Friday, February 23, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD F RIDAY, F EBR UAR Y 23, 2007

Volume CXLII, No. 21

Since 1866, Daily Since 1891

Many students oppose legacy preference in College admission

BY JAMES SHAPIRO SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Most Brown undergraduates oppose giving preference to the children of alums in the admission process, according to a recent Herald poll.

A solid majority of respondents — 57 percent — said they oppose giving preference to legacy applicants, while 23 percent said they favor the practice. Another 21 percent said they had no opinion or did not answer. The poll was conducted from Jan. 29 to Feb. 2 and has a margin of error of 4.7 percent with 95 percent confidence. The total adds up to more than 100 percent due to rounding.

“The rule of thumb is that, all things being equal, we will tilt in the favor of the student whose parents have gone to Brown,” said Dean of Admission James Miller ’73.

“Brown has a long tradition as Student Opinion on Legacy Admission favor preference to legacy admission 23% 57%

21%

oppose preference to legacy admission

don’t know/ no answer

an institution with a great sense of history and community. I think it’s important for us, when possible, to continue that sense of tradition, community and commitment to families. It is part of the ethos and culture of Brown, as it is at a number of places,” Miller

THE HERALD POLL

First in a three-part series on admission policies

said.

Miller cited alumni involvement as a major justification for giving preference to legacy applicants. “We, and all other private universities, rely heavily on the efforts of our alumni to sustain ourselves. We rely on our graduates to staff committees, donate money, recruit students and do a whole variety of things that (alumni of) public institutions don’t do.

In turn, I think it’s important for us to continue to have continuity with families,” he said.

Miller said the University’s “financial aid programs are, relatively speaking, almost completely funded by graduates of the institution. Prior generations are funding the aspirations of the next generation, and that’s something that really doesn’t happen to any great degree at state insti-

TTai Ho Shin / Herald The University finds five to 10 students a year who keep pets illegally in dormitories. Students have admitted to keeping pets as diverse as tarantulas and alligators.

Students flout rules and keep pets in dorms

BY BRIANNA BARZOLA STAFF WRITER

Alligators and tarantulas in dorms?

Despite the exotic nature of these animals, they are among the pets some students keep in residence halls. Students who keep these “illegal” pets violate University regulations and risk severe punishments — all in order to give love

continued on page 4

The Office of Admission — responding to an incident last semester in which four prospective students required emergency medical attention for excessive alcohol consumption during an overnight visit to campus — has introduced new policies for firstyears who host prospective students.

The changes, which include formal training sessions for overnight hosts, were finalized over winter break and implemented the last week. “(The incidents were) a wake-

up call for us to take a look at these programs,” said Dean of Admission James Miller ’73.

“We’ve added more structure to the program in terms of training the hosts.”

In October four prospective students staying in Keeney Quadrangle were treated for excessive alcohol consumption. After the incident, University administrators and members of the Bruin Club, which coordinates the overnight visit program, started thinking about ways to prevent similar events in the future.

“The changes were looked at in an ongoing discussion within the executive board of the Bruin

Club and with the admissions office and higher administration,” said Oliver Staehelin ’08, overnight hosting coordinator for the Bruin Club.

Previously, first-years received no formal training and little instruction on hosting prospective students. Now, unit representatives are required to discuss policies governing the overnight visit program, including standards of student conduct and the University’s drug and alcohol policies.

Hosts also receive a list of emergency contacts, which had continued on page 3

Med school, budget top Corporation weekend agenda

BY ROSS FRAZIER NEWS EDITOR

The Corporation will forgo its usual meeting structure this weekend to spend extra time discussing a strategic vision for the Alpert Medical School. The University’s top governing body will also approve a larger annual budget and tuition, elect new officers and hear President Ruth Simmons’ official response to last year’s report on Brown’s connections to the slave trade.

Rather than hold normal com-

INSIDE:

3 ARTS & CULTURE

mittee meetings, the Corporation will meet retreat-style today at the Westin hotel downtown, said Michael Chapman, vice president for public affairs and University relations. That gathering will focus mainly on the future of the Med School as well as budget and capital issues, he said.

The Med School is at a pivotal point in its development after a $100 million gift by entrepreneur Warren Alpert last month and the purchase last year of property in the Jewelry District, likely allowing the construction of a

UNDERGROUND RISING? The Underground is facing an uncertain future due to aging equipment and low funding but is going through a mild revival this spring

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separate campus for the school.

Today’s strategic discussion will likely focus on how to best implement and budget the growth, as well as how to allocate Alpert’s gift, which was relatively unrestricted.

The special retreat format gives members the opportunity to “talk about a number of strategic issues that don’t regularly get discussed in committee meetings,” Chapman said. “It’s an opportunity for the whole Corpocontinued on page 8

5 CAMPUS NEWS

HPV VACCINE One of the creators of the HPV vaccine Gardasil, Barry Buckland, was on campus Thursday to discuss the creation of the drug

FEATURE dential Life Web site. Richard Bova, senior associate dean for Residential Life, said the University catch-

es between five and 10 students each year keeping pets that do not meet the requirement.

“Sometimes we discover them through health inspections, and some students come to us because it creates problems with their living environment,” Bova said.

According to Bova, students continued on page 4

Fish Co effect muted at Jo’s

New policies enacted due to prefrosh drinking

BY NICOLE DUNGCA STAFF WRITER

and attention to a critter of their own.

Students may only keep pets that can live in a tank smaller than 10 gallons, according to the Resi-

BY NICK WERLE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

JOSIAH’S — Wednesday is College Night at the Fish Company Bar & Grill, and Josiah’s tends to get busy after midnight as revelers stream back. Early Thursday morning, however, Jo’s was still quiet enough for Andrea Perez ’10 to sit alone at a six-person table and quietly figure out her engineering homework.

She said she rarely works in Jo’s at night, but she had been there for two hours already without being bothered by any noisy distractions.

With University officials suggesting that they might close Jo’s and the Gate — the two late-night eateries on campus — earlier than their current 2 a.m. closing time in an effort to curb rowdy, late-night behavior, students and food service workers are unsure of the future of late-night dining. Administrators said Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights are especially problematic, making those late-night shifts difficult to staff.

The scene at Jo’s on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning this week appeared to belie those claims. At midnight, there were about 30 people eating or relaxing at the tables in Jo’s dining room, and no students were visibly intoxicated. It was subdued enough that the television on the far wall playing college basketball highlights on

9 SPORTS

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

SPORTS EXTRA! The women’s tennis team swept its matches last weekend to even its record, and the men’s and women’s track teams are gearing for Heps

ESPN was audible halfway across the room.

“I like working here, it’s pretty low key,” said Alex Eichler ’08, who said he had been a Jo’s employee for about three weeks. “It might just be that on Wednesday nights, everybody is watching ‘Lost’ or at Fish Co.” “But I wouldn’t want to work here on Saturday,” he said.

Retail Dining Supervisor Sean Debobes, who said he had worked at Brown for three years, including six months at Jo’s, agreed that the eatery was usually calm. “I’ve seen a number of things, definitely some of the college cross-section,” he said.

Debobes said it has become easier recently to staff late-night shifts, but the slots on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights are still the last to fill up.

University officials have said that the late-night behavioral problems are not limited to Jo’s — workers at the Gate have complained about disorderly students as well.

Debobes said he disagreed with any comparison between the two eateries. “It’s a very different crowd (at Jo’s) than at the Gate. It’s a different world,” he said. “It’s the same students and the same community, but the atmosphere is so different.” continued on page 4

11 OPINIONS

POINT/COUNTERPOINT Ben Bernstein ’09 and Finn Yarbrough ’09 debate whether Banner is going to be beneficial or a bust for Brown

News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com

TODAY THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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WE A

Chocolate Covered Cotton | Mark Brinker

T H E R

TODAY

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2007

TOMORROW

mostly sunny 34 / 21

snow showers 30 / 15

MEN SHARPE REFECTORY

U VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL

LUNCH — Chicken Parmesan Grinder, Vegetarian Spinach and Mushroom Soup, Saturday Night Jambalaya, Broccoli au Gratin, Butter Cookies, Cheesecake Brownies

LUNCH — Vegetarian Mushroom Vegetable Soup, Rhode Island Quahog Chowder, Chicken Fingers, Pasta y Fagioli, Corn Cobbets, Cheesecake Brownies

DINNER — Red Potato Frittata, Fresh Vegetable Melange, Okra and Tomato, New England Clam Chowder, Fried Catfish with Tartar Sauce, Strawberry Dessert Pizza, Banana Cake

DINNER — Breaded Pollock Filet, Grilled Chicken, Creamy Cappelini with Broccoli, Crinkle Cut French Fries, Sugar Snap Peas, Oriental Stir Fry, Italian Bread, Banana Cake

SU

WBF| Matt Vascellaro

D O K U

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.

How to Get Down | Nate Saunders

Deo | Daniel Perez

CR ACROSS 1 North Carolina county bordering Tennessee and Virginia 5 Demanding star 9 Minimum-range tide 13 Sue at Chicago’s Field Museum, e.g.

14 Atlas rocket stage 16 Magazine filler 17 Emulates Ogden Nash?

19 Evidence of littering 20 Scenes in a Cardiff tourist shop?

22 Frisked without incident 24 5-Across number 25 Exist 26 Snap 27 Liq. measure 30 Some investments 32 “She’s a Lady” songwriter 34 Arizona-based airline 37 Get ready to go out 38 Jazz session for a sibling combo?

41 Kinski of “Fitzcarraldo” 44 See 45 Word suggesting options 49 Polite denial 51 Its logo has letters with horizontal stripes through them 53 Joule part 54 Ahab’s kingdom: Abbr.

55 Post-WWII commerce agreement 58 Insistent comeback 60 Tonys and Obies?

64 “__ only known ...”

65 Support for a ninth-inning rally?

68 St. Patrick’s land 69 Brilliance 70 Bender 71 Column-lined walkway 72 Cause to be counted out

O S S W O R D

73 Block DOWN 1 NCR product 2 Indian title 3 Harry at home 4 Audience member in a film, probably 5 Become clear to, with “on” 6 “__ Rhythm” 7 Vice follower 8 Slashed connector 9 California county or its seat 10 Follow 11 Coulombs per second 12 Do demons’ work 15 Comparable to a fiddle 18 Rat 21 “A Fish Called __” 22 No.-cruncher 23 Vietnam Veterans Memorial architect 28 Lille buddy 29 Impart 31 “It’s you __” 33 Shade of blue 35 Term.

