Thursday, April 5, 2012

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vol. cxxii, no. 44

True to tradition, BSA site crashes

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Since 1891

Open grad program allows students to pursue two fields By max ernst Staff Writer

By Katherine Long Senior Staff Writer

For the third year in a row, malicious outside activity may have caused the massive failure of the Brown Marketplace as students attempted to purchase Spring Weekend tickets yesterday, said Mike Caron ’12, director of the Brown Student Agencies management team. The Brown Concert Agency made tickets available at 8 a.m., but only around 40 students successfully completed their purchases before the agency decided to end sales at 8:45 a.m., said BCA CoChair Sandy Ryza ’12. Students will still be able to purchase tickets today and tomorrow.

Malicious software was the probable cause of the extreme loading lag between screens that many ticket buyers noticed yesterday morning, Caron said.

“I feel like they let us through to another screen every 10 minutes or so just to keep hope up the slightest bit. It’s like why they let there be a victor in the Hunger Games,” one student’s Facebook status read.

That lag prompted BCA to continued on page 6

The Graduate School has chosen nine students to participate in the debut of its Open Graduate Programs, an interdisciplinary option that combines doctoral studies in a primary field with master’s-level studies in an additional field. The initiative will expand the University’s undergraduate open curriculum into its graduate studies.

The purpose of the new graduate education program is to help students achieve in-depth knowledge in a second field, open new career options and give graduates an advantage in the job market, said Peter Weber, dean of the Graduate School.

“This is a great initiative that makes Brown stand out from

Ship Street Square

its peer institutions,” said Matteo Riondato GS, president of the Graduate Student Council.

“Hopefully, Brown can take the lead in expanding graduate education to make it more modern and suitable to the needs of students.”

Earlier this year, a committee of University faculty members reviewed letters of recommendation and essays from 20 graduate student applicants. Though the initial plan was to select 13 students for the first year, the committee ultimately only recommended nine students, Riondato said.

“The selection committee felt those candidates presented the best applications and were the ones worth funding,” he said.

The group of graduate students participating in the program will continued on page 2

Sam Kase / Herald

The University’s public plaza in the Jewelry District, across the street from Alpert Medical School, is now home to a farmers market. See page 4.

Funds put plan for streetcar line in motion U. forges

By Alexa Pugh Staff Writer

The board of directors of the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority approved plans for a $126.7 million

city & state Providence streetcar system, with preliminary plans for a two-and-ahalf mile route that would connect Rhode Island Hospital, downtown Providence and College Hill.

The idea was originally proposed by the Transit 2020 Action Group in 2006 as part of a greater initiative to invest in the growth and improvement of Providence transit over the long term.

The approved plans are based on findings from the Providence Core Connector Study, which considered multiple options for routes and technology, including enhanced buses as an alternative to the streetcar.

Ultimately, the study concluded that a streetcar would be the better

option, citing its potential to spur economic development, its community impact and its better passenger experience.

“Streetcars will help concentrate and accelerate economic development,” said Amy Pettine, RIPTA’s special project manager. A streetcar line would increase nearby property values, as well as encourage patronage at businesses on the route, she said.

tendees can learn about an aspect of filmmaking. He said they plan the festival around the featured speakers. Given the busy schedules of most film professionals, finding people to bring to campus can be difficult, he said. But when the speakers are available, they express a “huge degree of enthusiasm,” he said.

Linney, famous for her roles in movies like“Kinsey” and “The Savages” and her portrayal of Abigail Adams in the HBO miniseries “John Adams,” is “always excited to come back to Brown,” Bogosian said.

Diahndra Burman ’12 said one of her family friends was a professor at Brown who taught Linney and “shared very fond memories of when she was here.” He knew even then that she would be a star, she said. Burma said she is excited continued on page 5

continued on page 2

continued on page 5

inside

news....................2-7 editorial............10 Opinions.............11 city & state.........12

Plus one

Lebovitz ’14 calls for expanded news options Opinions, 9

Post-

takes bus, gets shamrock drunk

Post-, inside

weather

Courtesy of HBO and Brown University

Lena Dunham and Laura Linney ’86 will speak at next week’s Ivy Film Festival.

This year’s Ivy Film Festival will bring actress Laura Linney ’86, producer and director Barry Levinson and writer, director and actress Lena Dunham to campus next week to hold question and answer sessions for students interested in film, the organization announced Wednesday night. In addition to the sessions with industry professionals, the festival features screenings of more than 20 films from students around the world. The films are all finalists in the organization’s international film competition and were chosen from a pool of more than 300 film and screenplay entries.

Travis Bogosian ’13, who directs the festival along with Caleigh Forbes ’13, said they tried to bring a mix of producers, directors and actors to campus so that all at-

By Caroline Saine Contributing Writer

The University signed a memorandum of understanding to form a partnership with the Insituto Nacional de Matemática, a preeminent mathematics research institute in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil March 26. The collaboration, funded by a donation from a Brown parent, will promote research collaborations, conferences and exchanges between Brown and IMPA over the next three years.

This partnership is the “first official collaboration” for the University with mathematics in Brazil, said Bjorn Sandstede, professor of applied mathematics, and it is Brown’s second formal collaboration in mathematics overseas. In 2007, Brown established an academic affiliation with the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris.

The collaboration between Brown and IMPA is broader because it will involve postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and faculty exchanges, Sandstede said.

The partnership does not involve undergraduate students at this stage, though Sandstede said he is hopeful that the program will expand as Brown and IMPA

Ivy Film Festival announces lineup, speakers

By Kate Nussenbaum Senior Staff Writer

research partnership in Brazil

t o d ay

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2 Campus News

U. seeks to expand international presence

calendar Today

April 5

12 P.M.

ToMORROW

April 6

12 p.m.

Forum on Tea Party Movement

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4 p.m.

9:30 p.m.

Rhodes & Marshall Info Session

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VERNEy-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH

Vegan Tofu Raviolis, Spinach with Toasted Sesame Seeds, Vegan Tofu Pups, Pork Teriyaki

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Roast Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Bread Stuffing, Peas Francaise, Vegan Roasted Veggie Stew

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The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, April 5, 2012

continued from page 1 continue their dialogue.

Exchanges will begin this year between the two institutions. Approximately 20 faculty members and students from Brown will travel to IMPA for a period of one to three weeks, while 12 to 15 faculty members and students from IMPA will visit Brown for one week to four months. These initial exchanges will help members of each institution get to know each other and gauge potential for expansion of the program, Sandstede said.

The collaboration will be funded on a donation of roughly $200,000 each year for three years, to be split equally between Brown and IMPA. The donor, a Brown parent, is from Brazil and “thinks very highly” of IMPA, Sandstede said.

In the past few years, the University has increased efforts to recruit international students, encourage study abroad for undergraduates and forge partnerships with research institutions overseas

as it moves towards internationalization.

