Wednesday, September 26, 2012

daily herald the Brown

vol. cxxii, no. 74

INSIDE

Page 8

Starry night Observatory reopens after summer renovations

Page 4

Brown troops Foreign students defer study to serve their country Page 3

Reppin’ it

Resource Council adds two more undergrad positions today

tomorrow

74 / 57

68 / 49

wednesday, september 26, 2012

since 1891

After 25 years, center ties education, activism

By Alexandra macfarlane News Editor

Twenty-five years ago, about 30 firstyears ventured from their newfound home on College Hill to build a house.

Their work benefited two lowincome Providence families and represented one of the first projects to formalize the University’s commitment to public service through the Center for Public Service — the brainchild of beloved former University President Howard Swearer that is now known as the Swearer Center for Public Service.

Around the time of its founding, the center also collaborated with a young master’s student who served briefly alongside President Swearer. As the center celebrates its 25th birthday this week, that student — Roger Nozaki MAT ’89 ­— serves as its director.

Nozaki said his brief contact with Swearer in 1988 helped him remember the center’s connections to its

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namesake.

“I had some sense of his vision for Brown overall and some sense of his vision for the center,” said Nozaki, who also serves as the associate dean of the college for community and global engagement.

True to a vision Swearer served as the University’s 15th president from 1977 to 1988. His tenure emphasized public service as an essential part of the undergraduate experience, and Swearer affirmed this commitment by establishing a center dedicated to this vision in 1986.

From the outset, students were doing projects on the ground. One project recruited student volunteers as part of a nationwide campaign to combat illiteracy, The Herald reported in 1986. In addition, the center sought to centralize information about careers in the public interest.

“Education and social activism can go hand-in-hand,” Swearer told / / Swearer page 5 an audience

Courtesy of Peter Goldberg

Director Roger Nozaki MAT ‘88 and President Christina Paxson remain committed to former president Howard Swearer’s 1986 founding vision.

Campus groups encourage voter registration Grad students oppose work limit

By Caroline Flanagan Senior Staff Writer

As the November presidential election approaches, several student groups are working to get out the vote and ensure Brunonians are informed, though the youth vote is not anticipated to play as large a role as it did in 2008.

To facilitate student awareness, the Undergraduate Council of Students included voter registration forms in freshman orientation packets.

Response to the council’s initiative has been decent, said UCS President Anthony White ’13, adding that the campus center has received around 50 completed forms from first-years so far.

Elizabeth Davis ’16, originally from New York, registered to vote in Rhode Island through her freshman packet because she did not want to

go through the process of sending in an absentee ballot. “It was very convenient,” she said. “(The) presidential election will have a bigger draw” in terms of voter registration than in midterm election years, White said.

Students for Obama and the Brown Democrats have also been working together to register students.

The groups held a voter registration drive last week, registering 285 students from 13 different states, 178 of whom registered to vote in Rhode Island. The number is an uptick from last year, when only 250 total students registered.

“We had such a strong response from the community,” said Sofia Fernandez Gold ’14, president of the Brown Democrats. “We had people lining up, so we’re going to see if we can do additional tabling.”

Members of the political groups go over the forms with the students and look at the submitted forms to make sure they are filled out correctly. They also mail in voter registration forms and absentee ballot applications for students.

“It’s our job to make (voter registration) as easy as possible, whether (students are) Democrats or Republicans and whether they want to vote in Rhode Island or at home,” Gold said. Gold is registered in Rhode Island despite being from Maryland, but many students end up sending absentee ballots to their home states because they think their vote will matter more and they are more familiar with politics there.

Miriam Rollock ’15 is registered in her home state of Indiana. “I care about a number of races there and a number of them are close, so I feel

that if I vote there then my vote will mean more,” she said.

Benjamin Resnik ’15, a Virginia native, expressed a similar sentiment.

“My vote is going to have more impact in Virginia than it’s going to in Rhode Island,” he said.

Members of the Brown Democrats and Students for Obama are also looking beyond the Ocean State. Members are participating in volunteer efforts to register voters who live in New Hampshire, the closest battleground state. Students for Obama in particular is working on an initiative to get absentee ballots to 18,000 New Hampshire voters who commute to Massachusetts and probably won’t have time to register, said Taylor Daily ’13, president of Students for Obama.

The Brown Republicans are still preparing their initiative for the se/ / Voting page 3 mester. “We

First clinical trial offers hope for progeria patients

By Kate Nussenbaum Senior Staff Writer

The first clinical study of a drug to treat progeria, a fatal disease that causes early-onset aging in children, was published Monday in the Proceedings of t he Nat iona l Academy of Sciences. The study was led by Leslie Gordon MA’91 MD/PhD’98, associate professor of pediatrics at Alpert Medical School.

Though the drug does not cure progeria, the study is an “incredible first start,” said Scott Berns, Gordon’s husband, clinical professor of pediatrics at Alpert Medical School and chair of the board of directors of the

Science & research

Progeria Research Foundation, which he and Gordon founded in 1999, after learning that their son had progeria.

Progeria is a rare disease that affects around one in every four to eight million children. When children are around one and a half to two years old, they start to experience symptoms associated with aging such as an inability to gain weight, joint stiffness and heart disease, among others. The disease has a 100 percent fatality rate, with children usually dying of heart disease around age 13.

The disease is caused by a genetic mutation, which researchers discovered in 2003. This mutation causes production of the abnormal protein progerin.

Researchers realized that a class of drugs / / Progeria page 3

Courtesy of Brown University

Leslie Gordon MD/PhD’98 led the first clinical trial of a drug for progeria, in which her son Sam Berns, 15, participated.

By Mathias Heller Senior Staff Writer

The Graduate Council is currently deliberating whether or not to enforce a controversial provision that recommends graduate students who are receiving stipends from the University work no more than 20 hours per semester outside of their University-funded appointments.

While the enforcement was set to begin this fall, student and faculty opposition to the measure has led deans to postpone the enforcement pending the Graduate Council’s decision.

In the current edition of the Graduate Student Handbook, which outlines the University’s official policies and procedures for grad students, “it is recommended” that stipend-supported grad students limit working hours at outside jobs and University positions to which they are not appointed to 20 hours per semester, which translates to 1.5 hours per week. Many stipend-supported students hold University-appointed positions such as teaching assistantships and research fellowships, though these are not limited under this provision.

Graduate school officials recently decided to fully enforce the handbook’s provision as a rule. Peter Weber, dean of the graduate school, said the decision to enforce the provision sprung from the need to correct repeated instances where graduate students holding outside jobs failed to inform deans or their departmental directors.

“This is existing policy,” Weber said, adding that the University gives “a very generous package” of financial assistance to doctoral students. “There’s no / / Grad work page 2 new policy

2 campus news

the brown daily herald wednesday, september 26, 2012

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What Makes You Smile?

