Thursday, September 13, 2012

daily herald the Brown

vol. cxxii, no. 65

INSIDE

Page 3

All night long

Overnight parking program unlikely to affect undergrads

Page 4

New(er) dorms U. renovates, restructures campus housing Page 8

Up in arms City police redouble efforts after string of homicides today

80 / 58

tomorrow

78 / 60

thursday, september 13, 2012

Widmer named advisor to Clinton, Paxson By mathias heller senior staff writer

Ted Widmer, director and librarian of the John Carter Brown Library, earned two new positions yesterday — he will serve as assistant for special projects to President Christina Paxson and as senior adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to a University news release. Widmer will divide his time between the two roles — advising Paxson on various initiatives, including planning commemorations of the University’s 250th anniversary and providing analysis for the U.S. State Department.

“I would just say that I’m excited to be taking on some new challenges, and proud to be at Brown,” Widmer wrote in an email to The Herald. He could not be reached for a longer comment because of a commitment in Washington.

Widmer will leave his role as director and librarian Sept. 21 but will continue to serve as adjunct professor in

the University’s Department of History.

“Professor Widmer is a gifted writer and historian who is attractive to the State Department because he can place current events in a historical context,” Provost Mark Schlissel P’15 told The Herald.

Before assuming his current post at the JCB in 2006, Widmer was the director of the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience at Washington College for five years.

From 1997 to 2001, he served as a foreign policy speechwriter for President Bill Clinton. Widmer has a long history with the University — his father, Eric Widmer, was a professor of Chinese history as well as the University’s dean of student life and dean of admission in the 1980s and ’90s.

Schlissel said Widmer’s experience as a historian will enable him to aid Paxson’s team by preparing significant written material on the University’s history for the 250th anniversary celebrations in 2014. “President Paxson would like / / Widmer page 2

Courtesy of Brown University

In his new positions, Ted Widmer will provide Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Christina Paxson with relevant historical analysis.

Satellite eateries spice up offerings

Housing overhaul seeks to foster community ties By hannah kerman senior staff writer

As the University undertakes a $67 million dorm renovation project, major changes have been made over the summer to several residence halls.

The plan for a reorganized campus housing system, which incorporated feedback from groups such as the Undergraduate Council of Students and Residential Council, is intended to better suit students’ needs as they shift over the four years.

The University is creating a sophomore-specific residential area at the

since 1891

“core of the campus,” said Richard Bova, senior associate dean of residential and dining services. Sophomores will be clustered in Slater, Littlefield, Hegeman and Caswell Halls, Hope College and Wriston Quadrangle.

By Kristina Klara Staff Writer

See spread on pages 4-5 “During my 10 years here, I have seen sophomores disenfranchised because it seems we don’t care about / / Dorms page 4 their housing,”

Paige Gilley / Herald

Over the summer, old lounges were upgraded, and new kitchens were installed in Keeney Quadrangle. Renovations will continue next summer.

Introductory engineering class restructured

By Lucas Morduchowicz Contributing Writer

Courtesy of danica mitchell

A reorganization of ENGN 0030: “Introduction to Engineering” gives students more hands-on experience in smaller problem-solving sections.

An introductory engineering class has recently undergone a major overhaul of both the course curriculum and organization to cope with rising class sizes and provide a more comprehensive look at the different specializations within engineering.

The largest change to the course, ENGN 0030: “Introduction To Engineering,” is its division into five different sections. While in the past the class had one large lecture and smaller problem solving sections, the class is now split into five smaller, combined problem-solving and lecture sections and one “grand lecture” that all students will attend Fridays, said Karen Haberstroh ’95, assistant professor of research in engineering and lead instructor for the class this semester.

The grand lecture will feature guest speakers from different engineering disciplines covering a variety of topics, including research currently going on

at Brown. Another advantage of the grand lecture is to expose students to fellow classmates in different sections in order to build a sense of community within the engineering department, Haberstroh added.

Part of the reason for the change is “to make sure by the end of the first semester the students have a good feel not just for the specific content that we’re covering in class, the technical content, but more broadly the different choices they can make as engineers,” Haberstroh said.

“I think that (the engineering department) is branching out by adding things,” said Ryan McKeown ’14, a current teaching assistant for the class who helped implement the changes over the summer. “Like with the sculptural design project, students can have moving parts that can make your sculpture move, or light up, or do something that incorporates more computer and electrical engineering.”

