Friday, March 8, 2013

Daily

THE BROWN

vol. cxlviii, no. 31

INSIDE

Page 2

Flying colors

Alpert Medical School is reaccredited with no citations Page 5

Lab rats

Student ‘super-subjects’ help fuel research in U. labs

The team of researchers, which includes a Brown professor, appealed to the White House

By KATE NUSSENBAUM

Just a ‘quickie’

Students explore new subjects in RISD workshops today

37 / 29

tomorrow

42 / 29

A team of scientists, including Director of the Brown Institute for Brain Science and Professor of Neuroscience John Donoghue ’79, released a proposal Thursday that clarifies the goals and methods of the Brain Activity Map in the journal Science. The project has generated media buzz since February, when the New York Times broke the news of the “decade-long scientific effort to examine the workings of the human brain.”

“This is really a bunch of scientists

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

since 1891

FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 2013

Researchers seek funds to map human brain

SCIENCE & RESEARCH EDITOR

Page 7

Herald

making a proposal to the government that we should take on an activity like this, of focusing on understanding how the brain works,” Donoghue said. “We know a lot about how neurons work as individual cells, we know a lot about how it works as a group … but the actual way it works, we don’t understand.”

The paper proposes three goals: the development of new tools to record activity from large groups of individual neurons, the development of tools to control individual neurons and the creation of systems to store and analyze the data collected that will enable scientists to “understand circuit functions.”

“Within five years, it should be possible to monitor and/or to control tens of thousands of neurons, and by year 10 that number will increase at least tenfold.

By year 15, observing one million neurons with markedly reduced invasiveness should be possible,” the researchers wrote in their proposal.

“The goal / / Brain page 5

DIVE IN

DAVID DECKEY / HERALD

Brown is hosting the 2013 Men’s Ivy League Championships in the Aquatics Center, which started Thursday and will continue until Saturday.

Tisch signs on to third term as chancellor Emphasizing ‘continuity over coasting,’ Tisch has worked since 2007 to guide U. initiatives

By SABRINA IMBLER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Chancellor Thomas Tisch ’76 will serve a third and final three-year term in his position, continuing to steward the University’s strategic planning in the aftermath of the “financial convulsions of 2008,” Tisch said.

“It’s no surprise to anyone,” said Professor of Anthropology and Italian Studies David Kertzer ’69, who served as provost during the end of former chancellor Stephen Robert’s ’62 P’91 final term and the first part of Tisch’s tenure. “He’s been a very vigorous and

effective chancellor. People would have been stunned and disappointed if he hadn’t been willing to do a third term.”

Maintaining a commitment to academic excellence, finding the right balance between teaching and research and keeping the community strong given current economic challenges will guide his final term, Tisch said.

He also identified attaining needblind admission for international students as an important objective for the Corporation.

The role of the chancellor The University charter charges the chancellor with serving “as a moderator of the Trustees,” who make up the body of the Corporation.

“I don’t feel like I spend my time promoting my points of view,” Tisch said. Rather, / / Tisch page 3

Awareness of the causes and effects of head injuries has increased in the athletic community

By ALEXANDRA CONWAY SENIOR STAFF WRITER

EMIILY GILBERT / HERALD

Chancellor Tisch has agreed to a third term as the “moderator of the trustees” for the Corporation, the University’s highest governing body.

Alum tests luck as contestant on ‘Millionaire’ Drew Kunas ’12 sparked laughs and pursued game show glory on the hit television show

By ELIZABETH KOH FEATURES EDITOR

Drew Kunas ’12 didn’t necessarily want to be a millionaire. But last October, he got his chance — stepping onto the “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” television set to try his hand at scoring seven figures opposite award-winning host Meredith Vieira.

Kunas passed through two competitive selection processes to earn the contestant role in an episode that aired Thursday afternoon.

FEATURE

Taking a bet Kunas initially had no plans to audition for the show when he moved to New

York City after graduation to take a job with hedgefund Two Sigma Investments.

But Kunas, a former member of campus improv troupe Karin and the Improvs, kept up with improvisation in the city and was invited by an improv friend to attend an open audition together for the show.

The decision to try out was “totally random,” Kunas said. “I just thought it’d be fun to do it.”

Kunas and his friend traveled to the audition but were two minutes late for the first test: a 30-question trivia quiz with a 10-minute time limit.

“It’s in this giant really quiet room with proctors running around and a bunch of geeky people furiously scribbling,” he said. After prospective contestants completed the test, they turned in their Scantron forms and were assigned a number to wait for their results.

As Kunas and his friend waited outside the testing room, an employee of the show emerged, Kunas said. The man

Concussions impact academics and athletics

proceeded to give all the test-takers a “suicide prevention speech,” preemptively consoling people who would not make the cut. “‘Look, if you don’t make it on ‘Millionaire,’ it doesn’t mean you’re a bad person,’” Kunas recalled him saying. “‘This is not the end of the world.’”

“I’m sure (the speech) was made through trial and error,” he added.

Kunas passed the trivia exam, moving on to the second stage of the selection process, which asks for a questionnaire and sits potential contestants down for an interview with one of the show’s producers.

During Kunas’ interview, the producer took notes on his personality, but “seemed really bored,” Kunas said. “Then he wrote B+ on my paper.”

“I went, ‘Ah, hell no,’” Kunas said.

“I amped up the charm, amped up the energy. ‘You are going to like me by the end of this,’” Kunas recalled thinking to himself.

Kunas also underwent a camera test,

during which people behind the camera alternated “rapid-fire” positive and negative reactions to “see how you would react under pressure,” he said.

The next day, a representative from the show called and asked Kunas to appear at the New York City ABC studio a week later for a taping.

Cashing in “After I found out I was going to be on ‘Millionaire,’ I was walking around my office, and I was really excited,’” Kunas said. “And whenever I’d tell anyone, they’d be like, ‘Oh my God, that’s so cool! ... Have you talked to Todd? He was on that before you.’”

“I was like, ‘Who the (expletive) is this Todd stealing my thunder?’” Kunas joked.

But Todd proved useful in the week before Kunas went on the air.

“We had like a Haymitch and Katniss ‘Hunger Games’ thing going on, where he was like, / / Millions page 4

In the fall of 2010, Vince Tumbleson ’13.5 suffered a concussion in a football game.

“I took a hit in the first half, got kind of dizzy but didn’t think anything of it because I had never had a concussion before,” Tumbleson said.

Tumbleson continued to play through the second half when he started to realize something was not quite right.

He was not remembering plays, and then the next day, during a class presentation, he did not remember anything, he said. After going to Health Services, he was told to recover for two weeks, but ultimately required a total of eight weeks to recuperate.

At that point, he had missed so much class that he decided to take a medical leave of absence for the semester.

Tumbleson’s story — and the consequences he endured — is not unique. About 70 Brown athletes suffered concussions this past year, according to Dr. Edward Wheeler, medical director at Health Services.

An additional 15 to 25 individuals also dealt with concussions from participating in non-varsity athletics or due to accidents involving alcohol.

As a student-athlete at the collegiate level, dealing with a concussion becomes a juggling act between the pressures / / Injury page 9

SPORTS

2 university news

Affirmative action case unlikely to affect U.

C ALENDAR FRIDAY

MARCH 8

7 P.M.

SATURDAY

MARCH 9

2 P.M. Nerf Gun Tournament

Fusion Dance Co. Show

Andrews Dining Hall

Alumnae Hall

8 P.M.

8 P.M. #YOLO Cabaret

Brown Stand Up Comics

The Underground

Salomon 001

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VERNEY-WOOLLEY

LUNCH Cajun Blackened Tuna, Jamaican Jerk Tempeh, Lobster Bisque, Onion Rings, Caesar Chicken, Rice Krispie Treats

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DINNER Grilled Bacon Rounds, Mashed Potatoes, Gnocchi di Patate with Pesto, Chocolate Marshmallow Roll

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 2013

Asian Veggie or Beef Stirfry, Rainbow Swiss Chard, Salmon in Cider, Chocolate Marshmallow Roll

SUDOKU

The controversial Fisher v. University of Texas decision is not expected to influence U. policy

By ALEXANDER BLUM STAFF WRITER

The University will likely not be seriously affected by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the affirmative action admissions case Fisher v. University of Texas, which is expected to be decided by the court in May or June.

“There’s a very strong expectation that the court will do away with (affirmative action),” said Michael Tesler, assistant professor of political science. “It is highly debated whether it’s necessary or not.”

Tesler said the court is expected to rule in favor of Fisher in part because former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor — who was involved in the 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger Supreme Court ruling that formally established diversity as a “compelling interest” for universities to achieve — is no longer on the bench.

Vice President and General Counsel Beverly Ledbetter said O’Connor was a “central figure” in the 2003 case, adding that O’Connor had attended some of the Fisher arguments.

“America is perceived as less racist than it was before,” Tesler said, pointing to this shift as another important indication that the court is likely to rule in favor of Fisher. But Tesler — co-author of “Obama’s Race: The 2008 Election and the Dream of a Post-Racial America” — said his research shows “race is still very important in politics,” and the disparity between public understanding and reality “speaks to a really different worldview.”

The legal precedent for the Fisher case involves three other court cases, two of which have been deliberated by the Supreme Court, Ledbetter said.

In 1978, the Regents of the University of California v. Bakke ruling established that “affirmative action is legal,” Ledbetter said. About 20 years later, in 1996, a circuit court’s ruling in the Hopwood v. Texas case required the use of a raceneutral system in admissions decisions.

In response to the court’s decision, the state legislature implemented a top 10 percent policy, guaranteeing admission to any public Texas college for residents graduating in the top tenth of their high school class.

In 2003, the Grutter v. Bollinger Supreme Court ruling allowed for lessrestrictive use of affirmative action, permitting admissions policies that used

race as one of many factors in evaluating individual applications. The University of Texas maintained the top 10 percent policy, and adopted “individualized review.” Fisher is debating the constitutionality of using race as a factor in the latter, said Ledbetter.

Though Ledbetter said one can “never know the reach of a Supreme Court verdict,” she noted “Brown is not a public university and fits squarely under Grutter.” The Supreme Court’s ruling is not expected to affect Brown’s current admissions policy, Ledbetter said.

“We believe in the core principles,” Ledbetter said. It is currently unconstitutional to use race quotas for selecting students from applicant pools, but Ledbetter said it is important to have a “critical mass” of underrepresented students to “allow for differences of expression among and within the group.”

“The Court expects that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today,” O’Connor wrote in the Court’s majority decision for Grutter v. Bollinger.

Ledbetter said she agrees there should eventually be a time when affirmative action policies are no longer necessary, though it is not easy to predict when that time will come.

