Thursday, January 26, 2012

Daily

Herald

the Brown

vol. cxxii, no. 2

Thursday, january 26, 2012

U. opens Science professors Google+ receive fellowships via Brown email

By Kate DeSimone Contributing Writer

By elizabeth Koh Staff Writer

Google+ became available to Brown Gmail users Jan. 23, adding it to the lineup of Google Apps first made available last July by Computing and Information Services. Google+, a social networking site, test-launched in June but did not become widely available for domain-based users until October. More than 15 million students from other colleges and universities have joined the network since the June launch, a Google spokesperson said.

But the University waited until January to enable the service due to concerns about implementation.

“We try not to make a lot of changes in very close succession if it results in a lot of help desk calls,” said Stephanie Obodda, assistant manager for communication and computer education. “We try to space things out a little bit.”

University staff deliberated before deciding to make Google+ available, she said.

“We internally investigated what it would mean to turn Google+ on,” Obodda said. “We looked at things like the age continued on page 3

Three faculty members will be named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science next month, an honor that recognizes scientists’ contributions to their fields over the course of their careers. Barry Connors, professor and chair of the department of neuroscience; Diane Lipscombe, professor of neuroscience; and David Rand, professor of biology, were named to the association this past November and will be recognized Feb. 18 along with 536 other new fellows during its annual meeting.

The AAAS is an international organization dedicated to sup-

porting the sciences. It elects fellows by evaluating the work of candidates who are nominated by peers in their discipline. “It is a high honor for the faculty and for Brown because it recognizes individuals who are viewed as being among the outstanding researchers in their field,” said Clyde Briant, vice president for research, in an email to The Herald. Connors, Lipscombe and Rand said they felt pleasantly surprised by their peers’ recognition.

“You sometimes wonder if anyone’s even paying attention to what you’re doing,” Connors said. His research focuses on the neocortex, the outermost region continued on page 3

Since 1891

t h e r e a n d b ac k ag a i n

Emily Gilbert / Herald

Students spilled out of Wilson Hall yesterday during the first day of shopping period.

Banner glitch hinders registration Occupy

By Eli okun Senior Staff Writer

Banner crashed yesterday morning when the site experienced a server overload at 8 a.m., the start of registration period for returning students. The problems lasted from 8:01 to 8:45 a.m., according to an announcement on the Computing and Information Services website, which described the problems as “technical difficulties.”

Upon observing the system failure, CIS rebooted the server, which remedied the problem, wrote Michael Pickett, vice presi-

dent for CIS, in an email to The Herald. CIS notified the vendor of the crash.

The crash caused problems for students who were unable to find out locations for classes on the first day of shopping period.

To rectify the issue, the Office of the Registrar sent an email out at 8:37 a.m. directing students to the Registrar’s website to confirm room assignments.

Katie Kartheiser ’15 was among those who had trouble finding her first class when online access to her schedule was shut

down. “I was trying to register for my classes (when it crashed), and then I went back to sleep,” she said. “But then I was eating breakfast, and I panicked because I realized I didn’t know where my class was.” Since she knew the class was in Metcalf, Kartheiser wandered through the building until she was able to find the class, she said.

It was not the first time this academic year that Banner fell victim to excessive use. When continued on page 2

Toy bear designers find home in Providence Jerry is no ordinary teddy bear.

Though toddlers can still play with his woolly, brown fur and carry him around the house, Jerry the Bear requires his owners to monitor his blood glucose level, administer insulin to his body

city & state

Andreas Nicholas / Herald

inside

Hannah Chung works on her Design for America project, a diabetic teddy bear.

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

New kids

Incoming professors head back to the classroom news, 4

with a special pump or pen and provide him with a balanced diet of fake food designed to keep him healthy.

Aaron Horowitz and Hannah Chung, two Northwestern University seniors who developed Jerry the Bear, moved to

news, 5

While most Brown students went home for the holidays, Occupy Providence protesters spent the last month in Burnside Park braving temperatures often below freezing. The group made a deal with the city Monday to leave the

city & state park at night, but it has also added a new initiative to its agenda ­— to make the University pay more to Providence.

Last week, protesters occupied City Hall to protest Brown’s tax exemption, arguing that the University does not pay its “fair share” in taxes.

The protest coincided with a Providence City Council vote to strip the University of its taxexempt status. The motion was introduced by Councilman John Igliozzi, Ward 7, and passed the 15-person council unanimously.

The General Assembly is slated to vote on the measure.

Without its tax-exempt status, the University could have to

continued on page 5

continued on page 2

Flying south For profit

Pre-meds bridge borders via Ecuador service work

By Adam toobin Senior Staff Writer

Providence this past December to continue working on their venture together. They chose Providence to be closer to the resources and connections they identified after entering the Dell Social Innovation Challenge and winning a fellowship sponsored by the University.

They designed Jerry to help children diagnosed with Type I diabetes cope with the disease, which often emerges during childhood and requires constant treatment.

Because their bodies do not naturally produce enough insulin to maintain a healthy level of glucose in their blood, patients

Utah college seeks R.I. branch

city & State, 8

weather

By Gadi cohen Staff Writer

shifts focus to tax status

t o d ay

tomorrow

42 / 35

50 / 29

2 Campus News

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, january 26, 2012

calendar Today

JANUARY 26

ToMORROW

JANUARY 27

12:00 p.m.

