Daily
the Brown
vol. cxlvi, no. 17
Herald
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Since 1891
Labora ’12 recounts final days in Egypt The following is an account by Amanda Labora ’12 of her final days in Alexandria as the regime of ousted President Hosni Mubarak fell apart before her eyes. Labora was studying abroad for the semester until the unrest cut her experience short.
eyewitness journal
and director of undergraduate studies for IR and DS, and Cornel Ban, visiting fellow and deputy director of the DS program, presented the recently announced changes to the two programs. The IR changes caused a stir on campus when they were an-
The University will announce a steering committee to plan its 250th anniversary today, and related events could begin as early as fall 2013. Chartered in 1764, the University is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the country. The 20-person committee — selected by President Ruth Simmons and Chancellor Thomas Tisch ’76 P’07 — is comprised of two undergraduate students, a graduate student, a medical student and members of the Corporation, faculty, administration and staff, according to today’s
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Stephanie London / Herald
About 75 students attended a meeting at the Watson Institute where changes to the international relations and development studies concentrations requirements were explained.
By Greg Jordan-Detamore Senior Staff Writer
The international relations concentration requirements have been adjusted for sophomores, program directors announced at an open meeting yesterday. Many sophomores will now have more flexibility fulfilling core class requirements,
and they will not have to align their regional courses with their chosen foreign language. About 75 students, mostly sophomores, packed into the Joukowsky Forum at the Watson Institute for International Studies for a meeting with the leaders of the IR and development studies programs. Mark Blyth, professor of political science
Fish no: staff adjust to quieter Wednesdays By Joseph Rosales Senior Staff Writer
Since the closing of midweek hot spot the Fish Company, Wednesday nights have slowed down for students and staff alike. The Department of Public Safety is aware that Fish Co. closed and has changed some of its operations accordingly, said Paul Shanley, deputy chief of public
safety. Before the bar’s closing, DPS would deploy two extra officers to patrol the area between Power and Wickenden streets to ensure the safety of the students going to and returning from the bar, Shanley said. But this semester, DPS has seen a “dramatic decrease in foot traffic” in that area and has stopped assigning officers there, he said. Josiah’s managers have also ad-
justed to Fish Co.’s closing, Ann Hoffman, director of administration for dining services, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. In the past, Jo’s frequently requested that DPS station an officer near the cashiers on Wednesday nights, but the eatery has not made such a request recently, Shanley said. The work environment at Jo’s has also changed dramatically
New culinary manager spices up campus dining By Jordan Hendricks Contributing Writer
Assembling “Barbecuban” pork sandwiches at Josiah’s, introducing a Belgian waffle station at the Blue Room and instructing workers in cooking techniques — Aaron Fitzsenry is making his mark as the university’s first-ever culinary manager for retail operations. And now students can follow his Google calendar on their brown.edu accounts. Fitzsenry came to Brown in September after 20 years behind kitchen doors, which included a few stints as executive chef at various New England restaurants. He has already introduced changes to campus dining such as Kabob and Curry at the Blue Room, occasional macaroni and cheese bars at
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Petition programs expand study abroad opportunities
Campus news, 4
because staff members are no longer dealing with a large underage drinking crowd, said Mikel Wiggins ’12, the eatery’s assistant unit manager. “We usually get the rush on Wednesday nights, but that didn’t happen.” Michael Tamayo ’14 worked the Wednesday night shift at Jo’s last semester. In the beginning, he continued on page 8
Ta k i n ’ i t d o w n t o w n
the Ivy Room and thin crust pizza specials made from local ingredients at the Gate. “Since this position is a new one, I’ve been finding my way as I go,” Fitzsenry said. “I can train, I can work with people, I can teach. With any other free time, I get to develop some things in the food world.” He uses as many local ingredients as possible, as part of a Brown Dining Services initiative for “real food.” Some of his creations are even concocted from leftovers, like bread pudding at the Blue Room made from the previous night’s unsold scones. Much of Fitzsenry’s focus has been on the newly renovated Blue Room, said Ann Hoffman, Dining continued on page 2
Stephanie London / Herald
The Fish Company’s closing has forced students to other midweek social venues.
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parties at Athenaeum and gets slutonic
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inside
By Mark Raymond Senior Staff Writer
Watson tweaks changes to IR reqs
On Jan. 29, after a sleepless night in the girls’ dormitory next to the University of Alexandria in the part of the city called Shatby, the morning after the Friday protests that swept across Egypt, I sat on the first floor steps of the building with my 25-year old Arabic professor. He had come to check on us. After exchanging a few pleasantries, I asked him, “How are you doing, Zehad?” He paused for a moment and spoke to me in English for the first time. “Me?” he asked. “I don’t know how I feel. I’ve lost everything. I’ve been having problems with my dad and he kicked me out yesterday so I’ve lost my family. I’ve lost my friends. I’ve lost my job. My students are leaving, and who knows if the money in the bank is worth anything?” He paused. “I like to be helpful. I like to teach. Now what can I do? I have nothing to live for.” “Don’t get me wrong. … I hate the government, but I look around me, and I don’t recognize my city. It looks strange. This isn’t my city,” he said, shaking his head. “If I die today, it would be better.” Within the cultural context of Egypt, that conversation was an impossible one. For an Egyptian man, especially a professor, to talk to us — a group of foreign women — so candidly was unbelievable. From the balcony of my dormitory’s fifth-floor prayer room, we were afforded a view of the Egyptian Revolution as it unfolded. In the absence of cellular phones and Internet, which had been cut off by the government Jan. 27 to prevent protest mobilization, I relied on sight to understand what was happening. I knew that the army had taken over Alexandria on Friday night only because I watched them
news...................2-6 Letters..................9 editorial.............10 Opinions.............11 City & State.......12
Planning starts for U.’s 250th anniversary
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2 Campus News calendar Today
February 17
5 P.m.
ToMORROW
February 18
4 p.m. Hipocracy, Democracy and
Introduction to Photoshop Class,
Hip(Hop)ocracy, Wilson 302
CIT Room 269
7 p.m.
8 p.m.
