Daily Herald the Brown

vol. cxliv, no. 17 | Thursday, February 12, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891

Brown TFA Science center could

apps up 65
percent
By Shannon O’Brien
Contributing Writer
Teach for America, a nonprofit
organization that places recent
college graduates and profession-
als in public schools for two years
at a time, is expecting a 65 to 70
percent increase in Brown appli-
cants this year, according to Lisa
Krauthamer, who is in charge of
recruitment for Brown.
So far, 130 Brown students have
applied to the program, which of-
fers four rounds of applications,
Krauthamer said, and the organiza-
tion is expecting more applications
before the last deadline Friday.
Ninety-nine Brown students ap-
plied to the program last year, an
increase from 75 in 2007.
The increase in Brown applica-
open next January
By Chaz Kelsh
News Editor
A science resource center in the
Sciences Librar y could open as
early as Januar y 2010, according
to Dean of the College Katherine
Bergeron.
The center, to be located on the
third floor of the SciLi, will serve as
a “nexus point” for students in sci-
ence classes, bringing together ad-
vising, tutoring and studying across
science disciplines, she said.
The project is fully funded and
unaffected by the economic down-
turn. There are “certain things that
need to go forward even in tough
economic times,” Bergeron said.
The project has been under dis-
Alex DePaoli / Herald
cussion since fall 2006, when the
The planned science resource center will be on the third floor of the Undergraduate Science Education
SciLi. Committee recommended the cen-
ter’s creation.
A Science Advisory Board com-
prising faculty from various science
disciplines was created in fall 2007
and charged with outlining priori-
ties for the new center, Bergeron
said.
The space will be “devoted to
bringing faculty and students to-
gether,” she said, adding that it
will be a place for “pedagogic in-
novation.”
Bergeron also said the center
could support a program similar
to the Writing Fellows Program for
math and science students. These
“math and science fellows” could
be on hand in the resource center
to tutor students and further help
foster “a sense of community.”
Though Bergeron said she
continued on page 2

IRB reform could streamline undergrad research

tions this year is higher than the
estimated 40 percent increase na-
tionwide, according to Krauthamer,
who attributed the overall increase
to several factors, including the
election of President Obama and
a “momentum” built by Teach for
America.
“First of all, there’s just a gen-
eral change in our country inspired
by the new administration,” she
said. “Instead of going abroad to
make an impact, now is a great time
to change things here.”
She also cited increased recruit-
ment efforts on Brown’s campus as
By Sydney Ember
Senior Staff Writer
The University’s Research Advisory
Board is looking to reform stringent
research procedures that currently
slow undergraduate research on
human subjects.
The board, composed of faculty
members who counsel Vice Presi-
dent for Research Clyde Briant, has
created a subcommittee to reform
the Institutional Review Board’s
stringent procedures and stream-
line the approval process for these
projects.
“The current standards seem to
be fine,” said Kenneth Wong, chair
of the Department of Education and
chair of the subcommittee. “But we
are changing the current support
that makes the students deal with
those standards more efficiently.”
The subcommittee’s new rec-
ommendations, which have been
submitted to the Faculty Executive
Committee for input, will take effect
by the end of the semester or early
in the summer, Wong said.
In reviewing the IRB’s current
procedures, Wong said the subcom-
mittee looked at the University’s
peer institutions, such as Princeton
and the University of Chicago, in
order to gain perspective on the
different possible levels of restric-
tion.
“Brown is kind of in the middle,”
he said. “I think what we have here
is good. But it does put a lot of bur-
den — or flexibility, depending on
how you look at it — on the faculty
advisory.”
The federal government began to
require universities to pay particular
attention to research conducted by
continued on page 2

How the tables have turned — on each other

a major contributor to the increase
in applications.
“Teach for America is growing
every year, so we’ve obviously got
to accommodate that,” Krauthamer
said, adding that increased recruit-
ment at Brown is part of a nation-
wide effort to solicit more applica-
tions.
Students accepted to the pro-
gram this year offered several rea-
sons why the program is attracting
more Brown students.
Like Krauthamer, Fiona Heck-
scher ’09, who was accepted this
year, said the momentum on cam-
pus has contributed to a rise in
applicants.
“Teach for America has a really
obscenely effective recruiting ma-
chine,” she said, adding that Brown
graduates who have participated
in the program in past years send
positive reports back, influencing
more Brown students to apply.
Heckscher and Adam Siegel ’09,
who was also accepted, agreed that
the economic crisis could have af-
fected some students’ decision to
apply to the program, but added
continued on page 3
inside
By Emily Rosen work that is a component of many
Contributing Writer RISD classes. The event also pro-
vided a light-hearted avenue for
Excitement and anticipation filled students to show off the products
Rhode Island School of Design’s of a winter’s worth of hard work,
intimate Tap Room Tuesday night. Bullens said.
Members of the Providence com- “It’s more of a performance
munity joined RISD students and piece than a tournament,” he said,
faculty on the top floor of RISD’s adding that the project incorporat-
Memorial Hall for an unexpected ed many aspects of design, from
purpose — to watch four tables. building furniture to engineering
The crowd surrounded the tables’ combative
wooden barriers delin- FEATURE capabilities — a variety
eating a fighting ring, of projectiles and swing-
eager to witness Brass Knuckles, ing limbs designed to batter the
Crazy Susan, C-Section and the opposing table into submission.
Kraken vie to become the first-ever If the concept sounds a lot like
RISD Table Fights Champion. Comedy Central’s one-time hit
The competition was the robot fighting show BattleBots,
culmination of a six-week RISD well, it is.
Wintersession course led by in- After six long weeks in the
structors Shaun Bullens, Ann Ad- workroom, the four tables were Min Wu / Herald
ams and Caleb Larson. Fourteen ready for battle — and to captivate Four tables created by RISD students fought for the title of Table Fights
Champion Tuesday night .
students, split into four groups, the crowd with their entertaining
designed and built four remote- fighting tactics. the Kraken against C-Section and the tables fought their opponents
controlled, battle-ready tables. The “Battle Royale” began as Brass Knuckles against Crazy Su- and knocked down smaller, col-
Tuesday night’s showdown the tables raced to determine their san. lapsible tables set up in the ring. A
ser ved as the class’ official cri- seeds in the fighting matches that Each match consisted of two
tique — the evaluation of student followed. The race results pitted three-minute rounds during which continued on page 2

News.....1-4
Inside News, 3 Sports, 7

post-
Metro..........5
Sports......7 is back from Ruckus disappears Squash victorious
Editorial....10 abroad and ready Brown students will have The men’s and women’s
Opinion....11 to get lost for to find an alternate free squash teams coast to
Today........12 Valentine’s Day. music source. victory at Tufts.

www.browndailyherald.com 195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island herald@browndailyherald.com

Page 2 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Thursday, February 12, 2009

C ampus N EWS “It did nothing but spew amniotic fluid everywhere.”
— Dory Little, RISD’10

