April 13, 2009 Issue

8/14/2019 April 13, 2009 Issue

1/12

www.browndaiherad.com 195 Ange Street, Providence, Rhode Isand [email protected]

News.....1-4Arts... . . . . .5Sports...7-9Editoria..10Opinion...11Toda........12

W. Lax Lacks

The w. lacrosse team fell to

No. 20 Cornell in a contest

this past weekend

Sports, 7InapproprIate?

A new exhibit at the David

Winton Bell Gallery re-examines

the convention of found art

Arts, 5tHe neW neW York?

Andrea Mattews 11 sas

students shoud consider

working in new paces

Opinions, 11

inside

DailyHeraldthe Brown

vol. cxliv, no. 50 | Monday, April 13, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891

T C: ?BY GeorGe MILLer

Metro editor

Its not so new anymore.

By the time the New Curriculum

turns 40 later this spring, it will have

gone through several revisions. But

challenges presented by the chang-

ing and growing University still need

to be addressed.

It began in 1966 with a group o

students unhappy with traditional

methods o education. The New Cur-

riculum overtook Browns campus

at the end o the decade, eventually

reshaping much o the Universitys

existing structure. Distribution

requirements, grades, boundariesbetween disciplines and the role

o students in education all under-

went undamental change or were

scrapped entirely.

Decades ater it was adopted,

the New Curriculum remains the

organizing philosophy o the Brown

education. Its longevity and popular-

ity serve as a testament to its time-

lessness. But how it will evolve in the

uture depends on a rapidly chang-

ing world and educational climate.

Since 1969, the New Curriculum

has been reviewed and re-reviewed,

both as a whole most recently by

the Task Force or Undergraduate

Education and in pieces. Those

reviews have repeatedly armedthe goals and principles o the New

Curriculum but have sought to but-

B-ISD j 3. BY BrIan MastroIannI

SeniorStaffWriter

Brown may have set a record or

admissions stinginess this year

just 10.8 percent o undergraduate

applicants got in but a spot in the

College was not College Hills mostdicult ticket to punch.

That distinction goes to the

fedgling Brown-RISD Dual-Degree

program, which invited just 19 o

550 applicants to join its second

class ever a miniscule 3.5 per-

cent acceptance rate according

to Panetha Ott, Browns admissions

liaison to the program.

Its tougher than anything else,

she said. Its an extremely competi-

tive program.

Dual-Degree students spend ve

years studying at both Brown and

RISD, ultimately graduating with a

degree rom both schools. Studentsin the program live their rst year

at RISD and their second year at

Brown, then have the option o liv-

ing at either school or o -campus.

The 13 members o the programs

rst class arrived on College Hill

in September.

This years goal is to have 13 or

14 students matriculate into the pro-

gram, Ott said, and over the coming

years ocials hope that number

will ultimately rise to their goal o

20, but no urther.

Right now, we want the rst

ew classes to be slightly smaller,

but eventually the program willgrow, she added. Its still in its

early stages.

Despite the diculty o gaining

acceptance to the program, rejection

can come with a consolation prize

students are considered or ad-

mission to both Brown and RISD in-

dependently, meaning Dual-Degree

rejectees may still gain admission to

either school, or even both.

To be admitted to the program,

students apply separately to each

institution and complete an extra

application essay explaining how the

program will t in with their uture

goals. Students who are acceptedto both schools are evaluated by

an advisory committee consisting

o two aculty members rom each

school, Ott and RISD Director o

Admissions Edward Newhall.

Primarily Brown looks at aca-

BY sYdneY eMBer

SeniorStaffWriter

Looking to grab a share o the ederal

economic stimulus bill, Brown has

submitted unding requests totaling

$215 million to the states Oce o

Economic Recovery and Reinvest-

ment or ve proposed construction

projects.

The proposals, which accordingto Brown would create a total o 460

jobs, include a number o plans on

the Universitys wish list. Among the

proposed projects are the construc-

tion o a new medical education build-

ing, replacement o research acilities

and conservation projects that would

reduce the Universitys carbon emis-

sions and energy consumption.

Upgrades to Inormation Technol-

ogy inrastructure and a new data

center were also proposed as possible

uses or the incoming ederal dollars,

according to a listing on the Rhode

Island oces Web site. The site lists

all proposed projects under review

or public evaluation.But Clyde Briant, the Universitys

vice president or research, said the

unds Brown thought might be made

available or those specic projects

have been allocated elsewhere.

We dont expect to receive any-

thing, he said.

The state has solicited proposals

rom cities, public housing projects,

state agencies and public and private

universities in anticipation o available

ederal unding. But the types o proj-

ects that will be supported through

the ederal stimulus package are still

uncertain.

We were asked by the state tosubmit something, and we did,

Briant said. The specic projects

might look like they were applicable

to Brown, but they are also important

or the community.

Brown submitted the preliminary

requests or projects that the Uni-

versity wanted to see move orward,

Briant said, but added that it was his

understanding that the unds were

probably no longer available.

Much o the uncertainty sur-

rounding the allocation o unding

stems rom the ambiguity o the

ederal bill, said Amy Kempe, press

secretary or Governor Donald Car-

cieri 65. We know that there is a

recovery stimulus bill coming, she

said. We have no idea what its going

to look like.

So ar, the state has received over

S GISP BY LuIsa roBLedoStaffWriter

As Ethan Reed 12 recorded the

inal words o his song, Some-

where A Light Went Out For

Somebody, he looked up and

saw Associate Proessor o Mu-

sic Butch Rovan idget-

ing with the buttons o

the mixing console, he

recalled.

Id never had an experience

like that, Reed said. I elt like

a proessional, recording in Hol-

lywood, making millions o dol-

lars.

Along with 24 other students,

Reed took the newly developed

course MUSC 0450: On Songs

and Songwriting, which Rovan

and his wie, Dean o the College

Katherine Bergeron, co-taught

last semester. The course was

such a hit that its students collab-orated with Rovan and Bergeron

to develop a Group Independent

Study Project, Advanced Song-

writing, or next all.

For their inal project in last

semesters course, the class

recorded a two-disc set, Song

Sessions Vol. 1,now

on sale at Blue State

Coee.

Ida Specker 09, another stu-

dent who took the course, called

the CD set a documented piece

o artwork that she can share

with her riends and amily. She

can even use it to promote hersel

as an artist, she said.

Its rare to end a class with

such a tangible product, Specker

said.

The class weaved togetherEunice Hong / Herad

An abum produced b students in a music GISP (above) is on sae atBue State Coffee on Thaer Street.

Herad Fie Photo

Ira Magaziner 69 P06 P07 P10 (pictured) and Eiot Maxwe 68introduced the New Curricuum to the communit in 1969.

Te New Curriculum at Forty:Part one of four in a series

continued onpage 4

continued onpage 2continued onpage 2

U. j

k .I.

continued onpage 6

Feature

8/14/2019 April 13, 2009 Issue

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sudoku

Stephen DeLucia, President

Michael Bechek, Vice President

Jonathan Spector, Treasurer

Alexander Hughes, Secretary

The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serv-ing the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Mondaythrough Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once duringCommencement, once during Orientation and once in July by The Brown DailyHerald, Inc. Single copy ree or members o the community.POSTMASTER please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Oces are located at 195Angell St., Providence, R.I. E-mail [email protected] Wide Web: http://www.browndailyherald.com.Subscription prices: $319 one year daily, $139 one semester daily.Copyright 2009 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

eiil ph: 401.351.3372 | Bi ph: 401.351.3260

DailyHeraldthe Brown

MONDAy, APRIl 13, 2009THE BROWN DAIly HERAlDPAGE 2

CPUS wS We formed a kind of fami. Associate Professor of Music Butch Rovan, on a GISP he taught L $k BY cHeLsea xu

Contributing Writer

Under the shadow o a toweringstage set up in the Olney-Margolies

Athletic Center, a crowd o students

gathered on the gym foor, setting

up tents and chatting over ood and

drink.

Nearly 500 participants gathered

last Friday night or the annual Re-

lay or Lie, an event that raises

awareness o cancer and money or

the American Cancer Society.

The event raised $59,284, accord-

ing to Margaret Watson 11, one o

the Relays three chie organizers

and a Herald senior business associ-

ate. The total is a slight drop rom

last years results, which Watsonsaid may have been because the

event coincided with Easter and

Passover.

The event began on 6 p.m. Fri-

day night and ended Saturday morn-

ing, 12 hours later. This was the

rst time Relay or Lie was held

inside the OMAC instead o on the

Main Green.