Israeli Film Festival showing of
Contra Dance,
“The Matchmaker,” Macmillan 117
Alumnae Hall
menu SHARPE REFECTORY
VERNEy-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH
Chicken Milanese, Vegan Tacos, Spicy Collard Greens with Bacon, Apple Turnovers
Buffalo Style Chicken Wings with Blue Cheese, Wisconsin Ziti with Four Cheeses, Apple Turnovers
DINNER Marinated Boneless Pork Chop, Tortellini Angellica, Vegetable Herb Medley, Whole Wheat Brownies
Pot Roast Jardiniere, Vegetable Strudel with Cream Cheese, Whole Wheat Brownies
Sudoku
Acr oss to bear ACROSS 1 “I can ___ cheezburger?” 4 Compound with a nitrogen atom with a lone pair 9 Not including, slangily 13 Ideologies 15 Pass on 16 Laura Linney or John Krasinski, to Brown 17 Greek portico 18 Greek island 19 Sweet sixteen present to a driven rich kid, perhaps? 20 Thrill the master of the thriller? 23 Channel that might show thrillers 24 Nom 25 Water, to a chem concentrator 26 It’s by bi28 Falafel wrap sauce 30 B-baller nicknamed “King James” 32 Say “Elementary, my dear Watson!” in a funny British accent, say? 36 Gasoline additive 38 One who likes shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots 39 Egyptian symbol (var.) 40 Look at all the Facebook pictures of a former Egyptian leader? 45 “I was expecting somebody else!” 46 Black Sea port 50 Crossfaded, say 51 ___ Mae (Whoopi’s “Ghost” role) 53 Grass that’s only green on one side 54 Thing to bust 55 Prevent a certain Vulcan from using his superior logic to get into women’s pants? 59 Ra Ra ___ (indie rock band)
Celebrity Crockpot
by Jonah Kagan ‘13
The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, February 17, 2011
Student input yields new food items continued from page 1 Services’ director of administration and human resources. But his involvement will be more evenly distributed among retail operations in the future. Blue Room breakfast specials will become a permanent fixture, and the “Barbecuban” barbecue pork sandwiches at Jo’s will probably follow. With the fall harvest, Fitzsenry hopes to start a counter at the Blue Room featuring fresh produce from Brown’s student garden. To inform students what specials to expect, Fitzsenry has made his personal Google calendar available to the public. His next appearance will be at Jo’s on Monday. As his calendar says: “Breakfast for supper! Every Monday night we’ll be serving specialty stuffed French toast with home-fry-seasoned tater tots. PBJ or berries, honey and cream cheese? Yes, please.” Stuffed French toast was a favorite of Fitzsenry’s during his time working as executive chef at the Vanderbilt Mini-Mansion in Newport. “A lot of the specials we’re running here are things I’ve bench tested in other work experiences, which adapt pretty well here,” he said. But not all of his ideas are completely his own. Some of the best ideas come from BuDS student workers, like the Blue Room bread pudding, he said. “Other places in the food service world do not get the type of workers we have here,” he said. “The student workers are smart and ambitious. They’re extraordinarily dedicated because they work together with their peers. It’s a great environment to be in.” Food service changes were stu-
12 Paparazzi inits. 14 Pouch 21 Numbers game 22 Mother of Chaz Bono 27 See 37-Down 29 Express through inuendo 31 “The Tyger” poet 33 The Wildcats of the N.C.A.A. 34 Badass mofo, for short 35 Leading student helper for a CS class: Abbr. 36 Greek school of philosophy founded by Zeno 37 Injected 27Down 40 Show that launched The Lonely Island 41 Wacko 42 Cleansing dip in the dirt 43 Dilapidated slum housing 44 Combines sets, to put it formally
47 Jersey Shore cast member who got dropped in a ball on New Year’s Eve 48 “Contort yourself so I can continue fastening this garment!” 49 Diet doctor 52 “Tiny Alice” playwright Edward 53 It’s often baked at the Ratty 56 First of a famous key sequence 57 Mrs. Chaplin 58 “Ceci n’est ___ une pipe” 59 Sailor Jerry, e.g.
Solutions and archive online at acrosstobear. wordpress.com Email: brownpuzzles @gmail.com
dent-driven even before Fitzsenry arrived on campus, including popular support for the Real Food Challenge, which helped lead to the creation of Fitzsenry’s position, Hoffman said. Having a culinary manager has allowed Executive Chef John O’Shea to focus more on the Sharpe Refectory and the Verney-Wooley Dining Hall, she said. “We’ve grown so much, and the expectation of our customers to constantly be doing new things and getting involved in more initiatives has made it such that (O’Shea) is unable to have a significant presence in retail,” Hoffman said. “The decision to create (Fitzsenry’s) position was largely due to the fact that there just wasn’t enough of (O’Shea) to go around and not enough culinary attention devoted to those operations.” “We got some student input last semester as we were thinking about
menu concepts and developing what the operations would look like last spring of 2009 before we opened,” Hoffman continued. “Those weren’t random decisions. They were driven by feedback about what students would find desirable options.” Joshua Marcotte ’11 said he has felt the impact of Fitzsenry’s efforts. “I feel that the retail operations are a lot more attractive to students now,” Marcotte said. “The old Blue Room, for instance, was definitely a hangout spot, but people weren’t as pumped about things offered there for food. A lot of students are now considering it a legitimate option.” Fitzsenry said he is also excited by students’ enthusiasm. “The job here is fantastically rewarding,” he said. “The number one thing I can tell you is that I’m happy to be here. The atmosphere is what makes it so, so great.”
Project for persecuted writers finds funds By Amy Chen Staff Writer
60 “Plato was ____” (Nietzsche) 61 Steve ___ (electro artist) 62 Whom Tron fights for, with “the” 63 One of a famous trio of singers 64 Suit material in “Silence of the Lambs” 65 2550, to Caesar 66 Intoxicating 67 Friends in high places DOWN 1 Show disaproval of 2 Wheezing cause 3 Big wet one, say 4 Antediluvian 5 Word with -ocracy 6 “How could ___ this happen?” 7 “Like, duhh!” 8 Feature of most dorm doors 9 Mexican playground for the wealthy, colloquially 10 You aren’t likely to find it in an orbital? 11 Genre for the Ramones
Courtesy of Aaron Fitzsenry
Students are seeing new food items appear at campus retail eateries this year thanks to Aaron Fitzsenry, the new culinary manager for retail operations.
The International Writers Project can continue funding its fellowship after securing two substantial gifts this month. Though the project — which invites a fellow from a country where his or her writings have been censored to the University — has existed for 20 years, it does not have a permanent endowment. Funding a year-long fellowship costs about $70,000, said Robert Coover, visiting professor of literary arts and director of the project. It provides health benefits, a stipend and living expenses for the fellow
Daily
the Brown
and the fellow’s family. That figure also includes funds to remove the fellow from his or her country of origin and, if necessary, from prison. The fellowship gives persecuted intellectuals a safe space to further their work. The fellow is also given an office at the Watson Institute for International Studies. The program was first funded by former University President Vartan Gregorian, then by the William H. Donner Foundation and a combination of anonymous grants. Since securing the two large gifts, the program is working to obtain a third, Coover said. “Until now, with these two gifts, we couldn’t know for sure in February if we could offer
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fellowships,” he said. “We are set for the first two years certainly. I’d love to have something more steady than that.” The Office of Advancement has worked to raise money for the project for the last two years, but progress has been slow, he added. Coover said his goal is to endow the project and then to hire a fulltime employee to administer it. “I have an office to write, send my writings to my students in Cambodia, write for the blogs and media for people to read them,” said Kho Tararith, this year’s fellow. Tararith is a Cambodian poet, writer, publisher and educator whose writings and promotion of human rights and democracy in Cambodia had attracted death threats and verbal attacks at home. He also helped to found PEN-Cambodia, an international organization that promotes freedom of expression and condemns censorship. The International Writers Project regularly collaborates with PENAmerica to select fellows to invite to Brown. “I wrote about contemporary issues in Cambodia,” Tararith said, referring to his poetry and fiction. There would be too much pressure if he stayed in Cambodia because it is dangerous for intellectucontinued on page 5
Campus News 3
The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, February 17, 2011
Higher ed ne ws r oundup
by Amy rasmussen senior staff writer
Protests force UPR president to resign Jose Ramon de La Torre, president of the University of Puerto Rico, resigned last week amidst a wave of ongoing violent student protests. Since December, students have been boycotting classes in response to a compulsory $800 fee imposed by Gov. Luis Fortuno. The charge, designed to help reduce Puerto Rico’s gaping budget deficit, is more than half of what students already pay in annual tuition. Over 60 percent of the student body comes from families earning less than $20,000 per year, according to the New York Daily News. More than 200 people have been arrested as a result of the protests and university faculty recently staged a two-day walkout in support of the students. Until Fortuno ordered a pullout on Monday, police forces occupied the 11 campuses for the first time in over 30 years.
