Professional Documents
Culture Documents
September 13, 2012 Issue
September 13, 2012 Issue
September 13, 2012 Issue
the Brown
vol. cxxii, no. 65
thursday, september 13, 2012
INsIde
Page 3
since 1891
Page 4
New(er) dorms
U. renovates, restructures campus housing Page 8
Up in arms
City police redouble efforts after string of homicides
today tomorrow
80 / 58
78 / 60
ted widmer, director and librarian of the John Carter Brown Library, earned two new positions yesterday he will serve as assistant for special projects to President Christina Paxson and as senior adviser to Secretary of State hillary Clinton, according to a University news release. widmer will divide his time between the two roles advising Paxson on various initiatives, including planning commemorations of the Universitys 250th anniversary and providing analysis for the U.S. State Department. I would just say that Im excited to be taking on some new challenges, and proud to be at Brown, widmer wrote in an email to The herald. he could not be reached for a longer comment because of a commitment in washington. widmer will leave his role as director and librarian Sept. 21 but will continue to serve as adjunct professor in
the Universitys Department of history. Professor widmer is a gifted writer and historian who is attractive to the State Department because he can place current events in a historical context, Provost Mark Schlissel P15 told The herald. Before assuming his current post at the JCB in 2006, widmer was the director of the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American experience at washington College for five years. From 1997 to 2001, he served as a foreign policy speechwriter for President Bill Clinton. widmer has a long history with the University his father, eric widmer, was a professor of Chinese history as well as the Universitys dean of student life and dean of admission in the 1980s and 90s. Schlissel said widmers experience as a historian will enable him to aid Paxsons team by preparing significant written material on the Universitys history for the 250th anniversary celebrations in 2014. President Paxson would like / / Widmer page 2
in his new positions, ted Widmer will provide secretary of state hillary Clinton and President Christina Paxson with relevant historical analysis.
As the University undertakes a $67 million dorm renovation project, major changes have been made over the summer to several residence halls. The plan for a reorganized campus housing system, which incorporated feedback from groups such as the Undergraduate Council of Students and residential Council, is intended to better suit students needs as they shift over the four years. The University is creating a sophomore-specific residential area at the
core of the campus, said richard Bova, senior associate dean of residential and dining services. Sophomores will be clustered in Slater, Littlefield, hegeman and Caswell halls, hope College and wriston Quadrangle.
over the summer, old lounges were upgraded, and new kitchens were installed in Keeney Quadrangle. renovations will continue next summer.
a reorganization of enGn 0030: introduction to engineering gives students more hands-on experience in smaller problem-solving sections.
An introductory engineering class has recently undergone a major overhaul of both the course curriculum and organization to cope with rising class sizes and provide a more comprehensive look at the different specializations within engineering. The largest change to the course, enGn 0030: Introduction to engineering, is its division into five different sections. while in the past the class had one large lecture and smaller problem solving sections, the class is now split into five smaller, combined problem-solving and lecture sections and one grand lecture that all students will attend Fridays, said Karen haberstroh 95, assistant professor of research in engineering and lead instructor for the class this semester. The grand lecture will feature guest speakers from different engineering disciplines covering a variety of topics, including research currently going on
at Brown. Another advantage of the grand lecture is to expose students to fellow classmates in different sections in order to build a sense of community within the engineering department, haberstroh added. Part of the reason for the change is to make sure by the end of the first semester the students have a good feel not just for the specific content that were covering in class, the technical content, but more broadly the different choices they can make as engineers, haberstroh said. I think that (the engineering department) is branching out by adding things, said ryan McKeown 14, a current teaching assistant for the class who helped implement the changes over the summer. Like with the sculptural design project, students can have moving parts that can make your sculpture move, or light up, or do something that incorporates more computer and electrical engineering. one reason for the change is rising / / enGn page 3 enrollment.
