Friday, April 13, 2012

Daily

Herald

the Brown

vol. cxxii, no. 52

Friday, April 13, 2012

Since 1891

UCS, UFB candidates debate U.’s priorities Harvard

By Margaret Nickens Senior Staff Writer

Candidates for Undergraduate Council of Students and Undergraduate Finance Board leadership positions grappled with ways to improve the relationship between the two organizations, means to increase financial aid and how to prioritize fundraising for student activities during a debate Thursday night in Metcalf Auditorium.

The presidential candidates kicked off the debate by discussing a recently proposed UCS referendum under which the council would have been allowed to determine its own budget without UFB’s approval.

Robert Bentlyewski ’13 said the amendment proposal demonstrated the “disconnect” between the council and the student body. To increase communication and transparency, he suggested changing the structure of

the council to incorporate 48 members of equal status rather than an executive board.

Anthony White ’13, another candidate for the UCS presidency, said he did not support the way in which the amendment was presented and said the council should have sought more student input before suggesting the changes.

If elected to the UCS presidency, White said he would improve collaboration between the two bodies through more frequent meetings between UCS and UFB leaders. He also said he does not think the council should receive additional funding until all student groups on campus are adequately funded.

“For years, the relationship between UCS and UFB has been murky,” said David Rattner ’13, current vice president of the council. continued on page 5

joins U. in halting HEI investment

By Shefali Luthra News Editor

for us to diversify,” said Patricia Fortier, a DPS officer and an instructor for the women’s program.

With Harvard’s announcement April 1 that it will not reinvest in HEI Hotels and Resorts, only three major university investors have yet to make statements regarding their holdings in the company. Harvard’s decision — attributed to “portfolio strategies and needs” by Harvard Management Company President and CEO Jane Mendillo — is the latest in a string of announcements that began with Brown officially announcing in February 2011 that it would not reinvest with the company.

HEI has been accused of prohibiting workers from unionizing and of promoting unethical treatment of workers. The company has settled multiple lawsuits with the National Labor Relations Board and has never been convicted of any wrongdoing.

Following Brown’s decision last year, Yale also announced it would not reinvest with the company after its current contract expired.

Investors cannot legally withdraw their dedicated holdings in the company, but they can pledge not to give more money in the future.

Penn, Vanderbilt and Princeton

continued on page 4

continued on page 2

Sam Kase / Herald

Candidates for UCS president and UFB chair discussed financial aid, student activity funding and ways to increase awareness of student government.

Neural study DPS pushes self-defense training for men victims of violence. potential attackers through certiDPS began efforts last year fied instructors. The University examines to engage men in the discussion currently offers the courses for The Department of Public Safety about sexual assault but never had free to women through the Deimagehas expanded efforts to include a program that focused specifi- partment of Public Safety every men in the conversation about cally on men, said Michelle Nuey, month. sexual violence by bringing the manager of special programs for While the program’s emphasis specific Men Can Stop Rape organization DPS and the RAD program co- is on women, DPS has been planto campus and planning a Rape ordinator. ning a course for men and hopes Aggression Defense course for “Both programs focus on re- to start offering it by May. responses men. While Men Can Stop Rape defining masculinity,” she said.

“I think there’s been a need

By Caroline Flanagan Senior Staff Writer

By Robert Webber Contributing Writer

When we look at an object like a coffee cup, does it get recognized by a single cell in the brain? By 20? By 20,000? Would the same neurons fire if we were to look at a different object, like an ice cream cone?

focuses on the role of men in preventing sexual violence against women, Rape Aggression Defense for men focuses on teaching men self-defense to avoid becoming

Rape Aggression Defense

RAD is a national program that traditionally trains women in self-defense techniques against

Zany ‘Wedding’ probes 21st-century love

Science

By Tonya Riley Staff Writer

In a study published Thursday in the journal Neuron, Professor of Neuroscience David Sheinberg and Luke Wolosyzn GS argue for the existence of small neural networks that fire up when we look at different images.

For decades, researchers have studied and debated the Grandmother Cell hypothesis — the idea that a few cells might be responsible for recognizing highly specific images, such as the face of your grandmother. “We don’t know if the way you see something complex in the real world is based on activation of just a small number of cells or actually a distributed pattern of activity spread across all 30 areas and millions of neurons,” said Professor of Neuroscience Michael Paradiso, who was not involved in the study.

While college students might know how to party, rarely do they get to be wedding guests. “A Perfect Wedding,” which runs until April 22 in Leeds Theatre, appeals to collegeaged theater-goers in both theme and zaniness.

news.....................2-5 Science................6-7 Sports.................8-9 D&C..........................10 Opinions..............11 arts........................12

Courtesy of Mark Turek

The play’s Spartan set echoes the woods of its Shakespearean source material.

SafeWalking DPS ups pedestrian safety with radar guns, reflectors

News, 3

“Plays don’t come out of nowhere.

They come out of tradition,” said John Emigh, professor of theater, speech and dance who came out of a three-year retirement to direct the play. “There are a lot of things in the play that comes from knowledge of other theater in other parts of the world and other times of history.”

“A Perfect Wedding” draws most directly from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

But Emigh said what is different

Relief

Students revise city’s disaster plan News, 8

weather

inside

continued on page 6

arts & culture

from simply directing an updated Shakespeare play is that Charles Mee is a living playwright. Mee formerly taught at Brown and encourages directors and casts to remake his work by incorporating their own ideas.

The action of the play revolves around the impending wedding of Meridee Sedgwick (Alejandra Rivera-Flavia ’13) and Amadou (Uday Shriram ’15). Craziness ensues when their families — an openly defined term in the play that includes Meridee’s divorced parents’ respective lovers — come together.

The sparse set manages to capture the essence of “Midsummer’s” woods. The show, while not exactly a musical, incorporates music much like its Shakespearean predecessors.

It takes a while for the songs to feel fully integrated, especially as the musicality increases in the second act, but by the finale — a wedding continued on page 7

t o d ay

tomorrow

62 / 42

67 / 51

2 Campus News

U.’s decision gave ‘urgency’ to HEI protests

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continued from page 1 followed suit, with Princeton’s decision coming last month.

With Harvard’s announcement, 10 universities have now issued statements regarding HEI, though Brown remains the only school that specifically cited the company’s alleged labor practices.

Currently, the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan and the University of Notre Dame are the only three major university investors not to make a statement regarding the company.

HEI Senior Vice President of Human Resources Nigel Hurst said the company had no comment.

Though no other university has cited labor practices in its decision, Brown’s decision influenced the wave of statements regarding HEI, said Riddhi MehtaNeugebauer, a research analyst at hotel and restaurant labor union Unite Here.

“To have a key Ivy League investor come down and say, ‘We’re not going to reinvest until HEI improves its labor practices’ — that’s huge,” she said. “It adds a lot of credibility and a lot of momentum to the struggle.”

The decision from Yale also played a role in the trend of statements regarding HEI, MehtaNeugebauer said.

“In the endowment world, whatever Yale does really kind of sets the tone for the endowment arena,” she said. “So that really set the standard among universities regarding what to do with HEI.” Sandra Korn, a member of Harvard’s Student Labor Action Movement, said the decision from Brown and subsequent statements from other universities added strength to the group’s campaign against HEI. “It definitely lent a lot of urgency to this call,” Korn said.

The Student Labor Action Movement also coordinated with student groups from other universities, including Brown’s Student Labor Alliance, Korn said.

“People from the Brown group had kind of won the campaign, so they came to Harvard to tell us what been successful, what had not been successful,” she said.

Both Korn and Mehta-Neugebauer said though Harvard’s decision did not explicitly cite labor practices, they would be surprised

Daily

the Brown

Courtesy of Bex Kwan

Harvard students support the decision not to reinvest in HEI Hotels and Resorts.

if the allegations against HEI did not factor into the decision.

Harvard released a statement last December announcing that it would investigate HEI’s “business practices and policies, including labor relations” and would factor “all relevant circumstances” into any decision regarding reinvestment.

In the context of that statement, Korn said she was “a little bit surprised” Harvard only cited financial considerations in its decision but added that she could only presume the Harvard Management Company looked at labor practices as well.

“It was either under pressure from their own moral pressures or the moral pressures of their constituents — the Harvard students and alumni,” she said.

Mehta-Neugebauer also suggested a link between the publicity the issue has garnered and the decision not to reinvest.

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“You can’t deny that every university that has made this announcement has had a multi-year effort by students,” she said. “And the reason for that has been the labor practices at HEI hotels.”

In an email to Harvard President Drew Faust, Mendillo said the decision not to reinvest was specifically based “not on concerns about HEI’s practices.”

John Longbrake, Harvard Assistant Vice President of Communications, would not elaborate beyond the email.

Luiz Valente, former chair of the University’s Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investment Policies, said he was “indifferent to what Harvard does” but thought the recommendation confirmed the validity of Brown’s decision from last year.

