vol. cxlvi, no.

114

Daily
By Nicole FriedmaN Senior editor

the Brown

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Is the University suffering an identity crisis? 20 strike on

President Ruth Simmons has turned the undergraduate Ivy into a sprawling, global research University. This series examines how the institutional shifts of the last decade impact undergrads and Browns future.
tellectuals that gathered in Newport in 1764 the original Corporation had their charter signed by the Royal Governor of Rhode Island, who was appointed by King George III. They could never have foreseen the Watson Institute for International Studies, Alpert Medical School, the Ivy League, celebrity students or the sprawling, global institution the University has become. The majority of the Universitys nearly 250-year history would be unrecognizable to students today. At the beginning there was not only no University Hall, there was no College Hill Brown, called Rhode Island College before 1804, was located in continued on page 2

Herald
Since 1891

Main Green to protest UC Davis crackdown

By elizaBeth carr Senior Staff Writer

Mission drift?
Part 1 of a 4-part series

About 20 students and faculty members met on the Main Green at 10 a.m. yesterday in a walk-out supporting the Occupy movement at

city & state

the University of California at Davis, where campus police used pepper spray against protesters last week. The meeting was part of a national day of action as students and professors at 58 colleges across the country refused to attend class. The day of action included a series of soapbox speeches in the afternoon. We cannot stand for the fact that other students who are peacefully protesting are being attacked by the police, said Luke LattanziSilveus 14, addressing 15 students on the Green. Their struggles are our struggles. Thats just the kind of violence the system spits out on people every day, said Lindsay Goss GS in another a speech. Ive never really seen a moment like this, Professor of English William Keach said, referring to the protests that have cropped up across the continued on page 5

The University mission statement grew out of its charter, a document bold enough to create a governance structure for a school with no home, professors or students. The motley crew of New England Baptists and in-

Herald file photos

Though Henry Wriston championed Browns identity as a university-college, Ruth Simmons has departed from that model and pursued rapid expansion.

Local schools fund struggles for money Writer combines fiction and city & state history
By morgaN JohNsoN Senior Staff Writer By sahil luthra Senior Staff Writer

Ha Jins rule for writing is straightforward: Make the story interesting. Applying that rule is more complicated. The author whose real name is Jin Xuefei but who has, per Chinese tradition, adopted a pen name spoke to a crowd of nearly 100 last night in Martinos Auditorium as part of the Year of China. Jin read from his latest novel, Nanjing Requiem, and described his writing process. For Jin, inspiration hit after he arrived in the U.S. as a graduate student. Though he had learned about the Rape of Nanjing when he lived in China, the role of Westerners had been downplayed. One historical figure in particular Minnie Vautrin, an American missionary who served as the dean of Jinling Womens College captured his attention. Vautrin played a key role in establishing a refugee camp at the college, and Jin decided to make her the focus of his novel. But the road to writing the novel was not easy. Jin, a profescontinued on page 3

Two years after becoming the first black president of an Ivy League university, President Ruth Simmons appointed a committee to investigate the Universitys formative ties to the Atlantic slave trade. In 2007, responding to the report submitted by the Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice, which singled out the Universitys need to address enduring inequalities in public education due to racial segregation, Brown committed to raising a permanent endowment

in the amount of $10 million to establish a Fund for the Education of the Children of Providence. As Simmons prepares to step down this June, efforts to raise money

for the fund that bears her unmistakable imprint have stalled, sidelined by other development projects in a difficult fundraising climate. The funds current value of $1.26 million has not grown since 2009 and lags far behind its original $10 million goal. The funds largest grant payout

of $118,000 more than half of the $222,320 awarded in total was used to purchase Texas Instruments calculators for public school math classrooms in 2009. Members of the committee that oversees the fund said the companys relationship with Simmons, who currently sits on its board, allowed the fund to take advantage of a steep discount on the calculators. The steering committee designated providing financial support for local schools particularly important given the troubled state of the Provicontinued on page 3

Students fall short of sex expectations

By alexaNdra macFarlaNe Staff Writer

How many sexual partners have you had so far this semester?

Despite the widespread attention Brown has garnered as the home of the infamous SexPowerGod party, the University is less sexually freewheeling than its reputation suggests. Poll results reveal Brunonians

the herald poll

may be having less sex than their peers across the country: Most students have only had one sexual partner or none at all this semester. According to a recent Herald poll, 37.5 percent have not had any sexual partners this semester, and

36.4 percent have had one. A small percentage 9.3 percent had two partners this fall and an even smaller percentage 5.3 percent had three to five. Meanwhile, 44.5 percent of college students nationwide had one sexual partner and 29.2 percent had none in the year spanning spring 2010 to spring 2011, according to the American College Health Associations National College Health Assessment. The polls findings are consistent with the estimates made by Health Education, a division of Health Services , said Naomi Ninneman, health continued on page 5
Kyle McNamara / Herald

news....................2-4 CITY & sTaTe............5 edITorIal...............6 opInIons................7 sporTs....................8

inside

No charter
a proposed academy stirs local controversy
city & state, 8

weather

New Programs too soon

The university is expanding its summer abroad offerings
campus news, 2

t o d ay

tomorrow

The new curriculum may be overly free for first-years

opinions, 7

64 / 52

56 / 37

2 Campus news
C ALENdAR
TODAY 4 P.m. How to Find an Internship, CareerLAB Library 8 P.m. Special Events Committees Candy Land, Sayles Hall 8 P.m. Sex and the MTV Culture, Wilson Hall 101 NOVEmbER 29 TOmORROW 5:30 P.m. Panel on Summer Research Opportunities, Petteruti Lounge NOVEmbER 30 By NeelkiraN YalamarthY Contributing Writer

the Brown Daily herald tuesday, november 29, 2011

OIP offers new summer programs

The Office of International Programs is offering several new options for summer abroad programs this year, including an architecture program in Barcelona and history, language and art programs in Greece and Turkey. The OIP will also offer a studio art program in a yet-to-be-determined location in Spain. Originally directed by the Office of Continuing Education, summer study abroad programs are now managed by the OIP to link undergraduate experiences abroad, wrote Dana Pratt, manager of short term study abroad and global initiatives, in an email to The Herald. The new summer study abroad programs will remain structurally similar to current ones, she wrote. Pratt added that the OIP is working to communicate more with the departments leading these programs. It is also considering environmental issues, health care and business as themes for future summer programs, she wrote. A downside of summer study abroad programs is that University financial aid does not apply to tuition and living expenses. But the OIP is keeping fees at a minimum and offers a small number of need-based grants, Pratt wrote. The OIP also recommends loans and summer jobs for students in shorter programs to help reduce costs. But Pratt added that despite financial issues, there seems to be a significant interest in the programs. Ibeabuchi Oteh 13 said he is considering summer study abroad as an alternative to an internship. He called such programs important cultural experiences, but said he wishes there was more dialogue between the OIP and the Office of Financial Aid to better address financial concerns. But he would pursue a summer study abroad regardless of financial aid, he said. Summer study abroad programs range from four to seven weeks long and vary in enrollment from 12 to 35 students among the seven offered programs.

