Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxliv, no. 118 | Friday, December 4, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891
Early applicant pool grows for Class of 2014
By Anne Simons
Senior Staf f Writer
Early applications to Brown are up
21 percent from last year, according
to Jim Miller ’73, dean of admission.
They numbered over 2,850 at the
Nov. 1 deadline, he said, up from
2,343 last year.
Miller said the results were
“unexpected,” especially during
tough economic times.
“It does seem that people do
perceive Brown as having great
value,” he said, adding that people
seem “very willing to invest in a
Brown education.”
A difficult economic climate can
sometimes lead applicants away
from binding programs, like early
decision admissions, that may re-
strict their financial aid options.
Applications to the Program in
Liberal Medical Education were
up 35 percent over last year, Miller
said. Because applications had de-
creased last year, this year’s in-
crease means that about as many
applicants applied this year as two
years ago, he said.
The number of minority ap-
plicants also rose “pretty signifi-
Architect envisions a One in four at U. take
tale of smaller cities RIPTA each month
By Caitlin Trujillo
Staf f Writer
The iconic monolithic city often
sits in our imagination as a soci-
ety’s great achievement. But with
megalopolises come suburban
sprawl.
Cities instead should be allowed
to develop, mature and ultimately
duplicate before they overextend
into monolithic urban cores and
space-filling suburbs, renowned ar-
chitect Leon Krier told a crowd in
Salomon 101 Thursday evening.
Krier, author of “The Architec-
ture of Community” and “Get Your
House Right: Architectural Ele-
ments to Use and Avoid,” spoke for
an hour and a half on the problems
of modern urban planning, namely
the use of architecture and urban-
ism in ways that create huge cities
with suburban sprawl problems.
Krier called this urban expan-
sion a “bloody disaster,” specifi-
cally mentioning Manhattan and
the proliferation of skyscrapers on
the urban skyline.
“Cities often look like storage
areas for buildings,” he said.
Instead, Krier said, planners
should limit the growth of cities
so that they form concentrated,
controlled urban centers. New cit-
ies would then spring up nearby
inside
News.....1-4
Arts..........5
Editorial......6
Opinion.....7
Today...........8
www.browndailyherald.com
Early applications to next year’s freshman class jumped 21 percent
from last year, including a 35 percent rise in PLME applicants.
cantly,” Miller said. The Univer-
sity received 75 percent more
applications from Hispanics than
last year and 60 percent more
and be allowed to develop their
own cores. These concentrated
towns and cities would be linked
by expanses of empty space,
such as woods and forests, and
unchecked suburban sprawl would
diminish.
“We need to reinforce and re-
build the small,” Krier said.
Krier also talked about the in-
tersections of urban plotting and
architecture. He explained the
concepts of classicism — archi-
tecture and planning that is often
systematic, monumental and or-
nate — and the vernacular, which
is characterized by a smaller scale
and a greater focus on functional-
ity than aesthetics.
Classicism and the vernacu-
lar are two ways to classify both
urbanism and architecture, Krier
said.
In some cases, such as the Ro-
man Forum, the two styles can
coexist. But Krier said the worst
mix, to be avoided at all costs,
was the combination of classical
urbanism, with its neatly ordered
plots, and vernacular architecture,
with simple and plain buildings —
the typical style for the average
suburb.
Krier took questions after his
continued on page 4
News, 3
Passing health care
Prof. James Morone
outlined what Obama must
do to pass health reform
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald
from blacks.
The University has put a lot of
effort into recruiting a diverse ap-
plicant pool, Miller said.
By Talia Kagan
Staff Writer
Two years after University affiliates
first started receiving free bus and
trolley rides from the Rhode Island
Public Transit Authority as part of
the agency’s contract with Brown,
just under a quarter of faculty, staff
and students take advantage of it
Herald to welcome 120th editorial board
Left to right: Sophia Li ’11, Seth Motel ’11, Ellen Cushing ’10, Joanna
Wohlmuth ’11 and George Miller ’11 (horizontal) at 195 Angell Thursday.
International applications also
increased, Miller said. The state-
by-state distribution of American
applicants was relatively steady,
he added.
Also noteworthy was a 27 per-
cent increase in the proportion of
applicants who said they are in-
terested in pursuing Bachelor of
Science degrees, Miller said.
Though it is impossible to know
for sure, Miller said, the large in-
crease could foreshadow changes
in the regular decision numbers
as well.
What is “most interesting”
about the overall increase is what
it “portends for regular decision,”
Miller said.
The early applicant pool looks
“very powerful,” he added.
The University aims to enroll
just under 1,500 students next year,
as usual, Miller said. The percent-
age of early decision students in
the final class size typically ranges
from the high twenties to low thir-
ties, he said, and he does not ex-
pect that to change this year.
Decisions will be available
online to applicants the night of
Dec. 14.
each month.
Under the statewide UPass pro-
gram started in September 2007
the University pays an undisclosed
flat rate for every ride by a Univer-
sity community member.
But despite the free ride, most
University employees drive to work
continued on page 4
Kim Perley / Herald
Arts, 5
Reflection in opera
“Doris to Darlene” is the
latest productions from
Sock and Buskin’s
Late scholar’s
work donated
to U. libraries
By Qian Yin
Contributing Writer
More than 700 books from the col-
lection of the late Michael Bhatia ’99,
an international relations scholar and
Afghanistan expert, are now available
to researchers at Brown libraries.
A visiting fellow at the Watson In-
stitute for International Studies from
2006 to 2007, Bhatia was an Oxford
University doctoral candidate when
he was killed by a roadside bomb in
Afghanistan in May 2008. He had been
working there as a civilian member of
a U.S. Army Human Terrain Team,
according to the University.
Brown received Bhatia’s library
collection from his family at the end
of June, said Medical School Librar-
ian Tovah Reis. With the first stage of
processing completed, Bhatia’s books
are now available to researchers in the
Rockefeller and the John Hay librar-
ies, she said.
The remaining part of the collec-
tion, including papers and conference
proceedings, will be available to the
public in the future, she said.
The complete collection includes
primary resources such as posters
from the first election in Afghanistan,
according to James Der Derian, pro-
fessor of international studies, who
said he has looked through the col-
lection.
“He had one of probably the best
conventional libraries of international
relations that I’ve come across,” Der
Derian said.
Der Derian directed a documen-
tary titled “Human Terrain,” focus-
ing on the Human Terrain system
continued on page 3
By Yuan Na’in-Tien
Seniors
The Herald will introduce the 120th
editorial board and a new slate of lead-
ers in the organization at the annual
staff banquet tonight at Cav Restaurant
downtown.
With the calendar year of Herald
production coming to an end today, the
new leadership is effective Jan. 1.
Leading next year’s group will be
George Miller ’11, who will serve
as editor-in-chief and president of The
Herald. The Fairfax, Va. native, who
has served as metro editor over the
past year, boasts a breadth of experi-
ence as a reporter and as an editor
both on and off campus, and hopes to
be the steady hand on the tiller in 2010.
We know he will do a good job — we
continued on page 2
Editor’s Note
Today’s issue is the
final print edition of the
semester. Publication
will resume in January.