Tears, triumph in table tussle
continued from page 1
table won a round if it knocked out
its opponent. Other wise, a group
of judges determined the rounds’
winners by awarding them points
based on how successfully they
fought their competitors.
Brass Knuckles and Crazy Su-
san faced off in the ring to begin
the first match. Crazy Susan, which
struck its opponents with a spin-
ning array of protruding tea cups,
emerged victorious by a final score
of 46-15. (Brass Knuckles was a
black box that “punched” its foes
with a clenched fist painted on one
side.)
“We did ever ything we could,”
said RISD sophomore Nicole Mer-
cer, a member of the Brass Knuck-
les team. “Ever ything that could
go wrong did, but it was awesome
anyway. I’m still really happy.”
The armaments in the second
matchup were even more unusu-
al. C-Section’s remote-controlled
babies emerged from under it to
attack opponents while the table
sprayed “placenta” made of pink
soapy liquid, but they proved no
match for the jellyfish-inspired
Kraken, which used long, flail-
ing foam tentacles to take on its
competitors. The Kraken sent its
placenta-squirting opponent crash-
ing to the floor in the next match
for a knock-out, securing it a spot
in the championship match against
Crazy Susan.
But before the top two tables
battled for the title of Table Fights
Champion, Brass Knuckles and C-
Section faced each other in the con-
solation match. One of C-Section’s
remote-controlled babies made a
futile attempt to knock down a small
table in the ring, but before it could
succeed, Brass Knuckles’ painted
fist knocked out what remained of
sudoku
its opponent — a “placenta-soaked”
tablecloth surrounded by motion-
less toy babies that had fallen off
their remote controls.
Though by that point the crowd
had dwindled, the Kraken and Cra-
zy Susan were poised to battle for
the crown. The Kraken claimed
victor y by a final score of 202-161,
to the elation of the team that had
labored for so long to create it.
“We’re the best,” said first-year
Khalil Custis, who shared the vic-
tor y with three fellow RISD stu-
dents: senior Eunice Kim and
sophomores Louis Martinez and
Tim Oshida. The Kraken’s con-
quest was complete — the team
also won the “People’s Choice
Award” for receiving the loudest
audience applause.
But RISD junior Dor y Little, a
spectator who said C-Section was
his favorite competitor, disagreed
with that verdict. “It did nothing
but spew amniotic fluid ever y-
where,” he said with admiration.
Tuesday night’s event may have
been the debut of Table Fights on
College Hill, but the event is not
a new phenomenon. Last year’s
International Contemporar y Fur-
niture Fair featured 16 tables in the
first annual national Table Fights
competition, an event founded by
Bullens and Adams, who instructed
the RISD course. .
All four RISD tables will travel
to Chelsea, N.Y., to compete in the
second annual national competition
this spring. Since most of the tables
were damaged during Tuesday
night’s fights, the students plan to
build duplicates of their gladiators
for the second competition.
“Table Fights is a blast, and it’s
never happened before at RISD,”
said senior Nick Kole, one of the
showdown’s announcers. “It’s very
much in the true spirit of RISD.”
Science center work could begin this summer
continued from page 1
hoped money for programming
in the resource center will be al-
located by the Corporation at its
meeting next weekend, she added
that some programs, such as the
math and science fellows, could
be funded by grants.
“One is always looking for
grant funding,” she said, adding
that she was unsure what the
budget for potential programming
could be.
An added benefit of the re-
source center may be a greater
ability for the University to pro-
cure grants from the National In-
stitutes of Health, which mandate
that grants include an educational
outreach component, said Associ-
ate Dean of the College for Sci-
ence Education David Targan.
The physical plan for the cen-
ter is still in the “design phase,”
Bergeron said, adding that Berg-
meyer Associates, who planned
the bookstore renovations, is
working on the project.
The center might feature small
group study rooms, partitioned
spaces and a kiosk at its entrance
telling students which classrooms
are in use or where certain study
groups are being held, Bergeron
said.
Board aims to reform human research rules
continued from page 1
undergraduates because there were
frequent lapses in the treatment
of subjects when student authors
would inadvertently identify sub-
jects by name — a violation permis-
sible only if the person reading the
report is the overseeing faculty. But
issues arise when this knowledge
is shared with a broader audience
than the professors, Wong said.
Many of these projects, which
frequently involve non-invasive pro-
cedures such as filling out surveys
or observing computer simulations,
still require specific protocols out-
lined by the IRB in order to ensure
the protection of all participants in
the studies, especially children.
“They want to make sure no
harms are done to the kids, and
that the parents are fully informed,”
Wong said of the IRB’s strict policy
for these cases.
A Research Protections Office
chart from Jan. 14 identified eight
The center will be designed
with heavy input from students
and faculty, Targan said. The ar-
chitects have already attended six
focus groups — two with students,
two with faculty and two with ad-
ministrators — he added.
“The focus groups with stu-
dents revealed that what they
were interested in was connecting
with other students,” Targan said,
adding that the architects can now
“go back, literally, to the drawing
board” to create final plans for
the space.
A model of the resource center
might be displayed in the SciLi
lobby later this semester to solicit
further student input, though the
architects already have “a lot of
feedback at this point,” he said.
University Librarian Harriette
Hemmasi, who attended a focus
group last week, said the resource
center would be an extension
of the Friedman Study Center,
though it would be a “slightly
more targeted environment.”
Librarians “tr y to stay more
in the background” in the Fried-
man Center since it is “student-
operated,” Hemmasi said, adding
that the center could serve as an
“equalizing” space between fac-
ulty and students, who are not ac-
customed to meeting outside the
human research protocols that were
undergraduate projects in the social
sciences last year, out of a total of
17. Such a high percentage — life
sciences had five protocols in un-
dergraduate projects in 2008 —
reflects the IRB’s “unevenness,”
Wong said.
The current process for ap-
proval, which involves submitting
detailed proposals and explaining
the recruitment process for partici-
pants, can take “eons,” said Rachel
Ostrand ’09, who is conducting re-
search involving speech compari-
son in the Department of Cogni-
tive and Linguistic Sciences. While
running a survey during her study
last year, she wanted to switch to a
different hosting Web site for her
research. The change took a week
and a half to gain approval from the
IRB, she said.
Such a slow turnaround, Wong
said, is what the subcommittee is
trying to avoid by streamlining the
IRB’s review process.
classroom or office setting.
Space for the center on the
third floor of the SciLi will be freed
up by moving books to the Library
Collections Annex, located about
four miles from campus, which
is just over half-full, Hemmasi
said.
Construction on the center will
begin this summer with renova-
tions to the building’s heating,
ventilating and air conditioning
system, currently “designed to
house mostly cold books,” Targan
said, adding that the work could
begin before plans for the center
are finalized.
Associate Professor of Chem-
istry and Biochemistry J. William
Suggs, who teaches CHEM 0350:
“Organic Chemistry,” said the cen-
ter will encourage students to be
active listeners, “not just sit there
and consume knowledge.”
Professor of Physics David
Cutts, who teaches PHYS 0060:
“Foundations of Electromagnetism
and Modern Physics,” called the
center a “useful model for where
learning might be headed.”
Students can also take advan-
tage of the “synergy” between
science disciplines by sharing in-
teresting applications of common
concepts with students from other
courses, he said.
Wong said the committee is
encouraging stronger faculty sup-
port for undergraduates, especially
seniors working on theses. By ad-
vocating for more information ses-
sions run through relevant depart-
ments and the Office of the Dean
of the College, Wong said he hopes
students will receive more advice
on how to proceed earlier with
their intended projects in order
to save time in the IRB’s approval
process.
He said starting projects early
would reduce problems and anxi-
ety for students attempting to gain
approval for their research, which
often carries time constraints as a
result of the University’s schedule.
The committee is also advocating
for a section on the RPO’s Web site
that shares protocols so students
can “identify these templates” for
possible situations, such as those
involving parental consent for mi-
nors.
“I think this is a problem that
can be solved,” Wong said. “We just
need better coordination.”
But the process, despite the

