M!"#$%, A&'() **, +,**D!"#$ H%&!#'THE BROWN

S!"#$ %&'%()*. #+*(!, "). ,-

62 /44

T O M O R R O W

68/55

T O D AYNEWS...................2!3HOUSING.............6!8EDITORIAL.............10OPINIONS.............11ARTS....................12INSID

E

EDITORIAL, 10

Endorsement(e Herald endorses David Chanin ’12 for UFB chair

(e Herald explores Brown’s long history of overcrowding, its causes and its impact.

HOUSING, 6)8 WEA

THERFeeling the crunch

Two  female  students  struck  in  hit-­and-­runBy KYLE MCNAMARA

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Amanda Chew ’14 and Juliana Un-anue Banuchi ’14 were hit on the corner of Hope and Charles.eld streets by an unidenti.ed driver who immediately le/ the scene at approximately 10:45 p.m. Saturday.

0e students “sustained moderate to serious but non-life-threatening injuries,” wrote Marisa Quinn, vice president for public a1airs and Uni-versity relations, in an email to 0e Herald.

A suspect has been detained, and the Providence Police Department is currently investigating the case, said Department of Public Safety Sergeant John Heston shortly a/er the accident.

Heston declined to comment fur-ther but said the suspect was “prob-ably” the driver of the vehicle.

0e female students “were on the

sidewalk, and a car accelerated onto the sidewalk and hit both of them. 0e driver was a woman, and once she hit both Amanda and Juliana, she reversed and le/, leaving them injured on the sidewalk,” wrote So.a Unanue ’11.5, the sister of one of the victims, in an email to 0e Herald. 0e car that struck the students was a black Audi, wrote Juliana Unanue in an email to 0e Herald.

Witnesses who arrived later at the scene said they saw at least one of the students being put onto a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance. 0e students were taken to Rhode Island Hospital for treatment, Quinn wrote.

So.a Unanue wrote that her sister su1ered a fractured right leg and will undergo surgery in the next few days. Chew su1ered a mild concussion and other injuries to her head and is under observation, So.a Unanue

Slavery’s  past  confronted  at  Brown,  Harvard

Student  found  dead  in  Alabama

By AMY RASMUSSENSENIOR STAFF WRITER

Matthew Strickland, who was en-rolled as an undergraduate from 2005 to 2009, was found dead in his Alabama apartment Tuesday. Strickland was on leave from Brown and was studying full-time at the University of Montevallo during the 2010-11 academic year.

0e cause of death is unknown, but no foul play is suspected, ac-cording to a University of Monte-vallo press release.

Strickland, originally from Ow-ens Cross Roads, Ala., was a dual concentrator in urban studies and history of art and architecture, wrote Marisa Quinn, vice president for public a1airs and University re-lations, in an email to 0e Herald.

In an email to the community Friday morning, President Ruth Simmons noted that though Strick-land pursued courses ranging from African dance to Spanish during his time at Brown, he had ultimately hoped to become a physician.

“He was known to many as a courageous, tenacious and unfail-ingly generous student,” she wrote. “We have extended our deepest condolences to Matthew’s family and join with them in mourning the loss of a valued member of our community.”

Transfer  apps  rise  by  20  percent

In  meta-­conference,  MCM  explores  MCM  

By MORGAN JOHNSONSTAFF WRITER

Alums, professors and students 2ocked to “MCM@50: 0eory, Practice, Passion” this weekend — though the event did not in fact celebrate the 50th anniversary of

the Department of Modern Culture and Media. 0e two-day sympo-sium comes during the 15th an-niversary of the MCM department, but its predecessor, the semiotics program, was founded 36 years ago — the number 50 comes from a combination of the two dates and

celebrating the semiotics program anniversary one year late.

“You might think that it is funny math or extreme math,” said Mary Ann Doane, chair of the MCM department. “0is event was very MCM.”

The conference was charac-terized by alums’ passion for the department and its professors, as well as self-aware humor from pre-senters and faculty.

Anna Fisher GS, a fourth-year doctoral student in MCM and one of the main organizers for the conference, said MCM@50 was developed to honor the program’s

By MIRIAM FURSTSTAFF WRITER

For the .rst time, Brown’s accep-tance rate for transfer applications may drop below its acceptance rate for .rst-year applications, according to Dean of Admission Jim Miller ’73. 0e University received around 1,950 transfer applications this year — a 20 percent increase from last year’s 1,621 applications.

0e Admission O3ce has not yet decided the exact number of transfers it will accept, but it plans to o1er spots to around 200 stu-dents and enroll between 125 and

130. 0e Corporation approved an increase of up to 50 for next year’s transfer class to stabilize the stu-dent body at around 6,000, but the University determined a smaller in-crease in transfer enrollment would be su3cient.

About $400,000 in .nancial aid will be o1ered to transfer students, Miller said, the same amount that was earmarked last year.

Transfer students are admitted on a need-aware basis — by con-trast, .rst-year student admission is need-blind. By increasing the number of admitted transfers, the University can also increase the

amount of money received from tu-ition without a signi.cant increase in enrollment or additional strain to .rst-year resources.

“As a transfer, I would really like if more came, just because the transfer community is really strong and having more people would make us an even bigger presence on campus,” said Zoe Ho1man ’13, who transferred this year from the University of Virginia. Brown en-rolled 110 transfer students last fall.

The application process for transfer students is similar to

Herald sta!Ambulances and police cruisers arrived at the intersection of Hope and Charles"eld streets after a car struck two students Saturday night.

Courtesy of Julieta CardenasIra Glass ’82, host of NPR’s “This American Life,” was a crowd pleaser.

continued on page 3

continued on page 2

continued on page 5 continued on page 3

FEATURE

continued on page 2

By LEAH BROMBERGCONTRIBUTING WRITER

Ignoring the convention of separat-ing personal stories from academic discourse, President Ruth Simmons shared her connection to slavery as the great-granddaughter of slaves in an emotional keynote address that kicked o1 this weekend’s “Slav-ery’s Capitalism: A New History of American Economic Development” conference 0ursday in Salomon 101.

0e conference — which high-lighted the North’s connections with slavery and was hosted by Brown and Harvard — drew stu-dents, community members and scholars from around the country.

“Ideas that have been 2owing back and forth are radical in their potential to re-de.ne history,” said Seth Rockman, associate professor of history.

Ronald Bailey, professor emeri-tus at Northeastern University, ad-dressed Simmons directly when he said at the conference, “I’ve been waiting for a college presi-dent to do this for 30 years, and you stepped forward.” Four years ago, the Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice, convened by Simmons, published .ndings that linked the University to its own slavery-ridden history. 0is week-end, she opened up about her own history.

“Slavery is not just about the history of one region but really the history of the nation as a whole,” added Sven Beckert, a professor of history at Harvard, who said Simmons inspired him to teach a course titled “Harvard and Slavery.”

0e conference examined ways in which northern textile industries pro.ted from the reduced cost of cotton due to slave labor and also emphasized that early donors who contributed to Brown and Harvard pro.ted from slavery. Industries in the North also provided the timber and supplies used to fund slave trading and plantation practices. “0ese buildings we have around us and the wealth that built New England partly derived from slave labor,” Peter Wirzbicki, a New York University graduate student said as he stood and looked around Alumnae Hall.

0e history is as tangible in Harvard’s neighborhood as on Brown’s campus.

“If you look down at Boston Symphony Hall on Huntington Avenue and universities, a lot of funds they used to do that came out of processes in which the labor of African-American people were exploited around the process of cotton picking,” Bailey said.

Some professors also spoke of slavery as a contemporary phe-nomenon, tying it to modern-day human tra3cking, industrial labor and health care reform.

“In school, we were taught a lie

— that it was the evil Southerners versus the virtuous Northerners,” said Bob Burke, creator of the In-dependence Trail in Boston. But “the wealth of Providence came about from lower labor costs owing to slavery.”

Harvard graduate student Jer-emy Zallen said the conference was important because “universities like Brown and Harvard that are geographically in New England and have disassociated themselves from slavery are taking that on and investigating their own connec-tions to slavery.”

“My parents toiled in the cotton .elds at the behest of plantation owners,” Burke said. “I’m willing to take the gloves o1, I’m willing to .ght for this issue.”

“It’s interesting to hear about slavery and its history and its contemporary implications,” said Barbara Andrews, director of edu-cation at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn. “But I wonder what they do with it.” She said she will help spread the conference’s message beyond New England.

Rockman, who will teach HIST 1840: “Capitalism, Slavery and the Economy of Early America” this fall, said “the basic work of discus-sion remains to be done. We’re at the starting point of this. We need more people to go to more archives and .nd out more things. It is as simple as digging to .nd out all the ways slavery insinuated itself in every aspect of the American experience.”

Ben Schreckinger, PresidentSydney Ember, Vice President

Matthew Burrows, TreasurerIsha Gulati, Secretary

0e Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement, once dur-ing Orientation and once in July by 0e Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Single copy free for each member of the community. POSTMASTER please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Subscription prices: $280 one year daily, $140 one semester daily. Copyright 2011 by 0e Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

www.browndailyherald.com195 Angell St., Providence, R.I.

D!"#$ H%&!#'THE BROWN

EDITORIAL(401) 351-3372

herald@browndailyherald.com

BUSINESS(401) 351-3360

gm@browndailyherald.com

C!"#$% N&'%2 T(& B)*'+ D!,-. H&)!-/M*+/!., A#),- 00, 1200

6 P.M.The Politics of Haiti Today,

Watson Institute, Joukowsky Forum7 P.M.ROTC: Should Brown bring it back?,

Brown-RISD Hillel, Winnick Chapel

2:30 P.M.Service and Community: Finding

Both at Brown, Grano! Center8 P.M.

Directorz in the DownspaceFestival, T. F. Green Hall

SHARPE REFECTORY VERNEY!WOOLLEY DINING HALL

LUNCH

DINNER

Vegetable Strudel with Cream Sauce, Chicken Fajitas, Vegan Rice

Pilaf, Cream Cheese Brownies

Green Pepper Steak, Stir Fried Vegetables with Tofu, Garlic Bread,

Cream Cheese Brownies

Gnocchi alla Sorrentina, Chicken Fajitas, Vegan Moroccan Beans, White Chocolate Chip Cookies

French Bread Pizza, Green Beans with Tomatoes, White Chocolate

Chip Cookies

TODAY APRIL 11 TOMORROW APRIL 12

C R O S S W O R D

S U D O K U

M E N U

C A L E N DA R

the .rst-year application process, Miller said. “We do pay more at-tention to college performance than high school, but we do factor in, to some degree, high school grades,” he said. 0e Admission O3ce does not track how many students apply to transfer from four-year colleges compared to two-year colleges.

