Daily
the Brown
vol. cxlvi, no. 44
BCA ticket Structure complete, fitness center to open next March
process hits
snags again
By Emma Wohl
Senior Staff Writer
Malicious outside software may
have interfered with the Brown
Concert Agency’s ticketing website
Wednesday morning. BCA made
Spring Weekend concert tickets
available for sale at 8 a.m., but stu-
dents were unable to access the
website until 8:30 a.m.
“As many are likely aware, the
TouchNet server that handles our
online ticket sales (had) some trou-
ble this morning,” read a notice on
BCA’s website posted Wednesday
morning. “As of now, all we know
is that there was (an) artificially
high number of requests to the
TouchNet server that are likely the
result of malicious software, rather
than any problems stemming from
BCA, (Brown Student Agencies)
or TouchNet itself,” read another
notice posted later in the day.
One thousand tickets for each
day of the event went on sale at 8
a.m. on Brown Marketplace. BCA
had worked with BSA — which
manages the site where tickets
were sold — and TouchNet, the
company that manages the server,
to ensure that high activity to the
site would not cause the server
continued on page 2
Simmons’ approval rating down 12 percent
Do you approve or disapprove of the way Ruth Simmons
is handling her job as president of the University?
news...................2-8
inside
arts.......................9
editorial.............10
Opinions.............11
city & State........12
Thursday, March 7, 2011
By Greg Jordan-Detamore
Senior Staff Writer
“Let’s lift the beam!” President
Ruth Simmons urged a crowd of
about 150 yesterday at a “topping
off ” ceremony for the new fitness
and aquatics center currently un-
der construction. Moments later,
the last piece of steel for the build-
ing’s structure fell into place.
“No longer will our cardio
equipment be in the hallway or
in the corner of the gym,” Michael
Goldberger, director of athletics,
told the crowd. The new building
will be “a tremendous benefit for
the entire Brown community.”
The $48.1 million project,
which is entirely donor-funded,
is slated to open next March, said
Project Manager John Cooke.
He said the building, which will
Simmons to UCS: no more budget cuts Housing
By David Chung
Senior Staff Writer
The University does not intend to
make any further budget cuts in
response to the economic decline
of 2008 and is moving forward with
a number of initiatives including
expansion of the School of Engi-
neering and improvement of stu-
dent residences, President Ruth
Simmons told the Undergraduate
Council of Students at its general
body meeting last night. Simmons
responded to student questions re-
Gili Kliger / Herald
Movin’ on up
Alpert Med School jumps to
28th in national rankings
Campus News, 7
Herald
be next to the Olney-Margolies
Athletic Center, will stand out as “a
classic-style brick building.” It in-
cludes a fitness center, pool, varsity
training center and green space for
the athletic complex.
The building will provide a
new permanent pool to replace
the temporary aquatics bubble,
which was installed January 2008
after the old Smith Swim Center
was closed due to major structural
problems.
“We made the best of what we
had,” Sam Speroni ’11, a co-captain
of the men’s swimming and diving
team, told the crowd. Speroni said
he is happy the new pool will open
next year and added it will be “one
of our finest recruiting assets.”
“It’s nice that we’ll finally have a
continued on page 8
garding the University’s agenda and
projects.
She did not comment on the re-
cent curricular changes for concen-
trations controlled by the Watson
Institute of International Studies
but stressed that the institute’s re-
search focus and identity are be-
ing reexamined. The University is
“legally bound” to an agreement
indicating the purpose of the in-
stitute that was reached by the
Watson family and Brown when
the institute was established. Some
individuals have raised concerns
By Jamie Brew
Contributing Writer
President Ruth Simmons’ approval
rating fell to 62.5 percent this se-
mester, down from 74 percent last
semester, according to last month’s
Herald poll. Less than half of students
had an opinion of the Corporation’s
job performance.
Of the 62.5 percent students who
approved of Simmons, 30.3 percent
strongly approved and 32.2 some-
what approved. Last semester, 34.8
percent strongly approved of Sim-
mons and 39.2 somewhat approved.
This semester, the poll offered “Not
familiar enough to answer” and “No
opinion” as separate responses. Past
polls offered a single response of
“Don’t know / No answer.”
Two students cited Simmons’ ser-
vice on the board of the Goldman
Sachs Group as a possible reason for
the slip in her approval ratings. Sim-
mons announced in February 2010
that she would not seek reelection to
the investment bank’s board.
Post­-
Gets sweet and salty,
defends its reality
A crowd looked on as the new fitness and aquatics center’s structure was
completed at a ceremony yesterday.
about the institute’s current focus,
and its board is currently working
with the University to determine
what its “specific foci” should be.
Simmons said she does not expect
these efforts to affect students in
the immediate future.
The University also intends to
make strides in student housing
with renovations beginning this
summer. Citing the complicated
process of coordinating housing
placements with construction and
continued on page 6
Ronald Ehrenberg, professor of
industrial labor relations and eco-
nomics at Cornell, said the popularity
of college presidents can fluctuate
based on a multitude of factors. He
said there was no single reason to
expect a president’s approval rating
to fall over time.
The drop in approval, instead of
reflecting opposition to Simmons’
specific actions, may instead be a re-
sult of a less informed student popu-
lation. This semester 25.0 percent of
students said they were not familiar
enough to make a judgment about
Simmons, up from 20.1 percent who
responded “Don’t know / No answer”
last semester. This semester 8 percent
responded “No opinion.”
Ben Winkler ’11.5 said his opin-
ion of Simmons was “not really based
in much real fact,” but was “mostly
in line with the student population’s
hype, the idolization of Simmons as
an icon.”
“I have no idea what she’s been
continued on page 2
weather
Post-, inside
Since 1891
Greg Jordan-Detamore / Herald
lottery sees
tears, jeers
By Kyle McNamara
Contributing Writer
The first 460 housing groups arrived
yesterday in Sayles Hall to select
their rooms for next year during
the first night of this year’s hous-
ing lottery. The lottery began a few
minutes after 6 p.m., kicking off a
two-night event that promised to
deliver tension, panic and elation.
The selections began with Anne
Oram ’12, a rising fifth-year senior,
who chose a single in Slater Hall
with the first pick in the lottery.
Melanie Berger ’13 — the leader
of the fourth group — along with
another sophomore, is rooming
with a rising fifth-year senior and,
as a result, was elevated to a high
pick for a sophomore. As the first
triplet group of the night, Berger
said she was sure that they would
get their first-choice three-person
suite on Vartan Gregorian Quad.
“You can see the river from the
lounge and two rooms,” Berger said,
explaining the reason for their high-
rise choice. “We have big plans for
the lounge,” Berger said. She said
she received emails from concerned
three-person groups wanting to
know her group’s planned pick so
they could strategize.
