Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxliv, no. 39 | Thursday, March 19, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891
In increments, S&J progress unfolds
By Ben Schreckinger
Senior Staf f Writer
Two years after the Corporation
approved several recommendations
of the University Steering Commit-
tee on Slavery and Justice, major
initiatives are making incremental
progress toward completion.
Among responses that arose
from the nationally scrutinized
committee’s work, the University
promised to endow a $10 million
SPOTLIGHT
In search of home, lit.
lovers find Irish cheer
By Juliana Friend
Staf f Writer
Matthew Lawrence is not a par-
ticular fan of St. Patrick’s Day, or
of one of Ireland’s best-known
writers, James Joyce.
But Lawrence donned a green
tie and sport jacket Monday night
to lead a reading of the Irish au-
thor’s short stor y “The Dead”
amid the crowded stacks and
shelves of Ada Books. About 30
local residents, college students
and professors filled the small
space of the independent book-
store, located in the hear t of
downtown Providence.
Lawrence, who organizes read-
ings and other literary events in
the city through his Web site, Not
About the Buildings, picked a set
of names from a green cigar box,
drawing up the list of the night’s
E-mail error generates changes
By Joanna Wohlmuth
Metro Editor
Brown’s Office of Financial Aid most
likely did not violate federal or state
laws when it inadvertently revealed
the names of nearly 1,800 students
who have initiated an application for
University financial assistance, ac-
cording to Steven McDonald, general
counsel at the Rhode Island School
of Design.
On Monday afternoon, the office
sent e-mail messages reminding stu-
dents about which documents they
needed to submit and the applica-
tion’s deadline. Each of the three
messages showed the Brown e-mail
addresses — including first and last
names — of approximately 500 first-
years, sophomores and juniors who
have submitted financial aid docu-
inside
News.....1-4
Metro.....5-6
News, 3
Spor ts...7-8 The good Book
Editorial..10 Kevin Roose ’09.5 wrote
Opinion...11 a book about his time at
Today........12 Liberty University
www.browndailyherald.com
fund to aid local public schools,
create a slave trade memorial and
establish or expand an academic
center to study slaver y and its
legacy.
Though most of the commit-
tee’s cornerstone recommenda-
tions remain far from full imple-
mentation, the University expects
that its responses will have passed
several milestones by the end of
the semester.
A commission tasked with
19 readers. He gestured Maureen
Reddy, one of the readers, toward
a moss-colored armchair. With a
copy of James Joyce’s “Dublin-
ers” in one hand and a bottle of
Harp Lager in the other, Reddy
pronounced Joyce’s words in a
coarse whisper.
“And haven’t you your own
language to keep in touch with
— Irish?” she read aloud.
But the night — complete with
Irish soda bread — was not just a
celebration of the luck of the Irish.
Lawrence intended the event to
keep a love of literature alive in
the Providence community.
“My goal is to make sure peo-
ple keep reading,” he said.
Not About the Buildings
Lawrence founded Not About
continued on page 9
mentation, and the fourth contained
nearly 300. In all, The Herald counted
1,773 names mistakenly divulged
Monday.
Normally, students are sent in-
formation by blind carbon copy, or
“BCC,” which does not reveal an e-
mail’s other recipients, said Director
of Financial Aid James Tilton.
Though the release was regret-
table, it was not a breach of state or
federal law, said McDonald, who has
edited a book about the Family Edu-
cational Rights and Privacy Act.
“It was a mistake and we now have
to put procedures in place so that kind
of thing won’t happen again,” Tilton
said, noting that the office routinely
sends students similar reminders but
had never made such a mistake.
E-mails will now be internally
tested prior to sending. Messages
Metro, 5
Parking Problems
A lawsuit over zoning laws
has stalled the opening of
a sushi bar on Thayer.
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
brainstorming the memorial issued
its report Monday, and the fund
may make its first grants within the
next month. A fellowship program
for graduate students committed to
serving local public schools — one
aspect of Brown’s response that
got off the ground quickly — will
graduate its first class in May.
But even as the University
makes steady progress, much
work remains to be done on the
committee’s ambitious agenda.
Ada Books held a reading of 19 stories by Irish writer James Joyce to
commemorate St. Patrick’s day last Tuesday.
will be distributed to smaller con-
tact groups, and each will also be
addressed to a staff member so that
any mistakes will be caught more
quickly, Tilton said.
Students whose names were re-
leased received an e-mail yesterday,
apologizing for the mistake and re-
iterating the office’s commitment to
protecting student confidentiality.
The office received six e-mails from
students notifying them of the mis-
take but has not received any specific
complaints, Tilton said.
Since no personally identifiable
information — such as transcripts
and social security numbers — was
revealed, the office does not believe
any violations of student confidential-
ity occurred, Tilton said.
“It’s not really a violation of FER-
PA to make an honest mistake,”
Providence schools fund
To date, the University has
only raised about $1.5 million of
a proposed $10 million fund that
would make regular grants to
Providence’s public schools. Presi-
dent Ruth Simmons told the Brown
University Community Council
Tuesday that the money raised
so far has come from Corporation
continued on page 4
Kim Perley / Herald
An e-mail that revealed the names of Financial Aid applicants was sent
Monday afternoon.
McDonald said Wednesday. “They
are doing the right thing” by admit-
ting the mistake and taking steps to
prevent it from happening again, he
added.
Under FERPA, the U.S. Depart-
ment of Education may review a
university’s policies if confidential
Sports, 7
Horsing Around
Brown’s equestrian team
copes with sick horses,
travels to Florida
Interdept.
programs’
futures in
question
by Nicole Friedman
Senior Staff Writer
With institutional budget cuts loom-
ing for the next fiscal year and pos-
sibly beyond, some concentration
programs housed outside of depart-
ment structures are concerned about
their ability to provide consistency
to concentrators.
Unlike departmental concentra-
tions, these multidisciplinary pro-
grams often rely on the good will
of related departments to provide
faculty to teach classes or to agree
to cross-list their own courses.
Development Studies, in par-
ticular, is “unsure” how it will find
teachers for core concentration re-
quirements next year, said Associate
Professor of Sociology and Interna-
tional Studies Gianpaolo Baiocchi,
director of the development studies
program.
The program has depended since
last spring upon Cornel Ban, a visit-
ing fellow at the Watson Institute for
International Studies, to teach core
concentration courses and to advise
about 10 theses. But Ban’s fellowship
ends after this semester, and no one
is lined up to replace him, according
to Baiocchi.
“As of this moment, we are un-
sure how we’re going to staff those
courses,” he said.
The program receives a $500
continued on page 2
Frederic Lu / Herald
information is improperly released,
but students do not have the right
to sue colleges if their privacy is
breached, McDonald said.
“This does not sound like a par-
ticularly big deal,” McDonald said. “It
shouldn’t happen but sounds like an
honest mistake.”
Opinions, 11
Barack’s budget
Boris Ryvkin ’09 considers
the proposed federal
budget “class war”
herald@browndailyherald.com
Page 2 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Thursday, March 19, 2009

C ampus N EWS “There’s an irrationality in the allocation of resources.”

— Gianpaolo Baiocchi, director of the Development Studies Program

New technology makes Interdisciplinary programs struggle

for easy ATM deposits
By Katerina Dalavurak
Contributing Writer
Bank of America has installed new
imaging technology in the ATMs
located adjacent to the Brown
bookstore on Angell Street.
The new automatic teller ma-
chines scan checks and allow for
deposits without the use of enve-
lopes, Communications Executive
at Bank of America Anne Pace
wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.
She wrote that image-enabled
machings can automatically cal-
culate totals and print an image
of checks on the receipt.
The machines also “streamline
the deposit process by eliminat-
ing the delivery time for checks
to travel from the branch to the
processing center,” she added. The
new ATMs are easier to use and
usually increase deposits by more
than 30 percent, Pace wrote.
Installation of the machines oc-
curred early last week , said Kat
St. Amour, an employee of the
bookstore cafe.
Lauren Kenney ’10, who said
she frequented the ATMs both
before and after the change, said
the new feature is “smooth and
easy to use — once you know how
to do it.”
Pace said the installation was
part of a nationwide program to
install ATMs with the new imaging
technology. She said she could pro-
vide no information on why the An-
gell Street location was chosen to
receive them before other branch
and ATM locations in the area.
Several students said the loca-
sudoku
Hang Nguyen / Herald
New Bank of America ATMs on
Angell Street scan deposits, elimi-
nating the need for envelopes.
tion would frequently run out of en-
velopes, making depositing checks
difficult prior to the change. “My
friends were always complaining
that they’d run out,” said Malka
Key ’09.
Karin Freed ’09 said in the past
she had to call the bank and ask
them to restock on envelopes. She
also said that when they were avail-
able she’d grab “at least four” extra
envelopes as a precaution for lean
times ahead.
