Thursday, September 29, 2011

Daily

the Brown

vol. cxlvi, no. 76

Herald

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Since 1891

Students rally against foreclosures

Masturbator provokes anxiety on John Street

By Elizabeth carr Senior Staff Writer

Over 60 protesters gathered to challenge Bank of America and rising home foreclosures in front of the bank’s building in downtown Providence yesterday afternoon.

By Kat Thornton Senior Staff Writer

ENGN 0120D: “Strategies for Creative Process: Design Topics” takes advantage of the most unique aspect of the building’s design — its staggered floors. In the class, students work through many iterations of a project, moving between the physical and multimedia labs that are connected by a glass wall.

“By looking into other spaces, you get ideas,” said Ian Gonsher, professor of engineering and for-

They do not know his name, but some students have had disturbingly close encounters with him.

He often comes up in conversation and has become the subject of jokes and songs. The man, an infamous naked masturbator, has been spotted in the yards of at least three off-campus student houses since this summer.

“We had called him the ‘peeping tom,’” said Avery Houser ’12.5, who said some of his friends call him the “jerking tom.”

A female senior living in a John Street house said she has seen the man — who usually stands outside her kitchen window — at least five times this month. She last saw him Friday night around 9 p.m., she said.

The man was first spotted by residents of her house over the July 4 weekend. The residents requested their address not be printed and their names be witheld due to concerns that the man would be able to identify them.

“I was doing dishes in the kitchen, and I saw a naked man.

And then I realized he’s masturbating — completely naked and masturbating,” said a female junior who lives in the house. She said he was within a foot and a half of the kitchen window at the time.

continued on page 2

continued on page 2

city & state The rally was organized by Jobs for Justice, Direct Action for Rights and Equality and Service Employees International Union, Local 615 — three organizations dedicated to workers’ rights. It was coordinated with other rallies occurring across the country, including one scheduled for Friday in Boston. The ultimate goal of the rallies is to stop the bank’s foreclosures, said Eliza Sparkes, labor organizer for Local 615.

“Bank of America essentially refuses to negotiate,” Sparkes said.

Ne ws in brief

Elizabeth Carr / Herald

Homeowners, janitors and students joined forces yesterday to protest Bank of America’s rising foreclosures and layoffs.

“We’re being screwed by the banking system,” Christopher Currie, council coordinator for the Rhode Island branch of MoveOn. org, told The Herald. “And I’m not okay with that.”

The bank — led by CEO Brian Moynihan ’81 P’14, a trustee of

By Lucy Feldman Senior Staff Writer

continued on page 5

Off the main entrance looms the work of famous Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang. A student’s hiking journey is memorialized on the walls upstairs. And in the basement, a virtual chef can make you a pizza modeled after the globe. Every once in a while, he is shot dead.

It has been seven months since the $38 million Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative

Arts opened its shining glass doors and began filling its halls with art. Since its opening, it has housed classes, lectures, exhibits and events.

This semester, the building — which has four flexible-use studios, two media labs and an auditorium — hosts 14 classes across seven departments. The building also features a recording studio, a traditional classroom and small sitting areas called “living rooms” off each stairwell landing.

MunchCard takes over Thayer Street

By David Rosen Contributing Writer

About 250 Brown and RISD students have signed up for MunchCard — a student-created restaurant discount program — a month into its launch. The MunchCard, billed by its creators as an offcampus alternative to University meal plans, is now being accepted at 20 College Hill eateries, with more to come.

While the Blue Room now offers Asian food, Josiah’s added Polish sausage and the Gate has been — Sophia Seawell outfitted with miniature tables, the

Post-

sneezes, tears its ACL

MunchCard is driving changes of its own on Thayer Street, affecting where students decide to eat and how much they spend.

“I don’t think it makes sense for anyone not to have a MunchCard,” said Jacob Price ’13, who is not on a campus meal plan and frequently uses the card.

Andrew Silverman ’14, who is not yet a MunchCard user, said while he would consider using the card as a supplement to his meal plan, he would not completely abandon a campus meal plan be-

Herald file photo

continued on page 4

MunchCard, an alternative to campus meal plans, allows students to eat at many of the restaurants on Thayer Street at a discount.

Simmons Says U.’s focus has shifted from undergrads to research Post-, Inside

Opinions, 7

weather

The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority authorized a reduction Tuesday in the frequency of bus service on 13 routes, according to an article in yesterday’s Providence Journal.

The changes, effective Nov. 1, will save $548,000 annually. The most recent cuts are the latest in a slew of reductions that have reduced the original RIPTA budget deficit of $4.6 million to $1.9 million.

To close the entire budget gap, “you would have to eliminate over 50 jobs,” RIPTA Board Chairman Thomas Deller told the Journal.

A large portion of RIPTA’s funding comes from the gas tax, which has generated less revenue in recent years. This decrease, along with spending beyond RIPTA’s appropriated funds, have fueled the current deficit.

If RIPTA fails to close the gap within the next few months, further service reductions are likely to take place this winter.

“Next year, the problem’s going to be worse,” Michael Lewis, director of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, told the Journal. Legislation before Congress could result in significant reductions in federal funding for public transit in the state.

inside

documents without reviewing them. The scandal has significantly decreased the rate of foreclosure across the industry, but the bank resumed more active foreclosure activity last month.

