Thursday, March 8, 2012

Daily

Herald

the Brown

vol. cxxii, no. 30

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Since 1891

Fitness, aquatics center to open next month

News in brief Masturbator spotted on John Street

By Morgan Johnson Senior Staff Writer

A masturbator was sighted last night on John Street in the same area where a series of public masturbation incidents were reported last semester.

Julia Kantor ’12 was walking home at 12:20 a.m. when she saw a man wearing a shirt but no pants dart across the street and begin masturbating in front of a house near 68 John St. “It was scary because I was alone,” she said, adding that she hurried inside while he was “darting around.”

“Me and my friends have been joking about how he stations himself outside our house, but I’d never seen him,” Kantor said.

“It will probably start being a little less funny that we have a masturbator outside our house.”

Chloe O’Connell ’12 was in the area about five minutes later with two friends when she spotted a man “just sprinting across the street like his life depended on it.”

O’Connell said she initially thought he was wearing skintight, nude-colored pants before one of her friends pointed out that he was not wearing any pants.

He ran through the backyard of 66 John St. taking a shortcut to Williams Street, O’Connell said.

“I think that’s his escape route of choice.”

O’Connell said being accompanied by two male friends made the situation feel less threatening.

A representative from the Department of Public Safety could not be reached for comment.

— Elizabeth Carr

Emily Gilbert / Herald

The new fitness and aquatics center will feature a state-of-the-art pool.

The much-anticipated fitness and aquatics center’s construction is near completion, with the planned relocation of some athletics staff slated to give the building its first wave of occupancy by the end of March. The building has been in the works for several years and will open to the public April 16.

The gradual opening of the facility to athletes, faculty members and eventually the general University community will give the building’s project managers “a few weeks to get things in line,” said Tom Bold, associate athletic director for facilities.

The now-filled pool at the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center would likely be available for early use by the women’s water polo team, which hopes to host the

By Adam toobin Senior Staff Writer

Seven people are seeking an injunction to block a federal judge’s ruling that ordered Cranston High School

city & state West to remove a prayer banner from its auditorium, the Providence Journal reported. After almost two months of debating whether to appeal the ruling, the banner was officially removed last weekend.

Jessica Ahlquist, a junior at Cranston West, filed suit to remove

the banner last April, and the U.S. District Court ruled in her favor in January. The city and school were ordered to pay $150,000 to compensate the Rhode Island branch of the American Civil Liberties Union for the cost of representing her in court.

It is unclear how this new lawsuit will affect the city’s payment or the status of the banner.

The original reimbursement cost was $173,000 prior to negotiations.

The ACLU reached an agreement with the city and school after the Cranston School Committee decided not to file an appeal challenging the judge’s decision.

“I still feel the judge undervalued or missed the historical significance of the banner in his decision,” said Cranston Mayor Allan Fung. But challenging the decision would be expensive if the city lost again, which the city could not afford, he added.

The school may have had to pay the ACLU an additional $500,000 if it lost an appeal, Joseph Cavanagh, the Committee’s lawyer told the Providence Journal in February.

Despite the large payout, Fung remains confident Cranston will continued on page 4

news....................2-5 editorial............6 Opinions.............7 city&state.........8

month after moving out of their former smaller space in Graduate Center. The Office of Residential Life will relocate to the Grad Center space in the upcoming months.

Accommodating expansion

The move was motivated by a need to grow.

Continuing Education — which runs adult and professional programs including an on-site Master of Arts in Biology program for Pfizer employees, the Summer Session for undergraduates and the Summer@Brown program for pre-college students — was not able to “function strategically” in its old home, with its office spread across three floors and some employees at a separate continued on page 4

Snacks tax

Restaurant owners voice opposition to proposed tax City & State, 8

no longer World Bank candidate

By Eli Okun Senior Staff Writer

The Obama administration included President Ruth Simmons on an initial list of potential nominees to lead the World Bank, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. President Obama appears to have since narrowed his focus to a smaller group of candidates, including Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, Bloomberg reported.

The search comes ahead of a March 23 deadline for executive directors from member countries to submit their candidates to replace Robert Zoellick, whose term ends June 30 and who has served as president of the World Bank since 2007. Obama initially sought to expand the reach of his search beyond traditional banking and government leaders, Bloomberg reported, with PepsiCo Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Indra Nooyi and Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates cited as two others who were considered alongside Simmons.

The Office of the President and Marisa Quinn, vice president for public affairs and University rela-

Sam Kase / Herald

continued on page 5

The new Continuing Education office reflects the University’s growth in the city.

Post-

gets naked, goes Downton.

