Friday, February 11, 2011

Daily

Herald

the Brown

vol. cxlvi, no. 13

Friday, February 11, 2011

Since 1891

Scandals hound Corp. members

Ne ws in brief

Electronic concentration forms available today

By Nicole Boucher News Editor

continued on page 4

By Greg Jordan-Detamore Senior Staff Writer

About 350 attendees explored the Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts at its dedication ceremony last night, taking in the wide variety of student artwork — incorporating visual art, sound, video, dance and sculpture — that adorns the latest addition to the campus.

The building — which has been open for classes since Jan. 26 — will not be host to any one department, but will “manifest

new modes of dialogue between different disciplines,” said Richard Fishman P’89, director of the Creative Arts Council and a professor of visual art, who has championed the building since long before it existed.

The building was entirely donor-funded, Ronald Margolin, vice president for international advancement, told The Herald.

The fundraising goal was $52 million — $38 million for construction, $2 million for program development, and $12 million for an operating endowment — and

Minutes into Paula Vogel’s “How I Learned to Drive,” the main characters are alone together, in the midst of one of the most intimate, sexually-charged scenes of the play. They are sitting five feet apart, staring straight out into the audience.

Arts & Culture

Hilary Rosenthal / Herald

Students gathered near the Watson Institute to protest University investments in companies with unfair employment practices late Thursday afternoon.

See full coverage on page 4.

— Leigh Carroll

a total of $60 million was raised.

“Creativity and innovation are inextricable,” Rocco Landesman, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, told the audience during his keynote address. “What I love about the building are the unexpected adjacencies.”

“This place makes me want to sing,” Fishman said.“The development of the Granoff Center has been brought about by a powerful yet simple principle — that when we share our intellectual capital continued on page 3

PW production brings jarring life lessons

By Emma Wohl Senior Staff Writer

inside

continued on page 5

Community celebrates arts center

Investing or Divesting?

news...................2-4 arts.........................5 editorial..............6 Opinion.................7 SPORTS...................8

about 40, though not in chronological order. From her first monologue, looking back on her adolescence as an adult, Heil seems like a woman using humor to cover deep emotional scars. Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the play is that she hardly ever lets the facade slip — only once does she ever let loose her frustration.

But despite the character’s constant restraint, Heil shows remarkable range. She ages visibly between scenes and makes clear her varying feelings for Uncle Peck — from devotion to camaraderie to disgust.

Lil Bit is a girl who has a lot to be frustrated about. Her family’s normal dinner conversations center around the size of her chest and the boys at school ask her to dance with them to the fast songs

Rachel Kaplan / Herald

Administrators, donors and students attended the opening ceremony for the new creative arts center on Thursday.

This disconnect is a theme of the play, which is running at Production Workshop Feb. 11-14. The story of Lil Bit, a girl coming of age in 1960s and 1970s Maryland, and her more-than-familial relationship with her Uncle Peck, is really a story about star-crossed love and missed connections.

Madeleine Heil ’13 plays Lil Bit, who ranges in age from 11 to

Building Innovation

D&C

Neumann: function follows form in the Granoff Center

The Corporation gets a diamond

creative arts Center, 3

Diamonds & Coal, 6

weather

Trustees and fellows of the Corporation make their greatest impact on the University during the three weekends a year they convene to set policy, but the off-campus activities of some members have caught nationwide attention with a series of scandals in the financial world.

Most recently, Trustee Steven Cohen P’08, the billionaire founder of SAC Capital Advisors, faced renewed scrutiny this week after two of his former employees were arrested and charged with insider trading by the Department of Justice.

Cohen brings considerable influence to the University — he was named one of the world’s 100 most important people by Time Magazine in 2007 — but in November, two hedge funds connected to SAC Capital were raided by the Justice Department as part of a sweeping insider trading investigation. SAC Capital was subpoenaed as part of the investigation. Monday’s arrests of Cohen’s former employees have revived speculation that the ultimate target of the investigation is SAC Capital itself.

Beginning today, students will be able to declare their concentrations electronically using a new feature on Advising Sidekick, the webbased tool run by the Office of the Dean of the College.

The process to submit concentration forms will remain largely the same, as will the forms themselves, said Katherine Bergeron, dean of the College. The main benefit to this new online feature is that it creates a paperless system, Bergeron wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. The “green system” will eliminate the need to download PDFs, print them, fill them out and make multiple copies for a concentration adviser. Students will still have to complete a personal statement and course plan in addition to their degree, concentration and track declarations, but they will be able to complete the forms electronically through the Advising Sidekick program.

Advising Sidekick was developed by Computing and Information Services and the University Library and launched in the summer of 2009 for the class of 2013, according to Christopher Keith, director of information technology.

After making their declarations, students will be assigned advisers via e-mail, whom they will then have to meet with in person.

The advisers will be able to comment on the declaration, and the students will be informed again via e-mail to make any necessary changes online before meeting with their advisers a final time to receive an electronic signature on their forms, Bergeron wrote.

The program was designed to provide “an enhanced advising continuum for undergraduate students,” Keith wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. “We hope the system will facilitate communications and exchange of data between students and their advisers.”

Spencer Lawrence ’11 called it a “great idea” that supports the University’s “Brown is Green” pledge to increase environmental sustainability.

t o d ay

tomorrow

30 / 22

40 / 24

2 Campus News

Financiers loom large on Corporation

calendar Today

february 11

6:00 P.M.

ToMORROW

february 12

7.00 p.m.

2011 CSA Chinese New Year Banquet,

Israeli Film Festival Screening of ‘$9.99,’

Andrews Dining Hall

MacMillan Hall, Room 117

7:30 p.m.

6:00 p.m.

Dancing with the Profs,

Free Belly Dance Workshop,

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VERNEy-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH

Onion Rings, Broccoli Rabe, Grilled Key West Chicken, Coconut and Ginger Rice

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DINNER Gnocchi with Arugula and Spinach Pesto, Bourbon BBQ Chicken, Summer Squash

The Brown Daily Herald Friday, February 11, 2011

French Onion Soup, Asparagus Cuts with Lemon, California Blend Vegetables, Focaccia

Sudoku

Cr ossword

By Alex Bell News Editor

In 2008, Chancellor Thomas Tisch ’76 — who leads the Corporation — admitted to The Herald that the Corporation has often been accused of being a bunch of “dead white males.”

