tuesday, december 3, 2013

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2013 since 1891 vol. cxlviii, no. 120 D aily H erald THE BROWN 48 / 39 TOMORROW 47 / 30 TODAY WEATHER UNIVERSITY NEWS, 3 Try and succeed TRI-Lab leaders look to grow the program in future years INSIDE CITY & STATE, 4 COMMENTARY, 7 Open your eyes Moraff ’14 tells students not to believe the U. cannot afford need-blind admission Pre-K, his way Mayor Angel Taveras proposes expanding pre- kindergarten education By MICHAEL DUBIN SENIOR STAFF WRITER Attendance at President Christina Pax- son’s office hours has increased mod- erately in the wake of the decision not to divest the University’s endowment from companies profiting from coal and the cancellation of a scheduled lecture by New York Police Commis- sioner Ray Kelly. Paxson has held 17 meetings dur- ing her six office hour sessions this semester, according to records kept by Assistant to the President Kimberly Roskiewicz, who staffs the meetings. Of those 17 meetings, 11 were in the three Attendance at Paxson’s office hours rises Following controversies, the president held 11 meetings in her last three open office hour sessions By KATHERINE LAMB SENIOR STAFF WRITER e Democratic and Republican primary races for the 2014 guberna- torial election have been in flux during re- cent weeks as new candidates enter the race, fresh poll results redefine the contest’s frontrunners and cam- paign fundraising reports offer new takes on where the races are headed. Candidates will compete for the office currently held by Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 P’17, who announced Sept. 4 that he will not run for a second term and will in- stead use the power of the office to address the concerns of Rhode Islanders without having to devote energy to electoral politics. Chafee, only the fourth governor in Rhode Island history to not seek a second term, leaves behind a com- plicated legacy. He spearheaded the state’s successful efforts to reduce wait time at the Division of Motor Vehicles but has remained widely unpopular in part due to tax hikes early in the term. Voters now look to gubernatorial candidates promising large-scale reform and economic improvement. Though Rhode Island votes blue in national elections — no Republican presidential candidate has carried the state since Ronald Reagan in 1984 — since 1995 only Republican and Independent gov- ernors have been elected. Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and Rhode Island General Treasurer Gina Raimondo are widely seen as the frontrunners in next year’s Democratic primary. e two have much in common — both are Har- vard graduates with law degrees, and both are currently in their first terms as elected officials — but the election will likely focus on their differences. If elected, Taveras would be the state’s first Latino governor and Raimondo would be the first female governor. Taveras wrote in an email to e Herald that his personal background and experience as mayor set him apart from the pack. “My journey has taken me from Head Start to Harvard and then back to Providence, where as mayor I have worked to rescue a city on the brink and put the needs of people first. Today, our state needs a new direction, new ideas and a governor who will create the same opportu- nity I had as the son of a factory worker,” Taveras wrote. If elected, Taveras would be the first Providence mayor to become governor since Dennis Roberts in 1950, Rhode Island Public Radio reported. ough she has not officially an- nounced her candidacy, Raimondo leads the 2014 gubernatorial race in fundraising, the Providence Journal reported. At the time of her most Hopefuls vie for R.I. governor seat Mayor Angel Taveras and Treasurer Gina Raimondo are frontrunners for the Democratic nomination By MAGGIE LIVINGSTONE SENIOR STAFF WRITER e college application process no lon- ger relies solely on paper and pencil. With a digitized Common Appli- cation, virtual campus tours and out- reach through social media, institutions across the country, including Brown, increasingly depend on online tools to promote themselves and to reach applicants unable to visit campus. But the focus on online exposure means applicants who cultivate their own virtual presences could harm their chances of being accepted to their de- sired universities. Building buzz e University’s social media pres- ence has grown exponentially in the last two years, said John Murphy, the Uni- versity’s social media specialist. Brown maintains official accounts on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram and Google+, he said. Social media platforms offer glimpses into campus life to prospec- tive students who are unable to travel to universities, admission officers and experts said. e Office of Admission hosted its first-ever Google Hangout On Air Nov. 23. Two admission officers answered prospective students’ questions on a live webcam, said Chris Belcher, an admission officer who participated in the hangout. Admission officers at other institu- tions, including Bowdoin College and Tuſts University, have hosted similar Google Hangouts, Belcher said. “It’s embracing technology for stu- dents who can’t get to campus,” he said. Too much information? ough social media can help pro- mote a university, some students may find these sites detrimental in the col- lege admission process. Social media may affect admission Rhode Island does not ban college admission officers from examining applicants’ online profiles By CALEB MILLER SENIOR STAFF WRITER A blowout win at Columbia put an exclamation point on an up-and-down season for the football team, which finished fourth in the Ivy League with a modest 6-4 overall record and 3-4 record against Ivy competitors. The campaign featured high points, like a 27-0 drumming of de- fending league champion Penn and a perfect 3-0 record out of conference, but it also included painful lows: e Bears blew double-digit leads to rivals Harvard and Princeton. Seniors power Bears to fourth Bruno secured its sixth straight winning season, but its middling record belied the team’s talent EMILY GILBERT / HERALD President Christina Paxson has held an average of two office hour sessions a month this fall. Herald file photo. EMILY GILBERT / HERALD Running back John Spooney ’14 was a major sparkplug for the offense, accumulating more than 1,200 total yards. Herald file photo. CITY & STATE FOOTBALL » See PAXSON, page 3 » See SOCIAL MEDIA, page 2 » See GOVERNOR, page 2 » See FOOTBALL, page 5 By JILLIAN LANNEY SENIOR STAFF WRITER Department of Public Safety officers arrested three individuals in connection with a cell phone robbery on Manning Walkway Monday aſternoon, said Paul Shanley, deputy chief of police for DPS. Around 4:35 p.m., an unarmed male suspect approached a student from behind and stole his cell phone, according to a crime alert email sent by DPS. A bystander who witnessed the in- cident called DPS and described the suspect, Shanley said. “Within 10 to 15 minutes,” an officer stationed nearby apprehended the suspect near the scene of the crime. e student’s cell phone was recovered, Shanley added. e suspect, a juvenile whose name could not be released, was charged with three felonies: larceny from a person, conspiracy to commit larceny from a person and extortion. Upon further investigation, DPS officers charged two additional men with conspiracy to commit larceny from a person in relation to the same incident, though Shanley declined to provide further details. Rico Goncalves, an 18-year-old Providence resident, was held overnight at the Providence police station “pending a court date” sched- uled for Tuesday. e other conspirator was another juvenile male, Shanley said. ree arrested in cell phone robbery DPS officers apprehended the primary suspect based on a description offered by a witness

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The December 3, 2013 issue of The Brown Daily Herald

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Page 1: Tuesday, December 3, 2013

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2013 since 1891vol. cxlviii, no. 120Daily HeraldTHE BROWN

48 / 39

t o m o r r o w

47 / 30

t o d ay

wea

ther

UNIVERSITY NEWS, 3

Try and succeedTRI-Lab leaders look to grow the program in future years in

side

CITY & STATE, 4 COMMENTARY, 7

Open your eyesMoraff ’14 tells students not to believe the U. cannot afford need-blind admission

Pre-K, his wayMayor Angel Taveras proposes expanding pre-kindergarten education

By MICHAEL DUBINSENIOR STAFF WRITER

Attendance at President Christina Pax-son’s office hours has increased mod-erately in the wake of the decision not to divest the University’s endowment from companies profiting from coal and the cancellation of a scheduled lecture by New York Police Commis-sioner Ray Kelly.

Paxson has held 17 meetings dur-ing her six office hour sessions this semester, according to records kept by Assistant to the President Kimberly Roskiewicz, who staffs the meetings. Of those 17 meetings, 11 were in the three

Attendance at Paxson’s office hours risesFollowing controversies, the president held 11 meetings in her last three open office hour sessions

By KATHERINE LAMBSENIOR STAFF WRITER

The Democratic and Republican primary races for the 2014 guberna-

torial election have been in flux during re-

cent weeks as new candidates enter the race, fresh poll results redefine the contest’s frontrunners and cam-paign fundraising reports offer new takes on where the races are headed.