Thanks for reading.
herald@browndailyherald.com
Page 2 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Friday, December 4, 2009

C ampus N EWS
Matches around the corner
By Dan Alexander
Senior Staff Writer
The Herald is done for the semester,
but Brown sports aren’t. Below is a
list of each team’s can’t-miss games
over break.
Men’s basketball
The men’s basketball team (4-
5, 0-0 Ivy) will face cross-town ri-
val Providence College (7-2) at the
Dunkin’ Donuts Center on Monday
at 7 p.m. The Bears will be looking to
avenge a 86-62 loss last season.
Men’s hockey
Coming off their first two wins
of the season, the Bears (2-7-1, 1-4-1
ECAC Hockey) will host two ECAC
opponents this weekend. Princeton
(3-5-1, 2-4-1), who beat Brown in a
1-0 overtime season opener, will
play in Meehan Auditorium at 7
p.m. tonight. And No. 6 Quinnipiac
(12-1-0, 7-0-0), who stands atop the
ECAC standings, takes the ice in
Providence on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Women’s basketball
The Bears (4-5, 0-0 Ivy) will open
up league play with back-to-back
games versus Yale (3-5, 0-0) on Jan.
15 and Jan. 25. The first contest will
be in Providence.
sudoku
Women’s hockey
The Bears will face ECAC leader
Cornell (7-4-1, 6-1-1 ECAC Hockey)
on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Ithaca. The
Big Red come into this weekend off
of a 2-1 loss to Niagara, but the Bears
haven’t won since Oct. 25.
Wrestling
The wrestling team has been in Las
Vegas since Tuesday, and they will
hit the mats in the Las Vegas Cliff
Keen invitational this weekend.
The meet will include 50 teams
from all over the country, includ-
ing four of the teams that finished
in the top 10 nationally last season.
Gymnastics
The gymnastics team opens its sea-
son in a four-team meet at South-
ern Connecticut on Jan. 16.
Fencing
The fencing team will compete in
three meets over break, none of
which will be in Providence.
Squash
Both the men’s and women’s squash
team will travel to Princeton, N.J., to
take on the Tigers on Saturday.
Swimming and diving
The men’s and women’s swim
teams will go to the Bucknell Invi-
tational this weekend.
New leadership for Herald in 2010
continued from page 1
feel it in our bones.
Chaz Kelsh ’11, a former news
editor, will return from a semester
abroad in Stockholm to serve as man-
aging editor. Kelsh, from Philadelphia,
is an expert on the inner workings
of the University and its mysterious
governing body, the Corporation. A
sharp editor, he also brings his trade-
mark wit and reporterly confidence.
He will also serve as secretary of The
Brown Daily Herald, Inc.
Sophia Li ’11, The Herald’s fea-
tures editor, will join the editorial board
as a deputy managing editor. Li, who
hails from Cheshire, Conn., Sacra-
mento, Calif. and many indeterminate
locations in between, has successfully
brightened these pages with off-the-
beaten-path stories, personalities and
organic farming operations for the
last year and boasts an unmatched
knowledge of Brown history.
Also joining the editorial board as a
deputy managing editor will be Emmy
Liss ’11, a former features editor who
will return from a semester abroad in
Barcelona. A Mill Neck, N.Y., native
and the Herald’s No. 1 cheerleader,
Liss is a stickler for winning headlines,
clever ledes and features that shine.
She will probably try to recruit you
in the spring.
Ellen Cushing ’10 will join the
board having seen multiple sides
of The Herald. The Berkeley, Calif.
homegirl has admirably performed
double-duty as both a senior staff writ-
er for the news side and the University
editor for post- magazine. Expect her
to continue her relentless pursuit of
the toughest stories about Brown’s
darkest secrets. And no more post-
naked pictures.
News Editor Seth Motel ’11 also
steps up to the editorial board as a
senior editor. The Lincolnwood, Ill.
native, a former copy desk chief, has
also been the Herald’s poll czar for
more than a year. He likes numbers,
crosstabs and hard news. He doesn’t
like mistakes.
Joanna Wohlmuth ’11, the metro
editor from Manhattan Beach, Calif.,
rounds out the 120th editorial board
as a senior editor. Leaving no stone
unturned in her quest to uncover the
dirt on Providence and Rhode Island,
Wohlmuth knows how to get to the
bottom of a story and produce A-
plus copy. You’ll also see her lead the
women’s water polo team in “forced
ejections” (it’s a good thing).
The editorial board will be
backed up by a strong slate of
section editors.
Helping the edit board keep track
of the day-to-day on-campus happen-
ings as news editors will be California
girls Sydney Ember ’12 and Nicole
Friedman ’12. Ember, a senior staff
writer from Los Angeles, leads the
league in interviews conducted, pages
proofed and gumption-to-body-size
ratio. Friedman, from Piedmont, Ca-
lif., also a senior staff writer, knows
more about faculty governance than
the faculty does. They both insisted
on editing this paragraph.
Leading next year’s city and state
coverage as metro editors will be the
alliterative pair of Brigitta Greene
’12 and Ben Schreckinger ’12.
Greene, from Westfield, N.J., has taken
the lead in aggressively covering the
University’s finances and capital ex-
pansion as a senior staff writer. Her
dry humor takes some getting used to.
Schreckinger, from Belmont, Mass.,
has been both a senior staff writer and
a post- columnist, covering UCS, local
politics and fictional encounters with
Emma Watson ’13 alike. He plans to
“bro lightly” this weekend.
Hannah Moser ’12, a friendly
wildland firefighter and erstwhile
senior staff writer from Canyonville,
Ore., takes over as features editor
along with Cheshire, Mass. native
Brian Mastroianni ’11. Moser has
co-led the Herald poll and interviewed
angry PLMEs, among other things.
Mastroianni, who likes RISD and paint-
ing, has filed countless bylines from
College Hill and beyond and brings
his knowledge and keen sense for
good stories.
Taking over at the sports desk will
be Columbus, Ohio’s Dan Alexander
’12, a senior staff writer who has trav-
elled the Eastern seaboard covering
the football team this fall. A tough in-
terviewer who remembers how long
a team’s losing streak is, he’s a coach’s
worst nightmare. Providence’s own
Andrew Braca ’10, the outgoing
editor, will stay on as an assistant with
Oak Park, Ill.’s Han Cui ’10.
Leading the arts and culture sec-
tion are two more senior staff writers.
Anne Speyer ’12, a Manhattanite
with an encyclopedia knowledge of
Jay-Z lyrics, has covered dozens of
metro and campus life stories in her
day. Suzannah Weiss ’12, from
Syosset, N.Y., has been The Herald’s
eyes and ears at UCS meetings this
semester, and has bravely covered the
swine flu outbreak without contracting
the disease.
Putting the paper together every
day will be three design editor hold-
overs — Saint-Mammes, France native
and house-music aficionado Julien
Ouellet ’12, Manchester, N.H., starv-
ing artist and ginger enthusiast Mar-
lee Bruning ’12 and White Plains,
N.Y.’s Anna Migliaccio ’12, tolerator
of antics in-chief.
Leading the copy desk will be Kelly
Mallahan ’11, a Herald staff writer
from Seattle, Wash., currently studying
abroad in Morocco. She will be joined
by a new assistant copy chief, Highland
Park, Ill.’s Jordan Mainzer ’12.
