Daily Herald the Brown

vol. cxliv, no. 37 | tuesday, March 17, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891

Local businesses suffer in economy E-mail slip divulges

financial aid roster
By Lauren Fedor
Senior Staff Writer

It’s been a long, hard winter for local

businesses.
As the economy continues to un-
ravel, shop owners on the East Side
have been forced to dramatically
alter their business strategies to stay
METRO
afloat. With sales significantly down
from this time last year and limited
cash available for advertising, long-
time vendors on College Hill have
marked down merchandise, cut back
on hours and introduced creative
promotional schemes.
It’s no secret that consumer
spending is down — the Pew Re-
search Center reported in February
that a vast majority of Americans
have recently made changes in their
shopping habits. Many local store
owners say their single greatest sales
challenge is just getting passers-by
to enter their stores.
Jagdish Sachdev, owner of Spec-
trum India at 252 Thayer St., said
that despite a lack of customers
lately, his store offers “some of the
best prices and deals” anywhere. So,
continued on page 6
By Sophia Li
Features Editor
The Office of Financial Aid sent
out four e-mails Monday that inad-
vertently released the names and
e-mail addresses of nearly 1,800
students who had initiated an ap-
plication for financial assistance
from the University.
Three of the messages showed
the Brown e-mail addresses — in-
cluding first and last names — of
approximately 500 first-years,
sophomores and juniors who have
submitted financial aid documen-
tation, and the fourth contained
nearly 300. In all, The Herald
counted 1,773 names mistakenly
divulged Monday.
The messages, which were sent
around 2:40 p.m. Monday from Fi-
nancial_Aid@brown.edu, reminded
students which documents they
need to submit and of the appli-
cation’s deadline. They did not
state that the messages’ recipients
were students who had begun the
Jesse Morgan / Herald process of applying for financial
Jagdish Sachdev has come up with a promotional scheme based on aid, but Director of Financial Aid
the days of the week to draw customers into Spectrum India.
James Tilton confirmed that fact
Monday night.
Normally, students are sent in-
formation by blind carbon copy, or
“BCC,” which does not reveal an
e-mail’s other recipients, Tilton
said.
“We made a mistake, and we
clearly need to make sure it doesn’t
happen again,” he said.
The Of fice of Financial Aid
tracks the names of students who
send in any documentation through
Banner, according to Tilton. The
office then sends those students
reminders about the process of
applying for financial aid.
While the e-mail includes a dis-
claimer that the information it con-
tains “is confidential and/or legally
privileged,” Tilton said he does
not consider Monday’s mistake
a violation of the confidentiality
agreement.
“We didn’t include any personal
information” about individual stu-
dents, Tilton said. Because the e-
mail does not contain any other
identifying information, Tilton
said he did not consider the mes-
continued on page 4

Cutting back on haircuts Dean jabs at Bush, GOP

By Alicia Chen
Contributing Writer
man,” Matos said, she has noticed
an increase in the amount of fe-
to large MacMillan crowd
male customers in the past few By Lauren Fedor at the end of the lecture. Speaking
In these hard times, many people months. Matos thinks the shift is Senior Staf f Writer and answering questions for just
are trimming costs wherever they driven in large part by the wors- over an hour, Dean’s addressed
can. But does cutting back mean ening state of the economy. Former Vermont Governor Howard a wide variety of topics and criti-
cutting hair? Customers are requesting Dean spoke to a packed MacMillan cized, at times pointedly, the Bush
Economists and businessmen shorter haircuts because they 117 last night about his 2004 presi- administration, the Republican Par-
have tied fashion styles to eco- will last longer, Matos added. dential campaign, his four years ty and conser vative pundits Rush
nomic trends for decades. Econo- The recession has helped as chairman of the Democratic Limbaugh and Ann Coulter.
mist George Taylor dreamed up Supercuts’ overall business, she National Committee and the 2008 The Bush presidency was “not
the “hemline index” in the 1920s, said, because “people don’t want presidential election. normal,” he said. “The president
suggesting that hemlines mirror to pay 70 bucks for a haircut.” Students seemed to enjoy and vice president did not respect
the economic climate With a basic cut Dean’s characteristically direct — the Constitution.”
— falling during reces- FEATURE starting at $15.95, Su- and often blunt — rhetoric, and Sushant Wagley / Herald
sions and rising during percuts offers its ser- responded with a standing ovation continued on page 2 Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

boom times. vices at a lower price than most of

BuDS revokes warnings to student workers

Since the recent decline of the other salons on Thayer.
the global economy, The Nikkei, Hector Ramirez ’12, who re-
Japan’s leading business news- cently got his hair cut at Super-
paper, has proposed a corollar y cuts, agreed that Supercuts is an By Matthew Klebanoff the petition called to revoke the no- Espinal said. “We thought that
to Taylor’s theor y. The paper, attractive option because of its Staf f Writer homework rule altogether, Espinal might be a little far-fetched, so
which looked at over 20 years of low price. said it primarily took issue with the we just decided to do a petition
data from Japan’s largest manu- But, Ramirez added, “In gen- BuDS managers have revoked the formal warnings, which workers against the way the policy was
facturer of consumer products, eral, $40 for a haircut is pricey formal warnings issued to work- received for failing to sign and hand implemented.”
suggested that Japanese women for whatever situation you are ers last month for failing to sign a in the new contracts on time. According to Espinal, workers
get shorter haircuts during finan- in. The recession didn’t really new contract, which introduced a Normally, two formal warnings received revised contracts in their
cial crises. impact my decision.” no-homework-on-the-job policy for are grounds for termination and mailboxes last month, which they
Holly Matos, a hairstylist at While other hairstylists on Blue Room cashiers and non-ca- can affect the size of bonuses, Es- were meant to sign and return
the Thayer Street Supercuts, said College Hill have obser ved that shier employees across campus. pinal said, so workers take them to BuDS by a set deadline. But
the economic recession has con- more women are getting shorter BuDS supervisor Yanely Espinal seriously. many workers were not aware of
tributed to changes in the hair haircuts, many disagreed that the ’11 said she thinks the repeal of the “A bunch of supervisors, mainly the form’s purpose or the conse-
salon’s customers. recession is the explanation. formal warnings came as a result at the Gate, were really disenchant- quences for not handing it in on
Though Supercuts has tra- of the petition she e-mailed to the ed with the entire policy, and we
ditionally catered to the “urban continued on page 2 management last week. Though wanted to tr y to get it revised,” continued on page 4
inside

News.....1-4
Metro.......5-7
Metro, 5 Sports, 8 Opinions, 11
Spor ts...8-9 Buried in snow The puck stops here March madness
Editorial..10 Fox Point residents fight Two losses to Yale this Marcus Gar tner ’12
Opinion...11 back over snow clean-up weekend ended the men’s narrows the odds on
Today........12 ordinance hockey season basketball bracketology

www.browndailyherald.com 195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island herald@browndailyherald.com

Page 2 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Tuesday, March 17, 2009

C ampus N EWS “When people are cutting back, you have to give more.”
— Luz Pray, owner of Hairspray Salon

Q&A with Howard Dean

Before his lecture Monday, former
Vermont governor, 2004 Democratic
presidential nominee and Demo-
cratic National Committee Chair-
man Howard Dean spoke with The
Herald about the DNC, the Obama
administration and his plans for the
future.
The Herald: What led to your
decision not to seek another
term as chairman of the DNC?
Dean: The job is very different
with an incumbent president. When
I was chair, I could pretty much run
the place as I saw fit. My constitu-
ency was the 447 members of the
DNC and all of the people outside of
my constituency who supported the
party. With a Democratic president,
you have a constituency of one, who
is the president. It’s a more fun job
when you’re on your own.
What have you been doing
since stepping down in Janu-
ary, and what do you hope to
do in the coming months?
Well, I’m doing a bunch of
things. I’m consulting for an or-
ganization called Democracy for
America, which is a progressive
activist group. I’m consulting with
a law firm in Washington, mostly
on alternative energy issues. I’m
running — organizing, not running
— a zero-to-three early childhood
program in connection with a school
in a really tough neighborhood in
New York. And I’m very active in
health care.
Under your leadership, the
Democratic Party was suc-
cessful in both the 2006 and
2008 elections. Why wouldn’t
you continue a career in elec-
toral politics?
I might. It’s not in my interest
right now. There’s a list of things
that need to get done now that we
have a Democratic president, a
Democratic Senate and a Demo-
cratic House.
Do you have any ideas or opin-
ions about what your succes-
sor, Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia,
should be doing?
If I did, I’d call him up and tell
him. He’s a wonderful guy — and
one of the people I recommended
for the job. We have a great relation-
ship, and I’m going to keep that re-
lationship. I’m not going to give him
advice through the newspaper.
There was much speculation
about your involvement in the
Obama administration, espe-
cially as a potential Secretary
of Health and Human Servic-
es. And, most recently, people
have been talking about the
possibility of your being ap-
pointed surgeon general. Were
you interested in these posi-
tions?
No, I don’t have an interest in
being in the administration. That
didn’t work. I didn’t get the job I
wanted — or the jobs I wanted —
and that was fine. I don’t want to be
the surgeon general.
When you say “jobs”...
We don’t talk about that.
What do you think should be
President Obama’s health
care priorities as he moves
forward?
This plan is the best plan I’ve
seen in 35 years. The most impor-
tant part is having a choice for the
American people so they can have
a choice. If you only confine their
choices to private insurance plans,
then you might as well not do health
care reform.

