Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxlv, no. 27 | Monday, March 8, 2010 | Serving the community daily since 1891
Charges dropped, but Young
still banned from campus
By Alex Bell
Senior Staf f Writer
The city prosecutor has dismissed
disorderly conduct charges against
Chris Young, the mayoral candi-
date’s lawyers announced on Fri-
day.
Young was arrested in Novem-
ber at a health-care forum in An-
drews Dining Hall during which he
tossed a pro-life video at Rep. Pat-
rick Kennedy, D-R.I., and refused
to relinquish the microphone at the
request of the forum’s moderator
and police officers.
“I’m a free man again,” Young
said. “It’s been a hard battle.”
Young said he is “seriously con-
sidering” pursuing civil charges
against the University.
Brown partners with renowned Cape Cod lab Wesleyan to
By Goda Thangada
Senior Staff Writer
A world-renowned laborator y,
an institution connected with 53
Nobel laureates, formalized its
relationship with Brown recently.
While the Marine Biological Labo-
ratory of Woods Hole, Mass., has
hosted graduate students in con-
junction with Brown since 2003,
the Corporation formally created
the Phyllis and Charles M. Rosen-
The Education through Cultural and Historical Organization Performing
Arts Festival celebrated song, dance and storytelling in Salomon 101.
inside
News.....1-3
Ar ts.........4
Spor ts.....5
Editorial....6
Opinion.....7
Today........8
www.browndailyherald.com
“They’ve obviously violated
my freedom of speech rights and
freedom of religion rights, but also
they’ve suppressed speech that is
based on issues that involve race,”
he said. “That is a constitutional vio-
lation that can’t be overlooked.”
Young said he is hoping to take
action against the University un-
der a federal law that allows for the
prosecution of anyone who causes
a citizen’s constitutional rights to
be violated.
Young said the University has
not yet contacted him about its
December order that he not enter
University property. The order was
issued in a “retaliatory manner” for
his vocal opposition to the arming of
continued on page 3
thal Directorship of the Brown-
MBL Partnership at its meeting
last month.
The directorship is sponsored
by a donation of more than $2
million from Trustee Emeritus
Charles Rosenthal P’88 P’91 and
his wife, Phyllis Rosenthal P’88
P’91. Rosenthal, who has served
on MBL’s board since the incep-
tion of the partnership, called the
program the brainchild of adminis-
trators at both institutions.
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald
News, 3
video accusations
ResCouncil considers
changing first-pick contest
after controversy
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
With temperatures in the mid-50s, students enjoyed the warm weather on Lincoln Field Sunday.
In addition to the program’s
new director, Christopher Neill,
the par tnership is adding four
MBL scientists to Brown’s fac-
ulty as part-time professors. The
program’s first three graduates
completed their degrees in 2009,
after spending two years at Brown
and the rest of their time at Woods
Hole, according to Rosenthal.
Though his own children
studied art history and the visual
arts at Brown, Rosenthal said he
At festival, telling stories
through song and dance
By Kristina Fazzalaro
Staff Writer
The scene in Salomon 101 Sunday
afternoon was a far cry from this
morning’s lecture in ECON 0110:
“Principles of Economics.” Instead
of supply-and-demand curves, the
Education through Cultural and
Historical Organization Perform-
ing Arts Festival presented stories
of childhood, love and family.
ARTS & CULTURE
The stories were beautifully
woven together through song and
dance by performers from native and
non-native communities of Alaska,
Hawaii, Mississippi, Massachusetts
and Portugal. They came together
to share their societies’ values and
teach important lessons about re-
spect, jealousy and vanity.
This was Brown’s second year
Arts, 4
poetry in the class
Poet Naomi Shiab Nye
reads from her collection
at Moses Brown School
s u nn y si d e u p
started to become more interested
in the partnership when he began
talking to scientists, following his
appointment to the board.
“I got more and more excited,”
he said. Rosenthal, who called
himself a layman, said he was in-
spired by people who dedicated
their lives to discovery and by the
discoveries that have had major
implications for the world.
continued on page 2
welcoming the festival, according
to Geralyn Hoffman, curator of pro-
grams and education at the Haffen-
reffer Museum of Anthropology,
one of the event’s sponsors. The
theme of this year’s performance
was “Celebrate — Song, Dance and
Story!,” and that is exactly what the
performers conveyed. Whether
gathering audience members on
stage to partake in a Choctaw Indian
wedding dance or telling the more
somber story of the “No Face Girl,”
whose reflection is stolen because of
her intense narcissism, the perform-
ers’ obvious joy and pride in sharing
their traditions showed through.
The organization is a federally
funded educational and cultural en-
richment organization established as
part of 2001’s No Child Left Behind
Act, according to Merry Glosband,
of the Peabody Essex Museum in
continued on page 4
Sports, 5
lax revenge
W. L a c r o s s e b e s t s
Quinnipiac, 11 months
after crushing defeat
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald
award degree
to Simmons
By Nicole Boucher
Staf f Writer
President Ruth Simmons is one of
four people who will be awarded an
honorary degree from Wesleyan
University May 23, according to an
e-mail sent to the Wesleyan com-
munity.
“Wesleyan is an important in-
stitution, widely respected for its
excellence and unique approach to
education,” Simmons wrote in an
e-mail to The Herald. “I am proud to
receive an honor from an institution
that I respect so much.”
Recipients of honorary degrees
are chosen by a committee, said Da-
vid Pesci, director of media relations
at Wesleyan. Students, faculty, staff
and alumni nominate people whom
they consider “trailblazers” and “out-
standing citizens,” and then the de-
cisions are made through a closed
committee process, he said.
“We tr y to select people that
we think are representative of the
values we hold here at Wesleyan,”
Pesci said.
Simmons “is in very good com-
pany,” he added. This year, Wes-
leyan will also award commence-
ment speaker Denver Mayor John
Hickenlooper, who was selected as
one of Time magazine’s top “big-
city” mayors in 2005. Stanley Cavell,
professor emeritus of philosophy
at Harvard, and Richard Winslow,
professor emeritus of music at
continued on page 3
The blog today
blog daily herald
One alum loses an Oscar
while another makes an
“OK” music video
herald@browndailyherald.com
Page 2 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Monday, March 8, 2010

C ampus N EWS “Good deals are good deals if both parties benefit.”
— Charles Rosenthal P’88 P’91, trustee emeritus

