Daily Herald the Brown

vol. cxliv, no. 113 | Tuesday, November 24, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891

Med school softens Under new law, bars may close later
new PLME policy By Brigitta Greene
Senior Staf f Writer

By Ellen Cushing
Senior Staf f Writer
After stirring opposition from
students, the University has
reconsidered a policy shift that
would strip undergraduates in
the Program for Liberal Medical
Education of their reserved spots
at Alpert Medical School if they
choose to apply to other medical
schools.
According to an e-mail sent
to PLMEs Monday by two top
med school deans, students who
“apply out” will in fact be guaran-
teed a spot in a med school class
at Brown, though they may be
deferred for a year.
The initial policy change,
which was announced earlier
this month, drew anger from
some students who criticized
the new system, particularly be-
cause it affected current as well
as future students enrolled in the
program.
According to the e-mail, stu-
dents will now be asked to inform
the Med School whether they
intend to apply out by Sept. 15 of
their senior year. Those students
continued on page 4
It’s a typical weekend scene: 2:01 on
Saturday morning. From Kartabar
to Spats to Viva, the doors of Thayer
Street’s bars are locked shut, with
hundreds of patrons filing out onto
the street.
Now imagine the future. It’s 3:01
on Saturday morning. From Kar-
tabar to Spats to Viva, the doors
of Thayer Street’s bars are locked
shut, but most patrons have already
trickled out — and those who are
left are markedly more sober than
they were just an hour before.
New state legislation, passed
by the General Assembly during
last month’s special session, autho-
rizes the city to delay the closing
time of bars and clubs to 3 a.m. on

Poll: 17 percent of students

weekends, but prohibits the sale of
alcohol past the old closing time,
2 a.m.

say they have cheated

Julia Kim / Herald
Bars like Spats Restaurant on Angell Street may be allowed to remain
continued on page 5 open until 3 a.m. on weekends, although alcohol sales must stop at 2.

had copied answers off another

For alum, a shortcut to punditry

By Anne Simons
Senior Staf f Writer student’s quiz, test or exam. Only
0.4 percent admitted to having
Four out of five students say they submitted someone else’s work
have not committed any of sev- as their own in a paper, presenta- By Matthew Klebanoff through the Post’s online edition. bers don’t look good for Democrats,”
eral types of academic cheating tion or lab report. Staff Writer “The political implications of the argues that congressional redistrict-
in the last semester, The vast ma- 2010 Census for the 2012 presiden- ing due to population growth in the
according to a re- jority — 80.1 per- A regular reader of the Washington tial (election) was something I had South and Southwest will ultimately
cent Herald poll.
HERALD POLL cent — said they Post and a political junkie to boot, Jer- aid Republicans in their campaign to
Of the 687 un- had played by the emy Haber ’06 wouldn’t have imag- FEATURE regain the White House.
dergraduates sur veyed, 12.4 rules. ined a month ago that he would one One possible cause of the region’s
percent admitted they had cop- “We do take academic integ- day land among the top four finalists been thinking about writing up as an population increase, Haber wrote,
ied answers off another student’s rity seriously,” said Christina in the newspaper’s “America’s Next op-ed,” Haber said. When he saw a is the influx of undocumented im-
homework, while 4.2 percent said Furtado, assistant dean for up- Great Pundit Contest.” promotion for the contest, he finally migrants. “I just thought it was an
they had used outside resources perclass studies, who oversees Haber, who is currently enrolled in mustered up the motivation to write under-reported story and liked the
in their own work without proper a joint J.D. /M.B.A. program at Har- the piece.
citation, and 2.3 percent said they continued on page 2 vard, learned about the competition Haber’s submission, “The num- continued on page 2

Loss stings, but m. soccer

already looking to 2010
By Katie Wood sat back and allowed the Bears (11-
Assistant Spor ts Editor 3-5) to make a furious second-half
comeback that fell just short when
The men’s soccer team’s season Carolina scored one more goal in
ended abruptly Sunday, but the the last minute of the game to
players left the field with their heads advance to the third round of the
held high. tournament.
“From day one, I knew this The Bears handled Stony
group of players was Brook in a 1-0 double-
capable of doing what Sports over time thriller in
we did and better than the first round of the
what we finished,” said goalkeeper tournament at Stevenson Field on
Paul Grandstrand ’11. Thursday night.
No. 5 seed North Carolina ended The Seawolves and the Bears
the men’s soccer team’s dreams of matched each other’s intensity, and
a national championship when the the great play from both sides sent
Tar Heels downed the Bears, 2-0, the game into overtime. Sean Rosa
on Sunday afternoon in Chapel Hill, ’12 scored the golden goal in the
N.C. in the second round of the 103rd minute to seal the victor y
Jonathan Bateman / Herald NCAA tournament. for the Bears, knocking in a Jon
Midfielder Nick Elenz-Martin ’10 battles for possession during the Bears’ first-round battle against Stony Brook UNC (14-2-3) took a 1-0 lead in
last week at Stevenson Field in the NCAA tournament. The team was knocked out Sunday by North Carolina. the 20th minute. But the Tar Heels continued on page 7
inside

News.....1-4
Metro, 5 Sports, 6 editor’s note
Metro........5 The Herald will not publish
Sports.....6-7 sweet deal bad news bears a print edition Wednesday.
Editorial..10 Thayer’s pizza parlor has a The women’s hockey team Publication will resume on
Opinion...11 new owner, name, menu dropped two conference Monday, Nov. 30.
Today........12 games over the weekend

www.browndailyherald.com 195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island herald@browndailyherald.com

Page 2 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Tuesday, November 24, 2009

C ampus N EWS “Why would you want to come to a place like Brown to plagiarize? ”
— Omer Bartov, professor of history

Haber ’06 a top finisher
in Post’s pundit contest
continued from page 1
irony,” he said.
About a month ago, a panel of
Post editors chose 10 finalists from
a batch of 4,800 entries, and the
winner may be announced as soon
as today, according to the newspa-
per’s Web site.
According to the competition
guidelines, the winner of the con-
test will receive the opportunity
to write a weekly column for the
Post for 13 weeks, at a rate of $200
per column. The Post promises its
competition will set the “promis-
ing pundit on a path to become the
next byline in demand, the talking
head every show wants to book, the
voice that helps the country figure
out what’s really going on.”
Haber made it through four
rounds of the five-part competi-
tion, which required contestants to
blog their thoughts, write columns
and field readers’ questions in a live
question-and-answer session. After
each round, editors and columnists
from the Post commented on the
aspiring pundits’ work, and readers
voted to determine who would be
eliminated. Some of those readers
regularly offered up criticism and
praise in the comments section of
the competitors’ posts.
The judges praised Haber for
his skill as a reporter and for hav-
ing the best single answer in the
question-and-answer session —
in response to a question on the
Israeli-Palestian conflict. “There is a
leadership vacuum on both sides,”
Haber said.
sudoku
For the most part, Haber had
great freedom in choosing the top-
ics for his pieces, which ranged
from gay marriage to the Fisher
House Foundation, an organization
that provides lodging to veterans
recovering from injuries.
Though he was eliminated a
week ago, Haber isn’t at all bit-
ter about where he placed in the
contest.
“I never expected to be a final-
ist,” he said of being selected as
one of the top 10 contestants. “I
got to get interviews with people
I would have never been able to
talk to otherwise, and I had fun
with it.”
For his blog posts, Haber spoke
with a number of notables — Steve
Pagliuca and Alan Khazei, two of
the candidates running for the
vacant U.S. Senate seat in Mas-
sachusetts, and Boston Red Sox
president Larry Lucchino, among
other big names.
At Brown, where he concen-
trated in political science, Haber
didn’t write for any campus publi-
cations, though he worked for one
semester at the mayor’s office. Af-
ter graduating, he traveled through
Tanzania, volunteered in Rwanda
and worked at Harvard’s Kennedy
School of Government, where he
did research on American politics
and elections for over two years.
At the moment, Haber is unsure
whether he will pursue a career in
journalism after graduate school.
“I plan on taking my law school
exams first and worrying about
future writing after that,” he said.
A majority of students say they don’t cheat
continued from page 1
matters related to the University’s
academic code. “It’s not something
we ignore.”
Furtado declined to comment
on the poll’s findings or to release
the office’s data on instances of
academic dishonesty, citing con-
cerns about confidentiality.
According to the Office of the
Dean of the College, “A student
who obtains credit for work, words
or ideas that are not the products of
his or her own effort is dishonest
and in violation of Brown’s Aca-
demic Code.” Actions that would
constitute violations include copy-
right infringement, improper or
inadequate citation of sources, us-
ing unauthorized materials during
an examination and copying other
students’ work during an examina-
tion.
A range of punishments are
available to deans, depending on
the severity of the offense, includ-
ing verbal reprimands and loss of
credit on the assignment or the
course.
Omer Bartov, professor of his-
tor y and chair of the department,
said students are “missing out” if
they engage in academic dishon-
esty.
“Why would you want to come
to a place like Brown to plagia-
rize?” Bartov said. “If you don’t
want to study, then why spend all
the money?”
Andy van Dam, professor of
computer science, said he treats
plagiarism as a serious problem.
“There are a bunch of people
on campus who say, ‘It’s your
money, if you want to plagiarize
it’s your loss,’ but I believe when
we let people who go out of here
with a Brown diploma, people see
that and assume they’ve learned
something,” he said.
Plagiarism “debases the coin of
the realm,” he added.
Van Dam estimated that about
six of the 150 students in his in-
troductory computer science class
each year “think they can get away
with plagiarism,” but the types of
students who engage in academic
dishonesty are varied.
“It’s not just kids who are in real
trouble, or desperate,” van Dam
said. “It’s also smart kids who can’t
stand the idea of losing that A or
kids who … work together beyond
what’s allowable.”
Briana McGeough ’12 thought
Academic cheating at Brown
Don’t know / No answer
2.8%
Admit
dishonesty*
17.2%
I have not done any of the above
80.1%
Source: Fall 2009 Herald poll of 687 undergraduates
*Includes copying answers off another student’s homework, using outside
resources without proper citation, copying answers off another student’s
quiz, test or exam, obtaining unauthorized test materials in advance, using
notes on a closed-book quiz, test or exam, or submitting someone else’s
work as your own .
the poll’s findings accurately re- signments. It can be difficult to tell
flected the situation on campus. whether ever yone is contributing
Because Brown does not have a equally, she said. That said, cheat-
“cutthroat academic environment,” ing “doesn’t seem to have a pres-
McGeough said, one would expect ence” on campus, she added.
the level of academic dishonesty Heard said many people do not
at Brown to be relatively low. see copying homework as cheat-
Students are more likely to cheat ing, adding that she would distin-
when they feel over whelmed, she guish between students contrib-
said, adding that cheating might uting equally to a discussion of a
be more common in high-pressure problem and one person dictating
atmospheres. the whole answer.
Clarion Heard ’12 was surprised Though students expressed
by the finding that so many respon- var ying definitions of when group
dents denied having cheated, say- collaboration on homework be-
ing that the fraction of students comes dishonest, they said they
who repor ted that they did not generally know the line between
cheat seemed “a little high.” working together and engaging
For instance, Heard said there in academic dishonesty.
were two students who sit behind The Herald poll was conducted
her in class who talk to each other from Nov. 2 through Nov. 4 and has
during exams. a 3.6 percent margin of error with
“I’ve heard (them) say ‘If you’re 95 percent confidence. A total of
sure about an answer, put a dot 687 Brown undergraduates com-
next to it,’” she said. pleted the poll, which The Herald
Some students said people’s administered as a written ques-
definitions of academic dishon- tionnaire to students in the Mail
esty often var y — for instance, in Room at J. Walter Wilson during
terms of what constitutes copying the day and in the Sciences Library
answers on homework. at night.
Abby Colella ’12 said the situ-
ation gets “fuzzy” when students — With additional reporting
work in groups on homework as- by Anne Speyer

