march 3, 2009 issue

8/14/2019 March 3, 2009 Issue

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/march-3-2009-issue 1/12

www.browndailyherald.com 195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island [email protected]

News.....1-4Metro........5Sports...7-8Editorial..10Opinion...11Today........12

Double heartbreak

M. basketball lost two close

games over the weekend

to Ivy Leage foes

Sports, 7state stimulation

Gov. Carcieri ’65 accepted

R.I.’s portion of the federal

stimls bill last week.

Metro, 5bDs is your pal

Fatima Aqeel ’12 writes that

Dining Services is about

more than jst food

Opinions, 11

i n s i d e

DailyHeraldthe Brown

vol. cxliv, no. 28 | Tuesday, March 3, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891

,00 k - , by emma berry

S taff W riter

Ater alling slightly last year, rst-

year seminar enrollment or the

current school year has been larger

than ever.

Between the 2007-2008 and

2008-2009 academic years, the num-

ber o rst-year seminars oered

rose rom 56 to 74, and total enroll-

ment rose rom about 800 to over

1,100 — the highest level since theprogram started in 2002, according

to Registrar Michael Pesta.

“Things are back on the up-

swing,” Pesta said, adding that

last year’s dip may have been due

to “any number o circumstances,”

including proessors taking sab-

baticals and signicant turnover

in the Dean o the College’s oce

when seminar oerings were being

planned.

According to Dean o the College

Katherine Bergeron, an increase in

the size o the aculty under thePlan or Academic Enrichment

enabled the program’s growth.

Though the Corporation recently

announced that it will slow aculty

hiring to deal with projected losses

o income, “the budget reductions

in the College will not aect the

First-Year Seminar program at all

next year,” Bergeron wrote in an

e-mail to The Herald.

“Since we are expecting an addi-

tional modest growth in the aculty

or next year, we anticipate that

the (rst-year) seminar program will remain on a strong ooting,”

she wrote.

Bergeron wrote that there will

be 72 rst-year seminars taught

during the next school year — a

slight dip rom the 74 oered this

year. She said the decrease would

not aect the program’s goal o

oering enough rst-year semi-

nar slots or the entire reshman

class, typically numbering about

1400 students.

But Pesta said it’s “hard to tell”

K ’k

Dby hannah moser

Senior S taff W riter

Jim Yong Kim ’82, a medical doctor

and global health leader who gradu-

ated rom Brown with a degree in

human biology, has been elected to

become the 17th president o Dart-

mouth, the college’s board o trustees

announced Monday. Kim will begin

his term July 1, succeeding longtime

president James Wright.

Kim, who was born in Seoul andmoved to Iowa at age ve, will be-

come the rst Asian-American presi-

dent o an Ivy League institution and

just the second-ever person o color,

ater Ruth Simmons, to hold such

a post.

“I eel so proud to ollow in Ruth’s

ootsteps,” he said in a telephone in-

terview Monday. “She inspired me to

think that I can do this job.”

A leader in the eld o public

health, Kim garnered international

recognition as a senior ocial at

the World Health Organization or

working to ght diseases such as

M .I. ’ b by brian mastroianni


Lauren Goddard MD’11 ound her-

sel rubbing elbows with the amily

and riends o some o Washington’s

most powerul political players last

Tuesday, as she watched President

Barack Obama’s rst address to Con-

gress rom the Visitor’s Gallery o the

House o Representatives.

“I kept nudging people and say-

ing ‘Look there’s Senator Feinstein,

look there’s Nancy Pelosi, and no

one was phased because they were

probably related to these people,”

Goddard said.

A sel-described “political geek,”

Goddard attended the speech as

a personal guest o Sen. Sheldon

Whitehouse, D-R.I.

“I thought the speech was great

in that it exceeded my

expectations,” she said.

“Obama set out very spe-

cic goals and made the people a

part o those goals and plans — he

makes the public eel invested in the

process.”

For Goddard, Obama’s ocus on

aordable health care had a par ticu-

lar resonance. Ater graduating rom

Barnard College in 2004, Goddard

was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease,

a gastrointestinal disease or which

there is no known cure.

“I took health insurance or

granted or my whole lie, but then

I became too old to be covered by

my mother’s insurance

policy, and I didn’t have

health insurance or a

long time,” Goddard said. “I realized

the contradiction that I was a med

student, and yet I didn’t have health

insurance.”

Goddard met Whitehouse early

last month at a community dinner in

Warwick that ocused on health care

reorm. The dinner was attended by

about 200 people who spoke about

their struggles in receiving health

care, said Alex Swartsel, commu-

nications director in Whitehouse’s

oce.

“Every one o the stories present-

ed at the dinner was compelling,”

Swartsel said. “The interesting thing

about Lauren is that she is a medi-

cal student as well as a patient. As a

student o medicine she knows that i

you are scheduled to take medication

regularly, you take it, but as a patient

who struggled to aord health care

… she is going to have a hard time

nding aordable health care.”

M w by syDney ember


A proposal that would allow the

Watson Institute or International

Studies to grant tenure to its appoin-

tees is on hold ater a widespread

negative response rom aculty

members.

A nal decision on the proposal

— rst suggested by the Watson

Board o Overseers in October 2007

— was supposed to be reached this

semester. But a ear that the tenure

selection process would be used

to attract non-traditional aculty —

along with concerns about the Uni-

versity’s nancial situation — hasdelayed a verdict on the proposal

indenitely.

The Watson board’s proposal

has suered rom a lack o support

rom aculty both inside and outside

the institute.

“I think we all elt more discus-

sion was necessary,” said Vice

President or International Aairs

David Kennedy ’76, who is serv-

ing as interim director o Watson.

“Some people elt we needed to do

more planning.”

The lack o a permanent direc-

tor, as well as widespread dier-

ences in aculty opinion regarding

the proposal, have made the issue“an open conversation,” Kennedy

said. Tenure is a “necessary tool”

or attracting and retaining the high-

est quality aculty, he said.

As part o the institute’s long-

term strategic planning process,

there have been a number o com-

mittees that started meeting this

past all to discuss whether the

proposal “makes sense,” Kennedy

added.

But a Watson aculty member,

who agreed to speak only on condi-

tion o anonymity, said Kennedy and

President Ruth Simmons pulled the

plug on the proposal earlier this year because enthusiasm among aculty

had remained “lukewarm.”

Many people are unclear who

would benet rom Watson’s ability

to grant tenure to its proessors, the

person said.

“This proposal was not initiated

by the Watson aculty,” the aculty

member said, adding that opposi-

tion among aculty is due to concern

about departmental competition

over resources and the percep-

tion that tenure would be used to

Cortesy of Dar tmoth College

Jim Yong Kim ’82.

Kim Perley / HeraldLaren Goddard MD’11 took a trip toWashington to hear Obama’s address.

Kim Perley / Herald

A proposal by the Watson Institte’s Board of Overseers to let theinstitte hand ot tenre offers has stalled, npoplar with faclty.

continued on page 2 continued on page 2

continued on page 2

continued on page 2

Feature

8/14/2019 March 3, 2009 Issue


8/14/2019 March 3, 2009 Issue


CMS wSTuESDAY, MARCH 3, 2009 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 3

“This is to maximize the economic and societal vale.” — Professor Angs Kingon, on a new entreprenerial collaboration

. bk z by suzannah Weiss

Contributing W riter

Targets o the University’s ght

against the economic recession may

include event catering and advertis-

ing, according to Vice President

o Public Aairs and University

Relations Marisa Quinn.

The number o large events like

lectures and panels has remained

essentially the same, Quinn said,

though she said she “would not

be surprised i some scaling back

on the scope o events is evident,

given the economy.”

The University may cut backon receptions, dinners and printed

event advertising, she said.

Certain events also depend on

the availability o speakers and “can

be unpredictable in terms o sched-

uling, with some stretches o time

busier than others,” she said.