Other students said they
did not know about the change,
but expressed interest in the
new machines. “Sounds conve-
nient,” said Erik Olson ’12. “I
haven’t used the ATMs, but now
I will. I have a lot of checks to
deposit.”
continued from page 1
stipend from the University each
year for small expenses, which will
remain intact for the coming fiscal
year, Baiocchi said. The concen-
tration program has also received
extra funding in recent years from
the University as its size has grown
— there are now about 80 declared
development studies concentrators,
Baiocchi said.
But those resources do not cover
course instruction and advising.
Since taking over as director
of the program last year, Baiocchi
has worked to implement a more
stringent system of concentration
requirements. Those now include
four development studies courses,
which are “all volunteer-taught,” he
said.
“I basically talk people into giving
us a course of their time,” he said.
“In a concentration of this size, it’s
a problem.”
The concentration’s Departmen-
tal Undergraduate Group organized
a letter-writing campaign to request
that a position be made available next
year, either for Ban or “someone like
him,” to teach and advise theses,
said Alison Fairbrother ’09, a leader
of the DUG.
The DUG wrote an e-mail to its
listserv earlier this month, saying the
concentration was “at risk of losing
the sophomore seminar, the methods
class, the thesis class and the amaz-
ing support of Professor Ban.”
“The University never promised
us a continuation of the fellowship,”
Fairbrother said, but the DUG hopes
to “maintain what we saw as being re-
ally wonderful productive changes”
to the program since Ban’s arrival
last spring.
She added that she transferred to
Brown because of its development
studies concentration, a program
few other schools offer for under-
graduates.
The campaign to keep the pro-
gram at its current level has received
“overwhelming support” from con-
centrators, alumni and faculty, Fair-
brother said. The DUG collected
over 60 letters, Fairbrother said.
Baiocchi said earlier this week
that he planned to give the letters,
with his own cover letter, to the dean
of the College and the head of the
Watson Institute on Wednesday.
Baiocchi said he thinks the pro-
gram will be able to staff the sopho-
more seminar and methods course
next year, but he added that no one
has been found to teach the thesis
course in the fall. All DS concentra-
tors are required to write theses.
Karen Lynch, communications
manager at Watson, said she had
no comment about the future of the
concentration.
Limited access to resources
Multidisciplinary concentrations
like development studies have “less
claim to resources” than depart-
ments, said Professor of Sociology
and Environmental Studies Phil
Brown, who serves as the interim
director of the Center for Environ-
mental Studies.
The science and society concen-
tration, which draws on courses
in the departments of Biology and
English, among others, is run by
the Faculty Committee on Science
and Technology Studies. Professor
of Biology and Gender Studies Anne
Fausto-Sterling PhD’70, who chairs
the committee, said the concentra-
tion “would be budgeted differently”
if it were a department.
But the program does not aim to
become a department, she added,
because it values its multidisciplinary
status. Baiocchi said the same of de-
velopment studies.
The science and society concen-
tration offers two core courses to
concentrators. For the rest, Fausto-
Sterling said, she must consult with
departments to make sure they are
offering classes that can be cross-list-
ed as science and society courses.
“We would like to do more,” she
said.
The committee receives a budget
directly from the Office of the Pro-
vost each year, Fausto-Sterling said,
and the program has assurance that
it will be protected for the coming
year. Though she said the concen-
tration gets “adequate support to do
what we’re doing right now,” it “could
get cut” if the University is forced
to make more budget reductions in
future years.
“We’re pretty vulnerable,” Fausto-
Sterling said.
Other multidisciplinary concen-
trations have been discontinued in
years past due to a lack in support
from faculty and departments. The
biomedical ethics concentration, for
example, was phased out during the
2005-2006 school year.
Nondepartmental programs are
rarely given faculty lines, Brown
said, referring to the ability to hire
faculty, which all departments have.
Programs like science and society
and development studies depend on
faculty from other departments to
teach core concentration courses.
“There’s an irrationality in the
allocation of resources,” Baiocchi
said. “Faculty lines and resources
are administered to departments,
but a significant portion of the teach-
ing happens in interdisciplinar y
concentrations, which don’t have
resources.”
Dean of the Faculty Rajiv Vohra
P’07 disagreed with Baiocchi’s con-
tention that funding was prioritized
poorly for departmental and nonde-
partmental programs.
“Just because something is
housed in a department” does not
mean it gets special treatment, Vohra
said.
The University recognizes that
“there are places where (budget
cuts) will have a much bigger impact
than other places,” Vohra said, add-
ing that no programs will be forced
to cut their operating budgets in a
way that would harm their “core
academic priorities.”

Daily Herald
the Brown

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Copyright 2009 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
C ampus N EWS
Roose’s biblical
ruse leads to book
By Hannah Moser
Senior Staff Writer
Study for midterm. Check.
Finish paper. Check.
Publish book.
Check.
Three years into his time at
Brown, Kevin Roose ’09.5 has
already written for national pub-
lications such as Esquire and
SPIN. But Roose is heading into
uncharted territory, even for him,
with the release of his first book
next Thursday.
Uncharted territory seems to
be what Roose does best. “The Un-
likely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semes-
ter at America’s Holiest University”
chronicles the spring semester of
2007 that Roose, a Herald opinions
columnist, spent attending Liberty
University, a school he calls “the
polar opposite of Brown.”
At the largest evangelical uni-
versity in the world, which Roose
calls “Bible boot camp,” he “oper-
ated at hyperspeed,” trying to do
everything at once in an attempt to
get a complete picture of the kinds
of lives that its 10,000 students live
every day.
Roose described a typical day at
the Lynchburg, Va. university be-
ginning with convocation — chapel
— three times a week before stu-
dents went to class. In his classes,
Roose studied subjects including
the Old and New Testaments, cre-
ationist biology and introduction
to evangelism. After classes, he
sang in the choir, played intramu-
ral sports and attended Wednesday
night church, all before a 12 a.m.
curfew — 12:30 on weekends.
“I was technically undercover,”
Roose said. Though he made a
goal to be honest and to not lie
any more than he had to, students
didn’t know or suspect that he
was anything more than another
transfer student. “Mostly they just
assumed I was fleeing Brown,”
he said.
The idea for the project came
when Roose was interning for
A. J. Jacobs ’90 and the two visited
Liberty founder Jerry Falwell’s
famous church as part of Jacobs’
book, “The Year of Living Bibli-
cally.” There, Roose met some Lib-
erty students and having heard
about the university and its deeply
restrictive rules, he wanted to see
“whether it lived up to the hype.”
www.browndailyherald.com
“I had never been exposed to
Christian culture,” he said. Com-
ing from the “ultimate secular fam-
ily,” making the adjustment from
Brown to Liberty, where drinking,
smoking and R-rated movies are all
forbidden, was not easy.
Many differences were obvi-
ous, like the way students spent
Friday nights and the way they
felt about gay marriage. Roose
said there were similarities to be
found too, though maybe not as
obvious. He found that students
at both Brown and Liberty are
socially active and passionately
follow their beliefs.
“My Brown friends and my Lib-
erty friends would have a lot in
common even though they would
disagree about just about every-
thing,” Roose said.
Roose, who had the opportunity
to interview Jerry Falwell before
his death in May 2007, said he was
nervous to interview the man who
was often seen as “a villain” in the
secular world. They talked about
what Falwell anticipated seeing
in politics, but otherwise tried to
keep the interview light.
“We know him for his outland-
ish public statements,” but Roose
said he got to see Falwell as a
pastor, grandfather and spiritual
leader.
“This is not an expose,” Roose
said. “It’s not pro-Liberty, but it’s
not anti-Liberty.”
Though it was not Roose’s goal,
such an immersion experience
rarely leaves a person unchanged.
Roose said he tries to pray every-
day and can identify as a Christian.
He still maintains friendships from
Liberty and said his friends have
been “really gracious” seeing their
school as the subject for a book.
“The Unlikely Disciple” is the
result of 500 pages of notes, about
a year and a half of writing and
countless revisions. “I know hu-
mility is a Christian virtue, but I’m
proud of the way it turned out,”
Roose said.
The book, published by Grand
Central Publishing, has been avail-
able for pre-order online and will
arrive in bookstores March 26.
For now, Roose’s next project
is graduating. From there he says
he’ll think about his next move,
whether it leads to another book
or freelancing.
“I’ll pray about it,” he said.
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
— Kevin Roose ’09.5 on his semester at Liberty Univ.
Group celebrates Pakistani culture
By Chelsea Xu
Contributing Writer
To educate the Brown community
about Pakistani history and cul-
ture and to facilitate a discussion
about its politics, a group of Brown
students revived the Pakistani Stu-
dents Association this spring.
