less from most estates than its neighbors: Massachusetts and Connecticut claim 16 percent and 20 percent, respectively, from the highest bracket; Rhode Island only takes 9 percent. And by increasing the threshold and cutting 1 percent across the board from the already lenient tax rates, the state can both attract retirees and enlist them in balancing the budget. Rhode Island needs relief immediately, and these cuts can bolster both the budget and the economy much more quickly and reliably than the gradual elimination Carcieri favors. Reductions would be more likely to pass through a Democrat-dominated legislature already irked by Carcieri’s plans to cut benefits for state employees. They would also be more likely to stick around — the phaseout is a recipe for future wrangling in a deep-blue state with perennial budget problems. The corporation tax and the “death tax” won’t stay dead. Carcieri hasn’t yet announced a firm plan for the phase-out. With any luck, he’ll come to prefer reduction rather than repeal. But when it comes to government and the economy, Rhode Island isn’t a lucky state.

William Martin ’10 is a history concentrator from Seattle, Wash.

Today

Nat’l trend of hiring part-time faculty

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Men’s hoops snags first Ivy win

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Wednesday, February 18, 2009

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the news in images

1 7 c a l e n da r

comics

february 18, 2009

february 19, 2009

5:00 P.m. — Deadline to add class or change grade option without fee

4:00 P.m. — “One World, Many People: Are there Universal Human Rights?” Janus Forum lecture, Larry Cox and John Yoo, Salomon 101

6:00 P.m. — “Discovering Natives Again: Native Americans in the 21st Century Panel Discussion,” MacMillan 117

Cabernet Voltaire | Abe Pressman

8:00 P.m. — Housing Lottery First Pick Competition, Sayles Hall

menu Sharpe Refectory

Verney-Woolley Dining Hall

Lunch — Buffalo Chicken Wings, Vegetarian Eggplant Moussaka, Couscous Croquettes

Lunch — Spinach Strudel, Mandarin Blend Vegetables, Cream Cheese Brownies

Dinner — Vegetable Stuffed Peppers, Chicken With Raisins and Olives, Green Beans, Vegan Rice Pilaf

Dinner — Turkey Pot Pie, Shells with Broccoli, Mashed Potatoes, Stuffing, Orange Delight Cake

Enigma Twist | Dustin Foley

RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, February 18, 2009

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

ACROSS 1 Towed off the road, say 6 Some TV screens 10 24-Down’s style 14 Big bill 15 Bizet’s “Toreador Song,” e.g. 16 Actress Spelling 17 Immortal coaching name 18 Departs 19 “All is vanity” Bible bk. 20 *Drive like the dickens 23 Understand 25 Poetic dusk 26 Merge spiritually (with) 27 FDR opponent Landon et al. 29 *1998 Stephen King novel 33 Fail 35 Instrument with a pear-shaped body 36 *Have serious financial setbacks 43 Paris pair 44 Pursue stealthily 45 *“Laugh-In” catch phrase 51 One of the “Love Train” singers 52 Land at the Forum? 53 Penlight batteries 55 Corrida cheer 56 *Burglarize 61 Kett of comics 62 Person, place or thing 63 Notre Dame squad, familiarly 66 Pass out cards 67 Sicilian volcano 68 Capone cohort 69 Fish-eating birds 70 Word that can precede the first word of the answers to starred clues 71 Excite DOWN 1 Comics cry of disgust 2 B&B

49 Frenzied 38 Grass house 3 Uncertain woman 39 Jurist in ’90s 4 Words spoken 50 Suffix with news before the Caesar 40 51 out of 100, e.g. Senate 54 Perform horribly 41 Flight to Haifa 5 Caterpillar rival 57 Once more 6 __ Beach: resort 42 Terrier type 45 “Venerable” Eng. 58 “The Little Red near Santa Ana Hen” response monk 7 Duster’s target 46 Four-time discus 59 “SNL” alum Nora 8 Middle 60 New York canal gold medalist Al management? 64 Apt name for a 47 Greek islander 9 Window part cook? 48 South African 10 Audiophile’s 65 Not at all nerdy villages setup 11 Silkworm’s ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: protection 12 Esoteric 13 Spanish diacritics 21 Lincoln’s st. 22 __ Field: historic Brooklyn park 23 Fisherman’s hook 24 10-Across singer 28 NBC weekend show 30 Drug giant __SmithKline 31 Sharer’s word 32 Bouquet delivery letters 34 Second-largest U.S. island in area 02/18/09 xwordeditor@aol.com 37 Seine, e.g.

The One About Zombies | Kevin Grubb

Pass/Fail | Steve Larrick and Alex Rosenberg

Classic Freeze-Dried Puppies | Cara FitzGibbon

02/18/09