Post-, Inside

weather

inside

The Office of Continuing Education’s new home at 200 Dyer St. will facilitate a planned expansion of its adult and professional programs and help the University increase its engagement with the community.

The building — a sleek space fitted with seminar classrooms, meeting rooms and a soundproof multimedia recording studio — is so new that it still has a “new car smell,” said Karen Sibley MAT’81 P’07 P’12, dean of continuing education. “Just a couple weeks ago, I would have to tell people not to lean on the walls because the paint was still wet.”

Continuing Education began working in the new space last

continued on page 3

Seven sue to block banner removal Simmons

With new office, Continuing Ed looks to expand

By Aparaajit Sriram Senior Staff Writer

Collegiate Water Polo Association’s Eastern Championships there in late April, Bold said.

Though the final phases of construction in the aquatics center are ongoing, its state-of-the-art pool, nearly 400-seat stands and hightech features will be more than adequately equipped to handle such an event when construction finishes, said Project Manager John Cooke.

“It’s a very fast pool,” Cooke said.

The million-gallon pool — 56 meters long and 9 meters deep — is equipped with a high-definition LED scoreboard and a special edge that quickly funnels displaced water back into the pool. Faculty members, men’s and women’s swimming and diving and water polo teams, recreational users and coaches each have designated locker rooms on the ground floor of the center.

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2 Campus News

Master’s programs would increase revenue

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The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, March 8, 2012

By Kate Nussenbaum Senior Staff Writer

The University’s first Professional Executive Master’s Program for mid-career professionals will likely begin no later than fall 2013, said Karen Sibley MAT’81 P’07 P’12, dean of continuing education.

Sibley said the University has been evaluating how to meet the needs of adult learners for at least a decade. Peer institutions like Dartmouth, Columbia and Harvard have already established successful professional programs.

Financial concerns were a “significant” motivation for developing these programs, said Provost Mark Schlissel P’15. It is too soon to say how big an impact the programs could have on the University’s budget, but they could potentially bring in millions of dollars — since they cost little to implement but can be marketed at high prices — diversifying revenue sources and lessening the University’s dependence on undergraduate tuition, Sibley said.

With the University dipping into reserve funds and upping tuition, continuing education programs offer a robust source of revenue, said Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior adviser to the president. “We can benefit ourselves.”

“If we can do those (programs) in ways that are complementary and mutually reinforcing, then wow, that’s a homerun,” he said.

Expanding education to a new group of students will take advantage of already available resources, Schlissel said. Classes will take place downtown in the Office of Continuing Education and will not meet at the same time as undergraduate classes, so faculty members will not have to worry about potential conflicts.

“We want to be sure that it doesn’t take away from the effort that our faculty are spending educating our on-campus students,” Schlissel said.

The Health Care Leadership program, the first professional degree option developed in conjunc-

tion with the University’s public health program would bring together professionals from different areas of the health care industry to learn about the United States’ evolving health care system, Sibley said. New leaders will be required to adapt to the changes that health care reform will create in the industry, she said.

Most of the coursework will be completed online using the new Canvas system, Sibley said.

By using technology effectively, the University will be able to create a “happy learning population” of working professionals without requiring them to take time away from their jobs or families, she said.

Rod Beresford, associate provost and professor of engineering, said students will likely include those looking to “advance their career more rapidly or possibly make a change in their sector or aspect of the industry.”

Eight faculty members will teach the 16 to 20 students the program hopes to enroll, Sibley said. About half of those eight are current University faculty members. She added that it is important to strike a balance between current faculty members who can share their knowledge and instructors coming directly from the field.

The faculty will vote on whether to approve the health care program at its April meeting, and, if it passes, the Corporation will vote on it in May, Beresford said.

The program’s launch date will then depend on how quickly the University could recruit students, Beresford said.

Sibley said the University is also working to develop programs connected to data analytics, given the growing prevalence of large data sets and biotechnology.

Beresford said he hopes the University will be able to develop programs that are “distinctive and somewhat unique to Brown.” But he added that all programs the University offers will be in areas where there is a high demand, and so it is “understandable and expected that other institutions

will be formulating their own responses to these opportunities.”

One concern that has been raised is that the creation of online master’s programs might diminish the value of a Brown degree. Jason Becker MA’09, who previously served on the University’s Task Force on Undergraduate Education, called the program’s purpose “exclusively for making money” in a Dec. 1 Herald article.

“We’re talking about credentializing people in areas that we’ve never done before,” he told The Herald in October.

Schlissel said the University has worked hard to ensure the new program has the same quality of curriculum, instructors and students as every other Brown program.

