Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxliv, no. 60 | Wednesday, September 9, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891
Debate on ‘student tax’ takes center stage this fall By George Miller Metro Editor
With a sour economy squeezing the budgets of local governments and universities alike, Brown officials have spent the summer fighting to dissuade state lawmakers from passing legislation that would allow cashstrapped cities to recover funds from private colleges and large non-profit institutions. The first such measure, a “stu-
Kim Perley / Herald
First-years found themselves in some awkward situations during their first days at Brown.
Ice-breakers, ice cream socials for freshmen By Suzannah Weiss Senior Staff Writer
Amid anticipation and some nerves, 1,485 new students flooded Thayer Street and the Main Green for firstyear orientation this past weekend. Brown’s class of 2013 found their respective rooms, unpacked their bags and said hello to their new roommates before Residential Peer Leaders escorted them in large packs to their first unit meetings. First-years and their parents could attend workshops on topics including
University resources and financial aid during the day. The festivities for students continued into the evening and throughout the weekend with an alien-themed student dance, an ice cream social, arch-sings and the annual midnight organ concert in Sayles Hall. Many students’ first memories of orientation involved silly icebreakers with their units. Kimberly Wachtler ’13 said she had to take a handful of Skittles during her unit meeting and say something about herself for each candy.
Another unit engaged in a similar game, but with toilet paper instead of Skittles, Harry Samuels ’13 said. Students were instructed to select the number of squares they use in the bathroom and reveal something about themselves for each square they took, he said. A highlight of orientation for Hannah Moscowitz ’13 was President Ruth Simmons’ welcome speech on Sunday afternoon. Simmons addressed both parents and students continued on page 7
Anthro prof hired to be new VP for international affairs By Brigitta Greene Senior Staf f Writer
inside
Matthew Gutmann began his new post as vice president for international affairs Sept. 1, becoming the second person to occupy the position since its creation less than two years ago. Gutmann, a professor of anthropology and director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, succeeds David Kennedy ’76, who resigned abruptly in June, forcing University administrators to quickly fill the vacancy before the start of the academic year. Kennedy had also served as interim director of the Watson Institute for International Studies. Gutmann will work with President Ruth Simmons and Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 to further Brown’s role on the international stage. Brown identified internationalization as a major goal in 2006, and has since piloted programs across
News.....1-7 Arts..........8 Sports......9 Editorial..10 Opinion...11 Today........12
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An ocean away, release of Pan-Am bomber triggers memories on College Hill grounds” to return to his homeland to die. The decision resurrected the painful tumult of two decades Last year, Abdel Basset Ali al-Me- past for the family and friends of grahi was diagnosed with terminal the terrorist attack’s 270 victims — cancer — a piece of personal infor- including the loved ones of Stuart mation that catapulted Barclay ’82, David Dornthe former Libyan stein ’85, Mar y Lincoln FEATURE intelligence of ficial Johnson ’85, Andrea to the center of an international Rosenthal ’88 and visiting student Julian Benello. controversy. In late August al-Megrahi, the Barbara Tannenbaum, senior leconly man convicted for the bombing turer in theatre, speech and dance of Pan Am Flight 103 on Decem- and Johnson’s mentor at Brown, ber 21, 1988, was released from a continued on page 5 Scottish prison on “compassionate By Sophia Li Features Editor
Mu ra l, m u ra l on the wa l l
all levels of University life — from financial aid to course offerings to research opportunities — to establish an international presence beyond College Hill. But to the average student, concrete effects of such an overarching agenda are often hard to pin down, Gutmann said. Changes will take time to develop, he said, adding that the University already has “tremendous assets.” “It’s daunting, but it’s very exciting,” he said. Gutmann was selected by a fourmember faculty search advisor y committee in August. Kertzer called him an “unusual combo,” referring to his background in both social and “hard” sciences. He has a bachelor’s degree in modern and classical Chinese from the University of California, Berkeley and graduate degrees from Berkeley in cultural anthropology and public health. continued on page 2
dent impact fee” first proposed by Providence mayor David Cicilline ’83, has rankled student leaders as well as administrators. It would allow Providence and other Ocean State municipalities to collect $300 per year for every out-of-state student attending a private college or university within the city limits. At Brown, the proposed student tax would apply to over 95 percent
Suspect linked to spring peeping incidents By Sydney Ember Senior Staf f Writer
Kim Perley / Herald
The brick wall of CVS along Cushing Street gets a new look.
A man arrested for trespassing on campus last Thursday is connected to similar incidents involving intrusions that occurred during the spring semester, according to the Providence Police Department. The suspect is thought to be the same man who photographed a female student showering in the first-floor Diman House bathroom in March and may be the unidentified suspect who later assaulted a female student in a Sears House shower in April. Justin Alvarez, a 20-year-old Woonsocket resident, was arrested after a Brown facilities manager repor ted suspicious activity in Goddard House. Alvarez was then detained in Andrews Hall by Department of Public Safety Officer continued on page 4
Arts, 5
Sports, 7
Opinions, 11
Organ-ic fun! O rg a n i s t S t e i n b a c h cakew alks through orientation
Two out of Three Men’s water polo gets two victories under their belt at MIT
time flies Anish Mitra ’10 takes a look back at Brown from a senior’s perspective
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“We can no longer be engaged successfully unless we go global.” — Michael Gutmann, vice president for international affairs
Gutmann to lead international initiatives for University continued from page 1 Gutmann’s research is broad and has involved issues such as gender, democracy and reproductive health. He has more than a decade of experience working as a community organizer in Chicago, tackling issues of poverty and urban violence. He was named the Stanley J. Bernstein Associate Professor of
the Social Sciences at Brown in 2000 and became a full professor in 2007. He became director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies earlier this year. “He is someone who just has a very high energy level and will be very active in pushing Brown’s international image ahead,” Kertzer said. Administrators are currently
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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. Single copy free for members of the community. 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.
discussing how to fill Gutmann’s position at the Center for Latin American Studies. Gutmann will continue to serve as the center’s director until a replacement is found, Kertzer said. Internationalization has become a top priority at many American colleges and universities in the past decade, Kertzer said, a trend driven by the desire to both attract more international students on campus and increase the University’s presence abroad. Brown is among the last of its peer institutions to establish a top administrative position with this distinct purpose, Kertzer said. “We do feel some urgency to strengthen our international program,” he said. The University will focus on both its graduate and undergraduate programs, hoping to enrich both curricular and extracurricular opportunities, Kertzer said. He pointed specifically to interdisciplinary course offerings, internship opportunities and intensive language programs. “We can no longer be engaged successfully unless we go global,” Gutmann said. He cited large-scale problems such as environmental degradation and the AIDS epidemic as evidence that an insular approach to education is no longer
Max Monn / Herald
Professor of Anthropology Michael Gutmann has more than a decade of experience working as a community organizer in Chicago.
sufficient. Yet Gutmann acknowledged that converting such a broad goal to tangible educational changes can
be difficult. “What does it mean for Brown to be global? It’s not an easy thing to figure out,” he said.