Watson said the move was an

attempt to increase the number o

people who remained at the event

or its entirety. In the past, quiet

hours prohibited playing music past

2 a.m. on the Main Green. But since

this years event was held in the

OMAC, students could play musicall night.

About 55 people stayed until the

events 6 a.m. conclusion, as op-

posed to the 30 people who stayed

last year, Watson said. The dry and

well-lit OMAC protected partici-pants rom the oul weather outside.

Students set up blankets and tents

and brought snacks and beverages

or the long night. We even had a

dance party at 2:30 a.m., Watson

added, to keep walkers spirited.

The relay began with an open-

ing ceremony, in which the Brown

marching band led a procession that

included cancer survivors and Relay

or Lie committee members.

Beore the event, participants

ormed teams, and at least one mem-

ber rom each team was required to

remain walking or the entirety. A

relay committee member, Emily Lau09, said that the continuous walking

maniests the oath, We wont stop

ghting until we nd a cure.

Many teams began undrais-

ing months beore the relay. Jason

Wade 11, a member o Team MP3,

said that each team member had a

listing or donations on the Relay

or Lie Web site. Wade said a Face-

book application also helped draw

donations by directing students and

amily members to the Relay or

Lie Web site.

Teams also held on-site und-

raisers, selling backed goods and

bracelets to participants.

The top individual undraiser,Elizabeth Rothman 11, raised

$4,830, according to Relay or Lies

Web site. Rothman could not be

reached or comment. Her team,

the ADOCH committee, was the top

team undraiser o the night, raisinga total o $7,445. The unds raised

will go toward cancer research, pa-

tient services and cancer education,

according to the Web site.

During the event, student dance

and a cappella groups perormed,

including the Brown Belly Dance

team and the Divine Rhythm step

team.

A poignant part o the event was

the luminaria ceremony. Paper lu-

minarias bags illuminated by

colored glow sticks were sold

during the event and were deco-

rated and dedicated to those who

have ought cancer. In previousyears, students placed lit candles

into the luminarias and arranged

them on the Main Green, but the

potential re hazard o lit fames

indoors necessitated the switch to

glow sticks. During the luminaria

ceremony, the names o those hon-

ored were read aloud.

Watson said the event was very

close to my heart because her

grandparent died o cancer during

her senior year o high school. Kelly

Winter 12, captain o Team Citrus,

said that the event also held special

meaning because a riends parent

had died rom cancer.

Cancer is something that wecan work together to beat, Winter

said.

1,500 project proposals, Kempe

said, adding that the $215 million

requested or Brown construction

projects adds up to one th o the

total unds the state is expecting to

receive rom the stimulus bill.

The state solicited project re-

quests without placing restrictions

on the types o proposals while the

state continued to wait or decisions

rom the ederal government, Kem-

pe said.

Rhode Island is already receiv-

ing money rom existing unding

streams, she added, including in-

creased ood stamp benets andtransportation subsidies. But she

said the ederal government is

just starting to release inormation

about the types o projects it will

und through state agencies.

A lot o this inormation is still

orthcoming, Kempe said. The

state needs to receive rules and

regulations rom the ederal gov-

ernment beore they can make

their own decisions about allocating

unds or these projects.

As decisions become available,

Kempe said, the state will post inor-

mation on recovery Web sites, add-

ing that the uncertainty resulting

rom the recent passage o the billmakes it imperative or universities

to continually check the status o

grant availability.

Universities must be diligent

in monitoring recovery Web sites,

she said.

Because unding availability is

unclear, Kempe said, Brown may

need to re-apply or certain grants

due to the requirements o the stim-

ulus bill, known as the American

Recovery and Reinvestment Act

o 2009. The stimulus package will

designate grants to state agencies to

distribute at their own discretion.

Its not as simple as just sub-mitting an application, she said.

Its up to private universities to

determine which grant application

they may be eligible or.

The states economic recovery

oce is currently putting together

teams that will be able to evaluate

the submitted requests once the

state receives ederal guidance,

Kempe said. But she said there has

been zero evaluation so ar.

Theres a very limited number

o grants that will be available,

Kempe said. Its a matter o pa-

tience and diligence.

continued frompage 1

U. $2 - k b

two approaches, Rovan said.

Bergeron led the portion o the

class that took a critical approach

to analyzing music, while her hus-band, who has composed music or

over 10 years, led the songwriting

component.

We had two dierent points o

views merging in the same subject

matter, Rovan said, adding that

working as a team made the class

even more un to teach.

The chemistry between them

was perect, Reed said.

Both Rovan and Bergeron com-

mented on the collaborative dy-

namic between the students and

the proessors.

We ormed a kind o amily,

Rovan said. The class bonded, and

we just had this brilliant collective

energy.

Ater the courses conclusion,

a GISP seemed like the continu-

ation o the collaborative experi-

ence o the class, Bergeron said.

She and Rovan wanted their next

course to allow students to drive

the class and to be driven by

it.

Its neat to eel that the ex-

perience o teaching is shared,

she said. We have spent the p ast

month or so developing the syl-

labus together.

The GISP is composed o

Bergeron, Rovan and about 10 o

their ormer students.

Its coursework includes a de-

tailed analysis o a song that stu-

dents will later use as a model to

write their own piece. The group

submitted their application to asubcommittee o the College Cur-

riculum Council to be reviewed

last Friday.

One goal o the GISP is or

each student to write 10 songs

over the course o the semester,

Rovan wrote in an e-mail to The

Herald. The students will also hold

two concerts open to the public,

he wrote.

Rosalind Schonwald 12, a Her-

ald Arts and Culture sta writer

who spearheaded the process o

developing the GISP proposal, said

she thinks a GISP will provide a

more eective structure or the

class.

It is simpler to organize, and it

can be smaller, Schonwald said.

I its smaller, then we can spend

more time in each persons mu-

sic.

The GISP will meet twice a week

to discuss readings and workshop

each others songs, Bergeron said.

Students will also use a blog to

comment on each others songs

and to write about the process o

songwriting.

People just want to write songs

that can change you, Bergeron

said. We want to connect to that

tradition o songwriting.

GISP k B

High f

news inbrief

The poo of admitted ap-

picants for the cass of 2013

boasts higher grade point av-

erages and SAT scores than

previous casses, accord-

ing to Dean of Admissions

James Mier 73.

Of the 2,708 admittedstudents, 96 percent gradu-

ated in the top tenth of their

high schoo cass, Mier

wrote in an e-mai to The

Herad. On 93 percent of

the students entering in fa

2008 were in the top tenth

of their cass, and 92 per-

cent were for the cass enter-

ing in 2007.

Median SAT scores aso

rose this ear. The 25-75

percentie range for those

admitted into the cass of

2013 was 670-770 for the

critica reading section, 680-

780 for math and 680-770

for writing, according to Mi-

er. For the students matricu-

ating ast fa, these figures

were 650-760, 670-780 and

660-770, respective.

Simiar figures for the

other members of the Iv

league were unavaiabe,

though the Universit of Ca-

ifornia, Berkee and the Uni-

versit of Virginia reported a

sight increases in their aver-

age SAT scores this ear.

Ellen Cushing


8/14/2019 April 13, 2009 Issue

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CPUS wSMONDAy, APRIl 13, 2009 THE BROWN DAIly HERAlD PAGE 3

S P bBY anne sIMons

SeniorStaffWriter

As Passover and Easter coincided

this weekend, Brown students ound

many ways to celebrate around

campus, including Seders hosted

by Hillel and church services at

Manning Chapel.Hillel hosted Seder dinners

Wednesday and Thursday night.

Nine dierent Seders dinners

to commemorate the Passover

holiday were hosted at Hillel

on Wednesday night, the rst night

o Passover.

One was led by Rabbi Morde-

chai Rackover, the Universitys

associate Jewish Chaplain, and

the others were led by students,

Executive Director o Hillel Megan

Nesbitt said.

A total o 381 people attended

Wednesdays various Seders, she

said. Hillel also supplied twenty

Seder kits to students who

wished to host their own Seders,

she added.

Ali Wolson 12, who attended

the traditional Seder led by Rabbi

Rackover, said the night was ver y

un. She also went to Hillels

Thursday Seder, which she called

cozy. While she was really sad

she could not celebrate the holiday

at home, she said the Hillel Seders

were a good substitute.

Miriam Klein 09, who is rom

Providence, spent Wednesdays

Seder with her amily.

Klein said she has always beenhome or at least one o the two

Seders, but or Thursday night, she

helped organize an open Seder with

a grant rom Hillel. While she en-

joys spending one night with her

amily, she said she also wanted

to have one with the people she is

closest to now her surrogate

amily.

