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Commencement Magazine 2011
Commencement Magazine 2011
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Commencement 2011 | May 29, 2011 | Serving the community daily since 1891
C O M M E N C E M E N T 2 011
schedule of major events
Fr i d a y , M a y 27 Sunday, May 29
5:30 p.m. – 9 p.m. 9:45 a.m.
Brown Bear Buffet, Commencement Procession Starts
one of Brown’s oldest Faunce Arch, Main Green
traditions. A delicious
meal and entertainment by 10:15 a.m.
Brown a cappella groups. Graduate School Convocation
Sharpe Refectory, Main Ceremonial awarding of degrees.
Dining Room Lincoln Field
SENIOR ORATORS
JACOB COMBS ’11
When Combs attended Brown’s Summer “I really found myself responding to her
Session after his sophomore year in high work,” he said. “It made my whole experi-
school, he fell in love with the University. ence as an English concentrator come to-
He decided Brown was the place for him, gether.”
and he applied early decision. Combs has also been heavily involved in
An English concentrator from Los Ange- the music scene at Brown. He has played
les, Combs recently completed a thesis com- the piano through the Applied Music Pro-
paring the adolescent experiences of Juliet gram, directed two shows, composed two
from “Romeo and Juliet” and Maria from musicals, taken composition, theory and
“West Side Story.” He produced his own in- history courses in the Department of Music
terpretation, examining literary adaptations and more.
and theoretical frameworks of adolescence “I find music an amazing way to express
as well as the characters’ experiences in the myself emotionally,” he said, “and I love
context of their families and ancestors. writing music because it’s so intangible, yet
Combs will speak about the effect Virginia it speaks so directly to us.”
Woolf’s work has had on him. He first dis- Combs said he eventually hopes to be-
covered her work in a class last semester, come a composer and a lyricist. He will be
and he said Woolf taught him to read and teaching at Summerbridge San Francisco
write in a new way and appreciate “what it this summer and plans to attend graduate
can do for us as people.” school in the future.
— David Chung
photos by Hilary Rosenthal
Commencement 2011
5
Honorary degree recipients
At this year’s Commencement, Brown will of the Corporation, based on recommendations
award honorar y degrees to 10 individuals from the Advisor y Committee on Honorar y
prominent in a variety of fields, including Degrees. The committee, which is composed of
film, public service and historical scholarship. faculty, staff and students, solicits nominations
The recipients were selected by the Board of Fellows from the campus community each spring.
Zhenkai Zhao
Zhao, also known by his pseudonym Bei Dao,
is a Chinese poet of international fame, best
recognized for his poem “Answer.” Though
he was initially a member of the pro-Mao Red
Guards, he eventually grew critical of the
government and his poetry became popu-
lar among pro-democracy groups in China.
In the late 1980s, he was not permitted to
return to his home country and has written,
lived and taught throughout Europe and
the United States ever since. Zhao’s work
has been translated into many different lan-
guages and he has been nominated for the
Nobel Prize in Literature multiple times. Just
four years ago, Zhao moved back to Asia with
his family, accepting an offer as a professor
of humanities at the Chinese University of
Hong Kong. Some of his compilations of
poetry include “The August Sleepwalker,”
“Landscape Over Zero” and “The Rose of
Time.”
Commencement 2011
7
BY SARAH FORMAN
Since 2006, when the youngest reunion class last passed through the Van
Wickle Gates, Brown has embarked on an internationalization process with more
fervor and coordination than ever before. Brown has more applicants and alums
living abroad, more rigorous requirements for International Relations concentrators
and more partnerships with research institutions around the world, making it, undeni-
ably, a more internationally focused school.
Commencement 2011
11
‘A whole higher level’ to be attracting the top students.” And that listings of relevant coursework, research
Of course, Brown has been building its means internationalizing. opportunities, internships and job postings.
worldwide presence for the better part of the
last century, explained Vice President for Over 100 courses ‘Year of’ series
International Affairs Matthew Gutmann P’14. Though Brown had an international focus Some of those area-studies programs have
“We’ve been a global university for a long, long before 2006, the University needed also been heavily involved in the “Year of”
long time,” he said, adding that for decades an organizing body to coordinate all of its series, a new initiative that has brought two
Brown has worked to incorporate foreign per- resources and to “highlight those aspects semesters of University-wide focus to several
spectives into the classroom, offered study of Brown that are international already,” major world centers.
abroad opportunities and encouraged faculty Kertzer said. The Year of Latin America, Year of Africa
to collaborate with their counterparts abroad. For example, even before the Global and Year of India were implemented for 2007-
The precursor to the Watson Institute for In- Health Initiative emerged in 2009 as an out- 08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 academic years,
ternational Studies — the Center for Foreign growth of the internationalization process, respectively, and the upcoming year has al-
Policy Development — had already been in Brown boasted a wealth of global health ready been established as the Year of China.
place for 25 years when the latest drive to projects in over 30 countries involving more The months of lectures, video screenings,
internationalize began. than 100 faculty members. But these were conferences and discussions that compose
“This is not new,” he said. “What’s new is mostly run independently and without a these endeavors bring energy and attention
that we’re taking it to a whole higher level.” unifying focus. to Brown’s efforts to expand its connections
It all started in 2006, when President Ruth “Nobody was minding the store,” said to these parts of the world, said Dean of the
Simmons listed increasing Brown’s inter- Susan Cu-Uvin, professor of obstetrics, gyne- Faculty Rajiv Vohra P’07, who spearheaded
national profile as one of the top priorities cology and medicine at The Miriam Hospital the Year of India.
for the next academic year. At its October and the Warren Alpert Medical School, who With its 70 panel discussions, student
meeting that fall, the Corporation — Brown’s became director of the program. She said productions, lectures and more, the Year of
highest governing body — authorized a 30 it was so difficult to find information about India provided a structure and framework for
percent increase in financial aid for inter- Brown’s international health programs that a plethora of short-term programs that drew
national students and offered a series of the Consortium for Universities in Global immediate attention to India’s importance
recommendations to strengthen the school’s Health was not even sure whom to contact on the global stage. Salman Rushdie’s talk
global reach. when it tried to invite Brown to participate in February 2010 filled nearly every seat
As a result, newly appointed Provost Da- in events. in the Salomon Center, and the thousands
vid Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 took the helm of Simply by building a website and sending of attendees at last year’s Commencement
an internationalization committee that tried weekly emails, Cu-Uvin said, the Initiative ceremonies saw President Ruth Simmons
to “think deeply about how Brown could was able to better coordinate faculty efforts present Indian historian Romila Thapar with
become more of a world university,” he said. and connect more people with resources. In an honorary degree.