“I expect we’ll have a similar

number o lectures and events this

spring,” she added

Most on-campus lectures and

other events are sponsored by bod-

ies such as the Watson Institute or

International Studies, the Cogut

Center or the Humanities and the

Taubman Center or Public Policy,

as well as by student groups suchas the Lecture Board.

“Our budget may be stagnant

or the next year or two because

the (student activities ee) isn’t

really increasing, but in terms o

the actual operation o our group,

this year is the same as it has been

since I’ve been at Brown,” said An-

drew Chapin ’10, a member o the

Lecture Board. The Corporation

approved a $6 increase in the stu-

dent activities ee or next year at

its meeting last month, The Heraldreported Feb. 25.

Other departments and groups

also said they are holding as many,

i not more, events than usual this

semester. “We’re jammed,” said Kit

Salisbury, humanities center man-

ager or the Cogut Center.

Though University events are

as numerous as in the past, they

may be less visible this semester,

since the administration is making

an eort to spend less on advertis-

ing, Quinn said.

Watson Communications Man-

ager Karen Lynch said “The Insti-

tute has been careully weighingthe costs and benets o its activi-

ties across the board, under current

economic conditions.” The scrutiny

may mean ewer events, she said,

adding that it’s too soon to tell.

According to Graphic Services

Director Deborah Berlo, there

has been a 40-percent decrease in

campuswide mailings to aculty,

students and sta. “It’s clear that

electronic dissemination o inorma-

tion has increased,” she said.

Many wishing to advertise

events are trying to cut back on

printed materials, relying more

on electronic communication like

Morning Mail, Quinn said.Dining Services Director o

Administration Ann Homan said

the demand or catered events has

remained about the same, though

“customers are reducing the cost

o their events through their menu

selections.”

Though catering sta are a-

ected by the recession, Homan

said, “so ar, there has been no sig-

nicant impact on the work they

perorm here.”

. bby heeyoung min

S taff W riter

Brown and the Rhode Island Eco-

nomic Development Corporation

are beginning plans to open a Cen-

ter or Innovation and Entrepre-

neurship, a resource center to

help local entrepreneurs launch

businesses in Providence with the

goal o spurring the city’s ailingeconomy.

The University and the EDC

signed a ormal agreement on

Feb. 23 ater the latter $100,000

to the project along with prom-

ises or two additional $50,000

donations rom the Slater Tech-

nology Fund and the Science and

Technology Advisory Council,

said Christine Smith, innovation

program manager o the EDC.

The center does not yet have

a speciic inrastructure, but will

inance researchers with the goal

o using their indings to support

business start-ups, bring more

people into the business sector o

the economy and act as a “busi-

ness accelerator,” Proessor o

Engineering Angus Kingon wrote

in an e-mail to The Herald.

“The exact details o the Cen-

ter’s activities have not yet (been)

developed,” Kingon wrote. “This

is speciically because it will not

be run by Brown alone, but in

partnership with the State, other

universities and the hospitals”

who will develop urther details

together.

While the center is relying on

Brown’s support, it is also seeking

involvement rom local businesses

and institutions, such as Johnson

and Wales, Smith said.

The new center could help

the struggling state, which ac-

es one o the highest unemploy-

ment rates in the nation at 10

percent.

“The aim o the center is to

promote the commercialization

o research and technology rom

Brown University and the com-munity,” Kingon wrote, adding

that the center will also “nurture

new ventures” that are ormed on

the basis o research and tech-

nology. “This is to maximize the

economic and societal value o the

investment in research and create

economic activity,” he added.

The center will supply re-

search grants to those working

in a variety o disciplines, includ-

ing engineering and computer,

environmental and mechanical

sciences, Smith said.

“We want to marry research

and acilitate that research with

industry,” she said.

The center would charge ees

or its ser vices, which corporate

sponsors may later subsidize,

according to a Feb. 24 article in

the Providence Journal. Ideas

or a start-up company oten ail

to launch because “these ideas

would initially not be ready or

an incubator or substantial invest-

ment by (venture capitalists) or

other groups,” Clyde Briant, pro-

essor o engineering and vice

president or research, wrote in

an e-mail to The Herald. “The

aim o the center is to help them

develop the plans to the point

where they would be attractive

to investors.”

Administrators at the EDC and

the University said they hope both

Brown aculty and students will

become involved in the project to

help boost the state’s economic

situation, but stressed that the

center is open to all Rhode Island

residents. “We want Brown aculty

to avail themselves o this oppor-tunity, but it is open to any in the

state,” Briant wrote. “We certainly

hope that Brown students, both

graduate and undergraduate, as

well as students rom other col-

leges and universities in the state

will participate.”

“We are currently working

(on) what types o activities will

be available to them,” he added.

Sectors o the University o-

cusing on entrepreneurship al-

ready intend to become active

participants in the center. “Brown

(Engineering) will be involved,

as the entrepreneurship teach-

ing and outreach activities o the

University are currently centered

in Engineering,” Kingon wrote.

According to Kingon, there

will be many opportunities or

student involvement in the center.

“No details yet, but clearly this is

the intention. Some o the start-

ups may even be led by Brown

undergraduates or graduates.”

The center currently has no

workers, but its irst hire will be

an executive director, Smith said,

adding that the program will be

located in a University building

on Davol Square in the Jewelry

District.

by kristina Fazzalaro

ContributingW riter

A Brown proessor recently led a study on the shortcomings o cur-

rent orensic science programs,

oering recommendations to

Congress about standardizing

procedures and enorcing better

regulatory mechanisms.

Proessor o Medical Science

Constantine Gatsonis co-chaired

a committee appointed by the Na-

tional Academy o Sciences in 2007,

and presented a report, entitled

“Strengthening Forensic Science in

the United States: A Path Forward,”

to Congress last month.

Congress mandated the study

ater receiving several complaintsrom individuals in the orensic sci-

ence community about discrepan-

cies in techniques and procedures,

Gatsonis said.

Over the course o eight meet-

ings, the committee examined docu-

ments, procedures and educational

programs across the country. It also

received presentations rom chies

o laboratories, coroners, medical

examiners and members o the Fed-

eral Bureau o Investigation.

The report made 13 recom-

mendations to improve orensic

science, the most important being

the establishment o a national in-

stitute or the discipline, accordingto Gatsonis.

The institution would be inde-

pendent o any law enorcement

agency, as would, Gatsonis hopes,

all orensic labs in the uture. Thisindependence would ensure that

biases would be let out o any

procedures, especially in criminal

cases.

A national institute would also

be responsible or regulatory work,

such as ensuring standards or ac-

crediting and certiying laborato-

ries, procedures and technicians.

Last week, Gatsonis was a spe-

cial guest on National Public Ra-

dio’s Science Friday and pointed to

a case in which a 17-year-old high

school student was certied to be

a deputy coroner in Indiana.

“Typically to become a coroner

you have to win an election,” Gatso-

nis said during the show. “All-in-all

that is not certication. There hasto be certication developed by

proessional bodies and adminis-

tered by mandatory standards.”

Gatsonis also said typical o-

rensic science procedures suchas handwriting and bite-mark analy-

sis and the tracing o tire marks

have no grounding in any o the

major sciences, such as biology and

chemistry, and must be researched

urther.

“DNA analysis came rom biol-

ogy and the studying o chemicals

came rom chemistry,” Gatsonis

said. “These have been studied

and evaluated. They are developed

paradigms. This must now be done

in orensic science.”

Educational and training pro-

grams oered or orensic science

must also be improved and devel-oped urther, he said. Currently,

there are no opportunities in higher

education available or orensic sci-

ence.

Gatsonis said Brown oers only

one or two classes relating to oren-

sic science.

In the uture, Gatsonis said he

may speak in several classes on

the issue, but currently there are

no plans or a lecture or orum on

orensic science.

As or Brown’s uture involve-

ment in orensic science research,

Gatsonis said, “It will depend on

programs or unding and the over-

all impact o the report.”“Things move slowly,” he said.

“Typically to bea coroner yohave to win anelection.”

