Campus News 3
The Brown Daily Herald Monday, November 21, 2011
Undergrads satisfied with class sizes By Anna Lillkung Staff Writer
About 65 percent of students think their classes are just right — neither too big nor too small — according to a recent Herald poll. Twentyseven percent of students, especially first-years and sophomores, reported that their classes are too large.
The herald poll Rachel Kaplan / Herald
Providence potholes plague pedestrians, prompting complaints.
Chronic potholes linked to U.’s power plant By Nora McDonnell Contributing Writer
Potholes on Lloyd Avenue, which have gotten worse over the past year, have been linked to a pipeline connected to Brown’s power plant. Though potholes are common throughout Providence, the Lloyd Avenue sinkholes continue to deteriorate, and repeated repairs have proven ineffective in preventing more potholes from emerging. A drainage pipe connected to the Brown power plant is likely causing the potholes, said Stephen Maiorisi, vice president for facilities management. There is a “major infrastructure problem with the drainage line,” said Maiorisi. “(The) pipe is somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 years old, so it’s very difficult to positively discern why it’s failing or what the cause is.” Though the pipe is connected to Brown’s power plant, the University does not use the pipe exclusively, and the Department of Facilities Management is working jointly with the city to correct the situation. “Something needs to be done to the pipe,” Maiorisi said. “We can’t
just continue to patch. … This pipe is beyond its useful life.” Residents have brought the pothole issue to the College Hill Neighborhood Association. Potholes are common, but the fact that they reappeared after repairs caused residents to voice their concerns, said Alison Spooner, president of the association’s board of directors. A concrete plan has not yet been set to address the potholes. “The city’s looking for us to help with that replacement, and we’re willing to do that,” Maiorisi said. Providence cyclists created a website Feb. 6 to document potholes across the city. “Going over your handlebars sucks!” reads the Providence Pothole Project’s Google Maps page, describing the “potholes that seem to plague our city.” The site documents two potholes on Lloyd Avenue. One, called the “Perennial Pothole,” is described as “usually always there. Sometimes enormous. Always comes back. Frequently marked with a traffic pylon.” Another, the “Sinking Hole” is “right at stop line and close to the curb” and “getting larger by the day.”
This semester’s largest class has 506 students and the smallest has one, according to Sherry Gubata, assistant registrar. Some introductory courses, such as ECON 0110: “Principles of Economics” and NEUR 0010: “The Brain: An Introduction to Neuroscience,” consistently attract more than 400 students. Bartosz Zerebecki ’15, who is taking the introductory neuroscience course, and Karla Tytus ’15, who is taking CHEM 0330: “Equilibrium, Rate and Structure,” both said they think their classes are too large. Zerebecki said he thinks firstyears are forced into taking large classes because upperclassmen have already pre-registered for smaller classes and are usually given preference when registering for seminars. Zerebecki added that he would like the University to offer more small seminars that first-years can take but are not limited to first-years. Though many of the larger classes offer smaller sections, Tytus said her class would still benefit from more sections. She said her professor does not use a microphone during lectures, making it difficult to hear. Juniors and seniors were more content with their class sizes. Rebecca Willner ’12, a classics concentrator, said she has mostly taken small classes. She said having fewer than 20 students in a class leads to a “medium of having enough perspectives,” but the amount of
Julia Xu / Herald
ECON 0110 is among the introductory courses that attract hundreds of students.
opinions is not overwhelming. Pablo Galindo-Payan ’13, an economics concentrator, said classes that need to be small — such as upper-level economics seminars — are small, but some classes he has taken worked well as big lectures. Seminars and language courses are generally restricted to 20 or fewer students, which can sometimes mean first-years and sophomores are not able to enroll. But Dominika Fiolna ’14 said she thought there was no real solution the problem. Fiolna also said her experience with smaller language classes has been consistently positive. Lynne deBenedette, senior lecturer in Slavic languages, said it is important for language classes to be small and that the University’s cap of 18 is “a workable number” for professors. Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron wrote in an email to The Herald that the University has consciously made an effort to limit class sizes. The Plan for Academic Enrichment has led to a
greater enrollment in small classes by first-years and sophomores as the University has increased the number of faculty members and more first-year seminars have been added, Bergeron wrote. Eighty-five percent of courses have fewer than 40 students enrolled, and each department chooses the maximum number of students they want to have in their classes and which students can register. Methodology
Written questionnaires were administered to 851 undergraduates Nov. 2-3 in the lobby of J. Walter Wilson and the Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center during the day and the Sciences Library at night. The poll has a 3.1 percent margin of error with 95 percent confidence. The margin of error is 4.3 percent for the combined subset of first-years and sophomores and 4.6 percent for juniors and seniors. Find results of previous polls at thebdh.org/poll.
Presidential search committee opens dialogue with staff By Jordan Hendricks Senior Staff Writer
As the search for the University’s 19th president continues, University employees hope for a leader who will “inspire staff to continue to do their best work,” said Karen Davis, vice president for human resources and an ex-officio adviser to the Staff Advisory Council. Nearly 40 staff members attended forums to voice their input to members of the search committee Nov. 9. At the two forums, staff discussed qualities of President Ruth Simmons’ leadership style they hope the next president will also possess. These included communication skills and the ability to foster a sense of community among faculty, staff, alums and students. “A new leader could take us to the next level … in figuring out how
to work across some of the silos that we still have at Brown — to help bridge even further the staffstudent divide and the staff-faculty divide,” Davis said. Other important issues staff raised at the forums include balancing the growth of research and the University as a whole without cutting resources from other departments, said Eric Friedfeld, cochair for the outreach and communication subcommittee of the Staff Advisory Council and manager for technical services in the chemistry department. The new president will face a “tough balancing act,” combining growth without cutting back on staff while also helping the University build “more of a presence in a global economy,” he said. “I think that Brown also needs to remember that it’s got a lot of infra-
structure here on campus currently that we just need to make sure that we keep up and maintain,” he said. The University’s response to the financial crisis took a toll on staff, Davis said. “We’ve made a lot of progress and continue to make a lot of progress, but are potentially doing that on the backs of staff,” she said. Penina Posner ’92, senior library specialist, was unable to attend the forums held Nov. 9 but noted the importance of an “open dialogue” between staff and the new president. “Every member of the Brown community should have the equal attention of the new president,” Posner said, adding that it should not matter whether a community member is a janitor or a wealthy donor. She compared her experiences
as a undergraduate under former President Vartan Gregorian with her time working on University staff under Simmons. She said she valued Gregorian’s approachability and presence on campus as well as a focus on undergraduate development rather than profit. “The time is now for a new president to guide Brown and help Brown to be a leader within the Ivy League,” she said. Both Friedfeld and Davis praised the transparency of the search committee and the search process and felt that staff feedback was appreciated by members of the search committee. “If you really want to know what’s going on, you have an opportunity to know what’s going on,” Davis said, citing the Presidential SearchCcommittee’s website and the forums that have been held for
students, staff and faculty. “I think staff really appreciate that.” “I’m impressed that Brown even opened up these forums to get input,” Friedfeld said. Chancellor Thomas Tisch ’76 P’07, who is chairing the Corporation’s Presidential Search Committee, wrote in a statement to The Herald that the forums “have been enormously important in understanding the interests and priorities of faculty, staff, students and alums.” But Simmons’ strengths present a challenge to the committee, Davis said. “Ruth is going to be a tough act to follow,” she said. “I think staff … really appreciate her leadership and are hoping that the next leader will be able to bring much of that to the table.” —With additional reporting by Kate DeSimone
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