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Tuesday, March 1, 2011 D aily Herald THE BROWN Since 1891 vol. cxlvi, no. 23 46 / 16 TOMORROW 39 / 28 TODAY NEWS...................2-3 CITY & STATE.........4 EDITORIAL..............6 OPINIONS...............7 SPORTS...................8 INSIDE SPORTS, 8 Nothing but net e women’s lacrosse team beats Sacred Heart 21-8 IR changes will simplify concentration OPINIONS, 7 WEATHER Right track By KATRINA PHILLIPS CONTRIBUTING WRITER “Show me what you can do,” requests an inexperienced aerial artist of the more knowledgeable Alexis Shuster- man ’13. And Shusterman complies — pulling herself smoothly onto the static trapeze, the bar becomes a natu- ral addition to her body as she twists and turns with ease. She is like a pret- zel flying gracefully. e impressive stunts are easy, she claims, insisting that the new member will be able to mimic them in weeks. Meanwhile, Zack Bodinger ’13 hangs from the double static trapeze, acting as “base” while another aerialist hangs upside-down from his ankles. And Doug McDonald ’14 — legs in the splits — swings five feet from the ground with only silk rope wrapped around his feet to support him. It is a typical night of practice for one of the University’s youngest performing arts groups, the Brown Aerial Arts Society. Learning to fly Together, co-founders Bodinger and Shusterman have roughly two decades of aerial arts experience. Ev- ery week they share this experience — with the help of a few guide books — with Brown Aerial Arts Society’s enthusiastic members. e skill level in the club ranges from students who have never touched a trapeze before to those trained professionally by tra- peze schools. As a visitor to the club, I fit into the first category and found myself warmly welcomed. “If you just look, you can see who has experience,” Harmony Lu ’12 said as I watched the class. A beginner herself, she added that even those who just started last semester have already seen marked improvement. With the greatest of ease: Aerial club learns to fly Katrina Phillips / Herald The Brown Aerial Arts Society teaches the art of trapeze at weekly practices. By CAITLIN TRUJILLO SENIOR STAFF WRITER Following the lead of peer institu- tions, the University announced yes- terday it will stop distributing the Course Announcement Bulletin to students. e catalogs — formerly distrib- uted to returning students in the spring and to incoming students dur- ing the summer — will now only be made available to faculty members, academic advisers and Meiklejohn peer advisers, Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron wrote in an e- mail to the Brown community yes- terday aſternoon. The move will cut down on en- vironmental waste, as most students eschew the printed catalog in favor of online course information, she wrote. “In the past, it was not uncom- mon to find recycling bins filled with CABs on the same aſternoon they were distributed to mailboxes,” Bergeron wrote. “By ending this wasteful practice, we hope to refocus resources and energies toward im- proving the ways we transmit course information to every constituency on campus.” e change will probably not re- sult in significant financial savings for the University, Registrar Robert Fitzgerald said, because publication of the catalogs costs less than $10,000 a year. Instead, the new policy is “an effort to go green” and follow the lead of peer schools like Harvard and Penn, which have also ceased publishing printed course catalogs, he said. e course catalog was inefficient because it “was outdated once it was published,” Fitzgerald said. To make up for the loss, Banner’s Course Scheduler will display both fall and spring semester courses for the 2011-12 academic year leading up to pre-registration in April, Fitzgerald said. e Office of the Registrar will also keep a downloadable PDF on its website, he said. e University did not distrib- ute catalogs to first-year students last summer, and Fitzgerald said his of- fice received no complaints. But Alex Rieckhoff ’14 said a printed catalog could be helpful to new students and a better option than Banner. “I found it really hard to go through online” to find classes to take, she said, adding that she eventu- ally consulted a junior friend’s catalog to make the process easier. e catalog is more straightfor- ward than Banner’s Course Sched- U. to phase out course catalogs By SHEFALI LUTHRA SENIOR STAFF WRITER e Providence School Board vot- ed 4-3 to terminate the contracts of all 1,926 teachers in the district at its Feb. 18 meeting. e proposal, which originated from Providence Mayor Angel Taveras’ office, was created to provide “flexibility” in addressing the city’s deficit, Taveras wrote in a statement. e city also plans to close some schools in the district as it finalizes its budget. Projec- tions for the Providence Public School District deficit currently approach $40 million. Taveras wrote that the decision was a “last resort,” adding that most dismissals will be rescinded in coming weeks as the city budget is finalized. In a press conference follow- ing the Feb. 18 meeting, Steve Smith, president of the Providence Teachers Union, called the deci- sion “shocking,” comparing Tav- eras to a robber baron. “is is a political decision to take control and silence workers,” Smith said, adding that Taveras is “waging a war on workers.” But Taveras wrote in the state- ment that he intends to work with unions and organized labor to re- solve the dispute. “I support the democratic right to organize and have been participating regularly in meetings with our city unions to strengthen our partnerships and find common ground in solv- ing our financial problems,” Tav- eras wrote. Smith also criticized the city’s decision to terminate teachers as opposed to laying them off. Teach- ers who are laid off are still eligible for certain benefits, and decisions are influenced by seniority. But with termination, the district does not need to address seniority, and a teacher who is let go can be com- pletely cut off from benefits. In particular, Smith addressed School board dismisses district’s 1,926 teachers Stephanie London / Herald In addition to firing all Providence teachers, the city plans to close some district schools to ease the budget crunch. By NATALIE VILLACORTA SENIOR STAFF WRITER A staple of living rooms and li- braries alike, fluorescent lamps continue to replace traditional in- candescent bulbs. But what many consumers do not know is that these energy-efficient lamps con- tain mercury. If bulbs break, the mercury poses a risk to the brain development of fetuses, newborns and children. at’s where Banyan Environ- mental Inc. will come in, said Love Sarin ’05 PhD’10. e company is developing clean-up kits and recy- cling sleeves for proper fluorescent lamp disposal. Sarin’s team is one of four teams working with Brown that received funding in February from the Rhode Island Science and Tech- nology Advisory Council. STAC is funding projects that are “poised and ready … to take knowledge and turn it into something that is commercially relevant,” said Christine Smith, executive di- rector and innovation program manager for STAC. e council re- ceives $1.5 million annually from the state to support collaborative research. Collaboration is the key to Grants fuel economic growth continued on page 2 continued on page 4 continued on page 3 continued on page 2 CITY & STATE
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Page 1: Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Tuesday, March 1, 2011Daily Heraldthe Brown

Since 1891vol. cxlvi, no. 23

46 / 16

t o m o r r o w

39 / 28

t o d aynews...................2-3CITY & sTaTe.........4 edITorIal..............6opInIons...............7sporTs...................8insid

e

SportS, 8

Nothing but netThe women’s lacrosse team beats Sacred Heart 21-8

Ir changes will simplify concentration

opInIonS, 7 wea

therRight track

By KatRiNa PhilliPsContributing Writer

“Show me what you can do,” requests an inexperienced aerial artist of the more knowledgeable Alexis Shuster-man ’13. And Shusterman complies — pulling herself smoothly onto the static trapeze, the bar becomes a natu-ral addition to her body as she twists and turns with ease. She is like a pret-zel flying gracefully. The impressive stunts are easy, she claims, insisting that the new member will be able to mimic them in weeks. Meanwhile, Zack Bodinger ’13 hangs from the double static trapeze, acting as “base” while another aerialist hangs upside-down from his ankles. And Doug McDonald ’14 — legs in the splits — swings five feet from the ground with only silk rope wrapped around his feet to support him.