New partnership marries research and education

continued from page 1
A better bargain for both
The joint venture, which enrolled
its first students in 2003, was meant
to strengthen Brown’s graduate pro-
grams in science as part of President
Ruth Simmons’ plans for furthering
the sciences at Brown, he said.
“MBL had a distinguished his-
tor y and pedigree,” he said. “It
was and is the oldest private lab in
the U.S. and, I suspect, the world.
Brown, on the cheap, happened into
world-renowned science.”
As with any ambitious academic
initiative, the commitment to build-
ing a relationship with another in-
stitution involved the approval of
administrators, faculty and Corpora-
tion members.
Because the process involved
two independent institutions, efforts
needed to be doubled. “It takes two,”
Rosenthal said.
While other schools, including
Harvard, have full-fledged indepen-
dent programs in the ecological sci-
ences, Brown was looking to bolster
its own program — with the limited
resources at hand. Still, the partner-
ship is not a coup for just Brown.
“Good deals are good deals if
both parties benefit,” Rosenthal
said.
As a “soft-money” institution
running primarily on grants won
by individual scientists, MBL does
not offer tenured appointments.
Through Brown, MBL has access to
additional sources of funding. Also,
MBL is not a degree-granting institu-
tion, and prior to the joint program’s
creation, students studied there only
sporadically and through a summer
program.
sudoku
“This all fits together,” Rosenthal
said.
The partnership will proceed
with the input of researchers, but
the catalyst for the program’s de-
velopment was the administration.
“The real impetus came from the
highest levels at Brown and MBL,”
Neill said. But given this top-down
process, “the people who are doing
this have stepped up,” Neill said,
referring to the researchers.
Next steps
The partnership’s inaugural di-
rector is Neill, an MBL senior sci-
entist studying ecosystems, who
said he was offered the job in late
November. While his new position
is a joint appointment split evenly
between the two institutions, four
MBL scientists will hold part-time
appointments at Brown. Three of the
four will belong to the Department
of Geology, Neill said.
The establishment of the direc-
torship puts the program “under one
roof,” said Neill, whose own appoint-
ment will be with the Department of
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
Though he began traveling to Brown
twice a week in January, Neill said he
expects to settle down and acquire
a permanent office in the coming
months.
The ultimate shape of the pro-
gram is open-ended, and the pace of
growth depends on those who par-
ticipate in the program, Neill said.
“The program is not looking to
grow explosively,” but “quite steadi-
ly,” Neill said.
There is not necessarily a set
research agenda, but the four joint
appointments are intended to foster
interaction between specific profes-
sors at both institutions, he said, add-
ing that scientists will need to take
the initiative to begin collaborating
no matter how much infrastructure
the partnership’s administration de-
velops.
Immediate steps include building
the graduate program’s curriculum,
especially by creating upper-level
courses in ecosystems and ecol-
ogy.
The newly expanded partnership
will also benefit Brown’s under-
graduates — scientists from MBL
will offer new courses and provide
them with research opportunities,
Neill said.
One of the program’s goals, Neill
said, was “to develop a broader um-
brella for environmental research”
by integrating different academic
disciplines.
For example, MBL — a biological
institute — could not draw on work
in geology and the social sciences
before its partnership with Brown.
“Now, MBL is more of a player in
that sort of discussion,” Neill said.
“It was a partnership that seemed
logical,” he said.
An odd couple
Though he has advocated for ex-
panding the program, the major im-
petus for the program came from the
administration, according to Mark
Bertness, professor of biology and
the chair of the Department of Ecol-
ogy and Evolutionary Biology.
The partnership was “kind of
like an arranged marriage,” Bert-
ness said.
“It’s absolutely mutually ben-
eficial,” he said. MBL’s scientists
rely on grants to fund their work,
while at Brown, “we don’t have the
weird mentality of wondering where
the next dollar is coming from,” he
said.
When the partners first began to
interact, Bertness said, there were
“massive cultural dif ferences.”
MBL’s unique quality is that it is a
field laboratory — creating a trade-
off, Neill said, between the desire
to educate and the desire to focus
on research.
Among the scientists at MBL,
there are some who are “not in-
volved, not interested,” he said.
But younger scientists are “much
more open to diversifying the work
they do and the way they go about
doing it.”
“If it goes the way
we envisioned,
we’ll look back on
this as something
that changed the
prospects for
Brown.”
Mark Bertness
Professor of Biology
and Chair of the
Department of Ecology
and Evolutionary
Biology
This choice must be an individual
one, Neill said. “Each person at MBL
is free to choose the level of engage-
ment.”
“We had to spend a few years
letting the cultures grow together,”
Bertness said. After a few years,
“things were going well enough that
we needed to institutionalize.”
Hugh Ducklow, who runs MBL’s
Ecosystems Center, said that despite
the institutions’ distinct cultures,
there are “lots of other intellectual
reasons” for the partnership. For
example, Ducklow said, he appre-
ciates the fact that MBL scientists
can advise graduate students. Duck-
low has mentored students in the
joint graduate program and taken a
Brown alum with him on a research
expedition to Antarctica.
“There are synergies between
research and education,” he said.
Shelby Hayhoe GS, a third-year
doctoral candidate in ecology and
evolutionary biology, is writing her
thesis under two advisers, Neill and
Assistant Professor of Biology Ste-
phen Porder.
“Only in this collaboration can I
do the project I’m doing now,” said
Hayhoe, who studies the conver-
sion of rainforest to soybean agri-
culture in South America. Though
she primarily works with Neill in
the field and with Porder while she
is at Brown, Hayhoe said the open
communication between all three
of them made the project work, de-
spite the risk that a student might
get lost in the shuffle between two
institutions.
“I’m psyched about it,” Hayhoe
said about the new directorship. “Ex-
panding and becoming more orga-
nized can only be a good thing.”
Competing for resources
The partnership is developing
at a time when other projects in the
sciences are coming to the Univer-
sity’s attention — and Brown has
considerably fewer resources to
fund them all.
In fact, investment in the part-
nership was not approved at last
February’s Corporation meeting,
according to Bertness.
There is “massive competition
for resources,” he said. Brown’s em-
phasis on investing in the sciences
is positive, he said, but it should not
come at the expense of the humani-
ties.
“You have to pick and choose,”
Rosenthal said, noting that the part-
nership is not very expensive.
Instead of draining resources,
Rosenthal said, the program will
likely attract more investment. “The
tools are there,” he said.
For scientists and students, the
partnership already represents a
productive research collaboration.
“Over time they will grow much
closer together,” Bertness said.
“If it goes the way we envisioned,
we’ll look back on this as some-
thing that changed the prospects
for Brown.”

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Monday, March 8, 2010 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Page 3

C ampus N EWS “I have had no due process whatsoever.”

