Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxlv, no. 15 | Tuesday, February 16, 2010 | Serving the community daily since 1891
URC proposes stipend
increase for grad students
By Sarah Mancone
Senior Staff Writer
The University Resources Committee
has recommended increasing graduate
student stipends — a change spurred
in part by Brown’s need to be more
competitive in attracting graduate
students, said Professor of Physics
Chung-I Tan, chair of the Faculty Ex-
ecutive Committee.
The recommendation suggested
a $500 increase, which, if approved
by the Corporation when it convenes
later this month, would be “the first
increase in the stipend for doctoral
students since the 2007-08 academic
year,” Dean of the Graduate School
Sheila Bonde wrote in an e-mail to
The Herald.
Brown currently offers an academ-
Photo exhibit
sheds light on
Syria and Iraq
By Sarah Mancone
Senior Staff Writer
Westerners often have a limited view
of the Middle East, but the photo-
graphs of the exhibit “Tomorrow,
God Willing” by Emma LeBlanc ’11
provide insight into parts of Iraq and
Syria that are seldom seen outside
their borders.
ARTS & CULTURE
LeBlanc originally took a leave of
absence from Brown to study Arabic
in Damascus, Syria, which she had
also done the previous summer, she
said.
“I got to the highest level of Ara-
bic,” LeBlanc said, “but didn’t want
to go back to Brown yet.”
Because of her continuing interest
in the culture and language of Syria,
LeBlanc began volunteering at the
Dar al Karama — the Arabic phrase
for House of Dignity — which is “a
home for the old-aged, mentally and
physically handicapped, and those
seeking refuge from abuse, addic-
tion or poverty,” according to a photo
caption in the exhibit.
“I finished the Arabic program
offered at the University of Damascus
and was looking for something else
to do,” LeBlanc said, “which is how
I ended up at the asylum.”
“The physical conditions of the
place are really shocking at first,”
she said. “My first impressions were
really negative.”
continued on page 3
inside
News.....1–3
Metro......4–5
Editorial....6
Opinion....7
Today........8
www.browndailyherald.com
ic year stipend of $19,000 for doctoral
students, according to Bonde. Brown
offers a stipend “lower than the peer
institutions” it competes with, Tan
said.
“The recommended increase,
based on the cost of living in Provi-
dence, will allow the Graduate School
to remain competitive with peer institu-
tions in attracting and matriculating
top-notch students,” Bonde wrote. “We
list the stipend amount in the offer
letters for doctoral programs.”
“Graduate student stipends are one
of the factors that are compared when
people are ranking and comparing
graduate schools,” Stephen Wicken
GS wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.
“An extra few hundred dollars per stu-
continued on page 3
Rep. Kennedy not to seek reelection to Congress
By Claire Peracchio
Senior Staff Writer
The news that Rep. Patrick Kennedy
will not be seeking reelection offers
has upended the race for the First
Congressional District House seat
and prompted two high-profile Demo-
crats to enter the contest.
“Now having spent two decades in
politics, my life is taking a new direc-
tion, and I will not be a candidate for
Paige Hicks ’11 (right) at Salvador Dali’s home in Port Lligat, Spain.
Hicks spent the fall semester in Barcelona.
News, 2 Metro, 4
Whiz kids getting funky in R.I.
Brown students and A Providence dance crew
professors win hundreds of tests the limits of hip-hop
thousands for research dancing
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
R elay R eady
Relay For Life teams met last night to prepare for Brown’s April 9-10 event to support cancer research and
services.
reelection this year,” Kennedy said
in a video released to the media last
He also vowed to continue work-
ing on behalf of those suffering from
Thursday. mental health issues, a fight that was
one of his signature priorities in the
METRO House of Representatives.
Kennedy’s decision to retire was
In the video, the eight-term in- not last minute and was disclosed
cumbent cited the influence of his to members of his inner circle in
father, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, December, according to Associate
in shaping his views on public service Professor of Political Science and
and thanked the people of Rhode Public Policy Wendy Schiller.
Island for their support. “I think he was always going to
After studying abroad,
readjustment difficult for some
By Anne Simons
Staff Writer
Every year approximately one-third
of the junior class spends a semester
abroad — attending a foreign univer-
sity, exploring a foreign country and
adapting to a foreign culture. But by
the time they return to Brown, it may
have begun to feel foreign too.
Re-entry shock, the “reaccultura-
FEATURE
tion” process that occurs when stu-
dents return home from a sojourn
abroad, is a real phenomenon, ac-
cording to the Office of International
Programs. Departing students re-
ceive information about it, includ-
ing research and graphs charting
students’ moods during the process
of leaving and returning from study
abroad, said Ned Quigley, associate
Courtesy of Paige Hicks director of the office.
Paige Hicks ’11, who just re-
turned from a semester in Barcelona,
Opinions, 7
Bye bye goldman
Simon Liebling ‘12 writes why
Brown should stay away from
Wall Street
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald
win,” said Schiller, who attributed
Kennedy’s retirement to fatigue and
the belief that he could pursue his
objectives in public service outside
of Congress.
Democrats Mayor David Cicilline
’83 and Bill Lynch, chairman of the
Rhode Island Democratic Party, en-
tered the fray for their party’s nomi-
nation last Saturday. They joined state
continued on page 4
said the OIP warned her departing
group about re-entry shock, but they
joked about it. She said when she
first heard the term, she thinks she
made a “that’s what she said” joke
about it.
Hicks was more anxious about
getting used to life in Spain and
expected things to be the same
back home, she said. The different
academic environment and cultural
lifestyle have been hard to shake,
she said. She still has not gotten re-
accustomed to having to eat dinner
by 7:30 p.m.
For Evie Fowler ’11, who was
also in Barcelona this fall, re-entry
shock was “just as bad as the culture
shock when you get there.” She is
now always late and “can’t handle
the Ratty,” she added.