It is a typical night of practice for one of the University’s youngest

performing arts groups, the Brown Aerial Arts Society.

learning to flyTogether, co-founders Bodinger

and Shusterman have roughly two decades of aerial arts experience. Ev-ery week they share this experience — with the help of a few guide books — with Brown Aerial Arts Society’s enthusiastic members. The skill level in the club ranges from students who have never touched a trapeze before to those trained professionally by tra-peze schools. As a visitor to the club, I fit into the first category and found myself warmly welcomed.

“If you just look, you can see who has experience,” Harmony Lu ’12 said as I watched the class. A beginner herself, she added that even those who just started last semester have already seen marked improvement.

With the greatest of ease: Aerial club learns to fly

Katrina Phillips / HeraldThe Brown Aerial Arts Society teaches the art of trapeze at weekly practices.

By CaitliN tRujilloSenior Staff Writer

Following the lead of peer institu-tions, the University announced yes-terday it will stop distributing the Course Announcement Bulletin to students.

The catalogs — formerly distrib-uted to returning students in the spring and to incoming students dur-ing the summer — will now only be made available to faculty members, academic advisers and Meiklejohn peer advisers, Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron wrote in an e-mail to the Brown community yes-terday afternoon.

The move will cut down on en-vironmental waste, as most students eschew the printed catalog in favor of online course information, she wrote.

“In the past, it was not uncom-mon to find recycling bins filled with CABs on the same afternoon they were distributed to mailboxes,” Bergeron wrote. “By ending this wasteful practice, we hope to refocus resources and energies toward im-proving the ways we transmit course information to every constituency on campus.”

The change will probably not re-sult in significant financial savings for the University, Registrar Robert Fitzgerald said, because publication of the catalogs costs less than $10,000 a year. Instead, the new policy is “an effort to go green” and follow the lead of peer schools like Harvard and Penn, which have also ceased publishing printed course catalogs, he said.

The course catalog was inefficient because it “was outdated once it was published,” Fitzgerald said.

To make up for the loss, Banner’s Course Scheduler will display both fall and spring semester courses for the 2011-12 academic year leading up to pre-registration in April, Fitzgerald said. The Office of the Registrar will also keep a downloadable PDF on its website, he said.

The University did not distrib-ute catalogs to first-year students last summer, and Fitzgerald said his of-fice received no complaints. But Alex Rieckhoff ’14 said a printed catalog could be helpful to new students and a better option than Banner.

“I found it really hard to go through online” to find classes to take, she said, adding that she eventu-ally consulted a junior friend’s catalog to make the process easier.

The catalog is more straightfor-ward than Banner’s Course Sched-

U. to phase out course catalogs

By shEFali luthRaSenior Staff Writer

The Providence School Board vot-ed 4-3 to terminate the contracts of all 1,926 teachers in the district at its Feb. 18 meeting.

The proposal, which originated from Providence Mayor Angel Taveras’ office, was created to provide “flexibility” in addressing the city’s deficit, Taveras wrote in a statement. The city also plans to close some schools in the district as it finalizes its budget. Projec-tions for the Providence Public School District deficit currently approach $40 million.

Taveras wrote that the decision was a “last resort,” adding that

most dismissals will be rescinded in coming weeks as the city budget is finalized.

In a press conference follow-ing the Feb. 18 meeting, Steve Smith, president of the Providence

Teachers Union, called the deci-sion “shocking,” comparing Tav-eras to a robber baron.

“This is a political decision to take control and silence workers,” Smith said, adding that Taveras is “waging a war on workers.”

But Taveras wrote in the state-ment that he intends to work with unions and organized labor to re-solve the dispute. “I support the

democratic right to organize and have been participating regularly in meetings with our city unions to strengthen our partnerships and find common ground in solv-ing our financial problems,” Tav-eras wrote.

Smith also criticized the city’s decision to terminate teachers as opposed to laying them off. Teach-ers who are laid off are still eligible for certain benefits, and decisions are influenced by seniority. But with termination, the district does not need to address seniority, and a teacher who is let go can be com-pletely cut off from benefits.

In particular, Smith addressed

School board dismisses district’s 1,926 teachers

Stephanie London / HeraldIn addition to firing all Providence teachers, the city plans to close some district schools to ease the budget crunch.

By NataliE VillaCoRtaSenior Staff Writer

A staple of living rooms and li-braries alike, fluorescent lamps continue to replace traditional in-candescent bulbs. But what many consumers do not know is that these energy-efficient lamps con-tain mercury. If bulbs break, the mercury poses a risk to the brain development of fetuses, newborns and children.

That’s where Banyan Environ-mental Inc. will come in, said Love Sarin ’05 PhD’10. The company is developing clean-up kits and recy-cling sleeves for proper fluorescent lamp disposal.

Sarin’s team is one of four teams working with Brown that received funding in February from the Rhode Island Science and Tech-nology Advisory Council. STAC is funding projects that are “poised and ready … to take knowledge and turn it into something that is commercially relevant,” said Christine Smith, executive di-rector and innovation program manager for STAC. The council re-ceives $1.5 million annually from the state to support collaborative research.

Collaboration is the key to

Grants fuel economic growth

continued on page 2

continued on page 4continued on page 3

continued on page 2

city & state

Page 2: Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Ben Schreckinger, PresidentSydney Ember, Vice President

Matthew Burrows, TreasurerIsha Gulati, Secretary

The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday through Fri-day 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.

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Daily Heraldthe Brown

edIToRIAl(401) 351-3372

[email protected]

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Campus news2 the Brown Daily heraldtuesday, March 1, 2011

7 P.m.

Brown Lecture Board presents Brian

Greene, MacMillan 117

7 P.m.

“Egypt Changes Everything,” Barus

and Holley 168

12 P.m.

“The Rise and Fall of Pembroke

College,” Smith-Buonanno G13

4 P.m.

“U.S. Health Care Disparities: What

We Need to Know,” Salomon 101

SHARPE REFECTORY VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL

LUNCH

DINNER

Vegan Chana Masala, Curry Chicken with Coconut, Apricot Beef with Sesame Noodles, Raspberry Bars

Beef Pot Pie, Vegan Vegetable Couscous, Baked Sweet Potatoes,

Raspberry Bars

Artichoke, Kalamata and Pepper Calzone, Italian Beef Noodle

Casserole, Butterscotch Cookies

Hot Turkey Sandwich, Stuffed Shells with Sauce, Mashed Potatoes,

Spinach with Lemon

TODAY mARCH 1 TOmORROW mARCH 2

C R o S S W o R D

S U D o K U

M E N U

C A L E N DA R

Practice began with half an hour of stretching and warm-up led by Shusterman, peppered with jokes about the upcoming Oscars and groans of “why does it hurt so much?” I asked myself the same question as I examined my blistered palms during the 15 minutes of conditioning that ended the practice.

A strong sense of camaraderie between the young club’s members was apparent from the start, but I only began to understand it when we came to the heart of practice. Each of the three instructors chose a piece of equipment — Bodinger on double trapeze, McDonald on silk and Shus-terman on lyra and static trapeze. Members moved freely between the equipment, practicing new and old moves wherever they felt most com-fortable.

