Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Daily Herald the Brown

vol. cxlv, no. 80 | Wednesday, September 29, 2010 | Serving the community daily since 1891

Tougaloo taken off warning

Ruth ’97, Benoit-Bird ’98 win MacArthur genius grants

By Caitlin Trujillo Senior Staff Writer

Two Brown alums were named winners of the MacArthur Fellowship on Tuesday, earning themselves each half a million dollars to use for future creative endeavors.

Sebastian Ruth ’97 and Kelly Benoit-Bird ’98 were two of the 23 winners of the fellowship, or “genius” award, for 2010. The fellowship chooses winners based on demonstrated creativity, prior accomplishments and the chances of future breakthroughs in fellows’ fields.

Ruth, who concentrated in education studies at Brown, is the founder of Providence’s Community MusicWorks. The organization provides the city’s children with string instrument education by exposing them to musical performances and programs, according to the organization’s website.

Ruth told The Herald in March

Haffenreffer plans exhibit on Columbus Day switch

By Liz Kelley Contributing Writer

The Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology will feature an exhibit about Columbus Day in response to the Fall Weekend name change.

The exhibit will go up in October and will be part of the current “Reimagining the Americas” exhibition.

“The exhibit is about the history of Columbus Day and a little bit about Columbus himself,” said Museum Director Steven Lubar.

“Holidays are important because they tell us something about who we are as a people and how we change,” he added.

The display will serve as a means of making the Haffenreffer relevant to the community as it takes on contemporary topics from an anthropological perspective, said Elena Gonzales GS, who works on the exhibit. “The individuals who lobbied for the Columbus Day name change wanted discussion of this issue to be continued,” she said.

“Columbus Day is something that we made up, and is more complicated that we know. We will be using Reimagining the Americas to think about how they are still being reimagined,” Gonzales said.

inside

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

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2009 that he founded the organization after he graduated from Brown out of a desire to combine his love of music with his passion for community service. His goal was to bring music education to students in urban Providence who might otherwise miss out on the opportunity.

“From the beginning I didn’t want Community MusicWorks to seem like a missionary effort where music is the answer to everything,” Ruth told The Herald in 2009. “I really wanted to embed ourselves into the community and grow with the community.”

Senior Lecturer in Music Paul Phillips, who had Ruth as a student, said he embodies a combination of idealism and practicality. Being focused in education and music, Ruth knew how to approach his endeavors “very stepby-step,” Phillips said. At the same time, Ruth always had a strong desire continued on page 2

U. partnership still strong

By Katherine Long Contributing Writer

affect the status of the program’s current students.

No longer having it is “not going to benefit us reputationally, but I don’t think we have much to lose,” he said.

Students in most joint medical and doctoral programs are awarded full tuition plus a stipend. But because Brown’s program is “a relatively young institution, we’ve never been able to support our students

Tougaloo College was removed from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ warning list this June after the association’s Commission on Colleges found the institution’s financial standing to have improved since its July 2009 sanction.

Tougaloo and its partnership with Brown are as strong as ever, said administrators from both schools.

Tougaloo was placed on the warning list last July for failing to comply with financial standards mandated by the commission. The primar y concern was that Tougaloo did not complete its audit before the commission’s regular reaffirmation visit.

Once completed, the audit did show the school’s assets and enrollment increasing, according to Tougaloo President Beverly Hogan.

“I’m not saying there weren’t also financial difficulties, but had we completed our audit on time, I’m confident we would not have been placed on the

continued on page 2

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Kim Perley / Herald file photo

Community Musicworks reaches out to Providence youth through music.

Founder Sebastian Ruth ’97 was just awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.

Joint degree program may not accept more

By Sarah Mancone Senior Staff Writer

The joint doctoral program at the Alpert Medical School may be putting new admissions on hold due to financial constraints, said Philip Gruppuso, associate dean for medicine education and interim director of the joint program.

Because the program only admits two students each year, it is not a visible target for fundraising efforts, he said.

Students in the joint program earn both a medical degree and a doctorate after spending six to nine years at Brown, according to the program’s website.

At a research institution like Brown, having so few students pursuing both degrees leads to a “very limited impact on the research enterprise here,” Gruppuso said. As a result, discussions will be occurring about potentially putting a hiatus on admissions into the program, he said, adding that this will not

‘The Vault’ on Benevolent St. remains closed, for now

By Zach Rufa Contributing Writer

A University sign has been added and the boards have been removed from the windows and doors, but the former house of the prominent African-American painter Edward Banister remains as vacant as it has been for the past several years.

