Daily
THE BROWN
vol. cxlviii, no. 19
INSIDE
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Jobs for good University hosts new nonprofit career fair Page 8
Saturday post USPS changes will not affect University mail services Page 9
Hats off
Brown Derbies victorious in ICCA quarterfinal round
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Herald
since 1891
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
U. to strengthen resources for campus veterans A newly-approved office will work with the Admission Office to attract more veterans By KATE DESIMONE STAFF WRITER
The University is looking to strengthen and coordinate resources for student veterans, while increasing outreach in the military to develop a larger student veteran population. Following the Corporation’s approval of the University budget last week, a position will be created for a veteran to head the new Office of Student Veterans and Commissioning Programs, said Ricky Gresh, senior director for student engagement. Dedicating resources to support the office was recommended as a critical first step in last fall’s report from the Undergraduate Veterans Subcommittee of the Diversity Advisory Board. The office is a place for student veterans to connect and
serve as a source of information for students interested in the military but is still “in its developing stages,” said Matthew Ricci ’16, a Navy veteran and a student coordinator at the office. The Office of Student Veterans and Commissioning Programs is currently headed by Gresh, who chaired last fall’s subcommittee. Gresh said he is looking to create a network of administrators who act as liaisons for veteran-specific concerns and to “provide greater coordination” for these colleagues. Veteran liaisons extend their services to the Offices of Admission and Financial Aid, as well as to the Resumed Undergraduate Education Program, since many veterans apply as RUE students, Gresh said. The University has made headway in all the recommendations listed as critical first steps in last fall’s report, Gresh said. A working group out of last fall’s subcommittee is drafting an institutional value statement, which would affirm the importance the University places / / Veteran page 6
EMILY GILBERT / HERALD
With only seven undergraduate veterans, the University may reach out to local schools and military publications to attract more veteran applicants.
Early admitted students sample University life Kappa Now in its third year, Early Delta takes Admitted Students Day is more popular than ever place in U. for the class of 2017 history By MARK VALDEZ
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Over 250 early admitted students of the class of 2017 attended Early Admitted Students Day Monday, said Matthew Price, assistant director of admission and coordinator of the program. The number represents the largest group of early-admitted students to attend in the event’s threeyear history, he added. “Seven to eight years ago, early admitted students were allowed to attend A Day on College Hill,” Price said. But as the number of students
admitted through regular decision increased, there was not enough space to host the students who were admitted early anymore, he said. He added that ADOCH is for students “who are not 100 percent” sure Brown is the right school choice, while the earlyadmitted students “know that Brown is the place for them.” Price said the early admitted students event was created to make early admitted students feel “more welcome, and a part of the Brown community.” About 400 family members were in attendance. A separate schedule was created for parents, with panels such as “Advising and the Brown Curriculum” and “Financing a Brown Education.” Price welcomed students in Alum/ / Early page 3 nae Hall with
The new chapter will move forward by drawing leadership from upperclassmen By SAM HEFT-LUTHY SENIOR STAFF WRITER
LOUIS TRUJILLO / BROWN UNIVERSITY
The first members of the class of 2017 gathered Monday to get advice from students and faculty members about life on campus.
Undergrads protest Keystone XL pipeline in D.C. Students joined the largest climate march in U.S. history to protest the Keystone XL pipeline By ALEXANDER BLUM STAFF WRITER
For over 100 environmental student leaders within the Brown community, the long weekend was a break from classes — but not from advocating their cause. Living up to their activist image, Brown students traveled to the nation’s capital Sunday to march alongside an estimated 35,000 to 50,000 other protestors in opposition to the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. From the Washington Monument to the White House and back, protesters urged President Barack Obama to reject the Keystone XL pipeline and to move forward with other en-
FEATURE
vironmental initiatives. The protest — organized by The Sierra Club and 350.org —involved 168 organizations and was the largest climate march in United States history, according to The Sierra Club website. Laying the groundwork Bill McKibben, a founder of 350. org, suggested that Brown students participate in the rally when he visited campus in November to speak about divestment from fossil fuel companies. The Rhode Island Student Climate Coalition organized the transportation and participation of Brown students in the protest. RISCC “thought it was important to organize as many Brown students as possible to go to the protest,” wrote Mara Freilich ’15, former RISCC representative to emPower, in an email to The Herald. She wrote that she believes “it is the responsibility of citizens to actively participate in / / Protest page 7 the political
COURTESY OF LAWRENCE MCDONALD
Members of Brown environmental groups joined a crowd of about 50,000 protesters marching in Washington, D.C. this weekend.
The addition of new sorority Kappa Delta will mark the first time in 30 years that a sorority has joined Brown’s Greek system. Originally small organizations within Pembroke College — the University’s former women’s school — sororities have a history that reaches almost as far back as Pembroke itself. Unique Greek The team involved in selecting Kappa Delta as the newest sorority included Assistant Director of Summer and Special Programs Kate Tompkins, Greek Council Chair Tommy Fink ’13 and Panhellenic Council President Lena Weiss ’13. All three said they were impressed with Kappa Delta’s knowledge of the Brown community and the existing sorority culture in particular. “It’s very different from, I think, most other schools that have sorority systems,” Weiss said. “It’s a lot more laid-back, both in terms of how we operate, recruitment process and pretty much everything.” Maggie Johnson ’16, a member of Kappa Alpha Theta, grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. She said her friends who went to Southern universities found sorority life to be much more / / Kappa page 2 intense, and
2 university news C ALENDAR TODAY
FEBRUARY 20
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10:30 A.M. Spring Career Fair
History of Jazz
Kasper Multipurpose Room
Grant Recital Hall
8 P.M.
8 P.M. Stuff Not to Microwave
Providence French Film Festival
Harkness House
Cable Car Cinema
MENU SHARPE REFECTORY
VERNEY-WOOLLEY
LUNCH Sundried Tomato Calzone, BBQ Chicken Sandwich, BBQ Pork Chops, Broccoli Rabe, BBQ Navy Beans
Chicken Fajitas, Vegan Black Bean Taco, Vegan Three Bean Casserole, Eggplant Saute, Mexican Succotash
DINNER Gnocchi with Gorgonzola Mushroom Sauce, Tomato Pasta Bake, Beef Pot Pie, Baked Sweet Potatoes
Cheese Ravioli with Pink Vodka Sauce, Chopped Sirloin with Onion Sauce, Mustard Mashed Potatoes
SUDOKU
the rush process more rigid. “Hearing about their rush stuff sounded really intense and kind of insane,” she said. “At Brown it was comforting to see that it was natural. It was more about being yourself and finding a place where you fit in than conforming to a certain stereotype.” Tompkins said sorority culture on campus is more a result of student direction than an attempt by the University to cultivate any specific principles in the Greek system. “We allow the Greek community to shape themselves, whereas if you look at Greek institutions in other systems, it’s very rigid,” she said. “(That) doesn’t fit with the culture here.” Kappa Delta’s national leadership will start recruitment later this month once both Theta and Alpha Chi Omega are finished with their recruitment season. They will select the chapter’s leadership from the recruited members, Tompkins said. “This specific recruiting process will likely bring in more rising seniors and rising juniors as an opportunity to take a leadership position and to really be part of the base of establishing this chapter,” she said. Weiss said one common frustration with the current Greek system is that the two existing sororities do not have space to offer bids to every student who shows interest — a problem Weiss said she hopes Kappa Delta will fix. “We want everyone who’s interested to find somewhere where they want to be,” she said. “We shouldn’t
/ / Obesity page 12
CROSSWORD
in Baltimore. DePue and her team worked to adapt the trial for the population in Samoa. Different villages were randomly assigned to receive only standard care or standard care with additional visits from community health workers, a model which she called the “gold standard” for trial design. The nurse-community health worker teams visited patients at their homes or workplaces to assess their conditions and discuss any of at least seven educational topics. Staging an interventional trial on the island posed special challenges. The region is so impoverished that the researchers found even a $10 co-payment could deter people from seeking medical care, DePue said. The Samoans also required unique cultural accommodations. Patients preferred community health workers who came from their culture and spoke their language, for instance. Due to strong extended family ties,
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
be turning people away.” Though they said they are excited that Kappa Delta will relieve some of the pressure of high applicant loads, Weiss and Tompkins said there are currently no plans to expand beyond the addition of Kappa Delta. It’s “too soon to tell where this will go,” Weiss said. Starting sisterhood The first sorority at Brown, Alpha Beta, was formed in 1893, two years after the Women’s College was founded. Its initial constitution stated, “The object of (the) society shall be to promote the mental and moral development of its members and to further social intercourse.” Alpha Beta’s first president was Mary Emma Woolley 1894 — the namesake of Woolley Hall — who eventually went on to become the 11th president of Mount Holyoke College. One of the organization’s major focal points was forming bonds of sisterhood through reading plays, a tradition that eventually led to a yearly staged performance. The first such Alpha Beta Play was “Twelfth Night” in 1896, followed by “As You Like It” the following year. According to Encyclopedia Brunoniana, the number of sororities increased until 1911, when Pembroke’s Executive Committee voted to disband all Greek organizations in the college. “In our opinion, the multiplication of exclusive self-perpetuating societies and their permanent control by exterior organizations would be deleterious to the welfare of the
Samoans also expected trial workers to share supplies like blood sugar testing strips with them, but finite grant money left limited supplies to spare. Cultural divide notwithstanding, the community intervention seemed to pay off, the study indicated. Over 42 percent of participants achieved significant reductions in blood measures of HbA1c, a proxy for average glucose levels, though they remained unhealthy by international standards. McGarvey cited the “tremendous formation of rapport” between the workers and patients as a reason for its success, pointing to data showing Samoans even became more comfortable talking to their doctors by the end of the year-long trial. McGarvey said he is working to have two medical students travel to Samoa to review medical records from after the trial’s completion. These students could examine whether the reductions in HbA1c levels are maintained or lost. “It’s hard to change habits,” McGarvey said.
