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vol. cxliv, no. 101 | Friday, November 6, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891
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7. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack percent identified as black or African-American,
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Michael Bechek, Vice President Alexander Hughes, Secretary Strongly approve: 19.8% percent identified with a racial group or ethnicity
The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serv- Somewhat approve: 57.4% not listed and 2.2 percent chose not to answer.
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02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Offices are located at 195 8. In the past month, which of the following sub- News Editor Seth Motel ’11 coordinated the poll.
Angell St., Providence, R.I. E-mail herald@browndailyherald.com. stances — not prescribed to you — have you used? Herald section editors, senior staff writers and
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Copyright 2009 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved. Marijuana: 32.3%
Friday, November 6, 2009 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Page 3
S POTLIGHT
GISPs: Now just an ‘afterthought’ for many students
continued from page 1 Morning Mail notices advertis- to the extracurricular,” said Clini- Cohen went through the applica- ing some GISPs because of time
ing his GISP, Donias received 20 cal Professor of Engineering Josef tion process for her first and only constraints.
view. responses — a level of interest Mittlemann ’72 P’00 P’04. official GISP, but she chose to do Keach said, “I’m glad to be doing
“For more than 20 years, the that surprised him, he said. A lot In the last 40 years, Brown also her next two collaborative study it, it’s a lot of fun to be doing it, but
number of GISPs has hovered in of the students who responded to has bolstered its course offerings. projects on an unofficial basis be- it’s an additional time and energy
the mid-20s,” wrote Associate Dean Donias’ announcements had also With more options than ever, stu- cause the GISP application process commitment.”
of the College for Curriculum James been unaware of the option to create dents have less need to look beyond was so cumbersome, she said. Co- There should be more incen-
Valles in an e-mail to the Herald. a course, he said. the course catalog to pursue their hen and the other group members tives for faculty to sponsor GISPs,
This semester, 84 students are en- “The ’70s had a lot more accep- academic interests. (This fall’s more “signed up for a departmental in- Matuszewski said, suggesting that
rolled in 16 GISPs. tance of academic experimenta- than 900 course options are a record, dependent study under the same Brown should work on “appropri-
tion,” said Hazeltine, who has been according to Dean of the College professor under the expectation that ately recognizing faculty for their
Shifting perceptions teaching at Brown since 1959. But Katherine Bergeron.) we would work collectively, just as support of independent studies.”
Today, fewer students and fac- in recent years “there’s been pres- in a GISP, but with less paperwork,” But to properly address the re-
ulty members know about GISPs or sure on making GISPs more like Too much work ... she said. cent decline in student participation
consider them to be serious course regular courses because people are When compared to the time- and The process also requires stu- in GISPs, “the first thing is for the
options than during the New Cur- worried about academic credibility,” energy-intensive process of creating dents to clearly express the course’s administration and the faculty to find
riculum’s early years. he said. a GISP, the ease of enrolling in a goals and their reasons for creating out what’s going on,” Keach said.
Faculty turnover may have con- Professor of English William normal course — which only re- a GISP, which may deter some stu- While some people believe that
tributed to the decline in awareness Keach, who started teaching here in quires entering a CRN number on dents from proposing one. group independent studies deserve
about GISPs among professors. Sev- 1986, agreed. “The culture at Brown Banner — may also dissuade many While normal classes are “more more support, others think the de-
enty percent of professors who were over the past six or eight years has students from designing their own focused on the product, indepen- creasing number of GISPs is a natu-
at Brown 40 years ago when the New become somewhat more cautious, course. dent study focuses a lot more on the ral consequence of the increasing
Curriculum first began are no longer somewhat more risk-averse,” he To propose a GISP, students must process of learning,” Matuszewski diversity of other opportunities on
teaching, said Arthur Matuszewski said. find a faculty sponsor and submit an said. “Really investing yourself in campus.