10:00 A.m.

Health Careers Advising Bonanza,

MPPB Seminar Series: Anda Chirila

SciLi, Room 315

Sidney Frank Hall, Room 220 9:00 p.m.

4:00 p.m.

Puppet Summit,

Lush Life,

Granoff Center

Goddard House: Wriston Quad

menu SHARPE REFECTORY

VERNEy-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH

Burrito Bar, Zucchini Parmesan Sandwich, Sliced Roast Beef, Garlic and Butter Infused Rice

Falafel, Mushroom Pasta Salad, Vegetarian Cream of Mushroom Soup, Enchilada Bar

DINNER Tomato Cheese Strata, Sliced Turkey, Falafel, Vegan Italian White Beans, Greek Pasta Salad

Bourbon BBQ Chicken Quarters, Chicken Soup with Tortellini, Mushroom Pasta Salad

Sudoku

Herald file photo

Following negotiations with the city, Occupy Providence has agreed to end its nighttime occupation of Burnside Park.

Debate among Occupiers will continue continued from page 1

Cr ossword

pay almost $30 million more per year than it currently does. Brown contributes around $4 million per year to the city in voluntary payments and property taxes.

Many in the Occupy movement see Brown’s tax-exempt status as a case of government supporting corporations while ignoring the needs of the least privileged.

“They’re a corporation,” said protester Robert Malin of Brown.

“Brown has a $2.5 billion endowment but doesn’t pay fair taxes.”

Malin stressed that Occupy Providence does not “have an antagonistic relationship with the city or with Brown University,” noting that Brown students have turned out to support the Occupy movement.

“When you think of a nonprofit school, you think of dedicated teachers and administrators making middle class income, not

a president making more than three-quarters of a million dollars,” Malin said.

Providence has faced a severe budget deficit over the past several years. Last year alone, Providence Mayor Angel Taveras trimmed more than $20 million from education spending.

Occupy Providence finalized the details of an agreement with the city Monday to end their nighttime occupation of Burnside Park in exchange for the opening of a day center for the city’s homeless. The center will provide the homeless a place to avoid the cold winter weather during the day, as well as resources for the homeless to find jobs and permanent housing.

Though the protesters claimed victory in the deal, group members have spent much of the last month debating amongst themselves the details of the agreement with the city. “I’m definitely op-

posed to (the deal),” said Amanda Magee, an organizer and original member of Occupy Providence. “I honestly feel like we shouldn’t be negotiating with the city. They’re liars. They’re criminals. They’re the 1 percent.”

Most of the disagreement came from those who thought Occupy Providence could obtain greater concessions from the city. “Our movement is one of the last ones standing, not to be a victim of police rampage. The city’s offer is okay, but the city can do better,” Magee said.

“They should be providing a shelter already, they have the power,” Magee said. “Thirty people died last year because of the winter.”

But the energy at the camp has remained strong. “You have not heard the last of Occupy Providence,” a protester shouted Tuesday during celebrations of the city’s concession.

Banner crash frustrates students continued from page 1 pre-registration opened for firstyears in September, the site went down for close to an hour.

Students across campus expressed frustration with the server’s inability to process stu-

Daily

the Brown

dent demand.

Andrew Chen ’12 was attempting to register for some popular classes in his last semester at Brown, but by the time Banner came back up, the spots were filled. Citing the reputations of the University and the computer

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Danielle Marshak, Treasurer Siena DeLisser, Secretary

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science department, he said students should not face such registration obstacles.

“Education is what we come to college for, and if people can’t even get the classes they want,” then the system is flawed, he said. Given the problems Banner has faced in the past due to an overload of students registering, Chen said the University should have found a way to prevent these problems by now.

— Additional reporting by Kate Nussenbaum

blogdailyherald.com

Campus News 3

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, january 26, 2012

Courtesy of Brown University

Professors David Rand and Barry Connors were named AAAS fellows for their contributions to biology and neuroscience, respectively.

U. professors honored by ‘unsolicited recognition’ continued from page 1 of the brain. His team works to understand the electrical and physical properties of the brain’s wiring networks, particularly when it functions abnormally, as is the case in epilepsy and other disorders.

Connors said a significant key to effectively treating epilepsy could come through microbes with light-sensitive proteins.

Through genetic manipulation, these proteins can be expressed in other organisms’ neurons, which are the cells that make up the brain’s wirings. Consequently, the neurons’ activity can be enhanced or inhibited by different colors of light.

Further scientific progress could lead to devices that would emit light upon detecting the onset of a seizure, inhibiting additional excitement of neurons which would otherwise push the brain into the seizure state. Connors said he sees great potential for this technology and has been collaborating with other departments, such as engineering and physics, to investigate its possibilities. “It’s a great example of how basic science has benefits no one ever would have predicted,” he said.

“It’s really nice to get unsolicited recognition,” said Lipscombe, who has been doing research since her high school graduation.

She started working as a technician at a drug company after high school, expressing interest in forensic science after reading Agatha Christie novels. She said she found that she loved doing research and later enrolled at University College London, becoming

the first member of her extended family to go to college.

Lipscombe’s current research also examines the wiring network of the brain. In particular, she is an expert on calcium ion channels, which are proteins found in neurons. These channels are important drug targets because different subtypes of the channel follow unique pathways. To treat pain, one could develop a drug that only affects the specific type of channels in the pain pathway, she said.

