Thursday, December 1, 2011

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the Brown

vol. cxlvi, no. 116

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Since 1891

Chafee ’75 From Ivy League wild child to Harvard-lite asks DEA to Brown once relished its niche as the undergrad Ivy. Today, it is acutely aware of ‘peer competitors’ — loosen pot and is becoming more like them. restrictions place among America’s elite colleges.

But according to Dean of Admission Jim Miller ’73 — the man

By Sahil Luthra and Emma Wohl Senior Staff Writer and Contributing Writer

Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 and Christine Gregoire, governor of Washington, filed a petition with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to request that marijuana be reclassified as a Schedule II controlled substance, allowing it to be prescribed in states that legalized medical marijuana.

city & state The reclassification would not legalize medical marijuana in all states but would recognize its legitimate use in states that have legalized the drug for this purpose. A disconnect currently exists between state legislation and federal policy, since certain states — including Washington, California and Rhode Island — have legalized medical marijuana without federal authorization.

“It’s just one more step in the process to find a way to allow Rhode Island to administer medical marijuana in a way that will not bring the federal government down on compassion centers,” said Christine Hunsinger, Chafee’s director of legislative affairs. continued on page 3

In 1946, President Henry Wriston wrote in a letter to the Corporation that Brown’s defining feature was its status as a “university-college” — an undergraduate-centric institution focused on the liberal arts with the resources of a large university.

The term — which has found its way into the University’s mission statement — established a unique niche for Brown in the world of higher education, attracting a specific breed of students and professors. For decades, it defined Brown’s

Mission drift?

Part 3 of a 4-part series

perhaps most attuned to Brown’s position relative to its peers and its niche within academia — Brown continued on page 4

At town hall, calls to define U. mission By shefali luthra Senior Staff Writer

Students discussed the need for a community-based University mission statement at last night’s Janus Forum Town Hall event, “The Search for Brown’s Next President.”

“It’s high time for students to rally together” and redefine Brown’s values, said Simon Liebling ’12, one of three panelists at the event, which drew about 30 students.

Liebling and fellow panelists Samuel Howard ’14 and Paul Tran ’14 cited three documents that have

outlined the University’s mission: former President Henry Wriston’s letter describing a “university-college,” the New Curriculum and the cornerstone of President Ruth Simmons’ term, the Plan for Academic Enrichment.

But Liebling, a Herald opinions columnist, said the PAE does not outline goals for the University.

Rather, it looks at tactics, ignoring questions of what Brown should prioritize and what it should sacrifice. He also criticized the plan’s top-down imposition, contrasting it with “grassroots” initiatives like

By Sandra Yan Contributing Writer

Corner office or a corner in your parents’ basement? Students reported varying levels of confidence in their ability to obtain a desirable job after graduation in a recent Herald poll.

The Herald Poll

inside

Anna Migliaccio / Herald

According to the poll, 28.4 percent of students are somewhat worried about obtaining desirable jobs after graduation, and 7.5 percent are very worried. Of those who identified as very worried, 10.8 percent are female, compared to 3.6 percent who are male.

But 27.8 percent of students said they are somewhat confident and 15.0 percent said they are very confident about getting a job. Of the very confident students, 20.1

Editors’ Note Hungrier Look out for Post-’s annual holiday guide tomorrow

the New Curriculum or the student debate about athletics.

But Howard noted the value of the PAE and said it has faced little to no community resistance, which he suggested indicates students are “comfortable with the direction the University is going.”

He said he would only try to unite undergraduate and graduate programs to “make a more dynamic relationship” between the two and move funding from hard sciences to humanities for a more equitable division of resources.

The discussion then turned to

the question of what kind of mission statement the presidential search should require — whether it should be a new document to replace the New Curriculum, a rewritten and expanded version of the existing document or a brief statement outlining Brown’s values.

Howard questioned the practicality of “radically reevaluating” the University’s entire mission during a presidential search. But Liebling said practical concerns should not override the necessity for a new continued on page 3

Confidence in job prospects varied

How confident or worried are you about getting a desirable job after graduation?

CITY & State............2 NEWS....................3-5 Letter.....................6 Opinions................7

Emily Gilbert / Herald

The University has long embraced its comfortable niche in academia — defined by the university-college model and the New Curriculum. But recent changes have tended to bring Brown in line with other Ivies, and it is positioning itself more and more to take rivals like Harvard head-on.

Nonprofits fight rising hunger problem in R.I. City & State, 2

percent are male and 10.6 percent are female.

About 18.2 percent said they are neither worried nor confident.

Despite a 9 percent unemployment rate nationwide, “we don’t see Brown students in a state of wholesale unemployment,” said Andrew Simmons, director of the CareerLAB. “It doesn’t matter if the economy is bad or good, it’s inevitable that this is a very anxious time for anyone, getting towards the end of college,” he said. “Our basic message is always the same, which is you’ve gotten a great education at Brown, you’ve got great skills.”

But many students are concerned about the job market.

“It’s a really tough market, and there’s lots of competition,” said Evan Gill ’12, an economics concentrator.

Many students also said they

Just Jerking Public masturbators are within rights

Opinions, 7

weather

By Elizabeth carr Senior Staff Writer

think career advising at Brown could be improved. “There’s no one organized place where I can see all the advising and find someone to help me pinpoint what I want to do and explore career opportunities,” Gill said.

Some seniors have already found jobs. Drew Kunas ’12 interned as a quantitative analyst at Two Sigma Investments LLC over the summer and was offered a job there.

Kunas is an applied math concentrator, and he said he thinks his rigorous concentration coursework made him an attractive hire. “Hard sciences are more career practical,” he said.

Anny Li ’15 also said she saw a discrepancy in the degree to which concentrations prepare students for the job market. “I continued on page 3

t o d ay

tomorrow

50 / 30

52 / 31

2 City & State

Hunger in Rhode Island hits new high

calendar Today

December 1

5:30 P.m.

ToMORROW

December 2

7 p.m.

Internship and Research Fair,

Karaoke Night,

Sayles Hall

The Underground

7:30 p.m.

10 p.m.

