Tuesday, January 31, 2012Daily Heraldthe Brown

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Campus news, 2

Housing WoesDespite room surplus, ResLife faces challenges

Jared moffat ’13 values humanities

opinions, 7 wea

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By Maggie FinneganContributing Writer

In recognition of the underrep-resentation of student veterans among University undergraduates in recent decades, the Diversity Advisory Board is spearheading efforts to attract more veterans and provide them guidance to thrive in a college environment.

The advisory board announced plans to increase the enrollment of undergraduate student veterans and create an organized support system to aid incoming student veterans as they transition from military to civilian life in their an-nual report released last Novem-ber. A working subcommittee on veteran affairs, consisting of staff, faculty and student representatives, has been developing recommenda-tions that it will present to the Cor-poration, the University’s highest governing body.

Though the board’s dialogue concerning student veterans has been ongoing for several semesters, there has been a flurry of activity in the past three months.

Diversity board focuses on veteran enrollment

By Madeleine WenstruPSportS Staff Writer

It was a weekend of mixed emo-tions for the women’s basketball team — the squad captured a win over Dartmouth Friday to give Head Coach Jean Marie Burr her 300th career win as a Bear, but the squad then fell to Harvard Sunday evening. The Bears (11-7, 2-2 Ivy) came back from an 18-point deficit to tie the Crimson (9-8, 2-1 Ivy) in the final minutes of the game, but were eventually bested 65-57.

Brown 74, dartmouth 50 The matchup against Dart-

mouth (2-15, 0-3 Ivy) represented not only a chance for a milestone in Burr’s career but an opportu-nity to lift the Bears from their

even Ivy record.“As a program, we just wanted

to beat Dartmouth — we wanted to beat them for the seniors,” Burr said. “We turned up the heat de-fensively, and that’s what made it a special night for me.”

Because of Brown’s defensive efforts — the Bears forced 15 turnovers and netted 19 points off these opportunities — Dart-mouth did not have a lead for the entirety of the game.

Bruno’s offense was also on fire — four different Bears scored in double digits. Point guard Lau-ren Clarke ’14, last week’s Ivy League Player of the Week, was the leading scorer once again with 18 points. Co-captain Hannah Passafuime ’12 and guard Sheila Dixon ’13 put up 15 points each, followed by co-captain Aileen Daniels ’12, who netted 13 points.

“What makes us a tough team

Burr earns 300th win over Big Green

Madeleine Wenstrup / HeraldHannah Passafuime ’12 has contributed a team high 26 points and 15 rebounds in the last two games.

By sHeFali lutHraneWS editor

Taking PHP1680J: “The Race To Inner Space: Conflating Science, Politics and Economics To Pro-mote Brain Health” might be one of the most important things 24 Brown students ever do. At least, that’s what Patrick Kennedy, for-mer R.I. congressman and visiting fellow in brain science, suggested after the seminar’s first meeting yesterday.

Kennedy is co-teaching the class — a public health seminar — with Judy Bentkover, adjunct professor of health services, policy and practice, and Robert John Davenport, associate director of the Institute for Brain Science. Though Bentkover is listed as the primary instructor, Davenport said it will be a discussion-based class with each instructor provid-

ing expertise from different fields.“What the students really get

out of it is having this unique ex-perience with this set of instruc-tors and guest lecturers,” Daven-port told The Herald.

The class, which drew be-tween 25 and 30 students for its first meeting, will strive to “iden-tify the future of brain research,” Bentkover said during the class. “We want you to create useful, usable documents to find a cure for brain disease.”

Students will divide into teams of four to research specific disor-ders and diseases. Kennedy said the work students do could help identify the best ways to imple-ment existing legislation regard-ing mental health treatment.

Kennedy, Bentkover and Dav-enport will specialize in different

Former congressman co-teaches public health seminar

Pathikrit Bhattacharyya / HeraldPatrick Kennedy addressed students during his public health seminar Monday.

By Meia geddesContributing Writer

Students, faculty and staff now have an easier way to connect to wireless Internet for free when visiting a select group of other colleges and universities.

Eduroam — a service that allows users from participating institu-tions to connect to each other’s wireless networks — went live at Brown in December, making the University one of only 37 partici-

pating U.S. education and research institutions.

The response was instantaneous. “As soon as we made it go live on our wireless infrastructure, without even telling people about it, we saw people using it,” said David Sherry, chief information security officer. “It was people that were from Eu-rope that were here and obviously had it already.”

Combined, about two dozen visitors to the University, as well as Brown community members visit-

ing other institutions, use eduroam on a daily basis, Sherry wrote in an email to The Herald.

Other active schools include Cornell, Swarthmore College, Georgetown University and five University of California campuses. Schools currently testing out the service include Duke University, New York University, Stanford Uni-versity and Yale.

Implemented in 2005, eduroam

U. joins global wireless service

continued on page 3continued on page 3

By aMy cHenby Contributing Writer

At last night’s housing options fair hosted by the Office of Residential Life, 755 students entered the first pick raffle for the housing lottery.

Last year marked the first time that the priority pick in the housing lottery was decided through a draw-ing. In previous years, the Residential Council organized a video competi-tion for first pick, but two years ago, council members decided the video contest was not achieving its goal of raising awareness about the lottery and housing options, wrote Natalie Basil, associate director of ResLife, in an email to The Herald.

