Friday, September 25, 2009

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Daily Herald the Brown

vol. cxliv, no. 72 | Friday, September 25, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891

Talks begin on slave trade memorial

Faculty committee to review tenure policies By Nicole Friedman Senior Staf f Writer

Brian Mastroianni Senior Staff Writer

The University’s Public Arts Committee has begun considering building a public memorial to the historical ties of Brown and of Rhode Island to the slave trade, almost two years after the University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice convened by President Ruth Simmons recommended one. The committee is set to discuss ideas for the nature and placement of a memorial at a meeting next month, said committee member JoAnn Conklin, director of the David Winton Bell Gallery. “The memorial is in recognition of a period in our history that, for many, is very painful,” said Artemis Joukowsky ’55 P’87, chancellor emeritus and chair of the committee. Joukowsky said the project represented a brave undertaking for the University and would “make us one of the few in the country to have such a memorial.” So far, plans for the project — which lacks a specific deadline — have consisted of informal brainstorming among committee members. Joukowsky said having a memorial near the planned Alpert Medical School complex in downtown’s Jewelry District is “an especially exciting idea.” “The memorial could somehow be on or near the bridge connecting our campus to the new proposed medical school area,” he said, noting that the committee will consider several ideas, including installing a plaque in memory of the slave trade. If placed near the bridge, Conklin said the installation would remind people of the slave trade given that “slave memorials are usually on a waterfront” since “the people were brought here on ships.” Other members of the committee include Professor of Visual Arts Richard Fishman, Professor of History of Art and Architecture Dietrich Neumann, Senior Lecturer in American Civilization and University Curator Robert Emlen and Susan Freedman ’82, president of the New York-based Public Art Fund. Though the exact cost of a memorial remains to be determined, Conklin said it would be funded by Simmons’ discretionary fund, reserved for uses deemed especially appropriate by the president’s office. The memorial will also recognize the state’s connection to slavery, Conklin said, noting that it is important to open a broader discussion

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News.....1-4 Arts........5-6 Editorial..10 Opinion...11 Today........12

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Herald File Photo

Wide receiver Buddy Farnham ’10 and the football team look to take down Harvard for the second straight year tonight.

For rival Harvard, Brown game is ‘just another one’ of the Ivy championships. Both teams went 6-1 in the Ivy League last fall. The only league team that Harvard and Brown, the defend- defeated Har vard last year was ing Ivy football coBrown. champions, will meet It is not surprising, sports each other at 7 p.m. then, that Brown-Hartonight under the lights of Har- vard is a rivalry game. At least, it is for Brown. vard Stadium. In the last five seasons, the continued on page 2 teams have had a share in four By Dan Alexander Senior Staf f Writer

A newly formed committee will review the University’s tenure and faculty development policies after an outside monitor called attention to those areas, according to an e-mail Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 sent to faculty Thursday afternoon. When the University was reaccredited in the spring by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, the evaluation committee identified aspects of Brown’s tenure processes as an area of concern, Kertzer said. The committee, comprised of administrators at peer institutions, noted in particular that Brown awarded tenure to professors at a ver y high rate. In response, the Academic Affairs Committee of the Corporation asked the administration to form a faculty committee “to look at whether there is any real basis for concern,” Kertzer told The Herald. “Certainly it is the impression of this committee that Brown has historically granted tenure to a higher proportion of the people who enter into the tenure track positions than at least most” of its peer institutions, he said. But actual data are hard to come by, he added, since tenure negotiations are often not made public, and there are “a million

Newark mayor: Individuals can change cities By Caitlin Trujillo Staff Writer

Local action is the key ingredient to affect urban change, Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker told a Salomon 101 audience Thursday that included Providence’s own mayor, David Cicilline ’83. Booker, whose reforms since his election in 2006 have improved conditions in one of the country’s most violent cities, delivered the annual Noah Krieger ’93 Memorial Lecture, sponsored by the Taubman Center for Public Policy. “I think every person in this room has the ability to make a profound impact on the world,” Booker said. Quoting figures from Shakespeare to Chris Rock, Booker’s 45-minute address described his experiences trying to revitalize the crime-ridden city and what he learned about the power of

dif ferent ways of dealing with tenure” among universities. “One of the challenges the committee will have is to tr y to get as good data as we can to see whether the comment by the NEASC seems to be borne out by evidence,” Kertzer said. Tenure clock too short? The ad hoc committee, which plans to issue recommendations in the spring, will consider three central issues, Kertzer said. Its members will first examine “the set of issues around our tenure processes and whether they are as strong as they could and should be,” Kertzer said. Kertzer will chair the committee, which includes eight faculty members. Dean of the Faculty Rajiv Vohra P’07 and Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences Edward Wing will ser ve as ex officio members, according to the e-mail. Since tenure is officially granted by the Corporation, “they obviously want to feel confident that we have the strongest methods of ensuring the highest quality of faculty at Brown,” Kertzer said. But a high tenure rate is not necessarily a negative thing, he added. On the one hand, the University should reserve its “relatively few” tenured positions for “the continued on page 3

Where do the magic bars go?

Why pigs love your dinner scraps By Gaurie Tilak Staf f Writer

Frederic Lu / Herald

Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, N.J., urged students to become active in their communities, calling democracy a “full-contact” sport.

individuals to improve their communities. Improving the conditions in American cities will ultimately benefit the nation as a whole, Booker said, imploring all audience members not to be deterred by obstacles and setbacks. Ameri-

Got too much on your plate? Brown Dining Services does, too — that’s why it donated 737 pounds of baked

FEATURE

cans too often let an inability to do everything undermine their willingness to do anything, Booker said. Booker faced a number of hurdles when he first sought to

goods to local charities last year alone. BuDS donates usable leftovers to a number of charities and sends “plate waste” — table scraps from the Sharpe Refector y and the

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Arts, 5

News, 3

Opinions, 11

full circle A “wickeds” premier Saturday for Brown TV’s mini-series

REsource-Ful Construction has begun on a new science resource center in the SciLi

Happy New Year? Ethan Tobias ’12 says Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur should be days off

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