“Even though HEI had never been convicted of breaking any laws, there was a pattern of allegations involving mistreatment of workers combined with the company’s repeated settlements in which they would agree to what was being requested, for example by the union, but not admit any guilt,” Valente said.

“I don’t think it’s a particularly good company,” he added.

Though he said he did not want to sound “immodest,” Valente said he thought Brown’s decision had influenced the wave of university statements regarding HEI. “Sometimes, someone has to take the lead, and I’m glad it was Brown,” he said. “I’m glad we took the leadership position and we made the early decision.”

Campus News 3

The Brown Daily Herald Friday, April 13, 2012

Pilot website offers scholars interactive space to exchange ideas By lee bernstein Contributing Writer

The Watson Institute for International Studies recently launched a pilot website that provides an interactive platform compiling the ideas of scholars who visit the University into an easily accessible and explorative presentation. The institute’s Angle site offers a multimedia forum that explores economic, social and political concerns at the heart of international policymaking.

The website intends to further the institute’s reach, expand its audience and delve into greater substantive depth on global issues.

Angle looks to “form connections between … ideas being discussed” at different Watson Institute conferences held throughout the year, said Lindsay Richardson, co-creator of Angle and media coordinator at the Watson Institute.

It is also about “foregrounding media, as opposed to just the facts of events, to try to engage a bit be-

yond the audience on campus by putting videos front and center,” said Ben Mandelkern, co-creator of Angle and media coordinator at the Watson Institute. “Overall, it is trying to create a visual brand that is available to those outside of Watson … to make clear the connection to Watson and other events.”

Diana Graizbord GS, a third -year graduate student in sociology and conference coordinator, said before each conference she sends a link to all participants so they can see both the day’s agenda and its participants. After each conference, everyone participating is asked to write a memo or paper that will “live” on Angle and help to spur the interest of others who will access the site in the future.

“There are events at the Watson all the time that go up on the Watson page in the events listing and then disappear. Angle has created a space that is a little more active and permanent,” Graizbord

said.

Angle also looks to be part of the larger effort to revamp the outdated main institute website and introduce a contemporary format for the future of the institute on the web, Richardson said.

Creators Richardson and Mandelkern were initially tasked with creating websites for each conference as a component of the Watson’s main website, Richardson said. From this came the idea to create an umbrella website, rather than separate sites for the different conferences.

“Angle will allow Watson to showcase the research of talented scholars and visitors in residence at the institute in a way that has not yet been done,” wrote Carolyn Dean, interim director of the Watson Institute, in an email to The Herald. “By using high-quality videos that are short and accessible, we believe we can bring all the exciting work being done at the Watson Institute to a much broader audience.”

Courtesy of the Watson Institute

Angle aims to encourage scholarly discourse outside of the Watson Institute.

DPS ups pedestrian safety efforts in wake of hit-and-run

By Jasmine fuller Contributing Writer

In the year since the hit-and-run accident that severely injured Amanda Chew ’14 and Juliana Unanue Banuchi ’14, the Department of Public Safety has augmented its pedestrian safety efforts ­— but both DPS and Chew said there is still more to be done.

DPS has implemented a number of measures to increase pedestrian safety within the last year, including the introduction of radar guns for traffic last October.

Since the introduction of the radar guns, DPS has been stopping more traffic-violating vehicles due to an increase in both traffic violations and DPS proactivity, said Mark Porter, chief of police and director of public safety. The department has punished traffic violators with warnings and citations, he said.

DPS has also made efforts to improve pedestrian safety by distributing reflective wristbands for visibility at night, said Michelle Nuey, DPS manager of community relations and outreach. The

department has also moved to increase awareness through organizing a capture-the-flag event last semester, table-slipping and chalking sidewalks with pedestrian safety tips, she said.

“I feel like more can be done and should be done,” Chew said.

Chew said she has applied to serve as an Undergraduate Council of Students liaison between DPS and student groups, hoping to promote greater awareness of campus safety. Dialogue surrounding pedestrian safety should be expanded to include other groups, such as bicyclists, Chew said.

Porter said community engagement is a major component of bettering pedestrian safety, adding that DPS is hoping to collaborate with the Providence Police Department on traffic enforcement in key pedestrian areas like Brown and George streets and the walk from Brook Street to Manning Street. Education can play an important role in increasing awareness of pedestrian safety, he added.

Chew also emphasized the role

education can play in deterring drunk driving. Rhode Island resident Jessica Paden was allegedly intoxicated when she drove into Chew and Unanue Banuchi, who were both walking on the sidewalk near Hope and Charlesfield streets, according to the Providence Police Department’s report.

“It can cause so much collateral damage, not only to you, but your life,” Chew said. “It’s just for five minutes of recklessness.”

Pedestrians must also exercise caution, Chew said. “People don’t think that it will happen to them,” she said. “This was the mentality I had until I got hit.”

Chew said the accident is still affecting her. “I’m frustrated because it’s been one year and (the legal matters are) still ongoing,” she said. “It makes me relive a lot of memories that I would like to forget.”

But developments in the case offer reason for optimism, she said. The state of Rhode Island will be charging Paden on all possible counts, including fleeing the scene of a crime and reckless driving, she said. Judge Netti

Emily Gilbert / Herald

In addition to radar guns and reflective wristbands, DPS hopes community engagement will aid pedestrian safety efforts.

Vogel will oversee the case. “This judge is different from all the rest of the judges because she spends a lot of time with her victims,” Chew said. Chew said Vogel, who was widowed by a motor vehicle

accident, takes special interest in cases like hers and ensured a prosecutor met with Chew ­— an unusual occurrence.

A date for the hearing has yet to be determined.

4 Campus News

The Brown Daily Herald Friday, April 13, 2012

Program advocates rape prevention as not just a women’s issue continued from page 1 “We’re inclusive, not exclusive.”

Nuey said the men’s program follows the same principles as the women’s program, though the teaching will differ in some ways because men respond to assault differently than women.

The program is 80 percent risk reduction and 20 percent education, physical tactics and resistance, Nuey said.

In the past six months, male students have been targeted as victims more than females in general crimes in the community, Nuey said. DPS decided to implement the men’s course due to these incidences and inquiries from men.

Two police officers and one security guard have been certified as instructors for the RAD for men program so far, Nuey said, adding that she hopes the officers will serve as role models for the men who take the course.

They want to “educate men about non-confrontational principles of self-defense,” Nuey said, and to demonstrate “that it’s okay to walk away from something.”

The program will “provide information and tactical options to men that they can use to manage confrontational situations,” Nuey said, adding that they will emphasize de-escalating dangerous situations so they do not “resort

to meeting aggression with aggression.”

“We’re going to open ourselves up to another dynamic of our community, and that’s very exciting,” Fortier said. “I think that people are going to get excited about it.”

“This course is so important and means so much to us as instructors that we feel it should be mandatory for every freshman to take,” she added. “It assists the students who come through the course with their four-year journey and beyond. You don’t come out as the Karate Kid or anything, but you come out with tools that we hope you’ll never have to use.”

Men Can Stop Rape

Men Can Stop Rape is a nonprofit organization that seeks to educate men about ways they can prevent sexual assault. Joseph Vess, director of training and technical assistance for the Men Can Stop Rape organization, ran a training program workshop at the University last week.

Members of the Sexual Assault Advisory Board provided DPS with a list of students involved in sexual assault prevention programs and the Greek community to participate in the workshop.

They then offered 10 more spots through Brown Morning Mail and four students signed up. The program focused on men, but fe-

male students and officers also attended. The four-hour training included eight students, seven administrators from campus life and 11 DPS members.

The program consisted mainly of discussions and workshops that encouraged collaboration, dispelled harmful stereotypes about masculinity and urged men to be more effective allies to women and to use their strength to prevent violence.

“I think my favorite thing about the program is when men come to the workshops and realize that there are a lot of other men interested in countering violence against women,” Vess said.

“Men often feel like they are alone but when they find out that there are other men interested in the same issues they tend to get really excited.”

Many participants were particularly impressed with one exercise in which they listed the qualities of men they admired, such as a father or uncle, and compared them to stereotypical masculine qualities propagated by the media.

They were completely different.

“Most people listed genderneutral attributes that offered a really nice critique of masculinity that’s promoted through the media and other institutions,” said Bita Shooshani, coordinator of sexual assault prevention and advocacy for the University.

“(The event) was a really good collaborative movement,” said Muna Idriss ’14, a member of Zeta Delta Xi and the Sexual Assault Peer Education program and the only female student present at the event.

Nuey agreed that the interdepartmental cooperation was encouraging and beneficial in preventing sexual violence, adding that trainers might incorporate these techniques into the RAD curriculum.

She highlighted the community-building aspect of the program.

“It demystifies the Department of Public Safety and allows officers to be viewed in a different way, that they’re actually on board with this and that they care about as much as anyone else,” Nuey said.

The program was generally received well by its attendants.

“I really like the MCSR training because it identifies a number of different ways that we can support men and what an important role men have to play in preventing violence against women and also against men,” Shooshani said.