But Nina Lauro ’11, who spent the
fall in Rome said she expected more
re-entry shock than she has experi-
enced. “Home was just the same as
continued on page 2
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Students readjust to life at Brown after study abroad
continued from page 1
it had ever been.” But coming back
to Brown was “weird,” as was see-
ing the changes that had occurred
in one semester, she said. In her
Tae Kwon Do club, there were new
members who felt established and
viewed her as the new person.
As she got used to being away
from home, Fowler said she began
“realizing a lot of stuff” about her-
self.
Students may simply feel like
different people when they return,
OIP Director Kendall Brostuen
said. While abroad, they have been
“growing personally in a way that
would be very, very difficult to du-
plicate on campus.” They now see
the world through different eyes,
he added.
Allison Schneider ’10, who spent
last spring in Buenos Aires, Argen-
tina, said she got in touch with a
different part of herself during her
semester away, and that it was dif-
ficult to integrate her study abroad
side and her Brown side. After a
semester free from extracurricular
commitment, she said she struggled
to put in as much time as she had
before she went abroad. She had to
find a “balance” between “involve-
ment and isolation,” she said.
Schneider’s experience with re-
entry shock moved her to work as
a peer advisor at the OIP, she said,
adding that it allows her to share
her experience with people who
understand it.
These growing experiences can
strain old friendships. Hicks said
she tries hard to avoid over-sharing
her stories from abroad with friends
who did not go abroad so they don’t
get sick of it.
The other returners agreed
— Lauro said she is “glad to be
able to share (her) feelings with
other people who were abroad,”
who understand what she’s going
through.
Schneider said she had to real-
ize that she doesn’t need to share
her experience abroad with her
old friends because they still share
Brown. Even though she does not
feel as at home at Brown as she
used to, she said she has learned
not to feel guilty or frustrated about
that.
Even if re-entry is not a com-
fortable process, it demonstrates
that a student is not in the same
place he or she was before, Bros-
tuen said. It is “an indication that
something positive has happened,”
he added.
Students who really struggle
psychologically and emotionally
with returning to Brown can speak
to a dean, someone in the OIP or
Psychological Services, Brostuen
said, though he added there are
usually not many people who reach
that point.
The OIP also works to help stu-
dents integrate their study abroad
experiences with their life at Brown
through collaborations with the
Watson Institute for International
Studies, the Swearer Center for
Public Service and the Career De-
velopment Center, Quigley said.
These events can help show stu-
dents how to use their time abroad
to enhance their job and graduate
school searches, as well as their re-
maining time at Brown, he added.
Students studying abroad gener-
ally take time to learn their new city
and its culture, creating an intense
bond. Fowler said four months
abroad is definitely enough time
that it can feel weird to come back.
Her re-entr y shock experience
could “easily” be a combination of
the usual reacculturation as well as
her lingering love for Barcelona,
she said. While she still loves Provi-
dence, it “feels a lot smaller,” she
said. People can “outgrow” a city.
Lauro said she treated getting to
know Rome like an extracurricular
activity, a goal aided by the fact that
her architectural history classes
were usually spent walking around
the city. She said she is coming to
terms with the fact that she is not
there anymore, although she added
that she would love to return.
Hicks said her time abroad made
her see herself living abroad in the
future. While she said she valued
her semester, by the end she was
ready to return home.
Research teams awarded
over $1 mil. in grants
By Rebecca Ballhaus
Contributing Writer
Last Wednesday, the Rhode Island
Science and Technology Adviso-
r y Council awarded state-funded
grants totaling over $1 million to
six research teams, each with an
affiliation to Brown, according to
the Providence Business News.
Christine Smith, the council’s
innovation program manager, said
that of the 38 proposals reviewed
for the grants, about half included
a Brown representative as a pri-
mar y proposer. “It just gives you
an idea of the level of research
activity that’s being conducted at
Brown,” she said. “It’s representa-
tive of the environment.”
The projects included research
of an anti-cancer drug found in tur-
meric, a spice used in Indian curry,
and the development of an instru-
ment allowing three-dimensional
vision of the bladder that would
allow urologists to detect bladder
cancer in its earliest stages, ac-
cording to the grant-winners.
Associate Professor of Engi-
neering and Computer Science
Gabriel Taubin is researching the
3-D camera with George Haleblian
and Gyan Pareek of the Rhode Is-
land Hospital and Jason Harr y of
Lucidux Corporation. The team
was awarded $199,895, according
to the Business News.
“We are ver y excited because
this (grant) will give us the re-
sources to work on this problem,”
he said. “As we make progress
within six months or so, we will
be able to make the project bigger
and get more funding and eventu-
ally commissioning.”
Smith said this is precisely what
the grant is intended to do. “Its
purpose is to provide funding at a
catalytic stage of a group’s work so
that we can give them a jump-start
until they apply for federal fund-
ing or commercialize the product,”
she said.
Wayne Bowen, chair of the De-
partment of Molecular Pharmacolo-
gy, Physiology, and Biotechnology,
is researching the anti-cancerous
qualities of turmeric with James
Jacob of Organomed Corporation,
a life sciences research company.
The pair was awarded $200,000,
according to the Business News.
“The spice has been shown to
have lots of medicinal value and
has been used for many years in
Indian medicine,” Bowen said. Cur-
cumin is an “active component” in
the spice’s effect on cancer cells,
but it is scarce in nature, he said.
“Our goal is to determine whether
there are other bio-available com-
pounds that have anti-cancer ac-
tivity.”
He added that the council’s
grant will create many jobs for
chemists at Organomed.
Providing jobs and aiding the
economy are also an impor tant
goal of the grants, Smith said. After
the proposals go through a peer
review process by a scientist in the
field, and are evaluated for their
“intellectual merits and broader
impacts,” they are also reviewed
for their economic impact by coun-
continued on page 5

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Tuesday, February 16, 2010
C ampus N EWS
U. shows devotion to Grad School through stipend increase
continued from page 1
dent might just make the difference in
taking Brown up a position or attract-
ing an extra talented student or two.”