Dean counsels students to remain politically active

continued from page 1
“They did what Joe McCarthy
did,” Dean said. The presidency
“was totally ideologically based.”
But Dean said he was confident
President Obama would usher in
an “extraordinar y” time.
“You have no idea how extraor-
dinar y Barack Obama is,” he said,
likening Obama to President Ken-
nedy. “Barack Obama is your gen-
eration’s president. He brings your
generation into politics.”
Dean discouraged students
from “abandoning” the commit-
ment to politics they showed dur-
ing the 2008 campaign now that
Obama is in the White House.
“(My generation’s) biggest mis-
take was that we decided we could
take a vacation from politics,” he
said. “I think if we had stayed in
politics, George Bush would have
never become president.”
“This doesn’t stop with Barack
Obama,” he said. “It starts with
Barack Obama. Now you’ve got
to do the work.”
During the question-and-answer
session after the approximately
35-minute speech, Dean was asked
about rumors that he had sought
a cabinet appointment in the new
administration.
“Obviously I was disappointed,”
Dean said, but “what really matters
is that they produce what they’re
supposed to produce.”
“There are more impor tant
things than whether I ser ve in Ba-
rack Obama’s cabinet,” he said.
Though the talk was titled
“The Internet Revolution 2.0: A
New Age of Politics,” Dean quickly
dismissed the idea that his use of
the Internet in the 2004 campaign
revolutionized politics.
“Don’t pay attention to what
people say,” he said. “The Internet
is a community. It’s not just a tool
that you can use to raise money.”
“What we found (during the
2004 campaign) was that if you
had something to say and you un-
derstand the Internet, the Internet
will make your campaign,” Dean
said.
Dean said the Internet allows
like-minded people to “connect
with each other” and form “affin-
ity groups” to support a certain
candidate.
“The basic notion is that you
develop af finity groups initially
around a candidate and eventu-
ally to each other,” he said. “When
(people) care about each other,
it’s almost impossible to pr y them
away from the candidate.”
Despite the success of Dean’s
Internet strategy, the former gover-
nor did not receive the Democratic
nomination in 2004. And though
some pundits said his infamous
“scream speech” after the Iowa
caucuses cost him the nomination,
Dean said he did not lose the elec-
tion because of that speech.
“The scream speech is not why I
didn’t win the presidency,” he said.
“I didn’t win the presidency be-
cause I came in third (in the Iowa
caucuses) when I was supposed to
come in first.”
Dean became chairman of the
Democratic National Committee in
Februar y 2005 and shifted his fo-
cus toward rebuilding the party.
“We didn’t have a national
party,” he said. “We were in 25 or
30 states … The Republicans had
ever ything.”
“They knew what they were
doing and they knew how to talk
people,” he said.
Dean sought to emulate Re-
publicans by building a database
to track voter information for the
entire countr y. The party invested
money, people and resources in
ever y state — which Dean said
aided both Obama and his main
opponent, Secretar y of State Hil-
lar y Clinton, in their respective
primar y campaigns.
The “voter profile,” Dean said,
referring to the database, was part
of a larger initiative known as the
50-state plan. Dean explained
the motivation behind that plan
— often mentioned as a factor in
Obama’s victor y — last night.
“I don’t believe that you can win
with 25 states,” he said. “If you
want to govern, you have to be the
president of ever yone.”
“I think George Bush’s big-
gest mistake, among many large
mistakes, was that he decided to
care about only half the countr y,”
Dean said. “That is a short-term
strategy for winning elections. The
long-term strategy is that you ask
ever yone to vote for you.”

People trim costs ... and split ends

sudoku

continued from page 1 business has remained steady, they

Hairstylist Patrick Knerr of Sa-
lon Kroma on Thayer said many
customers are requesting pixie
cuts. But, Knerr added, they say
they favor the shorter style due to
its easy maintenance, not because
of the recession.
Celebrities like Katie Holmes
may have pioneered the trend by
spor ting shor t hairstyles, said
Sergio Veneziano, a hairstylist at
Squires Salon on Euclid Avenue.
While Knerr said the college
students who frequent Salon Kroma
tend towards lighter subjects, the
economic recession is a frequent
said.
The apparent contradiction
can be explained by an upswing
in new customers, according to
Luz Pray, who owns Hairspray Sa-
lon on Wickenden Street. Pray is
“amazed by the increase in new
clients,” she said.
According to Pray, the haircut
can be a “quick fix” that allows
customers an affordable way to
reinvent themselves, especially
after a long winter. “In times like
these, people want to feel good
about themselves,” he said.
Veneziano’s obser vations
echoed Pray’s. “In tough economic Jesse Morgan / Herald