36 Town near Turin

39 Strunk and White subject 40 Confederate general Stuart 41 Stuffed deli appetizers 42 Carving figureheads, for instance 43 Place to hear a lot of talk 46 “I don’t think so” 47 Full house letters 48 Kind of trip taken alone

50 Tree with palmate leaves 52 Ho Chi __ 56 CD segment 57 Edison contemporary 59 Means, e.g.

61 Greek pianist Bachauer 62 Not split?

63 Prefix with morph 66 In addition 67 Big name in auto additives

Deep Fried Kittens | Cara FitzGibbon

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Silent Penny Soundbite | Brian Elig

xwordeditor@aol.com

2/23/07

T HE B ROWN D AILY H ERALD Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372 Business Phone: 401.351.3260

University community since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the aca-

Eric Beck, President

once in July by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. POSTMASTER please send corrections to

Mary-Catherine Lader, Vice President Ally Ouh, Treasurer Mandeep Gill, Secretary

By Richard Chisholm (c)2007 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

2/23/07

The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the Brown demic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement, once during Orientation and P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Offices are located at 195 Angell St., Providence, R.I. E-mail herald@browndailyherald.com. World Wide Web: http://www.browndailyherald.com. Subscription prices: $319 one year daily, $139 one semester daily. Copyright 2007 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

CAMPUS NEWS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2007

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Anti-war vigil outside Kennedy’s office ends A three-day protest vigil outside the Pawtucket office of Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., ended yesterday with the protestors — including several Brown students — continuing their call for Kennedy to vote against President Bush’s request for more funding for the war in Iraq.

For three evenings, Tuesday through Thursday, about a dozen members of Military Families Speak Out and R.I. Declaration of Peace held signs encouraging passers-by to call Kennedy and express their opposition to the war. A small group also entered his office each night to speak with his staff and hold a vigil that included poems and testimonials by U.S. troops and a recitation of the names of soldiers from Rhode Island killed in Iraq.

The groups held a smaller vigil Thursday at the Warwick office of Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., and spoke with members of his staff.

“They promised that they would get us a meeting with Congressman Langevin before the vote comes up,” Jacque Amoureux GS, one of the protest’s organizers, told The Herald. She took part in the vigil at Langevin’s office on Thursday.

Amoureux said she was encouraged that Langevin’s staff appeared to listen to what the protestors had to say, but she expressed concern about how he might vote.

“If you oppose the war and you think that sending more troops is not the answer — which (Kennedy and Langevin) have both stated — then why continue to fund the war? The case is very simple: we want them to match their actions with their words,” Amoureux said.

Members of Brown anti-war group Operation Iraqi Freedom took part in the three-day demonstration at Kennedy’s office. Ingrid O’Brien ’07, who attended the protests at Kennedy’s office Tuesday and Thursday, said she thought Thursday’s protest went well despite the rain.

“We got a lot of really supportive honks from cars passing by, so I’m hoping that at least some people also called the representative so that he knows that this is important not just to us but to other people,” she said.

President Bush has requested an additional $93.4 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this fiscal year.

—Alex Roehrkasse

New policies implemented after prefrosh drinking incident continued from page 1 not previously been given to hosts. Unit representatives must confirm in writing that hosts went through the short training session.

“I hope that they will give prospective hosts a sense of security because they understand what their roles are. I think we’re giving them as much help as they can,” Miller said.

Other changes are also being made to the overnight hosting program. Now, prospective students will have to meet with admission office representatives before they meet their hosts.

The number of prospective students staying overnight on campus will be considerably lower. In past semesters, as many as 60 high school students have stayed overnight in Brown residence halls during peak weeks, but new rules allow a maximum of only 24 prospective students to stay overnight each week, Miller said.

“We thought we’d start out with this number and observe how the changes are working,” Staehelin said.

Unit 15 was the first to host a prospective student under the new rule. Michele Zerah ’10, the unit representative who had to host the training session, told The Herald she thinks the new rules probably won’t affect the program drastically. Most students already know what they should or shouldn’t do when it comes to

overnight guests, she said.

“The students already know they’re not supposed to give the prefrosh alcohol or condone underage drinking. The sessions don’t make it harder for the reps or the hosts, but it’s just more technical,” Zerah said.

But she said the changes could harm the host program — with a training session to attend, students may opt out of being a host. Even a short training session could deter different students, Zerah said.

The new changes may also extend to similar programs. Although A Day on College Hill — an annual event that brings admitted students to campus in the spring — is run separately from the overnight hosting program, similar measures may be taken in terms of training sessions, said Adam Kroll ’09, this year’s ADOCH co-coordinator.

“The administrators are taking measures to ensure that ADOCH runs as smoothly as it has in past years, so we may use the training sessions as a way to make everyone take their jobs as hosts a little more seriously,” Kroll said.

Currently, though, the training sessions are only required for the overnight hosting program. Coordinators of ADOCH and Third World Welcome — two of the largest events on campus that involve hosting high school students — are not yet sure what, if any, changes will be made to the programs, Miller said.

Chris Bennett / Herald

The Underground, in the basement of Faunce House, will be open 12-14 days this semester.

Underground attempts revival while facing uncertain future

BY ROBIN STEELE STAFF WRITER

Filled to capacity for the first two weekends of this semester, the Underground is experiencing something of a revival.

“The first night this semester was absolutely huge,” said Charles Harding ’09, referring to the Feb. 2 show featuring two student bands — The Media and The Trolleys.

Harding has worked at the venue for two years and currently serves as its booking agent. Two weekends later, the Underground featured The Low Anthem, which includes Dan Lefkowitz and Brown graduates Ben Miller ’06 and Jeff Prystowsky ’06.

The Underground was consistently crowded in 2002, according to Prystowsky. However, a year and a half of periodic shutdowns by the University due to unsupervised drunkenness and a number of fights changed the Underground, Harding said.

“After the crackdown it was a different Underground. People weren’t talking about going,” Prystowsky said, reminiscing about his time at Brown.

Both Prystowsky and Miller agree the space has potential, but they are frustrated with its nonfunctioning equipment — though the Underground has operated as a business since 1981, the lighting and sound systems date from the 1970s.

“The facilities here used to be really good when we were freshmen and now it’s horrible. There’s really nowhere on campus for bands to perform that’s half decent,” Miller said.

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“(We) had a show a couple weeks ago and the entire sound system blew out during the second song,” said Jenna White ’09, who works at the Underground and plays electric violin for the student band Saturday Morning Project. “(It is) really frustrating and disappointing as an artist,” she said.

Tim Drinan ’08, a member of The Trolleys — a four-member band that has played at the Underground periodically for about a year — shared similar concerns about the lighting and sound systems. Drinan said while he likes the ambiance of the space, he finds it to have poor acoustics.

Drinan said it is important to have a space on campus where students can hear live music if they don’t have

ARTS & CULTURE cars or don’t want to walk down the Hill. The Underground also gives students an opportunity to perform, he said.

White agreed that the Underground is an important venue for music on campus because scarce practice space and limited opportunities to perform deter Brown musicians. “I think it is important that students have a place to play on campus (that is) run by students,” White said.

She noted that opportunities to play on campus beyond the Underground generally include fraternity parties and very small venues in lounges. White said she hopes the planned renovations of Faunce House will bring a few updates and improvements to the space such as a new sound system and lights.

Though Harding is in favor of improvements, he worries the University is looking to use the space currently occupied by the Underground for different purposes. If this were to occur, it would be difficult to recreate the Underground given new legislation intensifying the standards for alcohol distribution.

Though the Underground is a business, it requires subsidies from the University to stay open. Harding said it is hard for the space to make a real profit given the low price of its alcoholic beverages. He said he hopes the Undergraduate Finance Board will give the Underground funds to clean up the space and get new equipment — a change that could also benefit the Hourglass Cafe, which shares space with the Underground.

Currently, the Underground has taken steps to revitalize its presence on campus. Harding is trying to book off-campus bands and Brown bands on the same night in order to attract a diverse crowd and introduce new music on campus.

Harding said the Underground will only be open for 12-14 nights this semester. It will try to open up for a few more weekends despite budget restraints.

The Underground will be open Friday and Saturday nights until at least mid-March, with bands booked for nearly aall of those nights — including a variety of events thrown by students groups, such as Students for Sensible Drug Policy and Relay for Life.

“I’m really hoping that the Underground is finally back,” Harding said.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Fish Co effect muted at Jo’s Wednesday

Students flout rules and keep pets in dorms

continued from page 1 Carlos Reyes, who said he was hired as a retail dining supervisor only a week and a half ago, said he had heard that there could be a few drunken people, especially on Wednesdays, but he said he “hasn’t seen any big disturbances.” When asked about the University officials’ claims of excessive theft, he said the supervisors “try to create a consciousness among students.

That’s why I’m here. To me, its embarrassing to have to go tell someone to pay for some stuff.”

By 1:15 a.m., the scene at Jo’s had changed little from earlier in the night. Perez packed her bag as a few groups of seemingly intoxicated students — dressed for clubbing — walked in. There were a few shouting matches across the room, and twice a man challenged someone else to fight, but no fights materialized.

“Yo, blue fleece, you’re (expletive) dead,” one man shouted as he stumbled out of the building.

But despite the occasional commotion, Eichler said most students are polite. “I feel like most people at Brown have worked some crappy food service job at some point, so they’re pretty understanding,” he said.

Jo’s had three supervisors and

an officer from the Department of Public Safety on hand on Wednesday.

“I’m sure stuff happens from time to time but I’ve never experienced it, although it’s been a while since I’ve worked here,” said Campus Police Officer James Massey who was on duty Wednesday night.

“I haven’t heard of anything bad happening in the last semester and a half or so.”

At 1:30 a.m., the noise peaked as more people — some obviously intoxicated — wandered in. But aside from some shouting matches and a few dropped Odwalla bars, there was little unruliness. Two other DPS officers arrived and stood talking with Massey near the quesadilla station.

Fifteen minutes later, most of the crowd had started trickling out. An hour earlier, there was a 20-person line waiting to pay for food, but by 1:45 a.m. the two student cashiers sat reading.

There were still about 30 people hanging around Jo’s as the staff started cleaning up a few minutes before closing. Many of the tables were covered in trash and there were several spills of food on the floor. At 2 a.m., Jo’s staff turned off the lights in the dining room and the crowd started filing out into the dark.

continued from page 1 who are found housing pets in dorms are given fair warning and are asked to move the animal outside of the dorm room into more suitable living conditions.

“We ask that students remove the pets immediately and entrust the animal with a responsible owner. If they do not heed to our warning, then students will face judicial proceedings and fines,” Bova said. The fine amount depends on the type of animal, he added.

Though Bova said the University’s rules are clearly stated on the Web site, it doesn’t seem to stop students from acquiring pets — and outrageous ones at that.

Hans Sprecher ’08, who is currently studying abroad in Barbados, kept a rose-haired tarantula named Cleo in his New Pembroke room last year.

“With heaps of vodka and rum scattered around the room, swords hanging on the walls, clothes drying from the water pipes and Christmas lights tangled around the fire equipment, keeping a pet seemed quite tame,” Sprecher wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.

“Having a tarantula is very cool — kind of like having a mouse — just a feisty, scary-looking mouse.”

Sprecher and other students took turns caring for the spider and keeping it safe from discovery during room inspections. “A room check once came around when Cleo was out. Luckily, I had a friend over who was sitting on the bed flipping around a bottle

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2007

of vodka, and this provided ample distraction,” Sprecher said.

