Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Daily Herald the Brown

vol. cxlv, no. 42 | Tuesday, April 6, 2010 | Serving the community daily since 1891

CIS to switch all e-mail to Google Apps

C an d y F or C hrist

By Goda Thangada Senior Staf f Writer

By Caitlin Trujillo Senior Staff Writer

Following the switch from Microsoft Exchange to Gmail for undergraduate e-mail last semester, Computing and Information Services is moving forward to convert the e-mail system used by faculty, staff, graduate and medical students to Gmail before the next fall term begins — a change that CIS staff say will streamline communication and save money. The move to using Google Apps for Education universally will make faculty and student collaboration easier because everyone will be in the same system, said Geoffrey Greene, the director of IT support services for CIS. For example, Greene said, sharing Google documents will become easier. CIS considered Microsoft’s Live@ edu as an alternative to Google for email hosting, but though Microsoft’s service has strong features, Google provided other features and functionality without extra charge, said John Spadaro, the director of technical architecture and outreach. Additionally, Microsoft Live’s servers are all located at a single data center and posed “a little too much risk” in the event that the data center is compromised, Spadaro said. They also considered that continued on page 2

Simmons, administrators visit India to foster ties President Ruth Simmons, Dean of the Faculty Rajiv Vohra P’07 and other University administrators traveled to India last week for five days of meetings with alumni, representatives of Indian universities and government officials. While the delegation was visiting, the Indian government announced new legislation allowing foreign universities to establish campuses in India more easily. But establishing a campus in India “is not Brown’s intention,” Simmons told The Herald. “We are interested in continuing and strengthening relationships with universities in India,” she said.

Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald

College Hill for Christ welcomed students back from break with chocolate-filled plastic eggs spread across the Main Green.

Making global connections The delegation attended the first

inside

Hope United, a group founded by Brown students and born out of a Swearer Center Winter Breaks project, is working to preserve the current schedule and curriculum at Hope High School. This work is in the face of changes proposed by the school district to return Hope to the prior system — when Hope was one of the “worst schools” in the Providence area, said Aaron Regunberg ’12, one of the group’s founders. Superintendent Tom Brady is planning to replace the current eight-block schedule instituted in 2005 when, faced with low achievement and safety concerns, Hope chose to reorganize itself into three small schools and change to a block schedule. The school dissolved one of the schools last year due to budget constraints.

News......1–3 Metro......4–5 Editorial.....6 Opinion......7 Today.........8

www.browndailyherald.com

continued on page 3

Bill would raise tobacco age to 21 R.I.’s wind By Mark Raymond Staff Writer

A bill currently being considered in the Rhode Island Senate proposes to raise the purchase age for tobacco products to 21, from the current legal age of 18. The bill, introduced in January by Senators Rhoda Perry P’91, DProvidence, and V. Susan Sosnowski, D–New Shoreham and South

Kingston, replaces each mention of age 18 in the current law with the proposed age of 21 and changes nothing else.

METRO Current Rhode Island law prohibits anyone under the age of 18 from purchasing tobacco products and outlaws the selling or delivery of tobacco to minors.

Perry said that this bill is based on the public health benefits of restricting tobacco use during a time when many young people form lifelong habits. She said the bill is not an attempt to force her beliefs on others. “I’m not trying to be moralistic about this,” Perry said. “It’s research, as well as morbidity and continued on page 4

Brown group opposes possible changes at Hope By Jessica Liss Contributing Writer

meeting of the new India Advisory Council, comprised of alumni and parents of students. In that meeting, there was talk of creating a center for research in India within the next five years, said Matthew Gutmann, vice president for international affairs. “That idea is of great interest to members of the advisory council,” he said. Forming partnerships with other universities is “not unusual for us,” Simmons said. “We look for relationships with other institutions that will benefit our students and our faculty.” In March, the University announced a joint master’s program with Instituto Empresa in Spain. India has become a hotbed of engineering and technological re-

By CC Chiang Contributing Writer

Rhode Island’s attempt to build the nation’s first offshore wind farm suffered a blow last Tuesday after a group representing the University — and several other of the state’s largest consumers of energy — expressed its opposition to the project before the state’s Public Utilities Commission.

METRO

Under Brady’s plan, which will go into effect this fall, there will be six classes per day, as opposed to the present system where four 90-minute classes meet each day on a rotating cycle. In a “Save Hope High School” petition addressed to Superintendent Brady, the signatories asserted that the change, “will cut student-teacher advising time, teacher-meeting periods, and the arts and tech programs. These reforms were essential to the increased test scores, decreased dropout rates and reduced school violence Hope High School has achieved since its turnaround in 2005.” The Providence Journal reported March 26 that while Brady had acknowledged Hope’s improvements and successes in a letter to the Rhode Island Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education, he continued on page 3

farm dreams blown away

Kim Perley / Herald File

Brown students are petitioning against Hope High School’s proposed schedule change.