Tennessee school lowers tuition In an unprecedented move among top-ranking U.S. institutions of higher education, Sewanee University in Tennessee is slashing its $46,000 tuition bill by 10 percent. Officials from the university said they hope the move toward lower tuition will help it compete with other private colleges whose tuition generally rises 4 to 5 percent annually, as well as with public universities that detract from Sewanee’s applicant pool. Figures from the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities show that Sewanee is the only school to lower tuition this year. Over the next three years, the university will lose approximately $6 to $8 million as a result of the cut, according to the New York Times.
Changes to U.S. News ranking system rankle administrators A recent change to the U.S. News and World Report’s ranking system, which could fail schools of higher education for not responding to researchers, has angered college officials across the country. Until recently, the report did not include schools that chose not to participate. The change, made by U.S. News and World Report editor Brian Kelly, allows the system to provide an “estimated” ranking for non-responsive schools. Education officials from 36 different institutions — including several Big 12 Conference members — signed a letter to the magazine protesting the change as “inconsistent with professional journalistic practices.” Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality — a co-sponsor of the ranking system — responded in a letter that schools can choose not to participate, but they will still be included in the rankings.
Sophia Rabb / Herald
UCS talked about potential improvements to eateries, the Career Development Center and lighting on the Main Green.
UCS reviews its Code of Operations By David Chung Senior Staff Writer
The Undergraduate Council of Students elected a representative to the Campus Access Advisory Committee, reviewed potential changes to the UCS Code of Operations regarding student activities and discussed projects currently in progress at its meeting last night. Kimberly Wachtler ’13 will serve on the advisory committee with faculty, staff and other students to improve accessibility on campus. The committee will review and refine not only physical, but also electronic and technological access, said Ben Farber ’12, UCS vice president. All candidates emphasized their personal concern for and awareness of these matters, but in the end, the council elected Wachtler over Leah Bromberg ’11 and Samantha Enriquez ’14. UCS also discussed changes to its Code of Operations that were proposed by members of the Student Activities Committee in light of the new student group application process. Ralanda Nelson ’12, student activities chair, and Anthony White ’13 spearheaded the discussion on the content and
clarity of the changes. At the meeting, Frank Rinaldi ’12, academic and administrative affairs chair, and Chris Collins ’11, admissions and student services chair, announced that their committees were working with the Career Development Center to improve its services. Rinaldi said he plans to interview students about their experiences with the center, while Collins said he will compare the center’s services to those at other institutions. Collins said he also hopes to examine the variety of career paths that students take in a number of industries to determine areas in which the center could offer more support. The first step would be to “figure out what it is that students are doing here,” Collins said. Campus Life Chair David Rat-
tner ’13 and Farber are working with Richard Bova, senior associate dean of residential and dining services, to bring a printer to Pembroke campus, extend weekend hours at the Gate, increase lighting on the Main Green and bring seating to the patio of the Sciences Library. The Campus Life Committee has also been compiling a list of suggestions for how the Blue Room and the Sharpe Refectory could be improved and plans to forward student opinions to those in charge. UCS will be implementing office hours and increasing outreach to up its presence on campus, Communications Chair Molly Lao ’13 said. Representatives from the council will be stationed weekly either on the Main Green or in the Blue Room.
4 Campus News
The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, February 17, 2011
IR amends reqs for class of 2013 continued from page 1 nounced Feb. 11. One of the three focus tracks was eliminated, the core courses were changed, an additional regional course is required and senior capstone experiences must incorporate students’ foreign languages of study, according to the IR website. These changes were to be effective for all students who had not yet declared their concentrations, starting with the class of 2013. Many sophomores were outraged that they had already spent two years fulfilling a different set of requirements, The Herald reported Feb. 15. In response, some students created a Facebook group called “IR students against the new IR program” and put forth a list of grievances, which gathered about 65 signatures. The “Facebook idea was genius,” Blyth said, because it allowed the program to get a sense of what upset students. In response to feedback from students, the IR program decided to ease the requirements for sophomores. Student feedback was “invaluable” in leading to that decision, Blyth told The Herald. The original concentration changes stated that HIST 1900: “American Empire Since 1890” would be required for all students, and SOC 1620: “Globalization and Social Conflict” would replace the previous requirement to choose
from a list of five courses. A new required course, ANTH 0400: “Anthropology and Global Social Conflict,” will be offered for the first time this fall. Now sophomores who have already taken a modern history course that qualified for the old core will be excused from taking HIST 1900. Those who have taken ANTH 0100: “Introduction to Cultural Anthropology” or ANTH 1232: “War and Society” will be excused from ANTH 0400, and those who have taken SOC 0150: “Economic Development and Social Change” will be excused from SOC 1620. “We don’t want you to be in a position where you’re being double taxed,” Blyth said. But sophomores who have not already taken those classes for the old core will need to take the newly required courses instead, he said. The new changes also mandate that regional courses must tie into the foreign language that each student has used to fulfill the 600-level language proficiency requirement. Sophomores will be excused from this requirement as well. Sophomores who already declared their IR concentrations will fulfill the old requirements, said Claudia Elliott MA’91 PhD’99, associate director of the IR program. First-year students will use the new requirements regardless of what core courses they have taken, Blyth said.
“As a freshman, I think you’ll be fine,” Elliott said. Some students were upset over the elimination of the “politics, culture and identity” track. Blyth emphasized that this track will not be brought back. He characterized it as “40 people doing whatever they want.” Students that were in that track still have “lots of options,” Blyth said. There was little discussion about the DS changes. The Herald reported Feb. 15 that students largely seemed to be happy about the updated requirements to the program. The DS changes included a new 600-level foreign language proficiency requirement. Most DS concentrators are already taking languages, but for sophomores who are not, individual accommodations may be made, Ban said. At the end of the meeting, only a small minority of students raised their hands after Blyth asked if anyone was “still really upset.” “I think it’s really reasonable,” Anna Makaretz ’13.5 said. She said she is glad the IR program was able to accommodate sophomores, though she would have preferred if the changes had been announced before the semester. Bo Grozdanic ’13 said he thinks most people were pleased with the changes, and he hopes the program will be able to make individual accommodations for those who are still dissatisfied.