Since then, the Corporation set aside two trustee spots for young alums in 2009, but the body remains predominantly male — and the majority of its members come from the financial sector. The Corporation currently has 53 members — 12 fellows and 41 trustees. Of the 53, 32 are male and 21 female. A bare majority — 27 — deal primarily in the financial sector. That figure does not include two lawyers who practice financial law and a commissioner with the Securities and Exchange Commission with a background in finance.

Despite what may seem a somewhat homogeneous makeup, the Corporation’s members still bring a healthy breadth of perspectives, Tisch said.

“The way the Brown Corporation is constructed is actually a relatively diverse board, recognizing that at the end of the day, it has to raise millions of dollars,” said Stephen Nelson, associate professor of educational leadership at Bridgewater State University.

Nelson said he felt a preponderance of financiers does not hurt academic governance, but instead said it was a politicization of academia — a trend he traced back to the 1960s — that has been a negative influence in university governance. He credited President Ruth Simmons as a prominent leader who has avoided politicizing the University’s governance.

But Tisch rejected the notion that Corporation members in finance are not attuned to broader academic or intellectual issues.

“Many of the members that people would characterize as ‘in finance’ come at it from different directions,” Tisch said. “Within finance, there are a great many skills, abilities and passions.”

He said many members are simply passionate about building businesses. He added that financial skills in themselves are relevant to some of the Corporation’s duties, and that it boasts “a terrific internal budget and finance team.”

Tisch said that the Corporation’s makeup, unlike a legislature’s, is not intended to be demographically representative of any constituency.

“It’s the role of the Corporation to take the long view and have a longer

Daily

the Brown

Number of Corporation members from different industries

Alex Bell and Julien Ouellet / Herald

perspective on issues we face to help give administrators a sense of longer direction and goals,” he said. “The Corporation is a group of individuals who care passionately about the University and our future and have perspective and talents that are inclined to help us fulfill that future.”

More than one way to give back

But perspective and talents are not all that Corporation members give to Brown.

The presence of “wealthy benefactors” on universities’ governing boards is nothing new, according to Nelson.

Nelson said wealthy benefactors in governing positions have often supported universities from their inceptions, citing Stanford University’s founding in the 19th century by wealthy railroad tycoon Leland Stanford.

Universities want and need these people on their boards for their leadership, wisdom and forethought, but money and connections also play a role, he said.

Tisch said members of the Corporation were a major source of funds for the University, especially during the five-year Campaign for Academic Enrichment that ended last fall.

Of the $1.61 billion raised in the campaign, 30.9 percent, or $499 million, came from present or past members of the Corporation. Tisch also noted that though much money raised through the campaign was earmarked by donors for clearly identifiable needs embraced by the administration as part of the Plan for Academic Enrichment, he thought this was especially true of donations from Corporation members.

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Other members of the Corporation include: Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan ’81, former Oppenheimer & Co. executive and former chancellor Stephen Robert ’62, Goldman Sachs executive Richard Friedman, Austin Ventures co-founder William Wood, chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group Barry Sternlicht ’82, Vestar Capital Partners founding partner and managing director Norman Alpert ’80, Bracebridge Capital founder and managing partner Nancy Zimmerman ’85, founder and managing partner of Pegasus Capital Advisors Craig Cogut ’75, Silver Lakes Partners managing director Charles Giancarlo ’79, R6 Capital Management managing partner Ralph Rosenberg and Providence Equity Partners CEO Jonathan Nelson.

“The reality is that we as a University are very under-resourced as compared to other schools in our cohort,” Tisch said. “Financial needs are really with us at all times. They’re with us in a way that forces us to be conscious of tradeoffs, but there are also issues we must be very aware of at all times. As a standard, the Corporation has been engaged, committed and has led in terms of giving to the University.”

Jay Lorsch, professor of human relations at the Harvard Business School, said though there is no question that board members are expected to contribute large sums of money, it is generally not everyone on the board who does so, but rather a few key people.

He added he “would be concerned if the only reason they were on the board was because they were going to write a check.”

Ronald Ehrenberg, director of Cornell’s Higher Education Research Institute, said governing boards like the Corporation usually need some members with expertise in finance to help out with budgets and investments, and the fact that these people tend to be wealthy may bear little relevance to their seats on the boards.

— With additional reporting by Nicole Boucher

The Brown Daily Herald Friday, February 11, 2011

Creative Arts Center 3

Opening of the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts Center’s design captures transparency, modernity

By Dietrich Neumann History of Art and Architecture Professor

The opening of the Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts celebrated much more than just a new building on campus on Thursday evening. The architects — Elizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scofidio and Charles Renfro — have given us the finest piece of modern architecture in Providence and a great example of an “architecture parlante”: its remarkable design reflects the potential of new interdisciplinary collaborations among the arts, humanities and sciences.

The guiding principles are openness and transparency: the main facade in the west is a giant display case of activities and creations. The entire building is split in the middle — with levels on either side at different heights and a glass wall between them inviting views up or down into the adjacent studios and performance spaces.

Its grey metal skin does astonishing things: at first tight and light colored, it folds, accordionlike, into dense creases in the back, lifting a curtain, if you will, to invite views inside (and giving a little thrill to the drivers stuck in slow traffic on Angell Street).

The color of this remarkable skin changes with every fold and angle of reflection — a welcome bolt of visual energy after the seriously drab facades of its immediate neighbor.

One of my professors in architecture school always said, “The plan of a really good building fits on the back of a postage stamp.”

This meant, of course, that a building’s essential outline and logic should be so simple that it could be explained in a tiny sketch. And indeed: if we enter the Granoff Center, the layout becomes immediately apparent: in the entrance corridor the gaze travels to the Cohen gallery at the left, the Martinos auditorium below and the studio above, before you find yourself in the stairhall at the end, perpendicular to the main axis, serving the different levels.

And what a staircase that is: a giant machine, an artificial tree, whose heavy steel branches hold not only the stairs and landings, but also so called “living rooms” floating in space, for small gatherings — the projection of video art and conversation. These spaces are the subtle counterparts to the massive studios in the front, whose size and ceiling heights rival those of major art galleries in Chelsea.

The firm of Diller, Scofidio & Renfro has long been recognized as one the most thoughtful and creative avant-garde practices in the country. Husband and wife team Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio won a MacArthur Fellow-

ship in 1999. Their long history of conceptual, interdisciplinary projects — probing the worlds of media, performance and perception of language and space — is a perfect model for what should happen at the Granoff Center.

