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CITY & STATE, 5

Tax relaxedRhode Island will eliminate the sales tax on wine and liquor by Dec. 1 to ensure that customers buy in-state

COMMENTARY, 7

Untrustworthy trustee?Moraff ’14: Charges against Corporation trustee Steven Cohen P’08 P’16 reflect broader concerns

By SONA MKRTTCHIAN AND ADAM TOOBIN

CITY & STATE EDITORS

Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 P’17 will not seek re-election next year,

he announced Wednesday.

“After talking to my family over the course of the summer, I thought the time was good now to tell Rhode Islanders, ‘You’re going to see Linc Chafee devoting all his time and en-ergy to the issues you care about,’”

Chafee said at a press conference in front of the Cranston Department of Motor Vehicles. “You know what it takes to run for office. It’s hugely time consuming.”

Chafee announced in May that he was registering with the Democratic Party, which led many to speculate that he would enter a tough three-way primary for the governor’s race, facing Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and General Treasurer Gina Raimondo.

He did not rule out a future politi-cal contest or indicate any plans for after his current term ends in 2015.

Political analysts posited that Chafee switched to the Democratic Party because he believed it would give him a better chance at winning

Chafee ’75 will not run for second term Analysts predict the Democratic primary will feature the mayor and state treasurer

HERALD FILE PHOTO

Though he began his term as an Independent, Chafee announced in May that he would be joining the Democratic Party.

By ISOBEL HECKSENIOR STAFF WRITER

Twenty-four classes were held without power, and 10 were moved from Sayles Hall to alternate locations between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Wednesday, wrote Marisa Quinn, vice president of public affairs and University relations in an email to The Herald.

Fifteen campus buildings lost pow-er due to a damaged electrical feeder Wednesday morning, she wrote. The feeder was damaged during excavation work related to the Building for Environ-mental Research and Teaching project. Facilities Management staff members contacted professors scheduled to teach in the four affected buildings that were due to hold classes — Sayles, Robinson Hall, Corliss-Brackett House and Rhode Island Hall — and informed them of the problem, she wrote.

The power was already out in Sayles when Sonya Gurwitt ’16 arrived to shop FREN 1510A: “Advanced Oral and Writ-ten French: Traduction” at 10 a.m.

“The professor couldn’t show her things on Canvas, but I felt it worked out fine,” she said.

Power returned to 10 of the 15 build-ings by 12:30 p.m. Sayles regained power through the use of a temporary generator

Fifteen buildings lose power on first dayMany classes met despite loss of power yesterday after damage to an electrical feeder

By GABRIELLE DEESENIOR STAFF WRITER

Featuring sunshine and post-sum-mer reunions, this year’s first day of classes presented an extra compli-cation beyond the usual challenges of shopping period, as Wednesday evening marked the beginning of the Jewish holiday Rosh Hasha-nah.

Because of the conflict between the first days of classes and the holi-day, which continues until Friday, the University extended the length of shopping period, rescheduled Convocation, provided information about canceled classes and encour-aged professors to excuse students

who missed the first days of class-es, Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron wrote in a community-wide email Aug. 14.

Most students said course selec-tion was foremost on their minds yesterday, with those who celebrate Rosh Hashanah noting additional scheduling problems with religious services and classes.

“Friday I’m going to have to be running in and out between (Hil-lel) and my classes,” said Natasha Freeman ’15, a member of the Hillel Programming Board. “I’m shopping less than I usually do” as a result, she added.

Freeman said she thinks there will be fewer people at the services

this year because of classes.The University has been accom-

modating, said Chelsea Feuchs ’14, president of the Student Executive Board for Hillel. Students could be free to shop other classes in lieu of the ones canceled on Friday, she said.

Feuchs said that as a senior, she understands “how to take advantage of the full two weeks” of shopping period, but for first-years, the over-lap of classes and the holiday “can add a little bit of extra stress.”

First-years’ expectations did not always line up with reality on the first day of their first-ever shop-ping period.

“My first class was (CSCI 0170: “Computer Science: An Inte-grated Introduction”),” said Chris

Rosh Hashanah poses scheduling issues for first week of classes

BRITTANY COMMUNALE / HERALD

Students file out of Salomon Center after attending one of the first classes of the semester.

By JILLIAN LANNEYSENIOR STAFF WRITER

The Providence Police Department has seen significant cuts to its fed-

eral funding in recent years, with grants de-

creasing by 92 percent — from $2.9 million in 2010-11 to $243,000 in 2012-2013.

The department’s 2014 budget totaled $65.5 million, a $5 million increase over the previous year, but it pales in comparison to the $78 million appropriated for 2007-2008. The current level of funding stands in stark contrast to the $8.6 million Providence Police received in 2004-2005 and the $7.6 million received

in 2008-2009. Reduced funding stifles the cre-

ativity and flexibility of the police, said Michael O’Toole, a program administrator in the Office of Provi-dence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare. Training opportunities and technology and equipment up-dates, as well as certain community programs, have all seen their budgets dry up, he said. Overtime expendi-tures have “been slashed,” O’Toole said, but the department has not had to let any officers go.