“World AIDS Day 2011,”

“Lego of Your Exam Woes,”

Smith-Buonanno 106

Barus and Holley Lobby

menu SHARPE REFECTORY

VERNEy-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH

Chicken Pot Pie, Falafel with Pita and Tzatziki, Fried Tortillas, Green Peas

Cavatini, Enchilada Bar, Falafel in Pita, Marinated Cucumbers, Grilled Montreal Chicken

DINNER Cheese Tomato Strata, Cajun Corn and Tomatoes, Beef Strips Shish Kabob, Frosted Brownies

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, December 1, 2011

BBQ Chicken, Cajun Pasta, Cheese Souffle, Saffron Rice Pilaf, Frosted Brownies

Sudoku

By elizabeth Koh Contributing Writer

Food insecurity in Rhode Island is at its “highest level on record,” according to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank’s annual Status Report on Hunger. The report, released last week, documents a continued rise in hunger and food insecurity — uncertainty about finding one’s next meal — in the state and makes general recommendations for alleviating Rhode Island’s hunger problem.

Food insecurity rose from 10.9 percent of the population in 2007 to 14.7 percent in 2010, according to the report. The number of recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, also known as food stamps, has doubled in the past four years due to rising poverty and unemployment rates.

The uptick in food insecurity has not escaped local food providers. Emergency resources like food pantries have felt the bite of decreasing funding, as both private donations and government funding have dried up amid the recent economic doldrums. While the number of people served by emergency food pantries in the state has increased 58 percent over the past

four years, funding from federal food and shelter grants decreased 40 percent this year.

“We have definitely seen an increase, with the families who are living at our shelter and the people living in the ZIP code we service, pretty steadily this year and last year,” said Mishell Middleton, the shelter director of Interim House, a nonprofit run by the Providence Community Action Program.

Interim House, which offers both emergency shelter and food pantries for those in need, distributed 106 food boxes in 2010. As of Oct. 31 this year, Interim House has already distributed 149 boxes.

Farm Fresh Rhode Island, a nonprofit that organizes local farmers’ markets, has made efforts to accommodate the growing number of food-insecure families through programs that emphasize public education.

“There’s definitely a continued rise in the use of food stamps,” said Noah Fulmer, the organization’s executive director. Farm Fresh also offers a $2 bonus for every $5 spent in food stamps to encourage lowincome families to spend money on healthy local produce. Participation in the program rose roughly 64 percent last year.

Farm Fresh also launched Health Servings for Seniors this year, a program that works with senior centers to educate low-income residents about healthy and affordable eating.

“As people grow older, they may be living alone for the first time in many years. It’s a challenge to figure out how to continue to cook for yourself, how to cook affordably,” Fulmer said. The program runs a free five-week class on nutrition education and offers a one-time $15 bonus at the end of the program to incentivize healthy eating.

Fulmer emphasized the commitment to maintaining resources for healthy eating.

“It’s important to engage children and families,” Fulmer said.

“We all eat three times a day. Food is something we can all connect to, something we should all be aware of.”

Middleton said even as organizations work to fight increased food insecurity in Rhode Island, the problem shows no signs of abating.

“I think it’s going to continue to get worse and worse as unemployment rates continue to rise,” Middleton said. “I don’t see an end to this.”

State may ban ‘passive electioneering’ By sona mkrttchian Staff Writer

Cr ossword

The Rhode Island Board of Elections is revising a proposal to ban voters and poll workers from carrying political paraphernalia — such as T-shirts, buttons and pins — within 50 feet of state polling places.

If the ban were enacted, individuals could be asked to conceal political paraphernalia while at the polling place, said Ray Marcaccio, the board’s attorney. He said that no one, under any condition, would be restricted from voting due to the ban.

The purpose of the ban is to

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“make sure that when you go into the polling place, you do so without any unnecessary campaign activity,” Marcaccio said. “You have a place to quietly think and exercise your vote.”

The board’s commissioners rejected the proposal Nov. 8, when one of them objected to its lack of clarity on enforcement. Board of Elections staff, who are currently redrafting the proposal, aim to present a version to the board’s commissioners for ratification at the end of January, said Bob Rapoza, director of elections for the board.

“One thing we would address in

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the next draft is that the purpose of the regulation would not be to prohibit one from voting,” Marcaccio said.

Similar regulations already exist across the country. “Passive electioneering” — the term commonly used to represent the practice of influencing individuals’ votes through conscious decisions like personal dress and action — is already prohibited in six states.

“There’s history here,” said Wendy Schiller, associate professor of political science. The idea behind the ban, she said, is over 100 years old.

Still, groups like the American Civil Liberties Union have opposed restrictions on passive electioneering, calling them an infringement of First Amendment rights.

But in 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the inside of a polling place is not a public forum and therefore the restrictions do not violate the First Amendment.

The benefit of “having a neutral voting space” as regulated by the proposal “is not a violation of free speech that cannot be tolerated by society,” Schiller said.

New technologies further complicate the debate, Marcaccio said.

He suggested that cell phones, iPads and laptops — all easily portable items — present a danger to neutral voting, because people can easily access campaign materials to influence voters directly before they enter the voting booth.

The ban, though not set to pass until at least January, may “encourage greater voting participation,” Schiller said, because citizens may “feel more free to go to the ballot booth and feel that their vote is as much their own as possible.”

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, December 1, 2011

Campus News 3

Panel discusses U. mission, research Governor pushes medical marijuana legalization

continued from page 1 mission statement, adding that it need not be drafted by the time a new president is hired.

The new president should be aware of the “necessity of creating a value” and then should facilitate such a discussion with the University community, he said.

Liebling added that he would not want to remove the academic freedom promoted by the New Curriculum.

But “there is plenty of room for revisitation,” he said, noting that the New Curriculum does not address questions of research or the community’s social obligations.

Students in the audience said a mission statement would be essential in resolving other questions on campus, citing debates over athletics, the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and where to cut funding during the economic crisis.

Chaney Harrison ’11.5, who served on the University Resources Committee in 2008 and on the ROTC committee, said the lack of a defined mission statement was “terrifying” in both of those situations.

“How can we possibly set an example when we don’t even know who we are?” he said. A clear mission is essential to finding the right president, he added.