The irst nights o Passover

came in the middle o the Chris-

tian Holy Week, which started on

Palm Sunday and ended yesterday,

a week later, on Easter Sunday.

University chaplains conducted

Catholic and Ecumenical services

at Manning Chapel during Holy

Week, spanning rom Palm Sunday

to Easter Sunday, Chaplain Janet

Cooper Nelson said.

Many people we dont see other

times, who do not attend church

regularly, come to Easter services,

Cooper Nelson said. People rom

the community also attend the ser-

vices, she said.

Like Klein, some students went

home to celebrate the holidays.

Elizabeth Schaja 11 returned

home to Long Island or a Passover

Seder. Though Passover is not one

o the Jewish High Holy Days, it isone o the big custom holidays,

she said. It is a nice amily time,

she said, adding that she enjoyed

partaking in her amilys traditions

or the holiday.

Molly Bledsoe 12, rom Bar-

rington, R.I., decided to stay on

campus, and sang in the choir at

the nearby St. Stephens Episcopal

Church during the Holy Week, she

said. She was able to sing in the

services without missing much

class, she said.

Even or nonreligious students,

the holidays presented an oppor-

tunity to experience dierent re-

ligious traditions, Cooper Nelson

said.

Some students, or example, ob-

served Lent as a personal not

religious challenge.

Holly Lauridsen 11 and Diane

Mokoro 11 challenged each other

to abstain rom bread and cereal,

oods they both eat oten. Though

Mokoro grew up Catholic, she said

she sees Lent as another way to

start over, comparing it to New

Years resolutions.

I just like seeing i I can not do

something, Lauridsen said.

Except or the week o springbreak, they both succeeded in

avoiding temptation, they said. But,

ater Mokoro ate matzo this week,

Lauridsen declared victory ater

searching the Internet to nd that

matzo is a orm o bread.

Hillel is continuing to provide

meals or students observing Pass-

over through the end o the holiday.

Some students choose to eat their

meals at Hillel rather than the din-

ing halls because the ood has been

prepared according to Passovers

stricter dietary restrictions. Wolson

and Klein said they appreciated the

convenience o eating at Hillel.

The holiday season isnt over yet

though, Cooper Nelson said. While

Western Christianity celebrated Eas-

ter this weekend, Orthodox Christi-

anity operates by a dierent calendar

and will be observing Easter this

coming weekend, she said.

B b S wkBY JereMY JacoB

Contributing Writer

Doss the Artist and PGA Tour wasnamed the winning act in Saturday

nights battle o the bands, the Brown

Concert Agencys annual student

band competition. As the winner

o the concert, the band will open

or O Montreals Spring Weekend

show.

The competition, which took

place at the Underground Bar in

Faunce House, lasted rom 8:30 p.m.

to around 12:30 a.m.

Each o the eight bands played

or about 15 minutes and per ormed

three to our songs, only one o

which was allowed to be a cover o

an already-existing song.The eight bands represented a

broad range o musical genres in-

cluding ska, acid jazz, unk, metal

and alternative rock.

Ater each band had played or

its allotted time, the three judges

Dean o the College and Proessor

o Music Katherine Bergeron, Mike

Delehanty, a booking agent or BCA

and Lupos Heartbreak Hotel, and

Scott Poulson-Bryant 08, an Aricana

Studies proessor and co-ounder o

Vibe magazine chose the three

best bands to perorm an encore

perormance, said Matt Weisberg

12, an organizer or the event.

The top three bands Platy-pus, Doss the Artist and PGA Tour

and Spank City preormed one

or two original songs each beore

the judges made their nal decision

on which band would open or the

Spring Weekend show.

The winner o the battle, the

hip-hop band Doss the Artist and

PGA Tour, is a group o eight musi-

cians rapper Gabriel Doss 10,

drummer Harry Lisabeth 10, bassist

Jon Mitchell 09, tenor saxophon-

ist Pete Drinian 11, guitarist Caleb

Townsend 11, trumpeter Ross Stack-

house 10, trombonist Erik Duhaime

10 and alto saxophonist Jay Gravel11.

There was clear support rom the

audience during each bands peror-

mance, but Doss the Artist and PGA

Tour elicited more ervent support

and enthusiasm than the others.

During the groups encore per-

ormance, nearly everyone in the

bar was either dancing or listening

intently. Chants o PGA began a-

ter both their rst perormance and

their encore perormance.

Weisberg said the bands audi-

tioned in ront o him and Dan Wie-

ner 11, another organizer o the

event, in order to get into the bat-tle. The judges based their choices

on musicianship, how tightly they

played together, their originality and

the reaction o the crowd, Weisberg

said.

As the winner o the battle, Doss

the Artist and PGA Tour will open

or the second o the two Spring

Weekend concerts on Saturday,

April 18th at 1:30 p.m. The concert,

headlined by O Montreal, will also

include perormances by Santigold

and Toubab Krewe.

The battle was ree to attend,

but space was limited in the Under-

ground during the perormancesthere was typically a crowd o 15 to

20 people waiting to enter the bar.

Justin Coeman / Herad

Eight student bands competed Saturda night for the right to open for Of Montrea at Spring Weekend.

sy bli

The Office of Interna-

tiona Programs has ex-tended the deadine to

app for seected stud-

abroad programs for the

fa semester. The new

deadine is Apri 17, ex-

tended from March 2.

Appications for Brown

programs in Barbados, the

Czech Repubic, Denmark,

France, German, Ita,

Sweden and the United

Kingdom wi be accepted

unti the new deadine.

This is a standard pro-

cedure for ots of stud

abroad offices, said Ken-da Brostuen, associate

dean of the Coege and

director of the Office of

Internationa Programs.

Deadines were extended

for on the programs that

can hande more students

and can work around the

ater deadine.

He added that deadines

can be more fexibe for fa

stud abroad programs be-

cause there is more time

to prepare students for

departure than there is for

spring programs. Sum-

mer gives us more time to

work with students to get

them read to go (in the

fa), Brostuen said.

According to Brostuen,

the extended deadines

give students more time

to decide if the want to

stud abroad and to fin-

ish appications, especia

since students are bus

around this time of ear.

I wish I had known

about the ater deadine

before I appied, because I

had to rush to get m ap-

pication in, said MariaGordon 11, who wi be

studing in Boogna, Ita

next fa.

I definite think ex-

tending the deadines heps

peope especia since

peope have been tring to

figure out their concentra-

tions, said Jenn Desrosi-

er 11, who is studing in

Rome in the Fa.

The Herad recent re-

ported that the number

of appications for fa

stud abroad programs

remained stead this ear,

and Brostuen confirmed

that the deadine extension

had nothing to do with a

ack of interest or too few

appications.

Emily Rosen

news inbrief

@y: oMG fllw www.twitter.com/the_herad

8/14/2019 April 13, 2009 Issue

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tress it, especially to improve its

advising and update it or the 21stcentury.

Fundamentally, there was a

structural change that took place

in the relation o the students to the

University, said Ira Magaziner 69

P06 P07 P10, who, along with Elliot

Maxwell 68, led a Group Indepen-

dent Study Project the rst o its

kind that developed the backbone

o the New Curriculum.

The existing model was un-

damentally fawed and was not

serving the needs o students, said

Magaziner, who was president o the

Cammarian Club, a predecessor o

todays Undergraduate Council oStudents.

The ability to take any course

Satisactory/No Credit and the elim-

ination o Ds, Fs and pluses and mi-

nuses were meant to de-emphasize

arbitrary letters and gradations,

Magaziner said.

An explosion o knowledge in

the late 60s, too, meant that the ap-

proach to learning was as important

as the acts o the day, Magaziner

said, since those acts would quickly

become outdated.

Eighty students and 15 proes-

sors signed up or Magaziners and

Maxwells project in the spring o

1968. They continued their workover that summer, eventually issuing

a 418-page Drat o a Working Paper

or Education at Brown University,

with 20 authors listed.

President Ray Hener responded

by creating a committee o aculty

and students to make recommenda-

tions on changes to the curriculum.

The committee submitted those rec-

ommendations in April 1969, ater

which it was up to the aculty to de-

cide what, i anything, to change.

The aculty meetings climaxed

on May 7. Classes were cancelled.

The Herald reported at the time that,

ater a seven-hour discussion, the

aculty voted to accept most o thecommittees recommendations.

But the aculty did not accept all

o them. The New Curriculum was

not adopted as it was initially pro-

posed, and what the aculty approved

that day was already a ltered vi-

sion, said Fiona Heckscher 09, a

member o the Task Force on Un-

dergraduate Eduction, which issued

its nal report in September.