Courtesy of Brown University
James Manning, the University’s first president, served from 1765 until his death in 1791.
Professor to publish updated U. history continued from page 1 press release. The steering committee will begin planning the semiquincentenary this semester and events may begin in fall 2013, a full year before the anniversary, according to the press release. Though details of the celebration are yet to be determined, Jane Lancaster PhD’98, a historian and visiting assistant professor, is already working on a new history of the University, which will be published in time for the anniversary. The University approached Lancaster in 2009 with the idea to write an updated history, and she began working on the project in early 2010. Lancaster said the last comprehensive history of the University was published in 1914, and a shorter pamphlet was published in 2000 for a wider audience. She said she expected her history to be longer than the pamphlet but shorter and more readable than the 1914 publication. “Part of the reason Brown asked me to do it is because I have a track record of producing readable history,” Lancaster said. She said the anniversary will be an appropriate time to put out a new history that represents the many changes that have occurred since 1914. “One of the recommendations of the (Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice) was that a new history be written, and Brown is coming up on its 250th anniversary, so it’s about time we did something for the 21st century,” she said. Lancaster, who taught HIST 1974: “Theory and Practice of Local History” last semester, will teach a research seminar on the
history of the University in the fall. Students in the seminar will have the chance to contribute research to the new history, she said. Lancaster said she is not looking to create controversy in her writing, though she is also not concerned about being censored by the University. “It’s not my role as a historian to criticize — it is to uncover what the facts are and let the facts speak for themselves,” she said. “If I can document what I’m saying, no one should have any difficulty.” The Brown Alumni Association is also working on an architectural guide to the campus that will come out for the anniversary, said Todd Andrews ’83, vice president of alumni relations and a member of the steering committee. He added that Brown and Columbia are the only remaining Ivy League schools without this type of guide and that the anniversary will be a good time to publish it. Besides Lancaster’s new history and the architectural guide, Andrews said the overall planning for the anniversary is “just getting underway.” “Anniversaries like this one are unusual in America, and one of the unique aspects in being connected to Brown is being part of such a historic institution,” Andrews said. Andrews said he hopes this serves as an opportunity to engage alums that may have not been involved for some time. “We hope to see a surge in alumni interest and alumni pride in the University,” he said. “We’re considering alumni lectures, special programming around reunions and using social media to engage alumni who are perhaps not able to make it back to campus.”
Campus News 5
The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, February 17, 2011
Writing Students petition new study abroad programs fellows plan int’l festival By brielle friedman Staff Writer
continued from page 2 als, he said. “When we are inside, we don’t have connections abroad.” “If I can continue to stay abroad, it’s better,” he added. Past fellows have come from countries such as China, Cuba, Turkey, Iran and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. To raise additional money, the program runs a festival every year that focuses on the fellow’s work and the art and culture of his or her region. Planned for mid-March, this year’s festival will focus on Cambodia and Southeast Asia and will include authors whose writings pertain to issues of the region. The festival will include a premiere of the film “Enemies of the People” and a discussion panel about Cambodian literature with writers including English author Geoff Ryman and author Alan Lightman, an adjunct professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The fellows, who are actively involved with the festival, help to bring people they know to the festival, give readings, participate in discussion panels and are invited to talk in classes. “The effort to keep the voice alive is worthwhile,” Coover said. “The program serves as a beacon of possibility for those in trouble.” Coover said the fellows are not the only beneficiaries of the program because it also provides students a unique opportunity to further their understanding of the world and freedom of expression abroad. “The benefit goes two ways,” he said.
It has been over a year since Alex Wilpon ’10 spent her junior spring studying abroad in Prague, but her desktop background is still a photograph of the city. “I have pictures of Prague all over my room. I’m homesick for Prague all the time. I know everyone doesn’t have a great experience abroad, but I certainly did,” she said.
feature Instead of participating in the brown-approved alternative program in Prague, Wilpon petitioned to participate in New York University’s study abroad program. And Wilpon is one of many students who have chosen to petition a program to the Office of International Programs. “Over the last few years, we have had on average between 40 and 50 students who study abroad on petition programs,” Kendall Brostuen, director of international programs, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. There are currently Brown programs in 10 countries and approved alternative programs in 50 countries. But the OIP realizes that “there may be times when a student’s overall academic objectives abroad may be better met by a petition program,” Brostuen wrote. A petition can be dismissed if the student does not meet the University’s language requirement for a given country or if the petition program does not fulfill faculty guidelines regarding contact hours of study, according to Brostuen. “The program needs to provide an academic opportunity the quality of which cannot be du-
plicated by the Brown-sponsored or Brown-approved program(s) in the students proposed country of study,” he wrote. Students usually choose to petition a program because there is not already a pre-approved program in that country, said Brostuen. But a student can successfully petition a program in a country with a competing Brown program if the student has a compelling academic reason, he said. This is more common among science concentrators who may not meet a language requirement but want a site-specific experience, he added. Muy complicado
Petitioning a program requires a significant amount of work, but Brostuen said most students who put in the effort to submit a formal application are successful. Julia Kim ’12, currently abroad at the School for International Training program in Peru, said the overall petition process was tedious. “There was a lot of paperwork to get signed and filled out,” she wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. Kim, who is a former Herald staff writer, wrote that she felt the OIP was somewhat supportive, but that they did not make “the entire petitioning process super clear.” Wilpon said she also found the petition process difficult. By the time she decided to study in Prague, she had missed the University’s program deadline. The OIP eventually told her she could apply for the Brown program, but, by that point, Wilpon had already researched the NYU program and decided she liked it, she said. The petition process involves a written academic rationale, several meetings with academic advisers and many forms. Wilpon
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said it took her almost the entire semester to obtain approval. “I started the process of petitioning the first week back at Brown in September, but it wasn’t approved until late November or early December,” she said. “It was really frustrating,” Wilpon said. “Different panels have to approve different parts of the petition application,” she added. “I don’t think they meet very often, which slows down the entire process.” Wilpon was required to put down a deposit — a fee of a few thousand dollars — for NYU before Brown even approved the program, she said, adding that she would have lost her deposit if the University rejected her petition. Despite the frustrating process of petitioning, Wilpon said studying abroad was worth it. “It was one of the best decisions I ever made,” she said. “I would do it again, even if it meant going through the same frustrations.” Easy-peasy
Still, most of the roughly 500 students who study abroad each year do so through Brown or preapproved programs either because they find a good fit among these choices or simply because it is more convenient. Brown programs often provide on-site staff to handle organizational matters and support students. Mariel Heupler ’12 studied abroad in Buenos Aires last fall through Butler University’s program. One of the reasons she did not petition a program was because she did not want to deal with the hassle of transferring credits, which she had heard could be difficult, she said. Heupler also said the OIP provided her with resources, including
books, flyers and a returned student contact list. Cody Cutting ’12 recently returned from the Brown-inBarcelona program where he said he spent an unforgettable semester. He was drawn to the program because of his interest in architecture.“Barcelona and the nearby cities of Valencia and Zaragoza are hotbeds for modern and contemporary design,” he wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. Though Cutting was happy with the experience, he was dissatisfied with the level of coursework and often felt disconnected from the local student body, he wrote. He said a mandatory pre-departure semester of Catalan “could prove very beneficial and help students better communicate with the Catalan youth.” Brown-in-Barcelona is run through a larger consortium with three staff members responsible for administration, Sam Johnson ’12, who also studied in Barcelona, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. Everyone in the program loved the staff members, who were effective at handling the often aggravating task of matriculation to the city’s universities, he wrote. Regardless of which study abroad option a student considers, the guiding principle for choosing a program should be “academic fit,” Brostuen said. That “academic fit” might be found in a more thematic, research-based program. Kim said she found the hands-on approach to cultural studies she was looking for in the SIT Peru program where she lives in a home-stay and does her own fieldwork . “I wanted to experience the culture and do something I wouldn’t be able to do at Brown,” she wrote. “So far, it has been great overall.”