Candidates will compete for the office currently held by Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 P’17, who announced Sept. 4 that he will not run for a second term and will in-stead use the power of the office to address the concerns of Rhode Islanders without having to devote energy to electoral politics.

Chafee, only the fourth governor in Rhode Island history to not seek a second term, leaves behind a com-plicated legacy. He spearheaded the state’s successful efforts to reduce wait time at the Division of Motor Vehicles but has remained widely unpopular in part due to tax hikes early in the term. Voters now look to gubernatorial candidates promising large-scale reform and economic improvement.

Though Rhode Island votes blue in national elections — no Republican presidential candidate

has carried the state since Ronald Reagan in 1984 — since 1995 only Republican and Independent gov-ernors have been elected.

Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and Rhode Island General Treasurer Gina Raimondo are widely seen as the frontrunners in next year’s Democratic primary. The two have much in common — both are Har-vard graduates with law degrees, and both are currently in their first terms as elected officials — but the election will likely focus on their differences. If elected, Taveras would be the state’s first Latino governor and Raimondo would be the first female governor.

Taveras wrote in an email to The Herald that his personal background and experience as mayor set him apart from the pack.

“My journey has taken me from Head Start to Harvard and then back to Providence, where as mayor I have worked to rescue a city on the brink and put the needs of people first. Today, our state needs a new direction, new ideas and a governor who will create the same opportu-nity I had as the son of a factory worker,” Taveras wrote.

If elected, Taveras would be the first Providence mayor to become governor since Dennis Roberts in 1950, Rhode Island Public Radio reported.

Though she has not officially an-nounced her candidacy, Raimondo leads the 2014 gubernatorial race in fundraising, the Providence Journal reported. At the time of her most

Hopefuls vie for R.I. governor seatMayor Angel Taveras and Treasurer Gina Raimondo are frontrunners for the Democratic nomination

By MAGGIE LIVINGSTONESENIOR STAFF WRITER

The college application process no lon-ger relies solely on paper and pencil.

With a digitized Common Appli-cation, virtual campus tours and out-reach through social media, institutions across the country, including Brown, increasingly depend on online tools to promote themselves and to reach applicants unable to visit campus.

But the focus on online exposure

means applicants who cultivate their own virtual presences could harm their chances of being accepted to their de-sired universities.

Building buzz

The University’s social media pres-ence has grown exponentially in the last two years, said John Murphy, the Uni-versity’s social media specialist. Brown maintains official accounts on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram and Google+, he said.

Social media platforms offer glimpses into campus life to prospec-tive students who are unable to travel to universities, admission officers and experts said.

The Office of Admission hosted its

first-ever Google Hangout On Air Nov. 23. Two admission officers answered prospective students’ questions on a live webcam, said Chris Belcher, an admission officer who participated in the hangout.

Admission officers at other institu-tions, including Bowdoin College and Tufts University, have hosted similar Google Hangouts, Belcher said.

“It’s embracing technology for stu-dents who can’t get to campus,” he said.

Too much information?Though social media can help pro-

mote a university, some students may find these sites detrimental in the col-lege admission process.

Social media may affect admissionRhode Island does not ban college admission officers from examining applicants’ online profiles

By CALEB MILLERSENIOR STAFF WRITER

A blowout win at Columbia put an exclamation point on an up-and-down season for the football team, which finished fourth in the Ivy League with a modest 6-4 overall record and 3-4 record against Ivy competitors.

The campaign featured high points, like a 27-0 drumming of de-fending league champion Penn and a perfect 3-0 record out of conference, but it also included painful lows: The Bears blew double-digit leads to rivals Harvard and Princeton.

Seniors power Bears to fourthBruno secured its sixth straight winning season, but its middling record belied the team’s talent

EMILY GILBERT / HERALD

President Christina Paxson has held an average of two office hour sessions a month this fall. Herald file photo.

EMILY GILBERT / HERALD

Running back John Spooney ’14 was a major sparkplug for the offense, accumulating more than 1,200 total yards. Herald file photo.

CITY & STATE

FOOTBALL

» See PAXSON, page 3

» See SOCIAL MEDIA, page 2» See GOVERNOR, page 2

» See FOOTBALL, page 5

By JILLIAN LANNEYSENIOR STAFF WRITER

Department of Public Safety officers arrested three individuals in connection with a cell phone robbery on Manning Walkway Monday afternoon, said Paul Shanley, deputy chief of police for DPS.

Around 4:35 p.m., an unarmed male suspect approached a student from behind and stole his cell phone, according to a crime alert email sent by DPS.

A bystander who witnessed the in-cident called DPS and described the

suspect, Shanley said. “Within 10 to 15 minutes,” an officer stationed nearby apprehended the suspect near the scene of the crime. The student’s cell phone was recovered, Shanley added.

The suspect, a juvenile whose name could not be released, was charged with three felonies: larceny from a person, conspiracy to commit larceny from a person and extortion.

Upon further investigation, DPS officers charged two additional men with conspiracy to commit larceny from a person in relation to the same incident, though Shanley declined to provide further details. Rico Goncalves, an 18-year-old Providence resident, was held overnight at the Providence police station “pending a court date” sched-uled for Tuesday. The other conspirator was another juvenile male, Shanley said.

Three arrested in cell phone robberyDPS officers apprehended the primary suspect based on a description offered by a witness

Page 2: Tuesday, December 3, 2013

university news2 THE BROWN DAILY HERALDTUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2013

5:30 P.M.

Brown Relief for the Philippines

Smith-Buonanno Hall

6 P.M.

Miracle on Wriston

Wriston Quad

5 P.M.

Student Activism Then and Now

Barus and Holley 168

8 P.M.

Visions Fall Release Party

Salomon 001

SHARPE REFECTORY VERNEY-WOOLLEY

LUNCH

DINNER

Korean Style Marinated Beef, Curried Rice, Curry Tofu and Coconut, Vegan Chana Masala, Carrot Cake

Texas BBQ Brisket, Tofu Parmesan, General Tso Chicken Stirfry, General Tso Vegetable Stirfry, Carrot Cake

Torta with Spinach and Cheese, Hot Turkey Sandwich with Gravy, Potatoes Italienne, Cream Cheese Brownies

Honey Mustard Chicken Sandwich, Vegetarian Pot Pie with Biscuits, Cream Cheese Brownies

TODAY DECEMBER 3 TOMORROW DECEMBER 4

c r o s s w o r d

s u d o k u

m e n u

c a l e n d a rNo Rhode Island laws currently

prohibit private universities from us-ing applicants’ verified social media profiles as criteria for admission, said Bradley Shear, a lawyer who specializes in social media law.

Shear helped develop the proposed Social Networking Online Protection Act, which would prohibit employers and universities from requesting or requiring social media account pass-words from employees or applicants. SNOPA was reintroduced in the U.S. Senate in February, Shear said.

“I just have a certain belief in the First Amendment and Fourth Amend-ment,” Shear said. “People shouldn’t be afraid to use online accounts.”

Rhode Island’s House Judiciary Committee recommended the state establish a social media policy to pro-tect students and employees in May, but no legislation has been passed, ac-cording to the National Conference of State Legislatures website.

The Admission Office does not have a “standard, across-the-board policy” on requesting or searching for an ap-plicant’s social media profile, said Re-becca Whittaker, director of outreach for admission. Whittaker added that to her knowledge the University’s admis-sion officers never “actively look” for information on students’ social media accounts.

“Our policy is we look for reasons to admit students,” Whittaker said.

In a 2012 Kaplan Test Prep survey of 350 admission officers, 26 percent of respondents said they had visited an applicant’s social networking page to learn more about him or her, while 27 percent responded that they had searched Google for an applicant’s name, according to the company’s website.