Shanghai restaurant food has returned to the Blue room after service was suspended last April when a student found a grasshopper in her food. Shanghai will be served Thursdays and Sundays, and for the first time, Mama Kims will be offered tuesdays and Saturdays as an official menu fixture. we could not find a reasonable explanation for how this happened, said Aaron Fitzsenry, Browns culinary manager of retail operations, about the grasshopper incident. Fitzsenry said he watched how food is prepared in Shanghais kitchen. ray hugh, Shanghais owner, has been very forthcoming with information, Fitzsenry said. hugh brought forth all of his records concerning licensing, including his pest control licensing. we decided not to dwell, Fitzsenry said. And rather than speculate on anything that couldve happened, were moving forward. other changes at the Blue room and other satellite eateries include increasing a meal credits value to $6.60, up from $6.40. Some food prices have risen as ingredient costs have increased. Kabob and Curry will continue to be served, available on Mondays, wednesdays and Fridays. Breakfast specials will no longer be rotated in the mornings. waffles werent great sellers, Fitzsenry said. Instead of different rotating specials, the breakfast smoothie and parfait bars will be open every morning. / / Dining page 2 new frit-
2 campus news
C alendar
TODAY 6P .m. Nudity in Theatre T.F Green Hall 8P .m. BLS Foreign Film Festival Smith-Buonanno Hall G01 5:30 P .m. John Barylick Book Reading Brown Bookstore SEPT. 13 TOmORROW 12 P .m. WBRU Open House WBRU (88 Benevolent St.) SEPT. 14
menu
SHARPE REFECTORY VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL
lunCh
Hot Turkey Sandwich with Gravy, Mashed Mustard Potatoes, Grilled Cheese Sandwich on White or Wheat Butternut Squash Ravioli, BBQ Beef Sandwich, Zucchini and Summer Squash, Chicken Mulligatawny Soup
Dinner
Baked Potatoes with Sour Cream, Pesto Tortellini Salad, Marinated Beef with Au Jus, Garlic Bread Sticks Vegan Paella, Cajun Pasta with Chicken, Yellow Beets Roasted with Red Onion, BBQ Navy Beans
Sudoku
the Blue room will offer dinner options from mama Kims two days a week this year, alternating days with Kabob and Curry and shanghai. the latter returns after a student found a grasshopper in her food last year.
/ / Dining page 1
tata sandwiches made with LaSalle Bakery croissants and Bagel Gourmet bagels will be made using cage-free eggs, and customers will be able to mix different vegetable options into the frittatas at no extra cost, Fitzsenry said. The brand of tea at the Blue room has also been changed. Im a tea drinker, and we found a fantastic, Brown grad-owned brand of tea, Fitzsenry said, adding that the company, teatulia, owned by Kazi Ahmed 92, prioritizes sustainability. At Josiahs, the soup station was removed and induction cooking equipment was installed. This new cooking station will feature various rotating specials. Theres a lot to choose from at that
CroSSWord
station, Fitzsenry said, including fancy grilled cheeses, pho and, this week, gourmet tacos. Somewhere in town, there is a great duck confit quesadilla, so we decided to make that our own over here, Fitzsenry said. tacos will be made with duck confit, pulled pork and Cajun shrimp with lime. For late-night eaters, Jos will now offer breakfast sandwiches on the weekends. Salad-eaters also have some new options whole grain salad, pink salmon and Pearlini mozzarella. At the Ivy room, there is now a tossed-to-order salad bar at lunchtime, Fitzsenry said. organic dressings are now available, and those that are gluten- or lactose-free are more clearly labeled. The Freshens station was removed
in lieu of a new smoothie bar that uses yogurts from northeast businesses, including narragansett Creamery, Chobani Greek and Stonyfield Farms, along with real fruit juices and various berry options, Fitzsenry said. The Gate is also offering new menu items, including four new types of pesto and new deli meats at the panini station all things that make a good hot sandwich, Fitzsenry said and 12-inch pizzas. All of the dining halls will feature special cooking demonstrations this semester, with offerings such as garlic knot bruschetta, apple pie floats and a risotto bar, he added. we make it fun, Fitzsenry said of the demonstrations. Ive gotten to play with fire in public, which is always a good time.