“Brown is a university where undergraduate education is at the center of what we do. It’s the thing that we feel most proud of ­— it’s the most special thing here,” Schlissel added. He said ensuring that new initiatives do not interfere with the college is a priority, and that it is “concerning” when people immediately assume expanding other aspects of the University is at the expense of the undergraduate experience.

The programs, he said, could have potential benefits for undergraduates as well. The Canvas system may teach professors and administrators more about how courses can be taught effectively online. They could potentially develop online courses for science prerequisites in the future, giving students more flexibility with their schedules, Schlissel said.

Sibley said the programs would also expand Brown’s alumni network, giving students more connections to those working in the “big world of enterprise.”

The programs “represent an exciting opportunity to reach a different group of students and at the same time bring in resources to the University,” Schlissel said.

“Hopefully they’ll be a real win for Brown.”

— With additional reporting by Aparaajit Sriram

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Campus News 3

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, March 8, 2012

Fitness center will offer space, sun and state-of-the-art equipment continued from page 1 The pool is solar-powered, with 168 dual-technology solar panels located on the roof providing enough electric and thermal energy to power the pool lights and regulate water temperature. The panels generate a “pretty impressive” 100,000 watts, Cooke said.

Also highly anticipated is the Nelson Fitness Center, which will house more than $700,000 worth of new exercise equipment, Bold said. “(It’s) nothing like anything we’ve ever had,” he said, adding that users will be impressed by the amount of natural sunlight emitted from the center’s second-floor windows, which offer exercisers a view of campus and the new Ittleson Quadrangle, which was previously a parking lot.

“Ruth gasped when she saw it,” Cooke said of President Ruth Simmons’ reaction to the fitness center on her tour of the facility.

Additional revenue will be needed for upkeep of the equipment, which on average has a life cycle of three to five years, Bold said. A proposed gym membership fee for faculty members is under consideration to help meet these costs.

“We don’t want to move into a beautiful, state-of-the-art building and then years from now deal with stuff we have to deal with at (the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center)

with not having money to replace broken machines,” Bold said.

In addition to equipment maintenance, the whole facility will require about $1.7 million per year in upkeep costs and need an additional $500,000 to $600,000 per year to staff the building, said Stephen Maiorisi, vice president for facilities management.

The new facility would help justify a faculty membership fee should it be implemented, he said, adding that the proposal was not under consideration before, when the University’s athletic facilities were not up-to-par with other gyms.

Three dance studios and a cafe are below the center’s main exercise floor. The cafe will be comparable to the Friedman Cafe in the Sciences Library and will be in the building’s main lobby, which has space allotted for tables, seating areas and a large trophy case.

“The lobby is just a really special place,” Bold said, adding that delays in the building’s opening were partially due to additional finishes and other aesthetic enhancements approved for the lobby after construction.

Many athletes said the facility’s third section, the David J. Zucconi ’55 Varsity Strength and Conditioning Center, is an improvement compared to the cramped OMAC and Pizzitola Center.

Emily Gilbert / Herald

The new fitness center will contain brand new exercise equipment that will cost more than $700,000.

“The OMAC is really crowded,” said Sasha Teninty ’14, a member of the women’s track team. She said the new center would allow for a “healthier exercise environment.”

“I’m excited,” said Heidi Caldwell ’14, also on the track team, who said she is looking forward to using the new pool and weight room.

The strength and conditioning

center provides triple the space athletes currently have in the Pizzitola Center and will be outfitted with 18 free weight racks. It also has a turf-floor section that can be used for certain conditioning exercises.

“Everybody can probably work out in here without a problem,” Cooke said.

The temporary aquatics bubble will be removed in the summer, as

one of many athletic facilities projects taking place, Maiorisi said. The University also plans to refurbish some athletic turf space, as well replace the tennis courts on the roof of the Pizzitola Center and the track in the OMAC. Check out www.blogdailyherald. com for more photos from The Herald’s tour of the building.

4 Campus News

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, March 8, 2012

Continuing Ed office moves downtown Cranston school looks continued from page 1 location across the street.

Continuing Education also hopes to institute new programs in “information technology, biotechnology, communication and other multidisciplinary areas,” Sibley said.

The University is making a name for itself in the world of professional continuing education, and there is more room for growth.

In 2009, the department established a 15-month IE Brown Executive M.B.A. program set on two campuses — the Instituto Empresa’s Madrid campus and Brown’s. It was designed to leverage the liberal arts strength of Brown and the management studies strength of IE to create a unique, interdisciplinary degree.