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LUNCH Chicken Fingers with Dipping Sauces, Edamame Beans with Tri Colored Peppers, Spinach Feta Pie

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Clyde Lawrence ‘15 performs at “The Spot” with guitarist Jonny Koh ‘13, drummer Sam Askin ‘13 and bassist Greg Nissan ‘15.

/ / Grad work page 1 here,” he said.

But the decision to interpret the provision as a rule rather than a recommendation has sparked spirited opposition, leading a group of graduate students to start an online petition opposing the proposal to enforce the 20 hour-per-semester limit. The petition had garnered 335 signatures as of press time.

Student concerns “The policy change really threatens the ability of many graduate students to be at Brown,” said Brooke Lamperd GS, one of the organizers who started the petition campaign this summer. Lamperd said enforcing the provision would affect all graduate students, especially first-generation and “nontraditional” students who are financially dependent on non-University jobs.

“Supplementing our paltry stipends with work that is relevant to our fields ... is not only important for us professionally ... it’s also important for students to supplement their stipends and make ends meet,” said Samuel Franklin GS. “A policy like this would really make it difficult for someone who’s not of independent means to get by as they traditionally have.”

Petition organizers voiced their opposition over the last few months to members of the Graduate Student Council, which subsequently obtained Weber’s agreement to suspend enforcement of the provision and submit the issue for consideration by the Graduate Council, a governing board overseeing academic matters. The Graduate Council, which includes administrators, faculty members and students, held its first meeting Sept. 18 to discuss the provision and will continue deliberating throughout the fall, said Matteo Riondato GS, president of the Graduate Student Council and a member of the Graduate Council.

“We are discussing whether these recommendations should be changed

and what they should be changed to in the Grad Council,” said Riondato, adding that he has received significant feedback on the issue from members of the graduate students’ listserv.

He and other members of the GSC are currently drafting their own recommendation to present to the Graduate Council Oct. 3. He said the GSC was considering a number of options to endorse, including modifying the proposal or removing it entirely from the Graduate Student Handbook.

Riondato added that he personally believed the provision is a recommendation, not a rule, and that the graduate students’ petition contains strong arguments against enforcing the work hour limit.

“I am very happy that there are students outside the GSC that are involved in making sure this very important matter is taken care of and publicized,” he said.

The GSC plans on maintaining close communication with Weber throughout the ongoing deliberations, wrote GSC Vice President Jaclyn Murphy GS in an email to The Herald. “Meanwhile, we welcome the additional efforts by other members of the graduate community to keep the issue at the forefront of public attention among the student body and the wider Brown community,” Murphy wrote.

Conflicting accounts The proposal to enforce this provision arose after the Graduate Council learned of numerous cases in which students violated the existing policy by not consulting deans or their directors of graduate studies, Weber said. “These rules were not followed,” he said.

But petition signatories disputed Weber’s claim that administrators are simply enforcing an existing rule.

Lamperd wrote in an email to The Herald that the graduate school did not notify any students or directors of graduate studies of what she labeled a “change in policy.” While the provision is in the

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handbook, it does not appear to have been enforced in the past.

“The only reason that graduate students found out is that a dean leaked the information to a graduate student who then publicized it over the graduate student listserv,” wrote Lamperd, who did not disclose the names of the dean or graduate student involved in the leak. Lamperd said the graduate school decided to delay implementing the enforcement only after opposition emerged from administrators, faculty members and students over the summer.

Rachel Gostenhofer GS, a petition signatory, said she has worked in the Writing Center and at other jobs in order to fulfill her financial obligations. She said it was “absolutely appalling” that the University would consider enforcing the limit on outside work hours.

But other graduate students said they felt the graduate school had listened to their concerns. “Dean Weber is completely open to changing the rules and doing whatever the students feel would be necessary,” said Lulu Tsai GS, adding that though she signed the petition, she had faith in the ability of administrators to resolve the dispute.

Many faculty members are among the 335 signatures secured by petition organizers so far. James Green, professor of history and Brazilian studies, said he received a copy of the petition two weeks ago and decided to pass it on to many of his colleagues after signing it.

“It seems unwise to limit the possibility of graduate students to earn additional income,” said Green, adding that he disagreed with the notion that graduate students who work more than 1.5 hours a week underperform academically or do not finish their dissertations in a timely manner. “When I was a graduate student at (University of California at Los Angelos), I had to work because I simply couldn’t pay my bills.”

If the University chooses to enforce the limit on working outside jobs, many lower-income students who cannot afford to take out more loans will be unable to finish graduate school, Green said. He added that he felt students often benefited from learning to juggle their time between research and working.

“My experience has been that those grad students who’ve had to work parttime have also been very successful at being grad students,” Green said.

Weber said he was open to the Graduate Council’s upcoming decision on the issue, stressing that he believed the governing board should listen to all constituencies and carefully deliberate regarding how to proceed. He added that he hoped a decision would come by December but acknowledged the council may take longer to settle the matter if necessary.

the brown daily herald wednesday, september 26, 2012

/ / Voting page 1 were considering doing voter registration similar to what the Brown Democrats were doing,” said Thomas March ’14, the group’s treasurer. “We were thinking instead of registration, we’d just go out actively and hand out forms to not just students, but members of the Providence communities.”

He added that the group has struggled to find membership in the past and often focuses on discussions between like-minded people. He said the group hopes to show some movies and documentaries to raise awareness around campus.

In the city precinct that includes the University, 70 percent of voters supported Barack Obama in 2008.

And 86.1 percent of students said they supported Obama for president, compared to 6.3 percent for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. in a Herald poll conducted in 2008.

But many students said they do not have problems with the campus’ clear liberal leaning. Uche Elueze GS, an Obama supporter, said his views “fit right in.” Justin Braga ’16, a member of the Brown Republicans, said he finds having minority political views a welcome challenge.

“I actually embrace it as a challenge to present my views to people and explore and defend my own views,” he said, adding that he likes

/ / Progeria page 1 developed to treat cancer could potentially block the attachment of one of progerin’s subunits, reducing the negative effects of the disease, Gordon said.

In the clinical trial, researchers tested an adapted version of the cancer drug, lonafarnib, on 26 children with progeria over the course of two years. One patient died of a stroke midway through the study, but of the 25 children who took the drug for two years, all but one showed some form of improvement, including weight gain, less skeletal rigidity and less stiffness in their arteries.

Children in the study experienced some negative side effects including diarrhea and loss of appetite, but none of these effects caused any participants to drop out of the study, Gordon said.

Gordon said their results far exceeded her expectations. Before the trial, researchers did not even have baseline data on the abnormalities in bone density and the cardiovascular system that progeria causes, she said.

“The ability to affect those systems is not something we knew we could do. I’m very excited that we made this step forward,” she said.

The University and Rhode Island Hospital jointly run the cell and tissue bank that supports the basic science research needed to understand more about the disease, Gordon said. The University’s Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research also con-

to offer people the other side of the coin and help them see politics from a different perspective.

