THE
BROWN DAILY HERALD vol. cxlix, no. 106
since 1891
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
Undergrads back student rep. on Corporation Student tests By EBEN BLAKE STAFF WRITER
Roughly 60 percent of undergraduates believe a voting student trustee should be added to the Corporation, and another roughly 22 percent support a non-voting student representative, according to a recent Herald poll conducted Oct. 22-23. Only 5 percent of respondents think there should be no student representation on the University’s highest governing body, and 13 percent of respondents have no opinion on the issue. Maahika Srinivasan ’15, president of the Undergraduate Council of Students, described growing student support for undergraduate representation on the Corporation as “phenomenal.” “This campus has a long history of student activism, and it’s kind of awesome to see people care and get involved,” she said. “Since we’re paying tuition … we should have a voice in how the University operates,” said Sarah Parker ’15. “We’ve made a substantial investment in coming here, so it’s important we’re actually heard.” The poll results come after a push by
a number of student groups, including the Student Power Initiative, to increase student representation on campus. UCS hosted a forum last month featuring a panel of Corporation members who addressed problems they perceived with student membership on the body. Several panelists expressed concern about adding a student to the Corporation due to the confidential nature of some of the body’s work. “I think it would be beneficial for students to be on the Board of Trustees in two ways,” said Graham Rotenberg ’17, a Herald opinions columnist. “First, it would provide some clarity to an important part of Brown decision-making, and second, it would provide the Board of Trustees a greater perspective of an actual student experience that could be consistent, direct and regarded as equal” to the views of alum members. While Srinivasan acknowledged that students perceive Corporation proceedings as opaque, she made a distinction between student representation and increased transparency. Potential student representatives “should be held to the same levels of confidentiality as the Board,” Srinivasan said. “The important issue is integrating student viewpoints into conversations at the Corporation level,” she said, though she added that structural details would require further consideration. But the UCS Fall Poll, which asked
Model UN conference draws more than 800 participants Organizers arrange small committees to foster collaborative spirit representative of Brown By CAROLINE KELLY AND JOSEPH ZAPPA SENIOR STAFF WRITERS
inside
Eight hundred forty-two suit-clad high school students congregated on College Hill this weekend, bumping up campus standards for attire and diplomatic discourse as they participated in the 18th annual Brown University Simulation of the United Nations. The event, run by approximately 80 Brown students, drew delegates from about 50 high schools located as far away as Honduras and Japan, said Bernadette Stadler ’16, one of the conference’s secretaries general. This year’s conference centered on the theme of the power of ideology. Stadler and Abi Kulshreshtha ’15, the other secretary general, chose the theme in the hopes of “challenging delegates to investigate the underlying reasons that political decisions are made and better understand political decisions that might not make sense,” Stadler said. Along with the nine other students
who made up the secretariat — BUSUN’s executive board — the secretaries general took the lead on handling lastminute mishaps, such as the absence of shuttles responsible for shepherding students from campus to hotels. But for the most part, the conference went off without a hitch, several attendees said. A few attendees even said the conference ranked among the best Model United Nations events they had ever participated in. The students who ran the event “were uniformly great,” said Joshua Abrams, adviser of the Model UN club at Meridian Academy, a private high school in Boston. “My kids kept saying this was the best Model UN they’d ever been to.” Max Eliot, a sophomore at Meridian, also pointed to the small size of the committees as a standout element of the conference. “The smaller the committee, the more interesting the position will be and the more fun the delegates will have,” Eliot said. “It promotes more interesting and more nuanced themes.” “If you go to something at Harvard, there are 150 kids in one room,” Abrams said. But the BUSUN conference embodies “the beauty of smallness,” he added. » See BUSUN, page 2
Corporation and Paxson approval Undergrads who do not think there should be a student representative on the Corporation approve of President Christina Paxson’s performance at relatively high rates. (Due to rounding, numbers may not add to 100.) 6% 21
3% 13
36 33
33 7 Yes, I think there should be a voting student trustee
Strongly Disapprove Somewhat Disapprove
0%
3%
23
12
16
No opinion Somewhat Approve
46
38
10
Strongly Approve
16
23