’10, GISP/ISP co-coordinator at the Keach, who also has sponsored application that includes a syllabus, independent study requires you to “I think over 200 students per
Curricular Resource Center and several GISPs, said many students bibliography and evaluation plan articulate why what you’re doing year is still a very healthy level, giv-
editor-in-chief of post- magazine. may see GISPs as “not being months before the semester starts. matters.” en this increase in regular courses,”
GISPs are also not as well-known courses.” The College Curriculum Council Bergeron wrote.
among students as they once were. As Brown’s student culture has evaluates the proposal and either ... Too little time Still, others are concerned
Nick Donias ’12, who is developing a shifted, the increasing opportunities accepts or returns it with suggested When faculty members have about the decline in GISPs. The
proposal for a spring GISP on multi- for extracurricular involvement have revisions. The early deadline is to other responsibilities, including re- trend “generally reflects a lack of
culturalism and identity, said he did pushed students to look beyond the allow time for revisions and mirrors search and teaching regular courses, investment of what it means to really
not know the program existed until classroom, possibly lessening stu- the application process for a normal having the time to sponsor a GISP stick to Brown’s ideals and values,”
Associate Dean of Student Life Kisa dent interest in pursuing all possible course, Matuszewski said. can be difficult. Matuszewski said.
Takesue ’88 suggested one as a way curricular avenues. “I think the GISP process overall “I think faculty are busier than “The GISP option used to be seen
for Donias to pursue his interest in “Meaning and purpose used to can look daunting, but it is actually a ever, so it is perhaps harder for as a lot more central to what Brown
cross-cultural issues. really be part of the college cur- really great process to go through,” faculty to be involved,” said Mittle- was,” he said. “And now it’s become
After he sent out e-mails and riculum. Now they’ve been pushed Cohen said. mann, who has declined sponsor- an afterthought.”
Arts & Culture
The Brown Daily Herald
l e t t e r to t h e e d i to r
Louis Putterman
Farmer Brown
having a dismissed HEI worker Professor of Economics On Tuesday, bioethicist Peter Singer delivered a talk production of vast quantities of meat. But this is not
address us. Nov. 5 on the ethics of human-animal relations. He contended an unalloyed good. The overabundance of meat in the
that humanity has unjustly ignored the interests of United States has helped fuel an epidemic of obesity that
animals for the sake of producing meat, and indicted in now affects roughly one in four of our fellow citizens.
particular the modern practice of factory farming, which And the difficulty of tracking and inspecting this huge
crowds huge numbers of animals together in miserable excess as it is transported and mixed into products such
Letters, please!
conditions, fostering virulent diseases and dangerously as ground beef has led to E. coli outbreaks like the one
concentrating enormous quantities of waste. Singer is a that recently killed two people and sickened many more
gifted intellectual provocateur who has taken a number in the northeastern states.
of controversial stands, and we certainly do not endorse To his credit, Singer admits that for all the problems
letters@browndailyherald.com all of his opinions. But we do recommend that Brown with modern production, meat is still an absolutely vital
actively pursue more humane, healthy, small-scale and source of key nutrients for poor and under-nourished
ecologically sound meat production, not only for its own people worldwide; children of all backgrounds rely heav-
consumption, but for that of its peer institutions and ily on meat to provide iron and protein for their growing
omnivores around the world. bodies. This means that the most privileged members of
The scale and techniques of modern meat production the human race have to provide the impetus for reducing
cause enormous suffering that cannot be ignored. For the scale and inhumanity of meat production. Whether
t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d
the sake of increased productive efficiency, factory farms or not you want to admit it, that includes all of us.