A new group recently appeared on campus that fosters political discourse between diverse groups of people. Resnik and Rollock founded the Brown Political Forum to allow students to debate and examine why people might support different views.

“We don’t have any political motives; we just want to get people talking,” Resnik said.

Youth turnout is typically “pitifully low” and usually falls under 50 percent in national elections, said Michael Tesler, assistant professor of political science. But it was an important factor that helped Obama win the election in 2008.

“A lot of Brown students I talked to were very gung-ho about Obama, and then there was a disenchantment with his style of government in the state of the country,” Tesler said. “His support with the youth hasn’t changed, but the enthusiasm has.”

He added that Obama has tried to regain the youth vote by talking a lot about student loans and student loan relief — issues he said appeal to young people.

“I don’t think Obama’s policies were what youth got behind, but his style and what he stood for,” he said. “It’s hard to recreate that magic.” tains a medical database with the health information of children with progeria from all over the world. The existence of this database has proven essential, Gordon said.

“The benefits appear modest, so the overall impact of the study needs to be kept in proper perspective,” wrote Robert Hegele, a professor of medicine and biochemistry at the University of Western Ontario, in an email to The Herald. Hegele was not involved in this study, but has researched the disease in other contexts. He wrote that the study “provides a great foundation upon which to develop newer forms of treatment that might be even more effective in the future.”

Berns said the rate at which progeria research has progressed is “incredible.” When their son Sam was diagnosed with progeria, “There was nothing going on. There were certainly no answers,” he said. “Look how far we’ve come.”

Though Berns called the study “a dream realized,” he said there is a lot more work to do. One key next step is to get approval for the drug from the Food and Drug Administration, he said.

Gordon said they are already in the midst of a second clinical trial in which two more drugs are being tested.

“We need to get more drugs, we need to have more medication, different strategies for attacking progerin ... until we arrive at a cure,” Gordon said.

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Two more undergraduates join URC

By Kate Desimone Senior Staff Writer

With the University Resources Committee adding two additional undergraduate representatives to its body this year, committee discussions regarding the University’s budget allocation will include more perspectives on how the budget influences student life at Brown.

The committee, chaired by Provost Mark Schlissel P’15, currently includes five senior administrators, six faculty members, two staff members, four undergraduates, one medical student and two graduate students.

The URC hears presentations from University offices and departments throughout the year and sends a report of its budget recommendations to the president in February. The president, in turn, uses these recommendations to write the budget sent for the Corporation’s approval each February.

The increase from two to four undergraduate members stems from a proposal from the Undergraduate Council of Students that was passed by the faculty last May. Ben Noble ’13, a former Herald staff writer, is the sole returning representative to the URC and is joined this year by Daniel Pipkin ’14, Abigail Plummer ’15 and David Rattner ’13, former vice president of UCS who was involved in the UCS proposal.

In deciding the URC appointments, UCS sought students with a diversity of perspectives and the confidence to voice their opinions to the committee, said Ralanda Nelson ’12, former UCS president.

Arthur Matuszewski ’11, a member of the URC from 2009 to 2011, said faculty members and administrators on the URC are, on the whole, careful to consider budget topics from the student perspective. But since many of the senior administrator members look at University operations in a larger context, they often don’t know about the “color and vibrancy” of programs they don’t work with on a day-to-day basis, he said.

Matuszewski said that as both an undergraduate and writing fellow, he was able to emphasize to the committee the importance of maintaining funding for academic support programs, which include the Writing Fellows Program.

Pipkin, who is vice chair of the Undergraduate Finance Board, said he understands the impact of the student activities fee on funding allocated to student groups and will keep it in mind during budget discussions.

Tuition increases draw considerable undergraduate focus when the URC releases its budget recommendations. Evan Schwartz ’13, a former URC member, said he and other undergraduate representatives were vocal in questioning the constant rises.

A 3.5 percent increase in tuition and fees may not sound like much, said Schwartz, but compounded over 20 years it yields a nearly 100 percent increase. But since the URC only hears proposals on additions to the budget, the implicit assumption is that tuition is going to continue to rise, Schwartz said.

As a member of the URC, Matuszewski said he began to appreciate the complexity of the University’s

decisions regarding tuition because he saw how it was used. He said he was committed to making sure that additional tuition money was well spent, rather than exclusively focusing on how much money was spent.

Undergraduate members of the URC are appointed by UCS and serve two-year terms on the committee.

One impetus for the UCS proposal to increase the number of students was that first-year representatives on the committee often needed time to understand the committee’s procedures before feeling comfortable enough to take an active role, said Schwartz, who was involved in the initiative to increase undergraduate representation.

Schlissel echoed Schwartz, saying that the experienced committee member was more effective in discussions, while the other was “a deer in the headlights.” Schlissel said he supported the students’ proposal because it would give students a more adequate voice on the committee with at least two experienced members.

Nelson said discussions to increase the number of students started last fall among several UCS members and then-URC student representatives Schwartz and Noble. UCS officers in April brought the proposal with Schlissel’s support to the Faculty Executive Committee, which unanimously voted to pass it along to the faculty.

The proposal sparked discussion among the faculty, but ultimately passed by 38 to 25 votes. Luiz Valente, professor of Portuguese and Brazilian studies and comparative literature, raised the point that granting proportional representation to all student populations — undergraduate, graduate and medical — would lead to a “massive student presence” on the committee, according to the meeting minutes.

But since the committee agrees on its recommendations by discussion and not a formalized vote, there is no

concern that the student constituency could “gang up into a voting block,” said James Morgan, professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological studies and vice chair of the URC. Morgan and Kevin McLaughlin P’12, URC member and dean of the faculty, respectively, both said since there are already so many members, two additional undergraduate members do not drastically change the makeup of the council.

Schlissel said some faculty members expressed concern that the increasing student presence would diminish the faculty’s influence. But the students’ proposal and discussions made it clear that there would be no diminished faculty influence, said Anthony White ’13, UCS president.

The students formulating the proposal also pointed out that a significant portion of the University’s revenue comes from tuition and fees, which affects the undergraduate community the most, Nelson added. The proposal stated that in addition to ameliorating the effect of the “learning curve” of undergraduate representatives, the change would better represent the vast diversity of the undergraduate student body while “expanding campus engagement” with University procedures.

The URC meets every week to hear proposals on additions to the budget and to then discuss what the budget recommendation should entail.

Though what is added to the final budget often “sounds like a lot of money,” Schwartz said, “the proposals are for a lot more.”

In addition to its private weekly meetings, the URC holds a public forum for all members of the University community every year. Attendance from undergraduate students has been sparse in past years, Schwartz said, adding that he strongly encourages all students interested to attend. This year’s forum will be Nov. 7 at 12 p.m. in Petteruti Lounge.