There is a lot of “competitive pres-
sure,” said Peter Weber, professor of
chemistry and the department’s chair.
The goal is to “attract who we want to
attract,” he added.
But competition with other insti-
tutions is not the only driving force
behind the stipend increase.
“Enhancing the Graduate School is
an integral part to enhancing Brown,”
Tan said.
Furthermore, making Brown more
attractive to graduate students helps to
“strengthen its standing as a research
institution,” said Jadrian Miles ’08 GS,
a doctoral candidate in computer sci-
ence.
Graduate students are “an impor-
tant part of Brown’s intellectual com-
munity, contributing to the research
of our faculty, advancing knowledge
through their own scholarship, and
developing their teaching skills,”
Bonde wrote.
This change comes as a pleasant
surprise to graduate students, Miles
said. “Graduate students get over-
looked in a lot of plans on the Univer-
sity level,” he said.
The increase shows that the Uni-
versity is “taking graduate students
seriously even in the current budget-
ary situation,” he said.
“It’s important that the University
is signaling support for the Graduate
School even in tough economic times,”
Bethany Ehlmann ’08 GS, a doctoral
candidate in geological sciences, wrote
in an e-mail to The Herald.
The stipends themselves vary from
department to department, Tan said,
though Weber said there is a “Univer-
sity rate set by the Dean of the Gradu-
ate School.”
But the disparity between depart-
ments is noticeable.
The University Resources Committee recommended a $500 increase in
graduate student stipends.
“As a graduate student in the math
department, I would welcome any in-
crease in the grad student stipend,
though I don’t see it as strictly nec-
essary,” Diana Davis GS wrote in an
e-mail to The Herald. “My stipend is
already quite sufficient for my living
expenses, and I am able to save money
each month.”
But not all graduate students rely
on University stipends — in fact, the
majority are “not supported by the
University,” Weber said. Many are sup-
ported by faculty members’ grants, he
said, and if the University’s stipends
for graduate students are higher, the
amount of funding students receive
through professors’ grants likely will
have to adjust accordingly.
But the effect on faculty is not only
financial, because giving more attrac-
tive stipends and having a greater num-
ber of qualified graduate students “puts
less pressure on faculty for research
assistantships,” Miles said.
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
“Graduate students get overlooked in a lot of plans
on the University level.” —Jadrian Miles ’08 GS
Herald file photo
It also provides more teaching
assistants for undergraduates, Miles
said, which helps both students and
faculty.
Graduate students are stretched
very thin, Wicken wrote. “The hap-
pier, better paid and less stressed the
graduate students are, the better the
teaching undergraduates receive.”
Grad students have to focus on
their own classes, research and writ-
ing, Wicken wrote. “If they have to do
extra jobs to top up their grad school
stipends, it’s going to be their TAing
commitments that receive less atten-
tion.”
“Most graduate students are se-
verely strapped for cash,” Wicken
wrote, “and many of them have fami-
lies to feed.”
Overall, any more money in your
pocket is nice to have, Miles said.
It is good to “see progress happen-
ing,” Miles said, “and I hope that it will
continue down the line.”
Student’s photos tell ‘story you
can’t see in black and white’
continued from page 1
But after first glance, LeBlanc
realized the asylum was “a lot
more complex” than she originally
thought, she said.
“People are very happy there,”
she added. “You’ve got friends.
You’ve got respect. You’ve got dig-
nity.”
“I heard all these amazing sto-
ries,” LeBlanc said, which then
inspired her to write about and
photograph the asylum and its
residents.
Each image of the House of Dig-
nity, originally developed in color, is
entirely black and white. “I wanted
to sort of simplify the House of Dig-
nity,” LeBlanc said, so the pictures
are “focusing on the people.”
The lack of color is meant to
be ironic as well, LeBlanc said, be-
cause the photographs tell “a story
you can’t see in black and white.”
The exhibit also features por-
traits of members of Iraqi Awak-
ening Council, which consist of
Sunni tribe members that fought
alongside al-Qaida until they grew
disillusioned and switched sides in
2005. With help from the U.S., they
killed Islamic extremists through-
out the province of Anbar.
LeBlanc came in contact with the
council when a friend approached
her in Damascus with an invita-
tion to go to Iraq and photograph
them.
“It was pretty overwhelming at
first,” LeBlanc said of photograph-
ing the council members. “I didn’t
know what I was getting myself
into.”
LeBlanc said there was obvi-
ously “a lot of energy” in the council
members she met. “People were
unsure how things would go.”
These experiences with the
Page 3
council taught LeBlanc a great
deal and gave her an opportunity
to “learn something concrete about
Iraq,” she said.
LeBlanc added that she was able
“to learn the processes, not just the
results” of the events she had seen
on the news.
Before becoming close to the
council’s tribal fighters, Americans
tend to give them “no identity” and
“don’t see them as people,” LeB-
lanc said, which is why the exhibit
includes a large wall completely
covered with portraits of members
of the council.
“These are people,” she said.
“They want what’s best for them
and what’s best for their country,”
but at the same time they are “all
totally different.”
The pictures of the council, un-
like those of the House of Dignity,
remained in color.
“The colors felt really soft,”
LeBlanc said. “I didn’t feel that
the colors were taking away from
anything.”
She said she “wanted you to feel
like you were actually there” and
“face-to-face” with the people on
the wall.
This is not the end of LeBlanc’s
experiences with the House of Dig-
nity and the council. She is current-
ly writing a book of her experiences
in the House of Dignity. “It will be
mostly oral histories,” LeBlanc said,
“the stories of the people there.”
LeBlanc said she now lives in
Syria while she’s not at Brown and
will continue to volunteer at the
House of Dignity about once every
two weeks when she’s in Syria.