Learning and practicing moves requires incredible trust in your fel-low aerialists, as well as in your own body. As students climb, swing and flip their way over the various bars, Bodinger constantly reminds them to spot one another — holding their feet in place, gently guiding them onto the bar or standing ready to catch their heads. But the apparatus that demands the highest level of com-fort between partners is the double trapeze, on which two aerialists work together on one bar and invariably end up with a foot or rear end to the face in the course of the trick.

so many choicesAs practice began and the aerial-

ists scattered to their preferred equip-ment, I debated which one would be best for beginning my awkward scrambling and decided on the silk. This elegant branch of aerial art consists of two long silk ropes hung

from ceiling to floor that the aerialists wrap around their feet, climbing and swinging gracefully through the air.

Or at least, that’s the idea.After a dozen or so failed attempts

with the smooth, slippery silk slid-ing through my feet before I could leave the ground, I decided to try something easier.

I moved on to the lyra, also known as the aerial hoop, and the static tra-peze where Shusterman explained the importance of “feeling comfort-able enough with your body to trust yourself.” So I trusted Shusterman and myself as I was guided through such moves as the mermaid and the man-in-the-moon.

“This one is really cool!” Bodinger shouted with childish glee from the double trapeze. I watched as he and a fellow aerialist tried out a new trick where the base partner sits on the bar and the other partner hangs from the knees. Using his or her feet, the sitting aerialist pushes the partner’s stomach so that he suddenly swings in an almost full circle to end up sit-ting where the base, now hanging below, was moments before.

“It’s a good de-stresser,” said Mi-chelle Ting, a RISD student.

Getting off the ground When Shusterman — an aerialist

since age seven — discovered last spring that Bodinger was also an experienced aerialist, she contacted him immediately. They came to a quick decision.“We should start a club,” Bodinger said.

Finding interest in their club was easy, but then came the question of where to meet. “We (had) the Brown Aerial Arts Society but nowhere to practice,” Bodinger said. It was more complicated than simply finding a free room, they explained. Aerial equipment requires a structurally

sound ceiling with steel beams, a feature not commonly found on campus.

After being turned down at the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center, they eventually found the Ashamu Dance Studio and an ally in Tim Hett, technical director for theatre arts and performance studies. Once they had gotten permission to use the studio from Body and Sole — the University’s umbrella organization for dance groups who decides the schedule for Ashamu studio space — Hett helped them pick the necessarily strong structural points to install the group’s equipment.

Next came the issue of purchas-ing equipment. There was no way of getting around how expensive aerial equipment is. Bodinger said he spent $1,200 of his own money “to get a trapeze and a lyra because I realized there was going to be no other way to get the club off the ground,” he said.

But after a month and a success-ful performance in the Fall Dance Concert, the Brown Aerial Arts So-ciety was approved as a Category 3 student group, allowing them access to a grant from the Undergraduate Finance Board, and Bodinger was eventually reimbursed for his invest-ment.

The club now also has extensive safety equipment provided by Mc-Donald, who later joined as a third experienced aerial arts instructor. They boast a regular membership of 15 to 20 students and spend four hours per week practicing in Ashamu, more time than any other student performance group, Bodinger said.

looking forwardDespite its success so far, the

Brown Aerial Arts Society is con-stantly trying to improve. From in-dividual tricks — Bodinger asks each aerialist how comfortable each new trick is for their body — to sugges-tions for the layout of each practice, the club’s leaders are always seeking feedback from their members.

Having already allowed two aerialists — McDonald and Perri Katzman ’14 — in the Fall Dance Concert, Shusterman says they have “not hard plans, but dreams” for future shows. Bodinger said they want the focus for now to remain on improving form for their many beginners.

“We are not oriented toward a specific performance,” Bodinger said. But Shusterman said they anticipate an informal showcase at the end of the semester.

uler, said Robin Ulep ’11, a Meikle-john peer adviser. Ulep, who said she found the catalog especially useful when meeting with first-year advi-sees, said it is more easily navigable when comparing final exam times for classes.

First-year students are often the ones who should use the course catalog before moving on to other scheduling sources, as those students — unlike Meiklejohns — cannot be expected to know the “tips and tricks”

of Banner, she said. “It’s just a good reference to have

a paper copy,” Ulep said.Olivia Rodriguez ’11, another

Meiklejohn, said no one she knows uses the course catalog in place of Banner or Mocha. Rodriguez said she used the catalog during her first year of advising students but has since relied on Banner and Mocha — the student-created scheduling service unaffiliated with the University — because her advisees were more likely to use those tools.

Banner has also proven useful

for looking up course descriptions while reading through the offerings of particular academic departments, Rodriguez said.

First-year students “want one site where they can do it all at once,” she said.

Mike Amato ’11 said the printed catalog was convenient but rarely as reliable as it needed to be because it could not be updated to include teacher and class time changes.

Online course schedulers “will be the future of picking classes,” Amato said.

Aerial arts a ‘good de-stresser’

U. to stop distributing paper catalogscontinued from page 1

continued from page 1

Page 3: Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Campus news 3the Brown Daily heraldtuesday, March 1, 2011

commercially relevant research, Smith said. Working together, people can accomplish more than they can individually, she said, and often this multi-disciplinary ap-proach is required to solve com-plex problems.

The purpose of these grants is to make Rhode Island research-ers more competitive for fund-ing from the federal government, private foundations and venture capitalists. Since the council’s for-mation in 2007, researchers have brought $9.6 million back into the state in the form of grants.

In this round of awards, Pro-fessor of Medical Science Kim Boekelheide, who works with the firm CytoSolve, received $199,997 to study diabetic ulcers. Assistant Professor of Engineering Chris-tian Franck, Associate Professor of Engineering Janet Blume and Professor of Orthopedics Joseph Crisco received $194,809 to re-search traumatic brain injury and develop diagnostics with Simulia software company. And Assistant Professor of Computer Science Rodrigo Fonseca, working with Tracelytics Inc., was awarded $147,893 to develop tools to mea-sure web applications.

Mercury-absorbent technology has huge economic potential, Sarin said, helping him land $200,000 from STAC.

“Because this is such a major issue in the U.S. and internation-ally, if this company establishes its roots in Rhode Island … (it) will create many jobs,” Sarin said. “The investment it will bring from federal agencies and private in-vestors — all of that — will help Rhode Island’s economy.”

As a graduate student, Sarin worked with Professor of Engi-neering Robert Hurt to develop an absorbent that cleans up mer-cury. Sarin knew that selenium, an essential element involved in immune function, detoxifies mer-cury in the body. They wondered if selenium could perform this function outside of the body in the environment. After many tri-als, they found a special form of selenium that has a great capacity to absorb mercury.

Though mercury emissions have dramatic environmental and health effects, no strict regulations currently exist to limit emissions, Sarin said. The EPA estimates more than 300,000 newborns are at risk of impaired neural development due to mercury exposure. Mercury is also linked to cardiovascular and reproductive problems.

Rhode Island has few power plants emitting mercury, but the element travels in the air so every-one is affected, Sarin said. “Mer-cury is not fair in its philosophy of who it impacts,” he said. Currently, the EPA is working on creating

regulations for mercury emissions, which will force power plants to adopt a technology to deal with their waste.

Franck is collaborating with Crisco, Blume and Simulia to cre-ate a diagnostic tool for traumatic brain injuries resulting from car crashes, explosions or athletics.

Crisco collects force impact data from sensors in the helmets of NCAA football players. With this data, Bloom and Simulia sim-ulate how different forces affect the brain. From there, Franck’s lab extrapolates how individual cells will be impacted by the force. Brain injury starts at the single cell level, but there are currently no medical tools to detect initial damage, Franck said.