The discussion also addressed the role of the humanities and social sciences versus the hard sci-

continued from page 1

Emily Gilbert / Herald

A student panel moderated last night’s forum on the presidential search.

ences. Liebling and Howard, who are concentrating in history and development studies, respectively, acknowledged disparity in funding between the two disicplines, though Howard said funding for research can apply to humanities and social sciences as well as hard sciences.

Liebling said humanities have suffered at the expense of expanding physical sciences.

“No administrator has really been honest about trade-offs,” he said.

In the last question, Katherine Haves ’12 asked the panelists to use what had been discussed to define what they would like to see in the next University president.

The next president “needs to value a history of Brown that fosters community engagement,” Li-

ebling said. Howard agreed with Liebling and added the need to expand the University’s global presence and follow through with the PAE. Tran, who arrived an hour into the forum, said that, as the first in his family to graduate high school, he wanted to see a president who also came “from the margins.”

Forum attendants also included Chung-I Tan, professor of physics and chair of the Campus Advisory Committee, and student members of the committee.

Tan said though he could not comment on deliberations, the forum will be helpful in future discussions.

“It’s nice to hear from three very articulate persons,” he said, “expounding visions about the future of Brown very passionately.”

Poll: Optimism for jobs sees little change continued from page 1 do think certain concentrations are more employable than others, such as engineering or science concentrations,” she said.

“We don’t necessarily have data that shows any particular correlation between concentrations and jobs, but what matters to employers is going to vary a lot depending on what that job is,” Simmons said. “Concentration, of course, is only one part of your education at Brown.”

Simmons added he does not believe more students are going to graduate or professional schools to build their resumes in order to make themselves look more employable. He said about a quarter of the graduating class will go right to graduate or professional school, but over the longer term, more will go on for additional

schooling.

“I always knew I wanted to go to graduate school, and the fact that the job market wasn’t doing as well made grad school more desirable,” said Aparna Kumar ’10, who graduated with a double concentration in art history and international relations. Though she received several job offers, she chose to enroll in a doctoral program in art history at University of California at Los Angeles.

Simmons emphasized that ultimately the job search process “does require people to be proactive and persistent” and rewards those who are persistent and seek out help as needed.

Robert Taj Moore ’11, who graduated with a concentration in political science and is currently a Scoville Fellow at the Henry L. Stimson Center, a global security think tank in Washington, D.C.,

agreed. “I can’t think of anyone that doesn’t have something at this point, so it all worked out pretty well,” he said.

This year’s responses show comparable patterns to two recent Herald polls asking similar questions, including a fall 2008 Herald poll conducted in the midst of the financial crisis.

Methodology

Written questionnaires were administered to 851 undergraduates November 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 4.6 percent for the subset of males and 4.3 percent for females.

Find results of previous polls at thebdh.org/poll.

Marijuana is currently classified as a Schedule I substance, which designates it a drug with “high potential for abuse” and no accepted medical uses, according to the DEA website. The same classification is applied to LSD, peyote and heroin.

Chafee’s collaboration with Gregoire “shows a bicoastal and bipartisan effort to work together

city & state on this problem,” Hunsinger said.

“They fully expect and fully hope that other governors will move together on this position.”

The General Assembly passed legislation in 2009 allowing the cultivation and distribution of medical marijuana through state-licensed compassion centers. In March, after three centers had been selected to receive state licenses, Chafee received a letter from U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha notifying him that such centers violated federal law and that the federal government could exert its full power in raiding

and these facilities and charging their operators.

In January, the DEA released a document reasserting its position on marijuana. One section of the document, entitled “The Fallacy of Marijuana for Medicinal Use,” cites the Food and Drug Administration’s declaration that no scientific data support “the safety or efficacy of marijuana for general medical use.”

“The DEA and FDA are horrible organizations when it comes to this issue,” said Casey O’Dea ’14, co-president of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. “The scheduling of marijuana as it is right now completely flies in the face of all scientific and empirical evidence.”

O’Dea added that marijuana’s classification as a Schedule I drug severely restricts academic research on its potentially beneficial uses.

“They’re really creating their own roadblocks,” he said.

“This is the first time any governor has openly asked the federal government to reschedule,” O’Dea said. “Hopefully, this will be a positive step.”

4 Mission Drift?

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, December 1, 2011

Shedding the second half of ‘university-college,’ continued from page 1 is now “a high-powered research university.”

“We do it on a smaller scale than some of our peers, but I think the university-college concept is not as relevant to people,” Miller said.

Brown once included smaller liberal arts colleges among its perceived peers, but applicants now compare the University to larger institutions, Miller said. Administrators have oriented the University to compete with its Ivy League rivals and a select handful of other schools.

The fierce competition does not end with enrolling the best and brightest undergraduates. The University also must distinguish itself to attract graduate students, faculty, research dollars and prestige.

“When it comes to a particular field to determine the range of programs we should be offering, we are comparing ourself to what our peers are doing,” said President Ruth Simmons. “We want to remain competitive with them in every sense.”

Simmons’ tenure has marked the beginning of a redefinition of Brown’s place relative to its peers.

For many students, the benefits of these changes are apparent — gleaming new buildings, smaller classes and need-blind admission.

But as Brown has departed its comfortable perch within the Ivy League and turned to confront its

larger peers head-on, it has placed increased emphasis on the “university” part of “university-college.”

Today, administrators face the difficult tasks of maintaining Brown’s traditional identity, remaining relevant on the national stage and establishing a global presence — all while raising enough money to keep up with the Joneses, the Harvards and the Yales.

With all these balls to juggle, it will only become increasingly difficult for administrators to maintain undergraduate education as the top institutional priority and Brown’s distinguishing feature.

Undergraduates and the PAE

When Simmons arrived in 2001, Brown lacked crucial infrastructure.

To prevent the University from being left in the dust, she embarked on a series of reforms that have continued through her presidency.

“I always saw my time at Brown as trying to build a foundation for the next president to be able to take the University to the next level,” Simmons said. “I never thought that — based on what I inherited as president of Brown — that I would actually be able to do that myself because there was simply too much to do.”