Daily Herald
the Brown Local salons find many customers
topic on other customers’ minds. times, people still spend money on
have the recession on their minds.
The economy is “the most com- themselves,” he said.
mon topic in the chair,” said Vene- The actions that salons have tak- Pray began offering this discount
Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372 | Business Phone: 401.351.3260
ziano, whose clients include many en to retain and attract customers last May, she said, and credits it
Stephen DeLucia, President Jonathan Spector, Treasurer University administrators. are another explanation for their with helping her business continue
Michael Bechek, Vice President Alexander Hughes, Secretary Many of his customers ask, “‘I sur vival in the tough economic to thrive.
The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serv- wonder if I can keep affording to climate. Stylists from Salon Kroma,
ing the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday do this?’” he said. “When people are cutting back, Salon Persia and Hairspray have
through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during Despite customers’ financial you have to give more,” Pray all implemented weekly student
Commencement, once during Orientation and once in July by The Brown Daily
concerns, many salons in the area explained. discount days.
Herald, Inc. POSTMASTER please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Provi-
dence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Offices are located have not yet felt their business con- At Hairspray, Pray offers a pack- “Tuesdays and Wednesdays
at 195 Angell St., Providence, R.I. E-mail herald@browndailyherald.com. tract significantly. age deal to her loyal customers. If were never a draw,” Knerr said,
World Wide Web: http://www.browndailyherald.com. Many stylists said that custom- they book six appointments and adding that Salon Kroma now gives
Subscription prices: $319 one year daily, $139 one semester daily.
ers are spacing their appointments pay for all six in advance, they re- a student discount on those days
Copyright 2009 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
farther apart. Still, the volume of ceive 20 percent off their haircuts. to attract customers.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
C ampus N EWS
U. gets early access to
medical brain device
By Jeremy Jacob
Contributing Writer
As the patient sat listening to music
on her iPod, an electronic device
protruding from her head delivered a
series of clicks into her skull, vibrat-
ing the skin around her forehead.
“It feels like a woodpecker knock-
ing on your head,” the patient said,
who asked to remain anonymous.
The patient was being treated
with the Transcranial Magnetic
Stimulation therapy device, a new
method designed to treat bipolar
depression, said Linda Carpenter,
associate professor in the Bio-Med
department of psychiatry and human
behavior.
Carpenter, who is chief of the
Mood Disorders program, said the
device was first used to treat patients
on Jan. 15 at Butler Hospital in Provi-
dence, where many Brown medical
students perform their residencies
and which serves as the University’s
“flagship” psychiatric hospital.
TMS therapy uses an appliance
to send “short pulses of magnetic
energy to stimulate nerve cells in the
brain,” according to the Neurostar
Web site.
The system targets a specific re-
gion of the brain that controls mood
— the left prefrontal cortex­ — by
inducing electrical charges to flow
and stimulate brain cells.
The system is one of only “eight
to ten” in operation around the coun-
try, Carpenter said, adding that it
is seen as a revolutionary break-
through in the treatment of bipolar
depression.
“It’s a huge step forward for many
patients that aren’t getting better
Clinton aide Solis Doyle
tells her career history
By Monique Vernon
Contributing Writer
Patti Solis Doyle: longtime aide and
campaign manager for now-Secre-
tary of State Hillary Clinton, the
first Latina to manage a presidential
campaign and one-time campaign
chief of staff for the candidate Barack
Obama’s future vice president. She
may have an impressive resume now,
but Solis Doyle’s credentials have
been hard-won.
In Salomon 101 last night, Solis
Doyle, a child of Mexican immi-
grants, delivered the opening con-
vocation for Latino History Month,
spearheaded by the Third World
Center. In keeping with this year’s
theme, “Unlocking the Present:
Shaping the Future, Honoring Our
Past,” her lecture charted her path
from a difficult adolescence through
her contributions to the 2008 presi-
dential election.
Solis Doyle began her political
career working in the offices of
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, She
made her way through the ranks
and was soon hired as the sole
with existing treatments,” she said.
Carpenter explained that due to
Brown’s reputation for brain stimula-
tion research, Butler Hospital was
able to quickly acquire a TMS device
from the company and get it running
promptly.
“Based on our track record (the
company) knew we had expertise
and knew how to identify patients for
this sort of treatment, and clearly we
had an interest in making it available
to the Rhode Island community as
quickly as possible,” she said.
Before the device was approved
by the Federal Drug Administration
in Oct. 2008, treating depression
involved only a limited number of
options such talk therapy, anti-de-
pressant medication and electrocon-
vulsive therapy, otherwise known as
“shock therapy,” Carpenter said. Of
the 20 million people in the United
States with serious depression, only
one-third got better after taking anti-
depressant medications.
Even with the introduction of the
new TMS device, electroconvulsive
therapy is considered by psychia-
trists “the most effective treatment
for depression” and is still recom-
mended to people with serious cases,
she said.
Each of the existing treatments,
except for talk therapy, comes with
considerable risks ­— most notably,
loss of memory and the monetary
cost of shock therapy.
But the TMS therapy machine
has not yet shown any negative side
effects as patients are able to remain
fully conscious during the process,
experience no confusion afterwards
continued on page 4
aide for would-be first lady Hillary
Clinton during Bill Clinton’s 1992
run for president. Solis Doyle said
she established a close relationship
with Hillary Clinton during that first
campaign and continued to work
with her for many years, through
Clinton’s bid for president in 2008.
Solis-Doyle resigned from the
campaign during the 2008 primaries
after she became the focus of nega-
tive media attention.
In response to accusations that
she was too aggressive and foul-
mouthed, Solis Doyle shrugged off
the criticisms. “Do I always have the
vocabulary of an altar boy? Not so
much. Do I like to win? Yes,” she
said last night.
Despite her ultimate resignation,
she said, “I am proud of the race
we ran … I’m proud of the 18 mil-
lion votes she got … I am especially
proud of the role Hispanic voters
played.”
Solis Doyle later ended up as the
campaign chief of staff for the po-
tential vice president of the Obama
continued on page 4
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
“We want to foster natural human-robot collaboration.”
reading of the artist
Residents gathered at Ada Books on Westminster Street Monday evening to celebrate James Joyce.
Robotics team aims for realistic robot
By Natalie Uduwela
Contributing Writer
A future full of obedient robots fol-
lowing our every command may not
be such an unrealistic possibility
after all — even if those commands
go unspoken.
A Brown robotics team has
recently developed a robot that
can follow gestural commands in
a variety of environments with-
out having to adjust for changes
in lighting, a breakthrough in the
robotic world.
While the majority of robots are
programmed to recognize specific
colors and are constrained to spe-
cific lighting conditions, this new
robot uses an active light-based
system that easily adapts to light-
ing variance. This ability allows it
to operate indoors and outdoors
without the need for re-calibration
For grad students, tailored writing help
By Heeyoung Min
Staff Writer
The Graduate School has created
the Dissertation Writing Project to
help doctoral students cross the
finish line of their academic mara-
thon — the All But Dissertation,
an informal designation for a can-
didate who has completed nearly
all requirements except the final
dissertation.
Though the Writing Center, now
housed in J. Walter Wilson, has long
been available as a general resource,
this pilot program is tailored to ad-
dress the specific concerns of dis-
sertation writing, said Dean of the
Graduate School Sheila Bonde.
The project, which started last
September, allows the Writing Cen-
ter to reach out to more graduate
students, said Douglas Brown, the
center’s director.
The Graduate School “wanted
in differently lit environments.
Matthew Loper GS, the lead au-
thor of the paper about the project,
which was presented at the Human-
Robot Interaction Conference in
San Diego, Calif., last weekend,
said the ability to adjust to light al-
lows the robot to function outside
a laboratory setting. “There have
been lots of works that have done
the kinds of things we’ve done —
person following, gesture recogni-
tion, speech recognition,” Loper
said. “But the important thing is
in making a system that has envi-
ronmental tolerance.”
Despite its prevalence in the
robotics world, the other impor-
tant aspect of the robot’s design is
its ability to respond to nonverbal,
gestural commands.
“In the shorter term, we’re try-
ing to take a step away from remote-
controlled, teleoperation,” he said.
graduate students to understand
that this service was available and
that indeed the Writing Center was
up to the task,” Brown said. “The
Graduate School also recognized
that (Writing Center) staff people
could be designated as special-
ists.”
Three Writing Center associ-
ates, who are Ph.D. candidates
themselves, have been specially
trained as dissertation coaches.
They are regularly available for
one- or two-hour sessions weekly
to help at any stage of the writing
process. The project also holds a
dissertation workshop twice dur-
ing the academic year, in October
and January.
Disser tation coaches help
students make the transition into
a “new kind of thinking,” Brown
said.
“The resource has attracted stu-
dents from a variety of disciplines,
Page 3
— Matthew Loper GS
Kim Perley / Herald
“We would rather have them inter-
act with people more naturally, able
to understand nonverbal gestures,
understand speech and follow a
person around.”
The robot can be programmed
to track multiple people and can
discriminate between whom to re-
spond to and whom to ignore.
But the design is not flawless.
While the tracking distinguishes
between two people, the robot can
sometimes be tricked because it
relies on silhouettes.
“We want to foster natural hu-
man-robot collaboration in the long
term and the kind of interactions
that you can get between people,”
said Loper, who was responsible
for creating the gesture-recognition
component. “That a person could
interact with a robot in the same
way that a person can interact with
a person.”
including biomedical students,”
Bonde said, adding that it’s difficult
to gauge which departments have
the greatest number of students
who struggle to complete their
dissertations.
One student who has used the
Writing Center as part of the project
said she found it very helpful.
“(I) don’t recall the substance
of the conversation, but I know it
was about seeing the writing pro-
cess as just that, a process, and it
was good to hear from people at
different stages of that process,”
said Margaret Stevens, a Ph.D. can-
didate in American Civilization, of
her experience with a dissertation
coach.
“Sometimes it’s easy to get
tracked into your year so that you
only see the grad experience from
your direct cohort, but when you
continued on page 4
Page 4
C ampus N EWS
Few risks posed by new
depression treatment
continued from page 3
and don’t generate expensive medi-
cal bills, Carpenter said.
When patients start treatment
they come to the hospital for an hour
a day, five days a week, for a little
over a month.
So far there have been six patients
that have gone through TMS therapy
at Butler Hospital. All but one have
shown some level of improvement in
treating their symptoms of depres-
sion, Carpenter said, adding that so
far two patients have had total remis-
sion of their depression while one
patient noticed a 20 percent decrease
in depression symptoms.
“It’s been really fun to see pa-
tients get better with this because
these are people that are not getting
better with medications,” she said.
“Many of them had done ECT in the
past for their depression, some had
Dissertation help offered
at Writing Center
continued from page 3
talk to people who are writing at more
advanced stages then it becomes a
more fluid process.”
Since it started, the project has
seen, on average, over 25 visits to the
Writing Center per month, according
to statistics kept by the center.
Some students come in for mul-
tiple sessions so there are fewer stu-
dents utilizing the project than the
number of visits, according to Tiara
Silva, administrative assistant for the
Dean of the College.
Students can, and have in the past,
requested “special hours” to extend
a regular session to as long as five
hours, Silva said. Students from all
disciplines come in for help, added
Silva, but “we seem to have the most
visits from people in economics.”
Brown said that, by providing peer
support, the project also ameliorates
had hospitalizations.”
So far the device has been im-
plemented in a limited number of
hospitals. There were roughly 20
hospitals involved in the clinical tri-
als, Carpenter said, adding that each
hospital still has its machine.
The slow pace of implementation
is due to the time needed to train
staff in machine operation, as well
as typical hospital procedure for
implementing new programs, Car-
penter said, adding that she is the
only doctor who currently performs
the treatments at Butler Hospital
even though three others have been
trained.
“What’s really cool about this is
that we’re probably at the beginning
of an era where we can give better
treatments for psychiatric disorders.”
Carpenter said. “It’s a whole different
way to get at the organ that you’re
trying to treat.”
the loneliness often associated with
writing a lengthy thesis.
“Some people are truly solitary
writers, but most people are not,”
he said.
As faculty members often work
collaboratively, Brown added that
“it makes perfect sense that gradu-
ate students would share their work
with each other.”
Still, some students said they are
not concerned with the prospect
of having an All But Dissertation
status.
“We know at some point we’ll fin-
ish it, even if it takes a longer time,”
said Angelica Duran, a second year
Ph.D. candidate in political science
who saw a Morning Mail notice about
the program and plans to utilize the
resource. “The most difficult points
are the beginning and the end.
The intermediate stage is the most
bearable.”
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
“The state can’t afford to lose $95 million in tax revenue at this particular point.”
— Daniel Beardsley, Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns
After petition, BuDS revokes warnings
continued from page 1
time, Espinal said, adding that
nearly 120 students did not turn
in the contracts.
“Some people were saying they
didn’t get (the forms) in their
mailboxes,” Espinal said. “Oth-
ers didn’t know if they didn’t hand
it in, it was going to be such a big
deal.”
BuDS general manger Alex
Hartley ’10, who declined to com-
ment on why the formal warnings
were revoked, said the warnings
issued to employees who failed
to return the new contract would
not have affected the number of
allowable infractions after which
students can be fired.
“The formals NEVER were tak-
Solis Doyle kicks off Mass
Latino History Month message
leaks list
continued from page 3
of names
campaign. Her position involved
securing venues, travel arrange-
ments and speeches for the five
Democratic vice-presidential hope-
fuls.
Though she did not speak much
on her short-lived work with the
Obama campaign, Solis Doyle said
she is proud of his historic run and
her role in it. “For me I took pride
in my role as a top Hispanic aide,”
she said.
Solis Doyle credited her strong
work ethic to her father, Santiago
Solis, a Mexican immigrant.
“Hazte valer — value yourself,
work hard and never do anything
to embarrass yourself and your
family.” Solis Doyle repeated her
father’s creed often throughout
her talk and said, “It is still the best
advice I have ever been given.”
Solis Doyle described her fa-
ther as a determined man, who
was deported twice after attempts
to immigrate to the United States.
His third attempt at citizenship was
successful, and he and his family
settled into the Pilsen neighbor-
hood of Chicago.
Though her parents both
worked hard at multiple jobs, So-
lis Doyle estimated that they never
made more than $18,000 a year
combined. Despite the family’s
economic hardship, Solis Doyle
worked hard in school and was
able to obtain a scholarship to
Northwestern University.
“To me, school was one world,
home was another,” Solis Doyle
said. “In some ways it felt as far
as Mars.” Despite her enthusiasm
for her education, the conflict be-
tween her home life and the pres-
sures of school ultimately led Solis
Doyle to lose her scholarship. She
Don’t miss out.
browndailyherald.com/raffle
en into account when someone’s
employment was concerned,”
Hartley wrote in an e-mail to The
Herald. “And by ‘formals’ I mean
formals that were written for fail-
ure to return the contract.”
Hartley also wrote that BuDS
has begun to encourage workers
to share ideas and input with man-
agement.
“We now hold open forums.
We just had our first two last week
where workers and super visors
could come and communicate with
management on any issue,” Hart-
ley wrote. “After spring break, I
will be holding office hours for
students to come and talk to me
personally.”
To avoid any repercussions
before the formal warnings were
dropped out of school temporarily,
married at the age of 19 and was
divorced by 21. Eventually she re-
turned to Northwestern to finish
her degree.
It was through the influence
of her brother, Daniel Solis — a
Chicago city council alderman —
that Solis Doyle was able to make
connections and establish herself
in the political arena. Solis Doyle
said she was inspired to continue
working in politics by “the power
of organizing ordinary people to
do extraordinary things.”
Students reacted positively to
Solis Doyle’s talk. “I thought she
was very down to earth,” Ashtin
Charles ’12 said. “Her ability to
connect with people, minority
people, was profound so the audi-
ence could really relate.”
“I thought she was excellent and
wonderfully combined personal
anecdotes with examples from her
political activism and professional
life in a stirring review and tribute
of past, present and current contri-
butions of the Latino community,”
Morgan Ivens ’12 said.
After Solis Doyle’s talk, the floor
was opened up for a question and
answer session. Solis Doyle dis-
pensed advice from her experience
as a political operative. When an
audience member asked why she
thought the Republicans were less
successful than the Democrats in
the past election, Solis Doyle spoke
of the importance of the Hispanic
media team in the campaigns.
Other questions also re-
turned to the importance of Solis
Doyle’s ethnicity to her political
life. When asked how she bal-
ances her cultural and profes-
sional roles, she responded, “You
can’t really hide who you are or
what you are, its a fool’s errand.”
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
revoked, many employees worked
an extra 10 hours in addition to
their regular shifts, Espinal said,
adding that workers can now use
that time to enhance their bo-
nuses.
Espinal said management has
done an “amazing job coming up
with a new tactic to involve work-
ers.”
She said she is pleased that
the formal warnings have been
revoked, but doubts that the
homework policy will undergo
any revisions in the future.
“I think people have gener-
ally started to accept it, because
I think that most people think
that the inner management team
isn’t going to change it at all,”
Espinal said.
continued from page 1
sages to be in violation of any
state laws or the federal Family
Educational Rights and Privacy
Act, which prohibits educational
institutions from releasing con-
fidential information without
student or parental consent.
Tilton, who was hired to
head the financial aid office in
2006, said no similar mistakes
have been made during his
tenure. He does not know of
any such mistakes prior to his
hiring, he said.
“In the future … before mass
e-mails like this go out,” Tilton
said, “we’ll certainly make sure
that they’re created appropriate-
ly and mailed appropriately.”
Some student said they were
upset by the inadvertent release
of the names.
“I think it’s a really big mis-
take,” said Molly Jacobson ’10,
who said she noticed the er-
ror as soon as she received the
e-mail. “For a lot of students,
(financial aid) is a private
thing.”
Vivienne Vicera ’11, who
also received one of the e-mails,
said she too was bothered by
the mistake.
But other students whose
names were divulged consid-
ered the error minor.
“I’m not angr y,” said Corlis
Gross ’10. “It’s not something
that I’m ashamed of.”
“I don’t care, really,” said
Gabe Heymann ’10.5. “I feel
like being on financial aid is not
really something that is looked
down upon or should be looked
down upon at all.”
— With additional
reporting by Brigitta Greene
Metro
The Brown Daily Herald
“We didn’t have any problem with (warnings).”
— Lieutenant John Ryan, commander of Providence Police Dept., District 9

