Thursday, October 1, 2009

Daily Herald the Brown

vol. cxliv, no. 76 | Thursday, October 1, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891

Over 1,000 students get flu vaccine

Tenure timelines scrutinized

h oop l a o v er h on d uras

By Suzannah Weiss Senior Staf f Writer

Over 1,000 students have been vaccinated against the seasonal flu since Health Services started offering free shots against the virus on Monday, said Director of Health Ser vices Edward Wheeler.

The number of vaccinations from Monday and Tuesday alone is already approaching the 1,200 to 1,500 students per year who have gotten the vaccine in the recent past, Wheeler said. The free shots do not protect against the swine flu virus.

Health Services has traditionally offered two or three free clinics per year, but this fall is offering earlier and more frequent seasonal flu immunizations in order to devote resources to treating those with the H1N1 virus, Wheeler said.

“The more seasonal flu we can prevent, the more people with symptoms will probably have the H1N1,” he said.

Wheeler added that 30 to 50 percent of the US population is expected to contract the H1N1 virus over this year, and that college students are especially at risk.

“You bring people from all over the world, you crowd them into dormitories and classrooms — it’s continued on page 2

By Nicole Friedman Senior Staff Writer

Zung Nguyen Vu / Herald Sparks flew at the Third World Center as presenters and audience members discussed the political situation in Honduras.

See

article, page

3

A committee charged with reviewing tenure and faculty development policies met for the first time Wednesday, but some Division of Biology and Medicine departments are already hoping the committee will recommend that junior faculty in those departments be given longer to prove themselves before coming up for tenure.

Five of the six BioMed departments have requested a longer probationary period for junior faculty in tenure-track positions, Associate Dean of Biology Edward Hawrot said. continued on page 4

Few undergraduate TAs attend new workshops students. A working group composed of members of the faculty, the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning and the Office of the Dean of the College surveyed faculty members who work with undergraduate TAs. “The responses provided us with material to work with and we found a recurring request for supplemental workshops — something which was immediately fea-

by REbecca Ballhaus Contributing Writer

Last week, the Office of the Dean of the College announced a series of four workshops for undergraduate teaching assistants focusing on skills like leading discussions and reaching out to students.

The workshops, which started Sept. 23, were created in response to requests by both faculty and

sible,” said Douglas Brown, director of Writing Support Programs and adjunct lecturer.

Brown said the “initial impetus” for the workshops came from a few incidents involving students who felt their work was being unfairly dealt with by undergraduate TAs. These cases, he said, involved comments made by TAs on students’ papers that were “significantly more destructive

than productive.” In one instance “the student felt very troubled and humiliated and couldn’t understand how to make it better,” he added.

Christina Skonberg ’12 recalled one incident in which the TA “basically just had too much on her plate.” Skonberg received a low grade from her TA on a paper and, continued on page 5

Fellowship suspended Talks continue on BDS benefits due to lack of funds

By Alexandra Ulmer Senior Staf f Writer

BY Ana Alvarez Contributing Writer

inside

Due to a temporary lack of funding, the David J. Zucconi Fellowship for International Study will not be offered this year.

The fellowship, which the University created in 2003 to honor former admissions officer and fundraiser Dave Zucconi ’55, is one of Brown’s largest scholarships, having included a $25,000 stipend and round-trip airfare in recent years.

The scholarship is awarded to a graduating senior who plans to pursue a year-long independent research program abroad.

Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron said the interruption of the Zucconi program was caused by a drop in income from fundraising this year, and that the suspension would hopefully be “temporary.”

Money is already being raised to

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get the scholarship back on track for next year, she said.

Wilfredo Perez ’08 MD’13, who traveled to Les Cayes, Haiti on the Zucconi fellowship in 2008, said he was taking part in those fundraising efforts. Perez used his fellowship award to help establish preventive public health programs for tuberculosis and malaria.

Perez said the fellowship had a “tremendous impact,” with the creation of 14 public health programs in a previously overlooked part of Haiti benefiting the lives of over 60,000 people. The Zucconi is “a scholarship that changed lives,” he said.

According to the Dean of the College’s Web site, a successful Zucconi applicant must demonstrate a strong academic profile, commitment to public service and continued on page 6

Herald File Photo

Brown Dining Services workers and University administrators are in the midst of contract negotiations, with benefits a key point of discussion.

Potential changes to workers’ health insurance contributions are emerging as a flashpoint in negotiations on a new agreement between Dining Services workers and the University ahead of an Oct. 12 deadline, when their current work contract expires.

The nature of proposed changes — which may also include modifications to retirement benefits for new hires and, workers say, a general wage freeze — remains uncertain and continues to be shaped by negotiations, which will resume on Friday.

Roxana Rivera, chief negotiator for the Service Employees International Union, Local 615 — which represents all of the roughly 200 Dining Services employees — said she will have daily meetings with continued on page 2

Metro, 7

Sports, 9

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Pro bono Rhody immigrants get free legal counsel through Roger Williams University

Split splash Men’s water polo split games in the pool last week

Defending jargon Anthony Badami ’11 comes to the defense of beloved buzzwords

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C ampus N EWS U. continues efforts at containing H1N1 continued from page 1

kind of a set-up for the spread of infection,” he said, adding that “it’s a novel virus … because there’s no natural immunity, you expect a high attack rate.”

Wheeler said 316 students have already used the online reporting system to notify Health Services of influenza-like symptoms. The Rhode Island State Department of Health only allows three students per week to be tested for H1N1, he said, but “it’s a clinical diagnosis based on symptoms. We presume if you have those symptoms, you have it.”

In addition, seven of the last eight lab test results from students were positive for H1N1, he said.

Still, he added, “in general, the illness has been mild. We’ve had no hospitalizations.”

The University received most of the flu shots from the state and purchased the rest from a supplier, Wheeler said, adding that the school will not receive the H1N1 vaccine

until the state has the resources to distribute it.

In the meantime, Health Services has been promoting the seasonal flu vaccine with table slips, posters and e-mails to high-risk students, he said.

Vaccines will be offered Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. throughout October and then by appointment for the remainder of the year.

Students who got the seasonal flu vaccination said the process was quick and painless.

“It was ver y pleasant,” said Ashtin Charles ’12. “I was in and out in less than a minute.”

Emily Shelkowitz ’12 said she didn’t know why anyone would miss the opportunity to get the shot. “I’d rather not get sick and have to miss classes if I can avoid it,” she said.

“It was free, I had time and I couldn’t think of a good reason not to,” said Alex Hills ’11, who went to Jo’s with his friend Joanna Berg ’10 to get the seasonal flu vaccine.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

“I was in and out in less than a minute.”

— Ashtin Charles ’12, on getting a flu shot

Reported cases of flu-like illness, to date 350 Cases to 300

316

date 234

250 200 150 100 50

78 Date 9/17

9/23

9/29 Source: Heath Services

Number of reported cases of influenza-like illness to date, from Sept. 2. A total of 316 cases have been reported as of Tuesday. Additionally, seven of the last eight students actually tested for swine flu were positive.

“I have a really busy semester and I really didn’t want to get sick,” said Berg, who has gotten the seasonal flu shot at Brown since her first year.

Nurses from Health Ser vices,

extra per diem nurses and volunteer emergency medical technicians have been administering the vaccine.