C g

Professor ofBiostatistics

8/14/2019 March 3, 2009 Issue


8/14/2019 March 3, 2009 Issue


MetroThe Brown Daily Herald

TuESDAY, MARCH 3, 2009 | PAGE 5

“I will not allow branch library services to be eliminated.”Mayor David Cicilline ’83, after an agreement with the libraries fell apart

C, b

by george miller

Metro editor

Mayor David Cicilline ’83 has re-

jected Providence Public Library’s

plan to eliminate ve neighborhood

branches to solve its budget crisis,

leaving the uture o the city’s rela-

tionship with the privately owned

public library system — and the ate

o the libraries ater Jun. 30 — in

question.

The mayor’s oce and PPL

both issued press releases last

week, with the library assertingthat the agreement in question was

approved by the City Council but

never signed by the mayor, and

Cicilline saying the library’s plan

was unacceptable.

According to the terms o an

agreement signed by the city and

PPL six months ago, the library

was to submit a “sustainable” bud-

getary plan.

The library system is “reviewing

its options” or continuing service

during the next scal year, which

begins Jul. 1. Under the library’s

proposed plan, ve neighborhood

branches — Olneyville, Wanskuck,

Fox Point, Washington Park andSmith Hill — would close and be

converted to city- or community-

owned “neighborhood learning

centers.”

But Cicilline said in the press

release that PPL’s plan, by its own

admission, would be insolvent with-

in two years. He also stated his op-

position to closing any branches.

“I will not allow branch library

services to be eliminated,” he said

in the statement. “I would preer

to preserve a partnership that

has worked or 120 years until re-

cently.”

Cicilline uther accused thelibrary system o opting to “delib-

erately misrepresent the city’s posi-

tion on this matter in the media.”

PPL Chairman Bill Simmons,

who is also a proessor o Anthro-

pology at Brown, said in a press

release that the nonprot group

remained open to working with

the city.

“The ocus or everyone in-

volved needs to be on nding the

best way to provide library ser vice

in the city,” he said.

No one at the mayor’s oce or

the PPL, could be reached or ad-

ditional comment Monday.

Meanwhile, some community

members, who have ormed a group called Providence Commu-

nity Library, are seeking to save

the neighborhood branches rom

closure by taking over all nine

neighborhood branches.

“It is time to end the city’s

partnership with PPL once and

or all and to begin a new era or

Providence’s libraries,” the group

said in a press release issued in

response to the mayor’s and PPL’s

statements. The group said that it

will be able to begin managing the

nine neighborhood branches on

July 1 in its release.

The community group has hired

Louise Blalock, a ormer chie li-

brarian o the Hartord Public Li-brary, to help construct a ve-year

budget.

PPL is open to exploring whether

allowing the group to take over the

branches is a “viable alternative,”

according to its press release.

.I. kby Joanna Wohlmuth

Metroeditor

Gov. Donald Carcieri ’65 ocially

accepted Rhode Island’s $1.1 bil-

lion share o ederal stimulus unds

at a ceremony at the State House

last Thursday, vowing to work with

the state legislature to oversee its

allocation.

Receiving the stimulus money

will put the state “on the path back

to economic recovery,” Carcieri said

at the event. “I pledge to work with

the General Assembly, our congres-

sional delegation and our cities and

towns to identiy and agree uponprojects quickly to maximize the

ederal stimulus dollars available to

Rhode Island and to get our econo-

my moving again.”

The governor was joined by

House Speaker William Murphy

and Senate President Teresa Paiva

Weed as he signed the required cer-

ticates well in advance o the April

3 deadline stipulated by the stimulus

bill, titled the American Recovery

and Reinvestment Act o 2009.

Though confict over who will

make spending decisions hadseemed imminent, the Republican

governor appeared to step back

rom his plan or unilateral control

in avor o working with the state’s

Democratically controlled General

Assembly.

In February, Carcieri created

the Oce o Economic Recovery

and Reinvestment to recommend

inrastructure improvement projects

subject to his approval. But that o-

ce will now track expenditures and

aid transparency while decisions

about spending will be made col-

laboratively by the Governor’s oce

and the state legislature, Carcieriannounced at Thursday’s event.

Few details are known about how

the state will spend its discretionary

unds since ocials are still review-

ing the 1,500-page act and receiving

new inormation rom Congress,

Carcieri said. Much o the stimu-

lus money is attached to specic

programs, such as the Federal Addi-

tional Compensation Program which

goes into eect this week and gives

an additional $25 per week to those

receiving unemployment benets.

L .I. 3- by lauren FeDor


Students at Rhode Island’s three

public colleges may be able to com-

plete their degrees in three years,

thanks to legislation introduced last

month by Rep. Joseph McNamara

D-Dist. 19, which includes Cran-

ston and Warwick. The program

will reduce the price o a college

degree and allow students to enter

the workorce more quickly.McNamara described the bill

— the Rhode Island Bachelor’s

Degree in Three Program Act — in

a news conerence last Tuesday,

according to a press release. The

legislation would allow students

matriculating at the Community

College o Rhode Island, Rhode

Island College or the University

o Rhode Island to receive college

credit or advanced placement, dual

enrollment and other college-level

courses taken during high school.

These programs could “shave a

year o” students’ college educa-

tion and reduce their tuition costs,

according to a statement released

by the State House.

Under McNamara’s proposal,

the state Board o Governors or

Higher Education would complete

preliminary planning by Feb. 1,

2010 and the program would go

into eect the ollowing academic

year.

Though local high schools al-

ready collaborate with the state’s

public colleges, developing a three-

year program would “allow stu-

dents to utilize the credit-bearing

courses more ully,” McNamara

said in the statement.

“A college education is the best

way or young people to advance

themselves in this globalized

world. Not only will a three-year

program benet students, the state

will benet as well,” he said.

The proposal — which was dis-

cussed in a House committee hear-

ing last Wednesday — seems to be

garnering support among state

leaders in education. President

Robert Caruthers o URI, Presi-

dent Nancy Carriuolo o RIC and

President Ray DiPasquale o CCRIall support the measure, according

to the release.

Furthermore, Jack Warner,

commissioner o the Rhode Is-

land Oce o Higher Education,

testied in avor o the legislation.

Warner believes there are “signi-

cant benets” to allowing students

who are “ready to move ahead”

earn college credits while they are

still enrolled in high school, wrote

Steve Maurano, the Board o Gov-

ernors’ associate commissioner

or external aairs, in an e-mail to

The Herald.

Maurano wrote that the board

has seen “strong evidence” o posi-

tive trends in dual enrollment pro-

grams in recent years.

“For many upper-class and

high-achieving students, the ability

to access dual enrollment courses

appears to give many o them a

more rigorous and stimulating

academic challenge (than) their

regular high school courses,” he

wrote. For low-income students or

students at risk o dropping out o

high school, dual enrollment class-

es “expose them to college-level

work and give them motivation

and hope that they can succeed

in college,” he added.

Janine Cheng / Herald

The fate of five Providence pblic libraries is ncertain in the face of amassive state bdget shortfall.

8/14/2019 March 3, 2009 Issue


world & ationThe Brown Daily Herald

TuESDAY, MARCH 3, 2009 | PAGE 6

Sk - by ylan mui

t heW aShingtonPoSt

WASHINGTON — U.S. stock mar-

kets plunged 4 percent Monday to

close at the lowest levels in nearly

12 years, sparking resh ears o

a prolonged and more severe de-

cline.

The Dow Jones industrial aver-

age tumbled nearly 300 points, or

4.2 percent, to 6763.29, its lowest

close since April 1997. The Stan-

dard & Poor’s 500-stock index

ell to a level not seen since 1996,

dropping 34 points, or 4.7 percent,

to 700.82. The tech-heavy Nasdaqclosed down 55 points, or 4 percent,

to 1322.85.

“There’s little condence that

we’re going to get out o this any

time soon,” said Axel Merk, port-

olio manager at Merk Hard Cur-

rency Fund. “We’re still lacking

very clear guidance. All we know

is it’s going to be very, very ex-

pensive.”