In its 2007 report, the committee called for a particularly poignant example, the Initi- But the Year of India’s biggest success,
more international research and educational atve put together a listing of all the courses Vohra said, was in encouraging “long term
initiatives, better University-wide coordina- Brown already offered with relevance to initiatives which have strengthened our re-
tion of internationally focused coursework global health, and came up with over 100 lationship to partners in India.”
and the creation of advisory councils to focus classes spanning disciplines like Africana “The real aim was to think of it as an in-
on understudied world regions. Studies and Anthropology all the way to Po- vestment in our future,” Vohra added. He
The report also identified the “distinct Eu- litical Science and Sociology. Pulling these accompanied Simmons on a trip to Delhi
ropean bias” to study abroad patterns, stating courses together not only alerts them to and Mumbai last March, as part of the Year
that although 35 percent of the junior class each others’ existence and allows for col- of India, and said her visit allowed Brown to
spent a semester or year abroad in 2005-06, laboration, but it also means outsiders can expand an existing exchange program with
more students needed to be drawn to India, have a better picture of what global health St. Stephen’s College, an Indian university in
China, Africa and other areas. looks like at Brown, she said. Delhi. While Brown students had travelled to
In the fall of 2007, University Hall unveiled Furthermore, with a set of administra- St. Stephen’s for study abroad in the past, the
a new office dedicated entirely to fulfilling tors dedicated to supporting University-wide program only became a full exchange when
these objectives, and David Kennedy ’76 global health initiatives, Brown has access they agreed to send a master’s student from
stepped in to lead it, as Brown’s first-ever to more grant and fellowship opportunities India to study at Brown.
vice president for international affairs. than it would with only the disconnected “While that had been under discussion for
Gutmann — who took over for Kennedy efforts of individual research teams. some time, we were able to use President
in September 2009 — now directs the office Many new funding opportunities require Simmons’ visit to St. Stephen’s College to
and manages many of the key aspects of that researchers combine multiple disci- renew that agreement,” he said. The visit
Brown’s internationalization: coordinating plines — like biomedicine and engineering or also generated a lot of media attention in
funding for international projects, overseeing anthropology and community health — and India, making many more Indians aware
the annual Brown International Advanced a centralized office is well-poised to bring of Brown as a world-class academic center.
Research Institutes conference and building those different specialties together, Cu-Uvin That media buzz, alongside longer-term ef-
and maintaining meaningful partnerships said. The Initiative has been able to bring forts by the Office for International Affairs
with foreign research universities. in funding from the Framework in Global to increase Brown’s visibility, has lead to an
“I think there’s a great deal of enthusiasm Health, USAID and AIDS International. ever-growing alumni base and applicant pool
from the faculty and students. There’s a lot of Many of the area studies programs — like in India, Gutmann said.
support from the administration,” Gutmann Middle East Studies and the Center for Latin In part to support alums and applicants,
said. “The fact is that if you want to be a top American and Caribbean Studies — have Brown is now planning to build a new office
university in the world today, you’ve got to taken similar steps over the past few years,
be working with the top people, you’ve got expanding their online presence and their continued on next page
12 The Brown Daily Herald
in Delhi, India, he said. address everything from traditional culture lar to the one planned for India — and that
Chung-I Tan, professor of physics and and society to international perspectives partnerships and exchanges between the
past chair of the Faculty Executive Com- on China from the past century, Tan said community at Brown and Chinese students
mittee, said he hopes the upcoming Year of he hopes every discipline can find a way to and faculty are continuing to grow. During
China will be similarly beneficial for Brown’s participate. Simmons’ and Gutmann’s visit to China and
relationship to the most populous country In March 2011, Tan told The Herald that Hong Kong in November 2010, Brown repre-
in the world. past “Year of” initiatives had not successfully sentatives signed two major memorandums
“We certainly would like to leverage the reached a large portion of the student body of understanding; one established a Nanjing-
enthusiasm and activities we have now to and that he wanted to make sure the Year of Brown Forum in which social sciences and
further Brown’s contacts and connections China was more successful with outreach. humanities faculty at Nanjing University
with institutions abroad,” said Tan, who is Neither the Year of Africa nor the Year of and Brown will have annual exchanges, and
spearheading the initiative. Already, Tan is Latin America maintained much of a long- the other renewed the Zheijiang University-
working to involve the robust alumni base term presence after they ended. Brown Medical School exchange program.
in the area and faculty members from all The Office for International Affairs is Other initiatives focused on environmental
disciplines in the effort. supporting the Year of China, and it is also research are also in the works.
The program is a “very natural outgrowth working tirelessly to expand the long-term
of this whole internationalization of Brown’s connections that Tan hopes the year will What’s next?
curriculum,” Tan said, particularly because generate. Gutmann spent a week and a half “We have by no means achieved all of the
it involves such a wide range of University in the country this May meeting with repre- ambitious goals set for Brown as an interna-
players. Every incoming first-year student sentatives from Chinese academic centers, tional University,” Simmons wrote in an email
will be drawn in to the project, since Dean of and he looked at offices opened in Beijing to The Herald. “But we are well on our way.”
the College Katherine Bergeron chose Leslie and Shanghai by some of Brown’s peer in- Because of the growing severity and
Chang’s “Factory Girls” as this year’s “First stitutions. complexity of world problems and the in-
Reading” to herald the Year of China, Tan Gutmann said he would “love to see” creasingly international nature of academia
said. Because the year’s programming will Brown open its own center in China — simi- and many professional occupations, Brown
Commencement 2011
13
must continue to intensify and expand its One” program — a new initiative where they meeting with the Council for Advanced Stud-
internationalization efforts, Simmons wrote. will graduate with a bachelor’s degree from ies Abroad to discuss coordinating with other
Among the many specific programs Brown Brown and a master’s from either the Univer- American universities to start new consor-
will start and expand over the next few years sity of Edinburgh in England or the Chinese tium programs in Turkey, Argentina, China
is the Brown International Advanced Re- University of Hong Kong. These students and other countries.