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Tuesday, November 24, 2009 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Page 3

C ampus N EWS
higher ed news roundup
by ellen cushing, sarah husk and anne speyer
senior staff writers
Tuition increase at UC schools
sets off demonstrations
University of California campuses were rocked by
student protests and demonstrations in reaction to last
Thursday’s vote by UC regents to approve a system-wide
32 percent tuition hike, CNN reported last week.
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the hike
is the largest in the system’s history. CNN reported that
university officials estimate the tuition hikes will provide
the state, which currently faces a massive budget crisis,
with more than $500 million.
At various UC campuses, student protesters staged sit-
ins and occupied administrative buildings. While many of
the demonstrators have been cited for trespassing and
released without arrest, about 100 protesters have been
arrested, according to CNN.
At least several campuses have reported demonstra-
tions turning into violent altercations between protesters
and police.
Federal court will hear affirmative action case
A years-long legal battle over the constitutionality of
certain affirmative action policies may be inching closer
to a conclusion this week, as a federal appeals court will
consider a lawsuit over a 2006 Michigan ban on affirma-
tive action preferences.
According to the Chronicle, in March 2008, U.S. Dis-
trict Court Judge David Lawson dismissed the suit on the
grounds that the Michigan ban merely restricts the abil-
ity of minority groups to pursue preferential treatment
from public colleges and does not infringe upon their legal
rights.
A three-judge panel will hear from opponents to Law-
son’s decision, who believe that the ban unfairly disadvan-
tages women and members of minority groups applying to
state public colleges and is thus unconstitutional.
U. supports improved access to medicines
By Sarah Mancone
Staff Writer
Six universities, including Brown,
have endorsed a set of principles to
improve access to affordable medi-
cine in the developing world.
Earlier this month, Brown, Har-
vard, Yale, Boston University, the
University of Pennsylvania, Oregon
Health and Science University and the
Association of University Technology
Managers endorsed the “Statement
of Principles and Strategies for the
Equitable Dissemination of Medical
Technologies.”
The Statement supports “imple-
menting effective technology transfer
strategies that promote the availabil-
ity of health-related technologies in
developing countries for essential
medical care,” according to a press
release.
The principles focus primarily on
managing and licensing medical in-
novations. Together, these principles
would “make sure the process of
handing off intellectual properties
to the companies is not creating
barriers to getting products to the
developing world,” said Katherine
Gordon, managing director of the
Brown Technology Ventures Of-
fice.
Licensing the results of research
done by universities to drug com-
panies — called “out-licensing” —
must be efficient, according to the
statement.
“One of our principal goals in out-
licensing is to ensure that products
of the University’s research are able
to reach the public sector and are
appropriately developed by third par-
ties,” Gordon added.
To follow these new principles,
the Technology Ventures Office will
exclude provisions in agreements
with third parties that would “limit
global access to important medical
products,” Gordon said.
A “delicate balance” has to be
reached when making agreements
with various companies, Gordon
said, because the office does not
want to give these companies “the
tools to segregate out poor coun-
tries” by insufficiently and unequally
distributing the medications.
Though these principles will
not directly affect researchers, the
mission statement also includes
plans to support the development
of health-related technologies for
diseases that “disproportionately
burden individuals in the developing
world, such as tuberculosis, AIDS,
water-borne disease, tropical- and
other region-specific ailments and
parasitic infections endemic to the
developing world.”
“Unquestionably, these strate-
gies are entirely in keeping with our
shared mission of bringing all of our
discoveries to those who will most
benefit from them,” said Harvard
Provost Steven Hyman in a state-
ment.
While these new principles aim
to speed up the distribution of life-
saving medicines to the developing
world, the effects will not be imme-
diately apparent.
“The results from this program
will take a long time to be seen over-
all,” Gordon said. “This is the begin-
ning of a long process.”

‘Student tax’ debate heats up in Pittsburgh, too

Colleges and universities in Pittsburgh may soon be
taxed as part of a controversial proposal unveiled by the
city’s mayor as part of the 2010 budget plan, the online
magazine Inside Higher Ed reported last week.
Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl estimated that levy-
ing a 1 percent tax on the currently tax-exempt institutions
would bring in an annual revenue of $16.2 million, Inside
Higher Ed reported. For students, such a tax would trans-
late into an annual fee paid to their respective institutions
and derived from their tuitions — somewhere between $27
and $409.
According to Inside Higher Ed, Ravenstahl has already
met with opposition from the institutions themselves and
from the panel of state appointees that rejected the may-
or’s budget proposal, saying it was inconsistent with state
tax laws.
Earlier this year, two similar proposals were floated in
Providence by Mayor David Cicilline ’83. Both measures
were stalled before they could make it to the General As-
sembly’s special session.