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 | Page 5

Governor’s budget
plan sparks criticism
By Joanna Wohlmuth
Metro Editor
As Rhode Island faces crippling un-
employment and the largest budget
deficit in the state’s history, Gov.
Donald Carcieri’s ’65 proposed bud-
get has garnered criticism from all
sides in the week since its release.
The governor’s budget recom-
mendations for the next fiscal year
rely on taxes and federal stimulus
funds to bridge the anticipated $860
million deficit over the next two
years and to increase state spend-
ing by 10 percent. Under Carcieri’s
proposal, the state would spend a
Kim Perley / Herald
Unshoveled walks in January prompted a series of complaints in East Providence and may yield a new ordinance. total of $7.62 billion in 2010.
But Carcieri — whose approval
to give $31 million in state aid to
cities and towns.
Many political leaders and inter-
est groups have already voiced con-
cerns about the governor’s proposed
use of stimulus funds and restructur-
ing of the state’s tax system.
In a letter to U.S. Secretary of
Education Arne Duncan, Providence
Mayor David Cicilline ’83 questioned
the governor’s use of stimulus mon-
ey to replace state education fund-
ing. “The potential transformative
impact of the (federal funding) is
undermined by the spending propos-
als” in Carcieri’s budget proposal, Ci-
cilline wrote. “Rather than seizing an
opportunity for strategic, increased
funding (Carcieri) is instead only

City cracks down on lazy shovelers
By Alicia Dang
Contributing Writer
With over 35 inches of snow falling
in Fox Point in January, residents
have complained about the non-
enforcement of a city ordinance
that requires property owners to
remove snow from public walkways,
prompting the city council to pre-
pare a new ordinance to respond
to this problem.
“There are about four or five
more complaints this year than last
year,” said Lieutenant John Ryan,
commander of Providence Police
District 9, which includes Brown
and much of the East Side, attribut-
ing this increase to higher frequency
and volume of snowfall.
According to Ryan, there were
10 houses in total that received
complaints, most of which are on
Gano, East Transit and Ives streets.
Two of the houses are unoccupied
and some have student tenants, he
said.
Upon receipt of complaints, po-
licemen went to those houses to
give informal warnings but did not
impose a fine. “We didn’t have any
problem with them,” Ryan said, add-
ing that the tenants and landlords
of the buildings quickly removed
the snow after being informed of
the complaints.
“We have more snow this year,”
said Daisy Schnepel, president of
the Fox Point Neighborhood As-
sociation. “We haven’t received a lot
of formal complaints, but people do
get upset that the city doesn’t take
care of its properties.”
A former board member of the
neighborhood association brought
the issue to the board’s attention
about two months ago and they dis-
cussed it in a meeting, Schenepel
said. The members then reported
the problem to the city council.
“On the whole, if there’s a prob-
lem, we contact whatever depart-
ment that deals with it,” Schnepel
said. “If the problem is related to
the mechanisms of the environment,
we tell (the complainants) to contact
the councilmen or the Department
of Public Works.”
The city council is taking a two-
pronged approach to tackle this is-
sue, said Ward 1 Councilman Seth
Yurdin. The council is planning to
work with local lieutenants to raise
awareness of the city ordinance —
a “polite way” to remind property
owners to remove snow from their
adjacent sidewalks, he added.
Additionally, a new ordinance
that is designed to be more effective
than the current one has been intro-
duced by Ward 4 Councilman Nicho-
las Narducci, Jr., Yurdin said.
The existing city ordinance re-
quires residents to clear a path at
least three feet wide on the sidewalk
in front of their house within the
rating among Rhode Islanders re-
cently hit a low of 34 percent, ac-
cording to a poll by the Taubman
maintaining the status quo.”
Though the final guidelines for
the use of the stimulus funds have
first four hours of daylight after a Center for Public Policy — will have not been completed by the U.S.
snowfall. Violators may be fined to get his budget through the state’s Department of Education, the gov-
between $25 to $300. Democrat-dominated General As- ernor’s proposal follows the “intent
The newly introduced ordinance sembly. and spirit” of the recovery bill, said
proposes to increase the fine to up Though the stimulus money in- Amy Kempe, the governor’s press
to $500 and keep a record of the cludes $110 million from a “state secretary. The fiscal stabilization
properties whose residents violate fiscal stabilization fund” to be spent funds are “fungible,” she added.
the ordinance, Yurdin said, adding on education and aid to local com- The governor’s budget recom-
that this will hold landlords, rather munities over the next two years, the mendations also alter the state’s in-
than tenants, responsible for obey- governor’s proposed budget elimi- come tax structure, increasing the
ing the ordinance. nates a revenue-sharing program
Currently, police provide a copy from his previous budget that was continued on page 7
of the ordinance to violators, but if
a new ordinance is passed, flyers
will probably be distributed to all
city residents, Ryan said.
Yurdin is supporting the new
ordinance and is currently work-
ing with four other members of the
ordinance committee, the Depart-
ment of Public Works and local
lieutenants to discuss and amend
it, he said.
Once the proposal leaves the
ordinance committee, it will go to
the entire city council for a final vote,
Yurdin added.
Even with a new ordinance,
educating residents about their
responsibilities is still the highest
priority. “Once there is more aware-
ness, there is more compliance (and
then) enforcement is less impor-
tant,” Yurdin said.
“Sometimes they just don’t
know,” Ryan said. Reminding peo-
ple is “time consuming, but not a
problem.”

Arts struggle to survive in recession

By Melissa Shube
Senior Staf f Writer
Despite the economic struggles of
many of Providence’s artistic and
cultural organizations, the initiative
to produce a cultural plan for the
city — Creative Providence —is
soldiering on.
This month, the group, run by
the Department of Art, Culture
and Tourism, has been holding
meetings for artists and commu-
nity members to discuss topics
including infusing the economy
with creativity and increasing
community access to and cultur-
al participation in the arts, said
L ynne McCormack, director of
the department. The meetings, as
well as community forums and a
2,000-person survey completed last
year, will help develop the Cultural
Providence plan, McCormack said,
which would be ready for its steer-
ing committee’s approval in May.
The program has allowed the
arts community to identify the
cultural resources of the city, said
Hope Alswang, director of the
Rhode Island School of Design
Museum of Art and member of
the Creative Providence’s steer-
ing committee. For a small city,
Providence provides a “really rich
diversity of arts opportunities,” she
added.
“The city is now branding itself
as the creative capital,” said Um-
berto Crenca, artistic director and
founder of community arts venue
AS220 and member of Creative
Providence’s steering committee.
The group ensures that “there’s
as much substance as there is
hype,” within the city’s art scene,
he said.
The promotion of art and cul-
ture in Providence comes at a time
continued on page 7
Page 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Tuesday, March 17, 2009

M etro
1 Thayer businesses in the recession
2 1: Spike’s Junkyard Dogs chdev has introduced “unusual” promotions in
273 Thayer St. After more order to generate business, including the “Name
than 15 years of serving up Your Price” sale.
2 legendary hot dogs and fried
food, the Thayer Street estab- 5: Geoff ’s Superlative
lishment shut its doors last Sandwiches 235 Thayer St.
September. Owner Gareth The local sandwich shop shut
Mundy told The Herald that down last summer, and its
high taxes and rising property values made busi- Thayer Street location has
3 ness on Thayer Street difficult. Spike’s — known remained empty ever since.
for its hot-dog-eating contests — maintains nine The restaurant’s flagship site
other locations in Rhode Island, Connecticut and on Benefit Street remains open.
Massachusetts.
6: Roba Dolce 178 Angell St. The Italian panini
4 2: Blaze on Thayer 272 Thayer St. The Hope and gelato cafe on the corner of Angell and Thayer
Street “Cookin’ With Fire” restaurant opened a unexpectedly closed last month. Owner Nino De-
5 Thayer offshoot in 2007, but it closed last year. The Martino said he was not notified before receiving
second-floor location has since been replaced by an eviction notice on Feb. 16. DeMartino said this
tropical-themed Marley’s, while the original Blaze month that the possibility of resuming business in
on Hope remains. the 900-square-foot space is “very, very small.”
6
3: Pie in the Sky 225 Thayer 7: Yang’s 217 Thayer St. The
St. Co-owner Ann Dusseault fabric and gift boutique closed
said that sales at her jewelry its doors last summer. Local
and gift shop are down nearly restaurateur Andy Mitrellis
50 percent from last year. In said he will open Better Burg-
recent months, Dusseault has er Company — a new burger,

7 reduced the store’s operating

hours and stopped ordering new merchandise in
order to cut costs.
8 4: Spectrum India 252 Thayer St. Owner Jagdish
Sachdev said this year’s economic downturn has
been “tougher” than anything he has seen in his
time on College Hill — and Spectrum India has
been on Thayer Street for 42 years. Recently, Sa-
sandwich and pizza shop — in
the location sometime this spring.
8: Morrison Office Supply 215 Thayer St. Owner
Bryan Creighton went into “survival mode” about a
year ago by adjusting purchasing and bringing less
new merchandise into his Thayer Street store. While
he is able to pay the rent — this month — Creighton
doubts the business can last much longer.