6 Eyewitness Journal
The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, February 17, 2011
Labora ’12 provides account of Egyptian revolution continued from page 1 roll into the city. The only source of news was the television, which the Egyptian women with us — our roommates and floor mates — had managed to hotwire, and one Blackberry that could receive text messages from the United States. The state-run Egyptian television provided no coverage of the protests and Al-Jazeera, which provided the best coverage by far, was focusing largely on Cairo and
was being targeted by the state. The fact that people were still able to assemble and protest was incredible. With a direct view of the Corniche, the road that stretches along the Mediterranean Sea in Alexandria, I was able to trace from the prayer room the movement of people across the city as they marched from protest to protest. For hours on end, thousands of people trekked across Alexandria chanting and singing while being subjected to tear gas and police beat-
Courtesy of Sydney Silverstein
Amanda Labora ‘12 and Michael Dawkins ‘12 evacuated Egypt Jan. 30.
ings. Many of them were coughing and wiping their eyes while clutching face masks that had apparently failed to protect them from the repeated gassings. From the balcony, we could see government buildings and police stations go up in flames, spewing black smoke across the city to our building. We later learned that these attacks were among the many stateorchestrated bombings that took place in major cities throughout Egypt. Though the Egyptian government tried to portray the popular movement as a violent one, the protests I witnessed were peaceful. Neighbors brought down water and oranges for protestors and Christians protected Muslim protestors from the police as they prayed. Protests only became violent in response to violence from government agitators. Though I was at times fearful for my safety, I was never afraid of Egyptian civilians. Rather, it was the police that terrified me. They targeted foreigners they believed might be journalists so as to prevent reports of state violence from reaching a Western audience. Alexandrians who saw me and the students in my program in the streets repeatedly went out of their way to guide us to safety and warn us about police brutality. When looters and released prisoners overran the city, Alexandrians
Courtesy of Sydney Silverstein
Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, served as center stage for anti-government protests.
from all walks of life took back the night. They formed neighborhood watches across the city to protect their families and property. They banded together wielding sticks, bricks and even chair legs, anticipating the arrival of government actors armed with semi-automatic weapons. I owe my life to the Alexandrians who kept us safe in the dorm on Saturday night. As we huddled together, Egyptians and Americans, trying to ignore the volley of gunfire outside, we were comforted by the knowledge that neighborhood youth had volunteered to guard the building. Without them, it would have been left vulnerable. From one day to the next, I watched the lives of my Egyptian friends and teachers fall apart. Students at Alexandria University had been in the middle of their final exams. Several of the girls who stayed with us on Friday night had exams the next morning but were too terrified to leave the building. My next-door neighbor Amira came back from her exam in tears. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” she said. “The police are tear gassing people. There are fainted people lying in the streets. One of my friends was just walking on the street, minding her own business when a police officer clubbed her on the neck. He was dressed like a civilian.” Instead of studying for exams, engineering and medical students took up posts as neighborhood watchmen.
“We’re protecting the electricity supply so that at least, if they come, we can see who we’re fighting,” said Karim, a psychology major at the American University of Cairo, in a phone call on Saturday night after cell phone service was restored. As I sat in the dorm, watching the news with the Egyptian women, holding their hands and crying with them, I couldn’t help but feel ashamed for being protected by regular Egyptians, who were being oppressed by an American-backed dictatorship. I couldn’t help but feel sick when I saw that the tear gas canisters read “Made in the U.S.A.” “You have to understand,” I told them, “Just like there is a difference between the Egyptian government and the Egyptian people, there is a difference between the American government and the American people.” Emphasizing the distinction was unnecessary. On more than a few occasions, I found that Egyptians were more capable of distinguishing between a government and its people than many Americans. In any event, in that moment, we were just scared people taking care of each other. Leaving the next morning to go to the airport on a commandeered tourist bus, we surveyed the aftermath of the night’s events — the burnt-out carcasses of police vehicles strewn along the streets, broken shop windows and makeshift barricades. Alexandrians were wandering the streets, stocking up on water and food. I felt afraid for Egypt..
8 City & State
The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, February 17, 2011
Hundreds flock to new Wednesday settles down, sobers up Wednesday night spot continued from page 1
By sofia CASTELLO Staff Writer
Students searching for a new Wednesday night venue after the December closing of the Fish Company have found a potential alternative in the Colosseum, a Pine Street nightclub. Last week, a handful of students created a Facebook event promoting a new “Brown Night” at the Colosseum, one of the venues vying for students’ Wednesday night business. The South Main Street restaurant Olives has also attracted groups of Brown students on Wednesdays this semester. “Fish Co. definitely left a void for people in the social calendar,” said Jesse Frank ’12, one of the organizers of the Colosseum event. “We wanted to create a place where the entire Brown community could come together for social purposes during the week.” And come together they did — over 400 students attended the event last Wednesday, according to Anthony Santurri, one of Colos-
seum’s owners. “We didn’t expect that many,” Santurri said. “They caught us off guard. Even the coat room was overwhelmed. We ran out of hangers.” “It seemed to be a huge success,” he added. “We had no trouble, everyone was great.” Frank called the event “great,” but added, “we’re still in development stages.” He described the effort as a “couple-week trial. We’re going to see how it goes.” The Colosseum allows entry to anyone 18 years old and up, giving access to the “whole Brown community,” he said. The venue does have one significant difference from Fish Co., where several students were arrested for underage drinking last December. “We are going to be very, very strict about the drinking policy,” Santurri said. “If people have a drink and no bracelet, we take it away.” See next Wednesday’s Herald for full Olives vs. Colosseum coverage.
did not understand why an influx of people started streaming into Jo’s late on Wednesday nights, but said he eventually realized it “must be the Fish Co. crowd.” He said he dreaded the rush because lines continued to stack up, and there was no time to take breaks. But toward the end of last semester, as rumors of Fish Co’s closing spread, Tamayo noticed a sudden decrease in customers during that time period. Sophie Soloway ’13 worked at the salad station at Jo’s last semester, but said she found the rowdiness “more entertaining than a bother.” “Millions of drunks would come streaming in,” she said. On most Wednesdays, Soloway would have to deal with issues like female students spilling drinks over the counter and male students asking for impossible salad orders, she said. Though she no longer works at Jo’s, Soloway said the eatery has a much calmer Wednesday night crowd this semester. For students, the loss of Fish Co. has left a void in the middle of their week. Cam Parsons ’14 said he has seen “a lot more aimless walking” on Wednesday nights than last semester. “People don’t necessarily know what to do with themselves,” he said. “Fish Co. gave them a destination.”
