Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxliv, no. 105 | Thursday, November 12, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891
City schools re-evaluate facilities
Simmons, Reed honor Veterans Day on campus By Monique Vernon Staff Writer
By Anish Gonchigar Staff Writer
Providence Public Schools recently finished the first round of community meetings to update their Facilities Master Plan, drawing on comments from parents and community members to craft a set of recommendations to improve the school system’s facilities.
METRO According to Chief Operating Officer Carleton Jones, the school system hired the Virginia-based consulting and architectural firm Fanning Howey to update a full facility condition assessment last done in 2006. Fanning Howey looked at building conditions and utilization, among other factors, Jones said. In addition, Fanning Howey facilitated a series of open community meetings “to assess where the schools are in terms of meeting the desires of the community,” Jones said. After a first round of community meetings in June, a second round consisted of 12 meetings in October. The third round, which Jones said he expects to begin in late November, will have six meetings. The previous meetings averaged 25 to 30 attendees, Jones said. Fanning Howey is expected to present recommendations to the school board by late December or early January, he said. Members of Brown’s Urban Education Policy program and the service program City Year also attended to provide community support. Jones said meetings would be broken up into continued on page 2
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald
Students, faculty and local residents gathered on the Main Green to honor current and former soldiers on Veterans Day.
Strains of bagpipe music lingered in the air as students, faculty and Providence community members gathered on the Main Green Wednesday to honor the soldiers who have served in armed duty. But unlike previous Veterans Day ceremonies at Brown, for the first time in 20 years a University president and a political official participated in the annual commemoration. President Ruth Simmons introduced Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed, a veteran himself, who spoke about the need to remember soldiers past and present. The annual ceremony, sponsored by the Office of Campus Life, the Office of the Dean of the College and the Brown University Student Veterans Society , began at 12:30 p.m., with a procession from the flagpole of the Main Green to Soldiers Arch on Lincoln Field. Guided by miniature American flags lining the walk, patrons followed the uniformed men and women of the Patriot Battalion Honor Guard of Providence College to the green in front of
Soldiers Arch. The official ceremony began with a prayer by Chaplain Janet Cooper Nelson. Chaney Harrison ’11, president of the Student Veterans Society and a former Army paratrooper, then gave the opening speech. He described Brown’s extensive history with the armed forces beginning with its first class in 1764. The introduction was followed by a reading of letters written by soldiers in World War I who had attended Brown. Four student veterans, Christopher Baker ’09 GS, Martin Bell ’11, John Hermansen ’11 and David Salsone ’13, read the soldiers’ letters to the other attendees. One soldier’s letter from 1918 described his encounter with other Brown students during the war. “Old Brown is not asleep,” the soldier wrote. Simmons then made her first appearance at the Veteran’s Day ceremony in her time as University president. She said the attendees were gathered “to pay tribute to the courageous men and women who served our nation.” continued on page 2
Tricks and non-fiction truths with writer Shenk ’88 By Lindor Qunaj Contributing Writer
Data smog: the impenetrable mass of information available online. Added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2004, the term was coined by writer David Shenk ’88 — the second of this year’s four speakers in the Great Brown Nonfiction Writers Lecture Series. Shenk, who spoke to a mostly full Smith-Buonanno 106 Wednesday night, is an awardwinning author of five non-fiction “novels.” The talk, titled “Making the
Truth Truthful: Turning Science into Story Telling,” focused on three challenges Shenk faced during his career as a best-selling science writer and how he learned to overcome those difficulties. Shenk, a former editor of The Herald’s weekly magazine Good Clean Fun, began by describing his time at Brown, when he first came in contact “with very curious, intellectual minds” and made connections that would shape his path as a writer. Among them was the late Professor of English Roger Henkle, a mentor who made him realize how “incred-
ibly lazy” he was as a writer. Shenk said attracting audiences who “don’t want to read books about science” is a challenge. With books ranging in topic from chess to the molecular changes in the brain due to Alzheimer’s, Shenk acknowledged that the vast majority of the general population would not pick up a science book. “I hope to one day write about something inherently exciting — like naked people, astronauts or even naked astronauts,” Shenk said. Meanwhile, Shenk’s solution is to “trick” people into reading his
books. Though aware that some people would argue it’s necessary for a writer to demand more of a reader, Shenk said that his “first job as a science writer is to come up with devices to get people to continue reading ...And that comes down to telling stories.” Once he’s able to maintain the reader’s attention, Shenk said the next problem he confronts is that “most good science is impossibly complex.” After doing his own extencontinued on page 2
Nonprofit founder talks up innovation By Emily Rosen Staff Writer
inside
Diana Wells ’88, president of the global social entrepreneurship organization Ashoka, spoke about the future of business-based ventures for achieving social change before a small crowd in Barus and Holley Wednesday night. Wells outlined Ashoka’s mission and discussed the group’s future in the rapidly growing movement. The event was sponsored by Brown’s Social Innovation Initiative. Founded approximately 30 years ago by Bill Drayton — the “father of
News.....1-3 Sports....4-5 Editorial.....6 Opinions....7 Today.........8
www.browndailyherald.com
social entrepreneurship,” according to Wells — Ashoka is a worldwide organization that supports efforts to achieve social change. “Ashoka came out of the idea that folks working for the social good are as entrepreneurial as their counterparts in business,” Wells said. About 2,500 innovators selected as Ashoka fellows have worked to effect change on issues including education, health care and the environment in 70 countries. “The focus is on changing a system,” Wells said. “We are looking for ideas that will have a major social impact.” Ashoka looks for innovators
with ideas that can be spread and reproduced elsewhere, she said. In contrast to the business world, Ashoka does not promote ownership of ideas, Wells said. Rather, the merit of an innovator’s idea is often measured in terms of its ability to be replicated. Wells said that when she joined Ashoka, the goal of the organization was to “build a profession of social entrepreneurship,” but now it has expanded significantly as many people make careers out of it. The field is receiving more publicity and gaining momentum, and President Obama
Zung Nguyen Vu / Herald
continued on page 3
Diana Wells ’88, president of the global social entrepreneurship organization Ashoka, talked about her work and experiences Wednesday.
News, 3
Sports, 5
Opinions, 7
Voting for Change UCS will vote on adopting a majority system for passing resolutions next week
Soccer still kicking M. soccer kept its playoff hopes alive with a win over Yale
JUST SLOW DOWN Mike Johnson ’11 has a word of advice for bikers and pedestrians
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
herald@browndailyherald.com