But since the adoption o the New

Curriculum, a number o structural

changes have made their way into

Brown academic lie, even i none o

them have radically altered it.

Courses introduced to show stu-dents the methodology o dierent

elds called Modes o Thought

courses were never required be-

cause o a lack o resources. The

number o such courses available

and the students enrolled in them

dwindled rapidly ater the rst years

o the New Curriculum.

Other measures have been added

to the curriculum. In 1988, the ac-

ulty upped the number o courses

required to graduate rom 28 to 30

ater nding that students oten n-

ished with the bare minimum, rather

than using the cushion to explore

challenging classes.

Am increasing number o inde-

pendent concentrations have be-

come regular oerings, reducing

the number o students who choose

to crat their own major. First-Year

Seminars were introduced to in-

crease the number o small classes

or reshmen. A writing requirement

was added in the 80s.

Subsequent reviews o the New

Curriculum have oered improve-

ments and modications, Magaziner

said, but have maintained its spirit.

President Ruth Simmons agreed.

Every stage o planning at Brown

is returning to the source, in a way,

she said.

Administrators continue to ask,

Simmons added, Have we lived up

to the promise? And i not, what can

we add?

a ahill hl

From the beginning, Maxwell

said, advising was seen as a weak-

ness o the New Curriculum. With-

out requirements, he said, students

need plenty o help in an unguidedjungle o oerings.

Numerous reviews o the Uni-

versitys advising program have

agreed, including two reports

which reviewed the curriculum as

a whole. A 1990 report authored

by Sheila Blumstein, then dean o

the College, identied a need or

better sophomore advising and a

way to incentivize advising by the

aculty. Likewise, the nal report

o the Task Force last year named

advising the most critical dimension

o the undergraduate experience,

recommending in particular that

improvements be made to advisingor sophomore, transer and inter-

national students.

There was anxiety about it rom

the outset, said Proessor o Com-

parative Literature Edward Ahearn,

who has taught at Brown since 1963.

Proessors divergent responsibili-

ties in publishing, teaching and ad-

vising exacerbate the problem, he

said. The Task Force agreed that

advising ailures could be the result

o an increased obligation to teach-

ing and research.

Blumstein, a proessor o cogni-

tive and linguistic sciences, called

advising an Achilles heel o the

New Curriculum. She said that, due

to recent expansion o the aculty,

it is hard or both new and old pro-

essors to keep track o everything

they need to know to advise. The

Task Force, o which Blumstein

was a member, recommended in

last years report that more inorma-

tion on course o erings and Browns

educational philosophy be available

or advisers.

Simmons said ailures in advising

are among her biggest concerns.

As a president and proessor,

I worry about students who all

through the cracks, she said. How-

ever much we love our approach, its

not or ever ybody.

Simmons said she hears rom

such students that they need more

direction. But she added that the

point o the New Curriculum was

to create options, not to dictate a

course or students.

Still, Simmons said, We ought

not to put them on the trash heap

and say, Too bad.

Because we provide this ree-

dom, Blumstein said, there are

students who choose not to study

broadly, though she added thatthis concern doesnt warrant add-

ing restrictions to the curriculum.

Concentrators in the humanities,

especially, tend to take ew science

courses, according to statistics.

Blumsteins 1990 report suggested

encouraging students to take more

science courses.

A student-oriented system de-

mands good advising, Magaziner

said.

The decisions are ultimately

theirs, but they can be inormed

decisions, he said.

nw gl, hgig glAdvising is the greatest concern

or administrators, aculty and stu-

dents, but it is not the only one.

Dean o the College Katherine

Bergeron, who chaired the Task

Force, said she was concerned about

whether students take advantage

o the ull range o opportunities

at Brown, though she said records

show that students tend to broadly

distribute their coursework even

without requirements.

According to Magaziner, one o

the priorities o the original GISP

was to rid the University o a per-

ceived ocus on pre-proessionalism.

Simmons echoed this, saying that

such an emphasis is especially

strong among rst-generation col-

lege students and intensies dur-

ing harsh economic climates like

todays.

But in these times, she said, the

kind o study championed by the

New Curriculum is exactly what is

needed.

Other external actors could both

add to and detract rom the strength

o the New Curriculum. Increased

pressure on aculty to bring in re-

search money must not distract rom

teaching, Blumstein said.

That would kill Brown, she

said. Right now we have our own

niche, and its a good one.

Maxwell said research and teach-

ing, in the right circumstances, are

mutually reinorcing. Research ad-

dresses the creation o knowledge,

he said, while teaching disseminates

that knowledge.

Similarly, Blumstein said, the

growth o the aculty aords lots

more opportunities or both under-

graduate and graduate students. At

the same time, she said, too much

growth could undermine the senseo community.

The Plan or Academic Enrich-

ment, Simmons wide-ranging

blueprint to improve Browns aca-

demics, called or 100 new aculty

positions.

Another o the Plans goals, to

increase Browns prole on the in-

ternational stage, ts ideally with

the New Curriculum, Simmons said.

Internationalization could be to the

curriculum today what the spirit o

the 60s was to its original ormula-

tion, she said.

I Brown did not look abroad,

she added, the curriculum wouldbecome outdated. It can only make

it richer, better, more relevant, Sim-

mons said.

The Task Force also suggested

promoting inormal interactions be-

tween students and proessors. In-

creased student-aculty collaboration

on research could also solve some

advising problems, Heckscher said.

Both students and aculty need

to take extra steps to ensure that a

collaborative culture doesnt peter

out, Provost David Kertzer 69 P95

P98 said.

But even with many small chang-

es, the core o the New Curriculum

has remained intact or 40 years.

The principles, I think, still

hold, Magaziner said. The idea

o taking responsibility or your own

education. The idea o choosing

to concentrate in a certain area as

well as having the fexibility to dis-

cover across a number o areas. The

basic idea o a liberal arts education

as a good preparation or lie.

The test or changes to the

curriculum, Maxwell said, should

be whether the change is right or

wrong, not whether it ts into the

New Curriculum.

It shouldnt be enshrined, he

said. Its supposed to be alive.


CPUS wS Right now we have our own niche, and its a good one. Professor Sheia Bumstein, former dean of the Coege

Herad Fie Photo

The New Curricuum was born of a 418-page report from Browns first-ever student GISP.


I 4 , C

8/14/2019 April 13, 2009 Issue

5/12

rts & CultureThe Brown Dai Herad

MONDAy, APRIl 13, 2009 | PAGE 5

F k k SBY caroLIne sedano

Senior StaffWriter

In spite o the cold and the rain,

the rst Brown University Folk

Festival brought an eclectic mix

o musicians, Brown students and

Providence locals to Sayles Hall

on Saturday. The all-day music

estival was organized by a group

o olk ans in collaboration with

the 2012 Class Board, the Cre-

ative Arts Council and the Brown

Department o Music.

Ater shaking out their umbrel-

las, visitors to the estival boughtsamosas and baked goods rom

local ood vendors regulars at

the Wriston Farmers Market

and sat in on or joined a jam ses-

sion with local musicians. Others

took part in the live music contra

dance in the main hall or ventured

over to Wilson Hall to hear a se-

ries o local singer-songwriters

and bands.

Ater attending a Connecticut

olk estival organized by a riend,

Providence resident Jonathan

Cannon 08, who put together

Saturdays program, realized he

could create a similar event at

Brown to share his love o olkmusic.

I got hooked on contra danc-

ing, like, our months ago, and

its tremendous amounts o un,

Cannon said. Its music thats

incredibly varied, par ticipatory,

and (it) builds community better

than a lot o music.

Building a community around

olk music was an important part

o the day or Cannon and many

o the other artists, organizers

and attendees.

Brown students are mostly

unaware o the what kind o olk

music is around us in Providence,or Rhode Island or even in New

England. Its really great that

weve made this vibrant culture o

music more accessible to Browns

campus, said Gail Rosen 09, a

member o the group behind the

estival.

Even though there is a thriv-

ing and diverse music scene in

the area, many o the attendees

were thrilled to be a part o the

community the estival created

on Saturday.

Providence has a lot o good

music, but you really have to

look or it, said Daisy Frabell

11, who attends contra dances

at Brown but has been looking

or a way to get more involved

in the olk scene. So I think its

good to bring them all together in

a venue like this so that you can

hear things and nd things you

might not otherwise.

Cannon is currently taking

a year o to teach music at the

Wheeler School beore enter-

ing a Ph.D. program at Boston

University because, he said, he

wanted to commit some time to

music beore starting graduate

school.

