Monday, September 12, 2011

Daily

Herald

the Brown

vol. cxlvi, no. 63

Monday, September 12, 2011

Since 1891

Ten years later, remembering 9/11

BY APARNA BANSAL, KAT THORNTON AND ELIZABETH CARR Senior Staff Writers

It was a day no one wanted to remember, but one the Brown community gathered to commemorate nonetheless.

People gathered across campus to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks Sunday, sharing their experiences and paying their respects. They walked through a labyrinth on the Main Green. They acknowledged the day on the steps of Manning Chapel at a memorial service.

Most current undergraduates were elementary or middle school students on the day of the attacks, and many recall interrupted recesses, canceled school days or watching television at breakfast as the twin towers collapsed into rubble.

Ten years ago, after the towers fell, more than 1,000 members of the Brown community gathered at

By Emma Wohl Senior Staff Writer

football season the “Year of the Quarterback.” Largely responsible for that notion is quarterback Kyle Newhall-Caballero ’11.5.

In 2009, Newhall-Caballero was a First Team All-Ivy member, but after breaking his wrist in the fourth quarter of the season’s third game, he was forced to watch the remainder of the 2010 campaign from the sidelines. After taking the spring semester off to intern at a private equity firm in New York and spending his summer working out in Providence, NewhallCaballero returns not only as the team’s starting quarterback, but also as a two-year captain.

“It’s never happened in Brown history that I know of that a guy was a two-year captain, and after

After failing to preregister for two newly capped advanced economics courses, Bradley Silverman ’13, facing unexpected barriers to entry, decided to circumvent the regulations governing seats in those classes. Standing in Lecturer in Economics Maria Carkovic’s class ECON1540: “International Trade,” he displayed a sign reading “Dropping this class? I’ll pay $ for your spot!” in an attempt to create a black market.

International Trade is one of six upper-level economics courses that have been capped at 110 students, beginning this semester. The economics department, chaired by Professor Roberto Serrano, appealed to the College Curriculum Council last spring to cap these courses at 100 students, Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron wrote in an email to The Herald.

But Thursday night, after two days of shopping period, the department decided to raise the cap to 110, Serrano wrote in an email to The Herald. The new spots were open exclusively to seniors concentrating in economics. “With this measure, we hope to address the need of some our seniors, for whom it was the last opportunity to take the course,” he wrote.

While those larger courses — several of which had enrolled over 200 students in past semesters — have been reduced in size, three smaller capstone seminars have been introduced to give senior concentrators in the Department of Economics the opportunity to take small, discussion-based courses, Serrano said.

The decision to change the curriculum was made after departing seniors were given a survey asking them about their experiences last spring, said Louis Putterman, professor of economics and director of undergraduate studies for the department. “Most students indicated that the size of the large courses was a concern, but not a very big concern,” he said. The survey indicated that concentrators valued the opportunity to take smaller courses.

Putterman added that it is difficult to determine whether reducing courses from roughly

continued on page 7

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Manning Chapel that afternoon.

People lit candles on the steps of Faunce House and the chapel.

Though no students on campus at the time lost an immediate relative on Sept. 11, six Brown alums died in the terrorist attacks.

Honoring the lost

On the Main Green and at a ceremony at Manning Chapel, people remembered members of the community who died on Sept. 11. At 4 continued on page 4

Glenn Lutzky & Rachel Kaplan / Herald

The Brown community spent Sunday reflecting on the events of 9/11.

Med Ed design fosters community outreach

By Greg Jordan-Detamore Senior Staff Writer

Once a bustling jewelry factory, then an office complex, 222 Richmond St. now houses state-of-the-art anatomy classrooms and a bookless digital library. Its new role as Brown’s Medical Education Building has made it something of a celebrity in the city.

Surrounding properties are slowly

being snatched up.

Some see in this post-industrial area — sandwiched between downtown, the Providence River and the hospital complex — not only as the future of Brown but that of the city and state as well. Many hope it will become a hub of education and medicine, akin to those in Houston, Baltimore and Boston. Planners also stress the importance of housing and

retail to guarantee lively streets after the workday ends.

Elements of the Medical Education Building’s design reflect high hopes for the district’s future.

Though travelers from College Hill would find a closer entrance on the east side of the building, a main door is found on Richmond Street to the west, opening it out to the neighborhood. The University made it a

priority to widen the sidewalk and plant trees to create a more pedestrian-friendly environment.

And for the hungry passerby, one of the more popular eateries on College Hill has opened a sister shop inside the new building.

Bagel Gourmet Cafe opens out to the street corner at Richmond and continued on page 5

By Ethan McCoy Sports Editor

“There are a lot of wide receivers at Brown,” said Jonah Fay ’12. “They don’t tell you that when you come here.”

football preview

Herald file photo

inside

Kyle Newhall-Caballero ’11.5 will have plenty of receiving options this year.

Learn the Lingo New program in Granada focuses on language news, 3

At “Wide Receiver U.,” as Alex Tounkara-Kone ’11.5 calls it, the Brown offense returns in 2011 with a loaded depth chart at wide receiver and an All-Ivy quarterback back at the helm determined to atone for a 2010 season lost to injury.

The offense is poised to produce a high-powered attack that aims to leave opposing defenses gasping for air.

An Aug. 27 New York Times article dubbed the 2011 Ivy League

Still Solid W. soccer continues undefeated season

Sports, 7

For Africa

Trupin ’13 urges his community to unite

Opinions, 11

weather

‘Wide Receiver U.’ ready for day one

news....................2-5 Sports................7-8 editorial............10 Opinions.............11 Arts.......................12

Econ caps spur black market controversy

t o d ay

tomorrow

78 / 61

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2 Campus News calendar Monday

September 12

5:30 P.m.

tuesday

september 13

The Scale of Modernity,

Oil and the Arab Spring,

Pembroke Hall, Room 305

Watson Institute, McKinney 7 p.m.

Mid-Autumn Festival,

Crispin Glover Screening,

Main Green

Granoff Center, Martinos Aud.

menu SHARPE REFECTORY

VERNEy-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH

Savory Chicken Stew, Broccoli Spears with Lemon, Vegan White Bean Casserole, Coconut Cookies

Cavatini, Tomato Basil Pie, Spicy Fries, Coconut Cookies, Sauteed Zucchini and Onions

DINNER Stir Fried Beef and Pasta Medley, Vegan Garden Chili, Peas with Pearl Onions, Cappuccino Brownies

Caps on econ classes irk some continued from page 1

12 p.m.

7 p.m.

The Brown Daily Herald Monday, September 12, 2011

Chicken Pot Pie, Vegan Ratatouille, Mashed Butternut Squash, Cappuccino Brownies

Sudoku

200 students to 110 would change the classroom dynamic. “For me, with 100 I’ve been able to generate good class participation,” said Ross Levine, professor of economics, whose course ECON 1760: “Financial Institutions,” was affected by the change. “Once it gets to 200, it’s really just lecture.”

Silverman, a former Herald staff writer who is triple-concentrating in economics, political science and public policy, said classes with 100 students are already too

Daily

the Brown

large to be interactive. “It wouldn’t make a difference to be a student if it’s 100 or 200 or 300,” he said.