www.browndailyherald.com 195 Angell St., Providence, R.I. Shefali Luthra, President Samuel Plotner, Treasurer Lucy Feldman, Vice President Julia Kuwahara, Secretary The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement and once during Orientation by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Single copy free for each member of the community. POSTMASTER please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Subscription prices: $280 one year daily, $140 one semester daily. Copyright 2013 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved. EDITORIAL
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College,” the Committee wrote in its 1911 report. The Committee voted to bar sororities from accepting new members, and the sororities were discontinued once their final members graduated. “The class of 1912 leaves wishing … a happy year for the few who are left to keep up the name of Alpha Beta in college,” wrote secretary Ollie Randall 1912 in Alpha Beta’s 1911-1912 Annual Report. Though Alpha Beta and other sororities ceased to have a presence at Pembroke College, Alpha Beta alums continued to meet until at least the mid-1960s, when the sorority held its 70th-anniversary celebration. “Though sororities no longer exist at Pembroke, Alpha Beta has gone down in history as having contributed something of real value to the University and the community,” said Lillie McIntire in her address at the event. A new sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, was chartered in the spring of 1974 by 14 black women in the newly gender-integrated College, The Herald reported at the time. Alpha Kappa Alpha still exists today as a non-residential sorority. “The girls have formed a colony since last semester,” one of AKA’s national officers told The Herald at the time. Two other black sororities, Delta Sigma Theta and Sigma Gamma Rho, were also founded around this time, but eventually became defunct, according to Encyclopedia Brunoniana. AXO, Brown’s oldest currently active sorority, was founded in 1979. Theta was formed four years later.
Genetic influences? One question that remains for McGarvey is what genetic factors, if any, are at play in the extreme obesity in Samoans and other Polynesian populations. To answer this question, McGarvey and collaborators at the University of Pittsburgh and University of Cincinnati are carrying out a genome-wide association study on 3,122 Samoan adults. To carry out such a study, the team obtained DNA from thousands of individuals and analyzed approximately one million genetic variations spread across the entire genome. They then correlated those variations to a trait — in this case, body mass index, a standardized measure incorporating height and body weight. When the team did the analysis, a single genomic region on the fifth chromosome spiked above the natural baseline. McGarvey’s team is now pursuing detailed studies of that region to find the variation responsible, including adding measures like diet and other health variables to the analysis, he said. The project is currently in its fourth of five planned years. While most of McGarvey’s work focuses on populations, the individual is still important to him, he said. “One of my most memorable experiences is being thanked in 1981 by a woman whose high blood pressure I found in 1976 and referred for medical treatment,” McGarvey wrote in an email to The Herald. “I was moved deeply by her speaking openly and at length about what she had been able to experience in those five years, which she attributed to being alive and well due to her successful treatment for her hypertension.”
university news 3
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
THIS WEEK IN HIGHER ED
BY ELI OKUN UNIVERSIT Y NE WS EDITOR
Disagreements prompt professor’s departure from MOOC A professor from the University of California at Irvine left the massive open online course he was teaching after four weeks, but the class is continuing without him, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported Monday. The reasons that Richard McKenzie, a professor at the university’s business school, left “Microeconomics for Managers,” which he was teaching on the online class platform Coursera, remain unclear, the Chronicle reported. But according to the article he appears to have disagreed with supervisors at UC Irvine about the course’s instruction. In McKenzie’s absence, course managers will continue to lead the economics class, McKenzie announced in a message to students, the Chronicle reported. Of the 37,000 students around the world who originally registered for the course, under 2 percent had “been actively engaged,” McKenzie wrote on the course website, the Chronicle reported. The Chronicle indicated that some students had been dissatisfied with what they saw as McKenzie’s overly heavy assigned workload, and that McKenzie was intimately involved in responding to student feedback. The news arrived on the heels of another controversy for Coursera earlier this month, when a Georgia Institute of Technology course folded after a series of technical and organizational issues. Brown will offer classes on Coursera beginning this summer.
Berkeley student comes out as undocumented A student at the University of California at Berkeley made headlines this week when he went public with an admission that he is an undocumented immigrant, the Daily Californian reported Monday. Terrence Park, a UC Berkeley senior and president of the UC Berkeley Mathematics Undergraduate Students Association, came to the United States with his family from South Korea when he was 11, the Daily Californian reported. His story was told in a video compiled by the immigration advocacy group The Dream is Now. It was intended to provide support for the federal Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, which if passed would provide a path to citizenship for high school graduates in college or the military who came to the U.S. before age 16 and have lived here for at least five continuous years, the Daily Californian reported. The 2011 passage of the DREAMAct in California allowed Park to transfer from community college to UC Berkeley, the Daily Californian reported, but the absence of a parallel federal bill means Park is ineligible for federal financial aid and will have to delay his graduate studies at Yale, where he has been accepted. “I think it’s the right thing to do,” Park told the Daily Californian, “and I felt a little guilty about hiding my status for so long. Now that I came out, I feel that I’m doing something right.” His work has received some support from UC Berkeley leaders: Chancellor Robert Birgeneau called Park “courageous” in the Daily Californian article.
New Harvard admin position emphasizes sustainable investment Harvard created a new senior leadership position last week specifically focused on guiding the university’s endowment toward sustainable causes, the Crimson reported Friday. The new vice president of sustainable investing position was created by the Harvard Management Company. The vice president will act as a liaison to the university’s environmental, social and other investment offices. The move came after responsible investing had surfaced as a major campus issue in recent months. Undergraduate students passed a November referendum advocating for divestment from top fossil fuel companies by a nearly 3-1 margin. In December, administrators announced the creation of a social choice fund to advocate investing in socially proactive companies. Last week, 93 percent of Harvard Kennedy School students voted in favor of seeding the fund with endowment money, the Crimson reported. Though Brown’s social choice fund predates that of Harvard by several years, it has received only one donation. A job application for the position went up online last week, the Crimson reported.
