Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Daily

Herald

the Brown

vol. cxxii, no. 6

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Faculty Failed aid appeals mediator send students home position filled after two years

By David rosen Staff Writer

By nora mcdonnell Contributing Writer

After sitting vacant since 2009 due to a hiring freeze, the faculty ombudsperson position has been filled, according to an email sent to the faculty Friday afternoon.

Ruth Rosenberg, currently director of student mediation in the Office of Student Citizenship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will assume the role Feb. 22.

The ombudsperson search committee selected Rosenberg from a pool of 65 applicants, many of whom were lawyers. A number of University-affiliated individuals also applied, said Harold Roth, chair of the search committee and professor of religious studies.

But it was Rosenberg’s “vision for what the ombudsperson position should be,” as well has her experience as a trained mediator that led to their hiring decision, Roth said.

As the campus ombudsperson, Rosenberg will serve as a mediator for faculty and post doctorates.

“Often conflicts arise just because of lack of good communication,” continued on page 2

Emily Eastlake never expected she would be forced to leave Brown.

When Eastlake, a former member of the class of 2014, reapplied for financial aid after her first year, she “completely expected (her scholarship amount) to stay the same or get better,” she said.

But when she received her aid offer from the Office of Financial Aid in July, Eastlake said she was surprised to discover her family would be required to contribute twice as much as they had the year before. Though her family’s financial situation had not changed, she said her father filled out the application differently than in the previous year.

Her father listed his military housing

Since 1891

spring fever in Midwinter

income because of slightly different wording on the application.

Eastlake filed an appeal to the financial aid office but was unsuccessful, and she was consequently unable to return to Brown. Eastlake is now enrolled in George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., near her home. Though she is not as “enamored” of George Mason as she was of Brown, she said “there was such a loss of trust” that she would not return.

Roughly 12 percent of students appealed their aid offerings last year. This figure has been roughly constant over the last four years, according to Director of Financial Aid James Tilton. The financial aid office does not keep a record of the number

Glenn Lutzky / Herald

continued on page 2

Donning shorts and rolling up pant legs, students played pick-up soccer on the Main Green in yesterday afternoon’s balmy 45-degree weather.

Chafee to raise taxes and education funding By sona mkrttchian Senior Staff Writer

In his annual State of the State address last night, Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 concentrated on the state budget and emphasized the importance of optimism in the face of Rhode Island’s dire economic climate.

Chafee began his address by urging leaders to “prepare for the challenges that lie ahead this year” — challenges that include unemployment, failing municipal pension plans, education reforms and

“painful cuts” to the budget.

Chafee’s speech verified reports that he would introduce new taxes and tax increases in conjunction with the $7.9 billion budget plan he released yesterday. Chafee presented the tax increases — such as those on meals and beverages — delicately, noting that the revenue collected from the increases would help finance “additional education funding.”

Focusing heavily on education, the governor presented an additional $40 million appropriation to education funding for cities and

towns to “bring people together to improve academic achievement.”

“If we want our children to compete for jobs in the future, they must have good schools,” Chafee said. “Let’s put our money where our mouth is.”

Chafee emphasized Rhode Island’s wealth of assets, citing the Warren Alpert Medical School as a part of the state’s bright future, both educationally and economically.

“There are only seven Ivy League medical schools in the world and

the University in 1996 and said he is especially pleased it is available for collective use. “I didn’t want to see it broken up and sold to individual collectors,” he said. “I wanted it to be a resource where people could come and read about comics, see how they portrayed American life, how they changed over the years and to have some fun reading them.”

The collection offers a wide variety of comic materials, including reissues of classic “golden age” comics, Japanese anime and a first printing of Art Spiegelman’s P’13 acclaimed graphic novel Maus.

Ciaraldi guessed that his signed copy of the first issue of Cerebus the Aardvark is the rarest piece in his extensive collection.

“It’s a way into American culture and society,” said Rosemary Cullen, curator of American Literary and continued on page 4

— Kat Thornton

continued on page 4

Feature

Sofia Castello y Tickell / Herald

inside

A small sampling of the near 60,000 comics housed at the John Hay Library.

news....................2-3 Features.................4 RoundUp...............5 Editorial................6 Opinions.................7

Conscious

Students strive to reduce energy footprint Campus news, 3

Ciaraldi, a professor of practice at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in computer science and robotics engineering, said he has enjoyed comics since he was in college.

“They combine a lot of the best elements of say, a book and a movie, because you’ve got the words and the pictures, but in nice bite-sized chunks.”

He donated the collection to

Falsities

Bouche ’14 questions claims of cheating in Asia OPINIONS, 7

weather

There is something for everyone among the zips, bangs and kabooms of the Michael J. Ciaraldi Collection at the John Hay Library. The collection, started by Cornell alum Michael Ciaraldi, features about 60,000 comics, graphic novels and comic-related memorabilia and is as immersing as it is educational.

ACLU seeks legal compensation in prayer banner case After a judge ruled last week in favor of a Cranston High School West student who requested the removal of a prayer banner hanging in her school, her attorneys have asked the city to compensate her legal fees, a sum of $173,000.

The case, which a federal court found violated the First Amendment earlier this month, was filed by attorneys Thomas Bender and Lynette Labinger on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The plaintiff was Jessica Ahlquist, a junior, who first spoke out against the 50-year-old banner last April.

“This should come as no surprise,” Labinger said. “The city was well aware that if they lost this case, they would be responsible for the plaintiff’s fees,” she said.

Any court fees would be covered by the Cranston School Department, Cranston Mayor Allan Fung has said, according to WPRI. com.

The plaintiff’s right to be compensated has been protected by the Supreme Court on many occasions to encourage attorneys to take on cases related to constitutional rights and civil liberties, Labinger said. The city may attempt to negotiate the $173,000 price tag, but Labinger said it is unlikely the city will be able to refuse the request.

Cranston city officials were not available for comment. The city still must decide whether to appeal the federal court’s ruling.

‘Bite-sized chunks’ of history in Hay comic collection By sofia Castello y Tickell Contributing Writer

Ne ws in brief

t o d ay

tomorrow

58 / 33

43 / 28

2 Campus News

U. reviews gender-neutral housing proposal

calendar Today

February 1

5:30 P.M.

ToMORROW

February 2

11:30 A.m.

Creative Physicians Series,

Chinese New Year Luncheon,

Pembroke Hall, Room 305

Faculty Club

8 p.m.

7 p.m.