Arts center sparks creativity, complaints

RIPTA cuts service hours for 13 routes

news....................2-4 editorial...............6 Opinions................7 City & State............8

Brown’s Corporation — became embroiled in a scandal last year when documents came to light revealing that Bank of America and its competitors engaged in robo-signing, a process in which bank employees improperly approved mortgage and foreclosure

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2 Campus News calendar Today

September 29

12 P.m.

ToMORROW

September 30

“Dynamic Landscapes,”

Better World by Design Mixer,

Joukowsky Institute

42 Rice St. 9 p.m.

Paper and Pixel Release Party,

Starla and Sons Show,

Petteruti Lounge

Salomon 001

menu SHARPE REFECTORY

VERNEy-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH

Vegan Nuggets with Dipping Sauce, Spicy Collard Greens with Bacon, Chicken Milanese

Chicken Caesar Salad Wrap, Eggplant Parmesan, Zucchini and Summer Squash

DINNER Grilled Marinated Boneless Pork Chop, Tortellini Angelica, Sunny Sprouts, Carrot Cake

‘Growing pains’ for arts center continued from page 1

7:30 p.m.

7 p.m.

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, September 29, 2011

Tequila Lime Chicken, Grecian Zucchini Bake, Wax Beans, Carrot Cake

Sudoku

Cr ossword

mer professor of visual art. “It’s an embodiment of the open curriculum, and it’s changing the creative culture at Brown.”

Students and faculty alike celebrated the energy in the building and its external beauty. “It has an atmosphere of optimism. People come in and often smile and see the creative opportunities that are here,” said Richard Fishman, professor of visual art and director of the Creative Arts Council, who has been involved with the center since the beginning of its planning 10 years ago.

“When I go inside, I feel like I need to do something creative,” said Mat Kelley ’14, who intends to concentrate in visual art. “It’s so strong. You go in, and there’s a very vibrant environment.”

Charlie Kannel ’14, who often picnics on the grass in front of the building, said, “It’s just really beautiful from the outside. I think everyone can appreciate that.”

Kannel, who plans to concentrate in environmental studies, said he is excited about the building’s sustainability-oriented features, which include a temperature-regulating green roof and windows that help the building conserve electricity. “I appreciate that it represents the University’s commitment to building more sustainable buildings with aspects of environmental design,” he said.

Though students enjoy the idea and energy of the building, some have complaints about specific aspects of the rooms. Joe Rim ’12, a music concentrator, said the building does not provide what the traditional musicians on campus are hoping for, though the technology housed in the building is great for electronic musicians. “Everyone

Rachel Kaplan / Herald

The Granoff Center has provided the community with space to enjoy art.

just really wants a concert hall,” he said.

A concert hall was in the original plan for the building, but limits on the land and available funds made it impossible to build, Fishman said. In the early stages of planning, faculty members of the arts departments had to make a choice between improving their own facilities and creating the new center.

“They agreed to give up something, to be a part of something bigger,” he said.

As an a cappella singer, Rim was disappointed with the acoustics of the Martinos Auditorium. “It tends to eat sound from your own perspective. That feedback is essential to hear yourself and correct for mistakes and changes in pitch,” he said.

The acousticians who worked on the auditorium will adjust the sound in the near future, possibly over winter break, Fishman said. He said the lights, which are motionactivated and sometimes turn on while students are watching presentations in the dark, will also be

adjusted.

Chira DelSesto, assistant director of the Creative Arts Council, attributed difficulties with the building’s features to “growing pains,” she said. “When we opened, we were pretty much a construction zone.

We’re in a little better shape, and things seem to be working more consistently.”

Many students said the center is less accessible than they had hoped.

Dominic Wu ’12 lamented the difficulty of reserving rooms. He said when he tries to reserve the auditorium for his a cappella group, the Higher Keys, the room is “always booked.”

Students can reserve any space in the building, but the center is entirely booked for fall, said DelSesto.

None of the groups who do have access to the spaces this semester should get too comfortable. “The core concept of the building is that it isn’t anybody’s home space,” DelSesto said. “In order for the program to stay fresh, we can’t have the same things here all the time.”

Intruder provokes student anger, fear continued from page 1 The police came within a few minutes of her call, but the man had already left. He has run every time residents call the police.

Houser said he did not know what to do when he saw the perpetrator Sept. 4. He described the man as having a mop of black hair and wearing gym shorts with a shirt on top of his head.

“We think we know who it is,” said Providence Police Lt. John

Daily

the Brown

Ryan. Ryan, who declined to give the suspect’s name, said the suspect has been arrested about 22 times, which could be the reason he is now so good at evading capture.

Ryan urged students to remain vigilant and to call the police as soon as they detect any suspicious activity. “If they call us when it happens, we can get there in just a few minutes,” he said.

When the man is arrested, he will be charged with disorderly conduct and will likely serve three

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The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement, once during Orientation and once in July by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Single copy free for each member of the community.

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to six months in jail, Ryan said The University is aware of the problem and has offered support for students in affected houses.

The junior said she spoke with a dean in the Office of Student Life, who offered the students oncampus rooms until the situation is resolved. The office later followed up with her and her housemates to offer further assistance, she said.

At first, the junior’s reaction to the masturbator was one of sympathy. She said her first thought was, “He has no outlet for this sort of desire.”

“But now, I’m so angry at him,” she said.“It’s violating that he feels entitled to get off on our sense of security.”

Houser said the man is a topic of constant conversation among his friends. He said his friends have made jokes and even songs about the intruder.

But the playfulness partly belies the gravity of the intrusion. “It’s scary. I think that’s why people are joking about it so much,” Houser said. “You would expect your home to be an objectively safe place, but then, all of a sudden, there is this presence that makes it really open.”