/ / Widmer page 1
help with messages surrounding Browns 250th anniversary, Schissel said. we hope ted contributes significantly to those efforts. widmer will devote a substantial number of hours to working with hillary Clinton for the next five months before she steps down as secretary of state at the end of President obamas first term in office, said Schlissel, who added that widmer will still remain at the University full-time at least through the coming years. I presume hell be working with the State Department more intensively through the end of the current presidential term, Schlissel said.
Several of widmers former colleagues in academia and in the Clinton white house praised the historian and said they believe he is well-suited to his new roles.
him in washington Colleges history department. hes one of a kind among historians in many ways because hes really not just studied history, but lived history.
hes one of a kind among historians in many ways because hes really not just studied history, but lived history.
ted is an extraordinary person and extremely generous, said Adam Goodheart, widmers successor as director of washington Colleges C.V. Starr Center, who also worked with
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edItorIal
busINess
brown students are incredibly bright and incredibly ambitious, and Id like all of them to have some exposure to engineering,
dave deCkey / herald
a pilot program that commenced this July allows city residents to buy parking permits for most residential streets during early morning hours, but students with cars registered in other states will not be eligible.
Finding overnight parking on Providences narrow streets has always been a challenge for residents, but City Parking Administrator Leo Perrotta said he hopes that will not be the case for long. This July, Providence embarked on a pilot parking program that enables city residents with cars registered at the rhode Island Department of Motor Vehicles to purchase overnight parking permits for $100, allowing them to park on most residential streets from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. For a city where overnight parking did not exist for the better part of 80 years, the program is a huge stride forward, Perrotta said. The program aims to help multi-family residences that dont have enough space in the driveways to accommodate all their vehicles. when there is a shortage of parking spots, residents resort to paving their yards in order to create spaces, he said. This has a negative effect on the city in many ways. The city wants more greenery, which it loses if people pave their yards, Perrotta said. Besides being aesthetically detrimental, this also leads to greater water runoff. Units become difficult to rent without parking because people need places to keep their cars, which are difficult to do without in this day and age, he said. Police and fire officials have confirmed that overnight parking would make no difference to public safety, Perrotta said. The program has picked up slowly but is going well, Perrotta said. Its difficult to change something thats been in place for 80 years people need to become acclimated, he said. he estimates close to 400 passes have been sold so far and said he hopes people will take advantage of the permits, which aim to make the city more livable for everyone. Many streets on College hill falls under the program, but on the whole, it will not benefit undergraduates because of the eligibility requirements necessary to purchase a permit. Permits are available only to people living in dwellings of five units or fewer, which immediately excludes students living in a dorm. But students living in offcampus houses are not eligible if their cars are not registered in rhode Island. Students looking for parking cannot make use of the program by renting the permits from those in off-campus
housing because the vehicle needs to be registered at the address where they wish to park. Drew heckman 13 was denied a permit for this reason. I dont think this will help any students on College hill. People register their vehicles at their permanent address, not at an apartment they rent for nine months, he wrote in an email to The herald. Lucy Bates-Campbell 13.5 lives in a house that cannot accommodate more cars, but she is also ineligible for the permit since her car is registered in new york. Im not sure what registering my car in rhode Island entails,
but I think its a complicated process, which costs a lot of money. Id rather approach some landlords around me who may have an extra space I could rent, she said. The rules to acquire an overnight parking permit from the program are similar to those followed in Cambridge, Mass., a city that, like Providence, has a huge student population, Perrotta said. The only parking option the University currently offers to undergraduates costs $760 for 24-hour parking during the academic year, but many students choose to rent spaces behind nearby apartments.
students and provide an opportunity to solve problems in class. Several other changes to the course include the reintroduction of an advanced section for students with a physics background, the switch to MAtLAB as the primary software package instead of Maple making the transition to enGn 0040: Dynamics and Vibrations, which uses MAtLAB, easier and the introduction of
the School of engineering. we conducted very elaborate student evaluations last fall, and we took that very much into account. A main reason for the changes to the course is to make it a more accessible introduction to engineering. Brown students are incredibly bright and incredibly ambitious, and Id like all of them to have some exposure to engineering, Larson said.