The diagnostic tool the team hopes to develop would simulate collisions, calculate the forces act-ing on the brain, determine the likelihood of injury and recom-mend treatments. Athletic train-ers, medical examiners and doc-tors would be able to use this tool. Down the road, Franck said he hopes the brain models will result in improved helmet designs.

These basic research projects have exciting, immediate, ben-eficial applications, Sarin said. “Banyan is a great opportunity for Brown to do awesome research and have a major, positive impact on the environment and health of people,” he said.

Grants give R.I. researchers competitive edgecontinued from page 1

By EsthER KimContributing Writer

Three recent Brown alums shared insights into the use of science in writing at the Science Writers’ Panel last night. From one panelist’s search for her own identity to another’s experience giving a voice to unheard stories, the speakers’ stories elabo-rated on the theme of the panel — “When Science is Personal.”

The event, hosted by the English department’s Nonfiction Writing Program, attracted students from both the arts and the sciences and illustrated that science and writing are “more intertwined than people realize,” said Katie Silverstein ’11, an editor of the science magazine Catalyst.

The panel was meant to impart the audience with “an understanding of the power of writing and what you can do with words,” said Carol DeBoer-Langworthy, visiting lectur-er in English and host of the event.

All three panelists were non-science concentrators and went on to pursue award-winning careers in science writing.

A primary objective of the panel was “to inspire students to think about the uses of writing in their professions,” DeBoer-Langworthy said. “Tonight’s event focuses on sci-ence. It is one of the first times the Nonfiction Writing Program has

really done that.”“I came into science completely

by mistake,” said panelist Molly Birnbaum ’05. An aspiring chef, she had her dream cut short when she was hit by a car while jogging and lost her sense of smell.

Birnbaum said the accompany-ing loss of taste made her “realize the power of the sense of smell” in numerous aspects of her life, and she wrote a book, “Season to Taste: How I Lost My Sense of Smell and Found My Way,” on the science of olfaction.

There are many positives to being a science reporter without a science background, Birnbaum said. Among these are “a fresh take, ability to ask surprising questions (and) ability to communicate a sense of wonder,” she said.

Casey Schwartz ’04 emphasized the need to “have a voice” and “maintain a point of perspective of why the reader should care” when writing science articles that would otherwise seem irrelevant to a gen-eral audience.

Rachel Aviv ’04, who was a 2009-10 Rosalynn Carter fellow for mental health journalism and has received other recognitions, said she is drawn to writing about people “whose vi-sion of the world often does not get articulated” and hopes to “narrow the breach from one mind to an-other” through her journalism.

Panelists discuss merging science with writing

By aPaRNa BaNsalSenior Staff Writer

A scam e-mail requesting that re-cipients respond with their names, user identifications, passwords and dates of birth to prevent their e-mail accounts from being shut down hit campus yesterday, accord-ing to David Sherry, chief informa-tion security officer for Computing and Information Services. Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 sent a campus-wide e-mail on behalf of Sherry and CIS yesterday morning informing the community of the scam and urging recipients of the scam e-mail to “simply delete the message or mark it as spam” and to change their passwords if they had already responded to the scam.

Sherry discovered the scam when he received an e-mail from the sender “[email protected]” early Monday morning. Recipients on campus also forwarded him the message. He said the majority of staff and faculty members received the e-mail, as did a few students.

But Sherry is “confident that the vast majority of the Brown commu-nity recognized this as a phishing scam.”

Michael Pickett, vice president for CIS and chief information offi-cer, said that spam is a common oc-currence, but yesterday’s attack was particularly “widespread,” which is why CIS sent out an e-mail warning the community.

Information regarding how

many people were affected by the attack was not yet available, Sherry said, but often this information is found by looking at the number of password resets that occurred in a period of time.

“There’s technically no way to stop such attacks,” he said. “We can’t block list or block everyone — we don’t know which e-mail addresses they’re coming from.”

“It’s a constant battle because the bugs evolve,” Pickett said. “We have to continually try to educate users.”

Sherry said the number of phish-ing scams increases when there are changes to the e-mail system — for example, when the University switched e-mail providers from Mi-crosoft Exchange to Gmail in 2009. Attacks are detected in mailboxes and sometimes by a large spike in “out of office” messages, which can indicate that a spam e-mail has reached the community. He said the last phishing scam event took place in August 2010 and was “more con-cerning” as it appeared to be from a Brown e-mail address.

In general, Pickett said that there has been a reduction in spam since the University’s shift to Google be-cause the algorithm is “one of the best in the business.” CIS has also tried to increase awareness of such scams through means such as Morn-ing Mail and bulk e-mails.

“I am pleased that 50 people for-warded the message to me,” Sherry

Phishing scam targets U. community

continued on page 5

Page 4: Tuesday, March 1, 2011

City & State4 the Brown Daily heraldtuesday, March 1, 2011

By ClaiRE GiaNottiContributing Writer

Thirteen states have already decriminalized marijuana pos-session, but a Rhode Island bill failed to pass the General Assem-bly when it was first introduced last year. This session, state Sen. Joshua Miller, D-Cranston, is try-ing again.

Miller re-introduced legisla-tion Feb. 10 to decriminalize the possession of one ounce or less of marijuana. The bill is a response to the findings of a Senate com-mission to study the effects of pro-hibiting marijuana, which Miller chaired.

“It doesn’t make sense to have our cash-strapped state spending money putting people in prison for possessing a little of something that is less dangerous than some

of the things you can legally buy in stores,” Miller said in a press release on the legislation.

Under the bill, marijuana pos-session would be categorized as a civil offense, even for individuals already on probation or parole. First-time offenders would pay a fine of $150, and second-time offenders would be fined $300. Eighteen legislators have already expressed their support for the bill.

In addition to the fine, minors would be required to participate in a drug awareness program of at least four hours and complete 10 hours of community service. Their parents would be notified of the offense by the state.

The bill’s supporters charge that it would be a revenue source for worthwhile state programs. Half of the bill’s revenue would be des-

ignated for youth drug awareness and treatment programs.

They also point to reductions in spending on law enforcement that the decriminalization would provide — a figure that could be between $1 million and $10 mil-lion, The Herald Editorial Board wrote last Thursday.

But Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron said that, beyond these sav-ings, the legislation is too small of a change to “have a meaningful effect on the Rhode Island econ-omy.” A real economic impact would require “full legalization, not just decriminalization, of all drugs — and not just marijuana,” Miron said.

Miron said the real issue with this type of legislation is not its economic impact, but “the free-dom of people to be left alone by the government.”

Jared Moffat ’13, president of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, also emphasized the bill’s implica-tions for personal liberty. “What people do in private, if not harm-ing other people, is no one else’s business,” he said.

Moffat added that while “we support decriminalization because it reduces the amount of people we send to prison for petty causes, the bill just doesn’t go far enough.” Moffat said prohibition and the resulting creation of a black mar-ket causes more harm than the drug itself.

But Calvina Fay, executive di-rector of the Drug Free America Foundation, pointed to the dan-gers of the drug. Marijuana is “a drug that young people need to be protected from,” she said, add-ing that the bill “sends the wrong message to young people.”

Fay said decriminalizing mari-juana would also reduce the ac-cessibility of drug treatment pro-grams to marijuana users, since people who are sentenced to jail for marijuana possession are often also required to undergo treat-ment.

“I get calls on a regular basis from families who see loved ones go down this drug spiral, and they are powerless to help their chil-

dren to get treatment,” she said. “The law is the only way to pre-vent this.”