search Institutes, a summer conference that will spend an undergraduate semester or two These sorts of new initiatives all take time
brings together hundreds of young faculty and a post-baccalaureate year at the partner and money, and not everything has been
members from around the world for colloqui- school, so they earn nearly two full years of easy. Even after years of effort, the Office
ums and presentations, and sends them back international experience with their degrees. for International Affairs has yet to create a
to their home countries with new professional This year also marked the start of a joint system that lets Brown researchers know that
connections and scholarly understandings business master’s program with the Insti- their peers in other fields are doing research
coordinated by Brown, Gutmann said. tuto de Empresa in Spain. The 24 students in the same countries, Gutmann said. Brown
There is also a particularly strong focus in the inaugural class — representing 12 is still not as well known as some of its peer
on bringing together international scholars different industries and a dozen nationali- institutions in countries like China and India,
to address climate change, a discussion of ties — will have a chance to combine liberal and it needs to continue to build its presence
noting language expertise on students’ tran- arts learning and international focus with before it will be fully competitive.
scripts and work being done to create more conventional business skills, The Herald But administrators agree that despite the
English-language study abroad opportuni- reported in March. financial burden and immense challenge
ties for engineering and science students, The Brown Plus One and joint business of working on an international stage, the
he added. master’s programs join the study abroad University will continue to focus its efforts
A few of the more recently established programs in 10 countries Brown already of- on building its global profile.
partnerships and study abroad opportuni- fers to undergraduates. Brown operates its “It’s really the entire administration that
ties — particularly for graduate students program under a consortia model — where is permeated with these international goals,”
— will also demand continued support from it uses partnerships with other universities Kertzer said. It all comes down to making
the University. For the first time this year, — rather than building campuses in other Brown “better known as one of the greatest
sophomores could apply to the “Brown Plus countries. At the end of May, Gutmann is universities in the world.”
Blair Cameron ’13 of New Zealand never Compared to similar institutions, Brown abroad for a wide variety of reasons. Sofia
imagined that fraternities were really like is “slightly on the healthier side” in terms Ruiz ’14, from Mexico, said going to school
in the movies. But when he arrived in the of percentage of international students, Ott in her home country was not a good idea
United States for the first time, he was in for added. “for safety reasons.”
a surprise — “Oh, it’s actually like that,” he The Office of Admission does not strive to Ana Bermudez ’12, from Bogota, Colom-
remembered thinking. consciously increase that number, though the bia, was attracted to the idea of living on
For Sumitha Raman ’13, CVS was a fasci- University will occasionally set a certain rate. campus. At Brown, “there’s a lot of space to
nating discovery. “It’s a pharmacy, but you “There’s talent all over the world,” Ott do extracurricular activities and community
get basically anything and everything that said. “We’re just getting the best students.” service projects,” she said. “At home, it’s
you could ever imagine,” she marveled. “Historically, universities have thrived much more the academic college experi-
Angela Wu ’11 found Americans’ personal when there have been people from all over ence.”
space boundaries stricter than in her home the world coming to the table to share their But most students offered the same
country of Paraguay. “I always took it for ideas and share their cultures,” she added. answer that American students give when
granted — it’s so normal to hug someone “Very often what (students) remember the asked why they chose Brown — the open
when greeting them,” she said, “but I real- most is that the people next door to them curriculum. “At the time I graduated from
ized that people get very uncomfortable.” or down the hall from them came from a high school, I was not quite certain what I
Whether it is the party scene or Thayer very different background and that really wanted to study,” said Marco Sanchez Junco
Street’s many offerings, international stu- changed their lives.” ’11, who hails from Mexico and is one of
dents arriving at Brown face a distinctly Brown receives the most international the four coordinators of the International
different lifestyle that many label a “culture applications from China, Canada, the United Mentoring Program, a peer support group
shock.” Kingdom, Singapore, India and Korea, in attached to the Office of Campus Life. “I
But this shock has not stopped Brown’s that order. Because the European Union al- knew coming to the U.S. and even more so
ever-growing international student popu- lows citizens of member countries to study coming to Brown would give me the freedom
lation. Though the University’s admission anywhere in the union for free or at very low to explore more areas.”
website boasts that about 10 percent of the cost, applications from European countries Katharina Windemuth ’15, who was born
student population hails from abroad, “the are relatively low, Ott said. in Paris and has since moved around Europe,
percentage is actually larger” when taking Foreign student admission is not need- will come to the United States in September
into account students who are schooled blind. because she wants a “more exciting” edu-
abroad but have American passports, and cation. “The American approach to educa-
other such technicalities, said Panetha Ott, ‘Freedom to explore’
director of international admissions. Students choose to come to Brown from continued on next page
14 The Brown Daily Herald
Closer to home:
Growing Brown’s campus
BY MARK RAYMOND
A
nyone who has been on campus
in the past few years has seen
the ubiquitous “Building Brown”
fences circling construction projects. This
effort to build — or in some cases rebuild
by students.
Research catalyzes
for roughly a decade, will be an important
complement to the Alpert Medical School,
which has an emphasis on primary care and
the social determinants of health, he said.
growth in science
The planned creation of a new school has
been accompanied by an increase in BioMed
faculty. There has been a net increase of 32
campus-based BioMed faculty members since
2002, according to data provided by the office.
The establishment of the School of En-
gineering mandates an increase in faculty:
a first wave of three new positions in the
school’s first three years, with the possibility
of six additional new positions, depending on
the school’s fundraising success, Clifton said.
There is also a separate proposal for the
expansion of Brown’s offerings in “brain sci-
ence” over the next five years, Wing said. The
expansion will “form what we think will be
a world-class institute on brain science,” he
said. The University is currently renovating
Metcalf Chemistry and Research Laboratory,
which will open next October as the home of
the newly consolidated Department of Cogni-
tive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences.