Med School earns renewed accreditation Alpert Medical School passed with no citations and was praised for its scholarly programs

CROSSWORD

By SARAH PERELMAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education announced that Alpert Medical School will continue its accreditation for the next eight years after passing in all 120 categories with no citations.

“Having no citations is extraordinary,” said Michele Cyr, associate dean for academic affairs, noting that this is the most positive report she has seen during her time at the University.

“The average is five or six citations,” said Edward Wing, dean of medicine and biological sciences.

The accreditation process began with a yearlong self-study, in which the faculty examined how well the school was implementing the 120 standards put forth by LCME, Wing said. Following the self-study, an Ad Hoc committee spent a week at the Med School talking to faculty members and students and observing the school’s practices, he said.

When the week was complete and no ci-

tations were noted, the Ad Hoc committee compiled a report and sent it to the LCME for a decision on accreditation.

The report labeled the Med School’s scholarly programs for students, financial aid and new facilities as particular strengths.

The Med School was among the first to establish scholarly concentrations, which are similar to undergraduate concentrations, allowing students to work on projects and research related to a specific theme of their interest, such as geriatrics or global health, Wing said. About half the class participates in this program.

The program provides an outlet for students to get involved in activities outside the cookie-cutter curriculum, said Sheela Krishnan ’10 MD’14, who worked with a classmate to create a website for medical students to post study materials for her scholarly concentration.

“It’s kind of taken off, which has been cool to see,” Krishnan said, adding that students reported in a survey that the website helped their studies. Krishnan will present her project at a conference in New York this April.

Students said the new Medical Education Building has provided them additional study space and increased accessibility to professors.

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Since students and faculty members’ offices are in close proximity, it is much easier to get informal advice from professors, said Jenna Lester MD’14.

“Now you bump into them on the way to the bathroom.” She added that she can more easily find study space in the new building, where she has met medical students of different years, and that the anatomy lab has moved from a gloomy basement on campus to the new building’s top floor.

The new primary care program may use the increased space — most of which is classrooms — provided by the new building to expand, Wing said.

The school also stands out for its financial aid, Wing said, noting that the average indebtedness of students after graduation is $35,000 below the national average. The Annual Fund for Brown Medical Alumni continues to grow, and some general funds have been put toward scholarships, he said.

Though the Med School met all of the accreditation standards, the LCME will continue to observe the school’s attention to faculty diversity, finances and students’ willingness to report mistreatment. A follow-up report will be submitted Dec. 1 to the LCME, according to an email sent out from Wing’s office.

Diversity of medical school faculty is a problem across the nation, and the Med School is taking steps to improve minority recruitment and retention, Wing said.

Since appointing Jabbar Bennett as associate dean for diversity last year, the position has expanded to consider faculty diversity in addition to student diversity, Cyr said. “We also have implemented a policy of having a diversity representative on every search committee” for new faculty members, she added.

To address faculty retention, Cyr said she hopes to expand the University’s mentoring program — which pairs newer faculty members with more experienced mentors — to include clinical faculty members.

university news 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 2013

Students compete in quest to tackle world hunger The team developed charcoal-based cooling units to preserve food during transport in slums

By KIERA PELTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Five students competed in the regional finals of the fourth annual Hult Prize competition in Boston March 2.

Lauren Behgam ’15, Rebecca Kagan ’13, Erin Kelley ’15, Taylor Lanzet ’15 and Gladys Ndagire ’13 tackled this year’s challenge — the global food crisis — with their business idea, CharCOOL. The project uses charcoal-based cooling units, similar to refrigerators that don’t need electricity, and works toward the goal of eliminating world hunger, Kagan said.

“About 30 percent of food is wasted in transit in developing countries because it spoils. So if you put large coolers on trucks, you reduce the amount of waste,” Kagan said. People working in urban slums will be more able to afford food because prices will drop when the quantity available in the markets increase, she added.

The Hult Prize is an annual com-

/ / Tisch page 1 he said, he tries to facilitate discussion among various University constituencies.

The role of the chancellor is to support the president in his or her initiatives and to change the University through the work of the president, administration and faculty, Kertzer said.

University governing boards such as the Corporation are ultimately responsible for determining their university’s broad mission, said Larry Gerber, higher education expert and the chair of the Committee on College and University Governance of the American Association of University Professors. Because the mission is usually stable, it is more important that the governing board ensures the university is financially stable and that the president is doing an effective job, Gerber noted.

“We want to stand for continuity rather than coasting,” Tisch said.

“Brown’s model of shared governance works exceptionally well, in large part due to the leadership of the Corporation,” President Christina Paxson wrote in an email to The Herald.

“The role of the chancellor, and the other senior officers of the Corporation, is to work with the president to set goals for the University and to support and evaluate progress toward those goals.”

Paxson wrote that she shares a “very close partnership” with Tisch, calling that relationship crucial to successful university governance.

“One of the most important things for a governing board is not to get involved in micromanagement,” Gerber said. “Self-restraint is an important role.” “(Tisch) has helped our Corporation set the right tone where it plays a high level worrying about long-term future of the University and doesn’t get involved too much of the nitty-gritty details of day-to-day worries,” said Provost Mark Schlissel P’15.

petition co-hosted by the Clinton Global Initiative and the Hult Business School, according to a University press release. Each year the competition focuses on a pressing issue facing the world, with the hope that the Hult Prize will lead to the emergence of the next wave of social entrepreneurs, according to the Hult Prize website.

After the open application period, 250 teams were notified in January of their invitation to the March regional finals and given the global challenge their projects needed to address, Kagan said.

Former President Bill Clinton chose this year’s challenge, according to the Hult Prize website.

Each of the 250 teams competed in one of five regional competitions in Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai and Shanghai March 1 and 2, according to the release. One team was then selected from each region to spend the summer in a business incubator. In September, the final five teams will compete at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting and one team will leave with a $1 million prize to pursue its project, according to the Hult Prize website.

Behgam and Kagan are co-found-

ers of the Food Recovery Network, a national nonprofit that helps students start food rescue organizations at their universities, Behgam said.

Kagan used her knowledge of running nonprofits while Behgam was responsible for synthesizing statistics about food waste in transit and in urban slums, she said.

The team behind CharCOOL did not advance beyond the regional finals in Boston, Kagan said. Students from McGill University will continue on to the summer incubator and further develop their idea of selling and eating crickets. McGill’s winning project was an idea Brown’s team also considered — two members of CharCOOL firmly believe that bugs are going to help improve food security, Kagan said.

If CharCOOL had won the competition, the project would have piloted in Uganda and expanded to reach 200 million people living in slums, Kagan said. Since Ndagire worked in Uganda for 10 years, she was responsible for figuring out the logistics of cultivating this project in the country, Kagan said. Kagan added that if her team had won or at least advanced to the summer incubator stage, they

Kertzer called Tisch’s wide interest in supporting the sciences, humanities and social sciences at the University a unique strength. “It’s somewhat unusual for someone in his position to so strongly and clearly support so many different ventures,” Kertzer said. “(Tisch) is a big believer in connective tissue among people, be they alums, trustees, faculty or students — that’s something very special he brings to the Corporation,” said Vice Chancellor Jerome Vascellaro ’74 P’07, who has also been elected to a third and final three-year term. “It’s a rare and extraordinary gift.”

ing board for construction when the financial crisis hit, but after reconceiving the plans for three of the buildings, the University was still able to build all five structures, Tisch said.

“Looking back, I marvel at what we were able to do,” Tisch said. In the midst of the financial crisis, Tisch said, “we didn’t lose our pace, and we didn’t lose our step.”

“Historically, when the most heavily endowed schools have caught colds, other schools that are not as wealthy have caught pneumonia,” Tisch said.

“Happily, in this cycle, we don’t have pneumonia.”

Projects the University undertakes “in departments and programs can have a bigger multiplier effect with smaller dollars, which is a reflection of our history, size and instinct for interdisciplinary work,” Tisch said.

Many universities strive for this interdisciplinary focus, he said, but it is already salient at Brown because of the history of the Open Curriculum.

Kertzer said there was also effective collaboration between Tisch and former president Ruth Simmons, which he said helped shape a balance between research and teaching undergraduates.

The chair of the committee responsible for choosing Paxson, Tisch said he “was very proud of the fact that the search was both open and collaborative. It was enormously satisfying to accomplish that work with a 29-person committee.” Schlissel and Kertzer praised Tisch’s role in the selection process.

“On a personal note, (Tisch) has been so valuable during my transition, providing guidance on Brown’s distinctive culture and facilitating introductions to numerous people who are important to Brown,” Paxson wrote in an email to The Herald.

Tisch said he looks forward to Brown being an important part of his life beyond his term as chancellor but does not know what shape that will take.

Coming in threes “(Tisch) has great ambitions for the University,” Kertzer said. “He realizes that changes need to take place now that we are operating on a global canvas. He has been far-sighted without jumping on various bandwagons like establishing campuses overseas.”

Tisch continues to play an important role in the execution of Paxson’s strategic planning process, Schlissel said. As chancellor, Tisch will also lead the process of consideration and approval of the recommendations submitted by the strategic planning committees to the Corporation in May. While Tisch and his predecessor Robert each served three terms as chancellor, no other chancellor in recent history at the University served for that long, Kertzer said.

Valuing collaboration Tisch said his past six years as chancellor have been “extraordinarily satisfying.”

When Tisch became chancellor in 2007, he encountered a largely unexpected economic crash, Kertzer said. “One of (Tisch’s) major accomplishments was to help ensure that the University rode out and found a way to weather the economic storm without having its qualities suffer at all, which is in itself an accomplishment,” he said.

Five buildings were on the draw-

COURTESY OF REBECCA KAGAN

Vying for the prestigious Hultz Prize for social entrepreneurship, the team made it to the regional finals with their CharCOOL food cooling system. all would have moved to Uganda to business skills were not as fine-tuned build the nonprofit. as the other finalists,” Behgam said.

CharCOOL was one of the only “I learned that it’s great to be able undergraduate teams competing at to think of solutions to these probthe Boston regional finals. Most of the lems, but it’s extremely necessary to regional finalists came from graduate have the business skills to implement business schools, Kagan said. those solutions in the social enter“It became very apparent that our prise field.”

W. LACROSSE

Bears best Columbia in triple overtime Roddy ’15 was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week for her role in the weekend’s victories

By HALEY ALVAREZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Bears had a successful home opening weekend, beating Columbia 11-10 and Manhattan College 10-4. The two victories leave Bruno undefeated both overall and in conference play.

“I think our success is just a product of the hard work we put in all fall and preseason,” said co-captain Lindsay Minges ’13. “We know that we are going to have to work for everything we win this year, but it will make it that much better when we reach our goals.”

Janie Gion ’15, Danielle Mastro ’14, Abby Bunting ’15 and Grace Healy ’14 scored goals for the Bears (3-0, Ivy League 1-0) in regulation.