The most immediate obstacle was money. Brown’s endowment was significantly smaller than those of the other Ivy League schools, so

Simmons launched a fundraising effort that would ultimately raise $1.61 billion.

The University also undertook construction and renovation projects, including J. Walter Wilson, the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, the Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center and the Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts. This campus makeover began to give Brown stateof-the-art facilities that rivaled those of its peers’.

The early years of Simmons’ presidency saw the birth of the Plan for Academic Enrichment, an initiative that unfolded throughout her tenure. Through the PAE, Brown hired more than 80 faculty members, driving the student-to-faculty ratio below 9-to-1. The PAE also resulted in expanded support for undergraduate advising, pre-orientation programs, Undergraduate Teaching and Research Awards and Group Independent Study Projects.

PAE efforts represented a significant attempt to enhance the undergraduate experience. But the faculty remains split over the effectiveness of these measures, according to a poll conducted by The Herald this fall.

Only about half of poll respondents indicated they believe the PAE improved undergraduate academics, and almost a quarter responded that the PAE has not impacted or has

worsened the quality.

The progress wrought by the PAE was largely driven by a desire to catch up to other universities, both in terms of research output and international renown. This begs the questions of whether benefits to undergrads have come only as by-products of competition — and what the future will hold as the University looks to catch up to the world’s premiere research institutions.

Ramping up research

In order to catch up, the University has dramatically increased its historically modest research profile in recent years.

“To achieve its goals and remain in the ranks of the most outstanding universities, Brown must continue to provide support to promising academic and research programs across the University,” the PAE states, emphasizing the importance of “targeted investments in academic departments and programs, the Graduate School and research initiatives.”

These efforts have been particularly noticeable in the Division of Biology and Medicine, where recent efforts to expand its public health and brain science programs indicate a strong desire to compete with peer institutions.

“Research is the starting point for the best institutions, and it’s the starting point for me,” Dean of Med-

icine and Biological Sciences Edward Wing told the Alpert Medical School alumni magazine last year.

In evaluating Brown’s research profile, a critical measurement is “peer-reviewed research grant dollars,” Wing told the magazine. “We pay a lot of attention every month to how many proposals we are submitting, how many are awarded, how much money we have and how much we are expending.”

Simmons’ presidency has also seen BioMed undertake a marketing campaign to boost its cachet, said Sarah Baldwin-Beneich, director of biomedical advancement communications. The division’s hope is that the increased outreach to media, potential donors and funding agencies will boost recruitment and strengthen the University’s reputation. While it has not yet been able to quantitatively assess the impact of the campaign, the division has seen anecdotal success, she said.

As part of this campaign, Brown turned to a strategy pursued more often at corporate headquarters than in the halls of academia: hiring outside branding consultants. The practice of selling a university has become in many ways like selling jeans, soap or any branded product.

In conjunction with Orange Square, which bills itself as “a leading strategy and design firm that works with mission-driven companies,” BioMed launched an annual

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, December 1, 2011

Mission Drift? 5

Brown has begun redefining its place in higher ed report aimed largely at improving the Med School’s U.S. News and World Report ranking, according to Baldwin-Beneich and Orange Square President Kristine Merz.

The University has also taken steps to promote research outside BioMed, and its total research output has mushroomed.

In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2001, the University received $57.8 million in federal research grants.

But 10 years later, that number had jumped to $91.1 million — a 57.6 percent increase.

At the University level, the PAE has provided a way for Brown to grow its graduate school and thus its research programs. The Organizational Review Committee’s restructuring of the University’s research offices streamlined the grant application process and led to a significant increase in funding, The Herald reported in January.

Research expansion is a chickenor-egg phenomenon. In part, the University wants to expand research because a greater output boosts Brown’s reputation and prestige. In part, it wants to boost its reputation and prestige because doing so helps Brown attract the best researchers and the biggest grants.

The trickle-down effect

Administrators have consistently emphasized the opportunities this explosive growth of research presents for undergrads. “To be an undergraduate in an environment where knowledge is being created — where faculty know the latest in their fields rather than just teaching you what’s in the book — is a real advantage,” said Clyde Briant, vice president for research.

But these benefits may only trickle down to a subset of undergrads, notably those in the sciences.

According to a poll conducted by The Herald this fall, 42.3 percent of faculty members said they spend the greatest portion of their time doing research — leaving less time for activities like advising and teaching.

Brown works hard to weed out potential faculty members who express interest in research but dislike teaching, Simmons said.

But some professors worry that the recent changes to the faculty tenure process reveal a University preference for research at the expense of undergraduate education, The Herald reported in October.

And in a university-college model, “the undergraduates do not get the kind of careful personal at-

tention that they receive at the best small colleges,” former Professor of Political Science Erwin Hargrove wrote in a 1976 curriculum report.

“And the faculty are very badly overworked as they struggle to meet the demands of both graduate and undergraduate teaching and research commitments.”

Thirty-five years later, the increased pressure to publish or perish can only make it more difficult for Brown professors to devote personal attention to their undergrad pupils.

Doing good in the neighborhood

Brown has also embarked on a more visible departure from the activities of a university-college, putting itself at the center of an effort to reinvent Rhode Island’s dying industrial economy. In doing so, it follows the lead of larger institutions like Harvard, MIT and Carnegie Mellon University, which have enmeshed themselves in local industries.

The initiative has pushed Brown’s footprint over the Providence River as it works with municipal and state governments, a consortium of hospitals and private industry to create a new knowledge economy in the formerly dilapidated Jewelry District. At the geographic center of this effort is the new Medical Education Building at 222 Richmond St. While the University has gradually grown since its establishment — a fact also noted in the mission statement — it “missed a beat or two” going into the 21st century, said Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior advisor to the president.

With Simmons’ arrival, the University sought to get “back on track,” creating a master plan for physical expansion in 2004, Spies said. The plan explored potential expansions both on and off College Hill, including the land made available by the I-195 relocation.

Efforts were largely driven by the hope that expansion might foster the growth of research and teaching, Spies said, but it was also important for the University to consider expansion from the perspective of what peer institutions were doing.