In tough economic times, business try to think creatively

continued from page 1
though he cannot afford to advertise
locally, Sachdev has tried to attract
shoppers by improving his store’s
window displays.
The large, brightly colored signs
in the store’s windows advertise
some of the store’s promotions, in-
cluding a “Name Your Price” sale.
“This year, we are not looking to
make a profit,” Sachdev said. “We are
looking to stay in business.”
Many businesses around Col-
lege Hill have not been so fortunate.
In the last year, familiar locations
such as Spike’s Junkyard Dogs and
Cafe Roba Dolce have closed their
doors, unable to keep up with high
Thayer Street rents. The windows
of a former Thayer sandwich shop,
Geoff’s, are now papered over, while
the Wickenden Street sex shop Miko
Exoticwear went under last sum-
mer.
Few new businesses have opened
up to replace them and those owners
lucky enough to still be in business
have been forced to think of new
ways to attract customers.
Like Sachdev, local businessman
Michael Sherman, who has owned
the vintage apparel store The 1793
Shoppe for the last three years, has
aimed to make shopping a more
enjoyable experience for his cus-
tomers.
He estimated that December
2008 sales at his Steeple Street
store were down 90 percent from
the same time in the previous year.
Since then, he has marked down
all of his merchandise in an effort
to appeal to customers.
In February, Sherman teamed up
with the owners of Curiosities — a
Wickenden antique shop that used
to be housed on Angell Street —
for a “Save Our Stores” event at his
store. Nearly 70 people paid a $5
cover charge for the refreshments
and entertainment, he said, and the
owners split the profits.
The event was “very success-
ful” because many of the attendees
bought merchandise, Sherman
added.
Yet Sherman said he has seen
very few repeat customers since
the event, and with no money for
advertising, he finds it increasingly
difficult to attract customers to his
second-floor store.
Ann Dusseault, who has co-
owned Pie in the Sky at 225 Thayer
St. for 15 years, has also found it
difficult to make her store appeal
to shoppers lately. A jewelry and gift
shop, Pie in the Sky has seen sig-
nificantly fewer customers in recent
months, Dusseault said. To make
matters worse, her “regulars” are
also spending less.
“I especially saw it at Christmas,”
she said, adding that the more ex-
pensive items in the store, including
jewelry, are not selling at the rates
they used to.
“It’s a battle,” she said, estimating
that sales are down nearly 50 percent
from last year.
But Dusseault realizes that she
is not the only one affected by the
economic downturn. Because she is
barely able to make rent payments,
she is no longer ordering any new
merchandise — yet vendors are now
frequently calling for her business,
complaining that their companies
are suffering, too.
Like Sachdev and Sherman, Dus-
seault has foregone most advertis-
ing, simply because any extra money
needs to be put toward paying the
rent.
As for the future, Dusseault too
has become increasingly creative
in her sales strategies. She recently
joined studentrate.com, a Web site
that offers students discounts and
promotions at local and national
stores. In addition, she has begun
making her own merchandise, and
has even “moved stuff around” in
an effort to mix up the store’s of-
ferings.
Sachdev has been equally cre-
ative in his effort to make shopping
at Spectrum India a “memorable ex-
perience.” This week, he debuted
a series of promotions involving a
different discount for each weekday
— with a catch. Depending on the
day, customers will have to perform
a different activity or challenge in
order to receive the sale.
As part of the “Moody Monday
Blues,” shoppers can sing a blues
song to receive an extra 10 percent
off CDs and DVDs. On “Terrible
Tuesdays” customers are encour-
aged to imitate a toddler throwing a
tantrum. If they do, the will receive
an extra 10 percent off toys, books
and games.
Wednesday’s promotion invites
shoppers to do a “soft shoe dance”
for a footwear discount, and if cus-
tomers tell a “deep, dark secret” on
Thursdays, they will receive free
incense with the purchase of candles
or essential oils.
Though the sale might be out
of the ordinary, Sachdev said he
wants customers to “have fun” in
his store despite the difficult eco-
nomic times.
“I’ve been through six recessions,
and I’ve managed to survive,” he
said.
With his options limited, Sher-
man said he plans to hold another
gathering similar to the “S.O.S”
event — most likely a fashion show
in April.
But not all business owners think
they have the energy to compete in
a prolonged recession.
Br yan Creighton, owner of
Morrison Office Supply, Inc. at 215
Thayer St., said his business went
into “survival mode” about a year
ago. Since then, Creighton has ad-
justed purchasing, bringing less new
merchandise into his store. While
the strategy has allowed him to “pay
this month’s rent,” he said it does not
appear that the business can endure
much longer.
A business like his would need
new, younger management — “fresh
blood” — to survive, said Creighton,
who has run the store for 20 years.
While he said that the indepen-
dent stationery and office supply
industry was in decline “even then,”
financial concerns have become in-
creasingly severe in recent months.
He said it was “very possible” that
he would soon sell the storefront to
local restauranteur Andy Mitrelis,
who told The Herald last month that
he plans to open a burger restaurant
where Yang’s, a boutique store that
closed last summer, once was.
Sherman said he was concerned
about the number of local business
owners who were being forced to
close their doors.
“When you lose small stores, part
of the character of the city dies,”
he said.
Help on the way?
At a press conference Monday,
President Obama emphasized the
importance of small businesses,
which he called the “heart of the
American economy.” Obama cred-
ited small businesses with creating
70 percent of the new jobs in the
past decade, and introduced a variety
of measures intended to increase
lending.
The American Reinvestment and
Recovery Act of 2009, known as the
“stimulus bill,” has made provisions
to help small business owners, said
Mark Hayward, Rhode Island district
director for the United States Small
Business Administration.
Under the legislation, the SBA,
a federal agency, will drop both its
borrower and lender fees on small
business loans, and will guarantee
banks up to 90 percent of the value
of the loan.
The agency’s main interests, Hay-
ward said, are the needs of small
business owners, providing financial
assistance and counseling to small
businesses. Hayward said that de-
spite the difficulties local businesses
are encountering, the SBA is “actu-
ally in a good spot.”
“Our goal is to encourage and
entice lenders,” Hayward said, add-
ing that businesses “are in need of
lines of credit or something to get
through.”
Tuesday, March 17, 2009 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Page 7

M etro “A lot of arts organizations ... are just trying to survive.”