One reason for the change is rising / / ENGN page 3 enrollment.

Shanghai Restaurant food has returned to the Blue Room after service was suspended last April when a student found a grasshopper in her food. Shanghai will be served Thursdays and Sundays, and for the first time, Mama Kim’s will be offered Tuesdays and Saturdays as an official menu fixture.

“We could not find a reasonable explanation for how this happened,” said Aaron Fitzsenry, Brown’s culinary manager of retail operations, about the grasshopper incident.

Fitzsenry said he watched how food is prepared in Shanghai’s kitchen. Ray Hugh, Shanghai’s owner, has been very forthcoming with information, Fitzsenry said. Hugh brought forth all of his records concerning licensing, including his pest control licensing.

“We decided not to dwell,” Fitzsenry said. “And rather than speculate on anything that could’ve happened, we’re moving forward.”

Other changes at the Blue Room and other satellite eateries include increasing a meal credit’s value to $6.60, up from $6.40. Some food prices have risen as ingredient costs have increased.

Kabob and Curry will continue to be served, available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Breakfast specials will no longer be rotated in the mornings.

“Waffles weren’t great sellers,” Fitzsenry said. Instead of different rotating specials, the breakfast smoothie and parfait bars will be open every morning. / / Dining page 2 New frit-

2 campus news

the brown daily herald thursday, september 13, 2012

c alendar Today

Sept. 13

6 P.m.

ToMORROW

Sept. 14

12 p.m.

Nudity in Theatre

WBRU Open House

T.F Green Hall

WBRU (88 Benevolent St.)

8 p.m.

5:30 p.m.

BLS Foreign Film Festival

John Barylick Book Reading

Smith-Buonanno Hall G01

Brown Bookstore

menu SHARPE REFECTORY

VERNEy-WOOLLEY DINING HALL

LUNCH Hot Turkey Sandwich with Gravy, Mashed Mustard Potatoes, Grilled Cheese Sandwich on White or Wheat

Butternut Squash Ravioli, BBQ Beef Sandwich, Zucchini and Summer Squash, Chicken Mulligatawny Soup

DINNER Baked Potatoes with Sour Cream, Pesto Tortellini Salad, Marinated Beef with Au Jus, Garlic Bread Sticks

Vegan Paella, Cajun Pasta with Chicken, Yellow Beets Roasted with Red Onion, BBQ Navy Beans

Sudoku

/ / Dining page 1

Crossword

Sam kase / herald

The Blue Room will offer dinner options from Mama Kim’s two days a week this year, alternating days with Kabob and Curry and Shanghai. The latter returns after a student found a grasshopper in her food last year.

tata sandwiches made with LaSalle Bakery croissants and Bagel Gourmet bagels will be made using cage-free eggs, and customers will be able to mix different vegetable options into the frittatas at no extra cost, Fitzsenry said.

The brand of tea at the Blue Room has also been changed. “I’m a tea drinker, and we found a fantastic, Brown grad-owned brand of tea,” Fitzsenry said, adding that the company, Teatulia, owned by Kazi Ahmed ’92, prioritizes sustainability.

At Josiah’s, the soup station was removed and induction cooking equipment was installed. This new cooking station will feature various rotating specials.

“There’s a lot to choose from at that

/ / Widmer page 1 help with messages surrounding Brown’s 250th anniversary,” Schissel said. “We hope Ted contributes significantly to those efforts.”

Widmer will devote a substantial number of hours to working with Hillary Clinton for the next five months before she steps down as secretary of state at the end of President Obama’s first term in office, said Schlissel, who added that Widmer will still remain at the University full-time “at least through the coming years.”

“I presume he’ll be working with the State Department more intensively through the end of the current presidential term,” Schlissel said.

station,” Fitzsenry said, including fancy grilled cheeses, pho and, this week, gourmet tacos.

“Somewhere in town, there is a great duck confit quesadilla, so we decided to make that our own over here,” Fitzsenry said. Tacos will be made with duck confit, pulled pork and Cajun shrimp with lime.

For late-night eaters, Jo’s will now offer breakfast sandwiches on the weekends. Salad-eaters also have some new options — whole grain salad, pink salmon and Pearlini mozzarella.