To this day, they devote a large section of their practice to nonprofitable projects of design, choreography and experimentation.

Their architectural work, now including Charles Renfro, the lead designer for our building, began in 2002 with their spectacular “blur building” — an artificial cloud hovering over Lake Neuchatel in Switzerland. The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston followed in 2006 and the School of American Ballet in New York in 2007. Since then, the firm has had one major success after another, including the Highline in New York (2009) and the restoration of Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center with its glowing interior walls (2009). Major projects in Rio de Janeiro, Los Angeles and the Hague are currently being built or on the drawings boards.

While each of these designs is different, a recognizable architectural vocabulary has begun to emerge, and the Granoff Center presents it in its essence. While being fiercely innovative, the architects engage the great themes central to modern architecture: transparency and reflection, materials and structure, notions of skin and bones and a meaningful arrangement of spaces. In addition, the Granoff Center will earn a LEED gold certification for sustainability and have the first “green roof ” in the city.

The closest sibling on campus is Philip Johnson’s remarkable List Art Center of 1971, serving somewhat comparable purposes, being equally readable (in the language of its time), and equally concerned with being inviting and open to the city.

The great American architect Louis Sullivan famously claimed that “form always follows function.” Here, quite to the contrary, the form exists before its future functions have been fully determined, in fact, it invites and suggests new uses by making them possible. The potential of the project, under its director Richard Fishman, professor of visual arts, is enormous. One might think of the Bauhaus in Germany, the first truly interdisciplinary art school of our time, which continues to inspire collaborative education and practice in the arts, science and humanities. It is now up to us to fill this space with activity and movement, day and night, with exciting new projects, be they video, music, theatre, dance, science or architecture (or all of them at once), and to turn this building into a vibrant and luminous center at the heart of our campus.

Rachel Kaplan / Herald

Students performed a scene from “Pippin” at the Granoff Center’s dedication ceremony last night.

Donors honored in inaugural ceremony

By Greg Jordan-Detamore Senior Staff Writer

Martin Granoff P’93, the largest donor for the Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, has been involved with Brown for years.

Though neither of the Granoffs attended Brown — Martin attended New York University and Perry attended the University of Michigan ­— their daughter Gillian graduated from Brown in 1993.

Martin Granoff, a textile industry executive, also sits on the Corporation as a trustee and serves as chair of the Creative Arts Advisory Board.

He received an honorary degree in 2006. Granoff has made large donations for the Dill Center for the Performing Arts and Brown-RISD Hillel.

“To me, philanthropy has always been more of a gift to the donor than” to the recipient, Granoff told the audience at the dedication ceremony for the building named in

his honor. “I love to convince people that wealth distribution is significantly more attractive than wealth accumulation.”

“All of his philanthropy up until now at Brown has been anonymous,” said Ronald Margolin, vice president for international advancement.

Granoff did not originally want his name on the creative arts building, Margolin said. But “the Corporation voted the naming to honor and thank (the Granoffs) for their philanthropy broadly and their volunteer service to Brown,” he wrote in a follow-up e-mail to The Herald.

Through the Creative Arts Advisory Board, Granoff was involved with the building project as it developed. “I love the design,” he said.

Granoff said he donated “a large gift,” but declined to specify the amount.

Granoff has also contributed to the University in other ways. He supports a Brown course on philanthropy, Margolin said. Students in

the course — SOC 1870A: “Investing in Social Change” — are given a sum of money and are charged with determining where to spend it. Granoff has also endowed scholarships.

“I don’t do only big projects,” Granoff said.

The Granoffs have also contributed to Tufts University, their son Michael’s alma mater — the Tufts campus features the Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center and the Granoff Family Hillel Center.

In addition to large construction projects, the Granoffs have given money for other purposes related to faculty and students, said Christine Sanni, director of advancement communications and donor relations at Tufts. “They’re fantastic supporters of the university,” she said.

“Brown is lucky to have them.”

Besides donating to projects in the arts at Brown and Tufts, Granoff also contributes to non-profit arts organizations in New York City.

Center offers collaborative space beth Diller, a principal from the architecture firm behind the buildand our resources, we can achieve ing, Diller, Scofidio & Renfro. something quite different than Like others, she celebrated the that which we can do alone.” creation of a space dedicated “It’s a gift that will nurture to interdisciplinary collaborathe creative minds of students tion. “Everything here is about for years to come,” Fishman said. in-betweenness,” she said. “It’s “Tonight, to me, is about yours, and we can’t wait to see love,” President Ruth Simmons what comes out.” said. “Richard Fishman had an Several of the speakers made idea and couldn’t let go of it.” reference to the relationship beAs a new experimental space, tween the experimental nature of the Granoff Center will be an in- the New Curriculum and the exvitation for both success and fail- perimental nature of the Granoff ure, Landesman said. But “failure Center. “We have created someis the key to innovation,” he said. thing together that could only take “When failing is fun, its okay to place at Brown,” Fishman said. try again.”

Several scenes from Sock & Interdisciplinary pursuits are Buskin’s fall 2010 production of often given leftover spaces —­ “Pippin” were performed, as well “hand-me-downs,” said Eliza- as two classical music pieces. continued from page 1

“It’s a lovely new space,” Meredith Mosbacher ’11.5, one of the actors, told The Herald. “There are so many possibilities for it.”

“It was very emotional for me,” Fishman’s son, Harris Fishman ’89, told The Herald after the ceremony. “For (Richard) to be here this day with this building, it was very powerful.”

“I feel really thrilled,” Perry Granoff P’93 told The Herald.

“I thought this was an amazing ceremony.”

“The laboratory has been created, and now the fun part begins,” said Martin Granoff P’93.

“Seeing all that creativity made you think differently,” Simmons told The Herald after the event. “If a building can have energy, this one certainly has it.”

4 Campus News

The Brown Daily Herald Friday, February 11, 2011

Legal issues arise for Corp. members continued from page 1 Fellow Steven Rattner ’74 P’10 P’13 came under considerable fire last year when the Quadrangle Group — a private investment firm Rattner co-founded in 2000 — was investigated for a pay to play deal with the New York State pension fund. The Securities and Exchange Commission initially settled with Quadrangle last April, but Rattner was not included in the settlement. At the time, Quadrangle released a statement saying, “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.”

In November, Rattner reached a settlement with the SEC for $6.2 million with an agreement not to do business in the securities industry for two years. On Dec. 30, after a long public feud, he settled with then-State Attorney General and current Governor Andrew Cuomo for $10 million in restitution and a five-year ban from appearing before a public pension fund.