Having one pet isn’t enough of a risk for some students. Two roommates, who declined to give their names or residence hall for fear of disciplinary repercussions, keep a cat and an American alligator. The roommates bought the alligator from the Rhode Island Aquarium and Pet Center on North Main Street.

“It was pretty expensive. The alligator cost us $100, and then we had to buy food and supplies for it,” one of the students said. “My roommate wanted to get something really cool, so when we saw the alligator, we knew we had to buy it.”

The alligator, which they named Ali G, is currently 14 inches long and is kept in a tank they estimate is greater than 10 gallons in volume.

But Mew, a black cat one of the students found a few months ago near his workplace in East Providence, roams freely about the dorm room.

“Maintenance guys have come in and said we weren’t supposed to have the animals, but that didn’t stop us. We take really good care of our pets, and they’re very happy,” the student said.

Although the alligator will eventually reach a length of 10 to 16 feet, it will only grow about six inches during the first year, according to the roommates. They said a pet store employee told them they could donate the alligator to a local zoo once it grew to an unmanageable size.

“We would really like to keep the alligator after this year, but we’ll probably need a bigger tank,” the student said.

Though neither Sprecher nor the anonymous roommates were ever caught with their animals, some students haven’t been so lucky. Recently, The Herald reported that ResLife cited on-campus fraternity Phi Kappa Psi for a pet snake in their lounge.

“The snake is no longer in the fraternity, and the situation has been dealt with,” Bova said of the incident.

Bova specified that, though animals are strictly forbidden for companionship purposes, they are allowed in dorms for special needs.

“Under certain conditions service animals are allowed, and we then make appropriate housing accommodations for the person and the animal,” Bova said. “However, we do not have any students under this circumstance at the moment.”

According to Bova, ResLife’s concerns stem from some students’ irresponsibility as pet owners.

“We have found so many animals that have been left to fend for themselves while students go on breaks, and that is not acceptable,” Bova said. “As long as people cooperate with our standards, we give students the opportunity to correct themselves at first. I ask students respectfully to not bring their pets to school. I am a dog-lover, and I don’t bring my dog to work.”

Many students oppose legacy admission continued from page 1 tutions.”

Though Miller did not have demographic data on legacy applicants, he said he expected that “they’re probably from a higher socioeconomic background, but that’s not necessarily true. They probably come from more professional families.”

Miller said the Office of Admission has not recently considered revoking preferences for legacy applicants.

Students interviewed by The Herald were mostly opposed or indifferent to preferential treatment for legacy applicants.

“I’m the first in my family to graduate from high school, so in my case I don’t think it’s fair,” said Priscilla Gamino ’08.

Many students said they expected legacy students would be overrepresented because of their own merit. “I can understand that the admit rate will be higher, because children of alumni tend to have the kind of background that would help them get into Brown.

But I think that a preference hinders the meritocracy that should

be more in place,” said Kurt Moriber ’09.

Moriber and others said the University’s motivation for employing legacy preference seems simple. “One word — money.

It’s all about alumni donations. I think there’s nothing more to say about that,” Moriber said.

“I see the merit as far as the expected donations and dedication to the University, but it seems like another way to marginalize lowincome or first-generation applicants,” said Steve Hazeltine ’09.

But Tor Tarantola ’08, president of the Brown Democrats, said he did not expect that eliminating legacy preference would harm the University financially “because what you’re doing is broadening your donor base. Instead of having just one set of parents whose kids went to Brown, you’ll have another set of parents.

Parents don’t donate $10,000 per kid who gets in. They give based on what they can, and what they’re willing to give.”

One legacy student, Nicholas Kay ’09, said many people tend to exaggerate the advantage that legacies receive. “I think that peo-

ple see legacy students as getting a much bigger boost than they actually do. It helps, but it’s not going to get you in alone,” Kay said.

“I can’t think of any legacy students who just slipped in somehow. Brown definitely is not an easy school to get into. You have to have the credentials before they even consider legacy.”

Some students said the practice did not concern them. “I think it’s fine. It didn’t affect the way I thought about what schools I wanted to go to. That’s just how the college admissions process works these days,” said Richard Stein ’10.

Other students said legacy preference is something of a necessary evil. “If the alumni have given the University donations, it’s understandable, even though it doesn’t really seem fair, strictly speaking,” said Joe Larios ’10.

“I think I would have been a strong applicant whether or not my parents had been alumni, but they were, and I’m fairly certain it gave me an advantage,” said Ben Foley ’07. “I haven’t met any legacy students that I thought stood out as being unqualified.”

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Buckland speaks on developing HPV vaccine

BY ANNA MILLMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Chris Bennett / Herald 867 students enrolled in Econ 11 this year, with 507 students in the spring semester.

EC 11 enrollment reaches record numbers This academic year 867 students have taken or are currently taking EC 11: “Principles of Economics” — the most who have ever taken it in one year.

This semester, the course has 507 students — the course’s highest enrollment ever — making it the second-largest course this semester after PS 22: “City Politics,” which has 556 students, according to University Registrar Michael Pesta.

Econ 11 has been among the University’s most popular courses for several years, but this year’s enrollment numbers are significantly higher than last year, when 733 students took the course.

Professor of Economics Andrew Foster, who chairs the department, said he thinks the high numbers are partly due to students liking the lectures. Foster credits the course’s instructors this year, Senior Lecturer in Economics Rachel Friedberg and Professor of Economics Roberto Serrano, with Econ 11’s popularity.

Friedberg and Serrano said they are pleased with the increasing number of students taking Econ 11. They added that the department might have to hire more teaching assistants in the future, since some sections are already as large as 30 students this semester.

There are concerns that if the class grows even larger in future semesters, it could exceed the size of Brown’s largest auditorium. If the class size in a semester exceeds 600 students, lectures would have to be split into two sections, Pesta said.

“The increasing enrollment … reflects an increasing interest in economics in study,” Foster said.

Still, the increase in the number of students taking Econ 11 may not necessarily reflect growth in the economics program. Most students in the course are first-years and sophomores who have not yet declared a concentration, Pesta said. The course is a requirement for the concentrations in economics, international relations and Commerce, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship, and Serrano said the course material has broad appeal.

“I took the course to have a general understanding of economics,” said Jake Phillips ’10.

Alex Tudela ’10 said he considered “Econ 11 to be one of the standard classes I should take in college.”

— Mehmet Sokeli

One of the creators of Gardasil, pharmaceutical giant Merck’s widely discussed vaccine for the human papillomavirus — a sexually transmitted disease that is a major cause of cervical cancer — spoke Thursday in Salomon 001 on the scientific process of creating the vaccine and making it safe and practical for widespread use.

The lecture by Barry Buckland, vice president for bioprocess research and development at Merck, was sponsored by Students for Choice, Colleges against Cancer and the Global Alliance to Immunize against AIDS. Buckland said Gardasil protects against high-risk HPV types 16 and 18, which together cause 70 percent of cervical cancer, and low-risk types 6 and 11, which cause 90 percent of genital warts.

Buckland was introduced by Allison Pappas ’08, president of Students for Choice, and Annie DeGroot, adjunct associate professor of community health, who is director of the TB/HIV Research Laboratory and founder of GAIA. Though the talk was advertised as covering both the creation of the vaccine and its possible effects on society, Buckland spoke only on the scientific process of developing the vaccine.

Buckland explained that the researchers took the L1 protein — a major capsid protein of HPV — from each of the four types of the virus the vaccine protects against and cloned them in yeast to create a non-infectious vaccine.

Buckland said his group chose this method because they had previously used a similar process on a vaccine for hepatitis B. He explained that unlike other vaccines — such as those for polio or measles, mumps and rubella —

Eunice Hong / Herald

Merck exec Barry Buckland discussed the company’s HPV vaccine Thursday night.

the HPV vaccine did not use the complete virus. As a result, the vaccine provides protection without introducing the virus itself, he said.

Buckland said the HPV vaccine had been approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration relatively quickly — approval had only taken about six months.

After the lecture Buckland told The Herald he had been excited to work on the HPV vaccine. “A project like this everybody wants to work on — I mean, it’s a dream project, but you don’t really know that in the beginning, because in the beginning you don’t really know whether it’s going to work or not,” he said.

His group worked on the vaccine for eight years, he said, and only about half of the vaccines they work on actually prove successful. “It’s just been a great project. I’ve been really proud to have been a part of it,” he said.

Pappas said Students for Choice had begun preparations to

bring Buckland to campus last fall and “lucked out” with the recent publicity of the vaccine. “We got in contact with Buckland in November, and then all of a sudden, this exploded on the news,” she said.

Buckland gave the lecture without compensation, Pappas said. “He agrees that the vaccine is so important that spreading the word about it is the most important thing, so he wanted to come talk about it,” she said.

The lecture was especially important because of the health implications of the vaccine, said Emily Lau ’09, co-president of Brown’s chapter of Colleges Against Cancer. “Cervical cancer really is one of the leading killers of women,” she said.

“It obviously was very sciencefocused, but I think it’s important for people to be informed about the vaccine itself so they can then go and make their own opinions about its place in society and whether or not they want to have it,” Pappas said.

Med School research breakthrough could aid cancer fight

BY ABE LUBETKIN STAFF WRITER

Researchers at the Alpert Medical School have identified a new factor in cell growth that could aid scientists seeking to cure cancer and other diseases caused by cellular malfunction.

It’s too early to know how the findings will translate to biomedical applications, but the discover y sheds light on how cells multiply.

“These findings may provide fresh approaches to (treating) a variety of disorders,” said Alan Rosmarin MA’98, associate professor of medicine and the study’s leader.

Working with Zhongfa Yang MS’04 PhD ’05, a research fellow at Rhode Island Hospital and instructor at the Med School, Rosmarin and his team discovered that a transcription factor known as GABP — previously not considered crucial to cell growth — in fact plays a major role in cell division.

Biologists at Rosmarin’s Rhode Island Hospital lab shut off GABP production in cells that were reproducing normally. What the scientists observed was startling — as soon as the cells became GABP-deficient, they stopped dividing.

“We showed that if we take away GABP, cell growth comes to a screeching halt,” Rosmarin explained.

By a series of tests, the researchers concluded that GABP not only contributes to cell growth but also single-handedly initiates cellular reproduction.

Rosmarin’s team — which included Rhode Island Hospital research associate Stephanie Mott — worked on the project for six years. They published their findings earlier this month in the scientific journal Nature Cell Biology.

Yang, who coordinated the experiments and was the lead author of the journal article, said previous understandings of cellular reproduction left some questions unanswered.

“This alternative pathway (for cell growth) will explain the contradictions in the previous theor y,” he said.

Whether the discover y will open the door to practical medical treatments depends on how precisely scientists are able to manipulate the GABP level in human cells. The challenge for researchers is to find a method of reducing GABP without eliminating it entirely.

Currently, by RNA-silencing, scientists can lower levels of GABP by turning off its coding gene, but the process is imprecise — scientists cannot control exactly how much GABP production is diminished. Lowering levels of GABP could keep cancer from spreading, but completely shutting off production would kill healthy cells as well as cancerous ones.