— Chris Young, on being barred from University property

First-pick contest causes controversy Ambassador program

By Jonathan Chou
Contributing Writer
Last week’s announcement that In-
sourced — a group of eight fresh-
men — won the Residential Life first
pick contest led to multiple accusa-
tions of illegitimate campaigning and
guideline violations, sparking heated
debate among students.
The winners were accused of
violating campaign guidelines, as
well as making their video longer
than three minutes and 30 seconds,
the maximum length allowed by the
rules. Both accusations are false,
though, according to members of
the Residential Council. ResCouncil
Chair Ben Lowell ’10 and Housing
Lotter y Committee Chair Jillian
Robbins ’11 both confirmed there
were no preexisting regulations on
campaigning, and that the actual
footage of all videos was within the
time limit.
The accusations against In-
sourced stemmed mainly from the
group’s campaign strategy. The
group gave out candy in exchange
for votes, roamed around dining
halls and libraries soliciting votes
and walked around campus in ap-
parel that advertised the video, said
Daniel Lowry ’12.
Some first pick contestants
exchanged e-mails discussing
Insourced’s strategies after the
group’s win was announced, said
Anish Sarma ’12, another contestant
in the first pick contest.
All the teams “could’ve done the
same thing,” Sarma said. “The bot-
tom line was that they got the most
votes.”
Lowry said that he “wasn’t sur-
prised” that Insourced won, since
the competition is no longer “about
A group’s campaign to win this year’s first pick contest upset other
contestants.
the best video, it is about who is
most aggressive.”
These tactics were not unheard
of in previous years, Robbins said,
adding that to a degree, every group
campaigned, at the very least by cre-
ating a group on Facebook. Robbins
said it is hard to believe contestants
thought “making a Facebook group
was sufficient.”
She added that Insourced had
no way of actually forcing people
to vote, because students had to in-
put their usernames and passwords
before they could vote. “Voting can
be informed or uninformed,” Rob-
bins said.
The first pick contest “is a vot-
ing competition,” Lowell said, and
campaigning is expected and al-
lowed. Thus, the debate about the
way Insourced campaigned did not
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald
worry ResCouncil so much as the
general attitude with which contes-
tants approached the competition,
he said.
“Over the past few years, this
year and last, it’s become less fun
and friendly,” Lowell said. “People
have gotten more serious and acri-
monious.”
The purpose of the contest is
to encourage the students to get
excited about the housing lottery
and “to generate buzz,” Robbins
said. Because students are losing
their focus on the contest’s purpose,
there is a possibility that the first
pick contest may not take place next
year, she said.
“The more trouble it gives the
Residential Council, the less they’ll
want to continue the contest,” Sarma
said.
pushed back to Sept.
By Sarah Julian
Staff Writer
The start of the 2010 Ambassador
Program has been postponed from
January to September of this year
because the program requires a
significant amount of time from
participants and the featured de-
partments, according to the Brown
and the Economy Web site.
The Ambassador Program
was created to provide faculty
and staff with the opportunity
to learn more about Brown. It is
application-based, and if accepted,
University employees spend one
day each month learning about
a new facet of life at Brown. This
might mean spending a day at the
Sharpe Refectory learning about
how food is prepared, or traveling
to the Admission Office to get an
up-close view of the application
process.
“During this time of change …
we feel that it would not be appro-
priate to ask colleagues for this
kind of time commitment,” a post
on the Web site said.
The year-long program will now
coincide with the academic year,
rather than the calendar year.
Judith Nabb, a coordinator for
the program, said she and the Cen-
ter for Staff Learning and Profes-
sional Development are taking
the time until the new start date
to evaluate the program.
According to Nabb, the pro-
gram was initially given three years
of funding. Because 2010 marks
its third year, Nabb and her col-
leagues have to “make (their) case
in terms of benefits,” she said. “We
think it has a good case.”
“I think it reenergizes people
and makes them feel connected,”
Nabb said. For this reason, she
said, she loves “watching folks go
through it and seeing how they
draw inspiration from it.”
Adjunct Lecturer in Public
Policy Jennifer Slattery-Bownds,
a 2008 ambassador and manager
for career and employment devel-
opment , said the program “has a
lasting impact” on her “daily work
activities.” Slattery-Bownds said
she understands the challenges
the economy created for the Uni-
versity, but she called the program
a “vital” part of professional devel-
opment.
“I am more effective in my roles
at Brown because I am an ambas-
sador,” she said. “In times like this,
it is more important than ever to
keep employee programs that …
keep up morale and maintain loy-
alty. Brown’s Ambassador Program
does just that.”

Banned, Young may press charges of his own

continued from page 1
Brown police and the University’s
tax-exempt status, Young said.
“Their agenda, clearly, is also
tied to my desire to investigate Ruth
Simmons and her role with Gold-
man Sachs as well as her role on the
Council on Foreign Relations and
why these university presidents are
making so much money,” he said.
Now that the case is dismissed,
Young said he feels the University
should rescind the notice not to
trespass that has prohibited him
from entering Brown’s campus and
any building or property owned or
leased by Brown.
In January, Vice President for
Public Affairs and University Rela-
tions Marisa Quinn told The Herald
the restriction would continue “until
the Department of Public Safety
deems that the individual is no
longer a threat to the safety and
security of the campus.”
“The charge against me was
dismissed,” Young said, adding
that the University no longer has
grounds to prohibit him from enter-
ing University property. “I have had
no due process whatsoever when
it comes to this order against me.
Clearly, I am not guilty of anything.
I committed no crime, and I am a
political candidate who has the right
to campaign, but they’ve restricted
me from one-third of the city.”
The no-trespass order remains
in effect, Quinn wrote in an e-mail
to The Herald.
“This issue will not disappear
just because we won this case,”
Young said. “There needs to be an
example set in regards to policies
that stop free speech in public fo-
rums like this and that violate the
ability of a candidate to campaign
in a city.”
Young said he will be “going
onto the property adjacent to Brown
University” later this week to see if
police arrest him, but he declined
to share more details.