Chattertocks Spring Auditions,

Meet Olympian Ro McGettigan,

Barus and Holley, Room 153

Wilson Hall, Room 105

menu SHARPE REFECTORY

VERNEy-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH

Tacos, Mori Soba Noodles, Sticky Rice with Edamame Beans, Vegetarian Chili and Cheese Soup

Italian Meatballs, Pulled Pork Sandwich, Vegan Mushroom Barley Soup, Italian Marinated Chicken

DINNER Caste Hill Inn Pork Spare Ribs, Vegan Jamaican Jerk Tempeh, Wild and White Rice Pilaf

The Brown Daily Herald Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Spinach Quiche, Lemon Rice, Mediterranean Shrimp Stir Fry, Rotisserie Style Chicken

Sudoku

By Adam Asher Contributing Writer

A proposal to be introduced at the Campus Life Corporation Committee meeting this month could make gender-neutral housing available to first-years as early as 2013. The proposal will not be brought to the full Corporation until May. Drafted by the student group GenderAction, the proposal would give incoming first-years the option of selecting genderneutral housing on their housing preference forms, said Maddy Jennewein ’14, co-president of GenderAction. Jennewein said there would be three different options regarding gender-neutral housing listed on the preference form — one for students who need a gender-neutral assignment to feel comfortable, one for students who

would like a gender-neutral assignment and one for students who would not want a genderneutral housing assignment. This would make it easier for people who identify as one gender but support those who do not to take part in the program, Jennewein said.

GenderAction, a subgroup of the Queer Alliance, brought the proposal to the Office of Residential Life and the Office of Campus Life and Student Services last semester. The group will meet with the Campus Life Advisory Board next week. Margaret Klawunn, vice president for campus life and student services, will present the proposal at both Corporation meetings.

Over 30 student organizations have signed onto the proposal.

One such group, the Residential Council, voted unanimously in

favor of it because “it was hard to see a negative,” said ResCouncil Chair Sam Barney ’12.

A poll conducted by the Undergraduate Council of Students in the fall found that 79.6 percent of students are in favor of offering first-years gender-neutral housing. There is also an online petition that had 523 signatures of support from students and alums as of last November.

But Jennewein said administrators are more hesitant than students to approve such a sweeping change. She added that for the option to be put in place by 2013, it would have to be approved by the Corporation “very quickly.”

Between Corporation meetings, GenderAction will also take the proposal to the Diversity Advisory Board, a committee composed of faculty members and administrators.

Students struggle after aid appeals rejected continued from page 1

RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Los AngelesCrossword Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Bank heist 4 Bedframe piece 8 Beyond harmful 14 “... by __ other name ...”

15 Bare bones 16 Billiard ball feature, about half the time 17 Buzz-filled 2007 animated film 19 Brings together 20 Burdensome additional levy 22 Boldly states 23 Birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen 26 Baker’s meas.

28 “Behold,” to Brutus 29 Ball-shaped frozen dessert 30 Betty White co-star in “The Golden Girls” 32 “Ben-Hur,” e.g.

33 Bedrock resident 34 “But then again ...”

35 Bug-bitten?

36 Brown who wrote “The Da Vinci Code” 37 Billion-year period 40 Brother of Judah 42 Bump off 43 Biotin, thiamine et al.

47 Blinked the sleep from one’s eyes 48 Bothersome parasites 49 By order of 50 Bigheaded sort 51 Bing Crosby’s “__ You Glad You’re You?” 53 Baseball team’s list of players 55 Balanced state 57 Behave candidly 61 Black-tie wear 62 Bardot’s “the same” 63 Breathtaking snake?

64 Began, as a lawn 65 Beachfront property?

66 Buddy DOWN 1 Boxer’s punch 2 Binary digit 3 “Bon voyage!”

4 Better half, so to speak 5 Burgundy book 6 Bickering 7 Box office setting 8 Baton Rouge sch.

9 Blower of Sicilian smoke 10 Buffer between a hot plate and a dinner table 11 Built for NASA, say 12 Brief summary 13 __ Bear: Ursa Minor 18 Broadcaster of “Morning Joe” 21 Blackboard symbols in the locker room 23 Bride’s passé promise 24 Birdbrain 25 Belch, say 27 Blissful song 30 Better for enjoying the outdoors, as weather 31 “Belshazzar’s Feast” painter Rembrandt van __ 33 “Black Sunday” airship 35 Biblical prophet: Abbr.

37 Blond sci-fi race 38 Barrel sources 39 Bolshevik’s denial 41 Bundles up (in) 42 Bound by oath 43 Blaring siren sounds 44 Basis of morality 45 Belaying tool for climbers 46 Became edgy 47 Belonging to an ancient time

50 “Blood Simple” co-screenwriter Coen 52 Bay of Fundy wonder 54 Big name in video games 56 Bald spot filler 58 Backward flow 59 Bronze coin of old France 60 Bar bill

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

xwordeditor@aol.com

02/01/12

of successful appeals, Tilton said.

According to the financial aid website, each student appeal is processed by a financial counselor who will consider the “individual circumstances” of each appeal. On the appeals form, a student can document new information regarding a family’s financial status or include information he or she feels should have been considered in the original award amount, according to the website.

But filing an appeal does not necessarily result in increased aid, Tilton said. If students are not successful through the appeals process, Tilton said the financial aid office tries to assist the student by laying out other possible options available to the family, such as taking out a small loan.

Other students may take a semester off in order to afford to attend Brown later.

After health problems quickly changed his family’s financial situation last spring, one sophomore — who asked to remain anonymous due to his ongoing discussions with the financial aid office — was forced by his situation to take a leave.

While he tried appealing to the financial aid office to take his family’s new financial situation into account, his scholarship could not be increased due to federal guidelines, he said. The financial aid office has no choice in the matter because it uses federal grants in its scholarship offerings and must follow federal guidelines, the sophomore said.

He added that the financial aid office was “incredibly supportive in

Ombudsperson will ‘alleviate tensions’ at U. continued from page 1 Roth said. “An ombudsperson serves as a resource to whom one or both aggrieved parties can go to talk in confidence about what the problem is.”

The addition of an ombudsperson to the faculty will help alleviate tensions within the University, Roth added.

Rosenberg previously served as special assistant to the dean of biology and medicine at Brown before leaving for MIT in 2007.

While at MIT, she held mediation-

Daily

the Brown

related workshops and created an active bystander program, which helps train individuals how to act in situations that require intervention, such as “colleagues treating colleagues unfairly,” Roth said.

Rosenberg has a bachelor’s degree from Smith College and a law degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law, according to the email sent to faculty.