Brown has been a global university for a long time, wrote Matthew Gutmann P’14, vice president for international affairs, in an email to The Herald. The University is continuing to deepen and expand its network of global collaborations “because the best scientists, scholars and students are found in all parts of the world,” Gutmann wrote.

Gutmann was appointed vice president for international affairs in 2009, succeeding the inaugural vice president, David Kennedy ’76, who took the position in 2008.

The position was created as part of a series of initiatives to boost the University’s international profile, endorsed by the Corporation, the University’s highest governing body.

Among other measures, the Corporation authorized an increase in financial aid resources for international students as part of an October 2006 discussion about the University’s role in international higher education.

Since then, Brown has maintained its commitment to global understanding and international advancement. The “Year of ” series, beginning for 2007-08 with the Year of Latin America and followed by the Year of Africa, Year of India and Year of China, is one example of the University’s sustained efforts to make connections across the world. Brown will continue “deepening and expanding its collaborations and exchanges with top institutions worldwide,” Gutmann wrote.

Sandstede noted that increasing internationalization gives more freedom to students pursuing research opportunities abroad.

He said in addition to providing a richer academic base for studying mathematics, the partnership between IMPA and Brown will foster “a great environment for getting to know different cultures.”

Brown has signed agreements with more than 100 universities, institutions and research centers across the world. “The more of these links we have, the better,” Sandstede said.

Grad students embrace open degree option continued from page 1

Crossword

have an educational experience distinct from what traditional graduate programs offer, said Susan Herringer GS. Herringer is enrolled in the program and will now pursue an M.A. in archeology with her Ph.D. in engineering.

“I will be taking a lot more classes and doing more interdisciplinary work,” Herringer said.

To complete the program, students will need to fulfill the requirements for both courses of study. No more than two classes can be used to satisfy the requirements of both degrees, and theses are required in both subjects, according to the program application.

Herringer hopes to design her master’s thesis in conjunc-

tion with her doctoral thesis by integrating it as a chapter of her doctoral dissertation, she said.

“The reason I came to Brown was to do engineering and archeology,” she said. “I applied to the program so Brown would recognize this collaboration between the two departments.”

The Grad School has made funding available to assist the students in the completion of program requirements. In addition to providing financial support for summer studies, the Grad School will offer an additional sixth year of funding for Ph.D. students enrolled in the program in some cases, Herringer said. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will also provide support for graduate students pursuing humanities disciplines.

Reactions to the program

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within the University community have been overwhelmingly positive, Weber said. Some have voiced concerns that the program distracts from primary doctoral studies, but most agree there is value in the pilot project, he said.

The “open curriculum has always been the hallmark of the undergraduate program … it only makes sense (the University) offers a special option to graduate students with promising crossdisciplinary research programs,” Neal Fox GS wrote in an email to The Herald.

“It’s safe to say this program is a wonderful example of students and faculty agreeing it is an important thing to try,” Weber said.

“My hope is that we can expand this program in the future and that it becomes a part of University culture.”

Campus News 3

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, April 5, 2012

Panelists debate state of medical marijuana in RI

By Cara Lemire Contributing Writer

Ellen Smith would be dead in her home state of New Jersey, she said.

Speaking during “Rhode Island and the State of Medical Marijuana,” a panel sponsored by Students for Sensible Drug Policy, Smith told an audience of roughly 30 people that the unavailability of medical marijuana in New Jersey means she could not access the drug that could alleviate her painful disorder.

Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14, pressured by the Obama administration, halted the opening of medical marijuana dispensaries last September after the state’s federal prosecutor warned that the dispensaries could face legal challenges. He finalized an agreement with state legislators in March that would permit dispensaries to operate under restrictions on how much marijuana they could sell, though he told the Associated Press Tuesday that the compromise could still draw federal prosecution. The General Assembly approved medical marijuana dispensaries in 2009.

The lack of dispensaries leaves Rhode Island with a unique caregiver-based medical marijuana system. The system relies mainly on independent “caregivers,” people who grow the plants and supply them to patients in need.

Smith decided to become a caregiver after benefitting from the medical marijuana program.

She has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a rare condition marked by frail collagen. The disorder can affect the skin, joints, tissues and organs.

Prior to receiving her medical marijuana license, Smith had been unable to sleep, further exacerbating her illness. Marijuana was Smith’s last and only option after having reactions to other drugs. After trying medical marijuana for the first time, she said, “I expected this horrible reaction.

Next thing I know, I woke up. I actually slept for the entire night.

It was the most beautiful experience I’ve ever had.” The audience erupted in applause in response.

“People need to know that we are real people,” she added. “I have the right to get pain relief, too.”

Seth Bock, founder and chief executive officer of the Greenleaf Compassionate Care Center, said he feels marijuana is just one of “a whole body of herbs that have vast untapped potential.” The most difficult thing about Rhode Island’s medical marijuana system is that “it’s shrouded in a cloud of criminality” because marijuana is illegal under federal law, he said.

Both Bock and Smith said they viewed the caregiver program as helpful and agreed that medical marijuana dispensaries would take a lot of pressure off caregivers. Marijuana growing is a difficult process that requires physical energy and extensive knowledge of how to grow the plants and select strains needed by patients. Because the dispensaries

have been blocked, it is up to the caregivers to produce as much marijuana as they can, within the legal limit, for the many patients they service.

The caregiver program “isn’t satisfying the needs of all of the patients,” Bock said.

Bock and Smith said they did not want the caregiver program to become obsolete once the compassion centers open, but rather for it to be another option for patients.

Michael Fine, director of the Rhode Island Health Department, said he did not have an opinion on whether caregivers and compassion centers should cooperate to provide patients marijuana.

Fine maintained a neutral stance throughout the panel, often refusing to give his opinion. “At this point in my life, my personal beliefs have to take a back seat to my public responsibilities,” Fine said.

Bock said the push to legalize and legitimize medical marijuana is also a “symbolic movement” representing a much larger issue.

People for “so many decades have been excluded from the practice of health care administration,” he said. “A hundred years ago, people could grow the herbs they wanted to grow in their backyard medicinally.”

Bock added that he views the challenges to medical marijuana dispensaries as relating to “two sections of federal laws that are causing opposing views” and said that this discrepancy may have to be resolved in court.

The federal government has interfered with state-regulated medical marijuana programs before. Police Monday raided Oaksterdam University, a university in Oakland, California that teaches students how to grow medical

marijuana. Oaksterdam also educates its students on all aspects of marijuana usage, including marijuana legislation.

Bock said it is difficult to compare the medical marijuana policies in California and Rhode Island. “The state of Rhode Island chose to create a model that is highly regulated, that would lessen the negative impact seen in California and elsewhere,” he said.

Toward the end of the panel, Dr. Fine raised a potential concern with the medical marijuana

program, pointing out that doctors who authorize use of the drug do not necessarily need to follow up with patients the way others do, since they do not need to write a refill. The physicians, who occupy a “gray area,” are solely in charge of initial authorization — after that, they do not have any control over marijuana usage because they do not have knowledge about strains of marijuana, Fine said, which puts them in “an interesting ethical bind.”