0e University plans to notify transfer applicants in the middle of May, though there is no .xed date.

200  transfer  students  to  be  admitted  in  May

continued from page 1

Conference  addresses  slavery’s  history,  legacy

By LOUISA CHAFEECONTRIBUTING WRITER

0ough medical marijuana is now legal in Rhode Island, administra-tors maintain that under both state and federal law, the University can-not allow smoking of marijuana on school grounds.

Medical marijuana was legal-ized in Rhode Island June 16, 2009 a/er state legislators voted to over-ride a veto by then-Gov. Donald Carcieri ’65. 0ree new dispen-saries for medical marijuana will open in Rhode Island this summer.

Despite the state’s legalization of medical marijuana and immi-nent opening of dispensaries, the University released a statement saying it would not permit smok-ing on campus because Rhode Island and federal law “prohibit smoking marijuana on any school grounds, including college cam-puses.”

According to the statement, “Any breach of the federal law would put Brown’s eligibility for federal funding at risk. A student with an illness serious enough to warrant a doctor’s prescription for

U.  upholds  marijuana  prohibition

continued on page 3

continued from page 1

C!"#$% N&'% 3T(& B)*'+ D!,-. H&)!-/M*+/!., A#),- 00, 1200

According to an obituary in the Huntsville Times, funeral services for Strickland were held Saturday. “Any plans for a campus service will come later,” Quinn wrote.

In an email to 0e Herald, Gem

Chema ’11, a friend of Strickland, remembered his “lively and warm personality.”

“Matt was full of love, and I’m certain this love will live on in ev-eryone who knew him,” she wrote. “I feel very grateful to have had him as a friend.”

continued from page 1

Strickland  remembered  as  being  ‘full  of  love’

wrote. Carmen Bonilla, a SafeRide driver

who was on duty at the time, said when she drove up to the corner where the accident occurred, she “saw two students on the ground.” She said she approached the stu-

dents, and one asked her in Spanish to “please get me help.”

While Bonilla said she did not see the accident take place, she said she spoke to a coworker who wit-nessed the accident. According to the coworker, the driver of the vehicle appeared to be drunk and immedi-ately le/ the scene a/er the impact,

Bonilla said. “University o3cials have been in

touch with the students and family members to o1er support,” Quinn wrote. “As we learn more about the details of the accident, we will seek to determine if there are additional steps to be taken to strengthen pedes-trian safety on and around campus.”

Hit-­and-­run  injures  two  students  

medical marijuana would need to consult with Brown’s Health Ser-vices to identify options to meet their needs in compliance with the law.”

Mark Porter, chief of police and director of public safety, did not respond to requests for comment.

0e University’s policy is in compliance with the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act Amendments of 1989, which does not allow students to “manufac-ture, distribute, dispense or pos-sess with the intent to manufac-

ture, distribute or dispense” any illicit drug, according to the O3ce of Student Life website.

If an o3cer catches a student violating the rules regarding drug use — even if the student is in pos-session of medical marijuana with a valid license — the student may be suspended, dismissed or ex-pelled from the University in ac-cordance with the non-academic disciplinary code.

Students caught with marijuana by o1-campus law enforcement o3cers may be subject to more stringent legal sanctions like im-prisonment and he/y .nes.

Medical  marijuana  prohibited  on  campus continued from page 1

continued from page 2

Got something to say? Leave a comment online!Visit www.browndailyherald.com to comment on opinion and editorial content.

S#*)3% M*+/!.4 T(& B)*'+ D!,-. H&)!-/M*+/!., A#),- 00, 1200

By ETHAN MCCOYASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

0e men’s lacrosse team snapped a three-game losing streak and posted its .rst Ivy League win in a back-and-forth thriller against No. 12 Penn Saturday on the Bears’ home turf. Bruno (4-6, 1-2 Ivy) outscored the Quakers (5-4, 2-2) 10-3 in the middle two quarters and survived a four-goal Penn run in the .nal 10 minutes to hang on to a 13-12 victory.

“I’m really proud of this team,” said Head Coach Lars Ti1any ’90. “Having lost some really close games — four overtimes to Princ-eton, having lost to Bryant by one — it would have been really easy by human nature to start second-guessing ourselves. … But I’m re-ally proud of this team for sticking together and .ghting through the adversity we’ve faced and continu-ing to believe in each other. And we saw that today — we played some of our best lacrosse today.”

“I feel like it was .nally the .rst time we’ve put together a good, complete game,” said attacker Parker Brown ’12, who scored four goals on the day. “It was a little scary at the end — I think we got a little complacent with the score — but overall, it feels great to .nally get an Ivy League win, especially on our home .eld.”

Rob Schlesinger ’12 helped spearhead the Bear’s attack with four goals of his own, as well as two assists, in a breakout six-point performance. 0e two attackers, along with David Hawley ’11, who scored his 12th goal in .ve games, stepped up in the absence of tri-captain and scoring leader Andrew Feinberg ’11, who has missed the last three games with a concussion.

“It’s the first time our of-fense has really clicked all year,”

Schlesinger said. “Defense has been carrying us all season, and it’s about time the o1ense .nally got it together and scored a few goals, so that was huge for us.”

“I was really impressed with Rob Schlesinger, who’s struggled scoring, but had some huge goals for us today,” Ti1any said. “And Parker Brown. He’s getting the best defensemen from the opposing team. He’s getting beat on, yet he continues to run through checks and make plays and prove that he’s one of the better attackmen in the league.”

Schlesinger kicked o1 the scor-ing with an early, unassisted goal. A/er a Penn score tied the game, the Bears regained the lead on Parker Brown’s .rst goal. He was le/ all alone on the doorstep for the easy .nish thanks to a Quaker defensive miscommunication. But Penn responded in a big way, scor-ing four times to close out the .rst

quarter with a 5-2 lead. 0e last goal came in the .nal seconds of Penn’s man advantage following a slashing call on tri-captain defen-seman Peter Fallon ’11.

It looked like it might be a long day for Bruno supporters at Stevenson Field, but a huge sec-ond quarter in which the Bears outscored Penn 6-1 proved to be a turning point. Parker Brown scored twice in the quarter’s .rst .ve minutes to bring the Bears within a goal. On the second .n-ish, Parker Brown had an easy 2ick-in from point blank thanks to a heads-up pass from Schlesinger. 0e Bears tied the game less than four minutes later on a great in-dividual e1ort by Sam Ford ’13. 0e defenseman broke up a pass in his own half and scooped up the ground ball before racing coast to coast for the unassisted goal.

“We’ve been joking in practice that our D’s .nally going to get a

goal,” Schlesinger said. “Sam’s been saying he’s going to get a goal, and he .nally stuck that, and that really got our team going.”

But the Bears were not done yet. In an isolation play, Schlesing-er was alone alongside the net but kicked it out to mid.elder Je1rey Foote ’11, who buried the long-range shot to give Bruno a 6-5 lead. Penn quickly tied the game, but the Bears closed the quarter with scores from Hawley and Schlesinger to give the home side an 8-6 advantage heading into in-termission.

At the start of the second half though, Penn caught the Bears asleep and tied the game a mere 31 seconds a/er the faceo1. Penn’s Alek Ferro scored from long range when he saw goalie Matt Chriss ’11 out of position. Twenty-three seconds later, Nick Richards took advantage of a miscommunication on the Bear’s end to put home an

easy goal. But again, the Bears regrouped

and answered. Teddy Daiber ’11 and Parker Brown scored in quick succession, and the Bears regained a two-goal lead. On a man advan-tage a/er Penn was penalized for too many players on the .eld, Foote scored his second goal with a clever .nish as he slipped in front of the net and bounced his shot past Penn goalie Brian Feeney. Schlesinger’s third of the day stretched the Bear’s lead to 12-8 before the quarter’s close.

Schlesinger scored again early in the fourth to give the Bears a 13-8 cushion, but a late Quaker surge in the .nal 10 minutes al-most pushed the game into over-time.

Goals from Al Kohart, Morgan Gri1 and Ryan Parietti cut the lead to 13-11 with just over three min-utes le/ in regulation. Gri1 again scored in transition o1 a Bruno turnover with 32 seconds le/ to make it a one-goal game. The Quakers won the ensuing faceo1, but Chriss made a huge stop with 13 seconds le/. But his clearing pass was intercepted, and Penn had another chance. Maxx Meyer’s .nal shot attempt for the Quakers 2ew wide, icing the 13-12 win and prompting a collective exhale at Stevenson Field.

“Little bit of a nail biter there at the end, but we got it done,” Schlesinger said.

Ti1any said he was proud of the way his team performed but was quick to point out the game’s conclusion as evidence that the team needs improvement in cer-tain areas.

“We didn’t make plays at the very end of the game,” Ti1any said. “We had turnover a/er turnover. We held on, and Matt Chriss made a bunch of big saves, but there were a lot of decisions at the end of the game that were not smart plays — that were not plays that you’d like to have in the future in big games.”

0e win moves the Bears to 1-2 in conference play and sends the rest of the Ivy League a message that despite the team’s disappoint-ing start, it has no plans of packing it in this season.

“Teams have been looking over us — I think Penn looked over us a little bit at the beginning of the game,” Schlesinger said. At “0-2 in the Ivy League, this game is a turning point for our season. … If we lost this game, it’s pretty much over — 0-3 in the Ivy League, it’s tough to make the tournament like that.”

Ti1any pointed to the impor-tance of the game to the team’s mindset rather than the stand-ings. He said he wanted the team to focus its energy on next week’s opponent — No. 17 Yale — instead of thinking about any postseason play.

“0is is just one win,” he said. “I don’t want to worry about the Ivy League playo1s or anything like that. It gives us a big win, and we’re going to appreciate it for what it is. It’s a win over a very good Penn team who’s No. 12 in the country. And that’s it.”