Originally founded in 1999, the
group had a sporadic existence for
several years because of the fluctuat-
ing number of Pakistani students on
campus. Last fall, some undergradu-
ate and graduate students decided to
restart the association, said Sumbul
Siddiqui ’10, the group’s vice presi-
dent of events.
Arsalan Ali Faheem GS, presi-
dent of the group, said Brown’s
Pakistani students are concerned
about the sensationalist media cov-
erage of their country and hope to
offer a more complete picture of its
society and culture to the Brown
community.
“Pakistan is home to 170 million
people, but it is never really well
understood by the rest of the world,”
Faheem said. “There is a lot more
to Pakistan than just the extremists
we see on TV.”
American news coverage of
Pakistan typically focuses on the
tumultuous political situation within
the country, Siddiqui said. “In the
past few years, and especially after
the assassination of Benazir Bhutto,
the image of Pakistan has just gone
downhill.”
In an effort to repair this image,
the group’s members aim to spread
awareness about Pakistani national
and cultural identity, its art, music
and films.
The group held its first event, the
screening of the film “Kashf — The
Lifting of the Veil,” on Wednesday as
a part of Islam Awareness Month.
“We aim to stimulate intellectual
discussion about Pakistani culture,”
Faheem said. “Brown students are
probably aware of the Pakistani
situation at the macro level — the
GDP, form of government and level
of political instability, but to under-
stand the people — you have to go
beyond that.”
Faheem said the group wants
to collaborate with the Watson In-
stitute for International Studies to
“I was technically undercover.”
arrange a variety of lecture series,
bringing notable Pakistanis to cam-
pus. It would also like to sponsor
charities in Pakistan and raise aware-
ness about Pakistani humanitarian
issues at Brown.
In the long run, Faheem said
the group hopes to start a student-
exchange program between Brown
and Pakistani institutions.
Pakistan split from India in 1947
and has developed a “unique iden-
tity” since then, Faheem said.
“We hope to facilitate a discus-
sion of this identity and increase
understanding,” he said. “In the long
run, we want to promote peace and
progress in the region, and ties of
friendship and mutual respect.”
Siddiqui, who grew up in the
United States, said the group will
give her the opportunity to “meet
native Pakistanis who have a dif-
ferent perspective while sharing a
common language.”
The association currently has
more than 40 members, Siddiqui
said. Since the group is still in its
formative stages, most of the mem-
bers are of Pakistani origin, but
membership is open to all students
and to members of the Providence
community.
Nearly 75 people, including stu-
dents, faculty members and mem-
bers of the Providence community,
attended Wednesday’s movie screen-
ing, and many stayed afterward to
discuss the film with its director,
Ayesha Khan.
Page 3
Set in Pakistan, the movie deals
with Sufism, a mystical branch of
Islam that seeks to shed the ego
to understand divinity and to come
closer to God.
In response to a question about
why she made a movie on Sufism,
Khan said, “The mystical core of
Sufism is present in many religions.
They are all trying to answer the
same question: who we are and why
we are here.”
“I have had Native Americans
tell me that Sufism is so similar to
their own religions,” she said in an
interview with The Herald after the
screening.
Khan said she believes that Su-
fism can possibly bridge the conflict
between Muslims and Hindus be-
cause it contains elements of both
religions. She said she supports the
Pakistani association in its effort to
show a different side of Pakistan not
available through the mainstream
media.
Mikail Kalimuddin ’09, who is
not a member of the association
but attended the movie screening,
said, “It’s always good to know more
about a country.”
Members of the group said they
were happy with the turnout at the
movie. In the future, they said they
hope to continue presenting untold
stories of Pakistani society than
those shown to people in the West.
“We never hear about the silent
millions living everyday lives,” Fa-
heem said.
Page 4
C ampus N EWS
S&J initiatives moving forward, if slowly
continued from page 1
members.
Still, a first round of grants
from the fund to schools will be
announced “by the end of April,”
according to Vice President for
Public Affairs and University Re-
lations Marisa Quinn. “The exact
grantees have not been decided”
but broad categories for funding
have been identified, she said.
“There may be some funds
available immediately,” Quinn said,
but “the bulk of funds” will be for
the 2009-2010 school year. Quinn
said she did not know how much
money the grants would total.
Simmons said at the BUCC
meeting that the University has
encountered “a good deal of diffi-
culty” in awarding the first round of
grants. The University “invited the
superintendent to submit proposals
for funding,” but “the proposals did
not match up with what the fund
was trying to do,” she said.
“The fund could easily be con-
fused with replacing existing fund-
ing as opposed to enriching the
education at the public schools,”
Simmons said. “The bias — if I
may call it that — is really towards
a classroom and the students,”
not administrative programs, she
said.
“The first round of grants is
intended to clarify what the fund
can support,” she said.
Slave trade memorial
In response to the slavery and
justice committee’s recommenda-
tion to construct a public memorial
to the history of the slave trade in
Rhode Island, Simmons convened
a commission of 10 members of
the Brown, Providence and Rhode
Island communities, with a range
of expertise including public art
displays, the local black experience
and slavery’s history. That commis-
sion issued its report Monday.
The commission’s report in-
cludes six recommendations for
memorials. It recommends that
Brown’s Public Art Committee
commission a memorial, that the
University continue to sponsor
public events focused on slavery’s
legacy and “that a prize be cre-
ated to recognize research on this
subject.”
The report called for action
from the city and state and rec-
ommended that the University
also “memorialize Native Ameri-
can heritage at Brown and in this
region.”
The report “affirmed what the
steering committee initially recom-
mended,” Quinn said.
It did not “recommend any
particular timeline,” Quinn said.
The University’s Public Art Com-
mittee, which will now have the
responsibility to plan a memorial,
will largely determine the pace of
the project, she said.
Quinn said the commission’s
recommendations were not intend-
ed to be met by a single memorial.
She also said the final result “could
be some concrete memorial” or a
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
less material means of commemo-
rating slavery’s legacy, such as a
traveling exhibit.
Studying slavery
The academic por tion of
Brown’s “slaver y and justice”
agenda remains amorphous.
The Slavery and Justice report
recommended that the University
either create a new academic cen-
ter for the study of slaver y and
justice or significantly expand an
existing program.
Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95
P’98 told the BUCC this week that
the University faced the question
of how to deal not only with the
histor y of slaver y, but with the
contemporar y legacy of slaver y
and its “ethical, moral (and) social”
implications.
“Rather than decide all those
questions in advance,” Kertzer
said, “we have begun a search
... to find a faculty leader who’s
a world expert in the histor y of
slaver y.” A search is also on for
two additional faculty with some
specialty relating to slaver y and
its legacy, he said.
The Herald reported last No-
vember that Department of History
Chair Kenneth Sacks and Depart-
ment of Africana Studies Chair Bar-
rymore Bogues, who are involved
with planning Brown’s academic
response to the Report, were de-
veloping a major lecture series on
the topic for this semester.
It is unclear if the lecture series
is moving ahead as planned. Sacks
referred questions about the lec-
ture series to Bogues, who said he
was unavailable for an interview
before press time.
Other progress
In response to the slavery and
justice committee’s report, the
University established the Urban
Education Fellows program, which
will graduate its inaugural class
this year. Urban education fellows
will have their tuition waived after
three years working in Providence
public schools or education orga-
nizations.
Kertzer told the BUCC that
the University expects eight fel-
lows for the 2009-2010 academic
years. The fellowship is open to
those earning Master of Arts in
Teaching and Urban Education
Policy degrees.
Kertzer also said the Univer-
sity would encourage collabora-
tion between Brown and Tougaloo
College students by using “smart
classrooms” equipped with tech-
nology that allows students at
the two campuses to interact.
“We’ve already pioneered one or
two classes that have done this,”
Kertzer said.
Brown has paid for the installa-
tion of the “smart classrooms” on
Tougaloo’s campus.
Kertzer said the University was
investing in communications tech-
nology partly because “relatively
few students are actually going to
be able” to participate in physical
exchanges.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Flood, rat
traps plague
Sears House
The following summary includes
all major incidents reported to the De-
partment of Public Safety between Feb.
26 and March 11. It does not include
general service and alarm calls. The
CRIME LOG
Providence Police Department also
responds to incidents occurring both on
and off campus. DPS does not divulge
information on open cases that are
currently under investigation by the
department, the PPD or the Office of
Student Life.
Feb. 27
7:17 a.m. An officer was dis-
patched to Sears House to meet with
a Facilities Management employee
who needed to file a report regard-
ing malicious damage. The officer
observed water on the floor of the
hallway and flooding in another sec-
tion of the hallway. A hose had been
run from the trash room and was still
on in the hallway. They then went
into the lounge where they thought
some more water was coming from.
The room’s floor was covered with
water and beer cans and the walls
were covered in black plastic. They
also noticed a smell coming from an-
other lounge. In that room was a grill
that contained rat traps and a t-shirt.