At the Ivy Room, there is now a “tossed-to-order salad bar” at lunchtime, Fitzsenry said. Organic dressings are now available, and those that are gluten- or lactose-free are more clearly labeled.

The Freshens station was removed

in lieu of a new smoothie bar that uses yogurts from northeast businesses, including Narragansett Creamery, Chobani Greek and Stonyfield Farms, along with real fruit juices and various berry options, Fitzsenry said.

The Gate is also offering new menu items, including four new types of pesto and new deli meats at the panini station — “all things that make a good hot sandwich,” Fitzsenry said­— and 12-inch pizzas.

All of the dining halls will feature special cooking demonstrations this semester, with offerings such as garlic knot bruschetta, apple pie floats and a risotto bar, he added.

“We make it fun,” Fitzsenry said of the demonstrations. “I’ve gotten to play with fire in public, which is always a good time.”

Several of Widmer’s former colleagues in academia and in the Clinton White House praised the historian and said they believe he is well-suited to his new roles.

him in Washington College’s history department. “He’s one of a kind among historians in many ways because he’s really not just studied history, but lived history.”

“He’s one of a kind among historians in many ways because he’s really not just studied history, but lived history.”

Adam Goodheart Director of Washington College’s C.V. Starr Center

“Ted is an extraordinary person and extremely generous,” said Adam Goodheart, Widmer’s successor as director of Washington College’s C.V. Starr Center, who also worked with

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Goodheart, who said he has known Widmer for over a decade, added that he believes his former colleague will be an effective advisor to Hillary Clinton because of his deep historical perspective. “He’s thinking not just about the George W. Bush era but also the Thomas Jefferson era,” Goodheart said.

“I think he’s a person of tremendous intellectual capability and intellectual gift.”

Michael Waldman, former chief White House speechwriter, worked with Widmer under Bill Clinton and said Widmer’s appointment “shows how well-respected he is, not only within the halls of the University, but also nationally.”

The office of press relations at the State Department’s bureau of public affairs and Marisa Quinn, the University’s vice president for public affairs and University relations, could not be reached for comment.

the brown daily herald thursday, september 13, 2012

city & state 3 / / ENGN page 1 “When I went to Brown, the class was more in the order of 150 (students), and in the past five years I would say it’s ramped up pretty significantly. … As of this morning, the number of students enrolled on Banner was around 217,” Haberstroh said. She added that the course was split in order to maintain a good level of interaction with the

a new sculptural design project with much looser constraints than projects from previous years, McKeown said.

The student group with the best project will be allowed to set up its design as an installation in the Barus and Holley lobby.

The changes were decided in many faculty meetings over the past year with input from both faculty and students, said Lawrence Larson, dean of

“Brown students are incredibly bright and incredibly ambitious, and I’d like all of them to have some exposure to engineering,”

Lawrence Larson Dean of the School of Engineering

Dave Deckey / Herald

A pilot program that commenced this July allows city residents to buy parking permits for most residential streets during early morning hours, but students with cars registered in other states will not be eligible.

New parking program restricts student access

By RIA MIRCHANDANI Contributing writer

Finding overnight parking on Providence’s narrow streets has always been a challenge for residents, but City Parking Administrator Leo Perrotta said he hopes that will not be the case for long. This July, Providence embarked on a pilot parking program that enables city residents with cars registered at the Rhode Island Department of Motor Vehicles to purchase overnight parking permits for $100, allowing them to park on most residential streets from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m.

For a city where overnight parking did not exist for the better part of 80 years, the program is a huge stride forward, Perrotta said. The program aims to help multi-family residences that don’t have enough space in the driveways to accommodate all their vehicles. When there is a shortage of parking spots, residents resort to paving their yards in order to create spaces, he said.

This has a negative effect on the city in many ways. “The city wants more greenery, which it loses if people pave their yards,” Perrotta said. Besides being aesthetically detrimental, this also leads to greater water runoff. “Units become difficult to rent without parking because people need places to keep their cars, which are difficult to do without in this day and age,” he said.

Police and fire officials have confirmed that overnight parking would make no difference to public safety, Perrotta said.

The program has picked up slowly but is going well, Perrotta said. “It’s difficult to change something that’s been in place for 80 years ­— people need to become acclimated,” he said. He estimates close to 400 passes have been sold so far and said he hopes people will take advantage of the permits, which aim to “make the city more livable for everyone.”