4 housing
dorm reform:
Pembroke Campus
This summer: Andrews Hall rooms, hallways and lounges were renovated, and adjacent singles were combined into doubles. Miller and Metcalf halls underwent renovations, with completion set for January 2013. Single rooms are being combined to create first-year doubles. Next summer/fall: Emery, Woolley, Morriss and Champlin halls will be upgraded. Andrews Dining Hall will be converted to a new student commons and 24-hour study space. Verney-Woolley Dining Hall will be open on weekends.
greg jordan-detamore / herald
/ / Dorms page 1
Bova said. They get the leftover lottery spots after juniors and seniors pick, and so they are scattered across campus. The community is fractured. Under the new clustering plan, students will naturally progress from two first-year areas, in Keeney (Quadrangle) and Pembroke (campus), to the center of campus for their sophomore year. This will provide opportunities for advising, tutoring and other sophomore-specific programs. hope and Littlefield previously predominantly first-year dorms were offered exclusively to sophomores in this springs housing lottery. when asked how he felt about this change, former hope College resident ezra Lichtman 15 sighed but then consented that the dorm is far too good a location for freshmen anyhow. next summer will see the renovation of hopes rooms and hallways and hegeman halls bathrooms, wrote Darlene trew Crist, director of news and communications, in an email to The herald. hegemans bedrooms were renovated a few years ago, she added.
Slater and hegeman will be sophomore-only starting in the fall of 2013. I think that in 10 years you will hear someone say, wow, my sophomore experience was as good as, or better than, my freshman year experience, Bova said. recognizing the impact of housing on student life particularly that of first-years the University is implementing major changes in hopes of cultivating community and comfort in residence halls. Former Keeney residents were in for a surprise when they returned to campus this year. top-floor lounges were renovated and expanded, and new kitchens were added, complete with high-end appliances. Bedrooms were renovated and outfitted with new furniture, and adjacent single rooms were combined into doubles. Im jealous, but Im glad it was done at some point, said Amelia Grant-Alfieri 15, a former Keeney resident. There are been very positive reactions to the improvements, and were excited to continue, Klawunn said, adding that all first-year housing will
be renovated by 2013. In addition to current first-year dorms, Miller and Metcalf halls will house first-years following the completion of their current renovation. Perkins hall will no longer house first-years. In previous years, Keeney Quad and Andrews hall have included a mix of first-years and upperclassmen. Upperclassmen forced to live with first-years found their experience to be less than ideal, Klawunn said. By the time you are a junior and senior, you are making choices that reflect your individual needs, she added. next year, upperclassmen will have the choice of living on wriston Quadrangle as part of the Greek and program houses and in Barbour, Minden and Perkins halls and Graduate Center, Vartan Gregorian Quad and young orchard Apartments. what you want out of your residence hall is different every year, said Margaret Klawunn, vice president for campus life and student services. we are trying to make housing fit with the progression of your education.
Photos taken by Paige Gilley and Greg Jordan-Detamore. For more photos, check out blogdailyherald.com.
housing 5
Keeney Quadrangle
This summer: Student rooms were renovated and newly furnished. Adjacent single rooms were combined into doubles. New kitchens were created on the top floors, and lounges were expanded and renovated. Both courtyards were newly landscaped. Next summer: Elevators will be completed. Restrooms and hallways will be renovated. The building will be split into three separate houses.
Central Campus
This year: Hope College and Littlefield Hall are now sophomore-only. The first floor of Wayland House now houses students, following the office of residential Lifes move to Graduate Center e. Next summer/fall: Slater and Hegeman Halls will be sophomore-only. Hope will be renovated, and Hegemans restrooms will be overhauled.
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A headline in Mondays paper (Med prof pleads guilty to coin theft, Sept. 10) incorrectly stated that Professor of Bio Med orthopaedics Arnold-Peter weiss pleaded guilty to charges of coins theft. In fact, he pleaded guilty to criminal possession of coins that were the property of the Italian government. weiss was not accused of theft. The herald regrets the error.
