Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxlv, no. 6 | Wednesday, February 3, 2010 | Serving the community daily since 1891
Brown’s Graduate School saw a 27 percent jump in applications this year, as of Feb. 1.
Grad School applications soar
By Kate Monks
Senior Staff Writer
Applications for Brown’s graduate
school programs have risen 27 per-
cent compared to this time last year,
with international applications up 32
percent, according to the graduate
admissions office.
V-Dub breakfast-lunch Strictly business on court for Sullivan bros.
divide goes continental
By Ana Alvarez
Senior Staff Writer
Starting Monday, the Verney-Woolley
Dining Hall will be open all morn-
ing, serving continental breakfast
from 9:30–11:00 a.m. in addition to
its normal 7:30–9:30 breakfast. The
continental breakfast will include
bagels, fruit, yogurt and cold cereal,
according to Ann Hoffman, director
of administration for Brown Dining
Services.
The continental breakfast will
not include hot food options, such
as pancakes and eggs, which are
offered during the normal V-Dub
breakfast hours and all morning at
the Sharpe Refectory. Waffle mak-
ers will also be available, though
Hoffman was unsure whether both
machines would be open.
Though many prefer the hot food
options, students are still excited to
see the change.
Remy Robert ’13, a self-pro-
claimed V-Dub lover, said she would
rather have hot food options, but
she still welcomes the continental
breakfast.
“I think the change is great
because the previous hours were
hardly workable for most of the peo-
ple,” said Robert, who also writes for
Post- magazine.
“I do think it would be best if they
would also serve hot food during
the extended breakfast hours,” she
added. “But I am generally really
inside
News.....1-3 News, 3
Spor ts...4-5
Editorial..6 Bathroom problems
Opinion...7 Green Mountain College
student takes legal action
Today........8
against co-ed restrooms
www.browndailyherald.com
As of Feb. 1, the graduate pro-
grams had received 8,649 applica-
tions, up from 6,805 in 2009, accord-
ing to Beverly Larson, director of
communications at the Graduate
School. International applications
went up from 2,485 to 3,278.
“We’re delighted with the
swelling interest in Brown Uni-
excited that I don’t have to wake up
at the crack of dawn to grab some
food before my first class.”
Kevin Grubb ’11 said he usually
chooses the less-crowded Ratty and
prefers its hot food options.
The new V-Dub program is “not
ideal,” he said. “I always have to
have my eggs every morning. The
V-Dub’s food is better, but a little
more convenience wouldn’t hurt,”
he said.
According to Hoffman, the change
in the V-Dub’s operating hours was
prompted after the Undergraduate
Council of Students contacted Dining
Services with feedback from under-
graduates who wanted a change in
the breakfast hours.
“In the fall, we were approached
by UCS with a list of proposals based
on a survey of the undergraduate
population,” she said. “Evidently, this
was a priority item for them.”
UCS Campus Life Chair Ben
Farber ’12 was one of the students
involved in proposing the change.
Of the 70 percent of students who
registered an opinion in the survey,
60 percent said breakfast would need
to end later than 9:30 a.m. in order
to meet their needs, according to
Farber.
“We received an overwhelming
amount of feedback, especially from
people living on the Pembroke area
of campus, that the V-Dub hours were
continued on page 3
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
Max Monn / Herald file photo
versity’s Graduate School,” said
Sheila Bonde, dean of the Graduate
School. “Since 2001, the applica-
tion rate has more than doubled,”
she said.
“While the state of the economy
may be motivating more people to
continued on page 2
By Erika Mueller
Contributing Writer
Most people go to college to get
away from their younger siblings,
but it ended up being a different
story for the Sullivan brothers, who
share more than just the basketball
floor here at Brown.
Peter Sullivan ’11 and Matt Sul-
livan ’13 are the first brother duo to
Protesting protests, or performance art? Protesters on the Main Green yesterday kept quiet about what
they were protesting. See blogdailyherald.com for more.
Sports, 5
Leaps and bounds
Chelsey Binkley ’11 and
Victoria Zanelli ’11 lead
gymnastics to a silver
U. to cut $14 million
from next year’s budget
By Jenna Steckel
Senior Staff Writer
The University has identified ways
of minimizing the impact of recent
years’ losses from the University’s
endowment while continuing to ad-
vance Brown’s agenda, administra-
tors announced at Tuesday’s faculty
meeting, proposing several measures
to cut costs including layoffs, a tuition
increase and cuts to varsity sports
programs.
The Organizational Review Com-
mittee, charged with finding oppor-
tunities to reduce expenditures as
well as improve existing programs,
successfully met its goal of decreas-
ing the budget by almost $14 million
for the 2011 fiscal year. This will al-
low the University to continue most
of its plans for expansion, retain its
policy of need-blind admission and
end its faculty salary freeze, Execu-
tive Vice President for Finance and
Administration Beppie Huidekoper
start together at Brown since Don
Tarr ’65 and Dave Tarr ’66 lettered
together for two years, according
Sports
to Brown’s Sports Information Of-
fice.
“It is the first time we have really
played together,” Matt said. “(Peter)
plays hard. … It’s good to be able to
fa u x - test ?
Opinions, 7
Meal plan Puzzle
How much real money does
a Flex point cost Brown
students?
said. Notable recommendations to
President Ruth Simmons included
potential cuts of varsity teams, an
increased transfer class, and an in-
troduction of a supplementary rec-
reation facilities fee.
Also at the meeting, the Cognitive
Sciences, Linguistics, and Psychol-
ogy departments reported on their
intention to merge into a single de-
partment this summer.
Financial finagling
The ORC was charged with pro-
viding Simmons council on options
to reduce the budget in response
to an endowment loss of over 26
percent, while still allowing the
University to sustain the Plan for
Academic Enrichment, Simmons’
wide-ranging blueprint to improve
Brown’s academics. The ORC’s rec-
ommendations stemmed from the
University’s guiding objectives of
continued on page 2
look up to someone like that.”
For Peter, playing with his
younger brother Matt is “like any
other teammate … you get to know
each other’s tendencies,” he said.
“It’s good playing together because
we both help out the team in differ-
ent ways.”
But a friendly sibling rivalry still
exists even while away from their
continued on page 4
Phoebe Neel / Herald
The blog today
Tastes of the world
A video representation of just
how multicultural your Ratty
meal is
herald@browndailyherald.com
Page 2 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Wednesday, February 3, 2010

