Professional Documents
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61
Daily
By Jordan HEndrIcks Senior Staff Writer
the Brown
Herald
Since 1891
Emily Gilbert / Herald
At Convocation, President Ruth Simmons urged firstyears to draw on the diversity of their classmates.
The committee charged with reexamining the Reserve Officers Training Corps ban from campus offered little in the way of strong recommendations in its findings released yesterday. The findings, shared in a campus-wide email from President
TickeT To ride
MBTA.com
The MBTA, which runs a commuter rail line between Providence and Boston, is considering service cuts and fare hikes. See page 8.
Like many adventurous Rhode Islanders, six Brown hockey players headed to the beach last Tuesday to test the choppy Atlantic Ocean churned up by Tropical Storm Irene. But for Mike Wolff 12, Jeff Ryan 13, Dennis Robertson 14, Mike Borge 14, assistant captain Bobby Farnham 12 and former Bear forward David Brownschidle 11, things quickly took a scary turn: The six had to perform a harrowing rescue of three swimmers caught in a riptide at South Shore Beach in Little Compton, R.I. Though the beach was closed, the players estimated there were about 40
people on what Borge called a secluded shoreline. The water, they said, was relatively calm. They had not been in the water long when they swam out to a sandbar and saw two swimmers waving their arms and calling out. The swimmers, two teenage girls, were bobbing up and down, Wolff said. They were waving at us, he said, but we couldnt really hear what they were saying. So we swam over, and he eventually heard them yelling Help! Help! We cant swim! Wolff and Ryan hurried to the swimmers, who said they were fatigued, and grabbed hold of their continued on page 4
inside
Engage
Your opponents may have more merit than you think
OpiNiONs, 7 OpiNiONs, 7
weather
Improve
swearer helps students revamp proposals
Campus News, 2
Invest
a call for a higher education tuition tax credit
t o d ay
tomorrow
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TODaY 11 a.m. Farmers Market, Wriston Quadrangle 7 p.m. Activities Night, OMAC SEpTEmbER 8 TOmORROW 7 p.m. Film with Faculty: Toy Story 3, Stephen Robert 62 Campus Center 11 p.m. Funk Nite, The Underground SEpTEmbER 9
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Matthew Burrows, Treasurer Isha Gulati, Secretary
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edIToRIAl
BuSIneSS
Campus news 3
By BEn kutnEr Senior Staff Writer
Calling together campus, Swearer hosts young social innovators admins open school year
continued from page 1 their help. Schlissel gave the Convocation address to the audience of faculty and new undergraduate, graduate and medical students. He pointed out that he is also beginning his first semester at Brown and offered advice on how to face the coming years. The literal substance of what we learn in college is rarely as important as you might think, Schlissel said, drawing on his experience as a biochemistry undergraduate. Much of that literal substance was eventually superseded by new facts, he said, while greater lessons about life and learning remain true. I learned how to seek out what I wanted to know, and seek out a desired level of understanding, he said. Schlissel encouraged first-years to study topics in both the humanities and the sciences, emphasizing the real-world interrelatedness of the two. Convocation marks the fourth day of a nine-day orientation schedule for first years. Colby Jenkins 12, co-chair of the Orientation Welcoming Committee, said several orientation events this year have been revamped from last year. The committee added a tie-dye event and pickup sports and expanded the traditional ice cream social to encompass the entire Campus Center, with additional food and activities, like showings of Glee and Pictionary games. Weve known for years that the ice cream social was awkward, Jenkins said. The improvements have gone over very well, among both firstyears and upperclassmen who sneak into the events, he said. Over 1,200 students attended the annual firstyear dance. Jenkins said the welcoming committee hopes its role in orientation helps first-years overcome their anxiety about making friends in the coming year. These first two weeks really shape their friendships and shape their expectations of the years to come, he said. Karla Tytus 15 said that after Simmons welcome, her sense of being at Brown was a different level of realization. It just got real, she said. Enedina Martinez 15 arrived nine days ago for Excellence at Brown and said she has been absolutely loving it. I love how welcoming and accommodating President Simmons is to the middle class, she said. I feel like weve been invited to be a part of a big family. Competitions are not usually the place for second chances, and runners-up are not usually given $5,000 to improve their projects for resubmission. But 15 college students, semifinalists from the Dell Social Innovation Competition an international competition that focuses on social entrepreneurship found themselves at Brown this summer to participate in the competitions inaugural semifinalist fellowship. All entries to the competition shared the goal of enacting social change in the world, said MaryBeth Bennett, who coordinates the program. Our goal is to bring clean water to children living in slums, said Anshu Vaish 12, the fellow behind the semifinalist project WaterWalla. After judges selected the five