Stephanie London / Herald
Wednesday nights have been quieter at Josiah’s since the closing of Fish Co.
But potential successors have recently emerged. Adam Weinrib ’12 has gone to a few of the new locations and said he sees Colosseum as the future destination for students. “I’m no expert, but it’s bigger,” Weinrib said. “There seems like there’s mass appeal.” Camila Pacheco-Fores ’14 described Colosseum as a more upscale, classier version of Fish Co. and said she sees herself going there again. DPS has yet to hear about any new locations students are going
to on Wednesdays, Shanley said. But he said he has heard about an increase in students on Thayer St. The campus buzz might return once students settle into a new pattern for Wednesday nights, Weinrib said. “Maybe Jo’s will become more of what it used to be once people start realizing where everything is,” he said. But Tamayo, who now works at Jo’s on weekends, said his shifts are no longer as eventful. “Nothing ever got as busy as Fish Co. Wednesday nights.”
Letters 9
The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, February 17, 2011
Herald coverage of women Sieffert GS off-point on ROTC concerns in CS sensationalizes To the Editor:
To the Editor: I was a teaching assistant for the course CSCI 0310: “Introduction to Computer Systems,” which Fiona Condon ’12 took last semester, and I wrote the premise of the computer science problem described at the beginning of the article (“Algorithms can’t solve CS gender gap,” Feb. 16). While Fiona was aware of the context of the problem and I am sorry if she was offended, your article does not mention the actual context whatsoever. I would like to explain the context of the homework problem, since I think The Herald — whether it was through ignorance of the facts, or it was done intentionally to provoke the reader — misrepresented it. Every semester, the teaching assistants for each computer science course choose a theme for the course to add fun for both the students and TAs. Some memorable themes from the past few years have included Harry Potter, Futurama, Snow White, James Bond and Inception. We update the course website and some homework and exam problems to fit in with the theme, and the TAs and students enjoy it immensely. Last semester, I was the TA who was the most excited about choosing a tongue-in-cheek parody of Twilight for the theme, and I added funny premises to homework problems and exams making fun of the feud between vampires or werewolves, the ridiculous sparkling and other things vampires in Twilight do, and in this case the annoying, pathetic main character Bella. Considering that the Twilight series consists of four books, hundreds of pages long, that describe Bella being helpless and whiny, I think context is important here. She is depicted as a helpless person. Yes, she is a woman, but that isn’t what is funny about the situation. We indiscriminately made fun of all the characters, especially Edward and Jacob, for their ridiculous personality traits, and it is simply a fact that all the characters are risible and Bella is one of them. Calling it a topical joke without giving any other context is completely misleading. Did you ask about what the topic was and choose not to print it, or did you not bother to find out at all? I think making fun of the melodramatic characters in Twilight is a drastically different situation from “A woman is upset because she cannot figure out the answer to a problem and her boyfriend is not around to help her” without any other context. What did you hope to ac-
complish by printing that on the first page of your newspaper? To write a sensational — sensational meaning inciting an emotional response through cheap thrills, not excellent — article? Did you consider what negative effects it might have on the problem of the scarcity of women in CS? Consider whether writing that sort of dangerous, sensationalist introduction to an otherwise mundane article that brings nothing new to an established issue is worth the trouble it causes. If you had been fairly representing an actual problem with Brown’s CS department or CS in general, I could not feel the same frustration, but it is the case that you distorted the situation completely. I also wonder why you quoted Ashley Tuccero’s ’11 e-mail declining to comment. Ashley indicated in the e-mail excerpt that you printed that she was concerned about misunderstandings, and I think rightly so. Although it is difficult to write about the underrepresentation of women in computer science in the little space a newspaper article affords, I would have expected a better attempt to avoid misunderstandings like these. If I were Luthra, I would have wondered why many students declined to be interviewed for the article. The Herald has written articles in the past that misquoted and misrepresented the opinions of women, including mine, in the computer science department. This is exactly the reason why I declined to be interviewed for the article and why I question the integrity of reporting at The Herald. Alexandra Schultz ’11
As a West Point dropout and Brown graduate, I spilled my coffee when reading Anne-Caroline Sieffert’s letter to the editor (“Expanding education preferable to ROTC,” Feb. 8). But the truth is, you don’t need a Brown degree, nor much knowledge of the military, to catch the two glaring errors she made. First, Sieffert argued that Brown needs better scholarships and mentoring. Those are admirable
goals, but this is not a debate between offering ROTC to students or increasing need-based aid. Rejecting Reserve Officers’ Training Corps will not increase the amount of need-based aid for the poorest. Accepting ROTC will not limit the amount of community outreach and mentoring that the Brown community can provide. Second, Sieffert expressed concern about kids who are 16 years old joining ROTC. In fact, you have to be 17 years old and have parental permission to receive an
ROTC scholarship. Furthermore, most college freshmen are at least 18 — old enough to vote and old enough to be drafted under the law. In my mind, they’re also old enough to join ROTC. While I don’t agree that serving in the military is akin to dying as cannon fodder, Sieffert is entitled to her own opinion. But the Brown community is entitled to the facts as they have this very important conversation.
comics Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline
BB & Z | Cole Pruitt, Andrew Seiden, Valerie Hsiung and Dan Ricker
Letters, please!