Fay also criticized the fact that the law could allow a drug dealer to escape prosecution for traffick-ing small amounts of marijuana and challenged the notion that minor offenders make up the ma-jority of those incarcerated for drug-related crimes.

“Only a handful of people are truly being jailed for a petty crime,” Fay said. In 2009, 337 peo-ple awaited trial for possession of marijuana, and 154 were incarcer-ated, according to the bill. Fay said this is an “insignificant number of people” in a state of millions and that many of these are repeat offenders or drug dealers.

State Sen. Rhoda Perry P’91, D-Providence, is a co-sponsor of the bill and a member of the com-mittee that will first consider it. Perry said the bill will “help a lot of young people who have already been found guilty of possession,” adding that criminal convictions are permanent marks on young people’s record that especially hurt them when searching for jobs. She said similar Massachusetts legislation that passed in public referendum in November 2008 has worked.

Perry said she expects a delay before the bill is put to a vote. A date for a first hearing on the bill has not yet been announced.

Other legislation to tackle high-profile economic issues has taken precedence over the de-criminalization bill, Perry said. “Sometimes it takes years to get people to listen,” she said.

But Moffat is optimistic that a demographic shift means the electorate will be more favorably disposed not just to decriminaliz-ing marijuana, but also to legaliz-ing it. He cited polls showing that young people favor legalization in larger numbers than their parents and grandparents.

“Legalization is inevitable — the debate is no longer about whether or not we should legal-ize, but how we should legalize,” he said.

Bill to decriminalize marijuana introduced in General Assembly

the possibility that teachers with seniority could be fired because they would be eligible for higher salaries. He called the plan a way to “circumvent the collective bar-gaining agreement.”

“If this was a great idea, I think we’d see it implemented in every district in the country,” Smith said.

Philip Gould, professor of Eng-lish and an appointed member of the Providence School Board, voted against the plan, calling the move to fire all teachers “draco-nian.”

“I am very worried about what’s going to happen with kids in the remainder of the school year in light of this,” Gould said. But he added that he was not “ob-tuse” to arguments in favor of the

plan. “Those who voted for it, I understood their reasons, and there are strong reasons for and against it,” he said.

Taveras wrote that the city developed the plan because of a state law requiring that teachers learn of possible changes to their employment status by March 1. If that deadline did not exist, he wrote, the city would have had more time to determine what the final budget would be — and, more specifically, which schools to close and which teachers to let go.

“Although the end result would still be fewer schools and fewer teachers next year, the process would have been far less disrup-tive and painful,” Taveras wrote.

He added that he hopes to get the March 1 deadline changed before next year to avoid similar situations in the future.

Smith said in the press confer-ence that the union has “always” been willing to discuss the dead-line. But according to a Feb. 23 ar-ticle published in the Providence Journal, representatives from the teachers’ union have historically been opposed to legislation post-poning the notification deadline. Tim Duffy, executive director of the Rhode Island Association of School Committees, told the ProJo, “Our association and the superintendents’ association have introduced legislation every year to push back the March 1 dead-line, and every year, the represen-tatives from the (teachers’ unions) say, ‘You can’t do it.’”

Kenneth Wong, chair of the education department, said that, though he thinks Taveras “has to do this,” he believes the termina-tion of teachers will at least tem-

porarily decrease teacher morale. Wong also called for “transpar-ency” in the process of rescinding terminations, saying the district needed to start planning for next year as soon as possible.

“We want to make sure the teachers who are doing their jobs are not let go,” Wong said.

Eileen Finklestein, a teacher in the Providence Public School District, said the mood among the teachers is currently “anxious.”

“Everyone is concerned,” she said. “Where are they going to work? How are they going to pay their bills?”

The American Federation of Teachers plans to lead a rally pro-testing the decision at City Hall tomorrow.

— with additional reporting by Kat Thornton

Union leader: Mayor ‘waging a war on workers’continued from page 1

By ElizaBEth CaRRStaff Writer

Over 400 students typically pay a $15 fee to add a class after the online registration deadline each semester, according to Robert Fitzgerald, the University’s registrar. This year’s deadline to register for courses without a fee was Feb. 8, with the late period extending until Feb. 23.

The Office of the Registrar’s “student information system logs approximately 24,000 undergradu-ate course ‘adds’” throughout pre-registration, shopping period and the late add period, Fitzgerald wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. About half of course adds occur during pre-registration, and “the majority of the remaining are done during the shopping peri-od,” Fitzgerald wrote. “On average, only about 400-450 are completed within the third and fourth week” of the semester.

Students are not charged the $15 fee for switching sections. The purpose of this fee is not to collect revenue — “it’s to ensure that students give some thought to the course selection process in the liberal amount of time that is already provided,” Fitzgerald wrote.

It is important “that the faculty have an accurate sense of who will be on their class roster upon the end of shopping period” so as not to disrupt the flow of the course, Fitzgerald wrote. The University also collects census data at the be-ginning of the third week of class to fulfill federal and internal reporting requirements.

Though the fee has been in place for more than 25 years, it has not increased with inflation. Fitzgerald noted that Cornell and Stanford charge $100 and $200, respectively, for late scheduling changes.

“There are many places in the country where this is not even al-lowed,” he wrote.

The money does not go to the registrar’s office, Fitzgerald wrote, but instead is funneled into the University’s operating expenses.

For some students, such as Adam Bear ’13, the fee was an ef-fective deterrent from adding a course late last spring. “I wanted to enter this philosophy of science class right when this fee came on,” Bear said.

Jaswant Singh ’11 paid the fee last year to switch into a political science course. “It wasn’t that big of a turn-off,” Singh said. “It was only $15.”

He explained that a small fee was worth it to make sure he was in the class he wanted to be in.

Samantha Ondrade ’11 agreed the fee could be worth paying for the right schedule. “I think it’s there just to keep us from taking a class a month in.”

Over 400 pay fee to add courses late

campus news

Page 5: Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Sports tuesday 5the Brown Daily heraldtuesday, March 1, 2011

Cloud Buddies! | David Emanuel

Dr. Bear | Mat Becker

Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline

Co M I C S

in the coming games. “I think we can do better at keep-

ing the intensity at a high level for the whole entire game,” Waterman said.

“I think we are looking to stay sharp defensively for 60 minutes,” McDonald added. “I think we could have kept our focus a little sharper at the end.”

Bruno will play Boston University in their home opener Tuesday at the Berylson Family Fields at 4 p.m.

continued from page 8

W. lax wins season opener

at 3 minutes, 14.26 seconds. In ad-dition, Evan Weinstock ’14 earned third place in the heptathlon, and Nathan Elder ’13 took fifth place in the 500 with a time of 1:30.76.

“The men did well, but I think this was really difficult because these two teams — Cornell and Princeton — have such depth,” Smith said. “And it’s hard to place in an event when they literally have five or six people in every event.”

In the 800, Matt Bevil ’14 ran a promising preliminary time, only to trip on a track barrier in the last 100 meters of the final section. If he had finished the race in the position he held before falling, the men would have ended the meet tied for fifth place with Penn.

“He didn’t try to fall — he just fell,” Eisenreich said. “There’s just no point.You can’t say ‘if so and so.’”

With the Heptagonal Champi-onships over, the indoor season is finished for most of the squads’ mem-bers. Bruno will send a few women to the Eastern College Athletic Con-ference Championships and a few men to International Association of Amateur Athletes of America in Boston March 5 and 6.