Alyssa Ratledge ’11, from Mesa,
Ariz., will stay on as opinions editor in
2010. She will be joined next year by
columnist Michael Fitzpatrick ’12,
of San Antonio, Tex.
The Herald also welcomes 11 new
contributors who reached the rank of
staff writer: Ana Alvarez ’13, Alex
Bell ’13, Kristina Fazzalaro ’12,
Max Godnick ’13, Anish Gonchi-
gar ’12, Sarah Mancone ’13, Claire
Peracchio ’13, Kevin Pratt ’10,
Emily Rosen ’12, Jenna Steckel
’13 and Caitlin Trujillo ’12.
Upstairs at 195 Angell, Marshall
Katheder ’12 of Orlando, Fla., will
take over as editor-in-chief of post-
magazine, the Herald’s alternative
weekly. Katheder, who was on the
reality TV show “Endurance” as an
adolescent, has served as post-’s film
editor. He has great fashion sense, and
his favorite movie is “Garden State.”
The editorial page board will also
see new leadership next semester,
as Matt Aks ’11, of Scarsdale, N.Y.,
takes over as the new editor of the
editorial page.
The Herald is also fortunate to have
two excellent new general managers
handling the business side of the or-
ganization next year.
Claire Kiely ’11, of San Jose,
Calif., will serve as a general man-

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of Coto de Caza, Calif., will serve as
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Friday, December 4, 2009
C ampus N EWS
Morone: health care debate
a ‘great change moment’
By Bradley Silverman
Contributing Writer
President Obama and proponents of
health care reform should adhere
to a unified philosophical vision and
avoid allowing the debate to focus
on costs, James Morone, professor
of political science and chair of the
department, told a packed MacMillan
115 Thursday night.
In a lecture titled “The Dirty Rot-
ten Secrets of Health Care Reform,”
Morone outlined what he called the
“10 commandments of passing health
care reform” — factors he believes
will largely determine the final out-
come of the debate. Obama’s success
in reforming the system, he said,
will largely depend on how well he
and congressional Democrats stick
to these recommendations. Among
them are suggestions that propo-
nents try to move as quickly as pos-
sible — should no bill be produced
by February, he said, efforts will
probably be ineffective — and to
focus on symbols likely to appeal to
the public, without getting lost amid
“wonky” policy details.
Morone has written several books
on politics and health care, including
his July 2009 book “The Heart of
Power: Health and Politics in the Oval
Office” with David Blumenthal, cur-
rently an adviser to the president.
Morone began the lecture by
outlining the history of health care
reform, describing the efforts of
presidents going back to Theodore
Roosevelt to implement national
health reform. Since then, Morone
said, every administration has tack-
led reform with varying degrees of
success.
Morone called the House of Rep-
resentatives’ passage of the Afford-
able Health Care for America Act
on Nov. 7 “historic,” noting that it
was the first time in American his-
tory that a chamber of Congress
has passed health reform on such
a massive scale.
“There are some times in Ameri-
can society when we appear to be at a
great change moment,” he said, add-
ing that such a success on Obama’s
part might signify a political seismic
shift as significant as that of Reagan’s
election.
“Forget your papers, your exams,
all that stuff. This is the moment,”
he said.
Conversely, he said, a defeat could
cripple the president for the remain-
der of his time in office, much as
it did President Clinton, who saw
his own efforts to pass health care
reform end in defeat for both his
plan — which died in the Senate —
and his party, as Republicans recap-
tured both chambers of Congress
in 1994.
“If he loses, he’s kind of toast,”
Morone said.
Later, Morone identified several
key health care matters that Con-
gress is attempting to address, such
as rising costs. Between 1950 and
today, health care inflation has been
between two and three times higher
than general inflation. During the
George W. Bush years alone, Mo-
rone said, 2.1 percent of the GDP
was spent on health care.
“We can’t sustain this forever,”
Morone said. “Sooner or later, we’ll
do something, and that’s going to
hurt.”
He noted that despite Republi-
cans’ emphasis on ending health care
corruption and Obama’s focus on
increasing efficiency, neither change
alone — or both together — would
be enough to bring down costs.
Another problem that Congress
must address is the high number of
uninsured and underinsured Ameri-
cans, he said, noting that roughly 47
million are without health care, while
an additional 21 million have insuf-
ficient coverage. Morone shared
an anecdote of an economist friend
whose family’s insurance policy cov-
ered everything except her son’s
left leg, which the insurance com-
pany concluded has a preexisting
condition.
Because so many lack the cover-
age they need, he said, life expec-
tancy at birth in the United States is
41st in the world, well behind that of
many other wealthy nations.
“If our Olympic team were 41st,
Congress would go nuts,” Morone
said. “There would be hearings.”
Morone broke down Democrats’
reform efforts into several key com-
ponents, including a revamping of the
insurance system — which would
include preventing companies from
denying coverage based on preexist-
ing conditions and imposing lifetime
insurance caps — and a public option
to compete with private insurers.
Most important to his point of
view, Morone said, were proposals
to give subsidies in the form of tax
breaks to low-income families to
help them purchase health insur-
ance. This measure, he said, would
do the most to increase coverage.
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Page 3
“If he loses, he’s kind of toast.”
— Professor James Morone, on President Obama’s health care plan
Courtesy of James Der Darian
Left to right, David Udris, Michael Udris and James Der Derian filming “Human Terrain” at 29 Palms, Califor-
nia. Bhatia worked closely with Der Derian, who directed an award-winning documentary based on Bhatia’s
experience in Afghanistan. The late scholar Bhatia’s works are now available at Brown libraries.
Bhatia’s ’99 rare collection now at library
continued from page 1 trying to get through the barrier that end of a long career.”
we often get in Western academic It is a “snapshot” of a young
and Bhatia’s experience. The docu- circles” depending heavily on sec- scholar’s mind, he added.
mentary won the Audience Award ond-hand reports, Der Derian said. Bhatia researched topics such as
at Florence’s Festival dei Popoli in Der Derian said a library reveals the role of Western organizations in
November. many aspects of a person’s life by conflict zones and the circulation and
The collection, which includes presenting what the person reads, usage of small arms in conflict zones.
topics such as the history of peace- writes and thinks about. Bhatia’s One overriding theme of his work
keeping and the role of non-gov- collection is special among the col- was finding “a means to reconcile
ernmental organizations in conflict lections donated to Brown, creating difference short of violence,” Der
resolution, complements the Univer- “a multifaceted image of a scholar in Derian said.
sity’s existing resources. Bhatia also his prime as opposed to one at the
possessed what Der Derian called an
“exotic taste in literature.”
On his research trips to regions
including West Africa, East Timor
and Afghanistan, Bhatia collected
local literature from marketplaces
and bookstores, Der Derian said.
He even brought back Jihadi texts,
such as a translated copy of a book by
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a prominent
warlord in Afghanistan. Such texts
are not easily accessible to Western
scholars, Der Derian said.
As a collector, Bhatia did not dis-
criminate between academic sources
and popular cultural sources, Der
Derian said. “Michael was a vora-
cious reader and collector,” he said.