By Talia Kagan
Physical growth
A jaunt around campus and across the
A
river reveals Brown’s brick-and-mortar in-
bout half a decade ago, the Office federal stimulus, according to Clyde Briant, vestment in the sciences.
of Admission realized that while vice president for research. Since 2002, the University has “put over
Brown was well-respected in $270 million into buildings for BioMed,”
some areas, prospective applicants remained Culturing change Wing said. These buildings include the Sid-
unaware of its other academic strengths. Brown is deliberately cultivating growth ney Frank Hall for Life Sciences, laboratory
“It became pretty clear that people didn’t in specific fields. It is significantly expanding space at 70 Ship Street, a building for public
think about Brown and science in the same existing academic programs in engineering health and the Medical Education Building,
thought,” said Jim Miller ’73, dean of admis- and public health and fostering interdisciplin- which opens this summer, for a total of almost
sion. ary collaboration among scientific fields. 500,000 square feet of new space for the life
The office started talking up science- The faculty voted last year to convert the sciences and public health, he said. “That’s
related resources at Brown to prospective University’s Division of Engineering into a a big statement about where the University’s
students. Since then, the office has seen School of Engineering, a move that has im- going.”
a steady increase in applicants interested proved the program’s visibility, according to The new Medical Education Building in
in pursuing the life and physical sciences, Interim Dean of Engineering Rodney Clifton. the Jewelry District will provide a center with
Miller said. When the class of 2011 applied The increase in applicants interested in the an anatomy lab, classrooms and a coffee bar
to Brown, 45 percent of students indicated sciences has been even more pronounced to the 108 medical students who will attend
an interest in those fields, compared to 53 in engineering — in the last three years, their first classes there when the building
percent of next year’s freshmen, according the number of applicants planning to pursue opens Aug. 15.
to data provided by the admission office. engineering rose by 43 percent, compared A decade ago, each medical school class
The recruitment effort is part of a larger to an overall increase in applicants of 24 per- included about 70 students, according to
push to bolster the sciences at Brown. In cent, according to data from the Office of data provided by the BioMed website. Next
recent years, the University has made growth Admission. year’s incoming class will have roughly 120
in the sciences an academic priority, investing The new school is an attempt by Brown students, a size that will remain consistent
millions of dollars in new buildings and plan- to catch up to its Ivy League peers, who all in the foreseeable future, Wing said.
ning an extension of the campus dedicated to already had schools of engineering. Clifton’s Other departments in the sciences, such
the sciences in the Jewelry District. colleagues have jokingly told him, “It’s about as engineering and neuroscience, may fol-
Such changes are closely related to the time,” he said. low BioMed down the hill, Wing said. The
University’s evolution into a research-driven But engineering won’t be the only new University plans to transform the Jewelry
institution. Research at Brown occurs in all school on the block. The Division of Biology District into an area of collaboration between
disciplines, but last year the life and physi- and Medicine is currently “putting the finish- Brown, local hospitals and other Rhode Island
cal sciences received roughly 80 percent ing touches” on a similar proposal: “We hope schools.
of research funding from sources outside that next spring we will be able to declare a
the University, excluding funding from the school of public health,” said Edward Wing, continued on next page
22 The Brown Daily Herald
thanks
for
reading
Commencement 2011
23
tion. But while the University has invested in Faculty and administrators are also quick Perhaps today’s developments represent
research, its endowment pales in comparison to point out that undergraduates benefit from the growth that one English professor pre-
to those of many of the top-level research well-funded research labs. The more funding dicted decades ago.
institutions. for faculty research, the more opportuni- In 1971, the chair of the Department of
“We’ve got to set our goals high,” Briant ties for undergraduates and the better the English, Mark Spilka, gained campuswide
said. For its size, Brown is “highly competi- experience. attention for insisting that funding for expan-
tive” in its areas of focus, he said. “Good instruction and good research go sion of the humanities equal financing for
together,” Clifton said, citing the “sense of Brown’s new medical school, The Herald
Balancing the scales discovery, sense of creativity” in both. reported.
The increased focus on the “university” The University’s encouragement of re- The long-term results of creating a medi-
in “university-college” has some worried. search is also not a top-down mandate, he cal school would be a “change in the nature
While administrators have an eye on said — it supports faculty’s own interests. of the university, an imbalance in favor of the
Brown’s movements in national university “Faculty members aren’t forced to do re- sciences, which will perpetuate and increase
rankings, others view the administration’s search,” he said. “That’s how they got their present tensions and resentments and will
emphasis on research with suspicion. Sev- PhDs.” drive faculty away from Brown in subor-
eral community members have expressed dinate fields,” Spilka said forty years ago.
worries that moving toward a research in- The fossil record During the height of the Cold War, many
stitution would displace attention from the This debate is hardly new. The nature universities expanded their scientific offer-
primary role of a college: teaching. of a university is prone to tide-like ebb and ings in a rush to compete with the Soviets,
Observers also point out that focusing flow. In the early 1980s, about 45 percent according to Associate Professor of History
on externally-funded research privileges of undergraduates concentrated in the sci- Naoko Shibusawa.
the natural and physical sciences over the ences, Miller said — compared to 32 percent We are currently in a similar historical
humanities and social sciences, which typi- of last year’s graduating class, according to moment. After all, President Ruth Simmons
cally do not receive as much outside funding. the Office of Institutional Research. is not the only president calling for increased
But while the sciences have benefited from The admission office does not have any focus on the sciences — science and math
much of Brown’s recent physical growth, particular demographic target for the future, education was a major topic in President
they are not alone: The Perry and Marty but it does want to “bring science up to the Barack Obama’s last State of the Union ad-
Granoff Center for the Creative Arts and the same level” as other disciplines, he said. dress. As Brown fills in the Jewelry District
expanding Cogut Center for Humanities are “I think it’s pretty clear to everyone that with research labs and expanding science
two examples of projects dedicated to the Brown’s sciences profile has to equal its programs, the University’s cyclical changes
arts and humanities. humanities profile,” Miller said. may be part of a broader national trend.
24 The Brown Daily Herald
T
“ he room allocated to the Russians for far removed from the future deal maker For those who knew him at Brown, Hol-
press conferences was full,” wrote and player on the international stage he brooke is remembered as a friend and leader
then-Herald staff writer Richard Hol- would later become. Known simply as Dick before he was a diplomat.
brooke ’62 in an Oct. 9, 1960 supplement to to his friends, the undergrad Holbrooke “We met at the very beginning of his ju-
The Herald. “Reporters flowed out into the was a young man staring at diplomats from nior year, my sophomore year,” said Litty
hall as Mikhail A. Kharlamov, Soviet press the outside, wanting to use his skills as a Holbrooke ’63, Holbrooke’s first wife and
secretary, began speaking ... then we walked writer and communicator for journalism, college girlfriend.
across the lobby — crossing an invisible Iron not foreign policy. They met on a blind date arranged by a
Curtain somewhere on the way.” While most Brown students focused on mutual friend, and Litty — whose last name
As a Brown sophomore, Holbrooke was coursework and exams in Providence, Hol- was Sullivan at the time — said the two of
in an enviable position for many young jour- brooke was sent by The Herald to cover them got along immediately. “I thought he
nalists, as he accompanied New York Times the summit in a seven-part series. Only a was cute,” she said, adding that “we hit it
correspondents to a press conference at the sophomore at the time, Holbrooke was sent off and we started dating, and that was just
1960 Paris Peace Summit. Held between the as part of an initiative geared to expand “cov- it. We immediately fell in together and we
“big four” global powers — the United States, erage of significant extra-campus events,” continued that way.”