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, September 29, 2011

Campus News 3

Biologists, economists New TWC director presents to UCS unite over fisheries

By David Chung Senior Staff Writer

By Katherine Cusumano Contributing Writer

Since her first visit to Mexico’s Gulf of California in 1996, Heather Leslie, assistant professor of environmental studies, has seen the fish stock decline first-hand. The gulf, which supplies more than half of Mexico’s seafood and three-fourths of its shrimp, is changing rapidly.

Leslie and Sriniketh Nagavarapu, assistant professor of economics and environmental studies, received over $240,000 Sept. 15 to study the relationship between the Mexican people and their environment. They will work with researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego and the Nature Conservancy.

Leslie has been involved in projects along the Gulf of California, which she called the “seafood basket” of Mexico, for seven years. The grant will allow her and other researchers to conduct nearly 18 months of interdisciplinary studies about coupled human and natural systems.

Natural resources are especially important in developing areas, Nagavarapu said. “Small communities are dependent on these natural resources for income.”

The project will encompass several areas of research. One study involves how environmental factors affect resource management by private corporations.

Several surveys will also extend the scope of the research — in particular, plans to survey corporate leaders in the gulf will shed light on the relationship between private

and government monitoring of fishing stocks.

The project is a truly interdisciplinary one. Leslie specializes in translating knowledge from environmental studies into policy and management. Nagavarapu’s background is environmental and developmental economics. These areas “all inform how we’re thinking about people,” Leslie said.

This interdisciplinary approach is something that is only possible in Brown’s unique atmosphere, Leslie said.

The research has not yet affected any policy in the area, but Leslie said they are not pressing for policy changes. They aim instead to provide the information necessary for the Mexican people, corporations and government to work together to find a solution.

Problems in the area are receiving increasing attention. The Marine Stewardship Council, a major sustainable seafood agency, recently gave its approval to the Pacific sardine fishery, the largest fishery in the area. The agency brought together the conservation group Comunidad y Biodiversidad and fishery stakeholders to forge a policy that satisfied everyone’s needs, according to a press release by the council July 21.

Leslie and Nagavarapu were among the 20 recipients of the National Science Foundation’s Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems grants. The research team, which includes postdoctoral research associates Leila Sievanen and Sheila Walsh, will head for the west coast in January.

At the general body meeting of the Undergraduate Council of Students last night, Mary Grace Almandrez, newly appointed director of the Third World Center and assistant dean of the College, laid out her vision for the center.

Almandrez, who established multicultural centers at three other institutions before coming to Brown, said she is taking a threepronged approach to furthering the center’s mission — recruiting allies for the center, promoting its activities beyond the physical confines of the center and appointing two professionals.

She said she hopes to recruit allies to combat racism, sexism and homophobia against traditionally marginalized communities. Almandrez added that she wanted to raise awareness of social justice issues in the community by engaging with various student organizations and increasing the center’s presence on campus.

Almandrez said she is also planning to hire two staffers for the spring semester to strengthen the center’s commitment to its mission — one to focus on program development and one to focus on first- and second-year programs, such as the Third World Transition Program.

Though the recent focus of the center has been “cultural expression,” Almandrez said she aims to further promote “deep discussion.”

Council committee leaders also provided updates at the meeting. Todd Harris ’14, chair of the academic and administrative affairs committee, has been reviewing the University’s online student resources, such as Advising Sidekick, with Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron. Campus Life Chair Michael Schneider ’13 is continuing work on initiatives that have been on the table since last year, including improving SafeRide and increasing lighting on the Main Green.

4 Campus News

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, September 29, 2011

MunchCard builds reputation, business relationships continued from page 1 fore senior year.

The card is accepted at most Thayer Street restaurants, from Andreas to Mama Kim’s — which, along with FroyoWorld and East Side Pockets — is one of the most popular destinations for card users, according to MunchCard cofounder Ben Vishny ’14.

As originally formulated, MunchCard mimicked University meal plans’ combination of meal

credits and points, but Vishny and co-founder Steven Tran ’13 ultimately opted for a more straightforward discount model. Students can put money on the card, which then works like a debit card.

Cardholders receive a 10 percent discount at most of the destinations that accept MunchCard.

Meeting Street Cafe, which already offers a 10 percent student discount, offers 20 percent off the menu price to card users.

Some restaurants, such as Kart-

abar, offer prix fixe meals that cost $6.99 with a MunchCard.

“Students who would never really come here are coming in now for lunch and for dinner,” said Susan Mardo, Kartabar’s general manager. “It’s good for us and good for students.”

Tran and Vishny piloted the program this summer, but when it began in earnest this fall, a few restaurants encountered technical difficulties.

After trying to pay with her

card at Antonio’s, Amina Saigol ’13 said employees could not figure out whether the transaction had been completed. She later checked her account online and realized she had not been charged for the meal.

Tran said the system is now running more smoothly.

This is good news for the two founders, who have been working to establish the company’s reputation on campus.

“We’re still new, we’re still young, and we want to show everyone it’s safe and legitimate,” Tran said.

The company is also focused on growth. Last week, in an effort to sign up more students, MunchCard offered $5 credits at Meeting Street Cafe to new customers, in addition to the $3 every cardholder receives towards Mama Kim’s upon signing up.

The company has also sought out new partner restaurants. In the past week, Paragon and Geoff ’s joined the growing list of restaurants with “MunchCard Accepted Here” decals on their doors.

Vishny and Tran said they are also recruiting Mijos Taco Truck, which has recently appeared on campus, and some franchises, like Chipotle and Au Bon Pain.