Last year’s raffle took place in the Kasper Multipurpose Room and was packed, Basil wrote, which motivated the move to the larger An-drews Dining Hall this year. Hold-ing a raffle raises awareness in ways that the video competition did not, she said. By requiring students to visit three program house or Greek house tables and receive stamps be-fore entering the raffle, ResCouncil assured that students would have the opportunity to acquaint themselves

First pick raffle attracts large crowd

continued on page 2

W. BasketBall

continued on page 4

continued on page 4

Claire Peracchio, PresidentRebecca Ballhaus, Vice President

Danielle Marshak, TreasurerSiena DeLisser, Secretary

The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement and once during Orientation by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Single copy free for each member of the community. POSTMASTER please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Subscription prices: $280 one year daily, $140 one semester daily. Copyright 2011 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Campus news2 the Brown Daily heraldtuesday, January 31, 2012

ACROSS1 Woo6 Goldfish or koi

10 Peak14 Sleep malady15 1847 Melville

work16 Sound repeated

before “fizz fizz,”in ads

17 Bakery cookware19 Coin on the

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and Eva53 Medium, e.g.54 Singer Sumac57 Complexion

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of bushes12 Edible mushroom13 Strong adhesive18 Bill or gates, e.g.23 Morales of “La

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defense56 Bldg. units59 ER hookups60 __-pitch softball

By Allan E. Parrish (c)2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc. 01/31/12

01/31/12

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword PuzzleEdited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

xwordeditor@aol.com

3:30 PM

Epidemiology Seminar Series,

121 South Main, Room 245

4:00 PM

Summer Study Abroad Info Session,

JWW, Room 440

4:00 P.M.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Lecture,

Granoff Center

7:00 PM.

Community Service Fair,

Campus Ctr., Multipurpose Room

sHaRPe ReFeCtORY VeRNeY-WOOlleY DINING Hall

lUNCH

DINNeR

Vegan Chana Masala, Chicken & Coconut Curry, Baked Sweet

Potatoes, Fried Rice

Chicken Broccoli Pasta Alfredo, Chicken Salad Cold Plate, Chicken

Vegetable Soup, Beef Pot Pie

Apricot Beef with Sesame Noodles, Artichoke Pepper Calzone, Fried

Rice, Asian Vegetables

Cajun Blackened Chicken Sandwich, Chicken Vegetable Soup, Stuffed

Shells with Meatless Sauce

tODaY JaNUaRY 31 tOMORROW FeBRUaRY 1

C R o S S W o R d

S u d o K u

M E N u

C A L E N d A R

Housing surplus decreases slightly for spring semester

The University maintained a housing surplus this semester, with 30 beds remaining unfilled following the influx of new transfer students and the exchange of students returning from leave and going abroad. Last semester was the first time in three years that the University had a surplus of available beds instead of a deficit.

Of the University’s 4,679 beds, 4,649 beds were filled compared to the 4,647 beds that were filled last semester.

Despite the 30 vacancies, determining housing placement was less flexible this spring than the numbers indicate due to the time it took to process some students on leave, said Richard Bova, senior associate dean of residential and dining services. But he said he hopes to honor more room change requests once departing students have cleared out their belongings.

“Housing was a little tight for the spring because there were students who took leaves or were dismissed, and they were late to get some of their things,” Bova said. “But we honored as many individualized requests as we could.”

The number of students living off-campus remained stable this semester as well. About 1,300 students currently live off-campus, a number similar to previous semesters, Bova said.

The Office of Residential Life has also processed the requests for off-campus housing for next year. Students may be taken off the waitlist following the housing lottery in April. Bova predicts that if the same trends hold, between 1,000 and 1,100 seniors and between 200 and 250 juniors will live off-campus next year. These numbers do not include commuters, married students and resumed undergraduate education students who do not need to request off-campus housing through ResLife. While almost all the seniors who apply for off-campus permission are approved, 100 to 150 juniors are denied permission in the randomized lottery every year.

The number of junior applications has dropped significantly since a change in the application process for juniors implemented two and a half years ago restricted the time frame in which they could apply to a one-month period in the fall.

“Juniors were expecting to have the same guarantees as the seniors,” Bova said of the change. “Off-campus housing is a senior process, and juniors need to understand that.”

— Caroline Flanagan

N E W S I N B R I E F

to play is that we have four, five players who are consistently put-ting up double digits,” Burr said.

Harvard 65, Brown 57 Though Passafuime, Daniels

and Dixon again posted double digit numbers against Harvard, it was not enough to bring down the Crimson.

From the start, the Bears could not keep pace with Harvard. In the first 20 minutes, the squad put up just 20 points, shooting a pal-try 32 percent from the field and going just 1-8 from beyond the arc. The Crimson went 50 percent from the field, going into halftime up 34-20.

“It was a tale of two halves,” Burr said. “Their pressure stunned us a bit, but we were able to turn up the heat in the second half.”

Guard Lindsay Nickel ’13 started the comeback, netting a jumper to begin a 23-7 run that pulled the Bears within two points of the Crimson with just over six minutes remaining in the game. Bolstering Bruno’s attack was Passafuime’s performance at the free-throw line. The team-high scorer was perfect from the char-ity stripe, registering eight of her 15 game points from the line.

Clarke sunk the shot that brought the team all the way back. Her three-point shot tied the game at 54-54 with four minutes remaining. The teams then ex-changed three consecutive treys, and Harvard forward Victoria Lippert’s shot put the Crimson up 60-57.

In the final minute of play, guard Brogan Berry made five consecutive free throws to secure the Crimson’s 65-57 win.

Bruno continues Ivy play this weekend when it travels to face No. 25 Princeton Friday and challenges Penn the following evening.

Bears fall short despite late rally

continued from page 1

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Campus news 3the Brown Daily heraldtuesday, January 31, 2012

“We’re kind of building a train while it’s running,” said Ricky Gresh, senior director for student engagement and a member of the subcommittee on veteran affairs.

Though the process of final-izing recommendations for the University is ongoing, significant progress has already been made. At the start of the semester, an office for student veterans and ROTC opened on the third floor of J. Wal-ter Wilson, and it will be hiring student workers this semester. The official name of the office has yet to be determined.

The lack of any previous Univer-sity-sanctioned support system for student veterans is largely because of low undergraduate enrollment of veterans in recent years.

There have only been 11 stu-dent veterans since 2004, includ-ing those currently enrolled, said Chaney Harrison ’11.5, a student veteran who now serves as coordi-nator for the new office.

Until recently, the University did little to recruit student veterans.