The commission rejected a pricing agreement between Deepwater Wind, the project’s developer, and power distributor National Grid that would have charged more for wind power than the prevailing cost from other sources. Despite vocal support from Gov. Donald Carcieri ’65, the commissioners voted unanimously against the 20-year power purchase agreement for a demonstrative eight-turbine wind farm three miles off Block Island. The wind farm, which would have been completed in 2013, was lauded by Carcieri as a major step towards developing a clean-energy hub in Rhode Island. In the project’s second phase, 106 additional turbines would have been added. But the commission questioned the plan’s economic feasibility. The continued on page 5

News, 2

Metro, 4

Opinions, 7

Brown Business Technology Ventures Office capitalizes on research for profit, prestige

Ivy Tavern Hope Street pub struggles to bait student patrons with classic food

Another MIT? Mike Johnson ’11 questions Brown’s emphasis on engineering and science

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

herald@browndailyherald.com

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C ampus N EWS

Office helps sell Brown research By Shara Azad Staff Writer

Students walk past the Technology Ventures Office on George Street every day without knowing about the work going on inside. The office expanded this fall with hopes of further aiding the process of managing and commercializing the products of Brown research. Thus far, the office has been involved with the start-up of genetics company NaBsys, businessoptimization organization Dynadec and greenhouse-gas-reducing Banyan Environmental, all of which started in laboratories at Brown. On a day-to-day basis, the office’s five staff members “meet with faculty to discuss research and assess potential inventions, evaluate technologies and markets, have discussions with potential third party licensees and negotiate potential deals,” wrote Katherine Gordon, managing director of the TVO, in an e-mail to The Herald. According to Gordon, this work is directly related to Brown’s efforts to boost its national research prestige. “Our initiatives to move our technologies into the public sector provide the means to commercialize these programs. The recognition of these accomplishments, originating from in-

novative research at Brown, validates the high quality of the research,” she wrote. Professor of Computer Science Pascal Van Hentenryck formed Dynadec, a business optimization software company, in 2009 with the help of the Technology Ventures Office. Van Hentenryck said the office was integral in the start-up of his company, helping with the initial licensing agreements between Brown and Dynadec, making the organization more appealing for outside funding and negotiating deals. “You have to have these things for intellectual property agreements,” Van Hentenryck said. The office “made things attractive for Brown and for Dynadec, creating a win-win situation for both.” The office has been working closely with the Office of the Vice President of Research and the Rhode Island Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship to create more industrial partnerships. One such project is the IBM-Brown supercomputing center, which is able to perform more than 14 trillion calculations per second. “Our work … ultimately has major benefits for the public sector,” Gordon wrote.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

“Switching over is a pain.” — Professor of Computer Science Andy van Dam on the switch to Gmail

Google to handle all U. e-mail continued from page 1 many undergraduates, the first to experience the conversion, already use Gmail. Spadaro said another advantage of the Google Apps for Education — which is distinct from the consumer Gmail that many people use — is the contract negotiating the ownership of data. Unlike with consumer Gmail, the University would own the user data, prohibiting Google from pitching ads and limiting the company’s ability to look at stored information. The new system also allows administrators to delegate their mailboxes and calendars to assistants so that the assistants can read or respond on their behalf. Though Spadaro said the tool, which Google added recently, is not fully functional yet, he expects it to be one of the most utilized functions Google offers. But some concerns remain regarding security and privacy. During the transfer of accounts last September, Google accidentally sent some students’ e-mails to the wrong recipients and allowed the wrong students access to certain inboxes. Spadaro said this incident was a “real aberration” caused by a coding problem on Google’s end. The software glitch affected other schools

that use the Gmail system. Spadaro said CIS talked with their partners at Google and was assured the problem would not occur again. Google also released a new tool a few weeks ago that gives CIS more control in the e-mail migration process from Microsoft Exchange to Google, he said. Still, Spadaro said he has seen less concern than he anticipated. Greene added that most of the questions he has encountered relate to consumer Gmail, which lacks some of the safeguards and restrictions that the contract with Google Apps for Education would ensure. Some of the different aspects of Gmail might not appeal to longtime users of Microsoft Exchange, said Thomas Doeppner, associate professor of computer science. Google’s calendar system, for example, is significantly different from Exchange’s, and whether important calendar information can be transferred between the two systems “needs to be demonstrated,” he said. The Gmail interface, which groups e-mails into conversation threads, also differs from Exchange’s. Though Doeppner called the conversion a “step in the right direction,” he said he personally might not switch over to Gmail right away, “primarily out of laziness,” because he uses the Computer Science department’s distinct e-mail system. Some of his colleagues, including Professor of Computer Science Andy van Dam, have expressed a desire not to switch until necessary. “Switching over is a pain, and I do worry about whether our private e-mails will be adequately protected, and whether up-time will be good

enough,” van Dam wrote in an email to The Herald. Still, Doeppner said he predicts he will likely switch over to the new system eventually, and van Dam wrote that he will not switch until he feels he has to, but does not resist the changes entirely. Spadaro said many other faculty and staff members, though, have expressed enthusiasm for the conversion and have signed on to become early adopters who use test accounts or their own Gmail accounts. Anjali Sridhar, assistant director of the Third World Center, was already using consumer Gmail when she expressed interest to CIS in the conversion. She said she hopes using the new system will make communication between students and faculty and staff easier, particularly for the TWC. Using Gmail for important functions, like RSVP documents, also “streamlines the process,” she said. “I think the whole package will be very useful,” Sridhar said. CIS will hold a campus-wide forum April 29 to familiarize users with the new system. Spadaro said the e-mail conversion should save the University money, though he said CIS does not know how much at this time. They are looking to reach out to undergraduates, such as those who work at the CIS help desk, for training new users on the new system. Though they expect to have the new system up for everyone by the beginning of the fall semester, Greene said they are hoping to have departments that have asked to become early adopters switched over within the month.