Daily Herald
current frustration, is not merely
the Brown
a “painful hurdle,” said Professor of
Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences
Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372 | Business Phone: 401.351.3260 Sheila Blumstein.
“Ethics is as much a part of re-
Stephen DeLucia, President Jonathan Spector, Treasurer
search as research itself,” Blum-
Michael Bechek, Vice President Alexander Hughes, Secretary
stein said. “The history of humanity
The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serv- has not been very good in testing
ing the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday people.”
through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during
“Going through the process is
Commencement, once during Orientation and once in July by The Brown Daily
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Subscription prices: $319 one year daily, $139 one semester daily.
Copyright 2009 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved. must “never forget that they’re deal-
ing with human beings.”
Thursday, February 12, 2009
C ampus N EWS
The Ruckus music service abruptly shut down last week, with only the above image left on its Web site.
Ruckus shuts down without notice
By Colin Chazen
Senior Staf f Writer
Ruckus, the free Internet mu-
sic ser vice subscribed to by the
University, abruptly shut down
Friday.
The company has yet to release
a statement about the cessation of
ser vices beyond a terse message
on its Web site: “Unfortunately
the Ruckus service will no longer
be provided. Thanks.”
The University began offering
students free access to Ruckus in
September 2006 as a legal alter-
native to peer-to-peer download-
ing sites. The ser vice allowed
students to download 1.5 million
music tracks for free and thou-
sands of movies for a small fee,
according to a University state-
ment at the time.
But the software only worked
on Windows, and restrictive li-
cences prevented the songs from
being transferred to iPods or cop-
ied onto compact discs, limiting
its popularity.
“Unless a ser vice is going to
be usable on your iPod, most
people didn’t want to use it,” said
George Loftus, executive director
of the Ocean State Higher Edu-
Happy Birthday Darwin! Thanks for reading The Herald.
cation, Economic Development
and Administrative Network, a
nonprofit organization that pro-
vided the University with access
to a Ruckus ser ver.
By pooling together thousands
of subscribers from universities
across Rhode Island, OSHEAN
was able to surpass Ruckus’s
7,000-subscriber minimum and re-
ceive a dedicated ser ver without
paying the fee Ruckus charges for
smaller subscriber networks.
The ser ver is still operational
and OSHEAN has not received
any instructions from Ruckus
about the ser ver or its reposses-
sion, Loftus said. OSHEAN staff
members have placed phone calls
and sent e-mails to their Ruckus
representative but have yet to
receive a reply, according to an
e-mail sent from OSHEAN to the
University.
“There’s no fee,” Loftus said.
“I think that’s part of the reason
they didn’t feel compelled to con-
tact us.”
Songs downloaded from Ruck-
us came with a 30-day license and
will continue to play until that li-
cense expires, Loftus said, but
the licenses can no longer be
renewed.
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
“I thought it was important for posterity to record UCS
Courtesy of Ruckus.com
Loftus said OSHEAN will look
for alternative ser vices to offer
Rhode Island schools, but Ruckus
was the only music download-
ing ser vice that did not charge
a fee.
“The whole marketplace is
ver y topsy-tur vy right now,” Lof-
tus said. “We have yet to find a
fee-based subscription ser vice
that students feel is worth pay-
ing for.”
Students inter viewed by The
Herald seemed largely unaware
that Ruckus had shut down.
“I was going to download it
and I never did,” said Lauren
Davis ’09, who said she listens
to most of her music through
other students’ iTunes. “I’m not
tech-savvy.”
David Schwartz ’09 said he’d
heard about Ruckus, but never
downloaded it. He used to down-
load music from shareware sites
and peer-to-peer networks but
stopped after he filled up his
computer’s hard drive. He said
he sees little appeal in limited-
access subscription ser vices like
Ruckus.
“I can listen to (music) any-
time I want on YouTube or get it
from a friend,” he said.
opinion.” — Clay Wertheimer ’10
UCS responds to Morning
Mail policy reversal
By Ben Schreckinger
Senior Staf f Writer
The Undergraduate Council of Stu-
dents passed a revised resolution
in response to the Office of Public
Affairs and University Relations’
reversal of its more restrictive
Morning Mail submission policy
at the UCS general body meeting
Wednesday night. The resolution
recognized “PAUR’s expeditious
response to student concerns,”
called for the public relations office
to continue the open Morning Mail
policy and requested improved
communication between PAUR
and UCS.
Early Friday morning, PAUR
discontinued its policy that restrict-
ed Morning Mail announcements
to events accommodating at least
300 people in response to student
feedback. UCS Communications
Chair Clay Wertheimer ’10 credit-
ed the change to student feedback
and a proposed UCS resolution in
opposition to the policy.
Wertheimer, the resolution’s
sponsor, told The Herald Tuesday
night he was “really pleased” with
the reversal, which was “exactly
what the resolution was calling
for.” He said he still planned to
bring the resolution up for a vote,
because the UCS executive board
Economy may have spurred
jump in Brown TFA apps
continued from page 1
that it was not a criterion for
them.
“People who might not have
been quite ready to take the leap”
and apply to the program could
have found that the economic
downturn provided “just that little
push,” Siegel said.
As for the difference in applicant
increase between Brown and the
Page 3
“thought it was important to of-
ficially record our opinion on the
issue.”
But in an e-mail sent later that
night to the UCS general body and
obtained by The Herald, Student
Activities Chair Ryan Lester ’11
wrote that passing a resolution
calling for a change that had al-
ready been made would be “silly
… slightly spiteful and completely
useless.”
Lester attached his proposed
resolution with the e-mail, which
“thanks and supports the Office of
Public Affairs and University Rela-
tions for its immediate response,”
and requests that UCS be con-
sulted about any future changes
to Morning Mail.
In an e-mailed response to the
general body obtained by The Her-
ald, Wertheimer wrote that he was
“not accepting” Lester’s changes,
but later in a second response
Wednesday morning included
an updated resolution containing
many of the Lester’s changes.
“I thought it was important for
posterity to record UCS opinion,”
Wertheimer told the UCS general
body Wednesday night, adding that
the amended resolution “had more
relevance for the future.”
Wertheimer’s amended resolu-
tion passed without opposition.
nationwide average, Heckscher
cited an environment at Brown
that particularly encourages public
service. In contrast, she said, her
friends at other schools “fight a lot
of preprofessional pressure from
peers and professors.”
So far the program has selected
25 Brown seniors to begin working
this fall. Fifty-five Brown applicants
are going through their last round
of interviews this week.
 Metro
The Brown Daily Herald
Residents testify against More job cuts on the way for ProJo
outdoor gas meters
By Anne Speyer
Staf f Writer
Rhode Island homeowners and a
spokesman for public utilities com-
pany National Grid testified before
the Rhode Island House Committee
on Corporations yesterday about a
proposed bill that would regulate the
placement of gas meters on private
residences.
The bill would require all public
utility companies to consult with
property owners before relocating
any gas regulator or meter. The bill
— H-5088 — also states that utility
companies are “prohibited from in-
stalling gas regulators and/or gas
meters on the visible front of any
residential property” unless “there
exists no prudent and feasible alter-
native to such location.”
Many property owners oppose
the exterior installation of gas me-
ters because of issues of safety, ex-
pense and aesthetics.
Advocating for the passage
of the bill were representatives
from the West Broadway and Fox
Point neighborhood associations,
Coleman Realtors, the Provi-
dence Preser vation Society, the
Newport Restoration Foundation
and Rhode Island’s State Historic
Preservation Office.
For these groups, who have
struggled for several months to
prevent National Grid from install-
ing meters on the exteriors of local
properties, the bill represents “a
way to solve a real problem,” Ed-
ward Sanderson, director of the
State Historic Preservation Office,
said during the hearing.
National Grid testified against
the passage of the bill, maintaining
that the installation of outdoor gas
meters is necessary for safety and
convenience. National Grid’s rep-
resentative at the meeting, Frank