The matter has been turned over to
continued on page 6
Metro
The Brown Daily Herald
Supt. Brady talks teaching, family
By Lauren Fedor
Senior Staf f Writer
Providence Public Schools Super-
intendent Tom Brady discussed
the need to improve teaching and
encourage families’ involvement in
schools at a meeting with parents,
students and community members
Wednesday night.
Speaking at a meeting of the
Providence Education Excellence
Coalition, Brady, who has been
superintendent for eight months,
answered audience questions for
over two hours.
While the discussion centered
on improving teacher performance
in the city’s public schools, both
the superintendent and coalition
members emphasized the role of
families in education.
“Didn’t President Obama say
continued on page 6
Zoning thwarts new sushi bar
By George Miller
Metro Editor
A legal battle over parking is delaying
the opening of long-planned Thayer
Street restaurant, Shark Sushi Bar
and Grill, which was originally slated
to open in December 2007.
According to Providence zon-
ing ordinances, restaurants must
provide one parking space for every
four seats, meaning that the 131-seat
Shark, to be located at 275 Thayer
St., would have needed to find 33
spaces. But the zoning board found
last May that providing the spaces
represented a sufficient hardship for
the owner, given that the property
had no space for off-street parking,
and relieved Shark from its obliga-
tion to provide parking.
Grant Dulgarian, a competing
Thayer Street businessman and
trustee for the Krikor S. Dulgar-
ian Trust, which owns properties
such as Avon Cinema, appealed the
board’s May decision.
In the appeal, filed with the
Providence Supt. Tom Brady addressed community members Wednesday.
Rhode Island Superior Court in
June, Dulgarian argued that the
zoning board’s granting the vari-
ance to Shark was “arbitrary” and
“capricious.”
“There’s already a parking prob-
lem on Thayer,” Dulgarian told The
Herald, adding that a new 131-seat
restaurant with no additional parking
would “exacerbate” the problem.
The nearest available space for
parking was 1.2 miles away from
Shark’s location, making the require-
ment unfeasible, according to zoning
expert Peter Casale, who testified to
the zoning board on Shark’s behalf
at an April hearing. Several commu-
nity members, including Dulgarian,
spoke against granting Shark park-
ing relief at that hearing.
“We knocked on pretty much ev-
ery door” in search of suitable park-
ing spaces, Casale said, according to
a transcript of the hearing.
Ray Hugh, Shark’s owner, said
at the hearing that 80 percent of
the restaurant’s business would be
students coming on foot, according
“We knocked on pretty much every door.”
— Peter Casale, on searching for potential parking near Thayer
Thursday, March 19, 2009 | Page 5
metro in brief
24-hour grocer coming to downtown
Students will have another option for late-night snacks
when a 24-hour grocery store opens in downtown Providence
in late April. Gourmet Heaven, which has two other stores
in New Haven, is slated to open in a vacant building at
Weybosset and Union streets owned by the Rhode Island
School of Design.
“We’ve been working for years to get a grocery store,” said
Joanna Levitt ’02, a representative of Cornish Associates, the
development company behind the project. Most Providence
residents cite a grocery store as downtown’s greatest need,
perhaps second only to a gym, Levitt said.
Previous attempts to get a grocer like Trader Joe’s to open
a location in the city have failed due to parking concerns. But
this problem will be ameliorated for Gourmet Heaven, which
hopes to cater to university students who rely on walking or
public transportation, Levitt said. Trader Joe’s opened its
first Rhode Island location in Warwick last year.
Both New Haven locations are on Yale-owned property, so
“being in a RISD-owned building is nothing new” to (Gourmet
Heaven), whose model is built around universities, Levitt
said.
Brown Daily Herald With free Wi-Fi, a seating area and a New York City-style
hot-and-cold bar, the store will be a “real city market,” Levitt
said. They will also serve unique foods, like Korean candies.
Gourmet Heaven will be affordable and “not too high-end,”
she said.
The store was originally supposed to open in March, but
“there are always setbacks” with building projects, said Levitt,
adding that the recent snowstorms have delayed progress.
A menu of Gourmet Heaven’s planned offerings is available
to the transcript. He said he based on its Web site.
that number on his experience at
the two neighboring restaurants he — Sara Sunshine
owns, Shanghai and Extreme Pizza
and Wings.
Hugh, who declined to comment
for this article, told the zoning board
last April that he had invested “well
over $700,000” in Shark already.
But Shark’s decision to seek a
liquor license, which it was granted
in the fall, contradicts the idea that
80 percent of the sushi restaurant’s
customers would be students, Dul-
garian said. The liquor license will
only increase demand for parking,
he said.
The difficulty in finding suitable
parking drives customers away from
Thayer Street businesses, Dulgar-
ian said. The College Hill Parking
Task Force, of which Brown was a
participant, found last spring that
there was enough parking on the
Hill, but that it needed to be better
managed.
Hearings for the appeal are cur-
rently ongoing.
Page 6
M etro
Computer mouse missing at Watson Superintendent,
continued from page 4
parents talk education
Student Life.
March 1
9:43 a.m. It was reported that
there was damage done to a per-
sonal products dispenser located in
a second floor restroom in Faunce
House. The dispenser was pried
open and various items were stolen
from inside.
12:38 p.m. Student reported that
her laptop and wallet were stolen
from Rockefeller Library. She left the
items unattended and went to make
a phone call. When she returned 5 to
10 minutes later the laptop was gone
and her wallet was missing from her
backpack. Brown University detec-
tives are investigating.
March 6
11:56 p.m. Officers were dis-
patched to Machado House for a
report of a fire. Upon arrival they
found a box smoldering and sprayed
it with a fire extinguisher. Through
investigation by the Providence Fire
Department Inspector and DPS it
was determined that careless ciga-
rette smoking had caused the fire.
A student who was leaving the
building in response to the alarm
noticed smoke coming from the sus-
pected room, she entered and found
a coat on fire. She threw the coat out
the window. Inside the room several
violations, such as candles and ash
trays with cigarettes, were found.
The student that resides in the room
stated to police that she was smoking
in her room when she accidentally
set the coat on fire. When it hap-
pened she immediately left the room
and called DPS. The case has been
turned over to Student Life.
March 7
3:27 p.m. Student stated that at
approximately 9 a.m. he parked his
vehicle outside the Watson Insti-
tute for International Studies. He
reported to police he returned to
his vehicle at approximately 3:20
p.m. and found the following items
missing: a GPS and charger and an
iPod and charger. He also stated he
could not be sure if all four doors on
his vehicle were locked. Providence
Police took a report.
9 p.m. A Brown University officer
was dispatched to New Pembroke 4
in reference to a noise complaint
called in by PPD. Upon arrival, he
met with PPD officers who stated
that while on patrol on Thayer Street
they witnessed a large gathering of
individuals located on the terrace.
After a brief investigation PPD of-
ficers dispersed a large group of
approximately 30 individuals. The
occupant of the room was issued a
Providence Police noise complaint
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
“I wish we had 1,000 parents here.” — Carmel McGill,
president, Classical High School Community Association
summons with a fine of $200. Also,
Brown University officers noted al-
cohol violations. The students were
cooperative with police and the case
has been referred to Student Life.
March 8
12:45 a.m. Student stated that be-
tween 12:45 a.m. and 2 a.m. she had
propped her door open to her room
in Harkness House and went to take
a shower. She stated that when she
returned to her room she noticed
that unknown person(s) removed
several items. She stated that she
observed items missing from her
desk and found her purse lying on
the floor and that her wallet was
open. She stated that the unknown
person(s) took her two iPods and a
case, a digital camera, two memory
cards and a cell phone. Her room-
mate stated that she was missing one
video iPod and one sweater.
11:24 p.m. Student reported that
while in the Bear’s Lair she left a
bag unattended for about an hour.
Sometime between 9 a.m. and 10
a.m. the bag was removed from
the area.
March 9
8:40 a.m. An employee at the
Watson Institute reported that her
computer mouse was taken some-
time between March 6 at 5 p.m. and
March 9 at 7 a.m.
continued from page 5
something about the responsibility
of parents?” Brady asked the audi-
ence, adding that parents should
become more involved in their chil-
dren’s education.
“I wish we had 1,000 parents
here,” said Carmel McGill, a mother
and the president of the Classical
High School Community Associa-
tion. Nearly 20 parents were in at-
tendance at last night’s meeting, in
addition to about five students and
two Brown undergraduates.
“It’s fantastic, the information
that’s coming from you tonight,”
McGill said to Brady.
A retired Army colonel with
leadership experience in both the
Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
school districts, Brady said he rec-
ognizes the enormous challenges
he must confront as superintendent.
For starters, he inherits a position
that few have been successful in
maintaining — Brady is the fifth
superintendent to serve the city’s
schools since 1999.