Gabe Paley ’12, who is concentrating in economics, offered a different theory for the rationale behind the caps. Economics has “tended to have a reputation for not being the most intensive department,” he said. Classes are so large that students pick the largest ones knowing that they can “coast through,” he said.

By capping the courses at 100, he said, students have to look through courses in advance and

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preregister, seriously considering what they want to take.

Paley, Silverman and three other economics concentrators contacted by The Herald all ultimately got seats in their desired classes.

Silverman did not end up paying for a spot in the course, he said. Another student, who was already planning to drop the course, offered him her spot for free.

But the prospect of students creating a market for spots in capped courses caught the attention of University Hall. In an email sent Friday morning, Bergeron warned students that selling seats “is a form of academic dishonesty punishable under the Academic Code.”

“For me, as an economist, I should simply remind you that there are circumstances in which the logic of the market system does not apply, and university life is one such example,” Serrano wrote in the same email.

But this is “a natural response” in any situation with a quota, Levine said.

For now, though, the natural laws of economics will remain suspended inside the College Hill bubble.

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The Brown Daily Herald Monday, September 12, 2011

Campus News 3

OSL revises sexual New abroad option in Granada assault policy

By Jake Comer Senior Staff Writer

Change comes as feds renew focus on Title IX compliance

By Amy Rasmussen Assitant Features Editor

The Office of Student Life has revised its sexual assault disciplinary process to allow both complainants and accused students to appeal decisions. The revision comes in response to a letter sent in April by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.

Previously, only accused students had the right to an appeal.

The letter, sent to all educational institutes that receive federal money, provides specific guidelines for the handling and prevention of sexual assault and violence in accordance with Title IX, a law passed in 1972 prohibiting gender discrimination in federally funded institutions.

The requirement that schools that provide an appeals process for grievance complaints of sexual assault or violence must do so for both the complainant and the accused was “a new notion” for the Office of Student Life, said Allen Ward, senior associate dean of student life.

Over the summer, administrators worked to “look at our code and look at our language,” with regards to the appeals process, Ward said. The new code, available on the OSL website, now reflects that change.

Margaret Klawunn, vice president for campus life and student services, said she plans to send an email regarding the changes to the student community sometime this week.

The letter highlighted the requirement to designate senior Title IX coordinators to handle grievance procedures and systemic challenges, as well as the need to make their contact information easily available.

Up until recently, Ward and Valerie Wilson, former associate provost and director of institutional diversity, acted as the University’s coordinators. Wilson left the University at the end of the last academic year for a job in Washington, D.C. While Ward is still the acting coordinator for alleged harassment by students, Wilson’s departure briefly left a gap in the University’s Title IX compliance system.

Though Wilson’s name, as of Sunday night, remained on the Office of Student Life’s website as the designated Title IX coordinator for alleged harassment by faculty or staff, Lina Fruzzetti, professor of anthropology and interim institutional diversity officer, is now temporarily filling the role.

Klawunn said Fruzzetti is receiving all necessary training and that the contact information on the website will be updated shortly.

Students looking to file sexual assault grievances have “several entry points,” ranging from student life liaisons to senior administrators, Ward said. A student “would have the right to say, ‘you know what, the entire system has failed me,’ and go straight to the top,” he added. Ward said that in his six years as a senior coordinator, no student has pursued that option.

Though Klawunn said she was confident in the University’s current level of compliance with the new requirements, she added that administrators would continue to be vigilant. “One of the things that’s unusual about this letter is how specific it is,” she said. “I think we have to be really careful — and we have been, to date — about making sure we implement every piece of it.”

Klawunn said Office of Civil Rights officials have already begun to follow up with schools around the country to make sure they are in compliance with the new guidelines.

The need for education about sexual assault and its prevention is one of the letter’s heavily emphasized topics. It is also an area in which administrators said the University is at its strongest.

Sexual assault education begins with a guest speaker on the second day of Orientation and continues throughout a student’s four years, with access to workshops, literature and updated information, said Frances Mantak, director of health education.

The University recently hired Bita Shooshani as the coordinator of the sexual assault response and prevention program. Though the search for a new coordinator took nearly a year to complete, Mantak, who headed the search for the new coordinator, said all of the services associated with the sexual assault response coordinator remained available last year.

Shooshani, who comes to Brown from San Francisco State University, said she has already been impressed by both the University’s “quick” response to the letter and the level of student engagement.

“It’s really one of the most progressive campuses I’ve seen in terms of the response and the care,” she said. “Where I’m coming from, things move at a very, very slow pace.”

Letters, please! letters@browndailyherald.com

Brown has formed a partnership with the University of Granada, adding a fourth option for students wishing to study in Spain.

The University already has an existing program in Barcelona and two approved alternative programs in Madrid, and students will be able to study in Granada as early as the spring semester.

Setting the Granada program apart from other programs in Spain is its intense focus on the Spanish language itself, said Kendall Brostuen, director of international programs and associate dean of the college. As opposed to Brown’s program in Barcelona, where students can take courses in a variety of subjects, the program in Granada will emphasize developing translation and interpretation skills, he said.

Brostuen, who previously worked as the director of Central College in Iowa’s study abroad program in Granada and is familiar with the school’s modern language and exchange programs, said the University of Granada “prepares translators and interpreters at a professional level.” Brostuen also pointed out that the University

Julien Ouellet / Herald

With the new program, students are able to study abroad in Granada.

of Granada, founded in the 16th century by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, is one of the top universities in Spain.

Forming a partnership with the University of Granada had been “circulating for a couple of years,” Brostuen said. According to the October 2010 update to the Plan for Academic Enrichment, the

University planned to “negotiate a translation and interpretation pathway with the University of Granada, Spain, by the end of 2010, so that Brown students may begin study in fall 2011.” The Office of International Programs, the Hispanic Studies department and the continued on page 5

Safety effort targets bikes locked to railings

By Felice Feit Contributing Writer

Student and Employee Accessibility Services — formerly Disability Support Services — will ramp up its campaign to tag bikes this year in an effort to educate students on the dangers of locking their bikes to railings and benches.

Benjamin Marcus ’13, a member of SEAS’ Campus Access Advisory Committee — which is comprised of students and University employees — said bikes left attached to railings and benches have “caused a lot of harm to people.” Pedestrians who rely on railings cannot use them if bikes are in the way, which can pose a hazard, Marcus said. Last February, a blind student was injured by a bike attached to a

railing outside of J. Walter Wilson.

“A lot of students are just not aware of the consequences of not locking their bikes up properly,” Marcus said. “It’s also just laziness.”

In order to increase student awareness, members of the Department of Public Safety and SEAS have started attaching pink tags to bikes locked in places where they might be hazardous. The tags, designed by SEAS, describe the dangers associated with locking up bikes to railings or benches, list contact information for DPS and SEAS and remind the rider to register his or her bike.

“We are hoping that if enough Brown community members put these on bikes … it will encourage bicycle riders to take an extra moment to locate the nearest bike

rack, use it and help keep stairways and ramps safe for all pedestrians,” Jonathan Corey, SEAS’s coordinator, wrote in an email to The Herald.