Editor-in-Chief Managing Editors Deputy Managing Editors Senior Editors
routinely confine animals for nearly their entire lives in In cooperation with other institutions of higher learn-
Steve DeLucia Michael Bechek Nandini Jayakrishna Rachel Arndt
Chaz Firestone Franklin Kanin Isabel Gottlieb spaces so small they cannot stand or turn around; their ing in the Providence area, Brown can help lead the
Michael Skocpol Scott Lowenstein only release is slaughter. So far, a handful of states have way. In particular, partnership with Johnson and Wales’
editorial Business restricted such practices. culinary college would directly influence choices about
Ben Hyman Arts & Culture Editor General Managers Office Manager
Sophia Li Features Editor Alexander Hughes Shawn Reilly But the case against factory farming and the current the production and use of meat across the country. The
George Miller Metro Editor Jonathan Spector level of meat consumption extends well beyond altru- University can seek local meat sources with verifiably
Joanna Wohlmuth Metro Editor
Seth Motel News Editor
istic concern for animal well-being. These gargantuan healthy, humane and ecologically sustainable practices;
Directors
Jenna Stark News Editor Ellen DaSilva Sales operations concentrate their inhabitants’ excrement in it can also research and promote such techniques. As a
Andrew Braca Sports Editor Claire Kiely Sales huge lagoons that regularly seep or burst, befouling University, we can make sacrifices and take the initiative
Han Cui Asst. Sports Editor Katie Koh Finance
Alex Mazerov Asst. Sports Editor Jilyn Chao Asst. Finance nearby waterways and wrecking livelihoods based on to reduce meat farming and make it more humane and
Katie Wood Asst. Sports Editor Christiana Stephenson Alumni Relations fishing. And through their heavy use of machinery and sustainable. Or we can allow factory farms and other
Graphics & Photos Managers
their vast numbers of animals, factory farms contribute reckless practices to take a staggering moral and eco-
Chris Jesu Lee Graphics Editor Kelly Wess Local Sales
Stephen Lichenstein Graphics Editor Kathy Bui National Sales heavily to the tens of millions of tons of carbon dioxide logical toll on this country.
Kim Perley Photo Editor Alex Carrere University Sales released each year overall by fostering, processing and
Max Monn Asst. Photo Editor Matt Burrows Credit and Collections
Jesse Morgan Sports Photo Editor transporting livestock. Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board.
production Opinions
The usual defense of factory farms is their efficient Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
Ayelet Brinn Copy Desk Chief Alyssa Ratledge Opinions Editor
Opinions Editor
Rachel Isaacs
Marlee Bruning
Copy Desk Chief
Design Editor
Sarah Rosenthal
corrections
Jessica Calihan Design Editor Editorial Page Board
Anna Migliaccio Asst. Design Editor James Shapiro Editorial Page Editor An article in Thursday’s paper (“Buyout plan offered to U. employees,” Nov. 5) contained the information
Julien Ouellet Asst. Design Editor Matt Aks Board member that Brown would pay all but $83 per month of the health-care premiums for employees who take the buyout
Neal Poole Web Editor Nick Bakshi Board member
Post- magazine Zack Beauchamp Board member offer. In fact, the employees would be responsible for the full premium, with $83 contributed by the University
Arthur Matuszewski Editor-in-Chief
Debbie Lehmann Board member each month.
Kelly McKowen Editor-in-Chief
William Martin Board member An article in Thursday’s paper (“UCS votes to increase activities fee by $8,” Nov. 5) incorrectly identified Vice
President for Campus Life and Student Services Margaret Klawunn as the chair of the University Resources
Marlee Bruning, Anna Migliaccio, Nick Sinnott-Armstrong, Katie Wilson, Designers
Committee. Klawunn is not a member of the committee.
Joe Milner, Lindor Qunaj, Copy Editors
A caption on page 1 in Thursday’s paper (accompanying “Filmmaker views Haiti revolution through leader’s
Dan Alexander, Nicole Friedman, Hannah Moser, Night Editors
Senior Staff Writers Dan Alexander, Mitra Anoushiravani, Ellen Cushing, Sydney Ember,
eyes,” Nov. 5) incorrectly identified the man speaking as the filmmaker, Noland Walker. The man pictured in
Lauren Fedor, Nicole Friedman, Brigitta Greene, Sarah Husk, Brian Mastroianni, Hannah the photograph is Professor of Africana Studies Barrymore Bogues.