McMahon, explained the problems
associated with leaving gas meters
inside a residential structure.
“There are safety issues. There
are convenience issues to both the
homeowner and National Grid,
and there are emergency shut-off
issues,” he said.
At an Aug. 27 hearing in front of
the Public Utilities Commission, a
National Grid representative was di-
rectly asked about the safety issues
involved in the inside placement of
a gas meter.
“The meter can be inside, but
the regulator should be outside,”
said the representative, Thomas
Teehan, according to a transcript
of the hearing. Gas meters provide a
reading of a home’s gas usage, while
a regulator controls the pressure of
gas entering the home.
Jessica Jennings, a member of
the West Broadway Neighborhood
Association, urged the committee to
pass the bill. She called the safety
issues a “myth,” adding that “it’s
always been safe” to have meters
inside the home.
Michael Young, a real estate
agent for Coleman Realtors, told
the committee that he believed ex-
terior gas meters would negatively
affect property values.
“Our main concern is for the
value of the homes. This is a very
difficult market we’re currently ex-
isting in,” he said.
Jennings also said reinstalling
the meters would prove costly.
“It’s obviously more expensive to
move the meters,” she said, citing
National Grid’s proposed budget
for its Accelerated Replacement
Program, which allocates $12.8
million to the replacement of gas
equipment.
Rep. Steven Costantino,
D-Dist. 8, chairperson of the House
Finance Committee, has supported
the bill since he helped introduce it on
Jan. 14.
“We just want the owners con-
sulted,” he said.
McMahon admitted that Na-
tional Grid needed to improve its
relationship with property owners.
“We’re here today because of poor
communication,” he said. “We don’t
disagree that there needs to be
better communication with people
about where meters go. National
Grid recognizes that this has been
a contentious issue.”
If the committee passes the bill, it
will go to a vote in the full House.
“They don’t understand the role the Journal plays
in the fabric of Rhode Island.” — John Hill, ProJo reporter
By Lauren Fedor
Senior Staf f Writer
While on-campus dining establish-
ments continue to provide morn-
ing editions of local, regional and
national newspapers, the dailies
students may take for granted
are under constant anxiety due to
shifting trends in news media.
As adver tisement revenues
plummet and more readers turn
to the Internet to get their news,
publications like the Providence
Journal are feeling the effects.
And though the death of the
newspaper industr y has been
widely reported for many years,
newspaper companies’ challenges
and concerns have escalated in
recent months.
On the heels of a series of
layoffs last year, the ProJo may
soon face a fresh round of work-
force reductions, according to a
statement released last month by
Robert Decherd, president and
chief executive of ficer of A.H.
Belo Corporation, which owns
the newspaper.
Last July, Belo announced
a plan to cut the corporation’s
workforce by nearly 14 percent,
eliminating 500 full-time jobs from
the company’s various holdings,
according to a Jul. 28 article in the
ProJo. Belo also owns the Dallas
Morning News.
Last summer’s announce-
ment came after months of rev-
enue losses. In 2008 alone, Belo’s
second-quarter revenue fell 15.1
percent, and in the three months
leading up to the layoff announce-
ment, the company reported a net
loss of $3.19 million. During the
same period in 2007, the company
netted a profit of $12.9 million.
Maribel Correa, director of
investor relations for Belo, de-
clined to comment on how many
positions were eliminated at the
ProJo last year.
The Providence Newspaper
Guild — representing 400 em-
ployees of the ProJo and 200 at
the Worcester Telegram and Ga-
zette — reported on its Web site
that 22 ProJo employees accepted
buyouts in September 2008. The
Thursday, February 12, 2009 | Page 5
following month, an additional 31
employees were laid off.
October’s layoffs eliminated
the entire part-time workforce of
the paper’s news department.
Correa said that while the cut-
backs in 2008 included voluntar y
severance packages, or buyouts
— providing “certain benefits,”
different from those provided if
an employee was let go — the
impending layoffs would not in-
clude buyouts.
Correa declined to specify
how many employees would be
let go at the ProJo in the coming
months.
In his Januar y letter to em-
ployees, Decherd announced
that a second round of lay-
of fs would “probably be in the
range” of an additional 500 jobs
corporation-wide.
Specifics about the reduction
will be released no later than mid-
Februar y, he wrote.
Decherd also presented other
initiatives aimed at improving Be-
lo’s finances in the letter, includ-
ing suspending the company’s
401(k) savings matching program
and eliminating many reimburse-
ment policies for expenses such
as telephone costs and monthly
parking fees.
And while the loss of benefits
has many concerned, John Hill,
a ProJo reporter and president
of the newspaper guild, said em-
ployees have “bigger worries”
— namely, the specific scale and
severity of the upcoming staf f
reductions.
“The cuts are getting to the
point that we’re worried how the
paper is going to be able to main-
tain itself,” Hill said, adding that
decisions about the ProJo’s future
are “being made by people half a
continent away.”
“They don’t understand
the role the Journal plays in
the fabric of Rhode Island,” he
said, “and that’s on the verge of
being lost.”
This is not the first time that
Hill and the newspaper guild have
expressed concern about Belo’s
management. In a referendum
published on its Web site last
month, the guild encouraged
Decherd to “forgo his recent
140 (percent) raise and return
his base salary to its 2008 level of
a quarter million dollars a year.”
“If people are being laid off,
and people are being asked to
give up their jobs, it would be
nice for him to lead by example,”
Hill said.
But Hill understands that the
problems at the ProJo are only
part of a larger, national issue.
“We’re not alone,” he said, add-
ing that “the business is going to
be ver y different” from now on.
A March 2008 report by the
Pew Research Center reported
that the Web sites of local, re-
gional, national and even inter-
national newspapers are falling
behind other Internet sectors as
they search for a revenue model
different from print advertising.
The Internet has surpassed “all
other media” except television as
an outlet for national and interna-
tional news, with 40 percent of
Americans and nearly 60 percent
of Americans under 30 reporting
that they get most of their national
and international news online, ac-
cording to a statement released
by Pew last December.
World & Nation
The Brown Daily Herald
New Mars rover too costly, critics say
By Joel Achenbach
Washington Post
PASADENA, Calif. — In a “clean
room” in Building 150 of NASA’s
Jet Propulsion Laboratory is some-
thing that looks ver y much like a
flying saucer. It’s a capsule contain-
ing a huge, brawny Mars rover, a
Hummer compared with the Mini
Coopers that have previously rolled
Thursday, February 12, 2009 | Page 6
across the Red Planet.
This is the Mars Science Labo-
rator y, the space agency’s next
big mission to the most Earth-like
planet in the solar system. But it’s
been a magnet for controversy,
and a reminder that the robotic
exploration of other worlds is never
a snap, especially when engineers
decide to get ambitious.
The launch has been delayed
Courtesy of NASA
for two years because of technical
glitches. Approved at $1.63 billion,
the mission’s price tag will be at
least $2.2 billion, NASA now es-
timates. Critics say the cost has
really quadrupled since the proj-
ect was first dreamed up. What no
one can doubt is that ambitious
missions tend to become costly
ones, which jangles the ner ves of
officials who know how easy it is
for a Mars mission to go bust.
Alan Stern, a planetary scientist
and former NASA associate ad-
ministrator for science missions,
charged in a New York Times op-
ed column last year that the cost
overruns of the Mars Science Lab-
orator y are a sign of a “cancer” of
spending profligacy that is overtak-
ing the space agency. Stern, now
a private consultant, argues that
the new rover is too ambitious,
with too many new technologies
in play, making a cost overrun all
but inevitable.
“It’s not just that it’s a bigger
rover. It’s also an entirely new kind
of landing system. It’s also that it’s
nuclear-powered. It’s also that it’s
carr ying multiple instruments far
beyond what’s ever been done,”
Stern said in an inter view. “We
need to go to a strategy where we
can access Mars frequently and
take advantage of what we’ve al-
ready invented.”
NASA of ficials acknowledge
that they are pushing the bound-
aries of what’s possible in Mars
exploration. But they say it makes
no sense to do the same things
over and over again with modest
changes.
The new rover, weighing 1,875
continued on page 8
SportsThursday
The Brown Daily Herald

