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BROWN DAILY HERALD vol. cxlix, no. 41
Brown admits record-low 8.6 percent
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Source: Office of Admission JILLIAN LANNEY / HERALD
Gordon Fox resigns as House majority leader speaker of R.I. House assumes speakership Amid cloud of investigations, Fox leaves post but will finish term as representative By ALEXANDER BLUM SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Rhode Island Speaker of the House Gordon Fox, D-Providence, resigned March 22 after federal and state
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law enforcement officials raided his Statehouse office and home March 21 to collect evidence regarding an “undisclosed matter,” the Providence Journal reported. Fox, who was Rhode Island’s first black and openly gay speaker of the House, will immediately cease to carry out the office’s duties, his spokesman told the Journal. Though it is not yet clear what allegations, if any, have been made against Fox, this is not » See FOX, page 4
COURTESY OF GORDON FOX
Gordon Fox, D-Providence, left the R.I. speakership after federal and state officials conducted a search of his home and Statehouse office.
Sports
Mattiello, D-Cranston, secures position handily, winning vast majority of votes in House election By ALEXANDER BLUM SENIOR STAFF WRITER
House Majority Leader Nicholas Mattiello, D-Cranston, was elected to serve as speaker of the House Tuesday afternoon, replacing Rep. Gordon Fox, D-Providence, who resigned the position March 22. Federal and state officials raided Fox’s Statehouse office and personal home March 21, though no information has been released regarding the investigation. Mattiello was elected with 61 votes, exceeding the required 38 votes — a simple majority of the 75-member House — by 23 votes, the Providence Journal reported. The speakership is highly coveted in Rhode Island politics, and Fox’s departure “triggered a fierce scrum for the job commonly referred to as the most powerful in state politics,” the Boston Globe reported Tuesday. Since Mattiello’s appointment to the speakership, there have been other leadership changes in the House. Mattiello appointed several new representatives to different committees, including Rep. Cale Keable, D-Burrillville and Glocester, as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Raymond Gallison Jr., D-Bristol and Portsmouth, as chairman of the House Finance Committee and Rep. Robert Craven, D-North
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Commentary
Baseball wins three of four games over break, thanks to strong offensive output
Men’s lacrosse upsets No. 15 Princeton in one of three wins over spring break
Arene-Morley ’16: At Brown, materialism matters more than class
Dhingra ’14: IDF event at Hillel quashes opportunity for dialogue about Israel-Palestine
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Before the wrestling team entered the season, Head Coach Todd Beckerman asked all his athletes to write down their personal goals. Co-captain Ophir Bernstein ’15 wrote, “I want to be an All-American,” he recalled Sunday. But as the junior entered his third NCAA Championship tournament last weekend, the goal seemed somewhat unlikely. The All-American tag accompanies a top-eight finish, but Bernstein was ranked 12th. And besides the 11 higher-ranked foes, he had to topple a 16-year drought of any Bears earning All-American in wrestling. As it turned out, neither history nor the slew of 184-pound talent at the meet kept the Bruno grappler from claiming All-American status and etching his name in the Brown record books with an eighth-place finish. “Every little kid has dreams of being an All-American,” he said. “I was so happy to be able to go to this stage and accomplish what I set out to do.” In Thursday’s opening round, Bernstein met a familiar foe in Columbia’s Zack Hernandez. Bruno’s co-captain held a 3-0 regular-season mark against the Lion, including shutouts in the two most recent matches, and used the favorable matchup to earn a 4-1 firstround win. After a staring contest for much of the first period, Bernstein took the initiative late in the frame with a successful shot to take a 2-0 lead. He did not waste time doubling his advantage early in the second period with another takedown on the rim of the circle. Bernstein opted to start down in the final period and held tight to his position to seal his expected victory, allowing Hernandez’s only tally to come via riding time. Instead of facing fifth-ranked Ethen Lofthouse from the perennial powerhouse University of Iowa, Bernstein was paired in his second-round match with Edinboro University’s Victor Avery, who had upset Lofthouse in the opening round. The unranked Avery proved his opening shocker was no fluke by jumping on top of Bernstein with a 2-0 lead in the first period and clinging to a » See BERNSTEIN, page S2
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By CALEB MILLER
The University extended offers of admission to 8.6 percent of applicants to the class of 2018, marking the lowest percentage of admitted students in University history, said Dean of Admission Jim Miller ’73. From a pool of 30,432 applicants, the second-largest in University history, there were 2,619 students admitted to the class of 2018, representing all 50 states and 89 nations, according to data provided by the Office of Admission. The office expects the class to end up with around 1,560 students, Miller said. Applicants were able to log onto Brown’s website Thursday at 5 p.m. » See ADMISSION, page 2
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Junior co-captain makes Brown history as first wrestler to win honor since 1998
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Engineering was the top indicated concentration for students admitted to the class of 2018. International relations and economics, which ranked in the top five choices last year, fell to lower positions, while biochemistry and molecular biology broke into the top five this year.
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By JILLIAN LANNEY
Top 10 indicated concentrations
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Ethnic diversity, share of first-generation college students both highest in U. history
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Bernstein earns AllAmerican honors
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Kingstown, as chairman of the Municipal Government Committee, according to a General Assembly press release. Keable replaces Rep. Edith Ajello, DProvidence, who has served as chair of the Judiciary Committee since 2011 and represents the district home to Brown. Rep. Joseph Almeida, D-Providence, was elected deputy majority whip following Mattiello’s election as speaker March 25, the Journal reported. Mattiello’s primary challenger was Rep. Michael Marcello, D-Scituate, who received just six votes. Marcello acknowledged his relatively unpopular position Tuesday before the 4 p.m. House vote, saying, “I do not have the votes to be the next speaker of the Rhode Island House,” the Journal reported. Two voting House members were absent and six abstained. As speaker of the House, Mattiello said he is “going to take a comprehensive look at taxes, the state budget, spending (and) … business regulation,” the Journal reported. “We all have our personal opinions and beliefs, but I am going to have an evidence-based approach.” Many state residents have been disheartened by Fox’s sudden fall, citing hopes that Rhode Island had outgrown its days of political scandal and corruption, the Globe reported. As of this weekend, details about potential allegations against Fox were scarce, with search warrants and affidavits having been “sealed by a court,” the Globe reported last week. -With additional reporting by Kate Kiernan t o d ay
tomorrow
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