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ive gotten to play with fire in public, which is always a good time.
aaron fitzsenry, culinary manager for retail operations See dining on page 1.
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opinions 7
The super bowl test
of the areas in which obama has a significant edge over romney. A recent Gallup poll revealed that 54 percent of respondents find obama likable, whereas only 31 percent of respondents said the same about romney. This amounts to a 23-point edge for the president. The good news for romney in the same poll, however, is that 52 percent of respondents said he would better handle the economy than obama, as opposed to 43 percent who said the opposite. obama bests romromney became the presumptive republican nominee. what gives? Likability is important to voters. what might not be immediately evident, though, is just how important it is. In an Aug. 9 Politico piece, roger Simon wrote, The more likable candidate wins. not always, but almost always. Looking at past presidential races, this rule mostly seems to hold true, especially keeping the Super Bowl test in mind. ronald reagan over Jimmy Carter, then walter Mondale why wouldnt Americans overwhelmingly want to make a change? elections are never about a single issue or a single variable. The economy is worse in some parts of the country than others, and swing voters arent one big homogeneous blob of people they are individuals who look for different things in candidates. nevertheless, obama seems to be running consistently ahead of where most analysts feel he should be, and the best data-driven explanation if one exists is his personal appeal to most Americans. There are obviously other major differences between the two candidates and their beliefs, but in light of the historical precedents and the popularity contest that is the 24-hour news cycle, likability seems to be the most salient one. Im not saying likability is, in actuality, the best indicator of which candidate would make a better president. There are plenty of good arguments to be made for electing romney over obama whether or not you buy them and plenty to be made that voting based on likability has had disastrous effects in the past for our country. But this is the game as it stands today. Beer drinking. The Super Bowl test. If romney wants to start pulling ahead, he needs to start playing. adam asher 15 will, in all likelihood, never be on a super Bowl winning team.
adam asher
opinions Columnist
youre in the locker room after your team just won the Super Bowl when the phone rings. you pick up. who do you want on the other line congratulating you: Barack obama or Mitt romney? I call this scenario the Super Bowl test. A well-known Zogby/williams Identity Poll taken of undecided voters in 2004 found that 57 percent of them would rather have had a beer with former President George w. Bush than with former Democratic candidate John Kerry. This has since become a widely used litmus test for presidential candidates likability that gauges voter comfort. An Aug. 28 Associated Press headline makes the argument that likability is about a lot more than having a beer, because it includes traits such as empathy and how much voters trust a given candidate to fix the countrys problems. As a solution, Ive come up with a test of my own the Super Bowl test that I think captures what Americans tend to look for in their presidential candidates. An alternate test is especially important considering romney doesnt drink. however you define likability, its one
likability is important to voters. what might not be immediately evident, though, is just how important it is.
ney in areas of personality the poll covers such as honesty and ability to stand up to special interests but the two are in a statistical dead heat in terms of their ability to effectively manage the government. In an election where 65 percent of Americans still cite economic issues as the most important problem facing the country, one would expect that the election would favor the candidate voters judge as better able to turn things around. But obama has either led or tied romney in nearly every polling average since
in 1984. George h. w. Bush over Michael Dukakis, and subsequently the endlessly charismatic Bill Clinton over Bush and yes, Dubya over Kerry in 2004. one could obviously argue there have been exceptions. But if history is any indicator, likability seems to be the best advantage a candidate could have against his challenger, regardless of the circumstances surrounding the election. As Simon observed in his Politico column, shouldnt romney be ahead by now? If things are as bad as people seem to think they are,
resnik posits the Brown Political forum as an antidote to the conflict that plagues our political system. in doing so he reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the causes of partisan gridlock.