And with the state’s budget
in question, he understands that
money will be tight.
“I want to put a sense of reality
in this,” Brady said.
He cited Gov. Donald Carcieri’s
’65 plans to redirect millions of fed-
eral stimulus dollars away from
education to close the state budget
deficits. Last week, the governor
presented a state budget propos-
al giving local communities less
money than allotted under the $787
billion stimulus package.
Carcieri “is going to take that
money and put it against the defi-
cit,” Brady said, adding, “We need
Thursday, March 19, 2009
to be realistic and practical.”
Brady also spoke of improving
teacher evaluations and expand-
ing the district’s professional de-
velopment programs for faculty
and staff.
“We need an evaluation tool to
make teachers better,” he said,
acknowledging that the system
doesn’t “do a very good job” of as-
sessing instructor quality. “I don’t
know what the vehicle is to properly
evaluate teachers.”
He said he wants to change a
“culture” in which many teachers
do not participate in development
programs. Last year, when the city
sponsored such a program at Provi-
dence College, 15 percent of the
teachers registered did not show
up, Brady said.
Two Brown students who at-
tended last night’s meeting were
also concerned with addressing
teacher inadequacies. Mike Mac-
Combie ’11 and Brad Greenburg
’10 represented Brown Students
for Education Reform, which Mac-
Combie co-coordinates.
The advocacy group’s current
focus is encouraging people to sign
a petition to end teacher “bumping”
in Providence public schools. By
bumping, the district shifts teach-
ers to fill vacancies based solely on
seniority, rather than teacher qual-
ity or expertise. Though the Rhode
Island Department of Education has
ordered schools to end the prac-
tice, the students anticipate that the
Providence Teachers Union will sue
to protect the seniority policies.
“We feel (bumping is) unfair
and counter-intuitive,” Greenburg
said. “It doesn’t make sense from
an educational standpoint.”
SportsThursday
The Brown Daily Herald
Men’s tennis competed outdoors for the first time this year, beating Bryant 7-0 at home.
M. tennis overpowers Bryant
By Erin Frauenhofer
Sports Staff Writer
The men’s tennis team demolished
Bryant University at home on Tues-
day, breezing by the Bulldogs, 7-0.
The match marked the first time this
season that the Bears have competed
outdoors on the varsity courts.
“We just started practicing out-
doors on Sunday, and right now we
are adjusting to all the additional
factors we have to deal with, such
as the wind, sun and different court
speed,” said captain Chris Lee ’09.
“So far, we are doing well, not get-
ting frustrated because obviously it’s
going to take a few days to get used
to outdoor tennis again. Personally,
I love getting outdoors because it
really lets me introduce a lot more
variety to my game.”
The Bears bounded ahead to a 1-0
lead with wins at all three doubles
slots.
“The team came out very strong
in the doubles matches,” said Jona-
than Pearlman ’11. “It was great to be
outdoors for the first time in 60-de-
gree weather, and I think everyone’s
enjoyment of the day translated into
their play.”
At first doubles, Lee and Charlie
Posner ’11 overpowered Nicholai
Hill and Dylan Whiting by a score of
8-3. Skate Gorham ’10 and Pearlman
notched an 8-4 victory over Thomas
Nowak and Kevin Gardiner at sec-
ond doubles, and Jimmy Crystal ’12
and Noah Gardner ’09 took an 8-5
win over Jose Rodriguez and Zehn
Laliwala at third doubles.
But the Bears remained hungry
after the doubles sweep and picked
up their level of performance even
more in singles play.
“All the guys stepped it up a notch
in the singles matches,” Lee said.
“After our meeting before the singles
began, we really turned our focus
up a notch.”
Lee led the way at first singles,
soundly defeating Cristian Balestri-
eri, 6-0, 6-3.
“My back is feeling a lot better,”
Lee said. “I’ve really worked hard to
get healthy because this is our final
stretch, and I want to be part of this
excitement. Sitting out sophomore
year during the Ivies crushed me,
and I promised myself that I would
work hard to be able to play dur-
ing our Ivy season, just like I did
last year.”
Herald File Photo
At second singles, Pearlman
trounced Jose Rodriguez by a score
of 6-1, 6-1.
“I just returned from a profes-
sional tournament in Canada, where
I beat one of the top ten national
recruits for next year, who is going
to Stanford,” Pearlman said. “I have
been playing a very high level of ten-
nis and am looking forward to some
good results over spring break.”
Gorham overwhelmed Gardiner
at third singles in a 6-2, 6-2 victory.
Gardner and Posner also recorded
straight-set wins at fourth and fifth
singles, respectively, defeating
Nowak and Hill by scores of 6-3, 6-4
and 6-4, 6-4. Crystal rounded out
the Bears’ dominating performance
with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Laliwala
at sixth singles.
“The team did an excellent job of
motivating each other to play a high
level of tennis,” Pearlman said. “This
is our second time playing Bryant
University this year. We have had
experience with their team and had
an idea of the level we would need to
compete at coming in. This allowed
us to relax, which translated into a
continued on page 8
Thursday, March 19, 2009 | Page 7
Brown equestrian:
they’re ‘that good’
By Dan Alexander
Staf f Writer
Most Brown students see more
busy streets and tall buildings
than open pastures and musty
barns. But 33 Brown women see
both. They’re usually on campus,
but twice a week they escape to a
farm in Warren, Rhode Island.
The equestrian team drives
20 minutes in the team van to
practice at Windswept Farm,
rocking out to a team mix tape
along the way.
“If I’m stressed out or what-
ever, if I’m having a bad week, I
can just go out to the barn,” said
rider Jennifer Grover ’10.
The team goes to the barn
year-round, but only competes
in the fall and spring.
Last Friday, the team finished
first at a show hosted by John-
son and Wales, the last show of
the regular season. The team has
high hopes going into the Region
1 Championship on March 28, the
first step in what team members
hope will be a trip to Nationals for
the third year in a row.
“Hopefully we’ll win the re-
gion — unless something goes
terribly, terribly wrong,” said cap-
tain Emma Clippinger ’09, before
knocking on a wooden desk. “I
think we’ll probably go to nation-
als again. And, you know, it’s not
too much to expect top five” in the
nation, she said.
But recently, the team ran
into a hiccup when the barn was
infected with strangles, a respi-
ratory infection specific to barn
animals. Clippinger described it as
the horse version of strep throat,
named for the sound infected
horses make when they breathe.
The infection is extremely conta-
gious, but not fatal if treated with
antibiotics.
The outbreak was at the top
of the team’s agenda at the team
meeting two Fridays ago. Clip-
pinger, who led the meeting,
explained the extra precautions
the team needed to take, such as
dipping their boots into bleach
before mounting any horses.
“Who has strangles?” one of
the team members asked her at
the meeting.
“Jazz and Bristol,” Clippinger
told the group.
“Aw, Jazz too?” another rider
said.
It was easy to tell that some-
thing was wrong in the barn on
Friday, March 13. The sides of
Bristol’s stall were boarded with
fresh wood and the entrance was
blocked off by a rope. Bristol stood
in the stall with a green warmer
wrapped around him, facing the
outside of the barn, and his slow,
warm breaths were visible in the
cold barn air.
But the team had to continue.
They had a competition the next
day.
Across the barn, Dakota Gru-
ener ’11 brushed down Oliver in
preparation for practice, first with
a coarse comb and then with a
softer brush.
“He’s probably the nicest horse
in the barn,” Gruener said of Oli-
ver. “I’m really pleased I got him
continued on page 8
Page 8
S ports T hursday
Tennis looks
forward to
spring break
continued from page 7
great effort.”
Over spring break, the Bears will
compete against two tough foes at
home — facing off against the Uni-
versity of Portland on Saturday and
Wake Forest University on Sunday
— before heading to Florida to play
Florida Atlantic University the follow-
ing Thursday and New Mexico State
University the following Saturday.
“In preparation for our spring
break matches, we are really working
on getting our entire lineup healthy,”
Lee said, adding that the Bears are
“trying to adjust our games to play-
ing outdoors again, and that means
being more patient and waiting an
extra ball or two for opportunities to
attack and come in to the net.”
Equestrians trot toward successful season end
continued from page 7
today.”
Not all of the riders were as
pleased with the horses they
landed for the day.
“I’m not looking forward to this.
I’m not going to lie,” Grover told
her horse as she walked him out of
the barn. “We are not friends.”
Each practice, the riders get
a new horse so they get used to
riding all kinds of horses — the
calm ones and the excited ones, the
obedient ones and the rebellious
ones. In competitions, the home
school provides the horses and a
random draw determines which
rider gets which horse.
“The idea is that ever yone
should be able to perform equally
on whatever horse. But there are
better horses than others,” Clip-
pinger said. “If you get a bad horse,
you’re kind of screwed.”