“When I came to Brown in 2007, you couldn’t find the word ‘veteran’ on the website anywhere. It wasn’t until the fall of 2009 that you finally saw any reference to military veterans,” Harrison said. “It’s an interesting oversight con-sidering we’ve been at war for 10 years.” Harrison is now in the pro-cess of developing a University web portal for prospective and current student veterans to navigate the application process and the adjust-ment to University life.

While the current number of enrolled undergraduate student veterans is in the single digits , Har-rison and the board believe that an increase in veteran applications and enrollment will naturally give rise to a more organized transitional support system.

Though the University receives some first-year applications from veterans, the majority of student

veterans come to Brown as trans-fers or through the Resumed Un-dergraduate Education program, which is designed specifically for students who have been out of school for at least six years, Har-rison said.

“The admission process for RUE is more catered to a non-traditional student,” said Harrison, who was part of the RUE program. “They’re looking at you more in the context of your life.”

While the regular admission process is need-blind, RUE is need-aware, disadvantaging applicants seeking financial aid.

“If the RUE program is one of the likely ways to bring veterans in, and we think that’s something we want to try to do, the University should look at the fact that RUE applications are not need-blind,” said Gresh. “The University is al-ways looking at the changing de-mographics — the reality is that we have more college-age veterans now than we had a decade ago.”

“It’s hard to justify creating something for four students,” Har-rison said. “We have these organi-zations to support populations that are significant. Support comes with creating a community.”

Anita Zimmerman, the advi-sory board’s vice-chair and pro-fessor of medical science, stressed the University’s commitment to increase veteran enrollment and resources.

“The Diversity Advisory Board is extremely supportive of this ef-fort. I mentioned this initiative in my meeting with the Faculty Ex-ecutive Committee last term, and they are also in support,” she wrote in an email. The Faculty Executive Committee, chaired by Professor of Medical Science Peter Shank, is the small group that represents faculty interests to the administration.

The board expects an update on the subcommittee’s progress this Thursday, and recommendations are expected to be announced by the end of the semester.

has 60 U.S. schools testing or con-sidering it, said Philippe Hanset, the U.S. eduroam project leader. There are “4,377 eduroam locations around the world including main campuses, satellite offices and pri-vate providers,” Hanset wrote in an email to The Herald.

Being one of the earliest U.S. institutions to adopt eduroam, is a “huge advantage for Brown,” said Shriram Krishnamurthi, associate professor of computer science.

Krishnamurthi knew of edu-roam from his visits to Europe.

“German universities are almost all connected to eduroam,” he said. Krishnamurthi said he introduced eduroam to Sherry and Michael Pickett, the University’s chief in-formation officer and vice president for computing and information ser-vices. They began looking at edu-roam about a year and a half ago due to its “great promise,” Sherry said. Brown made the decision to join eduroam last August.

“The people who join eduroam never regret it because they are always amazed by the amount of visitors on their campus,” Hanset said. For example, within the first three months of becoming active, the University of Chicago had ap-proximately 800 distinct eduroam users from 20 countries, accord-ing to a document Hanset sent The Herald.

Jessica Moreno ’14 pointed out that if more schools activated edu-roam, this would guarantee hav-ing Internet access when visiting friends.

“It saves time, and it’s less of an inconvenience,” she said.

Chen Li ’12, who visits friends at other schools such as NYU and Long Island University, said she would also use eduroam since “it’s free, and it’s quite convenient.”

Hanset heard about eduroam and in 2005 began a pilot project at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville to try to implement it in the U.S., he said. He now vol-untarily manages eduroam in the U.S., in addition to managing his university’s wireless network. But eduroam’s spread in the U.S. has been slower than in Europe due to the lack of funding and full-time staff. “I’ve done most of the out-reach on my own,” he said.

It took a lot of work to set up the technical infrastructure at Brown, Krishnamurthi said. Setting up this infrastructure may also be a hurdle to joining eduroam for some other schools.

“The European Union liked the project and gave funding for eduroam to be deployed across Eu-rope,” Hanset said. Today there are thousands of institutions in Europe that have eduroam.

While aggressive advertising led to a “snowball effect” in Europe, advertising in the U.S. had been “just word-of-mouth,” Hanset said. But Hanset suspects eduroam will soon expand.

“It’s a classic network, meaning that the more people who are in it, the more people that benefit from it,” Krishnamurthi said.

Eduroam boasts robust security

standards. There has not yet been a security incident since eduroam started in Europe in 2005, Hanset said.

“People are logging in and be-ing authenticated with credentials from their home universities, which makes it very secure — we’re not gathering other people’s email ad-dresses...” Sherry said.

“We don’t specifically categorize you, look to see if you’re a student, or a faculty or a staff (member). But in the future, we are working on developments to be able to do (so),” Hanset said.

The eduroam charter stipulates that the service must be free to us-ers, Hanset said. But some institu-tions may be required to pay in the future, Hanset wrote in an email to The Herald. Members of Internet2, which is the research and education network for the U.S., will continue to receive the service for free, while other institutions will have to pay a small annual fee. “As it’s becom-ing bigger, we need more people to support it, so we need to pay for that,” Hanset said. Costs could be between $1,000 and $3,000 depend-ing on the institution.

Herald file photoThe university did not actively recruit veterans until 2007, an administrator said.

Intercollegiate wireless service goes live

Tom Sullivan / HeraldBrown is one of the first u.S. universities to adopt eduroam.

continued from page 1

U. web portal to ease veteran application process

continued from page 1

Campus news4 the Brown Daily heraldtuesday, January 31, 2012

elements of the class. Kennedy will discuss his political advocacy for awareness of mental health is-sues, and Bentkover will contrib-ute an understanding of the eco-nomics of health care. Davenport will talk about the neuroscience behind brain disorders.

“Having so many talented young people here at Brown think about these things is good for our country, and I think it’s impor-tant,” Kennedy told The Herald. “The answers to these challenges are going to affect each of them in their lives in both personal ways and in broader societal ways.”