/ / Early page 1 a panel that focused on academic life at Brown. On the panel were Assistant Dean of the College Mary Grace Almandrez, Associate Dean of the College Ann Gaylin, Associate Professor of History Robert Self and Manuel Contreras ’16. Gaylin talked about with resources available for academic assistance and spoke about to the nuances of the Open Curriculum. She said the idea that there are no requirements at Brown “is true, to an extent.” Gaylin suggested students use faculty advisers as a resource and asked them to “think in the present” during their first year at Brown. “Make decisions because it feels right in the moment,” Gaylin said. “Take a dessert class. It has no calories. It is so juicy and delicious-looking you can’t resist it.” Almandrez spoke about resources that promote diversity, like the Third World Center and pre-orientation programs like the University Community Academic Advising Program and the Third World Transition Program. She shared a personal narrative about a time that she “never felt more alone in a sea of a thousand faces” and how she finally felt at home at the University of San Diego when she was introduced to its multicultural center, she said. During a question-and-answer session, students raised concerns about the accessibility and feasibility of registering for classes. Students also asked about when they will be able to get in contact with their first-year advisers. Gaylin also announced that “Beautiful Souls” by Eyal Press ’92 would be the first-year summer reading assignment. Parents filled Salomon 101 for a panel with Associate Dean of the College Carol Cohen and two Meiklejohn
LOUIS TRUJILLO / BROWN UNIVERSITY
Early decision admits ate lunch in the Sharpe Refectory and attended panels that highlighted various aspects of life at Brown. peer advisors. The panelists spoke about academic advising provided for students and some of the struggles they overcame with help from their advisers and Meiklejohns. Lisa Scaramucci P’17 said she was “very thrilled” her daughter, Amelia, had been accepted, noting this was her second time visiting Brown. “Everyone seems so happy,” she said. Daniel Scully P’17 said he was impressed with the resources available to students and the information provided through the panel. “Behind the birth of my two children, the day my daughter was accepted was the third happiest day of my life,” he said. After a campus tour, students were treated to lunch at the Sharpe Refectory. Alex Evangelatos ’17 said he was happy to see “how Brown is in a different season,” having visited the campus
last April. Students said they were eager to explore the wide range of course options available. “I can’t wait to take classes outside my concentration, like obscure history courses,” Casey Doorey ’17 said. Some students said they were able to get to know the campus a little bit better. “I thought I knew Brown before,” said Abraham Peterkin ’17. “But I learned a whole lot more today.” The admission staff hosted a reception for students to get to know the admission staff members who read their applications and admitted them to the University. “We wanted to show them that we’re not robots or grumpy old men around a table,” Price said. The day concluded with a panel composed of undergraduate students who spoke about student life.
4 career fair
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
KASPER MULTIPURPOSE Technological fields to
1. Jane Street Capital 2. ING Financial Partners 3. Ernst & Young 4. Two Sigma Investments 5. Flow Traders US LLC 6. Citrix Systems, Inc. 7. 10gen 8. Amazon 9. Yelp 10. Epic 11. Venmo
dominate Career Fair
22. EF Education First 23. NetApp 24. Tessella Inc. 25. Jana 26. The New York Times 27. WhaleShark Media 28. Remilon, LLC 29. Vistaprint 30. Hill Holliday 31. DPR Construction
12. TripAdvisor LLC 13. Microsoft Corporation 14. IXL Learning 15. Elemental Technologies Inc. 16. New Pathway Education and Technology Group 17. Tuck Business Bridge Program 18. Hillstone Restaurant Group 19. Student Registration 20. Corporate Executive Board 21. Decision Resources
Over 30 employers from industries including finance, technology and media will be present By KIKI BARNES SENIOR STAFF WRITER
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Thirty employers will gather in the Kasper Multipurpose Room for the Spring Career Fair today, an annual event held by the Center for Careers and Life After Brown that provides job, internship and networking opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students. “It’s a great resource and one of many offered at our center,” said Andrew Simmons, director of the CareerLAB. He added that the fair is as much for first-years, sophomores and juniors looking for internships as it is for seniors and graduate students looking for jobs. “If (students) walk away feeling like they didn’t find anything that excited them, they should come to (the CareerLAB),” Simmons said. “Often you have to go beyond the Career Fair to really zero in on the things that inspire you.” Of the 30 employers at the fair, more than two-thirds come from finance, consulting and technology
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sectors. The remaining companies are from other fields, including advertising, education, management and construction groups. The “high visibility” of finance, consulting and technology does not indicate a University focus on those industries, Simmons said. Those particular areas are known for their concentrated recruiting, he added. The CareerLAB reaches out to many different fields, and some companies also reach out to the University, he said. “There are very few sectors who do that kind of structured recruiting,” Simmons said. Most students enter fields that don’t recruit as intensely on college campuses, he added. Student demand for greater oncampus opportunities in other career paths was one of the reasons the University decided to inaugurate the Brown/RISD Nonprofit Career Fair today. This second fair will host 38 employers from various nonprofit industries in Sayles Hall. Both fairs will take place today from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. About 1,500 students attended last semester’s career fair, which brought 95 employers to campus. Simmons said fairs in the spring generally attract a smaller number of people, but he expects a larger turnout this year due to the nonprofit fair option.
C AREER FAIR TIPS COURTESY OF CAREERLAB
Industries represented at the Spring Career Fair and the Brown/RISD Nonprofit Career Fair Education Software Engineering/Design Hi Tech/IT/New Media Public Affairs Community Development Healthcare/Medicine/Public Health Consulting Environment/Sustainability Banking/Finance Communications/Media Community Organizing Arts/Arts Administration Engineering Government Social Services Other Advertising/Maketing/Public Relations Science/Scientific Research Real Estate/Construction Entertainment
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Prepare questions ahead of time. Demonstrate that you have done your research and ask relevant and specific questions about the company.
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Do your research. A list of the employers who will be in attendance can be found on the CareerLAB website. Prepare a 30-second introduction you can use at the fair to introduce yourself, express your interest in the company and convey your desire to learn more.
Thinking about internships? Many of the employers at the Nonprofit Career Fair in Sayles Hall are offering summer internships. Other employers will be posting internships in the future. Now is a good time to inquire about these opportunities. Dress appropriately. Business casual attire is recommended. Bring several copies of your resume. Not all companies will ask you for one, but many will. In many cases, companies have alums staffing the tables. Alums will be designated with a red ribbon on their name tag. Take advantage of this additional networking opportunity. Take business cards from the representatives you speak with. Follow up later with a thank-you email. If a table is busy, get a business card from a representative and follow up by email with your questions. Companies from several industries, not just business, will be on hand. — Courtesy of CareerLAB
Spring Career Fair Kasper Multipurpose Room Brown/RISD Nonprofit Career Fair Sayles Hall
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Today, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
career fair 5
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
CareerLAB creates separate career fair for nonprofits SAYLES HALL
The University and RISD are co-hosting a fair for students seeking jobs in the ‘Common Good’ By KIKI BARNES
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Students looking for jobs beyond the finance, consulting or technology industries or just looking for ways to serve the “Common Good” after graduation have a new resource — the University is hosting the first annual Brown/Rhode Island School of Design Nonprofit Career Fair today. Thirtyeight charitable employers in areas such as education, activism and government will congregate in Sayles Hall to recruit both Brown and RISD students. A separate fair for jobs in the nonprofit sector in fall 2011 served as the basis for the event, said Andrew Simmons, director of the Center for Careers and Life After Brown. “(It’s) still a work in progress,” Simmons said. “We had never done that before, and it opened up another list of employers.” Representatives who participated in the 2011 fair said the spring semester would be a better time to come to campus because they would have a better idea of what they want from students, Simmons said. He added that the nonprofit fair acts as an extension of the Spring Career Fair, which is why the two fairs are being held the same day. “We decided to take the greater event and divide it in half,” he said. The University’s partnership with neighboring RISD will provide benefits for students from both institutions, Simmons said. The University will benefit from RISD’s connections to more specialized art organizations, and RISD students will benefit from access to a variety of other career opportunities they might not have heard about otherwise, he said. Simmons said the nonprofit fair serves as a way for students to learn about other philanthropic opportunities within the University such as Impact Providence and Careers in the Common Good Summer in New York
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City — both are funded internship programs available to Brown students. The fair is in part a response to student demand for job and internship opportunities that serve the “common good” Simmons said. “There are so many alumni in those areas as well.” “I want to pursue a career in the
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common good and work with some less represented people and communities,” said Rory MacAneney ’14, who plans to attend the fair. “I’m not ready to find an internship or job,” Christine Mullen ’16 said. “I think I’m going to start worrying next year.”