“He wanted to digest everything out
there.” Der Derian said Bhatia col-
lected primary resources because he
did not like to rely solely on Western
accounts of the peoples and cultures
of Asia and Africa. “He was really
Page 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Friday, December 4, 2009

C ampus N EWS
Architect: Providence
lacks ‘really good square’
continued from page 1
lecture and emphasized that one of
the benefits of smaller cities and less
sprawl is the decrease in resource
exploitation. If small-scale planning
is reintroduced and encouraged,
Krier said, we can also bridge the
gap between the synthetic materials
currently used in planning and the
more ideal yet costly natural ones.
When one person asked Krier
what role he thought public space
played in urban planning, especially
in the city of Providence, Krier said
a big missing component was the
“really good square” in the urban
grid.
“I actually prefer cars (to build-
ings) in the public space because
they go away,” Krier joked. “There’s
a scare of the void.”

Kayleigh Butera / Herald

A RIPTA official said he was pleased that so many students and faculty members were using the bus service.

RIPTA use high among students, faculty

continued from page 1
or use alternative modes of transit
in part because of a lack of RIPTA
routes near their homes , a general
unfamiliarity with the system and
the greater convenience of driving,
said Elizabeth Gentry, assistant vice
president for Financial and Admin-
istrative Services.
Only about 19 percent of faculty
Freddy Lu / Herald and staff and 26 percent of students
Architect Leon Krier addressed a crowd in Salomon 101 Thursday. rode RIPTA each month from July
to October, according to the most
recent data from Gentry’s office.
Though fewer faculty and staff
ride RIPTA, those who do “actu-
ally ride more often” than students,
Gentry said. The data show that
over the same period, the average
staff rider used RIPTA almost three
times as often as the average stu-
dent rider and almost twice as often
as the average faculty rider.
These differences might occur
because staff and faculty ride for
their daily commute, while students
are more likely to use the service
for recreation, Gentry said.
Several staff members inter-
viewed by The Herald said the main
reason they drive to work is that,
despite parking problems, it is still
more convenient.
Because of the time limits on
parking spaces on the street —
there is a long waitlist for University
parking spots — some staff partici-
pate in what they call the “Brown
Shuffle,” running out to move their
cars every few hours in order to
avoid tickets, Gentry said.
Debra Souza, a student account
representative in the Bursar’s Of-
fice who finds it more convenient
to drive to work, said she has been
doing the “Brown Shuffle” for 30
years. She arrives on campus at
about 8:30 a.m., moves her car dur-
ing the morning break and moves
it again at lunch, she said.
“I call it the parking relay” be-
cause many of the staff rush to
move their cars at 10 a.m., said
Tina Botelho, Gentry’s executive
assistant, who works in the Brown
Office Building.
For Botelho, a Masschusetts
resident who now has a University
parking spot after several years on
the waitlist, taking public transpor-
tation to work would require driv-
ing to Rhode Island, parking in a
lot and taking two buses to Brown,
she said.
Even within Rhode Island, us-
ing RIPTA is not feasible for some,
Gentry said, noting that some areas
of the state are not conveniently
linked by RIPTA.
“I think (RIPTA) is really popular
especially for people who are travel-
ing in the center of Providence,”
said Joseph Gagne, co-chair of the
Staff Advisory Committee. But it
might be less so for those who live
farther away, he said.
Many faculty and staff are so
used to their driving routine that
they simply haven’t considered
public transit, Gentry said.
There has been talk of creating
a Buddy Day — employees who
drive would be shown the RIPTA
ropes by their more public transit-
savvy counterparts — but the plan
has “been on the back burner,” she
said.
But the agency is taking steps
to make public transit more con-
venient for University riders, said
Mark Therrien, assistant general
manager of transit system devel-
opment, planning and grants at
RIPTA.
In September 2008, the agency
debuted an express bus line to and
from Barrington specifically geared
to University employees commuting
to campus.
“In the future, RIPTA intends to
have more buses that go directly
downtown and then to the Brown
area,” Therrien said, adding that
“people like a one-seat ride.” The
agency also plans to turn the corner
of Thayer and Waterman Streets
into “a miniature bus hub” in the
future, Therrien said.
Brown’s contract with RIPTA
was re-negotiated in August, and
though the undisclosed per-ride
rate the University pays rose as a
result, the program continues to
be “an important component in the
whole transportation management
plan,” Gentry said.
For now, Brown’s ridership num-
bers are actually pretty impressive,
Therrien said.
“Believe me, in transit, if you’re
getting 10 percent, that’s fabulous,”
he said.

Things We’re Thankful For

Beyonce clown, Jesse Jackson, Keyboard Cat, Basement Cat, candies, the store for-
merly known as Store 24, Vendor & Beveragina, Cinta Laura, Ulysses, marmoset,
Young Jeezy, Anjali & Audrey, print media, DFW, Diet Coke, coffee & study breaks,
Rally, the orange hat, meta-journalism, the World Series, Minion, Johnston refrigera-
tors, Friendly’s, Officer Pereira, Alice, citizenship, popcorn, Polypoly, fitness dancing,
writers, Design, Neal Poole, spice drops, pocket shots, smartphones, farm animals,
dialects, Danny Ramirez, Baby Ruth, Pictograms, substantial changes & improve-
ments, sunrises, series commas, Gene Parmesan & Lucille Two, whiskey, Soviets,
flirting, doot doot doot: colon, in America, Fish Co, cackling, tape balls, the ball, sur-
prise visits, d’abate, Wikipedia, punishment, Geraldo & Harold, everyone who put
up with our antics, spectacles, bloggers, happy hours, boozeflashes, YouTube DJing,
chair committee, journalism’s survival, bacon, Chekov, photo essays, awesome blos-
soms, radiator heat, Elite XL, readers, intrepid reporters, bunnies, Stanley and 120.
--SD, MJB, CF, NJ, FJK, MS, SRL, RZA, IAG. Play us off, keyboard cat.
Arts & Culture
The Brown Daily Herald
Spoken word artist spits the ‘isms’
By Suzannah Weiss
Senior Staf f Writer
Internationally recognized spoken
word artist and activist Alix Olson
addressed a crowd of students from
Brown and neighboring colleges
about “-isms,” identity politics and
women’s and queer empowerment
in List 120 Thursday night.
Olson’s performance included
several of her more well-known
works, as well as recent writing
she was sharing for the first time.
Folk singer and jazz musician Pa-
mela Means added another layer
to several poems with guitar and
vocal accompaniment.
“You don’t seem good. You
seem subdued. Why are you all
subdued?” she asked an audience
of about 70 students, who over-
whelmingly responded that finals
were dragging them down. “I un-
derstand,” she reassured them.
Along with the poems she per-
formed, Olson offered the audi-
ence humorous anecdotes and
stories of troubling encounters and
life lessons from her time on tour.
She began with a stor y about the
2002 FalaDuru Festival in Porto,
Por tugal, where she and other
poets from around the world —
few of them female or queer, she
said — gathered to represent their
countries’ contributions. Olson
said she added shock value to the
festival with a poem incorporating
language that forced the American
Sign Language interpreter to make
obscene gestures while she was
delivering it.
But the real shock, she said,
came after ward at a bar when
several poets approached her
to inform her that what she had
presented wasn’t poetr y, and that
she instead “should consider per-
forming a play or entering politics.”