“We couldn’t find an example of what we think of as a successful university — a competitive university — that hasn’t had pretty regular growth throughout its history,” Spies said.

A preeminent municipal institution for centuries, in recent years the University has also increased its presence in Providence through av-

enues other than physical expansion.

Brown took an active role in helping to establish the Rhode Island Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and recently announced plans to strengthen its relationship with Lifespan, the parent company for the Medical School’s partner hospitals.

These expansions and partnerships entail benefits for many students and recent alums, such as support for entrepreneurs and potential internships, Spies said.

Still, there is a “legitimate worry” that expanding the University’s role in the city and the state, as part of a transition to a research-heavy model, could detract from focus on undergrads, as has happened at other universities, Spies said.

But, if treated appropriately, Spies said the university-college model is not incompatible with a research university.

“As long as we make sure that we are every bit as good for our undergraduates as we’ve always been — and better, getting better all the time — and that all of the assets of resources associated with benefits of the research university support and enhance undergraduate education, … then we’re doing what we ought to do,” he said.

Going global

Ten years ago, the only American schools with name recognition in China were Harvard, Yale, Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley, said Karen Sibley, dean of continuing education. Today, Brown is working to make a place for itself on that list.

The University’s mission statement distinguishes between national and world communities — but to some extent, that divide may be a relic of the past.

“We used to talk about local and global, but it’s pretty clear today that they are virtually one and the same,” Simmons said. “So it’s imperative that Brown have a place in the international sphere, to be seen as an institution that is important globally.”

The push to make Brown internationally visible will be another legacy of Simmons’ presidency.

Alums outside the United States would often come back to the University with reports that “Brown was just not known enough,” Simmons said. So in a 2007 review of the PAE, the University introduced a series of Phase II initiatives, one of which was a drive to internationalize.

Through globalization efforts, Brown has formed partnerships with institutions in China, France, India, Mexico and Turkey as well as

undertaking efforts to increase the numbers of international student applicants.

PAE reports emphasize the need to stand out among competitor universities as the impetus for globalization. “Just as the 1969 curriculum successfully distinguished Brown among its national peer institutions 40 years ago, we must now work to develop our own innovative contribution to global education,” states the PAE. These international attempts to play catch-up with Harvard and Yale come with both potential gains and potential pitfalls. And as administrators cast their eyes on China, India and other far reaches of the globe, the risk of losing sight of the classroom experience on College Hill grows.

‘Competitive in every sense’

Driven in large part by a compulsion to both keep up with and distinguish itself from world-class competitors, Brown is rapidly expanding on several fronts. While the benefits of a larger research profile and a stronger presence in local and world communities may reach some undergraduates, this expansion indicates an identity crisis of sorts.

Ironically, it is only on account of Wriston, the great proponent of the university-college, that Brown ever made it into the Ivy League.

The University was not included in initial plans for the league, but Wriston’s tremendous stature led to Brown’s inclusion when it formed in the mid-1950s. Today, the University’s emulation of its Ivy peers leads it ever further afield from the model Wriston championed.

The current president sees the changes as a necessary means of preserving Wriston’s model.

“Brown’s future as a universitycollege cannot be assured by just being a college,” Simmons said. “If you look at all the underlying factors, you can see that if we adhered to that and only looked at that part of our identity, in 25 years, we would be off the map.”

Expansion is “absolutely necessary just to stay where we are,” she said.

The most tangible appraisal of the University’s place on the map remains the annual spectacle of Ivy League admissions. Though Brown’s pool of applicants was once a selfselecting group attracted by the university-college and New Curriculum, today’s applicants form a larger, less distinct group.

High school seniors today apply to more schools than ever before,

comic Dreadful Cosmology | Oirad Macmit

and Brown’s adoption of the Common Application widens its net further. Every January for the past several years, the Admission Office has announced a new record-high number of applicants.

Brown’s applicant pool has also grown to more closely resemble those of peer institutions. For the class of 2015, 80 percent of students who declined Brown’s offer of admissions went to another Ivy, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford or Duke University, according to Miller.

After Harvard and Princeton eliminated their early admission programs in 2007, other Ivies saw significant growth in early applications — a telling illustration of the convergence in pools.

As Brown evolves, there is a risk that departures from the New Curriculum could attract “a contingent of generic, very driven students” who apply to Brown not because of its unique academic structure but simply because it is another elite school, said Matt Gelfand ’08.

Gelfand, a Harvard Law School student and co-founder of the Open Jar Foundation, which promotes curricular freedom.

While Brown’s burgeoning reputation and prolific expansion play a role in its ever-increasing ability to attract applicants, for decades the heart of its allure has been the unique undergraduate education it offers. If that allure fades, so will the original foundation of Brown’s phenomenally successful half-century.

The University is pinning its plans for another successful 50 years on hiring new faculty, expanding and modernizing the campus, investing in research and keeping Brown competitive with its peers.

But the schools Brown calls peers all have something it does not: money.

In 2010, Brown’s endowment per student stood at around $260,000.

Harvard, Yale and Princeton all had per-student endowments well over $1.2 million. In other words, for every dollar Brown could afford to spend from its endowment on an undergraduate, Princeton could spend seven times as much.

When Brown defined its place in academia with a unique educational philosophy and employed a more selective approach to the activities it took on, it crafted a strategy that allowed it to compete with the best schools using fewer resources. Whether the University can successfully transition to this more ambitious model will depend, more than any other factor, on its ability to bring in money.

6 Editorial & Letter Editorial

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, December 1, 2011

Editorial cartoon

by a l e x y u ly

Bolstering Providence traffic safety Earlier this month, Providence City Councilman Michael Correia, Ward 6, was the victim of a hit-and-run on Atwells Avenue. Luckily, Correia sustained only minor injuries. The incident was particularly notable because it occurred roughly a year after Councilman Terrence Hassett, Ward 12, was seriously hurt in a hit-and-run on the same street.

Events like these remind us that traffic enforcement remains an ongoing struggle for city and campus police. Despite commendable University action to improve pedestrian safety after a drunk driver killed Avi Schaefer ’13, two students were seriously hurt in a hit-andrun last spring. The scourge of reckless driving seems intractable.