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The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement, once during Orientation and once in July by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Single copy free for each member of the community. POSTMASTER please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Offices are located at 195 Angell St., Providence, R.I. E-mail herald@browndailyherald.com. World Wide Web: http://www.browndailyherald.com. Subscription prices: $319 one year daily, $139 one semester daily. Copyright 2010 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

C ampus N EWS

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“...you can’t do justice to it in one year.” —President Ruth Simmons on Year of India

Brown learns from international partners Brown student group sides with continued from page 1 search, especially at the 15 Indian Institutes of Technology spread throughout the country. “It’s natural if we are working with the top universities, we look at what can be done in those fields,” Simmons said. The University has been partnering with liberal arts colleges like St. Stephen’s College through study abroad programs. “The potential for scientific collaboration is perhaps obvious, but it is worth noting that the huge economic and social transformation that is currently taking place in India is of enormous interest to researchers in the social sciences and the humanities,” Vohra wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. “Our aim is primarily academic, but when it comes to research collaborations there is no reason to assume that they will always be with universities,” he wrote. “Over time, I would expect that the kind of productive research partnerships that develop between academic researchers and U.S. businesses will extend to Indian businesses.” The University recently hired a number of faculty who work in South Asian studies, including Professor of Political Science Ashutosh Varshney and Visiting Professor of Theatre Shayoni Mitra. “We are feeling very positive about the group already,” Simmons said. A push to partner The immediate outcome of the visit may be exchanges that will bring new faculty to Brown and allow Brown faculty to teach in India. The University would invite departments to nominate potential visiting faculty, Simmons said. The visit has been in the works for two years, said Simmons, who designated this academic year the Year of India. “I wanted people to know about the ver y strong interest that we have in India,” she said. Simmons said she was amazed that during her visit, people were discussing the Year of India, a series of events that she called part of a longer-term commitment to Indian studies “India is a very complex country, and you can’t do justice to it in one year,” she said. “This is the springboard for something much more enduring.” Members of the delegation are still in India holding meetings. News about specific fellowships, exchanges and resources for research in India could still be forthcoming, Simmons said. “The IAC is very anxious for us to do that. We have to follow up with something concrete,” she said. Vohra, an alum of St. Stephen’s, said a new agreement would allow more Brown students to study abroad in India. A new exchange will allow a St. Stephen’s student to enroll at Brown for a one-year master’s program. Results from the advisory coun-

cil meeting included the recommendation that the president visit India at least once a year. Other suggestions included establishing a permanent office in India and growing the student exchange program. The university partnerships in India would be “comprehensive,” Simmons said. It would allow not only individual students and faculty to take advantage of new resources, but facilitate the blending of two types of institutional cultures. “We can benefit from energy and the advantages that that culture brings to a different learning setting,” she said. Learning from differences In addition to India, Brown must nurture connections to China and Brazil, Gutmann said. “You can’t hope to be a leading university today if you’re not working with scholars in these countries,” he said. A China Advisory Council already exists, and another council in Latin America or Brazil may be formed in the coming years. If each council requires a presidential visit, “how many advisory councils we can sustain is an issue,” Simmons said. Simmons is also “focusing” on Africa, and an advisory council in Africa has been considered, but establishing a council for a whole continent may be more complicated than a country-based council, she said. Though Simmons is personally interested and invested in the University’s relationship with India, she said she is eager for more members of the community to take initiative in building ties. “I’m encouraging faculty and administrators to travel to India,”

Simmons said. “They need to be there. They need to not just be receiving reports.” Indian universities may be interested in Brown because many are considering introducing a liberal learning component. “We have liabilities in our education system,” she said. “They have theirs. One of the most important things in a relationship is to come together as partners, not as critics.” While Simmons was in India, the countr y passed new legislation mandating education for all children. Simmons said she was excited by efforts to ensure equal access to education in a society historically filled with inequities, even if the execution of such efforts is not always successful. Scheduling in universities based on caste has long been a controversial issue in Indian politics. “The discourse only demonstrate how attuned people in India are to these enduring problems,” Simmons said. Simmons said she found India a vastly different place since she last visited in the 1970s — changes reflected in the attitudes toward education. “The notion of compulsory education — that’s about as important in advancing society as anything I can think,” she said. India today is not much different from where the United States used to be, Simmons said. Her older siblings didn’t attend school because they needed to work on the farm, while Simmons herself was able to attend school as one of the youngest children, she said. Simply stating that equality is an objective represents changes in values, she said. “It reflects the movement in society that is sometimes so imperceptible. I can see that progress,” she said.