Stocks began their slide as soon

as the markets opened Monday

on news that insurance giant AIG

recorded a $61.7 billion loss during

the ourth quarter — the biggest

quarterly loss in U.S. corporate his-

tory. The rm said it would gain

access to another $30 billion in

taxpayer money as part o another

restructuring o its ederal bailout,

and its stock ended the day fat at

42 cents a share.

The markets continued an al-most steady march downward as

the day wore on. The energy sec-

tor suered the largest decline,

7.5 percent, a sign that investors

think demand will remain weak

and that the economy is ar rom

recovery. Crude oil prices dropped

$4.61, or 10.3 percent, to $40.15 a

barrel on the New York Mercantile

Exchange.

Financial rms nished not ar

behind, down nearly 6 percent.

HSBC Holdings, Europe’s biggest

bank, was down $6.55, or about 19

percent, to $28.25 a share on the

New York Stock Exchange, ater the company announced proit

plummeted 70 percent and that it

cut its dividend. Bank o America

was down 32 cents, or 8 percent,

to $3.63. Sallie Mae, the nation’s

largest student lender, dropped 85

cents, or 18.5 percent, to $3.75.

“This is ar worse than anything

that we’ve seen, and the disturbing

part o this market is the real causes

o the break are still deteriorating,”

said David Dreman, ounder o

Dreman Value Management.

Markets seemed to shrug o

the one piece o positive news Mon-

day: New government data showed

consumer spending increased 0.6percent in January compared with

December, the irst rise in six

months, driven in part by higher

gas prices. Pay raises or ederal

employees and the military also

helped boost personal income by 0.4 percent.

Still, retail stocks were largely

down Monday — though Family

Dollar and Dollar Tree were no-

table exceptions, nishing up about

1 percent.

“The market is not really taking

into consideration any bits o good

news,” said Peter Cardillo, chie

market economist with New York-

based Avalon Partners. “It’s just an

ongoing downward trend.”

Monday’s dramatic losses come

ater the major indexes lost 4 per-

cent last week. All 30 blue-chip

stocks in the Dow closed downMonday or the second time in less

than a month, and the index has

lost 23 percent o its value since the

year began. Investors are bracing

or more bad news later this week

when the government releases

monthly unemployment data.

“Bottom line is it’s economic

decay, and (there’s) no real cata-

lyst to turn the market around,”

Cardillo said.

The pain was not limited to the

United States Monday. Overseas,

stock markets were hammered by

massive sell-os as well.

Italy’s S&P/MIB Index contract-

ed by 6 percent, while Switzerland’s

major index and Britain’s FTSE

100 slid 5 percent. In Asia, Japan’s

Nikkei index and Hong Kong’s

Hang Seng were down nearly 4

percent.

k k by philip ruCker

t he W aShington PoSt

WASHINGTON — President

Obama’s budget is so ambitious,

with vast new spending on health

care, energy independence, edu-

cation and services or veterans,

that experts say he probably will

need to hire tens o thousands o

new ederal government workers

to realize his goals.

The $3.6 trillion plan released

last week proposes spending bil-

lions to begin initiatives and imple-ment existing programs. Given

Obama’s insistence that he would

scale back the use o private-sector

contractors, his priorities could

reverse a generational decline in

the size o the government work

orce.

Exactly how many new workers

would be needed remains unclear

— one independent estimate was

100,000, while the conservative

Heritage Foundation said it is

likely to be closer to a quarter-

million.

Administration oicials said

they cannot determine overall hir-

ing projections until the president’s

ull budget is released this spring,

but acknowledged that signiicant

new hiring will occur.

“It is premature to be making

any assumptions about overall ed-

eral employment levels,” White

House budget director Peter

Orszag said. “We have no desire

to bloat bureaucracy — indeed,

just the opposite — and the budget

will not do that.”

But, he added, “in several key

areas — rom properly auditing

contracts to providing quality med-

ical care to veterans and reducing

errors in Medicare and other pro-grams — investing in skilled pro-

essionals will not only pay o over

time, but also immediately deliver

better service to taxpayers.”

Several major agencies said they

are already planning to grow their

work orces, some signiicantly.

Oicials at the Department

o Veterans Aairs, or instance,

said they expect to hire more than

17,000 new employees by the end

o the year, many at hospitals and

other acilities to ulill Obama’s

pledge to expand veterans’ ac-

cess to health care. The agency

— whose budget will grow by

11 percent, to $56 billion, under

Obama’s plan — will add about

7,900 nurses, 3,300 doctors, 3,800

clerks and 2,400 practical nurses,

spokeswoman Josephine Schuda

said.

At the Social Security Admin-

istration, the budget will increase

by 10 percent, to $11.6 billion, en-

abling the agency to hire new sta

to handle backlogs on rontline

operations, such aslocal ield o-

ices, hearing oices and teleser-

vice centers, spokesman Mark

Lassiter said.

Said Max Stier, president o the

Partnership or Public Service:

“This is obviously a new world.

We’ve had a government that has

been starved. ... When you look at

virtually every agency in govern-

ment — whether it’s ood inspec-

tors at the Food and Drug Admin-

istration or claims examiners at

the Social Security Administration

— across the board, we’ve had all

too ew people doing the business

o government.”

Between 1940 and 1970, the ed-

eral civilian work orce swelled

rom 707,000 to 2.1 million, ac-

cording to government statisticsprovided by Stier. But ever since

Ronald Reagan swept into the

White House in 1981 with a call

to decrease the government’s oot-

print, presidents have limited the

size o the work orce. Although

President George W. Bush added

tens o thousands o airport bag-

gage screeners and other home-

land security jobs, he oset much

o that increase by limiting hiring

at other agencies.

In reversing this trend, Obama

would make himsel politically vul-

nerable to charges that he is grow-

ing not just the power but the size

o government. I the outside esti-mates are realized, Obama could

spur a government hiring spree

on a scale unseen since President

Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society

agenda in the 1960s.

“What group o socialists got in

the room and wrote this budget?

Do they have any idea what the

implications are?” asked Republi-

can Newt Gingrich, who as House

speaker in the 1990s advocated a

shrinking o the government. “This

is the most aggressive 180-degree

turn that we have seen in the Amer-

ican system.”

Obama, in his radio addressSaturday, acknowledged that the

budget signals “real and dramatic

change” to the status quo in the

ederal city. “I know these steps

won’t sit well with the special

interests and lobbyists who are

invested in the old way o doing

business, and I know they’re gear-

ing up or a ight as we speak,” he

said. “My message to them is this:

So am I.”

But the new president is

“caught between a rock and a hard

place,” said Paul Light, a proes-

sor o public service at New York

University. Obama inherited a ed-

eral work orce o about 2 million

that Light described as woeully

understaed, especially to ulill

his bold domestic policy agenda.

He predicted that Obama’s budget

and the $787 billion economic re-

covery package could require an

additional 100,000 ederal workers,

but warned that the number may

be even higher.

“I think that’s just a start,” Light

said. “You kind o look across the

ederal landscape and you say there

has to be more bodies with more

expertise, as well as more bodies

b -f by neil irWin

W aShington PoSt

WASHINGTON — The global

inancial rout worsened Monday,

driving U.S. stocks to their lowest level since 1997 amid deepening

questions about whether govern-

ments around the world are being

orceul enough in combating the

economic crisis.

There was no single cause

or Monday’s sell-o, which sent

each o the major indexes down

at least 4 percent, with the Dow

Jones industrial average closing

below 7,000 or the irst time in

12 years. Investors were shaken

by another government rescue

o insurance giant American In-

ternational Group, which said it

would take on $30 billion more in

public money ater reporting the

largest quarterly loss in U.S. his-

tory. The markets were also ab-

sorbing news rom the weekend

rom amed investor Warren Bu-

ett, who said the economy will be

“in shambles” this year and who

reported the worst investment

returns in the 44 years he has

run Berkshire Hathaway.

But more than any individual

development, the continuing col-

lapse in inancial markets around

the globe relected an absence o

aith that the trillions o dollars

that governments have deployed

to try to contain the damage will

do the trick — and a realization

that, rom Europe to Japan to the

Americas, the low o goods and

services is drying up.