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“We don’t know if we are going to be moved out, or when or where.” — Jeremy Yau ’12, who is currently living in a converted New Dorm kitchen
Some students still being placed in kitchens By Kevin Pratt Staf f Writer
Last year’s unusually large freshman class is still presenting a strain on housing this year, as about 60 students — mostly sophomores — move this week into bedrooms converted from common rooms and kitchens. The makeshift rooms will be temporar y, said Richard Bova, senior associate dean of residential and dining services. Some students are set to move into more permanent housing as early as next week, he said. Vacancies are expected to open up as some matriculants and returning students either do not show up or leave shortly after arriving, Bova said. Many students move out in the first weeks of classes, he added, but sometimes it takes longer. The housing shor tfall has brought inconveniences to students and has deprived some of cooking appliances and common areas, students told The Herald. “We couldn’t get a house from the lotter y so we just filled out some forms for some housing assignment,” Ibrahim Turdu ’12 said, who put himself on the housing waitlist this summer, along with others now housed in converted common spaces. ResLife said that “this is a temporar y room and probably we are going to be here until the end of the first semester,” Turdu said.
“People want to use the kitchen, so people come and knock on our door to use the kitchen, but since we are here, they cannot use it.” Shanna Hsu ’12 looked for housing for a group of 11 in last year’s housing lotter y. “We got a ver y bad number and then we ended up not being able to fit into any of the rooms remaining,” she said. Opting for a double, Hsu heard in late August that she would live in a triple with a newly-arrived transfer student. “The rest of the group — most of them are in triples. There’s two groups of guys that are in New Dorm,” she said. Jeremy Yau ’12 and Bao-Nhat Nguyen ’12 moved this week into a room in Vartan Gregorian Quad that was formerly the hall’s kitchen and common area. “We’re in a triple and we were told that it’s temporar y,” Yau said. Nguyen said the room was occupied last year as well and that those students moved out in a month and a half. “We don’t know if we are going to be moved out, or when or where,” Yau said. Vice President for Campus Life and Student Ser vices Margaret Klawunn said the University had plans to expand its residential offerings, but the recession has complicated these plans. “What’s happening now is not an intentional increase in the number of admitted students,” she said.
NOAA and USAF Weather Agency
An increase in night light intensity in Poland and Eastern Europe from 1992 (left) to 2002 has been identified as a measure of the region’s economic growth during those years.
How to estimate GDP — from space By Anish Gonchigar Staff Writer
Nighttime satellite images of Earth may provide nuanced measurements of economic growth. According to a new working paper by Professors of Economics J. Vernon Henderson and David Weil and graduate student Adam Storeygard, analyzing changes in an area’s “night lights” could be a new means of measuring gross domestic product. Gathering accurate data on economic growth is often difficult. Moreover, there tend to be gaps in the data — especially in sub-Saharan Africa and developing countries. The authors referred to the Penn World Tables — a standard collection of data on income — to look into flaws in current economic data. Industrialized nations, for instance, are almost always given the highest
ranking, while some developing countries are given much lower rankings with significant margins of error. Countries such as Iraq, Myanmar, Somalia and Liberia do not even appear in the rankings. The Brown economists’ work gives an alternative to these measurements. Henderson, Storeygard and Weil looked at changes in light density in U.S. Air Force weather satellite pictures to find growth trends, among other measures, over a 10-year period. “As income rises, so does light usage per person, in both consumption activities and many investment activities,” they wrote. For some developing countries, the differences between these estimates were sharp. The data based on the lights implied a 2.4 percent annual growth rate in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, while official estimates pointed to a nega-
tive 2.6 percent growth rate. On the other side, Myanmar’s official growth rate is 8.6 percent, but the lights only indicate a 3.4 percent growth rate. The paper also suggests these satellite-based readings account for factors such as civil wars and stagnant markets. The economists also looked at the relationship between agricultural productivity and increased urban incomes. By studying the effects of “productivity shocks” such as rainfall in 541 African cities over nine years, the authors concluded that increased agricultural output does substantially affect city economies. The authors do not intend for the “night light” data to replace traditional means of measuring GDP. However, they believe adding data to preexisting estimates will result in more accurate indicators of GDP.
Researchers find evidence of ‘same-sex’ yeast reproduction By Anne Speyer Senior Staf f Writer
An infectious yeast has been found to reproduce through same-sextype mating, according to a recent study by members of the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. The yeast, which causes certain blood stream infections , has the potential for same-sex reproduction, “what we previously thought was completely impossible,” said Richard Bennett, assistant professor of biology, one of the lead researchers on the project. The yeast, called Candida albicans, has two mating type cells, “a” and “alpha.” “It was assumed that, to undergo mating, an ‘a’ cell had to mate with its partner, the ‘alpha,’” Bennett said. “What we show in this paper is that this is not actually the case. There are circumstances when the ‘a’ cells will mate with ‘a’ and ‘alpha’ cells with ‘alpha.’” Each mating type cell secretes pheromones that attract the partner type, driving reproduction, Bennett said. Both cell types have the potential to produce “a-” and “alpha-” pheromones, but an en-
zyme, Bar1, inactivates “alpha-” pheromones in “a” cells. Bennett and his research partners, Kevin Alby and Dana Schaefer, analyzed mutant cells in which this enzyme had been blocked. As a result, “a” cells were able to produce both types of pheromones and attract and reproduce with other “a” cells. Bennett said the scientists were also able to obser ve this effect in wild-type cells in which Bar1 had not been blocked. “If you have a mixture of wild-type ‘a’ and ‘alpha’ cells, ‘a’s are producing lots of ‘a-’ pheromones, and ‘alpha’s are producing lots of ‘alpha-’ pheromones,” he said. “There’s a big sea of pheromones.” Under these conditions, Bennett said, same mating-type reproduction results from the high concentration of pheromones. This rare sort of natural samesex-type matings was first obser ved in an unrelated study, Alby said, which led the researchers to examine the phenomenon further “out of curiosity.” “We saw an interesting phenotype and it didn’t make sense,” he continued on page 6
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“It was an excellent arrest by the police officers” — Mark Porter, chief of police and director of public safety
DPS, PPD investigate ‘peeping Tom’ continued from page 1 Paul Ruscito. “It was an excellent arrest by the police officers and also an outstanding job by the few custodial workers in identifying the suspect,” said Chief of Police and Director of Public Safety Mark Porter. “We were alerted of an individual that matched the description of previous incidents.” After the assault in Sears, Porter told The Herald that the two incidents were “not related,” but he added that a joint investigation between DPS and the PPD regarding a number of similar incidents was “ongoing.” Now, however, Por ter confirmed that further investigation has led the departments to believe that at least some, if not all, of the trespassing incidents involve the suspect arrested Thursday. Porter would not elaborate on the other incidents. “He is connected with several incidents,” Por ter said. Alvarez “certainly matched the description of the suspect that we’ve been aggressively looking for,” he added. Porter also confirmed that Alvarez was “definitely responsible
and connected to the incident in Diman House,” though he would not elaborate on the suspect’s connection to the assault in Sears. The PPD and DPS are focusing on at least one other suspect who is responsible for similar incidents in Brown dormitories, Porter said, though he would confirm only that there was one suspect in custody at this time. “DPS and PPD are working on this investigation and looking at similar complaints in the past few months,” Por ter said. “We are following all the investigative leads.” In April, an unidentified male holding a knife assaulted a female student in Sears — home to the Alpha Chi Omega sorority — following a similar “peeping Tom” incident in March when an unidentified male photographed a female student in Diman, home to the Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority. In an e-mail to students after the second incident, the suspect was described as “a male with a light complexion; possibly white or Hispanic approximately five feet six inches tall, lean build, dark hair, cut short, with a week’s worth of facial-hair growth.”