Jonathan Bateman / HeraldRob Schlesinger ’12 scores one of his four goals against No. 12 Penn. Schlesinger also dished out two assists as men’s lacrosse won a thrilling contest 13-12 to secure its "rst Ivy League victory.

M. LACROSSE

F&!3$)& 5T(& B)*'+ D!,-. H&)!-/M*+/!., A#),- 00, 1200

founders, as well as expose under-graduate and graduate students to “all of the amazing things” alums of the program have accomplished.

In addition to three panels of distinguished alums, conference attendees participated in informal “unconferences,” hour-and-a-half-long group discussion sessions with up to 20 participants.

“‘Unconferences’ are the oppo-site of what you would think of as a stodgy event,” Fisher said. 0e “unconferences” were not designed to be academic functions but rather a dialogue between attendees, she said.

Yasmeen Hoosenally ’92 attend-ed an “unconference” on the role of MCM in nonpro.ts and education. “0ere was a lively discussion that erupted around a set of people with completely di1erent backgrounds,” she said.

Big in media 0e weekend’s main attraction

was the “Big Media” panel in the Martinos Auditorium in the Perry and Marty Grano1 Center for the Creative Arts. 0e panel, moder-ated by MCM Professor Emeritus Michael Silverman, featured direc-tor Todd Haynes ’85, “0is Ameri-can Life” radio host Ira Glass ’82, NBC Universal Entertainment and Digital Network and Integrated Media chairwoman Lauren Zala-znick ’84 and Michelle Higa ’04, a member of the digital animation group Mixtape Club.

Higa, whose group works pri-marily on music videos and com-mercials, showed o1 her group’s 2008 music video for Yeasayer’s “Wait for the Summer,” as well as a recent Batman-themed commer-cial for Google, which narrated

Batman’s story through search terms such as “2exible Kevlar” and “Gotham City Crime Statistics.”

Zalaznick, who said she was not aware that each panelist was supposed to prepare a presenta-tion, joked that she jotted down her talking points on the spot with pen and paper, despite spending much of her professional career giving PowerPoint presentations. “I work for the Man,” Zalaznick said of her duties at NBC Universal, to which her friend and former work partner Haynes retorted, “I thought you were the Man.”

Zalaznick, who produced sev-eral of Haynes’ .lms, including 1991’s “Poison,” said she did not anticipate ending up in television. In her talk, she traced her profes-sional career from her early work on movie sets to her current life as a television executive.

“I literally work at 30 Rock,” she said of her o3ce. “And it’s literally just like (the sitcom) ‘30 Rock.’” Zalaznick joked that when speak-ing about her days at work, her kids ask her if she is talking about her real life or the episode from the night before.

“I’m obsessed with ‘Top Chef,’” Haynes said as he began his presen-tation, a reference to a reality show on the television network Bravo, which Zalaznick oversees. Haynes said he came to Brown wanting to create art and .lm and credited the semiotics department for ground-ing his ambitions in “a theoretical framework.”

Haynes also spoke about his struggles coming out of gradu-ation. His short .lm “Superstar: the Karen Carpenter Story,” which depicts Carpenter’s career and struggle with anorexia, used mixed media including animated Barbie dolls for the roles of Carpenter

and her family. “No one wanted to show ‘Superstar’ when I .nished it,” Haynes said.

0ough Haynes enjoyed success with later feature .lms, he said he found it di3cult to keep his fans happy when branching out into unfamiliar genres. His .rst .lm, “Poison,” was embraced by gay audiences for its confrontation of the issues surrounding HIV . When Haynes switched gears in 1995 with “Safe,” he said fans of his earlier work were perplexed by the .lm, which did not contain any explic-itly gay themes. “When I showed it at gay .lm festivals, everyone said, ‘what the (expletive) is this?’”

Haynes also expressed concern about today’s .lmmaking. “0e way we view media has changed, the alternative venues that existed and the things that propelled me have disappeared or vanished,” he said. Haynes added he was sur-prised that, given the accessibility of .lmmaking equipment today, even on devices like cell phones, more innovative work has not 2ourished.

Glass proved the most crowd-pleasing speaker at the panel, and the audience erupted in laughter multiple times during his pre-sentation. Glass, who started his relationship with National Public Radio as a 19-year-old intern, said he had never heard of the program before he began working there.

“I still use what I learned at Brown every day at my job,” Glass said. He said his study of Roland Barthes’ proairetic code, which emphasizes sequences of actions and suspense to draw in audiences, in2uenced the structure of “0is American Life” — “Exactly the opposite of what my professors intended for me to do with that information.”

“It’s hard making anything good,” Glass said, recalling strug-gles early in his career. “Most things that you’re making are try-ing to be crap. It wants to be bad.”

“We all probably need a drink at this point,” said Silverman, the moderator, a/er Glass’ eccentric presentation.

The other(ed) alums reminisce In addition to the Big Media

panel, other alums had the oppor-tunity to present their work and share humorous tributes to their concentration in panels titled “Art-ists and Producers” and “Academia A/er Academia.”

At one panel, columnist and writer Ed Ball ’82 joked that the original semiotics building “resem-bled a tenement of the East Village in New York.” 0is was appropri-ate he said, because it “prepared graduates for the type of housing they would occupy” a/er school.

“I felt like I was being adopt-ed into a cult,” artist and scholar

Coco Fusco ’82 said. “We had a language, a protected space. We all wore black and smoked Export A cigarettes. Everyone said some-thing controversial in their other classes to identify themselves as semiotics students.”

“A lot of people worry about turning into their parents,” said Alex Galloway ’96, a computer pro-grammer and associate professor at New York University. “I worry about turning into my old MCM professors.” Galloway also joked about the department’s tendency to produce “hyper-emo subjects” though it prides itself on “destroy-ing the idea of interiority.”

Despite the humorous tone, the speakers all shared an intense pride in the department. “0ere’s some-thing important about this lack of a signi.er that people could identify us with,” psychoanalyst Ona Nie-renberg ’80 said of the concentra-tion. “It’s not a ‘pre’ to any already known profession. 0ere’s a call to invention.”

Hoosenally mentioned MCM’s di3culty as a seductive factor for many alums, who recalled nearly failing their .rst papers as the mo-ment they “knew they wanted to do MCM.”

“I would like if this happens again,” conference attendee Mad-eleine Fix-Hansen ’94 said. “It’s nice to gather everyone together and think through things.”

MCM  celebrates  anniversary  with  weekend  symposiumcontinued from page 1

H*$%,+46 T(& B)*'+ D!,-. H&)!-/M*+/!., A#),- 00, 1200

By ALEX BELLNEWS EDITOR

Recognizing a gradual and un-planned rise in enrollment over past years, administrators are now turning serious attention to housing expansion in an e1ort to improve on-campus living standards a1ected by the growth of the student of body, according to Richard Spies, execu-tive vice president for planning and senior adviser to the president.

“0e experience ought to be bet-ter than it is,” he said. “I think that’s the acknowledgement now.”

Spies said the Plan for Academic Enrichment, the University’s long-range growth plan, did not account for this increase in the size of the student body.

When the University set its prior-ities, improving housing was a goal, but the consensus was that academic needs like growing the faculty and improving academic facilities took precedence.

“0ere was never a goal set in (the plan) that said to increase enrollment,” Spies said. “It’s one of those things that you deal with

rather than try to get out in front of.”At the time the plan was ap-

proved, total undergraduate enroll-ment was 5,946, according to statis-tics from the O3ce of Institutional Research. Enrollment 2uctuated until peaking last academic year at 6,243.

Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron attributed some of the increase to the over-enrollment of the class of 2012 in fall 2008, when admission o3cials overestimated the decrease in Brown’s yield a/er Harvard and Princeton did away with their early admission options.

Spies said there was a feeling that the student-faculty ratio was too high at the time the plan was drafted. Administrators made a conscious decision to increase the size of the faculty and grow Brown’s professional schools while keeping the size of the undergraduate student body constant, he said.

Despite this decision, there is a tendency each year to overshoot enrollment targets primarily because of the increasing quality of the ap-plicant pool, Spies said, particularly for international applicants. At the

margin, .nancial reasons also play a role in increasing the number of students on campus because costs for faculty and other services are already determined, and a larger class leads to more tuition.

“You’d rather be a little over-en-rolled than under-enrolled,” he said. In an ideal world, undergraduate enrollment would stay roughly the same, “but for a variety of reasons that were not part of the plan, it grew slightly,” he added.

When enrollment does increase, growing housing at ahead of enroll-ment is preferable. “But at smaller numbers, there’s the illusion that you can get away with it,” he said.

Because formal plans did not call for the increase, administrators are only now beginning to recognize the need to grow housing, he added. But Spies said he believes the decision to prioritize academic projects was the right one.

“0e fact that we’re eight years into the plan and really starting to think about housing in a signi.cant way is unfortunate, but I wouldn’t say it’s surprising,” Spies said. “It’s risen in the priority list by virtue of

us getting some other things done.”Discussions about the Univer-

sity’s next capital projects include improvements in areas such as en-gineering and the physical sciences, though the need for academic invest-ment does not exist across the board as it once did, Spies said.

“It was a tough competition to get into the capital backlog seven or eight years ago,” he said.

Aside from renovations to 315 0ayer St., Spies said housing proj-ects under consideration include adding new dormitories and a “pro-gram of renovations” for existing dorms, though plans are largely con-tingent on the generosity of donors.

An objective of the plan’s second phase, released in 2008, is to increase the percentage of undergraduates living on campus from roughly 80 percent to 90 percent “as soon as .nancing allows.”

A short term goal, Spies said, is increasing this number to about 85 percent, which would require an in-crease of about 300 students.

“Can we do that?” Spies said. “Yes. 0at’s the kind of number we’re trying to talk about now.”

By ALEX BELLNEWS EDITOR

Since the University became a res-idential college in 1951 with the completion of Wriston Quadrangle, overcrowding has been a persistent problem.

A four-part series run by 0e Herald in the fall of 1968 pro-claimed that all normal and emer-gency on-campus rooms had been .lled, prompting the director of housing to call the construction of new dormitories “the greatest need in the University.”

At a time when the University had plans to significantly raise enrollment from 5,200, the series raised particular concerns about how the rise in o1-campus living could turn Brown into more of a commuter than a residential col-lege.