93 Benevolent Street — nicknamed “The Vault” by students — where Bannister lived and worked during the peak of his success, sits in stark contrast to the rest of the residential buildings in the area, its facade covered in ivy and its iron gate slightly ajar.

In the back of the building, a single brick is engraved with a Masonic seal headed with the number 32, and views through the locked windows offer obscured glimpses of a once beautiful home now

empty.

The University acquired the property in 1989 and used the building as a residential property until the mid-90s, when the dilapidation of the building made it unsafe for use as a residence, The Herald reported in 2007. At that time, various groups were in talks with the University to move the building downtown to be used as a museum.

The discussions eventually fell through, said Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior adviser to the president.

Spies added though that moving the building downtown and using it subsequently as a museum is “not impossible.”

Spies said the University would donate the building to a group that is willing to pay to move it and renocontinued on page 3

Evan Thomas / Herald As ivy continues to cover its walls,“The Vault,” Edward Bannister’s house, remains uninhabited.

Blue Love

Football Mix

Future in biz

Vote Tanzi

New Blue Room brings many happy customers

Sam Sheehan ’12 plays this football season’s hits

High hopes for improved business school advising

Dan Davidson ’11.5: Tanzi, a progressive candidate

news, 2

SPORTS, 5

editorial, 6

Opinions, 7

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

herald@browndailyherald.com

Page 2

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

C ampus N EWS

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

“This is a time when resources are precious.”

— Phillip Gruppuso, associate dean of medicine

New Blue Room features Joint degree program seeks more funding generate more traffic continued from page 1

By Katherine Sola Contributing Writer

Business is booming at the new and improved Blue Room, as students take advantage of extended hours and new menu options.

Aaron Zick ’11, the Blue Room unit manager, said the eatery has seen an “absurd” increase in the number of customers.

Ann Hoffman, director of administration for dining services, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that the Blue Room is averaging 2,000 transactions per day on weekdays and 850 per day on weekends — a “significant increase over 2008” figures. Hoffman expects the traffic to “level off” as students establish settled daily routines, she wrote.

The “first couple of weeks were tough,” Zick said, because new workers had to be trained and ex-

perienced ones retrained.

Hoffman wrote that the Blue Room has added 150 student shift hours per week. The eatery has also added two non-student positions, she wrote.

The new food offerings have also proved popular. Hoffman wrote that “customers seem to be particularly enjoying our new coffee and the deli sandwich offerings, particularly the focaccia sandwiches, which were a favorite before the renovation.”

Zick added that the Kabob and Curry meals are “extremely popular.”

The Blue Room also appeals to those who are not on meal plan.

Hoffman wrote that only 30 percent of weekday purchases are made using meal credits and points, though students use meal credits and points for “virtually all” weekend transactions.

Exhibit features Columbus Day artifacts and art continued from page 1 The exhibit will include cigar store Indian statues, political material, poetry, artifacts, paintings, stamps and a six-foot tall stained glass window of Christopher Columbus, which was moved from Sayles Hall to the John Hay Library when an elevator was installed during the 1970s, Lubar said. Because the artifacts and other material come from the John Hay Library and the museum, the exhibit will serve to connect the museum with the com-

munity, he added.

The Columbus Day exhibit will be opened to the public by Columbus Day, but Lubar and Gonzales said they are hoping to open it to the public on Oct. 8.

To promote the exhibit, the Haffenreffer Museum will be cosponsoring Roots Week, an event meant to stimulate discussion about cultural issues surrounding Columbus Day. “Not only will there be opportunities to come see the work, but also to keep the conversation going,” Gonzales said.

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in that way,” Grappuso said.

Many institutions with established joint programs receive funding from the Medical Scientist Training Program for student financial assistance, said Daniel Cho ’07 GS. But Brown does not receive funding from the program, Cho said.

The training program is run by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, one of the National Institutes of Health.

Brown seemed “ready to apply for MSTP funding” under Zimmerman, Cho said, but eventually “it fizzled out.”

As a result, students in the program have to pay for the first two years of medical school, Cho said, but receive full tuition for years three and four as well as a stipend while pursuing the doctoral portion of the program.

It is also difficult for the program to secure donations, Cho said. Unless donations to Brown are specifically designated for the joint program, they are usually shunted away to other areas such as the new medical school building, he said.