Rattner has admitted no wrongdoing.

A year ago, President Ruth Simmons also faced scrutiny for an external affiliation. Simmons serves on the board of directors of Goldman Sachs and sits on the subcommittee that determines executive compensation. Critics slammed Goldman for doling out large bonuses to its senior executives after receiving a federal bailout, and claimed excessive

Wall Street compensation created perverted incentives that led executives to favor short-term gains at the expense of the financial system’s stability.

“These people are high-profile,” said Stephen Nelson, an associate professor of secondary education and professional programs at Bridgewater State University.

“Therefore, they are under an enormous microscope.”

When people become involved in an outside investigation that damages their reputation even if they are never found guilty, the institutions those people are associated with can also be negatively perceived, Nelson said.

He said many members of university boards are selected because they have expertise in the financial sector, so it is difficult for the public to separate their actions as board members from their decisions as businessmen. But to progress to a point where the damage to the university is greater than the assets the person brings, Nelson said an investigation must reach “some threshold where enough people are sufficiently concerned.”

But that threshold is difficult to discern.

Because Rattner admitted no guilt in his settlements, the effect of the investigation on the University lies in a “gray area,” Nelson said. In cases like these, he said the “degree of taint” should be weighed against an individual’s contribution to the institution.

“I think if you are being investigated, people are going to be wondering,” said Jay Lorsch, a professor of organizational behavior at Harvard Business School.

“That’s the problem. You lose your virtue.”

In situations where blatant wrongdoing is not exposed, a decision to stay on the board or recuse oneself is often at the individual’s discretion, said Ronald Ehrenberg, director of the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute and professor at the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

“Rumors can swirl around somebody,” Nelson said, but “it would be doing a disservice to feed the flames of that reputation of the falsely accused.”

Nelson said when a person has “a blackened or otherwise impaired public persona,” it may come time for the person to withdraw from the board in order to maintain a university’s reputation.

Herbert “Pug” Winokur reached that point in 2002. Winokur sat on Harvard’s corporation and the board of directors at Enron Corporation at the time of its collapse in 2001.

Winokur stepped down voluntarily amidst outside pressure, writing in a letter to former Harvard President Lawrence Summers that the controversy was “diverting attention from your agenda for Harvard and from the important work of the corporation and the university.”

Winokur faced heavy criticism and protests from organizations such as the student group HarvardWatch prior to his announcement, the Harvard Crimson reported at the time.

Chancellor Thomas Tisch ’76 P’07 said there has never been a case in his tenure where a member has left the Corporation due to accusations of wrongdoing.

“I’m truly honored to serve with every member of the Corporation,” Tisch said. “I can say without equivocation that every member makes valuable contributions to our work and that every single member strengthens Brown in important ways.”

Tisch added it was not his role to single out Corporation members, and could only talk about the body’s members in general.

Last February, after announcing she would not seek reelection to Goldman’s board, Simmons told The Herald “You’re not in charge of everything that your friends do and every policy that organizations that you’re affiliated with issue.”

Hilary Rosenthal / Herald

Open the Book protests outside the Watson Institute for International Studies.

Panel discusses university endowment investments

By Lindor qunaj Senior Staff Writer

A panel of academics, activists and student organizers assembled by the Open the Books Coalition for a Responsible Endowment spoke to an intimate audience in Barus and Holley 166 Thursday night. The event — “Investing in Justice: Investing Injustice?” — addressed the consequences of irresponsible university endowment investments and the issue of social responsibility among institutions of higher education.

The first speaker was Martin Bourqui, a recent Tufts graduate and the national organizer for the Responsible Endowments Coalition, an organization whose goal is to change the way universities across the country invest their money.

Bourqui talked about working with college students to set up campus committees to network with a wider group of activists and investigate their schools’ policies to effectively push for appropriate changes.

Bourqui was followed by Wayne Langley, the director of higher education at the Service Employees International Union Local 615, who began his introduction with the statement, “transparency is one of those words that people love to use but hate to institute.” He went on to explain that many universities have

continued to make reckless investments, even after the financial crisis began two years ago. He likened the practice to playing at a roulette table, and expressed frustration that many universities are being run like for-profit enterprises instead of the non-profit institutions that they are.

The final speaker was Joshua Humphreys, a senior associate at the Tellus Institute, a research and policy organization that aims to utilize creative thinking and scientific evidence to address a broad range of environmental and social problems.

Earlier in the day, the Open the Books student group held a demonstration in front of the Watson Institute for International Studies urging the University to divest from HEI Hotels and Resorts. HEI is a hotel management company with a “documented history of unethical practices and intimidation of workers,” protester Mariela Martinez ’14 said.

Julian Park ’12, a Herald opinions columnist and another student involved in the organization, expressed optimism that the members of the Corporation would decide not to reinvest in HEI: “(President) Ruth Simmons had been fairly good in the past of making it known that Brown will not stand for HEI’s unethical treatment of workers,” he said. Park added that if the University were to divest from the company, their decision would “have a domino effect on other schools everywhere,” a sentiment that the panelists later echoed.

The Corporation is expected to discuss the University’s investment in HEI at their meeting this weekend.

— With additional reporting by Hilary Rosenthal

Letters, please! letters@browndailyherald.com

Arts & Culture 5

The Brown Daily Herald Friday, February 11, 2011

PW love story shocks and attracts continued from page 1 “so they can watch (her) jiggle.”

Ninety percent of the conversations in the play are about sex, yet when Lil Bit finds someone with whom she feels comfortable, someone she seems to love, their relationship is unacceptable to the world.

“It’s a love story,” said Alex Keegan ’12, the show’s director.

“That’s really what’s most frightening about it and also what’s most beautiful about it.” The relationship between Lil Bit and Uncle Peck is disturbing in part because it is so easy to understand how these two, both outcasts within their family, could want to be together.

That authenticity owes a lot to the easy chemistry between Heil and Will Ruehle ’13, who plays Uncle Peck, as a man who grew up reluctantly — if ever. He is desperate to cling on to any vestiges of his youth.

Heil and Ruehle are backed by an outstanding supporting cast.

Each of the actors in what Vogel calls the “Greek Chorus” accomplishes the difficult task of playing a number of small roles and making each one distinct, even memorable.