Fifth symphony the charm for Mahler
By Nicole Boucher
Staf f Writer
“The symphony must be like the
world. It must embrace ever y-
thing,” composer Gustav Mahler
once said.
Mahler’s Fifth Symphony will
be highlighted at this weekend’s
Brown University Orchestra con-
cert and is one of five fifth sympho-
nies being played over the course
of this orchestra season.
“As I was putting the season
together, I thought it was time to
let the pendulum swing back to
more traditional music this year,”
said Paul Phillips, the conductor of
Brown’s orchestra. “It does seem
like a way to unify the season.”
Ever y year, Phillips uses in-
put from his orchestra students
to choose a theme around which
the concerts revolve. The decision
to focus on fifth symphonies this
year emphasizes the significance of
the fifth symphony in a composer’s
body of work.
More of Olson’s male colleagues
joined the discussion, arriving at
the consensus that their countries
“don’t have sexism,” and therefore
her political statements had gone
over their heads.
The inspiration for the first
poem Olson delivered, “Subtle
Sister,” came from a comment by
one of the aforementioned poets,
who said her poetr y was “too an-
gry” and needed to be more subtle.
“Subtle Sister” is a measured but
determined rebuttal to this tradi-
tional view of poetr y, made on the
grounds that the injustices Olson
addresses in her poems are any-
thing but subtle.
“I’m pretty clear about my be-
lief system and my values and the
kind of politics that I support,” she
told The Herald Wednesday. Still,
Olson said her primar y goal is not
to persuade others to agree with
her, but rather “to represent the
idea that there’s an alternative way
to think.”
Aida Manduley ’11, head chair
of the Brown Queer Alliance and
organizer of the event, said she
discovered Olson at a poetr y fes-
tival in Washington, D.C., and
has been in touch with her since
April. Her visit to campus originally
was planned for National Coming
Out Week in October but had to
be postponed because Olson was
sick on the day she was scheduled
to appear.
Manduley said she hopes those
who attended gained a sense of
“empowerment in terms of com-
ing out and asserting one’s iden-
tity, and being comfortable with
that.”
During “Unsteady Things,” a
poem about relationships, several
students got on stage and danced
to Means’ music.
“You’re so hot, Brown!” Olson
“Before Beethoven came along,
composers wrote plenty of sym-
phonies,” Phillips said. Yet with
Beethoven’s fifth, the model
changed. Now, the fifth symphony
“tells a story increasing in size and
scope,” he said.
This weekend, Mahler’s and
Mozart’s fifth symphonies will be
performed along with a comple-
mentar y piece, Max Bruch’s “Ro-
mance for Viola and Orchestra,”
which will feature Andrew Nixon
GS. Mozart’s piece, written when
the composer was nine years old,
will ser ve as a short, welcoming
piece to the concert.
Mahler’s symphonies “as pieces
of music are pure genius,” said As-
sociate Professor of Music David
Josephson, who studies the Euro-
pean musical tradition. “As social
documents, they are magnificent
expressions of modernism at the
turn of the centur y in central Eu-
rope.”
He added that composers such
as Mahler who wrote in the early
told them.
The show also included pieces
of a more somber nature, such as
“Independence Meal,” a critique
of American pride and of the ex-
clusion of marginalized groups
implicit within the Pledge of Al-
legiance and the National Anthem.
Olson also performed “That the
Protagonist is Always Male,” a
litany of obser vations exposing
sexism in language.
“I’ve always been interested in
the politics of language and linguis-
tics,” Olson told The Herald. “Spo-
ken word to me is a medium that
directly and indirectly combats that
sort of hegemonic structure.”
“I never knew being an activist
could be so fun,” she added.
Olson first infiltrated the spo-
ken word scene while performing
at the Nuyorican Poets’ Cafe in
New York City in 1998 after gradu-
ating from Wesleyan University.
She was touring full time until last
year, when she began pursuing
a doctorate in political theor y at
the University of Massachusetts
at Amherst.
Audience members said they
were familiar with Olson’s work
prior to her performance.
“I’ve listened to a lot of her
stuff. I just really enjoy it,” said
Sandra Mastrangelo ’12.
“I’ve been looking for ward to
this all semester,” said Ashley Hartt
GS, adding, “I wish that there were
more men in the audience and just
more students in general.”
“I liked that she commented on
a lot of international women’s is-
sues,” said Anila Rehman GS. “She
seems to be addressing women’s
issues globally.”
“She had really great rapport
with the audience,” said Haley
Kossek ’13.
1900s had “uncanny insight into
their time and understood that un-
derneath material prosperity and
calm, the ear th was rumbling.”
This insight is clearly exhibited
in Mahler’s Fifth, he said.
Mahler’s Fifth is “draining,”
Josephson said.
“When you hear an orchestra
play the piece, you hear an orches-
tra struggle and then triumph,”
he said. “You’re made to jump
through hoops of ever y emotion
put together.”
In contrast, Mozar t’s Fifth
Symphony is much simpler. It’s
“a charming little piece, but not the
mature Mozart,” Josephson said.
Phillips explained the choice of
Mozart’s Fifth as a warm-up piece
that maintained the focus on fifth
symphonies.
After all, he said, playing “four
fifth symphonies over the course of
the season didn’t seem right.”
The orchestra performs this Fri-
day at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m.
in Sayles Hall.
Wednesday, december 4, 2008 | Page 5
Self-discovery, with a
little help from Wagner
By Monica Carvalho
Contributing Writer
Running this weekend in Leeds
Theater, Sock and Buskin’s “Doris
to Darlene: A Cautionary Valen-
tine,” by Jordan Harrison MFA
’03, tells the story of how three
characters from three different
time periods relate to music and,
through this relationship, find
love.
The play begins with the three
main characters — King Ludwig
II, Doris and the Young Man —
listening to music and dancing
together. In a dynamic scene with-
out dialogue, Ludwig plays music
by Richard Wagner on a record
player, only to be interrupted by
Doris trying out new pop songs
on the Young Man’s iPod, until
the three come together in a cho-
reographed dance to Mika’s “We
Are Golden.” This opening scene
dramatizes the process of giving
in to music and overcoming inhibi-
tions, a motif that runs through
the rest of the play.
Doris Unsworth is a 16-year
old girl who lives with her grand-
mother and dreams of being a
singer. She skips school one day
to audition for big-shot music pro-
ducer Vic Watts — and as it turns
out, he likes her sound.
Discontented with Doris’s
name, however, Vic dubs her
“Darlene Dupont” because, after
all, “the public wants alliteration.”
In addition to a new moniker, Vic
gives Darlene a couple of cheesy
number-one hits, a few golden
records and a diamond ring that
loses its luster all too soon.
In her bubblegum-pink dress
and shoes, Lauren Neal ’11 smiles
and blushes to demonstrate
Doris’s cutesy innocence as a
16-year-old. As Watts, Sean Pat-
rick McGowan ’12 struts about
the stage in aviators and leather
boots, convincing as a music pro-
ducer driven by the relentless pur-
suit of profit.
In another of the play’s plot
lines, King Ludwig II, also re-
ferred to as the “Mad King” of
Bavaria, has an ear for Wagner’s
operas and an eye for Wagner
himself. The members of the
court doubt their king’s sanity
and ability to rule as Ludwig falls
more in love with the opera com-
poser. The two have a playful yet
unstable relationship that “bor-
ders on immoderacy.” Unable to
realize his fantasies, Ludwig at-
tempts to find solace in the arms
of another, and Wagner loses his
musical inspiration.
