Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Page 1

Daily

Herald

the Brown

vol. cxlviii, no. 10

INSIDE

Page 2

Ambassador visit Rao says U.S. will increase relations with India and Asia

Kappa Delta approved as U.’s newest sorority The new addition to Greek life comes in time for the start of recruitment season By Brittany Nieves Senior STaff Writer

Page 4

Twitter talk Co-founder speaks at RISD about entrepreneurship Page 5

Urban farming City agricultural project invigorates community today

30 / 25

tomorrow

39 / 19

since 1891

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

The Kappa Delta Sorority will join Kappa Alpha Theta and Alpha Chi Omega this year as the third sorority on campus in response to increasing student demand for another sorority, the Panhellenic Council announced Feb. 1. The year-long selection process to bring Kappa Alpha Theta to campus was spurred by unmet student demand for another sorority that would have otherwise forced the University’s current sororities to become more selective in their recruitment processes or to increase the number of women accepted, said Lena Weiss ’13, president of the Panhellenic Council and member of Alpha Chi Omega. It is unclear when Residential Council

will make its final decision on whether Kappa Delta will be a residential sorority this year, but the sorority is applying for the available space in Harkness House on Patriots Court, said Kate Tompkins, assistant director of summer and special programs, which includes Greek housing. The final decision was made Feb. 1., after which Kappa Delta was included in the Panhellenic Council’s recruitment kick-off Sunday. The committee pushing for the new sorority was composed of the Panhellenic Council’s executive board members, as well as the Kappa Alpha Theta and Alpha Chi Omega presidents, The Herald previously reported. The committee submitted a profile of Brown and filled out a questionnaire for the national conference, which then put forth a bulletin expressing Brown’s interest in a new sorority, Tompkins said. The 26 nationally-recognized sororities of the Panhellenic Conference then had the opportunity to apply. Over the past six months, several representatives flew in for meetings with Tompkins to / / Sorority page 2

DavID deckey / herald

Kappa Delta’s arrival will relieve pressure on other sororities to be more selective, said Panhellenic Council President Lena Weiss ’13.

Advocacy group ranks R.I. public schools fifth in nation BEAR StudentsFirst praises R.I. teacher evaluations but criticizes parent policies and lack of transparency By casey bleho contributing writer

Rhode Island’s public education system was ranked fifth in the nation in a January report from StudentsFirst, the advocacy group founded by education reform proponent Michelle Rhee. While only receiving a grade of “C+,” Rhode Island scored higher than neighboring Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut. Eleven other states received failing grades from the organization. StudentsFirst aims to improve the American public education system by building a nation-wide grassroots movement geared toward pursuing

education reform, according to StudentsFirst’s website. The State Policy Report Card was created “to evaluate each state’s educational laws and policies,” and thereby evaluate how the state is crafting education systems that matches “the needs of all children and puts them on a path towards success,” according to the website. Unlike traditional achievement evaluations, which may focus on school-wide performance on standardized tests, , the StudentsFirst report card assesses state education policies, according to a Jan. 7 StudentsFirst press release. Using a traditional A-to-F letter

We all scream for ice cream

grade system to evaluate and rank the efficacy of education policies in all 50 states, the StudentsFirst rubric evaluated the systems based on their teaching policies, parent-school relationships and finances. StudentsFirst described Rhode Island as “a leader in education reform” in its report, citing the state’s efforts to strengthen the teacher evaluation process and government willingness to intervene in struggling school districts. The report also praised the state’s accountability measures to ensure the wise allocation of resources. “They gave us a lot of credit because we are one of the few states who use an evaluation system that is not a teacher-specific evaluation system, but rather an educator evaluation system,” meaning that principals, school leaders

Urban farms sprout under community care Providence’s Lots of Hope partnership seeks to expand thriving urban agriculture practices By KATHERINE CUSUMANO SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The plot of land at the corner of Slocum and Almy Streets in Providence’s West Side has seen better days — the old building’s brown paint is peeling, slats are stripping from its walls and a fading sign reads “Providence Head Start,” a faint trace of the school it once housed. But the parking lot out front is home to rows upon rows of dirt mounds out of which small shrubs and plants, the remnants of last year’s

Feature

Alexandra Urban / Herald

The Class Board hosts the Class of 2015 ice cream social in Petteruti Lounge for “Sophomore Slump Month.”

and the Commissioner on Education are also evaluated, said Elliot Krieger, executive assistant for communications for the Rhode Island Commissioner of Education. But StudentsFirst also criticized Rhode Island’s system for its lack of transparency and communication with families, awarding Rhode Island a “D+” in this category. “We lost points in part because schools do not notify parents of the evaluation that each teacher receives,” Krieger said. “We believe the teacher’s individual rating is a private matter not to be publicized.” Massachusetts — which has historically led the country in test scores and student performance — received an overall grade of “D-,” scoring lower / / Schools page 5 than Rhode Is-

planting season, are visible. A small stone Buddha rests under a gnarly tree. In the back, massive piles of compost wait for the next season of planting. A quaint, rusty sign labels Nathaniel Wood’s most recent urban farming endeavor, Front Step Farm. After two years of renting another lot in Providence, one that was previously empty for about 70 years, Wood found himself ousted from the property when his landlord sold it to a neighboring nonprofit without his knowledge, he said. This provoked a massive community letter-writing campaign to prevent the nonprofit organization from receiving a grant to plant the land that had previously been Wood’s, he said. But the city wanted Wood to remain in Providence, he said. The Lots / / Farms page 5 of Hope pro-

day lauds dedicated staff A large crowd joined President Paxson to celebrate the work of University staff members By Aparaajit sriram Senior Staff Writer

“When your spouse or loved one or child asks you, ‘What did you do today?’, you probably don’t say, ‘I helped put a child through college,’ or ‘I supported first-rate, cutting-edge research for the common good,’” quipped President Christina Paxson Monday to a filled-tocapacity Salomon 101 crowd of University staff employees and their families. “The truth is — this is what you do.” Paxson’s speech was a part of her first-ever Brown Employee Appreciation and Recognition Day — BEAR Day — to celebrate staff members and their service to the University. BEAR Day, established by former President Ruth Simmons in 2005 as an annual event, offers special recognition for staff members who have served some increment of 5 years, from those completing their fifth year working at the University to those completing their 30th. It also honors roughly 25 Excellence Award recipients each year — individuals and teams who have done outstanding work at the University — in the areas of citizenship, diversity, efficiency, innovation, managing for excellence, rising star and service, according to the Human Resources website. Katherine Tameo, director of finance and administration for the Of/ / BEAR page 4 fice of Campus


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.