“We won’t bring many people to (IC4A’s) — we’re going to focus on outdoor,” Eisenreich said.

The Bears will officially open the outdoor track and field season March 19 at the Husky Spring Open hosted by Northeastern University.

“We had a strong showing this weekend, and we’ll be infinitely stron-ger in outdoor,” Miller said.

Men’s track team sets new school record

continued from page 8

said. “People are getting more savvy about what a phishing scam is.”

“I receive (spam messages) fre-quently, and I ignore them,” said Alexander Zaslavsky, professor of engineering.

CIS advised immediate pass-word changes to those who sent out their information in response to the phishing scam, though Sherry said he was not aware of anyone who had done so.

University responds to e-mail scam

continued from page 3

Page 6: Tuesday, March 1, 2011

editorial & Letter6 the Brown Daily heraldtuesday, March 1, 2011

L E T T E R To T H E E D I To R

C O R R E C T I O N S P O L I C YThe 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.

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Complaints about IR program need clarificationTo the Editor:

The new international relations curriculum has been a topic of much discussion in recent weeks, with Sarah Yu’s ’11 column (“The new IR: better but not good enough,” Feb. 28) being the most recent in a series published by The Herald. As a leader of the IR DUG as well as the IR program student assistant, I am probably one of the best-informed students on campus about the new requirements and the pro-cess it took to get there, and I would like to clarify and correct a few recurring complaints and themes that I’ve heard:

1) The timing of the changes was not under the control of the IR program. Despite efforts to make the announcement at the very beginning of the semester before classes started, nothing could be said until the College Curriculum Council chaired by the Dean of the College gave a final approval on the changes, thus pushing the date back.

2) The IR program is not a department — it’s a program. As such, it has no permanent faculty of its own to offer a greater number of classes, nor can it control what classes are offered every semester. The program works closely with the relevant depart-ments to ensure that the needs of its concentrators are addressed, but once again, final decisions are not in IR’s control. If IR became a department, it would lose the interdisciplinary nature that attracts so many students, not to mention create an unnec-essary duplication of courses. ECON 0110: “Prin-ciples of Economics” will be required regardless — should it be offered under two separate depart-

ments? Furthermore, it would require a commit-ment from the University to hire enough full-time faculty to adequately provide for a concentration of 300 students — I’m personally not holding my breath waiting for that to happen.

3) The IR program and the Watson Institute for International Studies are not one and the same. The IR program is located within the building of the Watson Institute — that is essentially the extent of the connection. The Watson Institute is an indepen-dent research institute that really has no obligation whatsoever to undergraduates. Watson faculty — of which there are only a handful — are research faculty, meaning they only teach one course per year. Yu’s points about increasing the connection between IR and Watson are fairly made, and I personally agree that there should be a strength-ened relationship between the IR program and the Watson Institute, but the arguments should not be aimed at the leadership of the IR program — they should be directed towards Michael Kennedy, direc-tor of the Watson Institute.

The IR program has been an easy scapegoat for an-noyed students. However, after working closely with and for the program, I have seen that the leadership of IR truly cares about the students and keeps them in mind when trying to navigate bureaucratic hurdles. While students have had legitimate complaints and should continue to voice them, I’d like to see them actually directed at the responsible parties.

Ambika Natesh ’11

E D I To R I A L Co M I C b y f r a n n y c h o i

“If this was a great idea, I think we’d see it

implemented in every district in the country.”— Steve Smith, president of the Providence Teachers Union

See school on page 1.

E D I To R I A L

The Rogue Island Jitney — a proposed shuttle between the University of Rhode Island and bars in Narragansett — is eliciting furious op-position from school administrators and local leaders. The Providence Journal’s editorial page indignantly asked Feb. 13, “What were they thinking?” of state officials who approved the plan.

But for all their bluster, the jitney’s opponents can point to little to support their position. For example, the ProJo’s editorial claimed that “the service would funnel young (including underage) patrons into the bar scene.” State Sen. James Sheehan, D-Narragansett and North Kingstown, agreed, saying, “Underage students, many without cars, will now be able to frequent pubs up to three days a week.” But deny-ing legal drinkers a safe ride on these grounds is completely senseless. Underage drinking at bars should be addressed by ensuring establish-ments maintain a strict identification policy. And anyone who thinks making it harder for underage students to go to bars will truly diminish underage drinking is dreaming — fake IDs work at liquor stores too.

Opponents also argue that the jitney will lead to more drinking in general. Sheehan asserts that “running a continuous loop from campus to three Narragansett pubs will encourage more on-campus students to drink, and probably to excess.” But as URI Student Senate President David Coates pointed out to the ProJo, if students want to go to a bar, “they’ll find a way to get there.” It is true that some students may drink more than they would otherwise if they know they have a ride home. But do Sheehan and other critics truly prefer the status quo, in which some students will drink too much even though they plan to drive home, to a scenario in which more students may drink but will have a safe way to get back?

Critics further argue that the jitney would be ineffective in actually providing safe transport. The ProJo’s editorial speculated that students “would get loaded, buddy up and, instead of waiting for the bus, stuff themselves into the cars of others who might have had just a bit too much.” Where the author found evidence that students would not wait for the bus is anyone’s guess. Sheehan articulates a more reasonable objection, noting that “passengers are picked up on a first-come, first-served basis, provided seating is available,” leaving open the possibility that students could be stranded at the bars. It is baffling that these arguments are used to attack the jitney when they clearly support extended service or a reservation system.

Drunk driving is a serious problem in Rhode Island — in 2008, drunken driving fatalities made up a greater percentage of overall traffic deaths here than in all but four states — and it is one that particularly affects college students. It is concerning that leaders are expending so much effort lambasting the jitney without proposing serious alterna-tives. Sheehan suggested URI bring back Rhody Rides, a student-run program that gave rides to students who felt too drunk to drive. But it will take more than the ambiguous “minor modifications” Sheehan proposes to make viable a program that ended after suffering from a chronic lack of volunteers, vehicles and funds. The jitney proposal has its flaws, but we expect our leaders to offer constructive criticism — not knee-jerk rejection — of a sensible plan for lessening the impact of drunk driving.

editorials are written by The herald’s editorial page board. Send comments to [email protected].

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URI’s safe ride

Page 7: Tuesday, March 1, 2011

opinions 7the Brown Daily heraldtuesday, March 1, 2011

The debate about the Reserve Officers’ Train-ing Corps has caused many students and al-ums to demonize our military and portray it as a habitual human rights violator. Even if these critics have some valid points, their overall impression of the army is distorted. Far from being a force for evil in the world, over the last decade it has actually been a noble protector and promoter of human rights.

If the ROTC panel wants to consider the army’s human rights record, it should not limit its investigation to the army’s policy with regards to American soldiers. The panel should also take into account the concrete ways in which our armed forces serve the global causes of human rights, freedom and dignity.

Many students have criticized the army’s policy as it relates to gender issues, both for women and transgender Americans. Cer-tainly, our army is not as progressive as our campus when it comes to sexual equality. But it is equally true that our armed forces have done far more to promote basic human rights for thousands of women of Afghanistan than any Brown students or administrators have done. It is therefore too simplistic to characterize the U.S. army as a force opposed to human rights. The Brown community is all too eager to portray our military in this negative light, even if the facts point to a more complex picture.

In Afghanistan, our soldiers have fought and died to protect human rights, especially for the women of Afghanistan. After living under the iron grip of the repressive Taliban from 1996 to 2001, Afghan women now enjoy far more freedom than they did before our armed forces invaded Afghanistan. Many Americans have lost their lives to win for the women of Afghanistan the rights to vote, serve in government and attend school.