MENU
SHARPE REFECTORY Grilled Tuna Sandwich, Spinach and Feta Pie, Tomato and Feta Quiche, Chocolate Chip Cookies VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH Shaved Steak Sandwich, Vegan Stuffed Peppers, French Green Beans, Chocolate Chip Cookies

DINNER Sesame Chicken Strips with Mustard Sauce, Vegan Chow Mein and Tofu with Chow Mein Noodles Turkey Pot Pie, Tortellini Provencale, Baked Potatoes with Sour Cream, Saigon Beef and Ham, Magic Bars

SUdOKU

Wristons vision no longer applies to U.

continued from page 1 the nearby town of Warren until 1770. The campus consisted of just one building until 1822. Professors lived on campus and students could only speak to each other in Latin. In 1869, more than a century after its founding, the University enrolled just 195 students. The language of Browns mission statement has been open enough to encompass the Universitys activities through centuries, wars and upheavals. As the institution has evolved, so has the means by which it fulfills its mission. For more than a half-century, former President Henry Wristons vision of a university-college and the New Curriculum have defined Browns approach to satisfying these open-ended goals. More recently, under President Ruth Simmons, Brown has seen explosive growth and rapid change. The institutional developments of the past 10 years, laid out and implemented under Simmons Plan for Academic Enrichment, have begun reshaping Browns identity as it navigates the 21st century. But while both Wristons outline of a university-college and the report by Ira Magaziner 69 P06 P07 P10 and Elliot Maxwell 68 that led to the New Curriculum are built on extensive philosophical underpinnings, the major decisions of the last decade have been made without the same explanation of institutional philosophy. As the University continues to expand and invest, it is increasingly unclear not only whether the administrations interpretation of Browns mission is changing but also whether the University community notices or cares. Without more discussion of the philosophy behind major changes, Brown risks running adrift of its mission without a clear sense of why where it is going is better than where it has been. As Brown searches for its next leader, this four-part series will place the changes of the last decade in broader context, explore the motivations behind them and examine whether they indicate a drift of mission that requires the attention of all members of the Brown community.
growing beyond the universitycollege

CR OSSWORd

The well-worn phrase university-college was first used to describe Brown in the early 20th century. But it was Wriston who truly enshrined the term in his 1948 presidential report to the Corporation. A university-college is an institution which puts primary emphasis upon the liberal arts, bringing to their cultivation the library, laboratories and personnel resources of a university, he wrote. Its central business remains the increase of knowledge, the inculcation of wisdom, the refinement of emotional responses and the development of spiritual awareness. The University still alludes to the concept, boasting that Brown

Daily

the Brown

www.browndailyherald.com 195 Angell St., Providence, R.I.

Herald
Matthew Burrows, Treasurer Isha Gulati, Secretary

Ben Schreckinger, President Sydney Ember, Vice President

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

uniquely combines the intimacy of an undergraduate residential college with the academic opportunities and prestige of a major research university. But Wristons definition of a university-college does not match Browns profile today. Wriston criticized schools that taught technical or professional skills for failing to prepare students for the questions and demands they would face in the world. He used the term vital necessity more than once in his report to describe the liberal arts, which he considered essential for students, society and the University. The value placed on the liberal arts was reinforced this year with the newly launched Humanities Initiative. But the schools focus on professional training has grown and will continue to do so with planned masters programs in areas such as business analytics and health care management. Against the tendency to allow the liberal arts to occupy a secondary position Brown has been almost uniquely emphatic, Wriston wrote. Brown, for example, is one of very few members of the Association of American Universities which incorporates even engineering education within the liberal arts college instead of segregating it in a separate school. Today, he could not make such as a boast. In 2010, the University approved the separation of engineering into its own school. Wriston also criticized educational empires so vast as to be beyond the control of their faculties and beyond the comprehension of their boards of management or their administrative officers. But the University has continued to expand into the Jewelry District of Providence, the graduate schools of Europe and Asia and the web of online education. As it outgrows its traditional borders, geographical and otherwise, it comes more to resemble the model Wriston consciously rejected. In 1969, the New Curriculum redefined Brown. Its shadow still looms large over campus, and it continued on page 4
the Brown degree

(401) 351-3372 herald@browndailyherald.com

edIToRIAl

(401) 351-3260 gm@browndailyherald.com

BuSINeSS

the Brown Daily herald tuesday, november 29, 2011

Campus news 3
After the funds grants are awarded, committee members ask schools to follow up with the fund once the money is spent. The fund committee asks schools for information on how the money has been allocated, Joukowsky said. In his opinion, some schools have not adequately acknowledged the University or the fund committee for the grants. But the Paul Cuffee School invited fund committee members to observe students using the equipment purchased with grant money. Seeing their investment is one of the most delightful parts of this, Karahalis said of the visit. Some of the committee members hope to invite a wider range of Providence schools to apply for grants in the future. Joan Sorensen 72 P06 P06, a Corporation member and member of the fund committee, said limited funding has prevented the fund from accepting applications from innercity Providence private schools, where many students cannot pay full tuition. Sorensen hopes the funds close ties to the Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice, an important part of Simmons legacy at Brown, will aid fundraising efforts. This committee was her baby, Sorensen said. She suggested at the last Corporation meeting that the University donate to the fund on Simmons behalf as a way to acknowledge her dedication to it. We havent done that with some of our other presidents, Sorensen said. Ruth is a different story.