Ater working with riends

still at Brown, Cannon created

a group and the Student Activi-

ties Oce connected him with

the 2012 Class Board, which

was looking to collaborate on an

event that would bring the Brown

and Providence communities to-

gether, said Imani Tisdale 12, the

board president.

As the day went on, the num-

ber o Brown students increased,

but the main audience throughout

the event seemed to be mostly lo-

cal musicians and local amilies.

Assistant Proessor o Judaic

Studies and Anthropology MarcyBrink-Danan came with her two

young children.

We all like music, dancing

and moving, and this was a per-

ect place to come as a amily to

do that, she said.

With his banjo on his back,

lietime Little Compton r esident

Ralph Bodington said he heard

o the estival though the grape-

vine and came hoping to play

some old-time American music.

The olk scene in Rhode Is-

land is a little insular, he said.

I think an event like this will be

really great in expanding and di-

versiying the entire music scenein Rhode Island.

This infux o enthusiasts rom

the community was one o the

exciting aspects o the day or

some Brown students.

I like dancing, but theres

only so much rat-party dancing

you can do, said Rosen, who also

attends Brown contra dances. She

said she hopes events organized

by the olk estival group will

improve connections with the

greater Providence community.

I like that, even though it

brings in members rom the

Rhode Island and Providencecommunity, you can still go by

yoursel or with riends and join

right in with a kind o dancing

thats non-sexualized and very

welcoming, she said.

Frabell thought the Folk Fes-

tival was a great counter to the

upcoming Spring Weekend stu.

(It) helps students remember

you are part o a world outside

o Brown.

On Saturday, this outside

world was represented by 13

bands, with local singer-songwrit-

ers sharing space with successul

bands rom Vermont, Maine and

New York.

Hannah Devine, the 2008

winner o the Rhode Island

Idol competition, was invited

to perorm ater meeting Can-

non through a mutual musician

riend. She played a series o indie

olk songs accompanied by local

musician Alan Bradbury. Ater

traveling around Ireland last year,

Devine is back in Rhode Island

playing a monthly cabaret show

at AS220 and hoping to put a band

together.

This venue is great because a

lot o people I wouldnt normally

perorm or are here, she said.

I - BY anIta MatHeWs

artS & Culture StaffWriter

The title o the David Winton Bell

Gallerys current exhibit, Inappro-

priate Covers, contains many shades

o meaning.

Braxton Soderman GS and Justin

Katko GS, who curated the exhibit,

assembled an array o works that

seeks to reach past the tactics o

aesthetic appropriation prevalent

in the art world. According to the

curators statement, an act o inap-

propriation is a giving back, a return,

a release o aesthetically and politi-

cally recongured signicance, in

contrast to the appropriation o ma-

terials in artworks labeled new andoriginal simply because o ownership

conventions.

Many o the works in the ex-

hibit achieve this goal while also

embodying the other, more com-

mon connotation o inappropriate.

Kelly Heatons The Surrogate is a

cloak composed o 64 used Tickle

Me Elmo toys stitched together as

a substitute lover, blurring the

line between childs play and adult

desire.

L. Amelia Raleys I never should

have done those things, a series

o handkerchies embroidered with

disturbing lines rom a daytime TV

psychiatry show, renders the hor-rors o violence and verbal abuse in

delicate lettering. The shock value

o Raleys piece causes the viewer to

question the widespread acceptance

o unscripted emotional dysunction

as casual entertainment.

The other aspect o the exhibit

is the idea o a cover, both as con-

cealment and, in the music industry

sense, as re-interpretation. Ted Rie-

derers The Resurrectionists is a

particularly compelling piece with

three components: a slow-motion

video in which a white-attired band

destroys its instruments, a display o

those same instruments repaired toa ully unctional state and an audio

recording o a composition played on

the reconstructed instruments.

Body Double (Platoon/Apoca-

lypse Now/Hamburger Hill) by

Stephanie Syjuco also plays with

the idea o covering. In her multi-

channel video piece, she selectively

blacked out everything except the

natural scenery o three American

movies about the Vietnam War which

were shot in the Philippines, Syjucos

birthplace. Syjuco reconnects with

her heritage while drawing attention

to Hollywoods deceptive presenta-

tion o the gritty reality o war.

Other noteworthy works are

pieces by Brian Dettmer and Jim

Campbell. Dettmers carved-up ency-

clopedias are visually appealing, the

vintage images and typeace popping

out o each sculpture as a reminder

o the vast geographic and historical

distances that can be crossed in a

single volume.

Campbells three pieces rely on

electronics and the blend o ar t andthe physical senses. For I Have Nev-

er Read the Bible, Campbell, who is

an accomplished engineer, recorded

himsel whispering each letter o the

alphabet with Mozarts Requiem

playing in the background. He then

electronically cut and rearranged

the letters to spell out every word

in the King James Bible.

His Portrait o My Father and

Portrait o My Mother are photoso Campbells parents behind glass

panels. The glass becomes oggy

and obscures the photo in sync with

a recording o his heartbeat (Fa-

ther) and his breath (Mother),

taken while he slept. The eect is

somewhat haunting, as i a phantom

specically, the phantom o the

artist is standing in the gallery

alongside the viewer, controlling

the visibility o the portraits with his

most undamental bodily rhythms.

Soderman and Katko dene an

inappropriate cover as a work that

innovatively challenges traditional

materials without resorting to tiredappropriation techniques. The pieces

in the exhibit approach this concept

rom many dierent directions and

make striking statements about so-

ciety.

Inappropriate Covers will be on

display at the Bell Gallery in List Art

Center until May 29.

Courtes of the artist and Hosfet Gaer

Jim Campbes Portrait of M Mother is a photograph behind a gasspane that fogs up, dispaed with a recording of the artists breath.

8/14/2019 April 13, 2009 Issue

6/12

D

demics and RISD will look at the

art, but both will overlap, Ott said.

Its a wonderul process because

you end up learning a lot about

art and artistic talent by listening

to one another and coming to a

consensus to gure out who is the

best.

Though only in its second year,

the programs reputation has elic-

ited a relatively large response

rom high school students both in

the U.S. and internationally, Ott

said. Six o the 19 admitted stu-

dents were rom countries abroad,

she said.

Newhall said that or students ap-

plying to the dual-degree program,it is important to succeed both aca-

demically and artistically.

The program may admit stu-

dents whose experience in the vi-

sual realm is not as well-developed

as others, Newhall said, as long as

we can believe in their direction

and interest we can see their

potential.

But, he said, We dont take too

many people where there is a ques-

tion o academic perormance. We

cant admit someone who is a abu-

lous artist, but who cant handle the

academics.


T F P j w BY ManueL roIG-FranzIa

WaShington PoSt

WASHINGTON Lets ollow thetrail.

The Obama puppy trail.

Why? Because it is our duty.

It starts at a doggie love shack

on the bank o a creek in ar west-

ern Pennsylvania and ends at 1600

Pennsylvania Avenue. Along the

way, the worlds suddenly most a-

mous puppy has had ups and downs.

He has known rejection and the joy

o newound aection.

The White House tried hard, oh

so hard, to keep 6-month-old Bo a

secret. But the Obama girls new

pet, that cuter-than-cute Portuguese

water dog with the lei around hisneck, is a celeb now. And this is his

story.

One day last August, a pretty

Portie named Penny was led into

the boudoir also known as the

grooming room at Julie Parkers

kennel in Millcreek Township, out-

side Erie, Pa.

Watson, a studly Portie with a

history o siring champion dogs,

took to her immediately.

There was a little kissy kissy,

huggy huggy, licking o the ears,

Parker recalled in an interview

Sunday.

While Parker sipped a Budweiser

and held Pennys leash, Watson didwhat stud dogs do. Was it love? Ap-

parently not.

I dont think Watson cares, said

Parker, who hadnt heard that her

dog sired the First Puppy until we

called her Sunday.

Ater her one-night stand, Penny

went home to Texas, where she lives

with Art and Martha Stern on a 10-

acre ranchette in the town o Boyd,

outside Dallas. The Sterns are big

dogs in the Portie world because

they are the breeders o the previ-

ously most amous Porties in the

universe, Sen. Ted Kennedys.

Until a ew years ago, the Sternslived in Fairax County, Va., and

Martha worked in acilities man-

agement at the Justice Department

in Washington. But puppy love sent

them, in retirement, to more wide-

open spaces.