Moser, Ben Schreckinger, Anne Simons, Anne Speyer, Sara Sunshine, Alex Ulmer, Suzannah
Weiss, Kyla Wilkes
Staff Writers Shara Azad, Emma Berry, Alicia Chen, Zunaira Choudhary, Alicia Dang, C O R R E C T I O N S P olicy
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Robledo, Dana Teppert, Gaurie Tilak, Caitlin Trujillo, Monique Vernon, C ommentary P O L I C Y
Senior Business Associates Max Barrows, Jackie Goldman, Margaret Watson, Ben Xiong The editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily
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Opinions
The Brown Daily Herald
Mission accomplished!
indoor prostitution in Rhode Island since 1976, proved a law allowing individuals in same-sex of government. It is therefore understandable
Tyler and although the General Assembly has met couples to make funeral arrangements for that some issues just could not be consid-
for a total of 198 months during the time this their deceased partners. This legislation was ered during this special session and therefore
Rosenbaum loophole has existed, only very recently have urgently necessary to make legislative lead- needed to be postponed.
Opinions Columnist the pernicious effects of this permissiveness ers seem less callous and heartless in their The main issue that failed the make the
been felt, apparently. steadfast opposition to same-sex marriage or cut was the state’s rapidly worsening fiscal
I, for one, am quite relieved that prostitu- civil unions. condition. Some naysayers might argue that
You may not have noticed, but Rhode Island tion will be criminalized immediately. Rhode Whether anti-gay Gov. Donald Carcieri ’65 last year’s $60 million deficit and this year’s
is a relatively small state. In fact, you can fit Island likely would not have survived had signs the bill or not, the General Assembly and projected $60 million deficit warranted more
almost 2,500 Rhode Islands into the area of it been forced to wait until the next regular its overwhelming Democratic supermajority, attention than allowing Rhode Island motorists
the United States! It also has a relatively small session of the General Assembly commences by bravely tossing this bone to the gay com- to buy license plates that indicate support for
population, as states go. So it may come as no in early January to begin fining and jailing munity, managed to silence perhaps the most the New England Patriots, or permitting bars
surprise that the General Assembly (the state’s prostitutes. heart-wrenching testimony presented in favor to stay open an extra hour (but not to serve
legislature) meets for only half the year. alcohol during that hour).
Normally, the January through June ses- Such naysayers, however, clearly miss the
sion is enough time for the General Assembly point, blindly focusing on Rhode Island’s im-
to get all its business finished. Of course, What use is a solvent state government if, pending bankruptcy at the expense of many
even spending half a year might not be nec- more important issues. What use is a solvent
essary — Florida’s legislature, for example,
for example, intoxicated teens can operate state government if, for example, intoxicated
is constitutionally restricted to meeting only motorboats with impunity? teens can operate motorboats with impunity?
60 days per year. Can you put a price on the immediate incar-
But this year, circumstances were very dif- ceration of women who sell sex in their own
ferent. Clearly, the situation was dire. So dire, homes? I didn’t think so.
in fact, that legislators took the drastic step Another crisis of epic proportions was of marriage equality at the yearly legislative Luckily, Rhode Island lawmakers recog-
of coming back to Providence for an unusual averted when the House of Representatives hearings on that subject. Undoubtedly, had nized the pressing issues facing the state, and
October session. agreed with the Senate’s plan to ask the state’s the bill not been passed at this special ses- they traveled from far and wide to come back
What, specifically, drove our legislators voters whether to change the state’s official sion, legislators might have been forced to into a special session specifically to address
back to Providence for two whole days, with name from “Rhode Island and Providence hear such testimony on the harmful effects them. And though the legislators have already
some having to make the perilous journey Plantations” to simply “Rhode Island.” of their inaction on gay rights again. Truly, left town, the enduring legacy of their brief
from as far as Westerly or Newport? Rhode Cynics might point out that the referendum this was a crisis averted. presence will remain with us for quite some
Island was facing some serious problems, on the straightforward issue will take place Finally, and perhaps most importantly, time. The General Assembly bravely faced
which in the aggregate have created the worst in November 2010, and that therefore the the General Assembly stiffened penalties on the numerous crises confronting the state
crisis the state has faced in decades. House’s action could have waited until Janu- minors operating boats while intoxicated. Un- and prioritized accordingly. All I can say as an
No, I’m not talking about that trivial eco- ary. But they underestimate the importance of questionably, delaying action on this crucial admiring citizen is: mission accomplished!
