daily herald the Brown
vol. cxxii, no. 115
INSIDE
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Renovate Ratty The Ratty will undergo renovations in spring 2014
College enrollment dips, but U. apps remain high By Mathias Heller Senior Staff Writer
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Sword strife U. persists in lawsuit over an allegedly stolen sword Page 7
Brown identity Gianotti ’13 laments Brown’s lack of communal identity. today
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tomorrow
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since 1891
tuesday, december 4, 2012
National college enrollment numbers dipped in 2011 for the first time in 15 years, but higher education experts do not believe lower total matriculation will have an immediate effect on Brown’s admission process. Enrollment decreased by only one percentage point, but this is its first decline since 1996, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. “The plateau, at least among students transitioning to four-year colleges, is something we’ve expected,” and is likely due to a smaller number of high school seniors, said David Hawkins, director of public policy and research at the National Association for College Admission Counseling. But Hawkins cautioned against drawing too many conclusions about the application process itself from the slight
decrease in college enrollment. He said the growing popularity of the Common Application could continue to facilitate larger application pools, especially at elite universities. “The number of applications that institutions like Brown receive is ultimately going to continue to grow,” Hawkins said, adding that policy decisions could also have a substantial effect on future admission trends. Other admission experts echoed Hawkins’ assessment. Steven Goodman, head of Top Colleges admission consulting, said the 2011 decrease in college enrollment does not mean the Ivy League admissions game will become less competitive. “Brown University is not the average school,” Goodman said. “There are two Americas.” Eric Hoover, senior writer for admission at the Chronicle of Higher Educa/ / Apps page 4 tion, said elite
pax s o n p r e ac h e s
sam kase / herald
President Christina Paxson addressed audience members at Monday’s Invitational Lecture in the Humanities about health inequality.
As Banner streamlines registration, kinks persist Providence elementary school files for charter By Alexa Pugh
Senior Staff Writer
After lagging behind peers with digitized pre-registration systems for years, the University went live with Banner, its current online registration system, in the winter of 2007. Almost five years later, improvements to the system have created a versatile tool that has outpaced registration tools at institutions that use the same basic software. Still, students and faculty deal with pre-registration and shopping period woes, and the University continues to seek ways to improve the system, according to University Registrar Robert Fitzgerald. Kickin’ it old school Before Banner went live, the University relied on an in-person registra-
tion system that predated the adoption of the Open Curriculum in 1969. Students were required to submit paper forms to the Office of the Registrar, which was then located in University Hall. Lines of students could stretch down the corridor and even wind down the stairs, Fitzgerald said. “When you look at the entire spectrum of higher ed, we were really late,” Fitzgerald said. “We never went through telephone registration or anything — we just went cold turkey in 2007.” No course enrollment caps were in place in the old system, and students could register for classes that met at the same time or for multiple sections of the same class. “In limited enrollment courses, it was a major frustration point for a lot students,” Fitzgerald said. “Even
though the course could have been limited to 20 students, you could have 500 students actually signed up for that course.” The old system did not enforce enrollment restrictions such as concentrations or pre-requisites, which meant students often did not find out they were ineligible to take a course until the first day of the semester, Fitzgerald said. “Even though they had theoretically pre-registered on a piece of paper … the chances of them getting into that actual course were kind of a crapshoot,” he said.
A banner year The number of students who drop limited enrollment courses during shopping period has decreased in the five years since Banner was im-
plemented, Fitzgerald said. Banner’s automatic restrictions on enrollment have given professors more control over the amount of students from different grade levels and concentrations they want in their courses, he added. At the time of the switch, students feared the practice would interfere with the freedom of the Open Curriculum, but Fitzgerald said professors’ ability to issue override codes kept the curriculum’s spirit in place. “If you want to get into any class, you can,” said Isaac MacDonald ’15. “Pre-registration is the way you can feel confident and not worry about getting into the class.” Pre-registration figures are helpful for deans and advisors to determine a student’s academic standing, or to ensure to third parties that a student / / Banner page 2 plans to enroll
Tensions arise as food truck community grows By sophie flynn staff writer
Herald File Photo
Students line up outside Mama Kim’s, a member of Thayer Street’s vibrant food truck community. The truck is one of several regulars on the block.
As the food truck scene’s prominence on Thayer Street continues to grow, so does the dialogue among truck owners and Thayer restauranteurs as they seek to find their niche. Frustration among food truck owners has cropped up as some owners have accused other trucks of parking illegally or in a manner that is discourteous to Thayer restaurants — specifically, parking near or north of Waterman Street, according to tweets reported in BlogDailyHerald. Some managers of restaurants near the intersection of Thayer and Waterman streets voiced concerns that trucks sometimes park illegally, in addition to siphoning off business while paying no rent. But other restaurant owners said trucks have not posed a problem. According to some food truck owners, reminders about where to park are aimed at strengthening the food truck community.
“We’re a community — bad behavior reflects on all of us,” Plouf Plouf Gastronomie tweeted Nov. 15. Plouf Plouf owner Mario Molliere said the newer food trucks “park illegally everywhere,” even in places where private vehicles cannot park. Molliere added that his concerns stem from complaints received from nearby restaurants as well as situations in which Providence Police Department officers have told trucks to park elsewhere. Rocket Fine Street Food employees have voiced their concerns on Twitter as well. The food truck tweeted at fellow truck, Radish, Nov. 11: “Respect the restaurants, keep your distance.” Co-owner of Rocket Patricia Natter said tweets between the trucks are the owners “watching out for each other.” Natter added that Rocket supports other trucks through Twitter as well. “We retweet a lot of the other trucks’ tweets. We always say, when we’re in a location, the other trucks that are with us,” she said. But some truck owners said they have / / Trucks page 5 experienced no
By Alexander Blum Staff writer
Frank D. Spaziano Elementary School recently became the only school in the Providence Public School District to vote in favor of becoming a district charter school. On Friday afternoon, the elementary school formally filed its application with the Rhode Island Department of Education, one day before the deadline, said Christina O’Reilly, communications director for the Providence School Department. This September, Providence Schools Superintendent Susan Lusi wrote a letter urging Providence schools to consider transitioning to district charters beginning in the 2013-14 academic year. Several schools showed interest in the plan, but Spaziano was the only school able to make the Dec. 1 deadline to apply. District charters are community-based programs worth pursuing because they serve as “beacons of excellence” that “transform education in the state,” said Elliot Krieger, spokesperson for the Rhode Island Department of Education. Three of the 16 current charter schools in the PPSD system are currently districtoperated, he added. But Spaziano’s future as a charter school is far from certain — its application is currently pending approval from RIDE. Professor of Education Kenneth Wong said he hopes that the district “(uses) rigorous criteria to consider the proposal,” and does not neglect / / Charter page 4
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