Linked to Simmons legacy, fund lags goal Chinese author mixes

continued from page 1 dence public school system, where 48 of the districts 49 public schools failed to meet minimum federal achievement standards at the time of the committees final report. Since the fund began accepting applications from charter schools in 2011, its increasingly large and more competitive applicant pool has added more fundraising pressure. The fund awarded two grants to the Paul Cuffee School, the states largest charter school. Paul Cuffee is the only school to receive this distinction since the funds inception. The funds most recent grant totaled $24,320 and was used to purchase document cameras and LCD projectors for Paul Cuffees elementary school classrooms in August. The temptation is to give (funds) to the charter schools because they really perform, said Artemis Joukowsky 55 P87, chancellor emeritus and chair of the fund, which is run by a four-person committee chosen by the Corporation. He said committee members were particularly impressed by the quality and effort of the schools applications. The fund has paid out successively smaller grants since awarding its first in 2009. If its endowment reaches $10 million, the fund committee will be able to give out up to $500,000, or 5 percent of its endowment, in grants per year. We still have a long way to go, Joukowsky said. He is uncertain if the fund will be able to reach its original financial goals and is currently in talks with the Universitys advancement office to solicit more donors. Current donations are also accepted directly through the funds website. School administrators applying for grant money fault hte funds application for a lack of detail. Jennifer Steinfeld, grant writer for the Providence Public School Districts planning and development department, said she appreciates past support from the fund but wishes its application forms were less open-ended. Id like to see more clarity from them about what theyre looking for, she said. They ask very few questions but want a level of detail that theyre not actually specifying, said Julia Karahalis, director of institutional advancement at Paul Cuffee. She added that she appreciates the creative freedom the application allows grant writers. Joukowsky said the fund committee does not select grant recipients based on specific school subjects or age groups. Instead, it favors grant proposals that provide the most direct benefit to students. Our mission is to help the kids and not the bureaucracy behind the public school system, Joukowsky said. The fund committee hopes to maintain support for a wide variety of school activities, including the arts. Karahalis would like to see more grants in the future to support electronic resources like Kindles for the school.

fact and fiction in novel

continued from page 1 sor at Boston University, spent his sabbatical in Berlin working on a manuscript. When he returned, his wife and son read the manuscript and told him it just did not feel right. Though discouraged, Jin sat down to revise it. After he sent the new manuscript to his editor, he received the same feedback: Vautrins story felt important, but something about it didnt gel. The problem, it turned out, was Vautrin herself. Several other authors had written biographies of her, and she had led a life without scandal. As a fiction writer, Jin found it difficult to sustain the novels energy without inventing information about her. The solution, he decided, was to introduce a new fictional character. Anling, the fictional Chinese protagonist of the novel, was introduced as an assistant to Vautrin. Through Anling, Jin broadened the novel beyond historical fact. Anlings husbands sympathies with the Japanese, for instance, allowed Jin to explore the role of the Japanese, both as agressors and victims. It only took four months to pen a manuscript after Jin decided to insert Anlings character. Though Jins decision to include a fictional character necessarily shifted from focusing on Vautrins voice, Jin decided this was worthwhile. Her voice already existed, whether in the other books about her or in Vautrins diary. What she needed, he said, was a story. The change allowed Jin considerably more creative license, as he could provide his own interpretation of events in her life without betraying history. An instance only briefly mentioned in Vautrins diary, for instance, became a pivotal plot point in the story. The scene finds Vautrin blaming herself after the Japanese capture women in the college to serve as prostitutes for the army. Jin does not delve into Vautrins psychology in the scene and instead focuses on Anlings perception of her. Certainly, blending history with fiction created its share of complications. For example, a reader of fiction might expect details such as a characters height, but Jin did not necessarily have those details about the novels historical figures. In the end, Jin decided to limit his research to focus on telling the story. The final blend of fact and fiction, Jin said, was important only insofar as the story became believable and, of course, interesting.

4 Mission Drift?
continued from page 2 largely defines Browns national reputation. Yet more than 40 years after its educational principles passed a faculty vote, the New Curriculum hardly works as its founders envisioned. Modes of Thought courses were a central component of the New Curriculum, designed to be co-taught by professors from multiple departments and offered in such plenitude as to comprise the majority of firstyear courses. But they quickly died out and have been replaced by the less multi-departmental and interdisciplinary First-Year Seminars. And the principles of the New Curriculum have come under attack from students who request pluses and minuses as transcript-boosters, administrators who strengthen course prerequisites and faculty members who disregard undergraduate advising. Brown is defined by its innovative curriculum, which brought it into the national spotlight and attracted the bright applicants who made it a top-ranked institution. But the Brown degrees connotations and prestige are changing as Simmons PAE goals continue to unfold. The University announced plans to launch professional masters degree programs in 2013, which would involve little on-campus learning and could be taught exclusively by adjunct faculty members without permanent appointments. With these programs in place, a Brown diploma would no longer signify that the graduate studied under Brown faculty or was held to world-class academic standards. Such curricular changes have been tried and abandoned before. Former President Francis Wayland launched his New System in 1850 to expand Browns offerings to students who were more interested in professional advancement than four-year liberal arts degrees. By 1856, the loosened requirements and three-year bachelors of philosophy program had lowered the Universitys academic standing. ThenPresident Barnas Sears 1825 wrote to the Corporation, No college has ever resorted to extra measures in order to facilitate the acquisition of academic honors without incurring the ridicule and contempt of other colleges. We are flooded by a class of young men of little solidity or earnestness of character, who resort to this college not so much for the sake of sound learning as for the sake of cheap honors. We are now literally receiving the refuse of other liberal arts and non-pre-professional coursework. As Browns educational values conflict with its search for new revenue streams, its operations take it farther afield from the principles of the university-college and the New Curriculum. The PAE is essential for the Universitys survival as a top institution, Simmons told The Herald. I think when I first started, and I went to the Corporation and said that I didnt think that the current model that were on is sustainable, a lot of people just couldnt fathom that because it feels perfectly fine right now, said Simmons, who was
more money, more programs

the Brown Daily herald tuesday, november 29, 2011

Simmons tenure marked by much action, little reflection

find themselves commuting to meet their daily academic needs. The launch of the School of Engineering enjoyed widespread support among administrators. It boosted the University to a position in line with its peers and is expected to bring more funding and prestige to Brown engineering. But because the school was approved with little on-campus discussion or debate, its impact on the undergraduate experience has yet to be articulated. Such limited campus dialogue surrounding the major developments of Simmons tenure makes a thorough assessment of them difadministrative strengthening