In the long term, the co-founders said the meal plan may reach Wickenden Street and potentially incorporate convenience stores, like Metro Mart.

While they are running a for-profit business, Vishny and Tran said they are more focused on leaving a lasting impact at Brown. Considering the hours the two have put into MunchCard, if profit were the primary concern, Vishny said, “We would be better off working for BuDS.”

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, September 29, 2011

City & State 5

Charter school tests ‘K to 16’ system continued from page 8 also ensure that it upholds rigorous academic standards. Teachers and administrators need to be certain that students are still developing the appropriate skills in writing, mathematics and other basic core courses.

According to Pilkington, though, the school will be providing instruction in four major areas — English, history, math and science — with two teachers assigned to each subject. While the school will not offer advanced nursing courses, learning will often focus on nursing applications.

In math, for instance, students may work with equations involving dosages and body weights.

Students will enter the school after completing their freshman or sophomore year at a traditional high school. Depending

on whether they attend for three or four years, students may earn from 28 to 32 college credits — enough to graduate with sophomore standing.

Pilkington explained that the school’s “blended faculty model” will allow students to benefit from the “best practices” of high school teachers and college faculty, such as having clear syllabi for courses, being able to attend office hours and scheduling parentteacher meetings. And because college courses will be taught at the school’s 150 Washington St. campus, students will not have to commute to receive college credit.

The Board of Regents will reconvene to evaluate the success of the school in five years and determine whether or not to renew its charter, Krieger said.

Wong said that school administrators must now do three

things to better their chances for success — reach out to diverse communities that may otherwise not hear about the new program, make sure they are attracting the right teachers and be transparent about their policies and objectives. “The perception of charter schools is that they will try to compete with other public schools. And the competition is definitely there, but they need to continue to keep the community informed so people don’t start having misperceptions.”

Ultimately, Pilkington hopes the new school will help improve retention rates in associate’s and bachelor of science programs in nursing at the state’s colleges and universities by creating a seamless “K to 16” education system.

“We’re blurring that line,” he said. “And it’s all in the public dollar.”

State pension debate unresolved continued from page 8 posed changes, but all potentially affected groups will “share the burden” financially.

The advisory group also proposed a 25-year re-amortization of the state’s pension system — a change that would reduce the unfunded liability and employer costs in the short term. The group made no attempt to calculate the long-term costs of re-amortization, Ferland said.

Municipal pensions, including police and fire plans, received minimal attention from the advisory group. These 36 pension plans have a combined $2.1 billion unfunded liability — less than half of the state system’s roughly $7 billion unfunded liability.

“I have to say, we did not spend

a great deal of time on this,” Ferland said, prompting criticism from joint-committee members.

“I don’t think we’ve placed enough emphasis on the local plans and how important they are,” said Rep. Daniel Reilly, RMiddleton, Newport and Portsmouth. “If they’re not brought into the solution, we’re doing a great disservice to them.”

Rep. Larr y Valencia, DCharlestown, Exeter and Richmond, agreed with Reilly. He added that the state should consider making more teachers and public officials eligible for Social Security. “I would love to see them opt in,” he said.

There were “things that clearly didn’t get tackled,” Ferland said of the advisory group hearings.

Despite suggesting that transi-

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tioning to a hybrid plan is the best solution, the advisory group fell short of reaching a consensus on many important issues, she said.

“There’s a lot of ground to cover.”

Bank protesters bash ‘bad lending’ continued from page 1 Bank of America has modified — that is, negotiated a lower rate to avoid foreclosure — over 900,000 mortgages since 2008, including over 19,000 in Rhode Island, said T.J. Crawford, a spokesman for the bank. He said the bank only resorts to foreclosures after it has already “exhausted every other option.”

A group of undergraduates enrolled in the first-year seminar HIST 0970X: “Gandhi’s Way” attended the rally as part of an assignment that tasked them with taking part in civil disobedience and observing community action.

“We’re doing this in the spirit of Gandhi and civil resistance,” said Emilio Leanza ’15. For “many of us, this is the first protest we’ve been to.”

The rally featured speakers who had been impacted by the bank’s foreclosures.

“It was our dream to own this house, and now we’re at the risk of losing it, thanks to Bank of America,” said Laura Caceres, a

local community member. She and her husband, a janitor at the bank, are $30,000 in debt.

Local resident Michael Crichton described himself as “one of many Rhode Islanders being displaced by big banks’ bad lending policies.”

He and his wife bought their home during the housing bubble and are now left with a house worth less than half of what they paid. “We felt punished for a crazy housing market that we had no control of,” Crichton told the protesters.

“We work for a living, but instead we earned a cage,” he added.

Union representatives of janitors being laid off by Bank of America also spoke at the rally.

Crawford noted that those janitors are employed by an independent facilities management firm at the building the bank leases.

The rally coincided with negotiations between janitors and their employers taking place in 22 cities. The goal is to “make these jobs not poverty jobs, but jobs that can sustain a family,” Sparkes said.

comics Cabernet Voltaire | Abe Pressman

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

6 Editorial & Letter Editorial

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, September 29, 2011

Editorial comic

b y a n d r e w a n ta r

Crossing borders Carnegie Mellon University proudly announced its partnership with the Rwandan government to open the first American graduate program in Rwanda Sept. 16. Even as Rwandan President Paul Kagame was delivering his keynote address to CMU students in Pittsburgh, news of the partnership was raising concerns among human rights advocates in the United States.

