Daily
THE BROWN
vol. cxlviii, no. 34
INSIDE
Page 2
Pension caps
R.I. judge upholds pension plan as ‘fair’
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013
Paxson’s support is as a ‘local business owner’ and is separate from any University advocacy By ADAM TOOBIN
Higher ed dead? Madison ’16 questions the value of a college degree Page 8
Man your script A conservator spoke about manuscript preservation today
53 / 31
tomorrow
40 / 24
since 1891
Paxson endorses same-sex marriage in R.I.
CITY & STATE EDITOR
Page 7
Herald
President Christina Paxson signed a petition in February calling for the Rhode Island General Assembly to legalize same-sex marriage. Her signature on the petition marks the first time she has taken a public stance on the issue. Paxson signed onto the Rhode Island Business Leaders for Marriage Equality Pledge because “it is an issue (she) feels strongly about and one that she believes the General Assembly should address for a number of reasons, including those stated in the petition,” Vice President for Public Affairs and University Relations Marisa Quinn wrote in an email to The Herald.
CITY & STATE
She was the only president of a Rhode Island college or university to sign the petition. The petition — sponsored by Rhode Islanders United for Marriage — highlights the possible economic benefits to the state from allowing same-sex marriage but adds that expanding the definition of marriage to encompass gay and lesbian couples is the only way that “every employee or potential employee will be treated fairly.” On the petition, Paxson is identified as a local business leader and her title is indicated as “President, Brown University.” But Quinn distinguished between Paxson’s personal support for same-sex marriage and official University advocacy for the policy. “We did not add Brown to the listing as an institution nor did we authorize the use of the logo, which were options on the pledge,” Quinn wrote. The Rhode Island House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill Jan. 24 that would legalize samesex marriage, / / Marriage page 2
EMILY GILBERT / HERALD
Paxson has announced her support for a petition that advocates marriage equality in Rhode Island. Herald file photo.
Janus to cosponsor gun violence forums with Paxson U. parking ‘Guns in America,’ a Janus Forum miniseries, will feature speakers debating issues of gun violence By SABRINA IMBLER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The Political Theory Project will cosponsor a three-part Janus Forum Lecture miniseries with the Office of the President starting this Thursday entitled “Guns in America” to address gun culture, gun violence and the question of gun ownership based on mental health. “Guns in America” differs from normal Janus forums only in its format as a miniseries and its inclusion of three speakers, rather than two, in each discussion, said Janus Forum Executive Director Haakim Nainar ’14. Each two-hour event will take place in MacMillan 117. “We wanted to have as broad a discussion as possible,” he added.
Janus planned on holding a conversation about guns before the president’s office extended significant resources — including funding — to the organization, Nainar said. “But when the president reached out to us, we fast-tracked that item on our agenda,” he said. Paxson emailed the community at the end of last semester to say she intended to promote a campus-wide dialogue about gun violence in the wake of the December Newtown shootings. The events deliberately exclude the phrase “gun control” to avoid predisposing the discussion to any specific topic, Nainar said. The first forum, “Guns in America: Reducing Crime,” will take place Thursday and feature Carl Bogus, a
professor of law at Roger Williams University; Steven Lippmann, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Louisville; and John Lott, the author of “More Guns, Less Crime.” The following two forums will feature authors, professors and leaders of organizations dealing with gun violence. The Janus Steering Committee and Executive Board chose these speakers while formulating proposals for each event, Nainar said. “We were thinking about the different aspects we wanted to explore in each topic and how to get the best perspectives on each event,” Nainar said. “It’s definitely not your generic pro-guns, anti-guns thing.” Janus also worked to gather suggestions for topics and speakers from members of the community, said Sam Gilman ’15, director of the Janus Forum Steering Committee.