Unlike the Sears assault, which involved a weapon, Porter said the other incidents involved intruders either taking pictures in restrooms or acting suspiciously. According to the Providence Police report filed in district court on Friday, Alvarez said he had entered Brown dormitories at least three times previously, claiming that he was working for a utility company. He said he followed students into the dormitories if others did not initially allow him to enter. Though Maj. Thomas Oates of the PPD told the Providence Journal that Alvarez was employed by a utilities company, he said the utilities company Alvarez claimed he worked for was not subcontracted to work at Brown. Alvarez was charged on Friday with willful trespass, disorderly conduct and impersonating a public utilities employee. The charges are all misdemeanors. Porter said Brown and DPS are promoting an active role in community security to prevent similar incidents on campus by encouraging community cooperation. “We feel we are doing a lot of right things to prevent further incidents,” he said.
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“What we try to do is commemorate his life.” — James Schlageter, senior library specialist, on his brother Robbie
Brown reflects on Lockerbie victims 20 years later continued from page 1 said she cried when she heard the news of al-Megrahi’s release. “It brought it all back,” she said. The flight was midair, traveling from London to New York, when a bomb concealed in a suitcase detonated as a timer expired. The plane exploded above Lockerbie, Scotland — killing all 259 people on board and 11 townspeople as it crashed. The members of the Brown community on board were returning home for the holidays from a range of international locations — London, Asia and Israel. Though the tragedy took place on the other side of the Atlantic, the fallout was felt on College Hill. The University held a memorial service in Sayles Hall on Feb. 3 — at the beginning of the next semester — for the five young victims. “Sayles was packed,” recalled Senior Associate Chaplain Alan Flam, who led the service. He described the attendees as a “very substantial crowd” of Providence-area alumni, family members and a mixture of Brown faculty, staff and students. The service’s other speakers included then-President Vartan Gregorian and five faculty members, one on behalf of each Brown student who died in the crash. Though few students on campus had known the Brown grads who were killed in the bombing, Flam said the news had a “sobering impact” on the campus community. Tannenbaum, who delivered Johnson’s eulogy at the 1989 memorial service, said she struggled to write a speech that she could deliver to people who had not known her former student. “I wanted the people who didn’t know her to get
a sense of her,” she said. Tannenbaum practiced the eulogy in front of her course on persuasive communication and asked for her students’ feedback, she said. “They certainly saw my grief and the care that I put into finding a way to express the things that were almost impossible to express at the loss of such a young, promising woman.” Pamela Kripke ’82 said she found it ironic that the house she shared senior year with the “brilliant and lovely and elegant” Barclay was at the intersection of Hope and Power streets. The decision to release al-Megrahi was “a grave insult,” Kripke said. “It was certainly maddening and certainly unjust to actually see the word ‘compassionate,’” she said. “As a compassionate human being, I didn’t feel that he deserved any compassion.” Even if Kripke had not had a personal connection to the tragedy, she would not have considered eight years in prison “sufficient punishment” for al-Megrahi’s crime, she said. The former Libyan intelligence officer was convicted and given a sentence of at least 20 years in 2001 after a court was specially convened in the Netherlands for the trial. Despite criticism of his decision from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, President Obama and many victims’ families, Scottish Cabinet Secretar y for Justice Kenny MacAskill defended his decision, telling the BBC in a video inter view that he had acted in accordance with due process and the principles of the Scottish justice system. But Ruth Wedgwood, professor of international law at Johns Hop-
kins University, said al-Megrahi has the right to medical care in prison, but not to be released early. Wedgwood, who serves on the United Nations Human Rights Committee, said al-Megrahi’s release — like his indictment and conviction — obscures the Libyan government’s own involvement in the attack. She wrote in an Aug. 21 Forbes Magazine column that the Libyan government may construe the decision as weakness in the face of the regime’s human rights record. Wedgwood’s is one of many voices publicly pointing to oil reser ves as a hidden motive in the decision, though British officials have denied such claims. But as political tensions escalate, the family and friends of the individuals who died in the attack are left in the turmoil of their memories and emotions. “For those of us who loved (Dornstein), and for those who loved the other 269 souls killed by the plastic explosives that downed Pan Am 103, there’s really no punishment of the perpetrators (that) could possibly deliver any sort of true justice. At least not in this world,” former Herald editor Norman Atkins ’84 wrote in an e-mail to The Herald about the columnist he recruited during their time at Brown. Senior library specialist James Schlageter said the word “Lockerbie” is a powerful reminder of his brother Robbie’s death. But he tries to cope with his loss by compartmentalizing his emotions and talking openly about his younger brother, he said. “In our family, what we try to do is commemorate his life,” Schlageter said.
Join the herald Stop by an info session: Sunday, Sept. 13 Tuesday, Sept. 15 Thursday, Sept. 17 All at 8 p.m. at 195 Angell St.