4 feature

the brown daily herald wednesday, september 26, 2012

Canadian activist Students delay studies to serve protests tuition hikes

By Alexa Pugh

Senior staff writer

By Sarah PerelMan Contributing Writer

Education is not something that should be bought, said Canadian student activist Guillaume Legault, who earlier this year led a strike of hundreds of thousands of students who took to Quebec’s streets to protest a hike in college tuition. Legault spoke about these efforts and encouraged students to take action on social issues Tuesday night in Salomon 001.

“People from all different classes, all different situations and origins were there, and it was beautiful to see the diversity of people getting involved,” Legault said of the strike.

The struggle began when the Quebec government warned student activist groups of an upcoming bill that would lift regulations on tuition increases, allowing a 70 percent rise in tuition. The government offered to discuss the terms of the bill, but when the student groups realized the government was not going to listen to their complaints a large demonstration began outside, Legault said.

“We decided to get organized on a national level,” Legault said. “We decided to focus on what we shared, and these were the student issues.”

Legault’s group holds the belief

/ / Ladd page 8 looking at pictures because you can see it for yourself.”

Their mother, Ty, agreed.

“It’s kind of the closest you can get without actually being there,” she said.

Smaller telescopes were also featured on the observation deck, with views of Uranus and Neptune and a double star in the constellation Lyra.

Downstairs, exhibits showcased prints of celestial bodies, antique radios and a centuries-old telescope that once belonged to famed astronomer Benjamin West, professor of mathematics and natural history at Brown from 1786-98.

The opening also drew old friends of the observatory, including Marc Harrison ’92, who served as an astronomy teaching assistant during his time at Brown, and his son and daughter. Now a science teacher and director of diversity planning and services at the Wheeler School, Harrison

that “education is not a commodity — it’s supposed to be for the people,” he said. This ideology lies behind their objection to the tuition hikes and current fight for universal free higher education, he said.

As the campaign progressed, Legault and his fellow activists began to run workshops and use the Internet, videos and posters to maximize student involvement. As the year went on, CLASSE, the now-formed coalition of various student activist groups against tuition hikes, grew vastly in number.

“The government’s response was brutal and arrogant,” Legault said. “It convinced lots of people a student strike was the only option.” Eventually, 105,000 of the 400,000 college students in Quebec were members, he said.

The strikers had a major victory when a new government was elected earlier this year and revoked the bill responsible for the tuition hike. Legault said he still hopes to push toward free higher education, and he will meet with his fellow activists this Saturday to discuss the future for his group.

“I really hope people realize it’s possible to do something,” Legault said. “If you don’t fight, you’re never going to win.”

said he had been at the observatory with his children several times.

He called the observatory a “community anchor” and resource that more people should be aware of, adding that the main draw was the staff ’s commitment to astronomy and science outreach.

“The sky never changes,” he said.

“I come back for the people.”

Looking forward (and upward) “It’s like a whole new world in there,” staff astronomer Francine Jackson said, adding the renovations were closer to the observatory’s original 1891 appearance.

What cannot be restored is the state of Providence’s skies. Both natural weather and recent light pollution have complicated star-gazing in Providence, Jackson said. But the level of starlight, she said, still makes astronomy accessible to amateurs just beginning to gaze skyward.

“This is a great place to be introduced to the sky,” she said.

blogdailyherald.com

At a time when most 18-year-olds are anxiously awaiting their college acceptances, some students find a different kind of letter in the mail — one calling them to serve in their national militaries.

Of the over 90 countries represented at Brown, at least 25 require some form of military service from their male citizens. The Office of International Student and Scholar Services is informed when international students take time off to complete military service but does not keep track of the number of students who enlist, said the office’s director Elke Breker.

Not all students must interrupt their college education to serve. Depending on the country, male citizens can either defer enlistment until after they have completed their degree or serve immediately upon reaching the age of conscription, usually 18 or 20 years of age.

Clifton Yeo ’14 chose to complete his mandatory two years of service with the Singaporean military before

feature

especially as an international student living far from home.

“It was really the cliche boys-tomen thing where suddenly you just grow up,” he said.

Marching men For Andrew Choi ’13, college dorm living isn’t all that different from life in the barracks. Choi spent two years at Tufts University before he took leave to serve as a translator in the Korean military, after which he transferred to Brown. He was positioned at a U.S. Army base, where the conditions were probably better than for most other conscripts, he said. Choi had a single room in a suite-style living arrangement and ate meals in a dining hall.

But days started at 6 a.m. with an hour-long group run, after which breakfast was served, and he reported to the office by 9 a.m. Soldiers have to be ready to execute orders handed down by higher officers at any time, he said. Conscripts start out at the bottom and work their way up the ranks, typically reaching the sergeantstatus by the end of their two years of mandatory service.

The day-to-day experience of a conscripted soldier depends on the

“It was really the cliche boys-to-men thing where suddenly you just grow up.”

Clifton Yeo ‘14

coming to Brown. He has also accepted a scholarship from the military, which provides him with four years of funding at Brown in exchange for six more years of service after he graduates. Joining the military straight after high school can be a difficult transition, he said.

“A common mind-set would be ‘Oh my goodness, why am I wasting two years of my life having to do national service for my country. … All the girls are going straight to college and carrying on with their lives,’” he said. “It tends to be pretty negative.”

Personal time becomes precious when you’re in camp training Mondays to Fridays, or Mondays to Saturdays, he said.

But when the initial negativity subsides, the experience can become incredibly formative, Yeo said. The sense of camaraderie gained by enduring tough conditions is difficult to replicate in civilian life, he said. Being responsible for others and living on his own prepared him for college,

unit he’s placed in, said Alon Galor ’15, who plans to serve in the Israeli Army after he graduates. Soldiers also alternate spending time guarding the Israeli border. In elite units, access to cell phones and the Internet is very limited, and typical days can last up to 15 or 16 hours.

“They’re having an awful time for the most part — they’re away from home for really long periods of time,” he said. “But for the most part they know how important it is, and they’re very proud of being in the army.”

Call of duty Galor’s situation is somewhat unique — he was born in the U.S. but lived in Israel until he was 12, when his family returned to Providence.

Though he is currently considered a “part-time (Israeli) citizen” and can only live in Israel four months out of the year until he turns 26, he will immediately be granted full citizenship if he serves in the military.

And he very nearly did — Galor

enlisted just weeks before starting his freshman year, but a last-minute decision by his parents led him to defer and come to Brown instead.

Galor’s determination to join the military comes from his commitment to protecting the existence of a Jewish state, especially given recent political turmoil with countries like Iran.

Israel and Iran’s historically volatile relationship has recently escalated to include threats of nuclear war.

Galor said he understands the potential threat to his life, but remains committed to the idea of joining a combat unit rather than accepting an intelligence position.

“Someone has to die, someone has to risk their life, why should it be someone else rather than me?” Galor said. “We’re both human, and we’re both fighting for the same cause.”

A veteran perspective Yeo took an interest in American military policy after taking SOC 1871N: “Military Health: The Quest for Healthy Violence” last semester, where he said he enjoyed being able to apply his real-world experiences in an academic setting. He received an Undergraduate Teaching and Research Award to research American veteran health with the class’s instructor, Richard Smith, postdoctoral fellow in sociology.