LeBlanc will likely be taking an-
other leave of absence from Brown
in order to continue pursuing photo-
journalism in Iraq, where she hopes
to return by the fall.
Metro
The Brown Daily Herald
R.I. dance crew steps up Mayor Cicilline ’83
By Caitlin Trujillo
Senior Staff Writer
Nicki Minaj’s “I Get Crazy” blares
in the studio as the dancers watch
themselves in the mirrors. One
will stomp and dip his head, and
the others will mimic. They pause
to tell each other what they think
they should do, each demonstrating
specific moves.
“We’re all choreographers,” Kel-
vin Fabian, one of the members of
Rhode Island’s DraZtik dance crew,
said. “It’s not just one person. That’s
what’s unique about us.”
The crew uses the studio at the
High Steppin’ Dance Academy —
located on the second floor of a
commercial Johnston, R.I. property
— as its workshop space.
Typically, they meet two or
three times a week to practice and
choreograph their own dance rou-
tines.
But there was nothing typical
about the weeks leading up to DraZ-
tik’s audition for a spot on MTV’s
“America’s Best Dance Crew,”
“It seems to me that Rhode Islanders are ready for change, and I don’t
see anybody that represents real change.” — Mayor David Cicilline ’83
when they met to practice daily.
Their performance on the show —
where they competed against other
teams from the East Coast — was a
remarkable feat despite their elimi-
nation at the regional level.
Not that success was a surprise
for the team. DraZtik will cel-
ebrate their one-year anniversary
in March, but they are all veteran
dancers — some members have
been dancing since childhood.
They bring to the table many dif-
ferent dance styles — raw hip hop,
pop flair — which they creatively
combine, “with a swish of DraZtik
attitude to top it all off,” member
Marvin Horsley said.
They have competed in contests
as a team and performed a Michael
Jackson tribute dance last year at
a Dominican heritage festival in
Rhode Island, dedicating the perfor-
mance to a cancer-stricken boy.
When the opportunity present-
ed itself, they knew they needed to
make “America’s Best Dance Crew”
their next goal.
“I knew we could do it because
we have people who are dedicated
and into the dream,” member Gen-
esis Camacho said.
They wanted to test themselves,
but they also felt compelled to put
Rhode Island on the map. Street
dancing is popular in the state,
member Christine Torres said,
“but the scene is so small.”
The seven-person crew audi-
tioned in Boston on Dec. 11. Nor-
mally, the dance team has eight
members, but because “America’s
Best Dance Crew” limits the squads
to seven, member Sheila Henriquez
stayed behind. The two days of au-
ditions exhausted the crew, they
said. On the first day, they pre-
sented their own dance mix to the
judges. The second day consisted of
a challenge in which the crew had
to formulate a routine incorporating
a random prop — in DraZtik’s case,
two ladders.
It was an intense two days, but
they are two days the crew remem-
bers fondly.
“It was all worth it,” Fabian said.
“Obviously it was worth it because
we made it.”
DraZtik made it through the au-
dition stage and onto the show in
Los Angeles, where they competed
continued on page 5
Tuesday, February 16, 2010 | Page 4
seeks Congress seat
continued from page 1
Rep. John Loughlin, R-Dist. 71, the Re-
publican challenger who announced
his candidacy earlier in February.
Other names that have been
floated as possible candidates on the
Democratic side include state Rep.
Jon Brien, D-Dist. 50, and Lt. Gov.
Elizabeth Roberts, Schiller said. Brien
announced Thursday evening that he
was forming an “exploratory commit-
tee” to assess the implications of a run
for Congress.
Roberts stated that she is con-
sidering running and will make a
definitive announcement in the next
couple days, Michael Tanaka, Roberts’
spokesperson, said.
For Cicilline, the choice to run for
Congress was based on his perception
of a “dangerous disconnect” between
Washington and the people of Rhode
Island, he told The Herald.
Cicilline credited his experience
as mayor with showing him that there
is “no more urgent time than now” to
find “real solutions” to the problems
faced by middle-class Americans.
He cited achievements in advancing
education reform, improving public
safety, attracting new business, and
building a “knowledge economy” as
evidence of a commitment to solving
problems.
To Loughlin, however, the Demo-
cratic contenders currently vying for
Kennedy’s seat are “establishment
candidates” who represent “the Demo-
cratic machine.”
“It seems to me that Rhode Island-
ers are ready for change, and I don’t
see anybody that represents real
change,” he said.
Loughlin linked Rhode Island’s
economic woes, which include high
unemployment and record foreclo-
sures, to the legacy of Democratic
rule both in Congress and the state’s
General Assembly, and said he, unlike
his opponents, is “ready to stand up
to Congress.”
While Rhode Island voters “tend
towards the Democratic party,” the dif-
ficult political climate for Democrats in
the state and across the country can
be traced to a weak economy and the
tendency for the party of the White
House to lose seats in a midterm con-
gressional election, Schiller said.
As for predictions on the outcome
of the race, Schiller offered a wait-and-
see attitude and said the challenge left
to candidates is to “sell themselves as
far as what they can accomplish as
congressmen.”
Page 5
M etro
Local dance crew
competes in MTV show
continued from page 4
in the East Coast regionals. They
performed the dance routine from
their audition with a remastered mix,
with adjustments based on the audi-
tion judges’ critiques.
Then, finding themselves among
the bottom three teams in the re-
gional, DraZtik was forced to enter
the battle rounds. In that part of the
competition, they needed to make up
three different routines for the three
different rounds, though they would
only end up performing one of the
dances. Horsley called the dance
they performed an aggressive, “in
your face” piece.
Not that DraZtik’s performance
attitude reflected their relationships
with other dance crews behind the
scenes. DraZtik and the other teams
fed off of each other’s energy, be-
cause of both the competition and
the camaraderie that developed
among the squads.