Simmons one of four awarded hon. degrees

continued from page 1
Wesleyan, will also be honored, ac-
cording to the Wesleyan community
e-mail.
The four recipients are all distin-
guished in their fields for contribu-
tions to public policy or scholarship,
Pesci said.
Simmons “has the respect of just
about anyone in academia for her
leadership,” he added.
This is not the first honorary de-
gree that Simmons has received. She
has been the recipient of honorary
degrees from over 25 institutions,
including Harvard, Princeton and
Amherst College, according to her
biography on the Brown Web site.
Still, Simmons wrote that she
considers this and “any such award”
to have meaning because it serves
as recognition of Brown’s excel-
lence.
“Just as Brown often honors
individuals for the success of the
institutions they lead, so do others,”
she wrote.
Dean of the College Katherine
Bergeron wrote in an e-mail that
she was “thrilled” her undergradu-
ate alma mater was celebrating
Simmons. “It seems just right that
Wesleyan should honor a woman
who has stood for the same kind of www.blogdailyherald.com
free and freeing liberal education
that Wesleyan itself has fostered
through many years in its history,”
she wrote.
Arts & Culture
The Brown Daily Herald
Anthro dept. features rare folk performances
continued from page 1
Salem, Mass., who has helped orga-
nize the national tour.
Ten years ago, one of the organiza-
tion’s members from Hawaii suggest-
ed storytelling performance, which
evolved into the festival of today, she
said.
“We provide them with a theme
and they bring their own stories,”
Glosband said. Cast members from
around the country “spent only two
weeks in Alaska making the script and
then began a nationwide tour.”
“One of the board members saw
the performance they did in New
Bedford last year and loved it,” Hoff-
man said. “So we got them to come
to Brown. It was wonderful and we
invited them to come again.”
Last year’s cast included Nitana
Hicks ’03, Glosband said. “Nitana
said that her first day as a freshman
at Brown was spent in this auditori-
um,” Glosband said. “With her family
and friends here,” performing in the
show in Salomon “was like coming
home for her.”
The festival had an intimate, famil-
ial feel about it. The performers had a
warm rapport among them that spilled
over into the small group of Brown
students and Providence families that
attended the event.
Jose Manuel Vinagre, a Portu-
guese man from the fishing village
of Buarcos, opened with a powerful
song about his boyhood. The song
set the tone for the entire production.
As a boy, he said, he was mischievous
but loving.
“How wonderful it was to be a boy,
how wonderful it was to have a family
and to have hope in the future,” he
sang. “It was like having a sun always
shining on you.”
Even though each scene represent-
ed a different culture, the performers
conveyed their stories seamlessly to
audience members. Traditional music
and instruments, such as the Hawai-
Sheep graze at Sarah Doyle Women’s Center — in artwork
By Sara Chimene-Weiss
Contributing Writer
Terry Gips’ work hangs in the Smith-
sonian American Art Museum and
the National Museum of Women in
the Arts in Washington, D.C. Now,
some of it resides in a location more
convenient for most Brown students:
the Sarah Doyle Women’s Center
Gallery.
The show, “Sheep of Many Col-
ors,” is part of a larger project, called
“The Dolly Project,” which Gips has
been working on for about ten years,
she said. The exhibit came about
as the result of her fascination with
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Sunday’s festival combined elements of the native and non-native
communities of Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Massachusetts and Portugal.
ian nose flute — which, the audience
learned, is used to send messages
between loved ones — created transi-
tions from one speaker to the next.
“Answer me, my love. Let there
be no words between us, only breath,
only truth,” sang Ani Lokomaika’i Lip-
scomb to illustrate how the instru-
ments would work.
The festival was equal parts enter-
tainment and education. The perform-
ers drew audiences in with their words
and dances and, in doing so, shed
knowledge on communities that are
generally left out of the limelight.
“This performance was represent-
ing a lot of communities that don’t get
a lot of representation on campus,”
sheep, furthered by her interest in
Dolly, the sheep cloned in 1996 at the
Roslin Institute in Scotland. Dolly
captured the world’s attention: She
was on magazine covers and all over
the news, raising questions about the
ethics of cloning and technology.
Gips, at the time a professor at
the University of Maryland, said she
was struggling with parallel issues
in the art world. Art professors and
students were dealing with the ques-
tions raised by digital art. In particu-
lar, she said she saw the connection
between Dolly and what it means
to be able to duplicate an image a
hundred times with little effort.
Attention student groups!
See this blank space? Your ad could be here!
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald
said audience member and Hawai-
ian Kai Morrell ’11. “It was nice to
see people and culture from where
I’m from.”
The performance ended with a
rapping recap of the lessons audience
members should have learned. Allison
Warden of the Inupiaq Eskimos, also
known by her rap name AKU-MATU,
summed up the performance by incor-
porating traditional beats and sounds
with modern rhymes. Ending the fes-
tival on a note of continuity, Warden
encouraged audience members not
only to learn about these cultures but
also to experience them in everyday
life and ensure their continued ap-
preciation.
The work on display at the cen-
ter represents a range of styles and
mediums. This includes classic, wa-
ter-based monotypes such as “Two
Sheep: Observations,” as well as
multimedia works such as “Sheep’s
Clothing,” pigmented prints of sheep
stitched into the shape of clothes and
displayed along with found items
of clothing. Other work displayed
includes small three-dimensional
houses constructed of prints of
sheep.
Some of the other prints on dis-
play are Gips’ own photography,
taken in Ireland, Scotland, England
and the United States.
Monday, March 8, 2010 | Page 4
Famous poet comes to
Moses Brown School
By Sarah Mancone
S enior S taf f Writer
Award-winning writer and edu-
cator Naomi Shihab Nye will
present her poetr y in the free
and public event, “Ever ything
Comes Next — Daily Rebir th
Through Reading and Writ-
ing,” hosted by Moses Brown
School, in the school’s Alumni
Hall, March 11 at 7 p.m.
Nye has written and edited
more than 25 volumes and
has been recognized by the
Guggenheim, Librar y of Con-
gress, Academy of American
Poets and Pushcar t Prizes.
“Naomi has visited our cam-
pus in the past,” said Sandi
Seltzer, Moses Brown’s com-
munications director. This will
be Nye’s second visit to the
Moses Brown Annual Spring
Poetr y Reading, after her last
appearance eight years ago, she
added.
M oses Brown has been host-
ing readings from well-known
poets for over a decade, she
said.
Nye was selected by the stu-
dents for this event. “We host a
poet ever y year,” Seltzer said.
“The students help pick a poet
who is usually of some note.”
Previous featured poets
include Taha Muhammad Ali,
Lucille Clifton, Mark Doty, Toni
Blackman and Billy Collins.
Cultural Connections, an
organization that coordinates
events relating to the ar ts,
asked Nye to come to Provi-
dence.
But Nye’s visit does not just
consist of a poetr y reading. On
the day of the reading, she will
The largest piece on display is
called “While Shepherds Watched,”
which covers almost an entire wall.
The piece is a tapestry of pigmented
prints of sheep, text, yarn, wool and
rope. Gips explained that the text is
a list of known breeds of sheep —
some now extinct — and the photos
are of sheep from old British cata-
logues from the late 19th century.
Gips said this work represents “an
indication of what has been.”
The show, on display through
March 24, is one of the three profes-
sional artist shows this semester at
the gallery. According to Brooke
Hair ’10, a visual arts concentra-
“spend a day in the classroom”
with students and will “look at
their poems and work with them
as well,” Seltzer said.
Cur rently, students are in
“pairs working on Naomi’s
brand of poetr y,” Seltzer said.
As Nye draws from her Pales-
tinian-American heritage in her
writing, her lesson will “ask stu-
dents to draw from their own
heritage,” Seltzer said.
“We think she’s terrific,” she
added. “We enjoy the time she
spends with our kids.”
Thursday night, the public is
invited to come, enjoy the read-
ing “and share in something
that is educational and ar tistic,”
she said.
This event is also par t of
“Raise Your Voice: Examining
Culture, Clash, Community and
Change,” a four-month project
that uses ar tists, poets and
scholars to spread Mar tin Lu-
ther King, Jr.’s work toward tol-
erance and nonviolent conflict
resolution throughout second-
ar y schools and adult education
classes.
“Raise Your Voice” began
at the University of Rhode Is-
land, Seltzer said, and the proj-
ect is working with a number
of schools throughout Rhode
Island “teaching King-ian non-
violence.”
“Nonviolent conflict resolu-
tion is ver y impor tant to us,”
she added.
The reading is sponsored by
Moses Brown, Cultural Connec-
tions, the International Institute
of Rhode Island, the Rhode Is-
land Council for the Humanities
and the National Endowment
for the Humanities.
tor and the gallery’s coordinator, a
board — composed of faculty and
staff from Brown, Providence Col-
lege and the University of Rhode
Island and a professional artist ­—
sends out a yearly call for submis-
sions. The group usually receives
60–80 submissions a year, and from