Chaos in Harvard student government election

Harvard’s Undergraduate Council voted to certify the
election of John Bowman as president Monday. The vote
ended a four day period of uncertainty after the validity
of Bowman’s razor-thin margin of victory was called into
question Thursday.
Bowman, a junior, received 45 more votes than his clos-
est rival, George Hayward, in an election last Thursday, the
Crimson reported. Still, the council’s election commission
voted to decertify the results, citing concerns over pos-
sible electronic tampering.
The election results were first questioned when a mem-
ber of the election commission was told that Eric Hysen
— Bowman’s running mate and the UC’s technical director
— had access to software that tabulated raw voting data,
according to the Crimson.
The possibility of irregularities was enough to convince
a majority of the seven-person commission to vote to de-
certify the results.
Page 4
C ampus N EWS
Q & A with Deputy Ambassador to Afghanistan Francis Ricciardone
By Monique Vernon
Staf f Writer
Deputy Ambassador to Afghanistan
Francis Ricciardone, Jr. sat down
with The Herald Monday morning
to talk about his life as a diplomat
and about American relations with
Afghanistan. Ricciardone, who was
on campus for an evening lecture
titled, “What are We Doing in Af-
ghanistan?” at the Watson Institute
for International Studies, agreed to a
separate interview but requested that
his lecture be “off the record.”
After graduating from Dart-
mouth College, you began teach-
ing and studying in various
countries, including Italy and
Iran. How did you go from this
to becoming an ambassador for
the United States?
Well, I am a career foreign ser-
vice officer, and I have been in
that profession for 31 years, since
I came in from the Shah’s Iran in
the summer of ’78.
But before that, I had been a
schoolteacher and gone around the
world. I wanted to see as much of
the world as I could. I thought that
this profession would offer me a
chance to see even more of the
world and do different things, and
it has not disappointed.
One of the nice things about the
foreign service is every couple of
years you end up getting a differ-
ent job, whether in Washington,
New York, sometimes with the
United Nations and even overseas
… you’re constantly learning new
things and meeting new people.
You have been an ambassa-
dor to many countries, ranging
from the Philippines to Egypt
and now Afghanistan. What dif-
ferences have you encountered
when working with these na-
tions and what similarities have
you seen?
Of course cultures vary so much
from one another, but I guess I can
say wherever I ser ved there is a
keen interest in the United States,
not only on the official governmen-
tal level, but ordinary people know
much more about American culture,
politics, histor y than Americans
PLME policy adjusted for students applying to other schools
continued from page 1
who do choose to apply elsewhere
will be guaranteed a spot in the
“first available” Alpert class.
“This may mean a delay in ma-
triculation to AMS should they not
secure a spot at another school,”
Associate Dean for Medical Educa-
tion Philip Gruppuso and Dean of
Medicine and Biological Sciences
Edward Wing wrote in their mes-
sage to PLMEs.
According to Gruppuso, the
original change was intended to
account for the delicacy of the
medical school admissions process
and the need for schools to be sure
they would enroll a full incoming
Deputy Ambassador to Afghanistan Francis Ricciardone, Jr. gave an “off the record” lecture Monday.
typically know about them. Wher-
ever I have been it has been an
asymmetrical kind of relationship in
terms of what the host country and
national government know about us
… Every school child in the fifth or
sixth grade studies about the pha-
raohs, (but) so few Americans now
know about modern Egypt and its
role in making peace with Israel, for
example. No one doubts that those
two countries are going to live in
peace with each other. American
diplomacy helped to solidify that
peace, and being part of that as
ambassador there a couple of years
ago was just an immense privilege
and hugely meaningful to see how
our development assistance and
military assistance could contribute
to Egypt’s absolute commitment to
living in peace.
How have your previous posts
as an ambassador influenced
how you do your job now?
When you are an American dip-
lomat, particularly in the kinds of
places I’ve served, you learn a lot
class each year.
“Honestly, if we were not
confronted with the competitive
reality of medical school admis-
sions, we would never have been
motivated to make this change at
all, and especially not for students
already here,” he told The Herald
Monday.
The number of PLMEs applying
out to other schools has increased
in recent years, according to the
deans’ e-mail. That complicates the
calculus required of admissions
officers to ensure a full class, Grup-
puso said.
But after students expressed
opposition and met with the ad-
ministration, the deans moved to
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
“When we say prosperity, it is not just a boy-scout slogan.”
— Ambassador Francis Ricciardone on American strategy in Afghanistan
about conflict and how conflicts
can eventually be — if not resolved
— then managed to minimize pain
and suffering.
While much of my career was
spent dealing with the Arab-Israe-
li conflict, in other places I have
served, like the Philippines, I saw
the conflict — in the southern
part of the Philippines where the
Muslims were actually a minority
in the larger Christian culture. All
of that is serving me in good stead
in Afghanistan now, where it is a
very complicated conflict. It is not
a conflict between the United States
and Afghanistan or the U.S. and Al
Qaeda even, although we are focus-
ing on Al Qaeda and their role in
international terrorism.
There’s a very complicated in-
ternal conflict within Afghanistan
which is partly ethnic, tribal and
partly cultural. I am able to ap-
proach the conflict there and its
implications for the U.S. and our
strong desire to work to support
those Afghans who want to resolve
the conflict.
modify the policy.
“We were trying to balance two
conflicting desires: to provide to
students the flexibility they’ve
come to expect, and at the same
time ... the good of the institution,”
Grappusso said. “We arrived at a
policy that we think is the best so-
lution to a difficult issue.”
About two weeks after the policy
was announced earlier this month,
a group of four PLME students met
with Gruppuso in person to discuss
their misgivings about the change.
It was that meeting, Gruppuso said,
that pushed the administration to
work toward a policy that more
students would like.
“The key for me was sitting
Kim Perley / Herald
There are certain things that
outsiders — well-intentioned out-
siders like us — can do and there
are mistakes we make, that outsid-
ers often make presuming we know
more than the people involved.
What are the biggest foreign
policy challenges the U.S. is fac-
ing in the Afghanistan/Pakistan
region? What do you think is the
best strategy the U.S. should
take?
Our mission is to disrupt, dis-
mantle and defeat Al Qaeda and
its extremist allies in Pakistan and
Afghanistan and prevent their re-
turn to either country in the future.
Within that, we try to boil it down to
a three-word motto, and the words
that the Afghans like to hear are
peace, justice and prosperity.
What they mean more opera-
tionally is, peace really depends
on security. Most Afghans who
are feeling good about the coun-
tr y are living in the areas where
security has improved. And those
Afghans who are worried about the
and talking to these four juniors,”
Gruppuso said. “It was a ver y con-
structive discussion.”
Arune Gulati ’11, one of the four
students, said he was happy to have
reached a compromise with the
administration and that the revised
policy was “definitely a step in the
right direction.”
“It definitely works out for the
Med School, because they fill their
class. And for us, it takes away the
whole uncertainty that we won’t
get in anywhere,” he said. “We’re
still guaranteed a spot, which is
fantastic. So I guess in that way it
works out for both sides.”
But Gulati expressed disap-
pointment in the fact that the policy
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
future and think things are going
the wrong way are in those areas
where there is no security or se-
curity is very much in threat. And
of course that is not only through
our troop presence but also our
intelligence and law enforcement
operation with the government of
Afghanistan.
Justice depends on governance
— having a government that be-
lieves its job is to serve the people
and not the other way around, the
people ser ving the government.
So we need to help the Afghans
themselves organize and build in-
stitutions of governance.
And finally, when we say prosper-
ity, it is not just a boy-scout slogan.
You need programs and activities to
make an economy function.
What advice do you have for
students who are considering a
career in foreign policy?
I had five years of being a school-
teacher in Italy and then Iran, and
I’m really glad I did that rather then
jumping right into federal service.
You can see the world in a differ-
ent way, and I think I am a better
diplomat for having lived among
people in Iran and all over Europe
on a very low budget.
Why is the event open to the
public but of f the record?
There is kind of a custom, an
interface between government and
diplomacy and academia … It’s
good to have that freedom where I
don’t have to worry about someone
extracting something and making a
headline out of it at a moment of in-
tense public interest in the foreign
policy question of Afghanistan. I am
a government official after all, and
… I need to take great care that I
faithfully represent the programs
and the policies of the United States
of America.
I thought that by making it off
the record we could have a slightly
more candid conversation with the
question and answer part. Especial-
ly being around students as bright
as Brown students are, I wanted
to be able to give everyone a freer
reign … It adds a level of protection,
I think, for the decision-makers (in
Washington).
change will affect current students.
“Then again, this is what it should
have been all along, because this
is what we were promised,” he
said.
Unikora Yang ’12, a PLME, also
commended the new policy. “It is a
good policy considering that medi-
cal school admissions is a compli-
cated system,” she said.
Gruppuso said the situation was
difficult for both sides.
“We know that there are ver y
valid personal reasons for wanting
to make a change,” he said. “It’s
just a question of, ‘In what ways
do the needs and desires of the
individual trump the health of the
institution?’ ”
Metro
The Brown Daily Herald
“Once you open the door on these issues, it’s difficult to close.”
— Councilman John Lombardi, on a law that allows bars to be open late

Tuesday, November 24, 2009 | Page 5

R.I. unemployment drops to 12.9 percent Rhode Island

Unemployment Rate
October By Joanna Wohlmuth land Department of Labor and 15
Training.
unemployment Metro Editor
From October 2008 to Octo-

Percent (%) unemployed

These five states have Though Rhode Island’s unem- ber 2009, unemployment rose by 12
the worst unemployment, ployment rate dropped slightly 3.6 percentage points nationally
according to seasonally in October, the state still has the to 10.2 percent, the bureau re-
9
adjusted data from third-highest unemployment in ported. Over that period, Rhode
the Bureau of Labor the nation, according to a report Island’s unemployment rate in-
Statistics. released last week by the Bureau creased by 4.1 percentage points
6
of Labor Statistics. and the state lost 20,410 jobs.
1. Michigan 15.1% The Ocean State’s unemploy- A total of 13 states experienced
2. Nevada 13.0% ment rate fell by 0.1 percentage unemployment rate decreases 3
3. Rhode Island 12.9% points to 12.9 percent last month, last month, while 29 states and
4. California 12.5% according to the report. Washington, D.C. saw unemploy-
5. South Carolina 12.1% Rhode Island’s unemployment ment increases, according to the 0
rate has not posted a decrease bureau. Rates were unchanged in

Jul 09
May 09

Aug 09
Sep 09
Oct 09
Mar 09
Dec 08
Jan 09

Jun 09
Nov 08
Oct 08

Feb 09

Apr 09
National rate 10.2% since Januar y 2007, according eight states.
to statistics from the Rhode Is-

metro in brief
For trial period, city bars may stay open longer
continued from page 1
The legislation is “aimed at elimi-
nating the typical 2 a.m. scene in
the city — hundreds of patrons, in
various stages of inebriation, pour-
ing into the city’s streets and often
leading to trouble,” according to
a Nov. 17 press release from the
General Assembly.
During the six-month trial period
defined in the bill, the Providence
Board of Licenses can authorize
bars and clubs to stay open until
3 a.m. on Thursdays, Fridays, Sat-
urdays and the nights before legal
state holidays. During the final hour
no alcohol can be served and no
new customers can enter.
Owners of bars and clubs
will have to apply for later hours
through the city Board of Licenses,
Alex Bell / Herald
Xtreme Pizza and Wings is out on Thayer Street. Kamal Nouhaili’s said Andrew Annaldo, the board’s
Thayer Street Pizza and Wings is there in its place.
chairman. He said the police depart- downtown and has not experienced
ment, mayor’s office, city council major problems with 2 a.m. closings,
and general public will all be part said Lt. John Ryan, commander of
of discussions surrounding the Providence Police Department Dist.
change. Though he said no new 9, which includes Brown’s main
licenses will be granted until those campus. He said later closings will
discussions are complete, city of- have a greater effect in areas with a
ficials hope the trial program will higher density of bars and clubs.
begin as soon as Jan. 1. “A more gradual, staggered de-
“Pretty much ever yone is on parture of customers from the clubs
board with the program,” said Coun- over a longer period of time should
cilman John Lombardi, D-Ward 13, cut down on the noise, crowding,
adding that the pressure for later fights and other problems that have
closings has mounted over the past occurred,” according to the press
five to seven years as nightlife in the release.
city has increased. Though later hours are autho-
The legislation is aimed at creat- rized only for the six-month trial pe-
ing more of a “trickling effect,” he riod, Lombardi said he expects the
said. “Right now, there are 7,500 change to continue indefinitely.
to 10,000 people trying to get out “It’s a sunshine provision,” he
of the same area at once.” said. “Once you open the door
The College Hill neighborhood on these issues, it’s difficult to
has less late-night activity than close.”

