Daily
Herald
THE BROWN
vol. cxlviii, no. 114
since 1891
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2013
R.I. to Underground explosion leaves no damage to U. uphold ACA A National Grid spokesman attributed the compliance incident to a smoldering electrical cable standards
By KATHERINE LAMB SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Rhode Island will require all residents to have health insurance that complies with the standards outlined in the Affordable Care Act by March 31, despite President Obama’s decision Thursday that anyone on canceled individual or small business insurance plans can keep their coverage for another year, announced Rhode Island Health Insurance Commissioner Kathleen Hittner and HealthSource RI Director Christine Ferguson Friday. Millions of Americans have received letters from their insurance providers in recent weeks informing them that their plans do not meet the ACA’s standards and will be canceled, though Obama originally insisted that under the new law those who preferred their current coverage could keep it. Obama announced the option for some to extend their plans in response to bipartisan backlash to the planned cancellations. “After reviewing the president’s announcement, we have decided to continue in the direction we are going and therefore will not be adopting the option made available to us by the president,” Hittner and Ferguson announced in a joint press release Friday. All plans available in Rhode Island in 2014 through the HealthSource RI marketplace have already been reviewed and “designed to meet the standards set forth in the (ACA),” wrote Dara Chadwick, chief of strategic communications and media relations at HealthSource RI, in an email to The Herald. The federal reprieve was meant to ease the implementation process, but it also required insurers to inform consumers about alternative options and explain why their plans did not meet the requirements outlined in the ACA, according to National Public Radio. The state’s decision to opt out of the federal reprieve was motivated in part by the fact that the exchange will be most effective if all Rhode Islanders participate, said Ira Wilson, professor of health services, policy and practice. Many of those who » See HEALTH CARE, page 3
inside
CITY & STATE
By ALEXANDER BLUM SENIOR STAFF WRITER
An underground explosion dislodged eight manhole covers in the 300 block of Richmond Street Monday around noon, interrupting Brown University Shuttle services and leading University officials to advise building occupants in the area to take shelter in place. The explosion was caused by a buildup of gases that accumulated underground due to a smoldering electrical cable, said David Graves, National Grid spokesperson. The shelter in place advisory was in effect until about 1:45 p.m. Between 11:15 and 11:30 a.m., National Grid was notified of the evacuation of the 300 Richmond St. building when “the CO2 detectors had gone off, and there was a report
ARJUN NARAYEN / HERALD
A buildup of gasses under Richmond Street led to the dislodgement of eight manhole covers. Two people suffered minor injuries. of an odor in the building,” Graves said. Soon after, an “underground release of energy” caused the manhole covers to be dislodged, Graves said. These events all transpired before
11:45 a.m., he added. Two of the eight manhole covers that were dislodged “moved significantly,” and “two people with minor injuries were transported” to
the hospital,” said Lindsay Lague, a Providence Police Department public information officer. The Brown Alert system sent » See EXPLOSION, page 2
Ethnic studies merges with American studies dept The move is intended to boost resources available to ethnic studies concentrators By CAROLINE KELLY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
HERALD FILE PHOTO
Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron will leave her post at the end of the semester to become the president of Connecticut College.
Undergrads identify criteria for next dean of the College Current dean Katherine Bergeron also advised the search committee on ideal qualities By REBECCA HANSEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Undergraduate members of the search committee for a new dean of the College and student group leaders are stressing advising and diversity as key
priorities that should drive the search for a permanent successor to Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron, who will step down at the end of the semester. The 13-person search committee, formed last month, recently held meetings to solicit opinions from administrators, faculty members and student groups in the communityoutreach stage of the search process. Vice President for Campus Life and » See DEAN , page 5
The ethnic studies program has merged with the Department of American Studies this semester in what administrators and faculty members called an effort to provide more structured support to the ethnic studies concentration. Ethnic studies will remain a separate concentration, but faculty members and concentration advisers are now based out of the American studies department, program administrators said. The concentration was previously managed by the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, which moved this fall from its former space at 150 Power St. to its new headquarters at Brown RISD Hillel. Ethnic studies faculty members remain based at the Power Street location, which is now run by the American studies department. Faculty members began discussing the possibility of integrating ethnic studies with the American studies department four to five years ago, but plans became more concrete during a retreat for the American
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CITY & STATE, 3
CITY & STATE, 4
COMMENTARY, 7
weather
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studies department in August 2012, said Matthew Guterl, chair of the American studies department and professor of Africana studies. Those who attended last year’s retreat highlighted ethnic studies concentrators’ concerns over inadequate program resources, Guterl said. Following the retreat, the department sent a memo last fall to University administrators and ethnic studies faculty members about placing ethnic studies within the American studies department, Guterl said. Ethnic studies faculty members met last fall to discuss the proposed merger, Guterl wrote in a follow-up email to The Herald. Discussion of the proposal continued throughout the academic year, and Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron emailed ethnic studies concentrators in April notifying them of the impending concentration change, Bergeron wrote in an email to The Herald. Dean of the Faculty Kevin McLaughlin P’12 addressed American studies and ethnic studies faculty members last spring about the planning process the merger, Guterl said. The ethnic studies concentration had no departmental “home” 12 years ago, when the program was initially placed within the CSREA, said Evelyn Hu-Dehart, professor » See ETHNIC, page 2 t o d ay
tomorrow
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