the Soviet Union, Germany and France — as described in a short April 28, 1960 press It was the beginning of a relationship
the summit was ultimately a failed attempt release in The Herald. that would continue long after they both left
to reach diplomatic understanding between He ended up doing much more. Two College Hill. The pair married in June 1964
nations immersed in Cold War politics. On days before the summit’s opening session, when Holbrooke was working in Saigon for
May 1, a United States U-2 spy plane was shot Holbrooke met Clifton Daniel, assistant man- the State Department, and spent most of
down in Soviet airspace. The event poisoned aging editor of the Times, who asked him the years of their marriage traveling to the
the tenor of the summit’s peace talks, and to help the newspaper’s staff during their different places where he was stationed for
Holbrooke was there, right in the thick of it, coverage of the event. work, having two sons along the way.
watching history unfold before his very eyes. Holbrooke was there for Soviet Premier In college, Holbrooke’s professional as-
Crossing through that “Iron Curtain” Nikita Khrushchev’s press conference in pirations were always balanced between
would not be the last time Holbrooke would front of television camera crews and nearly foreign service and journalism.
find himself caught up in the tumult and 3,000 correspondents from various media “I think at Brown, he kind of half-jokingly,
excitement of history being made. During outlets. In the supplement — which de- half-sincerely used to say that what he as-
his life after Brown, he would often play the scribes his experience working with the pired to be would be either Secretary of
role of history maker. Times’ reporters — Holbrooke writes in a State or Managing Editor of the New York
While he is remembered as one of the perceptive, detailed way, often tinged with Times,” Litty said.
nation’s leading diplomats, the Holbrooke slight humor. After Brown, Holbrooke applied to, and
who wrote that piece for The Herald was “There was a short silence, and then, sud- was rejected by, the Times. He then decided
Commencement 2011
25
to work for the State Department, a choice ad looking for new writers.
that would pave the way for his later work “I liked to break down barriers and I said,
as a diplomat. ‘OK,’ ” Opper said. “My first article assigned
Despite moving up the ranks of foreign was a review of a dance program.”
policy makers, Holbrooke never moved too Opper said that while the concept of hav-
far from his love of journalism. During the ing female staff members on a male college
early years of their marriage when Holbrooke newspaper does not seem that radical now,
was stationed in Saigon, Litty lived in Bang- at the time, it caused some controversy at
kok and welcomed visits from some of her Pembroke.
husband’s journalist friends. “It was a pretty radical step, and the Re-
“He would tell his friends to come and cord was very upset with me,” Opper said.
visit me and take me out to dinner, so I had The following summer, Opper was given
a nice succession of journalists who would the opportunity to work on a more complex
come through Bangkok for visits,” she said. piece for Holbrooke. She was in Germany
when Lyndon Johnson came to speak to the
A mind ‘like a sponge’ people of Berlin to address the building of the
Courtesy of the University Archives
This interest in journalism began at Berlin Wall. Opper wrote an article about the Holbrooke, here in an undated photo from
Brown, where Holbrooke’s work at The speech, a topic that immediately appealed to his time at The Herald, phased out the
Herald led him to move up the ranks from a Holbrooke. paper’s gender barrier as editor-in-chief.
staff writer to editor-in-chief. “He was at Brown what he was to become
“The BDH was very important to him,” later on — no-nonsense, get the job done,”
Litty said. “The BDH was the most important she said. “He was someone of the philosophy
of his extracurriculars at Brown.” of, take the tough stand if you need to.”
Bob Ebin ’62, a former Herald business “You want women on the paper? He need-
manager, remained a close friend of Hol- ed to do it, and then he did it,” she said. “He
brooke’s over the past 50 years. Ebin and was very conscientious about the paper. If
Holbrooke even lived in the same apartment you had a deadline, you met the deadline.”
house in New York for a little over a decade. Another history-making move by Hol-
“In college, we would prowl around with brooke was his initiative to bring Malcolm X
our girlfriends,” Ebin said. “He was a very to speak on campus. At the height of his fame,
interesting guy.” Malcolm X brought an air of controversy to
“He did not drink, which was unusual for campus, Litty said.
the time, and he had an incredible, search- “Dick arranged it, and The Brown Daily
ing mind.” Herald and some other organization invited
Both history majors, Ebin and Holbrooke him to speak. Brown was quite unhappy about Herald file photo
took several classes together. It was in these it because this guy was controversial and also Even as diplomacy became his career,
classes where Ebin was able to observe first- a little scary in the sense that he always trav- Holbrooke remained close to journalism.
hand the ways in which “Dick’s mind was like eled with all of these bodyguards,” Litty said.
a sponge — it would soak up everything and Litty said she remembered the packed for news was unquenchable. Working the
anything,” he said. room and the excitement that spread around night shift at the Times, Holbrooke would
Litty agreed. “He was very interested in campus. “It was all quite tense and exciting. come home to the apartment each morning
history, and I think that is something that It was a major event on campus at that point with copies of the Times, in addition to all of
hasn’t really been written about a lot,” she and Dick organized it.” the other New York papers, and read every
said. one, Chase wrote.
“That was a lifelong interest for him, and ‘Deadly serious and seriously playful’ Holbrooke’s appetite extended beyond
he was genuinely interested in it. He loved Underneath the hard work and dedication news. Chase wrote that it was a summer of
history so much so that he always loved hang- to the paper, Holbrooke’s friends knew his eating hot dogs for dinner, with Chase buying
ing out with men who had lived it,” she added. lighter and gentler side, too. packages of eight. While he would eat two
“Dick was an odd but thoroughly engag- hot dogs, “Dick would eat the other six at a
Making history ing mixture of deadly serious and seriously single sitting.”
As a man who lived history, Holbrooke playful,” wrote Larry Chase ’62 in an email It was this playful side that extended to
made some of his own while at Brown. During to The Herald. nights working on The Herald. “He — and the
his time as Herald editor-in-chief, Holbrooke A former Herald editorial chairman, Chase rest of the BDHers — enjoyed poking fun at
found the paper facing a writer shortage. In spent a summer sharing a Greenwich Vil- the administration in the paper, finding ways
order to increase recruitment, Holbrooke lage apartment in New York with Holbrooke. to work around Pembroke’s nightly curfew,
decided to seek out writers at Pembroke Holbrooke was a “copy boy” at the New York etc.,” Chase wrote.
