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vol. cxliv, no. 59 | Tuesday, September 8, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891
News.....1-9
Metro....11-12
Metro, 11 Sports, 13 Opinions, 19
Sports.....13 state workers at risk fall preview disoriented
Editorial...18 After a judge stayed a plan The Herald takes a look at Tory Hartmann ’11 says
Opinion...19 to conserve cash, layoffs the key fall match-ups for orientation for first-years
Today........20 loom in Rhode Island Brown sports teams isn’t long enough
Daily Herald
the Brown
C ampus N EWS “It’s preferable and much safer to hop through backwards on one foot.”
— Christopher Moynihan ’11, on walking through the Van Wickle Gates
news in brief
Watch your step! Campus curses abound
By Mitra Anoushiravani standing Brown tradition, first- especially during big events.
Senior Staf f Writer years walk through the Van Wickle “During Commencement, we
Gates into campus, and graduating keep it fairly clean and formal,”
You might think your chances of seniors walk through the gates in he said. “It’s good to have a few
graduating are related to how much the opposite direction after com- silly traditions.”
you study, or that with responsible mencement, out into the world. A lesser-known myth involves
behavior you’ll have a safe and University folklore, as tour guides Brown’s “sacred” libraries: the
stable love life. But according to regularly tell visitors, dictates that John Hay, the John Carter Brown
a number of Brown myths and leg- any female student who passes and the Annmar y Brown Memo-
ends that have endured over the through the gates more than twice rial. According to the myth, often
years, your fate might be sealed by will not get married, and males will repeated on tours, students who go
a careless misstep — literally. not graduate. into all three of these libraries dur-
A decades-old myth says that ing their freshman year will not get
girls who walk over the Pembroke FEATURE married. (Unlike its better-known
seal, located on steps near Alum- companions, this curse, apparently
nae Hall, will become pregnant Members of groups like the does not discriminate by sex.)
before they graduate, and that Brown Band who need to walk Dennis Landis, curator of Eu-
male students who tread over the through the gates more than ropean books at the JCB, said he
Pembroke campus landmark won’t once for events like Convocation believes the myth grew out of the
graduate at all. and Commencement have come serious nature of the libraries. At
Gayle L ynch, a senior librar y up with clever ways to avoid the one point in its histor y, the JCB’s
specialist who has been working curse. Some people cross as many doors were permanently locked,
Kim Perley / Herald
at the John Hay Librar y for 43 digits and limbs as they can while he said, and if a student wanted to
Cafe purchases now an ID swipe away years, estimated that women at walking through, said Christopher go inside, he or she had to ring the
Nothing should get between college students and their Pembroke College popularized the Moynihan ’11, a drummer in the doorbell. A librarian would decide
daily doses of coffee — a sentiment the University and myth about the seal in the 1940s Band. if the student was suited to enter. It
operators of the College Hill Cafe are now closer to making and 50s. When the University went But, he added, “It’s hard to was believed that anyone who was
a reality. coeducational in 1971, the myth cross your fingers while playing studious enough to be let into the
Brown ID holders can now use their declining balance changed to include men, accord- an instrument, so it’s preferable librar y was too absorbed in their
accounts to buy sandwiches, pastries and drinks at the cafe ing to L ynch. and much safer to hop through studies to ever marr y, according
located inside the Brown Bookstore, said Josh McCarthy, the But the Pembroke seal isn’t backwards on one foot.” to Landis.
cafe’s manager. the only University landmark that Moynihan said nobody takes In years past, the Annmar y
“We think it will give Brown students a good option threatens students with academic the myth seriously, but many of Brown Memorial Librar y was also
for food and beverage besides what the University offers,” failure or a love-life calamity. the band members do take pre-
McCarthy said. In accordance with a long- caution when they walk through, continued on page 7
Though only a few people have used the option since
it became available Aug. 31, McCarthy said he is “very
enthusiastic” about its potential.
Elizabeth Darmstatter, who works at the cafe, said the
declining balance payment option should boost sales.
“It’s a wonderful convenience for the students and
faculty,” she said.
The cafe, which is operated by Blue State Coffee, opened
in February. Though it does not accept meal credits or Flex
Points, McCarthy said he is “open to the idea.”
“We would love to accept those forms of payment, but
that is something that is at Brown’s discretion,” he said.
— Anne Speyer
page 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Tuesday, September 8, 2009
C ampus N EWS “I really don’t care what U.S. News thinks about Brown.”
— Miriam Furst ’13
Sunday, Sept. 13
Tuesday, Sept. 15
Thursday, Sept. 17
All at 8 p.m. at 195 Angell St.
C ampus N EWS “Tougaloo has always...done substantially more with substantially less.”
— Beverly Hogan, president of Tougaloo College
Financial
woes hamper
blog
Tougaloo
d
continued from page 4
ailyh
said. “We’re working to ensure the
college moves forward.”
She also noted that SACSCOC’s
concerns with Tougaloo are finan-
erald
cial, not academic.
“We do have our financial chal-
lenges, which we’re working to
resolve,” Hogan said. “Tougaloo
.com
has never been questioned for its
institutional effectiveness.”
Wilson also acknowledged that
Tougaloo suffers from a lack of fi-
nancial resources. “Tougaloo has
always been an institution that has
done substantially more with sub-
stantially less,” she said.
The 900-person school has an
endowment of about $4.7 million
— less than a quarter of a percent
of Brown’s.
Evan Pulvers ’10.5, who spent last
fall at Tougaloo, said her experiences
at the school offered an indication of
the college’s relative financial insta-
bility. “My understanding was that it
was definitely poor. You have to pay
for your own toilet paper. There was
never any soap in the soap dispens-
ers,” she said. “You definitely get
a sense from those kinds of things
that it’s not a Brown.”