browns mission Statement The mission of Brown University is to serve the community, the nation and the world by discovering, communicating and preserving knowledge and understanding in a spirit of free inquiry, and by educating and preparing students to discharge the offices of life with usefulness and reputation. we do this through a partnership of students and teachers in a unified community known as a university-college.
colleges. By 1876, the Corporation had increased requirements and added a year to the bachelors of philosophy curriculum. The University has a long history of continuing education, beginning with its offering of courses for the public in 1890. The professional masters programs now offer more opportunities for the University to extend the Brown education beyond the ivory tower of those privileged enough to gain admission and afford tuition. But when the Office of Continuing Education plans to open degree-granting courses taught by non-University faculty, a Brown degree is no longer associated with president of Smith College and an administrator at Princeton before heading to College Hill. Its only if you are out and about in the rest of the world, seeing what our peers are doing, that you come to understand how much Brown would be falling behind, she said. But the PAE requires money for everything from hiring professors to adding academic programs to continuing construction, and the University is constantly seeking new sources of revenue to continue to fund growth. But at times it seems money, rather than academics, has become the end in itself. The orientation toward money can be read in the names of campus newest buildings. Older edifices are named after former presidents or even beloved faculty, such as Professor of History and Political Economy Jeremiah Lewis Diman 1851. But the newest, biggest buildings all bear the names of donors: the Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, the Stephen Robert 62 Campus Center and the soonto-open Jonathan Nelson Fitness Center, Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center and David Zucconi 55 Varsity Strength and Conditioning Center. Masters programs, which increase tuition income but not financial aid costs, have proliferated over the past 10 years. The University awarded masters degrees in 38 programs in 1991, 39 programs in 2001 and 53 programs in 2011, according to the Office of the Registrar. The expansion of the engineering division into a separate school has allowed for increased investment in the program, both in the form of new faculty hires and external grants. An enlarged engineering program will bring corporate partnerships and research funds to the University, but such revenue could come at the loss of Browns reputation as a true liberal arts university. And if the proposed engineering building is located off main campus in the Jewelry District, undergraduate students will ficult. Major University decisions have historically included extensive community involvement, committee evaluations and multiple reports. The New Curriculum, for example, started as a Group Independent Study Project before traveling through committee assessment, widespread discussion and a faculty vote. The 1967 Advisory Committee on Student Conduct loosened curfews and liquor rules, the 1969 Special Committee on Educational Principles recommended the New Curriculum and the 1969 Pembroke Study Committee inspired the merge of Pembroke College and Brown. But the era of influential committees is over. All three of those historic committees included administrators and students but were chaired by faculty. The Universitys more recent high-profile committees the Committee on ROTC, the Athletics Review Committee and the Committee on Tenure and Faculty Development Policies have all been chaired by administrators. The ROTC committee, despite much fanfare, precipitated no major shifts, and the athletics committee saw its most important recommendation, the cutting of varsity teams, rejected. Student activism has changed as well. In a Herald faculty poll conducted this semester, 57.4 percent of respondents and 82.6 percent of those who have worked at Brown more than 20 years indicated that student activism has decreased since they were undergraduates. While campus activism has not died, it is far less widespread. While 500 rallied in 1969 in support of the New Curriculum, only 15 undergraduates attended a recent forum on the ongoing presidential search. The four-year model, in which the student body sees a 25 percent turnover each year, lends itself to weak institutional memory among undergraduates. The debate over adding pluses and minuses to the

grading system, which seized campus in 2006, is forgotten today. And ongoing discussions over the Reserve Officers Training Corps could be lost to memory by the time the class of 2019 enters the Van Wickle Gates. Simmons told The Herald she is not concerned if students do not engage with broad institutional shifts. The impact of the PAE, she said, will be appreciated by alums who benefit from the Universitys increased prestige after graduating. The same students who dont notice it today because theyre here, and theyre absorbed in their studies and their activities will care about it a good deal when they leave Brown, Simmons said. There are certain things that happen within our University that are of greater interest to faculty and administration and to some extent to alumni than to students. With limited resources and ambitious goals, the University constantly faces tough decisions about how to best allocate money. We have to be careful stewards of those resources, said Provost Mark Schlissel P15 in August. For me, its very important not to make the wrong trade-off between doing lots of things sort-of and doing a smaller number of things really well. The mission itself, while lofty, does not directly determine these choices: The task of aligning Browns means and mission is left to each generation of leadership, guided by two-way dialogue from the top down and the bottom up. The mission, like the Constitution, must be interpreted in each generation anew, but its written in a way thats broad and ambitious and aspirational, that can meet each generations interpretation, said Schlissel, who has a copy of the mission statement hanging over his desk in University Hall. As the University prepares to bid farewell to a visionary president and to select a new leader, the mission again comes to the forefront as the most prominent and permanent statement of Browns identity and purpose. The remainder of this series takes stock of the past decade and provides a snapshot of the institution as it now stands. It will compare institutional decision-making in the 1970s to that of the present day, analyze the role of Browns peers in shaping its identity and examine the extent to which the need for money shapes, and may distort, University priorities. The presidential search process makes this series especially timely, but the questions raised in these articles have been, and will continue to be, debated within and beyond The Heralds pages. We feel that institutional selfstudy must be a very important part of the activity at the institution, wrote the authors of the MagazinerMaxwell report, which first proposed the New Curriculum. The questions of what, how and why raised in the process of self-examination, as well as by the use of institutional selfstudy, will accent the need for human relevance in education.
a call for self-study

the Brown Daily herald tuesday, november 29, 2011

City & State 5

students have had more sexual partners than female students this semester. Over half of polled males 55.9 percent have had at least one partner, compared to 48.3 percent of polled females. Often, when the outcome of a sexual encounter is ambiguous, men have a tendency to round up, whereas women might round down, Winkler said. Despite the differences and ambiguities associated with sex and sexual partners on campus, sex is a hot topic no matter where you go, because its an important part of being human, Manduley said. After all, sex is how we all got here. written questionnaires were administered to 851 undergraduates november 23 in the lobby of J. walter wilson and the Stephen robert 62 Campus Center during the day and the Sciences Library at night. The poll has a 3.1 percent margin of error with 95 percent confidence. The margin of error is 4.6 percent for the subset of males, 4.3 percent for females, 6.4 percent for seniors, 3.6 percent for non-seniors, 6.3 percent for first-year students and 3.6 percent for non-first-years.
methodology