We are therefore pleased to see the Department of Public Safety “being more proactive with traffic controls,” in the words of Mark Porter, chief of police and director of public safety. We appreciate the efforts of the Providence Police Department, which quickly nabbed the perpetrator of the spring hit-and-run, but we sometimes wonder about the city’s traffic priorities.

Parking violations are pursued with extreme vigilance, as anyone who gets back to their car on Waterman Street 10 minutes after the meter expires can attest. Yet we routinely witness cars disregard stop signs at the intersection of Hope and Power streets, just a block away from a police station. We hope that DPS’s heightened attention to traffic violations reduces reckless driving on College Hill.

There are other measures that could improve pedestrian safety beyond more robust enforcement of traffic laws. Last year, the editorial page board noted that the intersection of Charlesfield and Brook streets was in need of a stop sign — that remains the case today. There are more places on the periphery of campus where traffic is heavier that are just as dangerous.

We also urge the General Assembly to completely ban the use of cell phones while driving. The National Safety Council estimates cell phones are a factor in over 25 percent of car accidents. Texting behind the wheel is thankfully outlawed in Rhode Island, but studies repeatedly demonstrate the danger of talking on the phone while driving.

We would be remiss, however, to limit our discussion of pedestrian safety to reckless motorists. Bicycles travelling at high speed also pose a threat to pedestrians. While our experience tells us the vast majority of Brown students are responsible bikers, we sometimes see bikes cruising down streets at unsafe speeds and with no regard for stop signs. As darkness falls ever earlier, bikers must make sure their bikes have lights or at least reflective surfaces to improve visibility.

Of course, pedestrians must also do their part to show caution and consideration for drivers by avoiding jaywalking. It may not be our place to remind you to look both ways before crossing the street, but look both ways before you cross the street.

Pedestrian safety is a crucial issue, but it is all too easy for us to forget about it until tragedy strikes. The University has made significant progress in making Brown safer for walkers. We hope the new emphasis DPS is placing on traffic enforcement will continue to help drivers, bikers and pedestrians safely coexist on College Hill.

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

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letter to the editor

In defense of the New Curriculum To the Editor: We applaud Oliver Rosenbloom’s ’13 effort at taking a critical look at the New Curriculum (“Questioning the New Curriculum,” Nov. 28), but we’re not so sure that the concerns he identifies are flaws at all.

The struggle involved in crafting one’s own curriculum and the freedom to fail in doing so are quintessential benefits of the New Curriculum. At Brown, curriculum design is an educational experience in and of itself. We were heartened, not disturbed, by Rosenbloom’s column, which describes a journey toward academic autonomy that would not have been possible without the freedom afforded by the New Curriculum. The self-reflection and critical thinking that Brown students develop in forging their own educational paths may well outlive lessons learned in the classroom.

And we know of no curricular alternatives that remedy Rosenbloom’s concerns. Many of Brown’s peer schools group subjects into artificially delineated distribution areas, or impose core requirements based on bygone areas of fundamental knowledge — alternatives that often do more to achieve the appearance

of an ideal curriculum than they do to accomplish anything of substance. In the report on improving undergraduate education at Brown that led to the creation of the New Curriculum, Ira Magaziner ’69 P’06 P’07 P’10 and Elliot Maxwell ’68 P’06 recognized as much and recommended against these alternatives.

Though many years have passed in the meantime, we believe that they were right to do so. It remains appropriate that a University that celebrates the individuality of each of its students should continue to avoid one-size-fits-all models of education.

We strongly believe that Brown should remain committed to providing an open curriculum to the numerous highly qualified college applicants who crave curricular freedom. The New Curriculum defines Brown, sets it apart and makes it great.

The directors of the Open Jar Foundation Steph Buss ’08, Matt Gelfand ‘08, Alana Jacoby ’08, Jake Johnson ’08, Drew Madden ’10, Brendan Pelsue ’08, Hannah Perrin ’08, Frank Pucci ’08 MD’12, Alex Rosenthal ’08, Justin Spiegel ’08, Aaron Stanton ’08

quote of the day

“Brown’s future as a university-college cannot be assured by just being a college.”

— President Ruth Simmons See mission drift on page 1.

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Opinions 7

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, December 1, 2011

The right to public masturbation

By David Hefer Opinions Columnist

As a member of the College Hill community and choker of the occasional chicken, I could not help but take an interest in the recent spate of public masturbatings. While the John Street and the copycat masturbator are doing something reprehensible, they are not necessarily doing anything unjust.

We must be clear about our aims. The purpose is not to show that the masturbators have not committed any crimes — leave that to the courts! Instead, we will see that public masturbation is not against the principles of justice, which law can come apart from. The argument clearly vindicates most types of public indecency.

We cannot pin the injustice on the fact that public masturbation violates a law.

Laws should be based on what is just — not the other way around. If justice always matched law, we could never have statesanctioned injustices.

Obviously, masturbating is not in itself unjust. Only the public nature of the act can supply the injustice. Moreover, it is masturbation’s sexual nature which is purportedly to blame.

Why should this be? Sex is important to a lot of people. Seeing it outside of its

expected or desired context can stir up powerful emotions. Harming people by causing these emotions to arise may be an injustice.

But not all harm is unjust. If Mary plays her music too loudly in the park, it will bother people. Mary is being a huge jerk.

She has not committed an injustice.

The story does not end there. Sex produces thoughts and feelings that are different from mere annoyance. Traumatic experiences such as sexual assault can cause post-traumatic stress disorder and related

serious jerk is not unjust.

A common conception holds that justice is based on rights. An act is unjust if it violates a person’s rights. What our question comes down to is this: Does each of us have a right not to be masturbated at in public? As nice as this would be, we must answer no.

Earlier I claimed that triggering experiences were different from annoyances.

But the difference is one of degree, not kind. Why should an act’s sexuality mark the difference between just and unjust?

Even in public a really serious jerk is not unjust.

maladies. An encounter with a masturbator runs a real risk of triggering traumatic memories.

This is not something to be taken lightly. A person who is triggered may face panic attacks and worse. I do not know whether anyone has been triggered by the masturbators. It is not my business to know. The reasonable possibility is enough to make public masturbation a bad idea.