Group six launched a slew of “no
shows” that were met with rowdy
applause. But as the “no shows”
became more frequent, the crowd’s
cheer grew quieter. “I can’t believe
how many ‘no shows’ there were,”
continued on page 6
t o d ay tomorrow
54 / 35 56 / 37
2 Campus News
calendar Slow BCA ticket site frustrates buyers
Today April 07 ToMORROW April 8
continued from page 1
4 P.m. 7 p.m.
Slavery’s Capitalism Conference: MCM@50: Passion, Theory, Practice, to crash, said Abby Schreiber ’11,
Keynote Address, Salomon 101 MacMillan 117 BCA’s booking chair.
Students were frustrated by the
7 p.m. 8 p.m.
website’s problems. “The website
Glenn Greenwald: “Civil Liberties in BUGS presents: “Princess Ida!” crashed three times in the process
the Age of Obama,” Salomon 001 Alumnae Hall Auditorium of putting (the tickets) in my cart,”
said Ben Peipert ’13, adding that
menu he was able to buy his tickets after
35 minutes of reloading the page.
“I got on before eight and re-
SHARPE REFECTORY VERNEy-WOOLLEY DINING HALL
freshed the page, but it wouldn’t
LUNCH load,” said Joshua Prenner ’14, who
BBQ Beef Ribs, Basmati Rice Pilaf, Asian Sesame Chicken Salad, Crispy said he was unable to purchase
French Toast, Sausage Patties, Thai Tofu, Cucumber and Chickpea tickets.
Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies Salad, Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies Based on last year’s online ticket
sales, students said they were not
DINNER
surprised by the website’s slow
Roast Turkey with Stuffing, BBQ Roast Turkey, Vegan Roasted speed.
Beef Ribs, Carrots Vichy, Flourless Vegetable Stew, Mashed Potatoes, Last year,“I waited up until 8:30
Raspberry Black Satin Fudge Cake Raspberry Satin Fudge Cake
Sudoku Poll: students unfamiliar with Corp.
continued from page 1
doing, but I’d trust her with my life,”
he said.
Students also tended to have fairly
limited knowledge of the Corpora-
tion, the University’s highest gov-
across to bear
Daily
the Brown
www.browndailyherald.com
195 Angell St., Providence, R.I.
Ben Schreckinger, President
Sydney Ember, Vice President
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Copyright 2011 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
editorial
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herald@browndailyherald.com
and didn’t get tickets,” Peipert said.
“I kind of expected it,” Prenner
added. “I heard the site crashes.”
But he said he thought the sales
might go smoother because tickets
are being released over the span of
three days.
“After it happened last year, we
were frustrated and upset, so we
really sat down to strategize,” Sch-
reiber said. Part of the strategy was
stretching the process over three
days and limiting ticket sales to
one per student, she said.
“Although the situation is still
being fully diagnosed, it is my un-
derstanding that whatever slight
delay there was today was not nec-
essarily related to what happened
last year, as extra precautions were
made by Brown — BCA and BSA
erning body. The Corporation is re-
sponsible for choosing the president,
approving the University budget and
making high-level policy decisions.
About 42.9 percent of student re-
spondents this semester, including
55.9 percent of first-years, said they
Herald
Matthew Burrows, Treasurer
Isha Gulati, Secretary
Business
(401) 351-3360
gm@browndailyherald.com
The Brown Daily Herald
Thursday, March 7, 2011
— and TouchNet to address the
issues from last year,” she wrote
in an email to The Herald.
“Anything that was in our con-
trol, we did,” Schreiber said, add-
ing that the problems are not “an
issue of human error on the part
of BCA, BSA or even the company
handling the sales.”
BCA posted on its website this
morning that the issues would be
resolved for today’s and tomor-
row’s sales, but an updated post
later in the day did not mention
how the problems would affect
later sales.
Schreiber said she is not wor-
ried, and students should not be
either. “Take a deep breath — we
have two more days of ticket sales,”
she said.
were not familiar enough with the
Corporation to make a judgment.
A further 15.9 percent responded
that they had no opinion of the Cor-
poration.
Thirty percent of respondents ap-
proved and 11.1 percent disapproved.
This represents a dramatic de-
cline in student awareness of the body
from the most recent previous poll on
student approval of the Corporation,
which was conducted in spring 2009
and showed only 37 percent respond-
ing “Don’t know / No answer.”
Michael Becker ’13 said he strong-
ly disapproves of many recent actions
taken by the Corporation, which he
said is operating with “a very strong
profit motive.”
Becker, who said he was attracted
to Brown because of its active stu-
dents and professors and Corpora-
tion members who seemed to be
interested in social justice, cited the
Corporation’s efforts to make tenure
more selective and the administra-
tion’s handling of negotiations with
Brown Dining Services workers as
two reasons why he believes that ap-
propriate concern for the employees
and the community “has not been
reflected in the policies of either Sim-
mons or the Corporation.”
“It’s a little unnerving — what
is the Corporation?” asked Nam
Pham ’13, adding that while he did
not know much about its operations,
he suspected that it “may not have
Brown’s best interests in mind.”
“I don’t really know what the Cor-
poration does other than that they
make decisions,” said Hana Ward ’11.
“I don’t know who they are, if they
are here on campus a lot or where
they are. They’re pretty anonymous.”
Got tips?
herald
@
browndailyherald
.com
The Brown Daily Herald
Thursday, March 7, 2011
New methods shed light on brain science behind decisions U. child care
By Sofia Castello Y Tickell
Staff Writer
In a tiny beige room in Sidney
Frank Hall, the doors to decision-
making are being unlocked. Moni-
tors hum and chairs swivel as the
next study participant prepares to
take her turn, leaving her backpack
by the door and signing off on a
consent form.
A bucket of salty electrolyte
solution sits on the table. What
appears to be a complicated swim-
ming cap made of white mesh and
dotted with blue and red elec-
trodes floats in the liquid. This
apparatus measures neural activity
for an EEG, or electroencephalo-
gram, which enables researchers
to monitor the brain’s activity dur-
ing a task and record its levels in
specific areas.
Jim Cavanagh, a postdoctoral
research assistant in the Labora-
tory of Neural Computation and
Cognition, extracts the dripping
apparatus and brings it over to
rest on the participant’s head. This
new kind of recorder no longer re-
quires the use of messy conductive
gel, he explains, as he massages the
dots into the participant’s scalp.
The device can gather readings
using nothing but water, and it
straps on easily, so the process of
preparation is relatively short.
“It takes a lot of process-
ing to pull out exactly what we
were doing, but until then, it just
looks like this ocean of activity,”
Cavanagh explains, pointing to a
landscape of squiggly black lines
etched across the screen of a large
monitor.