C ampus N EWS “It makes sense to just sort of stay in school for now.”
— Sarah Huebscher ’10, on applying to grad school

Bigger transfer class, cuts to sports teams on U.’s horizon

continued from page 1
maintaining, if not improving, both
the academic programs offered by
the University and the student expe-
rience, Huidekoper said.
She told the faculty that the
committee’s goal was to minimize
any negative impact on faculty and
student experience, and especially
to avoid cutting jobs. The ORC was
divided into 12 teams, each of which
focused on one aspect of the Uni-
versity, including teams devoted to
academic administration, libraries,
athletics and student services, ac-
cording to Huidekoper.
Simmons supported most of the
committee’s recommendations,
which will be presented to the Cor-
poration, the University’s highest
governing body, for its approval at its
meeting later this month, according
to Huidekoper.
The recommendations included
changes to reduce expenses in every
area of the University. The events
management team, for example, rec-
ommended merging existing events
planning resources into one program
that could manage different kinds of
events and conferences to increase
efficiency. The continuing education
team focused on methods to add rev-
enue rather than cut expenditures,
suggesting an increase in enrollment
in summer programs as well as an
expansion of existing online and
certificate programs coupled with
the creation of new ones.
The athletics team, the only one
of the 12 that did not meet its sav-
ings goal, recommended eliminating
several varsity sports, though the
teams and a schedule for their elimi-
nation have yet to be determined,
Huidekoper said at the meeting. The
committee is unsure of whether they
are ready to enact these changes im-
mediately, but feels that altering the
number and variety of teams offered
could improve the overall program,
she said.
In addition, the athletics group
suggested a mandatory recreation
fee for students and a revised fee for
faculty and staff use of the planned
Nelson Fitness Center, she said.
The University has attempted
to cut jobs with as few firings as
possible by allowing positions to
remain vacant and by offering an
early retirement program to staff
last year, Huidekoper said. One
hundred thirty-nine staff members
have opted for the early retirement
plan, which, along with the approxi-
mately 100 pre-existing vacancies,
will minimize the extent of eventual
job loss, she said. But the University
still estimates that some layoffs will
be needed, though the number will
be determined by the Corporation,
Simmons told the meeting.
Improving while cutting
Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95
P’98 presented the recommenda-
tions of the University Resources
Committee, which recommended
ways to allocate resources that would
allow the University to continue to
advance the Plan for Academic En-
richment. An additional focus of the
URC was to keep Brown competitive
with its peers in attracting faculty
and students by offering comparable
salaries and financial aid payments,
Kertzer said.
The URC suggested that increas-
ing the size of the transfer class by
50 students could serve as a source
of revenue, he said. While increas-
ing the incoming freshman classes
might lead to strains on housing,
first-year seminars and introductory
chemistry classes, current efforts
to improve the transfer orientation
program should allow an increased
class to successfully integrate into
the Brown community, Kertzer
said.
The URC also recommended rais-
ing undergraduate tuition, though
exact figures are yet to be deter-
mined and will be affected by market
conditions, he said. Last year, Brown
was at the bottom of its peer group
in tuition hikes, he said.
The University plans to cut jobs
while maintaining a competitive edge
in attracting faculty and graduate stu-
dents by increasing graduate student
stipends and faculty salaries, Kertzer
said. The University currently pays
stipends to 703 graduate students,
and the URC recommended offering
stipends to an additional 10, while
raising the amount awarded.
The University also plans to end
the freeze on faculty salaries it began
last year, he said.
The plan called for an increase
in the number of faculty to 700, and
there are now 686 faculty members,
Kertzer said. But this year is the first
since the plan’s implementation be-
gan that the University will not grow
its faculty, he said.
Merging departments
William Heindel, associate dean
of the Grad School and professor
and chair of psychology, and Wil-
liam Warren, professor of cognitive
and linguistic sciences, formally
announced a motion to integrate
the Department of Psychology and
the Department of Cognitive and
Linguistic Sciences into a single co-
hesive Department of Cognitive, Lin-
guistic, and Psychological Sciences.
The programs, which will formally
merge July 1, will occupy a newly
renovated Metcalf Chemistry and
Research Laboratory in fall 2011.
While Associate Professor of Psy-
chology Ruth Colwill expressed con-
cern that the merger would impede
the process of faculty promotion, im-
pact research and increase class size,
Simmons said the change “should in
no way disadvantage those on the
path to promotion and tenure.”