Thursday, February 12, 2009 | Page 7

s p o rt s i n b r i e f
Bears of all stripes win
Ivy athletic awards
Squash teams
top Tufts
The men’s and wom- By Benjy Asher Ivy Honor Roll for his strong play. In
en’s squash teams shone Sports Editor a 63-61 overtime loss to Dartmouth
against Tufts at the Piz- on Friday night, Mullery scored 12
zitola Center Tuesday. The Chelsey Binkley ’11 was named the points and grabbed 13 rebounds to
women cruised to a 9-0 ECAC Gymnast of the Week for her record his first double-double of the
shutout, while the men performance against the University season. Then, in a 64-63 loss to Har-
posted a convincing 8-1 of Bridgeport at the Pizzitola Center vard on Saturday, Mullery led the
victory. Sunday. Though Brown lost narrowly, Bears with a career-high 27 points, 21
The women showed no its team score of 189.575 was the of which came in the second half, on
signs of weakness against highest the team had scored in a 13-of-16 shooting from the field. Mul-
the Jumbos, with all nine dual meet since 2004, and Binkley lery is Brown’s leading scorer this
Brown players winning in was an integral part of the Bears’ season, with 16.1 points per game,
three games. Breck Haynes success. and his .582 field goal percentage is
’09 earned a 9-4, 9-3, 9-5 Binkley earned the only individual tops in the Ivy League.
victory at No. 1 for the title of the day for Brown, winning the In a rough weekend for women’s
Bears. Other dominant per- floor exercise with a score of 9.825, basketball, Natalie Bonds ’10 still
formances included the No. a personal best for Binkley in the managed to earn a selection to the
4 match, which Kali Schel- event. She also set personal bests Ivy Honor Roll for the second straight
lenberg ’10 won, 9-0, 9-0, in two other events, scoring a 9.575 week. Bonds turned in an outstand-
9-1, and the No. 8 match, on the vault to finish fourth and a ing defensive effort in a 58-27 loss to
which saw Erika Kohnen 9.650 on the beam, good enough for Dartmouth on Friday, blocking seven
’12 defeat her opponent by fifth place. shots, while also contributing seven
a score of 9-0, 9-1, 9-0. Justin Coleman / Herald Though the men’s basketball team points and four rebounds. Bonds is
On the men’s side, Adri- Chelsey Binkley ’11 was named the ECAC Gymnast of the Week for her lost two games over the weekend, currently fifth in the Ivy League with
an Leanza ’11 struggled performance on Sunday. Matt Mullery ’10 was named to the 1.2 blocks per game.
in the beginning at No. 1,
dropping the first game
s p o rt s b y t h e n u m b e r s
9-7, but recovered to win
back-to-back 9-0 games
before pulling out a 10-8 Award-winning Bears
victory in the fourth game
to secure the win. At No. 2, Matt Mullery ’10
Benjamin Clayman ’11 lost
the first set 9-5 but came At Dartmouth (Feb. 6): 3-of-14 field goals,
back to win three straight 6-of-9 free throws, 12 points, 13 rebounds
games. The most dominant
At Harvard (Feb. 7): 13-of-16 FG, 1-of-4 FT, 27
match of the day came at
No. 7, where Alex Heitz-
pts., 3 rebs., 1 block
mann ’10 cruised to a 9-0, Season averages: 16.1 pts., 6.0 rebs., 1.7
9-1, 9-0 victory. blks., .582 FG percentage
The men will resume
competition next Tuesday
against MIT, at Pizzitola for Natalie Bonds ’10
the last time this season,
while the women will travel
Vs. Dartmouth (Feb. 6): 2-of-8 FG, 3-of-5 FT, 7
to Harvard beginning Friday pts., 4 rebs., 7 blks.
to compete in the Howe Cup Vs. Harvard (Feb. 7): Did Not Play
National Championship. Season averages: 6.9 pts., 5.3 rebs., 1.2 blks.,
.427 FG pct.
Skiers race to
the top at meet Chelsey Binkley ’11
Over the weekend, the
ski team had several strong Vs. Bridgeport (Feb. 8): Floor-9.825 (1st
finishers at the Boston Col- place), Vault-9.575 (4th), Beam-9.650 (5th)
lege Carnival at Wildcat
Mountain.
The women earned a
team victory in the Giant Sla- — Sports Staff Report
lom, led by Kia Mosenthal
’12, who finished second
with a two-run combined
time of 1:59.63, and Krista
Consiglio ’11, who earned
third place in 2:01.43. Con-
siglio also turned in a strong
performance in the Slalom,
finishing second overall with
a two-run time of 1:34.64.
She was followed by
Blaine Martin ’11, whose
time of 1:38.81 placed her
14th. The Bears, who fin-
ished sixth as a team in the
Slalom event, will return to
the slopes on Feb. 21, when
they will compete in the
Eastern Collegiate Ski Con-
ference Regional Champion-
ships at Waterville Valley.