Students mostly talk, less action Ralliers say charter will

continued from page 1 educator at Health Services. She added that those numbers always surprise students. Students are under the impression that everybody is having sex, she said. Before seeing the results, Katherine Xiong 14 estimated that students had an average of three to five partners this semester. Students get the idea that everyone around them is having sex both because students often exaggerate their sexual exploits and because everyone interprets sex differently, said Jenn Conti 12, co-chair of Sexual Health Education and Empowerment Council, an undergraduate student group. Assumptions of behavior toward sex are skewed because people are more vocal about having sex than not having sex, said Aida Manduley 11, co-chair of the group. No one says, This weekend, I didnt have sex, Jenny Tsai 13 said. The misconception is especially strong for first-years, who often think that college is a land of sexual bountifulness, Manduley said. But almost half of polled firstyears have found College Hill to be far less plentiful. First-years are having less sex than upperclassmen 49.8 percent have had zero sexual partners this semester, compared to 28.6 percent of seniors. Conti suggested the difference comes from the fact that first-years are building friendships rather than finding hookups. John Hammond 12, who estimated results similar to the actual poll results before finding out the outcome, originally thought firstyears were more promiscuous. Brown has a casual sex scene, he said, where people are down to get down. But Ben Winkler 11, a founding member of the Sexual Health Awareness Group, or SHAG, said he believes if the poll asked about number of hookups as well as sexual partners, the difference between first-years and upperclassmen might narrow. As a Residential Counselor, he suggested first-years are finding physical intimacy even if that intimacy does not necessarily count as a sexual partner, he said. The results also do not take into account that a person in a monogamous relationship may have only one sexual partner while having sex multiple times a week, Conti said. Poll results also suggested male

hurt public schools

continued from page 8 process favors students with greater parental support. That form of admission tends to cream off students who have parents who are more involved, she said. Im sure theyve got a readymade pool of applicants, said Daniel Wall, a public school teacher at the Juanita Sanchez Educational Complex. Theyre pulling out kids who would succeed in any school department, he said. Protesters also fear that the mayoral academy would divert funding from Providence public schools,Wall said. According to the most recent data, the Providence public school system spends roughly $15,000 annually on each of its more than 23,000 pupils. For corporate companies like Achievement First, the bottom line is the dollars and coins they will bring back to corporate headquarters, said Councilman Jackson. The letter presented Monday also raised concerns about Achievement Firsts harshly disciplinarian, no excuses model of education, and outlined opposition to its schools utilization of shunning and public stigmatization as disciplinary tools. These methods discourage critical thinking and stymie emotional development, the letter stated. Achievement Firsts militaristic view of education will be a failure, said Jackson. Achievement First initially submitted an application to es-

Profs cancel class to support Occupiers

continued from page 1 country. He noted that the economic crisis is particularly trying for students battling massive loans and a bleak job market. Keach said he has been more involved with the Occupy movement in Boston, where he lives, but that the events at UC Davis encouraged him to support Occupy College Hill. He added that he knows many professors who are sympathetic to the Occupy movement and said he was surprised that more did not cancel classes or turn out in support of the students. Visiting Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature Ipek Celik cancelled her 10 a.m. class COLT 1812F: Violence and Representation and her 2 p.m. class COLT 1812I: Collective Struggles and Cultural Politics in the Global South. While passing out flyers advertising the day of action outside Sayles Hall, she said that though she has always deemed protesters requests valid, she had not been involved in the Occupy movement before the violence at UC Davis. I thought it was important for my students to know where I stand, Celik said, adding that she was unsure whether the walk-out could potentially progress into a longterm strike. If there is going to be a prolonged strike, it needs to be a solidarity action, she said. Michelle Cho, a postdoctoral fellow in International Humanities, also canceled classes yesterday. My intentions were to raise awareness among the students in the class about the continuing activity about the Occupy colleges movement, she said. Having received her masters degree from the University of California at Irvine, Cho said that she has been carefully following the movements progression. The policy of the Board of Regents at the University of California really monetizes the education experience that really goes against the principles of liberal education, she said. This is an educational philosophy that we have to stand up against.

tablish a school in Cranston, but the application was rejected by the Rhode Island Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education in September. Another application to open a school in Providence has been submitted and currently awaits consideration by the Board of Regents. The Rhode Island Department of Education has scheduled public hearings on the application for Dec. 7 and 8. If this proposal was deemed not good enough for Cranston about two months ago, then why should we believe its good enough for Providence today? Wall asked. The application has garnered the support of the Providence School Board, but Wall said he does not believe the approval of the school board, appointed by the mayor, constitutes support of the policy. The protesters suggested the government focus its energy on fixing existing public schools. Its a badly injured system, said Victoria Ruiz, a member of the Olneyville Neighborhood Association. Protester Jean Link, whose daughter attends Charles N. Fortes Elementary School, carried a poster covered with photos that depicted the schools dilapidated state and extended the governor a personal invitation to visit her daughters school. We dont take care of our schools, she said. As a taxpayer, I want my money to go to my public school.

