Professional Documents
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October 20, 2011 Issue
October 20, 2011 Issue
90
Daily
Simmons: No change to campus ROTC ban
By Mark rayMoNd seNior staff writer
the Brown
Herald
Since 1891
President Ruth Simmons recommended the University not change its academic policies toward the Reserve Officers Training Corps, according to a letter released to the community yesterday. Current policies do not permit ROTCs presence on campus. Though Simmons did not recommend changing University policy on the program, she did agree with the Committee on ROTCs recom-
Students protest the militarys transgender discrimination, a major issue in the campus debate on reinstating rOTC.
mendation that the University reach out to the Department of Defense to determine whether Brown students could participate in Naval and Air Force ROTC programs at nearby
campuses. Currently, no institutions in Rhode Island provide Naval or Air Force ROTC programs, but Simmons said there is a nearby college
currently exploring these options. Should one of these programs be approved, Brown could then pursue continued on page 4
NE WS iN BriEF
Masturbator sighted Tuesday
College Hills public masturbation spree continued with yet another incident Tuesday night. Mica Fidler 12 was studying at her kitchen table on Euclid Avenue at 9:45 p.m. when she noticed a man masturbating on the back porch of the building that houses Zenobia hookah lounge. He was not looking into her window, but to the southeast, possibly toward the house next door to hers, she said. Fidlers description of the man did not match that of the man previously spotted masturbating several times on John Street. Fidler described him as short, with dark skin and a round face. His hair was short he may have been balding and he was wearing a zip-up jacket with a dark T-shirt and jeans, she said. Fidler said she was unable to determine the mans race with certainty, but he may have been black. The man seen masturbating on John Street is white. Another incident of public masturbation took place Sunday at the corner of Brook and Angell streets, less than two blocks from the Euclid sighting. The man seen masturbating there was also white, though it is unclear if he is the same man who has been masturbating on John Street. Fidlers roommate called the Department of Public Safety immediately after seeing the man. While she was on the phone, the man disappeared, Fidler said.
For most Rhode Islanders, colder winter temperatures are a seasonal inconvenience. But for the states
to open its doors this season. The new shelter, formerly the Carter Day Care Center, is now open to provide shelter, food and community for many homeless Rhode Islanders. About 50 people attended the press conference, including news media, volunteer organizations and the homeless residents of Emmanuel House. Seven speakers, including Bishop Thomas Tobin and Mike Carreiro, who was formerly homeless, discussed the challenges of homelessness and affordable housing in the state. A winter shelter assessment conducted Sept. 28 revealed a deficit of 273 shelter spaces. Though Rhode Islands homeless population totals
657, shelters in the state have a yearround capacity of only 384 beds. More than 191 homeless Rhode Islanders sleep outside. One of the speakers, Eric Hirsch, a sociology professor at Providence College and chair of the Homeless Management Information System Committee, said he believes these numbers do not account for every homeless person. The number of homeless sleeping outside is probably 250, instead of 191, he said. But even one is one too many. Inequality drives the problem of homelessness, and few very rich people directly cause homelessness, continued on page 5
The Corporation will review President Ruth Simmons recently released recommendations on the Reserve Officers Training Corps and Department of Athletics at its meeting this weekend. Simmons released her recommendations on both contentious issues this week. She clearly wanted to release both of these reports in response to the community in advance, given all the keen interest, said Russell Carey 91 MA06, senior vice president for Corporation affairs and governance. Members of the Corporation, the Universitys highest governing body, will also discuss the early steps of the presidential transition, Carey said. The members of the presidential selection and advisory committees were announced Tuesday. The Corporation will host a dedication of the new Medical Education Building Friday evening, and Chancellor Thomas Tisch 76 will formally accept the building on behalf of the Corporation. Herbert Kaplan, head of the Warren Alpert Foundation, will receive an honorary degree, and Gov. Lincoln Chafee 75 P14 and Mayor Angel Taveras will speak at the event, said Marisa continued on page 3
Through a combination of volunteer efforts and food donations, Providence Peoples Kitchen is providing three meals per day to
members of the Occupy Providence movement, who have been residing in Burnside Park since Saturday evening. The initiative, which gives food free of charge to the parks residents, primarily collects do lucy Feldman nated food from local farmers and
individuals. Volunteers involved with the group collect food, cook and raise awareness by putting up posters soliciting donations throughout the city, according to the groups Facebook page. Providing meals to the people of Burnside Park is part of the utopian mindset of Occupy Providence, said Arthur Schechter 15, a volunteer for Providence Peoples Kitchen and an Occupy Providence participant. So far, the group has had a steady flow of donations and volunteers, Schechter said. There is never a need to have more than two people working at a time, he added. Though Providence Peoples Kitchen plays a distinct role, it is a participatory group operating under the Occupy Providence
Burnside Park Occupiers eat for free thanks to donations from local farmers.