— Sports Staff Reports

Page 8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
W orld & N ation “Nobody has built something like this before.”
— Charles Elachi, Jet Propulsion Lab director
Mars rover more advanced, expensive than ever
continued from page 6
pounds, is more than twice as
heavy as either Spirit or Opportu-
nity, the remarkably durable rov-
ers that have been sniffing around
Mars for the past five years on a
mission originally designed to last
just 90 days. Those rovers have six
instruments each; the new rover
has 10, including detectors for
organic compounds. The old rov-
ers could reach out, scratch the
Martian surface and tr y to get a
sense of things, but the new rover
can retrieve a sample and put it in
various analytic chambers. Ear-
lier rovers were solar powered,
but this one has a nuclear power
source that will allow it to operate
day and night.
The new rover is more rugged,
capable of navigating much trickier
terrain. It can operate at higher
latitudes with harsher climates. It
has its own meteorology station.
It has a color camera that shoots
video. It can do almost ever ything
but make espresso.
“We need a larger suppor t
structure. We need a more capable
arm. We need to be able to look
at not just the geology but much
more the chemistr y, much more
the organic elements. We have to
have a more capable rover,” said
Jim Green, director of NASA’s plan-
etar y science division.
Happy Birthday Lincoln!
He acknowledged that the cost
overruns will put a crimp in the
planetar y science budget, which
is running at about $1.3 billion a
year. The Mars program specifi-
cally will feel the effects, and there
will have to be cuts or delays in the
next rover mission, scheduled for
2016, he said. But he added that
the Mars Science Laborator y will
be worth it.
Because it’s such a large rover,
engineers had to invent a new land-
ing technique, called a sky crane.
The rover also needed dozens of
motors and gearboxes to accom-
plish the many tasks outlined by
scientific investigators. It was the
iffy performance of those motors
and gearboxes in tests that forced
NASA to pull the plug on the mis-
sion’s scheduled 2009 launch.
Richard Cook, the project man-
ager, said that in calculating the
cost and the amount of time neces-
sary for designing the mission, “we
didn’t extrapolate how much more
complex it was” than the Spirit and
Opportunity mission.
Mars is already strewn with the
litter of crashed spaceships. Some
probes go there and simply vanish.
As Charles Elachi, director of the
Jet Propulsion Laborator y, put it,
“Mars is ver y unforgiving.”
Elachi tried to illustrate how
tricky it is to get a spaceship to
Mars and bring it to rest in a spe-
Thursday, February 12, 2009
cific region on the surface. Imagine
you’re playing golf, he said.
“Star ting in Los Angeles, hit
the golf ball toward St. Andrews,”
he said (for those who aren’t golf
fans, that’s a ver y famous course
in Scotland). “It has to go straight
into the cup. And the cup is mov-
ing.”
And yet NASA has had many
successful Mars missions over the
past several decades, dating all the
way back to Mariner 4, which flew
by Mars in 1965. That spacecraft
returned 22 images of a dusty,
cratered world, instantly ending
speculation that Mars might har-
bor vegetation.
Two Viking landers in 1976
conducted the first experiments
looking for life on Mars. The Path-
finder mission of 1997 showed that
a cheap, lightweight probe could
bounce to a safe landing cushioned
by air bags. In the past five years,
Spirit and Opportunity have out-
performed all expectations, even
crawling into craters for a closer
look.
But after all that, it remains un-
known whether Mars harbors life
beneath its surface, or did many bil-
lions of years ago, when the planet
was warmer and wetter. The new
rover might be able to get closer
to an answer by searching directly
for organic matter that might be
associated with living things.
Editorial & Letters
The Brown Daily Herald