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“We feel we are doing a lot of right things to prevent further incidents.” — Chief of Police and Director of Public Safety Mark Porter
New taxes proposed to local students’ and universities’ chagrin continued from page 1 of undergraduate, graduate and medical students, adding up to about $2.3 million in total per year. (The bill leaves up to schools whether to assess the fee to students or pay on their behalf and raise the funds another way.) Another bill pending in the General Assembly would partially do away with the property tax exemption for large non-profits, requiring those with holdings valued at over $20 million to pay property taxes at 25 percent of the normal rate. It’s not clear how much this provision could cost Brown, Vice President for Public Affairs and University Relations Marisa Quinn wrote in an e-mail to The Herald, but the fees are projected to raise $22 million in total from Providence schools and hospitals. Quinn added that University officials would not speculate on how they would pay either fee if it were levied and are instead focusing on trying to prevent the bills from becoming law. President Ruth Simmons personally waded into the debate this summer, making the case that the measures are misguided. Two emails from Simmons in June urged community members to voice their opinions of the bill. It remains unclear how likely either bill is to pass. The student impact fee bill was voted out of committee in the House but was not debated before the summer recess. It’s not clear whether the legislation will be on the agenda when the House — which is currently in recess until January — reconvenes for a two-day session on October 14 and 15, said Larry
Berman, spokesman for Majority Leader Gordon Fox, D-Dist. 4, who sponsored the bill. During that brief session, the bill will be competing for debate time with many other bills left over after the June recess, including a ban on indoor prostitution — which is currently legal in Rhode Island thanks to a loophole — and a proposal to remove the last three words from the state’s official name, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The Senate, whose legislative session also resumes in January but occasionally reconvenes briefly to deal with pressing issues, has not yet advanced a version of either bill out of committee. The House property tax bill and its Senate companion remained in their respective finance committees before the recess. Thanks to Rhode Island’s legislative structure, the fate of the bills depends primarily on legislative leaders, who have the power to determine when — and if — the measures come up for a vote. Both of Simmons’ e-mails, which were sent as the legislature was concluding its 2009 session in June, concluded by supplying contact info for Speaker of the House William Murphy, DDist. 26, and Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed, D-Dist. 13. The debate After the state eliminated local aid this summer in the face of budget shortfalls caused by the stagnant state economy, Cicilline announced a revised municipal budget that included pay freezes for city employees, withdrawals from a rainy day fund and an increase in property taxes. It is with that gloomy financial outlook as a backdrop that the new fees have been debated. Cicilline,
who is running for re-election to a third term in 2010, first proposed the student tax measure in May. The student impact fee is calculated to offset the costs of providing police, fire, rescue and other municipal services to students, according to the text of the bill. Cicilline told The Herald in July that the issue is “a basic principle of fairness.” “I think it is fair for every person who is a member of a community to contribute to the well-being of the community,” Cicilline said. Brown officials, meanwhile, have argued that the school already contributes its fair share to the city. The University’s largest current contribution to the city’s coffers is detailed by a memorandum of understanding signed by the city and several schools, including Brown, in 2003. In both of her summer e-mails, Simmons wrote that the agreement added up to a commitment of $50 million over 20 years to the city. Simmons challenged the idea that schools should pay for their students’ use of municipal services, noting that Brown maintains its own law enforcement and ambulance services. The city and state also benefit from the “economic engine” of higher education, Quinn said, noting that Brown is the state’s seventh largest private employer and that 80 percent of its employees pay income tax in Rhode Island. A report commissioned by Brown earlier this decade estimated that Brown students spent over $40 million in the state during the academic year 2004-05, she said. Brown’s financial commitments to the city also include a planned $10 million fund to benefit local schools, an initiative announced by Simmons in 2007 in response to the school’s landmark investigation of its historical ties to slavery. So far $1.5 million has been raised
for the fund, though little has actually been disbursed so far. Since donations to the school’s fund are allotted for specific purposes by donors, it would not be affected by new fees, Quinn said. But, she added, it could be more difficult to raise the additional money needed for the fund in a climate where students are being taxed. “We understand ... that these are really challenging times” for the city, Quinn said, but they are difficult for schools as well. Rather than imposing fees on schools, she said, the city should be seeking to work together with schools to build a “knowledge economy” to more effectively generate revenue. Local pols take a stance While acknowledging the contributions that Brown and other schools make to the city, Council Member Terrence Hassett of Ward 12 urged the General Assembly in an Aug. 6 press release to quickly pass the property fee bill. “While we do recognize the contributions of the universities and hospitals — both tangible and intangible — much of the revenue they generate goes directly to the state’s coffers, bypassing the city altogether,” he said in the statement. That the fee would be only up to 25 percent of what other property owners pay is a recognition of these contributions, he said. Graduate students at Brown have joined with the undergraduate leadership and with other private schools in the city to oppose the student impact fee. The Graduate Student Council sent a letter to the Providence Journal and a petition to local politicians seeking to defeat the measure, according to its president, Heather Lee GS. The lone response to their petition, from Senate Majority Leader Daniel Connors, D-Dist. 19, indicated
that he thought the fee was a financial necessity, Lee said. Representatives of the council also met with Cicilline, who said financial and other contributions to the community from the campuses do not add up to the kind of money he is seeking from the fees, she said. Lee said targeting students to generate revenue is unfair. “Students are portrayed as privileged individuals who do not contribute to the community,” she said, which she called an inaccurate characterization. For example, graduate students spend their time and money in a summer enrichment program for local students, she said. “It discourages us from feeling like there is a collaborative relationship between the city and the state and the student body,” Lee said. At least one local politician has come out against the measure, citing concerns like Lee’s. City Council Member John Lombardi, who represents Ward 13, said he was hoping for that kind of collaboration when, in response to the pending measures, he introduced a resolution this summer to create a commission to study ways of raising revenue from tax-exempt institutions. The “acrimony” of the debate over the current legislative measures between the city and schools made a softer approach necessary, said Lombardi, who added that the proposed student impact fee “sends the wrong message.” With school and hospital representatives on the commission, it could build a consensus, he said. Although the resolution creating the commission was passed, Lombardi said he doubts the commission will ever be called because of the current political climate and a looming election year. Barring the emergence of any other compromise solutions, that leaves students and locals to await further action in the legislature.
For some yeasts, opposites don’t attract continued from page 3 said. “It was a completely fortuitous obser vation.” “Those are the things you go after,” Bennett added. “You can’t always chase the weird things that you see in the lab, but that’s what we did.” While many news sources have reported the same-sex-type matings of C. albicans as proof of “homosexual yeast” or “gay yeast,” Bennett said these headlines are inaccurate and prefers the term
“homothallic” reproduction. “People will think this has something to do with homosexuality in humans, and it doesn’t,” Bennett explained. “Because it’s such a sensitive topic, the last thing I want to do is offend anyone or have anyone get the wrong impression when that’s not what this stor y is about.” C. albicans is not the first species in which homothallic reproduction has been obser ved. Bennett said a fungus known as Cryptococcus neoformans can also
undergo same-sex-type matings. The product of these matings in C. neoformans caused a recent outbreak of a fungal infection on Vancouver Island. Bennett said this outbreak proves the importance of research into homothallic reproduction. “There’s a potential for sex to go on in a population of cells where, previously, we had assumed that sex wasn’t possible,” he said. “The barriers to sexual reproduction might be a lot more fluid than we had previously thought.”