Goalie Kellie Roddy ’15 recorded eight saves for the Brown defense on shots by Columbia (1-2, 0-1). Erin Roos ’14 saved two ground balls in the Bear’s territory and Bunting contributed three.

The squads ended regulation tied 9-9. Co-captain Bre Hudgins ’14 tallied a goal in the first overtime, her fifth of the game, to give Brown a 10-9 lead until Columbia scored another goal to force a second overtime. The period passed without a goal from either team and forced the game to yet another overtime. After Hudgins won the draw, the Bears gave up possession two minutes into the period.

Roddy blocked a Lion’s shot on goal with less than a minute remaining and the Bears worked the ball into Columbia’s

SPORTS

territory.

“We practice a lot of high pressure situations in practice, so I was definitely confident that we would be able to win the game,” Gion said. “It was a huge team effort all the way from Roddy’s save to Lindsay’s goal, so that was awesome to see.”

Minges scored the game winning goal for the Bears against Columbia with 1.9 seconds remaining in the third overtime.

Tara Rooke ’13 provided the winning assist from behind the cage, her second of the game.

“I just remember thinking how fun it was to be in overtime,” Minges said.

“That’s why we play, to be able to experience those intensely competitive games.”

After getting the last word against Columbia, Minges opened up the Bears’ scoring against Manhattan with a goal at 57 seconds. Once again, the Bears’ victory was a team effort, with seven different players recording goals. Bunting, Minges and Gion each added two goals while first-years Sarah Nesi ’16 and Carolyn Westphal ’16 scored their first career goals. Roddy and Victoria Holland ’16, making her first appearance in a varsity game, tallied four saves each. Roddy was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week for her strong performances against both the Lions and the Jaspers.

The women’s lacrosse team will travel to Princeton (2-1) to play the Tigers Saturday March 9, which Minges said will be an “amazing opportunity within our league.”

“Ivy games are always a battle, like we saw this past weekend,” Minges said. “I hope we win in overtime again because that’s the most fun.”

This game will be the team’s last road trip before beginning a four-game series at home, with a game against Holy Cross March 12.

4 university news

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 2013

Nobel Peace laureate shares ‘recipe of resilience’ for victims Jerry White ’86 became a civilian conflict specialist after losing his leg to a landmine in Israel

By MICHAEL DUBIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Being a victim “is almost like an addiction,” said Jerry White ’86, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and deputy assistant secretary of state, to an audience of around 50 people in Salomon 101 Thursday evening.

Victimhood “is insatiable,” said White, who spent a decade interviewing landmine victims and lost his leg in a landmine explosion while studying abroad in Israel as an undergraduate.

A tendency for “living in the past” is often a main symptom of continued victimhood, he said.

White won the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for his activism with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and is the author of “Getting Up When Life Knocks You Down: Five Steps to Overcoming a Life Crisis.”

“Brown was fundamental in part because it incubated intellectual curiosity and freedom,” White said as he opened his talk. “It was that interdisciplinary approach that has helped me think about social movements and engage all types of people of all backgrounds on all types

/ / Millions page 1 ‘I’ve done this before — let me teach you how to do it,’” Kunas said.

Todd coached Kunas through a number of common question topics — from presidents to “the last team that won a major sporting event” — over the next six days, during which Kunas “studied like crazy,” he said.

Despite the fact he “learned a whole bunch of weird facts,” Kunas said none of them appeared during his run on the show.

Play the (wo)man The originally scheduled day of the taping, Oct. 15, Kunas arrived at ABC studios in Manhattan early in the morning, he said.

Staffers of the show “try to make you have a concise and interesting backstory,” Kunas said, describing the process of filling out a questionnaire about himself.

He included an “embarrassing” detail — his occasional tendency to sleep-eat in the middle of the night. Kunas worried this could be his backstory. “I was going to be the sleep eater,” he said.

After being prepped, he was sent to the waiting room, which he described as “the lobster tank.”

“They’ll take someone at a random point, mic them up and they’ll never be seen again,” he said.

Because phones and study materials were prohibited in the studio, Kunas said he spent most of his backstage time chatting with three other contestants, who ranged from a “romance novel editor” to a New Jersey bartender who consumed four Five-Hour Energy drinks while waiting to go on stage.

Despite the “crazy cabin fever,” all four were held to tape the show the next day. When the contestants returned the next morning, Kunas was the first contestant to be called.

Mo’ money mo’ problems Being the first contestant was “su-

of complicated issues of our day.”

When he was pursuing his degree in Judaic Studies, White said his adviser encouraged him to go to Israel to learn Hebrew.

Years later, White was working on a project on nuclear, biological and chemical weapons when he met Ken Rutherford, a fellow landmine survivor, who he said persuaded him to focus on landmines instead.

Rutherford told White that his combination of personal and professional experience made him an ideal person to join the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, White said.

“A light bulb went off,” he said. “I thought it was rather a great thing in life that something that is cerebral … could combine with actually the human side — the humanitarian heart.”

White said his work with the campaign led him to consider what allows some victims to overcome their misfortunes and become “survivors” — what he called the “recipe for resilience.”

The path to becoming a survivor requires a victim to face facts, find meaning in life, reach out to others, take an active role and give back, he said.

Explaining the idea of being active, White recalled his first time in a wheelchair during his recovery. He said he looked up at the nurse and the nurse said, “If you want to move, then push.”

White currently works in the Bureau per nerve-wracking,” Kunas said. Stage staffers outfitted him with a mic and led him out onto the stage once he was called.

But some things were reassuringly familiar.

“The way the set is, it looks exactly the way it does on TV,” he said, adding that there were no green screens.

The opening banter with Vieira, however, was not.

“You’re not allowed to see Meredith until your show time,” Kunas said. “Everything is set up around Meredith.”

Vieira opened the show with a comment on Kunas’ “free food at work diet,” which he described on air as daily pilfering from office eating spaces.

“We need to get you some help,” she joked on-screen, reaching over to touch his hand.

“Who Wants To Be a Millionaire” revamped its game rules in 2010, replacing the traditional three lifelines with two opportunities to skip questions — with no penalty but giving up potential prize money — and one to poll the audience.

The questions were also split into two rounds, one with 10 randomized questions with prize values ranging between $100 and $25,000, and one set of questions that follow the typical sequential climb to the $1,000,000 prize.

Kunas used his lifelines quickly, citing a tendency to be “risk-averse” while playing. “My utility function (dropped) off like that” once he reached $15,000, he said. Kunas racked up $24,100 during play, but after using his final lifeline on the seventh question, elected to walk away on the eighth. According to game rules, Kunas left with half of the accumulated winnings and took home $12,050.

Seeing green When Kunas’ episode aired Thursday afternoon, his parents and younger sister watched the episode together at home.

In Providence, nine members of Karin and the Improvs also gathered

of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, which was established to meet a need for civilian conflict specialists that was identified in the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, he said.

The CSO uses targeted analytics and interagency strategy building to effect change within 12 months of entering conflict, White said. The bureau’s role is not to get involved in every conflict but to select priority areas where it can make an immediate impact.

White discussed the CSO’s efforts to prevent electoral violence in Kenya and assist the crisis response in Syria as examples of the bureau’s work.

In Kenya — where elections were held Monday — the grievances that fed into electoral violence in 2007 have not dissipated, he said. The CSO responded to the challenge by stationing a team in the area to support electoral reforms and used advanced analytics to identify potential violent outbreaks, he added.

The possibility of a run-off election in May — which will depend on how close the vote is and the legitimacy of the election — has further complicated the situation, he said.

In Syria, the CSO built a network of 2,000 activists and distributed 4,000 pieces of “non-lethal” equipment to the opposition, White said. The bureau also provided 500 hours of training to Syrian civilians.

CAROLINE GRANOFF / HERALD

Jerry White ’86 spoke Thursday about the ‘insatiable’ nature of victimhood, a mindset he said plagues many landmine victims he has interviewed.

When Syrian President Bashar alAssad blacked out Internet and phone systems in preparation for a major attack, radio shows and other communication channels enabled by the CSO were still available for the opposition to connect with each other and enlist help, White said.

“This is probably as socially entrepreneurial as it gets in government — to be part of the start-up of a new bureau,”

he said.

White said he encountered a resistance to thinking about the way religion affects and drives conflict when he got to the State Department.

The CSO’s major innovation in progress this year is likely the launch of an office of religious engagement, White said, which will try to galvanize faith communities and coordinate their action in the bureau’s work abroad.

COURTESY OF DISNEY-ABC

Kunas used a lifeline to skip this question during his appearance on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” The correct answer was C, “Bob Barker,” though Kunas said on screen that his initial guess was B, “Pat Sajak.”

Thursday evening to tune into a taped airing of the show.

Before the taping, members took bets on how Kunas would perform, with estimates ranging from $57,000 to $280,000.

As Kunas walked out onto the screen, one of the members commented in the dark: “It’s so weird seeing him like this.”

“I didn’t think he would win that much,” said Ilya Raskin ’14. “I think Drew’s really smart — I just think it’s a hard game.”

“It’s hard to win a lot of money because you have to make it into the top round,” he added.

The buck stops here Kunas said winning cash was a secondary result.

“The reason I went on the show wasn’t because I wanted money,” Kunas said. “I just wanted to be entertaining.”

Kunas’ mother Sharon Kunas, who was in the audience during her son’s taping, described his performance as entertaining.

“Drew’s (interaction with Vieira) was much more personal and spontaneous,”

she said, describing their conversation as “lots of witty remarks back and forth.”

“It really just worked between the two of them,” she added. “It was like they were old friends and very comfortable with one another.”

During the taping, audience members were also invited to audition for the show, Sharon Kunas said.

Most audience members attempted to take the 30-question exam, including herself, she said.

“It was hard,” she said. “I think I’m reasonably bright, no deficiencies or all that.”

Some of the questions did not have answers that could be reasoned out, she added. “Either you knew them or you didn’t.”

The test is geared toward “a very broad range of topics” and resembles the questions that appear on the show, said Trisha Miller, a spokeswoman for “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

“It’s going to be a mishmash of topics,” Miller added. “Contestants who do well on the show tend to know a little about a lot of things.”

Sharon Kunas said her son maintained a level head despite the show’s competitive nature.

“For Drew, he always tends to be a little understated about things — he really didn’t make a big deal about it,” she said. “(‘Millionaire’) was a punctation point and a really great one, but he kept it in perspective,” she added.

Tens of thousands of people try out annually, but only about 300 make the contestant cut, Miller said. Each of the show’s contestants, she added, are “very unique.”

“They run the gamut,” she said, citing differences in age and occupation, from “stay-at-home moms” to “nuclear physicists.”

Despite their many differences, Miller noted two things they have in common.