those chooses five or six to display
throughout the year, Hair said.
Just as the collection is unique,
the Sarah Doyle Women’s Center
Gallery is not a typical white-walled
gallery, but a former house with a
fireplace, Hair added. “It can be a
challenge, but also a way for artists
to make different work.”
SportsMonday
The Brown Daily Herald
M. HOCKEY
Brown upsets RPI, advances in ECAC playoffs Bears avenge
By Dan Alexander
Sports Editor
The stakes couldn’t have been any
higher. With Brown leading, 3-2, in
the last moments of the final contest
in a three-game playoff series and
the Rensselaer goaltender pulled
in favor of an extra attacker, Brown
goalie Michael Clemente ’12 needed
to deny every shot that came his
way in order for the Bears to extend
their season.
He relished the pressure.
“They had four or five shots at
the end,” Clemente said. “That was
the best part of the game.”
It was especially nice for Clem-
ente since no pucks got behind him
and the Bears sealed the 3-2 victory
and the series. Brown won, 3-1, Fri-
day and lost, 4-1, Saturday.
The third game extended
Brown’s season at least another
week. The Bears will take on No. 6
Yale, the top team in the ECAC, in
a three-game series in New Haven
starting Friday night.
Brown 3, RPI 1
Brown’s weekend didn’t start
as happily as it ended. Trailing 1-0
heading into the third period on
Friday night, the Bears struggled
to solve RPI goalie Allen York, who
stopped everything coming his way
in the first two periods.
But just 1:40 into the final frame,
Jarred Smith ’12 got the Bears on the
board. And only 1:13 after Smith’s
M. BASKETBALL
Despite double weekend
loss, seniors receive ovation
By Tony Bakshi
Sports Staff Writer
This weekend was supposed to be
all about Brown’s two seniors. But it
was the opposing teams that ended
up celebrating on the Bears’ home
court both Friday and Saturday
night. The Cornell Big Red (27-4,
13-1 Ivy) clinched its third-straight
Ivy League title with a 95-76 victory,
and the Columbia Lions (11-17, 5-9
Ivy) defeated Brown, 65-56, sending
Matt Mullery ’10 and Steve Gruber
’10 home without a win on their last
weekend as collegiate players.
Cornell 95, Brown 76
Cornell is ranked first in the
nation in three-point shooting per-
centage, and the team showed that
against the Bears. In the first three
minutes, the Big Red jumped out to
a 9-0 lead on threes from forward
Jon Jaques and guard Chris Wro-
blewski.
But the Bears were not fazed
and hung in the game with some
sharpshooting of their own. Gar-
rett Leffelman’s ’11 jumper from
beyond the arc closed the deficit to
five, 14-9. Another three-pointer by
Peter Sullivan ’11, who finished with
a game-high 23 points, gave Bruno
its first lead of the game midway
through the first half.
Having defeated Rensselaer, the Bears will next face Yale in a best-of-
three quarterfinals matchup.
goal, Bobby Farnham ’12 also beat
York to give Brown a 2-1 lead.
RPI players and coaches compli-
mented the Bears on their aggres-
sive style in the battle.
“They play a very meat-and-po-
tatoes style of game,” Paul Kerins,
who scored RPI’s lone goal on the
night, told the Daily Gazette of
Schenectady, N.Y. “There’s not a
lot of flash to it.”
Tri-captain Aaron Volpatti ’10
added an empty-net goal with 1:05
remaining to extend Brown’s lead
Cornell responded, continuing
to drain jumpers from all corners of
the court on its way to a 47-36 lead
with 4:10 remaining. For the half,
the Big Red shot an astounding 11
of 16 from three-point range. But
again, Brown stormed back, cut-
ting Cornell’s halftime lead to four,
51-47. Brown entered the locker
room with an impressive statistic
of its own, shooting 16 of 27 — 59
percent — from the field.
“It was a sensational first half,”
said Head Coach Jesse Agel. “Our
guys were tremendous.”
The game turned around in the
opening minutes of the second half.
Cornell continued its hot shooting,
and Brown was unable to stay with
the Big Red. A 14-4 run by Cornell
— again marked by threes from
Jaques and Wroblewski — ex-
tended the lead to 63-51 with 16:30
remaining.
“We have a ton of shooters,”
said Jeff Foote, Cornell’s center
and reigning Ivy Defensive Player
of the Year. “If they all get hot at the
same time, it’s real tough to stop.”
Those shooters carried the
Big Red to a comfortable victory
in the second half. Foote and his
teammates received the Ivy League
trophy after the final buzzer, to the
delight of the Big Red fans who had
made the trip to Providence.
Jonathan Bateman / Herald
to 3-1.
RPI 4, Brown 1
Brown’s win on Friday night
meant it was do-or-die for RPI on
Saturday.
“I was ner vous,” RPI Head
Coach Seth Appert told the Daily
Gazette. “We talked about having
our backs against the wall. It was
more like having our backs against
the cliff.”
The Engineers played like their
lives were on the line.
Cornell and Columbia beat the Bears on Bruno’s home court last Friday
and Saturday during Brown’s final regular-season weekend.
Columbia 65, Brown 56
On Senior Day, both Mullery
and Gruber made their presence
known on the court. After the pre-
game ceremony honoring both
players, Gruber joined Mullery as
a starter and logged five assists in
28 minutes. Mullery — who had
three rows of family and friends in
the stands wearing red-and-black
“Mullery #45” T-shirts — scored 19
points, and passed Russ Tyler ’71
P’00 P’02 for 16th on Brown’s all-
time leading scorer list with 1,134
career points.
Monday, March 8, 2010 | Page 5
The Engineers got on the score-
board first, and Volpatti evened
the score, 1-1, before the period
ended.
But with the score tied, 1-1, late
in the second period, RPI scored
two goals 1:35 apart. Chase Polacek
— the nation’s leading goal-scorer
— netted another in the third period
to give RPI its final 4-1 lead.
Brown 3, RPI 2
No one in Brown’s locker room
was happy with the intensity in Sat-
urday’s game.
“The whole team decided to
come back today with more intensity
and more drive,” Clemente said.
Volpatti got Brown going with his
third goal of the series 7:05 after the
puck dropped.
The Bears made it a 2-0 lead mid-
way through the second when Jack
Maclellan ’12 scored on a five-on-
three power play. And Chris Zaires
’13 gave the Bears some high-pre-
mium insurance with his goal just 18
seconds into the final frame, making
the score 3-0, Brown.
But it wasn’t over yet. RPI scored
two third-period goals to narrow
the gap to just one goal, but they
couldn’t get another one by Clem-
ente and the Bears skated off with
a win.
“It feels awesome,” Maclellan
said. “We’re enjoying it for now, and
probably enjoying it the rest of the
night, and then focusing on Yale
tomorrow.”
Jonathan Bateman / Herald
But the Bears could not grab the
victory. Both the Bears’ and the Li-
ons’ players looked sluggish through-
out the game, with the exception of
Columbia senior forward Niko Scott,
who drained six three-pointers on the
way to a game-high 22 points. Brown
trailed by three, 26-23, at halftime,
and ultimately lost by nine.
Regardless, the Pizzitola crowd
gave Mullery a standing ovation as
he left the court for the final time
with 6.2 seconds to go, a fitting end
for his memorable career spent man-
ning the paint for Brown.
W. LACROSSE
defeat after
long wait
By Tory Elmore
Contributing Writer
Eleven months ago, the women’s
lacrosse team left Quinnipiac visibly
disappointed by a resounding 11-6
defeat.
But what a difference a year can
make.
Sunday, the Bears walked off their
home turf with a different story written
on their faces. A late run gave them a
13-10 victory over the visiting Bobcats,
avenging their loss last season.
The score was close throughout
the game, with Quinnipiac leading at
several points. But Brown refused to
let the game slip away.
“Every game is a battle,” said Paris
Waterman ’11, who scored twice for the
Bears. “Our confidence in one another
is what pulls us out of tight games.”
Just four days earlier, the Bears
let a one-goal lead at halftime versus
Boston University slide, eventually
losing, 9-5.
“I think it shows how much we can
grow in just a matter of days,” Water-
man said. “We let BU go on Wednes-
day, but today we did everything we
could and held on. I’m so proud.”
Waterman was just one of seven
goal-scorers, including up-and-comer
Lindsay Minges ’13 with three goals
and Kaela McGilloway ’12 with four
goals and two assists.
Head Coach Keely McDonald ’00
was also pleased with her team’s per-
formance.
“We needed to stay composed to-
day, and we did. It was the key to our
success,” she said.
Indeed, the Bears stayed poised,
even in the final minutes as their oppo-
nents made several strong runs at goal.
The defense, anchored by tri-captain
Kiki Manners ’10 and standout fresh-
man Sidney Jacobs ’13, held its own
until the very end, forcing offensive
mistakes and feeding the Bears’ of-
fense throughout the entire game.
“It was close, but in the end, we
panicked and they stayed calm,” said
Quinnipiac Head Coach Danie Caro.
“Brown deserved to win.”
That’s not to say her team didn’t put
up a good fight. Marissa Caroleo was
fierce on offense, scoring four times for
the Bobcats, while Kaitlyn Kelly also
stood out with seven draw controls,
two of which resulted in goals.
Brown improves to 2-1 on the sea-
son as the team approaches its Ivy
League opener next Saturday versus
Princeton. The Tigers are ranked ninth
nationally, one of three Ivy League
schools, including Penn and Dart-
mouth, in the top 20.
Brown needs to finish in the top
four of the Ivy League to qualify for
the first-ever Ivy Women’s Lacrosse
tournament.
“Princeton is a great team,” Mc-
Donald said. “But we can’t think about
them. If we just focus on our game,
we can win.”
“We’re going to have lots of close
games,” Waterman added. “In the end,
we just have to get the job done.”
Editorial & Letters
The Brown Daily Herald