“It really opened my eyes to military service beyond Singapore — I really just have the utmost respect for the veterans in the U.S.,” Yeo said.

“They are the ones who have really gone to real combat, they are the ones who have seen all the violence and all the horrors of war — realities that I fortunately didn’t have to see.”

At Brown, the Office of Veteran Services and Commissions opened earlier this year to help both national and international veterans adjust to university life. Still, Galor said he finds that general national support for veterans is much stronger in Israel compared to the U.S. Galor added that most people respect his commitment to join the military, but he recognizes that many of his peers have different priorities.

Yeo said his own time in the military changed his perspective on college life. “Coming to Brown, I wasn’t really into the drinking, partying, socializing scene,” he said.

“It’s actually quite good for the young people to take some time off and serve in the army,” said Choi, who found the military to be a beneficial break from academia. “It makes you a lot more appreciative of what you have.”

the brown daily herald wednesday, september 26, 2012

science & research 5 Consumer behavior study provides marketing insight

By Sonia Phene Contributing Writer

Lauren Chan / Herald

Student-led programs such as mentoring, tutoring and outdoor leadership have been a core part of the Swearer Center for Public Service, which has integrated education and community outreach for 25 years.

/ / Swearer page 1 gathered at Sayles Hall to officially open the center in the spring of 1987.

Swearer outlined a three-step method to facilitate the University’s engagement in public service. He first called for the relationship between service and educational experiences to be redefined. Then, he said public service must be integrated into the curriculum, and lastly, students and faculty must consider the nature and philosophy of education.

“In the past, if students were interested in doing a project there were ways, but there wasn’t any centralized place where they could go. It was hit or miss,” Susan Stroud, the first director of the center, told The Herald in September 1986.

A year later, Stroud joined firstyears on the ground in Providence to help build the home for low-income families.

“It was a great feeling as a wall went up,” she told The Herald in September 1987.

But five years after the center opened and three years after his resignation as University president, Swearer died suddenly, shaking the Brown community. They honored him by giving the Center for Public Service the Swearer name.

“The dedication of the Brown student body, which devotes tens of thousands of hours in Providence and Rhode Island each year, is part of the legacy of Howard Swearer and is among his most precious gifts to Brown,” former President Vartan Gregorian told The Herald in November 1991.

Many students who come to the Swearer Center want to learn more about Providence, Nozaki said, and encouraging students to serve the community around Brown has been the organizing principle of many activities at the center.

Lasting leadership Some programs established during the center’s first years are still active today, Nozaki said. These programs include student-led tutoring, mentoring and outdoor leadership in the community. Fellowship programs that provide funding for student-driven projects and faculty initiatives are also still in place.

Almost one month ago, new students and President Christina Paxson came together to participate in discussions as part of the University

Community Academic Advising Program, a pre-orientation program focused on students who want public service to be a main component of their next four years.

Students asked “incredible” questions about the school and the role of the president, Paxson told an audience gathered on Monday to celebrate the anniversary. “There is something magical and wonderful about the ability to integrate public service with education and research,” she said.

It was amazing “to do work that I actually cared about,” said Drew Heckman ’13 of his summer experience as a C.V. Starr Fellow. Heckman started a network for LGBTQ young people in his Nebraska hometown. The program connects high school students with older members of the LGBTQ community, giving students a chance to meet people who are open about their sexuality.

Just the idea that people in Nebraska can be comfortable in their own skin makes a huge impact on the students in the program, Heckman said. “For a lot of them, this is worldchanging,” he said.

The C.V. Starr Fellowship is a 15-month fellowship that gives students the training and resources to enact their ideas in social innovation for public service, according to the fellowship website. The center was originally founded on a grant from the C.V. Starr Foundation, which awards grants to focus on service and philanthropy.

Swearer turns silver In celebration of the Swearer Center’s first 25 years, students, community leaders, University administrators and employees of the center gathered Monday night at the Steel Yard. Speakers included Nozaki, Paxson and Brent Kerman, principal of D’Abate Elementary School.

The Rhode Island Urban Debate League is a high school education program affiliated with the center and offers urban high school students the chance to find and project their voices and ideas through debate, according to the program’s website.

David Scofield ’13, a RIUDL community fellow, said “watching the confidence of the students build over time” was his favorite thing about participating in the program. Debaters are “building advocacy for their own lives,” he said.

Rafael Torres, a junior at Alvarez High School who participates in RIUDL, spoke at Monday’s celebration,

asking the audience to look beyond the assumption that the league is just about arguing.

With all these programs, the Swearer Center tries to maintain a core dedication to “the belief that universities should be engaged in the social issues of their time” and that community engagement is central to the Brown education, Nozaki said. These reflect the important aspects of President Swearer’s vision for the center.

Nozaki said he was excited by discussions with Paxson centering on “public engagement and social impact.” Her background seems to line up with the mission of the center, Nozaki said, adding that he cannot wait to plan for the future.

But Nozaki said that in the 25 years the Swearer Center has been in existence, the directors have aimed to keep the path of the center true to its namesake’s vision. This may mean maintaining the enthusiasm that characterized the first class to be a part of the center.

“It’s great to see the community of Brown working with the community of Providence,” Stephanie Waecker ’91 told The Herald in 1987. “I can’t wait to go back to my dorm and say, ‘I built a house today.’”

“The more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know,” Albert Einstein once said. For some people, learning increases motivation, but for others, confronting lack of knowledge only begets frustration.

Researchers at Brown and the University of Colorado at Boulder found these different responses to knowledge apply to consumer behavior. They discovered that as a product is explained, “explanation fiends” will pay more for it, while “explanation foes” become dissatisfied and are less likely to pay for it. The findings were published online in the Journal of Consumer Research Sept. 17.

The team categorized consumers as either fiends or foes based on their performance on the Cognitive Reflection Test, a simple three-question test where the intuitive answers are incorrect. Coming up with the right answer requires double-checking one’s instinct and putting in extra thought. Scoring low on the CRT indicates a foe, while a high scorer is most likely a fiend. “(The score is) picking up directly on people’s tendency to use intuition,” said Steven Sloman, professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences and an author of the study.

“It is proven to be very predictive, very powerful in determining to what degree people think things through.”

High CRT scorers, or explanation fiends, appreciate more detail, and their willingness to buy a product increases with explanation depth. Low scorers, or explanation foes, realizing how little they actually know about a product as they are exposed to more information, are less likely to buy the product. Their “illusion of explanatory depth” — or mistaken belief in their understanding­— is shattered.

The CRT is not a measure of how smart a person is. “The CRT is weakly correlated with intelligence. For al-

— With additional reporting by Jordan Hendricks

Thank you for reading!

comics Join The Club | Simon Henriques

Cashew Apples | Will Ruehle

most everyone, the intuitive answer comes to mind,” Sloman said.

