T U E S D A Y SEPTEMER 3, 2002
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVII, No. 63
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
www.browndailyherald.com
RI native Darren McPeak ’02.5 dies in Aug. 26 car accident KERRY MILLER
Josh Apte / Herald
The inclement weather on Monday didn’t dampen the spirits of Nick Horton ’04 and Beth Brandon ’04 as they prepared for the first day of classes today. Despite the rain,Thayer Street was packed with students running last minute errands and visiting the Brown Bookstore to purchase textbooks.
A Brown senior and former hockey player died last Monday in a car crash on Route 116 in Smithfield, R.I. Darren McPeak ’02.5 was pronounced dead at the scene after his car apparently crossed the median and collided with a fire truck moving in the opposite direction. The 23-year-old was from Smithfield and a business economics concentrator. His mother, Karen McPeak, said her son was leaning toward a career in investment banking. Before his death, McPeak was about to begin an internship with the investment firm Salomon Smith Barney, she said. McPeak was on leave from the University during the spring semester. “He was a real smiley guy,” his mother said in a phone interview from her Smithfield home. ”He always had a nice smile for everyone.” McPeak played ice hockey in high school for LaSalle Academy and Northfield Mount Hermon Darren McPeak ’02.5 School, and played for Brown’s hockey team as a first-year. “He was a real solid, hard-working kid, whose death is certainly a tragic loss for everybody,” said Roger Grillo, head coach of the men’s hockey team. “He was a real good hockey player, a great kid and very well liked.” Though McPeak left the hockey team as a first-year, Grillo said he remained close with many of his fellow players. Karen McPeak said her son was “very athletic” and was an avid golfer. He also enjoyed specialty cars, she said, and spent a lot of time working on his 1969 Pontiac Firebird. “The University was saddened by the news of Darren McPeak’s death,” Dean of the College Paul Armstrong said in a prepared statement. “We extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to his family and friends on and off campus.” McPeak’s mother said no memorial service is planned at this time. McPeak was buried on Friday in a private ceremony at St. Philip’s Church in Greenville. Herald staff writer Kerry Miller ’04 can be reached at kmiller@browndailyherald.com.
Another new face in U. Hall, Huidekoper prepares for arrival at Brown BY JULIETTE WALLACK
President Ruth Simmons made her fourth major administrative appointment last month, naming a Harvard University vice president as the University’s top financial officer. Elizabeth Huidekoper, who served as vice president for finance at Harvard since 1996, will begin her job as vice president for finance and administration on Oct. 15. She fills the void created by the departure of Donald Reaves, who left in July to take the equivalent position at the University of Chicago. Huidekoper comes to Brown at a pivotal time, as the University starts to implement Simmons’ capitalintensive Initiative for Academic Enrichment and gears up for a fundraising campaign. The vice president for finance and administration is the chief financial officer of the University, overseeing the financial aspects of University programs and the implementation of Simmons’ initiatives. Huidekoper led Harvard’s first university-wide fundraising campaign, as well as other capital programs and projects. “My job (at Harvard) has been to bring together people from all over the institution, to build consensus on
areas of common concern and opportunity, to effect change and to generate new resources for key strategic goals,” Huidekoper wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. Though Brown is smaller than Harvard, she wrote that her new job will be similar in many ways to the one she holds at Harvard. But Huidekoper’s duties at Brown will not be entirely identical to her responsibilities at Harvard, she wrote. There, Huidekoper is focused on assessing and evaluating of the fiscal health of the undergraduate school, nine professional schools and affiliates. “At Brown, I will have the opportunity to have more direct responsibility for the management of all administrative resources for one integrated entity,” she wrote. Being part of a smaller community will allow Huidekoper to be closer to teaching and research activities. Last year, Harvard had 19,539 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate degree programs, while Brown had only 7,333. “I will be part of a smaller and, I believe, more focused team,” she wrote. Laura Freid, executive vice president of public affairs and University relations, worked with Huidekoper
when both women were at Harvard. Freid wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that Huidekoper brings with her energy, ability and great leadership. Simmons’ initiatives, which include adding 80 new courses and sections, rewiring buildings for Computing and Information Services upgrades and instituting need blind admission for the Class of 2007, “require a balanced budget, efficient administrative systems and a very competent administration,” Freid wrote. “Huidekoper’s range of experience and talents will be a great benefit to everyone who is working on these initiatives and to the entire community,” Freid wrote. Like the three other recent administrative arrivals, Huidekoper comes to Brown from one of the nation’s most prestigious institutions less than a year after Simmons arrived at Brown. Last spring, Simmons announced the appointments of Provost Robert Zimmer from the University of Chicago, Executive Vice President for Planning Richard Spies from Princeton University and Executive Vice
I N S I D E T U E S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 3 , 2 0 0 2 Mayoral hopeful Joseph Paolino talks to The Herald about his campaign goals page 3
Mr. Potato Head returns to R.I. in name of helping hunger awareness page 3
Students express satisfaction with renovated housing in Minden Hall page 5
see HUIDEKOPER, page 4
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Sanders Kleinfeld ’03 asks ‘when did vegetarianism become a religion?’ column,page 15
Women’s crew basks in glory of June’s NCAA victory, the team’s third title in four years page 16
mostly cloudy high 76 low 65