In cases where a bike poses an immediate threat to safety — for example, if it blocks a wheelchair ramp — DPS may cut the locks and remove the bike, according to Catherine Axe ’87, director of SEAS. In addition to the tags, SEAS has also been campaigning to increase the number of bike racks on campus, providing students with a greater number of safe places to lock their bikes. This summer, the University built several new racks, though Marcus said SEAS has yet to asses any difference in student behavior.

4 Campus News

The Brown Daily Herald Monday, September 12, 2011

U. recalls, reflects on terrorist attack continued from page 1 p.m., more than 100 members of the Brown and Providence communities joined together on the steps of Manning Chapel to acknowledge the anniversary at a memorial service entitled “A Rite of Remembrance.”

“Today we stand exactly where we stood 10 years ago at Brown,” said Janet Cooper Nelson, the University chaplain. Greeting those in attendance, she espoused the creation of “a global realm of goodness and of mercy.”

The service was centered around a litany of reflection in which faith leaders spoke to darkness, terror, heroism, collective mourning, interfaith and multicultural community and hope.

“We do still have the humanity to be the nation we once promised to be,” said President Ruth Simmons at the ceremony.

Held by the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life, another event, “Celebrating the Work of Building Peace,” allowed the community to reflect on peace as they walked through a labyrinth, folded origami cranes and made peace flags.

“I thought this was the most apropos way of celebrating,” said Rita Holt, who was in attendance, after completing the labyrinth. “What’s nice is you’re alone but you’re with people at the same time.”

The community also remembered the six alums who died in the attacks.

Charles Margiotta, Sr. ’79 P’13, a firefighter from Staten Island, was lost in the flames at the World Trade Center.

“He was a larger than life character,” said his brother Michael Margiotta. “He was into everything — I am yet to figure out when he slept.”

At Brown, Margiotta was a member of the Ivy League championship football team in 1976.

Bruce Alterman ’79, Margiotta’s roommate at Brown, checked his voicemail on Sept. 11 to find a 20-minute message accidentally left

by Margiotta as his phone continued to trasmit from his pocket. “I could hear him barking orders to the firefighters,” he said. “And then the phone went out.”

Margiotta was one of four former Delta Tau brothers at Brown who were killed in the attacks.

Raymond Rocha ’95, an analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald, and Paul Sloan ’97, who worked at Keefe, Bruyette and Woods, were also killed at the World Trade Center.

Dave Laychak ’83 was working as a civilian budget analyst at the Pentagon when American Airlines Flight 77 hit.

“He was a kind, gentle soul — one of those people that makes you feel like he was your best friend,” said his wife Laurie Laychak. The two met at the Pentagon. His son Zachary wore the same number on his high school football jersey that his father did as a defensive back on the Brown football team. “He beat his own drum — he wasn’t a

Glenn Lutzky / Herald

Faith leaders and President Ruth Simmons pose outside Manning Chapel after a memorial service Sunday.

conformist,” said Grant Harshbarger ’83.

Joanne Weil ’84 was an attorney working at the World Trade Center when the building was attacked.

Donald Greene ’71 was on United Airlines Flight 93 when it crashed in Shanksville, Pa. Greene was a wrestler at Brown and a certified pilot.

Changing history

“The faculty understood that the world had changed and become a more frightening place for students,” said Wendy Schiller, associate professor of political science.

Schiller said she remembers that on Sept. 11, classes had just begun.

“It was hard for the University to deal with,” she said.

But time has changed the academic perspective on the events.

“You ask any faculty member who has taught since 9/11,” she said. “It’s history now. It changes over time. It changes every year, the further we

get from 9/11.”

Mark Blyth, professor of political science, said until Sept. 11, Americans had been sheltered from “a political technique that is very real in other countries,” like Scotland, where he grew up.

“This is the dark side of globalization,” Blyth added.

The public memory of Sept. 11 today is the focus of AMCV 1700G: “Public Memory: Narratives of 9/11,” taught by Beverly Haviland, senior lecturer and visiting associate professor of American civilization. Haviland said she first taught the class in 2009 after she explored the issue while writing a column for Amerika Estudien, a European American studies journal. In the first year of the class, Haviland said she “tried to keep the discussion focused on the texts we were reading,” rather than bring up personal memories, she said. But at the end of the course, she said one of these

students produced a 12-page autobiographical piece about her experience on Sept. 11.

Alnoor Dhanani, a visiting lecturer of religious studies, said Sept.

11 affected both his role as a teacher and his personal life. Dhanani is teaching RELS 0150: “Islam: From Mohammed to 9/11 and Beyond.”

“This is the 10th anniversary, so I started my class with talking about it,” he said. It is important to notice, he said, that Muslims are frequently perceived by Americans through a religious lens and are seen as separate from secular society.

Putting Muslim diversity in context has been the focus of his Islam classes since Sept. 11, Dhanani said.

Dhanani said he has felt profiled for being a Muslim in places like airports since Sept. 11. “Before and right after 9/11,” Dhanani said, “There was a feeling that you can’t paint over all Muslims with the same brush. Now that’s not so much.”

The Brown Daily Herald Monday, September 12, 2011

Campus News 5

Med Ed spurs growth continued from page 1 Ship streets. This serves to connect the Brown community to the wider community in the neighborhood, said Ed Wing, dean of medicine and biological sciences, “to have something that’s not just for the Medical School or for Brown.”

“Ground floor uses should be things that anybody on the ground floor can share,” said Frances Halsband, a long-time University planner and designer of the Walk.

A parking lot diagonal from the cafe will soon be transformed into a public plaza. Construction is scheduled to start today and conclude Dec. 8.

Halsband says the plaza — informally known by planners as Ship Street square — represents Brown’s intention to create public spaces open to all. “Once this little park is finished, we hope that people will buy coffee in the cafe then go across the street and sit in the park,” she said. The University is looking into bringing food trucks and live entertainment to help activate the space.

“Ship Street itself, I think, is extraordinarily important,” Halsband said, being “one of the most historic streets on that entire side of the river.” She said she hopes the street, which connects to the waterfront, will sometimes be closed to traffic to serve as a pedestrian gathering place.

The Medical Education Building will bring life to the area by bringing in several hundred employees and students, in addition to those already working in other Brown buildings in the district. The Office

of Continuing Education will soon move to the area as well.

Perhaps the showcase of the building is its central sky-lit atrium.

Featuring “monumental stairways” connecting its floors, it unifies the building’s two sides, three floors and two entrances and provides a lounge and meeting space for students, Wing said. “It’s almost like a street.”

The lobby is also home to an art installation which will “provide a centralizing theme for the building,” he said. The mural, designed by artist Larry Kirkland, symbolizes the doctor-patient relationship and is part of a University program that dedicates 1 percent of construction costs to public art.

Above the entrances are vertical glass panels bearing the school’s name. Lit at night, the panels lend the building a palpable presence even when closed.

The Alpert Medical School also aims to fully embrace the digital era.

The building features a “library of the future” — “unlike the Rock, this has no books,” Wing said.

This year, the University required all incoming medical students to purchase iPads, which can hold lecture notes and electronic textbooks.

Still, the building pays homage to its industrial past. The original

Granada program hopes to expand continued from page 3 Office of International Affairs all collaborated on the formation of the program in Granada, he said.

In its first year, Brown in Granada will be a one-semester program open only to Brown students, but Brostuen said the program could change as it matures.