Lipscombe has been researching calcium channels since 1986 and has continued to be intrigued by the pace at which the technology in neuroscience has developed. “We can answer questions we never thought we could begin to ask,” she said.

Rand also said he felt honored to be recognized for his contributions to biology. Still, he said he always feels there is more he can do to advance his field. Rand’s research combines evolutionary biology and genetics. His experiments swap genetic material from mitochondria, the energy powerhouses of the cell, to create nuclear-mitochondrial genetic hybrids in fruit flies. His team analyzes variations in the flies’ “fitness traits” like survival rates and offspring production. Being able to take apart the nuclearmitochondrial system and identify the interactions is significant since many human diseases are mitochondria-based, Rand said.

Rand is also the director of the Center for Computational Molecular Biology, which unites computer science with genetics and evolutionary biology.

Courtesy of Brown University

Now, students have the option of registering their Brown email addresses to Google+. But very few actively use the site, choosing other social network sites instead.

Google+ available through Brown email continued from page 1 requirement and privacy, and for us it was an easier decision because of the opt-in system.”

The opt-in system allows Gmail users the option to create a public Google+ profile but does not require them to do so.

“By turning it on, everyone on campus has a choice to create a Google+ account,” she added. “It gives people the ability if they are interested.”

Though no formal requests to add Google+ were filed with CIS, Obodda pointed to “a lot of inperson requests, people asking around campus” for access to the service.

She noted benefits of registering with Google+, including the ability to collaboratively edit Google documents and organize meetings, especially in “inclement weather or across campus.”

Despite the new features, student reactions were lukewarm.

“I use Google+, but not like every day,” Alpha Diallo ’15 said, adding that he mostly uses it to socialize with friends. Diallo said he would not consider using Google+ with his Brown email account.

“I use Facebook. I do have a Twitter, but I’m more on Face-

book,” Paige Allen ’15 said. “I don’t really know what (Google+) is, but no one’s really explained it to me. I mean, if I knew more about it, I would, but I’m pretty good where I am with my social networks.”

For Obodda, the new Google+ profile is another opportunity to edit and share information, from “computing tips” to “feedback from coworkers.”

“I like Google+ because each

person chooses how much information to receive,” she said. “If I put all these tips on Google+, and if people get bored of hearing them, they can put me in a different circle, or if they’re interested they can put me in a circle too.”

Obodda remains hopeful that the social networking service will be useful to students.

“We’re excited to see how it’s going to be used on campus,” she said.

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4 Campus News HigherededNews Higher newsR oundUP r oundup

by k ate nussenbaum senior staff writer

Dartmouth Columnist Reveals Fraternity Hazing and Administration Inaction Dartmouth senior Andrew Lohse wrote a column for the Dartmouth, a student newspaper, describing the details of fraternity hazing rituals. He revealed that he met last year with members of the university’s administration, who did little in response to his concerns, according to Dartblog, which obtained a leaked copy of the column.

“We attend a strange school where our president, one of the world’s foremost public health experts, has shown an alarming reticence regarding what can only be described as a public health crisis of the utmost importance: the endemic physical and psychological abuse culture that occupies the heart of Dartmouth’s Greek-life community,” Lohse wrote.

He goes on to describe the traumatic exploits he was forced to take part in while pledging Sigma Alpha Epsilon. “I was forced to swim in a kiddie pool full of vomit, urine, fecal matter, semen and rotten food products; forced to eat an omelet made of vomit; forced to chug cups of vinegar until I was afraid that I would vomit blood like one of my fellow pledges did; forced to inhale nitrous oxide; degraded psychologically on a daily basis; forced to drink beers poured down a fellow pledge’s ass crack; vomited on regularly and encouraged to vomit on others,” Lohse wrote.

The administration is now in “damage-control mode,” according to Dartblog, and the Dartmouth plans to print responses from other students and possibly fraternity members.

Penn State Faculty Have Confidence in Administration Despite calls from students and alums for a vote of no-confidence in the Board of Trustees, Pennsylvania State University faculty decided against the measure in a 128 to 58 vote Tuesday, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. The calls for the no-confidence vote were in response to the board’s controversial firing of former head football coach Joe Paterno ’50 in November.

The faculty governing body also voted against conducting“an independent investigation into the child sexual abuse scandal” that resulted in Paterno’s firing, according to the Chronicle.

Jean L. Pytel, associate professor of engineering science and mechanics, said the vote would be “destructive” and that the faculty senate should work to create a productive relationship with the Board of Trustees, according to the Chronicle.

Mitt Romney Endorses For-Profit Colleges Last month, presidential hopeful Mitt Romney lauded for-profit colleges as an alternative solution for students struggling to pay steep tuition fees at their non-profit counterparts, according to the New York Times.

Romney praised Florida’s for-profit Full Sail University while campaigning in Iowa, despite its $80,000 per year price tag for certain programs and 38 percent graduation rate. Full Sail’s chief executive is Bill Heavener, co-chairman of Romney’s state fundraising team in Florida, according to the Times.

“Except with some rare circumstances, their prices are more expensive than community colleges and even four-year institutions,” Donald E. Heller, dean of education at Michigan State University, told the Times.