resnik writes that our efforts to address real political issues, both on and off Browns campus, have slowed. Perhaps we attend different Brown Universities. I think there is an extremely vibrant political activist scene here on campus. Democracy Matters alone, for instance, recently helped pass a bill at the State house the transparency in Political Spending Act. From freshman year on, resnik writes, liberals join the Brown Democrats and conservatives join the Brown republicans, and that is, more or less, the end of the story. well, that is the point. we join groups that reflect our values, beliefs and preferences as individuals. when is the last time those two bodies sat down together and tried to hash out their differences? This is a strange question, because it implies that deeply held is that their party is the best of any alternative. Partisan identification involves the pragmatic choosing of a party best able to achieve a set of desired ends. our unwillingness to talk with the other side is a real problem. In my three years at Brown so far, nothing Ive seen has convinced me that Brown students are unwilling to talk to others who do not think like them. to support his thesis, resnik is making a baseless assertion. resnik suggests the Brown Political Forum as an antidote to the conflict that plagues our political system. In doing so he reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the causes of partisan gridlock. Broad historical and societal forces, not a decline in civility, have led to the decline of bipartisanship over time. These include the development of new forms of me-
Providence has seen 15 homicides so far this year, up from four this time last year. There were a total of 12 homicides last year. Despite the apparently dramatic increase in homicides, Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare said that statistically, the homicide rate has not tripled or even doubled it actually remains below the citys 20-year average. homicide rates are extremely volatile, Pare said. For example, there was an uncharacteristically low number of homicides from January to September of last year followed by five homicides in october alone.
When you have a crime like that, thats significantly tragic. It shocks the community.
we had a triple homicide several weeks ago, Pare said. we havent had a triple homicide in several decades. when you have a crime like that, thats significantly tragic. It shocks the community. Cases like last months triple homicide have led officials to put more effort into combating violent crime in the city. The majority of homicides were targeted mostly resulting from conflicts involving drugs, debt, turf or insult and not random acts, Pare said. Because many of the homicides have been drug-related, the Providence police have upped attempts to infiltrate drugdealing organizations and dismantle them in an effort to stem violence,
Pare said. Gov. Lincoln Chafee 75 P14 P16 has also directed the state police to work in conjunction with local police and provide the city with additional resources, said Christine hunsinger MPA08, Chafees communications director. The majority of the homicides were committed using firearms, most of which were owned illegally. The police have continued their efforts to confiscate illegal guns through the operations of its gun task force, a special section of the police department that specializes in tracking down illegal firearms and their owners. we took 120 guns off the streets of Providence last year. Most of them were stolen, Pare said. weve seized 11 this month, so were on track to seize as many as we did last year. In response to the increase in gun violence, Mayor Angel taveras and his administration have pledged to advocate for stricter gun laws. According to Pare, taveras wants to change the culture surrounding guns in the city by making illegal possession of a gun a federal offense and styling Providences gun laws after new york Citys. Pare said he is confident that stricter gun laws will make a difference in the number of homicides. If you can quickly get a gun after an emotional conflict, youre more likely to kill someone, he said. But tighter gun laws will not ameliorate violent crime by themselves, Pare noted. Social programs will also be integral in lowering the homicide rate. If you look at new york back in the late 80s and early 90s, there was a lot of crime and violence, and they changed that, Pare said, It wasnt just gun laws, but a variety of changes. There was a greater emphasis on quality of life and social programs. That helped drastically in the reduction of violent crime. Both taveras and Chafee have voiced
their support for the Institute for the Study and Practice of nonviolence, an organization that helps programs prevent violence in the Providence community. Chafee wants to use some of the $500 million settlement that rhode Island law enforcement agencies received in a lawsuit from Google last spring to support the organization, hunsinger said. taveras supports this initiative, Pare said. The organization has a variety of youth programs, including one that hires young adults who have committed crimes and turns them into ambassadors for peace. Because these young adults understand the criminal mindset, they have been successful messengers in their communities, Pare said. taveras has also emphasized providing unemployed youth with job opportunities. The mayor has tried to find as many unemployed young adults as possible and put them to work, which makes a huge difference and takes away the propensity to commit criminal behavior, Pare said. According to Paul Shanley, the deputy chief of police for the Brown Department of Public Safety, the current level of violence will most likely pose little threat to residents of College hill. Theres usually some type of relationship between the victim and the perpetrator, Shanley said. I think the last homicide in this area was five years ago.