He said he hopes the program will be a catalyst for a wider stream of communications between the two universities that some day may even lead to faculty exchanges.

Josh Prenner ’14, who is considering studying in Madrid next year, said he had not heard of the Brown in Granada program. But

he said he would be interested in the program.

Julio Ortega, professor of Hispanic Studies, said the University should continue to emphasize Spanish-language study abroad options in the future, but should next look to Latin America.

“More American students are going to Peru, Argentina and Chile,” Ortega wrote. “The best students should go to Spain to see the fabulous museums and old cities and have a great time. But they should also go to Latin America and be engaged by the local dilemmas. A true learning experience should make you a better human being.”

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Greg Jordan-Detamore / Herald

The renovated building, formerly a jewelry factory, will include a Bagel Gourmet Cafe at the street corner. It will have state-of-the-art classrooms, anatomy labs, clinical skills rooms and a digital library.

waffle-style ceilings are exposed in some places and the historic exterior has been restored.

“It’s a great facility,” said Arthur Salisbury, a neighborhood resident and president of the Jewelry District Association, a group of residents, businesses, universities and hospitals. “We’re very happy it’s here.”

The Brown Daily Herald Monday, September 12, 2011

Sports Monday 7 w. Soccer

Bruno maintains undefeated streak

By Sam Wickham Sports Staff Writer

Herald file photo

The Bears will have a balanced, veteran-led attack this year that should take pressure off the defensive corps.

Bears offense set to excite fans continued from page 1 taking the spring off he was voted unanimously back to being the captain again,” said Head Coach Phil Estes in the Ivy League Football Media Day Teleconference. “So I think that says an awful lot about his leadership.”

Newhall-Caballero will have a stocked arsenal of weapons at his disposal, foremost among them a receiving unit spearheaded by Tounkara-Kone. Tounkara-Kone capitalized on his first starting role in 2010 with a breakout year, coming up with 61 receptions for 842 yards. The 6-foot-4-inch, fifth-year senior offers a dangerous combination of size and speed that enables him to get behind defenses in a flash. As a deep threat, he should be able to stretch the offense and open up passing lanes, allowing Newhall-Caballero to pick apart defenses underneath.

Behind Tounkara-Kone, the receiving corps is one of the deepest Brown has seen in years. Jimmy Saros ’12, Tellef Lundevall ’13 and Fay rounded out the top wideouts in 2010, and all are back for 2011.

Matt Sudfeld ’11.5 is another name to watch out for. The fifth-year senior looked to top the depth chart last season, but an injury in preseason kept him on the sidelines for every game.

“Right now, we have probably seven or eight guys who can definitely play at the varsity level and would start if we did not have eight

really good receivers,” NewhallCaballero said. “That’s a definite luxury we have right now, and if a guy goes down, we have another very capable guy to step up and fill that role.”

“He has some great targets to throw to,” Estes said, “which gives us a very potent weapon on offense.”

A strong rushing attack will complement the standout receiving corps. Mark Kachmer ’13 returns as the team’s leading rusher after an All-Ivy 2010 where he contributed 688 yards of total offense. While the team will miss Zach Tronti ’11, the lightning-quick John Spooney ’14, who also runs track, looks poised to further energize the attack.

“He’s only a sophomore, but he gives us tremendous speed on the outside,” Estes said. “We’re looking to really run the ball and take advantage of making people stop the run.”

Speed, both in the players’ physical abilities and the way the team runs the offense, is a theme the Bears hope will define their attack.

“We want to be fast and versatile,” Newhall-Caballero said. “We want to raise the tempo a little bit and force the defense to be ready to play and not let them align.”

“We want to have discipline as a team and be focused and be able to switch up the pace of the tempo and control how the game flows,” Tounkara-Kone said.

Protecting Newhall-Caballero and opening holes for Kachmer

and Spooney will be an offensive line that has lost a lot of muscle following the graduations of Pat Conroy ’11 and Brian Ellixson ’11, who were both All-Ivy. But the unit, led by center Jack Geiger ’12, is deep, and Newhall-Caballero said he is confident that his line can replace the lost production.

“We have four guys with experience coming back,” NewhallCabellero said. “It looks good.

We have guys who are more than capable and some others who are ready to take that next step and start.”

Alex Norocea ’14 will again handle kicking duties. The sophomore, who has “ice in his veins,” according to Estes, tied the school record for most field goals in a game with five in last year’s homecoming victory over Harvard and should be a valuable weapon, especially late in close games.

The Bears’ experience and cohesion will likely prove to be valuable assets this season. With experience at all positions, rapports that have been developing for three or four years and an established familiarity with the playbook and system, the offense is positioned to turn heads around the league.

“We’ve got the system down.

We’ve got the fundamentals down,” Newhall-Caballero said. “Now, come game weeks, we can install different things for different defenses. We’re not basic. We can install a level of complexity because we know the system so well.”

The Brown women’s soccer team kept its undefeated start to the 2011 season alive with a doubleovertime 1-1 draw against the University of Vermont at Stevenson Field Saturday.

The Bears (3-0-1) got off to a slow start, but multiple substitutions helped snatch the momentum from the Catamounts (2-3-2).

Kiersten Berg ’14 provided a spark off the bench, and responded quickly to a second-half Vermont goal to level the score. Stalwart defensive play from Bruno’s back four kept the Catamounts at bay through extra time, helping the team come away with the tie.

“I thought it was an ugly first half for both teams,” said Head Coach Phil Pincince. “But we made some adjustments that allowed us to carry a lot of the play where we wanted to. … I thought we had a lot of opportunities.”

The Bears opened lethargically, as Vermont controlled possession by winning the majority of loose balls. The first 20 minutes of the match were busy for the back line, as seeking long-balls from the Catamounts’ midfield had to be repeatedly cleared.

But the momentum began to shift midway through the half, as the Bears set a higher defensive

Herald file photo

Forward/midfielder Kiersten Berg ’14 tallied the Bears’ goal Saturday.

line to pressure Vermont upfield.

“I think we just realized how we had to adapt,” said captain Sarah Hebert-Seropian ’12. “They were moving much faster than we were, continued on page 8

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8 Sports Monday

The Brown Daily Herald Monday, September 12, 2011

Women’s soccer still undefeated continued from page 7

Jesse Schwimmer / Herald

The men’s soccer squad had plenty of reason to clap this weekend after grabbing the Brown Soccer Classic championship.

M. Soccer

Bears take Brown Soccer Classic

By Sam Rubinroit Assistant Sports Editor

The men’s soccer team earned the Brown Soccer Classic title this weekend, defeating George Mason University 2-1 and Temple University 2-0 in two hard-fought battles.

Brown 2, George Mason 1

With the Patriots (3-3-1) coming off of back-to-back wins — 9-0 against Howard University and 3-0 against American University — the Bears (3-1-0) were anticipating a battle in front of a booming home crowd Friday night.

“We knew it was not going to be an easy game, and it wasn’t,” said Head Coach Patrick Laughlin.

“When teams come here, they’re playing as hard as they can because they know we are a good program and that it’s going to be a physical challenge.”

Nonetheless, few could have predicted just how physical the game would get. As students hurled insults from the sidelines, the two teams traded blows on a field torn up by days of heavy rainfall. After 90 minutes, six yellow cards had been issued — three apiece — and the Patriots were whistled for 20 fouls, with Bruno racking up eight.