“You have to fine-tune this protein expression,” Yang explained.

The key to combating other diseases may involve the opposite approach: boosting levels of GABP. Rosmarin, who is the director of clinical oncology research for the Rhode Island healthcare provider Lifespan, said the protein could also have applications for stem cell biology. Stimulating production of GABP may also allow scientists to re-grow muscle tissue, which can help treat diseases such as muscular dystrophy.

“I don’t want to suggest that these treatments are around the corner, because they are not,” Rosmarin said. “But that doesn’t mean that, if we can find ways to manipulate the system, we couldn’t come up with something.”

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

PAGE 6

Trudeau ’09: NBA All-Star Weekend notes continued from page 12 ing at will in a blowout I could just play NBA 2K7 with my suitemates.

(Side note: I am the best 2K7 player in the entire world. I’m not kidding.

I am better than the 30-year-old nerd who sits naked in his mom’s basement and has no life. If you think you can beat me, send me an e-mail and bring it on.) I would like to give a shout-out to my main man, who? David Lee, baby. Lee went 15for-15 from the floor en route to winning the game’s MVP. Skills Competition You know it’s a bad competition when it’s taboo to actually try. This reminded me of middle school when I’d play basketball with girls just to flirt with them and any guy who exerted any effort beating the girls would get made fun of. Can’t Kobe at least pretend he cares about winning the $35,000 prize?

Three-Point Shootout Where are Ray Allen, Luther Head, Kyle Korver and Kevin Martin? Oh right, they’re making room for Damon Jones.

Dunk Contest Michael Jordan has turned into a grumpy, jealous old man. He and

the rest of the judges completely stiffed Dwight Howard on the most ridiculous dunk of the night when he placed a sticker 12 feet 6 inches high on the backboard before throwing one down. Tyrus “Pay Me” Thomas may as well have not come and Nate “Wanna Fight?”

Robinson finally got his comeuppance by getting screwed by the judges. At least Gerald Green put on a show. Still, the dunk contest (along with the And 1 Mix Tape) is everything that’s wrong with American basketball — all style and no substance. I can’t wait for the country to realize we aren’t the best anymore at team basketball.

The All-Star Game Before the game, TNT analyst Doug Collins warned us that the game would start off slowly because everyone wants to be so unselfish. Someone must have forgotten to tell that to the East team.

They came out shooting contested threes (Arenas was 2-of-7) and hoisting up long fade-away jumpers, which made the game barely watchable. Shaq looks like he’s not far away from being an average starting center, and I’m not sure how Caron Butler finished 1-of-7 in a game with no one playing defense. Shawn Marion was praised

the entire game for cherry picking (“he just always seems to be the fastest down the court”), while Tim Duncan further cemented his status as the least exciting superstar to watch.

It wasn’t entirely bad, though.

Amare Stoudemire and Dwight Howard are redefining the center position. Stoudemire, the Knicks’ seventh overall draft pick in the — wait, I forgot they traded their pick for Antonio McDyess. Anyway, Stoudemire was running the floor, dishing the rock, driving for reverse layups, swishing jumpers and dunking over everyone, and Dwight Howard looks like the biggest athletic freak I’ve ever seen in the NBA. Also, Tony Parker gave the rest of the world the chance to stare at Eva Longoria during those cutaways to her in the crowd. And that’s before I get to seven-footer Chris Bosh, who moves like a wingman but has sick nasty post moves and range out to the threepoint line.

Until next time, sports world.

You keep doing your thing and I’ll continue to point out your flaws and shortcomings. Love, Tom.

Tom Trudeau ’09 is serious about the 2K7 challenge.

McAndrew humbly hits his stride continued from page 12 of how much McAndrew continues to pack the stat sheet. It won’t matter if he averages 25 points and 10 boards for the remainder of the season. It won’t matter if he

makes First-Team All Ivy or even wins league Player of the Year honors. McAndrew has reached the point where it simply isn’t enough to put up impressive stats — it also matters how he does it.

But just for a second, imagine

how scary it will be for Brown’s Ivy foes when there’s nothing left to criticize.

Chris Mahr ’07 would be ecstatic with shooting 6-for-9 from the floor in one of his IM games.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2007

Ames ’07 of w. tennis aiming for strong final campaign continued from page 12 and in Harlem at the Stadium Racquet Club. I’d take the subway by myself, from ninth through 11th grade. I thought I was a big girl.

Where did you play your senior year?

I went to Florida to play tennis my senior year at Saddlebrook Tennis Academy. I wanted to get better at tennis, and the move allowed me to play a lot more. We had class from 7 a.m. to noon and then tennis from 1 p.m. to five, sometimes six. I loved it.

How did it feel to leave New York your senior year for a new school?

I was getting frustrated in New York City because I wasn’t getting to play enough. The demands of my strict school made it difficult to leave and play in tournaments. In order to get better, I knew it was necessary for me to change my surroundings. The change was much more favorable for an athletic lifestyle.

How did you decide on Brown?

Three of my four brothers went to Brown … and played football here. I used to come to all of their games, so I already had an appreciation for its campus culture. When I was being recruited, Brown definitely stuck out as a place I felt most comfortable.

What is the best part of playing tennis for Brown?

Playing for (Head Coach) Paul Wardlaw has probably been one of the best things that happened to me at Brown. He’s really had a lot of patience with the development of my game. He has helped me come to understand myself and

the type of player I want to be.

What is the relationship between the men’s and women’s tennis teams?

I go to all of their matches when our schedule allows. Their energy is such an inspiration to me. They compete with so much fight and heart. I admire how much the men love playing tennis.

You can see that they want to be on the court.

What you are doing after graduation?

I want to play professional tennis as soon as I graduate. There are a group of tournaments in France in July and then Spain in August. Europe is a great environment to begin playing professionally because there are so many tournaments there in the summer.

Plus, playing on the clay court is the way to go. It makes you focus on point building as opposed to hard court where the ball is a lot faster.

What is your mindset about becoming a professional?

College has provided me with an amazing opportunity to improve, especially under Paul Wardlaw. I know if I devote even more time then I will definitely improve even more, and that is all I can ask of myself. Now, I just have to find a personal coach.

Do you think you could live in Europe?

Absolutely. I have plans some way or another to live in Italy. The accessibility of all of the art and architecture is what I want to surround myself with. I eventually want to go to graduate school in architecture and then study in Italy. I just have to learn how to draw and paint first.

www.browndailyherald.com

W ORLD & N ATION FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2007

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Iraqi police official says officer, soldiers admit to rape BAGHDAD, Iraq (Washington Post) — An Iraqi police official in the northeastern city of Tal Afar said Thursday that a military officer and three soldiers had admitted to raping a Sunni woman and recording the act with a cell phone camera.

The soldiers’ admission follows another Sunni woman’s assertion this week that she had been raped in Baghdad by members of Iraq’s predominately Shiite security forces. Iraq’s Kurdish president and its Sunni vice president said Thursday that a judge should investigate her case, which the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has dismissed as groundless.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said in a statement that the courts were “the only legitimate place to examine such allegations” and that the government should avoid steps that would “inflame sensitivities and create mistrust.”

Talabani’s stance, echoed by vice president Tarik al-Hashimi, is sharply at odds with al-Maliki’s insistence that the 20-year-old Baghdad woman who contends three Iraqi policemen raped her Sunday is a criminal who fabricated the story to exacerbate sectarian tension and undermine a U.S. and Iraqi security plan to pacify the capital.

The case has caused a political uproar — with Sunnis demanding justice and Shiites defending the officers — in a society where public discussion of rape is rare.

Weepy judge awards custody of Smith remains to guardian (Los Angeles Times) — A teary Florida judge Thursday ordered that the body of Anna Nicole Smith be turned over to the lawyer representing her five-month-old daughter and indicated that he hoped the reality television star would be buried in the Bahamas with her dead son.

Broward County, Fla., Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin awarded custody of Smith’s body to Richard Millstein, appointed to represent Dannielynn. Millstein was ordered to meet with the parties and work out details for burying Smith.

Seidlin indicated that he believed that Smith wanted to be buried next to her 20-year-old son, Daniel, who died Sept. 10 of an apparent drug overdose.

“I want her buried with her son in the Bahamas,” Seidlin said. “I want them to be together.”

The ruling comes a day earlier than expected, but in the second week of hearings of how to deal with the body of Smith, who died Feb. 8.

Chimps observed making weapons (Washington Post) — Chimpanzees living in the West African savannah have been observed fashioning deadly spears from sticks and using the hand-crafted tools to hunt small mammals—the first routine production of deadly weapons ever observed in animals other than humans.

The multi-step spear-making practice, documented by researchers in Senegal who spent years gaining the chimpanzees’ trust, adds credence to the idea that human forebears fashioned similar tools millions of years ago.

The landmark observation also supports the long-debated proposition that females — the main makers and users of spears among the Senegalese chimps — tend to be the innovators and creative problem solvers in primate culture.

Using their hands and teeth, the chimpanzees were repeatedly seen tearing the side branches off long straight sticks, peeling back the bark and sharpening one end, the researchers report in Thursday’s on-line issue of the journal Current Biology. Then, grasping the weapon in a “power grip,” they jabbed into tree-branch hollows where bush babies — small monkey-like mammals — sleep during the day.

After stabbing their prey repeatedly, they removed the injured or dead animal and ate it.

“It was really alarming how forceful it was,” said lead researcher Jill D. Pruetz of Iowa State University in Ames, adding that it reminded her of the murderous shower scene in the Alfred Hitchcock movie “Psycho.”“It was kind of scary.”

here lies one whose name was writ in water

U.N. reports Iran still enriching uranium

BY BOB DROGIN LOS ANGELES T IMES

VIENNA, Austria — Iran has steadily expanded its program to enrich uranium and defied a U.N. Security Council deadline for an immediate freeze of nuclear activities before it gains the capability to produce fuel for nuclear weapons, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said here Thursday.

The six-page report by Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is almost certain to trigger moves by the Bush administration and its European allies for stiffer U.N. sanctions against the Iranian regime.

The Security Council voted unanimously in December to impose a 60-day deadline for Iran to unconditionally stop a pilot program that has begun small-scale uranium enrichment, as well as stop construction of a heavy water reactor and installation of a much larger enrichment facility.

But ElBaradei’s report indicated that the Iranians instead have pushed the program into higher gear since November. A senior United Nations’ official, who briefed reporters, said there had been “no progress” in resolving the IAEA’s major outstanding concerns.

“There is limited cooperation,” he said. “In my view, it’s fairly limited.”

Most significantly, the report confirmed that Iran has begun installation of 3,000 gas centrifuges in an underground facility at Natanz and plans to “bring them gradually into operation by May 2007.”

If true, experts here said, the facility conceivably could produce enough enriched uranium in a year to provide enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb. Earlier this week, ElBaradei was quoted as saying he believed the facility would not be operational for another six months.