Getting more funding for the program has been “a priority for several years now,” Gruppuso said. But it is difficult “to generate something in the neighborhood of $10 million,” an amount which would significantly impact the program.

“This is a time when resources

are precious,” Gruppuso said, adding that Brown has a number of places where money is needed such as maintaining and expanding the number of students entering the Graduate School, providing financial aid for medical students and continuing the commitment made to the new medical school building.

For students at Brown, the program is a “major financial sacrifice” as well as a “huge commitment,” Gruppuso said.

Despite the drawbacks, the program has still been able to recruit excellent students, Gruppuso said, but it has been “a number of years since we’ve recruited students from” schools other than Brown.

To streamline the process, admissions has been more focused on students already connected to Brown because they are more likely to end up matriculating, he said.

Cho said that he decided to pursue his degrees at Brown because he wanted to continue to do research with his super visor, Professor of Medical Science and Engineering Edith Mathiowitz.

When advising Brown students on choosing a joint doctoral program, Gruppuso said he often tells students to apply to fully funded programs. Brown has a high success rate of admission into these programs, including some of the top programs in the country, he said.

After acceptance into one of these programs, Gruppuso said, students are “not going to decide

to come here,” when program costs can run in excess of $200,000.

Many of the students have tried to take initiative to improve the program, Cho said, adding that a strong joint program could “make the Med School and Grad School that much better.”

It is important to have people who are trained in both clinical medicine and research, he added, and students earning both doctorates and medical degrees are truly able to “bridge the gap.”

“We love this program,” Cho said, adding that it is sad the “program that trains physician-scientists isn’t getting support.”

The joint program has been a success when considering the many accomplishments of the students, Gruppuso said, but overall it “has not enhanced our reputation.”

Recruiting a new permanent director of the program has not been pursued because the “program was really shrinking and struggling for funding,” Gruppuso said, and the Med School “could only justify hiring someone to take this on if we could really grow and support” the program.

Gruppuso assumed the role of interim director of the program after Professor of Medical Science Anita Zimmerman stepped down from the position in 2007.

“She did a great job,” Gruppuso said, adding that the main factor in her decision to step down was the large time commitment.

Simmons ‘pleased’ by MacArthur wins continued from page 1 to reach out to the community, Phillips said, as demonstrated when Ruth founded Community MusicWorks.

“It takes a lot of idealism to found something like that,” Phillips said.

In addition to his organization, Ruth helped found the Providence String Quartet, according to a University press release.

Benoit-Bird, like Ruth, demonstrated a similar dual interest during her time at Brown. Benoit-Bird, a biological oceanographer at Oregon State University, concentrated in aquatic biology, but also considered being an artist. After completing her thesis

her junior year, she considered writing a second thesis before Professor of Biology Mark Bertness “talked me out of it,” she said.

Instead, Benoit-Bird collaborated with Bertness on his book “The Ecology of Atlantic Shorelines” for which she drew the illustrations. Bertness called Benoit-Bird, who was the first in her family to attend college, a “massive overachiever” and wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that “her amazing drive is what set her apart from most Brown undergrads.”

Benoit-Bird said she was incredibly surprised to find out she had been nominated, let alone determined a winner. She said she has not decided

what to use the award money toward, but that the loose guidelines give her the opportunity to pursue research ideas that might otherwise be deemed “too risky” for funding. She is currently researching how to use sound “to study the ecological interactions of animals in the ocean,” she added.

President Ruth Simmons wrote in a statement that she was pleased the two alums were being recognized through the fellowship.

“Alumni of Brown are known for making a difference in the world, and it is gratifying when these efforts and their impact are recognized by an award as prestigious as the MacArthur Genius Award.”

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

C ampus N EWS

Brown-Tougaloo exchange program ‘is thriving’ continued from page 1 warning list,” Hogan said.

When the commission reviewed the school in June 2010, Hogan said, the school made sure to emphasize that its finances were improving. The commission requires “an institution to provide evidence that it has a sound financial base and financial stability to support the mission of the institution and the scope of its programs,” according to a June 2009 article in The Herald.

To ensure that Tougaloo is not placed under sanction in the future, the school is pursuing a real estate investment plan with local developers. A large part of the school’s $4.7 million endowment rests in acreage around Jackson, Miss. The school is considering leasing tracts of that land to provide a steady source of income apart from tuition and donations, Hogan said.