“People are really coming to

terms with the act that we not only have a global slump, but one

that’s going to be prolonged,”

said George Feiger, chie execu-

tive o Contango Capital Advisors.

“And there’s a lack o coherence

to the global response. In Japan,

the government is paralyzed; in

Europe the absence o a central

government is crippling their

ability to conduct coordinated

policy; and the U.S. government

has taken some dramatic actions

but always too little too late.”

Monday, the allout also

touched the Washington region,

which has been less vulnerable

to recessions in the past. Sun-rise Senior Living, the assisted-

living giant based in suburban

McLean, Va., said it was working

with its lenders to try to avoid

bankruptcy protection. Allied

Capital, the Washington buyout

irm that deaulted on its debt

agreements last month, recorded

a $579 million loss or the ourth

quarter and said its chie execu-

tive would resign.

Whatever turmoil U.S. compa-

nies are experiencing, the dam-

age increasingly appears worse

in many other parts o the world.

Financial markets are starting to

grapple with the realization that

major Western European banks

are more exposed to real estate

losses in Eastern Europe and

Russia than had been previously

realized. Monday HSBC, the Brit-ish bank that has been viewed as

one o the strongest throughout

the inancial crisis, reported a 70

percent drop in 2008 earnings. It

said it would raise $17.7 billion in

new capital, cut 6,100 jobs and

abandon much o its U.S. con-

sumer lending business.

Major world stock markets

lost 4 to 5 percent Monday. In the

United States, stocks are down 22

percent this year and 55 percent

rom their peak in 2007, as mea-

sured by the Standard & Poor’s

500-stock index. Money gushed

into sae Treasury bonds Mon-

day, driving down their yields. The dollar registered major gains

against the euro as investors con-

cluded that, or all the pro blems

in the U.S. economy, it looks bet-

ter than the rest o the world.

The deterioration in inan-

cial markets comes, ironically,

as companies have proven more

able to issue debt in recent weeks

than in late 2008, and as bank

lending rates move toward nor-

mal levels.

“The credit markets have

healed some, but the view o the

continued on page 9continued on page 9

8/14/2019 March 3, 2009 Issue


8/14/2019 March 3, 2009 Issue


TuESDAY, MARCH 3, 2009THE BROWN DAILY HERALDPAGE 8

SSuesday “Dobleheaders are always a long day” — Kendrick A ’11, on the uConn tennis tornament

p 64, bw 54 The Bears came into Philadel-

phia on Saturday night hoping to

avenge a 73-52 loss on their Feb. 13

meeting with Penn (9-16, 5-6 Ivy),

and Mullery rose to the occasion,

shooting 8-o-9 rom the eld to n-

ish with 19 points, 10 rebounds and

ve blocks, all game-highs.

“Matt Mullery had a phenom-

enal game inside and was tremen-

dous rom start to nish,” Agel

said.

The Bears got o to a hot start

on Saturday, with Chris Taylor ’11

scoring the game’s rst our points

in his rst career start, in place o injured tri-captain Scott Friske ’09,

who missed both games this week-

end. Following a lay-up by Penn’s

Kevin Egee, Skrelja knocked down

a three, and two lay-ups by Mul-

lery gave the Bears an 11-2 lead

6:08 in.

“We were able to switch on a lot

o screens and deend them pretty

well early in the game,” Mullery

said. “We did a great job on closing

out on their shooters, and we did a

good job o rebounding, too.”

A three-point play by Mullery

with 8:09 let gave Brown its big-

gest lead o the night, at 18-5, but the Quakers turned things around

in the closing minutes o the rst

hal.

Ater a Mullery lay-up gave

Bruno a 21-10 lead with 3:21 re-

maining, Penn closed out the hal

on an 11-2 run to cut Brown’s lead

to two points, 23-21.

Penn grabbed its rst lead o the

game with 15:21 remaining when

a three rom Rob Belcore put the

Quakers ahead, 31-29. The Bears

continued to ght, as the second

hal saw seven lead changes and

ive ties. Mullery continued to

make his presence elt in the paint,and Garrett Leelman ’11 scored

seven points in the nal eight min-

utes, nishing with a career-high

nine points in 20 minutes o the

bench.

“Chris Taylor and Garrett Le-

elman both came in and gave us a

spark,” Agel said. “Chris helped us

get out to a good start, and Garrett

was hanging in there right until the

very end.”

A lay-up rom Mullery gave

Brown its last lead o the game,

54-53, with 3:21 let, as the Bears

would not score or the remainder

o the contest. Down 60-54 with 1:38let, Brown had multiple chances to

make it a one-possession game, but

missed three-point attempts rom

Leelman and Morgan Kelly ’11

kept Penn’s lead intact, and resh-

man guard Zack Rosen iced the

game with a pair o ree throws with

24 seconds let.

“It was pretty much a carbon

copy o the game beore. We had

open looks and just weren’t able to

knock them down,” Agel said. “Our

guys did a great job o getting them-

selves open, nding the open man

and having the right guy shooting,

but it just wouldn’t go in.” The Bears will nish their sea-

son at home this weekend against

Harvard (13-13, 5-7 Ivy) on Friday

night and Dartmouth (9-17, 7-5 Ivy)

on Saturday night.

“We had a ew close losses at

Dartmouth and Harvard a ew

weeks back, and that’s still in our

minds,” Mullery said. “Hopeully,

we’ll nally be able to win some

close games and get the victories

this weekend.”

continued from page 7

M.

rowly lost to Levy, 7-5, 7-6, while on

the second singles court Gorham

also dropped a close match by a score o 7-6, 7-5 to Vloedgraven.

Garland ell to Jain, 6-1, 6-1 at third

singles, and Gardner lost a three-

set battle to Wong at ourth singles

by a score o 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

“The Binghamton match was

a great college tennis match, but

unortunately we just came up a

little bit short,” Harris said. “We

got kind o unlucky, really. It was

unortunate that Noah got injured

during his match. Skate (Gorham)

and Jon (Pearlman) losing their

matches really closely were tough

ones to lose, too.”

Au and Jimmy Crystal ’12 alsohad tight matches at th and sixth

singles, respectively. Au outlasted

Haggai in a third-set super-break-

er or a nal score o 7-5, 1-6, 1-0

(5).

“I’m starting to become sea-

soned,” Au said. “It’s just a matter

o playing a lot. I played a super-

breaker in the third set, and being

in those situations beore helped

me. Ater losing the second set, I

was able to compose mysel.”

At sixth singles, Crystal tri-

umphed over Algier, 7-5, 7-5.

“4-3 them, could easily have

been 5-2 us,” Au said, reerring to

all o the close singles matches.

“We need to take things out o ev-

ery match, and I think something

we need to improve on is winning

bigger points.”

bw 7, uC 0

Brown was on top o its game

later in the day against UConn,

taking every match played in both

doubles and singles.

At rst doubles, Au and Posner

demolished Joe Goldstein and Ben

Schueler, 8-0. Meanwhile, on the

second doubles court, Garland and

Basu Ratnam ’09 — who had been

out o the lineup with an injury

since the all season — soundly

deeated Andrew Marcus and Scott

Warden by a score o 8-4.

“Basu got his rst match and

win o the season, so that was re-ally cool to see,” Harris said. “It

was just a great experience, and

it was a really cool boost to have

him get in there.”

Crystal and Pearlman rounded

out doubles play with an 8-7 victory

at third doubles.

Gorham led the way in singles

play against the Huskies, overpow-

ering Goldstein at rst singles by a

score o 6-4, 6-0. At second singles,

Pearlman breezed by Marcus, 6-1,

6-1. Garland earned a 6-2, 7-6 (9)

win over Joey Michaels at third sin-

gles, and Au took a 6-4, 6-1 victory

over Warden at ourth singles.“I’m ortunate enough to be

healthy and able to play all these

matches, which gives me extra ex-

perience,” Au said. “Doublehead-

ers are always a long day. It’s good

that everyone has the experience

o playing so many doubleheaders

because, even though it’s a long

day, it lengthens our ocus. We

can play multiple matches with

the same intensity.”