nomic situation. If you read any of the newspa- planning ahead. Moreover, some voters might measure for two months would have resulted
pers, you’ll discover the biggest threat facing not be appreciative of having only 10 months’ in a catastrophe of epic proportions.
the state; indeed, it was the primary target time to make up their minds on such an issue, Unfortunately, other, less pressing business Tyler Rosenbaum ’11 is dismayed the
of this new session: legal, commercial sex. preferring instead to have a full year. had to be left until January. Legislators are, General Assembly didn’t act to penalize
Yes, although a legal loophole has permitted Additionally, the General Assembly ap- after all, part-time, and do have jobs outside drunken Segway drivers.
A diamond to Sayles Hall’s world-famous organ, which, not unlike the newly crowned World Series
champion Yankees, was born around 1903, fell into disrepair in the 1980s and was restored to glory in the
1990s. Despite those 16-foot pipes, though, it still doesn’t whine as loudly as A-Rod.
Coal to the developer who is proposing to build a $35 million luxury hotel on Brook Street. Beyond
the dissonance between “luxury hotel” and “Brook Street,” we don’t see why more expensive hospitality
is needed when Bagel Gourmet is already charging $9 for Mexican food.
A diamond to bioethicist Peter Singer for sharing an anecdote about how he first became interested
in animal rights when he saw a friend choose a salad over a dish with meat. A lot of Brown students get
where your friend was coming from — though it sometimes has less to do with vegetarianism and more to
do with the fact that those “chopped sirloin patties with onion sauce” look like dirty socks.
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald
Providence was aglow Thursday afternoon, as sunsets creep earlier.
A cubic zirconium to a state senator’s proposal to consolidate all of Rhode Island’s cities and towns.
We’re not big fans of such a concentration of power — but it’s probably true that all of Central Falls’ one
c a l e n da r square mile could fit snugly into the wine cellar of a Newport mansion.
Today, november 6 saturday, november 7 A diamond to the Food Network for featuring our fine University on not one but two shows this week.
Now that the cable TV floodgates have opened, maybe the Discovery Channel will cancel on the Alaskan
7 pm — MEZCLA “On a Boat,” 7 PM — Rangeela! with Badmaash tundra and come here to film “Man vs. Wild: The Friedman Center in February When the Heat is Off.”
Salomon 101 Dance Company, Andrews Dining
Hall Coal to the visiting performer whose avant-garde play “An Oak Tree” involves a second actor who has
8 pm — Brown University Chorus not seen the script beforehand. We get it — watching people flounder is fun. But for real entertainment,
Concert, Sayles Hall 8 pm — Brown New Music Presents: you could just watch the second-semester orgo kids get their midterms back next week.
Cage Match, Grant Recital Hall
A cubic zirconium to the new Thayer Street restaurant Better Burger Company. Your establishment
sounds good — or at least, as you say, “better” — but if you don’t serve barbeque tortellini pizza or Mexican
menu Philly cheesesteaks with frozen yogurt, you probably won’t last long around here.
Sharpe Refectory Verney-Woolley Dining Hall A wistful diamond to Wednesday’s farmer’s market on Wriston — the last of the season — and those
delicious harvest vegetables. It was gourd while it lasted.
Lunch — Hot Pastrami Sandwich, Lunch — Chicken Fingers, Rice
Vegan Vegetable Couscous, French Pilaf with Zucchini, Baked Vegan comics
Green Beans with Tomatoes Nuggets
Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline
Dinner — Cajun Baked Fish, Dinner — Paella with Mussels,
Vegan Stir Fried Noodles with Tofu, Baked Macaroni and Cheese,
Rice Pilaf Spinach-Stuffed Tomatoes
crossword