— Umberto Crenca, artistic director of AS220

Carcieri proposal relies Creative Providence brings artists together

on tax cuts, stimulus
continued from page 5
earned-income tax credit for low-
income households while raising
taxes for some Rhode Island couples
and individuals making less than
$75,000 annually.
Carcieri’s proposed budget also
includes a five-year phase-out of the
corporate income tax. It would raise
the state’s cigarette tax by $1 per
pack and slash funding for RIteCare,
the state’s subsidized health insur-
ance.
“The state can’t afford to lose
$95 million in tax revenue at this
particular point,” said Daniel Beard-
sley, executive director of the Rhode
Island League of Cities and Towns.
Cutting taxes for wealthy people
and profitable businesses “will do
little to improve the economy in the
short run and will hurt it in the long
run.”
Beardsley also called federal
stimulus funding a “double-edged
sword,” expressing concern about
whether the state would again be
thrown into economic turmoil when
recovery aid is cut off in 2012.
Kempe defended the corporate
income tax cuts, stating that Rhode
Island needs to position itself to be
competitive with neighboring states,
such as Connecticut and Massachu-
setts, which have much lower cor-
porate tax rates. “The only way to
grow jobs and grow revenue is to
grow business,” she said.
The next key point in the state’s
budget proposal process will come
at the end of April and beginning of
May with the Revenue Estimating
Conference, said Russell Dannecker,
fiscal policy analyst at the Poverty
Institute at Rhode Island College.
More significant decisions will be
made once current budget projec-
tions are reevaluated, he said.
“Whenever we get into these
types of (economic) situations, the
budgets are always difficult,” Dan-
necker said. “This time there was
enough advanced notice of the fed-
eral aid that was coming in … but
it does raise issues in the long term
about what to do when the money
disappears.”
The state legislature will debate
the governor’s proposal over the
next few months before creating
its own revised budget for his ap-
proval.
“They’ve got a long road ahead
of them in many respects,” Beard-
sley said. “It’s going to be a very
difficult road over the next five or
six months.”
continued from page 5
of great economic turmoil for the
creative community, said Alswang.
Alswang and Craig Dreeszen,
cultural planning consultant for
the Creative Providence project,
attribute the financial struggles
of the artistic community to the
economic downturn and resulting
loss of corporate funding to many
cultural organizations, reduction of
endowments and decreased patron-
age of the arts.
“Our arts institutions in this city
have not faced anything like this in
living memory,” said Alswang,
“There’s a struggle, more so
than I’ve witnessed in a while,”
Crenca said. “A lot of arts orga-
nizations ... are just trying to sur-
vive.”
The crisis is hurting individual
artists too, according to Crenca,
who added that more artists than
usual have been reaching out to
AS220 staff for help finding work.
Dreeszen said the economic cri-
Sign up for Herald Mail,
enter to win David Sedaris tix and a signed book!
browndailyherald.com/raffle
sis is “the elephant in the room” for
Creative Providence.
The group has had to adapt to
the economic realities, McCor-
mack said.
“I think we have been talking
more about sustainability than we
have about creating new things,”
said McCormack. “There has been
a lot of talk about how do we sustain
the organization, how do we make
sure we don’t lose our art scene,
how do we keep spaces cheap and
affordable.”
McCormack said the economic
situation has helped the committee
focus on what is important to the
community.
Dreeszen said Creative Provi-
dence also hopes to stimulate eco-
nomic development through arts
and culture by helping cultural
organizations whose funding has
been cut and assisting “individual
artists and creative workers.”
“We’re tr ying to establish a
climate in which these folks can
prosper,” he said, noting that this
is more difficult in a tight economy
where art and performance are
seen by some as “discretionar y
purchases.”
Alswang and McCormack said
Creative Providence facilitates re-
lationships and allows artists who
wouldn’t normally talk to each each
other to work together.
While Alswang stressed that
“there’s no quick fixes here,” the
relationships that artists and or-
ganizations are building could
help in the sharing of resources
and potentially in the reduction
of costs.
“We could do more marketing
together, we could do more shared
backroom costs,” she said.
Crenca said he was impressed
with the city’s commitment to
arts and culture “at a time when
it doesn’t seem like the obvious
thing.”
“There’s plenty of excuses not
to plan,” he said. “Despite the crisis
that we’re in, we’re continuing to
look towards the future.”
SportsTuesday
The Brown Daily Herald
M. hockey season M. lacrosse holds on to early lead
comes to an end at Yale
By Dan Alexander
Spor ts Staf f Writer
Yale’s power-play was all it took
to end the men’s hockey team’s
improbable run in the ECAC tour-
nament.
The Bears (5-23-5, 3-16-4 ECAC
Hockey) jumped out to a 2-0 lead
in Friday night’s game, but the
top-seeded Bulldogs (22-7-2, 15-
5-2) scored four straight goals,
including two power-play goals in
the final frame, to get the first win
in the best-of-three quarterfinal
series.
“We took a lot of penalties and
it killed the flow of the game,” said
assistant captain Jordan Pietrus
’10.
Two more power-play goals on
Saturday night gave Yale a 2-0 win,
ending Brown’s season and send-
ing Yale to Albany for the ECAC
Hockey semifinals.
Saturday’s loss was the fifth
loss to Yale this season for the
Bears, who fell to the Bulldogs
three times in November.
But the Bears were fresh off
a sweep of No. 5 seed Harvard in
the opening round of the ECAC
Tournament and didn’t look like
the same team that had dropped
three games to Yale in the begin-
ning of the season.
“I think we were a lot more
confident coming off Harvard and
knowing that a lot of our young
guys made a nice step,” said Head
Coach Roger Grillo. “I just think
we were a much better team” than
what Yale had faced earlier in the
season.
Yale 4, Brown 2
The Bears carried their mo-
mentum from Cambridge to New
Haven and gained a 15-4 first-peri-
od shot advantage on the Bulldogs,
who had earned a bye in the first
round.
“We had lots of confidence. We
were amped up. We were ready to
go,” Pietrus said. “We knew they
had had an extra week off where
they hadn’t had a game, so they
could be sluggish, so we really
wanted to try and take advantage
of that.”
With seconds left on a Yale
power-play, Pietrus challenged
Bulldog Sean Backman at the
point.
“I knew he was going to look
to shoot, so I just tried to get into
the shooting lane,” Pietrus said.
“He put the puck off my shin pads
and I got lucky and the puck ended
up going out of the zone. At that
point, I had a step on him and, you
know, it was just kind of a footrace
down the ice.”
Pietrus won the footrace and
put a shot off the pipe and into the
back of the net for his fifth goal of
the year.
The Bears got another when
David Brownschidle ’11 scored
his first of the season just 2:16 into
the middle frame, giving Brown a
2-0 advantage.
But Brown wouldn’t score
again for the rest of the weekend,
and the penalty spree started after
the second goal. The Bears went
on the penalty kill four times in the
second period and killed all four-
man advantages. But after stopping
100 straight pucks over two and
a half games, Mike Clemente ’12
gave up his first goal of the play-
offs on an even-ice goal midway
through the second period.
Yale made it a 2-2 game before
the end of the period when Bulldog
Denny Kearney put a one-timer
from the slot past Clemente with
just three ticks remaining in the
period.
The Bulldogs then scored what
would prove to be the game-win-
continued on page 9
Tuesday, March 17, 2009 | Page 8
By Benjy Asher
Spor ts Editor
The No. 15 men’s lacrosse team
survived another close game on Sat-
urday, when Brown (4-1) jumped
out to an early 5-2 lead and held on
for a 9-8 victory over No. 13 UM-
ass (3-3) in the Bears’ final contest
before beginning Ivy League play.
Quad-captain Jordan Burke ’09 had
a season-high 20 saves to anchor the
defense, while Reade Seligmann
’09 paced the offense with a team-
high three goals. Quad-captains Jack
Walsh ’09 and Kyle Hollingsworth
’09 collectively registered a three-
point game for the Bears.
“We came out pretty hungry,”
Seligmann said. “We were talking
all week about how UMass is pretty
much our biggest rivalry. They’re
ver y similar to us, they’re ver y
scrappy and we knew we were go-
ing to have to match them with that
type of intensity.”
At UMass’s Richard F. Garber
Field, affectionately known as “The
Zoo,” the game remained scoreless
Justin Coleman / Herald
for nearly nine minutes as UMass
Reade Seligmann ’09 led No. 18 men’s lacrosse with three goals.
goalie Doc Schneider made four
saves before Walsh finally broke said. “We know that UMass really to be a strong program and contend
the tie on an unassisted goal with likes to shoot, so they don’t neces- for another Ivy League champion-
6:11 left in the first quarter. sarily try to get the best shots, but ship and the NCAA Tournament, we
But the Minutemen went on the they like to fire.” must have many threats. We have to
attack, and though Burke made two The score remained tied for near- be a well-rounded offensive unit, and
more saves, Brown failed to clear the ly eight minutes, but then the Bears that did emerge on Saturday.”
ball each time, leading to a goal by took control. With 6:41 remaining The Minutemen got one back
UMass’s Art Kell off a ground ball in the half, Seligmann notched his with 4:36 left in the half, but Brown
pickup with 4:58 left in the period. first goal of the day, assisted by went into halftime with a 5-3 lead,
Thomas Muldoon ’10 scored Hollingsworth, who leads Brown behind two goals from Walsh and
off a pass from Walsh to regain the with nine assists this season. Just 28 12 saves from Burke.
lead for the Bears heading into the seconds later, Rob Schlesinger ’12 “Jordan Burke was in All-Amer-
second quarter, but the Minutemen scored the first goal of his college ican form,” Tiffany said. “We play
came out firing to start the period. career, the first of his two goals of a style of defense that allows the
Burke made two saves in the the day, to widen the lead to 4-2. Less other team to take a lot of shots, and
opening 30 seconds of the second than a minute later, Walsh added we give up shots that a lot of other
quarter, but once again, a ground his second goal of the day to make teams wouldn’t want their goalie to
ball pickup off a clearing attempt led it a 5-2 game. see. But we welcome those shots
to a UMass goal, tying the score at “It was great to see Jack Walsh, on Jordan, because we believe in
2-2 just 40 seconds in. Reade Seligmann and Rob Schlesing- him so much, and he steps up to
“They had a pretty good ride on er step up and get a couple goals,” the challenge.”
us all game, and we had a little bit said Head Coach Lars Tiffany ’90.
continued on page 9
of trouble clearing the ball,” Burke “There’s no question, if we’re going
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
S ports Tuesday
M. lacrosse beats Minutemen
continued from page 8
UMass cut Brown’s lead to one
with 11:27 left in the third quarter,
and the Minutemen nearly tied the
game with just under 10 minutes
left in the period, but Burke made
back-to-back saves just eight sec-
onds apart, giving Brown posses-
sion, which culminated in Holling-
sworth’s only goal of the day, off an
assist from Andrew Feinberg ’11.
The Minutemen scored two
straight goals to tie the game at 6-6,
but Seligmann scored his second
goal of the game with six seconds
left in the period, completing the hat
trick just under three minutes into
the fourth quarter, giving Brown an
8-6 lead. Seligmann’s three-goal per-
formance came on a day when the
Bears needed it most, as the UMass
defense shut down Feinberg, who
did not score after recording a hat
trick in each of the first four games
of the season.
“We have a lot of different weap-
ons on offense and we have some
big superstar names out there,” Se-
ligmann said. “It was one of those
days where more people were get-
ting opportunities and hitting the
cage, rather than holding up on
shots.”
Just 10 seconds after Seligmann’s
third goal, the Minutemen scored
off the face-off to make it a one-
goal game again, but Schlesinger’s
second goal, with 10:11 left to play,
widened the lead to 9-7. Though
the Minutemen brought the game
back to within one just 35 seconds
later, Burke was perfect from that
point on, making four saves in the
remainder of the game, including
three in the final minute, to secure
the 9-8 win for Brown, the team’s
third one-goal win of the season.
“Jordan (Burke) wants the
Quad-captain Jordan Burke ’09 made three of his 20 saves in the final
minute, securing the No. 18 men’s lacrosse’s victory over No. 13 UMass.
weight of the world on his shoul-
ders,” Tiffany said. “He wants to
be the last man back there when
we’re relying on him to make the
save to win the game. We’ve been
doing that a lot lately, and he keeps
proving himself.”
The win gives Brown its second
straight victory over a nationally
ranked team, after the Bears earned
a 12-11 victory over No. 19 Denver
on March 8. Both wins could prove
to be key later in the season, when
the team could find itself vying for
an at-large bid to the NCAA Tour-
nament.
“The NCAA Tournament is
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
“I apologized to them that their season had to end.”
Justin Coleman / Herald
always kind of in the back of our
minds, after last year, going 11-3
and not getting in, so we know it’s
really important to get quality out-of-
conference wins,” Burke said.
On Saturday, Brown will travel
to Hanover, N.H., to take on Dart-
mouth (1-4) for its Ivy opener.
“Going into the Ivy League sea-
son at 4-1 is key, and we’re play-
ing with a lot of confidence right
now,” Burke said. “But we know
we haven’t played perfect yet, and
there’s room for improvement, so
hopefully we’ll have a good week
of practice and be ready for the Ivy
League season.”
Tips? Send ‘em in!
herald@browndailyherald.com
— Mike Clemente ’12, men’s hockey goalie
M. hockey season
ends against Yale
continued from page 8
ning goal just 3:06 into the final
frame, on their seventh power-play
of the night, when Yale’s Broc Little
beat Clemente with a tough-angle
wrist shot from the bottom of the
right face-off circle.
Yale tacked on another power-
play goal midway through the
third, and the Bears couldn’t re-
cover, despite pulling Clemente in
favor of an extra attacker with 56
seconds remaining in the game.
Yale 2, Brown 0
The Bears did not get off to the
same strong start in Game Two as
they had on Friday night. Yale got
out to a 17-2 shot advantage in the
opening period.
“I was really surprised at how
we came out in Game Two so flat,”
said assistant captain Aaron Vol-
patti ’10. “We obviously didn’t give
up, but it’s almost like we were
defeated. You kind of got that feel-
ing.”
Yale got four power-play op-
portunities, including two five-on-
three chances, in the first frame
alone. Brown’s penalty kill kept
Yale from taking over the game,
but eventually tired out.
With the Bears a man down
12:25 into the first period, Mark
Arcobello received a feed from
Kearney, who was positioned at
the goal line, and one-timed the
puck past Clemente to give the
Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.
“The penalty kill was awesome,”
Clemente said. “I mean, we killed
off a couple of five-on-three’s. The
first goal they scored in the first
period on Saturday, everyone was
Page 9
just completely exhausted.”
The teams headed into the lock-
er room with Yale ahead by just
one goal, but the Bulldogs began
the second period with 1:54 still
remaining on their fourth power-
play of the game.
Six seconds into the middle pe-
riod, another Bear was sent to the
box, giving Yale its third five-on-
three advantage of the night. Half
a minute later, Backman scored on
the two-man advantage, putting the
Bulldogs up, 2-0.
The scoreboard didn’t change
for the rest of the game. Clemente
turned the puck away 11 times in
the final period, while Yale goalie
Alec Richards added nine saves to
bring his game total to 19.
The Bears pulled Clemente
with a minute remaining in favor
of an extra attacker, but Brown was
whistled for another penalty with
15 seconds left. Clemente headed
back in goal and made his 34th
save of the night seconds before
the final buzzer.
Saturday night’s loss was a dis-
appointing end to the careers of
Brown’s seven seniors, who skated
off the ice for the last time.
“I apologized to them that their
season had to end. They’re just
great guys,” Clemente said. “It was
pretty painful.”
Grillo said he had mixed emo-
tions in the locker room after the
game.
“I was proud of the fact that
they battled through a tough sea-
son and gave themselves an op-
portunity to continue to play,” he
said. “But I was disappointed that
we didn’t put our best foot forward,
especially in the second game.”
Editorial & Letters
The Brown Daily Herald

Page 10 | Tuesday, March 17, 2009

e d i to r i a l

The Gmail Revolution, 5 years late

When some unfortunate souls wake up in the morning, the first screen
to greet their bleary eyes is the harsh blue and white of Microsoft’s Out-
look Web Access, Brown’s current choice of e-mail server. And worse
yet, these poor saps often get warning messages about exceeding their
storage limits and have to face the horrifying possibility that they might
not receive important e-mails from professors, employers and potential
love interests.
But good news is on the horizon: Brown may outsource its e-mail to a
third-party server as early as this fall, according to Michael Pickett, vice
president for computing and information services and the University’s
chief information officer. By outsourcing Brown’s e-mail, the University
can save money and continue to provide students with brown.edu ad-
dresses. In an interview with the board, Pickett said CIS was consider-
ing a number of providers, including Gmail and Windows Live Hotmail,
among others. The weight of this opinion cannot be understated: CIS
should choose Gmail, for the good of the University and for the welfare
of its students.
A previous article on Brown e-mail (“U. considers outsourcing stu-
dent e-mail,” Sept. 28, 2007) reported that the overwhelming majority
of undergraduates who forward e-mail from their Brown accounts use
Gmail. In addition to providing students with all the storage space they
could possibly need — 7,305 MB as opposed to the current 50 MB limit
— Gmail is far above its competition in providing exciting, useful and
innovative features. Recent Google Labs inventions include a tasks bar, ale x yuly
where users can make to-do lists and check off items as they are completed,
and a “forgotten attachment detector,” which lets you know if you have l e t t e r s to t h e e d i to r s
mentioned an attachment in your e-mail but forgotten to attach it.