“They’re all really smart and have a desire to win a million dollars,” she said.

“I mean, who doesn’t?”

— Additional reporting by Jordan Hendricks

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 2013

science & research 5

Student ‘super-subjects’ benefit while supporting research Student volunteers make money and fill class requirements at CLPS and social science labs

By ISOBEL HECK STAFF WRITER

Ceci Cerrilla ’16 and one of her friends wanted to make money without getting jobs. So when they saw an ad on a telephone poll requesting subjects for a study, it seemed like a good solution, she said.

Joseph Van Wye ’15 is also constantly on the lookout for research studies in which he can participate — he said he keeps a “little collection” of tabs he pulls off of flyers with contact information for various labs.

Cerrilla and Van Wye are Brown students who could be considered “super-subjects.”

Van Wye started participating in studies over the summer before his freshman year and estimates that since then he has made between $1,300 and $1,400. “You gotta pay off student loans somehow,” he said.

For some “super-subjects” like Cerrilla and Van Wye, lab participation is a good substitute to a full-time job, but for others, such as Julia Franckh ’15, lab participation is required for classes in related fields.

Experiments within the Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences department and Brown University Social Science Experimental Laboratory are the two main opportunities that allow students to make money as subjects. CLPS studies generally offers students a fixed amount for participation, while the BUSSEL studies offer students a base participation amount and pay additional money based on

/ / Brain page 1 here is to acquire some fundamental understanding,” said David Sheinberg, professor of neuroscience, who was not part of the group that wrote the proposal.

“It’s a starting point for a lot more science.”

Breaking the news The idea for the project was formulated in November 2011, when a group of scientists met in England and began talking about the “gap in our knowledge in understanding the brain,” Donoghue said. Their meeting led to a publication in the journal Neuron, which detailed a potential plan for mapping neurons in the human brain.

Donoghue joined the project in May, and he and other scientists began conversations with the White House.

The government expressed interest in the project, and the group expected to hear a decision from them in March or April, he said.

But before the decision was released, New York Times reporter John Markoff pieced together the story from clues in President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address and a tweet from the National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, Donoghue said.

Obama emphasized the importance of investing in science in his address.

“Today our scientists are mapping the human brain to unlock the answers to Alzheimer’s. They’re developing drugs to regenerate damaged organs, devising

their performance in the studies. For example, in studies where students are asked to answer a series of math questions, they are paid based on the number of questions they answer correctly. In other BUSSEL experiments, subjects’ pay is based on the success of decisions they and their fellow subjects make.

Eric Foreman ’15 said he once made $60 at BUSSEL. Other times he makes less, but the possibility of making more money if one performs well is certainly a good incentive, he said. The students who have participated in both BUSSEL research and CLPS research said they generally put more effort into BUSSEL studies because of this incentive. In contrast, they said, some of the CLPS studies can become boring, and there is a lack of incentive to try.

This decision was made consciously, said Associate Professor of Economics Pedro Dal Bo. He said the studies test economic theories and “better the theories and understanding of human behavior.” If the situations were merely hypothetical, the results would not be as reliable, he said. “If we didn’t pay people based on what they do, we wouldn’t be able to get good information.”

Fiery Cushman, assistant professor of CLPS, also said he feels students contribute a lot to the department’s research. “The truth is that without student participants, we wouldn’t get nearly as much psychological research done at Brown,” he wrote in an email to The Herald. The benefit of using students as research subjects is that they are “willing to participate, often for less money than other people, or often as part of a class assignment,” he added. He estimated his lab, which is just one of 30 in the CLPS department, tests up to 1,000 Brown students each year.

“Psychology is a ‘pay it forward’ enterprise,” Cushman wrote. “When

students enroll in my course, they learn about all kinds of topics that we discovered by testing psychology undergraduates (often their parents and grandparents!). Those participants of yesteryear paid it forward, helping us to learn about the mind. So we ask students today to pay it forward, so that their kids will benefit from what we learn about them.”

Franckh, who is a cognitive science concentrator, has only participated in CLPS studies as part of course requirements or for extra credit, rather than monetary compensation. Franckh has acquired 11.5 total research credits for CLPS classes due to the large number in which she is enrolled. One credit is equivalent to about one hour of time, and certain classes, such as CLPS 0700: “Social Psychology,” require up to five credits of subject participation. She signs up for studies through the online SONA system where she is matched to studies for which she fits the requirements.

Franckh said this system is a good way for professors to support each other’s labs, because they are always looking for subjects to test and recruitment can be difficult.

As a frequent subject, Franckh said it can become difficult to find studies in which she has not already participated.

This is an issue other “super-subjects” have encountered. Some labs keep lists of those who are ineligible to participate due to past participation, as “it’s possible that people will change their approach to an experiment depending on what they’ve experienced before, and we have to look out for that,” Cushman wrote.

For students such as Foreman, who once participated in four studies in one week, it can potentially be difficult to find new research experiments. On the other hand, “you can always make a new email address and use that,” he said.

new materials to make batteries 10 times more powerful. Now is not the time to gut these job-creating investments in science and innovation,” he said, according to Markoff ’s New York Times article.

During the State of the Union Address, Collins tweeted, “Obama mentions the #NIH Brain Activity Map in #SOTU.” The Times article referenced the original paper in Neuron. “But the problem is that the concept of what we are trying to do matured a lot over the years,” Donoghue said. “There was sort of a view that came across in the Neuron paper is that we had to study worms, and then flies, and then mice,” before eventually being able to understand the role of each cell in the human brain, he said.

academia and industry, with work carried out both by individual laboratories and in new collective efforts,” the researchers wrote in their proposal.

“The one thing that we proposed is that they don’t take money away from anybody,” Donoghue said. It would be ideal to preserve the investigator-driven grant model in which individual labs propose projects, he added.

Barry Connors, professor of neuroscience and chair of the neuroscience department, said science functions most productively when individual scientists follow their instincts. Often, “completely impractical, strange scientific passions turned out to be the roots of revolutionary things,” he said.

The BAM project is “maybe a little too directed,” Connors said.

He added that it is still unclear whether the project is practical. “Is this something that there will be new resources for? Or are we talking about carving out from the increasingly few resources? Are we going to take money away and throw it at this grandiose idea?”

Donoghue said he hopes the project will bring new money to research institutes, adding that Brown is “perfectly set up to be a major contributor to the BAM effort.” His labs and others at Brown are already asking the kinds of questions the project hopes to answer, including how the brain achieves higher functions, Donoghue said.

Many people, including Obama, have compared a large-scale neuroscience research project to the Human Ge-

A grand plan The goal of recording the activity of every neuron in the human brain simultaneously is too “grandiose” and not achievable, Donoghue said, but building an incremental understanding of the functions of smaller networks will “drive more and more advances.” Creating complete maps of animal brains is also not necessary to fully understand the human brain — neuroscientists, including his BrainGate research team, are already working to understand human neural networks, Donoghue added.

Whether the government decides to fund the project will determine the logistics of the research, Donoghue said. “We envision the BAM project as an open, international collaboration of scientists, engineers and theoreticians, throughout

LAUREN GALVAN / HERALD

A single CLPS lab may test up to 1,000 students per year, with many students participating to earn some cash or fulfill a requirement for class.

For Franckh, being a subject has provided her great insight into her other work. She has been a part of the Causality and Mind Lab since her freshman year, where she began as a volunteer who recruited subjects and sent emails, and now conducts studies and tests subjects herself. Being a subject has taught her how to conduct experiments well, she said. “It is all about clarity and how to approach subjects. (You have to) explain the process and be open.”

To be a good psychologist one must also understand what it is like to be a subject, she said.

Students such as Cerrilla, Foreman and Van Wye, who participate mainly as a way of making money, also recognize other benefits of having been lab subjects. Cerrilla and Foreman, who are both concentrating in biology, said being a subject has been informative about what opportunities are available

and what is being done at Brown. At one study, Foreman was even offered the opportunity to join a lab, but he said he declined due to a lack of time in his schedule.

Foreman, Franckh and Van Wye said studies can also be interesting because of the information they receive. Getting MRI pictures of their brains or watching their brain activity through electroencephalography are unusual experiences.

For Van Wye, long-term studies also offer a sense of accomplishment. He said he prefers doing studies such as those run by the Sleep for Science program because of the long-term commitment.

All of the “super-subjects” agreed that there is a certain level of satisfaction in participating in a study, whether it is walking away with cash, course credits or research knowledge.

“It’s always good to know you achieved well,” Van Wye said.

nome Project, which led to a complete decoding of the human genetic sequence.

But that analogy may not be accurate, Sheinberg said.

“There is no Watson and Crick for the brain,” Sheinberg said. Molecular biologists understood how to process pieces of DNA, while neuroscientists still do not have a clear set of rules that explain how neurons give rise to complex thoughts, despite knowing how individual neurons operate.

Current neuroscience relies on either very localized views of the brain through methods like single neuron recording, or a more global view of the brain through methods like functional magnetic resonance imaging, Sheinberg said. “This project is about the inadequacy of both of those methods to meet at the level of how the brain really works,” he said. “It presents some serious, serious challenges.”

“It’s a map that if we could have access to it, we could begin to understand the principles by which it operates and furthermore understand the principles by which it might break down,” Sheinberg said.

In addition to revealing more about brain diseases like Alzheimer’s, the project could lead to the development of more health-related technology, along the lines of the cochlear implant and the BrainGate technology that enables paralyzed people to control robotic limbs with their minds via neural implants, Donoghue said. It may help the development of “smart technology” like self-driving cars or airplanes, he added.

The project could also contribute to a “fundamental understanding” of the brain that informs social policy, like education, Donoghue said. For example, the project might enable scientists to identify children who are visual and auditory learners. They could be put in classrooms tailored to their learning style “based on our understanding of the brain, not a guess,” he said.

Next in neuroscience If the project succeeds, it could change the nature of neuroscience research and education, Donoghue said.

6 arts & culture

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 2013

‘Goose and Tomtom’ probes the unknown and the unknowable David Rabe’s existentialist tour de force brings physical comedy to the PW Downspace

By ANDREW SMYTH SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Public service announcement: “Goose and Tomtom” is completely insane, compulsively ambiguous and totally worth seeing. In a rare production of David Rabe’s violent, surrealist romp, directed by Jenny Gorelick ’14, the actors wander bravely into an absurd but oddly familiar world of darkness, pain and confusion.

The play follows two small-time jewel thieves, Goose, played by Jackson Usher ’15, and Tomtom, played

by Christopher Fitzsimmons ’13.5, in their attempt to recover missing jewelry they stole for Tomtom’s girlfriend, Lorraine, played by Sarah Gage ’15.