At th singles, Crystal deeated

Dave Adams, 6-4, 6-2, while Posner

overwhelmed Tom Cook at sixth

singles by a score o 6-1, 6-0.

“The UConn match was a great

one,” Harris said. “Kendrick (Au)

and Jimmy (Crystal) played great.

They were both undeeated in the

two matches. Kendrick was 4-0, and

Jimmy was 3-0, so it was great to

see Jimmy stepping up as a resh-

man that way.”

The Bears will play Fairleigh

Dickinson on Saturday at 1 p.m.

at the Pizzitola Center.

“We’ve had a long ew weeks,

but we’re past the intense part o

our schedule, so now we’re build-

ing up or the Ivies,” Au said.

“We’re a little banged up, so hope-

ully we can reuel and guys can

get completely healthy.”


M. 4-3 B

Jstin Coleman / Herald

Kendrick A ’11 won all for of his matches over the weekend.

g hd m x!

8/14/2019 March 3, 2009 Issue


TuESDAY, MARCH 3, 2009THE BROWN DAILY HERALDPAGE 9

that can just deliver the basic ser-

vices we’ve already promised.” At the conservative Heritage

Foundation, the Center or Data

Analysis estimated that Obama’s

budget and the stimulus bill could

result in 230,000 to 260,000 new

ederal employees, primarily in ar-

eas such as education and health

care.

“We ound in the Obama plan

that the increases in employment

were overwhelmingly in the public

sector,” said William Beach, the

center’s director. “We haven’t seen

this much growth or a while.”

Beach cautioned, however, that

“any number o things can happenonce these budgets become the

subject o debate in Congress.”

The Oice o Management and

Budget has not determined how

Obama’s budget would impact the

ederal work orce. Managers may

reassign employees in some areas

to more critical unctions, such as

overseeing or enorcing stimulus

grants and contracts, OMB spokes-

man Kenneth Baer said.

“The ederal work orce is going

to undergo a undamental trans-

ormation over the next decade as

baby boomers who entered govern-

ment service in the 1960s retire,”

Baer said. “Much o the human

capital needs or new initiatives

will be met by reorganizing, so as

to reallocate positions let unilled

by retirements.”

In some agency headquarters

across Washington, the potential

or expanding the ederal work

orce is the subject du jour. “It’s

being discussed in this building

around every water cooler and

caeteria line there is,” said one

oicial who spoke on the condi-tion o anonymity because he was

not authorized to discuss budget

plans.

Colleen Kelley, president o

the National Treasury Employees

Union, which represents work-

ers in 31 ederal agencies, said

the administration appears to be

“rebuilding work orces that have

not been properly maintained and

supported.”

At the Internal Revenue Ser-

vice, she said, “there are hundreds

o thousands more taxpayers today

than there were 10 years ago, and

there are 27,000 ewer employeesin the IRS.”

At the Environmental Protec-

tion Agency, the employee base

is expected to grow, but more

modestly. The agency, which has

about 17,000 employees, expects

to add 100 to 200 positions, said a

senior EPA oicial who spoke on

the condition o anonymity because

the agency’s plans have not been

made public.

“We have the authority to have

additional olks, because we want

to ensure proper oversight and

management o these (stimulus)

resources,” the oicial said.

The EPA is being “cautious”

about expanding the work orce

because o the long-term costs as-

sociated with permanent employ-

ees, he said. “Not only are you

paying or the people today,” he

said, “but you have to think about

what are the implications or the

uture as well.”

economy has been radically re-

vised down,” said David Shulman,

senior economist with the UCLA

Anderson Forecast.

There was a glimmer o good

economic news Monday. The

Commerce Department report-

ed that consumer spending rose

0.6 percent in January, its irst

increase since June. Personalincome rose 0.4 percent. Those

numbers, while a pleasant sur-

prise, were o little comort to

analysts.

“The gains do not relect an

improvement in the undamen-

tal economy,” Stuart Homan,

chie economist o PNC Financial

Services Group, said in a report.

He noted that personal income

got a boost rom the cost-o-living

adjustment to Social Security and

government wage increases kick-

ing in at the beginning o the year.

And spending rose in part because

higher gas prices increased sales

at service stations.

Americans saved 5 percent o

their income in January, continu-

ing a steep increase. That rate

was zero as recently as last April.

In the long run, it is desirable

or Americans to save more. But

in the short run, increased sav-

ings mean less spending, which

deepens the recession.

In other economic news, the

Census Bureau reported Monday

that the construction industry

has continued its rapid descent,

with spending on nonresidential

construction — oice buildings,

hotels and retail, or instance —

dropping in January more than it

has in 15 years.

Separately, the Institute or

Supply Management released

its February survey o manu-

acturing irms. Factories pulled

back on production or the 13th

straight month, though at a

slightly less severe pace than

in January. Inventories rose, a

sign that unstocked goods were

accumulating in manuacturers’

warehouses.

Beyond the economy, there

could be technical reasons or

Wall Street’s continued losses.

Feiger, whose company ad-

vises wealthy individuals on how

to manage their money, argues

that hedge unds and other big

investment entities that use bor-

rowed money are experiencing

massive withdrawals rom inves-

tors, orcing them to liquidate

holdings. With ew buyers out

there, Feiger argues, this selling

is helping push stock and other

prices down rapidly. He noted that

the brokerages that serve those

unds say they are not using all o

their borr owing capacity.

“It’s taken a long time or

people to accept that we have

got a big inancial mess and a

terrible recession,” Feiger said.

“Now there’s a much better un-

derstanding that we’re not going

to go back to business as usual or

a considerable period o time.”

F k b


S

by riCharD C. paDDoCk

L oS a ngeLeS t iMeS

SUNNYVALE, Cali. — The our-man government disposal team

arrived Monday rom Los Alamos,

N.M., to take away the small can-

ister o plutonium.

Weighing just 1.3 grams, the

plutonium-238 isotope had been

owned by a Silicon Valley com-

pany or nearly 30 years and was

stored saely in a 10-oot hole in

the ground.

But in the wrong hands, ed-

eral ocials say, the highly radio-

active isotope could pose a seri-

ous threat to public saety and

conceivably provide material or

a dirty bomb. The crew rom the National

Nuclear Security Administration

pulled the plutonium canister up

by a rope, examined it to identiy

its origin and placed it into a spe-

cially lined barrel. The operation

took only a ew minutes, but ed-

eral ocials were satised that

they had eliminated a threat to

national saety.

“This is a large PU-238 source,”

said Julia Whitworth, a senior

project leader who oversaw the

Sunnyvale operation. “We are

ulilling the threat-reduction

mission to remove material that

could cause national security or

public-saety concerns.”

Radioactive materials are used

widely in hospitals, oil elds, man-

uacturing and research centers

across the United States. One o

the agency’s responsibilities is

to recover abandoned or unused

isotopes rom these acilities.

The isotope removed Mon-

day is less dangerous than pluto-

nium-239, which can be used in

nuclear bombs, and emits a less

potent radiation that can easily be

shielded. But it is highly hazard-

ous i inhaled or ingested.

Normally publicity shy, the

NNSA invited a Los Angeles

Times reporter and photographer

to witness the plutonium recov-

ery. It was the rst time any media had been allowed to see a U.S.

operation, the agency said.

NNSA works in more than

130 countries to recover nuclear

materials. It has collected more

than 20,600 dangerous sources

o radiation in the United States

since the program began 12 years

ago.

But the agency is barely able

to stay even. Between 2,500 and

3,000 radiological sources are reg-

istered each year as unwanted.

In 2008, NNSA teams recovered

3,153, the largest number yet.

It has a known backlog o 8,800known items. Some ocials es-

timate there might be tens o

thousands o other radioactive

sources that the agency has not

identied.

“The world is more dangerous

today than when Russia had mis-

siles pointing at us and we had

missiles pointed at Russia,” said

Kenneth Baker, principal deputy

NNSA administrator or deense

nuclear nonprolieration. “This

type o material you saw today is

one that can make a dirty bomb.