Though small, made up of only three female and two male parts, the Greek Chorus is bigger than Vogel intended — the original script called for only three mem-

bers, Keegan said. The expanded cast allows each character to delve more deeply into individual roles.

Deepali Gupta ’12 turns the part of Aunt Mary i­ nto a remarkably unlikeable but fascinating character. She also displays a beautiful singing voice.

“How I Learned to Drive” packs a lot into a short time. A story that jumps around a 30-year period clocks in at under two hours, a feat it achieves by having minimal set changes, no intermission and just one blackout in its entire run.

The supporting cast also functions as run crew, setting up tables and chairs and occasionally comprising the scenery by making tableaux in the background.

This play is undoubtedly shocking. Its relationships are not meant to feel easy, and even the numerous funny scenes may leave you feeling uncomfortable or even queasy. Nor does it build up to the shockers — the second scene is one of the most graphic.

But if one can handle a brutally honest look at what simultaneously attracts and repels us, this play is not to be missed.

Author reads from ‘bleeding chunk’ of novel

By Alexandra Macfarlane Contributing Writer

“I should like to fall in love again, just one more time,” says the narrator in John Banville’s latest novel, from which he read Tuesday evening in Salomon 001. The renowned Irish novelist and winner of the 2005 Man Book Prize captivated the audience and left aspiring writers eager to put pen to paper.

Robert Coover, visiting professor of literary arts and long time friend of Banville, described him as “a metafictional stylist in the manner of his countrymen Joyce and Beckett, playful in his constructions as Nabokov” in a written introduction. While Coover was unable to attend the reading, Gale Nelson, assistant director of the Literary Arts Program, read the introduction in his place.

Banville was born in Wexford, Ireland in 1945. As a young man, he wished to be a visual artist and architect — a fact that must influence “the painterly and structural qualities” of his prose, Coover wrote.

He has written almost 20 books to date, three of them comprising a trilogy written from the perspective of a convicted killer, Freddie

Montgomery. He also writes crime fiction under the pen name Benjamin Black.

On taking the stage, Banville read what he called a “bleeding chunk” from a draft of his newest book, which has yet to be titled or finished.

Banville began his reading with a quote which set the tone for the evening: “Words have no shame and are never surprised.”

The three portions of Banville’s draft centered around a man in his mid-60s from a small town in Ireland who is remembering an affair he had as a 15-year-old. “Billy Grey was my best friend,” he read, “and I fell in love with his mother.” The prose was nostalgic, humorous and charming with a clear narrative voice that painted strong images in the heads of the audience.

At one point, Banville read about the sensation a man has at any age when he sees the “secret parts” of a woman. The narrator explains that the rush of both emotions and blood a man experiences could never compare to the way a woman might feel.

Banville’s words were adept at describing both scenes and emotions seamlessly. For example, the author read from a passage describing the initial moments after

his first sexual encounter with Mrs. Grey. “I stood amazed at the risks she took, adrift in a daze of tenderness,” Banville read.

More humorously, Banville’s reading included a passage detailing the boy’s initial confession to his local priest after he sleeps with Mrs. Grey. Both characters are eagerly discussing the narrator’s sinful coitus. The priest asked the boy if he touched her leg and the boy replied yes. The priest said, “High on the leg?” and the boy replied, “Very high.”

After the reading, Banville remained on stage for a question and answer period, which he described as “a dreadful existential moment” for those who wanted to ask a question.

Banville was asked about his relationship as a writer with his own narrators. He told the audience that his narrators have become more and more removed from himself.

“I dislike my narrators. They are too fastidious for their own good,” he said.

Despite this assertion, Banville’s humor and humility mirror that of his narrator. When asked why he came to Brown, Banville said, “Well, I was invited.” The fact that he is an award-winning novelist never seemed to cross his mind.

comics With stand out performances from primary and supporting cast, this play guarantees an emotional response.

BB & Z | Cole Pruitt, Andrew Seiden, Valerie Hsiung and Dan Ricker

Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline

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6 Editorial & Letter Diamonds & Coal

The Brown Daily Herald Friday, February 11, 2011

Editorial comic

by erik stayton and e van donahue

Coal to the Swearer Center for Public Service, which is just now changing its compensation polices to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1950. If the entire University was as behind the times as Swearer, the faculty would still be full of white males. Oh, wait.

A diamond to the professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management whose forthcoming study of elite consulting, finance and law firms found that, compared to their counterparts at Harvard, Princeton and Yale, Brown graduates have little chance of landing jobs at those firms. On second thought, sounds like we’re going to need that diamond a lot more than you.

Coal to the irresponsible parents of Noah Bareto, the eighthgrader who testified in favor a marriage equality bill and dismissed religious arguments against gay marriage by saying, “In the Bible they ate children. We don’t eat children.” He is way too young to be reading a book like that.

A diamond to President Ruth Simmons who attended the dedication of the brand new Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts last night. “Tonight, to me, is about love,” Simmons said, meaning “money.”

Cubic zirconium to Computing and Information Services for deciding not to renew a contract with Adobe that allows students to download programs such as Photoshop for free. Now that the only things we can get online for free are Wikipedia and pornography, we feel a lot less guilty for using them.

A diamond to Irish novelist John Banville, for reading a “bleeding chunk” of his latest work in Solomon 001 Tuesday. With the Fish Company closed, its good to know students still have a place to go to get their share of bleeding chunks.

A cubic zirconium to Chaplain Janet Cooper Nelson, who said she chose Harvard Divinity School over Harvard Law School because she did not like the law school’s “sort of hazing process.”

Now we know why, after 21 years on campus, Cooper Nelson has not once rushed D Phi. A diamond to malaria researcher and Professor of Applied Mathematics George Kianadakis, who said of red blood cells, “They cannot travel through the capillaries if they are stiff.” That’s what he said.

A diamond to the Brown Cubing Club, which held its second annual Rubik’s Cube competition Saturday. Mom and Dad, if you hear a bunch of Brown students are going to twist one up, this is what they’re talking about.

A diamond to the Corporation, the majority of whose members hail from the financial sector. Now let’s loan out that diamond, securitize and collateralize the debt, dump it off on a retirement fund in Germany and get The Herald’s endowment moving again.

le tter to the editor An eye towards the future To the Editor: Sworn in in July of 2001, Ms. Simmons has reached or exceeded the customary term of a college President, and a case could be made for beginning a search for a new president to take Brown into the

next decade of growth and beyond. Our president has done an exemplary job during her tenure, but the time has come to make way for new blood and new directions for Brown.