DraZtik members said Legend-
ary Seven, a squad from Boston and
the other team eliminated from the
East Coast regionals, was constantly
making them laugh. The two squads
still keep in touch.
There was enough time between
their elimination and the show’s air-
ing on Feb. 4 for DraZtik to fly back
to Rhode Island and watch the epi-
sode with their friends, family and
fans — including Henriquez, who
said she was extremely proud of her
teammates.
“I cried the night before, I cried
the nights of and after,” she said,
adding she only wished she could
have joined them in Los Angeles.
Her teammates assure her she was
with them in spirit.
DraZtik’s members said they
wish they could snap their fingers
and be back in Los Angeles, com-
peting for the top prize. But they
refuse to be disappointed. They have
upcoming performances at local uni-
versities and high schools, includ-
ing Bryant University and Classical
High School. They have bonded with
other dance teams and kept in touch
with them. They have gained several
new Facebook friends, both on their
own profiles and the team’s page.
They have met the “good people”
of MTV, taught their skills to other
dancers at the Academy, and expe-
rienced “the realization that people
support us,” Horsley said.
And they have vowed to return.
DraZtik will audition again when sea-
son six rolls around, they said. They
want to continue dancing and think
they have something unique to offer
in terms of personality and style.
They want to improve and do better
next year, with the goal of winning it
all. For this — and because they love
what they do — DraZtik continues
to put their name out there.
“Every day you dance, you grow,”
Horsley said. “Period.”
The members of DraZtik are
Genesis Camacho, Gabby Cruz,
Kelvin Fabian, Sheila Henriquez,
Marvin Horsley, Josh Perez, Jared
Rivers and Christine Torres.
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
— Marvin Horsley, member of DraZtik dance crew
Stimulus grant helps unemployed build futures
BY Shara Azad
Staff Writer
As a part of an effort to combat na-
tional unemployment and to rein-
vigorate the economy, the federal
government has recently awarded
the Providence-based Building Fu-
tures program with a $3.72 million
federal stimulus grant.
Building Futures was established
in 2007 as an offshoot of the Provi-
dence Plan, which according to its
Web site, is a broader initiative that
addresses the underlying causes
of Providence’s high poverty rate
and general urban decline. Build-
ing Futures targets unemployment
specifically by offering courses on
construction-related subjects such
as welding and laying pipe, so that
people may in turn find specialized
jobs requiring those skills, according
to Andrew Cortes, director of Build-
ing Futures. The program goes one
step farther after graduation by of-
Science grants support
job development in R.I.
continued from page 2
cil members who are “active in
the academic and business com-
munity,” Smith explained.
“The proposals that are award-
ed grants represent the best of
science as well as the strongest
proposals for the purpose of the
grant, which is to improve eco-
nomic development in Rhode
Island,” Smith said.
“Every day you dance, you grow.”
fering apprenticeships with 28 local
companies in construction-related
fields that have formed partnerships
with the organization.
The apprenticeships generally
provide half the salary of a full-time
job, with the possibility of becom-
ing a full or “journey-level worker”
dependent on job performance, ac-
cording to Cortes. The money will
provide new resources and tools for
the students in the program, and
enable the organization to accept
100 new workers, he said.
Cortes said the stimulus money
will be used specifically to expand
classes in what he called “the green
curriculum,” which often lead to jobs
in industries such as renewable en-
ergy.
Marlo Jackson, a recent gradu-
ate of the program who is currently
employed by Building Futures while
he prepares for the exam required to
enter the piping industry, was quick
to praise the program. “Before Build-
With the state’s current fiscal
situation, Smith said the state
gover nment has considered
cutting the council’s funding
by $200,000. “We’re hopeful
that won’t happen,” Smith said.
“There’s a lot of support for this
program and a really great need
to do economic development
across a continuum. We need
programs that help people right
now but also for the future.”
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
ing Futures, I wasn’t doing much of
anything else,” he said. “Stick with
(Building Futures) and it will change
your life.”
Sriniketh Nagavarapu, assistant
professor of economics and environ-
mental studies wrote in an e-mail to
The Herald that the effect Building
Futures has on the unemployment
rate will depend on a “variety of fac-
tors.”
“A program like this could very
well decrease the unemployment
rate, and the emphasis on labor-
market attachment — through the
apprenticeship program — could
aid in that goal,” he wrote. “But how
strong is the demand for these types
of workers in the local economy or
in neighboring states?”
As the program expands, the
future will tell if the program will
build futures as well as Jackson
claimed.
“The name speaks for itself,” he
said.
Want to see
your words in
our pages?
Herald new
writer training
Tonight
8 p.m.
195 Angell St.
Editorial & Letters
The Brown Daily Herald

Page 6 | Tuesday, February 16, 2010

l e t t e r to t h e e d i to r

Employee buyout not

actually ‘popular’
To the Editor: age, decided to take it. But the way
I see it, the word appears to have
I was saddened to read The Her- been chosen primarily based on
ald’s article “Early retirement popu- Beppie Huidekoper’s statement,
lar choice for longtime staff” (Feb. quoted in the report: “The individu-
15). What upset me was not the als who chose to take it are really
news of the buyout — I had known quite pleased.” I’m disappointed by
about it for months and had come the fact that The Herald didn’t try
to accept it as somewhat inevitable hard enough to find out how those
— but rather the way in which the individuals actually felt before decid-
title of the article misrepresented ing the early retirement package
the buyout as “popular.” was, in fact, regarded with approval
From what I know, many staff by those who took it.