They live in “the underworld,” where their banal routine of drinking and arguing is interrupted by bizarre, surrealist episodes. But plot is tangential to what is really going on in “Goose and Tomtom,” which aims to disorient and challenge the audience’s conception of reality.

“That’s the experience that David Rabe and I are saying we all have in our own daily lives,” Gorelick said on the depth of the work’s ambiguity. “This is just a more saturated, more intense, more comic version of that.”

Gorelick made a bold choice in bringing “Goose and Tomtom” to the Production Workshop Downspace. The play’s production history is brief and littered with critical dissent — a 1986 production at Lincoln Center starring Madonna and Sean

Penn flopped. In an otherwise Tony Award-worthy collection, this work remains critically unpopular, the misunderstood and creepy step-child of Rabe’s oeuvre.

This production is a fast-paced, visceral work with a manic, anarchic energy. The physical comedy is carefully orchestrated and seamlessly delivered, and the actors navigate uncertain emotional and conceptual territory with aplomb.

“The characters basically have no idea what’s going on in their own play,” said Zal Shroff ’14, the dramaturg. “Even the writer himself says he doesn’t know.”

Indeed, Goose and Tomtom seem to exist outside any conventional understanding of time or place. They speak with juvenile, slightly Yiddish iterations of Italian mobster accents, and the dialogue is inscrutable and disorienting. Long, spiraling anecdotes go nowhere. In one memorable sequence, Goose recalls, “Sometimes I still got like these frog feelings from when I was briefly a frog.” Hopping ensues.

It’s outlandish and completely hilarious, but beneath the humor runs an undercurrent of schizophrenic anxiety.

“I ain’t in the expressions on my face, and I ain’t in my eyes. I don’t know where I am,” Goose admits frantically.

The playful dialogue between the titular thieves meanders into fantasies about killing their archenemy Bingo and “pumping” his sister Lulu, played

by Kevin Kelly ’15 and Anna Reed ’15, respectively.

“I, as Chris, know that Tomtom knows that something scary is going on, but Tomtom doesn’t really know,” Fitzsimmons said. “I struggle with that.”

Light and sound have a sinister

EVAN THOMAS / HERALD

Jackson Usher ’15 and Christopher Fitzsimmons ’13.5 play the title characters in “Goose and Tomtom” in a production directed by Jenny Gorelick ’14 running this weekend in the PW Downspace. agency in this strange, barren landscape. Sound design by Nara Shin ’13 introduces a series of ambient, electronic pulses that fade in and out, often announcing the latest peculiar plot twist. Light design by Ben Chesler ’15 manipulates light and shadow to enhance feelings of instability. The final, cathartic climax becomes a terrifying, epileptic disco, and a sex scene plays out in silhouette.

The set is nothing more than three walls, a decrepit refrigerator and a few pieces of bland, weathered furniture.

Tomtom feverishly scrawls a schematic pictogram on a chalkboard, so as not to forget what happened. In the play, memory is fleeting, and narrative can be reconstructed, reimagined and rearranged.

Fitzsimmons and Usher have an effortless camaraderie, whether swap-

ping intimate secrets or mercilessly beating each other. Their relationship dances around the homoerotic — two boys wrestling and running around waving guns — but ends up somewhere between bromance and brotherhood.

Reed is deliciously bizarre as Lulu.

She remains bound and gagged for most of the show but delivers some of its most memorable, enigmatic passages with a sense of cosmic authority.

The ambitious fight sequences are choreographed with rhythmic precision by Trevor Olds ’14. Violence seems to operate as ritual in the underworld. A man breaks a chair. A head slams into a table. A girl sticks pins into her boyfriend’s arms.

“The violence is them trying to have some semblance of power and control in their uncontrollable, crazy

Visiting scholar links Buddhism and physics His lecture focused on the fields’ shared elements, such as mindfulness, time and ambiguity

By STEVEN MICHAEL STAFF WRITER

Physics offers “crisper” analogies for meditation than traditional Buddhism does, said Fred Cooper, external professor at Santa Fe Institute and former program director for theoretical physics at the National Science Foundation at a lecture last night.

Cooper, who has studied physics

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

and meditation for over 30 years, spoke about connections between quantum physics and Buddhism in List 120 in a talk sponsored by the Brown Meditation Community.

Buddhism and physics share a common “conceptual framework” consisting of “ground, path and fruition,” but they diverge in the specifics, he said. Physics is grounded in mathematical equations, while Buddhism is grounded in the rejection of a dualistic perspective. In physics the academic path involves learning algebra and other mathematics, while in meditation the path entails transitioning from mindfulness to awareness, he said.

For physicists, fruition is winning the Nobel Prize, while for meditation, fruition is reaching enlightenment.

Physics and Buddhism also both

question the relationship between space and time, he said. “How do you set a standard of time?” Cooper asked. “What’s past is past. What’s future is yet to come.

Time is a relative concept as a meditator.”

In order to measure small quantities of space and time, physicists use highenergy light, which warps the measurements. As a result, when measuring on smaller and smaller scales, space and time “lose their meaning,” Cooper said.

Cooper pointed to parallels between training in physics and training in meditation. “Neither discipline guarantees success. When you get your Ph.D. in physics, you learn all of the mechanics of physics,” he said. But whether a physicist makes a discovery that revolutionizes physics depends partially on luck, as does winning a Nobel Prize or attaining enlightenment.

The book “The Tao of Physics” by Fritjof Capra popularized the similarities between modern physics and Eastern religious traditions. Cooper criticized the best-selling book for claiming physics proved ideas in Eastern religion were correct about the organization of matter.

Because physics relies on an “evolving set of conceptual frameworks,” Cooper said, “The Tao of Physics” does not help either discipline. It compares the current state of physics to Eastern teachings, but the field of physics will likely change in the future, he said.

Asked whether physicists show more interest in meditation or whether meditators show more interest in physics, Cooper said without hesitation that meditators are far more interested in physics.

For physicists, “there is safety in being focused on solving equations, but you can’t solve how to live,” he said.

About 80 students and community members attended the talk.

Connor Flexman ’16 agreed with Cooper’s criticism of “The Tao of Physics.”

“A lot of people make the argument for meditation based on faulty physics,” he said, adding that Cooper “didn’t try to prove meditation through quantum mechanics.”

“Meditation allows me to gather my thoughts,” said Henry Langton ’16. He added that he thinks there is a stigma against meditation but said this lecture and advances in neuroscience help justify the practice’s usefulness.

world,” Gorelick said.

The manic orbit of violence and uncertainty is fatiguing, but the actors are so consistently on point that audiences won’t mind. Rabe’s intentions clearly operate outside tidy character arcs or timely climaxes, but this narrative fluency makes for a disjointed viewing experience.

“This is not a play that can be wrapped up in a little bow,” said Gorelick.

Do not go to see this production hoping for a well-made play in the style of Ibsen or Rattigan. “Goose and Tomtom” is a chaotic examination of power and powerlessness in a frightening, irrational universe.

“Goose and Tomtom” will run Friday, Sunday and Monday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. in the PW downspace.

/ / McCoy page 12 .265 hitter with nagging injuries his entire career who has been called out by his previous owners for a lack of desire to play. Doesn’t it just get your heart racing for opening day? Waiting in the wings, though, the Sox have two exceptional talents — defensive wizard Jose Iglesias (thought by some to be the next Ozzie Smith) and 20-year-old Xander Bogaerts, a top-20 prospect in all of baseball. There will be growing pains, especially at the plate, but either would inject youth, speed and optimism into a ballclub that is in desperate need of it.

The 2013 Red Sox are a team caught between contending and rebuilding, reflecting an ownership and management unable to accept that the good times of 2004 and 2007 are a thing of the past and that a total organizational overhaul is needed.

But if things this season get bad — and get bad fast — it’s not too late.

The organization is ripe with young talent, and as has been shown through revelations like Evan Longoria, Mike Trout and Bryce Harper, teams should not hesitate to allow their best prospects a crack at the Majors. Players like Bradley, De La Rosa and Bogaerts won’t turn the Sox into World Series favorites overnight, but they are the types of players that a baseball city mired in mediocrity needs most: guys who will play hard, turn heads and restore hope in a franchise that is too content to rest on the laurels of its past and ignore the realties at hand.

arts & culture 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 2013

RISD ‘Quickies’ teach topics, skills in informal workshops Student-led workshops teach skills ranging from organic chemistry to nail art in an informal setting

By MARI LEGAGNOUX CONTRIBUTING WRITER

“Grab some paper and start taking your anger out on it!” said Rhode Island School of Design student Connor Lynch, urging fellow students to engage in a papermaking workshop last Saturday. Lynch, along with fellow RISD sophomore Ryan Mather, directs a series of student-led RISD workshops called “Quickies.”

In Saturday’s workshop, “Political Papermaking,” participants ripped up old posters and reused the pulp to make signs and flyers to promote Divest RISD, a student group focused on encouraging the school to divest the University’s investments from coal techonology companies.

But Quickies consist of far more than making paper. Workshops range from knitting to glassblowing to organic chemistry. Each workshop lasts one to six hours.

Jen Wong, who graduated from RISD with a degree in Illustration in 2010, founded the program in 2009.

Wong said her original goal was to provide an outlet for the student body’s desire to explore new fields in an informal, fun way.

“There is such a wealth of knowledge at RISD and Brown, and it’s wonderful because people can contribute

their own knowledge to this intellectual commons,” she said. “Because it was done by students for students, people were really receptive to it.”

When Wong graduated, she transferred leadership to Greg Nemes, who was then working towards a masters degree in architecture. Nemes said he worked to expand what had started out as a mostly craft-based program into a more diverse set of offerings, including digital, computational, scientific and other mediums.

“Quickies does not institute any kind of curriculum, requirements or structure in that sense,” he said. “Whoever’s teaching it — it’s their domain.

“We’re a platform, not an institution,” he added.

Nemes said he appreciated the program being student-run because students tend to keep things “fresh and up-to-date” with contemporary trends and have a better sense of how to make the workshops interdisciplinary. “There’s a lot of potentially great cross-pollination,” he said.

Nemes praised this year’s Quickies organizers, Lynch and Mather.

“They’re great. They’re enthusiastic, excited, have good ideas for it, and they’ve been pushing it in the right direction,” he said.

“What’s starting to happen is that student interest groups are starting to do Quickies as a way to get people to know about their cause or what they’re working on,” Mather said. “Like this divestment Quickie. So it’s about learning new skills, but it can also be used for a greater agenda.”

Lynch added that frequently, “different groups within our campus and Brown and College Hill as a whole are focusing on the same things but people don’t know about the coincident efforts that we have.”

Lynch and Mather both said they are enthusiastic about getting more Brown students involved. “When you have two people who know very different things teaching each other, you end up with two people who are much more vastly educated,” Lynch said.