Page 6 | Monday, March 8, 2010

l e t t e r to t h e e d i to r

Phi Beta Kappa should

require more breadth
To the Editor:
As chair of the Physics Depart-
ment, my attention was naturally
drawn to Tyler Rosenbaum’s recent
column (“No physicists need apply,”
March 3). What activity or organiza-
tion would not welcome physicists
with open arms? Imagine my sur-
prise when I read of Rosenbaum’s
concern about Phi Beta Kappa’s pos-
sible discrimination against science
students.
In fact, of the 40 juniors (rep-
resenting less than 3 percent of the
junior class) selected for member-
ship in Phi Beta Kappa this year,
four (i.e. 10 percent) are physics
concentrators. This remarkable
achievement by our students is tes-
tament not only to their academic
excellence but also to the breadth
of their studies, given the rules of
our Phi Beta Kappa chapter, as out-
lined in Rosenbaum’s column. This
latter characteristic is shared by the
majority of our concentrators, whom
we encourage from the start of their
studies at Brown to explore a variety
of disciplines, gain a broad liberal
education and, most importantly,
hone their writing skills.
Unfortunately, many non-sci-
ence concentrators do not exhibit
similar breadth in their course choic-
es, taking one or no science classes.
Maybe our Phi Beta Kappa chapter
should institute a minimum require-
ment for science classes. In fact, one
might posit that the inclusion of a
basic science or math requirement,
similar to the recently established
writing requirement, would serve
to strengthen the liberal education
offered at Brown.
ABE PRESSMAN
Chung-I Tan P’95 P’03
Chair, Physics Department
Chair, Faculty Executive
e d i to r i a l
Committee
March 5
Safe walking
Just a few days ago, a member of the editorial page Schaefer’s death, a tragedy that was the fault of one
board was about to cross the street at Thayer and unconscionably reckless motorist.
Waterman when the light changed. Several students Nonetheless, Schaefer’s death has brought issues
ignored the flashing red hand and continued to walk, of pedestrian safety to light and played a large role in