A high school student who attended an information session at Bowdoin last year used Twitter to criticize other students at the session and was later denied admission to the college, the New York Times reported last month.

Though Bowdoin’s dean of admis-sion said the student’s academic record was the reason she was not admitted, he added that the tweets she posted might have seriously harmed her admission chances if her transcript were better, the Times reported.

But college admission officers rarely “proactively” peruse applicants’ so-cial media accounts, said Michele

Hernandez, a college consultant and former assistant director of admission at Dartmouth. Because many student accounts are not verified, it would be impossible for officers to determine whether an applicant actually owns an account, she added.

Admission officers at Ivy League institutions typically read about 30 ap-plications daily, so officers do not have time to conduct an online search of every applicant, Hernandez said.

“Admission officers aren’t digging for damning evidence,” she said. They resort to using social media informa-tion when assessing an applicant only in extreme cases, like when a “bitter rival student” contacts an admission officer with particularly harmful online evidence against another applicant, she said.

Student prudence

While many admission officers claim not to search for applicants on social media sites, some applicants said they are still cautious about how much information they divulge online.

Emily Keroack, an early decision applicant to the class of 2018 from Orange Park, Fla., said her school’s guidance office instructs students to “maintain a clean social media pres-ence.”

Keroack said she has not altered any of her social media accounts, but many of her friends who are applying to college have changed their Facebook

profile names to hide information.Soyoon Kim, an early decision ap-

plicant from Seongnan, South Korea, wrote in an email to The Herald that her friends have created “ridiculous” Facebook profile names or deactivated their accounts during the college ap-plication process.

“It doesn’t make sense to me that admissions officers would want to search for potentially harmful char-acteristics about their applicants un-less they have a clear reason to do so,” Kim wrote.

Hernandez said she advises her stu-dents to “grandma-proof ” their social media accounts by only posting infor-mation they would feel comfortable sharing with their grandmothers.

Social media is more harmful when students have certain posts — like cy-ber-bullying messages or pictures of underage substance abuse — that can translate to high school disciplinary action, Hernandez said, noting that such actions are recorded on transcripts reviewed by college admission officers.

Matt Cooper, an early decision applicant from Wayland, Mass., said he did not alter his Facebook profile before applying to colleges and did not express concern about admission of-ficers potentially searching online for information about students.

“Other people can be able to access information you put out there,” Cooper said. “It’s a reality in the world that we live in now.”

» SOCIAL MEDIA, from page 1

ASHLEY SO / HERALDIn a 2012 Kaplan Test Prep survey of 350 admission officers, 26 percent of respondents indicated they had visited an applicant’s social media page.

recent campaign finance report filing Oct. 31, her campaign account held $2.3 million, more money than any Rhode Island statewide elected official has raised in a non-election year, the Journal reported. Taveras’ campaign account held only about $760,000, around a third of Raimondo’s total.

Taveras, lacking in funds, leads in job performance ratings, with 57 per-cent of respondents rating his perfor-mance good or excellent compared to Raimondo’s 51 percent, according to the latest WPRI poll released Nov. 19. Taveras also received stronger support from within the party, with 67 percent of Democrats rating his performance good or excellent, compared to 51 percent for Raimondo.

A new possible player in the Democratic primary is Clay Pell, grandson of former Rhode Island Governor and U.S. Senator Claiborne

Pell, who recently formed an explor-atory committee. Like Raimondo and Taveras, Pell is a Harvard graduate, but he has no experience in state or local government. He has served as a military officer and worked for the Department of Education. His more liberal political views could appeal to activists and union members, RIPR reported.

On the Republican side, Cranston Mayor Allan Fung and former Moder-ate Party candidate Ken Block have announced they will seek their party’s nomination.

Though Block originally an-nounced his intent to run last May when he was head of the Moderate Party, he announced Oct. 28 he will run in the 2014 gubernatorial race as a Republican. Block said he would fo-cus primarily on improving the state’s economy and education system, add-ing that social issues would be second-ary, The Herald previously reported.

Fung is a Rhode Island College graduate, former lobbysist and former prosecutor for the attorney general’s office currently in his third term as mayor. His parents emigrated from Hong Kong to Rhode Island, and if elected, Fung would be the first Asian-American to hold statewide office in Rhode Island.

Fung said his approach to govern-ing would be hands-on and aimed specifically at job creation, WPRI reported.

Fung has built a solid base of sup-port, with 19 percent of voters select-ing him as their preferred candidate for governor in an early October poll from the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions, a significant advantage over the 9 per-cent of voters who chose Block. When Block ran for governor in 2010, he received 6.5 percent of the vote as a Moderate Party candidate, The Herald previously reported.

» GOVERNOR, from page 1

Page 3: Tuesday, December 3, 2013

university news 3THE BROWN DAILY HERALDTUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2013

By DREW WILLIAMSSTAFF WRITER

As the TRI-Lab’s inaugural project nears the end of its first semester, the pilot lab on childhood development is functioning as both a specific community engage-ment initiative and a forum for dialogue focused on improving and expanding the program into the future.

The TRI-Lab, run by the Swearer Center for Public Service, creates col-laborative projects amog students, faculty members and community partners, of-fering course credit and grants for stu-dents to strengthen University ties with the community and add a real-world aspect to classroom learning. The pilot lab, which launched this semester, fo-cuses on human development from pre-conception to early childhood, studying education and family dynamics.

Start of something newThe pilot lab contains 10 students,

five community partners and three faculty members, though the program aims to eventually have 25 students, five community partners and five faculty members associated with each project.

The future development of the TRI-Lab initiative was singled out as a goal of President Christina Paxson’s strategic plan.

Those involved with the current lab, chosen last spring, said they are pleased with the progress this individual project has made.

“It’s been off to a great start,” said Roger Nozaki MAT ’89, director of the Swearer Center.

The lab is broken up into three “work teams,” said Allen Hance, director of the TRI-Lab. One team is working on “issues related to high-risk mothers,” another on “parent-family engagement issues” and the last on “issues in neurological development and the implications for curriculum development for young chil-dren,” Hance said.

The TRI-Lab plans to follow a “three-phase model,” Nozaki said, consisting of a “cultivate phase,” “collaborate phase” and “innovate phase.” Due to time constraints in getting the program off the ground this year, the members of the childhood development lab “jumped pretty directly into the collaborate phase,” he said.

Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron has voiced support for “com-munity-based courses” as a future part of the cultivate phase, which Nozaki de-scribed as “a set of events and activities that raise awareness of future TRI-Lab topics.”

The beginning stages of this year’s pilot lab consisted of “research,” “sur-veys” and establishing “areas of interest” in order to split up into the three work groups, said John Molina MD’14, a cur-rent TRI-Lab member. The project has a three-hour meeting each week, along with additional workshops, events and projects, he said.

Most of the time “has been (spent) on Brown’s campus,” Molina said, adding that “the second semester will be much more … community-focused once we’ve invested that time in understanding the space.”

Molina, who does not receive credit for the lab, called it “a valuable expe-rience” due to participants’ chance to engage with policy.

Next experiments in the LabDespite the enthusiasm for the cur-

rent project, participants in the pilot lab said they realize they have perhaps an even more important job to do: critique themselves.

“There’s two parts — not only am I

doing this work on this specific lab topic, but really thinking about how can the lab run better in the long term,” Molina said.

For Molina, this “open dialogue” includes considering the preparatory work required. “What we did over the beginning of the semester — some of the reading and some of the groundwork — would be better done over the summer ... so that people come into it in the fall ready to be active,” he said.

Time commitment remains an im-portant topic of discussion, especially for students looking to gain credit from the program. Each lab counts for half a credit per semester, Molina said, but “because of the amount of time that we’re spending on it, it might switch to one credit each semester for future labs.”

“We didn’t know that it would take quite as much time for us to work togeth-er in designing the course,” Hance said.