Certain specialized programs like gang intervention and the nar-cotics unit have been scaled back as the department has been forced to make “strategic” allocation deci-sions, O’Toole said. Despite these

reductions, crime has not increased since this time last year, he said.

The reduction in funds allotted for overtime significantly affects of-ficers’ abilities to be present in the community and spend time and re-sources on specialized programs, said Teny Gross, executive director of the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, a Providence-based group that frequently collaborates with Providence Police.

The institute has also seen its fed-eral funds reduced in recent years. “You can’t do more with less,” Gross said, so “we have to pick our battles.”

Other cities across the nation have also seen their Department of Justice domestic crime-fighting grants se-verely reduced. Congress has imposed 43 percent cuts to both DOJ programs — the Justice Assistance Grant and the Community Oriented Policing

Services — which provide grants to cities to help local police forces, ac-cording to a 2012 study by the Na-tional Criminal Justice Association and the Vera Institute of Justice.

With recent national economic growth and an improving economy, Providence Police is “cautiously op-timistic” that funding to these pro-grams will be restored, O’Toole said.

The department could receive an influx of new funds soon because the state will receive $6,789,619 from the Department of Homeland Security to “enhance public safety and strengthen Rhode Island’s emergency prepared-ness,” announced Rep. David Cicilline ’83, D-R.I., and Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., in a press release Aug. 23.

The total allocation consists of several different grants from different DHS programs. About $3.5 million

Providence Police sees 92 percent cut in federal grantsThe department was forced to scale back on specialized programs due to funding cuts between 2010 and 2013

» See FIRST DAY, page 4

CITY & STATE

» See POLICE, page 4

» See CHAFEE, page 4

» See OUTAGE, page 4

The U. lengthened shopping period for students, faculty members and staff observing the Jewish holiday

CITY & STATE

university news2 THE BROWN DAILY HERALDTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013

8:30 A.M.

Student Wi-Fi Clinic

CIT 210

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Gap Year Student Dinner

Faunce 229

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25 George St.

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TWTP Open Mic Night

List Art 120

SHARPE REFECTORY VERNEY-WOOLLEY

LUNCH

DINNER

Broccoli Noodle Polonaise, Grilled Citrus Herb Chicken, Baked Potato Bar, Chocolate Espresso Cake

Roast Turkey with Stuffing, Buttermilk Cornbread, Butternut Squash, Chocolate Espresso Cake

Falafel with Pita, Spinach Pie Calzone, Beef Noodle Casserole, Local Ice Cream with Fresh Berries Bar

Sloppy Joe Sandwich, Vegetable Strudel, Vegetable Bean Stew, Chocolate Chip Cookies

TODAY SEPTEMBER 5 TOMORROW SEPTEMBER 6

c r o s s w o r d

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By SOPHIE YANSTAFF WRITER

The University launched its first execu-tive education program last month with the new Executive Master of Health Care Leadership, a course of study focused on innovations and changes in health care.

As Brown’s first executive educa-tion program, the EMHL comes amid administrators’ plans to consider imple-menting more such academic initiatives tailored to working professionals who are leaders in their fields.

The program is a three-way partner-ship between the Office of the Provost, the Office of Continuing Education and the School of Public Health, Associate Provost Rod Beresford said, adding that administrators have been working on the program since 2011.

“Historically, Brown has not been active in executive education … for adult learners who are learning in their professional sphere,” Beresford said. “There was a new idea a couple years back that (the University) would ad-dress that audience.”

The EMHL program will prepare students to be “visionary leaders” in the health care sector by teaching them

about the interconnected nature of the industry, according to a 2012 University press release.

“Health care is a rapidly changing, rapidly growing sector which is on track to account for one-fifth of our entire GDP by 2021,” said EMHL Executive Director and Adjunct Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice Ju-dith Bentkover. “Here we have a chance to contribute to real transformations, not only of leaders but also … the new health care system.”

Before receiving their degrees, students must complete a 16-month program, which is taught both online and on campus. Since the program is geared toward professionals and ex-ecutives who are currently employed, administrators designed the course of study so participants can continue to work while studying, according to the press release.

The first group of 28 EMHL stu-dents includes a variety of professional backgrounds, including health care, law, government, public policy and insur-ance, with an average of 18.5 years of experience in their respective fields.

“The program is gaining traction,” Bentkover said, adding that 96 people have already begun the process of ap-plying for next year’s round of spots in the course of study.

Courses in the program include “Health Care Policy: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” “Management and

Marketing for Health Care Transfor-mation” and “Navigating the Regula-tory Maze.” Students will complete a capstone project along with their coursework.

The program emphasizes group dis-cussions and projects to stress peer-to-peer learning, said faculty member Mark Schneider. “A significant part of the program, in addition to having a great faculty, is having an excellent perspective from the executives who are enrolled.”

Faculty members will use a com-mon set of case studies in every course, Schneider said. This “case-oriented way of teaching” will ensure all types of stu-dents — including health care provid-ers, patients and regulators — will find value in the program, Bentkover said.