“It’s something that’s helpful to the campus right now, especially

given the concern everybody has” about the flu. said Marie DeLuca ’12, an EMT who volunteered to help give the vaccine later in the week. “I think it’s cool to have the opportunity to help out.”

Workers, University negotiate contracts, health care benefits continued from page 1 the University’s Director of Labor Relations Joseph Sarno.

“Management is proposing one of the biggest takeaways ever,” Rivera said, referring to a University proposal that would require some workers to contribute more of their pay to their health insurance. “They want to save costs — it’s not about

justice or fairness.”

Under the current health insurance payment system, each BDS worker pays 6 percent of his health care premium. The University’s proposal would replace that system with a “sliding scale,” in which workers would contribute according to their salary. The proposed system would require a contribution of 16.5 percent

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for the highest paid employees.

Mark Nickel, the University’s director of communications, said Brown is not cutting back on health benefits and is merely seeking more flexibility in an increasingly expensive cost sector. Sarno, answering a reporter’s inquiry through Nickel, declined to comment on the negotiations himself.

Nickel said most other University employees, including faculty and administrators, already pay for health insurance on a sliding scale according to salar y. “This is the best possible coverage in the most efficient way,” he said. “Sixty-five percent of union workers would end up paying less.”

Dining Services workers, SEIU members and various student groups are planning to stage a rally on the Main Green at 4 p.m. today to protest the proposed changes to health care contribution rules.

Rivera said the University was trying to cut costs by bringing up the same issues that were discussed during the last contract negotiation, in 2006. But this time, she said, it is falsely trying to excuse the proposed contract changes as a necessary burden in the face of a recession and a bruised endowment.

“It’s disingenuous to say it’s solely for the sake of the endowment,” she said. “How much money does it save them compared to the impact (the change in health insurance payments) will have on these employees and their families?”

Brown’s roughly $2 billion endowment lost more than $700 million in the 12 months ending in June and is pursuing what will be a second round of budget cuts this fall.

The Student Labor Alliance, which has spearheaded today’s planned rally in support of the workers, also accused the University of using the pretext of financial diffi-

culties to defend proposals that will ultimately hurt workers.

Mark Morales ’10, a member of the SLA, said the University should agree not to change the contribution plans “even if it requires a very small loss in the endowment.”

“We think that’s what the University should do, and set an example,” he said. “Everyone is suffering, and it’s not going to help if we make health care even less affordable.”

Nickel said the University was not cutting back on benefits without good reason, adding that the University needs “flexibility” in structuring its costs.

“The University does want to provide its employees with good wages and good benefits,” he said.

Among the employees, raw feelings about the contract negotiations are rampant.

“For us to shoulder a huge health insurance increase would be painful,” said Rabbit Hoffinger, first cook at the Sharpe Refectory and a member of the union’s bargaining committee. “It’s really not the time for some of us to lose 10 percent of our paycheck.”

He added that there is very little disparity among Dining Services workers’ salaries, and that only minor savings would be gained by introducing a sliding scale.

Marc Barsamian, cook’s helper at the Refectory, said an increase in health care costs would offset any kind of salary benefit. “If I get a promotion, but they’re going to increase my health care at the same time — what is the incentive?” he said.

Edward Miller, adjunct associate professor of public policy who teaches an undergraduate-level class about health policy, said the possible results of linking health insurance payments to a sliding scale are numerous and depend on context.

“One possibility is that a lot of people at the lower end will not be paying significantly less,” he said, “while others may have to pay significantly more for the coverage.”

However, the hikes in the price of health premiums, combined with Brown’s endowment losses, have driven the University to seek costcutting measures. “Brown is never going to give up health insurance,” he said.

The fierce debate, he added — emphasizing that he did not want to choose sides in the negotiations — is symptomatic of the national one.

Other unionized University employees, including Facilities Management and Library workers, currently pay a flat rate of 6 and 8 percent toward health insurance, respectively, according to Karen McAninch ’74, the business agent for the United Service and Allied Workers of Rhode Island, which represents workers in those divisions.

In addition to the consternation surrounding payments to health insurance, the University is proposing a change in retirement benefits for new hires. The proposed change in benefits, according to Nickel, would replace the existing defined-benefit plan with a defined-contribution plan.

“It’s a portable benefit — you don’t have to retire from the University,” he said. “It also allows employees who wish to increase their contributions to do so.”

Rivera described that proposal as a “dramatic decrease” that would hurt all future hires.

Rivera also said the possibility of an across-the-board wage freeze has been floated, which the University “didn’t completely rule out.”

Nickel said he had not heard of any potential wage freeze. “There is no particular model on the table yet,” he said.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

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“Starting a business is not necessarily contradictory to being environmentally sustainable.” — Jill Lambiase ’10

New series to explore South Asian politics

by Joe milner Contributing Writer

Zung Nguyen Vu / Herald

Students gathered at the Third World Center for a presentation on this summer’s coup in Honduras

Tense debate erupts over Honduras

By Alex Bell Contributing Writer

Honduras’s military coup this past summer was “clearly rooted in the struggle between classes,” Shaun Joseph ’03 told an overcrowded classroom at the Third World Center last night. Joseph, speaking alongside City Councilman Miguel Luna, described their week-long stay in Honduras after the coup at an event sponsored by the Latin@ Political Group, the International Socialist Club and the Rhode Island Mobilization Committee to Stop War and Occupation.

The event was punctuated by unexpected controversy when polarizing differences in opinions among listeners became apparent during the question-and-answer session.

After spending a week in Honduras in August, the presenters had their own take on the militaryinstated coup against civilian president Manuel Zelaya by Roberto Micheletti in June. “Unfortunately, journalism is trumping analysis,” Joseph said, referring to media coverage of U.S. policy on the Honduran coup. “The strategy of the U.S. was to formally condemn the coup,

while in practice giving it time to gather power.”

Although the United States has halted foreign aid to Micheletti’s regime and President Obama has repeatedly demanded Zelaya’s return to power, Joseph argued that the U.S. administration actually supports the new oligarchical government.

“The list of graduates from the School of the Americas is practically a who’s who in who’s done a coup,” Joseph said of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security continued on page 6

Business school takes its shoes off

By Emma Berry Staff Writer

It’s tough to run a tailoring business without a sewing machine. But it can be just as hard for someone without a business plan.

Microlending, a rapidly growing tool of economic development, can address the first problem, providing financial support to someone looking to start or expand a small business — and the Barefoot MBA, co-created by former Herald editor Katherine Boas ’02, is tackling the second.

Microfinance provides small loans to individuals whom traditional banks consider too poor or too risky an investment.

But microloans are only part of the solution, Boas said. Because of the practice’s increasing popularity, “there’s a lot of financial capital floating around,” Boas said, “but there’s not a lot of intellectual capital ... to help people make better business decisions.”

FEATURE Boas is trying to change that. In 2007, she and business school classmate Scott Raymond traveled to rural Thailand, meeting with NGO leaders who emphasized the need for business literacy programs.

The trip inspired the duo to create the Barefoot MBA, a tool that uses stories to teach these skills to

microloan recipients.

Now the Capital Good Fund, a Providence-based microfinance organization, is bringing the adaptable curriculum to Rhode Island.