teachers at Hope High School continued from page 1

said the school’s approach was too expensive. The 20 to 30 extra teachers required by the current Hope model cost a total of approximately $2.5 million, Brady wrote in the letter, according to the Journal. During the Winter Breaks Project in January, a group of Brown students exploring urban education in Providence met with Hope teachers to learn about their model, and to their surprise, heard about the changes and teachers’ grievances, Regunberg said. “Here was a situation where teachers were scared to do anything because they have a lot to lose and we have nothing to lose,” Regunberg said. “We were in an ideal situation to help and organize.” “We went right to the Hope students,” he said, and Hope United was formed. With 25 core members, the group has held three meetings thus far and plans to address the School Board in the coming weeks, said Hope High School senior Michael Tillinghast. The group provides opportunities for Hope students to strategize and devise plans to protest the proposed changes. The Brown students have been “providing insight into the school board, the meetings, the legalities and everything they know,” Tillinghast said. Right now, getting parents involved and educated is most important, according to Regunberg. When instituting changes, “the school board is looking at the destructive factors: violence, test scores, dropout rates. All of these things they use to test a school’s success,” Till-

inghast said. The district has a strong focus on standardization and wants to make every school in the city have the same schedule and curricula, said Regunberg. While Hope teacher Megan Thoma — who has been notified that her job will no longer exist under the new plan — acknowledged that consistency would enable students to move more easily between schools, she expressed concern that the changes would compromise the school’s identity and “allow for less arts integration in the curriculum, which is something we’ve always prided ourselves on.” While the school’s educators have been instrumental in the past years’ success, both Regunberg and Tillinghast noted the jobs that will be lost under the reorganization and teachers’ hesitancy to work against the superintendent and support Hope United. However, Thoma said, Hope’s teachers “have been extremely vocal up until this point that we don’t support the changes.” She continued, “It goes against what we initially signed on for.” “It makes it really difficult when your district isn’t supporting what you know what is best for your students,” Thoma said. “But it is also a financial issue.” Ultimately though, even in the face of challenges, “for the most part, people are very passionate about keeping what we have,” said Thoma. In speaking about Hope United, Regunberg said the goal is to involve all those with a stake in the debate. “We don’t want it to be a Brown-led thing, we want it to be a community led thing,” he said.

Metro The Brown Daily Herald

“Smoking is a stupid thing to do, but it’s stupid at any age.” — Steven Brown, executive director of the R.I. ACLU Tuesday, April 6, 2010 | Page 4

Hope Street pub evades students Locals flock to tavern for burgers and beer By Roberto Ferdman Contributing Writer

Chef Tom Crowshaw lets the plates drop against the counter. “One Silverburger and one Accidental Purist,” he yells down the length of the bar before grabbing two glasses and filling them to the brim. He slides the overflowing beers up next to the two burgers, one classic — loaded with chili, bacon, mushrooms, onions and cheese — and one garden — topped with grilled apples, caramelized on-

ions, melted brie, tomato marmalade and mesclun greens. He wipes his face against his right forearm and adds, “And two Dogfish Heads,” before he retreats back to the grill. Tom has been sweating through his evenings at the Ivy Tavern for nearly five years now, helping regulars kick back to platefuls of heartwarming food and glassfuls of icecold draft beer. But Brown students, he says, have never really been a part of the crowd. The Experience Nestled amongst Hope Street’s shops and eateries, the Ivy Tavern’s facade is subdued and unassuming,

save a large sidewalk easel that rests at its front and reads: “Welcome to the IVY — a cool little place with GREAT FOOD.” The front door swings open to the soft buzz of conversation, the clattering of silverware and the aroma of a sizzling grill. “I was going for a cross between a gentlemen’s tavern and a place everyone would want in their neighborhood,” said David Silverberg, owner and founder of the Ivy Tavern. Inside, sports memorabilia line the pub’s sponge-painted walls and dimly lit ceilings pour soft light down onto the small tables that surround its wooden bar. “It’s the type of setup that makes people feel at home,” Silverberg said. “A lot of the decorations I already had at the time and they really went with the homey sports bar theme,” he said. Televisions hang throughout the tavern and customers follow sporting events around New England from cramped tables. Silverberg maintains a specials section that he changes weekly, complementing consistent favorites like the Cool Breeze ­— an eggplant sandwich topped with pesto, sundried tomato salsa and melted mozzarella — and the Salmon Sencontinued on page 5

Two state senators call for higher tobacco age continued from page 1 mortality statistics we’re looking at.” Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, said that while smoking is unhealthy, this bill does not make sense given the other legal rights afforded to 18-yearolds. “Eighteen is the age of majority,” Brown said. “An 18-year-old is legally an adult and can marry, enter into contracts and serve in the military, so he or she should be able to smoke cigarettes.” Brown added that this bill is an attempt to protect individuals who he believes are old enough to be making decisions on their own. “It is a discrimination against young adults solely on the basis of their age,” Brown said. “It’s a protective measure that refuses to recognize that 18-year-olds are adults and should generally be treated as such.” Despite Perry’s claim that research validates the bill, she does not believe it will pass this year. She predicted that the influence of special interests and political pressure to avoid measures that might further depress Rhode Island’s struggling economy would prevent the bill from passing in the near future.