COMICS
Fraternity of Evil | Eshan Mitra, Brendan Hainline and Hector Ramirez

Dreadful Cosmology | Oirad Macmit

twitter.com/the_herald

6 editorial
EdITORIAL
Embracing experiential diversity
Browns effort to diversify the student body should be about more than just race, religion and ethnicity. It should emphasize finding students with as varied life experiences as possible. This holistic diversity will foster the formation of more rounded, inclusive classes and more fully reflect American society. According to The Herald, President Ruth Simmons sent 11,000 letters encouraging prospective minority applicants to apply last year. We applaud this effort to increase minority applicants and recommend that similar engagement be made with prospective veteran applicants. The millions of current and former members of the armed forces are strikingly underrepresented on campus. Just six of the more than 6,000 undergraduates are veterans. Brown should increase its efforts to recruit veterans. (There are more than 300,000 veterans and veterans dependents enrolled in institutions of higher education, according to the New York Times). We have previously registered our concern about Browns isolation from the military, which is disproportionately poor and southern. Increasing veterans enrollment will help to bridge this divide. Veterans contribution to the campus community is obvious. Their perspectives offer classmates and professors valuable insight into the unique experience of serving in the military. Undoubtedly, a discussion on the impact of the Iraq War on civilian populations would be enriched by the insights of a student who has served in Fallujah. A public lecture critical of drone airstrikes in the Afghanistan-Pakistan tribal region would benefit from a veterans experience coming under fire from Pakistan. David Salsone 12.5 previously told The Herald, We, as veterans, add to classroom discussion. We bring a different perspective. Veterans have frankly seen and done far more than many undergraduates, some of whom are just 17 years old. As our community reflects on our relationship with the Department of Defense and Reserve Officer Training Corps, as we learn about our countrys military history and our current involvements around the world, it is vital that we increase military perspectives on campus to add to these academic and intellectual conversations. Increasing veterans recruitment will also serve other diversity objectives. Service members often come from socioeconomic backgrounds less advantaged than those of typical Brown students. Currently, Brown lacks an effective program to recruit veterans. Besides a sparse webpage, Brown does little to attract veteran applicants. Chaney Harrison 11.5 said, Brown is simply not doing a good job of attracting student veterans. Other schools, most prominently Columbia, do much more. Columbia, which has 210 veterans enrolled, specifically recruits veterans. According to the New York Times, it targets veterans, both active-duty and students, even sending admissions officers to military bases. Though Columbia is a special case its school of general studies is specifically designed for non-traditional students its recognition of the importance of veterans on campus, and its success in attracting them, speaks to the potential for Brown to substantially increase the number of veterans enrolled. editorials are written by The heralds editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

the Brown Daily herald tuesday, november 29, 2011

EdITORIAL CARTOON

by lo r e n f u lto n

This type of reform is very sexy right now.

Sam Adler-Bell 12.5 see proteSterS on page 8.

QUOTE OF THE dAy

CORREC TION
A headline in Mondays Herald (Senior brings dance to abandoned mall, Nov. 28) incorrectly identified choreographer Elise Nuding 11 as a senior. In fact, she is an alum. The Herald regrets the error.

t h e b r ow n da i ly h e r a l d
Editors-in-chiEf sydney ember Ben schreckinger editorial kristina Fazzalaro rebecca Ballhaus claire Peracchio talia kagan amy rasmussen tony Bakshi ethan mccoy ashley mcdonnell sam rubinroit anita mathews sam carter hunter Fast arts & Culture editor City & state editor City & state editor Features editor assistant Features editor news editor sports editor sports editor assistant sports editor editorial page editor opinions editor opinions editor ManaGinG Editors Brigitta greene anne speyer sEnior Editors dan alexander Nicole Friedman Julien ouellet Business GEnEral ManaGErs matthew Burrows isha gulati aditi Bhatia danielle marshak margot grinberg lisa Berlin officE ManaGEr shawn reilly

dirEctors sales Finance alumni relations special projects

Graphics & photos abe Pressman emily gilbert rachel kaplan glenn lutzky Jesse schwimmer Graphics editor photo editor photo editor assistant photo editor sports photo editor

ManaGErs Justin lee Collections Collections sam Plotner Nicky robbins Invoice staff kevin lynch daniel slutsky analytics Jared davis sales and Communications alumni engagement Nikita khadloya emily simmons ad relations Human relations James eng angel lee Business development owen millard Business development gregory chatzinoff web relations Post- maGazine editor-in-Chief sam knowles editor-in-Chief amelia stanton BloG dailY Herald david Winer editor-in-Chief matt klimerman Managing editor

CORRECTIONS POLICY The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication. C O M M E N TA R Y P O L I C Y The editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and clarity and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the authors identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed. ADVERTISING POLICY The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.

production dan towne olivia conetta anna migliaccio katie Wilson leor shtull-leber Neal Poole Copy desk Chief assistant Copy desk Chief design editor design editor design editor web producer

the Brown Daily herald tuesday, november 29, 2011

opinions 7
It is this constant pressure to succeed as success becomes less of a means to happy, fulfilling lives than an end in itself that drives young people, not so different from us, to pay as much as $2,500 to have someone sit for a standardized test in their stead. While very few Brown students may have done something that drastic, many do go through the trouble of illegally purchasing Adderall to fuel all-night paper writing sessions, and others benignly copy friends answers on homework they have more so would he be in an introductory biology course? It is impossible to fully remove the pressure to cheat, but universities could do a better job of reducing the incentives. Browns Admissions Offices website already makes perfectly clear that mere quantitative credentials dont adequately explain admission decisions. The website goes on to explain that the Universitys approach looks at the quality of the applicant as a whole, not just their scores on standardized testing. haps by knocking the SAT off its pedestal, the craziness surrounding it will die down. If high schoolers were reassured that a so-so SAT score is not the end of the world and that one out-of-this-world score does not make up for years of slipshod work there would be less incentive to cheat. Even without cheating, the amount of money families spend on SAT preparatory classes and tutoring often thousands of dollars is absurd and distorts the SAT as a means to compare students between different socioeconomic statuses. Ultimately, all the focus on getting good SAT scores accomplishes is to diminish the tests value as a tool in helping colleges find the strongest students, since the affluent can, sometimes literally, buy good test scores for themselves. In light of the current cheating scandal, it is important that the College Board review its practices to make it more difficult to impersonate someone else to take the SAT. But since no amount of security will prevent cheating, the best we can hope for is to reduce the incentive. Beginning this endeavor will not be easy, but it starts by creating a culture that does not let our grade point averages or standardized test scores define who we truly are. Ethan Tobias 12 is a biology concentrator from Long Island, N.y. He can be reached at ethan_tobias@brown.edu.

Changing a cheating culture

By ETHAN TOBIAS
opinions Columnist
Scheming to defraud, falsifying business records and criminal impersonation these are just a taste of the criminal charges being levied against Long Island high school and college students who allegedly cheated on the SAT. According to prosecutors, the high schoolers paid college students to take the test for them at several schools. The scandal has already led to accusations against 20 students and has exposed just how easy and pervasive cheating is on standardized tests. And these cases may just be the tip of the iceberg. For years, when the College Board and Educational Testing Service suspected cheating, test scores were canceled and test takers refunded, but high schools and colleges were never notified. The system has created a perverse set of incentives that allows students to get away with cheating and to try again free of charge in the event they are caught. But while it is easy to blame the College Board, which administers the SAT, the fault lies much deeper and closer to home. As students attending an elite university, we are all probably aware of the pressure to succeed that is placed upon us by our parents, our teachers, our peers and most importantly ourselves.