Andy Posner MA’09, the fund’s cofounder and director, said people coming to them for loans lacked the “basic skills” required to run a business.

“Some of them are already up and running, but they don’t really know how to go about it, so they’re not really turning a profit,” he said.

Posner turned to Alan Harlam, director of social entrepreneurship at the Swearer Center, who continued on page 5

A new year-long series will examine contemporary South Asian political issues by hosting seminars in Providence and the Boston area.

Co-sponsored by Brown, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the series will provide a forum in which faculty and students can engage with academics and public figures in discussions about issues affecting the region.

The first seminar, held Thursday, Sept. 24, at the Watson Institute for International Studies, featured a lecture by leading Indian political philosopher Pratap Bhanu Mehta.

The series developed out of discussions among Brown’s Watson Institute for International Studies, Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and the MIT Center for International Studies. Each had recognized a need to expand discussion of South Asia, said Ashutosh Varshney, professor of political science and chair of the

series’ organizing committee.

“There were several seminars in this area on culture and history,” Varshney said. “But many people in these institutions were interested in a serious discussion on politics, especially contemporary politics.”

Within the realm of politics, the series will focus on security and conflict, democracy and political economy. Of the five events that have been announced for the semester, the first three examine Indian politics. The focus on India ties the series to Brown’s “Year of India” initiative, which begins today with a film showing. The larger program will bring an assortment of figures from politics, business, civil society and the film industry to campus.

The fourth and fifth seminars will look at the rebuilding of Afghanistan, while a sixth topic remains to be announced. The events will rotate among the campuses of the participating universities to promote continued on page 6

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Thursday, October 1, 2009

“You can either be flying, or you can lay eggs.”

— Associate Dean of Biology Edward Hawrot, on the difficulties of applying for research grants

BioMed to begin re-evaluating tenure deadlines continued from page 1 There are around 20 junior faculty members in BioMed, and about 15 in those five departments specifically, he added.

Currently, all University departments follow the tenure guidelines of the American Association of University Professors, which require that faculty be told by the end of their sixth year at an institution whether they will be awarded tenure. After that point, those who are denied tenure have a seventh year of work left, during which they can search for employment elsewhere.

That deadline means the tenure review process begins in a faculty member’s sixth year, leaving a professor with effectively only five years to distinguish themselves.

The BioMed division at Brown is “really quite unique” in that its faculty members teach undergraduate, graduate and medical students, Hawrot said. But unlike other departments in the University, whose peer departments at other schools also follow the AAUP tenure guidelines, BioMed departments compete against departments in medical schools, where “more and more schools are going towards longer probationary periods,” he said.

In 2008, 45 percent of medical schools had probationary periods of eight years or more for science

faculty, according to Sarah Bunton, research director for organization and management studies for the Association of American Medical Colleges.

“In most places other than Brown, the medical school is separate,” Hawrot said. “In many cases, there are separate tenure clocks, and in some cases, there are separate tenure review committees.”

A tale of two tenure tracks?

But the AAUP maintains that its seven-year tenure clock is not inappropriately short for science faculty at medical schools, according to Anita Levy, senior program officer for the AAUP. In a 1999 statement on tenure at medical schools, the association states that while clinical faculty can have longer probationary periods, “we see no reason to consider the extension of such a practice to researchers in the basic sciences.”

Many American universities follow the AAUP tenure guidelines, Levy said, though choosing to follow the guidelines is not so much a formal commitment as it is an industry standard. She added that many medical schools use the guidelines as well, though they diverge more frequently than universities.

Since most of the University’s departments do not want a longer tenure clock, the committee will consider extending the probationary period just for the BioMed departments that

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are dissatisfied with the current situation, according to the committee’s charge.

The AAUP discourages having separate tenure clocks for separate departments, Levy said.

The seven-year tenure clock has been a complaint within BioMed for several years, said Professor of Computer Science Andy Van Dam, a member of the tenure review committee. Van Dam, who served as the University’s Vice President for Research from 2002 to 2006, said he was approached by a “delegation” of professors from BioMed, who complained that because of a lack of funding — especially for new researchers — from the National Institutes of Health, post-doctoral students were being forced to work without permanent positions “for an unconscionable amount of time.”

NIH funding has been flat in recent years, with the exception of the recent federal stimulus package, which “may be a blip,” Hawrot said.

Without an initial NIH grant, junior faculty cannot “make their research flourish,” he added.

But “the reality is, because of that funding climate, the junior faculty spend much more time having to write and rewrite grants at the expense of publishing papers and really accelerating their research program,” said Professor of Biology Kimberly Mowry, who chairs the Department

of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry.

“You can either be flying or you can lay eggs,” Hawrot said of the struggle between applying for grants and conducting research. “You can’t do both at the same time.”

Ideally for BioMed, the committee to review tenure would recommend that the Corporation extend by one year the probationary period for five BioMed departments, or “possibly two in extraordinary circumstances,” Mowry said.

Brown’s tenure clock, which is “pretty tight” compared to BioMed’s peer departments, Hawrot said, was an area of concern for some junior faculty members BioMed was trying to recruit.

“For the first time ever,” he said, recruits asked about the “potential disadvantage they would be at” if they came to Brown, since they would get less time to develop a research program before tenure review.

If the committee does not recommend that the BioMed tenure clock be extended, the BioMed departments will be “disappointed,” Mowry said. BioMed would then consider changing the requirements for how much junior faculty members have to teach, to allow them more time for research, Hawrot said.

“There are no foregone conclusions” with the committee, Hawrot said. “If the length of time cannot be

increased then we have to find some other measures that could be introduced to — in essence — give the faculty more usable time.”

The only BioMed department that has not requested a longer tenure clock is the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. That department’s faculty rely less on large laboratory equipment and NIH funding, and their peer departments are often housed in arts and sciences institutions rather than medical schools, so they are competing against faculties which are also on a seven-year tenure clock, Hawrot said.

The rules of tenure “evolve over time to meet changing circumstances,” Van Dam said. For example, there used to be no exceptions to the tenure clock timeline, but faculty can now request extended probationary periods to care for a new child or for extraordinary circumstances, such as catastrophic equipment failures, Mowry said.

The tenure committee, which held only a general discussion at its first meeting Wednesday morning, has yet to make any decisions about its methods, priorities or schedule, Van Dam said.

“We all come with different ideas on what a committee like this could accomplish,” he said. But tenure is a human system, and “by definition, human systems can be improved,” he added.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

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“Starting a business is not necessarily contradictory to being environmentally sustainable.” — Jill Lambiase ’10

TA workshops sparsely attended continued from page 1 when she asked her TA how she could improve next time, “she didn’t even remember it.”

“She even said, ‘This is actually pretty good,’ but she never changed anything,” Skonberg added.

Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron said that the workshops were not a reaction to complaints but instead an attempt to provide TAs with an opportunity for “general discussion” about issues that professors might not cover — for example, how to lead a good discussion. A professor, she said, is generally more concerned about the day-to-day specifics of the classroom, and not necessarily about broader teaching methods.

The workshops are “not simply

remedial — they are a deeper, richer experience for TAs,” Brown said.

Eileen Landay, adjunct senior lecturer in education who will conduct one of the workshops, calls them a “great opportunity for undergrads to try their hand at what it means to be a teacher” and to experience what she calls the “power and joy” of teaching.