Even if Tougaloo had not been taken of f the warning list, the Brown-Tougaloo partnership would not have been at risk, said Associate Provost and Director of Institutional Diversity Valerie Wilson.

“It’s hardly likely we would have said goodbye (to Tougaloo). It’s too strong a bond,” Wilson said. The

partnership has its roots in the civil rights era, and includes a variety of student exchange programs and joint research ventures between Brown and the small, historically black Tougaloo.

Though Wilson previously headed the program, the directorship of the Brown-Tougaloo partnership passed to Associate Dean of the College for Diversity Programs Maitrayee Bhattachar yya in July of this year.

“The partnership is thriving,” Bhattachar yya said. “The semester-exchange program is ver y vibrant.” Since her appointment as director of the partnership, Bhattachar yya has worked to codify the procedures for the Early Identification in Medicine exchange program, which sends Tougaloo graduates straight to Alpert Medical School.

Hogan also emphasized the academic strength of Tougaloo, pointing out that it was recently named among the top 50 U.S. schools for the sciences by the National Science Foundation.

“Throughout the college’s 104year histor y, we have struggled financially, but we have never failed to educate students well,” Hogan said.

Page 3

“The semester-exchange program is very vibrant.”

— Maitrayee Bhattacharyya, associate dean of the College

Benevolent St. property could be developed continued from page 1 vate it for public use.

The land on which the historic home sits has been identified as an area of potential expansion for Brown. This “strategic value,” Spies said, is what is preventing the University from selling the property.

Until officials decide whether the building will remain a piece of University proper ty, there are no plans to make use of the

building, though the home would most likely be used as a residential property, Spies said.

The building could also be sold to a member of the Brown community with the agreement that it must be sold back to the school if requested, Spies said.

The Providence Preservation Society listed the house as one of the top 10 most endangered properties in 2001.

Spies said that while the property’s main value to the school is

its strategic location, the “building itself has value in its historic context.” Edward Bannister’s skill was recognized even in his own time, no small feat for an AfricanAmerican man working before the turn of the nineteenth century.

The building is “a reflection of (Bannister’s) work and his influence in the community,” Spies said.

“It’s pretty sad when it does have to be boarded up,” he added.

“People were right to criticize us.”

SportsWednesday The Brown Daily Herald

Wednesday, September 29, 2010 | Page 5

Sheehan: Mixtape of an NFL stalker M. water polo falls to St.

By Sam Sheehan Sports Columnist

My eyes open with a start. It’s here.

It’s really here. The only holiday that happens every week ­— football.

I roll out of bed and throw on my nicest sweatpants. I dig through my closet until I come up with my ratty, faded Tedy Bruschi jersey. I slip it over my head and begin parading about the house. Shower? No way.

Not on Sunday. Why? It’s the rules, that’s why.

Depending on the time I wake up, a quick food run might be in order before 1 o’clock. Once my rear hits that couch, I’m not moving until either the Patriots win or I’m throwing a sarcastic temper tantrum that makes all of my housemates vacate the living room quicker than if I had just puked all over the couch.

I love football. I want to ask football to homecoming. I want to lure football out onto a balcony on a star-studded night, get down on one knee and ask it to spend the rest of its life with me. I want to argue with football about buying that little Versace number it saw, but then cave because I love spoiling it.

I want to whisk football around the world with me as we sail the high seas and sip champagne. To reiterate, I love football.

That’s why I’ve made football a little mixtape. Each of the songs corresponds to a certain NFL team, while simultaneously demonstrating that it’s totally possible to mix Brian Urlacher with Lady Gaga. Here is what the first three weeks have brought us.

Teenage Dream — Katy Perry Kansas City Chiefs If you had asked me if the Chiefs would start 3-0 last month, I’d have said, “Only in their wildest dreams.”

But the Chiefs have spent the last few years quietly assembling the pieces of the old Patriots brain-trust (General Manager Scott Pioli, Of-

fensive Coordinator Charlie Weis and Defensive Coordinator Romeo Crennel). As a result, Kansas City has snaked its fingers around the throats of the rest of the AFC West.

The Chargers and Broncos are feebly trying to pry the Chiefs’ hands off and I know it’s early in the season, but I just don’t see how one of these other conference teams can do it. The Oakland Raiders are like the Brown swim center. Both are apparently rebuilding, but there is no evidence for this.

Matt Cassel played terribly in the first two games and the Chiefs still found ways to win. If your QB — the most important player on the field, in my opinion — is struggling and you still win games, it’s indicative of a very deep, well-rounded team.