“As much as RISD students have weird, wacky talents and knowledge bases, I think Brown students have a lot more,” Mather said.

Myles Dunigan, a RISD alum who taught printmaking and etching Quickies, said the workshops serve as valuable opportunities for people to explore things they’re interested in because most people “don’t have the time or the means to study other disciplines and acquire different skill sets outside of their normal curriculum.”

“It’s nice to have students that aren’t so jaded by the process of making art in a particular way,” he said. “Oftentimes the ways they come up with to solve these art-making problems along the way are really fresh and innovative.”

Leah Bryson, who has taught knitting Quickies, added that the seminars are low-risk. “It’s not like you’re committing to a semester-long class, and it’s certainly not like you’re being graded on it. It’s neat and it’s really casual so it’s less intimidating and less scary than having a professor,” she said.

COURTESY OF CONNOR LYNCH

‘Quickie’ workshops, which last between one and six hours, allow Brown and RISD students to explore subjects they may not dedicate a semester to.

She said she also likes the format of the website, risdquickies.com, and the opportunity it presents for people to suggest workshops or sign up to teach.

“It’s a really cool resource,” she added.

“I’ve wanted to play around with a bunch of printmaking stuff since I got here,” said RISD sophomore Jon Gourlay, after attending a printmaking Quickie. Gourlay said he hadn’t pursued this interest on his own because of expense and the difficulty of learning from online sources. He added Dunigan’s course “was a really nice way to connect people who are already out there in the real world from RISD with the people who are still here.”

Elizabeth Goodspeed ’16, a dualdegree student in her second year, said, “We’re in such a high-pressure, competitive environment that I think we forget that we’re all smart.”

Though she said she plans to teach a Quickie on nail art, she added that Brown students wondering what they should teach can seek opportunities both creative and academic. “You might not be the smartest person in your econ class, but if you go down to RISD and teach it, you will know what you’re talking about,” Goodspeed added.

“Give yourself credit,” she said.

“You’re talented, you’re talented!”

SLAMMIN’ AND JAMMIN’

Follow The Herald! @The_Herald

ALEXANDRA URBAN / HERALD

Fusion Dance Company holds a dress rehearsal in Alumnae Hall for its show this weekend, which will celebrate the group’s 30th anniversary.

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8 university news

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 2013

Online engineering course emphasizes interactive learning ‘Exploring Engineering’ is the first online precollege course the U. will offer for free

The Office of Continuing Education will offer its first free pre-college online course, an introductory course entitled “Exploring Engineering,” starting next month through Canvas Network.

The course will be offered through Canvas instead of Coursera, the online course platform that will host three Brown massive open online courses this summer, to allow the University to try out another method of virtual instruction, said Harriette Hemmasi, University librarian and chair of the strategic planning Committee on Online Teaching and Learning. The Coursera massive open online courses, also known as MOOCs, will be free, not for credit and open to anyone.

“The more opportunities that we take advantage of and the more experimentation, the better,” Hemmasi said.

said Wendy Drexler, director for online development at Continuing Education.

About 50 to 60 percent of students who start out studying engineering change their majors, she said. “(Students) are directed toward engineering without fully understanding what that means,” she said.

Students switch because the content is not what they expect, the material is too hard or they don’t know how the courseload relates to a job associated with engineering, she said.

Students should take “Exploring Engineering” first, as a foundation, before moving on to a specific area, Drexler said.

The two-week introductory course is offered alongside three other twoweek pre-college online courses — materials engineering, biomedical engineering and renewable energy — which have pricetags ranging from $395 to $695. They will focus on nanotechnology, tissue engineering and wind turbine design, respectively. This is the first time all of the online precollege engineering courses will be running separately, she said.

Career exploration “Exploring Engineering” was created to allow pre-college students considering an engineering career to learn more about the various fields within the subject.

“There was a huge need for students to learn what engineering is,”

An interactive experience The introductory class will have minimal lecturing, said Jesse Schreier, Continuing Education instructional designer. Instead, the course will have materials to read, interviews to watch and activities to do, Schreier said.

“We hope it’s very interactive,” he

By MOLLY SCHULSON SENIOR STAFF WRITER

said. “We’ve designed (the course) so that students log in every day, and the idea is for them to have daily activities.”

Throughout the course, students will “make a plan for their college coursework so that they can envision what it’s like to become an engineer,” he said. There will also be a project component in which students will design a playground and build a prototype on Lego Digital Designer software.

“We don’t want them to just watch a lecture,” Schreier said. “We want them to take part of the process themselves.”

Different variables will be “thrown at” the students, such as having a project’s budget cut in half, he said. “Students will have to interact through discussion boards, brainstorm together and share ideas,” Schreier added.

Karen Haberstroh, director of STEM outreach and assistant professor of engineering, is the instructor for the introductory course but will have more of a facilitator role, Schreier said.

“It’s hard when you’re in a MOOC to facilitate so many people. Her role is going to be choosing specific discussions and threads that are illuminative of bigger questions and issues,” he said.

No final grades will be given out at the end of the course, according to Canvas Network’s website.

Online experimentation Launched in November, Canvas Network is hosted by Instructure, the

same company that manages Canvas, the University’s new learning management system.

“There’s so many different meanings and methods for teaching online,” Hemmasi said. The University aims to understand what is useful to both faculty members and students, she said.

“The University has moved from Blackboard to Canvas, so we have already been using this system,” Drexler said. “(The course) was easy to build ... in Canvas Network so that everyone from everywhere can access the course.”

Though Continuing Education has been offering online courses geared toward pre-college students every semester for the past four years — with subjects ranging from DNA to entrepeneurship — “Exploring Engineering” is the first pre-college online course provided for which students do not have to pay tuition to enroll.

Worldwide impact “Exploring Engineering” has been capped at 500 students. The number of students allowed to enroll in the course was set by Instructure.

The April section of the course “filled up within three weeks,” Drexler said, so a second section in June was created. “I have to be honest, I was kind of surprised it filled up as quickly as it did,” she said.

The June section of “Exploring Engineering” will have the same course content but may be tweaked based on

the first section’s outcome, she said.

“We are hoping to learn an awful lot from the first go-around,” Drexler said.

“This is a grand experiment, and we’re going to learn a lot about MOOCs,” Schreier said.

While the college-level content was created for high school students, there are no controls on who can participate in the course. “We have participants from ... every continent from all over the world. We’re very excited about it,” Drexler said.

Students need to create an ID and password on the Canvas Network to enroll.

The class was mostly advertised

by Instructure when it launched the Canvas Network, Drexler said. One reason why the other engineering courses have costs is because of their small sizes, Schreier said. Instructors and teaching assistants will engage in “hands-on interaction with the students,” Schreier said.

“We think it’s really terrific that the Continuing Education program is reaching out to high school students and to other students really around the world,” Hemmasi said.

“Exploring Engineering” differs from other MOOCs in that students will be engaging with the material rather than just watching a lecture and taking a quiz on it, Schreier said.

If the free introductory class goes well, Continuing Education may design more, depending on demand, Drexler said.

sports friday 9

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 2013

/ / Injury page 1 of the sport, academics and, most importantly, the recovery process.

Knowing the risks A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury usually caused by a blow or jolt to the head. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 3.8 million sports-related concussions are reported yearly in the United States.

Even mild bumps to the head can be serious, and athletes who suffer multiple concussions during their careers are at a higher risk for permanent brain damage and even death.

The procedures surrounding concussions have improved over the last few years. Efforts to improve education and protocols like the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing, which evaluates verbal memory, visual memory, visual motor speed and reaction time, have been implemented. Athletes at all levels in many sports, particularly contact sports, may be required to undergo testing before the start of the season and again if a head injury is sustained. If the player scores substantially lower, he or she cannot resume play until the baseline score is met again.

Concussions are increasingly gaining national attention — athletes often return to their sport or physical activity too soon after suffering a concussion, which can potentially cause brain damage. Over the last few years, the number of concussions reported has increased as athletes and coaches become better educated about the dangers surrounding the injury.

Hitting close to home Concussions were not understood nearly as well as they are today when Neal Rooney ’14 suffered a mild concussion playing football for Bruno five years ago. This was his second concussion — he had suffered one in high school — but this time he sustained a serious injury.

“It was pretty mild, and I misinterpreted the symptoms,” Rooney said.

“I was really overtired. … (I) thought maybe I had mono. So I kept playing, which made things worse and compounded the issue.”

His symptoms were not identified as stemming from a concussion until he saw Head Athletic Trainer Russ Fiore, at which point Rooney’s condition had worsened.

“The second semester was the most miserable I have ever been,” Rooney said. Rooney came back for one week of the 2009-10 school year, but was overwhelmed and decided to take a medical leave of absence.

“I saw a doctor in Boston, and then for six months, I couldn’t read, watch TV, use the computer, do anything that increased my heart rate, drive, go to busy places,” Rooney said.

Rooney said his recovery process was long and arduous, and he did not want to come back too soon.

“I think it’s hard for people to understand that concussions can last that long … pushing will set you back,” Rooney said. “Just because you’re back at school doesn’t mean you don’t need support.”

He said he is now “that guy” the trainers use as an example.

“If I had gotten injured today …

I’d be a lot better off,” Rooney said.

Diana Ohrt ’13, a defender on

the women’s soccer team, suffered two concussions during her collegiate career. The first was in the fall of 2009 during a home game against Dartmouth. She went to the training room to Health Services to the hospital for a CT scan, and then spent three weeks in recovery.

Ohrt suffered her second concussion — which she said was worse than her first — this past soccer season.

After sustaining her first concussion, she sat out the remainder of the game, but the second time she sat out for eight minutes and then went back in to play.

“The protocol is definitely to sit out at least 15-20 minutes in order to evaluate symptoms,” Ohrt said. “And, unfortunately, this was not followed.”

In many cases, there is pressure to get back in the game as soon as possible, she said. Being a senior and a center back among a younger backline of players, “there was a need to get back sooner rather than later,” Ohrt said.

Sumner Becker ’14 experienced a concussion last spring while playing club soccer.

“It was the second concussion I’ve had, though by far the worse of the two,” Becker said. “The first one I got playing hockey my senior year of high school, but it was mild, selfdiagnosed, and I only had some mild headaches for two days following.”

This time around he said the impact was so hard he lost vision in his right eye for nearly an hour, followed by all the standard symptoms of a bad concussion — nausea, dizziness and disorientation. He spent the next three weeks recovering.

“I couldn’t look at a computer screen or read without feeling immediately nauseous,” Becker said.

“Any excursion outside the building ended up with bad fatigue and more headaches after about 25 minutes.”

Becker’s concussion occurred two days before the start of finals, which meant that he had to “postpone indefinitely” his exams and final papers.

It was not until six weeks later that he was cleared by the doctor to resume studying.