members chose to retire this year I realize that O’Hara was inter-
because they were told that if they viewed to give voice to those who
chose to come back they would re- took the package, but he is only erik stayton and evan donahue
ceive no severance package. Forced one of the 139 people. There are
to choose between two undesir- 138 other people you could have
able options, staff members took also contacted who probably would e d i to r i a l
whichever they decided was less have been glad to tell you how much
painful. Such details are nowhere
to be found in the article or in the
they loved this place and how they
wished to stay a little longer, lon-
Don and taxes
interview with Phil O’Hara (“SAO ger than just one more year. Many The state government is almost certainly in for a struggle imposed on corporations and franchises; currently, even
Director O’Hara ’55 to take early of them, like O’Hara, might have over the budget that Governor Donald Carcieri ’65 recently enterprises that don’t turn a profit must pay $500 to the
retirement,” Feb. 15). told you that they felt “blessed” submitted to the General Assembly. To help close a deficit state each year. Lightening this load would be especially
I understand that the Univer- they were at least offered the early of $427 million for the coming fiscal year, the governor helpful for entrepreneurial newcomers, who will be an
sity needs to downsize in order to retirement package. But not many proposes new and increased fees alongside drastic cuts in important part of any real recovery. This modest approach
survive this economic downturn, of them would have told you they local services and state worker pensions. And to address to reducing the state’s heavy corporate taxes is also a
but I can’t accept the fact that The were “quite pleased” with the situa- a statewide unemployment rate of nearly 13 percent, he welcome shift on Carcieri’s part: Last year, he proposed
Herald chose to portray the buyout tion. From the looks of the interview recommends tax credits for new hires and a reduction in phasing out the entire corporate tax, which would have cut
as “popular” among staff members. with O’Hara, even he doesn’t seem the minimum tax rate for corporations. into state revenue without commensurately stimulating
Perhaps the word was chosen be- pleased with this tragedy. Ultimately, Rhode Island’s situation is miserable Rhode Island’s economy. The Assembly rightly shot down
cause 139 members of the Brown enough that everyone involved in the negotiations over that proposal, but they should accept the halving of the
community, over 50 percent of the Chris Suh ’10 the budget will have many bitter pills to swallow. The minimum rate now and consider scaling back corporate
people who were offered the pack- Feb. 15 government-friendly Democratic supermajority in the taxes at all brackets once the budget crisis has receded.
Assembly should recognize that Carcieri’s proposed tax Carcieri should also give ground. After years of exces-
breaks are crucial for revitalizing the state’s economy. sive spending and in the midst of a severe fiduciary crunch,
And the governor himself should acknowledge that some steep budget cuts are in order. But the government can
tax increases, carefully targeted to minimize economic reduce the pain of this adjustment without mortgaging
disruption, may be necessary to avoid excessively scaling Rhode Island’s future economic well-being. For example,
t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d back Rhode Island’s public services. by freezing the rate of the flat tax — an alternative assess-
Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Deputy Managing Editors Senior Editors Without a kick to its economy, Rhode Island will face ment attractive to some high earners — at its 2009 level,
George Miller Chaz Kelsh Sophia Li Ellen Cushing similar public crises in years to come. If enacted, Carcieri’s the state could bring in nearly $18 million in additional
Seth Motel
Emmy Liss
Joanna Wohlmuth
well-tailored plan to grant small businesses $2,000 in tax revenue. Most of the affected taxpayers would feel only a
Business
relief for each new hire would almost certainly provide marginal pinch, not enough to prompt them to reduce their
editorial General Managers Office Manager a significant long-term boost to both the private and the participation in the state economy. Two of the contenders
Anne Speyer Arts & Culture Editor Claire Kiely Shawn Reilly
Suzannah Weiss Arts & Culture Editor public sector. The state Office of Revenue Analysis esti- to succeed Carcieri — Independent Lincoln Chafee ’75
Katie Koh
Brian Mastroianni Features Editor mates that the proposal would allow for nearly 1,000 jobs and Democrat Frank Caprio — have already endorsed
Directors
Hannah Moser Features Editor
Kelly Wess Sales that otherwise would not have existed and accelerate the this measure, but the governor remains opposed. For the
Brigitta Greene Metro Editor
Matthew Burrows Finance
Ben Schreckinger Metro Editor creation of 5,000 more, at a cost of roughly $15 million sake of the thousands of state residents and employees
Margaret Watson Client Relations
Sydney Ember News Editor
Christiana Stephenson Alumni Relations over the next two fiscal years. It now falls to the Assem- his cuts may unnecessarily hurt, he should reevaluate
Nicole Friedman News Editor
Dan Alexander Sports Editor Managers
bly to verify that the calculations used to produce these this stance. With almost 74,000 Rhode Islanders out of a
Andrew Braca Asst. Sports Editor Arjun Vaidya Local Sales figures were sound. If so, the credits merit inclusion in job, their elected representatives shouldn’t consider bent
Han Cui Asst. Sports Editor Marco deLeon National Sales the final budget legislation. If not, the Assembly should principles much of a burden.
Graphics & Photos Aditi Bhatia University Sales
Stephen Lichenstein Graphics Editor Jared Davis University Sales work with the governor to salvage the proposal rather
Alex Yuly Graphics Editor Trenten Nelson-Rivers Recruiter Sales than hastily scrapping it. Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board.
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong Photo Editor Alexander Carrere Special Projects
Max Monn Asst. Photo Editor Kathy Bui Staff
Carcieri also hopes to halve the minimum tax rate Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
Jonathan Bateman Sports Photo Editor
Opinions
production Michael Fitzpatrick Opinions Editor corrections
Kelly Mallahan Copy Desk Chief Alyssa Ratledge Opinions Editor
Jordan Mainzer Asst. Copy Desk Chief
Marlee Bruning Design Editor Editorial Page Board
An article in Monday’s Herald (“Early retirement popular choice for longtime staff,” Feb. 15) incorrectly stated
Anna Migliaccio Asst. Design Editor Matt Aks Editorial Page Editor that departments must submit requests to fill vacancies to the Organizational Review Committee. In fact, they must
Julien Ouellet Asst. Design Editor Debbie Lehmann Board member
Neal Poole Web Editor
submit requests to the Vacancy Review Committee.