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Online: See more photos from orientation at blogdailyherald.com
Freshmen make friends — and try to keep their cool continued from page 1 about the traditional values of the University. “It was easy to stay focused. She related really well to the students,” Moscowitz said. First-years were also required to attend a lecture on the “Truths and Lies of Campus Alcohol” as well as a class meeting on “Thinking Otherwise.” “I think a lot of people were really persuaded by the fact that (the speaker on alcohol) wasn’t really stuffy or over the top in terms of warnings,” said Briana McGeough ’12, a Meiklejohn Peer Adviser. Still, students had time to let loose and have fun at orientation. “I feel like 2013 has been doing some different stuff,” Margaret Maurer ’13 said, explaining that students at Sunday night’s first-year festival created a “karaoke mosh pit.” The Saturday night ice cream social, which had Ben and Jerry’s ice cream bars instead of the traditional make-your-own sundaes, received mixed reactions from the freshmen. Lincoln Field had “too many people and too little ice cream,” Orlen Shiba ’13 said. Still, the event was “a good way to meet people,” Ana Rodriguez ’13 said. But orientation is not without anxi-
ety for the upcoming semester. Some students said they were worried about handling a more intensive workload. “I don’t know how I’m going to take a class,” Samuels said. “I haven’t worked since the first semester of senior year.” Other students said their greatest fear is getting lost. “I need a GPS,” Chris Janigian ’13 said. “The only building I recognize is the SciLi,” Shiba said. But first-years stay together and walk the campus in packs. Rodriguez said the easiest way to meet people was sticking with her unit, but Janigian said he “wouldn’t know anyone if it weren’t for Facebook.” Janigian and many of his new friends introduced themselves on Facebook and then met up on the Main Green during orientation. “The best is when you see someone who has friended the entire class on Facebook, and they come up to you and you know nothing about them,” Samuels said. “That person’s usually me.” The fourteen students enrolled in the Brown-RISD dual degree program this year have balanced Brown’s orientation with activities run by older dual degree students on RISD’s otherwise empty campus. “We’re like a family,” dual degree student Nazli Ozerdem ’14 said.
Kim Perley / Herald
First-years got acquainted in and out of the classroom during orientation for the Class of 2013. Below left, new students received advice from experienced ones at a panel Sunday morning in MacMillan 117.
Arts & Culture The Brown Daily Herald
Wednesday, September 9, 2009 | Page 8
First-years treated to ‘eclectic’ midnight organ program By Rafael Chaiken Contributing Writer
The tradition of midnight recitals on Brown’s 3,355-pipe HutchingsVotey organ is a relic from a time when the pipe organ was a popular concert instrument. While organs are nowadays more often viewed as staid and liturgical, University Organist and Instrument Curator Mark Steinbach proved Sunday night that the tradition continues to flourish as he kicked off the year’s midnight recital season. “I like to choose an eclectic program for Orientation to show off the tonal variety of the instrument and to break down stereotypes about what the instrument is capable of,” Steinbach wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. The first piece of his 50-minute concert was Theodore Dubois’ “Sortie Toccata,” a type of piece meant to showcase a performer’s virtuosity. The 2013-heavy audience watched Steinbach’s hands and feet fly over the console by way of a video projection in the rear of Sayles Hall. Next was Anton Heiller’s “Tanz Tocatta.” The playful, jazzy dance featured the vox humana, a soft stop meant to imitate the human voice. Steinbach said he has long
been interested in the 20th-century composer, having once studied with Heiller’s protege in Vienna. Steinbach recorded an album of Heiller’s music this summer, to be released this fall. “Golliwog’s Cakewalk” by Claude Debussy was similarly humorous. As one listened to the jaunty piece, it was not hard to imagine the ambling protagonist, whoever he is, out for a stroll. Steinbach performed his own organ transcription of the 1908 work, which was originally written for piano. No organ recital would be complete without a piece by Johann Sebastian Bach, and Steinbach performed two: the “Dorian Toccata” and the “Fugue in D Minor” (not to be confused with the better-known “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor”). Although the former was the third of the evening’s four toccatas, its baroque counterpoint provided an effective contrast with the more contemporary music on the program. The concert’s highlight was “Satyagraha Act III, Conclusion” by Philip Glass. Taken from an opera, the music was intended as a tribute to Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolent resistance and is a classic example of Glass’ minimalist style. It began with sparkling eighth notes in the upper registers, later pick-
Herald file photo
The weekend organ performance showcased “what the instrument is capable of,” organist Mark Steinbach said.
ing up broad, rising bass notes as well as ornamental elements. Overall the piece produced a dark yet profoundly optimistic effect, and Glass’ message — that nonviolent resistance is unquestionably difficult but succeeds in the end — was not hard to discern. Though some might fault “Satyagraha” for Glass’ repetitive style, its hopeful melodies
remain with the listener long after the concert. Steinbach finished his recital with the “Adagio” and “Toccata” from Charles-Marie Widor’s “Symphony No. V,” a mainstay of the organ repertoire. Its combination of animated notes played on the keyboards, powerful descending bass-line played on the pedals and
resounding conclusion made it an appropriate ending for the concert Steinbach revived the tradition of midnight recitals upon his arrival at Brown 16 years ago. Besides teaching organ lessons and music theory, he is organist and choirmaster at St. Paul’s Church in Wickford. His next midnight recital will be on Halloween.
SportsWednesday The Brown Daily Herald
Wednesday, September 9, 2009 | Page 9
Field hockey falls in non-conference warmups
s p o rt s i n b r i e f
Men’s water polo takes two out of three at MIT Invitational In its season opener at the MIT Invitational last Saturday, the men’s water polo team narrowly edged ClaremontMcKenna College, 8-7, to claim its first victory of the season. The Bears then staged an exciting come-frombehind rally against the University of Redlands, sealing its second win at 9-7. Their winning streak came to an end, however, in the final game against the Pacific. The early lead by the Tigers proved too much for the Bears to overcome, as they fell 14-4 in the end. Several rookies showed promise in the Invitational. Svetozar Stefanovic ’13 led the team’s offense in the first game with three goals, including the game-winning goal in the third, sudden-death overtime. Two other freshmen, Michael Hartwick ’13 and Cyrus Mojdehi ’13 also aided the offensive effort by scoring a goal apiece. Mojdehi’s goal tied the game at 6-6 before regular time ran out, sending the game into overtime. The defense proved critical in the Bears’ success, especially in the second game against Redlands. After the offense rallied from behind to take the lead at 5-3 at halftime, the defense kept the firing Redlands from coming back. Goalkeeper and team captain Kent Holland ’10 picked up 13 saves in this game, adding to the six saves he earned in the first game. The team could not maintain this winning formula in the last game of the Invitational, however. Pacific took charge of play from the beginning. By halftime, the Tigers had already secured a 8-2 lead. They added onto their goals and eventually handed the Bears their first loss of the season, 14-4. The men will get back in action this weekend to compete in the Princeton Invitational. They will face Iona College on Friday night, then UCLA and Bucknell on Saturday, and finish the Invitational against host Princeton on Sunday. — Han Cui
blogdailyherald.com
By Andrew Braca Sports Editor
The field hockey team lost its first two games of the season, falling to New Hampshire, 6-1, on Friday in its home opener on 6 UNH Warner Roof 1 Brown before suffering a 10-2 loss 2 Brown to Delaware Delaware 10 on Sunday in Newark, Del. Against New Hampshire, Tacy Zysk ’11 scored twice and Kit Masini ’12 notched her first career goal and added an assist, but the Bears were outshot by a combined 53-17 and doubled up in penalty corners, 2211. The Bears started the weekend strong. The Wildcats peppered the cage from the first whistle en route to 25 first-half shots, but goalie Caroline Washburn ’12 kept the game scoreless for 12 minutes before Bruno took the lead on a perfectly executed corner. Katie Hyland ’11 sent the ball in to the middle of the field, where Masini redirected it towards the cage. Zysk was there to tip the ball
past New Hampshire goalie Katherine Nagengast. From there it was all Wildcats, as the visitors scored the final six goals of the game. Wildcats’ Whitney Frates tied the score four minutes later, and New Hampshire took the lead at 28:04. Two second-half goals by Meg Shea helped the Wildcats turn the 3-1 lead they took into the locker room into a 6-1 victory. It could have been worse, but Washburn stopped 15 shots, improving upon her previous career-high of 11 saves. The trip to Delaware was even tougher for the Bears. In the 10-2 drubbing, the Blue Hens set a school record for goals in a game. Casey Howard’s five goals set another school record. Delaware roared out of the gate as Howard scored just 45 seconds into the game. After the Blue Hens notched another goal at 3:31, Howard struck again at 12:23 for a 3-0 lead before Brown had taken a shot. But Brown found their rhythm and shut out Delaware for the remaining 22:37 of the half, keyed by Washburn’s four saves. Coming out of intermission, the Blue Hens opened the floodgates.