But the score and this study do give many insights into marketing. “For marketers, one implication is that it is a good idea to tailor your messages to different audiences,” said Philip Fernbach, lead author of the study and assistant professor of marketing at Leeds School of Business at University of Colorado at Boulder. “For consumers, the implication is that we have a false sense that we understand. We should try and second-guess that.”

“There are lots of differences in how people try to understand the world. If you want to talk to consumers about something new, you need to address how they are going to process your explanation,” Robert St. Louis ’11.5, who helped with the research, wrote in an email to The Herald.

The practical applications will require more research, Sloman said, but salespeople might use the findings when gauging a consumer’s reaction as they explain a product in order to determine the appropriate level of detail to give, he said.

“I’m not in position to make decisions about what goes in an ad,” wrote St. Louis, who works on the consumer research side of an advertising agency, “but I think this knowledge is really important for the industry.”

The implications of the study go well beyond consumer research.

Fernbach and Sloman have an upcoming paper that looks at political extremism, Fernbach said. They find that the “illusion of explanatory depth” could contribute to people taking extreme views on issues.

“People generally think they understand things very well,” Sloman said. “But then when you ask them to explain it — how Obamacare would settle national health issues, for example — they realize how little they know. Then when you ask their opinions, people tend to be more moderate.”

6 editorial Editorial

Editorial cartoon b y lo r e n f u lto n

WE ARE ... Brown State Cleric and writer Charles Caleb Colton once said, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” This weekend, Brown became something else. We tossed the hipster frames and donned the bro shades. We exchanged the Polo Ralph Lauren cashmere for matching white tank tops. We stopped discussing gender spectrums and over-saturated our lexica with “dude” and “brah.”

For one magical afternoon, we were no longer Brown University. We were united, we were whole and we may not have been sober. We were Brown State University. But was the imitation in the spirit of flattery — or mockery?

To be a state university, an institution must be publicly funded and subsidized by its home state. Thus, if Brown State University were to exist past the weekend, students would inevitably pay lower tuition but also likely receive less financial aid. But this cannot be the case for Brown State — after all, the University actually gives funds to Rhode Island instead of receiving them.

Being Brown State, even if for only a weekend, gives students a rare opportunity to imitate college as many may have always dreamt it. At large schools like Penn State and the University of Florida, Saturday gameday is considered by many students to be the highlight of the week.

This kind of raucous atmosphere is not something that Brown students often experience. At schools like Brown, students usually unite around important social and political causes. While this is admirable, we think that a healthy dose of supporting fellow students through a spirited, nationally televised football game is a perfect complement to the occasional doldrums of projects such as fighting for financial aid provision and encouraging divestment campaigns.

We believe that being Brown State University, aside from giving us an excuse to overindulge, actually provides Brown students a chance to reflect on just how different we are from a state school. While the University has many attributes that larger schools do not, it also lacks many positive qualities of a state school.

And though students love Brown’s combination of top-notch research opportunities and a diverse liberal arts curriculum, students at larger schools carry a more intense, almost nationalistic pride for their school that we envy. These students wear their schools wherever they go. It’s difficult to walk the streets of a random city and instantly recognize a fellow Brunonian by their Brown apparel — granted, the price of the apparel deserves an editorial in itself.

We do not have chants like Penn State’s “WE ARE,” nor do we have a universally recognized, and hummable, alma mater like Notre Dame’s. Quite possibly the only way we would recognize a fellow Brunonian on the streets is if they ordered a “burger with” at restaurants.

We also need to ask the question of whether we’re fairly representing state universities. The answer is no — we did not do these schools enough justice in our mock portrayal. If a stereotypical student from a state university observed us on Saturday, he or she might be confused by why we weren’t pre-gaming at 6 a.m. and bewildered by our “sipping” of drinks. And we were dismayed by Brown State’s lack of funny and original chants and cheers that are synonymous with any other “student section.”

Brown State University was a fascinating social experiment that also made us think and appreciate more fully what it means to be a Brown student. We would also like to apologize and express gratitude to state universities for giving such a small school the honor to (poorly) emulate such an esteemed model of fellowship and spirit. Though Brown cannot possibly encapsulate every fathomable experience of the ideal college, we’re still pretty happy where we are. Besides, regardless of whether we’re Brown or Brown State, we’ll always hate Harvard.

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

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Correc tion Due to an editing error, a headline and caption in Tuesday’s Herald (“Changed requirement calls for second WRIT course,” Sept. 25) incorrectly said that the new writing requirements call for students in the class of 2015 and beyond to take two writing courses. In fact, students must take one writing course in their first four semesters and either take another writing course or upload proof to the advising website that they have worked on their writing by another means. The Herald regrets the error.

quote of the day

“I can’t wait to go back to my dorm and say, ‘I built a house today.’”

— Stephanie Waecker ’91 See swearer on page 1.

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opinions 7

the brown daily herald wednesday, september 26, 2012

The technology unpocalypse CHARLIE PFAFF Opinions Columnist

I started watching a new show a couple of days ago. “Revolution,” a series created by Eric Kripke, began airing on NBC this fall. J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk are executive producers with Kripke, and the three have quite an impressive resume: “Lost,” “Alias,” “Cloverfield,” “Fringe” and “Supernatural” among others. The premise of their new show is simple: Everything in the world that runs on electricity stops all at once, even batteries. The show starts 15 years after the blackout and shows how the survivors have had to adapt without the technology they had so depended on, growing crops in the middle of their quaint cul-de-sac and concocting their own herbal remedies.

I’m talking about “Revolution” not because I think people should watch it, though it does seem promising, but rather because of the message that it seems to be trying to spread or the dialogue that it’s trying to start. “Revolution” is the latest in the constant string of attacks on the amount of technology that we use today. “You use your iPhone all the time,” it seems to be saying. “You’d be so screwed if you didn’t have it, you stupid moron!”

I, for one, wouldn’t have it any other way.

As technology improves and our use

of it grows, there’s going to be more and more rhetoric deploring our dependence on it and insisting we stick to the ways of the simple past. I’m guilty of it, too.

When I see a second-grader running around with their own cell phone, I can’t help but roll my eyes and question what exactly her parents thought was so important about getting their child a phone that they couldn’t even wait until she’d

Matrix,” “2001: A Space Odyssey” and the “Terminator” have “warned” us of the danger of technology “turning” on us.

People love to provide countless examples of others being technologically literate yet utterly moronic — just check out sites like Failblog and Reddit. It’s as if there’s some kind of inverse relationship between technology usage and IQ level.

Keeping in mind the fact that IQ levels

As technology improves and our use of it grows, there’s going to be more and more rhetoric deploring our dependence on it and insisting we stick to the ways of the simple past.

fully developed her motor skills. But far too often people are paranoid about the effects of technology rather than celebrating its possibilities.