Bock pointed out what he

called the “catch-22” of the medical marijuana system. Since marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug, it is difficult for scientists to research the effects of medical marijuana because the federal government will not fund research on drugs under this categorization. Chafee and Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire have backed a petition that asks for marijuana to be reclassified as a Schedule II drug, a classification that would recognize marijuana’s medicinal effects.

4 Campus News

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, April 5, 2012

New Jewelry District plaza holds first farmers market

By Morgan Johnson Senior Staff Writer

The Brown-commissioned Ship Street Square — a public plaza envisioned as a social hub for Providence’s Jewelry District — hosted Tuesday the first of five farmers markets to be held this spring.

The plaza and outdoor event space — which began construction in September and opened in January — is the most recent component of the Alpert Medical School’s $2 million streetscape improvement efforts that have also included widened sidewalks and new trees. The University has also made safety additions to the area, including a new police substation, blue light phones and security cameras.

“Brown really cares about being a good neighbor,” said Jennifer Braga, government relations and community affairs liaison. The University commissioned the square to provide a “welcoming and vibrant outside space” for the entire community.

“It’s an urban space,” said Michael McCormick, assistant vice president for planning, design and construction. To make the square stand out from other parks and

green spaces in the area, Jerry Van Eyck, architect of the Melk landscape design firm, used sustainably harvested South American hardwood to serve as the surface of the space.

“It’s a really interesting design,” McCormick said. “It was a lot of fun to work with him.”

Around the time of the plaza’s opening in January, Brown Dining Services began collaborating with Farm Fresh Rhode Island to develop plans for the farmers market.

“We are pleased with the result and the variety of wonderful local offerings,” wrote Peter Rossi, associate director of Dining Services, in an email to The Herald.

The market was so well-attended on its first day that some vendors ran out of merchandise before its 2 p.m. closing, Braga said.

The Ship Street Square market is the second location operated

by Farm Fresh Rhode Island on Brown’s campus, the first location being on Wriston Quadrangle. It features baked goods from nearby cafe Olga’s Cup and Saucer, as well as items from Mama Kim’s Korean BBQ and Mijos Tacos.

Members of the Brown community and local organizations can also

Frank Mullin / Brown University The farmers market at Ship Street Square is organized through a partnership with Farm Fresh Rhode Island.

reserve the space for private events.

It can be used at no cost, as long as organizations leave it clean and undamaged. For an additional fee, the University can provide custodial and event staff.

“It’s available for a wide variety of events,” Braga said, adding that the space will ideally serve for any-

thing from yoga and tai chi classes to performances and street art. “It’s sort of a blank canvas.”

The spot has already been reserved to host the Jewelry District Association’s annual post-neighborhood-cleanup celebration and may hold additional farmers markets depending on the success of those

currently scheduled.

McCormick hopes the square — much like the Walk running from Lincoln Field to Pembroke campus — will provide a centered, open space for future development. “This is just one piece of what we’re hoping is a much larger improvement in the Jewelry District.”

Campus News 5

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, April 5, 2012

Proposed streetcar project Film festival to bring celebs to campus would require $126 million continued from page 1 continued from page 1 The line could create 6,000 jobs over the next 20 years as well as stimulate up to $1.1 billion in investment, according to the Providence Core Connector Study.

The project will also seek to take advantage of the roughly 100 acres of vacant or underused land made available by the recent Interstate 195 relocation, Pettine said.

Compared to standard diesel-fueled buses, “a rail is a cleaner, greener technology,” Pettine said. The type of streetcar selected for the project would most likely rely on overhead electric lines, though emerging hybrid technologies that would allow for wireless operation are also being considered. Streetcars also provide a more pleasant passenger experience and have a higher passenger capacity than enhanced buses, the study reported.

A streetcar would reduce car traffic downtown for people making short commutes during the day and is intended to be part of “multi modal” system in conjunction with walking and bikes, Pettine said.

The streetcar would also help to integrate Brown’s main campus with that of the Alpert Medical School, said Dick Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior advisor to the president.

Construction is slated to begin as early as 2015 and finish by 2017, but this is the “most aggressive timeline,” Pettine said.

Now that the board has approved plans, RIPTA will need to look outside of the organization in order to build support and find funding, said Steve Durkee, secretary for the RIPTA board of directors. With the organization facing a $8 million to $10 million deficit going into the next fiscal year, finding funding for the project could be challenging, he said.

RIPTA is already struggling to pay the operating costs of the bus system, which relies on money from the state gas tax. Operating costs for the street-

car system would be comparable to those of the buses — approximately $3.6 million annually — but funding issues related to the current bus system will have to be addressed before moving forward, Pettine said.

RIPTA will not sacrifice bus service for new streetcar service, Durkee said.

RIPTA will also need to raise $126.7 million in capital to fund the project, though it could be constructed in stages in order to split up the cost, Pettine said.

Pettine said she expects federal funds to comprise more than half of the capital for the project, though RIPTA will not apply until it has a better understanding of options for local financing to fund the remaining costs.

Previous plans had proposed landowners within a certain distance of the track pay a percentage of their land’s value to finance the line, but RIPTA voted not to pursue this strategy. Instead, much of the local financing for the project will come from bonds — as taxes increase as a result of the line’s success, the additional revenue will go toward paying off the bonds, Durkee said.

As a direct beneficiary of the project, the University should have some role in funding the project, though it will not be able to address RIPTA’s larger funding issues, Spies said. The streetcar would be preferable to the current BrownMed/Downcity Express shuttle, Spies said.

Other possible sources of revenue include parking meter fees and the Economic Development Corporation, Pettine said, but funding will most likely come from a large variety of sources.

“It’s going to have to be cobbled together,” Durkee said.

Certain funding options must be approved by the city council or state legislature before construction can begin. RIPTA is pausing to evaluate the project’s next steps but will hold public forums in the future to inform local stakeholders, Pettine said.

H e av y P e t t i n g

Dan Fethke / Herald

Students enjoyed petting faculty members’ dogs on the Main Green Wednesday.

to see Linney speak because she loved her performance in “The Squid and the Whale.”

Levinson was also enthusiastic about returning to Brown, Bogosian said. He directed the films “Good Morning Vietnam” and “Rain Man,” and directed, produced and wrote the screenplay for the legal drama “Sleepers.” The festival will screen an advanced showing of his science fiction thriller, “The Bay,” set to be released in September. In the film, the town of Chesapeake Bay is subjected to the terror of a mutant parasite that takes over the bodies and minds of its residents.

Bogosian said he is particularly excited to bring Dunham to Brown to discuss the new HBO series “Girls,” of which she is the creator, producer and star. “Our first thought when we’re putting this together, is, ‘What is the freshest, most exciting thing we can bring?’” Bogosian said. Dunham, who graduated from Oberlin in 2008, will be able to impart her experience as a young up-and-comer in the industry to attendees who wish to follow in her footsteps, he said.