Watson coverage unnecessarily vicious

Stressed out in the florescent-lit Sci Li? A beach-themed background
will do wonders for your LCD tan. Perhaps best of all is the feature “Mail
Goggles,” where users can choose to have Gmail ask them a set of math
problems before sending an e-mail after a certain time on weekend nights. To the Editor: senior level appointments, it is not unusual for Brown
But Mail Goggles isn’t perfect — though some of us writer-types here (or any other university for that matter) to facilitate
at the editorial page board may have trouble passing the test even when I was dismayed by both the tone and content of yes- spousal hiring when necessary. But regardless, since
we’re sober, we’ve heard of some hard-drinking physics majors who can terday’s front-page article (“Watson director’s unpopular when is it The Herald’s policy to report on the personal
ace the most difficult setting on the first try, just before vomiting into agenda draws ire,” March 16). The story comes across lives of Brown faculty and administrators?
the nearest trash can. as a highly charged personal attack. The Watson Insti- Also perplexing is that the story reported that there
tute for International Studies is certainly going through a are “rumors” that the Watson Institute may “eliminate”
Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. Send comments challenging transition, further amplified by the financial the international relations and development studies
to editorials@browndailyherald.com. crisis. There are important ongoing discussions and concentrations. I was not aware that it is The Herald’s
debates within the Watson Institute and across the practice to report on unsubstantiated “rumors.” As the
University over the future direction of the Institute, and director of the International Relations program, this is
t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d this includes reasonable and understandable differences the first I have heard of such rumors — and indeed the
Editor-in-Chief Managing Editors Associate Editors Senior Editors of opinion over hiring priorities and research agendas. Herald reporter never bothered to ask me about it. I
Steve DeLucia Michael Bechek Nandini Jayakrishna Rachel Arndt In this regard, some Watson faculty, including myself, can assure you that this rumor is pure nonsense. And
Chaz Firestone Franklin Kanin Catherine Cullen
Michael Skocpol Scott Lowenstein have at times disagreed with the interim director. But besides, contrary to what the story reports, it is not up
editorial Business rather than constructively reporting on and contributing to the Watson Institute and its director to determine
Ben Hyman Arts & Culture Editor General Managers Office Manager to these deliberations, The Herald has instead added whether the IR program should be abolished or not.
Hannah Levintova Arts & Culture Editor Alexander Hughes Shawn Reilly
Sophia Li Features Editor Jonathan Spector a dose of venom that is both inappropriate and unhelp- The Herald should have higher professional stan-
Emmy Liss Features Editor Directors ful — not to mention ultimately counterproductive in dards and greater integrity in its reporting.
Gaurie Tilak Higher Ed Editor Ellen DaSilva Sales Director
Matthew Varley Higher Ed Editor Claire Kiely Sales Director
attracting a new director for the Institute.
George Miller Metro Editor Phil Maynard Sales Director The most inappropriate line in the article referred Peter Andreas
Joanna Wohlmuth Metro Editor Katie Koh Finance Director to the interim director’s “romantic relationship” with a Director, International Relations Program
Chaz Kelsh News Editor Jilyn Chao Asst. Finance Director
Jenna Stark News Editor Brown public policy professor. The article implied that Associate Professor, Department of Political
Benjy Asher Sports Editor Managers
there may be something improper about their involve- Science and Watson Institute for International
Andrew Braca Sports Editor Kelly Wess Local Sales
Alex Mazerov Asst. Sports Editor Kathy Bui National Sales ment. The person in question has in fact been the interim Studies
Katie Wood Asst. Sports Editor Alex Carrere University Sales director’s partner for several decades. For the most March 16
Christiana Stephenson Recruiter Sales
Graphics & Photos
Matt Burrows Credit and Collections
Chris Jesu Lee Graphics Editor
Stephen Lichenstein
Eunice Hong
Kim Perley
Graphics Editor
Photo Editor
Photo Editor
Sarah Rosenthal
Opinions
Opinions Editor
Editorial Page Board
The nature of romance
Justin Coleman Sports Photo Editor James Shapiro Editorial Page Editor
Nick Bakshi Board member To the Editor:
production
Zack Beauchamp Board member
Kathryn Delaney Copy Desk Chief
Board member