CMU in Rwanda, slated to commence its academic operations in August 2012, will offer a master of science degree in information technology in its first year and will later add a master of science degree in electrical and computer engineering. According to its website, the program hopes to have an initial class of 40 students, with classes of 150 students within five years. The University will work with government ministries to develop a program and research center that support the government’s Nation Information and Communication Infrastructure Plan and National Skills Development Program. Carnegie Mellon will maintain “complete academic autonomy” and “full operational control of the establishment.”

The training and degrees offered by CMU in Rwanda are consistent with the goals of the government. Rwanda has seen impressive stabilization and economic growth in the last decade, and was acknowledged as East Africa’s leader in information and communications technology by the United Nations in 2007. Development of this technology is a priority for economic growth, efficiency and improved access to information.

Despite Rwanda’s recent growth, and positive donor sentiment, the government’s concerning human rights record cannot be ignored. The 2011 Human Rights Watch World Report on Rwanda cites “numerous violations of civil and political rights” under the current government, identifying attacks on opposition, media repression, “heavy-handed” Gacaca trial outcomes and involvement in the Democratic Republic of Congo among the most serious concerns.

The Rwandan government’s complicity in human rights violations has been overlooked amid waves of praise of the country’s development, and we agree with the claims of groups like the African Great Lakes Coalition that the partnership between Carnegie Mellon and the Rwandan government could risk legitimizing questionable tactics and burying criticism of its leaders.

Love or hate Kagame, this particular partnership could hold promise for Rwanda’s future. It seems unlikely that the solution to human rights concerns lies in the exclusion of Rwandans from an education in technology and communications — an education that could strengthen infrastructure and development, increase access to information and ideas and, ultimately, increase transparency. As Kagame himself wrote in 2009, “The power in information technologies is that there are fewer excuses for nations to exclude themselves from these powerful networks and to mire their citizens in poverty.”

We hope the CMU program in Rwanda will increase scrutiny and raise the bar for standards of accountability of the Rwandan government.

Recent protests and debate suggest that it already has.

We have confidence in the integrity of Carnegie Mellon and its ability to recognize the impact of its work with the Rwandan government and to step back and acknowledge concerns if and when they arise. We also hope that CMU in Rwanda will be successful in offering high-quality graduate education to its students, with positive implications for communications and technology development in the nation as a whole, and that cross-cultural interactions will benefit the understandings of all involved.

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

t h e b r ow n da i ly h e r a l d Editors-in-Chief

Managing Editors

Senior Editors

Sydney Ember Ben Schreckinger

Brigitta Greene Anne Speyer

Dan Alexander Nicole Friedman Julien Ouellet

editorial Kristina Fazzalaro Rebecca Ballhaus Claire Peracchio Talia Kagan Amy Rasmussen Tony Bakshi Alex Bell Ethan McCoy Ashley McDonnell Sam Rubinroit Anita Mathews Sam Carter Hunter Fast

Arts & Culture Editor City & State Editor City & State Editor Features Editor Assistant Features Editor News Editor News Editor Sports Editor Sports Editor Assistant Sports Editor Editorial Page Editor Opinions Editor Opinions Editor

Graphics & Photos Abe Pressman Graphics Editor Emily Gilbert Photo Editor Rachel Kaplan Photo Editor Glenn Lutzky Photo Editor Jesse Schwimmer Sports Photo Editor Production Copy Desk Chief Dan Towne Assistant Copy Desk Chief Olivia Conetta Design Editor Anna Migliaccio Design Editor Katie Wilson Assistant Design Editor Leor Shtull-Leber Web Producer Neal Poole

Business General Managers Matthew Burrows Isha Gulati

Office Manager Shawn Reilly

Directors Aditi Bhatia Danielle Marshak Margot Grinberg Lisa Berlin

letter to the editor Fair Labor Association responds to criticisms To the Editor: As an affiliate of the Fair Labor Association, Brown University has been an advocate for workers’ rights across the globe for more than a decade.

A recent opinions column by Ian Trupin ’13 (“Celebrating 10 years of the Worker Rights Consortium,” Sept. 27) made several inaccurate claims about the work that the association and its affiliates are doing to ensure that fair labor standards are upheld in supplier factories. First, and most importantly: The association does not certify companies. Because conditions in factories are always changing, it is impossible to certify whether a brand is always in compliance with standards. Every factory faces compliance challenges and it is the joint responsibility of sourcing brands and factory management to identify and remedy those issues in a sustainable way. The association provides tools, resources and training to assist companies in these efforts.

Each year, Fair Labor Association-accredited monitors visit 5 percent of each affiliates’ factories. Since 1999, the association has conducted more than 1,000 such unannounced factory audits. Contrary to what the column states, the factories visited are selected at random by Fair Labor Association staff without involvement by the brands. Neither the brand nor the factories are advised in advance of monitoring visits.

As part of the audits, interviews with workers are conducted both in the factory and outside of the factory.

In addition to in-person interviews, more than 16,000 workers have participated in standardized, quantitative questionnaires which are completed anonymously by a randomly selected, representative sample of workers.

These questionnaires help us understand workers’ perception of the factories they work in.

The association’s board has an independent chair and 18 other members: six representing colleges and universities, six from NGOs and six from businesses.

All critical decisions of the board must be approved by a supermajority of board members — that is, four out of six members of all three groups. The board has no say over whether an assessment report is published. In fact, reports of all monitoring visits have been published, and will continue to be published, on our website.

The affiliation of brands with the association is voluntary. But as long as they are a part of the association, all companies must conduct internal monitoring to ensure compliance with the association’s code of conduct, remedy code violations in a systematic way and subject their supply chains to the association’s independent assessments.