“Revolution” is certainly not the first of its kind. The “post-apocalyptic” plot line has been around since the 19th century. Lately, though, even zombie stories such as the “Walking Dead” have focused the narrative not just on surviving the monsters but also on living without technology. Similarly, stories like “The

have slowly been improving — known as the Flynn Effect — let’s take a moment to appreciate all the ways in which technology has enhanced the way we live. When Microsoft launched its Kinect system as an add-on for the Xbox 360, which allowed motion sense control and a whole host of new games, Microsoft’s customers immediately tweaked Kinect for their own uses, turning it into anything from a 3-D mapper to a rudimentary control system for the air conditioning unit in

their houses. You probably didn’t hear that story, but you do hear stories of idiot teenagers dying at the wheel because they were texting.

Ask yourself, have you ever been to the Cave at Brown? Do you even know what that is? Look it up. You’ll be able to look it up because you’re holding a smartphone in your hand. And you know what else?

That smartphone makes you more attractive to any potential employer, whether you like it or not. Rather than bemoaning the effects that technology has, we should make sure that more people have access to it. By closing the gap between the haves and the have-nots, technology simply becomes less of a factor, but it can still benefit everybody. In short, the prevalence of technology isn’t the problem — it’s the prevalence of technology in certain strata of society and not in others.

Or, hey, maybe we should just throw our technology out the window so everybody’s on the same wavelength. Just to be safe, let’s teach all our kids how to grow vegetables in the backyard just in case everything that runs on batteries suddenly shuts off and never turns back on again.

We’ll need to give them all bows and arrows and maybe even shotguns so they can learn to hunt their own food, too. We can take all the money from the computer science department to do just that.

Charlie Pfaff ’14 didn’t know where the Cave was either. He can be reached at charles_pfaff@brown.edu.

Suffering on the path to freedom Mika zacks Opinions Columnist

The independent watchdog organization Freedom House last week held its annual Awards Dinner in Washington, D.C., an event honoring the courage and sacrifice of individuals struggling for human freedom across the globe.

Previous Freedom Award honorees include instantly recognizable names like Winston Churchill and the 14th Dalai Lama. But the people honored this year are far less recognizable to most Americans, since the liberty they are fighting for does not neatly fit within United States foreign interests. In fact, their efforts are against the Bahraini government, an ally to the U.S. government and the perpetrator of the great injustices done to the Al-Khawaja family and the Bahraini people.

Since popular uprisings first broke out in February 2011, the Bahraini government has been carrying out a campaign of brutal repression against Bahraini activists. The regime has been arresting, torturing and even killing those who commit the “unspeakable crime” of peacefully demanding a freer and more dignified life. Reports of human rights violations have reached the international community, and the regime has been widely criticized by human rights groups and governments. But the situation on the ground remains largely the same, and if possible, it is deteriorating.

In response to occasional looks of disap-

proval and friendly condemnations by the United States, the Bahraini government implemented some reforms. Activists call these “Bahraini-style reforms” — a series of empty promises that more than anything enable the U.S. to believe it is promoting peace and democracy abroad. Practically, these reforms mean that torture has been moved from state prisons to unofficial torture centers.

The connection between U.S. leniency and Bahraini impunity is not lost on the people suffering under the oppressive regime.

While the relationship between the countries remains tight and unthreatened, the ruling

happiness remain American rights.

Maryam, who received the Freedom Award last Thursday on behalf of the AlKhawaja family, has long been pointing out American double standards regarding human freedom. One policy applies to the people of Syria and Egypt, and another to Bahrainis and Gazans. But for Maryam’s family, freedom is not a nationality-based privilege.

Her father, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, one of Bahrain’s most prominent freedom fighters — “terrorist” in Bahraini Newspeak — was arrested in early 2011 and sentenced to life in prison for participating in pro-democracy

The people honored in this year’s Freedom House Awards Dinner are far less recognizable to most Americans, since the liberty they are fighting for does not neatly fit within United States foreign interests.

family has little incentive to pursue significant reform and make meaningful concessions. By refusing to exert its influence and put real pressure on its Persian Gulf buddy, the U.S. effectively becomes a supporter of the human rights violations taking place in the country. Bahraini human rights defender Maryam Al-Khawaja was not exaggerating when she said that the “United States is to Bahrain what Russia is to Syria,” a staunch ally who repeatedly allows its own economic and political interests to outweigh basic human rights. Life, liberty and the pursuit of

protests. Last spring, Al-Khawaja went on a hunger strike, declaring that his choice was between “freedom or death.” Zainab, Maryam’s sister, was detained in August after staging a one-woman protest. She is currently in detention, facing 13 charges.

As people living in this world, we are involved in the struggle for human freedom. As residents of the United States, citizens or foreigners, we are implicated in the consequences of foreign policy and national interest for Bahraini freedom. As members of the Brown community, we are personally connected to

the story of the Al-Khawaja family. Maryam was a Fulbright fellow and a teaching assistant in the Arabic department at Brown. She lived, taught and studied here at our university. Last April, students organized a vigil in solidarity with Maryam’s father. Our solidarity necessarily goes beyond international solidarity. It is a test of our power as a community, of our mutual responsibility and commitment.

It is saddening to note, in this context, that the University never joined the international wave of protests and refused to send a letter to the King of Bahrain regarding Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja’s unlawful imprisonment. Former President Ruth Simmons did assure students of her intentions to write to Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Jack Reed, as she had previously done. Yet Brown’s unwillingness to publicly take a stand for justice — justice that so intimately concerns the life of one of our own — was disheartening.

As I think of Maryam’s extraordinary strength and reflect on her speech at the Freedom House Annual Dinner, I cannot help but feel that as a community, we can do better. At the award ceremony, Maryam read a letter that her sister Zainab wrote in prison: “I open my eyes, and I see the crack in the prison wall. We suffer on the path to freedom, so that someday we can live without suffering, with our rights and dignity.”

It’s only fair that we remember and honor that.

Mika Zacks `15 would like to dedicate this column to Maryam Al-Khawaja and her family, and to all human rights defenders in Bahrain who continue to fight and suffer for freedom.

daily herald campus news the Brown

wednesday, september 26, 2012

Restorations at U. observatory reveal starry skies Ladd Observatory sits about a half mile north of campus, sheltered behind a cluster of trees on the corner of Hope Street and Doyle Street.

After a summer of major renovations to viewing equipment and to the building itself, the observatory reopened Tuesday, drawing a crowd of Providence residents for a unique star-gazing experience.

But the age of the telescope made restoration difficult, Umbricht said.

Though he “dug through patents from 1890” to better understand its mechanics, some aspects of the telescope were not documented, he said. “You just have to figure it out yourself as you go along.”

Umbricht said the observatory plans to continue further restoration work in stages.

“Little by little, we’re restoring various parts of it,” he said.

A work in progress Curator Michael Umbricht said the restorations to the telescope — which included gear replacement and a more historically accurate coat of paint in its clock drive — were the most significant updates made in the past 60 years.