“The quality of the skills of the TA to orchestrate an effective section make a huge difference,” Landay added.

Undergraduate TAs are some of the most effective teachers in the classroom because they are “much closer to the learners,” she said.

Both Brown and Landay said that the workshops are by no means intended to replace the guidance already provided by

professors, but to supplement it.

With this in mind, the workshops are not mandator y. Only two out of 200 undergraduate TAs showed up at the first workshop on Sept. 23, and when only four indicated interest in the second workshop on Sept. 29, it was canceled. The remaining two workshops on Oct. 6 and 13, however, are still scheduled to go on.

Bergeron attributed the low attendance rate to the busy nature of the first few weeks as well as the novelty of the workshops.

“We hope to get the word out,” she said.

The task force behind the workshops intends to develop the series over the semester, she added.

“We want to find out what students want, and what the faculty thinks is useful,” she said.

Alum emphasizes skills, not bills continued from page 3 connected him with the Barefoot MBA. The Capital Good Fund plans to pilot a series of workshops this fall with prospective loan recipients. While the workshops will be required for certain potential loan recipients, they will also be open to the public, Posner said.

While the Barefoot MBA’s curriculum was originally designed for use in the developing world, “ultimately these fundamentals are the basis for any business anywhere,” said Jill Lambiase ’10, who is modifying the curriculum for the Capital Good Fund.

Boas said she designed the tool to be “adaptable” to various settings, using a “Mad Libs model where 90 percent of the work is changing nouns and verbs” to conform to the learners’ cultural setting. One version used in Guatemala uses corn farmers Lorenzo and Aurelio to explain the importance of saving. Lambiase’s version teaches the same lesson using the example of caterers Sofia and Tiffany.

The program, which does not require participants to be literate, uses a collection of 16 oral lessons that each include a pair of contrasting stories. Each story’s protagonists are placed in the same situation, but one character knows the skill being taught ­— ultimately leading to greater financial success.

The Capital Good Fund plans to adapt the stories into a series of five workshops beginning this October.

The first workshops will be taught in Spanish to a group of 30 to 40 low-income women in Olneyville, most of whom are immigrants.

“The language barrier is one

reason why a lot of these people aren’t able to get loans from traditional banks,” said Lambiase, a Rhode Island native. “They can’t communicate effectively with these banks.”

According to Posner, many of the women already have existing businesses but would like to run them more effectively, while others are hoping to build new businesses from the ground up. The types of businesses they run vary widely, he said. They include sewing and cleaning services, as well as a home-grown, homemade, onewoman salsa operation.

To make the workshop relevant to its participants, Lambiase is incorporating details from their specific businesses into the curriculum.

The Capital Good Fund has an environmental focus, so Lambiase has also been integrating these concepts into the curriculum. For example, she said, her story on cost-benefit analysis demonstrates that purchasing a more expensive but energy-efficient appliance can save money over time — helping the environment and the bottom line.

“Starting a business is not necessarily contradictory to being environmentally sustainable,” she said.

“We don’t want to make it seem like they’re two separate ideas.”

Such support for microloan recipients is “essential,” Harlam said. “There’s a huge correlation between success in business and skills in business.”

Lambiase, an economics concentrator, agreed with the need for business education. Much microfinance in the United States has had “mixed results,” she said.

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“We feel it hasn’t really been implemented properly,” she said, because the classes accompanying loans have stressed empowerment but failed to teach basic business skills.

“Empowerment is obviously important,” she said, but the fact that the loan recipients are at the lessons “means they’re ready to learn more.”

UCS discusses agenda, H1N1, advising, at meeting

By Kyla Wilkes Senior Staf f writer

Meeting for the first time in their new home in the new Blue Room, members of the Undergraduate Council of Students outlined their main goals for the semester Wednesday night. Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron and Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Margaret Klawunn updated council members on campus life initiatives.

The primary goals the council put on its agenda for the year include getting more involved in the debate over a proposed “student tax” on Rhode Island colleges and universities and increasing student involvement in the budget-cutting process overseen by the Organizational Review Committee and its several planned subcommittees.

The council also expressed interest in facilitating dialogue and communication about the report of the reaccreditation team from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, which is expected to be shared with the community soon.

UCS President Clay Wertheimer ’10 told The Herald after the meeting that the agenda was a draft.

He said he hopes to improve the agenda by creating “measurables” that can quantify the council’s effectiveness. Wertheimer said making the agenda more specific and quan-

titative will create “accountability,” as both UCS and the student body will be able to measure the council’s progress.

Wertheimer also said he was actively working on a “State of Brown” address for President Ruth Simmons to give to the student body — most likely after the Corporation meeting in February. According to Wertheimer, Brown presidents have given such addresses in the past when there was need for them.

“This is something I’d like to institutionalize,” he said.

The meeting began with Bergeron and Klawunn addressing the council members and eliciting feedback on the Advising Central initiative, budget cuts, the new tutoring program and the University’s handling of the swine flu outbreak.

UCS members expressed concern that students might get confused by the over whelming number of tutoring and advising programs available and might not be able to dif ferentiate among them. The council did provide positive feedback on the University’s measures to prepare the student body for widespread H1N1 cases.

UCS Corporation Liaison Melea Atkins ’10 said two things have gone ver y well — flu shots at Josiah’s were effective and professors were ver y understanding of students’ sickness.

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“You can either be flying, or you can lay eggs.”

— Associate Dean of Biology Edward Hawrot, on the difficulties of applying for research grants

Seminar series examines South Asian political climate continued from page 3

exchange among area academics, Varshney said.

“It contributes to a broadening of the intellectual conversation and therefore to the quality of the overall output,” he said.

For speakers, the seminars will offer a testing ground for ideas intended for eventual publication.

“Feedback leads to a finessing of argument, an introduction of greater sophistication, an introduction of greater balance or sometimes changing an argument itself,” Varshney said.

Additionally, Varshney said he expects the forums to allow undergraduate and graduate students access to faculty members from the partner universities. While some of the series’ speakers may be academics, the organizing committee has envisioned its events as accessible to anyone, he said.

“Our desire is not to exclude anyone,” Varshney said. He estimated that about 40 people attended the first event, and emphasized the presence of

undergraduates, graduates and even the chief of police of nearby Lincoln.

Riyad Seervai ’13 said he found the first seminar by Mehta both interesting and relevant.

“I thought that even though much of it would probably go over my head, I should come and experience the talk of a man whose articles my parents devour,” Seervai said.

He added that he enjoyed the format of the seminar, saying that the presence of other professors increased the quality of the conversation.

“When you have people that are on the same intellectual level as you or on a higher intellectual level than you are, it keeps you more on your toes, and you have to be more vigilant,” he said.

Minh Ly GS also cited the seminar’s format as a main strength.

“You have people who are really well-read and thoughtful about the subject talking about it with one another,” he said. “Having that very high-level discussion can oftentimes be very beneficial, including for the

Fellowship options take a hit during recession continued from page 1 leadership qualities. Fellows are then expected to return to Brown and provide mentoring to Brown students.

The Arnold Fellowship, a scholarship opportunity similar to the Zucconi, will still be available this year to one student despite depleted funds. Smaller scholarships, like the Swearer Fellowship and several fel-

lowships offered by the Watson Institute for International Studies, are also available.