“It unpacks a lot of the cultural norms around what we’re taught it means to be a ‘real man.’”

“I thought it was really cool,” Idriss said. She said the seminar opened her eyes to how people talk about sexual violence.

“We don’t really think about

hegemonic masculinity pressuring men into becoming these types of perpetrators,” she said.

“We don’t talk about the role of society in what makes a man.”

Many participants enjoyed Vess as a facilitator and were inspired by his stories.

“You could tell that he was really connected to the issue even though (he) didn’t start thinking about it until he was 24,” said Mike Yules ’14, a member of Theta Delta Chi. “He made the point that you can always get involved and that it’s a growing experience.”

Yules added that the event was the perfect size and allowed him to connect deeply with the other participants. He said he thought the diversity of the group was beneficial. Matthew Gorham ’14, another member of Thete, said he might like to be a facilitator and possibly introduce the workshop to freshmen during orientation.

Vincent Greer, community director of residential life, was particularly enthusiastic in making a program like MCSR a permanent addition to campus.

“I would love to see some of our male students on campus look to start up an organization around this,” Greer said. “What I’d love to see is a group of men who just have conversations about masculinity and violence against women.”

Campus News 5

The Brown Daily Herald Friday, April 13, 2012

Candidates talk student government peacemaking continued from page 1 “Consequently, we’ve had a student government that hasn’t been as effective and productive.”

Rattner said the amendment was valuable because of the recommendations that emerged following the controversy over its proposal, which resulted in the creation of a joint committee to review the relationship between the council and UFB. The committee proposed changes to the UCS code Wednesday that would require UFB members to attend one council meeting and would ensure the council receives a certain amount of funding for student-related projects.

The candidates unanimously agreed that improving financial aid should be one of President-elect Christina Paxson’s top priorities.

Rattner also emphasized that Paxson should work to unite the campus around one vision, while White and Bentlyewski both suggested she focus on improving support for student groups.

“I know the Hellenic society couldn’t even afford to roast a lamb on Greek Easter,” Bentlyewski said.

“As a Greek, that hurt me.” Bentlyewski added that Paxson should work to improve the University’s relationship with Providence.

Candidates were also given the opportunity to ask questions of their opponents. White asked his fellow candidates about the biggest setbacks they had overcome. Bentlyewski discussed his transition to the University after attending high school in a predominantly Colombian neighborhood. He said he was struggling in classes and miserable at Brown until he was motivated by a scholarship offer by the Brown Annual Fund.

“Someone saw some potential in me. And I was like, ‘I have potential,’” he said. “I was like, ‘You know what, let’s do this. Let’s do this, Brown University. You and me.’”

Rattner spoke of his recently failed endeavor to make increasing the student activities endowment an official priority of the University.

But he said he has not given up and will continue to work to augment the endowment. He suggested selling the naming rights to the endowment and reaching out to younger alums.

Other candidates similarly promoted focusing on alumni relations, and Zak Fischer ’13, the unopposed candidate for UFB chair, suggested improving the organization of the

finance board’s data to help reach the fundraising goals.

“I think we can raise the whole thing next year,” White said. He said the goal could be reached through aggressive fundraising strategies and put forth the example of having the Brown Band camp outside the provost’s office to demand the University’s attention.

The presidential candidates also discussed the council’s relationship with the student body and the candidates’ outside commitments and experience.

The two vice-presidential candidates, Michael Schneider ’13 and Brandon Tomasso ’13, discussed how they would handle communication with Paxson and their proudest moment at Brown.

“I’m not at ease right now with where UCS is going,” Tomasso said.

“I feel as though I have the right stuff to bring to UCS so that we can make UCS representative of the student body once again.”

Tomasso said he would make the council and UFB two autonomous, equal bodies to alleviate tension between the two groups. He also suggested an online suggestion box and a student body liaison to improve communication with the student body.

Tomasso also advocated a strong approach to communicating with the administration, calling on students to do anything from chalking the sidewalks to rallying outside the administrative offices to get their voices heard.

Schneider said the council needs to reach out to student leaders more often to hear their concerns and to request feedback on UCS projects.

Schneider also suggested “pushing back against the administration and the Corporation” on certain issues, citing his authorship of a strongly-worded housing statement earlier this year as evidence of his ability to confront administrators.

He said he hopes the council could pass a similar statement focused on improving financial aid.

“I want undergraduates to respect UCS for what it does,” Rattner said.

“We must make this more collaborative and really must work with Brown students.”

The debate was co-sponsored by The Herald and the Elections Board.

Voting begins next Tuesday at 12 p.m. and continues through Thursday at 12 p.m. The winners will be announced at 11:59 p.m. Thursday on the steps of Faunce House.

Grant funds biomedical research

By Mark Raymond Senior Staff Writer

The University received a grant from Johnson and Johnson last month to provide seed funds for biomedical research that could have commercial or practical applications. The unrestricted grant was not awarded for one particular project but rather for a variety of research projects that may already be in progress or in transition. The amount awarded has not been publicly released.

“This grant provides funds for translational research allowing scientists to get to the next step,” said Katherine Gordon, director of Brown’s Technology Ventures Office. She added that the grant will provide researchers the funds to develop and answer new questions that may arise in their work and will act as a bridge to take research projects to the next level. She said the University will announce which projects will be funded through the grant over the course of the next several months.

Gordon said she had been in

talks with Johnson and Johnson, specifically its Corporate Office of Science and Technology, about “areas of synergy and areas of potential collaboration,” and this grant was awarded as a result of those talks.

Brown will provide matching funds to complement the seed funding once faculty proposals have been looked over and decisions have been made about which projects to support.

“Johnson and Johnson is looking to seed projects that will result in game-changing technologies and paradigm shifts,” said Jeffrey Morgan, associate professor of medical science and engineering and co-director of the Center for Biomedical Engineering.

Morgan stressed that this mechanism of funding differs from traditional corporate sponsorship of research because it is “less directed” and more focused on funding innovation.

Gordon said Brown will retain all intellectual property produced through this research and said she believes Johnson and Johnson is

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partnering with Brown to establish relationships with researchers, as well as take advantage of the “breadth of the science and the people” at Brown.

This seed grant is only a piece of a larger effort by the University to secure more funding from corporate sources, Gordon said.

“It’s important to have alternative sources of funding, especially since federal support for lab research is dwindling,” she said.

The Herald reported in December that the University has been increasingly looking to corporations to sponsor research in wake of potential cuts in federal funds.

Notable examples of this effort include the University’s partnerships with General Motors, as well as IBM and AT&T. Morgan said that while Johnson and Johnson will only support research “relevant to their mission,” the wide array of companies under the Johnson and Johnson umbrella gives researchers flexibility.

“It’s a win-win for faculty at Brown and for Johnson and Johnson,” he said.

6 Science Friday

The Brown Daily Herald Friday, April 13, 2012

Senator tours U.’s environmental cleanup facility

By Sandra Yan Staff Writer

U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., toured the University’s Superfund Research Program facility Monday.

With 14 research groups nationwide, the Superfund program focuses on developing ways to clean up environmental damage. The University’s facility is headquartered at the Laboratories for Molecular Medicine in the Jewelry District.

Though much of American industry grew out of the New England area, “people didn’t appreciate the fact that things that were being dumped into rivers, streams and landfills were toxic,” said Provost Mark Schlissel P’15. As a society, we have to think of “how to clean this stuff up so it doesn’t cause disease and disability in people,” he said.

The University’s program has been in place since 2005 and plans to submit an application for an additional five years of funding. “It’s extremely competitive across the country,” said Kim Boekelheide, professor of medical science and director of the program. Monday’s visit was an opportunity for the University’s program to undergo self-examination and put together a competitive renewal, he said.

“In part, this was a celebration of our program,” Boekelheide said.

“It was also a thanking of Jack Reed for his continuing support.”

Reed is chair of the Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies of the Senate Appropriations Committee and is responsible for overseeing the national funding of Superfund Research Programs.

The University’s facility specifically works on conducting research on noxious gases that can get trapped inside buildings and pose hazardous risks to humans.

Facility researchers also study the toxicity of nanomaterials in consumer products and the effects of dangerous chemicals on human reproduction, fertility and fetal

Courtesy of Mike Cohea

National and regional officials accompanied Sen. Reed in his visit to the University Superfund Research Program facility Monday.

development, Schlissel said.

Another important aspect of the University’s program is community outreach, said Phil Brown, professor of sociology and environmental studies and director of the Superfund’s Community Engagement Core. Efforts include establishing the Community Environmental College, a summer program where high school students can tour landfills and government sites as well as learn about topics like food justice and environmental leadership. Initiatives include convincing grocery stores to bring in healthier foods and using vegetable oil for fuel.

“Brown is a hotspot for environmental science research,” Brown said.

In Monday’s visit, Reed was accompanied by government officials, including Gwen Collman, director of extramural research and training at the National Institute of Envi-

ronmental Health Sciences, Curt Spalding, New England regional administrator from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Michael Fine, director of the Rhode Island Department of Health, and Janet Coit, director of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.