Joanna Poceta ’12.5 said she was excited to hear Dunham would be coming because she loved her movie “Tiny Furniture” and has been reading about

Director Barry Levinson will show his new film “The Bay” during the festival.

“Girls.”

Some students were less enthused. “I don’t know any of them,” Tanner Larson ’15 said, though he added that he trusts the people in charge and is “sure they’re great choices.”

The question-and-answer sessions provide an opportunity for students to receive “almost a master course in filmmaking,” Bogosian said.

Bogosian said he is also excited about the student-made films featured in this year’s lineup. “The student screenings are actually going to be amazing this year,”

Bogosian said. Each film will each be screened once on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, and again on Saturday or Sunday to allow people to see many of them.

The week will culminate with a lunch with Colin Stanfield and Bill Curran, who will discuss what they do behind the scenes as executive director and operations manager of the Nantucket Film Festival.

In the past, the Ivy Film Festival, the largest student-run film festival in the world, has brought film professionals including Jack Nicholson, Martin Scorsese and Adrien Brody to campus.

6 Campus News BCA ticket fiasco angers, amuses continued from page 1 stop sales early out of concerns that students who had morning classes would not be able to purchase tickets.

“We didn’t want anyone to have an unfair advantage in buying Spring Weekend tickets,” Ryza said.

Caron said representatives of the TouchNet server that handles ticket sales were “working on the problem all day long to try to figure out what happened.”

Based on a similarity between this year’s crash and crashes in previous years, he said it seemed likely malicious software had caused the malfunction, but that that suspicion has not been confirmed.

As to what the source of the software might have been, “I couldn’t even speculate. I don’t have a clue,” Caron said. “No one does. It’s obviously someone local, or someone with a knowledge of what goes on here at Brown, but other than that ...”

Student reaction to the site crash ranged from mild anger to joking acceptance.

“I just thought the situation was kind of hilarious,” said Srihari Sritharan ’12. “The last two or three years I’ve gone to Spring

Weekend I’ve woken up at 10 a.m. to buy my tickets and never had a problem. This year, I was especially excited about Childish Gambino so I woke up early, was about to buy my tickets ... and then suddenly my (online shopping) cart didn’t exist.”

“It was like, I made it to a certain point, and then the site just decided, ‘Nope. You don’t pass here. You’re done,’” he added, laughing.

Dave Caianiello ’14 said he had Marketplace open on both his phone and his laptop. He estimated he refreshed his browser more than 150 times to try to buy tickets.

“I had an 8:30 class, and everyone brought their computer,” he said. “You could just see them on Marketplace hitting ‘refresh’ over and over.”

Christy Chao ’14 was one of the roughly 40 students who was able to purchase their tickets this morning. She seemed unfazed by her accomplishment.

“No one else was able to buy tickets?” she asked. “Weird. I don’t think I did anything special. ... I guess I just got really lucky.”

Students who vented their frustration with BSA on Facebook had their posts grouped under the label

Birmingham Small Arms Company — a defunct major motorcycle, firearm and machine production conglomerate in the United Kingdom — thanks to the social networking site’s function aggregating posts by topic.

Caron said TouchNet employees will work to try to prevent a similar problem during ticket sales today, but he emphasized that the cyclical relationship between hackers and software security providers makes it difficult to stop malicious attacks from happening.

“It’s a back-and-forth. As soon as we figure out how to make the security system better, they find a way to break through, and then we stall them again,” he said.

The University has a contract with TouchNet, and Caron said discussing whether the University would maintain that contract would be “pure speculation” on his part.

But he added that when the University looks to renew its contract with TouchNet, the annual ticket glitch “would be a point that comes up” in discussions.

“But BSA, BCA, Financial Services ... everyone within Brown is doing everything they can to stop this,” he said. “This problem does not stem from a lack of effort.”

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, April 5, 2012

Today in universit y history U. faculty raises course minimum to 30 In 1988, faculty voted to raise the number of undergraduate courses needed for graduation from 28 to 30. This was the biggest curricular change since the introduction of the New Curriculum in 1969.

Though the initial proposal called for 32 courses, Dean of the College Sheila Blumstein said she felt “terrific” after hearing the results. Faculty members also approved an increase of minimum transfer courses from 14 to 15.

But Blumstein’s two other proposed changes — a senior project requirement and a “concentration self-evaluation” — were rejected by faculty vote. James Patterson, professor of history, said he voted against the motion because projects would create an unnecessary burden on individual departments.

Due to Residential Life error, lottery numbers reassigned In 1995, the Office of Residential Life discovered a technical mistake in their housing lottery number assignments that required them to randomly assign the second batch of numbers again. ResLife found that 20 housing groups were given the wrong numbers, causing mass confusion among students and ResLife administrators.

Director of Residential Life Arthur Gallagher said they usually ran a secondary program in order to discover any potential errors, but none were found, allowing the false numbers to be distributed. All rooms assigned during Segment II were reassigned and allow to be rechosen in an early morning lottery.

University implements online ticket system for lectures In 2006, the Office of Public Affairs and University Relations decided to implement an online ticketing system in order to avoid long waits in line to purchase tickets for prominent speakers on campus such as Bill Clinton in 2005. Working with Computing and Information Services, the public affairs office sought different ways to make ticket distribution more efficient, eventually settling on a reservation system online.

Administrators said they had not heard any negative feedback or opposition. But some students were disappointed with the change in protocol. Ray Serrano ’07 said he felt he was being deprived of a “great bonding experience.”

Former Sen. Rick Santorum speaks at U. on traditional values In 2007, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum spoke to a packed Salomon 101 about the dangers “Islamic fascism” posed to America and its ideals. In his lecture, titled “The Dawn of an American Renaissance,” he argued that the U.S. conflicts in the Middle East represented the next era of tension between the Judeo-Christian West — ideals that Santorum said are “superior to all other cultures” — and the Islamic East.

“I do not believe that all cultures need to be or should be respected equally,” Santorum said. During the question-and-answer portion, he received many challenges from the student audience. Several audience members questioned his idea that conflict between the West and the Muslim world is necessary.

“By our mere existence, we offend them,” he responded.

— Joseph Rosales

S C I - L I S UNGA Z ING

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Emily Gilbert / Herald

Students took advantage of an outdoor telescope to participate in “solar observing” on the Sciences Library patio.

Campus News 7

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, April 5, 2012

Conservation contest reduces U.’s energy consumption

By Lee bernstein Contributing Writer

As part of a large-scale effort to become more environmentally friendly, the University recently concluded Brown Unplugged: Do It in the Dark, its second annual dorm energy competition. Among 14 competing dorms, Littlefield Hall skyrocketed to the top with a 26.6 percent reduction of more than 1,500 kilowatt-hours in energy consumption.

The competition, sponsored by EcoReps, took place from March 2-22. Barbour Hall came in second with an 8.5 percent reduction, while Pembroke Quad took third place with a 6 percent reduction.