The program will focus on impart-ing leadership skills such as team de-velopment, ethical decision-making and the appropriate use of technology, Bentkover said.

Administrators will continue to pur-sue and expand executive education initiatives with other departments and the Office of Continuing Education, Beresford said.

In the meantime, the EMHL pro-gram will continue to grow, Bentkover said, with the next cohort of students admitted into the program likely en-compassing an even wider range of geographical and professional back-grounds.

U. pilots executive education programThe program was designed to help professionals be leaders in evolving health care fields

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university news4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALDTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013

By YVETTE RODRIGUEZCONTRIBUTING WRITER

University administrators are slated to undergo a standard review the Student Code of Conduct. This comes in the wake of a large increase in code violations over recent years.

The review process — which oc-curs every five years and examines the code’s rules governing students’ academic and social behavior — is expected to begin next spring and will conclude next fall, wrote Vice President for Campus Life and Stu-dent Services Margaret Klawunn in an email to The Herald. The total number of code violations nearly doubled from 130 in 2010 to 206 in 2012, with offenses ranging from minor infractions like fire safety violations to more serious ones like physical assault. Data from the 2012-2013 school year is not yet publicly available. Administrators conducted the most recent review of the code in 2010.

Administrators, faculty members and students will comprise the re-view board. The Student Conduct Board, Peer Community Standards Board and administrative hearing of-ficers will also be able to recommend

changes, according to the Office of Student Life website.

The review board’s recommenda-tions will then go to President Chris-tina Paxson, who will likely forward any “substantive recommended changes” to the Corporation for a final vote.

The 2010 review process led to a number of changes, including breaking the University’s sexual misconduct policy into two levels of offenses: misconduct involving non-consensual physical contact of a sexual nature, and incidents involving the use of violence.

That year’s review also led to a name change of the Non-Academic Disciplinary System to the Code of Student Conduct. Klawunn, who will help lead the review along with Senior Associate Dean for Student Life J. Allen Ward and Associate Dean of Student Life Yolanda Castillo-Ap-pollonio, wrote that the review board will aim to ensure previously enacted changes are functioning smoothly.

“This review is comprehensive, not targeted as the last one was,” Klawunn wrote.

Any proposed revisions will re-ceive input from various groups on campus, including the Brown Uni-versity Community Council, the Undergraduate Council of Students and the Graduate Student Council, Klawunn wrote.

“The code is a living document that belongs to the Brown community

and, as we did during the last review, we will provide opportunities for in-put from the community,” Castillo-Appollonio wrote in an email to The Herald.

The most frequently violated parts of the code involve cases of under-age alcohol consumption, disruptive off-campus parties, acts of vandalism and possession and use of drug para-phernalia, as well as other alcohol-related behavior, according to the Office of Student Life’s most recent annual Community Report, which was issued in 2012.

These cases are usually dealt with through a dean’s hearing, the most common medium of address-ing violations of the code. Deans’ hearings rose substantially from 87 in the 2010-2011 academic year to 148 in 2011-2012, according to the 2012 Community Report. Violators of the code most often face a formal reprimand, with probation issuances and suspensions occurring less fre-quently.

Administrative hearings and Student Conduct Board Hearings — which review cases of sexual harass-ment, physical assault and property damage — typically penalize violators with suspensions.

Discussions over the review pro-cess are already engaging student leaders. UCS President Todd Har-ris ’14.5 will meet with Klawunn to discuss the process next week, Harris wrote in an email to The Herald.

U. plans to review Code of ConductPolicies involving drugs and alcohol are the most frequently violated aspects of the Code

Robotham ’17. “I was five minutes early and expected to get a great seat.” But Robotham was only able to claim a seat on the floor and could not see the professor, he said.

Some first-years noted the possibility of discovering a new class. “Because I was free in the morning, I decided to go with a friend to sit in on a class,” said Mary Chetmai ’17. “Now I think I’m going to take it.”

Other first-years said the num-ber of courses available to shop could be overwhelming. “It’s a bit stressful because someone has too much to choose from ... (or) be-cause the courses may be full,” said Fredrick Mandela ’17.

Shopping period veterans have developed strategies for navigat-ing the first days of classes.

“Usually, I have three (classes) that are pretty set, and then I shop for the last one,” said Cesar Guer-rero ’16.

Students said shopping period offers them the chance to expe-rience their courses firsthand, before committing to them. The ability to attend a class instead of only reading about it is “one of the things I like about being here,” said transfer student Zach-ary Atkins-Weltman ’15.

- With additional reporting by Stephen Ark, Alex Blum, Katherine Lamb and Steven Michael

» FIRST DAY, from page 1

will come from the State Home-land Security Program, which is designed to train emergency re-sponders to better handle crisis situations and events of domestic terrorism. The Emergency Man-agement Performance Grant — which will contribute just over $3 million — focuses on emergency preparedness throughout the state. The Port Security Grant Program is rounding off the total grant, contributing almost $200,000 to support transportation-related se-curity. Congress increased funding for these three programs in the budget for fiscal year 2014.