As Wagner and Ludwig, Gor-
don Sayre ’12 and Elizabeth Roth-
man ’11 make for complementary
opposites. Sayre speaks with the
loud, booming voice that com-
municates the self-possession
of a famous composer, while the
femininity Rothman brings to this
pants role highlights Ludwig’s
boyishness and naivete.
Threaded through all of this
is the story of the Young Man (a
brilliantly endearing Ben Free-
man ’13), a confused and socially
awkward high school student who
listens to Darlene’s 1960’s hits,
contemporary pop songs and Wag-
ner’s famous “Liebestod,” having
studied the aria in school.
Initially alarmed by the new
music appreciation teacher, a
stern older man with glasses and
argyle socks, the Young Man finds
that Mr. Campani (Mark Brown
II ’09.5, appropriately arrogant
and stuffy) is just like him —
flamboyant, a music lover, queer.
Although he has a difficult time
accepting himself in the harsh and
judgmental world of high school
(“I don’t like myself here”), the
Young Man takes comfort in the
stories of Doris and Ludwig and
uses their experiences to come
to terms with himself and his
sexuality.
In a clever production of Har-
rison’s play, director Chris Tyler
’10 and his cast of six successfully
convey the thoughts and feelings
of their characters. With a script
that stays very much within the
minds of the characters — each
person referring to himself in the
third person, for example — the
actors externalize the emotions
behind the words through styl-
ized bodily movement and facial
expressions that imbue the lines
with a dynamism they might oth-
erwise lack.
As Tyler writes in his director’s
note, the play crosses space and
time and blurs the line between
reality and fantasy to “unite the
three elemental couples” and “ex-
amine the paradoxical nature of
romantic experience.” The stories
all suggest that the process of fall-
ing in and quickly out of love is
shared across different eras, as
transcendent as music.
“Doris to Darlene” runs tonight
and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sun-
day at 2 p.m. in Leeds Theater.
Editorial & Letters
The Brown Daily Herald

Page 6 | Friday, December 4, 2009

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

Flu misconceptions
must be corrected
To the Editor:
As a teacher of immunology and
vaccine science at Brown, I am quite
pleased to read of the popularity of
the H1N1 vaccine among undergrad-
uates (“Students go hog-wild over
vaccine,” Dec. 3). I am compelled,
however, to address certain quotes
in the article as they echo common
misconceptions about influenza and
the vaccine.
“They just came out with this vac-
cine and I don’t think it’s very well
understood.” While it is true that
this strain of influenza is new, the
vaccine itself is produced in exactly
the same way that seasonal influenza
vaccines have been produced for
many years. In fact, that’s one of
the main reasons for the current
shortages of the H1N1 vaccine,
since the vaccine manufacturing
infrastructure takes many months
different about the 2009 H1N1 strain
is that it is hitting younger popula-
tions harder than usual, and Brown
undergraduates are squarely in the
age range that has seen an elevated
level of infections, hospitalizations
and deaths.
“It would be inconvenient to
get sick, but I’m sure I could man-
age.” You might feel differently if
you got sick the night before a final
exam. And even if you can manage,
think about the people you could
pass the infection to who might have
a harder time with the virus. Like a
friend with asthma or some other
chronic disease. Or an elderly rela-
tive when you go home for winter
break. And don’t forget about your
P aul tran and richard stein
professors!
“I’ve never gotten the flu in the
past.” Then you are extremely for-
tunate. But by the same logic, would e d i to r i a l
you not put on your seat belt because

Rites of passage
to ramp up to full production and you’ve never been in a serious car ac-
we got a late start with this strain cident? Or not look both ways when
of the virus. you cross the street since you’ve
The swine flu is “a lot like other never been run over by a bus? Brown’s Warren Alpert Medical School is on track tunate precedent for future University decisions.
flus, so I’m not worried about it.” In short, influenza vaccines are to implement a new standard that will bolster its rising After widespread student outcry, the administration
Most people don’t realize how seri- safe, effective and they save lives. status. After careful consultation with the Medical Cur- scaled back this policy, and now PLME students who
ous seasonal influenza is. In fact, Protect yourself and the people riculum Committee, which includes medical students apply out only risk deferral from Alpert rather than
the Centers for Disease Control es- you care about — please get vac- and undergraduates in the Program in Liberal Medi- outright rejection.
timates that in a “typical” year there cinated. cal Education, the school’s officials have advanced a Superficially, the new standard resembles the
are at least 200,000 hospitalizations proposal to require Alpert’s students to pass Step 1 misguided proposal for the PLME admission option,
and 36,000 deaths related to influ- Richard Bungiro PhD ’99 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination because it may become official policy after some
enza infections in the United States, Lecturer in Biology before graduating. They are already mandated to medical students have made their decision to attend.
mostly among the elderly. What is Dec. 3 take Step 1 and Step 2, though not to pass them; the Certainly, some of the administration’s perpetual de-
final step follows during their first year as residents. tractors will grumble that the new standard is unfair.
The first component of the USMLE tests students’ But virtually all graduates pass Step 1 already, and
application of scientific concepts, and scoring well is those who are heading into a PhD. program rather
t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d
essential to securing sought-after residencies. than aiming to get their license are eligible for a waiver
Editor-in-Chief Managing Editors Deputy Managing Editors Senior Editors
Official approval is expected early next semester, of the requirement. And any hypothetical underachiev-
Steve DeLucia Michael Bechek Nandini Jayakrishna Rachel Arndt
Chaz Firestone Franklin Kanin Isabel Gottlieb and Alpert’s graduating class of 2014 will be the first ers whose plans would be seriously disrupted by the
Michael Skocpol Scott Lowenstein to be officially mandated to pass. The new require- change might want to reconsider their career path
editorial Business ment is primarily a symbol of the progress that the — no matter how leisurely they dawdle through the
Ben Hyman Arts & Culture Editor General Managers Office Manager
Sophia Li Features Editor Alexander Hughes Shawn Reilly University’s young and burgeoning medical school licensing process, they will be facing plenty of shifts
George Miller Metro Editor Jonathan Spector has made. Re-established in 1975 after a hiatus of more that will make Step 1 look like a cakewalk.
Joanna Wohlmuth Metro Editor
Seth Motel News Editor
than a century, in years past the school has suffered The new mandate is a sound decision arrived at
Directors
Jenna Stark News Editor Ellen DaSilva Sales from lagging rates of Step 1 passage among graduates. through diligent deliberation and close consultation
Andrew Braca Sports Editor Claire Kiely Sales The new requirement demonstrates confidence in the with those who are in the best position to understand
Han Cui Asst. Sports Editor Katie Koh Finance
Alex Mazerov Asst. Sports Editor Jilyn Chao Asst. Finance diligence and intellect of Brown’s future doctors, and its impact: students. Its implementation will serve as
Katie Wood Asst. Sports Editor Christiana Stephenson Alumni Relations will serve to further motivate those few who might a reminder not only of the Medical School’s progress,
Graphics & Photos Managers
otherwise fall behind. It also signals to potential staff but of the generally — though far from exclusively
Chris Jesu Lee Graphics Editor Kelly Wess Local Sales
Stephen Lichenstein Graphics Editor Kathy Bui National Sales and students that Alpert is a serious institution that is — high quality of University decisions. Seeking out
Kim Perley Photo Editor Alex Carrere University Sales gaining ground on its more established peers. opportunities to work with administrators tends to
Max Monn Asst. Photo Editor Matt Burrows Credit and Collections
Jesse Morgan Sports Photo Editor The initiative is doubly welcome in the wake of be much more constructive than simply waiting to
production Opinions a misguided attempt last month to strip PLME un- pounce on their missteps.