Many streets on College Hill falls under the program, but on the whole, it will not benefit undergraduates because of the eligibility requirements necessary to purchase a permit. Permits are available only to people living in dwellings of five units or fewer, which immediately excludes students living in a dorm. But students living in offcampus houses are not eligible if their cars are not registered in Rhode Island.

Students looking for parking cannot make use of the program by renting the permits from those in off-campus

housing because the vehicle needs to be registered at the address where they wish to park. Drew Heckman ’13 was denied a permit for this reason. “I don’t think this will help any students on College Hill. People register their vehicles at their permanent address, not at an apartment they rent for nine months,” he wrote in an email to The Herald.

Lucy Bates-Campbell ’13.5 lives in a house that cannot accommodate more cars, but she is also ineligible for the permit since her car is registered in New York. “I’m not sure what registering my car in Rhode Island entails,

but I think it’s a complicated process, which costs a lot of money. I’d rather approach some landlords around me who may have an extra space I could rent,” she said.

The rules to acquire an overnight parking permit from the program are similar to those followed in Cambridge, Mass., a city that, like Providence, has a huge student population, Perrotta said.

The only parking option the University currently offers to undergraduates costs $760 for 24-hour parking during the academic year, but many students choose to rent spaces behind nearby apartments.

students and provide an opportunity to solve problems in class.

Several other changes to the course include the reintroduction of an advanced section for students with a physics background, the switch to MATLAB as the primary software package instead of Maple — making the transition to ENGN 0040: “Dynamics and Vibrations,” which uses MATLAB, easier — and the introduction of

the School of Engineering. “We conducted very elaborate student evaluations last fall, and we took that very much into account.”

A main reason for the changes to the course is to make it a more accessible introduction to engineering.

“Brown students are incredibly bright and incredibly ambitious, and I’d like all of them to have some exposure to engineering,” Larson said.

4 housing

the brown daily herald thursday, september 13, 2012

Dorm reform:

Ongoing renovations aim to enrich student communities

Pembroke Campus This summer: • Andrews Hall rooms, hallways and lounges were renovated, and adjacent singles were combined into doubles.

• Miller and Metcalf halls underwent renovations, with completion set for January 2013. Single rooms are being combined to create first-year doubles.

Next summer/fall: • Emery, Woolley, Morriss and Champlin halls will be upgraded.

• Andrews Dining Hall will be converted to a new student commons and 24-hour study space.

• Verney-Woolley Dining Hall will be open on weekends. greg jordan-detamore / Herald

Summer 2012 changes

/ / Dorms page 1 Bova said. “They get the leftover lottery spots after juniors and seniors pick, and so they are scattered across campus. The community is fractured.”

Under the new clustering plan, students will “naturally progress from two first-year areas, in Keeney (Quadrangle) and Pembroke (campus), to the center of campus for their sophomore year.” This will provide opportunities for advising, tutoring and other sophomore-specific programs.

Hope and Littlefield ­— previously predominantly first-year dorms — were offered exclusively to sophomores in this spring’s housing lottery.

When asked how he felt about this change, former Hope College resident Ezra Lichtman ’15 sighed but then consented that the dorm is “far too good a location for freshmen anyhow.”

Next summer will see the renovation of Hope’s rooms and hallways and Hegeman Hall’s bathrooms, wrote Darlene Trew Crist, director of news and communications, in an email to The Herald. Hegeman’s bedrooms were renovated a few years ago, she added.

Summer 2013 changes

Slater and Hegeman will be sophomore-only starting in the fall of 2013.

“I think that in 10 years you will hear someone say, ‘Wow, my sophomore experience was as good as, or better than, my freshman year experience,’” Bova said.

Recognizing the impact of housing on student life — particularly that of first-years — the University is implementing major changes in hopes of cultivating community and comfort in residence halls.

Former Keeney residents were in for a surprise when they returned to campus this year. Top-floor lounges were renovated and expanded, and new kitchens were added, complete with high-end appliances. Bedrooms were renovated and outfitted with new furniture, and adjacent single rooms were combined into doubles.

“I’m jealous, but I’m glad it was done at some point,” said Amelia Grant-Alfieri ’15, a former Keeney resident.

“There are been very positive reactions to the improvements, and we’re excited to continue,” Klawunn said, adding that all first-year housing will

be renovated by 2013.