For Stephen Buka, faculty co-chair of the pilot lab, establishing a system of dia-logue within the classroom is crucial to the program’s success. “To get 18 people and give them all a chance to speak when they’re all saying different things ... is a challenge,” he said.

Allowing for different perspectives while still making an impact with the project will be an important feature of the TRI-Lab program, especially if it expands, he added.

While the 10-student lab falls short of the 25-student standard TRI-Lab administrators envision for future labs, faculty members and administrators said

they recognize the benefits of easing into the program. “It’s been very good for the pilot year to have closer to compa-rable numbers of faculty, community and students because we get a better, clearer statement of the priorities and perspectives … of the individual groups,” Buka said.

Nozaki said the Swearer Center will be actively recruiting faculty leaders and students for future projects — including next year’s, the proposals for which are due today.

“Twenty students in the next lab is my guess,” Hance said.

The ultimate goal is to launch mul-tiple TRI-Lab projects each year, though the expansion will happen gradually, Nozaki said.

Broader thematic considerations also come into play for the TRI-Lab’s leaders. Hance said the strategic plan calls for TRI-Lab to “be a place for ... integrative scholarship” and to “connect academic and real-world experience.”

The TRI-Lab’s development will also focus on “in-depth community relation-ships” as well as relating the community work to “Brown’s academic mission,” Nozaki said.

Participants believe success for the program will build on the foundation of partnerships in the city and state.

“Just the fact that we have protected time for faculty to talk to community participants is such a rarity that we’ve already built extremely strong ties,” Buka said.

TRI-Lab pilot project explores human developmentPresident Christina Paxson called for the TRI-Lab’s expansion in her strategic plan

office hour sessions that followed the decision not to divest from coal — on Oct. 28, Nov. 4 and Nov. 19 — and of those, eight have taken place in the two most recent sessions, which came after student and community protesters effectively shut down Kelly’s lecture.

Roskiewicz said the 17 meetings do not reflect the total number of in-dividuals who have attended Paxson’s office hours because groups that see the president are counted as one meeting.

She added that she was unsure whether eight meetings after the can-celed Kelly lecture seemed like a low number, considering the heated campus discourse surrounding the incident.

She suggested that students may have opted to attend the forum held the night after the scheduled lecture or one of the three dinners Paxson hosted instead of discussing the matter with Paxson during her office hours. About 600 total people attended the forum, The Herald reported at the time, and

around 30 students have joined Paxson at each dinner.

Daniel Sherrell ’13.5, a member of Brown Divest Coal, said he has spoken with Paxson during office hours twice. He said he decided to go to her office hours because it is difficult to book time with the president and office hours are often the only opportunity to speak with her.

Sherrell called his experience at those meetings “lackluster,” adding that he thinks the University may use the fact that administrators are talking to students to justify not acting upon their advice.

“The fact that the University pur-ports to be engaging in these conversa-tions sometimes absolves them from taking any action based on the con-versations,” Sherrell said.

Mariela Martinez ’14, a member of the Brown Student Labor Alliance, said she has attended Paxson’s office hours twice: once last year to discuss the University’s contract with Adidas and once this year in an effort to convince

Paxson to incorporate the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety into the University’s code of conduct for licensees.

Martinez said office hours are a “great opportunity” to communicate directly with Paxson and present her with facts about issues but are not a place where Paxson will commit to a particular course of action.

Martinez, who participated in the protest of the Kelly lecture outside List Art Center auditorium, said she has not attended Paxson’s office hours since the lecture was canceled. She said a lack of student awareness might be the reason more people do not attend office hours, adding that she only knew the date and time for the office hours because she actively sought out the information.

Sherrell said 17 meetings so far this semester seemed like an “incredibly low” number for a campus with such varied opinions.

Paxson’s office hours have been ad-vertised in The Herald, Roskiewicz said.

Paxson has scheduled an average

of two office hour sessions per month this semester — a number consistent with the frequency of office hours un-der former President Ruth Simmons. The number reflects an increase from last year, when Paxson held 10 office hour sessions, or about one session per month.

Paxson has increased the number of sessions this year and is on track to hold eight by the end of this semester.

This semester’s meeting numbers are consistent with last year’s, Roskie-wicz said. Paxson had 41 meetings dur-ing the 10 office hour sessions she held in her first year on the job.

Last year, Paxson’s first two of-fice hour sessions drew 10 meetings. Though students usually wanted to discuss a particular issue with Paxson, Roskiewicz partly attributed the above-average numbers at the beginning of last year to students’ desire to meet the new president.

Two more office hour sessions will be held before winter break, Roskie-wicz said.

» PAXSON, from page 1

COURTESY OF THE SWEARER CENTER FOR PUBLIC SERVICE

The TRI-Lab’s first project, focused on human development, comprised three teams tackling issues related to high-risk mothers, parents’ engagement in families and young children’s neurological development.

COURTESY OF THE SWEARER CENTER FOR PUBLIC SERVICE

The TRI-Lab’s pilot project involved 10 students, five community partners and three faculty members. Administrators said in the future, they plan to expand the TRI-Lab to 25 students and five faculty members.

Page 4: Tuesday, December 3, 2013

city & state4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALDTUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2013

By ALEXANDER BLUMSENIOR STAFF WRITER

The I-195 Redevelopment District Com-mission adopted the Link as the new name for about 40 acres of land in the Jewelry District previously occupied by I-195.

Much of the Link overlaps with the “Knowledge District,” a moniker for the area adopted in recent years with hope that the area would develop into a hub of research and entrepreneurship centered on science and technology.

The commission owns about 19 of the Link’s 40 acres, which are being prepared for future development. The new name is part of an effort to attract investment that could bring new life to this part of Providence.

“The Link is just a name so that (the commission) can market the land,” said Melissa Withers, director of marketing for Betaspring, a startup accelerator at the center of the Jewelry District’s am-bition to develop an entrepreneurial culture.

The new name “makes sense,” said Dan Baudouin, executive director of the Providence Foundation. The name con-nects the pieces of land to surrounding areas and “shows that they’re part of the community” but will also “set them apart for marketing.” Despite the new name, Baudouin said development will “take

a while” due to the challenge of coming up with new projects.

Biotechnology and biomedical com-panies could develop the land to collabo-rate with local institutions, which would contribute to the area’s development, Baudouin said. But the goal is to keep many options available, and the commis-sion is not wedded to the biotechnology industry, he added.

The new name “didn’t get me all ex-cited,” said Arthur Salisbury, president of the Jewelry District Association. “But maybe it will grow on me.”

The Link does not refer to “the whole Jewelry District — just a part,” Salisbury added.

“They tried to rename the Jewelry District the Knowledge District several

years ago,” but the name did not catch on, and many people were and still are against the change, Salisbury said.

Salisbury said the Jewelry District Association does not oppose using the term “Knowledge Corridor” to describe a wider area that would include the Jewelry District but does oppose renaming the land itself.

The commission is exploring pos-sible interim uses for certain parcels of its land, which Baudouin said was “a great idea.” He added that he thinks the interim uses could include farmers markets, art installations and perhaps some “real temporary, low cost build-ings.” The commission is still brainstorm-ing and welcomes ideas from the public, he added.

Former I-195 zone renamed ‘the Link’The area has been named the Link in an effort to rebrand the Jewelry district as a science hub

By ABIGAIL SAVITCH-LEWSTAFF WRITER

Providence Mayor Angel Taveras has announced that if elected governor next year, he would expand the state’s pre-kindergarten program, with a goal of enrolling 76 percent of the state’s eligible children in pre-kindergarten by the end of his first term in office and accommodat-ing all eligible students by 2023.

The plan, announced last Tuesday at a YMCA Early Learning Center in Pawtucket, calls early childhood edu-cation a “building block for economic development” and cites recent studies that show positive correlations between enrollment in early childhood education programs and higher rates of employ-ment and college attendance.