Public masturbation is rightly condemned. Doing it shows a blatant disregard for the feelings of others. The masturbators are a group of real jerk-offs. But as we saw before, even in public, a really

This can only come down to the fact that these issues are much more intense for us as people.

Good principles do not allow for arbitrary boundaries, and differences of degree smack of arbitrariness. If someone says a good movie is one that 83 out of 100 people enjoy, we laugh. There can be no reason not to say that it is 84. Similarly, exactly how much psychological harm must be incurred before we say that an act is unjust?

To recap, if public masturbation is unjust at all, it is in the same way that playing your stereo too loudly is. There still re-

mains the question of whether these acts are unjust.

When someone goes out in public, they willfully give up some of their security in order to interact with others. Though your rights still protect you from being physically harmed, you must take your psychological health into your own hands. When you go out in public, you consent to a lot of unwanted sights, sounds and smells.

Thankfully, I do not have to show why going outside means giving a kind of consent. It is enough for me to show that this is true. And this should be obvious — again remember Mary’s stereo.

Our rights do not protect us from small psychological harms. Since they do not recognize distinctions of degree, we are similarly unprotected from big and serious psychological harms. We do not have any grounds for controlling such behaviors in public. We only have that kind of power on our own property.

This means the trespassing masturbators were acting unjustly. But Matthew Hoile (“Another masturbator arrested as spree continues”, Nov. 14) and an unnamed person (“DPS detains masturbator suspect in car”, Nov. 10) have allegedly acted fully within their rights.

What is the moral here? Public masturbation is something only an awful person would do, but it is our right as human beings to do it.

David Hefer ’12 is the new Voltaire.

It’s high school all over again

By Lucas Husted Guest Columnist

Brown is considered a particularly open and liberal environment, even earning nicknames such as the “granola-liberal” Ivy. But as an applied mathematics-economics concentrator, I find that it becomes very easy to forget this fact. Day after day I get numerous emails from the economics and computer science departments advertising countless information sessions for Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and other investment banks and consulting firms. It can often be overwhelming. Particularly in my concentration, it often seems that there are few career options other than investment banking or finance. In the midst of the Occupy movement, when many of these same students would gladly admit that these firms are not doing a very good job of making socially responsible decisions, where did this liberal thinking go? What makes investment banking jobs so popular among Brown students, and what can Brown do to provide alternatives?

For many students, applying for jobs in investment banking is too easy not to consider. This may seem counterintuitive, but let me compare the choice of the job search with a more familiar process: the college hunt.

When you applied to college, how many schools were you really choosing from? I would wager that many of you looked at

the top 15 colleges and universities and applied to the ones that interested you, with a few safety schools thrown in for good measure. You did this because you knew you had a shot at them, you had heard of them and going to an Ivy League or other top-ranked school is a safe investment. Your friends who may not have done as well on the SAT probably had a much greater challenge than you did. They had to decide among schools they

It is unfortunate, though, if you are an economics concentrator and you do not want to be a financial analyst or consultant.

Brown does little or nothing to assist these students — students who by all stereotypical accounts make up the majority of the Brown demographic. The career fair for nonprofits and government work was relegated to the Kasper Multipurpose Room. Hardly anyone was there, and the choices were minimal. I re-

Why spend the effort trying to find a more suitable or academically stimulating job when Brown makes it so simple for you to take the easy way out? were unaware of before the college search, think more actively about the different programs that fit their strengths and probably seek significant help along the way.

Now let us bring this back to the job hunt after college. What makes investment banking appealing to so many smart Brown students? Most people have heard of these banks. Students who choose to work for them will make connections and earn a livable income until they figure out what else to do with their lives or continue in finance.

Brown makes this process simple by providing career fairs where these banks court students and throwing information sessions and dinners for them. Choosing to attend these info sessions is natural and completely understandable.

alize that this is not completely Brown’s fault.

The banking, consulting and technology firms probably put a considerable amount of money into recruiting, and they make sure to have representation at all of these fairs. Still, it is Brown’s responsibility to put more money, resources and energy into providing other options for students.

Even though I do not count myself among the Occupiers, it is a shame that many of the best and brightest Brown students go off to careers on Wall Street. A friend of mine who graduated in 2009 told me that his job at a reputable hedge fund is decent — mostly because of the pay and prestige — but he has to live with the fact that he helps “make money out of money for people with money.” This pay and prestige form the basis for many,

though not all, of these career paths. Despite knowing they will be overworked in jobs that are currently being criticized by most Americans, countless students choose these options over other alternatives that are perhaps too difficult to explore. Why spend the effort trying to find a more suitable or academically stimulating job when Brown makes it so simple for you to take the easy way out? In this sense, it is partly Brown’s fault that smart kids choose these careers.

Were there equally attractive positions in other fields, I am certain that you would see a significant drop in the number of finance jobs that seniors choose to take, or maybe I am too optimistic. Regardless, Brown could and should be doing more to help smaller nonprofits, social groups, environmental groups and think tanks reach out and advertise to students. They should have more specific advising sessions about how to search for jobs in the private sector and make them very accessible even as early as sophomore year. Brown should provide more funding for research and internships in the nonprofit sector. Lastly, Brown should provide more advising for people interested in master’s and PhD programs. In this last field, undeniably, we are significantly lacking. Brown makes it very easy for students to explore their academic interests while here but does little to help students further explore these interests after graduation. This is a terrible shame.

Lucas Husted ’13 wants to apologize to all of his applied math-econ friends.

He can be reached at lucas_husted@brown.edu.

Daily Herald Campus News the Brown

Thursday, December 1, 2011

UCS denounces UC Davis pepper spraying

By Katrina phillips Senior Staff Writer

In response to the recent pepper spraying of students at the University of California at Davis by campus police, the University Council of Students passed a statement defending students’ “inalienable right to peaceful assembly” during its final general body meeting of the semester last night.

Following last week’s incident at UC Davis, students around the country have spoken out against the use of excessive force on protesters.

The UCS statement appeals to the Brown administration to reinforce its commitment to students’ freedoms and right to protest. “UCS calls on the Brown University Administration and the Department of Public Safety to express support for students’ right to demonstrate peacefully without fear of violent recourse,” the statement reads.