In addition to current first-year dorms, Miller and Metcalf halls will house first-years following the completion of their current renovation.

Perkins Hall will no longer house first-years.

In previous years, Keeney Quad and Andrews Hall have included a mix of first-years and upperclassmen.

Upperclassmen forced to live with first-years found their experience to be less than ideal, Klawunn said. “By the time you are a junior and senior, you are making choices that reflect your individual needs,” she added.

Next year, upperclassmen will have the choice of living on Wriston Quadrangle — as part of the Greek and program houses — and in Barbour, Minden and Perkins Halls and Graduate Center, Vartan Gregorian Quad and Young Orchard Apartments.

“What you want out of your residence hall is different every year,” said Margaret Klawunn, vice president for campus life and student services. “We are trying to make housing fit with the progression of your education.”

Photos taken by Paige Gilley and Greg Jordan-Detamore. For more photos, check out blogdailyherald.com.

housing 5

the brown daily herald thursday, september 13, 2012

Keeney Quadrangle This summer: • Student rooms were renovated and newly furnished.

• Adjacent single rooms were combined into doubles.

• New kitchens were created on the top floors, and lounges were expanded and renovated.

• Both courtyards were newly landscaped.

Next summer: • Elevators will be completed.

• Restrooms and hallways will be renovated.

• The building will be split into three separate houses.

Central Campus This year: • Hope College and Littlefield Hall are now sophomore-only.

• The first floor of Wayland House now houses students, following the Office of Residential Life’s move to Graduate Center E. Next summer/fall: • Slater and Hegeman Halls will be sophomore-only.

• Hope will be renovated, and Hegeman’s restrooms will be overhauled.

Housing for Upperclassmen This year: • 315 Thayer St. is now open following renovation over this past school year.

Next summer: • Perkins Hall will be renovated, and current first-year double rooms will become upper-class singles.

Future: • Administrators hope to be able to renovate other dorms, such as Grad Center.

• The University may build a new residence hall.

6 editorial & letter Editorial

Succumbing to academic pressure Last week, Harvard attracted much publicity amid claims of a widespread cheating scandal. According to the Boston Globe, about half of a nearly 300-person “Introduction to Congress” class last spring has been accused of academic dishonesty during an open-book exam. We suggest this event is indicative of a wider trend in the American university system, particularly in the Ivy League, of prioritizing nominal academic success over true achievement and learning. While the students should be held accountable for their actions, we also believe that the trend is the result of detrimental university policies.

At universities like Harvard, the policies controlling testing situations are to blame for the decrease in academic integrity on the part of the students. At Harvard, the students in the class in question were given vague instructions on what constituted cheating on the exam. While this does not excuse the students for their actions, we question whether this situation could have been avoided with stronger and stricter regulations regarding cheating. In addition, Harvard and many other universities lack an honor code. The lack of both detailed instruction and awareness of academic ethics may have played a large role in these students’ choices to prioritize achievement over learning.

Another indication of this surprising and disappointing trend is a grading policy at Princeton. Several years ago, Princeton instituted a grading curve that severely limits the number of students who get As. No matter how many students in a class deserve good grades by the professors’ standard, only a small percentage can receive them because of the university’s attempt to curb grade inflation. The result is that students feel forced to compete with and sabotage each other in order to make sure their peers do not receive the coveted high grades. This is a blatant disservice to the ideals of academic integrity and teamwork and another example of a university policy that encourages unhealthy competition among students.

Though we at Brown have not, thankfully, been subjected to this type of grade deflation policy, the threat remains. A Herald editorial last semester (“Allergic to Bs,” April 9) decried the lack of pluses and minuses in the Brown grading policy and argued that the system is causing students to drop meaningful courses to avoid getting a B grade. The simple truth is that in this age of unprecedented levels of competition for internships and post-graduation jobs, universities — and Ivies in particular — do not provide an academic environment conducive to honorable, self-driven achievement. We believe these institutions of higher learning should carefully reflect on what societal and academic pressures may have precipitated the Harvard students’ actions.