Maintaining the clock drive was particularly important to sustaining the main telescope, Umbricht said.

“As the earth is turning, the stars are going to rise in the east and move across the sky,” he said. Because the observatory was built before the widespread use of electricity, astronomers used the clock drive to follow the stars as they moved, keeping the observed stars centered in their view of the heavens.

Starry, starry night At the stroke of 8 p.m. on Tuesday, people climbed Ladd’s stairs eagerly to get a look at the skies through the telescope. In the dim light of the main observatory room, manager Bob Horton described the large telescope’s featured view: the Moon Maiden, a tip of the rocky edge of a crater.

Discovered by Giovanni Cassini, the outcrop resembles a woman in profile with flowing hair when lit by the sun at a certain angle.

The first people to climb up the telescope’s ladder and take a look were Mya Riviera, 4, and her brother Alonso, 9, both at Ladd for the first time.

“That’s the closest I’ve ever seen the moon in my life,” Alonso said.

“It’s not like / / Ladd page 4

By Elizabeth Koh Senior staff writer

EMILY GILBERT / HERALD

Ladd Observatory’s main telescope, which was part of this summer’s restorations, showed off lunar views Tuesday night.

Faculty profile: Q & A with professor Louis Putterman

By Sona Mkrttchian Senior Staff Writer

In his recent book, “The Good, The Bad, and the Economy,” Professor of Economics Louis Putterman explores the persistence of economic inequality despite vast technological improvements in modern society. His most recent research focuses on behavioral economics.

As part of a new series highlighting faculty members at the University, Putterman sat down with The Herald to discuss the book and the way his work unites anthropology and economics.

The Herald: To begin, could you explain your academic interests and some of your scholarly work?

I’ve been at Brown for a little over 30 years, so my interests have evolved a lot.

I was originally focusing on economic development, specifically in Tanzania and China, but also on organization and production enterprises or firms.

Midway through my career, I was focusing still on China a lot and, in the last decade to decade in a half, I have focused mostly on two areas. One is experimental and behavioral economics, where I conduct decision experiments, some of which students are familiar with through the (Brown University Social Science Experimental Laboratory). The other thing that I work on is long-run economic growth or comparative development.

In a sense, you strayed from your academic roots with this new book.

What made you want to write a book geared toward a more general audience?

Well, I’ve always hoped that what I do professionally has some relevance to the real world. I became a social scientist, in general, and an economist, in

particular, because I hoped that that is a way to contribute to addressing people’s problems — to helping to make better what’s wrong with the world.

How did your experience writing this book differ from your more “scholarly” works?

The style of writing is very different, and I actually was trying my hand at it for more than 10 years. An earlier attempt didn’t quite pan out as I hoped, and it morphed into a semi-academic book, which is called “Dollars and Change: Economics in Context.” That’s sort of on the boundary between a textbook and a general-audience book, but I continued trying to structure something that could succeed as a general-audience book. I also did a lot of reading of books for general audiences by mostly historians, but also people in evolutionary biology (and) psychologists. I read a lot of books trying to convey ideas from scientific research and academic research to broad audiences. Partly to get some insight into how to pitch my material — what the right style would be. It is a very different skill.

What inspired or sparked the idea behind “The Good, the Bad, and the Economy?”

Basically it’s the idea that the human social world that we inhabit seems a lot less ideal than it could be. To put it really simply: Why is the world a rotten place?

Examples of this rottenness are many, but to list a few of them: It includes the existence of poverty, in rich countries but especially in poor countries, it includes high levels of economic insecurity for people. Even in rich countries, it includes high levels of stress because of the demands of economic survival or success — trying to become economically successful and acquire a higher

living standard, more material goods — and in a very narrow sense, just looking at the way the economy functions, the seeming irrationality that we have idle productive capacities. We have people who want to work but can’t find work, we have factories that are idle, and at the same time, we have a vast amount of unmet needs: people who are hungry, people who are not clothed, people who are not properly housed. So is this some organizational failure, a failure to use our resources in a rational way?

What do you hope readers take away from the book?

There’s a bunch of links. The first link is that our problems are at least as much caused by human nature or human psychology or the motivational requirements of getting people to do things as they are caused by any sort of material conditions — like not having made the necessary scientific discoveries or found sufficient resources.

Organizing and motivating are essential to what the world succeeds at and what the world fails at. Therefore we need to understand human nature and human behavior, first and foremost, before we can attempt to make the world better.

In a sense, that’s just an advertisement for social science — that it’s important.

The next link would be that there’s a narrow or old-fashioned view proposed by economics against which I am arguing throughout the book. The narrow view is that people are fundamentally self-interested and rational, so human behavior is explained by the pursuit of self-interest, and this self-interest is not constrained by moral concerns, according to this narrow viewpoint. The economic theory has traditionally been developed to show what are the implications of that assumption about human nature, and how can it explain various

observations about the real world. How do we tweak or manipulate our rational self-interested interests to explain our organizational or other outcomes? I would argue that this selfish, rational view of human nature implies that there are sharp constraints or limits on the ability of people to cooperate with each other to achieve common ends. Much of the book deals with the research in behavioral economics and related fields showing that people are much more complex than this model of rational self-interest implies.

At Brown, students are encouraged to explore their wide variety of interests, but balancing interests in different disciplines is always difficult — how do you reconcile and manage interests as varied as economics and anthropology, intellectually?

I guess the short answer is I don’t know, but I just did it. Partly, it’s a matter of leaving some time just to explore, at least to some modest degree, areas outside of a narrow specialty. I feel the last 20 years, especially, have convinced me that it is possible for non-specialists to understand a lot about many fields of knowledge without necessarily understanding all of the details. So, you do not have to overspecialize.

And how do you apply this balance to the courses that you teach?

I always look at the topics that I teach about from a variety of viewpoints and try to introduce alternative points of view and consider the larger context. So, for example, when looking at the economy of China, I bring in the research I’ve been doing about comparative development in the long run, trying to explain why one might expect China to be a dynamic economy today, based on an understanding of

courtesy of Brown university

which regions were most economically dynamic in the world over a thousandyear period. I find this very relevant.

How do you maintain the balance between teaching, doing research and serving as a political commentator?

And do you think its important for academics to attempt this balance?

Well, as to how to maintain it, I’m very new at trying to do the more public kind of writing and the academic at the same time, so it’s hard to say whether I will succeed. But there are only 24 hours in the day, so you just have to make a lot of hard decisions about what you are going to do a little more of and what you are going to do a little less of.

It’s also the case that I’ve been a tenured professor for a long time, and I have leeway that a junior professor or graduate student just hoping to land the job doesn’t necessarily have. So hopefully one finds a situation that gives you that degree of freedom, but it can take some time. It’s certainly a matter of judgment.

I guess I would say — with a touch of humor — that I think I’m in favor of political reactionary economists sticking to narrowly academic work, and only progressive ones should get into the public arena.