Economy leads to 27 percent rise in apps

sudoku continued from page 1
apply to graduate school, we also
think Brown has carved out a better
position from which to attract highly
qualified students,” Bonde said.
In a recent survey by the nation-
wide Council of Graduate Schools,
domestic enrollment in American
graduate schools was up by 6 per-
cent in the last year. But the rate of
international enrollment to American
graduate schools remained stagnant,
making 2009 the first year since 2004
in which there was not a national
rise in the number of matriculating
international graduate students.
The rise in students enrolling in
graduate school correlates with an
increase in the number of people
choosing to take graduate school
according to Educational Testing
Services, which administers the test.
The Graduate Management Admis-
sions Council also reported a small
rise in Graduate Management Ad-
mission Test takers.
Dick Spies, executive vice presi-
dent for planning and senior adviser
to President Ruth Simmons, said
improving the quality of the gradu-
ate school “has been an important
objective” of the Plan for Academic
Enrichment, which was released
in 2004.
“The Plan for Academic Enrich-
ment is all about improving the qual-
ity of education for all students,”
Spies said. “People are more aware
of the incredible research programs
here.”
Hiring new faculty and providing
a research institution. Spies said this
year’s rise in graduate school appli-
cations has continued the pattern of
growth in the past few years.
“We are quite consciously trying
to compete with the best for the best
grad students,” he said.
With the current economic reces-
sion, many may also see graduate
school as a way to avoid entering
into the workforce. Sarah Huebscher
’10, who is applying for a fifth-year
master’s in the Division of Engineer-
ing’s Program in Innovation Manage-
ment and Entrepreneurship, called
the choice to continue to graduate
school “a popular decision” among
students she knows.
“The state of the economy has
made me want to continue my edu-
cation now and enter the workforce