David Zucconi died of cancer in 2003. When the University announced the fellowship named in his honor, President Ruth Simmons called him “our greatest cheerleader for the transformational power of higher education.”

Thursday, October 1, 2009

career fare

Diane Mokoro / Herald Students sampled a virtual buffet of post-college opportunities in Sayles Hall on Wednesday afternoon.

Honduran coup debated at TWC continued from page 3 Cooperation, the Department of Defense facility formerly known as the School of the Americas.

He cited a claim made by the School of the Americas Watch that the United States continues to train Latin American military officers in techniques for instituting coups d’etat. The Watch is an independent movement that monitors the Fort Benning, Ga. facility.

Luna, wearing a black beret reminiscent of Che Guevara, said the Honduran rich are often allowed by the Honduran Congress not to pay their electricity bills.

When the state-run electric company went bankrupt in 2007, Zelaya introduced “Operation Scissors” to force the rich to pay. According to Luna, the operation was cut off by the oligarchy and the poor were forced to make up for the rich citizens’ refusals to pay through rate increases.

However, not all lecture-goers shared the speakers’ opinion of Zelaya, or of the coup.

“With all due respect, I’m from Honduras,” Samahra Kafati said to the audience during the questionand-answer period. Kafati, a firstyear at Johnson and Wales University, had been standing outside the room with news articles and publications from the U.S. Congress until the time set aside for questions and comments. “I’d like all of you to know that they only gave one side of the story: Zelaya’s.”

Kafati, who lives in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, said in an interview after the lecture that she believes no coup occurred at all.

Zung Nguyen Vu / Herald

City Councilman Miguel Luna discussed the politics of the Honduran coup at the TWC Wednesday night

“A coup is when the military takes over,” Kafati said. “But we’re still a democracy. According to our constitution, this is totally legal. We kicked (Zelaya) out of our country because he was trying to change the constitution.”

Kafati said the pro-Zelaya side distorts facts and exaggerates support for their side. When Zelaya returned to Honduras earlier this month from exile, she added, he was expecting half a million supporters to greet him, but was met by several thousand.

Joseph claimed a similar pro-

Micheletti bias exists in the media.

“There was a picture after some big (pro-Zelaya) demonstrations,” he said. “It was a big picture of tens of thousands of people, a big wide-angle shot. And then the caption says, ‘Around 5,000 people demonstrated’ — but there were more than 5,000 people in the damn shot.”

“It speaks to something about the whole question of legitimacy,” Joseph said of the differences in opinions between the sides. “The question of whether certain ideas and certain political acts have legitimacy is about which side you take.”

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Come copy edit! herald@browndailyherald.com

Metro The Brown Daily Herald

“These scores are nowhere near where they need to be.”

— Deborah Gist, state commissioner of elementary and secondary education Thursday, October 1, 2009 | Page 7

‘Colosseum’ club to open in Jewelry District

By Joanna Wohlmuth Metro Editor

One of Providence’s largest clubs will soon be reopening under new ownership in the Jewelry District, despite opposition from Brown.

The city’s Board of Licenses approved the transfer of the liquor license for the venue formerly housing The Complex, a club that closed earlier this year, to new owner Anthony Santurri. With the board’s signoff, Santurri plans to open the doors of the totally reinvented establishment, now dubbed The Colosseum, by the beginning of November, he said.

At the board’s hearing last week, a number of groups expressed concern about how the reopening of the club would affect the surrounding area. Al Dahlberg, the University’s director of state and community relations, testified and delivered a letter to the board from Marisa Quinn, vice president of public affairs and University relations.

The University opposes reopening the nearly 1,400 person establishment because it will increase alcohol consumption for students in the area and attract patrons from other parts of the state that stop serving alcohol earlier, Dahlberg said. The club is also likely to contribute to a rise in disorderly conduct such as noise and bad behavior, he added.

“With the movement of the medical education building to the Jewelry District, Brown is focusing even more on quality of life and neighborhood issues in the area,” Dahlberg said.

Though Brown has opposed the granting of liquor licenses to some Thayer Street establishments, administrators will have to decide whether they will continue to fight similar battles in the Jewelry District, Dahlberg said.

But Santurri said he believes he will be able to keep things under control and address residents’ concerns. “I will be there every

night standing at the front door,” Santurri said. “I will refuse entrance to anyone that I think will cause trouble.”

A point of contention for many residents opposed to the club’s reopening was whether patrons between 18 and 20 years old should be allowed in, Santurri said. Though he plans to only host a 21-and-over crowd on Friday and Saturday nights, he may admit younger patrons on Thursdays, he said. Other clubs in the area are open to 18-yearolds so they will find somewhere else to go if they are barred from entering his club, he added.

“I just didn’t want that restriction imposed on me arbitrarily,” Santurri said. “It’s not fair to do that to me.”

Santurri would prefer that his club appeal to older clientele but is concerned that the lack of parking in the area will make it too difficult, he said. “People who don’t go out every night like the young kids ... won’t go if they can’t park,” he said.

RWU opens law clinic for immigrants

By Ben Schreckinger Senior Staff Writer

Immigrants in Rhode Island facing deportation and other legal issues now have a new source of free counsel at Roger Williams University Law School, which recently opened the Immigration Law Clinic to attend to the needs of non-citizens.

“The immigrant population in Rhode Island is large, and there just aren’t enough legal services for them,” said Mary Holper, assistant professor of law at Roger Williams and director of the clinic.

“The legal service providers that

exist are doing a great job,” Holper said, but they are unable to keep up with the caseload of the entire immigrant population.

Because immigration courts are not criminal courts, defendants who are unable to afford legal counsel do not have access to free, courtappointed representation. The clinic’s clients are represented by law students under Holper’s supervision. Without representation by the clinic, most of its clients — many of whom may lack English fluency — would be forced to represent themselves.

According to Holper, the clinic

will ease some of the burden on existing providers created by many of the more complex cases, allowing those providers to more efficiently handle a large volume of simpler cases, such as green card applications.

The clinic not only benefits its clients, Holper said, but provides continued on page 8

Test scores still subpar for Providence schools

By George Miller Metro Editor

Rhode Island students underperformed on standardized science tests for a second straight school year in 2009, and the state department of education is working with a Texas-based think tank to bring those scores up.

About 25 percent of all students who took the test scored “proficient” or better, according to results released last week by the state.

That represents a small increase from 2008, the first year students took the science test offered by the New England Common Assessment Program. The test, which is also administered in New Hampshire and Vermont, was given in May to public school students in grades

4, 8 and 11.

About 40 percent of fourth graders scored “proficient,” an increase of 4 percent from 2008. About 19 percent of high-school students — also more than last year — scored “proficient.”

But the 8th-grade sample did slightly worse than last year, with just 18 percent scoring “proficient.”

Rhode Island students performed worse than their New Hampshire and Vermont counterparts in every grade.

“These scores are nowhere near where they need to be,” Deborah Gist, the state’s commissioner of elementary and secondary education, said in a press release.

Native American, black and Hiscontinued on page 8

Page 8

M etro

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

“If we make a mistake ... a person could be deported.”