The campus reduced its energy consumption by more than 25,000 kilowatt-hours, saving more than $3,000 and preventing 11 metric tons of carbon from entering the atmosphere. But the initiative’s “primary goal is outreach,” said Matt Breuer ’14, an intern for the Department of Facilities Management and a Brown Unplugged organizer. “The actual numbers are not as important for us.”

EcoReps saw higher participation rates this year than it did last year. “We had a goal to involve 1,000 participants and almost hit it,” Breuer said. Last year, about half as many students participated.

Littlefield “really went way beyond where we normally would have expected a dorm to be able to do,” breaking several records, said Chris Powell, director of sustainable energy and environmental initiatives. Littlefield, a first-year dorm, had a participation rate of 85 percent, four times greater than that of any other dorm.

“We had a really great response from freshmen this year, so I think it shows that it helps to target freshman and sophomores and people who are still living on campus,” said Gretchen Gerlach ’14, an EcoReps coordinator.

“As far as the secret goes, it was really just about the dorm being cohesive and a good community.

Everyone really was dedicated. I sent out a couple emails and everyone really jumped on it,” said Jonathan Schear ’15, Littlefield dorm captain. During the competition, Schear shut off hallway and bathroom lights in the dorm when they were not being used and personally attached all of his electronics to one power strip so he could easily monitor his own energy consumption with the flick of a switch. Other Littlefield students used desk lamps instead of overhead lights, and some even showered in the dark.

Because of this effort, Littlefield students celebrated their success at the Winner’s Dinner

with President Ruth Simmons. At the dinner, Schear won the award for highest percent participation, while the Keeney Quadrangle dorm captains, Anna Poon ’15 and Jeff Baum ’15, won the award for highest number of participants.

Two weeks before the competition’s start, EcoReps checked the energy consumption numbers for each dorm so they would accurately reflect consumption relative to the current students living there, Breuer said. Energy consumption data during the competition was inputted automatically to an online dashboard where it was further calculated and displayed, said Kai Morrell ’11, energy and environmental sustainability coordinator of facilities management.

This year’s competition also successfully solved last year’s “hiccups,” Breuer said. Last year’s competition dealt with the difficult process of manually inputting data, he said. An increase in the number of EcoReps involved also helped the competition go more smoothly. With the help of dorm captains and area interns, the EcoReps formed a “much better communication plan and campaign,” Powell said.

Both the University and EcoReps are looking to expand the competition in upcoming years and continue to reduce the

Lydia Yamaguchi / Herald President Simmons congratulates Jeff Baum ’15, a dorm captain recognized at the Do It in the Dark Winner’s Dinner.

University’s carbon footprint.

Organizers are considering incorporating a thermal metering component, which would measure heat energy. “Students’ carbon footprint is really (more) tied to

the heating of the dorms than to electricity use,” Powell said.

“I think this was a really great year and sends us off in a good direction for next year,” Morrell said.

8 Crime Log

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, April 5, 2012

Crime log The following summary includes a selection of major incidents reported to the Department of Public Safety between March 16 and March 29. It does not include general service and alarm calls. The Providence Police Department also responds to incidents occurring off campus. DPS does not divulge information on cases that are currently under investigation by the department, PPD or the Office of Student Life. DPS maintains a daily log of all shift activity and general service calls, which can be viewed during business hours at its headquarters at 75 Charlesfield St.

March 16 4:29 p.m. A student reported her bike was stolen sometime between March 15 at 9 a.m. and March 16 at 2:35 p.m.

March 17 5:47 p.m. A student stated she was sitting on a bench when she observed an unknown subject fall. As she turned in the direction of the unknown subject, another unknown person came up behind her and took her iPod Touch. Both subjects ran. The PPD and DPS were unable to locate the suspects. The Providence police took a report.

March 22 4:37 p.m. A student was walking on Brook Street when he observed a male on a bike near Marston Hall. As he approached the GeoChem Building, he felt someone riding behind him on his right.

He was text messaging on his phone when the bicyclist pulled up alongside of him and took his phone. The victim gave chase but was unable to catch up. He then went into the PPD substation to report it. The Providence police and DPS did not locate the suspect.

The Providence police took a report.

March 29 7:58 p.m. Two students left for vacation March 23 at 5 p.m. and returned March 29 at 5 p.m. They entered their room, which was left unsecured, and their laptops were missing. The laptops were not registered with DPS and did not have tracking software.

Campus News 9

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, April 5, 2012

Higher ed ne ws roundup

by sona mkrttchian senior staff writer

Harvard will not reinvest with HEI Harvard announced Sunday that it would not reinvest in HEI Hotels and Resorts in light of ongoing criticism of the company’s reportedly unfair labor practices, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The Crimson reported that student groups and movements at Harvard — such as the Student Labor Action Movement and Occupy Harvard — were extremely vocal in their opposition to the relationship following Princeton’s decision in February to split with the company.

Brown announced its decision not to reinvest in HEI February 2011, becoming the first college to stop investing. Yale, Penn, Cornell, Vanderbilt and Swarthmore have also decided over the last year not to reinvest.

Harvard’s decision came after months of deliberation on the issue, the Crimson reported.

Catholic college rescinds Kennedy’s invitation

Corrine Szczesny / Herald

Eight more UCS members were chosen to serve on the Election Board.

UCS appoints members to election board

By Margaret Nickens Senior Staff Writer

The Undergraduate Council of Students appointed eight members to its Elections Board at its general body meeting Wednesday.

Students running for next year’s council leadership positions will officially declare their candidacy next Monday, according to the UCS website. The council also appointed students to University committees including the College Curriculum Council, the University Resources Committee and the Energy and Environmental Advisory Committee.

Two members of the Residential Council, Kaylyn Shibata ’14 and Andrew Chang ’13, attended the meeting and asked the council to reconsider extending the deadline for current Residential Council members to reapply to their positions. ResCouncil members must reapply in the spring to maintain their current positions, but many members of the current ResCouncil did not reapply to meet the deadline, said UCS President Ralanda Nelson ’12.

“If you appoint a majority of members that aren’t experienced, it would be a downfall to ResCouncil,” Chang said. While he took responsibility for missing the deadline, he added that “the deadline wasn’t as firmly articulated” as in previous years.

Prior to the meeting, the council’s executive board chose not to extend the deadline as it would not be fair to those that had submitted their applications on time, Nelson said. As a result, those current members who failed to reapply on time were not eligible to be appointed. The council appointed applicants that had already applied by the deadline. Eight members were appointed to ResCouncil, including three returning or former members of ResCouncil who had submitted their applications on time.

Sam Gilman ’15, chair of the UCS communications committee,

said he conducted a Fireside Chat with President Ruth Simmons yesterday, which will be available for viewing in a few weeks. The council is also working on a Whiteboard Project to present to Presidentelect Christina Paxson that will feature students’ favorite aspects of the University along with aspects of the University they think should be changed, he said.