“There’s definitely an increase in demand, so we should be doing our best to improve supply,” Sibley said.

Engaging the community

A location off College Hill also

gives Continuing Education the ability to engage with the broader community.

“We’re forward-facing into the community,” Sibley said. “It’s really exciting to be here, to become familiar with all the health care, nonprofits, legal systems in the area.”

One program designed to serve the community is the 200 Dyer St. Speaker Series. It will feature lunchtime and evening lectures, scheduled so they are easy for working professionals to attend.

The new building offers the ideal space for hosting speakers and panels, and with lecture-capture technology, these events can be uploaded to the Internet for others to view.

Depending on attendance, Continuing Education will assess if the program should be sustained or if other outreach programs should be tried, Sibley said.

The University has long been considering various options for engaging with the community, said Richard Spies, executive

vice president for planning and senior adviser to the president, who has been instrumental in the University’s expansion in the Jewelry District. “I think that idea is an attractive one ... it’s one that a number of us have had in different forms for a while,” he said.

“We don’t know exactly how it’ll play out,” he said. “So there’ll be a lot of testing of ideas and pilot programs before we find out what works and doesn’t work.”

With Brown and Johnson and Wales University — which is considering building a new residence hall in the area — making early investments in the Jewelry District, others besides the start-up companies already there may see the neighborhood as a site for expansion, Spies said.

“I think the vision that a lot of us have is that that will grow significantly over time.”

The Jewelry District is already the site of the Alpert Medical School, the Laboratories for Molecular Medicine, the Advancement Office and Computing and Information Services.

to offset lawsuit costs continued from page 1 be able to avoid any large cuts as a result of the lawsuit. “We hope to be able to make it up in other line items that are running under budget,” he said.

It is impossible to know what kind of cuts, if any, the school will have to make as a result of this lawsuit until after the budgets come out later this year, said Michael Traficante, a member of the Cranston School Committee.

Even if the school and city can avoid major cuts, several members of the committee are trying to raise money to offset any costs incurred as a result of the lawsuit. One option for raising funds might be to sell the banner, Traficante said. The banner will remain in storage until the committee decides what to do with it.

Traficante said he felt the city should have appealed the ruling and was missing an opportunity to

stand up for its values.

“I thought it was important enough that we continue this fight,” Traficante said. “That particular banner — given the fact that it was up there for 50 years plus — is a ... historic document that was a part of our city’s history.”

Traficante said he does not regret that the city has to pay the ACLU, but he does “regret that this (controversy) ever happened.”

Jessica Ahlquist’s lawsuit accused the banner of violating first amendment rights protecting against government establishment of religion. The banner began with an invocation to “Heavenly Father” and ended with the traditionally religious, “Amen.”

Tensions ran high following the judge’s decision in January, and Ahlquist faced threats of violence and name-calling. Rep. Peter Palumbo, D-Cranston called her “an evil little thing” on the John DePetro Radio Show.

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Campus News 5

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, March 8, 2012

Higher ed news r oundup

by Joseph Rosales and Eli Okun senior staff writers

Dartmouth fraternity members charged with hazing violations

Jonathan Bateman / Herald

President Ruth Simmons was considered as a candidate to lead the World Bank.

Obama unlikely to nominate Simmons for World Bank continued from page 1 tions, declined to comment for this article.

The United States traditionally selects the World Bank president under an informal agreement that keeps the International Monetary Fund’s top position in European hands. But signals of increased dissatisfaction with this agreement from developing countries prompted Obama to focus more intently on selecting a candidate with broader appeal, Bloomberg reported.

Though no other countries have submitted challengers so far, speculation has centered on

potential candidates such as former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo. In the United States, many have mentioned Hillary Clinton as a potential pick, though she has publicly denied any intention to hold the office.

A spokesman for the World Bank described the selection as “a merit-based, transparent process” and said the bank will not release the names of submitted candidates until a shortlist of three is set, though countries could leak their nominees to the press. The new president will likely be chosen by the World Bank’s spring meeting in mid-April, the spokesman said.

Twenty-seven members of the Dartmouth fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon have been charged with hazing violations and could face suspension or expulsion if found guilty, the Dartmouth reported Wednesday. The fraternity, which has also been charged with violations as an organization, has faced controversy in recent months over allegations of brutal hazing.

According to SAE president Brendan Mahoney, a Dartmouth senior, the charges are for violations during the fall semester pledge terms in 2009 and 2011. The Committee on Standards, part of Dartmouth’s Undergraduate Judicial Affairs Office, will set dates for individual hearings over spring break, the Dartmouth reported.