College, Brown’s all-female sister college. Times, while Chase had a job with the New “Once I found him in the BDH office
With separate campus activities, dormi- York Telephone Company. tightly wrapping a BDH colleague in a long
tories and curfews, Pembroke and Brown Within a month of his employment, Hol- strip of that spooled yellow wire-service paper
stood as two sides of the same College Hill brooke managed to have a piece published in that used to spit out (Associated Press) and
campus community. While The Herald was the Times. It was an editorial piece on graffiti, (United Press International) reports,” Chase
an all-male daily publication, the Pembroke and even though Holbrooke did not receive a wrote. “The victim needed help to escape.”
Record offered a weekly equivalent for the byline, “it was a three-to-five paragraph piece
sister campus. that he was proud to get published,” Litty said.
Susanna Opper ’62 answered Holbrooke’s According to Chase, Holbrooke’s appetite continued on next page
26 The Brown Daily Herald
‘The beginnings of it all’ or Secretary of State, for Chase it was clear close to him who felt an enormous loss.”
Through the lighter college years, Litty that Dick was on a unique path. In reading Holbrooke’s piece in The Herald
said that there were clear signs of the man “I suspect not one of us was ever the least supplement about his time at the summit, one
Holbrooke would become. bit surprised to read about him in the papers can sense the young man’s intense excitement
“Obviously we were very different people over the years,” he wrote. at observing a piece of history.
then, and he was a very different person then,” When he died, the United States mourned “The summit was over. We all knew we
she said. “He wasn’t at the prime of his career, the loss of a national champion who defended had witnessed a terrible turning-point in the
but you could see the beginnings of it all.” diplomacy abroad. But for those who knew Cold War,” Holbrooke wrote.
“After Bosnia and Milosevic, he became him at Brown, he was something a bit more There he was, standing with a crowd of
much tougher, and he wasn’t that way at human than the larger-than-life image that seasoned journalists, a young man present
Brown or in the earlier years,” she added. developed. at the breakdown of diplomacy. Little did he
Though Holbrooke and his friends would “I felt there was a hole in my heart,” Ebin know, he would end up being one of diplo-
joke about his ambitions to be a star journalist said. “He had a relationship with a lot of people macy’s most prominent champions.
— 120
Justin,
From the day you were born you
have given us endless moments of
happiness, pride and joy.
Looking Back
Dec. 27, 2007
In the midst of her campaign to
Oct. 20, 2007 become the Prime Minister of
Republican Bobby Pakistan for a third time, Benazir
Jindal ’91.5 is elected Bhutto is killed in a suicide attack at
as governor of Louisi- a political rally.
ana with 54 percent of
the vote in a four-way
race. March 17, 2008
Jan. 2, 2008 In a stunning deal, JPMorgan
Oil prices rise to $100 per barrel in the Chase agrees to buy rival
wake of a weak U.S. dollar and violence investment bank Bear Stearns for
Oct. 12, 2007 in oil-producing countries. $2 a share. Only a year before,
Former Vice President Al Gore shares the 2007 Bear’s shares had sold for $170.
Nobel Peace Prize with the UN’s Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change for “efforts to build up Feb. 3, 2008
and disseminate greater knowledge about man- The New England Patriots lose Super Bowl
made climate change.” XLII to the New York Giants (with Zak
DeOssie ’07) after starting the season 18-0.
july
World
august september
2007
october november december january february
Feb. 24, 2008
81-year-old Fidel Castro is replaced by his
brother, Raul, as president of Cuba.
Dec. 5, 2007
Dean of Medicine Eli Adashi
announces resignation,
2008 March 15, 2008
Brown
Two Molotov cocktails are thrown at the
surprising colleagues. off-campus apartment of Brown/RISD Hillel
employee and Israeli emissary Yossi Knafo.
Oct. 3, 2008
Amid widespread panic in financial markets Feb. 5, 2009
and in response to swiftly declining stock Cell phone pictures of Michael Phelps
prices, former President Bush enacts a $700 inhaling from a marijuana pipe surface
billion bailout package for unstable financial and the Olympic gold medalist swim-
institutions. mer is suspended from the sport for
three months.
Nov. 4, 2008
Aug. 27, 2008 Over 131 million
Then-Sen. Barack Obama, Americans go to the polls. Feb. 17, 2009
D-Ill., officially receives the Barack Obama is elected President Barack Obama signs the American
nomination to be the Dem- president in a landslide, Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, com-
ocratic Party’s presidential besting John McCain by monly known as the stimulus package, alloting
candidate at the Demo- 10 million votes. $787 billion to states to revive the economy.
cratic National Convention
in Denver, Colo.
April 2009
Jan. 20, 2009 Mexican officials confirm cases
2008
Barack Obama is inaugurated of H1N1 influenza referred to
as president. Almost two million as swine flu. Several thousand
World
people travel to the National Mall cases are soon confirmed world-
to watch. wide as the disease spreads.
july august september october november december january february march april may june
March 10,
2009
Former Senator
John Edwards
emphasizes
the nation’s
responsibility
to end poverty
during a lecture
in Salomon 101.
Looking Back
September 10,
2009 February 2010
The Large Hadron The XXI Winter Olympic Games
Collider, the world’s are held in Vancouver. Host nation
largest and most Canada sets an Olympic record
powerful particle with 14 gold medals, and American
accelerator, success- snowboarder Shaun White unveils the
fully circulates proton Double McTwist 1260.
beams for the first
time.
2009
without homes By a vote of 220-211, the U.S. House of
the first Hispanic justice on the court. Representatives passes the Health Care
and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010,
extending health care coverage to millions
july august september october november december january february march april may june
2010 Brown
October 2009
After escaping from
the Taliban in June, February 2010
New York Times As the investment banking
reporter David Rohde and securities firm Gold-
’90 publishes five man Sachs faces allegations
front-page stories in of financial wrongdoing,
the Times detailing his President Ruth Simmons opts
capture and escape. not to stand for re-election to
its Board of Directors.
October 2009
After tense negotiations and
protests, Brown Dining Services
employees and the University
sign a new contract, avoiding the
possibility of a strike.