Kennedy also spoke about his struggles with depression and addiction, which became pub-lic when he was cited for driv-ing under the influence in 2006. Kennedy was the lead sponsor of a 2008 mental health parity bill that made mental health patients as eligible for health insurance as those suffering from physiological diseases.

Though the bill became law four years ago, it has yet to go into effect due to pushback from insurance companies, Kennedy said. Through their research and ideas, the students in the class will help “shape how that policy will be implemented,” he told The Herald. Students at Brown are “good critical thinkers,” he said, and because they are not steeped in current mental health debates, they may be able to bring fresh perspectives.

“We may be going about it all wrong in terms of the bigger pic-ture, and when you have people who are willing enough to ques-tion the very premises by which the current group-think is being predicated, you’re in a place I think is rich with opportunity,” he told The Herald.

The idea for the course was conceived through discussions between Kennedy and the Insti-tute for Brain Science. After Ken-nedy announced his decision not to run for reelection to Congress in 2010, the University began to speak with him about ways he could expand his role as a visiting

fellow. Kennedy told The Herald he had worked with the Univer-sity before and saw teaching as an “opportunity to stay affiliated with the state and also with a university that has a fantastic reputation.”

The class will be filmed both for the University and for Ken-nedy’s nonprofit, One Mind for Research. Though video will be used for research and not for pub-lic relations, students attending were required to sign waivers allowing the University and the foundation to use that material as they see fit.

Angell Shi ’13, a neuroscience concentrator, said she would defi-nitely take the class if she received a spot. She said she did not know previously that Kennedy would co-teach the class, but she found the course description interesting and was attracted by the previ-ously listed professors.

“It really seems like a ground-breaking idea,” she said.

Amy Traver ’12, a human bi-ology concentrator, said she was drawn to the class primarily for its subject matter, though she ended up deciding the class did not fit into her schedule.

“It almost felt like we were like a task force,” she said. “Having an opportunity to spend time on a real-world strategy is refreshing.”

Davenport said students who “take the subject matter personal-ly” will be best suited to the class.

“It’s not a science course in that you have to have a science prereq-uisite,” he told The Herald. Rather, students of different fields will contribute different perspectives, from the details of neuroscience to the intricacies of public health policy.

During the class, students of-fered their own ideas about the use of the word “normal,” dis-cussed the stigma attached to mental health disorders and ana-lyzed the perception of the neural basis of psychiatric disorders.

Students shopping the class in-cluded concentrators in human biology, neuroscience, history and public health. As of Monday night, no students were registered for the course, which requires an instructor override.

with the different housing programs and options available, said Richard Hilton, ResLife’s assistant director for operations.

This fair was “helpful to a certain extent” in raising awareness, said Samantha Squires ’14. “I attended this just to enter the raffle, not for the program houses,” she said.

Though the first pick video competition was eliminated three years ago, Ben Farber ’12, winner of the video competition in 2009 and a competitor in 2010, said he and his friends were disappointed to see it go.

“The first pick video competition brought us together,” Farber said. He said he hoped younger Brown students would also have the op-portunity to compete.

Farber said that while the video competition may not be hugely ef-fective in implementing and fulfill-ing ResCouncil’s goals for raising awareness of housing options, it was nevertheless “exemplary of Brown’s culture in exhibiting creativity and bonding friendships.”

“If I were to pick between the video competition and the raffle, I would do the video competition,” Squires said. Though she said she had never participated in the contest, she said “it would be very fun to see what everyone could come up with and get a group of friends together.”

Nikki Proa ’14 found her experi-ence with the raffle last year to be extremely difficult. “There were lots of people and very chaotic,” she said. Part of the reason she decided to join a sorority this year was to avoid the housing lottery process.

“For the raffle, it seemed like there was no chance to win it with the amount of people, but the group video competition still gives you a chance,” she said.

Kennedy class to be filmed for research

Students miss first pick video competitioncontinued from page 1

continued from page 1

Paige Gilley / HeraldHopeful students roam Andrews dining Hall while exploring housing options. .

Paige Gilley / HeraldStudents entered the first pick housing lottery Monday night.

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City & State 5the Brown Daily heraldtuesday, January 31, 2012

Dreadful Cosmology | oirad Macmit

Fraternity of evil | Eshan Mitra, Brendan Hainline and Hector Ramirez

Co M I C S

By tonya rileyStaff Writer

As state legislators debate the idea of building a destination casino in Quonset Point, North Kingston, business leaders and residents of the city remain unconcerned about the prospect. The casino would be the first of its kind in Rhode Island.

Rep. John Carnevale, D-Prov-idence and Johnston, and Rep. Joseph Trillo, R-Warwick, an-nounced earlier this month their intent to introduce a bill in the Rhode Island General Assembly that would allow a casino to be built at Quonset/Davisville Port. Opening a casino in North Kings-town “could be one of the biggest economic development projects that the state ever undertook,” with the potential to bring in more than 20,000 jobs, Trillo said. There are currently two casinos in Rhode Island, but they do not have table games.

The Rhode Island Senate lead-ership of both parties swiftly re-leased a joint statement opposing the idea due to concerns that a casino would impede economic development in the area. Building a casino in Quonset Point, a com-munity with about 9,000 jobs and 168 businesses, would make com-panies hesitant to expand in the area, said Senate Majority Leader Dominick Ruggerio, D-Providence and North Providence.

Current jobs at Quonset Point are generally high-paying, with wages around 20 to 40 dollars per hour. This compares to the lower $15,000 salary, excluding tips, which casino workers typi-cally make, Ruggerio said. Rug-gerio serves on a commission that examines economic development in industrial port towns, according to a press release.

Trillo said concerns about the casino harming the city’s economic potential are “a smokescreen put up by the (Not In My Backyard advocates) in that area.”

The casino would be built on the Davisville side of North Kings-

town and would not be visible to businesses in Quonset Point, such as General Dynamics, Trillo said. He added that Rhode Island needs “bigger and better” facilities to prevent losing potential gaming revenue to neighboring states.