letters@browndailyherald.com
Jon Hillman ’09
10 Editorial Editorial
The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, February 17, 2011
Editorial comic
b y a l e x y u ly
Don’t lose focus on aid Last weekend, the Corporation convened. This meeting was especially momentous — in December, the University’s seven-year Campaign for Academic Enrichment concluded. President Ruth Simmons announced some impressive figures — the fundraising effort raised $1.61 billion, including $311 million for undergraduate financial aid. But of all the numbers coming out as part of the budget the Corporation set, there is a single figure that is the most important for Brown students and their families. The cost of tuition and fees for next year’s undergraduates will be $53,136. Tuition at Brown, like at many other U.S. colleges and universities, has skyrocketed in recent years, rising nearly $20,000 — or 53 percent — in the last decade. This announcement comes at a moment when controlling costs is on nearly everyone’s minds. Brown adjusted ambitious capital projects in response to the reality of its financial situation. And last week, cost-conscious Republicans unveiled a spending bill for the rest of 2011, proposing what would be “the largest cut in student-aid funds in the history of the Pell Grant program,” according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. The proposed legislation would cut the maximum amount of a Pell Grant — a form of need-based financial aid awarded by the federal government — by $845, or 15 percent. The proposal is guided by an understandable desire to rein in the government’s soaring debt, and the backers of the bill have chosen to cut a line of the budget that has grown considerably in recent years. About 9.6 million students are projected to receive the grants next year, compared to 6 million students in 2008. But before making cuts to a program simply because it has become costly, the House would do well to examine the reasons for the increases. The recent economic crisis, the growth of the for-profit sector in higher education and the increasing importance of having an advanced degree for job prospects all undeniably contribute to the program’s ballooning price tag. Considering the uncertain future of student aid from the federal government, we would like to applaud the University’s consistent commitment to making a Brown education affordable for students from a variety of economic situations. In the 2001-02 academic year, the average University scholarship was $16,288. This year, it is $31,292, meaning financial aid has increased at almost twice the rate of tuition. Brown’s ability to offer such aid is of course related to its status as a private institution with a relatively large endowment — but it is also the result of a deliberate choice on the part of the University. But we remind the administration that its commitment to improving the aid Brown offers does not end with the Campaign for Academic Enrichment. Nine years ago, 35 percent of undergraduates were receiving institutional financial aid. Currently, 43 percent of undergraduates are receiving financial aid from the University — and correspondingly, 57 percent are not receiving any. As the members of the administration look into Brown’s bold future, we hope they remember the University’s greatest strength, one that is not as visible as a new creative arts center or athletic complex: the students who are able to attend. Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
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quote of the day
“ Millions of drunks would come streaming in. ” — Sophie Soloway ’13, on Wednesday nights at Josiah’s, see fish on page 1
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Opinion 11
The Brown Daily Herald Thursday, February 17, 2011
The silent treatment Hunter Fast Opinions Editor Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 recently announced that Rhode Island state employees would be forbidden from speaking with talk radio hosts, arguing that public resources should not “support for-profit, ratings-driven programming.” This ban infringes on the right to free speech for public sector workers and severs a link of communication between the state and the populace that is vital for taxpayers to know what the government is doing in their name. Furthermore, by painting all talk radio hosts with the same brush, Chafee is exhibiting the very type of thinking for which he intends to show disdain. But the most obvious flaw in Chafee’s rationale is that in the United States, the vast majority of media are “ratings-driven.” In contrast with, say, Britain, where the publicly funded BBC’s domination of broadcasting is only starting to wane, American radio, television and newspapers — including The Herald — are reliant on a large audience to maintain revenue. After all, if any media outlet cannot reach viewers, then its advertising space becomes worthless. Chafee also fails to comprehend that the state supports private enterprise every time it spends money on goods and services (see Keynesian economics). Given that the governor is in no hurry to cut spending to close the state’s budget gap (“Chafee ’75 P’14 delays agenda, loses confidence,” Feb.
15) and that his decree does not extend to forms of media other than talk radio, one can only speculate as to his true motives. Fortunately, Chafee’s previous remarks regarding talk radio paint a telling picture. According to a Jan. 14 Providence Journal article, Chafee’s spokesman Michael Trainor opined that “talk radio tends to be divisive. Period.” Aside from Trainor’s amusing use of “period” to underscore a weak asser-
self online — against Glenn Beck’s comparisons of everything under the sun to Hitler is all that is needed to demonstrate the wrong-headed nature of Chafee’s prejudice against talk radio as a format. So does Chafee believe that he and his cadre are too enlightened to be heard on the same wavelengths as such thinkers? Highly unlikely. Rather, radio personalities that are a little off the deep end — Rush
Radio personalities that are a little off the deep end — Rush Limbaugh and Michael Medved immediately jump to mind — are by far the most salient, and sadly, it is on this basis that Chafee unfairly condemns hosts all over the Ocean State to the silent treatment.
tion, the new policy of radio silence does not reflect the tendency that Trainor describes. Chafee’s one-size-fits-all proposal discounts the very existence of reasonable radio hosts in the very same moment that it rejects the existence of hysterical personalities on television or in print. In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that my father is himself a talk radio host on WJBC in Bloomington, Ill. The juxtaposition of the incisive questions he has asked of such intellectuals as Niall Ferguson, Fareed Zakaria and John Meacham — if you don’t believe me, listen for your-
Limbaugh and Michael Medved immediately jump to mind — are by far the most salient, and sadly, it is on this basis that Chafee unfairly condemns hosts all over the Ocean State to the silent treatment. Even if all talk radio anchors everywhere were raving lunatics, dictating that on-duty public employees only speak to certain approved journalists is a rejection of the idea that government officials are accountable to the citizenry, which includes even people who do assert on air that President Obama is Hitler, as well as their listeners. Furthermore, given that talk radio is a format traditionally dominated by conser-
vatives, Chafee is disproportionately hurting rightist commentators’ ability to cover Rhode Island’s political sphere as they see it. Ultimately, this is censorship, as Chafee denies conservative radio anchors the same access to information that their liberal counterparts in other media still possess. The ban on state employees talking to radio hosts sets a dangerous precedent of government entitlement to refuse to respond to the concerns of certain sections of the populace that are selected on an arbitrary basis. By making the state government more transparent, the information needed to demonstrate the hysterical ravings of Beck and other talk radio hosts to be false will be readily available. When the state denies information to those who seek it, then the rational assumption is that the state has something to hide. This mindset allows people to believe whatever they want without the slightest shred of evidence whatsoever. If Chafee truly wants rationality to prevail, then he should spare no expense in reaching talk radio listeners, many of whom rely on radio as their primary source of political thought. By cutting such listeners off from vital information regarding the actions of the state, Chafee only hands them over to the very demagogues that he sought to impede.
Hunter Fast ’12 thinks that Chafee should implement a limit on the number of times that anchors can compare politicians to Hitler.
It’s your right — use it now.
Write opinions for The Herald.
Daily Herald City & State the Brown
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Alums apply to open pot center Black History Month
celebrated at State House
By shanoor seervai Contributing Writer
Three Brown alums — Lee Golini ’03, Matthew Madison ’05 and Jose Florentino-Reyes ’08 — have applied to open a medical marijuana compassion center in North Kingston. Submitting one of 18 applications for at most three compassion center licenses, the alums proposed to create the Chronic Pain Management Center. The state Department of Health will decide on the applications March 8. Golini, who is listed as the center’s founder on its application, said he wants to open it because patients “can’t depend on the current caregiver system” for procuring medical marijuana. Under the current system, medical marijuana patients can choose a caregiver to grow their marijuana and provide them a certain amount. Critics charge that this system is not adequately regulated by the state government. Golini said most patients cannot afford to pay the street value for medical-grade marijuana, which is $400 to $500 per ounce. If his center’s application is approved, it will be able to sell medical marijuana at $280 per ounce, Golini said. He said he expects to serve 600 patients and projects annual revenue of $2 million by the center’s third year of operation. In comparison, the application for Summit Medical Compassion Center anticipates raising $25 million and serving 3,000 patients in its third year of operation . The proposed Chronic Pain Management Center would be located in North Kingston, while its facility for growing the drug would be located in Cranston. Golini said he chose North Kingston because he wanted to provide access to a compassion center in a location where there were no other applicants. The location has generated controversy. Jared Moffat ’13, president of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, said Rep. Doreen Costa, R-North Kingston and Exeter, had not been contacted to seek her opinion on the proposed compassion center. Moffat said Costa expressed concern at the Feb. 7 public hearing on the compassion center applications that her constituents would be apprehensive about
By Katherine Long Staff Writer
Katrina Phillips / Herald
Recent alums have banded together to open a medical marijuana center.