Iran insists it will only produce low-enriched uranium to fuel civilian reactors at electric power plants, but the international community fears the effort could be extended to also produce weapons-grade material. Iran ultimately hopes to install 54,000 centrifuges, a facility large enough to fuel 20 bombs a year.

Iranian officials repeatedly have rebuffed IAEA requests to install special cameras and other remote monitoring equipment at the underground site to ensure the enrichment program is for peaceful purposes, according to the report.

Officials in Tehran also have failed to fully explain the source of particles of high-enriched uranium that previously were detected on equipment on the Natanz centrifuges and at separate technical

research center, the report said.

IAEA inspectors visited Iran earlier this week and plan to return on March 3.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, on a visit to Vienna, told reporters that he was “deeply concerned . . . that the Iranian government did not meet the deadline set by the Security Council.”

Iran’s nuclear activities, he added, had “great implications for peace and security, as well as nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”

The focus now moves to the Security Council in New York, which is expected to meet next week to consider a range of further actions against Iran.

Possible new sanctions could include a travel ban on certain Iranian officials, a prohibition against export guarantees and other financial support for Iran, and an expansion of the nuclear embargo to an arms embargo.

Iran’s nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, flew to Vienna on Tuesday for last minute talks with ElBaradei.

Larijani told reporters afterward that Iran was “looking for ways and means to start negotiations.”

He said Iran was prepared to provide “assurances that there would be no deviation” of material for nuclear weapons, but ruled out stopping the program outright as a precondition for talks.

Study says students are learning less

BY MITCHELL LANDSBERG LOS ANGELES TIMES

U.S. high school students are taking tougher classes, receiving better grades and, apparently, learning less than their counterparts of 15 years ago.

Those were the discouraging implications of two reports issued Thursday by the federal Department of Education, assessing the performance of students in both public and private schools. Together, the reports raised sobering questions about the past two decades of educational reform, including whether the movement to raise school standards has amounted to much more than window dressing.

“I think we’re sleeping through a crisis,” said David Driscoll, the Massachusetts commissioner of education, during a Washington news conference convened by the Department of Education. He called the study results “stunning.”

Bruce Fuller, a professor of education and public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, said he found the results “dismal.” After years of reforms aimed primarily at elementary schools, Fuller said the studies “certainly support shining the spotlight on the high school as a priority for reform efforts.”

The reports summarized two major government efforts to measure the performance of high school seniors as part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. One was a standardized test of 12th graders conducted in 2005. The other was an analysis of the transcripts of students who graduated from high school that year.

The transcript study showed that, compared to students in similar studies going back to 1990, the 2005 graduates had racked up more high school credits, had taken more

college preparatory classes and had strikingly higher grade point averages. The average GPA rose from 2.68 in 1990 to 2.98 — close to a solid B — in 2005.

That was the good news — or so it seemed. But the standardized test results showed that 12th grade reading scores have generally been dropping since 1992, casting doubt on what students are learning in those college prep classes.

Math scores posed a different sort of mystery, because the Department of Education switched to a new test in 2005 that wasn’t directly comparable to those used before.

Still, the results of the new test didn’t inspire confidence: fewer than onequarter of the 12th graders tested scored in the “proficient” range.

The reports also showed that the gap separating white and black, and white and Hispanic students, has barely budged since the early 1990s.

And while the results were not broken down by state, a broad regional breakdown showed that the West and Southeast lagged well behind the Midwest and, to a lesser extent, the Northeast.

David Gordon, the Sacramento County, Calif., superintendent of schools and a participant in the Department of Education news conference Thursday, said he found it especially disturbing that the studies focused on “our best students,” those who had made it to 12th grade or who had graduated.

“It’s clear to me from these data that for all of our talk of the achievement gap among subgroups of students, a larger problem may be an instructional gap or a rigor gap, which effects not just some but most of our students,” Gordon said.

The reading and math test was given to 21,000 high school seniors at 900 U.S. schools, including 200 private schools. The transcript study

was based on 26,000 transcripts from 720 schools, 80 of them private. The reports did not give separate results for public vs. private schools.

Policy analysts nationwide said the studies were gloomy news for the American economy, since the country’s educational system already measured poorly in international comparisons.

“What we see out of these results is a very disturbing picture of the knowledge and skills of the young people about to go into college and the workforce,” said Daria Hall, assistant director of the Education Trust, a Washington-based nonprofit dedicated to improving education especially for poor and minority students.

Among other things, Hall said the transcript study provided clear evidence of grade inflation, as well as “course inflation” — offering high-level courses that have “the right names” but a dumbed-down curriculum.

“What it suggests is that we are telling students that they’re being successful in these courses when, in fact, we’re not teaching them any more than they were learning in the past,” she said. “So we are, in effect, lying to these students.”

Although the reports came out five years after passage of President Bush’s signature education reform initiative, No Child Left Behind, Hall and others said it would be unfair to blame that program for the students’ poor showing. They were already in high school when No Child Left Behind was enacted, and it is primarily aimed at elementary and middle schools.

Driscoll recalled an earlier president’s contribution to education reform — the Nation at Risk report that seemed to galvanize the educational establishment when it was issued by President Reagan in 1983.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2007

Corporation to discuss Med School, budget this weekend continued from page 1 ration to gain a clearer sense of where the Med School is headed in the future and to talk about the big-picture budget and capital projects.”

In order to facilitate the strategic planning retreat, various committees that normally meet on Friday, such as the committee on advancement and the academic affairs committee, will not convene until the body’s May meeting.

Last night, the committee on campus life hosted its annual town meeting with students, faculty and administrators active in student life organizations. The theme this year was “Community and Brown.” Previous years have addresses facilities, international student needs and diversity issues.

Three hundred people were invited to attend the dinner in Andrews Dining Hall, and about 150 are expected to attend — one-third of them students, wrote Russell Carey ’91 MA’06, interim vice president for campus life and student services, before the event in an e-mail to The Herald.

The Corporation will hold its regular hour with the president and general business meeting Saturday, when members will discuss Simmons’ response to the October 2006 final report of the University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. Simmons said at a faculty meeting earlier this month that she would offer several proposals — some from the report and others that the committee did not recommend.

How — and if — the Corporation will take any public action regarding the University’s historical ties to slavery is unclear.

“The Corporation can take whatever action it wants in response to the slavery and justice report,” Chapman said.

Official business Also in tomorrow’s meeting, the Corporation will elect a new

chancellor, vice chancellor, secretary and treasurer. Brown’s 19th chancellor, Stephen Robert ’62 P’91, has served as the Corporation’s top official — and the president’s boss — since 1998.

He reaches the limit of his term this year.

The Corporation will also approve the University budget for next year and formally accept several large donations. All donations to the University of more than $1 million must be approved by the Corporation.

The University Resources Committee, which prepares a budget for Simmons and the Corporation to approve, is proposing a $704.8 million budget for next year — a 6.3 percent increase from this year. It is also proposing a 5 percent increase in tuition and a 10 percent higher payout from the University’s $2.4 billion endowment, according to the committee’s February report.

In a Feb. 6 report at a faculty meeting, Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 said the URC’s proposal for a higher endowment payout reflects strong investment growth and fundraising that have bolstered the University’s coffers by nearly $1 billion in the last six years.

But despite fundraising and investment success, the University may be strapped for cash.

The last two years’ URC budget reports and a Feb. 25, 2006 campus-wide e-mail from Simmons indicated that the University might be constrained in its spending abilities for some time. Since then, the University has continued spending heavily to finance initiatives in the Plan for Academic Enrichment, such as raising graduate student stipends and increasing the size of the faculty. But funding cutbacks will cause the Graduate School to admit fewer students next year.

“It is clear that the University’s aspirations will continue to require the investment of reserves and balances for the next five to seven years,” the URC report reads.

S PORTS E XTRA FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2007

PAGE 9

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

W. tennis trounces opposition to even record

BY MADELEINE MARECKI ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

The women’s tennis team had a wildly successful weekend at home, winning all three of its matches to even its record at 33. On Saturday, the Bears swept Bucknell University 7-0 in the morning, defeating every opponent in straight sets, then came back that afternoon to defeat the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, 5-2. Sunday was just as impressive, with Brown romping over Rutgers University, 7-0.

At first singles against Bucknell, Alexa Baggio ’09 defeated Paulina Gamboa 6-2, 6-1 and Emily Ellis ’10 dismissed Carlin Calcaterra 6-3, 62 at second singles. Tanja Vucetic ’10 continued Bruno’s dominance, outscoring her opponent 6-1, 6-1 at third singles. Kelley Kirkpatrick ’08, Brett Finkelstein ’09 and Kathrin Sorokko ’10 also claimed victories at fourth, fi fth and sixth singles, respectively.

The duo of Michelle Pautler ’07 and Sara Mansur ’09 beat Gamboa and Calcaterra 8-3 at first doubles.

Kirkpatrick and Ellis claimed victory at second doubles, and the third doubles team of captain Daisy Ames ’07 and Sorokko won as well.

Though UMass put up more of a fight than Bucknell did, Brown still had the last word. Ames claimed the win in first singles against Michele Spiess, overcoming a slow start. She fought back from a 6-2 first set loss, taking the last two sets 7-5, 6-4.

But the Bears dropped their matches at second and third single. Pautler lost to Masha Pozar at number two and Mansur lost to Ellen de Jong in the third position.

But No. 4 Ellis, No. 5 Baggio and No. 6 Vucetic rescued the Bears

The men’s track team was in Boston Sunday to compete in the USA Track and Field New England Indoor Championships. The individual meet was its last preparation for the season-ending Heptagonal Championships this weekend.

“This meet (was) … just a tune up for Heps and a last chance to get in competition experience,” said Director of Track and Field Craig Lake. “A lot of the runners raced under-distance.”

Despite the laid-back feel of the meet, the Bears got right to business in the 60-meter dash as Paul Raymond ’08 blazed to a third-place finish with a time of 7.03. Sean O’Brien ’09 ran to a fourth-place finish in the 400-meter run with a time of 49.83.

The mile-run showed off the squad’s depth. Four Bears finished in the top six of the event.

Ozzie Myers ’08, Brian Schmidt ’09, Christian Escareno ’10 and

Lindsay Kahn ’09 finished fourth, fi fth and sixth respectively. In the 800-meter run, Gupta and Brooke Giuffre ’10 ran to fourth and seventh place finishes with times of 2:14.52 and 2:17.28, respectively.

“It was really great to see that, while many team members were not competing, the large majority of the men’s and women’s team were present and that we could evoke a competitive atmosphere at a meet that would otherwise be lacking it entirely,” Gupta said.

In the 60-meter hurdles, Dianna Anderson ’09 raced to fourth with a time of 9.62. The 4x440 relay proved to be a strong event for the Bears. They finished behind only the Greater Boston Track Club, recording a second-place time of 4:10.90.

In the field, perhaps the biggest stir came from King and Cheryl Scott ’07, both sprinters who tried their hands at the jump events for this weekend and soared to a resounding success.