www.browndailyherald.com
5. New London Homeless Hospitality Center 6. Alliance of Community Health Plans 7. JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. 8. Nyaya Health 9. Tufts Medical Center 10. U.S. Department of State 11. U.S. Marine Corps 12. Clean Water Action 13. Ocean State Action 14. Green Corps 15. Corporate Accountability International 16. Impact Providence 17. Careers in the Common Good in NYC
20. People's Prep Charter School 21. Match Education 22. Great Oaks Charter School 23. Blackstone Valley Prep, A Rhode Island Mayoral Academy 24. Citizen Schools 25. EF Education First 26. RISD Student Registration 27. Providence Art, Culture & Tourism Board 28. Providence Children's Museum 29. Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless 30. Grow Smart Rhode Island 31. Planned Parenthood Southern NE 32. Groden Network 33. U.S. Peace Corps
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34. Environment America 35. Community Water Solutions 36. College Advising Corps 37. City Year, Inc. 38. Monterey Institute of International Studies 39. Teach for China (TFC) 40. Lowell Community Charter Public School 41. Gordon School 42. City of Providence, Office of the Mayor COURTESY OF CAREERLAB
6 university news / / Veteran page 1 on military service, Gresh said. Lauren Rouse ’15, an Air Force veteran, said she has found members of administrative offices and faculty members supportive of her experiences and status as a veteran but said help for veterans is not centralized. “You have to go out and find it yourself,” she said. The University is looking to involve more staff members with military experience in mentoring veterans, said Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron. The University Resources Committee’s report to President Christina Paxson — approved by the Corporation last week — recommended the University allot $80,000 to the office to hire “a parttime staff director” and fund “modest program and office expenses,” according to the report. This director will be a veteran, as the office needs a designated head “who understands the benefits that are afforded to veterans and the unique situation that veterans come from,” Ricci said. “The (military) mindset is much different, and you can’t glean that through research,” he said. Another objective is growing
Brown’s veteran community. While the University saw increased numbers of veteran applicants and acceptances last year, there are currently only seven veteran undergraduates, Gresh said. He added that the report from last fall’s subcommittee recommended developing a “critical mass” of veterans, a target which hasn’t been numerically defined. But whatever the critical number of student veterans is, “we don’t feel we’ve achieved that,” Gresh said. One path to increasing veteran enrollment would be improving the University’s outreach to veterans and the military. “Just about every veteran who is here found out about (Brown) on their own, through the website,” said R. Tyson Smith GS, a postdoctoral fellow in sociology and a member of last fall’s subcommittee. The University could make a bigger name for itself in the military by forging connections with community colleges and local schools with larger veteran populations, Smith said. Gresh and Ricci met with a representative for the Military Times, a publication well-known in the military, Ricci said. Veterans who have been out of school for years may not even consider Brown, thinking
that they have no chance at an Ivy League school, he said, but seeing the University’s name in a military publication could change their minds. “That barrier has to be broken down,” Ricci said. “There’s a lot that can be done to make people understand that Brown is a place for veterans,” Rouse said. “We’d like to see more outreach to other Rhode Island colleges that have a lot of transfers — they have a lot of veterans.” Rouse herself found out about Brown’s RUE program when she was a student in Quincy, Mass., looking to pursue Middle East Studies, a concentration not offered at many schools. “In some cases it seemed kind of random” how student veterans found out about Brown, Bergeron said, adding that the University should make a more concerted effort to recruit veterans. While Brown’s liberal reputation and hesitance over reinstating Reserve Officers’ Training Corps may contribute to the perception that it is unfriendly to the military, student veterans said they have found campus attitudes to be neutral toward the military and veterans. Rather than experiencing hostility, Rouse said she
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
has more often found who students have “a general bewilderment” toward the military. Choosing to join the military is “a very strange concept to some people here, and I had never encountered that attitude,” Rouse said. But if Brown does not reinstate ROTC on campus, the University will “have a really hard time getting rid of this impression people have of the University of being anti-military,” she said, even though she has found that stereotype to be false. Ricci said many Brown students have had “limited exposure” to the military and don’t have much knowledge about its branches and lifestyle. “While I do think (the campus attitude toward the military) is neutral, I have often engaged students in conversation about the military, and they do seem to be very enthusiastic and interested,” Ricci said. Ricci said he hopes to hold an event with a senior military official as an invited speaker along with student veterans sharing their experiences as a way for Brown students to become more familiar with the military. Such an event, like last fall’s Veterans Day ceremony on the Ruth J. Simmons Quadrangle, could “bring visibility
and engage the campus community in conversation” about the military, Gresh said. The Committee on Financial Aid in Paxson’s strategic planning process is reviewing financial aid practices, including aid packages for RUE and veteran students, said Erica Cummins, assistant director of financial aid, who works with veteran benefits. Veterans can receive aid through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs with the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill and a subset of the bill’s benefits called the Yellow Ribbon Program, Cummins said. Currently, the University has 20 slots for undergraduate students in the Yellow Ribbon Program, in which veterans or their dependents receive matching funds from the University and the Veterans Association. The 2012-13 academic year was the first in which the office filled all 20 slots, Cummins said, adding that in recent years, the office has benefited from increasing support from and liaisons with the VA, Cummins said. Last fall’s report recommended that Brown “expand its commitment” to the program in the long term to accommodate a growing student veteran population.
university news 7
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
/ / Protest page 1 process.” RISCC is a member of emPower, “Brown’s umbrella environmental organization” that promotes green initiatives, according to the group’s website. The off-campus trip provided an opportunity to unite, engage and inspire students from a broad range of environmental campaigns on campus, Freilich wrote. Passionate perspectives Though the march promoted a wide variety of environmental reforms, it was mostly targeted toward Obama, who will approve or reject the Keystone XL pipeline in the coming months, said Alison Kirsch ’15, a member of EcoReps, another subgroup of emPower. Approving the Keystone XL pipeline “would be one of (the) worst decisions” for Obama’s environmental agenda, wrote Jenny Li ’14, emPower’s executive director, in an email to The Herald. “In every single aspect, it doesn’t make sense,” Kirsch said of the pipeline, adding that “we cannot afford to be tapping into (the Alberta Tar Sands)” given the “dirtiness of the fuel it would allow us to use.” “‘Energy independence’ that still depends on fossil fuels is no independence at all,” Li wrote. “We are fed lies that this pipeline will bring jobs and energy independence,” but “we need green jobs, not temporary jobs that will contribute to the further destruction of our environment,” she wrote. Freilich wrote that “stopping the Keystone XL pipeline is a decisive step toward preventing fossil fuel ‘lockin,’” a scenario that occurs when CO2 levels in the atmosphere exceed 450 parts per million, according to the International Energy Agency. Kirsch said the prospect of irre-
COURTESY OF YIFAN ZHANG
More than 100 Brown students traveled to Washington, D.C. this weekend to protest the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. versible climate change is “frightening.” Li echoed the sentiment, writing that “we will have failed ourselves” by neglecting to address climate change. Hope for the future “Obama’s recent rhetoric was encouraging to the protesters,” said Charlotte Biren ’16, a member of EcoReps, referring to the president’s inaugural speech and State of the Union address. Kirsch also said Obama “seems open to ideas” regarding environmental reform.