By contrast, a front-page article at the start of the 1980 spring se-

mester announced a vacancy of 75 beds for that semester, the result of a new residence hall opening. 0e new dorm provided necessary relief — the previous semester, 42 sophomores had to live in lounges due to an unexpectedly high .rst-year matriculation rate.

According to a housing o3cial at the time, the 75 excess rooms did not signi.cantly a1ect the budget and allowed for greater 2exibility in room changes.

“Dormitory overcrowding is over at Brown — at least for this semester,” the article proclaimed.

But just .ve years later, Mike Trotter ’58, then a member of the Corporation Committee on Student Life, told 0e Herald a very di1er-ent story.

“All over campus, we don’t have enough rooms — they have been cannibalizing other space such as dance practice rooms and loung-es and turning them into dorm

rooms,” he said.0e following semester, resi-

dents of Andrews Hall, Keeney Quadrangle and South Wayland House again saw lounges disappear to accommodate an excess number of students living on campus, 0e Herald reported that fall.

In the fall of 1991, 0e Herald reported that the O3ce of Resi-dential Life overbooks on-campus housing by about 30 or 40 students each year to account for unplanned vacancies during the semester and thereby reduce the number of emp-ty beds on campus. 0at semester, the strategy resulted in 28 transfer and visiting students being housed in common spaces.

“It is a reality that there are going to be transfers,” a transfer student told 0e Herald at the time. “0ey should plan ahead for us.”

Two decades later, the practice of purposefully overbooking on-campus housing to account for un-planned vacancies is still in place, according to Richard Bova, senior associate dean of residential life and dining services. Stories of the im-pact of overcrowding have been in-creasingly prevalent in recent years.

A Wooley Hall residential peer leader told 0e Herald in fall 2005 that his unit was missing out on birthday parties and get-togethers because they lacked a common space to hold such celebrations. At the time, Bova said this over-crowding was the result of a higher number of current students seeking on-campus rooms than expected — one cause of this year’s overcrowd-ing as well.

A spring 2008 Herald article la-mented the loss of Keeney loung-es and its e1ects on living units’ communities, recounting low at-tendance at unit events in uncon-ventional locations, a pizza party in

the hallway and study sessions in a laundry room.

During the .rst week of Sep-tember 2008, 0e Herald reported that “almost all hallway lounges and common spaces have been turned into bedrooms” due to an unexpect-edly high yield in matriculation for that year’s .rst-year class.

“People want to use the kitchen,” a sophomore living in a convert-ed common space told 0e Her-ald in fall 2009. “So people come and knock on our door to use the kitchen, but since we are here, they cannot use it.”

In spring 2010, the Herald re-ported that an inspection of 200 common spaces around campus by the Undergraduate Council of Students found that approximately two-thirds of the rooms were no longer used as lounges, and most had become dorm rooms.

But despite recent signs from administrators that an expansion of housing is on its way, there has been little indication that any insti-tutional change will be made to pre-vent history from repeating itself.

— With additional reporting by Greg Jordan-Detamore

Academic  priorities  trumped  housing  concerns

Dorm  overcrowding  a  persistent  problem

By ALEX BELLNEWS EDITOR

Each year, about 20 percent of under-graduates — roughly 1,000 seniors and 250 juniors — live o1 campus as part of a system that enables the O3ce of Residential Life to relieve pressure on the limited supply of on-campus housing, like a safety valve that can be opened as needed.

But the variables that feed into the model that determines how much the valve needs to be opened can be hard to predict from current data, and historical trends at times prove unreliable.

“0e truth of the matter is that it’s an imperfect science that is car-ried out with as much data as we have,” Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron said.

Further complicating the equa-tion, misaligned incentives hamper ResLife’s ability to accurately hit the target number of students living o1-campus. 0e system encourages stu-dents to “have their feet in multiple doors,” as Richard Bova, senior asso-ciate dean of residential and dining services, put it.

Calculating the targetAt its most basic level, the model

predicts the di1erence between the projected number of students en-rolled at Brown and the projected number of students separating from the University. 0is di1erence rep-resents the number of students needing a place to live — on or o1 campus. 0e target number of students living o1 campus is this number minus the number of beds on campus.

0e number of total separations is made up of the number of stu-dents graduating, going o1 campus for study abroad or taking leaves of any type — such as medical or personal leaves.

0e .rst category of separation — the number of students graduating — is never an exact .gure, and can 2uctuate from projections by about 10 students, Bova said.

0e number of students studying abroad may 2uctuate by as many as 20 students and can be more vola-tile due to world events such as the tsunami in Japan and con2icts in the Middle East. Finalized numbers from the O3ce of International Programs do not arrive until late spring, well a/er the .rst round of o1-campus approvals are sent out in the fall.

As for the number of students taking leaves, Bova said the best pre-dictor he has is an average of the past three years’ data. Each year, the model factors in a projected fall “melt” of about 30 students to ac-count for students who drop out for various reasons during that semester.

Bova noted that though trends show overcrowding on the .rst day

Model  for  housing  both  complex  and  imprecise

Julien Ouellet / HeraldOn the "rst day of classes, dormitories are generally over"lled.

Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / HeraldDespite overcrowding challenges, “We don’t leave anybody on the doorstep,” Bova told The Herald.

Students  feel  the  squeeze  of  chronic  housing  woes

continued on page 8

Day 1 overcrowding: the norm

H*$%,+4 7T(& B)*'+ D!,-. H&)!-/M*+/!., A#),- 00, 1200

By ABBY KERSONSTAFF WRITER

For many, applying to program houses is not just about seeking out a community of other students who share interests — program house leaders and applicants alike con-sider avoiding the housing lottery an added bonus. And with more students placed in temporary hous-ing due to overcrowding, the promise of superior rooms in program houses can provide an enticing alternative to facing the housing.

French House saw a slight in-crease in the number of applicants this year and a slight decrease in the number of outgoing residents, said Carolyn Crisp ’12, one of the house’s co-presidents.

“I know there were some people who either thought about applying or did apply because they wanted to avoid the housing lottery,” Crisp

said, noting that it was likely one of many reasons. “0ey don’t want to be stuck in a triple in Keeney or something.”

As incoming Spanish House member Ana Colon ’14 said, “0e lottery is kind of a black day at Brown because nobody is happy and everyone is stressed out.”

If students begin to live in the French and Spanish components of Machado House purely to avoid the lottery, “over time, we would lose the French and Spanish houses all together,” Crisp said. Still, Crisp said she has “every con.dence” that the new recruits are “all there for the right reason.”

Molly Chambers ’11.5, vice president of Buxton International House, said that while the house did not see a similar increase in interest this year, the recruitment committee “could recognize that a few people were there because the lottery was

overwhelming.” Chambers said the lottery was not a signi.cant factor in her decision to join the house.

Buxton gets anywhere from 100 to 120 applicants each year, while only about 25 to 35 new spots open up. Luka Ursic ’14, who was accepted for this fall, said the lottery de.nitely contributed to his decision to apply.

“I guess I am afraid that your group can get split up or you can get a bad number and get a really bad location,” Ursic said. “I’m really happy that I don’t have to go through the lottery,” he said.

Technology House Manager Dana Mirsalis ’11 said the house looks for people who will be in-volved in the community, but some-one who was “only interested in the room” would not be welcomed. 0e house has only had to turn away two members in their history for this reason, she said.

King House, primarily occupied

by the literary fraternity St. Anthony Hall, has also seen increased interest and currently has a waitlist for living in the house, according to Courtney Hall ’11, the fraternity’s president. 0e house “is a selling point, but I don’t think it makes or breaks any-one’s decision,” Hall said. Like many of the other program house o3cials, Hall pointed to a sense of commu-nity provided by the organization as the primary motivation to join.

Nick Morley ’13, a new member of St. Anthony Hall who will be liv-ing in King house next fall, described the advantage of avoiding the lottery as a “push factor,” as opposed to the initial draw. Morley said this year’s use of temporary housing increased his distrust of the lottery.

0e thought of avoiding unfavor-able housing conditions “de.nitely came into my head” when deciding to apply to King House, said William Barnet ’12, who currently lives there.

Students  avoid  lottery  through  program  housing

By JOSEPH ROSALESSENIOR STAFF WRITER

0ough Wriston Quadrangle was built with the idea of a residential community in mind, overcrowd-ing in recent years has heightened tension between Greek living and independents.

0e construction of Wriston Quad around 1950 was the Uni-versity’s .rst major step toward creating a residential campus. Ad-ministrators had been talking as early as President Francis Wayland’s P’46 term in the mid-19th Century about transitioning into a residen-tial style of education. But it was not until President Henry Wriston that the University began seriously considering developing a true hous-ing system on campus, according to a May 10, 1952, extended piece in 0e Herald about the history of Brown’s housing written by 0omas Appleget ’17, then the vice president of the University.

Wriston proposed his initial plans to the Corporation in 1943, basing his ideas and goals on Way-land’s desire for a residential campus expressed nearly 100 years prior, Appleget wrote. Wriston hoped to construct a large housing area that would be home to the University’s fraternities as well as independents — students that are not a3liated with Greek organizations — that needed housing. In September of 1951, Wriston Quad was completed, and fraternity members began liv-

ing on campus. At that point, the University was a3liated with 17 fraternities, with members making up almost half the student body.

Wriston pushed for this con-struction, Appleget wrote, because of what he felt was a need for a greater sense of community at the University.

“Intimate friendship and col-lege spirit and good breeding all demand that men should sit at table together, in unhurried intercourse,” Wriston wrote in an accompanying piece in that same issue.

He also wished for a university where fraternity brothers would have places not only to live on cam-pus, but also to grow as intellectu-als and to interact with their non-Greek schoolmates. In exchange for on-campus housing, the Uni-versity assumed the deeds to their o1-campus houses.

“Freed from the burden of debt and occupying attractive quarters, they again may become an educa-tional force, as well as an e1ective bond between successive genera-tions of alumni,” Wriston wrote.

‘No sense of community’Despite the fact that there are no

Greek common areas converted this semester — though Buxton Interna-tional House’s library was converted into dorm space last semester — independents’ common areas have not been as readily available for use.