Commencement 2011
37
March 2011
The United States, along with United Na-
tions allies, conducts air strikes on Libya,
November 2, 2010 which had seen weeks of violence between
Americans head to the polls for midterm those who want to depost dictator Muam-
elections. The Democrats lose six seats mar Gaddafi and pro-Gadaffi forces.
in the Senate, although they retain their
majority. The lose control of the House of May 2, 2011
Representatives. Presaident Obama an-
nounces United States
2010
special operations
February 11, 2011 forces had killed Osama
Embattled Egyptian President Hosni bin Laden in a raid at
Mubarak resigns after weeks of large- his safe house in Abbot-
scale protests in Cairo and other cities. tabad, Pakistan.
World
july august september october november december january february march april may june
January 2011
The Fish Company, long-time
popular Wednesday night
destination for students, an-
nounces it will close down.
2011 B r o w n
Weekend of April 15, 2011
Diddy Dirty Money, Wyclef Jean, TV on the Radio,
Das Racist, Lee Fields and the Expressions and
August 16, 2010 Rebirth Brass Band play Spring Weekend concerts in
Faunce House reopens after a year Meehan.
of extensive renovations, featuring a
revamped Blue Room and new study
spaces
March 14, 2011
The Office of the Provost pub-
lished a report revealing the
University will offer profession-
ally oriented master’s programs
as early as fall 2012.
Sept. 25, 2010
Brown football beats Harvard in May 29, 2011
its first night game in the history January 26, 2011 Brown University’s 243rd gradu-
of Brown stadium. The Marty and Perry Granoff ating class marches through the
Center for the Creative Arts, Van Wickle Gates.
Brown’s newest fixture of
modern architecture, opens
for classes.
Yes: 73%
No: 27% Another job
Graduate or
15%
professional school
If Brown calculated class rank based on GPA, 30%
where in the graduating class do you think you
Government Nonprofit
would fall? employment employment
4% 12%
34%
33%
No: 95%
1%
...UCS?
…attended Sex Power God? Extremely 17%
Not at all
...advising? Yes: 14%
23%
No: 86% Not very
Somewhat Not at all
...advising? 40% 26% 23%
…hooked up with a teaching assistant?
...teaching?
Extremely 10%
Yes: 9% Not
Extremely Somewhat very
...University No: 91% ...teaching? 55% 41% 2%
libraries?
…gone to Fish Co.?
...tuition? Yes: 65% ...libraries? Extremely Somewhat
Not
very
56% 40%
No: 35% 4%
…completed
...Banner?
the SciLi Challenge?
Somewhat Not very Not at all
...tuition? 34% 41% 19%
Yes: 16%
No: 84% Extremely 6%
Not
…had a one-night stand? ...Banner? Extremely
16%
Somewhat
51%
Not very
23% at all
10%
Yes: 54%
No: 46%
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2
Organizing sexuality events • Going abroad to Australia • my first kiss with my now fiancee on a roof top • Staying up until 5 a.m. at a cast
party singing random musical theatre pieces • Winning Ivy League championship • Rooftop climbing, especially Faunce when it was under
construction • being with my significant other (cheesy, I know) • Freshman year Eighties Party • Covering the Brown bear statue on the Main
Green with sparkles and colorful fabric as part of the Ultimate Frisbee program’s pump up traditions • Late night, drunken rants about
every pretentious topic under the sun • Nothing appropriate enough for this survey comes to mind • Coming back after every summer and
realizing everything I had idealized about Brown during the break was actually true • the SciLi • Varsity Athletics • Freshman year cuddle
puddles • Quiet Green • Snoop Dogg • The changing seasons • Meeting my best friends freshman year who are still my best friends today
• Late night at Thete • Spring Weekend sophomore year • The entire experience — late nights with friends, conversations with professors,
being in my fraternity • Having our own SexPowerGod party • Kiva Ball • Swaying in a circle of love with all my best girls • listening to
MGMT at Spring Weekend and staring at the green • green leaves on the trees • Having a threesome during a naked party • Walking into
a class on metaphysics and hearing, “Oh, do come in. We were just talking about space and time” • Losing my virginity • Late night NCIS
marathons • Ultimate frisbee • Breaking into the pool at 3 a.m. during finals last year with about 15 of my best friends and being chased
out by Brown Police in our underwear • Binder • Dinner at the Ratty • Every small seminar I’ve had, every scintillating section that spilled
over after class • Meeting my best friend • Gala • My sophomore roommate experience • going to drinks with my professor at the bar • Walk-
ing through the gates • Away football games with the Brown University Band • Completing the SciLi challenge and then impulsively going
to a naked party with some of my closest friends • Beer pong tournaments • Fish Co. Wednesdays • Late nights early mornings • Doing
Mande outside in the sunshine in the spring • Rewiring the Champlin elevator for April Fool’s Day • Drinking champagne on the roof of The
Rock • Beating UConn in the NCAA tournament • Mud sliding on Lincoln Field • Going abroad • sledding on Ratty trays • my varsity team
40 The Brown Daily Herald
How many sexual partners have How many classes did you choose to
you had during college? take satisfactory/no credit?
(not including classes that were mandatory S/NC)
18%
17%
16% 16%
11%
10% 10%
9%
8%
7% 6%
6%
4% 4%
4% 4% 3% 3%
3%
2% 1%
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11+ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 More
than 10
22 votes 15 10 9
Mark Blyth
8
Deak Nabers
7
Arnold Weinstein
6
Barrett Hazeltine James Morone Richard Bungiro Barbara Tannenbaum
Jan Tullis Minh Luong Laurel Bestock Matthew Harrison
5
Amy Remensnyder, Anani Dzidzienyo, Dietrich Gary Wessel Wendy Schiller Peter Saval Rashid Zia
Neumann, John Stein, Luther Spoehr, Patricia
Joseph Pucci
Sobral, Tricia Rose
4
Gregory Elliott, Heather Leslie, James Egan, John Tomasi, Josef Mittle-
mann, Kym Moore, Lundy Braun, Mary Flynn, Meera Viswanathan,
Rebecca Molholt, Robert Hurt, Ruth Adler Ben Yehuda, Timothy Harris
2 Akio Yasuhara, Ashutosh Varshney, Beth Zielinski, Bianca Dahl,
Brian Hayden, Carrie Spearin, Catherine Imbriglio, Claudia Elliott,
Corey Walker, Cornel Ban, Courtney Cahill, David Josephson, David
Sheinberg, Derek Stein, Harold Roth, Jack Wright, James Doll, James
Russell, Kenneth Chay, Kevin Gee, Kiri Miller, Mark Johnson, Mark
3
Andy van Dam, Ann Dill, Bruce Becker, Cristina Abbona-Sneider, David
Berson, Ethan Pollock, Gail Cohee, James Green, Kaivan Munshi, Zervas, Matthew Garcia, Matthew Zimmt, Michael Vorenberg, Pascal
Karl Jacoby, Kenneth Sacks, Lynne Joyrich, Manher Jariwala, Maria van Hentenryck, Patricia Symonds, Patrick Heller, Patrick Sylvain,
Carkovic, Michael Paradiso, Nicholas Townsend, Onesimo Almeida, Peter Shank, Philip Gould, Rebecca Weitz-Shapiro, Richard Stratt,
Patrick Malone, Peter Andreas, Ralph Rodriguez, Ravit Reichman, Rick Robert Self, Sarah Delaney, Seth Rockman, Shriram Krishnamurthi,
Benjamin, Ross Levine, Susan Harvey Stephanie Merrim, Stephanie Ravillon, Stephen McGarvey, Stephen
Porder, Stephen Smith, Thalia Field, Ulrich Krotz, Wendy Edwards
SEnior COLUMNS
friendships
+
concentration GCB, Fish Co.,
Spats, house job
+ exercise
parties +
professor +
+ graduate
notoriety Ratty
school
U = A( +
electives ) + S( lazy dorm time
+ ) + H( cereal bar
+ ) + F( +
salary
)
+ activities beer, wine,
+ +
research vodka, tequila
what do you satisfaction
+
thesis call it, is it a
relationship?