David Rattner ’13, vice president of the council, discussed his work with Richard Bova, senior associate dean of Residential Life and Dining Services, to implement LaundryView at Brown. LaundryView is a system employed at Tufts University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other schools that allows users to see what laundry machines are available and how much time is left on machines that are in use, Rattner said. Nelson said the University’s work to consolidate the number of strips on student IDs is the first step in this process.

“We’re optimistic it will be done soon,” Rattner said.

The council submitted a statement to Margaret Klawunn, vice president for campus life and student services, and Steven King ’91, senior vice president for University advancement, which outlines the importance of increasing the size of the Student Activities Endowment, Rattner said. He said he hopes the Corporation will approve the statement as one of the University’s top academic priorities.

Mae Cadao ’13, chair of the UCS student activities committee, presented five student groups that had either been tabled during the student activities approval process or had since appealed their categorization. The council approved categorizing or re-categorizing four of the groups, but decided to table re-categorizing Body and Soul, a dance group seeking Category III status. Nelson said the group’s mission statement needed to be polished before the council would decide on its categorization.

Anna Maria College, a Roman Catholic College in Massachusetts, recently revoked its invitation to Vicky Kennedy, wife of the late Senator Edward Kennedy, to speak at its commencement ceremony. The college had also intended to award Kennedy with an honorary degree.

USA Today reported the decision was made after Bishop Robert McManus suggested Kennedy was an inappropriate choice for the Catholic college because of her vocal support of gay rights, abortion and health care insurance coverage of contraception, which stand in opposition to the Church’s positions.

In a press release, the college said that “as a small, Catholic college,” its decision was impacted highly by the Bishop’s comments but also said it sent an apology to Kennedy.

Kennedy responded by pointing out that she identifies with the Catholic faith despite the bishop’s “judgment” of her positions, the Huffington Post reported.

Vindication for Virginia Tech A judge for the U.S. Department of Education overturned a previous decision that declared Virginia Tech University in violation of federal law due to its failure to launch an appropriate response to the April 2007 campus shootings that took the lives of 33 students.

In a previous decision, the judge ruled that the university acted negligently because it failed to deliver warning of the shooting early on and did not abide by its own emergency policy, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

comic

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

10 Editorial Editorial

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, April 5, 2012

Editorial cartoon

by s a m r o s e n f e l d

The easy half of the battle against sexual violence As Congress considers whether or not to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, one proposed addition to the law would require colleges to collect and report data on the incidence of “domestic violence, dating violence and stalking” on their campuses. It would also increase requirements placed on universities regarding education about and coordination around issues of sexual violence on campuses.

Though on the whole this is undoubtedly a valuable piece of legislation that would do more good than harm, we caution against excessive optimism as to its likely effects. Reporting is not enough, because a major problem in addressing this issue is that many cases of sexual assault are not reported by the victims themselves. As such, much depends on how aggressively colleges work to prevent sexual violence.

Brown, like all universities, is already required to gather statistics on sexual assault. There were nine reported instances of forcible sexual assault on Brown’s campus in 2010. A 2000 study by the National Institute of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that each year, approximately one in 36 undergraduate women are victims of rape or attempted rape.

If those numbers don’t seem to match up to you, you’re right. At most universities, and in society at large, sexual assault is woefully underreported. Some studies suggest that up to 90 percent of sexual assaults on college campuses go completely under the radar. Thus, while the additional reporting requirements around sexual violence is commendable, it is questionable how much meaningful information these numbers would provide.

That said, data collection should further incentivize the University to ensure that students have safe spaces to report assault when it occurs. There are any number of resources that victims of sexual assault can seek out — Women Peer Counselors and other peer mentors, Psychological Services, the Department of Public Safety and the Coordinator of Sexual Assault Prevention and Advocacy. What victims do ought to be up to them, and confidentiality must be respected at all costs, but it may be worth considering to what degree these various bodies can do a better job sharing data and broader trends.

We support the proposed measure, but we more so support aggressive University efforts to ensure that resources for survivors of sexual assault and violence are widely known and easily accessible.

We also encourage further efforts to open a dialogue between students about boundaries, consent and communication that may help reduce instances of sexual assault.

Too often, in the aftermath of sexual assault or violence, victims feel confused and alone and worry about the stigma of being labeled a “sexual assault survivor.” And University attempts to follow up on these matters have often failed to appropriately respect all involved — the prolonged lawsuit regarding the University’s handling of a 2006 rape allegation being only the most recent public instance of this.

If Congress renews its commitment to ending sexual violence on college campuses, we hope it spurs a renewed effort by the University to proactively attempt to create a safer space and make appropriate resources available for those many cases that go unreported.

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

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An article in Wednesday’s paper (“New research database to aid collaboration,” April 4) stated that leaders of VIVO are aware of 20 to 30 implementations around the world. In fact, VIVO is aware of more than 50 implementations in the U.S. and at least 25 implementations and related projects internationally. The Herald regrets the error.

quote of the day

“I don’t think I did anything special. ... I guess I just got really lucky.”

—Christy Chao ‘14, on getting Spring Weekend tickets See Ticket on page 6.

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Opinions 11

The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, April 5, 2012

Diversify my options

By Chip Lebovitz Opinions Editor

At the Sharpe Refectory and VerneyWoolley Dining Hall, Brown students are privy to a wide assortment of means to get their news. They can pick up a copy of the New York Times, the Providence Journal and the finest publication of them all, The Herald. For those more visually inclined, “Good Morning America” or CNN’s cornucopia of morning programs are constantly blaring from Ratty televisions. Yet, for all the news students have access to, Brown has surprisingly large holes in its offerings.

The University seems to plan its daily publication strategy around checking off three simple spheres. These include college news, including daily, weekly and monthly publications like the Brown Noser; local interest news, filled by default by the Providence Journal; and national news, covered by the New York Times. The limited number of publications for local news makes sense. After all, the Journal is the only major paper in town, and Rhode Island is by far the nation’s smallest state and therefore would theoretically have the smallest amount of news. On the other hand, national news is obviously more varied and complicated — yet we have only one paper to cover

this vast space. While the Grey Lady is a fantastic paper and does a good job covering everything a Brown student needs to know, it is not perfect. Its business coverage is weak compared to other papers, and it only provides one perspective on world news that is too extensive for one paper to do it justice. It would therefore make sense for the University to provide its students with more than one national paper.

a paper that appeals to one of its biggest academic constituencies.

Any reason for not having the Journal lacks logical support. Purchasing the Journal might be expensive, and given the current economic climate, the University should absolutely be focused on bolstering our facilities and getting us even more bands for Spring Weekend over trivial complaints. Arguing against the Journal due to prohibitive cost, though, is vastly

Why we don’t have the Wall Street Journal is a bit flabbergasting and extremely surprising at a school where the number of economics concentrators has doubled in the last decade. It would make sense for the University to provide a paper that appeals to one of its biggest academic constituencies.