William Martin Board member
Melissa Shube Board member
Post- magazine Gaurie Tilak Board member Due to an editing error, an article in Monday’s Herald (“Death of Schaefer ’13 devastates community,” Feb. 15)
Marshall Katheder Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Topaz Board member
incorrectly described Troy Shapiro ’10 as one of the planners of a benefit party for Haiti organized by Avi Schaefer
Anna Migliaccio, Designer ’13. In fact, Shapiro was not directly involved in planning the event, though Schaefer solicited his advice during the
Claire Gianotti, Abigail Kersen, Jordan Mainzer, Carolina Veltri, Copy Editors planning process, according to Shapiro. The Herald regrets the errors.
Max Godnick, Kate Monks, Ben Schreckinger, Night Editors
Senior Staff Writers Ana Alvarez, Alexander Bell, Alicia Chen, Max Godnick, Talia Kagan, C O R R E C T I O N S P olicy
Sarah Mancone, Heeyoung Min, Kate Monks, Claire Peracchio, Goda Thangada, Caitlin
The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Correc-
Trujillo
Staff Writers Shara Azad, Nicole Boucher, Kristina Fazzalaro, Miriam Furst, Anish tions may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.
Gonchigar, Sarah Julian, Matthew Klebanoff, Sara Luxenberg, Anita Mathews, Luisa C ommentary P O L I C Y
Robledo, Emily Rosen, Bradley Silverman, Anne Simons, Sara Sunshine The editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily
Senior Sales Staff Katie Galvin, Liana Nisimova, Isha Gulati, Alex Neff, Michael Ejike, reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only.
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Opinions
The Brown Daily Herald
SIMON
LIEBLING
Opinions Columnist
Ruth Simmons stole my column idea.
I was all excited this week to pile another
column on to her Goldman Sachs nightmare,
writing about why serving simultaneously as
a director on the board of the world’s most
infamous investment bank and as president
of a university that keeps its investments
secret from everyone might be something
of an ethical problem. Just imagine: you’re
an investment officer deciding where to put
Brown’s money, your boss sits on the board
of one of your most obvious options, and no
one in the rabble can hold you accountable.
It’s not too hard to figure out where you’re
going to put that money.
Presuming that Simmons wasn’t about
to give up her cushy and well-connected
$323,000-a-year gig as a Goldman director
just because I asked her, I was going to cite
her severe conflict of interest as the perfect
example of why Brown needs real investment
transparency reform — the kind that would let
us see whether our hypothetical investment
officer was investing our money intelligently
or handing it over to a particular company
that has been in the news lately for doing
one thing with its clients’ money and betting
against them with its own.
But then she quit.
ADRIENNE
LANGLOIS
Opinions Columnist
Learning a foreign language is serious busi-
ness. Although the rewards are great, the path
to “fluency” — a concept which becomes more
elusive the longer one pursues it — is long and
arduous. And just when it seems like you’ve
significantly expanded your abilities, you real-
ize just how much you have left to learn.
Despite my previous experience with for-
eign languages, I didn’t realize just how much
work it takes to make a language “stick” until I
took Arabic freshman year. Though I was and
always have been enthusiastic about learning
new languages, I found Arabic very difficult,
which ultimately led to my decision not to
continue in Arabic 300 sophomore year. For
the year I took the class, however, I threw
myself into learning the language, using every
study method I could think of to master the
alphabet and vocabulary.
One of the most successful methods I found
to help me memorize the seemingly never-
ending lists of words was making flashcards.
With my stack of index cards, I was able to
study nearly everywhere I went. I brought my
flashcards to the gym, to the quesadilla line
in Josiah’s, to orchestra rehearsal. So when I
went home for breaks, it seemed only natural
that I would take my flashcards with me on
the plane.
I don’t need to waste any more time singing
the merits of flashcards: I know I’m not the
only person who thinks their portability makes
Good riddance, Goldman
Of course, she claims she quit to respect
her “increasing time requirements associ-
ated with her position as President,” which
I suppose is what she has to say. But what I
know is that her decision comes suspiciously
soon after she faced campus scrutiny over her
directorship for the first time since Goldman
Sachs became the pariah of Wall Street. Two
months ago, no one knew about her Goldman
connection, much less discussed it. Now it
fills the Herald for a few weeks, and all of a
The combination of relentless campus
attention and near-weekly revelations about
the unconscionable garbage Goldman Sachs
managed to pull off over the last few years
was enough for Simmons to realize that her
directorial position was untenable.
sudden she gives up a post that has been hers
for over 10 years.
Besides, as some pointed out in the me-
dia hoopla over the last few weeks, her role
at Goldman was in effect one of her “time
requirements associated with her position
as President.” Depending on who you ask,
she served as a director to bring her enlight-
ened “background in education” to Wall Street
or because “Brown benefits from Simmons’
role in the financial sphere.” Either way, her
directorial role was intimately tied to her presi-
dential day job, and one could well argue that
The real language barrier
them a highly effective study tool. After all,
there should be nothing wrong with wanting
to squeeze in a bit of extra studying.
Nick George, a senior at Pomona College,
thought so too. When he packed to go to the
Philadelphia International Airport to fly back
to California last summer, he stuck a pack of
Arabic flashcards in his pocket to study on
the plane. George said when he was taken
aside for a routine personal screening, Trans-
portation Security Administration officials
were immediately suspicious of his innocuous
study aid.
The decision to handcuff and lock up a college
student seemingly based solely on his possession
of study aids for a language widely studied
and spoken by innocent people in America
and abroad recalls the unfortunate history of
xenophobic actions in our country.
George says one official asked him “who
did 9/11” and if he knew “what language Osa-
ma bin Laden spoke.” He was soon handcuffed
and removed from the airport for further ques-
tioning, and was detained in a cell for nearly
five hours as police officers pored over his
belongings — and found nothing.