Olafur Gislason ’74 P’06

quote of the day

“A recognizable architectural vocabulary

has begun to emerge, and the Granoff Center presents it in its essence.

”

— Dietrich Neumann, professor of history of art and architecture

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Correction An Article in Thursday’s Herald (“R.I. firms commit to installing car-charging stations,” Feb. 10) incorrectly refers to Albert Dahlberg as professor of medical science. In fact, Dahlberg’s title is director of state and community relations. The Herald regrets the error.

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Opinions 7

The Brown Daily Herald Friday, February 11, 2011

Don’t Ask, Don’t ROTC: Why it’s still a bad idea

BY Dave Morris Guest Columnist Over winter break, Congress finally eliminated the discriminatory doctrine of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” We should be proud that one more vestige of legal discrimination has finally fallen away. Over many years, opponents of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps have asserted that the University should not endorse anything or anyone that officially discriminates against homosexuals.

However, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was never the strongest argument against ROTC at Brown. Instead, a ROTC unit would tear at the very fabric that makes the University what it is. A ROTC program would have strict requirements that completely oppose the philosophy and actuality of the New Curriculum and the idea of a liberal education. Naval ROTC — which would be the most likely version at Brown, both because Brown had a Naval ROTC unit from 1940 until 1972 and because the army already has a ROTC unit at Providence College — requires that students in the program take two semesters of calculus, two semesters of physics, two semesters of English grammar and composition, one semester of foreign language and two courses on national security policy or American military affairs. As all courses taken at Brown are electives — not counting concentration requirements — we would have a requirement where an outside entity, the military, would prescribe at

least nine courses that a cadet must take.

Eligibility within the ROTC program is dependent upon physical evaluations and also has an academic component. Even if failed courses showed up on our transcripts, the consequences would be relatively light compared to failing a course as a ROTC cadet. ROTC allows any cadet to drop out — or be kicked out — after their first year with relatively little penalty. However, if you leave the program the first day of sophomore year — voluntarily or otherwise — and received ROTC scholarship

itary and ROTC units to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, ROTC has other rules that prevent certain classes of people from joining, or force them to leave the program, on a discriminatory basis. International students are specifically prohibited from joining except by specific recommendation by the Secretary of Defense.

Even then, they are usually ineligible for financial assistance. ROTC also has height, weight and age requirements that could prohibit you from joining — or in the case of weight, could potentially get you kicked

While it is no longer legal for the military and ROTC units to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, ROTC has other rules that prevent certain classes of people from joining, or force them to leave the program, on a discriminatory basis.

money, you must reimburse the military for their expenses. Failing a class could quite literally cost you tens of thousands of dollars.

Worse still, should you leave ROTC after the start of your junior year for any reason, that early exit is grounds for immediate call up to active duty as an enlisted person. Potentially, you could be sent to war and lose your life because you failed one too many courses at Brown — or ironically, because you decided you did not like a military life.

While it is no longer legal for the mil-

out. Is there any other class, concentration, committee or extracurricular group at Brown that does not allow international students, fat students or Resumed Undergraduate Education students? Would we tolerate such a program to exist?

ROTC rules also require that the commander of a unit must be given faculty status, even if the ROTC courses themselves do not count as regular, academic courses.

Since when does the University allow military personnel — or any outside organization for that matter — to determine who is and who is not a faculty member at the

University, with all rights and privileges thereof?

At Brown, we are successful because we live in a flexible atmosphere in which the questioning of what we learn causes intellectual and personal growth. We respect and encourage differences of opinion and personal initiative. We emphasize an individualistic, yet mutually cooperative, learning environment. The structure of the military and of ROTC is totally antithetical to these ideals. The military thrives on a mind-set of unquestioning obedience to authority. Personal initiative is discouraged, and people who act on deviant opinions are often punished. On certain issues, if a ROTC cadet’s personal feelings conflict with military policy, he or she may hesitate before speaking publicly on those issues. He or she might feel afraid of consequences — which, clearly, can have serious implications.

Bringing ROTC to Brown would rip away many of the principles we hold dear.

Because ROTC prescribes a core curriculum of nine courses, it does not truly give its students freedom of opportunity. Consequently, these students are discouraged from a liberal course of study. The prescribed academic courses — both inside and outside of ROTC-specific courses — is oil on the New Curriculum’s water. The prevailing attitude of the military discourages freedom of independent thought that is so central to a Brown education. Going through a ROTC program at Brown would therefore quite literally make the Brown experience not the Brown experience at all.

Dave Morris ’88 is an alum.

Corporatization and a pirate ship metaphor

By Julian Park Opinions Columnist Corporate profiteers run our university.

Most administrators will never admit this because their economic and social status is rooted in Brown’s increasingly corporate path. Many students don’t see it or don’t care, blissfully happy with our privileged lives here and the lives we are promised after — blissful customers ready to become blissful corporate workers. But if you ask almost anyone who has worked here for more than a decade — facilities or dining or library workers, tenured professors and even certain administrators — they’ll tell you things are changing at Brown, and not for the better.

There’s been much talk about the fabled “Brown, Inc.” It seems to me that before we get ahead of ourselves, we need to establish the conversation. Corporatization must be thought of as the increasing evacuation of Brown’s public service mission — written into our charter — in favor of profit interests. In a global context, this has been called “neoliberalism” or “Empire.” I would ask that we remember this public service mission relates just as much to students as it does to every community Brown affects.

These communities, whether consisting of our workers or the businesses in which we invest, are increasingly graded like bottomline profits and less and less like people.

Even some students are happy to think of Brown as a business and to compare its stu-

dents to consumers, as if education was a product, not a process. Are elementary and secondary schools — public or private — merely businesses, too? Just as health care in our country is a privilege and not a right, so too is higher education becoming an increasingly costly privilege.

When administrators, Corporation members and students talk about endowment losses, tuition or financial aid increases, or how we compare to our “peer schools”; when they use words or phrases like “efficiency,” “centralization” and “budget cuts”; when the e-mails from the Ca-

— I would be amazed. Forty million dollars would’ve helped the $81.5 million going this year towards financial aid — a program that Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 described as “increasingly expensive to sustain” at a once a year public forum of Brown’s budgetary committee, the University Resource Committee, this past fall. Everyone jumps to point out that money set aside for construction comes from targeted gifts — failing to recognize the role that targeted fundraising like the Campaign for Academic Enrichment plays in the targets funded.