Pennys blessed event took place

at the Stern place Oct. 9: Ten

count em, 10! puppies in one

litter. The Sterns, whose operation

is called Amigo Portuguese Water

Dogs, give theme names to each

o their litters, and being ans o

then-candidate Barack Obama,

they dubbed this one the Hope and

Change Litter.

Soon, Martha Stern says, Ken-

nedy was sning around or an-

other pup. He had his eye on a

curly-haired one named Amigos

New Hope, she said. But she talked

him out o it because she thought a

less pushy wavy-haired dog would

be a better t or the Kennedy amily

because they already had two older

Porties.

They didnt know it at the time,

but Amigos New Hope which al-

most became a Kennedy dog was

on its way the White House, but not

without some twists and turns.

So, another puppy rom the litter

eventually named Cappy went

to the Kennedys, said Martha Stern,

who was particularly empathetic to

Kennedys battle with brain cancer

because she is in chemotherapy or

lung cancer. Porties typically sell or

as much as $2,000 apiece, and the

others went ast: one to Alexandria,Va., one to Dallas, several to Austin

and several more to Houston.

Like all the Sternss pups, Ami-

gos New Hope underwent a tem-

perament test, Art Stern said. They

tested whether he would reak out

when an umbrella was opened in

ront o him or when there was a

loud noise. Amigos New Hope did

well, Art Stern said not too shy,

not too aggressive.

Eventually he was placed with a

woman in Washington, Stern said.

She renamed him Charlie. Alas, it

wasnt to be a happy home.

The woman who has not beenidentied has an older Portie,

Martha Stern said, and that play-

ul little scamp Charlie was getting

on the other dogs nerves. Charlie

thought the older dog might be his

mommy, and even attempted to

nurse, Stern said. Finally, early in

March, the woman decided enough

was enough.

Charlie needed to nd a new

home.

Portie breeders tend to be a care-

ul lot, and they insist on nding

new homes or unwanted pups to

assure they dont end up in shelters.

Rejected by his rst amily, Charlie

was about to set on a journey that

took him to The First Family.

Kennedys wie, Victoria, sug-

gested he would be perect or the

Obama girls, the Sterns said. Ar-

rangements were made or Charlie

to be tutored in good manners by

Dawn Sylvia o Merit Puppy Train-

ing, in Hume, Va.

This began the Super Secret

phase o Charlies lie, which includ-

ed a clandestine White House visit in

which he won over the Obama girls

and their parents. Then Easter week-

end came, and his days o anonymity

ended. The celebrity Web site TMZ.

com, and The Washington Post pub-

lished online pieces identiying the

new White House puppy as a Portie.

The Post disclosed that Sasha and

Malia had renamed him Bo.

A mysterious Web site also ap-

peared, called rstdogcharlie.com

and eaturing a photograph that itclaimed was o the new puppy but

that the White House said was bo-

gus. Comparing the Web site photo

with the ocial White House photo

was all the rage over the weekend.

Martha Stern, too, compared the

photos at the request o The Post.

She immediately called out to her

husband.

Its the same dog! she said.

Hes got a little paw and a big paw.

Same lei. White on the chin.

The mystery o the Web sites

provenance has displaced the quest

or the identity o the First Puppy as

a Washington obsession. Late Sun-day, the sites operator responded

to an email rom The Washington

Post.

Who am I? the email reads. I

am simply a riend o Charlies. I

think we all kind o are.

The Web site operator said he

still has more work to do here be-

ore I drop the curtain. This isnt

about ame, ortune or notoriety

(maybe just a little notoriety.)

While the world waits or the Web

site guy to reveal himsel, Washing-

ton is waiting or the rst ocial,

live-action glimpse o the Obamas

new puppy. The black-and-white

cutie who began lie as Amigos

New Hope, then became Charlie,

then became Bo is slated to make

his White House debut tomorrow,

though some still are speculating he

might show up today at the Easter

Egg Roll.

When he gets there, Martha

Stern has a warning or rst lady

Michelle Obama, who just broke

ground on a new White House vege-

table garden. Porties who woulda

thunk it? love tomatoes.

Bo should be watched when ap-

proaching the tomato plants at his

new home, Stern said, or hell steal

em right o the vine.

Pete Souza / White House photo

The First Famis pupp, Bo, moved into the White House this weekend.

world & ationThe Brown Dai Herad

MONDAy, APRIl 13, 2009 | PAGE 6

8/14/2019 April 13, 2009 Issue

7/12

SportsondayMONDAy, APRIl 13, 2009 | Page 7

The Brown Dai Herad

w. . 2 C q IBY dan aLexander

SPortS StaffWriter

Tied 6-6 with No. 20 Cornell 3:36

into the second hal on Saturday,

the womens

lacrosse team

gave up our

unanswered

goals in 12 minutes, putting the

game out o the Bears reach.

Brown (6-5, 2-2 Ivy League)

brought the score back to 11-9

with 7:23 remaining, but couldnt

close the gap as Cornell (7-4, 2-3)

held on or a 12-9 victory on its

home tur.

Captain Lauren Vitkus 09 led

the Bears, scoring a third o theteams goals. Alexa Caldwell 11

and Kelly Robinson 09 gave their

captain support by netting two

goals each.

The Big Red attack was led by

sophomore Libby Johnson and

reshman Jessi Steinberg, who

both scored hat tricks. Johnsons

three-goal perormance paled in

comparison to her ve-goal, three-

assist game in the teams last meet-

ing on April 11, 2008.

Shes a really big, tall, strong

girl, Caldwell said o Johnson.

Our average height on the team

is about 5-5, so with a tall girl like

that, there isnt a lot we coulddo.

Cornell hadnt aced Brown

since its 17-9 victory over the

Bears last year.

We obviously wanted revenge

rom last year, Caldwell said.

The Big Red came into this sea-sons contest o o a 5-3 win over

No. 18 New Hampshire ve days

beore, but the Bears also came

into the game on a hot streak, hav-

ing beaten Columbia and Bryant

last week.

Brown opened up the scoring

when Caldwell scored her 10th

o the season 3:47 ater the open-

ing draw.

The Bears held onto the lead

until Katie Kirk scored her rst

o two on the aternoon or Cor-

nell 7:07 into the game, starting a

three-goal run over the next 5:30

or the Big Red. The teams alternated goals

or the remainder o the hal with

Brown getting the last one, mak-

ing the score 6-5 Cornell at break.

Vitkus scored all o her hat trick

during that time and Callie Law-

rence 09 added another or the

Bears.

Goalie Gianna Spinelli 12 got

the rst start o her career and

saved ve o the 11 shots on goal

she aced in the rst hal. But

Head Coach Keely McDonald 00

replaced her at haltime with Mad-

die Wasser 10, who had only one

save on seven chances.

Kelly Robinson 09 scored theequalizer or the Bears just 23

seconds into the second hal. But

w. BY andreW Braca

SPortS editor

The No. 8 womens crew won

seven o eight races against tough

competition at Griggs Reservoir inColumbus, Ohio, on Saturday.

The Bears came out strong

in their rst ocial action in two

weeks. Brown was scheduled to

race Radclie the name o the

Harvard womens crew team

on April 4, but high winds orced

the relocation o the competition

and the cancellation o ocial re-

sults.

In a double duals ormat that

eatured ull slates o races in both

the morning and the aternoon,

Bruno aced No. 12 Ohio State in

the morning, No. 18 Minnesota in

the aternoon and Notre Dame in

both sessions.

Browns second varsity eight,

varsity our and second varsity our

each won twice, while the varsity

eight ell only to Ohio State.

The Bears began the morning

with a dominant showing, cruising

to wins in both ours races. The

second varsity our led o with a

victory in a time o 7:40.90, ollowed

by Ohio State at 7:45.49 and Notre

Dame at 7:59.19.

The varsity our laid down

a scorching time o 7:11.50 to

trounce the Buckeyes and the

Fighting Irish, who each lagged

more than 10 seconds behind. Ohio

State crossed the line at 7:21.94 and

Notre Dame ollowed at 7:24.10.

The second varsity eight held

o a strong Buckeye rally to cross

the line at 6:25.80, just 1.46 seconds

ahead o Ohio State in the tightestnish o the day and 13.34 seconds

ahead o Notre Dame.

But the Buckeyes had the Bears

number in the varsity eight, surging

to a season-best time o 6:22.60 to

nish 6.07 seconds ahead o Brown.

Notre Dame ollowed at 6:31.54.

The aternoon began the same

way the morning did or Bruno,

with two strong wins in the ours.