Rosenberg said she has been interested in becoming an ombudsperson for some time. “For me, it combines all kinds of skills and experience that I find interest-

Herald

www.browndailyherald.com 195 Angell St., Providence, R.I.

Claire Peracchio, President Rebecca Ballhaus, Vice President

Danielle Marshak, Treasurer Siena DeLisser, Secretary

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

POSTMASTER please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906.

Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Subscription prices: $280 one year daily, $140 one semester daily.

Copyright 2011 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved. editorial

By Robin Stears (c)2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

02/01/12

the process and really helped me think about other things I could do.”

The student enrolled in a local state college for a semester. When not in class, he did everything he could to return to Brown this semester.

“I jokingly called it my full-time job last semester,” he said. “Every minute that I wasn’t in class I would spend it writing emails, on conference calls, really trying to do everything that was possible.”

After identifying many local and national scholarships, along with working three jobs, the student was able to come back to Brown this semester.

“It’s an ongoing process. I’m basically living semester by semester,” he said. “I still consider it a miracle that I’m here.”

(401) 351-3372 herald@browndailyherald.com

Business

(401) 351-3260 gm@browndailyherald.com

ing,” she said. “I like to be able to work with people in conflict and individually.”

She added that she is attracted to Brown’s unique university-college atmosphere. It “still retains that kind of community feeling, but with a high caliber university,” she said.

Before Rosenberg’s appointment, Brown remained the only Ivy League university without an ombudsperson. “Brown is a little bit behind the times in hiring and establishing an ombuds position,” Roth said, adding that the other Ivy League schools have full-time ombudsperson positions. Rosenberg will hold a half-time position for the next three years.

Roth said he hopes there will be room to expand the position in the future. Such expansion might include making the position permanent, full-time or even available to other community members such as students and staff, he said.

Rosenberg’s new role will “help create an atmosphere of cooperation and fairness,” Roth said. “We will flourish as teachers and scholars in atmospheres in which we feel that there’s a relatively level playing field and that things are being done fairly.”

The Brown Daily Herald Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Today in University History: Feb. 1

by David Chung Ne ws Editor

On Feb. 1, 1986: Ed Sweet ’87 and Joanne Lembert ’88 staged a 12-hour sit-in at the Sharpe Refectory, for no other reason than to accomplish their goal of spending a whole day in the Ratty.

They began their Saturday at 7:30 a.m. and stayed until the evening at the same table, playing Monopoly and watching wrestling and episodes of Scooby-Doo on their portable television.

“We did it just for fun,” Sweet said. “We don’t have a protest, a cause or anything.”

Following the experience, Sweet told The Herald that he understood why students do not spend the entire day at the Ratty.

He said her 12 hours there gave him a chance to observe students’ habits.

“People change their clothes, and people take showers between meals,” he said.

But students dining near Sweet and Lembert had mixed reactions to the sit-in.

“Who’s doing the spectating — us or them?” said Pam Peters ’88.

On Feb. 1, 1985: Geologist Kathryn Sullivan spoke to students about her experiences in space with NASA and the 132 orbit trips she had taken around the globe.

Sullivan spent eight days in space in October 1984 on a space shuttle mission and came to Providence to work alongside the University’s geology department in analyzing data collected during her trips.

During the talk, Sullivan showed Hasselblad photographs of the earth — from the Himalayas to the Mediterranean Sea — taken from an orbit height of 218 miles. A photo from space of New England in the fall elicited a murmur of surprise from the crowd.

According to Sullivan, New England appeared brown not green from space in the fall due to autumn foliage.

“I sometimes think we learn more about ourselves in orbit than we do about the earth,” she said.

Campus News 3 Survey shows students support sustainability

By Sarah Shrader Contributing Writer

About 43.2 percent of students are aware of University sustainability efforts, according to the results of a survey conducted by Facilities Management at the end of last semester. The survey, which received 1,280 responses, also found that 80 percent of students believe climate change is one of the most important issues of their generation.

The survey assessed awareness of initiatives approved by President Ruth Simmons in 2008.

These include significantly cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, creating more energyefficient heating and lighting and ensuring all new buildings meet the silver standard of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification. It also sought to analyze students’ attitudes toward sustainability and the environment.

Facilities released the survey via Morning Mail last December. Respondents included both graduate and undergraduate students. The full survey results will be included in the Facilities Annual Report.

According to the survey’s results, 87 percent of students

believe their choices and behaviors can affect the environment.

About 70.3 percent of respondents said they recycled whenever they could and 76.5 percent said they turned off lights whenever leaving a room.

But the survey also found 48.2 percent of students said they leave dorm windows open in the winter, though 65.3 percent of them said they found their rooms comfortably heated. Since all dorm rooms are controlled by the same heating system, opening a window can cause the thermostat to overheat the entire building, said Kai Morrell ’11, outreach coordinator for Facilities. Overheating can cause all students to open their windows, creating a major waste of energy.

Morrell said students should instead call Facilities if they have concerns about dorm overheating.

But according to the survey, only 32.6 percent of students think calling Facilities will solve dorm problems.

Alex Eve ’15 called the energy waste “shocking.” “I find the dorm rooms to be too hot for comfort so I consistently keep the window open in the winter,” he said.

Eve suggested the University implement individual thermostats

in each dorm because students have “no choice but to open their windows” when the room is overheated.

Diman House is currently testing room-specific thermostats, Morrell said. Facilities’ Office of Energy and Environmental Programs will compare heating use in Diman to that in other dorms, according to an article published in The Herald last November.

The University has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 26.1 percent since Simmons approved the sustainability initiatives, according to the last Facilities report. A large portion of this came from switching from oil-based central heating to running on natural gas instead, Morrell said.

Though this made a “high impact in the beginning,” the rate of progress has slowed since then.

Facilities now intends to increase visibility and become more accessible to the student body — for instance, by identifying and targeting student “behavior choices that will really make a difference,” Morrell said.

“I’m comforted by the fact that Brown students think that climate change is a really important issue and feel empowered that their efforts matter,” she said.

On Feb. 1, 1963: During a talk in Manning Hall, Josef Smolik, associate professor of practical theology at the Comenius Faculty in Prague, called for a revival of Christian values in order to withstand the increasing influence of the industrial age on Christians. Smolik said the European church consisted of congregations that went through the rituals of participation but did not genuinely understand what it meant to be a Christian. Marxists believed the church would decline and eventually disappear, but with a return to focusing on the gospel, the Church would be able to provide answers to issues of the era, he said.