The charges come after escalated campus dialogue about hazing this semester. Andrew Lohse, a Dartmouth senior and former SAE member, made headlines in January when he wrote an op-ed published in the Dartmouth Jan. 25 with details of his pledging experience, which he wrote included eating omelets made of vomit and swimming in a kiddie pool full of feces, urine and semen. Some of his accusations were later deemed exaggerated by other sources, but the underlying questions — especially about whether the administration of Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim ’82 has done enough to confront hazing issues — have continued to resurface.

Dartmouth Student Body President Max Yoeli told the Dartmouth that administrative ambiguity about hazing this semester “bespeaks a failure of leadership at the highest level.”

Proposed public-access legislation collapses in Congress After backlash from academic scholars and universities, the Research Works Act was withdrawn from consideration in Congress last week. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-C.A., and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., co-sponsors of the bill, released a statement announcing their decision to stop petitioning for its support, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. The proposed bill would have given publishers the discretion to determine whether research funded by the federal government would be open to the general public.

The University was among the institutions that publicly condemned the bill, The Herald reported Feb. 7.

The announcement was made after Elsevier, a prominent science publishing company, stated it would no longer support the bill after receiving boycott threats, the Chronicle reported. More than 7,400 academics signed the Cost of Knowledge petition, which outlined concerns about the prohibitive price of journal subscriptions.

A new bill will be presented to Congress that would require public access to all government-funded scientific research six months after publication, regardless of the publishing journal, the Chronicle reported. The University is already looking into a policy that would allow all Brown-conducted research to be available to the public, according to an October article in The Herald.

comics Dreadful Cosmology | Dario Mitchell

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

6 Editorial & Letter Editorial Stop railing on the system More than $5 billion in debt and $161 million in annual deficit.

Though these figures may remind us of Rhode Island’s fiscal woes, they are actually the financial burdens on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. As extensively covered by The Herald, the MBTA recently presented proposals to significantly raise fares by at least 35 percent and cut certain services, including all weekend commuter rails. Due to widespread backlash against the proposals, the MBTA Advisory Board has recently moderated them to include a 25 percent fare increase, which barely ameliorates the proposed cuts in services. We believe these modified proposals, though imperfect, are sufficient — and given the dire financial realities, we urge the T and the general public to accept them.

It is very reasonable to object to a steep hike in public service fees, like this 25 percent increase. According to Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, “access to affordable public transportation… is a fundamental social equity issue.” Speaking from a purely economic level, though, these raises make sense — the MBTA would gain about $75 million in fare revenue, and net operating savings would increase by $100 million. In addition, blunt as it sounds, demand for these services is highly inelastic. Many riders have a great need for these services and will continue to use and pay for them regardless of the price increase. Twenty-five percent is less harsh than a 35, or even 43 percent, increase for the riders. Furthermore, the MBTA would still benefit, providing the most efficient solution for both parties.

We also support a stipulation in the most recently altered proposal that includes a “50 percent surcharge on tickets to major sporting events and concerts.” Fans who shell out hundreds, even thousands, of dollars for a single Red Sox game typically have thick enough wallets to hand over a few extra bucks. If enforced properly, this surcharge should raise substantial fare revenue, since all Boston athletic events and concerts tend to be in constant demand. In this vein, we would also propose that the MBTA consider raising prices higher on the weekends more so than the weekdays, given that many need the transportation system to commute.

At the same time, the MBTA could do something about losing revenue through senseless lack of procedure. One editorial page board member was quite surprised when he was never checked on the train for having a ticket. Though he had purchased one, the lack of vigilance by the workers suggest that many riders can take advantage of lax procedures. This problem may be attributed to worker reductions, and hence, lack of constant enforcement. That said, we wonder how much money the MBTA has lost to these “free riders.”

The MBTA is a crucial service that must remain running for the direct and indirect benefit of millions. Though its proposals for fare hikes and service cuts may seem severe to many, it is necessary for us to understand that better alternatives, for the benefit of both MBTA and its riders, are few and far between.

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

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letter to the editor Meatless Monday’s mission misrepresented To the Editor: I’m writing on behalf of the national Meatless Monday campaign, the non-profit public health initiative in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. We were delighted to see that Meatless Monday was included in Tuesday’s edition of The Herald (“Meatless pledge gains momentum,” March 6), but there is an error in the piece that may confuse your readers about our campaign’s mission and philosophy. A member of Brown’s Sustainable Food Initiative is quoted as saying, “The national movement is very much focused on getting rid of (meat) in the dining hall. We want to say, ‘Yes, there’s meat available, but here’s the vegetarian special.’”