Daily Herald
entrance exams each year. The them with more research support later,” Huebscher said. “It makes
the Brown
Graduate Record Examinations saw are among the ways the University sense to just sort of stay in school
a 13 percent increase in test-takers, has tried to increase its capacity as for now.”
Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372 | Business Phone: 401.351.3260
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Wednesday, February 3, 2010
C ampus N EWS
Vt. student sues over same-sex bathrooms
By Heeyoung Min
Senior Staf f Writer
Jennifer Weiler, a first-year at
Green Mountain College, filed
a lawsuit last month against the
Vermont Department of Public
Safety for failing to provide sepa-
rate restrooms in her dormitor y
for men and women — a mandate
in all public buildings in Vermont
where restroom facilities are avail-
able — according to the civil com-
plaint.
Weiler, and many students who
have approached her, said they
feel uncomfortable by the co-ed
bathrooms, according to Pamela
Moreau, Weiler’s lawyer.
At Brown there are many “sin-
gle-user” gender-neutral or unisex
restrooms on campus, including
in dormitories, said Associate Di-
rector of Housing and Residential
Life Thomas Forsberg. There are
fewer co-ed “multiple-user” rest-
rooms, defined as restrooms used
by men and women at the same
time, he added.
Gender-neutral and co-ed rest-
rooms were introduced to Brown
gradually “over the course of the
past three or four years” when a
group of about 20 students ap-
proached the administration with
the request, he said.
The administration responded
with a “pilot program of tr ying a
few gender-neutral bathrooms,”
Forsberg said. “There were no
complaints or dif ficulties, and
there was interest in expanding
(the program), so we moved for-
ward.”
But Brown students who are
uncomfortable with co-ed rest-
rooms can also avoid them. In
ever y building with a co-ed re-
stroom, there are also all-female
and all-male alternatives, Fors-
berg said. Weiler and her peers at
Green Mountain College do not
have that option. All dormitor y
bathrooms at the college are co-
ed, Moreau wrote in a e-mail to
The Herald.
HIGHER ED
Though Weiler requested a
room on a single-sex floor, the
school placed her on a co-ed floor,
with a co-ed bathroom that has “no
doors on the showers, just flimsy
plastic curtains,” the complaint
states. “Men will use the toilets
without closing the door.”
Kevin Coburn, director of com-
munications at Green Mountain
College, declined to comment
on Weiler’s case, but said, “The
(co-ed) bathroom situation here
is common and can be found
on many other campuses.” In
the past, the administration has
worked with students to find
bathroom accommodations that
are “agreeable to ever ybody,” he
said.
When the Vermont Depar t-
ment of Public Safety told Green
Mountain College that it was
mandated to have separate bath-
room facilities in September, the
school designated a female rest-
room on Weiler’s floor — but male
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
“Men will use the toilets without closing the door.”
students, including the floor’s
resident assistant, continued to
use the female restroom, the suit
said.
The public safety department
did not take further action on Weil-
er’s behalf. It argues, according
to the suit, that the college is not
required by law to comply with the
code because the plumbing in its
buildings has not been changed
or altered since the codes were
mandated.
Through its communications
office, the Vermont Department
of Public Safety declined to com-
ment on the case.
But Moreau finds the depart-
ment’s argument “problematic”
because a new building at Green
Mountain College would be prohib-
ited from having co-ed bathrooms,
she wrote. “It seems strange to us
that the school’s defense would
be, ‘We realize that the code pro-
hibits co-ed bathrooms but we can
do it in an old building as long as
the plumber doesn’t show up with
his wrench,’ ” she added.
Though co-ed restrooms ex-
ist on many campuses, Moreau
wrote that she is not aware of any
“published legal precedent on this
precise issue.”
There are no data available on
the percentage of colleges that
have co-ed bathrooms, James Bau-
mann, communications director
for the Association of College and
University Housing Officers-Inter-
national, told Inside Higher Ed in
a Dec. 21 article, but “it grows in
its commonality each year.”
— Jennifer Weiler’s civil complaint
V-Dub breakfast to be
90 minutes longer
continued from page 1
not ‘college-friendly,’ ” he said.
Representatives from UCS dis-
cussed the feasibility of different
options with Dining Services — in-
cluding the V-Dub’s need to set up
for lunch — before settling on the
continental breakfast setup.
“We figured that a continen-
tal breakfast would be feasible in
terms of logistics and it would meet
the needs of the students,” Farber
said.
Hoffman welcomed the proposi-
tion, and Dining Services found that
the change would work financially.
“It was determined we could do
this with a very small additional
cost,” she said.
Those additional costs, she added,
would come primarily from adding
extra student cashier shifts during
the new operating hours.
Anna Hsu ’10 welcomed the con-
tinental breakfast, but she said she
hopes the continental breakfast will
expand eventually.
“I could see why they would be
hesitant to start with everything,”
A diamond to you
www.diamondsandcoal.com
Page 3
she said. “It’s probably not cost-
efficient for them right now.”
Farber said he was pleased to
hear that Dining Services would
be enacting the change, thanking
the office for its responsiveness to
students’ needs.
“My committee and I are ex-
tremely excited that Dining Services
is gong to implement this change. I
believe I speak for all of us when I
say that we feel very privileged to
attend a university where students
really just feel listened to by all of the
administrators, especially by those
from Dining Services,” he said.
Farber said UCS plans to gather
feedback from students once the new
plan is enacted.
Matt Mettler ’13, a Pembroke
campus resident and V-Dub eater,
said he is ready to make use of the
continental breakfast.
“I’d say it’s a step in the right
direction,” he said. “I have never
actually been to V-Dub breakfast
because it closes so early, so this is
a pleasant change that I’m sure I’ll
take advantage of before morning
classes.”
 SportsWednesday
The Brown Daily Herald
Forty years later, another brother duo
continued from page 1
hometown of Wilmette, Ill. For in-
stance, when asked how one-on-one
contests go or even who was taller,
older brother Peter was quick to