On Feb. 1, 1900: The University bowling team lost to Edgewood by only two pins in its last home game of the season. Despite a large group of fans present, Brown was unable to clinch the victory and scored 2,368 pins to Edgewood’s 2,370. Edgewood had also triumphed in its last meeting with Brown, by a slight margin of seven pins. The Brown team had two matchups left for the season, though according to Herald coverage, it was no longer likely that the team would be able to end the season ranked second in the Inter-Club League following this loss to Edgewood.

www.browndailyherald.com

4 Features

The Brown Daily Herald Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Hay comic books showcase Chafee superheroes and spacesuits creates cabinet to attract jobs continued from page 1

Popular Culture collections at the Hay. Comics are “a very quickly produced medium that reflects the preoccupations of its day,” she said.

continued from page 4

Sona Mkrttchian / Herald

Chafee focused much of his speech on issues like education and the budget.

we have one of them, in a newly renovated and beautiful building in the Knowledge District,” he said.

In response to Rhode Island’s current unemployment rate of 10.8 percent — the highest in New England — Chafee announced the creation of a Governor’s Jobs Cabinet to explore ways to make the state more attractive to new businesses and industries that will create jobs.

“There’s no reason for Rhode Island to be lagging behind its neighbors,” he said.

“To have so many Rhode Islanders out of work is unacceptable,” Chafee said. “Everything good occurs when people are working.”

Chafee also addressed the municipal pension problem facing towns and cities in the state, imploring the General Assembly to “empower these municipalities through legislation.”

Increased property taxes in towns and cities — which have risen 16 percent over the past five years — resulted from 17 percent cuts in state aid to cities over the same time period, Chafee said. He added that the pension situation in the state was a crisis, and he was met with raucous applause when he implored legislators to “make this the year of our cities and towns.”

Chafee ended the address by asking legislators to work together, seek transparency and remain optimistic as Rhode Island leaves “the winter of despair” and heads into “the spring of hope.”

Origins

His comic books have acquired academic prestige over the years, but Ciaraldi began collecting them for a different reason.

“In college, one of my fraternity brothers was collecting comics, and I started reading his. I just sort of got into it,” Ciaraldi said. “Eventually I was buying all the comics being published in the U.S. The mainstream — ­ Marvel and DC — then some of the underground and a lot of the independent comics.”

These unusual independent comics, belonging to what Cullen calls “the small press period in comics,” emerged due to the unique nature of the comic medium. The content of comics is less constrained by budget than other media, which facilitates more creativity, he said.

Comics can feature special effects — ­­­ like the destruction of the earth or characters with superpowers­— that would be costly if presented in television or film. “From the point of the creators, that could be very freeing,” Ciaraldi said.

Off to college

Ciaraldi decided to donate the collection when he realized he did not have enough time to keep up with his hobby.

“I used to be able to read them all and keep all the storylines straight in my head. So if someone asked me, ‘When did Spiderman meet Dr. Doom?’ I would be able to tell them,” Ciaraldi said. But some series, for example X-Men, began to release issues too frequently for him to keep up.

“It got really hard to follow what was happening, and you wondered how any one character ever managed to accomplish that much.

They would never have time to sleep if they were having all those adventures,” he said.

Ciaraldi estimated that he was picking up 20 comics or more in a week.

“I had all these comics, you know? And what could I do with them? I … didn’t want to break up the set because I had the continuous run — maybe 20 years or more — of Superman or Spiderman, but also of the more obscure ones.”

The collection took about 10 years to catalog and arrived in about 250 cartons. “It was in no order,” said Cullen, who led the collection’s organizational efforts.

“The cartons said things like ‘comics from back hall.’”

“As you unpack and sort these things you find your personal favorites,” Cullen said. “The one we just loved because it’s so cute is Time Beavers. … They are all in space suits, even their tails!”

After his initial donation, Ciaraldi continued to send comics periodically ­— even stopping by en route to his honeymoon in Narragansett Bay with a couple of boxes— and has visited his collection a couple of times since.

“The day they went off it was kind of sad,” Ciaraldi said. “At first I thought it was kind of like giving my kids up for adoption. No, it was like sending them off to college­ — the kind of place they will be happy.”

Comic one, comic all

The collection has been put to good use in its new home. Rhode Island School of Design students working on the set design of a comic book-inspired spaceship used it as a reference, and other students have focused on the portrayal of women, minorities or technology in comics. Sometimes students will just come in for “a little break” from academic life, Cullen said.

Comics “went from being a lowregarded art form, hardly taken seriously at all and considered bad for children, to a very high art form seen in museums,” said Paul Buhle, senior lecturer emeritus in American civilization, who used to involve the collection in his classes.

“Some people just want to come in and read their old favorites,” Cullen said, stressing that she knew the collection well and was available for anyone who does not quite know what they wanted.

Ciaraldi, who appreciates that comics are enjoyable to both the casual and the more invested reader, has his own recommendations for potential visitors.

“If you want ones where you’ll enjoy the artwork and they’ll be poetic … the Sandman stories,” he suggested. “If you want something like more real life, go with American Splendor. If you want the darker side of superheroes, try Watchmen, and if you want the fun side of superheroes, go for Spiderman, in the ’60s. You wouldn’t go wrong with those.”

“If you want something really cosmic, go with the stuff Jack Kirby did, like the Fantastic Four issues 45-55. That’s a high point. I don’t have all of those, but I have the reprints,” he said.

“And the Galactus series? That just knocks your eyes out with energy and enthusiasm.”

Roundup 5

The Brown Daily Herald Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Higher Ed Roundup by alison silver senior staff writer

Stanford professor leaves teaching to create online startup Research Professor of Computer Science Sebastian Thrun gave up his teaching position at Stanford University in order to found Udacity, an online startup offering classes at low costs. During his presentation at a Digital Life Design conference in Munich, Germany, Thrun announced that his decision was driven in part by ineffective teaching practices at Stanford.

After making his popular online artificial intelligence course available through online videos, he wanted to create a course using the Web’s interactive tools to simulate one-on-one tutoring, he said.

One of Udacity’s first course offerings, entitled “Building a Search Engine,” will be taught over a seven-week period by David Evans, a Udacity partner and associate professor of computer science at the University of Virginia. Thrun said he hopes that 500,000 students will enroll in the course.

“I feel like there’s a red pill and a blue pill, and you can take the blue pill and go back to your classroom and lecture your 20 students,” he told the Chronicle of Higher Education. “But I’ve taken the red pill, and I’ve seen Wonderland.”

Yale seeks to implement genderneutral housing A survey conducted by the Yale College Council reflected students’ support for gender-neutral housing options. Despite the Yale Corporation’s rejection of a similar proposal in 2011, the council has consulted with members of the Yale College Dean’s Office and included more data in its new report.