“If you go to a casino like Fox-woods (in Conn.), you will see at least 1,000 cars from Rhode Island who are bringing money out of the state,” he said.

Ruggerio supports allowing ta-bles at Rhode Island’s existing two casinos, but believes that a third casino would hurt their business.

“I am not opposed to the ex-pansion of games in Rhode Island, especially with everything going on in Massachusetts right now,” Ruggerio said.

Typically, full-scale casinos are about 150 acres, but the parcels of land available at Quonset Point comprise only half that size.

Locals said until they see a writ-ten proposal, they remain skeptical

about the plans. With the Senate leaders’ disapproval, the idea for a casino is a “moot point,” said Da-vid Preston, spokesperson for the Quonset Business Corporation, a state public entity that manages the Quonset Development Cor-poration.

Even if representatives made an official proposal or introduced legislation, “casinos are not a topic that our corporation spends a lot of time or money reviewing,” Pres-ton said.

Elizabeth Dolan, town council president of North Kingstown, said she was uncertain whether Trillo was aware of the lack of land left to develop in Quonset Point and Davisville.

“I cannot think of any property in the Davisville area that could be used for a casino,” she said. “We haven’t seen anything in writing so that’s why we as a council and as a town haven’t really taken anything seriously.”

Lawmakers debate ‘groundbreaking’ casino

By Max ernstStaff Writer

The Rhode Island Board of Re-gents for Elementary and Second-ary Education will vote Thursday to determine whether the controversial Achievement First network can es-tablish its first two charter schools in Providence. The decision comes just months after Achievement First’s ap-plication to open a mayoral academy in Cranston was rejected because of the district’s financial concerns.

“I am hopeful we will conclude this week with an approval of Achievement First,” said Education Commissioner Deborah Gist. “Their application this time is better than the first one, and they have made adjustments in response to com-munity input.”

Proponents view Achieve-ment First, an organization that establishes public charter schools in the Northeast, as providing a potential model for education re-form in Rhode Island. They cite above-average test scores from the Achievement First schools in New York and Connecticut and praise the organization’s ability to provide personalized attention and help stu-dents overcome barriers to educa-tion, Gist said.

“Achievement First is one of the highest-performing charter school organizations in the country,” Gist said. “It provides high-quality edu-cation that prepares students for success in college.”

Gist also praised the organiza-tion’s willingness to form partner-ships with local school districts. An important part of its mission is to support districts in which the char-ter schools are located, and the or-ganization is concerned about even those students not accepted to the charter school, she said.

Though the opening of the char-ter school has support from both Gist and Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14, local Providence officials have continued to express concern about the effects of Achievement First on the school district.

“I don’t think it’s good for our educational environment,” said Bryan Principe, a member of the Providence City Council. “There is

not one Achievement First school meeting adequate yearly progress standards.”

Some members of the City Council have challenged the facts behind the numbers presented by Achievement First, arguing that some of the figures demonstrating the success of the charter manage-ment organization are misleading.

“They are professionals in sell-ing the methods of what they do,” Principe said. “In reality, they are not even meeting the metrics of our own students.”

Opponents of Achievement First have cited its zero tolerance disci-plinary model, high operation costs, inability to serve underprivileged students and transparency issues related to its status as a private com-pany as reasons to reject the Provi-dence charter school, according to WeCanRI.org.

“One of the reasons they were invited to come in the first place is because they supposedly help the neediest students, but this claim doesn’t hold water,” Principe said. “In one instance in Bushwick, they treated English language learners as special education students in viola-tion of federal law.”

The schools also do not serve enough students to justify the costs, Principe said. Though the fair funding formula was passed in 2010 to provide resources to the underfunded Providence district, the new resources will be drawn away from enacting “real reform” and toward “rolling the dice with the corporate-backed model through Achievement First” if the charter is approved, he said.

“Despite the issues public schools face, there are a lot of good things going on,” Principe said. “We need to identify what is going right in our schools currently and spread this model across the district.”

Principe said there are positive practices in the state’s existing public schools that could be applied across the Providence school district.

“I expect the Regents to consider all the information before them and make the right decision based on that,” Principe said. “Our public school district is not broken, but neglected.”

State to vote on Achievement First

Greg Jordan-detamore / HeraldLegislators say the proposed casino could keep Rhode Island gamblers in-state.

P u t t i n g P u d d i n g t o g e t h e r

Lydia Yamaguchi / HeraldAaron Fitzsenry displays bread pudding at the Blue Room.

editorial & Letter6 the Brown Daily heraldtuesday, January 31, 2012

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E d I To R I A L C A R To o N b y lo r e n f u lto n

“We’re kind of building a train while it’s running.”— Ricky Gresh, senior director of student engagement

see veteranS on page 3.

E d I To R I A L

On January 11, federal judge Ronald Lagueux declared a religious banner that addressed a prayer to “Our Heavenly Father” unconstitutional and ordered it to be removed. This is the outcome that 16-year-old atheist and activist Jessica Ahlquist, the plaintiff of the case, had been fighting for since July 2010, when she partnered with the American Civil Lib-erties Union to sue her school to take down the banner that had been hanging in the auditorium of Cranston High School West. We support Ahlquist’s courage and conviction and agree with the judge’s decision.Since the decision, members of the Cranston school board have discussed the possibility of appealing the case. Mayor Allan Fung has argued that, for financial reasons, Cranston should not pursue an appeal. We agree that the city should not appeal the decision — not just for economic reasons, but for constitutional ones as well.The case centers on the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establish-ment of religion.” Applying this doctrine in the 1994 case of Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet, Justice David Souter wrote that “government should not prefer one religion to another, or religion to irreligion.” That is, he interpreted the First Amendment to extend to the rights of nonbelievers.Indeed, our society seems to quickly forget that our country was founded only on the grounds of religious freedom, not of religious principles. Utterly crucial to this religious freedom is the liberty of conscience and belief, ideals that informed the writings of James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. The court has a clear precedent, in cases such as Lee v. Weisman and Engel v. Vitale, to prohibit any sort of prayer or religious benediction in schools because these practices unconstitutionally impose certain religious beliefs on members of the community. Opponents of Judge Lagueux’s decision argue that the banner was not harming anybody, calling it “historical” and “artistic.” In fact, such ban-ners — and other declarations of religious affiliation in public schools, like organized prayer — effectively tell students who identify as atheists or belong to different religions that they are a minority, that they don’t fit in, that they are different. The state should not sponsor or permit any religious display that, in the words of Justice John Paul Stevens, says to “non-adherents that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community.’” This religious display was an impediment to the creation of a safe, productive learning environment for students like Ahlquist. The public education system has an obligation to provide students with a fair, balanced and comprehensive education — and also an obligation to refrain from including personal biases or beliefs in any part of that process.This separation of government and religion is the ideal upon which Rhode Island was founded. A year after Roger Williams was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635 for speaking out against the strong relationship between church and state, he founded Rhode Island as a place where government would not dictate religious beliefs — a religious haven for those of all faiths. If he were here today, we firmly believe that he too would stand by Ahlquist and support the court’s decision.