general assembly, which meets every day at 5 p.m. in Burnside Park. Whats wonderful is the way in
which people are coming together and contributing within their own ability, Schechter said.
weather
inside
Med ed
Medical school professors to teach first-year seminars
CaMPus news, 3
Immortal
t o d ay
tomorrow
70 / 53
64 / 47
2 Campus news
C ALENDAr
TODAY 7 P.M. Miss representation Screening, MacMillan 117 8 P.M. Love Your Body Open Mic, List 120 8 P.M. Visions of Liszt Orchestra Concert, Sayles Hall OCTObER 20 TOMORROW 3 P.M. Stress Management Workshop, J. Walter Wilson 310 OCTObER 21 By GadI CoheN CoNtributiNg writer
MENu
SHARPE REFECTORY Grilled Ham and Swiss Sandwich, Vegan Tofu ravioli, Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH Hot Turkey Sandwich with Gravy, Baked Macaroni and Cheese, Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies
DINNER roast Turkey with Gravy, Cheese and Corn Strata, raspberry Satin Fudge Cake Pot roast Gardiniera, Manicotti with Meatless Sauce, Butternut Squash, rapsberry Satin Fudge Cake
SuDOku
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Matthew Burrows, Treasurer Isha Gulati, Secretary
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should have experience in academia and should also have done something significant on the world stage to bring a new perspective to the institute. He said he is also searching for a replacement for the institutional diversity officer, who also serves as associate provost. Kolodny spoke after Schlissel, focusing on her work with CareerLAB. She said she wants to fill the gap in career guidance that she experienced during her time at Brown and provide opportunities for students planning nontraditional career paths. The January Career Laboratory, scheduled for the last few days of winter break, will concentrate on networking opportunities with alums both recent and older and provide a number of informal settings, such as young alum panels and a speed-networking event, for students to interact with them. It will be open to all students, she said, but with only 150 spots available this year, the focus will be on upperclassmen. I hope we have a ton of enthusiasm to push CareerLAB to broaden the program next year, she said. Though there will be a small fee, she said financial aid will be available, and the majority of the program will be funded through donations. Alums will fund their own visits. Later in the meeting, Michael Lin 14, chair of the Admissions and Student Services Committee, told the council about the postponement of plans to replace laundry machines until the end of this year so the change can coincide with the complete overhaul of the Universitys Card Value Center system, which is currently under discussion. Todd Harris 14, chair of the Academic and Administrative Affairs Committee, sought feedback on the planned improvements for the Advising Sidekick software. He said this software has an advantage over the Universitys other online resources because it is the only one completely created and controlled by the University, so the changes can be catered entirely to student needs.
