Thursday, September 30, 2010

Page 1

Daily Herald the Brown

vol. cxlv, no. 81 | Thursday, September 30, 2010 | Serving the community daily since 1891

Dorm improvements top UCS, Corporation goals By Nicole Boucher Senior Staff Writer

The Corporation’s young alumni trustee told the Undergraduate Council of Students Wednesday night that housing is at the top of this weekend’s agenda. “Right now, there is a lot of momentum to make substantive change in housing,” said Lauren Kolodny ’08 at the council’s general body meeting. Kolodny, who works with the Clinton Climate Initiative, spoke to the council about topics that will be under discussion when the Corporation convenes this weekend. Housing improvements being considered include renovations to improve overall quality of life in existing dorms, and new suite-style residence hall projects that would encourage upperclassmen to stay

Blackout hits Thayer, downtown BY Rebecca Ballhaus Senior Staff Writer

Students hungering for frozen yogurt or a Frappuccino early in the evening on Wednesday were out of luck when a power outage hit Thayer Street, lasting from 7:10 p.m. to 8:05. The outage resulted from a cable problem on Dyer Street, said David Graves, a spokesman for National Grid. Graves said 583 customers — on Thayer Street and in downtown Providence — out of a total of 400,000 in Rhode Island were affected by the outage. Vice President for Public Affairs and University Relations Marisa Quinn specified in an e-mail to The Herald that the problem was due to “complications with a substation feeder that services the University.” The only places on Thayer Street to remain open were Brown-owned buildings, specifically the Brown Bookstore and the Sciences Library. “As soon as the blackout began, ever yone ran in here for light and shelter,” said Luis Gonzalez, a sales associate at the bookstore. “Now, people don’t want to leave.”

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News.......1–7 Arts............8 Metro...10–11 Sports......12 Editorial....14 Opinion.....15 Today........16

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Corporation to convene this weekend

on campus, Kolodny said. Corporation members took a tour of residence halls earlier this year, said Kolodny, who was the council’s vice president during the 2007–08 school year. “It was clearly interesting to see the facial expressions of these Corporation members as they walked into Grad Center,” she said. The sight of these poor conditions is “embedded into their psyches now, and we are ready to move on this.” Kolodny cited the renovations of Faunce House as a model example of the change that can occur with student input. During Kolodny’s first year on the council, “we had this crazy idea that Faunce should be renovated,” she said, and now the results show the ability for students to inspire change. continued on page 2

Capital projects, revenue sources on agenda By Sydney Ember News Editor

’83 extended homestead exemptions up to 33 percent on non-owneroccupied properties to encourage landlords to lower their tenants’ rent and invest in unit improvements. According to Michael Patch, a real estate investor who owns multiple properties across Providence, neither the City Council nor the

Facing a less dire financial situation, the University’s highest governing body will meet this weekend to begin planning for the next phase of capital projects and initiate discussions on opening new revenue streams to support academic priorities. Members of the Corporation will also participate in a formal dedication ceremony for the Stephen Rober t ’62 Campus Center and attend an event marking the launch of the renovations to the Metcalf Chemistr y and Research Laborator y. Discussions on the next phase of capital projects will likely center on long-term housing improvements, including possible construction of new residence halls and renovations to existing dormitories, said Russell Carey ’91 MA’06, senior vice president for Corporation affairs and governance. During last year’s meetings, the Corporation — which con-

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Max Monn / Herald

UCS President Diane Mokoro ’11 and other UCS members discussed improvements to residence halls at Wednesday’s meeting.

Off-campus students to see tax increase eliminate the homestead tax exemption on rental properties, sparking outrage among local landlords.

By AJ Warren Contributing Writer

Students living in off-campus residences could see their rent increase in 2011 as a result of a recent restructuring of the city’s tax code that would raise property taxes on rented homes. Providence City Council members voted 8-7 this summer to

Metro Originally, the 35 percent tax exemption applied only to singlefamily, owner-occupied residences, but in 2001, Mayor David Cicilline

Hoax letter claims cameras planned for frosh dorms By Sydney Ember News Editor

A letter posted in residence halls Sept. 29 that purported to be from the Office of Residential Life announcing the installation of closed circuit television cameras was a hoax, according to Senior Associate Dean of Residential and Dining Services Richard Bova. The letter, which was addressed to residents of the Pembroke campus and Keeney Quadrangle and appeared on Keeney bathroom doors, was created by Evan Donahue ’11 for MCM 1700M: “Techniques of Surveillance” as part of an ongoing project for the class. “That is a bogus letter. It did not come from my office,” Bova said. “There has never been a plan — never will be a plan — to install cameras in any residence halls.” The project was designed to examine how behavior can be influenced

by the idea that people are being watched, Donahue said. “The idea was that this would continue in duration as long as people believed in it,” he said. The project, called “No Exit” and detailed on the class wiki page, also included an e-mail sent to Residential Peer Leaders in Keeney. Donahue, an editorial cartoonist for The Herald, said he obtained the names of Keeney RPLs from a list posted on the ResLife website. The class, taught by Assistant Professor of Modern Culture and Media Studies Mark Tribe, aims to examine “surveillance as an object of cultural fascination and as a means of production in cinema, television, social software and media art,” according to its Banner listing. Donahue said Tribe “knew about the project,” but that “he didn’t approve or disapprove” when

E C O N centerfo l d

Kim Perley / Herald file photo

Professor of Economics Glenn Loury appears in the October edition of Playboy as an “Honor Roll” professor. See page 7.

continued on page 7

Curry favor

Field of play

Football fury

New to the Blue Room: Kabob and Curry

A revamped lineup can’t provide wins for field hockey

Sarah Rosenthal ’11 applauds Brown’s cheer

News, 2

SPORTS, 12

Opinions, 15

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herald@browndailyherald.com


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Thursday, September 30, 2010 by The Brown Daily Herald - Issuu