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An article in Monday’s Herald (“First-year’s startup aids charities,” Jan. 30) reported that Noah Fradin ’15 said Wal-Mart gives $3 million to charity. In fact, he said Wal-Mart contributes $300 million to charity. The Herald regrets the error.

Co R R E C T I o N S

opinions 7the Brown Daily heraldtuesday, January 31, 2012

The search for Brown’s next president has sparked a heated discussion about the fu-ture of our University. Some view President Ruth Simmons’ legacy favorably and want her successor to maintain a steady course. Others, however, take issue with the fact that under Simmons’ leadership Brown moved away from its traditional emphasis on the liberal arts undergraduate education and in-stead began to imitate peer institutions by putting more stock in scientific research and connections to industry.

My purpose here is to neither defend nor criticize the restyling of Brown that took place during Simmons’ tenure. Rath-er, I want to look at an issue below the sur-face of this present debate because I believe the changes spearheaded by Simmons were not isolated occurrences but symptoms of a growing trend among our nation’s colleges: the gradual withering away of the humani-ties and the liberal arts education.

Amid a struggling economy and a bal-looning student debt crisis, parents and stu-dents are reevaluating the merits of a college education. Is it a wise investment? There is no simple answer, because the return on in-vestment depends on what you study. The increasing pressure on students to secure a high-paying position after graduation has led many to pursue a degree in a field where job prospects are more promising, such as computer science, economics, engineer-

ing, biology, chemistry and so on. In other words, the economy discourages students from concentrating in subjects where em-ployment opportunities are more scarce — namely, the humanities. When President Barack Obama says the United States needs education to stay competitive in the global economy, he is not suggesting that students should take more Gender Studies courses.

A bit of disclosure — I am a philosophy concentrator myself, so this issue concerns me personally. But, I think all of us believe

that an education should be more than just the acquisition of facts and know-how. It should involve developing communication skills, maturing into a well-rounded adult and becoming a creative and critical thinker. These are the fundamental goals of the lib-eral arts model. Simply put, the aim of study-ing the humanities is to produce a better hu-man being.

But here’s the bombshell: We live in a so-ciety ruled by the principles of market log-ic and commodification, and there is noth-ing inherent within that system that gives a damn about producing better human be-ings. Exchange value determines what is im-portant in our world, and the humanities are on the path to extinction because they lack commercial viability.

The reason is simple. Shakespeare schol-

ars do not generate enough revenue to pay for themselves. The products they create — namely the preservation and extension of Shakespeare scholarship — are not valuable enough, in a market sense, to stand alone. Teachers of the humanities must be subsi-dized, because they are incapable of sustain-ing themselves. If universities like Brown were eliminated tomorrow, for example, aca-demic philosophy would be swiftly eradicat-ed. Without the insulation afforded by insti-tutions of higher learning, many disciplines

would be relegated to competing for shelves in Barnes & Noble.

Some of you are grumbling at this point because I have forgotten to mention that degrees in the humanities often do lead to a wide range of employment opportunities. And while it is certainly true that thousands of humanities degree holders find jobs every year, the point I am trying to make is that this is simply a coincidence. Say you concen-trated in art history. Maybe you will end up working for Brown’s Alumni Relations Asso-ciation or the Rhode Island School of Design Museum or a high school. That you studied art history is really nothing more than an in-teresting detail on your resume. What is im-portant to employers is that you have been properly socialized and are a reliable worker. My point remains — the economic structure

of our society fails to recognize, and thereby promote, the inherent value of studying the humanities.

While many of us ostensibly praise the societal and personal benefits of engaging with the humanities, we tolerate a society where such pursuits are actually discouraged because they don’t lead to “practical” careers. Of course financial security is not the stu-dent’s only consideration when choosing a course of study, but we nevertheless systemi-cally disincentivize students from choosing to focus in the humanities.

The current trend of our nation’s univer-sities points toward the demise of all forms of education that are neither vocational nor profitable through research. The very un-derpinnings of the liberal arts education are under severe attack, essentially because they have failed to appreciate the vulnerability of the humanities in a system of unmonitored capitalism.

The debate about the future of Brown and the praiseworthiness of Simmons’ legacy is really a minor issue compared with the larger social crisis we face. If we fail to champion a robust enough humanism and cannot over-come the machinations of global laissez faire capitalism, market forces will continue elim-inating livelihoods — including many forms of scholarship — that do not generate suffi-cient monetary returns. For those of us who understand that human life is about more than economic productivity and growth, this is an utterly unacceptable course.

Jared Moffat ’13 will philosophize for food. He can be reached at

jared_moffat@brown.edu.

A disturbing trend

This December my fellow first semester freshmen and I returned home to a flurry of college experience comparisons among old high school friends. Of all the com-ments and the bragging, one phrase con-sistently resurfaced: “I forgot that drinking was illegal!”

