Daily
Herald
the Brown
vol. cxxii, no. 47
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Since 1891
Poll: Students split on contributions to city Profs Increasing financial aid tops list of priorities for President-elect Paxson By Margaret Nickens Senior Staff Writer
Students are divided on whether or not the University should give more money to the city of Providence, according to a Herald poll conducted March 12-14. The poll also found that about one third of respondents said they were satisfied with the choice of Christina Paxson as Brown’s 19th president, though around half of those polled said they had no opinion or were not familiar enough to answer. More than one third of students also cited increasing financial aid as the most important issue for Paxson to address. Contributions to the city
Brisa Bodell / Herald
Thirty-seven percent of respondents said they do not think Brown should contribute more money to
the city, while 30 percent said they believe Brown should contribute more and 33 percent said they are not sure. First-years and sophomores were slightly more likely than juniors and seniors to express no opinion. Facing a $22.5 million budget deficit and the looming threat of bankruptcy, Mayor Angel Taveras asked the University to double its annual contributions to the city earlier this year. Currently, the University contributes around $4 million to the city each year. President Ruth Simmons reportedly offered a deal in which the University would donate an additional $2 million to the city each year for the next five years, but Taveras rejected the offer. Some Providence residents and Brown students have staged pro-
Lawrence Larson, dean of the school of engineering, said numbers show that going on to graduate school after college is a popular option. While about a third of Brown engineers go continued on page 3
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By Nicole grabel Contributing Writer
A panel of four professors and administrators discussed the stresses of college, coping strategies, mental health stigmas and resources available to University students Monday night in front of a large, attentive audience in MacMillan 115. The teach-in was designed to explore mental health issues and raise awareness of resources available to students. “We hope that by having events such as these, we can begin a conversation that will help eradicate the stigma that oftentimes prevents people from seeking the help they need,” said moderator Jessica Biesel, president of student volunteers for the Samaritans of Rhode Island, a suicide prevention and resource center and sponsor of this event. The panel opened by discussing stressors that are new or unique to the college experience. Students and families can struggle to come to terms with the academic pressures at Brown, said Belinda Johnson, director of psychological services. Students can experience difficulty as they pull away from their parents or begin to see them from an adult perspective, said Carol Landau ’70,
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news....................2-4 Poll..........................5 editorial................6 Opinions.................7 SPORTS.....................8
that several students mentioned is that engineers often look to continue their education after college. Though Dingyi Sun ’12 said he is interested in going into defense contracting, he said he
UCS presidential hopefuls declare candidacy By Margaret Nickens Senior Staff Writer
Robert Bentylewski ’13, David Rattner ’13 and Anthony White ’13 have officially announced they will run for president of the Undergraduate Council of Students in the upcoming election. Rattner is the current vice president of the council and White serves as the chief of staff for UCS President Ralanda Nelson ’12. Bentylewski is not a member of the council. Michael Schneider ’13 and Brandon Tomasso ’13 will run for council vice president. Zak Fischer ’13 is running unopposed for chair of the Undergraduate Finance Board. No candidates are running for vice chair after the sole contender for the position failed to garner the 400 student signatures required to be eligible. The candidates officially declared their intention to run last night, and continued on page 4
Courtesy of the candidates
From left: Rob Bentylewski ‘13, Anthony White ‘13 and David Rattner ‘13 will compete to become next UCS president.
Tech changes
Spirituality
UCS makes progress on online projects
Dorris ’15 embraces community
Campus News, 2
opinions, 7
weather
By emily hartman Contributing Writer
city & state
By David Chung News Editor
As the University aims to compete with powerhouse research institutions — many of which have larger endowments — research experience has become a major factor in hiring and faculty tenure decisions. But faculty members remain conflicted as to whether the University’s increased emphasis on research and expansion — highlighted by the creation of the School of Engineering two years ago and the current development of a school of public health — has affected the quality of undergraduate teaching at the University. Teaching and research are often viewed as conflicting obligations that faculty must fulfill. Extra emphasis on research can be interpreted as less time for undergraduate teaching, but portraying them as “disjointed and competitive would be the wrong model,” said Andries van Dam, professor of computer science and the University’s former vice president for research. Van Dam’s argument was echoed by many faculty members.
Panel tackles R.I. defense contractors struggle to recruit often look elsewhere after gradu- wants to “get the education pormental ation, some concentrators said. tion of my life over with” and will Engineering students at Brown pursue his PhD at Caltech next health in A Governor’s Workforce Board said there are a myriad of reasons year. study published last month re- that students may not be going “Defense is usually where I ported that defense industry to work for these firms. A factor find the most innovation,” he college employers are finding a lack of said. qualified engineers in the state. But despite a sixth of each class concentrating in engineering — and a suffering state economy where unemployment currently stands at 11 percent — defense sector employers rarely reach out to the University, and engineers
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