— Chas Ryan, a law student who works at an immigration law clinic

Law school offers immigrants counseling continued from page 7 law students with real legal experience in what Holper called “a more complicated area of the law.”

Chas Ryan — a third-year law student at Roger Williams — said he viewed the clinic as “an opportunity to get a lot of practical experience in an area of law that frustrates a lot of people.” Ryan has been considering a career in immigration law and said his experience with the clinic thus far has made him more likely

to enter the field.

“I love the courtroom — I think that’s fun — and helping people. If you can do those two together, why not?” Ryan said.

Ryan is currently representing an Uruguayan immigrant who outstayed his visa and is being detained in Massachusetts at the Bristol County Jail and House of Corrections. The government alleges that he entered the country illegally and has a record of violent crime.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Ryan said he may help his client petition for “asylum relief” on the basis of abuse he was subjected to in Uruguay, or his client may sign the deportation papers rather than wait in jail for the outcome of his case. “Some clients do just want to go home,” he said.

The clinic has impressed upon Ryan the real-life consequences of his schoolwork, he said. “If we make a mistake … a person could be deported,” he said. “We can’t make mistakes.”

25 percent ‘proficient’ or better on state exams continued from page 7 panic students underperformed their white and Asian peers, according to the data. Although these groups showed small improvements in each grade level, only 3.3 percent of middle schoolers and 4.6 percent of high schoolers in those demographics passed the most recent exam.

Following poor results in the 2008 test, Rhode Island brought in experts from the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas, Austin to revamp the curriculum in 17 districts. The state plans a three-year contract with the think tank, which will work to see that students are being properly taught standards measured by the test, said Elliot Krieger, spokesman for the department of education.

The districts will not end up with the same curriculum, but will all have curricula aligned to the same standards, he said. He added that the Providence school district acted as a “pioneer” in hiring consultants from the Dana Center separately, before the state followed suit.

The Dana Center supports K-12 education by helping teachers understand the state’s standards and how to create units of study to meet

them, preparing students for tests and the next grade, said Joseph Gallegos, a senior program coordinator at Dana who is working with the state. Because the standards are broad, it is helpful to sort out which teachers need to teach what, he said.

Consultants will start planning new curricula for the districts next year, he added.

Jennifer Park, a research assistant at Brown who works with Providence high-schoolers in science, said that the low scores did not shock her as much as last year, but the gaps between rich and poor, as well as white and minority students were still “surprising.”

Park, who works in the department of molecular biology, cell biology and biochemistr y, cocoordinates Brown Science Prep, which teams undergraduates up to teach interactive science lessons to high-schoolers on Saturday mornings. Initially, about 40 students come each week, generally tapering down to about 30 later in the year, she said.

Park said that while she does not have much information about the new science curriculum Providence public schools are implementing, she hopes the changes will help.

SportsThursday The Brown Daily Herald

Thursday, October 1, 2009 | Page 9

W. volleyball earns split at tourney M. water polo gaining momentum, chemistry

By Elisabeth Avallone Spor ts Staf f Writer

The Bears (4-7) battled for a 1-1 split this weekend at the Bryant Invitational. After sweeping Howard University (3-17) in the first match, Brown narrowly fell to the host Bulldogs (3-11), 3-2, in the second.

Brianna Williamson ’11 fueled the Bears with a combined 27 kills, 22 digs and six service aces.

“I think that the team is really improving and definitely stronger than our record shows,” said Head Coach Diane Short. “Brianna Williamson is having her best year at Brown. She has had a very consistent overall game and that has been really nice to see.”

Brown dominated in the first game against Howard, running up a 25-14 score for an early 1-0 lead. Although the Bison gained some rhythm in the next two sets, the Bears again came out on top, outscoring Howard 26-24 in both sets for the sweep.

“I was really thrilled about our win over Howard,” Williamson said. “In the second and third games we were very close at the end, and it was a great feeling for our team to pull that off. We are proving that we can play well when it matters.”

In addition to Williamson’s contributions, Megan Toman ’11 earned 16 kills and seven digs to add to the Bears success. Christina Berry ’13 added nine kills and seven digs.

Shor t praised the defense, pointing to freshmen Berry and Carly Cotton ’13, who carried the Bears in digs this weekend. Cotton led Brown’s defense with a teamhigh 11 digs in the first match and 28 against Bryant. Berry earned a combined 23 digs.

“The freshmen have really stepped up this season and have helped the team come together as a whole,” Williamson said.

Following the decisive victory against Howard, Brown took the court against Bryant. Although the Bears put up a strong fight, their efforts fell short of victory. Bryant took an early 2-0 lead, outscoring Bruno 25-22 and 25-21 in the first two sets. The Bears, however, re-

By Liza Jones Contributing Writer

Jesse Morgan / Herald File Photos

The volleyball team, seen here in the invitational hosted at Brown two weekends ago, split the past weekend’s invitational 1-1.

taliated in the third, 25-20, and retained the momentum in the fourth for a 25-19 win. Despite a valiant effort, the Bears were clipped by the Bulldogs in the fifth set, 15-13, for a disappointing 3-2 loss.

Berr y had an exceptional match, earning 15 kills and 16 digs, followed by co-captain Danielle Vaughan ’11, who scored another 12 kills. Alexandra Ilistad ’13 was described by her teammates as “really impressive,” as she stepped into the setter position late into the

Bryant match.

The Bears will open their Ivy League season on the road against Yale on Friday at 7 p.m.

“This weekend is going to be a tough challenge as we’re up against the defending Ivy League Champion,” Short said. “We are looking to improve on last year’s results and to compete well against them. I don’t think anyone is really expecting anything from us, so we are going to try to sneak up on them.”

In the past week the men’s water polo team beat the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 6-5, and Fordham, 11-9, then fell to St. Francis by a score of 12-5. Despite the loss, the team is improving, and its “chemistry” is strengthening with each game, said Head Coach Felix Mercado.

The MIT game last Thursday ended in a narrow victory for the Bears. The team began with a 2-1 lead in the first quarter, and both teams scored in the second quarter, bringing the halftime score to 3-2.

MIT evened the score in the third quarter, but Brown came back in the fourth quarter to end the game with a 6-5 win. While the offense lacked, with 15 missed shots, the defense saved the game, specifically due to Kent Holland’s ’10 skills in the goal.

“Holland has been fantastic as a goalie and made up for lack of chemistry on the offensive end,” Mercado said.

Mercado attributes the offensive struggle to the overall youth and inexperience of the team, adding that they still need to find their groove. Other leading players in the MIT game were Michael Hartwick ’13 with three steals and two field blocks, Zach Levko ’10 and Svetozar Stefanovic ’13, who Mercado calls “Freshman Phenom,” both with two goals each. The Collegiate Water Polo Association recently named Stefanovic Northern Division Player of the Week. He is also the first player in league history to earn honors for four consecutive weeks.

Three days after their victory, the team faced the Fordham Rams and the St. Francis Terriers in New York. They triumphed over the Rams in the first game with an 11-9 victory.

Holland continued to shine in the goal with 15 saves, and the offense picked up.

“For the first time in my years here, I think our depth is deeper than we have ever been, and that has help us maintain consistency throughout the four quarters,” Mercado said.