0e independent lounge and kitchen in Goddard House has housed students all year, accord-ing to Michelle Ngo ’12, a com-munity assistant in the building. Independents in Diman House have also had their common areas converted, Angell Shi ’13, a com-munity assistant, wrote in an email to 0e Herald. Diman’s basement lounge and library are currently living spaces for students, while the main independent lounge was set to be converted but then reverted back to a lounge, Shi wrote.

Overcrowding  swells  Wriston  tensions

By GREG JORDAN!DETAMORESENIOR STAFF WRITER

A majority of students indicated that overcrowding in on-campus housing — speci.cally the accom-modation of students in kitchens and lounges — has a1ected their resi-dential experience, according to last month’s Herald poll. Eleven percent of respondents said overcrowding has a1ected them very much, while 43 percent said it has a1ected them somewhat. Forty-six percent said they have not been a1ected by the loss of common spaces.

Fi/y-.ve percent of .rst-years, 59 percent of sophomores, 60 percent of juniors and 42 percent of seniors — many of whom live o1-campus — said they have been a1ected by the overcrowding.

Seventeen percent of sophomores said they have been a1ected “very much” by overcrowding, compared to 7 percent of seniors, 11 percent of juniors and 8 percent of .rst-years.

This mirrors another trend: When asked in the poll what the University’s highest priority should be, 14 percent of sophomores favored building new on-campus dorms, compared to 11 percent of juniors and 8 percent of both .rst-years and seniors.

0ough students living in tem-porary housing o/en have varying

opinions of their living situations — as 0e Herald has reported in the past — students living near con-verted kitchens and lounges also feel the e1ects of lost common spaces.

‘No options’“Last semester, our second-2oor

kitchen was converted into a triple,” said Ellen Shadburn ’12, a second-2oor resident of Vartan Gregorian Quad A, which houses about 170 students. Some students chose to live on the second 2oor because of its kitchen, Shadburn said, but were given no warning it would be taken away.

“A lot of us wanted to reduce our meal plans, but decided not to because the only kitchen was so far away.” She said the situation was “extremely inconvenient” for a suitemate who enjoys cooking. 0is semester, the kitchen has been reopened.

Some students living in Wriston Quadrangle dormitories as indepen-dents — residents not a3liated with program or Greek houses — have no access to kitchens or lounges in their buildings.

“We are independents, and we have no kitchen or lounge,” said Jordan Place ’13, a Marcy House resident who is not on a meal plan.

0e O3ce of Residential Life gave him card access to Sears House to use its independent kitchen, he said. “We rarely do anything with a stove, because we just don’t want to walk,”

Place said. “We microwave a lot of things in our room.”

Hope College has two lounges — one in the basement and Apple-get Lounge on the .rst 2oor. But Appleget Lounge is currently being used to house students, leaving Hope residents with only the basement lounge.

“I have never seen Appleget Lounge,” Hope resident Margaret Tennis ’14 said. 0e basement lounge is cold and uncomfortable, she said. “I know that everyone in Hope is pretty peeved about the situation.”

She said that if she wants to talk on the phone, but her roommate is in the room, she has nowhere to go. 0ere are “no options if you want to respect your roommate’s rights and still have your privacy,” she said. Ten-nis also said there is nowhere to go for students who want to study in the dorm. “We have people doing work in the kitchens every night, which I don’t think is ideal.”

Looking for a loungeResLife’s website currently con-

tains inaccurate information about common spaces. For example, it says North Wayland House 101 is a lounge, but in reality, it is being used to house students.

Excluding Arnold Lounge, Re-sLife’s website lists .ve lounges in Keeney Quadrangle, but a visit to one of the locations — Bronson House

Lack  of  common  spaces  irks  studentsJulien Ouellet / Herald

THE HERALD POLL

continued on page 8 continued on page 8

To what extent has overcrowding — the accommodation of students in common spaces such as lounges or kitchens — a"ected your residential experience?

Jabberwocks’ lounge has storied history

Most on-campus residential spaces are primarily used by the students that live in the building, but Room 004 in North Wayland House serves as home to the Jabberwocks, the University’s oldest a cappella group. The Jabberwocks is the only student group on campus to have space in a dormitory allotted solely for its use.

When a few of the Jabberwocks found an abandoned bicycle room in North Wayland in 1988, the group decided to invest in making it a unique space for themselves, according to Joe Lerman ’11, a senior member of the singing group.

“At the time we got the room, it was just having a place where we could put all of that stu! — the keyboard, the music,” Lerman said.

The room is used for rehearsals, and occasionally members’ own projects and a few parties each semester.

Reed McNab ’12, Wayland’s women peer counselor, said she feels it is unfair that the Jabberwocks are the only group on campus with their own room, as if the University considered them “the elite a cappella group on campus.”

— Joseph Rosales

of each school year, the melt miti-gates overcrowding as the semester progresses and students living in temporary housing are moved into normal rooms. And in years that begin with vacancies, the melt in-tensi.es the problem of being under capacity for ResLife.

0e total number of new and continuing students is made up of the number of students continuing at Brown, returning from abroad or returning from leaves, plus incoming .rst-years and fall transfers.

Of this piece of the equation, Bova said he faces similar uncer-tainty. 0e number of incoming .rst-years, Bova said, is generally close to its target. Other variables, like students returning from abroad, are based on what students report, and are more likely to change. Ad-ministrators calculate the projec-tions based on students’ indications of their intentions combined with historical trends, refreshing esti-mates periodically.

But even trends change, Bergeron noted.

“Another problem has to do with the fact that one side of the house deals in beds, and the other side deals in FTE’s,” Bergeron said. An FTE, or full-time equivalent, is an undergraduate student who is tak-ing at least three courses at Brown, Bergeron said. 0ough many num-bers at the University, such as the enrollment target, are speci.ed in FTE’s, this number does not always translate perfectly into the number of students who will be living at Brown, though it is usually quite close.

A large chunk of off-campus approvals are sent out in the fall, followed by another round shortly before the housing lottery. Later into the school year and over the summer, Bova said he sends out new approv-als weekly. 0e model is updated at several points as its variables — such as deadlines for declaring study abroad choices — .rm up.

Toward the end of the process, Bova also needs to track down about 30 “ghosts,” or students who have not done anything to arrange housing for the next year. Later on, ResLife may also need to accommodate a number of students who are o1 campus and do not like their living situations. In such cases, Bova said he does his best

to .nd rooms for them on campus.

A leaky safety valveEven if the model perfectly pre-

dicted the number of students who ought to live o1 campus, achieving that target number of o1-campus students is also messy work.

“0ere are many students who sign up, get o1-campus approval, and they have no intention of even going o1 campus,” Bova said.

Currently there is no penalty for applying for o1-campus permission and then declining to live o1 campus prior to Super Deadline Day, which was March 8 this year.

Students declining permission a/er the deadline are ineligible to participate in the lottery and are forced onto the summer waitlist.

“0at creates such a ripple and a 2urry of phone calls from parents,” Bova said, which at times involves a large amount of “screaming, yelling, insulting behavior.”

But assignments on the sum-mer waitlist are made by semester level, so upperclassmen who decline permission usually end up living in normal housing and not in con-verted lounges. In fact, 90 percent of students in temporary housing this fall were sophomores, accord-ing to Bova.

“Why do you apply for o1-cam-pus permission if you don’t really want it? Many students want their feet in both places of the yard. 0ey want to straddle the fence,” Bova said.

“Is there an incentive for Brown students to want to have their feet in multiple doors? Yes,” he continued, saying that the University’s housing system has been based on senior-ity for decades, which is inherently vulnerable to misaligned incentives.

“But I really cannot foresee a time when I just shut students out completely and say, ‘You made a bad choice,’” he said. “We don’t leave any-body on the doorstep.”

Last semester, Richard Hilton, ResLife’s assistant director for opera-tions, sent emails to all sophomores and juniors, directed at any students “thinking of applying for o1-campus permission.” For many sophomores, this was their .rst introduction to the o1-campus system.

“0ere are a limited number of students approved to live o1 campus each year. 0erefore, if you have any

interest in living o1 campus for the 2011-12 academic year, please com-plete an application,” Hilton wrote.

Still, Bova said ResLife has put stern warnings on its website to students who would apply for o1-campus permission on a whim.

“I think we’re very clear,” Bova said. “Enter in the process if this is what you want. Why enter the pro-cess if you don’t have the intention?”

Bova said 78 juniors declined their permission late last spring.

0ough ResLife maintains wait-lists for students initially denied o1-

campus permission, some students say they have been noti.ed too late to .nd housing in Providence.

Bova dismissed the prospect of approving more students for o1-campus permission than the current model’s o1-campus target, saying he does not believe it is ResLife’s respon-sibility to plan around students who irresponsibly back out of o1-campus commitments.

“0ere is no housing program in the country that will overshoot the model because they think people are going to decline,” he said.

H*$%,+48 T(& B)*'+ D!,-. H&)!-/M*+/!., A#),- 00, 1200

109 — reveals otherwise, leaving only four lounges for Keeney Quad’s roughly 600 residents. 0ree of these lounges are on the top 2oor. Keeney Quad also has only three kitchens, though one listed on ResLife’s web-site, again Bronson 109, does not ex-ist, while another kitchen — Bronson 421 — is not listed on the site.

0e Residential Council’s website information on dormitories — last updated in 2008 — lists eight kitch-ens in Keeney Quad.

ResLife does not update infor-mation on its website each year to re2ect temporary changes, and the guarantee that all dorms will have kitchens should not be taken literally, Richard Bova, senior associate dean of residential and dining services, said in an Oct. 28, 2010 Herald ar-ticle. “Everybody does have access to kitchens, but it’s all up for interpreta-tion,” he said.

“I think there’s always an impact on students when there’s not as much communal space,” Bova said in the article.

Leigh Carroll ’12, a Women’s Peer Counselor and Herald contribut-ing writer, lives next to a converted lounge and kitchen in Keeney Quad. “0ere’s de.nitely a lack of common space,” she said.

Keeney Quad’s top-2oor lounges are “de.nitely too far for people to go just to hang out,” Carroll said. Her residents tend to hang out in hallways and individual rooms, and with no kitchen in her unit, cooking can be di3cult.