A bit less ‘Xtreme’? Out with the old, coffee witho u t the fee
in with the new on Thayer Street

Tucked under stairs that lead up to another restaurant,

one of Thayer Street’s pizza parlors has a new owner, and
name.
Kamal Nouhaili, co-owner of Thayer Street Pizza and
Wings, said he has been trying to re-brand the restaurant’s
image since he bought Xtreme Pizza and Wings earlier this
month.
“They used to have all kinds of funky pizzas and
stuff,” said Nouhaili, who owns another pizza parlor in
Cumberland. “We’re trying to make it more like your
hometown pizzeria.”
Nouhaili said he bought the restaurant for “a very
good price” because the previous restaurant had a bad
reputation in terms of both food quality and service. He
said he would combat that reputation by improving the food
and the attitude of the employees.
While guests may not notice much of a difference in the
restaurant’s facilities, the new owners have changed the
menu to shift the focus away from wings and pizza.
Other nearby pizza parlors feature pizza by the slice,
Nouhaili said, whereas his menu also includes appetizers,
pasta, sandwiches, wraps and calzones.
“We’re not trying to compete with Antonio’s, Via Via,
Nice Slice — we’ve got very different food,” he said.
He said the restaurant will give a 15 percent discount to
members of the Brown community.

— Alex Bell Freddy Lu / Herald

As part of a promotion for Toyota, a truck was parked on Thayer Street offering free coffee to passersby.
SportsTuesday
The Brown Daily Herald
M. water polo goes
1-2 at Easterns
By Liza Jones
Contributing Writer
The men’s water polo team trav-
eled to Cambridge, Mass. this
past weekend to face Bucknell,
MIT and Fordham in the Eastern
Division Championships. After
falling to Bucknell, 8-6, the Bears
defeated MIT in overtime, 7-6,
but lost to Fordham, 8-7.
Their 1-2 per formance at
the championships put an end
to what had been an impressive
season during which the Bears
compiled a 17-12 record, going
5-1 in the Northern Division to
win the league championship.
Bucknell 8, Brown 6
In the opening-round match
of Easterns, Bucknell’s 5-0 third-
period run gave the Bison the win
on Friday. Svetozar Stefanovic ’13
led the offense with two goals,
and Kent Holland ’10 command-
ed the cage with nine saves in
goal.
Br uno star ted of f with an
impressive 4-1 lead in the first
half before collapsing. After 24
minutes of play, Bucknell scored
five in a row to bring the score
to 6-4. Bruno scored one more,
followed by two more from the
Bison. With 1:30 left on the clock,
Dean Serure ’13 scored, but that
wasn’t enough to stave of f de-
feat. Despite the loss, Stefanovic,
Gordon Hood ’11 and Holland all
earned First Team honors and
Corey Schwartz ’11 earned Sec-
ond Team honors.
Brown 7, MIT 6 (OT)
After their opening loss,
Brown was determined to come
out with a win Saturday against
an MIT squad playing before a
hometown crowd. The teams
fought to the ver y end, with the
Bears finally outlasting the En-
gineers.
Stefanovic scored the first
goal of the game, giving Bruno a
short-lived lead. But MIT quickly
tallied three more for a two-goal
cushion. Schwartz notched a goal
for the Bears before the half, but
the Bears trailed, 3-2.
After the break, Hood evened
the score just 2:12 into the second
half. The teams continued to take
turns in the lead for the rest of
the game, with Stefanovic scor-
ing two more and Hood scoring
one.
When MIT looked poised to
win, holding a 6-5 lead with just
23 seconds left on the clock, Ste-
fanovic lived up to his Northern
Division Player of the Year billing
and scored to bring the game into
overtime.
Over time consisted of two
three-minute periods by rule,
but Schwartz had fired the game-
winner with 32 seconds left in the
first overtime.
Despite the of fensive lead-
ers’ crucial ef for ts, Holland’s
impressive job in the cage earned
him player of the game honors.
The Brown goalkeeper made 27
saves, including four in the OT
periods.
Fordham 8, Brown 7
The following day, Brown
played Fordham in the fifth-place
game. Hood and Schwartz led
the offense with three and two
goals, respectively. The Rams
began with a 2-0 lead and kept it
all the way to halftime, when they
led, 6-4. After the third period,
the score was 8-5.
The Bears tried not to lose
steam, however, and ambitiously
attempted to crawl their way back
in the fourth and final period. Se-
rure and Hood each scored one
goal, which was not enough to
seal a win, and the Bears fell, 8-7.
Holland had six saves in goal.
Women’s hockey is still looking for its first league win after dropping two games over the weekend.
W. icers still in hunt for first ECAC win
By Andrew Braca
Spor ts Editor
The women’s hockey team fell to
two tough ECAC opponents over
the weekend, losing to Dartmouth,
5-2, on Friday and Harvard, 5-1, on
Saturday at Meehan Auditorium.
The Bears (1-6-3, 0-5-3 ECAC)
scored one more goal than they had
totaled in their previous six games,
and goaltender Katie Jamieson ’13
recorded 81 saves over the two
games, but Bruno could not keep
up the intensity for a full 60 minutes
in either game.
Dartmouth 5, Brown 2
The Bears hung tough with
the Big Green (4-3-1, 4-3-1 ECAC)
for most of the game, trailing by a
single goal with six minutes remain-
ing but ultimately succumbed to a
ferocious Dartmouth attack that
fired 53 shots.
Brown was hampered by the loss
of top defender Samantha Stortini
’11, who sat out both games with
a concussion. Head Coach Digit
Murphy praised Victoria Smith ’13
for stepping up from her previous
role as the fifth defender to pair
with Nicole Brown ’10 on a full
shift schedule for the first time in
her career. But Murphy noted the
depleted defense tired more easily,
especially on special teams.
The Big Green roared out to
a 1-0 lead just 3:45 into the game
on Camille Dumais’s shot from
the right point. Logging a 20-8 ad-
vantage in first-period shots, Dart-
mouth scored again to take a 2-0
lead into the first intermission.
But the Bears came out ener-
gized in the second period. Brown
got on the board 6:54 after intermis-
sion when Erica Kromm ’11 was
waiting at the left post to knock
Jacquie Pierri’s ’12 shot from the
right point into the back of the net.
Paige Pyett ’12 also picked up an
assist on the play.
Dartmouth regained the two-
goal lead 1:22 later, but Bruno re-
sponded at 12:31 when three fresh-
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 | Page 6
men connected for a goal. Smith
sent the puck up to Laurie Jolin ’13,
who one-timed a pass right to the
stick of Alena Polenska ’13. Polen-
ska charged down the left side of
the ice and lifted a shot that beat
Big Green goaltender Whitney
Woodcox.
Murphy said she was impressed
with the way the Bears “fought
back” and hung tough with the Big
Green, as the score remained 3-2
for the next 22 minutes. But Brown
generated just six third-period shots
— undone, Murphy said, by five
penalties that short-circuited scor-
ing chances and prevented the team
from employing its depth.
“Our strength is in our numbers
and our energy and our forecheck
— that’s how we generate offense,”
Murphy said.
Dartmouth had no trouble gen-
erating offense, taking 12 shots
during the 5:23 Bruno spent in the
penalty box en route to 21 total
third-period shots. After notching
an even-strength goal with 5:05 re-
maining, the Big Green produced
the 5-2 final with a five-on-three goal
23 seconds before the final horn.
Murphy said the penalties killed
any chance the Bears had to seize
the momentum and tie the game,
allowing Dartmouth to pull away.
“We have to make more momen-
tum shifts our way,” she said.
Harvard 5, Brown 1
The Bears created one big mo-
mentum shift against the Crimson
(5-3-1, 5-3-0), tying the game mid-
way through the second period, but
were over whelmed by a flood of
power-play goals.
Harvard struck even faster than
Dartmouth had when Kaitlin Spurl-
ing’s shot from the right point found
the back of the net just 3:37 into
the game.
Murphy said that though it was
a tough start to the game, the team
did not fault Jamieson for the goal
— especially after her strong play
this season.
“Even though it hurt, she’s been
Jonathan Bateman / Herald
carrying us on her back all year,”
Murphy said. “She’s an unbeliev-
able goalie.”
The Bears controlled much of
the first period, taking nine shots
during a power play lasting 4:43 that
included 1:18 with a five-on-three.
But the Bears never got a for-
tuitous bounce. Crimson goalie
Christina Kessler finished the first
with 16 saves to keep Bruno off
the board.
“We were in their end the whole
first period, not only when we had
the power plays but even at regular
strength,” Murphy said.
Polenska tied the game 6:43 after
intermission. After receiving a pass
from Kromm, she skated up the
right side of the ice and beat Kes-
sler to the upper left corner of the
goal. Pierri picked up her second
assist of the weekend on the play.
But the Bears collapsed over the
final 30 minutes. Five penalties over
the final 12:15 of the middle frame
led to two second-period goals and
another early in the third. The Crim-
son notched their fifth goal in the
final minute as a Brown player was
exiting the penalty box.
Brown will take a break from
ECAC play this weekend to host
St. Cloud State (5-9-0) for a pair of
games Friday at 1 p.m. and Saturday
at noon at Meehan. The Huskies,
a member of the Western Colle-
giate Hockey Association, are fresh
off an upset of No. 6 Wisconsin,
the defending national champion,
but Murphy said the Bears have a
chance if they stay out of the box
and play full games.
“You take away the penalties,
you take away the special teams,
I like us 5-on-5,” she said. “I think
we’re a good team, (but) we beat
ourselves. Until the team starts to
understand that, we’ll see what hap-
pens, but I know we can beat St.
Cloud if we play three periods.”
“We’re playing a period and a
half now,” she added. “I hope by
the end of this semester we’ll have
two, and so by January we’ll play
three.”
Page 7 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Tuesday, November 24, 2009