The Janus Forum has no current plans to continue the discussion of guns in America after the conclusion of the miniseries, Nainar said. “We could have had just another lecture on constitutional law, but that wasn’t what we thought would be the most helpful,” Nainar said. “There’s so much about guns in America that’s not covered by the Second Amendment discussion but still in so many aspects of American life that it requires some introspection.” Some students praised this approach to the issue of gun violence. “It’s good to look at it as a practical issue in terms of realistic solutions,” said Jessica Steans-Gail ’16. Collaborating with the president’s office has allowed Janus to advertise the miniseries on the official University website, but all other publicity has been conducted in accordance with / / Guns page 5 usual Janus
Close to home: Nearby professors blend home, work lives Professors who reside near the University use their accessibility to home life to foster ties with students By EMILY PASSARELLI STAFF WRITER
Though his office hours were ending in two minutes, Professor of Music David Josephson still had time to meet with the final student waiting outside his door. As a professor who lives close to campus, Josephson was not on a tight schedule. Brown’s mission to create an environment in which students can best learn, discover and serve the community can be easier to uphold, some professors said, if they live in the community. Professors working within two miles of their residences can transition between their desks at home — away from the distractions of University life —
FEATURE
and their desks in their offices. With their two workspaces so close together, professors can shape their daily schedules without the constraints of a long commute. Josephson said he cannot imagine how professors who live away from campus can effectively support the creation of a community and provide the best help for students. “You just cannot do collaborative work by telephone,” he added. Some professors who live nearby reach out to students by inviting them for meals at their own homes as a chance to get to know each other outside the classroom. Michelle Graff ’13 works as a Meiklejohn with Professor of Geological Sciences Jan Tullis and dined at her house with their advisees last year.
Being able to go to Tullis’ house adds something to their relationship, Graff said. “It’s closer to colleagues,” she said. “We have more equal footing.” She added that her advisees appreciated the chance to eat at Tullis’ house. “They all thought it was great compared to what their friends were experiencing,” Graff said. Tara Nummedal, professor of history, also said she was happy to be able to host her first-year advisees.“I have fond memories going over to my professors’ houses as a college student,” she added. When Lisa Mignone, assistant professor of classics, did not plan her usual annual breakfast for her Latin students at her house a half-mile off campus, “students informed me it was happening (anyway),” she said. “I think they like being in a sort of home.” Besides helping their students feel at home, professors living nearby said they
can easily attend events at the students’ “home” — the University. “College isn’t all in the classroom,” Mignone said, adding that she enjoys the opportunity to support her students’ interests by attending their performances and sporting events. Professors also have a life beyond their professions. Those who live nearby said they can show students their personal lives outside of academics. As a kid, Josephson always lived close to where he studied and grew up near a library. Today he still spends hours of his own time in the Rockefeller Library, while Professor of French Lewis Seifert said he works out at the Jonathan Nelson ’77 Fitness Center. “It’s nice to run into students on a weekend,” Seifert said. “They seem surprised that I have a real life, too.” Nummedal said living nearby has let her engage her 3-year-old daughter with Universi/ / Professors page 5
officers on track to unionize Officers are currently negotiating an agreement which includes higher wages By MARK VALDEZ SENIOR STAFF WRITER
University parking officers are set to unionize under the United Service and Allied Workers of Rhode Island, pending final signatures on a draft agreement between the University and union officials. Under the current draft of the agreement between the University and the union, parking officers will receive hourly wage increases and maintain some of their current benefits. United Service and Allied Workers also represent Facilities Management staff members, whose existing contract was used to help develop the draft agreement for parking officers. The current Facilities Management agreement was amended for parking officers to keep their existing holidays and seniority but take on the “vacation, sick time and pension benefits” included in the Facilities Management contract, said Karen McAninch, workers’ representative and business agent for the United Service and Allied Workers. Last November, the two parking officers employed by the University at the time voted to join the United Service and Allied Workers. The draft of the agreement, once finalized, will include all parking officers, who are University staff members that enforce Providence and campus / / Parking page 4