Afghan women still lead horrendous lives, in large part because the Taliban continues to

terrorize them. The group violently targets fe-male students — they have even used poison-ous gas on women’s schools and have poured toxic acid on pupils. The U.S. military is the only force that stands between the barbaric Taliban and the brave Afghani women and American volunteers who are asserting their rights. Regardless of the popular image of our army at Brown, it’s clear that the military deserves praise for protecting human rights in Afghanistan.

A Time cover story featured a picture of an Afghan woman with a burned-off nose. After a failed escape from her husband’s home, this 18-year-old girl had her ears cut off and her

nose mutilated. Her own husband adminis-tered the punishment, which was mandated by the Taliban. After receiving this cruel punish-ment, the woman was treated and protected by our military. This incident vividly represents the plight of Afghan women and the key role our army plays in protecting their rights.

Taliban barbarism does not justify our military’s discrimination. But it is worth re-membering that our army fights this barba-rism and promotes basic rights and freedom for Afghan women. We must not overlook the

real good that they do, nor the alternative that awaits the women of Afghanistan should the Taliban regain power.

The more fundamental fight for gender equality is being fought in the schools and polling places of Afghanistan, not in the U.S. army. By banning ROTC and not supporting the military, those with concerns for gender equality are not promoting the global cause for women’s rights. They overlook the wide-spread persecution of Afghan women to push a narrow, anti-military agenda.

The U.S. army has also stood up for the rights of ethnic minorities. The Taliban has persecuted the Hazara people. The Kurds of

Iraq faced ethnic cleansing at the hands of Saddam Hussein, who deployed poisonous gas and killed up to 180,000 of them, according to the New York Times. Regardless of your views on the war in Iraq, it’s worth acknowledging that our military has fought for the rights of ethnic minorities.

Our military employs some sexist prac-tices, yet it also combats genocide and protects the most fundamental rights of thousands of women in the Middle East. In assessing the human rights record of our army, a reasonable person must consider both of these truths. The U.S. army has a long history of fighting for human rights while simultaneously dis-playing its own prejudice. Our army bravely enforced racial equality in the reconstructed South immediately after the Civil War, even though it maintained racist policies. Those who cared about African-American rights did not boycott the U.S. army because they realized that an imperfect institution was a net positive force for human rights. Similarly, during World War II, our army still had dis-criminatory policies, yet it was clearly on the correct side in the battle for human rights. Even though our armed forces have many flaws, they still deserve recognition and a working relationship with our University. The best way to advance human freedom and dignity is to support our military’s fight for human rights and simultaneously pressure the army for internal reform. Demonizing and isolating the army is unproductive and does not serve the cause of human rights.

oliver Rosenbloom ’13 is a history con-centrator from Mill Valley, Calif.

ROTC and human rights: putting the military’s record in perspective

So the new international relations require-ments have been announced. Mark Blyth, professor of political science and director of undergraduate studies for international re-lations and development studies, sent out a letter that was, as promised after all the up-roar last semester, completely devoid of hu-mor. And if you are wondering why it took me so long to opine on the subject, it is be-cause I was waiting for the e-mail from IR to confirm that I am, indeed, officially and semi-irrevocably on the graduation list.

For what I think the IR program is try-ing to do, this was a pretty respectable way of going about it. For those of you wonder-ing why all the typical whining about IR requirements has increased lately, IR just upped its requirements by three courses and eliminated a major track — politics, culture and identity, the only culture-fo-cused option. Now, 14 basic courses and the equivalent of three years of language study are required to graduate with an IR degree.

Naturally enough, the IR concentrators are upset, except for students like me, who due to seniority are graduating under the old program. The class of 2013 definitely had cause to complain, and I am glad they did.

But for first-years, it is worth noting

that the requirements are only 20 courses if you enter Brown with no foreign language study, which basically no one does, or want to start over with a new language, which admittedly some people do. But the lan-guage requirement of six semesters is based on proficiency, not actual time spent taking language courses. By studying abroad or taking a placement exam, a student could fulfill this requirement without taking all six semesters of language. It would not re-ally be IR if you graduated with proficiency just in English.

Regional focus is another staple of the field in general, and increasing it from one course was probably a good call. I believe my regional focus is nominally the Carib-bean, all because I took one fantastic course on Caribbean philosophy. I actually have not taken any other courses on the Carib-bean. My language is German. So, in other words, the changes could help keep some miscreants from scamming the system.

That said, if you received the e-mail and thought, “This is IR trying to get rid of me!” then you’re probably right. This is an over-burdened program — the largest concen-tration without a department and one of the largest concentrations, period — try-ing to shed excess concentrators, especial-

ly those making IR a secondary priority. The committee report itself, which recom-mended the changes, laments the difficul-ties of being an interdepartmental concen-tration with no resources and far too many concentrators for several pages then imme-diately launches into their suggestions for a more rigorous curriculum.

So who is being hit by these changes? Aside from the class of 2013, of course, which immediately and admirably recog-nized the extent to which the new require-ments screwed them over, it is the late-de-

clarers and those who would have taken the culture track that have lost out the most.

This is actually pretty fair. It makes sense to force out those who were the least seri-ous about IR, given the program’s sparse re-sources. The extra requirements, especially for some courses offered only once a year, make it harder than ever to double-concen-trate or jump into the concentration late. With the elimination of the culture track, IR has narrowed down its options to either global security or economics, pushing all students who really wanted to learn about culture into either regional departments or anthropology. It never really made sense to have a track that was basically a three-course culture buffet with no real focus.

If anything, the changes encourage stu-dents who picked IR for the wrong reasons to have a healthier relationship with the true object of their interest. If the elimina-tion of the culture track is enough to force you from IR, you probably belonged in anthropology, Africana studies, Hispanic studies or another regional department to begin with. Pushing these students away may also pump more life blood into the de-partments that the oversized IR program draws upon to keep itself alive, including political science and history. In some ways, the new changes are actually surprisingly healthy for pretty much everyone involved.

As far as sloughing off extra concentra-tors goes, this was actually a pretty decent way of doing it. It forces out those who were the least interested in the subject to begin with, and those who belonged in other de-partments, while focusing IR more exclu-sively on political and economic global pol-icies. The changes were still almost certainly more spurred by considerations of having too many concentrators and not enough money rather than by an actual need to strengthen the program. I have always been firmly of the opinion that funding for the program should be increased. But if we ac-cept that this view is too simplistic, then I believe the announced changes make sense.

Michelle Uhrick ’11 is an international relations and economics concentrator

from Connecticut. She can be reached at [email protected]

IR disposes of the culture buffet

It never really made sense to have a track that was basically a three-course culture buffet with no real focus.

Far from being a force for evil in the world, over the last decade it has actually been a noble protector and

promoter of human rights.

By oLIVER RoSENBLooMopinions columnist

By MICHELLE UHRICKopinions columnist

Page 8: Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Daily Heraldthe Brown

Sports tuesdaytuesday, March 1, 2011

By lEWis PollisContributing Writer

Baseball Head Coach Marek Drab-inski knows exactly why his team did not win the Ivy League title last season.

“Without question, it was our pitching,” Drabinski said. The loss of Mark Gormley ’11 to ulner collateral ligament reconstruction, or Tommy John surgery, before the conference season started and subsequent inju-ries to Connor Burke ’11 and Josh Feit ’11 forced the Bears to “put a lot of young guys in there, and they basically had to learn on the job,” Drabinski said.