These imaging methods, along
with behavioral analysis, can vali-
date researchers’ hypotheses about
which regions of the brain are in-
volved in cognitive processes, adds
Anne Collins, the postdoc who
developed the task, from her perch
on a black chair.
The researchers tap some se-
cret commands onto a keyboard,
and off the participant goes. She is
presented with a series of simple
exercises. Shapes and colors flash
before her eyes, but as fingers try
to move quickly, her eyelids be-
come heavy.
Meanwhile, the cap on her head
takes careful measurements of her
neural activity, tracking valuable
data that will help to untangle the
complicated processes behind de-
cision-making. It is so accurate
that it is possible to discern the
blink of an eye in the resulting
graph.
In this experiment, the cap
specifically measures interactions
between the prefrontal cortex and
the basal ganglia, two sections of
the brain involved in decision-
making.
“It’s like a game of telephone,”
explains Christina Figueroa, a lab
manager. “While your prefrontal
cortex is telling a different part
of your brain to do something
or perform a certain action, that
other area will loop back around
and tell the prefrontal cortex to do
something or not do something.”
Figueroa goes on to describe
the basal ganglia as a “dam,” with
lots of different paths and op-
tions coming in from other parts
of the brain. She says it acts as a
Campus News 3
“gatekeeper,” driven by certain
neurotransmitters to select what
behaviors are ultimately executed.
Figueroa’s research team looks
to combine the two aspects of
cognition that tend to be studied
separately — the learning and the
structural — in order to gain a
fuller picture of the system. Much
of the lab’s work centers on using
computational models to predict
human behavior.
“A Parkinson’s patient versus
a healthy senior can perform dif-
ferently on a task, and that can tell
us something about how the brain
works and build a computational
model to perform the same way,”
Collins says.
The lab can have 10 to 12 proj-
ects running at once, all of which
investigate the learning and deci-
sion-making process.
“When you actually break it
down to your daily activities, you
make decisions every moment of
every day, whether it’s to get up in
the morning, where you’re going
to go,” Figueroa says. “You can see
how vital that process is to under-
standing ourselves.”
The decision-making process
can be influenced by everything
from environment to genetics,
and experiments require careful
tinkering to tease apart the influ-
ence of different factors and hone
in on fundamental processes. “In
order to tap into those, we need
to create tasks simple enough to
be able to pinpoint certain func-
tions,” Figueroa says. “It can’t be
a videogame.”
Figueroa admits that psy-
chological testing is “somewhat
notorious” for its uneventful ex-
periments — the research team
has had participants fall asleep
at the monitor, or click the same
button disinterestedly through-
out the session. “We can’t use that
data, because it’s not measuring
the learning and decision making
process,” Figueroa says. “It’s not
giving us a good baseline or a good
understanding. … It’s not compa-
rable to any other participants.”
It can be difficult to understand
the significance of an experiment
as a participant. Access to infor-
mation on a study is limited prior
to the experiment because this
knowledge can affect the way par-
ticipants perform on a task.
“Only afterwards can you find
out how cool our research really
is,” Figueroa says, adding that she
enjoys the debriefing process be-
cause it gives subjects an idea of
the importance of what they are
doing beyond the compensation
they receive.
“Imagine if you were really, re-
ally curious about evolution and
you had no Darwin and you had
no book,” Figueroa says. “With-
out participants, it’s like having no
books in the library, nowhere to
go to get that information.”
service gains
popularity
By Sarah Mancone
Staff Writer
Now in its second year, the Univer-
sity’s subsidized care program for
family of faculty and staff members
has received overwhelmingly posi-
tive feedback, according to Drew
Murphy, director of benefits for
human resources. About 340 — or
7.5 percent — of employees are
registered for the program.
Between 18 and 20 employees
used subsidized care each month in
2010, purchasing 4,850 total hours
of care, including 400 elder care
hours, Murphy said. The program
is advertised as backup care, to be
used in emergencies or while em-
ployees are traveling.
The co-pay for backup care is $2
per hour for in-center care and $4
per hour for home care for up to
three children, Murphy said.
Work Options Group provided
child care when the program began
September 2008, but the company
continued on page 4
4 Campus News
Employee participation in backup child care program increases
continued from page 3
was taken over by Bright Horizons
Family Solutions January 2009,
Murphy said.
The number of faculty and staff
members using the program has
continued to grow. “I think more
The Brown Daily Herald
Thursday, March 7, 2011
and more as the program is used While traveling, Edwards was Taft Avenue Daycare Center. “Taft
and people hear from their col- able to work in one room and have Avenue is not really up to par, and
leagues that it has worked out well, her son in the next room with a it’s not really convenient,” Edwards
the utilization is growing,” Murphy caregiver. She could go back and said.
said. forth between the rooms to nurse. “It’s very, very small, so it cer-
Faculty and staff used backup “That is the ultimate in accommo- tainly can’t accommodate the needs
care during the winter to deal with dating a mother’s needs,” she added. of the entire university and young
snow and school cancellations, and But “Brown could benefit from kids,” said Vazira Zamindar, associ-
usage was “almost 30 percent up in a more centralized and heavily ate professor of history.
December,” he said. The number subsidized daycare for infants,” “More child care and affordable
of backup-care hours used in De- Edwards said. child care would be a really good
cember increased from 364 hours The Brown/Fox Point Early development for Brown,” Zamin-
in 2008 to 473 this year. Childhood Education Center re- dar said.
Parents are always reluctant to serves over half of its spots for chil-
let a stranger care for their children. dren of faculty, staff and students, — With additional reporting
But, Murphy said,“Bright Horizons while infants are cared for at the by Shefali Luthra
has a pretty rigorous screening pro-
cess.”
Erika Edwards, assistant pro-
fessor of biology, who has used
the program multiple times, said
many of the providers are regis-
tered nurses. “Bright Horizons is
basically vouching the caregivers
for me,” she said.
“You’re getting a professional.
You’re not just getting a babysitter
— these are backup care providers,”
Murphy said. “I guess I look at it as
somebody comes up to your house
and watches your children for $4
an hour. That’s a good deal.”
The program saves Edwards “a
lot of money,” she said.
The program also allows faculty
and staff members to come to work
when they may not have previously
been able to do so, Murphy said.
It can be used anywhere in the
country.
Advertisement
6 Campus News
Cries of chagrin shake housing lottery Simmons addresses ROTC,
continued from page 1
said Eric Stix ’12. “It’s ridiculous.”
The cheers were quickly coun-
teracted by boos prior to group 30
as more rooms in New Dorm were
selected. As the night progressed,
cheers and jeers gained new life
and the audience returned to its
familiar energetic roars.
Technical difficulties during the
lottery — including brief “site er-
ror” screens — did not appear to af-
fect people’s ability to select rooms.