Howard scored three of Delaware’s four goals in the first 15:38 of the second half. But the Bears refused to quit. Masini answered Howard’s final goal 51 seconds later to put Brown on the scoreboard. After Delaware added another goal, Zysk scored her second of the weekend to cut the deficit to 8-2 with 14:05 remaining. Delaware tacked on two late goals to produce the final score. After being outshot 10-2 in the first half, the Bears cut their on-goal deficit in the second half to 10-7, but were still outscored 7-2 in the frame, as Brown’s goalies failed to stop a single second-half shot. Alexis Aurigemma ’13 replaced Washburn in goal 13:41 after halftime, but the Blue Hens spoiled the collegiate debut of the native of nearby Wilmington, scoring on all four of their shots on goal with the freshmen in the cage. For the weekend, Hyland led Bruno with six shots. The Bears will look to get on track this weekend when they host Monmouth on Saturday and Bryant on Sunday at 2 p.m. on Warner Roof in their final tune-ups before Ivy League play begins.
Editorial & Letters The Brown Daily Herald
Page 10 | Wednesday, September 9, 2009
l e t t e r to t h e e d i to r s
Swine flu article misses the point To the Editor: Your recent article on H1N1 influenza (“U. preps for widespread H1N1 cases,” Sept. 8), while informative, fails to discuss the flu’s epidemiological aspects. First, the most serious danger is that H1N1 flu will mutate to a more virulent form, which could very well occur through interaction with the normal, seasonal flu. Still, data from April through July show that H1N1 has so far remained genetically stable. It seems that instead of combining genetically with existing influenza, swine flu is likely to either
overpower it or occur alongside it. That means we’re likely to have a regular flu season plus a swine flu season. Expect 30 percent to 50 percent infection rates for the flu this year. Swine flu infects people younger than 25 at astonishingly high rates. So it’s likely to be an equal-opportunity winter, with young and old at risk of infection. Vaccination for seasonal flu seems like a very good idea.
David Gurevich ‘11 Sept. 8
ale x yuly
e d i to r i a l
A letter to the editors of GQ Dear GQ editors,
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
Deputy Managing Editors Nandini Jayakrishna Franklin Kanin Michael Skocpol
editorial Arts & Culture Editor Ben Hyman Rosalind Schonwald Arts & Culture Editor Features Editor Sophia Li Metro Editor George Miller Metro Editor Joanna Wohlmuth News Editor Seth Motel News Editor Jenna Stark Sports Editor Andrew Braca Asst. Sports Editor Han Cui Asst. Sports Editor Alex Mazerov Graphics & Photos Chris Jesu Lee Graphics Editor Stephen Lichenstein Graphics Editor Photo Editor Eunice Hong Kim Perley Photo Editor Jesse Morgan Sports Photo Editor production Ayelet Brinn Copy Desk Chief Rachel Isaacs Copy Desk Chief Marlee Bruning Design Editor Jessica Calihan Design Editor Asst. Design Editor Anna Migliaccio Asst. Design Editor Julien Ouellet Neal Poole Web Editor Post- magazine Arthur Matuszewski Editor-in-Chief Kelly McKowen Editor-in-Chief
Senior Editors Rachel Arndt Isabel Gottlieb 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 Alyssa Ratledge Sarah Rosenthal
Opinions Editor Opinions Editor
Editorial Page Board James Shapiro Editorial Page Editor Matt Aks Board member Nick Bakshi Board member Zack Beauchamp Board member Debbie Lehmann Board member William Martin Board member
Jessica Calihan, Designers Rachel Isaacs, Miranda Forman, Eunice Hong, Copy Editors Sydney Ember, Night Editors Senior Staff Writers Dan Alexander, Emma Berry, Mitra Anoushiravani, Ellen Cushing, Sydney Ember, Lauren Fedor, Nicole Friedman, Britta Greene, Sarah Husk, Matt Klebanoff, Etienne Ma, Brian Mastroianni, Hannah Moser, Luisa Robledo, Ben Schreckinger, Caroline Sedano, Anne Simons, Anne Speyer, Sara Sunshine, Alex Ulmer, Suzannah Weiss, Kyla Wilkes Staff Writers Zunaira Choudhary, Chris Duffy, Nicole Dungca, Juliana Friend, Cameron Lee, Christian Martell, Heeyoung Min, Seth Motel, Jyotsna Mullur, Lauren Pischel, Leslie Primack, Anne Speyer, Alexandra Ulmer, Kyla Wilkes Senior Business Associates Max Barrows, Jackie Goldman, Margaret Watson, Ben Xiong Business Associates Diahndra Burman, Stassia Chyzhykova, Caroline Dean, Marco deLeon, Katherine Galvin, Bonnie Kim, Maura Lynch, Cathy Li, Allen McGonagill, Liana Nisimova, Thanases Plestis, Agathe Roncey, Corey Schwartz, William Schweitzer, Kenneth So, Evan Sumortin, Haydar Taygun, Anshu Vaish, Webber Xu, Lyndse Yess Design Staff Katerina Dalavurak, Gili Kliger, Jessica Kirschner, Joanna Lee, Maxwell Rosero, John Walsh, Kate Wilson, Qian Yin Photo Staff Qidong Chen, Janine Cheng, Alex DePaoli, Frederic Lu, Quinn Savit, Min Wu Copy Editors Sara Chimene-Weiss, Sydney Ember, Lauren Fedor, Miranda Forman, Casey Gaham, Anna Jouravleva, Geoffrey Kyi, Frederic Lu, Jordan Mainzer, Kelly Mallahan, Madeleine Rosenberg Web Developers Jihan Chao
We’re writing to let you know that we’re not mad. We’re sorr y you think we’re douches, honestly. But we’re not mad at you for it. The feeling on campus since the release of your article hasn’t been anger, or resentment. Not even frustration. No, more than anything it’s been confusion. A lot of people here would like to chat with you about semantics. (Yes, we use words like semantics.) It’s not that your profile of our school is wrong — (many of us ran out to the driveway and tore those peace signs right off) — we just don’t see the connection between being a smar t, rich pacifist and being a douche. As you know, we here at Brown like words. (Hegemony, for instance.) We like dictionaries and definitions, too; according to the Urban Dictionar y, one of our favorites, “douche” is defined as 1) “George W. Bush, president of the United States”, or 2) “Product used to sanitize an unpleasant, dirty vagina.” We don’t really think we fit either of those. So, since you decided to get creative with your definitions, we’ve decided to get creative, too. We spent some time thinking about what a GQ University would be like — a place where the writers and readers of GQ could meet up and talk about exfoliating body washes, leather jackets and “How to Become a Well-Dressed Rebel in 30 Days.” What we came up with is a “heavily researched, possibly stereotypey, but still accurate” description of the kind of university SDS would tr y to burn down. With no further ado, we present The “GQ” Douche: Affectations: The acronym. (Aren’t you guys a monthly?) In ten years, will be: Out of style and/or working for thesartorialist.blogspot.com.