Long-term solutions to systemic labor issues are possible only if companies, civil society and universities work together. The commitment of Brown University and other leading institutions is essential to protecting workers everywhere.

Jorge Perez-Lopez Executive Director of the Fair Labor Association

Corrections An article in Wednesday’s Herald, (“Employees put off retirement to retain health care,” Sept. 28) incorrectly stated that the University still offers an additional early retirement incentive for non-faculty members. In fact, this incentive was only offered from Nov. 9, 2009 to Dec. 23, 2009. The Herald regrets the error.

Sales Finance Alumni Relations Special Projects

An article in Tuesday’s Herald (“Keeping kosher, but not with meal plans,” Sept. 27) incorrectly stated that dining services created the Flex 20 kosher meal plan three years ago. In fact, this is only the second year the plan has been offered. The Herald regrets the error.

National Sales University Department Sales Recruiter Sales Sales and Communications Business Operations Business Analytics Alumni Engagement Special Projects Special Projects Special Projects

An article in Monday’s Herald (“Miscues bury Bears against Harvard,” Sept. 26) incorrectly identified punter Nathan Lovett ’12 as a Providence native. In fact, he is from East Providence. The Herald regrets the error.

Post- magazine Editor-in-Chief Sam Knowles Editor-in-Chief Amelia Stanton

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Opinions 7

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, September 29, 2011

The Simmons legacy

By Simon Liebling Opinions Columnist

No prospective student priced out of Brown has ever been the talk of campus.

There have been no Associated Press obituaries lamenting the loss of tenure, teaching or the university-college. But as we bemoan the departure of Brown’s most beloved president, let us interrupt the admiration for a moment to remember the losses no one ever bothered to commemorate.

From the beginning, it seemed that President Ruth Simmons and her administration took little pride in what makes Brown Brown. Obsessed with competitors, “peer institutions” and the battle for rankings and prestige, Simmons set out to make Brown into something it had never wanted or tried to be: Harvard South — a profithunting international research university that scoffs at the quaint naivete of the beloved university-college.

Recognizing the campus was not nearly glitzy enough for her aspirations, Simmons undertook a construction and renovation campaign on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars, ranging from the $100 million Sidney Frank Hall for Life Sciences to the rococo chandeliers that adorn J. Walter Wilson to a $10 million sidewalk.

And since Building Brown was the darling brainchild of her administration, when the recession came, the budget cuts had to made somewhere else.

Simmons, calling for shared sacrifice over construction noise, fired nearly 100 employees while trying to strong-arm Brown Dining Services and University Library workers into giving up their health care. Reminding us that spending less in a recession was the prudent thing for any-

Her resignation from Goldman, though, came only after she had tied Brown to the billions in bailout-backed executive bonuses she approved as a member of Goldman’s compensation committee, drawing the ire of the national media and dragging the University into the recession’s starkest example of tone-deaf corporate greed.

Back on campus, undergraduate education — never the biggest money maker — was shunted to the sidelines in favor of

Undergraduate education was shunted to the sidelines in favor of revenue and profit-maximization as the administration chased its vision of a corporatized research university.

one to do, she raised tuition 16 percent over the last four years, trusting that our families were somehow more able than Brown to shoulder the burden.

For her part, Simmons took a voluntary pay cut from Brown of about $100,000, but that turned out to be a symbolic gesture when she stepped down from her $323,000-a-year gig on the board of directors of Goldman Sachs with $5.7 million in company stock.

revenue and profit-maximization as the administration chased its vision of a corporatized research university. Abandoning Brown’s centuries-long and identity-defining commitment to resist pre-professional instruction, Simmons poured scarce resources into the medical school while establishing a school of engineering and a joint M.B.A. program. Online professional degree programs will begin next fall.

And because a corporatized, profitable

university consolidates power in the hands of management and pushes its professors to do more research and less teaching, Simmons’ administration rammed through tenure reforms that gave tenure-granting authority to administrators instead of to faculty and doubled the number of required letters from outside experts in a faculty member’s field — references that are earned not through quality teaching, which those experts never see, but rather through published (and profitable) research.

All these reforms — the defining accomplishments of Simmons’ presidential term — come at the cost of quality undergraduate education in the liberal arts, a singular emphasis that has always distinguished Brown from its Ivy League counterparts. By turning Brown into just another research university, Simmons has abandoned the particular identity that attracted generations of students who were looking for more than a safety school for Harvard, Princeton or Yale.

And to free up resources for her assimilationist vision, Brown under Simmons’ leadership has shamelessly embraced union-busting and price-gouging, ensuring that the true legacy of her tenure will not be progress and growth but homogeneity and corporatization.

Simon Liebling ’12 is from New Jersey.

He can be reached at simon.liebling@gmail.com.

A dance dance revolution?

By Jacqueline Braslow Guest Columnist

It’s a common dilemma for any skill-based student group on campus: Do we take in students who already show talent or inexperienced ones who will enable us to expand student opportunities at Brown? Ideally, students would be able to step through the Van Wickle Gates and try their hand at any activity that strikes their fancy. I wish this could be true for every class of student groups, but sadly, practical considerations demand otherwise.

As an active member of a student dance group, I share this view in reaction to Friday’s column by Lucia Seda ’12 (“Are we humans, dancers or both?” Sept. 23). The recent column accused dance groups on campus of trying to emulate professional groups, thereby leaving out the inexperienced dancers who bravely show up to auditions. Dance groups are in no way duping students into thinking they will make the cut regardless of skill level. There are videos on YouTube, and current members of the company are available to talk or demonstrate. Both give an accurate depiction of what might be expected. Moreover, whatever the end result, auditions are fun.