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

the brown daily herald thursday, september 13, 2012

Editorial cartoon b y a n g e l i a wa n g

le t ter

Making column’s call for integration a reality To the Editor: Heath Mayo’s ’13 essay on social integration (“Desegregating Brown,” Sept. 12) focuses on the tendency for most students to develop relationships with people from similar backgrounds. There have been other essays in past Herald issues on the subject. I would ask Mr. Mayo to take his concern a step further and turn his thoughts into action. This would be a wonderful social science research project for someone on campus. Is there as little social integration on campus as Mr. Mayo suggests? What are

the dynamics behind this? What groups and forces act to create opportunities for increased integration of students from different backgrounds? What makes this an important goal for Brown to foster this type of integration? Finally, what suggestions might lead to changes that would promote increased integration?

Pursuing these suggestions would be a tall order for Mr. Mayo in his senior year. But this might turn out to be the most important learning experience of his four years.

Tom Bale ’63

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

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A headline in Monday’s paper (“Med prof pleads guilty to coin theft,” Sept. 10) incorrectly stated that Professor of Bio Med Orthopaedics Arnold-Peter Weiss pleaded guilty to charges of coins theft. In fact, he pleaded guilty to criminal possession of coins that were the property of the Italian government. Weiss was not accused of theft. The Herald regrets the error.

quote of the day

“I’ve gotten to play with fire in public, which is always a good time.”

— Aaron Fitzsenry, culinary manager for retail operations See dining on page 1.

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opinions 7

the brown daily herald thursday, september 13, 2012

The Super Bowl test adam asher Opinions Columnist

You’re in the locker room after your team just won the Super Bowl when the phone rings. You pick up. Who do you want on the other line congratulating you: Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?

I call this scenario “the Super Bowl Test.” A well-known Zogby/Williams Identity Poll taken of undecided voters in 2004 found that 57 percent of them would rather have had a beer with former President George W. Bush than with former Democratic candidate John Kerry. This has since become a widely used litmus test for presidential candidates’ likability that gauges voter comfort. An Aug. 28 Associated Press headline makes the argument that “likability is about a lot more than having a beer,” because it includes traits such as empathy and how much voters trust a given candidate to fix the country’s problems. As a solution, I’ve come up with a test of my own — the Super Bowl test — that I think captures what Americans tend to look for in their presidential candidates. An alternate test is especially important considering Romney doesn’t drink.

However you define likability, it’s one

of the areas in which Obama has a significant edge over Romney. A recent Gallup poll revealed that 54 percent of respondents find Obama “likable,” whereas only 31 percent of respondents said the same about Romney. This amounts to a 23-point edge for the president. The good news for Romney in the same poll, however, is that 52 percent of respondents said he would better handle the economy than Obama, as opposed to 43 percent who said the opposite. Obama bests Rom-

Romney became the presumptive Republican nominee. What gives?

Likability is important to voters.

What might not be immediately evident, though, is just how important it is. In an Aug. 9 Politico piece, Roger Simon wrote, “The more likable candidate wins. Not always, but almost always.” Looking at past presidential races, this rule mostly seems to hold true, especially keeping the “Super Bowl test” in mind. Ronald Reagan over Jimmy Carter, then Walter Mondale

Likability is important to voters. What might not be immediately evident, though, is just how important it is.

ney in areas of personality the poll covers — such as honesty and ability to stand up to special interests — but the two are in a statistical dead heat in terms of their ability to effectively manage the government.

In an election where 65 percent of Americans still cite economic issues as the most important problem facing the country, one would expect that the election would favor the candidate voters judge as better able to turn things around.

But Obama has either led or tied Romney in nearly every polling average since

in 1984. George H. W. Bush over Michael Dukakis, and subsequently the endlessly charismatic Bill Clinton over Bush — and yes, “Dubya” over Kerry in 2004.

One could obviously argue there have been exceptions. But if history is any indicator, likability seems to be the best advantage a candidate could have against his challenger, regardless of the circumstances surrounding the election. As Simon observed in his Politico column, “shouldn’t Romney be ahead by now?” If things are as bad as people seem to think they are,

why wouldn’t Americans overwhelmingly want to make a change?

Elections are never about a single issue or a single variable. The economy is worse in some parts of the country than others, and swing voters aren’t one big homogeneous blob of people — they are individuals who look for different things in candidates. Nevertheless, Obama seems to be running consistently ahead of where most analysts feel he should be, and the best data-driven explanation — if one exists — is his personal appeal to most Americans. There are obviously other major differences between the two candidates and their beliefs, but in light of the historical precedents and the popularity contest that is the 24-hour news cycle, likability seems to be the most salient one.