“There are a good number of people who would feel inclined to agree with the measure, but on the other hand there are very powerful lobbying groups who are against this,” Perry said. “We’re trying very hard to work at the budget and our state’s economy right now, but eventually we may see this bill’s passage become a possibility.” Both Brown and Perry noted that smoking is harmful, but each had a different approach to how it should be handled from a legal perspective. “Smoking is a stupid thing to do, but it’s stupid at any age,” Brown said. Perry said that while consumption of alcohol in moderate amounts can have social benefits — and even potential health benefits — a cigarette represents “an ill wind that blows no good.” She said that raising the age at which an individual can obtain tobacco would simply be one of the most effective ways to discourage young people from smoking. “These days we’re looking at what researchers say works, which is keeping young people from starting cigarette smoking,” Perry said. “Studies have revealed that the longer a young person is kept from smoking, the less likely he or she is to start.”

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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“People in this town are dialed into the better things.” — David Silverberg, owner of the Ivy Tavern

Commission rejects plan for offshore wind farm continued from page 1

Roberto Ferdman / Herald

The Ivy Tavern offers hot food and cold beer to a student-less crowd.

Classic eatery offers friendly environment continued from page 4 sato — a croissant sandwich filled with broiled salmon, mesclun greens, balsamic tomato, and the tavern’s own lemon-dill-dijon salmonaise sauce. “I always try to have veggie and salad specials,” Silverberg said. “And the garden burger is one of the most popular dishes.” But for hungrier patrons, plenty of pub classics round off the menu. It also offers a half-pound burger, chili cheese fries and the Astro — a generously stacked sandwich filled with pastrami, ham, sauteed onions and peppers, beer mustard and swiss. Silverberg understands he has to please a tough audience. “People in this town are dialed into the better things,” he said, so “good food was always the idea.” The Story Despite its status as an East Side institution, Silverberg’s pub had to endure a rough start before it hit its stride. When he opened the tavern in May 2003, he ran his first advertisement in The Herald. Brown students seemed the ideal clientele for the quaint, intimate eatery. But the ads brought only a few Brown professors — and no students. “I didn’t think the mile or so up Hope Street would stop kids from coming, but maybe it did,” Silverberg said. Whether or not it was distance that deterred students from visiting the 758 Hope St. pub, Silverberg was forced to look elsewhere for his customer base, and began focusing on local residents. “At the time, there wasn’t really a bar on the street,” he said. “I thought this could be the one.” But Silverberg knew it was not going to be easy. Having run a successful restaurant on Block Island before moving to Providence, he was familiar with the ups and downs of the industry. “I’ve learned that it’s a tough business, and Providence in particular is full of great places,” Silverberg said. “You need to find a way to separate yourself,” he said. So when Rhode Island Monthly listed the pub in its Best of Rhode Island 2005 installment, Silverberg knew that he had found the distinction

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

he was looking for. “It changed the whole game,” he said. “It completely changed how I was doing business and who I was doing business with.” Since then, the small tavern has become a neighborhood staple, fielding crowds of locals night in and night out. “I think people really liked what I was doing here,” Silverberg said of his pub’s continued success. But people crowd the place for many different reasons. “Some come week after week for an after-work drink, some come for a specific dish and some even come for a specific employee,” he said. “One time I took the Polka Dog off the menu and two of my loyal customers stopped coming,” he said. Why Brown students haven’t yet found a favorite burger or waitress at the neighborhood pub, Silverberg can’t say, but he hasn’t given up. “Hopefully I’ll get some students soon,” he said.

plan proposed an initial price of 24.4 cents per kilowatt-hour, with a 3.5 percent increase over each year of the 20-year agreement — a steep premium over the average wholesale price of 7.8 cents per kilowatt-hour paid for other sources of energy. Total above-market costs to energy consumers could eventually rise to $500 million. The commission also cited the wind farm’s lack of scale and limited employment as factors for their rejection. In a press statement, Carcieri called the commission’s decision “an extraordinarily short-sighted and narrow-minded decision” and pledged to work with legislative leaders to discuss other potential solutions. According to Amy Kempe, Carcieri’s press secretary, the Deepwater plan was “the best proposal that offered significant economic development and commitment to state of Rhode Island.” The Energy Council of Rhode Island, which represents 60 of the state’s largest energy users, including Brown, was highly critical of the plan. Chris Powell, Brown’s director of sustainable energy and environmental initiatives, is a member of the group’s board. Steve Maiorisi, vice president for facilities management, said that Brown’s energy bill would increase by $200,000 in 2013 under the proposal. The first phase of the project would increase Brown’s energy bill by $7 million over 20 years, he said.