O’Toole said he thinks Provi-dence, as the capital city, would receive some of this money, noting that Providence Police has previ-ously received money from the Port Security Grant Program. The Rhode Island Emergency Manage-ment Agency would be responsible for administering the grants, he said. “We’re constantly looking for funding opportunities out there.”

» POLICE, from page 1

re-election, as long as he beat out the other Democratic candidates in the pri-mary. As an Independent, Chafee would have faced a general election against a Democrat, a Republican and a Moderate party candidate.

But Chafee said his decisions to be-come a Democrat and not to run for re-election were separate. He added, “Some might argue it’s harder going into a Dem primary … so if it was political I would’ve stayed Independent and been there in the November election.” In switching, he said, he “wanted to find a political home.”

Rhode Island political reporter Scott MacKay told R.I. National Public Radio he thinks Chafee was not only worried he would lose the race, but if he ran, would have been uninterested in winning if it meant he had to wage a “very, very nega-tive, witheringly negative, scorched-earth campaign.”

Chafee told reporters he believes he would have won the race if he had run and refused to endorse any of the poten-tial candidates.

Between his time in the U.S Senate and his election as governor, Chafee was appointed as a distinguished visiting fel-low at the Watson Institute for Interna-tional Studies, where he worked with undergraduate students on foreign policy and public policy projects.

Before Chafee announced he would not seek re-election, Maureen Moak-ley, professor of political science at the University of Rhode Island, said if he were to lose the governor’s race, “as a member of the Democratic Party, he’d be well-positioned to receive some sort of federal appointment,” The Herald previ-ously reported.

As governor, Chafee has faced low approval ratings, while the other poten-tial gubernatorial candidates are some

of the state’s most popular Democrats. Chafee received some national recogni-tion during the 2012 election, when he was the only non-Democrat to be a fea-tured speaker at the Democratic National Convention.

Chafee served as a U.S. senator for Rhode Island between 1999 and 2007 — during which time he was a Republican — before running for governor as an Independent in 2010, winning a closely fought three-way race.

His time as governor proved to be more difficult than he imagined, Chafee said. His term has been marked by a drawn-out effort in collaboration with Raimondo to reform the state’s dramati-cally underfunded pension system.

Analysts speculate the Democratic primary will now be a contest between Raimondo and Taveras. The Democratic candidate is expected to face Republican Cranston Mayor Allan Fung and Moder-ate Kevin Block.

Both MacKay and Associate Profes-sor of Political Science Wendy Schiller, who spoke to the Providence Journal, said Chafee dropping out would provide Taveras with a slight advantage over Rai-mondo. Chafee’s union supporters will likely head to Taveras, Schiller told the Journal, but that shift would by no means guarantee his win.

Soon after Chafee made his an-nouncement, Cook Political Report switched its prediction for the Rhode Island governor’s race from “toss up” to “lean Democratic.” The switch reflects the view that even if Chafee could have beaten Taveras and Raimondo to win the Democratic nomination, he would have had the most trouble of the three winning the general election.

Fung told WPRO that Chafee’s de-cision “doesn’t change the calculus as I consider what I might be able to offer to the residents of Rhode Island.”

» CHAFEE, from page 1

around 2 p.m., and full power was due to be restored by Wednesday evening, Quinn wrote.

One building of the 15 remained without power as of 3 p.m. Wednes-day, with the Medical Research Lab remaining “off-line” at that time, she wrote.

» OUTAGE, from page 1

city & state 5THE BROWN DAILY HERALDTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013

By HANNAH KERMANSTAFF WRITER

Rhode Island will completely eliminate the 7 percent sales tax on wine and spirits Dec. 1, though the state’s sales tax on beer will remain.

The change was approved in June when the General Assembly passed the 2014 state budget. Rep. Jan Malik, D-Barrington, Warren, who owns a liquor store in the state, was a strong advocate for this shift.

The legislation is essential, Malik said in a General Assembly press release, be-cause Rhode Island businesses have been losing revenue to Massachusetts liquor stores for years. In the past, state residents looking to purchase a large amount of alcohol would often go to liquor stores in nearby Massachusetts, where the sales tax is lower, said Howard Mahady, owner of Campus Fine Wines.

Mahady said he believes both local stores and customers will benefit from the elimination of this tax. The repeal of the sales tax “levels the playing field a little bit,” he added. “We’re thrilled about it.”

But George Darwin, owner of Dar-win Liquors on Benefit Street, called the repeal “a complete fiasco.”

The elimination of the sales tax has been passed in conjunction with the increase of another tax on alcohol: the excise tax. While the sales tax affects cus-tomers, the excise tax falls directly upon wholesellers and storeowners, who then pass on the costs through prices. But Mahady said he believes that the effects of this increase will be outweighed by removal of the sales tax.

“A lot of the smaller wholesalers we deal with ate the cost (of the excise tax) themselves,” Mahady said.

Mahady said the 7 percent decrease to the sales tax will be significant both for large scale and individual purchases in their store.

“You know how we have a 12 percent case discount?” Mahady asked. “Well in December, it’s going to be a 19 percent sales discount.”

But Darwin said there is no way his store could benefit from this change.