A peek inside: 50 percent of subscribers make more than $75,000 a year. Which means the “GQ” douche definitely does not hate BMW’s. He mocks BMW’s with peace signs, however, leading us to believe that what he really hates is peace. Tsk, Tsk. Douchiest course offerings (note: these are actual GQ articles): “Long Day’s Journey Into Dinner,” “A Man’s Guide to Calories: How to Manage, Reduce and (Occasionally) Ignore Them” and “Will You Be My Black Friend?” Favorite pick-up technique: Prada’s Infusion d’Homme at the Pegu Club, post-midnight. At this point, we should probably add that we here at Brown do a lot of reading. So much reading, in fact, that we often find ourselves perusing things no one else cares about, like Turold’s Chanson de Roland or GQ’s “Built to Last.” An examination of the latter might better your understanding of the real “GQ” Douche: He’s conscientious, a man who believes that “in tight times, you need to spend wisely.” Unfortunately, he also thinks buying a $19,400 Patek Philippe watch in this, the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, counts as “spending wisely.” “But wait,” the GQ Douche argues, “it’s Built to Last. I can give it to my grandson.” Because that’s the type of guy the “GQ” Douche is — he’d rather his grandkid own a $20,000 watch than a $15 Lego set like ever yone else. In conclusion, GQ editors, we’re glad you guys are so good at writing about fashion, because if you ever opened a university, we’d have to forfeit one of the few outright victories we’ve ever had.
Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
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, September 9, 2009 | Page 11
Uncle Ruth wants you!
TYLER ROSENBAUM Opinions Columnist We’re back at Brown! Another year passed, another anticipated yet somehow still jarring transition from the indolent laze of summer to the purposeful buzz of academia. It’s been four long months. So long, in fact, that I even missed the Ratty! I suppose a summer of shopping and cooking and cleaning can open one’s eyes to its hidden beauty. And to the first-years, welcome! I’m sure there will be plenty of columnists and returning students who will trip over themselves to be helpful in the process of getting you acquainted with your new home. I would like to put in my two cents and urge you to get involved in running that home. I’m sure most of you are acquainted with Brown’s legendary commitment to academic self-determination. Many of you no doubt specifically chose Brown over some of our less enlightened peers primarily because of that freedom. This self-determination does not end with the ability to take whichever classes interest you, however. Most every aspect of the University’s governance is open and responsive to student input and influence in a way that would be unthinkable elsewhere. Sure, final decision-making authority in many areas lies with the ominously named “Corporation,” which, for the most part, elects
its own members and, unhelpfully, meets in secret and seals its minutes for 50 years. But its members are wealthy donors and famous alumni who clearly have better things to do than second guess administrators’ suggestions. Many of the official policy and budgetary recommendations that the Corporation takes up are actually developed and expounded in committees composed of administrators, faculty members and students. For example, Brown’s $800 million budget is written primarily by the University Resourc-
and former Chairman of the Academic and Administrative Affairs Committee that they take the student input seriously. Some of you may be jaded from negative experiences with student government in high school, whose raison d’etre seems to be raising funds and organizing pep assemblies. Worse, the strictly regimented and regulated nature of most high schools means that even sympathetic administrators can rarely act on students’ desires. While Brown’s student government is no
Academic self-determination does not end with the ability to take whichever classes interest you. Most every aspect of the University’s governance is open and responsive to student input and influence in a way that would be unthinkable elsewhere. es Committee. Out of 15 voting members on the URC, two are students, and their voices are respected and taken into account. Moreover, administrators and faculty typically go out of their way to solicit student input on those decisions that are not made by specialized committees. Members of the Undergraduate Council of Students frequently meet with administrators as high up as President Simmons herself. I can say from my own two-year experience as a member of UCS
Congress and cannot pass binding laws, it has a level of autonomy and a degree of respectability that is inconceivable in a high school student assembly. This is not merely a result of benevolent administrators taking our thoughts into account. For example, rather than being obligated to raise funds, the Undergraduate Finance Board generally has about a million dollars annually to allocate to various activities. (I serve on the UFB, which is composed entirely of students).
But — and now I have to break out the cliché — you must get involved. The continued relevance of student opinion to the functioning of the University depends upon the continued commitment of students to serving on the student government, and to ascertaining, articulating and advocating that opinion. Joining the Undergraduate Council of Students is not difficult at all. Becoming a voting member requires 150 signatures, and the Council asks of prospective members only their active participation in committee and its weekly meetings. It’s worth checking out. Now I don’t want to exaggerate the impact the Council might have. You probably won’t be moving any mountains or revolutionizing the curriculum like some sort of modern day Ira Magaziner ’69 P’06 P’07 P’10. But that is more because of Brown students’ contentment with the New Curriculum and the general state of affairs (according to the Princeton Review, after all, we do have the happiest students) than because of an inability to effect change. When I was a first-year, I was inundated with all sorts of advice. It seems like everyone has a favorite suggestion for the newcomers on campus. I will leave it to others to impart all of these little tidbits, but if nothing else I hope the first-years pick up on Brown’s message to them, and to all of its students: take charge of your education. Get involved.