They are a way to meet new people, get exercise and potentially introduce someone to a new art form. Companies do not hold open auditions to wrangle in the highest number of interested students. Audition

turnouts have no real effect on the reputation of a student dance group.

Another point I’d like to respond to is the complaint of ambiguous expectations.

A dance company cannot say exactly what it is looking for because there is no way to put concrete guidelines on an art form.

Each member of a group sees auditionees differently, so there can be no uniform calculation of performance components.

Falsely advertising a certain standard for auditionees would be a gross misrepresentation of the process.

superiority. They aim to conduct auditions in the most efficient manner possible.

I have never seen any student campus dance group presenting a professional facade to the Brown community. Groups pride themselves on being run — both administratively and creatively — by students. As for the alleged mimicking of “real” companies, there is no mimicking.

These are real companies. Our logos and attire are unique to a specific group. They are used to show pride and identification with a group, not to put on airs. Almost

I would love for student dance groups to have the ability to take on any student who shows interest. But they can’t. It’s a matter of space.

As for the audition itself, the seemingly intimidating assigned numbers and stints of choreography are not meant to scare people away or give a false impression of professionalism. Numbers are necessary to keep track of a room full of nameless faces.

Choreography gives the auditionee an opportunity to show both technique and expression. I’ve never been to an audition — or heard of any friends who have — that does not use this format, regardless of how casual or formal the group is. Dance groups do not mean to intimidate or give an air of

every student group on campus makes Tshirts. Why should dance groups be held to a different standard?

Despite my frustration with the previous negative portrayal of dance companies, there is a bigger problem at hand here I would like to address. I would love for student dance groups to have the ability to take on any student who shows interest.

But they can’t. It’s a matter of space. Brown’s campus lacks adequate performance spaces for student dance groups numbering more than 20. And don’t even get me start-

ed about rehearsal spaces. With an undergraduate population of over 6,000, you would think there would be more than two and a half rooms with full mirrors available for creative student use.

These restrictions limit the growth of current dance companies. Without the space to expand and with a growing interest pool, there is really only one solution: to become more selective in the audition process. In some cases, this creates highly-skilled groups that might be difficult to join for someone who is new to dance.

The most important message I can send to dance novices on campus is this: A rejection from a previously established group is not a rejection from the greater dance community. One way to get involved is to take classes offered by the University. But since there is currently only one department studio, chances are good that what is offered either won’t suit you or will conflict with another class. Another great way to remedy the lack of opportunity for inexperienced dancers is to start your own group.

But this is also not a very feasible solution, since these new open-door dance groups would have nowhere to rehearse.

I would love to see more students get involved in dance at Brown. Sadly, I also believe we can’t see a truly egalitarian expansion of the dance community until there is more space available for dance groups on campus.

Jacqueline Braslow ’14 is choreographing in her bathroom.

She can be reached at jacqueline_braslow@brown.edu

Daily Herald City & State the Brown

Thursday, September 29, 2011

School aims to nurture aspiring nurses

By Lindor Qunaj Senior Staff Writer

When the Rhode Island Nurses Institute Middle College Charter School officially opened its doors Sept. 19, it became the first charter school in the country to give aspiring nurses the chance to earn both a high school diploma and college credit.

The school, which is publicly funded and has already enrolled 133 students in its inaugural 10th and 11th grade classes, strives to bridge the academic gap between high school and college so students are prepared after graduation, said Robert Pilkington, the school’s superintendant. The school employs professors from the Community College of Rhode Island on a part-time basis and allows the charter school’s students to enroll in classes at the college.

Pilkington explained that in his nearly three decades of work in the public school system, he has seen many qualified students drop out of college in their first year because they are not able to make the transition to the academic and social rigors of college.

“There is not much difference between a 17-year-old in June and an 18-year-old in September,” he said. “But their respective schools have very different levels of expectations.”

With that concern in mind, Pilkington began developing ideas for charter schools that could make the jump to college life less daunting. Despite receiving spon-

sorships from university professors and established organizations like the Urban League of Rhode Island, his first five applications to open schools under this new model were rejected by the state’s Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education.

The board looks at many things when assessing the merit of a charter school application, including financing details, level of community support and specifics of the instructional plan, said Elliot Krieger, executive assistant for communications at the Office of Education Commissioner Deborah Gist. The commissioner then meets with her staff and makes recommendations to the board.

Due to the extensive detail required in charter school applications, Krieger said only two to three applications are submitted each year. Drafting an application is “not something you would do on a lark,” he added. There are currently 16 charter schools operating in the state.

Roughly a year and a half after submitting the proposal, the nursing charter school received final approval July 7. In the subsequent seven weeks, Pilkington and his team had to coordinate the logistics of a September opening — from buying furniture for the building in downtown Providence to organizing a public lottery to choose students from more than 200 eligible applicants. Following the random lottery, 40 students remained on the wait list. School administrators want to expand to

272 students next year, according to Pilkington.

Kenneth Wong, chair of Brown’s Education Department and director of the urban education policy program, called the new school a “welcome development” that will provide a more direct connection from the public school system to employment. Wong explained that charter schools often fill gaps in the existing education system and give students and their families a wider range of options.

But the school’s critics contend that, since the state currently has a shortage of nursing jobs, training new nurses is not a sound investment.

Pilkington said employees in the human resources departments at Care New England and Lifespan have explained to him that the current lack of vacancies is caused by an “artificial stalling” of retirements due to economic uncertainty, adding that wholesale retirements within the next two or three years will likely cause a nursing shortage that reaches into the thousands.