finalists, semifinalists were encouraged to apply for Browns fellowship program. The Swearer Center for Public Service then awarded 15 fellows $5,000 for project development and training this year. The fellows are expected to resubmit their improved projects to the Dell competition in 2012. The Swearer Centers previous work in social entrepreneurship attracted the attention of the Dell competition, which sought a home for its first semifinalist fellowship program. The program is based on the Starr Fellowship, a social entrepreneurship initiative offered by the Swearer Center, said Alan Harlam, director of social entrepreneurship. The competition funded four paid positions at Brown to oversee the fellowships development, said Roger Nozaki MAT89, director of the Swearer Center. A huge part of what the Swearer Center contributed was intellectual capital, he said. After participating in online training for several months, fellows attended the one-week pro-
gram at Brown. At the close of the week, each fellows presentation was broadcast online. Over 30 mentors met with fellows at the event, said student staff member Sophie Kainen 12. Professor Emeritus Barrett Hazeltine and Bill Allen, an adjunct lecturer of public policy, participated as mentors, as did executives from CVS and Hasbro both of which are based in Rhode Island she said. Vaish said networking opportunities were an important aspect of the fellowship. Rhode Island has been at the lead with organizations designed to promote social entrepreneurship, Harlam said. I not only got to learn from my peers but from professionals, said Penn senior Mariama Kabia, whose project seeks to improve girls literacy and empowerment in Sierra Leone and West Africa. It was such a collaborative environment, she said.
4 Sports thursday
continued from page 1 arms to support them above the water. Holding onto the girls, the two Bears swam back to more shallow waters. And then the players learned there was another swimmer in trouble. I put the girl down and she could stand up, and she said Will you help my boyfriend, too? Wolff said. (Ryan and I) looked at each other, and we couldnt see her boyfriend anywhere in the water. Finally, Wolff said they spotted him past the breaking waves floating on his back. The kid looked kind of lifeless, Wolff said. I thought it was a dead body. With Wolff and Ryan in shallower water with the two girls, the four other players immediately began swimming in the direction of the boy. Robertson, who is a certified lifeguard and worked at an indoor pool in British Columbia, reached him first and propped his body up with his face out of the water. Robertson tried to communicate with the boy, but he was unresponsive. He was out of it for sure, but he was conscious and breathing, Robertson said. He had swallowed a lot of water and was not in the best shape at all. When Brownschidle, Farnham and Borge reached Robertson and the boy, they were able to move the boy onto a boogie board, which they had brought with them that day to ride the waves. Wolff took the surfboard the group had also taken along
Board of Regents rejects R.I. gay couples not choosing civil unions Cranston charter school
continued from page 8 perintendent are appointed by the mayor. Smith said this makes it more difficult for opponents to the proposed school because the Providence school board and superintendent, who must approve a potential mayoral academy, function as a rubber stamp for the mayor. Taveras, who submitted an enthusiastic letter of support for the Cranston academy to the board a week before the vote, is preparing for the possibility of a mayoral academy coming to Providence. The mayor looks forward to meeting with (Education) Commissioner (Deborah) Gist and Achievement First to discuss the situation and explore our options moving into the future, David Ortiz, the mayors press secretary, said. Maryellen Butke, the executive director of RI-CAN, an advocacy group dedicated to education reform, expressed disappointment in the vote but said she hopes it will provoke Rhode Islanders to tackle education reform more proactively. The vote was a rallying cry for support, she said. We have to get everyday voices in the mix. She added that she feels the debate has been dominated by adults seeking to preserve the status quo in public education. Achievement First is also in the process of examining its options for the future. Reshma Singh, senior director of Achievement Firsts Rhode Island expansion, told the Providence Journal that she was encouraged by Chafees letter and that the company would discuss the possibility of opening a school in Providence. But the governors eleventh hour appeal to the board has attracted criticism. Eleventh hour? More like eleventh-and-a-half hour, Smith said. It only confused the issue. Chafee has been wary of supporting charter schools in the past. In January, he called for a thoughtful pause on opening new charter schools in order to analyze performance data on existing charters. His letter to the board has led some to call his platform inconsistent, a charge which his communications director denies. We have taken a thoughtful pause, and after listening to all sides, meeting with different people and stakeholders, community support for a mayoral academy in Cranston was lacking, Hunsinger said. She said that the governor views charter schools as a tool to improve public education, and that he is still open to the possibility of bringing mayoral academies to the state.