respond.
“I always win, every single time,”
Peter said.
When further comparing himself
to his brother, Peter confidently said
Matt is an inch shorter than he is,
contrary to what the Brown roster
might read.
“He’s a tall 6-5, and I’m a short
6-5,” Matt agreed.
Matt also added that their team-
mates say he is “the less intense
version” of his brother Peter.
Peter and Matt are the first from
their family to attend Brown, but
they agreed it would be great if ei-
ther of their younger siblings ended
up choosing the same route.
Off the court, the two eldest
siblings still spend plenty of time
together through social events on
campus. Peter said one of his favor-
ite things about Brown is the close-
ness of the community and how he
and his brother are able to share
many friends.
In addition to enjoying the distinc-
tive curriculum, Matt said he chose
Squash teams find success in two weekend matches up north
The No. 14 men’s and No. 8 women’s
squash teams both took on Bowdoin and
Bates this weekend, looking to get on the
right track after tough losses to perennial-
powerhouse Trinity last week. It was a suc-
cessful weekend, as both squads got moving
in the right direction.
The men’s team opened the weekend
by beating No. 13 Bowdoin, 5-4. But after
making the short drive from Bowdoin to
Jonathan Bateman and Charlie Fischl / Herald
Matt Sullivan ’13 (left) and brother Peter Sullivan ’11 have been playing
side-by-side with each other for the first time in their careers.
Brown because “it felt like home.” Of freshman year,” Matt said.
course, this could have something During his freshman season,
to do with part of his home — Peter Peter posted impressive numbers.
— already being here. He scored double figures in 11
But Matt said joining a team that games, was the second-leading
already featured his brother was not scorer among Ivy freshmen with
completely ideal. an average of 8.7 points per game
“If you would ask me what one and was named Ivy League Rookie
of the harder things about playing of the Week four times.
with (Peter) was, it would be the This season, Matt has started
expectation that he had such a good in 20 games as guard and received
s p o rt s i n b r i e f
Bates, the team fell, 6-3, to No. 11 Bates. In Nikoo Fadaifard ’12, Erika Kohnen ’12, Sarah
this well-played match, the Bears lost two Roberts ’10, Kali Schellenberg ’10, Sophie
heart-breaking tiebreakers, which proved to Scherl ’11, Lydia Smith ’13 and Carolyn Tilney
be the difference. On the weekend, both ’11, won both of their matches.
Adrian Leanza ’11 and Chris Holter ’13 won The Bears next home match is Feb. 6
both of their matches for the Bears. when they take on No. 3 Yale and No. 22
Overall, it was a very successful weekend George Washington at the Pizzitola Cen-
for the women’s team, as they beat No. 13 ter.
Bowdoin, 9-0, and No. 12 Bates, 7-2. On the
weekend, eight Bears, Sarah Beresford ’13,
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 | Page 4
Rookie of the Week honors for his
performances during the week of
Nov. 23 that helped Brown to win
two of their three games, averaging
10.3 points and 4.7 assists in that
stretch.
So far on the year, tri-captain and
All-Ivy forward Peter has started
in all 21 games. He registered his
first career double-double against
American on Jan. 2.
The star siblings also bring quite
a fan base to the basketball games,
whether they are at Brown or an-
other location on the East Coast,
where many family members live.
Peter explained that this adds to
the fun.
“It’s really nice to have our family
come out over the last two years,” he
said. “There has been someone at
almost every game, it seems like.”
For the remaining games, the
Sullivans just want to play solid bas-
ketball.
“We would obviously like to win
more games,” Peter said. “Every
single game is so crucial in the Ivy
League.”
“I would like to see us do better
than last year,” Matt said. “We are
tougher than what we have been in
the past.”
— Jesse Frank
Wrestling
Wrestlers
fall at home
dual meet
By Han Cui
Assistant Sports Editor
The wrestling team hosted its first
home dual meet on Saturday against
Army. Despite the home advantage,
the Bears did not come out on top
in close matches and lost the dual,
27-6.
“We couldn’t get out from bottom,”
said Head Coach Dave Amato. “We
lost four matches like that.”
Riding time was a decisive factor.
The matches at 141 lbs. and 197 lbs.
were tied at the end of regulation,
but because the Black Knights had
accumulated enough riding time, they
earned one extra point and therefore
won the matches.
Army Assistant Coach Ryan Wil-
man also acknowledged the impor-
tance of the riding time in his team’s
victory.
“We spent a lot of time working
on top (position)” in practice, Wil-
man said.
The first Bear to halt the Black
Knights’ momentum was 165-pounder
Jeff Lemmer ’12. Trailing 3-2, Lemmer
earned four points by twice taking
down his opponent and winning the
match, 6-4.
The match that drew the loudest
cheers from the home crowd was be-
tween 184-pounders Bran Crudden
’10 and Collin Wittmeyer of Army.
Crudden was aggressive from the
beginning and scored the first points
with a takedown. He never let up, even
when his opponent relaxed — think-
ing they were both out of bounds.
But Crudden seized the opportunity
and scored another takedown at the
edge of the mat. Crudden provided
the Bears’ other victory, 10-5.
Though Army won the dual meet
by taking eight out of the 10 weight
classes, Wilman was not pleased with
his team’s overall performance.
“I don’t think we wrestled all that
well,” Wilman said. “The guys got the
job done winning the cheap points, but
we didn’t produce much offense.”
Amato said the Bears improved in
certain technical areas.
“We did a better job on defense on
our feet, which we practiced a lot,”
he said.
The Bears have already been bit-
ten by the injury bug several times
this season. Two starters, Steven
DeLorenzo ’10 and Bryan Tracy ’10,
were out of Saturday’s lineup due to
injury, but fortunately for the Bears,
both are expected to return to the mat
this weekend. Amato said injury alone
is not an excuse for defeat.
“You wrestle with who you have,”
he said. “Hopefully, this weekend will
be a turnaround.”
This weekend will feature four
dual meets, starting Friday at noon
in the Pizzitola Center, when two old
rivals, Boston University and Drexel,
come to town. The next day, the Bears
will kick off the Ivy League season
against perennial powerhouse Penn
at 10 a.m., which will be followed by
a meet against Princeton.
Page 5 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Sports Wednesday “Ivies are anyone’s game.”