The second varsity our improved

by 20 seconds on the rst race to

nish with a time o 7:20.6. Minne-

sota ollowed at 7:28.22 and Notre

Dame trailed at 7:41.21.The varsity our cruised home

with a time o 7:12.40, 7.42 seconds

better than the Golden Gophers

and 12.67 seconds better than the

Irish.

The second varsity eight se-

cured Browns third straight victo-

ry, nishing with a time o 6:32.20.

Notre Dame ollowed at 6:36.78 and

Minnesota brought up the rear at

6:50.73.

The varsity eight turned it up a

notch in the nal race o the day,

posting the best overall time o the

day to hold o a tough Gopherschallenge. Brown nished with a

time o 6:22.00, ollowed by Min-

nesota at 6:25.91 and Notre Dame

at 6:27.33.

The Bears will host their rst

race o the year this Saturday on

the Seekonk River against Boston

University beore the mens crew

takes on Northeastern.

Hoodwinkedby Howard,

count on CustImagine you had to choose one hit-

ter over the course o the season:

Philidelphias Ryan Howard, San

Diegos Adrian Gonzalez or Oak-

lands Jack Cust.

Who would con-

tribute the most

oensively? Were not actoring de-

ense or Subway sandwiches into

our decision. Which hitter do you

pick?

Lets just go to 2008 statistics:

Hitter A: 103 runs (R), 119 runs

batted in (RBI), 36 home runs

(HR), .296 batting average (BA),.871 On-Base Plus Slugging (OPS),

.368 weighted on-base average

(wOBA).

Hitter B: 105 R, 146 RBI, 48 HR,

.251 BA, .881 OPS, .366 wOBA.

Hitter C: 77 R, 77 RBI, 33 HR,

.231, .851 OPS, .371 wOBA.

While all three hitters OPS and

wOBA look to be around the same

range, it looks Hitter B absolutely

destroyed the other two hitters, beat-

ing them in runs, RBIs, and HRs.

Pick him, right? Not so ast brace

yourselves Phanatics. Hitter B is

obviously Howard, while Hitter A

is Gonzalez, and Hitter C is Cust.

Turns out, Cust is the better oen-sive player than either Howard or

Gonzalez.

I know what youre thinking.

Who in the world is Jack Cust and

how is he better than my boy How-

ard? Cust beat Howard and Gonzalez

in one key sabermetric statistic (no,

not strikeouts): Cust had a higher

wOBA. In essence, wOBA assigns

run values to a players dierent

batting outcomes and incorporates

the run production ability into an

easy-to-use stat. A single is worth a

certain number o runs, while walks,

and other extra base hits would be

worth dierent run values. So whilethe dierence isnt incredibly large,

according to wOBA, Cust is the bet-

ter o ensive player.

But what does wOBA number

mean? You can think o wOBA as

basically on-base percentage, where

.340 is around league average, any-

thing north o .370 is good, .400 and

above is awesome, and anything .300

and below is terrible. For compari-

sons sake, Albert Pujols led the ma-

jors with a .458 wOBA (silly junior

college hitters) while Michael Bourn

led the bottom with a .276 wOBA

(but hes got speed!). Basically,

Howard and Gonzalez are worth

less oensively than Cust.

Okay ne, but Howard has the

ability to change the game in a

fash. Hes had monster hits that

have helped improve his teams

chances o winning. Lets look at

another statistic: Win Probability

Added (WPA). WPA looks at a plate

appearance and captures how much

the outcome helped or hurt a teams

odds o winning. The theory behind

this statistic is that hits (like a home

run) or outs are worth more in di-

erent situations, like the 9th inning

o tie game versus the 3rd inning

Justin Coeman / Herad Fie Photo

The womens acrosse team ost its 6-6 tie at the haf in the game againstCorne on Saturda, osing 12-9.

continued onpage 8

continued onpage 8

Jh HhSports Coumnist

Browncll

9

12

8/14/2019 April 13, 2009 Issue

8/12


SPSD We definite paed ver, ver we against a top-20 team. Aexa Cadwe 11

o a blowout. Hit a home run in a

tie game and your WPA increases

drastically i youre a hitter (or alls

i youre a pitcher since you blew

it). Ground into a double play andthe odds o your team winning, and

the thus the players WPA, alls (or

increases or a pitcher).

Howard had a 2.39 WPA last year.

Pretty good! A zero WPA is average,

which means the hitter neither hurt

nor helped his teams chances o

winning. However, when compared

to Cust (2.55 WPA) and Gonzalez

(3.97 WPA), Howard had a lower

impact on changing the odds o his

team winning. Basically, all his HRs

and RBIs didnt really a ect the out-

come o a game instead, they just

padded his stats, and his arbitration

award. Statistically, a team o Custs

or Gonzalezes would outperorm a

team o Howards.

And nally, beyond the dierent

statistics, beyond the ancy catches,

majestic hits, the adoring ans or theboxscore numbers, we sometimes

get lost in baseball. There are some

events that make the game seem

so ar away and the tragic death o

Los Angeles rookie pitcher Nick Ad-

enhart reminds us that baseballs

just a game, brings us closer to the

important things in lie and teaches

us to cherish each day.

Jonathan Hahn 10 is can we fast

forward to September aread?


Steinberg rattled o back-to-backgoals within 1:30, extending Cor-

nells lead to 8-6.

Steinbergs teammates contin-

ued the attack, scoring two more

consecutive goals by 15:22, putting

Cornell ahead by our goals.

A ew close shots would have

stopped the run, but Caldwell said

the ball just wasnt bouncing Bru-

nos way.

We hit the post our times in the

second hal, Caldwell said. That

would have won the game or us

because we executed everything.

We just got unlucky on a couple o

plays.Caldwell cut into the lead with a

goal at 16:33, but Johnson answered

with her third o the aternoon just

over our minutes later.

Two straight Brown goals

brought the Bears to 11-9 with 7:30

remaining, but they wouldnt get any

closer than that.Cornell scored the games last

goal with just over six minutes let,

making the nal score 12-9 Cor-

nell.

The Bears will take the eld

next when they ace the Quinnipiac

Bobcats (9-2) in Hamden, Conn. on

Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.

The Bobcats are ull o repower,

as they have averaged 18.2 goals per

game in their last ve outings. They

extended their win streak to ve

games by escaping a 12-11 thriller

in double overtime against Robert

Morris on Saturday.

It was unortunate that we didntbeat Cornell, Caldwell said. But

we denitely played very, very well

against a top-20 team, and I think

that were going to come out very

strong at Quinnipiac.

w. Ccontinued frompage 7

Justin Coeman / Herad Fie Photo

After osing a first-haf ead, the womens acrosse team fe to No. 20 Corne on Saturda.

B h fi w h w.browndaiherad.com

8/14/2019 April 13, 2009 Issue

9/12

BY stepHanIe MccruMMen and

ann scott tYson

WaShington PoSt

MOMBASA, Kenya An American

captain held hostage or ve days by

Somali pirates in a lieboat adrit in the

Indian Ocean was rescued unharmed

Sunday in a surprise U.S. military

operation in which snipers killed

three pirates with the captain tied

up just eet away, American military

ocials said. A ourth pirate was in

U.S. custody.

The snipers, positioned near the

antail o the destroyer USS Bain-

bridge less than 30 yards rom the

lieboat, red within seconds ater a

commander determined that Capt.

Richard Phillips, 53, was in imminentdanger as one o the pirates aimed

an AK-47 at his back, military ocials

said. President Obama had issued a

standing order that the military was

to act i the captains lie was in imme-

diate jeopardy, said Navy Vice Adm.

William Gortney, commander o the

Fith Fleet.

Ater bobbing since Wednesday in

the stifing lieboat cabin, where tem-

peratures topped 100 degrees, Phillips

was whisked to the Bainbridge. He

then showered and changed into a

clean set o clothes, said Gortney,

adding that the captain is in good

health.

Phillips spoke to his wie in Ver-mont, and soon the news was being

announced over intercoms inside his

ship, the Maersk Alabama, which

docked here Saturday night with

its American crew, minus their cap-

tain. Sailors came out on deck and

whooped or joy, waving a U.S. fag,

sounding the ships horn three times

and ring two fares across the starry

night sky.

Hes one o the bravest men I ever

met, one o the crew members said

o Phillips, who boarded the lieboat

with the pirates to get them to leave

ater the crew had regained control o

the ship. Hes a national hero.The U.S. military operation ended

a tense, ve-day stando in which our

pirates armed with pistols and AK-47s

ultimately aced o with a small Amer-

ican armada in the Indian Ocean o

Somalias coast. Somali pirates who

had pulled o the rst seizure o an

American crewman in recent memory

were soon staring at the hulls o the

USS Halyburton, a guided-missile

rigate equipped with helicopters, and

the USS Boxer, an amphibious assault

ship with missile launchers, attack

planes and a crew o 1,000, which

had joined the Bainbridge.