Who benefits from the opacity and unaccountability with which this University operates?

reer Development Center are most frequently about investment banks — what we are dealing with is the corporatization of Brown.

And if anybody can justify the existence of the new Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, or why it was worth $40 million — nearly half of last year’s budget shortfall of $95 million that led to 66 people losing their jobs (not to mention the 139 “voluntary” retirements), or the 31 more that lost their jobs the year before

It’s worth noting that of the Campaign’s $1.61 billion raised only $6.2 million were set aside for “the Alumni of Color Initiative,” a special initiative split between raising money for endowed scholarships, the annual fund, “Third World Transition Programs” and academic programs.

It would be reductionist to claim that responsibility is not a complex question. For the moment, let’s keep it simple. I am not Marxist-Leninist, I’m not even a socialist — but I’m going to quote Lenin on this one

— “Who stands to gain?”

Who benefits from the opacity and unaccountability with which this University operates? The same people who operate veiled — the president who rarely meets with her students, the investment office whose location is kept off its website and won’t permit students to visit — I know from experience — and the Corporation which seals its minutes for 25 years.

Is it any surprise that our highest governing body includes people like Steven Rattner ’74 P’10 P13, who recently settled $6.2 million dollars for “peddling influence” in the securities industry and is being sued by the State of New York for $26 million more? Or Steven Cohen P’08, whose hedge fund SAC capital is at the center of a major insider trading investigation? Forgive me if I’m not thrilled that last year they welcomed to their ranks Brian Moynihan ’81, CEO of Bank of America — a company of whose role in the current financial crisis one would need to be an ostrich to be unaware of.

I’m sure neither those people, nor other Corporation members nor the financial firms they are associated with had anything to do with Brown’s $740 million hit to the endowment — that would be preposterous.

I see things like this: If Brown were a ship, it would be in shambles, thanks to the reckless command of power-drunk pirates.

Those of us who care need to start seriously considering mutiny.

Julian Park ’12 is an MCM concentrator from Vashon Island, Wash. He can be contacted at Julian_Park@brown.edu.

Daily Herald Sports Friday the Brown

Friday, February 11, 2011

Player becomes coach after injury Humility, longevity, greatness: Ray Allen’s biggest three-pointer

By Nikhil Parasher Contributing Writer

By Sam Sheehan Sports Columnist

Now, hold on! Before you flip the page on the Boston sports fan writing about his own player, hear me out.

This column is all about Ray Allen, one of the most likable guys in the history of basketball. Ray Allen, who broke Reggie Miller’s all-time threepoint record last night. Where Reggie was full of surly emotion, Allen is a fine sportsman and full of respect — a man who can’t have enough fanfare in his name. Do I have you? Will you read on? Good.

About eight months ago, as the Lady Gaga album “The Fame Monster” was really getting big, the Boston Celtics were getting ready to square off against their arch rival the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. Hanging tough at the number six spot of the Billboard Hot 100 was a little song off of that album by the name of “Alejandro.”

For the sake of this column, I’ll assume there is someone out there who doesn’t know who Lady Gaga is and elaborate. Lady Gaga is a former pop songwriter turned pop star who, as her fame grew, put out increasingly more insane (and awesome) music videos. She also once wore a dress made out of meat.

At some point in that week, I realized that my two favorite Celtics players, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo, had names that kind of sounded like they were in the song. Next thing I know, I’m making Facebook statuses with things like, “Just call their name, Just call their name, ALLENRONDO!” The elation that came with the discovery quickly passed when I realized that (a) no one else would think this was as clever as I did, and (b) Allen, who was 34 at the time, had to be reaching the end of his career, rendering my fun little parody useless.

After all, Allen was traded to the Celtics in the 2007 off-season, a time when his former franchise, the Seattle SuperSonics, was in turmoil and preparing for a move to Oklahoma City. Sam Presti, the Sonics’ and now Thunder’s general manager, is considered one of the best in the business. And he thought Allen was on the decline three years ago. How on earth could the legendary sharpshooter keep his game?

Well, turns out it ain’t over ’til Ray says it’s over. The 35-year-old is enjoying a career year, nailing 45 percent of his attempts from behind the arc and more than half of his total shots. But how is this possible? In a sport characterized by long, steady declines, how is Ray Allen taking his game to the next level?

I think I may have the answer. In the ugly Game 7 of the aforementioned series against the Lakers, Al-

len went three of 14 from the floor — the worst shooting percentage by a Celtics starter, and an uncharacteristic choke-job by the perennial all-star. He then proceeded to spend all of his spare time in the off-season working on his shot, shaking the rust off his stroke and counting down to the day he would have another chance at the Lakers.

Now that day is here, and with Reggie Miller calling the game in a packed Garden, we’ve finally reached the hour of the Allen. Miller was known for his stone-cold, killer performances against the Knicks, running down the court and jawing at director Spike Lee in the stands after buttering three pointers like toast. Ray is known for running back down the court after his threes to play defense, humbly shrugging off the cheers of the crowd. If you think I’m biased towards my Celtics, the contrast is even strong between Ray and captain Paul Pierce. I love Pierce more than orange guava passionfruit juice in the Ratty — which I love a lot — but his grandstanding and chestbeating are in stark juxtaposition with Ray’s quiet fist pumps.

In a year when future Hall of Famers like LeBron James and Phil Jackson have stated their displeasure with playing on Christmas, Allen made an impassioned argument to the contrary. Ray talked about the honor of being selected to play during a day reserved for marquee games, and the good fortune of NBA players to be able to do what they love for a living.

“We’re over here, complaining about playing Christmas, but we’re basically home on United States soil,” he told Tim Povtak of FanHouse.

“Some of those guys in the military haven’t seen their families in a year, or six months or maybe three months.’’

Wait, aren’t basketball stars supposed to be spoiled babies? When Allen’s young son was diagnosed with diabetes, Ray said he learned a lot about being grateful for what he has. He’s a man I’m proud to see in my team’s uniform every night.

With talent comes good shooters, but to be a great shooter, you’ve got to work hard. You either have the tenacity and conquering mentality of Miller, or the determination and drive of Ray. In Allen, we see a guy who could go down in history as the greatest pure shooter of all time. That doesn’t happen by accident. So, I’ll call your name, Ray. All you’ve got to do is bring that shot to the playoffs with you.