S ports T uesday “It was disappointing that we saved our best for last.”
— David Walls ’11, men’s soccer co-captain

s p o rt s i n b r i e f

W. hoops trumps Central Conn. State

to claim year’s first victory
The women’s basketball team completed a furious rally
to beat Central Connecticut State, 62-59, on Saturday at the
Pizzitola Center for its first win of the year.
CCSU roared out to a 24-12 lead midway through the first
half and held a 34-28 advantage at halftime but could not
extend that lead as the Bears chipped away in the second half.
A jumper by Natalie Bonds ’10 gave the Bears a 58-57 lead,
their first of the game, with 3:33 left. A Bonds layup sealed
the victory with 1:27 remaining.
Aileen Daniels ’12 led Brown (1-2) with 17 points, followed
by Sheila Dixon ’13 with 11 and Sarah Delk ’11 with 10.
On Wednesday, the Bears fell to American University, 64-
54, after frittering away a three-point halftime lead. Brown
held a 41-34 lead with 14:27 left, but the Bears could not
recover when the Eagles went on a 17-0 run over the next
8:28. Christina Johnson ’10 led Bruno with 12 points and six
rebounds.
The Bears will travel to Smithfield to face in-state rival
Bryant tonight before heading to the Long Island University
Turkey Classic over the weekend.
Jesse Morgan / Herald
Freshman guard Sheila Dixon drives past a Central Connecticut State defender during Saturday’s win.
— Sports Staff Reports

Tar Heels stamp out m. soccer’s memorable NCAA run

continued from page 1
Okafor ’11 cross from the left side
at the far post.
The play remained even between
UNC and Brown for the first 20 min-
utes of the game until a Bears foul
gave the Tar Heels a free kick 25
yards out that set up the eventual
game-winning goal. Midfielder Kirk
Urso sent a ball from 25 yards out
on the left side into the box to Billy
Schuler, who sent a header to the
back of the net from the middle of
the six-yard box. Grandstrand got
caught on a 50-50 going for the ball
and it deflected off his hands.
“We’re usually good against
set pieces,” said co-captain David
Walls ’11, a defender. “It was disap-
pointing to give up a goal in that
fashion.”
The Bears failed to get a quality
look on goal in the first half but
turned things around in the second
in an urgent manner. They finally
began a fierce comeback in the
game’s closing 30 minutes.
Jay Hayward ’12 recorded the
first shot on goal on the day for the
Bears when he sent a free kick at
the keeper, but Tar Heel Brooks
Haggerty pursued the ball with
great vision, picking up one of his
two saves.
“It was different playing a team
from the ACC, since it’s a differ-
ent type of soccer — that kind of
threw us off a little, and we couldn’t
get into much of a rhythm,” Grand-
strand said.
The Tar Heels answered right
back, as Alex Dixon and Schuler
sent two one-on-one shots on goal at
Grandstrand, but the Brown goalie
kept the game within reach with
two saves in five minutes.
The Bears continued their sec- five goals apiece. The Bears will lose four seniors offseason we had 6 a.m. workouts
ond-half offensive surge and tallied “Ever yone gave inspiration to graduation: Elenz-Martin, T.J. three days a week,” Grandstrand
several more shots to challenge and a commitment that definitely Thompson ’10, Jarrod Schlenker ’10 said. “We put our minds to it and
Haggerty in goal. With 15 minutes helped us through tricky positions and co-captain Thomas Thunell ’10. knew that we needed to work hard.
remaining in the game, Rob Medai- and challenges we faced this sea- But the team will return the bulk That will definitely be carried on
ros ’12 touched the ball to Taylor son, and we usually would come of its starting line-up and look to into this upcoming spring, building
Gorman ’12, who narrowly missed out on top because of the overall build off a season of hard work as it off of our performance from this
the goal with a shot that sailed over team effort,” Walls said. heads into the offseason. “This past past season.”
the net.
“It was disappointing to work
so hard during the season to get to
the big game and not get the win,”
Walls said. “It was disappointing
that we saved our best for last.”
Dylan Remick ’13 got the last
best look on goal for Brown in the
88th minute when he sent a ball just
high, clanking off the cross bar, that
almost hooked its way into the goal
for the equalizer.
Many of Carolina’s offensive
opportunities came off of coun-
terattacks when the Bears were
pressed for ward in search of the
game-tying goal. Bruno was caught
in UNC territor y on the Remick
shot, and the Tar Heels sent the
ball the other direction to Dixon,
who broke away from the Brown
defense. He sent a shot at Grand-
strand from eight yards out and
iced the game with a one-on-one
goal, the final dagger that ended
the Bears’ 2009 season.
UNC held an 11-5 shot advan-
tage over Brown. Haggerty saved
both of the Bears’ shots on goal and
Grandstrand shined in net with five
saves on seven shots on goal.
Brown ended the season with
a very well-balanced offensive at-
tack, as 12 players scored goals
this season. The Bears outscored
opponents by a two-to-one margin
on the year. Nick Elenz-Martin ’10,
Austin Mandel ’12, Thomas McNa-
mara ’13 and Rosa led the team with

News feed? Live feed?