One reason we’re so scared is

there is a lot o this material

around the United States.” The plutonium in question was

purchased in 1981 by a Silicon

Valley company that develops ra-

diation testing devices. The Times

agreed not to identiy the com-

pany or its employees by name.

Contained in a steel canister

slightly larger than a D-cell bat-

tery, the plutonium had a strength

o 22 curies when it was new. With

a hal-lie o 86 years, it now mea-

sures 18.3 curies.

Stored inside a building on a

tree-lined street not ar rom U.S.

Highway 101, the isotope has out-

lived its useulness. The company

began using an electrical neutron

generator several years ago and

had been hoping or some time to

dispose o the plutonium. The NNSA recovery crew’s

rst move was to sweep the plu-

tonium storage area and make

sure no radiation was leaking. It

wasn’t.

The company’s workers always

had handled the isotope with a

10-oot pole. The ederal team pre-

erred to pull it up with a rope that

was attached to the canister. Latex

gloves were the only protective

gear they wore, but they sought

to minimize their exposure by

working quickly. They placed the

isotope into the barrel, which was

lined with thick layers o plasticand metal shielding.

The drum will be shipped to

Los Alamos National Laboratory,

where it will be stored with other

nuclear material collected by the

NNSA. There is no permanent

disposal site or the material.

Company ocials said they

were pleased to be rid o the plu-

tonium.

“There’s no place in Caliornia

to dispose o it,” said the com-

pany’s radiation saety ocer.

The Sunnyvale company was

not required to pay a ee or the

NNSA removal operation. The

government believes the cost o a nuclear disaster could be ar

greater than the $15 million an-

nual cost o the national recovery

program, agency o cials say.

Although a bomb made with

a small amount o plutonium-238

might not kill anyone outright, it

could cause long-term health e-

ects and require the lengthy clo-

sure o the area while it is cleaned

o radioactive material.

“It would cause a panic,” Baker

said. “We would have to block o

the area or quite some time. You

are talking about a large cost to

clean it up.”

S . by patriCk mCgreevy

L oS a ngeLeS t iMeS

SACRAMENTO, Cali. — Just days

beore the matter is to be taken up

by Caliornia’s Supreme Court, the

state Senate approved a resolution

Monday calling Proposition 8, the

ban on same-sex marriage, an im-

proper revision o the Constitution

because it was not approved by the

Legislature.

Sen. Mark Leno, a Democrat

rom San Francisco, said the initia-

tive is a undamental revision to the

document, not an amendment, and

thereore required deliberation by the Legislature and a two-thirds

vote o both houses to put it on

the ballot.

“Do we have a constitutional

democracy in Caliornia, or do we

have mob rule?” Leno asked hiscolleagues beore the 18-14 vote

approved the resolution.

The issue o whether proper

procedures were ollowed in put-

ting the measure on the ballot is

to be considered Thursday, when

the state Supreme Court takes

up a legal challenge to the ballot

measure.

Republican senators said the

resolution was an inappropriate

attempt by the Legislature to infu-

ence the courts.

“Caliornians have spoken. They

have spoken a couple o times,”

said Sen. George Runner, a Re-publican rom Lancaster. “I guess

I don’t see the Caliornia citizens,

who I believe thoughtully went to

their voting places, as participating

in mob rule.”

browndailyherald.com/sbscribe


wLD I

8/14/2019 March 3, 2009 Issue


ditorial & Letters | TuESDAY, MARCH 3, 2009

The Brown Daily Herald

A L E X Y U L Y

BDS

C O R R E C T I O N S P O L I C Y

The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate inormation possible. Correc-

tions may be submitted up to seven calendar days ater publication.

C O M M E N T A R Y P O L I C Y

The editorial is the majority opinion o the editorial page board o The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily

refect the views o The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics refect the opinions o 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 Y

Send letters to [email protected]. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters or

length and clarity and cannot assure the publication o any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may

request anonymity, but no letter will be printed i the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements o events will not be printed.

A D V E R T I S I N G P O L I C Y

The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.

letters to the editors

editorial

s sff W Mitra Anoshiravani, Colin Chazen, Ellen Cshing, Sydney Ember,

Laren Fedor, Nicole Friedman, Britta Greene, Sarah Hsk, Brian Mastroianni, Hannah

Moser, Ben Schreckinger, Caroline Sedano, Melissa Shbe, Anne Simons, Sara Snshine,

staff Wt Znaira Chodhary, Chris Dffy, Nicole Dngca, Jliana Friend, Cameron

Lee, Kelly Mallahan, Christian Martell , Heeyong Min, Seth Motel, Jyotsna Mllr, Laren

Pischel, Leslie Primack, Anne Speyer, Alexandra ulmer, Kyla Wilkes

s sff W Nicole Stock

s b ac Max Barrows, Jackie Goldman, Margaret Watson, Ben Xiong

b ac Stassia Chyzhykova, Misha Desai, Bonnie Kim, Mara Lynch, Cathy

Li, Allen McGonagill, Thanases Plestis, Corey Schwartz, William Schweitzer, Kenneth So,

Evan Smortin, Haydar Taygn, Webber X, Lyndse Yess

D sff Sara Chimene-Weiss, Katerina Dalavrak, Gili Kliger, Jessica Kirschner,

Joanna Lee, Maxwell Rosero, John Walsh, Kate Wilson, Qian Yin

p sff Qidong Chen, Janine Cheng, Alex DePaoli, Frederic L, Qinn Savit, Min W

C ed Sara Chimene-Weiss, Sydney Ember, Laren Fedor, Anna Joravleva, GeoffreyKyi, Frederic L, Jordan Mainzer, Kelly Mallahan, Allison Peck, Madeleine Rosenberg, Lis

Solis

W D Jihan Chao

Marlee Bruning, John Walsh Dsns

Kathryn Delaney, Kelly Mallahan Cpy eds

Lauren Fedor, Emmy Liss, Melissa Shube, Jenna Stark, Joanna Wohlmuth Nh eds

the brown daily herald

b hh ls le lg t

mw vg mJ WC kJ sbj aadw bcax mk Wd

Chris Jesu Lee

Stephen Lichenstein

Eunice Hong

Kim Perley Justin Coleman

gphcs edgphcs ed

Ph edPh ed

Sps Ph ed

Graphics & photos

BuSiNeSS

Kathryn Delaney

Seth MotelMarlee Bruning

Jessica Calihan

Anna Migliaccio

Julien Ouellet

Neal Poole

ProDuCtioN

Cpy Dsk Chf Cpy Dsk Chf

Dsn edDsn ed

ass. Dsn edass. Dsn ed

Wb ed

eDitorial

Arts & Cltre EditorArts & Cltre Editor

Featres EditorFeatres Editor

Higher Ed Editor

Higher Ed EditorMetro EditorMetro EditorNews EditorNews Editor

Sports EditorSports Editor

Asst. Sports EditorAsst. Sports Editor

editor-in-chief

s Dlc

senior editors

rc adC Csc lw

associate editors

nd JF k

mc sc

ManaGinG editors

mc bcC F

oPiNioNSSarah Rosenthal opnns ed

editorial paGe board

James Shapiro

Nick Bakshi

Zack Beauchamp

Sara Molinaro

ed P edBd bBd bBd b

General ManaGers

axd hJ sc

office ManaGer

sw r

directors

e Ds

C k p mdk kJ C

ManaGers

k Wk bax CC sm bw

Ss DcSs DcSs Dc

Fnnc Dcass. Fnnc Dc

lc SsNn Ss

unvsy Ssrc Ss

Cd nd Ccns

PoSt- magaziNe

Arthur Matuszewski

Kelly McKowenednChf ednChf

The decision by Brown University Dining Services to impose a “nohomework on shit” rule on its student workers has sparked serious resis-

tance rom BuDS workers, and with good reason. The policy contributes

almost nothing to BuDS or the Brown community at large while doing real

harm to BuDS employees. It should be repealed.