The Undergraduate Council of Students introduced a resolution to increase next years student activities fee by $10 last night. The council also spoke with Provost Mark Schlissel P15 and Lauren Kolodny 08, former UCS vice president and current member of the Corporation. The resolution, sponsored by Student Activities Chair Mae Cadao 13, a Herald senior finance associate, cited the expected increase in student activities costs of more than $66,000 as the reason for raising the fee. Cadao said the $10 increase will fall short of meeting this amount by more than $3,000, but she chose to err on the conservative side. Deliberation and voting on the resolution was tabled for next weeks meeting, and Cadao said
the specific amount of the increase could be changed. In his address, Schlissel spoke extensively about the Universitys tenure process. He explained that the current tenure ratio the percentage of regular faculty on campus who have tenure is around 75 percent, significantly higher than the ratios of peer institutions. Meanwhile, the cohort tenure ratio, the percentage of tenure-track faculty hired who eventually receive tenure, is approaching 80 percent. After Schlissel left the meeting, Evan Schwartz 13, who sits on the University Resources Committee, told the council these figures could be misleading because lecturers, senior lecturers and adjunct and visiting faculty members are not counted. Schlissel also spoke about his current search for a new director for the Watson Institute for International Studies, who he said
4 Campus news
continued from page 1 a partnership, Simmons said. The University currently has a partnership with Providence College that allows Brown students to participate in its Army ROTC program. The Committee on ROTC, formed by Simmons in February to examine the Universitys policy on ROTC, issued its report June 30. The report was made available to the community in September. Simmons response will go before the Corporation, the Universitys highest governing body, at its meeting this week. The University resolved to ban ROTCs presence on campus in 1969 during the height of the Vietnam War. Since the repeal of the militarys Dont Ask, Dont Tell policy, there has been much debate as to whether ROTC should be allowed back. Other Ivy League institutions such as Harvard and Yale have announced plans to reinstate ROTC programs on their campuses. Simmons also recommended that exploration of off-campus ROTC partnerships coincide with vocal opposition from the Brown community to the militarys discrimination against transgender individuals. We must do all in our power as an institution to carry the message to Congress, the executive branch and the military establishment that the policy barring transgender individuals from military service must be changed, she wrote. There was no consensus among members of the Committee on ROTC on how the University should
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Grants fund med students Homeless speak out at press conference housing as a long-term solution. Homelessness is a problem that continued from page 1 pursuing primary care Speakers stressed that foreclo- can be solved, she told The Herald.
continued from page 8 said Philip Gruppuso, the associate dean for medical education at the Med School and the principle investigator for the Rhode Island Foundation grant. He said the school knew the foundation was interested in primary care and decided to apply for a grant to fund its mentorship program. Students make career decisions based on their interactions with physicians who become role models for them, Gruppuso said. Since the programs establishment in May, recruiting primary care physicians to teach students has been significantly easier due to the additional funds they now receive. Gruppuso said he is also currently acting as the principal investigator for a curriculum development grant from the National Institutes of Health in partnership with the Albert Einstein Medical School in New York. The grant, he said, will allow the Med School and Albert Einstein to develop a comprehensive four-year population health curriculum. This is another part of the equation, he said. Population health is at the core of primary care. Although the grant was awarded last spring, faculty members from the two schools are still in the midst of designing the curriculum. Some aspects of the new curriculum specifically related to epidemiology for second-year medical students have already been implemented this year. Mendez and Gruppuso both said it is too early to determine what effect these programs will have, though they added they hope the programs will prove effective in encouraging more medical students to enter primary care careers. Its a challenge everybody needs to come at from multiple angles, Gruppuso said. Everything that makes a primary care career more attractive and more feasible for our students is going to have a beneficial effect.
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of gender, sexuality, sexism, safer sex, eating concerns, relationships, assertiveness and sexual harassment and assault. This is not in the mission statement as cited in the report last years two WPC representatives sent to the Office of Residential Life. The goal of the WPC program is to incorporate into its mission special, critical attention to and engagement of sexism, gender issues and the different manifestainto such a project, but even the greatest messages lose their power if no one hears them. Here our strength as peer counselors lies in our connections to the residential communities we help build. We use our place in the residence halls to nurture important conversations. We flow toward developing dynamic, supportive residential units. We humanize the Universitys resources, tailor support networks and enTo reflect the continuity of the WPC program trials and successes included it seems fitting to close with a note from the report that last years two WPC representatives presented to ResLife: We ask our readers to remember one of the Ws favorite ground rules: Trust intent. Trusting the intent of ResLife allows us to develop relationships and invest our energy efficiently as we navigate the challenges of developing as WPCs and individuals. Each of us works to be a great WPC, generally knowledgeable and specifically attuned to the issues we address. Each of us also works to be a full student-person, generally involved and specifically in tune with the communities we are so integrally a part of. Both individually and organizationally we wrestle all kinds of challenges. We could bicker internally, whine publicly and hold our breaths until things change. Or we could critically work from within our parent organization as we endeavor to grow up and assert our identity as a group of Residential Peer Leaders especially engaged in issues of gender, sexuality, sexism, safer sex, eating concerns, relationships, assertiveness and sexual harassment and assault. Lucy Stephenson 13 is a current WPC student leader and a WPC in Little-wut? Littlefield. She can be reached at [email protected].