Page 10 | Thursday, February 12, 2009

e d i to r i a l

U. should reinstate ROTC

Since the Vietnam War, Brown has maintained a ban on the Reserve Officer
Training Corps, forcing interested students to enroll in the ROTC program
at Providence College. During the presidential campaign, President Obama
labeled “the notion that young people here at Columbia or anywhere… aren’t
offered the choice” of military service on campus “a mistake,” arguing that
students ought to at least have the option of joining.
We agree and feel that Brown should overturn its outdated ban on ROTC and
restore students’ freedom to serve their country during their college careers. In
adopting this stance we are breaking with The Herald’s previous position that
the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which forbids gay soldiers from serving openly,
should disqualify the military from recruiting on Brown’s campus. While we
agree that DADT is offensive and imprudent, we feel that the ROTC ban is a
counterproductive response. Military recruiting on Brown’s overwhelmingly
liberal campus could provide gay soldiers with valuable allies in the ranks.
Some argue that Brown students drawn to military service are more likely
to be conservative (and hence opposed to gay rights), or that the number of
students in ROTC would be too small to make a difference. However, according
to Maj. Matthew Porter, ROTC enrollment officer at Providence College, ROTC
classes across the country tend not to be ideologically skewed. The evidence
supports this claim. According to a report by the National Defense Research
Institute, available data on college students “suggest that young officers may
be less condemning of homosexuality than their enlisted counterparts” and
young adults who plan to serve in the military “are not disproportionately
conservative or Republican.”
Porter also noted that moving ROTC back onto a school’s campus in places A le x yuly
with ROTC enrollment similar to Brown’s (we currently have two ROTC
students) would increase the total by up to 15 students. A recent Christian
Science Monitor article reported that officers and recruiting experts believe
the effect on the military of just “a handful of new officers” from Ivy League
l e t t e r to t h e e d i to r s
schools “would be enormous.” Brown could make a significant difference by
changing its policy, even if other colleges don’t follow suit.
This isn’t the only reason to allow ROTC. Among others, the program would Minority hirings a start, but not enough
give Brown students an avenue to full scholarship, an important benefit in the
current economic climate. The military, gay soldiers and Brown students can To the Editor: emphasize that the representation of minority faculty
all benefit from ROTC. They should not be deprived of the opportunity in an is still only 18.29 percent of the total faculty. This rep-
effort to prolong the University’s ineffectual opposition to the policy. ROTC The recent article on minority faculty hiring (“Minor- resents an increase of 3.01 percent of the faculty total.
deserves its day on College Hill. ity prof. hiring accelerates,” Feb. 9) suggests that Brown While we increased the number of minority faculty by
should be applauded for its progress since 2003. I join 36 during the period, the number of non-minority faculty
Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. Send comments to the chorus of those applauding. However, the article also was increased by 64. It is hard to close the gap unless
editorials@browndailyherald.com. suggests to me that care must be taken not to fall into the hiring ratio changes more.
the trap of using the most favorable statistical analyses
to represent our progress on this front. Levi Adams
t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d It is accurate to show that the overall increase in Vice president emeritus of
Editor-in-Chief Managing Editors Associate Editors Senior Editors minority faculty from 90 to 126 represents an achieve- government and community affairs
Steve DeLucia Michael Bechek Nandini Jayakrishna Rachel Arndt ment which merits applause. Even so, it is important to Feb. 9
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Opinions
The Brown Daily Herald
Of plaid shirts and protests
JEANNE JEONG
Opinions Columnist
In the opening ceremony of the Ivy Leader-
ship Summit, held at Brown this past week-
end, sketch comedy group Out of Bounds
performed a skit incorporating stereotypes
of the different Ivy League schools. Predict-
ably, Brown was portrayed as the meditation-
loving, plaid-shirt clad activist of the bunch.
Yet dissent-happy students complain that we
are currently stuck in an apathetic generation,
drifting away from the “age of protest.”
But perhaps this idea is only true in the
minds of select Brown students. Here, the
counterculture can be considered the main
campus culture, and those who deviate from
it are at risk of being viewed as “commer-
cial” and unwilling to fight for a cause. Re-
alistically, however, not all students care to
be in Students for a Democratic Society, and
the reason is not because they lack intelli-
gence or passion. In defense of my fellow
seemingly apathetic, conforming students,
not every cause must be fought for by every
student. Rather, battles must be picked with
care, and no opinion should be forced.
There exists some odd expectation that
Brown students should be a certain way
and accept certain things. The unfortunate
truth is that we students have come to ac-
BY JONATHAN TOPAZ
Opinions Columnist
On Saturday morning, still very much in the
process of fully waking up, I walked slowly
into a friend’s room, when I was immediately
bombarded with the question: “How many
of your professors have any idea who you
are?”
In my semi-conscious state, I gave him
a pretty straight answer — probably about
two or three out of eight — without realizing
at the time that I will probably end up leav-
ing my first year at Brown not having known
75 percent of the people who taught me.
Perhaps I am hypersensitive to this.
Coming from a small high school in New
York City at which humanities classes were
capped at 16, few classes had more than 20
students and up to 25 percent of one’s final
grade was allocated to class participation
and one-on-one meetings with the teacher, I
have grown accustomed to knowing my ed-
ucators personally. Students generally met
exclusively with at least one or two teachers
each week, for as long as 45 minutes at a
time. The boundaries between students and
teachers were, in many ways, broken down.
Obviously, one would have to be delu-
sional to propose that Brown, a university
of nearly 6,000 undergraduates, can provide
the same level of individual attention as my
high school did. One would also be misguid-
ed in saying that Brown professors are inac-
cessible, as most make themselves readily
available to students via e-mail, before and
after class for questions and, of course, ev-
cept only what we already believe, allowing
conformity to the non-conformist culture
and turning up our noses at most every-
thing else. The most aesthetically displeas-
ing objects can be perceived as ironic, and
obscure music that really should stay that
way is overly appreciated.
All this is trivial alone, but it becomes
problematic when it is combined with an
air of superiority over those who disagree.
The double standards of activism and politi-
cal correctness are apparent nearly every-
We students have come to accept only what we
already believe, allowing conformity to the non-
conformist culture and turning up our noses at
most everything else.
where. From MSex tableslips to the linge-
rie fashion show, the past week serves as
an example of the presence of occasionally
excessive indignation.
Brown students pride themselves on
being comfortable with sexuality, as long
as it’s nonchalant and hip. And if we were
a school that also prided ourselves more
on sports and less on knowledge of indie
bands, my guess is that the lingerie fashion
show would have met with greater success.
Merits of the in-between
ery week at office hours. And one would
also be ill-advised to contend that my high
school is half the institution that Brown is.
But next time you are on Banner take a
look at the capacity for a range of classes.
The obvious trend is hard to miss — the
vast majority of classes tend either to be
uncapped (signified by the capacity of 999
students) or seminars capped at 20. Brown
students often prize these seminars, as dis-
cussion-based classes allow for debate and
direct relationships with professors.
Many classes — namely introductory or
With so many great classes that Brown offers,
must we leave so many classes uncapped and
susceptible to preposterously large numbers?
survey classes such as ECON 0110: “Princi-
ples of Economics,” POLS 0400: “Introduc-
tion to International Politics,” BIOL 0200:
“The Foundation of Living Systems” and
myriad others — should be uncapped for
obvious reasons. Conversely, narrowly fo-
cused classes are often out of hand in their
numbers, such as a political science course
on the 14th Amendment, POLS 1010: “Top-
ics in American Constitutional Law,” that
has 151 students enrolled or AMCV 1611V:
“Color Me Cool: A Survey of Contemporary
Graphic Novels,” which has 139 students
enrolled.
With so many great classes that Brown
Thursday, February 12, 2009 | Page 11
Unfortunately for the sophomore class
board, however, the idea of the show alone
was received with criticism and accusations
of fostering sexism. Perhaps a sophisticat-
ed nude art gallery showing would have at-
tracted more attendees and respect?
And we can’t overlook those MSex ta-
bleslips. I suppose such racy images are
more acceptable because they are attached
to an idea of open, healthy sexuality and
freedom — just like half-naked models are
okay in the Sustainable Food Initiative fund-
raising calendars, as long as they promote
the trendy idea of sustainable food.
I have no problem with any of the above.
I enjoy art galleries with or without nudity,
have contemplated buying a SuFI calendar
and was admittedly disappointed when the
lingerie fashion show was canceled. But
this double standard concerning the accep-
tance of sexuality and objectification of the
naked body exemplifies the dominant cul-
ture on our campus. There is omnipresent
offers, must we leave so many classes un-
capped and susceptible to preposterously
large numbers?
In my opinion, a major goal of this school
should be to promote as much professor-stu-
dent interaction as possible. The way to re-
alistically accomplish this is not to increase
the number of seminars (as this would sim-
ply make other classes much larger), but
cut down on unnecessarily large classes and
these small seminars themselves. While
seminars are indeed valuable, numbers tell
us that Brown has to find middle ground
and cap many more classes at 50.
Ultimately, the fundamental question
is not whether a 50-person class can func-
tion as a seminar — it simply cannot. But
there are other, more important questions
that we can debate as a community. Does a
50-person class make shyer students more
likely to ask questions or make comments?
Can professors, at the very least, learn the
names and faces of students in these class-
es? Are office hours less daunting for stu-
dents in these smaller classes? Can legiti-
mate relationships between professors and
students form in a small lecture format?
Common sense and anecdotal evidence
pressure to have some sort of sophisticated,
open-minded narrowness about what is ac-
ceptable and then to protest against what is
not.
The expectations imposed on students
to join various groups in protest and poli-
tics and whatever else Brown kids are “sup-
posed” to be interested in end up having
negative side effects. It’s hard to be all that
into activism when there’s an overwhelm-
ing push for one particular side of a given
issue. Those who complain that our genera-
tion is apathetic need to realize that perhaps
we seem that way because we are constant-
ly bombarded with pleas to have an opinion
on everything.
Further, we are endlessly persuaded to
have the right — or in our case, left — opin-
ion on everything. Awareness might be nec-
essary, but coercing opinions is not. Nei-
ther is looking down on those who choose
to employ discretion with personal opinions
rather than leap at any chance to express
them.
Ultimately, we know our student body is
unlike that of Penn, Princeton or any oth-
er Ivy. Though we can pride ourselves on
this, we should recognize that Brown is not
made unique simply because students mold
to its own distinct stereotype.
Jeanne Jeong ’12 is a first-year from
Ashburn, Virginia. She can be reached
at jeanne_jeong@brown.edu
would seem to suggest yes. Many of my
friends contest that mid-size classes do not
resemble seminars in their discussion for-
mat, but in the way professors and students
interact. One friend at a small liberal arts
school noted that in a class of about 45, the
professor knew everyone’s name within the
first two weeks of class. It is reasonable to
this columnist that a lecture of 50 students
is certainly not the same as a lecture of 200
and that professors can connect with stu-
dents in these classes in meaningful ways.
For skeptics who doubt this, go one
step further. Many 50-person classes are
equipped with TAs. Fifty-person classes
should take one meeting out and replace it
with a section. The class would be split in
half, with one half having section taught by a
TA and the other by the professor. After the
quarter, the section groups would switch.
This way, once a week, students would have
classes with their professors in a section of
25, ensuring a once-a-week seminar with the
professor him- or herself.
While Brown can at times be daunting, it
is by no means a big school. Some will say
that to cap more classes at 50 is to deprive
students of their ability to take classes they
might love. However, to allow so many class-
es to remain uncapped is a form of depriva-
tion itself — depriving students of intellec-
tual and personal relationships with some
of the most brilliant men and women in the
world.
Jonathan Topaz ’12 is a first-year from
New York City. He can be reached at
jonathan.topaz@gmail.com
 Today 5
to day to m o r r o w
Projo faces another round of layoffs
The Brown Daily Herald