I’m not saying likability is, in actuality, the best indicator of which candidate would make a better president. There are plenty of good arguments to be made for electing Romney over Obama — whether or not you buy them — and plenty to be made that voting based on likability has had disastrous effects in the past for our country. But this is the game as it stands today. Beer drinking. The Super Bowl test.

If Romney wants to start pulling ahead, he needs to start playing.

Adam Asher ’15 will, in all likelihood, never be on a Super Bowl winning team.

In call for discourse, Resnik ’15 misses the point bradley silverman Guest Columnist Ben Resnik’s ’15 column (“Starting the conversation — a manifesto,” Sept. 11) called for more thoughtful political discourse on campus and announced the creation of the Brown Political Forum. I like the idea of a place where students can go to debate the political issues that impassion us. But his message wasn’t only preachy and condescending, it seriously exaggerates, distorts and misunderstands the truth about campus activism and existing political dialogue at Brown.

Resnik writes: “Half a century ago, when student activism was in its heyday across the country, Brown students ... were at the forefront .” He lists as examples marches for workers’ rights, racial and gender equality and against the Vietnam War. “But today … too many causes we champion end up in unresolved stasis.”

His examples here are Occupy Providence, which has “largely fizzle(d),” or enthusiasm for President Obama, whose presidency has seen “petty bickering return on both sides.”

Do you know what other movement largely fizzled away in due course? The anti-Vietnam War movement! The Civil Rights movement, for all its triumphs, did not nearly realize the transformative impact it sought to have on American society — in fact, “unresolved stasis” is a great way to characterize the complicated, uneasy and inferior social and economic position of African Americans in contempo-

rary America. To cast the past in black and white and the present in gray is to sweep much about past events and their persisting impacts under the rug.

Occupy Providence? The movement opened a winter shelter for the homeless in Providence and made questions of fairness, citizenship, equality and social justice central parts of our public discourse, shifting the Overton Window to the left and away from deficit reduction and austerity.

moral-ideological convictions that inform our beliefs can be “hashed out.” I don’t think this is how serious ideological commitments work. How can you ask someone to “hash out” their fundamental beliefs?

“When is the last time the Brown Democrats or Republicans sat their members down to try to reconcile their personal beliefs with their parties’ inconsistencies?” I think few Republicans or Democrats would argue that their party is right about everything. What they would argue

Resnik posits the Brown Political Forum as an antidote to the conflict that plagues our political system. In doing so he reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the causes of partisan gridlock.

Resnik writes that “our efforts to address real political issues, both on and off Brown’s campus, have slowed.” Perhaps we attend different Brown Universities. I think there is an extremely vibrant political activist scene here on campus. Democracy Matters alone, for instance, recently helped pass a bill at the State House — the Transparency in Political Spending Act. “From freshman year on,” Resnik writes, “‘liberals’ join the Brown Democrats and ‘conservatives’ join the Brown Republicans, and that is, more or less, the end of the story.” Well, that is the point. We join groups that reflect our values, beliefs and preferences as individuals.

“When is the last time those two bodies sat down together and tried to hash out their differences?” This is a strange question, because it implies that deeply held

is that their party is the best of any alternative. Partisan identification involves the pragmatic choosing of a party best able to achieve a set of desired ends.

“Our unwillingness to talk with the other side is a real problem.” In my three years at Brown so far, nothing I’ve seen has convinced me that Brown students are unwilling to talk to others who do not think like them. To support his thesis, Resnik is making a baseless assertion.

Resnik suggests the Brown Political Forum as an antidote to the conflict that plagues our political system. In doing so he reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the causes of partisan gridlock.

Broad historical and societal forces, not a decline in civility, have led to the decline of bipartisanship over time. These include the development of new forms of me-

dia and the 24-hour news cycle. As a result of these factors, politicians now find themselves under the constant glare of the spotlight, unable to make deals out of the public eye as in the past. Redistricting has made the bulk of seats in the House of Representatives uncompetitive in the general election, shifting the real competition to the primaries, which reward ideological extremism. And the rise of outside expenditures has made politicians more dependent on increasingly powerful corporate, labor and ideological interests that financially punish those who do not toe the line.