While early groups were more
likely to receive their first picks,
groups at the end of the double
digits knew they needed to strat-
egize. “We would prefer two suites
on the same floor in (Young Or-
chard Apartments),” Stix said. The
remaining three members in Stix’s
group of 12 said they were trying
to get a triple or three singles in
the dorm.
By the time the group was
called, all Young Orchard singles
and triples were taken, so the group
opted to take the two suites on the
fourth floor as planned, and put
the group of three in a suite on the
third floor. “It worked out really
nice,” Stix said.
“We have a notecard of rooms in
Young O,” said Andrew Leber ’12,
one of the seven members of group
104. He said his group was looking
for apartment style dorms to house
a group of three and a group of four.
“We want a kitchen, singles and
a bathroom in each,” Leber said
about their ideal apartments.
A little while later, Leber sealed
his group’s fate. “We got both first
picks,” Leber said. “We looked at
rooms in the past, and it looked
like we were going to get both of
these,” he added.
Group 118 was a little less sure
they would get their first picks.
The group of seven was looking
for singles, with six hoping to be
on one floor in Andrews Hall. As
rooms in Andrews were claimed,
the group grew worried. “I refuse
to do physical exercise. So if I’m all
the way in Pembroke, I better have
a nice room,” said group member
Christen Dillard ’12.
The group was able to get six
singles in East Andrews on two
consecutive floors. “I’m happy,” Dil-
lard said. “I have an okay room, so
I’m okay with walking. The sinks
make up for the distance, and I’m
with my friends.”
Cries emerged as the last singles
in New Dorm were taken by group
123. There were similar reactions
when group 162 took the last An-
drews singles. The crowd booed in
the early 300s as the last gender-
neutral triples in Pembroke were
snatched.
Group 326 wanted Hegeman,
a prime choice for many rising ju-
niors, “because of its prime locale
and its classy fire escapes,” said
group member Joanna Zhang ’13.
The group got its dorm of choice.
“We just made the cut. Bitches were
sniping that shit up,” Zhang said.
“We didn’t get the primest of the
prime, but we are still living there.”
response to economic crisis
continued from page 1
the impracticality of renovating
an entire dorm at once, Simmons
said the administration is working
to gradually improve on-campus
housing and hopes students will
benefit from the changes within
the next few years. The University
is currently investigating the pos-
sibility of hiring an outside firm
that could bring changes quickly
and efficiently to campus, she said.
In response to ongoing campus
discussion about the possibility
of bringing the Reserve Officers’
Training Corps back to Brown,
Simmons said she is “not at all sure”
what might happen. Because Brown
is not a “follower,” she said she does
not believe the decisions of other
universities, including Harvard
and Columbia, to lift their bans
on the ROTC program will affect
the University.
“Brown always goes its own
way,” but the community should
consider the idea, debate and ask
questions, she said.
Simmons also reviewed the Uni-
versity’s response to the economic
downturn. At the onset of the crisis,
the University faced pressure to im-
mediately cut up to $100 million
from its budget, Simmons said.
She said she found the proposed
cut “very unappealing” and recom-
mended a three-step cut, spread
The Brown Daily Herald
Thursday, March 7, 2011
over a three-year period. She said
she believed the University could
make the necessary adjustments
and recover from the crisis with
time.
Following $30 million cuts from
the budgets in fiscal years 2010 and
2011, Simmons said she does not
anticipate additional cuts. “Brown
has been very lucky,” she added.
The University modified projects
that were in progress at the time of
the economic crisis to reduce costs.
Plans for a new building for the
Alpert Medical School were sus-
pended, and the University changed
course to renovate the school’s ex-
isting building. The administration
also decided to renovate the Met-
calf Research Laboratory instead
of constructing a building for the
Department of Cognitive, Linguis-
tic and Psychological Sciences.
The University consolidated ad-
ministrative services but decided to
“insulate certain segments of the
campus,” Simmons said, including
students and academic programs.
At the meeting, Simmons also
advised the council to focus on
communication efforts to elicit
donations to the student activities
endowment. Stephen Robert ’62
P’91 promised a contribution of $1
million to the fund March 10. Sim-
mons recommended UCS develop
a marketing strategy to target and
persuade potential donors.
The Brown Daily Herald
Thursday, March 7, 2011
Med School’s jumps in rankings
By Jeffrey Handler
Staff Writer
After an aberration last year, the
Alpert Medical School jumped
21 spots to 28th in the U.S. News
and World Report primary care
rankings. Except for last year, when
it ranked 49th, the Med School’s
primary care ranking has hovered
in the 20s for the past several years.
It also jumped three spots in
the research ranking this year,
from 32nd to 29th. The research
ranking depends in part on fund-
ing from the National Institutes of
Health, said Edward Wing, dean of
medicine and biological sciences.
The increase in the research rank-
ing over recent years “represents
what Brown has done, which is to
improve its reputation steadily in
research,” he said.
The Med School ranks 28th in
primary care, a category deter-
mined by academic reputation.
Factors in the rankings include
grade point average, MCAT scores,
faculty-to-student ratio and per-
centage of graduating students
entering careers in primary care.
“Brown has always ranked very
high in that,” Wing said.
From 2007 to 2011, the Med
Campus News 7
School ranked between 23rd and
29th in primary care every year
except for 2010, when its rank-
ing dropped to 49th. “The only
thing we can think of is it must
have been some mistake. It’s not
consistent with the previous four
or five years,” Wing said. “Nothing
happened here in terms of some-
thing unusual in primary care.”
In an email to The Herald, Rob-
ert Morse, director of data research
for U.S. News and World Report
attributed the dramatic swing in
Alpert’s primary care rankings to a
change in the way the Med School
reports the percentage of students
entering primary care residen-
cies. Wing did not respond to a
follow-up request for comment
on Morse’s explanation.
Wing is pleased with both of
the Medical School’s rankings, he
said. “In both of the categories
we’re in the top quarter of medi-
cal schools in the country. … Our
students are terrific, and we keep
getting better each year.”
“Unlike some other very estab-
lished schools which don’t change
very much, we’re a dynamic school,
which is on the move,” he said.
Thanks for reading, Mark Suckerbergs!
8 Campus News
New athletic center to include varsity team space, ‘green’ features
continued from page 1
home,” said Michael McVicker ’13,
a member of the swimming team.
One building, three names
The new athletic building has
three sections, each with its own
name — the Nelson Fitness Cen-
ter, the Katherine Moran Coleman
Aquatics Center and the David
Zucconi ’55 Varsity Strength and
Conditioning Center.
The fitness center will include
a roughly 10,000-square-foot
workout space with large windows
overlooking Hope Street and three
dance studios, said Tom Bold, as-
sociate athletic director for facili-
ties.
The central section of the build-
ing is the aquatics center, which
will feature a 56-meter pool with
seating for spectators and will host
the water polo and swimming
and diving teams. The temporary
aquatics bubble cannot be used
for competition, so the teams cur-
rently have to travel elsewhere for
meets.