COMiCS
Cloud buddies! | david Emanuel
EdiTORiAl COMiC
by sam rosenfeld
was awkward.
Colby Jenkins 12, Orientation Welcoming Committee co-chair see ConvoCation on page 1.
t h e b r ow n da i ly h e r a l d
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opinions 7
Free to learn
be funded. With long-term federal deficits on the mind of every politician these days, it is about time the U.S. Congress made college tuition tax-deductible. By making college more affordable today, the government is expanding the tax base of the future. Too many students work to finance their education just to watch more and more of their money go to Uncle Sam, yet they never get to see a dime of it themselves. Parents, too, are asked to contribute ebrate. With the markets still rattled from the U.S. credit downgrade and the uncertainty abroad, a big infusion of cash into the American economy, coupled with a significant and meaningful investment in education, could just be the big idea to get our economy rolling again. Universities, for their part, could use any extra revenue generated from the program, since more students could pay full tuition. They could keep vital research, programs and student activities funded in billion. Even if the government just gave out the whole cost of tuition to students and made college free, the approximate total of $300 billion would be less than 10 percent of the whole government budget of $3.7 trillion to be spent next year. Financing a secondary education, the most important tool for success in the 21st century, would far exceed any immediate cost and represents a much better investment in Americas future than defense spending or sadly and unfairly to seniors Social Security or Medicare. A free college education is not exactly an innovative idea. In many European countries, college is already free or highly subsidized, and in some countries, like Denmark, students are actually paid to go to college. A free primary education has been an unshakable hallmark of the American education system for centuries, and yet after investing in students for 13 long years, our country fails to provide the culminating support that would provide the greatest economic security for emerging adults. A high school education is no longer sufficient in the information age. It is time America were as wise as a first-year at Brown and invested in college education. Its a bold idea that just might work. Ethan Tobias 12 thinks that $300 billion is chump change but paying $3 for a cup of coffee is absurd. He can be reached at Ethan_Tobias@brown.edu
By ETHAN TOBiAS
opinions Columnist
Welcome to Brown, first-years, and congratulations for making the foresighted decision to invest in your future. By now, you have cracked open a textbook or two, shopped several classes you never plan on taking and made some invaluable connections at Ratty lunch. Every step taken is an opportunity to learn anew and prepare yourself for, dare I say it, life after college, but luckily, by attending Brown or any college for that matter you have prepared yourself to be among this nations most productive citizens. Unemployment among college graduates is significantly lower than among their high school counterparts, and starting salaries for those with a bachelors degree are often much higher. A college education may be just about the best thing a young person or frankly anyone can get in this country to help insulate himself or herself from the harsh employment market and the prospect of a double-dip recession. A college-educated citizenry would also benefit the American people as a whole. The more Americans are employed and the more Americans earn, the more taxes the government receives, the smaller the deficit is and the more programs can
it is about time the U.S. Congress made all of college tuition tax-deductible.
to their childrens education, but after income tax, state tax and property tax, what could any but the most affluent parents still have to give? And for the less well-todo, imagine that paying back student loans were tax-deductible. How much more quickly would graduates, weighed down by hundreds of thousands in debt, be able to get back on their feet and prosper? A tuition tax deduction would immediately put money in the pockets of millions of American families. It would be the same thing as a second stimulus masquerading as a tax deduction a would-be cause for both liberals and conservatives to cel-
this budget-cutting era. No longer would Brown have to consider which sports teams to cut or how many workers to lay off. This would truly be a win-win scenario. How would we pay for such a bold endeavor? A back of the napkin estimate is that if 25 percent of tax deductions are lost tax revenue, if the average education is $30,000 per year and if there are 10 million college students, then we are talking about a $75 billion program. That is nothing compared to the exorbitant sums the government already spends. In 2011, the Department of Defense received over $500
This fall, youll find yourself engaged in familiar conversations. Youll be lounging on the Main Green or trying to get the Keeney hallway to stop spinning for just one second when a friend will say, Those idiots in Congress ought to x! or The average person needs to realize that z! What these conversations have in common is their normative element: We are not talking about the way the world is, but about how it should be. Normative conversations have the potential to do great good. Hopefully, we reach some conclusion, and if were really motivated, well get out there and do something. This fact makes normative conversations some of the most important youll have. Their conclusions have the potential to change the world in a way that a discussion of the primacy of signifier versus signified doesnt. The importance of normative issues demands of us a careful eye when we tackle them. Their emotional significance makes us prone to bad reasoning. After all, we undoubtedly feel more strongly about workers rights than about whether Crank: High Voltage or The Transporter is the better Jason Statham film for the record, the former. Furthermore, Brown is, overall, a liberal school. This results in more homogeneity of opinion than in the general public, so dissenting voices may not
Think of it this way: Though you may be right, you are not incontrovertibly right; there is always room for reasonable disagreement. if you can dismiss your opponents view without breaking a sweat, you are not doing them justice.