The council’s survey received responses from 445 juniors and 443 sophomores, said Co-Chair of the Gender-Neutral Housing Committee Joseph Yagoda. Of the survey’s participants, 92.7 percent responded in support of or as indifferent to gender-neutral housing, while 67.1 percent said they would accept residing in a mixed-gender suite.

Several respondents conveyed a concern that gender-neutral housing would lead to a higher risk of sexual harassment or assault, wrote Melanie Boyd, assistant dean of student affairs, in a letter attached to the report, according to the Yale Daily News.

“The assault of a suitemate would be a very risky act, legally as well as disciplinarily,” Boyd wrote. “What we know of sexual offenders suggests that they are more likely to seek out other, less risky targets.”

Council President Brandon Levin said the council requested only that the university make gender-neutral housing available to juniors to encourage them to continue living on campus, since juniors — unlike underclassmen — have the choice of moving off campus and living with the opposite gender. The council’s report asserts that genderneutral housing would in fact improve the sexual atmosphere at Yale and lessen the sexual implications of students of opposite genders socializing in a suite, according to the Yale Daily News.

Alums create gourmet ketchup brand

By Jenny Bloom BlogDailyHerald

Scott Norton ’08 and Mark Ramadan ’08 did the unthinkable — they challenged one of the largest monopolies in our society: ketchup.

Like Kleenex and Band-Aids, Heinz is synonymous with the product itself. Rather than accept this fate and be subjected to a life of oneketchup consumption, these alums created an answer to the catsup establishment in the form of Sir Kensington’s Gourmet Scooping Ketchup. The brand has wit! Charm!

Rebellion! Mustaches! How very Brown of them.

We got in touch with Norton and Ramadan and asked them some of BlogDH’s most pressing questions.

Why ketchup?

Ketchup is one of the only food products that is served everywhere from McDonald’s to the Four Seasons Hotel. What we noticed, with surprise, was that there is essentially no variety or choice in quality, texture or taste in the category. Across mustards, salsas, yogurts, olive oils, chips and countless others, there are seemingly endless varieties, but with ketchup this wasn’t so. We were intrigued by this gap in the market and began investigating to see if we could deliver something compelling.

How did you come up with the idea for scooping ketchup?

Nearly all gourmet condiments (mustards, jams, etc.) are scooped one spoonful at a time, rather than squeezed en masse. Our goal is to bring this dearness to ketchup, both in the quality of ingredients, as well as the way it’s packaged and served.

You use a mustache as your icon and have a pretty eccentric website. How did you come up

with the name and persona that embodies your ketchup?

We naturally had a lot of fun with the project at the onset, which allowed some of our more absurd ideas to become fixtures of the brand. From a strategic perspective, we knew we would never get people’s attention unless we entertained them and encouraged curiosity about what was inside the jar.

Are you planning on adding any other condiments to your line?

We very much enjoy the focus that we’re able to dedicate to ketchup, the king of condiments.

That being said, there is definitely room for innovation in the space, but nothing is officially on the horizon. If and when there is a new product developed in the Kensington kitchen, there will no doubt be a tasting party back at Brown to receive feedback.

What is your favorite way to eat your ketchup?

On an egg, cheese and cilantro sandwich for breakfast.

Are you hiring? Are you in the process of expanding your business?

We have just expanded our team with some very talented individuals, all who come from different parts of the food world, though we are looking for summer interns. If you’re interested in disrupting one of the last American monopolies and getting some hands-on startup experience, email us: recruiting@ sirkensingtons.com.

The Forbes 30 under 30 Food & Wine category recently recognized you for this venture. How did that feel? Did you throw or consume any food/ketchup in celebration?

We are flattered and extremely fortunate to be recognized by

News from Blog Daily Herald blogdailyherald.com Forbes. It was an honor to share the list with many other highlyaccomplished people. The news was celebration enough, though I (Scott) do recall having a glass of wine — or two — at lunch that day.

Any advice you have for students who want to pursue a start-up?

Ramadan: Incubate your product or service before launching to the public. That’s what allowed us (to) refine the offering over time.

Whether this means pursu(ing) the project part-time before diving in, or launching small before going big, just make sure to take your time. You can’t make a second first impression.

Norton: Start small and make prototypes as soon as possible. Focus on doing, not talking.

What was your favorite class at Brown?

Adjunct Lecturer in Engineering Danny Warshay’s ENGN1010: “Entrepreneurial Process: Innovation in Practice” and Professor of Economics Ivo Welch’s ECON1720: “Corporate Finance” both reinforced how creative and technical thinking go so well together, and both taught me (Scott) not to be afraid of numbers.

Anything else you want to tell us?

I (Mark) truly don’t think Sir Kensington’s would have happened at a different school. Brown is an incredibly unique environment filled with curious, open and brilliant people. Never be afraid to make a connection in class and to pursue potentially crazy ideas — you might not get the chance again.

comics Dreadful Cosmology | Oirad Macmit

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

6 Editorial & Letter Editorial

Editorial cartoon

The Brown Daily Herald Wednesday, February 1, 2012

by sam rosenfeld

An education for all State Rep. Doreen Costa, R-Exeter and North Kingstown, introduced a bill Jan. 26 in the Rhode Island General Assembly that would prevent undocumented Rhode Island students from receiving in-state tuition discounts. The legislation is intended to nullify a decision made last fall by the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education that extended in-state tuition to such students. We strongly oppose Costa’s bill not only because she lacks the authority to introduce such legislation in the first place, but also because it is discriminatory and unfair.

Last October, we published an editorial in support of the initial decision. It is our belief that it is the responsibility of American states to educate their citizens, regardless of their immigration status — especially when many undocumented students have lived in Rhode Island for virtually their entire lives. We cannot withhold equal education from residents who were raised here. It is the responsibility of Rhode Island and American communities to treat undocumented residents with compassion and respect. The Board of Governors’ measure targeted exactly this class of students by including a provision that only made undocumented students eligible for in-state tuition if they attended a state high school for a minimum of three years and graduated with a high school or equivalent degree.

This past December, Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14, who most recently sparred with Costa over the issue of calling the Rhode Island State House tree a “holiday tree” instead of a “Christmas tree,” defended the Board of Governors’ decision in the weeks after it was released. Chafee argued that tuition decisions are the responsibility of the Board of Governors rather than of the General Assembly and said that, despite a lack of employment opportunities for illegal immigrants, the cuts were “an incentive to finish high school if you know you might get in-state tuition. Ultimately, I am sure many of these undocumented students will become citizens somehow.’’