The varsity strength and con-
ditioning center, which will be
three times larger than the cur-
rent space, will be on the rear end
of the building facing the athletic
fields, said Stephen Maiorisi, vice
president for Facilities Manage-
ment.
But it will not have a public
connection to the rest of the build-
ing, he said, because its users will
be limited to varsity athletes.
The top of the building will fea-
ture a clock tower with the original
cupola from Marvel Gymnasium,
which was demolished in summer
2002, according to a University
statement.
The new center will also include
environmentally friendly features,
including solar panels — which
will both supply electricity and
provide hot water — and energy-
efficient lighting and insulation,
Cooke said.
The project is currently on
schedule, and work on the build-
ing has been going well despite
the tough winter, he said, adding
that the first floor’s concrete slab
has been poured, and the others
will be soon, after which walls
can be put up. The pool is almost
fully excavated, and much of the
plumbing and drainage is in place,
he said.
A ‘front yard’ for athletics
“We’ve been talking about the
need for a fitness space for ath-
letics since at least the late ’90s,”
Bold said.
The squeeze for athletic space
was relieved partially by the cre-
ation of three satellite gyms. But
those are only “Band-aids,” Bold
said. There is still a shortage of
athletic space, he said, citing how
busy the OMAC is in the after-
noons. The new athletic facility
“certainly will address that need,”
he said.
Original visions of a new ath-
letic center were larger, but they
were not financially feasible, Bold
said. Through the planning pro-
cess, “we got to a point where the
size could meet the budget.”
The new facility will help ease
The Brown Daily Herald
Thursday, March 7, 2011
some of the burden on the OMAC,
though the OMAC “will still be a
busy place” because of the indoor
track and basketball courts, Bold
said. Some fitness equipment will
stay in the OMAC, and the satellite
gyms will remain open.
The fourth part of the project
is the Ittleson Quadrangle, a new
green space outside the building
on what is currently a parking lot,
which will create a “front yard” for
the athletic complex, Maiorisi said.
It will be a location for students
to meet, gather and hang out, he
added.
Construction on the football
field-sized quad will begin soon
and will likely be completed
around October, before the build-
ing itself opens, Cooke said.
“I think the campus can always
use more green space,” Bold said,
though he added that some people
are worried about the loss of park-
ing.
There will still be a small park-
ing area that will be used for hand-
icapped parking for major events,
and for drop-off and pick-up only,
Maiorisi said. To compensate, the
land currently home to the tem-
porary aquatics bubble will be de-
veloped into a parking lot when
the bubble comes down, he said.
But “the bubble will not be
taken down until we’re in the new
facility,” Bold said.
“That’s going to be a little bit of
a squeeze for a while,” Cooke said.
The Brown Daily Herald
Thursday, March 7, 2011
Noser commits murder in first-ever theatrical performance
By kristina Fazzalaro
Arts & Culture Editor
Every murder mystery has its
key components — an eccen-
tric detective generally prone to
monologues, a suspicious butler,
a weapon and a thunderclap or
two. A barrel of laughs, though,
might not make the shortlist for
integral ingredients — unless the
writers behind the whodunit are
the Brown Noser’s dynamic writ-
ing duo Jamie Brew ’12 and Hallie
Cantor ’11.
“The Storm of Mystery” — the
Noser’s first-ever theatrical per-
formance, to be staged tonight in
Andrews Dining Hall — prom-
ises audiences a plot full of twists
and turns imbued with the clever
comedy already appreciated by
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the Noser’s readers. It combines
sharp one-liners with deliciously
entertaining back-and-forth com-
mentary to provide something for
everyone.
The production opens at the
country house of Samuel Marlowe
(David Brescia-Weiller ’14). An as-
piring detective novelist, Marlowe
has decided to crack the psychol-
ogy of the human heart by staging
a murder at his house with the per-
fect cast of characters, including an
eccentric older woman, a wealthy
business man, two beautiful young
women and a butler-in-chief.
The butler, Horace (David Ja-
cobs ’14), steps up to the plate
to listen to Marlowe’s expository
monologues as he delineates the
plot of his novel. The interactions
between all of the cast members
Arts & Culture 9
are well-done, but Brescia-Weiller
and Jacobs are especially hilarious.
They deliver their banter rapidly,
keeping the audience on its toes
throughout the night.
Brew, a Herald contributing
writer, said the idea to write a mur-
der mystery first came to him and
Cantor before winter break. They
finished the script upon their ar-
rival to campus in January, and
from there, the production took
off.
Though written by editors of
the Noser, casting was open to
all students. The assembled cast
knows how to deliver a laugh, jib-
ing with the Noser’s characteris-
tic facetious tone. Cast members
simultaneously provide depth to
their characters that could have
easily been written off as rote
BB & Z | Cole Pruitt, Andrew Seiden, Valerie Hsiung and Dan Ricker
Cloud Buddies! | David Emanuel
Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline
personalities from past murder
mysteries.
The key to the play’s success is
due to both the work of the ac-
tors and the attention to detail the
writers paid when creating their
characters. Brew and Cantor have
successfully breathed new life into
an old genre, oftentimes by doing
what they do best — making fun of
it. For example, Brescia-Weiller’s
detective is more a caricature of
Poirot, Poe and Holmes all rolled
into one super-eccentric sleuth.
The setting of the production
— Andrews Dining Hall — adds
to the play’s overall ambiance. The
carpeted floor and wall of windows
successfully transport the audience
to Marlowe’s country house. To
play upon the production’s setting,
generally associated with dining,
comics
the Noser provides dinner for
some members of the audience.
Unfortunately, the 100 audience
members who purchased addi-
tional tickets made available due
to high demand, will go hungry
tonight — they will just have to
fill up on laughter.
But they will certainly leave
stuffed to the brim. The produc-
tion is witty and chock-full of
laughs while keeping the audience
in suspense as scripted fantasy be-
comes real in Marlowe’s house.
A clever original script, not short
on monologues, promises danger
and laughter lurking behind every
corner.
10 Editorial The Brown Daily Herald
Thursday, March 7, 2011

Editorial Editorial comic b y e r i k s tay to n

Elephant in the room
Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
visited the University of New Hampshire Monday, the same day President
Obama officially announced his campaign for re-election. But this visit
was no campaign rally. Instead, Biden and Duncan kicked off an effort to
remind public schools and colleges of their responsibility under federal
law to deal with sexual violence.
The U.S. Department of Education reports that “nearly 20 percent of
college women will be victims of attempted or actual sexual assault, as will
about 6 percent of undergraduate men.” Not here, we might respond, but as
Duncan pointed out, “Every school would like to believe it is immune from
sexual violence, but the facts suggest otherwise.” Indeed, Trish Bakaitis-
Glover, sexual assault response and prevention program coordinator with
Health Services, told The Herald last year that she has no reason to believe
that the statistics would be different at Brown.
