Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxliv, no. 109 | Wednesday, November 18, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891
Partygoer tried to grab cop’s gun
Dean hears concerns about new PLME rule By Hannah Moser Senior Staff Writer
Students in the Program in Liberal Medical Education are seeking to be exempted from a new policy about applying to other medical schools and have taken their objections to an Alpert Medical School official. Four junior PLMEs met with Associate Dean of Medicine Philip Gruppuso on Friday to lobby against the policy, according to Arune Gulati ’11. He and the other students kept their discussion focused on the principle of fair implementation of the policy, he said. Under the new rule, which was announced earlier this month, PLME students who apply to medical schools elsewhere would forfeit the spots that are reserved for them at Brown’s medical school from the time they enter as undergraduates — though they would be permitted to reapply and be considered with the rest of the applicant pool. The students have two main objections to the recent decision, Gulati said, both of which they emphasized in the meeting with Gruppuso. First, some juniors have already shaped their academic plans around “applying out” by taking a second semester of organic chemistry and other medical school prerequisites not required by PLME, he said. The program’s original leniency may have also been a selling point for some current students, who said they might have enrolled elsewhere if the new policy had been in place when they matriculated, according to Gulati. In an e-mail to The Herald, Gruppuso wrote that, in response
to students’ concerns, “discussions are being undertaken by a number of individuals in both BioMed and University Hall, which I think is a testament to how seriously we view this issue.” He declined to discuss the details of his conversations with students until he meets with other Med School administrators later this week. The PLME handbook does not address the subject of students applying out of the program and does not include a guarantee that students’ spots would be reserved. But Gulati said some deans have traditionally told applicants to the program that they will be able to apply elsewhere without losing their spot. He and the other students who met with Gruppuso argued that the Med School should take responsibility for what students were told. During a PLME Senate meeting on Sunday, students discussed the meeting with Gruppuso and strategies for getting the policy adjusted. PLME Senate members went over the rationale that the Med School administration has provided for implementing the policy, which includes the uncertainty empty spots would bring to the school’s admissions process and the possibility of losing some of the program’s brightest students to other schools. At the meeting, some PLMEs said they would start a petition and talk to President Ruth Simmons if Med School administrators do not adjust implementation of the policy after their meetings this week. “I guess now we’ll just wait and see what they come up with,” Gulati said.
By Sydney Ember Senior Staff Writer
p.m. If the Bears win, they will travel to No. 5 North Carolina (13-2-3) to take on the Tar Heels on Sunday in the second round. “For the freshmen and sophomores, this is their first time heading to the tournament,” said midfielder Nick Elenz-Martin ’10. “This is the seniors’ third time, and from our standpoint we’ve already won an Ivy League title, and now we want to get past the second round for the first time. We want to make it deeper into the tournament, and that is our main goal from here on out.” Elenz-Martin shined on Senior Day against Dartmouth (10-6-1, 4-3 Ivy), tallying two assists, and Thomas McNamara ’13, Taylor
Additional details emerged Tuesday about a fight that turned violent at a weekend party in Alumnae Hall during which four people were arrested. At one point during the conflict Saturday night, an individual “tried to grab at a Brown officer’s gun in his holster,” Providence Police Department Chief Dean Esserman told The Herald. Department of Public Safety officers initially handled the incident before calling for backup from PPD. The four people who were arrested are all Massachusetts residents and are not Brown students, according to the Providence Journal. Two men, 19-year-old John Germainmartinez of Boston and 21-year-old Kenny Jean of Bridgewater, Mass., were charged with resisting arrest and assaulting an officer, according to the Journal. Jide Disu and Mario Montes, both 21-year-olds from Randolph, Mass., were also arrested and were written up for disorderly conduct, the Journal reported. “It’s very clear to me and to all of us how seriously Brown is taking the event that happened this weekend,” Esserman said, adding that it was “not unusual for Providence Police to be called to backup Brown police.” Esserman told The Herald that in an open staff meeting Tuesday he was initially considering opposing future parties at Brown, including one that would be held on Friday. But the chief said he then spoke to Brown’s director of public safety and chief of police, Mark Porter, and decided that PPD would not oppose that party. “Our initial reaction was to oppose it,” Esserman said. His discussion
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Jesse Morgan / Herald
Kevin Gavey ’13 and the rest of the men’s soccer team will charge into the NCAA tournament this weekend on the heels of a 3-0 win over Dartmouth.
Men’s soccer team earns NCAA tourney bid By Katie Wood Assistant Sports Editor
The men’s soccer team needed one more win in its regular-season finale to receive a slot in the NCAA tournament. The Bears dominated from start to finish in front of a crowd of more than 3,000 at Stevenson Field to hand Dartmouth its worst defeat this season in a 3-0 win, clinching sole possession of second place in the final Ivy League standings and an at-large NCAA bid. The Bears (10-2-5, 5-2 Ivy) will face winner of the America East conference Stony Brook (6-9-4), a team that is currently riding a sevengame unbeaten streak leading up to Thursday night’s first round home match-up at Stevenson Field at 7
A longer day, thanks to Brown and grants By Nicole Friedman Senior Staff Writer
Nicole Friedman / Herald
inside
Brown students working through the Swearer Center are using state funding to bring expanded programming to D’Abate Elementary School.
News.....1-3 Spor ts...4-5 Editorial...6 Opinion....7 Today........8
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In the front lobby, a fourth-grader contemplates which grain is her favorite, finally settling on “pizza.” Down the hallway, students write out walking tours of their favorite spots in Providence. Outside the library, a giddy group illustrates the lyrics to a Disney song and stops occasionally for dance breaks. For 174 of William D’Abate Elementary School’s 411 students, the school day doesn’t last from just 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thanks to state funding granted to Brown’s Swearer Center
for Public Service, the D’Abate school provides morning, after-school and summer programming through its community learning center. These programs — run by D’Abate teachers, local organizations
FEATURE and more than 100 Brown student volunteers — range from the Grow Kids Garden Club on Mondays to breakdancing on Friday afternoons. Without the support of the Swearer Center and student volunteers, “we’d probably not have programming right now,” said Brent Kermen,
D’Abate’s principal. Though the Swearer Center has run programs at D’Abate for 10 years, it greatly expanded its role there in January after becoming the lead agent on D’Abate’s 21st Century Community Learning Center grant from the state. The Rhode Island Department of Education first gave D’Abate this grant six years ago. When the lead agent on the initial grant, the Education Partnership, went into receivership in 2008, the YMCA took over the learning center for the rest of the continued on page 2
News, 3
Sports, 4
Opinions, 7
District discussion The BUCC probed plans for Jewelry District expansion Tuesday
Net Loss Men’s hockey falls to PC after losing goaltender Dan Rosen ’10 to injury
the way out Michael Fitzpatrick ’12 asks PLME students to see the silver lining
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