Daily
THE BROWN
vol. cxlviii, no. 49
INSIDE
Page 3
To the future
Prof awarded for forwardlooking research Page 11
Human interest Asher ’15 calls for “moral” immigration policy
Checkmate Central Falls High’s chess team travels to Nashville
today
65 / 47
tomorrow
48 / 42
since 1891
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 2013
Poll: Undergrads say U. should offer minors Less than 25 percent oppose the creation of University-sanctioned secondary areas of study By KIKI BARNES SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Page 12
Herald
Over two-thirds of students believe the University should offer minors, according to the Herald poll conducted in March. Roughly sixty-one percent of students would pursue a minor, while 6 percent said they would not pursue a minor but feel the option should be offered. Twenty-three percent of students said they do not believe the University should offer minors. Almost 16 percent of students said they would still pursue a minor if given the option. Ten percent of students reported
having no opinion. Females supported both the creation and pursuit of minors at a higher rate than did males, with over 67 percent saying they would pursue a minor and would like the University to offer them, compared to 52 percent of males. Physical science concentrators, including math and computer science concentrators, were twice as likely to answer they think the University should offer minors but would not pursue one, at 10 percent compared to 5 percent in all other concentration areas. Seniors were less likely to want the University to offer minors and pursue one if offered, at 55 percent, compared to 69 percent for first-years. Under the Open Curriculum, the University does not offer minors to undergraduates. M a n y / / Minor page 5
W E AT H E R M O O D S W I N G S
SYDNEY MONDRY / HERALD
After a week of low temperatures in Providence, students were greeted with warmth and sunshine on the Main Green Tuesday and Monday.
Panel refutes link between mental illness and gun violence Researchers In the third ‘Guns In America’ event, experts said mental illness is not a major cause of violence By ADAM TOOBIN CITY & STATE EDITOR
While an improvement in the United States’ mental health care system would be “amazing, ... we should be frank about what (reductions in violence) we’re going to see,” said Richard Friedman, Cornell professor of clinical psychiatry, director of the psychopharmacology clinic at Weill Cornell Medical College and regular New York Times contributor, during a Janus Forum panel about mental health in relation to gun violence last night. On the panel, Friedman joined Jeffrey Swanson, professor in psychia-
try and behavioral sciences at Duke University School of Medicine, and Doris Fuller, executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center, an organization committed to reforming how courts order an individual to receive mental health care. The event was the third talk in the “Guns in America” series, a Janus Forum event co-sponsored by the Political Theory Project and the Office of the President. The first event featured speakers discussing the role of gun control in the reduction of gun violence. The second focused on society’s cultural relationship to guns. In the wake of the massacre at Newtown Elementary School last year, when Adam Lanza murdered 26 students and teachers, his mother and himself, President Christina Paxson called for a campus dialogue on gun violence and its causes.
Haakim Nainar ’14, an executive director of the Janus Forum, said the organization worked with Paxson to design panels that looked at every facet of gun violence in America. Friedman began the panel by pointing out that only 4 percent of gun deaths annually in the United States can be attributed to individuals with mental illnesses — far lower than most people think, he said. If America could hypothetically solve the problem of mental health issues leading to violence, “you’re likely to see a reduction in suicides, not homicides,” he said. Every year in the United States, firearms kill 30,000 people — 17,000 by suicide and 13,000 by homicide, Friedman said. While only a small percentage of the homicides are due to mental health issues, the majority of people who commit suicide have an
illness like depression, he said. Disproportionate media coverage of mass killings “creates distorted perception of the risk” of mental illness in influencing gun violence, Friedman said. Mass killings “represent 0.13 percent of all homicides in the United States,” he said. Focusing on mental illnesses as a major cause of gun violence can lead lawmakers to implement policies that cast too wide a net, Friedman said. For example, the New York state government just passed a law that requires mental health professionals “to report any patient they think is at risk of hurting themselves or anyone else,” he said. “Clinicians now fear they have to meet this very ill-defined threshold, (so) the system will be filled with false positives, (and) it might discourage patients from seeking treatment.” Swans on / / Guns page 2
Los Andes brings Bolivian bites to Providence With most meals under $20, patrons can get a taste of South America on Federal Hill By ADAM TOOBIN CITY & STATE EDITOR
Those who feel the Sharpe Refectory has dulled their taste buds should make the trek to Los Andes, where Peruvian meets Bolivian and flavor meets generosity. A casual passerby might mistake Los Andes for a low-rent incubator of food poisoning, but as all true Providence residents know, exteriors can be misleading. Entering the
restaurant, visitors realize they have stumbled into a place of family reunions, community gatherings, first dates and anniversaries — a neighborhood spot. Though most patrons of Los Andes seem to know Peruvian and Bolivian food like the backs of their hands, the staff takes pride in explaining each element on the extensive menu to newcomers. The restaurant’s menu features a weekly list of chef ’s choices that provide an easy guide to the wide variety of offerings. While not necessarily the most affordable options on the menu, the list’s selections prove the Providence chef ’s expertise in crafting the cuisines of Peru and Bolivia. This week the chef is offering a veal entree and a swordfish dish as well as a grilled chicken served in a cognac sauce and a baked lobster paella. The star of this eclectic dish is a half-pound / / Bolivian page 7
ADAM TOOBIN / HERALD
While most of the Peruvian- and Bolivian-inspired entrees are under $20, some dishes at this Federal Hill hole-in-the-wall exceed $40.
map brain activity to read dreams The study matched patterns in subjects’ neural activity with imagery in their dreams By ADAM HOFFMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The science fiction trope of reading another person’s thoughts may b e one step closer to reality, thanks to recent developments in research related to the decoding of dreams. In a study published last Thursday in the journal Science, a joint team of researchers from Japan and Brown used a machine-learning paradigm to decode the brain activity of subjects during early sleep stages and reliably determine the content of their dreams. During the study, which lasted about three years, the neural activity of three subjects in early sleep was recorded using functional MRI, which localizes brain activity to particular brain areas by tracking blood flow. The researchers also used EEG, which measures electrical activity along the scalp, to understand brain activity at specific times to determine the subject’s stage of sleep. Though dreaming is often associated with REM sleep — a state in which the body is paralyzed but the brain is highly active, like in waking moments — dream-like images known as hypnagogic hallucinations are often associated with early non/ / Dreams page 4 REM sleep.
SCIENCE & RESEARCH