Look for the Chiefs to win 10 games this year. Keep living this teenage dream, Chiefs fans.

Home — Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros New Orleans Saints With the Saints’ first loss of the season spawning inside the confines of their home-field Superdome, the Mardi Gras extension that was the Superbowl victory celebration is starting to peter out. Now the hungover partygoers of NOLA realize that they have a police fine to pay — a suddenly inconsistent passing game, furniture that has been stolen — a defense that is 23rd in the league in yards allowed, and vomit all over their ceiling — the sudden implosion of kicker Garrett Hartley whose game-losing miss this week brought his field-goal percentage to an abysmal 50 percent.

That being said, I expect Drew Brees and Jonathan Vilma to get this team back on track. A loss like this is a wake-up call that the party is over and you need to start kicking people out if you want to throw another party next weekend. I expect the Saints to edge the Dirty Birds of Atlanta for the NFC South title.

Bad Romance — Lady Gaga Chicago Bears This Bears team is the definition of a Bad Romance. After years of disappointment, you discover someone you might be interested in — the Bears. At first you don’t know what to think of them — the controversial 19-14 win over the Lions. Then they surprise you with some sort of grand, romantic gesture — the 27-20 victory over the Cowboys. After finally agreeing to date them, to actually follow the team, you fall head over heels for them at dinner — shocking the Packers 20-17 in last Monday’s game.

Your friends try to point out that the date took place at the local Taco Bell — the Packers’ self-implosion on penalties, and that they never actually call you first — Jay Cutler’s propensity to throw awful, easy-topick bombs whenever he receives pressure, and that you had to get a cab to bring yourself home — poor short-pass defense, but you won’t listen. You are caught in a Bad Romance. Expectations are high, but this Bears team is not the NFC North winner.

Sam Sheehan ’12 wants your ugly AND your disease. E-mail him with opinions at sam_sheehan@brown.edu.

Read more at browndailyherald. com/sports

Francis again

BY Garret Johnson Contributing Writer

It was deja vu for the men’s water polo team. For the second weekend in a row, the No. 19 Bears (10-4) fell to division leader No. 13 St. Francis (12-0) on the final day of a weekend invitational.

Bruno beat both Connecticut College (0-3), 19-2, who hosted the tournament, and Queens College (5-6), 10-9. On Sunday, St. Francis handled the Bears, 14-9.

Despite the two losses to St. Francis, Head Coach Felix Mercado is confident that his squad can beat the Terriers.

“There’s no team that is unbeatable,” Mercado said. “They’re definitely in a groove right now, but I’m hoping that next time we’ll be in a groove.”

Mercado noted that his team is capable of playing much better than what they displayed last weekend.

“Our offense is hurting our defense and we are just not putting teams away,” he said.

Complaints aside, Mercado praised the fact that every weekend seems to bring a standout performance for a different member of his team. He attributed this to his squad’s depth.

“Last year we were more one-

dimensional,” Mercado said. “I think the depth is a good thing. It makes us harder to defend against.”

Mercado cited the performance of Walker Shockley ’14, a young goalkeeper who is “working towards a starting position.” Shockley had a career-high 10 saves in net during Bruno’s blowout win against Connecticut College.

“Walker brings everything you need in a goalie,” Mercado said. “He has good size, and he can pass the ball well.”

Shockley said that as a freshman, one of his goals is to maximize the time he sees in the pool. Like his coach, the goalkeeper is certain of his team’s potential.

“I know we can beat St. Francis,” he said. “They are definitely beatable, but they are just really intimidating.”

Shockley complimented the older members of the team, saying that they have been “willing to help me both in the water and academically.”

The Bears have three weeks to prepare themselves for one of the larger tests of the season — their trip to California. But Mercado is focused on Friday’s matchup with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (5-3).

“Last year we beat them five times by one goal,” Mercado said. “They’re going to be looking for revenge.”

Editorial & Letters The Brown Daily Herald

Page 6 | Wednesday, September 29, 2010

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

Mental health leave beneficial, effective To the Editor: We want to thank The Herald for running an article on the important topic of leaves of absence (“Psychological leave-takers miss U. contact,” Sept. 27).

We would also like to clarify some points about medical leaves. Brown has a long history of maintaining a medical leave process that provides the best support and most protection for a student’s health and investment in his/her education. Experience points to the difficulty of managing the stress of college with the time and effort required to deal with a significant mental health issue. A period to focus on treatment before returning to school often results in improved satisfaction with the college experience and less disruption or negative impact on academic progress.

