Monday, April 5, 2010

Page 1

Daily Herald the Brown

vol. cxlv, no. 1 | Monday, April 5, 2010 | Serving the community daily since 1891

Amid layoffs, salary freeze to be lifted

Rhode Island sees record rain, flooding

By Alex Bell Senior Staff Writer

Though the University announced approximately 60 staff layoffs about two weeks ago, the freeze on faculty and staff salaries will be lifted next year in order to keep Brown competitive with its peers. Next fiscal year’s budget, approved by the Corporation at its February meeting, includes a 4 percent increase in the pool of funds for faculty salaries and a 3 percent increase in the pool for continuing staff salaries. Each individual’s salary increase may be more or less than these percentages because compensation is determined based on merit. The increases are necessary “to address recent loss of ground in faculty salaries” and “a somewhat lesser rate of loss of competitive ground for non-faculty salaries,” according to President Ruth Simmons’ e-mail to the Brown community following the continued on page 4

Little damage to campus buildings By Heeyoung Min Senior Staff Writer

President Ruth Simmons’ approval rating has not significantly changed since last semester, despite recent publicity about her past tenure on the Board of Directors of Goldman Sachs, according to a Herald poll con-

THE HERALD POLL

inside

ducted last month. Of the students polled, 77.5 percent said they approve of the way Simmons is handling her job, while only 6.2 percent said they disapprove. Simmons’ announcement in February that she was stepping down from Goldman’s board made national headlines. She told The Herald before the decision that she did not believe criticism about the firm’s compensation practices would affect the University’s reputation, though it “could funnel” to her. The Herald poll was conducted on March 22 and 23 and has a 3.5 percent margin of error with 95 percent confidence. A total of 714 Brown undergraduates completed the poll, which The Herald administered as a written questionnaire to students in

News.....1–5 Arts.......6–7 Sports.....8–9 Editorial....10 Opinion.....11 Today........12

www.browndailyherald.com

Tenure and Faculty Development Policies. The committee’s recommendations also included standardizing the tenure review process across departments, strengthening mentoring and feedback for junior faculty and restructuring continued on page 4

continued on page 5

Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald

Prospective students flooded the admission office with 31,136 applications for the class of 2014.

9.3 percent acceptance rate for 2014 By Miriam Furst Staff Writer

At 5 p.m. Thursday evening, Brown released decisions online for thousands of anxious high school students across the globe — bringing the number of admitted students to 2,804, or 9.3 percent of the record-breaking 30,136 students who applied, according to a University press release.

The prospective members of the class of 2014 include students from all 50 states and 81 countries, according to the press release. University administrators expect to enroll about 1,485 in the incoming first-year class in the fall, after a highly competitive admissions cycle that saw a 21 percent increase in applicants compared to last year. “We were deeply impressed and

Herald poll: Simmons’ approval rate steady By Ana Alvarez Senior Staff Writer

Record flooding hit Rhode Island last week after heavy rains, but it caused only minor damage to University buildings. The Department of Facilities Management received nearly 200 service calls last week during Rhode Island’s worst flooding in 200 years, but “there were no severe damages” to University facilities, said Director of Custodial Services Donna Butler. Butler, who began preparing to clean up after the storm several days before it hit, described the rain as the “biggest test” she has encountered during the 10 years she has worked for Custodial Services. The flood was also “the best test” of her office’s equipment, resources and emergency response, she said. “If there’s another flood, now we know we’re ready,” she said. President Barack Obama issued an emergency declaration for the flooddamaged state, which authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate all relief efforts. The federal government will be picking up 75 percent of the clean-up tab, according to a March 30 White House press release. The record rainfall is another setback for the economically struggling state, whose 12.7 percent unemployment rate is the third highest in the country, trailing Michigan and Nevada, according to a March 26 report

at times awed by the candidates we were privileged to review over these many months, and we are grateful for the opportunity to get to know so many inspirational and promising students from across this nation and around the world,” said Dean of Admission Jim Miller ’73 in the press release. continued on page 2

Committee proposes changes to tenure policy

the lobby of J. Walter Wilson during the day and in the Sciences Library at night. More than two-thirds of students, 68.8 percent, said they feel confident about their or their families’ ability to pay for their Brown education, almost 10 percent more than in last semester’s poll. But more than 10 percent of students responded that they were very worried, similar to last semester’s results. The poll found that significantly more men, at 43.8 percent, feel very confident about the ability to pay than women, at 28.4 percent. Support for the Undergraduate Council of Students remained stable from past semesters, with 48.6 percent approving. Only 8.0 percent said they disapprove of the council, but 43.3 percent of those polled said they did not know or had no answer. Slightly more students, 52.4 percent to 43.5 percent, approved the elimination of dining hall tableslips in favor of centralized announcements, a recent proposal by UCS. Upperclassmen responded significantly more favorably to the removal, with 58.9 percent approving. Only 47.1

By Nicole Friedman News Editor

The maximum probationary period before a faculty member is either promoted with tenure or dismissed should be increased to eight years, according to recommendations in a report released March 25 by the ad hoc Committee to Review

IN THE NET

Jonathan Bateman / Herald

The Bears battled Dartmouth’s Big Green on Saturday afternoon, eventually losing 9-7.

continued on page 2

News, 3

Arts, 6

Opinions, 11

police powers RISD students react to a bill that would give officers the power of arrest

join the band Brunonians with a musical inclination work together and go solo

DC TEa Party William Tomasko ’13 on the capital’s taxation without representation

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

herald@browndailyherald.com


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