“My impression is that they were very impressed by the work we do, recognize the value of cooperation we offer, value of the science and the fact that we’re an available resource for expertise and advice on very difficult issues they face,” Boekelheide said.

“They got to see a high level of excitement and how many millions of dollars and jobs we bring in to Rhode Island,” Brown said. The facility has brought in $43 million in funding to the state and supported 45 jobs, according to a University press release.

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‘Grandmother cell’ theory gains traction continued from page 1 The brain contains many classes of neurons, which play different roles in object recognition, Sheinberg said.

Excitatory pyramidal neurons may be the only cells to recognize specific objects, while other neurons, such as inhibitory interneurons, respond more to unfamiliar objects.

Previous studies averaged together the contributions of many classes of neuron, which obscured the impact of specialized image cells, he added.

Many researchers have looked for specialized neurons and failed to find them, said David Freedman, assistant professor of neurobiology at the University of Chicago, in a response to the study, also published in Neuron.

The strength of the study, Freedman said, is that it identifies how and why previous research went wrong and demonstrates new methods for locating specialized image cells. Previous researchers did not expose subjects to a sufficiently wide spectrum of images, the study argues. This study exposed subjects to a gallery of 300 pictures, including a flashlight, a dartboard, a hand of playing cards and an old wooden chair.

But Sheinberg said there are some problems with the Grandmother Cell hypothesis, though his findings could support the hypothesis. “There’s not a lot of redundancy” of cells in the brain, Sheinberg said. “If there are truly a few, and you lose them, then are you saying it’s gone? That seems absurd.”

“Specificity isn’t always a good thing,” Sheinberg added. “If you want to recognize your mom, you want to recognize her in a somewhat invariant way. You don’t care if she’s wearing a red sweater.”

But speedy recognition of spe-

cific objects might benefit us at times, Sheinberg said. Imagine, for example, a ball flying toward your face — wouldn’t you want to see it quickly?

The study concludes that responses to familiar objects become stronger over time as the brain becomes more practiced in recognizing objects. The neurons that fire together wire together, resulting in stronger connections between those cells.

Sheinberg’s study is part of the REPAIR project, an army-funded initiative to research and develop brain implants that could aid patients with traumatic brain injuries. One of Sheinberg’s hypotheses is that stimulation of inhibitory interneurons might send the brain “a learn signal,” leading to more effective recognition of objects. The current study could lead to brain implants that stimulate inhibitory interneurons, helping treat conditions like prosopagnosia, an inability to recognize faces that can result from brain injury.

“Our goal is to try to understand the circuits enough to say, ‘If part of it breaks, are we going to be able to insert artificial signals?’” Sheinberg said.

Heida Sigurdardottir GS, who works in Sheinberg’s lab, said their methodology involved sticking microelectrodes into the heads of macaque monkeys and monitoring the activity of specific neurons. “The monkeys are as individual as people are,” Sigurdardottir said. “Some of them are really sweet. Some of them hold your hand. Some of them are really mean and try to scare you away. ” Examining monkey brains could be a good model for understanding human behavior, since monkey and human brains are quite similar, Paradiso said.

Science Friday 7

The Brown Daily Herald Friday, April 13, 2012

Museum director promotes collaboration

By Alissa Haddaji Contributing Writer

John Durant, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Museum, spoke Thursday evening about the challenges that science museums face in reaching out to scientists. He advocated the creation of a collaborative effort to combat those obstacles.

His lecture, held in SmithBuonanno 106, was entitled “Collecting the Genome: Or how can we preserve a record of contemporary scientific culture.” Durant, recently called “the cheerleader of science” by the New York Times, presented the MIT museum’s current work, which initiated the Museum Genomics Consortium, an international effort of museums to collect technologies on genomics.

The consortium’s ultimate goal is to organize an international exposition that will travel from museum to museum.

Durant “started the most widely ambitious set of programs,” said Steve Lubar, director of the public humanities and cultural heritage center.

“My mission is making research and innovation accessible to all,” Durant said. “We have a target audience — middle and high school students, adults and the MIT community — but we are not a family attraction,” Durant said.

Founded in the 1970s, the museum has more than one million artifacts on topics including architecture and design, holography and most importantly, Durant said, science and technology. The museum

receives 100,000 to 150,000 visitors annually­­­­­­­­­­. A­ third are international visitors who are mostly drawn to the museum while touring MIT. The museum is a bridge between science, culture and MIT and plays a key role in scientific communication, Durant said.

“The challenge of the museum is then to be able to represent a wide diversity of areas,” he said. One of Durant’s main goals is to reach out to scientists and make them participate directly in communicating their research.

“We want to allow researchers to tell their own stories by themselves,” Durant said.

Science and technology grew tremendously throughout the 20th century and is still expanding, Durant said. But museums have a hard time putting together exhibits on new technologies. The museums must choose from a large pool of scientific artifacts, some of which, like nanomaterials, pose a problem of size.

Moreover, Durant explained the challenge of developing a “museum culture.”

“Science is highly collaborative and often international, but it is not the style of museums,” Durant said.

“There is a competitive relationship between museums, which is not a match with the highly collaborative feature of scientific work,” Durant said.

Another problem is getting scientists to participate in the collection of their old artifacts. “They are often relatively uninterested in the material culture of their own practices. They are not actively engaged

when we ask them to participate in the conservation of objects,” Durant said.

Consequently, the challenge for science museums is to develop a way of reaching out to scientists.

For that purpose, Durant is putting together a test case on genomics. It is a technique-driven science, which has a material culture and is highly collaborative and international. Durant’s goal is to establish an effective social network among museums and to start a museum genomics consortium with various institutions in North America and in Europe. These include the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Toronto, the National Museum of American History in Washington, the Whipple Museum in Cambridge and the Musee des Arts et Metiers in Paris. Because of the competitive culture among museums, if some science museums participate in this collaborative effort, others around the world will be tempted to join the collaboration, he said.

To make this genomic collection effort possible, the MIT museum needs proactive, international collaboration, Durant said. “We work closely with the MIT Archives and talk to a lot of genomics people. We have to use the collective knowledge of genomics technology,” Durant said.

The approach of museums is not to give labs protocols for collecting genomic materials, but to connect with them and “make them pickup the phone before putting things in the dumpster and let museums come to take a look at it.”

Bollywood meets the Bard in eccentric play continued from page 1 scene — the play has naturally transformed into a series of songand-dance numbers. In addition to precise acting, laudable dancing and a few other physical conflicts that audience members will have to see for themselves, the multi-talented cast also plays their own music, both instrumental and vocal.

But unlike “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the only fairies in “A Perfect Wedding” are the “radical faeries” — a group of wedding planners. While the characters blame their behavior on the disorienting woods, it is not magic but their pre-existing desires that cause them to act on their impulses. Literally lost in the woods of their lust, the characters have to face their own values and beliefs about love and commitment.

“There are as many kinds of love as human hearts,” says “faery” Isaac (Patrick Madden ’14), perfectly summing up the play’s embrace of all kinds of love.

The play’s conflict can sometimes be hard to follow, but the philosophizing of the characters mixed with the zaniness of the plot manages to move the play along at an enjoyable pace. The ensemble cast, though large, is incredibly engaging on a personal level — as audience members find out through direct interactions with the actors.

“It’s about likeable people,” Emigh said. “That’s unusual. There’s normally some villains, some people

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being made fun of.”

Emigh drew some of his influences from Asian theater, which is apparent in the play’s Bollywood dance number but also in choices such as keeping the stagehands onstage.

“It’s not saying Shakespeare is more important than Bollywood or that soap opera is less profound than experimental theater,” said Katrin Dettmer GS, the show’s dramaturg.

The second act mellows out into a more steady rhythm, showing how humans relate on a more somber but equally humorous level. “A Perfect Wedding” shows audience members that the feelings of first love and loss from death are surprisingly similar.

“I think the best part of it is that it shows that everybody can be equally ridiculous, and, even in diversity, there’s this underlying funny, human thing,” Rivera-Flavia said. “It’s a love story about love stories.”

“A Perfect Wedding” is irreverent about every culture and belief, but in a loving way. If comedy is tragedy plus time, “A Perfect Wedding” is a Shakespearean soap opera in hyperdrive. By far the best show of this semester, “A Perfect Wedding” had audience members clapping along by the final song and on the verge of dancing — and hysterics.

This show may be the perfect prelude to Spring Weekend. Students can spend their night jamming to Sinatra-style crooning and Lady Gaga at what has to be the finest “wedding” ever held in Leeds Theatre.

8 Sports Friday

The Brown Daily Herald Friday, April 13, 2012

softball

Bears bested by URI in doubleheader By alexandra conway Contributing Writer

The women’s softball team (618, 3-5 Ivy) fell to in-state rival University of Rhode Island (1619) Wednesday afternoon at the URI Softball Complex. The Bears narrowly lost to the Rams 2-1 in the first game, before being routed 10-1 in five innings in game two.