Federal law mandates that colleges receiving federal money devise
“comprehensive guidelines for filing complaints, helping victims, disciplin-
ing perpetrators and monitoring campus climates” in response to sexual
violence. Brown administrators are surely well-intentioned, but regulatory
pressure to improve the University’s response to sexual violence is welcome
nonetheless. We hope the renewed emphasis on these regulations is last-
ing, not merely a temporary reminder. Because few things can damage
a campus’s reputation like rape and sexual assault, administrators have
strong incentives to keep the details of sexual violence as quiet as possible.
Furthermore, it is all too easy to lose sight of a response plan’s importance
until tragedy strikes.
Events that took place last semester at University of Notre Dame un-
derscore these points. Elizabeth Seeberg, a freshman at a nearby college,
reported Sept. 1 that a Notre Dame football player sexually assaulted her
the previous night. Campus police did not even interview the accused until
14 days after the report, and a few days after Seeberg committed suicide.
While the accused continued to play in football games, the university
did all it could to keep the story quiet. A few days after Seeberg’s report,
another freshman told campus police she was sexually assaulted. Again,
police did not interview the accused until 11 days later.
Brown has its own history of questionable responses to sexual violence.
In 1997, the University settled a suit brought by Adam Lack, who was
suspended for sexual misconduct before later being exonerated, and the
University is a defendant in an ongoing case brought by William McCor-
mick, who was compelled to leave after being accused of rape. Both cases
raise questions about due process afforded to students accused of sexual
violence. And, following a 1996 University Disciplinary Committee deci-
sion not to hear a student’s sexual assault allegations, Brown was briefly
investigated by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
While Brown maintains many laudable programs aimed at stemming
sexual violence, these tribulations underscore the difficulty of handling
accusations. We hope increased federal attention will ensure administra-
tors stay focused on improving our policies, but students play perhaps an
even greater role in combating sexual violence.
Yale is currently under investigation by the Department of Education’s
Office for Civil Rights for failing to eliminate a “hostile sexual environ-
ment” after several high-profile incidents. Brown students have not made
headlines in similar fashion, but we know such behavior occurs here. Even
the most effective administrative response cannot change campus culture
— only students can. We must strive to make Brown a place where sexual
violence is completely unacceptable and where victims receive proper
attention without stigma.
Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. Send comments
to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

t h e b r ow n da i ly h e r a l d
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quote of the day
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The Brown Daily Herald
Thursday, March 7, 2011
Compromising University values
By Hector Najera
Opinions Columnist
Recently, the Graduate School published
a new policy for sixth-year funding. In
short, it asks graduate students to com-
pete and be ranked against each other for
a limited pool of money that would go to-
ward their sixth year of doctoral study.
Although it is characterized by the Grad
School as increasing clarity and efficiency,
it strikes me as antithetical to the Univer-
sity’s stated values.
Marc Howard Ross, a professor of po-
litical science at Bryn Mawr College, de-
fines policy as the distribution of tangible
and symbolic benefits. In other words, all
policies increase or decrease particular
benefits or, more clearly, resources. What
is more, policies reflect a community’s
values. As Cris Shore and Susan Wright
argue, policies are anthropological arti-
facts. Although these authors write about
policies in terms of government, their in-
sight can be extrapolated to policies at any
level. In this way, we can think of the new
policy for sixth-year funding both as dis-
tributing symbolic and tangible benefits
as well as a statement on our values as a
University.
Here is a University statement that re-
flects on graduate students relating to
Opinions 11
the Plan for Academic Enrichment: “To- then, does it mean for this culture when know of the process say that five years is
day’s graduate students take courses, cre- doctoral students shift their energies to- unrealistic — especially for students in
ate knowledge, support faculty research ward being ranked at the top? the social sciences and humanities.
and contribute to the teaching and men- Speaking in March, Peter Weber, dean As I think about this, I am not clear
toring of our undergraduates. Directing of the Grad School, clarified that most what problem this policy seeks to ad-
PAE resources to support the Graduate students who request sixth-year funding dress. Are we simply out of money? Are
School has yielded significant results, as are candidates in the social sciences and new buildings needed? Are we trying to
evidenced by the record numbers of ap- humanities — and that external fund- teach doctoral candidates to compete for
plicants, improved selectivity and our ing for them is quite limited. It is simply funding so they are ready in the future?
competitiveness with the very best of our the case that it usually takes around sev- I am not sure. But this policy strikes me
peers.” en years for such candidates to complete as having a negative effect on collegiality
among the doctorate cohorts. Sure, com-
petition can be healthy. In fact, all Brown
Yes, we should demand the very best from every single students had to compete against peers to
one of our graduate students — but as a University we make it here. But how does one regulate
such competition within a close commu-
should be ready to match that commitment. Let’s not be nity like ours? It seems unnecessary.
The Grad School does much to support
sidetracked by policies that compromise our investment students. Their current support of gradu-
and our values as a community of scholars. ate students should not be overlooked. But
if we offer so many tangible and symbolic
benefits to recruit the very best graduate
The statement recognizes the symbol- their dissertation work. This group will students, we should also commit to their
ic and tangible effects of quality gradu- therefore be disproportionately affected success while at Brown for as long as pos-
ate students — they play a central role by the new policy. Also aggravating is the sible. Yes, we should demand the very best
not only in the production of knowledge fact that the amount of money they need from every single one of our graduate stu-
in their own disciplines but also in guid- to compete for remains unclear, and the dents — but as a University, we should be
ing undergraduate students. In addition, criteria by which they will be ranked re- ready to match that commitment. Let’s
the plan comments on a particular culture mains similarly vague. not be sidetracked by policies that com-
that is cultivated for undergraduate, grad- As it stands, the statements and guide- promise our investment and our values as
uate and medical students alike — inde- lines define five years as the standard a community of scholars.
pendence, energy, maturity, responsibility — the time by which graduate students
and self-directedness. Inevitably, mone- should be done with their dissertation
tary commitments are made to ensure the work. Because five years is characterized
very best graduate students are attract- as normal, failure to stick to this deadline Hector Najera is a graduate student
ed and supported while at Brown. What, calls for a loss of funding. But those who focusing in education.

Another selfish war

By Nida Abdulla
Guest Columnist
I understand that a massacre of people by
the Libyan government would have been
a tragedy — one that U.S. fighter planes
helped to avert. But lives are lives, and I
don’t believe Americans care as much as
we say we do about the Libyan people. Is a
good deed still good if the intentions aren’t
right? Are lives lost on the opposing side
any less precious?