Maiorisi said the University’s energy costs amount to approximately $10 million annually. “Brown fully supports renewable energy initiatives, but the proposal didn’t seem market feasible. Hopefully they’ll go back and work on it,” Maiorisi said. Maiorisi said that the University remains committed to clean energy, purchasing over a third of its energy from renewable sources. Maiorisi said that the energy group’s opposition to the Deepwater proposal was “simply a reaction to the market rate, not if it’s a good proposal.” “As a member, we allow (the energy council) to represent not only us but 30 or so other institutions. When National Grid goes before the PUC, we have somebody to objectively look at what the calculations might be,” he said. Maiorisi said that though Brown welcomes the idea of a wind farm in Rhode Island, Deepwater has to

strike a balance between economic feasibility and environmental sustainability. Maiorisi said that more dialogue between members of the energy group and proponents of the project will be crucial in understanding the calculations behind the 24.4 cents per kilowatt-hour figure. “We are hoping to get a group of institutions together and invite people from the wind proposal to talk to us and share information. We’d like to encourage them to move forward and see where the numbers are coming from. Then we’ll wait to see how it follows out,” he said. A representative from Deepwater Wind’s Rhode Island office declined to comment. In a press release, Chief Executive Officer William Moore expressed disappointment with the PUC’s decision. “Deepwater Wind is now forced to reevaluate our plans for Rhode Island,” he said in the release.

Editorial & Letters The Brown Daily Herald

Page 6 | Tuesday, April 6, 2010

l e t t e r to t h e e d i to r

Herald mischaracterized professors’ lawsuit To the Editor: We are writing to correct mistaken statements in an opinions column and a news article that The Herald has published (“Shame on Ruth,” Feb. 17; “Faculty stick together in work and marriage,” March 15) about our successful lawsuit to force Brown University to honor promises that induced us to accept faculty positions here. The Herald twice erroneously reported that we “did not sue Brown” but merely sought a “legal clarification.” However, we were indeed compelled to sue Brown because President Ruth Simmons refused to respect commitments the preceding administration had made, and we received a declaratory judgment from Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Allen P. Rubine that orders the University to abide by these agreements. The Herald is repeating an argument that Brown made in trying to have our case dismissed. The University’s lawyers contended that we were seeking an “advisory opinion” and that it was not the business of the court to give legal advice. Judge Rubine considered and rejected this argument. We agreed to give up our tenured faculty positions at SUNY-Stony Brook and accept jobs at Brown only because the University provided Beverly Haviland with assurances about her reappointment as a nontenured Senior Lecturer that gave her security of employment equivalent to a tenured faculty member. A letter outlining these terms was sent to us on Oct. 18, 2000, and Paul Armstrong signed a letter accept-

ing the position of Dean of the College two days later. He had made it clear to Interim President Sheila Blumstein and Provost Kathr yn Spoehr that he would not take this post without a commitment to give Haviland the job security she had as a tenured associate professor at Stony Brook. The key letter, instigated by conversations we had with Blumstein, drafted by Spoehr’s office, reviewed by University Counsel Beverly Ledbetter and signed by Dean of the Faculty Mary Fennell, promised that Haviland “shall be renewed for additional five-year terms” unless she was found to have been guilty of “demonstrated incompetence, dishonesty in teaching or research, [or] substantial and manifest neglect of duty” that would “be substantially equivalent to adequate cause for dismissal of a tenured faculty member from the University.” The judge found that this was a clear and unambiguous promise that Brown violated by twice evaluating Haviland for reappointment according to a different standard (and denying her a full five-year renewal after the first review). Brown’s violation of this promise gave us no alternative other than to sue the University.

Paul Armstrong Professor of English Dean of the College, 2001–2006 Beverly Haviland Senior Lecturer and Visiting Associate Professor Department of American Civilization

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E VA N D o N A H U E A N D E R I K S T AY T O N

e d i to r i a l

Just say no Rhode Island faces serious challenges that will require substantive solutions, but one member of the General Assembly has a plan that should go back to the drawing board. State Rep. Peter Palumbo, D-Cranston, has introduced a bill that would require drug testing for all adult welfare recipients and their immediate adult family members. Individuals found using illegal drugs would lose monthly cash benefits. If Palumbo’s goal is to further stigmatize the welfare program, this legislation will certainly do the trick. If his goal is to target poor individuals while leaving wealthier beneficiaries of government programs like tax credits off the hook, the measure is spot on. But if he is trying to save the state “a lot of money that’s being misused,” as he told the Providence Journal last month, the bill is an embarrassment. For one thing, Palumbo’s proposal is blatantly unconstitutional, as it calls for testing all adults on welfare without probable cause. Michigan passed a similar law in 1997, and the law was challenged shortly thereafter. In 2000, a District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction against the measure, calling it “dangerously at odds with the tenets of our democracy.” And in 2003, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed the ruling, setting a precedent that remains in place today. As far as savings go, Palumbo might want to take another look at Rhode Island’s spending on welfare. The monthly cash payments to welfare beneficiaries come entirely from federal funds. State taxpayers finance only the administrative costs of the program, which probably wouldn’t decrease if payments were cut off for a small fraction of welfare recipients. The