The first game started out with three scoreless innings. At the top of the fourth, shortstop Stephanie Thompson ’13 hit a solo homerun to give Brown a 1-0 lead. Bruno held this lead for another two innings, and just when it looked like the Bears were going to come out on top, the Rams scored two runs at the bottom of the seventh to steal the win.

“I thought we let the first game slip through our fingers,” said Head Coach Deedee EnabenterOmidiji. “Our freshman pitcher (Denise van der Goot ’15) dominated their lineup, very few runners got on and we were holding on to a 1-0 lead, but it felt much more like a five-run lead. We weren’t able to finish the game,

and that’s something that has been emphasized lately.”

In the second game, the Rams held a 3-1 lead over the Bears after three innings and added another seven runs in the bottom of the fifth to close the game early.

Thompson, who currently leads the country in batting average, tallied the only run in game two — her second homerun of the day — at the top of the first inning. “Steph Thompson had another good day at the plate,” Enabenter-Omidiji said. “However, not enough of the other players made enough contributions.”

The team’s goal going into its next few conference games is to move up in the Ivy League and improve its competitiveness this weekend. “We will be tested this weekend with Dartmouth,” Enabenter-Omidiji said. “I believe the team has shown some terrific fight in some contests. We are going to have to rely on that same competitive spirit to get through the weekend.”

The Bears will host the Big Green in doubleheaders this weekend.

Students revise Central Falls disaster plan By morgan Johnson Senior Staff Writer

In the wake of bankruptcy and major layoffs, Central Falls received some much-needed help from Brown environmental studies students this semester in their efforts to secure federal funding for disaster prevention and relief.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency requires individual municipalities to update their disaster preparedness plans every five years to be eligible to receive grants. Central Falls has not updated its plan since 2005.

city & state None of the city’s government employees had the time or necessary expertise to revise the document on their own, and hiring a consulting firm for the task would cost $25,000 to $40,000, said J. Timmons Roberts, professor of sociology and environmental studies and director of the Center for Environmental Studies.

Stephen Larrick ’11, planning and economic development coordinator for Central Falls, said he had already started looking into getting assistance from Brown when Roberts contacted him about collaborating with students in the environmental studies master’s program.

Five of Roberts’ graduate stu-

dents were assigned last fall to study the city’s current plan and share their findings with city staffers.

“We were told that the ’05 plan was a pretty good foundation,” Larrick said, but the students identified some weaknesses and areas for improvement.

To continue their efforts, Roberts enlisted the 31 undergraduate students enrolled in his spring 2012 course, ENVS 1920: “Analysis and Resolution of Environmental Problems/Case Studies,” to produce a report containing additional research and suggestions for updating the plan.

The students divided into 11 groups, each working on different sections of the report, which is composed of historical data, risk assessment, community outreach and other areas of implementation.

Roberts said the report includes research and findings previously overlooked by Central Falls and other cities in the state, especially the influence of climate change on weather patterns. It would be “irresponsible” to not consider the effects of climate change for cities and states nationwide, Roberts said.

“It had very little about heat waves,” he said of the 2005 plan, adding that such events are expected to increase significantly in the future. “People are really unprepared.”

Courtesy of Dave Silverman

Captain Kate Strobel ‘12 tallied a couple of hits in the Bears’ two losses to URI.

Another critical component of the report is outreach to community members and organizations, Roberts said.

Research into hazard mitigation procedures of other cities identifies community outreach as key to a successful plan, said Rebecca Rast ’13.5, class member and contributor to the outreach section of the report.

Setting up meetings and focus groups at public venues such as schools and nursing homes increases trust between city government and the community regarding hazard preparedness, she said.

Students working on the report also identified the most “high-risk populations” who may not have access to information concerning hazard mitigation procedures, including incarcerated individuals, senior citizens, homeless individu-

als and those who rely solely on public transportation, Rast said.

Students also reached out to organizations representing nonEnglish speakers in the community, such as immigrant and worker advocacy groups like Progreso Latino and Fuerza Laboral. This outreach is especially important in Central Falls, where 65 percent of the population identifies as Spanish-speaking, Roberts said.

Rast’s group also suggested providing translations of meetings and materials to the community in Spanish, Portuguese and Creole.

The report, which was presented to city officials March 22, is currently under review to decide what portions will be added to the official plan, which will be submitted for funding eligibility this summer, Larrick said.

“I see it happening again,” Lar-

www.browndailyherald.com

rick said of future collaborations between Brown students and Central Falls. “It needs to happen again.”

Larrick, who concentrated in urban studies, said his understanding of the impact students can have on small communities is what drew him to his position in Central Falls’ city government.

“Brown students don’t think of themselves as experts in their field yet,” he said, “but they do have real skills they can bring to bear in real world scenarios.”

Rast said her experience with the project helped educate her about the complex relationship between Brown as an institution and its neighboring communities and gave her the experience of putting student knowledge to work outside the classroom. “We don’t have all the answers,” she said.

Sports Friday 9

The Brown Daily Herald Friday, April 13, 2012

Track star Mickle ’13 breaks 30-year school record By alissa haddaji Contributing Writer

The women’s track team had an incredible weekend at the Stanford Invite in Palo Alto last Friday. That night, Olivia Mickle ’13, who hails from Sacramento, Calif., ran the 10,000 meter in 33.59 minutes, breaking the Brown record by more than 40 seconds. For her recordsetting performance and her likely selection for regionals, The Herald has named Mickle Athlete of the Week.

The Herald: What was your first feeling while you were crossing the finish line?

Mickle: I was somewhat shocked.

I actually had no idea what kind of time I was going to run. And then I felt extremely happy. It was just nice to finally have success. I immediately ran over to my parents and hugged my dad. I was just smiling so huge.

It was an incredible moment. Being able to have that success and being able to run in front of my parents was really meaningful. Also, for the Brown women’s distance team to kind of show that we can be competitive even against this top level teams. It was a great moment.

Did you realize at the time that you were beating the school record?

I had no idea. People actually had to tell me. My team members who were cheering me on were like, “Olivia, you just broke the record!” I did not know that I was going to stand in the Top 10 list later. … It was

overwhelming but really incredible.

How do you manage school and racing?

It took me until the end of my freshman year to figure out how to balance everything. And it is a constant struggle, but I think you need to be just really efficient with your time and not procrastinating on certain projects when you know you are going to be gone for three days for a track meet. But it definitely takes a lot of time to figure out how to juggle running, social life and school. I am still trying to figure it out, but I think I have a better grasp on it as a junior, thankfully. I think that it is really important that you enjoy the time you spend doing that sport because it is a whole lot of time and effort and energy to spend on something if you don’t actually enjoy it.

Did you get a fellowship to come and study at Brown?

Yes, I was recruited. However, unfortunately on freshman year I was injured pretty much all year so I never really had the chance to compete. Just being able to compete right now is a blessing, and I am really grateful for being injury-free right now.

What happened?

Freshman year I experienced two different stress fractures. It is a fracture in your bone due to excessive use or improper usage. My first one was in my shin, and my second one was in my femoral neck. It takes a long time to heal.

When did you start running?

I actually played competitive soccer all my life up until my junior year in high school. I loved it, I never stopped loving it. One of my strengths as a soccer player is that I can run all day, and I loved it.

My dad is actually a long distance runner, my mom also ran, so it was kind of in my blood. I did cross country junior year of high school.

I really enjoyed it. I decided that I was going to stop playing soccer and start focusing on running my senior sear. Senior year in high school, I did cross country and my first season of track, and that is when I knew this is something I love. So it was not until senior year of high school that I started getting involved in running.

What is your concentration?

I am studying biochemical engineering. It is challenging but I really enjoy it. I am specifically interested in biotechnology in pharmaceuticals within the biochem engineering world.

Are you planning on making your track training a career or are you planning to work in biochemical engineering?

I have never thought of running professionally. I don’t know if it is possible. I really love running, so I definitely do not plan on stopping, and I think because I was injured freshman year I do have a track season of eligibility, so one option could be to run a fifth year at Grad School. However, I also have some internships this summer for a biotech company, and I think that ex-

Alissa Haddaji / Herald Mickle ‘13 broke the 30-year-old Brown 10,000-meter record by 40 seconds.

perience will help me figure it out whether this is something I want to have as a future career.

What do you love about running?

It is kind of like yoga in some sense for me. Not only does it make my body feel good, but I feel like it release all the stress from the day. It is just a time to do something I love, and endorphins obviously always helps. It always puts me in a good mood.

Do you have to follow a specific diet?

One thing in particular is iron.

Specifically for female distance runners. I personally have had issues with it. I became anemic maybe

two or three times. After the third time I definitely realized that this is something I have to focus on. So that is why the most crucial part of my day is making sure I am taking my iron supplements.

You just broke the school record. What is your new goal for future races?

Definitely staying healthy and injury-free is a huge goal of mine.