Historically, the Board of Governors — not the legislature — has had authority over higher education funding and policy. Yet Costa’s bill would usurp this authority, putting it in the hands of a politicized legislature.

Further, in keeping with our theme from Monday’s editorial about higher education costs, extending the in-state discount makes economic sense. It is imperative for Rhode Island’s and the United States’ long-term economic success to incentivize, not dissuade, citizens to attend college.

Costa rightly claims that many Rhode Island residents have opposed the board’s decision and that her own bill has support from all over the political spectrum. But the popular thing to do is not necessarily the right thing to do. Political discontent is no excuse for violating proper procedure. The decisions concerning such funding lie with the board. Nor is it an excuse to deny any Rhode Island high school student the opportunity for upward mobility that a college education provides. We hope that cooler heads prevail and that Costa’s legislation does not go any further than it already has.

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

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

Managing Editors

Senior Editors

Claire Peracchio

Rebecca Ballhaus Nicole Boucher

Tony Bakshi Natalie Villacorta

editorial

Business

Arts & Culture Editor Sarah Mancone Arts & Culture Editor Emma Wohl City & State Editor Elizabeth Carr City & State Editor Kat Thornton Features Editor Aparna Bansal Features Editor Katrina Phillips News Editor David Chung News Editor Lucy Feldman News Editor Greg Jordan-Detamore News Editor Shefali Luthra Sports Editor Ethan McCoy Sports Editor Ashley McDonnell Assistant Sports Editor Sam Rubinroit Editorial Page Editor Jonathan Topaz Opinions Editor Charles Lebovitz Opinions Editor Jared Moffat Science Editor Sahil Luthra Graphics & Photos Eva Chen Emily Gilbert Rachel Kaplan Glenn Lutzky Jesse Schwimmer

Graphics Editor Photo Editor Photo Editor Assistant Photo Editor Sports Photo Editor

Production Olivia Conetta Kyle McNamara Julia Shube Neal Poole

Copy Desk Chief Design Editor Design Editor Web Producer

General Managers Siena DeLisser Danielle Marshak

Office Manager Shawn Reilly

Directors Julia Kuwahara Samuel Plotner Nikita Khadloya Angel Lee

Sales Finance Alumni Relations Business Development

Letters, please! letters@browndailyherald.com

Correction An article in Monday’s Herald (“Chinese arts troupe impresses with 11-act performance,” Jan. 30) incorrectly reported that the performers of the Zhejiang Wenqin Arts Troupe wore kimonos during their Jan. 28 performance. In fact, the traditional Chinese costume worn by members of the troupe is called a qipao. The Herald regrets the error.

Correction An article in Tuesday’s Herald (“Diversity board focuses on veteran enrollment,” Jan. 31) incorrectly stated that a working subcommittee on veteran affairs will present the recommendations it develops to the Corporation, the University’s highest governing body. In fact, the subcommittee will seek advice from the Diversity Advisory Board and the Office of Institutional Diversity on where to issue its findings. The Herald regrets the error.

quote of the day

“They would never have time to sleep if they were having all those adventures.”

— Michael Ciaraldi, donor of a comic collection at the Hay See comics on page 1.

Managers Justin Lee Kaivan Shroff Gregory Chatzinoff Mahima Chawla Matthew Hill Alison Pruzan Elizabeth Gordon David Winer

Human Resources Research & Development Collections Collections Finance Operations Alumni Engagement Fundraising Social Media & Marketing

Post- magazine Sam Knowles

Editor-in-Chief

BLOG DAILY HERALD Jennifer Bloom Matt Klimerman

Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor

C O R R E C T I O N S P olicy The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.

C ommentary P O L I C Y The editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only.

L etters to the E ditor P olicy Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and clarity and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed. advertising P olicy The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.

Opinions 7

The Brown Daily Herald Wednesday, February 1, 2012

The real cost of college By adam bouche Opinions Columnist The other day I stumbled across an article on the news website Global Post that a friend of mine had shared on Ye Ol’ Book of Faces.

The link read, “Elite Asian students cheat like mad on U.S. college applications.” Intrigued by this inflammatory and somewhat offensive headline, I had to click.

Like anyone who has applied to college, my friend was peeved at what he perceived as unfair manipulation of one of our most frustrating, though unavoidable, systems.

This story sounded like a firecracker. A hairpuller. A declaration of war. I read on.

The story explains how, in an increasingly global and competitive world, the pressure on education-addicted Asian students encourages them to compromise their integrity in order to succeed. Though Eastern economies have begun to boom, United States colleges still manufacture the most coveted of scribble-laden certificates. A swelling trend among members of Asian “high society” is now to utilize college prep companies that offer falsified transcripts, essays pre-written in perfect English, invented awards and surrogate geniuses for standardized tests.

However, paying one’s way into college does not come cheap. Depending on how much finagling is required, the cost runs from $5,000 to $15,000. And, an agent who wins a student’s acceptance to a U.S. News and World Report top-ranked college slaps

another $3,000 to $10,000 into his pot o’ gold.

Apparently, in foreign countries, the organization is mistaken as part of the American government.

Considering both the fact that our beloved Brown is now at spot number 15 and that strolling around campus, I am overwhelmed by a beautiful melange of languages, I began to wonder. Has Brown been swindled by this brand of trickery? Then I saw the figures.

According to a 250-student survey conducted by Zinch China, the foreign branch

seemed indicative of much foul play. I had to take a peek at where this information came from. This data would mean that international students at our school could have gained entry on false pretense, certainly a disturbing notion. Cheating is not compatible with the religious and moral traditions of the East.

With so much emphasis on honor and hard work that students compromise sleep and social lives, one would think that wide-spread rule-bending would be condemned. I went to work.

Now, I don’t know what’s more appalling

This data would mean that international students at our school could have gained entry on false pretense, certainly a disturbing notion. of an esteemed, California-based education consulting corporation, 90 percent of recommendation letters that are headed overseas are faked, 70 percent of essays aren’t written by applicants and half of all transcripts aren’t genuine. Also, the only student quoted in the article, a 17-year-old senior from Thailand exclaims, “‘They can do everything for you. … They can take the SAT for you, no problem. Most students don’t really think it’s wrong.’”

Confused? I was simply befuddled. First, I knew that 250 people is nothing compared to the 158,000 Chinese students enrolled in American colleges and that this data had to be skewed by sampling error. But it still

— that the world runs on money or that even a system designed to be incorruptible is not immune from the triumph of dollars over diligence. Or even worse, is it that, when one looks behind the scenes at foreign teens portrayed by media as cutthroat monsters, students aren’t even the source of this issue?