“It is great to hear early childhood education being discussed so early in the election cycle,” wrote Kate Brewster, executive director of the Economic Prog-ress Institute, in an email to The Herald. “Not only is this issue so important for the future of our children, but it is also a great long-term strategy to improve our economy.”

In 2012, Rhode Island ranked 40th in the United States in access to pre-kindergarten for 4-year-olds, according to a report by the National Institute for Early Education Research.

Currently, about 1,400 children in the state are enrolled in publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs, 1,200 attend

school district programs funded by fed-eral and local sources and about 230 attend state-funded schools that enroll students by lottery, said Elliot Krieger, public information officer for the the Rhode Island Department of Education. An additional 5,200 4-year-olds eligible for pre-kindergarten are not enrolled in any program, according to the plan.

Taveras plans to increase the number of state-funded pre-kindergarten slots from around 230 in fiscal year 2014 to 700 by 2016 and 2,650 by 2019. The expan-sion would cost the state $6.5 million in its first year of implementation, rising to additional annual costs of $24.6 million by year four. The total cost would amount to less than 1 percent of the state’s educa-tion budget, according to the plan.

“This is really a drop in the bucket of the overall budget and certainly within the budget of the school system,” said Sen. Gayle Goldin, D-Providence.

Taveras is one of many public officials to have recently called for universal pre-kindergarten. Experts called New York City Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio’s proposal to expand universal pre-kindergartem in New York City — which would be funded by increasing the state income tax for those making more than $500,000 per year — key to his victory.

In February, Barack Obama released a proposal to increase the tobacco tax to fund child-care programs for all 4-year-olds within 200 percent of the poverty line.

Rhode Island has made efforts in recent years to increase enrollment in pre-kindergarten programs. In 2009, Rhode Island launched a state-funded pre-kindergarten pilot program and en-rolled students in seven classrooms by

lottery. In 2010, the General Assembly signed a law to increase state funding for these programs by $1 million each year to create 1,000 child care slots by 2020. Taveras’s plan goes further than the General Assembly bill and more than doubles the pace of expansion.

Taveras “has been from the beginning of his administration absolutely priori-tizing early childhood education,” said Rebecca Boxx, director of Providence’s Children and Youth Cabinet, a com-mission on early childhood education convened by then-Mayor David Cicil-line and expanded by Taveras. “When you think about what it costs to provide quality early childhood education versus the costs to remediate when students fall behind, or even worse, when they fail to graduate, it just makes much more sense from an economic perspective.”

Taveras has said he hopes to fund the programs using a small portion of the state’s allocated Title I federal funding for low-income students as well as ad-ditional federal grants, foundation grants and state savings. The plan proposes raising capital by reducing enrollment at the Rhode Island Training School, a boarding school for struggling youth, creating drug courts to reduce criminal justice costs, establishing a competitive bidding process for contracts to provide state vehicle maintenance and decreas-ing employee overtime at state hospitals and prisons.

Taveras has already proven his ability to conserve government funds by altering staff structures, Goldin said, adding that hiring more firefighters for Providence reduced overtime expenditures and cre-ated good jobs.

Taveras has also pledged to fully

fund the 2012 Full Day Kindergarten Accessibility Act, which assists school districts in establishing full day kinder-garten programs. In the 2012-2013 school

year, 68 percent of Rhode Island children attended full-day kindergarten, a figure below the 77 percent national average, the plan said.

Taveras stresses pre-kindergarten education in gubernatorial platformTaveras said he would increase the number of state-funded pre-K slots from 230 to 2,650 by 2019

HERALD FILE PHOTO

Mayor Angel Taveras called for a commitment to early childhood education in a speech last Tuesday in Pawtucket.

GREG JORDAN-DETAMORE / HERALD

POINT

EDDYS. M

AIN

195

THAYER

DYER

PINE

ELM

POWER

Former I-195 lands in the Jewelry District

www.browndailyherald.com

Page 5: Tuesday, December 3, 2013

sports tuesday 5THE BROWN DAILY HERALDTUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2013

Class Notes | Philip Trammell

Let’s Talk | Nava Winkler and Regine Rosas

c o m i c s

After a 5-2 start, which included an undefeated non-conference sched-ule as well as Ivy wins over Cornell and Penn, Bruno hit a rough stretch, dropping two close matches to Yale and Dartmouth before dominating Columbia in the season finale. The season was good enough to secure the Bears a sixth consecutive winning season, but the team still did not meet its preseason Ivy ranking and other expectations for the squad.

“Overall it was a great experience,” said defensive end and co-captain Michael Yules ’14. “We fought hard … but came out on the wrong side sometimes.”

Spooney-fulAfter last season’s top three tail-

backs graduated, many pointed to the running back position as a weakness for the Bears at the start of the season.

But by season’s end, Bruno’s start-ing running back was a unanimous All-Ivy selection and the league’s lead-ing rusher. John Spooney ’14 wowed crowds with his game-changing speed and frustrated defenses with deceptive strength and toughness.

Spooney contributed to the run-ning attack two years ago but took last season off to focus on his track career, which includes five conference sprint championships. When Spooney returned to the field this fall, Head Coach Phil Estes commented that his speedy back could “break open a ball game.” He was correct.

No game captured Spooney’s mas-tery better than the Nov. 2 contest at Brown Stadium against Penn. Af-ter just 17 minutes of play, Spooney eclipsed 200 yards rushing, including two touchdown scampers of more than 90 yards. And the Quaker de-fense was not alone in its inabil-ity to contain Spooney. The tailback

averaged 130 yards per game on the ground and broke the century mark in every Ivy League game he played.

The squad may have finished in the middle of the pack in the Ivy League, but Bruno had the league’s most elec-trifying player in its backfield.

What if?It is unusual for the fourth-place

team to be as close to a championship as the Bears were this year.

A 3-4 conference record suggests mediocrity, but if a few plays went differently, Bruno might well have been hoisting a trophy this season. A few hypotheticals from Bruno’s losses show how close the team truly was.

What if Brown were not flagged for illegal procedure in the second quarter at Harvard Sept. 28? The penalty negated a first down that would have kept Bruno’s offense on the field with momentum and a 13-0 lead. Harvard scored on its ensuing drive, and the game turned.

What if receiver Jordan Evans ’14, who dropped only one pass all year, did not let a good pass from quar-terback Patrick Donnelly ’13.5 go off his hands later in the second quarter of the Harvard game? A catch would have given Bruno a first down and some momentum in a tight 14-13 game. Instead, the ball ricocheted off Evans and into the arms of Crimson safety Jaron Wilson, who returned it for a touchdown. Harvard used the momentum to run away with a 41-23 victory.

What if Bruno elected to pass the ball on first down at its own 26-yard line in the third quarter of the matchup with Princeton? Instead, the team handed the ball to Spooney, who was injured on the run. Spooney did not play for the rest of the game, and the Bears offense went cold. When Spooney left, his team led 17-12, but without their top back, the offense did not score again. Princeton won 39-17.

What if the referees of the Brown-Yale game did not make a contested call of roughing the passer on Dan Giovacchini ’15 halfway through the fourth quarter? The game was tied at 17, and the penalty negated an inter-ception by Xavier Russo ’15 that he re-turned to the Yale 22-yard line. If the interception were allowed to stand, All-Ivy kicker Alexander Norocea ’14

would have had little trouble kicking a go-ahead field goal, and Yale would not have had time for its last-minute touchdown that propelled them to a 24-17 win. After the game, Estes said the penalty “didn’t exist” on their film.

What if Donnelly threw the ball two feet lower to Brian Strachan ’14 on an out-route in the fourth quarter of the Senior Day matchup with Dart-mouth? Donnelly, who completed almost two-thirds of his passes and uses out-routes as his bread and but-ter, threw a little too high for an open Strachan to catch on a fourth down in Dartmouth territory. If the ball were caught, the first down would have been converted and Bruno would have been knocking on the door to score a go-ahead touchdown with less than a minute remaining. The turnover allowed Dartmouth to sit on the ball and preserve a 24-21 win.