If high schoolers were reassured that a so-so SAT score is not the end of the world and one out-of-this-world score does not make up for years of slipshod work there would be less incentive to cheat.
not yet finished. And when that upperclassman friend just happens to mention that he has some old tests saved from that really hard chemistry class, it is hard to resist taking a peek. The problem is that an individual cannot cheat his way through life, and it is better to recognize limits earlier rather than later. What were the Long Island students going to do when their stellar SAT scores earned them fraudulent entry into a top school? If a student is willing to cheat just to get in the front door, how much In fact, students who received perfect marks on one of the SAT sections still had barely more than a 20 percent acceptance rate for admission to the class of 2015. If the University wanted to accept only students with perfect SAT scores, it could easily do so. Instead, it makes seeking out candidates with diverse strengths a priority. Other institutions should follow Browns lead and announce that SAT scores are merely one facet in a toolbox of ways they can evaluate candidates. Per-

Questioning the New Curriculum

By OLIVER ROSENBLOOM
opinions Columnist
The most sacred dogma at Brown is that the New Curriculum benefits all students. I certainly appreciate the opportunity to design my own curriculum, but Ive also come to realize that the New Curriculum has serious drawbacks that do not receive enough attention here at Brown. The biggest strength of the New Curriculum is also its most fundamental flaw. Proponents of the New Curriculum point to the freedom it affords students to design their entire course of study. But this freedom can also be a curse for students who are not able to handle it in a responsible, intellectually enriching manner. As a junior, I feel that I have finally found the optimal way to navigate the New Curriculum, but when I look back at my first year, I realize that I misused this newfound academic freedom when I first arrived at Brown. Many students, especially first-years, are simply not in the position to handle full academic freedom. Instead of designing a wellrounded curriculum that spans many academic disciplines, they flock to the subjects they enjoyed in high school. They avoid college coursework in areas that they disliked in high school, and they completely neglect new disciplines in favor of the subjects they already have demonstrated an expertise in. As a first-year, I did not fully appreciate the value of an education spanning many disciplines. I did not understand that taking courses outside of the humanities would expose me to new methods of thought, even if the subject material itself did not excite me. Instead of seeking to become a well rounded student the fundamental goal of a liberal arts education I focused on the subject areas that I most enjoyed. I know that I am not alone in abusing the freedom offered by the New Curriculum. This unbalanced curriculum design is understandable, especially for students who suffered through rigorous high school coursework that allowed no intellectual exploration. It is tempting to use this freedom there is a clear difference between the most enjoyable curriculum and the most rewarding curriculum. First-years can place too large an emphasis on creating an enjoyable curriculum because they only recently finished high school, where a lack of academic freedom can be intellectually stifling. Such students would have a better educational experience if they were forced to take at least some classes that they did not enjoy yet still carry enormous intellectual value. Many first-years do in fact enter Brown with the proper mindset to handle the freedom of the New Curriculum. Furthermore, Due to the New Curriculums academic freedom, some students leave Brown without a true liberal arts education or a specific skill set for the workplace. They do not receive technical or vocational training nor do they become well-rounded scholars. This critique of the New Curriculum requires a few qualifications. Students who do not receive a well-rounded education at Brown have only themselves to blame, because they chose their own curriculum. The basic argument against it is simply that not all college students are able to take advantage of this freedom. Furthermore, there are flaws in any curriculum design. Regardless of the presence or absence of curricular requirements, some students at every school will graduate without taking full advantage of their college years. My critique of the New Curriculum should not be construed as an argument for other curricular designs. After two and a half years as a Brown student, I am profoundly grateful for this curriculum because I am now capable of handling it in a responsible manner. I know that most Brown students either enter college with the proper mindset for the New Curriculum or quickly acquire it. I am merely acknowledging that there are serious drawbacks to this curriculum, especially for younger college students, and we ignore these flaws at our own risk. Oliver Rosenbloom 13 is a history concentrator from Mill Valley, Calif. He can be contacted at oliver_rosenbloom@brown.edu.

Many students, especially first-years, simply are not in the position to handle full academic freedom.

as an excuse to take easy or comfortable classes instead of challenging ones. Firstyears who lack college experience and a deep appreciation for a broad-based education cannot always be expected to take a wide range of classes on their own initiative. Many students, my first-year self included, would benefit from some curriculum requirements that forced them to sample new disciplines. In hindsight, I realize that

most students who abuse this complete freedom upon arrival learn to handle it in a more enriching way as they spend more semesters here. Yet I would still argue that some students leave Brown without a proper understanding of the most beneficial way to handle the New Curriculum. Instead of using it as an opportunity for a wide range of intellectual exploration, they use it as an excuse to avoid challenging and unfamiliar courses and subject areas.

Daily Herald Sports tuesday

the Brown
m. bASkETbALL

tuesday, november 29, 2011

Bears go one for four in NIT Season Tip-Off

By sam ruBiNroit aSSiStant SportS editor

Herald file photo

Aileen daniels 12 led the Bears to win the dead River Company Classic title.

W. bASkETbALL

Brown Bears beat Black Bears in title game

By madeleiNe WeNstruP SportS Staff Writer

Over Thanksgiving break, the womens basketball team traveled to Orono, Maine and captured the Dead River Company Classic title. The Bears (3-3) defeated Evansville 55-47 Friday evening and then took down the tournaments host team, the University of Maine, 61-59 in an overtime nail-biter to win the tournament. Head Coach Jean Burr said the Bears entered the tournament really anxious to do well after a 6449 loss to Bryant last Tuesday. The first half of Brunos opener against the Evansville Purple Aces (1-4) was a back-and-forth affair the score was tied six times in the first 20 minutes of play. Cocaptain Hannah Passafuime 12 netted a jumper right before the halftime buzzer, sending the teams to the locker room deadlocked at 26. We were on the attack mode, Burr said. And you could really see it. After the break, the Evansville squad surged ahead with a 13-4 run to go up 39-30, its biggest lead of the night. Lindsay Nickel 13 began Brunos charge back, scoring a jumper and a three-pointer to narrow the deficit to four at the 11:10 mark. Propelled by Nickels initiative, Bruno fought back to tie the game at 44 with six minutes of play remaining. The teams remained close until the one-minute mark, when Passafuime and guard Sheila Dixon 13 went on the attack. Their combined seven points in the last minute put the Bears on top at the end of the game and sent them to the final round of the tournament. Co-captains Aileen Daniels 12 and Passafuime were the high scorers of the night, netting 17 points apiece. Passafuime went six for 12 from the field, including two of three from three-point range. The seniors fight and determination was really evident, Burr said. They had a lot of hustle.