“We need to stop building fossilfuel infrastructure and transition to building renewable energy infrastructure during Obama’s second term,” Freilich wrote. The number of people that attended the rally “really exceeded expectations,” Kirsch said. Biren said the sheer number of protesters “couldn’t be ignored.” Before people marched from the Washington Monument to the White House, a rally featured a diverse group of speakers — including Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said EcoReps member David Chodakewitz ’15.
“There have been much bigger protests in D.C. before,” but the march was “a good spark to get the ball rolling,” said Chodakewitz. Given that the event was the largest climate march in America’s history, Kirsch said news coverage will help amplify the protest’s influence. Rallying for a common cause “I was amazed by the energy and diversity of the crowd,” wrote Klara Zimmerman ’15, emPower’s communications director, in an email to The Herald. Citing the unity and energy among Brown students, she wrote that
“it was a whole different experience to stand with 50,000 people, all fighting for the same cause.” “We definitely made our voices heard,” Zimmerman wrote. The protest “was probably one of the coolest things I’ve experienced,” Kirsch said. Though there is “no way of quantifying the impact” of the protest, the trip to the nation’s capital was “definitely worth the time and travel expenses,” Li wrote. The protest will remain “a powerful memory no matter what happens,” Biren said.
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8 university news
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
End of Saturday mail delivery will not affect U. Despite U.S. Postal Service changes, Mail Services will maintain Saturday hours By MICHAEL DUBIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The University will not be affected by the U.S. Postal Service’s announcement earlier this month that it plans to cease Saturday letter delivery. USPS first raised the possibility of ending Saturday letter delivery about a year ago. At the time, Manager of University Mail Services Fred Yattaw was told the service would continue delivering letters to Brown on Saturdays because doing so only requires making one stop, Yattaw said. Yattaw said he does not believe anything has changed since that discussion. “Now having said that, I would say that you never know really what’s going to happen, especially when Congress is involved,” Yattaw said. “And we’ll have to deal with it if they decide they’re not going to deliver to us. But I don’t see that as being a major concern at this point.” With or without letter delivery, Mail Services will remain open Saturdays to sort and distribute packages, Yattaw said. USPS’s proposed changes do not eliminate Saturday package delivery. Yattaw said the announcement from USPS would have no impact on Mail Services’ hours of operation or the shifts worked by mail clerks. Only decreased mail volume would affect hours of op-
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eration or staff hours, Yattaw said, but he said he does not foresee a change in mail volume. Richard Roe, a mail clerk who has worked Saturdays for the last 15 years, said he does not anticipate any changes for students or mail clerks. Mail Services adjusted staff hours last year because USPS began delivering mail later, Yattaw said. The University used to receive its mail delivery at 6 a.m. but last year began receiving it at 8:30 a.m., a change Yattaw attributed to USPS trying to make its delivery schedule more efficient to reduce gas expenses. Yattaw said staff hours changed but were not reduced — mail clerks came into work later but also stayed later. Despite having less time to process mail each morning, Yattaw said he has not noticed a difference in Mail Services’ ability to do so in a timely manner. “We have adjusted to the new delivery schedule without incident,” Yattaw said. Yattaw said no staff members would be laid off if USPS pursued further cuts to Saturday service in the future. All mail clerks who work Saturdays have a day off during the week, so those clerks would work that day instead of Saturday. “We would just have a full crew during the week like we do in the summertime,” Yattaw said. If USPS were to end Saturday delivery to the University in the future, it would make Mondays, already a busy day due to the buildup of mail from Sunday, even more challenging, Yattaw said. Without working Saturdays, Mail Services would need to sort three days of mail on Monday.
arts & culture 9
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
Brown Derbies out-sing competition to win first place The a cappella group will move on to compete in the Northeast region semifinal next month By MARK VALDEZ SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The Brown Derbies took home first place in a quarterfinal round for the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella, held at Salomon 101 Saturday night. The top two groups from each of five quarterfinals will move to the Northeast region semifinal round to be held March 23 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Girls Next Door, an all-female a cappella group from The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York will join the Derbies in the next round. The Derbies filled their 12-minute time slot with a Rihanna medley of “Where Have You Been All My Life?” and “SOS,” Mumford and Sons’ “Hopeless Wanderer” and Ed Sheeran’s “Give Me Love.” The crowd broke into applause when the singers rushed on stage in their signature brown vests and bowler derby hats, jumping around on stage as they made their way to their places. The Girls Next Door were greeted by howling cheers from family and friends who made the trip to support them. In black shirts, denim jeans and hot pink tennis shoes, the group performed “Fire” by Ingrid Michaelson, “Keep On Bringing Me Down” by Forever the Sickest Kids and “I Won’t Let Go” by Rascal
Flatts. The panel of five judges awarded Elizabeth Corey of The Girls Next Door the individual award for “Outstanding Vocal Percussion.” After all groups had performed, the vocal percussionists from each group performed individual beatboxing segments. Before Corey’s performance, she said she had only started learning how to beatbox last summer. The judges awarded “Outstanding Soloist” to Mabelly Guerrero of The Blue Notes, an all-female a cappella group from Wellesley College. The group, dressed in black and navy, performed “Shake It Out” by Florence and the Machine, “Motherless Child” by John Legend and “Shark in the Water” by VV Brown — the last being the one for which Guerrero won her award. The BosTones from Boston University, dressed completely in black, came in third place. The 13-member co-ed a cappella group performed “Swim Good” by Frank Ocean, “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” by James Brown and “Nude” by Radiohead. Brown Derby Josh Linden ’14 said the Derbies have not competed in the ICCA since the late 1990s, when they won the Northeast semifinals and went on to compete in the finals at Carnegie Hall in New York City. “This was a nice step to push ourselves to try and compete,” Linden said. The Derbies submitted a video to Varsity Vocals, the organization that coordinates the competition, and were told in mid-November they would be competing in the quarterfinal round
ICCA Northeast Region Quarterfinals Participants Brown Derbies Brown University Night Owls Westfield State University Serendipity State University of New York at Albany Starving Artists Brandeis University The Blue Notes Wellesley College LYDIA YAMAGUCHI / HERALD
The Brown Derbies placed first on Saturday night in the quarterfinals of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella. this February. Linden said he was thrilled the Derbies won. “We pretty much just started hugging each other and jumping around,” he said. “We were hoping to even just contend and were shocked and humbled to have won.” Linden said the Derbies will “take a little breather” to recover from the rush of the past couple of weeks before starting rehearsals for semifinals. “We might be tweaking our set. There’s a possibility there’s going to be a changing of the songs,” he said. “We’re
going to go back in, work hard and fix up the things we felt weren’t necessarily to our highest standards.” Brown’s all-male “all-suspendered” a cappella group, The Bear Necessities, hosted the event, though the group did not compete. Ben Freeman ’13, a member of the group, acted as the master of ceremonies for the competition which he called “the Olympics of a cappella.” He used this role to liven up the event, sharing anecdotes — including a story of an encounter with a police officer and his thoughts on Beyonce — between performances.
The BosTones Boston University The Girls Next Door The College of Saint Rose Victory Eights Mount Holyoke College Source: VarsityVocals.com
“Beyonce could start a revolution,” he said. “People would take up arms.” The Bear Necessities concluded the competition with a six-song performance, including a medley of songs from Disney’s “Hercules” and “Ignition (Remix)” by R Kelly.