One might think the University would provide the Wall Street Journal, the nation’s most-read paper, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Furthermore, it is the country’s pre-eminent source of business news and would perfectly cover one of the Times’ biggest weaknesses. Why we don’t have the Wall Street Journal is a bit flabbergasting and extremely surprising at a school where the number of economics concentrators has doubled in the last decade. It would make sense for the University to provide

overestimating the price of 100 subscriptions to the paper. The University could spread the cost to student tuitions and out of faculty salaries for cents per person, and its tangible results would dull the sting of a more expensive Brown. Another possibility for why the University might not carry the Journal is that Brown might be playing to the University’s inherent liberal bias. But if Brown was really that focused on playing the student body’s bias, then why does the Internet Protocol TV offer only CNN and Fox News and not

MSNBC, which would, according to the initial argument, be the most popular channel?

I’m sure that I could find a live stream of MSNBC through some dubious online means and could probably browbeat a friend to loan me his copy of the Journal, but the point remains. Brown has gaping holes in the content it provides its students. Equally troubling, the lack of the Wall Street Journal and of MSNBC speaks to the larger problem of a University media bias that seems predicated on no particular policy. What else explains the random holes?

The University could resolve this news deficiency easily. Investing in a large number of subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal is a good first step. Second, Brown might consider purchasing a mass subscription to an international paper, perhaps the U.K.’s the Guardian. Brown models itself as an international university where various cultures mix together to gain new perspectives, so why not have a paper that can help facilitate those viewpoints?

If expanding the University’s library is too bold a first step, the University could even just expand its magazine collection in the Rockefeller Library. The fact remains that the University is a place for education, and it is failing its students in providing them with current affairs.

Chip Lebovitz ’14 just wants to read more. He can be reached at charles_lebovitz@brown.edu.

How I learned to stop worrying and love lit crit By david hefer Opinions Columnist

Literary criticism — ­ by which I mean the discipline practiced by the comparative literature, modern culture and media and other related departments — has its fingers in a lot of pies. Race and gender/sexuality studies are rife with critical thought. It seems that each of the humanities has picked up something from it, with the possible exception of classics and analytic philosophy.

Walking around campus, one has to try not to hear discussions about Derrida or see an “I heart Adorno” bag. Not everyone at Brown is so enamored. Science, technology, engineering and mathematics students sneer at literary theory and those who apply it. This attitude leads to charges that STEM students are too wrapped up in their own worldview or something else to the effect of, “You don’t get it.”

From what I’ve seen, literary theory makes proclamations that are either obviously true or absurdly false. As Searle and Foucault described it, the style is terrorist obscurantism. Everything is so obscure and slippery that you can’t grab onto a single claim. When you do have something firmly in hand and criticize it, the response is “You misunderstand, you idiot.”

Literary theory encourages a relativistic or constructivist view of things: Sci-

ence is deeply embedded in our history, culture and language, so any conclusion found by science can only be said to hold for people from a specific group. It is all too easy to parody the claims of literary theorists: “Objectivity doesn’t exist,” “There is no Truth” or “A pernicious phallogocentrism is the cornerstone of Western thought.”

Small wonder that STEM students are so hostile! The sciences get at important facets of the world. They offer us explanatory and predictive power that is too good to write off as a coincidence or sim-

I stick by what I said about literary theory. But when we take a certain view of the discipline, we can see that it does not deserve the bum rep it gets. Literary theory is essentially an art — our first clue should have been “literary.” It offers us interesting, but not accurate, ways to see the world around us.

On the one hand, this means we shouldn’t take the claims of literary theory quite so seriously. When we come across a claim from literary theory that seems to conflict with science or common sense, we should realize that this conflict

Literary theory does not deserve the bum rep it gets.

ply a product of our culture. Cell phones and laptops work regardless of where you come from or what you believe. And we know this is because there are electrons and protons and all kinds of –ons doing their funky thing on the subatomic scale.

It was with this mindset that I fell into a state of puzzlement. How could such a large portion of our classmates and faculty be suckered in by something so clearly ridiculous? How could a discipline sustain itself when students and professors so openly deride it? In order to straighten myself out, I took some classes.

is only apparent. Instead, we recognize that it would be interesting if, say, logic were hopelessly hegemonic and better off abandoned.

On the other hand, literary theory is not a proper object of ridicule. Our friends who study literary theory are developing complicated “What if?” scenarios. This practice is no sillier than literature, film or any other art.

I suspect that some students of literary theory will not appreciate my characterization of the field as an art. If you’ve taken theory to heart, you have every reason to

think that scientific statements have just as much claim to the Truth or objectivity as literary theory. It would be reasonable to go so far as to say that science and common sense have been fatally undermined, and literary theory should supplant them.

If this line of thought is attractive to you, then your work is not done. If literary theory is not an art, if it is making claims about the world that can be accurate or inaccurate, then you ought to be sure that your theories are accurate.

Why does science do such a good job of describing the world? Can we accept the pluralistic methods of literary theory? In short, you have to engage in some actual justifying and argumentation. As a consequence, the terrorist obscurantism is better done away with.

Contrarily, if you do see literary theory as an art, then you should be more forthcoming about its status as such. In this case, obscurantism is appropriate and may even be beneficial. However, you do a discredit to a perfectly respectable field by presenting it as something that it isn’t.

Disciplines like race and gender studies that rely on elements of literary theory should set to work separating insight from artistry.

Perhaps I am being uncharitable, and my understanding of literary theory is terribly misguided or otherwise incorrect. If so, please clear the air for the rest of us.

David Hefer ’12 is a philosophy and math concentrator who doesn’t feel comfortable speaking for entire fields, appearances to the contrary.

Daily Herald City & State the Brown

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Anniversary of MLK’s death prompts rally, reflection

By Adam toobin Senior Staff Writer

The Martin Luther King Unity Day Coalition rallied on the steps of Providence City Hall yesterday to commemorate the 44th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The speakers and organizers connected the death of the famous civil rights leader to the recent killing of Trayvon Martin, a black 17-year-old, by a neighborhood watch coordinator, citing his death as an example of continued racial strife in America. The approximately 50 protesters also voiced support for initiatives that the coalition said honored the civil rights leader’s legacy.

Speakers addressed economic inequality, immigration reform and health care reform, and the group coalesced around the issue of Martin’s killing as an example of King’s “unfulfilled legacy.”

“We’re here to commemorate the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King as well as another unjust killing — the murder of Trayvon Martin,” Roger Harris, a co-chair of the event, said to open the rally.

“In this country, when a black man is killed, nothing happens.

When it’s black on black, nothing happens. When it’s white on black, absolutely nothing happens,” said Joseph Buchanan, a member of Black America’s Political Action Committee. “Dr. King would roll over in his grave knowing that 44 years later a white person can walk away free from a police station after murdering a black person,” he said.

The Rhode Island People’s Assembly and the Unemployment Council organized the protest. “We want people, especially right now, to remember what MLK stands for,” Kathi Riley. Jones, an organizer from the People’s Assembly, told The Herald. “United, nobody can stop us.