Neither o BuDS management’s justications or the program, pre-

venting ood contamination and increasing productivity, stand up under

scrutiny. The claim that textbooks, paper and pens are signicant causes

o disease is, to say the least, implausible, especially when compared to

other potential causes such as rodent and pest inestation (as 13 BuDS

employees noted in a recent letter to the editor). Are we supposed to think

the special ingredient in Ivy Room alael is pencil lead?

The productivity argument is more believable, as a ew BuDS workers

probably have slacked o, ironically, to do homework. However, as riendly

as BuDS employees are, it’s hard to see them as a group o Jim Halper t-esque

slackers doing whatever they can to shirk their responsibilities. A blanket

policy like a no-homework ban can only be justied i laziness is an epidemicin the BuDS community. I, as we suspect, the problem is actually conned

to a small number o individuals, then those situations can be handled on

a case-by-case basis without any need to punish the hard-working BuDS

employees who do classwork when their job responsibilities have waned

(have you seen the Blue Room during o-peak hours?)

Even worse than the actual policy is the manner in which BuDS decided

to implement it. Though BuDS has 341 student employees, only 10 were

involved in drating the no-homework policy, and the other 331 were only

notied once their new contracts were presented to them. Those that, un-

derstandably, reused to sign were served with ormal warnings, which in

this case orce employees to work additional hours on pain o losing their

bonus. It hardly seems air to levy such a harsh punishment on workers

or having questions about an unduly restrictive contract provision they

had never seen or heard o beore.

Even i BuDS elects to keep the no-homework provision, these ormal

warnings ought to be revoked and all BuDS employees should be invited

to a orum with those responsible or the policy to express their grievances.Given the way workers have been treated in this debacle, it’s the least that

management can do.

Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. Send comments

to [email protected].

t ed:

A quick search on dictionar y.com helped me under-

stand why Anish Mitra and I have such diering ideas o

what “elite” means. Denitions o the word as persons

“o the highest class” and “exercising the major share

o authority or infuence” — this would seem to go well

with Mr. Mitra’s descriptions o “the wealthiest, most

elite individuals in the country.” However, my concept

o the word is more in line with the rst denition

listed, “the choice or best o anything considered col-

lectively, as o a group or class o persons.” I did not

attend Brown to meet wealthy or socially well-placed

people to get a leg up in lie. I chose to attend in order

to meet some o the most engaging and intellectually

stimulating people imaginable: the aspiring songwriter

on the foor above, the guy down the hall who writes

crosswords or the New York Times, even the Rubik’s

cube competition record-holder just around the corner.

However much Mr. Mitra would desire it to be so, Brown

is not an oshoot branch o a monolithic Ivy League

ideal — what is the point in being Harvard University,

Providence campus? Student groups on campus are

going strong; the Brown Democrats seem to pull in

airly good numbers, although I suppose they wouldn’t

provide the “elitism” that a strong Republican group

would. For the time being, Mr. Mitra may want to take

up the Brown Noser on its December suggestion o a

“Students or a Monarchical Society” group.

adw l ’12

Feb. 27

Wealth is no indication of worthinesst ed:

I read with some disbelie Anish Mitra’s column

on elitism (“A little elitism goes a long way,” Feb. 27).

Having worked at Brown or some years and resided in

Providence or much o my adult lie, I have witnessed

Brown’s collaborative departure rom elitism to openly

embracing bright and idealistic young people no matter

their nancial means to attend college. While Mr. Mitra’s

proposal o lowering the acceptance rate to enhance the

value o a Brown degree smacks o a “can’t wait to get

to Wall Street” mentality, it is in act asking the school

to re-erect a barrier broken down by universities and

the majority o our society long ago.

Whatever political belies he may have, I certainly

hope he does not actually avor the exclusion o students

based on their amily’s bottom line. Taking the bus to

and rom work, I meet young high school students who ask about the University and proclaim the wish to

attend school here, but are skeptical because o that

old shadow o elitism. Having seen the “progressive”

eorts o Howard Swearer, E. Gordon Gee, Vartan

Gregorian and now Ruth Simmons lead the school

orward with programs that invest in both the school

and community’s uture, I encourage each one I meet

to seek out the advice o their school counselors, work

hard and apply or admission. I think the majority o

Brown students, aculty and sta would encourage any

bright young person to do the same.

r g

Feb. 28

Brown nurtures meritocrats, not aristocrats

8/14/2019 March 3, 2009 Issue


8/14/2019 March 3, 2009 Issue


tuesDay, marCh 3, 2009 page 12

Today5

7

R.I. welcomes stimls dollars

No lck in close games for m. hoopsters

The Brown Daily Herald

27 / 10

marCh 3, 2009

12:00 p.m. — The 2008 Election: A

Look Behind the Pollster’s Curtain,

Tabman Seminar Room

4:00 p.m. — Women in Politics with

Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts,

MacMillan 117

marCh 4, 2009

7:00 p.m. — Immigration in America,

Salomon 001

7:30 p.m. — President Simmons at

uCS, Petterti Longe,

Fance Hose

ACROSS1 Partner of “took

notice”6 Spoiled tykes

11 Dog show letters14 “I Could Have

Danced All Night”singer

15 Bettingmaximum

16 Slangy refusal17 *Prospector’s

concern19 Lance on a

bench20 Tiny openings21 Pinnacles23 Traveling infant’s

spot27 Assent on a ship28 On a ship29 FedEx arrival31 Barbecue fare32 Jai alai basket33 Mansion owner,

familiarly36 Poetic tribute37 Follower of Ivan,

say39 Cinnabar, vis-à-

vis mercury40 Mal de __41 Immortal slugger

Hank42 Mystique43 Abolitionist

Harriet45 Compensate for47 Marked down49 Cot alternatives50 Author’s choice51 When repeated,

a northwesterncity

53 Sister of Zsa Zsa54 *Television60 Kind of room or

hall61 Main artery62 Usher’s domain63 Squid squirt64 Helen Reddy’s “I

Am __”65 Light up, and

word that canprecede the lastword of answersto starred clues

DOWN1 Min. part

2 The whole ball ofwax

3 Actress Carrere4 Israeli

submachine gun5 Coddle6 Divulge

impulsively, with“out”

7 Hoarfrost8 Band boosters9 20-20, e.g.

10 Pound resident11 *Belushi’s

breakout film12 Sagal of

“Married...WithChildren”

13 Decided18 “The Grapes of

Wrath” name22 Comet head?23 Ricochet24 Stand for25 *“The

Untouchables”star

26 Airline with a hubin Oslo

27 They may beliberal

29 Big name inArgentine politics

30 A-alfa link32 Adored one, in

Asti34 Screwed up35 Tours de force37 Woodworker’s

tool38 “Ditto”42 Mil. jet locale44 “Friendly skies”

flier: Abbr.45 Lubricates

46 Brouhaha

47 “SNL” alum Cheri48 David who

played PhileasFogg, 1956

49 Middle name inmysteries

51 Close, in a game52 Calgary’s prov.55 Bossy comment?56 Crater edge57 That, in Tijuana58 Wapiti

59 Formerly called

By Timothy L. Meaker

(c)2009 Tribune Media Services, Inc.03/03/09

03/03/09

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

[email protected]

C v | Abe Pressman

Cc | Jaime Madrid

sc | Lke Jeffrey

sharpe reFeCtory

lunCh — Chicken Teriyaki, Quinoa

and Veggies, Thin Fries, Asian Noodle

Bar

Dinner — Vegetable Frittata, Curried

Chicken Salad, Whole Beets, Sticky

Rice

verney-Woolley Dining hall

lunCh — Beef Stew, Tomato Quiche,

Italian Vegetable Sate

Dinner — Savory Chicken Stew, Rice

Pilaf with Zucchini, Baked Spaghetti

Sqash, Broccoli

calendar

Menu

crossword

snow man i s an i s land coMics

29 / 15

today toMorrow

t o a z | Kevin Grbb

Cc D-Fd k | Cara FitzGibbon

march 3, 2009 issue

Documents