Friday, April 16, 2010

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Daily Herald the Brown

vol. cxlv, no. 50 | Friday, April 16, 2010 | Serving the community daily since 1891

Corp. fellow investigated for kickbacks By Alicia Chen Senior Staff Writer

The Quadrangle Group — a private investment firm co-founded by Steven Rattner ’74 P’09, a member of the Corporation’s board of fellows and a former Herald editor-in-chief — has reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo concerning a corruption investigation, the New York Times reported Thursday. Quadrangle was accused by the SEC and Cuomo of giving kickbacks to state pension fund advisers in return for investing with the group, according to a press release from Cuomo’s office. The group will pay $7 million to the state of New York and $5 million to the SEC, those offices reported. Rattner, who left Quadrangle last year to become President Obama’s “car czar,” was not included in the agreement and is still under investigation by the Attorney General’s office. In a press release, Quadrangle emphasized that it “neither admitted nor denied any allegations” and that the “matters under investigation related solely to the actions of former Quadrangle employees.” According to the attorney general’s press release, Quadrangle stated, “We wholly disavow the conduct engaged in by Steve Rattner, who hired the New York State Comptroller’s political consultant, Hank Morris, to arrange an investment from the New York State Common Retirement Fund. That conduct was inappropriate, wrong, and unethical.” continued on page 3

Over 700 visit the Hill for a taste of Brown By Ana Alvarez Senior Staff Writer

After a record number of applications and months of student planning, A Day on College Hill welcomed over 700 prospective students to the sunny Brown campus. The two-day event, which gives admitted students a taste of life at Brown, officially began Thursday afternoon. Many prospective students had been on campus since Wednesday for Third World Welcome, a program focused on minority students. During ADOCH, admitted students are able to meet future classmates, pick through a variety of classes to attend during “shopping period,” stay a night in a Brown residence hall and attend many informative and social events. But what admitted students might have enjoyed the most on Thursday is the weather. Unlike last year, ADOCH volunteers did not have to welcome students with umbrellas and ponchos, said Sarah Evelyn ’12, a volunteer for the ADOCH Planning Committee. Volunteers were very thankful for the clear skies and warm temperatures, Evelyn said. While the weather on Friday

Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald

President Ruth Simmons welcomed potential members of the class of 2014 on the Main Green.

“might take a turn for the worse,” it’s the “first day that really matters,” said Eddie Re ’12, co-coordinator of the planning committee. For the first time, the planning committee paired prospective students with hosts that shared similar interests, Re said. When students

volunteered to host, they were asked to fill out a survey of their academic and extracurricular interests, which were then matched with those of prospective students, he said. Because of this, Re added, “hosting ran very well.” “The only thing that has sur-

Engineering school will mean balancing act By Sarah Forman Senior Staff Writer

With a New Curriculum that offers nearly unadulterated academic freedom and a Division of Engineering that requires 21 courses from its bachelor of science concentrators, the University is in the midst of the same difficult balancing act as several other schools nationwide: expanding engineering offerings

while maintaining a commitment to the liberal arts. After the faculty voted last week to approve the creation of a new School of Engineering, which would replace Brown’s current division, that balance is set to become a little more complicated. ‘Training whole people’ “It’s very important that students have choice here,” said Iris Bahar,

director of undergraduate programs in engineering and associate professor of engineering. “You can come in, kind of explore and then make your decision about what you’re going to concentrate in.” Without strict distribution requirements or a core curriculum, engineering students have “an exceptional opportunity” to discover

John Racioppo ’11 is a wolf — or at least he is this weekend in Production Workshop’s newest play, “Red,”

ARTS & CULTURE

Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald

inside

Abby Colella ’12 and John Racioppo ’11 as Diane and Red share a tender moment while Mariagrazia LaFauci ’12 sleeps in P.W.’s latest production.

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

www.browndailyherald.com

which opens Friday night in T. F. Green Hall. Written and directed by Daria Marinelli ’10, “Red” is a mature retelling of the traditional Little Red Riding Hood story. The play doesn’t offer expositions on how big the wolf’s teeth

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Gala planners have not paid Westin in full By Alex Bell Senior Staff Writer

are. Nor does it paint the wolf in a purely wicked light, and Diane, played by Abby Colella ’12, the play’s own “Little Red,” is no angel either. “Red” chooses to paint the world not in the black-and-white terms of good and evil so often seen in childhood fairytales, but in the varying shades of gray that define reality. “The play is about growing up and making choices when there aren’t any right decisions,” Marinelli said. When she started writing the play, Marinelli said she did not know that

Organizers of Saturday’s Gala have not paid more than the $5,000 deposit they had originally paid to the Westin Providence hotel, despite a contractual obligation to pay the remainder of a $20,000 minimum payment by Wednesday, Senior Director for Student Engagement Ricky Gresh wrote in an e-mail to The Herald Thursday night. The Gala, originally scheduled to be at the Westin, was moved to Andrews Dining Hall last week after members of the Student Labor Alliance raised concerns over a labor dispute at the hotel that led its workers to call for a community boycott of the hotel. But the contract with the hotel still holds the event’s organizers — Class Board and Key Society — responsible for a $20,000 minimum fee for food and other services at the event, even though it will not be held there, Ted von Gerichten, associate counsel for the University, told The Herald

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Passion, propriety and wolves in P.W.’s ‘Red’ By Kristina Fazzalaro Senior Staff Writer

prised me so far is how smoothly everything is going,” Re said. After registering with ADOCH volunteers at Sayles Hall, prospective students followed colorful chalk signs to the Pembroke campus, where they were served a barbecue dinner. There, admitted students were “already chatting with each other and being social,” said ADOCH volunteer Colby Jenkins ’12. The dinner was followed by a welcoming ceremony with President Ruth Simmons and Dean of Admission Jim Miller ’73. Students sat under a heated white tent on the Main Green and laughed along with Simmons as she welcomed the class. Throughout the rest of the night, prospective students attended talent shows, heard a cappella arch sings and mingled with other admitted students over ice cream. “So far Ruth Simmons is one of my favorite academic administrators that I’ve met in my life,” said William Ryan, a prospective freshman. Ryan, who is still considering other universities, said that he has found Brown “more chill and less pretentious than all of the Ivy League

Arts, 5

Editorial, 6

Opinions, 7

The Play’s the thing Shakespeare on the Green’s open-air productions of “As You Like It” and “Hamlet”

welcome, pre-frosh We badmouth other schools in the hopes you’ll decide to come here instead

Down with Barriers Tobias ’12 on apartheid, past and present

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

herald@browndailyherald.com


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Friday, April 16, 2010 by The Brown Daily Herald - Issuu