The next day, the Bears had to face the tournament hosts on their territory. It was a hard-fought battle on their home court, Burr said. We knew we had the chips against us going into the game. Despite the unfriendly environment, the Bears started off hot, taking a five-point lead in the first three minutes. The Bears continued to dominate, going up 19-10 with seven minutes remaining in the first half. But the Black Bears (2-3) did not back down, going on a 14-8 run to cut the deficit to three at the halftime mark. Bruno was able to build its lead back up to seven with 12 minutes remaining, but that would be the last time the Bears could sit comfortably. The Black Bears inched closer, but with the help of back-to-back three-pointers from Nickel, Bruno was able to go up by six with 1:50 remaining in the second half. Nickel really stepped up this weekend, Burr said. There was an air of determination there. But in the last 90 seconds, Brown missed four free-throw opportunities and with 19 seconds remaining, Maine guard Ashleigh Roberts put in a layup to tie the game at 56. After several missed opportunities from both squads, the teams went into overtime. In extra time, just one player from each team scored. Corinne Wellington put in a jump shot and a free throw for the Black Bears, but point guard Lauren Clarke 14 outscored Wellington, putting up five points to give the Bears the 61-59 win and the title. Daniels was named the tournament MVP with 29 tournament points and a combined 13 rebounds. Passafuime was given All-Tournament Team honors after netting 25 points and 16 rebounds in the two games. The Bears will return to the Pizzitola Center to face Fairfield Wednesday evening at 5 p.m. and will then host the Brown Bear Classic this weekend.

The mens basketball team fell below the .500 mark Sunday night, losing to Sacred Heart 77-64 after dropping three of its four matchups in the National Invitation Tournament Season Tip-Off. The squad (3-4) lost its first three games of the tournament falling to Albany 77-68, Manhattan 54-52 and George Mason 74-48 before toppling Monmouth 79-71 in its final game in the consolation bracket. The week before the Bears defeated Hartford 59-52. Stephen Albrecht 12.5 had a breakthrough performance against the Monmouth Hawks (0-6), leading the team with 22 points on eight of 13 shooting from the field, including four of eight from threepoint range. Sean McGonagill 14 added 18 points and eight assists, while Andrew McCarthy 13 and co-captain Matt Sullivan 13 contributed 13 points apiece. The Bears unleashed an impressive shooting display, connecting on 61.2 percent of shots from the field and 50 percent from beyond the arc as a team. It was an honor to be invited to play in the most prestigious annual tournament, said Head Coach Jesse Agel. We competed really, really well, and we had a chance to win those other three games. After their victory against Monmouth, the Bears traveled to Connecticut to face Sacred Heart (4-3), losing a game that was closer than the final score indicated. Despite falling behind by as many as 15 points in the first half, Bruno battled back to cut the Pioneers lead to eight at halftime. The Bears stormed out of the gate in the second half, grabbing a three-point advantage with just over 10 minutes remaining. But Sacred Heart responded with a 13-1 run and held on to the lead for the remainder of the game. For the second straight game, Albrecht was the Bears leading scorer, finishing with a careerhigh 23 points. Albrecht who

Sam Rubinroit / Herald

Sean McGonagill 14 led the mens team through seven games in scoring, assists and steals.

was forced to sit out last season after transferring from the University of Toledo connected on eight of 17 shots from the field and six of 12 from beyond the arc. His six three-pointers rank 10th-best in school history. Stephen had his second great offensive performance, and he is beginning to show himself as a really good player, Agel said. Hes been injured, so he had a really short window of opportunity to practice and get back. Im absolutely amazed at what he has been able to do without getting the repetitions that one would need to be at the top of his game. Albrechts recent emergence as a scoring threat has also reduced the pressure on his teammates. Im always looking for guys on the perimeter when I drive from the wing, so me and him working together was really helpful, said McGonagill, the teams point guard. He took advantage of open shots and knocked them down, so he really stepped up and gave us a big burst of energy throughout the game.

Several players on the young Brown squad have been forced to take on a larger scoring role in the absence of the teams leading scorer, co-captain Tucker Halpern 13. The squad has also been plagued by other injury and eligibility issues. Whatever can go wrong has gone wrong, Agel said. I give our guys an unbelievable amount of credit to keep battling and not using it as an excuse at all. The Bears face an arduous stretch in their next three games they challenge the University of Rhode Island Wednesday and then visit the University of Iowa and Providence College. Browns history against URI and Providence in the last 10 years has not been one of success, Agel said. But to go out to Iowa is a great chance for us to get to the Midwest, where some of our guys played. Iowa will be a new experience, McGonagill, a native of Brookfield, Ill., said, but I think it will be nice for some of us Midwest guys because we get to see our family and a few friends.

Protesters decry proposed school

By PhoeBe draPer Contributing Writer

Roughly 30 members of various neighborhood and education groups gathered at the State House Monday morning to protest the proposed Providence mayoral academy. The charter school would be operated by Achievement First, a nonprofit organization that runs 20 academies in New York and Connecticut. After a brief press conference in the lobby of the capitol building, the protesters proceeded to the office of Gov. Lincoln Chafee 75 P14. The protesters who said they were there to contest the notion that broad community support exists for the school called for the rejection of Achieve-

ment Firsts application and renewed support for Providences existing public schools. The group presented the governors secretary with a letter signed by seven City Council members and 21 Providence-based coalitions. Achievement First is the worst kind of corporately funded topdown school reform, said Sam

city & state

Adler-Bell 12.5. This type of reform is very sexy right now, but it isnt necessarily supporting public school students. One of the protesters main concerns is that charter schools like the mayoral academy serve an elite few and leave behind the majority of public school students.

You make a choice of either supporting public education for all our children or corporate education for a few of our children, said Kevin Jackson, Providence city councilman for Ward 3. The answer is not to take resources from the many to provide the alleged benefit to the few, said Kathy Crain, former president of the Providence School Board. Admission to the mayoral academy would be determined by a lottery if applications submitted by interested parents outnumbered spots at the school. Ellie Wyatt, a retired public school teacher and member of the Coalition to Defend Public Education, said the application continued on page 5