Letters, please! causing an exasperated driver to roll down his window

and yell, “You got a 1400 on your SAT? You don’t even
know how to cross the street.”
prompting the University to create a pedestrian safety
review committee. The Herald reported Thursday that
the new committee will consider fixes for dangerous
Regarding the estimated SAT score, the driver spots, promote awareness of pedestrian safety issues
letters@browndailyherald.com was a little off. Many of us beat 1400 on the 1600 and coordinate with local law enforcement.
scale, and if we’re considering scores on the 2400 The creation of this committee is a positive step,
scale, then a 1400 isn’t exactly Brown material. But and we want to highlight several problematic spots
his claim that Brown students seem sometimes not to for members to consider.
know how to cross the street was far from erroneous.
Indeed, many of us are often reckless and impatient — The Hope and Thayer intersection where Schaefer
t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d pedestrians. was killed has long been considered dangerous and
Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Deputy Managing Editors Senior Editors On weekdays, students flood the streets when rightly deserves to be among the committee’s top
George Miller Chaz Kelsh Sophia Li Ellen Cushing classes end. The street in front of J. Walter Wilson priorities.
Seth Motel
Emmy Liss
Joanna Wohlmuth
in particular tends to fill with students, causing an — The Waterman and Brown intersection near Faunce
Business
awkward dance between distracted pedestrians and Arch and J. Walter Wilson could use a stop sign. As we
editorial General Managers Office Manager hurried drivers. mentioned earlier, the pedestrian crossing there is ex-
Anne Speyer Arts & Culture Editor Claire Kiely Shawn Reilly
Suzannah Weiss Arts & Culture Editor Look around other parts of campus, and you’re tremely busy and the existing yield-to-pedestrian sign
Katie Koh
Brian Mastroianni Features Editor likely to see students blatantly disregarding traffic is not enough to ensure an orderly flow of traffic.
Directors
Hannah Moser Features Editor
Kelly Wess Sales rules and texting or e-mailing while they walk. As — The Charlesfield and Brook intersection lacks a
Brigitta Greene Metro Editor
Matthew Burrows Finance
Ben Schreckinger Metro Editor many can attest, the driver we mentioned earlier stop sign and creates a hazard for residents of Barbour
Margaret Watson Client Relations
Sydney Ember News Editor
Christiana Stephenson Alumni Relations certainly isn’t the first to have a few choice words Hall, Young Orchard Apartments and Perkins Hall.
Nicole Friedman News Editor
Dan Alexander Sports Editor Managers
(or gestures) for student jaywalkers. — Drivers frequently ignore the yield-to-pedestrian
Andrew Braca Asst. Sports Editor Arjun Vaidya Local Sales We want to see students to take greater individual sign on Hope Street in front of the Olney-Margolies
Han Cui Asst. Sports Editor Marco deLeon National Sales responsibility for their own pedestrian habits. The Athletic Center. This sign needs to be enforced.
Graphics & Photos Aditi Bhatia University Sales
Stephen Lichenstein Graphics Editor Jared Davis University Sales rules of the roads and sidewalks are simple, and we
Alex Yuly Graphics Editor Trenten Nelson-Rivers Recruiter Sales can all do a better job of following them. With the combination of heightened individual effort
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong Photo Editor Alexander Carrere Special Projects
Max Monn Asst. Photo Editor Kathy Bui Staff
Of course, even the most careful pedestrians can and improved traffic rules for a few specific spots, our
Jonathan Bateman Sports Photo Editor still face dangers. The Brown community continues campus can become a safer place to walk and a less
Opinions
production Michael Fitzpatrick Opinions Editor to mourn the death of Avi Schaefer ’13, who was hit stressful place to drive.
Kelly Mallahan Copy Desk Chief Alyssa Ratledge Opinions Editor by a driver subsequently charged with drunk driving.
Jordan Mainzer Asst. Copy Desk Chief
Marlee Bruning Design Editor Editorial Page Board
Our call today for greater student responsibility on the Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board.
Anna Migliaccio Asst. Design Editor Matt Aks Editorial Page Editor sidewalks isn’t a response to the events that caused Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
Julien Ouellet Asst. Design Editor Debbie Lehmann Board member
Neal Poole Web Editor William Martin Board member
Melissa Shube Board member correction
Post- magazine Gaurie Tilak Board member
Marshall Katheder Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Topaz Board member
A column in Friday’s Herald (“B.A. — D.O.A.,” March 5) incorrectly stated that the Tiger Grotto recreation
Marlee Bruning, Leor Shtull-Leber, Designers center is located at the University of Mississippi. In fact, it is located at the University of Missouri. The Herald
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Opinions
The Brown Daily Herald
Manas Gautam
Opinions Columnist
The minimum wage is defined as the lowest
wage that an employer is legally allowed to
pay. This concept was first brought to pow-
er by the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938
and has been enforced ever since. Currently,
the minimum wage for Rhode Island is $7.40
per hour and most employers, including the
University, must adhere to it. But why are
private academic institutions in the United
States not exempt from minimum wage?
Can we ever get rid of the minimum wage
entirely?
Brown utilizes a graded approach to em-
ployment, and the associated hourly rate is
based on the level of responsibility and skills
required to perform the job. Students paid
under employment grade A receive $8.20 to
$9.55 per hour; B, from $8.45 to $10.05; C,
from $8.70 to $10.55; D, from $8.95 to $11.05;
and E, above $9.20. The grade is determined
using a simple, single-page form that ascer-
tains the level of expertise a job requires with
regard to skill, supervisory requirements,
work flow, decision making, scope of work and
confidentiality requirements, etc. Not only is
this form ambiguous in determining the real
requirements and pressure of the job, but it
is ineffective. If we let the free market within
the campus determine the job’s pay, it would
not only be highly effective, but also fair.
Most students employed by Brown would
cringe at the idea of no minimum wage, since
this could lead to lower pay and more com-
Sarah Yu
Opinions Columnist
I’m refreshing my Firefox page again. The
event listing now says 11 confirmed guests
and two maybes.
“One more confirmed guest!” I cry out
triumphantly to the other people sitting in the
living room. I am answered with enthusiastic
“yay’s” from my companions. The thrill of this
exercise is getting to us all.
I feel that this is something all Brown stu-
dents experience at some point in our busy
extracurricular lives: creating a Facebook
event for a party, lecture or fundraiser, and
subsequently spending a considerable amount
of time trying to will as many invitees as pos-
sible to RSVP “attend.”
It is striking that over just the past four or
five years, Facebook has not only begun to
facilitate our social lives, but also our emo-
tions. Being “poked” by a possible romantic
interest, receiving a “friend request” from
an elementary school jungle gym buddy or
having a particularly witty status “liked” is
enough to make a Brown student’s day just
that much better.
These days, we have even more than just
the regular, old Facebook to keep ourselves
occupied at the expense of schoolwork —
there’s BrownFML, SpottedatBrown and the
new and incredible BlogDailyHerald. They’re
catered to students at Brown specifically,
helping us devote our Internet time to access-
Everybody hit the floor
petition. Their fear of lower pay is only so
reasonable. For jobs that require special skills,
such as programming, fewer students will be
willing to devote time to such a job for less
pay. As a result, the salaries will have to rise
to attract potential employees with well-honed
skills. On the other hand, jobs that require
less specialized knowledge will find many ap-
plicants, and so a fear of lower pay is justifiable
in this situation.
A minimum-wage exemption would also
ease funding restrictions that prevent Brown
employers from hiring more employees.
A minimum-wage exemption would also
ease funding restrictions that prevent Brown
employers from hiring more employees. This
could potentially reduce competition by ex-
panding positions, allowing more students
to work. Higher student employment in turn
will lead to more research and giving more
back to the community.
A lowered pay rate also gives students who
have next-to-no experience a chance to apply
to various jobs and discover which career
suits them best. Because new recruits would
get entry-level jobs with inconsequential pay,
their decision to commit or quit may be made
without taking a substantial salary into consid-
eration, leaving the truly important criteria —
Therapeutic narcissism
ing the most up-to-date information, directly
relevant to our college lives.
Maybe some members of an older genera-
tion could accuse us of being too reliant on
technology and being sucked into the addic-
tive and destructive grandeur of the Internet.
We can call it a plague of the 21st century,
with images of zombie-like (zombies: yet an-
other fascination of our generation) young
people stuck to their computers, but I think
Facebook, for its technical glitches, insensitive
weight-loss advertisements and threats of fees,
makes us happy.
it’s something not quite so malevolent.
Imagine this: a Brown student is stressing
out over an overdue paper at eleven o’clock at
night. He or she logs onto a favorite procras-
tination Web site. This Brown student sees a
mention in a recent post on SpottedatBrown
that may be directed towards him or her, and
feels the vain surge of recognition. Though a
little “creeped out” at the prospect of being
“stalked,” the typical Brown student will nev-
ertheless be mostly flattered that he or she
had been noticed beyond the daily monotony
of college life. That little sense of self-esteem
can go a long way in maintaining a student’s
namely, job satisfaction — with greater weight
in the decision-making process. Employers are
then left with a dedicated, productive work
staff instead of employees who simply squat
in their position and are paid more than they
deserve because of seniority and raises.
I would also like to mention that removal of
the minimum wage, a form of price floor, does
not always lead to reduction of pay. In fact, it is
purely meritocratic in nature and evolves with
the type of student body. If, for example, in a
certain year students do not wish to work for
Brown Dining Services because it involves a
lot of mental and physical stress, BuDS would
increase the pay rate by a moderate amount to
attract students. If an employer tries to exploit
the employee by paying next-to-nothing wages,
then there would be fewer applicants.
Miles Goldman ’11, the Lab Supervisor
for the 3D Shape Perception Laboratory (in
the Department of Cognitive and Linguistic
Sciences) received strong applications from
30 people who applied for a single Research
Assistant position in the lab. Let’s analyze
this situation — as the pay rate is $9, only
one student could be employed. The rest
sanity during midterms or finals. It can be,
I believe, the make-or-break psychological
motivator towards a good academic attitude
and a bad one.
Facebook, for its technical glitches, insen-
sitive weight-loss advertisements and threats
of fees, makes us happy. As we post about our
personal tragedies on BrownFML, we seek
comfort from those fellow students with a few
extra compassionate words to share. Actually,
the mere evidence of having an FML approved
for publication on the Web site is a sign that
one’s life still has hope. Those who post and
those who reply to console will all ultimately
feel better about themselves as responsible
members of the Brown community — if you
really think about it, “liking” a status or send-
ing a sympathetic comment is equivalent to
some kind of micro-level community service
on the morale front.
One would willingly say “Happy Birthday”
to an old acquaintance long forgotten outside
of cyberspace, and the Internet forum allows
us the freedom of extending courtesies with
Monday, March 8, 2010 | Page 7
were left wondering why they weren’t good
enough. Now, if the salary was $4.50 per hour,
two assistants could have been hired, which
would lead to a higher distribution of work,
more efficiency and competition amongst the
employees for a raise. Furthermore, having
more employees offers a safeguard against
absences, such as those caused by illness and
schoolwork-related commitments.
By having individually assigned raises, em-
ployers can make sure that their employees are
keen and effective. Getting a raise would also
positively affect the morale of the employees
and make sure the job remains merit-based. If
this idea of there being no (or less) minimum
wage works for private academic institutions, I
am sure it will lead to the Fair Labor Standards
Act being repealed altogether and more em-
ployment in this recessive, jobless economy
(where the teen unemployment rate is 25.5%,
the highest since 1948). The minimum wage,
after all, has the worst effects on vulnerable
workers that include teenagers, blacks and
women with limited skills.
Thomas Sowell, an American economist
whose research shows that increasing mini-
mum wages for workers in the sugar industry
of Puerto Rico led to a rise of unemployment
in that particular industry, famously quoted,
“The real minimum wage is zero.” I believe
he is right.
Manas Gautam ’12 gives lessons in
fishing and does not create fake jobs
by spending billions of dollars. He
can be reached at manas_gautam@
brown.edu.
the utmost ease. Perhaps our social interac-
tions over an Internet forum can be called
superficial, but it’s arguably much friendlier
to send a Facebook wall post with a simple
message of greeting than to feel obligated
to stop and chat in person about nothing
in particular. When we are communicating
through the indirect channel of our com-
puters or hand-held devices, there is less of
an urge to let the harsh, frustrated tone of
college student life take over our messages.
It is also more cost-effective than long- and
short-distance calling.
So maybe our social interactions are chang-
ing, and perhaps it does need to be criticized
that young people nowadays no longer find it
necessary to engage in the deep, intellectual
person-to-person bonding that our psychology
textbooks tell us we need. But technology
really is, however cliche, bringing us closer
to everyone else. It’s free therapy for col-
lege students, by college students — mass
companionship in times of need.
I propose that we restrict the use of the
negative term “procrastination” when we surf
our favorite online forums. Let’s break any
stigma against using the Facebook, Brown-
FML, etc., as a means of keeping ourselves
entertained and sensible, and embrace the
psychological benefits that the Internet has
to bring.
Sarah Yu ’11 thinks that she was
Spotted at Brown. Whether or not
she is mistaken, she can be reached
at xia_yu@brown.edu.
 Today 4
to day to m o r r o w
Poet presents at Moses Brown
The Brown Daily Herald