Who knows what it’s called, but
it’s itching for some Herald
facebook.com/browndailyherald
World & Nation
The Brown Daily Herald
Wealthy nations outsource
crops to Ethiopia’s farmlands
By Stephanie McCrummen
Washington Post
Bako, Ethiopia — In recent
months, the Ethiopian government
began marketing abroad one of the
hottest commodities in an increas-
ingly crowded and hungr y world:
farmland.
“Why Attractive?” reads one
glossy poster with photos of
green fields and a map outlining
swaths of the countr y available at
bargain-basement prices. “Vast,
fertile, irrigable land at low rent.
Abundant water resources. Cheap
labor. Warmest hospitality.”
This impoverished and chroni-
cally food-insecure Horn of Africa
nation is rapidly becoming one of
the world’s leading destinations
for the booming business of land
leasing, by which relatively rich
countries and investment firms are
securing 40- to 99-year contracts
to farm vast tracts of land.
Governments across Southeast
Asia, Latin America and especially
Africa are seizing the chance to
attract this new breed of inves-
tors, wining and dining executives,
creating land-leasing agencies and
land catalogues to showcase their
offerings of earth. In Africa alone,
experts estimate that about 50 mil-
lion acres — roughly the size of
Nebraska —have been leased in
the past two years.
The trend is driven in par t
by last year’s global food crisis.
Relatively wealthy countries are
shoring up their food supplies
by growing staple crops abroad.
The deser t kingdom of Saudi
Arabia, for instance, is shifting
wheat production to Africa. The
government of India, where land
is crowded and overfarmed, is of-
fering incentives to companies to
car ve out mega farms across the
continent.
Increasingly, though, purely
profit-seeking companies are
snatching up land, making a sim-
ple, if somewhat grim, calculation.
Study: Kids in home-based day care watch more television
By Emma Brown
Washington Post
Children who attend home-based
day-care programs are watching twice
as much television per day as was
previously thought, according to a
study released online Monday and
published in the December issue of
Pediatrics.
In a sur vey of 168 child-care
programs in four states, research-
ers found that toddlers, ages 1 to
3, in home-based day-care centers
watched an average of 1.6 hours of
television there each day, including
videos and DVDs. Preschool-age
children, 3 to 5 years old, watched
As one Saudi-backed businessman
here put it, “The population of the
world is increasing dramatically,
so land and food supplies will be
short, demand will be higher and
prices will rise.”
The scale and pace of the land
scramble has alarmed policymak-
ers and others concerned about
the implications for food security
in countries such as Ethiopia,
where officials recently appealed
for food aid for about 6 million
people as drought devastates parts
of East Africa. The U.N. Food and
Agriculture Organization is in the
midst of a food security summit in
Rome where some of the 62 heads
of state attending are to discuss
a code of conduct to govern land
deals, which are being struck with
little public input.
“These contracts are pretty
thin,” said David Hallam, a dep-
uty director at the FAO. “You see
statements from ministers where
they’re basically promising ever y-
thing with no controls, no condi-
tions.”
The harshest critics of the
practice conjure bleak images of
poor Africans star ving as food is
hauled off to rich countries. Some
express concern that decades of
industrial farming will leave good
land spoiled even as local popula-
tions surge. And skeptics also say
the political contexts cannot be
ignored.
“We don’t trust this govern-
ment,” said Merera Gudina, a lead-
ing opposition figure here who
accuses Ethiopian Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi of using the land
policy to hold on to power. “We
are afraid this government is buy-
ing diplomatic support by giving
away land.”
But many exper ts are cau-
tiously hopeful, saying that big
agribusiness could feed millions
by industrializing agriculture in
countries such as Ethiopia, where
about 80 percent of its 75 million
people are farmers who plow their
2.4 hours a day in home-based cen-
ters.
Prior studies have estimated that
preschool-age children watch one to
three hours of television a day. But
those relied on reports from parents
about children’s habits at home and
did not count the time they spent
in front of the television during day
care, underestimating the total TV
time by up to 100 percent, research-
ers said.
“I hope that this is a wake-up
call,” said Dimitri Christakis of the
Seattle Children’s Research Institute,
the study’s lead author. “President
Obama famously asked parents to
turn off their children’s television
fields with oxen.
“If these deals are negotiated
well, I tell you, it will change the
dynamics of the food economy in
this countr y,” said Mafa Chipeta,
the FAO’s representative in Ethio-
pia, dismissing the worst-case sce-
narios. “I can’t believe Ethiopia or
any other government would allow
their countr y to be used like an
empty womb. The human spirit
would not allow it.”
Few countries have embraced
the trend as zealously as Ethiopia,
where hard-baked eastern deserts
fade into spectacularly lush and
green western valleys fed by the
Blue Nile. Only a quarter of the
countr y’s estimated 175 million
fertile acres is being farmed.
Desperate for foreign currency,
the government of former Marxist
rebels who once proclaimed “land
to the tiller!” has set aside more
than 6 million acres for agribusi-
ness. Lured with 40-year leases
and tax holidays, investors are go-
ing on farm shopping sprees, criss-
crossing the countr y on chartered
flights to pick out their swaths of
Ethiopian soil.
Indian companies have commit-
ted $4.2 billion so far. Anand Seth,
director general of the Federation
of Indian Expor t Organizations,
described Africa as “the next big
thing” in investment opportunities
and markets.
As he stood on a little hill over-
looking 30,000 acres of rich, black
soil, Hanumantha Rao, chief gener-
al manager of the Indian company
Karuturi Agro Products, agreed.
So far, he said, the Ethiopian gov-
ernment has imposed few require-
ments on his company.
“From here,” Rao said, “you
can see the past and the future of
Ethiopian agriculture.”
From there — a farm just west
of Addis Ababa — it was possible
to see a river designated for irri-
gating cornfields and rice paddies;
it is no longer open for locals to
water their cows. Several shiny
sets, and you might ask day-care
providers to do the same thing,
since watching television is not part
of what early-childhood education
should be.”
Studies have linked television-
watching in young children to obe-
sity, aggression, cognitive delays
and decreased attention spans. The
American Academy of Pediatrics
discourages television-watching for
children under 2 and recommends
that older children watch no more
than two hours of television a day.
The research, funded by a Univer-
sity of Washington endowment and
the first in 20 years to examine tele-
vision-watching in day care, suggests
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 | Page 8
green tractors bounced across the
six-mile-long field where teff, the
local grain, once grew. Hundreds
of Ethiopian workers, overseen
by Indian super visors, were bent
over rows of corn stalks, cutting
weeds tangled around them with
small blades.
Many of the workers were chil-
dren. The day rate: 8 birr — about
70 cents.
“The people are ver y happy,”
said Rao, who will soon super vise
a second farm spanning about 60
square miles. “We have no prob-
lems with them.
As a worker spoke to one of his
super visors, he whispered that
the company had refused to sign
a wage contract and had failed to
deliver promised water and power
to nearby villages. Super visors
treat them cruelly, he said, and
most workers were just biding
time until they could go work for
a Chinese construction company
rumored to pay $2 to $4 a day.
“We are not happy,” said the
man, a farmer-tur ned-tractor
driver who did not give his name
wide variations among programs.
Children in center-based programs,
which are not in homes, spent 1.8
fewer hours in front of a screen than
their peers in home-based programs,
the study said. And home-based
programs whose staff members
had either a two- or four-year col-
lege degree were associated with
1.4 fewer hours of television a day
than home-based programs whose
staff lacked college degrees.
Center-based day-care programs
might rely less on television than
home-based providers because they
generally have lower child-to-adult
ratios, Christakis said, and their
employees tend to be more highly
because he feared being fired. “I’m
a machine operator and I make 800
birr (about $65) a month. This is
the most terrible pay.”
Rao said he had trained about
60 Ethiopians to drive tractors;
others would learn to run shellers,
and how to fertilize and irrigate
land. If things work as they should,
he said, Ethiopians will adopt the
modern techniques in their own
farms.
Along a muddy road leading to
Karuturi farm, people said they
were hopeful that might happen.
But they were not sure how. Most
said they were struggling just to
buy government-subsidized fertil-
izer, much less tractors. In any
case, Ethiopians cannot own land,
instead holding “use certificates”
for their tiny plots, making it dif-
ficult to get loans, or to sell or
increase holdings.
“We think they might be ben-
eficial to us in the future,” said
Yadeta Fininsa, referring to the
new companies coming to town.
“But so far we have not benefited
anything.”
educated.
Christakis urged parents to cut
down on screen time at home and to
ask prospective day-care providers
about television use.
Christakis said states should
consider tightening licensing re-
quirements. No matter how educa-
tional the program, he said, televi-
sion-watching displaces components
of high-quality child care, including
outdoor playtime and opportunities
to interact with peers and teachers.
“ ‘Sesame Street’ is a good show,
and there are other good shows,”
Christakis said. “But ‘Sesame Street’
was never intended to replace human
interaction.”
Page 9
World & Nation
Nuclear power winning new support
By Anthony Faiola
Washington Post
LONDON — Nuclear power, long
considered environmentally haz-
ardous, is emerging as perhaps
the world’s most unlikely weapon
against climate change, with the
backing of even some green activ-
ists who once campaigned against
it.
It has been 13 years since
the last new nuclear power plant
opened in the United States. But
around the world, nations under
pressure to reduce the produc-
tion of climate-warming gases
are turning to low-emission nu-
clear energy as never before. The
Obama administration and lead-
ing Democrats, in an effort to win
greater support for climate change
legislation, are eyeing federal tax
incentives and loan guarantees to
fund a new crop of nuclear power
plants across the United States
that could eventually help drive
down carbon emissions.
From China to Brazil, 53 plants
are now under construction world-
wide, with Poland, the United Arab
Emirates and Indonesia seeking to
build their first reactors, according
to global watchdog groups and
industry associations. The number
of plants being built is double the
total of just five years ago.
Rather than deride the em-
phasis on nuclear power, some
environmentalists are embracing
it. Stephen Tindale typifies the
shift.
When a brigade of Greenpeace
activists stormed a nuclear power
plant on the shores of the North
Sea a few years ago, scrawling
“danger’ on its reactor, Tindale
was their commander. Then head
of the group’s British office, he
remembers, he stood outside the
plant just east of London telling TV
crews all the reasons “why nuclear
power was evil.”
The construction of nuclear
plants was banned in Britain for
years after the 1986 Chernobyl
disaster in what was then the So-