In the long jump, Scott, Thomas and Shannon Stone ’10 leaped to second, eighth and ninth places respectively with Scott soaring to a distance of 5.59 meters. That puts her seventh in the Ivy League.

In the triple jump, King leaped her way to silver with an 11.72-meter jump, putting her fourth in the Ivy League currently.

Danielle Grunloh ’10 worked her way to a gold in the shot put, throwing a distance of 12.96 meters.

With the biggest and final competition of the season looming on the horizon, the Bears are getting ready.

“The main goal going into Heps is to make athletic choices that will ensure we are healthy and ready to go,” Lake said. “We need to eat, sleep and drink track and field this week. We need to get focused and ready. We need to be positive and confident and ready to step it up.”

BY SARAH DEMERS ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Jacob Melrose / Herald

Captain Daisy Ames ’07 won all three of her matches this weekend.

with their wins in singles play.

In doubles, the first and third pairings claimed victory, highlighted by the effort of No. 1 Pautler and Mansur over Spiess and de Jong, 8-2.

The Bears capped off their productive weekend on Sunday against Rutgers, with Ames winning against her opponent at first singles, 6-1, 7-6 (6). Pautler claimed an easy victory over Ar-

lak, 6-1, 6-1 at second singles, and Mansur defeated Anela Dujsic 57, 6-2, 6-4 at third singles.

In doubles, both the No. 2 duo of Kirkpatrick and Ellis and the No. 3 pair of Ames and Sorokko won their respective matches.

The Bears play host again this weekend, taking on Vanderbilt University on Sat Saturday at 10 a.m. and the University of Virginia on Sunday at 9:30 a.m.

Jumpers lead the way for m. track

BY SARAH DEMERS ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

W. track puts forth solid effort in last pre-Heps outing

Duriel Hardy ’10 raced to second, third-, fi fth- and sixth-place finishes respectively to make it one of the strongest outings of the day on the track. Myers, Schmidt and Hardy all had personal bests.

In the 800-meter run, John Loeser ’10 and Hardy notched a fourth- and sixth-place finish with times of 1:57.14 and 1:57.92, respectively. Matt Jasmin ’09 rounded out the track competition with a fi fth place finish in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.38.

In the field, the Bears came out in full force in the long jump, stacking the event with talent en route to placing five athletes in the top six. Deshaun Mars ’08 led the way with a gold-medal performance, leaping a distance of 6.69-meters. He was followed

by Stephen Bernardi ’07 in second, Nkosi Still ’08 in third, Reginald Cole ’10 in fourth and Miles Craigwell ’09 in sixth. The difference between first and sixth was a mere 0.36 meters.

“I haven’t been jumping well this season, so I went into the

meet trying to fix a couple of things in my approach and jumps and go out there and compete hard,” Mars said. “This meet just gave me a shot of confidence going into Heps. We just have to take this momentum into next week.”

In the triple jump, Cole and Craigwell came back again to score fourth and fi fth with leaps of 14.34 meters and 14.09 meters, respectively.

Bryan Powlen ’10 rounded out the day on a strong note, closing the meet with a first-place finish in the shot put with a personal best 16.05 meter throw. The throw was the fi fth-longest in the Ivy League this season.

“I am not surprised to see a lot of big performances occurring now,” Lake said. “We have a fantastic coaching staff, and we posted a ton of personal bests last year at the indoor Ivy League championships. We had a lot of throwers, jumpers, sprinters and distance kids have huge breakthroughs at this time of year.”

Many students left campus last weekend in search of a brief vacation, but a select few members of the women’s track team left to compete in one last meet before the Heptagonal Championships, which begin tomorrow. The Bears traveled to Boston on Sunday to race in the USA Track and Field New England Indoor Championships at Harvard.

“This was an important last chance for some individuals to get their last breakthrough throw, jump or time in before Heps,” said Smita Gupta ’08. “Some individuals were definitely hoping to compete well enough to compete again at Heps next week. However, many others were hoping to use the meet as one final tune-up. The sprinters, (middle distance) and distance runners largely did not compete in their primary events.”

Among a scattered field of schools and track clubs, the Bears put together a solid meet, which will serve to ready them for the championship match this weekend.

“We had a lot of personal best performances at the meet, which bodes well going into Heps,” said Director of Track and Field Craig Lake. “It demonstrates that we are peaking at the end of the season and at the right time.”

Lauren Hale ’07 started off the day by finishing fourth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 8.02, followed closely by teammate Alex Thomas ’08, who placed seventh in 8.24. In the 200-meter dash, Akilah King ’08 and Thelma Breezeatl ’10 provided a one-two punch for the Bears, finishing first and second in the event with times of 24.99 and 25.09, respectively.

The mile also proved to be a stacked event for the team. Jenna Ridgway ’10, Ariel Wright ’10 and

W. squash squelched in pursuit of Howe Cup continued from page 12 ment was positive despite the results. “All in all, the Howe Cup was a lot of fun. It’s nice to have a big culminating tournament to work toward and also to bring closure to the season,” she said.

Despite the results of the Howe Cup, LeGassick was pleased with the team’s performance throughout the season. He cited the victory last weekend against Cornell and the excruciatingly close loss to Williams earlier in the season as

SP

O R T S

FRIDAY, DAY FEB. 23 DAY, M. BASKETBALL: vs. Columbia, Pizzitola Center, 7 p.m.

W. BASKETBALL: at Columbia M. ICE HOCKEY: at RPI SKIING: at ECSC Regional Championships (Middlebury, Vt.) M. SWIMMING: at EISL Championships (Princeton, N.J.)

SATURDAY, ATURDAY FEB. 24 ATURDAY,

www.browndailyherald.com

M. BASKETBALL: vs. Cornell, Pizzitola Center, 7 p.m.

W. BASKETBALL: at Cornell EQUESTRIAN: at Wesleyan M. HOCKEY: at Union M. LACROSSE: at UMBC SKIING: at ECSC Regional Championships

the highlights of the schedule this year.

Three squad members, unnamed at this point, will be competing at Nationals in two weeks. Regardless of the individual successes, the sense of team cohesiveness was strong this year.

“Squash is inherently an individual sport, and sometimes it is challenging to make it team-oriented,” Lew said. “Throughout the season there was an overwhelming sense that we were playing for each other and not as 10 individuals.”

SCH

E D U L E

M. SWIMMING: at EISL Championships (Princeton, N.J.) M. TENNIS: vs. Navy, vy, Pizzitola Center, 2 p.m.; vs. vy, Buffalo,, Pizzitola Center Center, 7 p.m.

W. TENNIS: vs. Vanderbilt, Pizzitola Center Center, 10 a.m.

M. & W. TRACK: at Ivy League Heptagonal Championships (New York, N.Y.) W. WATER POLO: vs. Hartwick, Smith Swim Center, 8 p.m.

SUNDAY, DAY FEB. 25 DAY, FENCING: at Ivy North (Cambridge, Mass.)

GYMNASTICS: at Ivy Classic (Philadelphia, Pa.) W. LACROSSE: at North Carolina SKIING: at ECSC Regional Championships W. TENNIS: vs. Virginia, Pizzitola Center Center, 10 a.m.

M. & W. TRACK: at Ivy League Heptagonal Championships (New York, N.Y.)

E DITORIAL & L ETTERS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

PAGE 10

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2007

STAF F EDITORIAL

Diamonds and coal A diamond to the upcoming debut of Blue State Coffee. Just what we need — another place to drink liberally.

Coal to the intrepid, anonymous roommates who keep a 14inch alligator and a cat hidden in their room. We expect that, soon enough, you’ll probably only have an alligator. But look at the bright side — you’ll probably be fined less for just one animal.

A diamond to tame nights at Jo’s. This must be the reason students haven’t contracted the norovirus — we haven’t been in contact with infected vomit recently.

Ice to rapper Sun Zoo ’08, who dropped his most recent album last week, giving us the opportunity to discuss hip-hop and the Nutmeg State in the same article.

A diamond to Washington and Lincoln’s birthdays. The traditional way to honor our greatest presidents is by sleeping for four days in a row, right?

A cubic zirconium to the Corporation. While we like the idea of a “retreat-style” meeting, is the Westin really as much as you’re willing to rough it? We’re sure you’ll bond on the way from your Heavenly Beds to the meeting room.

Coal to the juniors elected to Phi Beta Kappa for making us feel horribly inadequate. Fortunately for us, living well is the best revenge.

A diamond to the two students who engaged in a friendly fistfight on Patriots Court before being broken up by DPS. That makes us think of a possible, um, “altercation” between ourselves and another campus publication … but maybe they’re scared we won’t be friends after we win.

Cubic zirconium to Brown and RISD’s joint degree program, which reminds us of a tenuous custody agreement. Okay, you can go up the Hill to Daddy’s for one year and then to Mommy’s for the next year, but don’t ask to go down the block for visits on the weekends. They just can’t work it out.

Coal to all you aspiring investment bankers taking Econ 11.

Be Brown students — take queer studies, read Kant, avoid math for four years … and then go to Wall Street.

T HE B ROWN D AILY H ERALD Editors-in-Chief Eric Beck Mary-Catherine Lader

Executive Editors Allison Kwong Ben Leubsdorf

Senior Editors Stephen Colelli Sonia Saraiya BUSINESS

EDITORIAL Lydia Gidwitz Lindsey Meyers Stephanie Bernhard Stu Woo Simmi Aujla Sara Molinaro Ross Frazier Jacob Schuman Michal Zapendowski Peter Cipparone Justin Goldman Sarah Demers Erin Frauenhofer Madeleine Marecki

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PHOTO Eunice Hong Christopher Bennett Jacob Melrose

Photo Editor Photo Editor Sports Photo Editor

General Manager Mandeep Gill General Manager Ally Ouh Executive Manager Darren Ball Executive Manager Dan DeNorch Laurie-Ann Paliotti Sr. Advertising Manager Office Manager Susan Dansereau PRODUCTION Steve DeLucia Chris Gang Mark Brinker Roxanne Palmer Luke Harris

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POST- MAGAZINE Hillary Dixler Melanie Duch Taryn Martinez Rajiv Jayadevan Mindy Smith

Managing Editor Managing Editor Managing Editor Features Editor Features Editor

Steve DeLucia, Christian Martell, Designers Chris Gang, Ezra Miller, Sara Molinaro, Copy Editors Senior Staff Writers Rachel Arndt, Michael Bechek, Oliver Bowers, Zachary Chapman, Chaz Firestone, Kristina Kelleher, Debbie Lehmann, Scott Lowenstein, James Shapiro, Michael Skocpol Staff Writers Susana Aho, Taylor Barnes, Evan Boggs, Alissa Cerny, Irene Chen, Stewart Dearing, Nicole Dungca, Hannah Furst, Sarah Geller, Thi Ho, Rebecca Jacobson, Tsvetina Kamenova, Hannah Levintova, Abe Lubetkin, Christian Martell, Taryn Martinez, Zachary McCune, Jennifer Park, Nathalie Pierrepont, Kam Sripada, Robin Steele, Spencer Trice, Sara Walter, Allissa Wickham, Max Winograd Sports Staff Writers Amy Ehrhart, Kaitlyn Laabs, Eliza Lane, Kathleen Loughlin, Megan McCahill, Marco Santini, Tom Trudeau, Steele West Account Administrators Emilie Aries, Alexander Hughes Design Staff Brianna Barzola, Aurora Durfee, Sophie Elsner, Christian Martell, Matthew McCabe, Ezra Miller, Sarah Raifman Photo Staff Stuart Duncan-Smith, Austin Freeman, Tai Ho Shin Copy Editors Ayelet Brinn, Catherine Cullen, Erin Cummings, Karen Evans, Jacob Frank, Ted Lamm, Lauren Levitz, Cici Matheny, Alex Mazerov, Ezra Miller, Joy Neumeyer, Madeleine Rosenberg, Lucy Stark, Meha Verghese

A L E X A N D E R G A R D - M U R R AY

LETTERS Grad School needs to set fair funding policy To the Editor: As graduate students in the Department of English, we are writing in response to Dean of the Graduate School Sheila Bonde’s letter to the editor (“Grad school dean addresses new funding policy,” Feb. 9). In her letter, Bonde expresses her intention to correct “misconceptions” regarding changes to graduate student funding and their effects on the quality of undergraduate education at Brown.