“I like the fact that institutions of higher learning will compete with one another, whether they’re for-profit or not-for-profit,” Romney told the Times.

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, january 26, 2012

UCS discusses successes, next projects

By Margaret Nickens Senior Staff Writer

In its first meeting of 2012, the Undergraduate Council of Students reviewed the progress of ongoing projects and discussed upcoming initiatives for the semester.

The Academic and Administrative Affairs Committee discussed the development of its Advisee Handbook, which will include advice for first-years that they may not get from their advisors or Meiklejohns. The council plans to have the handbook completed and emailed to incoming students by the end of the semester. The handbook should serve as “a great guide to Brown before getting here,” said Ralanda Nelson ’12, president of the council.

The Admissions and Student Services Committee noted that they successfully implemented Bear Bucks over break. The system is featured on Banner and allows students to add money to their student cards via Value Port III machines, which are scattered around campus.

The Campus Life Committee confirmed that banners will be featured on the Main Green to celebrate Brown’s 250th anniversary. Installing banners to commemorate the anniversary has been a long-standing goal of the

council, said Michael Schneider ’13, campus life chair.

Communications Chair Sam Gilman ’15 said the new UCS website will be running by the end of next week. He also announced that the council will begin circulating a newsletter to the University community to keep students informed about UCS activities. It will also continue its video “Fireside Chats” with University personnel. President Ruth Simmons will be among the series’ guests this semester.

The Student Activities Committee will be hosting New Leadership Orientations, seminars to help student leaders learn skills such as how to host events and receive funding, said Mae Cadao ’13, student activities chair.

“These things help you do your job better,” Nelson told The Herald, adding that “these are resources specifically for you to plan events, to run them efficiently.”

Near the end of the meeting, Vice President David Rattner ’13 took the floor to announce his main goals for the semester, which include redesigning Departmental Undergraduate Groups and possibly shopping period.

Nelson discussed handing off some of her major projects, such as increasing the student activities endowment, to other coun-

cil members. Though she hopes other members will eventually reach the $17 million goal for the endowment, she said she does not believe they will be able to complete the project this school year. Nelson also said she would be submitting a proposal for universal need-blind admissions to the Corporation Committee on Campus Life sometime this semester. Currently, international and transfer students are admitted on a need-aware basis.

UCS has received $500 from the Undergraduate Finance Board to fund a student group, said Afia Kwakwa ’14, the council’s treasurer. Applications for receiving the money will be sent out shortly.

Kwakwa also said UCS wants to host a Leadership Summit for Providence high school students.

At the end of the meeting, Nelson proposed “dorm rounds” to increase student-awareness of council activities. UCS members will go door-to-door in University dorms to gain student feedback and tell people about the organization. She said she thinks the approach is “a bit more personal” than approaching students in University cafeterias, as UCS has done in the past. Some members expressed concern that “dorm rounds” would prevent UCS from reaching juniors and seniors who live off-campus.

Workshops introduce new professors to U.

By Katie Cusumano Contributing Writer

Setting foot on campus for the first time can be a daunting experience for new faculty members. To facilitate the transition to teaching at Brown, the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning ran two workshops Jan. 23 and 24 — an orientation for all new faculty to Brown and a workshop geared to faculty who will teach for the first time.

The Sheridan Center provides biannual workshops for new professors at the beginning of each semester, as well as seminars throughout the academic year.

These seminars provide new faculty members with input from current students and faculty to facilitate their adjustment to Brown’s environment.

The orientation intended for all faculty new to Brown is invaluable for giving junior faculty members a “general sense of what the Brown student is like,” said Ethan Pollock, associate professor of history and Slavic languages, who helped lead the general new faculty orientation. Pollock described himself as less of a leader of the new faculty orientation and more of a mediator who guides discussions without lecturing.

Pollock said it was imperative in the workshops that current professors not extrapolate from their own experiences and impose their lessons on other disciplines.

Each discipline is distinct in its teaching style, and the formats of classes vary, Pollock said. For this reason, it is more valuable for new teachers to be able to ask questions and provide feedback, he added.

Pollock also led a workshop in the fall. These workshops are generally more widely attended because it is the start of a new academic year, Pollock said.

Fiery Cushman, assistant professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences, attended the orientation programs in the fall. He previously taught as a graduate and postdoctoral student at Harvard. But he said he still felt apprehensive when he joined the Brown faculty in the fall. Teaching as a professor for the first time is reputed to be “the hardest year of your life,” he said.

Nick Coleman GS led the “Teaching for the First Time” seminar, which is held for firsttime instructors, including graduate students, fellows and other new faculty. The soon-tobe instructors who attended the seminar were enthusiastic and

original, Coleman wrote in an email to The Herald.

Cushman said the workshops provide a way to “learn a few of the tricks” of teaching at a new institution and to place the peculiarities of the Brown teaching system, such as shopping period and the open curriculum, in a classroom context.

This semester will be Assistant Professor of Epidemiology Chanelle Howe’s first experience teaching her own class. Like Cushman, Howe attended a workshop last semester. She said the experience gave her a chance to learn about student expectations.

Upon joining Brown’s faculty, Cushman said he heard about its “outstanding body of students.”

The Sheridan Center not only recruits senior faculty members to direct its panels, but also involves undergraduate and graduate students alike.