And, to be honest, my goal was to qualify for regionals, and the time I raced this past weekend will most likely qualify for me. It might be a little far-reaching, but my new goal is to qualify for nationals. It is ambitious, but I think I have to have goals and dreams, so I am going to shoot for it.

A bandwagon fan’s conversation survival guide By sam sheehan Sports Columnist

It’s pretty awkward that the NHL playoffs have started. With the Boston Red Sox on pace for 135 losses this season and the Boston Celtics re-emerging as the team I knew they could be, I forgot to hold true to my hockey-watching pattern this year. The NHL, though I regularly enjoy watching a Boston Bruins game more than a Sox game, regularly slips through the cracks for me.

Being a Boston sports fan is like having four very different children. The Celtics are the oldest and most dependable child who wrote several best-sellers in a row when they were fresh out of college. Now middle-aged, they mostly hang around and write a new best-seller every 10 years — just enough to live off of.

The Red Sox are the secondoldest and most heartbreaking child who grew up to be a famous actor. Though they won a couple of Oscars and the pride of the family, they regularly fall off the wagon into a drug-addled rock bottom covered by TMZ (the Bos-

ton Globe).

The New England Patriots are the youngest child who grows up to be a successful investment banker. Clean-cut, no-nonsense and comfortable, the Patriots’ recent success has done the family proud, but we’ve also come to expect big things from them.

And then there’s the Bruins.

The Bruins just won the Nobel Prize last year. The second youngest and the quietest, the Bruins’ hard work and long hours spent in labs getting their advanced doctorate finally paid off. We, the parents of these Boston teams, saw what the Bruins did last year. But everyone else in the family had come into such success that we almost expected it. We patted them on the head and told them we were proud of them, but right after we had to leave the house and head down to the police station to post the Red Sox’s bail again.

As a sports fan, you’ve got to decide where to spend your attention and, for me, it’s often the Bruins that end up the odd team out. For the past three years, I’ve developed a system to make sure that I’m in touch with what’s going on with Boston’s black and gold by the time the playoffs come around.

Watch 10 of the first 20 games, 10 of the middle 42 and 10 of the last 20. That’s what I did last year and it worked out perfectly. The Bruins picked up the slack when the Celt-

ics got crushed in the playoffs, and I was overjoyed.

But this year I’m out of touch. I watched 10 games all year. It’s like the Bruins told me not to forget to come to their dance recital, and I not only blew it off, but I forgot to pick them up as well.

The problem is that I can’t not watch the playoffs, even if I haven’t really been watching the team at all. This leaves me with one option.

I have to resort to one of the most disgusting acts in all of fandom.

I’m talking, of course, about hopping on a bandwagon. For this edition of the column, I’ll teach you how to bandwagon hop and carry on a sports conversation where you camouflage the fact that you have no idea what you are talking about.

Step 1: Never go out on a limb.

Only make points that are unarguable. Don’t say anything controversial and never bring up a player who is anything less than an All-Star. The depth of my insight when someone asks me how the Pittsburgh Penguins-Philadelphia Flyers series is going to shake out is going to be, “Sidney Crosby is good as long as he doesn’t hurt himself.” If someone really presses me, I’ll say that they have a good coach and that Evgeni Malkin is also very good, but that’s it. Never specify why they are good. That allows someone to disagree with you.

Step 2: Stick to predictions that have to come true.

For example, my prediction is that Tim Thomas won’t play as well in the playoffs this year as he did last year. Considering that Thomas had one of the best post-seasons of all time last year, there’s almost no way I’ll be wrong. Another good one is, “There will be a fight in the Pens-Flyers series.”

talking about. You can talk with New York Knicks fans about Iman Shumpert, San Franscisco 49ers fans about Patrick Willis or Baltimore Orioles fans about Matt Wieters. I’ll be leaning on Zdeno Chara and Adam McQuaid as talking points.

“Chara’s the reason we win games! If he’s not there, who neutralizes the other team’s stars?”

Step 3: Find easy jokes.

It’s pretty common knowledge that the Washington Capitals rarely get past the first round of the playoffs even when they are a top seed. Bring this up with a fan of a rival team, and you can have a chuckle at their expense while you pray that they don’t ask you which defensive line is your favorite. “Hey, why do you always have Alex Ovechkin pay first when you’re out at the bar?

Because he’s never around for the second round!”

Step 5: When all else fails, read ESPN and regurgitate stats like you came up with them.

This one’s pretty straightforward. Let the experts figure out something that sounds impressive and then steal it. Only use this when it looks like you’re about to be exposed as a bandwagon fan.

“Did you know that the Bruins got 21 goals out of Mark Recchi, Michael Ryder and Nathan Horton last year? That’s gonna be tough to replace.”

Okay, if you think you have the steps down, go out there, put your “I’ve totally been watching this team all year” face on, and get yourself in fair-weather fan shape. Happy bandwagon season.

Go Bruins.

Step 4: Figure out who on your team plays the best defense and say they are your favorite player.

This works across every sport.

Everyone knows who the stars are, and it’s easy to see the tangible difference that offensive players make, so make yourself seem more knowledgeable in seven seconds by looking up who leads your team in defense. People will almost always assume you know what you are

Sam Sheehan ’12 actually loves Patrice Bergeron. He’s still on the team right? Talk sports with him at sam_sheehan@brown. edu or follow him on Twitter @ SamSheehan.

10 Diamonds & Coal diamonds & Coal

The Brown Daily Herald Friday, April 13, 2012

Editorial cartoon

by lo r e n f u lto n

A diamond to Kal Penn, actor and former White House associate director of public engagement, who told students gathered in Salomon 101 Wednesday night to “just bone diversely” as a way of promoting cross-cultural understanding. Looks like he found us a way to work activism into our resumes.

Coal to writer Amitav Ghosh, who said, “The critical paradox of life is most of us don’t really know how miserable we are.” But apparently the Princeton Review does — thanks for rubbing in our drop from first to third happiest students in their latest rankings.

A diamond to President-elect Christina Paxson, who is “open to drinking a beer every now and then,” according to a colleague at Princeton. Paxson, if you aren’t busy next week, here’s a standing invite to The Herald’s Spring Weekend festivities.

Cubic zirconia to the student who said of the Watson Institute for International Studies’ next director, “We want someone who will stick around.” We agree, but will that someone also cuddle and hold hands?

Coal to the student who said of the John Carter Brown Library, “The JCB is something that a lot of people don’t use.” Really? We saw it got five stars on Yelp.com — they said the music wasn’t too loud, and the beer was super cheap. … Wait, so that’s not where our senior friends keep going on Thursday nights?

A diamond to the three researchers who went to various baseball stadiums to survey fans about their views on revenge in baseball. Did they also survey the effects of stadium hot dogs and beer on baseball researchers? And how do we get that job?

Cubic zirconia to the UCS presidential candidate who suggested having the Brown Band camp outside Provost Mark Schlissel’s P’15 office to promote fundraising for the student activities endowment. Great idea — just check YouTube to see how that played out in the CIT last semester.

A diamond to the senior who included human hair, among other elements, in the paintings in her senior thesis exhibition. Hair is “a little bit revolting, but we all have it,” she said. In the interest of all things revolting, we suggest an even bolder rendering — a life-size Stonehenge made entirely of toenails.

Cubic zirconia to the student who said, “Part of being educated is knowing why you have the education that you have.” He should look out for Banner’s latest gem — MCM 1111: “Meta-cation and the American College Student.”

A diamond to actress Laura Linney ’86, who said that as an undergrad she “of course” read The Herald. We have no snark: You’re just a class act.

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le tter to the editor Column should provoke investigation To the Editor: Helen McDonald’s ’14 column (“Who cares about Trayvon Martin?” April 12) about the apparent lack of outrage on campus about the Trayvon Martin tragedy disturbed me. She suggests there is a lack of empathy at Brown for the African-American experience with racism in our country. If that were true, it would be a sad commentary on our student body. As an alum once deeply involved in the civil rights movement of the ’60s, I would have assumed that the social consciousness that characterizes Brown students today

is strong and pursues social justice with a passion.

McDonald is throwing a gauntlet down. The Herald, with its investigative talent, needs to take up the challenge to find out more about our students’ awareness of and determination to do something about American racism. Has it changed at all in the 45 years since the campus National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which I was a part of, confronted the scourge that it was on campus, in Providence and in the country?

Tom Bale ’63

quote of the day

“I know the Hellenic society couldn’t even afford to roast a lamb on Greek Easter. As a Greek, that hurt me. ” — Robert Bentylewski ’13, UCS presidential candidate See debate on page 1.

Corrections An article in Thursday’s Herald (“Housing changes cause tension on first night of lottery,” April 12) incorrectly stated that the second night of the housing lottery would take place Thursday night. In fact, it will take place April 17. The Herald regrets the error.

An article in Thursday’s Herald (“Brown Conversation examines U.’s identity,” April 12) incorrectly stated that Brown Conversation began over dinner between just two people. In fact, it arose from conversations with a mix of between 10 and 20 underclassmen and upperclassmen. The Herald regrets the error.