10 editorial & letter EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL CARTOON b y i va n a lc a n ta r a
A room of our own
Last week, The Herald reported that plans by the Office of Residential Life for future housing allocation have been revised. Specifically, Hegeman Hall and Slater Hall will remain designated for upperclassmen, while sophomores will live in Perkins Hall doubles previously slotted to become upperclassmen singles. ResLife has made student housing a focus in the past few years, investing significant money in renovations and improvements. But we believe some of these changes have been misguided and ignore the foremost priority for non-freshman students — having a single room. ResLife’s plans to standardize sophomore and junior living situations represent a positive improvement in housing allocation. For instance, though the Graduate Center is often unpopular because of its stark appearance, it does make sense to place juniors in Grad Center’s suites, while sophomores will be in double rooms elsewhere. This change will take a few years to be fully accepted, as many students now consider Grad Center a sophomore domain. But in the interim, it is more reasonable for sophomores to have doubles, while all juniors have singles. Currently, sophomores live in a mix of single and double living situations, which is unfair both to upperclassmen and to sophomores. Sophomores should not be faced with wildly different living situations depending on their lottery number. The housing changes seem to promise increased uniformity in sophomore housing options, which is we support. These changes promise to eliminate the summer assignment aspect of the housing lottery, a welcome and necessary development. If all students are guaranteed housing, why not reserve a few rooms, as opposed to hundreds of students forced into a waiting period? Additionally, why must students wait months to learn about their future housing? The elimination of summer assignment is a welcome change that will significantly reduce housing anxiety for rising sophomores. As we are not involved with ResLife, we do not know if these changes could have been accomplished by other means. But we are disappointed that single rooms, many newly renovated, are being converted into double rooms at additional expense and effort. This past year, desirable Andrews Hall singles were converted into freshman doubles, and the same change happened in Keeney Quadrangle. This past week, The Herald reported that the newly re-opened Miller and Metcalf Halls, whose renovations were highly praised by students, were being converted into freshman doubles this summer. This seems counterintuitive. Though other priorities — creating communities of class years, and improving the lottery system — are certainly important in our experience the number one priority among students is having a single room. Thus, it is disheartening that perfectly good — indeed, very desirable — rooms are denied to upperclassmen for the sake of other priorities. In particular, the decision to remove senior rooms to accommodate first-year students is questionable. We recognize that ResLife balances many priorities with a limited budget while looking to improve campus housing. The focus on student housing is necessary and appreciated. But we are disappointed that single rooms are being eliminated, particularly since current rising seniors have faced challenging housing situations as the system has changed around them and are now seeing their best options given to younger students. Though we are grateful for much-needed changes, we hope future improvements can incorporate the overarching desire of students for rooms of their own, which should be a more accessible option for upperclassmen. Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board: its editor, Dan Jeon, and its members, Mintaka Angell, Samuel Choi, Nicholas Morley and Rachel Occhiogrosso. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
t h e b row n da i ly h e r a l d Editors-in-Chief Lucy Feldman Shefali Luthra
Managing Editors Elizabeth Carr Jordan Hendricks
EDITORIAL Greg Jordan-Detamore Strategic Director Sections Hannah Abelow Arts & Culture Editor Maddie Berg Arts & Culture Editor Sona Mkrttchian City & State Editor Adam Toobin City & State Editor Elizabeth Koh Features Editor Alison Silver Features Editor Sahil Luthra Science & Research Editor Kate Nussenbaum Science & Research Editor James Blum Sports Editor Connor Grealy Sports Editor Mathias Heller University News Editor Alexandra Macfarlane University News Editor Eli Okun University News Editor Dan Jeon Editorial Page Editor Matt Brundage Opinions Editor Lucas Husted Opinions Editor Maggie Tennis Opinions Editor Multimedia Emily Gilbert Head Photo Editor Sam Kase Photo Editor Sydney Mondry Photo Editor Tom Sullivan Photo Editor Danny Garfield Video Editor Angelia Wang Ilustrations Editor Production Copy Desk Chief Sara Palasits Design Editor Brisa Bodell Design Editor Einat Brenner Design Editor Kyle McNamara Assistant Design Editor Sandra Yan Web Producer Joseph Stein Assistant Web Producer Neal Poole
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
Senior Editors Aparna Bansal Alexa Pugh
BUSINESS General Managers Office Manager Julia Kuwahara Shawn Reilly Samuel Plotner Directors Sales Eliza Coogan Finance Luka Ursic Emily Chu Alumni Relations Business Strategy Angel Lee Justin Lee Business Development Managers Jacqueline Chang Regional Sales Leslie Chen Regional Sales Anisa Holmes Regional Sales Wenli Shao Regional Sales Carolyn Stichnoth Regional Sales Chae Suh Regional Sales William Barkeley Collections Nicole Shimer Collections Josh Ezickson Operations Alison Pruzan Alumni Engagement Melody Cao Human Resources Owen Millard Research & Development POST- MAGAZINE Editor-in-Chief Zoë Hoffman Editor-in-Chief Claire Luchette BLOG DAILY HERALD Meredith Bilski Editor-in-Chief William Janover Managing Editor Connor McGuigan Deputy Managing Editor Cara Newlon Deputy Managing Editor Georgia Tollin Deputy Managing Editor Jason Hu Creative Director
LE T TER TO THE EDITOR
Group looks to foster discussion about Syria To the Editor: In response to Zach Ingber’s ’15 column (“Not just another civil war,” Feb. 13) printed in The Herald: The Brown University Amnesty International Chapter is keenly aware of the silence on Syria — and it’s not only a contention on our campus. The calamity has sadly lost its pull in domestic media and on the international stage. The chapter has organized around the topic before: last spring’s “Crisis in
Syria: The Way Forward,” held April 17 in collaboration with Janus Fellows. Proposals were also made last semester for another spring event entitled “Don’t Forget Syria,” which is currently in the planning stages. Ultimately, the chapter is always looking for more organizers and direct, informed appeals for action. Marc Briz ’14 Brown Amnesty International Chapter Co-President
CORREC TION A photo with an article in Wednesday’s Herald (“Protesters ‘work out’ to support factory workers,” Feb. 13) was incorrectly attributed to Elizabeth Koh. In fact, the photograph was taken by Corrine Szczesny. The Herald regrets the error.
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“Take a dessert class. It has no calories. It is so juicy and delicious-looking you can’t resist.” — Ann Gaylin, associate dean of the College See early on page 1. facebook.com/browndailyherald
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CORRECTIONS POLICY The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication. C O M M E N TA R Y P O L I C Y The editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and clarity and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed. ADVERTISING POLICY The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.
opinions 11
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
Room and board: You don’t get what you pay for ELIZABETH FUERBACHER Opinions Columnist We have all heard the expression “you get what you pay for.” Around the United States, hundreds of thousands of students like us are paying nearly $60,000 to attend private colleges. Slightly over two-thirds of that sum can be attributed to core academic purposes, namely tuition and textbooks. According to the University’s “Cost of Attendance” webpage, tuition for the 2012-2013 school year is $43,758, and the annual cost of textbooks is estimated at $1,360, making a total of $45,118. Room and board account for at least $11,258. While attending class is obviously requisite to furthering one’s education, I question the necessity of joining a meal plan or living on campus. Given the subpar dorms and oft-riddled dining halls, these stipulations appear to be nothing more than overpriced propaganda that should not be mandatory components of students’ budgets. In high school we frequently heard about the two main aspects of college life: the scholastic and social facets. Though it is certainly believable that living together in unfamiliar dormitories and sharing tables at dining halls can foster camaraderie, these are not the only ways to form close friendships. Students, even first-years, can live off campus and easily make friends through classes or dine jointly elsewhere.