Adam Toobin / Herald Protestors rallied in front of City Hall in support of Trayvon Martin on the anniversary of MLK’s assassination.

We might not have five-figure jobs … but united, we have the numbers to make change,” she added.

Providence residents and organization members comprised the majority of the crowd attending the protest. One volunteer handing out pamphlets was an 11-year-old girl who has lived in Providence her whole life. “When I get older, I want to be to get a job and have a good future,” she said, describing why she took part in the protest.

The meeting was interrupted several times by drivers shouting and honking in support of the protest.

The protest was affiliated with the Occupy Providence movement but also featured a number of organizations and speakers from various causes. Ray Watson, a representative of the Native American community, told the crowd the time has come for minority communities to stand up for their rights. The black com-

munity has forgotten King’s call to action and has become passive and complacent, he said. Watson then performed a hymn about the Cherokee Trail of Tears with several local Native American chiefs.

Cino Eang and Nara Alvarado, two students at Hope High School, spoke in support of Providence Youth Student Movement, a group committed to ending racial profiling. Eang said he became involved in the movement after the police confronted and searched him even though he was doing nothing wrong, presumably due to his race, he said.

The protest’s organizers applied King’s social justice message to issues beyond race, positing him as an advocate for the poor and disenfranchised.

Speakers also expressed support for an economic bill of rights. The bill of rights, a list of economic initiatives put forward by the People’s As-

sembly, declared support for a higher minimum wage, universal health care, better and cheaper public education from preschool through college, and improved public transportation.

Nancy St. Germain, co-chair of the Rhode Island chapter of the Progressive Democrats of America, confronted what she called the “Republican war on women” in her address to the crowd. St. Germain criticized the Republican Party for risking the health of women by advocating policies that restrict access to birth control and abortions. She also recounted her experience losing her job and consequently her health care coverage after surgery for a brain tumor “the size of a tennis ball” left her incapacitated for a month. She advocated a nationwide single-payer system as the only solution for the country’s broken health care system.

‘Cash mobs’ seek to boost local businesses

By Dana reilly Contributing Writer

Sparkle, Unique Gifts and More was mobbed by about 40 people last night as part of a series of spending sprees across the state. These “cash mobs” are the product of online activists who have been harnessing social media to get consumers to support local businesses. This was the third event hosted by Let’s Buy Local, an alliance of independently owned businesses in Rhode Island.

During a cash mob, participants flood a predetermined store at the same time. The mob is encouraged to spend at least $20, instantly injecting capital into the business.

Co-founder Timothy Hudyncia, one of many local organizers, said cash mobbing fits well with the business alliance’s initiative to support the local economy.

Hudyncia is just one of several local cash mob organizers in the state.

The first event in Rhode Island was organized by Wakefield’s Waves of Creation owner, Laura Winward, who first read about them in an ar-

ticle in the Wall Street Journal.

“I thought, this is brilliant,” Winward said. “Why isn’t this happening everywhere — it’s so simple!”

When she heard of the cash mob trend, Winward said she knew she had to act to get the ball rolling. Small business owners can’t rely on national brand recognition, like the larger “big-box” stores, and must promote themselves on smaller budgets to survive, she said.

Winward set up a Facebook page and a Twitter account for Rhode Island Cash Mobs, still the sole means of advertising for the events besides word of mouth. The first mob attracted 50 people who invaded Jennifer’s Chocolates Jan. 30. Jen Dowell, owner of Jennifer’s Chocolates, in turn hosted Wakefield’s second cash mob.

Beyond the sales boost, cash mobs act like e-commerce sites such as Groupon or Living Social by attracting first-time customers. The recipients of a cash mob also benefit from free publicity.

“It also creates a sense of community. People get really jazzed up

about it,” Winward said. “There’s a little competition going on between the South County group and the Warwick group, you know, who can get more people to come,” she chuckled.

Business owners as well as customers, Facebook friends, members of chambers of commerce and people from out of town show up at the mob events.

Anyone can post an event to the Rhode Island Cash Mob Facebook page, administered by Winward, but the mob recipient is not revealed until the night of the event. “The secret destination is half the fun,” Winward said.

Alexandra Miller, owner of Johnny’s Barkin’ Bakery in South Kingston, attended the first cash mob and is organizing her own event this week. Each organizer has unique criteria for selecting a cash mob recipient. “I was looking for something where just about anyone can find something to buy,” Miller said. She thinks Winward did the same thing with the first cash mob at Jennifer’s Chocolates. “Anybody can

use chocolate,” Miller said.

The Rhode Island Cash Mobs are creating a supportive network for the community while spreading the message to buy local. “These aren’t big anonymous corporations. These are your next-door neighbors trying to pay their mortgage,” Winward said.

In the case of Winward’s business, she said, “it’s 50 Rhode Island families that are affected by your decision to buy here or not buy here.”

Winward said she has seen several local companies go out of business.

“It all comes down to how many people are walking through the door. I struggle with that every day. I think every small business owner does.”

But Miller said she does not expect to change everyone’s shopping habits entirely. “When you’re out and about, think about the small businesses in your community. You just don’t realize how many businesses are out there until you start looking.”

One obstacle facing Rhode Island cash mobs is maintaining the momentum. Miller said she thinks branching out to different areas will keep the events “fresh and fun.”

Ne ws in brief

After threatening police, senator leaves committees Sen. Frank Ciccone, D-Providence and North Providence, stepped down as chairman of the Senate Committee on Government Oversight and from the Senate Finance Committee yesterday afternoon. His resignation followed a confrontation with Barrington police last week when Senate Majority Leader Dominick Ruggerio, D-Providence and North Providence, was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. At the time of the arrest, Ciccone — who had been driving in a separate vehicle — approached police officers while they were testing Ruggerio for sobriety at a traffic stop and threatened the officers.

“You think you got pension problems now, wait ’til this (expletive) is all done,” Ciccone said, according to a police report. Ciccone was referring to the ongoing pension problems in the state, which has left many police officers working in municipalities with dangerously underfunded pension systems.

Ciccone said earlier this week in a press release that he does not “agree with the accuracy of some of the details in the police report.” He chose to step down from his positions after meeting with Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Jamestown and Newport, following the incident.

“After a brief discussion we agreed that the institution of the Senate is larger than any one individual,” Paiva Weed said in a statement.

The drunk driving charge against Ruggerio was dropped yesterday after he admitted to the court that he refused a chemical test to determine his blood alcohol level at the time of the arrest. Instead, Ruggerio’s license was suspended for six months.

“I accept full responsibility for my actions last week,” Ruggerio said in a statement released today.

Paiva Weed said in a press release immediately following the incident that she was “confident” this situation would not “distract him from his duties and that he will continue to be an effective leader in the state Senate.”

“It is my desire to put these events behind us and focus on the work that needs to be done to move Rhode Island forward,” she added.

Ruggerio is up for reelection in November.

— Sona Mkrttchian