UCS Vice President David Rattner ’13 stressed that the statement should not be seen as an endorse-

ment of the Occupy movement or any other protest but rather of the broader idea of freedom of speech and protest.

Todd Harris ’14, chair of the Academic and Administrative Affairs Committee, suggested sending the statement directly to UC Davis administration in addition to distributing it on campus.

The Harvard Undergraduate Council also passed a recent resolution condemning the incident at UC Davis, Rattner said. Brown’s UCS statement goes a step further by demanding that the UC Davis police force and Chancellor Linda Katehi be held accountable for their actions, he said.

Earlier in the meeting, Daniel Pipkin ’14, the council’s UCS/UFB liaison, presented on the progress his committee made this semester on the Capital Closet, a project aimed at limiting costs of student events. As part of the project the Undergraduate Finance Board signed a $70,000 contract with Media Technology Services this

Emily Gilbert / Herald

UCS’s resolution calls for UC Davis officials to be held accountable for the excessive force used on protestors last week.

semester that will allow Category III groups to use media services equipment without paying rental fees.

The money saved by the change will be funneled back into use for student groups, Pipkin said. Pipkin said he was hopeful this will allow them to start a conversation about eliminating the payments for groups of lesser categorizations.

Michael Lin ’14, chair of the

Admissions and Student Services Committee, said his committee has submitted a formal proposal for the addition of a printing station to Pembroke campus, an initiative that has been loosely discussed by the council this semester.

Holly Hunt ’13, a member of the committee, said she will be meeting with administrators — including Marisa Quinn, vice president of public affairs and University rela-

tions, and a representative from Computing and Information Services — to discuss changes to Morning Mail.

The changes could include appearance and functionality changes, including the ability to click titles to jump to their entries and possible categorizations of events. The discussion is still in the brainstorming phase, but Hunt said she expects the meeting to be “very productive.”

Students, Swearer Center team up Program seeks to boost for proposed social service house U. language offerings

By Gadi Cohen Contributing Writer

Service-oriented students already have an umbrella organization for their groups — soon, they could get a roof.

A group of undergraduates filed an application with the Residential Council for a social activism-based program house Nov. 18. According to the application, the house would “create an intentional community of students who want social justice, social activism and community service to be a central component of their Brown experience.”

“Commitment to activism is an active lifestyle,” said Ben Chesler ’15, the driving force behind the proposal. “We’re going to have people who are active 24/7 with a level of energy that is focused on improving the community.”

Chesler came up with the idea after he learned that ResCouncil was accepting applications for program houses to fill the void created by the termination of Interfaith House. After mentioning the idea at a gathering of the University Community Academic Advising

Program, a pre-Orientation advising program with a service focus, Chesler held a meeting Nov. 6 to discuss and flesh out the proposal with interested students.

“We wanted something that would involve the entire campus community through social activism,” Chesler said. “It’s something that we think will foster new collaboration between all the social activists and service organizations on campus.”

By facilitating collaboration, a social service program house would foster new ideas for projects and help strengthen old ones, according to Chesler. Because they would be living together, student activists would be able to develop and work on service projects constantly.

If the proposal is accepted, Chesler said he thinks the house will host many service-oriented events. He also hopes to initiate an annual collaborative service project between house residents.

To develop the proposal, Chesler consulted with Alan Flam, director of advising and community collaborations at the Swearer Center for Public Service. According to Chesler, Flam helped the students

patch up flaws in the application.

“Part of the work of the Swearer Center is to impact the educational experience of students by encouraging and provoking conversations about community service and social change,” Flam said. “A residential community that gathers students together with a shared focus on community work can be a powerful place for these conversations to take place.”

Though many campus groups offer service opportunities, supporters of the proposal hope the program house will encourage new ways of approaching service.

“If everyone is living together, then students can get a broad perspective on all of the issues they are working on,” said Angela Ramponi ’15, one of several students who helped Chesler draft the application. “It will enable us to see what issues aren’t being covered and to come together to address those issues.”

ResCouncil and the Office of Residential Life plan to announce which program house application will be selected sometime this month.

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By Hannah Kerman Contributing Writer

Interested in Swahili? Armenian?

Well, the Brown Language Society is interested in you.

Next semester, the society will be piloting the Brown Student Language Exchange program, which is designed to support and foster student interest in languages outside those offered by the University.

The society, founded last year

by Kai Herng Loh ’14, was created as a Departmental Undergraduate Group to stir up student interest in foreign language learning and provide an outlet for maintaining fluency. The group works with faculty sponsor Elsa Amanatidou, director of the Center for Language Studies, and aims to support and supplement language programs offered by academic departments, said Amelia Friedman ’14, a member of the society’s executive board, who has taken courses at Brown in Spanish, Portuguese, French and Polish.

The new exchange program, an entirely student-run initiative, will allow participants to experience languages and cultures in informal 90-minute crash courses led by student discussion leaders.

“We really want to pique student interest in other languages and cultures,” Friedman said.

The program was slated to begin this semester, but its launch was pushed back due to difficulty finding facilitators mid-semester.

The University already offers

about 30 languages to the student body, but the exchange will allow students to interact with languages farther off the beaten path by both informing students about available resources and creating new programming.

“The thing missing from the linguistic community at Brown is communication,” Friedman said.

The society is trying to increase awareness of the opportunities that exist while providing new, exciting programs to further language exploration.

The society has already launched one program this semester. The Charla program provides an outlet for students to work on Spanish outside of class time. In Charla, which means “chat” in Spanish, four teams of student facilitators lead weekly discussion or activity sessions, “creating a space where only Spanish is spoken — a sort of temporary immersion where you’ll only speak, hear and hopefully even think in Spanish,” said Ben Stephenson ’13, head of the Charla program and a member of the society’s executive board.

Looking to the future, the society is confident and excited for its new programs. Stephenson explained there are French chat sessions tentatively on the horizon as well as the upcoming exchange program.

“Knowing languages is a tangible and relevant skill to have,” Stephenson said. “I’m confident the interest of the Brown community will be enough to make BLS successful.”