If students do not wish to live in the dormitories or subscribe to overpriced meal plans, they should not be forced to do so. Most institutions of higher education espouse liberty and freedom of choice. With respect to character, colleges encourage students to shape their own personalities and define their own sets of ideals. Regarding something more mundane such as coursework, we are often told to take what interests us and to be architects of our own education. Should we desire to participate in certain
ing. Dedicating $11,000 to $13,000 for nine months’ worth of dingy accommodations and food everyone loves to hate is not an expense to celebrate. This phenomenon is not unique to Brown. Only a handful of universities seem to benefit from laudable culinary and residential amenities. If college-sponsored room and board costs seem unavoidable, consider the alternatives. An average dormitory’s academic-year cost roughly translates to $800 to $900 per month — assume annual rates
University boards should decide neither our addresses nor our budgets.
clubs, nonprofits or Greek organizations, we bear the discretion to make those choices. Then why should we be forced to purchase a meal plan or live in a dorm? Some might advocate the sensibility of these requirements due to the social externalities previously described. But given the other degrees of independence we are encouraged to exercise at college, social engineering through stipulated boarding requirements makes no sense. College tuition bears a substantial financial burden on students, whether they are paying $60,000 outright or taking on loans to cover the cost. Thus, we ought to have a stronger say regarding what we are purchas-
of $7,000 to $8,000 for most college dorms. Many students rent apartments off-campus for that sum, and the majority actually find accommodations for less than that monthly allotment. In Providence most off-campus rooms rent for $700 to $800 per month. Even if a person seeks more luxurious living quarters for twice or three times that amount, determining where and how much money to dedicate toward living costs should be a personal choice. University boards should decide neither our addresses nor our budgets. The same argument can be made for food. At the Sharpe Refectory, for instance, someone not enrolled on the meal plan must
pay $9.60 for breakfast, $12.50 for lunch and $14.70 for dinner For these amounts, people can easily satiate their hunger at Au Bon Pain, Chipotle, Andreas or Paragon. We can examine the comprehensive $4,284 Flex plan, which furnishes 500 Flex points, 460 meals and 10 guest meals per year. If one Flex point equals $1, subtract $500 — which very generously assumes perfect liquidity — from the overall price to yield $3,784. Dividing this sum by the 470 meals allotted over the course of a year produces an average cost of $8.05 for each meal. This is no bargain either, given the options one has on Thayer Street and the quality of food one encounters at college dining halls. Furthermore, if we relax the assumption that one eats three full meals a day, the average cost of meals actually consumed at the dining halls is significantly higher. Dedicating a few thousand dollars to food is perfectly acceptable, but the choices to which we are “privileged” do not warrant their price tags. College is expensive, and we should be able to better determine where our money goes. If we are adults allowed to choose our classes, careers and interests, we should be able to select our living and dining arrangements. This is especially true when we are compelled to pay for “amenities” whose qualities are constantly ridiculed. Elizabeth Fuerbacher ’14 believes in the value of a dollar and prefers spending money herself rather than having it spent for her. She can be reached at Elizabeth_Fuerbacher@Brown.edu.
A different type of Brown conservatism DAVID ROMERO Opinions Columnist Kevin Carty’s ’15 recent article in The Herald (“Brown and its hidden conservatism,” Jan. 25) makes the provocative claim that Brown is secretly much more conservative than one might think. One of Carty’s main points is that most Brown students, despite growing up in a two-parent household and benefiting from it, “shy away from asserting the importance of two-parent families because it smacks of the ‘family values’ agenda.” Carty calls Brown students’ unwillingness to “advocate two-parent homes” both “willfully ignorant” and “hypocritical.” There is an important point at stake within Carty’s first point: that Brown students should automatically champion a particular social structure because they were raised within it. As he puts it, “Why wouldn’t we advocate this structure if it has helped us so much?” This claim is troublesome. Growing up in a two-parent home is a privilege — indeed, growing up in any home is a privilege. Contrary to Carty’s belief, I applaud Brown students for not merely advancing their personal experiences and thus effectively shaming people who grew up in a single-parent household by doing so. I actually believe that Brown students are being progressive by not blindly championing their own experiences, even if they have benefitted from them. If Brown is conservative at all, it is not
because most Brown students grew up with two parents in their home, but because of a stereotype that Brown students are “sexually liberated.” In reality, the supposed sexual progressiveness of Brown students should be examined more rigorously. For example, Carty takes for granted events and organizations such as the Naked Doughnut Run and FemSex. He says Brown is a sexually liberated space because activities and organizations like these exist, but I would argue that both activities should be more prominently discussed throughout campus. These institutions — unique to Brown
few people who openly talk about sex and are completely comfortable with their bodies — those who are sexually liberated. In fact, the latter organizations exist precisely because many Brown students come from conservative sexual backgrounds and want to become more comfortable in understanding and sharing their sexual experiences. Indeed, Brown students are probably more likely to know the date and time of a naked party than to know what to do if they have their sexual boundaries violated. To me, this is the real hidden conservatism
Though some students may favor private discourse in discovering their sexual preferences, all students should know where to go if they want to engage in dialogue about important matters relating to sexual pleasure and health. give the illusion of sexual liberalism, but — in fact they may hint at a troubling conservatism that exists within Brown. For starters, an activity like the Naked Doughnut Run cannot be lumped together with other “sexually liberating” organizations like FemSex or MSex. One of these is a quirky activity performed once a semester and the other two are serious organizations that allow students to enter a brave space in which they can talk about difficult issues relating to sexuality. To the general Brown population, the Naked Doughnut Run and organizations like FemSex and MSex are essentially equated as activities for those
of Brown — many students are encouraged by peers to engage in sexual acts instead of discovering their sexual preferences to an extent that allows them to be comfortable with their bodies. I do not mean to disparage the positive experiences that one may have during a naked party or a similar sexualized event on campus. Nor do I mean to imply that one cannot engage in sexual activities without fully discovering all of the nuances of sexual desire. The potential to celebrate one’s sexuality through respectful and fun activities is a beautiful reality of our campus. I only mean to say that it may be unwise or even harmful to attend a
party such as SexPowerGod without knowing how to make informed decisions about one’s body during the actual event. Many students come from sexually conservative backgrounds that make them afraid to talk even to their closest friends about sexuality. Their inability to do so can hinder their understanding of their own bodies and sometimes lead to harmful decision-making. I challenge Carty’s assertion that Brown students are conservative merely because they benefited from living in a two-parent household. What I do think is reminiscent of a kind of conservatism is the ongoing struggle to understand and articulate one’s sexual experiences in order to make healthier sexual decisions. Though some students may favor private discourse in discovering their sexual preferences, all students should know where to go if they want to engage in dialogue about important matters relating to sexual pleasure and health. I urge everyone to take advantage of Brown’s resources. Whether you want to be in a discussion-based workshop or you just want to know a quick fact about safer sex methods from a sexual health peer group, you are on the right campus to navigate these kinds of topics. Brown has a plethora of resources for a student population that is truly “liberal” — one that is unafraid to investigate and love their bodies and the bodies of others. David Romero ’14 used to be conservative about topics regarding sexuality, but then he explored the awesome resources at Brown. He can be reached at David_Romero@brown.edu.