In addition to the workshops, Howe said her background as a graduate teaching assistant at Johns Hopkins University also guided her understanding of how students learn best.

Cushman said students have a wide variety of interests and responsibilities, and understanding the student in full is essential to being an effective teacher.

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The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, january 26, 2012

City & State 5

Pre-meds forge global Students design diabetic teddy bear ties on Ecuador trip continued from page 1

By Joseph Rosales Senior Staff Writer

For the second time in less than a year, the University’s chapter of Medicine, Education and Development for Low-Income Families Everywhere sent a group of stu-

Campus News dents to Riobamba, Ecuador. The 23-person group spent eight days this month assisting doctors in nearby villages and constructing a bathroom for a village’s schoolhouse.

“I got to see a lot of different sides of medicine,” David Stein ’13 said. “I enjoyed working toward sustained change for the lives of the patients.”

The organization was founded in 2005 as a student group at the University of Maine. Since then, it has expanded to 45 different college chapters, the majority of which are pre-med student groups, according to Tommy Flint, director of operations for MEDLIFE USA. By facilitating travel to Ecuador and Peru, the organization gives students the opportunity to help villagers lacking proper medical care and learn about medicine through community service, Flint said.

The University’s chapter was founded in September 2010, said Katie DeAngelis ’13, co-president of the chapter. The group traveled to Riobamba during spring break last year, and the chapter decided to return over the recent winter break to continue developing a relationship with the region’s people, she said.

During this last trip, the Brown contingent formed a “mobile clinic brigade,” Flint said.

In keeping with the organization’s goal of connecting students with local doctors, students on the trip visited villages in the area alongside physicians, dentists and gynecologists from the region, DeAngelis said.

The villagers received free consultations and medicine on-site, Flint said. Patients with medical issues that could not be dealt with on-site were given a diagnosis to discuss with doctors in the city

center.

All students on the trip were members of the organization and were required to participate in fundraising and other public events. This requirement ensured that only the most passionate and committed students embarked on the trip, DeAngelis said.

The organization focuses on providing a “positive cultural exchange” for American students that gives them a chance to learn about career opportunities in medicine, Flint said.

Shivang Desai ’14 said he chose to go on the trip because he was interested in health care and particularly in the service of underprivileged communities. He said assisting with the toothbrush station, a place where students and other volunteers taught young children how to properly brush their teeth, was an eye-opening experience.

“Watching them learn how to brush their teeth, something that’s so simple for us, was exciting to be a part of,” he said. “It’s not something you expect to see.”

Stein said seeing the children’s smiles and the villagers’ gratitude throughout the week made the trip worth it.

Desai said the language barrier was one of the biggest challenges he faced during the trip, but the local doctors and a minority of the students knew Spanish. Some of the older villagers did not even speak Spanish, but rather an Incan language.

Rose Shan ’14 said she saw the local doctors as bridges between the chapter and the villagers. She added that she felt the language barrier was more apparent during the construction project, as the English-speaking doctors were not available to assist with translation.

The University’s chapter hopes to begin consistently sending groups of students to the Ecuador site at least twice a year during winter and summer breaks, DeAngelis said. Both Desai and Stein said they feel returning to Riobamba is integral to cementing a lasting presence in the region.

“Going back is completely necessary,” Stein said. “The goal is sustaining, lasting change.”

with Type I diabetes need to be administered insulin many times each day in order to survive.

“It’s really scary for a kid,” Horowitz said. “One day they go to the doctor, and the next their parents have to inject them seven, eight times a day.”

Though treatment can seem traumatizing at first, Horowitz and Chung said they believe Jerry can help kids learn to overcome their fears and teach them how to manage their disease.

“This is a toy that goes through the struggles that they go through,” Horowitz said. “Kids can’t read medical brochures — they learn by touching and doing.”

During the one-week mentoring program associated with the fellowship, Alan Harlam, director of social entrepreneurship at the Swearer Center for Public Service, helped Horowitz develop the toy and contact individuals who would later work with him on the project.

“I got an email from Aaron several months ago in which he told me he was thinking about making an arrangement with Northwestern, where he could finish his studies in Providence so he could work on Jerry the Bear,” Harlam said. “Now that I think of it, the title of the email was actually ‘A Crazy Idea?’”

“Alan wrote, ‘You could totally do that — and you could stay in my house,” Horowitz said.

Now, Horowitz and Chung share a room in Harlam’s home.

Living together in the same house as their mentor allows them to bounce ideas off one another constantly, Chung said.

“Because we’re living together

Courtesy of Andreas Nicholas

Horowitz and Chung hope their creation will help diabetic children cope.

and sharing the place together, we think about Jerry the Bear all the time,” Chung said. “We live Jerry the Bear.”

Though still taking Northwestern classes via Skype, Horowitz and Chung use all their spare time to further develop both the marketing and design of Jerry the Bear. For them, Providence is the ideal place to work on their business.

“It’s such a great city,” Chung

said. “People love to help you out and connect with you. We have so much support from students.”

Once they reach their goal of successfully producing and marketing Jerry the Bear to the Type I diabetes community, Horowitz and Chung want to work on instructive, interactive toys to cater to other medical communities, like asthma and epilepsy patients.