SeniorityOf the Bruno starters — 11 of-

fensive, 11 defensive, one kicker and one punter — 21 of the 24 were in their final year with the program. The talented crop of seniors ended their collegiate careers with an impressive 26-14 record.

“They mean everything to me,” Estes said of the seniors on this year’s Senior Day.

The seniors leave behind some large shoes to fill at the skill positions.

Donnelly is a two-year starter at quarterback and finished second in the Ivy League in passing yards per game this season, improving from his third-place finish in the category last season. Spooney is arguably the league’s best player, and receivers Ev-ans and Tellef Lundevall ’14 combined for 112 catches and 1,363 yards, more than 57 percent of the team’s total receiving yardage. Six of Bruno’s top eight receivers are seniors.

The offensive line was made up exclusively of seniors, including three All-Ivy selections — Cole Hooper ’14, Daniel Austin ’14 and Clayton Paino ’14. Often forgotten amid the highlights of Spooney and Donnelly, the front line played a major role in the team’s impressive statistics.

The defense started three non-seniors: Giovacchini, Russo and Ludovic Richardson ’16. But the unit, which allowed the fewest points in the Ivy League, will sorely miss star seniors as well. Defensive ends Yules and John Bumpus ’14 were night-mares for opposing quarterbacks, both finishing in the top five in the conference in sacks and earning All-Ivy selections.

Public address announcers strug-gled to pronounce Ade Oyalowo’s ’14

name after each of his tackles, but they received plenty of practice, as the senior linebacker finished second on the team in tackles and third in the league in tackles for loss. Finally, cornerback Emory Polley ’14 locked down opponents’ best receivers and nabbed six interceptions on his way to another All-Ivy performance.

As the decorated senior class bids the program adieu, Bruno will have a crop of new faces to carry on the winning tradition. Yules said he is optimistic the turnover will not hurt the program.

“The guys coming back next year will make a very strong push and learn from some lessons this season.”

Brown Football 2013opponent score result

Georgetown 45 - 7 W

Harvard 41 - 23 L

URI 31 - 14 W

Bryant 41 - 14 W

Princeton 39 - 17 L

Cornell 42 - 35 W

Penn 27 - 0 W

Yale 24 - 17 L

Dartmouth 24 - 20 L

Columbia 48 - 7 W

Brown scores are in bold.

» FOOTBALL, from page 1

EMILY GILBERT / HERALD

Quarterback Patrick Donnelly ’13.5 accrued the second most passing yards in the Ivy League, primarily targeting Jordan Evans ’14 and Tellef Lundevall ’14 — who combined for almost 1,400 receiving yards. Herald file photo.

Spooney ’14 in Ivy League playopponent yards touchdowns

Harvard 110 2

Princeton 103 1

Penn 232 2

Yale 125 0

Dartmouth 166 0

Columbia 186 1

Page 6: Tuesday, December 3, 2013

commentary6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALDTUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2013

Many Brown students graduate with a “.5” at the end of their class years — a figure signifying that they have taken a non-traditional route through college. So-called “.5-ers” may have transferred from other institu-tions, decided to graduate early or late or taken time off to explore other pursuits. These alternative routes may be considered less conventional, but the number of students who explore them is climbing. The Herald reported yesterday that the number of midyear grads is on the rise, with an increasing number of students taking a semester off to pursue real-world experience through internships or other avenues (“Seeking ‘real world’ projects, mid-year grads on the rise,” Dec. 2). While this option is by no means intended for everyone, a semester — or even more — away from school is a valuable pathway college students often overlook.

A semester off allows students the chance to step away from Brown, apply their formal education to real-world experiences and then return more ready and able to take advantage of campus resources and opportuni-ties before graduation. The chance to pursue projects such as working in a lab, volunteering on a political campaign, conducting research abroad or interning at a firm allows students to more fully integrate classroom learning with practical applications of that information.

But an experience need not be fully related to a student’s academic plans to prove fulfilling. Volunteer work or traveling can also give stu-dents broader, more informed perspectives about the world around them.

And time away from Brown can prevent the all-too-prevalent burnout that frequently afflicts students from sophomores to seniors. Four straight years of rigorous exams and coursework can take their toll on students, making them question the purpose of their educations. Time away can serve as an important reminder that what we learn and do at Brown can serve a multitude of purposes in the outside world after graduation.

Students may be concerned about not graduating with their friends or falling “out of sync” with the traditional four-year path. But these concerns may not reflect the true nature of a Brown education. The point of Brown’s philosophy is that each student’s education should reflect the individual. A semester off can foster that individuality and distinctiveness.

A semester off is not the appropriate path for everyone, but we en-courage students not to be immutably affixed to the idea of graduating in four years and to consider routes such as time off. Time away from Brown can prove just as valuable as time at Brown and can even enhance the years one does spend at college.

Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board: its editor, Rachel Occhiogrosso, and its members, Daniel Jeon, Hannah Loewentheil and Thomas Nath. Send comments to [email protected].

Semesters off can prove rewarding pathway

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Generated by CamScanner from intsig.com AANCHAL SAR AF

E D I T O R I A L

Q U O T E O F T H E D A Y

“Admission officers aren’t digging for damning evidence.” — Michele Hernandez, college consultant

See social media, page 1.

Page 7: Tuesday, December 3, 2013

What Republicans are doing is wrong. Refusing to fill vacancies on the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, regardless of President Obama’s choice of nomi-nee, is an unacceptable response to the reality of a Democrat occupying the White House. It is inexcusable to hold arguably the second most im-portant court in the country hostage. I have no problem with ideological opposition to individual nominees, but I find it problematic to prede-termine that the court’s vacancies should not be filled.

In response, Democrats in the Senate took an understandable but deplorable step to trigger the “nucle-ar option” in Senate rules. As a result, for presidential nominations other than for the Supreme Court, the Sen-ate can end debate with just 51 out of 100 votes, rather than the previously required sixty. This effectively elimi-nates the filibuster in these cases, as the majority party can simply end debate on a nominee at any point.

Though this might appear to be a rational reaction to an obstinate party of “no,” the elimination of the filibuster represents much more than

the removal of a venerated Senate tradition. The filibuster’s existence speaks directly to the structure, com-position and ideals of the American government and has been a core way the Senate has exercised its “advice and consent” responsibilities as enu-merated in the Constitution.

Our bicameral legislative branch was designed in the Great Compro-mise of 1787. The House of Repre-sentatives was designed to be a body closer to the people — as evidenced by its short, two-year terms — than was the Senate, which has fewer rules to encourage more debate. Yes, the filibuster pro-vided a platform for iconoclasts such as Strom Thurmond to deliver polem-ics about civil rights legislation, but that very platform is precisely why the Senate exists. And while some might say the filibuster allows a single senator representing a minutia of the American public to hijack Senate debate, the Senate was intentionally designed to elevate dis-senting and minority viewpoints. By allowing all states to have the same number of senators, the body inher-ently allows certain voices to repre-sents fewer actual Americans. The

Senate should remain a place where debate cannot simply be ended by 51 votes. It was not designed to enhance the role of the majority party.

The House of Representatives, by design, is run by a speaker who re-tains quasi-authoritarian power in that he or she may determine the rules of debate surrounding an issue. The speaker can prevent all debate from occurring and can choose not to recognize minority party mem-bers who wish to speak on the floor. The Senate was created explicitly to

counteract this and to protect mi-nority speech, regardless of whether the content is germane. In remov-ing the filibuster for key presidential appointments and nominations, the Democrats have moved the Senate toward a House-like structure that disrespects not only the Great Com-promise but also the foundational structure of our bicameral system.