Tyler Rosenbaum ’11 is an international relations concentrator from Seattle. He can be reached at tyler@brown.edu
First-years, welcome to Brown ANISH MITRA Opinions Columnist I still remember the first day I stepped on campus as a freshman. Trying desperately to find Hope College (map in hand), I studied my new surroundings with great excitement. Eager anticipation and promise resided in every building and structure I laid eyes upon. Finally, all my questions about Brown would be answered as I embarked on a magical fouryear journey! Brown would no longer be just a name on a list. I was actually about to taste the fruit I had been craving for so long. Now, as I begin my senior year, I cannot help but to juxtapose what I have learned about our fine institution and what I never knew coming into it. It is this information gap that I wish to fill for all of you incoming, starry-eyed and equally excited freshmen. First and foremost, Brown is truly an amazing place. Whether you applied early, got recruited, gave up other Ivy League schools or got off the waitlist a week ago, you have most assuredly made the best possible decision. With that said, Brown will truly agitate you. For every amazing professor you love, there will be one you just cannot stand. For every cool person you meet, there will be a jerk you absolutely detest. While at times you may become judgmental and downright
nasty, know that everybody (faculty and students) is here for a reason. Position yourself to see the best in people and try to figure out what everyone has to offer. By exhibiting patience, you will truly make the best of the next four years. Second, as intelligent and open-minded as Brown students seem, there will be cliques, and there will be group mentalities. Brown is one of the most (if not the most) liberal institutions in America. Take a look around campus and you will see hipsters, activists and liberals galore. For those of you looking to champion causes related (but not limited) to Democratic, communist, socialist and even anarchic goals, you have chosen the correct place to spend
because a large majority of your peers are in agreement. More importantly, if you are a conservative, do not be afraid to speak up. I never had the luxury of knowing exactly how homogeneously (and militantly so) liberal Brown students were until it was too late. During my enjoyable freshman year seminar, HIST0970: “Culture and U.S. Empire,” a discussion about the justification of Bush’s war in Iraq began. As a Republican who supported the policy, I spoke first with great confidence. The second I finished, 19 defiant hands in the room shot up. It was at that moment I realized what I was up against, and I have not stopped fighting since.
Now, as I begin my senior year, I cannot help but to juxtapose what I have learned about our fine institution, and what I never knew coming into it.
your undergraduate years. While I encourage you to use all available resources (student organizations, professors, fellow Brunonians, etc.) to facilitate your cause, you must keep an open mind. Question everything, and do not become complacent in your ideology simply
In that regard, remember that we conservatives are a unique commodity here at Brown, and we can never cave in to the liberal hegemony which exists on our beloved campus. Instead, we must provide valuable and much needed insight on campus, local and
national issues, working aggressively with our liberal counterparts to create the best possible policies and consistently maintain a rigorous dialogue. Regardless of where you lie on the political spectrum, or any spectrum for that matter, remember to get involved. Brown is truly focused on maximizing the quality of undergraduate life, and you should aim to take full advantage of everything that Brown students have to offer you. Join student organizations, write for publications, go out at night and meet everybody on your floor. The connections and skills you can develop during your time at Brown will ultimately help you gain life-long friends, valuable knowledge about how our university works and more serious insight about where you want to be after Brown. Take it from a senior: The next few years will fly by. You don’t want to be that girl or guy that happens to be another face in the crowd, and you certainly do not want a laundry list of regrets by the time 2013 rolls around. Make every encounter a learning opportunity and you will never be disappointed. Lastly, this old Republican has one more line of advice, for freshmen and all other Brown students alike: Do not stalk Emma Watson.
Anish Mitra ’10 is an Economics concentrator from Queens, New York. He can be reached at anish_mitra@brown.edu.
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Today The Brown Daily Herald
8
Midnight organ concert delights
9
to day
to m o r r o w
66 / 55
65 / 57
Field hockey drops two games
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Page 12
t h e n e w s i n i m ag e s
1
1 c a l e n da r
Today, september 9
tomorrow, September 10
all day — First Day of Classes. Registration for all students except freshmen opens online at 8 a.m.
5PM — New Teaching Assistant Orientation, Sharpe Refectory
4pm — Convocation, Main Green
7pm — Women’s Volleyball vs. Bryant, Pizzitola Sports Center
menu Sharpe Refectory
Verney-Woolley Dining Hall
Lunch — Vegan Sloppy Joes, Falafel in Pita, Buffalo Chicken Wings with Bleu Cheese Dressing
Lunch — Chicken Fajitas, Mexican Succotash, Cream Cheese Brownies
Dinner — Couscous Croquettes with Cider Pepper Sauce, Garden Style Baked Scrod, Vegan Rice Pilaf
Dinner — Cilantro Chicken, Beets in Orange Sauce, Orange Delight Cake
RELEASE DATE– Thursday, April 23, 2009
Los Angeles Times Crossword Puzzle c r o sDaily swo rd Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Deli offering 5 Charge 11 “__ pinch of ...”: recipe words 15 Hardly the full gamut 16 High leader? 17 Close 18 Viva __: by word of mouth 19 *Parting words 21 Huge 23 Prankster’s cry 24 Nick name? 25 It’s too close to call 27 Self-seeker 29 One leaving a wake 30 Togo neighbor 31 Playground retort 32 Cleanup hitters’ stats 36 Cause of inflation? 37 *“That outfit looks fabulous!” 40 SASE, e.g. 41 NLRB part: Abbr. 43 “__ la vista, baby!” 44 “Cool!” 46 Nutrition author Davis 48 “Don’t delay!” 49 Darling 52 “The Da Vinci Code” albino 53 100-member group 54 Safeco Field contest, to the Mariners 57 *Like unlikely chances 60 Hebrew for “skyward” 61 Yours, in Tours 62 Buck 63 Pro __ 64 Hamlet, for one 65 Takes the wheel 66 Barbara who played Jeannie DOWN 1 Eat 2 Thames landmark 3 *18th century French painting style
48 Shooters, before 33 Picnic veggie 4 Ohio shooting dish, and a hint conservatory 49 Syrian leader to words hidden 5 Invite to a movie, in the answers to 50 Atlanta-based say airline starred clues 6 NATO founding 51 Burger topper 34 A fan of member 52 Sub detector 35 Garbage barge 7 Golfer’s 54 Place for an ace? 38 Diver’s sickness pocketful 39 Reunion attendee 55 Friend of Adelaide 8 Father of Dada 56 Flair 42 University of 9 No. to which 58 E-mail address Wyoming site annual raises part 45 Stand with shelves might be tied 59 Phillies’ div. 47 Info to input 10 Pocket Books logo ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: 11 Barfly’s request 12 Wimbledon tie 13 Russian villa 14 Buddhist who has attained Nirvana 20 Upscale Italian shoe brand 22 Kenyan tribesman 25 Reduce in grade 26 Gut course 27 Former Archbishop of New York 28 Karmann __: sports car 29 Pain in the neck 31 “Love __ 04/23/09 Around”: 1968 hit xwordeditor@aol.com
Info sessions next Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday 8 p.m., 195 Angell St. (between Thayer and Brook) By Dan Naddor (c)2009 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
04/23/09