state’s budget certainly needs work, but Palumbo should keep his focus on programs that actually use state dollars. It’s not just that Palumbo’s proposal won’t generate savings; it may actually drain the state’s coffers even further. The Rhode Island Department of Human Services has cited serious concerns about implementation costs, estimating that it would cost between $2.4 million and $7.2 million to test the 8,000 adults in question. Palumbo said he has heard stories about welfare recipients selling their food stamps to fund their drug habits (he admitted that he has heard only second-hand accounts of such activity, but he told the Providence Journal that he is “convinced that it’s happening”). Using public support to buy illegal drugs is clearly reprehensible, and taxpayers and elected officials alike are right to be concerned about where welfare dollars are going. But if poor drug users lose their welfare benefits and still cannot find work, the social costs are likely to be exacerbated. Rhode Island’s poverty rate is hovering above 12 percent, making it the highest in New England. The state’s unemployment rate is nearly 13 percent — the third highest in the country. Now is no time to threaten welfare benefits for people who need them the most. If his bill doesn’t pass this time around, Palumbo said he will “have to come back another day.” Let’s hope the General Assembly has enough sense to say no both now and in the future. Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

correction Due to an editing error, a photo caption accompanying an article in Monday’s Herald (“9.3 percent acceptance rate for 2014,” April 5) incorrectly stated that the University received 31,136 applications for the class of 2014. In fact, the University received 30,136 applications, which the article correctly stated. The Herald regrets the error.

C O R R E C T I O N S P olicy The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication. C ommentary P O L I C Y The editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only. L etters to the E ditor P olicy Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and clarity and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed. advertising P olicy The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.

Opinions The Brown Daily Herald

Tuesday, April 6, 2010 | Page 7

Greater expectations: the case against indiscrimination BRIAN JUDGE Opinions Columnist

The opposite of discrimination isn’t indiscriminateness. In our quest to create an inclusive, pluralistic society, we have abandoned the standards and expectations that give us a vision of how to conduct oneself properly. This isn’t an inevitability. I firmly believe that there is a way to hold one another to standards that do not depend on privileges of birth, but determination of spirit. The notion of “proper conduct” is no longer a privilege of birth. It is something that is available to every person who wishes to pursue it. We all may come from very diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, but I believe that we can all come together in our commitment to similar standards. The purpose of having standards and expectations is to exclude actions, not people. This is what Sean Quigley ’10 was railing against in his column (“Appropriate for the occasion,” March 17). Looking like a slob, far from being a statement of one’s own individuality, as many people can look like slobs in the same way, is just a manifestation of laziness that has permeated our culture. I want to argue for why having a more inclusive society doesn’t necessarily mean sacrificing all expectations and norms.

Most of us have discovered at one point or another that it is really fun to push against what we see as people’s arbitrary expectations of us. “Why should I eat my broccoli?” But I know I am much better off for abiding by expectations that seemed arbitrary and unfair to me at the time. By blindly tolerating anything (except intolerance), there is no expectation to try to improve oneself. I would hope that Brown can still be the happiest college without

versity as a whole. We are all bound to one another by being students at Brown. The purpose of having a system of rules and mores that we all agree to abide by is to establish some common ground among the wide variety of people who go to school here, not to merely insist on the dominance of one particular group or ideology. The group of people committed to learning and the betterment of the world is not the purview of any

It seems like every week there is a lecture that has the words “race,” “gender” or “class” in the title. By remaining fixated on the power structures that created these “constructs,” we neglect the real possibility for unity and community. also being the most self-satisfied. Now, we don’t have any competing visions for what constitutes a respectable person. A Brown University education is now open to a much broader range of people, but there isn’t really a comprehensive notion of what a “Brown University education” really is. It would be a shame for everyone to seal themselves up inside their own little bubbles and affects and to have little concern for the Uni-

one group in particular. Insisting that people relate to one another by a commitment to a shared set of values and practices isn’t necessarily hegemonic. It’s worth noting that the picture of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology student body in 1956 that Quigley references was all-male and all-white. It is a lot easier to insist on standards when everyone is from the same ethnic and socioeconomic background.

Same rearing, same values. But we have progressed to the point where we can all come together, regardless of background, to form a single community, instead of insisting on the importance of everyone’s own individual background. It seems like every week there is a lecture that has the words “race,” “gender” or “class” in the title. By remaining fixated on the power structures that created these “constructs,” we neglect the real possibility for unity and community. I couldn’t care less if you are rich or poor, black or white, male or female, etc., if you are a self-centered bore. All that does matter is that you are a passionate and engaging person. The great sage Emily Post defined manners as “the outward manifestation of one’s innate character and attitude towards life.” There are plenty of overly snarky examples I could use to illustrate the wisdom of this statement, but I will leave it to you all to decide whether or not this does anything for you. Suffice it to say that I have never heard someone say anything intelligent in class while wearing sweatpants. If you stand for nothing, you will fall for everything. I can’t help but think that GQ was onto something in this regard.

Brian Judge ‘11 would like to see an Emily Post Magazine in The Herald.