The data tends to be factual within the limited confines of the article’s research.

However, when I looked into the paper from which most of the startling information was drawn, I found that these sensational statistics stem from a very different problem.

The Global Post article fails to mention that Chinese teachers and high schools are almost always judged on the colleges and

scores of the students they produce. Some are even penalized for pupils they send overseas, which is seen as a national loss, so there is real incentive to keep students within the country. This leads to the withholding of transcripts and signatures from recommendations.

Another tidbit that the journalist fails to include is that, in the report he cites, the head of Zinch China admitted that most parents consider 17-year-olds too irresponsible to coordinate their own affairs. Often only hired heads can access the email accounts used to communicate with schools and register for the Common Application. Many students aren’t even allowed to log in or view the materials. Parents tend to see this as a benefit, a buffer if their child’s English skills are poor.

The overbearing influence of parents and the fear of what will happen if their children do not succeed clearly facilitates the emotional exploitation of concerned parents for personal profit. The problem is one of ethics, but not on the students’ behalf, as the Global Post article insinuates.

This kind of faux journalism serves to stir up prejudice and xenophobia in an already tense area of discussion. The facts have been obscured, and the real issue of application fraud has been used as a sensational base for publisher profit. So to Global Post, I say, shame — let’s aim our rhetoric at what’s really to blame.

Adam Bouche ’14 is a geology and archaeology concentrator from Ipswich, Mass.

He can be contacted at adam_bouche@ brown.edu.

Mastering the art of being a master By suzanne enzerink Opinions Columnist Winter break is officially over. Even though weather-wise the winter fun is just starting, the only snowy slopes that most of us will see the next four months are those of College Hill. The end of one period also means the beginning of another: the second semester. For some students, it’s also the final semester. As seniors and graduate students complete the final requirements for matriculation, there is one burning question that is posed again and again: what’s next?

This question is particularly pertinent for master’s students, a group that in the past has voiced concern about being somewhat of the odd one out at the University.

With very little funding and largely without their own clubs — the programs are often too short to sustain such organizations — they navigate a twilight zone that is somewhere between that of undergraduate and PhD students. Master’s programs are lucrative for universities but not always valued by professionals. Employers more often than not gear their recruitment liaisons towards one of the two groups, leaving the master’s student only two options: to apply to internships and entry level jobs open to those who completed undergraduate degrees or to go for more graduate schooling.

So far, it is mostly individual departments that guide these students — for example, the American studies department, which is my home here, has appointed an

advisor for its master’s students who gives guidance on matters including course selection to future career plans. It is logical that the departments have a large role, as they are by far the most direct contact the students have, and as such they are the best suited to determine the specific needs of the individual master’s students.

While some students still voice concern about the University’s standing towards master’s students, significant improvements have been made over the past years.

Besides funding, which will require a substantial overhaul of the financing system

dergraduates or PhD students. This is no coincidence, as it mirrors the hiring structures of companies and organizations. Recruitment officers attending campus fairs rarely have vacancies specific for master’s students, and sometimes they can only provide an email address to which to direct inquiries. The investment of time in attending fairs then nets only minimal results.

These problems are already increasingly on the radar of the University itself, and the Center for Careers and Life after Brown has founded an advisory council to ensure that its activities better correspond to the

While some students still voice concern about the University’s standing towards master’s students, significant improvements have been made over the past years.

and thus seems far off, master’s students face a difficult job market. Particularly for students in the humanities, an M.A. degree does not always lead clearly to a next stage.

For some it is a stepping stone to a PhD, while for others it is a conscious choice as the final terminal before entering the job market.

For the latter group, it is particularly vexing that the Brown Student Job and Internship Board often focuses on either un-

specific needs of master’s students. It is currently circulating a questionnaire about its performance with regard to master’s students to catalog any particular issues they run into. Such initiatives are invaluable.

On an organizational level, the Graduate Student Council at Brown is one of the only Ivy programs that has created a Master’s Student Advocate — though other schools are now also moving in this direction. Alissa Haddaji GS, current advocate

and fellow American studies student, is one of the first to hold this position. The council’s new vice president, Jaclyn Murphy GS, is a public policy student. They are integral in making the voices of master’s students heard and should be fully utilized by the different departmental representatives who now do not always directly reach out to the correct council officer. Most goals of master’s students overlap with those of other graduate students, which makes cooperation easy. In the end, all graduate students share the objective of high quality education, research and conditions to facilitate these.

Success also requires attention from students themselves. Even if we are only here for a year or two years — for now — and changes initiated now might not be implemented until later, it is only through feedback that the University can fine-tune its policies and smooth over any glitches in the master’s system. Sometimes change is only a few mouse clicks away through Morning Mail — CareerLAB’s survey for instance.

With so many announcements in one’s inbox every day, it can be a little overwhelming to locate the applicable one. Navigating the sea of announcements to discover the single one specifically addressed to us is just one part of the art of being a master.

Suzanne Enzerink GS is a master’s student in American studies. The CareerLAB survey will be mailed out again.

You can also email careerlab_graduatestudent@brown.edu for the link.

Daily Herald Features the Brown

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

R.I. considers adopting Spring GISPs explore science, art and pirates DNA database for felons

By Katherine Cusumano Staff Writer

By Austin cole Staff Writer

A law that would require suspects arrested for certain felony crimes to submit their DNA to a nationwide database has been reintroduced into the Rhode Island General Assembly. The bills, sponsored by state Sen. David Bates, R-Barrington, and state Rep. Brian Kennedy, D-Hopkinton, are modifications of Katie’s Law, originally instituted in New Mexico.

city & state The legislation is named for Katie Sepich, a 22-year-old who was raped and murdered and had her body set aflame and left at a dump in 2003. According to her mother, Jayann Sepich, the only conclusive evidence that law enforcement officials could find was the attacker’s skin and blood under Katie’s fingernails. Three years later, Katie’s killer was identified when his DNA was matched with that found under her fingernails, but Sepich said he could have been brought to justice just three months after Katie’s death when he was arrested after an aggravated burglary attempt if legislation like Katie’s Law had been in place.

After her daughter’s death, Sepich co-founded DNA Saves, an organization that advocates the further use of DNA in helping to solve crimes and save lives.

According to the organization’s website, 26 states have adopted legislation modeled after Katie’s Law. The legislation was first introduced in Rhode Island three years ago, but it failed to pass either branch of the General Assembly. The bill was reintroduced in 2010 and passed the Senate but was halted in the House of Representatives.