— Gymnastics Head Coach Sara Carver-Milne

Swimming & Diving

M. swim evens Ivy League record

By Sahar Shahamatdar
Contributing Writer
Men’s Swimming & Diving
On Friday, the men’s swimming
and diving team out-swam Columbia
by 30 points — in its adopted home
pool in Lowell, Mass. — in the most
exciting meet of the season to bring
its record to 2-2 in the Ivy League,
said Head Coach Peter Brown.
The Bears started the meet with
solid second-place finishes, and led
the Lions by five points after the
Jocelyn West / Herald first five events. Tucker Wetmore
Despite several strong individual performances, the gymnastics team fell
to Bridgeport last weekend.
’10 picked up the momentum and
won Brown’s first gold medal of the
Gymnastics night in the 200-yard freestyle event
with a time of 1:42.91.
ahead of teammate Ian Slater ’13 in
the 200-yard backstroke.
“A couple of events came down to
the last five yards, and unfortunately
we did not win enough of them,” said
Columbia Head Coach Jim Bolster.
Brown finished the meet on a
high note — winning the 400-yard
freestyle relay by more than two
seconds — and went on to defeat
Columbia, 168-138.
“This meet was one of the best in
a couple years, and I am very proud
of (the team),” Brown said. “We were
competing well and supporting each
other, and that is necessary for suc-
cess.”
The team will take on Yale on
Wednesday in its home pool in
1.12 seconds ahead of Brown to win
the race and the meet, 156-144, this
past Friday in Lowell.
“The meet was extremely close
and competitive, and it was the best
team effort this year by far,” said
Head Coach Peter Brown.
The dual meet started with the
200-yard medley relay, and Bruno
crossed the finish line more than a
full second ahead of the Columbia
squad. The Lions answered back
by taking gold in the 1000-yard free-
style, and the ping-pong matched
continued, as neither team ever had a
deficit greater than eight points.
Columbia finished the meet 12
points ahead to extend its winning
streak to five meets.

Duo vaults past former The rest of the meet was packed
with close events. John Hug ’13
Lowell. Despite the loss, Brown ap-
plauded the team, noting that his

Olympian in close loss

By Victoria Elmore
Contributing Writer
The gymnastics team is no stranger
to Olympic athletes. Though U.S.
gymnast Alicia Sacramone left the
Pizzitola Center two years ago for
Beijing, an Olympian re-entered the
arena on Sunday, this time as an op-
ponent.
But Monica Mesalles, a member
of the 2004 Spanish Olympic gym-
nastics squad and now a freshman
at Bridgeport, could not edge out
beam standouts Chelsey Binkley
’11 and Victoria Zanelli ’11, who fin-
ished third and fourth, respectively
— ahead of the Olympian, who tied
for sixth.
Despite efforts by Binkley — who
finished in first place on the floor
— Zanelli, Lauren Hall ’13 and Carli
Wiesenfeld ’12, the Bears finished
behind Bridgeport in the three-team
home competition.
barely out-touched Columbia’s Sean Women’s Swimming & Diving squad “has good momentum and is
Mackenzie to win gold in the 500- It all came down to the final relay competing well.”
yard freestyle, and Ryan Kikuchi in the women’s swimming and diving The Bears will swim against Yale
“We started strong and finished ’11 crossed the line just .09 seconds meet, and Columbia finished just in a dual meet on Wednesday.
strong,” said Brown Head Coach Sara
Carver-Milne. “I think we lost focus a
little in the middle, but our floor team
came through at the end.”
Bridgeport Coach Byron Knox
commended his athletes on their
first-place finish, noting an “excep-
tional performance” by Lorraine
Galow, the meet’s all-around high
scorer, who finished first on vault and
second on both beam and floor.
Tristan Poirier, head coach of
third-place Rhode Island College,
was less enthusiastic about his team’s
performance. “We’re always just look-
ing to improve,” he said.
As the Brown squad moves for-
ward, it will be looking ahead to
the Ivy Classic, at which the Bears
finished second last year. But this
season, the competition will be held
on Brown’s home turf.
“Ivies are anyone’s game,” Carver-
Milne said.
Editorial & Letters
The Brown Daily Herald

