Tuesday, March 9, 2010

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Daily Herald the Brown

vol. cxlv, no. 28 | Tuesday, March 9, 2010 | Serving the community daily since 1891

Transfer applications up 5 percent from last year

O pen seatin g

By Ana Alvarez S enior S taf f Writer

Max Monn / Herald

Students flocked to the newly reopened steps at Faunce House to enjoy the nice weather.

Bereaved students search for meaning By Sophia Li Deputy Managing Editor

Just over two weeks ago, two young alums were struck by a car while walking in Brooklyn — a hit-and-run that joined two recent fatalities that crystallized the fragility of human life for the Brown community. “Suddenly everything is explicit,”

FEATURE said Rabbi Mordechai Rackover, associate University chaplain for the Jewish community. “We suddenly have to name the gifts of a person.” In the wake of tragedies as distant as Beijing and as close to home as the intersection of Thayer and Hope streets, students are trying to cope with losing someone their own age — for many, for the first time. “What do you do with it?” said Indy Shome ’11, a childhood friend of Arun Stewart ’11, who died last semester while studying abroad in Beijing. “How much are you supposed to grieve? How much are you supposed to go on with your life?” A rude awakening On Feb. 12, a knock on his door woke Jack deTar ’13 in the middle of the night.

inside

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News.....1-4 Metro.....5 Editorial.....6 Opinion......7 Today.........8

www.browndailyherald.com

The Of fice of Admission has received 1,461 transfer applications so far for the 2010 fall term, about a 5 percent increase from last year’s total, said Dean of Admission Jim Miller ’73. This reflects the 20 percent increase in first-year applications for the class of 2014. Complementing the rise in applications, 50 more transfer applicants will be accepted, bringing next year’s total transfer class to 170, according to a Feb. 11 Herald article. The increase is intended to grow the University’s revenue. Financial aid available for transfer applicants will also double from $400,000 to $800,000, a

change recommended by the University Resources Committee and approved by the Corporation at its Februar y meeting, said Director of Financial Aid Jim Tilton. The increase in qualified transfer applicants caused the push for a larger transfer class and more available aid, Tilton said. “We have a really deep, enriched pool of applicants,” he said. “There are some really talented students that we need to consider.” The increase in available aid will give the Office of Admission “more flexibility” to consider qualified students who would have previously been denied for financontinued on page 2

Tuition jump to be met with fin. aid increase By Alex Bell Senior Staf f Writer

Next year’s tuition increases will be offset in large part by increases in financial aid, especially in the Alpert Medical School, according to a University press release following the Corporation meeting in Februar y. Undergraduates will see a 4.5 percent increase in total charge, which includes tuition, room and board and other fees, from $49,128 to $51,360 per student, according to the press release. The increase will be par tially of fset

by a 6.5 percent increase in the financial aid budget, from $76.5 to $81.5 million. The release also states that graduate tuition will rise by a similar 4.9 percent, of fset by a 14.4 percent increase in budgeted support to graduate students, to a total of $45.5 million. But medical students will see the most dramatic difference next year, when a 5 percent increase in medical tuition will be met with a 16-percent increase in financial aid, bringing the Med School’s new financial aid budget to $6.7 million.

The reason for the increase in the Med School’s financial aid was two-fold, according to Associate Dean for Medical Education Philip Gruppuso, who oversees the Med School’s Of fice of Financial Aid. He said that while the Med School used to rely on its endowment and alums’ contributions to finance their aid budget, the school is now finding that these sources are no longer sufficient for its larger student body. Additionally, the introduction of need-blind admissions to the College in 2002 has caused

a gradual “fallof f in the quality of the financial aid package” for medical students that the new budget aims to rectify, Gruppuso said. “But we had to move resources from other places to increase that financial aid,” Gruppuso said. He declined to comment on where the funds had come from, but noted that the increase in Med School financial aid comes directly from the Med School budget, and does not affect the allocation of funds elsewhere in the University. continued on page 4

Chafee ahead in R.I. governor race By Claire Peracchio Senior Staff Writer

Former Senator Lincoln Chafee ’75 has emerged as the leader in the race for Rhode Island governor, according to a Rasmussen poll conducted Feb. 25. The Rasmussen poll comes on the heels of a Brown survey and a poll from the television station WPRI-12 conducted by Fleming and Associates, both of which also showed Chafee with an early lead before November’s election. “Obviously, we’re very encouraged by the poll,” said John Pagliarini, Chafee’s campaign manager. The Rasmussen poll, which surveyed 500 likely voters, found Chafee — a former senior fellow at the Watson Institute for Interna-

tional Studies — favored in hypothetical matchups against Republican challenger John Robitaille, as well as against Democratic primary contenders State Treasurer Frank Caprio and State Attorney General Patrick Lynch ’87. But in a matchup against Cha-

FEATURE fee and Robitaille, Caprio was the Democrat who earned the highest percentage of the vote, 27 percent compared to Lynch’s 24 percent. The third-place finisher against Chafee and either Democrat was Robitaille, who fared slightly better with Lynch in the race. Chafee also garnered the highest favorability rating, with 55 percent of likely voters holding a very favor-

able or somewhat favorable view of the former senator. Caprio came in second, with 52 percent indicating a positive view. The Rasmussen poll also highlighted economic uncertainty, with a plurality of 42 percent of voters characterizing the state of their personal finances as “fair” and 45 percent believing that their financial situation is getting worse. The challenge of dealing with economic woes in a debt-ridden state is not lost on the candidates for governor. Chafee has advocated for a plan to take advantage of key investments in Rhode Island, including Providence’s “Knowledge District,” transportation infrastructure improvements around continued on page 3

Herald File Photo

Lincoln Chafee ’75 leads in a new Rasmussen poll, putting him ahead of Republican challenger John Robitalle for November’s elections.

News, 3

Metro, 5

Opinions, 7

white history Nell Painter asks: “What makes light-skinned people white people?”

no confidence New survey shows R.I. voters lack trust in their elected officials

b.a. is not b.s. Ethan Tobias ’12 objects to the supposed uselessness of a college education

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herald@browndailyherald.com


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