“We saw on film that they were going to be a rough team, so we knew we had to battle,” said Sean Rosa ’12.5. “One of our strengths and something we pride ourselves in is battling and being strong, so we were ready for it.”

Rosa scored Bruno’s first home goal of the season off of an assist from T.J. Popolizio ’12 in the 32nd minute, putting the team up 1-0. The Bears gave the Patriots little opportunity to recover, and three minutes later Popolizio headed in a goal of his own off of a corner kick. With a 2-0 lead at halftime, Laughlin said he warned his team about letting their emotions get the best of them. Not until the 84th minute did George Mason score its only goal.

“What we wanted to do was take the emotion out of the second half,” Laughlin said. “It may not be as exciting for the fans, but it’s better for us.

At the end, of course, it got emotional because they got a goal, but we did a good job of keeping our heads and not getting any additional cards.”

Brown 2, Temple 0

The Bears faced Temple Sunday in the final game of the Brown Soccer Classic, and, in another physical match-up, Bruno again prevailed, 2-0.

After defeating Holy Cross 4-1 in their first game of the weekend tournament, Temple (2-1-0) entered Sunday’s game looking to make its presence known. The match-up ended up being a slugfest, and the two sides were whistled for 10 fouls apiece. The Owls earned twice as many yellow cards as the Bears, who only received two.

“That’s typical college soccer at this point in the year,” said Popolizio.

“Everyone has energy, and they are excited, but we were prepared for

that. We’re the type of team that plays hard in practice, so when we get into the game, we are not surprised when there are 20 fouls and six cards.”

Popolizio scored the Bears’ first goal of the game in dramatic fashion.

After receiving a pass from Thomas McNamara ’13 in the box, Popolizio put a shot on goal that was deflected by a defender before bouncing off of the cross bar. Still on the ground after taking the shot, Popolizio received his own rebound and was able to find the back of the net on his second attempt.

“I just kind of flailed at it and did a little overhead kick, and I was lucky enough to get it in there,” he said.

Bruno’s second tally of the game came from Jose Salama ’14 on an assist from Dylan Remick ’13.

The game marked the first start of the season for goalkeeper Sam Kernan-Schloss ’13, who earned a shutout in his first game back since breaking his leg in last year’s preseason. Laughlin said the decision to start Kernan-Schloss over Alex Carr ’15, who was in goal for the Bears’ first three games, was made before the weekend began.

The Bears return to action on Friday when they face South Carolina on the road. The Gamecocks have a chip on their shoulder after losing to Brown 1-0 last season at Stevenson Field. “It’s a real challenge for us down there,” Laughlin said. “But we want to play the best teams in the country, and hopefully that will help us to get through the Ivy League.”

Even after two hard-fought battles at home, the Bears know that there is still much more to come as they gear up for the Ivy League and compete for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s only going to get tougher,” Popolizio said. “Winter is coming, and we know that Ivy League games and postseason games are battles.

You need to be ready to get into a brawl with your teammates and win every ball and every slide tackle, because you never know what mistake is going to lead to a goal.”

so we just had to step it up and bring more energy, and I think we did that.”

The introductions of Berg and Kirsten Belinsky ’15 also helped up the team’s tempo, and the two nearly combined to put Brown ahead in the 43rd minute. Belinsky slipped a ball behind the defense to Berg, whose low shot was deftly parried by the Vermont keeper. Though Bruno could not draw first blood, the momentum was certainly with the home team as the halftime whistle blew.

The Bears picked up where they left off in the second half, earning multiple corner kicks in the first five minutes. Centerback Diana Ohrt ’13 connected on a header off a corner at the 48-minute mark, only to see her effort go wide.

Though Bruno seemed to be in control, Vermont opened the scoring just two minutes later, as a slick through ball from 20 yards out found Alexandra Dezenzo, who slipped the ball under the outstretched hand of Brown goalkeeper MC Barrett ’14 for the first tally of the game.

The Bears answered resiliently just 47 seconds later to even the

score. Berg ran onto a chipped ball from Hebert-Seropian, and calmly slotted her finish into the bottom left corner for the equalizer to bring the score to 1-1.

“I really liked that after we gave up a goal, we came back in the next couple of minutes and were right back in the game,” Pincince said. “I thought the momentum changed, because now we wanted it.”

Bruno continued to test the Vermont defense throughout the remainder of regulation, but repeated efforts from Berg and Ali Mullin ’14 could not break the deadlock. Twenty minutes of additional time was still not enough for the Bears to find a game-winner, and the match ended in a draw.

The team will face their first road challenge of the year Thursday against the University of New Hampshire (1-5). Though Saturday’s tie may not have been the result Bruno was hoping for, they remain positive about the challenges ahead.

“I think it’s going to be a great game to grow from,” Hebert-Seropian said. “Hopefully … we can get better and better so that when we’re in that situation again, we can finish it off.”

sticking through it

Jesse Schwimmer / Herald

Kelley Harrison ’13 motors up the sideline during the Bears’ 4-3 loss to Pacific Friday afternoon.

Arts & Culture 9

The Brown Daily Herald Monday, September 12, 2011

Higher ed ne ws roundup

by joseph R osales, Jordan Hendricks, Elizabe th C arr and K atrina Phillips

Yale sued over graduate student death Vivian Le is suing Yale over the murder of her daughter Annie Le, a graduate student at the university, the Yale Daily News reported Friday. Annie Le’s body was found in the wall of a university laboratory in September 2009, and Raymond Clark III, a former technician in the lab, admitted to her murder last spring. The wrongful death lawsuit, according to a Sept. 6 article in the Chicago Tribune, was filed on behalf of Annie Le’s estate, but her family has supported it. Vivian Le spoke out about the suit on Friday’s Today Show, expressing her desire to help protect Yale students from a fate similar to her daughter’s. She said Yale should have responded to complaints filed against Clark by others prior to her daughter’s death and suggested these complaints may have been ignored due to his close relationship with his superior at the time, who was his brother-in-law. According to the Tribune, a Yale statement said “there is no basis” for the lawsuit.

Columbia to offer FemSex workshop Starting this semester, Columbia is joining the ranks of Brown and other universities who offer FemSex, a student-led, not-for-credit course in female sexuality, according to the Columbia Spectator.

The course resembles Brown’s own FemSex workshop and will give students a forum in which to “explore issues ranging from body image to masturbation,” the Spectator reported.

“It is bringing Columbia the chance to explore the momentous charge of challenging the social dynamics of the spaces that once resisted feminism,” FemSex facilitators Kia Walton, Andrea Folds, Sarah Camiscoli and Lauren Herold wrote in an opinion column in the Spectator.

Cornell president calls for end to pledging “Pledging as we know it has to stop,” Cornell President David Skorton declared to leaders of the Greek community Aug. 23, according to the Cornell Daily Sun. His announcement comes after the hazing-related death of George Desdunes last winter, the Sun reported.

In an op-ed in the New York Times, Skorton described pledging as “a vehicle for demeaning activities that cause psychological harm and physical danger.”

Cornell has since accelerated the implementation of planned changes to the Greek system which restrict recruitment, including a prohibition of organized contact between houses and freshmen during the first quarter of the semester, according to the Sun.