This statement is actually the opposite of our objective. We at Meatless Monday do not encourage

schools to take meat off the menu but rather ask that cafeterias highlight plant-based options at the start of the week. We typically discourage the complete removal of meat, as we want students to make the choice to go meatless for themselves, rather than have it forced upon them. Our goal is simply to educate individuals on the benefits of more fruits, grains and vegetables in their diets while creating a weekly opportunity for them to partake in delicious, vegetarian food.

We applaud Brown Dining Services and the Sustainable Food Initiative for offering choices on Meatless Monday, despite this initial confusion.

Tami O’Neill Project Associate, The Monday Campaigns

Letters, please! letters@browndailyherald.com

quote of the day

“Ruth gasped when she saw it.”

— John Cooke, new fitness center project manager See fitness on page 1.

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

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The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, March 8, 2012

Editor-in-Chief

BLOG DAILY HERALD Jennifer Bloom Matt Klimerman

Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor

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Opinions 7

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, March 8, 2012

Rebooting college life

By Steven chizen Opinions Columnist In the middle of frantically typing notes for HIST 1630: “Modern Latin America I,” my computer freezes. With a final shudder, it turns black and powers down. Everything is obliterated: an eight page paper due that evening, a year’s worth of schoolwork, 6,000 songs, 3,000 pictures and dozens of programs. Typical daily college life is centered upon computers, and, without one, life has been dramatically transformed. But a small dose of bad luck can double as a wake-up call for us all. Not only is this a reminder for Brown students, as well as anyone who uses a computer for daily tasks, to back up their information on an external device, but it is also an ideal time to evaluate and question students’ excessive reliance on computers.

Brown students, like most young adults, are obsessed with their computers. In a HISP 500: “Advanced Spanish I” class discussion, the professor asked what one item besides people or pets the class would rescue in a fire. The class unanimously agreed on the computer. Computers capsulate physical aspects of life into an abstract database: practical documents, sentimental pictures and convenient music. They transform physical items into an

omnipresent cloud of information easily accessible on a single screen. The myriad real objects that depict what is most important to us has been replaced by a single unit. By saving their computers from the fire, students are salvaging not only a single piece of technology, but also all the practicalities and emotions that are conceptually stored inside.

Having lost my computer to the fire of hard-drive failure, I understand the

and diversification. While computers are very practical, losing one makes one less inclined to rely on them. Losing a single item should not be so costly. Instead, there should be many objects and ideas that represent a person’s identity and what they deem important.

Furthermore, we utilize our computers for hours each day. Clearly, this takes a toll on social interactions. We don’t have conversations with our roommates or

It’s too much of a good thing, a sort of addiction that begins to disrupt the values that are integral to a society, such as physical relationships and diversification.

dominant power computers have on our lives. Students ought to depend less on their computers to break from an imaginary cloud and return to what’s most important: personal interaction. Computers have become so multi-dimensional that they are overbearing. Not only are they physically everywhere, but they are also viewed as essential for communication, music, pictures and schoolwork. Computers simply do too much. It’s too much of a good thing, a sort of addiction that begins to disrupt the values that are integral to a society, such as physical relationships

friends anymore without someone browsing the computer — ­ or phone, for that matter — whether it be skimming Facebook or watching videos on YouTube.

Distractions abound in class as soon as we open Internet browsers or start to chat with other friends who are online. We check our emails and Facebooks ungodly amounts every day, feeling the urge for updates on all events that are posted via the computer.

The most popular hard drive back-up program, Time Machine, is able to replicate exact data — even the desktop back-

ground — onto a new computer screen. In one sense, it is extraordinarily useful to regain everything from a computer that has experienced hard drive failure. The pain of randomly losing work is something we can only learn from experience. But this experience also enables us to go through a different sort of time machine, one that delves much further into the past. During this time machine-like movement, we can realize the totality of our overuse of computers today. There are indeed many practical uses for the computer, and it is a modern necessity at Brown. While it’s important to back up information regularly, it is likewise significant to evaluate why broken computers are such a detrimental loss in the first place. Computers should be used in moderation. They should not be a central component of the Brown experience and should never interrupt a daily routine. They ought to be utilized for work and communication but not distract from genuine productivity and interaction. Whether it’s bringing a notebook to class, maybe even writing a paper by hand or even just avoiding using Facebook for a day, being mindful of computer usage enables Brown students to enjoy the college experience as it should be, without the interruption of technology.

Steven Chizen ’14 needs to find new friends now that his computer is broken. Email him at steven_chizen@brown.edu.