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
“If you get a bad horse, you’re kind of screwed.”
With the strangles infection in
the barn last Friday, Coach Mi-
chaela Scanlon wanted to make
sure that her riders took extra
precautions, such as not wearing
any equipment that they had worn
at earlier practices, so as not to
spread the infection.
As usual, the riders came to
practice in small groups so that
they could have enough horses and
get enough individual attention.
Once the riders were all tacked
up, it was time to finally mount the
horses and begin training. The five
horses trotted out to the arena, a
large building with an expansive
dirt floor. The hooves clicked and
spit up dirt as the girls trotted in
circles around the arena, warming
up the horses.
Most of the horses belong to
Scanlon and some belong to oth-
ers who use Scanlon’s stables, but
Brown owns three of the horses,
as well.
“People donate horses because
they get a tax write-off,” Clippinger
explained.
But horses aren’t the only thing
donors give to the team.
“The equestrian team has had
great success,” said Associate Ath-
letic Director Carolan Norris. “So
they have a great alumni network
that supplements ... what they get
— Emma Clippinger ’09, Equestrian
from the University.”
Norris declined to specify how
much money the team receives
from the University or donors.
The donations don’t go unno-
ticed by the team. Victoria Mc-
Cullough, owner of Chesapeake
Petroleum, is one of the team’s
largest donors. According to Clip-
pinger, McCullough paid for the
team to go to Florida over winter
break for a training trip.
“She loves to spoil us,” Clip-
pinger said. “She’s kind of amaz-
ing.”
The team competes in the Inter-
collegiate Horse Show Association,
even though it is an NCAA team.
There are 22 other NCAA eques-
trian teams, but Brown doesn’t
compete against them, as most
of the NCAA programs are in the
South and the West, too far from
Providence to travel. The only oth-
er Ivy League school with an NCAA
equestrian team is Cornell.
Being NCAA-affiliated means
that the team receives more Uni-
versity funding, so Brown’s riders
don’t have to pay anything to be
on the team.
“Most teams that we play are ac-
tually club teams,” Clippinger said.
“They pay like $500 per semester.
Some people (on other teams) pay
for their lessons, and lessons are
Thursday, March 19, 2009
like $30 a lesson, so we’re really
lucky.”
Competing in the IHSA also
changes the format of the shows.
In NCAA competitions, only the top
riders score points for the teams,
but in IHSA competitions, the rid-
ers are put in five divisions — walk
trot, walk trot canter, novice, in-
termediate, and open — based on
experience.
One rider from each division is
chosen to be the point rider, and
it is that rider’s score that counts
towards the team score.
With some sports, “you’ll have
the really good starter and the
benchwarmer, but on our team
ever yone can be a point rider,”
Grover said. “Everyone is impor-
tant.”
The point riders for last Satur-
day’s show at Johnson and Wales
were announced eight days prior
to the show, during the team meet-
ing.
On Saturday, Brown’s point rid-
ers placed first in four of the five
divisions, earning the team a first-
place finish in the tournament and
in the final regular season stand-
ings of the region.
“It sounds bad to say this,”
Grover said. “But I was like, ‘Yeah,
we should win the region because
we’re that good.’”
Thursday, March 19, 2009
C ampus N EWS
Readers celebrate St. Patty’s day with Joyce, beer
continued from page 1
the Buildings in 2004 after the Prov-
idence Public Library threatened to
close six of its branches.
He began the informational
blog for “people who didn’t want
to see their public library close,”
Lawrence said.
Ultimately, the PPL did not close
its branches, ancestors of the na-
tion’s first public library. But the
threat of branch closure lingered,
and Not About the Buildings re-
mained on the Web.
Lawrence, who said he quit his
day job at the Brown Bookstore
six months ago, soon broke out
of cyberspace and into greater
Providence. In 2007, he organized
a month-long gallery show at Fire-
house 13, a space for contempo-
rary artists, musicians and entre-
preneurs to showcase their work.
The library-themed show included
readings, live music, movie nights, a
book sale and a spelling bee, won by
Dead-In reader Maureen Reddy.
Since 2007, Lawrence has or-
ganized various events — from
book clubs to fiction contests —
at public libraries and independent
bookstores in Providence, includ-
ing a three-hour reading of Ethan
Frome at Ada Books last year. “The
Dead-In” seemed like a festive way
to continue the tradition begun by
the “Frome-In,” Lawrence said.
While academics and intellectu-
als debate the philosophical conse-
quences of the Internet Revolution,
Lawrence said not all Providence
residents access the wealth of
information that the technology
provides.
According to Lawrence, public
libraries are the only sources of in-
formation for some local residents.
Free readings, like those Lawrence
hosts, help people enter the world
of literature, he said.
“I want people to realize that
libraries are important because a
lot of people don’t have other ac-
cess to information,” Lawrence
said. “Sometimes people just need
a little push.”
But Lawrence said he feels un-
comfortable talking about his work
in terms of “value.”
“It’s not like I’m building shelters
for homeless people,” he said.
Likewise, Visiting Lecturer in
English Kate Schapira, who met
Lawrence while working at the
Brown Bookstore, said she some-
times questions the value of litera-
ture. “What is poetry for? What can
it do?”
“Nobody can eat it or sleep un-
derneath it,” she said. “But maybe
it’s okay for it to be smart fun and
not have it house anybody or feed
anybody.”
Libraries in Danger
In today’s economic climate,
it may be getting harder to bring
books and people together. The PPL
projects a $1 million deficit for the
coming year, said Tonia Mason,
marketing director for the city’s
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
3 hours — the length of a “Frome-In”
organized by Matthew Lawrence last year
library system.
Earlier this month, the city
refused the PPL’s plan to resolve
the budget deficit that involved
closing five local branches, said
Linda Kushner, co-founder of the
Providence Community Library, an
organization dedicated to maintain-
ing the city’s libraries.
“It’s always been (the PPL’s) so-
lution to knock down branches,”
Kushner said.
Mason said “everything is un-
certain now” given the lack of suf-
ficient government funds for the
PPL.
“We’re trying to keep the doors
open, to have someone there to turn
on the lights,” she said. “Funding
is not available for a lot of the stuff
that makes a library a library.”
For example, the fund that usu-
ally buys new books for librar y
branches has been frozen since
October, Mason said.
Lawrence pointed out that since
the beginning of the freeze, a new
president has entered the White
House.
“On the one hand, funds have
only been frozen for a few months,”
he said. “On the other hand, there
are no books about Obama in our
public libraries.”
As Lawrence embarks on a new
project to solicit more donations
of children’s books about the new
president for public libraries whose
strained budgets can’t afford them,
the importance of free access to
books is growing.
According to a study released
earlier this month by the Rhode Is-
land Library Association, the state’s
residents have increasingly turned
to their public libraries since the
start of the recession. Despite the
PPL’s deficit and spending freezes,
the study shows that library usage
has increased 40 percent since
2007.
Many residents are turning to
the library’s computer labs to look
for jobs, learn how to write resumes
and search for affordable housing
online, Mason said.
A dream realized
Amid the growing concern about
the survival of the PPL’s branches,
others like Lawrence have commit-
ted to strengthening Providence’s
literar y community — including
Ada Books’ owner, Brent Legault.
After Legault first left his home-
town in California, he worked at a
used bookstore whose mile-high
stacks of dusty tomes left cus-
tomers and employees lost and
confused.
When a customer came in search
of a book, Legault would have to say
in frustration, “You’ll have to look
for it yourself.”
After working in that “behemoth”
of a bookstore, he craved order, he
said. Legault designed Ada Books,
his “almost-dream bookstore,” with
a curator’s precision.
His hand-written yellow tags
mark the boundaries between the
store’s sections — fiction, comics,
Page 9
poetr y, philosophy and politics.
“Just the fun stuff,” Legault said.
In the front of the store, he has
carefully laid out the chapbooks and
’zines of local writers on a wooden
rack.
“It sounds like I’m a neat freak,
but I’m not,” Legault said. “I just
really like bringing a book and a
person together.”
Back to James Joyce
During the hour-and-a-half
reading of “The Dead” Monday
night, Lawrence snapped pictures
of Reddy, his former English
teacher at Rhode Island College,
as she read aloud her section of
the novella. The corners of his wiry
brown beard turned up in a smile
as the crowd laughed at a morsel
of Joycean sarcasm.
Meanwhile, Legault sat still
and attentive in the chair closest
to the cash register, soda bread
and beer.
As the reading continued, some
people in the crowd followed along
in copies of “The Dubliners” pro-
vided by the bookstore.
When University of Rhode Is-
land student Rachel Smith read the
final line of Joyce’s short story, the
crowd sat silent for a moment, then
applauded.
Lawrence encouraged the
people sitting in the bookstore to
mingle because of what they had
in common.