“I lose no revenue to Massachusetts. Our customer base — many of them

don’t have cars,” he said, adding that this tax shift will only increase the prices at Darwin Liquors.

The large distributors from whom Darwin buys have inflated their prices due to the excise tax, he said. To pre-vent losses, Darwin said he will have to increase prices at his store for the next few months.

“This was supposed to be a good thing, but it’s screwed me over,” Darwin said.

The elimination of a sales tax on wine and spirits is also estimated to cost the state $1.2 million in revenue.

Mahady said he hopes increased sales at Rhode Island’s liquor stores will strengthen the state’s economy and out-weigh the losses in tax revenue, but “it’s going to take time.”

The state will reassess the removal of the tax in January 2015 to determine whether it has been beneficial, accord-ing to a General Assembly press release.

R.I. to eliminate sales tax on wine and liquorThe state will raise the excise tax on alcohol, affecting wholesalers and liquor store owners

By MAX SCHINDLER STAFF WRITER

Three years after winning a Race to the Top federal education grant, Rhode Island is in its last year of spending the $75 million award.

As of August, Rhode Island has used $44.4 million of the grant, said Elliot Krieger, spokesperson for the Rhode Island Department of Educa-tion. Half of the grant money was al-located to local school districts, with the remainder going to the state, he added.

The remaining funds will be spent by October 2014, Krieger said, though

the department does not plan on us-ing the grant to initiate any new proj-ects with the grant this year.

So far, the grant has been used to implement teacher evaluations and establish and expand four local char-ter schools, Krieger said.

“One of the biggest parts of the grant is preparing educators for the Common Core,” he said.

The state’s Department of Educa-tion has trained and prepared 5,700 teachers for the national standardized curriculum, which takes effect across the state this fall.

Much of the Race to the Top grant money has helped alleviate schools’

budgetary shortfalls, said Timothy Ryan, executive director of the Rhode Island Superintendents’ Association and former superintendent in North Providence, a district that has recent-ly undergone budget reductions.

“The money was very helpful in providing professional development that teachers needed,” Ryan said.

Eighty percent of the educators in his district — 250 teachers — attend-ed the workshops, which the grant funded and that the district could not afford on its own, Ryan said.

The Race to the Top funding helped the department implement a new educators evaluation system, which is partially based on test scores and student performance.

Krieger said the evaluations were

contentious but are still “very popular with many people.”

Lawrence Purtill, president of the National Education Association Rhode Island— the state’s largest teachers union, with 12,000 mem-bers — said he disagrees with many aspects of the Race to the Top grant, including its focus on teacher evalu-ations and charter school expansion.

“The fact that charter schools get a million dollars and some other school didn’t ... goes into the whole ques-tion of how we fund charter schools and how we fund public education,” Purtill said.

The charter school expansion raises a number of issues, including the subsequent weakening of the lo-cal public school system, he added.

“The whole issue is private corpo-rations wanting to take over a public school,” Putrill said. “We don’t think schools should be a money-making operation.”

At the Paul Cuffee Charter School in Providence, educators used their $250,000 allocation to expand the school to offer 13 grade levels, ac-cording to Krieger.

Maria Monteiro, an administrator at Paul Cuffee, defended the char-ter school’s record and its funding sources against teachers unions.

“There’s a lot of misinformation about charters,” Monteiro said. “The misperception is that we take the cream of the crop,” she said, but the school is legally compelled to conduct a lottery for admission.

Federal grant money supports state education initiatives The funds have already been used to support charter school growth and teacher evaluation programs

DAVID DECKEY / HERALD

The state repealed the sales tax to prevent Rhode Island’s liquor stores from losing business to Massachussets’ lower liquor prices.

commentary6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALDTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013

With Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron preparing to leave Brown, the search for her successor prompts a discussion of which priorities the University should emphasize in the coming years. As the strategic planning process unfolds this coming semester and year, we encourage the University to choose a leader who will maintain focus on Brown’s historical strengths: undergraduate education and the liberal arts.

Online education, one of Bergeron’s major focuses this past year, exempli-fies this need. Though technological advancement may appear inevitable, the University must not lose sight of its fundamental ideals simply to keep up with the times — or even in the name of pioneering new platforms for higher education. Bergeron has emerged as a prominent advocate of using Coursera, a massive open online course program. While we value the opportunity for anyone to learn in the convenient and innovative manner Coursera affords, we hope Brown’s use of the platform does not reach a level where overall academic integrity and legitimacy is compromised by the convenience of widespread accessibility and potential pressures of falling behind other elite universities.

If the University is to maintain its focus on enhancing the undergradu-ate experience, it must form a solid footing on what needs to be kept — or changed — under the new dean. Bergeron’s vocal support for the sciences, despite her background in music, has enhanced the Brown education, and such emphasis should be continued.

But recent controversies such as the recently implemented writing require-ment illuminate the need for a healthy understanding and appreciation of Brown’s academic philosophy. While the study of writing is certainly vital, its requirement’s very implementation necessarily re-interprets Brown’s esteemed ideals of “chart(ing) the broadest possible intellectual journey” and “directing the course” of our own educations. With careful navigation, the University should continue to align its unique liberal reputation with the rapidly shifting culture and politics of higher education.