5e Herald poll was conducted March 14-16 and has a 2.9 percent margin of error with 95 percent con-6dence. 5e margin of error was 5.6 percent for the subset of 6rst-years, 5.6 percent for sophomores, 5.9 percent for juniors and 6.1 percent for seniors. A total of 972 students completed the poll, which 5e Herald distributed as a written questionnaire in J. Walter Wilson and the Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center during the day and in the Sciences Library at night.

“I think it’s very unfortunate for the residents because some people are o1 meal plan and need at least a kitchen,” Ngo wrote in an email to 0e Herald about the situation in Goddard. “I’ve had some people email me about their dissatisfaction, but there’s nothing I can do about it, and neither can they.”

According to Emma Patterson Ware ’13, both her roommate Laken Hottle ’13 and she are on meal plans “because there’s no way to be o1.”

“0ere’s no other space for you to go in that building,” Patterson Ware said.

“It makes you feel really un-dervalued,” Hottle said. “0ere’s no

sense of community.”Molly Chambers ’11.5 said the

two students who were placed in Buxton’s library last semester felt uncomfortable — they were the only ones in the building who were not a part of the program house.

“It’s not the ideal community to have two people living who are not involved at all,” she said.

‘It’s just not fair’For fraternity and sorority

members, the independents’ lack of common areas may be a problem, though not one they were all aware of. James Ardell ’13, a member of the Delta Phi fraternity, thought all lounge areas in Goddard were reserved for members of DPhi and

Alpha Delta Phi, the fraternity and literary society that share the build-ing with independents.

“I guess it sucks to be an in-dependent and not get your own lounge, but I think most people understand that when they’re liv-ing in the frat,” Ardell wrote in an email to 0e Herald.

Hottle noted the stark contrast between the situation of indepen-dents and that of Greek residents.

“It’s just not fair, and it’s not comfortable to live in a place like this,” she said. “If I just had access to a kitchen and a common room, that would make everything so much better.”

Andrew Alvarez ’11, president of the Greek Council, wrote in an

email to 0e Herald that in situa-tions where independents do not have social spaces available to them, they have other options to turn to. “(0e O3ce of Residential Life), upon request, will give indepen-dents card access to all houses on Wriston for the use of available so-cial spaces, a privilege the Greeks are not entitled to,” he wrote.

Hottle said ResLife gave her ac-cess to Harkness House, but she is hesitant to start cooking. “It’s awk-ward and weird to be using their kitchen,” she said.

0ough the Greek system may seem to have a set of privileges, there are also responsibilities Greeks must adhere to, Alvarez wrote.

“Any fraternity or sorority is subject to losing their social spaces when membership declines in order to use those social spaces for more independents,” he wrote. “Greek houses are still under the guide-lines of (Residential Council) and ResLife. Not too many non-Greeks are aware of that part because they don’t have to interact with Res Council.”

Until overcrowding on campus is eased, independents will continue to deal with what Ngo feels is an unfortunate lack of common areas.

“We’re all helpless in this over-crowding situation,” Ngo wrote.

— With additional reporting by Greg Jordan-Detamore

Independents  lose  out  in  search  for  Wriston  common  space

Matching  heads  with  beds  an  inexact  process Common  areas  out  of  reach  for  students  

continued from page 7

continued from page 6

continued from page 7

The Housing ModelTotal Students

Students continuing+

Students returning from abroad+

Students returning from leaves+

Incoming "rst-years+

Incoming fall transfers

Students going o!-campus for study abroad

+Students taking leaves of all types

(medical, personal, etc.)

Those not needing housing-

=Number of beds short

=Target number to live o" campus

= Initial number approved for

o"-campus permission

-Beds available on campus

Julien Ouellet / Herald

By JAMES BLUMSPORTS STAFF WRITER

0e men’s and women’s track teams garnered three .rst-place .nishes at the unscored University of Con-necticut Alumni Invite Saturday.

0e men’s 4x100-meter relay team, which was composed of John Spooney ’14, Matt Bevil ’14, Ajani Brown ’14 and Nathan Elder ’13, came in .rst place with a time of 3 minutes, 17.94 seconds.

“My best race was the 400 in the four by four,” Spooney said. “I was really relaxed, and there wasn’t much pressure.”

Spooney also had impressive performances in the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints. He .nished third in the 100 in 10.82 seconds and sec-ond in the 200 with a time of 21.42.

“I think I ran well. 0ere were some improvements that need to be made,” Spooney said. “Improving my starts in the 200 and just relax-ing, both mentally and in my form.”

Daniel Smith ’13 had a strong showing in the shot put with a heave of 52 feet, four inches that earned him third place. Jonathan Dieujuste ’14 triple jumped 45–2 1/2, which propelled him to a second-place .nish. Erik Berg ’13 .nished the 800-meter run in third place, with a time of 1:52.90.

0ere were a lot of injuries that prevented many of the male athletes from competing, Spooney said.

The two first-place finishes on the women’s side belonged to Victoria Buhr ’13, who threw the discus 153-7, and Rachel Biblo ’11, who triple jumped 41-8 1/2 . Buhr also recorded a third-place throw of 43-5 3/4 in the shot put. Lacey

Craker ’13 added to the successes of the throwing squad by coming in third place in the hammer throw with a heave of 143-11. Gabriela Baiter ’11 came in a close second place behind Biblo in the triple jump with a combined leap of 40-

11 1/2. 0e women’s distance squad also

had some strong performances, as Samantha Adelberg ’11 recorded a second-place .nish in the 1500-me-ter run in 4:27.05. Ari Garber ’12 and Kesley Ramsey ’11 .nished

second and third in the 3000-me-ter run with times of 9:41.85 and 9:46.00, respectively.

Bruno returns home Saturday for the Brown Invitational, the .rst of two home meets during the teams’ outdoor seasons.

9T(& B)*'+ D!,-. H&)!-/M*+/!., A#),- 00, 1200

Dr. Bear | Mat Becker

Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline

Gelotology | Guillaume Riesen

CO M I C Sthe center and attended the senior recital, which quickly became a jam session for all, McGarrell said.

0e band also gave a concert at a church in South Dublin to support the Dublin Housing Mental Health Association.

“0is concert had a very large audience, and we were able to raise almost 3,000 euro,” McGarrell said. 0ey played a wide selection of repertory pieces, including works by Duke Ellington. 0e band also performed in the bar at the Conrad Dublin Hotel preceding the Dublin City Jazz Orchestra’s concert at the National Concert Hall across the street.

“Performing together night a/er night was a really neat experience,” said Brett Anders ’14, a trumpet player in the band. “As an ensem-ble, we started to sound better, our sound got a lot tighter over a couple nights.” Schonwald said the trip was “a huge success” and believed this to be “largely because Irish people are very welcoming.”

Students also had time to wander around Dublin and take in the city and its surrounding areas, including sightseeing and a hiking trip just outside the city, Anders said.

McGarrel said the trip’s funding, which totaled about $22,000, came from a number of sources, including the students themselves, money sent in from Brown Jazz Band alums, the wind symphony and jazz band instructional account, the Sarah and Robert A. Reichley endorsed fund and the O3ce of the President.

At a rehearsal early on the eve-ning of April 7, the Brown Jazz Band were already hard at work on their next major event, rehearsing with celebrated jazz clarinetist and trumpeter Anat Cohen for a concert which took place in Salomon 101 on Saturday night.

in Pakistan. 0e musician’s wife told the audience that the 2oods were more disastrous than Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti earthquake combined. But the 2oods did not receive as much attention as those disasters, and international aid was delayed. She also described the or-ganization’s work in sponsoring a girls’ school and building a village in Pakistan.

She concluded by urging the audience members to take action.“Start from where you are and do what you can,” she urged. “You are the hope of the world.”

Jazz  band  jives  and  tours  in  Dublin

Musician  jams  in  many  languages

continued from page 12

continued from page 12

SPORTS

E/,3*),!-10 T(& B)*'+ D!,-. H&)!-/M*+/!., A#),- 00, 1200

C O R R E C T I O N S P O L I C Y0e Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days a/er publication.

C O M M E N TA R Y P O L I C Y0e editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page board of 0e Brown Daily Herald. 0e editorial viewpoint does not necessarily re2ect the views of 0e Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics re2ect the opinions of their authors only.

L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R P O L I C YSend letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. 0e Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and clarity and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed.

A D V E R T I S I N G P O L I C Y0e Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.

E D I TO R I A L CO M I C B Y A L E X Y U LY

“Many students want their feet in both places

of the yard. They want to straddle the fence.”— Richard Bova, senior assoc. dean of residential and dining services

See HOUSING MODEL on page 6.

E D I TO R I A L

Beginning tomorrow at noon, students will have 48 hours to vote for chair of the Undergraduate Finance Board. We strongly encourage students to read up on the campaign and cast a ballot. As the organization in charge of apportioning funds to student groups, UFB plays a major role in our lives on campus. A/er speaking with the candidates, we believe David Chanin ’12 is the right pick for UFB chair.

Chanin’s opponent, Jason Lee ’12, currently serves as UFB vice chair, giving him valuable experience making policy decisions. Lee’s priorities include increasing transparency and strengthening col-laborative bonds with the Undergraduate Council of Students and individual student groups — both worthy goals. But his emphasis on improving professionalism, while certainly important, was also at the heart of his campaign for vice chair last year.

Chanin is campaigning on a forward-thinking agenda that is ambitious but realistic. He has spent the last two years on UFB work-ing with student groups and serving as liaison between UFB and the Brown University Activities Committee. Chanin’s background makes him well-quali.ed for UFB chair.

Central to Chanin’s campaign is his goal of implementing an on-line budgeting process for student groups next year. Such a system is long overdue — online budgeting will allow student groups to easily access data from past years and submit their current proposals in a more convenient form. Chanin has already done preliminary work on this project and o1ered us a clear plan of action for implement-ing the system in full.

We were also impressed with Chanin’s idea of directing a small share of UFB funding to UCS for allocation to students with innova-tive solutions to campus problems such as event publicity. Chanin told us UFB must follow strict guidelines when doling out money, making UCS a better appropriator of such a fund. 0e idea is a sound one and underscores Chanin’s commitment to improving student groups’ e1ectiveness, even when that means ceding some power.