A crisis of faith in the democratic process

By Lauren Schleimer Opinions Columnist

When our parents — part of a generation of activists who fought for civil rights, women’s equality and ending the Vietnam War — look at our lack of world-changing political engagement, they see a lack of ambition. Young people just don’t protest like they used to.

The Internet has evolved into a powerful force for political organizing. New forms of social media have made it easier than ever to organize a popular uprising, and their potential was realized last year in the protests of the Arab Spring. Facebook and Twitter serve as highly effective tools of communication, facilitating collective action in even the most oppressive political climate.

So why aren’t the young people of today mobilizing to action in the United States?

Hundreds of thousands joined the Great March on Washington in 1963 to call for an end to discrimination in education and employment and to protect African-Americans’ right to vote. Our generation’s propensity for collective action pales in comparison, but there are important issues we must force the government to address.

Back in October, when the Occupy Movement was spreading like wildfire, The Herald reported that a majority of Brown faculty members think student activism is lower than when they were in college. Among those working here for more than 20 years, 82.6 percent say activism on campus has decreased.

The technological revolution has made it easier than ever for opinionated people to

rally support for their cause, though not necessarily in person. When Bank of America announced it would be instituting a $5-permonth fee for making debit card purchases, a 22-year-old named Molly Katchpole started a petition on Change.org. Within weeks, more than 300,000 people had joined the cause.

In the face of overwhelming public opposition, Bank of America announced it would be dropping the proposed fee.

But does signing an online petition qualify as real political activism? It makes a statement, to be sure, and delivers an explicit and political message. On the Internet, an army of supporters comes fast and cheap, but such vapid endorsement of a cause does not count for much. And unless the Internet giants

attention for an issue and send a clear and actionable message to the powers that be. The major goal of the Great March on Washington was to pass the civil rights bill proposed by the Kennedy administration. The primary impact of the Occupy Movement — though its goals were not always discernable — has been to put income inequality and tax reform on the political radar for the 2012 election.

In 1968, a walk-out of a group of black students forced Brown and Pembroke College to increase black enrollment by 300 percent and create the Third World Transition Program.

The act of protesting does not in itself accomplish change. There is always an authority figure on the other side of the picket line.

Political activism requires a sort of faith in the democratic process, that the powers that be will hear your grievances and take action from the top down. themselves take a stand, the government will not listen to what people say online.

After the State of the Union last month, President Obama participated in a YouTube town hall where users were invited to submit videos and vote on questions for the president. Eighteen of the top 20 questions were about drug policy, and — for the ninth such online event in a row — these questions were categorically ignored.

No, inundating Congress with online petitions or blogging for a cause is not the sort of action that alters deeply ingrained social norms or overthrows dictatorships. The only way to demonstrate real passion for a cause is to put in the time and energy it takes to go out and demonstrate.

Real protests make noise. They garner

In this way, protesting requires a sort of faith in the democratic process, that the powers that be will hear your grievances and take action from the top down.

Our generation has lost faith in the responsiveness of government. What good is a student movement when the political heft of highly paid lobbyists and privately funded super PACs controls who can win an election and what they’re willing to push in office?

Bank of America may pay attention to petitions on Change.org — as a corporation it is financially beholden to public opinion — but Congress could not care less. In an era when political money qualifies as free speech and elections are won or lost on a billion-dollar budget, our votes don’t count like they used to.

So yes, our professors are right, students don’t protest like they used to. We are just as opinionated as ever when it comes to politics, and we express our sympathies freely on the internet. The vast majority of students, while sympathetic to those noble protesters in Burnside Park, did not occupy Providence or even College Hill.

Our desire for change has led to a rise in volunteerism, community service and social entrepreneurship, not collective action. We have abandoned the expectation that political activism gets results, and we don’t bother protesting because we think the government is not listening.

Where civil rights activists fought racial segregation in schools with sit-ins and nonviolent protests, students today respond to educational inequality by volunteering in public schools. Though we are empowered to take action from the bottom up, making change on an individual level will not fix the larger structural problems.

Bad politics have made a mockery of the American political process, and sometimes the only way to stomach the news these days is when it’s served by Stephen Colbert. But restoring the democratic process is a cause worth fighting for.

Unless the government is responsive to the will of the people, none of the issues our generation cares about — education, environmental policy, tax reform, the drug war — will ever get fixed. If we want the government to listen to us again, we’re going to have to get up, grab a picket sign and start protesting.

Lauren Schleimer ’12 has lobbied Congress, and so should you.

She can be reached at Lauren_Schleimer@brown.edu.