I don’t believe that Americans are in-
nocent — maybe confused, but innocent,
never. When the U.S. government wages
selfish wars, the American people feign in-
nocence. But all the while we know in our
hearts that we have no reason — no earthly
reason — to trust our government, or Pres-
ident Barack Obama for that matter. If our
governing officials had the moral rectitude
they claim to have — to which all the stupid
adults who support this war also lay claim
— then there wouldn’t be men and women
eating out of trash cans. Can you imagine,
in our own country, real human beings eat-
ing out of the trash? And the White House
officials have the nerve to say that the Unit-
ed States of America is the keeper of moral
uprightness in the world?
Some say we are there because Qaddafi
is killing his own civilians. If this is true,
what about the genocide in Darfur — why
didn’t the U.S. conduct air raids then? How
about the repression that has been hap-
pening in Bahrain for the past year? What
hypocrisy! Morally speaking, they should
have ousted a significant number of dicta-
tors long ago, such as Arab monarchs who
don’t allow their people to criticize govern-
ment policy or to protest, as we have seen.
Even in the U.A.E., one of the countries in
the Middle East most friendly to the West,
there is no democratic outlet for the peo-
ple. The attitude of the government is this:
If you don’t like it, leave. The American
Perhaps this is irrelevant in this day and age, when
governments act independently of their people’s will,
but I don’t remember Obama or any of his officials
ever asking if we, the American people,
wanted to go to war in Libya.
government knows this, but I wonder, will
they say anything?
This hypocrisy is so clear, and yet CNN,
MSNBC and all the other liberal news net-
works act like chickens without heads,
leaping on the bandwagon with the wave of
Obama’s hand. Why are the smartest talk-
ing heads in the American media suddenly
silent? Why?
Furthermore, America clearly does not
respect Muslim lives in general. Ameri-
can Muslim lives perhaps, but as far as the
rest of them — my brothers and sisters —
are concerned, the American government
doesn’t give a damn. To it, my brothers
and sisters are just casualties. To get side-
tracked a bit, people talk — and talk and
talk — about improving the relationship
between the Muslim community and the
wider American community. Well, here’s
an a solution: Tell the U.S. government to
stop killing my brothers and sisters, get
out of their land and stop pretending to be
morally superior by ousting a dictator with
whom it was friendly only a couple years
ago —read: Qaddafi.
Why do Americans have to pretend to
be the heroes — the world has changed, and
people no longer see America in that kind
of light. We’ve shown our true colors more
than once — Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Viet-
nam — all examples of Americans shame-
lessly killing other countries’ citizens.
One need only listen to the way Obama
talks about Libyans — as helpless people, so
thankful to great, big, strong America for
coming in and saving them from the nasty
villain. It’s a set up. Some are thankful, but
others aren’t — are we going to hear their
story? Or are we just going to get the stan-
dard, frustrating nonsense that America is
once again standing up for the little guy —
never mind that the little guy is standing on
huge oil wells.
Perhaps this is irrelevant in this day and
age, when governments act independently
of their people’s will, but I don’t remember
Obama or any of his officials ever asking
if we, the American people, wanted to go
to war in Libya. I may have voted, but that
doesn’t mean I authorize more wars. There
are American fighter jets in Libya that in-
dict me with every bomb they drop, and I
wonder why I was not even asked whether
I thought this was a good idea. One min-
ute all the talking heads are babbling about
the madman Qaddafi, and the next we are
dropping bombs on his forces. Do they
take me for a fool? Doesn’t this sound like
a set up? If we had had some balanced re-
porting on Qaddafi, with some historical
perspective on past relations between Libya
and the U.S., then wouldn’t all the Obama
administration’s grand visions of portray-
ing themselves as the moral paragon for
the world have been dashed by the people’s
insistence that it fix the problems in this
country?
There President Obama stands, lying
to the American public, just as President
George W. Bush did. It’s Deja vu.
Nida Abdulla ’11.5 is an English concen-
trator from New Jersey. She can be con-
tacted at nida_abdulla@brown.edu.
Daily Herald City & State
the Brown
ProJo sees print circulation drop, considers online pay wall
By Morgan Johnson
Staff Writer
Facing declining advertising reve-
nue and circulation, national news-
papers like the New York Times
and the Wall Street Journal are
erecting pay walls to stay afloat.
The Providence Journal could be
next.
The ProJo, the state’s largest
newspaper, first announced its
intention to limit online content
to paying subscribers and update
its website in November 2009,
though it has not yet told the pub-
lic or its reporting staff when the
pay wall will go into effect. Last
month, the paper’s management
promoted then-vice president of
9 9 P u r p l e B a l lo o n s
Purple balloons adorned the Main Green yesterday to publicize Relay for
Life.
Mayor and city labor
union strike pay deal
By Kat Thornton
Senior Staff Writer
Providence Mayor Angel Taveras
signed an agreement Wednesday
morning with the city’s largest
labor union that will affect nearly
900 workers and save more than
$26 million over the next four
years. The city faces a $180 mil-
lion two-year budget deficit.
The deal, approved unanimous-
ly by members of Local 1033 of
the Laborers’ International Union
of North America, will affect city
department workers — excluding
police officers, firefighters, teach-
ers and city management. The con-
tract must also be approved by the
Providence City Council.
Local 1033 agreed to a 1 per-
cent pay cut effective July 1, a raise
in health care co-payments, a wage
freeze until January 2012 and a
15 percent reduction in starting
salaries for new employees. The
union also gave up the 1 percent
cost-of-living adjustment that
workers received in their previ-
Get The Herald delivered daily to your inbox — browndailyherald.com/register
business and interactive develop-
ment Deborah Tomilson to oversee
its online strategy.
The paper has lost 10 percent of
its print circulation in the last year
— double the nationwide average
decline. The number of visitors
to the ProJo’s website fell last year
from 1.26 to 1.19 million.
The ProJo’s parent company,
A. H. Belo, has also suffered sig-
nificant revenue losses — $124.2
million last year — according to
its latest financial filings.
“The Journal’s had a lot of cut-
backs in the last few years,” WRNI
political analyst Scott MacKay told
The Herald. Flagging advertising
revenue is a big reason for the
upcoming pay wall, MacKay said.
Lydia Yamaguchi / Herald
ous contract.
In exchange, the city prom-
ised there would be no layoffs for
union workers.
“If we all join in sacrifice to-
gether, we will get our financial
house in order,” Taveras said.
Donald Iannazzi, business
manager of the Local 1033, agreed
that the city’s financial problems
required concessions from the
union.
“We had a desire to cause our
city to survive in the crazy fiscal
turmoil we find ourselves in,” Ian-
nazzi said.
“It is certainly going to put a
strain on our working families,”
Iannazzi said, adding that the av-
erage union employee now earns
$31,000 annually. But he said the
alternative would be a “lose-lose
situation” because it would hurt
both the workers and the city in
the long term.