Despite our unique backgrounds and experiences, Brown students form a coherent community in which open exchange of ideas, visions and arguments form the crux of our overall education. Though we can boast to our friends at other schools about our lack of a core curriculum, it is precisely through the Brown curriculum’s intellectual openness and freedom that we can develop our respective “moral cores”: personal standards and values which we each glean from academic exploration. In the upcoming months, the University will prepare for the inevitable restructuring that will accompany the arrival of the new dean and the unfolding of Paxson’s agenda. Throughout this process, understanding and maintaining Brown’s core principles is essential.

Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board: its editor, Rachel Occhiogrosso, and its members, Daniel Jeon, Hannah Loewentheil and Thomas Nath. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

With new dean, U. must emphasize liberal learning

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ANGELIA WANG

E D I T O R I A L

Q U O T E O F T H E D A Y

“This was supposed to be a good thing, but it’s screwed me over.” — George Darwin, owner of Darwin Liquors

See Alcohol tax, page 5.

An article in Wednesday’s Herald (“U. plans potential Dynamo House renovation,” Sept. 4) incorrectly identified Colin Kane as the former head of the I-195 commission. In fact, Kane is the current chairman of the commission. The Herald regrets the error.

C O R R E C T I O N

Steve Cohen P’08 P’16 is many things: Brown trustee, one of the 52 members of the Brown Corporation who run the University, founder and manager of the $10 billion hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors, 35th richest man in America, eccentric art collec-tor. And now add this one to the list: accused enabler of insider trading, subject of a civil action from the Se-curities and Exchange Commission, with his hedge fund facing criminal charges that could bring the whole thing down.

Trouble with the law is nothing new for Cohen. Earlier this year, SAC shelled out over $600 million to settle an insider trading case — in a wild coincidence, this is almost exactly equal to Cohen’s annual salary. But this is the first time the SEC has gone after Cohen himself. It’s a nasty case, accusing Cohen of failing to supervise traders under him and effectively al-lowing insider trading to take place. At best, he’s been remarkably oblivi-ous to what’s been going on at his own company. At worst, he’s enabled some pretty serious criminal activity.

Nevertheless, Cohen will continue to sit on an unaccountable, insider-run university corporation and make major decisions that affect thousands of students, faculty members and staff members, not to mention the entire city, because accountability doesn’t really exist for these people. SAC has been engaging in highly question-able practices for a long time, and the University has shown no interest in making Cohen answer for them.

But it’s not just about Cohen. The Corporation plays host to three

billionaires, or four, if you’re gener-ous. There’s Ronald Perelman P’90, the corporate raider who infamously fired his CFO for spending too much time away from work due to aiding his Alzheimer’s-afflicted wife. There’s Brian Moynihan ’81 P’14, president and CEO of Bank of America, whose bank’s often illegal foreclosures and highly questionable mortgage prac-tices have wreaked havoc on cities across the country, Providence in-cluded. This summer, multiple former employees came for-ward alleging that these abuses have continued under Moynihan.

And then, of course, there’s Co-hen.

A n h o n o r -able mention goes to Tanya Godrej Dubash, scion of the billionaire Go-drej family, which wields considerable influence in India. Dubash seems to be the ethics cham-pion among the Corporation’s bil-lionaire contingent.

But it’s not just about the billion-aires, either.

Almost half of the Brown Cor-poration comes from the financial industry, from an assortment of banks, hedge funds and venture capital firms. A few years ago, the financial industry’s systemic, almost kleptomaniac greed took down the economy. And still these people are running the school.

There’s a finer point here, be-yond Cohen’s alleged wrongdoing and the massively unethical finan-cial industry, beyond the fact that the Corporation could probably save on travel by holding their meetings in a

deposition room. The Corporation is controlled by people whose primary qualification is their ability to make a lot of money really, really quickly. This skill has virtually nothing to do with running a university. Our mis-sion statement claims that we “serve the community, the nation and the world by discovering, communicat-ing and preserving knowledge and understanding in a spirit of free in-quiry, and by educating and preparing students to discharge the offices of

life with usefulness and reputation.” Our mission makes no mention — none — of the rapid ac-c u mu l a t i o n o f wealth. It’s frankly bizarre that Brown University is run by people who have in their careers dem-onstrated virtually no interest in any-thing a university is supposed to do.

Even from a bud-getary or operational perspective, being very, very rich isn’t really rel-evant — Brown can’t fund itself by, for example, buying up businesses, firing workers and selling the whole thing off at a profit — beyond the fact that rich people have tons of money and rich friends they can raise money from.

So whether or not one has a prob-lem with the financial industry itself, it’s hard to make the case that any of this makes sense. The various ways in which Brown fails to support the community and the nation — its ex-orbitant tuition, its failure to reach out to and recruit Providence high school students, its continued reluc-tance to provide workers with fair wages and benefits, its emphasis on

big-ticket sciences over the humani-ties, its massive spending on deluxe housing and athletic facilities — all mirror the fundamental flaws in the composition of the Corporation and its Wall Street values.