But until then, they are laboring over Jerry.

comics Dreadful Cosmology| Dario Mitchell

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6 Editorial Editorial

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, january 26, 2012

Editorial cartoon

by a n d r e w a n ta r

Break it up Right before students left Providence for winter break, a number of faculty members and administrators met to discuss potential changes to the academic calendar. The debate largely centered on moving the beginning of the academic year to the Wednesday before Labor Day to allow for a fall break later on in the semester. But we think a more promising scheduling modification was right in front of them. We propose shortening winter break by a week, adding the extra days either to President’s Day weekend or spring break.

While we always appreciate time away from the Sciences Library, winter break in its current form is egregiously long. This year, students who had exams on the last possible day of finals period, Dec. 21, still had a remarkable five weeks of vacation before classes started yesterday, Jan. 25. Given that many people finished as early as Dec. 9, a sizeable amount of Brown students had six or seven weeks away from College Hill.

The current winter break is a counterproductive and awkward in-between length — overkill in celebrating the holidays and decompressing from finals, but too short for the average Brown student to get an internship or job. Yes, winter finals period is demanding, but four or five weeks is more than enough time to recover.

Administrators do not want to lengthen time between the end of spring semester finals and Commencement, and it is a Brown tradition for Commencement to take place over Memorial Day weekend, wrote University Registrar Robert Fitzgerald in an email to the editorial page board. Accordingly, the only way to shorten winter break would be to create an extra week’s worth of vacation during spring semester.

Therefore, we suggest either increasing spring break from one week to two weeks, or adding a few days to both President’s Day weekend and spring break. Adding days to either or both of these will give students a break at a point in the semester when they will surely enjoy it, as well as more flexibility to take trips with community service groups, teams and clubs. Either of these options provides far more important opportunities for stress relief than the last days of a six-week winter break.

The strongest objection to this plan is that it might be disadvantageous to students who live far from Providence. It is both financially burdensome and time-consuming for these students to fly home. Thus, many of them presumably prefer fewer, longer breaks. We know that Providence winters are cold, and that international students in particular — who cannot realistically head home if given a few extra days during President’s Day weekend — might want to maximize their time at home over winter break. That said, for the majority of students, the last week of winter break is an inefficient use of time that could better be used during stressful points in the spring semester. We ask faculty and administrators to give serious consideration to shortening winter break.

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

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Correction An article in Wednesday’s Herald (“City spars with U. over increasing payments,” Jan. 25) incorrectly reported that Brown paid more than $2.4 million to the city last year under a 2003 agreement. The University actually contributed $1.2 million under the agreement and $1.27 million in additional voluntary payments. The Herald regrets the error.

quote of the day

“They’re liars. They’re criminals. They’re the 1 percent.”

— Amanda Magee, Occupy member See Occupy on page 2.

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Opinions 7

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, january 26, 2012

Resolutions reach the wrong audience

By Cara Dorris Opinions Columnist

New Year’s resolutions are always a list of recycled intents: to get more sleep, to do better in school and to party less (or more). But the most important one is always the same: to lose weight.

This is not surprising when, according to the Centers for Disease Control, over one-third of American adults are obese and even more are overweight. Something definitely needs to be done. Yet diet advertisements and magazines reach the wrong audiences. Instead of the postChristmas-binge sofa dwellers, they target the already-determined gym rats who are always searching for more motivation.

Disordered eating — not full-blown eating disorders — is any abnormal eating pattern, ranging from extreme to more subtle. According to the California Department of Public Health, such behavior includes a collection of interrelated eating habits and weight management practices, as well as eating rituals, body beliefs and physiological imbalances — basically, any weird attitudes about food or weight. So, yes, that includes most types of dieting.

Since my time at Brown, I haven’t encountered a single girl who doesn’t fit that

description. Dieting seems to have transformed into more than a health measure.

It’s a cultural practice.

When it comes to food, the general consensus is that less is always better.

During finals time, Health Services posts flyers that scream, “Feeling stressed?

Have a snack!” That really makes me wonder: Are we actually that busy? As Brown students, we take pride in the infamous saying that we do so much that we barely have time to eat or sleep. I don’t buy it. How long does it take to scarf down a spicy with?

there is no excuse for missing a workout when the gyms are open that late.

The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders found that 91 percent of women surveyed reported dieting to manage weight, and of those, over half were below or of healthy weight. A quarter of college-aged women have engaged in binge eating and purging as a weight-management technique.

In high school, I was a competitive distance runner, so I have seen my share of dysfunction. Eating disorders were prevalent for obvious reasons. Top athletes are

As Brown students, we take pride in the infamous saying that we do so much that we barely have time to eat or sleep. I don’t buy it. How long does it take to scarf down a spicy with?

Students who don’t obsess about food seem to get their fix at the gym. Maybe we’re not all a bunch of overachieving gym-lovers, but sometimes it seems that way. During finals time, the busiest part of the year, the machines are most crowded between 10 p.m. and midnight. It seems

competitive and compulsive, practice repetitive routines while maintaining unrealistically high self-expectations and share a tendency for depression. “Black Swan,” anyone?

My time at Brown has left me with an odd case of déjà vu. Ivy League students

tend to share the same traits as top-tier athletes in their drive to be perfect.

But who can blame us?

Consider weekend parties where girls dress in tight shirts and some guys go without. Can you blame them for spending countless hours in the gym when Brown advocates events like Sex Power God? And we aren’t only body-conscious on the weekends — it’s all the time.