Finally, we believe Chanin is the right person to push the stalled Capital Closet project to fruition. 0is initiative would see UFB purchase equipment student groups frequently use at events, saving money currently used for renting such equipment. It is disconcerting that such a great idea, which has been on the table for over a year, has gained little traction with the administration. Chanin is committed to persuading President Ruth Simmons and other administrators to give the project the go-ahead.

Both candidates would look to strengthen alumni relations as a means of .nding alternative funding sources and push to enlarge the student activities endowment, which would render the student activities fee unnecessary if it grew large enough. We are glad both candidates are committed to these important goals.If you are not in a student group yourself, then surely you have been to an event put on by one. UFB plays a very important role in the operations of student groups, which in turn help to keep our campus vibrant, engaging and entertaining. Chanin is the right person to chair this vital institution and ensure that student groups continue to 2ourish.

Students can vote for UFB chair through MyCourses. We will o1er our endorsement in the race for Undergraduate Council of Students president tomorrow.

Editorials are written by 5e Herald’s editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

Q U OT E O F T H E DAY

3(& 7)*'+ /!,-. (&)!-/

Kristina FazzalaroLuisa RobledoRebecca BallhausClaire PeracchioTalia KaganHannah MoserAlex BellNicole BoucherTony BakshiAshley McDonnellEthan McCoyTyler RosenbaumHunter FastMichael Fitzpatrick

Abe PressmanAlex YulyStephanie LondonHilary RosenthalNick Sinnott-ArmstrongJonathan Bateman

Graphics EditorGraphics Editor

Photo EditorPhoto EditorPhoto Editor

Sports Photo Editor

GRAPHICS  &  PHOTOS

BUSINESS

Dan TowneGili KligerAnna MigliaccioKatie Wilson

PRODUCTIONCopy Desk Chief

Design EditorDesign EditorDesign Editor

EDITORIAL

Arts & Culture EditorArts & Culture Editor

City & State EditorCity & State Editor

Features EditorFeatures Editor

News EditorNews Editor

Sports EditorSports Editor

Asst. Sports EditorEditorial Page Editor

Opinions EditorOpinions Editor

EDITORS-­IN-­CHIEF

Sydney EmberBen Schreckinger

SENIOR  EDITORS

Dan AlexanderNicole Friedman

Julien Ouellet

DEPUTY  MANAGING  EDITORS

Brigitta GreeneAnne Speyer

BLOG DAILY HERALDDavid WinerMatt Klimerman

Editor-in-ChiefManaging Editor

GENERAL  MANAGERS

Matthew BurrowsIsha Gulati

OFFICE  MANAGER

Shawn Reilly

DIRECTORSAditi BhatiaDanielle MarshakMargot GrinbergLisa Berlin

MANAGERS

Hao TranAlec KacewSiena deLisserValery ScholemJared DavisLauren BossoEmily ZhengNikita KhadloyaJames EngArjun VaidyaWebber Xu

SalesFinance

Alumni RelationsSpecial Projects

National SalesUniversity Department Sales

University Student Group SalesRecruiter Sales

Sales and CommunicationsBusiness Operations

Business AnalyticsAlumni Engagement

Special ProjectsSpecial ProjectsSpecial Projects

POST- MAGAZINEKate Doyle Editor-in-Chief

Chanin  ’12  for  UFB  chair

O#,+,*+% 11T(& B)*'+ D!,-. H&)!-/M*+/!., A#),- 00, 1200

0e public’s conception of domestic terror-ism has changed drastically over the past de-cade. As apparent from Rep. Peter King’s (R-N.Y.) Congressional hearings, domestic ter-rorism is now almost exclusively associated with Muslim extremists. While Muslim ex-tremism is certainly one of the main types of threats from domestic terrorism, it is not the only one. All too o/en non-Muslim terrorists are forgotten or ignored. Do not forget that until Sept. 11, the biggest terrorist act inside the United States was carried out by Timothy McVeigh, an anti-government extremist act-ing out a white supremacist fantasy.

While attacks by Al Qaeda and related groups have resulted in signi.cant casualties, none of them has posed an existential threat to the country. Meanwhile, groups that have posed real threats continue to mill around in obscurity. 0e most successful group was the Ku Klux Klan, which denied many Ameri-cans basic rights, like the right to vote.

Luckily, the Klan’s in2uence has faded, but there are other extremist groups in the coun-try that just as fervently want to deny others their rights. Currently, the anti-abortion ter-rorists seem the most successful in under-mining the law. In 2009, an extremist assas-sinated George Tiller, a Wichita, Kan. doctor who performed abortions, a/er years of ha-rassment, bombings of his clinics and even

assassination attempts. Anti-abortion ex-tremists have begun to harass another doctor, who is training to provide the .rst abortions in Wichita since Tiller’s murder.

While Islamist, anti-abortion, white-supremacist, anti-government and other groups present serious threats, they are usu-ally not the ones most relevant at universi-ties. On campuses, animal rights terrorists pose the biggest threat. Just like Muslims, people who oppose abortion and those who favor smaller government, not everyone who

supports various amounts of rights is willing to terrorize scientists. Most are quite happy with scientists doing their research so long as it is done humanely. In fact, the researchers themselves care about the wellbeing of the animals and are not, as the extremists claim, sadists.

0e one good thing I can say about ani-mal rights terrorists is that they do not seem to have graduated to outright murder. Sure, they vandalize research facilities. 0ey re-lease animals into the wild to be cruelly ripped apart by teeth and beaks — predators are notoriously anti-animal rights. 0ey dis-tribute the names and home addresses of sci-

entists — a tactic that the anti-abortion ex-tremists use to intimidate doctors. 0ey even .rebomb scientists’ homes and cars with the scientists and their families inside. 0ey have at least a little humanity and so far avoid out-right murder, but the message to the target is clear: Next time, it could be you on .re.

0ese tactics have not stopped scien-tists so far. 0e tactics of animal rights ter-rorists have even caused protests to dem-onstrate support of animal research in the face of these attacks. One terrorist, writing

on the website Negotiation is Over, put for-ward a new proposal to stop animal models being used in research. 0e title sums it up well: “Bringing the War to the Student Body — 0e So/-Bellied Target of the Vivisection Complex.” 0e goal of the proposal is to in-timidate students to avoid studying anything that involves lab animals.

0e author of the plan presents three steps to achieve the movement’s goal of stopping animal research. 0e second step captures her malevolent desires well: “Students also need to understand that making the wrong choice will result in a lifetime of grief. Aspir-ing scientists envision curing cancer at the

Mayo Clinic. We need to impart a new vi-sion: car bombs, 24/7 security cameras, em-barrassing home demonstrations, threats, in-juries and fear. And, of course, these students need to realize that any personal risk they are willing to assume will also be visited upon their parents, children and nearest and dear-est loved ones. 0e time to reconsider is now.”

Is anyone reconsidering? No? Good.I am not particularly relieved by her vi-

sion of the future of animal rights terrorism either: “Every time a vivisector’s car or home — and, eventually, the abuser him/herself — blows up, 2ames of liberation light up the sky.” While animal rights activists have been less willing to kill people than other domestic terrorist groups — humans are animals, too — there is always the possibility that they will become more desperate as society goes on with medical and scienti.c advances while they are ignored.

We should by no means live in fear of ani-mal rights terrorists, anti-abortion terrorists or any of the others. But neither should they be ignored. 0e country not only needs good laws to stop terrorists from completing their attacks, but also e1ort by law enforcement to investigate these groups. Law enforcement has done well in many cases, but focus should not be .xed on one type of terrorism alone.

David She#eld ’11 is a mathematical physics concentrator whose research

makes him an accomplice to the genocide of trillions of protons. Hadron rights

extremists can intimidate him at david_she#eld@brown.edu.

Hello,  soft-­bellied  targets

The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property staged a protest against gay marriage March 23. Students responded with a spontaneous rally for gay rights. On the whole, the Brown community deserves praise for mobilizing to support gay rights. But cer-tain aspects of this counter-protest were disgraceful, demeaning and counterpro-ductive.

Unfortunately, Brown’s counter-ral-ly was not only defined by support and love for the gay community. It was also defined by hateful and uncivil behavior. Some protestors resorted to vandalism, profanity, spitting and physical obstruc-tion. These immature actions reflected poorly on our student body and did not further the cause of gay rights.

The community has been too self-con-gratulatory in regards to this protest. We have overlooked the uncivil behavior of some protestors to elevate our sense of accomplishment and moral superiority. The behavior of some students at the ral-ly demands intense self-examination, not mindless self-righteousness.

Certainly, not every protestor acted in a disrespectful manner. But it only takes a few uncivil protestors to frame a narra-tive of violent protest. Brown students of-ten judge the Tea Party by the actions of a

minority of its members. When a few at-tendants of a Tea Party event wield racist signs or make physical threats, we con-demn all of middle America. When a few members of our own community resort to spitting, vandalism and obscenity, we conveniently overlook their behavior — or even glorify it.

Regardless of the actual number of people who engaged in such behavior, the community has failed to effective-ly distance itself from those who did act in such a hateful and counterproductive

way. Instead, we have either dismissed their behavior or taken pride in it.

Having a noble goal does not excuse impure actions. While it is admirable to advocate for gay rights, it is not admira-ble to spit at opponents, flip them off or attempt to vandalize their property. This immature behavior becomes even less worthy when it is counterproductive, as it was in this case.

The society produced a provocative video that captured Brown students flip-ping off its members, trying to destroy their property and spitting on their ma-terials. By acting in such an immature fashion, these protesters allowed the so-ciety to change the narrative of the rally. While students view the counter-protest as a triumph for gay rights, those who see the video may see it as a testament to our campus’s climate of hate and inability to civilly engage with those who hold differ-ent beliefs.

A more civil protest would have been a more effective protest. Students could have made an equally strong case by gath-ering in large numbers and vocally sup-porting gay rights rather than resorting to vandalism, obscenities and spitting. A civil protest would have denied the soci-ety the opportunity to alter the focus of their rally. Although they stand for little more than homophobia and hate, our be-

havior allowed them to play the victim card and portray us as the hate group.

John Miller, a volunteer with the soci-ety, said of Brown’s response, “The intel-lectual level is below the Ivy League sta-tus.” It is tempting to dismiss this com-ment as the ranting of a bitter man. Un-fortunately, his observation carries a sad amount of truth. No college students should resort to physical obstruction, ob-scenities or spitting, no matter how ho-mophobic or intolerant the opposition.