having a center in their town. “It’s irresponsible to have one if it’s not okay with the local community,” Moffat said. Moffat said he thought Costa is particularly opposed to Golini’s application because the Chronic Pain Management Center logo pairs an image of a cannabis leaf with an anchor, Rhode Island’s emblem. JoAnne Leppanen, executive director of the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Center, confirmed that the potential locations for Chronic Pain Management Center have raised opposition. But the state Department of Health prefers applicants to specify proposed locations. The department is looking for applicants with determined locations, so that a proposed compassion center can open immediately if approved, she said. The department can award up to three licenses for compassion centers under a 2009 state law. It will decide on this round of applicants 30 days after the public hearing that occurred in February. During the first round of applications in September 2010, the department rejected all applications because they were either for-profit or exceeded the application page limit, said Annemarie Beardsworth, spokeswoman for the Rhode Island health department. Leppanen said her main con-
cern is the delay in the review of applications for compassion centers. “This should have happened by 2009,” she said. Though Maine’s law authorizing compassion centers passed after Rhode Island’s, its state government has already handed out licenses for compassion centers, Leppanen said. But because of local opposition, Maine’s compassion centers have been unable to begin operations, she said. “People in Rhode Island are pretty well-educated about the program,” she said, adding that most towns and cities have been supportive of the centers. Warwick has written two letters of support to the Department of Health, and Providence and Fordsmith have not expressed any concern, she said. Compassion centers are a distinct improvement over the current system, according to Moffat. With the caregiver model, it is easier for medical marijuana to be sold illegally because the state does not monitor the number of caregivers and the number of plants they grow, Moffat said. “With the compassion centers, it will be more apparent if they are selling through the back door,” he said, adding that as long as the applicants want to set up compassion centers as non-profit operations, Students for Sensible Drug Policy fully supports the service.
Gospel music, a speech by Professor of Economics Glenn Loury and a surprise appearance by Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 marked the second annual Black History Month celebration at the State House last night. The celebration, which also featured a performance of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Drum Major Instinct” sermon, was attended by nearly 60 state legislators and local community leaders. Chafee’s short speech, which followed a rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by the administrator of fine arts of the Providence Public School District, set the tone for the event. “We must set aside this time to aspire to a vision of true equality for all Americans,” Chafee said. In the Senate session immediately preceding the celebration, Sen. Harold Metts, D-Providence, introduced the annual resolution calling for the recognition of February as Black History Month in Rhode Island. The resolution has passed every year since 1976. In the resolution, Metts — the second African American elected to the Rhode Island General Assembly — stressed President Obama’s election and his “message of hope” as indicative of progress for African Americans. “Black History Month is a wonderful time of year to recognize the positive contributions of everyone who helped to build this country,” Metts told The Herald. “The contributions of African Americans throughout history have been important. Black history is American history.” “This month is a reminder that we stand on great shoulders of all the people who have fought for civil rights. Our generation needs to be reminded that many have fought for the freedoms that we have,” Senate President Pro Tempore Juan Pichardo, D-Providence, said at the event. Loury highlighted institutionalized discrimination in the criminal justice system and inner-city schools in his remarks, calling for a renewed commitment to social activism. “Yes, we’ve elected Barack Obama — but because he’s black,
he has to take a low profile on racial issues. Because he was elected, people are inclined to pat themselves on the back and say, ‘See, America’s doing just fine,’” he said. “Let us not be so complacent, so satisfied, so smugly content. … Let us look carefully at our society and not leave anyone behind.” Loury told The Herald he is “not a big fan” of Black History Month. “A month is both way too long and not long enough to look at black history in the context of American history. On one hand, how much are you going to talk about? You can’t cover a different subject every day. On the other hand, the examination of black history should not be confined to a single month,” Loury said. “It’s important to be aware of black history not only in the month of February.” The celebration was sponsored by the Rhode Island General Assembly and the Rhode Island Black and Latino Caucus. “African Americans and Latinos have many issues in common. Both face poverty and high dropout rates. Both live in the same neighborhoods and face similar economic challenges,” said Metts, the vice chair of the Black and Latino Caucus. Doris De Los Santos, the head of the Rhode Island Latino Civic Fund and the Latino Political Action Committee, attended the event to “show support and to celebrate the history that the black community represents in the state.” She said she sees an opportunity for social progress if the two minority communities work together. “The change that we fight for is an equalizer. … What makes us different is how we see ourselves, and that reflects back on how we see each other,” she said. Metts agreed, adding that he supports legislation dealing with discriminatory foreclosures, exploitative loans, criminal record expungement and equal employment opportunities. “We haven’t met with the new governor about these issues yet, but I believe that the will for action comes from the top,” Metts said. “Meet with him, and things will begin to change.”
Simmons, Chafee ’75 seek ideas for R.I.’s economic development By Katrina Phillips Contributing Writer
President Ruth Simmons will travel to Houston early next week on a fact-finding trip with Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 and other Rhode Island leaders. This is the first of several trips to innovative U.S. cities that the Chafee administration says will inform the governor’s plans to enhance Rhode Island’s knowledge economy. Chafee also plans to visit Baltimore, Cleveland and Pittsburgh,
according to a press release from Chafee’s office. On the Houston trip, he will be accompanied by Providence Mayor Angel Taveras, University of Rhode Island President David Dooley, Chafee’s Chief of Staff Patrick Rogers and Keith Stokes, executive director of the Rhode Island economic development corporation. Developing the knowledge economy means taking advantage of university and hospital resources to create jobs and provide income for Rhode Island citizens,
said Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior adviser to the president. “None of us has a formula” for Rhode Island’s economic growth, he said. Though the state has many assets, the goal of the trip is to “translate these ideas into an action plan.” These efforts could help strengthen Brown’s position as a top-tier research institute, said Marisa Quinn, vice president for public affairs and university relations.
The University has already launched collaborative efforts aimed at jump-starting the state’s economy. Through the Ocean State Consortium of Advanced Resources, a coalition of 40 organizations led by Brown and IBM, the University has announced a plan to “green” what government officials have termed the Knowledge District, centered around the Jewelry District downtown. Spies said he expects the trip to illustrate the potential of similar projects. “I suspect we will see efforts like
the (consortium) effort at these other places,” he said. Although there will likely be key differences owing to the cities’ respective assets, Spies said he expects the group will find programs with the “same fundamental goals” in Houston and the other cities that Chafee visits. Overall, Quinn said the goal is for these trips to result in “more opportunities” in Rhode Island and for the University to continue to “create a stronger Brown, stronger Providence and stronger Rhode Island.”