Yes, I think there should be a non-voting student representative
By CAMILLA BRANDFIELD-HARVEY
8
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
No, I do not think No opinion there should be a student representative on the Corporation AVERY CRITS-CHRISTOPH / HERALD
undergraduates to rank the issues most important to them, found a lower level of commitment to student representation on the Corporation, The Herald previously reported. Respondents indicated that improving financial aid, reforming University policies and procedures for sexual assault and misconduct and expanding mental health services were all higher priorities than student representation on the Corporation. While adding a student to the Corporation could force the body to address issues important to undergraduates, it
positive for GHB in spiked drink Community-wide email confirms student was given illegal substance at Phi Psi party
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would be “a more circuitous route” than tackling these issues immediately, Srinivasan said. Alison Cohen ’09, young alumni trustee on the Corporation, expressed reservations about direct student representation in an email to The Herald. “It is great that students are interested in engaging with the Corporation,” she wrote. “There are several possible venues for sharing student perspectives with the Corporation members that includes but is not limited to having a » See CORPORATION, page 3
One of the two students who reported consuming drinks spiked with daterape drugs at a fraternity party Oct. 17 has tested positive for the drug GHB, wrote Russell Carey ’91 MA’06, executive vice president for planning and policy, and Margaret Klawunn, vice president for campus life and student services, in a community-wide email Saturday afternoon. Results of a test for the second student is still pending, according to the email. One of the two students who attended the party in Sears House also reported being sexually assaulted later that night while incapacitated. GHB, which the University’s BWell Health Promotion website describes » See GHB, page 2
FOOTBALL
High-octane Elis overwhelm Bears Yale eliminates Bruno from Ivy championship race after Bears blow 13-point lead in home loss By ANDREW FLAX SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Despite grabbing an early lead and later mounting a spirited comeback, the football team could not bottle up Yale’s explosive offense and fell below .500 in its third Ivy game, losing to the Elis 45-42. A pair of early Yale (7-1, 4-1 Ivy) turnovers stalled its top-ranked offense, and the Bears capitalized to take a 20-7 lead in the second quarter. But the Elis stormed back, scoring the game’s next 24 points, and while the Bears were able to continue scoring, they could not stop the Yale offense and stud running back Tyler Varga. “We played hard. It just came down to Varga,” said Head Coach Phil Estes P’18. The defeat mathematically eliminates Bruno (4-4, 2-3) from Ivy title contention, as it cannot end up with a better record than first-place Harvard (8-0, 5-0). The Bears now sit in fifth place, ahead of Penn, Cornell and Columbia, who are a combined 1-14 in conference and 1-23 overall. Varga, who has over 500 more rushing yards than anyone else in the
Sports
ARJUN NARAYEN / HERALD
Troy Doles ’16 had just one catch, but Bruno passed well against Yale, as quarterback Marcus Fuller ’15 threw for 393 yards and two touchdowns. conference, was simply unstoppable. He ran for 204 yards and two touchdowns on 35 carries, seemingly pushing the pile and guaranteeing himself a gain on every rush. Perhaps Varga’s most significant contribution was his work on third downs. Yale handed him the ball on seven third downs, and he converted them all, as well as one fourth down. “When you get in third down and it’s third-and-short and he gets the ball, he’s going to get that first down,” Estes said. Yale’s success on third down was an integral part of its victory, as the team
Commentary
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With a pair of losses to open the home season, men’s hockey shows it still needs to shake off some rust
Tennis ’14.5: Tweets are convenient but lack quality and in-depth arguments
Feldman ’15: Americans are largely ignorant of the devastating effects of Ebola in West Africa
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weather
As student groups push for student representation on Corp., just 5 percent of students disagree
went 10-for-13 and made it difficult for the Brown defense to get off the field. Despite ranking second in the conference in total defense, the Bears could only force one Yale punt. The Bears also had some difficulty slowing Yale’s air attack, a task made more challenging by an early injury to star cornerback Jacob Supron ’15. Yale quarterback Morgan Roberts threw for 248 yards on 20-for-26 passing and was similarly deadly on third downs. On Yale’s final touchdown drive, nursing a 38-35 lead, he converted a third-and-eight and a » See FOOTBALL, page 5 t o d ay
tomorrow
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