The second game ended in a 12-5 loss. Shortly after the game started, St. Francis led the game 4-0, and were up 8-2 by the half. While the Bears scored three more goals in the second half, the Terriers still came out on top. Ryan Gladych ’13 led the team offensively with two goals, while Stefanovic, Cyrus Mojdehi ’13 and Brandon Yoshimura ’11 each scored one. Despite the outcome, the team put up a strong fight, but St. Francis was stronger in the end, Mercado said.

“The silver lining of this cloud is that for the first time offensively, we were getting scoring opportunities,” he said. Mercado has observed strong morale in the team, saying that they are “cohesive in and out of the water” thanks to the leadership shown by Holland and Levko, which will undoubtedly improve their ability at game time.

The Bears travel to Cambridge to face Harvard on Saturday, Oct. 10.

Mercado said it is important for the team to focus more on the season as a whole rather than on the age-old Harvard-Brown rivalry. The team is trying to view Harvard as “just another opponent to beat,” he said.

Editorial & Letters The Brown Daily Herald

Page 10 | Thursday, October 1, 2009

l e t t e r to t h e e d i to r

Animals are people, too To the Editor: I am writing in response to a recent editorial (“Animal wrongs,” Sept. 29).

While I much appreciate the publicity and favorable review given to the Liberation Project, I found several of the article’s basic assumptions problematic. Specifically, this piece treats the notion that non-human animals are not in a lower moral class than humans as beyond the pale, even calling such claims “sloppy moralizing.” As best I can tell, the only reasons given for this description are that this idea is shocking, which poses a radical challenge to the vast majority of people’s worldview, and for these reasons is likely to incur a backlash.

While I respect the last justification from a public-relations standpoint, the first two are lacking. The boundary of the “human condition” has been gradually expanded throughout the history of Western moral thought, from “white men with property” all the way to “all humans,” where it now conventionally stands. I would ask of those who believe the line should remain where it is now for all eternity the same question I would ask of all previous line-drawers: “Why here?”

I would also point out that the species is not nearly as fundamental as many believe, that it is in fact largely an illusion of time and that all living creatures are cousins.

Of course, the line must be drawn somewhere, but I would argue that any proposed “in-group” must be demonstrably categorically different

from the out-group, and in a significant and relevant way. Debating what that difference could be is a matter of opinion and morals. Whether or not a given difference exists is a fundamentally scientific question. As best I can tell, the only categorical difference current science suggests between humans and non-human animals is language, and only certain facets of language. Is greater grammatical aptitude really a justification for a system of mass captivity, brutalization and slaughter? I contend that it is not, and I would also point out that I am not trying to lower humans but to raise non-human animals.

Personally, the only difference I would accept as justifying a particular group as the in-group and all other creatures as the out-group is consciousness or sentiency. Since it strikes me that current scientific evidence suggests that sentiency is entirely rooted in the nervous system, I draw the line around the set of all creatures with nervous systems, which approximates the animal kingdom. But that is not, fundamentally, the point I am trying to make. My point is that you cannot dismiss these questions out of hand, simply because they are “radical” or even because they are “offensive,” and that to do so is in fact a kind of sloppy moralizing or even closed-mindedness that I feel is contrary to the spirit of our University.

Robert Black ’13 Sept. 30

t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d Editor-in-Chief Steve DeLucia

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editorial Arts & Culture Editor Ben Hyman Rosalind Schonwald Arts & Culture Editor Features Editor Sophia Li Metro Editor George Miller Metro Editor Joanna Wohlmuth News Editor Seth Motel News Editor Jenna Stark Sports Editor Andrew Braca Asst. Sports Editor Han Cui Asst. Sports Editor Alex Mazerov Asst. Sports Editor Katie Wood Graphics & Photos Chris Jesu Lee Graphics Editor Stephen Lichenstein Graphics Editor Photo Editor Eunice Hong Kim Perley Photo Editor Jesse Morgan Sports Photo Editor production Ayelet Brinn Copy Desk Chief Rachel Isaacs Copy Desk Chief Marlee Bruning Design Editor Jessica Calihan Design Editor Asst. Design Editor Anna Migliaccio Asst. Design Editor Julien Ouellet Neal Poole Web Editor Post- magazine Arthur Matuszewski Editor-in-Chief Kelly McKowen Editor-in-Chief

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E R I K S T A y T O N and evan donohue

e d i to r i a l

The cannabis question Once again, Rhode Island is wading into muddy waters. In May the General Assembly approved a law mandating that the health department establish privately run medical cannabis dispensaries; the first is scheduled to open next year. Rhode Island would be only the third state to enact such a law, and it has a chance to improve on California’s wild and unregulated system and New Mexico’s tightly constrained deliveryonly network. But the new program has some crucial flaws that the Assembly must admit and rectify.

In theory, the dispensaries should be an improvement over the state’s current marijuana regime. Under a law passed four years ago, state residents with certain serious medical conditions can obtain legal authorization to grow cannabis for their personal use.

The draconian federal marijuana prohibition prevents the Food and Drug Administration from conclusively verifying the real medical benefit of the substance, but many patients suffering from wracking diseases as well as allergies to painkillers have found it to be their only option for relief. Nevertheless, cultivation is not a simple or abuse-proof process. Many honest users with chronic pain have severe difficulties growing the plants. And some dishonest registrants turn their privilege into a business venture, selling their produce to recreational smokers. A cannabis dispensary — carefully established, overseen and guarded — would make the dealers easier to target and take a burden off of the suffering citizens who need the drug.

But police officials have raised concerns that the bill makes no provision for protecting the dispensary from robbery and preventing sales to casual users.

Historically, anxiety about cannabis distribution has often been rooted in hysterical misconceptions about the substance’s effects and selfish political and eco-

nomic conniving. But in this case, police concerns about dispensary security and protocols focus on the crux of the issue: the well-being of patients who depend on daily access to the drug. Dispensaries that surreptitiously flout the rules by selling to non-patients or phony patients risk shortages for legitimate users.

And lax surveillance of the facilities could encourage burglary — a very real threat in a state with nearly 13 percent unemployment — which would provide a bonanza to local criminals and cut off patients’ muchneeded supplies. The bill also fails to provide funding to the health department for the establishment process and includes no mandate for oversight by medical professionals, a crucial element of a properly run dispensary program.

Setting up dispensaries sloppily may be worse than not setting them up at all. It could encourage crime, endanger patients’ supplies and discourage other states interested in similar ventures. The Assembly should admit its errors in the first bill and expeditiously design and pass legislation requiring close supervision by medical professionals and granting the health and police departments the funding they need to carefully establish and protect the dispensaries. This will not be easy. The state is saddled with a staggering deficit of nearly $62 million, and the Assembly has already had to override the veto of Governor Donald Carcieri ’65 to pass the original medical cannabis statute as well as the dispensary law.

Nevertheless, the Assembly must take responsibility for what it has set in motion and do the hard work necessary to make the dispensaries a boon to Rhode Island and an example to other states.

Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board.

Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

correction In an article in Wednesday’s Herald, (“Saint-Vil ’10 wins Rhody’s Tiara,” Sept. 30), the headline incorrectly suggested that Deborah Saint-Vil ’10 won the Miss Rhode Island pageant. In fact, she won a $1,000 community service scholarship at the pageant. The Herald regrets the error.