Wilson maintained that in the
face of the recession, Tougaloo’s
financial situation is not uncommon.
“Certainly in these economic times,
when everyone is struggling, this is
not unusual,” she said.
Wheelan, SACSCOC’s presi-
dent, also said that while warnings
are rare, they are not necessarily
unusual. SACSCOC conducts two
review cycles each year, and among
the 80 to 100 reviewed in its June
2009 cycle, two schools in addition
to Tougaloo — Florida Memorial
University and Eastern Shore Com-
munity College — were placed on
warning.
page 8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Tuesday, September 8, 2009
C ampus N EWS “When students need food between classes, we’ll still be the hub.”
— Allison Wigen ’10, Blue Room unit manager
M etro “The problem with the criterion-based hiring is that there are no criteria.”
— Steve Smith, teachers’ union president
blogdailyherald.com
An unfair burden
dents were targeted for taxation. Unlike residents do. impact fee.”
raising the city’s property or income taxes, Institutions granted federal non-profit Sincere attempts to fix the budget defi-
JAKE HEIMARK levying a tax on large, non-profit academic status shouldn’t be a casualty of bankrupt cit should focus on keeping Brown, RISD,
institutions is both politically convenient cities’ attempts to close their budget gap. Providence College and Johnson and Wales
Opinions Columnist and easy to manage. Most students do not Universities have long held non-profit, tax- students in Providence. The benefits of per-
vote in Rhode Island; only a small minority exempt status, presumably because higher suading even a small percentage of Brown
comes from the state. As far as the city is education is deemed a substantial benefit students to live, work and pay income taxes
Itinerant Brunonians are welcomed back to concerned, we are visitors with pockets deep to the community and to society as a whole. in Providence after graduation would far out-
Providence this fall with a slap in the face enough to pay large tuition fees, but who use Reneging on the contract that grants univer- weigh the $300 per head proposed by the city.
— a proposed $300-per-student tax for out-of- city resources without contributing to the sities tax-exempt status is not only unfair; it Treating students as taxable vagrants instead
state students who attend private colleges in tax base. With the city’s deficit approach- is bad economic policy. It alienates students, of equal members of the Providence com-
Rhode Island. The message from City Hall is ing $17 million, universities have become faculty and staff, and discourages us from munity is a step in the wrong direction.
clear: students at Brown, RISD, Providence an easy target. getting more involved in the community. Our contribution to the city we live in
College and Johnson and Wales are an unfair could and should be more. Some students
burden on the city and state. Our institutions’ spend four years on College Hill and never
contributions fall short of expenses. travel beyond Thayer Street, but many ac-
Mayor David Cicilline ’83 first proposed tively engage with the city in positive ways.
the “student impact fee” earlier this year, Taxing out-of-state students is a cowardly, Legislators have not heard our voices and
claiming that students consume city services do not recognize our contributions. Students
and should therefore pay a fair share of the
backdoor attempt to remove universities’ non- already engaging in the community should
taxes required to support those ser vices. profit status and shrink the city’s deficit. make their actions known, to help our leaders
The bill is currently being debated in the realize that we are tutors, Girl Scout leaders,
General Assembly. soccer coaches and mentors to Providence’s
At first glance, Cicilline’s argument has youth. Soon we may be members of the city’s
some merit. After all, students do consume professional class. Our presence is valuable.
city resources, and the money to fund them But the legislation as it stands may be Other cities have made vicious threats Private universities are and should remain
must come from somewhere. Brown’s op- unconstitutional. In cases of uneven taxa- about taxing non-profits such as schools, tax-exempt because we are a benefit, not a
erating budget dwarfs those of most Rhode tion, the burden of proof lies on the mu- usually as a means to extract “voluntary” do- burden, to the city.
Island companies, but as a nonprofit, our nicipality to show that the targeted group nations in times of budgetar y distress. A Rhode Island has the second highest un-
“income” is not taxed. Our campus is in one has a disproportionate effect on resources. “student impact fee” is essentially the same employment rate in the nation, exceeded only
of the nicest areas of Providence, with the Providence has not shown that non-resident threat aimed at students rather than in- by the home state of GM and Chrysler. With
highest real estate taxes, but we are exempt students represent an economic burden. Any stitutions. Taxing out-of-state students is myopic, anticompetitive policies that target
from those as well. extra burden to local hospitals, which are a cowardly, backdoor attempt to remove students — is it any wonder?
Nevertheless, the proposed “student im- privately owned, is more than offset by the universities’ non-profit status and shrink the
pact fee” is shortsighted and characteristic of contribution of Brown’s medical school and city’s deficit without cutting back services
the type of poor decisions that led Providence the fact that all Brown students are insured. or taxing constituents. It is no different than Jake Heimark ’10, an economics and
to its budget crisis in the first place. We own and operate our own police force. granting a church tax-exempt status and human biology concentrator, has a
It is not hard to see why out-of-state stu- We pay for our resources just as Providence then charging pastors a “church member Rhode Island driver’s license.
inside
5
c a l e n da r Across campus Saturday, students settled into their new dorm rooms. See
Kim Perley / Herald
more photos at blogdailyherald.com.
5 P.M. — Online registration opens for Until 5 P.m. — French and Spanish
first-year students. placement exams, CIT Room 201
menu
Sharpe Refectory Verney-Woolley Dining Hall
DOWN
By Barry C. Silk
1 Totals (c)2009 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
04/25/09