Ayelet Brinn Copy Desk Chief Alyssa Ratledge Opinions Editor dergraduates of their currently guaranteed spot at
Rachel Isaacs Copy Desk Chief Sarah Rosenthal Opinions Editor
Alpert if they apply to other medical schools as well. Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board.
Marlee Bruning Design Editor
Jessica Calihan Design Editor Editorial Page Board This would have started with the class of 2011, thus Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
Anna Migliaccio Asst. Design Editor James Shapiro Editorial Page Editor constituting a violation of trust and a deeply unfor-
Julien Ouellet Asst. Design Editor Matt Aks Board member
Neal Poole Web Editor Nick Bakshi Board member
Post- magazine
Arthur Matuszewski Editor-in-Chief
Zack Beauchamp
Debbie Lehmann
Board member
Board member correction
Kelly McKowen William Martin Board member
Editor-in-Chief
Due to a reporting error, an article in Tuesday’s Herald, (“Med School mulls new requirement,” Dec. 1) incor-
Anna Migliaccio, Jessica Calihan, Katie Wilson, Gili Kliger, Designers rectly stated that Associate Dean of Medicine Philip Gruppuso told The Herald that federal guidelines require
Nicole Boucher, Joe Milner, Carmen Shulman, Copy Editors students to pass the USMLE Step 1 exam. In fact, Alpert Medical School students must only take the Step 1
Dan Alexander, Nicole Friedman, Ben Hyman, Hannah Moser, Seth Motel, Night Editors
exam. The article also erroneously stated that Gruppuso told The Herald that students are not required to take
Senior Staff Writers Dan Alexander, Mitra Anoushiravani, Ellen Cushing, Sydney Ember,
Nicole Friedman, Brigitta Greene, Sarah Husk, Brian Mastroianni, Hannah Moser, Ben the Step 2 exam. Students are in fact required to take the Step 2 exam.
Schreckinger, Anne Simons, Anne Speyer, Alex Ulmer, Suzannah Weiss, Kyla Wilkes
Staff Writers Shara Azad, Emma Berry, Alicia Chen, Zunaira Choudhary, Alicia Dang,
Juliana Friend, Anish Gonchigar, Sarah Julian, Matt Klebanoff, Etienne Ma, Christian C O R R E C T I O N S P olicy
Martell, Heeyoung Min, Jyotsna Mullur, Lauren Pischel, Kevin Pratt, Leslie Primack, Luisa The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Correc-
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Opinions
The Brown Daily Herald
BY MIKE JOHNSON
Opinions Columnist
If you’re like me, you look forward to the
crime updates that the Department of Public
Safety sends us. Perhaps it’s a healthy dose of
schadenfreude, but the Campus Safety reports
are much more interesting to read than Morn-
ing Mail messages, as they practically embody
an e-mail version of “Cops,” minus the trailer
park drama. But something that’s been making
a recurring appearance in these crime reports
is fairly disturbing. No, not rogue roller-blade
gangs that knock over innocent pedestrians,
but rather laptop theft.
Now, my laptop has my life on it. In the
cyber age, we need laptops to send and re-
ceive e-mails, write papers and, obviously,
Facebook-stalk anyone and everyone we’ve
ever met. By no means am I unsympathetic
to victims of laptop theft — those little boxes
of circuits cost much more than they probably
should. But the reason a theft victim feels
distraught about his or her loss is the exact
reason a thief’s grubby little fingers sweat
at the thought of nabbing a laptop: They’re
worth a lot of money.
I think it’s safe to assume that no Brown
student would leave $2,000 lying on a table in
the Ratty while wandering around the Roots
Is ‘good and getting better’ enough?
BY KATE FRITZSCHE
Opinions Columnist
Yesterday, Psychological Services announced
its plans to hire a new psychotherapist in order
to expand resources available to students. This
move will increase the number of free visits
students are allowed each year from five to
seven, and it should also reduce the waiting
time before students are able to have their
first appointments at Psych Services.
Mental health services available through
Psych Services are hugely beneficial to the stu-
dent body, but there are many improvements
that could make the process easier and less
stressful. Some of these improvements will
come with the hiring of a new psychotherapist,
but there are certainly issues that this change
won’t address.
Students don’t usually go to Psych Services
until things are pretty bad, because we don’t
want to admit that we’re having a tough time
with any sort of mental issue. The temptation
to try to keep up appearances is strong; no one
wants to admit to emotional instability, even
though more people are struggling with psy-
chological problems than you might realize.
For one thing, getting an appointment at
Psych Services can often take more than a
week if it’s not an emergency. Unfortunately,
most of us let the situation get pretty desperate
before we make the call for help, even if we
don’t get to the point of a technical emergency.
Trying to get help should be a positive step
forward, not a difficult one. The hiring of a
Got something to say? Leave a comment online!
Visit www.browndailyherald.com to comment on opinion and editorial content.
Sticky fingers
and Shoots line spelunking for pumpkin ravi-
oli. So why, then, do backpacks lie unattended
in chairs, waiting to be plucked by the sticky
fingers of a vagrant? If the goal is to reserve
a table (which is exceedingly necessary on
pumpkin ravioli night — those things are
delicious) then a jacket suffices, or perhaps a
friend can watch the group’s belongings until
one of them returns.
According to the campus safety e-mail up-
Unfortunately, the time of ‘The Scarlet Letter’
has passed, and thieves don’t walk around
prominently displaying a giant ‘T’ on their chests.
dates, 25 laptops have been stolen in October
and November alone. Twenty-five. Yet only
three of the seven in November were victims
of ill-advised seat saving in dining halls. In
October, 12 of the 18 purloined laptops were
pilfered from residence halls. This is especially
perplexing, because everyone’s room comes
with a door with a lock on it, standard, for no
additional fee.
It’s a fairly simple causal relationship, and
yet it’s one the students of Brown seem not
to have grasped — if you don’t want your
new therapist should reduce this waiting time,
which would do a great service to students in
need of urgent, but non-emergency, psycho-
logical assistance.
Once they get an appointment, undergradu-
ates are limited to five free visits per year at
Psych Services. While for many students, this
may be sufficient to help them over whatever
struggles they were coping with, for most in
need of assistance, five visits is not enough.
And so, the counselors at Psych Services often
try to refer students to outside providers early
on in their treatment if they can tell that five
visits won’t cut it. Again, this is an area where
The process of referrals for psychological care,
most significantly, can be a huge headache for
students who are already feeling overwhelmed.
the new psychotherapist will be hugely helpful
to students. Having seven free visits instead of
five is a significant difference and may allow
some students to complete the treatment they
need on campus without ever having to deal
with the referral process.