It is unlikely that the society would have been open to an honest intellectual debate, but their closed-mindedness does not excuse our uncivil behavior. Protes-tors should have either ignored the soci-ety or focused on staging their own coun-ter-protest, instead of sabotaging the so-ciety’s.

Students are fond of citing Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. But we fail to apply their teachings to our own lives. At this rally, we had the chance to counter hate with civil disagreement and pure love for the gay community. Instead, we stooped to the level of this hate group by resorting to uncivil tactics. If we had protested in a respectful way, we would have been engaged in a noble, morally certain battle. But by resorting to such disrespectful tactics, we ceded the moral high ground.

Oliver Rosenbloom ’13 is a history concentrator from Mill Valley, Calif.

He can be contacted atoliver_rosenbloom@brown.edu.

Ceding  the  moral  high  ground

Unfortunately, Brown’s counter-rally was not only de"ned by support and love for the gay community. It

was also de"ned by hateful and uncivil behavior.

At universities, animal rights terrorists pose the biggest threat.

BY OLIVER ROSENBLOOMOPINIONS COLUMNIST

BY DAVID SHEFFIELDOPINIONS COLUMNIST

D!"#$ H%&!#'THE BROWNA)3% 4 C$-3$)&

M*+/!., A#),- 00, 1200

Jazz  band  charmed  in  Ireland

By HANNAH ABELOWCONTRIBUTING WRITER

When one thinks of Ireland, one might imagine green .elds, pots of gold and a pub or two. But for the Brown Jazz Band, the country is more a miniature mecca of impro-visational beats and bluesy rhythms. Over spring break, the 20 members of the ensemble and Matthew Mc-Garrell, senior lecturer in music and director of the jazz band, traveled to Dublin for six days to soak up the local jazz 2avor and perform with Irish musicians.

0e band takes similar trips every other year, recently visiting Portugal, Iceland and Italy. “We like to go to one city and stay there,” McGarrell said. “We pick places with active jazz scenes of some kind be-cause we like to interact with local musicians.”

“0e jazz scene in Dublin is small but it was good because we could easily navigate it in a short period of time,” said Rosalind Schonwald ’12, the group’s singer and a former Herald arts and cul-ture editor.

0e group was especially excited about the opportunity to play with Jim Doherty, a world-renowned jazz pianist who has long been integral to Dublin’s jazz scene, McGarrell said.

Dublin not only o1ered a local professional jazz scene, but also the Newpark Music Center — a music school a3liated with the Berklee College of Music.

“Interacting with the students at the music school was a highlight,” Schonwald said. 0e group prac-ticed together with students from

Pakistani  artist  rocks  Faunce

By KATHERINE SOLASENIOR STAFF WRITER

“0at whisper in your heart has strength,” Salman Ahmad told the audience in the Underground Fri-day evening. 0e Pakistani star of Su. rock combined songs in Urdu and Punjabi with conversation about his experiences growing up in America and Pakistan in a pre-sentation entitled “Rock and Roll Jihad.”

Ahmad played 17th century Punjabi music, Pakistani nation-alist songs, qawwali music and the shahada, the Islamic declaration of faith. He proved to be an engaging performer, coaxing the audience of Brown students and community members to clap and sing along to lyrics many did not understand. He said when people sing together, their “mystical energy” creates a “circle of light,” breaking down the walls between members of the audience.

He told them the story of his childhood and his struggles to become a musician in the face of opposition from his Pakistani family, who wanted him to be-come a doctor. But a/er seeing a Led Zeppelin concert at age 13, he decided, “0at’s what I want to do with my life.” Ahmad attended medical school in Pakistan but be-came frustrated by the strict Islamic dictatorship’s prohibitions against music and poetry. He organized a covert talent show, which was bro-ken up by militants who smashed his guitar. “If you’re a rock musi-cian, you’d better destroy your own instrument,” he said ruefully. 0at moment “changed everything,” and he resolved to follow the whisper in his heart.

Ahmad works toward fostering peace between India and Pakistan and emphasized the role of music in cross-cultural communication. He and his band, Junoon, were the .rst Pakistani band to tour India. He described how his friends and relatives told him, “You’ll be tor-tured, and then you’ll be deported.” But he was surprised by the warm welcome his band received, telling the audience about a time when three major Bollywood stars came into his dressing room before a per-formance to ask for his autograph for their nieces. 0is experience, he said, exempli.ed the “strange cultural relationship between India and Pakistan,” in spite of political con2ict. He asserted that personal contact like this will be the “way forward” for the two countries.

Ahmad played a popular Paki-stani song to great enthusiasm from the audience.

0e evening took a more serious turn when Ahmad’s wife, Samina Ahmad, took the stage. Two years ago, the couple started a non-pro.t organization, the Salman and Sam-ina Global Wellness Initiative in response to the catastrophic 2oods

Avery Houser / HeraldDavid Jacobs ’14 and his fellow storytellers recounted experiences such as long-distance relationships, drunken debauchery and slaughtering farm animals.

Storytelling  event  a  ‘slam’  dunkBy ALEXANDRA SAN JORGE

ARTS & CULTURE STAFF WRITER

Inspired by the public radio pro-gram “0is American Life” and a non-pro.t storytelling organization “0e Moth,” the Brown Storytellers brought the art of storytelling to campus for the .rst time this past weekend with their “story slam.”

0e slam took place in Kassar House Fox Auditorium for a full house of enthusiastic audience members. 0e set up was simple but elegant — a chalkboard dec-orated with a smattering of key words and an illustration of a beef -cut diagram adorned the front of the room.

At 8:10 p.m. on Friday, Eli Bo-sworth ’12.5 kicked o1 the two-day event with a story describing a high school community service trip to Costa Rica. Bosworth kept the audience in stitches describing his attempt to become the “alpha

dog” of the trip despite competi-tion from Rashad, “a guy with tat-toos on his arms that wouldn’t even .t on my torso,” Bosworth said.

“We want to blend the conver-sational tone and the everyday-ness of our stories and formalize them into a performative, liter-ary art,” said Jonathan Topaz ’12, creator of the Brown Storytellers.

Bosworth’s humorous tale proved an excellent opener to the following night of laughter. 0e storytellers — including David Ja-cobs ’14, Lily Goodspeed ’13, Aar-on Jacobs ’12 and Sophie Friedman ’12 — infused seemingly simple stories with a graceful complexity and good natured humor. What made the stories worth listening to — and remembering — was the way each storyteller introduced moments of meaningful re2ection to balance out the night’s humor-ous tone.

Topaz, a member of 0e Her-

ald’s editorial page board, said he started the club with the goal of helping students bring polish to their casual storytelling — calling it perhaps “the oldest art form in the world.” Topaz himself most de/ly balanced humor and depth in a story about the last weekend he spent taking a cycling class with his now-ex girlfriend

Steve Carmody ’12 entertained with his lyrical style. In a story about his experience as a butcher, Cormody posed the question of the exact moment an animal be-comes meat.

“I’m glad that this exists,” said Marguerite Preston ’11. “0is way of telling stories is a form of social-izing that isn’t as common.”

“I wasn’t expecting how great that was,” Russell Huang ’12 said a/er the performance. “I can’t wait to hear more from them.”

A second story slam is planned for Senior Week in May.

continued on page 9

continued on page 9

By LUCY FELDMANCONTRIBUTING WRITER

Two Apple laptops have been stolen from the graduate student cluster on the fourth 2oor of the English department building since the start of spring break, according to Mark Porter, chief of police and director of public safety.

0e .rst the/ occurred between March 27, when a female graduate student locked her o3ce and se-cured her computer with a laptop lock cable, and March 30, when she returned to the building. Upon her return, she found the o3ce door had been forced open and the laptop cable cut, Porter said. DPS detec-tives found pry marks on the metal of the door and wood chips on the ground, indicating someone had forced the door open with a metal object, likely a screwdriver, he said.

0e second the/ occurred April 5 in the graduate student o3ce

across the hall from the site of the .rst crime. Around 1:30 p.m., a stu-dent le/ her laptop unsecured and unattended for about .ve minutes while she stepped into a neighbor-ing o3ce, Porter said. When she realized she had le/ her laptop out in the open, she returned to .nd it missing.

Devon Anderson, a second-year English graduate student, said at the time of the second the/ there was another unsecured laptop and a purse out in the open in the o3ce. Both went untouched.

“Typically in cases with such a short time frame, there are very spe-ci.c and limited motives and types of suspects,” Porter said in regard to the twin the/s. “We look into special identifying circumstances such as things on the computer itself and the location of the the/. 0is being the fourth 2oor, it’s probably somebody who knows the area.”

Porter said the information the detectives are gathering indicates “some relation between the the/s.” DPS has not identi.ed any indi-

vidual as responsible, but “detectives are focusing on a number of possible leads,” he said.

Kevin McLaughlin, professor of English and chair of the department, said he thinks one person is respon-sible for both crimes. “I think what’s signi.cant is that both occurred in the same part of the building — a quiet area that houses graduate stu-dents,” he said.

In addition to the main staircase in the building that leads to an exit on Brown Street, there is a back stairway near the graduate student cluster that leads to a more isolated exit on Angell Street. Porter said the criminal may have slipped out the back door.

0e two the/s were the .rst in the English department since 2008, Porter said.

“It’s just no longer a safe space,” Anderson said about the building.

“One can sort of hypothesize that a good way to blend in if one were a laptop thief would be to look like a student and have a backpack,” McLaughlin said. “0at means, I

think, we’re all just extra aware of how people are moving in the building, and that’s just really un-fortunate.”

In addition to those taken from the English department, two other laptops have been stolen on cam-pus recently. Two professors had their computers taken from locked o3ces in the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institu-tions between March 23 and April 3, Porter said. But he said there is no evidence the the/s were related.

In response to the number of laptop the/s on campus in the past few years, DPS’s crime prevention unit has been working on lowering laptop the/ rates.

“We’re getting more information and awareness out, and people are taking more precautions, but we have to take a bigger step toward protecting our personal property,” Porter said. “Laptops and other portable electronics are pretty easy targets for the/, and the/ continues to be one of the most common prob-lems on college campuses.”

Twin  laptop  thefts  shake  English  department

CAMPUS NEWS