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

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

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Taking Sides 11

The Brown Daily Herald Friday, April 13, 2012

Responding to the UCS/UFB candidate debate Three of The Herald’s columnists attended last night’s UCS presidential debate. Here are their reactions to last night’s affairs.

By jaKE golden

By chip lebovitz

By jared moffat

Opinions Columnist

Opinions Editor

Opinions Editor

This election season, I became fascinated and engrossed by the Republican presidential primary campaigns. Each debate offered another peek through the looking glass.

From candidates forgetting their platforms at the dais to others throwing down $10,000 bets, just about the only thing missing from the checklist of insanity was the candidates forming up a Voltron-style uber-candidate on

An experience disparity was ing rights of a fund than for on full display at yesterday’s an early morning student debate. The differences be- band performance outside of tween the candidates were the provost’s office to magievident, and the questions cally convince school adreally boiled the three can- ministrators to make a studidates down into two neat dent activities endowment groups. David Rattner ’13 their number one priority.

— who, in full disclosure, is That exchange showed the in the same fraternity as my- difference between the two self — and Anthony White — both are incredibly quali’13 represented candidates fied, but Rattner is more exdesiring to work within the perienced and realistic. system, while Robert BentBentlyewski was impreslyewski ’13 was the outsider sive, and his strong desire to desiring to go out and com- bring an “outside perspecpletely rework it. tive” — his buzz phrase of Yet, when it boiled down the night — to Brown really Brown is inundated with student to the actual policy details, resonated with the crowd. groups, many of which serve the three shared nearly iden- That said, his push for an positions on every pol- outside perspective wasn’t essentially the same purpose. How tical icy. convincing. With a new UniSo the question remains: versity president coming many groups for peace in the Middle Who do we choose, outsid- next year, it might be wiser East do we really need? er or insider, and who is the to have an Undergraduate most competent candidate?

Council of Students presiThe insider choice was dent who knows the school evident from the first couple better and can better act as stage. moments of the debate. Rat- a guide for President-elect of existence.

Tonight, such a suNow, when applied to tner’s knowledge of how the Christina Paxson as she beperhuman emerged on general social policy on a school works is amazing. I’m gins her time at Brown.

Brown’s own campus: Rob- national scale, this ethos not sure if it was his pregame Equally important, the ert Bentlyewski ’13. Seam- is unfair, unrealistic and strategy to mention as many turnout was disappointing. lessly combining Rick Per- flat-out dangerous — it ry’s pride in his academ- will lead to abject poverOur president must be able to ic shortcomings, Herman ty, absurd distributions of Cain’s pedigree as a drink- wealth and general socioeffortless navigate the dangerous ing buddy, Rick Santorum’s economic chaos. But in folksiness, Ron Paul’s pen- the frame of reference of currents of this bureaucracy in order chant for standing in the student organizations at a to best serve our student body. corner and demanding we school that has too many, burn government to the it just might work. Cut off ground and nothing relat- from its funding and left school administrators as pos- Given the turbulent time the ed to Mitt Romney — who with no way to sustain it- sible, but it was extremely ef- University is going through, was apparently busy oc- self, a student club does fective. Though it might have you would think that more cupying the body of Da- not turn to crime or live in seemed pretentious to some, students would want to turn vid Rattner ’13 — Bently- a cardboard box. It simply students often don’t really out for the debate — even ewski made his case for the drifts on, and students who appreciate how byzantine the more so considering that the Undergraduate Council would have perhaps joined workings of the school are. school is known for its activof Student presidency in it are more than welcome We glancingly appreciate the ism, and the student body, at front of a disappointingly to join the dozens of oth- intricacies as a student body, least according to Bentlyewsnot-quite capacity crowd. er nearly-identical groups but we don’t really acknowl- ki, has gained a new interest Over the course of what on campus, who now, with edge our school’s complexity. in UCS after its recent idea to felt like substantially more more funding, can achieve Our president must be able merge with the Undergraduthan an hour, he made the even greater things. Seems to effortlessly navigate the ate Finance Board. Despite most energizing case of the reasonable. dangerous currents of this all of this, maybe 65 percent three candidates for office.

Overall, if you didn’t bureaucracy in order to best of the auditorium was filled.

The fundamental raison attend the UCS debate, serve our student body.

Bentlyewski noted at one d’etre of Bentylewski’s can- and the odds are that you White seemed at times a point during the debate that didacy, as he explains it, is didn’t, my recommenda- less well-versed version of all three candidates were simple: UCS as it stands is tion is as follows. If you Rattner. He declared that he “good dudes.” They most both inefficient and com- want an incredibly safe, “sought to serve the Brown certainly were, but Brown pletely out of touch with incredibly qualified, in- community to the best of needs more than a good the student body. Primar- credibly competent and in- his ability” during his open- dude as its UCS president — ily, Bentlyewski cited his credibly conventional can- ing statement, but his policy it needs someone who truly shock when he heard UCS’s didate, vote for Rattner. proposals failed to convince. understands how this Uniproposal to set its own But if you are like me and The only difference between versity works and can make funding. “What do they never took interest in stu- him and Rattner policy-wise substantive change happen. spend their money on?” dent government before was his position on how to Out of all three candidates he said he wondered. And yesterday, and you think it increase the Student Activi- tonight, only Rattner realthe fact is, he’s onto some- would be cool to see a new ties Fund. White stressed the ly demonstrated the underthing. Brown is inundated approach in action, then power of the people, while standing to succeed at the with student groups, many choose Bentlyewski — he Rattner advocated potential- job. of which serve essential- feels the same way. ly selling naming rights and ly the same purpose. How searching for a large donamany groups for peace in tion. While I don’t deny the Chip Lebovitz ’14 endorsthe Middle East do we repower of a popular movees Zak Fischer for Underally need?

Jake Golden ’14 didn’t ment, it is infinitesimally graduate Finance Board Bentylewski’s plan to know what UCS stood for more realistic to expect the Chair over all of his other rectify the situation is, at until last night. school to be able to sell namnonexistent competitors. its most basic, a pure conservative’s take on college governance. From what I could tell, his plan is to boil down student government to its pre-reform size, privatize funding by making clubs primarily responsible for their own fundraising and sit back and watch as the market for club funds decides which student groups survive and thrive, and which fade out

For all of you who didn’t make it to the debate last night, you really missed out. You have no idea how refreshing it is to listen to a non-Republican presidential debate, where the candidates are actually willing to be charitable to one another and — oh my goodness — even agree with each other. Supporters of Brown for Financial Aid should be pleased to know that each candidate wholeheartedly agreed that expanding financial aid is

White and Rattner were more subtle. In fact, I don’t recall hearing any concrete policy disagreements between them — with the possible exception being their respective strategies to grow the student group fund. However, these candidates, who both touted their prior experience in student government, carried themselves differently. White was faster to play the populist card and to invoke students’ right to en-

There was so much parroting back of previous sentiments of other candidates that if it weren’t for outgoing President Ralanda Nelson’s ’12 booming voice cutting them off, I probably would have fallen asleep. the most important issue the University faces. Unsurprisingly, they also took turns emphasizing that expanding student group funding is a top priority — that’s a nobrainer for anyone running for student government. In fact, on these issues — which by and large dominated the debate — there was so much parroting back of previous sentiments of other candidates that, if it weren’t for outgoing President Ralanda Nelson’s ’12 booming voice cutting them off, I probably would have fallen asleep.

That said, it was clear that there are substantive differences between the candidates, perhaps the most salient one being Robert Bentlyewski’s ’13 plans to completely overhaul the current student government system if elected. This was a part of Bentlyewski’s strategy to play the role of outsider. In order to deflect criticism from both Anthony White ’13 and David Rattner ’13 — who both pointed out that Bentlyewski had no experience with Brown student government — Bentlyewski told the audience that he was the candidate who would shake things up and bring in a fresh perspective. I thought this narrative would have been much more compelling if Bentlyewski had spent more time explaining why the current system was dysfunctional and how his model would fix those problems. However, he said almost nothing about why his revolutionary ideas had merit.

The differences between

act their agenda within the University. He also sought to make himself appear more human and personable by acknowledging that financial aid mattered to him because he would not be able to attend Brown without it. I appreciated the thoughtful question he posed to the other candidates — “Discuss a serious setback you’ve had and how you overcame it” — because it forced them outside of their comfort zones.

Rattner, on the other hand, was all business. He came across as more professional and better prepared than the other two candidates. He clearly demonstrated he had experience working with the provost and the rest of the administration and that he understands the day-to-day operation of student government. He effectively portrayed himself as the most competent candidate. But he also won the prize for “most Romney-like.”

Overall I was pleasantly surprised to see that, for the most part, these candidates were in touch with the general mood of the student body and understood the most important issues that concern undergraduates, but I was sad that I didn’t see more of you there.

Jared Moffat ’13 hasn’t decided whom he will vote for, but whoever first agrees to fund the creation of a Nintendo 64 Super Smash Brothers club can seal the deal.