It is Bonde’s letter that misrepresents the consequences of the proposed funding changes. The serious negative effects such changes will have for undergraduate instruction and graduate student professionalization are hardly conveyed by the rosy scenario put forth by the University.

Here are the facts. We in the English department learned about the proposal to revoke sixth- and seventh-year funding in a mid-semester Fall 2006 note from the dean, leaving those of us in our fi fth and sixth years of study little or no time to apply for external funding. To date, the Graduate School has yet to adopt a concrete and consistent position on the funding of grad students beyond their fi fth year of study. Given that all of us have been meeting teaching and research requirements only achievable over the course of a minimum of six years, it will be impossible to adjust to the demands of the truncated timeframe without significant compromises in the quality of our work, both as researchers and as teachers of undergraduates.

According to the most recent data collected by the Modern Language Association in 2000-2001, students in English graduate programs devote an average of 8.2

years to attaining a Ph.D. Understandably, we are opposed to funding changes that will have profound adverse effects on graduate student professionalization and undergraduate education at Brown. This is why we are voicing our concerns in the pages of The Herald. While we appreciate Bonde’s willingness to meet with concerned grad students during her open office hours, an issue of such importance to the University ought to be discussed in a public and transparent manner.

Our sincere hope is that that the administration will remain committed to the Plan for Academic Enrichment by allocating the modest funds necessary for the Grad School to develop a fair and competitive funding policy that serves the interests of all Brown students by safeguarding and enhancing Brown’s standing among its peer institutions.

David Babcock MA’04 GS, Christine Baumgarthuber GS, Jeff Covington GS, John Funchion GS, Khristina Gonzalez GS, Austin Gorman GS, Weihsin Gui MA’05 GS, Chris Holmes MAT’00 GS, Kerin Holt MA’03 GS, Jonna Iacono GS, Stephen Koelz MA’04 GS, Jeannette Lee MA’06 GS, David Liao GS, Michelle Malonzo GS, Corey McEleney GS, John Melson GS, Sarah Osment GS, Laurel Rayburn MA’06 GS, Jennifer Schnepf GS, John Schroeder GS, Hannah Sikorski MA’06 GS, Emily Steinlight MA’05 GS, Brian Sweeney MA’05 GS, Jacqueline Wernimont MA’05 GS, Jason Zysk GS

CORRECTIONS An article in Thursday’s Herald (“UCS voices support for socially responsible investing,” Feb. 22), incorrectly reported that UCS unanimously passed a change to the UCS code that would require the chair of the Student Activities Committee to decide each fall whether to put forth a proposal to change the student activities fee. UCS Student Activities Committee Chair Hugh Livengood ’07 only introduced such a motion to change the UCS code — it was not voted on.

An article in The Herald (“Site-specific art installation evokes spirit of Sarah Doyle,” Feb. 9) incorrectly spelled the name of Liz Nofziger, the artist who created the installation.

An article in Thursday’s Herald (“W. swimming and diving comes in 6th at Ivy League Championships at Princeton,” Feb. 22) incorrectly spelled the name of Bailey Langner ’10 and identified her as a member of the class of 2009.

CORRECTIONS POLICY The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.

COMMENTAR Y POLICY The staff editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed.

ADVER TISING POLICY The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.

O PINIONS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2007

PAGE 11

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Banner: Boon or bane?

Why I love Brown and not Banner I came to Brown because it offered something I could not find anywhere else. I remember having to weigh my options carefully, such that even the most absurd of minutia became weighty portents. My whirlwind college tour culminated in a pile of brochures, pamphlets, notes and business cards sprawled across my desk –— “Yes,” they whispered, “read us … we are singular in our design, and we will help make your college decision an informed one.”

Even as I girded my loins for the first work of literature — my Fiske Guide open and pen ready for cross-referencing — I knew that they deceived me. They were all the same gaudy billboards lining the education fast-track.

As a matter of form, I waded through the plumage, crowded by so much pomp and erudition. It was a strange feeling, to be so far away from the ideal of academic greatness, merely a pre-frosh, and yet to receive so many courtships in the mail, more each day, asking for my hand and my $45,000 per annum dowr y.

Ultimately, however, I knew that I could not marr y a college that I did not love. By this time, my choices had been narrowed down to those of a precocious and adaptable student. Yale offered me architecture, residential colleges and a wealth of local community ser vice opportunities. Princeton offered me tweed, prestige, Toni Morrison and a gilded, leather-bound thesis.

Har vard offered me deferred admission, which was to be expected.

And Brown? Brown offered me freedom. It offered grand-mal battles between libertarians and hippies. It offered huge phalluses scrawled in green and blue sidewalk-chalk advertising MSex. It offered free cross-registration with the Rhode Island School of Design and the nation’s only free-standing Department of Egyptology and Ancient Western Asian Studies. And most of all, it offered the freedom of an absurdly flexible registration system.

Now you can see where this is going. On Feb. 7, I picked up a copy of The Herald and was surprised to find myself labeled in print as being one of about 750 “highly critical” students opposed to the implementation of the Banner registration system. I’m not exactly sure what “highly critical” denotes in context, but if I understand correctly, it means that I am carefully discerning and take my education ver y seriously. I therefore thank The Herald for its compliment.

I will capitalize on some of The Herald’s research by quoting its source, Registrar Michael Pesta: “Banner will simply allow us to implement the structures of registration that have been in place all along: prerequisites, caps, et cetera.”

I say: “False.” How many prefrosh or freshmen have been secretly advised, “Don’t worr y. Just show up to class, do the course-work, meet with the professor and tr y really hard. In all likelihood, you will get in.” Not only have I heeded this advice, but I have also dispensed it, many times over. Currently, I am registered in two incredible classes that the implementation of Banner would have made it much more difficult to get into.

In my opinion, Brown’s current system represents the real world — where establishing connections, showing dedication and possessing moxie often pay

off.

Additionally, it is important to note that not all faculty are as pleased with the proposed new system as Professor of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences Steven Sloman. At the risk of widening the implicit rivalr y between the sciences and the humanities, it is in the latter field that I asked my own questions.

Of the two professors of English and one of histor y that I questioned, none liked the idea or spirit of Banner, and one has been actively resisting its implementation since it was first brought to the table. Humanities classes are often smaller, more flexible and less formulaic than math and the sciences, and students and professors in the humanities stand to suffer considerable inconvenience from a formulaic mass-registration system.

Banner is good for Brown Facebook groups can be pretty trivial. They tend to be either inside jokes or groups of “Family Guy” fans. So when News Feed, the oft-maligned Facebook institution, informed me that over 15 of my “friends” had joined “Brown Against Banner,” a Facebook group which had over 500 members at the time, I investigated with a grain of salt.

What I found was a harsh indictment of Banner, Brown’s new computer software, which — according to Brown’s Banner Web site — will “integrate its student information data including admission, registration, billing and financial aid.”

The anti-Banner Facebook group, which had 739 members when this column was written, focuses on Banner’s effect on class registration and links to a petition with, at the moment, 169 signatures. The group page lists many problems with Banner, including its principal accusation that Banner “(threatens)

BY FINN YARBROUGH GUEST COLUMNIST

POINT COUNTERPOINT

BY BEN BERNSTEIN

CAMPUS ISSUES COLUMNIST Such legendar y Brown greats as Ira Magaziner ’69 P’06 P’07 P’10 would be, I trust, somewhat displeased with the way that Banner has been handled by the administration, just as I am sure the administration is less than pleased with its exorbitant cost. We are still the students of this University, and there is still time to include us in the implementation process to ensure that our freedom goes untrammeled. To merely buckle under to the spoken assurance that “There is nothing about our curriculum and our courses that Banner will change” would be a sad complacency indeed.

I strongly encourage all who are able to attend one of the public forums held next week and to stay informed.

The fact of the matter is that Banner will change our academic experience here at Brown, and it is our job and the job of UCS to help ensure that it changes for the better. Our education here is not about flash, easy convenience or keeping up with the Joneses. It is about that certain special feeling that we can’t quite shake, when we finally realize, “I love it here.”

Finn Yarbrough ’09 doesn’t want to wake up next to a University he never would have attended sober.

to violate the very ethos of our open curriculum.” “Worst of all,” reads the site, “students continue to be kept in the dark.”

Contrary to what “Brown Against Banner” would have you believe, Banner is a necessary and beneficial addition to the University. Not only will it improve the registration process by making it easier and more efficient, but it is also a necessary step in modernizing Brown to compete with other high-caliber universities.

Banner, though not simply a registration program, improves registration in a few important ways. First, class registration will now be done primarily online. Instead of using add/drop forms and pre-registration cards, students will go online to choose their next semester’s courses. Banner will allow students to add and drop courses online, without going to the registrar’s office for most changes. This will make course selection and the shopping period significantly more efficient.

Additionally, Banner will enforce prerequisites and enrollment limits that are decided by the professor. I interviewed University Registrar Michael Pesta, who said this will decrease the number of overflowing classrooms during shopping period, making it easier for professors to finalize their class rosters and start teaching. Before you start to fret, however, keep in mind that it will still be possible to get around limitations on registration with professor permission. Because professors can override any Banner limitation on registration, the registration process changes, but the philoso-

phy remains. Thus, the ability to experiment with different classes exists just as it did before — students just need to be more proactive in communicating with their professors.

Finally, Banner will integrate various parts of each student’s college life, centralizing our information in one place. I am looking forward to having financial aid information, billing, registration and grades all under the same online account instead of communicated to me through many different messengers.

One explanation for the strong opposition to Banner is the misinformation contained on the Facebook profile for “Brown against Banner.” According to the Facebook group, registration under Banner will “violate” Brown’s current curricular structure because it will enforce prerequisites. A letter to The Herald (“Banner may end ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ registration policy,” Feb. 12) also raised this issue.