As a Women Peer Counselor, last year was a struggle. The program needed to assert itself. We needed to find, develop or craft a WPC identity. Somewhere in this honorable mission to revitalize the WPC program, shoring up our collective worth was supposed to come through broadcasting ourselves in an unattainable role: We were to be specialists on a sprawling network of deep issues, from sexism to eating concerns to sexual assault. This year, we look to honor this story of last years collective WPC experience, appreciating all the work that went into defining and addressing the different challenges the program faces. This year, we look to take the morals of this story, hold them tight and use the momentum and productive connections its actors and writers worked so hard to forge. We get our own story going this way, in terms that allow us to be the best WPCs the best supporters, liaisons, community builders, peers and counselors that we can be here and now. We do not claim to be specialists however that is calibrated in the issues
This year, we look to take the morals of this story, hold them tight and use the momentum and productive connections its actors and writers worked so hard to forge.
tions of these issues. They are big issues, and we cannot do it all ourselves. We could do lots of things differently, and we are doing lots of things differently than we did last year. We could train for years, move away from the ResLife and work toward making a core corps of women with a stunning depth and breadth of knowledge and training on these issues. We could theoretically throw ourselves
deavor to be the best WPCs we can be. We are women, yes, but we are here to work with everybody. So yes, we need to be to be informed and aware, but we also need to be studentpeople. If you have friends who are both specialists in the eight issues above and healthily engaged undergraduate students, please let us know. We would love to learn with them.
The second Steve Jobs died, a dam burst somewhere. Gallons of elegies and eulogies spilled forth, flooding the surrounding low-lying areas with a lot of sentimental goop. People praised Jobs as if he were a real-life John Galt. Naturally, this invited a backlash. Jobs is no hero! He was a rank industrialist, furthering consumer culture and making the world that much more materialistic. He does not deserve to be memorialized any more than any other person on this earth because he is no more valuable. This leads to some very important questions. What determines the value of a human life, and what effect should this have on us? Before we can answer these questions, we need to know exactly what we are asking. What is the nature of human value? This notion is used as the grounds for praise. We frequently give the highest praise to people who have done great good, such as Martin Luther King and Mother Theresa. However, this is not required. It is not immediately clear that Leonardo da Vinci and other great artists accomplished feats of high moral worth. The lesson we learn from these considerations is that human value can be raised
Your net worth reflects your value as a human being. Praise the rich!
ed as utilitarianism. As the name implies, consequentialists hold that an actions moral status is determined by its consequences for utilitarians, the relevant consequences are the changes in utility. We can try to adapt these theories to determine human value. Deontology will not help much we can hardly turn to the dictates of God. On the other hand, consequentialism fits human value very snugly. When asked
freedom is an objective good of the relevant kind. But we would hesitate to praise a person who plunges an unjust society into years of starvation and misery even though the resulting anarchy provided a lot of freedom. This suggestion wont do. The other idea about positive impacts places them firmly in our heads. Things impact us positively if they fulfill certain of our desires and fail to violate certain others. This accounts for all cases. Great
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ProJo establishes pay wall online
The Providence Journal established a pay wall and redesigned its website Tuesday. The website now features breaking news briefs for free and provides full stories only to subscribers through an eEdition of the paper. Online readers can access the eEdition for free for one month, after which they will be required to purchase a subscription if they do not already subscribe to the daily paper. Subscribers who pay for the weekend edition of the paper but do not have a daily subscription will still be required to pay a small fee for the online edition, according to an Oct. 17 Journal article explaining the new website. The various subscription fees have not yet been determined, according to the article. Like other major newspapers across the country, weve come to the realization that giving away our content free is not a sound business plan, said Howard Sutton, publisher, president and chief executive officer of the Journal, in the Journal article. The website also changed its urL from projo.com to providencejournal.com Tuesday. According to an April 7 article in The Herald, the Journals circulation declined 10 percent in the past year and A. H. Belo the papers parent company suffered revenue losses of $124.2 million. it has not been decided whether the university Library will be able to provide a subscription to the eEdition of the paper, said Edwin quist, associate university librarian for research and outreach services. Though the university subscribes to the Journal and subscribers receive free access to the eEdition, publications tend to treat institutions differently than they do individuals, quist said. The New York Times, which erected a pay wall in March, has not yet made institutional subscriptions possible, and quist said it is unclear whether the Journal will offer them. My guess is that they havent even considered it yet, he said. But they might have looked at the New York Times situation and done a better job. elizabeth Carr