and will make your argument stronger. If you can show that even on their own terms your opponents are wrong, so much the better for your position. Think of it this way: Though you may be right, you are not incontrovertibly right. There is always room for reasonable disagreement. If you can dismiss your opponents views without breaking a sweat, you are not doing them justice. Now, when someone comes around shouting accusations of this nature, it is natural to nod in agreement while mumed fetus to that of a murdered infant (The case for infant rights, Mar. 18). As she says, Just as no one had the ethical right to take my life as a newborn my mother could (not) choose whether or not I was to live while I was in the womb. Both abortion and infanticide would result in my non-existence on this earth are they truly separate practices? Though I am trying hard to follow my own advice, I am hardpressed to find any other argument for the fetal right to life in her article. We need look no further since we are looking at her
FIELD HOCkEY
Each season, teams change seniors graduate, first-year recruits arrive and, sometimes, new coaches are hired. But the field hockey team has undergone a more significant overhaul this past summer than usual, hiring Head Coach Jill Reeve and Assistant Coach Jillian Brown and adding eight first-years to round out the roster at 20. One of those rookies is Shannon McSweeney 15, the teams lone goalkeeper. Last season, the squad had three goalies, none of whom were graduating. But before McSweeney arrived, all three left the team to pursue other interests at Brown, according to tricaptain Leslie Springmeyer 12. Its kind of funny, though, to think that last season they had three goalies on the team, and you would think the coach wouldnt recruit another goalie, McSweeney added. It was strange fate that she decided to recruit another goalie. Springmeyer said the team normally recruits one goalie a year, because often one of the returning keepers opts to leave the team due to scheduling conflicts. Losing all three was unexpected, but the team is impressed with McSweeney, Springmeyer said. Before coming to Brown, Reeve was head coach at Miami University in Ohio for seven years, building the program from
the ground up, she said. The season before Miami hired her, the Red Hawks had a 1-17 record. In the next two seasons, Reeve led the Red Hawks to a combined 17 victories. The Bears, for their part, have struggled in recent years. They went 5-12 in 2009 with an Ivy League record of 0-7 and an away record of 0-8. Last season, the team improved marginally to 6-11 overall, with a 3-4 conference record. But Reeve does not want to measure the Bears success this year in the black-and-white terms of wins and losses. Im mostly focused on growing the team in their technical strengths, Reeve said. Im not really focused on the outcomes right now. Its hard to predict what will happen. Theres a potential to have a really successful season. Springmeyer said the players reached the same conclusion, deciding to look at each game individually, instead of looking at the overall record, she said. Any team will start digging itself in a hole if it does that. Were going to put losses in the past, even wins in the past. Were not going to let outside factors influence us. Right now, the team is 1-1, after a 5-0 loss on the road to the University of New Hampshire (4-0) and a 3-2 victory at home over University of California at Davis (2-2). Between the two halves of the UNH game, Reeve said she saw
Tri-captain leslie Springmeyer 12 scored in the squads 3-2 win over UC davis.
tremendous improvement. In the first half, the Wildcats scored four times. After the half, the Bears allowed only one goal. The team then carried over that improvement to the game against UC Davis, which was tied 2-2 until the teams lone junior, Kelley Harrison 13, scored a game-winning unassisted goal with 5:49 left. Right now were a little bit careful on both sides of the ball, and we need to upgrade that and unleash what we have to offer, Reeve said. Holding back is very limiting. Thats one piece we need to get better at immediately.
Despite letting in five goals on 28 shots in her first college game, McSweeney said she found the experience exciting. In the first two games, the other seven first-years also saw playing time, according to Reeve. She said she wants the team to play a high-paced game, which means there has to be a constant and quick substitution rate. She said the strategy has worked well so far because of the teams depth. I see lots of greatness in this team, Reeve said. My challenge is to get them to see that greatness in themselves.
