Wednesday, April 20, 2016

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SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2016

VOLUME CLI, ISSUE 52

WWW.BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

MATTEO MOBILIO / HERALD

The number of hours the front desk of the Friedman Study Center in the Sciences Library will be staffed will be reduced from 110 hours of librarian service per week to 70 hours per week.

SciLi cutbacks spark frustration among students, staff members

Changes include reduced librarian service hours, transfer of services, supplies to Rock By JACKSON CHAIKEN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Library staff and students are voicing concerns about a plan to reduce staffing and services at the Friedman Study Center in the Sciences Library. University Librarian Harriette Hemmasi announced the planned changes April 15 in an email to all undergraduates.

The changes All course reserves, which are currently split between the SciLi and the Rockefeller Library, will now be located at the Rock, Hemmasi wrote in an email to The Herald. In addition, DVD collections, iClickers and other circulated equipment will also be moved to the Rock, she wrote. There will also be changes to the hours when the Friedman Study

Center’s front desk is staffed. Monday through Thursday the desk will be staffed from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., while Friday’s hours will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday’s hours will be 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday’s desk hours will be from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m., Hemmasi wrote. In comparison, the desk is currently staffed starting from 8:30 a.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. on weekends, closing at 2 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. This constitutes a reduction from 110 hours of librarian service per week

to 70 hours, said Karen McAninch, the library workers’ union’s business agent. The reduction of service means there will be more times a librarian is not present to assist students with printing or checking out books, said Mark Baumer MA’11, senior library specialist. While librarian service hours are being reduced, the Friedman Study Center will remain open at its current hours, Hemmasi wrote in the email to all undergraduates. “Any current Friedman Study

Center staff member who sees a change to his or her role, schedule or assignment will continue to have a job of equal grade and salary elsewhere in the Brown University Library system,” Hemmasi wrote in an email to The Herald. But “some of us have been working together for over 10 years, and now we are going to be dispersed and broken up,” said Senior Library Specialist James Schlageter. “We’ve been through renovations, the changing of operations, » See SCILI, page 2

Ambassador-at-large talks Study abroad options include West Bank Students feel living in women’s empowerment Palestinian territories Cathy Russell argues greater economic participation of women boosts GDP, peace efforts By AILEEN SEO STAFF WRITER

Cathy Russell, U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues, delivered a lecture titled “Why Empowering Women and Girls is Good for U.S. Foreign Policy” Tuesday in the Joukowsky Forum of the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. The lecture discussed the importance of incorporating issues of gender equality in international policies to promote the participation of women in world economies and peacemaking processes. The talk, held as a part of the Watson Distinguished Speaker Series and co-sponsored by the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women, was moderated by Pamela Reeves, a senior fellow at the Watson Institute and advisor to the Office of Melinda Gates on global women’s issues. Russell began the talk by explaining

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the importance of her work. “Women and girls are entitled to equal and full rights,” she said. “Understanding and prioritizing women will make our communities more successful. When women do better, countries do better,” she added. Russell emphasized the role that the United States plays in setting a moral example as a leader on women’s issues. According to Russell, the United States has made progress in addressing and reducing gender-based violence and offers support and expertise to other countries attempting to address these problems “with a lot of humility,” she said. Russell explained that though the United States has not solved all problems of gender equality, it has a lot of experience working to resolve these issues. Russell outlined the areas on which she focuses most, including advancing the status of women and girls by addressing gender-based violence and promoting full participation of women in society, particularly within the economic and political realms. In addition, she spoke to the prevalence of gender-based violence » See RUSSELL, page 2

would have given new perspective on conflict By CLARISSA CLEMM STAFF WRITER

Students can now apply to study at universities in the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as at the institutes in Israel where Brown students were previously able to enroll. Still, students cannot study abroad in Gaza, said Maud Mandel, dean of the College. The territory is under an international economic and political boycott and has not been accessible to outsiders since 2006. The ban on studying abroad in the West Bank was lifted in June 2015 after several faculty members submitted an official request to change prior restrictions on study abroad in the region. It was the “appropriate and right time” to make study abroad options available in not only Israel, but also the occupied Palestinian territories, Mandel said, calling the restriction a “holdover (policy) that needed to be changed.” “The fact that we had a different policy between Israel and the West Bank was

COURTESY OF JULIAN JIGGETS

Until June 2015, the Palestinian territories were not options for study abroad. The ban was lifted in response to requests by faculty members. the wrong policy,” she added. Mandel also emphasized the importance of giving students a greater selection for study abroad locations. “I’m interested in students studying abroad in the places they want to go as long as we’ve made a careful risk assessment for anybody anywhere,” she said. Since the policy change, no student has applied to study abroad in the West Bank, Mandel wrote in a follow-up email to The Herald. The prior policy restricting students to Israel was adopted about a decade ago

after a Brown student was kidnapped while traveling in the West Bank. Under that policy, students planning on studying abroad in Israel were required to sign a waiver releasing the University from responsibility for any incidents they encountered by taking independent trips to the West Bank or Gaza. Under the current policy, students must sign a similar waiver if they wish to study in either Israel or the occupied Palestinian territories. But this sort of waiver is not exclusive » See WEST BANK, page 8

WEATHER

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2016

NEWS Students in universities across Providence push diversity, inclusion to center stage

SPORTS Baseball splits four-game series against Dartmouth, falls to UMass Lowell at home

COMMENTARY Krishnamurthy ’19: DMV offices unite all Americans in resentment of bureaucratic tedium

COMMENTARY Vilsan ’19: Line between childhood, adulthood blurred by college experience

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Wednesday, April 20, 2016 by The Brown Daily Herald - Issuu