This remark occasionally puzzles adults who overhear, but given the lax alcohol and drug use policies often employed by univer-sities, the lapse of memory is not so surpris-ing.

Quoting from the University’s website, Brown’s alcohol and other drug policy “em-phasizes individual and shared responsibil-ity, healthy and informed decision-making, the maintenance of a caring environment and the promotion of genuine dialogue.” The tone here is not strict or condemning of drinking and drug use. While the lan-guage of the actual policy seems regulatory, in general there is a feeling of trust and ac-ceptance on campus, with a loose control of substance use.

Policies such as Brown’s have histori-cally been called into question by those fix-ated upon “University-condoned drinking.” These concerns have a legitimate question behind them: How can a well-established institution of higher education justify such an apparently flagrant disregard for the law?

But with just a glimpse into the party-ing habits of college students, it would ap-

pear that calls for a crackdown in policies do not account for the realities of drinking on campus.

Stricter rules or increased supervision by police cannot be used by universities to stomp out illegal drinking in its entire-ty. The culture is too embedded, and there are enough ways to slip through the cracks of law enforcement. A school can, however, use these tools to control, or seek to control, where students are drinking.

This September I was asked by my res-idential peer counselor at our first unit meeting to just not drink in common spac-

es like the stairs. This was part of a tacit agreement that drinking was tolerable in rooms as long as the activity did not dis-turb others.

At other schools this is not the case. Res-idential advisers are quick to report drink-ing in residence halls due to the more open condemnation of alcohol consumption by the administration.

The result is not necessarily a decrease in drinking overall, but rather a rearrange-

ment of the geography of consumption. Namely, drinking is pushed into frats and other off-campus locations beyond the reach of school security. In addition to leading to more dangerous drinking meth-ods — such as binge-drinking — this in-cites a loss of agency in drinking as younger students rely on older ones for alcohol.

Not to mention a newfound sense of paranoia that would permeate the campus party scene. Rather than having any chance of normalizing drinking or allowing stu-dents to drink in a responsible manner, the administration would be labeling the activ-

ity deviant.So what would be the point then? To

save face with the outside world? It is im-portant to consider here the priorities of the institution.

Cracking down on drinking would not only result in increases in rates of alcohol-related arrests on campus, but would also dramatically affect the relationship of trust and respect that students have with the ad-ministration. Such a situation is currently

taking place at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.

Trinity students recently received an email from the college’s Dean of Students outlining changes that will be made to the social host policy and alcohol control pol-icy. Changes include limits on numbers of people attending events, an increase in con-frontations for public open containers and more.

Students, concerned for the quality of the party scene at their school and outraged at this move by the administration, have in retaliation created a Facebook event to or-ganize their protesting. A post on the stu-dent-run blog, In The ‘Cac, about the an-nouncement entitled “A ‘New Era of Puri-tanism’ At Trinity College” summarizes the disapproval of students.

It’s true that if a university administra-tion bent itself to every will of the student body, colleges might experiencea a decrease in academic quality — college is great ex-cept for the classes, right? But having an ad-ministration that respects a student’s ability to grow through personal decision-making is vital to the kind of individual develop-ment that colleges seek to foster.

That is what is so beneficial about Brown’s policy. We are (almost) free as Brown students to try, learn and try again. Whether or not conservative commenta-tors snub our methods is not what con-cerns us. And it is definitely not what fuels change on our campus.

Leigh Thomas ’15 is from New York. She can be contacted at

leigh_thomas@brown.edu.

Cheers to Brown’s policies from a newcomer

Having an administration that respects a student’s abil-

ity to grow through personal decision-making is vital to

the kind of individual development that colleges seek to

foster.

The economic structure of our society fails to recognize, and thereby promote, the inherent value of studying the

humanities.

BY LEIGH THoMASopinions Columnist

BY JAREd MoFFATopinions Columnist

Daily Heraldthe BrownSports tuesday

tuesday, January 31, 2012

By Maria acaBadoContributing Writer

Both the men’s and women’s squash teams returned from Maine tri-umphant after successful matches against Bowdoin and Colby this weekend.

Ranked above its two oppo-nents, the No. 11 women’s team (8-3, 1-2 Ivy) won each match with little difficulty — 9-0 against Bow-doin and 8-1 against Colby. “The teams played well this weekend,” said Head Coach Stuart LeGassick. “The women had two very solid displays.”

Sarah Beresford ’13 praised the strong performance of Dori Rah-bar ’14, who, despite being the lone Bear to fall, battled Colby’s top player in a tight match. “Colby has a really strong number one,” Beresford said. “But Dori played so hard and really gave it her all.”

“We wanted to use this weekend to practice playing our own game,” Beresford added. “We all were able to execute effectively on our goals and come away with strong wins all across the ladder.”

Now the team is focused on pre-

paring for another away weekend, traveling to Philadelphia to face Penn and Drexel.

While the women’s squad rolled through Bowdoin and Colby, the men’s team had more of a suspense-ful weekend. Though the team defeated Colby 9-0, the winner between Bruno and Bowdoin was decided by the last match, which was played by co-captain Blake Reinson ’14.

“It was closer than we thought it would be,” LeGassick said. “Bow-doin was playing very well. Blake Reinson had to win at No. 1 in the final match to win the match.”

Alex Hsu ’13 said he was in-spired by his captain’s performance.

“Going into Bowdoin, we were pretty confident but surprised by their level of play,” he said. “It ended up being much closer than we an-ticipated, and our captain had the last match. Blake lost the first game but fought back and won the next three games.”

Next weekend, the men will travel with the women to Phila-delphia to face Penn and Drexel before moving on to Princeton for an Ivy matchup.

Maine event: squash tops Bowdoin and Colby

JaMes BluMSportS Staff Writer

While the rest of Brown slowly gears up for a new semester, the women and men on the indoor track teams are already moving at top speed. At the Joe Donahue Collegiate Indoor Games Jan. 27, the women captured first place, while the men finished second. In the 17 events scored, the women earned 118.33 points to beat the host school, Northeastern Univer-sity. The men earned 81 points, losing to the University of Connecticut, but finishing ahead of 14 other schools.