M. and w. squash teams crush Tufts

7
post-
46 / 30 40 / 20
Thursday, February 12, 2009 Page 12
magazine
- Inside...
Brown University l February 12, 2009 l Volume 10 l Issue 3

the news in images post magazine

03 feature
PIECING TOGETHER MEMORIES \\ allison zimmer
04 film and television
A LOST VALENTINE\\ doug eacho
MOVIES ARE FOR LOVERS \\ tanmay misra
05 music
STATE OF THE RADIO, PART 2 \\ wbru response
SHORT AND SWEET \\ katie kinsey
07 sexpertise
FOREIGN RELATIONS \\ allie wollner
FIELDS OF PASSION \\ sam yambrovich

1
08 from the hill
CRAMMING WITH COFFEE \\ audrey fox
YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT \\ ted lamm & alex logan
POST- PROVIDENCE \\ anthony badami

c a l e n da r
February 12, 2008
4 P.M. — The Linguists: Film Screening
and Discussion, Metcalf 125
5 P.M. — Israeli Film Festival, Brown/
RISD Hillel, Avon Cinema, Salomon
001, MacMillan 117
comics
February 13, 2008
Vagina Dentata | Soojean Kim
2 P.M. — “Emancipated Memories:
Uncovering the Hidden Faces of Slav-
ery,” 357 Benefit Street
all day — Darwin’s 200th Birthday
Party, Sidney Frank Hall Lobby

menu
Sharpe Refectory Verney-Woolley Dining Hall

Lunch — Eggplant Parmesan, Beef
Tacos, Mandarin Blend Vegetables,
Nacho Bar, Mashed Potatoes
Dinner — Mexican Cornbread Cas-
serole, Salt and Pepper Jerk Chicken,
Nacho Bar
RELEASE DATE– Thursday, February 12, 2009
Lunch — Chinese Chicken Fingers Alien Weather Forcast | Stephen Lichenstein and Adam Wagner
with Sticky Sauce, Wisconsin Ziti with
Four Cheeses, Steamed Vegetale Me-
lange
Dinner — Green Pepper Steak, Egg-
plant Parmesan, Acorn Squash

Los Angeles Times

c r o sDaily
s w oCrossword
rd Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS DOWN 36 Only film of its 49 “The Three
1 Some old RCAs 1 “Funny ... not!” series directed Sisters” sister
6 Facility 2 Golden calf, e.g. by William 50 Arts supporter
10 Inspiron maker 3 Great deal? Shatner 52 Singer Lauper
14 Stallion, e.g. 4 Wisc. neighbor 37 Quarreling 53 Madeline et al.
Enigma Twist | Dustin Foley
15 Golfer Mickelson 5 Squalid space 38 Tarzan player 54 Unleash
16 __ Velva: 6 Adhesive mixed Ely 56 SensiClear target
aftershave right before use 40 Lady of the haus 59 “Deal me in”
17 Last Martin/Lewis 7 Put __ on: not 41 Model partner indicator
film release 46 Spanish river 60 Collar type
20 “small & mighty” 8 Record half 47 Citi Field 62 Kareem, once
detergent 9 “Evil Woman” predecessor 63 Lake maker
21 Car bar gp. 48 Not phony 64 Rebs’ gp.
22 Salad days 10 Olivia of “The
23 Serious social Wonder Years” ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
engagement 11 Magazine for
27 Part of CBS: Abbr. horse owners
28 Boisterous 12 Full of vigor
29 Jack Nicklaus’s 13 Backing strips
alma mater, 18 Undulating
briefly 19 Bakery offerings
31 One of 18 kings 24 Favored groups
32 Kind of price 25 __-ran
35 1917 abdicator 26 Carry-on item
39 What a Manhattan 28 Joint for Cabernet Voltaire | Abe Pressman
landmark’s merriment,
inscription is slangily
mistakenly 30 Literally, “not a
assumed to be place”
42 Half an arcade 31 Old albums
trademark 32 Radarman’s
43 Theater name bogey
44 “What __!”: “How 33 Veto
annoying” 34 Not friendly xwordeditor@aol.com 02/12/09
45 Watery expanse
47 Border on
48 Kid __
51 Pancake flour
55 Bellowing
57 Easily
maneuvered, as
a ship
58 Actress __ Dawn
Chong
61 1909 centennial The One About Zombies | Kevin Grubb
debut that
originally
featured the ends
of 17-, 23-, 39-,
51-Across and
the initials in the
circled squares
(explained in
tomorrow’s
puzzle)
65 Advised about
66 Writer Ferber
67 Invite as one’s
date for
68 Act of defiance
69 Unilever
detergent By Don Gagliardo
70 Expert (c)2009 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
02/12/09