Psych Services has many different types
of psychotherapists on its staff, and some
students are initially placed with a therapist
who can’t provide what the student really
needs for his or her particular issue. In many
things stolen, lock your door. Unfortunately,
the time of “The Scarlet Letter” has passed,
and thieves don’t walk around prominently
displaying a giant “T” on their chests. As a
result, the materialistic Brown student who
affords certain sentimentality to his or her
belongings is forced to suspect everyone. Who
knows what will happen while we carry our
laundry down the four flights of stairs, outside,
and then back inside to the laundry room, as
some New Pembrokers are forced to do?
I know of some students who are so pru-
dent as to lock their doors when they leave to
go use the bathroom. This is perhaps a little
overzealous, but, on the bright side, they still
possess their laptops. However, I know others
who still don’t lock their doors when they go
to sleep. This is very, very bad. Not only does
it allow prank-playing neighbors to sneak into
their rooms to move the furniture around, it
also allows malicious burglars to steal what-
ever shiny things they come across.
cases, when we need to see a specialist for a
specific type of psychological treatment, we
are referred off-campus. But when an in-house
counselor can be of help, the process of getting
an appointment with that provider should be
a lot easier than it is. I’ve heard from friends
who saw a generalist for as many as three ap-
pointments before they were able to see the
specialist they really needed, even when the
diagnosis was clear. Once we are able to see
the specialists, they are extremely helpful, but
if we could get appointments with them more
quickly, the psychological healing process
could begin a lot sooner.
The process of referrals, most significantly,
can be a huge headache for students who are
already feeling overwhelmed. I have spoken
with several students who have been asked
to call their health insurance companies and
ask them for names of providers near campus
who would be covered by their policies. This
is standard practice at Psych Services for stu-
dents who have insurance outside of Brown’s
Student Health Insurance Plan. While this
may not seem unreasonable, some students
Friday, December 4, 2009 | Page 7
It is important not to blame the victim in
all cases. If people weren’t sinking to the low
level of selling others’ belongings to make a
quick buck, this wouldn’t be an issue. But un-
fortunately, there are those who are cowardly
enough to steal and graft, and it is a fact of
life. It may never be known what possesses a
person to stumble across a door that is closed
and test it to see if it’s locked. Still more per-
plexing is what possesses that same person to
then open the door, chancing that the tenant
of the room is still inside. Does the thief have
a line such as, “Oops, this isn’t the lounge!”
prepared for that contingency?
But whatever twisted logic a thief uses to
drive his detestable actions, it is possible to
deter him with simple steps. Travel in packs
— vigilant, aware packs that don’t leave laptops
lying around the Ratty and V-Dub. Invest in
an alarm system for your computer (many of
which are free, especially if you have a Mac-
Book) or a Lo-Jack device. Definitely register
your devices with DPS. These steps could
prove invaluable in recovering your belong-
ings should they be stolen. But most of all,
fellow Brunonians, lock your doors, and don’t
leave your stuff lying about, unless you aren’t
incredibly attached to it.
Mike Johnson ’11 isn’t bitter at all about
the laundry situation in New Pembroke.
may not want their parents to know they are
receiving psychological help, so using their
parents’ insurance creates a whole other host
of problems. And even without that obstacle,
just making a phone call about mental health
issues can be stressful or embarrassing.
Once a student finds an outside provider
who will be covered by his or her insurance,
Psych Services can provide the formal referral.
However, for many distressed students, start-
ing to open up with one counselor is already
difficult. Being told they need to switch to
another psychologist and start all over again
can be even worse for the students most in
need of psychological help. While Psych Ser-
vices tries to refer these students quickly to
someone who will be able to provide ongoing
treatment, it would certainly be easiest if they
were able to simply continue seeing the same
provider at Psych Services for the duration of
their treatment.
Ultimately, Psychological Services is there
for students when they need it, and its services
are covered in our regular bills for the semes-
ter, so it has no marginal cost to us. But the
administration of the process could be a lot
more student-friendly, and students deserve
to have it be easy to receive help when they
ask for it. Taking the first step can be hard
enough, so when we say we need help, we
really need it to be there.
Kate Fritzsche ’10 is an applied
math-economics concentrator from
Kennebunk, Maine. She can be reached
at katherine_fritzsche@brown.edu.
 Today
The Brown Daily Herald
a w e s o m e b lo s s o m
5
c a l e n da r
Today, december 4
8 pm — “Doris to Darlene,” Leeds
Theatre
11 pm — Chattertocks and Yale Duke’s
Men Concert, MacMillan 117
menu
Sharpe Refectory
Lunch — BBQ Beef Sandwich, Bulgur
Stuffed Pepper, Cajun Potatoes
Dinner — Pasta and Seafood Medley,
Toasted Ravioli with Sauce, Garlic and
Butter Infused Rice
crossword
5
to day to m o r r o w
Fifth symphonies times five
Lock your doors already!
7
Friday, December 4, 2009
53 / 31 45 / 29
Page 8
diamonds
A diamond to the fact that early decision applications to Brown were up 21 percent in a year of economic
turmoil. Dean of Admissions James Miller ’73 adorably chalks this up to the fact that Brown is a “good
value,” but we have to credit the rising profile of Brown’s up-and-coming Watson Institute for International
Studies. Google hits for “Watson + Brown” have been through the roof this year.
A diamond to the swine flu. Sure, it’s a deadly pandemic that has taken thousands of lives, but here on
College Hill it was a nice change of pace from the capitalist pigs that usually haunt Brown students.
A diamond to Brown’s third-place 2009 football team. We’ll always take bronze over brains.
A diamond to the city of Providence, which banned indoor prostitution, threatened to cancel all
Brown parties and tried to tax students $150 per semester. Despite all of that grumbling, you did legal-
ize marijuana compassion centers, and if Brown wasn’t the city’s largest dispensary, we might not be so
gosh-darn happy.
A diamond to some of the semester’s big speakers: Pervez Musharraf, Patrick Kennedy and ... OK,
the second one wasn’t really a big speaker. And coal to the first one.
saturday, december 5 Speaking of which, a diamond to our favorite lecture hall. Our staffers have fond memories of the
many compelling lectures we’ve covered in a “half-full Salomon 101” — the only room on campus that’s
7 PM — Men’s Ice Hockey vs. never half-empty.
Quinnipiac, Meehan Auditorium
A diamond to President Obama, whose inauguration fell on the same day as our first Herald issue of
10 pm — Brown Concert Agency the year. Since then, you may have won a Nobel prize, saved the economy and appeared in a really cool
Presents Speakeasy Sessions Vol. slow-motion football advertisement — but at least we have an exit strategy.
II, Grad Center Lounge
Lastly, a diamond to you, dear reader — it’s been real. Everyone gets a diamond this week, but you
don’t need to take yours with a grain of salt. Thanks for putting up with 12 months of bad puns — you’ve
been very gourd sports.
Verney-Woolley Dining Hall Sincerely,
The 119th editorial board
Lunch — Chicken Fingers!!!
Dinner — Shepherd’s Pie, Red Po- comics
tato Frittata, Asparagus Cuts with
Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline
Lemon
Cabernet Voltaire | Abe Pressman
Fruitopia| Andy Kim
Hippomaniac | Mat Becker