Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxlv, no. 96 | Friday, October 22, 2010 | Serving the community daily since 1891
Mayor hopefuls debate economy, education By Claire Peracchio Senior Staff Writer
Democrat Angel Taveras and independent Jonathan Scott kept the discourse civil Tuesday night during the first head-to-head mayoral debate of the general election campaign.
Metro Economic issues took center stage in MacMillan 117 as the candidates shared their plans for spurring employment, attracting businesses and closing Providence’s budget shortfall. Answering questions from moderator Marion Orr, director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy, the candidates struck a cordial tone, expressing broad agreement on the need to lift the city out of economic
A stormy heath on the Quiet Green By Anna Lillkung Contributing Writer
The Quiet Green, usually little more than a walkway for busy students, is transformed into a stage for actors dressed in clothes from the 16th century. Blankets on the grass form a space for the audience and lamps mark
Arts & Culture the boundaries of the stage as Shakespeare on the Green, Brown’s only open-air theater troupe, shares the tragic story of “King Lear” Oct. 21–24. The play was chosen partly because it has not been produced as often as many of Shakespeare’s plays and because there are “a lot of intertwining plots” with multidimensional characters, according to director Shana Tinkle ’11.5. The play focuses primarily on two power battles within families. Primarily, it is about the dying King Lear (Harry Aspinwall ’11), who is preparing to step down as king. He divides his kingdom between his three sisters in return for proclamations of their love for him. Though Shakespeare wrote Lear as the father of the three
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‘Car czar’ Rattner ’74 talks bailout
doldrums and to improve the quality of its schools. Taveras, a lawyer and former Providence Housing Court judge, bested three opponents to win nearly 50 percent of the vote in a hard-fought Democratic primary this September. His opponent, Scott, is the president of the political consulting and public relations firm Liftline Group. Scott ran unsuccessfully as a Republican challenger to Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., in 2006 and 2008. Taveras stressed his “Head Start to Harvard” life story that took the son of a single mother from Providence’s Classical High School to the Ivy League and then to law school. “I believe in education because I would not be standing here as the continued on page 6
By Alex Bell Senior Staff Writer
“We think there are lots of different ways we can collaborate,” Simmons said. “The one thing we didn’t want to do is define it too clearly, because there may be opportunities we cannot foresee for department programs, for scholarto-scholar programs and so on.” The student exchange, which
Former “car czar” Steven Rattner ’74 P’10 P’13 — who oversaw President Obama’s 2009 government bailout of the automobile industry — says he’s been a “free market guy” since his days in ECON 0110: “Principles of Economics.” How he ended up overseeing the auto bailout, he said at a talk Thursday evening, was somewhat of a fluke. “I was not a car guy at all,” Rattner said. “I live in Manhattan.” He hadn’t even been to Detroit in 30 years. “There was no one in the government who knew anything about autos,” Rattner said. “No people, no analyses, no nothing.” The government’s disinterest in the auto industry wasn’t necessarily a bad thing — Americans take pride in the government’s separation from private industry, Rattner said. Rattner was asked by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers in February of last year to head a team to draft a course of action for the faltering U.S. auto industry. He said the offer came with
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Hilary Rosenthal / Herald
Marion Orr, left, moderated the debate between Jonathan Scott, center, and Angel Taveras in a packed MacMillan 117 Thursday night.
U. partners with Indian tech school By Shefali Luthra Contributing Writer
The University formalized a twopart partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay Oct. 5, according to a University press release. The partnership is based on two memoranda establishing an undergraduate exchange and promoting
“academic and faculty collaboration,” the press release said. The idea of academic and faculty collaboration is not specifically defined, but it will probably include joint research, President Ruth Simmons said. Vice President for International Affairs Matthew Gutmann said collaboration may also include joint papers and faculty exchanges.
Campus ranks 5th in sexual health survey, gets 3.5 ‘GPA’ By Kat Thornton Contributing Writer
Brown ranked fifth out of 141 schools surveyed on Trojan Condoms’ annual Sexual Health Report Card this year, with a 3.50 sexual health “GPA.” Columbia took the number one spot, with a 3.70 GPA. Naomi Ninneman, health educator at Health Services, said she is not sure if Trojan does a “comprehensive survey,” since she said she only remembers receiving a survey for the first time two years ago. Surveyors Sperling’s BestPlaces and Rock the Vote could not be reached to comment on their methodology. The Herald reported in 2009, when the last survey was released, that Sperling polls students and surveys the “quality and cost of sexual health resources and services at schools” using Facebook, questionnaires and evaluations of health departments’ websites. Columbia’s Health Education is best known for its “Ask Alice” ques-
tion-and-answer service. Ninneman said she and many other health educators across the country turn to this service to answer some questions they receive. Brown climbed to fifth place from last year’s ninth, and Ninneman agrees that campus health education is “on the rise.” Brown has increased its ranking each year the survey has taken place. “Each year we try to tweak and improve,” Ninneman said. Changes this year include Residential Peer Leader workshops about sexual health, new guest speakers, a new manual — the “Little Brown Book” — and a new student group, the Sexual Health Awareness Group, or SHAG. “Little Brown Book” provides information on resources at Brown, definitions and risks of sex and explanations of sex supplies. Zach Marcus ’10 wrote the pamphlet and SHAG plans annual revisions. continued on page 2
Rachel Kaplan / Herald
Brown’s 3.5 sexual health GPA was averaged from 12 individual grades, including a “B” for condoms and an “A” for sexual assault programs.
U. unearthed
Hopes to win
Blogging R.I.
An archaeology class has students digging up Brown’s past
The Men’s football team looks to defeat the Cornell Big Red
Kurt Walters ’11 advocates exploring R.I. — blog-style
News, 4
SPORTS, 7
Opinions, 11
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