viet Union. But now the British are
weighing the idea of new nuclear
plants as part of the battle against
climate change, and Tindale is
among several environmentalists
who are backing the plan.
“It really is a question about
the greater evil — nuclear waste
or climate change,” Tindale said.
“But there is no contest anymore.
Climate change is the bigger
threat, and nuclear is part of the
answer.”
A number of roadblocks may
yet stall nuclear’s comeback — in
particular, its expense. Two next-
generation plants under construc-
tion in Finland and France are bil-
lions of dollars over budget and
seriously behind schedule, raising
longer-term questions about the
feasibility of new plants without
major government support. Costs
may be so high that energy compa-
nies find financing hard to secure
even with government backing.
But exper ts also point to a
host of improvements in nuclear
technology since the Chernobyl
accident and the partial meltdown
of the Three Mile Island plant in
Pennsylvania in 1979. Most nota-
ble is an 80 percent drop in indus-
trial accidents at the world’s 436
nuclear plants since the late 1980s,
according to the World Association
of Nuclear Operators.
So far at least, the start of what
many are calling “a new nuclear
age” is unfolding with only mut-
ed opposition — nothing like the
protests and plant invasions that
helped define the green movement
in the United States and Europe
during the 1960s and 1970s.
As opposition recedes, even na-
tions that had long vowed never
to build another nuclear plant —
such as Sweden, Belgium and Italy
— have recently done an about-
face as they see the benefits of
a nearly zero-emission energy
overriding the dangers of radio-
active waste disposal and nuclear
proliferation.
In the United States, lead-
ing environmental groups have
backed climate change bills mov-
ing through Congress that envi-
sion new American nuclear plants.
An Environmental Protection
Agency analysis of the Waxman-
Markey bill passed by the House,
for instance, shows nuclear energy
generation more than doubling in
the United States by 2050 if the
legislation is made law. The U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
is reviewing applications for 22
new nuclear plants from coast to
coast.
To be sure, many green groups
remain opposed to nuclear energy,
and some, such as Greenpeace,
have refused to back U.S. climate
change legislation. Groups that
support the bills, such as the Si-
erra Club, say they are doing so
because the legislation would also
usher in the increased use of re-
newable energies like wind and
solar as well as billions of dollars
in investment for new technolo-
gies. They do not say they think
nuclear energy is the solution in
and of itself.
“Our base is as opposed to
nuclear as ever,” said David Ham-
ilton, director of the Global Warm-
ing and Energy Program for the
Sierra Club in Washington. “You
have to recognize that nuclear is
only one small part of this.”
But Steve Cochran, director of
the National Climate Campaign at
the Environmental Defense Fund
— a group that opposed new nu-
clear plants in the United States as
recently as 2005 — also described
a new and evolving “pragmatic”
approach coming from environ-
mental camps. “I guess you could
call it `grudging acceptance,’ “ he
said.
“If we are really serious about
dealing with climate change, we
are going to have to be willing to
look at a range of options and not
just rule things off the table,” he
said. “We may not like it, but that’s
the way it is.”
That position, obser vers say,
marks a significant departure. “Be-
cause of global warming, most of
the big groups have become less
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
active on their nuclear campaign,
and almost all of us are taking an-
other look at our internal policies,”
said Mike Childs, head of climate
change issues for Friends of the
Earth in Britain. “We’ve decided
not to officially endorse it, in part
because we feel the nuclear lobby
is already strong enough. But we
are also no longer focusing our
energies on opposing it.”
Some leading environmental
figures, including former Vice
President Al Gore, remain skep-
tical of nuclear’s promise, largely
because of the high cost of build-
ing plants and the threat of prolif-
eration, illustrated by Iran’s recent
attempts to blur the lines between
energy production and a weapons
program. Other countries seeking
to build their first nuclear plants
would probably purchase fuel from
secure market sources in Europe
and the United States, rather than
enrich their own. And experts re-
main cautious about the prospect
of seeing so much nuclear fuel in
global circulation.
“I’m assuming the waste and
safety problems get resolved, but
cost and proliferation still loom
as ver y serious problems” with
nuclear energy, Gore told The
Washington Post’s editorial board
this month. “I am not anti-nucle-
ar, but the costs of the present
generation of reactors is nearly
prohibitive.”
Yet for nations such as Britain
— home of the world’s first com-
mercial nuclear plant — a return to
nuclear is seen as essential to the
goal of meeting aggressive targets
for reducing carbon emissions.
As reserves of natural gas from
the North Sea dwindle, Britain
also is betting on nuclear to help
maintain a measure of energy in-
dependence.
After years of resisting new
plants after the Chernobyl melt-
down, the government did an
initial about-face in 2007, calling
for a list of possible sites for reac-
tors. This month, British officials
announced plans to fast-track
construction of 10 plants. They
will also push for more wind and
solar energy, but those technolo-
gies are still seen by many to have
limitations because of problems
with transmission and scale, while
“clean coal” plants are years from
commercial viability.
As may happen in the United
States, the plants in Britain are
expected to go up in communities
with existing nuclear complexes
where support for them is already
high.
Tindale, 46, publicly switched
his position less than a year after
leaving his job as head of Green-
peace here. But his opinion began
to change earlier, he said. Rather
than being vilified by environmen-
talists, his public shift has sparked
a thoughtful debate here among
opponents, supporters and those
on the fence.
“Like many of us, I began to
slowly realize we don’t have the
luxury anymore of excluding nu-
clear energy,” he said. “We need
all the help we can get.”
Home sales rebound
to early-2007 level
By Dina ElBoghdady
Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Economists and
policy-makers got what they were
looking for Monday: a clear uptick
in the housing market. The catch is,
few believe it’s sustainable.
The National Association of Real-
tors reported that sales of existing
single-family homes, townhomes and
condominiums in October surged to
a seasonally adjusted annual rate of
6.1 million units from 5.54 million in
September — making last month
the strongest since February 2007.
Sales were up 23.5 percent from last
October.
Every piece of housing data is
scrutinized these days because it
was primarily the housing market
that derailed the U.S. economy, and
its recovery is key to restoring eco-
nomic vitality.
Low home prices, federal pro-
grams that helped push down inter-
est rates and a temporary $8,000
federal tax credit mostly for first-
time buyers have all played a role
in boosting home sales in recent
months. As sales picked up, the ex-
cess supply of homes started shrink-
ing and prices began stabilizing.
But real doubts linger about
whether these gains can be main-
tained, especially if unemployment
continues to rise and government
intervention is curtailed. The fed-
eral “cash for clunkers” program
boosted auto sales, for instance, but
only temporarily. And many econo-
mists forecast weak growth once
the government’s broader economic
stimulus spending winds down.
On Tuesday, Federal Reserve
leaders are expected to project
continued high levels for the unem-
ployment rate through at least 2011
when the Fed releases its forecast
for future economic growth.
“The number one worry is the
labor market,” said Adam York, an
economist at Wells Fargo Securities.
“We’re still losing jobs at a pretty
hefty clip. ... Without income, no
one’s going to be buying a house
or anything else.”
On Monday, the Realtors group
singled out the tax credit for the
surprisingly strong October sales.
That credit was due to expire Nov.
30 and buyers rushed to get in under
the wire. It was recently extended
to April 30 and expanded to include
repeat buyers, who will be eligible
for a $6,500 refund starting Dec. 1.
Monday’s report showed that
every region in the country expe-
rienced an increase in sales, led
by the Midwest, where sales rose
14.4 percent. The South, had a 12.7
percent increase, followed by the
Northeast at 11.6 percent and the
West at 1.6 percent.
Nationally, sales have risen in
six of the past seven months, with
August the sole exception.
“Were the October numbers
goosed by people thinking the home
buyers’ tax credit will go away? Yes,”
said Thomas Lawler, an economist
and housing consultant. “Is it likely
we’ll see one more ver y strong
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
home-sales number in November?
Yes ... But is it sustainable? Prob-
ably not.”
Even Lawrence Yun, the Realtors
group’s chief economist, conceded
that a sharp rise in October and
November sales cannot hold in the
coming months.
“A measurable decline should be
anticipated in December and early
next year before another surge in
spring and early summer,” Yun said
in a statement. He attributed the
renewed activity next year to the
typical start of the home selling sea-
son supported by the continuing
tax credit.
But other economists doubt that
the tax credit with prompt another
jump in sales. Many of the prospec-
tive buyers originally targeted by
the credit have taken advantage of
it already, while others are unlikely
to do so because employment condi-
tions have weakened.
“The tax-credit program has no
doubt turbocharged the market,”
said Michael Larson, a housing
analyst at Weiss Research. “But go-
ing forward, it’s not going to be any
great rebound but an anemic one.
It’s going to be three steps forward
and two steps back.”
Monday’s report also showed
that the national median home price
fell 7.1 percent, to $173,100, in Octo-
ber compared with a year earlier, the
smallest drop since June 2008.
With prices low, bargain hunters
snapped up deals, particularly ag-
gressively priced foreclosures, and
the supply of homes at the end of Oc-
tober fell 3.7 percent, to 3.57 million,
the lowest level in more than two-
and-a-half years, the report said. If
sales were to continue at the current
pace, it would take seven months to
sell them. Six months is generally
considered to be healthy.
Larson said the sales frenzy has
helped remove 1 million existing
homes from the market. The num-
ber of newly built homes has also
plunged as builders have refrained
from adding homes to the market.
“That’s what you want to see,”
Larson said. “That is what is clearly
foretelling an eventual turn in pric-
ing for the better.”
But as is often the case with hous-
ing, the good news is intertwined
with the bad, demonstrating just
how fragile the market is.
Government data released last
week showed that new-home con-
struction took an unexpected tumble
in October, falling to its lowest level
in six months. Housing starts fell
10.6 percent, to a seasonally adjusted
annual rate of 529,000.
Other rude surprises may be on
the way. One unknown is how many
more foreclosures will hit the mar-
ket in coming months as loan modi-
fications for troubled borrowers fall
through and lenders start marketing
foreclosures that they had not previ-
ously put up for sale.
That “shadow inventory,” said
economist Patrick Newport of IHS
Global Insight, “is still a large num-
ber.”
Editorial & Letters
The Brown Daily Herald