Page 6 | Wednesday, February 3, 2010

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

Numeric illiteracy to blame for typo

To the Editor:

In Hunter Fast’s recent column (“In defense of Ruth,” Jan. 28), he er-
roneously states that the Brown endowment lost $800 billion during the
financial meltdown. In fact, the endowment lost $800 million. I’m sure
Fast simply made a typographical error, but I worry about the fact that
this mistake was overlooked by editors. I think this is symptomatic of a
larger problem: people have trouble comprehending very large numbers
and the relationships between them.
Imagine a news story stating that Apple’s new iPad was expected to
be priced around $500,000. This would be a ridiculous and obvious error,
yet it is proportionally as large as misusing billion for million. The ratio
between $800 million and $800 billion is the same as the ratio between the
cost of a used bicycle and the cost of a new BMW. The ratio between a
million and a trillion is the same as the ratio between the cost of a gumball
and the cost of a new house.
Large-number literacy is important — not just for writing annoying let-
ters to college newspapers, but for understanding legislative proposals and
economic issues. When politicians attack each other for wasteful spending,
it is important to know that $5 million wasted is completely insignificant
compared to something like the $787 billion stimulus bill — a pair of shoes
compared to a private jet. I promise that will be the last analogy, but they
surprise me every time.
And that’s the problem. We aren’t built to understand these orders of A le x Y uly
magnitude. Everyone has a good sense for the difference between 2 and
7, but 2 billion and 7 trillion are much harder to pin down. Still, we need
to try to understand the relationships between these numbers if we are e d i to r i a l
going to hold politicians accountable and have a reasonable sense of the
impact of our actions.
In fact, if you counted to a million, one number a second, it would take
about 11 days. If you had to count to a trillion… Never mind.
Sober solutions
More positive alterations are in the works for Rhode bution. While this would be a positive development,
Sam Loomis ’10 Island’s developing cannabis laws. State Reps. Jo- lawmakers must remember that some officers may be
Feb. 1 seph Almeida and John M. Carnevale are seeking to accustomed to treating marijuana possession purely
streamline the distribution of medical marijuana and as a criminal offense and an unequivocal problem; the
discourage abuse of the substance. The state already approval of this law entails the responsibility to moni-
allows patients with chronic pain or their registered tor police oversight for evidence of overly aggressive
caregivers to grow the plant for its pain-dulling prop- behavior towards dispensary staff and customers.
This space is yours. Fill it. erties, which many sufferers prefer over traditional Another common-sense provision of the new leg-
painkillers. Rhode Island also plans to sanction three islation would allow out-of-state residents to serve on
letters@browndailyherald.com privately run medical marijuana dispensaries, and the boards of Rhode Island dispensaries. Other states
a panel convened by the state Senate is examining have had extensive experience with the operation of
the possibility of decriminalizing the possession of dispensaries. If their better-qualified residents want
small quantities of the drug even without medical to help similar projects succeed in Rhode Island, they
authorization. should be encouraged rather than prohibited.
t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d The representatives’ bill would impose common- Unfortunately, Almeida and Carnevale are consider-
Senior Editors
Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Deputy Managing Editors sense restrictions on the state’s system of private can- ing an additional measure that their bill is better off
Chaz Kelsh Sophia Li Ellen Cushing
George Miller
Seth Motel nabis growers. The legislation would forbid those without. Last week, they told the Providence Journal
Emmy Liss
Joanna Wohlmuth convicted of capital offenses or felony drug charges that they were weighing an attempt to eliminate a
editorial
Business from registering as caregivers, ensuring that sufferers provision currently on the books that legally shields
General Managers Office Manager
Anne Speyer Arts & Culture Editor Claire Kiely Shawn Reilly
of chronic conditions would not have to rely on people those arrested for marijuana possession if they sub-
Suzannah Weiss Arts & Culture Editor Katie Koh who have demonstrated their irresponsibility. It would sequently secure a card authorizing medicinal use.
Brian Mastroianni Features Editor
Hannah Moser Features Editor Directors also forbid growers from sharing their semi-legal pro- The potential for abuse by recreational users claiming
Kelly Wess Sales
Brigitta Greene Metro Editor
Matthew Burrows Finance duce with non-cardholders, ensuring that the modest severe conditions is obvious. But a doctor’s certifi-
Ben Schreckinger Metro Editor
Margaret Watson Client Relations amount of the drug that each individual is allowed to cation of medical need obtained before an arrest is
Sydney Ember News Editor
Christiana Stephenson Alumni Relations
Nicole Friedman News Editor cultivate is reserved for those who need it most. Finally, no less likely to be disingenuous than one obtained
Dan Alexander Sports Editor Managers Almeida and Carnevale propose to eliminate the status afterwards. Furthermore, eliminating this defense
Andrew Braca Asst. Sports Editor Arjun Vaidya Local Sales
Han Cui Asst. Sports Editor of caregiver as the dispensaries commence operations would create an unfortunate double standard, penal-
Marco deLeon National Sales
Graphics & Photos Aditi Bhatia University Sales and provide a more reliable and controllable source izing those without the knowledge or connections to
Stephen Lichenstein Graphics Editor Jared Davis University Sales of the substance. quickly obtain a card.
Alex Yuly Graphics Editor Trenten Nelson-Rivers Recruiter Sales
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong Photo Editor Alexander Carrere Special Projects The end of the caregiver system means that the The current bill, however, represents significant
Max Monn Asst. Photo Editor Kathy Bui Staff dispensaries must be stringently focused on providing progress for Rhode Island’s approach to medical mari-
Jonathan Bateman Sports Photo Editor
Opinions for chronic sufferers only, and the bill would give the juana. Overall, the changes that Almeida and Carnevale
production Opinions Editor
Michael Fitzpatrick state police the means to ensure that they are. It would have proposed are sensible and well-tailored, and they
Kelly Mallahan Copy Desk Chief Alyssa Ratledge Opinions Editor
Jordan Mainzer Asst. Copy Desk Chief allow them to conduct unannounced inspections of exemplify the mix of modest liberalization and careful
Marlee Bruning Design Editor Editorial Page Board distribution centers, a crucial tool to prevent sales to oversight that may make Rhode Island’s forays into
Anna Migliaccio Asst. Design Editor Matt Aks Editorial Page Editor
Julien Ouellet Asst. Design Editor Debbie Lehmann Board member
recreational users and the concomitant risk of short- cannabis policy an example for the entire country.
Neal Poole Web Editor William Martin Board member ages for those who rely on access to drug. The police
Melissa Shube Board member would also take over the task of reviewing dispensaries’ Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page
Post- magazine Gaurie Tilak Board member
Marshall Katheder Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Topaz Board member sale records from the Department of Health, allowing board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.
them to better track evidence of inappropriate distri- com.
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Opinions
The Brown Daily Herald
Please. Mr. Obama is not black
Dominic
Mhiripiri
Opinions Columnist
Recently, the United States marked the first an-
niversary of Barack Obama’s historic ascent to
the apex of American politics. For a candidate
who electrified a whole generation of American
youth and whose promise gave the whole world
great expectations, the man’s image borders
on the divine. At least, it did one year ago.
Since then, America has basked in some sort
of self-congratulatory-slash-too-good-to-be-true
euphoria. It’s because Obama’s election comes
in a different context — namely, a very historic
one. It’s because he is the first black president
of the United States.
Wait. Really? Black?
Obama’s Kenyan heritage is an established
fact. His father (also an Obama of the Barack
sort, with a keen intellect like his son) grew
up in Kenya. In the late 1950s, after obtaining
a scholarship, he sojourned to the land of the
free — eventually attending Harvard some
three decades before his son would train as
an attorney at the same university. In early
1961, he married Stanley Ann Dunham, a white
woman from Arkansas, and later that year,
Barack Obama Jr. was born to them.
So there you go: Obama’s mother is white
and his father is pitch-black. In southern Af-
rica, Obama would be called a colored man
— nothing more or less. Obama is as much
white as he is black, and neither one of them
exclusively. The United States made history
in November 2008 — electing the first biracial
ANDREA MATTHEWS
Opinions Columnist
I love hosting prospective freshmen. Last se-
mester, I showed a delightful young woman
from New York City around campus. I took
her through the Main Green, to Jo’s for a late
night snack and, the next morning, to the Ratty