Daily Herald City & State the Brown

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Paige Gilley / Herald

Local restaurants voiced opposition against the meals tax proposed by Gov. Lincoln Chafee ‘75 P’14 in his budget.

Business owners oppose meals tax increase

By Dana Reilly Contributing Writer

Tensions ran high in a House Finance Committee hearing yesterday afternoon as business owners testified in opposition to portions of next year’s state budget proposal, which would increase taxes on restaurant meals and beverages.

More than thirty people signed up to speak in opposition to the bill.

The plan proposed by Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 would increase the tax on meals sold for immediate consumption and beverages from 8 to 10 percent.

Neighboring states Connecticut and Massachusetts currently tax these items at 6.35 and 6.25 percent, respectively. The legislation would also increase taxes on bedand-breakfast inns and services like taxi cabs, freight services and pet care.

Department of Administra-

tion officials spoke in favor of the three proposed tax increases at the hearing. Richard Licht, director of the department, said he does not blame business owners for opposing the bill, but urged House representatives to “make a decision on what is the most discretionary income” that can be taxed.

Rep. Jan Malik, D-Barrington and Warren, who sits on the finance committee, told the administrators he commended their bravery for appearing and defending the proposals, but he said he did not think the proposals would pass.

“I think they’re grasping at straws, to be honest with you,” Malik told The Herald after the hearing. “They should’ve known, we’re trying to be business-friendly in this state,” he said. Chafee proposed a similar tax last year that did not move past the committee.

“I think the tax-proposed increase will have a very negative impact on restaurant business,” said Bahjat Shariff, an operating partner for Panera Bread in Rhode Island. He said Panera Bread restaurants in Massachusetts perform much better than the seven locations in Rhode Island.

Citing high unemployment and commodity prices in Rhode Island, Shariff said, “The tax will have a dramatic impact. It will wipe out a lot of small restaurants.”

As a business owner himself, Malik said he cannot inflict this burden on Rhode Island residents.

“I’m the only one sitting on that panel who knows what it is, who knows what these people are going to feel if we implement this tax,” Malik said.

Several attendees also testified at the Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday.

They See me rollin’

Emily Gilbert / Herald

Students and staff walked and rolled across the Main Green in the warm sunshine Wednesday afternoon.

Herald file photo

At the UCS meeting, members discussed plans following the failed UFB amendment.

UCS-UFB committee moves forward with review

By Margaret Nickens Senior Staff Writer

A committee tasked with reviewing the funding structure of the Undergraduate Finance Board met for the first time this past Monday, said Daniel Pipkin ’14, UCS-UFB

campus news liaison, at the general body meeting of the Undergraduate Council of Students Wednesday night. The council and UFB jointly created the committee following the failure of the proposed UCS constitutional amendment that would have given the council the ability to determine its own budget.

Pipkin said the committee will review documents — including the student government constitutions at the other Ivy League schools and various news articles — before presenting a proposed change to the UCS code by the end of the month.

He also said the council is working on an informational booklet to attract more donations to the student activities endowment.

Ben Farber ’12, former vice president of UCS, attended this week’s meeting to express his opinion about the proposed constitutional change. He said he does not believe the council needs significantly more funding to carry out its mission, though he suggested UFB both increase the council’s funding for publicity and provide UCS with a discretionary fund to support improvements in student life.

UCS also discussed drafting a resolution supporting President Ruth Simmons’ approach to the city’s request for increasing funding from the University, though some members expressed concern

about passing a resolution when the student body is so divided on the issue.

Michael Schneider ’13, chair of the campus life committee, said Simmons has attempted to compromise with the city, though Providence rejected her offer. He cited this as a reason to pass a resolution supporting Simmons’ stance on the issue.

Pipkin said increasing funding to the city could force the University to lay off staff members.

“You could potentially be changing people’s livelihoods by supporting something like this,” he said.

Michael Lin ’14, chair of the admissions and student services committee, said the cost of the University accomplishing universal need-blind admission would be around $5 million and added that money that would be used to support the city could be used to fund other University activities.

The council also voted to support a Sustainability Strategic Plan proposed in last week’s meeting by community members Matt Breuer ’14 and Jenny Li ’14 to specify the University’s environmental objectives.

During committee updates, Lin praised the Office of Residential Life’s placement of a printing cluster outside the Verney-Woolley Dining Hall on Pembroke campus, a project he said the council has promoted for the past two years.

ResLife will attend next week’s meeting to discuss housing improvements, said Sam Gilman ’15, chair of the communications committee.

The visit will be part of UCS Week, which will include the State of Brown Address with President Simmons March 15.