The view that more discussion will solve our problems is characteristic of what New York Magazine writer Jonathan Chait calls the “cargo cult of bipartisanship” mentality. Tribal cultures that traded with more technologically advanced Westerners would engage in rituals such as building landing strips after the Westerners and their “cargo” had left. Mistaking effect of change for cause, they did so to summon the Westerners back, failing to understand why they left in the first place.

Respectful discourse does not cause bipartisanship — bipartisanship causes respectful discourse.

Finally, the column seems demonstrative of a tired trend in elite political opinion — the fetishization of centrism, compromise and bipartisanship for an individual’s own sake, rather than as means to achieve goals. As that great ideologue Barry Goldwater said, “Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”

Bradley Silverman ’13 is a senior concentrating in public policy, economics and political science, and he is an ideologue.

daily herald city & state the Brown

thursday, september 13, 2012

Police respond to summer homicides

By Caroline Flanagan Senior STaff WRiter

Providence has seen 15 homicides so far this year, up from four this time last year. There were a total of 12 homicides last year.

Despite the apparently dramatic increase in homicides, Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare said that statistically, the homicide rate has not tripled or even doubled ­— it actually remains below the city’s 20-year average.

Homicide rates are extremely volatile, Pare said. For example, there was an uncharacteristically low number of homicides from January to September of last year followed by five homicides in October alone.

“When you have a crime like that, that’s significantly tragic. It shocks the community.”

Steven Pare Public Safety Commissioner

“We had a triple homicide several weeks ago,” Pare said. “We haven’t had a triple homicide in several decades.

When you have a crime like that, that’s significantly tragic. It shocks the community.”

Cases like last month’s triple homicide have led officials to put more effort into combating violent crime in the city.

The majority of homicides were targeted — mostly resulting from conflicts involving drugs, debt, turf or insult — and not random acts, Pare said.

Because many of the homicides have been drug-related, the Providence police have upped attempts to infiltrate drugdealing organizations and dismantle them in an effort to stem violence,

Pare said.

Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 P’16 has also directed the state police to work in conjunction with local police and provide the city with additional resources, said Christine Hunsinger MPA’08, Chafee’s communications director.

The majority of the homicides were committed using firearms, most of which were owned illegally. The police have continued their efforts to confiscate illegal guns through the operations of its gun task force, a special section of the police department that specializes in tracking down illegal firearms and their owners.

“We took 120 guns off the streets of Providence last year. Most of them were stolen,” Pare said. “We’ve seized 11 this month, so we’re on track to seize as many as we did last year.”

In response to the increase in gun violence, Mayor Angel Taveras and his administration have pledged to advocate for stricter gun laws. According to Pare, Taveras wants to change the culture surrounding guns in the city by making illegal possession of a gun a federal offense and styling Providence’s gun laws after New York City’s.

Pare said he is confident that stricter gun laws will make a difference in the number of homicides. “If you can quickly get a gun after an emotional conflict, you’re more likely to kill someone,” he said.

But tighter gun laws will not ameliorate violent crime by themselves, Pare noted. Social programs will also be integral in lowering the homicide rate.

“If you look at New York back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, there was a lot of crime and violence, and they changed that,” Pare said, “It wasn’t just gun laws, but a variety of changes. There was a greater emphasis on quality of life and social programs. That helped drastically in the reduction of violent crime.”

Both Taveras and Chafee have voiced

their support for the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, an organization that helps programs prevent violence in the Providence community. Chafee wants to use some of the $500 million settlement that Rhode Island law enforcement agencies received in a lawsuit from Google last spring to support the organization, Hunsinger said. Taveras supports this initiative, Pare said.

The organization has a variety of youth programs, including one that hires young adults who have committed crimes and turns them into ambassadors for peace. Because these young adults understand the criminal mindset, they have been successful messengers in their communities, Pare said.

Taveras has also emphasized providing unemployed youth with job opportunities.

“The mayor has tried to find as many unemployed young adults as possible and put them to work, which makes a huge difference and takes away the propensity to commit criminal behavior,” Pare said.

According to Paul Shanley, the deputy chief of police for the Brown Department of Public Safety, the current level of violence will most likely pose little threat to residents of College Hill.

“There’s usually some type of relationship between the victim and the perpetrator,” Shanley said. “I think the last homicide in this area was five years ago.”

Jasion hu / blog daily herald