Sepich said taking a suspect’s DNA has no downsides, but many organizations and lawmakers are against the adoption of Katie’s Law. Some organizations, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, believe that taking arrestees’ DNA

is a violation of privacy and civil rights. The DNA entered into the database has only 13 markers of the over 3 billion encoded in human DNA, and of those only the marker determining gender contains genetic information, Sepich said. The DNA is also not paired with names or social security numbers, she added. Each unique code is paired with an identification number, and the offender’s name is revealed only after the DNA is matched.

Having a DNA match does not automatically lead to a conviction, since “the arrestees still have every right to a fair trial,” Sepich said.

“Their rights are still intact.” Conversely, a lack of a DNA match helps protect the innocent. “DNA is truth. It’s scientific truth,” she added. “It exonerates immediately.”

Much of the public opposition to Katie’s Law stems from a lack of understanding of DNA testing, Sepich said. But she is currently working to help dispel misconceptions, she said.

Most lawmakers in Rhode Island are now less worried about the civil rights aspects of Katie’s Law, Bates said. “It clearly comes down to cost,” he said. Considering the current state of the economy, many lawmakers are hesitant to adopt expensive legislation no matter how they feel about it ideologically, Bates added.

Bates and Sepich said the benefits of DNA collection and testing far outweigh its monetary costs, which might not be as high as some fear.

The current annual cost of using a DNA database in New Mexico is barely greater than the taxpayer money spent on investigating Katie’s murder, Sepich said.

The state also has the potential to receive money from the federal government to help offset the cost, Bates said.

Both Bates and Sepich, who will be visiting Providence next week, said they are optimistic about the legislation’s prospects this time around.

r e a dy, s e t, g o c lu b !

Glenn Lutzky / Herald

Members of the Go Club met in J. Walter Wilson 401 Tuesday to play Go, one of the oldest strategy games in the world.

What do amplified cactus instruments, molecular gastronomy and pirate archaeology have in common?

They are just some of the subjects being pursued this semester in Group Independent Study Projects, student-designed classes that in the past have included names like “Illegal Art: The History, Culture and Practice of Graffiti” and “South Park, Mark Twain and Finding an American Culture.”

In GISPs, students have an increased responsibility for their own learning because they must craft their own syllabus in conjunction with advising from faculty sponsors, wrote Evan Schwartz ’13, co-coordinator of independent studies and independent concentrations at the Curricular Resource Center, in an email to The Herald. Some students may use the program to network with professors, he added.

Sixteen GISPs will be offered this semester, up from seven GISPs in the fall, according to Banner. The GISP offerings continue to demonstrate the variety of interests of the undergraduate student body.

A better platform for knowledge

“I’ve been cactus shopping,” announced Sarah Schade ’15 at a recent class meeting for GISP0010: “Science and Art: Seeking Consilience.” Making an amplified cactus, a musical instrument constructed from the spiky plant, is just one of the ways in which the GISP addresses both theoretical and practical applications of science and art.

Science and art are “two sides of the same coin, two languages for the same phenomenon,” said Vanessa Ryan, assistant professor of English and the faculty sponsor for the project. The GISP provides a forum for students ­— many of whom are double concentrating in vastly different subjects — to combine their disciplines and think about connections.

“Artists can help scientists frame questions in different ways,” said Ian Gonsher, adjunct lecturer in engineering and former lecturer in visual arts, who may guest lecture for the GISP. “Both the arts and sciences tell stories in some way.”

“Using science and art to build a better platform for knowledge” is the main motivation behind the GISP, according to Schade, a student in the GISP. Schade will be leading the course’s discussion on the third culture, a culture of scientists approaching their discipline through arts and humanities in order to enhance it. A potential visual arts and physics concentrator, she said she joined the project in order to discover new links between her two academic interests.

Greg Sewitz ’13, organizer of the GISP, said it was difficult to incorporate everything from music compositions to quantum mechanics into the syllabus. The group members worked together to decide on texts and materials. They also plan to explore food science by brewing their own beer and working with miracle berries later in the semester.

Sewitz was studying abroad last semester, and he said working to create the GISP from overseas presented its own challenges.

“It took weeks to have one full exchange,” Sewitz said. Still, he said he was impressed by the “unpolitical” and “receptive” nature of the professors and students with whom he worked. “Students will come away feeling like they created something that allows them to pursue their own academic interests,” he said.

Excavating underwater?

“It attracts a lot of members of ARRR!!!” Nick Bartos ’13 said, referring to the GISP0001: “Underwater Archaeology” and its appeal to members of Brown’s pirate a cappella group.

The syllabus varies in scope between broad time periods and wide swaths of ocean, dealing with topics ranging from colonialism to piracy to modern day archaeology ethics.

Ben Jones ’13, who spearheaded the project, said he found a group of people who were interested through previous archaeology classes for his concentration and peers he knew who were scuba-certified. Christoph Bachhuber, postdoctoral fellow in archaeology and faculty sponsor to the class, became involved in the GISP because it related to his area of study.

Last semester, Bachhuber taught a class about maritime archeaology

which focused specifically on the Mediterranean. The GISP will complement this course with different data sets and methodological foci, he said. In addition to the pirate singers and archaeology concentrators, many of the program’s students took Bachhuber’s class last semester.

Bachhuber said he derives a certain satisfaction from being a “less formal guide” and more of a mentor for this group of students, who will meet for the first time this week.

“It’s the conversational guidance that I will really enjoy,” he said, relating the structure of the GISP more to a forum than a formal lecture by an individual.

Jones said he has already seen the rewards of the GISP program — “seeing what students can do mostly independently when they’re really passionate.”

He said he came up with the idea and syllabus for the GISP in collaboration with professors at University of Rhode Island, Texas A&M University and Florida State University who have taught similar classes. Bartos noted that the toughest part of organizing the GISP was striking the balance between areas of expertise and new areas of knowledge.

“The idea is to introduce yourself to new things,” he said, and so it was necessary to search for new interests.

There is also an interdisciplinary aspect to the GISP — Bartos said the group hopes to collaborate with the history department and bring in guest lecturers.

This GISP is just one aspect of a broader curricular interest in underwater archaeology for Bartos and Jones. Both took Bachhuber’s class, and both will participate in an excavation this summer in Turkey.

Jones said the GISP’s syllabus aims to cover the variety of time periods and regions a professional archaeologist may encounter.

The skills they develop in the GISP are not just theoretical, but are in preparation for application to the real world.

The GISP program has the potential to “teach students how to teach themselves,” become an expert in a topic and work in groups — essential skills in all walks of life, Ryan said.

It is a “uniquely Brown institution,” Bachhuber said.