“You’re all good readers,”
he said.
Editorial & Letters
The Brown Daily Herald

Page 10 | Thursday, March 19, 2009

l e t t e r to t h e e d i to r
MSA should carefully vet speakers
To the Editor: and the leaders were strongly apolo-
getic. After a minute or so of hue and
Concerning Monday’s editorial cry, the two representatives left and
(“Uniting Brown,” March 16): I at- the show went on. I found the show
tended an event on campus last Satur- quite interesting and stayed after to
day evening which is worthy of wider dialogue with the performers.
attention, as it gives some context to One would hope that Muslim
the event described in the editorial. Awareness Month should aim to cel-
At Smith-Buonanno Hall, the hip-hop ebrate Muslim identity and combat
artist Hasan Salaam performed as part the false stereotype which Muslim
of the Muslim Students’ Association students undoubtedly encounter —
Islam Awareness month. A colleague that supporting terrorism and demon-
of Hasan’s, Bad Sportt, started the eve- izing Jews is in any way part of Muslim
ning with an a cappella entitled “Divide identity. I wondered why no kind of
and Conquer.” Not one minute into his correction followed after this incident.
address, he referred to the “star of I asked the representative of the MSA
David on the Dollar bill that is really whether he knew of the nature of the
the sign of Lucifer,” and continued work of his invited guests. I mentioned
to expound on how the “Rothschilds that the Hezbollah song was amongst
are starving Africa” and “how Jews” the top five YouTube hits for Hasan
are most certainly “not the chosen Salaam. He replied that he had had
people.” no idea. To give him the benefit of the
After this presentation, Hasan doubt, that is at the very least a rather
Salaam took the mic and the second dramatic instance of a lack of due dili-
chris jesu lee
number he delivered was entitled gence of an organizational operator. It
“Hezbollah,” the refrain of which in- was disappointing, though, that their
volved the repetition of “PLO, Hamas spontaneous display of courage was
and Hizbollah,” and “USA=KKK.” followed neither by audience support, opinions extra
Some of the lyrics included, “Only nor followed up by a correction to the
thing they understand is money and
blood then it must be shed” and “The
world won’t understand till I’m buried
larger community. I shudder to think
of the campus reaction had the shoe
been on the other foot and had a Jew-
Kennedy and the news cycle
and martyred/I’m a sleeper cell/With ish organization inadvertently invited apparently, Kennedy has been perceived as nepotistic
a bomb strapped to the track like I’m an Islamophobic speaker. I would hope BY EVAN PULVERS in his selection of “non-traditional” (read: non-Ph.D.)
a see you in hell.” as a community that we all come to- scholars. I would like to remind the Brown community
Halfway into this track, two repre- gether to stand up against any kind Guest Columnist that his selections must be approved by a number of
sentatives from the Muslim Students of hate thinking and follow up such other people, and that the people he has recruited are
Association, microphones in hand, events by acts of goodwill that bind David Kennedy ’76, interim director of the Watson impressive. Nathaniel Berman, who will begin here in
asked the artists to stop and then told us closer together as members of the Institute for International Studies and vice president July, is a pre-eminent human rights scholar — he will
the audience that the lyrics did not rep- human family. for international affairs, has drawn criticism in The be an asset to students and the Watson Institute.
resent the views of their association. Adam Sacks GS Herald and from faculty for attempting to establish a The failure to understand Kennedy’s vision extends
This was surely a commendable act March 16 legally-oriented global governance program. to the brazenly one-sided Herald coverage published
Professor Abbott Gleason said in Monday’s article on Monday — not a single person in the entire article
t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d (“Watson director’s unpopular agenda draws ire,” March defended David Kennedy or his vision. Yes, Kennedy
Editor-in-Chief Managing Editors Associate Editors Senior Editors 16) that he thought “a certain number of people don’t refused to comment, but Kennedy isn’t the only person
Steve DeLucia Michael Bechek Nandini Jayakrishna Rachel Arndt understand what it is…. They’re suspicious of a program capable of defending his reputation. Now what happens?
Chaz Firestone Franklin Kanin Catherine Cullen
Michael Skocpol Scott Lowenstein that they don’t have an idea what it’s about.” I imagine the course of Herald criticism of Kennedy
editorial Business As a student in one of these classes, I am not confused will run much like last year’s coverage of Dean of the
Ben Hyman Arts & Culture Editor General Managers Office Manager about legal studies at Brown. Legal studies examine how College Katherine Bergeron.
Hannah Levintova Arts & Culture Editor Alexander Hughes Shawn Reilly
Sophia Li Features Editor Jonathan Spector social rules get made and who makes them. Presenting Scathing, insinuating coverage will be rebuked
Emmy Liss Features Editor Directors as mysterious an idea that one has not explored strikes (particularly the out-of-line comment about Kennedy’s
Gaurie Tilak Higher Ed Editor Ellen DaSilva Sales Director
Matthew Varley Higher Ed Editor Claire Kiely Sales Director
me as lazy and irresponsible. It is incumbent on an “romantic relationship”). This may result in an apology
George Miller Metro Editor Phil Maynard Sales Director intellectual community to engage with the informa- by means of a relatively nice article (like yesterday’s
Joanna Wohlmuth Metro Editor Katie Koh Finance Director tion at hand before assessing the merits of a particular editorial on the merits of Kennedy’s ideas), then non-
Chaz Kelsh News Editor Jilyn Chao Asst. Finance Director
Jenna Stark News Editor initiative. controversial coverage for the rest of time. This will close
Benjy Asher Sports Editor Managers
Gleason’s quote implicates Kennedy somewhat, but off productive, critical conversations about the issues at
Andrew Braca Sports Editor Kelly Wess Local Sales
Alex Mazerov Asst. Sports Editor Kathy Bui National Sales strongly implicates faculty who haven’t taken the initia- hand, as with last year’s coverage of Bergeron.
Katie Wood Asst. Sports Editor Alex Carrere University Sales tive to understand Kennedy’s intentions. The article This is a shame. There are real issues about direc-
Christiana Stephenson Recruiter Sales
Graphics & Photos
Matt Burrows Credit and Collections
notes that “few in theory opposed” Kennedy’s ideas, so tion and process regarding Kennedy and the Watson
Chris Jesu Lee Graphics Editor
Stephen Lichenstein Graphics Editor Opinions
it’s puzzling that faculty have been so resistant. Institute, just as real concerns about the operation of
Eunice Hong Photo Editor Sarah Rosenthal Opinions Editor It seems that a failure to understand Kennedy’s vi- the Dean of the College’s office persist. Let’s hope a real
Kim Perley Photo Editor Editorial Page Board sion has led to a hysterical level of anxiety and endless discussion about creating a legal studies program, with
Justin Coleman Sports Photo Editor James Shapiro Editorial Page Editor
Nick Bakshi Board member conjecture about the direction of the Watson Institute, all the requisite curricular and faculty considerations,
production
Kathryn Delaney Copy Desk Chief
Zack Beauchamp Board member which has translated into excessive hand-wringing. is still possible.
Sara Molinaro Board member
Seth Motel Copy Desk Chief
William Martin Board member
Note to Brown: Studying law is different from start-
Marlee Bruning Design Editor
Jessica Calihan Design Editor
ing a law school. The faculty has understandable con-
Anna Migliaccio Asst. Design Editor Post- magazine cerns about the Watson Institute’s selection process — Evan Pulvers ’10.5 is from Portland, Ore.
Julien Ouellet Asst. Design Editor Arthur Matuszewski Editor-in-Chief
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Opinions
The Brown Daily Herald
Leading ladies, look out for each other
KATE DOYLE
Opinions Columnist
I must, as we all should, applaud Jeremy
Feigenbaum ’11 for facing up to the realities
of women in today’s world (“The leading
ladies,” March 11) — including those of
the Brown woman. It’s all too easy to say
these problems don’t exist at our famously
liberal institution, where we’re apt to think of
our existence as all but perfect, where we’d
like to think that we’ve moved far beyond
the issues of inequality that plague the rest
of the world.
We’ve been co-ed since 1971, have an
undergraduate population that is 52 per-
cent female and are currently served by our
University’s first-ever female president. We
certainly have a famous history of toleration
and opportunity for all, and are known far
and wide as home to the protestors and
rabble-rousers of the world.
But how incredibly foolish it would be to
assume that a liberal reputation exempts us
from a responsibility to women, to encourage
their success, to ensuring they overcome
the obstacles the world will undoubtedly
throw their way.
Feigenbaum is right: In a world where
women are rarely encouraged to run for of-
fice to the same degree that men are, Brown
must recognize that there is still much to be
Brown students should worry about the Obama budget
BORIS RYVKIN
Opinions Columnist
The budget proposed by the Obama admin-
istration for Fiscal Year 2010 should trouble
every member of the Brown community. It is
a declaration of a class war, the likes of which
this country has not seen in decades. It also
seeks a restructuring of the way America
does business by placing the state in a posi-
tion of perpetual economic dominance at the
expense of the private sector.