5
Bears beat Bobcat rivals in w. lacrosse

Monday, March 8, 2010

55 / 31 49 / 32
Page 8

pro g rammatic comics

Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline

Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald

Local high school students crowded into the Science Center Saturday
afternoon to cool off after a three-hour programming contest.
Cabernet Voltaire | Abe Pressman

c a l e n da r
Today, march 8 tomorrow, march 9

6:30 P.M. — “The History of White 4:30 P.M. — “Blue Vinyl” Film
People,” by Nell Irvin Painter, Salomon Screening, Smith-Buonnano 106
001

7 P.M. — “Thinking Critically About 6 P.M. — “Escribir Desde La

Death Row,” Wilson 102 Sombra” Lecture on Cuba, McKinney
Conference Room Frutopia | Andy Kim

menu

Sharpe Refectory Verney-Woolley Dining Hall

Lunch — Vegan White Bean Casserole, Lunch — Honey Mustard Chicken

Flame Grilled Veggie Patties, Krinkle Sandwich, Baked Macaroni and
Cut Fries, Lemon Bars Cheese, Butterscotch Cookies

Dinner — Jumbo Couscous, Grecian Dinner — Tuscan Pork Roast,

Style Beef, Country Wedding Soup Fettucini, Roasted Herb Potatoes

Hippomaniac | Mat Becker

crossword

Island Republic | Kevin Grubb

Island Republic | Kevin Grubb