letters
Sara Molinaro
Seth Motel Copy Desk Chief
William Martin Board member
My partner Dan Danielsen and I were pleasantly sur-
Marlee Bruning Design Editor
Jessica Calihan Design Editor
prised to learn in your lead story (“Watson director’s
Anna Migliaccio Asst. Design Editor Post- magazine unpopular agenda draws ire,” March 16) that our rela-
Julien Ouellet Asst. Design Editor Arthur Matuszewski Editor-in-Chief tionship remained “romantic” after more than 20 years
Neal Poole Web Editor Kelly McKowen Editor-in-Chief @browndailyherald.com together. With gratitude,
Jessie Calihan, Gili Kliger, Kate Wilson, Designers
Madeleine Rosenberg, Jordan Mainzer, Naomi Kuromiya, Copy Editors
David Kennedy ’76
Sophia Li, Anne Simons, Joanna Wohlmuth, , Night Editors
Vice President for International Affairs
Senior Staff Writers Mitra Anoushiravani, Colin Chazen, Ellen Cushing, Sydney Ember,
Interim Director of the Watson Insitute
Lauren Fedor, Nicole Friedman, Britta Greene, Sarah Husk, Brian Mastroianni, Hannah
Moser, Ben Schreckinger, Caroline Sedano, Melissa Shube, Anne Simons, Sara Sunshine, March 16
Staff Writers Zunaira Choudhary, Chris Duffy, Nicole Dungca, Juliana Friend, Cameron
Lee, Kelly Mallahan, Christian Martell, Heeyoung Min, Seth Motel, Jyotsna Mullur, Lauren
Pischel, Leslie Primack, Anne Speyer, Alexandra Ulmer, Kyla Wilkes C O R R E C T I O N S P olicy
Sports Staff Writers Nicole Stock The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Correc-
Senior Business Associates Max Barrows, Jackie Goldman, Margaret Watson, Ben Xiong tions may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.
Business Associates Stassia Chyzhykova, Misha Desai, Bonnie Kim, Maura Lynch, Cathy C ommentary P O L I C Y
Li, Allen McGonagill, Thanases Plestis, Corey Schwartz, William Schweitzer, Kenneth So,
The editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily
Evan Sumortin, Haydar Taygun, Webber Xu, Lyndse Yess
reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only.
Design Staff Sara Chimene-Weiss, Katerina Dalavurak, Gili Kliger, Jessica Kirschner,
Joanna Lee, Maxwell Rosero, John Walsh, Kate Wilson, Qian Yin L etters to the E ditor P olicy
Photo Staff Qidong Chen, Janine Cheng, Alex DePaoli, Frederic Lu, Quinn Savit, Min Wu Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for
Copy Editors Sara Chimene-Weiss, Sydney Ember, Lauren Fedor, Casey Gaham, Anna length and clarity and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may
Jouravleva, Naomi Kuromiya, Geoffrey Kyi, Frederic Lu, Jordan Mainzer, Kelly Mallahan, request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed.
Allison Peck, Madeleine Rosenberg
advertising P olicy
Web Developers Jihan Chao
The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.
Opinions
The Brown Daily Herald
BY KEVIN ROOSE
Opinions Columnist
“The Rhode Island School of Design collab-
orated earlier this year with Gap, the cloth-
ing retailer, to produce a series of unique
cardigans that sold out hours after they
were put on display at the G.A.P. Adventures
New York Concept Store, a space adjacent
to Gap’s flagship store in New York City,”
(“At trendy Gap store, clothing by RISD stu-
dents,” March 13).
Following the overwhelming success of
the Gap cardigan project, RISD administra-
tors have been deluged with requests from
major American corporations looking to hire
RISD design students as artistic consultants.
RISD President John Maeda expressed sur-
prise at the sudden outpouring of interest.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Maeda
said. “We’ve heard from Ford, American Ex-
press, Delta Air Lines — maybe half of the
Fortune 500 companies are calling us, want-
ing to hire our students.”
Last month, a team of RISD students
made a consulting trip to the headquarters
of Random House, the venerable New York
publishing house whose widely-publicized
financial troubles earlier this year required
company-wide layoffs. Random House CEO
Markus Dohle extended a personal invita-
tion to the students, who were paid a six-fig-
ure consulting fee and tasked with “re-ener-
gizing Random House’s artistic mission by
challenging our notions of creativity in busi-
ness settings.”
On their first day at Random House, the
RISD team — who arrived in Manhattan on
blue bicycles, wearing plaid pants and one-
shouldered leotards — spent the morn-
BY MARCUS GARTNER
Opinions Columnist
Yes, it is that time of year. Time to get
revved up for three weeks of men’s college
basketball. Millions of people will be glued
to their high-definition televisions. Most of
us, however, probably won’t be so lucky, as
we watch the NCAA Division I Men’s Bas-
ketball Championship within a dungeon of
an eatery, at the Ratty or on grainy school
cable. At least we have an unlimited supply
of soft-serve ice cream.
However you plan on watching the tour-
nament, one thing will be on your mind —
which team will win the championship title
on Monday, April 6? This same question is
on the minds of millions who will be filling
out their brackets for this 64-team (okay,
technically 65-team since 2001) single-elimi-
nation tournament, in an effort to predict the
outcome of every game from Round One to
the championship.
And the odds of filling out a perfect
bracket?
9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 1. Over nine
quintillion to one. Those odds are almost
worse than the odds of you getting first pick
in the housing lottery.
If every person on earth randomly filled
out 10 million brackets each, unique from
any other bracket created, the odds that
even one bracket would perfectly outline the
tournament results would be less than 1 per-
cent.
If every possible bracket were drawn on
a single sheet of paper and stacked on top
If RISD ran the world
ing examining the artwork in the offices of
several Random House employees. Upon
seeing a framed print of Thomas Kinkade’s
“The Christmas Cottage” hanging above the
desk of senior editor Robert Littrell, RISD
senior Megan Lafleur-Ramirez pronounced
it “beyond tragic,” and replaced the Kinkade
print with “Awareness of Self and Non-Self
Entities,” a sculpture consisting of a bag of
Cooler Ranch Doritos dipped in honey and
tied to a Betamax player. RISD junior Da-
vid Harrison spent the afternoon replacing
many of the Dell computers in the office
Following the overwhelming success of the Gap
cardigan project, RISD administrators have been
deluged with requests from major American
corporations looking to hire RISD design students
as artistic consultants.
with cardboard signs reading “COMPUT-
ER + COMP-YOU-TER = THE SIGNIFIED
(???)” and sophomore Hannah Benton joined
senior Rachel de Compt in the accounts divi-
sion, where they spent several hours drop-
ping long green threads onto pieces of can-
vas, attaching them to glass slides and put-
ting the slides in a toaster. The project, de
Compt said, was inspired by French surreal-
ist Marcel Duchamp’s “Trois Stoppages Eta-
lon,” and was meant to represent the plight
of America’s poor.
“It’s been hard to get any work done since
they got here,” said associate publicist Eric
Kleiner, whose fourth-floor cubicle was un-
expectedly ransacked by a long-haired RISD
student wearing a “Kitsch Police” badge. “I
mean, I know they’re supposed to be artis-
tic geniuses or whatever. I just hope Markus
A method to the Madness
of each other, that stack would reach from
the earth’s surface to the sun over six thou-
sand times. At a quick glance, this certainly
seems like madness.
The standard dictionary definitions of
madness include rage, insanity, extreme
folly, ecstasy, enthusiasm or any of several
ailments of animals marked by frenzied be-
havior. These words probably bring SPG
to your mind (especially you, Bill O’Reilly).
But these words also remind you of the odds
of filling out a perfect bracket, the emotions
However you plan on watching the tournament,
one thing will be on your mind — which team will
win the championship title on Monday, Apr. 6th?
of a stereotypical fanatic and even the antics
of any number of team mascots representing
a frenzied animal.
So maybe Brent Musburger got it right
in the early 1980s when he attached this
term to the college game. The term was first
coined in 1939 to describe the Illinois State
High School Basketball Championship. Well,
maybe madness prevailed then, but if on the
surface you link extreme emotions and long
odds to this tournament, you may be in for
a letdown.
Let’s take a closer look. The tournament
consists of 64 teams bracketed in four re-
gions. Each region ranks their teams nos. 1
knows what he’s doing.”
Art consulting for businesses is no new
concept, of course. For decades, top Ameri-
can corporations have retained in-house art
managers to maintain existing collections
and acquire new pieces. But under the pres-
sures of the economic recession, some firms
have begun looking to art-scene outsiders
— like RISD alumn Shepard Fairey, whose
“Hope” poster became an indelible icon of
the Obama campaign — for unconventional
inspiration.
“I really think this is the wave of the fu-
ture in the corporate world,” said Maeda,
who assumed the top post at RISD in 2008.
“Robert Rauschenberg once spoke about in-
habiting the space between life and art, and I
think that’s what our students are doing.”
Not every consulting effort has been suc-
cessful, though. Four junior executives at
the advertising mega-firm Ogilvy & Mather
were injured when RISD freshman Benja-
min Marchese ran through the office hall-
ways swinging nunchucks made of human
femurs, part of a living installation he titled,
“Rapture and Rupture: Towards an Aesthet-
ic of Suffering.” Elizabeth Wilson, a partner
at the law firm Latham & Watkins, reported
being accosted by RISD senior Amy Gold-
stein, who attempted to paint her forehead
with yellow latex. And one RISD design
team was forcibly escorted from the offices
to 16. Then they play. First seed plays 16th
seed, second plays 15th, third plays 14th,
etc. You don’t have to be a math major to fig-
ure out the pattern. It is easy to see that the
bracket is designed to allow better teams to
have an easier time advancing, so the elimi-
nation of teams is very systematic and even
predictable.
Nicknames have been attached to the
groups of teams that survive at least two
rounds. The “Sweet Sixteen” is made up of
teams that win their first two games, the
“Elite Eight” are those that make it through
another round and tally three wins and the
“Final Four” are those who win their first
four games.
But what about those long odds, you ask?
Can anything happen? Sure there are upsets,
and clutch shots in the fourth quarter with
seconds or less on the clock. A low seed can
beat a team seeded higher than them. It has
been done before. But how often?
Let’s start out with the game between the
16th seed and the first seed. Never in the
history of the tournament has a 16th seed
beaten a first seed.
There have been only four occasions
Tuesday, March 17, 2009 | Page 11
of State Farm after they suggested replacing
the 85-year-old insurance giant’s logo with a
picture of a leprechaun chewing on a syphi-
litic penis.
“We didn’t mean to hurt anybody’s feel-
ings,” said Jessica Williams, the RISD stu-
dent who designed the offensive logo. “We
just wanted to re-construct a semiotics of
stability.” Williams then performed a mono-
logue from David Lynch’s “Eraserhead” and
renamed herself Coco Fantastico.
Perhaps the biggest test for the RISD de-
sign students came last week, when Mae-
da was contacted by Bank of America, who
asked for help re-designing their Charlotte,
N.C. headquarters. A 10-student team was
dispatched to the beleaguered bank, where
they immediately began improving the work-
space. Workers stood in disbelief as RISD
students removed a conference room table
and replaced it with a kiddie pool filled with
chinchillas. Aeron desk chairs were fitted
with chocolate pinwheels, and a photocopy
machine in the bank’s Global Wealth and In-
vestment Management division was turned
on its side and covered in Russian dressing.
“I don’t know what these kids are doing
here,” said Dick Thornton, a senior analyst
at the bank. “I asked one of them — a girl
named Francesca — what she thought of my
tie, and she did a somersault, faked a seizure
and started humming ‘Ride of the Valkyries.’
How is this helping?”
Reached for comment in an igloo made of
cigarettes, Francesca defended her actions.
“I mean, I guess you can’t expect bankers
to understand biomorphic symbology. God,
this is so Brancusi-at-U.S.-customs of them.”
Kevin Roose ’09.5 is an English concen-
trator from Oberlin, Ohio. He can be
reached at kevin_roose@brown.edu.
where a 15th seed has toppled a second
seed. Our beloved Bears were a 15th seed
in 1986, but a valiant effort had us come up
short to Syracuse 101-52.
If you are looking for upsets in the first
round, put your money on the match-up be-
tween eighth seeds and ninth seeds. You
would expect the eighth seeds to win a ma-
jority of the time; however, they have only
come out of this game victorious 46 percent
of the time since 1985.
Villanova, an eighth seed in 1985, won
the tournament. But never has a ninth seed
or higher won. So, for those of you filling
in brackets, you can immediately erase 32
teams off your list of potential champions.
If you had been alive in the 1960s and
1970s, you could have wiped all but one team
off your list. UCLA’s dominance under coach
John Wooden yielded 10 of the 12 champi-
onships between 1964 and 1975. Duke en-
tered the Final Four seven out of nine years
between 1986 and 1994. At least one first
seed has made it to the Final Four in all but
two years (1986 and 2006) since the tourna-
ment’s inception in 1939.
Perhaps the most compelling statistic of
all is that 47 percent of tournament champi-
onships come from just six schools: Duke,
Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina
and UCLA. After consulting all these stats,
your odds seem much better than 9 quintil-
lion to one.
Madness? Hardly.
Marcus Gartner ’12 is a computer sci-
ence concentrator from San Jose, Cali-
fornia. He can be reached
marcus_gartner@brown.edu.
 Today 5
to day to m o r r o w
Governor’s budget faces tough reviews
The Brown Daily Herald

M. hockey drops out of ECAC tourney

7 54 / 31
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
57 / 41
Page 12

the news in images

1 8
c a l e n da r comics
march 17, 2009 March 18, 2009 Cabernet Voltaire | Abe Pressman

7 PM — Innovative Approaches to Glob- 8 PM — Cloud Maps: Ten Fluid

al Health Lecture Series: Engineering Fluctuation Topographies by Alex
and Global Health, Eddy Auditorium Dupuis and Alex Kruckmachine, Grant
BioMed 291 Recital Hall

8 pm — Jazz Combos Concert, Grant 8 PM — Black-Brown Comedy Jam,

Recital Hall The Hourglass Cafe

menu
Sharpe Refectory
Lunch — Chicken Enchiladas, Vegan
Rice and Jalepenos, Mexican Corn
Dinner — Corned Beef Brisket,
Vegetable Turnover with Cheese Sauce,
Colcannon Potatoes
Verney-Woolley Dining Hall
Enigma Twist | Dustin Foley
Lunch — French Bread Pepperoni
Pizza, Tempeh with Ginger and Leeks,
Summer Squash
Dinner — Pacific Chicken and Veg-
etable Stir Fry, Carrots Vichy

RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Los Angeles Times

c r o sDaily
s w oCrossword
rd Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS DOWN 32 Brief argument 51 Declare as
1 *Billower on a 1 Campus 35 *Pod resident fact
pole quarters 38 Exultation 52 __ impasse:
5 *“__ on, dude!” 2 Stretch at the 39 Get regular work stuck
Vagina Dentata | Soojean Kim
10 *Single-gulp drink prom? 41 “I challenge you 53 “Hi-__ Hi-Lo”
14 Kelly of talk 3 Per unit to __!” 54 Insane
15 In the cooler 4 Tended the 42 Tender cut 55 “Golden”
16 Smack add-on flowers 44 O’Brien of principle
17 Matchmaking 5 Creamy soup “D.O.A.” 56 Dust Bowl st.
god 6 From the 46 Spoil, as an 57 Gradually
18 *Science industry beginning outdoor party make
20 Excellent 7 Paddy grain 49 Bric-a-__ independent
22 Washes, as a 8 NEA member 50 Champagne (from)
driveway 9 Japanese Tony of ’60s golf 59 Sci-fi saucer
23 Brain scan, for currency
short 10 Are members ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
24 Kal __: pet food 11 Archer with wings
company 12 Theater section
25 Channeling 13 Child’s boxful
states 19 Airport WNW of
29 Pellet shooters Wrigley Field
33 *Dapper topper 21 Four-sided fig.
34 *Item on a 24 Clay baker
schoolmarm’s 25 Lifts on slopes
desk, maybe 26 Sportscast The One About Zombies | Kevin Grubb
36 Freelance wrap-up
writer’s encl. 27 Greet the day
37 Sharp, like wit 28 Beetle Bailey’s
38 Appropriate way superior
to go today, 29 “Not __ out of
which can you!”
precede the 30 English class
answers to topic
starred clues 31 Morgen’s
39 Myth debunker opposite 03/17/09
xwordeditor@aol.com
40 Dorm agts.
41 *Birdbath floaters
42 *Airy
43 McDonald’s aptly
named mascot
before Ronald
45 Characterized by
47 Required to be
filed, as a tax
form
48 Support The One About Zombies | Kevin Grubb
49 Hold responsible
52 Perfectly aligned
58 *Beatles classic
with the line “We
all want to
change the
world”
60 Malt shop music
machine, for
short
61 Parishioner’s
“Yes!”
62 Emmy winner
Edie
63 Earthen pot
64 *Check for proof
of age
65 *Pizza topper
66 *Coffee source By Don Gagliardo
(c)2009 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
03/17/09