“I don’t know if we did it on smoke and mirrors in the first half of the conference,” he said of the team’s 8-2 stretch against Ivy League teams to start the 2010 season. But the Bears’ first-half success was mir-rored by second-half failures, and the team finished 10-10 in confer-ence play after going 2-8 in its last 10 Ivy games.

Drabinski acknowledged that small ballparks give hitters an advan-tage and make the Ivy League tough for pitchers, but he did not blame park size for his team’s struggles. “Good pitching is always going to beat good hitting,” he said.

The Bears’ pitching staff looks stronger this year, with a healthy closer in Feit and fully recovered starters Gormley and Burke joining Matthew Kimball ’11, Kevin Carlow ’13 and Lucas Whitehill ’14 in the rotation.

“I think we’re going to be much better on the mound,” Drabinski said.

Even if injuries strike again, Drabinski thinks this year’s team will be better equipped to handle them

than last year’s. With 15 pitchers on the roster — including “six or seven guys that are legitimate starters” — the team has more depth than last year, he said.

Drabinski said he is optimistic about the Bears’ offense because of their core of strong veteran hitters.

Co-captain and catcher Matt Col-antonio ’11 will be “a huge offensive spark for us,” Drabinski said.

He said he also hopes first base-man Peter Greskoff ’11 — who set a

school record and led the Ivy League with 17 home runs last year — will provide power on offense for the team again.

The team is also expecting big contributions from its first-years. Whitehill is on track to begin the season as a conference starter and could be “a huge impact guy,” Drab-inski said. “He’s got the makings of a good one.”

Of this year’s rookies, Whitehill and catcher and outfielder Wes Van

Boom ’14 “probably have the biggest upside for us” this season, Drabinski said, with outfielders Daniel Massey ’14 and Matt DeRenzi ’14 behind them.

Though Drabinski said he is not concerned about replacing the play-ers who graduated in 2010, he added that the team would miss Will Wei-dig ’10, who went 3-5 with a 7.76 ERA last year.

With a healthy pitching staff and a strong first-year class, co-captain and shortstop Graham Tyler ’12 said he has “high expectations” for the Bears in 2011. “We look good on paper,” he said, but cautioned that the team’s success will depend on “how well we can come together and play as a team.”

“I’ve got high hopes just as they do,” Drabinski said.

But it will not be easy — in his years at Brown, Drabinski said he has never seen the Ivy League as evenly matched as it looks to be this season. “Anybody can win it this year,” he said. “There isn’t a team that you …look and say, ‘Wow, that’s an easy weekend.’”

Still, “We have a shot to win our league,” Drabinski said. “I would be extremely disappointed if we’re not contending for the Ivy title all season long.”

Pitching and health are key to baseball’s success

By jamEs BlumSportS Staff Writer

At last weekend’s Ivy League Heptag-onal Indoor Track and Field Cham-pionships hosted by Columbia, the women’s and men’s track squads held their ground but still fell short against a competitive field. The women fin-ished fourth with 50 points, and the men finished seventh with 28.

Princeton women and men car-ried the day with 128 points and 215 points, respectively.

“I think that both teams put forth a very strong effort,” said Michelle Eisenreich, director of men’s and women’s track and field. “They put forth the best effort they could.”

Brynn Smith ’11 led the women’s team, finishing first in the shot put and weight throw. She hurled the shot 51 feet, 9.75 inches, earning the indoor Ivy track record. Later, she earned her second title as she threw the weight 60-1.

“I went in expecting the best out of myself,” she said. “I wasn’t honestly thinking about winning at all. I was just focused on having a great last indoor meet.”

“Brynn has really been a rock for our team and holds us all together,” said sprinter Susan Scavone ’12. “She is someone we all look up to.”

Scavone had a successful showing herself — she raced the 60-meter hurdles in 8.69 seconds to claim third place.

“The field was a lot faster this year — my time for third this year would have won last year,” she said. “I gave all I had and ended up running pretty well.”

Rachel Biblo ’11 and Samantha

Adelberg ’11 also turned in strong performances. Biblo came in second in the triple jump, while Adelberg placed fourth in the 800-meter run.

“I was extremely happy with how the team on the whole com-peted this weekend,” said women’s distance coach Jill Miller. “We want to be the team giving everything in

every race — the team that’s winning all the little battles.”

On the men’s side, the 4x400 relay was the success story of the meet. The team, composed of three first-years and a sophomore, earned second place and set a new school record

Women take fourth, men take seventh at Heps

By sam WiCKhamContributing Writer

The women’s lacrosse team (1-0) kicked off the 2011 season with a dominant 21-8 victory at Sacred Heart (0-1) Saturday. Nine different players got on the score sheet, with goals coming from both seniors and first-years alike. The leading scor-ers were Kaela McGilloway ’12 and Breonna Hudgins ’14, both of whom scored five goals apiece.

The Bears found themselves with a 4-0 lead just seven minutes into the game. Sacred Heart managed to get on the board a minute later only to be answered by back-to-back goals from Hudgins to stretch Bruno’s lead to 6-1.

Despite getting one goal back mid-way through the half, the Pio-neers could not keep pace with the Bears. Goals from tri-captain Paris Waterman ’11, Grace Healy ’14 and McGilloway extended Bruno’s lead to 12-2 with a little over 10 minutes remaining in the first half of play. Goals from Hudgins and McGilloway offset Jessica Ingrilli’s two points for the Pioneers late in the half, allow-ing the Bears to maintain a 10-goal cushion and finish the half with a comfortable 14-4 advantage.

Bruno stretched its lead again early in the second half with a goal from Lindsay Minges ’13. But two goals from Sacred Heart in the next two minutes cut the lead to 15-6. Both tri-captain Alexa Caldwell ’11 and Minges responded six minutes

later, with Healy adding another goal after a Pioneer goal to bring the score to 18-7. A final goal by Sacred Heart’s Emily Pepe again cut the Brown lead to 10, but goals from Nancy Baker ’12, Hudgins and Lucinda Caldwell ’14 capped off the 21-8 victory for the Bears.

Though most potent offensively, the Bears also enjoyed success on the defensive end, with strong per-formances coming from Julia Keller ’12 and Abbey Van Horne ’14. Isa-bel Harvey ’12 — splitting time with Margaret Suprey ’11 and Brienne Donovan ’13 — recorded six saves in net.

“I thought the team played well as a unit,” said Head Coach Keely McDonald ’00. “I think our system from defense to offense worked well together, and I thought the players came out hard to get a jump early. And that’s what we’ve been work-ing on.”

In addition to getting the victory, Waterman said she was happy to see first-years making an immediate im-pact. Hudgins’ play was especially notable, and her five goals leave her tied for the team lead after this first game.

“To see her in action was amaz-ing,” Waterman said. “I think people at Brown are in for a real treat the rest of the season to watch her play.”

Despite a strong effort in their first outing, the Bears are still looking to improve certain aspects of their play

Broken heart: Bears dismantle Pioneers

Herald file photoMatt Colantonio ’11 will return for his fourth season as starting catcher and hopes to build upon last season’s All-Ivy first team selection.

Courtesy of Dan GrossmanBrynn Smith ‘11, seen here throwing the weight, set a new Ivy Indoor Track shot put record this weekend on her way to winning two titles.

BASEBALL

TRACk AND FIELDW. LACROSSE

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