University resources Students who have experienced concussions said they found the University works to accommodate and assist them as they struggle to recover on the field and in the classroom.

For student-athletes who are diagnosed with concussions, the trainers immediately notify the Office of Student Life, said Maria Suarez, associate dean and director of student support services. Suarez said trainers do an “excellent job” connecting studentathletes who have been concussed with OSL, but she said this is often a bigger issue for students who are not athletes, due to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. But for the most part, the doctors at Health Services are good about referring students, Suarez said.

When student-athletes are diagnosed with a concussion by the trainers, they are first referred to Health Services for evaluation and monitoring. If non-varsity athletes suffers concussions, they must seek out treatment from Health Services on their own.

“UHS has an established protocol for evaluating and treating patients with a concussion,” Wheeler said.

“They are closely followed by us

EMILY GILBERT / HERALD

The nunber of student athletes reporting concussions has increased from 15-20 per semester to 70 last year, said Dr. Edward Wheeler, medical director at Health Services. and the trainers for symptoms until all symptoms are resolved.”

Wheeler said it is during this time that the Student and Employee Accessibility Services and the deans’ offices help students determine how to handle their academic commitments.

“The deans work very hard to allow the concussed students the time they need to rest their brains, which is essential for recovery,” he said.

Suarez said the recovery process can vary in length and works on an individual basis.

“Your gender, if it’s your first, third, fourth concussion, if you have learning disabilities or other issues can exacerbate the situation, so some take much longer,” Suarez said.

“The University helped a lot … the deans were so understanding, the professors were understanding,” Ohrt said. “Being given a reduced course load allowed me to catch up on my work.”

For Becker, as soon as it became clear that he was on indefinite rest, he emailed Deputy Dean of the College Stephen Lassonde, who told him to arrange incompletes with each of his professors individually.

“I think the University handled it really well,” Becker said. “I had no problems arranging the incompletes,

and I was able to turn in my papers after I had stopped feeling symptoms.

And they let me take my (ECON 1110: “Microeconomics”) exam in the middle of the summer when I was able to come back to Providence.”

Ohrt, Rooney and Tumbleson all said Suarez was exceptionally helpful in dealing with each of their academic situations while they were recovering from their concussions.

“The University was phenomenal … particularly Dean Maria Suarez,” Tumbleson said. “She didn’t care about anything but recovery.”

Rooney also credited SEAS in aiding his recovery and transition back at Brown following his leave of absence.

Athletes, coaches and students are now more educated about concussions. “Ten years ago 15-20 athletes coming forward (with concussions) might have been the norm,” Wheeler said, while now the number is at 70 per semester. “The trainers are excellent at recognizing even the subtle signs of a concussion and are very conscious when athletes are seen in situations where a concussion might have occurred.”

“We have all become quite educated over the past two years, especially about concussions and understanding that there is a fingerprint for each

COMIC Old Lace | Veena Vignale

person,” Suarez said, explaining how concussions affect each individual differently.

But there is always room for improvement, and the University is working with other Ivy League schools to better protocols for helping students deal with concussions, Wheeler said.

“I believe the systems are in place to help concussed students, so the issue is awareness of concussions and their symptoms and the need to seek care,” Wheeler said.

10 diamonds & coal DIAMONDS & COAL

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 2013

EDITORIAL CARTOON b y i va n a lc a n ta r a

A diamond to Mike McCormick, assistant vice president for planning, design and construction, who said, “It’s not how long the walk is, but it’s how long the walk feels.” That’s our motto at the gym.

Coal to New York University professor Paul Glimcher, who compared the process by which monkeys rank rewards to the process by which students choose their favorite candy bars. Brown students are more evolved than primates, despite what the number of broken exit signs in Keeney Quadrangle may suggest.

A diamond to Provost Mark Schlissel P’15, who said, “There’s nothing more important in life than feeling like your kids are well-cared for, comfortable and safe.” Which is why the administration is going to bubble-wrap all the first-years.

Cubic zirconia to the president of Brown for Financial Aid, who said, “Obviously no one should discount the fact that we have a smaller endowment.” Is that on your IvyDate profile? Maybe that’s why you’re not getting any matches.

A diamond to the Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investment Policies, which will likely push for the University to divest from coal. Because giving the committee a coal just seems wrong.

Coal to the student who said she likes how she bumps into professors on the way to the bathroom in the new Medical Education Building. If you need help on a problem set, you’ll probably get a less distracted response if you just go to office hours.

Cubic zirconia to the student who said, “I’m a girl, I have hair, I have a mouth, I have a nose, I’m not a monster and I’m Palestinian.” Who took your eyes?!?!?

Coal to Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron, who said the decision to assign ‘Beautiful Souls’ as the summer reading for the class of 2017 was not influenced by author Eyal Press ’92 status as an undergraduate alum. She did not, however, mention the possible influence of Jesse McCartney’s golden locks.

A diamond to Senior Lecturer of Neuroscience John Stein PHD’95, P’13, who told students tasting miracle berries to resist “the temptation to swallow the juice.” That’s what we tell our drunk friends when they get too close to our fish tank.

One million diamonds to the creator of a Yoga and Mindfulness wellness program, who said, “Doing it alone can be frustrating or confusing or hard to sustain,” but peer support helps everyone achieve success. Yes, yes — oh yes it does.

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

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

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“We had like a Haymitch and Katniss ‘Hunger Games’ thing going on.”

— Drew Kunas ’12 See millions on page 7 facebook.com/browndailyherald

@the_herald

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taking sides 11

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 2013

Should Brown be tougher on student consumption of drugs and alcohol?

YES

NO

in public, where doing so has the real potential to be disruptive. As someone who DAVID ROMERO had to step over cases of Pabst Blue RibOpinions Columnist bon to enter the dorm’s communal bathroom while inhaling enough secondhand marijuana smoke to nearly become high myself, I think that Brown should be During my first year at Brown, I remem- stricter in its drug policies. ber an upperclassman friend of mine tellRegulating illegal alcohol and drug ing me one of his crazy weed stories. He use is not only sensible but also a sound told me that he and his suitemate smoked way to keep our privilege in check. Conmarijuana almost every day, even once suming alcohol at Brown is almost always getting caught by the Department of conspicuous, and there is always somePublic Safety. The DPS officer caught my one being excluded from the drunken friend’s friend in the act of rolling a blunt fun. Many Brown students don’t have the and punished him severely by … quietly funds to go to the Graduate Center Bar telling him to put it away. Flash forward every night or the money to support an one year, and I’m expensive weedliving in a fraternity smoking hobby. building via sumMost of us just want mer assignment afto study those extra ter having lived on a two hours at night Brown spaces, especially to do well on midsubstance-free floor for my first year. Afterms. Most of us public spaces, should ter the first night of can’t remember the the brothers playlast time we went to be safe and free from ing beer pong in the sleep before Mornintoxicated belligerence. ing Mail appeared hallways, I learned that the only peoin our inboxes. ple who cared about I would sugoverconsumption gest Brown adopt a of alcohol within policy against overdorms were the cusconsumption — it todians who had to clean up the mess the doesn’t have to be as complex as figurnext morning. ing out a meal plan or as simple as an exBrown should be tougher on drugs and pulsion after the first time getting caught alcohol. Brown spaces — especially public with a dime sack. Three strikes and you spaces — should be safe and free from in- get a disciplinary meeting with a dean. toxicated belligerence. When I say “pub- It’s at least worth a test run. People can lic spaces,” I am including dorms because have fun at Brown, sure, but our current they are student communities where resi- drug-induced, endless mirth needs strictdents live, sometimes not even by choice, er boundaries. as in the case of summer assignment.

There is a notion that drinking often and doing drugs are just signs of Brown’s David Romero ‘14 would, at the exfamous liberalism. I love the freedom the pense of sounding like a crotchety old University affords. But there are better man, encourage students to consume places to consume drugs and alcohol than alcohol and drugs more sensibly.

was intoxicated or even just surrounded by others who chose to drink or smoke.

In order to be tougher on drugs and alcohol, Brown would have to be softer on Opinions Editor safety. Since Brown has always made it clear to us that the safety of the student body is the primary concern of the University, stuAt Brown, should you choose to drink be- dents do not fear communicating with aufore age 21 or experiment with drugs like thorities, coming to Residential Counselors marijuana, you can at least be sure the Uni- with problems or calling Emergency Medversity will still value you as a member of ical Services if they are concerned that a the community. You will be given access friend has endangered him or herself while to educational tools so that you can learn intoxicated. They can be sure in the latter about the real risks and harms associated case that neither the caller nor the victim with drugs and alcohol, as opposed to rely- will be disciplined — only educated and asing on government tools that equate mari- sisted. These successful policies even served juana with heroin in terms of potential for as a positive model for the state, which reabuse. Let’s not take cently passed the this for granted.

Good Samaritan Contrast this polLaw. This legislation icy with that of many eliminates the conother universities, flict of interest with where such mistakes In order to be tougher on the law associated designate a student with calling for help not as valuable, but drugs and alcohol, Brown if a person has overrather as expendable on drugs. would have to be softer on dosed to the community. A Brown’s drug and friend of mine was alcohol policies essafety. given a one-year tablish a communisuspension from her ty of trust, not fear. university and was We must continue required to reapply to support this trustwhen authorities ing community and found alcohol and even push harder for a small amount of marijuana in her dorm safety measures like better access to food, room. water and equally attractive non-alcoholic Another extraordinary cornerstone of beverages at events like Spring Weekend Brown’s drug and alcohol policy is main- and fraternity parties. Lastly, if we are setaining the role of Residential Counselors rious about rejecting the War on Drugs — as peers whose primary concern is the safe- specifically its attack on minority commuty of their hallmates. Residential advisers nities and its utter failure to curb drug usage at other universities tend to be feared and or addiction rates — then we must continue often loathed by students who choose to to reject its principles at Brown. drink during their first semesters in college.

This does not establish healthy relationships in which students can approach their Matt Brundage ’15 wants to keep the residential advisers with problems, particu- battleground of the War on Drugs off the larly if a conflict occurred while the student Main Green.

Brundage’s Rebuttal

Romero’s Rebuttal

It is hard to say precisely why I disagree with Romero, because he gives only a vague suggestion for changing drug and alcohol policy at Brown. But to address Romero’s concerns about beer pong in the hallways, it is already Brown’s policy to send in Department of Public Safety officers to break up these sorts of events if students complain. It is also the policy of the University to have a dean determine whether these students need “appropriate alcohol education, evaluation and/or treatment.”

It concerns me that Romero apparently thinks so little of the large student population that chooses to drink. I am particularly offended by his conflation of participating in a weekend beer pong game and not being studious. It is an entirely subjective judgment that does not justify a policy change.