MBTA considers fare Few gay couples opt for newly legal civil unions hikes, service cuts
By HannaH aBELoW Contributing Writer
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority announced a plan in August to reevaluate its services and fares due to a budget shortfall that has worsened in recent years. Lydia Rivera, the MBTAs press secretary, said the agency is examining services and determining whether increasing fares or adopting other measures would be appropriate. A fare increase could take effect in 2012, she added. But she emphasized that the agency has not decided the specifics of any possible cuts. Rich Davey, the agencys general manager, told the Boston Metro in an Aug. 22 article that though it would be undesirable to cut services, its something we have to consider. He hinted that any changes would likely be in place after 8 p.m. or on weekends and said he hoped to avoid cutting service during peak times. The transit authority currently operates a commuter rail line from Providence to Boston that runs
approximately every half-hour during weekdays and every few hours on weekends. Potential fare and service changes would likely affect Brown students, many of whom travel to and from Boston regularly. Sophia Staley 14, who takes the train to Boston and back about once a month, said she felt that if these changes were to take place, she would certainly travel less frequently. But, she added, A hike of, say, $5 would not keep me from taking the train to Boston several times a year. Chenowyth Pinter 14, who takes the train to Boston once every two weeks to visit her godfather, said she was dismayed at the prospect of any changes to the system. Part of the reason that its so good and that I go so often is that the trains run so often and are so cheap. I think thats why a lot of students use the system, she said. The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority also recently announced a plan to consider service cuts of up to 30 percent due to budget constraints.
Though a law allowing same-sex couples to enter into civil unions has been on the books since July, few couples have taken advantage of the new option, and the change has spurred little fanfare in the gay community. After months of legislative wrangling over a possible bill to legalize gay marriage, House Speaker Gordon Fox, D-Providence, recommended halting progress on a gay marriage bill in favor of one to legalize same-sex civil unions. Fox, who is openly gay, said he chose to back civil unions after concluding that a gay marriage bill had little chance of passing in the state Senate. Marriage Equality Rhode Island and Browns Queer Political Action Committee both spoke out against Foxs decision. Gabe Schwartz 13, a co-director of Queer Political Action Committee, said several bills, in addition to the marriage equality bill, were being considered, and civil unions
already had substantial support in the General Assembly before Fox backed the bill. There was no reason for Fox to change his support, he said. It was in my mind sort of a betrayal. But since the law went into effect, few civil union ceremonies in Rhode Island have occurred. Only 10 couples have taken advantage of civil unions, said Ray Sullivan, the campaign director of Marriage Equality Rhode Island. He said the figure pales in comparison to the number of same-sex marriages that have taken place in New York, where one out of four marriages have been between same-sex partners since the state began recognizing gay marriages July 24. In the past, other states have initially adopted civil unions before approving gay marriage, but Schwartz said the civil unions bill could halt progress toward legalizing same-sex marriage in Rhode Island. Schwartz suggested the lack continued on page 5
The Rhode Island Board of Regents sent education activists back to the drawing board last Thursday when it rejected a controversial application for a semi-public Cranston charter school. The application, submitted by the nonprofit Achievement First, proposed creating an elementary mayoral academy a charter school supported by the mayor in Cranstons Edgewood neighborhood, the school would be funded by state and local governments as well as private donations. Supporters pointed to Achievement Firsts strong track record in raising test scores among minority and low-income students. Both Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and Cranston Mayor Allan Fung voiced their support for the mayoral academy. But opponents of the proposed academy including teachers unions, school administrators and some parents charged that charter schools often divert resources from public education and cited evidence that charters fare no better on average than public schools in their educational outcomes. The proposed school would not be unionized. The boards decision came mere hours after they received a letter from Gov. Lincoln Chafee 75 P14 indicating that the governor could offer his support if the school were located in Providence rather than in Cranston. The letter encouraged Achievement First to re-apply for a location in Providence. I dont think people in Providence have any idea what the mayoral academy is, or what it means in terms of funding, said Anna Kuperman, a teacher at Classical High School in Providence. Kuperman, a founder of the Coalition to Defend Public Education, has been a vocal opponent of mayoral academies semipublic charter schools like those Achievement First operates. She said her little coalition plans on engaging in outreach and public education campaigns similar to those that preceded the recent board vote. The coalitions efforts, she said, generated enough community comment to postpone the vote more than once. Steve Smith, the president of the Providence Teachers Union, said the union will be working all fronts political fronts, organizing in the community, engaging the media to prevent a mayoral academy from opening in Providence. Unlike in Cranston, where the school board is elected, Providences school board and sucontinued on page 5