Dean of Columbia resigns over changes to U. Michele Moody-Adams left her position as dean of Columbia Aug. 22, according to a statement by Columbia President Lee Bollinger.

According to an August article in the Columbia Spectator, MoodyAdams wrote a strongly worded email in which she accused the university of planning changes that would “ultimately compromise the college’s academic quality and financial health.”

Though Moody-Adams planned on leaving her position in June 2012, Bollinger requested she step down as soon as possible, according to an article in the New York Times.

James Valentini, professor of chemistry, has been named the interim dean of Columbia, according to the New York Times.

Exhibit explores progress, the future continued from page 12 visions and manipulations of the idea of the future. But Walker’s exhibit also sought to explore current beliefs about the future in a separate section, housed behind a mosaic-covered wall. Made of small stones arranged to form flowers and birds, a piece by local artist Pippi Zornoza was described on an accompanying plaque as a “powerful, fresh and defiant take on future architectural possibilities.”

The exhibit also contained a mat of glowing orange, red and green shapes. As people walked across the mat, their shadows caused the shapes to change and

move. Other interactive aspects of the exhibit included a mounted TV advertisement screening on the wall, and a short documentary about the idea of creating a new Earth.

Rhode Island School of Design alum Agata Michalowska said the history in the exhibit was “really fascinating.”

“It’s almost frightening to see how the future was imagined,” she said.

Morgan Calderini, who attended the event to support Zornoza, said she found it “wonderful to see a combination of historical pieces and commissioned works from artists in Providence.”

The exhibit hit close to home

for one attendee, Ken Orenstein, an architect and city planner.

Orenstein’s father was born in 1906 and lived through the Great Depression. At the age of 33, he went to Futurama, an exhibit and ride at the 1939 New York World’s Fair that envisioned the world in 20 years. Photographs from Futurama were on display at “Building Expectations.”

“It gave him hope,” Orenstein said. “Hope that the future would be better.” This power of architecture to both inspire and manipulate is at the heart of Walker’s compelling and informative exhibit.

“Building Expectation” will be on display in the David Winton Bell Gallery through Nov. 6.

Student theater genuine, strong continued from page 12 feeling only enriched by the quality of the acting.

Collins (Malcolm Shanks ’12) and Angel’s (Raques McGill ’13) relationship does not lack for any emotions here. McGill in particular was fantastic, possessing both a down-to-earth quality inherent to

the Angel character and an amazing ability to strut in heels.

Vocals were shaky for several cast members, but it did not detract from the story being told.

The entire production appeared to be an ode to the relationships between the characters, stripping away all of the fluff to give a sometimes heart-wrenching look at the

lives of these six people.

And therein lies the secret of student theater — it doesn’t cost much, it doesn’t always look like much, but it has a genuine quality to it that gets\ lost in the rush to sell out a show at $100-plus per seat.

There’s no need. Tickets are generally free.

comics Fraternity of Evil | Eshan Mitra, Brendan Hainline and Hector Ramirez

10 Editorial & Letter Editorial Looking back, looking ahead Yesterday, the Brown community marked a decade since a sunny Tuesday morning morphed into a national nightmare. Our thoughts are with our classmates, faculty and staff who lost loved ones on that terrible day.

People our age are in a unique position to look back on the decade since Sept. 11, 2001. The oldest undergraduates were still just young teenagers on that morning. We came of age in a world shaped by the attacks. While our attention turns first and foremost to those in the Brown community who were personally touched by the tragedy, it is also important to consider how 9/11 impacted our last 10 years and how we will let it define our next 10.

In the months leading up to September 2001, politicians debated how best to use the budget surplus former President George W. Bush inherited. Today, with the country in a dire economic predicament and the government saddled with debt, we must balance our priorities.

That means reevaluating how much money the federal government should spend on fighting the terror threat. The government has an unquestionable obligation to protect the lives of Americans, but we must also be mindful of Osama Bin Laden’s stated goal of “bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy.” Our approach must rest on cost-balance analysis to a much higher degree than many policies instituted after 9/11 did.

There are arguments to be made for all manner of positions regarding the appropriate federal approach to terrorism going forward. But we must insist that debate accounts for those profound consequences of the war on terror that are not immediately apparent. Decisions about military action, for example, can no longer be made without careful consideration of the difficulty and cost of caring for our wounded veterans. And questions about balancing terror and privacy remain prevalent and pressing.

While looking ahead to the challenges we face in our ongoing fight against terror, we cannot lose sight of the mistakes we made in the lead-up to 9/11. It is unacceptable that several of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations have yet to be implemented. Congressional oversight of the Department of Homeland Security is another troubling issue. DHS reports to “100 different committees and subcommittees,” resulting in fragmented information and a lack of accountability, not to mention a simple waste of resources. Members of Congress should wipe the dust off their copies of the 9/11 Commission Report and finish implementing the reforms that will make us safer.

The world is a much different place 10 years after 9/11. Osama Bin Laden is dead, the president is slowly winding down our military engagements overseas and democracy is stubbornly making inroads in the Middle East and Africa. Terror remains around the globe, but our eventual victory over Al Qaeda seems clearer than ever.

To commemorate yesterday’s anniversary, many news outlets reported stories about our peers who lost parents in the attacks and went on to lead lives full of meaning and value to those around them.

The perseverance of these young men and women in the face of evil is confirmation that the scourge of terror will never defeat our nation.

Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

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The Brown Daily Herald Monday, September 12, 2011

Editorial comic

by sam rosenfeld

le tter to the editor In defense of PLME and of facts To the Editor: I commend Young Seol ’14 for opening a discussion about PLME undergraduate requirements versus standard admission requirements (“The program in lax medical education,” Sept. 9). However, I seriously wonder if Seol did any research or even spoke to any medical students before extolling the virtues of competency in “electronics and particle physics.”

As a second-year medical student, I can assure all of you that these concepts provide no benefit to medical education. Even organic chemistry has little direct utility to medical school. Seol would have difficulty finding a medical student who is upset that our school focuses on educating us about patient care instead of particle physics.

Furthermore, Seol’s rationale about why residency programs receive undergraduate transcripts is a blatant falsehood. The Office of the Registrar

sends a single transcript for all of a student’s degrees at Brown. I could take the MCAT a dozen times, and this policy would remain intact — it is a matter of logistics, not of mistrust.

I graduated from Brown with an Sc.B. in biology, so I share Seol’s enthusiasm for the sciences. And I encourage all Brown students, pre-med or not, to take as many courses in the sciences as possible — not because you’re obligated to, but because the subject material is interesting and the professors are fascinating.

As for this article, I would remind Seol that evidence-based medicine is the cornerstone of medical practice. When you base your viewpoints on ire instead of reason — on opinions instead of facts — you do a disservice to yourself, your future classmates and your future patients.

Rahul Banerjee ’10 MD’14

quote of the day

“We do still have the humanity to be the nation

”

we once promised to be.

— President Ruth Simmons See Remembering on page 1.

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Opinions 11

The Brown Daily Herald Monday, September 12, 2011

Honor to whom honor is due

By Reuben Henriques Opinions Columnist

As the summer in Washington, D.C., revealed leaders acting ever more stubborn and childish, thank goodness, at least, that we at Brown know how to be adults.