Thankfully, this claim is simply false. The philosophy of the Brown curriculum, easily found on Brown’s Web site, “rests on the conviction that students need to be active participants in their own educations.” The philosophy also emphasizes “intellectual growth” and “moral character” development. Nowhere does it outlaw prerequisites.

Pesta, who heartily encourages student feedback on Banner, explained that prerequisites have always been part of the New Curriculum. When I spoke with him, he emphasized, “We’re all in this together. I don’t understand this ‘us against them’ mentality.”

The registrar is absolutely correct. Administrators, who are evaluated in part on their ability to improve student life, have no incentive to make registration unpleasant for students.

Brown Against Banner’s charge that students have been “kept in the dark” is wholly false. Not only is there a Banner Web site explaining the new registration process, but according to Brown’s former vice president for computing and information services, Ellen Waite-Franzen, Brown has made multiple attempts to include students in the process. In an e-mail, Franzen wrote, “(There) were quite a few other options along the way for students to learn more about the system” including several open forums that only two or three students attended. At a Tuesday night Banner forum last week, fewer than 20 students showed up. If students are in the dark, it is their own fault.

Banner does have certain drawbacks. Primarily, it relies on professors to be very responsive and tech savvy in overriding Banner to let students into a class. While I don’t question the dedication of Brown professors, I often question their computer literacy and their response time when it comes to e-mail. “The system for professors to do overrides is terrible,” said Dan Leventhal ’07, a concentrator in computer science and one of Mocha’s creators. Those in charge of Banner should work especially hard to make the professor override function an easy one.

Banner will not revolutionize the way we register for classes, but it will make students’ lives easier by giving them the power to change classes from their dorm rooms. It will make preregistration more important in class selection, rewarding proactive students who plan ahead. Additionally, it will help modernize our technology and integrate the different departments so that Brown can become a truly modern university.

The transition period will definitely be bumpy, but students will survive. After all, resisting Banner is not only foolish — it’s futile.

Ben Bernstein ’09 writes a regular column on campus issues. If there is an issue you would like to bring to his attention, email benjamin_bernstein@brown.edu.

S PORTS W EEKEND FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2007

PAGE 12

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

W. squash squelched in pursuit of Howe Cup

BY JASON HARRIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Jacob Melrose / Herald

Mark McAndrew ’08 is leading the Ivy League in scoring in conference play with 19.5 points per game.

McAndrew humbly hits his stride There comes a point when you realize that an athlete has established himself as a great player. Sometimes it’s when you don’t wish but rather expect him or her to come through with the big play in the final minutes.

Other Chris Mahr times, it’s when Mahrtian Encounters an athlete impacts the game with his or her mere presence or simply with the threat of doing something spectacular.

In what has been an up-anddown season for the men’s basketball team, co-captain Mark McAndrew ’08 has taken his game to another level, making the big plays down the stretch and affecting the game even when he doesn’t have the ball. But if you ask me, McAndrew has arrived in another impressive sense. Along with Head Coach Craig Robinson, he has started to dwell on even his smallest mistakes, never satisfied regardless of his final stat line.

Take last Friday’s 70-66 triumph over Harvard. McAndrew finished with 19 points on a stellar 6-of-9 shooting and threw in a couple of hustle plays to begin the second half that energized his team and broke the game open. It was an effort more than worthy of the proverbial gold star, yet McAndrew still found things to critique.

“We definitely had some spurts where we weren’t executing well, and it’s probably my fault since I got a little lazy with the ball,” he said. “I didn’t let the action come to me as much as I should.”

Sure, he finished with four turnovers, but with the style of basketball the Bears play and the amount that McAndrew handles the ball, four turnovers is a more than reasonable number. And if he actually went through stretches of forcing the issue, it didn’t last long, as his high shooting percentage showed.

But he finished the game feeling that there was room for improvement — as did his coach.

“We won in spite of the fact that Mark didn’t have a good game,” Robinson said. “Isn’t that something … 6-for-9 isn’t good enough for this kid?”

Either Robinson’s standards of excellence are absurdly high or he was just doing what good coaches do and keeping his star player hungry. Regardless, it says something when both coach and player can have such a ho-hum attitude toward such a solid performance.

The modesty didn’t stop after the Harvard game.

McAndrew pulled down a teamhigh 11 rebounds during the following night’s 20-point blowout of Dartmouth, but his initial response upon seeing his stats was, “Yeah, I guess I had a lot of rebounds.”

Granted, a double-digit rebound game is not a novelty for McAndrew, seeing as he grabbed 13 earlier in the season against Cornell.

But give yourself a little credit.

Be a little boastful about your burgeoning reputation in the Ancient Eight.

Rest assured, neither McAndrew nor Robinson will ever let the other be satisfied, regardless continued on page 6

The women’s squash team fought hard against three of the strongest teams in the country last weekend in the Howe Cup held at Yale. But the grueling weekend yielded no wins for the Bears, and they finished the season ranked eighth in the country. Bruno fell Friday to No. 1 Princeton 9-0, Saturday to Trinity College 8-1 and Sunday to Dartmouth 8-1.

Brown was overmatched by the Tigers Friday. Princeton had not lost a match all season, including a 9-0 victory over Brown earlier in the year. After blanking Brown Friday, Princeton went on to win the Howe Cup by beating Harvard, 6-3. “(Princeton’s) not the strongest at the top, but they are a very deep team,” said co-captain Katie Lew ’07.

Indeed, against the Tigers Brown was more successful at the top of their ladder than at the bottom. Megan Cerullo ’08 was the only player to win a game for Brown at the No. 2 position.

She took the second game of her match 9-6, but Princeton’s Neha Kumar took the final two to secure the 3-1 victory. Co-captain Erin Andrews ’07 was serving for game but lost the second game of her match 10-9 at the No. 1 slot. Andrews injured her ankle Friday, leaving Bruno’s lineup in limbo all weekend, but she played in all three matches.

The loss threw the team into the consolation bracket where it faced Trinity on Saturday.

Brown lost 8-1 to the Bantams earlier this season, but Saturday’s match was competitive with a number of games finishing 9-7 and 10-8. The lone victory came from Kali Schellenberg ’10 who finished the season on fire, winning six of her last seven matches.

On Sunday, Brown faced Dartmouth, who had defeated the Bears 6-3 on Feb. 4. Brown had been expecting to play Williams College, the No. 7 seed going in, but Williams shocked Dartmouth on Saturday to advance to the 5-6 match-up on Sunday against Trinity.

“Our team went into the tournament mentally prepared to play Williams, as we have for at least the past five years,” Lew said. “We were a bit thrown off when we ended up playing Dartmouth for the No. 7 spot.”

Brown had lost by a narrow 5-4 margin on Feb. 3 to Williams in an intense match. The Bears had been seeking their revenge since and facing Dartmouth on the third day of a long weekend was a tough task.

Lew admitted, “Everyone was tired, mentally and physically, and had to focus and push themselves harder to compensate.” Andrews also said the team had been on the road for the past three weekends prior to the Howe Cup. Despite the circumstances, Brown battled the Big Green.

Schellenberg again came through with the lone victory.

Breck Haynes ’09 and Charlotte Steel ’09 were both barely edged out in five games despite strong performances.

Head Coach Stuart LeGassick felt the team was very competitive against the Big Green. “The Dartmouth match … was closer than it looks, with two matches going to five and one where we had match balls but were unable to convert,” he said.

The lopsided losses were not for lack of effort. “The Howe Cup didn’t go as we had initially hoped, but I feel the team played well through and through,” Andrews said.

Lew agreed that the tournacontinued on page 9

NBA All-Star Weekend notes The NBA All-Star weekend is probably the only All-Star experience I enjoy. We’ve been treated to Mariah Carey (when she was still really hot/not crazy) in her skin-tight Michael Jordan jersey-dress. We get a chance to see the young studs of the league in the Rookie-Sophomore Game.

There’s the always-entertaining dunk contest, and then there’s usually Tom Trudeau at least one realTru Story ly great quarter of basketball in the actual All-Star game. This year, however, was a giant disappointment.

The Celebrity Game I was pretty excited until I realized that no one was going to kick the crap out of Bow Wow and that Michael Clarke Duncan couldn’t dunk. Also, it would be nice if I had heard of some of the “celebrities” that played in the game. I guess I should just watch more Food Network and pay more attention to the male actors on those ABC primetime shows about how much makeup 30- and 40-year-olds need to look like they’re 20.

The Charles Barkley-Dick Bevetta Race Once again, I had high hopes for this, but it quickly became painful to watch once it started and everyone realized that the 67-year-old man wasn’t going to beat the 43-yearold fat former professional athlete.

I think I was laughing, but only because I was trying to convince myself that it wasn’t sad that Bevetta’s knee was bleeding. Still, this could easily have been the highlight of the weekend.

The Rookie-Sophomore Game This is the worst rookie class since 2000, so you knew coming in it wasn’t going to be a good game, but if I wanted to see players dunkcontinued on page 6

Ames ’07 of w. tennis aiming for strong final campaign

BY MARCO SANTINI SPORTS STAFF WRITER

Last weekend, Daisy Ames ’07 helped lead the women’s tennis team to three wins over Bucknell University, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and Rutgers University. Ames paced the Bears by winning all five of her matches over the weekend, including two victories at No. 1 singles and three victories at No. 3 doubles. Against the Minutewomen, Ames rallied back for a 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 win in a three-hour long match. Ames is 11-5 since the fall and will be back in action against Vanderbilt University and University of Virginia this weekend.

Herald: How important was this weekend for the team?

Ames: It was a great weekend for us. We came into the weekend 0-3 and left 3-3. We did what we were supposed to do, and that’s what’s most rewarding. I had lost to Michele Speises from UMass last year, so beating her

this time felt good. She was more or less blowing me off the court in the first set, and she was up in the second. My coach and teammates helped me turn things around. I remember one instance where my coach told me I had to get fired up. I felt the pressure from him expecting me to win that match, and I knew that I had to clear my head and buckle down to win. I was down 4-3 in the second set and then won it 75 and then won the third set 6-4.

It was nice to know I have control over situations and can make

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK changes. It was worth the three hours.

5 record on the season?

I’m OK with it. But I can’t help but to think about the fact that three of my five losses were in tiebreakers. I always revert back to what I did or changed in my train of thought. I haven’t come up with any concrete answers … yet.

What has been the best part of this season?

Well, if you include the fall semester, I really enjoyed playing the Eastern Collegiate Tennis Tournament at Army, which I won. It was so pretty there and awesome seeing the parachuters drop in and land on the 50-yard line at the football stadium.

Was that the longest match you’ve ever played?

One day I played a three-anda-half-hour match followed by a three-hour match. I won them both. Yeah, I definitely ate dessert that night. Maybe two.

When did you start playing tennis?

I didn’t really start playing tennis until I moved to New York City when I was 14 years old from Atlanta. I played on some courts on the Lower West Side that have since been demolished

What do you think of your 11-

continued on page 6