A special legislative commission organized in 2009 agreed with that estimate, projecting a state shortage of up to 6,500 nurses by 2020. According to a July 7 Providence Journal article, the average age of a nurse in Rhode Island is 48.

Apart from career considerations, Wong said the school must continued on page 5

After final hearing, pensions still in flux

By Morgan Johnson Senior Staff Writer

State lawmakers learned Wednesday that, despite hours of discussion and deliberation by a 12-member pension advisory group, there is no clear-cut path to solving Rhode Island’s failing pension system.

House and Senate finance committees convened for the third and final joint hearing on the state’s troubled pension system. General Assembly Fiscal Advisers Sharon Ferland and Peter Marino spent most of the meeting presenting the findings of the group established this year

by Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 and General Treasurer Gina Raimondo.

The advisory group — composed of representatives for labor, business, government administrators and others — was never intended to produce official recommendations for lawmakers, Marino said. Rather, it will release a summary of its findings from four separate meetings.

Marino said advisory group members considered questions submitted online by state residents when formulating their ideas, but they did not hear public testimony at any of the four hearings. The goal for the advisory group and state lawmakers implementing pension changes is to

reach an 80 percent funded ratio, the baseline figure for a “healthy” pension system, according to Ferland. The funding ratio for fiscal year 2013 is currently 48.4 percent. The most important principles when implementing these changes are setting the pension system on a sustainable course and ensuring that the system is affordable to taxpayers and provides for pensioners, Ferland said.

“Striking that balance is going to be difficult,” she said.

The advisory group considered changing the state system to a hybrid pension plan, which combines elements of defined benefit and defined contribution plans, along with Social Security, which can replace more than 30 percent of a retiree’s income. But the hybrid plan would not satisfy the retirement needs of half the state teachers and many public safety employees who do not participate in Social Security, Ferland said.

The proposed hybrid plan would raise the eligibility age for a full pension by up to two additional years, currently 62 for 29 years of service and 65 for 10 years of service. It would also introduce a defined contribution payment of 5.75 percent and reduce the cost-of-living adjustment. Ferland said senior employees will be best positioned under the procontinued on page 5

U.S. and int’l media differ in Costs of War study coverage

By Caitlin Trujillo Senior Staff Writer

When journalists interview Professor of Anthropology and International Relations Catherine Lutz about the Costs of War study she directed, she notices a difference in the conclusions U.S. and foreign reporters draw.

While U.S. journalists have tried to contextualize the study’s findings on the U.S. conflict in the Middle East in terms of the growing U.S. deficit, international reporters have asked what the numbers mean for the country’s future status as a superpower.

The study, conducted by the Eisenhower Study Group at the Watson Institute for International Studies, revealed the financial and human costs of the Middle Eastern conflicts at the end of June. The data show the wars of the 21st century in Iraq and Afghanistan will cost the United States between $3.2 trillion and $4 trillion, not including the death of 225,000 soldiers and civilians and the socio-political upheaval in the region. Media coverage of the data has since exploded, which was part of the study’s goal, Lutz said.

Major media outlets including Reuters and Al Jazeera have reported extensively on the study’s economic projections. A June 29 Reuters article noted the stark difference between the study’s findings and White House projections that operations in the

Middle East will cost upwards of $1 trillion. The team behind the study included less immediate costs in their calculations, said Neta Crawford ’85, a Boston University professor of political science and the study’s co-director.

In addition to the Pentagon’s war budget and emergency spending, researchers factored in future obligations due to the wars, such as the care veterans will require, Crawford said. More veterans are returning home with long-term injuries and are drawing on more government services than in the past, she said.

Much of the coverage, particularly by domestic journalists, has focused more on the economic costs and less on the human and sociopolitical ramifications, Lutz said. Reporters in the U.S. have an audience interested in the country’s economic status, especially in light of high unemployment rates and the debates over the debt ceiling.

The effects of the monetary costs of the conflicts in the Middle East therefore have “broad appeal” to taxpayers, she said. International reporters, especially those from Iraq and Afghanistan, have asked more questions about the human lives lost.

Paul Kawika Martin, the political and communications director for the Peace Action organization, said he circulated the study’s findings when it debuted to foster further discussion

Alex Bell / Herald Source: Costs of War report

on the wars’ expenses. Though the numbers came as no surprise to him, he was pleased to see a study focus on the long-term costs of war instead of just the immediate ones, he said.

Peace Action is currently pushing for more circulation of the study’s findings to other organizations, with the hope that the super-committee formed in Congress to reduce the deficit will take the findings into consideration, Martin said. There needs to be more pressure on ending Middle Eastern conflicts than on cutting entitlement programs, he said.

“The ticker doesn’t stop ticking when the war stops,” said Christo-

pher Preble, vice president for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., though he added that projected expenses are always a source of controversy.

“There was a moment in time — a few years at the end of the 1990s, end of early 2000 period — when people believed or tried to believe wars could be quite antiseptic things,” he said. “And I think Iraq shattered those expectations.”

Some conflicts in recent memory, such as the United States’ involvement in Bosnia, might have given the public the impression that wars

could be quick. But those conflicts are the exception rather than the rule, Preble said.

“This study is part of that learning process — that war is always violent,” he said.

Further updates to the study are ongoing as casualties mount, but researchers are also trying to fill in the gaps they could not initially cover.

More raw numbers for refugee flows are necessary for further evaluation of the human costs of war, Crawford said. Data on the war’s indirect effects — such as cancer and infant mortality rates — are also areas targeted for future research, Lutz said.