daily herald science & research THE BROWN
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
Prof researches Samoan obesity epidemic A U. epidemiologist is examining the problem’s origin and potential intervention strategies By ALEX CONSTANTINO CONTRIBUTING WRITER
By economic standards, the American territory in Samoa is relatively successful. But rapid modernization on this small Pacific island came at a price — two-thirds of adults are obese, the highest rate of any region in the world. Stephen McGarvey, professor of epidemiology and anthropology, has devoted much of his career to studying this epidemic and what it could foretell for other developing nations. McGarvey got his start in the field “unintentionally,” he said. After finishing his master’s degree doing work in South America, he wanted to return to the high altitude Andes for his Ph.D. work. At the time, the “Sendero Luminoso,” or Shining Path, a Peruvian guerrilla group, was terrorizing villagers and the Peruvian military. Because the group was particularly hostile to “outsiders,” McGarvey instead chose to study the Samoan population living on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, he said, adding that he was intrigued by the rumored “low-level obesity” there and its implications for modernization. The research interest stuck. Since 1975, he has published dozens of studies on the Samoan population that cover everything from blood pressure and diet to stress management. McGarvey travels to Samoa
at least once yearly, and up to three times in a year while collecting data. Through decades of research, it became clear adult obesity in Samoa had reached epidemic levels. In the last month, McGarvey and his collaborators have published two studies on Samoan obesity — one examining the developmental origin of the obesity epidemic and one looking at a potential intervention strategy — and they also have a forthcoming study on possible genetic causes. Overweight at birth Obesity begins early in life for American Samoans, according to study conducted by Nicky Hawley, a former postdoctoral fellow in McGarvey’s group, who came to his findings using the birth records of approximately 800 Samoan infants. The researchers found more than one in five infants qualified for a diagnosis of excessive birth weight. The newborns then showed “markedly” rapid weight gain. At 15 months of age, a full third of infants were overweight or obese. To Hawley, the results illustrate that Samoans are not being reached at a critical age. “Childhood is too late,” she said. Based on a model of infant growth, Hawley found a “window to intervene” before four months of age, she said. During that window, Samoan infants gained nearly 20 percent more weight than their counterparts in the United States, a change she said “really sets them up for obesity” later in life. Consistent with other studies, the researchers found that formula feeding is associated with increased
weight gain — but only in boys. While the researchers could not explain the gender difference, they believe the results could support exclusive breastfeeding as a “cost-effective and sustainable intervention” against Samoan obesity, the authors wrote in the study. Hawley hopes to examine earlier development in a future study, using ultrasound technology to follow growth before birth, she said. Forming healthy habits During his time in Samoa, McGarvey forged connections with local health authorities. They told him they appreciated the work he and other researchers did to understand Samoan obesity but said they wanted him to investigate a possible solution as well, McGarvey said. Lacking training in interventional research, McGarvey approached Judy DePue, a clinical professor of human behavior at The Miriam Hospital, to form a collaboration. The result was Diabetes Care in American Samoa, the first major interventional trial to take place in American Samoa, DePue said. Many Samoans with diabetes know the basics of managing their disease but have trouble “putting it into daily and weekly practice,” McGarvey said. The trial was designed to address this by improving health literacy and establishing the habits that managing diabetes requires, he said. The study was modeled after a previous trial, Project Sugar 2, that took a community health approach to managing diabetes among African / / Obesity page 2 Americans
R.I. holds first Brain Bee competition High school students competed for cash prizes and the chance to vie for a national trivia title By CHAD SIMON STAFF WRITER
High schoolers descended on campus Saturday afternoon to put their neurons to work, answering questions about topics that included memory, sleep and addiction in Rhode Island’s first Brain Bee, a neuroscience trivia competition for high school students, hosted by the Department of Neuroscience. John Stein Ph.D. ’95, senior lecturer in neuroscience, moderated the competition with three judges: Bob Patrick, associate professor of medical science, and neuroscience graduate students Rachel Stevenson GS and Torrey Truszkowski GS. The competition’s goal is to encourage high school students to learn about and study the brain, Stein said. Only six Rhode Island high schoolers competed, said Tara Torabi ’15, the bee’s student coordinator. She attributed the low turnout to the fact that the bee, which was originally scheduled for last weekend, had to be postponed due to Winter Storm Nemo. Originally around 20 students planned to compete, Torabi said. The competition’s structure follows a “question-answer format,”
Stein said. Three judges each ask a question to the competitors twice. Immediately after the second iteration of the question, the competitors have 30 seconds to write their answers on handheld whiteboards, with correct answers receiving a set amount of points. There were three rounds, each with 10 questions. The rounds increased in difficulty as the competition progressed. Tension mounted when a question pertaining to hair cell types spurred dispute amongst the judges as to whether Cranston High School East contestant Rachel Moore’s ambiguous answer should be accepted. The judges deliberated Moore’s answer before ultimately rejecting it. Moore wound up placing second, taking home a cash prize of $125. The first place contestant, Barrington High School freshman Vivian Tian, took home $200, and the third place contestant, Hope High School student Yoselina Noriega, won a $75 prize. Tian won the opportunity to represent Rhode Island in the National Brain Bee at the University of Maryland in March. “Neuroscience has been something that’s sort of not what people study,” Tian said, adding that it interests her because it is different from typical high school subjects. Tian heard about the Brain Bee from her chemistry teaching, who encouraged her to pursue it. “I thought
this would be a great opportunity to push myself further in this field,” Tian said. Rhode Island may not have had a Brain Bee if not for the efforts of Torabi, who represented her home state, Ohio, in the National Brain Bee during her senior year of high school. “When I came to Brown, I realized Rhode Island didn’t have a Brain Bee, and I wanted to give high school students the same opportunity that I had,” she said. Torabi added that had she not participated in the bee, she may not have decided to pursue neuroscience in college. To organize the bee, Torabi recruited student participants from local high schools and planned neuroscience “enrichment sessions,” lectures for the high schoolers on Brown’s campus. Ralph Johnson, program manager of Brown’s College Advising Corps, helped her coordinate the Brain Bee, Torabi said. Johnson helped reach out to students in Rhode Island interested in neuroscience and helped secure funding from organizations like the Office of Education Outreach at Brown, Rhode Island Campus Compact, the Department of Neuroscience and Rhode Island Partnerships for Success, which aims to promote mutually beneficial relationships between high education institutions and local high schools, Torabi said. - With additional reporting by Gadi Cohen
SCIENCE & RESEARCH ROUNDUP BY PHOEBE DRAPER, SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Snack size affects the chomp of the predator University researchers have discovered the size of a predator’s prey affects the bite force of the predator, according to a Feb. 12 University press release. The researchers trained carp — a kind of fish with relatively simple jaws — to eat ceramic tubes varying in strength and diameter. The hard-shelled tubes simulated the carp’s natural diet: snails. The researchers then implanted small metal balls into the carp’s jaws to track how much the fish’s jaw muscles stretched to eat the meal. The researchers recorded X-ray videos of the fish eating the tubes and kept track of which tubes the carp were able to break, according to the press release. After the tests, the fish were dissected and the jaw muscles kept alive. The researchers measured the force of the bite when they stimulated the jaw muscle. They found the force of the bite was strongly affected by the size of the snack tube, and there was an “optimal amount of muscle stretch” that led to the strongest bite, according to the release. The findings shine light on how the evolution of a prey animal, such as the snail species developing stronger or larger shells, can trigger an evolutionary response in the predator — in this case, the carp’s jaw muscle force and structure. “This really sets the ground for a lot of cool ecology and predator-prey interaction studies,” said Nicholas Gidmark, postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Evolutionary Biology who worked on the project, in the press release.
Religious organizations can play a role in fighting HIV Faith-based institutions serve as a valuable channel for HIV prevention campaigns among African Americans, according to an article published by University researchers and collaborators from Philadelphia. The researchers initiated a community-based program in June 2010, tracking the effect of integrating HIV prevention strategies at 40 faith-based institutions in Philadelphia, according to the study. African Americans make up 44 percent of the city’s population but they constitute 69 percent of the new HIV infections, the researchers wrote. The team conducted a city-wide media campaign to raise HIV/AIDS awareness, sponsored educational events at churches and encouraged sermons about HIV/AIDs in churches and mosques. They found the most effective HIV prevention campaigns consist of “tailoring events to individual institutions rather than pursuing a ‘one size fits all’ approach,” according to the study. The team recommended a targeted approach, including broad community outreach and building relationships with community organizers and faith leaders.
Researchers reveal inner workings of Angelman syndrome University researchers have made headway on uncovering exactly what goes wrong in a brain affected by Angelman syndrome, according to a Feb. 13 University press release. Angelman syndrome, which arises from a genetic defect on gene Ube3A, causes developmental delay, seizures and other learning problems in children, according to the release. The researchers found that in a regularly functioning brain, the gene Ube3A restricts the levels of a protein called Arc. Without a proper Ube3A gene, Arc levels are left unchecked, hindering the development of neural connections in the hippocampus, a brain structure necessary for memory and learning. “We are really beginning to understand what’s going wrong. That’s what’s very exciting,” said John Marshall, professor of medical science in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology and senior author of the study, in the release. The team discovered that a synthesized compound called CN2097 restores regular neural functions in affected mice. The researchers are hopeful but cautious about assuming the therapy would be as effective in humans. They have launched a startup company called Angelus Therapeutics to raise funds for the research and plan to continue investigating brain disorders. “Can we actually rescue learning deficits?” Marshall said in the release. “That would be the next stage to test. We haven’t gotten that far yet.”