for breakfast.  (I figured it would be honest to
expose her to our most lovable eatery early
on in her visit.)
Given my penchant for swiping meal plan-
less friends into the dining halls, I anticipated
that I would be out of guest credits.  But I was
not concerned —  given the whopping 50-some-
thing meal credits I had at the end of last year, I
knew I would have more than enough to spare
on my guest.   formulates a coercive meal system to encourage
I was correct on two out of three counts:
my guest credits were toast. My regular meal
credits, however, were in abundant supply. “Ex-
cellent,” I said. “May I just swipe my guest in
with one of those?”
Apparently, I could not. My poor prospective
student stood there, mortified, as I exhausted
my powers of persuasion:
     “Wait… really?
     “But… they’re my meal credits.
     “Please, just this once?
     “I don’t understand! They’re MY meal
credits!”
It only got worse from there. “You could
pay with dollars,” the harangued card-swiper
suggested. But I couldn’t pay the six dollars
that supposedly equal a meal credit at venues
like Jo’s and the Gate. No, breakfast at the Ratty
would cost me $9.30. With my poor prospective
president in its history, and quite possibly the
history of anywhere else in the world. In the
past, no black man has come anywhere close
to becoming a major presidential candidate
in America, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton
notwithstanding.
In an understandable but nevertheless mis-
placed assertion, the U.S. is trying to convince
itself, primarily through Obama’s election, that
it has attained the cherished ideal that Martin
Luther King Jr. and many others fought for in
their illustrious civil rights movement: a post-
racial America.
In an understandable but nevertheless misplaced
assertion, the U.S. is trying to convince itself,
primarily through Obama’s election, that it has
attained the cherished ideal that Martin Luther King
Jr. and many others fought for in their illustrious civil
rights movement: a post-racial America.
Even though at Brown I wallow in the rank
and file of a small minority, here I am paying
no attention to the sensitivities that surround
discourse on race in America. Many a time
political correctness is overly misplaced or
exaggerated, which impedes on fruitful discus-
sion and exchange. In fact, when many people
in the recent past tried to be as forthright as
they could in articulating race in America, their
words did not manage to escape the brutal
aftermath of controversy in the media.
I mean neither to justify nor condemn their
statements. Former President Jimmy Carter
Eating a hole in our wallets
freshman’s resolve to attend Brown disintegrat-
ing by the moment, I slapped the money down
and shuffled away.  still cheats students out of their money. Let
The prohibition on using my meal credits,
which I paid for, to feed someone else strikes
me as fundamentally unfair. The only logical
explanation for Brown Dining Services’ policy
is to save money at the expense of student
choice.   Weekly Plan B costs $3,690 for 14 meals per
Whether one is on a weekly plan, in which
the credits expire at the end of the week, or
a Flex plan, in which they carry over through
the end of the year, unused credits allow Din-
ing Services to keep your payment without
delivering a product. This may seem like a neg-
The people who benefit from this fee structure
are not the students, but Dining Services, which
over-subscription, and then creates huge savings
when students fail to utilize all the meals they
paid for.
ligible amount — what’s a few credits here and
there? But say person A is on the 20-meal-per-
week standard plan, and misses three meals per
week for all 28 weeks in the school year. Valued
at $6 per meal (which is actually a low amount,
given that the Ratty charges $9.30 for breakfast,
$12.15 for lunch, and $14.25 for dinner), this
person loses the equivalent of $504 “food dol-
lars” per academic year. In other words, BDS
saves the rough equivalent of $504 by charging
you for what you don’t eat.
There seems to be a quick fix to this sce-
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 | Page 7
and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D.-
Nev., certainly had grains of truth embedded
in their comments about race in the context
of Barack Obama’s presidency. First, Carter
said the popular perception of Obama as a
black man (albeit factually wrong) is a source
of discomfort for many Americans, and drives
some of them to extremes that border on the
pathological. This is a fact. And true to the
sentiments echoed by Reid, Obama’s success
as a politician as well as his acceptance by the
American electorate is very significantly cor-
related to his demeanor of a mixed biracial (as
opposed to black) man. Obama is light-skinned
and has a white mother and a somewhat unique
accent.
This is not to explicitly say that these quali-
ties in Obama are more desirable or better —
but that Americans embraced those qualities
more than they have warmed up to those in
men as black as Jesse Jackson. This is a fact
that people should simply get over.
Those with experiences outside of main-
stream American issues of race (like myself)
know that colorism exists in almost every cul-
ture. Colorism shapes people’s perceptions of
nario: Just purchase a smaller meal plan. But
this is a disingenuous option that in the end
us look at the difference in costs and benefits
between the largest meal plan and the next
one down:
Weekly Plan A costs $3,920 for 20 meals per
week and 200 points per year.
week and 150 points per year.
Valuing each meal credit at $6, and assum-
ing 28 weeks in the academic year, the “dining
dollars” value for plan A is $3,560 while Plan B
is worth $2,502. That’s a loss of $1,058 in “din-
ing dollar” benefits for a savings of only $230 in
real dollars. Given the sharp decline in benefits
for these relatively modest savings, who would
switch? Only those who are absolutely sure of
their consumption habits, or are less risk-averse
than they are eager to save the $230.   rently on the table.
Another interesting figure to look at is
how much real money every “dining dollar”
costs. With every meal plan, each meal credit
or Flex point “dollar” costs more than an actual
dollar. What is interesting is that each plan gets
“cheaper” as one moves up the scale.  
The smallest weekly meal plan gives you
others and (however sad it may be) often skews
equality issues surrounding the distribution of
resources and opportunities. Light-skinned-
ness is a virtue that many black women in
Africa obsessively pursue. Darker-skinned
people often get higher sentences in jail than
their light-skinned counterparts. Furthermore,
research shows that in many non-white ethnic
groups, a fairer shade of the skin is correlated
to a higher income. Within the same construct,
I would like to assert that the U.S. is not ready
to elect a black candidate like Michael Steele
or Alan Keyes to the White House.
Inasmuch as I strongly want to perfectly
“identify” with Obama — I am as black as
they come, for the record — simple fact is that
we’re close but not quite there. His experiences
and his story might be very similar to those
of many African-American men, but does not
exempt the world from taking him for who he
really is: a biracial man. Proclaiming that he
is a “black man” takes something away from
all mixed-race people in the world. I believe
“biracial” should be maintained as a separate
and important entity, and if you want to think
of Obama’s election as a victory for anyone,
then it is a victory for this group more than any
other. The world needs to acknowledge that.
Post-racialism is a still a distant hope in
the horizons of America, and I eagerly look
forward to the day when the country will elect
its first black president.
Dominic Mhiripiri ’12 does not
really care what you think. However,
he can be reached at dominic_
mhiripiri@brown.edu
$1,246 in benefits for $3,058 in real cash. That
means you’re paying $2.45 in real money for
every $1 of “dining dollars.”
The next plan up costs you $1.88 per “dining
dollar,” followed by $1.47 and finally $1.10 for
the 20 meal per week plan.
Given the relatively high value per dollar of
the largest meal plans, it would not be surpris-
ing to find that many Brown students are on
meal plans larger than they need. The people
who benefit from this fee structure are not
the students, but Dining Services, which for-
mulates a coercive meal system to encourage
over-subscription, and then creates huge sav-
ings when students fail to utilize all the meals
they paid for.
It is plausible that Dining Services could
benefit from economies of scale, in which the
more food they produce, the cheaper each unit
of food becomes. Respecting both this and the
need for Dining Services to have some rough
estimate of the amount of food it will have to
produce over the year, what solutions can we
find? Perhaps Brown could offer meal plans
with both smaller tiers and more reasonable
changes in price for changes in the value of
plans. Alternately, Brown could let its students
do what they want with their own money, and
relax its rule on the free use of meal credits. Ei-
ther way, Dining Services has an opportunity
to sweeten the deal for students, who deserve
a fairer meal plan structure than what’s cur-
Andrea Matthews ’11 does,
however, congratulate the Ratty
on implementing an additional
omelet station.
 Today 3
to day to m o r r o w
Co-ed bathroom controversy hits college
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Brown team out-swims Columbia

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Wednesday, February 3, 2010
37 / 18
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