We know that leave-taking is often a moment of crisis for both the student and the family. For this reason, policies regarding medical leaves are provided to students in

writing, and they are available in print to anyone who requests them.

We are in the process of posting them on the Office of Student Life website, to make them more accessible. They should be available there by the end of this week.

When we speak to students after they return from a leave, it is common for us to hear that it was valuable to have taken the time away — even if they did not want to do so initially. Although students often fear that they will never return to campus, the University’s experience shows that medical leaves are effective, and the vast majority of students complete their degrees at Brown.

Belinda Johnson Director, Psychological Services Maria Suarez Associate Dean, Office of Student Life

Sept. 27

t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d Editor-in-Chief

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e d i to r i a l

Brown to B-school Brown is undoubtedly a world-class university, and there are very few things the school does not provide to its students. But as we read in The Herald last Friday, the University lacks a formal program for advising students and recent graduates who want to pursue a master’s degree in business administration.

And so we were excited to read that newly hired Assistant Dean of the College George Vassilev has said he plans to build such a program. We believe the new program will have a number of positive effects.

Vassilev faces a unique challenge in developing resources for business school applicants, since many of the applicants will have been out of college for a few years. Indeed, business schools tend to look for students with at least some work experience. Though this new advising program may not benefit students until they are somewhat removed from Brown, we still feel strongly that such a program will be a crucial element of Brown’s pre-professional advising regimen.

The development of this program couldn’t be better timed. Some MBA programs are placing added emphasis on skills traditionally associated with a liberal arts education, the New York Times reported in January. Emerging wisdom suggests that a student’s ability to think creatively and appreciate historical and cultural contexts is just as important as his or her understanding of corporate finance and management.

According to the Times, innovative course offerings that reflect this new emphasis are gradually making their way into business school curricula.

This paradigm shift means that Brown students are well prepared for success in business school and in management positions. The holistic approach to learning that Brown promotes fits perfectly with the idea that businesspeople need to be highly versatile thinkers.

Many students are already interested in pursuing

careers in management — there are 86 concentrators in Commerce, Organization and Entrepreneurship in the class of 2011 alone, according to Christine Sprovieri, the program’s administrative manager. A structured advising program will certainly help these students should they choose to seek MBAs. But it could also encourage a wider range of students to consider focusing on business in graduate school.

For instance, we hope the program will reach out to those students who may not necessarily be aiming for a traditional career in business. Indeed, social entrepreneurship — the application of entrepreneurial tactics to solve social problems — is gaining popularity at Brown.

The Swearer Center began its Social Innovation Initiative in 2005 as a support network for student and alumni social entrepreneurs. The initiative’s director, Alan Harlam, told the editorial page board that it reaches hundreds of students every year either through courses or support for student projects.

Many of these students would excel in business school but may not consider it a top priority. And though social entrepreneurship tends to involve nonprofits, foundations and nongovernmental organizations, it also draws heavily on managerial and problem-solving skills that would be cultivated by a graduate program in business. An advising program that also acknowledged less traditional forms of entrepreneurship could be a valuable tool for the many talented, socially conscious students at Brown.

Vassilev told The Herald that the advising program will not start until the 2011–12 academic year at the earliest. Still, we’re excited about this idea and eager to see how it plays out.

Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board.

Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

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Opinions The Brown Daily Herald

Wednesday, September 29, 2010 | Page 7

Toward the Brown School of Business Dominic Mhiripiri

Opinions Columnist We live in financial times.

There is just no better way to capture the enormity of the fundamental and central role that finance — more than any other single endeavor — will play in shaping the world as we know it. This century’s greatest challenges have already been — and will continue to be — mostly rooted in finance. I do not have to go much into the 2008 global recession, or the one that may be currently looming — thanks to the relentless woes in European sovereign debt markets and the sluggish recovery of the U.S. economy. Obviously, the complexity that underlies these grim macroeconomic trends worldwide is beyond just leaving responsibility on policymakers. Instead, that complexity demands no less than the rigor and innovation of strong educational systems — the melting pots of those who will be tasked to face present and future challenges.

The need for cutting-edge teaching of finance and business, in particular, has never been greater on a global scale. Business education is no longer a preparation for the future — it is the future.