Romero has a point that there is conflict between students who choose to drink and those who do not, but I believe a big part of the answer to such a problem is better communication between these two groups. The shaming of the former is absolutely counterproductive to the ultimate goal of a safer,

happier dorm community. He is right that excessive drinking activities can ultimately burden students studying for midterms, but I have never witnessed a student being rejected when asking others to keep it down because he or she is studying.

Concerning the remarks about checking our privilege, substance prohibition has a dark history of marginalizing and incarcerating the underprivileged members of American society, which I find significantly more disturbing than participation in an activity that may be too expensive for some. Certainly this would not be the direct effect of harsher punishment for drinking and smoking at Brown, but I do believe that the University serves as something of a social policy role model. For Brown to legitimize the standards of the War on Drugs would be shameful.

I believe the hardships associated with troubling experiences like having to “step over cases of Pabst Blue Ribbon” are an acceptable cost given the benefits of community trust and harm reduction that are, in my view, the soul of Brown’s drug and alcohol policy.

MATT BRUNDAGE

My colleague is correct in stating that a university should still value a student who chooses to maintain a benign habit of consuming alcohol or drugs. The only problem is that many drinking and smoking habits are not benign but rather endanger both students and public spaces.

I disagree with the notion that “to be tougher on drugs and alcohol, Brown would have to be softer on safety.” My opponent writes that the safety of students consuming drugs is important. This is true, but another point that is not usually considered is the safety of those students not consuming drugs within the vicinity of those who are. If you have ever been on a late-night Josiah’s dinner outing on the weekend, you can safely say that it’s not the sober people for whom you must watch out.

Returning now to the drunken debauchery that takes place in public spaces at Brown: Have you ever seen Jo’s after it is raided by drunken partygoers? Have you seen what the Main Green looks like after Spring Weekend? These and other public spaces

suffer litter and abuse, in large part due to alcohol and drug consumers who are too intoxicated to respect University facilities. We must remember that overprivileged drunk students will never be asked to clean messy dining halls or pick up all the leftovers of their pizza on the Main Green. Instead, this will be the responsibility of Facilities Management workers who will have to do extra work to clean up the disgusting and disgraceful mess people left behind because they were too drunk to care.

I agree that students who drink alcohol or consume other drugs should not be ostracized or severely punished by the University. But I do believe our current system of always looking the other way can be harmful for students who do not consume drugs or alcohol and for Facilities Management workers who are shamefully abused by inebriated students. By ignoring the fact that many Brown students may have serious overconsumption problems, we encourage their unsafe habits and allow them to endanger themselves, other students and public spaces.

daily herald sports friday THE BROWN

FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 2013

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Borgolini ’14 shines in breaststroke, sets new record Breaking the school record she set last year, Borgolini dominated in the 200-yard event

By ALEXANDRA CONWAY

Did your performances this season meet your expectations?

Yes, I think they did. It’s just nice to get a best time. The team has gotten a lot better and there were lots of big improvements for the team, which was really exciting.

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Briana Borgolini ’14 broke her own school record from 2011 in the 200yard breaststroke and recorded the highest individual finish for the Bears last weekend at the Women’s Swimming and Diving Ivy League Championships — finishing second with an NCAA “B” cut time of 2:13.97.

Borgolini also swam the breaststroke leg on the 400 medley relay, which shattered the school record set last year. The breaststroke is Borgolini’s forte — she holds the school record in the 100 breaststroke as well and competed in the Olympic Trials in Omaha, Neb. this past summer after achieving qualifying standards in the 100 and 200 breaststroke. For her impressive performances, Borgolini has been named The Herald’s Athlete of the Week.

Herald: You competed in the Olympic Trials. What was that experience like?

Borgolini: It was really fun but definitely overwhelming. It was nervewracking and I really missed my teammates, so I felt a lot more pressure and it wasn’t quite as fun. I think it was a good learning experience because I had to figure out how to control nerves.

Is the season over now? If so, do you have any goals for your senior year?

Our season is over. You do not necessarily get to go to nationals if you get the “B” time since they only take a certain number. But I guess for my senior year it would be awesome to bring my times down even more, and I think as a team we can continue to improve a lot, which will be fun.

When did you start swimming?

I started swimming when I was seven — just for a summer team. Then I joined a year-round team and then it just kind of happened. I got more into it in sixth and seventh grade and that’s when I started competitively swimming all year round.

What stroke is your favorite and why?

Breaststroke is my favorite. Honestly, I can’t do the other three that well.

Do you have any pre-meet rituals?

I usually paint my nails. … I always do that.

What is it like for you balancing a Division I sport and academics?

I like the structure be-

DAVID DECKEY / HERALD

Claiming second place at last weekend’s Women’s Swimming and Diving League championships, Borgolini swam breaststroke in both the 200-yard race and the 400-yard medley, splashing through records along the way. cause I feel like if I only have a certain amount of time to do something, then I have to get it done in that amount of time. I think most athletes feel the same way. … The structure is good.

What are you concentrating in and why?

I am concentrating in human biology because I like public health and I like infectious disease. I am really interested in health disparities in the developing world. … I don’t know exactly what I want to do with it yet, but I know I am interested.

What is it like for the team now that there is the new pool?

I think it made the team a lot more excited. The (Aquatics Bubble) worked, it was functional, but now we have this beautiful new facility and I think it helped everyone be more excited about practices and motivated to put more time in this great pool versus the old bubble. It has helped garner better morale and the motivation to get better.

What is a typical practice like?

We have certain days where we do certain things. Mondays are really aerobic, for example, where we do a lot of yardage. Whereas a Saturday would be more of what we call a “quality set,” where we do lots of repetitions of our races or something. It’s kind of almost like a practice meet sometimes.

Are you one of the “early-bird” teams when it comes to practice?

We have 6:30 a.m. (practices). I think our bodies adjust to it. It’s hard at the beginning of the year and then it just becomes normal.

McCoy ’14: Red Sox can pick the right way to be awful ETHAN MCCOY Sports Columnist

HOME GAMES THIS WEEKEND FRIDAY

M. Swimming and Diving Championships All day @ Aquatics Center M. Ice Hockey vs. Clarkson 7 p.m. @ Meehan M. Basketball vs. Penn 7 p.m. @ Pizzitola SATURDAY

M. Swimming and Diving Championships All day @ Aquatics Center M. Lacrosse vs. St. Joseph’s 1 p.m. @ Stevenson Field M. Basketball vs. Princeton 6 p.m. @ Pizzitola M. Ice Hockey vs. Clarkson 7 p.m. @ Meehan SUNDAY

M. Ice Hockey vs. Clarkson 7 p.m. @ Meehan (If necessary)

As any literary scholar will tell you, spring is the time of rebirth — frost gives way to green, buds give life to the trees and the lingering rays of the evening sun shed a feeling of hope over everyone emerging from their winter malaise. For optimists, this axiom rings true in the realm of baseball: Spring training means a fresh start. There are new faces in new uniforms. Players are well rested and excited to be back.

Everyone is undefeated.

But I’m not an optimist — I’m a Red Sox fan.

For the Red Sox, this spring is not a season of regeneration, but rather, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow 100 times over and condemned Boston to another year of decaying and depressing winter. I’m usually an irritating Boston fanboy (I still think the Rondo-less Celtics have a shot at a title this year), but even I cannot fathom a single way to feel hopeful about a team with a post-Tommy John, 34-year-old John Lackey slotted for the starting rotation.

The recent demise of the Red Sox has been well documented. From 2011’s beer-and-fried-chicken media storm and epic September collapse to

2012’s Bobby “Inventor of the Wrap Sandwich” Valentine debacle, the Sox pulled an incredible turn around from World Series favorites to the laughing stock of professional sports (no easy task, might I add). The team’s front office made a bold and smart move forward at last season’s trade deadline in dumping the salaries and bad attitudes of Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford onto the Dodgers. The blockbuster move freed up over $250 million through 2018 and seemed to mark a new beginning for the club, but so far, signs of brighter days for 2013 are few and far between.

The great salary dump was designed to set General Manager Ben Cherington and the team’s front office on a new path of financial responsibility free from the massive, long-term Theo Epstein contracts of Lackey (five years, $82 million), Crawford (seven years, $142 million) and — shudder — J.D. Drew (five years, $70 million).

So far, this ethos has meant passing up on Josh Hamilton because of the horror of locking him up for five years, and instead signing a core of adequate 30-somethings for generous paydays that are hard to believe were driven by the free agent market.

So instead of Hamilton, the Sox boast the likes of Shane Victorino (three years, $39 million), Ryan Dempster (two years, $26 million), Jonny Gomes and Stephen Drew (double the

Drew family fun!). For the one signing worth getting jazzed about, Mike Napoli, a physical revealed a bum hip, and he comes into the campaign with questions surrounding whether he can even last an entire season. These guys are all perfectly capable, proven Major League players, but they are not the kinds of catalysts that will turn a team from basement dwellers to contenders in baseball’s toughest division. Even the biggest homer cannot possibly get excited about these names coming to town.

Couple this off-season activity with a team that has lacked inspiration and passion for the past two seasons, a rotation without a real number-one starter and a 37-year-old David Ortiz still nursing an Achilles he injured last July, you have the makings of a team that is old, injury-plagued and uninspiring. But I still think there is room for a silver lining somewhere out there.

The 2013 Red Sox are going to be bad — but they can do it the fun way.

If the club gets off to the kind of start my doom-and-gloom clairvoyant self is forecasting (I hope I’m wrong — I’m not entirely a self-loathing Sox fan), Cherington and manager John Farrell should not hesitate to scrap the blueprint for the season and commit to young farm-system talent that is ready to break through in the majors.

A youth movement may not yield any better results in the win column, but a

team featuring fresh faces and exciting new talent is what the organization and its fans need to fully cleanse itself of whatever corrosive illness has infected Fenway Park since August 2011.

But who are these young talents?

The cream of the crop is outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr., an electrifying speedster in the field and on the basepaths who has blazed his way through the minor league system and is turning heads in camp. The heir-apparent to Scott Boras client Jacoby Ellsbury (in the final year of his contract), Bradley, at 23 years old, is ready to play now and the Sox brass should not coddle him. He may not hit .300 in the majors this year, but he’s the type of playmaker who is going to make fans pay attention and inspire hope for the franchise’s future. But who would want that when there could be a .260-hitting 32-yearold Jonny Gomes ambling around left field?

In the starting rotation, 24-year-old Rubby de la Rosa, acquired in the L.A. blockbuster, has routinely been hitting 100 mph on the gun in spring training and is showing signs that his arm is healthy after Tommy John surgery in 2011. A flame-throwing, strikeout starter will provide a welcome breath of fresh air after putting up with the likes of Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka in seasons past.

And at shortstop, the team signed Drew, a career / / McCoy page 6