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Opinions The Brown Daily Herald

Thursday, October 1, 2009 | Page 11

The Brown bookstore bamboozle

BY BRIAN JUDGE Opinions Columnist

By Oscar Wilde’s definition of a cynic — a man who knows the price of ever ything and the value of nothing — my boss at a used textbook store I worked at this summer must have been the most cynical man on the planet.

He could tell you off of the top of his head where to find Rossum’s Universal Robots, what class it was being used for, and how much it cost, but could not care less about robot dystopias. Books were just a product he was selling — a means to make a living. One might go so far as to call him alienated from the true value of the books he sells.

The same specter is haunting Thayer Street: the specter of overpriced textbooks and commoditized learning. While looking for a copy of the glossy special-edition Brown University Laborator y Manual, I was absolutely stunned to discover how absurdly expensive a glorified spiral-bound notebook was. In that moment, sticker shock supplanted whatever interest I may have had in learning chemistr y.

If the cost of books has any purchase on a student’s class selection, then the Open Curriculum isn’t allowed to work its mag-

ic because price has obstructed the value that a student places on his or her academic interests. Consequently, course selection becomes an array of advantageous purchases instead of a reflection of genuine interest.

Imagine if you had to give 100 dollars (or whatever the average cost of a lecture is) to a clerk at a register in front of the classroom, or give the security guard a

The vast majority of costs and prices are dealt with before the semester even starts so as to allow students to pursue their studies with as few distractions (price tags) as possible. This allows each of us to make decisions based on the value we find in going to see a professor during office hours or eating hot ham at the Ratty, and not how much it costs.

At first glance, having the bookstore

If the cost of books has any purchase on a student’s class selection, then the open curriculum isn’t allowed to work its magic

twenty before entering the Science Librar y instead of swiping your card. Seems ridiculous, right? However, it is indisputable that this would fundamentally change the way in which people relate to their studies, because it makes price more of an aspect of one’s day to day experience. A liberal arts education isn’t about maximizing the monetar y return on our investment. It is about cultivating and broadening our intellectual faculties, not our eye for bargains.

sell textbooks at cost may seem ridiculous: a bookstore is a business like any other, and it is entitled to make a profit to sustain its own operation. But the bookstore is an essential part of this non-profit university just like the anthropology department, and the anthropology department certainly isn’t expected to turn a profit. Having one’s academic interests add to the black ink on the university’s balance sheet suggests that Brown derives at least some pe-

cuniar y benefit from putting price before value, which is antithetical to the “spirit of free inquir y” that Brown nominally hopes to foster. To state the obvious, textbooks are essential to ever y student’s academic experience at Brown and should not have to be stigmatized by a scarlet number.

The bookstore has ever ything you need for your Brown education your tuition bill doesn’t supply. Obviously, these costs can’t be precisely anticipated in advance because you get to choose your classes.

While much ado has been raised about the proposed $300 per annum tax on private Providence college students, the “$400500” that the bookstore Web site estimates for course materials for a semester is accepted as an inevitable semiannual rite.

Given the already hefty price tag associated with joining this community and the questions of fairness that others have raised in conjunction with this issue, it seems to me that ever y effort should be made to ensure that students are free to pursue their own genuine academic interests free from the specter of price.

Brian Judge ’11 cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies. He can be reached at brian_judge@brown.edu.

A retreat from anti-intellectualism

BY ANTHONY BADAMI Opinions Columnist Jonah Fabricant’s recent column (“A retreat from pedantry,” Sept. 22) is a stupefying and wandering criticism of the use of academic jargon in friendly conversation. He calls it unnecessarily mystifying and invites his readers to retreat from such conduct.

I am not of a similar mind. Instead, I invite my peers to face pedantry head-on rather than retreat into flavorless vocabulary.

Why might I have such an inclination?

I’ll answer this question by responding to one of Fabricant’s. He writes, “Is the added precision I would gain by introducing an unusual term worth the resulting loss of simplicity?”

I dare say yes. Contrary to those who embrace mental torpor, I would argue that the injection of academic jargon into everyday conversation is necessary and valuable.

Jonah deems the use of intellectual lingo as simply a “shorthand (way) of referencing,” a catalog of “academic buzzwords” not to be “used outside of the classroom.”

This is nonsense. As a political theorist, I can tell you that these “buzzwords” (especially “hegemony”) have made immeasurable contributions to the way human society is understood. These words are not just pseudo-intellectual argot; they are incredibly rich and complex responses to some of the toughest and most fundamental questions of human existence.

Consider his two examples: “totally dialectical” and “subversively heteronormative.” He dismissively argues that these “mundane” terms could easily be boiled down to something like “the two things are opposed” or “I’m gay, and that offends me.”

But that’s not what those terms mean.

Dialectical thinking, for example, is a theoretical approach to analytic and philosophical discovery, utilized by powerful thinkers like Marx and Hegel, that seeks to make

brium in a food line at Jo’s, my heart would skip a beat.

As a high school student, I understood the benefit of keeping academics affairs separate; my high school social circles were not exactly bookish. Whether it was a farm party or a friendly dinner, loud and boorish behavior earned you attention — the cerebral did not.

But, as a junior at Brown, I’ve moved past this. Why keep the academic, social and per-

If you can describe your morning oatmeal at the Ratty using “French literary criticism,” then you’re someone I want to eat with!

sense of the contentious relationship among social, political and economic forces. It is wondrously nuanced and one of the more interesting subjects I’ve studied as a Brown undergraduate.

Nor are these terms used solely for posturing. A queer student at Brown, expressing his or her repulsion to heteronormative behavior, is not merely performing for peers or dressing up distress. Rather, he or she is expressing genuine opposition to hateful and entrenched prejudice. Personally, if I were to overhear this bit of oppro-

sonal spheres separate? If you refuse to use “academic” language in common social settings, then you quarantine intellectual study to the confines of a classroom. I implore you: Let the spheres mingle. If you can describe your morning oatmeal at the Ratty using “French literary criticism,” then you’re someone I want to eat with!

A significant part of Fabricant’s column hinges on a GQ article concerning the “douchiest” American colleges. May I say, for the record, who gives a flying what’sits-name about GQ? I understand the fear

of alienating one’s peers with elaborate language, but no one has the authority (be they GQ or Cosmo) to tell me how to act, how to speak or how to think, so that I might eschew “douchiness.”

It seems like Fabricant’s real issue is with the misuse of language. But this problem is not solely academic — it pervades all forms of vocabulary and communication. Correcting malapropism requires the introduction of difficult words into the public arena. If we let complex words fester in some miserable carrel, they’re useless.

I will end with a distinctly populist notion brought to you by Enlightenment thinker and French essayist François-Marie Arouet.

He writes, “No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.”

Academic language does not obscure simplicity — it obscures simplistic thinking. It complicates matters. It exposes the gray and challenges orthodoxy. It gives us a chance to sustain thinking.

When, might I ask, will we get a better opportunity to utilize these ideas and words in everyday conversation? It’s Brown for heaven’s sake! So, I ask you, with barren angularity, to incorporate academic jargon into whatever kind of social setting you find yourself in, whether it’s a dull night out or over a bowl of bland oatmeal.

Anthony Badami ’11 is a political theory concentrator from Kansas City, MO. He can be reached at anthony_badami@brown.edu

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