“We would rather all make con-
cessions than have one member of
our family unable to put food on
their table,” he said.
Advertising revenue depended
on companies in industries that
fared poorly during the recent eco-
nomic downturn, said Journal re-
porter John Hill. “Everyone in the
business has been thinking about
it,” he said of pay walls. “Regardless
of whether it works or not, I think
it’s important that they’re trying it.”
The newspaper has outlined the
planned format for its new website.
It would feature short summaries
of articles for free and limit ac-
cess to full articles to subscribers,
Hill said.
Many newspapers across the
country are turning to pay walls,
but other methods have proven
successful, MacKay said. Other
publications have made their ar-
R.I. workers may face immigration checks
By Claire Schlessinger
Contributing Writer
The Rhode Island Senate Judiciary
Committee heard a bill March 22
that would require all non-govern-
mental employers with more than
three employees to check the im-
migration status of job applicants
in E-Verify, a federal employment
verification database.
The committee recommended
the bill be held for further study.
But state Sen. Marc Cote, D-
Woonsocket and North Smith-
field, who proposed the bill in
February, said he is hopeful the
bill — with 20 co-sponsors and
several other senators supporting
it — will pass.
E-Verify is currently voluntary
for employers in Rhode Island.
About 2,800 employers in the
state use E-Verify, according to
Cote. Under the proposed bill,
18,000 companies would use it.
Cote said over 95 percent of em-
ployers who currently use E-Ver-
ify are satisfied with the system
because it is free, web-based and
easy to use.
The only current procedure
for checking the legality of job
applicants is the I-9, a federal job
registration form filed with the
Department of Labor, but there
is no mechanism to verify if the
information provided is true.
Job applicants can participate in
fraudulent document trafficking
to acquire counterfeit forms of
identification and work authori-
zation documents, Cote said. Such
an operation was discovered in
Pawtucket in February, he added.
There are an estimated 20,000
illegal immigrants in R.I., accord-
ing to the Pew Hispanic Center,
Cote said. In light of the state’s
struggling economy and double-
digit unemployment rate, the bill
is designed to take care of Rhode
Islanders, Cote said.
Colleen Conley, president and
founder of the Rhode Island Tea
Party, echoed this viewpoint. She
said the Tea Party sees undocu-
mented workers not as a social
issue but as a fiscal one. The Tea
ticles available on devices such as
the iPad and Kindle. “I think some
of the other papers are ahead of
the ProJo in getting in that line,”
MacKay said.
Tomilson will also be tasked
with boosting “the newspaper’s
presence on emerging digital plat-
forms and devices,” according to a
March 20 ProJo article.
A pay wall might prove more
successful for the ProJo than for
papers like A.H. Belo’s Dallas
Morning News, which faces more
regional competition. “The other
guy might try to undercut you
and go free,” Hill said. The ProJo’s
dominance in Rhode Island allows
more latitude for a paywall, he said.
Improving the paper’s website
Party supports the bill because it
sends the message that the state
is serious about making sure citi-
zens receive “whatever few jobs”
are available, she said. The bill
would show Rhode Island is not
putting out a “welcome mat” for
illegal immigrants thinking of
coming to the state to look for a
job, she said.
She said that illegal immigra-
tion also puts a financial burden
on taxpayers because they receive
free healthcare, public education
and English as a Second Language
programs.
But Juan Garcia, president
of Immigrants in Action, said
Rhode Island’s Hispanic com-
munity brings “more economic
power to the state.” Rhode Island
benefits on many levels if more
people are working, regardless of
their citizenship status, he said.
Cindy Butler, legislative di-
rector for the Rhode Island State
Council of the Society for Human
Resource Management, wrote in
her testimony to the Senate com-
mittee that although the council is
“committed to hiring only work-
authorized individuals,” E-Verify
is the “wrong choice” for Rhode
Island. She cited problems of “er-
roneous tentative non-confirma-
tions,” a mistake that arises from
the system failing to understand
hyphenated, abbreviated or mul-
tiple surnames. These types of
names, more common among
employees of Hispanic and Arab
descent, can lead to a dispropor-
tionate number of hiring denials
among these ethnic groups and
can be considered discrimination,
she said.
But Terry Gorman, executive
director of Rhode Islanders for
Immigration Law Enforcement,
said E-Verify is 99.6 percent ac-
curate.
If an employer checks an ap-
plicant’s status in E-Verify and
discovers a problem with im-
migration status, the applicant
has eight days to contact the U.S.
Social Security Administration to
clear up the problem. This time
frame can be extended if Social
Thursday, March 7, 2011
will be critical to the pay wall’s
success, since the current website
is less user-friendly than those of
other news organizations, MacKay
said. “They should update their
website if they’re going to charge
money for it,” he said.
The New York Times intro-
duced its own pay wall March 28.
Currently, Brown’s dining halls
provide 170 copies of the Times
and 120 copies of the ProJo on
weekdays, according to Residen-
tial Dining Director Claire Sidla.
Pay walls are a good idea, said
Julia Dahlin ’12. “I think that free
news is an unsustainable model
that leads to really bad journalism,”
she said. “We need to be paying
for content.”
Security officials believe there is
potential for an administrative
error, such as an overlooked name
change.
But Alexandra Filindra, a
Brown postdoctoral research as-
sociate in public policy special-
izing in American immigrations,
said the process to correct this
is “complicated and onerous,” so
immigrants could be penalized
because of errors in the database.
“E-Verify continues to remain
vulnerable to identity theft,” But-
ler said, because “unauthorized
workers (can) use stolen or bor-
rowed Social Security numbers”
and other fake identification.
E-Verify only addresses a mi-
nor part of the complicated is-
sue of immigration, Filindra said.
For example, though it checks the
status of employees, there is no
mechanism to ensure that em-
ployers will not hire the illegal
applicants anyway and “abuse
undocumented labor,” she said.
She added that the private labor
market is where many abuses oc-
cur, and since many illegal im-
migrants are hired by families to
be babysitters, house cleaners or
landscapers — which “falls out of
the scope of E-Verify” — the bill
would do nothing to address the
social costs or labor abuses as-
sociated with illegal immigration.
The E-Verify bill is an “in-
sufficient and erroneous way to
go about solving the problem”
of undocumented immigration,
Filindra said. She said the bill
would not deter illegal immi-
grants from coming to Rhode
Island and would do nothing to
address the “presence of 10 mil-
lion undocumented people (in the
United States) who are not likely
to go away.”
Under former governor Don-
ald Carcieri ’65, the state used
E-Verify to check the status of
all state job applicants. Gov. Lin-
coln Chafee ’75 P’14 ended the
practice when he took office in
January. Mike Trainor, spokesman
for Chafee, said the governor’s
position remains unchanged and
called E-Verify a “divisive tool.”