Looking back on my four years, increase in academic and social include an entirely different set of
as a freshman, the future pros- activities with my role as a co-head variables all together.
pects component, F, was not even of The Herald’s business staff. Attempting to model a universal
on my radar and my overall health Senior year mirrored freshman Brown experience does exactly
consisted of maximizing my ratty- year with maximization around the what Brown attempts not to do
cerealbar time. My utility or happi- Social components of the utility — normalize student life. There
ness was derived principally from function as well as electiveclasses is not one prescribed path to get
maximizing the Social component such as Persuasive Communica- the Brown experience “correct.”
of this function, most importantly tion and Mande. My hope is that when we walk out
friendships and activities, and fol- This is the general maximization through the Van Wickle Gates,
lowing the advice of my Meiklejohn path of my four years at Brown, each of us can reflect positively
and focusing on electiveclasses and for me, this resulted in a very on our time at Brown with as few
rather than concentration in the high level of happiness and satis- regrets as I have.
Academic component. In sopho- faction. Yet, if I asked 15 different
more and junior years, my maxi- students to chart their path, none
mization was spread more evenly would have the same pattern of
across all parts. There was a no- maximization and composition of
ticeable spike in the GCBfishco- their happiness across the same
SpatsHouseParties variable from four years. Their individual utility Claire Kiely was general manager of
my 21st birthday when entrance functions may touch on variables The Herald in 2010. In the fall, she
to the beloved nonprofit basement that I didn’t maximize, such as will start work at Bain & Company
bar was possible and a substantial research or thesis, and could even in New York.
Commencement 2011
45
Proud songsters
Ben Hyman
SEnior COLUMNS
Learning to swim
Chaz Kelsh
FInal thoughts
from The Herald’s senior survey
This is the best place on earth • Brown is the s— • 4-year-long orgasm • four years well-spent • I don’t want to leave
• The Open Curriculum is the best part of Brown — don’t let it die • I don’t want to grow up • Part of me is very sad
to be leaving because I feel that there are many aspects of the Brown experience that I did not participate in fully • I
never realized until I was filling out this survey just how much of the “typical college experience” I skipped by never
going to class drunk or having sex in the library • I think the Brown bubble has insulated a lot of people • I met so many
amazing people and I like to think most people who met me feel I fall into that category for them • I am happy with
what I’ve learned about myself at Brown • You can only go to Spats so many times in a week • It’s been so real • I feel
like I’ve just climbed Mt. Everest after breaking out of Alcatraz • I’ll miss the comfortableness and expressiveness of
Brown • I love Brown, but it wasn’t the place for me, so to speak • I wish I could do it all again • Life only goes downhill
after • I want more • Will miss college. Will not miss Brown • Nerds are the coolest part of Brown • In Deo Speramus •
All these people reminding me it’s the end, and I’d rather think of it as the beginning • If only we could relocate Brown
to SoCal • Wish I had one more year • Ever true • I’ll even miss the SciLi • Where am I going to get laid free and easy
after college? • I wish I didn’t have to have final thoughts • Brown should hook up its seniors with jobs • F—, this made
me sad • Brown was a massive disappointment in some ways, but was still probably the best 4 years of my life • The
small size of the endowment seemed to put a damper on opportunities for student activities • This school allows you
to Rock and Roll • Thank you Josiah • I think these years have set us up for even better years • People are lying on this
survey • work doesn’t sound like fun • I hope my little brother has a better time at Brown than I did • Good Stuff • I
really don’t know how people can stay at Brown for four years • I transferred here, and I am pretty darn glad I did •
The Brown experience has very little to do with school and academics and a whole lot to do with the wonderful people
in this community • When and where is the last one of these naked parties, and why was I the only one not to see the
naked donut run? • I’ve had my ups and downs, but senior year has been a blast • Every year here was so different • I
came to Brown before the financial crisis hit, and I wish that my family had some of my tuition money now • The key
is finding the secrets — whether they be classes, rooftops, or funding sources • Four years went by in a flash • Ruth
hugged me once. It made my life • Work like an engineer, party like a frat brother • This place is amazing but it could
be so much better • I wish more people were into dating than this stupid effing hook-up scene • I can’t wait to get my
diploma • haven’t thought all semester • reinstate the donkey mural on the side of the SciLi • Chicken Finger Friday
kept me at Brown • The people are the best part • The name on the degree is the only thing that I found truly invaluable
about Brown, but what a name • D— this place is awesome • I used to be frustrated that people at Brown weren’t as
“politically/socially active” but I think I’m fine with that now • “Don’t ever look back, don’t ever look back.” • There is a
sad lack of school spirit but most know it and accept it as normal • Brown is the most amazing thing that could have
happened to me • The general atmosphere hasn’t changed but the weather’s gotten worse • I learned that I can question
anything and I can dare to do anything as long as I think I can • Not everyone is looking to hook up with you so don’t go
into it with that mind set • Why couldn’t my Brown degree get me a job? • It has been an amazing 4 years. • Time’s up
class of 2011 by the numbers data from dining services, health services and the university library