It makes little sense, therefore, for any school without a strong business and finance establishment to claim world-class status in providing a complete educational experience for the next cohort of global leaders. Brown’s implicit claim as a towering leader in education worldwide is really not a secret. Yet for

those who care deeply about business studies and finance, we remain a disappointment in that regard.

The University firstly needs to bolster what little semblance it has for a great place for learning economics — which claims one of the highest numbers of declared concentrations each year. But more importantly, we need to do more than that.

We need a Brown School of Business.

Despite the ongoing debate on the priorities and purpose of Brown, there is still little doubt whether or not the school has enough

academic discipline to learn business, innovation and advanced leadership skills on a highly sophisticated level. Obviously, the benefits are greater than that. Formal business education, if also opened to undergraduates, can fill the voids that exist in Brown’s otherwise strong curriculum. For instance, for students interested in studying accounting, finance, actuarial science or marketing, Brown is no home for them — the critical need for those skills in today’s economy notwithstanding.

An establishment for business will also attract some of the greatest minds that exist in

While those growing pains of Brown’s realignment of priorities still exist, the university needs to nail the building of a new business school at the top of our list of needs. mettle to meet its aspirations of academic enrichment. Apart from the existence of worldclass facilities like the Watson Institute for International Studies and the Bio Medical Center, Brown’s sleek new portfolio includes the classy Science Center, an extended Alpert Medical School, a brand new math research institute and the momentous establishment of the Brown School of Engineering.

While those growing pains of Brown’s realignment of priorities still exist, the University needs to nail the creation of a new business school to the top of our list of needs. A business school is the only place that affords an avenue for students from every imaginable

finance, business and fields beyond that to Brown. These additional leaders would shape the debates and public opinion in the greatest questions in the world today, further consolidating Brown’s place as a hub of research, inquiry and influence. Furthermore, their presence would vastly enrich the experience of Brown students passionate about learning economics.

Most of Brown’s peers — including Harvard, the University of Chicago, Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — have powerful, established business schools. This easily thrusts them ahead of Brown in meeting the ever-

increasing demand for advanced degrees in the world economy. Some could argue that Brown already offers business education through the commerce, organizations and entrepreneurship concentration. Furthermore, in spring 2011, the University will launch a joint executive MBA program with the IE Business School in Madrid, Spain.

However, these two great initiatives are easily dwarfed by the need for an establishment for business education. They cannot in themselves bring all the huge benefits of a business school mentioned above. The Brown-IE partnership is very small and meant only for senior managers with experience. At best, it only remains what it is: an idea.

COE, a single and holistic undergraduate concentration, can only be a microcosm of what would comprise the education in a formal business school. For Brown to be content in meeting the increasing global need for advanced business education with a single undergraduate concentration would be equivalent to the proverbial hiding oneself from harm behind a finger.

Brown cannot and should not continue to claim or seek leadership in the world without being prepared to arm itself with the tools that suit it for such a huge role. The tone of general campus conversations this semester has proven that we are increasingly conscious of our needs as a community. For anyone who cares to see Brown’s influence and importance to the world, none of those needs exceeds that of a new school of business at Brown.

Dominic Mhiripiri ’12 would be otherwise left with the prospect of, perhaps, Harvard.

Tanzi brings new vision to progressive policy

BY Dan Davidson Opinions Columnist In Admission Office literature, the diversity of Brown’s student body receives a good deal of emphasis. All 50 states and almost 100 countries are represented, and “about 29 percent of undergrads are people of color.” These statistics don’t take into account the variety of life experiences we bring to the table. “Diversity is one of the most beautiful things about Brown,” says resumed undergraduate Teresa Tanzi.

After election day, she may be able to claim a unique contribution to the student body’s diversity — as a member of Rhode Island’s General Assembly.

By now, you have probably heard about Tanzi’s upset of David Caprio in the Democratic Primary for District 34 State Representative. While the election of a Brown student would be news under any circumstances, Tanzi’s victory is particularly impressive given her opponent. As The Herald reported last week, Caprio is the “younger brother of state treasurer and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio,” serves as House Judiciary Committee Chairman and “is an 11-year veteran of the General Assembly.”

As Tanzi described her background to me in a phone interview, it struck me that her decision to take on an entrenched incumbent — which even many of her past colleagues thought was a poor choice — was perfectly natural. Throughout her life, she has sought out new opportunities where she can make a difference in her community. For many years,

her love of food and cooking has inspired volunteer activity with a bevy of organizations combating hunger and advocating healthy, sustainable food choices. Frustrated with a lack of progress on women’s issues, she became more involved with RI NOW, rising to South County Chapter Chair and Executive Board member.