“I think we’re making steady progress in all the event areas,” said Michelle Eisenreich, director of men’s and women’s track and field. “I think we have a pretty good balance be-tween distance, middle distance and sprints. We have some good field events as well.”

The women had a first-place per-formance from Lauren Waterbury ’15 in the 200-meter dash. She fin-ished the race in 25.2 seconds, .55 seconds ahead of sixth-place Colby Lubman ’14.

“I wasn’t expecting to win — it was a really great feeling,” said Water-bury. “At the last event (of the meet), our team was down a few points, so it helped our team win.”

In addition to Waterbury’s title, Susan Scavone ’12 won the 55-meter hurdles in 8.04 seconds, while the 4x400-meter relay team captured gold in 3 minutes and 52.15 sec-onds. Distance runners also contrib-uted to the team victory, with Bree

Shugarts ’13 winning the one-mile run in 4:55.60 and Heidi Caldwell ’14 finishing the 3000-meter run first in 9:51.84.

The men had two individual first-place finishes from Erik Berg ’13 and Kevin Cooper ’13. Berg completed the 1000-meter run in 2:27.98 to win, while Cooper ran a full mile in 4:12.49 for the top spot. Matt Bevil ’14 also had a strong performance, with a third-place finish in the 800-meter run in a time of 1:54.71. Off the track, Kenneth Thompson ’13 earned second place in the triple jump with a leap of 14.35 meters.

Apart from the rest of the team, Dan Lowry ’12 and John Spooney ’14 competed at the Terrier Invita-tional hosted by Boston University Saturday. Lowry finished sixth in the 3000-meter run and ran a personal best of 8:02.40. Spooney also finished sixth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.59 seconds — the second-fastest time in Brown history.

“The 200 was ok — it was a good time, but it definitely didn’t feel like a really good race,” said Spooney. “I felt tired and like I needed to work on getting better speed endurance.”

But the Bears have been busy long before classes resumed. The teams also competed at the Harvard Chal-lenge Jan. 21. The men were led by Lowry and Cooper, both of whom turned in first-place performances in their respective events. Lowry won the one-mile run in 4:11.98 and Cooper took the top spot in the 3000-meter run in 8:36.05. On the women’s field side, Lacey Craker ’13

won the weight throw with a toss of 16.20 meters. On the track, Margaret Connelly ’14 won the one-mile race in 5:00.18, and Scavone finished the 60-meter hurdles in 8.54 seconds to win.

On Jan. 14, the teams competed at the Sorlien Invitational hosted by the University of Rhode Island. High-lights of the meet included Spooney winning the 60-meter dash in 6.85, Nathan Elder ’13 earning the top spot in the 800m run with a time of 1:57.74 and Daniel Smith ’13 winning the shot put with a heave of 15.25 meters.

“The 60 — that race felt really good,” Spooney said. “My mechan-ics were coming together. They’re getting better … It was my first race where I could get used to just run-ning really fast.”

The women also had three cham-pionship performances at the Sorlien Invitational from Scavone, who fin-ished the 60-meter hurdles in 8.89, the 4x400m relay team with a time of 4:00.46, and Monica Pechanec ’15, who reached a height of 3.45 meters in the pole vault.

Eisenreich said the teams are pro-gressing well through the season and are not hindered by any significant injuries.

“I think we need to continue to build focus and confidence and in-tensity,” Eisenreich said. “I think we are in a good spot but need to build momentum.”

The teams will next compete Feb. 4 at the Tribute to Charles Torpey meet hosted by URI.

Bears dash past competition in season’s third meet

By HaK riM KiMSportS Staff Writer

It was an impressive weekend for the men’s and women’s fencing teams as they turned in stellar performances at the second meet of the Northeast Fencing Cham-pionship Jan. 28. The men’s team went 27-0 against Tufts, the first undefeated match for the team in recent memory, said Josh Grill ’14.

Later in the afternoon, Bruno followed with another impressive 21-6 record against Dartmouth.

In addition to taking down the Jumbos and the Big Green, the men won four other matches to turn in a 6-0 day. The women, with a lone loss to Boston College, recorded a 6-1 record, giving the entire squad a 12-1 overall record for the meet.

“We just demolished them,” Grill said.

Despite finishing at the top of the field, not every win came easily for the men, with close matches against Boston College (14-13), MIT (14-13) and Brandeis (15-12).The squad was led by first-year Barrett Weiss ’15, who went 14-1 in the foil, and Peter Tyson ’12, who went 15-3 in the sabre.

The women’s team’s one loss against the Eagles did not dampen the squad’s morale, said captain Cory Abbe ’13. Kathyrn Hawrot

’14 and Vivian Truong ’12 were the two most outstanding fencers with records of 13-0 and 10-0, re-spectively, in the foil. Caitlin Tay-lor ’13 and Abbe also had strong performances, each recording 17 points for the team.

With such an impressive start to 2012, both teams are hoping the successful results will help them pick up steam as they finish up the season.

“We are a strong team this year,” Abbe said.

But despite the impressive out-ing, Grill said the team still has room for growth. “We could have done better for some bouts,” he said.

After this weekend, the team has only two more weeks to pre-pare for the Ivy League Champi-onship, which Avery Nackman ’13 said is “always a tough com-petition.”

The men’s team ranked fifth overall at last year’s Ivies with a 1-4 record and the women ranked sixth overall with a 1-5 record.

Bruno has one more invitation-al, the Erick Sollee Invitation at Brandeis Feb. 4, before it takes on its Ivy foes. Even with the tough competition looming, the fencers seem excited rather than nervous about the upcoming challenges.

“It is fun to fence against strong fencers,” Grill said.

Fencers ‘demolished’ the competition at NFC

Jesse Schwimmer / HeraldTod Holberton ’14 won both of his matches as Brown swept Colby and Bowdoin over the weekend.

sqUasH

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