Even at a school where the student body is, admittedly, a bit one-sided in its political leanings, we spend our four years here buffeted by diverse opinions from all sides.

Be it a speaker at an overflowing Janus Forum event, a professor or classmate in discussion section, or a friend (maybe one of those rare Republicans!) in the Sharpe Refectory, there is no shortage of people who both disagree with us and are willing to argue the point. Brown justly celebrates the debate and discourse that characterize our campus: In her welcome to the class of 2014, President Ruth Simmons encouraged students to practice open-mindedness, lauding “the diversity of thought that we believe so vital to your education.” By the time we graduate, we are ready to go off and be responsible, respectful citizens of our community, nation and world.

It would be a shame, then, if someone managed to obtain a Brown degree with their ideological blinders intact, in the habit of caricaturing and dismissing anyone who disagreed with them, making superficial arguments with no sense of the importance of defending their opinions.

Unfortunately, in May, at least one person — I pray only one — managed to do just that. Allow me to introduce Arianna Huffington, CEO of the Huffington Post and, as of 2011, proud holder of an honorary degree from our august institution.

For the five of you reading this who have never encountered the Huffington Post, the site is an amalgam of political news, celebrity nip-slips and lefty opinion — a cross between tabloid journalism and MoveOn.org, masquerading as the next New York Times. To give you a feel for the

tial for constructive debate. On the other hand, it’s a great way to sell ads and attract left-wing viewers, just like a list of the “10 Biggest Sarah Palin Conspiracies” or an exclusive Huffington Post Report titled “The GOP’s Sin City.” Fair and balanced this ain’t.

Unfortunately, the type of news-opinion combination that the Huffington Post epitomizes so well foreshadows a political sphere where, more and more, we engage only with other people who share our worldview. One writer in the New Repub-

This tone — alarmingly strident, superficial, devoid of nuance — permeates Huffington’s site, if not her entire worldview. site’s frenetic, sensational tone, I offer an example headline: “GOP candidates step into a minefield,” accompanied by a giant, unflattering picture of Michele Bachmann superimposed onto a high voltage sign.

This tone — alarmingly strident, superficial, devoid of nuance — permeates Huffington’s site, if not her entire worldview. One need only glance at the title of her most recent book, “Right is Wrong,” for an example of the type of attitude that has led to the gridlock and bickering that characterize contemporary politics. Dismissing 50 percent of the population as straight-up incorrect precludes any poten-

lic perhaps said it best in calling the site “glitzy edification for the progressive congregation.” The political slant of the site is unabashed, and the army of bloggers in Huffington’s employ disagree only over, for example, exactly how insane Republicans are. Over in the “news” section of the site, stories of Republican insanity are often featured prominently and disproportionately. When your news is filtered through an echo chamber of people with whom you already agree, you become less and less inclined to seek common ground with the variety of people with whom you don’t. Instead, you think with Huffing-

tonian clarity: Right is wrong, and I am right. While such a mindset might make for extremely confident ideologues, it leads also to a polarized, atomized society where any agreement on, and action towards, political change becomes more and more impossible.

It’s curious that a school whose mission proudly proclaims its commitment to “discovering, communicating and preserving knowledge and understanding in a spirit of free inquiry” would single out for high honor a woman whose website represents — and is driving — the evercheapening of our country’s political debate. And it’s too bad that Huffington got her Brown degree without ever taking a Brown class or spending time with Brown students. Disregarding a few regrettable pie-throwing incidents, people here have an admirable willingness to listen to John Yoo or read Ayn Rand and consider their ideas with the same open-mindedness and respect that we would accord their more left-leaning counterparts. By the time we graduate, our classes and our peers have given us intimate encounters with a broad spectrum of ideas, and we’ve forged our own opinions in the fire of a robust debate.

These, not the Huffington Post’s tabloid-y and partisan approach, are the values that Brown ought to celebrate and reward in the people to whom it grants degrees.

Reuben Henriques ’12 is a political science concentrator from Madison, Wis. He can be reached at reuben_henriques@brown.edu.

An African student’s suggestions

By Ian Trupin Opinions Columnist

I feel strongly that the African community at Brown could benefit from increased cohesion. As I argued in my final column of last semester (“The African Student’s Burden,” April 18), African students in higher education are generally subject to certain expectations regarding their ability to contribute to the futures of their respective countries. In light of many African countries’ continued political instability and economic, environmental and social challenges, students are expected to apply all opportunities for learning to the development of knowledge and skills pertinent to these issues.

The underlying assumption that African students studying abroad may be influential figures at home is clearly based in reality. Consider the extent to which foreigneducated people continue to hold positions of power in much of Africa. Though the number of western-educated African leaders includes such despots as Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Taylor, one could list many more African graduates of non-African universities who are known for their positive contributions, from literature and the arts to civil service and political leadership.

These expectations make sense. External actors are often criticized for the consequences of their approaches to development, such as non-governmental organi-

zations whose activities can obstruct the long-term development of public sector services. Having the many Africans who graduate from institutions abroad return with applicable skills to their countries is one of the most obvious steps towards increasing the capacity of African civil societies and government sectors.

To a large extent, these expectations are matched by the priorities of African students studying at places like Brown. Most of the African students I know at Brown are considering or pursuing concentrations in engineering, economics or international

coming African scholars. Brown’s faculty includes an illustrious contingent of Africans and scholars of Africa, including a department devoted to the study of the continent and its diaspora, and visiting African scholars every semester.

But the Chinua Achebe colloquia have been almost devoid of undergraduate students of any nationality. African graduate students with whom I have communicated lament the lack of ties between themselves and undergraduate students. The single time I met Dul Johnson, a Nigerian documentary filmmaker and fiction writer who

In this column, my intent is not to lay blame on a single party. The strength of a community comes from the commitment and energy of those who participate in it.

relations — areas that probably suit President Simmons’ prescription of “(upgrading) their knowledge of science and technology.” What is missing is the support and access to resources that could exist and benefit these individuals.

From the “Violent Cities” conference that was held at Brown last April to our annual Chinua Achebe colloquia, events highly relevant to the continent abound on Brown’s campus. The graduate school has drawn an inspiring handful of up-and-

was a visiting scholar at Brown last semester, the first thing he had to say was about how, on the eve of his departure, he was for the first time meeting the community of African undergraduates. How can African students at Brown get the most out of their education — and then save the world — if, as things are now, the African community is so fragmented?

In this column, my intent is not to lay blame on a single party. The strength of a community comes from the commit-

ment and energy of those who participate in it. For a stronger African community to emerge at Brown, there are roles that must be played by administrators, program planners, faculty and students.

In view of the relative underrepresentation of African students when compared with the matriculation of students of other foreign nationalities, administrators can certainly contribute to the process by following the Advancing Africa Scholarship Fund with continued opportunities for African students to attend Brown. The planners of this year’s round of conferences, colloquia and other events pertaining to the African continent could choose to reach out more effectively to the rest of the African community. And — an essential ingredient of the process — undergraduates can continue to support each other through strong friendships and participation in organizations such as the African Students Association. In the time-honored tradition of comparing Brown to a certain peer institution of ours, I must add that the highly active undergraduate Harvard African Students Association is accompanied by a similar organization among graduate students at Harvard Law School, in addition to an alumni association. Brown could be a better place for African students and others seeking to understand and work on issues relevant to various African peoples, but there must be commitment and vision to achieve that.