The nuclear option is also disas-

trous because it moves the Ameri-can government, one based on the separation of powers, in a very par-liamentarian direction. Most par-liamentary systems operate with a “government” and an “opposition,” in which the government makes policy often with very little interaction with the opposition. Because the govern-ment coalition has the necessary number of seats to pass legislation, it usually does not work with the oppo-sition in crafting policy.

By granting itself the authority to end debate with a simple majority, the Senate has removed the impetus to talk with the minority party. The U.S. gov-ernment functions because of cooper-ation between the two parties, even in harshly partisan times, rather than

in a government versus opposition mindset. Republicans’ repeated fili-bustering of executive branch nom-inees — such as Sen. Rand Paul’s, R-Ky., rant against drones and John Brennan’s nomination to run the Central Intelligence Agency — show that there needs to be more dialogue to address the rift between Repub-licans and Democrats over conten-tious matters.

We cannot forget that filibusters can often be used for things we, as Brown students, often view positive-ly. Former Progressive Sen. Robert La Follette, who fought for economic equality and more “direct democra-cy,” often used the filibuster to draw attention to his policies. Texas State Sen. Wendy Davis, a Democrat and the legislator who valiantly filibus-tered restrictions on abortion rights, drew national attention to the poli-cy debate, even though the bill was eventually enacted.

Brown is lucky to have one of the leading experts on the filibuster, Ad-junct Lecturer in Political Science and Public Policy Richard Arenberg, on its faculty. Arenberg, in the title of a book he wrote, refers to the fil-ibuster as “the soul of the Senate.” The Senate was designed, and the filibuster arose, to encourage thor-ough political discourse, rigorous debate, cross-party cooperation and slow deliberative action. Simply put, unlike the House, the core function of the Senate is to protect dissenting opinions from the tyranny of the ma-jority.

Zach Ingber ’15 would love one day to read the phonebook on the Senate floor. He can be

reached at [email protected]

Tuition is skyrocketing and financial aid remains insufficient. The Brown administration is very, very good at offering nonsensical but reason-able-sounding explanations for why this might be. Of these explanations, probably the silliest is our so-called $4 million “deficit.”

As Provost Mark Schlissel P’15 put it last week, “We have to work on dropping this deficit down,” say-ing that the unpredictability of future budgets “underscores a need for cau-tious planning” with regard to the def-icit (“U. deficit could constrain budget planning,” Nov. 8). Never mind that we’re currently in the midst of a $56 million building campaign centered around the ludicrous destruction of the Gate — after two renovations in five years. Never mind that we just built a $50 million gym.

Never mind that the strategic plan includes a lengthy list of new con-struction projects, most of which are at best luxuries and at worst com-pletely unnecessary, such as “shared convening spaces spread throughout campus.” Never mind the explosion of administrative spending, almost a 50 percent increase over the past decade. Never mind that when faced with a choice between construction and ex-

pansion versus financial aid and fac-ulty members and workers, this uni-versity’s rulers will choose the former almost every single time.

In the face of the University’s mas-sive spending and its massive ability to fundraise, a $4 million deficit is ba-sically a neat little accounting trick. It’s a deficit that only exists when you dis-count the massive resources available to the administration to spend as they please. It’s a tool for administrators trying to spin away the fact that mak-ing Brown affordable and accessible is very, very low on their priority list, as seen in the almost total neglect of aid in the strategic plan. It has little to no bearing on what Brown can actually afford to do in the years to come.

This is a university that charges more than half its students more than what the average American makes in a year. This is a university that rejects international and Resumed Under-graduate Education students for not being rich enough. This is a university that tries to slash worker benefits time and time again. Try to address these concerns, try to advocate for better salaries and benefits and better aid, try even to build something in a non-favored department and administra-tors pull out their Serious Voices to talk about the budget. It’s funny how, when it comes to the School of Engi-neering and massive aquatic centers, those concerns magically disappear.

Last year, the University raised $195.4 million, a five-year high. The

School of Engineering is in the midst of a $160 million campaign. For the sake of comparison: President Chris-tina Paxson has estimated that mak-ing admissions need blind would cost $12.5 million a year, which $250 mil-lion would support for the foresee-able future. It’s ab-solutely untrue that we can’t afford to go need blind. We just can’t go need blind and fulfill every oth-er administrative whim.

Administrators will often claim to be at the mercy of do-nors for setting pri-orities. This is sim-ply untrue. When we built the Nelson Fitness Center, the University set the plan, and then fundraised and fundraised and fund-raised to make it happen. There is no reason they couldn’t do this for need-blind admission or for significant tu-ition reduction and financial aid in-creases. In fact, former President Ruth Simmons, to a limited extent, did ex-actly that, in large part because stu-dents made her. Administrators gen-erally don’t do this because they don’t want to and because they have other priorities.

And that’s where the real fight is: priorities. The University is run by the financial industry executives, cor-porate lawyers and chief executive

officers who make up a majority of the Corporation. In their worldview, providing a good education and hav-ing a diverse, representative student body are mostly unrelated. They want a university that will continue to at-tract wealthy families with little con-

cern for cost shop-ping around for posh dorm rooms and dining halls. They want a univer-sity with flashy gad-gets and buildings full of glass ready to turn out a very spe-cific type of student with a certain earn-ing potential. They don’t particularly care about what a

college loses when it’s overwhelm-ingly suburban or affluent or white. They certainly don’t care about paying workers decently.

Students care. Faculty members care. Staff members care. But as long as Paxson and the Corporation are calling the shots, it’s very, very diffi-cult for any of this to change.

Spreading misinformation about budgets and deficits is an old tactic, used by con men and grifters seek-ing to shift money to wrongheaded or unpopular priorities. “Deficit hawks” across the country have claimed we have no choice but to shred the so-cial safety net and cut services to the bone. Even as the federal deficit has

shrunk, the debt has ceased to be a major problem, and the claims of deficit hawks have been repeatedly debunked. People who would never support tax hikes on the wealthy or an end to corporate welfare have feigned concern for “the deficit” in order to slash popular social programs. The parallels draw themselves.

There are real deficits in the world that are actually problematic. Then there are imaginary deficits, tools in a time-honored choreography designed to muddy the waters and cover up on-going injustices.

Forty years ago, powerful student and faculty movements forced univer-sities across the world to respond to student and faculty needs. At Brown, the good things we do have are due to a decades-long history of activ-ism. We have what we have thanks to sit-ins in University Hall by people fighting for need-blind admission, for meaningful financial aid, for an end to the exclusion of the non-rich and non-white from our student body and faculty.

University administrators like to feign impotence in the face of most-ly imagined budget problems. If you ask them why we reject international students for being too poor, they’ll say we can’t afford not to. Don’t believe them.

Daniel Moraff ’14 can be reached at [email protected]

commentary 7THE BROWN DAILY HERALDTUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2013

Deficit nonsense at Brown

The importance of the filibuster

“If you ask administrators why we reject international

students for being too poor, they’ll say we can’t afford not to. Don’t believe

them.”

“In removing the filibuster for key presidential appointments and nominations,

the Democrats have moved the Senate towards a House-like structure that

disrespects not only the Great Compromise but also the foundational structure of our

bicameral system.”

DANIELMORAFF

opinions columnist

ZACHINGBER

opinions columnist

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Page 8: Tuesday, December 3, 2013

daily heraldTHE BROWNsports tuesday

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2013

By BRUNO ZUCCOLOSPORTS STAFF WRITER

Bruno broke even during the weekend’s Navy Classic in Maryland, losing to the Naval Academy 81-61 Friday and beating the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 92-53 Saturday.

In Saturday’s game, the Bears (3-3) not only earned their largest margin of victory for the season but also set a record with 15 three-point field goals and scored the team’s highest number of points in almost 31 years.

“We definitely struggled in the first game … but I think that we were able to bounce back in the second game,” said Sophia Bikofsky ’15. “We put up 92 points, which is awesome. … That shows our resilience.”