U.S. military ocials acknowl-

edged Sunday that the killing o

the three pirates could worsen the

problem, an outcome that shipping

companies have sought to avoid.

This could escalate violence in

this part o the world, no question

about it, Gortney said.

Piracy o Somalias anarchic coast

is hardly a new problem, but it has

been escalating or years. Fishermen

complaining o widespread illegal sh-

ing in their waters began by seizing

trawlers as an act o deance but soon

ound they had stumbled onto a lu-

crative business. Armed with Global

Positioning Satellite devices, satellite

phones and rocket-propelled grenade

launchers, the pirates have earned

millions in ransom or vessels such as

the Sirius Star, a Saudi oil tanker that

is the largest ship seized in history.Somalias ragile transitional gov-

ernment, struggling to contain an

Islamist insurgency with ties to al-

Qaeda, can barely control any part

o the capital, Mogadishu, much less

a piracy epidemic rooted along its

shores, where the multimillion-dollar

business has turned sleepy shing

villages into mini-boomtowns.

Foreign governments have sent

a fotilla o naval ships to the busy

Gul o Aden, but pirates have simply

moved their operations south and ur-

ther out to sea, oten using captured

shing vessels called mother ships

to launch attacks.The closest naval ship was 300

nautical miles away when the Maersk

Alabama was attacked Wednesday.

We simply do not have enough

resources to cover all o those areas,

Gortney said.

Pirates are holding more than

a dozen ships and more than 200

hostages.

Obama said in a statement Sunday

that the United States is resolved to

halt the rise o piracy in the region.

To achieve that goal, we must

continue to work with our partners

to prevent uture attacks, be prepared

to interdict acts o piracy and ensure

that those who commit acts o pi-racy are held accountable or their

crimes, Obama said.

The pirates had apparently been

tracking the Maersk Alabama or

days and boarded it Wednesday,

tossing ropes with grappling hooks

over the side. The details o what

happened next remain sketchy, but

ater a ve-hour ordeal in which

some crew members orced one

o the pirates into the engine room

and tied him up, the crew persuaded

the pirates to leave the ship using

its lieboat.

On Sunday night, one o the crew

members said Phillips had gone with

the pirates as a good-aith gesture.But the pirates did not ollow through

on their promise to let him go, and

his ordeal began.

On Saturday aternoon, two U.S.

helicopters buzzed over the pirate

stronghold o Harardhere on the So-

mali coast, residents said. One heli-

copter landed or about 10 minutes,

bewildering locals and scattering

herds o goats and cows.

I have no idea what is happen-

ing, said Laila Arale, a local armer

who sent her sons to sleep elsewhere

Sunday night, earing that the United

States might attack Somalia rom the

air. Im scared.The Bainbridge had oered to

tow the lieboat to calmer waters as

the seas grew rougher, and the pi-

rates, seeming worn down, agreed,

said military ocials who spoke on

the condition o anonymity. One pi-

rate with a hand injury eectively

gave himsel up.

Phillips was by then tied up, hav-

ing been bound and occasionally

beaten by pirates ater he tried to

escape by jumping o the boat.

The rescue occurred at 7:19

p.m. local time Sunday, the Navy

said, and involved dozens o SEALs.

With one o the pirates pointing an

AK-47 straight at Phillipss back, anon-scene commander gave the SEAL

snipers authority to re.

John Reinhart, president and

chie executive o Maersk Line Ltd.,

the ships owner, spoke with Phillips

by phone. Reinhart quoted Phillips as

saying that the real heroes are the

Navy, the SEALs, those who have

brought me home.

Its a great day or all o us, Re-

inhart said at a news conerence in

Norolk, Va. It is truly, truly a won-

derul moment.

MONDAy, APRIl 13, 2009 THE BROWN DAIly HERAlD PAGE 9

wLD IC fPb

b kBY roB steIn

WaShington PoSt

WASHINGTON Scientists have

produced strong new evidence

challenging one o the most un-

damental assumptions in biology:

that emale mammals, including

women, are born with all the eggs

they will ever have.

In a provocative set o experi-

ments involving mice, Chinese

researchers have shown or the

rst time that an adult mammal can

harbor primitive cells in her ova-

ries that can become new eggs and

produce healthy ospring, they

reported Sunday.While much more research is

needed to conrm and explore

the ndings, the work raises the

tantalizing possibility that it could

someday lead to new ways to ght a

womans biological clock, perhaps

by stockpiling her egg-producing

cells or by stimulating them to

make eggs again.

The ndings could also help

speed stem cell research by provid-

ing scientists with a new source

o eggs, which are crucial or

producing embryonic stem cell

lines tailored to individual patients

and diseases but are dicult to

obtain.This is a very big deal, said

Roger Gosden, director o repro-

ductive medicine at Cornell Weill

Medical Center in New York, who

was not involved in the research,

published online by the journal

Nature Cell Biology.

Some species remain ertile

through their lives, and men pro-

duce sperm daily. But or at least a

hal century the dominant scientic

tenet has been that women and all

other emale mammals are born

with all the eggs they will ever

have, and that stock is slowly de-

pleted with age. For women, the be-lie has been that most o their eggs

are gone by the time they reach

middle age, prompting menopause

and leaving them inertile.

Although several studies in re-

cent years have raised questions

about that belie, those claims re-

mained highly controversial. The

new research marks the rst time

scientists have obtained cells rom

an adult mammal that appear ca-

pable o producing new eggs and

healthy ospring.

I you are looking to disprove

that emales cannot make new

eggs, this paper proves it. Its a

really signicant paper, said Jona-

than Tilly, a proessor o obstetrics,

gynecology and reproductive bi-

ology at Harvard Medical School

who published some o the most

controversial research suggesting

that women remain capable o pro-

ducing new eggs.

Other researchers, however,

remained cautious, saying the Chi-

nese work needs to be repeated

more careully in mice and other

species to validate the ndings.

Even then, it would remain ar rom

clear whether there are any practi-

cal implications or women, some

experts said.

The aging process o the hu-

man egg diers undamentallyrom that o the mouse egg, said

David Keee, a proessor o obstet-

rics and gynecology at the Univer-

sity o South Florida. Except at

Disney World, humans are not

large mice.

For the study, Ji Wu o Shanghai

Jiao Tong University in China and

colleagues removed ovaries rom

mice and sited through millions o

cells to identiy a small number that

appeared to have characteristics

o emale germline stem cells,

which theoretically would be able

to become eggs.

Ater identiying those cells, theresearchers reported, they coaxed

them to multiply in the laboratory.

Those obtained rom newborn

mouse ovaries continued to mul-

tiply or more than 15 months and

those rom adult ovaries or more

than six months. A series o tests

appeared to conrm that they were

indeed precursor cells or eggs, the

researchers reported.

They then tagged the cells with

a jellysh protein that would make

them glow fuorescent green so

they could be traced, and injected

them into the ovaries o other mice

that had been rendered mostly in-

ertile with chemotherapy drugs.Some o the mice were then

killed so their ovaries could be

examined, which revealed that

at least some o the fuorescent

green cells had indeed matured

into eggs. Other mice that got

the cells were allowed to breed

naturally and produced ospring.

Tests showed that many o the o-

spring also contained the green

tag, which the researchers said

demonstrated they were conceived

rom the transplanted egg cells.

Tests ound no evidence that the

ospring, or the next generation,

were abnormal in any way, the re-searchers reported.

Other researchers have claimed

to have identied such cells in hu-

man ovaries. I that could be con-

rmed, and i they behave similarly

to the mouse cells, they could oer

a host o new options or inertile

women.

You could gain control over

how ast the clock will tick, T illy

said.

Women who need to delay child-

bearing might be able to bank their

egg stem cells or use later in lie,

or example. The work also would

be especially helpul to women who

are acing sterilization as a result

o cancer treatment.

I women who are inertile be-

cause o their age still harbor such

cells, scientists may be able to nd

a way to activate them to produce

new eggs, several experts said.

We have lot o patients who

cannot get pregnant because they

have run out o eggs or their eggs

are o poor quality because o their

age, Cornells Gosden said. The

research means egg donation rom

a ertile woman might not be neces-

sary because she could have her

own genetic child engineered rom

her stem cells.

8/14/2019 April 13, 2009 Issue

10/12

ditorial & LettersPage 10 | MONDAy, APRIl 13, 2009

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