UnitedHealthcare of New England donated $250,000 to the Rhode Island Foundations loan forgiveness program last week as part of a series
Steinberg said the program has been in existence for a couple years. The $250,000 grant will provide funds for eight physicians enrolled in the program, including two graduates of the Med School. Loan forgiveness is just one route national and state organizations are taking to provide incentive for students to pursue careers in primary care, a field constantly in need of more doctors. Last year, the Rhode Island Foundation awarded the Med School an $87,631 grant for a mentorship program, allowing medical students to work with physicians involved in primary care. Research shows that when a student is out training with a physician, (the physicians) productivity reduces, Mendez said. The money, she said, would help to offset some of these costs. The Med School has an ongoing relationship with the foundation, continued on page 5
Students celebrate the annual Love Your Body Day under Faunce arch.
When the Department of English began allotting concentration advisers alphabetically this summer, it left many students surprised to find they had been reassigned to new advisers. Previously, students could request specific advisers and would be paired with them if the advisers did not already have too many advisees. But Ravit Reichman, associate
professor of English and the departments director of undergraduate studies, said the number of students requesting advisers wasnt actually a huge number. If students did not request anyone, they would be either assigned based on interests or assigned randomly, Reichman said. Brian Kelly 12, an English and political science double concentrator, said when he declared his English concentration, he was assigned the adviser he requested. I chose him because he was one of
very few professors who I felt I had a good rapport with. Students originally declared their concentration using the old system this spring. But over the summer, the department switched to the new process. Reichman said the switch made assigning students to advisers easier for the department than allowing students to request their advisers. Jasmyn Samaroo 13 said when she was given a new adviser this year, the department did not ex-
plain why. Concentrators were informed they had been reassigned through letters in their mailboxes at the beginning of the semester, though the letters did not explain the reason for the reassignments. I wish that I had had the opportunity to have some continuity with advisers, said Catherine McCarthy 12, a fifth-year student in the dual bachelor of arts and continued on page 5
A new Commuter Choice Assistance Program will allow employees to create pre-tax debit accounts to lower the costs of public transportation and off-site parking starting Jan. 1. Currently, all faculty and staff can use the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority free of charge, but those who commute from out of state pay for their own public transportation or parking if they are unable to park on-site. Through the program, employees will be able to put up to $230 per month from their payrolls into debit accounts for off-site parking and up to $58 per month for a commercial transit account. Because the accounts enable employees to purchase tickets prior to paying federal and state income taxes, Drew Murphy, director of benefits for human resources, estimated commuters will save between 25 and 30 percent per month in transportation fees on average. I think I definitely would use it, said Chris Kottke, assistant
MBTA.com
The Commuter Choice Assistance Program may decrease interstate public transport fees for commuting faculty and staff.
professor of mathematics, who travels from Somerville, Mass., to Providence three times a week. I think I spend on average probably about $150 a month on public transportation expenses, so that would definitely save me some money. The money in the accounts will
function on a use or lose basis, so unused dollars will return to the University. But reclaimed funds should be minimal, since employees can start and stop their deductions in any month, wrote Cynthia Schimelpfenig, benefits manager, in an email to The Herald. If employees are aware of their travel
costs, it is expected they will be able to accurately fund the pre-tax account for their transportation needs. Though the program will not go into effect until Jan. 1, interested employees can sign up for the program during the open enrollment period from Oct. 31 to Nov. 18.