Daily Herald Arts & Culture the Brown

Chinese artists reinvent the classics By louisa chafee Contributing Writer

Two years ago, 10 artists were invited to create contemporary Chinese pieces at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston as a response to ancient Chinese masterpieces featured in the museum. The result was the Fresh Ink exhibition, the subject of a lecture last Monday in the List Art Building by Hao Sheng, the museum’s curator of Chinese art and one of the creators of the exhibition.

The Fresh Ink exhibition was intended to create a dialogue between the contemporary and the ancient, a way of having the new and the old interpret each other, Sheng said. The ancient and contemporary pieces were shown side by side so museum visitors could view the relationship between the art.

This was Sheng’s first contemporary art show, and he cited a plaque from 1912 containing four Chinese characters as his inspiration. The plaque is in Chinese, but means “Keeping Company with the Past.” He said he intended for the show to allow artists to look at what has come from the past and respond to it, a common concept in Chinese culture.

When giving his lecture, Sheng ran through each of the 10 artists’ creations, talking about what they picked and what they created by extension, with a slideshow of the artwork displayed throughout the talk. Sheng discussed the two things he looked for when choosing the artists — active engagement with artistic traditions and what their strategies of interpretation might be. Sheng said he wanted the art to be diverse, and he succeeded on this front by bringing in 10 very different artists with different approaches to the masterpieces.

Yu Hong created an immense silk painting in response to the painting “Court Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk,” using it as a reflection on women’s work.

Hong used female figures she had painted before, allowing the audience a glimpse of contemporary China.

Liu Xiaodong, a figure painter, worked off the image of soldiers driving off animal spirits to engage in a discussion about violence.

The process of creating his piece involved intense communication between himself and the student models he was painting. The students wrote their own views of violence on the painting at the spot where a Chinese colophon — a description of the artist and painting — is normally found.

Arnold Chang worked off the American painting “Jackson Pol-

lock Number 10” because, as he claimed, he was born in America and therefore could use an American painting, Sheng said. Chang looked at Pollock’s drip canvas as if it were a Chinese landscape and created his own painting from there with the brush tip as an extension of his hand. Chang said people would have an easier time looking at Chinese ink landscape if they understood Pollock, because, with each painting style, the audience must peel back the layers.

Li Huayi and Zeng Xiaojun both chose the painting “Nine Dragons,” which is considered the most important dragon painting in Chinese tradition, according to Sheng. Huayi focused on the yin yang in the center, while Xiaojun reinterpreted the dragons as trees following the Chinese tradition to see cyprus trees as dragons.

Qiu Ting, the youngest but most traditional of the artists, chose a monumental piece of Chinese landscape, “Whiling Away the Summer at Lakeside Retreat.” Ting talked about the three aspects of Chinese art — nature, tradition and inspiration of the artist. For him, the site he visited, the scroll he looked at and his brushwork represented each of these elements.

Conversely, Xu Bing questioned the importance of brushwork with his creation, Sheng said. He chose a very mundane piece, the “Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting.” He copied drawings from the book, cut them out to make a landscape and then made them into a woodblock to create the final piece complete with notations on how to paint.

There was never any touch of a brush. As Sheng explained, Bing asks a question that has no answer.

Is brushwork needed to create a Chinese landscape? The work is a reminder for the audience to think about what a Chinese landscape is.

Qin Feng was an audience favorite. Feng was a sheepherder from the farthest corner of China.

He chose a ritual vessel that included a very long, old inscription. Sheng said Feng responded in the piece to a self-posed question, “What if the bronze could speak?” From this he created large books expressing what he thought the bronze might say, as if it were a messenger from the past.

The exhibition was over a year ago, which in exhibition time is decades ago, Sheng said, but for its original audience, it seemed to be fresh in their mind. Many remembered exactly how they felt when they walked through, and one member of the audience described it as “the best show of contemporary art.”

www.browndailyherald.com

Friday, April 13, 2012

Acclaimed architect talks scale, going green By maddie berg Senior Staff Writer

When Professor of History of Art and Architecture Dietrich Neumann asked his class, HIAA 0860: “Contemporary Architecture,” whether or not they would be attending renowned architect Steven Holl’s lecture this past Tuesday, the overwhelming majority said — via iClicker — “Absolutely, I will be there.” And the students were not just humoring Neumann. Salomon 101 was packed with students eager to see the winner of the 2012 American Institute of Architects gold medal, a recognition that has previously been awarded to Frank Gehry and I.M. Pei. Steven Holl, whose diverse portfolio includes the Bloch Building addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City and the Simmons Hall dormitory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, centered the lecture on the theme of scale, describing a selection of his works. He started with the largest, the Sliced Porosity Block in Chengdu, China, and ended with the smallest, the Daeyang Gallery and House in Seoul, South Korea.

Despite the differences in size, there were multiple threads woven through his conception of each building, which begins not as an elevation or floor plan, but as a watercolor painting on a five-byseven index card. In designing each, he attempts to bring the building down to a human scale, so the buildings can be used and appreciated.

One of these threads connecting his works is his acute sense of a building’s location. Though he is not quite a regionalist, since he has his signature style, Holl manages to incorporate the geography, traditions and most noticeably the light of his buildings’ locations into

Lydia Yamaguchi / Herald

After completing a design, architect Holl said he “picks up a broom and acts busy.”

the architecture itself.

In a work that he considers one of his favorites, the Chapel of St. Ignatius, Holl said he attempted to capitalize on the unique, pulsating light of Seattle. The space, which is modeled after the image of seven bottles of light in a stone box, encompasses those who enter in seven different qualities of light.

Holl hopes this “mystery of light … makes you feel immeasurable,” he said, adding that only architecture has this power, as no other art form can truly surround you.

Another theme running through Holl’s architecture is his attempt to make each building as eco-friendly as possible. He said his projects in China particularly accomplish this due to China’s willingness to invest in green technology. He said he hopes that these “ultra-green” constructions will “prove to the United States that these things really do work.”

Holl livened the descriptions of his buildings with humor. After he completes the initial designs

of a building, he said he does not “really know what’s going on — so (he) picks up a broom and acts busy.”

A group consisting of Neumann and Professor of American Civilization Steven Lubar chose Holl as a J. Carter Brown lecturer. “We wanted a major figure for the lecture series,” Neumann said. “Steven Holl was surely on top of our list as a great architect.”

In asking Holl to speak, Neumann hoped students would “get a better understanding of the craft and art of architecture when it’s done by someone who really knows the history and the present and is really attune to local conditions,” he said.

Julia Telzak ’15, who went to the lecture to learn more about the architect, said she left with new comprehension of the architectural process Neumann wanted to convey. “Seeing the drawings progress and ultimately seeing the designs of the building was interesting for me,” she said.

Author reveals dark side of Peter Pan

By Robert Webber Contributing Writer

“He’s not a little boy who won’t grow up,” said writer Jenny Boully.

“He’s an old lusty goat. He’s taking advantage of his boy body to frolic with the nymphs.”

Boully discussed her most recent work, a cynical retelling of the Peter Pan story, at an event Tuesday hosted by the literary arts department in the McCormack Family Theater. Boully’s fiction explores Wendy’s heartbreak when she realizes that Peter Pan will never get married, settle down or stop flirting with other girls.

“Dearest Tink, should you and I together unionize against the Peter?” says Wendy in the novel.

“We would all like some benefits, we’ll say. And what about old age?

Have you, Peter, a pension plan for us?”

Boully’s novel raises questions about the nature of Peter’s relationship with the Native Ameri-

can princess Tiger Lily, calling attention to Tiger Lily’s seashell encrusted thong and suggesting that Peter gets a sexual thrill when he rescues her from drowning.

Boully’s novel grew out of her dissertation on the role of nymphophilia, the love of nymphs, in Western literature, she told The Herald. Her novel, “Not Merely Because of the Unknown That Was Stalking Toward Them,” allowed her to tell the Peter Pan story from her own critical point of view.

Boully also had personal reasons for writing the novel, she told the audience. She said she has dated a number of boys like Peter Pan and she could identify with Wendy’s frustration.

“How many of us have been with somebody who says that they love us?” Boully said. “I truly believe in that moment they do love us, but it’s not the type of love Wendy wanted or needed.”

While Boully said she sympathizes with Wendy, she joked

about Wendy’s sentimentality and foolishness. “She wanted (Peter) to go home and ask her father if he could have her hand in marriage and grow up and be a real man in London and go to the office and wear a tie to the office,” Boully said.

Boully spoke in front of 60 students and professors in the soft light of the English department theater. The reading was part of the undergraduate class LITR 1200: “Writers on Writing,” which showcases the work of contemporary poets and fiction writers. Students in the class read the works of seven contemporary writers who then come and speak to the class, said Joanna Howard, visiting lecturer in literary arts.

Aimee Lucido ’13, who read the novel for the “Writers on Writing” class, said Boully was “really sweet and very funny.”

“I had only seen the Disney version,” Lucido said. “It was definitely a lot darker than I had initially thought.”