Page 10 | Tuesday, November 24, 2009

franny choi

corrections e d i to r i a l

Consolidation
Due to an editing error, a photo caption on yesterday’s front page (“Su-
percomputer welcomed with optimism,” Nov. 23) incorrectly identified the
figure shown cutting the ribbon at a ceremony for the computer’s opening
as Gov. Donald Carcieri ’65. That person should have been identified as the
University’s vice president for research, Clyde Briant. Carcieri is second Rhode Island’s dismal financial condition vices suggested merging tax collection and
from the right in the photo. is no longer news, and the state’s economic assessment ser vices in the near future.
problems have only worsened in recent We would advise adding a few other ser-
An article in yesterday’s paper (“Brown scientists over the moon for months. vices to that list — most prominently, fire-
lunar water find,” Nov. 23) quoted Professor of Geology James Head as Last week, the governor’s office issued fighting, schooling and waste management.
saying that Associate Professor of Geology Alberto Saal “found water a report projecting a $220 million deficit for Combined ser vices would lower average
in lunar volcanic gases.” In fact, Saal discovered water in lunar volcanic the current fiscal year. Revenues from sales, costs by taking full advantage of economies
glasses, not gases. income and business taxes fell below previ- of scale. These reforms would also help
ous estimates, according to an article in last Rhode Island cut the deadweight from its
Tuesday’s Providence Journal. State unem- bloated public sector.
t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d ployment insurance taxes are set to increase Fortunately, state legislators have come
Editor-in-Chief Managing Editors Deputy Managing Editors Senior Editors
for over 30,000 employers in Januar y who to realize that local governments are living
Steve DeLucia Michael Bechek Nandini Jayakrishna Rachel Arndt
Chaz Firestone Franklin Kanin Isabel Gottlieb are, by any measure, already overtaxed. beyond their means. Frank Ciccone III, D-
Michael Skocpol Scott Lowenstein In September, the Tax Foundation, a Dist. 7, has said he will introduce a bill in
editorial Business Washington think tank, ranked Rhode Is- January proposing the establishment of four
Ben Hyman Arts & Culture Editor General Managers Office Manager
Sophia Li Features Editor Shawn Reilly
land 44th in the countr y in its 2010 State or five county-level governments in place of
Alexander Hughes
George Miller Metro Editor Jonathan Spector Business Tax Climate Index, behind ever y the current 39.
Joanna Wohlmuth Metro Editor
other state in New England. By our lights, If public sector unions, the main oppo-
Seth Motel News Editor Directors
Jenna Stark News Editor Ellen DaSilva Sales the state has three options to address the nents of consolidation, are successful in
Andrew Braca Sports Editor Claire Kiely Sales budgetar y crisis: raise taxes, cut spending blocking this reform, we suggest combining
Han Cui Asst. Sports Editor Katie Koh Finance
Alex Mazerov Asst. Sports Editor Jilyn Chao Asst. Finance or do both. ser vices first and cutting public employees
Katie Wood Asst. Sports Editor Christiana Stephenson Alumni Relations We favor the second approach, since high loose at some time later. The state should
Graphics & Photos Managers taxes account for many of the state’s current implement other reforms to encourage mu-
Chris Jesu Lee Graphics Editor Kelly Wess Local Sales
Stephen Lichenstein Graphics Editor Kathy Bui National Sales difficulties. Amy Kempe, a spokeswoman nicipalities to combine ser vices in the near
Kim Perley Photo Editor Alex Carrere University Sales for Governor Donald Carcieri ’65, told the future.
Max Monn Asst. Photo Editor Matt Burrows Credit and Collections
Jesse Morgan Sports Photo Editor
Providence Journal, “There are no easy deci- Under current law, local tax increases
production Opinions
sions. There’s no low hanging fruit.” are capped at 4.5 percent. We urge state
Ayelet Brinn Copy Desk Chief Alyssa Ratledge Opinions Editor We believe, on the other hand, that the legislators to freeze local taxes this year in
Rachel Isaacs Copy Desk Chief Sarah Rosenthal Opinions Editor state’s dire financial situation presents a ripe order to force cities and towns to cut costs
Marlee Bruning Design Editor
Jessica Calihan Design Editor Editorial Page Board opportunity for instituting changes that have further. The consolidation of local govern-
Anna Migliaccio Asst. Design Editor James Shapiro Editorial Page Editor been talked about for years. Rhode Island ment and ser vices is long overdue and will
Julien Ouellet Asst. Design Editor Matt Aks Board member
Neal Poole Web Editor Nick Bakshi Board member
should substantially reduce its public spend- hopefully make Rhode Island competitive
Post- magazine Zack Beauchamp Board member ing by consolidating its excess of municipal with its neighbors long after the recession
Arthur Matuszewski Debbie Lehmann Board member governments. has abated.
Editor-in-Chief
Kelly McKowen William Martin Board member
Editor-in-Chief There are now 39 self-governing cities and
Caleigh Forbes, Gili Kliger, Marlee Bruning, Designers towns in Rhode Island, an average of one for Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial
Sara Luxenberg, Lindor Qunaj, Adam Rodriquez, Copy Editors ever y 27,000 residents. A recently gathered page board. Send comments to editorials@
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Opinions
The Brown Daily Herald
Jared Lafer
Opinions Columnist
The open curriculum provides us with a
framework for incomparable academic free-
dom. We can take basically whatever course
we want, choose our grading system, add and
drop courses on a whim and create courses
and concentrations if the current availabili-
ties don’t meet our fancies.
But despite all this freedom, I’ve talked
to a number of students who have left or will
leave Brown regretting not being able to pur-
sue all of their academic interests. “The one
that got away,” they say sullenly, dead on the
inside.
This might seem a bit strange to the out-
sider. After all, one would think that Brown
students would exploit the open curriculum
and take all of the courses they want to take
before Father Time whisks them away into
the real world.
But the system is unfortunately stacked
against us.
Students generally graduate having taken
32 courses. The average A.B. student prob-
ably uses 12 courses to fill concentration re-
quirements; the average Sc.B. student prob-
ably uses 17 courses to fill concentration
requirements. Most students probably fool
around with about 15 courses, and by that I
mean elect to explore areas outside their own
concentration-to-be.
For a lot of students, however, these 15
courses are not enough to meaningfully pur-
Ethan Tobias
Opinions Columnist
It is not surprising that many students bike
around campus. The bicycle is the most effi-
cient means of transportation ever invented.
For environmentally conscious Brown stu-
dents, biking is a way to avoid having a car
or renting a Zipcar. For those who have jobs,
volunteer off-campus or are in a rush, bik-
ing might be the only way to get where they
need to be in a reasonable time period. And,
for the rest of us, biking can be just plain fun
and enjoyable.
While there are many positive attributes
to biking, and I commend all those who
choose to bike, biking etiquette on campus
has left me puzzled. How is it that students
can be so careless about how they bike but
care so much about everything else?
Bicycles are actually vehicles and are
treated as such by the law. Last week, I was
almost broadsided when crossing Meeting
Street by the BioMed Center. The street is
one-way, so naturally I looked in the only di-
rection from which vehicles are legally al-
lowed to come. After assuring myself that no
vehicle was coming, I stepped off the curb
only to be saved by a last-minute swerve
from a bicycle going the wrong way down
the street. And this is not the only violation
of traffic laws that I have seen at Brown.
Got something to say? Leave a comment online! browndailyherald.com
The one that got away
sue any academic interests they might devel-
op before graduation.
This is explainable, as our educations
tend to evolve in such a way as to limit our
course flexibility when it really matters, even
with the open curriculum.
During freshman year, and to a slightly
lesser extent sophomore year, there’s noth-
ing really substantial to guide our course se-
lections. We come to Brown with some in-
terests, we use those interests to focus our
course selections and, more often than not,
We often do not have the courses to spare when
we want to pursue interests that have developed
outside of our concentration (at least not to any
significant degree).
we end up abandoning those interests, at
least in part.
For example, I came to Brown wanting to
concentrate in physics; I’m now a philosophy
major. Likewise, I’m sure you or someone
you know declared a different concentration
than intended upon entering college.
Because we don’t really have a firm focus
in the beginning, we’re kind of blindly shoot-
ing bullets at department buildings and hop-
ing to hit something worthwhile. The aver-
age student takes courses in a bunch of ar-
eas that he thinks he will enjoy, and gradu-
ally narrows down his interests until he finds
something in which he wants to concentrate.
While this method is certainly effective, it
severely cuts away at the number of elective
Bicycle bewilderment
Almost daily, I see a cyclist approach an
intersection, completely oblivious that an-
other vehicle might be coming from another
direction. Stop signs and red lights are ig-
nored, or are, at best, cause for a slight slow-
down. This behavior is particularly appalling
during the busiest times of the day, when the
indifference to traffic laws turns from being
merely unlawful to downright dangerous.
Nighttime bike riders are just as likely
as their daytime counterparts to be care-
less about safety. However, their foolish dis-
How is it that students can be so careless
about how they bike but care so much
about everything else?
regard for things like “right of way” is often
compounded with lack of reflectors, making
it very difficult for cars to see renegade cy-
clists.
To these students — and you know who
you are — at least put on something yellow
or orange instead of relying on the very elab-
orate vision tests that are given at the De-
partment of Motor Vehicles to be your sav-
ing grace. But I guess when most cyclists
are “too cool” or “ironic” to simply wear hel-
mets, it is no surprise that other matters of
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 | Page 11
courses we have to use in our later years.
This is tragic, for it is in our later years
when we have perspective; our interests are
in check, and we know what we want out of
our education. So we often do not have the
courses to spare when we want to pursue in-
terests that have developed outside of our
concentration (at least not to any significant
degree).
This is even truer for double concentra-
tors, who make up about 20 percent of the
Brown class and are generally pressed to
fill more than 20 course requirements. The
same goes for double degree earners: while
students in the Sc.B./A.B. or M.A./A.B. de-
gree programs are provided an extra year to
fulfill their degree requirements, they regu-
larly push 25 course requirements.
The bottom line is that no matter what,
some students are going to come out of col-
lege without having pursued all of their aca-
demic interests, at least to their satisfaction.
I’m going to go out on a whiny limb here and
say this isn’t fair, and suggest something be
done about it.
For that something, we turn to the Uni-
versity of Rochester. Rochester is very sim-
ilar to Brown. Both schools have open cur-
riculums (though at Rochester students are
safety are completely ignored.
These behaviors are not just downright
risky; they also undercut the entire point of
riding a bicycle in the first place. If you were
riding because you were in a rush, the ex-
tra two seconds it would have taken to put a
helmet on would be worth not landing your-
self in the emergency room because you hit
a pothole and fell headfirst into the asphalt
— which is surely not very likely on Provi-
dence’s incredibly well-paved streets. The
same can be said for other simple safety tips
like taking the time to look both ways at stop
signs and not going the wrong way down
one way streets.
There is one morbid bright side to the
logic of unsafe riding. Those of you who ride
because it is the environmentally conscious
thing might be doing more than you intend-
ed. Humans use up a tremendous amount
of the earth’s resources, and reducing over-
population will go a long way towards reduc-
ing carbon emissions. I doubt that hazard-
ous biking etiquette is part of some master
required to complete “clusters” of cours-
es). Both schools have a major research fo-
cus, both schools are in the Northeast, both
schools have students. So I think a compari-
son between the schools is valid.
The University of Rochester has a unique
program called Take Five Scholars. This pro-
gram is directed toward students who are in-
terested in academic enrichment for the sake
of enrichment. Students are permitted to stay
in college (at Rochester or even abroad) for
a fifth year, tuition-free, and take whatever
courses they like, as long as they collectively
serve to fulfill some sort of intellectual inter-
est outside of their major.
Students must submit a proposal and a
cohesive course program to a committee,
which accepts students who demonstrate
the potential to genuinely grow intellectual-
ly from taking a fifth year; likewise, the stu-
dent must show that he or she was unable to
undertake the relevant studies during his or
her former undergraduate years. There is no
minimum GPA requirement, so anyone with
these qualities can apply.
Only 68 students were enrolled in this
program at Rochester during the 2008-2009
year, and so only a small fraction of students
are allowed to remain behind each year. But
I’m sure those 68 students leave college feel-
ing much more intellectually fulfilled, and I
see no reason why Brown students shouldn’t
be given the same opportunity.
Jared Lafer ’11 is a philosophy con-
centrator from Manhattan.
He can be reached at
jared_lafer@brown.edu.
scheme to reduce this huge source of emis-
sions, but you would not know it judging by
the way in which many cyclists on campus
behave.
I do really wish that cyclists would see
the light (like the red one that means stop)
and start to have some common decency. It
does not have to be more difficult than any-
thing you learned when you were a kid bik-
ing around the neighborhood.
While we are on the subject, please lock
your bicycles to the convenient bicycle racks
on campus and not to any random pole or
tree. These simple steps will afford pedestri-
ans and drivers some peace of mind when
negotiating the streets around campus.
Please do not see this column as an attack
on cyclists and bicycles. Some of my fond-
est childhood memories involve biking with
my friends and family. And I am quite sure
that if I needed to get anywhere off-cam-
pus on a regular basis, I too would join the
ranks of student cyclists. My only concern is
that people have some common decency to
make smart decisions about their means of
transportation. Bicycles are environmentally
friendly, fast and fun; their riders should use
them well and safely.
Ethan Tobias ’12 does not want to
be the only one wearing a helmet
when he brings his bicycle to
campus. He can be reached at
ethan_tobias@brown.edu.
 Today 3
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Tuesday, November 24, 2009
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t h e n e w s i n i m ag e s

6 7
c a l e n da r comics
Today, November 24 Wednesday, November 25
Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline
12:00 p.m. — Energy Sciences Thanksgiving Recess
Seminar, MacMillan 317 Classes resume Monday, Nov. 30

7:00 P.M. — Peer Support Network

Open Hours, Sarah Doyle Women’s
Center 204

menu
Sharpe Refectory Verney-Woolley Dining Hall

Birdfish |Matthew Weiss

Lunch — Tortilla Casserole, Veg- Lunch — Hot Ham on a Bulkie Roll,
an Stuffed Acorn Squash, Chipotle Vegetarian Pot Pie, Fudge Bars
Chicken Pizza

Dinner — Cavatelli Primavera, Curry Dinner — Roast Beef au Jus, Vegan

Chicken with Coconut, Roasted Cauli- Vegetable Couscous, Italian Vegetar-
flower with Lemon Tahini Sauce ian Saute

crossword

Classic How to Get Down| Nate Saunders

Classic Deo| Daniel Perez

Never miss a day.

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