Further angst at the state of political affairs led to involvement with Ocean State Action, a coalition of progressive organizations, where she became vice president of the board and was active in economic policy work. It was in

Tax and budget issues are the focus of Tanzi’s campaign. She is highly critical of this year’s tax reform effort, which cut the income tax rate in the highest bracket from 9.9 percent to 5.99 percent at a time when local communities are seeing services cut and property and car taxes raised. She is also alarmed by the current fixation on cutting programs to help close the budget deficit. “The concept of cutting our way out of the budget crisis and leaving people more vulnerable because of the cuts, it’s very frustrating,” she told the South County Independent.

Tanzi’s insistence on connecting broad issues to local problems is the right approach to get a wide array of people behind progressive policy goals.

this capacity that her decision to run for office truly began to take shape.

“As passionate as I had been about issues impacting women,” Tanzi said, “I found myself more impassioned about budget issues,” which affect a whole range of causes she cares about. At the same time, she became increasingly frustrated with the representation, or lack thereof, that her local community was getting on Smith Hill. “So few lawmakers were interested in voting,” preferring to avoid taking responsibility for any issues, and Tanzi felt that Caprio had lost touch with his district.

“We needed to change the players,” Tanzi told me.

Tanzi attributes her electoral success to a “slow, methodical outreach” effort that included engaging with business and civic leaders and knocking on over 3,300 doors. Knowing that tax code and the budget process tend to be full of inscrutable and arcane details, Tanzi worked to inform her neighbors and show the links between fiscal issues and local problems.

This strategy clearly paid off and should serve as instruction for progressive politicians and activists. “Someone had said to me ‘a budget is a moral document,’ ” Tanzi told me, lamenting, “a lot of people involved in policy have forgotten that.” Tanzi got people engaged and energized by reaching out to all

corners of her local community and hammering home the message that the budget, while not as sexy as various causes de jour, is the most fundamental issue for Rhode Islanders.

The budget expresses our priorities and impacts every resident of the state in innumerable ways.

Tanzi’s insistence on connecting broad issues to local problems is the right approach to get a wide array of people behind progressive policy goals. Take sustainability as an example. I hear many liberals throw the word around as if it should be obvious to everyone that “green” initiatives will benefit them, without stopping to think about how the issue is being defined or providing concrete examples of what sustainability will mean for them. Tanzi links sustainability to her district’s struggling fishing community of Galilee, arguing for the development of in-state processing plants to keep jobs associated with the fishing industry local, and a “buy local” fish program that would spur sales.

After taking a quick, post-victory vacation to recharge, Tanzi is hitting the campaign trail again. Facing both Republican and independent opponents in the general election, she “will take absolutely nothing for granted.” As for her future at Brown, she is looking forward to restarting her education after taking time off to run. If she is elected, she won’t be surprised if her relationship with the school changes in one way: “They’d be foolish not to lobby me!”

Dan Davidson ’11.5 encourages you to visit teresatanzi.com. He can be reached at daniel_davidson@brown.edu.

Today The Brown Daily Herald

2

Better Blue Room means more traffic

5

2 c a l e n da r

12:00 P.M.

ToMORROW

comics SeptemBER 30

Bat & Gaz | Sofia Ortiz

3:00 p.m.

Law School Recruitment Fair,

Physical Chemistry Tea Session,

Brown-RISD Hillel

Geo-Chem Building, Room 351

12:00 p.m.

7:00 p.m.

Career Fair Plus,

Google Information Session,

Sayles Hall

CDC Library

menu SHARPE REFECTORY

VERNEy-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH

Vegan Brown Rice, Antipasto Macaroni Salad, Vegetarian Burrito Bar

Chicken Fajitas, Vegan Black Bean Tacos, Italian Marinated Chicken

Cabernet Voltaire | Abe Pressman

DINNER Pasta with Eggplants & Olives, Steak Teriyaki, Broccoli Soup, Veggie Pizza

77 / 63

74 / 64

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

1 SeptemBER 29

to m o r r o w

Tune in to this football season’s soundtrack

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

Today

to day

Cilantro Chicken, Beets in Orange Sauce, Mexican Cornbread Casserole

crossword

Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline

Fruitopia | Andy Kim

The Adventures of Team Vag | Wendy Kwartin

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