The Obama budget sends a message to
all hard-working, aspiring professionals:
don’t aim too high and succeed too much.
The stereotypical student at Brown seems
not particularly bothered by this. Neverthe-
less, planning for one’s future is serious
business. What you thought you would do
now may prove totally unfeasible tomorrow.
Therefore, it is important not to cut your
options off at the knees and oppose policies
that punish upward mobility.
The administration’s visceral hatred for
the affluent, successful and entrepreneurial
among us is expressed most vividly at two
points in the budget summar y. The Presi-
dent’s Message, which opens the document,
condemns the “many on Wall Street” who
irresponsibly chased profits and snubbed
the public good. Borrowers who took on
unaffordable mortgages were “inadequately
informed of the risks and over whelmed
by fine print.” In other words, in order to
correctly envisage the stor y of the credit
crisis, one should picture a group of fat cat
addressed in our own community. He notes
that women serve in far fewer leadership po-
sitions at Brown than men, and urges those
thinking of running to “Do it. You are as
qualified as men and just as deserving.” For
this statement, I applaud him most of all.
But there is one point that Feigenbaum
neglects. While he puts the onus on men to
champion women’s movement into higher
office, I would argue that it is most essential
Women who have found success in their fields
must encourage others to follow in their
footsteps, make their own opportunities and find
their way in the world. Here, I believe, is where we
at Brown most fall short.
that women themselves look out for one
another. Women who have found success
in their fields must encourage others to
follow in their footsteps, make their own op-
portunities and find their way in the world.
Here, I believe, is where we at Brown most
fall short.
On my first night at Brown, my RC asked
if anyone in the unit would like to step up
and share their reasons for attending the
investors and bankers plotting the demise
of the dupes on Main Street.
Whatever happened to two-way respon-
sibility? If the borrower takes out a mort-
gage he knows he cannot afford because
of inadequate income or the potential of a
high interest rate, why take one out in the
first place? The belief that Wall Street and
Main Street can be clearly separated into
good and evil, criminals and victims, is ut-
ter nonsense.
The section following the President’s
Message continues the barrage. “Prudent
Women who have found success in their fields
must encourage others to follow in their
footsteps, make their own opportunities and find
their way in the world. Here, I believe, is where we
at Brown most fall short.
investments in education, clean energy,
healthcare, and infrastructure were sacri-
ficed for huge tax cuts to the wealthy and
well-connected.” I never knew that our op-
tions for improving any of these sectors
were limited to two: allow them to collapse
or inject capital from Washington.
Certainly no one would want to assign
property rights to our infrastructure and
have some bloke on Wall Street get three to
four times the return, at half the cost, than
University. Five men volunteered. “How
about some girls?” my RC asked — but found
no takers. I went to an all-girls high school,
so I’d heard the statistics: that women learn
differently than men, and that women par-
ticipate to a markedly lesser degree in the
classroom setting when men are around.
I’d always believed it, but never more so
than on that first night. Where in my high
school I would have had no problem speak-
ing up, here I found myself strangely mute.
But why didn’t we, the women in the room,
simply encourage one another to join the
conversation?
It’s true in the “real world,” and it’s true
here at Brown — the full support of each
and ever y man does no good to any woman
if we cannot ourselves learn to support each
other and promote one another’s success.
When first-years are too ner vous to raise
what the state currently receives. We all
know that without significant government
inter vention, or better yet control, we will
continue to produce sub-standard students
and have to tolerate people dying on the
streets without health insurance. No alter-
natives between this black and white need
be examined.
Then there is the hackneyed clarion call
for a need to “restore a basic sense of fair-
ness to the tax code, eliminating incentives
for companies that ship jobs overseas, and
giving a generous package of tax cuts to 95
percent of working families.” Translation?
We aim to increase marginal tax rates on
those already paying between 60 and 75
percent of all federal income taxes, punish
companies taking advantage of economies of
scale to control fixed costs and lower prices
for consumers and give cash handouts to
millions of people paying no federal income
taxes at all. I have trouble understanding
where fairness comes into play, but the
melody of the rhetoric is soothing.
Thursday, March 19, 2009 | Page 11
their voices on the first night of Orientation
— and as they move through their years at
Brown, joining clubs and student organiza-
tions and taking countless classes — female
upperclassmen should be making it a prior-
ity to help these fellow women succeed in
student groups and engage in classroom
discussion. And when these same first-years
become sophomores, juniors and seniors
themselves, that same responsibility must
fall to them.
It’s far too often that upperclassmen —
male and female alike — unconsciously take
the attitude that newly arrived first-year
men are fresh talent who should be given
opportunities to prove themselves, while
first-year women struggle to be recognized
as talented individuals capable of more than
the menial tasks.
Brown women in leadership positions
need to look around. You have a responsibil-
ity, yes, but also the exciting power to help
your fellow women succeed. You should
be recruiting them, taking them under
your wing, getting them actively involved!
Then, and only then, can we hope to achieve
equality at Brown — and upon our gradu-
ation, proudly bring to the world ideals of
gender parity that are truly worthy of our
reputation.
Kate Doyle ’12 is from Westpor t,
Connecticut. She can be reached at
Katherine_Doyle @brown.edu.
Obama’s budget targets families earning
more than $250,000 and individuals earn-
ing over $200,000 for the brunt of the tax
increases embedded in the budget. The
Bush tax cuts will expire, which means an
instant increase in federal income tax rates
from 35 to 39.6 percent. These ingrates will
also be hit with a 5 percent capital gains tax
hike, reductions in personal exemptions and
fewer deductions for charitable contributions
(let’s say public good one more time!). Their
wealth, justly carted away to Washington,
will be spent toward a down-payment for na-
tionalized healthcare, wasteful social welfare
programs and the aforementioned handouts
to non-filers.
Demonization of the rich is standard fare
at Brown. Public ser vice and a life of fru-
gality is the ethos, the University default.
The decent people are over here and the
rich, exploitative, skunks on Wall Street are
over there. The recent debate in the pages
of The Herald over whether GPA matters
underscores the attitude of some that what
happens “out there” really does not affect
me.
That might be fine and good now, but
life changes people and forces them to make
difficult decisions about their futures. I hope
more members of the Brown community
take heed, and do not let clichés and empty
rhetoric blind them.
Boris Ryvkin ’09 is an economics and
political science concentrator from
New York City. He can be reached at
Boris_Ryvkin@brown.edu.
 Today
The Brown Daily Herald
the news in images
5 post-
March 19, 2009
c a l e n da r
6:00 P.M. — “Heatstroke: Nature in an
Age of Global Warming,” MacMillan
115
7:00 p.m. — “Discovering Dominga,”
Joukowsky Forum, Watson Institute
menu
Sharpe Refectory
Lunch — Eggplant Parmesan,
Beef Tacos, Hot Turkey Sandwich
with Sauce
Dinner — Honey Dipped Chicken,
Mexican Cornbread Casserole, Savory
Rice Pilaf, Brazilian Chocolate Cake
crossword
3
to day to m o r r o w
Roose ’09.5 gos undercover
M. tennis smashes Bryant, 7-0
Thursday, March 19, 2009
7 50 / 28 43 / 24
Page 12
Have a great The Herald will not be publishing on Fri. March 20.
Check browndailyherald.com for breaking news, and look
spring break! for the next issue of The Herald on Mon. March 30.
post-
magazine
Brown university ● march 19, 2009 ● Volume 10 ● issue 8
March 20, 2009
Inside...
2 P.M. — “Emancipated Memories:
03 feature
THOUGHTS ON THE FRISC \\ emmy liss
Uncovering the Hidden Faces of Slav-
ery,” Carriage House Gallery, 357 04 film and television
Benefit St. BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA\\ zach beauchamp
HAIL TO THE KING... \\ doug eacho
12 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m. — Free airport
05 music
shuttles leaving from Faunce House COVERING THE COVER BAND SHOW \\ marshall katheder
PUT YOUR HEADPHONES ON... \\ katie kinsey
07 sexpertise
Verney-Woolley Dining Hall
KEEP IT CLASSY, LADIES \\ allie wollner
IT’S TIME\\ sam yambrovich
Lunch — Chinese Chicken Wings 08 from the hill
with Sticky Rice, Mediterranean Bar DOGFISH HEAD\\ owen miller
HOW TO DINE \\ ted lamm & alex logan
Dinner — Eggplant Parmesan,
Green Pepper Steak, Garlic and But-
ter Infused Rice, Brazilian Chocolate
Cake
comics
Enigma Twist | Dustin Foley
Cabernet Voltaire | Abe Pressman
The One About Zombies | Kevin Grebb