What’s happening is hardly a se-cret. The University sells its gover-nance to the highest bidder. It’s not a coincidence that our board has a billionaire percentage over 300,000 times that of the general population. We take on billionaires because they donate millions of dollars to the Uni-versity. Brown’s governance is effec-tively parceled out as a thank you.

The temptation to sell our souls for all that cash is understand-able. But it’s also wrong. What the

Corporation does is too important and affects too many people for it to be filled with financial industry Masters of the Universe. Surely most wealthy alums aren’t so nefarious that they wouldn’t donate without a trust-eeship as a prize. The Corporation’s composition should reflect the Uni-versity’s mission and be determined by students, faculty and staff. There are some excellent, qualified people on the Brown Corporation, but they should be the rule rather than the exception.

Daniel Moraff ’14 can be reached at

daniel_moraff@brown.edu.

None of is are completely respon-sible for his or her successes thus far. Many people along the way have helped us get where we are today. Several of us had that teacher who went the extra mile or that parent who encouraged and supported us through the years. We may have had those community leaders or older stu-dents, family members or friends who took us under their wings, invested themselves in our progress and helped to steer us in the right direction.

We all stand on the shoulders of gi-ants. Education is basically the process of passing cumulative knowledge from one generation — and all previous

generations — to the next generation, so its members may use what is known to create new knowledge. This inter-generational sharing of knowledge is often informal. In fact, the most valuable lessons are shared, taught and learned outside of the classroom. Ev-eryone has the potential to be a teacher or a mentor.

I would like to challenge you all, as Brown students, to seriously consider mentoring and helping those who could benefit from your perspective and expertise. The need is definitely there. Be generous not only with your money, but with your time, sincerity, knowledge, effort and passion.

A Pew Public/Private Ventures study analyzing 959 boys and girls found that those with mentors were, after 18 months, 46 percent less likely to use drugs, 27 percent less likely to use alcohol, 37 percent less likely to

skip class and 53 percent less likely to skip school. A Proctor and Gamble study found that young people with mentors were more likely to stay in school, attend classes, be less disrup-tive in class, get better grades and attend college. These studies demon-strate that mentoring has real and sig-nificant effects on its beneficiaries as well as upon those who provide their talents. Even on College Hill, take time to make yourself a friend and mentor some younger students.

Though I am passionate about in-forming, advising and guiding young-er students, I did not have formal ex-perience in doing so until this past summer. This summer, during which I was a “mentor” with co-workers to a group of rising high school seniors

through a college access and career readiness program, was the most en-lightening of my life. For many, myself included, helping others yields a sense of purpose and satisfaction.

Most of us want to leave a legacy for others to see, build upon and draw inspiration from. We express

this desire in many ways, such as by de-ciding to have chil-dren, choosing to be a teacher, counselor or adviser, pursu-ing philanthropy

and forming relationships with oth-ers. But when one thinks of legacy, one is often inclined to think about something in the future, usually on a grand scale. The truth is that we all can leave a legacy, no matter our ages or backgrounds.

We all can and should leave a living

legacy with others. That can range from doing something as simple as sharing helpful or important knowl-edge with others, to helping run er-rands or doing favors for those who may be unable, to something as in-volved as mentoring a younger student over the course of several years.

Though we all have different back-grounds and life experiences, we have all had at least one person who went the extra mile. In the spirit of the ar-rival of the new school year, I would like to ask everyone to go the extra mile for as many others as you can.

Armani Madison ’16 is grateful to those who have helped him to

grow over the course of this summer — and over the course of his life. He

can be reached at armani_madison@brown.edu.

commentary 7THE BROWN DAILY HERALDTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013

On the shoulders of giants

Corporate criminalsDANIEL MORAFF

opinions columnist

“Go the extra mile for as many others

as you can.”

“It’s frankly bizarre that the

University is run by people who have

in their careers demonstrated virtually no

interest in anything a university is

supposed to do.”

Got something to say? Leave a comment online!

Visit www.browndailyherald.com to comment on opinion and editorial content.

ARMANI MADISON

opinions columnist

daily heraldTHE BROWN

featureTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013

By CHAD SIMONSTAFF WRITER

Every summer, about 300 teens between 14 and 16 years old from global regions plagued by conflict arrive on the shores of a secluded Maine lake. For three weeks, these students participate in a camp run by Seeds of Peace, a nonprofit organization which seeks to create last-ing peace through open discussions. Brown students have participated in the camp throughout its 20-year history.

‘I haven’t heard of a single program like it’

Started in 1993 during the Oslo Accords between Israel and Pales-tine, Seeds of Peace initially focused on Middle Eastern countries, wrote Alia Lahlou, Seeds of Peace commu-nications associate, in an email to The Herald. The camp expanded to include South Asia, the Balkans and Cyprus and now focuses on Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Palestine, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States, Lahlou wrote.

Acceptance into the summer camp is anything but easy. With a roughly 5 percent acceptance rate, applicants face tough competition.