Navy 81, Brown 61The Bears suffered their biggest loss

of the season on a day when little seemed to work for the team. Making only 25.9 percent of its three-point attempts and scoring only 11 points off 11 turnovers, the team had limited options to replicate the double-digit comebacks seen in its past two games — the Bears made up

13- and 17-point deficits against Bryant University and Army, respectively.

Lauren Clarke ’14 and Bikofsky were the two double-digit scorers for the Bears with tallies of 18 and 10, respectively. Mids forward Jade Geif led her team with 13 points.

Navy (6-2) took the lead midway through the first half, and Brown never took it back. By the end of the half, the Mids were up by 16, and they went into the locker room with the scoreboard reading 41-25.

“We got off to a slow start in the first half, and dug ourselves in a hole,” said Head Coach Jean Marie Burr. “They were just too good to chip away at it.”

If Bruno had hopes of a second-half comeback, Navy quickly dashed them, scoring 14 points in four minutes to start the half. Brown improved the score with 13 points in the final four minutes, but it was too late for a full comeback.

“We had a good rotation going in the second half — I thought the team did a good job,” Burr said.

Brown 92, UMBC 53In Saturday’s game, the Bears regained

their usual accuracy from behind the three-point line, finishing the game with a 53.5 percent conversion rate from beyond the arc. The 45 points from treys beat the team’s 2012 all-time record of 39 and helped the Bears register their highest score since Dec. 14, 1982.

Bruno dominated the game in most aspects, registering higher stats than UMBC (1-7) across the board, steadily increasing its lead with a higher volume and accuracy of shots.

The Retrievers were ahead for a total of 19 seconds during the entire game, after making a trey in the first minute. But after the Bears took the lead 52 seconds into the first half, they never let it go. Though the game saw no particularly notable point runs, Bruno steadily in-creased its lead. The first half finished 51-29 in favor of Brown, and toward the end of the second half, the Bears recorded an impressive 42-point lead, the team’s highest this season.

Bikofsky, who was named to the Navy Classic All-Tournament Team, led the Bears, scoring six treys for a total 21 points overall. Jordin Alexander ’16, KJ Veldman ’17 and Carly Wellington ’14 scored in the double digits, and Rebecca Musgrove ’17 recorded a career-high six steals.

“(The result) definitely gives us con-fidence, it shows us what we can do, our potential,” Bikofsky said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to keep it going.”

For their next games, the Bears will return to the Pizzitola Center, first facing the University of Rhode Island Wednes-day at 7 p.m. and then hosting the Uni-versity of Maine, Morgan State University and Fairfield University in the Brown Classic this weekend.

Bears find season high and low at Navy ClassicSophie Bikofsky ’15 earned a selection to the All-Tournament team with 31 points overall

By LLOYD SYSPORTS STAFF WRITER

After a disappointing second-to-last finish in the Ivy League last season, the women’s soccer team was on a mission this year to improve its conference standing. Led by eight seniors, the Bears played tenaciously through the fall to move up four spots and capture third place in the Ancient Eight.

“We knew we were competitive in 2012 but didn’t get the results,” said Head Coach Phil Pincince. “We wanted to con-tinue to move forward in the Ivy League ranks, and so we had to become bigger, stronger and more athletic.”

The team ended with a 10-6-1, 4-2-1 Ivy record, bested only by Harvard and Penn. On their way to the bronze, the Bears also finished in the top half of the league in points, goals, assists, goals al-lowed and saves. And the squad had four players named Second Team All-Ivy: goalie Mary Catherine Barrett ’14, back Annie Gillen ’15 and forwards Chloe Cross ’15 and Mika Siegelman ’14. Mid-fielder Charlotte Beach ’16 earned All-Ivy Honorable Mention.

Offensive rebalancingThe team changed its offensive set-

up in the offseason — adding an extra forward to its front line and involving its midfielders more in attacking plays — and the results showed, with Bruno scoring 20 goals, up from 15 last year.

“Having more players on the front line helped us get more people on attack,”

Cross said. “We put two players on the wings so we could exploit the flanks of the other team.”

Cross and Siegelman led the Bears in their offensive drive. Cross scored seven goals, three of which were game-winners. Siegelman tacked on three goals through-out the season, all of them game-winning.

“This season we played our own game,” Siegelman said. “We had a system in mind and didn’t adjust to other teams. We had more confidence in ourselves and just wanted to play our own style.”

Two is better than oneOn the other end of the field, the

squad employed a dual-goalie system all year long, with Amber Bledsoe ’14 playing for the first half of each game and Barrett taking the second half.

“When they came in as freshmen, they worked so hard that there was no separation (in their play) at the begin-ning of the season,” Pincince said. “We started out that system and it just seemed to work out.”

The pair allowed only 19 goals all season long and only a single goal per game in Ivy League play. Barrett led the Ivies with a save percentage of 84 percent in conference games.

Barrett said playing only one half was “really not that different” from playing a whole game.

“You still have to keep the ball out of the net,” Barrett said. But “playing in the second half has let me sit back and observe the first half. I get to pick out tendencies.”

Bledsoe said splitting games “worked out in the best way possible.”

“It’s worked out quite naturally,” Bled-soe said. “Our friendship off the field helped the situation and made it even

Barrett said the duo’s chemistry has made a “really healthy dynamic.”

“She’s one of my best friends,” Bar-rett said. “She’s pushed me so much and taught me a lot. We wanted to be the best goalkeeping team we could be for our team, and I never wanted to see her fail in the hopes that I’d get more time.”

The back lineThe pair was assisted by a defensive

unit usually consisting of Gillen, Sarah Moody ’16, Emily Wingrove ’14 and a fourth player rotating among Anne Moody ’16, Mackenzie Kligmann ’16 and Jaclyn Alois ’17 — a group Siegelman called “an incredible back line.”

“The offense starts with the defense,” Siegelman said. “We played teams with great offenses and the way to beat them is to shut them down.”

Wingrove said the defense’s success depended on “a lot of communication.”

“We definitely had a few rough

games, but we learned to pick up our marks together,” Wingrove said. “It’s something that comes with practice, but we learned what to expect of each other.”

Gillen said Brown had a “more ma-ture back line” this year.

“We’ve been working together and grew a lot since last year,” Gillen said. “We’ve worked a lot on communication and achieved a higher level of fitness.”

To higher peaksAs the Bears look forward to next

season, Sarah Moody said the team’s big-gest challenge is filling the shoes of this year’s seniors.

“Our seniors are somewhat irre-placeable because they’re a great group of girls,” Moody said. “But every year a new group of freshmen comes in, and next year we’re going to have a really good class coming.”

Pincince said the seven incoming freshmen will create a “different” team.

“What we have returning plus the dynamic recruiting class will allow us to continue to move forward strong,” Pincince said.

Cross, who is expected to assume even more of a leadership role next sea-son, said the team has a “lot of talented soccer players.”

“All the girls will be able to step up to the challenge and be successful,” Cross said. “We lost a lot with this senior class, and we just have to rally together to create a presence on the field.”

Wingrove said she believes next year’s team will be able to move forward, in part due to the current seniors instilling a mindset of “working in the offseason.”

“Whether it’s putting in those extra touches or staying after practice, I think we (seniors) put a lot of passion back into the Brown women’s soccer program,” Wingrove said. “And I think we raised expectations for the Brown women’s soc-cer program.”

Anchored by eight seniors, Bruno finishes third in Ivy LeagueThe Bears boasted four All-Ivy second team selections after an improved league record

COURTESY OF BROWN VARSITY WOMEN’S SOCCER

The face of the women’s soccer team will be changing drastically as it will lose eight seniors, including captain Mika Siegelman ’14 (far right), and usher in a new class of seven recruits for the 2014 season. Herald file photo.

KATIE LIEBOWITZ / HERALD

KJ Veldman ’17 scored 13 points in the team’s historic 39-point victory over UMBC, during which the Bears set a new three-point team record.

W. BASKETBALL

W. SOCCER