It’s Wednesday nights at the Whiskey Republic. It’s Mondays and Tuesdays filled with new updates on “Brown Bares” — a forum where students can comment on their peers’ anonymously posted nude photos. It’s even during finals. After all, who wants to look fat during the Naked Donut Run? Maybe this year we should make new New Year’s resolutions: more sleep is good, better grades are nice, but how about we lay off the heavy gym sessions a little and go for a walk instead? How about we make sure to eat three times a day? How about, instead of trying to lose weight, we try to be healthier, both in body and in mind. That means working out moderately, eating good food and not dieting.

After all, we are Brown students. We shouldn’t be too busy to eat. We should be too busy to worry so much about what we eat.

Cara Dorris ’15 can be reached at cara_dorris@brown.edu.

The aim of activism

By David Hefer Opinions Columnist

Society is a wonderful thing. As Hobbes pointed out, without it life would be nasty, brutish and short. However, despite — and sometimes because of — our cultural and political institutions, some lives are not much better than the state of nature. This is the starting point for the social activist, defender of the underdog and champion of the voiceless.

Brown students are dedicated to social change. We Occupy. We take back the night.

If we could have, we would have loved freely and marched by the million.

Activism often involves interfering with the lives of others. This interference takes at least two forms. We might try to change laws, or we might make demands regarding behavior. Affirmative action is the former.

The Occupy movement is largely the latter.

About the second type of interference — Slutwalkers are similar to Occupiers in that they are activists who do not have an explicit plan for changing the law. But Occupiers are demanding that the 1 percent earn and spend their money differently. Slutwalkers are essentially educating. This movement is less about changing actions and more about changing minds.

Occupiers would have it that the rich be prohibited from engaging in the practices they condemn. It is for practical reasons that Occupiers do not always call for legis-

lation. Slutwalkers think people should not “slutshame” and blame victims. I have never heard it argued that people should be prohibited from doing these things. Slutshamers are jerks, but we do not try to legislate against jerks.

Perhaps you do not want to call the Occupiers’ demands “interference.” My point is that Occupiers are more similar to legislative activists than Slutwalkers. I want to call this similarity “interference,” and it is my column. Maybe you think there is no such similarity, but I am not interested in having a semantic debate.

What warrants interference? Clearly, we cannot interfere with every behavior for any

in a world where we all agree on the moral facts, an essential part of being human is being free to make the wrong decision. Instead, we should suggest people act morally.

This is what the Slutwalkers are doing. They make a convincing case that slutshaming is immoral and leave it up to observers to change their actions.

When we interfere, it can only be because injustices are being committed. We are concerned with instating just laws. Occupiers focus on the perceived injustices of our current economic system. What bearing does this have on activism? If I am right, interference is only warranted as a response to injustice. Before you get out there and inter-

Though morality requires us to give up some liberty — you have a moral obligation to save a drowning person, even though it would ruin your nice leather loafers — it is not clear that justice does.

reason. You cannot interfere with my film choice just because you think Michael Bay films lack artistic worth. We need a more robust normative notion to justify interference.

I see only two live options. We can interfere either when others’ actions are immoral or when they are unjust.

We cannot demand that people act morally. This is not a product of the fact that people disagree about what is moral. Even

fere, you need to ascertain whether an injustice or a mere immorality is occurring. If you are not interfering, maybe you ought to be.

We need not debate the nature of justice.

As I have argued in the past (“Morality and occupation,” Oct. 30), in order to be effective, activists must accept that “such-andsuch is unjust” is an objective fact on par with a scientific claim. We need to know what specific acts are just and unjust.

So, what are the principles of justice? In the past (“The right to public masturbation,” Nov. 30), I have suggested that just acts are those which respect rights. Activists must determine what our rights are or base justice on something else.

Environmentalists interfere with destruction of the environment. The Lockean proviso that property acquisition leave “enough and as good left in common” would adequately warrant interference. But Lockean thought leaves little room for redistributive justice. Environmentalists must either give up on redistribution or find some other way to justify environmentalism.

Occupiers and other redistributionaries demand we correct socioeconomic inequality. They must develop a theory that holds that this inequality is not only wrong but unjust and somehow squares with individual liberty.

Easier said than done. Though morality requires us to give up some liberty — you have a moral obligation to save a drowning person, even though it would ruin your nice leather loafers — it is not clear that justice does.

We may find that saving the environment and correcting socioeconomic inequality are merely moral and not also just.

If this is the case, we have no place self-righteously interfering with the lives of others.

We can educate and lead by example like the Slutwalkers, but we would be in no position to make demands.

David Hefer ’12 suggests justice starts at “Agents have intrinsic value” and morality at “Don’t be a jerk.”

Daily Herald City & State the Brown

Thursday, january 26, 2012

State tackles municipal pension woes

By Sona Mkrttchian Senior Staff Writer

Courtesy of Neumont University

Neumont University — a for-profit institution based in Utah — may face opposition as it attempts to develop a campus in Providence.

For-profit college seeks R.I. campus

By Kat THornton City & State Editor

Neumont University, a for-profit college that specializes in computer science, is looking to build a campus in Providence. Since Rhode Island currently does not allow for-profit institutions to grant bachelors or masters degrees, the college would require exemption from state law.