“The application process was really

long, including a written app and two interviews,” said Katherine Pollock ’16, who participated in the camp in 2010.

Still, applicants around the world are drawn to the camp.

“It’s a unique opportunity to see the other side,” said Sahir Zaveri ’14, who attended the camp with the Pakistani delegation. “Even today, I haven’t heard of a single program like it,” he added.

Both Pollock and Zaveri said they did not know exactly what to expect before arriving in Maine.

“The whole process of this camp is calculated,” Zaveri said. “It’s not some-thing that you can just go into.”

“I didn’t realize how much it would feel like a real camp,” Pollock said. Pol-lock, who grew up in Chicago, said she wanted to learn about the Middle Eastern and South Asian conflicts dis-cussed at the 2010 camp. “I focused on the political part of it,” she added.

Seeds of Peace coordinators facili-tated introductions between previous attendees and upcoming participants to give the latter a taste of the camp’s discussions.

“You already start getting a vague understanding of the organization, but it’s so alien to what you know, you just know you’re going to go through something you can’t even imagine,” Zaveri said.

Breaking barriersThe first week of camp is intended

to break down social barriers between

the participants.“You get on the bus from the air-

port, and it’s filled with an entire delega-tion from another country,” Zaveri said. “In my bus, there were Palestinians singing and playing drums, doing what is natural to them and to their way of socializing at home.”

Participants use the time to get “everyone comfortable in the space,” Pollock said.

“In the beginning, people are just spewing out facts” supporting their sides of a conflict, she said. “Everyone has to get that out of their system. … Only then, people are able to move on from reiterating history and statistics and begin to talk about issues on a more personal level,” she added.

“In the beginning, the discussions were very awkward. … People wanted to say really controversial things, but also hold back,” said Perri Gould ’14, who participated in 2009 and was a camp counselor in 2012 and 2013.

After a week and a half, participants engage in daily two-hour dialogue ses-sions to understand other participants’ regional conflicts and express differing opinions, Pollock said.

“It’s very difficult to find someone who is 12 or 13 with very strong po-litical beliefs,” Zaveri said. “You want to find someone who is still impres-sionable.”

Pollock said her political outlook was shaped less by a particular be-lief than by overall ignorance. “After

hearing people’s stories, you can’t really be ignorant anymore,” she added.

Zaveri, on the other hand, went into Seeds of Peace with a strong belief in tolerance, he said.

“Tolerance is one of the most im-portant things that is lacking in this world,” Zaveri said. “People are con-stantly trying to prove their side rather than open up and accept differences,” he said.

After a couple of days in discus-sions, barriers begin to break down and the dialogue “starts moving beyond the historical narrative, and people start sharing their personal experiences,” Pollock said. “I remember hearing some of the stories and how it was just such an emotional moment for me,” she added.

The dialogue sessions are designed to be “conflict-centric,” said Zaveri, whose camp discussed conflicts in the Middle East and South Asia.

Two or three students from the American delegation are placed into each of the discussions, Zaveri said. American participants often have some form of indirect “exposure to the con-flict,” Zaveri said, citing a member of the American delegation who had lived in South Asia. That participant, he said, “brought something really unique to the table.”

During the discussions, the “Ameri-cans were more observers,” Zaveri said. “They lack the intensity of the experi-ence you have when you’re a part of such a conflict.”

“Generally, the Americans who go to camp are often less informed than kids from other delegations because they come from places where the con-flict is much less relevant,” said Gould, who attended the camp with the Ameri-can delegation.

‘Peace’-ing it togetherParticipants said they have felt posi-

tive impacts from the camp.

“Seeds of Peace has definitely in-fluenced me more than anything else in my life,” Pollock said. “One of the biggest things that I learned was how to listen to people,” she added.

“I learned more about myself, and that’s really something that camp does,” Zaveri said. “Going in, I had some vague ideas, and coming out, I had clarity, and I had a good idea of what I believed in and why I believed it,” he added.

The camp also aims to change the way participants approach conflict resolution.

“Seeds of Peace is attempting to har-ness a group of future leaders,” Zaveri said. “It’s not a place to be politically correct. Rather, political correctness may only hold back the discussion.”

“It is really easy to look at all of these world conflicts and instantly feel frus-trated, but I think because we all went through three weeks in Maine where peace did happen, we know that it is possible on a larger scale,” Pollock said. “Peace and equality at its most basic form can be achieved because we saw it happen.”

Personal encounters based around leadership and discussion provide camp participants with the connec-tions and awareness needed to “advance peace,” Lahlou said.

But the camp experience is not limited to a single summer, and some campers even return to counsel future delegations.

“The counselors (during my camp session) were incredibly inspiring to me and were really good at what I thought created a comfortable experience,” Gould said. “I wanted to give back to current campers the way that I think my counselors helped me.”

“A big part of Seeds of Peace is what you do after camp,” Zaveri said. “The camp is too intense of an experience to allow you to go back (home) with similar thoughts.”

Summer camp engages teens from countries in conflictSeeds of Peace nonprofit encourages campers to discuss regional conflict resolutions