That — and tell your mom to keep wearing her bedazzled jersey while she jumps around in the front row. She makes my heart grow three sizes on game day.

Sam Sheehan ’12 is currently working on the lyrics to the Katy Perry song “FirePerk(ins)”. Talk sports with him at sam_sheehan@brown.edu or follow him on twitter @SamSheehan.

When Marques Coleman ’12 committed to playing basketball at Brown during his senior year in high school, he pictured himself playing on the Pizzitola Center court, not coaching from its sidelines. But three years and two torn knee ligaments later, Coleman, who was a player on the men’s basketball team last season, is now an undergraduate student-assistant coach, a position rarely held in college athletics.

During his senior year of high school, Coleman was recruited by several West Coast universities, along with three Ivies, including Brown. But severe injuries derailed his path towards becoming a Division I athlete. He tore his left anterior cruciate ligament and lost all but the one scholarship offer from Seattle University. Coleman eventually decided to attend Brown — which, in agreement with Ivy League regulations, had not offered an athletic scholarship.

Coleman underwent a nine-month recovery process through the remainder of his senior year and the summer afterwards, hoping he would be ready to sprint up and down the court at Brown.

“I had a physical therapist that I went to probably three times a week and I would be training close to twice a day, trying to get my knee back to its normal capacity,” Coleman said. “It takes five months before you’re supposed to be able to run, but I think I was running at three-and-a-half months.”

Only two weeks before his freshman year began, Coleman tore his other ACL. He underwent a second knee surgery the week before moving into his dorm. He began rehab again in Providence but missed his entire freshman season.

Coleman finally made his debut for the Bears when he entered a game off the bench during his sophomore year. But the old injuries still crippled his play.

“I was in constant pain,” Coleman said. “My knees on and off the court during the season were just always hurting.”

He had to have a physical

trainer use a machine to give him electric muscle stimulation, a process that forces muscle contraction through electrical impulses.

Coleman said the pain affected his play on the court and said he “was scared to ... do a few things.”

“I always knew that after my surgery I was at a high risk of getting injured again,” he said. “If you tear your ACL in the same knee more than once, the chances of the surgery being successful again is very small. I knew that, and in the back of my head, I was always a little conscious of that.”

After speaking with his parents and surgeon, Coleman finally decided to end the pain and stop playing.

“The main issue is if I’m going to be ... able to walk when I’m 50 years old,” Coleman said. “So I had to weigh playing a few years of basketball or being able to eventually maybe run after my kids. But I still wanted to stay on the team.”

In April of his sophomore year, Coleman met with Head Coach Jesse Agel to discuss his future.

“When he told me that he was unable to physically play, I said, ‘Listen, I’d love for you to stay around the program if you have interest,’ ” recalled Agel. “He was excited to do that.”

Agel said the decision to make Coleman an assistant coach was easy because of Coleman’s character.

“He’s well-respected by his teammates, and he has a great work ethic and has a great disposition,” Agel said. “And that combination of maturity, disposition, work ethic is somebody that you want to have around your guys.”

“He’s perfect in terms of motivating and caring and he takes every job, no matter how little,” Agel added. “He gets things done.”

As a student-assistant, Coleman is in charge of the film exchange, the process of giving other schools’ coaches film of certain games and getting film of their teams in turn. Because of his injuries, Coleman is not permitted to do any on-court activity — he attends practice but can only observe.

His teammates said Coleman still plays an important role on the team.

“I think he’s been a great ... conduit between the coaches and the players because he brings a different perspective,” said co-captain Adrian Williams ’11. “He’s our age…and can definitely relate to the players. He’s one of our friends but he’s also one of our coaches.”

Co-captain Peter Sullivan ’11 agreed.

“He was right there with us ... for a couple of years,” Sullivan said.

“He knows what it takes. ... I think that it’s good when he speaks up. I think that everyone listens to him and responds well.”

Coleman is also drawing high praise from his new boss, who can relate to Coleman’s position. Agel was once a student-assistant himself, albeit as a graduate student.

“I have been very lucky to have been surrounded by great people who are great assistants,” Agel said.

“Marques has done nothing but add to my staff in a very positive manner.”

Coleman’s unique coaching position has also been gaining notice outside of the Brown basketball community. Credit Suisse Group, the international financial services company, recently offered Coleman — a Commerce, Organizations and Entrepreneurship concentrator — a nine-week summer internship in New York, partly because of his role on the team.

The transition from player to coach has also left Coleman with more free time, which he has spent writing articles for golocalprov. com, a local news website, and working for Brown television.

Though Coleman acknowledged that it is difficult to have his playing days cut short, he said he is happy still to be a part of the team.

“I’d ideally love to be out there with the guys, being a member of the team, and I can’t,” Coleman said. “That part of it is a little upsetting. But, on the other hand...I’ve been with those guys since my first day on campus, and the fact that I can still be around them a lot is good. And the fact that I can still be around the game, which I love and will always love, is definitely a good thing as well.”

—With additional reporting by Tony Bakshi

FENCINg

Fencing faces tough competition

By Alex Mittman Contributing Writer

The fencing team had a rough weekend, besting only Yeshiva University and Hunter College in the overall standings of a seven-team event. The men’s squad notched another victory over NYU by 5 bouts, 16-11.

Men’s sabre had by far the best group performance of the day, with all of the fencers winning at least as many bouts as they lost. Peter Tyson ’12 went 12-6, Teddy Weller ’13 11-6, Nick Deak ’14 12-5, and

Brandon Tomasso ’13 had an even score of 1-1. Weller said that the team is “on a good run right now,” and the players are hopeful for a good performance through the remainder of the season.

Both the women’s and men’s teams defeated Yeshiva, 23-4.

“It was a good round to start with and get us in the mood for the rest of the day,” said co-captain Alexander DePaoli ’11.

But the team struggled overall.

“This was our hardest yet,” said Katherine Hawrot ’14.

Women’s foil posted positive

scores, with Avery Nackman ’13 going 11-4, captain Yukiko Kunitomo ’12 9-5, Vivian Truong ’12 6-4 and Hawrot 9-6. Cory Abbe ’13 once again led the Bruno epeeists with a 13-5 record.

Men’s epee posted some impressive scores on the day, as Kelly McGuire ’13 went 11-7 and Ben McDonald ’14 posted a 10-7 record. The epee squad defeated Duke, 5-4, in a close battle. The team will be back in action this weekend, when it will compete in its biggest event of the year, the Ivy League Championship.