Neumont University, located near Salt Lake City, U.T., wants to combat the shortage of trained computer scientists facing Providence employers like GTECH and FM Global by opening its doors

in Providence, said Stacy Hughes, communication manager for the university. Neumont has existing industry relations with GTECH and FM Global, so Providence is a “natural fit” for a new campus, she added.

Ned Levine, president of Neumont University, is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. He said he wants to expand to Providence because of the many educational institutions in the state and the demand for Neumont graduates from local businesses. The university is looking for a location in Providence but has not yet found a specific

Courtesy of Brown University

Diane Lipscombe is one of three science professors who will be named fellows of the AAAS next month. See page 1 for the full story.

site, Levine said.

But there is local opposition to Neumont’s move. For-profit universities are held to a different standard than non-profit institutions of higher education, said Daniel Egan, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities Rhode Island.

While nonprofits are accredited by states, for-profit universities are accredited by the federal government, a process Egan said is not as highly reputed.

Rhode Island universities already produce significantly more computer science graduates than the estimated 300 that would come from Neumont, Egan said — and there are few entry-level positions available at big technology firms.

Advancing Rhode Island’s current education system should be the state’s priority, rather than bringing in a sector that has attracted controversy for leaving students with high debt and no degree, Egan said.

Levine said he has not yet faced opposition in his visits.

“As in anything, there are people who see the world differently, in a competitive sense,” he said, but he added that no one has specifically asked Neumont not to locate in the city.

If bills introduced by House Majority Leader Nicholas Mattiello, D-Cranston, and Sen. Hanna Gallo, D-Cranston, are approved by the Rhode Island General Assembly, Neumont expects to begin enrollment Oct. 2013, Hughes said. The legislation is currently under review by the House Committee on Health, Education, and Welfare and the Senate Education Committee.

A fourteen-member panel created by last year’s pension reform legislation held its first meeting yesterday at the Rhode Island State House to discuss failing municipal pension systems. After months of debate about the state pension system last year, the first meeting of the panel — which comprises municipal executives, union leaders and other political appointees — represents the beginning of a new chapter as the state shifts its focus to unfunded liabilities facing the pension systems of Rhode Island cities and towns.

Larry Berman, communications director for House Speaker Gordon Fox, D-Providence, said the panel is tasked with conducting research and compiling actuarial data on the local pension plans from each city and town for analysis. This data, along with the panel’s deliberations, will constitute the basis for its recommendations to the General Assembly in April.

The panel appointments coincided with a series of meetings Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 convened with municipal executives, union leaders and business leaders to discuss remedies for underfunded municipal pension plans.

“In order to solve the municipal issues that are facing cities and towns, all the parties should come together to better solve this problem,” said Christine Hunsinger, Chafee’s press secretary.

Many critics are eager to point out that unfunded municipal pension plans are a local problem.

Paul Valletta, president of the Cranston firefighters union, attended a meeting earlier this month. He represents firefighters enrolled in one of the most dangerously unfunded pension systems in the state.

“It wasn’t our fault — we didn’t cause this thing, but we also don’t think that the sins of past elected officials should be borne by the taxpayers or the firefighters,” Valletta said. He added that the firefighters were interested in sitting down with municipal officials to address the problem on a local level.

“Let the mayors do the job they were elected to do,” Valletta said, adding that he thinks Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, and not Chafee, should negotiate with firefighters.

But Hunsinger said the fact that the situation is “at a crisis level” means municipal pensions are indeed a statewide problem.

Valletta said a suspension of cost-of-living adjustments, pension payments indexed to infla-

tion, will result in the “biggest savings to any pension system” and that the unions are ready to negotiate in Cranston.

Providence Mayor Angel Taveras also suggested the suspension of cost-of-living adjustments as a possible solution.

“Right now, we have a pension system that is unsustainable,” Taveras said. “It’s not something we can afford.”

Union leaders like Valletta want to bring their current retirees into negotiations.

“We made this offer to our mayor a year ago, but we’ve never gotten a call to sit down,” Valletta said. “If the union is willing to sit down with you, and you could solve this problem that has been going on for years, you would be a hero. Why wouldn’t you want to do it?”

Philip Keefe, president of the local Service Employees’ International Union, also attended Chafee’s meeting with union leaders. He said the Chafee administration’s involvement in the issue is problematic due to its approach.

“I think they’re trying to mix apples and oranges,” he said.

“There are some cities and towns that are very well-funded, that really don’t need to be tinkered with.”

Rhode Island’s 36 different municipal pension plans have a total unfunded pension liability of more than $2 billion, though the liabilities are unequally distributed. Cranston’s pension system, for example, has one of the largest unfunded liabilities, valued at more than $240 million.

Hunsinger said the approximately $192 million worth of cuts to municipalities from the state government over the past three years has only exacerbated the pension problem and that this administration is interested in working with cities and towns to address the issue.

In the third session members of the Chafee administration met with business leaders like Tammy Collins, owner of Paragon Small Business Solutions. The governor emphasized the importance of strong business support for a financially solvent state.

“Rhode Island has been historically considered not smallbusiness-friendly,” she said. “They seem to want to make changes to regulations and legislation to make the state appealing to small business owners.”

Collins said the meeting was an effective forum to express concerns with current regulations and legislation. “I don’t know if they’ll change anything, but at least they are hearing us out.”

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