Hey, we have humanities here, too MIKE JOHNSON Opinions Columnist

Recent efforts to approve a proposal to create an engineering school are laudable. Approval would increase the intellectual capital of the University while simultaneously helping Brown join the ranks of all the other Ivy League institutions with engineering schools. It will pull graduate students to Brown who would never have looked here before, helping to constantly improve and expand on the program. Yet unfortunately, the fight for the proposal’s approval reveals a troubling trend on campus. Recently, the University has been focusing on pumping money into the sciences at Brown, perhaps to the detriment of the humanities. The science resource center on the third floor of the Sciences Library is just the newest incarnation of dedicated facilities for the sciences. While the center is open to students of all disciplines, the naming and location of a state-of-the-art study center isn’t to be ignored. Meanwhile, in the basement of the SciLi is the Friedman Study Center, an innocuouslynamed, inviting place to go wait in line while someone prints a million pages worth of poorly photocopied readings. Now this isn’t meant to discount the need for investment in science education. As the world globalizes politically and economically, and as the United States transitions further

into a high-tech economy, the need to educate our youth in the sciences increases. In order to remain competitive, we need the business and research leaders of tomorrow to know how a fiber-optic cable works, or what a nanoparticle is. And to be fair, the sciences are a cash cow. Research grants and corporate sponsorships fund amazing opportunities for undergraduates and graduates alike, and draw noted professors in every field. These grants spill over indirectly into the humanities, as money that doesn’t need to be spent in the sciences can

computers on them. The classrooms in the Rock are dismal, unadorned, monastic cells stowed away in the stacks that make Friday afternoon seminars almost impossible to attend. They’re furnished with what looks like whatever chairs and tables Brown could get at a yard sale. By comparison, the shiny new science center has SMART boards that probably don’t smell like a combination of chalk, 1970s textbooks and despair. Granted, the Watson Institute for International Studies is renowned, and the Pembroke Center is groundbreaking, both adding to the

The shiny new science center has SMART boards that probably don’t smell like a combination of chalk, 1970s textbooks and despair.

be spent elsewhere. While the number of libraries devoted to literature and the other humanities outnumber the SciLi, they aren’t really comparable. The John Hay brings prestige, but it is a closedstack, rare books library, usually foreign to most of the students who attend Brown. The John Carter Brown Library is similar. The Rockefeller Library, however — let’s just say it’s not the same as the SciLi. The Friedman Study Center has won multiple awards for its aesthetics, while the Rock’s study spaces are cafeteria tables with

credibility of the humanities at Brown. However, what is troubling is that although Brown is making efforts to end its dubious honor of being the only Ivy League school without a school of engineering, our University will remain one of two in the Ivy League without law or business schools. The oft-given reason for this deficiency is that Brown’s charter stipulates that the school would be for the “education in the vernacular and learned languages, and in the liberal arts and sciences,” in which law and business are not typically included. However,

the charter also describes the purpose of a liberal education to be “preserving in the community a succession of men duly qualified for discharging the offices of life with usefulness and reputation.” Surely the study of the laws of our nation and those of other nations is one of the offices of life. Brown’s charter hasn’t been amended since 1942, when the Corporation decided it was a bad idea to fill trustee positions based on religious affiliation. Surely the charter can be reinterpreted to allow the study of law, one of the oldest and most prestigious studies. If they’re worried about cash, I can assure the Corporation that law school tuition is appropriately exorbitant across the nation. Since there is seemingly a push to see tomorrow’s innovators coming out of Brunonia’s halls, it seems just as important to push for tomorrow’s chief justices and senators, maybe even a president, to stride through the Van Wickle Gates. In today’s community we see a complete disrespect and ignorance of the rule of law, and of the spirit in which many of our nation’s laws are interpreted. We constantly change the way we view the hallowed words of the Declaration of Independence and of the Constitution. Should not Brown be part of that conversation? We’ve seen the way those who graduate with law degrees from Harvard or Yale deal with those questions, and that’s certainly not working out.

Mike Johnson ’11 is simply too lazy to apply to other law schools.

Today The Brown Daily Herald

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Simmons spends spring break overseas

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Ivy Tavern attracts few Ivy Leaguers

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Page 8

t h e n e w s i n i m ag e s

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1 comics

c a l e n da r Today, april 6

tomorrow, april 7

all day — “Mountaintop Removal: A Legacy of Human Suffering and Environmental Devastation,” Pembroke Hall B2 4 P.M. — Priyadarshini Ghosh: Mohini Attam Dance Demonstration and Lecture, Ashamu Dance Studio

9 P.M. — Mangoes with Chili, Pride Series Convocation, Rites and Reason Theatre

Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline

9 P.M. — “The Time that Remains,” 2010 Palestinian Film Series, Avon Cinema

menu Sharpe Refectory

Verney-Woolley Dining Hall

Lunch — Spinach Quiche, Corn Cobbets, Grilled Caribbean Jerk Chicken, Chourico

Lunch — Shaved Steak Sandwich, Vegetable Strudel, Grilled Caribbean Jerk Chicken

Dinner — Sesame Chicken Strips with Mustard Sauce, Vegan Chow Mein and Tofu with Chow Mein Noodles

Dinner — Grilled Caesar Chicken, Creamy Parmesan Primavera, Saigon Beef and Ham with Veggies

Fruitopia | Andy Kim

crossword Hippomaniac | Mat Becker

Island Republic | Kevin Grubb

Classic Deep-Fried Kittens | Cara FitzGibbon