Tuesday, March 31, 2009

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Daily Herald the Brown

vol. cxliv, no. 41 | Tuesday, March 31, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891

Brown admits 10.8% in most selective year ever UCS gets high marks Regular decisions go online today in poll By Suzannah Weiss Contributing Writer

Months of nerves and anticipation will finally come to an end today for 22,645 regular decision applicants to the University, who can go online to view their decisions at 5 p.m. Eastern. Dean of Admissions James Miller ’73 said this year’s applicant pool was the largest ever, representing a 21 percent increase from the previous year — the greatest reported rise in applications among Ivy League schools this year. “It’s a very, very talented applicant pool ... the most talented applicant pool I’ve ever seen,” Miller said. Of the total 24,988 applicants — including both early and regular decision — 2,708 will be admitted. According to Miller, the Office of Admissions sent out acceptance letters to 10.8 percent of applicants, while 13.3 percent were admitted last year. There could be several explana-

tions for the this year’s application surge, Miller said. “One is that we have changed the way we recruit,” he said, adding that Brown now joins other institutions such as Yale and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to give information sessions and lure prospective students. “When we travel we get significant crowds of people,” he said. The recent improvement in Brown’s financial aid program may also be a factor in making the schoolmore accessible, Miller added. The board of admissions met every day and night for months, even on weekends and holidays in order to reach decisions, according to Miller. “It was really quite an extraordinary commitment of time and effort,” he said. “We had to make some very hard choices, but it’s a nice position to be in.” High school seniors know that competition is especially fierce this continued on page 4

by Ben Schreckinger Senior Staff Writer

things) new ways to think about time and space,” Dean of the College and the council’s chair Katherine Bergeron wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. The concentration includes a final project for senior concentrators and 11 classes — five from the physics department, four from the philosophy department, an intermediate calculus class and an elective about either philosophy or the history of science. Assistant Professor of Philosophy Doug Kutach, who helped create the new concentration, said it gives students the option of exploring interesting physics questions

The approval rating of the Undergraduate Council of Students increased 13 percentage points from the fall to 52 percent — the highest figure in three years. Though relatively few students, just 13 percent, said they strongly or somewhat disapproved of UCS’s performance, more than a third of students had no opinion of the Council. UCS Communications Chair Clay Wertheimer ’10 said he considered the numbers “positive.” “More people are now informed about what UCS is doing ... and people like the projects we’ve been working on,” he said. UCS President Brian Becker ’09 said he had “no idea what accounts for the change.” “I think all year long UCS has been working really hard,” he said. The number of students who approve of the way UCS is handling its job is at its highest point since the spring of 2006, according to the results of a recent Herald poll. In a similar poll conducted last semester, UCS received the lowest approval rating in at least three years, just 38.1 percent. The poll, conducted from March 16 through 18, has a 3.6 percent margin of error with 95 percent confidence. A total of 676 Brown undergraduates completed the poll, which The Herald administered as a written questionnaire to students in the University Mail Room at J. Walter Wilson, outside the Blue Room in Faunce House and in the Sciences Library. Other members of the UCS executive board cited the effects of increased outreach as a possible source of the improved poll results. “It’s certainly possible that some changes in our communications strategy and outreach have made people more aware of what we try to do,”

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Herald File Photo

The Office of Admissions read through nearly 25,000 applications in recent months, even working weekends and holidays.

Concentration merges laboratory with Lyceum By Dan Alexander Staff Writer

Physicists and philosophers rarely share the same equipment, methods or theories to understand the world around them. But beginning this semester, they may share the same concentration. A new concentration, “physics and philosophy,” which was created by faculty from the Departments of Physics and Philosophy and was approved last December by the College Curriculum Council, is now available to students. “The concentration represents an intriguing merger of the science and the humanities, which will offer students (among other

Justin Coleman / Herald

The European Union needs to become a bigger player in the international system, Italian Prime Minister of Italy Romano Prodi said.

Former Italian P.M. discusses Europe’s future

www.browndailyherald.com

By Sydney Ember Senior Staf f Writer

Brown researchers stand to gain significant funding as part of the $787 billion economic stimulus package recently passed by Congress. As part of the bill, the American Recover y and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the National Institutes of Health was allocated $10.4 billion to fund biomedical and human

posals,” she said, adding that the package’s benefits for research and education are “aligned with Brown’s priorities.” To increase awareness, Windham said agencies such as the NIH are sending out requests to many researchers for proposals that cover biomedical concerns of particular interest.

Metro, 5

Opinions, 11

OTHER STATES LOSE JOBS at faster rate Rhode Island falls to fifth in national rankings

A TA SPEAKS Mary Bates GS says TAs need love, too

10

California

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Rhode Island

SLEEP T hro u g h CLass? Brown grapples with notesharing Web sites

health research. The National Science Foundation was also allotted $3 billion. “Government agencies are looking to find proposals that will have a high impact for the populace and provide jobs,” said Anne Windham, director of research opportunities in the Office of the Vice President for Research. “We’re really hopeful that we’ll have a number of successful pro-

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North Carolina

News, 3

Oregon

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South Carolina

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

Bill promises big bucks for researchers

Michigan

inside

For Europe to emerge as a stronger player in the global arena today, countries within the European Union must push for greater cooperation, flexibility and unity, former Prime Minister of Italy Romano Prodi told a packed Salomon 101 Monday afternoon. Prodi, who served as Italy’s prime minister twice from 1996 to 1998 and from 2006 to May 2008, is a professor-at-large at the Watson Institute for International Studies through 2014. Prodi’s Monday lecture, entitled

“Is there a New Role for Europe in Today’s World?” was part of a memorial series held annually since 1965 in honor of Stephen Ogden Jr. ’60, who died in an automobile accident in 1963. Prodi also delivered a lecture as part of the series in 1999 when he was president of the European Commission. He is currently chairman of the United Nations’ African Union Panel for Peacekeeping in Africa. President Ruth Simmons, who introduced Prodi before the lecture, acknowledged the value of his “insider’s perspective” in world

Unemployment Rate (%)

By Hannah Moser Senior Staff Writer

State

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

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