Ian Trupin ’13 is a commerce, organizations and entrepreneurship concentrator.

Daily Herald Arts & Culture the Brown

Monday, September 12, 2011

Grit over glitz: in defense of student theater By kristina fazzalaro Arts & Culture Editor

One stage is nearly bare, constructed of metal pipes and plywood. The lighting sharply illuminates the actors’ faces — faces seemingly too fresh to dig into the hearts of the characters they portray. They are dressed in black, they wear the same sandals on their feet — only the subtlest of details give them some recognizability. A worn leather jacket, a feathered boa, a video camera.

The music soars, and voices rise to meet notes sometimes just beyond their grasp. And then suddenly you are lost in the simplicity of a story so well-known and loved that it’s okay if everything isn’t perfect. Because isn’t that part of the play’s message anyway?

The other stage, 200 miles away in New York City, is almost unrecognizable as an actual stage.

You are in Mark and Roger’s living room. You are on the streets of Manhattan. The actors walk you through a set of sparkling Christmas lights and snow-covered alleyways dressed head-to-toe in Alphabet City perfection. Their pitch is flawless, their hair is gelled just so and suddenly you find yourself as far removed from the story as possible. Sometimes, it turns out, less is a whole lot more.

Last semester, Musical Forum’s production of “Rent,” Jonathan Larson’s soulful beast of a musical, threw out everything but the kitchen sink in its beautiful retelling of the rock opera. This past August, New York City’s OffBroadway venue New World Stages produced a revival that packed quite a punch of glitz and a double dose of glamor, but not nearly as much heart as Forum’s.

That’s not to say that OffBroadway, or Broadway for that matter, should be discredited.

nice, too cute, too clean.

The production was enjoyable overall, with excellent vocals and new, fast-paced dance steps. But I could have easily listened to the soundtrack and been just as happy.

Musical Forum’s production, directed by Chantel Whittle ’12, featured a cast of incredibly strong young actors that did something their New York counterparts failed to do: ensnare the audience with grit rather than glitz.

Perhaps it was the setup of the stage — the audience surrounds the main stage in a horse shoe format with actors entering and exiting through the aisles — that contributed to the feeling of inclusion. It feels as though you are right there, a fly on the wall as the action happens around you. There is an immediacy to the action that makes each event seem urgent, necessary and unforgettable — a continued on page 9

— Jeffrey Handler

Courtesy of Jonathan Key

such a driving, pivotal part of the musical — fails to entrance the viewer as it has in previous renditions.

While some may blame this on the cast being rather young and inexperienced — MJ Rodriguez, who plays Angel, is just 20 — I would venture to say it has less to do with age and more to do with the distracting nature of the set.

Visually stimulating it may be on first sight, but as emotional intensity builds between the characters, it is sometimes hard to focus one’s attention on the dialogue with the abundance of props and overzealous use of lighting.

There were also some questionable casting and styling calls. Matt Shingledecker is almost too pretty to play the gritty, rock-n-roll guitar player Roger. His perfectly spiked hair doesn’t help paint the picture of a struggling, slightly dirty rogue of Alphabet City.

Adam Chanler-Berat as Mark faces a similar struggle. He is too

A 9/11 tribute shaped by Brown prof On the anniversary of Sept. 11 every year, two beams of light shoot into the sky to commemorate the fallen twin towers, and yesterday night was no different. The beams, a public art installation called “Tribute in Light,” was co-created by Paul Myoda, assistant professor of visual art.

“The very first impulse was to put the buildings back,” Myoda wrote in an email to The Herald, reflecting on his initial motivation for the display.

“We could still feel them, and see them in our mind’s eye.”

When “Tribute in Light” was first installed, Myoda remembers being struck by both the illuminative and emotional intensity of the display, he wrote.

The creators requested that the astronauts in a NASA shuttle mission take a picture of the display from space, but since the mission was out of range, the creators decided to create suppositional images in different orbits.

“I really came to see the tribute from space,” Myoda wrote. “It is like some baffling Morse code which sends out an annual message of dashes, dots and emptiness.”

“At the most basic level it is a shout or cry or attempt to simply reach out and say: we are still here,” he wrote.

Musical Forum’s production of “Rent” last semester revealed the gritty strenghts of student theater.

Every production is different.

Every actor has a strength and every director, a vision. Sometimes everything comes together and sometimes it doesn’t. The rub is that student theater is often overlooked or disregarded simply because it is student theater.

For a musical like “Rent,” which has captured so many people’s adoration and become such a present entity in today’s popular culture, it is easy to be critical.

Finding flaws in casting, set design and execution is a quick and almost satisfying process. So was the case with New World Stages’ revival.

While the talent of the actors is notable — especially the vivacious Arianda Fernandez as Mimi and Broadway alum Annaleigh Ashford as Maureen — the relationships between their characters seemed thin throughout the production.

For example, the love between Collins and Angel — generally

Ne ws in brief

On display: Architecture of the future

By Sophia Seawell Contributing Writer

In an introduction to his new exhibit in the David Winton Bell gallery, Nathaniel Walker GS described himself as a student of the word “progress.”

The exhibit, entitled “Building Expectation: Past and Present Visions of the Architectural Future,” explores how architectural imagery has been used throughout history to “reform, sell and market” ideas of the future, often for political or commercial purposes.

“Progress,” Walker said, has been “used to build the expectations and imaginations of citizens all around the world for three centuries,” causing them to believe that “tomorrow will be better.”

Walker explained that he was inspired by a moment when he returned to Nashville, Tenn., from a trip to Europe. Walker said he was struck by how Nashville had become “an automobile-dependent

wasteland … designed more for cars than people,” in stark contrast to the “walkable” cities of Europe.

Nashville, he said, had been completely changed in the name of progress.

The first portion of the exhibit focused on architecture that attempted to reform the future, often with a political agenda. This idea, “in support of the industrial supremacy,” was based on an “imperfect reading of Darwin’s theory,” Walker said, that resulted in the belief that man began in the jungle and should end in the factory.

Many of the images, including prints and posters as well as memorabilia, showed colorful, complex structures in the sky, but also items like a one-hour labor “bill” which Robert Owen, a British industrialist, believed should replace our current monetary system.

The next portion, Selling the Future, was about a time when the future was “imagined, designed, packaged and sold as a commod-

ity.” Items in this portion included magazines like “Everyday Science and Mechanics” as well as trading cards and post cards featuring futuristic visions of family life or the city of Boston. Walker called these artifacts both “prophetic and comedic.” There was a sense of false, forced optimism in these images — one could almost tell that the creators of these objects were indeed trying to sell consumers something.

Marketing the Future, the third portion of the exhibit, involved “visions created by corporations to sell products and services that already existed,” Walker explained.

By using the idea of a better future, corporations like General Motors and Seagull whiskey could “glamorize their goods” and “transform them into imported luxuries.”

These three parts made up the retrospective portion of the exhibit — that is, they looked at past

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King Camp Gillette’s Cityscape of Metropolis (1894) is featured in “Building Expectation,” currently on display at the David Winton Bell Gallery.