The justification? TSA officials were con-
cerned about a few flashcards with words like
“terrorist” and “bomb,” words George says
he was learning because they frequently ap-
pear in Arabic news media. (For the record, I
learned the word for “rocket launcher” within
the first few weeks of Arabic 100 during a
she was discharging her duties as President
every time she hobnobbed with the wealthy
patrons at Goldman or helped bring their
recruiters to campus.
So it’s most likely that the combination of
relentless campus attention and near-weekly
revelations about the unconscionable garbage
Goldman Sachs managed to pull off over the
last few years was enough for Simmons to real-
ize that her directorial position was untenable.
And I know at least a few alumni made sure to
register their displeasure with the disrepute
her relationship with Goldman had brought
upon their university.
But whatever your reasons, Ruth, you did
the right thing. No longer will Goldman be
able to point to your “unique sensitivity to the
views of women, minorities and young people”
as “one of two women on the board (and) the
only African American” to help excuse its bil-
lions in bonuses and corrupted government
manipulation. Brown won’t have to suffer for
its president’s high profile dalliances with the
worst robber barons of our age. And maybe
discussion session.) The same officials also
said that George was seen “exhibiting anoma-
lous behavior” prior to the discovery of the
flashcards, but declined to elaborate further
on his actions.
George claims he never raised his voice
and complied with all requests. His case is
now going to federal court with the help of
the American Civil Liberties Union.
George’s detainment is disturbing, and not
just because it could have happened to anyone.
The decision to handcuff and lock up a college
student seemingly based solely on his posses-
sion of study aids for a language widely studied
and spoken by innocent people in America
and abroad recalls the unfortunate history of
xenophobic actions in our country.
George wasn’t a foreigner, but he was in-
terested in a foreign culture that is often per-
ceived as a threat to America. And our country
has a long history of using this perceived
threat to justify the detainment of civilians
based solely on appearance or lingua franca.
The most famous and embarrassing ex-
ample of unjust detention, by far, is the deci-
sion to intern 120,000 Japanese-Americans
during World War II. Although their stories
Tuesday, February 16, 2010 | Page 7
that $323,000 lopped off your annual income
will help make you a little more sympathetic
to the families whose tuition payments you’re
almost certainly going to hike again later this
month.
Unfortunately, though, Simmons’ resig-
nation does not end her relationship with
Goldman. According to a U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission filing from the firm in
February, she owns 27,386 shares of Goldman
stock, worth $4.2 million. Upon the end of her
term as a director, she has an option for an
additional 10,000 shares that would up her
investment stake to $5.7 million. That leaves
her with enough of a vested interest in Gold-
man’s continued profitability that the integrity
of the University’s secret investments must
remain in question. Until those investments
are transparent and open, we have no way of
knowing whether she is wielding undue influ-
ence over Brown’s investment decisions.
But Simmons’ sudden departure from
Goldman improves our chances of winning
those necessary reforms. Her resignation is
evidence to the fact that positive change at this
university happens not through unprompted
voluntary action by benevolent administrators
but through sustained community pressure.
We get angry, and they listen. And if that anger
is enough to shake up Goldman Sachs, repair-
ing our university should be no problem.
Simon Liebling ’12 is from New
Jersey. He can be reached at simon.
liebling@gmail.com.
are less well known, thousands of German- and
Italian-Americans were also detained during
this period, simply because of their culture
and the language they spoke. Questionable
detainment continues today in Guantánamo
Bay, where many detainees have been held
without charges for over six years.
Detainment in a cell for five hours hardly
compares to the years of internment that
hundreds of thousands of individuals have
experienced in the history of our country.
But George’s experience of profiling based on
his decision to study a language — in hopes
of serving this country through the foreign
service — is certainly an outgrowth of this
disappointing intellectual legacy.
I do not wish to decry the importance of
thorough airport screening; in the wake of
recent attempted attacks, careful attention
to all airline passengers is even more critical.
But the paranoia and stereotyping George
and others have experienced undermines
the integrity of our defense system nearly as
much as attacks from the outside.
Learning a language can open doors. It can
expand minds, break down cultural barriers
and increase understanding, if we are will-
ing to commit the countless hours and tears
required for even cursory mastery. The path
to breaking down the prejudice and fear that
leads to unjust detainment is already difficult
enough — there is no reason to make it any
more complicated.
Adrienne Langlois ’10 now studies
Spanish again and is fully aware that
Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro speak it
as well.
 Today
The Brown Daily Herald
t h e n e w s i n i m ag e s
1
c a l e n da r
Today, february 16
4:00 P.M. — Leyla Keough: “Driven
Women: Gendered Moral Economies
of New Migrations to Turkey,”
Watson Institute
5:30 P.M. — Salman Rushdie: “Litera-
ture and Politics in the Modern World,
Salomon 101
menu
Sharpe Refectory
Lunch — Creole Pork with Sugar
Snap Peas, Vegan Creole Jambalaya,
Kielbasa
Dinner — Bourbon BBQ Chicken,
Tomato Quiche, Nacho and
Toppings Bar
crossword
4
to day to m o r r o w
R.I. dance crew hits MTV show
Stimulus money to help unemployed
5 38 / 25
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
39 / 28
Page 8
comics
Cabernet Voltaire | Abe Pressman
Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline
tomorrow, February 17
9:00 A.M. — Exhibit “MF Hussain:
Early Masterpieces, 1950’s–70’s,”
Pembroke Hall
4:00 P.M. — Write Well, Right Now,
Sciences Library, Room 318
Fruitopia | Andy Kim
Verney-Woolley Dining Hall
Lunch — Vegan Dal Cali, French
Bread Pepperoni Pizza, M&M
Cookies
Dinner — Meatloaf with Mushroom
Sauce, Herb Rice, Chocolate Cream
Pie
Hippomaniac | Mat Becker
Island Republic | Kevin Grubb
STW | Jingtao Huang